A reflection as Ah Boo Chuck turns 1

On Friday, Alison turns one! And as I look back over the year, I can't believe how so many things have changed.

Getting married is nowhere as big a step as having a child. Just two years ago, Mark and I could do anyTHING we wanted, anyTIME we wanted. Now, even eating out together is a very "planned" affair. We have to give ample notice to whoever is taking care of Alison and even then, eating out is sometimes done with tinge of guilt from leaving our baby at home. So, we usually have a quick meal so we can go home and see Ally ( usually we only get to see her angelic sleeping face as she goes to bed early)

Some friends have commented ," You guys never go out anymore ah, so boring." The single ones that is. "Married with children" couples usually understand. Mark and I also find our lives really revolve around the baby now and are trying to strike a better balance between time for ourselves and time for baby. But you know, the best part is we really don't mind spending the time on Ally. She is so so worth it!!

She was made in South Africa, on our honeymoon. 38 weeks later, she came out via caesarean, a mere 2.7 kg.

I remember the day we found out. I was having diarrhoea ( or so I thought since 5 others from my KC group were down with it too from a infected meal of oysters). I called my boss, Jennifer, to tell her that I couldn't come in and she told me, " U know , you could be pregnant ( what's more, you've just come back from honey moon and then catholic some more -- we practise natural family planning which is very effective but requires lots of self control.:))

My friend Evelyn, who was pregnant then, related to me how she thought she was having stomach flu. I got more and more suspicious that I was pregnant. A quick check on the internet brought everything to light. Frequent urination ( ah... now that you mention it.. yeah), stomach upsets (hmm..), tender breasts...

Mark immediately bought a pregnancy test kit ( I remember it was Guardian brand) and at midnight that day, we did the test. The results were all too clear-- we spent the night jumping around, estactic that we were going to be parents, yet still in disbelief too that it happened so fast. Hahah.

So, now, our baby is one. And thoughts of having another one have popped into my mind again. I'm waiting for my business to get a little more settled first though.We'll see.