Pitter Patter @ Momsy World

Simple Bento for Thursday!

2012-01-12T12:02:00.003+08:00

Age is really catching up, it is a fact that I can't deny. This pregnancy is quite a tough one for me as I am carrying a huge bump all over the places and with my previous slip disc issue, things simply didn't help.

However, the joy of seeing that smile the kids wear upon seeing my bento gives me the strength to carry on what I am doing. Not forgetting my promise to Hubs, I will go slower, giving discounted time spent in the kitchen trying to toil my very limited creative cells to come up with some better looking bento.

Here, I present one of the rare bento I prepared for Brayden!

He is a very simple boy who is easily satisfied so long he has his favorite bread and cheese. He woke up at 6-ish this morning just to remind me and make sure I did not leave out his share.

Here, we created this together. He told me what he wanted, passed me the molds and *drum roll* here is his simple bento filled with love!

Not forgetting his hugs and kisses. He actually thanked me for making this. :)

Ethyl on the other hand gets her regular bento to school.

There are seldom complains of what I had packed for her in the box. There was this day that my tum hurts so much in the morning that I had to give bento-making a miss, she skipped her recess totally! I was a lil sad.

She came back home and devoured a big bowl of noodles after school. It goes to show she was so hungry. Yet without bento, she had no appetite and did not know what to eat during recess!

Even though I tried to make bento for her, I still have to remind her that our lil missy is coming soon; and with the new addition, I will be really hands-tied that she may have to eat in school more often.

My usual sensible girl said she understands albeit it takes a while for her to adjust. Time shall be given. She will adapt to this change I am sure.

9 January 2012 - Zoo theme

2012-01-09T12:02:00.002+08:00

Inspired by zoo themed bento, I tried my hands on a small scale project. Thanks to the molds and food picks that I have bought that made this look a little less boring.

It took me 15 minutes to get a 5-minute task done, that is what happens when the brain is malfunctioning in the early morning.

Prepared the egg mayo late last night before using them this morning. Really save me a great deal of time I need this morning and I can laze on the bed for another 10 minutes before getting my fat ass off the cosy bed!

5 January 2012

2012-01-09T11:54:00.003+08:00

Last bento for week one of school!

As promised, I will take a bento-break on every Friday as I had to prepare 2 bento each for both the Husband & Daughter.

When I picked her up, she told me she shared her recess bento with a few friends. Such small serving and she shared with friends? I was concerned.

"Mom, they said the bento looks cute and wanted to try."

Oh well, knowing that she is willing to share, and didn't starve herself makes me feel good as there are other children who likes my bento too!

Lunch is simple. They have long Thurdays hence I prepared lunch bento for her as well.

Keeping them in an insulated bag keeps the food warm till 12pm. She enjoyed her meals and does look forward to having more.

The sleep debt I and slowly crediting seems worthwhile :)

4 January 2012

2012-01-09T11:47:00.004+08:00

Challenging task to me it is when it comes to making breakfast bento. I will be struggling with ideas and what food to prepare for the next day!

Didn't want Ethyl to be overloaded with sandwiches, but that seems like a staple for breakfast bento isn't it? Taking into consideration of the time constraint, and for the fact that I am in my last trimester, energy level is greatly compromised. "Do things within your means" keeps ringing in my ears. The Hubs is not too pleased with me making bento for both the daughter and himself. In this case, I must learn to balance rest, so that he does not worry too much about me.

Giving Ethyl a great deal of variety seems rather impossible as she is a fussy eater too. Ham & Cheese is her all-time favorite that won't go wrong!

3 January 2012

2012-01-09T11:28:00.003+08:00

After a long break from the December school break, I am finally resuming my bento-making sessions!

The difference this time round is Ethyl will be in the morning session, and my day starts as early as 4.50am (or even earlier) when I had to prepare her lunch bento as well.

Rilakkuma wanabe ends up looking odd with my generous cocoa powder added!

Brayden also had his bento for the start of the new school year. His favorite Thomas and Friends accompanied him to school!

Waking up early in the morning to prepare bento is really quite an adjustment for me to make. As I will have to sleep after the kids do. Rest is never enough. No, I am not complaining though, I am enjoying making something for my loved ones to make a great start to their day!

Brayden's First Performance

2011-12-06T15:23:00.003+08:00

Our baby has grown up! He had his first performance on 2 December 2011. We were all excited and full of anticipation for this day.

As usual, the worrisome me worries about many things before this day arrived.

Will he have stage fright?

Will he forget his dancing steps when he sees so many audiences and back out?

Will he not perform when he sees us?

Will he cry on stage?

Not only the worrisome Mommy worries, even the jiejie and Daddy are worried too! They asked me the same questions as well.

I reminded them he is a big boy and will definitely do well. I told them and myself to have faith in him.

Full of anticipation, we sat patiently waiting for the N1 to perform. *Drum roll* Finally, we saw him on stage! He did us proud by doing perfect and was one of the best "bum-shaker" in his performance!

It was a magnificent performance put up by the school! We thoroughly enjoyed the whole concert!

Our baby has grown up! Well done Son! We are so proud of you!

Late...

2011-11-30T12:54:00.004+08:00

Man came back almost 12 midnight last night. Last minute rush, he and his 2 peers got to make sure all work is done to ensure the aircraft is safe to take off.

However tired and sleepy I was, I stayed up as I would love to chat with him, even if it's for a minute. This is the least I can do as a wife, to be there for him and listening, updating and simply; be around.

Some friends asked why is he always so busy? They do not understand as their better half holds an office desk job that gives them weekend as family day. I used to mind and envy them. I guess I may still do at times, but I have also accepted that this is his job - staggered shift.

More than once, I ever asked myself "Can I be the kind of wife he needed?" No answer required, as this is a role I have to play - a wife, a mom and a pillar to the household.

Through the years, I have accepted my fate that I will be left very much independent to handle most things myself. I am not complaining. I am thankful. Despite being so busy, he is always there to render me his support and a shoulder for me to cry on.

This pasture that I have chosen 9 years ago is not the greenest, however is the most reliable piece I can ever asked for.

My temperament has also mellowed because of my current plight. Having children who is gradually understanding the Dad's job nature also helped as we will encourage each other when his presence is missed.

He always thank me for being there taking care of our lil ones and making sure they do not miss the fun of not having a Dad around. Little does he know, he is a super star to his kids, and an unsung hero of mine.

Love lots Dear!

Primary One Ended!!!

2011-11-14T19:04:00.005+08:00

Now I can understand how some friends felt when they shared their stress and anxiety when their kids progressed to primary school, especially so during the examination period.

True enough, I felt as if I am in a pressure cooker especially the month during her final year assessment.

Glad thing is, this year has been a great year for us. For Ethyl has been working hard on her own of course it's packaged with my nagging and reminders), yet we had a good year.

She may not have top the P1 cohort, but there are subjects that she aces.

I hope she finds learning as interesting and remains so enthusiastic and a lil more diligent for P2.

She shall for now enjoy her birthday weekend and we will work hard together in Y2012!

It's a Blessing

2011-10-23T16:27:00.002+08:00

It's mixed feelings for me on an early Friday morning.

The loss of 2 pretty girls.

To think that I even thought of doing silly thing to my lil Bud. However, I am glad I only have such thought, never the courage.

I will love my kids with my life. They are my everything!

I will also remember, I am a Mother!

Mom's Dark Side

2011-10-13T11:14:00.002+08:00

I love my kids.

When faced with stress and some personal issues, I cannot believe I harbored and evil thought - remove this accidental #3.

This set me into some kind of low spirits. No, I have yet sunk into depression (at least I thought), I am a rather strong willed person hence I felt depression will leave me alone at least for now.

Deep in my heart, I know I can't bear. Hubby didn't try to talk to me about this after knowing my thoughts, he merely replied my whatsapp saying it is a little to late as baby has formed into human shape and told me not to do things that will make me regret for the whole of my life.

Till today, I still do get a little emotional. Just because he is so busy with work and unable to have a proper chat with me and trying to find out how I am doing in this pregnancy or even how my days are. I began wondering has this got to do with age catching up? I was never like this in my earlier pregnancies.

I can't talk to many people about this. Only when chatting with a few closer girlfriends, I do reveal my thoughts and some emotional struggles. Indeed it is a way to let go of some steam, however it is never enough comparing it to talking to him.

Seeing how stressful he gets from work, I can't bear to load him with more stress. I can only bear all these quietly.

Will he ever know? I really doubt so. It has probably slipped his mind that I used to pen down my thoughts on this cyber space.

Not to worry, I won't remove the baby. I have decided to take on this journey bravely with my baby. A Mom has to be able to protect their offspring and not hurt them.

Bravely I will...set a positive example for my kids.

Busy In the Kitchen

2011-10-04T12:50:00.003+08:00

I re-ignited my hobby in bento-making lately after a group of friends started making bento for their loved ones.

The above are some creations I have made over the weeks.

Term 4 is rather tiring for me. Besides progressing into trimester 2, Ethyl has netball practices twice a week, hence I got to send her bento during her one-hour break before the school starts.

Time is never enough for me. However I do enjoy the time I spent with them right now :-)

Cheesy Chicken/Pork Rolls

2011-09-14T13:46:00.004+08:00

Here is the recipe for the cheesy chicken roll!

I added ham as well cos the kids love ham & cheese! Could have added more cheese...this particular roll had lesser cheese.

Ingredients:

Palm size lead meat/Chicken thigh about 1.5 - 2 cm thick
1/2 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
2 tablespoon plain yogurt
2 slice Sliced Cheese (I used Cheddar Cheese here)
3 slices of Ham
1 Egg, beaten
Plain Flour for dusting
Breadcrumbs for coating
Oil for deep frying

How to do it:

Spread yogurt on the meat together with the seasoning in a ziplock bag and mix them all together.
Leave for 10 minutes.
Place cheese & ham on one side of the meat. Try to keep the cheese away from the side as it will melt and sip through the meat when you fry.
Fold the meat.
Dust with flour.
Dip in beaten egg.
Coat well with breadcrumbs.
Deep fry till it turns golden brown (you can also try baking it for healthier option)
Serve immediately.

Original recipe adopted from Wokking Mum.

The Kids Simply Amuses Me

2011-08-24T12:30:00.003+08:00

I am seldom right about judging my boy. He, is a loving boy, yet very temperamental. One thing I never expect from him, is his readiness to show his love for the lil Bud. To him, I believe "baby" is something that exists in my tummy, out of his imagination how Bud will look like except the general concept and impression of the baby posters he has been seeing out in the malls (if there is).

Ethyl as usual, is the loving sister who hugs and kisses my stretch-marked-disfigured tummy and "chats" with the lil Bud on whatever that comes to her mind.

Brayden on the other hand, is very generous with his hugs and kisses when I thought he will be more reserved in this area. Indeed he is reserved with his words. Ethyl can tell a LONG story to my tum, yet Brayden will only says, "Good Baby, kor kor loves you!"

Lately there has been little fluttering in my tum, I deduced it is Bud who is performing some kungfu fighting in wombsville. How sweet to have such feeling all over again!

As I was immersing in the attention given to me by Hubs and the kids, I was pleased to hear the siblings discussing on how to share the load and help look after Bud when she arrives.

E said "Didi, you help Mommy feed baby one week, I take over the next week ok?"

B obligingly "Ok. So I feed baby milk? I use my milk bottle and feed baby milk?"

E trying to explain "No, Mommy will buy new bottle for baby. You feed baby using the new bottle ok?"

B a lil confused "So baby don't drink breast milk and drink Brayden's milk? I share my milk?"

E kinda-frustrated "Listen, Mommy will give baby breast milk, you just sayang baby when baby drink milk ok? I will feed."

B innocently "I also want to drink breast milk. I give baby my milk ok? Can share one you know?"

E gave up "When baby come out then I tell you again! You don't understand me!"

I sat on the bed, laughing at both...

Companion

2011-08-18T11:49:00.002+08:00

I feel that I have grown up over the years. I am managing expectations better, more tolerant and trying to be more understanding in different circumstances.

Hubs has been working almost 7 days a week for many months due to some projects. Besides the normal working hours, additional OT hours were taken off from our supposed family time. I am trying to be understanding, to manage the household, the kids so that he can work with a peace of mind.

Never has I failed him once. He always trusted me to take good care of the kids and household.

When I am feeling down, I really hope there is a shoulder, a strong pair of arms to wrap me up and give me some comfort.

This is not a complaint. I just hope that he understands I will also need some attention from him. The kids, this family needs his presence so much too. It is not a healthy family if he is simply busy with work.

At times I do wonder...am I an attention seeking desperate housewife? Haha...

What Are Both E & B Up To?

2011-08-17T18:12:00.003+08:00

Time flies, they are growing up well and fast. Here are some photo updates for friends who are not following me on Facebook.

Ethyl is a very active student in class and in school. She has been the monitor, group leader, teacher appointed student of the class and even her Chinese teacher task her with some duties.

Her last participation is in Sing Singapore Performance. It is a school event for students from P1 to P5. I was moved to tears to see her putting her best foot forward on stage. She had practiced day and night, disturbing my slumber peace.

My support to her is a booster for the whole performance, I know. That was why even when I was feeling lousy with the giddy spells and bloated-ness, I still volunteered to help with the make-up for the team.

As for Brayden, he has been a very adorable, cheerful and cheeky boy to us. He takes good care of everyone at home. He never forgets Jiejie's share whenever there is play or treats.

For he has grown so attached to me, I am often busy with the attention both needed.

For now, I enjoy spending time with them. Soon, time will once again be divided among them, so will attention be. I truly hope I can have the strength and energy to do so!

Hello to Buddie

2011-08-17T17:37:00.004+08:00

Our OBGYN appointment was last Saturday. It was really early that we woke the kids up (even earlier than their usual schooling hours), prepared them, and rushed off to our appointment.

E has some idea of what she can expect based on the vague memories she had when I was carrying B. B, on the other hand was completely clueless of what to expect besides knowing that we were there to "see baby".

These are the scans of the fetus (Left: 13 Aug Right: 26 Jul). Without knowing what exactly that is, EB were so excited and echoed "so cute!" when my OBGYN were explaining what they were seeing and hearing (heartbeat).

Curious children, with a very nice loving Doctor who explained the growing limbs, the womb and many other things to them very patiently. I spy Hub smiling at the corner showing his happiness to see our accidental Bud.

Part of record, this is the little stick that confirms Bud's existence.

What do I like about being a Mom?

2011-08-06T11:36:00.002+08:00

Ethyl asked me this question this morning while I was combing her hair after bath. I was startled by this question of hers. Hence I asked why did she ask me this?

E: mom, do you enjoy being a mom?
Me: yes of course! Why ask?
E: Mom, you see...when the children are sick, the mothers are worried. Like me, now my hands are peeling so badly and even simple things I will need help. Don't you find it tiring?
Me: Well, that's about being a mom. Full dose of happiness, one dose of heartache, 2 doses of headaches, 3 doses or frustrations and endless doses of worries. A mom is around to support, to love and to guide. Be a friend, a shoulder and a ear. I get satisfaction when you do well as a person.

End of the conversation, she gave me a hug. She knew too well being a mom isn't a bed of roses. However, the consolation from this conversation is, she understands that my role as a Mom is not a breeze to begin with.

All I have hope for the kids are for them to stay healthy, happy and positive.

Love you both + our budding buddie :-)

Budding

2011-08-04T10:22:00.002+08:00

Unexpected, unplanned and totally unaware, I have a lil bud blooming in wombsvile.

Both Ethyl and Brayden are full of anticipation and hoping to welcome this new addition to the family.

We too, are looking forward to welcoming this new "Buddie".

Kids.Time.

2011-03-28T00:02:00.006+08:00

As we watched the videos that I have taken years back, I saw how much my lil girl has thrived, how she has reached her milestones under my nose; with not too much emphasis on academic focus.

True as I would love to sign on test papers that shows full marks, I also understand the importance to be consistent, confidence and most importantly, my kids must love, enjoy and has passion in things they do no matter at which phase of their lives.

Ethyl came back with Math 20/20, Chinese 36/40, English 30/30.

Chinese Han Yu Pin Yin has always not been her forte. Having said that, her weekly tuition does help in improving. This result to me is her effort and yes, I am never stingy with my praise and encouragement.

Academic wise, it has never been an issue to me. Ethyl is still pretty much motivated and she would voluntarily pick up her books to revise consistently. This is our blessing. She has indeed proven to be a role model for Brayden.

Under influence of Ethyl, Brayden enjoys learning as well.

When he is back home, he would pick up the chalk and starts doodling on the easel stand alphabets, numbers and some shapes. Occasionally, he would pick up books and starts reading them.

Both enjoyed their bonding time reading and role playing as well. Ethyl will be the teacher, Brayden be the student. It's is so much fun watching them grow at a pace we are all comfortable with.

Every moment with them makes me understand life a lil more. I treasure every bit with them both. Such quantity time won't last long, however I'm blessed with understanding and supportive kids and better half. They have always be braving the changes that goes around us.

I really want to shout "I LOVE BEING A MOM!!!"

Gina's Wedding

2011-03-18T13:46:00.003+08:00

Finally, the noisiest sister tied the knot and held their customary wedding on 13 March!

The only thing I can describe from the whole event - E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D!

The Sisters with Bride

I shall dispense with the details, just share some pictures of that day!

New School, New Start - Brayden

2011-03-17T18:27:00.004+08:00

He is all ready for school!

Most friends know I am really particular in a way for the schools I intend to send the kids to. Well, I think this is mother's nature. Hubs always thought I am too particular, after all we are both PCF graduates.

Choices are abundant these days, and cost is also pretty much along the same range, it's really no harm being a little more fussy on choices ya?

We had visited many centres for a few months and stopped our search, and begun searching again. We ventured to Punggol, Simei and even Tampines for the boy. I took a liking to 2 schools - both in private housing estate.

Curriculum were equally well planned, both centres we are comfortable albeit one of them is too far from home.

Hubs decided we shall take the one in the same precinct.

Wise choice indeed! We were so pleased with our decision to send him there.

The teacher in charge has been updating me very regularly and I am also pleased to hear him singing more songs, more independent as well.

Jiejie combing Didi's hair. Be the smartest looking boy in class ok?

Reminding Didi to listen to instructions

Jiejie sent Didi to school...she can't bear to leave the lil guy

Just About my EB

2011-03-16T18:39:00.003+08:00

This blog hiatus took it really long. Regular updates are now done on Facebook! How I have neglected this space as FB is so much easier with the udat

E is now in P1, B is now in a new school and soon, we will be putting him in childcare centre for full day beginning of April
.
Both are thriving. The changes that has taken place are also taking shape nicely.

A Mommy's role is really rewarding yet pathed with plenty of challenges. Here are some picture updates of us recently

The February 2011

2011-01-31T23:58:00.003+08:00

Very soon, new changes coming along the way. As much as I dislike this change, I thought it may be the best for everyone.

Just as I got tired, things took a change (albeit a good change for everyone).

I owe many updates. I am still waiting for her Graduation pictures from my sister, she is taking too long!

Ethyl is doing well in primary school; in fact much better than I expected her to be!

Her new roles besides a freshman in the school - Monitoress and Group Leader.

Every bit of them is so precious to me.

The son will have to face some changes in his routine as well. Let's say it's all mapped out for them and things are going in the right track *winks*

2010-12-15T17:01:00.002+08:00

While I am updating, my babies are beside me. One sleeping, the other playing on her new iPhone 4.

No, we are not spoiling her (I sometimes felt we do to some extent, oh well!), she will only have her phone only when we send her for enrichment classes for her convenience to contact us. Other than that, she will share with Brayden and use that as their entertainment box.

I am not in the best shape right now. Mouth with ulcers, a super duper painful throat, I can hardly eat or drink much for the past few days as well. This torture speeds up my dieting process. I really am clueless if I should be happy or sad about this!

All beacuse of the pain, my short getaway was not too much fun for me.

Now, I have some decisions to make and also to plan for the kids. Nothing is going to change much, though it is still not the best decision for the kids, but it will be a good decision for the household. I hope and pray all will turn out well!

Days when I felt too stressed out I tend to write. There are many unhappy things inside my flabby tummy, however I can't rant here. Let's just keep it in my quiet diary for a while and let it fade with time..

What's Up Lately?

2010-12-05T11:38:00.002+08:00

Been on a blog hiatus for a while. In less than 3 months, 3 passings in the family, 1 fair and many other small changes.

Next is a trip coming up...albeit a short trip (better than nothing :))

Will start updating again when we are back from trip!

Have a great December ahead!

A Short Etnry

2010-11-11T15:45:00.002+08:00

I still have not gotten the time to organize what needs to be posted. My lack of time management skills!

For record, Ethyl's graduation concert took place last Sunday, her orientation is this saturday and seemingly, my Novemeber is filled with too many important activities that I had to let the birthdays of my lil princess and the old boy take a back seat.

Entire focus is left for all other things and I really have to take the celebrations (real) easy this year. I know the gal will be disappointed. I just disappoint her this Tuesday for not passing my driving (oh well!), my heck care attitude for her upcoming birthday is driving her up the walls whenever I told her, cakes are not ordered (cos I have no idea who to order from! and I am particular), what to buy for goody bags, no inspiration to design her cards for her friends etc.

Can someone clone another me?? Someone who can help me handle the matters that I can't do so that my burden can be eased? *Yawns* I am exhausted!

Just for Vents

2010-11-02T12:47:00.002+08:00

Come to think of it, it has been a while since I last updated. Not that I have nothing to blog about, I was simply overwhelmed with the fair preparation for my business venture and other personal matters that happens concurrently.

At times like this, I would wish for a voice to render me the support I needed most. His "Are you coping well?", "Do you need to run any errands?", "Please share if you need an extra pair of hands." would be just nice at this point in time. This being said, he shared almost NONE and I even had to repeat (or shall I put it as nag) umpteen times until I raise my voice to get some simple chores done.

Ethyl's P1 registration is happening at the same time. The forms to fill, dates to note...I was filling up the forms the other day and rushing out a proposal at the same time. I passed him ONE form, asked him to fill it up. It was returned to me, as blank as I passed to him. Extremely pissed off, I shouted at him and he retaliated "What do you want me to do?!"

Big sigh...the forms stated CLEARLY he simply needs to help me fill in the student's particulars. Even this, he FAILED to fill in the right columns. I succumb to the unwillingness participation of his role as a Dad.

When I needed help the most, it is always my friends who generously offered their helping hands.

Novemeber is a crazy month for me this year. I badly need the break I deserve in December!\

Happy holidays ahead!!

Looking Forward 2011 - A (Good) Change

2010-10-18T16:01:00.002+08:00

Nothing beats the time I get to spend with the kids daily, looking after their well being, from their pee and poo to their ABCs.

The best of both world, quality and quantity timing with my 2 precious shall be changed from next year. Mom will be relinquished from her duties as a full time nanny (already in transition), I shall take over the kitchen, household and every aspect of the household!

As I will also need time for my venture, the decision we make for the kids will be to benefit everyone.

Ethyl is starting her primary school next year, which means more time spent in school. Brayden will be going to a childcare that I will put him there for at least half the day. The rest of the hours will bespent with just the boy before the girl is dismissed from school. This gives us quality bonding time without anyone else, just us.

This arrangement will spare me some time to do my work, handle household chores and cooking.

Additional help will be hired to do the heavy duty chores. This is the best for us for a start. I am so looking forward to being independent and alone at home!

Nurturing Responsibility

2010-10-06T23:39:00.003+08:00

Just realized the title sounds like a parenting book title. Well, can't think of anything better, I am never good with titles anyways.

Getting a pet for them each is a huge decision to make in this family. Hubby was never keen in keeping pets as he fears that the kids' passion and excitement will wear off, and the responsibility becomes mine end of the day.

After we welcomed the two furballs home, I realized we had more topics with the kids. Like, Ethyl will chat with me on our way to and from school; Brayden will also ask me how are the hamsters, are they eating etc.

Quite a good decision to make to let them have pets. I am training Ethyl to change their feeds, take care of them etc. The bigger chores like cage washing, Hubby and I will take over. However, we will delegate simple chores to the kids, especially to Ethyl as she is older and is able to take on a bigger role with their Merly and Belle.

Great to keep pets! Both the kids are doing very well with the pets for the past week.

Well done children!

Children's Day 2010

2010-10-04T21:38:00.007+08:00

All geared up for our Children's Day!

Although I am not 100% confident I can handle Brayden boy, I decided to just take a deep breath, and venture out with them both on Children's Day. A day out with makan treat and to let them do things they like.

Tried talking to Brayden before we went out. Prep him that I will be alone, with the stroller and him plus Ethyl can be quite a handful, especially he is one that runs all over the place like a faulty remote controlled car. He will never come back to me if I don't run after him and catch him.

Probably I said enough prayers. He was well-behaved and very cooperative. I am so proud of him and more so with Ethyl as she was the one who helped me hold Didi's hand while I handling the stroller.

I think it is quite unfriendly that strollers must be folded when boarding bus.

Our day starts at going to Bugis. We went to Parco Bugis Junction for their brunch treat! What a start for me, I lost my footing, fell down with Brayden in my arms on the step!

I could literally hear the bones on my ankle crackling and leg felt numb for 3 seconds. I thought "Die, if I sprain my ankle, how are we to go back?!"

Thank goodness it wasn't too bad a fall. Or I should say, the pain subsided soon after and we could continue with our day.

Having the little ones in mind, I know their love for desserts and food, we decided to try out Let's Sweets Japanese Buffet & Sweets.

See our plates of sinful desserts!

How nice it is to make the little girl smile. We decided to take a train down to Vivo City and let the girl have some art fun. The boy was tired and fell asleep. Little did we know, we had to end the day earlier as the earlier sprain on my ankle started to work up and causes me pain.

Ethyl doing window art at Emiko Arts, Vivo City

Sweetly, both agreed it's more important that we go home and I get some rest. Guilty to shortening their day, I decided we take a train to Compasspoint and get them their much await pressie for the day, hamsters!

Who knows, the pet shop doesn't sell pets! We had to take a cab to Tampines One branch and get them instead.

Bearing with the pain on my ankle, we went ahead to buy them their pets, and also bought many other nitty gritty stuff for them. I feel the excitement and joy just like them!

Home Sweet Home, Belle and Merly! =)

Something worth remembering what Ethyl said, "Mom, I will make Mother's Day and your birthday just as fun as today (Children's Day) because I know you love Didi and me!"

Ehtylyn's Sports Day 2010

2010-09-29T16:15:00.006+08:00

Almost the mid of term 4, it spells her last few weeks as a kindergarten kid. How fast things are moving!

Her sports day, quite a fun one I would say. It is an uphill task seeing the teachers managing to youngest amongst them and trying to maintain the order of the brood.

There are a total of 4 teams, namely Dolphin, Crocodile, Sea lion and Whale. Ethyl belongs to Sea lion.

When the race started, Sea lion flops! They were the last. My sweetie pie told me yesterday she wants to win home the trophy as that will be her first trophy if she wins it. I was praying hard for her, hoping she wins the race.

I was worried she will be upset, walked up to the team and heard the kids encouraging one another. JR and Ethyl even Hi-5 and said, "teamwork!" I am pleased to know they have great morale and sportsmanship. The team reminded each other to try their best and not be the last for the next few rounds.

Second game, they came in second, the third and fourth, their form came and they won both matches!

D's Mommy, JR's Daddy and myself were cheering and running around with the kids taking pictures as ours are in the same team.

End of the game, it was a tie. They PK-ed for the trophy. How excited can that be?!

While they were racing, D's Mommy was at the starting point cheering for them, I was at the the other end cheering for them and JR's Daddy was all over taking pictures. I think that is a really funny sight!

To think that D's Mommy actually jumped with joy and raised her arms swinging in the air when they were announced winners!

Quite fun and enjoyable to cheer for them all! Well done baby!

Barney Space Adventure - 10 Sept 2010

2010-09-17T12:20:00.003+08:00

This time round, Brayden will "read" the blogs. He'll ask me to "go up" and "go down". He was trying to look for the pictures and asked me, "Where('s) Barney?"

The sixth row from the front, still a little far as there are heads of parents that blocked the kids. I shan't complain, since I bought the tickets later.

We always enjoyed the Barney shows. Yes, it's WE! I always sang along to the songs with Ethyl and this time, as well as Brayden!

If you ask me to review this year's, in fact I am a tad disappointed as I think it was not as nice as the previous years; be it a paying or a free play at the malls.

My view didn't matter. What matters most is the kids enjoyed themselves. How to determine?? Look at the happy faces below!

Three happy faces and an old frowning face (Hubby's) as I spend a little to buy the kids torches~!!!

A Saturday & Sunday

2010-09-13T12:00:00.003+08:00

Our Saturdays are likely routine when the little girl has classes at Janice's Centre - A+cademia.

No, I am not griping, in fact we do treasure the time we have exclusively with the boy.

My focus has all along been Ethyl and it is only when she has classes that I channel some attention to him, exclusively.

Again his favourite toast. We had wanted something else, however when we passed by Wang Cafe, this boy will say, "I want (to) eat this. This way...".

See how lovely his smile was when I got him to pose. So charming!! *tell me I am an obsessive Mom!*

A valuable picture taken in a hawker centre. I can't remember how many times we brought them to one, but definitely not more than 10. That was also why they don't like to visit the hawker centre.

The only solution is to "bribe" them with their favourite food and dessert and it works!!!

Told the pampered duo that I will bring them to hawker more often since the food at Changi Village food centre is really yummy!

Simply enjoy spending a Sunday to ourselves!!!

Every Little Thing

2010-09-08T20:29:00.002+08:00

I didn't practice due dilligence to update the blog and left it here with dust accumulating cyberly.

After a friend told me, "hey, better start blogging else I do not know what's happening to your lil ones as I don't Facebook in China (they block FB, duh!)"

In fact I have little things that I reminded myself "I will blog"; however, after saying tomorrow after tomorrow,I simply left it there - untouched.

Whenever I look back at what had happened a year or two or even more, I will laugh, tear and get upset. How weird ya? Some happenings that seems so recent, yet I forgot about them! Memories do fail us sometimes.

I must remember to blog about cute little things that Brayden says at this point as he is beginning to get voluble. Every bit counts.

I want to recount what I had done for Ethyl in her preparation to primary school thereafter. Many things around me needs to be recorded. How I wish I can be so dilligent!

Having said that, I shall make it a point to do so here! At least I try *winks*

Typical Sunday

2010-09-06T13:34:00.004+08:00

It's no news to friends online to read about us going to Changi Airport (especially T3)on public holidays and weekends.

Another typical day we packed ourselves to the T3 for breakfast at our favorite local toast - Wang Cafe.

The kids simply love the kaya butter toast served and we like the space and lesser crowd. T3 has been packed with activities whenever we visit. F1 is just round the corner and indeed, we do see some tracks around.

Besides the excited lil ones, the old boy is just as excited. I can see him gazing at the remote cars and didn't pay attention to the kids! Haha!

Present a receipt (with any amount spent) at T3, get yourself a ride on this racing machine as well as play the remote controlled car at the tracks.

The boy didn't lose out by being too young to ride, Daddy decided to buy him a mini remote car and play on the Tamiya tracks. He wanted a skyline.

Jiejie got one too! She got herself an Evo.

A simple Sunday morning! What's more important is, it's spent leisurely and with loved ones.

Maiden Trip to Marina Bay Sands

2010-09-04T21:33:00.006+08:00

While everyone was rushing to see how the second homeland IR (integrated resort) looks like, we never really wanted to pop by. WHat other big names can we see there besides what was already duplicated in ION Orchard, Paragon, Somerset 313? I would say it's about 80% the same.

Oh well, not exacty we didn't want to pop by MBS; I almost booked a room to on National Day to view the fireworks displays if not for our lucky preview tickets.

I was not in the mood to go anywhere, hence Hubby suggested we pop by Comex (yet another IT fair) and at the same time, have a walk around Marina since it has been a while. No harm, we can pop by and have a stroll down the Esplande stretch.

Our lil model posed again. Doesn't she looked like a tourist? Hubby suggested we shall walk all the way to Marina Bay Sands (MBS) since we have never been there before. Though we were all melting in the heat, I said "why not?!" since it's just a stone's throw away.

A walk down to Youth Olympic Park. Our missy was happy to discuss about YOG and talked about the 2 very cute mascots Lyo and Merly.

Dust was all over the entrance of MBS as reno is still going on. GOSH! I was sneezing and eyes tearing when I got there. Pretty unendurable for me, but for the girl (not the boy as he also has sensitive nose and eyes), we went ahead.

Saw people taking sampan rides in the mall, this arouses the I-also-want-a-ride bug in the kids. What's new? we obliged!

We girls took one sampan, and the boys took the other. A really short ride, less than 10 minutes maybe(?), the kids enjoyed the ride, hence the $5/pax was well spent.

We could hear tummies growling and scoot! back to where we came from, Marina Square to silence our growls.

Where to get some nice thick milkshakes? Billy Bombers is our all time fave! See the lil model in the making?

Humph! Not Fair!

2010-09-02T00:12:00.003+08:00

A pet phrase of Ethyl these days.

This three words, especially the latter two makes me pull my hair and cringe my face. Why so? Just because I grew up with my two other sisters and we always shouted "not fair", and was denied by Mom and Papa.

Taking my not so good experience of "not"fair", I have reminded myself umpteen times, I have to thread on this thin line with extra care.

Many times, I reminded myself I need to explain to Ethyl and Brayden why I did something to one but not another. Even so, there are times when the hormones go haywire and I simply lose my patience especially when Ethyl kept asking and protesting why she has to give in.

Brayden is a little too young to shout these two words, more of Ethyl's feelings I need to take care of. She is a very sensitive child, thus such emotional issues are pretty tacky.

I used to make up for the "unfairness" by getting her something she likes or give in to a reasonable request from her whenever she has to give in. I didn't tell her, I just do it. Until lately she kept saying I was unfair to her, I told her a few scenarios whereby I "treated" her with something else that Brayden doesn't get.

This took a while for me to explain, but of cause, besides giving in to her request or a "treat" is something I have to manage. I explained to her, if her behaviour is undesirable, her "treat" shall be forfeited.

Such "treats" are important notes to me. Only when no tantrums were thrown and complains from her, such treats will take place. Meaning, her reaction to the "unfair" treatment is the deciding factor to decide if she deserves a treat from me.

Being a kid, she tried her best. Not smooth and no tussle all the time though. We tried and struggle sometimes. Tears were shed...and I do see improvements coming along the way as I repeatedly explained to her the reason behind it.

This is one of my KPI for this year. Who says SAHM (cum WAHM) is a simple job?!

The Quiet Book Giveaway by my playshcool.net

2010-08-31T15:47:00.002+08:00

Myplayschool.net is celebrating their 400 likes on their Facebook page and is giving away "The Quiet Book" suitable for kids of age 18 - 36 months old, hand-made by Pauline.

I think is is GREAT for all parents!

By reading this, you will stand a chance to win too! Simply click on the above link and like their page on Facebook!

This book is ideal to carry along to keep the ever active toddler engaged in it's activities.

Find out more about this book here.

Off We Go To The Park!

2010-08-31T15:26:00.003+08:00

Quite a shame to say, we have been staying here for more than a year and yet to really bring the kids to Pasir Ris Park. I shall point the finger to Hubby again as he is very reluctant to go outdoors!

This time, he finally agreed (well, it was the week before), and we went to buy kite, wanting to fly it in the park. Coincidentally, Dad came to our place just as we reached the park and Ethyl was thoroughly disappointed.

We promised the girl we shall return, and true enough, we return last Sunday.

The girl forsake her kite in the car after seeing the huge playground. See? She has been blaming Gong Gong and Po Po for coming at the wrong time, yet she didn't fly her kite in the end. Kids.

We had so much fun! This is a place we definitely will return to drain out the 2 power house.

Homeschool - Puzzling Fun

2010-08-31T15:01:00.002+08:00

Challenge is always there when trying to coach my little man. He doesn't abide by the so called "rules and regulations" that I set for him. I take it easy, as he is still too curious with almost anything to I expose him too.

One activity that makes him play for hours(yes, he can put puzzles repeatedly for at least and hour and more), puzzles and building blocks.

I always have to play around these 2 items to make him learn. We do randomingly. I used to plan, ended up, I irritated him for insisting he do something and I get frustrated with his unwillingness to oblige.

Now, we are both happy! I use alphabet cards to help him with phonetic sounds, numbers learning and the magnetic board at times to do drawing and teaching him simple strokes.

He now writes "H" and "I" to make Hi-5!

Every little thing counts. He may not speak very fluent sentences, but with every additional word(s) he adds in to his short sentence, simply makes me lose sleep over.

I will miss him when he goes to school next year, though he is a menace when he is home!

Inaugural Trip to Resort World Sentosa (RWS)

2010-08-23T19:45:00.003+08:00

To be frank, RWS is not appealing to me. I never even really wanted to bring the kids to the Universal Studio to catch some fun.

However, my sis got tickets to watch Voyage de la Vie, so we went ahead last saturday since it has been a while we stepped into Sentosa.

It is always nice to meet up with the Tans as both my little ones enjoys the company of Lleroy.

We parked our cars at Tiong Bahru Plaza and took the free shuttle bus into Sentosa.

Seems like it was last October that we last went to the island, and it now looks so different (where RSW was built).

The "A" was missed out while I was adjusting the focus.

Ethyl whent "wow...a castle"

the tiny peeps

The Tans

The Lims

the lil ones again!

I can't remember it was how many years ago I last watched a circus performance. at least a decade ago! This is defintely worth watching!

After the show, we went to Lau Pa Sat for dinner.

Out appetizer!

We always enjoy outings with my sister. The youngest alway has her own program, so, she is always not included in our outings!

Phonics Helps!

2010-08-15T10:11:00.003+08:00

Brought Ethyl to LCentral at Bedok for an assessment yesterday and she can gain direct entry to their "Success PFS" program.

I sat through the assessment with Ethyl, am very impressed that the little girl could read so well. Just because she has been doing her role dutifully, I always leave it to her to read by herself these days.

I saw her read the various passages and witnessed how she blend the difficult words together using phonics, a skill she acquired from school and with little teaching from me.

The phonetic sounds was perfect. She never really underwent enrichment in this area and I am proud she does well.

If you ask me what is important for a pre-school child, I would suggest we focus on foundations like phonics for the kid. As they grow older, they can progress to different enrichment that suits their needs.

After a long oven hiatus...

2010-08-11T16:16:00.006+08:00

I stepped away from my oven after the excitement of owning one faded. Upon Ethyl's nagging, of which I really admire her perseverance, I stepped into the kitchen and meddled with my baking utensils once again with Ethyl as my lil baking assistant.

Brayden called me "cooking mama" as I baked. That was how he relates baking with that game.

I tried the same recipe before and it was yummy! But this time, I had to do it twice as it was burnt the first time!

The momentum to bake seems to be creeping back and I am looking for my moulds (Brayden played with all my kitchen stuff and kept them in his secret hiding place) for egg tarts. I hope to bake Portuguese egg tart (I found one recipe that I think will taste good).

When will I start baking cookies??

Ingredients:

180gm Butter

180gm fine sugar

2 large eggs, beat lightly

250gm cake flour

1tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp biocarbonate of soda

220gm of mashed bananas

50gm whipped cream

1/2 tsp banana essence

2 bananas sliced (can change to some walnuts to be placed on top of the cake)

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy

2. pour in eggs gradually and beat till creamy (i split the mixture into 3 portions)

3. Add in whip cream, mashed bananas and banana essence - mix well

4. Add in cake flour, baking powder and biocarbonate of soda and mix well (mix only for a while)

5. pour mixture into 8" round tray (i used a bundt pan instead) and arrange bananas or walnuts on top

6. Bake at 175C for about 55 to 60 mins (mine cooked in 30 mins at 180C) so please monitor. when i left in round tray for 45mins, it's burnt!

How is Brayden?

2010-08-05T13:30:00.003+08:00

We all love his cheekiness to the MAX!

Little did I know home learning can make a significant difference from a school environment. I am shy to admit that I am neglecting him quite a bit these days with home coaching, to my surprise, he still picks up whatever small things we have been doing together! That's the beauty of spending time at home.

He can now distinguish between a fire figher and a policeman. Whatever milestone, whether is it ahead or behind his peers, it didn't really bother me at this stage, so long he learns and enjoys learning. This is all I asked for.

I didn't want him to be a couch potato, however there are many things he learned while watching educational programs. What I need to do is ensuring he tunes into the right programs.

There are many photos I posted on Facebook and a tad lazy to transfer them.

We also caught the NDP preview, shall take some time to upload the pictures by this week and post them up. There are simply too many!

How Much Preparation is Enough for P1?

2010-08-03T21:47:00.003+08:00

We are sending her for Chinese, English, K2 integrated program in prepartion for P1.

Besides these, I bought her assessments - English, Chinese, Math, Science upon her request. Am I doing enough?

Whenever I come across some parents who are no less kiasu than me, they will tell me they send the kids to tuition classes, blah...blah blah...somehow, I feel Ethyl is pretty much a kid who picks up concepts pretty fast and understands well. Am I doing too much?

She always comes to me complaining, "Mommy I am so bored, I don't know what to do!" This happens when she just finish her assessments on a total about 30 pages and completed in less than 15 minutes.

I gave her whatever I can, ask her to do her favurite painting, drawing, coloring, play pretending, or even tv watching, yet she still finds bored.

Class teachers feedback to me is she is pretty outstanding in her class. I told her, I may just send her to 3 academic focused classes, once every week. Other than those, she will get her art and swimming. She came back pouting and said, too few classes for her *I almost fainted* I also intend o send her for drum lessons which she requested, but the class has yet to start.

Stress is not something she feels at this moment. Because of her learning ability, I am a little lag in pushing her. I just hope she will enjoy her school and retain that enthusiasm for learning.

After saying so much, I guess preparation is a little ambiguous in this sense. Preparation not only is about academic excellence, survival skills are as important.

Learning to count money correctly, checking her school time table, preparing her school bag, ordering the correct food and complete eating in a shorter time are vital survival skills.

With bigger class compared to kindy, the part whereby she manages her emotions, friendships and her responsibilities towards her belongings are equally important.

Here, I play a role whereby I need to teach her how to strike a good balance, be her mentor, her friend in need, her Mommy where she can pour her woes to and a playmate when she needs one.

I hope she will enjoy her school days and we will be smooth in the transition.

I'm on a Roller Coaster Ride (again!)

2010-08-02T21:02:00.008+08:00

Two days before, I looked at Ethyl's face and watching her with much attention. I know time flies past especially the time when I am basking in motherhood bliss. None-the-less, a part of me do hope the kids to grow up fast, while the other part of me is secretly hoping time would just halt and let me enjoy them longer.

It was like yesterday that I held Ethyl in my arms, nursing her and bonding with her in our room, in our hall of our first matrimonial flat. I loved watching her suckling and satisfied after dining on me and the fulfillment I get to be able to breastfeed her.

Soon, she flipped, crawled, cut her first tooth, took her first steps etc.

The days of her being a toddler, I brought her out shopping alone, dining at different cafes, restaurants and walking along the stretch of Orchard Road while Hubby was busy at work. All these are memorable and meaningful to me. Our first born, garners all the attention and love from me.

As I reminise those days, reality brought me back. I still love her, but the way I show it is slightly different. I am a little more demanding nowadays as I hope to incalcate the right values and mannerism in her everyday life.

Today, as I register her for P1, my heart undergone another tedious round of tension test. As we registered Ethyl, it was so natural that my eyes felt warm. I lost appetite after that.

As I approached the registration room, my heart thuds faster, probably my BP shot up to a new height then. I am anxious, no doubts as there are only 60 seats left for us. But the main reason behind it is because I suddenly couldn't accept the fact that my Ethyl is going to P1 next year.

As much as I wish time would wait, which is impossible; all I had to is simply enjoy her every moment I have. Having her chatting with me, requesting for my hugs and kisses, showing a little jealousy sometimes and smelling her hair whenever she lies next to me!

Yes, I am an emotional Mommy...I know that very well! I just hope the registration doesn't give us a tough time.

Mom, is this a sacrifice?

2010-07-30T10:55:00.002+08:00

Ethyl asked when her classmates and herself are discussing about their stay-at-home-moms. There are only 3 girls in her class, coincidentally, all Moms are SAHM.

Probably during discussions someone mentioned about scarifice, hence she popped this question to me.

Why am I doing my best I can for my kids? Simply because I put myself in their shoes; I don't get enough of such attention from my Mom.

Sad ya?

2 weeks ago, I actually laid on the bed thinking to myself, what are the important transisitons that Mom accompanied me? Hmm...it took me more than 20 minutes to remember ONE - my first days in P1. As I was typing, I suddenly remembered, When I was in P3, the orientation when we changed to a new school.

So, what is sacrifice? I told her, I am just doing my best for her. Creating an environment that hopefully both herself and Brayden will thrive in my care. Simply because they are my kids, and I do not that this as a sacrifice.

No words exchanged, just a hug from her after hearing what I said.

She is growing up so fast...she will soon be in P1. I hope she will understand the efforts I put in in time to come.

Nurturing a Picasso?

2010-07-23T10:56:00.003+08:00

Highly unlikely, however since she has been saying she loves to draw and do art, why not just let her have some enrichments that is non-academic and fun?

I tried persuading Hubby to let her go for this enrichment since day 1 I saw Global art starting an outlet at ehub! downtown east. He was, as usual giving me all sorts of excuses saying she has too many enrichments, she can't cope blah blah blah.

Nevertheless, Ethyl never gave up reminding us (especially me) that she loves to draw, she would love to color nicely like other kids do. For myself, I am very very weak in this aspect, thus I really would love to see her doing well in art.

My decision was made then. She shall join them. Having said that, this decision came when I was about to quit my job and start my business. So many uncertainties and I really am not sure if I should just enrol her.

It took me about 2 months to decide. I tried to discuss with Hubby to let her join, he was reluctant. All the time, I would simply imform him about my decision on the classes to enrol for Ethyl as I am the one paying. This time, I hope he can help lighten my load. As you can see, he is indecisive when he is told to pay.

Never mind, it's for the good of our daughter, so I shall just pay for it since it doesn't cost an arm or a leg.

Seeing her artwork from the first lesson and how much she enjoyed her lesson, whatever I had to accomodate is worthwhile!

A Time When I Need Help

2010-07-21T20:13:00.005+08:00

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions! There are moments in life we need to make decisions be it big or small. This time, besides her kindy, Ialso made other adjustments.

Firstly, I stopped her swimming lessons. I realise the previous swim school has been adding new students to the class and Ethyl, one of the better swimmer is always delayed because the coach has to focus on the newbies. Better arrangement could have been made and the school should make it a point to group students according to their progress.

I have since stopped her when her last term ended in June. Today, she starts her swimming with a new swim school. This is held very near our place, at least I can send her there in the evenings and one of our weekend is free from activities.

For the first lesson, the coach noticed her potential and teaches her seperately. Not that Ethyl is a good swimmer, at least she doesn't have water phobia and that makes her learning curve smoother.

Next, she will start her art lesson with Globalart as well. I seriously hope those fanciful drawings they showcased are not just for show. I really hope she can learn drawing, coloring and establish an interest in art that I lack.

Hubby just threw me a bomb asking me to homeschool Ethyl from home. Ethyl herself also requested I homeschool her from home. I have been doing it, non-religiously I would say. It is always impromptu whenever I coach her from home, however I made it a point, we do it at least 3 times a week.

Considering the unhappiness I face with the school, further chats with parents confirms my doubts are not unfounded.

Homeschooling takes alot of discipline. I have some time to think about it before school ends. Let's see...

Where is the school for us?

2010-07-20T15:10:00.004+08:00

Tell me I am too fussy and particular. Shouldn't I be especially when it comes to pre-school education for the kids?

The current school Ethyl goes to, I found them pretty disorganized for a while, but kept quiet about it till I really couldn't take their nonsense today! How can they shift lesson timing and didn't inform me (I am not sure about other parents), only when Mom went at 12pm to bring Ethyl lunch, then she was told there is such a change?

Is this acceptable to you? The Principal said to Mom, they forgot. Well, this is pretty unacceptable to me from my point of view.

Brayden had an incident whereby his wound (at the back of his head where the operation was) was bleeding after school not long after he joined. I checked with the teachers and principal, apparently no one knew about it. I asked if he hurt himself, they were not sure either. As Brayden is also a very active child, I do not want to shift the blame nor point the finger and be someone so unreasonable, I close one eye since it isn't something to major. I also made a point to remind the teachers to keep a watch out especially the back of his head.

Next, his water bottle went missing. A brand new bottle. Follwed by he was scratched blah blah blah...no one could give me a good answer when I texted them to ask about the incidents. I know kids tend to play a little rougher...but as teachers, shouldn't they try to keep a watchful eye over the kids, especially those in playgroup?

Today's "miscommunication" is the last straw. I had enough of such disorganized pre-school. My decision to pull Brayden out and see how things goes seems pretty right.

Academic, though important, the environment, teachers'committment and the overall general health and cleanliness is equally important. I have seen them going into their classes without health checks. I have seen them ending their classes about 20 minutes before they are due for dismissal.

At the beginning of this term, I noticed a few new faces as well as some students withdrew from the school. One parent shared with me on how she felt about the school and decided to withdraw probably next year. She reaffirms my doubts on a few matters. Is the school over promising? In both our opinion, yes!

I went to the other school today when we passed by the PD's clinic. I walked in with Brayden to check out the school. The principal seems kind, how they conduct their classes also seems so similiar to Ethyl's MMI at ten mile junction. I quite like it. The focus on their curriculum is also ideal. At least I don't see self-praising and hardselling there.

A discussion with Hubby is needed. Though he is seldom involved in such matters, at least I would orefer he understands why I feel a school for them is so important.

Ah Choo Rubs Away Sleepless Nights!

2010-07-18T23:51:00.005+08:00

Eversince I decided to start a website selling trusted quality kids and parenting products, my research has brought me to many many different brands. How I realise, what was readily availble in SG is so limited!

I found Nature's Baby Organics range of products online and am really keen to bring them on my web store. I believe in trying out the products that I intend to sell.

Many people will wonder, why can't I just buy products readily over the shelves? Why must try organics products? If you have a pair of sensitive kids, you will understand why.

Ethyl has been using California Baby since birth. For many years, it has been my trusted brand on kids. Needless to say, Brayden is also using it when he was born.

Gradually I noticed he gets flaky skin, sometimes it was bad and looks red and sore, worse, his skin was inflamed and we had to bring him to see a Dermatologist.

Then, he had to stop using CB products. I never gave up. I continued searching online to find a reliable organic product and came across Nature's Baby Organics. I started using the hair and bodywash on both kids. No reactions on both and I happily tell myself, I need to explore further.

Tonight, Brayden is ill. He had a mild fever, congested nose and a phlegmy cough. He could hardly sleep well before I remembered to try letting him use the products I just received from my supplier.

Ah-Choo Chest Rub seems to be a really wise choice.

All along, we had relied on Vicks. Shy to say, the boy hates it as it was too choking for him. He dislikes us rubbing it on his chest, his back and he will scream if we rub a little near his nose. Having said that, we still use it as we are not sure what else we can use to help him feel better.

I opened the tub, rubbed a generous amount on his chest, on his back, back of his ears and also managed to persuade him to let me apply a little near his nose. A while later, he asked for more on his chest and back, as well as behind his ears.

Five minutes after the second application, he slipped into slumberland. He slept so well...The oil that I applied for him is still on my hands, it was not heating up like Vicks always does and it was absorbed into my palm.

Brayden slept well. I can hear him breathing with his nose rather than gasping for breath like he always did before.

I am so glad this product works well for us. Having a toddler who sleeps well despite unwell is a blessing to parents (especially to Moms). Besides this, I also solved a problem with conditioner that continues to entangle Ethyl's long tresses.

Now both kids enjoys using Nature's Baby Organics. I am going to try out another product, I will share again when the goods has arrived from US!

Oh, did I mention before Brayden has sensitive nose, sensitive skin as well as sensitive eyes? Therefore, I am more particular with the products we use at home, an environment he spends most time in.

Sharing a New Blog

2010-07-18T23:47:00.002+08:00

I have started something to share on my journey as a WAHM.

So far, things are not fully ready, as in website needs more time, however I have not slacken as there are so many things to do before the website is up!

Here's the link to the new blog WAHM Journal. This is just my sharing, I hope it will be inspiring and useful to whoever is keen to start a small business.

Will Share Something Later...

2010-07-09T17:12:00.003+08:00

I will be sharing the hurdles and challenges I face when I stop work to start on my online business. Getting started is really no easy feat. Though many details and challenges, I will overcome them and make sure I do my best in everything.

There were times I questioned myself "Why can't you just have a job like the others and be happy earning a few thousands a month...isn't that easier?"

Well, at one point my answer will be "Yes", but then again, I will never be happy if I never really try and fulfill a dream to be a WAHM.

I will soon start a blog to share on the things I have done, hopefully can help spur some friends out there who have thought of starting something small in the worldwide web.

Till then!

More Challenges

2010-07-01T22:07:00.002+08:00

Reearching online took up a lot of my time. Working from home s not an easy feat. With the kids around, I need to watch out for them quite a fair bit as they will seek my attention whenever they see my presence.

Not a bad thing afterall. I have thus grown closer to both and really watching them growing and thriving under my nose.

Currently I am working hard on getting my driving licence, and hoping to be able to settle this soon! Don't ask about test date, too early, as I have only had 4 lessons till now because my instructor's schedule is so packed!

Once the licence to vroom is obtained, sending and fetching Ethyl will be so much easier! *pray hard*

The web store I am working on seems to be moving fast and furious! I can't wait to launch the site as I already have orders streaming in and keeping me really excited!

Hopefully everything goes on well...

Learning From Home

2010-06-11T11:41:00.002+08:00

A decision I made for Brayden after measuring the pros and cons since the PTM we had before school ends.

A change in 2 main teachers, triggers the concern. At the same time, we also realise he did nothing much in class. Teacher S told us he will be roaming about when the older kids (his class is mixed with N1 students) are doing their work. If not, the PG students will be seated at a corner to play.

I was wondering, besides letting them just play like that, can't a teacher be there to coach them probably transferring beans or coaching them in mastering their fine motor skills etc. In my opinion, just leaving the kids to sit there, letting them play on their own isn't ideal.

This decision came ever since I am more actively doing my research online. I love what Pauline and Rachel did, My Playschool.

After scouring through their contributions, I have decided to teach Brayden from the comfort of home. I am the least creative person on earth. I am bad with crafts, but for the sake of helping my little one and coaching them from home, I guess I need to start somewhere.

Next week will be spent planning the curriculumn for Brayden and Ethyl. Yes, Ethyl will be involved as well. For Ethyl, the main focus is on Mathematics and Science and doing reading reviews aka reading journals on the books (English and Chinese) that we borrowed weekly from the library.

My only challenge is how to get Brayden focused. Let me trial and error on some methods and share with all after the first week.

Encouragement Helps!

2010-06-03T12:03:00.002+08:00

Encourage your kid(s)", is a repeated phrase and a reminder in almost all motivational parenting reads will encourage parents to do.

I, of course will follow as well, since I am home to help coach them out of school time.

Being home, I encourage my son to speak to me, asking him to repeat words after me etc. No, I am not worried about his speech development, for me, he is developing at a good pace himself. What I have to do is to help him reach his milestones so that he knows Mommy cares.

Every step to helping him is a fun learning stage. I started by asking him questions, he used to nod his head whenever he wants or answers "ÿes"to something, what I did was simply get him to reply me verbally and after a few tries, he started to answer me. Be it just a ÿes"or "no", I am contented.

If I were to ask him if the food he is eating is nice, he will nod and answer "nice". His answers are my "fruits of labour":)

Seeing him talking more everyday makes my decision to be home more worthwhile. It's a blessing and a joy to us.

Every Little Thing

2010-05-25T10:46:00.004+08:00

It seems like being a Mom is always challenged by the kids. They are smarter than we thought, they are a lot more adventurous than I am, they are more capable and independent than what I perceived them to be.

As an adult, I have so much to learn from them. From time to time, I will be amazed by their ability to forgive and love. Their unselfish and big heart touched me.

Seeing them growing bit by bit, I can't help but feel that parenting is indeed a great joy and the duos truly taught me to be patient (though I still need lots of improvement in this aspect).

Staying at home, a new challenge; working from home a big leap for me. I am glad people around me (whom I needed most) are supportive and willing to help me.

I have learnt that for kids, there is no such thing called "sacrifice", it is how you manage your priorities and how you are willing to make a change to the lifestyle.

No more big ticket items for me so frequently. Occassionally Hubby will surprise me with one, the latest is a bag that I loved and feels the pinch to get myself. Thanks Dear!

More picture updates soon (I hope!). Till then!

Now, She Loves Math!

2010-04-21T11:08:00.003+08:00

I was hair pulling, struggling and in a tug-of-war with my little girl on her reluctance to do math. Not that I am forcing her, but she gets worksheets from school and those are homework that she needs to accomplish.

When she started throwing tantrums and telling me she hates math, she hates abacus...I began to seek for alternatives to help her. She had attended MPM math, no doubt a very good way to learn math at individual pace, I feel there is a lack of communication going on during the lesson. Something that is missing on the socializing with her peers.

When Janice told me she has a prep class for K2-ers that helps them progress to P1 next year, I signed Ethyl up hoping this time is not another typical enrichment class that will drill her with more worksheets.

First lesson that she had, she came out telling me she wished she had another lesson. Lesson 2, she told me, she will look forward to next saturday...this goes on till now, every saturday, she will be asking for her math lesson.

Since last week, I realised I no need to call out to her to get her math worksheet done. She will, on her own accord, finish her worksheet (without mistakes) and gleefully told me that she had finished it!

For the class, I was actually paying for something really valuable. A dedicated teacher, dedicated owner whom both work on the curriculum for the kids. The class has a nice blend of science, english, sensory, general knowledge and of course, mathematics.

This time, I am really glad I took the effort and time to send Ethyl for the class. She is benefiting from the lessons.

Learn more about Ethyl's class here.

Seeking some understanding

2010-04-12T11:18:00.003+08:00

At certain point in life, I told myself that I can never be the perfect Mommy I wished I were. This is reality. Told myself to take things easy and lead a less demanding life (for myself), however, I find it really hard.

Sleeping lesser hours took a toil on my body system, I am being too tough on my aging body system that lethargic has taken over most times and my productivity level plummeted. Not a big issue, I can survive. Taking the effort to wake up early to prepare bentos for the little ones and the old one, well...they are happy, but someone began to take this little things for granted.

Ethyl refused to eat her bread on my bento-off-days.

She is too pampered by me. Last night I was nursing a sick toddler, and I couldn;t wake up this morning as I was really tired. Hence no bento for the girl and Hubby simply spread-ed bread for her. She was not happy when I called.

This affected me because I always thought she is such a thoughtful and understanding little girl. I text-ed Hubby and told him, he says he will call her and speak to her later.

Probably it has got to do with the extra attention I have been showering little boy that she may felt my attention has shifted. Well, I shall take a step at a time and I guess it's time I spend some girls' time with Ethyl soon!

A Simple Gesture

2010-04-07T17:49:00.000+08:00

While getting ready to leave the house this morning, I saw a piece of white paper with Ethyl’s handwriting. It reads:

Today
Ethylyn is very good girl.

I think this is very sweet. I took a pen, scribbled on: Ethylyn has been my very good and sweet little girl. Love, Mommy.

Little girl called me when she saw what I wrote for her and conveyed her happiness to me over the phone. She is simply over the moon with that little note I wrote for her.
Simple things like such are enough to make our day!

My Plan

2010-04-06T13:41:00.002+08:00

Chatting with other Mommies online has been my must-do for the past few weeks. Chatting with different Mommies, get to know more about what makes them do the things they like despite staying at home and looking after the kid(s) and handle a handful of housework.

How interesting things can get when I hear how they juggled with the barely-sufficient 24hrs we all have, yet they can accomplish so many tasks.

I have shared with some close ones around me, I want to be staying at home looking after the kids, be their cook,their chauffeur (working hard on this *winks*), their housekeeper (nice word for maid), their support and their friend. Basically I will be the CMO (denotes: Chief Maid Officer) of our household.

Having said that, I am not happy with just doing what most housewives of my Mom's era are doing. The new age moms should be doing all these and on top of that, able to be financially independent and operate some little business from home.

Some friends around I see they have special skills like cooking, sewing or creative work which I find really impressive. My fingers are far from being nimble, thus highly unlikely that I will be involved in those.

My dateline for myself is tight as the day for Ethyl to start P1 is driving nearer!So, will be working really hard these few months to get my objective met!

When M = Marriage

2010-04-05T17:34:00.001+08:00

What does a stalk of flower mean to the wife at home? Many husbands out there do not understand, so does mine.

Marriage life has dulled and lost its luster and passion after being in it for on 8th year. So sad right? It’s not even 10 years and the love seems to have cooled off significantly. So, what does it mean to stay together in a marriage?

No worries, I am not going to talk about divorce. We are pretty much sorted on the unhappiness (mainly mine), moving on to putting in effort to build a stronger relationship as husband and wife. I believe in “happily ever after”, though I know there ain’t too many fairy tales in reality!

Someone noted that I seldom mention about my man on my blog for a while. The little mention about my unhappiness actually raises the concern on a fellow blogging friend whom I have never met showing concern over. I really appreciate the listening ear and concern from various people over that period of time.

Ethylyn has been very sensitive about the change in our behaviors during that period of time. In order not to affect her (which we unknowingly did), we “acted” and behaved as if nothing happened. Nowadays, when we don’t feel like talking, she would ask, “Mommy, Daddy made you angry again?” I really appreciate the way she shows her concern over little things that we adults overlooked sometimes.

If Hubby really makes me upset, She would always side me and chides Hubby for making me upset. She is such a sweetie. Having said that, it also dawned on me that we ought to look at how we adults manage our emotions in front of the kids. Many a times, we take it for granted that the kids will not understand. In actual fact, they do and their little mind is working big on everyday happenings.

I do hope my man reads this. Surprises does not cost much, a stalk of flower, a pack of my favourite dessert, my favourite food or even a small box of my favourite chocolate, I will feel good and loved.

Just like the simple bento I made her him in the mornings.

Getting Her to Pack Her School Bag

2010-04-04T20:15:00.005+08:00

So, packing her bag has always been my chore, I told myself I need to start getting her hands on in packing for herself, as to train her and prepare her to pack her bag as she moves on to primary 1 next year.

All students will be given timetable when in P1, she also has her K2 timetable that I would love her to follow through. The different enrichment classes after normal school hours.

Ethylyn has been an enthusiastic helper with household chores,folding cardigan is an easy peasy lemon squeezy business (that's her pet phrase for now).

Here, she had her bag all packed and ready for school!

Bento #07

2010-04-01T12:57:00.002+08:00

In the bento: Rice, luncheon meat, egg, baked crispy chicken, few koala biscuits and her fave cherry tomato

In order to make her meals healthier, I shall buy some veges and add some greens and more fruits in her bento.

All those that can be baked or steamed, shall be done that way too!

Hope little girl won't say to me "Mommy, today's bento is too much for me again!" *beams*

Bento #06

2010-04-01T05:49:00.002+08:00

In the bento: Chocolate mochi, her face cherry tomoatoes, onigiri

Took a bento-break because Ethylyn was sick and was advised to stay at home.

Prepared this for her on her first day back to school. She finished all except for one onigiri. She told me she was too full! Well, I do agree that rice for breakfast is a little heavy for the girl.

Nevertheless, she finished whatever she could. Having said that, her order for the next day is still...RICE! wahahaha...

Space is Good For Kids

2010-03-30T19:13:00.004+08:00

Before havings kids, I prefer to have a smaller house, as small as possibe.

However, after Ethyl, and when Brayden arrived, I realised something missing from our house - SPACE.

The lack of space for the little one torun around and have fun! Not to mentioned,there is also little space to hide.

At our new place, they have they own play area, can run here and there, hide upstairs and downstairs. Though tiring looking after them with the additonal space now, I am counting my blessing.

Here I have a pair of cheerful kids.

At the balcony area, their dining cum play corner *smiles*

Show and Tell - My House

2010-03-28T13:41:00.002+08:00

Ethyl's school has a show and tell segment every end of the term. I helped her to take some pictures and put them together.

The gal and boy were distracted by the iPhone

Ethyl starts writing about what she wants her friends to know about her house.

seriousy working on it...

Completed and ready to bring to school :)

Bento #05

2010-03-26T08:50:00.003+08:00

Supposed to be my rest day from making bento, however little girl has been telling me to cook her pasta and she really hopes to have it tomorrow, I have no other choice, but to give in to her request.

Hubby softly blasted my ears for no keeping to my promise to rest well for a day. I am rebellious ya? *smiles*

Nevertheless, I still woke up earlier than usual as I will have more to prepare today.

I though the breakfast would be too heavy for her, but she told me, "Mommy, I will finish, if I can't finish all in the morning, I will eat them in the afternoon too!" Sweetie pie she is! However, I told her, if she can;t finish, just leave it as it will be too cold by noon to consume.

I hope she will enjoy her breakfast.

Here's Hubby's bento :)

On the Kids

2010-03-25T11:33:00.003+08:00

I have updated a lot about the bento boxes I made for them for the past few days. Something has been lacking, and it is none other that the updates of the little ones.

Ethylyn

Her progress in school has been good and I am pleased with her performance thus far. Though there were times she refused to learn her spelling properly and kept making mistakes, I accepted this is part and parcel of the learning process, so long she still enjoys what she does, I will take things a step at a time.

Personal development is not something I want to neglect. Table etiquette, mannerism and self presentation is something I am working on with her right now. I don't understand why, but she tends to speak really loud. Not shouting, just loud and it does affect me sometimes. Too loud for my own comfort.

There were times she refuses to greet people, no matter how hard I try, she simply refused. Well, it is not that I never try, I did and warned her before we pop over relative/friend's place (especially my MIL), she simply refused to talk or greet certain people. What else can I do??

Brayden

A bundle of joy and fun. This boy has his charm. The way he smiles, laughs and mimic adults simply makes people around laugh.

He is able to sing about 45% of a few familiar songs taught to him repeatedly, this includes those CNY songs that Ethyl has been singing and dancing along with for the festive period. He begins to recognize more alphabets with Ethyl's help in coaching him during play time. As usual, he enjoys playing those peg puzzles to match alphabets, shapes and colors.

Something that is very pleasing to note, he enjoys his lessons in school. He is also getting more independent. He started to self-feed, wants to do many things himself and very expressive (in terms of expressions).

Love being with them both as they never fail to make my days brighter and more meaningful! Love you children!

Bento #04

2010-03-25T09:56:00.001+08:00

homemade bread, egg and cheery tomatoes

Last day of my first week's attempt.

I made sandwich loaf myself last night, and made them these sandwiches with my very first try on making bread.

Texture of the bread is not ideal as it is a little too dense and lacks fluffiness. Taste wise is still acceptable.

Still thinking if I should wake up and make something for them tomorrow. Shall see how. Hubby says I look pale due to lack of quality rest. Maybe should just rest for a day.

Bento #03

2010-03-24T11:18:00.002+08:00

As I was running late today, I didn't make the sushi rolls as I had planned. So the little boy had this car-shaped sandwich spread with Smuckers and some strawberries. Hubby had the same thing too!

No bento for my darling girl as she has fever and I told her to rest at home today.

It feels really good to spend some time preparing something for them. Nothing fanciful here, but it's something I made just for them!

Bento #02

2010-03-23T06:14:00.002+08:00

My loved ones all love pancakes. Thus I made some for them today.

The pancakes were cut out with a bear shaped mold. Had wanted to put some chocolate sauce to make the eyes, nose and ears, but decided not to as it'll smudge and it will be "face-off" by the time the kids eat them in school.

The jelly is homemade. Brayden gets a crescent moon and a star whilst Ethylyn gets a jellied-pig.

In order to promote healthier eating, I baked the smiley potato faces and added to their bentos.

My First (proper) Attempt - Bento

2010-03-22T06:46:00.002+08:00

My official attempt on bento making starts today. I have been preparing breakfast for them (and Hubby helped many times too), but those are just putting the bread, food in the lunch boxes and much to rave about.

This time, I bought many new bento tools to help me come up with some nice and lovely looking food for the kids.

It ain’t really easy when it comes to bento planning for Brayden. I will share why.

Planning for Ethyl’s been pretty easy as she is able to feed herself and has been very independent.

Today’s breakfast, bread rolls with sausage and cheese, strawberries, and gummies.

Brayden is still not very good in terms of self feeding. He can do it, but there will be accidental spills once in a while. Not too bad, but I do not wish to add on more chores for the teachers in school, thus I prepared something simple for him. Oh, did I ever share that Brayden is a “bread-boy”? He loves bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner and supper??
He likes bread without spread or fillings; he loves fresh, plain bread.

Brayden’s bento contains molded bread and gummies

They are packed and ready to go!

Hubby's bento contains wholemeal bread with tuna mayo, strawberries and sausages

Her First Math Lesson

2010-03-21T14:55:00.001+08:00

Ethylyn started her lesson with Tuition Guru yesterday. Before she went for the class, she feel uncertain if she will enjoy, will teacher be nice, will she be tasked to do very difficult sums etc. All her concerns were redundant!

We were late for our first lesson as we were caught in the jam (due to the rain!). Nonetheless, we were greeted by a pretty and kind teacher when Ethyl went to her class. Her eyes sparkled when she saw her peers were doing some art work and asked softly, “Mommy, is this art class?” I replied, “No” and she was warmly ushered into the class by Teacher Natasha.

This 90 minutes wait for us ain’t too long. Hubby, Brayden and I were shopping around United Square while Ethyl had her lesson. When it’s time for us to go back, I can see from Ethyl’s expression that she totally enjoyed her lesson.

The art work I saw them doing was to cut out various parts of the bee and recite a poem, coupled with counting and spelling of the numbers. This approach I believe is to be creative at introducing them to the numbers and Ethyl’s much dreaded dry spelling drills that she gets from me at home (most times).

Little girl is definitely enjoying her lesson! She told me she hopes there is another class as she totally enjoyed herself and feedback that Teacher Natasha is a very kind and nice teacher. She presented her bee to me proudly and started reciting the poem on our way back home.

Ethylyn joins Tuition Guru to Learn Math

2010-03-08T10:52:00.002+08:00

There has been some concern that I have when faced with coaching Ethylyn in her math. To me, it is fundamental to build a sound foundation on this subject that I really dreaded as I didn’t have a solid foundation and had a hard time struggling with this subject back then.

Math is essential, it is part of our daily lives, BUT…how to teach and coach the little girl without losing the meaning of learning? I was pretty lost and a little depressed that both of us got upset over the drilling of worksheets she has as homework from school. We all hated it, but that is her homework, she has to do it.

I once asked Janice if she has any programs for K2-goers as a preparatory course as it is much easier for our kids to be taught by others instead of ourselves as emotion may rule our head more than anything else and makes learning lose its fun.

Her only session for that age group is full and on a weekday which I can’t really send her there. However, Janice came up with another class with and I am glad she kept me in mind and put me in the loop for the new class. As an educator, I am sure Janice and her teacher will know what is better for the kids and how to make learning more fun.

Both Janice and her teacher came up with an integrated program for the kids in order to prepare them for the assessments in school.
I will update the lessons as we move on. The first lesson is starting in term 2 and Ethylyn is already looking forward to the lessons! Oh, did I mention Janice’s centre is called Tuition Guru?

Ma-Yee?

2010-03-02T15:32:00.001+08:00

This is how little boy is calling me right now and we all think this is really cute.

He knows we find the way he says it amusing and has been saying it on purpose. Well, I do like to hear him call me "Mommy" or "Ma-yee" *beams*

Some updates...

2010-02-26T16:25:00.001+08:00

It has been such a long time since I last updated!

Ethyl is progressing well in terms of academic, though still room for improvement, I am pretty happy with the current results I see from her. Encouraging her is something I do until…she started saying “because I am smart”. Well, I am a little not too comfortable when she gets to think too highly of her achievements. Why? I do not want to nurture a proud or arrogant little girl, thus I have to think twice about using the right words to praise.

These days, I would say, “good job” instead of “well done, girl!” I am praising the action instead of her. I am also toning down on using words like “clever”, “brilliant”, “smart” etc. She still gets her well deserved praises when a good job done, like I mentioned, it is only praising the task she did well in, and not about her.

Her pro-activeness in learning does help makes teaching easier. Her weekly spelling tests, homework etc. I guess it’s all about making her understand the need to be enthusiastic about learning in life and in everything she does. Even if she were to fail, at least she knows she puts in effort.

The tedious and pressurize phase of her life is creeping nearer, the education system here is not the most friendly system we have but we still have to put out children through it. Nevertheless, she still gets to enjoy gaming and her quality time whenever she needs. Teaching her to start planning and prioritizing her own time is what I am coaching her with now. She needs to decide what she wants to achieve ultimately.

As for Brayden, he still can’t speak in proper sentences, however we have noticed he started counting and recognizing numbers on his number card. He is also about to count from 1 to 10 in both mandarin and English. He can spell “DOG”, all thanks to the spelling app on iPhone! He enjoys playing the educational games on my iPhone and has been picking up little things.

All these little achievements mean so much to me. It is really a blessing to have these two cute ones at home…they are such a joy!

With Glee

2010-02-10T16:17:00.001+08:00

I couldn’t contain my excitement! Office is closed on the CNY week, and I get to tend to my 2 sugarcoated babies and let Mom take a break!

I will wake up and prepare their breakfast, run home to prepare lunch, fetch them back from school, and at noon, either we laze at home (if I am too tired), else we may go out and have some fun!

That shall be my short-lived lifestyle as a SAHM. Am so looking forward to preparing things for them…I hope they don’t make me pull off too much of my hair!

Time for a Smile

2010-02-04T12:56:00.000+08:00

A simple pleasure that never fails to bring a grin on my face is to see my little ones running towards me whenever I reach home after work!

Little boy and little girl will race to me, and if the little boy touches me first, he’ll look down as Ethyl is taller, I will tend to kiss her first. After that, I will see the dejected look on Brayden’s face and I will hug and kiss him. Such simple actions from me is good enough to bring that happiness back on his chubby face.

What more can I ask for? Though marriage had been on the rock just weeks before, things seemed to have calmed down after we kinda chatted and sorted.

Happiness is something so transient. Seems so near, yet so far…I can’t really seem to embrace it.

Maybe I should see things in a different light so that I will be happier. Each of us has our expectations that we both can’t match up, but we are willing to accommodate.

I still love to see his bleary look when I wake him up in the mornings, love the way he hugs me before we turn in and enjoys looking at him driving. The perspective needs to be changed. I shall focus on those that I enjoy doing with him and put aside those that haunt me and kept us apart. Definitely not easy, but we are both trying.

I shall update some of the kiddos’ pictures IF I am free over the weekends. Else I will receive complains again for the lag in updating.

Brayden is 91 Weeks Old

2010-02-02T12:57:00.003+08:00

It's hard to believe when I saw my calendar early this week and saw that Brayden is 91 weeks' old. He is such a baby to us as he is the youngest. He gets alot of attention from us all and brings us tonnes of joy.

He went to school for like 3 weeks and he is coping well I would say. He is a late bloomer in terms of speech development. We have been trying to teach him new words, and he can actually say when we told him to repeat after us!

He is good with peg puzzles, thus I bought quite a bit for him to play with during Christmas for him. He likes to explore himself instead of us guiding him. From alphabets to numbers, colors and shapes matching, he can do it effortlessly. There was once he couldn't fine the triangular shape, he took Ethyl's math material (a triangular shaped puzzle) and fit it in! I would say he is pretty flexible in this area. *beaming*

Though he ain't talking much, he enjoys singing. Yes, singing. He can sing some barney songs, the simpler ones or hum to the rhythm and dance with actions. It really is a joy to sit there watching both Ethyl and him singing and dancing at times.

He likes babies. Whenever he sees younger kids, he would play with him/her and is really friendly to them (so unlike him!).

I am proud to say, we have trained them pretty well for bedtime. When we turn off the lights, little will automatically lie down on his side of the mattress and pull his quilt over and tries to sleep. No fuss, no tug-of-war. Our baby has grown up! Oh...

My Typical Day

2010-01-13T11:34:00.000+08:00

As much as I would like to be a SAHM to witness every milestone of my 2 little ones, I still do enjoy my current status being a FTWM. At least, I am kept away from my kids for some good hours so that I can preserve my sanity.

A typical day of mine starts early and ends late. Since Jan 4th, I started waking up earlier to fill up their water bottles, check their school bags, making sure they brought all the stuff that they are supposed to bring. End of the day, I make sure all the bottles are washed, uniforms ironed, books packed, worksheets completed, and more importantly, those daily dose of new words were learned and absorbed by our little girl.

I used to ask her to write repeatedly and spell out the words for English spelling. As for Chinese spelling, she will have the write the characters and read out the strokes as she did. Well, she inherited my way of learning. I hated writing when I was a kid and often did not do my homework when it comes to writing. I understand, like me, she asked why should she write so much when she already knows how to write? Fine, I gave in. So long she can write I correctly, she need not finish writing those that I gave her in addition to what she already had.

These days there is no more luxury of “me” time. The only time I get is probably when I am in the bathroom, or when I am travelling to work. That’s about all left for me.

On days when Ethyl has enrichment classes after her usual curriculum, I will wake up earlier to prepare her breakfast. Mom saw how tired I am, and said she will cook lunch and bring to school, so that she can also feed the little boy while waiting for Ethyl’s class to end.

Things would have been easier if Ethyl is more cooperative. She refuses to let Hubby take over the rein in terms of coaching her in her school work. I was so irritated one evening that I caned her when I saw her still clad in her uniform and refused to do her work at 7ish when I reached home.

I explained to her that I am also tired after a day’s work. Why can’t she do her part by helping me to finish her work so that I just go through with her those that she has doubts on? The next day, she obediently did her work and changed out of her uniform the moment she got home.

Seriously, such small acts help a tonne. Just because she listened to me, finish her work; I can have some time with the little boy to bond with him. Else by the time we finished homework, it’s his bed time.

On a lighter note, little boy is progressing well in school too! The latest update I got from the Principal said, “Very Good. Unlike 1st day, he never cried when being refused by teachers. It seems tat he is adapting very well to the dos ad don’ts in school. We brought the kids outdoor for play yesterday and I could see he had a great time! I also witnessed him dancing with his friends when the teacher turned on the cd. Overall, I am very pleased with his performance so far.”

I hope he continues to enjoy school as this is a life long journey of learning.

Brayden's Day 1 in School

2010-01-12T16:51:00.002+08:00

As compared to Ethyl's day 1 in school, this time, the excitement is defintely lesser and the eagerness and anxiety were like 50% as compared. Probably I have been there, done that, that is always the case with kid # 2 for most parents I guessed.

I was not able to witness his first day in school as I had mentioned earlier that I have no leave to clear anymore as I am leaving my current job in less than 2 weeks' time. I trust Brayden as he has been very independent and adaptable.

I entrusted the photography role to the doting jiejie, however she didn't take any pictures and her argument was, "Didi and I go to different classroom. I don;t send didi to his class, how to take pictures?"

Oh well, I buy that. I shall take a symbolic picture when I have a chance. That is for safe-keeping purpose.

Day 1 ended well. He cried occassionally, not because he is unable to find Grandma, but because teachers refused to give in to him! On top of this, he cried for a short while the his friends were dismissed and he didn't see Grandma.

Today's update is really heartening. He followed the teachers into the classroom once he reached school, even attempted to help teachers carry things and also followed teachers' instructions. No cryig or fussing today.

I hope he continues to behave this way. I do feel the slight guilt by not being with him on such occassions, I hope he understands when he is older.

He will have his first dancing lesson tomorrow. I hope he is able to enjoy as much as jiejie does.

The Stress We Faced

2010-01-06T21:24:00.003+08:00

There were times I wondered how my life would be if I am not a Mommy. No matter what the scenario might be, I am sure those are not as fulfilling as being a Mom.

Having said that, being a Mom isn't always a bed of roses. Whenever the little ones were throwing tantrums, behaviors were undesirable; it would be a hair pulling and tugging session for me. As much as I try to be rational and keep my cool, I still do have moments whereby I lost my cool and whacked them hard.

Ethylyn has always been a sweet darling. However, I notice the change in her behavior since last year. She has started to rebuked rudely at times. I know she may not be able to clearly differentiate what’s right and what’s not, I should be more patient and try talking to her about it, I still felt irritated by such reactions from her.

My expectations for her is high, I have to acknowledge that. This is not healthy in the long run. I need to adjust my expectations from time to time; she is after all a 5 year old kid.

Her new school has a very academic based and result oriented environment. I am already having sleepless nights! There are home works, lots of them. There are also spellings every week in both English and Chinese. I feel the stress, and I believe she does too. How? I need to prepare her for P1. My consolation from all these is her reassurance, “Mommy, I enjoyed school. I only don’t like to do writing.”

Teachers’ feedback about her was good. Even the principal said her English reading skills is good that she can only join the group for enrichment in the advanced level. Her Chinese enrichment teacher also feedback saying she picks up new words really fast. She can only read 85% of the passage before the class starts; she picked up all the words in one lesson!

My main concern is her Math. I realize she picks up languages really fast, but a little slow in mathematics, unfortunately, she inherited this from me. I know she is trying hard to do well. We will give ourselves time to make the adjustments.

I already find whatever she is doing as a K2 kid very stressful yet she is asking for more! She besides her usual curriculum, she already has Chinese, abacus and dancing classes in school. Additionally, she is asking for piano, arts classes. On top of these, she has swimming lessons every Sunday. I just hope my sweetie is able to handle so many activities.

Poor girl…

What Have We Been Doing?

2010-01-04T22:18:00.002+08:00

Year 2009 had bided farewell and Year 2010 has greeted us. This is also the usual busy time of the year for me. I have been busy panning out the New Year’s activities for the kids, settling the new school, busied with the research of the various enrichments that my enthusiastic kindy-going daughter.

Besides these, we also tried to keep ourselves busy with some activities and maximize our time spent with the kids.

ECP

We went to ECP with my Anna’s family for Korean food and brought the kids around. We both enjoyed the food, except our man. They really don’t know how to appreciate Korean food! What a waste! Sigh…

Ethyl did clay painting.

She really enjoyed her virgin try on clay painting. The paint brush is a little too much for her to handle when she tried to paint the whiskers of Doraemon, however, she didn’t succumb to the challenge.

Jiejie did painting; the little guys took a ride on the carousel.

Ethyl got to take a ride on the carousel after her painting.

Hollywood Dino

A dramatic visit to the world of dino! I expected Ethyl to be so afraid of the dino and would wail and plead with us to leave the exhibition even before we finish half the journey!

She was still not sure what to expect while we were having lunch at Hawk Café.

Worried and fear crept on after seeing the first dino.

Her worst fear…

We spent minutes standing outside the “cave” persuading her…

While Jiejie was petrified by the robots, the 2 little guys enjoyed seeing the humongous rubber robots and watched with much curiosity.

I had to carry the little girl and run through the cave, however, there was a walking dino coming towards the direction that I am moving towards, I had to make a U-turn and run out of the cave and got the usher to open the gate and let me go out through the other way.

Ethyl only dared to take pictures with the poster.

Fear crept back when she saw 2 dinosaurs in the cages ahead…

She was reluctant to move an inch.

She was all smiles when we got of the exhibition area.

Day 1 in new school

It is really a shame that I missed her start in the new school. Due to some reasons, I need to be at work, and thus left Hubby the chore of taking photos so that I can see how little girl looks like in her new uniform.

Hubby told me our little guy was just as excited. Though he was running a fever, he still insisted carrying his new bag I bought for him, wear jigjig’s cap and walked together with them to school.

So lovely right? How I love the kids!

I am also in the midst of settling a school for Brayden. As I have seen how Ethyl benefitted from Montessori approach, I wish to enroll him in a Montessori environment for a start, as Ethyl’s new school is very academic focused and it is too heavy for the little boy at such tender age.

I prefer to let him bloom at his pace for a start. I am sure he is ready, though he still can’t speak many words. I hope I can start him when term 2 starts.

Here is my vain little boy.

The Big Musical Bauble & Barney Show

2009-12-21T21:27:00.004+08:00

T3 has become one of our favourite spot to visit during the weekends. I love going to buy little things (as they don’t charge GST). Compared to the malls at Tampines, T3 is definitely less crowded.

We went there about 2 weeks ago. Saw his huge musical bauble and got Ethyl to join in the fun!

She was supposed to grab the orange ping pong ball in order to win a special gift. Nevertheless, the kids’ zone she was at only had one such ball and she didn’t manage to get any. Well, Ethyl was definitely upset, and cried. In order to console the little girl, I actually bought her a small pack of chocolate from the Chocolate factory nearby.

Barney Show @ United Square

As this is the school holiday period, there were many shows going on from November to December. We caught the Hi 5! show at Takashimaya before we went to T3 (no photos for the Hi 5! Show though).

The following day, we went to catch Barney show at United Square. We caught the 7pm show, and was queing 1 hour and 30 minutes before the show.

It seems so usual for me to spoil the kids by buying them (things they already have), and seeing them smiling and enjoying while queing and waiting for their “idol” to appear!

While waiting for the purple dino to appear…

Brayden sat further from us as they were delayed while trying to enter.

In fact, we all enjoyed the performance! Ethyl and I were happily singing along and enjoying the ourselves!

Time to fill our rumbling tummies after the performance!

Brayden placing order.

Just outside Pizza Hut, they have this boat ride and we let the kids have some fun!

I really love weekends, albeit they are too short!

Time for Some Updates!

2009-12-13T21:34:00.004+08:00

It's been so challenging these days...work is super busy and the same goes for me at home.

Ethylyn turned FIVE on 20 November!

Ethyl didn't want an elaborated celebration this year, and my initialplan was to celebrate for her in our nest and just Hubby, Mommy, Brayden and myself. However, the sweet Ah Yis made their way to our abode and celebrated for her a day inadvance! Thank you sissies! I really appreciate your thoughts (they came on a thursday, a day before Ethyl's birthday).

On her actual day, we went out to grab meal and also get her her pressies!

Ethyl requested for fish & chips

the cake...

Making a wish...

Next, I have a long weekend due to work commitment. We still found some fun amidst of work! We went to botanic gardens for the "trim a tree" light up. Well, my organization took part, and I was there to "tidy up" the last bit of our tree.

This is not our tree of course! But we had some fun!

Following those, we had our 3rd annual family gathering on 6 december!

We celebrated my nephew's 2nd birthday at the same time! It was a busy day for all of us, but we loved the gathering so much!
Pressies for her, and a truck for the little boy as Mommy felt guilty for leaving him at home. This year's celebration Daddy was unable to join as he had to go for reservist. Well...we still enjoyed!

We also attended my elder brother-in-law's wedding. Both Ethyl and Declan were invited to be the flower girl and page boy.

My little cheeky ones!

The lovely "couple"

The handsome botak

It's Been A While...

2009-11-25T12:47:00.002+08:00

Indeed, I have stopped blogging for a while. I shall use no excuse this time, plain laziness and my wish for more time with the kids took me away from the pc (and oh! FB took my time too!).

Well, we celebrated Ethyl's 5th birthday (pictures coming soon), Hubby's 34th (no pictures) and now, next Monday will be brother-in-law's wedding.

Things were pretty well. Time is never enough for us all! Let me sort out what I wanted to write and we shall be back here soon! Till then!

Ethylyn's 1st Performance - 131109

2009-11-16T10:32:00.003+08:00

This is world kindness day, also Friday the 13th. However, this is a very memorable day for us especially this is Ethyl's first performance on stage.

We were so looking forward to this day! Met Dad and Gina at Raffles City for lunch before going to Jubilee Hall, Raffles Hotel to watch Ethyl's performance.

The little boy loves Gong Gong and kept following Gong Gong everywhere.

Did you spot my little pig?

These were all pictures taken during the full dress rehearsal.

Concert about to begin...somehow I was touched by the little graduands when they went up the stage.

Little boy was really supportive of his elder sister.

Here's Ethyl with her classmate, Little Red Riding Hood. They were representing their class to introduce the skit to the audience. Together with them is their principal, Mrs Noor.

I think Gina has a better view from their side.

They enjoyed the concert!

my little pigs :)

We celebrated for Ethyl at Kbox :)

She asked if I am glad of her performance. Yes I am...all the parents who saw their little ones on stage were proud parents. Some kids has stage fright, but as a parent, we were all encouraging. Some kids forgot their actions, but we were all fine with it. Overall the performance is really wonderful!

Ethyl tells me she loves stage and performing and hope to have more performances.

Siblings' Love

2009-11-11T11:51:00.001+08:00

Surely, Ethylyn being the elder sister dotes on the little brother and gives him a lot of her attention and is his great playmate. As the little boy grows, he began to show that he reciprocates his sister’s love.

Last evening, when the both of us were home, he was kept busy with the Takashimaya catalogue that they sent. He flipped and lookd that the toys that were in there and pointed to this Mickey Mouse car and said, “this”. I asked if he wanted to buy this as his Christmas gift, he nodded.

He continued to flip through the catalogue and saw this sandwich maker and said, “jiejie…this”. When I asked if he wanted me to get this for jiejie, he nodded again. I can’t help but gave this lovely son of mine a big cuddle! He is such a dear! Besides getting himself a gift, he also has jiejie in mind.

Same goes for Ethyl. I ever called her and asked what she would like for her birthday, she asked me how about Didi? Queried on what I have on mind for her little brother, else Brayden will be sad if he does not receive a gift while she does.

Another incident that tells how much love they have for one another. Ethyl has to be in school whole day for her full dress rehearsal on Monday. When it was the usual time that Mom would bring him downstairs to wait for Ethyl, he started fussing.

I am sure he must be wondering why is PoPo still at home when it is time for them to fetch Jiejie. For the whole afternoon, he was throwing tantrums and was really uncooperative. When I reached home, I saw how he would walk up to Ethyl, hugged and kissed her and kept following her around. Even when Hubby or I wanted to carry him, he will resist. When I hugged Jiejie, he would run over and hug her. See how protective he is towards his sister.

Inevitably, I am really glad they are so close to one another. Both care and show concern for one another. I hope they remain this way many years down the road.

Something we are looking forward to...

2009-10-29T10:33:00.000+08:00

Communicating to Ethyl always opens up a different perspective of things that are happening around us. Her upcoming concert performance is something we are all looking forward to.

“Mommy, I am very scared”, she told me one day. Asked her why, and she said she is unable to bow nicely to the teachers’ requirement. I taught her how to do it properly and in a minute, she regained her confidence.

“Mommy, teacher said I look very sweet in the pig’s ears”. She will be playing one of the 3 little pigs. She will be the third pig that builds its house with bricks.

“Mom, I am no longer afraid to perform on stage. If I am afraid, I will look at you and I will be able to continue my performance ok? I will be brave and I will do well. You have to support me ok?” She was all confident when she told me these yesterday.

She has been practicing herself at home. I do see her enjoying her skit and really hope to see her do well on stage. Whenever she felt tensed thinking of the actual day, I will reassure her that things will go well and she shall not fret as we will all be supporting her. This assurance from us really boosted her confidence.

Will try and take a video on the day itself…they actually BAN us from bringing cameras and viewcams. Shall see how things go.

On School and Siblings

2009-10-28T12:25:00.000+08:00

Several things happened lately. Mom is planning to work part time, i.e. on weekends when she need not look after the kiddos. Well, we very much wanted her to rest, but she insisted that she is too bored and rather go out and work. We had no choice, let her be.

Next, my plan for Ethyl to go to a new school is brought forward. Unexpectedly, I received a SMS from the bus driver that he will stop sending the kids to her current school from December. I had a quick discussion with Hubby and started to make calls to both the current school and the new school that Ethyl’s going to be enrolled into. Made some arrangements on paperwork, and things were all settled in morning.

Further to settling the main issues, I discussed with Hubby on Brayden’s schooling plans next year. I wanted to let him start at the same time with Ethyl; however, both Hubby and Mom were against it and felt he should start in March. After much thought, I decided that I shall oblige and he shall start in March whilst Ethyl shall start in January.

I told Ethyl the decision on withdrawal and the new plans for them next year. She was pleased and said she can’t wait to be able to go to school together with her brother.

She has three months to adapt to the environment before Brayden joins, and she will then be the peer of her brother and help him blend into the school environment.

Aside from this, she told me last night that whenever she misses Brayden, she would look at her communication book. I asked her, why look at her comm book, and she replied, “Because you wrote Brayden’s name inside, so I will look at his name whenever I miss him”. This little girl’s eyes turn red and teary…oh, I see the love she has for the brother!

About the Kids

2009-10-26T14:56:00.001+08:00

Being with the kids these days really brings much joy to us. Hubby and I spend really quality time with both our 宝贝 (Ethylyn) and 臭臭 (Brayden). Seeing them running around the house, dancing to the songs and music, laughing and mimicking the cartoon characters are really pure bliss!

Brayden seems like a late bloomer. He can’t really speak at this age. He does blabber a lot, but nothing really proper comes out from his mouth. I am not worried. I believe he will speak some day. Once in a while he will say “EEE” this refers to (eyore), he will say “too-doe” (oh-too-doe when mickey mouse needs tools), he will shout “hurray” when we sing “If you are happy”.

He likes music and movements a lot, just like Ethyl. The siblings have been our entertainer. They will be singing and dancing a lot and especially our clumsy ball, he looks clumsy when he dances. We were really amused.

Ethyl was tasked to read books for Brayden once a week. My intention is to nurture her patience in handling her little brother and learning to take on some responsibilities. Probably I have indulged her too much previously. There were a few occasions when I see her school bag lying around and her worn clothes were still sitting in her bag, I would pick up the bag and took out the clothes, gently remind her to do it by herself the next day. This happened several times and my words simply didn’t register in her head.

Once, I flared up and threw her bag on the floor, took her clothes and wanted to throw in the bin. Since she doesn’t treasure and was not diligent in taking responsibility of her own belongings, why should I bother? From that day onwards, she would clear her dirty clothes and put her bag in place whenever she comes back from school.

Not too long ago, I told her she has to prove that she is capable of looking after Brayden is she wants her little brother to go to the same school as her. Since then, she has really proven she herself to be a good elder sister who really knows how to take care of her brother. SIL commented that Ethyl is capable of watching out of her brother and taking good care of him when I deposited them at MIL’s place on one occasion, when both Hubby and I needs to attend a wake. She has done me proud.

Initially I was still fiddling with the idea of having one more addition, Hubby is pretty reluctant though. Looking at me adorable pair, I think with or without an additional one, I will not regret having just the both of them.

Family Photo

2009-10-21T10:41:00.003+08:00

We celebrated Mom's birthday last Saturday! This is our latest family picture. I love to see how Mom and Dad kept themselves busy with food and the grandbabies. A loving sight.

Happy 53rd Birthday Mommy!

Our Adventure Book

2009-10-14T21:17:00.002+08:00

Shy to say, my lazy butt has been on my comfort lounge for too long. It is finally time that I start doing my job as a Mom, a teacher and learning partner for her.

I have dedicated my evenings for her. A maximum of an hour on getting the materials online, preparing the teaching materials a week in advance, and next she will get to start to surf online for information twice a week, and each session will last for 20 minutes.

We went to Popular to get the materials and books few days back, I started letting her keep a diary, an attempt to start her on writing proper sentences and creative writing.

I got her a jotter book with an empty cover to let her creative juices flow.

We worked together on the theme this week - herbivore. This particular assignment is actually in line with the theme in school.

This is the simple assignment. I am planning for a trip to the library this weekend and borrow some books related to this theme and we will do a small project for her to submit to school when the assignment is due.

Next assignment is carnivore, followed by omnivore. Currently I am cracking my brain for her chinese homework as well. I hope we can help create a funlearning environment at home.

Measly Bit of Updates

2009-10-13T21:28:00.002+08:00

This was taken with my iPhone when we were having breakfast at Sentosa...See the cheerful little babe!

Our cheeky little boy...He enjoys his breakfast too!

I brought little boy to meet Hubby at Tampines for Ethyl's PTM.

Brayden had a bus ride again! Just him and me!

See how curious he was!

Pats on our backs

2009-10-10T11:03:00.000+08:00

I always enjoy the parents-teachers meeting (PTM) whenever the school has it. This will be an indicative meeting to let me know how Ethyl has been adapting and performing in school be it intellectual or social skills.

Hubby and I took leave last Thursday to the school and attended Ethyl’s PTM session in her new school. She joined for 3 months; I prepared myself that the teachers may not have too much to share as she could have spent more time adapting and making friends.

We were welcomed by the friendly school administrator and the Principal. Sat down with Teacher S and she showed us some artwork that Ethyl has done, some photos of the experiments she does, last but not least, the reviews/feedback by the teachers.

Teacher S mentioned she is a very enthusiastic learner; she displays leadership qualities, has the initiative and pro-active in activities, loves to share and is able to follow instructions well. She understands what is being taught and expected of her and got along really well with peers.

Her English communication ability is good as well. She can converse really well and read story books/role play with emotions. Teachers all find her performance very entertaining. She loves music and movements, enjoys experimenting, outdoor activities, basically everything!

Teacher F, her Chinese teacher has really good feedback. She is the top student in her mandarin class. She excels far better than her peers, is able to learn and grasp meanings of words really swift. New songs that were taught to her, she can remember the rhythm and lyrics almost in one session. She is very impressed and asked if she is attending any Chinese enrichment class. Teacher F was shocked when I replied “No”.

Her Chinese ability supersedes her peers at the moment. She is able to converse in mandarin to the Chinese teachers without mixing English. She loves to share with teachers and friends what she has done over weekends, what is on her mind etc. One thing to note from the Chinese teacher, Ethyl finds her Chinese bored at times as she already know many words and able to read the Chinese readers that was given out. Thus there will be times whereby she requests teacher F to let her rest as she already knew what was taught. Teacher F agreed to let her rest and read or learn on her own while the peers gets the work done. Compared to her peers, she enjoys general knowledge learning rather than just reading stories from books.

Now, my worry comes in. This review is far more positive than what I expected. I know we have been reading Chinese newspapers with her; Hubby and I took turns to guide her through math, English and some general knowledge exercises. When the teachers both pointed out that Ethyl is excelling in most aspects, shall I change a ore academic environment for her?

Before the PTM, she has been telling me she wanted to change school as she has been waking up too early in the morning, and complained about the lack of school holidays. Mom also thought having school holidays for her is good as she gets a break and can enjoy more self learning activities or holiday camp programs.

Just so happened that I spoke to Ericia, and she shared with me the new school her little boy is joining. I have seen them at a road show once when we went to E!hub, and decided to give the Principal a call.

Hubby and I were impressed with the curriculum and Ethyl gets to have a feel of the K2 materials. I never like the idea of focusing too much on academic at kindy stage. This time, I succumbed. I decided that both Ethyl and Brayden shall be enrolled to this new school next year. Firstly because of the curriculum, secondly, closer to our vicinity, thirdly, they need not take school bus, but 3 stops bus ride away and Mom said she will send and fetch them to save me 600 bucks on bus fares.

I convinced both Hubby and myself that we will let Ethyl try, at least a more academic focused K2 session can prepare her for her P1 better. Having said that, I will revise our timetable based on her needs. If she felt she still wants to do her assessments after school, by all means, else we will trim down the number of exercises she needs to focus on a weekly basis.

Kids are the ones schooling and why am I so stressed up?! Nevertheless, we are proud of Ethyl and she has done a good job!

Updates

2009-10-05T17:52:00.000+08:00

Family Time

This has greatly compromised over the few weeks while planning for the joint venture (more will be divulged later), children were neglected, I saw the changes in the way Ethyl treats learning and decided that I should fine-tune our schedule a little bit.

I need to do up a new timetable. The old one was good, but not good enough and Ethyl is not really following the activities as planned.

Brayden needs to learn too! Hubby shall be part of the timetable and we take turns to coach the kids. I believe this will be more effective.

Joint venture

This was halted after I saw how the kids were neglected due to my new engagement. I left my business partner to go ahead with the business while I pulled out. Too time consuming for now especially when work is catching up a great deal. We need to participate in fairs, fly over to select the stuff and all…basically my weekends will be burnt.

It is a real pity…having said that, Hubby and I decided to do something on our own free time. We are still at the initial planning stage (it was discussed just last night), hopefully I can come up with something really soon to catch the festive like Christmas and all.

Children's Day 2009 @ Sentosa

2009-10-04T14:56:00.002+08:00

Ethyl's virgin visit to the island was not with us, in fact it was Mom and aunts who brought her there to take the sky tower and tour-ing around the island. Since she had been there once, needless to say, little boy was never there before. Ethyl has been talking and learning about places of interests in various countries. She has been bugging Hubby and myself that she wants to visit the island, and we obliged to bring her there on Children's Day and spending the day out of the bustling city.

Preparing for the journey is always my duty. Making sure we brought the necessities more than needed; ensuring that all three of them had enough to wear and use. I have to admit it is a chore, however seeing that they all enjoyed their short 2 days 1 night trip is really fulfilling!

I planned to visit many places! Having said that, some unexpected circumstances happened on day 1 of our trip and we reached the island only at noon. Time is really limited, and we really tried to have some fun.

I booked Siloso Beach Resort for the first time, and Hubby was saying, we should be back without the kids the next time *winks*

The Roof Garden Suite

Kids enjoying the TV program

the queen size bed

sea view from our room

sunken jacuzzi...

sun deck chairs

The rain shower..

A pity we didn't get to use the roof garden facilities as the little ones prefers to swim at the pool. That was why Hubby wanted to return without the kids in tow :D

We prep ourselves and brought them out to the dolphin lagoon!

we took the bus to our destination

Ethyl enjoyed the show...Brayden was cranky as he was too tired...

Straight after, we went to Underwater World...before that, we had our first meal at the island.

Ethyl and I shared this and Hubby had his to himself.

Peacock and peahens

The kids were fascinated by the birds and they kept coming to us for food!

In the tunnel...

Both were awed by the different breeds of swimmers. Brayden seemed to like stingrays more than the others. Ethyl loves both stingrays and sharks.

What is this??

My fave wobbly jellyfish!!

Aren't they pretty?

Next, we took a stroll at Imbiah Walk.

Took the beach tram back to hotel to swim and bathe

We ended the day with dinner at Kim Gary (vivo city) and a stroll at the mall. We missed the musical fountain. Oh well...

Day 2 was not a good start. Received bad news via sms and lost all mood to have fun. Thus we went for breakie, a dip and got ready to check out and back to the main island.

We promised Ethyl an ice-cream treat...

Look at her charming eyes...

Hubby playing the videos captured

Little boy was tired...

Sentosa, we will be back for more fun!

Do A Small Bit

2009-09-19T08:03:00.002+08:00

A friend of mine sent me a link via MSN on day and told me to go read Charmaine's blog, if I could, she would love me to join in to help Charmaine with a little donation.

Charmaine's Mommy happened to be a friend of hers. She visited them in the hospital and she said she couldn't control her tears when she saw how ill Charmain was then. All these were told to me even before the press started their bit by doing some publicity on the prints.

I had to agree at that moment when I read the blog, it was heartwrenching. Having 2 kids myself, even when they were caught with common flu, I would be flustered and worried, not to mention how Charmaine Mommy's feeling.

Then I did a small donation.

My friend told me, despite being so ill, Charmaine is a brave girl. Yes, she is fiesty like her blog, so is her Mommy! They were both warriors and fighting a tough battle with cancer.

I do hope everyone can do a little bit for those in need. We will never know if we need help one day, but why don't we lend a helping hand to others while we can.

Saturday, 12 September 2009

2009-09-14T18:54:00.001+08:00

Hubby went for a minor surgery to remove his 2 wisdom teeth and he didn't want an "action-packed" weekend whereas I am in the mood for some fun!

I shall be nice, we cancelled out museum hopping plans and went Vivo City instead. I tried to get some fresh air outdoors.

Brayden didn't want to be strapped on the stroller and wanted to come down and run about.

Shopped, shopped, shopped...

Seems like we have nowhere to go and it's still early. I persuaded Hubby to go Mt Faber for a little walk.

Can you spot the tortise that is behind Ethyl? She is trying to take a picture with it.

We strolled in the heat and we were all melting...then, spotted Jewel Box and since cable car is in it's last day of operations for this batch, and for it to be ready takes several months, we managed to persuade Hubby to take a ride! How exciting! Hubby's a little boring as he is afraid to be hung in the air!

The Q was really long, but the wait was short. It took us about 20 minutes to board the cable car.

As you can see, Ethyl's rather worried. She is acting brave and she is holding to the seat real tight!

The sun is really scorching! Look at my boy, he is soaked in his perspiration!

He is also a dare devil unlike Daddy :p

Finally, time to retreat...we bathed the kids and they enjoyed their little snack before dinner.

Went to E!hub for Mr. Chicken Rice and went Gelare for waffle ice-cream. Oh...how sinful my dinner is!!!

Nevertheless, we had an enjoyable day! *beams*