Learning. Drawing. Dinner in a jiff.

Today, Alkes learnt to how move his butt down first when he is crawling onto the floor from the bed. This takes a while. Since he turns one (last Saturday... Seems like forever), he kinda grown up. Or, maybe it's just me. 

Astria finally has my permission to break in the new colour pencil sets that her yi ma ma bought for her during her birthday. She is using them to draw, what else but Elsa and Anna. The frozen craze is here to stay, for a while, I guess. 

It's Saturday. I have been looking forward to cooking dinner. Since the last meal I cooked was at least 2 weeks ago. With the dinner prep done in the morning, the actually cooking takes me less than 30 mins. I guess with a super clingy toddler at your foot, you will become super efficient. Food was nice, ahem, especially the Korean style fried pork. I am so glad the hub and the girls love it. And the little guy also seems to approve if it too. 

It's confirmed.

I will be on npl for another 6 months. This marked the 1st time in my life that I am jobless for a year. 

Freedom gained, but loss of income. Zero. Period. 

How relieved I feel once the decision is made. 

Am I escaping from the harsh reality? Probably. But the agony of going back to work, to the daily grinds is not something I looked forward. 

Here to newfound freedom, and hopefully a sense of calling to be a better mum. 

Celebrate This

It has been a while. And it's long overdue. 

It's your 5th birthday. Has been looking forward to it. The goodies bag, the celebration in school, the cake and especially the princess tiara and wand. 

I'm so glad the cake turned out well. And the tiara and wand are of a much better quality than I imagined. Ha. 

You have grown so much in the year. Much more mature, more disciplined. But of course the occasional slip. You are so sensitive and emotional. And yet so unaware of the environment. 

I often wonder how do you manage yourself in the bigger world. 

There are times when we think we are too harsh on you. And I really felt so sorry. Especially your cries really break my heart. 

But other times, you are beyond yourself. Totally uncontrollable and I feel like pulling my hair. 

I learnt so much from you. And am still learning everyday. Patience, communication and enigmatic. I'm totally humbled and blessed to have you. You bring such joy to us. 

Happy birthday, my dearest. And mummy loves very much. 

Stuck. Unexpected.

Sent the girls to CC. As per usual. 

But Murphy's Law set in. 

We were stuck in a jam. Super duper jam, to be precise. Totally unexpected. 

45 mins later, we made it to Changi ferry terminal for the hub to off load his office stuff. Let the girls come out to stretch their legs and walk about. 

It was a nice change. 

The air was fresh and clean. The breeze was cooling and comforting. This is NICE. 

But!!!! 

We totally forgotten about the CC breakfast timing. When the girls reached the CC, breakfast was over. The girls had to be hungry till lunch time. 

Totally guilty. 

(Note to self: always have a loaf of bread or biscuits for emergency) 

Reached home. Cannot complete any of the things on my to do list. 

Well, that's life. I guess. 

It makes everyday more interesting. 

I hope. 

Project Life 2013

Yes. 

52 weeks of memories captured in 2 PL albums. I made it. 

Started the PL journey in 2012. It was a good initiative. But come Baby A. All plans were thrown out of the windows. I stopped at week 39. 

I did not go back to finish up the weeks. But I did make a mini album to capture the highlights in Dec. My regret was I did not managed to record Jie Jjie birthday. 

I was scared to start PL in 2013. Knowing there will be a Baby in the plan. But because I love the kits too much, I just went ahead. So glad I did. 

What did I do in 2013 that was different? 

I set a day where I know I can be off early to scrap my PL. And I scrap when the girls are sleeping. This was getting easier.  Of course, the photos would have to be printed beforehand. 

So this work well. And come baby A. Things changed a little. 

I shifted my PL stuff to my mum place so I can continue to scrap in the morning. I am so grateful to mum to allocate a place for me. I work with limited supplies. And this helps a lot. 

Things get a little tougher when I started work and schedules are erratic. With baby A waking up frequently at night, scrapping at nights become impossible. 

I was a back by about 8 weeks. But I'm glad I completed the project anyway. Life little moments would be lost if not for Scrapping and Project Life. 

So here come 2014. This is week 3. And I have not done a single week yet. (I still can't get over my DD2013). I'm hoping I will be able to start week 1 and 2 by next week. We'll see how it goes. 

Same Old Same Old

It's another Saturday. 

Honestly, most of the time I dread Saturday. Well, since I have taken NPL, Weekends for me have become so busy. 

The girls are at home. The Whole Day. Baby A is with me. The Whole Day. 

I'm stuck at home with Mei Mei and baby A while the Jie Jie is having classes. Actually, I am really fine with staying at home. If I do not have to carry along a super clingy baby almost 24/7. 

I used to stay home with Mei Mei before baby A was out. I like to do little craft with her, or reading a book. But now that baby A is along for the ride, things changed quite a bit. 

Well, today was just another Saturday. We managed to pop by Changi City Point for a late lunch before the girls are KOed. And because of the late lunch, we had a super late home cooked dinner. 

The thing about taking NPL is I'm back to cooking dinner. I love cooking. But time is limited. To cut down actual cooking time (I can cook a meal in less than 30 mins) I tend to prep all the ingredients on Friday or in the morning itself. It worked well so far. We'll see how far along I can go. 

Actually, it can be done.

14 Jan, Tuesday

MRT ride, taken. 

Bus ride, taken. 

Promised the girls we will be taking the MRT back from ICA. And so we did. 

Now the girls are bigger, it is much easier now. Used to think it's very difficult bringing them out alone. But we did. 

The girls enjoyed the MRT ride back home. They took turns and counted the stops back Pasir Ris. It's a little noisy, but thinking there isn't many passengers around, I guess it's okie. 

It's such a simple act, but they literally took it like an adventure. It was such joy to watch. Haha... 

Grateful

Toys cleared. *partially at least*

Dinner prep done. 

Chinatown checked. 

Yesterday. 12 Jan. 

We brought the kids to Chinatown despite the rain and the crowd. Something we thought was near impossible in the past with only 2 girls or only one then. 

But we did. 

It was short and swift.

We headed for lunch once we reached. That was a good move. Once everybody tummy were satisfied, the sky cleared too. And it was a good time to start walking. 

And we did walk though the crowd. Oh my! How I miss this.

I used to go Chinatown during Chinese New Year with friends. Love to mingle in the crowd and soak in all the festive spirt. CNY is easily my favorite festive! But it had been a long time. 

With the hub holding on to the girls, baby A in sarong, we managed a short walk looking at various CNY goodies and decorations. 

The hub was good. The girls has fun choosing new year goodies to buy. And we also tried several biscuits that were on sale. The girls were happiest when they got to chose their own candy. And Baby A was so tired, he fell asleep in the sarong. Haha... 

Then the sky darkens. And it was time to make a move back. 

Although the trip was pretty short, I'm still grateful we made it. It was awesome bringing the kids around, and doing what we thought was almost impossible in the past. 

Holding On

Dinner cooked. *huge achievement* 

Stroller tried. Phew! 

Survived yet another Sat. *hurray* 

Honestly, I'm not that great a baby sitter. I cannot envision myself caring for the baby and my girls 24/7. I go bonkers first. 

Yet, I decided to take NPL this year to give it a try. (More like an excuse to scrap more, which I LOVE!!!!) 

Baby A is so clingy to me. And he loves being snuggled. Which is fine, honestly, if you are not suffering from perpetual back ache and are so sleep deprived. 

I cannot wait for the day when he can sit on his own and sleep by himself. 

And yet. 

I'm reminded by a colleague that baby A will only be baby once. And most probably my last baby. The time will come (pretty soon) when he doesn't need me or want me to snuggle him anymore. 

So, here to more back aches bad sleep derived days. I'm holding on to these previous little times when baby A needs me. And spending times with the girls too. 

Soon, and I think very soon, they will find me a nag and won't want to be hugged anymore. 

Middle Child Syndrome

Is it true? 

I'm a middle child. 

Growing up, I never felt included in my siblings play. I didn't share their common friends. I went to a totally different school from them. I chose a total different path. 

As I entered adulthood, I was kinda detached from the whole family thing. I learnt to be independent. Doing everything, if possible, by myself. I often wonder why do you need to burden others with your own chore? 

I'm the odd ball. 

Now, as I looked at my own middle child, I wonder. Will she become what I become? 

I feel guilty. I have not spent time interacting with her. We are so glad she is able to play on her own. But is it good for her? Will she be as detached as I become in the future? Uh uh. 

As we journeyed ahead as a family of five, I just hope I have the ability and the energy to give each child their special attention. 

 

Crafty Venture: Handstitched Books

I was always attracted to hand sewn books. The colours, the textures and the stitching. After trying out coptic stitching on my own (youtube is a great help), I wanted to attend a formal book binding class so that my foundation are right.

So on one of the Fridays, I went all the way to Siglap Centre and attended my first bookbinding class from Justina. I was the only student there. Justina was really nice and taught me the basic of bookbinding. The 3 hours class flew by.

At the end of the session, I was hooked. I bought papers, waxed thread and awl (I didn't know what was that prior to bookbinding) and are all ready to sew more books.

And after several nights of sewing and pasting, I am seriously addicted to this new crafty hobby. Well, I am learning new stitches on the internet now and trying to practise my stitching.

Crafty Venture: Project Life Week 30, 31 & 32

Baby A has been rather demanding the last few weeks thus the lack of time to scrap my PL. So I am really glad to find some pockets of time here and there to finish 3 weeks PL spread. So here there are.

Week 30 Highlights
The girls were coughing badly so I brought Astria to see Doc to get her cough medicine.
Made my first hand sewn book using Coptic Stitch. Loved it!!! Going to learn how to sew others.
Inspired by Amy Tangerine and DIY some fabrics Yo-yo. Super fun and easy.
The girls took part in a SAFRA Sprint Run for kids and each got a medal. Haha... Thats was really fun!

Week 31 Highlights
Astria used up the whole tub of QV cream and gotten a good scolding from the hubs. Ha..
I made it to MT Expo at Ion. Realised I have not been there for very long, so feel like a mountain turtle.
A breakfast date with the hubs at one of the yummy food store "The Art of Meepok".

Week 32 Highlights
Brought the girls to SAM for the Children's Season "Arts Garden"
Celebrated Singapore's 48th National Day and had a super awesome gathering at Mum's Pl over good food and manjong (esp for the hubs).
Bought a pink Crocs Mary Jane over National Day as they were having a ND Sales.
In the midst of organising my so called "scrap room" and its in progress still (It will be a while)
Completed a Scripts Arts and Beanie. Another 2 DIY projects that I have been wanting to try.

Well, it had been a wonderful and awesome 3 weeks full of activities, good food and company and even a little time for my creative venture.

Weekend Wanderings: SAM Arts Garden

Over the National Day holiday, the hubs and I bought the kids to SAM Arts Garden. This is an Arts exhibition catering for the little ones and this is our 3rd visits.

We love to go to SAM, especially during the Children's seasons. The exhibitions are colourful and there are always plentiful hands on activities for the girls to dabble in. This year, we are pleasantly surprised to know that SAM offers free entry for all Singaporeans and PR for the month of August, and all you have to do is to flash your ID.

The girls had fun at the various exhibition centres, such as The Enchanted Garden City and Around the Day in Eighty Worlds and the crafty activities were really a hit with them especially Atria.

The exhibitions were very colourful and reminded me of all the fairytale we heard while we were young. This is so apt now as the girls are just learning about the fairytale such as Little Red Riding Hood. It was really heartening to see them running around and exclaiming in delight when they spot a certain scene from the storybooks they have read.

However, we were not able to stay longer as I developed a bad migraine half way through the tour. I left the girls with the hubs to continue on their tour while I brought baby A down to the lobby to rest. The migraine did not go away and we had to leave pretty early which is quite a waste.

All in all, it was still a good trip and we might be making a trip there again.

Motherhood Ups and Downs: Baby Reflux

Having 3 kids does not guarantee you know everything about caring for a baby. Baby A presents totally new sets of "problems" different from his sisters.

Baby A regurgitates after almost every meal starting from week 2. His regurgitations gets worst as days and weeks passed. Several times, he threw up huge amount of milk curd which frightens the hell out of me. I was thrown into a panic mode. I surfed the net for information about baby reflux and regurgitations trying to look for a cure for baby A. 

After consecutive incidents of projectile vomit, I brought baby A to see the PD. The PD assured me that it is very common for baby to regurgitate, even with large amount of milk, as long as baby is gaining weight. The situation will improve when baby A gets older. 

With the frequent regurgitation, baby A also develops rather bad milk rash, which is a totally new set of problems. :( 

Anyway, after reading so much on baby reflux, I have devided to cut down on diary products (mainly cheese and milk) to lessen the occurrences of regurgitations. It seems to help baby A so this mummy going to go without milk at least for another 2 months.

Keeping fingers crossed that the situation will improve. 

Crafty Venture: His and Hers

And since I managed to knit the blanket for baby A, I thought I could do something easy for myself and the hubs. So after surfing several blogs and youtube for inspiration and tutorials, I finally came up with 2 patterns for knitting a simple cowl for the hubs and I.

Super easy knitting instruction for both, although I took more than a couple of months to complete the projects. I am glad to have completed them and not give up half way (which I almost always did in the past).

I am just waiting for the right occasion to put these on. Hopefully soon.

Motherhood ~ Ups & Downs: The Last Few Days of Confinement

This is probably the LAST confinement I will experience given I'm already have 3 kids and I'm almost 38. So I like to document the experiences I had for my 3 confinements.

First and foremost, I am very thankful to my mum for being the confinement lady for my 3 deliveries. Without her, I don't think I would have gone beyond 1 kid. Ha. 

Food.
My mum is a good cook, so naturally, the so called confinement food is GOOD! My mum knows exactly what I like and need *more soups*, and thus I enjoyed my mealtimes tremendously. My favorite is fish soup with stir fry pork kidney slices. I can even make requests for more soups or bee hoon and even dumplings on some days. And because I'm also rather picky on food, I'm so thankful I'm not subjected to the traditional confinement food (read: vinegar pig trotter) that other confinement ladies would insist. Phew! 

The only not so good about meal times is I tend to perspire a great deal during/after meals. It is like having gone through the sauna. They believe that this is the time when the body will expel all the "water" accumulated in the body during pregnancy. 

Bath Time.

When I had Jiejie, it was in October. The weather was cool. Not having to bath everyday was not too bad an option. After meals, I gave myself some time to freshen up with HOT water and rice wine so that I'm clean and doesn't smell. I think this is important as I'm breastfeeding, and do not want my baby to resent me. 

Fast forward to Meimei and baby A, both happened in May. The weather was HOT. I was bathing at least 4 times daily during my pregnancy and not able to bath was TERRIBLE. I perspire just sitting down. But my mum was adamant about NO BATH matter, so I just have to stick to that. To combat the heat, I resorted to constantly sponging myself whenever I feel sweaty.

However, not having to bath is still not as bad as not having to wash my hair. I constantly feel the need to scratch my hair and the feeling is horrid. So to save my sanity, I have to tie my hair up 24 hrs 7 days a week.

Fan Vs Air Con
The heat is THE biggest issue I need to tolerate during my confinement. I am so lucky to have air con at my mum place. When the heat is unbearable, I would hide inside the room with the air con turn on full blast. With the recent haze issue, I have all the more reasons to hide in this air con room. Ha!

"Trapped" at home
I don't really feel trapped at home this time. The inability to go out is okie to me. With advanced technology, I can still be connected to the outside world through various social media. In fact, I realised I spent a lot of money through online shopping. From the girls' kids crafts, nursing wear, my scrapping supplies to whitening products, I can get only anything under the sun with just a few click. Time to curb my insatiable shopping needs.

Downtime
I am actually very thankful for this period of time. Yes, it is tiring. Yes, I am constantly lack of sleep. But I am glad for this time to reflect, to think about what I want for the future. And the time to plan for the future. My work, the girls' studies, home learning. Hopefully, at the end of the confinement, I can have a better sense of what I want.

 Girls and the Hub
As I am staying over my mum place during my confinement, I do not get to go home. Although I am grateful for the peace of mind I get at night (the girls can be rather noisy at times), I do miss the before bedtime cuddling with the girls. It is a dilemma that I am facing, which I am not too sure how it will turn out.

So, these are just some of my experiences of my confinements.

Thoughts on Motherhood - On Breastfeeding

As I just started my 3rd time at Breastfeeding with Baby A, I thought I just shared some thoughts on breastfeeding. I am by no means any experts in this, but since I managed to tbf my two girls previously, I like to share some thoughts on this.

1. Don't give yourself additional stress!
I witnessed many mummies crying in despair (both my sisters included) as they worried they do not have enough milk for their babies. This is worsened by the constant crying of the babies.

When I started breastfeeding Jiejie, I did not tell myself I need to exclusively breastfeed Jiejie. I also comforted myself that babies do not need to really drink milk for the first 24 hrs, so that give me some reassurance if I am not able to "produce" enough milk. For the 1st 2 days at the hospital, I sleep/rest when I can, and get up to breastfeed my girl when the nurse brought the girls to me. Simply put, I just did what I can.

2. Block out the "noises".
I am really blessed to have my mum staying with me during my confinement. Although my mum was not too supportive towards TBF, she did not "encourage" me to supplement with formula. But I think it is important to learn to block all the "concerns" of the naysayers.

What worried me most was Jiejie constant crying for "milk". I had to tell myself I needed the time to freshen up, I needed to be away. I was lucky I had all the aunties and uncles around to carry and pacify my girl when I steal some time away.

3. Persevere through the first week
Everything seems to be fine during your stay at the hospital. However, things start to go haywire the moment you stepped into your house. Speaking from experience, the hardest time to carry on is during the 3rd day. This is the day when you just settled back at home, and just when you want to settle to sleep, the baby starts screaming every other hour. My best advice is to PERSEVERE. Once you get through this stage, things will be much smoother.

4. Latch on and/or Express as often as you can
I know this is not easy as I typed here. But I do find the benefits of latching on often. Latching on (even  so for comfort sucking) helps to stimulate milk production and is also great bonding between you and your baby.

Although expressing can be very rather troublesome, it is important to continue expressing if your baby doesn't latch on (even if it means getting out of bed in the middle of the night with half closed eyes). Expressing helps to stimulate milk production and it is important during the 1st month to "stabilise" milk output.

Of course, breastfeeding is not always a bed of roses. I had my fair share of down time with all my 3 munchies.

There are problems of cracked nipples (ouch!), super bad engorgements (Urrgh!!!), silence cries in the bathroom, unsightly leaks etc. And having to lug the ultra big breastpump with me everywhere I go for 12 months,  the constant lookout for a nursing rooms is nothing I looked forward to. But I have learnt to cope with it.

Getting a good (& dual) electric pump saves time (total blessings) and a chic and cool nursing covers add that special touch when you do need to breastfeed in public (I feel the "high" when other mummies comment on how cool my nursing covers is) and being not too paranoid on the "hygiene factors" on the places you express helps too. I have tried to express many times in shopping malls toilets as nursing rooms are not in existence yet. Of course, I tried to clean my hands as best as I could before I start expressing.

Of course, getting the support of your hubby is KEY! I am so glad my hubby supported my decision to breastfeed exclusively. He even bought me the expensive breastpump. During the early days of engorgement, he tried his best to massage all the sore spots to ease the pains. Communicate to your hubby constantly and get his support, and psych yourself and him, "You can DO it!"

Having said all these, breastfeeding is getting more popular here in Singapore. Nursing facilities are more commonly found in shopping malls compared to 5 years ago. And all these helps to make breastfeeding in public much easier.

All in all, I have enjoyed my breastfeeding journey. It is a special bond between you and baby that nobody can share. And I am way on my third round with baby A.

Just my 2 cents worth.

I'm Back.

It's has been a long while.

I promised to blog more often, but yet again I had to succumb to the constraints of time.

Baby A is here since the last post. In fact, he arrives three weeks ago. And thus its also time for me to rethink what is important to me right now. What I want to do in the future. 

So I guess it is also THE RIGHT TIME to revive this blog. As I imagine a lot of what I wanna do (if successful) will largely be dependent on this.

We shall see. 

  

Getting Crafty

I always like to dabble in all sorts of crafty projects.

Since young, I tried cross stitching, paper quilling, knitting etc. But I know I'm not good in arty stuff so I tried to steer clear off drawing, painting.

Since I have started scrapping after my 1st born in 2008 and more regularly after my 2nd in 2010, I have never looked back. Through scrapping, I realized I can be creative too. Ha!

Anyway, fast forward to 2013. I'm waiting for my #3 to pop in 6 weeks time, I'm getting all crafty! During the term break that I had, I made a quilt blankie, a knitted blanket, a lined pouch and a laptop sleeve. Super happy with my efficiency.

I'm now onto knitting (and catching up with PL 2013), and I hope to be able to complete a simple cowl for myself and a matching one for the hub. I don't expect us to be using the cowl in Singapore (it's been super duper hot), but we are planning our big family trip to Aussie next year. Hope they come to use.

A year has gone by

Time flies. Almost a year has gone by for me without posting anything on this blog.
I'm not a frequent blogger. I blog only when I have the time (1st priority) and have something to blog about.
I have had plenty to blog about during the last year. But time, is simply not on my side.
Reading through my past posts, I realized I missed blogging. There is so much I can document through blogging. Although I started blogging to document my scrappy adventure, blogging has helped to document my journey through motherhood too. I really wish to blog more often.

Perhaps, I should set a routine to remind myself to blog more often. And perhaps, that will be my mid year goal for 2013.