I said “I will”

on this day eight years ago…

Eight years and counting! I am blessed.

Help! I’m a closet…

semi karang guni (junk dealer collector)!

I can’t help it. To me, finding and picking up other people’s (good condition) castaways is unexplainably exhilirating! I get a high out of it. Seriously.

But instead of selling the “goodies” (ahem, one man’s junk may possibly be this woman’s find) I keep the stuff or pass it on. In this day and age, I’d like to call it recycling. Doesn’t that just make me sound so socially responsible? (lol) Then again, I am recycling even though that wasn’t (isn’t) quite the spirit of my actions.

What can I say? I’ve always loved a bargain and picking a free item just brings it to a whole new level. It sends me to the moon!

And my friends, Singapore is a junk collector’s heaven. Just see what I’ve picked up so far and you’ll know what I mean.

Remember this? Yes! I picked this up AND another one that is red!

How could I not bring this cute doggy home?

A cute stool for my little girl and a side table that's serving me well.

And this was my first find that started it all…

This lightweight stroller has served me so well and is still in good condition.

Hubby was a little embarassed and a little aghast when I lugged the stroller home but he got over it when I told friends/family I picked it up and they cooed over how new it looked. I felt so good. Yes, I even show off my finds! (Think I need help?) These days hubby assists me in going through junk! But he just helps carry the stuff, he doesn’t get high.

Babies, again.

No, no, no! Before you jump to any conclusions, no, I am NOT having another baby. I am, however, posting about babies. Again. Sorry (why am I apologizing?! I’ve no idea!) It is still one of Hubby-jr’s obsession. As such the topic has is brought up again and again. And again. And that folks, is why I’m writing another post on babies.

I’d like to think that this will be the last of it but I seriously doubt it. Hubby-jr curiosity about babies has not waned a single bit. On the contrary it seems to be growing. I showed him a photo album of his baby photos and he drove me bonkers with his endless questions!

One fine weekend hubby came in the line of fire questions instead. I must say hubby handled it wonderfully. He sought help.  (No, not from me, he’s smart enough to avoid a life threatening situation.) He went to the internet!

And he found some lovely gems. Really cute, kids friendly very short videos on babies, courtesy of HowStuffWorks. Click on the link below to check them out. To find the videos for a very young audience, you’ll have to scroll down the page until you see cartoony illustrations of babies.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/adam-roundup.htm

If that’s too big a challenge for you, here’s a list of links to each of the kids friendly videos.

• Where do babies come from?
• How does the baby eat and breathe in the uterus?
• Will the baby be a girl or a boy?
• How does the baby come out?

Not only did the videos save me from bonkersville, I found them very entertaining too. Thank you so much hubby!

Enforcing Bedtimes

I’m IN another a little more-crazy-than-usual period right now. Thus the delay (in the already sparse) posts. Eeps! But still, I’ll continue to keep this blog going.

Why? Simply because I love to. It’s a great hobby for me. My outlet. Note the I, me, my. Yes!! That’s the whole point. A “I-Me-My” space.

Anyhow, I’m running out of time to write more… so I’ll cut to the chase. Here’s an article I came across recently on the old topic of children’s bedtimes. Enforcing them is good for their health (and ours!)! It’s not new and it’s not rocket science but, it is a useful read if you’ve not read one of these and, if you have it’s a good revisit. So go ahead and click on the link below.

Enforcing bedtimes improves kids’ health by Madison Park, CNN

P/S: I keep a very strict bedtime routine in for my kids. That’s what keeps me not-lunatic-yet.

Siblinghood

There’s brotherhood and sisterhood but what about a brother-sister relationship? What term should we use? I couldn’t think of one and so I’m just calling it siblinghood here.

One of my greatest joys these days is watching the relationship between my two children grow. Yes, yes, they fight, quarrel and compete (all of which drives me nuts). But now that Hubby-jr’s speech is much improved and Little Missy is getting chattier by the second, they have rather interesting conversations too (besides the negotiations and arguments!) And, thankfully, every now and then I catch them sharing with, watching out for, and caring for each other. For me those are simply the sweetest moments where I just feel all warm inside and smiling both on my face and in my heart.

Here’s some photos of the sweet moments…

It started here when Little Missy was a newborn. He was 3 years old and she 3 weeks.

Then… remember this? I posted this in August 2007. He was 4 and she almost 1 and half.

And now we have this. My 6 year old and my 3 year old.

I am so glad and grateful it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. And I pray it always will be.

When God Ran

Hubby and I are fans of the christian artistes, Phillips, Craig and Dean but somehow we missed their rendition of this song – When God Ran. It was not until just a few days ago when hubby stumbled on it on the internet that we heard it for the first time.

And. We. Just. LOVE. it!

It is a very powerful song of God’s faithfulness, grace and unfailing love even when we are unfaithful. The Father and the prodigal son from the son’s point of view. Watch the video below for a live performance.

You can find the lyrics to the song here.

Have a blessed week ahead.

Mother & Baby Magazine

Guess what? I’m in September’s issue of Mother & Baby.

No, they didn’t feature my blog. I’m now one of their freelance contributors to the “Mummies’ Diaries” column of the magazine.  And my first article, titled Roar & Order, is out in this month’s issue.

In it I shared some of our (Hubby-jr and I) past encounters with bullies at playgrounds. To be precise,

“Mum-of-two comes clean on how she has to resist the impulse to fight her man cub’s battles for him“

No More Eggs?

Hubby-jr’s obsession with Baby M jogged to memory a conversation we had a few months ago.

One fateful night during their (my kiddos) nightly prayer, I asked Hubby-jr to pray that God would bless someone close to us with a baby.

Never in a million years would I have thought such a request would take an unexpected turn.

“How about you mommy? Do you want to have another baby?” asked Hubby-jr earnestly.

Holy smokes, where did that come from?! After blinking for seconds, I just had to clarify,

“You want mommy to have another baby?”

Hubby-jr nodded somewhat too eagerly for my liking, and looked at me with such hopeful eyes too. I looked to hubby hoping he’d interject right then to save me but dear ol’ daddy-o was just sitting there with ‘I-can’t-wait-to-see-what-she-says’ look on his face! Plus I was half suspecting that he hoped my son would nudge me into a certain direction.

“Would you want a di-di (little brother) or mei-mei (little sister)?”

I asked just to check if he really understood the implication of me having another baby. Hoping that he’d realise he wouldn’t want another sibling in the family.

BUT I was wrong,

“Di-di!” he replied enthusiastically.

Sigh. I had to let him down gently. So I said,

“I’m sorry darling but mommy is not going to have anymore babies.”

I We I We decided that we’d stop at two, children, having children that is. Well it was more of, I decided and hubby went along with my decision but he’d be more than happy if I decided otherwise.

I thought that would end the discussion but no. Hubby-jr then asked,

“Mommy, is it because you have no more eggs inside of you?”

What?! My dear son stumped me for the second time that night. Eggs in me? How did he know? Was it from our previous conversations? I could only remember this episode. Anyway, I said,

“No, I still have eggs but I’m not going to have another baby. The egg will only become a seed or baby when…, when…”

“Mommy and I decided we’re not having anymore babies. So we are just not going to have another baby, ok? But we are very blessed to have you and mei-mei and we love you both very much. Now can you please say pray?” Hubby finally saved me. Phew! That was close. Way too close.

But just so you know, I’ve since revisited the baby making thingy with my son. I just read him the book “Amazing You!: Getting Smart About Your Private Parts”, again and realised that was where he learnt about eggs. Here’s an excerpt from the book.

When a man and a woman love each other (I added, “they get married”) and decide that they want to have a baby, a man’s sperm joins with a woman’s egg. From the egg and sperm, a baby will grow.

And that is that. And somehow that was (is?) enough to satisfy Hubby-jr’s curiousity (actually he was more curious about the other stuff in the book). AND (last but not least) he has NOT asked me for another baby since. PHEW!

My Son’s New Love

This is hubby-jr’s new love, a little baby boy, his cousin. I shall call him Baby M.

Baby M is almost 3 months old (I think) and Hubby-jr ADORES him! The very moment Baby M appears in church on Sundays, he’d zoom away from us to sit with him. He’d stroke his head, smell him and give him lots of kisses. It’s very, very amusing to watch.

And poor whoever is babysitting Baby M that Sunday as Hubby-jr will bombard her with loads of questions. “Can Baby M walk?”, “Does Baby M like me?”, “Can Baby M sit up?”, “Can he talk?” and tons of other questions. He’d also help feed the baby by holding the milk bottle. He was so thrilled when Baby M grasped his finger with his tiny hands and he simply loves to carry and hug the baby.

This whole new love thingy caught hubby and I by surprise. This is NOT the first baby he has seen. There has been a few new babies at our church this year alone. And he has never liked any soft toys, never laid a hand on one or a doll and is just totally very “boy”. He’s also not very “nurturing” with his sister… but somehow he just took to Baby M.

“I love Baby M, mommy.” He’s told me many times.

Here’s another couple of pictures of him and Baby M. Note the delight on my son’s face.

Train First Child Well

Little Missy drank her morning and night milk from a cup for the first time last Saturday. At her request mind you. She was thrilled when I bought the cup of her choice the day before. “Now you can drink your milk from a cup, just like kor-kor (big brother),” I psyched told her.

Nice Minnie Mouse cup, isn’t it? My kids are huge Mickey Mouse (the new version of the show) fans. Ok, well technically I didn’t buy the cup as it was a freebie banded to two tubes of Darlie toothpaste BUT I did buy the toothpaste just so she could have her cup. And of course we had to buy another one (of different design) for Hubby-jr…

Anyhoo, with my no.2 most if not all transitions have been a breeze. Little Missy started feeding herself at 2+ (Hubby-jr at 4+). She moved from sleeping in her playpen to a bed not only fuss free but with much excitement (Hubby-jr took some coaxing and a few days) and now ditching a sort of milk bottle to a cup (it took a lot of effort to get Hubby-jr off the bottle!)

Little Missy also goes to pee in the toilet on her own and washes her own hands. In fact most of the time she’d get upset if I try to help. She wants to be independent, to do things like “big kids”, just like kor-kor.

Yes I do think in part it is a result of her personality (read bossy and strong willed). But modeling Hubby-jr’s actions/habits is also a large contributing factor. And from chatting with a lot of fellow moms, wanting to do what the older sibling does is not unique to Little Missy. It is the norm.

A long time ago, someone did say these words to me of which I am discovering to be true.

“Train your no.1 well and it will be easier with the no.2″

I am not saying no.2 will naturally be an easier child to handle. Oh NOoooo! In so many ways Little Missy is a much bigger challenge (again, read bossy, strong willed but that’s a whole other story!). Each child is so different.

BUT

All my effort in training Hubby-jr (whatever I could) is paying off. In some areas as I mentioned above I do not have to train Little Missy, she just models after her brother. For that I am extremely grateful. Parenting is tough enough as it is and anything, ANYTHING that eases the process, however minutely, helps.