Submit = Respect Your Husband

Did you notice a new link on my blog? It’s Faith Lifts, a nice site I found with nuggets of encouraging spiritual stuff mainly for Christian stay home moms. It features short write-ups, nothing too heavy. Just what I need now and then.

When I visited their site last week, they had this article entitled “Wives Submit…” under the Marriage category. You can view it here wives-submit.doc (I saved it as a word document as I wasn’t sure how long the post would remain on their site) . The writer talked about respecting your husband as a form of submission.

It was a very good reminder for me to respect hubby. It’s not that I don’t, it’s that I don’t make enough effort to do so in our everyday lives and especially in little everyday things. After a long day with the kids at home, I’m not always receptive to what hubby has to say. Sometimes when hubby has an idea, I just go, “what?! why?!”, brushing him off and not quite listening.

A recent example, hubby came home one day and excitedly told me he wanted to buy a new shower head for our bathroom. He had stayed overnight at a hotel for an office event and was just blown away from how shiok it was to shower at the hotel. You can hardly blame me for being less than enthusiastic at his “wonderful” experience and idea. I was exhausted as he was busy with night meetings coming home near midnight for 5 days in a row. “What?! Why change the shower head?!”…. snap, snap, snap, brushing him off. Hardly very respectful. Later although I did ease into his idea I still wondered what the big deal was.

Lo and behold just yesterday hubby came home with a brand new shower head (a big one with four adjustable variations) and fixed it up in a jiffy. And I must say, it did make a world of difference. It really made showering a whole new experience! So he was right. I should’ve been more supportive and respectful.

Just as women love to be loved and feel cared for, I guess for men it’s being respected… even when it’s silly!

Most Important Thing to Hubby-jr

The most important thing to my son, hubby-jr at the moment is…, no, not mommy…, no, not daddy nor little sis…, not any of his grandparents and not any of his friends. It’s not a person. It’s not a TV show. It’s not a toy, not even a computer game.

The Most Important Thing to hubby-jr at the moment is… (drumroll), Char Siew Rice!!! With Char Siew Pau and Char Siew Cheong Fun as close contenders, in that order.

How do I know? One night during a family dinner out, I tried to find out what his no.1 favourite food was. So I asked him a series of questions comparing some of his favourite food and Char Siew Rice kept coming up tops. Then hubby-jr’s uncle decided to ask him the ultimate question…

Uncle: Do you love mommy, daddy more or Char Siew Rice more?

Hubby-jr (without hesitation whatsoever): Char Siew Rice.

There you have it. After all the labour pain (and C-section pain!), after all the hours spent taking care of him, bonding… this is what I get for being mommyfied… trumped by a $2.50 plate of Char Siew Rice!

My Birthday, My Hubby

Yesterday was my birthday and this was hubby’s present to me. Yup I’m born in the year of the Pig! That makes me… well I’m not in my 20s, so you do the math. Anyway, I’m proud to be born in Pig-year and am quite thrilled that this is the Pig-year (cheap thrill huh? haha). No, I’m not superstitious or anything like that, well pigs are kinda cute don’t you think?

Anyway, anyway when I read somewhere that Swatch was releasing a limited edition to celebrate “my” year, I told hubby that I wanted one for my birthday. While I kinda expected the watch, I was pleasantly surprised by the packaging. I love the golden piggy bank that came with it. So adorably cute and I’m so pleased that Swatch made the effort to make piggy year special!

Yes, for many years now I’ve either told hubby what I want or I just go out and hunt for a present myself. I married Mr. Sweet Guy not Mr. Romantic. Hubby gets all stressed out if I expect a surprise gift. He’s very afraid of the surprise turning out to be a shock!! And honestly I’m quite afraid of being shocked too. He and his brothers once gave his mom a vacuum cleaner as a present! They swore it was what she wanted (men!).So instead of a surprise, every year I get to decide what I want to do and hubby will grant me my wish.

There was one year, I felt so cooped up at home I told hubby that for my birthday I wanted a whole day of shopping on my own. So he took leave, looked after hubby-jr while I had the day off to shop leisurely for a present on my own. Another time, at my request, he arranged for us to meet an old friend for high tea after shopping together for my present. Other years we have a family outing with the kids.

Come to think of it ever since I became mommyfied, hubby’s been taking leave every year on my birthday just to make it my special day. So, if I had to choose between Mr. Romantic and Mr. Sweet Guy, I’d marry hubby all over again.

IKEA Tampines

If you’ve yet to find out, IKEA Tampines is a family-with-young-kids’ haven. We went there for breakfast this morning. Although the shopping area opens at 10am, the restaurant opens for breakfast from 8am.  Hubby and I had a nice slow breakfast as hubby-jr had fun in a small play area within the spacious eatery (If your child is very young, the play area is surrounded by seats, so that you can eat in peace while watching your little one). The breakfast was yummy (not fantastic but nice enough), we had French toast with an egg, a sausage and baked beans, all for only $2.20 per plate! (As hubby is a “friend” of IKEA, we had complimentary coffee). Much better than breakfast at MacDonald’s if you ask me! 

After that, hubby-jr had to go through his favourite ritual at IKEA. Off to the mini slide at the kids’ area. He can spend half hour easily just playing with the slide. Don’t ask me why, I’m just as clueless. Up the 3 steps, pass a very short tunnel and down the slide. Over and over and over again. Then he’d like sit in this egg-like swivel chair (see pic below), cover himself and do a few spins. And when it’s time to leave, he’d have a cruise to the exit standing in the mini trolley IKEA has where you hang their big yellow plastic bag (I wish I took some pictures, maybe next time). 

There, it’s one of our family mornings when daddy’s on leave. “Yes mommy, I enjoyed myself at IKEA shopping centre,” says a satisfied hubby-jr as we head home.  

There are only a few things missing from IKEA, mainly shoes, bags and clothes! If only they sold those, then I could perhaps actually manage some shopping with kids in tow!

Is The Holidays Over Yet?

Tick tock tick tock. Four more days. Tick tock tick tock. And it’s the end of the school holidays. Tick tock tick tock.

I just can’t wait for school to start again!!! I want my routine back! Being stuck at home all day with an active four-year old boy is far from great!

Yes, I’m suffering from holidays fatigue. Mom and dad left yesterday (sigh…). Hubby and I are not quite fully recovered. Although fever has subsided we still feel weak, about 70% of usual strength. So we couldn’t quite venture out and we’re all stuck at home (again! We’ve been stuck at home for one whole week now) and poor hubby-jr is so listless.

I’m praying hard that we’ll feel much better tomorrow to take my poor kids out for some fun. It’ll probably exhaust me… but… tick tock tick tock… only four more days to go!

Happy Father’s Day

To all fathers out there (especially dear hubby), this one’s for you. Be inspired and Happy Father’s Day!

“Nothing has touched me more deeply than [this honor given to me] by the National Father’s Day committee. By profession, I am a soldier and take great pride in that fact. But I am prouder, infinitely prouder, to be a father. A soldier destroys in order to build. The father only builds, never destroys. The one has the potentialities of death, the other embodies creation and life. And while hordes of death are mighty, the battalions of life are mightier still. It is my hope that my son, when I am gone, will remember me not from the battle, but in the home.” 

General Douglas MacArthur, one of the greatest military leaders of all time, said this in 1942 after he had been given an award for being a good father.

Little Missy In Action

Since I’ve written quite a fair bit about Little Missy learning to walk I just had to post this photo of her in action.

Isn’t her expression just priceless?

P/S: Yes, this photo was taken at night.

P/P/S: Now she’s progressed to taking a few independent steps towards her toys without our prompting in the day!

Attack of the Super Duper Flu Bug

Our home is now a sick bay. It started with hubby. An itchy throat, cough and runny nose soon led to fever. Fever soared to 39.5 °C and only gradually sneaked down after 3 days. Now after 5 days, even with antibiotics hubby’s still running very mild fever. Sure is some super duper flu bug.

Next was Little Missy. She was recovering from cough and cold when it turned for the worse. Good thing I brought her to the doctor soon enough and he gave her antibiotics. Thankfully she has been fever free. Crossing my fingers that she’ll just recover fully from her cough.

Then three days ago, it was my turn. Itchy throat, cough and stuffy nose one night, next day the fever came. “Just gimme the antibiotics! I’m being attacked by the super duper flu bug!” I almost yelled at the doctor (of course I was a whole lot more polite than that). Even the antibiotics at the early stage couldn’t stop my fever from soaring to 39°C that night. Now I’m slowly recovering with temperature fluctuating between 37°C-38°C.

Unfortunately hubby-jr got hit by the bug last night and is at the doctor’s even as I write.

So yup, it’s been a tough week. Hubby and I have been monitoring our temperature like a short term investor monitoring the share market but in our case we want it to go down!

I am just so thankful my parents are here and I’m praying they don’t catch the bug.

Little Missy - Vampire Walker?

It’s been almost 5 days since Little Missy took her first independent steps. However finger-holding-with-one-hand is still her preferred mode of walking especially during the day. She’ll occasionally take a few steps on her own but only after some coaxing. Then at around 8pm, when it is dark, a motivation seems to take over Little Missy and she’ll practice walking non-stop until it’s time for her last milk feed for the day (8.30-8.45pm). This has been the pattern for the last 5 days. Strange isn’t it?

Initially we thought that it was because we’d all be seated in the living room after dinner. We’d spread ourselves around the living area so she could walk confidently from one person to another minimising her fear of falling (there’s 4 adults now in my house as my parents are here visiting).  So we tried replicating the scenario one morning in broad daylight. She tried for less than 5 minutes and lost interest. But when night came, she once again practiced fervently. Totally bizarre!

Anyway that’s my Little Missy, the vampire walker, she walks only when it’s dark!

P/S: I’m pleased to report that Little Missy’s getting better with her night practices. She walking further and steadier each night.

How To Soothe Night Coughs

I was blog surfing and found this interesting remedy to help soothe night coughs.

To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vaporub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.

Interesting eh? Crazymommy said it worked for her. I’ll probably give it a try should the need arise the next time.