We are at the beach

"Mommy, this is you (top) with long hair, then Papa (red) and a red boat, and
me and cheche. And this (the jagged lines) is the water. We are at the beach."
Picture and story credit: J

My munchkins and I

Monkey faces - happy to countdown to Papa coming home. Whee!

A pair of squabbly siblings

When I was younger, I remember fighting with my brother and sister quite a fair bit. We would fight over who sits where, who takes what, who plays what... you name it, we'd have fought over it and if you didn't think of it, we probably fought over that too.

 

I identify that it's a phase, a loooong phase in a child's life to fight with the sibling, since I did too. But as a parent, the stress of having them squabble constantly is such a pain. They fight incessantly over the tiniest things and so far, I have attempted different measures to control it. The husband has forced them to hold hands, we make them hug each other and apologies, we put them in the naughty corner together, we put them in separate naughty corners, we banish them to the room to think of their own behaviours, we have told them off of the importance of their one and only sibling... the list goes on.

 

Does it stop them from fighting? No.

 

I sure hope they will grow out of it one day (I know they will) and become a tight unit of siblings as I am with mine.

 

In the meantime, on this note of my ringing ears from their constant quarrels, there are indeed moments where they are very sweet and play with each other. I live for such moments.

 

A short moment where they were talking with each other in regular voice.
Aahhh...

Good riddance

 

GOODBYE GERMS AND INFECTIONS AND MEDICINE.

 

And... hello Friday.

A birthday shout-out to my beloved mother

Happy birthday, Supermom

Sick bug

It's been more than a week since our household has been invaded by the sick bug. It started the week before, with the husband being sick, then me and the son has been holding up with a mild cold. The daughter has been hit the worst, clocking up a whooping 4 days of absence from school last week and the damn fever still hanging around. I have spent many nights un-sleeping all of last week to monitor her temperature and provide medicine where needed (yes, it was needed). It is very unfortunate timing that the husband is not around to help - he is usually way better at night-feeds due to the night owl he is, so boo hoo hoo. So, after 2 doctor visits and a persistent temperature, the husband and I decided that a blood test was necessary for us to properly understand the root of the problem.

 

It was dark when I woke her up and she was mildly startled. I carried her and told her that we had to go to the doctor's... and we were half-asleep quiet on the drive there. I felt guilty that I could not let her sleep in... but I had to work and this was the only way to do it so that our life would be running like clockwork. I consoled myself that she could stay home to rest for the full day, so she will be fine.

 

We registered ourselves at 6.05am. Due to the awkward hour, we were only ones first in line to see the doctor! We probably interrupted her sleep *insert sian face

 

Given that we had no idea what was the problem, some tests were put in place. A urine test, a blood test and a swab test. Everything cost me a whooping $400... this must be my shopping record of spending a big sum of money, and all before the crack of dawn. Whoop-dee-doo *insert super sian face

 

Nuggets of anecdotes/information of this hospital visit included:

1) The daughter was relatively co-operative. She kept silent mostly (tired alert) and obliged when I nagged her incessantly to consume water.

2) She was a trooper during the blood withdrawal for the tests. I credit myself, because I hugged her close and tickled her to distract her so that she wouldn't be too obsessed about the needle prick.

3) The nagging of water consumption paid off and we managed to grab her urine sample relatively quickly. I will not go into detail the things a mother does... but yes whatever you can imagine about a bottle, a child and a mother's hand to collect pee... probably did happen.

4) Despite the sickness, she was very pleasant and remains my adorable child.

5) The traffic on the roads was amazingly smooth. Probably because no sane person will be happy on the roads between 5-7am.

6) Delifrance at Thomson Medical is not open by 7am.

7) This was probably one of the shortest doctor visits we ever had, with us arriving and exiting the hospital within an hour.

8) We paid for this efficiency, literally. With the surcharges and all...

9) I managed to delegate the medicine pick-up from a regular clinic with the help of the MIL

10) I managed to come to work and act as if my life is perfect.

 

The hospital rang me up by 7.30am (the efficiency continues, I guess morning is a period of high productivity?!) and with the diagnosis in place, I am relieved because the daughter must be on the road to recovery!

 

 

Getting her nose swiped

 

It has been a long week. Happy Monday everyone.

What is under your table?

A 4-year-old boy

 

A 7-yo and same 4-yo

SCGS "Under One Roof" Carnival

Months ago, we first received the carnival coupons to sell. And like the person accustomed to such "charity work", I aided K to sell them with gusto. We exceeded our own quota of one booklet, and managed to clear two! Ahh, such is the beauty of having family within the same family-school.

 

K had known of her duties through the school briefing, and she was one excited little girl looking forward to the carnival. Our boys didn't get to go (too much hassle logistically) so I had made arrangements with the husband prior, so that the girl and I would be spending all day together. After her regular morning class, we had lunch then bused to school.

 

K's class had come up with a games stall and here is the stall looking nice and spiffy just before they launched it at 9am.

 

Parent volunteers, the girls, and the form teacher

 

K and I had made it to school about 1pm, and it was so crowded everywhere! We barely made it from the bus bay, to the class stall (needed to report to Mrs Eng, she said) when the skies darkened and a drizzle quickly became full-fledged rain. Boo. K and I made it very slowly (we crawled through the crowds along a very narrow corridor) and met the sister. I realise that the sister, K and I did not take a picture together. Oops. Along the way, we got an ice-cream.

 

Adding toppings

 

Our crawl to the canteen was so slow that by the time we reached the sister, her ice-cream had become half mush. K was one enthusiastic girl, on the constant look-out for friends. When she couldn't spot any, she was frustrated and in a bid to distract her, I brought her on a walkabout. Due to the rain, we made it to the hall (fully sheltered) and let her have some playtime on the bouncy castle. During this time, the sister started walking about with her friends along with my belongings. I also tried to meet our cousin who - thankfully was in one fixed position - and managed to locate my sister using her phone.

 

Then, a celebrity sighting - our beloved principal of many, many years, Ms Rosalind Heng!

The next-generation of SC girl my neice C, my cousin, SC alumni C, Ms Heng - as
formidable as ever - current generation SC girl and me, also an SC alumni member.

After this significant moment of taking a picture, came a period of confusion as I retrieved my belongings from my sister, as we lost our cousin and all went our separate ways as it started to pour again, and I met my friends to hand her some coupons for her to begin her carnival exploration. I found a little spot that was sheltered, amidst some of K's friends and their mommies. I spent some time just vegetating there as it was peaceful, and K was on the run, in search of snack and play with her friends. Watching her play so seamlessly and happily with her friends made me very happy, and I didn't want to be a bothersome parent who got in her way. So, I just waited for her until she came back to me, where I sat.

Savouring the fairy floss she bought on her own

The rain didn't let up, and we then spent the next part of the afternoon shopping. I discovered the sale of some t-shirts and scored a pair of identical ones for K and I. My gfs and I then finally managed to settle down together, all feeling really wiped out from the heat, the humidity and the noise. I have nearly forgotten how noisy a school can be!

Little Em, possibly an SC girl in the future, J, an SC girl in 2 years to come,
and K, a newbie SC girl.

 

That's us, with our little girls

It felt so nice to be able to bump into friends or familiar faces in the familiar compounds. I also can't help my heart from swelling as I see my little girl in her uniform. She looks so adorable. And so, I had to stop for a picture of us in the school before we left.

Precious

The carnival was not great, as the rain was a true dampener, but the spirit of the school was strong and though I didn't do that much, I felt very proud to be part of the funfair. The interaction I had with the students was great - I had girls who came up confidently to sell their wares, students who went a step further to help me with my t-shirt purchases, I can only hope that K will grow up to be a happy and confident girl in this thriving environment.

As a Mother now, I understand the heartfelt desire for a child to grow to be the best that she can be. To be able to provide her with the right school environment is the first step of her many, many years that she will spend while growing up. I still feel like pinching myself sometimes, when I see her in the blue sunflower dress.

It was a good day with her and despite a few grumpy moments, it was amazing to be able to spend that time together with her. We all crashed to bed that night, knocked out within moments!

You know you are an Auntie when...

You don't really care what you wear in the hood. I wasn't poorly dressed... too badly anyway in my opinion. I had on a plain black t-shirt with Nike running shorts. And Havaianas. Like, quite branded, right?

You wear this nonchalantly-put-together outfit around your hood (aka market).... And also to the nearest suburban mall. It's still the same hood! 

You carry an umbrella when it is not raining. The sun is one kinda super duper glaringly, unforgivingly hot ok? 

You plan your non-working day around the children's schedule. Can I fit in a coffee before I pick him from his school bus? Do I have enough time to finish the doctor's run to pick her up? Can we head for lunch together after he alights the school bus? Is the supermarket queue very long - can I do a quick run in to buy bread and bananas in time to make the school bus? Decisions, decisions some people think it's easy but no one really understands the amount of logistics involved in running a household while trying to do all I can with/for the children.  

While waiting for the girl to finish class, I plan (a) a library run (b) a trip to the everything-also-have-shop and replenish the home's glass spoons (how is it we only have 4 in our house?! We definitely had more) (c) a random hair-accessory purchase because the girl is always complaining she doesn't have enough clips (and I do prefer to equip her with enough to keep herself neat and tidy than for her to be messy) (d) couldn't resist an egg tart (so good when it's still warm) even though I am absolutely not hungry (e) treat myself to an ice-cream. Just because. 

Mmmmm.

I decide on this indulgent chocolate overload cone for myself because it is cheaper than half-priced waffles on a Tuesday; despite the fact that I should not be eating this when I'm not very well especially since it is nearly dinner time... But sometimes you gotta live a little and screw the rules because I can. So I do!

And you know you are Auntie when you dribble all over with your cone and don't care at all... 

Spotty choc

It tasted so good. 

And you know you're Auntie when you know your sister is going to possibly make some snide comment(s) or giggle with understanding, or roll her eyes at this post...
 

Time to pick the girl from class. And... auntiedom goes on... 

The end. 

Funny socks

This week has been pretty challenging, and my energy levels have been pretty low, very sapped out from work and juggling too many hats. Ironically, this same week when my MIL is around to help, and the husband has stepped up too to help with night-homework duty, when I seemingly have less to do, I am more tired than ever.

 

So, on this Friday that I am so grateful that has arrived, I want to finish off with a happy post.

 

I think it was the sister who gifted them with a whole set of Inside Out socks. They are very vibrant and extremely cute. One night, the children were squabbling over who gets to wear what socks. I mediated and suggested that they share 2 pairs of socks, so they do not need to fight.

 

Happy socks = happy kids = happy Mom

 

So looking forward to a lovely weekend with my loves! TGIF!

An overdue catch up

It has been months since we caught up, and even when we did, there were only 3 out of 4 of us. Still, we went ahead to meet up and it was a nice catch-up session with our familes in-tow. We had simple hawker fare of chicken rice and popiah and dishes, with top up of paus and drinks. We finished off with cake.

Birthday cake for me (Mar baby) and C and M (April babies)

 

All of us, minus the 2 husbands who were present but not photographed

For the 2 hours, we chatted and hung out. The skies were overcast and we were so comfortable in my friend's lovely new home. The 3 kids got along very well, with no cries or fights; the only nuance of annoyance came from the little boy who was tired and needed to nap.

Little monkeys @ play

 

I really enjoy such moments, because time is so transient and we really do not catch up with our loved ones often enough. I also especially loved the dynamics of the children. It's not often that the children all co-exist harmoniously, so that was truly amazing.

 

Just like that, another weekend gone by.

Those red shoes

8 years ago, I wore a pair of red ching chong shoes that matched my wedding kwa. The kwa is a traditional suit that is worn when the bride returns to her maiden home from the groom's house. It represents a change - figuratively and literally - for the married woman to return home in a new outfit and status. My mother bought a pair of red shoes for me to match my kwa and I wore them for a grand total off probably an hour, during my wedding day.

 

Last weekend, I took time out to spend with the sister to help her give my vote on her wedding dresses. It felt surreal, and amazing to be part of this process with her. She chose brilliantly, I must say, and at the end of the fitting, she said she needed shoes to match her kwa. I joked that I wore obiang shoes and she should wear them too (since the mother said the shoes were still around) and what do you know! That is truly happening!

 

The same pair of red shoes I wore, that my sister will be wearing

Friday night detox

The husband went out. The children were put to bed. My poison for the night was my new book and - yes, my latest addiction - Jenny's cookies.

 

Ahh, this maketh a good Friday evening

 

Since Chinese New Year, when I purchased a tin of cookies; followed by 2 tins that the mother brought back from Hong Kong, I had been on a roll with these cookies! They are pretty addictive, honestly and I think that they cannot be good for you. I have a need to have a couple (ok, maybe more like at least 4 each time) nearly every single night; but heck it. They taste heavenly!

 

I'm glad or maybe not, that I have finished all of these cookies in my home. Until next time...