Reflection Year 2014

Hi folks!

As the year comes to an end soon for 2014, it's time for reflection for me. A lot of changes happened to me, my family, my community, my country and around the world.

Let's start from myself and family..

2014 positive changes
1. Reduce hectic, rush-y, dinner-in-car/office lifestyle
Thanks to the sudden/necessary change of work, babysitter, transport arrangement

2. More home-cooked meals
Healthier and more time and cost-saving. Sit down meals is an opportunity to reconnect as a family(to be improved further on this part. DH has played a significant role on this as he reached home earlier than I did and chip in to heat up or prepare the dinner.

3. More sports( and hopefully less screen time)
Signed the kids up for swimming lessons thus kids and DH have their weekly sports activities. To be improved to include me and baby ZS.

4. More menu experiments
As I need to cook more now, thus more chance to do more research and experiment and discover more kids' approved meal...very glad to discover few recipes and freezer-friendly food like dhal, pizza dough...to have more varieties and hope to improve on the planning, budgeting, organizing and nutrition-savvy part of it.

5. Slowed down my pace while still doing the needy
Learnt to say No when needed to though the guilt is still there..need to learn to prioritize and learn from the reason why the need to say No. Understanding the Why of saying No will eradicate the guilt. E.g., doing the task for the sake of doing yet does not yield any positive impact or benefit to anyone. Learn to plan well, prioritise and make time for worthy cause and task. This is not to be selfish yet being naively selfless is not a heroic act to be applause too.

Throughout the adventures this year, I am thankful for the lessons learnt, opportunities given and people I am blessed to meet. What I hoped for the coming year is to give all my best in the task prioritized(either from me or the Creator). I would like to shamelessly asked help, strength and guidance from the Creator to show me the way when i am lost, down, misguided or lack of the power to carry on.

Thank you in advance for the lessons and learning adventures to come..

Have a blessed weekend everyone!

Cheers!

Carefree childhood

Hi folks!
A late Christmas 🎄 greetings to all who are celebrating!

It's school holidays for a couple of days more..and while the kids spending some time with their grandparents (I love this shot which immediately brings me to the word "carefree")...which is kinda deprived for kids especially those staying in city.

This holiday I have been spending most time indoor and in bed..was down with severe headache and fever after two kids down with fever one after another.

The bright side to it, I noticed my pimples have gone...now makes me wonder why they have appeared in the first place? Lack of sleep? Irregular bowel movement? Fried food? Insufficient fluid intake? Weather and harsh enclosed air condition in most offices? I think the first and the Las played a big part of it. I recalled after my 6-day hospital stay during my dengue time with enough rest and hydration with minimal exposure to outside air pollution and dust my cheeks actually became rosy for the first time in my life(not sure if I have any during baby time)!

Very grateful am happened to be staying with my parents when I suddenly felt really awful and sick on Christmas eve...and kids are well taken care of while I am fighting off the virus in bed..

Now, feeling bit better...with all the rest makes me awake at this hour and yearly reflection and what I hoped to improved on for coming year came upon me..will write them in another blog post.

Before that while checking my FB messages..saw an ex-colleague making a personal request for donation for his Kelantan kampung folks who are seriously affected by the flood..makes me no hesitation to contribute something too..which also makes me think why I would do so? Partly due to the scenes I saw on the news..and largely due to the trust I have on this friend of mine whom I know the fund will certainly be channeled fully and benefit the actual group who needs it...it's. Quite saddening fact to admit how little trust people or just me have on those public donation drive which we aren't certainly sure how much of the amount will really go to the public who are in needs...this aside there are still people with conscience who will do what they should be doing..with God watching and our heart being our best alarm to remind us of anything which gone against our conscience.

Pray for more daily awakening to our everyday action and thoughts...pray for a better year to come...better resilience to face whatever coming and helping out each other to sail it through and enjoy the ride too!

Cheers and have a blessed New Year folks!

Pirate and Princess: Power of Doing Good

Hi folks!

Do you have a budding Pirate(s) and/or Princess(es) at home?

Are they full of compassion, caring, helpful and responsible? If you think they aren't or need a little more "polishing" and practice, there's a lovely campaign here run by Disney Junior. 

Disney Junior’s ‘Pirate and Princess: Power of Doing Good’ campaign aims to introduce kids aged 2-7 to the idea and values of - caring for nature, animals, and helping others. The campaign will aim to empower preschoolers to participate in acts of service encouraged by parents and supported by the community.

What a lovely campaign and it's supported by their partner our partners, WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), SPCA Singapore and Selangor, and Singapore Environment Council.

"WWF is happy to support Disney Junior's Power of Doing Good campaign. Children need to learn from a young age to be aware and care for the environment, the animals and society. This will go a long way in growing a generation who takes responsibility in shaping a healthy planet,” said Elaine Tan, CEO, WWF Singapore.

Popular Disney Junior characters Jake (from Jake and the Never Land Pirates) and Sofia (from Sofia the First) will take the kids on a journey of personal empowerment through the ‘Power of doing good’ campaign.

HOW: Parents will need to download fun activity sheets from the website - www.disneyjuniorpowerofdoinggood.com. Activities are themed around four key areas - Community, Animals, Nature and Storytelling. Online badges and certificates are simple rewards to encourage kids to complete all activity sheets and learn the ethos of doing good. In addition, there will be opportunities for kids and families to create “power promises” online- a simple promise to do something good for the world they live in.

Now check out the website with your kids now.

Together, let's create the next generation of caring, responsible and helpful leaders!

Cheers!

ZS at 19-month

Hi folks!

Just thought of updating ZS milestone at 19 months.

I have a rather insecure/disturbing thing on my mind now. Due to ZS hospitalization around age 1 (for broncho-pneumonia) and then subsequently having cough, fever, etc. We (or rather I) kind of postponing his MMR jab.

Then, I tried to let him take some hard-boiled egg to check if he has any egg allergy. Tadah…hitting jackpot, rashes appeared around his mouth area (especially the jaw).

Thus, again trying to delay it a little, until recently we brought him again for the jab after a series of cakes (with eggs) and omelet seems to be all right for him. That morning before sending him for the jab, I tried letting him take 1-3 spoonful of hard-boiled egg again. The rashes didn't appear (at least not immediately). Thus we thought, maybe he is able to tolerate eggs now.

After queueing up for half day at Dr. Koe Child Clinic, again, just before it was his turn, I see red spots appearing on his face. After Dr. Koe checked on him, we were advised to let him take his injection at a hospital setting to keep him monitored.

I am not sure if any parents out there experienced similar experience before and could share your invaluable experience with us. For I have not faced such situation with my older two kids. At that time, I think both of them has not taken eggs prior to reaching one year old, thus I just told the doctor and nurses that I am not sure if they have any allergy to eggs…FULL STOP.

But for ZS as his MMR jab was very much delayed (he is 19 months now), it seems that he is still allergic to eggs. So we might just have to bring him to hospital to take the jab.

MMR jab aside, since it's his 19month now, I would like to record down his milestones at 19 month before I forgot or for our future reference.

At 19 months

·         He had his first swim last Sun (we kinda postponed his swimming exposure due to the broncho-pneumonia episodes unlike KY who had her first swim at 6 months old)

·         He eats varieties of food now (soup, avocadoes, tomatoes, noodles, roti canai, vegetarian cheese, potatoes, dhal, etc), loves fruits (apples, kiwi, strawberries, grapes, etc).

·         He loves to dance to upbeat advertisement on TV.

·         He like to act out (can even complain to me in his own language when his request was rejected/ignored by the older siblings), react(he sure has the most "visible" tantrums amongst the 3 kids and even imitate(the adults)

·         He is still fully-breastfed

·         He loves to sing and his favorite tune are Let it go (especially after watching Frozen Sing Along at the cinema with his gor gor and che che), twinkle-twinkle, incy wincy spider, Baa Baa Black Sheep, some Chinese songs DH used to sings to him.

·         He can address us, his siblings, our parents and his babysitters. His favourite is his gor gor(brother) and che che(sister) and they love their little brother a lot too albeit at times they tend to forget ZS is still a little baby and play kinda rough with him, thus causes some bums and knocks happened.

·         He is such a "train-able" age whereby after showing him once/few times, he would take his plate to the kitchen, worn clothes to the laundry area and even eat on his own. Very independent child.

·         He is such a great helper whereby he would help to "vacuum", wipe any dirty stains/dust(which I am worried due to his sensitive to dust), etc

Life being mom of 3 kids is sure full of fun and laughter. Thanking God for bringing ZS (our bundle of joy) to our lives. Hope we will be a loving parent to him as much as God loves us.

Cheers!

 

 

Siblinghood

Hi folks!

I managed to snap this picture while I was back from retrieving stuff from the car while getting help from KY to watch over her brothers.

She managed to settle all of them down to some quiet time watching Disney cartoons...grateful...for her reliable and loving kindness to help ease mommy's load while daddy is away....otherwise it would be hard for me to manage alone...

Cheers to a holy jolly X' MAS soon...I hear the bells ringing..how about you?

10 minute breakfast

Hi folks!

The convenience of freezer meals..a 10 minute breakfast ready for hungry kids on  a busy/lazy weekend. .

Cheers!
(in the picture is a pre-made pizza stashed in freezer few weeks back and heated up in oven for 10 minutes together with heart-shaped vegetarian nuggets.)

Starting Primary 1

Hi folks!

Today went to send my son for primary 1 preparatory class. Wow..so many parents in the halls. I didn't expect to see so many parents sending them for this so-called two-week tuition session! Thought I am one kiasu parent myself.

Actually I sent SE for this as I felt he needed it. As his sister might not be in the same session as him. Being new to the school, it might help if he has some prior experience attending the preparatory class. Otherwise he might just laze around with his ipad throughout the school holiday.

Back to the school scene, it really feels like first day of school for me, not just the physical look of it (the anxious parents, double or triple-parked cars, the cute children in their new school uniform)…but more so, the feeling of my first child going to school dejavu came back to me again. I would have thought I will be steadier (didn't even apply leave for this special day) since it's not my first child going to school but second. Nonetheless, I felt rather emotional all the same! My second child is growing up fast and attending primary school..wow..cannot imagine how time has flies..

And it's nice to bump into some friends I knew whose children are attending the same school too. So is SE who met some of his kindergarten friends there. Thus they (or we) have a company!

And just moment ago, I got the message from my transporter that my son has been fetched from the school (phew) ..feeling relieved and curious how he finds his first day of school experience..hoped he has a good start and good feeling over the school and his friends.

Will check more with him tonight.

How about you? Are your children starting primary 1 soon? How do you feel? Must be pretty excited right! Let's share our "excitement" together..

Cheers!