The last leg of 2010

Our Korea trip is finally over and it's Christmas eve today! The trip was a good one, with everyone enjoying the cold and snow in Korea. Hao and Ee took up ski lessons there and they loved it so much that they have requested to go back next year and the following years. We might end up having to bring them skiing for our annual holiday trips! They also saw snow for the first time ever and thank god it snowed on our 3rd day there, making it extra special than just playing with snow at the ski resort...they actually can feel snow falling from the sky into their palms and faces! The look on their faces was just so precious.

The only unfortunate thing is that Ee had fever on the return flight back, but luckily he recovered from the fever the next day after some medicine and a good night sleep. Now, he's just having some cough and running nose. Just last night, the fever hit Min and he had to be on meds for his fever and blocked nose since last night. Not sure if Min fell sick due to the cold in Korea or the weather change from Korea to Singapore, but my guess is the latter cuz he was perfectly fine when he came back. Crossing fingers that he'll recover soon over this weekend and we can all enjoy this last leg of 2010.

It's only less than 1 week away from 2011 and I must say year 2010 is a year of many ups and downs for me. I certainly hope next year will be better and my family will be all in good health.

One and a half week gone!

One and a half weeks of the school holidays had gone by! We are enjoying our free time relaxing and lazing around. Hubby has been travelling a lot these days but that didn't dampen our spirits at all, as I bring the 3 boys wherever I go and to wherever they want to go. This weekend, we'll be going to Bintan for a short stay with sis (without the hubbies as they are travelling), and then when hubby comes back from his business trip in China, we'll be all ready to head to Korea for our ski trip. The tension in Korea is bad but we are crossing our fingers and hoping that all will turn out fine. The kids are very very excited about this trip as they've never seen snow and are unable to contain their excitement at all!

School Holidays are here!

After today, it'll officially be the start of the school holidays! I've got mixed feelings for the school holidays, especially for this year for the following reasons:

1. I'll have 3 noisy kids (in addition to princess Ash) at home creating havoc, testing boundaries and fighting over everything with each other.

2. We are now staying with in laws, so there's a unspoken rule that we need to try to spend more time at home now that the kids don't have to go to school.

3. Hubby will need to travel on and off, leaving us with in laws when he's away *gulp*, and which in laws will assume that we will be home more than ever :(

4. Kids will be pestering me to bring them out instead of staying home everyday, thus expenses will go up!

Of course, with the school holidays, I can be spending more time with them, and bringing them out for bookfairs, trips to library, taking breather out from home and we don't have to be tied down by the old routines of ferry and fetching from school etc. It'll be more relaxed for us with no timetable to follow and they can do their revision and holiday homework at a more leisure pace, taking the stress out of studying.

We are all looking forward to our year end Korea trip, where the boys will be able to experience cold and snow for the first time ever. Rather exciting for us as they've never see snow, and we've never tried skiing, which we will do in Korea! Of course now that the boys are older and more manageable, I might be able to squeeze in some shopping time :P which I've never done on the past trips LOL

Overall, it'll be a watchful holiday, and we are already feeling Christmasy!

One of those days..

It's amazing how kids know how to react when they are being reprimanded in the presence of their grandparents, and it's so frustrating how much the grandparents can go to "protect" them from being punished. Sigh...

My conclusion is that kids are great when they are not yours to discipline so they don't drive you up the wall. They'll be the cutest when you don't have to bother with the cleaning, feeding, soothing and disciplining - you only see from the side and get to play with them...once their terribles and horribles mode are activated, return to the owner and you'll be fine.

Ok, I guess this is one of those days when I wished I was single/carefree or simply married with no kids. My such moments will pass...till then....bear with me please!

As long as exams are over, school's considered out!

Finally the exams are over and results back. Hao did ok, though I was expecting a little more than what he got. I guess it's hard not to fall into the trap of looking and comparing results and class standings. I have to remind myself very much that I should be looking at how much he has improved, not just in terms of his studies but also overall attitude and how much independence he has gained over the past year and no longer rely on me much on his studies. I hate to be constantly on his back getting him to do his work and revision. It is good that he has improved in his command of languages, but careless mistakes are still there for maths paper. I guess for that, it's continuous practices and more effort in checking. Other than that, he has a good grasp of his school work and understands most of what teacher is teaching in class. It hit me that he's going to be in P3 next year! Sounds very grown up to me!

Perhaps for now, we should be looking forward to the school holidays, a lot of idling around and playing as well as our holiday in dec.

Min turns 3!

Min turned 3 yesterday! My baby is now a big boy! We didn't know what presents to get him as he's not really into toys except anything to do with balls and sports and he has plenty of that at home. I bought cupcakes and prepared some party packs for him to bring to school to share with his friends and he was happy about it. In the evening, we brought the boys out for dinner at swensens, where they gave Min a complimentary Firehouse ice cream as it was his birthday. After dinner, we took a stroll to esplanade to look at the ilightmarina festival but was disappointed to realise that the lightings were not as fantastic as what was shown online and the walking distance to cover the entire area was horribly long. The weather was really bad too as there's thick smog in the air and the atmosphere was stale and stuffy. We had an early night and headed back about 8.30pm. Although it was a small and quiet celebration, Min seemed satisfied and very happy that it was his birthday!

The final lap to finish the year

Its the last term of the school year, meaning that exams are around the corners. In fact, paper 1 for EL and CL are already over and this Friday, oral exams will be conducted. Next week, there will only be 1 school day for Hao as Tues to Friday will be PSLE marking days and the stipulated school holidays. Good news for those who are exempted from exams or those who had completed their PSLE but not for us who will need to go through tons of revisions with the kids. Not that I am one of those "kiasu" parent who wants my kid to be an ace student, but more of the fact that I am stuck with one who simply needs a lot of encouragement, supervising and pushing in his work. Hao even asked me to be sitting beside him all the time when he's doing his work. Sometimes, I wished he'll be a little more independent. Some said I should let go and let him survive this. I just wanna said that I did, but he slacken so much that I got scared. I figured he needed some more supervision till older. Crossing my fingers on that. Still, the next 2 weeks will be rather intense for him (by his standards).

Somes changes I noted in the boys' behaviour recently. For one, they are fighting more. I wonder if it's just the growing up phase or they have issues with either me or other stuff. Had a talk with Hao this morning about this fighting habit recently and he told me that he's angry a lot more nowadays. Angry at his lack of personal space, his loss of privacy, and on top of that, he felt that I am spending more time with Ee and Min than with him. Was rather taken aback as I thought as he's older now, he wants less mummy time and not more. Well, I was wrong apparently and he felt I was bringing Ee and Min out more often than I was with him. Told him that's because he is in the afternoon session and them the morning sessions and thus I spend more time with them in the afternoon sometimes running errands and stuff. He's basically angry at his brothers for having more of me than not. I had to explain to him a lot of stuff and why he shouldn't be angry at them and feeling so much resentment inside. Sigh...and I thought raising boys will be a much easier task!

Ee, on the other hand, is not the gentle and submissive little boy he used to be anymore. Now he has learnt how to fight back when he gets bullied and even getting defensive even other strikes him first. Result? He gets into fights with Hao and Min often now...hubby had a good talk with him last night and after that I also tried to ask him why he changed. His reply simply that he had enough of others bullying him and he doesn't want to be the weak one anymore. Sounds like my baby growing up, but in a wrong way. Hopefully I can help guide him along before I lose my cool over his frequent fights with the other 2 boys (which I already did flared up a couple of times!)

Min is still the ever adorable and cute little charmer to everyone. The only flaw is that he's extremely stubbon and into himself so much. Egoistic and self centered that is. Basically everyone has to listen to him and he's the king at home. It doesn't help that the elders at home are always at his beck and call and boosting his ego instead of correcting him. Yet another challenge for me to try and control his behaviour.

With all these overwhelming issues at home, I am feeling a little wear out these days. Perhaps I need a little break soon. Maybe after Hao's exams we can go for a little short trip. Sigh..

Mummy Woes....

I wonder why mummies have to worry so much. I admit that I am a worry-pot...constantly thinking too much and reading too much into things all the time. It is especially so when it comes to the kids. When they fall sick, I'll worry about them passing to each other. When others are sick at home, I worry about them catching the bugs. When Ee fell down last year and had a deep cut on his forehead, I worry each time I see the kids crossing the drains. When Hao shows lack of confident in his school work, I worry that he'll not be able to catch up. When other kids are reading or writing faster than my kids of the same level, I worry about not pushing them more in the academic area but leaving them to learn at their own pace and enjoy childhood first. When Ee had to go for tooth extraction under GA, I couldn't sleep the night before and after that, I get paranoid with all the boys' dental hygiene and eating patterns so much that I nearly throw out all the sugary stuff and stop them from snacking, nag at them to rinse their mouth, brush their teeth and floss. After that, I'll check them one by one before going to bed. That's how worrying I am. Too much? Perhaps not, as I know some mummies are like me too. Too paranoid? I wonder if I am getting too much of it. The recent checking-the-boys'-teeth syndrome that I am having is eating into me too much. I wonder if I am worrying too much. Then again, I wonder why the more careful we are, the more things will happen, while others who are not doing much are not getting the problems? Such an irony right?

Sigh..sometimes I wished I could be less uptight and more relaxed than what I am doing now. Sometimes I wonder if my worries are normal of a mummy. Perhaps I am expecting too much of myself. There are of course some things I can prevent but others which I cannot control. That freaks me out a little as I wished I could control everything and have my boys growing up healthily and worry free (even pain free!). I must learn to let go, breathe in and out more and have more inner peace.

Tomorrow is Ee's 5th birthday. Recalling that he had his bad fall last year after his birthday and this year his GA tooth extraction before his birthday, I am truly wishing that he be less accident prone and be a carefree kid from this point onwards. He had suffered a lot in the past year and it really breaks my heart having to witness him in so much pain that I became so angry with myself for not able to do anything when things happened. I need to let go of my anger with myself too. It's a good thing he's a really happy go lucky boy with such a loving personality and not to mention his "couldn't care less even if the sky is falling down" nature :) Hugs and kisses to him!

Workout Time!

Finally hit the gym on Tuesday as Hao had CCA in the morning, giving me a 1.5 hours free before picking up Ee and Min. Changed into my sports gear and braced myself to the gym. I had intended to stay for 30mins, but it stretched to nearly an hour as my trainer kept me going till I had no more energy. I must say it was a good hour, and I could feel my body waking up with the exercise. The next day however, my legs turned jelly :P I must admit that it has been years since I last exercised and my trainer had warned me on the after effects of that 1 sweating hour at the gym. She even half jokingly asked if I was going in on Wednesday, to which I replied that it would depends on my son's schedule and demands since I am on their beck and call. As it turns out, I don't have time yesterday and today to hit the gym and told Hao that he'll probably have to bring his homework to do in the gym while I exercise tomorrow morning. It's also good that Hao has been asking if I had been to the gym since Tues and that I should go in more often to work out. Maybe he thinks mummy dearest is out of shape :( So now the plan is to go in the gym tomorrow morning while Hao does his work by the table at the side and also prob on Monday morning again if time permits. Need to push myself to exercise more to get back in shape!

One month passed in a blur...

WOW! I hadn't realised that I hadn't written anything in a month! The month of August passed by in a total blur! Part of me was so lazy to even log on the computer and part of me was (actually still am) fighting against the flu bug. I had never been really sick for a long time, especially last year June I had taken the flu vaccine. When I was down with flu late July, I hadn't expected the bug to linger around for so long. I recovered for a while with a course of antibiotics, and then had cough for nearly a month. Just as I thought I was cleared of the bug (and cough), Min and I caught it back again. It was rather Min who caught the bug again first, and then a few days later, I woke up with running nose too. Now the symptoms are still coming on and off. I will be feeling ok for a day or two and then suddenly will wake up tired, drowsy and having running nose and will only feel better after I down some flu tabs. Next week will be the 1 week school holiday, and I desperately need to get well to manage the kids all at home. Probably I'll need to see the doctor tomorrow and get myself checked again. Hope there isn't any other underlying problems...

Hoping for a better next week...

Rain and sun happening all at once this week...we have a day of rain and wind, then a day of hot scorching sun and then rain and wind again...and we are having this alternating weather the whole of this week. We can see clinics and hospitals getting real busy with a lot of people seeking medical treatment for flu, cold, gastric flu and whatever ailments we can think of catching in this horrible weather. At home, almost everyone is sick except me and Hao. I am crossing fingers that we will not be catching any bugs any time soon, because I am hoping for a better next week after stuck at home with 2 extremely sick and cranky boys (plus the horrible weather) and I am running out of energy and ideas of how to entertain them at home amidst the wet rainy days (confined indoors) and hot sunny days (too hot to go outside) LOL

Am a little discouraged this week as I couldn't start my gym routine and maybe it's the depressing weather adding to my already depressing 2 weeks at home. Everything and every food is screaming FAT FAT FAT at me. I am cutting down on food intake to only eating necessarily and avoiding anything sinful, which includes snacking on titbits. It helped that the kids are sick and they are also being banned from eating titbits these 2 weeks. Apart from that, we are having water parade everyday to hydrate ourselves constantly and of course with us all being bloated with water, we hardly think of titbits and eating.

Hubby is also not feeling good either. He had to go for a one week business trip in China despite being down with severe flu and with the hot weather in China and neverending business meetings and constant flying from point to point, it seems that he has caught the bug again after nearing recovering. He sounded really bad on the phone but thankfully he'll be back tonight and hopefully will be able to rest over the weekend before starting work again on Monday.

That aside, I am thankful that parents in law are away in Shanghai visiting brother in law and wifey. The hardest part when my kids fall sick is to be in a constant battle with parents in law trying to feed them foods that they have to be abstained from and also stopping them from sneaking forbidden foods in their mouth, not to mention the never ending supply of ice cream which is the main cause why the boys are not recovering from their bad cough. Its a constant battle when it comes to foods and even much so when they are sick. It's just our different upbringing and also they believe more in chinese treatment while I am more westernized. They believe in pills and concocts from china medicine while I usually seek advice from our GP. Both sides want the best for the kids but differing views always end up in a battle.

So here I am, on a rainy friday afternoon, praying for a better next week!

More time ~ NOT!

Just as I was so happy that I could have more time for myself, the kids had to fall sick and confine me back home again with them. Last Monday, Min was down with gastric flu and bad cough and running nose. He stayed home with me for the entire week and is still coughing and having running nose now. So my plan to go to the gym went up in smoke and I had to resign myself to fate that I was stuck at home. With him sick, I couldn't even go around to mum's place as I had to quarantine the kids from Ashlynne, who was due to fly to Melbourne with sis and Kevin for a holiday on Friday. It will be bad if the virus passed onto her and she falls sick during her vacation. Then Ee started to cough too. Slight, but since I hadn't got any transport to go out, I let him stayed home too. There I was, stuck with 2 cranky and bored kids at home.

Hubby will be flying off to China for a week's business trip tonight and again, I thought to myself that I will have the car to drive and the kids are due back in school, I could go to gym this week and perhaps return the library books due, and also maybe visit hubby's cousin who had just given birth. Alas, Ee had to vomit this morning and fever started too. There again, another of my peaceful week will be gone with Ee down sick and I will be again, stuck at home (without hubby around) and entertaining them myself.

When, when, when can I have time to myself???

More time for myself?

With our move back to in laws place (thus I no longer need to do housework :P) and Min and Ee in morning school, I found that I have much more time for myself now to indulge in my own little pleasure - reading. I have been downloading ebooks to read on my PC and borrowing books from the library almost every other week. Its really wonderful to be at last doing something that I like, not having to rush through everyday like a trapped bird at home, having to meet others' demands and putting myself in the last position. On Tuesdays when Hao goes for his CCA in the morning, I even have 2 hours of ME time to spend, which I usually spend in the library or running errands etc. Sometimes I even take a leisure walk at the malls before picking the kids up from school at noon. Now I am even contemplating going to gym on Tuesday mornings after I drop Hao in school, so that I can shed off the kilos I gained from the birth of my 3 boys :P Right now, I am feeling good about my new found self, although at times, I do feel guilty to be thinking about ME than the kids or hubby. I guess it's been a while since I've thought about my own needs and it feels good :)

Nice start..or is it?

2nd day into school and new routine and all is well. Back to the good old days where I can have a peaceful morning with Ee and Min in school and alone at home with Hao. My mornings are for having a good breakfast with Hao, revising his school work and chatting with him about school, preparing his lunch and then sending him off to the school bus. Afternoons I'll have to fetch Min from school, settle lunches and getting him to nap before I can have a quiet moment with Ee and get him to do some school work, before Min gets up again and spending time with them till dinner time. In a way I am rather happy that I no longer need to cook dinner since mum will be doing the cooking while I help her with Ash while playing with the boys. Spending afternoons over at mum's place with the kids is definitely better than loitering at in laws home waiting for them to come back home and cook dinner. Makes me feel like I am wasting time and just waiting for them to serve me :P I'd rather not be seen and be out.

Tomorrow will mark the end of June and Thurs, the beginning of July. Time is really flying faster and faster without us noticing it when we are busy with our everyday routine. It seemed just yesterday that Hao was a little baby in my arms and viola! he's already 8 years old. Ash will be a year old in less than 2 months' time and it'll be exciting to see her starting to walk with her chubby fat legs LOL Certainly hope for an uneventful second half of the year and a better 2011 compared to 2010. I would think before I can think of my resolution for year 2011, time will have already past and we would have reach year 2011. It's scary to just think of how fast we will age and the strands of grey hair making their grand appearance amongst my black hair nowadays. I had always been told that ladies are afraid of getting old, but little did I realise I'll be one of them too. Sigh...

End of holidays....

Sob sob for all...its the last day of the June school holidays and tomorrow, all the kids will be starting their old routines again..attending school, CCAs, doing homework, waiting for the exams to come and also the weekends to come :P

I think a lot of parents will be more sad than the kids as we will be more busy than them once school starts. Who would have guessed that parents love the school holidays more than the kids LOL

Tomorrow will be a brand new start for us with Hao getting on the new school bus with new timing, and I'll need to set a new routine with new timings to ferry the kids to school and then fetching them back when class end. Afternoons will be spent at mum's place and then back home after dinner. It's not going to be easy but everything has got to work out for me no matter what happens.

Now I just hope the kids will sleep earlier tonight and wake up on time tomorrow for their classes in the morning...

New Chapter..

We have finally moved in and more or less settled down. I am not sure what term should I describe where moved...should it be new home, or room, or in laws' place, or??? Maybe I should just called it our 2 ROOMS LOL. Anyway, I am pretty amazed how we managed to moved our stuff from our EA to our 2 rooms at in laws place. Most stuff except the kitchen and our furniture. We only packed our bags (or should I say boxes) with our personal stuff, beds and TV set. The only downside is that we have barely enough space to move around in our rooms.

This aside, the kids have settled in pretty comfortably. Even though the size of their room is much smaller in comparison to the space they used to have, but I hadn't heard complains from them. They've managed to get around their daily routine in the small space and make do with what they have now. Really great kids. As for me, I've gone around to slowly build my own routine and way of doing things. The good thing is I am free of housework now, which means I have more time to spend with the kids. The not so good thing is that once school reopens, I'll be spending more time and effort to fetch and ferry the kids to and from school. All will only be tested when school actually starts again in 1.5 weeks' time. Meanwhile, I'll just try and do what I can.

School's Out!

Finally school is out! Today is the last day of school term and school holidays have officially started. Am totally not looking forward to the holidays as most of us at home are down sick with bad strain of flu. The latest victim is poor little Min as he got it from me when I uncontrollably sneezed endless times when I was nursing him last Sat...Tues he started a bit of running nose and I was praying that he will not catch the bad bug and get away with just a little running nose, but unfortunately, the bad flu bug caught him yesterday and he couldn't even sleep in peace last night with his nose severely blocked and phelgmy throat. I brought him to see Dr Low this morning and fortunately he just needs the regular flu medicine and not antibiotics yet. Crossing fingers that he'll recover soon to his bubbly self!

Hao's birthday falls in the June holidays and each year before school's out, I'll prepare party packs for him to bring to class and distribute. Did the same this year and he happily brought it to school for his friends, but when he came back in the evening, he was all sad and quiet...not the bubbly little boy who would always be excited about last day of school. I asked him what happened and he reluctantly told me that he cried in school as he had a row with his friend. What happened was his friend asked him when was his birthday and he told the friend that his birthday falls on 6th June 2oo2. Well, his friend called him a little liar as year 2002 had past and Hao replied that it was the day he was born to us as a baby and that was his birth date. His friend continued to label him a liar and Hao was so upset that he asked him why he treated everybody like dirt. Surprisingly this little friend replied him "Yes I like to treat you like a piece of shit!"!!! That hurt Hao and he started crying and walked away.

I was totally stunned by how his friend treated him and surprised at the words that little kids use nowadays, which is obviously beyond their age. At home, we forbid the kids to even use words like stupid or ugly or shut up, and everytime the kids mouth such words, they know they will be punished and be asked to apologise to their siblings. However, from my daily conversation and chat with Hao, I realised that a lot of his friends are using words that they obviously learn from adults at home or maybe inappropriate tv shows and are mouthing them to their friends in an outrageously rude way. I think this is a bad phenomenon and we should really think about how and what we are teaching our kids, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Many a times we let loose of ourselves and start scolding and swearing into the phone or even daily conversation with our family members without realising that our kids are there listening to our conversation and picking up words and expressions that are not appropriate for their age. Although one might argue that sooner of later the kids will pick it up somewhere along the road, but I would rather they do that later than now as they are still young and need to enjoy the carefree world than exposed to such things..

Results time!

Finally I can see the numbers in the report book! Although on the overall, Hao had dropped 3 percentage points, he has managed to maintain his standard. Am quite satisfied with his results this 2 terms, even though he has a shortfall of 2 percentage points to what I had set for him. He had tried his best and had put forth his understanding of his school work to the test and showed us that he can do it if he puts his heart to do it. Even he told me "Mummy, I think my grades had dropped...I think I need to work harder!"

It's finally over!

SA1 is finally over! I must applaud Hao for his effort this round, and coping with the exam with more independence than last year. He was rather confident in all his papers but only his English results met his (and my) expectations, while he is still losing marks due to carelessness in his Maths and Chinese. Nevetheless, he did admit that he needed more practise and promised that he will be more careful in SA2. Its comforting that although he didn't score top marks in his papers, at least I know he knows his work well and carelessness can be rectified while lack of knowledge or understanding of his work will need a longer time for him to pull up his grades. Will only hope he gets his exam skills and tactics better as he gets older and progress up.

Renovation works at in laws place are moving into place. All unwanted stuff had been hacked and removed, tiles in the toilets had been relaid, and most toilet stuff had been bought, all ready for the workers to put up and install. Now we are left with getting the new lights, furniture and then the final packing at home, before officially moving out of our lovely home *sob sob*

Final countdown...

My hair has been dropping a lot more these days. Its the final countdown for SA1 as well as our house move.

SA1 will end on Wednesday, and then we'll have a couple of weeks off, chucking books aside and just relax before gearing up for the house move and settling into in laws place. I've done almost half the packing, throwing unwanted stuff away, giving away stuff, and thinking how to squeeze our stuff into the tiny 2 rooms. It's a really big challenge as the kids really have a lot of toys, books and clothes to move over. other than that, still need storage for a lot of miscellaneous stuff. Hubby and my stuff are much simpler and lesser in comparison. I just hope everything goes smoothly from here...

Gearing up for the next few weeks!

Exams have officially started. It isn't going to be continous stream of papers but rather today is Oral exam day (both English and Chinese), and then after next week, the exams will continue for about 5 days, with a inbetween break of weekend for them to recharge. Hao hasn't been feeling well since yesterday morning. He complained of tummy pains and then had threw up his breakfast and liquids he consumed so I had to gave him a dose of medicine to stop his vomitting. He recovered, though looked tired and managed to eat lunch and dinner. Before bedtime last night, he ran a mild fever, and I gave him a dose of panadol just in case, and he woke up this morning feeling better. Just halfway through breakfast, he complained of tummy pains again, similarly to yesterday. He is looking rather lethargic and tired now so I had to ask him to rest in bed before going to school. Hope he'll be able to make it to school today and at least take his oral exams lol

Picture updates!

It's been a long time since I've updated any pics into my entries...I am simply too lazy and the slow upload to blogspot...lol

So, I've just got time to download pics from my phone and thought I'll just lose some sleeping time and do the updates..

Min fell in love with taking pictures with my phone camera and loves to poses for me! He loves to do the victory sign whenever he's taking photos..

Pizza night few weekends back with the boys (hubby doing most work while I clean up) making their own pizzas!

Spend a nice weekend getaway with the boys at Conrad hotel 2 weekends ago. Its a business hotel, so there's not much kids facilities but it's still fun since it's near major shopping area with plenty of food and there's a pool they can use. Hao had fun swimming and got to know a few American kids there. Although there's only 2 single beds in the room, but we managed to squeeze everyone in!

See how neat it was before we moved the bed and slept in it? We had it pushed away from the headboard and then against the other wall so 2 beds are combined. Then we squeezed to sleep in, some horizontal and some vertical..was cramped but fun with some feet onto some faces LOL

Hao is a good swimmer now and going for his silver test soon. He told me that his teacher shared with him the story of Jocelyn Yeo (erm...the national swimmer) and it inspired him and he wants to be a swimmer just like her. He said he wants to compete in swimming and win trophies! Ee will be taking up swimming lessons soon too!

Overdoing or Underdoing?

I have an issue with overdoing things. Not me, but others overdoing things with me. I prefer things to be just the way I like it to be, without having anyone fussing over me or the things I do or I can do. Am I making sense? When I know what I need to do, or make plans to do things, I do not like when others interfere and mess up my plans. The only times I can tolerate that are when I do not have plans and don't mind others taking over the tasks as they are not in my priority lists or when it comes to Hao's schoolwork or the kids' discipline and eating habits LOL. Double standard? No, it is not to me! This is a very big issue for me and it gets me very frustrated when things get overdone by others and I have to redo my plans and it piss me off feeling like everyone is stepping on my toes the entire day. I like the saying "Underdoing is way much better than overdoing as when things are overdone, more often than not the harm is done and it cannot be reversible". So the next time anyone wants to offer help on my tasked issues, please seek permission as I might not appreciate what you have done, even if it's your kind intention. Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you. Bear it in mind.

It had been a tough week for me. I have to say that this week had been a learning week for me and I hope that it is also the same for the people around me.

Human relationships are never easy to handle, let alone relationships with our loved ones. It takes a lot to maintain good relationships with the many roles we have to play in our everyday lives. We have to learn to strike a balance in whatever we do, manage expectations, align differences, making sure that we do not create misunderstandings or unhappiness in our decision making.

Relationships, contrary to how we see, had always been a very fragile thing. It take years to build, and seconds to bring it down. When mishandled, it creates problem not just for you but every single one around you who may not even be involved in the situation.

Marriage is a very sacred and long term relationship which has to be build on a sound foundation, right perspective, common and defined goals, clear communication etc. Some marriages look blissful and beautiful on the outside, but is actually fragile within, while some look rocky but will actually survive rough storms and constant fights. Marriage is a very very long road that needs constant compromise, realignment of expectations, constant communication and making sure that both parties are on the same path in the same journey. Marriage cannot be taken for granted and it cannot be joked about no matter under what circumstances. The most beautiful thing about marriage and the bonding between two person is not how well they compliment each other in their lives but rather how they put in the efforts to iron our their differences and realigning their expectations so they can have each other in their lives. The extent one can do and change to make sure the marriage work out and live in peace with each other is amazing. I've seen many who has roughed it out and are now so great together, and I've also seen many who couldn't bear to do it and choose to walk their path themselves or in turn find others who can walk with them. Whichever way, no one is right or wrong, but is just making choices in their lives so they can be happy in their lives.

So I am taking some time to think about where I am, how I am, what do I want and how can I achieve that. Its not in the negative mode but rather positive process.

Almost finalised!

The sale of our flat is almost finalised. Today was the last day for the buyer to exercise their option to purchase our flat and at the very last minute, we were told that the buyer was still trying to get the bank loan approved. For a while, I harboured hopes that maybe the sale will not go through, but on the other hand, I also wanted it to go through as we had plans for the money...fortunately (or should I say unfortunately) the agent called us in the evening and told us that the bank had approved the loan at the final hour and the buyer will be exercising their option to purchase. Well, at last we have the answer and will start to plan the move as well as packing/selling/giving/storing our stuff. We will have the whole of April and May to do this and hope after this, things will go well for us. It seems like since the start of the year, things hadn't move very well to our advantage and we'll been in a really bad luck. As for myself, I've already prepare myself mentally and crossing fingers that things will work out well. Maybe it's a good start, maybe it's not, but we won't know till we try things out.

Final countdown!

Been really busy since it's the school holidays and everyday I have to juggle with 4 kids at home. Not me with 4 but 3 monkeys of mine plus little cutie pie XX or Ashlynne. She's a total gem. Totally different from my 3 monkeys who are full of energy and FIGHTING spirit haha...

Big decision this week. Finally stopped procrastinating and decided to sold off our HOME. Sigh long story but in short, we signed off and agreed to sell off our flat to another family. The good part is we will be able to get back our hefty renovation costs dumped into the house. Bad part is we have to move back to in laws place till further notice. Hubby hope the private property prices will cool off and we can start looking around for our next home, and the worse case is to get another EA and start all over again. Although I am not totally convinced, but I decided to step back and let him make the decision this time as he's been really down and quiet since I told him NO, and I wouldn't want this episode to send our relationship to the rocks. Anyway, since it's been decided and signed off, we'll just see how it goes. It may not be as pessimistic as I think...who knows maybe I can live with in laws in peace and can continue to stay with them and take care of them. In any case they are aging and need us to take care of them sooner or later..

For the next 1.5 months we'll be busy sorting out issues and clearing our stuff and rearranging our routines so that when the school starts after the June holidays, we will be able to live life normal again without minimal disruptions to the kids. BUSY BUSY BUSY!

A tiring month...

If you'd been wondering why I haven't been updating my blog for so many weeks, it's because the kids have not been feeling too good lately. Weather here is so HOT with the temp hitting 34-36 deg everyday and there hadn''t been any rain. Its rather unusual for it to be so hot here in the month of Feb and resulted in bush fires all around Singapore. This resulted in plenty of haze in the air too. With all these adding up, its no wonder the kids are falling sick one after another, and all over again after they've barely recovered. Finally they seem to have stopped falling sick and it's rest time for mummy dearest here!

Anyway, I've been tired out so will update more later when I have the energy...

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

It's finally Chinese New Year aka Gong Xi Gong Xi Day for my younger boys :P

The kids are enjoying CNY this year very much, from the buying of new year goodies to decorating the house with self drawn/made stuff. They were even involved in the buying of new year clothes, and packing the mandarin oranges into their little red paper bags. We had a good dinner last night, and even though the boys slept pretty late nearing 11pm, they woke up early this morning excited to be changing into their new year clothes and going out for visiting. I think they are also enticed by the fact that they can collect ang baos during CNY and it has money inside lol. Maybe to them it's a good time to get rich easily haha

All the best wishes to my friends and family and prosperous all the way!

The Stomach Virus Saga...

We have been striked by the stomach virus saga once again after a lapse of 2 years. Hao came home last Tuesday night from school complaining of giddiness and nausea. True enough, he started vomitting throughout the night. Brought him to see the doc after self medication didn't work, and he got 2 inserts from the doc. I had hoped that the vomitting will go away but it didn't and I had to give him another 2 on Wednesday night. That stopped the vomitting but the colic and stomach discomfort didn't go away. He was basically flat out and slept 80% of the time till Friday when he got better.

Remembering the same episode 2 years ago, I prayed hard that the other boys and Ashlynne wouldn't catch the bug. Well, my wish wasn't heard by god and Saturday morning, Min started throwing up at 6am. I quickly gave him the med but it didn't work for him. He went from a bubbly boy to a whiny and cranky one just in one morning. By noon, I did the insert for him and prayed for it to work. Not surprising, it didn't. I called the doc and brought him over in the evening as I didn't want to drag it thru the night with the horrible whiny child and constant vomitting. I was pretty sick of washing bedsheets and clothes with puke everywhere. The doc suggested a jab for him which I gladly took, not because I liked to see him in pain from the jab but simply that I didn't want to see him being tortured by the horrible virus seeing how it affected Hao for so many days. He was pretty worn out after the jab and play a liitle at home and went to sleep. His fever started in the middle of the night but I didn't want to pile him with so much med so decided to wait till the dawn break before deciding if he can take the med. By this morning he was a little better and could at least retain the water he drank. That was good news for us as the doc had warned that if he did not get better after the jab, he recommend to send him to hospital to be put on drip to prevent dehydration. Gave him some pear but he puked again. Was worried the jab didn't work but decide to observe him further. He fell back asleep on the floor (cooler for him since he was still feverish) and woke up near noon and was super cranky from the fever. We tried to entertain him with Wii and it worked for a while before he fell back to sleep again. When he woke up mid afternoon, I decided not to wait further and inserted half a suppository for his fever since he couldn't stomach the med. Thank god it worked and after he slept for another hour or so, he woke up a happier child. After his fever subsided, he passed 2 rounds of motion and was definitely less sick than earlier that day. He began to ask for food and started to eat little by little. Thank goodness the food stayed in him and he didn't puke out anything. I guess his recovery and metabolism must be working super hard and thus he needs food faster than before. We managed to curb his cravings, worrying that he might overeat and throw up again. He is sleeping peacefully now and I hope he'll get a good night sleep and wake up feeling better tomorrow.

The saga will continue as I am terribly worried that Ee will catch the bug too. Whatever the case, we will know it in few days' time. Am crossing my fingers and toes and hair and whatever I can cross and pray that Ee won't get it. If he does, I have already decided that i'll head straight to the clinic and give him the jab than drag the whole episode all over again. PRAY PRAY PRAY...

First step towards my 2010 resolution!

In case I have not mentioned, my new year 2010 resolution is to wean Min off nursing :P As I have mentioned in my previous blog entry, we finally got Hao to move into his own room. So far, he's enjoying his new found privacy and freedom. It's kinda telling him that he's all grown up and he should be more responsible now too. With that, I've also accomplished the first step towards my resolution, and that's moving Min out of our bed! Since Hao moved to his room, Min has successfully moved to Hao's old bed, sharing the room with Ee. He's been adapting to his "new" bed so far, and has established his own routine now. 9pm at night he will brush his teeth and get ready for bed. Then we'll read 1 or 2 books together before I lie with him to sleep. He still need to nurse to sleep now, which I am perfectly ok with it, but just that whenever he wakes up in the middle of the night, I'll try not to nurse him. Hopefully he'll outgrow the habit of nursing whenever he wakes up at night and has to look for me. So far, there hadn't been any results, but time will tell. At least I have achieve the first step of moving him out of our bed. Hubby can now sleep in peace at night without Min kicking him in the bed. The only bad thing for me is that I've moved into Min's bed LOL as half of the time at night he'll wake up and scream for me....still need some time to change that. Hopefully once he stop nursing at night, he'll stop waking up and look for me, and I can have my beauty sleep and day time sanity back! Then, I'll proceed to weaning him off nursing! Wish me plenty of luck please!

1.5 weeks gone...50.5 weeks more to go!!

It's been 1.5 week since 2010 started. There's been some changes around the house since the year started. Firstly, Hao had moved to his own room, which is previously the guests/spare room in the house. He moved to the big bed, had his own study table set up and has a whole wardrobe all to himself. It's part of telling him that he's grown up and will need his own space to do his stuff. Might seem a bit unfair to Ee and Min in future but too bad we only have 2 rooms for them to share and right now, Hao needs it more than them...Here's the look of his new room..

The bed is actually an improved version from his old bunk bed which we moved from the old house into the guest room. The study table set is a Kinderfun ergonomic table set which we got 2nd hand from our neighbour, who happened to want to sell it off for a nominal price. We got it real cheap compared to the new sets and it's really in a very good condition. The wooden toy box also came from the old house and we used it to keep Hao's toys in there since Day 1 and I didn't bear to throw it out when we moved. Now Hao can keep his school bag and other personal stuff in there and not throw it all around the room. My sis bought the CARS mat when she went to Hong Kong last year and Hao loved it and specifically wanted it to be in his room. Overall, Hao is very satisfied with his room and we are glad that he finally has his own space and a proper place to study (away from prying eyes of hubby lol). Hope this will help Hao do better in his studies this year.

Hao got into Athletics for his CCA this year. We were rather disappointed as his first choice was badminton, while Athletics was second choice. The timing is pretty bad on every thursday morning 8.50am to 10.30am. Will have to send him to and fro for his training every Thursday morning. By the time he gets back, he'll only have enough time to bath and have his lunch and then back to school again for lessons. We are not keen to let him stay in school after his training as we are not sure if he has any company and also he'll have to lug his athletic gear the whole day too. Will see how things go. For his swimming, the bad news is that his swimming coach has decide to stop giving lessons. So now we have to look for a new coach for him. He really enjoys his lessons and I saw that he wrote in his diary that he would love to continue his lessons and be a swimming champion one day. Am really glad that he, for once, has a passion in an activity (not counting Wii or computer games), so we will let him continue his lessons.

This year Ee is in K1. With him older, we wanted to enrol him in some extra lessons since Hao had attended lego lessons when he was Ee's age. Too bad the lego school has closed down when we enquired the last time. Ee is a good observer and thinker who can focus well in his work so we decided to put him into the JLTP lessons organised by his school. It's an one hour lesson after his class on friday, so we will fetch him later in school. It's basically a program which focus on teaching kids to think out of the box and use more creativity in their thinking than the normal school cirriculum. Hope he enjoys it and gain something from it...

Goodbye 2009 and Heloo 2010!

2010 is finally here! Hao was pretty disappointed that 2009 had gone by, as welcoming 2010 would mean that school will reopen soon and he will have to wave goodbye to the good old time of play more computer games at home and lazing around the couch. Coming up are the CAs and SAs and homework and more homework. Poor kids :P

As I look back to 2009, which wasn't really a bad year for us, reality struck me that 2010 will be an even more challenging year for me. We barely made it financially for 2009 and 2010 is a big question mark for us. Of course we have enough to eat and spend, but savings are minimal with hubby's single income supporting us, and 2010 might be a big change in his career path, meaning more uncertainties and unknown..it's pretty scary but still I am thankful for what we have now :) For now, we'll just have to gear up for the new year and getting prepared for school and life back to normal after the holidays LOL