Today's Daddy's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to Daddy!
Happy Birthday to you!

Today is Daddy's birthday, Mummy sprung a suprise cake party for daddy and daddy was caught off-gaurd. It's not easy to pull a suprise on Daddy because he's very sharp and would noticed anything fishy. :)

Keziah was all smiles too as she got to eat the nice Mango cake mummy bought.





Keziah and mummy also made a nice card for daddy. Daddy was touched. Just look at his smiles.. :P

We're going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo....

It's been almost a year since we last went to the zoo! Yesterday, we managed to go to zoo again on Daddy's corporate pass. This time round, Keziah really appreciated the animals she saw and remembered them while relating to the animals she read about. She could tell of the lion, tiger, elephant, snake, kangeroos......


She certainly had great fun looking at them but still kept her distance away, especially the elephants though Daddy and Mommy it might be a fun encounter to feed the elephants. Keziah was simply clinging onto Daddy and won't stretch her hands out with the banana.




However, she sure enjoyed the polar bear, knocking at the glass, all engrossed with this huge creature which was enjoying its play in the waters while waiting for feeding time.



Our family shot!!!! This time with the zebra but as usual, it wasn't easy to get Keziah to smile when it's a stranger who is taking the shot.


Full of smiles and energy....





A big KISS for Mommy....



Okidokiez..it's time for home....Keziah just wanted to hold BOTH Daddy's and Mommy's hands as we walked out of the zoo..Well, Keziah was actually literally 'bouncing' home...Juz look at that cheeky satisfaction on her face...


Guess the weather must be too warm yesterday. Keziah was down with mild fever today though she was still her usual bubbly happy self.

Bags...

Keziah has this ever growing fettish over bags, especially Mommy's working bag. These few nights she simply loved just carrying the bag around eventhough it's quite heavy..



Oh yes, now she is also very cute and started to sign 'shame shame' when we undress her for a clean up in the evening.

Some pictos to update

Actually we haven't been taking much pictures these days. Somehow weekends just fly by. Last Sunday we actually took Keziah to the airport to see airplanes. Not that we are going overseas but to let her enjoy the new sight of the mechanical bird in the air. She definitely loved those planes and was running all over the place in the airport. She enjoyed her rides on the skytrain and wandered among the floral displays around. Something different.


Ok, her long time craze over the umbrella. She just has this love to be under the shades of the umbrella whether rain or shine. She can be happily picking up those umbrella drying out in the porch and wander around with it.

Keys are here!

Just yesterday, we received the notice from HDB. Our keys for our new flat is ready for collection at the end of the month! Hey this has been what we have been waiting for, from the balloting and seeing each floor rise. Definitely there was that excitement at the news but was also a bit of mixed feelings. Erm, coz I am pregnant now and really didn't have the intent to move out so soon. It would be tough on my hb to oversee the renovations and packing and all to move out since I seriously am not in the state to do much. Guess we will wait till after my delivery and let the flat sit around for awhile, take things one step at the time when the keys are in our hands.

Especially now, Keziah is so happy in the family, always calling for Nei Nei and Shu Shu at home when she wakes up in the morning, eager to knock on their doors. Yes, she loves Ta Ta too but she still haven't quite learn to enunciate the word though would run to him for him to carry her. It would also be rather traumatic for her to face so many changes at one time: going to childcare, having a new little brother, moving to a new place. In fact, she is showing some insecurities after we brought her to visit some childcare centres. Essentially, for the past 3 weeks, when we left her in the nursery at church while we attended service, she simply refused and clung onto us. We still left her to the teachers. She would wail and wail so miserably for that whole 3 hours, sometimes stopping for a moment to play with her friends but when she saw someone carried a baby, she would wail again. She used to be going into nursey all smiles to play with her little friends. Mommy guessed she must be feeling it that her little brother is coming soon but sure hope she doesn't feel that she is any less loved. Now Daddy and Mommy really have to be prepared to face the struggle for attention between the two little ones when baby is born.

For that, we wonder if we will just take our new flat as a weekend house and stay on for awhile till the space here runs out. Just a thought but we will still have to work things out slowly...

28 weeks....

For this second pregnancy, times really flies. It's already 28 weeks! 12 more weeks to go and our little boy will be out. He's weighing now 1.2kg and already turned down. That's a good sign. He's progressing as he should. However, yesterday at the gynae visit, she took quite a while to scan for the heartbeat. Wonder what she was listening out for: the heartbeat or the amniotic fluid. Anyway, since she is so experienced and there was no further comments, no news is good news I guess. We were still asking her how long would it be before I have to stop any travels for holidays. For nearby ones, I still have got up to 34 weeks, 6 more weeks that is.

Good start for the day....

Today is bright and beautiful. Little K woke up to find Mommy sitting up on the bed though she didn't put her to sleep last night. As usual, Daddy said she kept calling 'Ma ma' before her bedtime. So touching ya...and especially when the first thing you heard from her in the morning is 'Ma' when she got up from the dreamland.

Giving Up Seats on the Bus
Mommy took the usual bus ride to work and this morning it was fully packed. Mommy was practically standing at the entrance door. This bus is usually packed with Indian foreign workers. Interestingly, two Indian workers actually gave up their seats to me, seeing me with a big tummy while a student from a reputated school carried on staring in a daze after seeing me. I remembered another time on this same bus ride, the bus driver actually got off from his seat and asked a well-dressed gentleman to let me have his seat. There are still people around with that heart. Heehee...actually I had been telling my male friends to remember to give up seats to preggies as most of the time it's the women that give up their seats. Man being man won't understand going through the 9 mths and thereafter, only those who had seen their wives will understand some. They just need a gentle reminder on that that equality does not exist and women are in a way a more "tender" gender. (Sorry gals, I know I sound rather anti-feminist but I believe women do need more TLC.)

Parenting
Had this lunch time conversation with my Indian admin support staff in the pantry and I was really inspired by the discussion. Essentially, their family is earning relatively low income with 3 boys ranging from P6 - S3. This staff also isn't very highly educated. She actually stayed home for 10 years to take care of the kids when young. She was sharing that it is rather tiring to have to work and cook at the same time, but when you hear your kids complimenting you for the food you serve on the table, rather eat your food (even simple fried rice) than hawker fare, it really spurs you on to do the cooking. Her boys also do housework for her, like hanging clothes, eldest could do some simple cooking. I was like: "How did your kids learn to tell you that they love your food? How did you train them?" Here's what she pointed out:

1. Appreciate the food: Her hubby could have been the one that role modelled it. Telling her that he loves her food.
2. Housework: Early training by simple putting the plates to the sink, next to washing them and having them sharing out the chores. Don't put them down when they don't do it well but help them out. Encourage them and help them to learn independence.

So two key things:
Role modelling, starting from ourselves as parents.

Seriously I only started appreciating my mom's cooking after I came back from UK and got married out. I had taken her for granted for many years and always complain eating the same things some times. True that when you have it too good, you never realise that you have it. Now that she takes care of my gal, she also cook the good stuff for her eventhough she is tutoring like 8-10 kids at home at the same time. People may think hey my mom stays home of coz can take care of grandchildren but the fact, she works from home, cleans the house, cook and care for K. May be K is also picking up her love for housework like mopping, sweeping around and cooking as well as carrying little bags of grocery from seeing my mom do it coz kids at this stage rapidly learns by immitating what they see. Wow, actually I think my mom is quite capable in this way and wonder when I become a SAHM, would I be able to do it?

Daddy plays an important role too. If Daddy don't SHOW appreciation for Mommy's job well done and vice versa, the kids won't SHOW appreciation the parents. I know it's really not very much a Chinese practice, but why not? heehee....

Just like how the bible in Deut 6:5-9 writes:
"5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

As much as we relate to parent-child upbringing, it's even more important as spiritual role models that they may know God. Tell them what to do is not as effective as showing them that you do it. I got to watch myself too, to start doing it if I haven't. Remind Daddy too! Oooooo....what great responsibility we have as parents. It's not about providing good enrichment classes, the best tutor, the best school coz all teaching start from the home.

In teaching we always use this quote: "Tell me and I will forget, Show me and I might remember, Involve me and I will understand!". I think this relate to many things in life. This goes too for parenting kids to save the after consequence that they don't do housework, don't clean up their mess, don't behave the way they should and get themselves into trouble.

This really doesn't have much to do with the educational background of one person looking from the example of my support staff.

Catching up with Old Friends

Last night, I had the opportunity to catch up over dinner with two good old days girlfriends from Secondary school days while Daddy babysit the little one. We gone our ways for JCs and uni but once again we are working under the same big boss at different locations. With one, I shared the first cold depressive winter when we were overseas for first year uni as homesick students. It's back to the old jittery chattery like young school girls as we reminiscenced the times and talked about life now, with me and another married, one other happily single. We talked and talked till the restaurant kindly informed us that they were closing. Think we were the last customers to leave.

Haha...they were commenting I am such a slim preggy and can model to inspire the married ones to have kids, with no fear of losing your figure! Nearly fell off my chair... Probably, they had seen me during my first year uni days when I really put on 10 kg, but the weight spread all over and not concentrated in nourishing the right spot!

For the single, it's happily enjoying life exploring all kinds of things while for the married, it's a new phase of life, living with a person at such close proximity rather differently from courtship days. It's just interesting to know she had such great fear of living with IL (they are on their own renting now while waiting for their new flat to be ready) but guess it's really the personality. This didn't really strike me so much probably when I married coz I was brought up together with my paternal grandma. I think with the many things happening recently and me getting depressive (must be hormonal coz it happened in the earlier pregnancy where I become ever so needy), it's good to close one eye or even two when living together coz everyone has a different upbringing. Like a colleague/friend who was sharing with me, in time to come, we will all appreciate each other. It's just a matter of time. Sometimes, men who don't go through this 9 mth process just won't understand and think we women are just raving and ranting like an immature baby. Guess God did create man and woman differently.

A silly quote from me: Man from Mars and Woman from Venus. Together they make Earth when collision occurs...haha....

Now looking forward to catch up with another group of Secondary school friends from my CCA next week when our Thai pal pops by for a visit. Friendship is really about keeping up, especially now we rarely meet people these days coz we have so much other engagement: boyfriends, families, work....

Thanks to all....

Dear friends, especially those who are mommies, thank you for sharing with me your encouragement. You really make me realise that I have friends out there to support me and that actually I am also rather fortunate. Sometimes when you are depressive, thoughts can really be negative and close your eyes to many good things happening to you. I post on the blog coz it's a space I could express myself and seriously no intention to hurt or criticise anyone. It's an expression of my feelings and I hope that it be taken positively. Sometimes it's really difficult to search our own hearts and put our pride down. Prove it or prove it otherwise rather than make a fuss out of it.

Let me count the blessings now to remind myself of the goodness around me:
1. Supportive and gracious hubby who can stand my whimps and fancies.
2. Parents who take care of little K.
3. IL who help in transporting K to and fro my parents' plc.
5. A roof over our head, a meal on the table.
6. Preggy friendly office - being noted for being pregnant in the positive sense, a group of colleagues who are encouraging and understanding.
7. Church mates who are ever ready to provide spiritual encouragement and hand down second hand stuff...save me some cost on clothes and stuff for baby.
8. Supportive friends whom I rarely meet up but yet often visit my blog to leave ur comments especially during my down time.
9.....many more but it's zzzzzzzzz time...

Really this life this journey moves from one phase to another.

Be angry and DO NOT SIN

Ephesians 4:26-32
26 “Be angry, and do not sin":[c] do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

This is really a tall order: To be ANGRY and DO NOT SIN. I am definitely learning and trying very hard at this. Somehow whenever you get angry, it's so hard not to do the wrong thing. What more to "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice." and to top that up with "be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave." The graciousness of the heart to do to others NOT what others do to you in situations when you feel victimised. I would sincerely pray that God change me that I may do as such. Though having been a Christian for many years, I think this is one area of my weakness that I find it so difficult to surrender with my character of always being in the right and often I must say not seeing my own wrong. Guess God has put me in the situation now to do so.

Yes I complained and griped over the past few days, lamenting on the 'plight' I am in. Probably that's how God teach us and refine us. Those who has been following my blog will realise this is not the first time that I relent over the same issues but still have not gotten out of it. Maybe God is also telling me to consider staying at home for the kids awhile just that I have not realise it coz I am so blinded by my own self. In fact, I had been battling and deliberating over this decision of being a SAHM and asking God to show me the way. Have I been listening closely to Him?

One thing I must admit God does place the other half to be help mate. Daddy is definitely more logical, sensible and gracious than Mommy. When Mommy throws her 'tantrums', Daddy is still able to keep his sound mind and try to talk her out. Seriously, I think he has a big heart. What he said is true: We can't help what others are like, but we can do so for ourselves, to be what we want to be. Why be petty over little things? As my hb puts it, people can say all they want and not do, let us just smile over it and not bother to be defensive over it to make life difficult for ourselves. Often I ask him how he rides over unfair situations, his answer was simple: God is the one that guided him. I always feel so ashamed when I hear him say that coz I had always been the 'princess' of the house, living in my little ivory tower.

Let me make peace I pray, to be a good wife, mother, daughter, DIL, and SIL, fulfilling the role as I ought to and not let anger rage and get the better of me. Let me be contented with the little I have, let me have wisdom to look ahead, let me be a good role model for the little ones, to learn to give and not just take. Most importantly, let me draw near to God whom I have drifted and battled with since the birth of little K.

Fun Filled Weekend

WE did alot this weekend! Weekend was packed with activities.
First thing in the morning, we went to Pat's Schoolhouse to attend their D'Story class. As it was a trial class, both parents were sitting in and it was rather chaotic. Seriously, Mommy wasn't entirely impressed with the lesson. It was just a story time, some art and craft, snack time, fun outside the play yard (which Keziah loved especially her ride on the little tikes car, so much so that she didn't want to get out of it when it's time to go back in for class) and lastly some music and movement. Guess it's good for social interaction and not very much more.

One thing Daddy and Mommy noted was Keziah seemed to be quite well behaved during lesson. She was trying to make her way forward nearer to the teacher to listen to the story as a few kids were walking around and blocking her view. She was also able to sit down and be ready to do her craft. Nice to see that she also helped out with distributing the cups to other little kids at snack time with Daddy's help. Ok, as usual, Keziah wasn't very happy at getting her hands messed up with paint during the art session.


Her picture turned out rather neat compared to others who were smearing the paint all over the paper.

Music and movement time. She was happily enjoying the bells and bean bags and we realised she could actually wriggle her toes too! They were teaching the little ones about body parts by placing the bean bags on the head, shoulders, etc. Keziah had fun walking/running from Daddy to Mommy with the bean bag.

That being said, Daddy and Mommy decided to sign up Keziah for 1 term at Growing Up Gifted instead. Mommy felt there was more taught and proximity to home, just in case Daddy had something on Sat morning.



Sunday evening we had dinner with Jia Tai, Ta ta, Nei nei, shu shu and also grandaunt, granduncle, uncle Bernard. Today, she also turned 18 months today. We went for a nice Korean BBQ at Jung Shin Jung Charcoal Grill down at West Coast. Just look at the spread. Mommy really enjoyed the food while Keziah was more fascinated by the playarea which was crowded with many older and rowdy kids.







Daddy allowed Keziah to have a try at the wheels. Guess what! She didn't want to get out of it after that.

The little gal posing with her hat...

Childcare or Home?

The time has come where I have to decide on this question...Childcare or be a stay-at-home mum (SAHM). With number 2 arriving shortly and my mum's health not being any better, it seems even a stronger impetus for me to stay at home and look after the kids. After all, isn't this God's calling for all Christian mothers? Who can care for the child and teach her better than you? This question has been on my mind for a long time but I have been shelving it since I still have my bond to complete.

Now with the busy work schedule, we are simply trying to find time to visit some childcare centres to look around for a good playschool cum childcare for Keziah. Guess it's good that she gets to mix around with kids of her age and learn some social skill. Otherwise, she will remain as clingy as ever to us. However, childcare is so expensive these days and seriously, government subsidy for working mum is really peanuts. I was really keen on Pat's Schoolhouse in comparison to Learning Vision. The environment was more pleasant and not so noisy and messy. The books they use seems alot more interesting too. Learning Vision just reminds me of PAP with some enhancement in curriculum. However, the price was equally 'good' almost 50% more than Learning Vision. Hmmm..pocket is really going to burn a big hole if I put her at Pat's. So we'll simply have to continue with the hunt. Meanwhile, we shall go for some trial class for Pat's D'story Club weekend class to have a better sense of what they have as well as to give her some space with kids of her age.

I was reading my friend's photoblog and her husband's sharing really reminded children as God's gift to us and how we ought to take the responsibility of watching over them. I totally agree with the fact that having the kids, time to read the bible and pray have been always challenged both by the physical exhaustion from work as well as lame excuses or simply laze. Yet children should never be an excuse for us to draw away but more to draw nearer to God as teaching the children really needs loads of wisdom and love from God. Time to reflect!