Chinese New Year

Thank you gong gong, popo and ah yis for the outfits!!

After the success of last year's cardboard 'dragon', we (a few set of parents with boys) got more ambitious this year with wanting to make it more real and better by doing paper mache lions.  We thought what a good idea to get the boys involved.  Unfortunately they were only interested for about 15 minutes and the rest of the work were done by the parents.  It was sooooo much more work than we expected and this will definitely be the last of our 'art and craft'.  It was good but tiring fun and the final work was superb and really looked like the real thing!!

Step 1: Paper mache of the lion heads

Step 2: Decorating and base coat

Step 3: Painting

Ta-dah!!

In action

Life on maternity leave

Currently, it's such a bliss!!  I would not trade the time I have now for anything.  Not that I had a choice previously, but I really regret not having taken a year of maternity leave with Isaac, time that I will never be able to get back.

I think I took a long time adjusting into this role of being a full time mother.  The first 6 months was really tough, juggling a new born, a toddler and maintaining the household (thank God for parents and in-laws), and I really missed my comfort zone of work.  I remember saying numerous times then, I miss work and work is so much easier as at least people are grateful and I get a break!! It was me grappling at a different identity.  But since then, I have enjoyed my 'time off' more and more, and dreading when maternity leave comes to an end.  I look forward to each morning getting Isaac ready for school, feeding Caitlin and then heading out for our mummy-Caitlin activities (which are packed to the brim), then have the most interesting and entertaining conversations with Isaac after getting him from school, and then it's our mummy-Isaac-Caitlin activities :) Really love seeing them both play together and entertain each other.  It's been slightly hindered by having to prepare for a MD viva next week, but can imagine it to be even better when that's all over and done with!!  Of course there are times when either of them drive me up the wall and I'm tearing my hair out, but thankfully those are relatively rare occasions.  Thank God for such blessings. 

If situation allows, a one year maternity leave is a must for all mothers!!

Bye-bye Chill SEAT, hello Qashqai +2

We had to bid farewell to Richard's faithful SEAT Ibiza Chill after nearly 13 years of service end of December last year.  We had a new Christmas present of a 7 seater!!  So far, we love our new car.  It is by no mean luxurious, but it does have all the essentials that makes life easier.  Maybe we need to wait for the kids to grow up before we get our luxury car :)

Caitlin - 10 months old

It's Monday tomorrow and I am dreading sending you to nursery.  On your first proper day last week, you cried the moment I passed you over and I got a phone call 4 hours later to be informed that you refused to eat or drink anything.  So, that day and the day after, you were on food and drink strike the whole time you were there (thank God it was only for about 5 hours).  You did manage a nap though, although I think it's because you cried so much that you tire yourself to sleep.  Oh dear, what will tomorrow bring?  I am sure you will cry, but will you try eat and drink something?  Please Lord, help her settle.

On a happier note,
- You now recognise and will do actions to the song 'wind the bobbin up' and 'if you're happy and you know it'.  Your dada thought you were 'washing your hands' when you were trying to 'wind the bobbin' :)
- Can sit from a crawling position, and pulling yourself to standing from a sitting position (NEED to lower your cot - been meaning to do it for 2 weeks now).
- Answer to your name being called and understands bye-bye and hello, although they are both the same action of hand waving :)
- Are quite 'chatty', including calling out 'dadadadadada' and 'ah Maaaa!!!', although am still not sure if you are specifically calling daddy and mummy yet.
You're a 'homey' like your 'koko' as you're super happy when at home and it's such joy to see you laugh and play.  I took out another set of Isaac's toys eg: shape sorters, walkers, hammering toys, and both you and Isaac went ecstatic over them.  So far, you prove to be 'daddy's girl' as you would cry if Richard doesn't pick you up when he comes back from work (or maybe you're just bored of me?).  After picking you, you won't let go of him and will want to be carried by him all the time.

You are nowhere near sleeping through the night and since starting nursery, been waking up hourly to 2 hourly.  I previously mentioned that you were strong-willed but I think I see a 'hot temper' too as you would scream till my ears resonate when you don't like something.  Now I see where the screaming for hours when you were a baby came from.  Richard jokingly mentioned, do we need to discipline you from now? ;)

Isaac learning about life?

The most time consuming thing about blogging is the editing of photos, videos and than uploading them, and hence I sometimes don't blog because there isn't enough time to choose, edit and upload photos.  But, there's so much that goes through my head that I need to write down before they are forgotten, especially things Isaac say and updates about Isaac and Caitlin's life.  So, my strategy is now to post all that I want to write first and sort out all the photos when there's time on my side (definitely before I go back to work).

So, before I forget, these happened in school the last week.

I was pulled aside by his teacher when I picked him up and I know it must be something serious as there's hardly any report apart from during parents/teacher meetings.  I was told there was an incident and Isaac was slapped in the face by his friend and then went on to explain the whole situation and how they dealt with it etc.  The exact account was retold by Isaac the moment I saw him.
Isaac:  Mummy, I got smacked today by 'E'.
Me:  Oh dear.. What happened?  
Isaac:  I was the dinosaur and was chasing everybody and suddenly she came and smacked me in the face.  Miss J then asked her to say sorry but she couldn't coz she was crying.
Me:  Did you say never mind it was OK?
Isaac:  No, because it was NOT an accident and we were both crying.  But I was good and didn't smack her back
And we continued talking about importance about forgiving etc..  But that is the first time he got slapped.

On the way back from school
Me:  Isaac, I met 'T's' mom today.  Do you play with him?
Isaac:  No, because he pulls 'J's' hair all the time and I'm 'J's' friend and so I'm not 'T's' friend and don't play with 'T'.
Wow.. are they learning about 'brotherhood' from such a young age?

Isaac always has a snack after school.  So, on the way back in the car one day
Me:  Isaac, guess what I got you for snack today?
Isaac:  I don't know?
Me:  It's round, and sweet, and you love it.
Isaac:  Pancakes?
Me:  No, you eat it a lot of the time and it comes in a box and there's chocolate on top
Isaac:  I don't know?
Me:  Doughnuts!!
Isaac:  Mummy, you should have said round with a hole in the middle, then I will know it's doughnuts!! 
Me thinking hmm... that's true :)

We were again reading about dinosaurs (still your craze now) one night
Me:  If you were to name a dinosaur, what would it be?
Isaac:  Easynamosaur!!
What a classic answer!!

Out of the blue,
Isaac:  Mummy, you will look prettier in a dress
Me stunned and wonders where he gets that idea from?

I took out all your old toys again and you have been playing with them everyday since
Isaac:  Mummy, PLEASE don't give away any of my old toys!!!  I love them!!!

Your favourite come back answer now seem to be 'I'm not sure, but I think......'

Caitlin's first day in nursery

Boy oh boy!! We were both traumatised overall.  Actually your first trial session was not too bad coz you were distracted and cried only for the last half hour when you were tired.  However, in your 2nd two hour trial session yesterday, you cried the moment I handed you over and continued to cry for the whole 2 hours thereafter.  Your face when I picked you up was sooooo pitiful and my heart broke.  Tears were streaming down your red eyes and snot was running down your nose.  Apparently, you cried harder everytime the door to the nursery opened (I suppose you were hoping to see me).  It didn't help that that night, I went out for the first time and left Richard to take care of you both.  It was another session of crying your eyes out at night.  Poor you..... I wished I had timed things better.

To be honest, I have been telling friends that Isaac did not shed a tear while Caitlin, you bawled your eyes out.  But actually, on reading the blog, Isaac, you did cry for the first trial session too!!  BUT, that was it and you settled in immediately thereafter.  Caitlin, I really pray and hope that you will not go into a frenzy again when you start your first full day on Monday.  I suppose there's more adjustment for Caitlin as she's older and more aware of her surroundings, is getting weaned off the breast and have to switch to the bottle, and will only be in nursery for 2 days a week rather than all 5.  Caitlin, please also do take the bottle and settle in well.