Packing up is hard to do?

Posted on February 20, 2012 by lilsnooze

The boxes came last week…

It was really time to get out of denial and inertia.

We have to pack soon. With 2.5weeks away from departure.

We got down to some serious packing & decluttering over the weekend. Tehpeng started on his the disc collection, while I started on my clothes.

For him, it was packing. For me, it was decluttering.

“Be ruthless!” I told him.

I figured, clothes that will not go into the luggage(for USA) should be given away. I reckon I probably will not wear them 18 months later.

I mean, I am going to the land of Old Navy, Gap, Target and premium outlets afterall. My online clicks in bricks & mortar AND online (free land delivery, hello!?!) as well. If I know myself well enough, there will be new stuff. ;)

And, what do you know! I am there in time for the Marni H&M collection AND DvF Gap collection.

Yay. I fear for my wallet…

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Journey to the West

Posted on February 8, 2012 by lilsnooze

Amidst the CNY festivities and celebrating Natalie turning ONE, we were also trying to settle things for our big move.

When I said that 2012 was going to bring huger change and adventure, I was referring to us moving to USA.

For 18 months.

Leon is going to be the 书生, 我是做 陪读的。

This is also the reason for me doing the stayhome thing for abit.

We give thanks to God for this opportunity and it is indeed in His timing. This study thing has been on the cards for a while, as family and some of the closer friends would know. We prayed that it would happen according to His will and plans for us and according to His timing. When it was finally confirmed, I was knocked up. Huh huh huh. The rational thing was to defer it for another year, as it would clearly be madness for me to manage a newborn and a toddler on my own.

I remembered being all teary-eyed seeing tehpeng receive the scholarship award. Or it could be the pregnancy hormones then, or the thought of “what! I have to wait for another year!?!”. Heehee.

As the date draws nearer, things began to fall into place and I was able to take no-pay-leave with the blessings of the management. We had sketchy plans and things to be done, we discussed about it,  and now, the time has come. In fact, it is a month away from our departure. Eeeeps.

I have a long list of to-do and a ganttchart. Kid you not.

The tickets have been booked. Just today.

We are  trying to settle the Visa, rental of our flat, looking for someone to foster our car, and  to pack as well as to declutter etc etc etc.

The question in my head is “how to pack our lives into 4 luggages?!?”

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Food in a box

Posted on February 2, 2012 by lilsnooze

My day is mostly taken up by meals preparation.

This is how it is daily – when I wake, it’s to prepare breakfast. After breakfast, it’s brunch for Nat before he’s off to school and I prepare his snack box for school. Then it’s lunch for Natalie. And when Nat is back from school, it’s afternoon snack time. And then it’s dinner preparation.

Admittedly, on most days, by the time late afternoon rolls around, I’m down for a nap with both of them and when we wake, it’s kinda late for dinner prep and we head out for a quick dinner. Heehee.

I was a noob when it came to preparing Nat’s snack box. This is something new for the school year as the school shifted to a temporary premise which has no kitchen facilities and the children were to bring their own snacks for snacktime.

Thankfully for a hidden stash of “bento tools” (bought from Daiso), plain ole bread & fruits in the snack box actually look more appetising. Hah.

But I am no bento mummy.

I was initially at a loss as to what to prepare, given Nat’s picky habits but he seems happy with 1 bread item and his favourite fruits. I rotate between golden kiwi, apples (sliced thinly) & grapes. Sometimes, there’s an additional item of cheese biscuits, milo cereal or cornflakes.

I even asked him what his friends bring to school! Haha. Tehpeng said I was being “competitive” but nooo, I only wanted ideas on what else to pack for him! Honestly. ;)

Sometimes, the snackbox looks rather cute and I can’t resist snapping a shot, for memory’s sake.

 

Of course, there are days when I was the totally delinquent mummy who puts in only cheese biscuits and fruits. And just this Monday, his snack box was chocolate cake (from Natalie’s birthday party) with apples. :P

It must be a growth spurt stage for him, where he’s hungry again after school and so we all sit down for an afternoon snack. Recently, I cut up toasted bread and let them both dip into yoghurt while I dig into my garlic bread toast. This is a good way to spend some time together, and seeing Nat feed meimei.

 

 

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Colours burst in the sky

Posted on January 22, 2012 by lilsnooze

On the eve of LNY eve, we headed to my parents for a pre-reunion-meal dinner. On our way down, it poured.

It continued pouring for abit and when the rain stopped, I saw this amazing sight.

Double rainbows. This totally reminds me of this song - ”The rainbows in the sky show God’s promises are true”

 

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This is how we work it

Posted on January 21, 2012 by lilsnooze

We ended the last week with a walk at the Henderson Wave on Sunday evening before dinner.

Outdoors is always good, there’s fresh air, there’s space to run about (let off the kids’ energizerbunny energy!), there’s no shopping lure and there’s plenty of photo opportunities!

We plonked Natalie down in the middle of the walkway and basically let her crawl around. Yes, you tend to be more “open-minded” and less icky about icky stuff when you are parenting 2. You realise they are hardier than we give them credit for.

And we decided to join her for a family shot.

I had to go behind the lens to capture tehpeng with the 2 Nats. :) Natalie is quite his photocopy huh?

I have to say I am very thankful for tehpeng, who has made the transition into this stayhomemum thingy rather…easy. He didn’t set any KPIs (or expectations) for me, except to tell me to not lose my patience with them both (huh huh huh) and kept checking in on me on the first few days. And even though tired from a day at work, he chips in to help with whatever that needs to be done – dishes, bottles, laundry, bathing etc.

More importantly, I like how we laugh over our ineptness in being parents, or keeping the house tidy or keeping up with certain routines. Basically things which could have been done better.

This is what makes this works, the ability to accept that we are not superparents, the knowledge that we are learning bit by bit, making light of the tough and difficult times and having fun while doing the not-so-thrilling and mundane stuff (washing bottles for the nth time?!).

When one is with the children, little things get to you. I know I will look back at this period and  be thankful I have this opportunity to be with them. And like what this article says, kairos moments.

 

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Surviving, first week

Posted on January 17, 2012 by lilsnooze

When people knew I was going to stop work and do the stayhome mum thingy for abit, their first reaction was usually “wah, shiok, be tai-tai”.

That, ladies and gentlemen,is.a.myth.

I know it was not going to be easy but now, I also know how tiring it can be. Being home with 2 small ones who constantly need your attention, engagement and care, is absolutely time-absorbing.

At the end of the first week, I can say I survived it. Or shall I say, we survived it?

Clearly, I wasn’t the only one who needed to adjust to the new arrangement.

This was taken on day 1 morning and by the time I fed them breakfast, I realised I’ve only just consumed half of my tea. And it was time to think about and prepare brunch, prepare Nat for school AND put Natalie for her nap#1. As it panned out, nap#1 was delayed till after we dropped Nat in school. This, as most parents would know, would result in a later nap#2 time. I was ambitious and tried to put both down for their naps in the afternoon. After a futile 1.5 hrs in the bedroom with both clearly not in the mood for a nap, it was time to prepare them for a dinner date. It was a dinner to celebrate silver_crv’s birthday with Ron and muffingal family and I was glad as it was like a sweet reward for day1. And I didn’t have to cook. HAHA.

Then Nat fell sick and I was so thankful for tehmum who took care of Natalie during the day for a few days just so to separate them and to ease my load. Well, it was definitely much easier, in comparison, to care for a 4 year old, even if he was a whiney sticky-to-me boy!

On Thursday, it was back to caring for both, with Nat still down with a low-grade fever. This time, I was better prepared having tried to spreadsheet out my daily schedule (I still need schedule and to-do lists!), and accepting the fact that it will be non-stop action till I sleep.

I also decided not to be ambitious, on tehpeng’s good advice(huh huh huh) and changed tactic to settling Natalie for her nap first (and allowing Nat to be entertained by the ipad) before settling Nat for the nap. I know, trying to settle both together for a nap? What was I thinking!? Even if my mum could always do this, I am clearly a noob! This tactic worked and I considered it a good day, with us napping 2 hours together.

There is a learning curve, as with trying to settle into a new role (akin to work!) and I need to know what is important, what needs my attention first and to accept that the house will be messy most times…but I am home, I am with the children and I want to go beyond just taking good care of their basic needs. Currently, it is survival mode, do what is needed to be done.

I want to move on to the next level, which is engaging them with fun learning activities.

How do other stay home mums do it?!

 

 

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And so this was 2011

Posted on January 6, 2012 by lilsnooze

It has been a year of change.

This year just seem to really fly past for me. It really didn’t felt real that it was the year end, perhaps as work was gearing up and no one was in a holiday mood.

Let me see…Nat started school proper for the first time and it was a huge change for him, going from random play at home to a structured learning environment every day for 3 hours. I am so thankful to see that he settled in really well and really enjoyed being in school. He was clearly loved by his two teachers.

The biggest change of the year was rightfully the arrival of Natalie and being a mummy of two. It was babycaring all over again and I continue to give thanks to and for my mum and tehmum who take turns to provide the greatest care for my 2 children while we are at work.

Of course, another change was when the helper quit on us in the latter part of the year and we found ourselves thrown suddenly into working AND doing the house work. It was a rude shock to my system, honestly but I am glad to say we sort of fell into a a good routine and it was really nice that the house is just us 4 now. The house might be messy at all times, looking as if hit by a tornado but we learnt to manage on our own. And yes, it is tiring to manage work, children and house. There are just that many hours in a day.

Another change which I was really thankful for, was the forming of a housegroup with the families of the boys who are Nat’s good friends in church. It was made up of the members from the music ministry and it has really worked out well. The bandboys found that it helped towards them serving together as a band while the plus one (aka the wives) bonded over mummytalk and of course, the 4 boys are forming a very unique strong bond among themselves.

Compared to last year, we had a more eventful countdown to 2012!

Seeing that Natalie was so co-operative on road trip, we did another trip into JB with the 2 families and it was fun! It was a really last min decision and we managed to secure 3 rooms at Pulai Spings just 2 days before NYE. And the stay came complete with a countdown dinner party and fireworks!

As a treat, the boys were allowed to stay up and they did! Their first countdown party! At midnight, or even before midnight, there were fireworks in the sky (from another place) and the resort’s fireworks were just visible from comfort of the room balcony (even though partially blocked by trees).

It was a leisurely staycation and pool time was clearly a highlight for the boys. Give them each a water gun and let them go wild with it.

As for Natalie, it was her first dip in the pool and she took to it like a duck to water! And erh…yes, she is wearing Nat’s konfidence wetsuit.

Nat overcame his initial fear of the water  to wanting another go at the pool after breakfast the next day.

It was a fun staycation and time for us, as a family, for us with our friends and for nat to be with his friends.

And so, here we are at 2012.

This is going to be a year of…huger change and adventure.

Watch this space. :)

 

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