Tuesday, 14 February 2017

Boys & Girls III

Boys: Potty trained after a few false starts and more than a few bottles of floor detergent. Took a couple of months before our mop could get a good day's rest. Still wearing diapers at night at age 5 and mum despaired at finding diapers his size

Girls: Potty training in progress but started earlier than her gor and with little resistance. The mop is shaking its (imaginary) legs after one or two accidents and the little trainee knows when to yell when she needs to go. Currently at Chapter Pooing On The Throne.

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Boys: Happy to run all over the house when they were young (er) and squirms when u hug them. Can't be bothered to hold your hands outside.

Girls: Loves holding hands with u and  being squashed in teddy bear hugs. Lives for climbing onto your laps and reading books with u.

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Boys: Hell-bent on disturbing/irritating their sisters.

Girls: Runs to mama/ papa to complain abt gor gor's misdeeds (mild improvement over bitting or hitting back at him)

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Boys: treat toys as inanimate objects to be played with. Fully trained in piecing 8-piece jigsaw puzzles together by 2.5YO

Girls: "Dorr-dorr (doll doll) u wake up already?" Have no idea how to make one piece of jigsaw click with the joints of another piece at almost 3YO *guilty*

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Boys: Indifferent to being permitted to eat snacks and scampers away if u tell them no.

Girls: Lives for food and goes ballistic if something or someone stands between her and food. Once known to eat her way through pineapple tarts, hae bee hiam, yu sheng, steamboat food, baby snacks and biscuits at a recent CNY gathering at a friend's place. Astonished the heck out of a seasoned mummy at how much she eats..

Thursday, 2 February 2017

Dreams - Then & Now

Dreams As A Young & Naive Young Girl
1. To wine and dine at the top of the Empire State Building with the man that I love and toasting each other with bubbly, dressed in a slinky black dinner gown (Godzilla and King Kong not invited)

2. Sitting in front of the fireplace with my loved one, wrapped up in furry rugs to keep warm

3. White-water rafting in New Zealand.

4. Going on a hot-air balloon ride over Cairns (that was the only place i know which had hot air balloons at that time...)

5. Spending a white Xmas, filled with snow and Santa Claus and reindeer

Of the above dreams, I guess I have sort of achieved 4 and 5. Close, but not 100%. Dreams Version 2.0 now are made up of:

1. Having a quiet meal alone, without the screams of obstinate, picky little girls and chatty little boys. Next best alternative is have a relatively peaceful meal where the little ones behave properly and not does not turn the eating place into a war zone.

2. Being able to sit down on the sofa for more than 15 minutes peacefully with all my chores completed and the kids do not start fighting.

3. Getting back my personal time when the kids grow up and I am no longer at their beck and call to clean poopy diapers or packing school snacks or break up fights or losing my temper

Not surprisingly, reality has bitten really hard after having kids and for now, I don't belong to me; I belong to servitude....

Thursday, 5 January 2017

Starting School!

So the firstborn embarked on his formal education life this week, with much apprehension on the part of his parents (or his mother at least..).

It's safe to say that we have grown pretty comfy in the daily routine of sending the 2 Hougang kids to childcare and having to adapt to an entirely new routine is pretty hard on his ma. While all his meals are taken in the cc and he is pretty much trained to pack his own cc stuff, I now have to figure what to pack for his snack time in school and ensure that he packs the correct stuff foe lesson. There's also having to recalibrate what time the alarm goes off each morning and what time to haul ass out of the house in order not to be late.

Having said that, it's kinda emotional to see my little boy growing up so fast and being able to independently march into school. I used to wish that the kids will grow up soon so that I can get a life of my own back. One that does not involve refereeing fighting siblings (still stuck doing that unfortunately!) or having to worry about their eating, sleeping and general schedules (also still stuck there!).

Rounding off this entry with the 3 pictures taken of T going to school. The school has a strict no photo-taking-within-school-compound policy so no pictures of him in action at school except one sneaked picture of him on the way back from recess.


Stepping out for the first time as a primary schoolboy (and looking mighty fine! ❤❤❤)


His very no-nonsense form teacher Ms Velu giving directions


Again looking mighty fine in his new crew cut 💋💋💋

Tuesday, 20 December 2016

2016 - Significant Happenings

As 2016 draws closer to an end, I'm taking this chance to pen down the significant things that had happened during the year:

1. Lepak One Corner

I fired my govt sector boss on 26 May 2016. Exactly 5 mths after being transferred to the new department. Many things i shall not share here, but it was the 1st job i had that made me completely fall to pieces at home one evening cos I was so very unhappy in the new position. After going round in many circles for a while, i finally left ACRA for good and was hobo-ing for a while before landing my new job.

Financial concerns aside, i was pretty happy hobo- ing around cos for a very long time, i was not a bad-tempered wreck and had a chance to taste what it is like to be a full time house-wife (something that I can only wonder abt in the past). It was also during this period that I could really think abt the career path that I wanted to take. Alas...reality happened..

2. Primary School

The Tiger starts primary school next year and my goodness, a lot of brain cells were killed trying to decide between Xinmin and HG Pri School and fretting abt if he could get into the school of our choice and what the after-school arrangements will be. Long story cut short: he did. After many bo liao hours praying that the school uniform wont need to be ironed (it does...🙁) and trying to find out more abt the school on KiasuParents and other online platforms.

The registration itself was pretty quick and uneventful, but the day before will probably haunt my memories for completely unrelated reasons. Can't say much about it unfortunately, but there was a very good family shake-up during that period. It also made me see who are the friends who really look out for me and who the fly-by-night ones are in that period of bleakness.

2017 will hold a very big change in daily routines as we now hv the HG kids in 2 separate schools and getting used to what needs to be done for the new pri school kid e.g. dolling out of pocket money, packing of books and packing snacks for breaks. The biggest change i am most sian about is that we will hv to join the bazillion other school kids out there during school holidays, instead of the non-school days where cc is closed if we want to go for special excursions. No more playing hooky!

3. Chasing The Lights

And chase them we did. On a snowmobile in the dark wilderness of Finnish Lapland, to be specific.

We went on holiday with the MIL in early December this year and it doesn't get anymore Christmassy than this! White snow everywhere, Xmas fairy lights everywhere we go and snow-covered fir trees. Heck, i even like the freezing cold as long as I have enough thermal wear on me (they really are life savers!). As the cliche goes: it really is beyond what I dare to imagine - experiencing a white (early) Xmas in a honest-to-goodness snowy country. Here's hoping that the family will be able to experience another authentic white Xmas before I die! 😁

Have a Merry Xmas and a fantabulous 2017 folks! 🌲🎅🌲

Wednesday, 2 November 2016

Strong Silent Types

(Entry is inspired by recent happenings in my life. May not be totally coherent cos there is just too many things happening right now.)

The current men/males in my life all seem to be the type who do not verbalize too well but possess the ability/IQ/EQ to save the damsel in distress (aka moi) all the same. No direct relation between having functional vocal cords and lifting fingers, but in my world, my main men don't speak much. Except for the little guy T, but he is not exactly qualified to be called a man for now. Anyway...here's the low-down:

The Husband
Folks who know him will be lying through their teeth (And plague. And food remnants stuck between tooth gaps) if they say he is a chatty man. If there is a Guinness record for least number of words spoken by a person, he will win it hands down, no contest. Does it then come as any surprise that his love language is the act of service? Literally no talk, action only. Many an evening when I am frazzled out by a headstrong toddler or tired from a weekend of breaking up fights between the 2 rascals, a silent force will quietly take over parenting duties while i catch a moment's breath. Ok, this is probably not a recent happening but he gets first credit mention cos I don't want to face a grumpy man later!

Recent happening: it was that time of the month for changing bed sheets and YSY asked me to put on the new sheets after he took off the stinky ones. But i was vacuuming+cleaning the floor at the time and did not get to it immediately. By the time both floor levels got mopped to death, I was probably stinkier and more tired than a triathlon runner. When i walked into my room to get a shower before starting on the bedsheets, lo and behold! Nice fresh bedsheets awaiting in the master and young master bedrooms! (young mistress was sleeping at the time so cannot change.)

Summary: strong silent type who have an outward EQ of a rock but actually is pretty observant. Don't expect romantic overtures, or u will be growing mold and cobwebs before said overtures happen.

The Dad
My dad, to be precise.

There's this saying that you will always end up marrying someone like your father. Too true!!

The few friends who have seen my dad always comment that he looks very fierce and solemn. Hmmm....doesn't that sound like Mr First Credit Mention above? Both also 不讲话就不讲话,一讲话讲死你。

Anyway, I am on a steep learning curve in my new job and there is much technical knowledge I should possess but do not have just yet and i get so stressed out that I will keep messaging my dad to vent/ask (we happen to be working in the same industry but different companies.)

Along came the Dad one day and told me that I now have two of his specialist staff at my disposal if I need any help on work matters. He apparently told his 'senior' staff to assist me as best as they can if I ever call them to ask. Heart melt sia...I wasn't expecting any specific action on his side when i vented problems/asked questions and most certainly did not expect the sudden availability of expert teachers. Not that i will consult them often, it just seem professionally wrong and a breach of confidentiality to ask people from firm A when u are working in firm B.

But wow, this gesture coming from my dad is tantamount to the Japanese gifting Mount Fuji to another country. It's huge...and that's my dad for u.

Summary: Always a practical person, with practical actions and no fuss at all. Possibly tired of having to handle Twenty Questions and an emo daughter...

The Boss
The only 'disposable' man in my life - jobs come, jobs go eh?

I was handling a unexpected case under the charge of Boss A (don't even get me started on how this case got karma-ed to me in the 1st place!) and many things happened. To the point where I threw aside the case, burst out crying and stormed up to Boss B (boss A happened to be out of the country that day), with every intention to quit immediately. Now, i am an emo woman and all, but it is against my work ethics to display personal emotions at work, not to mention in front of the people who pay my wages. So u can imagine the level of pressure I was under working on that $&%# case. By the time I was able to return to work and think properly the following Monday (the hysterics happened on a Friday), I walked up to the boss's desk to present him with what i was able to do up. It also happened to be the last day for submission that Monday. My boss was quietly flipping through the files of that fateful case, presumably working on what I was supposed to doing. No theatrics, no reproaching, in fact, no acknowledgement of what had happened the Friday before.

Summary: another silent type who just gets things that need to be done, done.

The Firstborn
Quite the opposite of the man who made his existence in this world possible.

T talks non-stop in his waking hours. And he doesn't stop there. He is also capable of talking coherently in his sleep, to complete strangers and to himself if there isn't anyone else around. U never need to second guess what he is going to do, cos it will always be announced before he does anything. Coming from an active boy, that's quite a lot of words for one day!

But. Something happened this week which shows that he doesn't always blare everything out....We were at my aunts' house for dinner and I was chatting with one of the aunts with the fan behind us but turned in a different direction from where we were sitting. T seemed like he was bursting to say something (that happens quite a lot, trust me!) but instead, he quietly walked up to the fan and turned it towards the direction where my aunt and I was sitting. And. He silently walked back and sat down again. Such a sweet boy!! And so very uncharacteristic of him..

The men in my life are so all over the place that I dunno how to conclude this entry. So....the end.

Thursday, 18 August 2016

Marriage Photos

Unearthed these relic photos today when unpacking our remaining moving boxes (8 whole months after moving house at that!).

Besides bemoaning how thin we used to be, I can't help but be struck by how very different the two photos were. And how reflective they are of the different chapters in our married life.

Picture of our arms crossed & us grinning at each other:
- A memory of how carefree we used to be B.C. (Before Children) and the only thing we had to worry about is where to hang out on weekends. Days where life was chirpy and you had that rare, genuine smile on your face, unfettered by family/financial burdens.


B&W mood picture:
- Us A.C. (After Children)
- Dark moods sometimes where the weight of the world rests on your shoulders and bogged down by worries of all sorts.

- How I rely on your strong shoulders when the world goes crazy and the assured comfort those shoulders hold.

We are no longer who we used to be and nothing in the world can bring the old us back. Our happiness now comes from the children's happiness. But there is nothing I wouldn't give to hear that carefree laugh again and make you smile oh so happily forever...

Friday, 15 April 2016

Sigh of Relief

Counting down exactly 7 more days before i say goodbye to my organistion.

It's financial year-end closing and i had been too busy with work to go through the regret and sadness of leaving my job. Sad to leave all the wonderful people i hv met during my 2.5 yrs of work (and good riddance to the wayang queens too!) and regret cos i could have done a better job somehow.

Where i used to step into office and go home with a heavy heart, my steps are lighter as i know the misery will end soon.