Family Time

Because RH is now working in Indonesia, it is such a privilege when he comes home. So, usually, I would avoid making any appointments when he is around and even go to the extend of cancelling/postponing my existing appointments if I am able to. I just want to be available as much as I can when he is home so that we can spend time together as a family.

Time as a family which we took for granted in the past is now such a precious time for us. C is able to re-connect with his Dad and do father-son activities which he simply cannot experience when RH is not around (partly because his mom is kinda lazy).

So, it really is a "Thank God" moment when RH gets to spend 1.5 months in Singapore. Yes, he has been here since mid Sep and he is still around. He was only meant to be in Singapore for two weeks but he kept extending week after week because he had some work he still needs to do in Singapore.

We got to settle K's PR and overstay problem. (it is another "Thank God" moment, will elaborate in another post) and he gets to attend C's year end concert. I have been bugging RH to attend C's concert but because of his work schedule, RH was going to miss C's concert. This is going to be C's graduation concert and so I was making a big deal out of it. When RH kept extending his stay in Singapore, I was really glad and I knew that God had a hand in this.

I have been praying for the Lord to prosper my marriage and family and I really thank Him for answered prayers. I think that RH's extended stay definitely helped us to stay connected better. My other prayer is of course for RH to have a closer walk with God and I am confident that it will happen one day as I know that God's heart is for all His people to have a close relationship with him.

K's first church service

Visiting the new Sentosa Watercove

K's second swimming trip

Taking a pic with C

Tumbling in bed with the kids

Attending Small Group

Need I say more?

Enjoying SG potluck

Attending C's Taekwondo grading

Going to Legoland during the holidays

Attending a friend's birthday

Superheroes

C has been going through a superhero phase. It all started out when he started to watch Toonami Channel after switching from first Disney Junior then Disney Channel and finally now he is watching Toonami. Toonami has all sorts of superhero cartoons. Iron Man, Superman, Thor, Spiderman....etc. You name it, they have it. 

It has been rather challenging to watch him grow out of Micky Mouse, Handy Manny and Taiyo to characters such as Ben Ten, Iron Man and some other Japanese character that I do not recognize. I am quite worried about the violence these cartoons are modelling but at the same time, I do not want to stop him from watching these shows just because I want to shelter C from violence and its influence. Dear Lord, I do need wisdom to teach and guide C.

Anyways, wanted to just blog about how he is soooo into superheroes now. He already has a collection of Iron Man (his favorite) toys. His Captain America, Batman and Spiderman figurine. And so, the Lollibox crafts that I ordered was also very timely because they have a superheroes theme which requires C to make a superhero ID tag, a superhero cape and a superhero mask. 

Recently, he has also started asking grandma for superhero toys instead of his usual bus or lorry or train. His most recent gift from grandma? Transformers....more than meets the eye..... hehehe. Optimus Prime. My brother XD says that if C gets tired of Optimus Prime, save the toy for him. It is rather funny that my brother XD is interested in the same toys as my  son, C. Oh well, he is really growing up so fast.

His full Iron Man armour

Stopping

Yes, I am so sad to announce that I am stopping breastfeeding K. As with C, I had an abundant milk supply this time round. However, I also had more blocked ducts and infection than when I was breastfeeding C. I  do not understand why either but after many rounds of infection and bruised nipples, I have decided to stop pumping.

I love the feeling of being able to feed K with mother's milk and I do think that it is healthier and probably do wonders for my kids but the challenges of breastfeeding is proving to be overwhelming this time. Also, I am much busier this time round than the last. It really is very challenging when you have to carry your pump to hospitals and frequently need to find a place to pump and subsequently worrying that the milk will go bad if you do not get to a fridge in time. Yes, my in laws have been having a bout of illness and injuries lately thus I really have to be out and about all the time. In addition to that, I have had to travel out of the country a couple of times which doubles the above challenges.

Other than that, with all the infections going on, there had been many times when I had to throw away milk because I was taking anti-biotics and I was not going to feed anti-biotic laced milk  to K. It was heart breaking to see all that milk go down the drain literally. And so, I have made the painful decision to stop breastfeeding. I am not sure if RH knows that it is difficult for me to make this decision. Because I think that sometimes he feels I really can't wait for the time to stop breastfeeding.

New Phase Next Year

C is going to Primary One next year. It is a brand new phase for him. He is definitely no toddler now. We would have to start paying for buffet and child fares for a lot of things. People will not be giving him special treatments and allowances for being a toddler but he will be treated as a school going child. No more skipping school for last minute getaways. I will be entering the new phase together with him. Learning new syllabus, stressing over results and undone homework.

I have already had a taste of the stress during primary school registration. Why do they make it so complicated in Singapore anyways? I started studying the primary school registration system a year before C's registration started. Studying about the different phases that we are eligible for and later on studying which schools are we narrowing our choices on. Several discussions with RH later, we finally settle on Poi Ching Primary School. Our considerations for primary schools were:

1. Proximity to our home

2. Christian School

3. Secondary School Affliations

4. Mixed gender schools (so that I do not have to go through the stress another time with K)

5. Remotely good standing school in terms of ranking

Poi Ching obviously was not able to fulfill all our criterias but I do thank God for eventually leading us to this choice and on hindsight, it was a good choice with all the changes in primary school registration and all.

Our initial choice was Anglo Chinese Primary which we were eligible for in Phase 2B. Although it was far from our home and was not a mixed gender school, it scored highly for the other 3 criterias. Alas, it was not meant to be when the rulings changed to say that all Singaporean children will have absolute priority over PR children in all phases.

Then it was a toss up between Poi Ching and Ngee Ann primary. Poi Ching fulfilled criteria 4 and 5 and somewhat criteria 1. Ngee Ann fulfilled criteria 1, 3, 4 and 5 and thus was closest to our "ideal" school. However, we were eligible to apply for Poi Ching in Phase 2B through affiliations with Futsing Association while we were only eligible to register for Ngee Ann in Phase 2C which means that there are less vacancies in the school. In the end, we decided to register C for Poi Ching which we were fairly confident we would get in and then try for Ngee Ann in Phase 2C IF there were vacancies left. Thus, the two weeks of registration phases commenced and I would check the MOE website daily to see updates of vacancies in the various Primary Schools.

Unfortunately or rather by God's planning, Ngee Ann was already full in Phase 2C so we stuck with Poi Ching. Now, I just have to get Caleb prepared and excited to be in Primary One. I think I might also have to prepare myself. I heard that Poi Ching has very high Chinese language standards and Caleb is still very poor in his Hanyu Pinyin. 

Lastly, here is a picture of Poi Ching and their uniform which I promised Caleb to google. 

Starting Over?

Should I start blogging again? This is the million dollar question I have now. I guess simply by writing this post, I have kinda made my decision. Why the sudden urge to blog again after so many years? 

A couple of days ago, I was on the phone with RH (my husband) and he told me he was reading my old blog. He was looking for a favorite link on his computer, saw the bookmark on my blog and decided on a detour. He asked me why I stopped blogging and how he really enjoyed reading my blog. He said he laughed out loud as he read it and he rarely laughs out loud when reading anything. RH then told me to start again as it would be nice for our children to read it one day. And so, being as sentimentalist like myself, I found myself starting my blog again. 

It is rather hard work trying to maintain a blog (hence why I stopped, I simply had no time). You gotta have time, effort, inspiration and you need to be interesting. Isn't that why people blog? To make it interesting enough for others to follow? Well, I have decided that this blog is going to be semi-private. Am not trying to be interesting but rather just charting my journey and significant moments so that my children one day will know what I grow through. 

As I read my old blog, I realized that I have changed or grown a lot in the past couple of years. Being a mother has really shifted my perspective. I am now more mature, more confident, more practical and definitely also more mature in my faith. 

What has changed since my last blog? C is now no longer a toddler but a little child. He is K2 now, going on to Primary One next year. Time flies, doesn't it. RH is now working in a different country and so travels back and forth Indonesia and Singapore. There is also a new addition to the family. Baby K who is eight months now. Here she is....our answered prayer after waiting for two years. 

K and my sister D

Do follow this blog if you want. Will be posting more soon. 

Love, C