Saturday, May 23, 2009

Into My 30 weeks of Pregnancy

pregnancy cartoon

WoW...I have finally make it to my 30 weeks of pregancy!
Went for my routine check and also had a growth scan done yesterday, everything seems fine according to my Dr.

Baby is about 1.5kg now. Dr says he is slightly above average in terms of length.
Both Ric and I were thrilled to see baby on the screen... kicking and moving his lips.

As for myself, I'm having lots of backache especially at the end of the day.
Been affecting my sleep too.
Do any of you have any remedy or recommendation apart from rest and massage???








Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Monday, May 11, 2009

The joy of playing with the kids is that I feel young again...

We were at the Pasir Ris Park...again... the kids played from station to station. In the park there is a maze where I coordinated a game of catching with them.

I made up rules as we go along... they followed obediently. The game was simple but they had fun complying to my silly rules. But the thing is, it made me feel like a kid again. Chasing them or being chased by them, it made me forget about who I was. No longer adult, but an over-sized, over-aged kid.



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To prepare for the soon coming Prince, we have bought a bunker bed for the Princess. It arrived over the weekend, and as soon as it was fixed up, the kids helped to wiped it down and quickly placed the mattresses on it.

The exciting part of course is to climb up to the higher deck. Isabel was the appointed one to be sleeping above had the chance to climb first.

But new furniture comes new problem. We realized the fan's position can't satisfy both of them, one of them is always getting lesser share no matter how we tried.

So either we have to buy an extra fan or let them have the air con through the night.

.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Waking up

As I have mentioned earlier, it has never been easy to wake Princess Ally in the early morning...

Even when she does get off the bed...


"DON"T ON THE LIGHTS!!!!!"




"I CANNOT OPEN MY EYES...!!!"


After much struggle, she finally puts on her uniform. But...


"I want to sleep..."



""I don't want to go school..."


I remembered how I dealt with Isabel when she was that age and needed motivation, I came up with a chart.

Using the same method, I drew a similar chart for Ally, letting her participate by letting her drew and colored on it.

The idea of the chart is to move the flower forward a step whenever she has been good and behaving in the morning, but move it back when she's not.

There will be rewards along the way when she reaches certain point of the track, if she makes it to the end of the track, a bigger reward will be given.

On the first day, she woke up with enthusiasm, brushed her teeth and sat at the dinning table waiting for her breakfast.
But the second day...

Mommy had talked to the school to see if its possible to let her change to the later session, after all, going to school should be a happy thing for her age. Really don't want to traumatize her now.
.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Housework, is it just plain common sense?

I'm on leave for the past 1 week, but not enjoying myself at all :(

Been training my new helper, Auntie R, who has just arrives from Indonesia last week. Training someone does require a lot of energy, mental strength and most of all, PATIENCE! I felt more tired at home these few days than at work.

Not only that i realise language is a barrier, there is also social and culture differences when housework is concern.
I used to think that doing housework is just common sense.
I don't remember LEARNING to do housework when I'm young.
Mum pass me a broom and I'll just sweep. But i do believe "Practice make perfect".

I have learnt to break down each task to very very simple instruction.
Each sentence must not be more than 5 words, if not she will give you the very blank look again. Our conversation rely a lot on dictionary.... pictionary....my basic malay that i've pick up from work....etc

On day 1, I gave her a note book.
I insisted that she must write down all the instructions.
Because, my past experience tells me that "their" favourite words is "I forget".
I can guarantee that even with writing down, they will still not remember but at least she knows where to refer to it. And to avoid misunderstanding, always make her repeat your instruction again before she proceed with the task.

Because of my background as a nurse, we are taught in nursing school to plan and organise our work. There is a rationale for every step that we do. Nurses are trained to multitask too, so that make it harder for Auntie R to catch up to my standard (well, this is according to my husband, although i don't quite agree).

Though she may be slow in her work, but she does have a good attitude.
I believe with proper training, she will do well.

Tomorrow is my last day of intensive training. After that, will be followed by a day training with "Sir".

For once, I'm looking forward to go back to my work :0)

Sunday, May 03, 2009

The Arrival...

Eh... Its not the baby yet... that will be another 3 months plus. I'm talking about our new domestic helper.

After weeks of waiting for all their government to process her passport and other necessary approval, she finally arrived.

Ally immediately took liking upon seeing her, Isabel has been quite immune to the presence of them and has shown indifference to her.

So far, she has shown initiative with the work and has been relating quite well with the kids. Most importantly her attitude has been good.

Hopefully she can fulfill her 2 years and beyond.