All Posts By

Daphne

travel

Bangkok without the kids!

July 11, 2017

So after four years of not traveling without the kids, we finally decided to go for a no-kids getaway to Bangkok for 4 days.

Before we get to how the trip was (pretty great!), let me tell you about getting to the trip. Remember that time when we left all the kids at my mom’s house and went for Coldplay? It’s when I discovered that my threshold for not seeing the kids is like half a day max. Anything more than 6 hours makes me all antsy and twitchy.

I think it’s because I’m spoiled after being a stay home mom for so many years, having access to all the baby cuddles anytime I want. Like when I’m having a rough day, I can just stop and go hug my babies until I feel better. Anxiety coming on? Closing my eyes and inhaling some of that delicious baby smell makes it go away. My default stress coping mechanism is a rabid munching of chubby baby rolls, it always works.

This condition makes traveling without babies such a dilemma. I mean, I want to do it – I know that I’ll enjoy it when I’m there – but my baby withdrawal symptoms are severe. My brain is all “Just go! You need a break, no, you deserve a break so just take it, the babies will be ok.” but then my everything else will be like “84 hours without baby kisses and thigh roll munches? The babies will be fine but you won’t.” Underneath all the bravado, I’m just a huge pile of mushy baby-needing mess.

The night before we left, I was putting the kids to bed and smothering them with extra kisses to make up for my mom guilt when the realisation of my impending departure started to sink in for Finn and Theo. Truett and Kirsten were very cool, like “Have fun, mom! We’ll miss you so much!!“, but then the two boys were like “Wait, what?? You’re going to Bangkok tomorrow morning??? I did not agree to this!! Can I go to Bangkok too? I like Bangkok I will go wherever you go…”

Both of them started tearing up with great big sad tears. “Please mommy please please please can I go??”

I almost went online to buy 2 more tickets for the flight right then because I have no resolve. Just look at this face.

And this face.

Okay wait, I actually did go online with every intention of buying 2 more tickets but I discovered that the price for the extra 2 seats were 3 times what I paid for our original tickets so ummm, that’s a hard no. What am I, some kind of oil tycoon? They will just have to learn to deal with disappointment like us normal humans, with giant hugs and sobby whispers of “I’ll miss you so much!”

//

Bangkok was excellent for a quick getaway. We went shopping, we ate Thai food, we went for massages, we sat in coffeeshops to read. I had time to finish two books while we were there: Anna Kendrick’s Scrappy Little Nobody and Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, both of which I enjoyed thoroughly. We took walks around the city like two people who didn’t have five kids. **Here’s where I should put up some pictures but we took a total of zero selfies. Sorry, zero points for blogging effort.

It’s a strange feeling to not be in mom mode for four whole days. There’s the silence, which I didn’t realise how much I had missed. We were on the plane and I turned to the husband to start a conversation only to see him enjoying this rare moment of silence with such bliss that I decided to enjoy some of it myself. Over the four days, we had fun conversations, but we also had long, glorious extended periods of silence and it was really nice.

There was also a constant sense that I forgot something. I’d be walking along Chatuchak market and there would be a flash of panic, thinking that I left something behind because why is my life so easy right now? Then I’d see a frazzled mom holding on to a sweaty, squirmy, screamy baby and realise that why yes, I did leave something behind and it’s called responsibilities.

Most importantly, we could only have done this with the help of my in-laws and my mom who had to watch the five babies, so thanks dad and mom and mom!

by
Advertorial

Keeping it clean

July 6, 2017

I didn’t use to be this way but with 5 kids at home, I’ve become the kind of person who is borderline obsessive about cleanliness. The husband will tell you that it’s not my natural inclination to be bothered by dirt or disorder but one of the lessons I’ve learnt over the years is that a clean home keeps the illnesses at bay and also, it makes for a far more pleasant environment to live in.

Why? Kids are super gross germ machines who wouldn’t think twice about ingesting week-old crumbs that they picked from behind the sofa. Crumbs that are covered in dust and hairballs and maybe even bugs.

They will cough straight into the back of your throat if you happen to be going in for a kiss at an inopportune time.

They will smear their giant snot bubbles all over their own face with their grubby fingers, then use those same fingers to wipe the floor, followed by their siblings’ nostrils.

My kids are always one snot smear away from a full blown illness, and the moment one of them falls ill, it immediately sets off a chain reaction of sick babies and adults around here. Which is guaranteed to result in a very bad quality of life for me.

One time a few years back, the kids had a terrible bout of stomach flu (which is the worst of all the minor illnesses) and they were all taking turns to throw up everywhere. For a week, it was a blur of cleaning up toddler diarrhoea and puke, and just as I thought that we had finally turned the corner, it got me too. It was agony – I remember crouching in pain next to the toilet bowl for hours thinking I was about to die. I was ready to gather my children next to my deathbed to deliver my final words. I also remember thinking that if I had done a better job at getting rid of these nasty germs, I would not be in this state.

While I can’t make my kids any less of a germ generator, I can make sure our home is a difficult place for dirt and bacteria to have a party.

***

When it comes to cleaning, my philosophy is to make it as quick and painless as possible without compromising on effectiveness. Basically something that works with minimal fuss and maximum efficiency because ain’t nobody got time to be spending hours on cleaning everyday.

Also, all the kids have to pull their weight in helping out with the cleaning at home so it’s a bonus that these are things that they can all do.

Here’s a list of things we do every day to keep the germs away.

1. Clean the floor every morning.

After vacuuming, we give the floor a thorough mop using Magiclean Floor Cleaner every morning. It’s a mystery to me how sticky stains will appear at various spots on the floor and you know what, I don’t even want to know what they are caused by. It’s like living in a house with invisible elves except instead of cleaning up, they just leave me little presents of dirt and stains.

Magician Floor Cleaner effectively removes sticky patches/oil stains and dries quickly without leaving any residue. More importantly, it kills 99.9% bacteria, working on even the microscopic level to keep the floor clean and bacteria-free. We typically for for a Fresh Floral scent, but there are 5 other fragrances (Fresh Lemon, Aromatic Lavender, Refreshing Green Apple, Flower Bliss, Minty Cool) to choose from.

2. Clean the floor some more. 

Did you think this was a one time a day thing? Nuh uh. Floor cleaning happens after every meal and snack time because somebody will almost always accidentally spill chocolate milk on the floor or smear milo into the grout like it’s an artistic masterpiece.

Instead of having to mop up 4-5 times a day, we use the Magiclean Wiper Mop and wet sheets for quick cleaning up with hassle free preparation. It is just as effective in eliminating 99.9% bacteria to remove dirt and stains. The 2.8cm thin mop head reaches narrow spaces effortlessly and maneuvers easily around corners, making spilled beverages mop up quick and easy. This is available in 3 scents – Fresh Mint, Relaxing Jasmine, Happy Rose.

This is baby Theo showing off his cleaning skills. The stick is adjustable so we made it shorter to match his height!

3. Clean surfaces. 

What kind of surfaces, you ask? All kinds. Dining table, chairs, high chairs, benches, bumper mats, toys – as long as my kids come into contact with these surfaces, we have to clean them. With these surfaces, the important thing is to avoid harsh chemicals that may be toxic for the baby, but at the same time, we can’t just use a cloth with water because it isn’t good enough to remove stains + bacteria.

We use the Magiclean Natural Plant-based Surface Cleaner (a new limited edition item that has just hit the stores this month!), which is made from 100% naturally-derived cleaning agents, making it gentle and safe to use on dining surfaces and surfaces of baby items. It’s so easy to use that the kids can help with the wipe down. They just give it a quick spritz and wipe over with a cleaning cloth.

4. Clean other fabric-ky surfaces. 

For fabric surfaces that can’t be cleaned with the surface cleaner, there’s Magiclean Fabric Freshener to get the job done. We use this on the sofa, fabric chairs, baby bedding, car seats and fabric toys. It is able to penetrate deeply into fabric fibres to kill 99% flu virus and bacteria, as well as remove funky odour with natural deodorising extracts.

There was a point a few years ago where we were hitting one bout of illness after another and it was just a non-stop nightmare of sick, sniffly babies. It’s been really nice having the kids all healthy and happy, and as a bonus, the house has been super clean.

**Magiclean’s range of products are available in hyper/supermarkets. Check out the website for more information.

by
getting ready for school

The night(mare) before school reopens

June 27, 2017

How awesome is it that the kids are finally back in school?? Very, very, very, very, very much so. Was that too many very’s? Are you kidding? If anything, it’s too few. Let’s throw in a couple more very’s in there.

I typically try not to delight in their misery but when their level of misery is directly proportionate to my level of delight, I shall allow myself a discreet but very celebratory victory dance in the bathroom. Which I did several times and there may or may not have been some involuntary whooping. The kids were like “what are you doing inside, mom??” and I had to be all “oh um nothing, everything’s fine, carry on.”

Every school holidays, I feel like I’ve aged 3 years and at this rate, I’ll be 70 by the time Hayley gets to primary 1.

But you know what’s the worst part about school holidays? The last night before they have to go back to school. Specifically, 30 minutes before bedtime on this dreaded night.

Okay, let me back up a bit. I’m not a noob at this parental torture called school holidays. I know how this goes so at the start of every holidays, I’ll get the kids to take out all their homework and finish it up. Week 1 is always all about the homework and there will be no fun activities until everything is done. I usually spend this week asking them repeatedly to check and double check any and all homework requirements because I will not have any surprises on the night before school starts.

They assured me that it was all done so weeks 2, 3, and 4 were all about having fun. They went to Sentosa, went for camps, went to the museum, went to the playground, went swimming, went to Sentosa again two more times, went to more playgrounds, it was glorious.

Furthermore, we were blessed with an extra public holiday called Hari Raya Puasa two days ago, so I gave myself a headstart and started nagging at them to pack their bags and do a final check of their homework on Sunday afternoon. With that done, we spent our bonus public holiday having fun rock climbing, and all was well until bedtime that night.

I delivered a final instruction to make sure everything was packed and ready for school the next day, and it was at this most auspicious moment that Truett discovered he had 3 copies of 新朋友 magazine undone, plus his completed chinese essay had gone missing.

I legit burst an artery at this point.

It’s scientifically proven that 30 minutes before bedtime on this night is when the gates of homework hell opens up and unleashes the spirits of uncompleted assignments upon you. Work that has been done will mysteriously disappear and formerly nonexistent homework will suddenly come haunt you with their cold, undead fingers. To vanquish this great evil requires a very advanced level of tiger mom powers and sadly, I’m not quite levelled up enough.

Let’s just say that this particular night was filled with much unspeakable pain and gnashing of teeth.

Thankfully, that ordeal is now over and to make up for the suffering, I shall gaze upon this photo of of their joyful school holiday exploits to remind myself of happier times.

by