from around here

Anyone else still recovering from a long weekend hangover? It was so nice to have 4 days(??!!) off right smack in the middle of moving week.

//And hey, happy 50th, Singapore. Thanks for being our home.

So the past week was spent moving and my, what a crazy week that was. First, there was unspeakable mayhem, and then a hurricane on top of the mayhem, and I think a few smoke bombs went off in there somewhere, some furniture got lost and finally it was all over. We’re done. Moving week 2015 has officially come to an end, thank you and goodnight.

Now to settle in and get cosy before it’s time to do this all over again in 2016.

My sweet, sentimental Finn is feeling a little homesick. “We need to go home now,” he announces, when it’s time for bed.

“We’re home, Finn. This is going to be our home for a while.”

“No, we need to go into the car and drive, drive, drive back to mommy’s home.”

“We can’t, baby. That home is going to belong to someone else, but you’ll get used to it here in a few days, you’ll see.”

He looked horrified and tears started filling up his sad little baby eyes. “We cannot go back to mommy’s home anymore? But that’s mommy and Finn Finn’s home.”

This baby of mine doesn’t like change, and it’s hard for him to say goodbye to the only home he’s known all his life. I hugged him and put him in our bed, the one thing we brought that’s still familiar to him. :(

***

Meanwhile, on the other end of things, I brought Tru with my back to the old place to pick up mail after school today and he was equally horrified upon seeing me turn into the carpark.

“Why are we coming back to this house?” he asked, looking confused.

Sensing that it was an opportunity to mess with him, which is getting rarer these days, now that he’s less gullible, I said, “umm, change of plans, we’ve got to come back to this home.”

He tried to mask the disappointment that was all over his face, before saying tentatively, “you’re kidding right? Is this for real?”

“Okay, busted. I’m totally kidding. I’m just here to pick up some mail.”

“Phew, for a moment, I really panicked man.”

No difficulties dealing with change, this one.

You know what I’ve discovered during this moving process? It’s totally not that scary and I’m actually enjoying this. Decluttering, labelling boxes, planning, peeking into other people’s homes, lurking on craigslist and carousell, and putting together a new place in my head. There’s fun to be had here.

My Kirsten is such a nester. She’s got a great instinct for this. She spotted me on Pinterest looking for ideas while putting the kids to bed one night and she was SO EXCITED, like “oh oh this one! No, that’s not going to work, let’s go with this look instead, we can put up some pretty pictures on the wall and get some lights and little poofy round paper balls.

Who needs a decorator when you have a daughter? This is her shortlist for her room and I love it, I couldn’t have picked better ones myself.

On a related note, I’ve also discovered that I’ve given birth to a bunch of rag and bone children. Their hoarding impulses are out of control. These kids are emotionally attached to broken toy parts and crumpled scraps of paper and bits of crayon stumps. Especially Truett, I’m looking at you, my beautiful bizarre offspring. He has treasure boxes stashed in obscure corners of the house, and they’re not really filled with treasure at all. One box contained a missing nail buffer block that I was searching the house for (I gave up and bought a new one) and a half eaten cookie left over from 2012.

So the point of decluttering is to make them throw out all the junk and I notice that they’re giggling and sneaking it into the packed boxes when they think I’m not looking. What will I do with these monkeys?

I think I’ll keep them, is what I’ll do.

They’ve actually been a really great help with the packing – making lists and cutting tape and being generally helpful. Even baby Theo is getting in on the action.

Yesterday afternoon, when I was in full on packing mode, Truett brought Finn into the room and put him to bed for a nap.

Heart eyes.

Yeahhh the kids are back in school, and is that a collective sigh of relief I hear this morning?

Actually, I’ve rather enjoyed having Truett around with me all day this past month. He’d join me for breakfasts, to the market, off to run errands; it feels just like the time we had just him and me before all the other kids came along.

Last night, I was helping Tru to pack his bag for school, feeling thoroughly pleased with myself for being such a responsible parent. I’d gone through his homework early, and even prepped him for next semester’s spelling, it’s all good. When suddenly, he was all “OH NO, I NEED TO BRING PICTURES OF STUFF WE DID DURING THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS!!”

“Wow, ok, we had a whole month to do this and you tell me this now just before bedtime? I can’t get you prints by tomorrow morning but here, I’ll draw you a panel of stick figures hanging out at the zoo and you can colour them in.”

Sigh.

***

Of all the kids, Finn has had the biggest battles with separation anxiety. He was doing well for a bit, but the past few months, he’s been sad and teary eyed when it’s time for school every morning. This morning, he was in tears again while he was leaving for school and turns out that he’s got a mild fever so the husband brought him back home to rest.

“I’m so happy I get to see you, mommy!!” he announced as he got home.

Incidentally, he’s completely well now with no fever or any other signs of discomfort. Some kids try to fake an illness, but this boy has perfected the art of giving himself an actual fever at critical moments in life. Very impressive.

the face of victory

***

In other news, I finally had my eyes done last week and I would like to state categorically that my quality of life has improved by 5000%. No, much more.

I’ve been wearing specs since I was 7 and all I can remember is being dependent on glasses and contacts. Dry eyes, itchiness, general eye discomfort, that’s what I’ve learnt to get used to all my life.

One time, I broke my specs and it took a week to have them replaced. I was so miserable that entire week because all I could see were blurry blobs of colour. Waking up to feed the baby (Kirsten!) was exceptionally bad. I tried warming up the milk without putting in my contacts and poured scalding hot water all over my hand instead of the warming bowl. So I ended up having to stuff contacts in my eyes several times a night after wearing them all day.

These days, I open my eyes in the morning and instinctively reach for my glasses but then I realise that wait a minute, I CAN SEE. It’s like waking up to a miracle every morning.

And how was the procedure? Absolutely terrifying.

Everything about it was terrifying: having the suction thing clamp my eyeballs, hearing the laser cut a flap in my cornea (like a rubber band snapping sound), watching the surgeon flip open the flap with his pointy device, smelling the laser burn off parts of me cornea, watching the surgeon flip back the flap with his pointy device, and finally feeling him squeegee the flap down to make sure it’s in place.

After the surgery, my left eye was remarkably pain free but the right eye hurt for 2 straight days like it was being constantly being scraped with a piece of glass. It’s day 4 and I feel much better. It’s just a little dry and sore but I expect that it’ll go away in a week or two.

But for perfect vision, so worth it.

Yikes, we’re almost done with May and hasn’t this year has been positively blitzy? You know, I think I might have severely underestimated what it’s like to have 4 kids. The transition from 3 to 4 has been crazier than I imagined it to be. Much, much crazier. So many tiny people needing so many things! Most days, it’s just non stop action from the get go.

This has been happening a lot – I get to the end of each week and I wonder where all my hours have gone to.

In between helping Truett with his pursuit of academia, ferrying various kids to and from various places {have I mentioned that I’m cycling everywhere these days? I’m turning into a hipster; just me and my little beach cruiser. The kids unanimously agree that cycling is far superior to walking or sitting in the car as a mode of transportation} and other general mom stuff, I’m losing track of all the hours.

WHERE ARE ALL MY HOURS??

//General mom stuff includes but is not limited to answering questions about why dogs are furry (I don’t know is not an acceptable answer, mom! Go check on your laptop), giving out post nap cuddles (the best kind), sponging sick babies (happening far too much lately), hosting dance parties, planning meals, washing bums and cutting hair. Yes, cutting hair. When one becomes a mom, one must learn to do mom things. I just gave Theo a haircut yesterday, see my masterpiece.

//Does he look like a big boy now or what??? He’s the best hair-cuttee of all my babies. I did briefly consider growing his hair out like Finn, but it was immediately vetoed by the husband. Good call, husband! This baby sure knows how to rock a faux hawk.

The craziest thing is that I love it though, this crazy life. I feel obnoxious for loving it so much but urgh, I do love it so.

Look who’s getting good at tummy time!! Can I just say that those cheeks are really killing me. This speaks of my lack of impulse control or whatever but I need to eat. this. face. every time I see it, which is basically all day. It could also be due to the fact that he puts up the least protest. He’s not a big fan of all this chomping but he’s all like “this is my life and I’m learning to deal with it.”

It’s a tough call but it is with great pleasure that I present this baby with the chompiest cheeks award.

The weather has been really nice for walks lately. It’s the only time of the year where it’s possible to take walks around the neighbourhood without feeling like it’s an insufferable endeavour. I’ve been bringing the baby out with me on foot for short grocery runs, midday takeout lunches, a double chocolate chip cookie hunt to the subway outlet 15 minutes away (which took more like 35 minutes each way), and late afternoon walks to the playground. Some days when I’m feeling adventurous, I bring along more than one kid (so brave!!). One time, I had all 4 kids with me downstairs and it was a total disaster. Having to hustle after a toddler and two big kids while carrying a fat baby is an experience I recommend to no one. It was also kind of perfect watching them. :)

Go this way.

No, go this way.

Alright, this way.

***

Because it’s almost christmas, and christmas is a time for giving, let’s have a bit of fun shall we?

I’ll be hosting a special “12 Days of Christmas Giveaway” over on the Mother, Inc. Facebook page. Starting this Sunday 14 December, there will be one giveaway everyday for 12 days right up till christmas day. There are some really, really great gifts in there that you don’t want to miss.

*Okay okay sneak preview – there will be a Yvolution bike, a super cool Egg helmet, the new Todbi Air Hipseat carrier, Aden & Anais swaddles, Playgro playgyms and lots of other cool stuff.

Much love to Global Outsource Solutions and Mothercare for sponsoring the giveaway items. 

It’s 17 days to Christmas – too soon! It’s been a busy lead up to the end of the year, with the kids putting up 2 performances in the past 2 weeks.

Their O School dance recital was phenomenal, we had such a great time. More on this to come but we’re so chuffed that the kids got to be part of something so amazing.

p/c: O School

Last week, Truett, Kirsten and Finn had their annual year-end school performance, with Truett officially graduating from preschool. He looked so grown up in his graduation gown and mortar board. Normally I’d be all teary and emo but watching him walk out confidently to receive his cert, I felt like we did ok. I really like how this boy turned out. :)

Finn spent his entire performance with him bum to the audience (so cute!!) but he nailed all the moves to Incy Wincy Spider, so points for that. Truett and Kirsten are now experienced performers and they both killed it for their dances. During the dance, it occurred to me that Kirsten is so much like me, except even more awesome. And that’s what kids are, isn’t it? They’re a better version of us and they’re going to do so much more that we ever thought possible. Okay, now I’m getting emo.

p/c: Kids’ preschool teachers

Towards the end, Kirsten was assigned the task of reading out all the names of the graduating K2 students and when she got to “Truett Kao Kai Xuan“, she looked so thrilled to be announcing her brother’s graduation. It was so sweet.

***

In other exciting news, my baby swing decided that he’s had enough and called it quits on me over the weekend. Yeah, my baby swing is a he. A manly baby swing called Thumper. Boys can be so temperamental sometimes.

It’s not been pretty. Because my baby loves his baby swing so. The only way Theo will take his naps is in this baby swing. And forget what they tell you about not letting your baby nap in a swing – I was a real nazi about this with Truett and Kirsten but let’s just say that I’m now a reformed baby swing believer. Whatever helps this baby to sleep for more than 15 minutes at a stretch, I’m down with that .

It also gives him cute bunny ears when he sleeps. There’s a lot to be said about cute bunny ears on a sleeping baby. This makes me laugh all the time.

So now that the swing refuses to swing no more, I have to sit beside him while he naps to swing it manually. It beats having to carry the baby for an hour but this really puts a crimp in my plans because this hour of nap time is sacred. I get a lot done in this time – food time, shower time, coffee time, plus a bit of work on those super special days where he decides to stay asleep for an extra 30 minutes.

You’d think he wouldn’t know the difference if he was fast asleep but once it stops swinging, he’ll open up one eye to peer at me with a face that says “get it together, momma, I’m trying to nap here.”

I have 3 bigger kids and I tried making them take turns to swing the baby because what good are big kids if you can’t make them do menial tasks like manually swinging their baby brother, right? Kidding. They like doing it. But then they’ll giggle at his bunny ears and wake him up, which is the opposite of what I’m trying to achieve.

But hey, it’s almost Christmas and Christmas always makes things better. I might just take this time to transition him to cot napping. Hahahaha, or not, depending on how brutal things get. We’ll see how this goes.

Have a good December, you guys!

Every thanksgiving, I tell myself that we have to properly celebrate it. Go all out with the turkey and mashed potatoes and casseroles and pies and eat till we have to put on our Joey Thanksgiving Pants and then we’ll all talk about all the beautiful things that happened in the year and just be thankful. But as the day draws near, I’ll think about all the cooking that needs to be done and completely chicken out. This year, I thought about it for a moment and immediately decided that it would be a crazy idea. That I even considered doing it was crazy, what with the baby and the other kids…plus it’s been an insanely busy period for us.

Well, we did get our christmas tree up and all the presents wrapped so that’s something.

Instead, we had some milk + cookies and snuggled up in bed with the kids for a limited edition 2014 thanksgiving game. We were all supposed to list 3 things we were thankful for and it turned out so well we got up to I don’t know, we lost count somewhere around 27. Granted, some of these things included “I’m thankful for toes” (h/t to Finn!), which is pretty much the whole point of the game, right? I’m glad I can be thankful for things like toes because I love my toes and I wouldn’t want to be without them.

Maybe next year when the baby is less of a baby, we’ll attempt that massive thanksgiving dinner I’ve been dreaming of having. If not, there’s always the year after that.

There ain’t no turkey this year but we’ve got so, so much to be thankful for, so hold on tight, I’m about to do one of those “These are all the things I’m grateful for” type posts. These posts are good for the soul.

\\ I’m one lucky girl. I know this.

I sometimes forget this when things aren’t going the way they’re supposed to in my head, or when bad things sneak up on me, or when I’m in a funk but the moment I stop to look at all the things going for us, I realise how terribly good I’ve got it, and how being grateful is the only way to be.

Especially so this year. I think this year will go down as one of those years we’ll look back on and say “remember 2014? WHAT A YEAR.” This year has been so ridiculously good to us.

I’m grateful for dreams that come true. You know how when you dream of achieving something and you work your butt off to make it happen and suddenly the stars align and it finally starts happening for you, and you’re just sitting there both in awe and filled with so much gratitude it makes you giddy? That’s how we feel about this year. It’s been busy and exhausting and fun and exhilarating and satisfying all at the same time.

I’m grateful for family. Family can sometimes drive you nuts but they’re always there to love you and cheer for you and celebrate with you and offer to help watch the kids!!

I’m grateful for friends who choose to stick around as we go on this journey together. For friends we don’t get to see a lot but whose company we cherish when we do. For friends that we get to see every week, whose kids put a smile on my kids’ faces.

I’m grateful for the chance to explore the world with the people I love. Travel is my biggest weakness and I’d willingly give up jewellery or bags or fancy dinners for a couple of days in Melbourne or Maldives or Tokyo. We have a system where instead of buying me presents, the husband sends me travel credits, yeah, I came up with that.

I’m grateful that we get to do what we do. I was talking with the husband and we realised that we both have jobs that didn’t exist 30 years ago. It’s like the internet conspired to create these opportunities for us to do what we love. And boy, are we grateful for it. On that note, I’m so humbled by all the kind emails of encouragement I’ve gotten from you guys. I’m lucky to have the best readers on the internet, of that I’m sure. Having a blog can get to your head, with all the exclusive invites and junkets and trips and swag. Every time I get one of these emails, the husband calls me a big important blogger and I punch him on the arm because getting caught up in all of it is just a bit silly. This blog is really just a love letter to my family, like a time capsule I’d like them to open up and read years from now. I’m grateful for everyone who drops by to read it, and all the opportunities it’s created but I realise that I’m just a girl who gets to do something I enjoy.

Most of all, I’m grateful for the 5 people I love more than anything else in the world. I look at them and it almost feels like a dream.

**Bonus point: Thank you all so much for the overwhelming support for Child Label during our Black Happy Friday sale, the site pretty much exploded on Friday. We’re hard at work making sure all the orders get out as soon as possible, we’ll be up all night for the rest of the week to make sure it happens. ;)