49th National Day celebration in Adam's kindergarten.

 Celebrated National Day in Adam's kindy yesterday.

I woke up at 5:30AM to boil eggs and make sandwiches.

 

Kids arrived super early to get ready for a small performance for the parents.

Ah Beng Ashton Tan.

Adam's art work got displayed in front of the Principal's office :P

Their breakfast menu (just for my own reference).

 

 

It was an entire day of ferrying the kids around for me.
Driving up and down to my Mum's, to Andy's office, then to dinner and finally back home.
Super exhausted until we just all collapsed after bath-time and Andy and I missed our midnight Marvels movie!

But on the good side, this year is the first time I attended his National Day school party.
Last year, Adam asked me why other kids' mummies attended but not me?
I felt super guilty because I am a FTWM, but to a child, that 2 hours of your presence in a school event makes a world of difference because you are his world!
Therefore, I made the effort to take leave this year, plus I promised him I will make sandwiches for his friends (as his teacher called me up and requested me to bring some finger food, I gladly agreed).

 It's a tough job being a Mum, juggling so many different roles and tasks, making sure everybody is reasonably happy.
For my kids, I promise to try my best.

 



School excursion: SEA Aquarium, RWS.

I accompanied Adam on his school field trip to SEA Aquarium today.

It was an exhausting but enriching experience for Adam and I alike.

Really salute the teachers for their diligence and dedication in ensuring the excursion was a fun and educational trip for the children.

I don't think I can survive one day being a pre-school teacher!

All that shouting instructions, keeping the children orderly, making sure nobody gets lost inside the dark aquarium..... no mean feat.

 

On the other hand, I really treasured my opportunity to go with Adam. As a matter of fact, I would never have made it today if not for Adam's teacher calling me up to go.

At least now I get to witness how Adam behaves in the presence of his peers and figures of authority.

 

All in all a good experience.

 

 

 

I'm clearing my leave and spending more time with the children.
They are simply growing up too fast.
 

It's really not easy juggling family and work and trying to find the balance.

I may not be the best mother in the world. Some days I feel motivated, some days I feel lazy.

There are even days when I feel resentful and tempted to give the kids away for a small token.

But at the end of the day, I try my best to be the best Mummy I can be to my kids.

 



26 Oct 2013: Adam's year-end concert at school.

I woke up at 6:30AM on Saturday as I was feeling excited - my big baby is performing for his first time at his school's concert!

When he attended childcare centre in the past, they did not have such activities so it's a first for all in the family.

 

I personally ironed his costume, got both kids ready, and helped Adam put on some light makeup. 

I was a ball of nerves.

 

Supporters!

My shy Adam heading to the concert hall.

K2 graduation.

My big baby on stage! His class is singing a Filipino song Tong, Tong, Pakitong-kitong (The Crab Song).

 

All the levels and classes of children danced and sang so well. Their coordination was splendid!

They have been practicing hard for 8 weeks prior to today and it was no easy feat for these kids to go on stage and perform so well in front of the whole audience.

 

Although Adam is naughty in the company of people he is familiar with, he is very shy and antisocial by nature.
He's not the type to talk to strangers and every CNY visit is a nightmare for us, therefore to see such vast improvement in his confidence is a proud moment for me.

 

Thank you Changi Bethany School-House for all the effort and patience in training our children.

Your hands-on approach and working closely with parents is a reflection of the firm belief that learning begins at home.

 

Mid-week morning madness.

This morning was a little bit crazy.

 

Instead of getting ready for school, Adam decided to do some gardening and roped in the baby as well.

Com'on children!! We are getting late for school.

 

 

I was supposed to drive Adam to school but in the morning as soon as we left home and walked to the lift, Adam complained loudly that his bag was dripping wet.

Took a peep inside his bag and realised my helper did not screw his bottle tight and the half the contents were swimming in his back pack!

Ran back indoors, got him changed into a fresh set of uniform, cleaned up the bag and refilled the bottle, and left home.

Then there was the snail-paced traffic because once we missed a certain timing, Upper Changi Road would be filled with cement trucks and heavy vehicles heading toward Expo and the Changi Industrial park. Eeecck!!!

 

When we reached school, his classmates were already in class so it was a hasty drop-off without a proper Good-bye hug and kiss.. Pfft.

 

Miss you Baby boy. See you later when you're back from school :)

 

 

My mundane yet crazy days.

Early morning activity: waiting for the school bus with Adam.

Compared to his previous school, he is happy and enthusiastic to go to school every morning as there are different programs for the kids, and of course the shorter hours.

I'm carrying Ashton while waiting for the bus with Adam. Life of a mum - hands are always full.

Once back home, need to settle Ashton's breakfast and bath. After that, LAUNDRY.
After this pile gets folded and packed nicely into the cabinets, another pail is waiting in the utility kitchen. Gasp!

Play-room before: It looks like a toy shop exploded in here.
Toys strewn everywhere - living room, on the coffee table, in the balcony.........
Have to sort and keep the toys for easy finding.
Broken limbs need fixing and dead batteries need replacing.
The other night, I stepped on a Lego brick and almost slipped. ZzzzzZzz

Play-room after.

Other things on the list:

Ashton has a hacking cough, needs a trip to the paediatrician.

School bus drops Adam off at 12:30pm.

Lunch beckons.

Nap time for the kids.

Bottles to wash and sterilise before Ashton wakes up and takes another feed.

Mop floors otherwise baby crawls and eats hair or dirt from the ground.

Puts bucket of laundry into washer (clothes in my home are washed separately according to Hubby's / mine/ kids/ bedsheets).

Takes a much-warranted shower while waiting for laundry to be done.

Children wake up.

... the list goes on ....

 

So you see, 24 hours is hardly enough for SAHMs.

Doing this for short term or once in a while, I can handle... But if scrubbing and washing is all I do day in, day out, then I'd rather work.

 

I don't buy the "I work to spend time / I work for passion" bull-balls. 

If you really want to spend time, there are loads of stuff to do as a mum on any given time of the day.

If you are working for passion, I find it even harder to believe it.

I have passion for many things, be it bags, shopping, playing with the kids, photography, blogging, going to the library.... anything but work; anything but waking up to an alarm every morning; anything but having to deal with stupid people and workplace politics. I definitely do not have passion for such things related to w o r k.

 

Everyone works for $$$. Mums especially. Children are expensive to have.

If you would like to be able to afford holidays every year with your family, to buy nicer stuff for yourself and your kids, to afford enrichment classes, to eat at nicer places once in a while, then you have to work for it.

Just always remind yourself - nothing good in life comes easy.

 

 

 

 

My 4 year-old is going to be the death of me.

Took the day off today to send Adam to school and do a little bit of luggage packing.

We had a minor scare yesterday. Adam's teacher called me to inform that they saw 2 ulcers in his mouth and we were told to fetch him home.

Good Lord, not on the eve of the eve of our holiday, surely?!

I brought him to the doctor's, and because he wasn't running a fever and there were no rashes on his body or limbs, we were given the clear to return to school today.

 

Here he is at the back of my car. He's very happy when I told him "no need to take school bus today, Mummy will send you" :)

 

Waiting around for temperature-taking and daily checks by the teachers.

Queuing in line for assembly at 8:30AM.

He's next class neighbours with my niece Noelle.

 

Well, it's not the ulcer-scare that's making me on the verge of crying.

 

I received disturbing news from Adam's form teacher this morning. She gave feedback that there are times when Adam misbehaves and is disruptive to the class, for example, there were occasions where he played by himself and laughed loudly during lessons and did not comply with Teacher's instructions.

His teacher was worried that I would get angry and assured me that so far he has not been to a Naughty Corner yet.

I reassured her that it was perfectly Ok for him to be punished or disciplined if he misbehaves again, and told her to go ahead and be more firm with him.

 

At swimming lessons, I too, observe him sometimes not paying attention to what Desmond is telling the kids to do and I have to repeatedly march over and give him a stern warning.

 

I told Andy about these incidents and Hubby's response? "If there's such a thing as a Naughty Chair or Naughty corner, then Adam must have slept in the Naughty Cot since Day 1 of life".

 

Good gosh. If he's like this as a 4 year-old, I don't know how to deal with him when he's a teenager.

I swear, this child is going to be the death of me.