Sleep, elusive sleep.

When I adopted my sheltie Alice 10 years ago, the lady who rehomed her made me bring her home to do a few days' trial to assess my readiness in keeping a dog.
I was also interrogated with a million questions - Was I a student or was I working?
If I'm a student, who is paying for the upkeep of the dog?
Did I have any prior experience in keeping dogs?
Who was I staying with? Did my parents approve of the dog?
Did I stay in an apartment or landed property?
Were there young children or other dogs in the household?
Did I have time to walk her daily?
Likewise, when Andy & I purchased our border collie Maverick, the petshop person passed us packets of sample dog food along with a laundry list of vets and dog training schools categorised according to zone (North, Central, East, West of Singapore).

Having a baby seemed less work than having a dog.
Throughout both my pregnancies, not a single person asked our housing type or assessed if we were emotionally and physically prepared to have children. Nobody asked if we had our home baby-proofed and that we used only products that had passed stringent safety standards. BPA-free? Safety gates? Socket covers? Nobody wanted to know.
No one cared whether we had qualifications in early childhood education or if we were CPR-trained.
We could be serial killers living in slumps and they wouldn't have guessed.


Nobody said parenting was easy, but I didn't know it was gonna be this tough, and nobody warned us.

Tonight was Andy's weekly soccer practice and as Murphy's law would have it, both kids decided not to sleep early tonight. It's a weekday night and I am desperate to get them both to sleep because God forbid they do this when I'm back to work.

The baby attacked my boobs fiercely and the minute I put him down he started crying.
The 3 year old couldn't stop fidgeting about and asking me his wh- questions.
I thought I was about to go insane so I promptly sent some expletives to Andy's hp, and asked him to kindly come home (get your bloody ass back home IMMEDIATELY you bloody jerk asshole!!!)

I had looked up parenting books for sleep advice and diligently followed every instruction. Putting a child down for nap? Draw the curtains, dim the lights, quieten the room to reduce stimulation. The result? I have a toddler who is the lightest sleeper on the whole planet.
Sleep scheduling your infant? Allow your infant to self-soothe and if the crying doesn't stop, gently pat him and coo to him in soft, reassuring tones.
My infant didn't care to "self-soothe", and neither of us could hear my reassuring coos from all that screaming.

Who comes up with such advise?! Are people who write parenting books, parents?
Fuck sleep training, whatever that means anyway.
If sleep didn't elude any parent, I'd have 8 more kids.


Presenting my two monsters:

Adam says Ashton is his best friend forever, and that I'm naughty (because I scolded him) so I am not his best friend. Horror of horrors!
Well, at least my life isn't boring.

Life as a working Mom

Clocking in my last month of maternity leave, I'll be returning to work in December, which is quite a scary thought right now.
I wonder how I'm gonna cope with work and the night feeds.
Ashton is still far from sleeping through the night, which is the part I'm dreading most.
May God save me.

The idea of resigning and being a stay-home Mommy ever crossed my mind, but then I subsequently decided against it.
First of all, laundry and scrubbing toilets do not feature in my Top Ten list of personal achievements.
Secondly, whoever said kids need your time and not your money?
As far as I know, my kids need my money. Lots of it.
School fees cost money - the teachers need to get paid.
Groceries and diapers cost money.
Organic stuff cost more than normal grocery.
And when the time comes, tuition and enrichment classes will cost money.
To top it all off, we have a live-in helper who is very high maintenance and cannot drive.

I need to work. I want to work.
The financial freedom is a bonus for my lifestyle, not just for my kids.
Moreover, working allows me to stay relevant, and gives me the opportunity to engage in conversations that do not involve bum cream and nappy rash.

So yeap. I'm going back to work. Soon.
Going to embark on an all-new journey as a full-time working Mom with two young kids, a Hubby and twelve Kois.
What a scary, scary thought.

My Buddha baby

Why this Buddha baby got double chin??  

With a face like this, he can get away with anything!

I chose this photo for Ashton's passport application. Yeap you heard right - we're making his passport.
Some parents just don't learn do they? Taking on the world with 2 pesky children now.

As an aside, I would like to share this amazing video with you.

It's about a family with young children travelling and experiencing the world.
Not that we're gonna trade our comfy beds to live in tents anytime soon, but this is truly inspiring.
Enjoy!

Right brain exercises

I introduced Right brain exercises to Adam last week, in addition to our daily routine of doing mazes, counting and learning the letters of the alphabet.
Considering both Adam & I have the attention spans of goldfish, this is a major achievement.


Photographic memory:
I used picture cards from his Brainbox, but actually just about any picture or flash card will do.
I use the sand timer from the Brainbox (which runs 10sec) to allow Adam to memorise as many details of the cards as possible within the time frame. I will then ask him questions related to the picture cards.

I found out this is not as easy as it sounds. Initially, Adam lacked concentration and could not focus on the cards long enough, because he didn't know what was expected of him. After I did some demos and examples to show him, he eventually grasped the concept of this memory game and could answer some questions correctly.
As an added bonus, he sometimes even opens the Brainbox and initiates this game.

Memory grid:
I printed grids of 3 and 4 and slotted the papers into clear plastic folders.
I also realised I have picture cards which fit nicely into the grids. Brilliant!
I started him off by using grids of 3. First I arranged the cards onto the grids and asked him to memorise the sequence of the pictures.
After 10 seconds, I turned the cards over and asked him to replicate the sequence on his own grid sheet (the picture cards I bought come in pairs so there are 2 sets of every same picture, which is superb).
When he is done, I flip the cards on the answer sheet over and see whether he got them correct.
This is easier than the Photographic memory exercise and as Adam gets the hang of it, I will move on to grids of 4.


Seriously, learning with your child is highly encouraged. Imagine all the money you can save from not having to go for enrichment classes.
By the way if you are interested in doing some homeschool exercises with your children, you can go read up on a fellow Mummy-blogger's site: Mummy's Homeschool
She has many brilliant ideas on homeschooling, so do check it out.

Port of Lost Wonder

It's been years since I last set foot on Palawan Beach at Sentosa.
Back then, I was still single and went there for suntanning and beach volleyball.
Now?? Married with two kids and become Aunty already also go Palawan. 厉害吗? (li hai mah?)

There's a pirate ship water play area with foam party that's been set up just for kids, or so I've heard.
Gotta check it out for ourselves!

What: Port of Lost Wonder
Where: Palawan beach, Sentosa
Entrance and parking: $7 per vehicle, parking available at the beach.
How much: Kids go in for $8 per pax on Weekdays / $15 on weekends. Adults go in for free.

Me and my little Botak.

 Like Zoukout like that. Kids nowadays more happening than their parents!

Gotta enjoy this cutesy phase while it lasts.

[Promotion] Crocs discount for all!

Hi all, I have a little goody to share.
Whether you like buying Crocs shoes for yourself or for your kids, Crocs is now giving a 20% discount voucher to everyone.

These are Adam's kicks for our Perth trip. They are lightweight and trendy, and easy for him to put on/ take off on his own.

All you have to do is to go to Crocs website here: http://www.newcrocsnewyou.com/sg/

Participate in their Crocs™ – Your Path Your Style journey and at the end of it, you will receive the 20% discount coupon.

That's not all. After your purchase, go on to Crocs website again to do a short survey and redeem another 15% discount for your next purchase.
** Discount is valid for 30 days from purchase date, and if I'm not wrong the 20% discount coupon is valid till end-November.

So hurry and get your Crocs discount. It's that easy!

PS. I wish I get paid for this.

Perth Oct 2012: Whale watching

Mother and calf whale spotted!

Of the entire trip, I enjoyed the Whale-watching most. This was my first time on a chartered boat to look for whales and we were lucky it was a good day with perfect weather and lots of whale sightings.

Adam was enthusiastic about it and he told me he saw whales too. I asked them whether they were huge or tiny, he said they were small. His reason? Because they were far away and appeared small haha.

We spotted mother and calf humpbacks and they were very friendly and did not mind us at all.
One of them even swam right next to our boat and was quite an experience!

Did you know? A calf stays with its Mummy whale for 1.5 years and the Mummy whale breastfeeds her calf for 1 full year.

Perth Oct 2012: Leeuwin vineyard and Chocolate factory

Took a drive down to Leeuwin estate for vineyard tour and have a lovely lunch with wine and good food.

Chocolate Factory at Margaret River

Free chocolate tasting