Two, Three or more - almost ready!

It's two weeks to due date and I think I'm quite ready.

Still, I don't think baby will arrive much earlier if any earlier. From past experiences, neither babies wanted to come out. They were so comfy in there we had to evict them by force.

I was pregnant for a full 41 weeks with Joseph. Seven days past due date and there was still no dilation no contractions. His movements were also not satisfactory and so they wheeled me straight into the OT. Joe came out blue with the umbilical cord firmly around his neck three times!

Because of this, I was not allowed to go past due date with Joy. My gynae gave me up to 2 days before due date. Thank God I had a show just the day before I walked in to hospital to be induced. Dr Kalavathi of Seremban Specialist Hospital was most helpful in helping me deliver Joy naturally. No epidural! Hospital bill was less than RM2000 and I walked out of hospital with my princess barely 24 hours after she was born.

This time round, I'm hoping to do without an episiotomy. Then I can be jumping around the next day!

Two, three or more - approaching D-date!

I realize that it's been a long time since I updated about our two, three or more plan. Well at the moment, it's no longer just two. No.3 is almost arriving!

I'm just past the 36 weeks mark and the due date is fast approaching. The kids are excited to meet their new sister. Yes, the gynae has confirmed baby is a girl (and I saw for myself) although I've been bumping into this old aunty in the church toilet for 2 consecutive Sundays now who keeps insisting that I'm carrying a boy.

I've put on about 12kg to date and everything seems to be right in front. Tummy is pretty low with plenty of pelvic pressure making it impossible for me to get through the night without getting up to pee.

The hospital bag is more or less packed and baby's clothes are ready in the drawer. Got my hair cut, and done most of the necessary shopping. Now I wonder if I can just leave my pink nail polish on my toes when I go in for delivery....

Ballet for my princess

Joy finally asked for ballet classes. Some 2 weeks ago, she came up to me and said, "Mummy, I seriously want to learn ballet! Seriously!!!" So after a delightfully happy (and FREE!) trial class, we signed her up. I like this place because the teacher is really friendly and they are not too fussy.
For Joy's toddler class, they can pick any leotard/tutu of their choice, even if they want to buy from outside. Their fees are also very reasonable and she can stop anytime her interest wanes.
So I got her a pair of hand-me-down ballet shoes from a friend and handmade her skirt with some organza I had bought earlier (but didn't know what to do with).

I have no intentions of pushing her to be a prima donna ballerina though I won't object if she really wants to. For now, I'm just happy to see her so happy every Friday.


After all, that smile on her face is so absolutely priceless!

Canteen Day - caring for my sister

Joseph's kindy had a Canteen Day for 6-year-olds yesterday. It was like a practical lesson as part of the syllabus in learning about money.

So I packed the RM10 in various denominations as suggested by his teacher and advised him not to buy junk like sweets, lollipops and other junk food. I also reminded him that there was no need to spend the entire RM10 just for the sake of spending.

He came home from school pretty happy because for one thing, there was no chinese lesson because of Canteen Day.

As soon as he got into the car, he took out the bottle of Vitagen that he bought for his sister. I asked him whether he bought one for himself and he said he already drank it up during snack time along with the pack of snacks (fishball + nugget + sausage) he bought.

Joseph also bought a cute little pink dinosaur eraser for his sister.

And for himself, he bought a mechanical pencil. Altogether, he spent RM3.95 and brought home the balance of RM6.05. I told him I was very pleased that he thought of his sister and didn't just spend on himself.

Last Saturday, he also showed his caring side without being prompted. We were at Children's Church and just before it started, Daalin took both kids to the loo (actually Joe went by himself) while I went to return the library books and then went to the loo.

When I got back to Hall 1, Daalin was already on stage leading worship. I looked around for Joy and finally found her standing next to her Joseph who had his arm around her shoulder. Since she looked pretty fine, I just stood at a distance behind her without her knowledge.

A short while later, pastor's wife who was standing behind them came to tell me that Joy cried for me but Joseph quickly asked her to stay with him and took care of her. She said was so encouraged to see Joseph take care of his little sister.

I just know he's gonna be a wonderful kor kor to 2 little sisters. Especially when he has his "nobody bullies my sister except me!" policy....

Princess Growing Up

My princess is growing up too quickly!

Last week she finally asked for ballet lessons. So I brought her for a trial today.

She absolutely loved it and spontaneously thanked me for bringing her to ballet class. The teacher couldn't quite believe she is only 3 years (plus). I guess we will enroll her until her interest wanes.

Her precocious vocabulary includes big words (used in correct context) like ...

automatic

auditorium

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celebration

mannivannan

mammenchisaurus

fiddlesticks

and not forgetting essential words like sexy and skype.

She speaks a smattering of spanish, saying Buenos días instead of Good Morning and takes to mandarin more eagerly than her kor kor because she says, "I'm a chinese girl!" unlike her brother who says that he is an English boy.

Her bladder control is way better than mine as a child. She rid herself of daytime diapers at 24 months and night time diapers since she turned 3 yrs. My mum says I wet the bed till I was 4plus.

And her latest phrase that tickles me..... "Wa bo pui....wa tu tu ho!" (I'm not fat....I'm just nice!)

Lantern Walk

Last night we took the kids down for our annual mini lantern parade...

The sky is still very hazy no thanks to all that burning in Sumatra so I didn't see any moon. But the light in the background kinda makes up for it...

We just walked round and round the swimming pool until it started to drizzle a wee bit.

Now that the lanterns are coming down, it's almost time to dig out my Christmas tree... I know it's only September....but this year the tree comes out early before I go into labour!

August happenings

So we're at the end of August. Two thirds of 2011 has flown by. It doesn't seem like that long ago that we were ushering the new year in. And in just over a month's time, I'll be setting up my Christmas tree!!!

August - my parents celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary. With the newest addition to the family, they can now say that their 3 kids are married, with kids.

It's the school holidays! Brandon is here for a few days while his parents attend some training.I stepped into the cinema for the first time in many many years. It's been so long, I can't remember when I last went. Even my son asked me, "You know where is the cinema meh?" Together with another mummy friend and her son, I brought my 2 kids + nephew to watch Cars2.
I thought the automobile-version of a James Bond movie was too 'deep' for the kids but they enjoyed the entire outing nevertheless.
This morning the big boys brought the kids to the park.
Having his cousin around makes it more exciting and fun for Joseph.

Joy-Anne was not to be left out and had no problems keeping up with the boys.


Joe loves zooming down this ramp on his 2-wheel scooter.

Ah Ku tested out his new Canon 550D...

And I did some online shopping...

Pretty dresses make my precious pretty princess very happy!

A new baby in the house

We've got a new baby in the house!

Now before you congratulate me..... the baby is not mine. I'm still pregnant and baby is growing well. Joe and Joy are delighted to have their new cousin in the house for a month. I'm also very happy to see how they are so loving towards her. I just know they are going to be wonderful kor kor and che che when their baby sister arrives in a couple of months.

A Week with the iPad2

It's been just over a week since we've had the iPad2.... While I initially perceived it to be a very expensive toy for the sole purpose of entertainment synonymous with Angry Birds, I now find this is not actually the case.

It can be as educational a tool or as useless a 'toy' as you allow it to be.

I've installed educational apps for Joy-Anne's homeschooling, as well as games that Joe finds fun yet requires some brainwork.

Joy does rhyming with Dora, colours with Barney as well as math, geometry, phonics and chinese.

Joseph has more difficult apps but he tends to play more games. I have to enforce a minute-for-minute rule for him. One minute of learning earns one minute of game.

And every night.....the iPay plays Angry Bird and other games on it.

New BIG Wheels are here!

Nearly 2 months from the date we paid the RM3000 deposit, we took possession of our new ride. This is the best buy considering Daalin's long legs (he pushes the driver seat so far back...) and his desire for kid no.4.

I've driven it only once yesterday to pick up Joe from kindy and he didn't recognize his ride at first.

And for starters...I've warned the kids that I don't want shoe prints or extra marker pen deco on the seats.

'ow' spelling dilemma

Joe asked me this last week after his spelling test. He knew immediately that he had made a mistake even before teacher returned his book (today).

He said....if c-o-w is cow and n-o-w is now, why isn't m-o-w mow???

I guess English words are more difficult and complicated than the Malay language which is mainly writing exactly as you hear it.

Nevertheless, I encouraged my boy and told him he made good use of his ears and common sense in trying to figure out the words.

Exfoliating 51

Joe's top right central incisor (the baby tooth of course) had been wobbling for months. In fact, it was kind of protruded and overlapping the other central incisor for quite a while but I just left it as it was.

Monday being a school holiday because of the Sports Day the previous Saturday, we went to Ikea.....all day! When he came out of Smaland, he told me that he had a bump on his mouth and a wee bit of bleeding. He was cool about it and didn't seem to be in pain so I didn't do anything.

Later in the evening, he pointed out that the tooth was very wobbly. On closer inspection, I found that it was hanging by almost nothing. So I asked him if he wanted it out. Apprehensive at first, but he let me because he was more afraid of swallowing it or having it drop out in school the next day.
So holding the tooth with a gauze, I gave it a twist and out it came. It didn't hurt but he asked me, "Am I gonna die?" when he saw the blood.

Slight compression and a cup of cold Ribena later, he was smiling again when I told him putting the tooth under the pillow will result in an iPad2!

He wasn't fooled.... coz he promptly told me "There no such thing as a tooth fairy!!!"

I think he looks kinda cute. And he paid me with 10 kisses :-)

Durians and Mangosteen

Ah Mah and Ah Kong were here for dinner on Monday night. Tua Pek and Tua Um were also in town for the MTV World Stage concert so we all had dinner together at home. After a lovely dinner of simple home-cooked food which included tu kha chor, we had a feast of durians and mangosteen. Photos especially for YeeYee's drooling pleasure ..... We were so busy eating that nobody remembered to take photos until we were almost done.
Mangosteen were only RM3.50 per kg. So cheap!

Joe's Sports Day

Saturday 23rd July 2011 was Joe's kindy Sports Day. I woke the kids up early and we left home by 7am.

We had breakfast in the concourse area, and then sent Joe into his class and found some seats right under the fan inside one of the tents.

The event started promptly at 8am with the kids' march past and then the National Anthem.

A few speeches followed and then the 6-year-olds did a dance. Joseph had been singing the song at home in the last couple of weeks but absolutely refused to dance for me at home. He kept telling me I had to be patient until the actual day.

While he remembered all his dance steps, he didn't smile. And it's not that he forgot...he said he had to focus on his dance. I guess he's just not the showman kind.

After his dance, I retreated to the back and parked myself under the fan again because Joe's class item was the last one.

Jolly Jelly - they had to run and pick up 2 water balloons and then walk on a bench then run to the end to drop the water balloons into a pail before running back.
I'm still kicking myself for forgetting to switch the camera to video mode. Nevertheless, his red team won the gold medal for his item.

God answered our prayers - the weather was perfect! It was nice and cloudy and the sun didn't come out until 10am.I think the teachers did a great job in organizing the event. Everything went smoothly and the whole event ended by 10.30am instead of the anticipated 12noon.

We had ample time to go home for a shower and some rest before going back for Children's Church and Little Lamb.

Joe came home and immediately put his medal in the glass display cabinet, next to his 2009 Sports Day medal. He said he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I guess this would be one of those things he will miss if he's homeschooled. So for now, the firm decision is to throw him in the 'deep end' and see how he fares in a chinese school. I'm sure he'll be fine.