Blessings from Above

Today marks the completion of 38 weeks of this pregnancy - at last Thurs' visit, my total weight gain has reached 4.8kg and #4 is estimated to be 3.3kg. Unfortunately, she is back on the tranverse lie position this week and DR is insisting that I choose a date for scheduled c-sect as it is not a position that would allow me to deliver her vaginally. After delivering 3 babies vaginally, you can imagine how unwilling I am to undergo a c-sect. I've been spending quite a fair bit of time reading up on how I can get her to turn before that and I have until next Thurs to try and make that happen. If she is in the correct position on Thurs, then DR will want to admit me and carry out the induction before she changes position again. At this juncture, I would much prefer to be induced than to undergo a c-sect. I have to say that we are more or less (more than less) ready for baby - we've got almost all the things we need for her - new car, car seat, diapers, clothings, sling, baby c...

I'm almost hitting week 33 and the sleepless and night waking has been haunting me for days... I guess it's the body's way of adjusting (or preparing!) me to the night feeds that will be upon me before I know it. School holidays is almost over (2 out of 6 weeks left) and before I know it, the school runs and routine will begin again. I've been keeping busy, "entertaining" the kids by taking them out to do the things they enjoy before the challenges of the school year begin. I've also been able to do quite a fair bit of spring cleaning and throwing out things that I don't really need (or want) anymore. The festive season is also around the corner and I will have plenty to do on that front too. From the office party and family dinners... I guess the next 2 weeks will be here and gone like a flash (as with 2018)... it's a surreal feeling - with the little one extremely active and acrobatic... since I remember missing this feeling (being kicked from ...

What can you do as a parent when your child gets bullied in school? #2 has been facing this bully since p1. It is pretty unfortunate that they have been "stuck" together in the same class for the past three years and will continue to be in the same class for another year. Even more unfortunate that they are "partners" as their index number comes one after another. Incidents that have happened so far - boy tries to trip #2 when he walks past (this has happened more than once - #2's psychomotor skills aren't fantastic to begin with), boy threw #2's shoe over the ledge and down to level 1, boy makes sarcastic remarks about #2 (& us) - "your mama is so fat", "your family is so poor that they cannot afford to buy you snacks" and the latest "your name is so stupid". I've tried to speak to this boy's mom before but she chose to believe that her son is an "angel" and did not carry out the purported acts. Teac...

You know old people said "Have them while you are young"? And they are really not kidding... almost one full (zodiac) cycle later, here I am entering the 3rd trimester with #4 and I feel a world of difference! Definitely way less energy and way more taxing on my body. My girth has expanded way beyond what has ever been and I probably now have 5% of wearables in my wardrobe but I'm not about to go out there and buy new stuff because #4 is really the last baby that we will have. Strangely though, I've only put on 2kg since we found out about the pregnancy... In the same vein, when the DR gives you recommendations, you should probably just take it. It's really strange that some 7 - 8 weeks ago, he asked me to take the flu vaccination and I was thinking.. "ah? For what, I hardly ever fall sick" and thus turn down his recommendation. Fast forward to today, barely recovered from Influenza Type A (assumed as only #2 did the test but we were treated in the sam...

Pragmatic as I am, cars are considered liabilities where we live. I am thankful that we have 2 cars since I have plenty of ferrying to do. My current car will only turn 3 in Jan but we went ahead and booked a new ride today because we will need that additional space on weekends when #4 arrives. Obviously, it helps that we got a good deal during the car expo that was held over the weekend (more than $20K discount + guaranteed COE!). The kids are super excited too, knowing that they will have a little bit more room while commuting, never mind that they aren't that big sized in the first place. It's funny how we ended up with a french lady when we originally had our sights set on the Japanese dude. I guess $$$ talks. At the end of the day (bearing unforeseen circumstances and/or breakdown), the french lady makes more sense if we drive the car to 10 years. In which case, #1 and #2 will both probably get a chance to trash the car in its final years of service with us, if they don...

After weeks of speculations and suspicions... we just confirmed that we are having #4. I chose to do the test today simply because its DH's birthday. I'm in a bit of a dilemma because I am hoping for #4 to be a girl so that we can have our "perfect" family and also for the fact that I really don't want another boy! Yet at the same time, I know I'm going to have a problem with p1 registration (yes, I think that far ahead) as my alma mater is the one of the few schools that require balloting for alumni registration even! Oh well, we'll just deal with the problem when it comes...

And so... almost 3 years on, we are just about to register #3 into formal school. Just yesterday, #2's school admin staff called up and requested for us to send over some documents to facilitate the registration. I'm glad that we are spared from the pains of the exercise, having balloted previously for #2 to be admitted to the school of our choice. During that exercise, I was fortunate to be "agonised" only for the first few minutes as his was the 3rd number called out. Clearly (from the lack of updates), we have been busy in the last couple of years but I am determined to revive this blog - though it would mostly as a platform to share information about Sensory Processing Disorder (or SPD). I've come to realised in the recent months that many things that we take for granted really doesn't come naturally for some. The behaviours labelled as "lazy" and "naughty" for e.g. actually has another story to it. While primary school has mostly b...

The ministry has been emphasizing that 'Every school is a good school' in Singapore. In the recent years, school rankings have been removed, media no longer provided coverage on the top scorers in major exams and niche programs have been introduced to even neighborhood schools. Unfortunately, most parents (who have gone through the system) aren't convinced. In fact, it would seem like competition has stepped up as the Internet has helped tremendously in the search of information. It's not difficult for 'unofficial' rankings to pop up on various websites and forums by individuals (or groups of individuals) 'manually' compiling the required data (as opposed to the ministry collecting & publishing the information). Competition for primary one vacancies have intensified (could be just the poor planning of the sudden surge in population numbers), with many of the popular schools entering a balloting situation in the earlier phases of registration. We ha...

At the back of my mind, I know that I have not blogged for a super looooonnnnggggg time but looking at my last entry just shocked me. Wow! Its been more than 3 years - the 'littlest' prince already turned 3 earlier this month! Sorry, sorry, sorry... If you saw my daily schedule, you would totally empathize with me!

As we enter the final weeks of what is possibly my last pregnancy (since I really don't know if I have the energy to have another one), it's easy to understand why most people enjoy the 2nd trimester the most. In the 1st trimester, most are busy purging out what they are trying to put into their bodies. Fortunately, I've never had very serious morning sickness - with all 3 pregnancies, the most pronounced symptom that indicated I was carrying a new life was how tired I felt all the time. With Claire, I also clearly remembered that I couldn't bear the taste of normal toothpaste and had to switch to natural herbal ones. With the two boys, life was mostly normal - other than constantly needing to indulge in a siesta every now and then, though this time round, I was quite frequently looking for sour things in my diet. I drank lots of tom yum talay in the initial weeks and that definitely contributed to my weight gain (all that coconut milk!). Up to this point (roug...

Someone told me that if I should start to have maid problems again, I should test if I am pregnant because pregnant ladies always have issues with their maid. In this case, you would already know by now that I am indeed pregnant (and in fact, already in my final trimester) and I am starting to be less tolerant of the maid. The truth is, the problems were always there but I chose to close BOTH eyes for the past one year. I kept this maid for so long only because she didn't show any signs that she would abuse my children when I am not around. Not that she does now... but her lack of initiative and cleanliness is getting on my nerves right now, ESP when we are going to welcome a newborn into the family pretty soon. I guess that means the hunt for a new maid will begin soon (at some point...). Once I have sorted out Claire's party this weekend, completed the sale of our property (so that i have one less thing in my mind) and tying up the loose ends at work... another one bites the ...

Every year, without fail, Claire will throw me the toughest of challenge for her birthday (last year she asked for a rainbow theme) and this year, because we bought her the movie 'Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue" last year when we were travelling, she decided that she wants a Tinkerbell theme. She won't settle for anything else. I suggested Disney Princess, Hello Kitty, Dora, etc etc but all got rejected. And since the movie was not actually shown in Singapore (I don't recall ever seeing any promotional materials on it), it was practically impossible to find merchandise on the theme. Fortunately, I have this GOOD habit of being prepared so I did ask her way in advance (probably like in Jan or something), I had plenty of time to source for things related to the theme. My only gripe - there was NOTHING that boys can have with a theme like this! Nope, nothing - not Peter Pan (not even remotely popular), not Captain Hook, not even 'Jake and the Neverland Pirate...

This is Claire's drawing done on LOTS. She told me that this is the 'boomerang bird' in angry bird. Don't ask me why she wrote Chace's name below though. :)

I realised over the past couple of days the reasons why I blogged so infrequently in the last two years...  1) I barely turned on the computer since I got my hands on the ipad since it practically does everything I need to do. The only times I had the turn on the computer was because some pages did not load properly on the ipad (namely those that were running adobe flash content though there ARE ways to get around that problem). 2) I suffer from insomnia only when I am pregnant and my creative juices only flow in the middle of the night when all is quiet (like now!) 3) Facebook has made it much easier to share updates and photos with iPhones/iPads So that explains why I have blogged more in the past two months than the entire of last year! :P and I suppose that means you will be reading more frequent updates on us for the next four months at least! Another reason would also be that I've downloaded the blogger app on my iphone and ipad and that allows me to upload a photo and ...

Claire getting her two front teeth fixed by the dentist last week - but the filling on one of her tooth came off the same night coz she kept playing with it. Anyway, the dentist said that the 'cavity' is too small (to do the filling and) to be of a concern as long as we pay attention and brush them clean daily.

Claire has been doing spelling since the start of this year - are there specific methods to learn to spell? I teach her to recite the letters and then the word as she writes them so that they 'register' in her brain. Is this a good method?

I always know its trouble - when the OTHER family falls ill. Though we do not meet often (once every two weeks, maybe - even that is too much), there is a 'carrier' who will bring the germs and viruses over to my household. It normally starts with the children and then DH... and I'm usually the last to get hit. But since I am pregnant now (there are many articles explaining why pregnant women get sick more easily - just google it), I got infected before DH and I'm glad to say *touch wood* that the children got a much milder version. It started last week - with a horrible feeling in the throat and before I knew it, I lost my voice *almost completely* - conversations were reduced to whispers and I bet the children were glad that I couldn't SHOUT at them when they did something dangerous! I started off with laryngitis and then, drippy nose - I've got my voice back now but now the throat is always itchy, the nose is stuffy and the phlegm is greenish. *YUCKS* ...

Recently, there has been a furore among parents with young children over plans by the education ministry to 'review' the current primary school registration process as the current system gives priority to certain groups of people, much to the chagrin of others. I belong to a group who has some 'slight advantage' over others as I graduated from one of the local top schools - that 'automatically' qualifies Claire for a place for the school. Never mind that we stay a good 30 - 40 mins drive away from the school. However, being a single gender school, we will need to seek alternative schools for the boys, adding to our logistics woe in the future. Our current residence is in a private estate and the nearest school is 1.3km away. We have started looking at properties nearer to school for Claire, which means that we will have to move out of our comfort zone in the east. To make matters worse, property prices have escalated to ridiculous levels with suburban prop...

I guess its pretty obvious that I'm not able to blog as often as I'd like to even though its what I set out to do. Between shuttling the children to and fro school, catching up with work in the office and occasionally cooking a meal or two, I can barely find time to do anything else. It doesn't help that I need more sleep than normal now or that I'm not very good at managing my time. :| Just for the record, Chace at 30 months, only has 19 teeth and is still not potty trained. I'm a believer that the child will achieve a milestone when he/she is ready and thus I'm not worried. The grandmas, on the other hand, have been bugging me to toilet train him particularly because Claire was off diapers in the day when she was about 18 months. However, he is way before schedule for other milestones e.g. speech and motor skills so that, in itself, really isn't a cause for concern. As for Claire, she is starting to realize that school is not all fun and play. Oth...

Another 6 months has gone by and I've barely blogged - I shall attempt to blog more often this year with my reshuffled schedule. Both children will go to school from 11am - 3pm for the first six months, though Chace will only go in 3 times a week (since Claire only went 3 times a week the whole of last year). On the days that he doesn't go to school, he will get to spend some quality time with his grandma when Claire is in school. On Sat mornings, grandma has decided that they need to spend some time with God so she will take them to attend the kids programme in her church. This schedule will allow me to do lunch appointments on weekdays in an attempt to clear my production for the year in 6 months since I'm due end June/early July and most likely will have to take the rest of the year off to care for the newborn. 2011 wasn't very significant - but we did manage to take our first vacation alone without the kids since Claire first came into our lives in 2007....