Happy weekend !

 On my way to meet mr choo and joy at hougang on a sat morning. I was supposed to have an appt in the office this morning but the client flew me even though I was already in the office..  😣

So angry and pissed coz it takes a lot to come on a sat morning. It meant that I had to ask my mama to jaga the twins while Mr choo brings joy for tuition and pick both of them and me up before we go for their enrichment classes and church thereafter.the  I also had to turn down another client appt in order to meet this appt. Argh.. I think I'm most pissed bcoz I dread having weekend appts and had hoped that the client postponed it yday when I did my reminder confirmation. But he said yes..argh..

Sitting on the train back to meet mr choo and before I let this self defeat attitude attack me further on my beautiful weekend, I prayed and turned on my bible app and saw this..

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love

1 Corinthians 13:13

So beautiful verses.. and so glad that at least my aba Father loves me.. and so does my family.. yeah! 😘

Reaching soon and Mr choo has already order my lunch! Looking forward !

Moments with joy

The time has come.. when I'm at a cafe with joy while she does her homework.. 老娘是个陪读妈妈。。。 hahahah.. seriously?!

Our 下午茶@ CBTL coz Starbucks was already packed with students by the time we reached...😂

Decided to come here today bcoz the house is still In the midst of reno plus the study rooms in the condo are all packed with adults (not sure why), so I decided to bring her here. Especially since I'm not working today.. So might as well spend time with my firstborn..

It's the CA2s now, so cafes are usually crowded with kids studying..i know some of my mummies kakis are busy doing revisions with their kids in preparation for their CA2s. Thankfully for joy's school, CA2 is not graded.. aka practice paper week..or rehearsals la.. as I was telling joleen abt it few days ago..

And for us, as long as she does her best, we will leave it to God to do the rest.. it's not so much of making sure she get distinctions for all her subjects, but more importantly for us, it is the attitude that she must have, to be willing to learn what is being taught in sch. We are not tiger parents and unlike most of her classmates parents, we don't pressurized her for her academic work. She did tell me that her classmate cried in class when she got 98 for her science. I was like why!? Tears of joy ah ? "Obviously not la", my joy explained.. she (the classmate) will be scolded for not getting 100 coz the mama expects the kids to get ONLY 100, nothing else even though 98 was already the highest in the corhot.  I was like wow... (Joy got 92 for the same paper and I was pleased with it. Thought it was a good score leh..no meh?!)

I asked joy what were her thoughts on this and if we should have such benchmarks on her too ?  She just shook her head.. took the chance to explain to her again , that what we are hoping at the end of the day, is for her to enjoy learning. Enjoy investigating the "why" and "how" of the questions rather than so focus on the marks of the tests. Anyway, I've digressed.. hahaha...

I pray that she will always have the confidence in doing her work, the curiosity to ask why and the courage to fail.

Times like this make me appreciate my time with her..catching moments of her before she grow too big..

Conversations with joy..

Joy: mummy, is "unaware" a real word?
Me: yes it is
Joy: mummy, then is "unawares" a real word?
Me: no I don't think so.. why ?
Joy: mummy, you sa-lah (wrong). Unawares is a real word
Me: Huh?? Then can u 造句 with it?
Joy: " I was caught unawares by the news that John is coming"
Me: wow..okie.. but is that the right sentence structure ? It sounds so weird..

According to her, she wrote this in her sch compo.. and when her classmate did "peer marking", her classmate underlined it highlighting the mistake. Joy told her it was not wrong and her classmate decided to ask their teacher. But before they can ask the teacher, there's a "ask 3 before me" rule.. meaning they have to find 3 other friends to ask and if after asking, there is stil a dispute, then they can ask the teacher. So the two of them went on to find 3 other classmates and the verdict was still 4-1. 4 of them were of the same view (as me) while joy was otherwise.  So they went on to see the teacher. In the end, the teacher said joy was right. I was shocked.. wow..my girl's ang moh more steady than mine. Lol..

Me: wow.. Joy, then how did u know that there was this word?
Joy: Oh , Mrs pang (her tuition teacher) taught me in class.
Me: Then can i go attend her classes too? I think I need to brush up my English too..
Joy: No.
Me: why!?
Joy: mummy, look here. (Pointing to her right)
Mummy: Huh? Why? Stil in disbelief/daze
Joy: mummy, look here. (Pointing to her right again).
Mummy: I looked at what she was pointing and say what ?
Joy: mummy, look here (Pointing to her left this time)
Mummy: what? (Eyes not following her)
Joy: mummy, you are not "teachable" anymore bcoz if you can't follow simple instructions like that (yes the point here and there ), means that you have become an adult and you won't be able to absorb what Mrs pang says.

#chimtothemax

Not sure if I'm gullible or what, but what she says has it's degree of truth. Initially I was "wow" by her ang moh and how convicted she was by her choice of words in her compo. But I was more "wow" by her theology after that. Sometimes kids grow up so fast that we don't know. Thankful that I had the chance to talk to her abt random things and thus had an insight of her thoughts or the thoughts of tweens..lol..

Hectic week part 2

This is the state of My house currently.

The floor that was completing removed, together with the wardrobe after end of day 1.

His work desk in the day while supervising the work to be done. 

This is the start of hectic week 2, with the commencement of the major reno works. There are many reasons to feel frustrated, disappointed and angry. But as I sit here while waiting for time to pass before going for my appt, I can't help but be thankful. Thankful that Mr choo is here to oversee all the things, thankful that he is a great packer. Thankful that he is so Zen and able to see the overall picture. I'm a visual person, meaning I can't really understand things unless I see the physical outlay, which usually by then would b too late to make any major changes. 

We came back home abt 730am after dropping the kids in sch. I was too tired having to wake up so early. Went back to nap in the kids room. He woke me up at 940 saying that the organizers have decided to even do the flooring for kids room today. Meaning he need to clear this room. He still gave me the 2 hrs nap that I requested and ask the workers to come slightly later. I took a shower and by the time I was done, he was almost done packing all the things out fr the kids bedroom. If it was me, I would b so overwhelmed and lost and dunno where to start. 

What's in the stack? Our beddings, photos, diapers and possessions..

All the beddings from the bedrooms are nicely stacked by Mr choo while the workers start their work 

The common toilet is also packed with our stuff 

There's no better words to describe my thoughts now, other than thankfulness. I mean, it's an unfortunate event and given a choice, I wished/hoped that this won't have happened. But it has. And when life gives you lemons, let's juz make lemonade out of it ! The organizers have been understanding and they have agreed to not only redo the floor and carpentry works, they have also agreed to redo it with the tiles we wanted and not the original ones that came with it. Thankfulness #1 

Bcoz of this major works it meant that the 5 of us are camping at my mom's place till all is done. And we have began our staycation since last week , it meant more interaction with my folks. Thankfulness #2

It also meant that I need to hitch a ride everyday either via Mr choo which is 615am or my mama which is 810am. Also had the opportunity to take train with my sister for this whole week. I do hope I can talk to her more and this provides the best opportunity. Thankfulness #3

Of coz my Mr choo la.. I can't imagine life without him. How would I cope ? Thankfulness max 

Thankful that God is with us and sheltering us. Thankful for the many circumstances that have happened. May the reno be completed soon! Taking this time to just chill and work less. Lol.. 

Hectic week

This picture fully sums up our past week. It has been an hectic/overwhelming week and it's not even the weekend yet. It's the kind of the week where you look til the end of it and wonders when will this end? It's what I termed as even when the week seems too much to handle, we just have to suck it up and weather it thru. 

The hectic started on 5th Aug, when I had some work in the morning before rushing home to pick the girls for art class. I was tasked to fetch them since papa had to prepare for Joy's party the next day. Brought the twins for classes, and spend some time with Joy just chilling at the library. It was relaxing, but I was too tired. Not sure if it was bcoz the night appt ended too late the night before, or becoz the morning appt was too early. But I was exhuasted, coupled with the fact that I had to go pick william and a birthday cake before heading to a friend's party. It was Joy's gd friend from childcare who had a party, and I was tasked to deliver the cake since I stayed nearest to the baker compared to the rest. 

The 5 of them, plus the super nice cake. The girls continued their party til midnight. By the time we reached home and when everyone was asleep, Mr choo needed to continue the night shift to prepare for Joy's party on 6th. (I later realized that he continued his preparation til 6am)

6th Aug

Joy invited some of her school friends over for a swim-date plus bday party. It was managable coz after all, they are 10 yrs old and on their own. And it was nice, bcoz it was a party without parents.  I didnt need social with adults. (yeah!!) I just had to tend to my twins, and make sure they are well and taken care of. The party ended at 830pm sharp, coz all of them had school the next day. 

7th Aug

Joy called to say she had diarrhea, and we went to pick her up in the morning. Only to realize that she self declare that she was well enough to stay for the rest of the day...😆

Vera's teacher called us abt late afternoon saying that Vera seems to be unwell, but has boarded the bus home. She came home with a fever, and started many rounds of diarrhea... so much that we decided she should skip the school celebrations the next day.

8th Aug

Grace went to school for the national day celebrations while we brought the other 2 to see the PD. 

Joy was mild, while Vera is the jialat one.. I lost counted of the number of times I took care of her biz.. picked grace up after PD and headed to airport for T4 open house. Mr choo had registered the tickets in advance, and we thought the kids were still manageable for the activity. And they did have lotsa fun at T4 too. Headed over to my mom's place for dinner and sleepover. 

9th Aug

Vera woke up many times during the night, coz of diarrhea. Mr choo took the night shift, while I continue the early morning shift. At about 9am, someone called him on the hp. It's our neighbour. He used the intercomm to call us, coz he said that our unit was flooding and water was seeping out of the unit continuously. OMG! William rushed back to have a look and send me this video. (Due to technical issues, video can't be uploaded) 

But here is a copy of the damage done. Most of joy' s books were soaking well and beyond rescue.

According to him, one of the water pipes burst and bcoz we were all not home, the floor was filled with water. Gigi was soaking wet and swimming.. by the time Mr choo cleared the water, all my bedroom flooring was damaged. They had popped. Omg! This meant a few things:

1) we need stay 1 more night at my mom place 

2) we need a major reno again ! 😣

10th aug 

It was back to 兵分两路 again. Mr choo dropped the twins (Vera was well by Then! Thank God!) before heading back home to check with the condo mgmt on the recovery etc. He also needed to prepare for another party we had for joy (I know right.. we muz b crazy to even want to continue the party). 

I had promised joy and her 2 friends to bring them for kidzania, after which their parents would meet us back at my place.. 

 

While waiting for their turn to take the pilot tickets.

Window cleaning

The thing I like most about going out with them vs going out with adults is that I don't need to social..  Lol..  they pretty much on auto pilot mode..

At many times I wanted to ask mr choo that we should just cancel the night party but he said it was do-able.. 

Family photo with the cake.

Say cheese girls.. we are almost at the end of the tunnel.. 

The party ended abt 10pm and by the time we cleaned up and the kids zz, it was already midnight. And it was a school day for all 3 the next day and working day for myself. 

Although it seem pretty overwhelming at the start of the post, but by the time I completed it, and looking back at the photos, I was glad we managed to do it all.

Thank God for being with us and sheltering us from all that could have happened to make things even worse. 

On being maidless (part2)

It has been 7 mths since the helper has left. Every once a while the twins will ask for her, or request for her to come back. To which I would explain to the twins given that we want to continue to stay at the current place it is challenging for us to find a place for "auntie" to stay in, although they have suggested the living room or their bed room etc. And it is tempting to ask her to come back. The thing I missed abt having her around most, is the chance to sneak out with uncle pig in the late evening for some supper or juz some paktor time. Or the luxury of us spending some time with joy outdoors while the twins are napping at home. Nowadays, we usually just b in charge of 1 grp..either I would b taking joy to her classes etc or he would bring the twins out .. coz of their age gap, it's quite challenging to find an activity that is suitable for all 3 at a slot. The few activities we have managed to do so are swimming classes and church.. lol..

Of coz, asking her to come back also comes with its cons.  The first con I can immediately think of is I probably would outsource the toileting/bathing tasks to her , and I would b privileged to be more reliant on her.. asking her to do tasks that I shld be doing but not doing.. over the course of 4 yrs while she was with us, I did become "lazier". Mr choo probably would hand over all the household chores to her too. And the girls probably won't have a chance to help out in the chores too. The thing abt not having her ard is that, no matter how exhausted we/mr choo is, the show muz go on. The clothes still need to b ironed, the dishes need to b washed up (God won't send an angel to help wash it while we are sleeping) and we stil need clean their poo. This is called responsibility I guess. It is that even if the world seems too hard to handle, we still need to suck it up, and do.

There are times when I would b tempted to ask the village to move back to the old house and thus earn the right to hire a maid, but the possibility that I would b over reliant on her, juz tilts the decision back. At the end of the day, I do hope that my kids learn to do some chores together.