Having only 1 child

How does it feel to only have a kid? That's the experience we will get this weekend  coz the twins are having a staycation with my mama at her fav resort.

Joy has been super excited abt the whole idea since yday after we dropped the twins there. My mom has been trying to persuade the firstborn to stay too, to no avail.

On the journey back, there was peace in the car, no squabbling over the lack of space etc. There were only mature conversations among the 3 of us. It's how things would be if twins didn't came into our lives. Yes there is peace but there would b boredom/ loneliness. I reminded joy that the reason why we tried our best to give her a sibling was bcoz each time we went to a pool, she would look with envy when other kids had siblings to play with them. I reminded her too that if she hadn't had the twins , she probably won't enjoy water play / swimming as much even if both of us were in the pool with her. I refer her to her 2 best cc kakis who hardly swim at their pools.

She slept with me last night and daddy went to the kids room. One of the treats we do occasionally when the twins are not around.

This morning we went for bf before I went for my appt. Bf wasn't chaotic. We splitted into 3: She went to find a table while I went to q and papa choo went to park the car. Super coordinated. It was also easier to find a table for 3 compared to 5.

Appt ended and I went home. She was reading the papers while papa choo was replying some emails. Shortly after she went for her tuition. To meet her at her lunch eatery after tuition.

The emptiness filled the house once she left. I tried to catch a nap but I couldn't fall asleep. Told William that perhaps now that I didn't need take care of the twins , I didn't need to replenish energy. He agreed. We spend the afternoon chatting, just the two of us. I told him that life would b so peaceful if we didn't have kids. Could zzz til we wake up naturally and go for our brunch etc. He disagreed. He felt that if we were to do this for the past 12 yrs after our marriage, we probably died of boredom or separated.

I told him that we probably travel a lot more if the kids weren't here. He agreed and added that we would always b broke bcoz of the frequent traveling, to which I had to agree.

Now in church waiting for time to pass. Papa choo and joy are serving today thus I have to attend the main service on my own. Haiz.

I'm bored.

I miss my kids..lol.

Bringing joy for her pre bday treat tonight bcoz it's her bday tom.

Time flies. It's been 11yrs since motherhood. Learnt so much during this 11yrs when they came into my life. Thankful for the opportunity. Thankful for the many blessings.

Love my family. Love my God. Can't wait for the twins to be home tom.

Bible verse

Be still before the Lord  and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Psalm 37:7 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.37.7.NIV

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/php.4.19.NIV

Principle of contentment

Today Pastor Dennis Lum preached abt principle of contentment 

1 Timothy 6:6-10

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of moneyis a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faithand pierced themselves with many griefs 

v6: Godliness with contentment is great gain .

- satisfaction in a great way

v7: Time on earth is temporal. Do not be attached to the possessions on earth.

• Happiness & contentment doesn't always happen with having new stuff or more expensive stuff.
• Contentment stems from a heart of gratitude

3 ways

1) Grow a heart of contentment

2) Live simply 

- instead of asking what more can I have, ask what else can I do without?

- declutter; simplify 

- live below our means 

- refocus on what's most impt (God)

3) Delight in God 

- let yr hopes/wants/likes be all abt God

My thoughts

Personally I really like today's message. It reminds me of a book that Ange recommended me to read a few mths ago "Raising grateful kids in a self entitled world". 

Ps Dennis first talked abt how every 1 in 5 Singaporeans are paying only the minimum on their credit card , thus raking in debt. In fact, he said that the credit card debt is at a 10 yrs high for Singapore. And what does that actually mean ? Over consumption? Buying too much of happiness ? Do we really believing that buying this will make us happy? What does happiness means to u ? 

In a society which emphasis so much on buying a bigger xxx of everything, it's hard to be contented with what we have, n not think of "upgrading". I'm glad that bcoz of how tight we were in a few yrs ago, we had alrdy made our lives simpler.. N i hope in the years to come , we would b able to simplify even further.

Catch Ps Dennis on the sermons tom live on FB at 830am and 11am for the same message.. hope it will bless u as much as it has for us..

The month of celebrations

And thus began the start of July- my birthday mth.. and the celebrations have started..

With jm being the first to celebrate for both of us. Like last yr, she offered to cook a sumptuous lunch to treat us. It was really v sweet of her to do that and I always enjoy our times together, gossiping away..hahaha.. thankful for the friendship made with these 2 ladies.. we have gone a long way.. from being single , to married and eventually motherhood..和她们在一起我很舒服。希望她们天天开心，身体健康。

3rd July (actual day)
After my grouses of him being unromantic, I was kinda worried that he would have nothing planned for that day. But he did la.. We watched ocean12 in the morning, or perhaps I should say I watched it coz he was deep asleep for most of it.. Hahaha.  . We had lunch at swensen followed by bowling.. haha..quite eventful...

And I won in the game of bowling! hahaha... we each bowled 4 games in an hr..super exhausting..and i'm glad that the better player (aka me) won! (by a huge margin too..hahahahahaha)

went home to pick the kids and off for dinner before watching another movie... lol.. i know right.. so many movies in a day..lol.. watched mr incredibles coz its a family cartoon..suitable for the 4 of us.. mr choo snored in the show (again), though it was less noticeable this time round coz the noise fr the movie more than covered it..hahaha...

Thankful for them in my life, no matter how difficult the journey may be, I know its all worth it. Becoz you all are with me.

Had a few more lunch celebrations with friends, to which I can't be more thankful for. Grateful that they took the time to do it la... coz like what I always say, i'm not good at keeping friends.

My shoppholics kakis.. i always say I wanna exit the chat bcoz i wanna stop buying..hahaha..just kidding.. the kakis to know where and what to buy, at the best rates..hahaha...

my colleagues from day 1.. though we are now older, and i'm much heavier..hahaha.. we've been thru so much together that even though we only lunch together 3 times a year, it always seems like we have so much to talk abt... hahaha

my mummies kakis whom Joy and their daughters were in the same childcare..

Woman is so hard to pleased

Had promised the twins to bring them to Ikea before the start of jun holidays but only got to doing it today.

Was an empty Monday for me thus I suggested to uncle choo that perhaps we could go paktor after Ikea..

Dropped the twins at school abt 11ish and asked him where we going .. he says he can't think of anything and thus we headed home.. Coz still too full from breakfast and he wants to do housework..

Ya, the 女人 in me was feeling sian.. argh.. besides eating, I can't think of any activities that we enjoy doing..难得老娘今天不用去工作，我们可以 lomantic  一下吗。难道除了吃，我们就没有别的活动了吗?

suggested cycling and he said it's too hot to cycle at noon.。say I will go crazy with the weather.. blah blah.. suggested bowling and he say he wanna do housework.. 😣

Anyway we went for bak kut teh after he was done with his housework.. complained with my kakis that I think men, especially Singaporean men, stop dating after a few yrs..lol. . Told him if there's no plans , then I probably head back office after lunch (last resort).

And we went cycling after lunch.. lol.. 我知道我很麻烦。。哈哈😄。。 

This was probably the first and only decent shot we took.. Coz shortly after I was exhausted by the cycling.. initially had wanted to cycle all the way to waterway point but cycling on pedestrian walkway was too challenging for an amateur cyclist like me.. and by the time we reaxh the PCN, I was too exhausted ..lol. . The whole cycling stint probably took less than an hr but I was happy that we managed to do some activities other than eating.. haha.. at least we burnt some calories tog.. haha..

First love

The firstborn made this for me this morning. She made a portion for herself too but hers was with scrambled eggs while mine s with sunny side up as that's my preferred way of eating eggs with toast..haha.. 

Brimming with happiness and took a couple of bites before I remembered to take a picture of it..lol.. feel So grateful that she has picked up cooking as one of her favourite past time, bcoz she (I) will never go hungry if she knows how to cook .. haha.. 

It's one of the must learn skills that kids ought to know.. Haha.. as I was telling J & Jm today in office..  bcoz I didn't know how to cook, so I always had to depend on others to feed me..hahahaha.. 

Hopefully the twins get to learn fr their big sista soon! 

P/s: this is toast with smoked salmon and sunny side .. tasty!

Staycation

Brought the girls for a staycation for the last few days coz they have been asking to come for the longest time. To them, coming to this beach/pool is the best time of their lives.

To me, this place always reminds me of the special needs girl I saw while heavily pregnant with the twins. How is she now? How are her and her family coping thus far? Would i be able to see (and recognise) her again?


She would be in her 30s now and I hope that i would be able to see her again. Back then, one of the twins were detected to have a much higher probability of being a special needs child and bumping into her just made me feel v encouraged. That no matter what, God will make things right.

In a flick, the twins are now 6 yrs old. I'm no longer carrying them. They are big and manageable now though there are times that I feel like pulling my hair.

The problems I used to think is a prob no longer seems to be an issue anymore. I used to b stressed out when I'm alone with them but for the past 2 mornings , I've managed to bring them for the morning swims on my own! Yeah! I feel so competent.. hahaha..  even though I know I'm still lacking in many instances..

I've been able to love them more even though they have (many) challenging moments; flare up not as much and be contented with what God has planned out. Thankful for these 3 princesses and the privilege of being their mama. Thank you God !