EL's Piano Lesson via Whatsapp Video

It has been 7 months AL (since 01 Oct 2018)  is having her weekly piano lesson via whatsapp video with Teacher Isabel.

Few months ago, EL said she wanted to learn piano and insisted only Teacher Isabel 🙄. It will be pretty challenging because Teacher Isabel is not 100% familiar to guide her unlike AL whom she had some years face to face teaching before relocating.

So we decided to try out with AL helping up to teach. It has been 4 lessons EL having her lesson via whatsapp video with JieJie as Teacher Isabel's assistant onsite.

A few of my friends were like 😳.

Kids' School Bag Corner

This was a project that both DH and I wanted to do for quite some time...
Staying in 800+sq ft apartment, we managed to get it up for our kids by sacrificing one piece of furniture...
Our belated new year gift for the kids....

Challenges for the Kids to read Bible

This year the church gave a challenge to the kids to read a book in the Bible and write out a journal. At the end of the quarter, the kid would be required to submit their journal and a reward would be given. Besides that, each kid was also given a small folder to keep cards. Each week, the kid would be given a memory verse to read and memorize. On the following week, kid would be rewarded with points. All these points could be collected and used in the kids’ mall to redeem some goodies…

It is encouraging this week to see JL was keeping himself busy reading at night before sleeping and morning before going to school. I hope he would keep it up and God would continue to talk and be real to him.

JL in Tahap 2

This year JL moved to Tahap 2 in his primary school. He is considered senior in the primary school. Study had been more challenging and at time I feel helpless wishing I have more time to spend with him and help me as much as I can. I manage to allocated Wed night as a time I spend with him and AL before they go to sleep. EL will either self entertain herself or will spend time with her PaPa… 

Tiring…but too precious

Having 3 kids juggling with work and housework is tiring but kids are growing too fast and it is very precious. I am grateful that DH and I work as a team in managing the kids and also housework. We prefer to do everything by ourselves and ensure that the kids are with us all the time. We try to do everything we can for them because before long they will big boy and girls.

Breastfeeding EL is taking some time but I keep reminding myself that just few more months and hang on.  There are many things I want to do with the kids and still unable to execute all. Hopefully 2014 I will be able to achieve more. My 2014 resolution….!!!

School holidays…

School holidays would be over soon. This week PaPa would be at home doing his report while the elder two would wake up late and do some work at home. Almost every evening, PaPa would bring JL for basketball practice at the nearby basketball court. It would also be the last week for the kids spending time with Sam Yee and Sam Yee Cheong before they headed back to AU this weekend. This weekend, JL would get his TKD exam result on whether he would be getting his Red belt or not. Soon, it would be final exam time for JL…how time flies….

Kids’ Diary

It is hard to have heart to hear with the elder two kids since the arrival of the baby. I will try to see them when EL taking her nap. Both of them are growing too fast. I gave each of them a simple book for them to write to me and vice versa. We just started last weekend. I hope by doing this we will be able to express our feeling plus also help the kids to improve their writing. I am keeping my fingers cross hoping this would continue for long time and would not just die off.

JL’s Future New Bed

Last month, we decided to buy the metal white bunk bed from IKEA at RM 499. It was cheaper than DIY because initially PaPa was thinking to build one for JL. The white colour looked great in JL’s future room making the small and tiny room look spacious.

Currently, the bed is being set up with EL’s baby cot under the bed. EL is sleeping in JL’s room until AL is big enough to sleep on the upper bunk. Once the girls are bigger, JL will get his room where his study table and book shelves will be located under his new bed.

We are looking forward for the kids’ rooms next phase renovation…

Life as FTWM with 3 kids

I love my job as auditor because I get to learn about the company business and also assist in improving the company. Yes, it is challenging but interesting. However, my company’s internal audit department is very stressful and demanding. Timeline is extremely tight.

The motivation factors are:

• the office currently near home
• option to work from home and also flexible working hours
• our family has the opportunity to go for holiday once a year using the yearly ticket.

I wish I have more time with the family as wife and mother. The elder two kids need a lot of attention and guidance in their studies. The baby needs a lot of care and love. The home need to be cleaned up and simple home cooked meal on the dining table.

I have yet to be able to get my schedule right and it seems to be messy all the time… sigh…

Our day 28July2012, Saturday

Today was a full day for us. We had back to back activities which started as early as 7am.

We started our day with JL’s tkd at 730am. After his tkd, we went home and the kids took their bath. It was time for them to finish up all their homework. Sam Yee Cheong bought Kolok Mee and Sarawak Laksa for our lunch. The kids had their lunch while watching a DVD.

Then, it was time for JL’s art class. While JL went for his art class, AL and I had a short zzz at home. Since PohPoh’s birthday was just around the corner, the kids decided to design a birthday card for her. Besides that, JL also wanted to finish up his school art homework.

It was a big mess on the dining table both up and down, while I was in the kitchen cooking for a simple dinner. It was baked bean with onion, chicken and egg. As for green, we would be having fresh butternut leaves.

The kids cleaned up the mess with a lot of argument, typical kids. Upon JL’s request we went to the playground where the kids played there for about one hour. After sweating time, the kids headed to the bathroom for hand painting fun on the bathroom tiles. I heated up the rice to prepare for our dinner. When I was going for my shower, I told the kids it was time for them to take their bath.

Dinner time was another DVD movie time for all of us. We had our family time watching the Mulan 2. The kids had ice-cream for dessert and durian for supper. We had a short reading time and family prayer before the kids zzzz because it would be another busy day for us especially JL tomorrow…

To stop or to go…

We have been discussing quite a long time whether to stop at 2 or to go for another one more…

As much as we both love kids but in reality the time to spent on them, the resources in term of cash and space at home making us hard to make decision. Time was also not at our side as age is catching up for me…

 

JL has been praying for 2 more babies. His justification was one boy for him to play and one girl for AL to play, so it is fair and square. When I told him I am not getting any younger, he changed his prayer to twin one boy and one girl. LOL…

 

Another discussion came up that we may have enough resources to manage more and he requested that at least one more please, at least one boy so that he can proudly say he has one MeiMei and one DiDi… It is funny because a lot of the #1 will always ask for a stop at one sibling. JL is a very loving brother than sometimes he can just stop his homework and assist his little sister. He is willing to sacrifice himself to help his sister even at the expense of getting punishment…

 

So…to stop or to go… let’s see how it goes…

It is yearend…

It is year end and I cannot imagine how time flies…

Early of this year, it was JL’s first time in his primary school and AL’s first time to kindy. It was a mixed emotional feeling seeing how big the kids had grown up. On the early morning of the first day of school, both of them were wearing name tags. They were wearing their name tags for quite some time. Now, their teachers knew their name without having to refer to their name tags.

In a matter of few months, they would be moving to the next phase. My kids were growing up too fast, way too fast…

Cloth Diapers

After using AL’s to Cloth Diaper (CD), I loved using CDs. The hassle of using cloth diapers such as washing etc…initially has become a standard routine. I am not complaining and PaPa also supports the idea of using cloth diaper.

AL was potty trained at about 2 years old and I was sad because I missed seeing her wearing all the cute CDs. AL also loved her CD that she still wanted to wear that I had to hide all the diapers away.

Using CD is good for both, our pocket and also health. I hope the advantages of using CD on babies and kids will be extended to adult diapers, so that adult who needs to use diapers due health problem will be able to enjoy the benefit of using CD.

Kids’ gift for CNY 2011

This was a long overdue post. It was before CNY, we decided to pack 12 mandarin oranges to give to JL’s ‘AnChing’ teacher and AL’s class teacher. We also packed extra for his Art Class, his tuition teacher and aunty transporter. JL was busy doing cards with my help. He wrote everything getting my help on the spelling. As for Chinese characters, we checked the angpau packets for the word. He was so engrossed in his work and his hard work paid off. It was not bridal shower invitations, but CNY greeting cards from the kids hand made by JL.

Morning schedule…

Now with both kids going to kindy and ‘An Ching’ class in the morning, Mummy has to force to wake up earlier. However, it is still not early enough. Mummy hopes to be able to wake up much earlier in order to get more things done. If possible  Mummy will love to have time to go to the apartment small gym to get some workout and do some simple workout at the playground with sit-up and pull up bar. PaPa will help up to get the kids’ ready which helps a lot.

BeyBlade Fever

JL is into BeyBlade fever and thanks to his PaPa. It is an expensive hobby but JL is so blessed that his PohPoh got him most of the blades including 3 launchers and a stadium as his reward which he earned from a few occasion. On top of that, Yi Yee also got him another different stadium plus Sam Sok got him and PaPa some spare parts for last year Christmas.

One of the nights, PaPa, JL and even AL were having time together. AL could even launch the BeyBlade and even imitate her KorKor,

“3-1-2, ready go” – supposed to be 3-2-1

“Aiya… MeiMei lose already”

Snow … Snow

JL wanted to see and play snow. PaPa and Mummy too had the same dream. When we decided to go to Melbourne in 2009, it was such a missed that we missed the Winter season to be able to go up the mountain to experience the snow. Even though Melbourne’s winter may not be as good as other places, however it would be better than nothing. It would be great if we could plan to go somewhere with real snow seeing the kids rolling in the snow, building snowman and throwing snow. Some places needed to have toro snowblower to clear driveways due to heavy snow. It would a nice experience for us to have the chance to experience snow…

Our kids, Our Precious… 2

When we purchased our Digital Camera in 2008, initially we were thinking to get a Camcorder but unfortunately during that time it was still quite expensive. Recently, when we found that JL would be giving speech, we thought it would be time to start checking Camcorder price.

We went to survey and found GZ-MG750 Hard Disk Camcorder which was within our requirement. We didn’t purchase from the first shop but end up buying from another shop that had promotion where the price was cheaper than RM100 plus free spare battery. Initially the shop didn’t have any silver but managed to transfer from another branch for us. With the amount RM1399, PaPa signed up with 6 months interest-free installment.

It was great taking the moments with the kids and we really wished we had bought it earlier…if only we did… However, it was better late than never…

Next, it would be Christmas soon. It would be time to shop for Christmas presents and also Christmas tree. We would be recycling the same tree and ornaments. Hmm… maybe Mummy should find time to check Personalcreations.com to self DIY ornaments.

JL & AL Shoes Collection….

Both JL and AL had a collection of shoes and sandals for different age group from baby shoes to shoe big enough to fit on kids feet. We usually keep to one pair of shoes and one pair of sandals for each size because kids grew up very fast.

PaPa always believed in getting good shoes for his kids because it was important to ensure the feet grew properly and also avoid any injuries. However, getting good shoes did not mean that we need to spend on expensive shoes. All the kids’ shoes and sandals did not cost us more than RM100.

All the shoes were purchased during sales and warehouse. PaPa would keep track of the sizes available at home so that whenever there was any sale, he would know what size to buy. Both kids had shoes at least two to three sizes bigger in the cupboard stand-by. We didn’t like the idea to rush out hunting for shoes and sandals when the kids’ outgrown from the shoes and sandals.

Some of the shoes we got for the kids…

JL got a few pairs of shoes from Treehouse. We got from the box during sales and managed to get a few different sizes for him. Most of these shoes were properly kept for AL.

This was one of the best bargain and also JL’s favourite. A Weebok highcut leather shoe which we bought for RM50 by just trading JL’s baby cloth shoe.

This was not our favourite. Even though it was less than RM50 but we found that the shoe was heavy and sweaty. JL must wear cotton sock all the time to absorb the sweats.

Now, JL was wearing a Timberland shoe which we bought from Warehouse.

AL got some girly shoes. Aunty Sasha hand sewn two lovely shoes for AL.

The top ballet shoe we bought from Baby Bliss after getting Cash Voucher for writing a review.  The bottom white shoe was presented by KongKong and PohPoh. AL had yet to get those nice pretty girl shoes with buckles.

Kids addicted to television?

JL and AL started to enjoy seeing shows regardless kids or adults shows. We had a few session of watching movie in our apartment just four of us. It was fun family time. However we still limit their television hours because we did not want them to get addicted to television. Nowadays seeing television and watching DVDs had been so common unlike the olden days. People could watch movie in the car and via iPod. Now with Slingbox, we could watch from laptop or mobile phone from everywhere in the world.