Archive for September, 2008

Great Time. Great Friends.

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

We had a great day out yesterday (public holiday) with some great friends.

We met Flora, Li-On and the girls at Kings Park early morning.  The park was already crowded when we arrived and so finding a parking spot was a challenge.  The park was having its annual wild flower show and there were lots of activities going on too.  There were sale of native plants, camel rides, painting, workshops on native plants, guided tours around the park, tram rides etc.  The whole place was so lively and colourful.  All these reasons plus more made the park a really popular place visit on a public holiday, especially when the weather was good.

 We found a nice picnic spot under the tree and there was even a live band playing music nearby. How good was that? The kids had a great time dancing to the music, playing ball, running after one another and seeing so many new things around them.  They were full of energy. We just sat on the mat and watched them.  We were happy and relaxed.  Uncle Li-On even promised to buy ice cream for the kids if they behaved well.  They did.  We left the park shortly after having ice cream as the children were getting tired and needed a nap …. but that was not all!  Before I go into that, here are some pictures we took at the park.

We had Alison over at our house for a play time with Calvin after the park!  These two played really well together, I have to say.  They have became good play mates and friends over the years. Alison was so comfortable at our home even though she does not come often and this was the first time she was dropped off by her parents and left alone with us.  She was very chatty too.  She and Calvin talked and talked and played their own games.  I did not have to supervise them much at all.  They hardly fought for toys as they understood the concept of sharing, and they were willing to share.  Because they played so well, I even have time to prepare a roast dinner. I was so pleased.

That was not all …..

We had the rest of the gang over for dinner too!! Truth be told, we did not plan for Alison to come over for a play date and we did not plan to have dinner together, and so all these surprises made our day a really special and enjoyable one.

We had dinner at our backyard for the very first time since we moved in about 4 years ago!  Thanks to the husband who spent the whole afternoon cleaning up the backyard so that we could dine outside.  I truly enjoyed it.

I was so tired at the end of the day, but I was very happy.  I felt so blessed to be with my family and to have such good friends to spend the day together.  Thank God. We have to do it again.

After putting the boys to bed, Robin and I went to the backyard to unwind.  We relaxed over a cup of tea and we even had music playing at the background.  We agreed that we had a great day and we had a lot to thank God for.

Backyard Fun.

Saturday, September 27th, 2008

When the weather is good and I am too lazy to go out, I usually let the boys out to our backyard to have their play time.  Here’s what they like to do:

They love to blow bubbles, but they have not learnt the skill …. but they love to try!

Calvin loves picking mulberries from the huge mulberry tree at the end of the yard.  His dad has taught him to pick the blood red ones as those are the ripe ones.  He is pretty good at it, I say.  He also enjoys eating the berries even though they are a little sour.  Calvin loves strawberries too.

Mr Athan enjoys playing with the ball.  He likes to carry the ball from one end to the other and that seems to be a great achievement to him.

The boys loves looking for worms, bugs, ants, insects etc at our backyard to show me.  They are constantly amazed and fascinated by these creepy crawlies and Mr Athan particularly likes to pick the bugs up for a closer look!  Yikes! I always try to discourage them when they are off looking for bugs to show me because I am not a big fan. Thanks to the father who has started the interest — he been showing and introducing different insects to the boys and the boys love it.

Kindy Next Year.

Friday, September 26th, 2008

We have just received a letter from our local primary school informing us that Calvin has been accepted to their kindy program next year.  He has been allocated to “kindy 1” that has classes every Monday and Thursday from 8.55am – 3.10pm.  I was relieved that he has a place in the school, thank God for that.  But on the other hand, I’m a bit sad that he is growing up sp fast!!  My little boy is going to a school next year and from then on, he will be school student.  My time with him is going to be so little.  I worry at times that I do not spend enough time with him. This is life, I guess.

We are having a little headache at the moment trying to organise our routine for next year with Calvin going to school and Athan starting child care.  Yup, the fiesty little 18-month old boy will be going to child care next year.  We are trying to work out a way so that the boys can be dropped off and picked up by either Robin or myself.  It is not easy, I have to say because of our work schedules.  We want to be there for the boys as much as we can, and so certain things have to be compromised.  Oh well, sacrificing is part of being parents, right?  I am happy that at least Robin is on the same page as me on this matter.  Hopefully, things will go smoothly for us next year.

By the way, when I told Calvin he would be going to a new school next year, he was very excited.  He asked if the school was big with lots of children and whether his current friends would be with him …. *sigh* And, he said to me “ma ma, wo bu hui ku de” (mum, I won’t cry)! 🙂

Voice Is Back.

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

My voice has finally returned! Well, at least 85% of it, I would say.  I am so thankful for that.  I was supposed to give a presentation at work yesterday but as I could not talk coherently, my colleague had to step in to help.  I was so grateful to her.

This morning, when my 4-year-old (almost) came to my room to greet me, he was surprised that I could answer him.  He said to me “ma ma, you can talk now?” “why your voice come back?”  To which I replied “so that I can *scold* you when you are naughty!” His response was “oh no!” and he ran away.  🙂

Weekend Highlights.

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

We went for a walk at a park after dinner yesterday.  Robin’s aunt and cousin were with us too. Aunty loves little children and she is particularly drawn to Athan.  She kept trying to hold Athan while Athan kept running away from her!  Athan just stuck to his dad and no one else — not even me. Well, I had Calvin by my side at all times.  Anyway, we were at the lookout area, it was rather dark and Robin quickly passed Athan to his aunt and hid himself from the boy.  Of course the boy screamed and cried for his dad.  Aunty then put him on the ground and let him roamed.  The boy went looking for his dad in darkness and he came across this asian man with his partner who were enjoying the night skyline of the city at the lookout area. He then went up to the man and pulled at his jeans and cried “pa pa ! pa pa!”.  He raised  his arms up to the man indicating he wanted to be carried.  Aunty quickly went over to tell Athan the man was not his dad, but the boy did not believe her and refused to leave.  Everyone was laughing except, of course, Athan.  In the end, Robin appeared before Athan and the crying fit stopped immediately.  Sigh.  Looks like the  “daddy’s boy” phase is going to be a very long one.

In other news, I lost my voice.  I was coughing a bit over the weekend and this morning when I woke up, I could not speak at all!  I had to whisper and it was so frustrating.  Calvin found me weird and asked why I made funny sounds and he whispered back to me.  He thought it was funny.  As for Athan, he said “huh?” to me after every sentence I whispered to him. :)  Robin has been patient with me although there were many occasions he did not understand me.

I still went to church this morning and when I told the other mums I lost my voice, they all asked “did you scream too much at your kids or nag too much at your husband”?  Gee, they called themselves my friends …. 🙂 Oh well, I know they were joking.  Truth be told, because I could not scream or yell at the kids, it has *forced* me to deal with tantrums and bad behaviour in another way — without screaming. It was hard but it was possible.  I hope my voice will return soon.

Better But Still Busy.

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

This week has been a better one for me in terms of stress level at work.  The report that I was suppposed to write is now undergoing internal review and will soon be out of the way once the final editing is done.  Thank God!  As for the journal article, well, the paper is now in my hands and it is almost fully edited!  I need to do a bit more work on it — checking results and equations and then it will be sent for internal review before finally being sent to the journal itself.  I can’t wait!

However, this week is still a fairly busy one for me.  There were a few things I need to organise for my group and also, I have been assigned a new job.  I am now working with the mining and exploration team as their statistical support person, mainly.  The work is still being defined, but it is a new challenge for me.  I look forward to the challenges and the opportunity  to learn new things and work with new people.

At home, I am still struggling to keep up with my boys and housework.  It is hard.  Some days I feel that working part-time and staying at home part-time cannot allow me to be 1oo% at each job.  I wish I can.  There is a limit to what I can do at work and at home given the time and energy.  I can only give my best at each job and not to expect too much from myself.  I tend to over-stress myself this way and I constantly need reminders to let go.  Thank God that I have a prayer partner who prays with me and supports me in my weaknesses. 🙂

Daddy’s Boy.

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

Mr Athan is his daddy’s boy.  I say this because this boy is really attached to his father.  Perhaps Robin takes care of him more often these days and so they get to spend a lot of time together — and hence the bond.

Of late, he looks for his dad every evening after dinner and before bedtime.  He wants Robin to carry him or to sit with  him.  Robin can’t even put him down and leave him with me.  He will cry and cry and cry until his father comes and pick him up.  I kid you not, this happens every night for the past week. He chooses his father over me. In addition to all that, he won’t let me put him to bed without kicking up a fuss.  With his father, he goes down without protest, or if he does protest, it is only minor.  How to I feel?  Well, it is good for me!(in a sense that I get a break)  Good that they have such special bond, but not so nice for me at times when he does not want to come to me.  It makes me sad.

Having said all that, I have to add that Athan does look for me for comfort when he is upset with his brother or when he is ill or when he wants food.  It is natural that he wants to be with his dad at play time.  Calvin is this way too.  But the difference, I find, with the two boys is that Athan is a lot more attached to Robin as compared to Calvin at this age (18 months).  Calvin is what they call a mummy’s boy. 🙂   Anyway, Robin thinks Athan is going through a phase and that he will get over it soon. We’ll see.

Nap Time.

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

Robin decided to put the boys together on Calvin’s bed for their nap this afternoon.  Everything was looking fine …

except  that Athan “talked” too much!  Mr Athan wouldn’t stop talking  and Calvin got so annoyed at his brother that he requested us to take Athan away!

So in the end, they had to sleep in their own bed. By the way, both my boys still sleep on their tummies.

Busy Friday.

Friday, September 12th, 2008

This week has been a very busy one for me both at work and at home.

On the work front, I somehow got myself into a situation where both my journal article  and project report were “screaming” at me for attention at the same time!  Well, my co-author for the article was going on holiday next week and so we were frantically bouncing drafts to each other trying to sort all problems out before he left.  This took the bulk of my working time. And because of this, I neglected the report I was supposed to write and submit before the end of this month.  I was pretty stressed out, I have to say as I have to get the first draft of the report out so that my colleague can work on her part.  I worked at home and even went in to work today whole day trying to make up for lost time.  I missed my regular dose of encouragement and study at my mother’s group today. 🙁 Thank God for the husband who so kindly volunteered to look after the boys.  I did make good progress with both papers at the end of the day although I still have quite a bit of work to do.  Thank God for that.

On the home front, there’s a lot more work as Robin’s mum is away and so we have to take turns to look after Athan.  The house is in such a messy state at the moment as I have not been able to clean this week.  If you knew me for a while you would know that I get really edgy with dusty floor and other things at home.  I have this need to clean all the time. The husband said I’m too uptight and that I should let go. Perhaps he is right.

Anyway, we were invited to a BBQ this evening at a friend’s house.  It turned out to be a really nice evening.  It was a nice end of the day (and week) for me!  We managed to catch up friends over dinner and the boys behaved quite well.  Calvin joined the older children in their activities while Athan was so facinated by the huge house.  He walked to and fro between the family room and lounge room.  He especially loved the fact that there was a door that he could walk through to get him to the other room!  He was also very entertained by the pet dog.  We had to take turns to follow him as his height happened to be at around everyone’s bums and so someone could have turned around and knocked him over without realising it.  He thought it was funny that I was following him all the time.  🙂

Oh well, the week has almost finished now and I hope next week will be better.

Nice Sunday.

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

We had a nice day today. We went to church this morning and then had lunch with a few newcomers at our church. After that, we took the boys for a walk in the city. The weather was just right. The boys were tired after a day out, but they were happy. Here’s a photo I took of them with their father just before bedtime this evening.

Happy Father’s Day!