While I am busy…..

I am always cracking my head to think of ideas to keep my gal occupied when I am preparing meals. I do let her help me with the washing of veges, but that is about it. When it comes to using the knife and cooking, I prefer her to be out of the way.

So sometimes, I will get her to stay in the kitchen and give her something to occupy herself, and this was what happened.

Kangeroo Talk

The little gal is so into kangeroos these days. Even before the trip to the zoo, she was already talking about kangeroos, hopping around the house like a kangeroo. The story book “Katy No Pocket” has truly left a deep impression on her, just like the zoo trip had. There was one morning, the first words she spoke upon waking was “Went to the zoo, feed kangeroo, pour on hand (we had to pour the feed on our hands to feed the kangeroos)”. That really took me aback. So to play along with her, nowadays, I will call her kangeroo. For eg., if I want her to wear clothes or comb her hair, I will say “Kangeroo, wear your clothes/comb your hair”, and she will give me her fullest cooperation.

My First Week as SAHM

Yes, I have survived the first week and am now into my second.  I can only say how thankful I am to be able to stay home to care for Sarah and hubby.  I simply adore this lifestyle – spending 24 hrs with my little princess, caring, teaching, and getting mad at her.  Life is mundane – you have to cook, clean, wash up, but listening to the words that come out of her mouth, watching her antics, witnessing her learning progress, that is worth everything.

To The Zoo

Recently, I have been reading lots of story books about animals to Sarah and she has been talking about them, particularly about kangeroos after I read the book “Katy No Pocket”, so today we brought her to the zoo. Praise God that the weather was good. We had a very enjoyable day. The highlight of the day was no doubt getting up close with the kangeroos. It was God’s perfect timing. When we got to the Australia Outback enclosure, it was feeding time, and the keeper was giving out queue numbers for visitors to enter the enclosure to feed the kangeroos. Hubby was quick enough to get a number. We were not sure if we can get in even with the queue number cos the keeper did warn that as the weather was very hot, the kangeroos may get tired and walk away. Thankfully, the kangeroos decided to cooperate, and we got in. One of the kangeroos seemed to be very hungry, and it was so eager to eat out of our hands. Sarah was very brave, she fed and patted the kangeroo.

I am so glad we managed to do that. It was a very good learning opportunity for her. She read about kangeroos and animals in books, but nothing comes close to being there with the real thing. We had brought Sarah to the zoo when she was younger but I find that she can relate better to the animals this time, because we have been teaching her all about them from books. She can recognise most of the animals and their names. Thank God that He has provided Sarah with such an excellent learning trip today.

A Great Food Blog

The mummies were sharing about cooking and recipes during the playgroup this week, and I wanted to share this great food blog I have just found. It has many easy recipes, all tried and tested.  I will definitely be trying some of them out next week.

Hives

The little girl woke up yesterday with swollen upper lips and eye lids. I was so shocked when I saw her. Her face is quite different and hubby and I were saying she does not look like our daughter .

Quickly brought her to the doctor and concluded it was hives. It could be due to some allergy or the recent very hot weather.  I thought it could be due to the peanut butter I gave her on Sunday, but this was not the first time she ate peanut butter.  I gave her some last week and she was okay.  Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, I shall stop peanut butter for the time being.

Anyway, she cried very badly when she realised we were walking to the doctor’s.  She pleaded with me so badly to go home.  I almost gave it but resisted as I felt it was better for her to see the doctor.  I prayed with her for God to grant her the courage to go through it.   She cried so badly that I can’t even wait in the clinic.  Luckily the clinic assistant was understanding and told me she will call me when it is my turn.  Thank God answered my prayer.  Though she was still crying while in the doc’s room, she did not struggle much and allowed the doctor to do her examination.

After 2 dosages of meds, the swelling has gone down.  Only the eye lid was still a little swollen this morning, and now it seemed to have subsided.  I hope she will make a full recovery from all her sicknesses.  It has been on and off since CNY, and it really pained me to see her suffer.

A New Season

I am stepping into a new season in my life now. I have gone from a full-time WOHM to a part-time WOHM, and now finally SAHM. If anyone had told me 9 years ago that I will give up my career to be a homemaker, I would have told that person to shoo off. I remembered I was then fresh out of school, ambitious and planned to work my way up the corporate ladder. It is just amazing how one’s heart can change so much, and the sacrifices a mother would make for her child. I used to not think too highly of SAHMs, but now I think it is a privilege to be one, to be able to be with your child 24×7, to be able to watch your child grow up, to be able to teach and influence your child.

I am not someone with qualities of a good homemaker. I used to hate housework and I can’t cook well. I get impatient with the little one easily and I sure do not know how to teach. Yet I am looking forward to the new life of housekeeping, cooking and homeschooling the little one. I am not sure if I am able to do a good job, but I am sure I can do all things through Christ. I believed God has called me to this for a purpose. I believe he is using this season of my life to draw me closer to Him. This may be only for a short season, or it may be for the long haul. But come what may, I will fixed my eyes on Him, trust in Him, and focus on the job I am called to do. He may not call the qualified, but He will definitely qualify the called.

Heavenly Father, as I begin this new season of my life, I pray for your blessings for me and my family. Bless me with your wisdom and patience as I teach the little one in Your ways, bless my hands that they may prepare nutritious meals for my loved ones and make the house a safe haven for them. Help me to be patient and kind so that Your love will show through me.  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

CNY 2007

Finally, here are the CNY photos.

Sarah in her red cheongsam in school for CNY celebration

With Mummy in school

With Mummy on 1st day of CNY

Fooling around with the bag at Grandma’s house

With Gu-gu and her favourite cousin Daniel

Silly Papa

Enjoying herself with her cousins

With Ye-ye and cousins

The delicious steamboat spread prepared by mom-in-law

Trip to Ikea

This morning, we went to Ikea with my sis-in-law and her 2 sons. Sarah was very excited as I have told her last night that we will go shopping with her gor gors today. She absolutely adores her cousins, and if we let her have her way, she will be at their house everyday (we live across the street from my sis-in-law).

When we reached there, the 1st place the boys wanted to go was the playroom/ball room. Sarah did not join it as she is still not at the minimum height requirement so I brought her to the kids area to look at stuff. We decided to have lunch first to avoid the lunchtime crowd before we start our shopping.

I bought her the kids easel stand, some markers, paper roll for drawing, a stool, some storage boxes for her color pencils, crayons and markers and a set of paint brushes.

A pity Sarah started to feel tired and got cranky soon so we quickly paid for our stuff.  I made some milk for her in the car while my sis-in-law continued with her shopping.  After she finished her milk, I brought her up to Ikea again, bought an ice-cream for her, and that made her happy.

Sarah loved the set of paint brushes most.  This little girl loves painting, and I promised her we will do some painting tomorrow together with Grandma.

It Children’s Week at Ikea now.  All kids get free balloons, kids menu at the restaurant are at $1.50, instead of the usual $2.90, and soft-serve ice-cream at 60cents instead of $1.20.  The Children’s Week is from 9 March to 25 March.

Anxiety Attack

It must be the flu bug and the meds. These few days, I have been having anxiety attacks whenever I think about homeschooling. Suddenly I just feel that I have made a mistake in pulling Sarah out of school, and that I don’t have the ability to teach her. I know I need to spend more time with God, more time in God’s word, and to bring all these feelings to Him.

Heavenly Father, please grant me the strength to overcome these anxiety attacks. Help me to focus on You and what You have called me to do. Help me to remember Your grace is sufficient for me. In Jesus’s name I pray, Amen.