Saturday, February 25, 2012

A day trip to Kelong (Singapore)

By The Kam family , 12 comments
Thanks to Viv who organised and invited us to join them. It's supposed to be their family trip, with her mum and sis plus her in laws family who are here visiting them (from Korea). We were very thicked face, accepted her invitation and went along, because we haven't been meeting up for so long! The kids missed Isaac lots!

We have a great great great time! Relaxing, laughing, watching the kids played and fight, and having a feast on seafood. Thanks gals!!!

Now, let the photos do the talking......
On the boat to the Kelong. Hao Re was not in good mood as he was being dragged to wake up from his nap. Xi Yu and Isaac have fully woken up and in a very good mood! Excited to be on the boat!


The kids are warming up when we arrived at the Kelong. Hao Re was still sticking to his Baba.



The kids having lots of fun exploring the Kelong, a totally new experience to them!



A rare moment when the 2 boys are not fighting. Must capture this moment. All those fighting moments were not capture :-)



Fishing is a big hit with the boys. But think Viv's father-in-law was not too happy with the kids took over his fishing gadgets, hehe.


The old couple is a good example we must learn from - still very loving at this age! He caught 2 fishes for that day!!


What can make the kids stay so close, stay so still and NOT fighting? There could only be one thing - cartoons played on the iPOD / iPhone / etc.



Hao Re monkeying around with the swing. Dan said Hao Re is very agile, really like a monkey!! Even when he is about to fall, he responds very fast and never really fall.



See, told you it's their family trip. A must take photo!


Life is good!



Last few photos to share.
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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Time for worksheets, anyone?

By The Kam family , 4 comments
Two possibilities came to my mind when Hao Re presented to me this worksheet 100% created by him, I didn't even know until he brought it for me to do the worksheet.


First, he has been doing a lot of worksheets at school, so worksheets have preoccupied his mind.

Second, he really likes doing worksheets, that's why he wants to make one of his own.

I wanted to ask his teachers/principle how often they do worksheets at school, but I didn't seem to have the opportunity to talk to his class teacher or principle as they were not around when I was there to drop off and pick them up, for the past few days. So I have no conclusion if the first or the second (or both) is correct. But his Chinese teacher did mention to me that Hao Re can do his Chinese worksheet very well, need minimum guidance and do the work correctly with 100% focus.

Back to this creation of my dear Hao Re.

Isn't it amazing? I think it is :-) He even explained to me the logic for doing this worksheet. He guided me to complete this worksheet and marked with a tick and said, "Mama, well done". So hilarious!
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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - Exclusive screening

By The Kam family , , 5 comments
We were invited by Georgina from the T\PR on behalf of the Disney team, to attend an exclusive screening for blogger mums (and dads) of the new movie - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - Mickey's Space Adventure that is going to be premiered on the 20 February 2012, Monday at 1pm, on Disney Junior channel (Starhub Cable TV Channel 311). Think parents need no introduction about this channel, it must be the most popular channels among the young kids.

It's the first time we attended such event, so didn't really know what to expect. It was a preview screening of the movie, exclusive to the invited bloggers and, of course, their kids. What we did was sat there and enjoyed the movie, while enjoying the very nice spread of food prepared for us. The fellow bloggers started to chat once the kids were glued to the screen, but since it's my first time attending, and the fact that I am not really good at socialising (serious, not joking :-P,) and most of them seems to know each other already, so I was too shy to break the ice :-P But it's good to see some of the popular mum and dad bloggers and their kids in person.

The kids waiting for the movie to be shown. Discussing on what to do at the Science Centre after the show :-)


The kids love the movie! They sat through throughout that hour. Although they didn't get to watch much TV, they obviously can remember and can relate to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse very well. Xi Yu kept singing the "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E" part. I asked if the movie nice, Hao Re gave me a big nod and Xi Yu said loudly "Nice!". The plot is quite interesting as there are two identical Mickey Mouse (one is the "normal" Mickey, while the other is the Mickey who lives at the outer space). It's really a BIG treat for them, hehe.

Here's some pictures of the Mickey's Space Adventure to give you an idea what you would expect to see on TV:



So remember, it'll be launched on the 20th February 2011, Monday at 1pm. What if you miss the show on the 20th Feb, no worries, it will be replayed on the 5th March 2012, Monday at 3pm. Hope you and your kids like this show too.

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Since the event was held at the Science Centre, we spent the rest of the afternoon there, from about 3.30 to 6pm (all the way till it's closed). After the few hours of exploration, I do think Science Centre needs a serious major overhaul, of its exhibit, as most of the exhibits that we were exploring were not working, sadly :-(

The kids having fun (kinda) exploring the science centre



Hao Re wanted to watch the dinosaur exhibition, but that needs another ticket which was not included, and the ticket for the dinosaur exhibition are expensive. Luckily he's okay that we didn't go for the special exhibition. He requested to go for the waterplay, but it was raining, so we couldn't go also. Luckily by about 5.15pm, the rain stopped and so the kids have some fun at the waterplay to wrap up the day.

Best time to take photos of them - outdoor and sure there are lots of happy faces :-)


Oh no, not yet, since it's already 6pm, I thought they could be hungry by then, so we have our dinner at McDonald before heading home. Each of them has a happy meal set. This is their 2nd happy meal so far. We rarely eat at McDonald, but at the Science Centre, there is simply no other choices. There is a video clip in the science centre telling people how important it is to get on healthy diet, but there is a McDonald right at the entrance to the centre. Healthy diet, eh? I ordered a cup of orange juice for Xi Yu as she insisted, but it was so sweet that both kids refused to drink, and not to mention the fries etc. Oh well, that's just me, McDonald is sure continue to be the most visited fast food restaurant in Singapore :-P

Ending the trip with a McDonald Happy Meal (the toy is quite crappy, haha)



Oh, no no, not done, yet. They each received a cool goodies bag from the organiser. They have a water bottle, a note book, a chain, a Mickey hat, and a pack of freezer dry ice-cream for Astronaut (at the bottom left corner)! The ice-cream is pretty interesting, but it so utterly sweet for consumption :-P
Goodies bag from Disney Junior!


It's been a great day for us! Thank to T\PR and to the Disney team!
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

SMH playdate (and thank you note to fellow mums)!

By The Kam family , , , 4 comments
Arranged for a playdate for Hao Re to meet up and play with kids of his age. It went really well! All the kids have so much fun at the pool, followed by munching on some food prepared by the mummies (I contributed the least, hehe), and playing toys at our house.

See how happy the kids are at the pool, though it's very simple structure, but good enough for them to have tons of fun!

These are kids of Hao Re's age (~4+ years old)


These are the siblings of the kids above, of varying age, 3+, 2+ and 1+.


The kids have grown up so they can play very well together without any fighting at all. Adults didn't have to get wet, we just stood/sat and chatted while we can when they were playing in the pool.


We should arrange more playdates for the kids to mingle :-)

SMH is not a secret code. Most of the mums in Singapore who are cyber-active would know this. It stands for Singapore Motherhood Forum. It's one of the most popular forum for mums and mums-to-be to meet and to share experience etc online.

Our kids were born at the same month same year - that's how we started to build our friendship. We have been chatting/sharing on this forum since when we were pregnant in year 2007 all the way till now, which is already 5 years, and counting! During these few years, some of us have met up, in persons, on a few occasions, some of us have never met each other till now. But thanks to FB, most of us have a FB account, so we can put a face to each of the mums and kids, based on the photos uploaded on FB. It's a very strange kind of friendship (to me), as they are total strangers from the beginning, but after all the chatting over the years, we knew each other so well, as we don't only talk about pregnancy/motherhood/children/childcare issues, we actually talk about any topics, anything and everything under the sky, including some funny/weird or intimate questions :-) We would log in to SMF when we have a good news to announce, like pregnant with #2, #3, change a job, get promotion/bonus, we would also log in to SMF when we need some listening ears, like get retrenched, have a fight with spouse, etc. But of course, the main topics are mainly on kids and mums. We kinda like good friend, but we are not "actual" friend :-)

The group of friends have given me so much support and advise, especially during my breastfeeding period, and throughout the motherhood journey, especially at times when I was facing problems/issues that the hub could not understand or that I couldn't tell my families or "actual" friends. I have learnt so much things from them, kids and non-kids related, and from them, I got to know and understand fellow Singaporeans better. They also provide lots of funny stuff for me to laugh on, lots of quotes for me to ponder on, and lots of advise for me to take on.

Thank you, thank you very much, all my dear forumers!! Thanks for accepting me as part of you (being a foreigner). Because of all of you, my journey of motherhood has become easier and I know who to turn to for support when needed. And thanks for listening! Cheers to my fellow SMFs!!!
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We have a date with Mickey Mouse!!!

By The Kam family , , 1 comment
Gonna make use of my lunch time to do some posts, else it's almost impossible to write any posts at night as there are endless housechores to be completed (which I can never complete).

It's so cool to be invited to this special event. I think the kids will be very excited! Not sure what exactly the program will be, but I hope that we will have lots of fun!

We had been invited once in early December for a similar event from the same organiser, but I had to travel for work on that particular day. So this time when I received the invite, I made sure I will make it to the event, no matter what, hehe.

Hope I will be taking lots of nice photos to show you about this event soon :-)

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Monday, February 13, 2012

Back dated post - Xi Yu infected with HFMD virus :-(

By The Kam family , 3 comments
This was before and during CNY, she is all well on the second day of CNY, blisters all dried up before we came back to Singapore. Wanna to record it down so it's easier for me to track.

Xi Yu was not well, on the day before we left Singapore all the day till the 2nd day of CNY. We only realised when we were at our kampung that she was affected with HFMD (well, actually we were not sure, just suspected that). Only when came back to Singapore and did some google searches, we realised all the HFMD symptoms were observed - ulcers in the mouth, throat and tongue (particularly the ulcers on her tongue making her went without food and milk for a few days), rash with vesicles (small blisters 3-7 mm) on hands, feet and diaper area, sore throat, loss of appetite. Except that she didn't have fever at all (that's why we didn't notice until we saw blisters on her foot when putting on her shoes (initially thought it's mosquito bites). Hao Re got it twice when he was young, but his first one was very mild (didn't even have blisters), and the second one didn't show symptoms likes what Xi Yu had.

We had a tough time that few days. Not only she was not able to eat and drink (that we kept worrying that she might get dehydrated), she couldn't sleep at night, and only wanted me, and she refused to talk (probably painful with the mouth/tougue ulcers), behaving just like a baby, a heavy one. She was crying murder in the middle of the night, and I was losing my patience. Hubby was so angry with me that I scolded Xi Yu knowing that she was not well, but I was just too tired and too stress hearing her non-stop whining/crying. Hubby wanted to help but Xi Yu cried even worse when I passed her to hubby. Luckily she was still able to drink reasonable amount of fluid every day. Day time she could still be distracted by hubby and other people so that I could take a break from her. But came night time, it was very stressful for me. I was so scared when the sun set. It's from Friday all the way to Tuesday, been "tortured" for 5 days 4 nights! There was one night that I was so stressed up that I told Xi Yu that I was such a bad mum, I could not even take care of her, I am not qualified to be her mum, I cried together with her (quietly so my mum couldn't hear), I was thinking all nonsense till I actually thought of committing suicide! Depression is really dangerous!!!

But, came Tuesday, she was still whining the minute before. My brother and his family left for my SIL's hometown, so my parents' house became all quiet. Hubby brought her out for a walk and came back with a lollipop. She was hesitated if she could enjoy the lollipop. Once she started and got over it, she suddenly, changed from a whinny to a chirpy girl within minutes. I have no complains or whatsoever, only happy to see that. Honestly, after finishing that lollipop, she started to talk and sing non-stop, like the usual her, she was back to normal within that very minute, probably hubby got her a magical lollipop :-)

It was a horrible experience for me. Don't want to experience it again, ever.
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Thursday, February 9, 2012

Weekday routine

By The Kam family , 2 comments
Now I need to travel further to work, it takes about 1 hour in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening (morning traffic is really bad, everyday).

So now I reach their childcare at 615 - 630pm. Another 5 - 10 minutes to reach home.

Our routine is like this:

I go into the kitchen right away to prepare dinner while they play on their own. Often they get to eat / drink something while waiting for dinner to be ready.

Dinner ready before 730pm.

They continue to play while I feed them. Sometimes they would eat on their own. Their play time is so limited so I am okay to feed them while they play (since they have no problem in self-feeding in school).

Finish dinner before 8pm.

Rest for a while (meaning continue to play) and it's bath time. They spend 15 - 30 minutes playing in the bath tub. I take this opportunities to do all the light housework, including washing the dishes.

Out from the tub before 9pm. Read / flip books on their own for about 30 minutes. Then it's milk time and brushing teeth (sometimes skips teeth brushing, ops!). After that, it's reading time, I read to them, of the books they each choose) for about 30 minutes.

When it's only me at home with them, they seldom, almost never, ask to turn on TV. And they are willing to go to the bedroom when I ask them to.

Usually I am free and wake up (fall asleep lying beside them) at about 1030pm. Do whatever leftover housework. Then it's my free time to surf net, blogging or reading. I no longer have the habit of watching TV. Go to bed between 12 - 1am, depending how much energy left.

Sometimes, usually Friday, I would either bring them to a park or to the library or to the playground, to break the routine (no need to cook, hehe), and to kick start the weekend.

Now they are older, it's a lot easier, as most of the them I can leave them to play on their own when I am busy. There are quite a lot.of fightings when I am not looking, but I just let.them be.

That's the glimpse of part of my life as a full time working mum with 2 loving young kids :)

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Happy Chinese New Year!

By The Kam family , , 3 comments
Yes, I am mighty late. A total of fifteen days of Chinese New Year had gone passed and only now I am posting photos of the kids in their CNY costume. Better be late than never, right :-)

Wishing all a wonderful and fruitful year ahead!

祝贺大家龙年行大运，快乐幸福滚滚来！



Note: Photos taken in at our home in Singapore before Chinese New Year. Got them to try out their CNY outfits. My mum gave them empty ang pao to make them pose for the camera, and I was explaining to them about to greet the elderly wish best wishes, and they would receive ang pao with money inside, which they can use to buy a toy after the CNY :-)
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Settling in to the routine

By The Kam family , , 1 comment
Since the first day we moved in to this new home, my parents were with us all the while till we went back for CNY holidays (talking about CNY holiday...... I didn't manage to write a single blog post about it as I planned to, oh well).

Now we are back to Singapore without my parents, it's just the four of us. No extra pairs of hands to help with the household chores and with the kids. I cooked for the very first time last week, good that I got used to the kitchen almost immediately, though there is definitely rooms for improvement, especially on the organizing of items.

Also did laundry for the very time, as my mum was doing everything for mfe previously. One of the minus points to live in a private development with no balcony is that no proper place to hang laundry. Where we hang our clothes now has no direct sunlight, really not ideal, but no choice. Wonder how other households do it, must ask them if I have the chance to.

Other than the above, no complains of other things. Love that the car park is at the basement. No longer need to worry about bad weather and no longer need to worry about crossing the streets with 2 young kids in tow. The facilities are great, despite being a 10 year old development, the common facilities are very well maintained. The pool, the garden, the playground, the surroundings, the kids are absolutely enjoying it, so are the adults.

The kids adapted to the new home very well. One thing they love most is the bath tub. Sincere moved in till now, they play at the bath tub for a good 15-30 minutes everyday without fail (meaning the water bill is on the high side). Wonder how long would it take till they are sick of it (or never?).

They are sleeping in their own room. Xi Yu still wakes up in the middle of the night. I am letting her to cry-it-out since last week, refused to make milk for her in the middle of the night, as I reckon and confirm that it's only for her comfort, she is not hungry for sure. Even when on the nights that she didn't cry, she would still look for me when she stirs and couldn't get back to sleep. So often, I would sleep in their room for the last few hours before the sun rises. Well, it's still better than previously. We reclaimed our bed after sharing with them for the past 4 years! Now we can hug and hold hands to sleep like we used to :-) Feeling really good as I missed the couple time do much.

Their new child care. Xi Yu settles in really well. No more crying in the morning way back before CNY. She enjoys learning and playing with her little friends. She sings a lot and talks even more. Hao Re has not. He still cries when we drop him off in the morning. He said he doesn't like school, any school, he doesn't want to go to school, he only wants to either stay home with me go to work with me. His teachers said he is isolating himself during classes especially in the morning, but gets better in the afternoon. Nonetheless, he has been telling me what he learns at school and repeats what he learns in the day. Probably he just need more time?

But on a more serious thought, we think it could be due to that the sense of stability was lost since I started to go for week-long business trip. He might be afraid that don't know which day I would be gone for a trip again (though I would tell them beforehand when I plan for a trip). That would be so bad if it's true, that would leave a very bad impact on him and Xi Yu.

So, I have decided to change job, change to one that need no traveling. It's also because my effort was not thoroughly appreciated by the bosses, they think I need to travel more often to achieve to our goals faster/earlier, ignoring what I have done for the previous months. Felt very sad for hearing this remark, so I reckon it's time to move on. Though, one of the factors that made us moved to Yishun was for the fact that my current company would be moving to just within 5 minutes drive from our place.

But, the kids should be the priority. I don't want to leave the bad impact on them because of my business trips. And I definitely could not meet their expectation on more frequent traveling (something I would not compromise no matter what). There are many options available, including to be a full time mum! But, haha, no, I won't be considering that, not now, maybe a few years later when they start primary school. Hubby likes the option of relocate back to Malaysia, but I am so not ready (though I really wish to, again, in another few years). So right now, will look for a job in singapore and continue living here.

Wish me luck!!!

Till the next post......

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