My thoughts on becoming a parent IN Singapore

Referring to this article, http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120302-331115.html which discusses about the 'parenthood' in Singapore, I have some questions I feel are fundamental for the lady to stay at home.

[1] Can you have no off days, no leave, unless daddy can take leave?
[2] Can you have no branded goods?
[3] Can you send the child to an average school (monthly fees of $450) and no enrichment lessons?
[4] Handle all the housework and noise from the kids daily?

Living in Europe has shown me that if our answers to the above is 'yes', then you can stay at home and raise your child (if the average family income is $5000).
In Finland and Sweden, the women or men who choose to stay home sacrifice for the kids too.
In a way, we have to pay the opportunity cost if we want to stay at home to develop the bond with our children. We have to give up our fight to climb up the corporate ladder or any kind of ladder to establish that bond with our children. Sometimes, we might feel that it is unfair. But, what is fair? If you choose the corporate ladder, you have already decided to outsource the caring of kids. Then that is the cost. IF you give up the money and position, you give up the bags and shoes, salary and hi-life. U will have chosen the four walls in the house, market, cooking, caring, teaching and screaming and ultimately, your kids looking at you and say, I LOVE U, MUM. This is the price to pay. Maybe, maybe, we, as parents (male and female) should look at our banks, statements, weighing scale and choose. And, after choosing, not feel guilty and regret.

Ng brothers London trip with grandma and grandpa

J1 and J2 explored London with ah ma and ah gong period from 16 Feb till 20 Feb. We realised that the boys were indeed close to me. in fact, so close you can define it as 'sticky'. This is one benefit of a stay at home mum. They literally take me as a friend, a maid, a cook, a nurse and the list goes on. Well, I've got very strong arms after carrying the boys for, perhaps, 6 hours daily? J1 is 17kg and J2 12.
We've been to Stonhenge, Windsor Castle, Buckingham castle, chinatown, Roman Baths, Harrods, etc. They had a tiring time as they don't really appreciate the scenary. Therefore, we decided to scrap the Germany tour. Perhaps, Club Med Kuantan is our next destination. Sufficient sleep, delicious food, kids having their load of fun, will be a better definition of holiday. nonetheless, I never regretted bringing them along for any of the trips. Its tough, but the photos and memories, make up for it, sufficient for us to do it over again and again.

Jerome turns two!

It has been a long time since I last updated the blog. Jerome has turned two last weekend and we had a family celebration in a Japanese restaurant, Rakuzen at Millenia Walk. We had a little room for the celebration and it was pretty children friendly. The quality of the food was quite good based on the guests. Overall quite satisfied with the meal and Jerome's cake was NOT home made. I got an ice cream cake from Marble Slab Creamery and we customise it with Chuggington. It looked lovely and I am very pleased with the wallet friendly price as well as the looks of it. Jerome was scared of the train models though. Happy 2nd birthday J2!

Some of Yang Yang's acheivements are
[1] He scoots super well.
[2] He can listen to commands very well.
[3] Feeds himself relatively well
[4] He loves to doodle and draw with markers
[5] Loves to sing and dance.

He sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star the other night and CY and myself were so amazed and glad. He is also learning the sounds of the letters quite well too. As I teach gor gor the letters and sounds, he has mastered at least A, C, F, O, P. I am pleasantly surprised that he enjoys it tremedously, displayed by his sitting down each time I reach for the cards.

As for his cheekiness, it's also increasing day by day. Well, Terrible twos, Horrible threes and Incredible fours! But, mummy and daddy loves both boys as much as the day they arrived. Happy birthday, Jerome!