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!

Journal for 19 June 2011, Sunday

Sunny in the morning, grey in noon, rainy during evenings. This is the weather for the day in Finland. We can finally and officially say we are quite settled in our new place in Helsinki now with 95% of the boxes cleared or at least sorted. We already have 4 boxes that are going back to SG with us when the contract ends. Today, we went to the old church park in Helsinki in the morning for the morning walk with the children and they still prefer the usual park near Kamppii. Nonetheless, it has been a really pleasant morning. Jerome is now able to walk and run very well. He has also learnt the art of climbing up the stairs and slide down on his own. He's been trying to jump, as in lift both his feet off the ground at the same time, but well, he's still trying. Sofas have become a possible obstacle course for the boys and they love to perform climbing and jumping activities on it. However, Jerome's still only calling for mama and papa. Today, he's started saying car.

We've also recieved all the guests for the month of June and they have been so wonderful in keeping me company. and i think the kids also love the company. I will try to post more often now that I am settled in, so that people who wanna know about my kiddos can have more of them.
Till then, tata.

Jerome's turning one!

Jerome, my lil' baby is turning one real soon. He's an active and chatty lil' baby. Enjoys climbing up to the table top and cruising on anything he can find. With him turning one soon, it seems like so long ago when I first delivered him. Sometimes, I wonder what my life will be like if I never had children, or if I only had J1, or if I never gotten married. But when I look at the two grwing kids, learning to crawl, walk, run, sleep, eat, I quietly tell God how grateful I am, and not to take evrything I love away from me.

A little poem about God's gift to me.

Thank You God
© Shirley J. Stankiewicz

Sent straight from heaven up above
Came an angel for me to love
To hold and rock and kiss good night
To wrap my arms around real tight

To cuddle & nurture and watch him play
To kiss his boo-boo's all away
To keep him safe and warm & count all his toes
To hold the tissue for him when he blows his little nose

To laugh at his jokes, to clap as he sings
To tell him all the joy in my life that he brings
To clean up his play dough, to pull his legos apart
To pin up his drawings and tell him it's art

To watch his first day of school on the bus all alone
To fight back the tears as I make my way back home
To applaud real loud when he's in his first play
To help him with his homework at the end of his day

To adore & cherish and watch him grow
To guide and teach him all that I know
To see him through good times & help him through bad
To share in his happiness and cry when he's sad

To hold him close and be by his side
To watch him through life as my heart fills with pride
To help him with decisions, the best that I can
To know that someday he'll be a fine young man



Poem Source: Gift From Above, Baby Poems http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/family/poetry.asp?poem=1670#ixzz1AjHUitsL

What to do in blizzard like weather in Finland with the kids!

Today is Boxing Day, 26th Dec 2010. The weather is vry cold, blizzard-like conditions and as Asians coming from hot and humid Singapore, it's really impossible to get out of the house. As we know, my 2 boys are active and adventurous, so no amount of scribbling, reading and craft will satisfy the need for action! We finally decided to turn the home into an 'active' playground and the only game we play was 'hide and seek'. Well, we had loads of fun and laughter; look at the rules that Javier played by.
[1] He will appear when you enter the room where he hides. *BOO!
[2] He will hide right under your nose. Daddy was standing in front of toilet and J went in and shut the door, opened it and said to his dad,"Papa, I want to hide in the toilet, ok?" We laughed till our bellies were filled.
[3] He will walk to his hiding place very quickly and loudly.... we obviously know where he's hiding!

The next game we are playing with him, is treaure hunt! Happy homestay!

Gill

It's mummy's birthday!

Yes! It's the same time of the year again. I'm blowing out 28 candles in the year 2010 with my closest family around me. I'm feeling the effects of being in a strange land without friends and relatives.
Almost every birthday celebration starts with lots of well wishes, cakes and food and ends with me feeling so blessed. This year is a very quiet year, without all of the fanciful stuff, but a simple song from my family via video conference and my 3 best friends conversing with me via video brings me such blessings and peace. I wish I can be at my favourite Italian restaurant along Bukit Timah Road, enjoying dinner with my dear dear. However, counting my blessings, I have to, in such severe temperatures, I have so much time with myself.

I miss you, my dearest friends and my lovely family. I really do. Thank you for all the blessings from the past till this day. And I will treasure the "present".