A new beginning - Primary 1

This is a momentous year as my first born starts Primary 1, and I join the ranks of parents with kids in primary school. We have been looking forward to it for quite a while... We talked about the longer school days, taking part in CCAs and having money to buy his own food during recess. He was mostly excited, though slightly apprehensive. I was mostly excited, though a bit sad that my boy is growing up so quickly. The day before the first day of school, I tucked him in early to prepare for the early start. I had difficulty falling asleep myself... It almost felt like MY first day of school.

At 6am on 4 Jan 2016, I was woken up by the beeping sounds of my new old school alarm clock...

I took a shower before proceeding to wake Nathan up. He woke up in a jiffy and we got changed into his spiffy new uniform. Gosh! He looked so grown up in his new uniform. We managed a quick breakfast before driving off to school. This is a journey I will be making for the next 12 years!

The hours passed rather speedily as I sat in the canteen with other parent volunteers waiting for the boys to join us in the canteen for recess. I guessed that Nathan would end up buying chicken rice for himself and decided to buy a plate to try. It was yummy! The chicken was boneless and cut to bitesized pieces. True enough, he got himself a plate with the help of his P4 buddy. I think he might end up eating this whenever he gets a chance to buy his own meals. 

The subsequent days, he got the chance to explore the other parts of the school with his buddy - the eco garden, the school library and his favourite - the playground. I'm glad he managed to navigate the library system all by himself and came home with library books that he borrowed all by himself. He has been reading quite a few books ever since school started. It seems they have quite a bit of free time during the school day as he has completed quite a number of books all by himself during the free time in school.

About CCAs... I wasn't sure if he should take up a CCA in Primary 1. And I wasn't sure if I wanted him to be put thru an audition. We shortlisted the String Ensemble as a possible CCA and they required auditions. I decided to leave it to Nathan and he was keen to try. We prepared for the audition and I figured whether he made it thru the auditions or not, it will be a valuable lesson for him. We were glad he made it thru and he's really looking forward to joining the String Orchestra.

The first week of school went by quickly and I am glad he enjoys school. There's lots more installed for him and I am excited to be walking this journey with him.

Hello Baby Nico!

Dear Baby Nico,

You arrived to much fanfare on the 1st day of the lunar new year. At week 38, mommy was getting quite impatient but you seem to be really comfortable in the safe confines of my womb. Carrying you felt tougher than when I was carrying your two kor kors. Probably because mommy's getting older and also because of all the running around I still had to do with your dear brothers. Boy, we were so glad when you finally decided to come out and meet us. We checked into the hospital on the eve of CNY, at about 10pm after tucking your brothers in bed, and you were born shortly before 2am. Daddy didn't even get a chance to warm up the companion arm chair in the labour ward. The labour proceeded swiftly. I remember experiencing excruciating pain and wishing with all my might that it'll be over. I think God knew exactly how much pain I could tolerate, and brought you out to see the world in His time. You ended up being the first baby born by natural birth in the Year of the Goat.

While I managed to write birth stories for your kor kor, and chronicle their first year month by month,  it is a rather daunting task now that there are three of you. BUT, you have the love, hugs and kisses of two loving and protective kor kors, and I'm sure you'd grow up well with their company.

So here's your first six months in pictures...

At birth

1 week old

2 weeks old

3 weeks old

Thank you card for Aunty Fong

Sleeping thru at 10 weeks old

10 weeks old

3 months olds

Celebrating Aunty Liza's Birthday

4 months old

Reading with kor kors

5 months old

Flipped from tummy to back

First foods

Celebrating Singapore's 50th

Canon Ball?

6 months old

The first month went by in a blur for mommy... you woke up every 2 to 3 hours to feed and the sleep deprivation took a toil on me. When Aunty Fong came, she took care of the night feeds and I got more rest at night. She was such a blessing. Thankfully, you stopped needing to be fed at night shortly after she left, though you still woke up once or twice almost every night, and needed to be soothed back to sleep. It is so much fun when you started smiling and babbling. Your brothers kept asking to hold you and readily helped to care for you. You've brought us so much joy and we can't wait for you to start walking, talking and joining in your brothers' adventures.

Lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Mommy

Primary 1 Registration

I was feeling rather emotional when it came to filling up the registration form. My first born is starting formal education next year. He has been looking forward to it and I am also feeling rather excited about this new beginning. And yet, I cannot bear to have him grow up so quickly.

Coincidentally, registration day fell on our wedding anniversary. D was planning to take leave so we could go back to his alma mater to process Nathan's registration... Then proceed for a nice breakfast before picking the boys up from school. Unfortunately, a biz trip cropped up and I ended up having to do the registration myself.

The process was pretty quick and fuss free. Other than some people I expected to meet, I also saw a couple who attended an antenatal class with us almost 6 years ago. It was the only antenatal class we attended, cos after one round, we were quite the experts. Hee!

After registration, I walked around the school grounds and snapped some pictures for Nathan. Also popped into the school bookshop to buy a little gift for Nathan - a jotter book with the school crest. There, I saw the bookshop bookshop aunty up-selling to the boys...

Aunty: Do you want to buy this mechanical pencil? It's NEW!

Was rather tickled by it. Got to teach Nathan how to say no, lest he gets tempted and ends up spending his recess money at the book shop.

Nathan's really looking forward to Primary 1. Noah on the other hand, seemed rather sad... When I picked them up from school, Noah asked, " Is today Kor Kor's last day in SJ? He goes to Primary 1 tomorrow?"

Noah is not the only one who's glad that it's not happening tomorrow. I am not ready to wake up at 6am every weekday... Not just yet.

Embracing Motherhood

It has been about 3 weeks since I became a mother of 3, and it has been tiring to say the least. I have always found taking care of a newborn challenging... The sleep deprivation, the engorgement and other breastfeeding issues, the cries of your newborn, the emotional roller coasters... It was tough with my first baby, tough with my second and now with my third, not any easier. But the day they look you in the eye and give you that first smile, all tiredness melts away and you feel like the happiest mama on earth.

As a little girl, I have always dreamt of marrying the man of my dreams and having children. But I never knew what being a mom entailed, until I became one. The first month with my first born was probably the most trying period of my life. I was knocked to my knees and I found myself asking God for strength and wisdom for the parenting journey. There was so much to worry about and so much beyond my control, the only thing I can do, is get on my knees and pray. Thankfully, the first month went by in a flash and the subsequent months parenting an infant was easier. Baby started sleeping thru the night and I got the sleep I craved. Baby started making eye contact, cooing and gurgling as you sang, and letting out squeals of laughter as you made funny faces... What joy! I went back to full time work when my maternity leave ended and coming home to my baby was what I looked forward to after a long day at work. In that first two years, we experienced many firsts... First smiles, first steps, first hospital stay, first words, first tantrums... Along with it, we experienced joy, anxiety, sadness, excitement... And life was so much fuller with the addition of a little one.

Even though I never quite enjoyed the newborn phase (especially now that I am going thru it again), I have enjoyed every moment of being a mother. Truly, "the days are long but the years are short". On days when I'm exhausted and running on reserve energy, I wish nap time would come by quickly so I can take a much needed break... But when my children's birthdays roll around, I find myself holding back tears as I sing them a birthday song, just cos I can't bear to have them grow up so quickly. Not wanting to miss out on their growing up years, I made the decision to quit my full time job three years ago, with my husband's blessings. Being a stay home mom has been truly rewarding and I wouldn't trade it for any other job in the world.

Motherhood is nothing I imagined it to be, but everything I want it to be. I am thankful for these three boys who call me "mommy" and I pray daily that God will help me be the mother that He has called me to be.

Children are a heritage from the Lord,

    offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.

Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.

- Psalm 127:3-5

This post is part of a Blog Train hosted by Dominique at Dominique's Desk. Hop on the train to hear other mums share about embracing motherhood.

   

Next up, we have Christy who blogs at Kids 'R' Simple. Christy has 3 young lovely children and she wants them all to know that motherhood is no easy task. She wrote down her thoughts and struggles of being a mom, and wants her children to know that being a mother is not about sacrificing everything and losing her identity as a woman, but it can be an enjoyable journey if they follow her list. Every mother has her own set of advice for her children, stay tune tomorrow at Kids 'R' Simple to find out what is Christy's list of things that she wants her children to know about motherhood!

You are 4!

Dear Noah,

We have been counting down to your birthday and it is finally here! You have been looking forward to turning 4 and when you woke up seeing the "1" on the clock in your room... You exclaimed, "look, 1 on the clock. It's my birthday today!"

I think the best present for you this year is a baby brother to call you "Kor Kor Noah". You have been the sweetest Kor Kor around... Asking "when is baby going to come out", as we waited for baby's arrival; wanting to hold baby Nico so often and singing to him when he cries; being patient with mommy when I couldn't attend to you as I was busy with baby Nico; and playing quietly by yourself when I needed to take a nap. You make a great big brother and I hope the three of you will always enjoy growing up with one another.

I thought you were showing signs of being displaced when you started asking to be carried, to be fed, and wanting mommy / daddy to take a shower for you. Know that you always have a special place in my hearts, and mommy and daddy loves you all the same.

Some things about the four year old you...

1) Your favorite superheroes include spiderman, Incredible Hulk, Michelangelo and Luke Sky Walker.

2) Thanks to daddy, you know quite a bit about Star Wars and enjoy flipping thru ur Star Wars encyclopedia by yourself.

3) You love eating strawberries, kiwis, dragon fruits. You requested for a chocolate cake with strawberries for your birthday cos Kor Kor likes chocolate and you like strawberries. You are thoughtful in that way... Always thinking about the ones you love.

4) Your eyes sparkle when I praise you for a job well done. I believe "words of affirmation" is your love language just like your daddy's.

5) You enjoy story time and wouldn't go to sleep until we've read you a bedtime story. You can read simple readers by yourself (from memory) and love reading to mommy, daddy or kor kor.
6) You never fail to amuse us with your wise cracks, surprise us with your Lego and origami creations, and exasperate us with your 101 questions.

It has been a joy raising you and I continue to pray that you will grow in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Happy birthday Noah Baey!

Love,

Mommy

2014 in pictures

When I wrote 2013 in pictures about a year back, I had grand plans of drafting out this post that I'm currently writing and updating it month by month so I'd have something ready by the time 2015 rolls around... Well, that grand plan did not materialise, and now... in the middle of February 2015, I'm finally ready with this...

January

The biggest change to the start of the year has to be Noah starting N1. Thankfully, he settled into the new environment and new routine really quickly and looks forward to going to school everyday.

My baby brother is in St James too!

February
A month of celebrations with Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day and my birthday.

Dong Dong Qiang!

Valentine's Day picnic at Garden's By the Bay

March

We celebrated Noah's 3rd birthday with a short staycation at Rasa Sentosa. This boy loves hotels and bath tubs and this was a present he really enjoyed.

Building sand castles with his brother

We also celebrated daddy's birthday the same month with a cake that the boys helped to bake.

Happy birthday daddy!

April

Nathan started swim lessons at the beginning of the year and passed his first swim test this month. He looks forward to swim class every week. :)

WOO HOO! I passed!

May
Every Mother's Day, I'm reminded that I'm so blessed to have these boys in my life...

That same month, Nathan performed in a violin concert. I am one proud mama.

June
It's the school holidays and we spent almost two weeks in Macau and Hong Kong. Family holidays are precious... I like how it takes us away from our daily routine and distractions, to spend time as a family...

Cable car ride to Ngong Ping

Dong Dong Qiang!

Family devotions

Napping on the go...

Planning our route

Disneyland :)

Riding a flying elephant

Meeting Pooh bear

Holidays are so much fun!

And because holidays are so much fun, we went on another one with our church friends. Bintan we went...

The sun, the sea and the sand with a great bunch of friends

July
We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary and found out that we were expecting baby no.3!

I thank God for you every single day!

August
We managed to get tickets to the National Day Parade Preview. Woo hoo!

September

It is always a bitter sweet feeling for me, when my boys' birthdays roll around. I can't bear having them grow up so quickly! Nathan's 5th birthday...

Celebrating Nathan's birthday at Legoland

October
Two milestones for our just-turned-5 Nathan.

First, he learned to cycle on two wheels.

Second, he scored a distinction in his first violin exam.

First Violin Exam

November

Seems like the school year zoomed by so quickly. This photo was taken on the last day of school. Nathan's done with K1 and going on to his final year in kindy. Noah's done with his first year in kindy, and moving on to N2 next year. We're so thankful that the boys enjoy school and look forward to it everyday.

I love my brother!

December

A busy month with the highlight being our family holiday to Koh Samui. We admired God's creation, rode on an elephant, soaked in bath tubs, built sand castles, basked in the sun, and swam naked (just the two small boys) in a private jacuzzi.

Intercontinental Hotel, Koh Samui

Bath tub buddies

Dearest D,

Reflecting on the year that has gone by, I am once again filled with thankfulness for God's manifold blessings on us. It is my third year as a stay home mom. It is such a joy, privilege and blessing to spend almost all my waking moments with our boys, and I am convinced that my calling this season is to be a stay home mom. Thanks for working so hard so I can fulfil my calling as a mother. Know that you are greatly loved and appreciated.

Yours,

L