Craftwork From Kindy

XY started attending a Montessori kindy beginning of the year. I don’t think she’s too interested in what she can learn there. The highlight of her day would be what she ate during snack time. So every time we ask her what has she done in school, she’d reply she ate bread/noodles/chee cheong fun/etc and drank milo/barley/soya bean/etc. Yup, that's my girl. ;)

Sometimes she’ll bring home her craftwork like papercraft, finger painting and colouring. They made special crafts for special occasions like Chinese New Year, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. So this year’s M-Day and F-Day was extra special coz we got our first hand-made gift from her.

The week before M-Day, her class teacher asked me to bring her photograph for art class. They made a card. When she gave it to me, she said “Happy Mother’s Day. I love you.” Wah... my heart melted. My girl has grown up already... able to make me a gift and utter those sweet words. The teachers taught her well.

~ she definitely made this... look at the untidy colouring :D ~

As for F-Day, she gave CB a fridge magnet. I doubt she was involved in making the turtle. Maybe she only stuck the message onto the wrapper. :)

~ before I saw the magnet, I thought it was a cookie ~

Practice Makes Perfect

~ top: waaaa... I want ball; right: yay... let's play ball

bottom: Michael Jordan in the making? ~

14 month-old CE is still not walking yet. He’s quite good at cruising around the coffee table and along the wall. If he’s in the mood, he’s able to walk (less than 10 steps, though) when we hold 1 of his hands. But most of the time, he prefers to crawl.

Kakak is more concerned than me about him not walking yet. So she took the initiative to let him practise walking on the grass. On the first day, he didn’t even dare to step on the grass barefooted. Curled up his legs when she tried to put him down. The next day, I let him wear shoes. But the lazy boy wasn’t too enthusiastic about walking. So Kakak used the ball as a motivator. He wasn’t very happy when he couldn’t reach the ball. But all smiles again when we gave it to him.

After a week of practice, he can walk quite well when we hold 1 of his hands. To encourage him, Kakak will put the ball in front of him. When he’s about to reach it, she’ll kick it further in front. It’s good to practise on the grass coz if he falls, it’s cushioned. Moreover he doesn’t really dare to touch the grass with his hands. Since he can’t crawl, he has no choice but to walk to get to the ball. Let’s see if he’s able to take his first step before reaching 15 months old.

Where’s My Boy?

A few weeks back, while Kakak was taking care of CE, she gave him a new ‘look’. So I quickly take out the camera and snap it as evidence. See if I can blackmail him in the future.... muahahaha...

~ can't wait to attend kindy ~

Kakak told me that he ‘requested’ her to put on the dress for him. It's jie jie's kindy uniform. He was holding and flapping it and didn’t keep still till she put it on for him. And she ingeniously wrapped the cloth nappy around his head as accessory. Doesn’t he look pretty? :D

On a different day, they were playing dress up again. So this slave very busy snapping pictures while they make funny faces (well... more like CE laughing at jie jie making funny faces). Who would've thought 2 pieces of cloth nappies can be so much fun?

~ my 'daughters' ~

Rookie of the Year Award

Wow.. thank you so much Jess for presenting me with the Rockin’ Girl Blogger Award. Feel so honoured as I’m very new in the blogsphere... less than a week old. ;) Anyway, I feel that the award is very relevant... coz I do ROCK the house when I scold the kids. Hahaha

Now let me honour some other rockin’ girl bloggers.
Tracy – coz she’s a grandmother (a very young one, though) who blogs. How rockin’ cool is that?
Rachel – coz she bakes nice cakes for her 2 princes.
Jazzmint – coz she’s so so so helpful.. in everything!

Birthday Celebration for XY

XY has been coughing since last week. She seemed to be getting better but on Tuesday night, she was coughing for long stretches in the middle of the night. So the next day (her birthday), CB brought her to see the doctor first thing in the morning. Doctor thinks that she has sensitive airways.

Since it’s her special day, we still went ahead with our plan to go to Sunway Lagoon. After picking up her cousin brother, CH and Sen Sen (my SIL – CB’s brother’s wife), we went to Bukit Jalil for lunch. By the time we reach Sunway Lagoon, it was already 1+ pm. Although it’s a weekday, it was quite crowded. We see a lot of Middle Eastern tourists. I’m sure the crowd would be worse on weekends.

According to the weather forecast, it was supposed to be cloudy in the afternoon and fair the rest of the day. But it wasn’t accurate at all. It rained heavily in the afternoon at about 4pm. So we wasted some time waiting for the rain to stop. After showering, we headed to the dry park (Wild Wild West). Didn’t go on many rides as we had to allocate some time to visit the Wildlife Interactive Zoo (already bought the tickets). It was quite a disappointment. Maybe because it was getting dark and it started to drizzle again, there weren’t many animals to see and ‘interact’ with.

We went to Atrium Café at Sunway Resort Hotel for buffet dinner. Food was ok. CB said there’s quite a wide selection but I didn’t really enjoy it. Probably coz I was really tired and not having a good appetite.

Here are some of the pictures.

~ take picture 1st before getting wet ~

~ birthday girl in action ~

~ sliding down all the slides she can find ~

~ flying high ~

~ the SR birthday cake she chose herself, but we chose the flavour ~

~ a happy day ~

Who Said The 2nd Time Would Be Easier

22nd May, 2006 – another important date in my life. The little Master decided to have the same zodiac sign as his father. So he came out to meet us 2 days later than the expected due date.

~ 1 day-old CE ~

The ‘show’ (spotting of blood-tinged mucous) came at around 1:15 am. XY was already asleep. So we had to wake her up. She was not happy at first but when told we’re going ‘kai kai’, she immediately woke up and became very alert. The hospital was just 5 minutes drive away (no traffic in the middle of the night). The nurse checked, and I was 3 cm dilated. Then CB went to do the admission.

By the time I was in the labour room, it was about 2:30am. Was told that the baby was not going to come out very soon. So CB brought XY home to get some sleep. The nurse will call him when I’m 7cm dilated. That should give him enough time to rush back to be by my side when I’m about to deliver.

According to the nurse, the contraction was not at a fixed interval, sometimes 5 mins, sometimes 8 mins apart. The very intense pain started at abt 3+, I think. At 4+, the nurse saw that I was suffering like h*ll, phoned the dr and asked if I should be given penthadine. Dr advised against it. If I deliver within the hour, baby may be drowsy because of the drug. At 5+, was 7cm dilated. Contractions were really unbearable. Was inhaling the laughing gas (ethonox) but not too helpful at such intense stage (was ok earlier on. I think I fell asleep in between contractions... felt a bit high too).

Just before it was time to push, CB appeared. Was so happy to see him. But at the same time, ignored him coz I was in terrible pain. When it was time to push, I was very tired after all the terrible contractions (come to think of it, who wouldn’t be?). Push and push and push, that baby of mine just wouldn’t come out. Dr sensed that I was starting to give up, he used forceps to help. Finally, at about 7am, the 3.8kg boy came out. Crying very loudly while the nurses cleaned him up. Then 1 nurse showed him to me, saying “See, it’s a boy”. The very tired and relieved me just saw his b*lls and said “Ok”. Baby had jaundice and was hospitalised for 1 night on the 5th day.

Now who said the second time would be easier?

Fun @ the Park

2 weeks ago, I took the kids to the park. It was CE’s first outing to the park. He was not too excited at first. Everything was new and alien to him.

~ hey, what's this bouncing thing? ~

~ holding the swing tightly for dear life ~

Jie jie, the veteran, was running around, climbing here and there. Having a great time.

~ so happy ~

Finally, he got excited while playing the seesaw with jie jie at the other end. Up, down. Up, down. Up, down!

~ this is fun! ~

The Big Promotion

Exactly 4 years ago, the Missy arrived. She was very punctual. Arrived on the expected due date. So tiny and fragile.

~ the day XY was born ~

Here goes my labour story. Be warned of a long post ahead. Enjoy!
One day before D-day, I spotted a tinge of blood, but there was no pain. I went to the clinic for check-up. The cervix has not opened at all and the nurses asked me to come back again if there’s heavy bleeding or extreme pain. Should happen within the next 24 or 48 hours. I felt like a ‘sua koo’ (very silly and inexperienced). Such a small matter also come for check-up.

On D-day (18th), I woke up with very bad contraction pain at 5am. I wasn’t sure if that’s what they call ‘extreme pain’ (now I know it is!), so tried going back to sleep. Didn’t want to wake CB yet. Not planning to be admitted yet, so let him have his wonderful slumber. I couldn’t sleep coz the pain was very bad and at frequent intervals. So I started to count. It was at 5-7 mins intervals. A bit puzzled coz contractions were supposed to be at fixed intervals. Feeling unsure, I called the clinic at 6+. The nurse said if I can bear the pain, just bear it (which means it’s not considered extreme yet). Get admitted when there’s heavy bleeding or the waterbag has burst. Then she ended the sentence with “If you’d like, you can still come for a check-up.” Can you believe that? Not helpful at all!

After walking up and down the stairs, still trying to sleep (but not getting any at all), I finally woke CB up at 7+. Had 2 pieces of bread for breakfast and got admitted at about 9am. I was already 2 cm dilated. Didn’t manage to use epidural coz the dr in-charge was not available. He was away in another area and my gynae said I would’ve delivered by the time he reached the clinic. The nurses were very supportive and said I was doing fine without it. Very grateful for their guidance and encouragement.

My waterbag burst at 11+. I was wheeled into the delivery room for monitoring. I used the laughing gas (ethonox). It helped a teeny weeny bit at the beginning. Doesn’t make you go high at all. But when the contraction was at the peak, it was useless. CB was called to the room to witness the birth of our child (he was not allowed in earlier). I think I started to push at 12:30. They were saying I wasn’t pushing correctly. Should be pushing my bottom, not chest. I don’t know what the h*ll they were talking about! I was already pushing like mad, and they tell me it’s not correct? And with that 2 miserable pieces of bread for breakfast, I was running out of strength fast. Come to think of it, if I’d used epidural, I may not be able to push very hard (without that kind of intense pain to react to.... trying to console myself). They had to help me a bit. They also pushed my stomach to get the baby out. And finally, she came out at about 1pm. What a relief! The nurse immediately showed me the baby’s genital to confirm that she’s a girl, but I wasn’t really registering at that time. Still in a daze after all the pushing, I suppose. When XY was born, she was white (according to CB coz I wasn’t noticing much). After a few hours, then only she got some colours. She had very mild jaundice which didn’t require hospitalisation.

So exactly 4 years ago, I was promoted to motherhood. Happy 4th Birthday, XY! Wishing you happiness always. No matter how naughty and cheeky you are, we will always love you dearly.

Note: Special thanks to Jazzmint, the Sifu, for her tutorial and help on scrapbooking. Still very new with PS. Shall explore and experiment further.

Official Opening Ceremony

Picture courtesy of iStockphoto

Today marks the birth of SLAVERY BLISS. I’ve been wanting to start my own blog since more than a year ago. But procrastination got the better of me. After reading so many great and interesting blogs from mummies (and daddies) out there, it really inspired me to set one up (not to mention the temptation of earning a little pocket money via PPP, if I ever qualify).

Blogging seems to be the ‘in’ thing now. I’d also like to be part of the blogging community. Being a stay-at-home-mom really restricts you socially (well, I never had a very active social life anyway). The blogsphere is a good place to meet people of the same interest, same challenges, same complaints, same triumphs.

With 2 demanding toddlers, this slave is always succumbing to their every need, tolerating all their misbehaviours. Of course, there are also many heart-melting moments. Complain and complain I may, I'm still very thankful and grateful for all that I've been blessed with.

Welcome to my blissful world.