Lovely Surprises.

Today Micah came up with a jasmine from our backyard and shouted, "happy Mother's day!"



Daddy said, "I like that, guys. You guys celebrate Mothers' day everyday."

Max did the same thing later when he found the same flower, took it from where I had placed it by my bed, and also gave it to me declaring "happy Valentine's day!"

At any time, whenever they get hold of some flowers, real or fake, they will always come up to me and say, "Happy valentine's day!" or "Happy Birthday!" or "Happy Mother's day!"

Once, while grandma was clearing some of her mini fan palm, the boys gathered up a bunch and ran up to me and yelled, "happy Valentine's day!", in the middle of January. That was a real surprise. Real pleasure.




So from my two boys, I have received more flowers in the last 2 years than I have in all the years I've been with Gadget-daddy. Guess they are making up for all the flowers I'd missed, eh? *wink*

These boys are like mommy, we love surprises and we love to surprise.

Many times, when we have gone out without the boys, or with just one of them, the one at home will usually hide behind the curtain and jump out yelling, "surprise" when we step into the house. They are so funny.

It's so great to be your Mommy, you guys.
I love the way your hearts are so big and so free to love.
You are so wonderful!

Masterpieces

The boys came out of school proudly showing their masterpieces to their parents and Ee-ee.

Materials used: 2 toilet paper centers, 1 kitchen towel center, half a styrofoam cup, plastic boards and paint.

Thank you, teachers of Cornerstone Kindy. You are so brilliant and creative!
I'm so glad my boys have teachers like you.

Later they played with the planes the whole afternoon until another car ride out.

Now I am thinking of how I can hang them up to make it look like they are flying... but the boys probably still want to play with them.

Father's Day

We had two celebrations for Father's Day this year.

My sister and her family were in town until Saturday, so she planned a surprise Father's Day celebration for her husband and mine.

We had dinner and care at Tony Romas.



While waiting for the food to arrive, the kids had some fun with the doodle-sheet.


Earlier, the boys had brought back their craft for Father's Day from school. It actually comes with a picture stand. Gadget-daddy was impressed with their drawings.

Portrait of "My Dad and I" from Micah and Max.

On Sunday night, we went out for dinner again. This time it was a dinner with Grandpa, Grandma and suk-suk (Uncle on the father's side, the father's younger brother/ cousin brother).

The main dish(es) were 2 types of crabs. We also had ribs marinated and stir-fried in stout, a steam fish and toufu.

And it seems to be more and more a practice that Mommy's too busy with the boys, feeding them, when the food arrives that no photos of the delicious dinner as proof. But we all had a good time, and for Mommy, the most important part was that the boys ate well too.

Whatever the celebration maybe, when you have young kids, they tend to be in the limelight.
:)

Myron:3.5 Months

Myron is now three and a half months.

It's been an exciting addition to our family since Myron came along.
For all of us, we are busier than we could ever imagine, with this little cutie to attend to.

He is on his way achieving turning over from lying on his back to his belly.
When propped up on an adult pillow, he does it in no time.
When he is flat on the bed, he is just almost there.


His favourite song is the ABC, but we also sing all kinds of song to him. Sometimes we just hum something we just make up along the way while rocking and patting him to sleep.

For some development and stimulation, Mommy pasted these pictures by the corner of the bed.


It seems, rbw, red-black-white. are the colors that causes something to be switched on in their brain.

These are the two toys he loves to play with right now:

The soft dolphin and the Hey Diddle-diddle.

Other times, especially while nursing he would be playing with his ear, the handkerchief or mummy's shirt.

He is a really happy baby. He loves to talk back to you when you talk to him, and when you sing the ABC, he will giggle every time you pause at the end of a line.

Like father, like son, Myron also is drawn to gadget-daddy's gadgets.
Hmmm... What are they looking at on daddy's iPhone?
Myron's eyes are glued to the screen.


He always look at the direction of where his two brothers are playing and he will start waving his arms and kicking his legs in the air. Bet he can't wait to be able to run off and join them at play.


He started "eating" his hand about a month back.
Sometimes you can really hear the slurping sound. Are you hands so delicious?


He rarely cries unless he is really sleepy but not put to the breast or not being rocked and patted.


He also cries when he needs to be burped. This is because he is afraid that he might vomit.
He is quite prone to vomiting after a feed. Hence he knows that awful feeling of something coming up the gut and usually wails to be lifted upright.
Clever, isn't he?


He sometimes cries very terribly in his sleep, but it's a good thing it's less frequent now. This I'm certain is because of nightmares from all the needles he'd experienced while having his prolonged jaundice.
Poor darling.


Of late, we noticed that he is starting to be more particular about strangers and strange places.

The other day, when some of his grandaunts came to visit, he cried when one of them spoke to him. He first purse his lower lip, then burst into a wail. He was consoled when grandma took him away from the "stranger".
He also cried the other day when we went into a coffee shop for lunch. He looked around the place and then pursed his lower lip and then cried. He was only consoled when Grandma handed him to Mommy. In Mommy's arms, he sobbed for a moment and then was perfectly calmed down. Isn't he too young to be doing this?

Everyone loves this beautiful boy.



Myron, you are so precious to us.
Everyday we give thanks to the Almighty for such a gift as lovely as you.

Can't Juggle Three...

I can't juggle three balls, my boys already knew.
Mommy can only do two and even that she can't keep it up for more than a minute. Sometimes less than 10 seconds.

Similarly, it looks like she can't handle three boys.


Well, it's really the age gap.

The first 2 are a year and half apart, so they are basically in the same age range. They both do all the same things, except the first one has his skill a little more refined, while the other is coming along slowly but surely.

Myron is just a gap away.
And the gap right now seems to be a pretty big one.
All this little cutie does is feed, sleep and poop.
Actually, he is starting to demand a bit more attention, and specifically, attention from Mommy.

Myron is refusing being fed by grandma still, and his persistence gets stronger everyday. I am sure if it were not for the fact that there's this terrible A(H1N1) bug going around, plus news of hand-foot-mouth in the area near the boys' school, Grandma would have brought the baby out with us everyday.


And so they battle everyday when it comes to feeding time. According to Grandma, he refuses to sleep sometimes too, forcing her to carry him and try to entertain him for the 4 hours Mommy is out with the two koh-kohs.

So Mommy has been accused to having "abandoned" the baby on days when she takes the boys out extra long, i.e. dropping by Ah Ma's house after school.

Oh, but how could a Mommy forget a cutie with a face like this?


Just be patient a little longer, darling.
Soon, soon, when the weather is a little better and the world seems a little less threatening. We will spend endless days together, and your brothers will be showing you off to every one they meet too!

I can already imagine the things we would do, darling, Myron, while your brothers have to be in school. Yes, we would be having fun!!
:D

Breath In... Breath Out...

The reason why I have not blogged is because it is completely exhausting having to run around with 4 kids, and sometimes including a little latch-on pumpkin.

The last week we were completely swarmed with my sister's visit.

We went out everyday, sometimes half a day, sometimes a full day.
Sometimes she ends up in my place the whole day, and sometimes we end up being in Ah MA's house the whole day.

Most of the time I was just too busy to even think of taking photos,
but here's one of the days we went out, to our favourite hang-out place, The National Science Center.

They had a special exhibit of "Animal Mechanicals"

mechanical platypus

mechanical giraffe and mechanical grasshopper

We also had other amusements,
like turtle racing


and fun with camouflage cloaks.


This was just a fraction of what we did.

We also visited the special "Survival" exhibit at the Science Center. It was more of computer generated stuff, very high tech, not much of a sensory encounter. The kids enjoyed the computer games, but we had a lot of explaining to do about the environment.

The we did the usual of playing in the ball-pool room and then continually telling the kids it's time to go.

It took us half an hour to finally get to the car.

It's always exciting and draining at the same time handing the dynamics of four pre-schoolers in a group.

*Phew*

Drama: Mommy To The Rescue

In the bed room, Gadget-daddy was already snoring from a very busy 3-day trip to Singapore. Mom was nursing the baby who keeps opening his eyes whenever Mommy talks, despite being terribly sleepy. Micah and Max were playing on the floor with a bit of a racket.

Micah: Mom, I have two problems. Can you help me?

Mom: What is it?

Micah: One, I lost a tyre for my car, the white one*. Two, I lost the car I built, the one Tua Ku (big uncle from your mom's side) gave me for my birthday last time.

Mom: Well, ok... but I have three problems.

Micah: Well, what is it?

Mom: One, I need to get Myron to sleep. Two, I need to take my dinner. And three, I have to solve your two problems.

Micah: OH. Ok, Mom. I will go try look for my car first.

Mom done nursing Myron and moves him to a more comfortable spot after burping him. I found the lost tyre under Myron (how did it get there you wonder).

Mom: Micah, here I found the lost tyre to your car.

Micah: Oh, Thanks, Mom.

Mom goes downstairs to check through two toy boxes, but no trace of what was wanted. She sits down to eat her dinner. It's already 10pm.
Micah got Max and Grandpa to look through all the possible spots upstairs for the constructed car. But they could not find it.
Mom had a flash of revelation.

Mom: Micah, did you look in the blue box?

Micah: I did already, Mom. It's not there.

Mom goes upstairs, her right hand peppered with rice and sambal (it was nasi lemak for dinner). She sees the blue box emptied out in the playroom and she headed there, but knew she was looking for the wanted car in the guest room, flicked on the light and fished the toy from a basket of toys behind a mattress that was leaning against the wall.

It was almost as if she was the one who had kept the car, but it was actually Micah who had hidden it from his brother a few weeks ago. Mom had seen it a couple of weeks back when she was looking for something else in that room.

Mom: Here, Micah. I found it.

Micah: Thanks, mom. Now all my problems are solved.

Micah goes downstairs, looks trough a manual and declares:
Mom, I have a problem again. I don't know how to build this harvester.

Mom: Tomorrow, Micah. I'm getting ready for bed now. You are not going to school** tomorrow, so you have the whole morning to do it.

Micah: But, Mom, I have to do this now. I have no time tomorrow. I have so much work to do tomorrow.

Mom (bewildered): So much work? What work do you have to do?

Micah: I have to sweep and mop the floor...

Mom: "Sweep and mop the floor"?!! What floor?

Micah: Errm.. I mean I have a lot of work to do. I have to ride my new scooter (Birthday present from Tua-Ee, big aunty on Mom's side), and check all my toys....

Mom (suppressing her giggles): Micah, there will be time for you to do all your work tomorrow. I'm going up now. I need to send Max to school tomorrow. Good night.


Micah goes off to bug Grandpa while Mom goes up to get a very sleepy Max ready for bed. Eventually Micah comes up to bed.
It was almost twelve by then.


---- Lights Out ----


* The car was a birthday present from his very special friend who had moved to another country. The present arrived earlier today by mail, much to the thrill of everyone at home.

**We were at the doctor's today because Micah has been coughing the last two days. He was diagnosed with a lung infection, with mucus in his lungs. Now he is on 3 different medication and will probably stay home the rest of the week.

Actually...

Actually, ...
I want to do a post to record Micah's milestone for his 5th birthday... but I am rather tired. Even to blog, I think of it many many times before finally get myself to sit here, just unloading my brain off whatever that's there.



Myron has been completely spoilt having had Mommy at his "goo"s and "gaa"s for the last week that he really only wants to nurse and sleep and sleep and nurse. This is both draining and sleep-mode setting.



Actually, ...
I also had a half written poem on my draft. Wanted to surprise hubby for our anniversary, but it's not moving anywhere just yet.
Another belated post to come.


Actually, ....
I wanted to post up pictures of our trip to Phuket, but just thinking of all the time it takes to upload the photos... already feel a yawn coming...

So today I asked Gadget-daddy if he was going to blog about our trip, and he said yes. Yet I know he has other things on his to-do list that is of higher priority...
So guess that's gonna come along later too.

At the beach, Chalong Bay.

At the beach, Coral Island

At the beach at our hotel

Actually,...
I took some photos of my boys playing in the garden today. They were so funny declaring it was our car's birthday (of course not. Just pretend, ok, mom?) and they strew flowers all over the hood. Of course I had to give them a good scrub after that as they were on all fours scooping dried bougainvilleas from under tha plants in the porch. They are so funny.

I am now torn between sleeping right after this or if I should attempt to read a bit more of The Last Chinese Chef. Very tempting...
Might open the book then fall asleep on it...

Good night, my blog buddies...
*yaaawn*


Update: 12:27am.
Reading while uploading some photos to this post.
Guess that worked out well. Looks like I'll be reading a bit more then.
:)

3 Announcements:

Micah turned 5 on June 2nd.


We love you so much, precious boy. You were the most amazing surprise from God.
Yes, I believe every child is a gift from God.

June 2nd was also our
8th wedding anniversary.


We actually share the same dates, same year with 2 other couples whom we have been friends with many years.

One is my good friend from University Malaya, who was my course mate for 4 years, my roommate for 2.5 years, and then we did our MA together and she stayed with my family for 1.5 years. We screamed when we found out tha we were getting married on the same day. Unfortunately we were in different towns. She was 2 hours away from us, so we did not get to attend each others' wedding.

The other is a couple we have known for a good while, and they and I worked in the same office space for 3 years. Now the wife is one of my boys' kindy teacher, and both their kids, the same age as my two older boys are best buddies in school.
:)

Myron turned 3 months on June 6th.


Myron is now trying do a flip (roll-over) from lying on his back to being on his tummy.
Because we usually prop him up on an adult pillow, he is using gravity as his ever faithful,
never-fail assistant.

Myron has also started drooling 2 days ago.
Now Mommy is a little nervous, watching to see when is he going to sprout his first tooth/teeth. His two older brothers started teething at 4.5 months and 4 months.

Sorry, MIA

Hey, all.

Sorry I pulled a Houdini on you.

We had actually planned a holiday sometime back, but with all the madness of Micah's party and the costume party, I was just too tired to blog at the end of the day to let you know that we would be away. We were here:

Phuket, Thailand

Also, during some of my nights, while Gadget-daddy was busy doing some audio/visual editing, I took the chance to start reading this book,


and now I want to finish it fast because I want to start reading this book again!!


Thanks, Ee-ee for handing me both the books, TLCC on loan and T as a gift.

So I will come back and fill you in on our holiday a little later.

Right now, we are all beat.

My other sis and her 2 kids are back, so the next few days would mean more outings, lunch/dinner out. But most of the time it'll be more like,
"The circus is in Ah Ma's house!!"