I Had A Great Time, Mom!

"I had a great time, Mom!"
Micah greeted me at the door when I went to pick him up from school. That was real music to my ears!

According to his teacher he cried a little for a while, wanting me, but he was soon distracted and was ok again.

Micah also confess he cried a little for me, but then he stopped.

So it all seems well. Hope it stays so for as long as he has to go to school. :D



Micah was teacher's little assistant in the teeth-brushing demo.

To Add to the List

To add to the list of changing lifestyle:

1. Use the broom and dustpan everyday, vacuum only once a week.

2. Use tiffin-carrier to pack food (as Lia had mentioned. Just agree totally on that).

3. Bring your own drinking tumblers to fast-food joints, or mug to cafes, to reduce using their paper/plastic cups.

4. Use more of the old-fashion cloth kitchen towel to clean up spills on tables/ counter tops. Use less paper towels.

5. In the shower, turn off the showers when soaping or shampooing the hair. Also, do all the soaping and shampooing and cleaning of the face before washing off all the bubbles at a go. Saves water.

These are very workable ideas, though I don't know how far I can go with the bringing own tumblers/mug as I already carry a pretty heavy baby bag (backpack) -

extra change of clothes for 2 boys,
a diaper for emergency,
a bottle of drinking water,
hot water flask,
2 milk bottles (each is half filled with water already),
3 rounds of 6oz of milk powder each,
3 small containers of different biscuits,
my fat wallet (cards and coins),
a camera,
tissue and wet wipes..
(handphone usually in my pocket so that I can hear it/feel the vibration.
Half the time I am also carrying my koala-clingi 30 month old boy.
Yes, this explains why I am starting to get varicose veins!!)

So How Would You Change Your Lifestyle, People?

Got tagged by Lia, and she has a pretty good list!

So here's mine:

1. Reduce frills in life.
Cut down on junkfood and cookies (mainly for adults, but also monitor the kids'). Ration the kid's box drinks.

2. Reduce making trips out (in the car) for minor stuff, even if it's just near by.

3. Trouble my in-laws more.
Just tumpang (tag a shopping list along) them to buy stuff if they are out, so to reduce burning up more fuel.

4. Stay home more. Reduce driving
This means visiting less of my mom.

5. When at home, reduce using the a/c in the day.
This means for me and the boys to play downstairs more (my room tends to be like an oven in the day), or in the porch.

6. When eating out, order what is needed - main meal.
If really need to, take dessert at McD's. The ice-cream is actually quite good. happiness for my boys (and they usually share one! Good darlings.)

7. When eating out, ask for drinking water - better yet, bring your own.
We pay too much for the drinks most of the time, except in Chinese eateries where tea is fairly priced.

8. Switch off electrical appliances when not in use.
Need to train the boys to do this with the TV and fan. Adults need to remember to switch off too, or just do it for others.

Other things we are already doing:

9. Trade stuff with market sellers.
This my MiL does and I really applaud her: she brings bundles of plastic bags from our grocery shoppings, sometimes sweet potato leaves (a vege we eat) from our backyard, and she trades them for dry noodles cakes and chilli paste.

10. Recycle trash.
Even the boys know some stuff are to be "thrown" into the recycling bag in the kitchen. (We give them to a relative whose children can't fully support her and she sorts them and sells them.)

11. Reduce using cooking gas/electric stove/oven.
Cook more during breakfast and have the same for lunch.

12. Recycle bath water.
Use the kid's bath water to flush toilet or wash the bathroom floor.

13. Reduce bathing in bathtubs.
Do a quick shower for the kids to save water.

14. Reduce boiling water to twice a day.
Drink less tea, drink more plain water. But can still make my Milo from hot water in flask. :)


How would you change your lifestyle?
Florence?
Jlow?
Tracy?
Mundane?
Mumsgather?

Limbo (No Rock)

Gadget-daddy has been busy doing some critical work in Jakarta. The people there like him too, because we speak Malay. Plus Gadget-daddy is a little more familiar with Indonesian terms from his younger days in Sabah for a month's stay with a native in the jungles.

So we were suppose to be relocated for a while, maybe 6 months, or longer, and then... where-ever next.
Or so I thought.

Latest news is that it Might or might-not be July; it might be later, or not at all.

Have I mentioned that Micah has to be in school?

After our first attempt last year, and the trauma he experienced , he has now agreed to go to school because he is four. And this is after I have been mentally preparing him from beginning of this year, and anxiously waited for his birthday to pass. I am sure he was as anxious as I, if not more:
Torn between wanting his birthday to come so as to get his present, but not wanting to be 4 as he has to go to school.

If we are to move, will any school take us in now for a month or two?
Which school next? Will any school take us in where we are moving to? Where is that I am also uncertain.
How will the poor boy cope with a lot of changes in a few months?
Will he be able to learn anything, establish some new skills before we move on?

Are we moving?

When? Are we moving or not?!!

I am not going to think about this... As if it's possible.

Everyone I know pops the questions every now and then: So are you guys relocating? When?

When and where, I, too, would like to know.

Can't blame Gadget-daddy he is swamped with work and can't even talk to his boss about this.

But I am losing hair over this...

But thank God the place we go for playgroup has agreed to take Micah in,
starting this Thursday.

Pffffhhhh...

Now to try to sleep...

Not All Band-Aid

Today Micah burned his middle finger on the sandwich-maker.

The sandwich-maker was my mum-in-law's Mothers' Day gift from her other son like 8 years ago. We hardly use it, kept in it's original box still in the store room, but today it was brought out after a bawling Max demanded for waffles. No waffles maker, so the next "magic" Grandma could do was to bring out the sandwich-maker.

Of course, for our over-curious 4 year old, even after you have warned him 10 times over that the thing is hot, he still has to check it out for himself.

So Micah burned his finger but did not dare cry as he had been warned.

Grandma made a big fuss and reported from the kitchen aloud. I was about 15 feet away, nursing a sleepy and sobbing Max. So then Micah came and showed me a red spot on his finger, and asked, "Do I need a plaster?"
"No, use a cream, or better, aloe vera."

Grandma brought in an inch of cut aloe vera, spread a little of its goo on Micah's finger, and within minutes Micah declared, "No more pain!" He did not like the smell though.

While grandma was putting on the aloe vera, Micah got a quick lecture on treating injuries:
You don't put plaster for everything, Micah.
Plaster is only for cuts, to stop bleeding and to keep germs off the wound.
If you have a bruise, rub it gently now and then.
When you have a burn, use aloe vera.

"Can you put plaster for a stomach ache?" I asked the obvious just to make a point.
Max: "No. You put hot hot oil*."

Micah and I gave a resounding affirmation. :)

Max forgot about sleep after that, and soon Micah took his nap.


* Hot hot oil, to my boys is the yu-yi oil, a reddish oil that gives a burning sensation, useful for expelling wing in infants.

Going, Going, Gone!

Ice-cream for tea.





First bite.












Going....












Going...











Going....










Going...











Gone!

Most Time Consuming

The thing I find most time consuming for me to blog is searching for the pictures related to my posts and waiting for it to load!

These take ages.

But I like putting up the photos, as I have said, they are a record for my boys and also for family and friends to see what we've been up to...

Back to the grind...
(actually trying to go back to a few posts, as far as Ee-Ee's birthday, and put up the photos, but www.blogger.com has connection related problems. Waste more time. Pffffhhhh!)


Update at 4.00am:

Since I am at it, here's a few shots more of my boys:


Micah and all his Birthday goodies to show.



The boys were reading a book each: The contents exactly the same but the cover slightly different. After a while they figured it was still more fun to read together, pointing things out to each other.
Good job, guys. :)

A Hint of Heaven

My favourite flowers are the stargazers.



At the moment there is a bunch in our hall. They have the loveliest fragrance. The fragrance greet me when I come home from an outing with the boys. Even when I walk about the house in the middle of the night, I can smell them.

I got them as a token of our thanksgiving, marking our 7th Anniversary, for church. It is also for myself and everyone at home to enjoy.

They were on my wedding bouquet and now I remember my wedding day every time I see them or smell them.

The fragrance makes me think of what paradise may be....