My Little Companion

Whenever I drop the kids off at Nana's for their special bonding time with Nana and their cousins, I often go for a run or some exercise nearby. After which I will go back to Nana's for a shower. Cate always wants to come with me then, so I would place her on a little floor towel with a small toy while I have a quick shower. It is lovely,... we get to chat and make faces at each other through the shower screen.

What would I do without my little companion!!!!

The SistAhood

Piccie specially for Papa. We miss you Papa!!! Come back soon!!!

xoxoxo

Emma's Show & Tell - SAFETY

The theme for Emma's "Show & Tell" in school this week was "Safety". Sometime last week, Emma asked me about the flashing yellow lights (indicators) at the back of cars and I explained to her that it is to let other people know that you want to turn. Since this was related to being safe on the roads, Emma asked to create her "Show & Tell" piece on my computer, so I let her have a go on my ASUS.

Below is what she came up with on her own (I helped her with spelling "whether"). It took her a good half hour to type the 3 sentences! I love the drawing, especially the leaves at the bottom. This is for keeps!

My 1st Unfinished Run.... :(

Today was supposed to be my longish run. Using gmap, I plotted out a route just over 12km from my mum's house since I drop the kids there early evening so that they can play with their cousins and bond with Nana.

I felt tired right from the start, and by the time I got to the 8km mark, I just felt like I couldn't go on anymore!!!! I had an ache in my ankle which I suspect is due to some compensation I am doing with my strides cos of a pain in my knee which is due to my scoliosis where one leg is shorter than the other. I had to do what I hate doing,... I had to start walking. I walked for a good 10-15 min feeling real disappointed in myself and also kicking myself cos does this mean I have to plan for another long run this week since I haven't finished this run? I don't have the time for this!!!! I was thinking of all the possible reasons for this cop out.... could it be that I am not fully recovered from the core training I did LAST Thursday? Could it be cos I hadn't done any exercise at all cos I was aching so much all weekend? Could it be that I just haven't done enough shorter runs in general.... Man, this 5km walk back to Nana's is going to be "Could it be this? Could it be that?"

Anyway, I looked at my watch and realised that if I am going to walk the remaining 5km, I would never make it to dinner at Nana's. Contemplated cabbing it even, but in the end, worked up some will power to jog real slow back towards the hills of Old Holland Road... *pant pant*

To top it all off, I didn't have Paul to go home to for a good moan. Paul would be able to diagnose what happened.... sometimes it makes me feel better, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes a bit of both....

I guess one consolation is that I finished the 12.2km although I walked a good 15min of it.... I think in the end I finished in about 1.5hrs.... I still consider it an unfinished run though. Sigh! Sad sad sad.....

Bye Bye Papa *sniff*

This evening, Paul left for Dublin for a week on a study mission. We all went to the airport to send Papa off. Paul gave all his girls kisses at the gate (including me),... Emma played her part of sad daughter sending Papa off, but before Paul even made it through the gate, Emma turned to me excitedly and said (not quite softly enough), "So can I sleep in your bed forever?" She means sleeping in my bed till morning. While she misses Paul when he is away, she also really looks forward to sleeping an entire night in our bed. I am not sure what the big deal is.

Here are the girls waving at Papa as he goes through immigration. We will miss you Papa!!!! xoxoxo

The View on my Lap

I am very lucky in that I can work from home a lot of the time. I have a pretty good setup where I have a dedicated study with all the office necessities. E.g. Printer, WI-FI, speaker phone, fax, office lighting..... err.... breast pump. Don't get me wrong, I do have to go into the office a lot of the time too when there are face to face meetings and such.

Anyway, one of the great plus-es of working from home is that I have a great view on my lap. That's little Soph lying on my lap as I tap away on my laptop. She even seems like she is trying to see what I am typing. When she feels like it, she can just turn towards me for a little snack. Haha.... ok too much information.

Of course I don't always have her on my lap, especially not during meetings. Although she doesn't necessarily cry, she still likes to make all her clicking, grunting, stretching, farting "noises" which are rather inappropriate for my conference calls!

I LOVE MY LITTLE SOPHIE!!!

Our 10th Anniversary - We made it!

Over the weekend, 11th October, we celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary! In the recent years, we hadn't really celebrated our anniversaries much since it is also Emma's birthday. Since we made it to "Tin", Paul took me to Au Jardin at Botanic Gardens. He also reminded me that this was where we had dinner at our 1st wedding anniversary!

By coincidence, we were seated at the exact same table as 9 yrs ago. I could remember cos of the view from our table. It was a lovely view of the garden - all woody and full of trees!

What can I say, we made it to the big 1-0 with 3 beautiful girls to show for it. Paul asked me if it has felt like 10 years. My response was that while it doesn't feel that long, I also can't really remember life without him.

I am no expert on marriage but here's a little of what I have learnt in the last decade....

• Work - It is hard work all the time. I don't think 2 human beings are really meant to live in perfect harmony all the time. If anyone says they do, they are blatantly lying!
• Support - You both need to support each other no matter what (hard as it might be)
• Kids - They are just a joy, highly recommended to have some (preferably with your partner) The perfect glue for your marriage.
• Respect - Fundamental.
• God - Not optimistic that divine intervention is needed, but He plays a big part in all this.

There are ups and downs and at the end of the day if you love each other, it should all pan out.

I look forward to more ups and downs with you baby. Preferably more ups than downs? Love you. xoxoxo

Cool Cucumber Dads

When I go to a kiddy party, I am busy. You fellow mummies will know what I am talking about. You are running after the kids, keeping a close eye on them,.... making sure they don't overdose on sweets & chocolates,.... it is just hard work...

I am thinking that I must be doing something wrong though. Shortly after birthing, we went to Ian's birthday party and while I was there, I told Paul to take on the role to watch over the kids for a change (since I had to tend to Sophie). Paul and his fellow Daddy pals were VERY RELAXED! Check out below. They were just standing there cool as cucumbers!

Dads - Pat, Mark & Paul

Ok, as you can see behind, there is Emma UNwatched. Emma and Cate were also chowing down crisps and sweets for lunch (not cos there wasn't proper food available, but that's what kids have for lunch if you let them help themselves) Maybe I should just do that next time! :O

My "Good" Babies - Truly Blessed....

Sophie has been a lovely baby and I pray will continue to be a lovely baby. ;)

I have to say, Paul and I have been very blessed with good baby girls.

Emma was very cheerful from the moment she was born. Beaming at us literally the moment she was out. Slept through the night by 8 weeks. Breastfeeding her was a breeze. She could latch on in any angle or position without fuss.

Cate was a little less cheerful but pretty much an easy baby too. Slept through the night by about 10 weeks and often slept through till midday!!! I had my issues with her when she got a little older when she suddenly decided to wake several times a night but that was easily fixed with a little sleep training. (http://motherofcutiepies.blogspot.com/2006/08/mission_29.html)

Sophie - She is truely lovely. She isn't sleeping through the night in the true sense but she is able to sleep about 6-8hrs at a stretch. I still have to wake at about 4-5am though cos she sleeps at around 10pm. It isnt really her fault that I haven't yet adjusted her sleeping time cos it's not like she can tell the time!

Anyway here is a little videoclip of how easy it is to feed Sophie with a bottle. She is on exclusive breastmilk just like her sisters were. I normally nurse her directly but this particular time I messed up the timing and pumped all my milk out after getting back from work only to find that Sophie was hungry. Ended up having to feed her expressed breastmilk from the bottle. I can do handsfree breastfeeding but handsfree bottle feeding was kind of new to me. Nursing direct I can do all sorts of things.... read a magazine, blogging, surfing, texting.... I am quite a serious multi-tasker. So I kind of got bored holding the bottle after about 2 min. I decided to prop her bottle up and voila.... handsfree bottle feeding! She even spits out the bottle when she is done. Perfect.

A Spot of Handsfree Feeding