Playtime

We had try to cramped in as much activities, fun and play during the one month period. Had to maximize and fully utilized time spent! A snapshot on what we did.....

Be warned.....it's going to be one of my longest post and photo bombing....

We get to spend some awesome time alone with Zelyn. Great bonding time and rare opportunity for her to have our sole attention just like an only child!

March term break started and there are lots of kiddies activities everywhere. We went to an exhibition in Suntec City which is a total waste of time followed by bumping into Sofia the princess Meet and Greet session at Marina Square's Disney School's out roadshow. A major event with many play stations relating to the different programs on Disney channel.

Initial plans to indoor playground change to waterpark at Garden by the Bay and finally settled for waterpark at Nex Shopping Mall. Well that's me, all too familiar right! Despite weather threatening to pour, we decide to try our luck and make our way there. 5 minutes into our drive, raindrops fell on the windscreen and I had to prepare Zethan that the waterplay might not happen.

Miraculously the weather is holding pretty well when we reached thus we made the brave decision to continue as planned. At the most they will have short period of fun if it rained. Amazingly it did not and we had to be spoilsport and whisk them away after about 45mins as Zelyn is getting all cold and crumpled on her fingers.

While driving back, the heavy downpour came! Wow, how blessed are we?!!

A praying session and going around a few temples which ended up with heavy downpour too thus trapping us in the car, managing to go into the last temple only!

A simple short trip to the supermarket to stock formula milk and yet they could have so much fun! Classic example of simple form of bliss!

Coming up next was the July babies planned swimming cum feasting party which was planned way in advance and it was so cool that it managed to come true and not diminish somewhere along the pipeline. We had a splashing good time and it was great being able to catch up with the babies, I mean toddlers after the last gathering which was X'mas in 2012!

The pool was fantastic and huge, even the older siblings had great fun. Zelyn was a little skeptical of the pool and when she had warmed up, daddy was not careful caring for her resulting in her dunking under water which frighten her off. The whole cycle was repeated several times and I had a hard time trying to convince her, coaxing her to overcome the fear of gulping down pool water, no thanks to the laid-back daddy.

We had to be spoilsport and pulled everyone out reluctantly as it was a little cold for the young toddlers. Post swimming comes the feasting, junks for the toddlers but who cares, it's just once in a blue moon anyway. Thanks to Ethan's mummy for helping to book the function room and ordering yummy food!

Aftermath, both kids totally knock out in the car, yeah!

The last week before I am due to start my new work, was pretty determined to cramp in more activities. I had to sneak out with Zelyn while Zethan is in school otherwise we would have missed out the whole afternoon waiting for him to return from school. Sorry Zethan!

Playdate for Zelyn with her girlies friends. The intention to have a playdate out was suggested to a mini baking cupcakes playdate instead. Thanks to Kelly's mummy for preparing the ingredients for cupcakes and sharing Kelly's big collection of toys!

An impromptu meeting up with her Godma. Supposed to be lunch with the Godmas but unfortunately Godma Sue Lin was under the weather thus could not joined us so we decided to change our plan to an indoor playground instead. Although it's a small place with rather limited play structures, guess it suffice for the 2 toddlers. The advantage was the 2 mummies could multi task with catching up and eye power to mind the children! 

Last but not least *sniffles*, compensate the boy for he missed out quite a bit of fun. We had a mummy-son bonding afternoon catching a movie - Mr Peabody, just him and me.

With that marked the end of my temporary SAHM privilege and this means no more weekday afternoon playdates as well. Nonetheless we still have our weekend activities to look forward too and this time round weekend starts on Friday night, Hooray to 5 days work week, no more alternate Saturdays!! 

Precious

Greener pasture on the other end...grass is always greener on the other side.

A mother is always indecisive on her choice to be SAHM or FTWM. I had the privilege to have a taste of both and I must say both does have its pros and cons. This issue have been discussed before thus not going to repeat again. So you may ask why the sudden bringing up of this topic again? Well I have again been able to spend 1 month with the kids reviving being short term SAHM temporarily and indeed it is more than precious.

Everyday I would try to bath both kids and together we will take a mid morning 'stroll' downstairs; sending Zethan to his school bus. After seeing him board the school bus, both of us will usually take a walk around the estate trying to spot for CAT. One of Zelyn's favorite morning activity. The same activity will be repeated mid afternoon, fetching Zethan from the school bus. While walking back, there will be small talk with Zethan on his day in the school. It's such precious bonding time despite being a mere 10-15 minutes affair. Gathered that once I have started new work, could hardly do this again thus treasured the month long send-fetch routine. Will miss this routine badly...

1st time in new K1 T-shirt

Such a heart warming sight to see the brotherly and protective love showered upon the little sister, don't you think so?! It nearly brought tears to my eyes, knowing how emotional I am.

On the last day of our routine, just had to take a picture together for memory's sake. After being a mummy and having children, for every single little thing seem to warrant a picture taking and some memory to be remembered! Is it just me or was it normal for most mummies?

March

Celebrated 2 birthdays in the month of March, one in the beginning of the month and another at the end of the month.

Mum's birthday celebration in the beginning of March and we suggested some simple party food at home. My cousins decided to surprise her with some of her friends as she is only expecting my cousins and brother. Just a very simple celebration and hope that she enjoyed it!

The other birthday celebration we had was for my brother. It was a very last min gathered celebration due to miscommunication among many, some was told this day and others was told the next day. So at the very last min, we had to go shopping for food to make the steamboat possible. Thankfully it was just for a small group of people.

Cake was bought off the rack from Pine Garden, good enough they still have the ever popular Lychee Martini despite being a weekend. Everyone was full of praises for the cake.

New Job

Phews..ticking off the last of flashback blog due in March, I think this should be the last. Trying to kill brain cells recalling past months is no joke especially for this old brain of mine.

The new environment and system is totally different from what I have been in this far. Love the new job's flexibility which means that I could offer some help with the kids in the morning which would be much appreciated especially current situation in the absence of a helper. As for co-workers, y

et to be seen but firsthand I have experienced both helpful and appear-to-be-helpful only.

Apart from working environment, stemming from products to customers profiles are totally different too. It will be my first attempt in supplements and servicing very different group of people - specialist clinics and primarily doctors. Lots of rapport building, fact findings, profile analysis is required for this new position. Quite a challenge for me but I take it as positive challenge.

Third month into the post and by far I am still enjoying it. The only aspect which I am still trying hard to get accustomed to; intensive sales chasing at the end of the month just before closing. That's another exciting experience for me yet could be rather fulfilling and rewarding.

oh I have been pre-warned to put on weight after joining the organization as the culture is as such that they love to eat (explains why I took the attached photo). Now that is something I am so much not looking forward to, do not think I can afford to put on weight! 

Treasure Trove 2014

Disney on Ice that is! The theme for 2014 show is Treasure Trove 2014.

We brought Zethan once when he is about 2+ years old and decided that he is way too young to appreciate the show thus we have not been to any Disney on Ice since.

Sounded really cheapskate but we decided to bring the whole family for this year's show simply because Maybank Family & Friends credit card is having an exclusive promotion for the 1st opening show and the price is way too attractive. We paid less than $100 for 4 tickets and since Zelyn is less than 2 years, she need not purchase a ticket. Again because of my procrastination and indecisiveness of going or not going, gave up purchasing the better seats until much later the seas are rather far from the stage. What's new anyway.

It was quite a mad rush on the day since it is a weekday and both of us had to rush home after work, had a quick dinner then rushed to Singapore Indoor Stadium. As expected the traffic condition around the area was very bad so hub had to drop us off and proceed to parking which took quite a while despite almost being late for the show. By the time we went in and toilet break, the show had started! I am just glad that the kids managed to catch the ever popular Disney characters on stage in the introductory opening of the show. I have no single idea what it is since by the time I went in, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy bid their goodbye and went behind the curtains!

The show is rather impressive with the pretty props and the cast skating so gracefully across and around the stage. By and large Zelyn appear to enjoy the show much better than Zethan as she was pretty much glued to the stage perhaps fascinated by the lighting and props. Zethan on the other hand appear bored as he could not relate to the characters in the show, me bad for not exposing him to the Disney fairy tales. Pardon the bad quality photos of the show, all taken using my Iphone 5.

Holiday

Flashback to March...

My young man dumped both his parents at home and went on a holiday. Don't he start young?!

I was not agreeable when my mum suggest to bring him along for the Genting trip. I mean come on, braving the coach journey of 6+ hours, what if he is not going to take it well and insist on getting down a coach?! Either lots of genuine considerations or I am simply thinking too much into it. What about toileting, will be get motion sickness, possible meltdown.....

Anyhow he is very excited about the trip and try to pack so much toys and snacks in the luggage. He wants to bring this, he wants to bring that and we had to bargain and discounted on what is in or our. It took a great deal of persuasion to put him in diaper for just in case purposes. For that matter, we were still debating about wearing diapers in the early morning like 6am! They went on a very early itinerary like setting off at 7.30am

The trip turned out pretty well, so I was told. Ridiculously the indoor and outdoor theme park are undergoing renovation so all he ever did was bowling! All the coach journey of 12+ hours for bowling?!! Simply madness if you ask me. He talked non stop about his bowling fun in Genting and asked to visit again soon. Spare me the agony, son!

Meanwhile back at home, my little princess had the chance to be the only child in the family. Quite upsetting isn't it? 2nd child hardly ever get to have the luxury of being the only child receiving the sole attention from the parents. Bearing that in mind, I am bent on having our fun on our own. She was quite an angel the 4 days in the absence of the brother. On day 2 we decided to step out of the house for some adventure. It was indeed quite an adventure as we took the train all the way to the West! We are going to explore the newly opened playground at Westgate!

On the train

Generally the playground is meant for older kids like Zethan who will be able to explore the place much better. We have not brought our waterplay gears thus the waterplay area is out which makes it even more limited for toddlers. Despite being a weekday afternoon, the playground is rather packed and I had to run after her for thousand times to pull her back to the 'safer' areas, away from the action packed older kids. The mere action of running after her is more than enough to put me into extreme exhaustion. On the other hand the little girl had endless energy, not a single bit of tiredness. As usual, the more you try to pull her away to safety, the more she try to venture to 'danger'. 

Heart this pic, priceless joy

Having said that, the smiles on her face is definitely priceless and makes all exhaustion more than worthwhile!

Term Break

Not a very great start to the term break. My young man is having a temperature.

Started this morning with a mild temperature of under 38 degrees. Good thing he is still active, bad thing is over active and refused to rest / nap. Made the decision to monitor with no medication. Gave an extra bath in the afternoon to cool the body down, hopefully.

Boiled some "ling yang" for him. Took such a long long time and yet did not even finish the half a cup. I had to force him to drink up by counting to 10. Before I could reach 10, before he even drank 1/3 of that half cup, puke. Once it started, merlion-ed big time. Bath time again, send off to bed. No medication at this point yet.

At about 2ish earlier, temperature shot up to 39.8 degrees! Freaking scary high. Fed paracetamol, sponge him and half an hour later, temperature dipped to 38.5 degrees. Forced the fever patch on him and threaten against removal at his whim and fancy. Hope there will not be another spike. Hello sleepless night, welcome panda eyes....

On a side note, perhaps this will be good opportunity to catch up on posts. However I am pretty much brain fried.... 

Helper

A very experienced and mature Indonesian helper, highly recommended by my relatives, bearing high hopes she will last for 2 years but repatriated after mere 1 month.

And so the story goes....

She was hired to care for my great grandmother. After about 1 month or so, the health of my great grandmother deteriorate rather badly and so the family decide the helper could not have managed to care for her anymore and she will be sent to a nursing home once she is fit for discharge (which by the way did not happen). Most of the family members spoke very well of her, responsible, clean, initiative, non calculative. So we thought since the 'testimonials' for her is so good, why not to give it a try. We interviewed her, shed some lights on her main job responsibilities, what is to be expected etc. We discussed about her handphone and she was very reluctant for us to keep her HP only to be return to her when we are back from work. We compromised a step further by telling her that she can hold her HP but she should only be using it after 7pm so she will not be distracted in the day helping to watch over the kids. We explained to her that we do not wish to blame her should the kids fall or hurt themselves thus she should really give it some thoughts if she is willing to work for our household. She agreed.

The paperwork was quite a hassle since we do not have certain facility at home and had to call for advice from MOM frequently. Finally work permit was approved and we fetched her home. The amount of luggage she hold was jaw dropping! She showed signs of displeasure when I told her to declare her cash and despite asking her a few times, she confirmed all the cash she had on her. The 1st 3 days went on really well, she settled in quickly, was fast in her chores yet reasonably clean, could cook rather well with minimum instructions. Even though she did not choose to follow my schedule and "time-table" for chores, I kept mum about it thinking as long as it's completed, fine. Then we noticed that she would shut herself in the bathroom for long periods of time e.g. 20mins and neither is she washing the toilet nor washing the laundry. I was worried fearing that she is unwell thus the frequent and prolong visits to the washroom. Took the chance to reinforce that should she be unwell, would have to inform us.

Just one week into the household, things turned for the worse. She will rush through her chores in the morning and disappear in the bathroom again for 30 minutes before we woke up. Gradually it become certain things left undone in the morning. She got more and more 'forgetful' and left more chores unattended. Random spot checks confirmed that some chores are not performed at all! The 1st sunday, she sterilized the bottles before Zelyn's last feed and went into the room to make phone calls. Not until we had to remind her about the last feed bottle, she appear in the kitchen. Reminded her of which she apologized and we did not take it to heart since it is really minor issue. Requested for her off day on the 2nd weekend which we allowed as it's for her birthday celebration and again we reminded her it's because of her birthday that we make it an exception hoping she will be appreciative. 

The 1st major issue appear on her off day. Returning her cash and work permit, she showed bad attitude at my request to check her belongings. Upon returning from her off day, she marched straight into the room. It was only 2 hours later that I asked for her work permit and cash. Because of her attitude, we requested to check her belongings too. We got to discover that she did not fully declare her valuables on her 1st day despite several reminders. I asked her again and again but she choose to keep mum about it and came up with some lame excuses. It was then one more handphone was discovered and she claimed that her aunty had just given it to her since her old phone is not working very well. Few days later I spoke to her about it and threaten her a little that I could have suspected that the money is not hers and reported her to the police as she is not supposed to have cash on her. She looked taken aback and was quick to apologize. I laid out the house rules and reinforced them again to her. I explained to her it's important to check her belongings as we are responsible on what is in our household. I cited an example what if there are drugs in her bag? Not that we do not trust her but assuming if strangers put it in her bag without her knowledge, all of us will be in hot soup. She was surprised to hear that and obviously this had never ever cross her mind before.

As the days went on, she was acting very secretive in the bathroom for longer period of time. When she hear us walking to the kitchen, she will act very suspiciously as though trying to hide something in her pocket. She tricked us by leaving an HP to charge in the room but we were highly suspicious she had another on her. We had wanted to close an eye to it but it escalate further. We tried to speak nicely to her on the slipshod chores performed. Never did once we reprimand her for anything but instead we focus on how a chore should be completed. One afternoon, my mum text me and asked to send her back. She caught her using her handphone in the bathroom! So apparently she had 3 handphones in total! I called up her agency to find out the procedures if we were to send her back. It sounded really ridiculous that even though there are no fees charge for food and lodging, if 30 days later she is still not hired, we would still need to pay for her air ticket back. Totally makes no sense as we would have to incur 1 month levy cost.

On the very night, we sat her down and talk to her again. We have decided to give her a last chance. If so she decide to continue working for us, then she will need to surrender her HP when we leave for work and we will only return to her after 7pm. Upon hearing that she is quick to decide that she would like to request for a transfer. I told her that there is no such option left as we do not wish to spend more money on her. By transfering her from our relative, she saved up on 1 mth salary but we had to pay for her. Told her right in the face that we helped her to save and yet she is making us pay more money for her. She did not seem to understand what is going on and reconfirmed that we had to pay more money to send her back to agent. We reminded her to think very carefully, she should only continue working for us only if she have the heart to, otherwise then we will definitely send her back to Yogjakarta. I supposed we are being very fair to her by offering another chance despite her attitudes and the wrongs she had done (of which she is really stubborn and refused to admit). We try to reason things out with her asking her to consider which is more important, earning keeps for her children or her insistence on holding her HP of which we are not unreasonable to keep totally, it's just a matter of having it only we are back from work so we could mind the children. We gave her a day to think it over.

The next day she told the hub that she wants to call it quits. We did not indicate to her when we will send her back and I have the intention to let her know only when it's time to pack and whisk off to the airport. Not going to give her time and opportunity to perform any tricks. The day of repatriation came and I told her to start her packing by bringing all her belongings out in the living room where my IP cam is. She is to turn the pockets of her clothings out to ensure nothing is hidden inside, the same goes to her many handbags and luggage. The most ridiculous question amid the packing was "excuse me mdm, am I going back to agent". Told her I have repeated myself many times that it's either work here or go back yogjakarta. Before she even attempt to protest, informed her it's too late as her work permit is cancelled so nothing could be done.

We were caught by surprise that she said her thank you to my mum before leaving the house and thank both of us at the airport. We taught her to keep different amount of cash at different places since it might not be safe in her hometown, even to the extend of try not to flash out too much cash when she reached her airport. The whole process was relatively smooth and we breathe our relief when her flight took off and we did not received any 'surprise call' around the departure time. 

A lesson to learn from this experience. We really need lots of luck for a better helper the next time, that's if we have the courage to hire another after the traumatizing and trying helpers episodes. Never will we allow future helper to have a HP, that would be the main criteria of the new helper. First and foremost, huge amount of courage is required before decision to hire another helper is firmed!