Page Boy & Flower Girls in action!

Ethan, Janelle and Janine did a fantastic job walking down the aisle for Chris and Jiahui's wedding! What a joy it was for all of Chris' nieces and nephews (with the exception of little Josiah) to be able to contribute to his special day in such a manner :)

Blessed Beyond Measure!

For a 4 month old, Josiah sure has a lot of shoes! And most of the shoes are brand-new and all given by people. A "Mr Imelda Marcos" in the making??

Amazingly, he has also enough clothes to last him through the four seasons till the age of 2 years old! People seem to think that because we have 2 girls and he's the first boy, we definitely do not have boy clothes, so we ended up getting so many clothes (and shoes) as gifts! We are indeed blessed beyond measure 

Family, Friends, Food, Fun

We've been in Singapore for the past 3 weeks and it's been great so far! 

Family & Friends

We've been meeting family and friends every single day. Some days we are so packed with appointments that we can end up meeting 3 or 4 different groups of people in one single day. It's CRAZY! But we really enjoy catching up with all our loved ones because that's the number one thing that we miss most about Singapore - our Family & Friends!

Food

This is the next thing that we miss most about Singapore (after Family & Friends). We have 'conquered' and tasted almost every local delight in these past 3 weeks already. The only thing that I have yet to taste is my beloved DURIAN! Unfortunately this is not the durian season so I have to contend with 717 durian rolls, puffs, etc, which definitely does not beat eating the real durian right out of the durian shell. But oh well, can't do much about it!

Fun

We've been trying to take our girls out to different places for them to enjoy Singapore. So far, we have been to the Jurong Birdpark, Zoo, Science Centre, Sentosa, etc etc. The one attraction that our girls simply love is the water play. I am pretty impressed that there are so many good water play areas in Singapore - the Zoo, Science Centre, IMM, Vivocity, etc. That's one thing we'll miss when we go back to Sydney!

Janine's "Report Card"

We just received Janine's End of Year Report from her childcare and I was just so amused as I read it. Thought I should type out the general commentary (from the report) here for memory's sake:

Janine displays a relaxed disposition and cooperates willingly in her environment. Janine participates positively in all activities, plays cheerfully, and is well liked by her peers. Janine enjoys her singing, entertaining us daily. We wish Janine all the best as she ventures into the big room.

I know that at home, Janine talks and sings non-stop - whether before she goes off to sleep, or when she's in the toilet doing her business, or when she's playing. I just did not realise that she does the same in childcare too! She "entertains" the childcare teachers?!? No wonder the teachers tell me that they just have to open the door to the 'small classroom' and they will hear Janine singing or talking before they even see her!

My babies are growing up!

Janelle is turning 5 years old next January and I just can't believe how time flies! She is starting Big School next year (kindergarten)! Gosh! So many people have told me about how children just seem to suddenly grow up once they start Big School, and to think it is now our turn to experience that!

She has just graduated from Prep and tomorrow marks her last school day in Pacific Hills. Next year, she will be starting Kindergarten in a public school near our place. I think I feel more sad than she does about finishing up her last day of school in PCHS! (children are basically more accepting of such changes), Here's Janelle posing with her "graduation certificate". 

Janine is turning 3 years old in a few weeks' time and she is also growing up so fast (too fast in fact!). Recently she has taken a great interest in drawing (probably rubbed off from jie-jie) and her scribbles have progressed to something more comprehensible. Here are some of her works:

1) Family picture drawn with four suns!

(from L to R: Janelle, Janine, Mummy, Daddy, Josiah)

Me: "How come my hair is so short?"

Janine: "Because you just cut your hair!"

Me: ??!!?

2) Siblings picture 

(Janine can amazingly draw her pictures upside-down as well as at a 90-degree angle!)

Janine's comment: Do you know why I'm so tall (in the picture)? Because I grew bigger already!!

3) Forbidden 'picture'

This is what happens when I take a 5-minute toilet break....

Laughter makes the heart merry

Josiah at 2.5 months old is easily tickled. It is such a delight to see him chuckle and laugh :)

Progression (or regression?) as a mother

I know that I have changed over the years - from being a mother of 1, to a mother of 2, and now a mother of 3. Other than this obvious change, I realised that my perspective and way of doing things seem to have changed too.

During Pregnancy
When pregnant with #1: The book "What to Expect While You are Expecting" was read almost every day, as frequently as my Bible!

When pregnant with #2: Referred to and read the book "What to Expect While You are Expecting" occasionally.

When pregnant with #3: Where's the book??

Breastfeeding

For baby #1: Express lots of breastmilk to store just-in-case. Dutifully sterilise, label, and pump!

For baby #2: Express some milk to store. The remainder of the expressed milk goes to #1 to drink!

For baby #3: Breastpump is there to "bai3 swee4" (ie. purely for display purposes) only. Starts to collect dust as it is barely utilised. After a few weeks, I decide to keep the breastpump away (and along with it the steriliser, bottle brush cleaner, bottle detergent, etc etc).

Baby's Routine

Baby #1: Established a routine for baby from newborn stage. Kept a record book to note down the time/frequency of pee, poo, feeds and sleep. Dutifully recorded everything down for a couple of weeks.

Baby #2: Tried to establish routine for baby. Kept a record book for 10 days, then gave up.

Baby #3: What record book?? 

Baby's Age

For baby #1: When people ask "How old is baby?", the answer is at the tip of my fingertips, ie. I can answer "6 weeks 3 days old" without so much of a pause.

For baby #3: When people ask "How old is baby?", I have to stop and think and work backwards from baby's birth date in order to give an estimated age (example: "baby is about 2 months-plus old"). 

Opinion on Captain Von Trapp of "Sound of Music"

When I had only 1 child, I thought that Captain Von Trapp's way of calling for his 7 children - by whistling and expecting them to march in line till they stand before him - was simply horrifying, inhumane and unacceptable. Now that I have 3 children, I'm starting to think that perhaps the whistling bit does make some sense. It is truly a fast and easy way of getting all your children to come to you!