We had a nice week last week. Can’t pinpoint exactly what was nice about it, but I’ve come out of it feeling quite content and quite happy.

Maybe it was Keira “hardly” crying at kindy, Sean giving us huge smiles and gurgling laughter, and a weekend of good food and good friends.

I am definitely alot less stressed now with the extra pair of hands helping around the house.

I only lose my temper once a week, instead of once a day! (Of course in the good ‘ol child free days, I NEVER lost my temper. I was Miss Congeniality. Seriously.)

It’s the school holidays now. Yup, we’ve joined the ranks of parents who are now saddled with the “What do we do with the kids now that they’re home all day” dilemma.

The house is really so peaceful when Keira is at kindy. The moment she steps back into the house, I’m on my feet going to and fro getting her snacks and fruits and telling her not to climb this or throw that… non-stop until bedtime.

No kindergarten means, four extra hours of Keira a day. I sound like a horrible parent don’t I? But I think all parents know what I mean when I say, you need a break from your kids once in awhile!

So, planning a short local holiday this week. Mainly to entertain Keira, and to give us all a treat:)

Can’t wait!

The English football season has started again. The only reason I know this is because suddenly CY has started hogging the TV at night, and I no longer can have the smirky repartee of NCIS in the background while I Bejewel Blitz my brain to death.

So CY must be trying to start his son early as he caught these amazingly cute photos of Sean playing with a ball.

This one below rivals Keira’s famous Eskimo baby shot.

Look at that smile!

After having a daughter and then a son, I’ve noticed that I do treat them differently. I coddled Keira more and was (still am) very protective of her. But with Sean, I think of him as being tougher and stronger, and will probably encourage him to do more sporty stuff.

Quite sexist aren’t I? And I thought I was quite a forward thinker. What if Keira wants to play football?

In other news, my phone got stolen today while I was shopping at the Ramadhan pasar near our house. Not a nice experience to find a hole in your bag and something taken.

Luckily I can still use back my old phone and same number. Just have to get a new sim card in. The stolen phone was very problematic anyway. Didn’t have a very stable system and it was quite faulty.

Will wait awhile to get over this loss before looking for a new (i)Phone.

Our maid has been with us one week now, and I can feel the difference already.

We have been able to sit down together for dinner every night and eat peacefully, while Sean gets what he wants: someone to carry him around.

I am beginning to realise I don’t have to cook one pot meals anymore, and can basically make anything I want, as there will be someone there to either help me with the chopping and cleaning or carrying the baby.

As a result we have been eating in alot more, and eating nicer food

And the most significant difference is that we are spending more quality time with the kids.

Where one week ago, we might have been trying to wash dishes and clean up after dinner, and have to tell Keira: “Wait, wait, we can’t play with you yet.” Now, we can all sit down together and enjoy some family time. It’s wonderful!

Of course it’s not all perfect. The problem is mainly to do with me. I am too nice, and don’t like to tell people to do things. I am automatically friendly to everybody.

So now am having trouble telling the maid what to do and what not to do. Eg. Don’t carry Sean the moment he makes noise because he needs to learn some independence, and I don’t want him to get too attached to her.

Is this something I should control or it can’t be helped because she will be a big presence in Sean’s life for a couple of years? Any Mums with maid experience out there have any advice?

I suppose I feel possessive of my kids and don’t want her to be another “mother”… is that possible?

Had time to make cupcakes with Keira today (while the maid carried Sean and let him watch us). We had a good time together, no stress, no rush. So overall, having the maid is still is a good thing. I think.

Keira’s birthday is coming up this Sunday, and I was thinking of using these cupcakes as the start of her birthday celebration. But they turned out quite ugly, as you can see in the pic above, so have scrapped that idea.

We’re not doing a party for her this year, as Keira has developed a bad case of stranger anxiety (gets very scared when people come to our house). All she wants for her birthday is familiar faces. So it’s just us, ah gong, ah ma and granduncle.

We’re going to a Japanese buffet to celebrate tho. That’s to satisfy my craving for sashimi. hehe. And also Keira loves to choose from the colourful array of cakes, jellies, ice creams and fruits on the dessert table. yumm.

Our girl is three years old now! Wow!

Our Cambodian maid arrived today. For her first day on the job, she performed better than I expected.

She came in, unpacked and immediately started tidying and cleaning up the house without me asking! Her English is pretty good too. She understands everything we say and can answer our questions.

She knows what to do around the house and I’ve also let her carry Sean, and she seemed quite confident with him as well.

So far so good. Now if she can continue like this for the rest of the contract, then we’re in luck!

On to Keira @ Kindy. This is her third week there. Last week was quite bad cos she woke up crying everyday, she was so scared.

This week, she still cries, but it is getting less and less. Today she managed to hold the waterworks in all morning, all the way in the car and only burst into tears when we stepped into the kindergarten door.

The teacher says she stops after I leave tho, and is quite OK after that. Altho she is still timid about joining in with the other children.

And when I come to pick her up, she is happy and cheerful. So when she says “Mummy, I don’t want to go to kindergarten… pwease mummy, I don’t want to go to kindergarten…” Do I believe that she really doesn’t like it?

The happy thing about kindy is that after observing her, the senior teacher told us that Keira is a very capable girl, and speaks very well (but speaks so fast they can’t catch what she says!) And she is mature enough to follow the older kids’ classes.

It’s nice to get validation of what we already knew about this special little girl of ours

Hmm, I foresee that in the near future I might have some free time away from these two cute little monkeys. Actual chunks of time when I can go out and do things… like get a haircut… am in urgent need of a haircut.

Keira is going to start kindergarten on Monday! we finally found a little Montessori kindy near our place that suits us, informal and flexible, with very nice teachers. Took Keira in for an hour yesterday and we could see she was fascinated with what the kids were doing. She said she wanted to go back there again!

So now the next hurdle towards freedom is to be able leave her there on her own. We’ve discussed with the teacher and have agreed to settle her in slowly. So I’ll be there with her for a few days first to get her used to the place, and then after that, for four hours a day, everyday, I’ll be FREE!

Wait a minute, I forgot about Sean, the every two hour breast feeding milk monster. Sigh! But this brings me to the next topic. We will also have a maid arriving in a few weeks.

She is a Cambodian with a little work experience, so can speak abit of English.

This will be the first time I have a stranger living in the house with me who is there to help me do things. I hope she will be worth the trouble.

I have heard so many bad stories of maids stealing, being moody, lazy, disobedient, running away, unhygienic, demanding… I just hope this one we’re getting will be a good one.

Now I have to figure out what I want the maid to help me with, how to accomodate an extra person in the house for two years and how to behave towards her?

I also don’t know if I can trust her with the kids, so I think she will only be doing housework first, until I teach her the ins and outs of the kids’ routines.

After all that, then, just maybe, I will have time to do some non-kid or house related work. And with the extra pair of hands I can take Keira and Sean out anytime without having to wait for the weekends for CY to be free.

The kids are doing well tho. We’re coping. So then why do we need a maid? I suppose because with a maid we can do better than just cope. I’m sure I will scold and scream alot less and the kids will cry less, if I’m not frazzled trying to cook, carry Sean and comfort Keira all at the same time.

Fingers crossed, hope it works out.

BTW, Sean just gave me a huge baby laugh out loud moment when I was bouncing him on my lap. So Cute!

He can also raise his head up 90 degrees when on his tummy and turn left and right non-stop trying to see what’s going on around him. The boy is growing and growing:)

Keira has been enjoying the company of her other cousin, Liem, who is back for the holidays, for the past two weeks.

Liem is also from Australia, which means this is the first time they’ve actually played together properly, which is sad. Why are all of Keira (and Sean’s) cousins in Australia?

Sigh. But we’ve made the most of the time that they are here, and the kids have been having a fantastic time going places and doing things together!

We started with CY’s birthday:

Then lot’s of playing at home, at restaurants and playgrounds. They hardly stayed still, meaning most of the photos I took had one cousin or the other, or BOTH, all blurry because they’re jumping or waving or wriggling around. Like this!

Sean also scored himself some cousin time:)

One night we went out for some chinese fine dining at Gu Yue Tian. Lovely food presentation. Lovely food!

Here’s the starter, from left to right, mango roll with fried fu chuk, giant clams with watermelon, and chicken in rice paper roll.

We also had this pork spare rib with mushroom sauce, cooked to tender perfection.

And managed to capture a lovely shot of the kids posing with Ah Gong:)

Then Sean got upset, so the cousins tried to cheer him up. hehe.

Yesterday was Liem’s birthday party and we had another celebratory get together.

SIgh. Only a few more dinners before Liem goes back… then Keira will lose a cousin again. Gosh, I wish we had a bigger family and everyone stayed together in one place. I can see how happy Keira is when she is with family, and I wish she could have it all the time…

Family reunions always start off so wonderfully, but why do they have to end?

Well, we’ve survived another week. Now, at 1am, in the peace and quiet of the night, it doesn’t seem so bad. I think we can do it.

But of course, just a few hours ago, I was getting frustrated trying to get the baby and the toddler to go to sleep. After two hours of story telling/breastfeeding/tucking in, they fell asleep at the same time!

Actually, Keira has been a fairly happy and good girl this week. I have been OK too, thanks to visits with friends, ah gong & ah ma, and CY working from home more often.

Sean is abit moody tho. He wants to be carried alot, otherwise he whines and cries. Thank god I bought that Baby Bjorn Synergy carrier. It has been put to good use, and it is very comfy to wear. Sean loves it in there, falls asleep immediately.

So quite often me or CY are carrying him around the house/in the car/at the supermarket etc etc!

We took him to see the paediatrician yesterday. He now measures 59cm in length and weighs 5.6kg. He is still on a 2-3 hour cycle, but there was once when he slept for four hours at night.. haha. So that means I haven’t had more than four hours of sleep at one stretch in two plus months.

He is giving us big smiles now, and sometimes I can see one little dimple on his left cheek:) He is a cute little bubby.

We’ve also been slowly catching up with friends here in KL.

Here’s Sofea and Keira playing with Sofea’s dollhouse. Sadly, Sofea and family are moving overseas to work soon, so we won’t be able to see them anymore…

Here’s Keira and JW, playing some funny running game. They wouldn’t stay still so we couldn’t get a good pic at all!

Here’s a girl friend for Sean - little Rui Lin, only a few weeks younger than him.

Oh, and today is me & cy’s 11 year marriage registration anniversary. So we went out for a buffet dinner - which was also our very first proper dinner out as a family of four:)

Well, that’s this week done. What will next week bring?

Just 5 days back in KL and I am exhausted. I’m dozing off even as I type this, but I refuse to sleep. Don’t want to waste any kid-free time on sleep.

I really have to find Keira a kindergarten to attend soon. I’ve been trying to fill the Yong Hao shaped hole in Keira’s life by being her replacement playmate. But I simply don’t have the energy of a two year old!

Trying to think up activity after activity to entertain her is exhausting. Especially so when I’m carrying the baby boy around and trying to breast feed him at the same time…

The humid heat doesn’t make things any easier. Just sweatier. I HATE being sticky and hot and sweaty.

It really makes dealing with a demanding child that much harder.

Yesterday for example, Keira played some games on the computer, did some colouring, made some cookies, played with her toys, cried a few times, read some books, ate and watched abit too much TV.

That’s all fine and dandy, except that the little girl wanted me to be right there with her doing all those things, all the way up to her bed time, where I had to sleep with her, to get her to sleep.

Each time I try to look at my computer, she will squeeze herself in front of me (yes even when Sean is already there) and try to hijack my mouse.

Scolding her just brings on the tears, which stresses me out even more.

Oh, and how many nappies do I change a day? I’ve lost count.

One of the worst things is when Sean cries and Keira, wanting my attention too, starts to cry as well. What do you do when both your kids are sobbing tearfully in front of you? You join in.

To top it all off, I am trying to keep the house clean, so that the ants and cockcroaches don’t invade. And cleaning up after a messy toddler is another full time job. Toys are strewn across the floor, crumbs of food scattered around. It gets messy again almost immediately after you clean up.

CY actually helps out alot, imagine how much more stressed I’d be if he didn’t!

So yes, a kindergarten, with lots of activities for the energetic girl would be helpful… Except that she is so clingy, she will want me there with her at the Kindy anyway!

I’m frazzled. To say the least.

Thanks to TV, making cookies etc etc. Keira is relatively happy most of the day tho. In fact, Sean is the one who has become more cranky and grumpy. I don’t think he likes the heat either.

Sigh.

Well, today has been slightly better. Mainly because Keira has been glued to the computer watching episode after episode of Peppa Pig on Youtube. I know she shouldn’t watch so much, but I just don’t know what else to do with her!

Anyway, the kids are asleep now. I have a few hours of blogging/surfing/Glee watching time, before Sean’s next feed. And then I’ll sleep!

I know, I know, I’m asking for it. I should sleep when they sleep right? But what’s more important, blogging or sleeping? Hehehe.

Oh some pics:

Keira being a good jie jie and rocking Sean in the bouncer, while Sean looks up at her

And here’s the big baby, he is two months old now!

I really, really do.

This time I’m feeling the pain more on behalf of Keira, because soon I am going to take her away from her beloved cousin, and I am so afraid that she will miss him so much that she will not like being back in KL at all.

I’m really going to miss my family too. But I am a grown up and I can handle it. And also I know Australia is just a plane ticket away, I can always come and visit again, which I will more often now, for Keira.

I hope she will be strong and resilient, and find the adventure of going back and living in our own house again distracting enough not to ask, “Where’s Yong Hao? Where’s po po?”

My heart will break if she does.

We’re flying back this Sunday. We will have lots of things to do to settle the two kids into a new home again. I have to figure out how to do cooking/cleaning/washing/shopping etc., look for things to entertain Keira, take care of Sean (who is turning into a full time job on his own - screams his head off to be carried these days), feed them, bath them, put them to sleep…

I am in admiration of all those supermums out there who can do it all without help, and also find time to do things for themselves. I need to learn from all your examples.

I think we will be getting a maid tho, but in the meantime… it’s gonna be a challenge for me. Will I lose the plot? Will I still have time to blog?

Sigh, I don’t like change.

And I hate goodbyes.

Wow, it’s 10pm and BOTH the kids have been asleep for an hour. I feel FREE!

Sean is on a 2 hour cycle at the moment tho, so won’t be free for much longer.

So, the birth story… Sean arrived on Monday. My contractions started around 10am, and felt very painful immediately, like i was having a very bad acid attack or period pain.

I started timing it, and it seemed to be coming every 5 minutes, so called the doctor. Doctor said sounds like I’m in labour and asked me to go to the hospital immediately.

The pain at this stage was pretty bad, I had to sit down every 5 minutes when there was a contraction, and rushed around packing Keira’s things in between the contractions.

By the way, CY was here already, arrived on Saturday, so just in time:) We packed Keira into the car and off we went.

Got to the hospital around 12pm and checked me in, then CY took Keira to my sister’s house to be babysat.

By the time the doctor came to see me, it was 1pm and I was asking for my epidural, cos I knew I didn’t want to go through what I went thru with Keira again.

But GUESS WHAT? I was already 8cm dilated, and doctor said I shouldn’t get it cos baby is coming soon already (whoops, sean just woke up, now am typing with one hand and baby in the other).

I was really disappointed and scared as I had been relying on the promise of the epidural to give me a pain free labor. No such luck. Doctor compromised by giving me a painkiller injection, which helped abit, but it also slowed the labor down(#!*!), so 2 hours later, when painkiller was starting to wear off, and i still wasn’t fully dilated yet, the doctor decided to break my water to quicken the process. And that’s when the real pain began…

Don’t want to talk about it… So skip to 5.14pm, and baby Sean is born! CY came back after dropping Keira off and was there to see his son arrive I was so relieved and happy when Sean came out and the ordeal was over. DON’T want to do that again.

Sean was born at 38 weeks and weighed 3.13kg at birth. He looked just like Keira when she was born! Same eyes, same head of hair:)

Now a few days later, we can see he has a more boyish look.

Anyway, here’s some pics:

Keira is dealing well with her new brother so far. She is quite curious about him and the things he does. We’re all also giving her more attention, so that she doesn’t feel neglected. Not to mention the freak accident I already twittered and facebooked about.. will blog about that later.

So that’s the story. We’re now a family of four! I’m still trying to work out how to cope with two when the dust settles and the daily grind begins… luckily can put it off for another month or two… Sigh.

Sean is down for another two hours again - hopefully -  so now I’m going to catch up on Lost and Desperate Housewives. Hehe.

Yesterday the sky was dark and gloomy all day. The wind was blowing threateningly, and you could see the gathering storm overhead. When it came, it came in the form of huge ice balls falling from the sky!

It was the heaviest hail storm Melbourne has had in a while, and the hailstones that fell down were as big as golf balls!

Here’s some my dad collected, they were bigger but melted by the time he took them in:

And here’s Keira quite impressed with the ice balls:

So that was the excitement for yesterday. I haven’t been doing much else lately. Just getting more and more nervous about when the baby will come.

Nowadays I always get indigestion at night. But I worry that it is the beginning of contractions, so here I am trying to time my tummy ache, to see if there is a regular pain coming and going, until the acid settles down, and I sigh with relief that it was just a stomach ache. Sigh!

Have been preparing my maternity bag to take to the hosipital and buying all the things I will need. Nursing bras, nursing clothes, and now looking for a baby carrier on ebay.

I’m eyeing the Baby Bjorn Active Carrier, as my sister has one and says it is very good. But am a newbie at bidding for things on Ebay, and have discovered that it is very competitive, especially in the last 5 minutes - the price can double!

Quite exciting though.

I also need a new wardrobe. Most of my clothes are from my younger days.. you know all those skin tight tops and short dresses. All the stuff I can’t wear anymore because I must have been skinnier back then and also not suitable for a mother of (almost) two kids, right?

Anyway nothing at all practical for breastfeeding. I don’t know what I wore when I was breastfeeding Keira, but they seem to have been lost in transit somewhere in between London to KL. I think they’re also all winter clothes, too hot to wear now or in Malaysia.

So as I said I need new clothes! But no opportunity or money to go shopping here, so I’ll end up in old t-shirts I think. Ah well…

Matching outfits, holding hands… guess who were the center of attention during our CNY family dinner?

Guess who had great fun getting all the ang pows? (Actually all of us had fun, cos we made them say “gong xi fa cai” lots of times before giving them the red packets. hehe)

And guess who were the happy grandparents?

I had the longest conversation I’ve ever had with Keira last night. It went something like this:

Me: Keira, are you cold?
K: No, I not cold.
Me: If you’re cold, tell me and we’ll wear your jacket ok?
K: Ok, I not cold, later I cold I wear jacket.
Me: (Astounded that Keira knows and understands how to use the word “later”) OK.
K: Mama, you cold?
Me: Yes, that’s why I’m wearing this blanket.
K: I warm, no need wear blanket.
Me: Ok.

She’s growing in leaps and bounds.

So we’ve been here two weeks. Keira has gotten homesick once or twice, when she remembers all her toys at home, and Daddy at home, then she’ll say “I want to go home now.”

I sort of encourage it by saying “When we go home Daddy will buy you a kite OK?” Just to keep her mentally prepared that we will have to leave all the fun and games of this “holiday” in Australia eventually.

She wants a red kite.

I’ve taken lots of pictures and videos of Keira and Yong Hao together, but can’t upload now, cos of slow internet… will put them up later.

CY will be coming over in a week plus time for CNY, yay! Looking forward to us taking Keira around Melbourne, and showing her all the sights:)

Here we are, five days in Melbourne already. More or less settled in…

Keira was a very good girl on the flight over. No tantrums or crying or anything. She even slept for five hours on the plane, woke up just as we were landing.

And now, in my parents house, she has so many new things to play with, gong gong, po po, uncle and cousin to play with her and new experiences to enjoy, she’s not homesick at all.  This is like a holiday for her!

The only thing the change is affecting is her bedtime. I’m having ALOT of trouble getting her to sleep at night. Either because it is a different environemnt, and new routine, new bedroom, and Daddy not around, or her day is too exciting.. Keira refuses to sleep in her cot, actually refuses to sleep, full stop.

Every night, she only sleeps at 12am when she is so exhausted, she cries until she cannot stay awake anymore. Ai yo. And I have had to let her sleep in bed with me. So, this is something I have to work out… how to get a stubborn toddler to go to sleep?

In the day time tho, Keira is getting all the experiences I’ve always wanted her to have. Especially enjoying outdoor life and playing with her cousin, Yong Hao..

She has been gardening with my father!

Playing with Yong Hao.

And been out enjoying the Australian summer. Here she is at the playground with po po.

The weather here has been typically weird Melbourne weather. The first day we were here was hot, 28 degrees C. The second day cold, 10 degrees C!! Tomorrow it will be 32 degrees. so pretty hot. Especially when Melbourne houses don’t have air cond or fans built in!

Water is also an issue here. Their water reserves are so low, everybody is living with water restrictions. They have advertisments on TV that “encourage” people to only take 4 minute showers, and you are only allowed to water your garden on allocated days!

The weather is very dry and all the grass is yellow. If only Malaysia could send some rain over here. No lack of water problems in KL eh? I wonder if it is still raining every day there?!

I’m feeling the stress already. Less than two more days left here before we fly to Oz. And it has been so hectic, and I have been so lacking in energy, I have hardly been able to prepare for the next few months away.

Stress. Stress.

Not to mention other issues and demands putting pressure on me.

Stress.

Also feeling sad… as I always do, when I have to leave one place for another. Especially when CY won’t be around. Sigh. at least he will be coming over to Melbourne in a few weeks time for CNY:)

If only this baby inside wasn’t sucking up so much of my strength, and if only Keira was less demanding. And if only, alot of things…

Sorry, just venting abit here. I think you all got the message that I am stressed. Will move on to the photos now.

So. We had lots of good times this last couple of weeks with family and friends. Some pics below:

Having a quiet moment at a New Year’s dinner with Ah Ma & Co.

Meeting up with my Mum’s sisters, none of them stay in KL, but three of them happened to be here at the same time, so we had a surprise reunion.

Last dinner with William before he went back to UK. They were copying everything the other was doing. hehe.

Oh, and here’s a pic without Keira in it! Just me, CY and the baby (bump) in front of Pavillion.

That’s all for now. Next post will be from Melbourne. Hopefully no more 43 degree C days! Just warm enough for us to enjoy some picnics and BBQs again please!