It worked!

Okay...so this post is for puez again..haha.

Gf recommended me the Golden Rooster brand of ant bait and it worked!

I poured practically the whole pkt just outside their house..haha, where they hid? In my cupboard hinge man of all places...They were forced to evacuate from the top hinge to the bottom hinge. Took them 3 hrs to shift all their food items down. Many many ants crawling, working hard...

And I was praying hard, some stupid ants will just carry the ant bait home and they did. Within 1 hr, few died...And the next day, more dead. I hope the whole nest is now dead.

So upsetting leh..

Last night, riesia bit reyes 3rd finger for the n th time!!!! I was so mad, coz this time the teeth marks were really deep and reyes just kept on crying and crying. I was so worried, his veins would burst leh and i started to lose my temper at her.

At one point, I got so mad, that i dragged her to the kitchen and showed her the knife and said I will chop off her fingers next time if she bites reyes again. I tried to make her apologize to reyes, but she simply refuse.

And today, I caught her pinching reyes, coz he went to meddle with the DVD player while she was watching. She can be defensive nowadays, especially when reyes love to come and ka jiao her when she is doing things and she can get mad and push his walker away or even hit him at times. So I really cant leave her alone with reyes.

Happy

In case you havent know, I've started working part time since last week and today is my 3rd day. My arranged working days are thursdays night and sat morning, but at times, boss do sms me to ask if I can drop by the center on certain days.

Like yesterday, he needed me on wed, but hb had to attend the parental course conducted by shichida, so I cant go to work. And surprise surprise, today boss asked me to go down if I can. I'm more than happy of course.

1. I can have some time on my own
2. I can get out of the hse to breathe some air
3. I can get myself doing something useful
4. And I can get paid for doing something
5...
and the list goes on.

The thing is, I"M HAPPY! Yes, I'm happy working at my new place, which is just 10mins walk, happy working with the kids, happy chatting with boss's daughters, I'm just happy. And I'm happy to have found this part time job which is flexible and boss is nice.

And although is only a miserable $5/hr, Im happy lor. I dont even get paid being a SAHM okay. I dont get pocket money from hb either. What I am spending right now is my savings that I saved when I was working back then.

This evening, boss brought along his 3rd daughter, a 4 year old girl. She is SOOOO cute! She fell off the chair, so poor thing and couldnt stop crying. Sigh...I think the center's chair isnt child friendly for those pre schoolers. Maybe sld feedback to boss abt it.

Anyway, I was also the babysitter too lah, coz there were parents coming in to enquire and so boss left the 3 daughters to me. They are really funny and I have fun chatting with them while trying to concentrate to do the markings of the worksheets.

I'm regaining my ambition of teaching once again...Been having thoughts of pursuing the diploma in childhood teaching, which is a part time study for $7500. But I wonder, if I would put that to good use next time of just another piece of paper to me. Sigh...

Looking fwd to my next session on Thursday night. Time flies very fast at the center, because once I'm there and the kids start coming in, I mark NON STOP until the last kid leaves the center. I dont even have the chance to look up at the class to see whose who or even stop to drink a sip. Is worksheets after worksheet and racing against time, coz we dont want the kids to idle and wait for us to finish marking and to leave the center late either as they have school tomorrow too. So is really a challenge.

Okay doki, time to head to bed...

Rie vs me!

haha, so here's rie and a photo of myself side by side.

Was telling hb, she doesnt loosk like me leh. but one sure thing is, both of us dont smile! muahhahahah

......

Okay, I've finally managed to convince hb to let me go to AKs concert.
BUT now is the problem. Who am I to ask for help to lookafter my 2 kids?

Mum and dad doesnt seem keen to help me bbsit reyes. Tried the 2nd time. Sunday, hb had to head back to work, and I need to bring rie to class in the morning. I had asked mum if she can help and she said dad offer to help. But then later, dad kind of was reluctant! And I was quite unhappy actually lah, and had no choice but to ask MIL for help.

I dont feel safe leaving reyes with her, coz firstly, she hasnt got a clue how to handle reyes, except to just carry him. Even with bottle feeding, not very stable either. And I worried if he poos in the morning, then how? But thank god, he pooed before he slept the night before.

Had kindly asked SIL to accompany mil, as I feel much safer with SIL. End up, she didnt want to come and BIL had to come. Okay,fine.

BUT once after class ended and while waiting for hb at TPY to pick us up, he told me that BIL had left after reyes was still sleeping. That means, MIL is left HOME ALONE WITH REYES!!!! And worst is, she does not have any mobile phone and we dont have any home phone either. And I dont know if she really understands how to operate the milk warmer too.

And when we step out of the lift, I got a big shock. Our lock was unlocked and it was damn obvious lor! And the door was not locked inside either! I wondered how long was it left like that? Normally our neighbour would leave their door open, but that morning, it was closed and it was so dangerous as we had bulgury cases before at our neighbourhood and it was so quiet in themorning.

Of course, hb threw a big fuss lah! Thank god he did. And MIL was still so stubborn and insisted that it was fine and that no one will harm an old lady and a child. Oh pls! THey are the weakest victim lah! I cant imagine coming home to see my hse ransacked and what happened to mil and my precious baby leh.

Hb lectured her and taught her how to use our door keys to open and close and to keep reminding her to latch the door. And I checked the milk warmer, the milk was too warm by the time. And I had to remind her. Sigh..I'm worrying. I hope hb's knocking off timing would be stable in May after his project ends, so that I dont have to leave MIL home alone with the kids.

After that experience last thursday leaving rie and reyes home alone with mil for 1 hr before hb came home, rie was unpleased to see MIL that sunday morning and thought I was going to abandon her again and followed me everywhere I went at home. Sigh. Mil said she cried for 1 hr to sleep until hb came home.

I told hb, I told MIL to leave reyes in the walker, so that she can coax riesia, but she insisted on carrying reyes, saying that she was worried he would cry too. Sigh...I dont know what to do.

Sometimes esp recently, I'm throwing in the idea of getting a helper. So that i dont have to rely on my parents or my PIL for help. Plus, when rie starts sch, I can take the public transport to send rie to and fro and save on sch bus transport which can easily come up to $100 a month.

In additiona, I can also take up some afternoon part time jobs or tuition assignments. But then, when I think of all these, what I am going to earn isnt enuff to cover the maid fee, makan, levy etc. So it all comes back to square one, is this worth it?

Sigh...

Last night I ran out to buy the Moon Rabbit Si Sen brown rice for reyes.

I hope and pray he will like it. Tried giving him a little in a bowl.

The minute he sees the spoon, he turns his head to the back and pretends I'm invisible! Coax and coax, & aim into his mouth. I can only aim in when he cries, coz that's the only time when his mouth opens up! Hahaha. Arbo it is tightly closed and he uses his tongue as the guard.

He doesnt like it leh..Sigh...

BUT when I try to mix with BM and bottle feed, he takes to it happily! BUt then comes another problem. It took me 30mins for him to finish up the milk, coz the powder doesnt seem to dissolve well and the teat hole was too small for it to flow thru too...Sigh. But at least he finishes it up. Happy me and he slept a good 5 hrs.

I must jia you!

And I've finally managed to collect rie's first pp photo taken at the studio..hahaha, she looks like me when I was young! Gotta take a pix of my photo and upload here someday...

Tell me....

My gf was telling me today not to yell at our kids, coz will make them no confidence to do things next time.Tell me how can I not yell, and lose my head?

Yesterday night, it was also my slack. Left the bottle of avent moisturiser on the bed and voila...rie happily went to apply all over her thigh and left a HUGE blot on the bed! Hb just lost his temper.

This afternoon, I dont know how she managed to push the KDK fan down and it fell!!! Onto the kitchen floor, and the fan blade broke!

So you tell me.

Refusing food..

I'm having a big big headache, coz reyes is refusing all solids that I made for him!!!

Nestle rice cereal with apple and cranberry
Plain porridge with carrot
Gerber baby food

You give him any, he just spit out and cry and cry his heart out.
And he is damn smart! He lay his head down on the walker tray with his arm as support and cry!!!! so that I cannot see his mouth and aim when she cry opening his mouth wide! You see lah this boy!

I give up leh, really. THe moment he sees the blue avent feeding spoon coming ah, he leans backwards, shut his mouth really tight and starts to yell for help and cry...so upsetting...

And after that, i still have to feed him milk, coz hes definitely not full and he will be so satisfied after the feed..sigh.

HELP ME!!
====================================
Kids are smart. When I shout and scold at reyes, riesia pretends to concentrate real hard on her telly and will look at me sideways. Once she caught my eyes, she will quickly shift back to the telly and mind her own business.

On the other hand, when I shout and scold riesia, reyes will sit in his walker guai guai and stare at me blankly. hahaha

Sick....

Sigh...I guess you just cannot avoid it.

Out of the 6 kids, 4 were coughing so badly in the shichida class such that rie caught the bug too..and is down with flu and cough.

And now is reyes turn..sigh....

Excited excited....

Tonight am gonna meet up with this instructor at a learning center for an interview!

If all goes well, I would be taking up this job offer.
The timing is really just nice for me. If only I can commit in the afternoon shift as well..darn.

I am only required to work 3 days per week, 3 hr in the afternoon, 3 hrs in the night and sat morning.

But then at the present moment, I can only commit 1 night and sats morning. So let's see how it goes.

The instructor is actually looking for someone who can commit long term and grow with the center. The center just opened last month and is less than 10 mins walk from my place! So near right!!! I'm so happy to be able to find a job so near my hse lor.

But of course, dun expect high pay lah. I'm not seeing the $$, but then is more like you know to keep myself in the working society, gain something while being a sahm and probably never know if this is a stepping stone for me to be a tuition teacher and crave a career there!

I'm pretty excited lor, coz from what the instructor told me, I would be marking, grading and going thru the worksheets with the kids. And if there are any errors, ask them do correction etc. Is like how a teacher would be like! That's how my cousins and myself played during our younger days..haha.It would be fun.

And the students range from 4 years old to upper primary for the time being. Good for me to know what primary sch kids are expected to know in schs nowadays too.
So keeping finger crossed...

Easter Day Party...

On 11th of April, we joined in the easter day party at our void deck, organized by the RC committee.

This would be our 4th year that we joined, since we shifted here. First 3 years, I brought along my niece. This year, as my parents went overseas for holiday, cant cope with 3 kids lah, so I took riesia to do the easter egg colouring.

Here's her easter egg. Looks like shit colour, coz all the nice nice colours were used up by then. Had to feed her dinner first lor, coz she was so hungry after class at JG.But well, her minature size and cuteness attracted many uncles and aunties and the newly appointed chairman of our RC branch nonetheless. The chairman even shot a photo of riesia painting her egg. muahaha, wonder will she appear in the newsletter cover bo?

Well, after fun of painting and lots of paints on her finger, blouse and face, I took her up for a shower. And just before I can sink my teeth into the pizza, I heard the MC calling out kids' names to collect prizes on stage.

Remember last year my niece got one of the top prize for doing the most pretty decorated egg?

Hee hee, well well, when I rushed down, the Chairman told me " I"ve chosen your girl. Later she can go up the stage to collect her prize."

I was surprised of course! Coz I told him during the colouring, I just want her to have fun painting, even though she doesnt know how to create the prettiest egg deco.

And so we waited and the MC announced : "And now a special award to our youngest contestant, Riesia who is only 2 years old."

And I heard all the ah mahs, aunties and uncles whispering, " 2 years old nia...aiyo, so cute."

Ahahaha, I pushed rie up the stage lah, she blur blur went up and MP Mr Heng Chee How carried her to take a photo. She didnt display fear, but har, before the camera can snap, she started to wiggle and bo bian lor, MP Mr Heng invited me up the stage to take photo too. Wah liao, I was so untidily(S) dressed leh. Wah piangz..

But it was also bang head lah, coz rie just refuse to look at the camera lor. And the guy who helped me take the photo, sigh..he shaked the camera and it was blur. Darn. Next was the lucky draw, we were just 1 number closed to getting the prize first announced. Sigh..better luck next month lah when we join in the mother's day party.

Pix...

Picture of the day...

Milk rash or not?

Reyes rashes are back and I'm so upset...haiz..
I dont remember him having such rashes at 1 month old leh and it breaks my heart to see him so itchy and he cant scratch it.

And I feel so paisay to bring him out too, coz each time pp see him, they would ask me what happened to his face and start giving me advice like using boiled cool water to clean his mouth area after each feed and apply cream etc etc..haiz...I know, I tried, but it doesnt work.

And I tried reading up the net and chanced upon this balm. I'm tempted to get it after so much raves on the net.
http://www.hoskingspharmacy.com/baby-infant-face-rashes.htm#ORDERNOW

And knowing one of the main ingredient is lanolin, I'm thinking if I can use the purelan nipple cream on reyes or not leh..gee.but then it doesnt seem to contain any other medication to heal the rash...sld I?

Stressed...

I was reading up on the schools and some parents are already talking about PV (parent volunteer program in short) for those good schools.

Gosh! And I am so stressed up! It is really not easy to raise a kid this era leh. There are few schools around my area and last night, I went to check which schools are within the 1 km, 2km and away and if the choice schools are within or not.

Well, glad that St andrews is good well within 1km, apx 900m. CHIJ (TPY) is about 1.9km, slightly reaching 2km...The map wasnt updated with Hong Wen primary which just shifted to Towner road near my place. So I think that shouldnt be a problem either.

Now comes another problem. Seems like I'm gonna fall into the phase 2C where I'm not affliated to any of the schools. And to increase my chances of getting my kids in, well, PV lor. And horror horror hor. Lucky I read up early. PV starts 2 years before your child is up for enrolment hor! Yes, you read me right, 2 years.

Some schools expect you to clock 40hrs of PV. Some popular schools 60-80hrs. Well, of course I"m hoping to get some easy easy task lah, like say you know librarian etc etc. But you know, CHIJ have this PV group and got chairman, treasurer etc leh. And of course I think they would appreciate if you can do fund raising activities for them.

Another problem is, IF I intend to send my kids to all girls/all boys school, means har, I have to PV at 2 schs???? Damn.

Because I'm so late in selecting pre schs for rie, so freak out liao. better do my homework and so stressed..That means when rie is in N2, I gotta start my PV liao??? Wah liao...

Allergy???

Sigh..my fault again lah.

Just now, I tried giving a teeny weeny bit of cake to reyes. Just 1 second and he spit out.

Then I decided to feed him some nestle rice cereal with apple and cranberry. He didnt like it, spit everything as well.

And so, i gave up and asked hb to feed him milk. Then...he kept rubbing his eyes! rub and rub and rub and cried and his eye swell till very jia lat leh! I was so worried, and he just kept crying and rubbing them.

Until to the extent the white area became red and his eyes swell till like cannot see the iris. So worrying..and we thought maybe he is allergic to egg? Or that rice cereal??? Sigh....I hope is not the case.

School hunting...

I was glad hb took a day leave today for school hunting. In all, we managed to squeeze time to visit 3 schools today. It was tiring.

First stop was at ascension, Potong Pasir. Nice environment. Aircon (thank god). Double storey where K1 and K2 kids are on the 2nd level. Gym is huge. Outdoor play kind of small, but still acceptable. And I've gotta give them a reply by next week if I confirm the place for rie.

Next stop was at Newton Life Church. Both hb and myself like this place too and hb is more keen to enrol rie here, coz their lesson is conducted in mandarin. He's hoping that rie can pick up mandarin since we can coach english at home. My nieces and nephew attend 2 pre schools. Morning session at ascension and thereafter rush down to Newton for their mandarin.

And I must say I am very impressed. Coz from hating mandarin, dont know/dont understand mandarin, they can speak very well and comprehend. And they can write their chinese name at age of 4 as well! Their names not easy to write also man. Sweat.

They have this toddler's class, but I'm not convinced to part $800 a term for it. When we visited the class today, they have only 3 kids and 1 kept crying, so poor thing lor. I think rie is too old to join this group of kiddies. So probably just keep her at home till next Jan or if I have time to visit this newly opened sch near my place and they are good, may send her there for half day.

I was pretty tired by then. Rie as well. But I just had to ask hb if he wanted to go Maris Stella Kindergarten at Holland Road to see. This used to be the place that MIL worked at and well all the raves from them, (MIL was strongly encouraging us to enrol kids there) I decided to just go there and see. If I dont go, I think hb will never die heart also lor.

IN the cab, MIL was telling hb, IF we want to enrol rie in that school, must faster tell sister later on etc blah blah. I just kept quiet, coz in my heart, I prefer ascension or newton liao lor. But going there for the sake to see the place and shut hb's mouth up too.

The place is huge! Very spacious and it reminded me of my pre sch time at Nativity Church. Very catholic feel, quiet, peaceful. But then, it was pretty run down lah. The 4 classrooms for the nursery was dim. I didnt quite like it though, coz I feel that kids should have bright bright colours, happy environment. It was rather dull. But the kids were happy there.

There were 2 outdoor playground. Huge lor. But of course, wear and tear lah, so there were some rust, dirty here and there etc lor. Rie enjoyed herself nonetheless.

Read up in forums on this kindergarten that they were not as academically -pushed as compared to other kindergartens too.

But well, talk so much hor, 1 thing lah, they accept kids only at the age of 3.5 years old, so that means rie cannot start school in Jan 2010. Gotta wait till the Jan 2011 intake. hahaha. So strike off the list.

(but, mil say, put rie at ascension, then after that 2011 transfer her over lor. Peng)

So anyway, here's other pix of rie at JG enjoying swimming. There were only 3 girls in swimming in that huge huge tub! ahahah..rie was so happy and she actually laid down and kicked water and splashed at everyone. muahahaha.

for puez....

Hey puez, if you are reading my blog, here's for u!

Read your latest updated blog on ants. haha, it sure comes in handy for me leh, coz my whole kitchen is infested with ants and it is driving me up the wall.

I killed an ant nest 2 weeks back in the cupboard. Disgusting and shocking. I was tracing where the damn ants were going, they always disappear into the cabinet and so, I opened. Then just by luck, I lifted the mahjong paper and omg lor, there was a huge ant nest with tiny white stuffs, I think those are rice grains. My hair stood up man and out came baygon, the handy helper.

And then I discover, there were some living in the cabinet hinge too!!!! Wah liao eh, spray spray, then slowly came out and die. And there were alot crawling out leh...

2 nights later, I found another site. Also another cabinet hinge and it was the one high above.

They are smart. They avoid those ants trap which I laid.
They come out only dark at night when everyone is sleeping except me and I would hunt for them. mauahahaha...I love watching them crawling out of their hideout dead. Psycho.

I'm sure there are still many ant nests lying around. They are already crawling to my living room behind the Tv console, and I dont know exactly where it is. How I wish I can locate the queen ants by using a detector that custom officers use. You know like scan scan and when theres a nest, it beeps.

Maybe I should try out the baby powder trick and update if it works. It keeps them off, but doesnt kill them leh. My aim : To banish. Kill Kill Kill!

What a break...

Last night, it was an impromptu arrangement with blur to head for a good massage as our usual hangout.

Wonderful! I am glad that hb was willing to give me 3 hrs of time off and I diligently cleaned up everything, prepare the kids bottles etc before I head out.

Now now...wonder when is the next time round...cant wait!

P/S : Of course the husbandS stayed at home with the kids lah. The house was a big chaos when I returned home..Bedsheet, bedsheet protector all were on the floor. Pillows, pillows and more pillows all were thrown on the floor. Asked hb what happened, he said " Your daughter, peel off her diapers and pee all over the bed!"

The son just sat there, as innocent as he can be and smiled.

opps

Darn, i typed so much and it all went blank!!!

This afternoon I'm a bad mum.
I was feeding riesia bread and reyes was getting on my nerve, coz he wanted some too and so i shoved a teeny bit into his mouth.

He chew, he shook, and then he wanna puke. And before I can stop him, he merlion out his milk! What the $%^&. I swear that bread was still in his mouth and he didnt swallow it..haiz...so there goes lah.

Looking for cheap buffet?

Yesterday evening, we were deciding between Ichiban or to Quality Hotel for their Taiwan porridge buffet.

And it was a good choice, coz hb gave me only $30 max to spend on food and quality hotel bill came up to just $25.42 including the ++ liao. For 2 person okay.

Each person costs $10.80++, cheap right?

They have :
Curry Chicken drumstick, yummy with bread
Braised peanuts and Tao pork
Fish cake tofu
Crystal Bao
Fried Noodles
Braised Egg
Steamed Fish
A vegetable which I cant remember
Chinese style mutton
Steamed rice
Salted veg with duck - very nice. but you get very thirsty later on
Plain Porridge, sweet potato porridge (they just pour plain porridge in nia, no diff)
Steamed prawns - good to eat, but not fresh one lah.
Not forgetting the desserts :
Ice kachang, ice cream
Bread and butter pudding - yummy

But pls note, the price of $10.80 is valid from mon to thurs nia. Fri, I cannot rem how much, but it sld not be expensive too lah. So if you have no where to go, can try out.

More pix...

So I was saying I went down to exchange the hello kitty hardcover and rie didnt want to go home. So dad took her along while I stayed home with reyes. I could have done something useful like say send my hp to repair, but just today, I tested my hp and the speaker is working fine again. Stupid right? Wonder when it will go crazy again.

Should have headed out, but then I'm rather tired, so just lazed at home...and took some pix of reyes too...Reyes is now an expert on the walker and can chase his sister to play catching! hahaha...

I am waiting impatiently for 18th of this month so that I can start solid for reyes..He is such a huge drinker and I"m running low on supply to meet his demand..He's demanding for milk every 2 hrly and I have to sup him with water and he can gobble down 125ml of water or more...sigh...Waiting for another 16 more days to go.

This is where the 2 of them will be when I'm in the study room surfing.

Hello Kitty....

Yes I am still a big hello kitty fan...so I was waiting anxiously for Singpost to launch the hello kitty horoscope stamp collection and I was glad I asked hb to buy for me..(in a way)

He bought the stamp collection yesterday together with a 4gb thumb drive at $98. But alas, the hardcover had a slight dent and I went back this afternoon to exchange.
Here's the pix of the thumbdrive..so cute and small. And here's the center folder with a pop out effect..

And just to share, NTUC is having this Tollyjoy wet wipes promotion. 10 pkts at just $11.

Usual is 8 pkts at $10.50, so I thought is a good buy. Not sure when the promotion is ending...