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This 1st post is way overdue! Before you start to form (bad) first impressions of me or get all judgey-eyed, let me remind you that I am a mother of two and of which, one is in his terrible twos.. Need I say more?
But whatever my excuse is, it will always be a lousy excuse because, let’s face it, a mother doesn’t get rest days and yet we always find the time to complete everything that is expected of us and more. So please accept my sincere apologies for this late introductory post and know that I am committed to sharing all my mommy experiences with you, fellow mommies (and perhaps some daddies).
First up, a little bit about myself. I am 32 this year and as mentioned above, mother to a boy named Issey (31mo) and a girl named Raeann (6mo). I have been a stay-at-home-mom since the birth of my firstborn but I assure you I know equally well the woes of working moms as I have many friends who wears this hat and I salute them with all of my heart. If we could all learn to get along, there will be plenty to learn from each other, I am sure!
I don’t have a helper but I do have a cleaning lady who helps me with my chores once a week so I get to keep some of my sanity. I believe home-cooked food is the best for my children and nothing is good enough for them unless I do it myself. I whole-heartedly embrace what nature has to offer and always ensures fresh fruits are readily available in the house at all times as opposed to taking supplements. I used to go with only organic but since Issey turned 2yo, I have relaxed a lot on this rule because I figured he needs to get in contact with some germs and bacteria in order for his body to grow stronger naturally. (Ok, fine. Also because Raeann came along so who cares if he is getting organic food? As long as he gets food, I feel accomplished. Haha!)
In terms of disciplining my children, I strongly believe it should start from the second they are born. Not saying you should start hitting them or what but TRAINING. I cannot stress enough how important it is to train your children as early in their lives as you can. Be it sleep training, feeding habits, speech training (yes even from the 1st day you meet them!) etc etc, it should start early. Having said that, I don’t like to force my children to do things they don’t like. If I train them and they go along with it, then good for me. If they don’t seem happy about it, I don’t push it. Let it rest for a few days/weeks (depending on situation) and try again. A child learns best when they are happy and ready, so always wait for them to be ready.
My parenting motto is this, “A crying child is not an unloved child.” I am also all for child-led parenting. I abide by it as much as I can until the situation gets out of control (eg. health hazards, tantrums, etc). I believe firmly in walking the talk so I never demonstrate any behavior that I don’t wish to see my children displaying. At least not in front of them!
I hope that is enough to paint you a picture of the kind of Mommy I am. As we bond together over the next few posts, I am sure you will uncover more of my dirty parenting secrets so let’s not rush things.
Mommy Meowmee and myself would like to invite all you fellow mommies to join us on this journey of self-discovery and exploration with our kids, otherwise known as Parenting! Let’s share all our experiences, big or small, good or bad, bit by bit, little by little, until we are all little pockets full.
Thank you for having me in this big parenting family!
Mommy kellykylie
I have been finding easy to cook recipes mostly because my day is usually quite pressed for time. So the other day, I went on to cook Mac & Cheese for the kiddo. Our nearest supermarket was on renovation so I had to make do with what the smaller Marts were offering. Here is the recipe I went with but adapted along the way by omitting salt and included super vegetables. I purposely added in a fair bit of vegetables because I was clearing my fridge. Which explains why my final dish became a superfood instead. Well, the more the merrier! You can stick to the original..
Step 1: Boil the macaroni until al dente. Drain and set aside. I’ve threw in my vegetables to soften it at the same time.
Step 2: In a saucepan, heat up the butter till it is completely melted and add in the flour. Okay, I’ve forgotten that I’ve included 1 tbsp of ALL PURPOSE FLOUR to my ingredient list. Please note! Mix for about 3-4 minutes.
Step 4: Add in fresh milk slowly. I didn’t warm the milk beforehand but I removed it from the fridge for a while before I add it into the sauce. Mix until sauce thickens.
Step 5: Reduce stove to lowest heat and add in Cheese! Stir till completely melted and your sauce is almost ready. Add in pepper to taste (if you’d like) and toss sauce with macaroni.
It’s a pity I couldn’t find my ramekin dishes before I moved. I used to bake molten lava cake in those and would have definitely given this Mac & Cheese a yummy uplift by baking in the oven but I couldn’t find another dish to replace at the very last minute 😦
Verdict: Charley seems quite okay with the food. She finished up but got quite thirsty after. I would definitely try it with Cheddar the next time. I’ve tried the food personally and find it a little…bland. Haha! I think my tastebuds are accustomed to seasonings. If you’ve got a different recipe and it’s awesome, please share! 🙂
Before you read on, I just want to announce that I’m a noob cook.
I have been trying to vary the tastes and textures of Charley’s food recently. Just the other day I woke up a little earlier trying out baked sweet potato sticks for breakfast and I think she loves it. She finished most of it and got too full for her milk feed after.
Thus, in my attempt to search for easy breakfast options, I vividly remember the heavenly aroma of ‘fried bread dipped in egg’ that fills the living room when I was little. I didn’t know what they were called when I was young so I often just referred that breakfast item to ‘fried bread dipped in egg’. Back then, mum didn’t made it pretty, she just made it taste good. So whenever the bread came out on the table, the egg was all over the bread. Sounds pretty much like a bad romance. Haha! Tasty nonetheless.
Now that I’m a mother myself, I am trying out different ways to make breakfast more fun for the little one. That said, I’m allowing her to self-feed herself more often for breakfast and lunch, while dinner would be done by me as it would usually be porridge. Sometimes I do give her a little porridge in her own bowl for pretend-play as she likes to pretend to feed me at the same time. Mornings are the best for self-feeding since she would be taking a shower soon after.
So, I went to google ‘Easy french toast recipe for baby’ and I’ve settled on this. I’ve omitted quite a fair bit of from this recipe and made it really simple and easy. Who knows if Charley would want to try to feed herself today right? If she doesn’t, those awesome, healthy food would just end up on the floor. So here’s my easy recipe for this morning:
1. Beat the egg with 1 tsp of fresh milk in a shallow bowl.
2. Trim off the sides of the bread and cut it into strips.
3. Dip (2) into (1). Coat all sides. I use the fork to gently press into the strips to make it absorb the batter better.
4. Warm the frying pan and add in the unsalted butter. When the butter is warmed and melted, add in (3) and fry till it’s golden brown on both sides.
Verdict: The toast sticks came out pretty and the taste was quite mild. Could definitely add on some maple syrup for a dip or sorts. Looking forward to trying cinnamon and banana the next time!
Mid of last week (or earlier), everyone came down with the FFC – Flu, Fever and Cough. It all started with the Papa, then the baby caught it…and she passed it to me. Caring for a baby is a pretty uphill task. Caring for a baby that falls sick? Make that a ‘up-mountain’ task!
So, my clingy sticker baby became super glue the moment she felt unwell. Constantly wanted to be carried all the time and refusing to play on her own for even a minute. She even lost her appetite, not that it was already fantastic to begin with. Charley has a rather small appetite on most days. While other kiddos are downing 210ml, she’s still hovering between 150-180ml, looking slim as ever. With every feed she took ever since she came down with the FFC, every cough warrants a vomit. We used to worry about such vomits..but an incident which led us to a doctor’s consultation has reassured us that it’s quite normal for baby to cough and puke because they squeeze their stomach muscle too hard. She has also declined taking milk because she can’t breathe and take in a bottle at the same time; or with that added torture of swallowing down milk a throat that has puked a fair bit (my poor baby!). So with the lost in appetite, it seems like she has lost a bit of weight. Undeterred to letting her lose more weight. I went along with feeding her using a cup for the last two days. There were spills but at least she’s drinking! I’m only doing this because we have been training her to drink direct from a cup for quite some time. Part of me worry that she will grow the habit of preferring milk in a cup but I guess that worry is uncalled for because she managed to drink back from her bottle this evening.
In a weird motherly way, I’m quite glad that I’ve caught the virus from her. That way, I know exactly what she’s going through and I can try to make things better, more comfortable for her. So in our attempt to make her more comfy, the papa and I took turns to suck out the mucus from her nose. Ah, such is love. (Yucks, Yikes, Eeks!) But before you think it’s horribly disgusting, I just want to say your turn may come. Haha.
That said, she has since recovered from her fever (because the above was drafted for two days!) and she’s left with a phlegm-y cough and running nose. She’s also getting back to holding her own bottle and finishing up her porridge. Keeping my fingers crossed that this gets better! Very thankful that she’s got her appetite back too. Here’s a picture of my sick Koala (ignore the Aunty looking me):
Entire July went by in a whim! We were so busy that the only place I was updating about me and Charley was on Instagram. We shifted into our new place and Charley celebrated her first birthday at our new place! Definitely what I’ve hope for for her first party! I’ve wanted a cosy place and private/ intimate setting and everything went exactly as planned. Thanks to my girls for helping out. Couldn’t have thanked them enough.
So what did we have for Charley’s big ONE?
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If I had the time, I would love to be able to bake my own dessert table. It is quite horrible how the real world is charging exorbitant prices just for cupcakes and cakes. Maybe next year, when my dear daughter learns not to cling on to my legs while I wash the dishes, I could bake something nice for her. I’ve went through quite a fair bit of pastry vendors to get to the chosen one. Many of these vendors are charging an overrated pricing from $500 onwards and I think that’s totally uncalled for, plus it’s way over my budget. I’ve even came across one that’s asking for $1k plus with just a few items. So I’ve went along with this newly established pastry shop called Edith patisserie. The cakes are done by Ethel and Shaun (I think?) and they are charging a fairly reasonable pricing for what I’m asking for. Moreover, their bakes are child-friendly (less sweet in my opinion) and their service is pretty good. Love their raspberry choco cake, praline tarts and passionfruit mango tarts! They tasted awesome!
Decors: I’ve only got a few decors up for the house. There is a photo bunting on one wall and pinwheels on the other side of the wall – for photo taking purposes. The craft paper are bought randomly at Daiso and another shop which I’ve forgotten the name but it’s somewhere at Wheelock.
Dessert table: The blue polka dot tablecloth is provided by Edith Patisserie and the table runner is bought from ikea. The transparent sealable jugs/ container are also from ikea. The floral trays are from Daiso and I’m currently using them to place fridge items so that the condensed water won’t form on the base. The ribbon for the containers are from Popular bookstore.
For real food: a dear friend SY helped to buy fried bee hoon and old Chang kee just in case some of my guest turns up hungry. She has bought 30 pax worth of beehoon and we ended up giving some away to the workers under my block. 30pax worth of beehoon was a lot! No joke! Some of our guest also left with beehoon takeaway for the night. My mum made two trays of curry and I’ve also had fried rice cooked for the occasion so we ended up with a lot of leftovers. Not forgetting almond and konnyaku desserts. Burped.
Drinks: I’ve made Ribena and detox lemon drink in the fridge. Quite amazed that my guest drank the lemon water because I didn’t plan that for the party, it was actually for personal consumption but I’ve no complaints about that! They probably needed to clean up abit from eating too much sweets! 😛 Another gf sponsored more packeted drinks and now they are sitting in my fridge! 😀
All the craft works are made with love by Charley’s BFF, misschua. Even the photos are taken by her. She’s not professional but if you would like to engage her services, do leave a comment/email!
Did I miss out anything? If you see something there that I’ve not mentioned and you would like to find out how we got it, please leave a comment and I will revert soonest! 🙂
With that, with a lot of love, Happy Birthday again my munchkin.
I finally understand why a lot of mummy bloggers blogged and stopped halfway. The same thing goes for my mummy friends. Sometimes it’s not about time commitment to go write about something and periodically post it. It is more of thinking about what to write that will keep our little small group of readers interested. Every time I sat in front of my laptop wanting to write about something, I stopped. Will what I write be interesting? Is it a good read, is anyone keen to read about what’s going in mine or Charley’s life, or if it’s helpful to anyone for that matter. I paused to rearrange my thoughts, I typed..and I erased all.
Yes, there are definitely those small groups of people who will google and accidentally chance upon my blog and read about something they wanted to find out. But I mean, if I dedicated a blog post to – Will eating blueberries with the skin on make your baby poop blueberry skins? I’m not sure if my other readers will be interested but the answer is yes anyway. Babies can’t really digest those skins but it is perfectly fine to give in my opinion. I just slice the berries to make it smaller and easier on the tummy.
This is randomly one of those nights.
And I promise to be more active when my wifi is here as we’ve recently shifted into our new place!
Someone commented that our place looked as if we have moved in for about 5 years. Now now, better than 10 years for a thought! With a baby, there will never be mess-free days in our house again but that’s totally fine with me. That’s what I define as organized mess.
More to come: Charley’s One Year Party
So we woke up when the baby woke – 7am, and we started going about preparing our stuff to go to the beach. It was a Saturday morning and when we took our first step out of the lift, we saw dark clouds and drizzles of rain. Imagine my disappointment! I’ve made her breakfast in the thermos so we could feed her there; we’ve even brought out a portion of newspapers for leisure reading! Undeterred, I told the husband that it looks like the rain is clearing and probably it wouldn’t be raining at Sembawang Park. Perhaps I’ve intoned with exasperation, perhaps I’m sounded desperate, the husband took on my words (even if he still believed this rain is for real) and we went up the bus. As the bus drives into the beach, we saw dark clouds looming all around the park area..and then it poured. We were on a bus ride drenched with rain. Since Charley had no idea what’s going on, she’s enjoying her bus ride and doing her thing. Thank goodness the bus was a loop service so it brought us back to where we boarded the train. ‘We shall go tomorrow if it’s not raining’ said the husband as we made our way home.
So Sunday came quickly and we repeat the preparation for beach day. This time quicker since everything we needed was already in the bag. Within 30 mins (which included washing up, cooking baby food, having a simple breakfast) we were on the bus, this time with sun rays!
So you’ve read about her baby schedule in my previous post? Her first trip to the beach was rather funny. She was due for her sleep and she wouldn’t explore much. We had to coax her for awhile before she finally touches the sand. The beach was not really clean since it was next to a shipyard and thus, Charley did not play with the water and we came off the beach to the playground instead. Scaredy cat sticking to her Daddy:
Remember I told you she was so sleepy? Yup, she wouldn’t finish up her breakfast and had yawned for the 100th time so we made our way home to let her sleep.
Charley ah, Charley. And that’s the end of our first beach experience as a family! To end off,
How was your first beach experience with your little one?
Ps. I wish they would make the beach cleaner.
Sorry for the lack of updates! I cannot tell you how happy I am to be blogging on my laptop again! These past few posts were written using my iPhone and it drives me a little crazy looking at a small screen. So what happened to my trusty macbook pro? This lao-kok-kok laptop of mine was stuck on its start up screen (yup I have been staring at a ‘quarter-eaten-logo’ and that’s it) and thereafter, the battery pack ‘exploded’ and my trackpad got ‘pregnant’ and my laptop wouldn’t close. So many and after, my happiness came back! 🙂 Okay, half that happiness since my photos were all erased and it came back brand new after being reformatted. Nonetheless, better than having to buy a new laptop!
I have been busy with planning for Charley’s one year old party and I’m very glad to have my dear friend’s help! Shopping is never easy with a kiddo! We are keeping things simple and economical so I will be blogging on that soon. I am also looking around to have pretty cakes for her birthday and if you have any recommendation, please drop me a msg!
Aside to that, Charley has her first beach experience and a second swim at the pool with her new float. More about that later..so my dear readers, stay with me!
Meanwhile, find updates on my Instagram! 🙂
Few weeks ago someone rolled her eyes at me and my daughter in the train. She was a working adult, carrying a twisted balloon which has drawings on it. It was a peak hour train ride at 6.00pm. Perhaps she was thinking that my poor baby was eyeing that balloon but really, Charley was just craving for some sort of attention. However, that’s not what I wanted to talk about today.
Call me a strict mum but I believe that whatever you guide/teach your child now it will form on their behavior and learning even as early as 8 months old. Why do I say that? Because babies have a really absorbent brain which is similar to a sponge now. Imagine a newly bought hard disk, or a shower sponge if you must. If you repeatedly curse in front of your baby, your baby will definitely pick that language up and use it back when they get more verbal.
So when others carry Charley and says the ‘wrong’ things I spare no effort to correct them immediately. For eg, one does not say gai-gai (shopping) to a baby when the baby is not going out. People asked me, ‘What’s the big deal? Your baby doesn’t understand now isn’t it?’ But well, that’s how they learn isn’t it? If you repeatedly tell a child gai-gai while he/she is seated then they will think that ‘gai-gai’ means sitting down. So yes, it is quite a big deal.
You do not shower too much attention over a small fall. All kiddos fall as they grows up. It is almost mission impossible not to fall as they grow but of course, one does not purposely let a baby fall. You know that children craves for attention. You don’t tell a kid that the floor is naughty when they fall or repeatedly ask where they knock themselves at because they are going to say everywhere hurts because you kept asking them continuously. Imagine your child all grown up and blaming it on the floor at 10 years old. Instead of showering too much of the wrong attention, just let the child know that it is okay to fall. You know how some kids run towards their parents, slipped and fall, get back on their own feet and smile at their parents? That’s the kind of children I would like to nurture.
In life, we cannot determine when’s our next fall but at least we know that we can get right back up on our own feet without anyone’s help. Doesn’t need anyone to tell you things are okay because you are okay on your own. You will be independent. You will learn to be more careful. Yes, it is painful to fall but it is really no big deal.
Little Pockets Full 