3 exciting purchases

Hubby and I have been really excited about 3 recent online purchases we have made.

1. The GLO bible

2. God Provides

3. NIV Audio Bible

We received the "God Provides" set...and it's a really amazing production!

my little girl

Silly me!

I have this weird method of "saving $". Basically, when I am purchasing an item, I will just look at the various brands and pick the one which is the cheapest. This, I realised yesterday during grocery shopping with hubby, that it is super silly to do so. Why? Because I totally forget to take into account quantity and quality differences. Basically, instead of going for the cheapest, I should be thinking of getting something value for $.

Hubby and I did a silly thing yesterday. We went to GIANT supermarket to do some shopping, thinking we were getting some cheaper stuff. haha!! We totally forgot to take into account our transport charges and time taken. We ended up expending so much energy taking the bus there and back (with so many things on our hands) but not really achieving much cost savings. (We even had the silly thought of taking a cab back, can you believe it!) haha! We laughed at ourselves after the whole trip and decided to do ALL grocery shopping right at our area in future.

But well.. we still had a great time shopping at GIANT and laughing at our own silly jokes and behaviour! :) So that made up for it.

Lessons learnt:

(1) Value for $ is more important than going for the cheapest item on the rack!

(2) Always take into account transport charges, time and energy expended while thinking of cost savings.

Boy and Girl

PLEASE CLICK ON PICTURE!

Updates on our little one :)

Candra's turning 6 months old soon :)

Now that she's started taking solids, her highchair training's started too haha :). We got to keep her hands off her mouth, off the spoon and cup...and the more challenging one is to stop her from blowing bubbles with her food and saliva. Had to send her into the babycot twice during a meal cos she just kept blowing bubbles despite being told repeatedly not to do so. She's been behaving quite well on the highchair over the past few days and we are really thankful for that. She's also making less of a mess on the highchair for now. We shall see how things go... As a parent, I am learning not to giggle at her "super cute but unacceptable behaviors" haha!

Her daddy's on leave today and he brought her to the swimming pool for the first time. :) Someone gave her a set of swimming costume as a gift and she looks super cute in it.... She used her baby float for the first time too... but hmm...daddy thinks she is going to outgrow both the swimming costume and the float in a month's time... ooops! She apparently loved the pool... at least her first experience was positive :) Thank God! We'll be trying to bring her there more often so that she gets accustomed to the pool experience.

Parenting's an enjoyable journey... and it's really wonderful to see Candra enjoying herself everyday :)

Yeah! She recognises me!

Haha! Candra recognises me!!!

I know.. many people would respond with a "duh, you are her mommy!"..

Honestly, I have been paranoid about it since her birth... I keep wondering, "Does Candra really know who her mummy is? Will Candra be attached to me? etc"...

Only recently, she's started to show us that she recognises who her primary caretakers are.. and more importantly, she knows her mommy!!! :) yippeee! She'll always smile when she sees me....she'll cry when I walk away...she'll want me to carry her instead of some other people (including her daddy..oops!).

It's a nice feeling... :) Though hubby warned me today, jokingly, that I got to start preparing myself for that..haha...Candra's gonna need me a lot more than before. But yup. guess that's what being a mummy is about :) and I am so glad that hubby was not jealous today when Candra preferred me to him haha!

Please don't misunderstand, I am not being possessive here haha! I am just beginning to understand why people always say that a mommy shares a special bond with her child. :)

What are we up to lately? :p

Hmm... Candra woke up at 5am again today! We let her wear GIANT brand diapers to sleep again to see if that's the cause of her early wakings...indeed, she woke up at 5am! We will try HUGGIES ULTRA again and see if she sleeps better. If she does, then it could be a diaper problem.

Our family's now trying the following:

1. Less sugar

2. Less salt

3. More exercise

4. Less meat

5. Weekly coffee enema and juicing regime

6. Reusing and recycling

I have been advised that my runny and sneezy nose problem could be due to food allergies. So yup, I got to be off all dairy and gluten products.. No more cheese, cheesecake, chocolates, ice-cream, milk etc!!!

I hope to minimise the use of plastic/styrofoam takeaway boxes... the world's dying day by day. Will be bringing my own utensils to work...plus my own lunch box to pack takeaway food from the foodcourts/hawker centres. Join me in cutting the use of all these environmentally unfriendly products :)

Started solids and playpen time :)

We started Candra on rice cereal a few days back cos we thought it might be time for her to get started. We started thinking about solids when she started to wake up really early in the morning at about 4am EVERYDAY. She would wake up and play all the way up till 10am before going down for her first nap. She did that for about 2 weeks before we decided to try solids. Initially, we thought the super early wakings might be due to an increasing awareness and alertness to her surroundings...but it lasted for far too long. Since she looked like she really wanted to start having our food..we thought it's probably fine to start her at 5 months.

Ever since we started giving her rice cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner, she's been sleeping till 7am in the morning...back to normal. I'm wondering whether her early wakings were really due to her need for solids :). Anyway, she's been feeding fine.. enjoying each meal. Thankfully she finishes her milk before taking the solids so that ensures that she takes in the essential nutrients from milk.

Lately, she's been rather cranky on some days...we started her playpen time (20-30mins, twice a day)...on some days she would really enjoy playing on her own in there..on some days, she would be crying off and on, even when she's carried. She wouldn't want to play with anything sometimes. Maybe she's teething? But we've been waiting and we don't see any tooth coming out yet....hmm....cranky cranky.

As I spend time with her...I understand why people say that mothers will very quickly forget the labour pains and look forward to having a next one :) hehe.

Be strong in Him

Lately, I have been thinking quite a bit. (Some people would say that that's really normal for me, cos I think a lot most of time :p)

I have come to realise that I have taken on more roles in life...

1. Child of my aging parents

2. Wife of my hubby

3. Mother of Candra (and hopefully more to come :p)

4. Employee at work

5. Employer to my domestic helper

5. Leader in church

6. Mentor to some

7. Friend/sister

(might have missed out some...hee :p)

With age comes more responsibilities I guess... (hmm...why do I speak as if I am growing super old..haha), more issues to handle, more decisions to make (wisely, hopefully!), more challenges and difficulties to overcome etc. Was rather down for while...but thankfully, God's been giving me strength to overcome everything and to continue pressing on in Him with faith. Nothing's too difficult for Him and I know I can count on Him fully for the road ahead. I am really thankful for the support I have been receiving from some sisters through their prayers for me.

It's been great watching Candra grow up day by day...family time's been very enjoyable and enriching for us. Hubby and I still enjoy our moments together as a couple, but Candra's been such a joy to us and we are now experiencing a new dimension of our marriage :) Candra's indeed a blessing from God and she is super adorable! :)

As we think about the Candra's future in her own generation, we are sometimes filled with worries and fears because of the increasing darkness out there. Someone said that in her time, the darkness will be darker and therefore the lights must shine brighter. We have been constantly reminded of our heavy responsibilities as her parents i.e. to bring her up in the way of the Lord. Ultimately, God's the one who determines her path and guards her life for His own glory. Our simple prayer for her is that she will live to love God, fear God, serve God and trust God with all her heart and most importantly, to "shine" for Him (as her name suggests :p).

Not easy stuff

I am currently facing some difficult stuff in 2 important areas of my life.

I guess as we grow older and mature, issues which we have to handle become more complexed and difficult.

People relations are no longer as straightforward and easy...maybe that's why we always appreciate the innocence of a child.

Parents are growing older and with that new realisations about my responsibility as a child etc...

I need God to show me the way in the midst of all these...and learn to accept that decisions are just not as easy to make nowadays.

Some thoughts on sleep training again

I just watched a few videos on this topic of sleep training.

I have been wondering to myself, why do babies cry when they are put into their cribs awake? Why can't they just fall asleep when they are tired? (I used to ask Candra, "Why don't you just fall asleep since you are tired?")

I am thinking...well, just as adults experience some "down-time" before actually going to sleep (which explains the tossing and turning at times to get comfortable), babies probably experience the same. They don't just knock out all the time. Maybe they will "knockout" when they are really young (eg. in the first month) or tired...but as they grow older and become more alert, they start to become more aware of the "down-time".

So how do they spend their "down-time"? Other than crying, they can be nursed, rocked, soothed with props, patted etc. The question is, can they learn to fall asleep on their own like adults? The sleep training experts would say, yes they can.

People who advocate sleep training for children believe that sleeping is a skill and babies are capable of learning the skill if they are given the opportunity to do so. The crying comes because they are learning to self-sooth and are finding their own ways to fall asleep. Once they have learnt it...they will know how to spend the "down-time" on their own without their parents' help and without crying.

Sleep training is an interesting and controversial topic for parents to explore I believe. As with all training, it's definitely uncomfortable for both the parents and the child for a season...but there will be benefits to be reaped in the long run I suppose.