She's really growing up :)

In the past, Candra used to not sit still through story-telling at bedtime. She would be distracted and reaching out for the book instead of listening attentively. But she's been different since the last 2 story-telling sessions. I think she loves to hear her daddy read stories to her. Her daddy's really good at animating the stories... making funny sounds and faces to match the storyline... she's been listening and watching him attentively lately :) Woah!! She's growing up...

I have decided that Daddy should do more of that.. cos I am really quite lousy as compared to him.. I am quite a boring story-teller I think.. haha! I am so glad he can do that well ..really well. hee :p

Silly but effective exercise to recommend :)

Haha! Guess what! Hubby and I came up with a creative idea :)

We have been trying so hard to fit regular exercise into our lifestyle. Hubby's been wanting to play tennis regularly... we both feel that regular jogging's out for us....we just can't keep up with that. Swimming's good.. but somehow, we can't keep that regular too. Hai...we've been feeling quite desperate! With Candra in our life now, exercising regularly is just not as easy as before.

We decided to do something somewhat stupid and crazy in order to sweat it out... we decided to DANCE!!!! We danced to a christian CD and yanyan's kid's praise CD :)...in our bedroom! We looked quite silly definitely.. imagine the 2 of us just going crazy...dancing and singing. Hubby tried to dance to this kids' song with a lot of alphabets..it's so hard trying to form the alphabets with our bodies in such a short time! hahahahahaha!

Wow.. it was really effective. We did not need to step out of the house.. and we had fun. If you don't mind being a little silly and crazy, I would strongly recommend this form of exercise :) Think I am really going to do that more often.. Not sure about hubby...afterall, he is not as "sot" (crazy) as me.

Bedtime routine

Hmm...think bedtime routines do work.

This is what we usually do with Candra:

Evening stroll --> nursing --> changing into pyjamas --> bible story --> bedtime prayer --> into the baby cot :)

Candra's been getting better at expecting the next event....today, I thought she looked really tired and wanted to sleep, so I decided to skip the storytelling and put her into the cot....woooo...she cried so badly. I had to pick her up to comfort her and then I picked up the story book. Immediately, she stopped crying and smiled and quietly sat through the story :) After that, I put her in the cot, expecting her to cry a little but she didn't.. and yup, she went off to sleep on her own after that.

The power of bedtime routines. Babies like Candra do thrive on routines. Guess they like to know what to expect and when you disrupt their routines unnecessarily, they will not hesitate to show you their displeasure. Children probably learn best through consistency, consistency in routines, consistency in training methods, consistency in instructions etc.

She can crawl :)

Candra's been crawling.. since she turned 7 months old a few days back.

Time really flies.

It's fun seeing how she grows from one stage to another.

It's going to get more tiring for all of us though.. cos now we really got to keep our eyes on her all the time. :)

She woke up late! :)

Candra woke up at 710am this morning!!!!! What a miracle!

It's been a long time since she woke up so late....For quite a while, she woke up at 530AM (sometimes 430AM) !!..then recently she improved, 630AM.. :) I thought she'll never do 7AM again but she did this morning.

I have sort of come to terms with the fact that this little kiddo does not need that much sleep. Considering she can stay awake for up to 6 hours without feeling really tired or being really cranky... maybe she just doesn't need that much sleep. I've not tried to drop her naps cos that doesn't seem to work for her.

I've been hoping she'll wake up later cos we only pick her up at 745am for her first feed. When she wakes up really early, she ends up playing by herself in the baby cot for a SUPER long time.

Now I hope she wakes up slightly later during church camp, cos we'll be sleeping with her in 1 room and she might just decide to make loads of noise to wake us up early in the morning.

Back to primary school :)

Kind brother JR gave me some art materials so I can play with them at home :) It's been a while since I just painted for fun. Decided to just do that one night...:) felt I returned to primary school art class haha! So fun!

:) and :(

Currently feeling upset and trying to get over a recent blow-up with someone really close to me. It's sad that the differences in our values, outlook of life, worldview and life goals have created such a huge rift between us. And things will only change when either of us change (but the truth is I am not going to and I can't). It's tough having to face such a reality with someone close to your heart... but all I can do is to hope and pray for her. Hope I can get over it soon... hope she gets over it too.

On a lighter note, I've been bringing Candra along to join the JYF Bible Reading Camp. It's been really encouraging watching the JYFers diligently persevere through the bible reading sessions. I have been enjoying myself tremendously and thankfully, Candra has been able to take her naps in church :) It's tougher now, having to bring Candra and her barang barang along but so far, every attempt has been worthwhile. It's my hope that the JYFers will continue to persevere in the next 2 weeks and cover more ground :)

Candra's trying to crawl... and I am glad she's learning to behave herself on her highchair. She's shown us that she is capable of learning to heed our instructions. When we say "no" to her to stop her from touching and playing with things such as our spectacles, tissue boxes etc, she will very often just obey and turn to something else. We see her learning to control herself and not put her fingers into her mouth while having her meal and that's really sweet. I guess children can learn to exercise self-control through consistent training and reminders.

She starting to blow bubbles with her saliva again during different times in a day though....hmm...that's a difficult one and we are hoping she will not develop a bad habit of doing so. We managed to get her some new toys! Yeah! Finally.. and she's sort of resumed her playpen time. The new toys have sparked some new playtime interest.

She's still as lovable as ever.. :)

Separation anxiety? Thoughts on motherhood..

Candra's been doing fine for her playpen time for quite a while...but over the past few days, she's been rather clingy. She's less willing to play by herself. She cries when we walk away from her or leave her for a short moment...maybe she's going through what some people call "separation anxiety" and she's probably discovering more about her individuality. She's a lot more interactive now and more aware of her surroundings. She knows that sitting in the stroller or the carrier means it's time to go outdoors. She gets pretty excited when she sees her food etc.

Anyway, I have been thinking quite a bit about what it means to be a mother lately. Honestly, I admire those mothers who are stay-at-home mums. I don't think I can do that at this stage. On the 2 weekdays that I am at home with Candra each week, I find myself wanting to bring her out a lot and not wanting to just stay at home. I find myself feeling restless rather easily too. To a certain extent, I am thankful for the part-time arrangement during this season. The current arrangement provides me with the space to realise more about myself and what it means to be a mother. And I have come to discover that being a stay-at-home mum's not an easy task, especially for someone like me. I think it's got to do with my upbringing. I have been taught to be driven all my life, too driven perhaps. Thankfully God has stripped me off that driven-ness quite a bit over the past few years but I know there's still quite a lot that He has to do in me. I am really glad that God has blessed me with this arrangement and with the help of R at home during this season. This helps me to maintain my sanity for now so that I can be in a healthier state to bring Candra up. A mother must first be emotionally healthy and happy in order to give her child the best.

I have also come to realise that taking care a child is very physically demanding... and my body's condition is really not that great. I am trying very hard to make more adjustments to my lifestyle, eating habits etc. so that I will be better able to take care of Candra... but for now, I am thankful that I have the help of R at home...Without her help, I really don't think I can cope. Well, I've been telling myself lately to buck up when it comes to my physical health, because the family needs me. A mother must first take good care of herself before she can take care of her children.

To all the stay-at-home mums out there, keep it up! You are really amazing for being able to give to your children like that. :)

Well, both hubby and I feel really blessed... for we know that God has and is still providing for all our needs. He knows us best. We thank God for providing us with jobs which allow us to leave on the dot and stay at home on weekends so that we can enjoy more family time. We thank God for providing us with a wonderful roof over our heads. Considering the crazy HDB prices since 2007, we are thankful that God blessed us with this flat in 2006. We also thank God for blessing us with the help of R at home, she's been a wonderful help to our family. We are just so thankful. :)