Candra the "Handibabe"

An answer that sent us flipping :p

A few days back, hubby asked Candra this question:

"Candra, who is at the centre of our family?"

Without hesitation, Candra, using her finger, pointed to her nose and said: "YANYAN! (that's her name in Chinese)"

Well, both of us flipped at what we heard!!!!!!!! We weren't expecting an answer actually because we thought she probably would not understand the question and usually, when she did not understand, she would just keep quiet and give us a puzzled look. Actually, hubby did not intend to receive an answer too but was just hoping to teach her about an important truth.

To our surprise, she gave such a self-centred answer.. hahahaha! And really, when she answered, it was without hesitation and with great confidence. Can you believe it?

Well, we had to correct her immediately of course... :) and we taught her that God is at the centre of our family.

Now, whenever we ask her the same question, she would say: "God" but pronounced as a very short "GOG" haha!

Little girl of prayer

Candra's been into 'praying' recently. :P

She often requests that I pray for her papa and didi especially.

She communicates her request by signing the word "pray", followed by saying either "papa" or "didi".

She's just such a sweet darling... though I do feel jealous that she prays for papa and didi more than for mama haha!

She's been such a reminder to me of the importance of prayer.

Yes.. we should be praying continually... talking to God about everything.. nothing is too small in His eyes.

And I just want to thank God for answering my prayer just now.... my prayer that Candra would let me brush her little teeth properly :)

Day 5 without helper :)

My domestic helper returned to her hometown for a week last friday.. :)

Just before she left, I was a little anxious.. wondering whether I would be able to cope on my own.

Thankfully, I have been enjoying myself quite a bit. Of course, I am grateful for all the help that's coming from my elder sis who's taking some leave from work to babysit Candra while I go back to office for some half days... and today, I had the help of my mother-in-law.

The cooking, washing, cleaning etc. can be tough at times because of my big tummy.. but I do find myself enjoying that, surprisingly.. haha.. :) And of course, hubby has been a great help!

Well...I am not too sure when the decision to stay at home will be made.. but I guess it will happen at some point.. :) And I am glad the experience these few days has been rather positive.....haha!

My beautiful girl

Candra's a sweet little darling :) I want to blog about her at this phase of her life before she moves on to yet another phase.

She's learnt gratefulness in that she signs "Thank you" voluntarily now :) In the past, we had to prompt her all the time, as part of the training process... nowadays, we find her signing that to people voluntarily. That's so encouraging, we feel.

Apart from her "Thank you"s, Candra has also learnt the concept of "Sharing". We taught her how to sign share and started out teaching her to share her food, toys etc. with others. These days, when we talk to her about her little brother who is arriving soon, she will sign "Share" and point to my tummy.. cos we have been telling her that she will need to share her food and toys with him :) But of course, she's learnt the concept so well that when she sees us with food, she will point to us and sign "Share" too..hehehe... And more often than not, we will feel obligated to share some with her to set some good example. :P

I love those times when she just voluntarily hugs my tummy and kisses her baby brother. Sometimes, she does that first thing in the morning when I pick her up from her baby cot (before even calling me or saying hi to me)...Oh, what a lovely sister. She's learnt that 'didi' is a baby..so she points to my tummy whenever she sees a little baby. Sometimes, when she's eating or drinking her milk, she would offer her food/milk to my tummy, for her little brother.... and I got to pretend to feed him too :P We hope she will really grow to love her brother when he arrives...

Although she's also been asserting herself and expressing anger more lately... guess that's part of the discovery of self....we still enjoy her tremendously and are ever so encouraged that she's kind at heart.

During dinner just now, she decided to play the "Praying game" I think :p It first started out with me saying, "Candra, let's pray for daddy who is having his Greek exam". After the 1st prayer, she just kept prompting me to do it again and again and again. I think we ended up praying for daddy about 5 to 6 times. After that, she decided to pray for her little brother instead. And again, we prayed for him maybe 3 to 4 times cos she just kept wanting to do that. The amazing thing was, I felt 'didi' kick inside me when we prayed for him. :) Though that to Candra might have been a small game, deep in my heart, I prayed that she will grow to love praying to God... praying all the time...many many times, for many many people :p.

I love to see how God's forming character in her.. even at such a young age and it's my prayer that she will grow up to become a young lady with a beautiful heart.

The miracle involving 2 labrador retrievers :)

We experienced a miracle from God and we thought we should this testimony. It's a story about 2 lost labrador retrievers :)

Last friday, my sister (who is a super big dog lover by the way) found 2 labrador retrievers around their estate.. basically, they were somewhat lost.

Well, my sis, being a dog lover couldn't have left them unattended so she brought them home, to join our other dog Farnia!

We prayed to God to help us locate their owners. My sis tried to contact the SPCA and AVA, put up posters around the estate, go around asking neighbours whether they had seen the dogs etc... but to no avail.

Then I told my sis, "Jie, I have got a huge feeling that these dogs come from pretty far away, that's why there hasn't been any activity from their owners in our estate."

Traits of the 2 dogs:

1. Super cute

2. Super friendly

3. Look like brothers cos they took really good care of each other, taking turns to have their food and drinks, moving around everywhere together

4. Can't separate them (sis brought one out to find their owners and the other one FREAKED OUT!)

5. One's slightly bigger than the other and darker coloured than the other

6. Wore chains and not collars

Well...Till Sunday, we had no news whatsoever. We were contemplating putting up the dogs for adoption at some point (which would mean separating them probably), or keeping them at home permanently.

One monday morning, while Candra and I were having her usual devotion time, the topic was on prayers and her learning lesson was that God hears and answers prayers. So well, we prayed again, "God, please help the doggies find them papa and mama!"

GUESS WHAT! On monday afternoon, my sis called and said, "WE FOUND THE OWNERS!"

And I was wondering how.... you know how?

My sis decided on sunday night to put up on her facebook that she found 2 labradors... amazingly, an acquaintance who had my sis on her facebook replied and said that she had a friend who just recently posted that she lost her 2 labradors!!!!!BINGO! So that's how my sis managed to get in touch with the owners.

Checked with them the traits of the dogs.. and yup, all matched.. especially the part where they said, "they are brothers who grew up together and cannot be separated at all cost!"

And well.. I was right, they came from far away! HOLLAND ROAD.. travelled all the way to Farrer and then to Coronation.... that's how they got lost.

I was like "WOW! GOD IS AMAZING!"

First of all, He answered our prayers.. secondly, it just shows that He cares for the doggies and had everything planned out when He knew they were going to get lost.

If the dogs weren't found by my sister, they may not find their original home cos the link with owners was established through a friend of my sis.

Basically, God knew these 2 naughty dogs were running out.. and planned that they be found by my sis, who would then locate the owners through FACEBOOK!!!!

God really cares...doesn't He?

And I shared this story with Candra to remind her that God really hears and answers our prayers :)

Very encouraged :)

Since Candra was young, we tried to incorporate into her routine playtime on her own within certain boundaries. When she was still small and comfortable in the playpen, we called that "Playpen time". Basically, that's a 30mins play slot with her toys in the playpen.

At about15 months, we decided to let her upgrade to "Roomtime" for a few reasons. She was getting more mobile and walking around a lot more. She was growing bigger and taller thus making the playpen slightly more uncomfortable for her. She also needed more toys to keep her occupied within the 30mins and so we needed to give her more space. So her bedroom also became her playroom.

For a start, we used the playpen to block the room to create the boundaries. With that playpen there, she's not able to move out of the room at all. Today, I just felt prompted to move on further, to remove the playpen as a barrier and see if she could be trained to stay in the room, with doors opened. I was actually expecting quite a bit of wrestling with her... cos she's required to exercised more self-control with the removal of the barrier. She could just step out anytime if she wanted to actually.

She tried initially to test whether she could just let her little feet step out of the room...I had to repeat the same instruction about three to four times to keep her staying within the boundaries of the room. There was some struggle there on her part. After about 5 mins into her play time, she stood right at the door, looked at me sitting in the living room and cried. But of course, I had to insist that Roomtime was not over and that she had to stay in there until I said she could come out. She walked back in. To my surprise, for the rest of the time, she just stayed inside with the doors wide opened.

I thought that was quite amazing.. cos that was really beyond my expectations. Of course, I know there will be some challenging days definitely, but I am very encouraged to see my little girl growing in this manner. :)

I decided to reward her after the half an hour with a banana and her favourite Vitamin C tablet! hehe! :p

Coming up next would be potty training at some point... and then moving her from crib to bed.. :)

Toddler challenges

My girl is no longer a baby...but a toddler.

Lately, her temperament hasn't been the easiest to handle. It doesn't help that I am not feeling fantastic physically as well. God's really stretching my patience and teaching me to rely on Him a lot more.

We are wondering whether it could be because she is teething, or it's just because she's growing up. Actually, I am thinking... maybe it's because she's growing to realise her independence as a person.

She wants to feed herself, drink from her cup/bottle by herself, sometimes she wants to sit on our chairs instead of her own highchair, she expresses more displeasure when we insist on keeping her routine, she also reacts a lot more to our "Nos" nowadays, sometimes she reacts by letting out a scream of frustration or she just throws the object in her hands. She's also gotten more picky when it comes to food. Yet, there are times when she is a lot more clingy and expresses greater dependency.. especially towards me. Maybe she herself is going through a confusing phase (that's what I read from a website). The confusion between her need to be independent and at the same time dependent.

Because she is now learning to assert herself more, I feel challenged to learn how to handle the balance between discipline, obedience and autonomy. It's not easy. For example, when she chooses to be picky with her food, how do I on the one hand respect her autonomy and at the same time ensure she's getting sufficient nutrition? When she's testing her limits when it comes to her routine, how do I on the one hand understand her need to be guided to choose correctly as an individual and at the same time, teach her the need to adhere to boundaries set for her.

It's really not easy.. I am thankful a sister, in her SMS to me reminded me not to be discouraged because she's just going through a new phase in growth. That set me thinking whether I am handling the situation well or making things worse as a result of my own frustrations and expectations.

I hope to find out more about how to handle toddlers in this phase well... parenting is definitely not an easy task. We can of course choose an easier way out which is to just give in to her all the time and avoid tantrums, but that's probably not a wise thing to do because we, as parents still have the responsibility to guide, instruct and train.

"O Lord, please grant me the wisdom to know how to parent her as she grows through this phase and above all, fill me with love, patience and kindness no matter how difficult the situation may be, in Jesus' name I pray, Amen~!"

Candra at 17 months :)

This little girl has been feeding herself for slightly over a week :)

She does a pretty good job... doesn't really make a mess. Somehow, she knows that she needs to stay close to the plate/bowl.. and she has good control over the spoon! Honestly, I did not expect her to be able to feed herself that quickly...:) Now mealtimes are much more convenient for all of us.

She's more than glad to feed herself......why? Because she finds us too slow most of the time when we are feeding her. Now that she can feed herself, she can control how much food goes into her mouth and how quickly... being such a foodie, that's the best! :p hehe

Thankfully, uncle KS bought her Sesame Street bibs :) She doesn't usually like to wear bibs, but because of the Sesame Street babies series, from Monday to Sunday... She willingly puts them on now :) And she loves to do her version of the "elmo song" when she puts the bib on.

Candra has also just learnt to swim :) Surviving with just hand floats on her arms now... she can move around the pool unsupported by anyone! That's amazing to me.......She's not 1.5years old yet. I think we made a good decision to start her immediately on the hand floats (with some support from us of course). Actually, it all happened last saturday when my dad insisted that we stopped supporting her during her swim. Well, we tried, we let go..and there she was...enjoying herself in the pool. Now she prefers to be swimming on her own.

Auntie K once commented that this girl's like a little fish............I think so too. She has absolutely no fear of water. :)

Somewhat heavy hearted..

A few pieces of news over the weekend and this morning left me feeling a little heavy hearted today.

Of course, our dear mother of Singapore passed away. It's sweet reading the stories about their long-lasting marriage... It's beautiful seeing how they walked each other through so many years of their lives...and of course..."till death do us part" now takes on a deeper meaning for me. My heart goes out to her family members..especially our dear Mr Lee.

Next, the news about the young Singaporean undergraduate at Cambridge, who died from an accident in London. Young girl, with a very bright future... just gone like that. I feel so sorry for a parents and her family members. I can imagine how devastated they must be feeling now. Being a parent now and putting myself in their shoes, I can just imagine how horrible this tragedy must be for them.

At sunday service, Rev Chua shared about a widow and two young boys who just lost their father. They are only 14 and 12 respectively. Still young... it's been traumatic for the whole family I believe. And now they are left to fend for themselves, face the financial pressures alone etc. It's saddening.. thankfully, brothers and sisters in church are giving to them in various ways... hoping this would ease their troubles slightly.

And this morning, another piece of sad news, a fellow lawyer (whom many people saw looking completely fine and well last friday) suddenly died of a heart attack over the weekend, at the age of 41, leaving a widow and three young children. It just happened so suddenly... no one expected that at all.. and now the children and his wife are left grieving over this sudden loss. I heard that his girl has been crying non-stop.

It's a season of grieving it seems.....and these pieces of sad news just caused me and many others to suddenly realise the fragility of life. None of us can predict our future. On one day, we may be enjoying all that we have in life, the next moment, we may just leave this world and our loved ones.

Every single day is to be cherished... and I have been reminded that ultimately, our hope rests in God and in eternity with Him. We should never take it for granted that our family members and friends will always be around us or that we will be around them. Never. And we should cherish every opportunity to share the truth and love of God...

Are we taking our lives for granted? Are we taking each day and moment for granted? Are we living the lives we should live? Are we so caught up in our own daily enjoyments/pains that we fail to realise that many around us have real needs and ultimately, a real need to connect with their Creator God?

How are we living really?

Live without regrets......

Life is beautiful :)

Although I had a bad night in terms of sleep and I am physically feeling super tired today... my day started with lots of thanksgiving. I am thankful for a few things:

1. Hubby's coping pretty well with his part-time studies although he has got loads of homework to do. I am thankful that he has been enjoying the learning process despite the difficulties which come along with that. I try to help where I can and last night, I told him, "Why do I feel like I am going through theological training as well? :)" heehee... guess I am half a student too.

2. Candra's been maturing. She now seems to understand the concept of "work". She hardly whines now when we leave for work, instead, she can sign happily "work" when we ask her, "where is daddy and mummy going to?" And she receives us happily when we return. On weekends, she would sign "no work" or shake her head when we ask her, "Is daddy/mummy working today?" Yesterday, when she wanted me to carry her, I tried to explain to her that I would experience some discomfort when I carried her because of the weight...and after hearing my explanation, she gladly turned to daddy and asked him to carry her instead. My little girl understands.. :) Although she's been more clingy lately.. I think that's just part and parcel of facing the new reality of another baby. Whenever she points to the baby in my tummy, she would also point to our neighbours' place (3 month old boy next door :p). All these show that she's growing in her understanding of life and what goes on around her.

3. On the work front, I am still ever so grateful for the part-time arrangement. Although some stress is inevitable at times, I would say that generally the hours, workload and stress levels are still manageable. The arrangement has given me so much more time with Candra and I really appreciate that. My domestic helper and I have recently come up with Candra's new timetable so as to inject more order into our daily lives.. :) I am hoping things will work out well.

4. God recently sent me a marvellous book!!!!! I chanced upon it in my sister's cupboard last saturday because I was feeling bored and wanted to read something. Amazingly, the contents of the book just speak so well into my situation right now. I have been feeling rather bored about my Christian life and have been thinking more about evangelism and what I have been doing with the time God has given me. Through God's amazing arrangement, he led me to this book which just resonates with a lot of thoughts which have been going through my mind lately... when I started reading it, I could not stop! :) haha. I love it when God sends such books into my life. He has done that many many times... and I know He will continue to do so. Nothing beats reading a book which is so timely! (Book review on this blog should come pretty soon!)

5. Yeah! Hubby managed to get zoo passes as part of his staff benefits! So off to the zoo tomorrow with little Candra and probably some friends :) I am so looking forward to that!

All things work for our good :)

Thank God!

The song presentation went pretty ok in church.

Though I really freaked out when the performance was about to start. Reminded me of all the violin performances and exams I had in the past (more than 16 years ago)...I came to realise that I really underperform under stress :)

God did another miracle for me yesterday. Right before the service started, the E string on my violin just went completely out of tune by itself... scary.......maybe it was the temperature in the room or just the violin itself... I prayed, "God, please please please keep the violin in tune until after the performance." And of course, God really kept the violin in tune all the way until.......shortly after the performance, the E string went completely out of tune AGAIN!! But to me, God's grace was so evident :p He heard and answered my prayer so that I could at least play an "in-tune violin" (that was super important because I already had a tendency to go off-tune, haha).

Though I did not perform as well as I hoped to, I was glad yesterday's playing was a performance unto the Lord. That's so different from all my performances in the past. There was some stress still, but ultimately, I could really enjoy because I was playing by God's grace and strength. And although the playing fell short of my own expectations eventually, I could tell myself that God loved that :)

As I look back on all the unpleasant experiences in those years of learning...the stress, the discipline etc, I am glad God healed me from them all and left me with a skill that I now possess for a lifetime. I love the music the violin produces. And I thank God that despite of the pain in the past, I was given an opportunity to pick up this instrument....:) All things indeed work for the good of us.

God can use every unpleasant experience in our lives ultimately for His glory and for our good.

I am just so thankful......And I can't wait to get my own violin again!

Perfect timing

Brought Candra out to meet Aunt K and little Q :) We went to Bras Basah to get some kids' books and thereafter had a great lunch at Seah Street Deli.

Well, Candra happily decided to skip her first nap and lasted all the way till after lunch.. (I know she is dropping this first nap soon.. but I was still hoping she would at least sleep for a little while).

Being the worried me, I was worried that if she skipped her 1st nap, her napping schedule for the whole day would be messed up. And I hoped she would only start to nap when we got home cos that would then mean an undisrupted long nap.. but guess what, she started to nap immediately after lunch, on our way home. :(

When I got home, I tried my best to transfer her out from the stroller onto my bed and I gave her air-con... She woke up.. but thankfully, maybe because the conditions were really conducive, she decided to continue with her nap.. :)

The best part was this, she napped for another 2.5 full hours at home.....:) And that to me was a miracle from God. A sister came over this afternoon to catch up.. and that long nap really gave me the time to spend with her. We ended up having a long stretch of time to share and catch up and I enjoyed that meaningful connection today.

I felt that God really knew that we needed that time and so He caused Candra to take that long nap....(which she might not have had cos she usually wakes up from all forms of disruption).

He is amazing......:)

Candra at 16.5 months

This little girl never fails to amaze and amuse us...these are some things that she can do now...

1. Yesterday, my domestic helper asked her to help retrieve her cup so that she could drink some water, little Candra walked into the kitchen, got Aunt R's ceramic cup, and brought it over to her carefully...:)

2. Last weekend, this little girl kept signing, "No" and "Work" together, while she was with mummy and daddy, and she smiled each time she did so.... on the weekdays, when we asked where daddy/mummy was leaving to, she would sign "work" :p

3. One day, after daddy stepped out of the house for work, she rushed to daddy's bag (which he intentionally left behind at home) and kept pointing to it and tried to tell me that daddy forgot his bag. When I told her that daddy was returning from work soon (in the evening), she rushed to daddy's bag and pointed to it again... :) When daddy finally got home, the first thing she did was to go to daddy's bag and pulled it over to daddy..and she, in her own words, told daddy that he forgot his bag :p So sweet........

My girl is growing, growing and growing.. :)

After 15 long years...

After 15 long years, I am finally getting back to playing that instrument...

I feel so excited... so excited that the notes kept running in my head last night.

Why the excitement? I wonder....

I guess deep down, despite the traumatic experiences related to that instrument in the past, I do have a passion for the playing of it. I love the sound it produces.

It's been a long time since I felt energised by something I loved to do...I don't even think playing the piano invokes that kind of response from me.

Feel like practising over and over and over again...

A pity I am not playing on my own instrument but a borrowed one... hmm...contemplating buying a new on for myself some time in future.. and getting in touch with my teacher whom I lost touch with many years ago. :)

Memories...

Bedtime crying

Candra's been crying more lately at bedtime.

She just resists going to bed and sometimes cuddle me like a koala bear.

She cried very badly tonight, although she was already very tired (after having only napped 20mins for the whole day because of the zoo outing). For a while, I thought should could be suffering from a tummy ache because the crying was so bad. I felt bad leaving her in the cot to cry. So I switched on the air con and picked her up. But she continued crying super loudly. I discovered that it was not a tummy ache when I asked her, "Candra, you don't want to sleep huh?" and she nodded her head.

No matter what I said or did, she just did not want to stop crying. When I asked her, "Candra, do you want to be a good girl?", she shook her head vigorously each time I asked her that. Eventually, I cradled her in my arms and prayed aloud, "Oh Lord, Candra's struggling with bedtime, please teach her that there's a time for everything and that she needs to exercise self-control and put herself to rest, in Jesus' name, Amen."

First of all, she stopped crying immediately when I started to pray (as usual) and after the prayer, she stopped altogether. Then I started to talk to her gently, explaining to her that there is a time for everything. A time for bathing, a time for diaper changing, a time for eating, a time for playing and a time for sleeping. This amazing little one kept nodding her head in acknowledgment. And finally, when I asked her, "Candra, do you want to be a good girl?", this time, she nodded and agreed to let me put her down.

Praise the Lord! No crying when I put her down and off she went to sleep on her own.

Two things which I learnt from this:

1. When a child is crying in protest, don't get angry, agitated etc., pray with her and let the Lord teach her.

2. Little children have an amazing sense and sensitivity towards the presence of God and they do know the fear of the Lord.

Although it took me a while to settle her for sleep, but I thought it was all worthwhile. The interaction was precious :)

Thanks be to our God who hears every cry of our hearts! Amen!

Candra at 16 months

We noticed that Candra's like daddy in the following ways :

1. She is a girl of few words

2. She loves mechanical stuff

3. She is super observant about what goes on around her

4. She looks more like daddy

And she's like mummy in the following ways:

1. She LOVES food...

2. She loves to dance..

3. She has a loud voice

4. She is rather affectionate

Traits we think she probably inherited from extended family members:

1. A little fiesty

2. Impatience

3. Strong-willedness

4. Left-handedness (for now)

Whenever hubby and i chat about our girl, we just can't stop talking about her and laughing over her behaviours.

We were amazed today when she cooled her food by blowing!

2 days back, I showed her a short youtube video on God's creation during our devotion time. Yesterday, when I tried to do a short review of what we learnt a day before about God's creation, she pointed to the computer immediately. It's amazing what they can remember. And when she saw the video again at night, she pointed to her devotion bible story book :) Wow!

She kissed my tummy (kisses meant for the baby) numerous times today.. :) And she loves to kiss her stuffed toys.

Last sunday, at my parents' place, when it was almost time to go home, this little girl went to daddy and pointed at his watch, as if she was trying to remind him that it was time to leave.. haha!

She loves to dance especially to O, MacDonald and I'm a little teapot. She also loves to do the actions to Insey Weensy Spider :)

She loves to imitate a piano player :) And that makes me feel like getting her a mini piano.

So much more I can say about this girl.. I hope I can retain all my memories about her now.. if I don't manage to blog about everything :) haha

The Invincible Stitch

This is really funny.

Candra's uncle recently gave her a "Stitch" (from Lilo & Stitch) and my sis in Shanghai has a similar one.

There was once, we video-called my sis over Skype... and Candra's naughty daddy deviced a game :) He wanted to pretend that the Stitch in Singapore was passed over to my sis in Shanghai. The trick was this, he pretended to push Stitch into the screen (then immediately kept it away), the my sis in Shanghai pretended to catch Stitch in the screen (when in actual fact, all she did was to raise her own Stitch and show it to Candra .. haha)....Candra was so amazed......hahaha

Yesterday, we skyped again... This time round, Candra for some reason kept on wanting to pass another toy to her Aunt in the screen... :p haha.. she was under the impression that it could be done. Well, then we did the Stitch thing again twice and she was like "WOW"... and clapped her ends each time... Funny!

It's amazing how kids can be so innocent and imaginative in their own ways... :P

Well...we know.. she will outgrow this game pretty soon.. haha!

Good

Haven't put up a post for a long time, thought i should just put up something for fun since I have nothing to do now at 11pm at night.. and I don't feel like touching a piece of work. :)

I still haven't started feeling any movements in my tummy..:) I am waiting in anticipation because the feeling of movements is really the most exciting part of pregnancy. For now, I try to remind myself to talk to the little kiddo inside more, so that he/she does not feel neglected..hee

Candra's still as lovely as ever. Still such a joy and blessing to us. She's becoming more and more interactive. Absorbing information like a sponge. She communicates with us a lot more through the nodding and shaking of her head. I love the fact that she is generous with her hugs and kisses. I love the fact that she connects with us... It's hard to describe what I love about her because I just love her. :) We once borrowed this storybook from the library and I really loved the contents. I love how the book ended, "I love any way you feel no matter what you do, I love you just the way you are, I love you because you are you!" That kind of sums up my feelings about my little darling.

Marriage life is still fantastic and we are really looking forward to another addition to our family :) I appreciate hubby for making time for us in the midst of all his heavy commitments. We really enjoy every moment spent as a family, and we love the times we spend with our extended families as well. We have been talking extensively about this topic of, "authenticity". It's hard to put everything we have discussed on the blog.. but suffice to say, we feel super strongly about it.

Well..all in all, despite some of the difficult things we are going through with some ppl in our lives, we are still glad and satisfied in our good Lord, and for that, we are truly thankful.

not over yet?

:(

I do feel more energetic these days now that I have gone past the first trimester.. But.. I still do puke occasionally.........the puking's not completely gone although the frequency has greatly reduced.

Especially these few days, cos I am down with a cold.. that makes things worse.

Oh dear.. will the puking disappear completely at some point?????

Sometimes I wonder why this pregnancy is so different from the 1st one...... have I grown weaker physically or what? Will I be able to prevent this from happening in a subsequent pregnancy?

But oh well.. it's still all worth it I guess :) When I think on the day of this little one's arrival... I know i am going to be so sure that everything was worth it :) haha.

And that's the thing about mummies... after baby's arrival, we can sort of forget all the pain and the trouble of the pregnancy.. and then... GO THROUGH IT AGAIN!

Back :)

YS and LL came over for dinner tonight. : ) Our dear brother's a pretty good cook I must say, whipped up a dish with tomatoes, potatoes, bacon, mushrooms, rosemary, oregano, black pepper and olive oil.. yummy :p A pity, after the sumptous dinner, I threw up AGAIN!!!!

Actually, I thought the throwing up has stopped because for about a week, the throwing up sort of stopped. I thought, "Yeah! I can start eating well again!!!!"...but guess what... today's a really bad day.. puked not just once but A FEW TIMES....

This feels like my first pregnancy because I did not suffer from morning sickness in my first one.. :( It's tough not so much because I puke at times, but because I am such a foodie....that any form of deprivation from food makes me feel really really sad.... :( But well....such days will be over! That's what I tell myself most of the time.

Things can be quite difficult on the work front these days... constantly reminding myself to put my trust in God as I go through these season. Thankfully, God's been gracious and every single prayer for help and rest has been answered so far. :) Can't imagine life without God who cares.

Hmmm....Candra seems to be entering yet another new phase... resisting her bedtime AGAIN... and resisting her ROOMTIME (when she plays by herself in the room) AGAIN... Well, hubby and I decided that maybe kids are just like that. They need re-training at times and as parents, we just need to be patient and consistent.

All in all, I am currently in a state where I can be thankful for how everything's working out and I am really grateful for that :). There are days when I feel so so so lousy and down.... :(

Stabilising

Maybe the pregnancy has stabilised... suffering less from all the symptoms this week. At least no more nausea...and I can eat more now. This time round, I suffered more from the symptoms.. for about 2 - 3 weeks......painful... though I know some people get it worse than I do...still, that few weeks were rather difficult. I could not really eat a lot cos I might throw up from having too much. But if I was too hungry, I might throw up too. The itchy feet from dry skin's a problem too... only had that in the 3rd trimester last time, but now, it's starting to show up in the 1st trimester. Argh!..

Ah well.. no complaints :) Feeling much much better this week. Life's returning almost back to normal.......Anyway, that's the price to pay for this precious blessing :p Sometimes I will tell him/her, "baby, you know, mummy's been having a hard time....but it's not your fault ok :)".

Candra's absorbing information like a sponge. She's been trying to use the key to open the gate. She know's how to adjust her fingers to hold the key well. She also tried to use her foot to release the door stopper, like how we would usually do it. Sometimes, we are amazed at how much she observes daily. She even knows which button to press in order to wind down the car window.

She's been trying to communicate with us....but all her phrases turn out to be, "da da da da...". Sometimes, when we don't get her, she will look so dejected and frustrated (that's really entertaining if u get to see that expression in person). Hubby and I have decided that we need to teach her more sign language to help her express herself... her sign language vocab needs to expand.

Much less crying

For the past 2 weeks or so, we observed that Candra has changed..

For one whole year, she cries at almost every nap and bedtime, so much so that we have gotten used to that.

Over the past 2 weeks, we observed that the crying has stopped. Now, we can put her down for her naps peacefully without much crying from her... sometimes, she can even smile at us before we walk out of the room. Bedtime's the same....she can happily kiss us goodnight at times or smile.. or just quietly show us that she's ready to go to bed.

Wow.. we're hoping that it's because she's matured and learnt the beauty and sweetness of sleep.

Quality and sufficient sleep is super important for kids.

The first time

Yesterday, I had to cane the little one for the first time.

She's been having this problem of venting her frustration on others by hitting their face with her hands. We have been trying to train her not to do that for the longest time... but yesterday, it got way out of hand. So I decided it's time to execute some serious discipline.

When daddy returned home in the evening and asked her, "How was your day? Were you a good girl?".....guess what? She pointed to her diapers and pulled up her diapers slightly! Papa thinks she was trying to tell him that she was caned for being naughty. haha :p

She is almost 14 months old... and yes, we are quite sure she can fully appreciate what discipline for wrong behavior means.

That was really cute. We had a good laugh.. :P

Maybe that's why...:)

Last night, hubby and I were chatting. He's started at his new job. Planned his schedules for the next half of the year... starting his part-time studies in 2 weeks time.. getting the hang of things at his new job... adjusting etc. As with every change, we usually take a while to settle into all the adjustments. Stress becomes inevitable at times.

While he was unloading his stuff... I thought back on how overwhelmed I was feeling about a week back. When I first confirmed this 2nd pregnancy, I felt super overwhelmed too. Stressed for some time because of the changes which are happening on various fronts. But yesterday, I told hubby this, "I think I know why God has decided to give us a 2nd baby at this time...:)".

In my last pregnancy, I made a conscious effort not to worry too much because I wanted to give Candra a stable emotional environment. I reminded myself constantly to put my faith in God for everything. This time round, I think the lesson's the same. With a tiny little one in my tummy, I cannot afford to allow myself to fret over every other thing. I need to be strong.

With all the changes happening in our family, I guess it helps that I can focus on getting on well with this pregnancy. :) Rather than all the other possible worries and uncertainties which come with all those changes.

Someone asked the both of us, "are you guys sure you are fine having all these changes (hubby's new job, part-time studies, 2nd baby) coming at one shot?"

Honestly, we are not too sure how we are going to manage. But I guess our take is this, since all these are happening in God's way and time (something we are rather certain of), we just got to trust that He will lead us through them all by His grace.

Hubby and I reminded each other yesterday that we must , in all things, ENJOY!

Grace Alone

Am feeling pretty overwhelmed lately cos our family's moving into a whole new season with a whole new set of challenges. Apart from hubby's job change and the start of his part-time studies, we are also facing some changes on the family front :)

Worries, fears, anxieties about the uncertain future have been overwhelming me. Sometimes, I feel so tired and stressed and thoughts of wanting to just run away from life fill my mind (when I say run away, I mean go do what I like by myself, sleep, run away from responsibilities etc.). Primarily, I am worried that I would not be able to cope. But I am reminded by this verse that's pasted on my wardrobe,

2 Cor 12: 9 -10

⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

And this song which I came across while choosing the worship set for this sunday ministered to my overwhelmed heart too... guess it's going to be my theme song for quite a while.

GRACE ALONE

Verse 1

Every promise we can make, every prayer and step of faith

Every diff’rence we will make is only by His grace

Every mountain we will climb, every ray of hope we shine

Every blessing left behind is only by His grace

Reff:

Grace alone which God supplies

Strength unknown He will provide

Christ in us, our Cornerstone

We will go forth in grace alone

Verse 2

Every soul we long to reach, every heart we hope to teach

Every where we share His peace is only by His grace

Every loving word we say, every tear we wipe away

Every sorrow turned to praise is only by His grace

Teething..FINALLY!

Wow.. Candra's finally teething.

Her first teeth are erupting.. AND..........from the looks of them, they are the CANINES! not the usual pattern for teething..but oh well, read from the websites that some kids don't follow the usual pattern.

Wonder how she's going to look with the canines... haha

Maybe she can't wait to bite some meat.. :)

She had diarrhea for a few days.. then fever on and off.. then the eruption of the teeth. Hmm... brought her to see doc cos we were not too sure the cause of the diarrhea, doc says she's got stomach flu. But some say that teething can cause diarrhea...hai... not sure..

But well.. at least now we know, she's starting the teething process. Finally.. this girl's a late bloomer :)

About my girl

Thought I should blog about my girl to keep these as memories when she grows up.

She is a little girl who......

loves to eat (exactly like me)...she's always saying "mum, mum, mum, mum"

is rather generous with her hugs and kisses (when she's in a good mood of course)...

is generous with her "thank u"s :)

knows how to comfort someone in pain or sadness by hugging and patting...

finally decided to start walking without support a few days back...

is full of smiles and laughter throughout the day...

is generally obedient and still learning to improve day after day...

is rather head-strong but has been learning to control herself and be kind...

hates to be put to bed and still protests by crying at every nap and bedtime till this day (now she starts to cry when we say, "sleeptime")...

loves to sign, learn new signs and increase her vocabulary (now she can identify her facial features :p)...

IS SUPER CUTE!!!!!

A beautiful holiday

We are back from Shanghai.

We had such a wonderful holiday. Both hubby and I felt that we had a good week there with Candra. When we left, we felt so satisfied that we were prepared to return home. For once, we did not feel that time was flying past us and we were really enjoying every moment as a family slowly. We had a good time with my little sister too. Nothing beats spending time with family.

We were so blessed to be able to stay on a beautiful island with a golf resort for free :) Lodging in the mini chalet house-like unit was fantastic. The air was good, the food was good, the weather was really the best weather for a holiday, the greenery was good....everything just felt so good. We were also richly blessed by the kindness of friends there that we hardly spent on anything over and above the air ticket.

Our trips into Shanghai city were fun too. With Candra around, we could not travel out to the city that much, but we traveled sufficiently to make us feel satisfied :) Candra took some naps on the long car rides.

The Shanghai Expo was great too. Although we did not get to go inside many pavilions because of the super long queues, just looking at the exterior of the buildings were great too. Candra loves the mascot by the name of "Hai bao" and she could actually pronounced the words quite well.

It's hard to describe the whole trip in a few words.. but I would just say that we really enjoyed ourselves tremendously, all thanks to God! Candra behaved well on the flights (out of our expectations).. although her sleep at night weren't too good and we had disrupted sleep on most nights, her naps were great. She enjoyed herself, behaved herself most of the time and taking care of her was just wonderful. She's such a sweet darling.

Hubby was a very hands-on daddy and he was such a great help. He helped to prepare Candra's daily meals etc. We had to coordinate with each other quite a bit but the partnership turned out to be a good experience too. With one child it's challenging, with more to come, there will be greater challenges I am sure. :) We learnt and enjoyed the process. :)

Well, we discovered on the trip that Candra's really like me. She LOVES to eat. She says, "mum, mum, mum, mum" (asking for food) throughout the day and she refuses to take her own food which we had prepared unless we added some of the stuff we had. She's such a foodie.. JUST LIKE ME! haha!

Wow............no regrets going on this holiday really!

Off to Shanghai tomorrow :)

Thank God.. managed to clear most of the work I had to clear in office over the past 2 days.

We are heading off to Shanghai tomorrow morning! Yippee!

We must say that God's timing for this trip is perfect...

My younger sis whom we are visiting met with a freak car accident over there just 2 days back...thankfully she is physically safe... It's good we are visiting her these few days. Can make her happy as she overcomes the aftermath of the whole incident and enjoy some super good family time :)

Will be back in a week's time......

Thank God for this family holiday....it's also a good break just before hubby starts his new job at SP.

Everything's falling into place really nicely..

Now we pray Candra will not give too much trouble on the airplane :)

Holding back nothing...

Questions which are popping up in this little head of mine..

1. Can I trust God fully on my family size?

2. Can I surrender this whole family planning and birth control issue to Him?

3. Do I really trust Him to know what's best for our family?

4. Can I trust Him to provide as He guides?

O Lord, why why why?

He wants our ALL... and He means it.

What does surrender mean? Surrender means to give complete control to Him in EVERYTHING...Woah.. never thought it would be this tough...honestly, it is SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER TOUGH!

So much on my plate....

Lately, Candra's behavior has set us thinking about discipline. She's good most of the time, but when she decides that she is cranky, angry or frustrated and wants to vent, she starts to become really naughty and a little violent. Got to start thinking more about discipline methods etc..some books which I need to read, some people whom I need to talk to etc...

There's something else I have been thinking about...family planning & birth control....been challenged to think biblically about it and make a firm decision and stand. Woah...this is huge thing!! Tough...Reading "The Full Quiver" by Rick and Jan Hess...

so much on my plate lately.. so many issues to think and pray about...

Another answered prayer! :p

Am working on a case now which requires me to do some research and rack my brains. Legal research can take up quite a bit of time and often, the process is like looking for a needle in a haystack......plus my boss wanted me to find the exact type of case to support our argument!

I said a prayer just now,

"God, please help me find the relevant case authority so that I do not have to spend too much time on this piece of research. Please help me to be efficient."

Guess what? I found a super relevant case in less than 30mins after saying that prayer! That's super amazing :) That means I don't have to sit in front of the computer for hours and spend time over the weekend mulling over this piece of work.

This is not the first time God is helping me at work in this way.. but every encounter of His providence excites me to the core! haha! :)

God is good and He is real.. turn to Him in your time of need in child-like faith and experience His reality through answered prayers. :)

Nothing beats knowing that God cares so so much in our daily lives............

His Way?...He knows best (Part III)

Yippee!

Hubby went for the final round of interviews yesterday.

He rehearsed his presentation with me once before that and I thought he did a fantastic job.

The interview turned out very well :) They liked him...

And...

They called him this morning and made the offer!

Praise the Lord!

2 MRT stops away from our home... Can't believe it...

God is so so so so good!

Blessed are all who put their trust in Him. :)

The concept of $ ...hmm..

On tuesday, I brought my darling out for a while. I was lazy, so we took a cab. When we reached our destination, I took out $ from my wallet and paid the taxi driver. When we took a cab back, my little one reached into my wallet and took out the cash and handed the cash over to the driver. I thought that was quite amazing and interesting...

This morning, my domestic helper and I brought her out to buy breakfast. Guess what, she took my $10 note and tried to hand it over to the malay lady serving us :) hahaha :p

Now I am wondering, does she already have some concept of $?

About my girl :)

My little girl was given a tiny gold ring from my domestic helper for her 1st birthday. We put in on the third finger on her right hand. She had it on for the whole day on her birthday and she was so pleased with it that she kept pointing at it, as if she was showing it off. We notice that she does appreciate "pretty" things, eg. pretty clothes, hair accessories etc. She's so girl.. haha... we do hope that she will not become too vain though haha! :)

We took the ring off after her birthday.. and on monday, while my domestic helper was playing with her, she tugged at her clothes, kept pointing at her third finger and used some sign language to ask for the ring... Woah!! That to us was pretty amazing...that's how much understanding she has now.

She's really growing up and getting smarter in some ways. But there's something worrying...just now, she kept trying to get down the sofa her way even though she has already learnt the right technique of getting down. That was super dangerous and of course I said, "No" a number of times. The more I said, "No" and tried to explain to her that what she was doing was dangerous, the more she wanted to try her own way and even shouted at me to show her displeasure.

Then I thought to myself, "do I really need to let her fall down once so that she learns it the hard way?" I really don't wish to have to come to that.. cos she will hurt herself in the process. Thankfully, when I realised that the hard way was not going to work, I tried to do it the soft and encouraging way. Finally, she decided to use the right and safer technique to get herself off the sofa. Phew...

But this incident gave me some insight into Candra's personality and disposition. It's not the first time she's shown us something like that.. just that this time round, it involves something "dangerous".

Guess we are all like that in some ways. We choose to be rebellious and choose our own ways at times even when we have been warned of the danger.

Well, I do hope that we will learn how to guide Candra to make the right decisions...but if she really does need to learn things the hard way at times, I guess we as parents just got to get ourselves ready for it. Sobz :(

His Way??,,,,,He knows best. (Part II)

Yippee!

Hubby's been notified that he's going on for the final interview on 4 May!!!

SP i just 2 MRT stations away from our home! I can't believe this! haha.. it's so so so convenient. Furthermore, the faculty we are talking about is very near the MRT station... Wow!!! Can't imagine that.. and I thought I was already very close to work i.e Clifford Centre, right outside Raffles Place :)

GOD PROVIDES!

His Way??...He knows best.

About 3 weeks go:

Hubby shared with me his woes at work... some of which could impinge on his major plans for the 2nd half of this year and the coming few years. He started to wonder whether he should be looking out for a new job. I told him that unless God made it clear for him to take the next step, just stay put faithfully.

12 April 2010:

He came across a bible verse on a card placed on his office table in the morning. It read,

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,

for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul." (Psalm 143:8)

He prayed that exactly and asked the Lord to show him the way.

He went to browse the Singapore Polytechnic website.

To his surprise, he saw the exact opening he has been waiting for and...12 April 2010 was the closing date for applications.

He sent in his resume at noon to make sure his application was received before the applications closed at the end of the day.

13 April 2010:

He called SP and they confirmed that they had received the application.

14 April 2010:

He received an email from his ex-lecturer, asking him to meet up for an interview.

15 April 2010:

He went for the interview.

20 April 2010:

He came to know that either he or another fellow applicant would be sent to the final round of interview by HR department.

21 April 2010

We are waiting.... waiting.... waiting... "God, is this Your way?"

Whatever it is, may His will be done. :) Afterall, He knows best!

Our lovely girl :)

Candra's turning one year old next week! Wow.. time really flies. This little girl never fails to warm our hearts with her little hugs :) She's been trying to walk and she took her first baby step unsupported today!

She's been such a joy and honestly, I have been enjoying every bit of this parenting journey. Every minute spent with her enjoying her and delighting in her has been so worthwhile.. and therapeutic. :)

Yesterday, she showed us that a little child like her is capable of learning self-control. We were at R & H's place for fellowship.. she went to touch their mini hi-fi system on the floor. I told her not to do that. The next time she crawled close to that hi-fi system and was about to reach for it, she turned around and looked at me. I said, "Candra, no you can't touch that". She turned and looked at the hi-fi set again, her hands almost touching it, but she decided to crawl towards hubby and myself instead of touching that hi-fi set. We thought that was such a good display of self-control on her part and we praised her for that.

This incident yesterday reminded us that children, as young as a few months old, are capable of learning self-control. They can be trained to exercise restraint appropriately and we should never think that they will only learn when they are older (especially for children these days). When we set appropriate boundaries for them, they do learn what is expected of them and try to behave accordingly.

She's really been such a joy and delight. Though she loves to shout and like every other child has her frustrated and impatient moments, we still feel really blessed to have her in the family.

Where did she learn that from?

Thought I should blog about this so that we can retain this sweet memory. :)

A few days back, I was playing with Candra in the living room. I was hoping she would play with her toys, but she chose to crawl away from me instead and venture into forbidden grounds. Then I "cried" / "whined" because I felt sad that she chose not to play with me.. when she heard me "cry", she turned back and crawled towards me immediately and gave me a hug :).

A friend of mine asked me when she heard about this incident, "where did she learn that from? Did you guys teach her that? Did she watch some TV programme and learnt that?" Both hubby and I replied, "No, we have no idea where she learnt that from." :)

That's our girl.. :P She crawled back to comfort me cos she felt I was a little upset... wasn't that sweet? :) hee

Gentle, affectionate, friendly :)

We find our little one pretty affectionate and gentle :)

With us, she is generous with her hugs. She also loves to pat her stuff toys and hug them :) We find her gentle because she has learnt how to pat them lightly and not "beat" them up. haha!

We just love her smile...and we enjoy the fact that she's sociable and friendly towards others, generous with her "hellos" and "byebyes".

Our greatest hope is that she will grow up to be an authentic person with deep and genuine concern for others.

She's been learning. Now she signs:

1. More (this is her favourite)

2. Ball (which looks a lot like "more")

3. Thank you

4. Please

5. Hello

6. Bye bye

7. Kiss goodbye

8. Yes (this is the most recent one.. but this looks just like "hello" and "bye bye" haha :p)

9. Eat

10. Sorry (but this looks like "please" for now :p)

11. Clap her hands

12. Pray

She knows, "give XX a hug", "pat pat" :)

She's getting excited about walking.. Wow.. it's a whole new world out there for her. But because of her new excitement..toys have become real boring.. hmm..

The reality - A suffering world

We have been praying for a little girl living in our estate, slightly younger than Candra, for a while. The last time we saw her, she had lost a lot of weight and we were told that she was always throwing up after her food and milk.

Today, I received news from someone that a little girl, of her similar description, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. I think she's probably the one we had been praying for. She underwent an operation, is currently in ICU, lost sight completely in one eye and losing sight in the other.

My heart broke when I was informed of her condition. She's only about 10 months old. Her family's devastated and grieving over her condition. We've not been seeing her around at the playground for a while.. cos she's been in hospital.

Such great suffering indeed, that this family is going through. The little girl's going through so much pain from her illness at such a young age. This is the reality of the world that we live in. People around us suffering tremendously, grieving in pain.

This family needs hope and strength to face tomorrow. This child needs so much inner strength to face her future if she recovers.

Only God can give us strength and hope in suffering.... nothing else in this world can.

Please keep this family in prayers, cry out to the Lord for them.

We are praying alongside them... that's all we can do for now.

Difficult stuff

Going through some difficult stuff...

Ploughing through some difficult questions and needing answers from God...

Waiting to hear from Him.

God remains sovereign, His plans always higher than ours... GOD IS GOD.

I am hoping to find my answers soon.. in the meantime, I am just glad that God gives me the space to be myself, to get real about the difficult questions, and to wait and listen.

Yup, "waiting" is the word.

And I'm glad that in the midst of all these difficult stuff.. I could still enjoy some time with a good friend at the dinner table.. catching up.. talking about all sorts of things and issues etc... and enjoying life.

Thought for this passion week: "Yet not my will, but Yours be done."

Prayer is the work

The end of Man is where God begins.

人的尽头乃是神的开始

Prayer IS the work we are to do...

Prayer IS our ministry.

"No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying."

(quoted from Chapter 2 of Why Revival Tarries, by Leonard Ravenhill)

Posture in prayer

I am really enjoying every bit of my time with Candra today though I still have some work to do from home.

So much has been happening in the lives of different close friends lately.. both hubby and I have been somewhat busy... so we really miss enjoying our time with Candra :) Thankfully, we are not downcast or feeling overwhelmed, all by His grace... :) God's teaching the both of us a very new lesson through this season. People are very different from tasks. People problems are much more difficult to resolve than problems relating to tasks. We are driven to our end and humbled by our limitations... and He has been causing us to pray a lot more for without prayer, there's no way we can move ahead each day with joy and strength.

We have been personally encouraged by Moses' example in prayer, his posture in prayer during the battle against the Amalekites. Lately, we have been wondering to ourselves, maybe all the spiritual leaders recorded in the bible prayed in that posture most of the time and maybe that's what we ought to do most of the time. God's really teaching us a new lesson and dimension in prayer.

As I take time today to rest in God.. and enjoy my precious time with Candra...my heart is filled with so much joy and peace.

Thank You God for being my source of strength in times of trouble.

Some pics I took with our new G11

Need a break!

Wow.. there's just been so much on my plate recently... I hope to get a break soon.

Been telling some ppl about how I need to switch modes quite quickly... from family, to work then to ministry and then back to family, then to work, then to ministry again, so on and so forth.....WOAH! can't change that quickly sometimes.

Told hubby a few times that lately, I've really been caught in the heat of battles (spiritual ones I mean), some are my own battles, some are others'....not easy stuff... but guess it's a great season to learn what it means to rely on God in weakness. And probably that's the reality of life..I have no complains really, I just need to know how to re-charge myself :)

I feel a somewhat weak and tired today.. God please help me..

Time to move forward? Changes...adjustments?

Hubby met up with his mentor last night.

Some stuff transpired in their conversation... basically, our family may have to face some major upcoming changes.

Honestly, I appreciate that there's someone else in his life to challenge him as he moves along in his life journey. That's something I know I as a wife cannot really do. It's a guy to guy thing.

Well, it's not a bad thing to experience changes and adjustments..but I guess we would usually still prefer to stay in our comfort zones (if we have the choice haha).

We'll still need to discuss more.. haha! Hubby said he will need to sit Candra down and speak to her about it.. that's funny! She's barely a year old! I think the session will be super cute. Candra will probably be wondering, "what's daddy talking about?"

I am filled with excitement and anticipation on the one hand..but also some fears on the other.

Hmmm........what's coming up? :p

Time to slow down

I am feeling quite tired.. and the heatiness in the body's not helping.

But I am thankful hubby and I managed to spend some time at Holland Village's Starbucks last night. We each spent some time on our own... I journalled, he listened to songs on his mp3, read some stuff and journalled... it was a well-spent 1plus hours although we hardly talked to each other. Such times can be very therapeutic and I admitted to him that I missed those days when I was still single and could just spend such times on my own as and when I wanted. I need such times, to get in touch with myself and with God, especially when so much has been happening around me.

As a mother, I have come to realise that it's really important to take good care of my emotional health and that means making enough time for God daily. Without good emotional health, it's difficult to take good care of Candra without wanting to snap at some times. Thankfully, I managed to control myself... there were a few times when I really felt like snapping.

Honestly, Candra's not a very difficult child. She does have quite a fiesty personality and well, she does like to challenge her limits. She has no qualms about expressing her displeasure and because she has a naturally loud voice, sometimes, her talking seems like shouting to me. But, I have been reminding myself to celebrate her good traits and not expect her to be the super cooperative kind of child. She's been behaving well at CGs and sunday services... I don't mean she's quiet all the time and sits still.. but for her type of personality, both hubby and I think she's been doing great already. I do need to constantly remind myself that she's unique.. and that I must not expect so much out of her that she loses her personality. For one, I can't expect her to lower her volume all the time.. haha.. especially when she's probably inherited the loud voice from me.

Well, everything's been great. Hubby and I have been discussing about many things... and wondering where God is leading us in ministry. We both concluded that we are in a season of waiting for God to unfold His grand plan for us...in the meantime, we just got to remain faithful and prayerful.

On a side note, last night, we prayed this for Candra, "Lord, please cause Candra not to shit at night cos no one's sleeping in the room with her." Guess what! Immediately after that prayer was said, Candra showed signs of wanting to do her business and we put her on her potty immediately! Praise the Lord for answering such a small but important prayer of ours. And well.. Candra slept well :) He never fails to amaze us through answered prayers.

God is truly good.. all the time.

She said "ti - ker" :p

Candra loves to play with the small animal finger puppets.

She was playing with the tiger this morning.. and I just kept saying "tiger".. and she tried "ti...ti...ti.." and finally, "ti-ker".. sounded quite like it. :p Super cute. But that was just once, she did not want to repeat it thereafter no matter how hard I begged her to do it. haha!

My little girl's learning to speak.. Wow!