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!