Thankful Thursdays: Seeing through the eyes of the Helper

Recently, something happened to the Helper. Something to do with her children. Something to do with deception among family members. Something that caused her to weep through one whole night till dawn, and then broke down again in fresh bouts of tears time and again as she went about her chores the next day.

The Helper is a timid, emotional and gullible woman with a kind heart. In a bid to provide for her children with a better life and the promise of a better future, she plucked up her courage and hardened her heart to leave them to come and work for us. Her way of coping with homesickness was to not bring any photographs of her  children, and not calling home as much as she would like to, just so she could keep her emotions in check. 

Aunty M, her little boy and little girl - according to Anya

In some ways, I relate to her. After all, we are of the same age, and we both have young children. I, too, is one emotional woman who tends to feel too much and cry too easily. 

Upon hearing of her current plight, I find myself looking at my own life through her eyes. And a hundred and one things that I ought to be thankful for came into my mind. 

I am thankful that I get to be with my children every single day since they were born. I am thankful that my family is complete. I am thankful for the food placed on our table at every mealtime - that we get to have a balanced nourishment from all the different food groups. I am thankful for the clothes that we don, and the footwear that protect our feet. I am thankful that we are sufficient in our finances; so much so that we get to have choices - choosing to stay at home, choosing what to fill our stomach, what to wear etc. I am thankful that we are born into a nation so safe that most of us are shielded from poverty, from crimes, from corruption, drugs and many other vices. 

The Helper is a good person. As an employee, she has a great working attitude, is diligent, and has good initiative in anticipating our needs. So far, she has been a great help and we are thankful for her transparency with us about her life, what she does during her off-days and generally, what is on her mind. We pray that a solution to her current problems will be in place. That her children would never second guess her intentions for going away. That she would, one day, go home to her children with enough savings to live her dream of a better future.

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful Tuesday: Overcoming the hurdles of parenting

As predicted last week, it did not take long for the stress of parenting to rebound back. The past week saw Arielle is having difficulties drinking her milk again. On top of that, Anya had a temperature out of nowhere three days ago. When it comes to caring for children, it seems that we parents always have to be on our toes!

This week, my thankful post is about things that aid us overcoming the challenges we face.

# An insightful article I found on the Internet that explains the possible reasons behind bottle feeding difficulties. This is by far the most helpful article that I have read in the past 4 months. From there, I have narrowed down a few possible answers to Arielle's feeding resistance - it appears that Arielle might be sealing the teat-hole with her tongue causing negative pressure to build up within the bottle. As such, she was having a hard time sucking milk and eventually throw in the towel altogether.

# Milk bottle teats that have an extra air vent at the side to allow air to go into the bottle. This was a solution as suggested by the aforementioned article. I never notice them in the market until.. well.. I discovered my baby having problem feeding. Previously when Arielle had regressed in her feeding (2 months ago?), we managed to resolve the problem by upsizing the teat-hole from S to M. So this time round, we incorporate both our old idea and the new idea suggested by the website - I bought "L" size teats that has an air vent at the size. So far, it seems to be working as milk feed durations has magically reduced from 60 minutes to 5 minutes!

# The Tod who knows to go to her own room and keep herself occupied whenever Mommy needs to feed Arielle because 'meimei' like to drink milk in a quiet environment. Thank God for sensible little girls! 

# Jigsaw puzzles for they are still very popular with the Tod. She is churning out pieced-up jigsaw puzzles like a factory worker at a production line. I am so thankful for them as they help to train up her concentration level and allows her to play quietly (when I need her to) while still enjoying herself at the same time.

# Well-stocked community libraries that are easily accessible. I always like our libraries. After children came along, 'like' has escalated to 'super like'. Okay, 'impressed' is more like it. The children libraries are so well-stocked! While yes, some books are old and dog-eared; you can still find a fair share of books that are in mint condition, fun, educational and adored by the children. It has become a routine for us to troop down to the library every fortnightly / three weeks. We like to go to other libraries rather than the one nearest to us whenever we can - just for the variety the rest can offer. 

# Simple bentos that make the difference in a feverish child's appetite. Seeing how well she has been eating from these amateurish bentos, I am motivated to make a trip down to Daiso to pick up more bento-making tools.

On top of that, I am also thankful that we could accomplish the following despite running a tight ship in the past week:

# Being able to make the nephew's day by baking cookies with him (well, sort of - he ran off to watch Pororo with Anya after helping me spoon out the dough for two out of eight trays) and then sending him home with a box of the goodies. For the record, I enjoyed the morning of baking and I could tell Anya was pleased to have her 'gorgor' around too.

# Making it to visit the sick SIL and sending our love for my mom who turned one year older over the weekend despite mismatch schedules between our two families. It must be one of the shortest visit we ever had to my brother's house - we were there for an hour (or less).

# Finally making pizzas again - the last time we had homemade pizza was before Anya was born. *Gasps*

# Moments when I get to be an observer of conversations between a toddler, a baby and a dog. Too cute!

What are you thankful for this week? :)

Anya turns 2

The preparation

Anya's birthday fell on Easter this year. We decided to make the celebration small. Now that she is older and has expectations; the last thing we want to do is to go and throw her a big bash and thus upping the bar ridiculously high. Instead, what we hope to achieve from this smallish party is letting her know that spending quality time with loved ones matters more than anything else. Well, there are a few indulgences for her (particularly things that she especially likes) but we aren't gonna break our bank accounts just to make her happy for a day. 

So we invited both sides of our folks over for a simple lunch which consisted of partially catered and partially home-prepared grub.

At first, I thought of having a Pororo-themed 3D cake after seeing what some online home-based bakers offered but after discussing with the Husband, we eventually decided to do a Eeyore theme instead. After all, I'd imagine hypothetically if Pororo and Eeyore fell into the water; our little girl will go to Eeyore's rescue any day. If she knows how to swim, that is.

After meeting with a few dead ends trying to find someone to bake a 3D Eeyore cake, I eventually abandoned the whole idea. Due to patent issues, the bakeries that I approached all required me to provide my own cake-toppers while they work the 'setting' of the cake based on my cake-toppers. And I simply could not find any eeyore cake-topper without having to purchase the rest of the entire Pooh bear gang. Too much wastage, i thought. So, eventually, we settled for Bengawan Solo where we choose a 2kg 2D Eeyore cake from their Disney catalogue. Well, we do get the best of both worlds here - our little girl gets her donkey cakd and our folks will like the taste of it.

On top of Eeyore cake, I also scoured the island for a balloon supplier who has a baby Eeyore balloon. You see, other than donkeys, the girl digs balloons too. So I thought, a Eeyore balloon will be like dream come true right? Eventually found one who is located in Parkway Parade (coincidentally, we gotten party supplies for her 1st birthday from the same shop) and we drove all the way there the day before just to collect it. Well, it is all worth it seeing how thrilled she was when she saw the huge floating donkey. 

For the record, she was so happy with the balloon that she slept with the it in the room that very night. In the early morning, she trotted over to our bedroom for another short snooze (something she does every other day) with her stuffed eeyore and hanky in one hand, the huge-ass balloon in the other. Then when she finally woke up and was ready to join us for breakfast, (yes, you might have guessed by now) the balloon was made to join us at the table too. And so, the $18-balloon was worth every cent!

Breakfast with the donkey

Other than the balloon, we did not get her any other presents. Reason being: we really think she has many toys already - we have not even exhaust her Christmas stock yet! Instead, we further upped the hype for the day by buying her a new dress which is in sweet pastel colors (very baby-eeyore-ish!) and told her it is her birthday dress and she can wear it for the special day. 

The day

 After breakfast, she put on her birthday dress and went "Wah! Wah ! WAh!". Then when the Husband came home with the cake, she went onto hyper mode and kept wanting to cut the birthday cake there and then. Thankfully, the In-laws arrived at that juncture and thus, her attention was diverted. 

Boy was she pleased to see all her cousins, grandparents and favourite uncles / aunties! We specially prepared some of her favourite food of the moment. Dessert was chocolate fondue with fruits which she enjoyed very much. And then, there was the cake-cutting that she has been looking forward (she must have rehearsed it with her wooden toy cake set 20 times!) and then, lastly finding Easter eggs and hens with the cousins. I was not around to see the kiddos looking for the hens as I was feeding Arielle in the bedroom but according to The Husband, Anya was a lil' dazed and was the last to get her hands on them. Well, I suppose it has very much to do with the fact that she is the youngest among the four of them. 

All in all, we thought we achieved our desired impact - making the day memorable for her, surrounding her with her favourite things and people, and letting her know how loved she is. :)

With that, I shall let the pictures do the talking.

Thankful Tuesday: Celebrations abound

As the stress of potty-training and milk feed woes ease off, I find myself feeling.. well, less stressed these days. Still very occupied with the girls, no doubt. But there is certainly more bounce in my stride now that the stress is off. Not for long, I'm sure. Something stressful is bound to crop up given the nature of raising of children. So yeah, savour the moment while its' still there. :)

Moreover, March and April has always been a festive period in my household. What with my birthday, our wedding anniversary, Good friday and Easter, the Husband's birthday and in recent years - Anya's too. Oh, not forgetting my mom and SIL's birthdays too. So in the two weeks, my pockets of time were spent ironing out details of Anya's birthday celebration that happened over Easter sunday. It was a simple one, really, with only the immediate families. Still, simple did not make it any easier for moms (I suppose) since our bottom line is really to have our birthday child enjoy his/her day to the fullest. 

And then, yesterday, we celebrated the Husband's birthday in the zoo. Unfortunately, the weather did not hold up well, and we ended being caught in a nasty heavy rain. Oh well, at least it was a memorable one. With ponchos as keepsakes, no less.

With the season of celebrations ongoing in my life, I find myself being thankful for things that I hold the most closely to my heart:

Loved ones who make the effort to reciprocate our love. Funny how it is, but when I have offspring, it becomes more apparent to me how much we are loved. It seems that adults in general (especially our parents' generation) tend to be more vocal and expressive in their love languages when their targets are little ones. 

Children, who helpless as they are when they arrive into the world, have the power to multiply love and make the Husband and I strive to become better persons. 

The Husband, whom by God's strength and wisdom, has been a wonderful head of the household. Besides shouldering the responsibility of being the sole breadwinner, he is also the one I turn to in making major decisions concerning our household. Even though I am a SAHM, he never, as a result, think that he should be as less hands-on as a father. Every night, without fail, he still helps to bathe one of the girls and tuck them to bed. During the first few weeks when our girls were born and were still waking up in the nights for milk feeds, he would help out without fail despite having to be up the next morning for work again. Now that Anya is potty-trained, he always volunteers to bring her to the loo whenever we are out. Although, most part of the day he is away from home, I daresay he knows almost as much as I do when it comes to the nitty-gritty aspects of handling our girls.

The abundance that we have. The abundance of love. The abundance in our finances. The abundance of blessings.

 

What are you thankful for this week? 

Thankful Friday

I missed my thankful Tuesday post this week. Instead, this week, I have thankful Friday for this Friday is a special one that holds great significance to Christians. It was the day that Jesus died. For us.

So this day, I give thanks. For the cross. For Him. For it is through Him that we may have access to Life. His is the perfect love. I thought this song speaks volumes of the significance of today to me. And i like to share it here.


I SEE GRACE by Karen Lim, New Creation Church

JESUS MY HELP, I CALL ON YOUR NAME
I CAST MY CARES ON YOU
JESUS MY HOPE, MY TOWER OF STRENGTH
MY FAITH IS FOUND IN YOU

I SEE YOU PIERCED, WOUNDED FOR ME
WHEN I LOOK TO THE CROSS I SEE

I SEE GRACE, SEALED BY YOUR SACRIFICE
I SEE LOVE REACHING FOR ME
PRECIOUS BLOOD WASHES AND SANCTIFIES
HEALING FLOWS SETTING ME FREE, I SEE GRACE

BEARER OF SIN, AFFLICTED AND TRIED
YOU PAID REDEMPTION’S PRICE
BEARING MY CURSE
YOU SET ME ON HIGH
YOUR DEATH HAS BROUGHT ME LIFE

Jesus, the comforter

Out of the blue, the Tod wants to sleep in our bed.

Two nights ago, we gave in to her because we were too knackered to put up a fight. She scored another victory at nap time yesterday where I even lay down beside her in our bed as we had already disrupted her routine by going grocery-shopping at her usual nap hours and did not want to further rock the boat.

Last night, we were determined to put a stop to it before she becomes an unstoppable force altogether. We offered hugs, kisses and some of her favorite snacks but our stance was clear: With the exception of sickness and thunder/lightning; everyone sleeps in their own respective beds. She cried buckets, to the point where she might throw up her dinner. Finally, after the Husband gave her a stern word, she quietened down a bit - her terrifying screams and wails giving way to whimpers. Still, in between her whimpers, she stuttered pleadingly her wish to be in our bed. Then, the Husband offered to read her "Jesus' story" (her children's bible). It was something the Husband always does with her before she hits the sacks. She relented, on one condition - Mommy does the reading instead.

Now, I wasn't quite sure how the usual way was done but I roughly know that the Tod gets to flip the book while the Husband read snippets here and here. For me, I am a stickler to orderly manner when it comes to storytelling. But then again, I did not want to risk triggering another outburst just because Mommy's storytelling prowess sucks. And so, I decided to go for an in-between.

First, I read a short story on Mary washing Jesus' feet with perfume, then I let Anya take over the rein of turning the pages while the Husband and I threw in some commentaries here and there. She flipped back and forth the New Testament, then she went all the way to the beginning on Noah's ark. After that, she turned the pages back to the New Testament and came to a halt at a page that showed Jesus fast asleep on a boat.

"Jesus zzzz.." she observed. 

"Yes, Jesus is sleeping. And Jesus loves Anya. Does Anya love Jesus?" I asked.

"Mmm.." came her affirmative answer. 

Then the Husband encouraged her, "Do you want to hug Jesus goodnight?". 

Visibly calmer, the Tod proceeded to close the book and hug it for a good 10 seconds. She even let out a contented sigh at the end of it.  (I was somewhat moved by this little scene by the way.)

"How about Jesus sleeps with Anya tonight on Anya's bed?" I said as I took over her bible and placed it on a cushion beside her. "Then when Anya wakes up tomorrow morning, you can tell him 'Good morning! Hello, Jesus!'". 

That seemed to appeal to her greatly. She enthused, "Hello, Jesus!". 

With that, she leaned over to give Jesus on the bible cover a kiss and said, "'Night, Jesus" then gave me a hug, said her goodnights to the Husband and I and finally settled contentedly in her own bed. 

Kissing Jesus again this morning.

And now, she finally managed to fall asleep for her naptime after almost an hour. I went in and took her out for a potty break in between, and the rest of the time, she spent flipping through the bible, praising God (I saw through the surveillance camera that she had her arms outstretched) and crying a bit. 

Now, it became pretty clear to the Husband and I: Jesus' comfort is upon our little one.