Five Musketeers

Finally. After 3 and 1/2 months we got round to taking a family picture.

Taken using the wall at my in-laws place.

Thanks again to my sis-in-law Lynda for helping us to take these shots!

To Laugh or Tear My Hair Out??

Haha. The picture says it all. My two older kids are at the quirky stage where they do and day the most nerve-curling or hilarious things!

1. Toilet Informer

Since being potty trained since Jan this year, Krisa feels that she HAS to tell me FIRST that she needs to go to the potty before she actually goes. So this is what happens:

Krisa:" Mummy! Mummy! I need to go pee pee!"

Her voice sounds like its an utter emergency and she is also crossing her legs in urgency. Sometimes this results in her peeing on the floor as the time she could have used to "fly" herself to the potty was used to inform me! Gets me all flustered as I have to mop!

Me: Go and PEE then!! No need to tell me!!

So now she does this:

Krisa: Mummy Mummy! I no need to tell you that I need to go toilet. I don't need.

Again she is crossing and uncrossing her legs as she is on high tide!

2. Childlike Simplicity

Jedi alighted from his school bus a few days back accompanied by the bus uncle also coming out and bus attendant all scrambling to find something he had dropped. Apparently it was some box. Told the uncle that it was a small matter and if it could be found to just pass to him the next day.

So on our way up, I asked Jedi what was this "box" and did someone give it to him. He kept telling me he didn't know and that he had forgotten. This got me more and more irritated as I felt he didn't want to tell me. Must have been my PMS petty mood! So I asked him:

Me: " You mean the box just dropped down from the sky and landed in your hands??"

Jedi: Ya I think it suddenly appeared!"

Me: ???!!!

Later , I realised that he was telling me the truth that he didn't know as it was just something he found in the bus and wanted to keep. Finders keepers.

I must learn to be less meddlesome and more trusting!

3. Car Alarms

I have strange neighbours who just love to let their car alarms ring for 4 cycles the whole series of sounds!! Jedi told me there was a lady standing next to her car pressing it. I told him to just ignore her and that she must be a little crazy.

Jedi: yes Mummy. I think she needs some help!"

A really tough week!

I had the toughest week of my life. Really really tough.

Dan went away for a week to South Africa for a business trip. I didn't used to feel so horrid as previously I had only 2 kiddies to watch over. But now there are 3!

To cut the long story short, Jedidiah fell sick. Not his usual flu but the really bad one that he had to use the nebuliser! He has been off it for more than a year so I felt really horrid that he had to be back on it. Thank God he is older now and can hold it himself but its still really troublesome especially with the younger two around. But he couldn't go to school. This was a bit tougher on me as that means that i have 3 with me the whole day instead of half. And that means more squabbling at times with Krisalyn.

Then the flu spread to Krisalyn. And when she is sick she gets super grouchy and will wake in the middle of the night. Its torturous as Dan is not around and I desperately need sleep or else I can't have the strength to handle them in the day.

Then it spread to baby. Perhaps she is on breast milk so she didnt get it so bad except for a stuffy nose but that made it really HARD to feed her! It was like fighting a war to get her to suckle as she was really hungry but couldn't drink! So this led to her waking in the middle of the night at abt 3 or 4 am. She wasn't hungry just uncomfy and had to settle her as she would be fretful and crying.

So I had to bring her to the doc. BUT my PD went on holiday!!!!!! I had medicine for the older two but not Keziah. So I had lug all three down to my neighbourhood clinic. Thankfully the older two were well-behaved and walked on each side of the stroller and played quietly with the toys in the clinic.

Think due to the stress I broke out in a heat rash at my neck!

But the Lord is good! He sent little angels along the way to help me. Dan called back and sms-ed to give me encouragement. My parents called my daily and prayed for me. My grandma came to pray for me and my dear aunt came everyday to help me play with the kids in the day till it was time to go to bed. Her companionship and prayers helped me go through this week without me losing my mind! My mum-in law also cooked for me twice so it was not so tiring.

Thank you Lord.

Tomorrow my dear is coming home! Finally...

Sisters...

Krisa is beginning to like her role as a big sister. She would talk and sing to her when she cries and Keziah would break out in a smile or coo to her. She dotes on Keziah alot and is suprisingly more gentle than Jedi who sometimes finds her too cute that he feels like squeezing her little hand! Funnily though, Keziah would crack into a huge grin when she sees him. I have to try so hard to get her to smile like that at me. Bottom line: Mummy is not so funny.

Krisal has been a great help to me and a babysitter too! She would put the the clothes in the laundry and put a small towel into the bathtub when I bathe Keziah. When I need to express some milk, she would help me put the "tu tu" (pacifier) back into Keziah's mouth so that she would settle back to sleep. The cute thing she would say is:

"Mummy, I settle already!"

We have observed that she is getting more mature too. A few days back Keziah was crying and I was getting ready her brekkie. She said:

"Mummy, its ok. You go you go. Settle baby. I will wait. Don't worry"

My heart melted. Sweet thoughtfulness from my feisty girl. Using this to encourage her and to award her an extra star at the end of each day for being a great little helper.

Praying that their bond will grow stronger each day and that they would have a close sisterhood. Hopefully no catfighting when they are older!

Silly Fun Things We Do...

Now that Krisa is older and the age gap of 18 months is not so apparent between them, they have become better playmates and of course fightmates too! Their current fav to play "grocery shop" or "dress up". Me being a neat freak literally can feel my eyes popping when the whole hall is littered with their pretend play! They would ask me to take pictures of their "houses" which has been partitioned into "bedrooms", "kitchens" etc...

Here is one of them playing doctor and manager (thought it should be nurse but Jedi claims that Krisa was the ambulance manager!) The doll is thier poor patient! Apparetnly "baby" was very sick and I could only "visit" during visiting hours!

My Sweetie Smiley Pie

Keziah is beginning to smile and to us its the sweetest ones! Caught some little smiles of her at about 9 weeks...

Brudders and Sistas!

Keziah is now abt 7 weeks old! Time flies yet it feels like a couple of months have passed despite the hectic days and adjustments.

Things have calmed down a bit. Keziah has been a really good baby so far. Started her on "Contented Little Baby" routine early and she has surprisingly settled in really well. Amongst the 3 kiddies, she has been the most merciful to us! She wakes up either once in the morning at abt 5am plus or at times sleeps right up till 7am having had her last feed at 10.30pm the night before. Especially for me, I need the rest or else I have no energy handling the kids in the day. Dan says she is very "zhe dong"! Praying hard she stays this way...

Jedi and Krisa have adjusted better too. Thankfully they don't wake when she cries in the early morning and sleep soundly. I realize that flexibility is something I am learning to be more of. By nature I am quite 'rigid' in terms of wanting to do certain things at certain times but I realize with 3 kids I have to be realistic and FLEXIBLE!! So the timing to teach the kids their reading and writing gets shifted to an hour later so I don't have to feel like an octopus feeding Keziah with one hand and teaching them with the other.

Learning to let go on tidiness is another thing I am learning to do. Kids need the space to mess up and have fun. It all gets cleared at the end of the day and so far they will clear their toys when they are done. So letting them play with playdough and puzzles while I feed Keziah is a great way to see that they are having fun and yet still in my view from getting into mischief unsupervised. Little hands and little minds busy also helps to keep the squabbles down a little...

But they have also grown to be closer playmates in the process of their fighting. Their squabbles still drive me nuts but their affection for each other is also very endearing to see. We are glad too that they adore Keziah. Perhaps she is still cot-confined and is not snatching their toys yet....