School’s Out!

That’s right, our school year is finally done!

Readers who are from Singapore are probably going, “Huh? So soon?” While those from the US are probably going, “Huh? So late?”

Actually the start and end date is purely arbitrary as we school for 4 weeks then take 1 week off the whole year round. I could start school in January and end in December as per the local system if I wanted to.

The reason we ended up officially starting the school year in September was due to the fact that the year our oldest ds was to start Primary One in January 2005, I was expecting baby #5 in February! It would have been ridiculous to start school in January, only to take a 3 month break when the baby arrived. And to start school in May (3 months after baby’s arrival) would mean a very mad rush to finish everything by December. So in the end, I decided to start early, in Spetember 2004 instead, just like most Americans

Anyway, we’re done, we’re done, we’re done! Hurray to all of us! We managed to finish up what I planned (very scaled down and simplified) despite having a demanding baby who’s now 4.5mths old. God is good!!!

Now I have to pack up and sort out what I am going to keep on file and bring out the new books to start planning!

A Funny

Before I forget, I wanted to write down something funny, 7yo ds said at dinner last week.

Ds#1 suddenly howled in a annoying dramatic manner halfway through dinner at Jack’s Place. So obviously all heads at the table turned and looked at him to which he lapped up the attention and continued howling. He finally told us that he had bit his tongue and that it was very painful.

Younger Ds calmly told him “Just close your eyes and drink water!”

Lol!

Being a helpmeet to another man

Take a moment and listen to Pastor Voddie Baucham teach on Biblical Womanhood on YouTube. It is a 8-part series and really good. He says it like it is, never mincing his words. You can also visit his ministry website at Voddie Baucham Ministries.

I was listening to Part 3 on the night my baby kept me up at 3am and was struck by his comment that women are now being helpmeets to other men instead of their own husbands! First he says that women are now no longer fulfilling their roles as helpmeet to their husbands since they are out working, helping another man make wealth. So in order to fulfil her role at home, she engages another woman to fulfil her role. So in other words, she is a helpmeet to another man while another man’s wife is her husband’s helpmeet!

Oh I am sure I am not putting it accurately. Go and listen to Pastor Baucham for yourself. It is almost at the end of this clip. But listen to the whole thing. It is good! It probably will offend many. And if you are offended, ask yourself why you are.

I’m off to listen to the rest of his preaching

So much effort

Reading the Asiaparents postings and some other blogs recently made me conclude that I must be really belong to a minority group of moms.

These are your supermoms, out to make sure that their babies are superbabies These moms read up a lot on stimulating their babies and start flashing cards ala Glen Doman style as soon as their babies are born (ok – I exaggerate ). Then they make sure they feed their babies right. Not for their babies what normal people eat but only organic, freshly prepared stuff. Heaven forbid that they should touch food from any of the fast food restaurants.

If you have been reading my blog long enough, you will know that I am not like that. Not even from Child #1.

I am not out to bash these mommies since they really do have their babies welfare at heart. And they have the resources on hand to do what they do. But I am wondering how much guilt they heap on the rest of us? Most of us are struggling to survive, juggling the multiple roles we have as wife-mom-housekeeper-etc…Then we read about the huge amount of effort these moms make to ensure that junior gets the best head start.

Well, if I didn’t know any better, I’ll sure feel super guilty. And I’ll sure be determined in my mind and heart that I’d better not have more than 2 children MAX! Otherwise, how to ensure quality of life?

Well, I am here to tell you that it is a lie!

You don’t need to do all that to have quality of life. Yes, it would be nice to have the time and energy and money to do all that. But you don’t have to. You only have to trust God!

All these stuff that they do can make us feel good. Great if you can do it and better still if you actually like doing all these things. But it is really unnecessary. We just need to trust God. He gave us the children we have. We need to be good stewards of them. How? When time and energy and money is limited? Ask God. Every family’s walk is different. Don’t let guilt get you down.

If and only if you have been lazy and not doing anything and reading such postings spur you on, then again, I say, great! But if you have been doing all you can and such postings make you feel like the most lousy, neglectful mom then stop. Yes, stop reading these posts. The voice of condemnation is to be ignored. Rebuked even!

For the record – I don’t do flashcards (and 5 out of 7 children can read. Maybe not at 18mths but they can read).

And I don’t do organic food. Hey! I don’t even do pureed baby food. Yes, you read that right. I only did it for #1 coz he was very interested in food and was a huge eater. The rest were never interested in food till they were about 10mths old. Even then, the foods they ate were merely for tasting. And they ate so little it was never worth the effort to cook and freeze even. They all ate very well once they were weaned (anywhere from 12mths to 22mths). And they would eat what we ate.

Life can be as easy or as complicated as we choose it to be. I choose simplicity.

Time to hide from the baby!

Yep! It’s that phase where the baby who would be happily playing by herself bursts into tears the moment she sees me walk pass her. And everytime this phase occurs I would have to sneak pass the baby if I need to get things done

But I must confess it is very cute and rewarding to see that the baby recognises me and bounces with excitement whenever I come into her line of vision. When else does one ever get such unadulterated love and adoration?

She’s also into the bouncing phase – ouch my aching arms! She likes me to hold her up and she’ll bounce gleefully till my arms are about to drop off. Or she’ll do her cycling motion while sitting on my lap. She’s one active baby I must say. Now I am waiting for the grab everything I see phase. That’ll be another tiring phase. Ahh!

What I am really looking forward to is her being able to sit by herself and to crawl. I know, everyone says it’s easier when a baby is immobile but I’ve always found it easier when the baby can move from place to place on her own. My arms then get a break from always having to carry her.

Assessment Books for Sale

I am in the midst of clearing out my cupboard and found these assessment books that some of you may be interested in. They are brand new. Please email me using the Contact Me tab.

Do note that there will be no reservations unless full payment has been made. And payment is to be made via POSB ATM/internet transfers.

Prices include normal postage via SingPost unless stated otherwise.

Click on the title for more details. Be patient though, it takes a while to load the pages.

$4.00 EACH
All-in-One Maths Guide (New syllabus) P3, 4, 5, 6
Retails $8.05 each

$3.00 EACH
Quick Reference to Creative Writing  P1&2, P3&4, P5&6
Retail $7.35 each

$3.00 EACH
Challenging Problems by Andrew Er (New syllabus) P3 (new cover), P5 (old cover)
Retails $6.00

$3.00 EACH
Maths Problem Solving Strategies by Francis Teo P3, P5
Retails $6.00 each

$3.00 EACH
1000+ Maths by Y.F. Foo  (New Syllabus) P1
Retails $7.00

I also have Classroom Creative Writing Guide by Eliza Chen P4 that is no longer sold at Popular so I’m just giving it away free. But please pay postage & handling of $1.50

Thanks for looking!

Dust Attack!

Everytime I declutter stuff, I get attacked by dust It is such a miserable feeling that I am almost tempted to never declutter ever again!

But stuff keeps coming in and I need to keep throwing/donating/selling them to keep clutter to a minimum. I like to delcutter at one go so that I only suffer the itchies once. But having a baby in the house makes that an almost unachievable goal!  Now my lips are so itchy and swollen and I’ve got another 4 bags to stuff to go through!

I know, I know – be glad that I have things to declutter, eh?

In case you are wondering why I am not decluttering but typing this post The answer is simple – I can type with one hand but need two hands to declutter! And the kids also have a dust allergy so I can’t even get them to help me. All ds did was to go through his own clothes and ended up sneezing till he ended up in a bad mood.

I just thank God it is a cool day. Wet but cool

Meanwhile, keep a lookout for my “For Sale” posts.

Post Partum Hairloss

Here we go again. Hair, hair everywhere And no, it’s not coz I turned 40

Although perfectly normal and expected since I’ve had almost zero hairloss during pregnancy and even during the 1st three months post partum, the inevitable is happening now. What is scary is that the hair fall I”ve had the past week can only escalate before tapering off 4-5 months later! Yikes!

It is most obvious when I wash my hair and when I wake up in the morning to be greeted by hair on the floor next to my bed I guess my Roomba will have to work extra hard the next few months!

I’m just glad that this time (as with my 1st 3 pregnancies) I am dealing with shorter chin length rather than waist length hair. Visually less scary.

I’m 40!

Today, I turn 40. Yes finally

And it really isn’t a big deal. Truly. 

I still haven’t gotten any profound revelation I’m just glad I am not having a midlife crisis. But then a friend once told me that she started her midlife crisis when she turned 41!

So why am I blogging when I have got nothing to share? Well, generally the average lifespan of a woman is 80, give or take a few years. So that means I am at the mid-point of my life. And I should at least be doing a “what-have-I-achieved” stock take if nothing else.

So here goes…

Family

At the age of 40 the good Lord has chosen to bless me with 7 living children (all birthed naturally) and He has called me to keep them home with me and homeschool them till it is time to release them. And in the process, I have learnt so much about myself – good and bad. If you had read Why So Many Children?, you would know that I never started out wanting children and if a push came to a shove, just 2 and only because 1 is too lonely But the Lord has other plans and I need to be obedient.

As a wife, I would like to think that I have matured and grown a little more submissive - oh! stop laughing!!! At least I try - unlike before. But I know I definitely have been able to hold my tongue more than I used to be able to.

As a mother, I think I am a lot more patient now than when I was a young mom. And definitely more laid back and less anal about many things. But in this case, having 7 children probably played a greater part than growing older! Lol!

Homemaking

At the age of 40 I can cook way better than when I was 20 (I couldn’t cook then. Didn’t even know how to cook rice in a rice cooker!). I can also run our home much better than when I first got married. Who would have thought that messy me would now be able to dispense advice to others about home organisation! God certainly has a sense of humour

Spiritually

If you read My Story on How I Became A Christian, you will know how I was saved and am now still working out my salvation daily and sometimes, painfully. Although the work the good Lord has done in my life has been tremendous, He has waaay lot more to do before I can radiate Christ unblemished! I am certainly glad that “He who began a good work in (me) will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

If it was a struggle before to spend time with the Lord, it is now even more challenging. I have also learnt not to judge others’ spirituality – who am I to do that? The Pharisee in me is slowly and painfully being chiselled away as I walk the walk of faith. It is far easier to look holy than to be holy.

If nothing else, growing older has certainly increased my need for my Jesus.

Physically

The invincibility of youth has long been quashed. And I certainly feel it now more than ever. While I won’t say it is downnhill all the way from now I’ll just say that things that I used to take for granted don’t come by so easily anymore. Like what? Well, I used to be able to stay up late and still wake up earlier than the kids. Now? They should be so lucky to have a coherent mom at 8am in the morning! Thank God dh is available most mornings when I am still comatose.

Oh and losing weight is definitely more of a challenge at 40 than at 30! Lol!

So here I am, having completed 40 years of living on earth and wondering what God has in store for me. Be merciful, O Lord! My prayer is that I do not waste time focusing too much on earthly things and forgetting to look up and fix my eyes on Jesus. That I would heed the words of Paul in Ephesians 5:15-17, to

walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

So if you ask me what I would like to achieve in the next 40 years, God willing, I would say - to walk in obedience to His call on my life and to radiate Christ in my life – in everything I do, from housework to homeschooling and from being a helpmeet to being a mother. And to be able to sleep for 8 straight uninterrupted hours, drink coffee and go back to my ballet class

And if are wondering what I did on my birthday, I started the day by stuffing myself with Bak Kut Hay Mee (Pork Rib Prawn Noodles) for breakfast at Verdun Road and then brought the kids to the Bishan library. Then we went down to Plaza Singapura to upgrade my handphone and had dinner at Crystal Jade Kitchen followed by my free Firehouse Birthday Ice Cream at Swenson’s*. But I did not eat it all up – just most of it since I had to share it with dh:). Then the day’s feasting ended with takeaway sashimi when the kids were in bed. Burp!

Oh and I got a beautiful photo book from dh.

* In case you didn’t know, you get a free Firehouse treat courtesy of Swenson’s on your birthday.