Mothering Corner

We didn’t attend any Halloween party today, but we did something else. Hubby’s uncle and aunt are here for a visit, and it’s great to spend the Sunday with them. In fact, my kids enjoyed their company a lot, and I’m sure that my gal will misses this uncle when he leaves in a week.

We spent a lot of time shopping today, and both old folks bought a lot of kiddie clothes home! LOL! With 10 grandchildren, I can totally understand why they were buying so much. I honestly think that this uncle has a good life now, especially with all his grandchildren being so close to him. As much as he can just afford to buy bullion for them, but he brought the whole family members here for a holiday last week, and the memories created definitely worth more than gold bullion.

From the way he interacts with my kids, I know why his grandchildren adores him. To put it in a nut shell, he’s acting like the best playmate and Santa Clause all in one. LOL! I bet he might even get my gal a bullion if she dares to ask. But of course, we don’t let that happen. It’s their company that counts and our kids hardly have the chance to spend time with their grandparents nor any older relatives. There is a special bonding between little kids and older relatives, as long as they don’t spoil them all the time!

I don’t like the house we are staying in because it’s too small and we have limited storing space. The sofa can’t even hit any guests, in all of us would like to sit together and chat! When BIL asked us if we would like to move to their neighborhood, it hit me that maybe we should move to a bigger house one day.

First of all, I hope that the interior of house is not all covered with wall paper. My gal has a tendency to tear it down! If it’s painted wall, maybe we can decorate their rooms with fancy wall stickers such as these:

My kids will be thrilled to have these wall stickers on the wall in their room, and they might help in getting them to sleep on their own. Actually, I hope that I can find some Ben 10 wall stickers, have anyone seen any?

I can’t stick the sticks on the wall in my house now as our tenant agreement did mention something like no nailing and no sticking anything on the wall. If not, we will have to pay for the new wall paper installation.

So, maybe I should really consider moving to another house, if we manage to find a bigger one that fits our budget.

I’m going to have 2 stressful weeks ahead, so I hope that I can deal everything well. I don’t want to have a skin outbreak soon and spend more buying acne products!

Luckily, hubby agrees on bring the kids to the beach this weekend, and that’s the only “stay-ation” they will have during their school break. Poor kids. They should at least have a short trip away for a couple of days, but their parents can’t make it. When hubby was away at a conference in Bali last week, I really thought of tagging the kids along. But he’s there with other colleagues, so it won’t be nice for us to go along. My boy was so unhappy that daddy went to Bali without him. He loves Bali and misses it a lot.

Oh well, let’s spend this weekend by the local beach first. At least the kids are excited about it now.

Hubby’s flying to Bali early tomorrow morning for a conference, and when I told my kids about it, my boy was kind of jealous that he’s not going! We brought them to Bali when they were really young, and I have never thought that my boy can still remember Bali. I guess that trip must be pretty good then. LOL!

I would love to visit Bali again too, it’s such a nice place for holiday. As much as I wish that I can go there just with hubby, packing only lingerie and bikini as I hardly need to go anywhere but sunbathing at the villa by the beach, but going there as a family will bring more fun. Ok kids, let mommy see how soon can your daddy be free for a trip to Bali again. Hopefully, your workaholic daddy won’t let you guys wait too long for it.

I don’t have much to say about the education system in Malaysia especially in Chinese school) because my kids won’t be studying here. On top of that, I was Chinese educated, from primary to high school, so I have a rough idea how life is at a Chinese school. It’s competitive, and there’s always a lot of homework. No matter what, the amount of pressure and homework have escalated as comparing to my time, and young kids these days face a tougher challenge studying in Chinese school.

However, most parents will still prefer to send their kids to Chinese school, if they are Chinese. The standard is higher, and most believe that it gives a good start to the kids. I don’t have much complain about that because if my kids are here, I would probably send them to Chinese schools as well. But I really hate to see the amount of books in their bags. My niece and nephew study in Chinese school, and they have to use trolley bags. It’s impossible for kids to carry a heavy load like that, 5 days a week, and some might have to climb up the stairs. Not a lot of schools have lifts here ok?

Some schools have Lockers, from what I’ve heard. But some kids might forget to bring home their homework or books for revision. But still, I prefer kids to have School Lockers.

My kids have theirs in their school. Not that it’s a real locker as you can’t lock it. But they are assigned to racks where they place their books, milk, or even shoes outside the classroom. The older kids have Gym Lockers for their extra curriculum of swimming or sports, so it’s pretty convenient for all.

So now you know why I hardly buy school bags for my kids. The bags can last them at least 2 years. Most of the time, it’s quite EMPTY!

My gal still comes to my bed in the middle of the night for comfort. She won’t do this every night, but only when she’s awakes from bad dream, or wet her trainer pants. She’s not only looking for me, but for hubby as well! She likes to sleep between us, and requests hubby to wrap his arm around her. I guess it makes her feel more secure to fall back to sleep again.

Nonetheless, she moves and kicks a lot in her sleep, thus my sleep is mostly interrupted when she climbs in with us. We are not using one of those memory foam mattresses, and I might have lied side way at the side of the bed to avoid her from kicking me! After some time, my back hurts, but I can’t get to a comfortable sleeping position due to limited space.

Some times, I would just go to her bed, if I manage to walk myself there. LOL! I wonder when will she quit doing this? It took my boy some time to get over it and sleep through on his own too. That’s why I’m reluctant to remove her from training pants. If she wets herself, it’s even more work for us, and I can’t imagine how many latex foam toppers and bedsheets I need to wash in a week?

So, the best thing to do is sleep in early so that I can get enough rest and pray that she sleeps through by herself too.

Ever since my gal started ballet a few weeks ago, I couldn’t stop myself from shopping for more leotards and tutus. So far, she has 3 sets now, and she only wears them once a week. LOL!

That’s the thing about having a gal, I tend to shop more for her. My boy is not that into clothing and shoes, in fact, he only survives with a single pair of Crocs, his shoe shoes, some of his favorite jeans and tees, and that’s all. Maybe he gets it from hubby, who doesn’t like to dress up either.

I’m so glad that I have my gal, who’s equally vain as me. If it’s not due to the limited storage space in my house, I would buy her more clothes and shoes. She’s a shoe fetish too. LOL!

Too bad I didn’t get her a lot of baby halloween costumes because Halloween is not popular in Malaysia. I wonder if they will have a party at their school here? I know exactly what to buy for her!

I wonder if I should get Mattress topper for my gal’s bed, if I would to buy her a new memory foam mattress? Frankly, my 4-year-old is still on training pants because she might wet the bed in the sleep some times. Unlike her brother who is diaper free before 3, she doesn’t wake up for the toilet if she is really asleep. After numerous accidents, both hubby and I got tired of cleaning up the mess, and that explained why she is still on training pants at night.

It sounds like we are sorting it the easy way out, but my gal sleeps better this way. When she wet the bed, she had interrupted sleep due to changing and cleaning, and she was very moody in the morning. That’s the last thing we want on a busy morning, when everyone is rushing for school or go to work!

Right now, I’m using a mattress pad, but maybe I really need mattress protector or mattress topper too. Let’s see how I can work on the budget first!

Hubby has finally agreed on training the kids to sleep in their room once again, but this plan has not been carried out. Why? It’s because the father is still reluctant to push the kids out of the room. Sigh…

I’d almost set up their foam mattresses the other day, and talked to the kids about sleeping on their own again. But once the father came home, he played with the kids until they totally dozed off on the extra foam mattresses placed in my room!

I will keep on working on this, and hopefully, I can have my room back soon. It has turned into another playroom, with lots of children books and toys, being placed all over my rack. LOL! Besides that, I don’t mind buying new beds for them, especially those that come in fancy designs, to make their bedroom more attractive. I’m still thinking if memory foam mattresses are necessary though.

My boy used to wake up at 5am when he was a baby, but he went back for nap at 7am plus. My MIL was kind enough to take care of him for me so that I could catch more sleep. My boy has never slept through before he was 3! His night feeding was every 2 or 3 hours, even after he started solid. Oh boy…

My gal is a better sleeper, but she needed a lot of comfort nursing. I was her pacifier, as long as she could manage to suckle, she would doze off to dreamland. I know that this habit is bad, but mommy was too tired to get up and doze her back to sleep. Unlike westerners, most Asian babies are not left sleeping in separate rooms. Again, I guess I’ve spoiled my babies.

After we moved here, I trained them to sleep in their room. At first, I used a night light for them, but hubby complained that it’s bad for their eyes. Forget about turning off the Kichler lighting outside their room as our kids might wake up in the middle of the night and come looking for us. It took me a few months to train them to sleep on their own successfully, then hubby broke the rules. He was away often so whenever he’s not around, the kids would sleep in my room. But when he’s back, he refused to send the kids out and preferred to tug in with them. I know that he misses them a lot, and wants to spend as much time as possible with them, but this didn’t help in getting the kids to sleep independently.

No doubt, both kids are back to sleeping in my room again! Argh…Hubby doesn’t seem to be bothered by our kids who can’t sleep on their own. He even said it’s best that they sleep with us as kids grow up very fast, they will be out of the house before we know it. O.o