A link for all moms-to-be

Don't be too obsessed with only giving your newborn breast milk. Just make sure they are fed.

Please read on:

https://fedisbest.org/2015/04/letter-to-doctors-and-parents-about-the-dangers-of-insufficient-exclusive-breastfeeding/

Last day at AST

A good breakfast before our "graduation ceremony".

I'll miss this awesomely spacious nursing room!

Cooking frenzy

Whipping up a simple meal.

I cooked ABC pasta for big girl and myself.

Packing goodie bags for baby's first birthday.

I made ice cream using orange juice.

I cooked porridge.

Happy Mother's Day!

Asked my mum where she wanna enjoy a good meal on mother's day. She said, "No, it'll be crowded. That'll be difficult for you with your two young kids. Just come back and I'll cook for everyone. We'll enjoy a simple meal together and the kids can play and we can just hang out without braving the crowd. We'll dine out another day."

That's why to me, she's forever the best best best mother in the whole wide world!! And I'm forever thankful for being such a blessed daughter.

Count my blessings

Sigh, I think I sprained my right ankle. It started with a mild pain in the morning and it's getting worse throughout the day of walking on flat grounds plus going up and down the stairs. 

What perked me up was when I reached home moments ago, to see my girl dancing around in front of the baby's high chair entertaining her baby sister and laughing away at her own silly moves. My girl has just finished her dinner and mum-in-law's still feeding the littler one. I'm counting my blessings everyday, to have such lovely daughters and wonderful support at home.

Added 2 days later: MIL is a gem! She rubbed my foot with medicated ointment and gave me medicated plasters to apply on my foot overnight, and my foot felt better on the next day. *thankful indeed*

Babies' playdate

Today my parents-in-law brought my big girl out so I can bring my baby girl our for a babies' gathering with her peers.

Since we're meeting after lunch, I decided to cook lunch for myself using the electric lunch box that my mum gave me. She has passed it to me for some weeks but I haven't gotten a chance to use it. When baby girl fell into deep slumber during her morning nap, I quickly whipped up a simple meal with some of the frozen stuff that I bought.

I put rice with chopped mock balls and cherry tomatoes to cook with the brown rice in the main compartment, and steamed some kimchi dumplings in the top compartment. And while waiting for the food to be cooked and my girl to wake up, I had a tub of the yummy ginkgo nuts, beancurd skin and barley dessert that my MIL cooked in the morning. As usual, she cooked a huge batch and portioned them into tubs to bring out for her friends. My big girl who joined their gathering enjoyed the dessert too!

When my girl woke up, with had lunch together. Her porridge was already put inside the Hello Kitty Thermos by MIL before they left, and I had my first electric lunch box meal. I popped some mock soy nuggets into the air fryer and enjoyed the quick lunch.

After lunch, I washed up and changed, and we went out for a playdate with her peers at Tickle Tickle. After many shots, I realized that my girl's always looking at other people's food! In fact, she goes after anyone who has snacks for her. Such a foodie, just like a sis! Oops, and her mum too. :P

I thought this piccy's so cute, I added the speech balloons after laughing over my girl's pose.

I brought her dinner out and fed her the porridge while we were still at Tickle Tickle. Then we headed home and I decided not to make a pit stop for food, so I went straight home and cooked dinner for myself.

And yup... I used the same 3 frozen food again for dinner. This time, the sides on the plate were dumped in the air fryer while I also topped my extra spicy curry Maggi with a slice of cheese. ^^

May Day

It's May Day! My brekkie was two kosong prata and MIL's home-brewed kopi~

Hubby's on an overseas job assignment and I suggested to my parents to visit Waterway Point. Met my parents with my two girls, one in the carrier and the other holding my hand. After strolling around the mall, my big girl got tired and fussed, so we decided to have a coffee break at PappaRich.

Coffee break was so filling but that didn't stop us from having a good dinner at GroVe, which has become very popular and is brimming with people. It took us a while to find a place to sit down and ordered our dinner.

The portions are huge and we were all filled to the brim! In fact, we couldn't finish the 2-in-1 fries and my girl couldn't finish her creamy mushroom pasta, so we packed them home and had them for supper.

It was a great day spent with my parents and my daughters. We took a cab together and my parents drop us off at our place before heading home themselves. Thank you dad for treating us to dinner! ❤

Foodie Friday

When I found out that I can now sync my Actxa Stride with my smart phone using the Healthy 365 app, I was ecstatic. Seriously, after clocking enough steps for vouchers from all three tiers, I stopped using the step-tracker-cum-watch because I was signed up as a non smart phone user. I couldn't download the app with my old phone and it was mega inconvenient to travel to other places solely to sync my step-tracker, on a weekly basis. It was the most frustrating when I had clocked 10000 steps but I didn't get to sync at any of the National Steps Challenge kiosk in 7 days, and my steps went unrecorded.

Time to get started!

So I synced my blue Actxa Stride with the app in my mobile for the first time this morning. Out of sheer curiosity, I also tried out the Diet Journal in the app.

Unfortunately, today is a super foodie Friday, and I kinda overate today...

Breakfast was kopi and one serving (a packet of 3 slices) of Julie's butter crackers.

Today I attended my cross-deployment course at the Academy for Singapore Teachers (AST). I wanted to buy some food at the canteen if I arrived to AST early so I ate lesser for breakfast today. I usually eat 2 packets of the Julie's butter crackers with kopi. However, I didn't buy anything from the canteen in the end. When lunch time arrived, my coursemate decided to drive us all out to ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre for a sumptuous lunch.

Lunch was this yummy vegetarian beehoon, a mug of sugar cane juice, and fried carrot cake!

Last week, a coursemate treated us to yummy freshly-made popiah and today, another coursemate treated us to sugar cane juice. Today I also treated my coursemates to a big plate of fried carrot cake (black), which we all shared. After returning to AST, I did a quick pump before rushing back to class. I diligently recorded everything I ate in the app, together with my morning refreshment of pandan cake and tea, provided in AST.

Muffin and coffee break at McCafe.

After class, a dear friend (who's also in the same course with me) and I went for coffee break at nearby ARC. Needless to say, I'm overeating by now.

How to resist this?!

And then there was dinner with my colleague. Nasi lemak! How much more sinful can this day's meals get?

(o__O)!!!

Is it cheating if I tell myself that it's okay, I'm a nursing mum and I need to eat more than a pregnant mum? XD

Love this so just to share~

This is found on the nursing room door in AST. I'll miss pumping in the spacious and comfy nursing room here when my course's over... pretty soon, come end of May.

Standing on her own

My 11 months old *kiss*

Exploring Punggol SAFRA again

And we're back again!

Yesterday was the grand opening of Punggol SAFRA and on our previous visit, we registered my big girl for a free trial session at Artary. The trial session is 100% free (usually have to pay for materials) on the day of Punggol SAFRA's grand opening. 

We went early in the morning as her trial session was at 9am. After we sent her to the class, we went around exploring the place again, but this time we had to brave the rain (some tiles are slippery) and the crowd. Many have turned up for the grand opening, and for the plenty of freebies that we didn't bother to queue for... the queues were so long!

My hubby went to check out the rules written outside The Winners' Circle, right opposite Manekineko.

I walked further in and found a nursing room! I was like... YAY!! However...

There was no seat inside... 

Just a sink and a counter top?!

This is in the ladies. There's a diaper changing station inside.

There is one cubicle with infant seat. 

And another cubicle for toilet-trained toddlers.

We went on to explore the Members' Chillax Lounge.

Walking in...

There are massage chairs.

And members can look at the kids play in Splash!

There are power points for charging too in the counters.

And a vending machine.

Here's the view from the windows on the other side.

And an overall view of the Chillax Lounge.

Peace in Splash! as it was not opened yet.

At the end of the trial lesson, we fetched my girl and asked her how's her lesson with Artary. She enjoyed it and wants to have more lessons.

So we are going to sign her up for a term! :D Nope, she decided she didn't want to go for anymore art classes and she prefers to draw at home, free-style without instructions. Well, I'm fine with that as she'll get to explore with her own creativity. I just have to clean up after each artsy session at home, and I'm actually quite fine with that. =)

Are values taught or caught?

Disclaimer: I did not write this article, I am copying over from this article so that I can keep it as reference in case old articles will be taken down in future.

Article by Jenny Yeo, published April 18, 2016

How do we build strength of character in our children? I asked my younger daughter this question, and this was her reply:

"For me, I learnt from your words and actions. You preached kindness and respect and I saw you practising it as you interacted with staff and students as a principal.

"Even when you had to discipline the naughty students, it was always done with kindness and respect. What struck me most was the joy you brought to people.

"So as a child, I learnt that joy was the result of treating people with kindness and respect. I think that really shaped me."

Through an experiment, a psychologist, Mr J. Philippe Rushton, demonstrated that role modelling was the most effective way of helping our children internalise values.

Often, adults are not aware of the impact of their actions. For instance, if a parent curses other drivers on the road, children in the car will think that it is acceptable and do likewise when they get angry.

In our day-to-day lives, we need to be more conscious of our own behaviour, even when it is not directed at our children, such as our response when something unexpected happens.

My daughter recounted an incident at a supermarket that I barely recall. She said: "That day, the wheels of a trolley ran over your feet. Instead of fussing about the pain it must have caused, you checked on the person using that trolley. The lady had tripped and you immediately checked if she was all right. I learnt not to care only for ourselves, but to also care for others."

Dr Helen LeGette, a leader in education with more than 30 years of experience, says in her book, Parents, Kids & Character: Twenty-One Strategies To Help Your Children Develop Good Character, "it is critically important that those who are attempting to influence children's character in positive ways 'walk the talk'."

Dr LeGette believes that good character is both taught and caught, so it is equally crucial to talk to our children about our personal and family's values.

She explains: "If we want children to internalise the virtues that we value, we need to teach them what we believe and why. In the daily living of our lives, there are countless opportunities to engage children in moral conversation."

Building character must be the work of both parents and schools. It does not just happen. We must work hand-in-hand to impart the same values. If we fail to do that, our children will be confused.

For example, a teacher was teaching her students to show care by giving up their seats to the very young, elderly and pregnant on public transport.

One eager student pledged to practise this on his way home. However, the next day, the student was downcast and refused to share his experience when asked.

He explained later in private that his mother had told him off for giving up his seat. The poor child was perplexed.

If we want our children to grow up to be good and useful citizens, we need to inculcate the right values and habits. If we teach them to focus only on themselves, they will grow up self-centred, thinking that the world owes them a living.

Schools provide learning experiences through activities such as Values in Action.

For example, South View Primary School embarked on a project, "Make it Right for a Better Ride" with LTA and SMRT to spread the message of graciousness and kindness when commuting.

Parents, teachers and pupils went to an MRT station to give out stickers with messages on gracious behaviour to encourage commuters to queue up in an orderly manner and to give up seats to those who needed them more.

We can actively support the efforts of schools by spending quality time with our children or as a family.

In primary school, suggested activities can be found in the Character and Citizenship Education (CCE) workbook, which accompanies the textbook. The CCE syllabus is designed based on pupils' daily experiences and is primarily taught in the mother tongue languages.

If a family uses English as the language for family time, these books are also available in English and can be purchased where CCE textbooks and workbooks are sold.

Dr LeGette knows that children who have limits at home and parental expectations of good character have a much greater chance of success in school and in their future careers. Since we want to set our children up for success, it is vital that we put a strong emphasis on character building.

So how do we build the character of a child? My advice is to:

• Teach the meaning of the values
• Enforce acceptable standards of behaviour in line with the values taught
• Advocate the values regularly by reading stories that demonstrate them
• Model the values through your own action and words

This will set behaviour boundaries to shape your child's character. It is certainly no easy task as it takes time and effort, but we know character counts in life, and your children are counting on you.

After all, as the saying goes: "Character is how you behave when nobody is looking."

The writer was a principal for 18 years in Kheng Cheng School, Radin Mas Primary and South View Primary. She is a lead associate, focusing on partnerships and engagement, in the engagement and research division of the Ministry of Education.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/are-values-taught-or-caught

What a scare!

Omg :( my baby girl was in front of me crawling around on the floor but I wasn't watching as big girl was pestering me to do origami. Suddenly baby girl started coughing and MIL asked if she put something into her mouth.

MIL tried to dig her mouth but nothing and baby girl started choking. I quickly reached my finger in (not say very clean but emergency) and I felt something in her throat! I was like omg omg!! And then she choked and kinda swallowed it as I couldn't feel it anymore. I was panicking and literally had one finger stuck down her throat (I'm so glad I trimmed my uneven chipped nails this morning).

She gagged and threw up a rubber band in my hand >____< O M G I totally freaked out but really glad it's out. It's those loom band size kinda tiny rubber bands that big girl's childcare centre uses on their hair.

Latching baby girl in room now as I type. I know big girl was in shock too. She was refusing to respond to anyone as she's afraid that she might get a scolding, and when I just started latching baby girl here, I heard her crying outside.

Now we don't even know how she got the rubber band. The last I saw her crawling on the floor, I don't remember seeing any foreign object lying there. We just can't take our eyes off our baby girl for even a brief moment. Unlike big girl who used to just sit on the play mat and play with her toys, our baby girl is always moving, trying, testing. I just hope there will be no more such episodes!

EO experience

And after hearing so many raves about these essential oils, I finally embarked on our EO experience journey this year.

My girls have been falling sick frequently. I definitely hope these will help them stay well longer!

Exploring Punggol SAFRA

It's Sunday, and we visited Punggol SAFRA today.

Pizza Hut is the only eating place that's opened, so it looks like we're left with no choice at all.

Although left with no choice and despite the crowd, lunch was satisfying. Hubby surprised me with a chocolate lava cake dessert.

After lunch we went to Splash! @ Kidz Amaze for a splashy fun time! It wasn't open for public yet but a friend who works for SAFRA brought us in as it was opened for SAFRA staff only today.

Only my big girl and I went for the water playground as my hubby explored the place while babywearing baby girl in the rainbow carrier. After I felt we spent enough time in water, I finally managed to persuade my girl to get out of the playground. We went to look for my hubby and baby after a good warm shower together. Yes, the water in the shower stalls is warm! :D 

Hubby brought us to explore the place and we popped into Manekineko to check out the various rooms. Shown above is one of the two party rooms that have a play area for the younger kids. :)

Homecooked yums!

Yummy dinner in my tummy!

Loving the vegetarian bakuteh, sweet and sour seaweed rolls and stirfried lettuce!!

It's been a long long time since I had a good homecooked meal without my girls around me. In fact I had it all alone in my parents' kitchen as I had it earlier, and my parents will eat later (actually, now). I'm rushing to get home now and praying that traffic will be smooth.

Found in Facebook

I wrote this last year for a contest to win something for mother's day. It appeared in my Facebook memories today, and I still feel strongly about it.

My mom is the best because she brought me up in the best way anyone could. She's my confidant, my pillar of support, my adviser and my best role-model now that I'm a mom myself. Every time I read some real good parenting advice, I look back and realized my mom has done it all. To me, she's the best parenting guru in my life! <3

I'm forever thankful that I have the best mum ever. Seriously I cannot ask for any more better~ My mum is the best!

Diaper changing facility at Waterway Point

Oh dear, I've forgotten at which level this diaper changing facility is located. These photos were actually taken a couple of weeks ago but I didn't remember to share immediately.

Here's the single (if I remember correctly) nursing cubicle that's found inside the diaper changing room.

After I've changed her diaper, I couldn't find the bin to discard her soiled diaper and I was quite lost for a while as I turned and looked around everywhere.

It was only after I've pressed the door open button then I saw the bin located pretty conveniently, right outside the diaper changing room.

It's actually quite a smart move because I've been to many diaper changing rooms that stink up really badly due to the trash bin overflowing with soiled diapers. By placing the bin outside, the stench will not linger around in the little space, making it more comfortable for the parents and babies who need to make use of the facilities.