Happy Lunar New Year!

Wow! The month has just flown by! Thought I might just squeeze in a post on the last day of the month! Phew... the last week has just been the best one since we've been back. A 4 day weekend, followed by a 3 day work week. (for them of course... not me.) Daddy K has been in one of his most relaxed state of mind since work started for him, though I'm anticipating that the next week and many more to follow will just engulf him again, and we'll 'lose' him to that 'other' world. 

Chinese New Year has been great! Albeit tiring, too much visiting and feasting... but I think the girls have just enjoyed themselves, as they are now starting to understand what traditions are involved in CNY. 

Mei K turns 2 in 9 days time, just in time for the 15th day of  CNY or chap gor mei. As usual, the family will be having our customary lotong chap gor mei at our house. However, this lazy, tired mummy has decided to piggy-back on these celebrations, and use it for the K's bday with just a cake. Wonder if I'm just being smart in trying to save all the hassle, or if I'm really depriving her of a party?! But really, would she know the difference? After all, there'll be heaps of people, and there'll be a cake, and candles for her to blow out! What more can a girl ask for?

Jie K has been rather well these last few weeks, though she still seems to have some aversion towards going to school on a daily basis. She refuses to talk about what she does in school, though she says she has fun. She mentions some of her friends, but tells me she doesn't learn anything in school. She'll be going through a change in teacher this coming week, so I'll have to watch her behaviour, to see if it changes... I'm really starting to feel the challenges of being a parent to school-going kids! 

Had our 31 week check-up today... baby D is now 1.6kg, and about 50% on the charts. Obs says he might be small-ish like mei K was. The biggest shocker though was the weight that I have piled on in the last month since we've been home! In the first 6 months of my pregnancy, while I was coping on my own, I had put on 5kg, and was well on my way to maintaining a healthy weight gain for this pregnancy. I was also feeling so good, and soaking up the compliments about how good I look this pregnancy compared to the first 2. In the last 2-3 weeks though, I've been feeling more tired, and a lot heavier... today I noticed that my face is starting to swell, as with my feet and hands. The worst revelation was that I had piled on 6kg in the last 1 month! What's going on????? I knew that I had put on more weight, and I would naturally being in my last trimester... but I really blame all that good(read:bad) singapore food, which I can't resist, the pineapple tarts, bak-gua, cashew nuts etc etc... bleah... I just feel so terrible now. I'm now going to have to watch the amount I take in, and to make sure I eat more of the 'good' stuff for the baby! I guess the sudden decrease in exercise (from 1-2 hr walks daily to zilch) has to do with it too.  I can't believe that baby D is still so pint-sized! ggrrrr.....

So... we've booked a tentative date now.... 23rd March... check out date for baby D. 7 weeks and counting...

Settling in.

1 week has gone by since we've been home... adjustments and new routines are being put in place. Jie K has been in school 5 days today. She seems to enjoy it, yet a part of me senses that she's not completely happy with it. She doesn't really vocalise what she enjoys about school. In fact after the 1st and 2nd day, she seemed rather unhappy when I picked her up. She had said that she had fun, but when I asked what they did, she said "just stand there and do nothing"! On the 2nd day, I decided to pry a little to find out what was troubling her. I found out that this boy in her class,R, had hit her that day, after snatching the blocks that she was playing with. She said she had just sat there and did nothing about it, and that there were no teachers in  the class at that time. So mummy had to to the little pep talk thing, and told her to tell the teacher if it happens again. After she had opened up, she then started talking about the other things they had done in school, and she seemed much happier from then on. However, I still sensed that she is not too thrilled with going to school everyday for 4 hours now... It must be a big change for her from only going to 'play' 3 times a week for 2 hours, to a more formal, serious school. Well, as someone just told me... "welcome to the real world"...

Anyway, mei K has also started going to little play class at the same school, and she loves it. The teachers have noticed how different the 2 sisters are in character. At the same age, jie used to hide behind me and would rather not talk to anyone, mei just says 'hi' to everyone, and would be all over the classroom in no time at all.

As for daddy K, work has just consumed him like he never really left... He tried to have an early start yesterday by going into the office at 7, so he could finish early and spend time with the kids... instead, he pretty much had a 12+ hour day, and came home later than usual! mei was already asleep by the time he reached home. He misses the girls, and I can tell they miss him too.

Hmm... I'm uploading my backdated photos on FB, and just realised that I have to do backdated posts of our holiday as well!!! won't be long!

Home sweet home...

We are home at last! Belated Christmas and Blessed New year to all of you... I'tll surely be an eventful one for us in this household...
We've been back for 2 and a half days now... Adjusting to the heat and humidity, the dog, the in-laws, the house... everything in general. We've been on a mission to unpack and pack up the house, at the same time re-arranging furniture in prep for the girls' room and the new baby to come. Phew... it's been hard. Feeling rather tired.
2 days more till K returns to work, che K starts N2... Where has time gone once again???

It's really been great having 2 sets of grandparents around to occupy the kids... They are just so happy to be back. I don't know why. Perhaps it's back to a new but familiar surrounding, with lots more toys and people to shower them with attention.
Need to start getting used to a new routine again, familiarise myself with my kitchen, and it's appliances. Hopefully we'll get some small renovation works going and done before CNY.

As much as we loved the traveling and sightseeing, there's really nothing like being in your own home...
Ah... it's great to be home!!!

More babies!

Just heard the news about Ken's Uncle D and aunt K having their 3rd baby next year too! On top of that, my bro is also having another babe! Both due sometime in July or August! woo hoo! Baby D will have lots of playmates! Looks like the new baby bonus scheme is really working!!!

Coming to an end...

Thought I might just do a post, possibly my last before we return home to Singapore. We've got exactly 1 week before we leave Upper Hutt. We vacate our house next wednesday, and fly outto Christchurch on Thursday to go on our 2 week vacation on South Island. Guess what, we haven't started packing... where on earth do you start? Most of our own things are clothes, but we'll still have to pack up the rented stuff, and clean the house before handing the house back to the landlord. On top of all that, K has got classes right till the last day on wednesday, with his graduation dinner being on wednesday night! So we've booked ourselves into a motel nearby, arranged with a mother of jie K's friend to babysit them for wednesday night... I'm just praying that mei K will take it all in her stride, and not create a ruckus the whole night we are at the dinner! 

Too many things to happen over 2 days... and we fly out early morning on Thursday... all because we didn't want to waste 1 day with nothing to do, maximising our time traveling! Oh well... I'm sure all will turn out right. At least we have sold our car, at a lower price than I had expected, but at least the guy was kind enough to let us drive it till the last day. 

This weekend will be a busy one for us. Packing, and cleaning, catching up with friends for the last time, last minute shopping for christmas gifts etc. We'll be home only after christmas this time, so we apologise to those at home who won't be getting anything from us... just getting for those we'll see over christmas... anyway, we're trying to keep our luggage to minimum... hopefully we'll have some space for the yummy chocs though.

This is one of the things we have been keeping track... the girls' height growth. We've stuck flags on the back of the storeroom door (so they wouldn't rip it out). 

Jie K's growth: 96.5-99cm

Mei K's growth: 75-79.5cm

We really had to do it, otherwise we would never have known if they were really growing, except for them outgrowing their clothes, I guess. I was even looking at photos we took of jie K on her birthday in June, and realised that she was wearing a top that is now too small for her, and mei K has taken over. 

Although we really look forward to going home, and starting to adjust to our new life again, there are many things I'll miss here in NZ.

1. The weather. No matter how cold it was in winter, we really appreciate the coolness and dryness of the air here. And now that summer is almost here, we're starting to complain that it's too hot!

2. Our long walks. Nightly post-dinner walks with the girls in the double stroller, putting them to sleep while we have our couple time. Lately since K has had less work, we've been able to take 1-2 hour walks at night, especially with the sun setting only at about 845pm, it's just been great! Plus, the cool weather just makes our walks all the more enjoyable.

3. Our coffee group. The partners of the staff college have been meeting up every fortnight for the last 7 months. Will surely miss the company of these ladies whom I'm come to know, and we've all become very fond of, including the children. 

4. Playgroup, mainly music, kindy (for jie K), story-telling at the library. Activities that have kept us occupied during the weekdays. Not forgetting the adrenaline pumping fortnights when I lead the songs at playgroup.

5. Our garden and flat. Though it's not a place I'd live for long term, especially not during the winter months because of the lack of heating/dehumifying in the house. But it's a place we've felt safe in, served us well, including the garden which the girls love to run around in while I'm inside cooking, but still able to keep an eye on them. Just the outside area available to do things I wouldn't allow them to do indoors!

Painting in the garden

That's all I can think of for now... Memories are made of these blessed moments. 

Our little adventure.

Wow! After 8 months of cold, wet weather, we finally experienced what summer can be like here in NZ. K had a 5 day weekend, so we decided to take one last driving trip of North Island before he graduates. (of course we still have 3 weeks after to do more traveling elsewhere) It must be the most unplanned trip ever! We hadn't booked anything, or decided where to stay for each of the nights. We just knew we were heading north toward the East Cape, north of Hawke's Bay, to see the coast, and get some beach at View Larger Map">Gisborne. The final decision was made after this internet-savvy mummy had checked the weather all over NZ, and found that the sun was only going to shine in and around Gisborne for the whole weekend.

So we packed the bags, the kids, some food into the car, and off we went. We had driven up SH2 many times, and have stayed in Napier 3 times in the last 8 months (yes, we love Napier). This time, K had heard from his friend about Havelock North, which is just 1 hour south of Napier (3.5h from Upper Hutt). As we drove into the town, we both agreed that we'd stay the night here. It was the prettiest town we'd seen in NZ so far, with a nice village centre and cool cafes, and even a big playground! We were also won over by the big spa bath in the motel we checked-in to. Too bad we arrived late, and didn't get any pics of the place. 

The next day, we contemplated staying another night to soak in the atmosphere of this chic town. We'd noticed how much better dressed the people were. Even the mummies chasing after their kids looked better dressed than most of the kiwis we've seen in the Wellington area. (we later found out that it was a tiny version of Auckland with the more well-off professionals living there) It was the best place for K and I to do the thing we love... people-watch! But we decided we wanted to push on and explore more. 

After some people watching, coffee drinking (not me of course), shopping and a stop at the playground, we headed north to Gisborne.  After an unexpectedly long and boring 3 half hour drive, we found a beach-front motel in Gisborne, facing the pacific ocean. This was a 'real' beach to me, as previous ones we'd seen here either pebble beaches, or with rocks and waves which made it too dangerous to swim at. The sand here was fine and clean. Though the water was much to cold for me to venture further than knee-deep, K managed 2 swims and did some body-surfing. The kids just loved the sand, and could sit there for much too long, digging with just shells they found on the beach. 

On our morning walk

After seeing how much the kids loved the beach, we decided to stay another night in Gisborne, and forgo driving up the coast of the East Cape, which would have been a 6 hour drive to get to the next decent sized town to sleep at. We were blessed with really good weather throughout the weekend, at times getting abit too hot, especially being in a car whose a/c is broke! It must have been at least 30 degrees in the car! We just wondered how we'd get used to the heat and humidity back home... After leaving Gisborne, we drove back south to Napier. K decided to drive via the coast into Napier, and we found Port Ahuriri! It had pretty quaint shops, seafood joints, and to top it off, a beautiful hotel with a view! It didn't look like much on the outside, but K decided it was time to pamper us and himself with a luxurious hotel room! (as compared to staying in motels and motor lodges!)

Monday, we drove back home to Upper Hutt. It was a great relaxing holiday for me, thanks to daddy who helped with the kids, giving me time to read my book, or just to chill/stone at the playground while he watched them. The girls were also very well behaved, except for some tiffs at the playground. It was a rather liberating way to have a holiday, not needing to worry about where we'll be going, which place we'll be staying at, or whether we would even have a place to stay. We had agreed that if we didn't find a place, we'd just drive on till we found one. Interestingly, it was one of those holidays where K and I talked a lot on our drives, sought each other's opinion and concerns, and didn't have a disagreement throughout! Wonder if that's the way holidays should be done, as little adventures! 

We know that the Lord has brought us here to build stronger bonds together as a couple, and as a family. I thank God for that, as I can see how things have changed for the better. Personally, I think I have come to accept the role of a SAHM much better than before, also coming to accept that I don't need to be earning my own money to play a big role in this family.

To Scrap or not?

Now that our time here in NZ is coming to an end, I'm starting to think of ways I can help the children remember their time here. One good thing that I think I've done is to keep this blog going for the last 8 months. It's a way to remember things I've done, and to log our loves here. But I've also toyed with the idea of doing some scrapbooking. That is quite the in-thing now I realised, though it's something that has been around for years. I'm just not totally confident that I'm creative enough to have fresh ideas, or even the time to do it. One thing is for sure, we'll be doing lots more printing of photographs now that K has managed to take some pretty decent shots with his toy. We're also thinking of ways to decorate the house with our own creations, rather than using someone else's work of art... unless of course we find great paintings(which we both can't do).  It's also a sense of knowing that we'll be able to enjoy our house more than we have in the last 5 years. Since we got married and lived in our own house, we've had to spend weekends at the in-laws house all the way on the other side of the island just for convenience-sake. Of course, when the kids came along, weekends were the in-laws' time with them... so that we again a necessity... so friday nights, we would basically pack up all we need for the weekend, dog included, and tow it all to their house. Then come sunday, we'd do the same with packing the whole family back home to get ready for the new week. It was rather bothersome, but after awhile, we got used to it. Now when we return home, the in-laws will be in our house. For me, it feels like I can now Live in the house that I really liked, though we'd have to put up with new changes, and much less space! 

So back to my question... maybe when we get back and start getting organised with printing out the pictures and getting the materials, I'll be inspired to start the work. I wonder if there's such a thing as a scrap book online? 

Will keep researching, and reading up... maybe I'll get some great ideas!