A weekend away...

Too much has been going on and i find myself in a rush everyday to get things done so last week, I decided to stop everything from gym to going out and just stayed home to chill out! The result ---BLISS!

I find that not going to the gym has given me the extra time to do housework, time to actually surf the internet, time to bring my kids swimming and time to just be myself in my pyjama pants lying on the sofa with a nice cup of coffee! I enjoy this time..

And come Monday, Ironchef is bringing us away for a short holiday to the countryside..actually to coincide with his business trip but heck, I am looking forward to just getting away for a change! No emails, no boring monotoneous routine, no school! haha..just me and the kids away in a motel where i dont have to worry about cleanliness and homework!

A glimpse of the lodge we are going to be staying in:----

My Lil Rascal is turning into a boy..

All this while my lil rascal has been the baby of the house and he still is but the day we said goodbye to nappies made me realise that THIS was going to be the LAST time i will walk down an aisle full of baby things. I won't be walking into a shop full of baby things either..cause my Lil Rascal is now a boy!!

No more wet wipes!! No more Nappies!..sigh..and to admit i kinda miss those nappy days...heck, at least i get away with shopping cause i don't have to stop whatever i am doing just to rush to the toilet so that he doesn't pee in his pants... and did i mention the times..when we were in coles getting our groceries..just the two of us and there i am with a trolley full of goods and he had to.."mummy..i need to pee..NOW!"..Gosh..i could have won like a gold medal for sprinting..as i had to abandon my whole trolley in the middle of any god forsaken aisle and carry him to find the nearest toilet i could get him into!! Phew..yes..that is my shopping life now..ever ready to make that quick dash to the toilet whenever he needs too..i must admit i am better at doing this now..cause i force him to go to the toilet before we GO anywhere so i don't have to abandon any shopping carts!

I am glad i waited till he was ready to take his own step to being a boy..cause it only took me 1 week for him to be comfortable enough wearing his undies and leaving his nappies behind for good. I mean i remember the drama i had last year..gosh!! He was crying, half naked running around the whole house like a chicken without a head looking everywhere for his pampers (partially cause i hid them away from him) I must say though..that 1 week i took training him involved putting his green ikea potty permanently as a statue in the middle of my living room and did i mention i had to put newspapers all over it as well so that his pee doesn't drop onto the carpets?? yes..the pains of potty training and the constant nagging that would have me beat an 80 year old granny as well! i think like every 5 mins..i had to ask Lil Rascal..do u need to wee?Do you need to pee? until he and I were both sick to death by the end of one week! I think i grew so tired of asking at one stage that i was like..whatever! hahaa..but then i came back to my senses again and started the ball rolling again with nagging him!

Anyway, after one week of nagging and my house turning into a war zone..he was nappy free and as of last week, he has stopped nappies at night too! an adorable sweetie I have..who just amazes us! I can't stop pinching his butt cheeks now..they are like the tiniest most adorable butt cheeks i have even pinched!! ahha..i know i sound like a paedophile..but i am NOT!! I am just a mum who is in love with her son! haha..

well..cheers to underwear and the start to his boyhood!

my NEW daily routine!

It is funny how one change of event will eventually affect the whole entire family! Before Lil Tinkerbell started school, we all used to wake up late in the mornings and everything was so nice and laid back but eversince she started school, we have somehow created a whole new family routine:-

7:00am: My Ironchef is normally the first one up in the household! followed by either myself or lil Tinkerbell and lucky last will be my lil rascal.

7:30am: Breakfast for the kids and packing Lil Tinkerbell's lunch box. (she normally has sandwiches for breakfast and lunch)

8:10am: The whole family leaves the house together to send her off

8:45am: Lil Tinkerbell starts her school and normally we walk her to her classroom together with her class teacher and classmates.

9:00am: We leave school compound and Ironchef drops me and lil rascal off to the gym.

9:30am : My class aerobics start

10:30am: It ends and the world starts with just the two of us..me and my lil young boy hand in hand walking back

12:00pm: Prepare lunch for us both and have our meals

2:00pm: We have to get ready to leave the house and catch the tram to pick Lil Tinkerbell up from school. By the time we walk to the tram stop and get our act together, it would be just nice.

3:10pm: Lil Tinkerbell finishes school and starts chatting away about her day in school while we walk to the tram stop and catch the tram back to our place.

4:00pm: We reach home and I prepare a lil snack for her to eat and she will rest abit before she starts her homework

5:00pm: Homework time.

6:00pm: Kids watch their cartoon while Ironchef prepares dinner.

6:30pm: Kids have their bath and then dinner thereafter.

7:30pm: Lil Tinkerbell will continue her homework if she still has not finished otherwise she will just play and rest.

8:30pm: Sleeping time for the kids and freedom for the adults! Nice catch up time for Ironchef and myself about the day or just being able to watch TV and surf the internet.

11pm: Bedtime..ZZZz

This routine has been like this for the past 4 weeks now but of course if Ironchef gets off work early then it changes altogether cause we don't have to catch the tram bla bla..

Such is Life......

Chinese New Year Around the Corner

This will be our third time celebrating Chinese New Year without any parents or relatives. I must admit it is really quiet having to celebrate festive occasions like these without family and being in Australia where there is no atmosphere of the new year makes it abit hard trying to cheer up and prepare for such a joyous occasion.

Albeit all this, I try hard to make it as happy as possible and to get into the mood and swing of it all, I even bought CNY dvd's and CD's from Malaysia so i play them in the house as i go around decorating my house. I have even invited close friends to celebrate CNY reunion dinner with us and thanks to my mum who bought me a packet of "Yee Sang" so at least i can toss it over here! I love my yee sang!

I am even learning to bake some CNY goodies like pineapple tarts etc..*wish me luck* Well as the saying goes, Beggars can't be choosers..so we just have to make the most out this joyous occasion.

Lil Tinkerbell's First day at school

This year starts off for me as a parent another milestone! The day my lil tinkerbell starts going to reception in school. Reception is the year that children attend before their official Year 1 and normally they start attending reception after they turn 5 years old. Lil Tinkerbell was an exception because of her ability, she was accepted one term earlier.

So, on her first day at school she was up bright and early. Excited about wearing her school uniform and having her new school bag, everything was daunting to me but to her, she was more than happy to start school than staying at home for the past few months already during the holidays. She started on Wednesday and so far, we have been very impressed with the school and how they manage the children.

First of all, there are only 15 children in her class so that means, she gets more attention from her teacher. Then, the school provides all her stationery to books and they have them all wrapped as well so we didn't have to do anything.

Next was the hours of school. Her normal school time starts at 8:45am and ends the day at 3:10pm everyday with two breaks in between for snacks with fruits and lunch recess but for the first week, we were advised that their days will end at 12:30pm followed by the second week at 2:00pm and from the third week onwards, they will resume their normal school hours. That was a very good move especially for the kids who are not used to the long hours at school so by slowly giving them more time to get used to the school hours and for us parents too (especially me) to get used to the idea of not having our kids with us for the first half of the day.

Well, it just gets better cause they even offer free after school activities each term and this term, I have signed Lil Tinkerbell up for hip hop dance. So every Friday, she can go dancing where refreshments will also be served because class sessions are 1 hour and will end at 4:30pm. Now how good is that? They have given us a whole plan of Term 1 where important dates are marked down and that includes a zoo excursion for the kids and every Fridays in the morning, the kids get taken down to the beach for walks too! Hmm..school here is indeed so much better and refreshing.

And like a proud parent, there I was armed with my camera snapping away pictures of her on her first day at school:-

Their tables are all clearly labelled with their names so they know where to sit and they each have their own labelled drawer where they keep all their notebooks.

Their spots are all clearly labelled with their names so they know where to hang their bags.

The year that was...and the year to come..

Finally another year has passed! As I reflect back on 2009, important events and memories that happened be it good or bad seems so surreal now. hmm..Each day that passes by in my life seems so fast..time and tide waits for no man and i believe in that statement. Sometimes i have this urge to want time to stand still when i am enjoying life and my family at its most sweetest times..times when i look at my precious babies to see how much they have grown up eversince the first time i learnt to change their diapers. Those times felt like just yesterday yet reality is that time is passing by really quickly.

2009...hmm..the year:-

# We finally got our PR granted after waiting patiently for 2 years!
# Isabel was defined a gifted child by a psychologist and accepted into Mensa. She is now 1 of 8 kids under the age of 10 yrs old in South Australia to be a member.
# My son's vocabulary increased and talking so much more now than ever before..even cheekier as well,
# I lost 12 kgs by going through a rigid gym exercise schedule and diet included.
# I started this new blog as i come to terms of being a housewife and to start prioritising my family first.

I am actually contented to life in general last year..now what will the coming year be? I wonder..I had my life read by a fortune teller back in Malaysia..haha..so i shall wait and see if his predictions come true or not but in the meanwhile my resolutions for 2010 are:-

# To start studying again
# To potty train lil rascal and hope this time i am successful cause last year, it failed miserably
# To save more $$$..which is what i keep telling myself everyday but somehow again..i seem to forget (sigh..)
# To go to brisbane and gold coast for a nice family holiday end of the year

That's all..on my end for now. Wish me all the luck cause i am gonna need lots of them..and to everyone i know..Happy New Year and may the new year bring you guys lots of love, joy and good health!!

A hot spring ahead?

Normally, i embrace spring because the weather warms up but not to the extent of hot so it is very refreshing to have a nice 20 degrees day everyday. This year, the weather has been soo weird!!


Firstly, Winter wasn't cold at all..well, i would say we had a very mild winter and it was just raining every single day making me miserable the entire time. Not only was i depressed because i couldn't walk out to the shops but i was handicapped too! I had to be dependent on either Ironchef or Karen (Caitlin's mum) to help me pick and drop Lil Tinkerbell off at kindy. I hate being dependent on people and I hate being cooped up at home 24/7!!

So winter came and gone, we had Spring and guess what? It was the coldest Spring ever..in fact, it felt colder than winter itself!! So when my mum came and visited us here, she was shivering down to her bones because of the wind and chill! Poor mum!!


The latest weather forecast this week..is worse!! Everyone knows i hate summer! I hate the heat and I hate flies and bugs and everything that comes with it..and guess what again? It is 28 degrees today and tomorrow 31 degrees before dropping back to 28 degrees again and to top it all off..this weekend..it is going to be a whopping 36 degrees this Sunday! (mind you, it is not even Summer yet!!) sigh...climate change..

By the way, we had an unexpected visitor in my garden few days ago....

A yucky Shingleback lizard!! It walked inside my garden unwelcomed and totally..i mean TOTALLY freeaked me out!! By the time i actually saw it, i scurried the kids into the house immediately and rang ironchef up! He wasn't at home so the next option was to ring a friend which i did who turned up 30 mins later only to find that it had already left! Phew..thank goodness!!

I told people about it and guess what they said? Ooo...they are harmless..they don't bite as long as you don't disturb them..and they are good for the gardens and it is good to have them! Heck NO!! You can have them in yours as long as you like...they are soooo...not welcomed here! Eee...just seeing this picture again is giving me goosebumps all over my body and now each time i open my door...i freeze for a second and scan through my garden to make sure i don't see them lying anywhere!!

See?? when the weather warms up..this is what we get? now can u understand why i am such a winter person??