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Facebook prompted me with photos of this memorable experience exactly a year ago today. We had a truly fun-filled, albeit super HOT HOT HOT day at Escape Theme park!
The kids have grown so much since then, but I will forever treasure these memories we made…hopefully soon we will be able to visit Escape once again!
Prior to Christmas, Emma made a list of things she would like to do before or by Christmas. One of them was to bake gingerbread men.
And I only discovered we had time yesterday, on Christmas Day itself, to do it….so it was a fun home activity we did. The process took a little longer than I had envisioned, because the dough had go be chilled and hardened, and then rolled out, and cut and then chilled again, before they could be baked.
So we made some gingerbread men, and some gingerbread women, trees, snowmen, candy canes…
The fun part was piping the sugar icing on them to decorate!
Peter took the kids out to the mall yesterday, purportedly to get my Christmas present, so I wasn’t allowed to go along.
The kids had not gone out in a long while, even more so to the malls, since the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and we stayed at home most of the time.
They sure had a lot of fun out …although no one wanted to share much about where or what they did…Hmmmmmmm….
Meanwhile, back home, I finished up on all the gift-wrapping and the kids were thrilled and overjoyed to discover presents under the tree when they got home!
We will be having a cozy and quiet(er) Christmas celebration this year, just the five of us. Nevertheless, it does not take away the magic and joy of Christmas and truly, Jesus is the reason for the season!
I just realised that it has been more than TWO YEARS since I updated this blog… so guilty of not doing something I love!
I only pray that I will have more time to fill this blog with even more precious memories moving forward. ♥
Meanwhile, I would like to share a video I compiled which we recently did as a family… I love that everyone contributed to this and it will truly be a memory to be cherished forever.
Here’s wishing everyone a blessed Christmas this year and may God bless you all!
“What’s the color of this shirt, Emma?”
And she would answer almost immediately, “Ye-yo!”.
I used to enjoy hearing her say that. Never correcting nor reprimanding.
Just enjoying the innocence of it all.
This is one of the many moments I find so cherishable in motherhood.
I don’t correct her, not because I want her to make that mistake, but because I want to enjoy the cuteness of it all.
I know that she would one day say “Yellow”, and I still say “Yellow” when I speak to her, but amazed I will be.
Childhood is such a beautiful picture that contains accents of such memories, etched forever in a child’s life.
Well, it happened sooner than I had expected and almost instantly, she now says “Yellow”.
Clearly, accurately, without batting an eyelid.
“It’s YELLOW, Mommy… not Ye-yo,” she declares, seemingly correcting herself.
We visited Audi Dream Farm several months ago, however the photos have not managed to make their way to the blog…until now. The farm is located in Balik Pulau which is a good distance from where we live, nevertheless it was a fantastic experience for the kids to be out and about early in the morning.
We bought a basket of goodies for the animals, containing food for feeding the animals with…bird seed, leaves and plants, milk for the goats etc.
The kids really had a ball of a time. We will certainly make another visit to the farm, if it were closer to home. Well, hopefully soon we can find time for a repeat visit.
I’m still behind on my blog posts (*hangs head in shame*), notably the ones on the kids’ birthdays, so I have three in the back burner, but I thought I would post one on our recent getaway first.
We decided to surprise the kids with a very impromptu vacation to Sunway Lagoon. Since the kids enjoy theme parks, this would be perfect, plus we had all not been there before. Initially we had wanted to book a room at the hotel right next to the theme park but there were no more rooms available, so we decided on a nearby AirBnb condo. It was definitely a more reasonable option, and it was only a 10-15-minute walk to Sunway Lagoon and Sunway Pyramid.
Bring it on.
I’ll let the photos do the talking, since it is best done that way anyway.
It was a well-deserved break for us all, a surefire way of destressing and we had a glorious wonderful time, just us. Kids are looking forward to our next holiday…..where shall we go? Hmmmmm…..
“An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” Therefore, I try my best to get the kids out and about during these school holidays instead of being home all day in front of the TV or computer. We made an impromptu visit to the rather newly-opened Tech Dome in Komtar about two weeks or so back. I remember the location of Tech Dome as previously being the venue of computer exhibitions like the PC Fair years ago, back then the dome was called the Geodesic Dome.
Ethan and Hannah had already visited the Tech Dome last month during their school field trips, but they were rather disappointed that they didn’t get to participate in the activities like the wall-climbing and the G-force spin. These activities required parental approval and additional purchase of tickets, so perhaps that was why the school trip did not include that.
Here they are, doing the Speed Climb, where they had to scale up a vertical wall and hit the buzzer right at the top.
Here, the kids find out what astronauts go through with the G-Force simulator:
Kids had so much fun:
Emma enjoyed herself at a small play area pretending to be Bob the Builder:
Afterward, we visited The Top, which had some fun and colorful rides for kids.
Hannah has been taking piano lessons since she was 5 years old. Her interest has increased by leaps and bounds since then. Now, we are overjoyed to hear melodious tunes when she practises at home and it is indeed rewarding (and good on the ear).
I don’t intend to rush her through the grades, with taking examinations and all, even though her teacher says she is in Grade 1 now. When the time comes for her to take examinations and she is ready, then we shall cross that bridge.
Just recently, her teacher asked if Hannah wanted to participate in a music competition. There were several categories for the participants, segregated by age group, and Hannah was in the age 7-8 category. Hannah was very eager to, so we decided to let her try it out.
Looking at her perform that day, I think I must have been more nervous than she was. I practically held my breath while taking the video, and she aced it!
She was overjoyed when she received a trophy and certificate of participation for her efforts. There were 50+ participants in her category and she was selected as one of the Bronze trophy recipients. All the participants received a trophy, but that didn’t stop Hannah from being so proud of herself.
We are also very proud of you, Hannah! ♥
My third time as a breastfeeding mommy was definitely much easier, and breastfeeding is such that it becomes easier and easier with each child. However, with Emma, I did not really have any time on hand to think about weaning her proactively, and she did not seem ready to be weaned yet. Also, deep down, I knew that I was not ready yet.
I read up on stories where the child self-weaned and often wondered if it would happen to Emma. I did try deterring her once using juice from bitter gourd, but I couldn’t discipline myself to do it often enough, so that did not go anywhere.
When she was a few months after age 3, I noticed that she started NOT requesting for milk when she awoke in the morning. She could go the whole day without needing the breast and she would only ask for milk when she was ready to fall asleep. Thus our breastfeeding bond was then reduced to once or twice a day depending on whether or not she had an afternoon nap. She did not wake up much in the middle of the night and when she did, she would just need a cuddle.
Then on October 4th of this year, she contracted a sudden fever that went up to 39ºC; I did not give her any fever medication, only Izumio…she fell asleep after lunch and after that her fever broke and she was herself again. On that same night, she had, what was to be, her last breastfeeding session. I doubted I had much milk left then, so it was mostly comfort suckling.
On the night of October 5th, she went to sleep on her own without nursing. I thought it was a one-off incident, but she hasn’t asked for milk since.
It has been more than 2 months now, and Emma has been fully weaned. No tears at all, and it was such a smooth transition. It was all I prayed for, and I had asked God to make it easy for Emma and for me, and truly He has made it all possible. At 3 years, 6 months and 23 days, my darling Emma is fully self-weaned, with no fuss, no threats and no tears. The timing was perfect as we were both ready then.
I’m so proud of her for being strong and growing up so beautifully. I’m proud of myself for going on this breastfeeding journey with her. Despite obstacles we faced, we battled through them all. Even though I am no longer a breastfeeding mom, the breastfeeding experience stays with me and I am so grateful that I had shared my personal views and experience with all moms out there, and I am ever willing and happy to help out with questions or concerns even now. I would never ever change a thing for all my three breastfeeding journeys, for they are all wondrous and special in their own ways.
I thank God for giving me this special role and task, and for the strength He gave me to provide for my kids. I pray that He will continue blessing us all as a family and allow us to let Him guide us now and always.