Strange Machines

Our Halloween props from Woolcrazy on Etsy arrived! The kids were so thrilled to decorate their Halloween nature table.

Discovered these beautiful fabric dollhouses on Etsy a few weeks back and I ended up ordering one for myself and one each for the kids. They are such wonderful creative and open ended toys!

The seller Laurie (shop FrivolTees) was really lovely to work with. She responded to me quickly and was incredibly helpful with fabric samples and advice.

Shipping was super fast too, considering it was a custom order for 3 houses and dolls. I ordered on 14 July. Production took a few days and it arrived on the 1st of August. That’s about 14 days altogether!

They are sturdily made and well crafted. Packaging was beautiful and professional too with thoughtful notes and cards which the children treasure. My greatest and utmost respect for a talented artisan working from home and raising five children!

The children are so happy and love their own fairy dollhouses so much! They had a hand in selecting their fabrics of choice and were especially thrilled to see the end result.

And I get to play with them too, now that I have my own mini fairy avatar me and my own fairy dollhouse.

It feels like the days simply fly by. We wake, eat, have an activity and free play and suddenly it is dinner time and bath time and it is time for bed. It’s been days of joy and also for me, exhaustion.

The kids have begun swim class, which they both love immensely. Their coach is wonderful with kids and so very funny and relaxed. I am so grateful we found this place.

I also try to make sure they have plenty of time with the grandparents. I always wish I had known my grandparents better before they passed. It is a beautiful relationship and I have my happiest moments watching my folks have a bonding moment with my kids, usually a smile or a hug or sharing a joke.

The years fly by too fast. Although I often wish I have more time to myself, I remind myself I will have plenty of that when they enter their teen years and adulthood. This precious decade I spend close to them and nurturing their relationship with their grandparents is but a blink in all our lives. I try hard to make sure we all cherish it.

Going to go hug them now.

Following almost 6 years of baby carrying, here’s my take.

It’s been 2 kids and half a dozen baby carriers. Overall, I have to say that the Ergo Organic still is the best one for me. It is incredibly soft and cool (in this hot humid weather we have here) and is the most comfy for me, probably because of the material. We also have the original canvas Ergo but find it hotter and rougher on the shoulders.

For my husband who loves to back carry the 5 year old when he is tired, he swears by the Boba (1st gen). It has better back and hip support due to its thick and stiff waist band. The Boba is my go-to second and while it is hard for me to nurse it, it does support my back better and sits the little one higher. When he carries the little one, he does also prefer the Ergo Organic.

Bottom line is though, everyone’s body is different and their needs are different too. Ideally we should all try our carriers before buying (I didn’t). For my nomadic lifestyle where the kids go wherever I do on public transport, on my thin 5″8 frame, the Ergo Organic works best.

One thing for sure is, I have loved every minute of cuddling my little ones in our carriers and weaving through shops and supermarkets with ease. (Wish my back was as grateful though…)

In school we never used the Oxford Comma and we studied under the British system. When I took Logic 101 in the University of Toronto, my exceptional professor taught us the Oxford Comma and its use in Logic. I was hooked. It just made perfect logical sense to me. I’ve been using it since and have had no complaints, except for a publication I wrote for which excluded its use in their style guide. Then again, languages aren’t always logical, even if they should.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon making our own snakes and ladders game. I taught the kids how to measure and use a ruler to draw straight lines and create 2x2cm squares. They had a great time drawing in numbers and their various snakes and ladders afterwards.

Happy 2012!

I know I know. I’d been fairly MIA all of 2011. You see, my weekly housekeeper quit to look after her sick mom back in December 2010 and we decided not to hire anyone new to replace her. So I’ve been doing the cleaning and laundry too, which after a year I am still doing rather poorly (but we get by). Plus when you’re so exhausted any blogging ideas kind of dissipate and disappear before they hit paper (or the iPhone).

The kids have been great. 5 and 2 have been a lovely age for each kid so far. Both are helpful with housework – they love hanging out and keeping laundry, folding and keeping clothes, and pick up their toys and keep them. When I need to do housework, they have a choice of helping or entertaining themselves. They’ve become very good at the latter!

So I have to say full-time housework has been a win-win for this family. The kids have learnt to play on their own without my having to be there but am within shouting distance in the same house. I get a bit of quiet time washing dishes and doing laundry.

The only downside for me is I need to rest a lot more during the day because it isn’t second nature for me to do housework but I trudge on because I want it to be easy for my kids, second nature, no sweat for them to do housework, not like the chore it is for me. After all, isn’t parenthood is about arming our kids with life skills? This is one skill I want my kids to have. I truly feel that life would be so much easier for them if they embrace it.

The kids asked if I could make them a gingerbread boy and girl. The faces took a while! I need to work on my embroidery…

Having trouble waking up in the morning while your kids cajole you to wake up and jump up and down on your bad knee? You’re not alone. You’re not the only Owl. I am too and I have survived morning waking children and woken up happy.

Here are some things that work for me most of the time:

1. Make them sleep in with you!

Use black out curtains to make them think it is still night and they will go on sleeping. Plus more sleep is good for their brains.

2. Put out breakfast for them.

Sometimes they wake up before me especially after a long night of countless nightwakings. I always leave out a large tray, which they are used to eating with their mouth over it, and rice cakes and dried fruit in a ziploc bag and a bottle of water.

Rice cakes are the only food I have found that is not crumbly, tasteless enough for the ants and roaches NOT to come crawling after, and yummy and filling enough for them to consume till you are coherent enough to make another meal.

Still, keep one of those tiny brooms handy just in case.

3. Put entertainment and surprises nearby.

There’s nothing that moves a child faster than “look on the table, I have a surprise for you!” and the beauty is that they love simple things like an I love you card to a drawing or a paper plane. Preferably something that they can play for a while as you rouse yourself from slumber.

4. Brew tea and put it on ice in a stainless steel container.

Keep this next to your head so you can reach for it even when zombie-brained. Nothing starts a day like a nice cup of tea.

5. Sniff some aromatherapy.

This helps for me. I have an Aura Cacia Lavender stick which wakes and relaxes me when I sniff it in the morning. Kept under the pillow.

6. Have them kiss you awake

There’s nothing sweeter than waking up to your baby’s sweet smiling face just inches from yours and being showered with kisses. A cuddle after seals the deal.

Hope this helps!

We found this cute roll of ABC sticky tape at Isetan and the kids had fun with it and origami paper this morning.