Square One

Three hours later from my previous post, I'm pretty much still where I was. Haha. Nope, I didn't get the dishes done. I did hang up the batch of clothings. Figured out that was pretty urgent as people were running out of underwears! Che-Che O came back not too long after and I spent some time with her cleaning up all the books she read and never placed back on the shelf and the stash of puzzle she did not get to complete before reading a bedtime story together and got her ready for bed. By then, it was already eleven. Papa got me my very well deserved signature hot choc with soy milk from Starbucks and I have just been sitting down indulging it with some oats. Aaaah.... Guilty? Well, kinda but I'm too sleepy now to be bothered. Tomorrow is another day. Goodnight world! - writing while lying down on a bed with a stash of laundry. Yes, I will be sleeping here tonight.

Mess!

It's now a quarter past nine at night. All is quiet. Che-che O and Papa has gone out and Master J is sound asleep. I have the whole house to myself and have the radio tuned into the usual Sunday night Jazz on Lite FM.

Sounds like the perfect time to chill with a glass of red.... but...
1. I've been down with a tummy bug. Started on Thursday night after dinner. I ended up with no dinner after dinner as they all came back out. Have been having body aches and a mild temperature till today. My tummy still feels raw and I certainly don't dare to stimulate it any further with foods that will make it churn. So I'm left sort of hungry. I will try to get two mouthfuls of plain oats in later as suggested by a friend. Ya, plain oats in water. Hmm.. yay. yum. Guess I gotta still feed old tum-tum.

2. Dear hubby cooked dinner and left the kitchen looking like probably what's in my stomach right now. A mess!

3. I see things everywhere! Table mats under the TV cabinet, building blocks on the lounge chair, puzzles strewn on the floor, a sock under the kiddo's exersaucer, a train toy on the sofa (now removed as I wanted that space), all these and more on top of a big bag of things to put away...

4. The washing machine just beeped signaling another load of wash waiting for me to hang dry. Meanwhile, there are three loads waiting for me to put away.

5. Project Organise Thy Study Room has been completely abandoned. I thought it would probably take me a whole month. I thought wrong. Perhaps a whole year???

I am honestly short of a scream away. It is times like these that I truly, truly, truly wish I have someone here as a domestic helper. Either that or the ability to wave a wand and utter iggety-ziggety-zaggety and zoom! the mess away! It's just impossible to cope at times. I seriously wonder how do those mommies with beautiful blogs do it? When will I have the time to get a sensory bin or a I-spy bottle done for Master J? Okay, rant aside. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat. Tune up the radio and now get me those washing gloves...... before the fever acts up again......

The Very Hungry Little Reader - an online bookstore for your little readers

Some time last year, amidst the busyness of life, I got together with a friend and started an online bookstore for kids. So instead of going to bed right now (@1.30am), I have decided that I should write a little about our bookstore.

My friend and I both have children and want them to cultivate the love of reading. We both love books and have emptied our savings on books for our kiddos many a time. Good reads in Malaysia are not only rare at times but also pricey. Thoroughly missing the time in UK where libraries are EVERYWHERE! And the children section is packed with books suitable for all ages from birth! Also missing the great deals for new books with offers like buy one get one free. I loved grabbing bargains from charity shops too! Got some books still in good condition for 50p! Don't forget the nearly new sale!!!

Well, we are not in UK anymore are we? But we still want to continue to encourage Che-che O and Master J (and their friends) to love books. So we got our acts together and started The Very Hungry Little Reader - an online bookstore for your little readers.  It is currently found only on Facebook as we have not managed to set up a blog unfortunately. My friend did mention before that most Malaysian parents would be more willing to spend on expensive toys and clothes than books which I have sadly realised to be true! Therefore, the idea of this children bookstore is for us to source for good, quality, popular reads and sell them here in Malaysia at a price lower than our local bookstores. It is our hopes that this will encourage parents to invest more in books which will open up a whole new horizon of imagination for their little ones, stimulate their senses, improve their language comprehension and a whole load of other things!

There is still tonnes to work on. We have more things planned and more new books to upload but we will take one step at a time. Meanwhile, if you and your little reader are feeling a little hungry for some good reads, why not pop into The Very Hungry Little Reader? ;-) See you there!

Time to get organised!

This house comes with a little 'office'. I have sort of claimed it as my studio. Currently, it is in complete chaos! Due to space limit, I have many times stuff things in there and pile stacks of this and that up waiting for that one day when I am free to put them away. That one day is still no where to be found while I am left with a store instead of studio. I need to get organised. We have initially treated this beautiful house as a temporary shelter. Till we manage to find our own little abode. Looking at how the property prices go ridiculously crazily high here, moving into our own home looks dim. So we might as well start treating this house as home.

I have a few ideas here and there including getting a small kitchen island to increase workspace area as well as more shelves or even getting some cabinets installed. But first things first would probably be to sort out the studio. Needing some ideas on how to arrange and get some of the things organised in the most efficient manner. So Google, here I come!

2013

Can you believe how time can really fly!???! I knew blogging would be one of the last thing to do in my list since the the arrival of Baby (now Che-che) O's partner in crime, Master J, over a year ago. But I thought I could at least manage a few posts! There were so many places we visited, so many milestones achieved, so many new books read, so many new activities and events that I wanted to blog about but none made it here. Even to put up this post took me maybe 600 attempts? So yeah, a belated Blessed Christmas 2012 and a Happy New Year 2013! This new year, it is my hope that This Mama will be able to revive this blog now that Che-che O has started preschool and Master J is officially a toddler! (Yes, I now have a preschooler and a toddler!) I do miss this little therapy of mine, chit-chatting in the virtual world. After all, the main reason why I started this blog is so that I have a getaway from baby talk!

Cheers to a blessed year ahead!

We did it!

Hello! Long time no blog. Don't think I need to tell you how crazy life has been nowadays. Blogging ultimately has taken a back ride although there were times that my fingers were itching to tap on the keyboard. Guess today is one of those days! Can't contain the excitement as it has been over a year since our intention to potty train che-che O. I can now declare that she is officially nappy free!! Yay!!!!

Well, we had been really good with the pee-pee. Not even wearing nappies during naps and at night. She would wake up in the morning and go to the toilet herself. Not 100% accident free. Like last night, we were out and she had announced that she needed the loo but fell asleep on the way home. We completely forgot about waking her up to empty her bladder first. Aiyaiyai... messy... just when I needed my sleep... Anyway, still very proud of her.

Then came the poo-poo bit. She just for some reason would refuse to poo in the toilet or potty. Maybe it's the sight? The smell? On and off I would throw her the question of poo-ing in the toilet or nappy again and it had always been nappy. Then a few weeks back, we had two last nappies and I had prompted her and asked her what is she going to do after the last nappy has been used up. She replied to poo in the toilet. This scenario is actually not new. It happened before and she just ended up not wanting to poo at all or throw a fuss and cry for nappies! This time round, D-(poo)-day arrived and I asked her where would she want to do it and she again replied at the toilet. So I calmly brought her to the toilet and stayed with her holding her hands (and my breathe) till she did it! I couldn't believe it at first! She actually did it! I just kept praising her and reminded her how clean it is to poo in the toilet and not get your bum all smeared in poo. She was of course feeling chuffed herself. And we of course had to call Papa to tell him about the business. And I of course had to reward her with lots of stickers. Low and behold, she went about the poo business that same night again! *Doing a little dance*

I guess this potty training thing can't be rushed and when the little one is ready, it will just happen one day. I'm just glad that day came before her 21st birthday! ;-D

Welcome Baby J!

Baby J was finally delivered safely and naturally on 30 November 2011 weighing a whopping 3.75kg! (I blame it on the Penang food!!) He was still feeling all warm and fuzzy in there and had to be induced out 6 days post due date. It was a relief when all that weight was taken away and then whizz! boom! bang! and he is already two months old! Time flies when you have a baby to care for, and even faster when you have a toddler as well!

Baby O is officially now Jie-jie O who loves her Di-di to bits! She has been such a little gem of a sister. She had her share of temper throwing and attention grabbing antics but generally, she has been such an understanding little girl. She would play on her own knowing that I have to tend to the baby and is ever ready to grab me a piece of muslin cloth or nappy when needed. Amazing coming from a two and a half year old.

I do feel sorry for Jie-jie O sometimes as she would often say 'Papa, can you play with me?' when he gets back from work (like right now!) as I have not been able to spend the time doing things with her like I used to the last two years! To begin with, I was super huge this pregnancy so even before Baby J's arrival, I had pretty much stopped most activities. I couldn't sit at the play area with her so she was left to play on her own most of the time. Cooking a meal felt like I was moving a whole house so she was left to our trusted and never failing babysitter, the television a lot too. Sigh... So I have tried to work around that and try to play and read together with Baby J now or do something with her while he naps since he has a more predictable routine now. On the other hand, I feel like I wish I can spend more time nurturing Baby J as he is growing up so fast!

Well, this is what life is now with two! Absolutely no time for myself washing the never ending pile of laundry and all, but at the same time enjoying double the smiles, double the hugs and double the love... ;-)