Category Archives: Working mum

Mummy? She blogs. (An interview with a toddler)

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My blog turns 1 today! Yes, I have my first post to prove it.

To mark this special occasion, I have here an uncut interview with a very special guest. Yes, she’s my most loved daughter. The one and only. Vera.

Take it away, girl.

~~~

Interviewer: Why does your mummy blog?

Vera: Because she likes to write about me and di-di (little brother) lor. Di-di is very cute, he can’t talk yet, but he makes lots of noises and he likes to blow bubbles out of his mouth. Boootttttt boootttt…like this. I think she likes to write and share her thoughts…or maybe daddy and me don’t listen to her enough. We are always playing!

Interviewer (wiping saliva off her face): Do you know that your mum’s blog name was inspired by something you said about her wearing your papa’s shirt?

Vera: Izzzzzit? (clueless, starts to look around for a distraction.)

Interviewer: Ahem, moving along… Where does your mummy find time to blog? Isn’t she supposed to be busy working and looking after you and Javier?

Vera: Mummy plays with her phone all the time, so I think she use her phone to blog.

Or maybe she blog secretly when di-di and I are sleeping…my mummy is so naughty, she’s supposed to sleep with me, but she goes to blog instead. So naughty one.

Interviewer: Okay…so you think your mummy is naughty.

Vera: Yes. So naughty. Vera is not naughty, I’m a good girl. I sleep at 8 and wake up at 7, mummy says I must sleep early every day.

Interviewer: So…do you wish that she spends less time on her blog and more time with you?

Vera: Noooo? I wish she will buy me more gummies and biscuits and sweets.

You want gummies? I ask her to give you…but you must be a good girl hah? Eat already must brush your teeth hah?

Interviewer: ???

Okay back to the topic. How do you feel about your mum sharing so much about you on her blog?

Vera: I like to see myself on the computer. I think I look very pretty.

Interviewer: Yes, you are quite sweet.

Vera: Noooo…I am not a sweet. I am preeetty. You want sweet is it?

Interviewer: Erm, no…never mind.

Vera: I think you need a sweet.

Interviewer: !!! I think I just need to lie down.

Vera: You want to sleep? Okay, lie down, I pet pet you okay? Softly okay?

Interviewer: …

~~~

And that was the end of a very short interview session with the lovely, almost famous, almost 3-year-old Vera. Thanks sweetie-pie for making this day so special for mama, and for being such a BIG inspiration to me. I mean it. It’s only because of the funny things that you do that life (and this blog) gets its colour.

Of course, how can I forget…

YOU! Thank you, dear friend, for reading, commenting, connecting, and encouraging me along this blogging journey. This year, I hope to and will try my darndest to write more interesting and thoughtful posts. In life’s busy-ness, it’s easy to lose sight sometimes, so give me a gentle nudge if you think I can be doing better okay?

…like I said, I will TRY MY DARNDEST! icon smile Mummy? She blogs. (An interview with a toddler)

Honey, I shrunk your budget

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That hit me on a bright sunny morning. The news that my hubby had shrunk my monthly budget. And then it turned gloomy.

ACTUALLY

I should have seen it coming.

BECAUSE

I’ve made the leap to go part-time. I woke up one day and thought to myself, ‘what, another zombified morning, and I still have to get dressed and go to work?’ (Now, I know a lot of mums out there make it to work despite nights of broken sleep. And if that’s you, I don’t know how you do it, but you have my utmost admiration.)

But then, it’s not JUST the tiredness. It’s also the growing desire within me to spend more time at home coaching the kids.

Vera is fast turning 3, and I’ve been feeling like I can barely keep up with her developments. She’s showing greater interest in craft activities, music and dance, story-telling, and is starting to identify familiar alphabets. And the fact that she spends the bulk of her week in childcare really gets to me at times.

PLUS

I’ve been feeling a little ungrounded, like you know, feet off the floor kinda feeling. And I think it’s because I haven’t had my daily doses of quietness. Ever since the arrival of baby J, the days have been a mad rush, like a long sentence punctuated only by nap times, and I don’t reach the full-stop until midnight.

I feel like I need to catch my breath. And my daily time-out. It allows me to know I’m alive. Instead of just going through the motions.

SO

I leaped.

After the leap, I ding-donged between pure exhilaration and fear. Excited about the prospect of being a bit more ‘free’, but oh so fearful about the dent in our income. Will we struggle? Will this stress the hubby out?

I was also worried about how my colleagues would feel, and whether I would still be able to pull my weight.

Amidst all that worrying, a soft voice within me reminded me that though I can’t see the future clearly, I know the one who leads me, and he has a good plan and purpose for me.

NOW

I’ve accepted. My new title. My new working hours. My shrunk budget.

I know I’ll survive.

Because of these words…

Source: etsy.com via Laura on Pinterest

Baby refuses the bottle! (And other working mum woes)

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Had a rather hair-raising first day back at work this week. Just as I was happily out of the office and making my way to nice Thai food at Boat Quay (can’t remember the restaurant name), I received a distress call. From mum. With baby wailing in the background.

Mum: “He doesn’t want to drink milk!”

Me: (Frazzled because I knew this was way past baby’s first feed time, and sharing his hunger pains. But tried to process the information as rationally as I could, in a matter of seconds.) “Have you tried spooning? Or using a small cup?”

Mum: “Ok ok, I try.”

That seriously took my mind off food for the rest of the trot to Boat Quay (and the rest of the arvo for that matter). I was frantically searching my mental archives for further solutions if those failed. Once seated at the Thai place, I called home to check. Whew, mum managed to get baby J to drink about half of the feed. I advised her to try again later, when his mood has recovered.

In the evening, I rushed home, and was greeted by the teary baby whom my mum had resorted to carrying and walking around the corridor outside our house. He apparently had taken a little from the bottle, but was by now cranky-hungry. (As a woman, I know what cranky-hungry feels like. Totally empathised with my poor bub.)

Thankfully we’ve managed to find ways to get him to drink from the bottle. But he seems to have gone on a mini hunger strike - taking roughly half of his usual feed. This is formally known as reverse cycling (where baby nurses more at night to make up for missed nursing sessions in the day). Which is also why my eye rings are getting deeper and darker.

Still, I can’t help but berate myself and asking why I failed to prepare for such a situation? I thought I knew everything there is to know about going back to work, including how much milk baby will need, and how to handle and store breastmilk. Apparently, I was wrong. Looks like however prepared I try to be, something never fails to knock my well-crafted plans out-of-whack.

I’m totally game to continue breastfeeding my baby - with the zillion good things that it does for baby (and me), why give up?…but I’m starting to think that I may not be able to cope long-term with working 8-5 whilst having to wake twice / thrice at night.

If you’re a working, breastfeeding mummy, would certainly love to hear about how you cope. Do leave a comment / email me, if you have any tips to share. icon smile Baby refuses the bottle! (And other working mum woes)