Thankful Tuesday: Hiding from the haze

Last week's haze and the rising PSI values got us worried. I was starting to get rashes, baby J's eczema started flaring up, and Junior J started coughing. We didn't manage to purchase an air purifier or masks (they were out of stock island-wide, and there were snaking queues when we walked past pharmacies). In the end, we made the decision to drive up to hubby's hometown in Penang for some fresh air. The hubby flew back yesterday since he had to work, while I stayed on with the boys in Penang with my MIL and my brother (who drove up with us). 

Its been a crazy month, first with us having to move out to stay with my parents due to our home renovation, then the haze, and now the trip up. However, I am very thankful:

:: That the haze situation has improved significantly in Singapore. However, the bad air seems to be blowing across Malaysia, and heading up north, and the air quality in Penang is starting to go down. I'm glad that Singapore is in the clear for now, and that there are people who care enough to look out for the needs of others during this difficult time.

:: For family that have accommodated us thus far. For my parents, who put up with the messes of the boys while we stayed with them, and now, my in-laws. 

:: That even with all these changes and moving about, the boys have been more or less alright. They have been content playing with the simplest things, and are generally cheerful aside from the usual sibling squabbles.

Playing row your boat at my parents place.
Gave me enough time to wash the breakfast dishes.

:: That we have places to go to, when the temperatures at home soared and the boys got restless. And I am so glad for the library, for its quiet spaces and books that kept the boys occupied.

How about you? What are you thankful for this week?


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Friday Five: Activities for the little ones during the haze

Hello! We've been having really bad air the past few days over here in Singapore, and we've been keeping the boys indoors just to be on the safe side. I've not found enough energy to think up of new activities to keep the boys occupied, so we've just been reading lots and lots of books (and Junior J has been working off some of his energy by pretending he is a flying dinosaur, and taking flying leaps off the bed while wearing a blanket). However, here's sharing some activities that we've done, that might be handy in keeping little hands busy while they are coped up at home:

:: Read "The Enormous Crocodile" by Roald Dahl together. Then make the characters in the book using recycled materials! (Click on the links for making the crocodile, Roly Poly bird and Trunky the elephant.)

:: Construct a town in 5 minutes: Roll out a piece of mahjong paper, draw a couple of roads on it and let the kids add their own houses and other landmarks!

:: Take out the Bible (or volume of Bible stories) and re-enact the story of Jonah. And while you're at it, try making a whale shark out of paper plates...

... or get your child to gather all the toy animals in the house, and act out the story of Noah, and end it off with a little bit of artwork.

:: Write a letter or note to a friend, and decorate the envelopes using homemade foam stamps. Perhaps they could be posted during a grocery run, and would probably be a welcome surprise!

:: Do a dinosaur dig at home. Try printing and cutting up pictures of dinosaur skeletons and burying them in sand for the kids to excavate. Then they can also learn how difficult it is trying to sort out and piece together the different skeletons!

On hot days, you could try freezing some toy dinosaurs in a clean milk carton filled with water, and let the kids have a go at digging the dinos out with all sorts of tools!

And you can end it off with some writing or reading (click here for our little dinosaur printable book, and here for a list of books we enjoyed on dinosaurs)!

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Thankful Tuesdays: They call him Papa

The hubby has a temper. And a sharp tongue. We sometimes get on each other's nerves. But bad points aside, he has been a great father to the boys. No matter how tired he is after work, he is game to spend time with the boys. He plays all sorts of silly games with them.

He gets to be the invisible power behind the gondola. :)

He never says no to a walk, be in freezing weather...

... or in the heat of the tropical sun.

He is involved in all the everyday aspects of caring for the kids. He helps with the diaper changes. He reads to them. He brings them grocery shopping so that Mama can take a short rest, or cook dinner in peace.

He even cuts their hair!

We're really blessed to have him! (And yes, a blessed belated Father's Day to all Papas out there!)

What are you thankful for this week?

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Friday Five: This pregnancy...

... has been rather different. I know, they say every pregnancy is different. However, when it came to the previous two pregnancies, we were blessed that both were pretty smooth-sailing with minimal symptoms. However, this round:

:: The nausea has been a lot worse. When expecting the two boys, I had minimal nausea. However, for this pregnancy, there were a couple of weeks where I had to spend time with my head in the bowl almost every night. Sweet stuff made me feel sick. The baby's poopy diapers made me gag. Bland foods like steamed fish made my stomach churn. The strange thing is, all three of our babies seem to have an aversion to wanton noodles. The hubby forgot, and bought that for breakfast on Mother's day, only to have me upchuck everything after church!

:: This little one has decidedly spicy taste buds. I've been craving all things spicy and/or salty. With Junior J I ate lots of carrot cake. With baby J, it was pretty spicy stuff like roti prata. But this round, I've been needing to eat spicy things almost every meal, and found it hard to stomach bland-tasting foods. I ended up cooking and eating a lot of instant noodles (and felt so guilty about the MSG!) for supper, and eating lots of chips. I had images of laksa, mee siam and roti prata floating about in my head... Like this one:

And posting this makes me hungrier than ever!

:: I've been hungrier. While I've been battling nausea, I also found that I had to eat something every two hours or so, or risk feeling dizzy. So its been small spicy meals most days, with lots of snacks in between. It seems like I spend half of my time stuffing my mouth with something!

:: It seems like this baby is growing a lil faster than his/her brothers. Both Junior J and baby J were pretty small at birth (about 3 kg). During our last check-up, our gynae mentioned that this little bun has grown a little more than expected, which resulted in the ultrasound pushing the due date forward. To my birthday. (Dear baby, if you could, please try not to come on Mama's birthday, ok? You'll be a beautiful birthday present, but it would be nice not to spend my birthday in labour, or having to eat some steamed fish hospital meal instead of birthday cake.)

:: I've been more exhausted. Perhaps its having to chase after the two boys, especially baby J who absolutely cannot sit still. Or maybe its age catching up on me. Whatever the case, I'm hoping the energy levels would start picking up soon now that we're in the second trimester.

Many friends have remarked that we may be expecting a girl, since this pregnancy feels so different from the previous two. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

How about you? Did your pregnancies feel the same, or were there differences?


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Thankful Tuesday: Living with family

So its been more than a week since we've moved over to my parents' place, and our home renovations have been proceeding as planned. Staying with family has had its challenges, with the boys sometimes driving my mum nuts with their mess and running about. I also feel rather terrible about imposing on them, since we've taken up two rooms and loads of fridge space (and Junior J keeps wetting the mattress!). It has taken all of us some adjusting to this move.

However, staying with them also has had its plus points. My mum insists on cooking and settling the laundry on her own, which has taken a huge load off me while I battle with pregnancy exhaustion. Its also more bearable, having an extra pair of hands to help out with the kids, especially now that we've been going through two rounds of colds. And I am so glad the boys get to see and play with their grandparents more, and they love going for walks with their gong gong. :)

We're also really thankful that the boys have adapted to the move pretty well. They have less toys here, but are able to occupy themselves with whatever they have: pushing the high chair (which is on wheels) about, playing pretend, fiddling with bits and bobs (unfortunately that includes stove knobs and fan buttons for baby J!), banging on the door and generally disturbing my brother. There are less books to read too, but we're glad for those weekly visits to the library to get new reads. 

What are you thankful for this week?

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Friday Five: Appreciating Van Gogh's works

Photo source: Van Gogh Gallery

I've always loved paintings by Van Gogh, especially the daring strokes of paint and his use of bold colours. Here are five ways you and your kid could appreciate his works better:

:: Read books about the painter and his masterpieces:

To learn more about the painter, try "Van Gogh and the Sunflowers", by Laurence Anholt (we are great fans of the Anholt Artist Series!). For a lighthearted introduction to some of his paintings, you could read "Katie and the Sunflowers", or "Katie and the Starry Night", by James Mayhew. 

:: Try your hand making a little book about Van Gogh:

You can find a printable here for a little book on Van Gogh, along with some pictures on his works your child could colour. 

:: Explore photographs of Van Gogh's works:

Read more about Van Gogh over at the Van Gogh Gallery. You could also try printing out some of his works and paste them up on the wall for a gallery walk with your child!

:: Let your child try his hand at painting:

Here's one simple version of Van Gogh's Starry Night that even the little ones could try. Or if you have a budding artist who would like to try his hand at painting, HeART Studio is running a sunflower painting class for the three to four year olds during this June holiday period (click here for details).

Photo source: The Educators' Spin on It

:: Try your own hand at painting, Van Gogh style:

Recently, I was able to try my hand at painting, Van Gogh style, as part of the Singapore Mom Bloggers' first anniversary celebrations. We had a lovely session sponsored by HeART Studio, where our instructors, Syafiq and Elma guided us in painting our own version of "Sunflowers".   

We were taught how to sketch the outlines on canvas...

... how to mix the various paints to get colours like brown...

... and how to fill in the different parts of the painting using short brushstrokes, while alternating between slightly varying shades.

I must admit it was hard work, and tiring to sit there painstakingly layering paint on that canvas. And it really helped me to appreciate how difficult it is to produce those masterpieces that you see hanging in art galleries! Also, I thought it was pretty amazing that the teachers actually manage to guide three to four year olds into painting something similar during their art classes. 

Tiredness aside, I think we all had fun! Our teachers patiently went around guiding us, and giving us useful tips, like how to add shadows and depth, and texture to the flowers. 

We were given free reign in what colours we wanted to use, so everyone's painting looked different!

And after two plus hours of work, this was how my painting looked like:

I really enjoyed the session and I think I might just try my hand at painting again (if I ever find the time!). It was good to have some time off from the kids, and relaxing to sit there and see the painting slowly take shape! Meanwhile, for those of you who might be interested, HeART Studio conducts adult canvas classes to teach basic art sketching to canvas art (they require only two people to start a class). The studio also offers art classes to children from three to 12 years old (details over at their website).

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Thankful Tuesdays: Day by day, step by step

For some strange reason, bad things seem to always happen on Tuesdays, just before I sit down to count my blessings and write my thankful post. Last last week, it was baby J getting himself burnt. Then early this morning, the baby started running a fever, which sent me into panic mode for awhile, since we were told to watch out for fevers since it could mean the wound was infected. However, after sponging him, and observing him during the morning, we've concluded that the little one probably has caught another cold, unfortunately just after he has recovered from the first bug. I'm still hacking away from the first virus, but thankfully the hubs and Junior J have more or less recovered.

Fever and sniffly noses aside, it has been a week full of blessings. Am so thankful for:

:: God's faithfulness through the week.

:: So much progress with regards to baby J: This little fellow's burns has been healing well, and he's been very co-operative during dressing changes. He's not complained of any pain, and hasn't required any pain medication thus far.

The little boy has been eating better these days too (except on the days he was pretty sick). We had skin prick tests run for his allergies, and discovered that he was only allergic to egg. It has meant we could stop force-feeding him partially hydrolysed formula milk (which he hates), and start him on dairy, which he loves! It also has made cooking for him alot easier since I can cook the same meals for both the boys (unless Junior J is having an egg-based meal), instead of having to prepare different dishes.

He insists on feeding himself. And we've discovered both boys are fans of intestines, which has made Papa very proud.

:: My parents, who have been such a great help. We struggled so much with packing up the house while being sick. My mum, being the super-efficient packer she is, helped with our packing. We've shifted over to stay with them since the weekend, and they've been lending a hand with everything: the move, baby-sitting, helping us to buy meals. And now that we're bunking with them, my mum has been cooking the meals, and its taken a load off my back. Am so grateful for them.

:: Junior J, who hasn't been complaining, even though the boys have been house-bound most of the time due to baby J's burns and all the stuff we had to do for the move. Of course there are the tantrums and whining, but he's adapted pretty well to the move and seems rather glad to be able to play with his grandparents more often.

Rare morning at the playground, without his lil bro.

:: The hubs, who has been soldiering on, despite having to help out with the sick kids and work and the move and all. 

All in all, we've been taking it day by day and step by step. What are you thankful for this week?

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