SIL who lives in Sydney, Australia managed to persuade her mom to stay with them for 2 months instead of just 2 weeks. That’s good news for me. At least I have another month to really recover from child birth and adjust to my new life being a mother of 6 before I start my DIL duty; cooking for MIL. It is like I am getting 2 months maternity leave. If can get another month even better. It is because, it took me 100 days to really settle down with my newborn based on previous experience with my other children. Oh well, 2 months is better than 1 month.

All hubby’s nieces and nephews residing in Malaysia are back here to play with each other again. This is the time I hardly see my children’s face all at once! They will be all over the place. Some playing outdoor, some playing ps3, psp and even the ps3 headset! Some just hanging around under the durian tree chatting away. This is also the time, my youngest will be less clingy to me. She will be entertained by everything that is happening around her. Good for me coz I can hardly walk if I have to carry her due to the pain in my tummy.

I couldn’t figure out what to buy for my girls this Christmas. I’m sure my eldest is bored of receiving books as gift from me. My 2nd girl wanted something we couldn’t afford to buy. Thanks to the recent family holiday, I found the perfect gift for both my girls. The had so much fun playing congkak at the Kid’s Club that they did not want to go home until we let them play around round of congkak. So congkak it will be as their Christmas present this year. I still have no time to go hunt for one though. I still have 10 more days to go.

Guest post by Felicia Pittman

It had been a tough couple of years since my dad passed away. The sudden shock of it left me suffering from the ripple effect. Waves of every emotion shook through me for the first year and still to this day. As the old saying “Timing heals everything” echoed in my head, I took a leap of faith it was true and decided to turn my childhood home into a cabin getaway. The Charlotte property was a comfortable distant trip of two hours away from our home and the setting was peaceful and private. My husband set out to remodel what was necessary and we kept my dad’s vegetable garden in the back as a memory to him. We had the cabin completed just before the November chill set in. We decided to check direct tv charlotte and decided a basic package was perfect for a vacation home. Besides, the plans I had for my upcoming visits to our cozy place had very little to do with watching tv, but I did have kids and a husband to think about. If they need me, I’ll be in the garden!

Oh ya! I forgot to mention that we went for a family holiday 2 days before my birthday.

We were at Tiara Beach Resort, Port Dickson.

Even though I did not get to play in the water coz I have to take care either one of my babies, I am very happy to see the rest of my family members enjoying themselves. And I got the rest that I long for. No waking up to the thoughts of house chores to rush too and what to cook.

I had what I wanted for my 37th birthday. I went for my long overdue facial spa in the morning.

Cake cutting with my love ones.

And BBQ + Steamboat with hubby for dinner.

A simple and yet fulfilling birthday.

It is December already and I have 2 weeks to buy a Christmas present for one of my nephews. We are going to have a Pre-Christmas celebration a week before Christmas because everyone can be gather under one roof on that day. There will be gift exchange among the children and my children are too small to go shop for Christmas present for their cousins. I have no problem buying Christmas present for the smaller children and teenage girls but what do you buy for a teenage boy who has almost everything a teenage boys want. The only thing that he does not has and long to own one is a puppy but I heard that his mom do not allow him to have one as a pet. I wonder whether he is still interested in RC cars.

1. Annabelle - Anna means gracious, merciful. Belle means beauty.

2. Clarissa - Full of light.

3. Barnabas - Son of Encouragement. Barnabas is the bible real name is Joseph (Acts 4:36)

4. Ezra - Help. He is an Old Testament priest and also a scribe.

5. Rebekah - Water bearer, faithful wife.

6. If he is a boy, we will name him Joseph, Josef, Yosef (have not decided on the spelling yet) - God adds.

Last week, we finally went for a movie with our boys; Real Steel. Since it is not a box office movie, the movie ticket only cost RM7 for adult and RM5 for children. It is a movie worth watching more than once. I like their robots. They can really create such unique robot. I think some parts they used metal hose. My 2.5yo boy got very excited when they started fighting. I think he kicked and punched the front chair a few times. Thank God he didn’t get scolded by the boy sitting in that chair. And now, he is very much interested in robot toys. As for my firstborn son, he’s cool about it. He is more interested in the robot dance. Didn’t talk much about the movie or wanted to fight like robot like his younger brother. Both my sons have opposite personality.

All of us have blind spot. Life has been very busy since the family maid left. Most of my time is occupied with my newborn baby, my toddler, 2 school going girls and house chores.. Least that we realised, we have been neglecting our 5yo son. Since he is already 5yo, he is a big boy to us and we thought he does not need much of our attention.

Lately, he prefers to stay with my parents and often tell my mom that we don’t love him. A few days ago, one of our BILs commented that he is very “far off”. That got us on our feet. Every child need our attention. No matter whether they are at whatever age in their life.

For a start, as a gesture of our apology, hubby suggested to bring him for a movie. Just him without his sisters. Unfortunately, my thrifty hubby changed his mind after looking at the ticket prices. Since when the price increased from RM10 to RM12? If the 3 of us go, enough to buy the original VCD. So, no movie day out with our first born son.

In about 1.5 months, both hubby’s sister and their family who are residing overseas will be return home for a short holiday. It is going to be 7 years since all 11 of them plus their family gather under one roof and one nation. In our last family photo, I am still holding my 2nd daughter whom I just gave birth 2 weeks before the photo shoot. She is going to be 7 years old by the time they comes back.

Even though they are leaving a few days before Christmas, we will still celebrate an early Christmas with everyone. I must start saving up my paypal balance to buy Christmas pressie for them. I wonder what will be the xmas gifts for her, hubby’s sister who reside in UK. She had quite a hard life since she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Must think of something that will bring sparks in her eyes.

Read this… (taken from here)

Never before in my life have I seen any girl who adores me like she did. It was just awesome to look in her eyes and see such deep adoration coming out and finding its way to my eyes. Even my love partner did not have such deep adoration for me (or maybe I’ve forgotten of the times when she did). She would look at me with her round (or maybe sepet abit) eyes and with the sparkle in her eyes fix her gaze on me for a few seconds before giving me the sweetest smile of joy that melts my heart instantly. Ah… such blessings from God. Thank you Rebekah for you adoration to daddy.

I felt jealous each time my baby girl did that! Can u imagine that! This mommy is jealous of her own flesh and blood. I think it is because she is able to adore her daddy that much and I can’t. Anyway, I am happy now. She stopped adoring her daddy already. I mean she loves looking at her daddy but that adoring look is no longer there. Notti eh, me? hehe.

Due to the advancement in science and technology, designer drugs are starting to tear families and communities apart across America. One of them is the Bath Salt. It can be taken by snorting, smoking or reduced to liquid for injection just like cocaine. It gives the user a hallucinogenic high (which comes with a side of extreme paranoia and raging anger). According to various reports from around the country, the Bath Salt craze is reaching epidemic proportions and very few addiction experts are familiar with the compound or how to treat the addiction.

At present, Malibu Horizon is the leader in treating bath salt abuse addiction rehab treatment. If you know of anyone seeking treatment for bath salt abuse, do recommend them to Malibu Horizon.

Since I stopped working, I only buy new shoes and new clothing for my children once a year. That is for the Chinese New Year celebration. I have turned into my parents. When I was small, I only get new shoe, not even privo shoes, just a normal shoe from the “Kedai Pondok” a month before the Chinese New Year. Sad huh? At that time lar. Thinking back, it is a good practice because we appreciated our shoes and took good care of them. Now, I want my children to learn the same thing like I did.

Guest post written by my buddy Keith Kramer

My mom thinks we don’t spend enough time talking so I came up with a really great solution. Every week on Thursdays we have a movie appointment where we watch a movie on TV together over the phone. She loves it and I get lots of credit for being a great daughter! We both have tvBYDirect.com satellite so our channels are the same and we alternate who gets to pick which is a lot of fun. I know she really appreciates the time we get to spend “together” and I just like getting to watch the newest releases when they come out. The only problem is that we have totally different tastes in movies but I guess that’s why we alternate, right? I love my mom to death but I can’t afford to get on a plane and see her as often as I like so this seems like a really good solution in the long run. Mom, if you’re reading this, know how much I love you and how much I want to be a good daughter!

Most homes have more than one tv. I am one that do not like that idea. I used to live in a house that has more than one tv. One for the grandparents, one for the parents and one for the children. The reason is no one fights for the channel that they wanted to watch.

Now, having my own family, we hope not to do the same. For the past 10 years, we have only one tv at home and we hardly watch it. We limit the hours my children can sit in front of the idiot box and the channel they can watch. However, a month ago, one of my BIL’s brought home one of those 29″ samsung lcd tvs from his friend’s who has migrated oversea. My MIL wants to keep it so that she can watch tv from the kitchen. Aiyo! She hardly watch tv when the maid is not around. She does not have to “fight” with us for the channel that she wants to watch. Why is the need of having another tv at home?

Saturday is my busiest day in a week. I don’t even have time to relax and smoke my macanudo cigars. Hehehe, I don’t smoke but just to let you imagine how busy I am lar. When the kids are not at school, I have more work to be done. First of all, my “working” time is shorten because I woke up 2 hours later than on weekdays. I need to catch up on my lack of sleep during weekdays.

The moment I wake up, I need to do my laundry, some I did the night before, I just have to hang them under the sun. Their school uniforms and shoes to hand wash. I need to prepare breakfast, sweep the floor, mop the floor and wash the verandahs because I need to keep the house clean for the children to play. I need to cook, feed my babies and bathe them. Later in the afternoon, there’s clothes and cloth nappies to fold and uniforms to iron. At the same time, I have to attend to my children and try my very best to stop them from messing up the house.

Since I did not get my day off last Sunday, I’m claiming it today because hubby is around. He did the sweeping, mopping, and washing the verandahs. My eldest helped to wipe off the dust on the furniture, bookshelf, tv, dvd player and Astro decoder. As for lunch, I packed Chicken Rice for everyone.

I hope to have a relaxing weekend this week.

Today, our maid should return to Malaysia and it has been an hour since the plane touched down LCCT. We still have not received any call or sms from her. She did not reply my earlier sms too. Even though we lose in term of the expenses incurred when hiring her and also sending her back for the holiday, we don’t feel upset that she did not return because most of us don’t like her attitude and she is rough with my children too. My eldest girl shouted “Hurray!” when I told her that Kakak is not coming back. We do not plan to hire a new maid either. By God’s strength and wisdom, we can managed the household and also taking care of MIL.

One of the disadvantagse of not having a maid is, we can’t leave MIL alone at home when we need to go out. Either we leave our children to accompany her while we go dating or bring her along with the whole family. If we need to bring her out with us, our sedan can’t accommodate her. Time to buy an MPV? A motorhome would be fun but motorhome repairs can be quite costly right? We are praying that God will provide us with finance to buy an MPV soon.

I really appreciate that one of my SIL is willing to care for my MIL. She brought her for her follow up check up, she cooks for her breakfast, lunch, dinner and also Chinese herbs to help expedite her recovery. She and her husband even sleep in the same room as my MIL.

Unfortunately, she is not considerate enough when it comes to sleeping with my MIL. She is fat and no doubt that she feels hot most of the time. So she needs the air-cond on from the moment she goes to bed till the moment she wakes up. On the contrary, my MIL is thin, old and she can’t be exposed to cold temperature for a long period of time. She hardly switch on the fan even when she is napping in the afternoon. What more at night when the weather is cold.

My MIL is a very nice lady. She did not complain but uses 2 layers of blanket when sleeping with them. For the past 2 days, it rained in the wee hour of the morning. Instead of switching off the air-cond, my BIL covered his mother with another layer of blanket!

Almost every morning I ask her whether she is cold because my bedroom is just next to hers and I felt so cold with only a fan spinning at No.2. Surprisingly she told me she did not feel cold because she was fast asleep. Well, I hope she won’t experience aching bones in the near future. Tau-tau aja lar, dah tua kan.

I was pretty upset with myself for forgetting my firstborn son’s birthday. He is the son that we have been waiting for after having 2 girls. How could I forget? He is also the only child that I gave birth without hubby beside me in the labor room. I asked my son whether he is angry at me for forgetting his birthday and not buying any birthday present for him, not even a barcode scanner. He told me this, “Mommy, I cannot get angry because today is my birthday.” He also forbade me from scolding him throughout the day. He said, “Today is my birthday, you also cannot get angry with me.” 0.o