... as I attempt to spring clean my house in anticipation of some new built in cabinets,
... as it dawned upon me that this is the last week of school holidays
Where did the time go? How did December come about without so much as a warning?
Time flies. This year has been better than the last in terms of less hospital stays, and more holidays! : )
2010 Highlights (as much as I can remember... I'm getting old - BIG SIGH)
January
I remembered how Vic showed much maturity by not crying, and totally adapting well in her new, big kindy.
February
CNY in Singapore.
Busied packing and preparing the itinerary for our homecoming to UK. This is the country where hubs and I fell in love and for that reason, our kids are named after the Royal Family. It is also this place where I left a piece of my heart behind some 11 years ago upon graduation, and this trip closes the chapter.
March
We all loved our stay in UK. Wish we had a permanent home in England so we can return as and when we like. Serious.
April
Vic turned 5 and William 2. This year, we kept celebrations very moderate and low profiled.
Maid No.4 was sent back to her country for poor performance and no initiatives. We rather go maidless than endure her silly antics for another day.
May
More take away food, less home cooked. More grumblings and naggings from Mummy as I attempt to recruit my young troops to clean up after playing. Vic lived up to my gynae's prediction again, she's my Little Helper - watching after little brother, wiping the table after dinner, chipping in wherever she can and whenever she has the mood. ; P
Aunty Ivy and Uncle Kevin from UK visited us. Our turn to play host to them albeit for only a few days (when will we see you again?)
June
Adapting to a maidless environment, and I have increased the frequency of part time maids to twice, sometimes thrice a week.
Still a unit, still surviving, but looking forward and praying for a good helper due end of the month.
End of the month, maid No.5 arrives from Cambodia - looked totally unlike her biodata photo, but pleasant and hardworking on first impression.
We also got our house and cars fumigated, and all general surfaces protected with Bactakleen
July
Life resumes back to almost normal. Maid learns fast, and I made some exaggerated moves and talked loud and slow to ensure accurate understanding. Kids seemed to like her too.
Like newbies in college, the kids put the maid through ragging once. I told Maid to play with the kids while I took my bath, and after 10 minutes, I heard the kids screaming in wild laughter downstairs. I did not check, but quickly turned on my desktop for some quick work.
After a while, I went downstairs to check, and saw that the kids have got the maid on all fours like a horse, and both kids, if I recall correctly, both kids were sitting on the maid's back.
William screamed, "Giddy-up!" and they all laughed, including the maid. Poor maid.
August
What happened?
September
What happened?
October
What happened? Oh ya, the past three months, the little boyboy who developed his speech late, started talking a lot lot more, and have became more adventurous and risk-taking by climbing door grills, jumping off the sofa, up and down the bed, two steps off the staircase.
William learned to tease his sister too, giving us fun "poke y'all"s and then irritating Victoria whenever he likes.
And of course, the 5D4N Phuket holiday.
November
Korea trip with cell group friends. This is the one holiday of all holidays I have taken, that left me tired out even on the first day... the itinerary was packed full, we saw many, did a lot and ate varieties.
Hubs hospitalised for a week after we got back as his throat infection and fever took the most of him.
December
Christmas and now we're heading to the new year. William is still nursing a bad throat infection (nothing to do with hubs') and the fever has gone after 4 days. Vic and William's stool are still soft and watery but not too frequent.
Keeping fingers cross for all pink health when we usher in the new year, and hopefully squeeze in a little mommy-daddy time.
Some crazy thoughts from me
I looked back this year, not too far back though, and some thoughts flash back as I feel regret over times that I failed myself as a parent. Yes, if you follow my blog long enough you may sense that I am a perfectionist at heart, and I have high expectations, and mainly result-orientated.
To Vic and Will, I am sorry if I have not given enough encouragement as a mother should, forgotten my daily prayers and didn't give enough hugs to you.
Yet. Parenting is not a job we can resign from. There is no performance feedback (except when you cook, and the kids tell you it's not salty enough) and the only result we see is when they become adults and maybe parents themselves.
I stopped making resolutions for donkey years already. Call me cynical or paranoia, but resolutions only make me feel guilty if I don't keep them by year end. I don't even recall them by February. But for 2011, let me say this that I want to learn the good things from my two wonderful darlings.
1. I want to laugh as much as William, smile as generous as him and proclaim love freely like my boyboy.
2. Forgive more, like Victoria (she has a big heart I know) and build my patience like how Victoria is towards her food allergies.
Happy New Year everyone!
8 comments:
very well written! one of my favourite entries! May the new year brings you all good health, happiness and prosperity!
You know,i am a fan of your blog,simply because i like the way you pen down your thoughts, it gives me a lot of memories of my own boys when they were growing up,mirroring yours posts....
The best lesson in parenting is to know that we are in someway has shortchanged, has been hard and harsh, has been applying too much of our expectation on them and wit all those, we still feel that we are sorry for all those and we are willing to learn to be a good parent..
and i sincerely believe you have done well.... give the children loads of love, love our spouse more than the children will see that they have got great parents..
Sorry talk too much already..now here wishing you a great 2011 and loads of love , abundant of joy and God's blessing all the time..
take care now and god bless
Thank you HN (nice to see your comments once in a while again)
Thank you eugene. You have a lovely family. God bless.
Xmas is a matter of the heart. Its not where we are, what we eat on xmas day. As I reflect on my own, I always asked myself...and it really boils down to..what is my purpose is life? and can I do what Jesus would do.. sometimes scary too..ehhehehe
As parents, we have hopes. We want our kids to do "EVEN BETTER" than us ya.. and yet we dont want them to go the wrong way or do the umpteenth times of trial n error since we;ve been thru it.. but should we be stressful ourselves? Easier said than done. Although I told myself I have to "let go" and do not be over protective, dictating, etc..sometimes i do fall back..but that also means we are all humans n we learn, unlearn n relearn..
geez...i m out f topic dy.
Anyway wishing you n family a fabulous year ahead.
Nice recap of ur year.
U did ur flashback of 2010 pretty early.
About ur Uk dream...possible to get a summer home there..??? A little cottage..???
As parents..the main thing we want from our lives is for our kids to be healthy and happy. And if kids are happy and healthy...we are happy! Haha! Simple equation..
I think you being there for ur kids 24-7 is the best gift they can get from u...
Lots of love to the new year!
It was a fruitful year for you and family! A new year it's simply a best time to look back to the past and forward to the future and reflect on the change we 'wish' for (whether or not it will come true!)
Happy New Year to you too! Have you considered to have another 'Henry' or 'Elizabeth' for new year! ^wink^
Love your ending remark. You must have done well to be able now to draw goodness from your kids. So, well done mum!
A few people I know wrote entries like this. It is really good to reflect on the whole year. But when I think of doing mine....it reminds me of doing my Key Result Area in my job. hahahahaha....
@Ann, thank you. I don't think I did well at all. Many regrets. But no point dwelling on them. Yea, for us SAHM our KRA are the kids, haha!
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