My SAHM daily morning routine

Since Jo went back for her home leave, I've developed a daily morning routine that helps me get work done! It took me a few days to get a hang of things and I took longer than average to do my tasks. I was still trying to get used to housework and cooking.

Here's a snapshot of what I do when Leia goes to school on weekday mornings:

1. Wake up at 7.10am. Need alarm's help hehe.

2. Quickly prepare Leia's and my brekkie. Usually either oatmeal or eggs, which she has grown to love.

3. Get Leia to wake up then change her diaper and into her school uniform.

4. Feed her whilst watching bubble guppies, zack n quack or team umizumi! I actually enjoy this bit lol.

5. Bring her downstairs to wait for her school bus at about 8.05am. We'll take a lil walk to the garden whilst waiting and look for flowers and butterflies =D

6. Go back home and housework begins! Do laundry and whilst waiting, I'll wash whatever remaining dishes in the sink.

7. Hang the laundry! I usually put on some radio or catholic hymns when I'm doing this. Gets me gooing!

8. I usually take a short break before cooking at 9.30am or 10am. I'm pretty slow at preparing food like chopping veggies and all. When I'm preparing meals like rice + soup + steam fish, it's a lot faster compared to cooking pasta, cause I have to monitor the latter. I still do a mix though!

9. Pick Leia up at 11am. She's usually so cute when I pick her up. She's always quiet at first and just smiles at me. We always have some cuddle time in the lift before we go home!

10. Time for shower! I give her a quick bath to get her all clean and fresh.

11. Then it's lunch time! We have lunch together whilst catching up on TV! they're usually playing Blaze on nick junior hehe. 

12. It's nap nap time between 12 to 1230pm. We'll have our sleep time together to reeeee-charge! I always feel like I need it more than Leia lol.

So there it is! My daily routine till noon. Things are a lil different on the weekends or holidays (like now) cause she doesn't go to school. It gets harder cause I have to watch her, entertain her and still cook. It can get quite challenging! 

Our afternoons are usually spent playing her toys, play-doh (her recent favourite), reading and learning. And of course, lots of clean up cause her toys are everywhere, all the time! *clutterdrivesmemad* 

I've also brought her to Punggol waterway point to shop around before! We did it within 1 hour and it was fruitful. We got her a haircut, we got her ice cream playdoh and let her run around in the open grass area. Oh! And she got her favourite strawberry donut =D

To be honest, whilst it's exhausting, it's so much fun spending time with my little one. At least I can look back and feel that I've not wasted my time. 

My cooking adventures!

To be honest, being a SAHM is really tiring! Yet at the same time extremely rewarding. I'm thankful that I've this opportunity to practise my culinary skills! I honestly haven't cooked so much since my exchange days he he.

Cooking's not that difficult. I always say 'anyone can cook. Whether the food is nice or not is another matter'. My food always turns out pretty alright but not that super yummicious! That's something I have to work on!

I've been cooking Leia's breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

For breakfast, I introduced her omelette or scrambled eggs with cheese. She really loves it. 

For her lunch, I'll cook more so that I can just eat whatever she eats. Saves me much preparation and washing up! Since Jo left for home, I've been trying to get Leia used to less mushy food. I stopped blending her pasta dishes. I started cooking her rice (using more veggie stock) instead of porridge. She reeeaalllly needs to learn how to chew her food. I let her feed herself when she feels like it too =D One day I cooked her rice, fried eggs and fish. Mashed the fish and eggs so it's a little easier for her to get used to. Today, she had steamed egg with minced pork + pek chye with her rice too!

For dinner, I started her on rice with soup. My mum has prepared her dinner a couple of times too! Always adding some nutritious fish and veggies into her meals.

There's still so much experimenting to do! Hope I don't become lazy and try out new dishes for both Leia and G!

Beef + mushroom pasta:

  

Japanese pork curry + stir fry pek chye:

Mummy-Leia trip to PS!

So I did it! I single handedly brought Leia out on my own... All the way to PS! *soproud* I was supposed to meet the vj girls to celebrate Y's birthday so I decided to bring her along! G was sick and I wanted him to rest anyway.

Leia was sooo goood on the way there. I pushed her in her stroller to Punggol and she was super excited on the train! She kept talking to herself lol. 20 mins flew by pretty quickly. Things only got a bit tougher when we reached PS when she started to look for a choo choo train -.- kinda went into a mini toddler melt down! 

Thank goodness my friends and I settled for a jap place quickly so I could get her into a high chair. Well, to be honest, the only way I could entertain her whilst catching up with my friends was with... Yes, my iPhone. Or more specially, YouTube. It's times like these that make me appreciate online videos on a different  level. I don't do this very often but I think it's fine to do it once in a while. 

Another thing that kept her entertained? My miso soup! Lol. She loooooveeeed it so much that she kept saying 'soup' like non-stop. 

Glad that I at least managed to talk tiny friends, albeit me getting disrupted a lot. What can I say? You can't have the best of both worlds.

I'm just really happy that I did it! It was tiring as heck but I felt kinda empowered in a way. Like I could do more than what I thought I could. 

Might just bring her to waterway point later!

2 weeks of Full-time SAHM!

Late last night, we sent Jo off to the airport for her 2 weeks home leave. Yup, she's going to be away for 2 full weeks! 

It's going to be mostly Leia and myself at home so I can truly experience what it's like to be a real SAHM with limited help. I know, especially with God's help, that I can totally so this! *fistpump*

So it started this morning. I kinda started with the wrong foot cause I woke up late with Leia! I set my alarm at 7.10am but apparently I didn't hear it -.- thank goodness my body clock woke up at 7.30am and I went into full mad rush mode! 

First thing I did, wake Leia up and get her to follow me (in a super groggy fashion) to the kitchen. Prepare and let her oatmeal brekkie cool down. Get her changed! I hastily put on her diaper and uniform whilst getting her to talk to me chirpily! I was afraid she wouldn't eat her oatmeal, so I got her to eat a lil bread in the meantime. Pheeeeww! I totally made it! Lol.

After I sent her to school, I made the bed and got started on laundry. -.- First the colours cos I wanted to accumulate whites for tomorrow. I had a bit of struggle then cos I couldn't remember if I had to spin dry the clothes -.- and I kinda stopped the spinning mode halfway and couldn't open the door! Doh! *went into panic mode* I tried to drain the water and it still couldn't open! After having a tug of war with the door, it finally opened and I was so relieved! 

It was my first time hanging the clothes but it wasn't too tough =D it was already 9.30am and I had to get started on Leia's food. I was going to make her porridge! For her and me! 

Started thawing her stock and meat. Chopped up carrots, baby corn, broccoli and mushrooms! I had to first heat up the soup together with the carrots and sweet corn cos they usually take a while to soften. Despite doing that, think I still didn't cook it long enough. Then I added almost 3/4 cup of rice (too much!) to the stock and subsequently the ingredients + a lil sesame oil and soy sauce. The porridge turned out alright except that the carrots and sweet corn were still a tad too crunchy! Hope she bites later -.- 

I'm gonna pick her up soon, shower then feed her! Can't wait for our nap together later lol. 

Such a hectic morning! I truly hope I get better at this!

Our RCIA journey: Rite of Election

Yesterday, on wonderful Valentine's day, G and I had our Rite of Election to join the Catholic Church and family. The rite is a crucial day where cathehumans, make the decision to elect God as our savior and Lord. 

G and I have been on our RCIA journey since May 2015. I feel so happy and blessed to have been able to persist in this journey to become Catholic and get closer to God. The weekly lessons, discussion sessions and retreats have been worth it. So glad that G has been there by my side, together with Michael, our good friend and sponsor. He's going to be our (Leia and I) Godparent too!

I really thank God for being there for us and giving us his Grace. In Archbishop William Goh's daily reflection and homily, he reminded us that the Rite of Election is a celebration of a double election. One of us choosing God and more importantly, the other is God having chosen us right from the beginning. We would not be going through this if not for his love and mercy. 

He also reminded us what it means to really choose and serve our Lord. To really trust in Him and His providence. Many of us say we love our God, but we always worry about life and what it is to come. If God is our Father, he would definitely provide for us. But the problem arises when sometimes, we don't agree with His will or become greedy and ask for more than what we need. I pray for G and I that we will learn to trust in our Lord and be contented and grateful with what God has given and will give us. 

Our dear Archbishop also talked about how we always say we love God, but our actions speak otherwise. How often do we think of our Lord, how often do we pray and speak to Him and do His deeds? Such true words. I sincerely hope that G and I and all our brothers and sisters, will remember our Father always and translate our Love to actual acts of good. 

Our Archbishop's homily was truly inspiring. And his words touched us all. Really hope they would continue to linger in all our hearts and remind us to be good and faithful Christians.

There's still sometime before our actual baptism on 26th March. Praying for continuous guidance from God and the Holy Spirit before this joyous day. 

Doctor's visit at 17 weeks!

I just had my visit at Dr Heng's!

I've gained about 2kg and my weight's 50.6kg now. Yay! So glad that my morning sickness has subsided and my appetite's a lot better now =D

Though I'm happy, Dr Heng said that I kinda gained too much weight for one month lol. 

From the ultrasound, bb measures 10cm from head to rump! Quite amazed at how big our little one has grown! And Dr was saying that her head is bigger, at 18 weeks compared to her body hehe. And yes, Dr confirmed that it's a she! Our little one was crossing her legs for a while so it was quite hard to tell. Dr had to poke my belly to move her so that we could take a better look! Yaaaay we're gonna have another princess!

Gerald's a bit bummed out but I'm sure he loves her still the same. Gonna have to wait for march for my detailed scan. Hope G gets to go for it!

A long update: Becoming pregnant and a SAHM

I haven't blogged since November last year! 

So many things have happened and I finally have more time and energy to document my journey.

My two main updates:

1. I'm pregnant!

2. I left my job and intend to be a SAHM (maybe doing some part time) for about a year.

My pregnancy:

I found out I was pregnant on 14th Nov 15! Like the first time, it was very surreal and was so surprised to get a positive preggie test result! This time I used a cheaper guardian kit since it works just as well lol. Anyway, I was really really happy that I was pregnant. I guess deep down I've always wanted a 2nd child to love. Children are really a joy and blessing to have. I was so psyched to share the awesome news with G.

Well, unlike my pregnancy with Leia, this pregnancy is sooooo different. My first trimester was baaaad. I was having bad morning sickness (all day) due to my surging hormones. I would feel like throwing up all the time and had a lot of gas (whenever I tried to puke, I would belch really really loudly). I lost my appetite and hated certain smells like fried garlic and Muslim food. Ohhh and I grew and aversion to chicken! I couldn't (and still can't sometimes) eat steam/stir fried chicken. I could only eat chicken was that was deep fried. I basically lost 1kg or more during my first trim. 

On top of that, I was very emotional, partly due to difficulties at work. To be honest, I was quite lifeless! Gerald often described me as 'face green green' in hokkien lol.

Despite the non-enjoyable symptoms, I was really glad everything went well at our 1st and 2nd check ups. We went back to Dr Heng since she's so experienced. At my 12 weeks check up, she shared that I'm likely gonna have another girl! Whee! 

Leaving my job:

I guess I started having doubts about my job in November last year. It seemed like the nature of my work made it difficult to part time and there just didn't seem to be any job fit. To cut things short, I was quite affected at work and it wasn't healthy for my pregnancy. I thought about hanging in there till I was due but even that seemed awfully challenging. It was a difficult decision for me to make but I did it anyway... I decided to go, knowing that I probably won't be able to rejoin the organization again. 

Last week was my last and I started to stay home since 1st feb. I hope I'll be able to teach Leia more, learn and practise cooking and find some part time work to keep me occupied and relevant. I really do not want to turn into a sloth!