I love JD.  I love him because he is my son.   I also love him dearly for many other reasons because….

• He stands at the kindergarten school gate, hold it open for all moms coming to pick up their kids, and especially when he sees a mom with her hands full with babies and pram.  He does it voluntarily, happily without any prompting at all.
• He helps his kindy friends whom were younger than him and whom were struggling to pull their lunch boxes out from their oversize school bags.
• He constantly thinks of his sister.  Just last week, he purposely kept a quarter of his sandwich in his lunchbox just for Chloe.  He could have finished it all since he was in kindy from 9am to 3pm, but he still thought of her. 
• He holds his sister hand when we cross the street, reminding her to stop and watch for cars and bikes.
• He reassuringly said to his sister “Come Chloe, I will show you your new Sunday school, don’y worry, we will come back to pick you up” when we left her at the church’s toddler creche the first time last week.
• He still automatically brushes his teeth, washes his face, combs his hair, changed out of pyjamas every morning since about 4-5 months ago, without any reminders at all.
• He makes his own breakfast, usually two pieces of wholegrain bread with butter and vegemite.  He doesn’t like toasts, and doesn’t mind cold bread
• He bath himself every evening, turned the water on and off by himself, towel himself dry and dressed himself into his own favourite Optimus Prime pyjamas.
• He still brings his own dirty dishes into the kitchen, lined his shoes neatly when he enters the house.
• Lately, I also notice him showing his sister ways to line up her shoes and I could see the little sister nodding her head as her big brother patiently explain it to her.
• He also try to help Chloe do her shoes before going out.  I think Chloe understands it and she is also beginning to do it herself and definitely knows the cue when I say “Time to put your shoes on”.
• He shares his food with me and would always ask “Mom, would you like some?  Here, have some, it’s yummy!”  Sometimes he is soooo keen to share that he wouldn’t give up till I take a bite
• And he always remember to get the same for his dad..be it a fruit, a cracker, a special treat of ice cream….he always remember the closest people to him, his own daddy, mommy and sister.
• He loves coming on the evening walks with me, holding hands, we chat about his day, the cars, the aeroplanes, Transformers, Star Wars….
• He still follows our 1-hour quiet time routine everyday when he might go for nap, read his books, builds his Lego, roll around in his own bed while I rest or have a nap myself :) 
• He loves his food….all sorts of stuff from Curry with prata, Hokien Mee, Pasta Bolognaise, Lamb Casserole with brown rice, Pao, Chee Cheong Fun, a simple Ham n Salad sandwich, Minestrone Soup, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Home made chicken n mushroom pies, Shepherd’s Pies, Fish Balls on a stick, Curry Puff, Pineapple Tart, Pork Porridge with “yu char kiuh “(flour roll).  I simply love his appreciation for food and his eagerness to try
• He loves his fruits…apples, bananas, oranges, nectarines, peaches, mango, lycee, longgan, grapes,pear….sometimes he eats 2 or 3 full apples by himself a day…
• He takes his 2 Multi-V tablets and 4 fish oil capsules every morning before heading to school or out for a play…and he gently reminds me when I have forgotten to put in on the breakfast table for him.

I love him so dearly because he is so very special.   That parenthood has been a great experience so far because of him.  That on days when I am just exhausted, I turned to him and smile. 

And how could I not love him when after tucking in him at night, he ran back to my room to give me a big kiss and cuddle, not once but twice

I bought a piece of Patagonian Toothfish from the nearby seafood shop a week ago.  I love fish, my two kids love them, especially toothfish, or salmon steak or basa fillets.  We could just eat fish with rice and they would keep asking for more.  Toothfish is quite expensive at close to 30 bucks a kilo, but it’s good for us, it is simply delicious with its white flesh and even texture.  So I really don’t mind spending that little bit extra and plus we love eating.

To cook the toothfish, I coated the fish lightly with some corn flour.  Then I oiled the frying pan and cooked the fish till it is crispy on one side.  Turned it over, browned it.  Then turn down the heat, sprinkle some soya sauce over the fish, add a bit of water, simmering for a minute or two before adding in some chopped spring onions.

It is a quick, simple and nutritious dish and another way of making sure my kids get their regular meal of fish every week.

This week is what I call a recovery week.   I kept activities to a very minimum, making sure I am not over pushing myself again.  The last week had been a difficult one, for me especially, when sleep and rest is hard to come by.  At one point, I was so in need of a restthat I had to call my babysitter at the very last minute, just so I could have a 2 hour nap.  In times like that, I counted my blessings again, for when physical family support is limited around me, I have a babysitter like Suzie whom I have become so comfortable and confident with.  She took my kids to the park, brought them home with her, gave them lunch while I rested.  I am very thankful for my babysitter.

I am also glad that I haven’t had to call on the husband to be home when I was unwell, as it was his first week at a new job and we managed to pull through a difficult week.

But most importantly, when I was unwell and missing home terribly, my mum, dad, sis, friends were all online constantly checking on us and that help a million times over!

This week, I still work, but I make sure we are all in bed by 10pm every night, a one pot meal for dinner when it involves minimal cooking, rest when all the kids are resting and I think I need to keep doing that for a while.

It all started on Thursday.  The kids woke up from sleep, each doing a projectile vomiting, which left me in a scramble trying to clean up the vomit mess.  By the time I realised it was more than a food poisoning, I already had a full house of kids arriving for another day in our family daycare.  When the vomitting stopped, the fever started, coming and going all day, seeing the both of them shivering under their thick quilt was concerning.  Chloe wouldn’t stop crying or fussing till I held her in my arms, on my hip all day long and it was exhausting.

When they were not bothered by the fever, they were still a happy bunch playing.  JD for his age is a real blessing.  It also reminded me there is always something positive.  When he felt tired, and needed a rest, he just brought himself back to his room, pulled the quilt over him and slept.  When he felt better, he would wake up and joined us all. 

For 2 nights, there was no sleep for me as the kids cried everytime their fever broke and woke them up fully drenched in sweat.

My husband was also unwell when the kids were sick.  So the virus just went through the household.

By Saturday JD was better.  Chloe’s fever subsided, but she has now got larygintis. 

As for me, I woke up with such a sore head on Saturday and it’s now my turn.  My body aches, my joints sore, my whole body feels like a furnace, even after popping Neurofen after Neurofen, the fever is not going away.

By Saturday afternoon, I decided to pre-warn the parents that I might not open my door for business on Monday morning.  I hesitated in doing that initially, as there’s always the fear of letting parents down, leaving them in a scramble to look for alternative carers….but I have also learnt people are usually understanding when it comes to such situation and more often than not they have extended family and friends that could always give them a hand.

Whilst I am still feeling pretty crap from this damn virus, I also realise we have been lucky with the kids and husband being sick first, and I only started feeling unwell on Saturday.  By then the husband is home, and he could at least helped to look after the kids while I tried to sleep away the virus.   But being the last to get sick also means I get hit the hardest…damn!

Honestly, what made it hard was all these happened during the first few days of Chinese New Year.  Being homesick.  And the fact that even my own little family hasn’t had a celebration yet.  And when we had plans to have a big gathering yesterday, all had to be cancelled as I really wasn’t in the shape to whip up a big dinner.   Just as well, we have 15 days in Chinese New Year

For now, it’s back to bed for me again…

My parents sent some beautiful clothes for JD and Chloe this year.  I felt so happy when I saw the parcel and Chloe loves the “cheong sum”.  Everytime she sees the red clothes, she would pick it up, walk to me “wear, wear, please, please…”.

So, on the morning of New Year’s Eve, I dressed the kids up and trying to take a sibling shot…ah, easier said than done because….

First she was more interested in the buttons of JD’s shirt

Then she tried to pinch it, which got him really annoyed….

Then she thought the dried grass stuck at the bottom of her foot is way more interesting…

Then they decided looking separate ways would make a good photo…

So mommy just abandoned the plan and took solo shots of the kids.

Here everyone, here’s JD and Chloe welcoming the Year of the Golden Rat! 

And Chloe hope you will “fatt fatt fatt” like her chubby cheeks

Jayden started kindergarten today.  It was a smooth trasition.  He looked forward to it excitedly.  We decided what to put in his snacks box the night before, an apple, some cheese, some grapes, his drink bottle, his hat, and we were all set.  I smiled everytime I saw him looking into his new bag, mumbling to himself “I am going to school today….”

At 12.15pm that day, as the babysitter arrived to look after Chloe so that I could bring JD and settled him into school on his first day, he happily said to the babysitter “Suzie, I am going to school today.”  He said it to everyone that day.  Our neighbours.  The lawnmowerman that came to cut the grass in the morning.  His swimming teacher.  I could tell he was happy, well-adjusted, and ready for school.

At home, just before we left for school…I love it how he tried to pull his sister closer to him…

The sister, upon seeing her older brother all excited dressed with hat, school bag wasn’t going to miss out either…

 Smiles all the way from home to school …

With his new school bag, he skipped, hopped into the school ground…

At the sound of the bell ringing, JD happily said “Bye bye mum, I am going to have a good time”.  He gave me a big hug.  As I turned my head from the corner of his classroom, he has already found a spot on the mat.  I smiled when I heard him chatting to his neighbour “Hi, my name is Jayden, what’s your name?”

At 3.05pm, me and Chloe were outside waiting for him to come out of his classroom.  “Mommy!”, he exclaimed when he saw us and gave us a big hug.  Chloe seem to have missed his brother’s presence when he was at school, holding hand, the brother and sister looked at each other…sweet!

That night when my husband asked him about school, JD replied “I like school.  It has got lots of cool things!”.  Laugh.

For the record, mommy didn’t cry at all that day :)  But I did shed a few tears of gladness that night as I recalled how mature and brave JD was for his very first day at kindergarten.  I have also been so caught up with JD’s first day at school that I totally overlooked to cook a Chinese New Year reunion dinner for my own family of four that night.

The only down side after JD’s first day of school - the poor kid caught a virus and was vomitting, running fever of 39 to 40 deg c, and a very tired boy the very next day.  And he skipped his 2nd day of school today.   His sister also caught the same virus plus the daddy is unwell too.  Soooooo, mommy still hasn’t cooked a big reunion dinner yet.  She has her hands full just wiping, cleaning up vomit, washing the bedsheets, drying them…

And I also got so busy with both kids being ill that I forgotten to ring home on the 1st day of Chinese New Year…

This girl waste no time in the morning…

Once up, after her morning milk, get changed, she is first at the breakfast table….

Must eat, no time to waste…

A mouthful…no time to chat either…

What was I so busy eating…cereals and fresh cow’s milk are my current favourite.

All because she wants to watch her favourite “Postman Pat” at 8.15am on the morning kids TV, and she isn’t allowed at the sofa till she finished her breakfast. 

Pineapple Tarts!!!!!!! 

Yes, this is a must have.  I like them, but I have never made them myself.  So this year, I spent my Sunday afternoon, when it’s 37 deg c outside, with the house air-conditioning fully turned on, I decided to make some pineapple tarts for fun.  Talk about being environmental un-friendly and me being crazy! 

Ohhh, Pineapple Tarts, the aroma from the oven was enough to bring on the atmosphere, albeit only a little bit from where we are.  The kids were just excited with the fact that mommy was baking again and JD kept coming in and out of the kitchen just to pinch the pineapple jam and have a bit of the fresh flaky biscuit pastry.

I was pretty generous with the pineapple filling.  My sister P laughed saying that “If I try selling my pineapple tarts for a living, I would be bankrupt.”  Obviously, with such generous filling, I would need to sell at a premium price to break even, haha!

Can you smell Chinese New Year from where you are?  Or smell the cookies at least, hee? 

This year I have become even more nostalgic by decorating my house with all new year decorations!  Actually, I just want the kids to enjoy it.  I just want to see the little faces staring into the red decorations, swaying to the air from the air-conditioning, lanterns hanging around in the backyard and on the trees in the garden…seeing the lanterns “dancing” to the wind in the evening was rather nice.

Though far from home….the meaning and atmosphere can always be created.

I do miss home terribly during CNY, and I miss it even more yesterday afternoon when I was baking the cookies.  Because I could just imagine the fun we would have if we bake this in my mum’s kitchen, my mum, all the sisters together, chatting away, my dad probably would enjoy all the cookies …and no doubt I would have lots of babysitters around, hee!

My son Jayden has officially finished with daycare this week.  This is his last week and he would be starting kindergarten next week.  Oh, my son is growing up, my first born is going off to school, the proper school, oh my heart struggled a little bit.  A friend had warned me that I could be in a big mess next week, emotionally, let’s just wait and see. 

Before I started my own daycare and whilst still working in my previous job, JD used to go to a lady by the name of Andrea at a nearby family daycare.  She took him on when he was just 7 months old!  That was how he looked when he was 7 months old. 

This lady melt my heart, because she is so kind, so loving.  JD used to cry all the time during nap time, and everyday, every week she would sit down next to the cot, pat his bottom till she gradually weaned him off with that.  As a first time mom then, my heart would hurt if I knew anyone was going to let JD cry it out, I just wasn’t prepared for that.  But she continued to assure me that she would rock him, pat his bottom till he finaly outgrow it.  And it took her only a few weeks to do that.

JD is 4 now, and Andrea has looked after him for 3.5 years, every week of the year.  The bond between JD and Andrea is hard to put into words.  As I said Andrea touched my heart, and we are forever so grateful for her.

She always knew how worried I was about JD, seeing me rushed between morning drop offs, to work, pick ups that she volunteered herself to look after JD till 5.30pm so that I could avoid the rush.  Sometimes when I am running late, she would have already given him dinner, cleaned him up and all I needed to do was put him to bed.  JD also became part of her family, he came to know her husband, her daughters and quite often JD would hang around in the family room, kitchen when I picked him up.

She became like an extended family member, whom I call for help and advice.  The few weeks before Chloe was born, Andrea used to remind me that she has her phone next to her bed, just in case I need to be at the hospital in the night.  When I am not well, and needed rest, but no one to help, we usually call Andrea for help.  Because we just felt so close to her.  Andrea’s home is like a second home for JD and Chloe.  They know where everything is.

After Chloe was born, and subsequently me starting my own daycare, Phil and I continued to let JD be at daycare every Tuesday.  Chloe also joined her brother subsequently when she was 7 months old.  We didn’t want to take JD out simply because the bond between JD and Andrea was just too precious.  We have been preparing him for this day, the fact that he is starting school next week and this would be his last week with Andrea.  This week he said to me “Mommy, this is my last week at daycare, I am going to the big school next week.”  I almost have to hold back my tears when he said that because I know he is so ready for school but I just feel a little bit sad that he is growing up so fast.

On his last day, Andrea and I were more affected than JD himself.  We felt sad, we hugged, we cried, eventhough we are still going to see each other every week because Chloe is still going there every Tuesday.   But I guess Andrea is just so going to miss JD and I miss the fact that Andrea is the very first person that helped to look after JD when I wasn’t there.  She said she has never had one child that make her laugh so much and the fact that sometimes he speaks like an adult just makes her laugh.

And Andrea is so special because she care, love my two kids just as much as we do.  Her love for our kids is unconditional. 

There have been many friends that asked me “How could you bear to leave your child and go to work?”.  It was hard in the very beginning but made easier solely because of Andrea.  Phil and I knew JD was in very good hands.  She was his sole caregiver, she knows what he ate during the day, how many poops he did, how long he slept for, what he played with, whom he played with, what made him laughed during the day, what was his favourite thing to do and so forth …. So really, when we find a caregiver like Andrea, we knew she would be with our family for a long time. 

So, it’s almost like a new era for us.  My first born is going to school next week, I am getting his new bag out, new shoes, new hat, new water bottle, lunch box, sticking on new name labels….and I am here holding back tears.  Arggh….

I felt a little bit sad when he finished with pre-kindy at the end of last year, but I didn’t expect myself to feel this sad now that he has finished daycare and going off to the big school! 

More on him starting school next week….

I love spring rolls or popiah as we affectionately call it back home in Malaysia and Singapore.

My mum make one of the best spring rolls.  Oh I sooooo love it.  I miss it.  My mum usually make a vegetarian spring roll consisting of lots of mang kuang (sweet turnip), carrots, green beans and cabbage.  She will stir fry the ingredients, cool it, then using her two hands to squeeze the excess fluid out so that the spring rolls are nice and crispy when she wraps or fry them.

When I came to OZ, my late FIL has another recipe.  Meat forms a big part of my in-laws diet which I am still getting used to.  But my FIL would used lots of cabbages, carrots and minced beef.  That’s his version and I like that too.

But as I eat more vegetables, fish than meat, I decided to do a vegetarian one at home.

I use:

• Cabbages, shredded
• Carrots, chopped very finely
• Bean sprouts
• Chinese mushrooms, soaked and sliced finely
• Glass noodle (tang hoon in Chinese), pre-softened with hot water and drained
• Black fungus, sliced finely

In a wok, stir fried some garlic, then pour in the cabbage and carrots.  Stir fried until the cabbage has softened and you can taste its natural sweetness.  Then, add in the bean sprouts, mushrooms, glass noodle, black fungus, mixed in together and seasoned it with some pepper, salt, or a very tiny bit of oyster sauce .

Next cool the ingredients because wrapping the spring rolls when the filling is hot would make it look wrinkly.

My kids and  I love both the fried and non-fried versions.  Infact as I was wrapping it, my 2 kids were hanging around me, asking for one after another, hee.

The filling…

Nicely wrapped and making a healthy snack for some…

Or fried and dressed up a little bit….a delicious snack too…

Well, I don’t usually “dress up” my meals at home.  We were all so eager to eat that night that I have forgottent to take a picture of the fried spring rolls.  And when I realised it, we  had only 2 left on the plate.  To take a picture of 2 leftovers would make it look quite sad, so I dressed it up a bit, and you know, some fancy restaurants here would serve a spring roll appetizer served in the exact same manner for some $12!  Mine probably cost 20 cents, hahahaha!

Oh, all that filling I probably make around 30 spring rolls, I gave 10 spring rolls each to our friends that were visiting and we finished the rest, burp!

If you prefer a healthier version, you can always choose not to fry it.  I probably should not have the fried one since I have skipped the gym for at least 2 weeks, yikes!