Unbelievably exciting weekend…

I was so eager to tell you about how I felt before the Working Mothers Forum, I forgot to talk about what happened during the forum, luckily I’ve got Malmal’s mom to remind me (see her comments for yesterday’s post).

So registration opens at 1pm with refreshments and people get to tour around the many booths that satisfy different needs of mothers or family.

Unbelievably natural-me photos…

Q, a very pretty and soft-spoken lady, one of the coordinator of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide attached some photos of me in action when I was on stage….(go see her comments for yesterday’s post and click on the links provided by her)

I reckoned that I have a ‘big’ mouth (as in physical size), not the ‘big’ mouth, as in going around spreading people’s secrets…*laugh*… and the professional photographer did captured ‘that part’ of me really well *huge laugh*

Go see the photos if you are interested to see my different expressions throughout the event….*wink*

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Unbelievably sick Sunday….

I woke up on Sunday morning like a pirate. My right eye was swollen with yellowish-greenish pus. *Ewwww*

As if moving around with one eye wasn’t bad enough, I was having a terrible runny nose. Never had that for a very very long time now.

I was practically lying down the whole time. Squeezing my eyes every other minute hoping the pus would be drained out that much faster….

As I type now, my eyes are better, my nose is better, just that I’m feeling a little groggy now, maybe due to too much rest….

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Unbelievably down on luck….

To me, being sick is normal, so I would not consider that as down-on-luck. But when you have got 3 electrical stuff down at the SAME time! That’s truly an unlucky day!

1) How many of you CANNOT ‘live’ without your mobile phone?! I would be in deep trouble because I hardly remember the numbers of ALL my contacts…and lo and behold, my mobile phone can’t be charged, can’t be switched on at all!

2) It was super warm last night and we needed the fan badly but its ‘spine’ was fractured because of the kids’ mischief (who else?).

In the end, we had to support it by tying a wooden stick to it to hold it up!

(see picture)

3) Allan needed to print his flyers urgently for his upcoming Open house for his client and yet the printer is down after a few prints…

*Urgghhh*

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Unbelievably cooperative kids…

But God is fair. Though I’m so sick, and nothing seemed to work well in the house, the kids were unbelievably cooperative.

Many of you have your hubby with you during weekend, I don’t, because of the nature of Allan’s job.

But coincidentally, Allan was free this weekend and hence was able to go to the forum on Saturday with me (giving me the moral support I needed badly) and being at home on Sunday to take care of the kids when 90% of the time I’m lying around, either on the sofa or the bed.

The kids hardly fight (physically) yesterday and today. They do have their arguments, but were resolved without our (adult) interference – amazingly rare. Then they played together harmoniously with their hot wheels.

When that didn’t excite them much, they cut papers and used markers to colour those tiny pieces and ‘decorated’ their cars by sticking them with scotchtape.

My house is in an unimaginable mess right now, but that’s alright…since there isn’t any guest coming over…sometimes when your kids are so damn obedient, even the mess they create looks pleasant to the eyes….*wink*

Seriously! I wouldn’t even want to cut ‘it’ after the Birthday Song is sung!

I was uploading all my photos taken yesterday (Childrens’ Day), while waiting, I stumbled across THIS headline!!!

China covered up milk scare to protect Olympics

*Urggghhhh* I’ve always been proud to be a Chinese because of its depth in tradition and history. But now, how come I feel sooooo ashamed to be KNOWN as a Chinese…*sigh*

Snippets of the report:

China knew about the contamination of milk products months ago but covered the scandal up to prevent it tarnishing the Beijing Olympics, according to journalists, rights groups and media critics.

The crisis broke in mid-September, a month after the Olympics, but several Chinese reporters had long known about babies being hospitalised after drinking tainted milk, yet were muzzled by the authorities, the critics say.

An editor at a respected southern China newspaper said that as early as July one of his reporters was investigating how milk powder might have been to blame for children developing kidney stones and falling seriously sick.

“As a news editor, I was deeply concerned because I sensed that this was going to be a huge public health disaster,” Southern Weekend news editor Fu Jianfeng said on his blog.

“But I could not send any reporters out to investigate. Therefore, I harboured a deep sense of guilt and defeat at the time.”

Fu’s blog posting was later removed, although it could be read on some overseas Chinese websites. Fu himself could not be reached for comment.

An estimated 53,000 Chinese children have been sickened after the industrial chemical melamine was added to milk products, and four infants have died.

The first of the baby deaths was on May 1, more than four months before the scandal went public.

Starting with Sanlu milk powder, the scare has gone on to envelop numerous Chinese firms and international companies operating in China, including global giants Cadbury and Unilever.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao vowed over the weekend to work to restore his country’s reputation, saying it was facing the problem “candidly”.

However, there are claims that Chinese authorities reverted to the familiar practice of squashing the negative news reports, apparently conscious of the damage it would do to the August 8-24 Olympics.

Read the Full Story HERE… my heart sank after reading everything…

not in the mood to post the happy stuff that happened on 1st October now…gonna go sleep on this…see you girls later…sign off 12.35am 2nd Oct.

Its NO LESSONS day today! The school is celebrating Children’s Day today in lieu of tomorrow.

This is the first ever Telematch for Keatkeat. He was excited and so was I! Seeing him in action with his friends is something that I could only visualize behind those closed doors and windows of the school.

Different ‘levels’ have different telematches. Nursery level had one of the easiest and Kindergarten2 had one of the most difficult hurdles.

So for the K1 it was challenging but far from what you may consider tough.

He is on the extreme left.

Balancing the green rubber ring on his head.

Then he needs to get through the hula hoop with the rubber ring still on his head

(of cos, all the kids cheated by holding on to the ring with their hands)

If I took this just 1second later, Chen Lao Shi would be blocking my screen completely! *phew*

Keatkeat nearly dropped his ring after the hula hoop…he was adjusting it in the picture….

*Arrrggghhh* My camera’s battery was so low…., if not you and I would be watching the video now instead of these ‘lifeless’ photos.

Oh how can I say that its ‘lifeless’?! Its my son alright?! Oh me and my self-talk…

Ok, let’s continue with the actions…..

Then he is supposed to jump over a box

(which I couldn’t get it into the picture).

And this is HIM! Completely satisfied with his performance! *laugh* Look at that full-of-pride smile! Ohhhh….how I missed that smile on camera.

He hardly smile like this on camera nowadays…he is always making funny faces everytime I hold up my camera.

And ONLY AFTER I give him the “smile-properly-or-you-will-not-be-in-the-picture” stare, before he is willing to smile ‘properly’ when I click the button.

But most of the time, *sigh* I just couldn’t be bothered…well, ‘monkey faces’ is what he is good at AT this age, so be it then…that’s why if you had noticed, I seldom put up his monkey faces photos other than the one in the Mid Autumn Post (which he stood with his cousins)……

And these were the presents he received for Childrens’ Day this year. Those presents which are not (labelled) from his teachers were given by the School.

School started an hour later than usual. Which happens to be Binbin’s wakey-wakey time.

So he was with me throughout the telematch having almost as much fun as his big bro.

He didn’t go home empty-handed too. *wink* I got this white balloon off the wall for him, as his Childrens’ Day gift. *laugh*

And tomorrow, my boys are going to have a super fun long day (that is IF it does not rain) with his cousins and if I don’t get back early to post for tomorrow, here’s wishing all Children of my blogger friends and All the Children in the world – A JOYFUL AND FUN-FILLED CHILDRENS’ DAY!

(off the topic…Announcement:

‘Pretty-Birdie’ died yesterday night. Nobody know the reason. My MIL called and said she has a headache now over what she should do with the birdcage and the birdfood which Allan bought….hmmm…

My boys’ FIRST reaction to the news?

Keatkeat: “How come Pretty-Birdie died?”

Binbin: “How come Pretty-Birdie lives one day only?” )

I wanted to reply every single comment for the previous post. But I realized everyone was so concerned. So Instead of replying every single comment, I thought maybe I should just post the answers as today’s post.

There are SEVERAL reasons why everything turned out so terrible. Hopefully by answering all the comments for yesterday’s post, everyone will get a clearer picture…

Jasmine: “funny thing is why does your SIL willing to have 3kids when she can’t even teach/handle/take care of them…now the kids & your MIL are the ones suffering…indirectly also get you involve too…sigh..”

None of the 3 kids were planned for. All were unexpected. When they had Zeng Yee, the first child, my parents-in-law ended their 20+ years of hawker life. The 2 old folks took care of Zeng Yee as their full-time job. My MIL told my SIL not to worry about Zeng Yee and that she can continue to work.

I stayed with my PIL and my BIL and SIL after I was married for the first year. That’s why Zeng Yee and I are so close. I will play with her whenever I’m at home and help to take care of her occasionally when my MIL is busy in the kitchen.

Then Mun Yee came to earth. Or rather she managed to survive after 3 months of intense suffering – see her birth story here. But my SIL was not happy. She had always wanted a boy. My BIL and parents-in-law (PIL) favour boys more than girls. So she has always wanted to try for a boy. But my BIL did not want, but somehow by accident AGAIN, Weidong was born.

Everything happened so fast. And over the years, my SIL and PIL have more and more “silent arguements”, they are unhappy with each other, but they just don’t talk about it. My SIL has also done many things to piss my PIL off like what she did in this post.

Yes, I would agree with you that MIL is suffering but to SIL, it is NOT. SIL is angry that MIL didn’t treat her better because she finally bore my MIL a grandson (its funny how she thinks) and SIL will NEVER quit her job cos she doesn’t want to stay at home to face the two old folks the whole day. SIL thinks that since the 2 of them have looked after 4 kids at the same time before, now that she have 3 kids to look after and Zeng Yee is already 7 and Mun Yee-4, it shouldn’t be a big issue at all. (the 4 kids were my 2 sons and my SIL’s 2 girls -when I was still in retail line)

I have told SIL (by the way, I’m SIL’s counsellor *wink* she calls me whenever she face problems) that it was different. Years ago, MIL was slightly younger, more energetic and her diabetes and high blood pressure have not attack her yet. Now she is on medication everyday, aged that much more…its not comparable. But SIL will just brush me off by saying, “no! its because you bore her 2 grandsons first, that’s why she was willing to make the sacrifice…” *faint*

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LZmommyDoes their Mom knows what’s happening to her 3 kids? Poor girl to always get the blame for everything… Hope this will not affect their siblings relationship…

Yes her mom, which is my SIL, knows! Even when SIL is at home, when she has no work, MIL treat them that way too. My MIL will act exactly the same way. Because the kids are with my MIL more than with my SIL, they stick to my MIL even though SIL is at home. So there isn’t any difference if SIL is at home or not. So SIL will stay in the office and deal with the ordering of the cards business.

My SIL’s perfect excuse was, “The kids doesn’t cling on to me, there’s nothing I can do right?”

Since young, Zeng Yee was with my MIL, sleeps with my MIL, eats with my MIL….MIL IS HER MOMMY! And because of all the differences between PIL and SIL, my MIL would often say things like this to Zeng Yee, “Your mommy is stupid. Brainless. Cannot even get simple things done. Always irritate your father….and blah blah blah….”

Zeng Yee’s mind was poisoned since young….its sad…very sad…but the worse part was SIL NEVER PROVE to Zeng Yee that she is not like what MIL said about her! So to Zeng Yee, its true and now that she is 7 years old, she have eyes to see it for herself…and she dislike her mommy to the core, almost! Among everyone (13 of us not including Zeng Yee), my SIL is ranked number 2 from BOTTOM UP!

Because of Zeng Yee’s reaction towards her, SIL was determined not to let history repeat itself for her 2 other kids – Mun Yee and Weidong. The only BIG CHANGE she did was – sleep with the 2 of them at night. And that made Zeng Yee feel that SIL and BIL only love her younger sis and bro, not her…that created a thicker, icier wall between Zeng Yee and my SIL.

Whenever the kids fight, SIL will DEFINITELY take sides. SIL will always say its Zeng Yee’s fault! That’s why Zeng Yee hates Mun Yee like hell! By the way, Mun Yee is ranked 3rd from the BOTTOM.

I always HUG Zeng Yee whenever I can. I shower her with more love. I think she needs it more than any other kid in the house.

THE MOST HORRIBLE THING is, my MIL thinks that she may die any moment so she is FORCING Zeng Yee to hate her by pushing her away, being NOT NICE to her, scold her that much more and all those awful stuff. But that’s just wrong! Zeng Yee is sooooo hurt! My MIL did all that because she doesn’t want Zeng Yee to cling on to her so much, ‘cos she knows that when she dies, Zeng Yee would be devastated!

MIL hopes that by pushing Zeng Yee away, Zeng Yee will feel her granny doesn’t like her anymore and runs to her Mommy! BUT NO! Zeng Yee, clinged onto my MIL that much more or the little girl will come to me, every sunday, I’m her sunday-mommy.

All of us told MIL that its wrong, but like I’ve said in the previous post, she doesn’t want people to tell her otherwise.

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Erin oh, I don’t think I could go without hurting her pride.

Erin, I could be dumb and deaf about almost anything. But when it comes to kids-related matters, I’ll get it off my chest…

But there was this time…*sigh* I made my MIL cry!

Allan told me he had seen my MIL cry twice in all his life. The first time was when my 2nd BIL (NOT Zeng Yee’s dad) moved out to his new home as he was preparing for his marriage. The second time was caused by ME! (I’m so powerful, ya? I made the tigress CRY!)

When MIL told Allan and I that she didn’t  think she was able to take care of 5 kids when Weidong was still in SIL’s tummy (5 kids were my 2 boys, Zeng Yee, Mun Yee and Weidong), she told us to think of a plan.

Allan and I decided to get a maid, ‘cos our retail biz starts from 11am to 10pm, so Child Care Centre timing doesn’t suit us. But MIL made a big hoo-har about it. She called me up EVERYDAY, even when I was serving customers, she refused to put down the phone. She was getting on my nerves!

MIL saw too much ‘bad news’ from the TV about maid abusing the kids or even cause death to the kids…blah blah blah….so we said, ok, child care centre then. She is STILL not happy! She say, other children will spread germs to her beloved Grandsons. She never knew that SIL’s tummy was a boy then, she was all out to protect her grandsons from any harm, she favoured boys more than girls, remember?

So she called me day in day out. There was this time, when we went there late at night to fetch the kids after our stall is closed, she insists that we bring our tired body into her house and talk it out. I was tired and pissed from getting her calls everyday, repeating the same old gruesome stories of maid abusing the kids…blah blah blah…

…and so I shouted, “OK OK, THAT’S ENOUGH! NOT GETTING A MAID ALREADY! DON’T NEED TO SAY ANYMORE!”

…the next morning, when we brought the kids over before we went to setup our stall, my MIL was pale as a sheet of paper, her eyes were swollen, tears were flowing down…

my (quiet) FIL insists that we come in and soothe the old woman. FIL said MIL had been crying all night. Did not even sleep at all!

Why?

Because I shouted at her! *sigh*

So since then….all eyes were on me, the moment I open my mouth. All were ready with their bows and arrows, aiming at me, every time I reply my MIL something…

You see, I was more or less the favored daughter-in-law, ‘cos there wasn’t in-laws conflicts. My mom left and my dad was dead, so all she needs to handle was just the sweet-nice-amiable ME! So when I shouted at her, she couldn’t take it…

That’s why I’ve kept my silence and watched my words since then….*sigh*

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Angie: “ No way i am going to leave my child with a caregiver like this…”

Angie, so after all the above, do you see that SIL never thinks that its a choice. It was a MUST! SIL thinks that it is a MUST for PIL to take care of her 3 kids since ALL OF THEM are staying under the same roof!

At this point, maybe alot of you may think, what the hell is BIL doing about all these then?! BIL have suggested getting a maid. He said to my MIL, “with you around, you won’t need to worry about maid abusing the kids already right?” But my MIL still refused! She said she did not like the idea of having a stranger in the house. ….*sigh*

you see, that’s my MIL, she gives us the ‘problem’ but is never satisfied with ANY solutions given.

so since then, BIL have NEVER mentioned this again and couldn’t be bothered about her complains – about how tough it is to take care of 3 kids at her old age of 62 and blah blah blah…

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Ling: “hmm … is ur MIL stress taking care of 3 grandchildren on her own? usually they like to reply back when we question abt their parenting style.”

yes girl, she is stressed up! But her pride is on the upperhand. She doesn’t want to let other’s feel she is incapable. So though she complained so much, she never admitted that she is stressed even though we questioned her.

and yup! Old folks being old folks, they think they have ate more salt than we have ate rice, so they always thinks that they know much better than us…

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Crazymumma: “ Oh dear. It sounds just chaotic. Do you ever have to leave your girls alone with her?”

Crazymumma, you meant my boys is it? If you had read the above, you know I’ve been leaving my boys there till my little nephew, Weidong was born. And yes she did hit them too, even though both my boys were not even 3years old then…..

but there’s nothing we could do then, we didn’t find any alternatives till we were up against the wall, that’s how I became the FULL TIME SAHM now….

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Imelda “child abuse must have to stop from the parents, so the children won’t do it to their future children as well.”

I grew up in an ‘abusive’ family and I’ve have super close friends in such families too….and if you had known me much earlier, my blog posts are often around this topic…

I wouldn’t say my MIL is abusing the kids, she just couldn’t bring down her pride and seek help…

But yes, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the danger is there. The very first time you lift a finger on someone, it slowly eats into you and then it became a habit, then it became natural and worse it became a MUST to inflict pain on the person in order to soothe the uneasiness in one’s heart…its scary, I grew up in such horrible 4 walls…where there’s no escape….

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june: “I really can’t comment much because she is your MIL…
having said that, i hope the kids will not cause so many problems cos your MIL will be very stressed up thus, resorted to this style of parenting “

Oh girl, don’t worry about giving comments, everyone has different views and concerns, I accept all comments even if they are ‘unpleasant’ to my ears, I still keep them in my comment box…but no spam please! So spammers you are never going to get your butt to sit on my blog!

like I’ve said before, the ‘creator’ of most problems is usually the 4 year old, complain queen, Loh Mun Yee….*sigh*

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Thank you everyone!