Thursday, January 31, 2008

Gong Xi Fa Cai 2008!

I've been putting off my spring cleaning for days and days. I'm having trouble just doing the regular maintenance work! However since its a long weekend for us here, hubby will be around for 3 days to help me. Yahoo! So if I'm too busy to update this blog for a while, here's wishing anyone who passes by here a Happy Chinese New Year 2008! Hope you have a good Chinese New Year and don't eat too much!

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Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Before I became a mom

I actually received this beautiful poem (which I've read before) in a meme from KittyCat. Since its really a lovely poem for mothers, I thought it deserved a place here instead of on my other blog where she tagged me. Here is the poem. I hope you all enjoy it.

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn’t worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn’t want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom
I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

This poem has been passed around to the other blogging mommies below.

Here’s the first chain, to which you add your link at the bottom after mine.

1. Montessorimum
2. clumsy mommy
3. Sandra
4. VivianZ
5. AllThingsPurple
6. KittyCat
7. Mumsgather

And I'd like to pass this poem on to these other blogging mommies:

1. Ling, Thats Me
2. Mott
3. Suzette
4. Sasha
5. Miche

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Friday, January 25, 2008

How to avoid the early morning rush?

Before my daughter started kindergarden, we used to go to bed around 11pm-12am and wake up around 9-10am. Yes, its terrible hours I know but it worked for us. I have always believed that with parenting anything that works for your family and situation is fine so I won't get uptight or stressed up if I'm not doing whats considered the norm in Parenting books or other parent's eyes.

The children get to play with their daddy a bit after he comes back from work. Hubby would like them to have an earlier bedtime but its my fault really. I'm the night bird so they follow my style. I'm the one who usually puts them to bed so they go to bed only when I've done all my chores and is well and ready to settle down for the night.

However when my girl started kindy, I had to make her wake up at 7.30am so we had to do a bit of adjusting.

How are we doing so far? We are fine. The kids don't complain in the mornings. (It helps that she enjoys kindergarden). They have an earlier afternoon nap and they still go to bed at 11pm!

How do we avoid the early morning rush? Well, mummy has to wake up earlier than everyone else of course. So in the mornings, I wake up and get myself ready, then I wake the girl up and get her ready, then I wake the boy up and get him ready, then we all have breakfast and leave the house. There is no rush and no tears but mummy has to sacrifice her sleep. Thats how we avoid the early morning rush.

This post is continued from the following:

Changing the kids bedtime (Part I) and
My kids' naptimes at age 3 and 5 (Part II)
Waking up early is fun
New bedtime routine update

Related post:

Staggered bedtimes or sleep at the same time?

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Friday, January 18, 2008

When new permanent teeth comes in behind the milk teeth

Credit for the Image: boyntondentistry.com

Here are the links I promised when I noticed that the my girl's permanent teeth was coming in behind her milk teeth. I panicked and did some research on the internet and found some really good links. Here they are:

  1. 1. Forum discussion on "I just noticed that my 5 year old has a new tooth coming in behind another!" from DealoftheDay.com
  2. 2. Permanent Teeth Coming in Behind Baby Teeth is said to be a common occurence for the lower front teeth at Smilekidz.com
  3. 3. Permanent Teeth coming in behind Baby Teeth from the Pediatric Dentistry Blog
  4. 4. Permanent teeth coming in behind baby teeth - discussion on the Berkeley Parents Network (BTW, I love to reference the Berkeley Parents Network for lots of discussion on bringing up kids. Too bad you can't join the discussion unless you live in that area but its still a good reference place to read about advise by real parents to other parents about real parenting issues)
  5. 5. How are milk teeth replaced by permanent teeth? The animation by 32teethonline here shows the more common way where the permanent teeth pushes out the baby teeth during eruption, it does not talk about permanent teeth that is growing behind or parallel to the milk teeth. Still the animation is good and you can show it to your little ones when you talk to them about their teeth.

Hope these links will be useful to other parents whose child's permanent teeth is coming in behind their milk teeth.

My girl had her primary teeth coming in behind her lower baby teeth just like in the picture above but two instead of one. They grew till they were almost the same height before the milk teeth finally fell off. The dentist I saw did not think it was necessary to extract them. My sister in law who had the same problem with her son had his milk tooth extracted by the dentist. So to extract or not, depends on which dentist you see, I suppose. After a while the permanent teeth will move to its rightful place I am told although my girl's teeth are still a little bit behind the others. The dentist does not think it is a problem. If it eventually moves to the front, I will post an update on this blog.

Related Posts:

Her first Dental Visit at age 6

Help! Her milk teeth is growing parallel with her permanent teeth

A delayed visit to the Dentist

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Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Her First Dental Visit at age 6

My daughter is 5 going on 6. We brought her for her first dental visit at the end of last year. She had her bottom two permanent teeth coming in behind her milk teeth.

I first notice the permanent teeth a few months back. The milk teeth felt loose so I delayed the visit to the dentist. However, even though it appeared rather loose it was very stubborn and took its time to come off. By the time we brought her to the dentist, one of it had dropped off. The other which first became loose had sort of fallen into the space where the first had dropped off.

The dentist was not at all concerned about it. She said that it was common and we need not extract it since it was loose and about to come off anyway. She wanted the first visit for my girl to be pleasant so she just looked around, said everything was fine, praised my girl for brushing and gave her a sticker.

She also encouraged me to bring my 3 going on 4 boy into the room with us to look around to expose him. It was a very pleasant visit.......... for them but not for me. I had gum surgery. Ewe.

Oh before I forget, I wanted to note that she said that both my kids had an opposite bite (I'm not sure of the term) but what it meant was when they bite down, their lower teeth is in front instead of behind the upper teeth as it should be. She told us to monitor that and have it evaluated in a year's time.

Related Posts:
Help! Her milk teeth is growing parallel with her permanent teeth
When new permanent teeth comes in behind the milk teeth

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Monday, January 07, 2008

Help! Her milk teeth is growing parallel with her permanent teeth

Help! Its all my fault she's going to get crooked teeth. My girl's milk teeth was growing parallel with her permanent teeth and that got me really worried. Is that normal? I wondered.... I sourced around the internet and some described it as normal so I left it to drop off alone. But it didn't.......... not for a very very long time.

And for a long time, she had two rows of parallel teeth growing at her bottom front teeth. Help! I thought. Its all going to be my fault if her teeth turns out to be crooked! Its my fault for not doing anything about it earlier. These thoughts ran through my mind. I searched around the internet frantically and found many good links.

Stay around and I'll share those links. I'll also share the story of her first visit to the dentist etc when I have the time to update this blog.

Related posts:
Her first dental visit at age 6
When new permanent teeth comes in behind the milk teeth

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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

This year I have only one resolution

This year I have only one resolution. My resolution is to work harder on my relationship with my spouse. Last year I have experienced the following more and more often.

  • I hear him say "You are not supportive of me/I wish you were more supportive of me" more and more often
  • I hear him shouting back at me more often whereas he used to be more cool and collected during our arguments before. He must be reaching breaking point! Oops!

I resolve to do more and more of those things that will make him feel loved and less and less of those things that will make us grow further and further apart.

I can sense that my actions and words are driving him further and further away from me and so I resolve to control myself better emotionally and not act rashly or say damaging words during an argument.

I am the kind who MUST end an argument RIGHT NOW! I do not know how to walk away from an argument and come back to the issue after things have cooled. And so part of my resolution is to learn how to do that.

That is my single resolution this year. To strive for more love, peace and harmony with my spouse for with more harmony than we can conquer more things together instead of fight with each other to get things done.

There is this quote in my December 2007 calander. It says.....

Coming together is a BEGGINNING

Keeping together is PROGRESS

Working together is SUCCESS

Perhaps this quote is meant more for organisations in team building but it can also be useful for the husband and wife team. I hope to achieve SUCCESS in my relationship with my spouse this year and thereafter.

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