Update: i went to Sydney alone!

I left baby at home, again.

First, i left him at home and went for a girlfriend trip to Seoul when he's 3mth old. Now i left him at home and go for a "solo" trip to Sydney, when he's 9mth old.

I struggled a lot to decide if i shud bring him along for this trip, because i missed him so miserably during the last trip to Seoul. But the thought to cope alone for an 8 hr flight is so daunting. And to be alone with him ALL the time... i nv considered myself a gd full time mum... i kinda need ALOT of "me time". 😐

As the trip drew closer, our whole family fell sick.. esp the baby.. i had to take care of him whole night, as he could not sleep well with fever coming back and forth and could not breathe well with stuffy nose.. his sisters fell sick one after another too.. i really felt i need a break! A break from all the mummy duties.. so i decided, i am to go alone, alone to drink and eat and do all the things i could do without kids!

So here is some of the things i did/eat/drink:

Yummilicious burger with beer at a bar

Beer again at Bondi Beach

Sight seeing at the harbour

Brunch with Australian coffee

Seafood at Fish Market

Some really good quality Australian steak

A lot of shopping! Who knows Sydney is such a gd place to shop!?

And of course, some quality time( finally) with the mister 

Did i regret going without baby this time?... erm.. not really.. haha.. although i still missed the little ones dearly, and being alone is lonely and boring sometimes.. blocked ducts from not being able to pump as frequent as i should be is also quite painful too.. but i really did enjoy shopping with just a purse, the freedom to roam around with no weights is really liberating! And also to be able to in places i could not have went if i had a baby in tow.. the long walks, the bars and steakhouse..

Hong Kong 2017 with family

We just came back from Hong Kong. It's the first time 5 of us (first time flying for baby yan) plus my in laws.

On hindsight, i think we must be mad to bring the kids to hong kong for a week! Really, we should just stick to 3 days and disneyland only. The delicious hong kong food has no appeal to them at all, and we have to really go through A LOT to bring them to these places to have the "good food"
 So, in conclusion, travelling with kids is absolutely different when travelling alone.
Travelling with kids shoud really be go to a point ( exciting enough for them), play and play, then go home. Food is not important, play is more important to them, walking and waiting is a chore.

But of course, i have no regrets. We already expect a tiring trip, but the bonding time we had together, and the memories we have shared are worth the trouble!

At our "holiday house" at hong kong.

And we went to the highly anticipated disneyland too. Lucky kids all of you, get to experience the disney magic at such a young age! 

Effective communication

I am very into a china show call super nanny recently. I shared the clip to xl and told him the things i am learning from the show. But he didnt bother to watch it at all.

After watching a few episodes of the show, i realised no matter what problem the parents were facing with their kids, the conclusion of the problem is always it's the parents fault. It's a great revelation for me. I face problems with my kids too. And i am always searching the way or method i can do to correct them. But more often than not, our kid's behavior is the result of our own actions. So if we don't change first, no matter what method we use, will not work.

For example, wanling often has emotion meltdowns. Her main means of communication is to cry. We have tried all ways to make her understand crying is not correct. But it doesnt work. Even if she after calming down, and admit that crying is wrong, next time when she faces a rejection from us, or
 doesnt get what she wants, she will still cry.

There are many similar cases in the show, of kids crying and shouting and throwing tantrums. Most of the time, it is because the child do not know any other means to express themselves. They do not know because they were not taught how to communicate effectively. Ànd most of the time, the parents do not know how to communicate effectively too, includes setting bad examples to the child when they communicate to other members of the family  ( like their own parents or their spouse  or even to the child). I reflected, i think it is true for my own case. I couldnt identify my own emotions most of the time too, and when i am overwhelmed with negativè emotions i also dont know how to handle the negative emotions i am feeling. And when it happens to wanling, of course i am unable to teach her effectively how to handle her own emotions. So i tried to handle her. I demanded her to be quiet, to listen to my instructions. But, a child is a seperate individual with her own feelings and thoughts. It is unreasonable to expect our child to behave ecactly the way we want her to behave, as if she is a robot we programmed.

So i tried to implement the changes in myself and the way i communicate with her, and also with xl. However, like just now, xl do not agree with some of the things i did. And we had an argument. I tried to talk to him calmly and explain properly my rationale and logic. But he is inclined to end the conversation to agree to disagree. He said, he will say sorry because i always force him to agree with what i think or do, and he only say sorry because he dun wan me to be angry, but sometimes things is not always right and wrong. While i do agree that not all things has a clear right and wrong, because things may be different from different perspective. But when we are talking about discipline, it should be a clear line of right and wrong isn't it? If there is "in different scenario sometimes some behavior is acceptable but in some scenario the same behavior is not acceptable",  how will a child know what she did is right or wrong? And everytime when xl disagree with me, he will always bring out his fav pet line to agree to disagree.

I am always left speechless and with no closure after we have to agree to disagree. I am reflecting now. Am i unreasonable that i always force people to agree with me? Or i am only trying to seek an answer but he refuse to face the conflict? He says he understand where i am coming from, but he cannot agree. Is this even possible? Does it even make sense that everytime we are in a disagreement, it is always that nobody is wrong, it is just different perspective? Or he is never wrong. I am always forcing him to agree with me just because i will be angry if he disagree with me?

Even today, i already talked and explain to him in a calm way, slow and soft voice. He still gave me the same conclusion. He would like to end of the conversation to agree to disagree. Why? Why is it so hard for him to agree with me? Is it really me? Is it true that i have to force him to agree with me and cannot see from his point of view? I really dont think so! If he had brought up a valid point i would agree with him. If i did something wrong i do say sorry to him before too! But when it comes to some things that i feel is logical and correct, but is different from what he feel, he will want to agree to disagree. When we disagree, i am always the person who is 无理取闹.  Sometimes somethings really do have an absolute right or wrong isnt it? Or at least we can agree to see from same perspective next time when same things were to happen again? i am really feeling helpless, frustrated and confused.

渐行渐远

我有个很要好的朋友。我们一起度过最青春的大学生活， 一起哭过，笑过，一起疯狂过。认识她已经20年。她陪我走过人生中最重要的日子。是我愿意为她赴汤蹈火的朋友。可如今，我已是三个孩子的妈， 她仍是花样年华自由的单身靓女。

我们还是尽量抽空见面，甚至还有一起出国旅游，只是见面时总有一阵子的尴尬。我总是埋怨自己不够睡，孩子有多不听话。她总是嫌弃工作辛苦钱难赚，她有多忙。可是我们都无法体会对方的辛苦，了解对方的难处。因为我们已经是两个世界的人了。

有时我在想，她还是我15年前认识的她吗？我还是15年前的我吗？如果再15年后渐行渐远的我们还会绕个圈又回到同个路上吗？

我只是希望她可以找到幸福快乐。她也永远会是我愿意赴汤蹈火的朋友。

To bring or not to bring

I have bought the air tickets to sydney. To join XL work trip in sydney. The qn is, whether i should bring Yankai along? I have bought his tickets too, but its super discounted tic, so its sort of alright if we change our mind and dun bring him in the end?

As mentioned, he is a really loud and demanding baby... although most of the time he is ok... but when he is angry, he'd be really angry, like a baby spitting fire (like the baby in The Incredibles). He screams loud and is inconsolable.

Its already daunting to bring a baby overseas alone. I mean, its a 7-8 hours flight, how do i go to toilet on board? How to make him sleep in the tiny space, on my lap for 8hrs? How to carry the luggage with the baby on tow? How to eat my meals on board with him? Will i be able to "enjoy" the holiday with him around? On top of that, there is a high risk of him screaming on top of his lungs 50,000ft above the ground with hundreds of ppl trying to slp staring at me.

Ok, if i really dun bring him... i will have to pump? There is already not enough ftozen stash for him. So start formula will be inevitable. How shud i bring back the milk?

Haiz... there is equal pros and cons on both side and i really cant decide.

The case against breastfeeding

Wrote a super long post last night on fb...  was probably too tired and not thinking straight.. but here it is: 


https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/the-case-against-breast-feeding/307311/


While reading through this long article late at night, baby cried. His daddy, just beside him, merely made a few "shh shh shh" sound, while his eyes and hands glued to his handphone playing his mobile game. I jumped out of the couch across the room to my baby (note my), feeling anger boiling inside me as i get on to my mummy duties.

Yes, i feel trapped, like how the article describes, i feel i am chained to the pump and imprisoned by the feeding schedule. And its true that exclusively breastfeeding makes me angry lots of time. (Esp when like what had just happened 😒)

Thats the main reason why i say, i feel like quitting everyday. xl say, i do have a choice. But i am still hanging on to "breastfeed as long as i can", and i dont really know why.

Maybe its the bonding with baby while feeding? Maybe I'm addicted to the skin to skin closeness, and his baby smell as we cuddle... they say, treasure it when we can, coz when kids grow up they will not want to be close to us anymore...

Maybe its the soliditary me time i am privileged to have when i breastfeed, latch or pump alike. Its really nice to be able to escape into my room, to pump or to feed, when the girls are fighting or throwing tantrum outside. Its also really nice to take a break in between work to pump, and play my mobile games or watch some show, some things i couldnt really do at any other time.

Maybe its the convenience to be able to latch anywhere.. ya, contradicting i know. Its freedom to go anywhere i want with baby, but trapped with him as well.

Maybe i am really brainwashed by all the "research" and "parental advice", that "breast is best". Although i really take it easy this time round.. i have already 看开 after my 2nd, i am mentally prepared to give formula if need to.. but ego will always be stroked if i am able to proudly declare "ya, my baby is exclusively breastfed" 😏

So, ya... here i am, like most female, who always contradict themselves, i hate to breastfeed but I'm gonna do it as long as i can..

Years later, when Facebook reminds me of this ridiculously long post i made at 1am... i may be laughing at myself..silly me, why i didnt sleep when i am already so sleep deprived.

#breastfeedingmakesmemad

How is life with three kids?

最怕有人突然问我，"How's life with three kids?".

我该怎么回答? 掩藏所有的痛苦，挤出一个微笑，配上我疲惫的脸，勉强说出:"ok 啊， 一切都好啊。"毕竟问的人未必对宝宝晚上起来几次，两位姐姐一天吵架几次有兴趣。可是黑到差不多遮住半边脸的黑眼圈和撑不起的眼皮会让这答案显得太不真诚。所以大多时候我都会淡定的说"ok lo,这样咯。要不你也生三个试试看?"

我其实不是很过得很糟糕，其实也不是3个或2个或甚至1个孩子的问题。只是我真的不够睡啦!其实也只是这个孩子有点难搞，哭的时候有点吓人。只是我最大的女儿有时会像个婴儿还需要哄需要抱。只是两位姐姐有时会争吵不休，有时会得意忘形而变得不知分寸。只是有时候，坏的糟糕的事总爱一起发生。只是我需要多一点点可以自由呼吸的空间。这样而已，并不是太糟。这算家家有本难念的经吗?

所以希望不会再有人问我这样的问题了。其实问这样的问题的你，想要听到的答案到底是什么?