Sketches of Life|Life Lived in Simplicity

Today begins the 2nd week of me babysitting my brother’s 2 daughters. I got the hang of it already. It is not that difficult to babysit 6 children. All you need to do is be extremely strict.

After the first day when the 5yo scribbled on Belle’s storybook with pen and the 3yo scribbled on the table with crayons, I banned them from playing with the pen, colour pencil and crayon while they are under my care. Well, kids will be kids. When I am not in their sight, they secretly scribbled on Belle’s timetable and just now, painted their hands with crayons! They disobeyed, they get punishment from me of course.

So, wondering how I manage 6 children aged 7yo to 1yo? Upon returning home from school (i fetch them at 12noon), I will give them some cool dessert to cool down their body before all of them take their shower. I let them shower by themselves. I just need to dry them up then they get dressed by themselves too. The older ones will help the younger ones of course.

Then I prepare a big plate of rice plus dishes, call them to sit around me then feed them. They can feed by themselves but that will give me more cleaning up to do after that. If I have different food for my 1yo, my 2nd girl will help to feed.

After lunch, they get a bottle of cool Ribena while watching cartoons then they can play. This is the time when I get a lot of reports. “Mommy! Jie Jie beat me.” “Mommy, Clarissa take my book.” Mommy this and Mommy that. While they play, I make sure my 7yo finishes her homework.

By 3.15pm, I prepare a bottle of milk each and shoo them to bed. It’s nap time. All of us will nap at the same time, if possible coz sometimes my 1yo will nap first. They will nap around 2 hours. By 6pm, my brother will come to fetch them home. Then I am down with 4 children and sometimes 2 children if my middle 2 follows them home till around 8pm.

Easy right? But I close one eyes with the mess they make lar. Sometimes when my mood is not so good, I get everyone to pick up all the toys on the floor before they nap.

I think I am ready to have more children of my own!

Of all the days, why must it rained today? I have school shoes, school uniforms and tonnes of clothes that needs drying. I need to go out too to send my children for ballet trial class. Dear God, please let it be a hot day tomorrow and if you need to send rain, let it be in the evening or at night. Amen.

This morning I woke up with no mood to prepare breakfast, no mood to tidy up, no mood to wash and no mood to cook. Partly, I did not eat last night coz I do not have the time so I felt half dead. But I must keep my family alive so I forced myself to fry noodles (hokkien mee) and wallop them myself first before waking up the children to get ready for school. That’s around 6.30am, the earliest breakfast I ever had!

After sending them to school, I have to cook lunch and dinner for the family and wash the clothes too. Then only I realised that “no mood” is never in a Mommy’s vocabulary. Whether you have mood or not, you have to perform your Mommy duty unless you have a maid to help you lar.

So how? How to get the mood? Think punya think, I suddenly remembered what caffeine can do to my body. I just bought a big packet of In-Comix 3in1 coffee which is milder than Nescafe. I am not a coffee drinker you see, so a cup of Nescafe will make my world spins! So, I gave it a try. Drink while cooking. Where got time to sit down and enjoy sipping the coffee slowly.

After a cup went into my body, it makes my heart beats faster and got my blood pumping and suddenly I was wide awake and felt so alive. Without realising it, I walk faster and do my job faster too!

I wonder whether I should make this drinking coffee thingy to start my day a routine. So unhealthy lar.

The gold price went down a few weeks ago and I wanted to withdraw some to buy gold bullion but the exchange rate was pretty low. So, I waited, hoping that the exchange rate will be better. It went up a few days ago so does the price of gold. *sigh* Since the exchange rate is so low now, it is not worth to convert so I decided to just leave my USD in my Paypal account. I would be needing to use USD once I start homeschooling my children. Till then, I need to save as much possible coz homeschooling fee isn’t cheap.

This is the latest US.

I have slimmed down a lot and aged a lot too! Being thin makes you look older and have more wrinkles too.

As for hubby, he still look young and round. Not fair! Why man age super slow one? In the above picture he looked haggard coz he just left his shop without any shower yet.

The picture is taken at Kenny Roger’s Roaster when we had our 9th wedding anniversary dinner. How unromantic right? Well, actually I wanted to eat Bak Kut Teh at the Malim Food Court. Lagi unromantic!!! So, I just kept the thought to myself and let hubby choose the restaurant.

Who needs fitness equipment when you have 6 children age 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 under one roof! Take a look at their age gap, do you think you can manage? I don’t think so but I have too because I am the Jie-Jie (eldest sister). It is my responsibility to look after my siblings when my mom is not around even when they are married with kids. Helping to take care of their children when they are at work is the same as helping my own siblings. What say you?

My mom maternal grandmother died of diabetes. She had one of the leg cut off due to it. If only her family knew about diabetic socks, she does not have to suffer the pain of foot ulcers that caused her leg to be cut off. Diabetic socks are made to control moisture, which can reduce the risk of infection, and they are made without seams or wrinkle-prone material to reduce pressure and blistering.

Today is my 9th wedding anniversary. Hmmm…why time fly so fast one? I felt that I just blog about my 8th wedding anniversary recently. Anyway, I was day dreaming about the 10th already. Really can’t imagine that I have been sharing my bed with a man for 9 years! Till now, from time to time, I still find it amazing that I could wake up seeing a man sleeping in my room. I was so tomboyish when I was younger that I never imagine that I would get married and have children!

Reality check – *pinch, pinch. slap, slap. Wake up Michelle!* Wow! I am a mother of 4. Not working pulak tu and have to depend on hubby to buy my wrinkle filler. This is so not me.

9 years can do a lot to one person. See how I have changed; physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Got good and bad one know…not all good one. Won’t tell what it is lar, embarrassing!

Eh! Talk about myself only pulak. How’s my marriage after 9 years? Well, we are still deeply in love with each other. He still can’t get enough of me. *ahem* How to? Most of the time, Baby is latching to me. We do have argument from time to time but that is normal in marriage. We understand each other more and love each other more after we make up.

Oh ya! I recently discovered that he does not like to eat fishballs! You see lar…after 9 years! But then, it is ok, there are still lots to discover about each other. Marriage won’t be boring.

Ok lar…shared way too much already. Time to wake up the children for school!

As my baby grows older, his motor skills becomes better. One of them is lifting up my t-shirt to look for his source of nutrition and comfort. Thank God he is not that skillful yet. He just managed to lift up till my tummy is exposed and not further. He started doing this when he was 11mo.

When I am carrying him, he will reach down with his hand into my bra-bra trying to pull out his source of nutrition and comfort. The embarrassing thing is, he will only do it in the public. Well, where else right since he can access it easily when we are at home.

Even though he is my No. 4, this is my first experience breastfeeding a toddler. My other 3 stopped by 8mo, 6mo and 9mo respectively.

I am so worried that within the next few month, his “lifting up” skill will be perfected and who knows, he might even know how to unclipped my bra-bra! *shudders*

Nya is “Mommy” for the Baba and Nyonya.

Like I said, life will be tougher for the next 2-3 weeks after MIL and maid leave us because my Nya is leaving us too for Kuching on Friday to be with my sister who will be giving birth anytime soon. There goes my cook and my part-time babysitter.

Not only that I have to resume cooking again, I have to babysit my brother’s 2 daughters whom my mom babysits after they return from kindy. I can’t imagine having 6 children under my roof! To feed and to wash their bum bum. Mwahahahaha…I want my mommy!!!

I am sure I won’t have much time here to write about lipozene reviews or even do virtual farming. And I am sure I will need to wave my “magic wand” more often. No worries, I have not use it for a long time already; just to threaten them because they are a bunch of stubborn kids just like their daddy (my brother lar tu).