A Happy Mum | Singapore Parenting Blog

Being a stay-at-home mum allows me to say that my life revolves around my kids 24/7 and that I am always busy taking care of one kid or the other. However, the truth is there are always snippets of time here and there for me to rest or relax.

Let’s see. My most peaceful time is when all the kids are asleep. That is when I get to take a breather and the irony is instead of catching up on some much needed rest, I end up watching a show, play games, scroll on social media or watch some random videos. That is how I unwind and remember my own needs as a person. When the elder three are in school, I also get a bit of time on my own when the baby is napping or playing by himself. Even a 5-minute break can do wonders at times (I must say that this clingy toddler follows me everywhere though, even to the loo.)

When the hubby is around, he likes to take the baby for a walk in our neighbourhood so it gives me time to be with the other kids or just do my own thing too. Given a choice, I would prefer to spend more family time than alone time but I have to say the latter is crucial for our sanity, even if little.

In this “Happiness is…” post, it is about learning to take a break at times and to cut ourselves some slack. It’s okay if we feel tired, it’s okay if we want some privacy to ourselves, it’s okay if we end up dozing off when doing the laundry, it’s okay to not feel like we have it all.

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I love my one-on-one mornings with the baby. If I’ve learnt anything from the past years, it’s that time flies past and kids don’t stay little for long. For now, I cherish all this time I have with him and the things I can do for him, like bringing him to the polyclinic for his vaccination, holding him to give him comfort, hugging him when he is in pain and giving him in a bear hug to let him know he is not alone.

While the siblings are having art class, he gets to roam around, snack, watch fish or just push a chair back and forth around the studio. We are stopping art class next month after nine long years of coming here weekly and it is something we will miss.

But, the end of journey marks the start of another and since we’ve started Taekwondo classes and I still insist that each kid cannot have more than 2-3 enrichment classes including sports (we still don’t have tuition!), it’s time to move on. 

I love sending the kids to school whenever I can but there are also some mornings when I feel like resting with the baby, especially if he is still asleep. I mean, I already wake at 6am every day to wake the kids, make their breakfast, fill their water bottles and pack their snack boxes. Surely it’s okay to rest a little afterwards?

Anyway, I’m happy to let the hubby walk the middle two kids to their primary school – the Sec 1 firstborn takes bus on her own – when he is home and not busy with work. It doesn’t always happen and on solo parenting days or weeks, I don’t really get a choice. Well, I’ve already told the boy that he can, hopefully, go to school and come home on his own from Primary 2 onwards, so let’s see how that goes. For now, I’m cherishing such busy, hectic mornings, even rainy days when we have to we wear rain coats, put on slippers and brings shoes to change. These will be a fond part of their childhood memories for sure.

Having more kids means that the elder siblings can help to entertain the little one and take care of him too. That is very helpful when I need to cook, take a leak or catch my breath. 

While the girls are now adept at caring for the baby, korkor is his best friend and the two boys totally love playing and hanging out together. Awww. Having a fourth child changed our family dynamics totally but I think it is for the better. The baby is our glue and a constant reminder that time is fleeting and family is the most important thing.

The littlest has begun self-feeding and trying out more new food. His recent favourite is edamame beans and he really seems to enjoy it lots. Oh, and he loves fruits too so I cut it up in small pieces for him to learn to pick up. With him being able to eat on his own, even a little, will mean that I can enjoy my food too instead of always being busy with feeding.

But, there are still many things that he can’t do on his own, like bathing, changing diapers and brushing teeth. Yup, he has eight pearly whites now and I’ve started brushing them for him every day. It’s such a joy and blessing to be able to care for a tiny being and I cherish this toddler phase a lot. He is so cute when he tries to spit out the water too, I can never get tired of watching him do it.

We love watching movies and are so thankful that we get to attend previews and meet mascots. Sonic 2 was awesome and all of us loved Tails so much. We also watched The Bad Guys and it was an engaging show with an unique cast and plot. Since the three older kids are usually engrossed in the show, I essentially only need to take care of the toddler. That usually means lots of snacks and breastfeeding, haha. He is getting very accustomed to it already and most of the time, I still get to sit back and relax a little while enjoying the movie.

Let’s see. After a long hiatus, we finally revisited USS and the kids were stoked! We had One Last Boogie with Madagascar and thanked them for all the wonderful memories for the past years. It has always been one of our favourite zones and we are sad to see them leave. But well, as always, the end of a journey marks the start of another so let’s see what lies ahead.

This trip marked many firsts for the kids – Ansel’s first trip to the theme park, Asher’s first Puss in Boots ride, Ariel’s first time on Battlestar Galatica: Cylon and Human as well as The Mummy, and Angel’s first time riding them alone. Woohoo! Good job, my dears!

I am truly thankful for media events that we get invited to and we are more than happy to share the happenings with our readers too. During the holidays, we made our way to Changi Airport to take photos with the Chupa Chups pop-ups and also attend a magic workshop.

The airport is one of our favourite places to visit because there are so many things to see, play and eat too. Do you love going to the airport too?

My kids love animals so we will usually plan a trip to one or two of the wildlife parks during the holidays. This time, we visited the Night Safari and other than taking the tram, we also covered nearly all the walking trails.

Yup, not an easy feast considering we have a toddler who needs to be carried and all our barang. I always think it is a good exercise for me to go out with all the kids, haha. It was Ansel’s first time trying a popsicle too and yup, of course he loved it.

Other than tourist attractions, we also love to hang out at our neighbourhood playgrounds. Playing tag makes the kids very happy and it’s nice to see that they have each other to play with and are never lonely.

Guess what he picked? His first two attempts yielded the same result, much to our surprise. It was….. the book! Well, maybe he will be an aspiring writer or an illustrator next time. But okay, he did move on to the excavator after that. Whatever your dreams are and wherever life takes you, Mama will be here to support you, okay?

He loves to sit with Korkor on the pram and when it becomes a struggle to buckle him in, I ask Asher to sit first and the baby will automatically wanna sit on his lap. Awww. That is so sweet, never mind my aching arms or them weighing more than the recommended weight limit, I wouldn’t trade these moments for anything else.