Renee turns 6!

Yeah I can't believe it either!!! Next year she goes to primary school! Geez!!! I'll be an old woman soon!

As usual we celebrated her birthday in school. This year she said she didn't want a cartoon character cake, she just wanted a normal cake. Huh? All she could talk and think about was the goodie bag! Mummy, you need to buy this and that. And I suppose she must have told her friends about what I prepared, because she was telling me her friends were so excited about her upcoming birthday. As usual, I went to Daiso for some inspiration and ended up buying some cute notebooks for the kids. I bought 30 notebooks in total and came out satisfied because I was sure the kids would like it. On top of that, I dropped by Giant and got some cookies and chocolates to include in the goodie bag. I still remember doing the same thing last year on Valentines' Day!

Eugene managed to take leave that day so he joined us for the celebration, while my FIL stayed home to take care of Riley. Russell came over to join his sister for the 20 minute party and it was so difficult to send him back to class after that! Anyway I saw Renee roll her eyes when Russell came over......OMG, so young and already "embarrassed" by her younger brother's presence!

In another 10 days, we will celebrate Russell's birthday in school.....off to Daiso again!!!

We brought them to Toys R Us last Saturday to pick their presents. Renee picked a food set as she's been learning about food groups in school - what to eat more of and what to eat less of.
Russell picked the green and blue ranger from Power Rangers Samurai. Yeah, cos he's into these type of cartoons nowadays.

Riley just followed us here and there, but before long he's gonna want to pick his own gifts too!

Time Flies

I have been so busy! Every day is a mad rush to wake up, get snacks ready for the kids to eat before their extra classes, get them ready for school and get myself ready for work! I wake at 6 am every morning and by the time I'm ready for work, it's already 8 am. I used to be able to do some small task after seeing the kids off in my FIL's car like washing their milk bottles or some ironing, but I really don't know why there is not enough time anymore!

Washing and ironing seems to be a daily thing. Sleep seems to be insufficient, what with me still waking up to breast feed Riley twice or three times a night. Before I drift back to sleep, Eugene's alarm wakes me up at 6 am while he snoozes for the next 20 minutes! ARGH! I am not that talented that I can just fall back into dreamland! So here I am awake at 6 am, worried that I can't get the kids ready in time for school when my FIL arrives to pick them up around 7.20am. What will we do when Renee enters Primary 1 next year? We still haven't really decided where to send her. It's either proximity to our house (for ease of transportation in the early morning) or proximity to my inlaw's house (for ease of transportation after school hours).

At the moment, I still have my sanity and take it in my stride. The kids keep me going. Here we are on CNY morning in our New Year finest clothes!! Ha ha!

Riley turned 9 months over the CNY holidays. I can't believe it. Soon we'll have to rack our brains for a party venue for his 1st birthday! We didn't have a full month party for him like we did for Renee and Russell, so I feel I owe him one, you know? He started standing up in his cot and wiggles him bum like mad trying to crawl. It's a funny sight, together with his two-tooth smile that can melt your heart!

Look at that smile, he was mighty pleased with himself for pulling himself up into a standing position!! His little fingers grabbing the edge for dear life! Changing clothes and diapers have been a real struggle as he hates lying on his back while we're doing it!

Each time I write a post, I marvel at how the kids have grown. Renee's in K2 now, she's got spelling and ting (1) xie (3) every week. Before the first test, she'd start crying before we even got to picking up a pencil to practice. That was frustrating but after she scored 100 marks for both tests, she was more confident and practicing was more pleasant! Even weekly homework has become the norm for her, she willingly takes her books out to complete and her writing's improved quite a bit. She's able to write her Chinese name pretty well too!

Russell's in N2 now. He's started bringing homework home on Fridays too. Not to easy for him though, he isn't used to it and thinks it is for fun. He doesn't even hold his pencil properly. We think he knows his alphabets but he just doesn't want to say it out loud when we ask him. I think we didn't give him a long enough stint at Growing Up Gifted. Renee attended GUG till end of N1 and she had no problems with her ABCs. We need to really focus on Russell as we have pretty much focused on Renee and Riley being the oldest and youngest child. Physically, he's grown so much taller! And with Chinese medicine when he gets his cough, I can tell he doesn't get sick so often and he is really really active and sometimes I think overly hyper!

Riley's other lymph node started swelling over the last two weeks. I guess we need to make a trip down to Dr Cheah to have it removed again. I dread it! He's much bigger and can be quite strong in struggling. So NOT looking forward to it!!! In laws say he is very good-natured and understanding. When Roland cries and needs to be picked up, he won't fight for attention instead he will offer toys to him and just look curiously at this other little being!

Excuse me while I go think of how to answer Renee's burning question about the birds and the bees!! Did I mention she's only 5 going on to 6??

I'm so NOT looking forward to the kids growing up! I love them so much as they are!!