no cooking tonight

we had a pizza night tonight at the pub! So good to came home from work and didn't have to cook! :) It was nice evening, nice weather, beautiful sunset, and the boys were behave. That's all I need :)

Tuesday out and about

Out and about for me and the little boy today : to supermarket and short visit to church. I know it sound so boring. But as long as the boy is behave and happy, that's all that matter! It's probably going to be a routine now, since I work on Monday and Wednesday, it left me tons of things to do in/for the house on Tuesday and Thursday.

one fine work day

It's Monday, it's a work day for me. I enjoyed the work so far. It's really good to get out of the house chores routine and see the 'real' world sometimes. Today was a busy day for some people at work, am not really sure what's going on though :D But there are opening ceremony at the government office across the road, and I got to captured the dance at lunch time.

I can do it myself

It's Sunday. We went to the church in the morning, and Evan was surprisingly better behave! We went to the morning tea and had nice conversation with people there. Then a lazy relaxing day for the rest of the day.

today's visitor

Lazy Saturday after big drama yesterday and lack of sleep last night. It was a humid wet morning, and I found this for the first time on our lawn this morning.

peek a mango!

I just realised that the big tree on the side of the house is actually a mango tree!! It just started to fruit. So excited. Those are some of the mango viewed from our dining room window :)

Against of this good finding, today was not a happy day..... (*sigh)

One of those days

All parents who has kids would agree that they would have good days and bad days.

Today was a bad day.

I invited my new friend and her 2,5 years old son for a play date in our house today. I was excited, I thought would be nice to have people come over. she would be my first guest. I am new to this island and of course I am trying to make friends, also a good change for day to day activity for Evan. But all ended up with a big drama.

Evan had a nonstop bad behaviour. He was constantly being rude, disobedient, out-of-control the whole time they were in the house. He kicked, threw toys, pushed, didn't share toys, didn't share food, snatched, threw tantrum over a biscuits, and so on and so on, the list is going on.

The poor little boy was scared of Evan and wanted to go home. The mother was good. She kept make nice conversation, and tried to convince me that I don't need to worry about Evan's behaviour over them. But I felt super bad. I would not happy if I was in her position. I am not sure if they wanted to come back and make friends with us.

Evan has never been like this. He was such a polite-sweet-shy little boy back in Perth. As soon as we moved out and travelled, he hardly talk to anybody else than us (me and hubby). Instead, he did raspberry. He also hardly violent to anyone else before, he usually happy to have someone else in the house and show off his toys. So all of this violent behaviour is new. I was shocked. He was so self-centred, ignored whatever I said and made a scene the whole time this morning.

That was an endless - tiring 1.15 hours I've ever experienced in my own home.

He actually had some scenes every time we went to a play group, and the last one was in the swimming pool for his very first swimming lesson yesterday. I got a feeling that no other mothers wanted to talk to me for having a very naughty boy. I almost can hear other mums chatters to each other saying "that's the mum with a boy who likes to throw toys. You should be careful with that boy, he is naughty and violent!"

I am literally in tears as I type. I wanted to explode in a fit of frustration, anger, guilt, and compassion. I almost lost it. In this moment, I wanted him to be very, very far away from me. I don't want to take him to any mother's group, play group, swimming lesson, etc anymore. But I also felt so sorry for him.

I remember back in 2009 when Evan still only about 9 months old, I wrote this post. It's upsetting that my hope didn't come true. That Evan is now bullying other kids. And I felt I am such a failure. Now I can only hope I can help him to be a better boy. I hope I can be a better mum for him. I hope this is only a phase that he has to go through in his toddler life, that will go away easily and not getting worst.

not sure...

First swimming lesson. 100% not successful. I got tired of chasing him around the pool for not throwing mat and noodles to the pool or taking them from the side of 2 meters deep pool. I also got bleeding blister from bumping my feet into a rock when chasing him. Lots of cry. Not a happy day. (*sigh)

Being good

Being a good boy for helping me make up the dining table for dinner. He brought the plates from the kitchen, put them all on the table and chose who sit where, and arrange the fork and spoon. :)

work!

First day at work. To my surprise, it feels normal. Things look familiar. Boring meeting, computer, work email, data base, pile of paperwork, all were slowly get back to my mind. Day one, as usual, not many things to do. I just tried to get on to the system, and absorb people's names, the places to get this and that, and all the information and knowledge about my work. So far so good.

It is so close to home, so that I could come home for lunch.

My boss vaguely asked if I wanted to do more hours. I am not sure, it's too sudden if I do it everyday. To shocking. Maybe too tiring as I will need to do house chores too.

I'll see how I go and feel next week.

trying to be crafty

Yes, I was trying to make Evan to enjoy crafting again, which seems he didn't have interest anymore. But not so successful lately. He has changed since we left Perth, as for his behaviour and his interest. Hope it's only a phase of his development.

today's visitor

Today is the last day I had a peaceful morning. Spent the morning with the house chores whilst listening to music, and had a little photo hunting. Will miss this moment....

first pinata

Today is Sunday. We had a busy morning, went to church then attended birthday party. Was tiring!! :)

my boys

We had lazy Saturday afternoon and went up the hill to watch sunset. Was very windy, but I captured lots of beautiful photos. love them :)

love playdoh

19082011 - love playdoh, originally uploaded by nencee.

Busy morning with Evan today. Went to have a look at the primary school, then had a play in the park, went to have burger at the cafe, and went to church. And I forgot to bring my camera! So here he was playing playdoh at home, in the late afternoon. No more nap!

Church Orientation

The church is only 5 minutes walk distance from the house, and the door is always open. In preparation of taking Evan to the mass on Sunday, I took him inside the church a few times this week. We had a little prayer. I gave him a little orientation on the church. He seemed to have a better understanding now. We'll see how he is on Sunday as we planned to take him to the mass :)

calming down myself

I was still in a big shock after the meeting and found out i got a job. Had a little walk on the esplanade after lunch with Serena, before going to the butcher. Was a very good day :)

something new

OMG,.... I just got a job!

It's quite a shock! I didn't expect to get the job this quick, so I am now still startle in disbelief.
The process was rather unique too. I went to the church alone last Sunday. I had a chance to talk with the Brother, Father, and other people. One of them was the lady who apparently a finance Manager and looking for assistant. It was just out of the blue she gave me her name card and said to email her my contact details. So I did. She replied by saying to email her my resume, which then I did. I met her and her director today, and that's it. I got hired!

I have mix feeling about this. Mostly excited. But also a little nervous thinking that I've been absence from work force for 4 years, my brain full of what to cook today, photos, IG, and Evan's songs! And I got the feeling they have high expectation on me (*oh no!) Also thinking how will I juggle my time between work and house work, taking care Evan, and doing my own thing (photos taking, IG, blog, etc) without getting too tired and irritated.

It will be only 2 days a week, the days when Evan is in the childcare. So I will not have 'peaceful' time when doing house chores anymore. And it will be in a finance department, the area I never officially worked for, even though I might worked on some of the finance work in the past. So things will be interesting, new, and challenging.

I'll start next week, wish me luck!

Cheeky

One fine evening at home, Evan was playing cheeky by running and hiding, didn't want to get his picture taken. :)

Busy

Evan was in the childcare today, and I had tons to do at home. Spent 3 hours to clean the inside of the car, water the plants, get things out the box from garage, sweeping, etc. Was a tiring, hot day, and this is the only picture I took today.

sunset

I must admit the sunset view from the hill close to our house was spectacular ! I enjoyed every minute and feel privilege and lucky.

My Baby Boy

It's been a while since I update what's Evan's doing. Well, he is growing well and changed a lot, especially since his 3rd birthday. He developed lots of new skills, mastered the other, and reach some important milestone. These some of them that I can recall :

• Totally out of dummy
• Totally out of bottle
• Sleep the whole night through - this just happened recently, about 3 weeks ago.
• Can dress himself, and even can buttoned his top by himself!
  
• Has on and off afternoon nap, but he is happy to play, not being cranky when he didn't have one. This just happened recently.
• Fully toilet trained in the house and childcare -since June
• recently out of nappy during nap time - but still have nappy on during sleep time at night.
• recently pee like a big boy - standing up ;p
• he can go to toilet, pull back up his undies and pants, flush, and wash his hand with soap with minimal supervision ;p
• His speech is getting better since we went to speech therapy in Perth. And recently improved a lot. He can talk in sentence more, eq: I want susu, please. All quite sound and clear.
• Asking 'WHY' a lot!
• Has stronger and better hand and finger skills. Recently he helped me putting away dishes from the dryer rack, get his own glass or bowl, help me cooking by peeling the onion, wash vegetables, stir everything that he can stir, tip in flour, sugar, salt etc, putting vegies/meat to the pan, etc !!
• He also a good helper in putting away / tidy up his toys at the daycare (as reported by Ms Agnes, the director of the daycare), and tidy up his toys at home - if he wants to :)
  
• But in the other hand, his socializing skills doesn't improve much. Recently (since we left Perth), he does raspberries/spitting a lot when see other people. I guess he was too shy to talk, and this was his way to greet people! (*gosh). He rarely share toys, sometimes grabbed toys from other kids, or wanted to bring home toys from playgroup. Even though other parents seems to understand his behavior, it made me nervous every time I take him to the playgroup or play date! (*sigh)
  

Sadly, there's a lot of funny moments of him that I missed to record them on this blog. I regret it so much that I promised to myself to not miss it again next time. Finger cross that I have time and energy from now on.

weekend activity

'try' to relax and read a book by the pool, whilst the boys were playing in the pool. But sometimes ended up too excited and busy taking pictures. :)

Outdoor playgroup

Thank God for the weather here. It's warm and nice, we are able to sit under the sun, with our flip flop and short. Wouldn't be able to do this if we were in Perth, as the weather would still cold and wet.

Here is Evan with Mai, one of the little girl of my friend who originally from Vietnam. They played together for about 15 minutes! That was a record for Evan! :D

view from verandah

When the sun was setting down and the moon starting to appear.

Basil

I harvested basil from the garden for dinner tonight. Smell good, taste yummy!

Today

Had a quiet morning when the boys off the house for work and daycare. Got the books out of the boxes - finally! Tidy and washed the dishes, IG-ing, and it was suddenly 11am! And I had plenty more to do!

So I got out the house, walked down to the main street. Nice and cool breeze. I walked as I also chatted to my mum on my mobile! :) She said I should be healthier that I am now walk more, which probably right. I went to chemist to get antihistamine, went to 3 stores to find floating ring for Evan. Walked back, got in to a butcher shop, got out with 3 kg chicken and bacon. I walked up the hill back to the house, exhausted and hungry. It was 12 pm.

Made my lunch : double portion of Mie Sedap with diced tomatoes and celery.
Had my lunch whilst checking and replying emails and (of course)IG-ing. An hour past, I washed the dishes and back hit the road - walked down to the supermaket. Brought back milk and juice - total 4 litre, and fruits and vegies with total 4 kg. I walked up to the house totally worn out.

Then I harvested basil leaves from the garden for dinner tonight. I suddenly feel a bit fresh from the freshness and the smell of the leaves.

I sat down in from of Sitobi, wrote this blog, chatted away on YM, and it's 3pm. Maybe it's my time to had my nana nap! Or no, I better sweep the floor, made up Evan's bed, have shower, and cook dinner! (*sigh*)

And the work continues when the boys come home. Never never ending....

fragile

Never seen so many butterfly in a lawn before! But they are always here, the small ones are always there, but sometimes I found a big and beautiful butterfly like this one.

enjoying the view

just like me

need massage

ended up sitting down by the pool with the view of the boys laughing and splashing. Nice. :)

seriously washing

Car need a serious was inside - out ! The boys were doing the outside today. Evan had a good time! :)

strolling along the esplanade

for a play date with Mai :)

weeds

coffee time with a friend

a lovely couple

hundreds of these in our lawn!

junk

It's finally time to move to the house we going to live in. All the boxes and furniture were out of the blue container, and now the house full of boxes. We moved from spacious 4 bedrooms house in Perth into cozy 3 bedroom house. We kept some our belonging in the storage, in Perth. But still, we brought too many things here in to the island. After a week, the boxes still here and there in and out the house, endless unpacking....

It is quite frustrating to see the house messy and desperately want to unpack everything as soon as possible, but it's just to many thing to unpack and no place/space for them. This is the time when I think we have too much un-necessary stuff and regret that we have them. I kept saying to myself every time I open a box and unwrapped the paper, "oh... another junk" or "we don't need this" or "why do I keep this thing?" or "i should have thrown this years ago", and it going on and on and on...

I and hubby are on the same boat over treating 'stuff'. We like to keep 'stuff'. Old, broken, dirty, unnecessary, you name it. No particular reason. We just don't like to throw them. When I think more, the most possible reason is probably just for the sake of sentimental memories. So you can imagine two people have the same odd hobbies who live as nomads, have to put up with one of another stuff every time we move. MADNESS !

Hubby is better than me in some area, though. He would easily throw away his old clothes and shoes, except the one he really really like and has good sentimental history (which are not too many). But he keep almost everything related to computer, gadget, games, DVDs and CDs. Also ornaments and pictures.

As for me, I rarely throw away my clothes. I still have my jeans I wore 12 years ago, I still have t-shirt i bought in high school. I didn't remember ever throw bags, shoes, and accessories/jewellery. So I got dozens of shoes and bags, accessories and jewellery neatly saved in dozens of boxes. They are definitely still wearable, still in a good condition, because I always treated them well. But no doubt lots of them are old, out of date, and I might never wore/use them again. But I kept them anyway! Crazy,... I know ! :D Besides this, I also still keep my old diaries, photo albums/pictures, letters, and cards from many many years ago. Total crazy? I agree :D

Good thing is I and hubby never argue or complain, we are peacefully willing to put up with each others mountain of junk we collected.

We totally understand each other on this matter. :)

lunch with exboyfriend, with love :)