Guilty mama

I am very guilty, even after >24 hrs! I still couldn't get over it.

I was the cause of Keisha tumbling down our master bed yesterday morning. Very weekday morning is like a mad rush for me, waking up 6:10am quietly and keeping fingers crossed that Keira is still sleeping... so I have time to brush my teeth, wash my face, put on make up, prepare her school bag and finally change. Most times, I cannot get pass prepare school bag without her screaming from her room for me. So what happened yesterday morning?

Well, I was pretty delighted that Keira was still sound asleep while I get all stuff done. At 630am, Keisha woke up and appeared from our room with papa. Keisha is just so sweet... really sweet. Everytime she comes out from the bedroom, she'll get excited and smile so sweetly to me that my heart melts instantly. I was ready to get changed but didn't want Keisha to make squeakly sound and waking Keira up. Hence, I carried her to our bedroom, left her on master bed, placed pillows and bolster around her.... and started browsing through my wardrobe pondering what to wear for the day. Keisha wanted to participate and I can see her enthusiam and eagerness to piece through the wardrobe doors. Just then, I thought... ok.. go to next room to pick up my fav jeans. Keisha should be fine, afterall, it's only a few sounds!

Zoomed.. off I popped over to the next room. Picked up my jeans and started browsing through racks of clothes again... for just a few minutes ... .then.... a loud BANG!!!

My heart frozed!

I ran over to the room and there Keisha laying face up (back on floor) and crying like the whole world crushed on her! My goodness... what have I done??????????

Not something I do not know.. I mean.. from Keira days, I learnt my lesson and sharing with others never to leave babies off out sight for even seconds! and here... me... DOING IT AGAIN!

2 times bitten... I better not leave my baby on bed without me in sight again!

Very sorry, Keisha.

Keira is driving me into a monster NAG! and she is a BIGGER MONSTER NAG than me!

Saw this blog title??
Read again... and repeat after me! ya.. R-E-P-E-A-T ...

Every day, I have the difficult task of (and struggling) trying to maintan a picture of cool calmness and practice mummy mantras. I am super bad at this - CALM DOWN!

Keira has grown quite substantially.. haha .. .what a way to put it! Every day, I find myself saying the same things to her, and she has learnt to memorize them but not really adopting them... sick? Oh, and I really get my "rest" (that means I don't have to repeat these to anyone) when I am at work.. thank goodness! So between the time from 6:30pm - 8pm, I turned into a super huge monster nag! ... Sicko nagging process of telling her to be careful not to drip around the house when eating fruits/drinking beverage; wash your hands b4/after food; be careful don't drop your rice/veg/meat etc; wear your shoes; don't run; shower now; drink milk; brush teeth... and the list goes on and on - same stuff I say everyday ... and it doesn't come automatically from her though she knows the order by heart now! So I was told to repeat and repeat to kids so they learn .. hmm.. when will I actually get to stop having to repeat before I turn into a real massive nag of all times???!!!????

Incidently.. I came to realise that kids NAG too.. and they do it sooooooooooooo well that they enjoy nagging more than we do! I don't know if my constant nagging of the same activities make Keira irritated... but her nagging irritates me BIG TIME!

Here's one scene....
To set the context for you here, I bought an ice cream in a cup for Keira before and it is a Milo-flavoured one, so it comes in Milo-branding and design. 2 days ago, while set to drive Keira home from mum's place in the evening, Keira started ranting... "mama, I want Milo"... when I ignored her... she continued with a raised voice and shrieks when I continue to ignore ... and she kept going on until I finally said... "ok..ok... go home, you will have it" ... happy with my response, she stopped her "pleas" ... and 1 second later... my nightmare of 15-20 mins began ...
Keira happily repeated "mama, I want Milo" ..... for the entire car ride home!!!!!! mind you... literally....
mama, i want milo; mama, i want milo; mama, i want milo.....................................................................................................................................................................................................

-> nothing I could do to STOP HER... until she finally had her MILO ice cream at home!

Keira in uniform

I had intended to capture a nice picture of Keira in her child-care uniform and ponytails but ended up with a funny expression from her!

We got only 2 sets of Cherie Hearts uniform for Keira, which means she'll wear them only 2 times a week ... :-). It's also a challenge to get her agreement to tie her hair and so this has been one of those days she gladly cooperate. The "thing" she was holding with both hands.. that's actually MY cereal! For some reason, she enjoys MY cereal.. it's with corn flavour and not very sweet, hence, I am fine giving her that.

That fringe ... ya.. trimmed by me .. not that bad right? Keira has never gone to a proper hair salon for trim/cut. My mum has brought her to an auntie who lives near her block just b4 CNY and she cried her lungs out.... basically, she was carried by my mum while having her hair cut! So.. trimming her fringe has been an activity that I will execute, and I have to find the right time to do this, that means; when she is in good mood and a cooperative attitude and this doesn't come all the time.. so I have to capture the right moment through observation. Get it? ... sure all the mums out there can empathize.

My Collage

Here is a collage of pictures taken at V-Day Duck Tour and Keisha at home, using a cool product from my company, Microsoft AutoCollage 2008. Very simple tool to use, just need to select at least 7 fav pictures, put them into a folder and with one click using tool to create the pictures into a collage. No sharp cutting edges, it blends them pretty well. Can't select how I want it to appear but found that if I change their order in the folder, it results in a different blend. Pretty easy... I like it for being an easy to use tool to blend my pics into a collage.

In the pictures, you see me, Vincent, Keira (2.5 yrs) and Keisha (8 mths)