Yes, I know, I have not packed my hospital bag, am terribly sick with a flu and cough, struggling to finish the last bits of preparation before Evangeline arrives and fretting over Hubby's burnt out state.
Arghhhhh....I really need rest, a push to pack my stuff and a space of my own to be refreshed. These 9 months were really hectic and cannot imagine how I managed to survive from all these roller coaster rides on my own. If not for God's help, I think I will be suffering from pre natal blues.
Right now, I have to get the last few errands done before I can rest my mind. The old baby cot at my mum's place gave way last week and now the baby will have no bed to sleep in during my confinement. Hub and I decided not to waste $$$ on a new cot as baby will only be there for a month. The playpen which was handed down by one of the cousins couldn't work when we tried to fix it up as the handles on both sides were unable to be locked in place as it was spoilt. Therefore that option was out as well. So now, Hub and I were thinking of checking out a Moses basket which is cheaper than the above two and hopefully, Evangeline can sleep better during that one month.
Somehow, I regretted the idea of moving to my mum's place for a month for confinement as it was such hassle moving so many items over there. Boxes of baby items, daily necessities, toiletries, both of mine and Hub's clothing etc etc were finally moved over last week. It caused so much time, energy and inconvenience from us. I will have to reconsider such arrangement when I have my No. 2 next time.
Meanwhile, I am waiting for Hub to finish his assignment so that we could have a time out from all these stress and checking out on Evangeline's progress tonight with Dr A. Hopefully, we will be hearing some good news from him. 2 more weeks to go!
Current Mood: Drained.
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Baby Evangeline's Blog
Showing posts with label Home Sweet Home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home Sweet Home. Show all posts
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Bringing up Evangeline in future
How would you bring up a child if you know your life, calling would be different from other people and knowing your child may faced problems in future being accepted as her life would be different than others?
I start to ponder and become serious about this topic as I have seen families who are serving the Lord full time and how their children are being brought up and affected in an environment totally different from the way they are going to live in.
I remembered vividly a sharing from a wife of a full time worker on how her children question her why they do not have the luxury of having certain things that their friends have such as toys, computers, pretty clothes, attending enrichment classes, a car, a well furnished house, maids etc. A lot of time and patience were taken to speak and explain to her children, helping them to see more of the faithfulness and providence of the Lord for the things they have currently instead of focusing on what they don't have. It definitely took a great deal of work and understanding from the children to gradually see where their parents are coming from.
Ever since Hubby took the step of faith and obedience to serve the Lord full time, we have gotten ourselves prepared for the future. We knew we are going to live a life totally different, the going is tough, faith is being tested, financially is challenging and lastly, our children and us have to compromise on certain things we have to live without. Question is "How well can we do that?".
I was brought up in a strict, poor, humble and down to earth family. I grew up not having any toys to play with, never have the luxury of exploring or travel beyond the boundaries of my home, my school and Chinatown. (Chinatown is the only place our family goes during weekend.)Most of my clothes were second hand clothes from my mother's customers, toys, books, textbooks, school bags were old usable ones from heaps of rubbish thrown along the corridors by neighbours or even from garbage centres. My grandma would take a stroll along the neighbourhood and bring backs recyclable items which we as a family could use. Those were the days. Not pleasant but yet I felt, we were still living blissfully within our means then. Things got a lot better when I reached adolescence and adulthood but yet it somehow shaped me to continue to live simply and not materialistic.
I never despise or regret the way I was brought up instead I was thankful. Yes, I was thankful because the life I lived in helps to mould my moral values, character and the way I am now which also enable me to adapt quickly in living simply and within our means without much problems.
Then how about our children? Won't Evangeline question us in future when she is sensible enough to know why we cannot buy things as freely as we used to be, able to enjoy life like others? So how are we preparing ourselves for this situation? I guess we really have to start her when she is young.
1) Homeschooling our kids: Well, that did come into our mind which we thought it was a good idea as you have quality bonding time with your kids, shaping their character well in the ways of the Lord and you have better control over disciplining them and correcting their flaws if they are not pleasing to us or God. However, Hubby is concerned over the interpersonal and social skills which they may lack as they are home bound. So I am still fine tuning that and see what I can do to meet the concerns that Hubby has.
2) Teach my kids to be simple and appreciative: From young, I am going to teach, model and show them how to be thankful, to be simple, to be appreciative of what they have. For example, I will not pamper them too much with materialistic things, only necessary ones and in the right amount. I will teach them how to be thrifty, buy things that are needed, only buy new ones when items are worn out or spoilt. Let them understand that old items are good as well as long as they are usable. Of cause, we as parents will not be "giam" or overly thrifty and become stingy as God also teaches us to be generous. This above task is not easy but we will take up the challenge.
3) Incoporate Bible teaching in daily life: I have some SAHM who homeschool their kids. They bought some homeschool materials which have bible teachings incorporated into the education curriculum which I thought was cool and interesting. The curriculum ranges from pre school to primary level having bible lessons incorporated with English, Art, Science etc. Only Maths is not included. Guess that has to be taught separately. Since I may not homeschool Evangeline but I will source this curriculum out and use the bible lesson parts to teach my Evangeline and in terms of Maths, English, Art, Science, I will do the job cause I am a trained primary school teacher so that should not be a problem for me.
4) Enrichment classes: Guess too expensive for us. We will see if our child is gifted or shows some talent in certain areas, we will try our best to groom her. This, we will leave it to the Lord for His providence. :)
5) Outings: There are a lot of "free of charge" places like seaside, parks and those "good and affordable" museums, shows etc for Evangeline to explore, have fun and hands on experience to train them in their brain development, having touch with nature, tapping on their curiosity and interest in finding out answers for themselves. It also established close bonding and quality time between us and Evangeline. This is good.
6)Love, Encouragement and Praise: Constantly praising and encouraging your child can boost their confidence, self-esteem and their social and interpersonal skills with people. I hope Evangeline will also pick up good communication skills and also learn how to show love, care and concern to people around her through us as parents modeling to her. Thus, Hubby and I must constantly and carefully remind ourselves in our daily actions, modelling the right attitude, moral values and showing Godly ways to her.
7)Open to discussion/ being communicative: We also realised thru our own experiences on how we were brought up that communication is very important. When there is a conflict or areas that need to be corrected, we need to open up ourselves to talk, resolve, communicate honestly and sincerely with our children. We need to adopt not a domineering approach but creating a safe and open environment for our children, being patient and allowing us as parents to listen to their perspectives and some freedom for them to express their thoughts. This is important for them to establish trust in you and in future, they will also turn to you for advises and solutions.
8) Canning? Scolding or love and care as disciplinary acts?: Well, Spare the Rod and spoil the child. I am not sure about Hubby, but I believe to some extend, we need to use the rod in disciplining our child. However, not as a mean to express our anger onto our child, but use the rod wisely as a form of reinforcing to the child that certain acts are not to be done again or when the child has gone extreme in terms of his or her misbehaviour. Most of the time, by talking to the child lovingly, reasonably and showing that correcting their mistakes are for their own good, letting them know the consequences of their action and teaching them to be responsible for their actions are more appropriate methods than canning. Only canned when needed.
Guess that is all for now. Typing them and reflecting on them are easy tasks to do. Executing them is another challenge. May God's abundance blessing be onto us, be our anchor point in our life always, guiding us in every steps we take and helping us to be the Godly parents for Evangeline and bringing up Evangeline in the ways of Lord and through this, she will be a blessing to others as well.
Current Mood: Reflective
I start to ponder and become serious about this topic as I have seen families who are serving the Lord full time and how their children are being brought up and affected in an environment totally different from the way they are going to live in.
I remembered vividly a sharing from a wife of a full time worker on how her children question her why they do not have the luxury of having certain things that their friends have such as toys, computers, pretty clothes, attending enrichment classes, a car, a well furnished house, maids etc. A lot of time and patience were taken to speak and explain to her children, helping them to see more of the faithfulness and providence of the Lord for the things they have currently instead of focusing on what they don't have. It definitely took a great deal of work and understanding from the children to gradually see where their parents are coming from.
Ever since Hubby took the step of faith and obedience to serve the Lord full time, we have gotten ourselves prepared for the future. We knew we are going to live a life totally different, the going is tough, faith is being tested, financially is challenging and lastly, our children and us have to compromise on certain things we have to live without. Question is "How well can we do that?".
I was brought up in a strict, poor, humble and down to earth family. I grew up not having any toys to play with, never have the luxury of exploring or travel beyond the boundaries of my home, my school and Chinatown. (Chinatown is the only place our family goes during weekend.)Most of my clothes were second hand clothes from my mother's customers, toys, books, textbooks, school bags were old usable ones from heaps of rubbish thrown along the corridors by neighbours or even from garbage centres. My grandma would take a stroll along the neighbourhood and bring backs recyclable items which we as a family could use. Those were the days. Not pleasant but yet I felt, we were still living blissfully within our means then. Things got a lot better when I reached adolescence and adulthood but yet it somehow shaped me to continue to live simply and not materialistic.
I never despise or regret the way I was brought up instead I was thankful. Yes, I was thankful because the life I lived in helps to mould my moral values, character and the way I am now which also enable me to adapt quickly in living simply and within our means without much problems.
Then how about our children? Won't Evangeline question us in future when she is sensible enough to know why we cannot buy things as freely as we used to be, able to enjoy life like others? So how are we preparing ourselves for this situation? I guess we really have to start her when she is young.
1) Homeschooling our kids: Well, that did come into our mind which we thought it was a good idea as you have quality bonding time with your kids, shaping their character well in the ways of the Lord and you have better control over disciplining them and correcting their flaws if they are not pleasing to us or God. However, Hubby is concerned over the interpersonal and social skills which they may lack as they are home bound. So I am still fine tuning that and see what I can do to meet the concerns that Hubby has.
2) Teach my kids to be simple and appreciative: From young, I am going to teach, model and show them how to be thankful, to be simple, to be appreciative of what they have. For example, I will not pamper them too much with materialistic things, only necessary ones and in the right amount. I will teach them how to be thrifty, buy things that are needed, only buy new ones when items are worn out or spoilt. Let them understand that old items are good as well as long as they are usable. Of cause, we as parents will not be "giam" or overly thrifty and become stingy as God also teaches us to be generous. This above task is not easy but we will take up the challenge.
3) Incoporate Bible teaching in daily life: I have some SAHM who homeschool their kids. They bought some homeschool materials which have bible teachings incorporated into the education curriculum which I thought was cool and interesting. The curriculum ranges from pre school to primary level having bible lessons incorporated with English, Art, Science etc. Only Maths is not included. Guess that has to be taught separately. Since I may not homeschool Evangeline but I will source this curriculum out and use the bible lesson parts to teach my Evangeline and in terms of Maths, English, Art, Science, I will do the job cause I am a trained primary school teacher so that should not be a problem for me.
4) Enrichment classes: Guess too expensive for us. We will see if our child is gifted or shows some talent in certain areas, we will try our best to groom her. This, we will leave it to the Lord for His providence. :)
5) Outings: There are a lot of "free of charge" places like seaside, parks and those "good and affordable" museums, shows etc for Evangeline to explore, have fun and hands on experience to train them in their brain development, having touch with nature, tapping on their curiosity and interest in finding out answers for themselves. It also established close bonding and quality time between us and Evangeline. This is good.
6)Love, Encouragement and Praise: Constantly praising and encouraging your child can boost their confidence, self-esteem and their social and interpersonal skills with people. I hope Evangeline will also pick up good communication skills and also learn how to show love, care and concern to people around her through us as parents modeling to her. Thus, Hubby and I must constantly and carefully remind ourselves in our daily actions, modelling the right attitude, moral values and showing Godly ways to her.
7)Open to discussion/ being communicative: We also realised thru our own experiences on how we were brought up that communication is very important. When there is a conflict or areas that need to be corrected, we need to open up ourselves to talk, resolve, communicate honestly and sincerely with our children. We need to adopt not a domineering approach but creating a safe and open environment for our children, being patient and allowing us as parents to listen to their perspectives and some freedom for them to express their thoughts. This is important for them to establish trust in you and in future, they will also turn to you for advises and solutions.
8) Canning? Scolding or love and care as disciplinary acts?: Well, Spare the Rod and spoil the child. I am not sure about Hubby, but I believe to some extend, we need to use the rod in disciplining our child. However, not as a mean to express our anger onto our child, but use the rod wisely as a form of reinforcing to the child that certain acts are not to be done again or when the child has gone extreme in terms of his or her misbehaviour. Most of the time, by talking to the child lovingly, reasonably and showing that correcting their mistakes are for their own good, letting them know the consequences of their action and teaching them to be responsible for their actions are more appropriate methods than canning. Only canned when needed.
Guess that is all for now. Typing them and reflecting on them are easy tasks to do. Executing them is another challenge. May God's abundance blessing be onto us, be our anchor point in our life always, guiding us in every steps we take and helping us to be the Godly parents for Evangeline and bringing up Evangeline in the ways of Lord and through this, she will be a blessing to others as well.
Current Mood: Reflective
Labels:
Family,
Home Sweet Home,
Times of refreshing
New loot from Clarence
Yesterday, hubby came back with a bag full of baby clothes. It was some hand me downs from one of his classmates, Clarence. We were thankful and delighted to have more clothes for baby Evangeline as we do not wished to buy too many clothes as children outgrow them very quickly. Anyway, 3/4 of the clothes were all hand me downs from cousins and frens, only a few new pieces from Hubby and I. I am glad this loot from Clarence adds more to the current collection we have as most of the clothes we have were for 0-3 months old. We do need more clothes for 3 months and above and Clarence's loot fits the bill. Thank GOd for answering our prayers and of course, helping us to save quite a bit of money. :)
Got half of the loot washed this morning. Certainly not easy to handwash clothes but cause my baby detergent foams a lot so I dare not machine wash again as I believe the detergent is not low sud.
We were also happy that we dun have to return these clothes to Clarence unlike clothes frm cousins which we need to sort them out away from those clothes I bought. I hope along the way, I will not mix the clothes up and remember which set belongs to which cousin. That's kind of troublesome but it is also a good gesture as we can pass down clothes from one cousin to another and help one another out. It's not a bad idea afterall. I have to think of a way to separate them out...Oh well.........
Current Mood: Thankful
Got half of the loot washed this morning. Certainly not easy to handwash clothes but cause my baby detergent foams a lot so I dare not machine wash again as I believe the detergent is not low sud.
We were also happy that we dun have to return these clothes to Clarence unlike clothes frm cousins which we need to sort them out away from those clothes I bought. I hope along the way, I will not mix the clothes up and remember which set belongs to which cousin. That's kind of troublesome but it is also a good gesture as we can pass down clothes from one cousin to another and help one another out. It's not a bad idea afterall. I have to think of a way to separate them out...Oh well.........
Current Mood: Thankful
Friday, April 4, 2008
Gloomy Friday
It was one of the worst morning I ever had. Hubby did not sleep well as he was super stressed out with his assignment that was due today and he had not finished. A lot of whining, frustrations, venting of anger and helplessness. Only God is the rescuer for today. Prayed for hubby and hopefully the lecturer can give him grace to extend his submission date.
Wanted to go marketing to whip up a meal tonight but guessed the unpleasant incident this morning got hold of me before I could prepare myself for the day. Took out the salmon fillet and thought of making teriyaki salmon for lunch to alleviate my mood a little.
Called up the gynae for the 2nd appt tomorrow morning. Hopefully everything will be fine with the foetus and the ultrasound should be able to detect the water bag and foetus. Rather nervous but God is in control. So far so good, no morning sickness and nausea. God is good and gracious. :)
After giving the home a total revamp, I am now having terrible back pain..excruciating pain at the lower back. That's my so called reward for keeping the house spick and span..:(
Current mood: Tired and hopeful
Wanted to go marketing to whip up a meal tonight but guessed the unpleasant incident this morning got hold of me before I could prepare myself for the day. Took out the salmon fillet and thought of making teriyaki salmon for lunch to alleviate my mood a little.
Called up the gynae for the 2nd appt tomorrow morning. Hopefully everything will be fine with the foetus and the ultrasound should be able to detect the water bag and foetus. Rather nervous but God is in control. So far so good, no morning sickness and nausea. God is good and gracious. :)
After giving the home a total revamp, I am now having terrible back pain..excruciating pain at the lower back. That's my so called reward for keeping the house spick and span..:(
Current mood: Tired and hopeful
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Time to make our home a home!
Today, I'm feeling alot better. Ate my breakfast and vitamins and feeling recharged, ready to face the day.Hopefully, I can accomplish lots of things...wash, scrub, clean,pack etc. Talk about it, it's going to be a long day. One of the ways to make hubby feels better from school is to come back to a clean and inviting home. Pray that my nose will not give me sinus problems from the dust that is going to fly around. I will be careful as well as I wouldn't want to hurt the little one in my tummy. :)
Heard from the news it's going to rain cats and dogs today...God, do send the rain away from my area so that my clothes can dry on time. Time to go...if not, I will become lazy and tired again if I don't keep myself going!
Current mood: Energetic
Heard from the news it's going to rain cats and dogs today...God, do send the rain away from my area so that my clothes can dry on time. Time to go...if not, I will become lazy and tired again if I don't keep myself going!
Current mood: Energetic
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