What do you do with 4 kids?

Many people are surprised that I have 4 kids, but I tell you, it's really fun to have them if you think you can 'handle' them. It's not easy though.

Take for example, my attempt to take a photo of all 4 of them together. This is only one that I liked out of the 17 that I snapped, almost consecutively. I felt like a papparazi at that moment. Most of the time, I'm trying to entertain 3 of them with some toys and hope they don't snatch from each other, or to give them their favourite snack (eg. mini Oreos) and they will be chomping it down happily and quietly.

Baby Thaddeus is already getting curious and observing the things around him. He is smiling and responding to our voices nowadays when we speak to him. As SG says, looking at him smile takes away all the frustrations for that day.

Footnote to Santa: Ethan has lost his 2 front teeth. If you could get it back by Christmas, it'd be much appreciated.

Closeups of Thaddeus

These days, Thaddeus is getting restless and wants to play. He wants people to talk to him, and he would occassionally 'coo' back, to the delight of whoever is carrying him at that time. He also likes me to read to him, which worked very well when he was crying really hard yesterday.

He seems to have a lot of 'gas' and needs lots of burping. To some extent, we think he has a bit of reflux issue. Other than this, he is getting doing OK, and getting very curious about the people and things around him.

Nesting Instinct?

People say that pregnant women tend to have the 'nesting' instinct when they are about to give birth. I must have got my instincts wrongly wired somewhere. These few days, I'm having the motivation to housekeep my house and my mum's house.

Last week, I (and maid) managed to clean and re-organise the shelves in my room, and when Zack was back home, and he noticed the change (his DVDs were all neatly standing in 1 shelf instead of the usual disorganised stacking), he said, "Wow"! For Zack of few words, that surprising and exclamatory 'Wow' can still be remembered today.

From my room, I moved on to mum's house. Today, we cleaned all the tables and shelves in the room where Thaddeus would be sleeping most of the days when I'm working. The room is quite dusty, and we gave it a good mopping. I cannot imagine Thaddeus 'living' in a room full of dust and old stuff....so we did it.

Besides this, I would also be clearing quite a bit of the old shelves at home in the other rooms, so that they can be mopped clean for other purposes. I think that after so many years of keeping stuff in the shelves, if they have not been touched in the past 1 year, you don't need them anymore, and so, they should be discarded. That, is my philosophy, and that, would be my objective in the next few days.

I guess I owe the new 'nesting instinct' to the fact that I would be starting work next Thursday. I don't say I am looking forward to it. I seem to have so many other errands and stuff I want to do before that...

In Moments Like These...

It's in moments like these, that you wish time could just stop.

Thaddeus's 1st Mth

Thaddeus celebrated his 1st month last week. We went to visit some relatives and office colleagues and delivered 1st mth packages to them as part of the tradition.

On Sunday, we also celebrated at church, and he had a 1st month cake as well!

Going out with a baby and 3 children below 7 years old is a challenge even with 5 grown adults. This, I mean, we had us 2 parents, a helper, and grandparents in tow. We took breakfast at our usual Amoy Street market, at the usual stalls. The difference now is that Thaddeus is in 1 pram, the other pram is vacant cos Zack and Sophie don't want to sit in them anymore (they used to sit in them while eating breakfast). So, the challenge is to ensure that Zack and Sophie finish eating their breakfast without fuss, and that is surely a challenge in an 'uncontrolled' environment.

After church, going shopping with 4 kids makes me feel like climbing Mt Everest is probably easier. Again, it was a challenge to decide who gets to sit in the 2nd pram. Zack tires easily, while Sophie can get quite naughty these days in her wonderful rendition of 'no' to nearly every answer to your request. Yup, she is at the stage where kids tend to say more 'no's than 'yes'.

I don't know how we could have managed the Sunday window-shopping without grandparents lending a helping hand. I probably cannot even go to the toilet in peace! Hah hah.

It was an experience, but something you reflect back with a smile as it was the first day out with Thaddeus and the whole family.