Parenting is "heart' work

With baby Sophie growing so quickly, it's more apparent that Alexis and I have to agree on how we want to bring up Sophie. The values that we want to inculcate in her and the kind of person we want her to grow up into. I am convinced that there is only so much that is attributed to nature but how a child turns out is mainly how we nurture them too.

Its always funny how siblings from the same factory all turn out very very different. Just take my family for example, I have two younger siblings, a younger brother and sister and we all turned out so different.

My sister: Independent, ambitious, sporty, lives for the future

My brother: gift of the gab, rebellious (mostly during his youth), out-going, humorous

Me: family oriented, lives for the now, messy (according to the hubby)

That's why I tweeted this statement, "Parenting-doing it intentionally, doing it deliberately."

It takes effort to be a parent. To be able to bring up your next generation who will model after your life, the things you stand for, believe it, value. That's a huge responsibility upon my shoulder. I don't want to live my life carelessly, to just go with the flow and let things happen as they come. More so now that I'm a mom, with a little girl that's watching me. That's why more than just changing their diapers, ensuring that they have 3 meals, sending them to school, bringing them on holidays, its about nurturing them, molding them, shaping them to be the person of a character.

I borrowed this book, 12 Simple Secrets Real Moms Know by Michele Borda.

Here's the list:

1. A mother who loves teaches worth
2. A mother who is firm and fair gives her children a moral code to live by
3. A mother who listens shows her children they matter
4. A mother who is a good role model give her children an example worth copying
5. A mother who teaches values inspires character
6. A mother who supports her children's strength builds their confidence
7. A mother who encourages independence cultivates self-reliance
8. A mother who applauds efforts nurtures perseverance
9. A mother accepts her children's short-comings nurtures resilience
10. A mother who takes time for her children helps them build strong relationships
11. A mother who laughs teaches joy
12. A mother who takes care of herself holds together her happy family

Sounds like a good list don't you think :)

Parenting -replacing the hard work into heart work.

New wall sticker for the hall

Decided to jazz up the plain O' wall in the hall this year. As you can see it's just... a little boring now.

Cutting the wall paper stickers into more manageable size


Ta dah!

Just the way I like it. Pretty in pink. Wahaha. Very timely for the Chinese New Year too.

Spring Cleaning for Chinese New Year

CNY is in another 6 days. This year, we started spring cleaning early because we expected that there will be days when we will be busy cleaning Sophie than the house. While I'm the one pointing out the areas to be cleaned I would never be the domestic goddess at home and Alexis would be the first to second that.

In the home, I'm the hoarder because I feel that somewhere sometime down the road, this is going to come to good use although I have absolutley no idea what to do with it now. And my reasoning is that I spent money on it (most likely an impulsive buy), got it as a gift or a free gift so why throw away something good. Alexis on the other hand believes that if you have no immediate use for it, it must go since it does nothing but make the house more cluttered and messy. God knows how many arguements we have over our different styles at home.

So in my attempt to keep the house tidy, I borrowed this book titled Clutter Free from the library.

The author of the book is a more extreme version of me. She came realize how messy her place was when one day her door got forced open. But because her home was so messy, the burgular couldnt even push open the door! And when the police came by they told her that her place was ransacked... And to her embrassement she had to admit that the state of mess was her doing! So this book is written by someone who have difficulties keeping the home neat because it's just not natural to them unlike some authors who make it sound a breeze because it's just in them to be organized and neat.

Alexis's idea of neat

okay, I'm really not like that

I joked with Alexis that perhaps we could write a book on this topic too. In it will be stories of the fights we have over different housekeeping styles and how I find it an absolutely pain to keep the house tidy while he does it so.. more naturally than me. I'll give them pointers on things you dont do, like hiding stuffs things right at the top of the cupboard so that once its outta sight, it's outta mind or the story from Alexis's side about how being clutter free starts from having the liberation to throw things that you don't need.

So anyway Alexis is very excited over this project to give everything in the house a home that he has decided that as my Valentine's present, he shall do exactly that...Give everything in the house a home.

So there goes my idea of having a present that goes bling bling. The only sparkling present that I'll receive is a sparkling clean new house...which I told him feels like the equivalent of receiving an iron as a present :P Maybe just maybe I'll appreciate it more in the future...as for now, how about a more decent Valentine's Day present?