The Shoes Crisis

First time setting foot outside

Even though Jaide has been walking quite well for a while now, she has yet to venture a step outdoors. Wanna guess the reason? She hated wearing shoes!!!

We have a pair of pink hand-me-downs shoes from a friend, a pair of white lacy ones, a pair of yellow crocs and another pair of black velvet dress shoes to be worn for my sis-in-law's wedding dinner. However, no matter how many times I tried with lots of coaxing, she refused to wear any of them. In fact, she would cry the moment I even attempted to put them on.

Finally, I was so desperate that I took her to Kiddy Palace to choose her own shoes, in the hope that one of them would catch her fancy. I was prepared to spend the money even if she were to pick an expensive pair. 

I took all sorts of colors and designs to see if she wanted them but to avail. Thankfully, she spotted a pair of white "My Little Pony" shoes with pink trimmings and asked for those. The moment they reached her hands, she was unwilling to let go of them. She was beaming from ear to ear and keep carassing the shoes. I heaved a sigh of relief when I found out that the price was reasonable and proceeded to the counter to pay up. The funnist thing was, she cried when I tried to take them to the cashier! In the end, I had to get another pair exactly the same design and size to buy. I asked the lady to cut the tags and I hurriedly placed them on her feet. It was then that she could bear to release the ones in her hands to be placed back on the shelf! LOL

I'm so glad that the shoes crisis is over and Jaide, at long last, can join her siblings in exploring places on her own two feet. *grin*

Walking hand-in-hand

Jaide: "Che Che, what's this?"

Never knew this can be so much fun!

Eat and Drink

I can eat biscuits independently

I can drink from a straw cup

The Sly One

While waiting for the older two to finish bathing, Jaide and I lounged on my bed and spent some time cuddling, tickling and playing silly games as per custom. 

She likes to hold my handphone and pretend to call people but whenever she starts putting it into her mouth, I would take it away from her. As usual, I had repeatedly told her that my phone was too dirty to put into the mouth before handing it back to her to pretend-play.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a movement that seemed to indicate that she was going to place it on her lips. I almost took it away from her till I noticed that she was putting it on her neck instead. I hesitated and watched on with amusement as she slowly inched the phone to her chin and it ultimately ended up on her lower lip. I took it away again, of course.

From then onwards, she kept trying to sneak the phone into her mouth using the same tactic. She even butt-shifted slowly, turning around till her back was facing me and attempted once again to bite my phone out of my sight. I was not so easily fooled. By then, I almost exploded trying to hold back my laughter but that would definitely send the wrong signal to her. Sternly, I told her that 'enough is enough' and kept the object in question out of the way permanently. Pouting, Jaide went on to play with the other knick-knacks lying around on the bed.

Ah... my little girl. You're becoming as cheeky as your elder brother!

Night Transition Success!

Sleep in heavenly peace!

After letting Jaide get used to sleeping on her mattress in the room for naps, we finally made the complete switch tonight at bedtime.

The first hour was rather chaotic. The older kids started off by talking to Jaide. Then, Jaide started climbing onto the sibling's beds and disturbing them. And when Joash and Jayna finally got the idea that the best thing to do was to totally ignore Jaide, our little girl decided to open up the chest of toys to play with! Eventually, I placed the box onto the chest of drawers safely out of her reach. All in all, I had to go into the room to referee the situation 5 times before they started to fall asleep one by one, beginning with the oldest. Praise God for a succesful first night in the same room!

I pray that they will all peacefully sleep through the night, especially for Jaide since she is in a new nighttime environment. Hopefully, I don't have to go in anymore in the near future when the novelty wears off and the kids learn to sleep right away after being put to bed once again...

6 Grace-filled Years

It's really hard to enjoy ourselves during my pregnancies but we somehow managed to still get time-off to celebrate our wedding anniversary, thanks to my in-laws' help. It's quite hard to put my emotions into words but to put it simply, it amazes me that we'll soon be parents to 4 precious children. The vision that God had shown me as a teen is quickly coming to pass. Joshua had calculated for me that by the time I deliver Joram, I would have spent literally half my married life pregnant! (Okay, 48% to be exact)

If my husband were to be anyone else but Joshua, I'm pretty sure that he would have told me to stop at having one kid, or at most two, after experiencing the extreme difficulties that inevitably come with my pregnancy. God has indeed sent me the perfect husband who is willing to weather through the really trying times to be a true father to the children. I sure look forward to saying goodbye to my child-bearing days and focus on simply raising my children in the ways of the Lord. 

This year, we found a new place with food which we both enjoyed: Hoshi at IMM. Their wagyu beef shabu-shabu was heavenly, even to my pregnant taste buds! This was far better than the ones we had last year at the high-end restaurant, not to mention that it was cheaper too. We'll definitely go back again for another celebration. Farewell, Kuriya, for good! :P

Hide and Seek

Since Jaide is able to walk now, the children have more kinds of games they can play with one another. They can play tag, with Jaide being the "it", of course. They can cook and serve the customer and they can also play catch with the ball. Their current favorite is hide and seek. I can still remember a time when I had to be the one to hide so that Joash could look for me. Now, the older kids can do the honors and let me rest. Watch the video for a glimpse of that. *grin*

Finally, a little brother!

A bear to represent him

I've never been anxious about the gender of my babies. I had simply presented to God my preference and will leave it up to Him to decide. So far, God has deemed it fit to give me what I asked for. Previously, I had eagerly wanted to know the gender only because I wanted to prepare the clothes for the child's arrival.

This time, it's a little nerve-wreaking. The main reason we tried for the 4th one so soon was the visions that God had shown me, indicating that there will be another boy in the family. From the time I realised I was pregnant, I had my concerns: If this were to be a girl, does it mean I would have to keep trying for a boy? We shudder at the thought of having to go through another 9 months of hell. And where would we put the 5th one? We had planned for 4 kids staying in one room. Any more than that, it'll get rather crowded. 

And there's also the issue of the older kids. I had asked them if they wanted another sister or a brother if we were to have another baby. They both exclaimed that they wanted to have a younger brother! So, I told them to ask God for one and see if God is willing to give them what they want. 

Jayna had such great faith in God answering her prayers that she started telling everyone in school that she has a little sister at home and a little brother still in Mummy's tummy! I didn't know about it till the teacher called me to congratulate me on a new boy. Imagine the amount of explaining we'll have to do if it turned out to be otherwise. Phew!

My father-in-law would most likely be glad to have another grandson to dote on, looking at the kind of indulging attention he gives to Joash. All in all, everyone is happy that it's a boy.

Now, we're only left with his newborn photo!