It was a last minute plan to have Eric’s birthday in Tuaran instead of at our apartment, but since Eric was already spending a few nights there, I thought, why not. I didn’t plan on getting anything else other than the cake to celebrate it (being the lazy mom I am), but Eric’s Nenek Tuaran (me mom) took care of the food and drinks, by whipping up a quick serving of laksa Sarawak, noodles, chicken soup, and french fries with some soda and soft drinks. Those were more than adequate to whet everyone’s appetite.

Eric’s present? Well, he didn’t get any, and it’s something that I made very clear a few weeks back. The reason? I’d rather keep that story for another day.

In any case, today’s definitely a great day to celebrate being a year older! Happy Birthday, Eric!

Just like his big brother Eric, Joel’s hair has been growing unevenly, though lately it’s looking better. This should be his last shave-off, I hope. He’ll be getting a normal haircut from now on.

*Gondol is a Malay word meaning bald-headed.

Being a seemingly shy boy, Eric was in his usual mood of observing everyone, but brave enough to participate in the ice breakers. When the camp started at 1:30pm, the parents were shooed out of the hall and were asked to return by the end of the camp.

I returned half an hour before the end of the camp session at 5:00pm, and saw that they have started handing certificate of attendance to the kids. At the end of the ceremony and group photo, Eric went up to me and told me it was “awesome”.

I observed that a couple of the camp facilitators were quite charmed by Eric for some reason, and even during the certificate presentation, the woman in charge gave Eric a light pinch on the cheek.

In any case, I’m glad Eric had a great time, even though he didn’t know anyone there. I wouldn’t hesitate to send him to another one soon.

So what has happened is that not only is Joel drinking off his new bottle, he also drinks off Ezra’s (and Ezra’s formula) just because he enjoys it. I would make a bottle for Joel, and a bottle for Ezra, and when it’s Ezra’s feeding time, it’s abracadabra gone and the next thing I knew Joel was happily sucking his baby brother’s feed. Oh well.

By the way, I never meant to abandon this blog for so long. It’s just that, well, you know, life comes first, blogging second I hope my posting will resume to normal starting today. I’ll be doing a bit of back posting too just to fill up the gaps.

How desperate is a school bus operator for money that he or she (in this case, unfortunately, it’s a she) is willing to let the kids get cramped like that? A bus which is suppose to seat 15 at the most seemed to seat almost 25 kids.

Give me the number of the school bus association, and the next time I see one like this, not only will I report it to the association, I won’t hesitate to report this predicament to the papers.

Although my in-laws left our home early in the morning, and the room was now empty for me to do as I wish, I couldn’t yet rejoice because I needed to clean the room up before Eric could move in. Cobwebs and dust stuck on the walls and scattered on the floor was the first sight that I saw when I entered the room. Amazingly, I got everything cleaned up in just half hour. Which was good, because time is so precious when you have two little tykes to deal with simultaneously. I was glad Eric was eager to do the rest of the work, i.e. moving his clothes and toys from the office room to his now official room, while I dealt with the wailing Ezra and Joel.

The final touch to the room was the setting up of Eric’s PC, and this was the most exciting to Eric. Now he can play and shout around frantically as he played with the various PC and online games he’s into (Spongebob Squarepants, Playhouse Disney Channel, Mario Bros, etc), and the living room now sounds less noisy. Even Joel is enjoying himself as he watches his big bro play on the computer.

I’ve been looking forward to Eric having his own room for a long time, especially now that he is in Primary 1. Not having his own room meant that he had to do his homework in the living room. And since the office room is currently a makeshift baby room, Eric has no privacy when it comes to reading or doing his school work, with the TV on, or his little brother Joel keep pulling him away or climbing on Eric’s chair insisting that his big brother play with him. I’m glad that now with his own room, most distraction have been eliminated and Eric can now focus better on his studies.

Highlight of the day: What is there to highlight, other than his early morning wails? Though, it’s always a consolation for me when I do get that full-body, dimpled smile of his at the end of each 20-minute wailing.

Times such as these are what made me wish I was a working mother instead of stay at home mom. Being out of control is one of the things I fear the most for as long as I can remember. Being a mother means accepting that things are often, if not mostly, out of our control. Especially when our children gets sick. It’s heart-wrenching. Even if you install an air purifier to obtain fresh air by ecoquest international and prevent allergies, there are bound to be other things that they’ll fall sick over. And I can’t handle that reality, most of the time.

But I do my best. I sacrifice. That’s what mothers are suppose to do isn’t it?