I've got your back

Our lil girl has got the sniffles. We take turns to carry her in this upright position that seems to be the most friendly for her to breathe more effortlessly.

My back hurts, but we hold back plans to try and switch her out of her night-day mixup.

And yeah, still feeding her a lot more on demand, than watching the clock.

But look at that face, and tell me, you'll back me up?

Adjusting... and family matters

Parenting is a lesson in adjusting
... comes the reminder from a parenting newsletter, to my in-box this week, as Kaitlyn turns 2 weeks old yesterday. And it adds, too, "...don't get too comfortable; your baby will continue to surprise you with new developments and changes to keep you on your toes."

Now what it didn't say, to second- or third-time parents like me, is that besides the baby, the older children are also the ones to keep us on our toes!

Kaitlyn is our third child, yes, and some things (about babies) we've been through before with Jon and Ben. Like the "nocturnal" phase, that we just have to bear with it for awhile more, but yes, I'm pooped!

Things around the house are also more routine, like, cooking and doing laundry, these being lighter chores I've gone back to do as soon as I could, and where we can cut corners, we do, if not put on hold. Bringing home baby, we've been blessed, too, by families from our church who provided us with a week of dinner, under a service to help parents with newborns adjust to the new routines.

The biggest challenge is, how can we meet every child's needs, when not just the baby is the only one crying out for attention?

The boys have been more prone to meltdowns and tantrums especially since school started, and we've had many a crazier-than-crazy moment! And if not at least one boy who's going "Waaa!" instead of using words, then, the other is choosing to have selective hearing and shoots back with, "Can't hear you!"!

At this time, we can't be more grateful that we had help from my sis at first, and then, now after she left, my MIL is here. Before that, I was really concerned over how we have so many more disorganized messes than organized messes around the house, and all are messes... yikes! But if all I focused on was how to straighten out our place, then I would have missed out on the whole point of spending precious time with our loved ones.

It is such a luxury having family visit us in a home away from home!
My sis and I both cried when she left to go back to Singapore at the end of the first week. My MIL, too, or "Nana" as our children call her, has travelled a long way, to come dote on Jon, Ben, and Kaitlyn, not just to be here for Vern and me.

Earlier, celebrating Vern's birthday...
Besides Daddy's little girl, the daddy himself is also an August child!

Vern's mom arrived the same evening he turned a year older, just in time to sit down with us for a simple homecooked meal, and the birthday cake that was the surprise...


When Vern was getting the boys ready to fetch Nana from the airport, the craziest idea seized me when I had just enough time to scrounge our pantry for a boxed cakemix -- to whip up simply, and leave it to bake at the same time the chicken was being cooked in the oven.

And good girl Kaitlyn, she took a cat nap right after the cake was done! So I didn't have to try and frost the cake using one hand, and managed to stow it away just before the guys and Nana got back!

Can you spot the heart, as Stardust may ask, in this little gesture on my part to celebrate the husband's special day? =)

Happy Birthday to the super wonderful daddy Vern is!


And day by day, step by step, we're adjusting... slowly but (I pray) surely... to being a 3-kid family!

School starts!

The first to sit down to breakfast, Ben asked the same thing he'd gone to bed looking forward to, the night before, "Is it the first day of school?"!

Jon was not quite as excited though. Because school = "homework, and more homework!" And I wasn't about to get him started on how "not fair!" it is that Di Di doesn't get any real homework.


A couple more shots, and a funny face here and there...


... and the boys are off to a good start for the schoolyear, I pray!


Their good daddy took these other shots, so I'd get a slice of the action in school, too...




So then, it's more adjustments to new schedules. Longer hours for Ben, Jon's afterschool activities starting already, and depending on Vern's schedule, I may have to get back to driving the boys faster than we thought.

Meanwhile, I'm allowing myself a bit of luxury -- ordering hot lunches from the school for Jon and Ben for these first weeks as I settle down with Kaitlyn. I thought it'd be a treat for them as well, but my fussy eaters tell me we'll have to wait and see!