Ladies of leisure

Yayy mummy has more time for me now

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Yep, after being an employEE for so many years, I am now also an employER. My Cambodian maid Lina has been working for over 2 weeks. Getting one wasn't really a choice once I'd decided to send Jo Ern over to my parents on workdays. Otherwise my parents would have gone nuts taking care of 4 grandkids.

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Still, I was dreading her arrival. I didn't want a stranger in my home. Someone who would be there ALL the time. Someone who couldn't be replaced without considerable effort/cost. Then the first time I met her, Lina said, 'Good evening Madam' in such a courteous tone, my uneasiness lessened. I oversaw her unpacking as advised and found each item of her clothing was neatly rolled up and tied with a rubber band at BOTH ends. Very neat, good sign.

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The next morning when I went downstairs, she had already finished sweeping the floor and was hard at work mopping. She'd pushed the dining chairs aside (good) and managed to find the switches so the ceiling fans were blowing the wet floors dry. Not bad, not bad at all!

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Initially I was racking my brains what schedule to set up for her - mop on Mon/wipe on Tues/then mop again or what?? Then I found she was mopping and wiping EVERY morning. Heh, no problems with that. My house has never been this clean! Weekends she cleans even more - wash the cars, bathrooms, wipe the window grills etc etc.

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Main results 2 weeks later:

1. My house is sparkling clean

2. Employer is busy thinking of tasks to assign her since she's quite efficient. Everyone tells me must keep her busy in the early stages.

3. Bread supply is often at critical level since she does eat a lot. Jam consumption is one bottle a week (!!). Thank goodness for Tesco brands.

4. My kid is more naughty. This Jo Ern is taking advantage since she has an additional person to carry her. She cries to be carried practically every dinner time now. Well, I guess it's ok since it won't be long before she joins us for dinner anyway.

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VERDICT: LIFE IS GOOD! Hehe.

One afternoon...

Hubby thought he'd take a nap.

Ahh a nice afternoon nap... zzzzz

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Blissfully unaware was he that mischief was lurking in the corner.

Lurk-ety Lurk

Little Miss Mischief had woken up! And won't be happy until she gets some attention!

Cheng cheng cheng... mischief is here

Sure enough, Miss Mischief started to cry and woke hubby up. And was only pacified when she got to sleep on the big bed. Where she immediately turned over and encroached onto hubby's territory.

And they slept happily the rest of the afternoon

That small mattress on the side? It's hardly used. Jo Ern only sleeps there when she happens to be already fast asleep at bedtime and sneaky mummy grabs the opportunity to move her there. If only we had a king-sized bed!

Ah Kong's Birthday

Want some cake! Want some cake!

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Jo Ern 'celebrated' Ah Kong's birthday for the very first time. We had it at Extra Super Tanker at The Club. I remembered reading good reviews on this restaurant. So there was I and siblings thinking to take my father to this new place and it turns out he'd already eaten here before, not just once but twice! But as usual he can't remember what he ate haha. I am so NOT a food blogger and didn't take a single picture of the food. For my own record, the best dishes of the night were the spicy tofu, duck sandwich + roast duck and crabs.

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The restaurant was very cold and the babies needed to be wrapped up after some time there. Here's a picture of my parents with all 4 grandkids. Sis-in-law Cat gets to be in the picture to hold up little Jensen. Happy birthday to my dear father!

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Everybody look here... oh never mind.

She turns she turns

Jo Ern turns well already. She has been practicing a lot the past week. At first, for some reason she must cry ALL THE WAY. I was so thrilled to see her in action and this kid was sobbing away! One happy mummy and one sad kid, aiyo. She's better now and doesn't cry throughout any more. Her head is still a bit wobbly but yayy for little Jo Ern!

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She can't turn back yet so after a while she will need to be rescued.

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On your mark, get set

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Put one leg over to the side

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Follow with rest of body in one smooth motion

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Ta-daahhh!

How to dance, by Jo Ern

Kick kick kick

Stop

Kick kick kick

Stop

Thaaat's all folks!

OK I should have pulled down her dress and covered her belly button!

Daily report card

Has Jo Ern been drinking her milk today?

Every weekday, Jo Ern gets a 'report card'. This started during the period Jo Ern was refusing her milk. Ah Mah started this system to track milk times and amounts, and also sleep times.

Later cousin Jensen joined the household and got his own 'report card' too. His are labeled 'J' and hers are labeled 'JE'. Then the new maid joined and an icon was added to help her identify which belonged to who. The one at the extreme right in the pic above has Jo Ern's icon - a head with hair sticking out. I was quite tickled when I first saw that! Oh, that's coz Jensen doesn't have much hair yet.

Incidentally, Jo Ern seems to have pulled out from her milk slump when she was taking only 5-6oz for the 10 hours approx with Ah Kong and Ah Mah. Ah Kong was the clever person (self-claimed one, ahem) who discovered a way to make her drink more - wait until she was falling asleep and sucking her fingers, then quickly remove the fingers and stick the milk bottle in her mouth instead. Hehee... it worked! He got her consumption up around 7-8 oz. Oh, how every oz counted then! I would anxiously scan her report at the end of every day.

Now, what other 'daycare centre' can provide this level of service? :)

I drink lots of milk-milk now. Mummy is happy

Her first haircut

Cool or not my new look?

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I wasn't there though. Hubby thought I might get 'sum thong'/heartsick when the hairdresser started cutting Jo Ern's hair, so he took her there a day earlier than we had planned. I was all prepared to go and snap photos too! Anyway, he said they received a warm welcome, everyone in the shop wanted to carry Jo Ern and she didn't give any trouble. When the hairdresser was finished, he thought this thrifty mummy would want it shorter and insisted she cut it shorter. Aiyo my little girl is now looking like a boy! Porcupine hair is all gone. Like this we have to re-nickname her 'pineapple' instead of 'porcupine'!

But it's ok la, hair will grow back.

Eating out

We have been happily going out for meals with Jo Ern since I was still on maternity leave. That car seat hubby bought is really worth every penny! We park the car seat on the table or on a chair, with Jo Ern strapped securely inside. She will sit quietly in it as long as the meal doesn't take too much time. Then she will go 'ekk ekk' which means we better eat as fast as possible before she escalates to full-strength bawling.

Last night was a bit different. We went for dinner at this family-run business. It was crowded and food took a while to arrive, by which time Jo Ern was already going 'ekk ekk'. Luckily the old lady owner helped to entertain Jo Ern every time she passed by - clapping her hands, baby-talking, stroking her little fingers etc. Halfway through our meal the shop got quite empty and old lady was free, and said she will carry Jo Ern. Errr I wasn't sure about having a stranger doing that! But old lady was already unstrapping Jo Ern and I didn't know how to say no without seeming rude. Well she owns the shop so no way she was going to run away with my little kid right? And she's old so cannot run fast.... haha mind thinking far ahead.

Old lady stood near our table carrying Jo Ern for a while. Then she went outside to sit at a vacant table. Aiyo this mummy getting worried. Of course, ended up Jo Ern was perfectly happy having someone to carry her and we finished our meal in peace. Well, except this mummy couldn't help looking over at the old lady all the time to check that she was still sitting down and hadn't started running!

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OK I'm sure she was just a nice old lady. She obviously had experience carrying babies too. In fact next time I must look properly and learn from her. Didn't have my camera at dinner so posting pictures taken during breakfast instead.

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Mummy said over there got lengjai koko to see

Mummy, where did you say got lengjai koko?

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WHERE??

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Cannot see lengjai also. Nvm I blow spit bubbles and entertain myself

Bath time

Hubby is still bathing Jo Ern in the morning. On weekdays I will go downstairs and get breakfast ready. Took some photos of the process last weekend since I was just shaking legs waiting to go out. Had to quickly snap or hubby will get irritated hehe.

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First, put in bubbly warm water

Wrap like popiah and carry to the room

Put on a towel placed on bed earlier

Leave baby on bed and go select a shirt

Put on selected shirt

Ready to partayyy!

Head still heavy

Al.Most.There

But I get so tired. Need to rest.