Time has gone so quickly, we have been in Adelaide for about 2 months now and we are loving it! We have not visited many tourist places yet just enjoying time together as family when Dane has the time off work. God is good all the time!

Jono and his pet 'scruff' enjoying their breakfast.

Esther all dressed up ready to embrace another cold day.

Jono is making a banana sandwich. He is a good helper in the kitchen.

Esther loves playing with Lego Duplo.

Jono making his favourite egg sandwich

Esther and Jono having fun at Koorong bookstore in the city. We love their full size playcentre!

Many kids these days are very picky with what they eat. My nearly 4 year old used to loved his vegetables and he would devour them happily at meals time. However, sometimes during his life, he decided he would only eat carrots, peas, corn, potatoes, pumpkin and nothing else. He used to be a big fan of broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, cabbage, and some chinese vegies. To have a closer look, those vegies that he likes now are mainly sweet and have strong textures. Perhaps that is why he prefers to eat them these days.

The dillema is preparing meal has become more complicated as to what to put in it. We love brocolli, capsicums, cabbages for our stir fry but then that means I had to only serve Jono with what he would eat. So, using my teacher brain, I decided to use a bit of vegies magic. :D It just means to make eating vegies fun and appealing.

We now make vegies art during meal time and do all sort of funny tricks with them like eating lettuce with one hand only, eyes closed, guessing games and whatever comes to my mind.  To my delight, Jono really enjoys it and it also makes meal time one of our favourite family times.

Jono and his vegies bunny. 

I asked him what could he make with the vegies and this is what he came up with. Very clever I thought!

Jonathan had his last swimming lesson on Sat. I told him he is going to a new swim school in Adelaide. And of course a new childcare, a new house, new bedroom, etc...He was sad and kept asking why we had to move. He had been writing up birthday invitations to his friends to come to his birthday party. I had to explain to him his friends will not be in Adelaide for his birthday in August because it's too far away. Instead, he will have a farewell party at childcare on his last day there. He was sad and asked why. :(

We only have 3 weeks to go before we leave beautiful Brisbane. I can't wait to start our new life in Adelaide mainly because hubby will be with us and no more separation (at least for awhile). Jonathan asked me where is Adelaide. Well, I just said it's in South Australia. :D I am feeling sad too to leave our dearest family and friends behind. We have been very spoilt having family around and good friends to spend time with. I'm going to miss them dearly I'm sure. The children will be missing out being spoilt by their grandparents and uncles and aunties which they currently enjoy. :(

However, these things happen and I know God is with us wherever we go. We will get to meet new brothers and sisters in God's big family. It's time to get out of my comfort zone and make new friends and discover new things. Most of all, to see our faith continue to grow in a brand new place!

Visit to Queensland Museum during daddy's 1.5 weeks Home Trip

We had a great time catching up with hubby/daddy!

Me and my two beautiful children at Queensland Museum

The kids with the 'Koala' at Queensland Museum

 

Brisbane Wheel- it was so much fun looking over Beautiful Brisbane.

 

Brisbane Wheel - daddy with the tired boy

Mount Glorious Bush Walk --- We did not walk too far due to slippery road condition

 Mount Glorious Bush Walk

Esther woke up at about 5am this morning. However dear mother-in-law decided to get her out of her cot. I never let her out of her cot until 7 am cause that's my wake up time. Well, she had been waking up at around 7:00am anyway so there's no need to hurry. Normally, when she wakes up earlier than 7am, I would let her play in her cot or I'll feed her and she will go back to her cot and play. But since dear MIL thought she's too cute so she took her out of her cot. Anyway, getting up at 5am is not fun....

Even though I had been feeling very tired since getting up at 5am this morning, but I still decided to go to the library as it's our usual Thursday visit. When we came home I was exhausted and was  doing my best getting the kids lunch then put Esther down for her nap. Let's say it was so hectic and I was not coping due to the lack of sleep. Just as I thought I would get a break when Esther goes for her nap, Jono said he soiled his pants!!! I couldn't believe what I heard, cause Jono had been toilet trained for at least 1 year now and this only happened once when he was sicked from the tummy bug. I totally lost it. :( Could not stand the thought of cleaning him up and washing up the dirty pants and underwear. I screamed at him asking why he did that, I even smacked him when he refused to answer me...:( Then guilt came in,  I thought he could be sick cause that's the only explanation I could think of...)

So I thought, we need TIME OUT..... I left him upstairs watching Spot DVD while I took Esther to her room for a nap. 30 minutes later Esther was asleep and I had calmed down. Went upstairs and  Jono quickly said sorry and we hugged and I said sorry too. Let's pray for a better afternoon. :D

 

A special Love Letter from a father to his son.

We got two very special letters yesterday. There are LOVE letters from hubby. He wrote one for Jono and one for me. These letters had me in tears because they're filled with LOVE. His touching words and creative drawings have made the separation just a little better.

 

I can walk now!

I'm 11 months old and I love to chew everything.

I love eating cake

 

Mmmm, my favorite chocolate cake! 

  

I love my mummy more than any cake!!!!

We made cake together when daddy came home for a surprise visit.

 

Happy Birthday daddy!

 

Getting ready to swim in our pool

This is how we spend our summer - in our pool!

My son has recently become an EGG addict. He asks for eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. One time he had 4 eggs in a day. I'm just happy that he is eating. LOL. Egg is such an amazing food. You can boil it, poach it, steam it, fry it, use it in many dishes and in baking. I don't think we can live without eggs. I love eggs too but my hubby does not. I often wonder how can anyone not liking it??? I am so happy that my son loves it cause it's a very easy meal choice when you are lazy to cook up a storm. Not sure how long Jono's egg addiction will last but for the time being eggs are in high demand in this household. LOL.

We read Bible to Jono every night before he goes to bed. Recently I started reading a question and answered book about God to him as well. Last night was the first night and it emphasised that God made everything like the sea, animals, plants, people and insects. Cheeky Jono immediately said "Well, I killed the insects that God made mum, I killed the ants."

Tonight, we read that God is invisible, we can't see Him. However, He is everywhere and He knows everything. Very seriously Jono said, "Well, He's not in the wall, mummy." LOL I think he is trying to make sense that how come God is everywhere.

I think as Christian parents we have the responsibility to teach our kids about God and His salvation. The more you talk about it with them the more they will understand. We are planting the seed and God will make it grow. There is great joy seeing your children get saved and follow God. 

Another thing we talked about is salvation. We have mentioned about it many times but tonight Jono made it personal for him. I said we are all sinners meaning we all do wrong things. And he said, "me too?" and I said "yes, we all have sinned and only Lord Jesus can save us." I invite him to accept the Lord Jesus as his saviour and he said yes. Even though he's only 3, it's not too young to talk about the needs to be saved. God's words are powerful and He can work in my little boy's heart. So never ever underestimated how much a child can know about God. Of course only time can tell whether Jono truly believes what he heard about God and his decision about accepting Jesus Christ as his saviour. As parents, our prayer is that he will be a man of God when he grows up!

"Mum, I'm not touching it I just want to have a look at it." This is what Jono said to me when I caught him touching the air freshener. To be honest, I'm not shocked to hear that my 3 year old lied trying to cover up his own wrong doings. He simply did not admit that he did wrong but trying to justify it. Isn't this was what the first man Adam did? Since Adam and Eve, sin has entered into the world. The Bible says "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23).

Let us stop covering up our wrong doings and accept God and His provision for us. We cannot enter into heaven because of our sins. But God gave us His Son - Lord Jesus Christ to be our Saviour. He has paid the penalty for sins when He died for us on the cross. What will you do with Christ? "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)

Early yesterday morning we farewelled Dane at the airport and began our life without him for the next 10-12 weeks. It was hard to say goodbye after 4 weeks of wonderful family time. We were worried that Jono would be upset like last time but he did not cry or appeared to be upset. We told him a few days before that daddy had to leave for his job training but we emphasised that he is coming back. Jono was able to say goodbye with no dramas. I guess he knew daddy will come back just like last time. However, sometimes during the day he was still looking for daddy and wanted him to read him books and pray with him. Fortunately, with the technology today we're able to make video calls on both our mobile phones and skype. This has certainly help to let Jono 'see' his daddy. Hopefully this 10-12 weeks will pass very quickly and we will be a family again!

My parenting days are getting more and more intellectually challenging. My cheeky boy Jono continues to ask WHY about anything and everything.

For example:

Me: Jono, come and have dinner.

J: Why? Why we have dinner for?

M: Because we get hungry and we need food to give us energy?

J: Why we get hungry for? Why we need energy?

M: We need energy to play and do work. (started to get impatience)

J: Why we play and work? Why mummy? Why?

M: That's what we do.

J: Why????? Why mummy?

M: Ok, eat your dinner. (Stop to explain any more because he is never satisfied with the answers) :P

J: WHy????????

Above is only a tiny glimpse of my "WHY days". I suppose he is going through a stage of learning about others and learning about himself. He is curious and he wanted to know why. He is forcing to me find out more about our world and myself so I can explain them to him. I remember one of my high school English teacher Encik Rahman who often told us we need to be smart so we can answer our children's questions or they would think we are stupid. I guess no parents want their children to think that their parents are dumb. :( However, it is imposibble to know about everything or to have answer for them. The key is to willing to learn and find out as much as we can. Make it a learning process for both parents and the children. I'm proud to know the difference between a seal and a sea lion is that sea lion has ears and seal does not! Amazing right? hahaha

There's nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child. ~ Frank A. Clark ~

I found this quote today and I totally agreed with it. Never before I felt that whatever I do I have to be able to explain to my 3 year old just because he wanted to know about everything. My personal beliefs and convictions have never been so carefully thought about so that I can simply and precisely explain them to my son. I reckon this is a great way to find out how much you really know about yourself and things you do and believe in. Parents are like an open book studied by their children who watch them intensely and closely as they learn about life. They in return will be a reflection of us as they learn from us everyday. So be careful what you instill in your children, you reap what you sow!

Sometimes parents can be really mean. As a mummy I have done some mean things. Here are some of the them:

1) I asked Jono to collect leaves in the backyard to keep him busy for ages. My real reason was I'm lazy to clean up those leaves myself. :P

2) Take the batteries out of his toys and tell him that they're not working anymore. Just so that I can put them away because they annoyed me so much.

3) Secretly eating Jono's biscuits (Dane does the same) and tell him that he was the one who finished them. :P

4) I gave Jono some water instead of the real thing when he ask for 'medicine' because he's sick. LOL

5) I cut up the lollies into tiny pieces so when he asks for lolly I would give him one with no hesitation (one really tiny piece).

6) Telling him 'mummy's busy working' when I was just doing some surfing on the laptop. Very very naughty mummy!

There are many others things but I can't list them all. The idea is parents can be mean sometimes! Hahaha, watch out kids!

Mean Parents

Esther is 8 months old. She is growing up too fast and I can't keep up with it. She has been crawling since 6.5 months and loves pulling herself up since 7 months. She is a chatterbox too. She likes making joyful noise and can say dadadada, duck and tada. Notice the similarity? Yes the D sound, babies can make this sound very easily. Another sound they can make easily is bababa sounds. It's just amazing to see how babies develop and grow, day by day they learn different things and become a little person of their own .

Jono sometimes can get really rough with Esther and he even said to me that he doesn't like Esther. :-( He seems to think Esther is taking over his territory and he is not happy with that. Aaahh the joy of sibling jealousy. Pray that Jono will come around soon enough to know that Esther is not going anywhere and she is part of us. :P

Thank you God for my two beautiful children who continue to amaze me and bring me lots of joyful and tearful moments. They are part of Dane and I. Even though I cannot see or touch dear hubby Dane for few more weeks but I'm able to hold mini Dane and mini Josephine. I can see us in them. :D

1) "I'm a man, I can drink COKE!" He said this to his grandparents when they took him to McDonald's.

2) When I told him we're going to Wagga Wagga and Sydney to see daddy. He said "No, daddy is not in Wagga Wagga, daddy is in training." :D

3) Every time when I drop him off at his kindy, he would say "Mummy, I want to go home". And when I go pick him up, he would say "Mummy, I don't want to go home". Just as well I don't listen to him or ask him to make decision because he does not have a clue what he really wants. :P

4) He also got this really strong view that pink is only for girls. I never said that to him but I think he made his mind up after seeing most girls like pink stuffs. So he asked me, "Mummy, are pigs girl? Why are they pink?"

Some higher level thinking questions:

1) He asked me the other day "Who made God?" I replied, God is always there, no one made him.

2) While we were watching NEMO, he asked me in the beginning of the movie when Marlin and his wife were naming their babies, "Why Nemo's mummy died?" I was not prepared for it and was really shocked. Sadly I said to him people do die and we can't stop it. We were both very sad to think that Nemo could not be with his mummy. I think he started to understand death means separation.

Jono's favourite character in 'Finding Nemo' is Dory

I'm feeling under the weather. I'm sick with the flu and is really missing Dane. It's two weeks now since he left for his trianing. He is doing great and very much enjoying the whole thing. I'm doing ok but no doubt I would have days like this when I feel run down and really wish he was here with me.

However, I thanked God for my two beautiful children who keep me busy and focused. Jono is still very chatty and he is learning to cope without daddy. He has started to learn to play with Esther and share his toys with her. :D Esther is very mobile now that she can crawl. She also loves to stand up holding on to tables or anything she can hold on to. She can say 'dadada' as to daddy and duck. How clever!

Everyday I just hang around for Dane's 6pm phone call and that would definitely make me feel better and ready for the next day. Less than 2 months to go now! Can't wait!

Jonathan is a delightful 3 year old boy who loves to talk all day. He is friendly and often mixes well with other kids. I mean I could not ask for a more cheerful son than him. However, he has entered into the phase I called: "The Negative Three" (in light of the 'Terrible Two'). He used to love his food, his bath, go to bed peacefully but lately he refused to have bath/shower, becoming difficult at meal times and his favourite excuse now is "I don't want to do anything". My patience has once again been tested on a daily basis. The battle of getting him dress, getting ready to go out, or whatever it is, the response is usually NO. It's ok if I have the time of the world to be with him but I still have a 7 minths old daughter who equally needs me to spend time with her. So, I try to be calm and firmly guided Jonathan to do what he needed to do everyday. It's hard and emotionally draining. Undoubtedly, there were times when I lost it and I just asked him to go to his room and let us both calm down. Hopefully when he turns 4 it would be a fabulous four. :D

On the same note, my little Esther who had been sleeping through for 12 hours straight at night since 10 weeks old started waking up at nights for the last week or so. She would screamed and appeared very distressed. I really hope it is teething because I NEED my SLEEP BACK.

 

Our recent trip to the zoo

The good news is Dane might be able to finish his training a week earlier. That means he could spend 4 weeks over Christmas time with us before he leaves again for his employment training. The things that get me going is the HOPE that we are going to meet again. WIthout hope there is no purpose for living. Yes, we all need hope and real hope can only be found in THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. "Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope." Psalm 16:9

It's finally Saturday! As usual we took Jono to his weekly swimming lesson at 8am. He enjoyed it and did really well. After that we met up with Dane's bro and sis-in-law to have breakfast at Ikea. Of course since we're in Ikea, we also bought some things from there. I bought some more bibs for Esther and bought 2 plastic chairs for Jono. I absolutely love Ikea and almost everything they have for kids. They are so well designed and really funky looking too.

Straight after Ikea, we went to meet up with my church friends from Malaysia. We had lunch and tried to catch up with things and kids. We had not seen each other for maybe 9/10 years. Now we are all parents and busy with kids. I also felt 'old'.

Now, I'm having a girls night with my precious daughter Esther while Dane's taking Jono to see fireworks in the city. It's Brisbane River Festival and there will be a spectacular fireworks on the river. It would be very nice for me to go as well, but someone has to think about Esther since she's only a baby. Crowd, cold night and limited space will be hard for a little baby. So I stay home. :D Hopefully I get to enjoy some 'me' time after Esther has gone to bed for the night.

Some updates on Jono:

1) He now has an imaginary friend called 'Chop Chop'. According to Jono's description, Chop Chop is very tiny and is a boy. It's so interesting to see him interacting with Chop Chop but I did tell him that Chop Chop is not real.

2) He enjoys playing with playdough, lego duplos, and little people. He can play with those toys for at least 1 hour by himself. He is particularly good at making things that really look like the actual things. Dane said he must take notice of the details of things he sees.

Jono's Lego Duplo Crocodile

Postman's Bed

3) Jono started to play better with Esther. He would be really gentle and look after her when she's around.

4) He has grown taller!!! Yes, his long pants/jeans now look like 3/4 pants. :D Guess it's time to get him new pants.

5) He also tries to have an adult conversation at the dinner table. His favourite line: "Daddy, how's your work today?" Sooo cute

6) At least once a day Jono would come to me and say 'Mummy I love you' and give me a hug. How sweet!

Our little boy has just turned 3. He had a simple but wonderful birthday party with the family. He received lot of presents and he could not be happier. I still can't believe my little boy is 3 years old. He has grown into a handsome boy (a very biased opinion I know :-)).

We thanked God for giving us this wonderful boy 3 years ago. I vividly remember the excitement when we found out we're expecting, the amazing nine months long pregnancy, the beautiful birth and all the precious memories Jono has created and is still creating. At the same time, I have also been a mum for 3 years and really enjoying it. Undoubtedly, there's time when I asked 'what have I got myself into? (when Jono is really naughty and demanding). However, my love for him is deeper everyday and I cherish the time with him as he grows up so quickly.

My poem for Jono:

We longed for you
As in the tummy you grew
With joy and excitement
Your birth's a precious moment


We thank God for you
A wonderful gift we value
You are so special
Our precious little angel


We pray for you
And we love you too
Be a man of God
As life pathway you trod

Winnie the Pooh Birthday Cake