“Thanks” to today’s gadgets, more and more kids tend to say, “I don’t know what I’m good at. I don’t know what I like. I’m not interested in anything actually.” (But somehow they are interested …
Both Anya and Vai had been involved in photo shoots. But, this was their ‘first’ time being involved in the making of a video clip, where they had to actually talk and interact with their … ‘fake mommy’! =)
Anya was all okay with the whole filming session (to our pleasant surprise!), while Vai warmed up to the whole idea of ‘acting’ with the other 2 actresses after some ten minutes or so =)
Anyway.
The kids learned to listen to the director’s instructions.
They learned to interact with the actresses (when all eyes are ‘on’ them).
They learned to also ‘ignore’ that the camera and the crew were all there =)
…
It all went well and I thought it was a good learning experience and exposure for the kids too.
Like most other boys, Vai LOVES Lightning McQueen from the movie ‘Cars’.
I think the movie was a huge success, and the characters are well-loved by little ones.
So, when we heard that there’ll be ‘Cars 2’, … we’re all excited!
…
We went to catch the movie the other day! (Yes, including our 3.5-month-old baby! I’ll share a little about how it went towards the end of this post yeah =)
Before I went, I assumed the movie would be as good, if not better, than the first one.
I didn’t know what the movie plot is like this time round. I didn’t even read any online reviews.
[He’s happy when he gets to wear his Lightning McQueen Pyjamas to bed =) ]
Anyway, we went. We watched. And here’s what I personally think about the movie :
– The story line in ‘Cars 2‘ is more for adult audience, than small kids. Lots of explosions and guns too.
– The ‘spy and bad guys’ story line is wayyyy to complex for little kids to follow and fully understand. My guess is, even most 7yo – 10yo may not even ‘get’ the plot and what the conversations are really about.
– The movie itself is excellent though, if you ask me. The animation is ‘richer’ and more complex than the first movie. As adults, Wilson and I thought the movie is GREAT!!
– But, as I watched the movie, my thoughts were on Anya and Vai. And, it was like, sigh, the machine guns and the bad guys wanting to ‘destroy’ the cars are not quite something that I’d like my kids to watch.
If you ask me, I’m frankly rather disappointed.
The first movie ‘Cars’ was (and is) very, very, VERY popular amongst small kids. They loveeeee Lightning McQueen, Mater and his friends. The adventures they had were so much fun, and it’s great how Lightning McQueen changed for the better towards the end, etc.
So, when ‘Cars 2’ is out in the cinemas, these small boys (and girls!) will DEFINITELY want to watch the movie. BUT, when all these small kiddos flock to the cinemas, the sequel is way too ‘adult themed’ and complex for them.
I mean, to me, it’s like bringing a young child to watch the movie … James Bond?
(Okay, but minus the Bond-women relationships)
In short, the sequel is NOT age-appropriate for small kids.
…
>> Bringing Brie to the Movies (her first time)
Now, here’re some things that we did that I personally find ‘work-able’ when it comes to bringing along a small baby to the movies =)
– Buy tickets in advance (eg. Online)
– Feed baby before entering movie theatre (most likely, small babies will doze off afterwards)
– Carry baby in a sling (so at least the ‘loud sound’ does not startle the baby easily)
– Sit at the back row (yes, the very last row), and sit with baby in a sling by the aisle. This way, if baby happens to fuss, I can quickly leave without disturbing the rest of the people.
…
Brie was 98% quiet and asleep throughout the movie, btw! *Yay!*
(I did need to breastfeed her again when the movie has started so that she could comfortably fall back to sleep)
I was very happy that we managed to go to the movies as a party of five for the first time! =)
…
PS: Oh, one last thing, I think bringing along a small baby is ‘easier’ than bringing along a toddler, or a bigger baby to the movies. Because bigger babies (eg. Older than 6 months old) are more awake, more curious about their surrounding / interesting sounds they hear, and they’re able to express themselves vocally.
Vai, my 5yo middleborn, asked me this the other day:
(While looking at Brie who’s sitting on the pram): “Mommy, you’ve given birth to Brie, right?”
“Yes. Why you asked?”
“Well, if she’s out of your tummy, then why is your tummy still very big?”
Hah.
The reality of a breastfeeding mommy? =)
…
They say, when you’re breastfeeding, you’ll lose weight faster.
Here’s one article I recently found that ‘confirmed’ the statement above:
Breastfeeding burns calories. Over 600 calories a day for breastfeeding women who don’t supplement with formula. 600 calories! That’s like getting two hours of aerobic exercise each day. A study published in the Journal of American Dietician Association shows breastfeeding melting off inches around your hips and buttocks.
Breastfeeding mothers who consume only when hungry can lose an extra 0.5kg per month more than mothers who are not breastfeeding.
Many women might feel that breastfeeding is making them retain or pick up extra weight, the truth is that most moms are quite stressed out after having a baby and may resort to food as a stress reliever.
Breastfeeding cannot make you pick up weight. It may keep you from losing your last few pounds, but that’s about it.
[Wherever, whenever … if need be, inside a cable car too =) ]
…
I’m writing this post today because I feel I need to share my view and personal experience on this breastfeeding and weight loss issue.
I have three kids and in all three cases, I actually GAINED WEIGHT after I gave birth.
I’d love to find out how other moms’ situations are like, … because for my case, I gained about 8 kg altogether when I was pregnant with Brie, and after I gave birth, I was left with just about 1-2kg.
Brie is now 3.5 months and is exclusively breastfed, and instead of having 1-2kg of extra body weight, I now have 5-6kg EXTRA.
I mean, I seriously am ‘bigger’ (all over!) NOW than when Brie was 2 weeks old!
I’ve always known that this would happen when I breastfeed my kids, because it happened when I had Anya, and AGAIN, when I had Vai.
ie. I got HEAVIER after I gave birth, and as long as my kids are still breastfed, those 5kg EXTRA will stick around.
[The extra kilos basically go to my thighs, my hips, my tummy and my arms. Well, my torso mostly]
I knew that I’d be ‘bigger and heavier’ when I’m breastfeeding my babies because I get hungry ALL THE TIME!
I mean it’s like : I have a big dinner, I breastfeed my baby, and I feel hungry again.
Really.
And I have NO idea how and why I can possibly feel hungry again after having such a large meal!
…
I must say, I disagree with the article above that says : moms pick up extra weight after giving birth because they are stressed out and may resort to food as their stress reliever.
Well, I’m here and I say : NO, I’m not stressed out, and NO, I don’t use food as a stress reliever.
I simply eat a LOT because I feel so very VERY hungry after breastfeeding.
…
Here’s what happened when I breastfed Anya and Vai.
Anya I completely weaned Anya off breastfeeding when she was about 14 months, and I slowly lost weight. I got back to my pre-pregnancy weight (without any exercise programs) some 6 – 9 months later.
Vai He was completely weaned off breastfeeding when he was 22 months old. I returned to my pre-pregnancy weight some 6 – 9 months later too.
So looking at those two situations, I suspect something similar will happen again with this third baby in the family, whom I hope to breastfeed for about 1 – 1.5 years =)
…
[Brie at 14 weeks]
Now, to the question : Should I or should I not breastfeed my baby then?
Well, if you ask me, I think you and I know that breast milk is best. I myself am a firm believer in the goodness of breastfeeding babies.
But, every mom has different situations. Some moms I know tried their very best to breastfeed and they simply couldn’t meet the babies’ needs.
Well, I’d like to share with you this article which I personally think gives a more realistic view of breastfeeding and weight loss after giving birth.
And to close, I’d like to quote the last few sentences in that article that says:
Deciding whether to breastfeed is an intimate decision.
The researchers do not recommend making weight and fat loss a priority in considering whether breastfeeding is best for mothers and their babies.
I so agree with that!
For my case, I’m so grateful to God that I ‘can’ breastfeed my babies, and so I definitely choose to breastfeed them for at least one year.
And, I thank God for a hubby who does not mind the extra kilos, the bulge, the big appetite … and me borrowing his tee-shirts all the time nowadays. Hehe.
…
PS: If you’re heavier because you’re breastfeeding, well … now you know you’re not alone =)
PPS: I guess I could’ve gained ‘less’ if I don’t consume Milo and other sweet stuff (like, Ice Kachang? =) and go for fruits, brown rice, and wholemeal version of everything as ‘breastfeeding snacks’ whenever I feel hungry. But errr … I don’t think I’d like to do that though =) Cutting down on Ice Kachang and sweet dessert, … okay, but eliminating Milo and other ‘not quite wholemeal’ food altogether, err … not for me, thanks =) I much prefer losing my kilos later when Brie is weaned off breastfeeding =)
[Anya and Vai LOVED the swimming pool at Holiday Inn Batam Resort!]
We went to Batam last weekend with my parents.
A nice and quick getaway for us all!
I especially ‘satisfied’ my cravings for yummy Indonesian food at Nagoya Hill’s food street! =)
We went to Batam by ferry and on our way back, we went to the top deck of our ‘Jet Raider’.
Brie comfortably slept in my arms, while both Anya and Vai got super excited about the whole ‘jets and waves’ view. After some 40 mins of watching the sea and the waves … errr, they kinda wanted to sit down and check out their ‘Smurfs Village’ on our iphones though! =)
Anyway, this shot below was taken by Vai. In the background, you can see Anya sitting on Daddy’s lap, checking out her ‘Smurfs Village’ and ‘harvesting’ her crops =) ]
I shared more photos of our trip on Facebook, our family-friendly stay at Holiday Inn Batam Resort there, where we went for dinner, etc.
Mister Maker is touring Asia and he stopped by Singapore for a few days last week!
Very happy to have been able to join his arts and crafts session at Forum Shopping Centre! (The allocated space is much bigger and better compared to the one they had last year!)
I posted a few more photos on Facebook, btw. Click HEREto view them!
The kids sure had fun (though it was a brief session that lasted for about 15 mins) , and we all look forward to joining his session again next year! Yes, please do come again next year yeah! =)
PS: Someone asked, ‘Can I join the contest if I have no spouse nor any kids?’. The answer is YES, as long as you bring along your little nephews/nieces/cousins! The event is all about bonding, interacting and having fun with the family =)
I know. I know. That’s close to TWO weeks ago. This post is so out of date (Which reminds me – I haven’t blogged about Brie’s birth story too! And she’s 3 months old already!! Gee. I better get that post up sometime soon!!)
Anyway.
About a week before Vai turned five, I casually asked if he wished for any particular ‘birthday cake theme’ this year. I thought it’s only fair that I also asked him this same question that I asked Anya earlier this year (ie. Before we ended up making a Rapunzel birthday cake for her)
And he replied, ‘Hmmm. Robots? Transformers?’
(You see, LEGO robots have kind of been very popular at home in the past few months. He knows about the very cool robot-car Bumblebee in ‘Transformers’ too, though he doesn’t watch the movie =)
As I heard his reply, two things immediately came to mind:
1) I knew hubby would be away that week (which meant I’d have my hands full handling all 3 kiddos, and little time to prepare for his birthday cake)
2) There’s NO way I could ever make such a complex Transformers robot! =)
So, in the end, hubby and I decided to buy one Bumblebee robot-car for him instead! Sticking that robot on the cake should do the trick, we thought! =)
As for his cake, I made these:
Butter cake + Marshmallow Fondant + Apartments/city houses made of a cereal box and just one ‘bumblebee car’ made of fondant! =)
Here are some behind-the-scene photos:
I knew I didn’t have much time to ‘decorate’ the cake, so I decided to build the ‘city houses’ out of a cereal box instead.
It was like my own fun craft project, hehe.
I did involve Anya and Vai in painting parts of the cereal box, BUT I did get a little paranoid.
I was like, ‘Careful with the box! Please be gentle. If it’s squashed, I won’t be able to make another one in time!’
Working on it at night when both Anya and Vai were fast asleep was better for me, because I could fully concentrate and do things faster. But then of course there’s Brie =) And she happened to wake up frequently that night.
So I was like: Carry baby. Feed baby. Check Facebook. Put baby down. Continue crafting. Pick up crying baby. Soothe baby. Put baby back to cot. Mold the fondant.
=)
Anyway. I was satisfied with the overall result. And I thought the cereal box building did make quite an impact to the whole ‘robot-in-the-city scene’ =)
[To make the cake look more ‘3D’ and fun, I decided to have the cereal box building as the background and have the words ‘Levi’ and ‘Five’ placed ‘upright’. They’re all ‘wonky though coz I cut out the alphabets with a knife, hehe]
[*Yay* Vai’s very own Transformers Birthday Cake! =) ]
…
We celebrated his birthday at school and … I think we got one happy boy there =)
Mission accomplished.
…
Birthday boy was happy.
Mommy was happy.
Everyone was happy.
=)
We thank God for watching over Vai all these five good years, and for entrusting him in our care.
And we continually pray that our little guy grows up to be a man who is a blessing to many others, and most importantly, a man who is after God’s own heart.
If you have ever visited this mall, you would definitely have seen their indoor ice skating rink. I myself have always known about the rink (and watched how the skaters glide, wobble and fall!), but never have I actually gone inside.
Last July, during our trip to Jakarta, I took all three kids to check it out though. For our first time.
It was on a weekday afternoon, and because it was towards the end of the school holiday, it was still rather packed.
(Luckily some schools have apparently started that week, so it wasn’t SUPER crowded!)
The ticket price was slightly higher than usual because it was the school holiday.
They charged Rp 48,000 per child, which worked out to be just about S$7 actually. Skates rental is included AND it was for the first two hours of skating! (Additional hour is charged at just Rp8000/hour)
Definitely worth checking out, I thought!
When compared to ice skating rates here in Singapore, their price is of course much better!
(I read somewhere that ice skating rink at Kallang Leisure Park charges about S$17.50 per adult and S$15 per child, for the first 2 hours, including skates. Someone please let me know if the info is incorrect yeah)
Oh btw.
They do conduct ‘training sessions’ for beginners too.
The fee is Rp90,000 (about S$13) and you’ll have a coach teaching you the basics of ice skating in the first 30 minutes. After that, it’s free and easy ice skating time. The Rp90,000 fee basically covers your first 2 hours of ice skating there. Reasonable, I thought.
I didn’t send Anya and Vai to the ‘training session’ though since I thought it’d be a good experience for the kids if they tried to learn how to ice skate all on their own.
(note: Wilson and I believe that our kids don’t need to always attend ‘classes’ in order for them to ‘learn a skill’. We feel it’s a good thing to let our kids learn the art of working things out for themselves too. If they wish to know how to ice skate ‘properly and seriously’ later on, then of course a lesson from a coach is fine =)
So, to prepare them ‘mentally’, as they put on their skates, I had a chat with them and shared these things :
– That they’d be learning how to ice skate on their own (read: No one would be holding their hands and telling them how/what to do)
– How I learned how to ice skate on my own when I was a teenager. How I wobbled and fell many many times. How I chose to get up and just skate again. And how fun ice skating is when one has finally learned how to glide on ice without falling =)
– How it’s important to never give up even when we feel like giving up, and when things get difficult.
Once the skates were properly worn, they went to the rink together and I watched them from the side (Brie was sleeping in her pram near me).
I saw them wobble and fall.
I saw them get up.
And I saw them trying to walk without losing their balance.
Anya knows how to rollerblade a little bit, so it wasn’t a completely ‘new’ experience for her. After some 15 minutes or so, she could more or less move about on the ice rather confidently (though she still did fall quite a number of times too)
Vai, on the other hand, has yet to learn how to rollerblade. So he slipped, lost his balance and fell on the ice so much more often than Anya did.
After 30 minutes or so, he came to me and said he didn’t want to continue ice skating. He wanted to stop skating. He told me how he’s tired, how he couldn’t skate and how his hands hurt. I talked to him and encouraged him to not give up, but he still was determined to stop skating. And I let him.
Then something interesting happened.
Wilson dropped by from work to meet us, and when I saw him coming, I turned and excitedly said to Vai, ‘OH LOOK!! Daddy’s here! Go! Go back to the rink and let him see how you already learned on your own how to balance yourself on the ice!!’
And guess what?
He went straight to the rink in less than 15 seconds!
AND, he went on and on, and didn’t stop.
[Well, he did come to me – every few minutes or so – to let me know about what he did or what happened to him, and he’d leave soon after giving me his ‘reports’ =) ]
All in all, we were there for a good three hours! Yes, that’s one EXTRA hour in the rink. And no, I didn’t mind the wait at all =)
I thought it was worth the ‘learning experience’ for them both!
They went all out on their own to the ‘jungle’ full of people much bigger than them. They knew they could’ve been accidentally pushed by others, they knew they would definitely fall down, but it didn’t stop them from moving on, learning and gradually enjoying the session.
Well done, kids! =)
…
Here’s a video of them, taken some two hours after they’ve learned how to ice skate on their own:
…
Some useful tips to share when you go ice skating there:
– Bring along your gloves and socks
– The shop sells socks and gloves too. Btw, the yellow coloured gloves (sold for about Rp7000 / pair) are all in ‘one size’, and I thought they kinda look like the ones worn by durian sellers =)
– I found it rather cold inside the rink. I’d recommend bringing along an extra layer of warm clothing if you’re going ice skating
– You may want to bring along an extra pair of pants as well for the kids =) If they keep on falling on the ice and on their buttocks, their pants will most likely be rather wet afterwards
– Do NOT lose your admission tickets. And when they say ‘two hour session’, do remember that’s calculated from the time you go in till the time you leave, ie. Stop skating and return skates, etc BEFORE the two hour period is up.
– Quite a lot of seats available if you’re waiting around for your kids
– Check out their ‘maintenance timings’, ie. Every few hours or so, they’d get everyone off the ice, as they need to ‘sweep’ the ice for about 30 mins
– Avoid school holidays, where possible. It’s super crowded and you’d need to queue for a VERY long time to get your admission tickets
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My name is Leonny and I’m a Mom of three – Anya, Vai and Brie. I love to capture and share what I treasure, learn and observe in life, which includes parenting thoughts and other pro-family messages – basically, topics that are close to my heart. I hope my blog can inspire everyone who comes to visit.
Connect with me on Facebook (leonny.atmadja), Instagram (leonny_oureverydaythings) and subscribe to my Youtube (youtube.com/watchourchannel)
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