Mishap or Miracle

Our all time accident-prone twin, Xuan, hurt herself again on Saturday night. As usual, she was getting extremely "high" playing in their almost childproof bedroom. While tugging the blanket, she fell sitting on the parquet floor, slide backwards and hit her lower back against the magnetic door stopper mounted on the wall (behind the wooden door). Ouch!

There were no tears. No one actually knew how bad the impact was until she stood up, turned to look at the door stopper and exclaimed "Huhhhhh!!!!" There lying on the floor was the door stopper, and a metal piece with screws which was supposed to hold the door stopper to the wall (see photo below). The entire piece had been brought down on impact!!! Di had to hammer the entire metal piece back on the wall after that, before the door stopper can be screwed on to it again.

















While Di was busy playing the handyman, my heart raced as I checked for wounds/bruises on Xuan. She had an angry red, bruised area where her left kidney is located. No obvious cuts because the gathers of her Mamypoko pants cushioned her soft skin. My heart felt like it had been sliced into pieces, nonetheless. I prayed that night, asking for God's healing (should there be internal injuries which the naked eyes can't see) and thanking Him for watching over the munchkins when I wasn't. She could have been hit on her head, can you imagine that???!!!

Xuan went to sleep smiling that night. The entire incident didn't bothered her at all while Di and I had to discuss action plans for the following day should bruises or signs of discomfort surface. It's been 3 days and we really thank God for delivering His promise to protect the girls while we committed them into His hand. Xuan woke up on Sunday with no bruises, no signs of discomfort and no recollection of the ordeal. She's a miracle child indeed.

Note
We managed to work out an interim solution. That is to wrap the door stopper with a foam pad (see picture below). If you have any better suggestions, please share. Thanks!

Notice on Shutterfly

Dear family & friends

For those of you who are regular visitors to the munchkins’ Shutterfly albums, or perhaps one of their fans who had already formed your own “fan club” (kekeke…), please do note that the password to the newly revamped site remained unchanged - twins. I had the password shortened to these 5 alphabets to make it easier for everyone, but I will not remove the security layer for obvious reasons.

In case you’re wondering why I bother to reveal the password here if security means so much to me, its because I’m fully aware the “viewership” of this blog hasn't come to the point where tight security measures had to be put in place. Hahaha…

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the refreshing new look of the web page. The Shutterfly team certainly deserves a big hug for the amazing face lift, don’t they? Keep checking out the site for updates, ya?

Love, Di and me

Something about Di

Hmmmm… After sharing so much about the munchkins and myself, I think its time to introduce the sole breadwinner of our household, the man with a funny bone (if you know him well) and the proud father to his 2 beautiful princesses – Di.

Actually, if you were to ask me to sum him up in a phrase, I’d say Di is a chronic patient with the “disease to please”. That’s one of the reasons why he is always so busy – living for others. But most of the time, I’d say he’s pretty pleased when people show their appreciation or gratitude towards him for helping out. And I’m proud of his generosity (in terms of time and effort) as long as he doesn't complain because I am, apparently, his only audience. Not by choice though. Kekeke…

But there is one aspect of him which many of us (family & close friends) knew about and are often appalled by that trait of his – he forgets things almost instantly! No, he’s not suffering from sever memory loss or early dementia. My guess is his memory is operating at maximum capacity (because he has so much to think about), so there’s hardly any space left in his brain to store new inputs, thus resulting in that blur or “Huh???” look on his face most of the time.

The most classic example would be the night when I was sent to the hospital for an emergency c-section to deliver the munchkins. All that anxiousness from knowing my waterbag broke and our gynae's advise to admit to the hospital immediately must have caused a sever adrenaline rush in his brain. He managed to calm down a little after we arrived at the hospital. While waiting for everyone to get ready for the operation, the father-to-be felt somewhat relaxed and decided to grab a quick bite together with his colleague (who kindly rushed over to the hospital with his Mrs to see if help is required). And guess what? What I thought would be a 15-minute break for him turned out much longer than expected because our DEAR FRIEND forgot he’s got a wife in labour in the hospital directly opposite the coffeeshop where he’s enjoying his dinner!!! I gave up after calling his mobile repeatedly (at least 10 times). Thanks God his colleague noticed the vibrating mobile phone and he rushed back in the nick of time when the nurse was about to wheel me into the operating room. Phew!

Although Di brings “headaches” to my life, he is, at the same time, pretty capable of making me laugh with his witty conversations and nonsensical comments. The munchkins will certainly have more fun growing up with a father as such than one who is a stern and serious. So daddy’s not the disciplinarian at home? Nope! Leave that part to… yes, you’re right! Yours truly!

"Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." - Ephesians 5:33 (NKJV)
"And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."
- Ephesians 6:4 (NKJV)

Where is the Green underpants?

After 19 months of caring for the munchkins, Ya Ya still struggles with their identity. Most of the time, I'd laugh at her silly mistakes, except once when she gave cold medication to the twin who is well and cheery.

Then, another silly mistake by Ya Ya this morning resulted in a 30 minute hunt for a pair of Green underpants. Xuan would normally get her morning bath first simply because she loves playing with water and couldn't wait. This morning, En got to shower first when it was bath time, as Xuan was having her "time out" with me for throwing a tantrum.

After bath time, I recalled seeing a pair of Yellow underpants on the floor when Ya Ya was dressing Xuan. This is pretty normal as the munchkins are now able to take off their underpants and occasionally put them back on. However, I found Xuan running around later on with only her diaper on while En had the Yellow underpants on her. I highlighted to Ya Ya and she started looking around for the missing "Green underpants", and at the same time, asked Xuan where she had "hidden" it. (Note: Xuan has the habit of hiding toys and stuff under the dinning chair cushions or any funny corners she can find.) We were preparing to go marketing, so before long, we had clean forgotten about it and Xuan ended up going to the mall without any underpants.

When we reached home, the first thing we did was to search for the missing article. I even looked out of the window to see if Xuan had thrown it down the flat. Approximately half an hour later and having combed nearly the entire house, I decided we should just leave the mysterious Green underpants alone. Just then, I had a strange idea which prompted me to check on En. Viola!!! She had 2 underpants on her!!! The Green one first followed by the Yellow one!!!

I laughed and laughed... Well, Ya Ya remembered putting on a pair of Green underpants for the twin who got showered first, but forgot that twin was En instead of Xuan. Secondly, she conveniently put on the Yellow underpants, on top of the Green one for En without even realising it. So that solves the mystery of the missing Green underpants.

If you think this is funny, you had better pray hard you will not have twins. *Wink*

Maid-less???

Yesterday, as the nation took their rest from all the activities and celebrations leading up to the NDP (National Day Parade) on Saturday, Di and I had to work extra hard on Ya Ya’s off day because we didn't ask for any help this time. Well, Di’s 104 year old grandma is hospitalised (in coma, to be exact) so his parents were busy. Gong Gong, on the other hand, caught a cold and we felt he needed a good rest.

Moreover, its been a really long time since we last spent a day together as a family. Yes, I mean, just the 4 of us – Di, me, En & Xuan. It was tiring as we brought the munchkins for a near 2-hour morning walk, and then an evening walk which lasted about an hour. But we enjoyed the day thoroughly, though I hope it doesn't become a daily thing. Hahaha…

You know, Ya Ya was sweet enough to have showered the munchkins and cooked their lunch before she left for her once-a-month break. I get to skip the laundry and cooking chores altogether, and yet I still felt exhausted at the end of the day as compared to the usual routine. So can you imagine if I had to juggle those duties as well? Arrggghhhh!!! Help!!!

By now, I must confess I’m one of those who cannot live without my helper. Not just any helper, but in particular, our beloved Ya Ya. Kudos to all the domestic helpers out there who made our lives a lot more manageable, agree???!!! I was very glad to have Ya Ya back at home last night. Very, very glad indeed…

The Journey... thus far

Today’s posting is to commemorate my motherhood journey thus far. To date, I spent 37 weeks and a day carrying the twins in my womb and exactly 22 months being a full time mother.

Parenting a child is tough. More so if you’re a parent to a set of twins, triplets, quads, etc. I’m sure my dear friends (Geck, Serene, Michelle, Karen, Fi, Carmen, Irin, Jess and many other mommies who are in the same shoes as me) will agree totally with me that our twins are a tremendous blessing and immense bother to us at times. I experience joy and laughter on a daily basis as much as I feel frustrated, sometimes angry or even close to tears. Yet whenever the storm’s calm down and the coast is clear, God’s soft, gentle voice will heard, telling me the munchkins are wonderfully made by Him and generously given to me. Hence I have to love and embrace them, faithfully raise them and shower them with care like precious gems.

Sometimes, I surrender myself and commit my parenting journey to God. At times, like my rebellious twins, I turn away from God in anger, taking advantage of the fact that my heavenly Father will be right behind me no matter what (please forgive me, Father!).

Twins. Twice the dosage of everything indeed. But, they are one of the reasons why I’m so in awe of God. And I pray they will be too…