How I spent the morning on Mothers' Day
Yep, arranging the shoe cabinet.
I conclude that we are a family of caterpillars.
The hubs will argue otherwise, because my shoe count exceeds that of his. But what he lacks in shoes, he more than makes up for it in socks.
See the 3 shoe boxes on the left?
Well, 2 of them contain all his socks.
On top of what's in the drawer on the right, where 2/3 of it is occupied by, what else, more of his socks!
Even little boss, who has started walking since less than six months ago, has 6 pairs of shoes.
More than that of my sister, who has 5 pairs here after I asked her to bring some of them back to my parents'.
I'm not complaining, because I'm guilty of it too.
They say a woman can never have too many pairs of shoes.
But well I guess they can, when they don't have unlimited space. 😂
Ahem, so now I guess I'm going to have to adopt a "one in one out" strategy for buying shoes.. After I fill out that tiny space between my flats and Clarissa's shoes. Hahahaha.
Writing this as a reminder to myself, not that I've been shopping much. Haven't bought any new clothes or shoes since Chinese New Year!
It's Mothers' Day so / but these two are twinning instead.
We went for Mothers' Day lunch at the in-laws'.
Looking cute together.
Stylo-milo but in fact looking at aunts, I mean, ants.
#ootd
Jersey set: adidas Chelsea
Daddy: Model's own
Perhaps because I was running on less than four hours of sleep, I felt quite irritated by my MIL today, mothers day or not.
I try not to talk about her due to the unique family circumstances. In fact I try to stay out of her way as long as she stays out of mine.
Even if I do write about her, I wouldn't say it's her but today I really can't write about it like I'm talking about a random relative.
So my MIL babysits a boy who's 2 months older than Clarissa. I'm not sure if it's because she genuinely likes Clarissa or babies, or if she's just trying to show off that she's good with kids, she's always forcing herself on Clarissa.
Either scooping her away to carry her – AGAINST both my and Clarissa's wills or kissing her very loudly on her cheeks.
Clarissa is much closer to my mom, and even my mom doesn't do that.
So every week I bite my lip when she does things like these.
I don't want to create unnecessary conflict, so I merely give Clarissa another wipe down once we get to the car, and then complain to the hubs about it.
For the record, he's with me on this.
I also find her way of taking care of the boy very unhygienic, because I once saw her eating a piece of guava, and when the boy asked for it, she let him bite into that same piece of guava, on the same side she bit into.
So I usually am on high alert when she's around Clarissa.
Still, that doesn't stop her from forcing her way through. There are times when she'd even snatch her away from me, and of course Clarissa would cry because she doesn't want to be carried by her.
So anyway today, Clarissa was in the living room but wanted to look for her Daddy who was with his Grandmother in her room. As she was walking towards the room, my MIL scooped her up and forcibly took her to the window to "see cars".
Now that Clarissa is older, she doesn't always cry out loud like she's been kidnapped. Unless she's in a really foul mood.
But I saw her whimpering and looking helplessly around, searching for me.
"Mama!" She called out once she saw me and I quickly went to her rescue.
The second incident today was worse.
My MIL was giving the boy some bread from a plastic bag that was already open but sealed with a clip.
As Clarissa just had lunch, I very politely asked my MIL not to give her any bread.
Also, I wasn't sure if her hands were clean.
She did not acknowledge me. My SIL was there too and she reiterated, "Ma, don't give Clarissa the bread."
But she ignored the both of us, pinched a piece of bread and put it into Clarissa's mouth!
She sealed the bag and Clarissa took it because she wanted to play with the clip.
So I said to Clarissa, "No bread for you ok? You just had porridge."
Loud enough for my MIL to hear and for my SIL to chide her mom for not listening.
Guess what?
In spite of our protests, she proceeded to pinch yet another piece of bread and gave it to Clarissa!
This time she said, "Never mind one, cannot don't give."
Wtf!!
It took a lot from me not to flare up and leave.
That was so rude!
In the first place, she has no right to feed my child anything without my permission, and to still feed her despite me asking her not to?
I can't even.
I really want to keep the peace and distance, so for the longest time and even today, I've maintained my composure and politeness.. but please can she not force my hand?
She's making the weekly visits very unpleasant for us, when all I hope is for Clarissa to feel more at home with her Granddad and Great-grandma.
What can I do about this?
Ok I feel slightly better now after writing about it. 😅
My Mothers' Day famfie.
My gift from Clarissa is a European-style kiss lol. When we asked her to kiss me, she placed her cheeks against mine and said "Mmm-ua!"
Last year, I got 2 pairs of fbt shorts. This year, I got 2 kisses.
It's tough being a mom. 😂
Anyway I got home and took an epic 2-hour nap (Clarissa slept for 2.5 hours!), had dinner and tried to start packing for the Korea trip.
We are flying out on Wednesday night! I feel very unprepared.
I'm working full days Monday to Wednesday so I guess I can only pack after 10pm over the next 2 evenings.
I hope the little boss would be cooperative!
It was quite difficult to pack earlier on, because she wanted to sit with me in front of her cupboard to unfold all the clothes I'd just folded. 😂
Bed time came and I spent 10 minutes trying to take her to her room.
She was lying on our bed covering her face with our blanket and pillows, pretending not to hear me telling her it was time to sleep.
She'd lift up the blanket from time to time to peep, smile oh-so sweetly, and hide again.
We knew she wanted to sleep in our bed and my heart says Yes!
But my brain says no, we have to work tomorrow and we have to pack. And we can't give in to her all the time just because she cries her way through.
I tried to tell her very nicely, how I understand she'd love to sleep with us tonight but we can't because we have work the next day.
She covered her face and again pretended not to hear me.
It was actually very sweet and endearing but I guess we have to take a stand.
So after a few rounds of talking to her, I carried her to her room. It wasn't easy, because she was really putting up a fight against it and while at it, she wailed like we were going to sell her off. 😢😂
She continued crying and protesting while touching my face (lol not sure which æ‹› this was) as I walked into her room and eventually tucked her into the sarong.
I told her I love her and I'll see her in the morning.. fortunately she stopped crying and calmed down quickly.
I guess she was really exhausted because she fell asleep within minutes.
Sigh my dear little stubborn sweetheart.
And here I am, on Dayre and not packing.
Too exhausted!
I'll just have to do it over the next 2 days.
Anyway..
Happy Mothers' Day to myself, my mom, grandma-in-law, all my friends who are moms and #Dayremoms!
weeirdism 