Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Money Or Time?


This came to mind while I was preparing breakfast this morning.
What is the best thing you can provide for your children: money or time?
(Obviously putting love aside because those who neglect to provide love for their children do not deserve to be parents).
You work hard day and night, to gain more income to be able to provide a nice and luxurious life for your children. Branded clothes, good education, numerous toys. But at the same time, you're hardly at home to spend more time with them that sometimes, you don't even get to witness them growing up.
Or,
You leave your job to become a stay-at-home parent, to be able to provide more time and attention to your children. Witnessing their milestones, preparing their meals with your own hands, wiping their tears every time they cry. But at the same time, financial gets a bit tight that sometimes, you couldn't shower them with other nice things.
Being able to provide them both money AND time is definitely wonderful, but either one? I really can't decide.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Preparation For Parenthood


CAUTION: Lengthy post ahead! 

I found this via StumbleUpon. Don't get me wrong, being a parent is super great, but these are pretty funny!




Image from LilSugar

PREPARATION FOR PARENTHOOD

It's not just a matter of reading books and decorating the nursery. Here are 12 simple tests for expectant parents to take to prepare themselves for the real-life experience of being a mother or father.

1. Women: To prepare for maternity, put on a dressing gown and stick a pillowcase filled with beans down the front. Leave it there for 9 months. After 9 months, take out 10% of the beans.
Men: To prepare for paternity, go to the local drug store, tip the contents of your wallet on the counter, and tell the pharmacist to help himself. Then go to the supermarket. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office. Go home. Pick up the paper. Read it for the last time.

2. Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who are already parents and berate them about their methods of discipline, lack of patience, appallingly low tolerance levels, and how they have allowed their children to run wild. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's sleeping habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior. Enjoy it -- it'll be the last time in your life that you will have all the answers.

3. To discover how the nights will feel, walk around the living room from 5 pm to 10 pm carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious noise) playing loudly. At 10 pm, put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1 am. Put the alarm on for 3 am. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2 am and make a drink. Go to bed at 2:45 am. Get up again at 3 am when the alarm goes off. Sing songs in the dark until 4 am. Put the alarm on for 5 am. Get up. Make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

4. Can you stand the mess children make? To find out, first smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer. Stick your fingers in the flower beds, then rub them on the clean walls. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

5. Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems: first buy an octopus and a bag made out of loose mesh. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out. Time allowed for this: all morning.

6. Take an egg carton, using a pair of scissors and a pot of paint, turn it into an alligator. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle. Last, take a milk carton, a ping pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Pops and make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower. Congratulations! You have just qualified for a place on the play group committee.

7. Forget the BMW and buy a station wagon. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. Get a dime. Stick it in the cassette player. Take a family-size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seats. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There. Perfect.

8. Get ready to go out. Wait outside the bathroom for half an hour. Go out the front door. Come in again. Go out. Come back in. Go out again. Walk down the front path. Walk back up it. Walk down it again. Walk very slowly down the road for 5 minutes. Stop to inspect minutely every cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way. Retrace your steps. Scream that you've had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you. Give up and go back into the house. You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

9. Always repeat everything you say at least five times.

10. Go to your local supermarket. Take with you the nearest thing you can find to a preschool child -- a fully-grown goat is excellent. If you intend to have more than one child, take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goats eat or destroy. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

11. Hollow out a melon. Make a small hole in the side. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone. Tip the rest into your lap, making sure a lot of it falls on the floor. You are now ready to feed a 12-month-old baby.

12. Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street, Barney, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

When you find yourself singing "I Love You" at work, you finally qualify as a parent.


Source: http://www.stanford.edu/~bfenton/parenting.html

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Happy First Birthday - Part 2


Coming up with the birthday concept was the toughest part of the whole party planning, I must say. I'm picky, and I can't stand the typical cartoon-themed birthdays. Barney, Ben 10, Spongebob Squarepants dan sewaktu dengannya. They're cute, sure, but not my cup of tea. Fair enough, it's my son's birthday and not mine, but I have to like it because I'm his mother! BWAHAHAHA.
Okay, moving on.
Long story short, I fell in love with the 'King Of Our Hearts' theme which I saw at a mom's blog (and I cleverly forgot to bookmark it). I did the visuals, hubster was in charge of the printing, and sister-in-law baked heart-shaped sugar cookies for door-gifts. And we even had sponsors! Mom and Mak for the food, sister-in-law for the birthday cake, and another sister-in-law for the balloons. Awesome possum, yeah? :)
Can't wait to start planning for his second birthday!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Happy First Birthday


My intan payung. My jantung hati. My segala-galanya.


Dearest baby,

You just turned one year old. Wow. How did that happen? One minute I was looking at a positive pregnancy test result, and the next thing I know you're already one year old. Time just zoomed by like nobody's business.
To tell you the truth, I was so afraid to have you at first. The responsibility, the change of lifestyle and the expanding of body. I was unsure. Could I do this? Could I really be a good mother to you?
But the moment I held your tiny warm body in my arms for the first time, one year ago, I knew that I would do whatever it takes give you the utmost love, care and attention that you deserve. The expanded body? Pshh. That was just a small price to pay for this wonderful blessing.

Baby,

Ayah and I pray that you'll grow up to be a great person, a person who is religious, who respects his elders, and good to mankind.
Happy first birthday.

Love you insanely,
Ibu.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I'm Weird Like That

I've always been attracted to weird and spooky things since I was little. In primary school I loved to draw pictures of vampires, witches and ghosts. My favourite movie was Nightmare Before Christmas. And a few years back I started collecting some of these Living Dead Dolls.



Precious, aren't they? My ex-manager was horrified when she saw these at my work station.

"Woman! You're pregnant!! You're supposed to be looking at cute things!"

Oh, right.

And this is my car's permanent resident. Please meet Batcat (How original. He actually don't have a name).

Monday, June 7, 2010

Another Milestone


This post is a tad late, but I've been too occupied with the baby, housework and the birthday party preparation. But anyway, last week the baby decided to shock my in-laws and I by walking baby steps! The most steps he had taken was eight. This is one of the milestones that I've been waiting for. But now the day is finally here, I am getting mixed feelings. Happy because he's showing positive developments, and sad because soon he'll no longer need me for everything! I am so overwhelmed by how fast he's growing up (okay, I'm getting tearful now!!)
He'll be running around anytime now and I'll be going crazy chasing after him. An extra workout that I should be looking forward to, eh?
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