Where have we been?

So since my last post about being depressed and not loving my life as a child focused mommy we've made huge changes to our lives as a family and so far, things are looking good.

Here's what we've been up to:

1) We spent 3 weeks in Toronto visiting the grandparents and me getting a much needed break to just sit around the house and do nothing except stare at the trees while the grandparents got to be real grandparents without me hovering, instructing, and making all the rules.

2) We moved as soon as we came back to HK. We used to live in a tiny Chinese walk-up apartment in the middle of the city that I struggled daily to carry 2 kids, stroller, and bag up and down those stairs. We decided it was time to make the move and now we're still in a small place BUT, we're just 2 minutes from the beach and have a roof top terrace that is the same size as our place.

3) I took a break from writing this blog. Part of the reason was to eliminate my to-do list and any obligations that I could so I could make some real time for myself. The other reason was so Hubby and I could spend more time together. I realized that after a long day of kids, what I thought was relaxing by sitting in front of the computer, actually made me feel tired and grouchy. Instead, after the kids are in bed now, I will walk the dogs, do my nails and feet, read, do a face mask, TALK to hubby, anything that would normally get put off because I am in front of the computer. It has made a world of difference.

4) Computer time is now limited to the 2hrs during the day while the kids are napping.

5) We started homeschooling. Yep, MM is now 2yrs and 5mths and we will not be putting him into pre-nursersy, nursery, pre-school, etc. Instead, we are following a combination of the Sonlight Curriculum and other free online activities, which really is just reading, drawing, and playing for the next year, and we will be traveling together as a family. Whereas before, I would spend most of my day trying to stop MM from doing something I didn't want him doing - like making a mess. We now have a family routine that goes something like this:

8am Wake up and have breakfast
830am MM and dad walk the dogs
10am MMM naps while MM and I have "school time"
12pm Lunch
1pm MM has his nap
130pm MMM Lunch
3pm Afternoon outing or activity
5pm Dinner
630pm Bed

The time and attention MM gets from me and his dad every morning means he's not roaming around home looking for something to do or whining "mommy mommy" all day because he wants attention. He knows what is going to happen next and what he's supposed to be doing. I feel like a more functional parent and MM is actually really enjoying his home "school".

6) We've just returned from a family-friends trip to Singapore. Together with 4 families, we ate all our meals, explored the city of Singapore, shared our tantruming toddler moments and snippy spousal moments, laughed and played together for 4 days. It was so much fun. (It wasn't our first family-friends trip, we first went to Kota Kinabalu together a while back but I didn't get a chance to write about it back then.) It is so nice to be able to see and share how you parent and deal with life with kids together as a group that I seriously would consider living on a compound. Meeting up for breakfast every morning was definitely my favourite part of the day, that and being able to role my eyes at another parent when my MMs were acting up. Haha it is always nice to have what you say reinforced by someone else. "Listen to your mother MM."

So that about covers the past 2 months. Am I back to blogging? I'm not really sure. Part of me really wants to share and document our homeschooling and travel journey but at this moment I am not committing to anything except spending more quality time with my kids and husband.