We Just Want You To Know...Our Adoption Journey

I was driving my 8 year old home from school, she quietly said,”  Mummy, Nicole asked if there was something wrong with me, that’s why my tummy mummy give me away? ”    Although I was driving, I could see tears pooling in her eyes and could definitely hear it in her tone of voice.    My heart ached for my little one as I braved myself to ask, “Do you think there is something wrong with you?” (Throw pebbles & watch the ripples......)    She blinked back her tears and asked, “Is there?”.    I decided that telling her how perfect she is in my eyes might sound too defensive so I decided to remind her of her unique talents.  I said, "Well, you are a natural athlete; see how well you are doing at gymnastics and ballet, you scored full marks at your mid-year for Chinese (a language we don't even speak at home!), how good you are with people around us, how big your heart is, how funny you are.... so to me, you are as perfect as perfect can be!”    I took the opportunity to rev

I've always told others and now I'm telling it to myself.... that it is not so easy to die.  Seriously :)   2017 was totally new chapter for our family; small one started life in primary school which the elder one ended hers - both in the same school.  The little one loved the fact that she had an older sister who orientated her very well; had her friends fussed over her.  And the big sister truly played that part very well.  Made us both very proud.  The teachers knew they were sisters and was very warm right from the get go. There were many changes too, to their girls' schedules.  Small one had a lot more activities going thus, I was on the road quite a bit (should I sign up to be a Grab Hitch driver?).  Throughout it all, I just feel very blessed to be able to ferry my kids around.... that i have kids to ferry around.  I'd be lying if I said I had this feeling all the time though, without apologies, I think I'm entitled to feel fatigue and frustration now and

My plan was to be a stay home mom for 4 years and when she was old enough to be in full day childcare, I was going back to work.   Yes, motherhood to one was motherhood enough.   Let’s just say my plan got derailed! When our daughter turned 2.5, she started asking for a sister.   Initially, I brushed it off as peer pressure when her classmates’ parents were ‘showing’ and popping all around us ( yes, I can still be a sour grape, can’t I?   Grin. ) but her requests were consistent & persistent - lasted for 2 years.    When she was 2, my mother-in-law passed away suddenly and when I saw how my hubby’s siblings came together to support each other in grief, I realized a couple of things.   First, we are older parents, so our daughter will have to go through this earlier in life.   Secondly, she will have to handle all the emotional and physical grief hurdles all on her own!    When we were on a beach holiday, we noticed other families with more than 2 children happily b

My 11 yo and I were watching "This Is Us", a new American TV series about a white family who adopted a coloured boy.  They were expecting triplets but one was born asleep.  By divine intervention, the coloured boy was found on the same day in front of a fire station, and the couple felt it was how their triplets should be completed.  The show switches from past to present and how each of their relationships have evolved. As the topic of adoption was featured, I took the opportunity to ask her if she has wondered how it would have been if she wasn't adopted; that she remained with her birthmother.  Being a very happy-go-lucky, happy girl, she looked straight at me, smiled and said,"No, la!  I'm just a regular normal girl with my normal mom.  Why would I think that?"  I smiled back, said,"Just checkin'.", and we just went on talking about something else.   I've always learnt to 'throw a pebble' and see how the water ripples a

My sincere apologies for the radio silence.... I've recently taken a step back to take in all that I have going on in my life and decided to make a few changes.  One of which is, I hope, to be able to blog more.  Either here or somewhere else.  I really feel like a digital dinosaur.  I know I'm a digital immigrant but hey, I've to at least thrive, not just try to survive in this world..... Otherwise, my age will show, haha! (Note to self:  catch up on digital marketing and the latest online happenings... FAST!) I've decided to scale down at work and scale up at home..... The elder girl will be in P6 next year and small one will enter P1.  Both will be in the same school and the hubs and I are really really grateful, thankful and chaffed that they are sooooo happy!  We went for the P1 orientation today and the small one had a personal tour of the school already by her big sis.  I could tell by both their expressions that they are both contented - the elder one t

Goodness gracious!  Can't believe it's nearly the end of 2013 and I'm still blinking at how fast my kids are sprouting right before my eyes!  Hardly any time to take stock sometimes, but it is necessary. Apologies for not providing updates regularly though....  I'm either too busy, too tired (old mom syndrome), too distracted and yes, too dang lazy. My elder girl turned 8 recently and I asked a good friend to bake her favourite Oreos Cheesecake.  On the cake was to be a photo of her.  It was there and then that I started looking at the pics again and realised how time has passed!   I love this series of sculptures by Willow Tree; my sis-in-law sent a few to us when we had the girls. http://www.demdaco.com/Parents-with-2-children/00024,default,pd.html?start=20&cgid=1060003&brandId=WT Each time I marvel at my girls, I'm bathed in awe at how my life  changed so dramatically when we decided to be adoptive parents.  On the back of this thought, I