Being a father

Picture of me with 3 children in the early morning of 7am!

Honestly for me, this January has been a fast moving month for me. I haven't really have the time to blog on the daily happenings of my life. I have to consistently blog more! Mostly everyday, it has been cooking, going for appointments, travelling, cooking, bathing the children, reading story books, exercising, sleeping. The next day just carries on and on!

I feel that there are so much things to learn as a father and husband. And I'm glad that Eve will give me some websites to read when I'm on the go outside.

As a father, one should provide for the family. Provision in terms of money, meals, love to wife and children and be the decision maker for the house matters. Many a times, I have personally encountered that most of the house matters are given to the spouse. That's tough for the women. It is definitely a shared responsibility. We fathers should do more and it's not just about giving the Vitamin M for the family, and giving work as an excuse not to spend time with the family. We have to prioritize what we want, and need to do. It's definitely tough. And for me, I have to slot even cooking in my schedule. This will make the day much more smoother and no wasted time.

Daily, both Eve and I will take turns to prepare meals, and it's fun to crack our brains the day before on what to let our family eat for the following day. Food bought from outside can be occasionally, but not frequent. Josh at times, commented that he would like to eat Yong Tau Hu, but not MacDonalds as the latter is unhealthy. For meal planning, we still need to add more ideas into the menu! Ha.

Weekly Budgeting
From last month, we have started out with this weekly budgeting and it works! This is to prevent from over spending. Basically, we came out with a list of fixed expenses for the week, and we just spend the money available in the purse.

Budget Breakdown
Marketing $150 ( 3 times per week )
Milk $90
Cleaning Lady $60
Grocery shopping $100
Eating out (1-2 times) $100

The eating out is a variable. If we didn't go out to eat, then the amount can be rolled over to the next week!

My Children
This 2015, my children will be 6,4 and 2 years old! So fast right? I really feel that we should spend much more quality time with our children! They are just growing so fast! And can you believe that Gwen will go to Nursery 1 next year? Wow right?

Josh
Josh has been attending piano lessons and he has interest in it. Eve brings him to the piano lessons and the teacher will comment that Josh learns very well and is able to learn the whole song in just 2 lessons! The daily 10 minutes practices really helped him so much. This was unlike the learning which Eve used to have in the past. She shared with me that she used to loathe piano lessons, and didn't practise at all. And this stark difference of Josh finding it as interest, and Eve finding it as a chore, it really shows that when one has the passion to learn, it is possible!

Josh and Kate at their first day of school in 2015.

For his gymnastic class, he has improved on the flexibility as well as making partial cart wheels. Definitely much more practice need to be done.

Kate
Kate has been learning to write her name letters, K A T and E. I'm so happy that she can write more and more legibly. This little girl of mine knows how to wash the bowls for us! Eve soaps the bowls and Kate does such a good job in washing cleanly! So proud of her!

Kate is also interested in learning piano! Josh teaches her simple chords and it's a sweet and warming sight when both of them are at the piano seat!

Gwen
Gwen is growing up well, and she is more accustomed to me putting her to sleep too! Whenever I throw the recycling bin, she would want to follow me and I will carry her down too. Love it.



Gwen carried by me. She will always run to me whenever
I change to my outside clothes

Gwen at Bishan Park's Dog Park. The dogs are larger than her and she is very brave!

This baby girl walks so fast that I have to dash to catch her! She loves dogs so much, and will also pronounce Steady as Say-dee. And the touching of dogs is her favourite. Her 'Hi' and 'Bye' are so sweet and she will say these when I come back and going out for appointments.

We have so read to her some picture books already so she can recognise more simple things like ball, apple, orange etc.

For iPhone
Now, we have reduced significantly on the usage of iPhones at home for the children. It has been limited to once a week, every Sunday for 10 minutes. Kate used to ask for iPhone to watch YouTube frequently and has withdrawal symptoms such as mini tantrums after the 10 minute session. Now, they are fine without it! We are so thankful for that!

Daily Story Book Time
Eve has set a routine of reading 3 books before the children sleep. At times, Eve will read to Josh. Now, Josh has a reading book on his own and he will read aloud too. At the same time, I will read to Kate. I will pause at times to let Kate to recognise some simple words. Most of the books are borrowed from the library.


Daily Prayer
Every night, we will pray for our children before they sleep. It has been a routine that Kate and Josh will say this, "Daddy/Mummy, can you pray for me?"

Our prayers are simple.

Picture of Josh sharing the drink with Gwen at QQ Rice.

We say "Dear Father, I want to pray for Josh/Kate that he/she will be healthy and strong. And that he/she will listen to his parents, grandparents and share their toys with brother and sisters. I also pray to give them the wisdom to learn more in school. Father we pray that they will be kind and patient in whatever things that they do. And everybody say, Amen!"


Every time after the prayer, we will feel the calmness and have a good night's rest!