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| Our last meal at a restaurant before Circuit Breaker |
How did we survive at home with 3 very active kids and nowhere to go?
It was hard, really really hard! See I love my kids but I really don't need to be with them all the time. It's why I chose to work full-time and never felt guilty for it. My mental health meant that I was a better mum when I am actually with them.
During circuit breaker however, the kids were with us 24/7 and we couldn't get a mental break at all! Honestly for me, an extrovert who loves to bring my kids to explore the whole of Singapore, it was extra torturous 🙁
[HOME-BASED LEARNING]
The mother of all torture during Circuit Breaker was none other than HBL. It was tough for teachers but definitely way tougher for parents (teachers who are also parents, man I don't know how y'all do it...😓).
I have 2 kids in primary school who needs to be supervised to do their HBL. Thankfully we are blessed to have many laptops at home so I try to be efficient and have them both do their HBL together while I did my own work.
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| Me trying to work while supervising the kids with their HBL |
Efficiency? Maybe. Painful? Absolutely!
"Mummmmeeeee! The page is not there anymore!" (and this is after I had painstakingly logged in and clicked everything for him).
"Mummeeee! Di Di and Mei Mei are disturbing me! I can't concentrate!"
"Mummeeee! I can't hear! Where to click? How to type? Teacher says must draw, how to draw?"...... 😵
I have to say, the more enthusiastic the teacher, the more annoying for me as the parent because it meant more work for me to do. Things like recording a video or taking photos of their homework and uploading, it's really unnecessary to me. I get that you want to think out of the box and make it fun for the kids but I really don't have time for it. Plus, it's for P.E. Are you serious? I'm sorry but I have to prioritise examinable subjects over P.E. Maybe a Zoom P.E. lesson is a better idea. So no, I won't upload any videos, sorry 😐
Come to think of it, I don't know which is worse: intense pain of dual 'headaches' at the same time or prolonged pain of one 'headache' after another? 😂
I rejoiced together with all parents on the day that MOE announced the kids could return to school. HURRAY!!! 😄
[MY SELF-CARE]
Self-care is important for everyone but even more so for a full-time working mum of 3 like me with very limited me-time. Not being able to enjoy my usual self-care like travelling, facials, shopping, etc was really tough!
The only self-care that I can do at home would be watching TV and painting or crafting. I didn't manage to paint because of the sticky baby/toddler but I did complete my pin display project that I have been wanting to do for a long time! 😊
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| My pin collection finally displayed! |
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| I've been collecting pins since my schooling days and have always kept them in boxes |
Also managed to build some Lego, which I had to safeguard from my girl the Lego Fanatic (who wanted to 'help' me build them).
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| Super cute Harry Potter Lego pieces |
My awesome colleagues also sent me food to brighten up my days when they heard that I was grumpy from being stuck at home.
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| Traditional ice-cream, like those you would get from the ice-cream truck around the neighbourhood |
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| Yummy dessert |
I'm so blessed ♥️
[ENTERTAINMENT]
With 3 very active kids stuck in a HDB flat, we needed to find things to do. We played with boardgames, LEGO, Xbox and whatever toys they have around the house.
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| Bought some boardgames to play! Can't wait till the boy is old enough to play the more challenging games |
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| The doting Mum-in-law bought this Expert set for the girl because ordinary sets are too easy for her. She finished it in 2 days 😐 |
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| Left: Kids playing together in the play pen passed to us by the sister-in-law; Right: interactive play on the Xbox! |
We felt the worst for our littlest girl, as the moment she learned how to walk, she had to be confined in a small space with nowhere to practise her newly acquired skills. The best we could do was to let her climb whatever she can find around the house.
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| Climbing up and down the stairs of the kids' bed and the stairs outside our home |
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| Daddy bought a makeshift pool for the kids to play with water |
[CELEBRATIONS]
My Birthday
I also celebrated my birthday during circuit breaker and was actually thinking that I might not have a cake to celebrate with. But my awesome family and friends sent me so many things!
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| Left: My mum-in-law cooked the annual longevity noodles for me; Right: I made the hubby queue at Alexandra Village to buy my favourite Ang ku kueh and avocado drink 😋 |
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| My husband's idea of a birthday cake: crabs from Mellben Seafood 😋 |
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| Cakes flowers and food from my sister and BFFs |
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| My favourite has to be my birthday cake, the biggest I've ever gotten! It was so yummy I ate half the cake by myself! 😋 |
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| Love my awesome colleagues for sending it to me! |
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| Kids made cards and presents for me with whatever they can find around the house 😁 |
I feel so blessed! Thank you everyone 🥰
Our 11th Wedding Anniversary
The hubby and I also celebrated our anniversary during circuit breaker. We were supposed to be at W Hotel Sentosa for our anniversary staycation but it was cancelled due to the circuit breaker 😒 We had to make do with a mini celebration at home.
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| Hubby splurged on premium meat since we can't spend on anything except food |
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| Family photo 😊 |
Mother's Day
We also celebrated Mother's Day!
[GOING OUT]
There was nothing much we can do except to look forward to the weekly trips to the supermarket!
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| Kids wearing their masks and super excited to be out of the house |
The kids were experiencing such a bad case of cabin fever that we needed to get them out for a while just to keep their spirits up.
I'm so glad that our country finally moved into Phase 1 and 2 where everyone is allowed to go back somewhat to normal! Circuit Breaker was really very tough for everyone and I'm just really gfateful that we survived it. I really hope we don't ever have to go through it again! 🥺