Out of the rut

My younger one is almost 3 months old and my older one is 2 years old.

My life consists of endless days of changing diapers, cooking meals, feeding / persuading my older one to eat his food (he's going through a phase when he rejects greens / anything he doesn't like), cleaning my home (my cleaning lady has done a disappearing act), tidying up, washing, hanging, folding and ironing laundry loads..... the list never stops, does it?

I wish I could say that being a SAHM is all about cuddly moments of smiley, cute babies who can't wait to get their pictures taken so that Mummy can post them on Facebook. BUT, reality is a whole lot of different.

I realize too that social media could create a very warped image of parenthood, in that one only sees happy, gurgling babies and never really the frazzled, wanna-pull-out-my-hair-so-help-me-God-to-keep-my-sanity moments.

Gabriel does have a lot of stamina when he cries. He doesn't usually cry for no reason but when he does, I sometimes have to let him cry it out because nothing I do can calm him down, save for carrying him. I'm not a fan of baby carriers cos I tend to get backache from that, so Gabriel doesn't have the luxury of being carried by Mummy 24/7. Sammy is usually pretty independent, but there are also moments when he cries when Gabriel cries. And you're like, "What's happening?!?!"

And of course there are the moments when you can't wait to get out of the house because of that planned playdate and the older one decides that he wants to drink something and proceeds to pour the water on the floor on purpose! Oh and I haven't mentioned how many times one or both decides to poo right at the moment when you're about to march out that front door. I can't remember how many times I've had to unstrap Gabriel from his carseat because he pooes a minute after he's been strapped in.

Haven't had the time nor energy to blog about any meaningful posts, but I figured that I want to write about my life at this very point. That perhaps in a month / year's time, when I take a look back at my blog, I'd think, "Oh man, how did I get through that period? It must have been the hand of God".

Everybody tells me that the first year of having 2 kids close in age is the hardest. But after that, it becomes somewhat easier. I know that every phase of a kid's life brings about it own challenges but I really think that the first year is probably the one filled with the most challenges.

I just have to take a look at Sammy's life. After he turned one, it became a breeze to take him out. Dressing him took a fraction of the time it used to take when he was an infant. He eats what we eat. And he no longer has to feed every 3-4 hours. Even his clothes can be worn for a longer time. He walks, so I no longer have to lug that crazily-heavy carseat around with me.

We went to Strasbourg, France last weekend as a result of me wanting to do something out of home and out of Stuttgart. I just needed a different environment and have a bit of a holiday feel, since the only holiday we've had this year was our whirlwind 2.5 week holiday to Singapore.

In fact, I was so desperate for a mini break that I even planned our Strasbourg trip into my calendar at least one month in advance!

I remember waking up at 8.30am on Saturday with such a spring in my step. I happily took both kids out of the room while hubby slept a little longer. Changed and dressed both of them, gave the older one breakfast, packed up the bag including snacks for the 2-hour car journey, all this while thinking "I can't believe we're actually going on a mini holiday!"

Little Gabe all set and ready to go

The car journey turned out better than I had expected. Both kids slept most of the journey and I spend the majority of the time just Facebooking on my iPhone, arranging playdates for the next 2 weeks and just having uninterrupted "me-time".

I couldn't even believe that 2 hours had passed when we crossed the borders to France! 

We managed to indulge in sushi at our usual Japanese restaurant, buy our madeleines, restock on some Sephora facial moisturizing cream and got some too cute clothes for the kids at GAP.

It was such a breath of fresh air for me. I thoroughly enjoyed being out and about with my family of 4. There were stressful moments when Sammy suddenly decides he wants to play catch-me-if-you-can in a store or when Gabriel wants to come out of the stroller so one only has one hand to keep Sammy out of mischief.


But on the whole, I'm glad that we more than survived our first road trip with 2 little kiddos. Here's to many more to come! :) :) :)

We indulged in sushi at our favourite sushi restaurant

Yummy ice-cream at our fave ice-cream parlor

Sam's a whole bunch of fun when he doesn't have his "toddler moments"

Our little sunshine

Sam insisted on wearing the shades!

Where we went for sushi (Highly-recommended): Sushi-do
Where we went for ice-cream (Highly-recommended): Amorino
Places to shop: Naf Naf, GAP, Sefora