There is no rest for the tired mother.
The end.
Invites & Tryouts Motherkao loves... Reviews The real supermom
More reasons to shop at RedMart
August 15, 2013If you’ve not been to RedMart, you really should. And you don’t need to travel physically there, push a trolley or wish that the ground would swallow you up when your kids monkey around and pinch everything they see along the aisles, cos’ all you need is a mouse, a computer and internet connection. If you have an iPhone, you could even download their app and grocery-shop on the move.
RedMart has close to 4,000 items in their store, and you could buy everything from baby supplies to pregnancy test kits to ready-to-eat briyani.
I am really impressed with the wide range of products they have in stock. During my previous shake-legs-grocery-shopping experience, I found the Chianti (Fatherkao’s favourite type of red wine), all the ingredients (from their extensive range in ‘Indian Selection’) which I would ever need to whip up a meal to rival Muthu’s Curry (not that I can, hurhur!), organic cleaning agents (like BabyGanics and Green Cleaners) and items like Eno, Panadol and calcium tablets to stock up the medicine cabinet.
I was really glad to have found this at this price!
Baby-safe cleaner at a discounted price!
Wide range of selection from Food & Beverage
And oh yes, if you ever found buying contraceptives embarrassing, you could even buy them here! No more need to explain to the kids that what you’re getting ain’t some funky candies!
The ‘Sexual Wellness’ Section at RedMart
And for someone who’s big on product labels, I particularly appreciated the fact that at RedMart, I could view every single product in this online grocery store close up. This is something that gives Redmart an edge over its competitors. Especially for someone who’s a stickler for labels like me.
I don’t buy sauces, pastes and mixes without reading nutrition facts and I am on a constant look out for no-no’s like monosodium glutamate when I buy my oyster sauce, ketchup and sambal belachan from the supermarkets. I check where products are made and when they expire. I make sure that when I buy food, the “Trans Fat” reads 0g and “Cholesterol” 0%. When I get cleaning agents and bath products for the family, I always made sure they were sulphate- and paraben-free. I scrutinize every single ingredient that goes into making the product, especially the kinds of chemicals, and I consult Dr Google on the spot should I suspect something amiss.
At RedMart, I am glad that even though there are brief product descriptions provided for every product, I get to scrutinize the labels on the products just by mouse-ing over the area I wish to see enlarged before I decide to add them to my cart.
Case in point: remember I mentioned I needed to be consuming oatmeal for the rest of my life because the doctor instructed me to lower my LDL? I found Bob’s Red Mill Organic Brown Rice Farina Creamy Rice Hot Cereal (that’s a mouthful!) and decided I might want to be eating this for forever.
And since forever might be a long time and I’ve never heard of Bob’s Red Mill, I was really glad to be able to read the cooking instructions and all the other finer print on the packaging before buying it.
Reading the label closely
At RedMart, items are not just cleanly organized into distinctive categories – like products meticulously shelved in supermarkets – you also get value-added shopping experience because you get to read product labels too, just like being there at the supermarket!
Now, how’s that for more shake legs grocery shopping?
More details:
The store comes to you at RedMart, with its large product selection of home essentials, same day delivery within 2-hour delivery windows (so you need only be home for 2 hours), free delivery on orders above $75, competitive prices and automatic reminders to restock. RedMart knows you have better things to do!
Disclosure: The good people at RedMart sponsored this post. All opinions here are my own.
Invites & Tryouts Motherkao loves... Reviews The real supermom
Shake legs grocery shopping with RedMart
July 16, 2013I’ve written some time ago how supermarketing is now a whole new experience with three kids in tow. It’s a big excursion that requires planning and coordination of naptimes and mealtimes, as well as a good deal of strategizing on how to get my shopping-list items in the most efficient way, while keeping the kids out of mischief. And oh yes, the three of them now fill up one trolley, so I push one more extra now so the groceries can go somewhere. Which means I can never head to the supermarket without an extra pair of adult hands to help me push the kids around and make sure they don’t pinch, stab and squash whatever they see along the way.
There are some days when I really don’t feel like I want to be pushing three kids in a trolley, don’t wish to be lifting a single grocery bag, don’t want to be stepping foot into a supermarket (which is almost always crowded these days!) and wasting precious time queuing. Did I also mention that finding parking at these malls with supermarkets is such a pain?
What can I do on these “some days”, especially if the larder, refrigerator and toiletries cabinet are calling out to be replenished?
Online shopping! I hear you say.
Somebody recently told me that I should start buying groceries online if bringing the kids out is such a hassle. There are local e-grocers that offer competitive prices and free delivery within the same day to cater to the modern need for efficiency and convenience. Some time ago, I experienced one of those “some days” and decided to stock up my household items at RedMart. We were running out of rice, bathroom cleaners and snacks for the kids; plus, the doc’s just given me orders to lower my LDL, so I desperately needed to buy some oatmeal cereal and go make myself a few thousand bowls of that to eat over breakfast, lunch and dinner for the rest of my life. And with the recent haze crisis, I wasn’t too sure of the PM2.5 concentrations in our air to be heading out with the kids. I dread looking for parking and paying for parking, and Nat fussing to be carried after a few minutes of being in the trolley.
So I went online and got everything I needed in the comfort of my couch, using only five fingers and a mouse.
And it was so easy, so quick, so convenient! Here’s what I did:
Signed up with an email address and a password
Got a smiley and an email for registering successfully
Browsed by categories, which were readily available on the header and footer and the left sidebar
A while later…
What happens after check-out: payment, choose delivery timing and wait for items to be delivered!
My orders came promptly the next day at the delivery timing I selected, and the larder was restocked. Happiness!
Orders came promptly, and we’re restocked again!
No need to push trolleys around. No need to strategise shopping route. No fuss and meltdowns. No need to have to lug the kids who somehow always had the magical ability to conjure up a full bladder despite emptying it before we leave home and whenever we’re halfway supermarketing. No need to have to hear them scream Yakult! Oreos! Apples! – and wish there was a hole to hide – whenever we go down the aisles.
Can shake legs some more.
I’ve concluded: I need to do this more often – especially if all the heavy stuff like rice, diapers, milk powder and canned food all run out at the same time – and on those “some days” when I am too bone-tired to have to run about a supermarket!
More details:
The store comes to you at RedMart, with its large product selection of home essentials, same day delivery within 2-hour delivery windows (so you need only be home for 2 hours), free delivery on orders above $75, competitive prices and automatic reminders to restock. RedMart knows you have better things to do!
*Wanna shake legs shopping for grocery too? RedMart is offering readers of this blog a 10% discount on your first purchase! Simply check out with the code rm_mkao!*
Disclosure: The good folks at RedMart sponsored this post and gave me the opportunity to shake legs, drink a glass of Milo, and grocery-shop away online in the wee hours of the night. They were also kind enough to pick up the tab. All opinions and doctoring of the screen captures (yep, those with added emphasis and shout-outs; and also so you won’t know where I live!) are my own.
To celebrate Mother’s Day, I taught my children a simple song. They are to sing this every day, rain or shine. They are to sing it after every time-out and whenever they misbehave. Most importantly, they are to sing it every Mother’s Day. With gusto.
The Mama Song (to the tune of Row, row, row your boat)
Happy Mother’s Day to all you wonderful Mamas out there! You deserve to have your kids sing you this!
I’m officially jobless and paycheck-less.
I like my new title nonetheless. SAHM sounds like an important position, as in like “Oh, the GM is not free but you could speak to our SAHM, she directs all domestic operations here and makes all the executive decisions in the house”.
This February, I’m taking my own break before the kids exit from childcare. I’m gonna be staying home WITHOUT the kids for two weeks (SAHWKM, check that acronym out!). I badly need to catch up on some sleep.
I’m hoping to *finally* just sprawl, laze, watch tv and bake. And shake legs [colloquial phrase for doing nothing]. I’ve not done all of that for the longest time since a full-time day job and child rearing have consumed my entire being.
So excuse me while the SAHWKM go catch a nap. *Yawn*
P/S: Actually, I need to prepare my homeschooling resources and lesson materials, and get some exercise routine going on to lose the kilos I’ve put on since the first pregnancy in 2008. Really.
PP/S: I’m grateful for all the emails and comments to affirm my decision to stay home. Thank you for sending encouragement my way. ♥
Milestones and growing up Nat Kao Parenting 101 The real supermom
Free flow liquid gold
January 6, 2013I thought I’d do a little happy dance today and celebrate 321 days of breastfeeding my littlest.
That’s a hell load of unlimited, all-you-can-drink liquid carbohydrates, proteins, fats, antibodies and lymphocytes that’s on demand and FREE.
That’s 4 full feeds in the day and 6 snack feeds throughout the night, and a lot of running in and out of the nursing room if I’m at work. That’s also having to endure pain from itchy gums and 6 tiny teeth that’s bent on tugging and yanking.
And looking at this boy’s happy face, I don’t intend to stop. It’s been so fun being his milk machine.
Milk for you, yes Sir!
I still try to make the kids bento as often as I can. They are still not eating much and remain as picky as ever. But I am a persistent mother who would very much like to win this long drawn battle of wills at mealtimes.
These were prepped during Christmas. I taught them the song “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” one day and made them a little Rudolph with a cherry tomato nose. I used fried wantons (meat and shrimp dumplings) as his antlers.
I made these when my goddaughter came over for dinner some evenings ago. I used a little ketchup to make the rice a little orangey in colour and cut nori (seaweed) to make the tiger cubs’ stripes and ears. I used a craft punch for the mouth. The cubs sit on some baked chicken wings, tomato-scrambled eggs and broccoli.
And this was how I shaped rice just to get them to eat when we had some roast duck. The brownish black bit is the roast duck sauce.
The kids always prefer pasta to rice. For pasta meals, I would usually cookie-cut some cheddar cheese slices to add to their pasta. I tried to make the shape of a bone using flying fish roe some time ago but it was an epic failure.
Kids: Wow, look! Dogs! Mama, erm, but what’s that thing? (referring to the roe)
Me: It’s roe. The stuff you love in your sushi.
Kids: Oh yay! Pok pok pok! We like! (they refer to roe as that cos’ of the fun they have trying to bite into each one)
Didn’t connect to any “bone”.
Becks Kao Ben Kao Bento Attempts Milestones and growing up The Kao Kids The real supermom
Mealtime woes
December 7, 2012I’ve been busy making picture bentos for the kids for almost every meal they have at home, but it’s been quite futile.
They.are.still.not.eating. They just go “yay”, pick the bits they like and very much leave a large portion of the box untouched.
So every day I try, and hope that more gets finished today than yesterday. Very humbling for the mommy ego indeed.
Last weekend, my baby boy signed me up for a weightloss programme called “detoxification by gastric flu”.
The programme involved an intensive period of throwing up and diarrhea-ing, and taking nothing at all the whole day, except for the occasional sips of water.
It all began when Baby Nat first started having loose green stools and throwing up on Thursday, and fatherkao starting to feel unwell on Friday. I was trying to keep the house in order that evening, which was a mean feat with one adult down, and by Friday night after tucking the kids in bed, I was deciding if I should camp near the toilet for the night or bury my head in the toilet bowl permanently. By Saturday morning, the helper started to feel woozy too and by late afternoon, Becks also started having the runs. With the adults all down, a fussy infant and two tods needing attention, both fatherkao and I dialed 1800-CALL-A-MOM.
Help arrived in the form of a pint-sized woman who made sure that the older kids were fed, bathed and entertained, and the baby was taken care of; and more importantly, that the sickly big ones in the house were undisturbed. She patiently constructed Lego with the kids, read them story after story, sat next to them while they coloured their boredom away. She brought them to the playground when the sun came out and brushed their teeth, cleaned them up and tucked them in when the sun set. She cooed the baby and carried him all day long so that his fussing was minimal and I wouldn’t need to keep getting up to nurse the baby. Fatherkao and I slept in the whole of Saturday, and I felt as if I repaid a three-year sleep debt since Ben was born. I have not stayed in bed for so long ever since I brought my first baby home from the hospital.
On Sunday, I woke up to a house in order. My fridge was stocked with food and groceries, my children’s nails were cut, and my daughter’s hair was trimmed. The helper was also given instructions to prepare a nutritious meal of soup with fresh pomfret for lunch.
Will the real supermom please stand up?
More details:
This weightloss programme has helped me shed three kilos effectively. To sign up, simply head on down to any children’s clinic while the gastric flu season is on.
Milestones and growing up The Kao Kids The real supermom What to Expect... As a Mother
Bye bye sleep training, bring on co-sleeping
September 11, 2012The marriage bed has lost its sanctity. I thought I could preserve it, but alas. I have also officially lost the battle in sleep training.
Everyone’s now on our bed, in our room, every night; while fatherkao sleeps alone in the children’s room. So much for buying fancy bunk beds and cartoon bedsheets. For the kids, it’s not what they sleep on, but who they sleep with that matters.
So for a while now, we’re all sleeping in the master bedroom. Tuck-ins start at 9pm. Baby’s on my chest, Ben’s on my left and Becks is on my right. They fall asleep after a lot of nagging and threatening (of Mr Cane coming) from me.
We’ve managed to squeeze a toddler bed from IKEA and a toddler mattress on the floor in the master bedroom to accommodate everyone, so by 10pm when they all fall asleep, I shift everyone into position: Ben sleeps on the floor, Becks sleeps on the bed next to mine, and I sleep with the baby. Like this:
But with this arrangement, I shuttle around the room every night on a three hourly basis on good nights and an hourly basis on bad ones.
12am: Ben discovers he is alone on the floor. He gets up and cries. I awake (usually with great annoyance) and pat him to sleep in the little corner where his mattress is. On good nights, he sleeps through and gets over the fact the mother-presence is a metre away. On bad ones, he wakes up again and crawls onto the bed to search for my armpit and snuggles under it. Don’t ask me why. I think he feels very tucked in and safe under it.
2.39am: Baby Nat stirs and looks for the mother-presence, usually with his rooting reflex in full gear, ready to suckle for comfort. I indulge his bad, bad habit. Since going to infantcare, he has had the sniffles frequently and my heart has been broken so many times to see him ill. And so he suckles, left and right and right and left, all night long. And by the way, I do the moving from left to right and right to left – the baby doesn’t.
4.58am: Becks whines and asks for milk. Her night wakings have become less frequent, so on good nights she usually wakes up at this time to ask for milk. Some nights I ignore her and she falls asleep again. Some nights I roll over to her bed and hold her tight and speak to her in a soft voice telling her to wait till it’s “wakey wakey” time. Some nights she badgers till the baby wakes up and Ben starts stirring, and I do a shuttle run and make her milk at the fastest possible speed to stop her from crying the house down. Some nights she gives me hell even before this time with her night terror screams and I’m like running from one corner of the room to the other in a semi-conscious state making sure everyone is ok. During those nights, if they all wake up in shock and can’t go back to sleep, I gather everyone like a mother hen and we all huddle on the bed.
6.20am: Time for motherkao to wake up
My night duty applies for both weekdays and weekends. I’d thought if I delay tuck-ins a little later on weekends, the kids would probably be knocked out and not have me perform this running about in a groggy state, but boy was I wrong about that.
I’m severely sleep deprived. I’m so glad Kai Kai and Jia Jia are coming soon. I hear they are on a ten-year loan from China. Tis’ great cos’ for the next ten years of my life I will bring my kids to the zoo and teach them personification with illustrations: my mother is a panda.