Days of Our Week

It’s officially our one week and a few hours stay here in China so allow me to share with you how things were.

As many of you know, yaya Angel is here with us so we divided the work loads. She took charge cleaning almost all the dusty areas because i’m extraordinarily allergic to dust. When she’s done cleaning, I do the arranging or re-arranging. I did all the cooking for lunch and dinner. From the grocery, preparations and cooking itself. Beakfast is simple – bread, cereal, milk or fruit. We take turns in taking care of the kids and washing the clothes. The ironing we leave to Ayi, our local helper who works only on Sundays. We maintain her just so we have someone to contact incase we need some stuff that are not available in the market and of course, my ever supportive hubby wants me to have a rest day Yaya and I have a good partnership and I like how she does things, systematic and organized. She loves the kids too so I can trust her to take care of them as well. I truly pray God will grant her visa extension. Please include this item in your prayers.

We also have a pretty nice routine. I prepare Joey’s glass of Wheatgrass or water with Super C before he leaves for work and before bedtime. I sometimes take a bath with Meimei, swim with her in the tub. OR, sometimes yaya does it while I prepare for lunch. After lunch yaya washes the dishes and I watch English cartoons like Little Einsteins, Barney or Disneys with the kiddos. This is my way of bringing English learning as well. After that comes nap time. In the afternoon we swim, go to the playground, or right now, I’m blogging while they’re playing the keyboards. In a while I’ll prepare dinner. Usually Joey comes home at 7:30pm average, I reheat his dinner and dine with him. Yaya washes the dishes again and we, the 4 of us spend quality time. The problem is, it’s hard to end the night… Due to so much fun, laughter and giggles, it’s hard to put a halt to our togetherness. We end up sleeping the least – midnight! Meimei’s the first one to retire but when she hears her ahia’s laughter, she wakes up and join the fun as well! We say our bedtime prayer together too and EJ is well able to lead the prayer already. Oh, we also spend time chatting with Ama, and Angkong (thanks to Koko Gigi). Oh how we miss them…

Another part I like is our agreed bedtime schedule. To create balance, I have decided to have different kinds of bedtime schedules and everyone agreed to it: (Meimei showed her agreement by adjusting well to the first week run, hihi)

Monday – EJ with Ma and Pa, Meimei with Yaya (Meimei sleeps in the crib)
Tuesday – Girls and Boys ( Mama, Meimei and Yaya in 1 room, EJ and Papa in 1 room)
Weds & Thurs – 4 in 1 ( the 4 of us in 1 room )
Fri & Sat – Meimei with Ma and Pa, EJ with Yaya (EJ sleeps in his own bed)
Sunday – Ma and Pa’s Night ( the kids sleep with yaya )

Sunday night is designed for our time together as a couple. As early as now, the kids need to understand that Mama and Papa need sometime alone This is my way of letting my husband know that he is a priority in my life, that I have time for him. Just him. It’s funny because EJ asked me,

“Mom, what will you and papa do together in the room?” Hihihi…

My response? “We will watch a movie together and do something, but you can’t join us. It’s only for mama and papa.”

Knowing my son, you know that the next part is full of why’s and why nots! But I handled it pretty well since he left us alone when we locked the door. (wink)

By next week I may start with homeschooling Elisha for his English and Filipino lessons. I also might start exercising! My posture is way out of alignment and my belly’s growing sideways… Not nice.

Here are some photos of what I’ve cooked and I guarantee you, they’re yummilicious! (to my surprise they were! hihi) More photos in my Facebook account.

Sweet and Chili Dumplings

Pork and Kangkong Adobo

Vegetable Soup