Parenting with Confidence – Series 2

Parenting with Confidence
A series of sharing sessions by Moms to Moms (Daddies included)

Being parents is no doubts one of life’s greatest joy. However, it is not without challenging moments. Hence at Joy Luck Club (JLC), we would like to bring together all parents to share the ups and downs of parenthood and at the same time creating a common platform to exchange tips, experiences and draw strength to go through this journey together.
Date : Saturday, 12th November 2011
Time : 2pm – 5pm
Topic : Parenting with Confidence Series 2 – Preparing for the Big Day
Finally the day has come to welcome your bundle of joy. However, no birth story is the same. While some go without any drama or challenges, others go through it with different medical interventions and may not according to expectation. Hence, it’s so important to have an open mind when it comes to labor, and most of all… keep the end result in mind – healthy mom and baby. We hope through this sharing session, we are able to share with you the different scenarios that could happen in the delivery suites and you walk out with a new confidence and “go with the flow” mindset.
Venue : Joy Luck Club #02-04 ONE Commonwealth, 1 Commonwealth Lane Singapore 149544
Fees : $7.00/person or $10.00/person inclusive of goodie bag & refreshment. (Strictly no admission
for children)
Session 1 : A special guest sharing session (2pm – 3pm)
Dr. Beh Suan Tiong M.B.B.S (S’pore), M.R.C.O.G (UK), F.A.M.S
Obstetrician & Gynaecologist – Beh’s Clinic for Women , #05-03 Thomson Medical Centre – http://www.drbeh.com.sg

Dr. Beh Suan Tiong has been in practice for over 18 years and bringing thousands of babies into this world. He will be here at JLC to share with all parents-to-be on how unpredictable labor process is and it is important to have an open mind and knowing on when to make decision when there is medical intervention needed such as pain killers, assisted delivery and C-section. He will share with us some birth stories and hopefully through his share of experiences, he would be able to give all of us a new insight on expectation and empower yourself with the practical information.

Session 2 : Reality Check (3pm – 4pm)
Birth Story sharing session
We will be having special guests of JLC parents who are willing to share their birth stories with you through different method of delivery. Debunk the myths and allay any fears as when we look back, it is definitely one of the most memorable stories in your life!

Discipline and time management
If you think that you can only teach discipline to elder kids, you might be in for a surprise.
Let’s hear it from one daddy with 6 children on how he instills discipline and time management to the household from early stage. Hope with this information, you could get a headstart on planning and preparing yourself to the task ahead and keep your sanity at bay.
Light Refreshment (4pm – 4.30pm)
Demo Session (4.30pm – 5.00pm) on what are the different ways to cloth and swaddle your newborn baby. Find out what’s needed and most importantly…how to wear it? Learn some tips on changing your newborn quickly and efficiently.
Join us on this workshop and wish you all the best in your parenting journey
Registration: Email us at hello@joyluckclub.com.sg or Call us at 66591280
Limited places available and it’s on first come first serve basis

We did it!

Last Saturday marked another milestone for Joy Luck Club vision – the success of our first parenting workshop which was held on 1st October 2011. The anticipation and anxiety of the preparation was all gone when the day came. When we started this club, we envisioned to launch a series of workshop based on the reality of parenting. Not to scare our sweet and enthusiastic new parents, rather, we hope to give them real insights into parenthood so they can be well prepared both mentally, emotionally and physically but most of all…we hope that one day when they are faced with some of the lowest point in parenthood, they know that they are not alone and it’s just simply a phase that they have to go through. Of course, there will always be a place where they could just simply drop by for a chat over a cup of milo with two moms who have been through all that and understand what they are going through.

The session kicked off with Mrs. Wong Boh Boi, our honorable guest speaker from Thomson ParentCraft Centre who did a roaring first session full of laughter, sharing, and loads of tips for our new parents. She even conducted an impromptu demo on our sweet 2-months old Sara who was cranky at that time, soothing her with her magical touch.  Mrs Wong demonstrated a few ways of carrying and soothing a crying baby, the monkey bar carrying position, single arm carry and a simple massage which brought little Sara to a complete silence.  She is truly a “baby whisperer” which she is famously known. She also went around the room and made everyone shared their moments, even daddies are not spared. We are forever grateful to her and should you still have not enough of her….you could always find her and join her Child Birth Education Classes or get her 3 books which she wrote (it’s almost like a parenting bible, let me tell you). You can call Thomson ParentCraft Centre at 6251 4090.

After the wonderful session by Mrs Wong, we adjourned for a simple lunch before coming back together for our next session.  It was also a time for mommies to get to know one another, made new friends and finding out the EDDs of one another.  You never need an ice breaker when you are a mommy, the common topic of children will just bring all the mommies together.

The first topic that we touched on for our second session was breastfeeding.  Like we always tell our mommies friends, no one said breastfeeding is tough but no one tells you it is easy.  Truly, we have two experienced mommies, Rina and Lydia sharing with us their breastfeeding journey.

Rina is a mother of three with her youngest child, Sara, birth just two months ago.  She breastfed all her three children and is quite a expert in terms of practical skills.  Lydia on the other hand is a first time mommy, her son Daniel is two months old too, coincidentally.  Both ladies spoke about their initial challenges and how they dealt with all these challenges when things did not happen the textbook ways.  Lydia shared how she managed to ‘sub’ out the feeding job to her other family members by letting Daniel feed on expressed breastmilk.  To be the sole person feeding a hungry new born is too tiring and overwhelming for a new mother.  We are glad things work out for her and she is still continuing with her breastfeeding journey.

Rina on the other hand shared tips on expressing breastmilk during working hours.  Most mommies are working nowadays and it is always a challenge to be still able to provide breastmilk for your baby while you are at work.  One participant, Jasmine shared that her office has no private room which can be used for expressing breastmilk that eventually, she gave up breastfeeding her first child.  This is a real problem for working mothers attempting to continue with breastfeeding their babies after they resume work.

The next topic that we moved on to was how to diaper your baby.  We are happy to have Abby from Moo Moo Kow to share with us the pros and cons of various diapering options we have nowadays and also how to avoid diaper rash.  Abby also did a simple demo on how to wrap a diaper and the participants were able to touch and feel the modern reusable diapers.

Finally, every new parent wants know what is the best way to carry their babies.  We were honored to have with us Pearline, a breastfeeding councilor as well as an expert who has taught thousands of mommies how to carry their babies to share with us different ways of carrying babies.  During this session, she shared valuable information on how babies should be carried, whether how we carry a new born will affect his growth and bone development.  She then went on to demo how to carry a baby using a ring sling, a stretchy wrap as well as a front carrier.  Donnie, her partner gave an interesting introduction to the front carrier and we thought through his humorous presentation, many parents were captivated.

The session ended with a lucky draw worth $100 each for three lucky winners, Jaslin, Joyce and Geethasri but everyone went home with a goodies bag filled with goodness from Joy Luck Club.  Another bonus for that day was a couple shot taken by our sponsor photographer from 2Jphotography for our participants.  Sweet memory and many thanks to Jocelin and Joe!

We can only conclude that everyone brought home some new skills and knowledge acquired.  This is what we envision it to be, an informal, get real kind of sharing session.  We hope the participants had fun, as much as we did.

Do look out for our next session which hopefully happen on the Saturday 12th November 2011.  Mark it at your diary and wait for our detail in the next 3 weeks.

 

 

Confidence Parenting – 1st October 2011

Finally, after months and months of preparation and so much thoughts,  we are ready to launch our first parenting sharing session.We know that parents are spoilt for workshops that are happening for most weekends so we put so much thoughts on how we could do it differently?

Well after we went through the parenting journey (twice!),  seriously, there is no such thing as 100% ready as we learn new things each and everyday!  So, we hope that we could do a series of sharing sessions that are conducted by parents for parents as we have been through that road and knew on what were the challenges that we faced and how did we overcome it?

So, in each session, we’ll invite a special guest speaker, someone who has gone through the journey and be able to share some inspiration and tips or two to all the parents.

So, do hope you could join us on our first session which will be held on Saturday 1st October 2011 starting from 11am – 2pm.

Me and Mrs. Wong at one of the D & D. She is one lady who knows how to inspire and empower others.

We are honoured to have our first special guest, Mrs. Wong Boh Boi, Assistant Director (Clinical)/Senior Lactation Consultant at Thomson Medical Centre who will come and share her own experience as mom.  I first knew Mrs. Wong 8 years ago as a student of hers in that sanity-saving Child Birth Education classes @ TMC.  Little I knew that by signing up for that class has brought me so much practical tips and knowledge that at the end help me to go through my early days of motherhood which were laced with challenges in breastfeeding,  fatigue, sleepless nights,insecurities  but most of all…doubts whether am I doing the right thing for the baby? did he have enough milk, am I capable to take care of my baby on my own??? Lucky,  I had my confidence and hubby’s greatest support in breastfeeding which has served my boy the goodness of breastmilk of 18 months! (thank you hubby & Mrs.Wong).  Do draw strength and encouragement from this session as it might save your sanity or the challenging first few months.

The second half of session, we’ll do more hands on and demonstration in which we will invite our own circle of positive mommies and daddies who are more than happy to share their journey and even more…their experience!  They will even bring their cute babies to show you that no matter the challenges and pitfall or even frustration that you will face, it’s all worth it! Because your bundle of joy is what matters most. We will be touching on some practical topics such as diapering method,  ways to carry your baby and our most favourite topic…breastfeeding with possibility of demo by a mom (daddies not able to see, sorry)!

We hope that through this sharing,  you will walk out of JLC with new confidence and assurance that no matter what happen,  you won’t feel alone and there will always be a word of wisdom or two to keep you going and knowing who to turn to when you are feeling unsure.

We will keep the group to 15 couples and we hope to see friendship blooming and sharing flowing. And what’s workshop without the fun?  We’ll cater some nice and simple lunch to share as well as special goodie bags & lucky draws and complimentary photo shoot session for you and hubby for you all!

So, do join us and register with us today.  Email us your detail to hello@joyluckclub.com.sg and hope to see you here!

Aelina – Joy Luck Club

Resident Mommies of JLC

It’s time for us to properly introduce ourselves to all of our lovely parents who have been so supportive of our little club of ours, Joy Luck Club.

We are just 2 ordinary mommies with ordinary lives who have extraordinary life experience that is….becoming a mom to our lovely kids.

So, why we bother to sink our life’s savings and taking such a big risk to plunge into a venture that many people say…are you sure about it???? and our answer has always been YES and we have never look back ever since.

Having been through the different challenges and the ups and downs of parenthood, we realized that sometimes what keeps us going is the support that we get from our friends and mommies alike.  As nobody understand mothers better than mothers themselves.  Mothers like to exchange tips,  share some information even to having tea & coffee to keep our sanity intact!  Not to mention to keep our social life active and vibrant. So we would like to create a parenting clubhouse where parents and parents-to-be could drop by for a chat and hopefully walk out as happier parents.

So, who are the “resident mothers” at JLC?  Here we are :

Allo, I’m Karen and I am (gosh, must we reveal age?), let’s just say I’m in my prime.  Motherhood was the last thing on my mind when I got married.  I was naive, I heard too many horror stories about childbirth, and looking at those kids running around in the malls certainly did not entice me to have my own.  Somehow, my perspective of life (and many other things) changed with the arrival of my first child, kds begin to look cuter and definitely adorable to me now.  I have two kids (7yo boy & 4 yo gal) and I am enjoying every moment watching them grow.  I left my job just before my son entered P1, partly to spend more time with them and also to evaluate my path ahead.  I was thrilled when my son’s bff’s mommy, Aelina approached me to join her in her business venture.  Her business plan excites me and here is where we are now.  I enjoy interacting with mommies, sharing their joys and all things motherhood.  Life is great.

Hi my name is Aelina,  I’m 36 years old mom of 2 kids (7 years old boy and 5 years old girl).  I never think myself to become mother, let alone enjoy being one!   Hence it surprised me when the moment I conceived my baby,  there is nothing I wanted to do more than just be with him and taking care of him. So I took 4 years off work force to be a Stay Home Mom of 2 wonderful kids (Boy 7 yo and Girl 5yo) and rejoined the workforce after that for another 3 years!  Being through all those different stages and modes of motherhood,  I understand the challenges that some of the new moms face and hope that we could offer some support to go through this journey together.  During my work at the maternity hospital allowed me to interact with parents-to-be and I can’t help to feel so happy and excited for them hence after much persuasion, me and my husband will have another project to do…hopefully a dragon baby 🙂 (wish me luck).

I’m also glad that I found a partner who has the same interest and passion and best of all our kids are best friends so weekends is always a party @ JLC.

I hope through JLC,  we are able to welcome any parents and parents-to-be and share this common platform and draw strength through this together.

Yes, please drop by for chat and coffee,…I always say to our visitors,  no obligation and there is NO need to buy anything but there will always be complimentary hot drinks and biscuits waiting for you 🙂 and let’s hear about your exciting journey of parenthood.

Aelina & Karen @ Joy Luck Club

Snug and sling

It has been a long while since I sling my gal, a good old two years I think.  Hence whenever I see babies coming into our showroom (especially in slings) I have the urge to beg the mommies to let me sling their darlings.  And I have done so, in 2 separate occasions.  Thanks to Rachel and Kim, who let me revive the snuggle with baby feeling.

See how cute she is, I love slinging 3 months old, they don’t struggle a lot and are quite happy to stay in front pouch positioning.

Look how happy he is : )  This one is a little challenging coz he knows what he wants and would not let me manipulate him.  But once you’re in my sling…..heh

This one, after much coaxing, finally allows me to sling her – my four year old gal.  Really miss that close to my body yet doesn’t weigh a ton feeling.

I have to say sling is my favourite way of carrying my babies then.  I can’t say its the best since I hadn’t try other carriers, maybe there are better ones out there which I have not been exposed to.  So, what’s yours??

Karen @ Joy Luck Club

School hols comes school hols passes

How soon, the 4 weeks of school holidays passed in the blink of an eye.  I swore yesterday felt like a school holiday but really, it was officially the first day of Term 3.  I didn’t even realised we have completed Term 2, are we approaching July already?

I must say this holiday must be the most enjoyable for our kids (Me & Aelina’s).  They spent a large part of their time at the shop, playing with each other……. on their individual ipad!  This is something the mommies failed to understand, why do you want to play with your own ipad when you can play with each other, but I guess that’s what kids’ play is all about nowadays.

We did, however, managed to sneak in a short getaway during week 3 and we drove ourselves to Genting Highlands in Malaysia.  Seriously, the last time I visited GH was more than a decade ago.  During that time, all you have up there was a lake with paddle boats, a choo choo train that went around the lake as well as the roller coaster, known as Cyclone today.

Genting Highlands is totally transformed, in my opinion, nothing looks familiar and I quite felt excited about the huge theme park and shopping mall they have there. We reached there at 2pm and after checking into our hotel, we explored a bit, the kids earmarked the rides they wished to try out the next day.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast at the hotel cafeteria, we made our way towards the outdoor theme park.  The kids had a field day trying out as many rides as permitted by their heights.  The more exciting rides require a min height of 122cm which my son fell short.  However, they do have quite a number of rides suitable for smaller children.  Their favourite ride would have to be the bumper car.  If I’m not wrong, they had 6 rounds of it!  We continued with the indoor area after dinner, by then, we were all bashed up.

Mommy couldn’t resist the shopping and made a quick run after dinner and to her surprise, they were giving out additional 10% discounts for purchases made after 10pm! And oh, for your info, the shops closed at 1am during the period we were there.

We left Genting Highlands the next day and made our way to visit my relatives.  This was actually where the fun began.  I have a total of 16 nieces and nephews in KL, minus the teenagers, I still  have around 10 of them who can play with my kids.  The 2 days at KL was a total chill out for me, I did not have to worry about my girl wanting to use the toilet or shower, she had 2 che ches looking after her.  Though it was only 2 short days, I could see the bonds forming between them and their cousins.  Son was so upset when we had to leave, he was in sorrow all the way until we reached Tuas!

Hubby asked me where would we want to go in December, I told him, anywhere is refreshing for them, but the real fun is probably my cousin’s place in KL. So yes, we will be returning in Dec, this time, we’re going to camp at the plantation with a fish pond and self built chalets around it.  It will be triple fun if R can come along, said T…awww.

karen @ Joy Luck Club

Housework – Boy VS Girl

Just a quick post on the funny thing that I encountered yesterday.

This also perhaps the answer to whether  female are genetically more neat and organized than boys? Is it in the DNA that we are destined to be better at housework or anything related to it?

Well, I had a very funny encounter yesterday when I told my kids to separate the clothes that they would need to pack for their overseas trip.

So, I gave them the list :

1. Going out clothes x 5 sets
2. Pajamas x 3 sets
3. Home clothes x 3 sets
4. 5 Underwear

So, off they went to the room and did it for a good 15 minutes.

I had a good laugh when I saw the end result :

The difference is so obvious

While the girl’s pile was so neatly stacked according to the categories, my boy just simply pile them up like a giant ball of clothing.

So, perhaps after all,  it is in the DNA that girls are destined to be better at housework?

Anyway, look at it in the positive way…it’s not a bad thing after all….It’s a life skill.

Aelina  @ Joy Luck Club

 

 

 

 

It’s Toothy Business

When I was young, I hated going to dentist and whatever related to dental matters. But surprisingly after becoming a mommy,  I became fascinated with anything to do with teeth!

We were sooooo excited when we saw that white bud on the gum of our baby that marks the beginning of the whole range of baby teeth.

That period will last for 4-5 years before they are reaching another stage of losing their teeth once more.

Final pic with the complete set of baby teeth

Well, we had that yesterday when my 6 years old girl lost her first baby tooth.  We went to dentist to have it extracted. What surprised us was that she did not cry or even flinched when the dentist did the extraction.  That made me really proud and at the same time I have gotten so emotional when the nurse presented me with her first baby tooth for safe keeping.  It just seems like yesterday when she had her first baby tooth and now she has lost it….My baby is no longer a baby!

Still look pretty....

Anyway after the dentist visits, she went on and on about how the tooth fairy would come and visit her and gave her money for her tooth.  Well, I didn’t have to bother about it when her older brother lost his first tooth,  I guess being a boy, he just “bo-chap” about all this fairy tale fantasy.

But being a girl,  she really believes on this whole thing about tooth fairy.  So, she carefully placed her tooth under her pillow before sleeping.  So, it’s now down to mommy’s job to do the magic.  Which, fortunately I remembered at 3am and searched through my wallet and grabbed the $2 there and quickly put it under her pillow and at the same time “collecting” her tooth.

The effort was rewarded when I heard her excitement in the morning,  “Mama!  Tooth Fairy really came and gave me $2.00 and she took my tooth away!”.  I can’t help to feel kind of proud that I could at least gave her this childhood fantasy.

But the moment was short-lived when she said, “But Emma’s tooth fairy gave her $50”.

Geezzz… I didn’t know that even tooth fairy has market rate these days…

Aelina @ Joy Luck Club

Mommy Master Chef Series

Ok, I admit, I’m a big sucker for cooking show. I can be glued to TLC, AFC,Star world just to drool and be inspired over Jamie Oliver, Master Chef Series, Nigella, Ramsey Kitchen’s kitchen creation and countless other cooking show. Their dishes look so polished and they made it seem so easy.

But in reality, sad to say I am an “edible” only cook which is regrettable as I love cooking so much! There are days when I feel the “jamie oliver/nigella’s” urge to cook something fancy and different just to be disappointed over the result. The steak is overcooked, the kitchen is in a mess over the half a day of cooking.

Anyway, today I only had about 1/2 hour to prepare lunch for me and my son. So, with that short time, I did the easiest dish, Garlic Fried Rice. This is the first time I cook such a simple Garlic Fried Rice as normally I cook more complicated version of fried rice that need more than 1/2 hour along with the accompanying condiments.

So, chop chop, stir fry and done….

The test came at lunch time when my most honest and no-nonsense judge ate it for his lunch.

His verdict : “Mama, it’s 400% nice” (gestured with 2 thumbs up and that toothless smile),
The end result : Clean sweep plate

So, I would say, it doesn’t matter that you can’t cook like Jamie Oliver/Nigella as long as you receive such a “high mark” from the judges that matters to you :-), and yes that made you feel like you are a Master Chef 🙂

Here is the recipe of 1/2 hour garlic fried rice :

Overnight cook rice (better as it will be dryer and cook better)
1 clove of Chop Garlic
Chop Spring Onion
Meat (either sausages/ham)
Eggs

Direction :

Fry Garlic until slightly brown
Add the meat and rice and fry slightly longer until brownish
Add some light soya sauce and fry some more
Dash of salt and pepper
Eggs and mix
Add Spring onion at the end

That’s all! and you have settled your lunch.

Now, let me think of other 1/2 hour dish….or if you have any to share?

Aelina @ JLC Kitchen

Just for fun : FAQs on Joy Luck Club

Well, from the moment we open our door to the public,  we always get curious questions by visitors on why we choose the name of our place as Joy Luck Club?

So, we thought of putting the answers to those frequently asked questions and hope it could satisfy your curiosity:

1. Q : Are you guys fans of  “Joy Luck Club” the book by Amy Tan?

A :  Yes yes yes!  It is one of the book that you could read it again and again and even after watching/ read the book, you could not help but to sympathized with those ladies on their hardship and in awe of their strength and determination.  Being Asian,  I think most of us could relate to their story in way or another.

2.  Q :  Why you choose the name “Joy Luck Club”?

A :  This name was conceived during our little discussion at the corner of Wendy’s at Holland V.  It was late and we were having a serious discussion on this important decision on how to name our little place.

Being mommies of 2 children each,  we embrace our parenting experience and enjoyed it fully.  Hence, we wanted this place to be a special and one of the kind in Singapore.  We want to create a place where parents could just drop by for a chat and share parenting stories (and yes,…without having to buy anything).  We also plan to do gathering for families and perhaps in the future to do workshops for parents. We will also source for products that we ourselves have used or will use and most important, we know how expensive having a baby is so we always look out for value for money items as there will be other needed investment for the baby’s future.

We hope to see friendship blooming,  conversation flowing, and hence that much needed support and fun to go through this journey called parenting.

We don’t want this place to be another business establishment, but it’s more a cozy place  just like when you are going to a friend’s place for a chat.

Hence,  Joy Luck Club it is! As we want this place to be where we could share our Joy and luck of being a parent and celebrate it with all of us at this little club of ours.

3.  Another favourite questions (ours too) :  Do you have mahjong session in the club just like in Joy Luck Club the movie?

A :  Well….ahem…..we do have the mahjong table already (currently to stock our goodies like milo & biscuits), what we need is 4 mommies to start the dice rolling ?  🙂 kidding..we are yet to check whether it’s allowed.  will keep you updated if we decide to do a session 🙂

Hope you had fun reading but for the full experience,  do drop by if you are in our area and there will always be a Hot milo/coffee waiting for you and of course…free flow of friendship and conversation 🙂

and yes…if you have any other questions to add to the above…bring it on 🙂

The 3 girls are mommies at difference stage of motherhood. Jace is a young mommy with a baby, while Luce is a mommy with school going kids and Cass is pregnant with her first baby. Although they are all in different stage of their motherhood, they have one thing in common, being a mom is what bind them together. Mothers could share and learn among each other and who will understand them better than mothers themselves?