This Happy Mother's Day

Today is Happy Mother's Day*.

It's the one day of the year I'm supposed to be allowed to sleep in and be showered with gifts. Right? 

While I knew I probably wasn't going to get to sleep in, I didn't think my 9-year-old would be the one to cut my rest short. Nathan who is usually my latest-riser, was way too excited about the gift he made for me, and woke up around 6am. I could hear him moving around his room, then shortly after, he came into my room to check the weather forecast so he could get dressed for the day. That's when I knew he wasn't going back to sleep. A few minutes later, he was back in my room, standing in front of me with bright eyes and a big grin on his face. He handed me his hand-drawn card and asked me to watch his Keynote presentation about how I was the "Best mom ever". It included animated flames engulfing a picture of monkeys. My mind was a little foggy at that point; I wasn't really sure how it all connected.

Next up was Caleb. He came home from school with a Mother's Day card and gift on Friday. I asked if he could give it to me on Sunday, he told me "but today is Happy Mother's Day!" and proceeded to open my gift for me. It was a beaded keychain he made in class but I can't show you what it looks like because he's taken it to be his own key to unlock things around the house. This morning, he insisted on celebrating by opening his own market stall, which must have been a last minute addition to the plans because Andrew immediately disappeared downstairs, scrambling to make wares for Caleb to sell. Yes, we had to buy my Mother's Day breakfast from Caleb's stall. I had yellow jelly and chocolate chip cookies to go along with my tea.

Mia quietly and contentedly observed as her big brothers gave me their gifts and waited until I sat down at church to give me a gift of her own - a big, loud cry letting me know that she's not going to sleep quietly in Andrew's arms this week. So we sat in the cry room instead. She was nice and quiet there.

*according to Caleb, today is not "Mother's Day", it's "Happy Mother's Day". 

Futsal Finals

Nathan's futsal team had another fantastic regular season this year. They finished at the top of the ladder, undefeated, scoring 109 goals through the season (40 goals ahead of the next team). They were looking forward to finishing the futsal season with their finals games but due to weather and schedule logistics, those games were postponed until now.

The semi-final and grand final games were scheduled for the same day. If Nathan's team won the 4:30pm semi-finals, they would advance to the grand final at 7:10pm. It had been a couple months since the team played together and I secretly wondered how they would do. Would they remember how to play together? Would they play as well as they did during the regular season?

Before long, I had my answers. The team started the semi-final game off quite laid back, but soon they tightened up their game and in the end, they won 2-0. We had just enough time to go out and grab some dinner for the kids to refuel for the next game.

When we got back from dinner, we found out Nathan was going to play the grand final game against the Samurai Blue. They were our toughest competition during the regular season and I was seriously nervous at the possibility of our team losing. We couldn't make it to the end just to lose again! Right?!

Both teams warmed up. There was a little speech and then it was kick-off time. It was an intense game. Both teams fought so hard. You could tell towards the end of the game that everyone was getting tired - it was getting late. But in the end, Nathan's team won, 1-0.

As we made our way to the foyer for the awards presentation, one of the moms commented to our coach that all us parents were screaming like banshees on one side of the gym, and he just stood there calmly on the other side, watching. He simply told her: trust. He trusted the team to do their thing.

And rightly so! After all the hours he poured into this team over the past two years, he would know best what they were capable of and tonight, he trusted that they would come out on top as grand final champions.

Grow | 10 Things I Learned in April

As part of my aim to take the word GROW and see how it fits into my life this year, I'm ending each month with some reflections on things I've learned and different ways I've grown (or not).

Here are the 10 things I learned in April...

1. Sometimes, if you step back, have a little faith and let your kids do the work instead of stepping in and doing it for them, they will amaze you with what they can accomplish on their own.
2. Gold Class is awesome. Relaxing in those armchairs with my feet up was probably the best thing I did for myself during my third trimester. Having food delivered to our seats during the movie was pretty cool too. 
3. Watching a soccer game live is a thousand times more exciting than watching it on TV.
4. Nathan came about 24 hours after my water broke. Caleb came about 12 hours after my water broke. I totally expected my water to break and Baby #3 to come 6 hours after that but that's totally not how it happened. At all. People well tell you that things go faster the second and third time around but people are not always right.
5. Mia and I went out for the first time, two days after coming home from the hospital. We went to church in the morning, then I brought the 3 kids to the mall by myself to pick up a birthday present on the way to a birthday party Caleb was invited to. Fellow moms told me it was "incredible" that I was out and about already but in reality, I knew that if I didn't get out of the house that day, I would have just stayed cooped up inside for the rest of the week.
6. Two weeks later, I would spend an entire morning curled up in a ball on Nathan's bed (the only bed that gets the warm sunlight in the winter), shivering uncontrollably. That was my body's way of telling me to slow down. It turns out you really do need time to let your body recover after giving birth and getting right back into packing and running errands around the city is not part of the recovery plan.
7. I know I should spend more time purging and packing since Mia sleeps so well during the day, but I just want to stare at her beautiful face and play with her tiny fingers!
8. Being a mom of 3 requires a lot of energy.
9. The Café Grande ice cream by Connoisseur is basically everything a breastfeeding mom shouldn't be having, but it tastes so, so good. And it gives you a quick hit of "energy".
10. Ever so often, you'll make friends who really get you. I am lucky enough to have a bunch of those in my life.

Currently | April

Adjusting to life at home with three kids, each with different needs and demands.

Preparing myself mentally, physically and emotionally for the start of Term 2 - this is the beginning of the end.

Waking up before the sunrises on most days.

Rugging up. I can't believe just last week we had the air conditioning on. Now the temperatures have dropped to the low 20's and we're really feeling the chill.

Sorting through the stuff we've accumulated over the last 4 years.

Reminiscing on our time here in Brisbane as we pack away our things.

Getting rather agitated as I think about everything we're giving up to move back to Toronto.

Eating red velvet cupcakes from Coles because they're so moist and sinful, and somehow that makes things feel a little better.

Watching the NBA playoffs with Andrew and occasionally, the boys. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't wait to have a TV to watch sports on again.

Regretting booking our flight home. How did we get stuck at the back of the plane and have no accommodations for our overnight stopover in Korea?

Kicking myself for the days I don't get out of the house because I'm not taking advantage of the little time we have left here.

Introducing Baby Tsoi #3

Our sweet little girl is here! 

Mia Elizabeth Tsoi 

Born 15 April 2015 at 3:19pm. 

Mia made me work hard for her arrival but she's been an angel ever since. After two relatively peaceful nights in the hospital, we came home to two very excited big brothers who could not wait to hug her and kiss her, and fight over who was allowed to hold/touch/talk to her.

It took us an extra five days to decide on a name for our precious girl but she is so, so loved.