another new thread for chinese mums

[csa]

gong xi fa chai!

a new thread for a new year? (good idea yingers)

hope everyone had a good celebration this weekend. us? the closest celebration i got to was speaking to my family on new year's eve and hearing about their reunion dinner

Hi All. Back from 2 month holiday in Oz. Sigh! Had a wonderful wonderful time introducing DS to family and friends. My Dad emailed today saying how much Gong Gong and Por Por miss DS .... Sniff!

Good to hear that you are all well. Haven't read much of the thread as it is MASSIVE but hi there and welcome to the newcomers.

Back to work PT at the beginning of June and trying to psyche myself up for it! Sad to say that found out in Oz that legislation and maternity rights are worse than in the UK! Not much returning to work "part time" let along flexible working conditions. So guess I should count myself lucky? Hmmmm ...

Anyway DS is now mobile so had to proof the flat on first day back after 24 hour flight (included trip to Ikea which is never a good welcome back to London ....). Best be off so that he can crawl.

HB why would you want to come back to uk after being in oz? where abouts are your family living. we were in sydney for part of our honeymoon and could move there tomorrow!

i made DH go to ikea in croydon straight from the airport after his business trip for some bits and bobs that was so important at the time. then when we got home we never used the shelves we brought - he has never allowed me to forget that.

Hi everyone
Teacakes, I have been having computer problems and v busy which is why I havent replied to your questions. I really wish dh spoke to the children more in Chinese. I am sad that they arent more bilingual, though they are all proud of being Chinese, and can understand a bit. We hardly ever get back althou dh has been a couple of times. but we are all going this summer which is v exciting. Ds1 went two years ago, dd hasnt been since she was 2 (she is 11 today) and ds2 has never been. Luckily mil and sil came to visit us last year so that relationship is fressh and good, which will make it better than if they were virtual strangers! Dh has a HUGE extended family and last time the kids couldnt work out who was who!
On the racism thing, sadly dd came home 2 days ago with another incident, of a girl who she has to sit beside being very sneaky and for example holding a yellow pencil close to dd's arm, and laughing with her friends. Hard to prove anything of course. dd told the teacher but decided not to take it further this time. Its just so unpleasant. The school is so mixed, its great, and yet.....
Re the ethnic origin forms, I have always put 'other' if there is not a specific 'mixed race' option. Then I fill in the box and write 'Chinese/white'. Ds1 says he puts the same whn its required.
heybaby welcome back to UK! If you are in London, at least we are having lovely sunshine; enjoy it!

hi soyabean,
where abouts are your DH's family? i found this site the other day, which i thought was amusing, it lists all the family titles. i used to have such a problem when we went back to HK and had to stop my folks before we entered anywhere new to check what i should be calling my relations.

i feel for your daughter, it must make you so angry. kids can be so cruel, i never understood why people like making fun of others, it is beyond me.

now that we have moved to cambs, i am thinking about how DD will cope in a village school. still it can't be any harder than it was for me (hopefully)

have you been enjoying the sun today?

would help if i added the link
www.kwanfamily.info/familytitles/familytitle.html

Dh family are in Yunnan. The family titleas are so hard arent they. One of my English friends who had also studied Chinese used to tease that I had only married dh so that I could finally learn all the kinship terms...mil is one of 9 children so there are hundreds of rellies each with own form of address.

Dd is fine, has had a lovely birthday and doesnt seem to have let this girl bother her. She knows that basically this girl is mean to lots of people and will alwasy pick on some characteristic whether it is glasses, being fat, posh or whatever.

And I wouldnt want to worry you, on the whole the kids have been positive about being Chinese and other children are usually interested in learning Chinese words or trying out different food at our house etc.

The sun is wonderful and the temperature is perfect, lets hope it stays that way for the weekend! dd's party on Sun; we dont have a proper garden but it wd be nice if they cd be outside some of the time.

Hello and welcome teacakes. I was fairly newish to MN. Its great to see that there are more and more of us joining in!

Thank you for the link. In the last 20 years I would always have to ask someone how to address a relative!! I shall study it and get someone to test me! Have my sister and her DH and DS and DD staying over from HK. Has been pretty crowded. I am amazed how different our lives are!

Welcome Teacakes. Ta for the link - it will come in handy for addressing various rellies on b'day and xmas cards!

Fez - your baby mop romper suit had me in hysterics! Unfortunately we have carpet, wonder if someone will invent a baby hoover??

Soyabean - hope your DD had a fab party.

Thanks Snowmum, didnt get outside but the party went really well. Dh made noodles and veg and sweet Vietnamese sausage and they loved it. I managed to make a yummy lemon cake with Shengri kuaile on top. They decorated fans and watched a bit of Monkey, tho they didnt really follow it!

glad to hear that you had a nice party Soyabean. could i get those recipes from you, vietnamese sausages sound nice!

smorg how is your family vist going? have you been anywhere nice?

thanks for the welcome snowmum

wyls have you made any plans to keep you busy whilst your DH is away?

Teacakes The sausages are just the ones you can buy in Chinese shops, cant remember what they are called but round here always sold in a plastic bag with drawstring and ghanging from a hook.They are very sweet and fatty amd we just chop them up and fry them. Yummy but probably a millin calories per mouthful!

Hiya hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine. I had a mad week last week and hence havent been on here. DS was ill again and this time it's sore throat and was prescribed antibiotics and because of that nursery wouldnt take him last week.

Anyway he's better now but still coughing, dribbling and runny nose. When will this going to end??? I have now got a humidifier trying to help him to breath better at night and to help him with his cough. Any other suggestions are more then welcome. Btw, he's been ill/coughing/runny nose & everything else for 2 months now and hence i am desperate to make him feel better since the doc cannot/wouldnt give him anything.

As for my DH being away next weekend, i have just found out that i have a 1st birthday party to go to on the Sat so hopfully my weekend will go quite quickly.

How are u teacakes? Have you met anyone new from your village?

Heybaby, have you heard anymore about flexible working from your work?

Wyls - Thanks for asking - funnily enough I went in to see my manager yesterday and the other lady has actually left so I'm able to have one day at home but on an informal basis ... It's a step in the right direction anyway! Am very happy. Strange, but it actually felt quite nice resuming a bit of my old life again. I'm hoping that 3 days at work with 2 days at home with DS will be a nice balance. How are things with you?

Wyls - me again . Sorry to hear about your DS's illnesses. Does he go to swimming lessons at all? I am thinking of taking my DS but have heard that he will probably keep getting colds and ear infections?! But I figure he will pick these up from day care anyway. Has he passed it to you or DH yet? That's what seems to happen with us ....

Sorry - just keep reading down the thread a bit at a time ....

Teacakes - yes a lot of people have asked me this very question. Call it insanity or complete apathy ... :) We were only supposed to be here for 12 months initially but 5 years and 1 child later, here we are! Have to say though, with DS, the distance from family is very hard now. Before it was bearable but now I feel like I am depriving both him and them of a relationship. When we move back (?) we also want to go to Sydney (we are originally from Brisbane) - we visited Sydney on our last trip and it was LOVELY but property prices are very very expensive ...

Heybaby, glad to hear that you can work from home and believe me, it does make such a big difference. I am on the other hand is going into the office once a week and it's been working out fine. I actually quite like going into the office now, it's almost like a day out for me. ha ha

As for swimming lessons, well, we are signed up for it for this term but we havent been to 1 single lesson yet as my DS has been ill. I just dont want to risk it but I might take him this Sat as he seems to be getting better.

I think the humidifier is working cos he didnt cough once last night and slept through for the first time in ages!!!

He is in day care too but i dont think he is catching anything from there cos he's had the lot already.

I have a lot family in oz and would really like to go and visit one day. I am not sure if i can handle having DS on the plane for so long though. I might wait until he's a bit older.

hi wyls, admazingly managed to meet another mum in the next village, which is nice. have not met another mum in my village though, i cannot work people out,still trying to gauge if the village is friendly or not. how are you doing?

heybaby, have you got over the holiday blues yet? i know what you mean about 'missing family', all my extended family are in hong kong but at least my folks are in swansea (which is still 4hrs drive away). they still complain that i live too far away.

DH is very keen to go over to sydney for the cricket in jan. so we are thinking of popping over to hong kong too to see the extended family. i am very very apprehensive about the whole thing, travelling with DD who will then be 14 mths old. how are you supposed to manage their sleeping time? feeding? can you bring a pushchair on the plane? Any dos and donts anyone?

teacakes, did you guys move to cambridge for work?

oh, and sorry i haven't replied yet to your questions. have been feeling ill the past week. places in cambridge to go..... how old are your ds/dd?

hi teacakes, glad to hear that you have met another mum, that's a good start. You go girl!!!

I am doing ok. DS is a lot better this week with his health but he's not sleeping very well at all. He keeps waking up during the night and we dont know why. On top of that, he has decided to wake up at 545am every morning and have his 1st bottle and then go back to bed for another hour or so.

It's such a nightmare cos 1) we have to get up and do his milk and 2) we need to leave the house at about 730am for nursery and now i am always later.

I also feel bad that I have to dress and take him to nursery as soon as he's up. I just feel that I havent spend any time with him at all during the week.

So ladies, any ideas on why my DS is waking up early? He's obviously hungry but he has a big dinner and 8oz of milk before he goes to sleep so he cant be that hungry?

Fez, we moved to huntingdon area cos we wanted out of se london. also it was closer to DH family and still commutable to work for him.

DD is now 7mths and is getting very cute (if i do say so myself), she is looking so grown up.

we have still not managed to pop into cambridge yet, it is starting to become this mysterious city to me now.

wyls - could he be waking because the mornings are getting brighter earlier) - I find both mine tend to wake earlier in the summer and it's because of the light that gets into their rooms despite blackout blinds and curtains.

Hi Rojak, that could be the reason. I think i am going to try and make his room as dark as poss tonight and see ... thank you.

This is the weekend that my DH is away. Hope my DS will behave himself!!!

Btw, has anyone heard of sing and sign? Are they any good?

Hello Everyone!!!
New to the Chinese Mums thread. Like most of you, dh is white.
Are most of you in London? I live up North although I grew up in London before meeting dh whilst at uni.
There are very few Chinese people here so it's great to communicate with other chinese mums!

Welcome mummyofeb. where abouts are you from?