Sandra blogs over at SANses.com, where she chronicles her life as a full-time working mother of two toddler boys. Once a fancy-free girl, life is now chock-ful of quips, questions, dinosaurs, trucks and trains.
From pregnancy to handling newborns and now facing two talkative toddlers, Sandra shares the joys and challenges of motherhood. Parenting, after all, is a road best travelled with good company and a healthy dose of humor and perspective! Her motto in life: Outsmart … or be outsmarted by the two boys!

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Life from a DINK to a FTWM… (That’s Double-Income-No-Kids and Full-Time-Working-Mom, if you are clueless.)

Apart from holding on to a full-time job, I also am a proud mama to two boys, Jayvon who is turning 5 in January and Xavier, my almost 2-year-old and expecting our third bundle of joy next year. Life is a flurry of dinosaurs, diggers and drums, coupled with spreadsheets, schedules and scribes.

I often get the question, “How do you do it?” which I am both amazed and grateful for. Amazed cos I don’t feel I have it altogether all the time, and grateful because I know I won’t be able to do it if not for the few important people in my life: My hubby, my family, my cheeky kids and my God. Here’re some of my tips on how I manage my life! “Octo-mummy” was a phrase I coined a few years back – referring to the many balls and roles we mummies juggle on a daily basis, like an octopus with its many legs!

Our evening routine

I send my older boy to a full-day childcare, while my little one goes to a Nursery. This ensures that the kids are kept well-entertained in the day while the hubs and I work. Of course this means that to me, my weekday nights becomes all the more important. Apart from our usual church commitments, we try to spend quality time with the kids, be it having a meal at one of our favourite family restaurants (Crystal Jade), running around the beach, painting, Play-doh, or simply just enjoying some chips together! This way, we also ensure we have sufficient time to bond with the kids. I also try to be as “offline” as I can during the evenings, and often, my work and emails (and yes, even blogging) happens when the kids are sound asleep! Of course, there are times when we need to work overtime, or there is work to be rushed, but other than these urgent moments, I try to keep my evenings free!

Couple-time

For our sanity’s sake, and to also help us remember that before the kids were, WE were first a unit! Haha! It doesn’t happen as often as we would like, but we try to squeeze in movie dates or leisurely sans-kids lunches once we are able to get some babysitters for the kids (also known as the Grandparents).

The God factor

As Christian parents, for us, it is important that we introduce the “God” factor into the lives of the kids. For us, this means attending church and cell group meetings regularly ourselves, and having our own walk with God (what better way than to lead by example) as well as praying with them regularly. I totally love it when Jay starts off his prayer with “Thank You God for a wonderful day…” and goes on to recount what a good time he had, be it some yummy homecooked food, or a good meal outside, or the chance to be at the playground that evening! Now Xav my almost-two-year-old with his very limited vocabulary is not able to pray aloud, but he sure enjoys saying “Amen” after our prayers!  Having the “God”-factor in our lives also mean that even when this parenting journey gets a tad overwhelming, we know we have Someone to lean on.

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Stay tuned for more tips from other Singapore mummy bloggers!

Tomorrow, we’ll end this Tips for Moms series with my post on How to stay sane and happy as a stay-home mom.

Check out Pauline’s Routine of a Mumpreneur shared last Friday!