Some CNY snapshots

Posing together with the paternal grandparents on the 1st day of the Snake year. Every year, we go to church on the 1st day of CNY, followed by visiting a stream of relatives. By the time we arrive home, it is dinner time. 

Day 2 of the Snake year. Back to mummy's hometown, in Ipoh. Josh playing with fireworks in front of maternal grandparents house.

Next door neighbour's open house on Day 7. Josh posing with the lion head. He enjoyed the lion dance but started trembling when the 'lion' came over to offer him an orange. 

Hubby and I took turns closing B's ears. B seemed ok with the lion dance, but then he was not standing very near them.

The baby is 1

My dearest Bryant,

You are 1 today.

The little baby of the family is growing up. Not much a baby anymore as you are progressing to your toddler stage. In fact, you have started toddling around about a month ago. What started as a wobbly step forward has progressed to 6-7 drunken steps :-), I know you still prefer to crawl as you can move around much faster. But don't your knees hurt, my dear?

Today, your daddy is not around to celebrate with you as he is working very hard overseas. Nevertheless, he misses you dearly and wishes he can plant a kiss on your cute puffy cheeks. To make up for your daddy's absence, mummy has arranged for a few close friends to celebrate with you. As soon as you wake up from your nap, we would be going downstairs to meet them. Mummy's friend has baked 63 mini birthday cupcakes, which have been arranged to spell your name. Your beloved koko is looking forward to blowing your candle (again)!

My dear baby boy. I know I have said it many times, but you are really cute! Cute, cute, cute. An overload of cuteness.

You are trying to talk. You babble a lot. All sorts of sounds come out of your little mouth. Your trademark is 'tekoi tekoi tekoi', thanks to your daddy who just simply babbled some baby language to you and it just stuck to your tongue. When you were 10 months plus, you started saying 'ba bai' when told to wave goodbye. And you have been calling 'ma ma', countless times. That is so sweet to my ears, my dear boy. And when you want to call someone or attract attention, you would say 'ah daaaaaaa' loudly. You say 'ba ba' many times too, but unlike 'ma ma', it is not directed at your father.

You love to point. With your cute little index finger. I am still trying to teach you to point to your head, tummy, eyes, nose, ears, mouth correctly but you don't seem to want to pay attention. Or mummy is a real bad teacher :-D

And you love to press buttons. You itchy little index finger is always pressing the forbidden switch, trying to switch on/off the electric point pad. Not to mention pressing the buttons on the table fan in your room.

Just like your brother, you love books. Your current favourites are 'lift the flap' books. I like to sit and watch your little fingers trying to lift the flap. This is something I really treasure as I know this valuable moments will soon pass. Books can occupy you for a longer time than toys and I am really proud of that. I hope your love for books continue to grow.

You love your big brother a lot. You will smile and laugh when you see him. Even though he can be rough to you, you love him nonetheless. And you have learnt to fend for yourself during your fights. Sometimes when koko doesn't bother you, you 'stir up trouble' by starting to hit him. You are a real naughty and cheeky one. No wonder koko calls you 'my cheeky baby'.

So my dear boy, mummy wishes you a Happy Birthday. My prayer is that our good Lord continue to bless and protect you. Keeping you safe all the time. And may happiness, health and the favour of the Lord always be upon you.

Mummy, daddy and koko love you dearly. And so do your grandparents, uncle and aunt.

With love,
Mummy

Staycation at Sentosa

Last month, to celebrate me turning 29, the hubs decided to bring us for a 3D2N staycation at Sentosa. Checked out a few hotels and finally booked a one bedroom villa at Amara.

Joshie as usual was besotted with the cake and sang a birthday song to me. After that, we used our forks and dug into the birthday cake just like that. Hehe, no need to cut since it's just amongst the three of us.

The bedroom and the living room are separated by a mini pool. That night, my little cheeky slept in a portable playpen provided by the hotel. No complains at all from him even though he can't fully stretch his long body.

The next day, we explored Sentosa, LOL. Walked up to Imbiah Lookout. Visited the insect and butterfly farm. Saw lots of Halloween decorations since Halloween was just a week away. That day, Josh learnt a new word - skeleton :) Hubby then decided to go on the Luge with Josh. Here is a picture of both of them with their helmets.

The best picture I could take of them going downhill. It wasn't very fast and the little cheeky enjoyed it.

In the evening, we relaxed in our mini pool before dinner.

Good time spent together as a family. However, we were disappointed with the hotel. The service and facilities were not what we would expect, from the price we paid. The main swimming pool was unimpressive, lousy spread of buffet breakfast, poor housekeeping and lots of mosquitoes swarming around!!! We will not go back there again.

His 3yo party in KL

I've been really lazy to write, so these pictures will have to do. Blame it on my lack of enthusiasm to blog or just blame it on the pregnancy hormones....=)

We had his party at the clubhouse in the gated community where we live. One very obvious difference that I noted was the punctuality of our guests. In Singapore, our first guests arrived a few minutes before the time noted on the invite. Within the next 20-30 minutes or so, about 80% of our guests had arrived. However, in KL, there was absolutely no guests present at the time stated. Our family even started and finished eating and still there was no one. I think our first guest only arrived 20 minutes later =)

Anyway, this was what we did while waiting for our guests to arrive.

Take a picture with my dear son in the playroom. As I am usually alone with him, I rarely get to snap a picture of the two of us. So here goes. A picture of Joshie and his 24 week preggars mommy.

And a family picture of the 3 of us which is also rare =)

We hired a balloonist cum clown and gave him the responsibility of entertaining the kids for 1 hour. So the adults got to chit chat =) It was also a good time for the hubs and I to catch up with friends whom we have not seen for a long time.

A group picture of the kids and us before the cake cutting ceremony. Most of the kids were our ex-students when the hubs and I taught Sunday School for 3 years before we moved down to Singapore. =)

Joshie had a blast opening his presents the next day. Thank you to all who came and made my boy v happy =)

His 3yo party in Singapore

Here are some snapshots from the party day.

Children listening attentively to the clown. He was really good, kept the children entertained, even the adults were laughing at his antics.

Surprise of the day. The clown brought a pet rabbit, Peanut Butter for the kids to pat. Needless to say, they were all thrilled.

Dora and Diego cupcakes. His current craze.

Blowing off his candles, surrounded by his little friends.

Good boy. Helping to clean up at the end of the party =)

Happy Birthday dearest son

You are now 3 years old. Time really flies and you are growing up so quickly. Slow down, son. We miss the baby in you although you are still baby-ish in most ways since we "manja' you a lot, especially mummy =)

Soon, you will be a big brother. I know it won't be easy on you as you have always had 100% of attention from us and your grandparents. So far, you have been really good, kissing mummy's tummy and saying "I love didi". I hope and pray that you and your brother will get along really well, apart from the usual sibling squabbles.

We pray that you will always be happy and healthy. We love you lots. May God always bless you and keep you safe.

Our 4th anniversary

One of my favourite pictures taken on our wedding night, 7/7/2007 at Renaissance KL.

As usual, we did not really celebrate! Wished each other and hubby was thoughtful enough to surprise me at lunch time with my favourite kuih :) Oh, and instead of fruits, we polished off a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice-cream for dessert. Bliss!

Thank you hubby for always being by my side through thick and thin. I love you =)

Lavish party pack

Gone are the days when party packs consists of balloons, whistles, party hats, face masks and candy. Kids nowadays are very very lucky. And I am seeing an increasing trend of lavish party packs. For Joshie's 2nd birthday last year, I gave out a very simple party pack comprising a box of raisins, a pack of Japanese animal biscuits, stickers and IKEA finger puppets. I guess this year I gotta be a bit more generous.

Two weeks ago, Joshie's schoolmate celebrated her 4th birthday in school. Besides the birthday cake and a wide array of pastries catered from Delifrance, her parents spent a lot on her friends. Each of them had a helium balloon.

And this was what came out from the party pack. A small box of color pencils, cloth face mask, cute stationary, a tub of playdough (not in picture), playdough shapes cutter, a whistle, a bottle of bubbles solution (also not in picture) and an apron.

Needless to say, Joshie was very very excited. The items in the party pack are all very useful and I think every kid was happy =) I'd better start sourcing for Joshie's party pack contents soon since his birthday is just 2 months away.

That afternoon, my boy took his nap with his helium balloon.

Double celebration

A belated post again. Cobwebs are growing on my blog and I better start to clean them, LOL!

Here's a picture of six very enthusiastic little bakers. An optional school programme whereby parents have to fork out $20 for the kids to attend the baking session held at another school. Normal price for a baking session would be $50 so that was very very worth it.

My son was the only child who refused to wear the hat.

Hard at work. Flattening the dough with a rolling pin.

According to teacher, they made the cookies from scratch. From mixing the butter, sugar, adding in the flour, rolling ad shaping the dough. My boy was one very excited baker.

And here's the end results.

Joshie's first Father's Day present for his beloved daddy!!!!

And the hubs also celebrated his birthday that weekend! Ordered a chocolate banana from Awfully Chocolate which was superb. We polished it off in 12 hours!!! Haha.........

As usual Joshie blew off the candle.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all mommies...........-big grin-

I received my first Mother's Day card from Joshie last Friday. He rushed out of the school door eagerly and passed me the card without wishing me anything! As usual, he proceeded to rummage my bag for food. Teacher Winnie then came up to him and asked "Joshie, have you wished mummy yet" to which he sheepishly replied "Happy Mother's Day".

The cheeky posing with his card. He kept telling me that he liked painting the card.

There's a little booklet of mother's day coupons that came with the card.

One of the coupons that I am entitled to redeem. I know Joshie will be delighted to help with the dishes. His idea of fun play since it involves water. But I'd think it means more headache for me......hahahaha. There were also other coupons like "one kiss", "one hug", "one dance", "read a book together", "breakfast in bed" etc etc.

Beautiful wedding in Penang

We attended a good friend's wedding in Penang about two weeks before Chinese New Year. The wedding was held at the newly refurbished Lone Pine Hotel, which is also the sister hotel of E&O.

This is the view of the wedding venue from our hotel room. Each room has a seaside view. We took this picture on the morning of the wedding day.

The wedding ceremony. And guess what? We were the latest.....shame on us. We only arrived towards the end of the ceremony. We thought the ceremony would start at 5pm. Thus, I went for my massage at 3:30pm and left the hubs and cheeky sleeping in the room. The hubs woke up at 4:30pm and walked to the window to draw the curtains. He was shocked when he saw the crowd gathered downstairs. Rushed to the spa to inform me and all 3 of us got ready as fast as we could. It was my fastest record! Got ready in less than 15 minutes for a wedding!!!!!

A picture taken with the handsome groom and his beautiful bride. Congratulations our dear friends. May God watch over you and bless you as you start your marriage life together =)

During the tea ceremony, cheeky roamed the beach on his own! Took off his shoes and walked barefooted. Beautiful sunset in the background.

After the tea ceremony, the guests headed to their respective tables for dinner. Look at our first dish - the Hot & Cold combination. Served in a tiffin carrier! Unique huh? The rest of the food was good too. Only downside was that the weather was hot. I didn't feel it that much as I was wearing a halter dress but the hubs was sweating and he wasn't even wearing a suit. Actually the seaside is quite breezy but the side flaps of the canopy blocked the wind from coming through.

We had a good time catching up with all our friends. We haven't seen some of them in ages, since graduation maybe. Weddings are always a good time for reunions huh?

The next day, cheeky woke up bright and early (before 8am) despite sleeping past 10pm the night before. We took the opportunity to go for a swim after breakfast before heading to the airport for our flight back to Singapore. It was a lil vacation for the cheeky who enjoyed himself thoroughly. As for the hubs, it was a good weekend getaway from his hectic work-life.

Cheeky at the kiddie table =) Stuffing himself silly with all the sugary cereal.

Happy CNY!

We are back in Singapore again today. Was in KL+Ipoh+Penang for a stretch of two whole weeks. Good holiday although we had some sleepless nights due to the fireworks. The fireworks at our place were really loud this year, and Joshie was rudely jolted up from his sleep. Of course he screamed and we had to take turns rushing to his bed to console him.

That aside, we had a real good time pigging out. It was mostly SLEEP+EAT! When we were in Penang, I never felt hungry at all. Gorged on the wide buffet spread at E&O Hotel for breakfast and thereafter to the hawkers centre for lunch + tea before having a proper chinese dinner.

There were lots of visitings and our schedule for the 1st day of CNY was really packed. Church in the morning followed by house visitings. By the time we reached home, it was over 6pm. The following days were better though. Joshie met a lot of relatives and friends and it took him quite a while to warm up. But after that, he'd play happily and refuse to go back.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. I am sure all of you had a good CNY celebration as well. Would like to wish all my readers a happy CNY and may the year of the rabbit bring you health, wealth and happiness!

Attending the wedding of daddy's best friend

Last weekend, we were back in KL to attend hubby's best friend's wedding. It was a very tiring affair, especially for hubby who had to travel to Ipoh twice! Nevertheless, it was also a very heartwarming moment, especially when we saw the two of them walking into the ballroom happily together as a married couple. Reminds me of my own wedding just three years ago! Anyway, here are some pictures that we took.

Joshie was so captivated with the fishes.

A picture with the bride in her beautiful red dress, bought by the groom.

Joshie slept at about 8:30pm, all the way till the dinner ended. I was surprised that he slept, but maybe he was tired coz he was coughing the night before and hence, did not have a good sleep.

Hubby and I with the newlyweds.

Birthday dinner with maternal grandparents

Since we were heading down to Ipoh, my parents did not come down to KL to celebrate their beloved grandson's birthday. On his actual birthday, we drove up to Ipoh. Feasted on some delicious hawker food for lunch at old town. My favourite coffee shop (the one with lots of mirrors, don't know the name) was closed so we ate next door. Had Ipoh Hor Fun and popiah. Joshie enjoyed his food too =)

For dinner, we headed to Akamomiji Japanese Restaurant which is located near Tesco. My father had pre-booked a private room and Joshie was running around the room happily.

Cheeky trying to pull the strings of my spaghetti-strapped outfit. He was giggling away and pulled even harder when I said "no".

Sorry, no pictures of the food. I really salute all you mummies out there who can snap pictures of the food when you have to entertain a demanding child. I think Joshie'd throw a tantrum if I were to take pictures of the food instead of giving him food! He gets all excited whenever food comes.

Overall, the food was just average only. Nothing to shout about.

Here's a picture of Joshie & I with my good friend Seow Yin and her bf! I invited them to join us for the dinner too as my visits to Ipoh are always short. So must make full use of the time I have.

And a family picture with my parents and brother.

Joshie's KL party

Lucky boy..............we threw him another party in KL just so that the grandparents can celebrate for him =) It was held at our Sierramas West clubhouse, 4 days shy of his actual 2nd birthday. The weather was perfect, not too hot and a bit windy, although we feared that it would actually rain. But thank God it didn't and I'm sure everyone, especially the kids had a blast.

A picture of my 2 year old toddler. I know I always say this, but let me say it again. TIME REALLY FLIES!!!!!! It seemed not too long ago that I was cradling a newborn in my arms and now, he's all grown up! Running and jumping around, independently feeding himself and behaving like a big boy. Although I wish he'd grow up faster so that I can have me ME time, I still miss the little baby that he was........hmnn, I am so muddle headed right?

OK, back to the party. Food was from Mangkuk Ayam Catering by Chef Peter Pang. Just google him in case you guys are interested. Think we paid RM28 per pax. All the guests commented that the food was delicious =) We had fried beehoon, fried rice, beef lasagna, kung poh sotong, curry chicken, some prawn dish, some roast meat....haha, I can't really remember what we ate. There was ais kacang, an assortment of cakes, mini tartlets and fruits for dessert though. Furthermore, FIL also bought spring rolls and two types of kuih to feed everyone!

I also hired an entertainer for the kids. He was really good with the balloon twisting and the kids kept crowding around him. I don't think he had a chance to eat, poor fella. If you are interested to hire him for your child's party, do get his details from me =) Besides balloon twisting, he also sang some songs and played simple games with the kids.

Here's a picture of all the kiddos in the playroom.

The playroom at our clubhouse was really good. There was a playhouse and other smaller items like tunnels, train tracks, and playgym equipment which are child friendly.

Oh, and this is the highlight of the evening. The birthday cake! An expensive one! It was hubby's idea to splurge on the cake =) Nice huh? Sesame Street themed cake, surrounded by Mickey & Friends cupcakes. Initially, I ordered a Winnie the Pooh cake, but since Joshie's recent love for Elmo, I decided to switch the theme. Unfortunately, the cake didn't taste that good, it was a marble butter cake. Tasted rather bland, or maybe it's supposed to be kid friendly? Not too sure about that but Joshie enjoyed it =)

Here's Joshie admiring his cake. He managed to blow off one candle and ah ma had to help him with the other one.

He received lots and lots of presents. Hubby says our house is too small to accomodate all his toys! =) Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone for the presents. So far, we've opened 1/3 of his presents for him to play with and he really likes them. And with the amount of presents that we have received, it's a miracle that there's not a single duplicate present. You guys are smart!!!!! Haha......

Joshie's birthday party

Yesterday, we had an early birthday celebration for Joshie at the clubhouse of our apartment. Invited his little friends and some of daddy's colleagues.

Here's a picture of Joshie with his two closest playmates, Rion and Oscar. The three of them have known each other for more than a year already.

The kids and parents being entertained by Professor Popcorn's magic show.

Birthday boy was asked to assist the professor.

And this is his birthday cake, specially made by Aunty Melinda.

Joshie attempting to blow the candles.

Stuffing themselves full with the birthday cake.