The celebration

FINALLY.

After months of preparation, from combing the entire island of Singapore to find the perfect place, setting the theme, getting the partywares, the goodie bags, the invites, the co-ordination, the anxiety... it is FINALLY OVER.

Date: Sat, 18 Oct 08
Time: 3:30pm
Venue: Fidgets @ Turf City

Some of the contents of the goodie bag

All wrapped up and ready

The invites

Cupcakes to give away

The highlight of the event - 3kg cookie monster cake

All ready & set for the party

And what's a party without friends!

2 empty chairs reserved for baby Ziv & baby Max who went missing for the group shot.

Such a pity :(

Thankfully we managed to get a group shot with them. This is Ziv looking terrified because Jayden couldn't stop disturbing him from behind. Poor Ziv.

Baby Max and his parents.

Disclaimer: The one holding baby Giselle is not the mother. The mother went missing. (kidding)

With jie jie Sharmaine. Jayden couldn't stop taking his eyes off her!

Auntie Bon trying to 'kop' cookie monster away.

We managed to save cookie monster from her hands...

Family potrait with our toddler

With all his pressies unopened

Jayden received so many toys and ang baos!

Daddy & Mummy had fun ripping out the wrapping paper and unveiling what presents he got. In fact, we were more excited than the little one. There were so many exciting toys, but guess what he chose in the end?

** JAYDEN'S MESSAGE **

Dear Auntie, Uncles and my baby friends,

Thank you for sharing the joy with me on my 1 year old.

Thank you for your ang baos, presents and well wishers. I'm now a very rich boy and have lots of toys to play with that Mummy & Daddy can save on. :)

I will promise to be a good boy and let you carry me next time.

Till we meet again.

** MUMMY'S MESSAGE **

Special thanks to my friends who helped out during the day. We needed 3 cars to lug the presents & party stuff back!

Thanks Liv for the yummylicious cake that got everyone blown away.

It was an eventful day. Dylan and I reckoned that this would probably be the 1st and last attempt on preparing such a 'grand' event. Hehe...we'll see...

Let's look at the damage to our pockets.

Venue - $600

Food - $250

Partyware & Goodie bags - $50

His Birthday Suit - $100

The smile on his face when we told him we're gonna charge to his account...

PRICELESS

The day you turned 1

A journey back to memory lane...

TODAY is the day, 365 days ago, where I decided to induce Jayden 1 day before his EDD. Based on our gynae's prediction, we were expecting his arrival on the actual EDD 20-Oct but little did we know that after 12 hours of waiting, the little one decided to see the world a day earlier at 1934hrs.

The delivery experience was amazing. When I finally managed to push my baby out, I felt that I've 'emptied' my stomach.

And when I heard Jayden crying pitifully, my immediate panicky response was "Why is he crying?! Is he in pain?!" Of course I got laughed at my gynae and the nurses who told me that crying was good as it opens up his lungs and vocals. Silly mummy...

I can still remember the 1st moment I cradle you in my arms, your helpless mouth went straight to me for food and how serene you looked when you were fast asleep.

If I could walk thru those moments with you again, I would. All over and over again...

Your 1st day in the hospital tub

Celebrating your 1st month milestone

By the 2nd month, you were already a curious baby

And the 3rd month, you'll squeal in delight when it's bath time...

By the 4th month, you could roll over and hold your head steady

At 5 months, you had your 1st dip naked.

That's about the time you start to lose your baby fats & chubby cheeks

You love to flip the books & had your 1st taste of solids.

You also cut your 1st bottom tooth.

At 7 months, you can feed yourself. Your fav food is apple.

You can stand supported at 8 months

At 9 months, you smile lesser because mummy make you do silly things

At 10 months, you discovered where I keep my most precious undies

After months of trying, you finally hold your own bottle

And now at 12 months,

we decided to let you take over the
wheels from daddy (just kidding!)

At birth, you weighed 3.27kg as light as the feather and now 12 months later, you almost 9kg. Despite my arms ache everytime I carry you, I told myself that these are the only few moments that you'll allow me to carry.

** OUR MESSAGE TO OUR BABY **

Dear Jayden,

Please continue to grow strong, healthy & happy. Irregardless of which age you're at, please remember that Mummy & Daddy loves you very very much.

Mummy & Daddy has gone thru sleepless nights, agonising times to ensure that you're always safe & sound. But thru it all, we've always felt that it's more than worth it. We will always give you our best.

At times when we try to correct your wrongs, please don't hate us. We only do it out of our love because we want you to know what's good for you.

Happy Birthday baby Jayden!

Busy October

October only started to be a special month for Dylan and I when Jayden came along. And it has become our busiest month of the year, even surpassing the busy months when we did our house renovation or planning our wedding!

And since October was such a special month to us, we decided to celebrate every weekend of it!

1st weekend - 5th Oct

** JAYDEN'S LUNAR CELEBRATION **

The MIL insisted on celebrating his 1st birthday on his lunar age instead. And so we did. Totally clueless on the rituals, we dragged (I have to use dragged cause the poor fella was still sleeping) Jayden to the grandparents place in the early morning to offer prayers to the ancestors.

Marked his feet on 2 giant ang ku kwehs, stuffed the blur baby with mee suah, chicken drumstick and mushrooms and then made a cheap attempt to make him 'pick the items'.

Obviously, Jayden picked the calculator first (must be thinking it was a model of a mobile phone). Then money (good for you boy!), followed by book and lastly the pen. I have no inkling idea what the sequence meant as nobody explained to us. -_-

After that, we quickly whiz back home for the little one to catch a quick nap before the relatives came over to tear the house down.

A 2kg sesame street cake from Pine Garden

Happy & proud parents of the birthday boy

Having fun with one of his gifts

Posing with his pressies & ang baos

Jayden received ALOT of ang baos from the relatives. Dylan was still joking that at the rate that he's receiving, his son will be richer than Daddy in no time. Heh heh...

2nd weekend - 12 Oct

** DINNER @ SHANGRI-LA THE LINE **

Ever since Baby Bites (our dinner saviour) were wiped off the shelves, we couldn't find an alternative to keep Jayden busy while we gobble have our meals. And so, we gave him a bread stick off the buffet line. That only worked for a mere 2 mins before he started banging the bread stick in frustration and crushing it into pieces.

Nonetheless, we had an enjoyable & very guilty dinner with platters of sashimi, tender beef, pastas and countless chocolate cakes, durian puffs and ice-cream. And this was the day that Jayden tried every bit of what we had too!

What's up for the 3rd week?

** Jayden's official 1 year old party!!! **

2 weeks before 1

Yes...my little terrorist will officially become 1 in 2 weeks time. Which means, I'll have to upgrade his milk soon, no more FREE access to most playgyms, no more an infant, no more counting his age by months, it'll be 1 year something... GOSH. Am I starting to miss the innocent, non-defiant baby I once knew?

Look at how much he has grown!

At least the swim suit doesn't look so oversized anymore.

And the lazy bum can finally hold his own bottle

He still loves the water

Barney became his favourite ride

And despite all the growing up, he still can fit into his infant cap

I have thrown the milestone checklist out of the window since Jayden was 6 months. I guess as long as the little one is growing healthily and crawling all over the place, the milestone achieved is just an extra bonus to brighten up my day.

The little things he does to amuse me nowadays: -

1) Waving bye-bye enthusiastically whenever he sees a bus goes by

2) Whistles when you ask "Where's the bird?"

3) Touches the nose when you ask "Where's bear bear's nose?"

4) Lifts your hands away from your face when you ask "Where's Mummy?" and then put's your hands back to play it again.

5) Claps whenever he stands from sitting position without support

6) Growls like a little bear

7) Throws his hankie when you're unaware and chuckles because you can't catch him

8) And lastly that special moment I witness his 1st baby step.

I nearly teared. My baby is going to walk soon. And soon, he doesn't need me to carry him anymore. I will surely miss that special bonding and closeness.

A baby is just like your customer...

... cause they are never WRONG.


1) You blame the restaurant when the food is lousy, but you'll only blame on your cooking when your baby doesn't eats

2) You blame on the milk when your baby's not drinking

3) You blame on your lack of understanding when your baby throws a tantrum

4) You'll still blame yourself for neglecting when your baby falls down despite several warnings

5) You blame yourself when your baby lose weight

These are just about the little things that mothers are constantly worrying themselves with. And I've been blaming myself ever since Jayden's milk/food intake dropped drastically from the last time he recovered.

He used to be able to polish up a bowl full of porridge / 180ml of milk within minutes. But nowadays, it's a TORTURE to feed him. His milk intake has dropped to a pathetic 120ml/feed. That is a normal intake for a 3 month old!! Thereafter, I can only coax him to swallow another 30ml thru cereal. Porridge feeding involves another round of singing, clapping, dancing before he takes HALF a bowl.

What has happened to the little one?! Is he starting to get fussy? Or could it be my cooking? The milk? The environment? I cannot imagine when he enters the Terrible Twos. Nowadays, he's already rejecting all forms of coaxing. And it's driving me nuts!

What happened to the innocent cooing & ignorant infant?

Sidenote....

Jayden's breath has started to smell also ever since he started on solids. Even brushing his teeth regularly is not helping. I only recongnized how terrible it smelt when he slobbered me in his kisses in the morning. YYUUUCCKS but so sweet too. hahaha... I miss the milky baby breath. :(