A day in the life of a 'single' mom

When Dylan mentioned that his new job would require him to be at work on most Saturdays, my heart sank. I wasn't ready to handle the son alone on a weekend, clean his poo, bathe & feed him all by myself, especially the poo part.

How can you manage the day to pass with a hyper-active boy that gets bored easily?

I am only thankful that I know how to drive, I have a car and Jayden does not scream and yell in the car seat which he used to do when he was an infant.

I am even more grateful that I have someone to even prepare meals for the both of us and keep the son entertained!

And so, we spent the afternoon at Dewi's place - home cooked food, the company of Chloe and free flow of endless conversations. Saturdays breezes by quite easily. :)

I brought a mini finger art pack for the kids to try. It turned out..... quite messy!! But I guess the kids had fun making colors.

It was a great time bonding with just the son. I am not sure how long I can tolerate being a Saturday SAHM but I'll keep telling myself that more work = more $$$ = better life for the family!!!

April in a nutshell

Everything happened so quick and fast!

First it was the business trip to Korea. Then followed by playdates, and birthday celebrations all happening in weekly sequence! I like it that weekends are packed with activities. We are seriously running out of ideas (and energy) to bring the kid out these days.

** AT THE YIP'S**

It was connivingly planned as a playdate at our abode for the kids. However, we had 6 bored adults in the house who needed serious entertainment other than watching soapy old drama serials on the tube.

But first, we needed the kids to take their afternoon nap. What reckoned to be a challenge proved to be such a breeze! I was pretty amazed that Jayden could actually go to sleep with all the action going on. I was even more impressed when Chloe and Bosco took their snooze as well.

Such perfect arrangement for us to start our MJ session. :D HUAT AH!

Potluck lunch at our house

It is oblivious why there aren't photos of the food and MJ sessions. Time is precious before the kiddos get up. 2 hours not even enough to finish 1 round!

Looking forward to such great afternoons again. :)

** 30th Birthday celebration for SY **

Dinner at Sweet Indulgence

Rachel picked the place for the birthday celebration for her hubby SY. We liked the idea that we had a quiet little area to ourselves. The restaurant even went the extra mile of serving juices and little desserts for the kiddos at no extra charge. Great service! :D

All dressed up in the birthday man's favourite color - BLUE

Making his wish - Look at Jayden thinking that it's his birthday too

After dinner, it was time to adjourn to Part 2 of the evening. With the opening of the RWS, our outings have succumb to 'unhealthy' (but very mind-entertaining) MJ sessions or blackjacks as well. Tsk tsk. We should go under-the-hot-sun-prawning soon eh?

** Birthday Celebration for Grandpa **

It was my dad's 56th birthday. I decided to give a treat only when we get to Bali. This was to break-away from the boring buffet treats in Singapore.

Nonetheless, we still had a simple dinner affair and durian feast with the rest of the family, very much to Jayden's delight despite our incessant nagging at his phlegmy cough.

We DIY-ed a cake from The Icing Room. Jayden gladly helped to pick the icing toppings as he knew he would get to eat them as well. The cake design turned out quite messy but Grandpa still love it.

And that pretty much sums up what went on in April. So looking forward to our retreat this week!

It's been a while...

... since I have some decent activities for the boy. Jayden is getting so active these days that I would rather spend the undisturbed time napping with him or simply just watching the tube.

Apparently, Good Friday happened to be the only long weekend left for the rest of 2010 (at least I heard), so time is precious. We need to get the son out of the house, before he tells his friends that his parents are boring people.

It was initially planned to be a JB-cum-seafood on Thursday evening. However, local report warned us not to get ourselves stucked in the crazy jam at customs. So the plan was scrapped. Unwavered, we decided to meet for Brunch instead the following day.

This time the Hengs and the Yips tried somewhere else - Hatched, quite akin to Easter Friday.

Boys looking at the kids menu

Yum yum yum. Too hungry to take more photos

We were pretty disappointed when the restaurant failed to serve the animal pancakes for the boys. Reason being they were too busy to 'shape' the animals on the pancake. It is quite irrelevant - then don't put it on the menu right?

Nonetheless, the boys had some great time together. I bought some Easter chocolates from Candy Empire in the spirit of Easter Day. Jayden painted an Easter egg at school but the clumsy boy broke it on the way home before he could show it to me. :(

And it was back home for the son to take his ritual nap. But the fun didn't end. The following day, Cel and I decided to bring the boys for a swim to get away from the heat!

It was Mac brekkie in the morning and off to the pool to splish splash!

Jayden and Ziv had so much fun. They literally 'swam' two laps with the help of the float of course. And Jayden managed to kick his way through most of it - so proud of him! :)

Boys in their 'penguin' suit

The day lasted pretty well until the boys started to snatch toys and got violent with each other. Cel and I just shook our heads. We knew it was time to seperate them aka naptime.

Indeed, Jayden had a long deep slumber. Must be all the kicking and fighting. Good workout actually.

And there goes the long weekend... Can't wait for the trip to Bali in May!

BRUNCH

Is a word I seldom use ever since we had a kid that wakes up earlier than your alarm clock.

But Cel & family has inspired me to do that more often. Of course, having brunch with good company is certainly more encouraging.

Cel suggested having brunch at this quaint place near Phoenix Park - Spruce over the weekend. Having our kids waking up at different hours always makes it tough to arrange a good timing. But nonetheless, Cel and I always make efforts to make every meetup possible. Anyway, we only need to pack the diaper bag and demand our slave driver to get us there pronto! We have since ditched the nightmare idea of single-handedly driving our kids around in the car.

The place was great, food was delectable. Loved the german sausages and banana pancakes!

And who can miss placing the two boys together.

Of course, we really didn't starve the boys. They had alot of pancakes and sausages. Whatever one eats, the other must follow as well. Monkey see, monkey do.

I couldn't help digging out the past photos of the boys sitting side-by-side. Jayden seemed more sociable back then - or rather prefer to irritate Ziv.

A little bit of something going on...

Not that we had alot of activities going on but blogging seemed to have taken the back seat when the year approaches to the end.

Just last Nov, we went to the zoo *AGAIN*. But this time with Dewi & family. Jayden simply loves animal watching and so we had to make the parental sacrifice.

Jayden has also started to accept Chloe whom he used to refuse saying hello to much less holding hands now!

And after much encouragement from Celeste, I decided to start baking again. I don't recall scoring badly in my Home Economics classes. Or it could be that I needed more practise now.

We woke up pretty early and brought the ingredients, tools and a very hungry stomach to Celeste's place and started baking.

I made a horrible mistake by putting ONE TABLESPOON of pandan paste when the recipe said one TEASPOON. *smack forehead*

And so my pandan chiffon batter looked like incredible hunk.

Celeste was nice to help me mix the ingredients. Noticed the 'surgery' hands in the photos. She didn't want to get her medicure scratched. Hehehe...

Because I halved all the ingredients thinking I could make 2 chiffon cakes instead of 1. It turned out like a donut - a very hard one too.

So for my first try, it was A FLOP. :(

Being very thoughtful (and perhaps have predicted my failure), Celeste prepared a set of ingredients beforehand and we made a coffee chiffon instead. "Must bring home something mah..." she said. And it did taste very yummy. :)

LC, if you're reading this, please don't laugh at me. :p

And we finally, or rather I, got the Xmas tree up at our place. Both father and son agreed to helped me put up the tree. In the end, Jayden only put up the star while Dylan put up one of the ornaments - it does not count ok! Our 3rd Xmas with the son this year. :)

I simply love the time of this year. Everything is so warm and fuzzy - time for celebrations, reminiscing and also getting fat!

Another Jayden and Ziv moment

What do you do when the 2 men in the house needs to be at work on a Saturday?

We made our own plans and had lots of fun!

So Celeste invited us to her place to swim. The weather was good. The place had a nice shelter so we didn't need sunblock. However, the water was COLD, very cold. And for someone like me who cannot tolerate coldness, it must have been mother instincts that made me determined to jump into the pool with Jayden.

Mummies, we're all ready to get wet!

Ok, we jump in together!

With the help of Celeste's float and self-timer, this photo was made possible.

And how did we manage to keep the boys occupied while the 2 mummies showered in peace???

Dancing to Hi-5

All the jumping and dancing must have zapped up his energy. Jayden had a long nap when we got home.

Thanks for inviting us over and the sumptuous lunch! :D