My boy at 2.5

Alot has commented that Jayden has grown taller, speaks (argues) better and looks like his mother (thank god).

We used to worry about Jayden bumping his head onto the table top. Unknowingly, he is standing well above it now. Jayden has also been sleeping in his room when he turned 1. He scoots off to join his classmates after I dropped him at school. He nags about how long I take to dress up and even chooses what I wear. He will tell me he is sick so as to avoid attending school. He can also now tell me he needs to go to the toilet and pee like a man.

This is when I realized my boy is no longer a baby. (although he'll always be one to me)

Jayden has transformed to an intelligent boy. One that has a mind of his own, though a very stubborn one and a fiery temper to match. We are constantly struggling to guide our boy patiently. Teaching him the right values hoping that he will become a fine young man when he grows up.

It is an ongoing challenge for us as the boy sometimes refuses to relent. Hard tactic, soft tactic. We have tried it all. Many says it is due to the Terrible Twos phase. We certainly hope so!

Nonetheless, Jayden has brought to the family immerse joy whenever he cracks a cold joke. (He is such a cheeky boy!) He also provides never ending worries to us whenever he falls ill or have a bump on his head.

My precious son is 30 months now.

Mummy & Daddy loves you always.

Seoul in 5 days

I've come to realize that flying in the midnight hour is no child's play. Arriving at the destination at an unearthly hour with an atrocious line of crowd is not amusing at all.

Arrived at Incheon airport at 7:07 Seoul time = 6:07 Sg time!! *yawn yawn* Not enough sleep. And look at the maddening queue! I wished a rain would chase them away. -_-

The very "not-so-funny" driver told me we would reached the hotel in 30 mins. I dozed off shortly after and awoke 1.5 hours only to find myself still stuck in the streaming morning jam. "How long more do we need to get to the hotel?" I asked. "30 mins" said the driver.

I realized later that "30 mins" was the only English word he knew. At least I thought so. -_-

Stayed at the Intercon and the room was HUGE.

The subway in Seoul was like a labyrinth! With no time to lose, I had to carefully pick the "MUST GO" places to get the "MUST GET" things on my long long shopping list from friends and family.

So first, it was to Jamsil - where Lotte Mart is and the nearest Toys R Us store I could find. Yes, toys for my boy first. He is priority!

They have cashiers moulded like trains, so cute! In the end, I bought 2 sets of the same things - one for Jayden, the other for Ziv's coming birthday.

Next, to the famous Dongdaemon. Sadly, there was NOTHING I could buy. Perhaps with limited time, it wasn't wise to comb through the flea markets - in the freezing windy weather.

Myeong-dong, on the other hand was livelier. And that's where the beauty frenzy starts. BB cream, face masks, foot masks, whatever cream/gel/moouse that you can slap on your face at crazily affordable prices! I bought so many facial masks, people must be thinking that I have a serious skin problem!

When the fun ends, it's time for real work - meetings, late nights and lots of drinking over a sumptous spread of dinner. Cel made me felt worst by saying that she goes to the gym everyday. *stare*

Hot shabu shabu for lunch

Cherry blossoms on the way to work!

And cheers to Apple Soju!

See. Eating like this everyday, how not to put on weight ah. *stares at erupting tummy*

And the rest of the week were spent like a recycled routine. Wake up, rush for meetings, talk, eat, drink, then crawl back to hotel late at night to get 4 hours of sleep. And tomorrow starts again. Kind of reminded me of late night feedings. *shudders*

The loots!

4 baggages and 2 more at the airport. I had no idea how I managed to lug them home.

I have never been happier to be back home, in the familiar heat and my personal slave aka Dylan to help me carry my shopping bags. Tee hee hee...

Phone talk

When I was in Korea...

** Over the phone **

Jayden: "Mummy..."

Me: "Yes, baby. How are you?"

Jayden: "Mummy...I want surprise."

Mummy: "????!!!!! Ok. I've bought you a surprise but you need to be a good boy and get well ok"

Jayden: "Jayden good boy. No sick" (even though he was running a high fever at 39.6 degrees!!)

Mummy: "Remember to take your medicine and go to bed early ok"

Jayden: *cheeky giggles* "Ok mummy. Love you"

Mummy: *heart melts* "I love you too. Good night"

Jayden: "Good night"


At that instant, how I wish I could go back and attend to my sick boy. :(

Jayden's off school for the entire week. We reckoned he should get ample rest and not risk getting another viral infection.

Today's the third day and I'm praying hard my boy gets back to health again.

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!

There were 7 of them

... out of 11 that were borned in Feb & Mar and in an almost weekly sequence. So how can we commemorate this event?

Feb & Mar babies

Initially, we suggested to just do the usual dinner-at-a-restaurant. Subsequently, I started toying with the idea of having a mini space to ourselves with the kids running freely and not tied to the high chair.

So finally, we decided to have BBQ! And with everyone's food & drinks contribution, everything was well planned. Even weather was good! It was pouring the entire day but the rain stopped once it was time for us to set up the pit. Perfect!

Kids @ play, Men @ work. Where are the ladies?

Jayden had a great time with the kids, sand playing, eating lots of marshmellows and hotdogs. I enjoyed being hands-free most of the time other than binging on the yummy BBQ food. Thanks to everyone for making this possible.

I have a date

I cannot remember the last time we went out as a couple. Yes, just two of us without the third party. It used to be a weekly ritual but we realized that weekends are short and precious and hence preferred to spend it as a family.

And so to 'celebrate' the happy things that are going around us lately - Dylan getting a new job, me getting my bonus, I decided to plan something (because Mr Boring husband will not plan anything) to pamper ourselves for I think we truely deserved it.

The day started off with preparations in the morning. We were to whiz Jayden to my in-laws place as it's going to be a full day activity. Everything had to be planned seamlessly as no time should be wasted.


1115am - Dropped the Son at in-laws place (running late for 1130 appointment!)

1130am - Dashed to Cathay cineplex to get tickets for 2pm movie

1145am - Called Equinox and said will be late by 15 mins

1200pm - Brunch at Equinox


BRUNCH @ EQUINOX

Dylan and I were recalling the number of times we have been to Equinox - 3. And all 3 times were treated by me (smelly smelly stingy hubby! :p) First time, I was heavily pregnant with Jayden, 2nd time we brought Jayden along and told ourselves we'll never bring him again to buffets. And the 3rd time, we finally had some time to savour the good food.

There were heaps of fresh oysters, scallops, live prawns, crayfish, sashimi and my all time favourite saliva dripping FOIE GRAS.

Yummy food - munch munch munch!!!

MOVIE - THE CONFUCIUS

After a 2-hour calorie stuffing activity, we realized it was time to adjourn to our movie. I have always been a follower for English movies and will never watch a Mandarin show unless it has cinematic effects worth watching. The husband being a fan for military warfare, I compromised to watch "The Confucius" which proofed to be flat boring.

It was SO BORING, I told the man that we should have just caught a cold comedy instead and have a good laugh. Nonetheless, some quality time spent with each other is good too.


SPA ELEMENTS



And the finale of the day, would be to rest our tired body and have a good long-awaited knead at the spa. Alas, good times are always short-lived. And it was time to go back to pick the young man, who had been calling us all day and nagging over the phone to come home. -_-

Ahhhh....such a relaxing day to get lazy and fat together. We should do it more often.

Late nights are best spent... ...

... vege-ing in front of the telly with a good series of Hong Kong drama!

Not being a fan of olden dynasty dramas, I have left the CDs to dust for about a week. Cel would eagerly ask each time "So HAVE YOU WATCHED IT?", to which I would reply in embarrasment - Not yet.

So finally on Tuesday, I decided to watch it - Beyond the Realm of Conscience (宫心计）.

And what a blardy good show it was! *hands and feet up*

From the cast to the script to the intricate details of the costumes and jewellery, and the HAIR. It must have weighed a tonne to don that much stuff on your head!

I simply heart Susanna Kwan and Michelle Yim! They are the best bickering pair-up! I guess I got so used to watching both of them always at loggerheads that it would have been weird to see them being friendly with each other this time.

As what the title depicts, the show comprises of alot of conspiracy plots, back-stabbing within the royal palace. Besides, who doesn't like to see two pretty concubines or royal maid fighting with each other?

Go watch it if you are a TV buff. I know I'm pretty back-dated but it's still good stuff!