My first Meet-The-Parents Session

I still remember vividly how I reacted when I became a first time mummy. I would comb through books to help me decipher what my boy was trying to tell me amidst his cries.

I always thought that there as a fixed formula or at least an answer in those heaps of books to manage a crying and colicky baby.

I WAS SO WRONG.

There were several times when I would raise the white flag and conclude that I couldn't handle or understand my baby. I cringed at the thought that he would never get to sleep through the night or wean off the pacifier and eventually be diaper free. I was in constant worries that all these milestones are such impossible feats to achieve.

But amazingly, what seemed to be unattainable turned out to be a thing of a past. And just when I thought all my worries are over, out comes a new set of worries.

The week before school closes, we were to have a teachers-to-parents session to discuss about our son's development in school.

And this is what his English and Chinese teacher wrote in his report: -

"Jayden is a quiet boy. He respects people's properties and follows instructions. A shy boy that needs to be encouraged constantly"

My first question to the teacher was "Are you sure you got the right report?"

And the teacher looked at me weirdly as if I'm doubting my own son. Can't help it when your boy displays a split character at home and rattles non-stop beside your ears. It's hard to believe that he isn't the talkative sort.

Apart from that, the teacher also commented that he doesn't like art & craft sessions and will always look forward to play-time and story telling. I am disappointed to know that the son hasn't inherit any artistic genes from me and instead took the wholesome boring genes of his dad. Haha.

Also, the boy is adapting slower than his peers in terms of understanding numbers and alphabets, although he has no issues with shapes and colors. The teacher related to his late submission to the school which may require some time for Jayden to keep up. At that moment, I was already going through a mental list of enrichment classes while the teacher chants away on other issues that I wasn't hearing.

Am I worrying too early? Should I be preparing to send Jayden for enrichment classes when he's barely 3? Is there a book to tell me what to do?

All of a sudden, it dawned upon me that raising an infant was so much easier. He cries = he need milk or food or just need a cuddle and some nap. But now as a growing child, there is so much more I have to provide.

Will I do it right? For now, I have been trying to resume the bed-time stories instead of fictitious company like Barney & Friends.

Sundays are best spent

** BRUNCH @ SPRUCE **

The influence of having Sunday Brunch has spread to a wider audience.

When we couldn't find seats for 7 adults & 3 kids at Riders Cafe, we were unfaltered and so I introduced the gang to Spruce - all thanks to Cel for the recommendation.

We decided to have a go at their Eggs Benedict and we're madly in love with it now! Never knew eggs could be cooked in so many forms! Dylan loves their bread and the boy & I have a weakness for pancakes. We also like the idea that it has a mini playground to keep the kids entertained.

I told Jayden that we'll be going to a place where we had breakfast with Ziv the last time.

The boy instantly replied eagerly "The one with the playground correct?" Kids have AMAZING memory.

** BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION @ MACS **

After the hearty brunch, we went for a short shopping trip while Jayden took his snooze before heading to Charmaine's 7th birthday. The last time we met the birthday gal, she was only 4, cute and doesn't talk much. Now the gal can rattle a decent conversation and owns an iPhone. Gosh! Where is technology taking us?!

This is Jayden's first time attending a birthday celebration at a fast food restaurant. Of course, no complaints from the son since french fries and nuggets are on the list. The boy delightful chose his own food and amazingly gobbled everything up.

After the party ended, the boy asked "When is Mommy's birthday?" I hope he's not assuming that I'm going to hold my birthday at MacDonalds.

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!!!

Mother's Day

I know Mother's Day has long passed.

I have also come to realize that my blog posts about Jayden's progress have somewhat dwindled as the boy slowly approaches to his 3rd birthday.

Was looking through the photos on my iPhone when I came across the handicraft he made at school for Mother's Day. Although with the help from the teachers, it was the son's first artwork made specially for me.

The boy proudly presented his flower pot to me and planted a kiss on my cheek before saying "Mummy, I love you". That was enough to melt a mother's heart. Never mind the once late night feedings, never mind the constant tantrums, whining, crying, yelling, never mind the endless worries when he is sick, never mind the times he drove you up the wall with his tricks. For that moment, there was only love and a smile in my heart.

I never knew how one could take over control of your emotions. When he cries, your heart aches together with him, when he laughs, your mood gets uplifted instantly. When he achieves a milestone, you rejoiced in excitement like it was your own victory. And despite the many times he tried to push you away when he's angry, you would try every means to get back closer.


Love is boundless. Love is unconditional. And I know the Love will keep growing.

The retreat

It is hard to imagine that we've been back for almost a week.

Up till today, Jayden will tell us that he'll like to go back to the hotel, to watch the squirrels, to swim in the pool with the inflatable dolphin, to play sand at the beautiful beach and of course have his daily dosage of ice cream at the bar.

From there, I'm glad I can tell that he enjoyed the trip, not just with us, but also with his maternal grandparents. Well, it always seemed that in order to make a family trip seamlessly fruitful, alot of backend preparations needed to be done.

Travel checklist: -

1. Bringing adequate medication - you'll never know when you need it.
2. Milk and snacks - always essential for a growing child
3. Entertainment - what will I do without you portable DVD player!!!
4. Toys - quite redundant but necessary to make sand play more interesting

And despite Jayden being diaper-free in the day, the amount of luggage still turned out the same - weighing at 32kg, to which I asked the husband worriedly "Our baggage limit is 40kg right?"

Jayden very happy he has his own set of luggage to bring

Our flight got delayed by an hour. We arrived Bali around 8 and by the time we checked into the hotel, it was nearly 10pm. Good thing about staying in Club Med is they have food almost 24 hours of the day. And so we had a late snack before turning in for the 1st day.

The son behaved pretty well throughout the flight. Thank goodness for in-flight entertainment!

ZZzzzZzzzzzzzzzzZzzzzzzzzzzzzz till next day ... ... ... and waking up to this... ...

** DAY 2 in BALI **

That surely kicked up our appetite and everyone had a hearty breakfast before proceeding to the resort orientation.

** TOUR AROUND CLUB MED BALI **

Obviously, the son wasn't the least interested in the greens, the spa, the golf and archery course, the many other facilities and activities that the adults could do. He just wanted to get himself dirty at the beach.

That kept him busy while I scooted off to join the water aerobics at the pool. Come holiday also must do some exercise mah...

After all the morning dramas, it was time for the terror to take his nap. And guess what! It happened to be Mother's Day and so Dylan gave me the afternoon off while he brought Jayden back to the hotel to rest. Free times are so hard to come by these days! Must seize!

And so, I treated my parents for a 2-hour long full body massage. Ahhh... ... if holidays could last longer...

Eat, sleep, play - Such is life

** DAY 3 in BALI **

More water play

Before we came, I promised my dad that I would give him a birthday treat to some local delights instead of the usual boring buffets or zi char in Singapore.

And the epicurious daddy picked a place 1.5 hours drive away (and another 1.5 hours drive back!) from where we were staying. Apparently, the restaurant is very popular in Bali and so we had no problems getting private drivers to get us there.

@ Ubud - Dirty Duck Diner

Thankfully, the crispy duck lived up to his name and made the rocky and rainy trip worthwhile. Most important of all, I'm glad my dad enjoyed it.

** DAY 4 in BALI **

The only downside of travelling with mom was that she constantly needed to get out and about - which leaves us very little time spent in the resort and eventually defeats the purpose of coming to an intergrated getaway where your meals and activities are included.

According to her, Indonesia's green chilli are great spices and that she needed to get some. And so began our hunt for a wet market. It may seemed like an easy task but proved to be a challenge especially when it was a public holiday in Indonesia!! -_- Mom still insisted to go... ...

Lunch at Kuta

This was our last night in Bali. There were baking class for the kids, candy floss, popcorn station, and even a mini race track. We had a go at the baking class, making gingerbread man, funny faces and bears. Chef Jayden decided that flour was meant to be thrown in our face and made a mess. Overall, it was still good bonding time. :)

Last day @ Bali

Hard Rock Bali T-shirt for the boy and a matching Bintang beer singlets

** TIME TO GO HOME **

And finally our last day in Bali. Checked out at 11am and with nowhere to go, we went to Carrefour to buy some local snacks back home. That stash of goodies left us SGD60 poorer. They are now sitting in our cabinet, untouched, uneaten.

THANK YOU CLUB MED! WE'LL BE BACK AGAIN!!!

Labour Day Fiesta Part 2

Any later, this would be a Vesak Day post. After countless attempts to arrange for a meet-up with the group, Bon and I decided to meet up on our own instead.

Ahhh... ... hot hot shabu shabu on a wet and cold day. (Or at least I thought it was raining that day)

Thanks for the treat! We should do more of these next time!

Our long awaited retreat

In another 24 hours, we will be heading to Club Med Bali. I am looking forward as this would be my first, also Jayden's first holiday trip with his grandparents.

Another retreat that will crush my previous weeks of attempts to shed some weight. I am going to feast, drink and make merry to my heart's delight and then come back to face the fat issues later. *gulp*

Adios amigos!

A wife has to wear many hats

It's time to dish away the notion that a wife's job only involves around the 4 concrete walls of a kitchen.

These days, being a wife means you'll need to be able to don many hats. Not only do we have to work as an extra source of income to the family, be the food supply of your infant, the educator and disciplinarian to your child, the soul mate and companion of your husband and sometimes dress as a teaser to make yourself still look appealing to the man (ok I'm really joking about the last part), you'll soon be also needing to know how to replace the lightings in the house or fix a clogging toilet bowl.

There you have it. And we don't even get paid for being a Jane of all trades.

Why am I whining?

The husband has gone for a 3 days 2 night sales seminar at the Ritz and have left the task of single-handedly ferrying the son home and to school for the next 3 days. No big deal considering that I've done this a few times when he was in reservist.

Now, the brilliant husband must be thinking that his wife is also capable and knowledgable to decide on the appliances to buy for his parents currently-under-renovation kitchen. He has rendered me the task to get "the best but reasonably priced (which simply means cheap and very good) kitchen sink".

Sure. I can do it. Easy peasy.

So I dropped by SSC last evening.

Not wanting to sound like a noob, I asked confidently to the SA, "I need a kitchen sink".

"Any particular brands? One hole, two holes, gloss finish, matt finish? Ceramic or stainless steel finish? Tap integrated with the sink or over the counter?", the SA enquired helpfully.

I JUST NEED A BLARDY SINK. HOW COME THERE'RE SO MANY REQUIREMENTS ONE????

The many types of sinks to choose from

To ensure that I made the right choice, I called the busy husband. "Hello. So what kind of sink does your mom prefers?" To which the assuring husband reply "You decide." -_-

Cheapest is from China. Scratch that. Second is Australia. It even comes with free integrated chopping board and drainer. Old people like freebies right? I asked the friendly SA. She must be thinking I'm using my in-laws as an excuse to buy a sink.

Ini mini miny moe.

Finally, I decided on Reginox (from Holland) sink. Matt finish, less prone to scratches, deep basins. Ang mo brand cannot go wrong right?

After rounds of mind boggling to choose the 'perfect' sink, I proceeded to the cashier to confirm my order.

"Miss, so what kind of tap do you want to go with it? Mixer or non mixer? Short one, tall one sturdy one or thin one?

!!!!!????!!!!!!!!!!!!????!!!!!!!!!!!!????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??

The many types of taps to choose from

Luckily, taps only come in ONE color. I was pretty impressed that it took less than an hour to purchase the items. C warned beforehand that delivery is not included and that I would have to cash and carry home.

Thankfully, the showroom didn't have ready stocks and so they offered to deliver the items FOC. How do you expect me to hand carry those things in my stilettos?!?

I passed the receipt to my in-laws when I reached their place and explained on how I managed to decide on what sink was supposedly the best.

They nodded doubtfully and proceeded to ask, "So when are you going to get the cooker hob?"

Labour Day Fiesta 1

Well, the name says it all. Labour Day is meant to be a day when everyone should not be working. However, this year, Labour Day falls unconventionally on a Saturday, which doesn't really benefit the office hours people aka us.

With the recommendation from Rach, we wanted to check out the Riders Cafe. But to our dismay, the place is fully booked until Sunday 3pm (still have specific time wor!) Everyone is hungry on a Labour's Day.

Unwavered, I went online and check out the possible places for brunch. I will not succumb to Mac-boring-Donalds!

And so, we decided to go to Singapore Polo Club - a substitute from Riders Cafe and Jayden could still get to see the horses. To our delight, the place was practically empty and thus no reservations were required. Well, how can breakfast food go so wrong right?

Jayden was pretty apprehensive when he was told that we were going to see horses. We have no idea how the boy related them to dinosaurs and thought horses will eat him up. We were even more perplexed at how he related himself to a squirrel. (Note to self: No more Ice Age cartoons for the son. Barney is safer)

As expected, the boy enjoyed the horse watching. The food, on the contrary, was a total let-down. I ordered banana pancakes with berries and fruit compote. The name sounded so tantalizing but when served, it was only ONE pancake to share with the son, with no berries and dried compote that looked expired. Food bad, service horrible. It is little wonder why the place is empty.

We were later informed that the restaurant will be closed to the public from July onwards. With that kind of unappetizing food and service, we were more than happy to scratch the place from our brunch list.

We MUST check out Riders Cafe soon.

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!