Baby Penelope's 1st BIRTHDAY

Our niece (Andy's cousin's daughter) celebrated her 1st birthday last weekend and I always love pink-themed parties and wish I have a daughter myself!

 Time to roll out the pink carpet for baby Penelope's birthday :)

 

 

The hostess with the moistest decked in Minnie polka-dot dress. Cute!

My Adam became so skinny after his food posioning and hospitalization episode while we were in Bali.

Outfit of the day:
Electric blue top: Mango MNG
Skinny jeans: Levis
Shoes: Charlotte Olympia Kitty flats (mega love for this pair as they are sooo comfy)
Bag: Hermes Lindy in Rouge Garance
Other accessories: Christian Dior tribal pearl earrings & Lovisa red necklace

 

 

 

 

It's been quite some time since I posted something personal instead of sponsored.

Thanks for dropping by and have a good day you all.

 

Uninterrupted time with the husband - our Friday date nights.

For a couple of months now, Adam has been requesting to have sleepovers at my in-laws' on Friday nights.

My condition is that he finishes his homework, and in exchange he gets to sleepover and play on my brother-in-law's iPad for a while before bed. (We did away with the iPad at home. Like totally.)

Andy & I get to go on dates on Friday evenings for a couple of hours before fetching Ashton home.

It is a dream arrangement for everybody.

I don't know how other couples do it, but even though it is only for a few hours on every Friday, this alone-time with the husband is much needed and works great for us.

Some time to ourselves without the kids getting into our hair. 

 

Tonight, we were at Akashi Japanese Restaurant for dinner.



Otoro (fatty tuna belly) and Uni (sea urchin).

The uni is sweet and delish!

 

Sukiyaki beef noodle set.

I'm in a white-tee-and-ripped-jeans phase right now.
White tee: Gap kids (it has a breast pocket which is so cute)
Ripped jeans: Mango
Orange beaded necklace: eBay
Shoes: Tory Burch wedges
Bag: Hermes Birkin 30

 

 When I got to my in-laws' after dinner, Adam was finishing the last two questions of his abacus homework without my prompting, both kids had been fed and bathed.

This is one of the better nights where everything is falling in place. Stellar moment when I walked through the door to see Adam beading his abacus. 

I swear, some days are so dark I don't even know how I made it out alive.

 

When I was little, or maybe in my teenage years, my Mum used to exclaim in exasperation "Wait till you become a mother!"

That was probably the most profound advice she's given me in all her life, and mine.

Wait till I become a mother. That's it.

I am a mum of two boys today, and have been mummy status for slightly over 5 years now.

Nobody has given me any advice about being a good mum.

Well, I know anyone can be a mother. But a good, terrific, nurturing and loving mum, now that's seriously tough shit.

 

I would think I'm faring OK on some days - the kids hardly get sick, I try to provide them the best nutrition I can afford, I am selective (fussy) about the toys I buy for them (safety first and reputable brands only please), and they don't watch DVDs other than those from Leap Frog.

I must be raising prodigies!

 

The not-so-ok days are those where I receive feedback from the teacher/ helper/ family member/ part of the village who's helping me raise my kids.

Feedback about how I'm not reading enough to Adam/ Ashton climbed on and flew off the coffee table and hurt himself/ both boys fighting/ child so-and-so did this and that, blah blah blah.

Feedback that make you worry about what you're doing wrongly or inadequately.

Feedback that make you cringe and wonder how your own offspring can be like that.

 

 

 Parenting is like taking two baby steps forward, and one step back.

You keep going and going and hopefully one day you look back at your grown-up kids and think you did an OK job after all.

Five years into this mothering job, I'm still absolutely clueless.

 

Adam is F I V E!

Our Adam turned 5 on 17 May. Oh wow. Our firstborn, five YEARS old.
I became a mum when I was 26 and have not looked back since.

Okay, I told a lie.

I look back all. the. freakin. time.

When the kids make me mad because they fight over the same toy despite having twin toys/ refuse to sleep no matter how long I pretend to sleep/ refuse to listen to instructions/ etc, I look back at my single days.

When I make the kids cry, I look back at what they have done, and what I have done.

When I see how tall the kids have grown, I look back at their baby photos.

 

 

Anyway, I digress.
On 16 May 2014 Friday, we were supposed to celebrate Adam's birthday in school with his teachers and friends.

It was raining on the fateful morning, and Ashton had to take a dump as we were leaving the house, making us late for Adam's party (Murphy's Law)!
 Adam started to get worried when all his friends were seated and waiting for his cake and his Daddy & Mummy weren't there! His kind teacher offered to call his Mummy and assured him we were on the way. Thankfully, we... managed to make it in the nick of time, cake, baby, camera and all.
All his friends and his teacher sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM and he was grinning from ear to ear. The kids enjoyed the cake and had 2nd servings.

Phew~!

 

On the day of Adam's actual birthdate, 17 May Saturday, our parents and siblings joined us at Peach Garden Thomson Plaza for a steamboat celebration.

Thanks to my friend Carrier who had kindly arranged everything for us, we were given a private room to enjoy away from the evening dining crowd.
And thanks to Aunty Angela, your restaurant service and food very naiseee!!

The epic 4-tier Pagoda steamboat only available at Peach Garden Thomson Plaza.
They were in the news HERE.

 

 

If you are wondering why Adam has 2 different theme cakes this year, well, that's because he is so fickle-minded and couldn't make up his mind.

One morning before I left for work, he told me he wanted a 3D Angry Birds cake with playable catapult and birds (!!!??!) That sent me into a frenzy and I emailed several home-bakers to find one who could accommodate my last-minute order.

That evening when I got home, he suddenly wanted Batman cake. And he didn't even like Batman before!

Long story short, in the end we went to Bengawan Solo at T3 Changi Airport to order his Batman and Spiderman cake.... *rolls eyes*

 

 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE.

I can't believe I've been your Mummy/ chauffeur/ cook/ handyman/ nurse for 5 YEARS. Not in an awe-struck kinda way, but more like Im-surprised-I-haven't-died-of-seizures-yet kind of way. Parenting is such a tough job, and you are both so different, but I promise to do my best son.

Do keep that sparkle in your lovely eyes, and as I say it every year, don't grow up too fast.