Meena's Birthday Celebration 2009

29 OCT 2009 Thursday night at Marche, Vivo City.
This time, we made a point to leave our men and babies at home and just have a well-deserved Girls' Night Out to celebrate Aunty Meena's birthday.

Chris, Charm & I arrived first so we went to find a secluded spot.

The aunty then arrived.



Charm's story: "Eh aunty, I kena retrenched today... because I was late for work again and now I have to leave early to meet you".


"You wanna see my barang barang from work??"


What's inside??


a pleasant Surprise!!





We made Meena wear this bib throughout the dinner and walk around Marche wearing it.. Some friends we are :P


Things we bought her: Stencils for making Xmas cookies for us and doggies.


3-tier stand for displaying her bakery when she has friends over.


More kitchen items...


And a special Birthday cake which Chris baked.. "Let her eat cake" !!



Our Food:






'cuse us, too hungry to bother about etiquette already.


"Cheeeezzzzz"


Make a wish...

Holy cow!

It was a wonderful night.
When I look at myself in retrospeck, I just want to laugh out loud at my once callous and extravagant ways, and like what Meena says, she "heaves a huge sigh of relief".
I'm really lucky for friends like them. We've come a long way to have our friendship where it is today.

Thank you, babes, for:
- the milkbones in bulk (the good ol' doggone days)
- cheap dogfood lobangs
- the many outings to Pet Movers (dog poo land mines)
- being there for my wedding and handmaking my ring pillow
- being the 1st people to play with Baby Kai's dickie when he was born (!!!)
- giving me shocks and palpitations nearly all the time (esp Charmaine)
- chipping in and helping me with Baby Kai's Full Month shower (Chris baking 2 HUGEASS boxes of cupcakes)
- talking about babies, BFding, pooping patterns and colic
- our insane shoppings and girly gatherings (whipped cream party, fondue buffet, festivities, birthdays)
- getting "our cbs stripped by stangers" (Only Meena will say something like that!!)

Oh my, will our list ever exhaust??
What a wonderful experience it is to share these life journeys with my gals.
I cant ever ask for more. Therefore, I wanna say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEENA!" AUNTIES FOREVER!!

Stuck!

Once Baby Kai has acquired a new skill, he would keep repeating it.
He has learned how to roll, so his free time is spent rolling and rolling. In fact, he rolls over better than the dogs do it!

Today I'm on sick leave. I had the runs and it's really not easy to have to look after a baby when you are sick.
I left Baby Kai in his cot because there are few occasions where he nearly rolled off the bed!
And I happily went about doing the chores of washing his bottles and preparing his cereal in the kitchen when I heard him yell..
When I rushed into the room, there he was, his both legs stuck in between the grills of his cot and he couldnt roll back.

I dont know whether to laugh or to cry..

Penguin Daddy

This evening, Andy came to fetch me from work and this was our conversation in the car:

Andy: Hon, dinner is ready, but only have meat and fish.. no veggie.
Me: How come no veggie?? (Im a green-lover)
Andy: Today mon-mon didnt sleep the whole day, so no time to cook.
Me: Wah didnt sleep whole day ah.. He very naughty hor?
Andy: I wouldnt call that naughty. Please dont say that about Baby.
Me: Erm ok.. Wah, he very wakeful, alert and attentive hor?

It feels good to have a switch in roles for a change :)

P.S. I'm really proud of Andy for being a proactive Dad. These days when I leave for work, he takes over the Morning feeds and sets up Baby A's bath before going to work.
When I come home in the noons (I mostly knock off at 2.30pm), I look after Baby A and we both go and fetch Daddy A home after he knocks off in the evenings.
Therefore, at least one parent is around at staggered timings to play the parenting role.
Baby A is our responsibility, not our parents', and our approach to parenting is that we want to be around to nurture him as much as we can.

I'll take it!

We decided to trade in our manual car for something else (read: idiot-proof).
The VW Golf GTI - hardly the make of a family car, but I'll take it!

My new car:

in my fav Candy White color somemore.

(photos courtesy of google. This is a prototype photo. Mine is still being shipped over from Germany, ETA Mid-Nov.)

Q: What's special about GTI?
A: I like the reversing camera and LCD display for parking goondus like me, the electronic seats control for lazy people like me, the Sunroof for my darling Baby A, hatchback boot for the 2 dogs, and most important of all, Auto transmission for kayu drivers like me. Kinda tired to drive Manual liao.. And leather seats, as compared to alcantara bucket seats (which our previous car had), make it easier to clean up baby food and milk!

Can't wait for it to arrive :)

Deepavali 2009

SUNDAY 25 Oct 2009
Deepavali Lunch at Meenas's.

This Charm very sampat.. Muruku photos also must take... Alamak
But I admit, thats's ALOT of hard work!


Can you tell these are our leftovers? Meena was so generous to cook so much for us :D

Playing in the kitchen - Charm's showing off her 2mths preggy tummy.

Hubby & I.

Desserts time - Charm devouring the Gula Melaka agar agar.



The hosts

Isabelle the feisty woman.


Tinkerbelle the one with lots of kisses to go around.

Thank you Aunty Meena for cooking us yet another sumptious meal!

PS. We're going to Marche this Thursday for Meena's belated Birthday dinner. Girls Night Out only.. No boys allowed.. Therefore, Andy & Adam not allowed. Zzzzzz..

Grand Aunt

Aunt LY comes over during her free time to help Andy's mum babysit Baby A.


She sings to him...


plays with him...

and talks to him...

She is a godsend.


A random photo at home which Daddy A captured of Baby A playing with his saliva.

Recent going-ons.

Met up with my babes Charmaine & Chris (and our respective men plus babies) and had a dandy good dinner at Swensen's ION.
I would like to comment that the Nursing Room @ ION is 6-star with its Pigeon warmer, hot & lukewarm water dispenser, chair, changing station and air-humidifier! *loves*


Talk about multi-tasking!


Dinner was great. We had a good time catching up and discussing Exersaucers, Haenim play yard and feeding.

Time for dear Charm & KW to start their training for their Dragon baby.
PS. Kaikai is available for your kind babysitting services!







Nat looking sweet as candy in her pinky frock. Makes me want a daughter as well!


Thanks babes for the great company!
I'll be meeting Charmaine next weekend to check ourselves in for a day of girl-time and full-grooming. We'll be going to get our lashes extended and go for my 1st Brazilian Wax in 6 mths!
Yes it's gonna be 6 mths like what the Strip therapist advised me, can you believe it?? YAY!

Oh, Kaikai just turned 5 months young on Saturday! Happy one-month-older!

Apathatic

I've learned to become like my dearest Charmaine - to treat work nonchalantly and be a Drama Queen.
These days, I just go to work without a care and knock off on the dot so that I can race home to see my precious Baby Kai.
When Im not feeling up to it, I take MC and leave.

When you have a baby, all your priorities shift and you notice what a fool you have been for having taken your job once so seriously.
What was once your driving force for everything suddenly seems like nothing at all.
I am such a changed person now. But most importantly, with this new found nonchalance, I am a happier person.

I realised that when you are a Drama Mama at work, make noise and demand to have your rights, your boss and colleagues suddenly become cautious of you and they sort of accept your crazy behaviour because they kinda "expected" shit coming from you.
Then you become more and more withdrawn from the responsibilities because they doubt they can rely on you anymore. (Read: less stress)

But who cares? really...
You can always go back to work but you cant go back to their childhood.

Family Photoshoot

Looking snazzy in a shirt and bow tie.
We were bringing him to our family photoshoot and poor boy waited for us adults to get ready till he started blowing bubbles with his saliva and looking bored!
Luckily he was generally well behaved and didnt scream or cry and the photoshoot was over before we knew it!
All the makeup aunties and staff at the Studio adored him and took turns carrying him while I was getting my makeup touched up :)

Double take!

Andy's folks came over with us to my parents' one afternoon and the Grandparents were discussing among themselves how much Baby Kai looks like Andy & I when we were babies. My parents said Kai looks exactly like me when I was a baby. "No lah, Kai Kai looks like Andy when he was a baby" Andy's parents claimed.
Both sets of parents have photos to back their claims. See for yourself, what do you think??
.
.
Daddy as a Baby:


Baby Kai:
it must be in the DNA to open his mouth and give an expression like his Daddy 2 decades ago!


Daddy & Baby Kai sleeping look:



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.
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Mummy as a Baby:


Baby Kai:


Mummy with Mummy's mummy haha


Baby Kai:

Mummy in the bathtub at 3 mths:

Baby Kai in the bathtub at 2mths:

It must be so nostalgic for them Grandparents whenever they look at their Darling Grandson hehehe. Little wonder why Baby Kai is overindulged.

Foot Fetish

For the past week, Baby Kai has developed a new motor skill - feet grabbing & sucking.

He could do it all day...

How do the toes taste?
Gotta ask the acrobat.

I like this photo of Baby Kai and my Mum-in-law in (almost) matching colors :D
These days, we're eating alot of outside food because poor her cannot/too tired to cook.
She has her hands full with our Little Dynamite. I hope I can find a better-hours job real soon so that I have more time to look after this lil Rascal.
Meanwhile, kudos to this Super Granny who cleans, washes and looks after everyone in the family!


Mummy's tiny precious feet at rest.

Work

So, this Mummy has gone back to work last week.
Work has been hell-ish. I miss Baby A like crazy and it doesnt help that with the restructuring and all, things are really quite sucky.
I have no time to eat or piss, not to mention go express BM. By the time Im home, my boobs already engorged and damn painful.

I've been busy with work, Baby A, Hubby and everything.
This week I'm attending a course at TTSH so it's office hours for me. My CPR license expires this month. Need to go on course again. (read: busy again)
Thankfully, Aunty LY comes over in the noons when she is free to help Andy's mum with the babysitting. Im lucky to have such a supportive family.
Will most probably be jumping ship to another hospital because of the shorter travelling distance and broader career prospects.
Sent out my resume today. It took me a good long hour to compose it! When was the last time I updated my resume? I honestly dont remember.

Hopefully things will go like clock work!