It was one of those evenings. Where motherhood was more trying.

The little boy threw a tantrum because I wouldn’t let him cruise around his pram in the train nor in the supermarket.

So I did what I thought best could pacify him. I held him closely in one hand, pushed the pram with the other while stopping to pick things that I needed from the various shelves in the supermarket intermittently. But that didn’t suffice. He wanted to do something which he had so much fun doing with papa just 2 days ago  He wanted to keep pushing the pram on his own till it hit a wall/someone/came to a halt. (Psst: the Bo apologized the moment I related the incident to him, knowing that he attributed to Liam wanting his way with the pram)

I completed ignored his plea & fuss of course. I just wanted to pay for the groceries quickly, hope to get a taxi despite the heavy downpour and get him home where he cruise himself silly.

And that’s when it became even more trying.

In between trying to grab my groceries with one hand from pram basket to counter and paying… the little fella started to cry, arch his back, kicked and pushed me away. “Tsk tsk”, I started to hear other people make sounds around me. I ignored those very unnecessary, judgmental sounds.

Then there was the long snaking taxi queue which put me in bigger misery. It was raining, I couldn’t get through the lines of the 3 taxi companies for a good 10 minutes, the chungkin was crying & screaming because I wouldn’t let him snatch the phone from me. Some folks tried to conveniently cut the queue thinking that the lady-with-a-pram-full-of-groceries-and-a-wailing-baby would be too busy to notice. But they were not worth my effort and depleting energy to manage with. My 9.6kg son was. Thank goodness some 12 minutes later of listening to music on loop, we finally got a taxi booking!

While on the journey home, I reflected on my actions. Perhaps I could have handled the situation better instead of ignoring Liam. Perhaps I shouldn’t have zoned out and focus on finishing my tasks and should have made an effort to soothe the wailing and whining that was probably irritating everyone else instead. I probably deserved those unforgiving looks. But hey, I did what was best for us both at that time. At 13 months, I don’t think the little fella would have any patience for one of those “learning to deal with frustrations” talk.

Ironically I used to be one of those people who wondered which parents could actually bring themselves to ignore their wailing kids. Till I became a parent myself. Managing kids’ tantrums are without a doubt difficult situations to be in. And what makes it more challenging is that it’s often unintentional because they don’t yet have the skills to express themselves in other desired ways hence the sudden outburst. Yet sometimes we lose our cool too quickly.

Definitely, there will be more tantrums coming my way as the boy grows up. During those moments of “why oh why!”, I hope to remind myself to: take a deep breathe, think happy stuff, nurture the positivity out of the situation and say OHMMMMMMMMM.But if all fails, at least I tried!

Meanwhile, what made my day today was seeing my little fella opening his eyes and putting his arms around me the moment I was home. He’s getting soooo good at tugging those heartstrings.

{Pssssst: this is going to be a long, long post!}

When Liam was born, I told myself that I would work on those baking skills (since I was going to be a stay home mom for a bit) and hopefully bake him his very first birthday cake.

But of course, that didn’t work out (who knew motherhood would be so time consuming!!!) –  my baking was still decent only with the involvement of a premix or under the guidance of an experienced baker.

And so I reckon that if I couldn’t bake him his first birthday cake, I’d conceptualize & throw him his first party instead!

****

The theme:

I started reading books to Liam on a daily basis when he was 3 weeks old. And it was easy to see that he had his favourites based on his consistent coos & giggles according to the book that was read. He enjoyed Eric Carle’s books a lot – The Very Hungry Caterpillar in particular and another book that was gifted titled “Liam Lion”.

The initial idea was to throw a safari-themed party with the limelight on ‘Liam the lion’ (adapted from his storybook). Firstly it was a relatively easy theme to manage, with all sorts of animal-themed partyware readily available at the local party stores. At the same time, there happened to be another mommy who was willing to let go of some preloved jumbo lion mylar balloons along with unused animal-themed partyware & decoration with a gorgeous DIY scenesetter that she had used at her son’s recent first birthday party at a STEAL (hullo, savings!) !!!  It felt like things were falling into place seamlessly without me needing to source or do much. We were all set. And this was 5 months before party day.

But I’ve never been one to prepare anything way in advanced (hello, spontaneity!) . So when we misplaced the ‘Liam Lion’ book one day and Liam didn’t seem to miss it & show a continued preference for the Very Hungry Caterpillar (VHC) book by picking it up and putting his tiny fingers over the ‘holes’ in the book as I read through the pages, laughing especially hard whenever I read out loud “and he became a beautiful butterfly”, I knew that a VHC party was going to be “so him”.

Plus I loved the concept of metamorphosis in the VHC story. Indeed my little baby was transitioning to a little toddler.

The Invite: 

I’m a huge fan of Carle’s art, so naturally I wanted the elements of the colourful dots, some of the food the caterpillar ate, the caterpillar of course and the smiley sun to be reflected in the invite. Colourful chalk fonts were also used to evoke a sense of fun. We were after all celebrating a one year old’s birthday.

As tempting as it was to rhyme “how fast a year has pass and our little caterpillar has grown so fast” in the invite, I kept the details as simple as possible. Perhaps it was part of the ex-job hazard but my ex-boss’s words kept ringing in my head:  KISS (keep it short & simple). Clients Guests appreciate specifics (i.e.: venue, time, contact details, what would be served), he would often say.

{the invite – minus some details which was omitted for this entry of course}

The Decor: 

Being the closet Tutera fan that I am, I was excited about this portion.  VHC-themed partyware and balloons were not as available with the online party stores and so it was time to let the creative juices flow.

I gained inspiration from my familiar online habitats and knew that I wanted to make a DIY caterpillar centrepiece. It was easy to make, considering the art klutz that I am and I didn’t have to spend too much money.

Loved the outcome!

{6 lanterns was all it took, and a really tall ladder to hang these up}

 I like my kid’s party to be bright & cheery and so I hung colourful  lanterns & balloons practically everywhere!

Reorganizing Space:

Most of our party guests have 2-3 kids/family and so reorganizing space was a huge part of the set-up. The BR came over the night before together with mom to help us in pushing furniture around (we tried not to involve the Bo as much as possible due to his bad back injury previously) and after 2 hours of trial & error, we managed to optimize the play area for the babies/kids thanks to Bo’s suggestion.

{we shifted all furniture out of dining area out and lined up 3 playmats side by side for the little ones to play on instead}

Our guests were pleased that they could leave their bubs to entertain themselves or play with other bubs in a safe, cushioned space while they busied themselves with food & catching up with friends.

The Food:

Apart from catering a hi-tea spread for the adults and bigger kids (I heard the fried mee siam goreng was such a winner that it was wiped out before end of the party), a VHC-themed dessert/sweets table for the kids was set-up too. It was my first time putting together a dessert/candy table and I had so much fun.

Food wise, following what the caterpillar ate in the book was a good starting point. Getting hold of fruits that the caterpillar ate (apples, oranges, plums, pears, strawberries) was easy. I did make some adjustments though, replacing the not-too-popular food items such as pickles and swiss cheese with other colorful, easy to manage candy such as fruity marshmallows and fizzy cola gummies (that were a hit!).

And because it was the Easter weekend, I had to put out some chocolate easter eggs from Cadbury (my all-time favourite, which was snapped up in no time too).

{L-R: homebaked chocolate fudge brownies with a cherry on top, marshmallows, homebaked macaroons, homebaked mini cupcakes with lemon cream}

{3 supermarket sweeps later, we found 13 bags of cadbury mini eggs}

{cake pops in the shape of the fruits featured in the VHC story book!}

It was sooooo nice hearing lots of great feedback from both adults & kids on enjoying the spread of sweets laid out for them. I guess this means… more kiddie parties!!! :)

The Entertainment: 

I was really really really hesitant to hire any entertainment for the party apart from a DIY ballpit only because I managed to snag a large swim pool from the recent ELC sale at a steal and a kind friend was happy to loan me some 800 plastic balls.

I didn’t want to turn a cozy birthday party into some sort of event and create awkward formalities between us and the guests.  But when you have a very very very talented grandaunt who does balloon sculpting professionally & dotes on you and your child sooooo much; and was such a big hit with the guests at your kiddo’s one month celebration, connecting with practically every kid and parent out there – how can you not include her in the party?!

Needless to say, grandaunt Joan (aka. the “balloon lady” as referred the guests) was amazing as usual. She made lots of amazing balloon sculptures for lots of little ones at the party – even created a very special VHC-themed balloon hamper  for the birthday boy – and guests that had seen her before at the Liam’s one month recognized her and gave her the thumbs up yet again!

And then there was the kids’ entertainer that was hired just 2 weeks before party day.

It all started when the cousin & I were chatting about party preps post-pilates grub when she asked what activities I had in mind for the older toddlers & kids. Being a mom to a 3yo, she shared insight on how it might be good to have another activity to spread out 60 active kids instead of having them all crowd around my grandaunt.

 Letting kids run wild & free would have been ideal but as  someone put it to me bluntly, I didn’t have a big house with ample running space; and kids running about in the crowded indoor when there’s food, furniture and babies involved? BAD IDEA.

I thought of a craft corner like what we did for the recent Enchanted Christmas Party (had a few craft activities in mind!) but of course getting manpower to run it and coordinating several kids arrival time wasn’t in my favour. The idea of hiring an kids’ entertainer then came to mind. We had just booked him for our Enchanted Christmas Party so I generally knew what to expect. So hire a comedian magician we did. He was thoroughly entertaining (till today the kids who attended still remembers the party), and did a fab job of hosting the cake cutting ceremony. He practically gathered all the troops for us and led in the singing of the birthday song in both English & Mandarin.

The goodie bag:

I almost did away with this one because I didn’t want to give the kiddos more sweets that I knew their parents would probably consume themselves since the little ones would probably have had their sugar overload at the party. But someone told me that some kids come to parties & look forward to goodie bags and what’s a party without goodie bags. And so I voted for it within the last 3 weeks of preps too. It was a mad rush because on the morning of the party, I was still packing them!

I wanted Liam’s friends to take away something that they’ll be able to use or enjoy and not get confiscated from the sugar contents and so this was what I packed in each goodie bag:

kiddos below 5:

• a wooden photo frame to put the photo they took at the party
•  organic raisins (this should pass by the parents, I think)
• VHC stickers to decorate their photoframe
• bottle of bubbles (I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like bubbles)
• party blow-outs (because it’s a partay!)
• a story book from World of Happy (I love spreading positive and uplifting books, winners of 2011/2012 practical parenting awards to boot!) 

kiddos 5 & above:

• a DIY science experiment which the Bo can’t wait to try with Liam in the distant future…
• yummy gummies & candy (approved by 4 primary-school going kids BTW)
• Dr. Seuss story book (haha, I had some kids running up to tell me how they enjoy reading Dr. Seuss)
• party blow-outs + wooden photo frame
• VHC stickers to decorate the frame

Being the hoarder of all things eye candy ESPECIALLY when they are on SALE, I had a bunch of bright-coloured kraft bags which I decided to use to contain the goodies. But I still wanted these bags to stand out even more and that’s when I got in touch with the talented Mabel from Ribbons and Tape for her creative skills. She was quick to throw me suggestions on creating 3D bag tags for that pop-out effect despite being introduced to VHC for the first time. I valued how she took effort in quickly getting references on things we do that related to the theme and got back to me on various options within 2 days.

Working with her was a breeze. She was so efficient in getting what I wanted with very little turnaround time and even made more tags at last minute notice and passed them to me just hours before the party started even when she had a family emergency (which made me feel so bad).

Liam got slightly cheesed-off during the birthday-singing-and-cake-cutting portion because all he wanted to do was to go back into the ball pit. We didn’t manage to get a decent family shot of the birthday fella smiling with the cake, but at least I knew everyone enjoyed the chocolate overload + lemon cake.

It was such a fun day and we had an awesome time! 3 hours of partying flew by too quickly!

Much appreciation to family & friends for attending and sharing our very hungry caterpillar’s special birthday with us. Liam was on cloud 9 as we unwrapped the presents but we’re going to introduce one new toy every 2 months thing so I guess this means we’re pretty covered in the toys department for a long time. :p

To those that came and thanked us personally for a wonderful time, sent us text messages conveying how much you & your kids enjoyed themselves, thank you so so so so so much for the lovely feedback. It’s definitely a confidence boost to organizing more kiddie parties in the future, and I definitely host you again (have a few themes in mind!).

Happy weekend folks! It’s going to be another weekend of celebration as we say “Happy Birthday” to mom!

The little chungkin turned ONE on Saturday, over the long Easter weekend. Hip hip hooray!!!

To celebrate, we threw a lovely themed party in the comfort of our home from one of his (and mine) favourite books – THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR – and invited as many friends (another great excuse to see our friends) to share our joy of being parents for a year!

We had so much fun! 

As co-host, I didn’t have any hands or time to snap as many photos as I would have liked, so here’s some teaser snaps taken during the preps till I get my hands on more decent photos of party day.

{the centrepiece was a simple DIY caterpillar that was put together on the eve of the party}

{personalized take home favour bags}

{at my most art + craft mode yet}

{our birthday gift to Liam – a book filled with memories and moments of his first year}

{on birthday morning}

More details & visuals of the birthday party on the blog, soon!

Moments ago, my son, the adventure wanderer fell from some stairs with his head banged onto the cold hard marble. He cried what seemed to be the longest, saddest, loudest in a while and as I hugged him in comfort, soothe the bump on the head, I replayed the scene in my head and knew that it could have been prevented if I had just been a little more watchful.

I haven’t been much of a cheery self lately and it would be such a lame excuse to pin the blame on ‘having too much on my mind’ for the accident that just happened. But of late his too-rapid growth spurt on being the fastest crawler in the household coupled with desire to always get on the floor and be on the move, knocking into things while cruising; and me needing to contain him when we’re out at cafes because he can’t sit still now that he knows there’s more to babyhood than sitting on mama’s lap or in a stationary pram while she sips her cuppa caffeine HAS BEEN TAD BIT MUCH TO HANDLE [mental note to self: an active, noisy & bubbly nature is always a good thing].

Unless we’re at kids-safe playgrounds/play gyms where it’s practically haven for the active crawler, which also happens to be the places I’ve been frequenting of late (another post on it, when time permits!).

But a baby is what I cried, pleaded, asked, seek, wrote on a wishing tree for, and striving to be the best mom I can be to this precious child together through the good, bad, trying, tough, moments was my solemn promise. So when I knew that an accident could have been prevented if I had just concentrated 200% on the kid instead of trying to multitask some me-time & fiddle with the evil-social-apps-on-the-phone which could obviously wait, I knew it was sign that I’m starting to take the life before me for granted. Which feels horrible because being granted the opportunity to watch my son grow for the past year has been a privilege.

So while I’ve been reminded countless times to put away the phone when with Liam (to which I say, ya-ya, will do), now’s definitely time to walk the talk and be the social app recluse when I am with my spirited little darling till he can walk and climb down stairs/ledges/steps properly without tumbling.

Granted boys will be boys and falls and bruises will be all part of growing up but not on my watch if I can prevent it. And really, I don’t want to be encouraging the little fella to do his “free-fall from baby gate which is attached on the stairs” stunt hoping someone will always be able to catch him in time. Too stressful to always be monitoring for unusual behaviour when I can use all that energy positively.

So March came in like a lion (urgh, go away stormy weathers!) and with it a slew of parties to attend. Hullo 1-year-olds!!!

Our weekends in March have been/are filled with birthday parties to attend, with the last weekend of March seeing 3 birthday parties back to back – Friday/Saturday (Ours!)/Sunday. Woohoo!

Not that I’m complaining.

I love parties! I love food! I love cake! I love good fun! I love shopping for presents! I love celebrations!

There’s something so joyous in the air that makes you want to giggle & smile at everything/everyone you see. Plus everyone seems to look absolutely gorgeous in photos too.

The recent birthday parties that we attended left me gobsmacked. Held at gorgeous hotel ballrooms & cozy cafes coupled with bouncy castle, professional photographers, delectable dessert (spread) tables, balloon sculpting, face painting…the whole nine yards, it succeeded in making me feel tad cheapskate and somewhat ashamed that we’ll be having little man’s big 1 celebration at home with DIY and home-baked/home-cooked goods to boot (20 more days to go, whose counting?)

Envious? Perhaps.

Impending stress? Definitely.

Should I be concerned? Probably not.

I’ve been so laid-back about the little fella’s upcoming laid-back birthday party that I don’t know whether to feel relief or guilty for not doing more than I should.

I’m neither freaking out that there’s slightly over 2 weeks left to go nor getting stressed nor pulling my hair out as I was during while planning for THE wedding (motherhood does wonders, doesn’t it? :p).

I’m not burning late nights (yet) sorting out photos from birth till present, armed with craft glue to fill his keepsake scrapbook (which I probably won’t be doing …after the last time I almost cried after doing 3 *beautiful* scrap frames back to back in 2 nights).

I’m not second guessing myself on a change of venue as tempting as it is especially after being informed of an ever-expanding guest list (whatever happened to keeping it simple & cozy).

I’m not attempting to make it more ostentatious than it is because…once it starts, it never really stops?

But what I do know is that I’m slowly but surely planning the most awesome birthday party that I can for my soon to be 1-yr-old. And that I have the help of lovely friends who have volunteered to help me put it together. And we’re going to boogie.

For all the slackness that I’ve been at this blog since motherhood (the best excuse yet?), I tell myself to at least document the little man’s monthly milestones because right after this month, he’s going to turn 1.

And unless I can convince myself to sacrifice reading/loo/breather time for a 13 months and beyond monthly milestone updates (watch this space, I just might have the inspiration and motivation to do so) consistently – I do know many moms who just stopped keeping track of how many months their babies are after 18 months and then it goes 1 1/2 years, 2 years, 3 years, just saying – I reckon that I had better start savoring every thought that I’m about to blog for keeps because you know what they say after they’re 1. They’re babies no more. *wails*

The days leading up to little man’s 11 months have been considerably challenging. Just yesterday I felt awful for almost wanting to give the fella a gentle spanking (“gentle” to make myself feel wee bit better) for scratching my face, pulling my hair, smacking my head while we were in a cab all because he wanted to ransack everything out of the diaper bag TWICE. And of course who could blame him, since I gave in the first round thinking that it’d be suffice to satisfy that curiosity of “what’s in the bag” but of course kids being kids…we all know how they’re such creatures of habit/repetition/routine…no?!

But I didn’t.

Instead I held him firmly within my arms. He kicked up a fuss along with some tears before calming down. I did my best to explain to him why he couldn’t do what he wanted to in a moving vehicle especially and I hope he understood. He then buried his head into my shoulders for the rest of the journey.

Some of the YMs consoled me by saying it (the urge to spank) was normal and that some had started. In moments like these, I’m thankful for a always-there support group who doesn’t make me feel like a monster of a mom.

At play nest recently, he’s been either trying to crawl out of class or onto the teacher’s lap. I get this crawling thing, especially since I’ve been encouraging him to crawl since the day he lifted his butt and went all fours, that he now has this innate amount of energy to just crawl whenever he can especially on spacious grounds such as play gyms and such but boy; where are those days when taking a moment to sit was just as interesting as well? Too fleeting.

Coincidentally, grandmama & papa both took time off work this week to accompany Liam in the various music and play classes. It was interesting to observe the way he reacted when he was aware of their presence. With grandmama at music class, he was “controlled” with his movements – hearty laughter inclusive, and with papa at play nest the feedback  was that he would sit quietly on daddy’s lap (note: daddy did not restrain him in any way) and then when it was time to do stuff like art, he would just follow along. None of the Dora-the-explorer, loud, quirky actions mid class, big giggles nonsense that was expected of him.

His toy of the moment is the Fisher Price activity table and that’s because hearing mandarin (from the toy) tickles him every time. But along with loving his toy, he’s grown tad bit possessive that whenever he spots a similar toy in one of his playdate’s homes, he assumes it’s his and almost always baby-pushes another baby into backing away from the toy. Not into sharing I suppose. :\

He’s still the good eater that he’s been. And for that I’m thankful that I don’t have to come up with too many antics when it comes to getting the little one to chomp down his food, with the exception of days when I get too carried away with morning snacks and give him one too many at an hour too late. And as with most babies, eating off mama’s plate outside is always such a treat so on those rare occasions, his mouth opens even wider like the way I open mine for delish desserts. And to mark 11 months today, the chungkin had mouthfuls of warm & fluffy Japanese rice from my bowl.

“Papapapapa” and “Mam mam mamama” continue to be music to the ears (read: I don’t care if he’s referring to food and not me) in the household and the clever little one has since learnt to use it sparingly. Mainly for moments when he wants to be out of the cot “mam mam mamamama”, wants to be fed a snack “papapapapapa”, wants to be off the changing table “mamam..papapa….mamamam mam”. Though sometimes it gets peppered with tears for added drama especially during desperado moments like “mam mam mamamamama” + flowing tears + pout for a request to be out of the pram only to be ensued with a wide grin and a cheeky laugh. Evidently, we’ve been had. Willing parties here, of course.

There’s so much more to say, yet words alone deny these priceless moments their deserved justice. And while I still yearn to wear some heels, put on a nice work dress, hang some beautiful accessories on my ears and neck occasionally and spend some disposable income brashly; being able to watch Liam grow these past 11 months have been a huge blessing.

He’s changed our lives better than we’d imagined. And if I had to, I’d choose  him over work over and over again. It hasn’t been easy on my loved ones. The Bo has been working hard day in and out, and my mom has been so giving that she sacrifices her little luxuries to pamper her grandson. She’s been utterly supportive in me staying home to watch my son grow, giving me the opportunity that she was denied of back then when my existence needed her to start bringing home the bacon as well. For that, I’m always grateful. I don’t even dare imagine how much sobbing I’m going to do the day I get back to the mill and start contributing my share of funds again.

But that’s worries for another hopefully distant day.

Happy 11 months dude. We love you so so so so much. 

I’m not proud of this series at all.

But I figured if it freaked & affected me that much, I ought to document it down. You know, just in case I need a mental walk down memory lane for when #2 comes, or if some friend gets a similar panic attack as much as I did then I’d be able to console her on how she must be feeling!

Though all I’m really hoping is that some weeks later, I’d be re-reading this post and laughing in relief (phew, nothing happened). Just as I did recently with this post. 

***

This morning, we decided to soak in some sun, fun & take photos at the Botanic Gardens. The Bo & I haven’t been there to explore its grounds since our teens  - unless you consider walking from car park to Halia and back.  And now that we have a kid, it made sense to attempt a “family outing” to the gardens/park.

We were blessed with lovely weather. The sun wasn’t too scorched, passing clouds provided hints of shade.

The little man was all excited seeing dogs, swans in the lake, little kids running amok green pastures.

We found a nice spot just below a huge tree and decided to park ourselves to give the little crawler some roaming space (by this point he was showing his displeasure in being cooped up in the pram or in one of our arms).

And more than roam the little one did. Soon little man’s hands were dusted with dirt, soil & grime. The protective dad asked if we should wipe his hands right away, and guess what nature-mom-wannabe-for-the-morning replied? “Don’t worry about it! He’s going to soil those hands again. Might as well just wash them later on”

<there might have been some snide undertones along the lines of: I hang out with the boy everyday, I would know better that he can handle grimy hands and not be silly enough to put them into his mouth right, don’t be so paranoid LAH>

But of course being the surprise guest that murphy always is…

THE LITTLE ONE SUDDENLY GOT BORED OF EXPLORING, LOOKED AT HIS HANDS AND PROCEEDED TO LICK ALL THAT WERE IN THEIR HANDS ALL IN A SPAN OF 30 SECONDS or before I could say STOP (whichever is faster).

You can only imagine what happened next.

I screamed, pulled Liam’s hands out.

He froze in shock literally – his mouth did not move nor close, which was a good thing – as I used my hand to clam on to his cheeks to make the mouth open

I quickly removed all the big bits that were visibly on the tongue. Liam got annoyed and started to scream and the same time.

The Bo then took a wipe, grumbled how I did not clean out ALL the dirt (wow, bionic eyes?) and then took a swipe on little man’s tongue before showing me “you see!” the remnants.

I then took another wipe and swipe the little tongue for good measure and by now Liam was in tears.

And of course I got a earful from the Bo after that…”why didn’t you anticipate”, “how couldn’t you see it coming”, “arghhhhh we should have slept in this morning”, “this is how HFMD starts…”

It was understatedly dreadful, the aftermath of the Liam-eating-soil incident and being on the receiving end of papa’s endless rants (thankfully he rarely does this) . How was I to know! And why wasn’t I freaking out as crazily as papa! I definitely didn’t want to be the cause of soiling Liam’s clean slate of not falling sick since birth yet.

During moments as such, thank goodness for FB and rally of supporters who promptly left comments. It definitely did wonders in making me feel better…till at least the Bo’s fury was iced.

EDIT as of 26 Feb 2013: After monitoring 9 poops since the incident (all looked rather normal to me), looking out for rashes (none appeared), abnormal behaviour (hyper and manja as ever) and praying hard that nothing poisonous or baby-damaging went in, so far so good for now. *fingers crossed till he turns 1*

She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

The recent Valentine’s day, or Happy Florist Appreciation Day (as my good ole queenie ning would say) wasn’t one of lavish pampering (though green eyes to those who received pampering & bouquets, aww!).

It was a day like any ordinary – except that we said “Happy Valentine’s” to each other during our morning routine of niceties and the “off to work kiss” was a tad bit longer than the usual peck. I am a sucker for simple little actions.

But 3 days later, my little man did get a Valentine’s peck during his favourite music class. It was from a very sweet girl whose been showering him with lots of cuddles and affection since we started the term together and it made me go awwwww, my heart went all warm & fuzzy despite the very forward and modern display of affection.

And definitely too cute not to share a poster couple for love so pure and innocent.

These days, I’ve been trading time to blog/surf/online shop for some birthday planning which includes the oven and some flour. I’m thrilled to be planning a first DIY kids birthday party for my very own, and am finally getting started after a huge push via birthday invites from kids whose parties are weeks after the chungkin’s.

Procrastinator, I can be no more. Although it’s nothing fancy, just a cozy homey affair to celebrate chungkin’s first year old milestone, an excuse to go all crazy with the photo-taking and create more wonderful memories.

For now, before CNY ends…just wanted to post some recent snaps of the little dude to encapsulate his current phrase of being such a little adrenalin-junkie, being foul tempered as he wish (we’re addressing this now), and grown-up at the same time…which sometimes leaves me bewildered.

{I heart papa & son moments}

{on the 3rd day of CNY}

{family}

{strolling with godmama}

{first time on the monkey bar. first time my heart dropped. yet he enjoyed his firsts, and kept wanting more}

{and then it was swing time which he totally enjoyed too}

{another papa, son moment where they just “nua” or dazed…}

{papa & son take 3}

{poo face mid meal. he’s so going to love me for posting this one up}

{ah boys to men part 3}

{ching chong boys}

{babies in a row}

Hours ago, the chungkin swallowed *gulp* a piece of laminated tag which had adhesive on it much to my horror.

I kicked myself hard, for choosing to snooze in between while letting him play with his toy and books on his own and the next I knew, I saw a laminated tag sitting on the bed with a portion of it chewed off.

I did the next possible action that was running through my head – lie the boy down, forced opened his mouth hoping to find any bits of white paper with adhesive and attempt to take it out of the mouth but all I got was disgruntled boy who just wanted to continue playing.

I felt sick to the stomach. “What had I done?!” I kept berating myself as I looked around the rest of the cot hoping that the chewed off bit was lying in some corner.

I googled of course, but that didn’t make me feel any better reading that babies from all other parts of the world swallowed mainly tissues and paper but no adhesive of any sort was mentioned.

And then I had to do the next best thing – LET IT GO and JUST MONITOR.

“It happens”, another mom comforted me.

The cousin also snapped me out of it by reassuring that as long as he’s fine, that was the most important. She’s right. Maybe him being all hyper earlier wasn’t from whatever remnants of glue but from uhm…his active growing nature.

And as other parents who have ‘been there’ share, it gets worse when they hit toddlerhood. The things they eat, stuff into their ears and nose – some without us even knowing –  like small sparkly stickers, lego, glitter stars etc.

It’s all part of the “kids will be kids” thing ain’t it?!

ching chong boy!!!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

And now that we’ve ushered in the year of the water snake, we can all be excused from ‘eating snake’ at work this year (hur hur hur, I know, c-o-r-n-y).

‘Tis another festival to be jolly again – with lots of feasting, snacking, giving/collecting red packets, catching up with family you hardly see with for 15 days long!

My highlight this CNY has definitely got to be this:

{preparing our first red packet for our own little one instead of just preparing for others’ little ones}

And my favourite Chinese New Year photo so far (day 1) has got to be this:

{the chungkin and his por por}

I’m thankful no one has looked at the protruding-ramnants-of-the-pregnancy belly and asked when’s the next one due yet.

And that almost everyone we’ve bumped into has offered to be the 5-minutes-babysitter as much as possible so that the Bo & I could do some decent catching up and chowing with other relatives during our house visits.

And that I can sound ah lian and say “HUAT AR!” to almost everyone without sounding uncouth.