The Bo & I recently converted our dining table to our temporary work station (because the little guy sleeps with us and we’ll do anything not to break the STTN charm). And back then when I used to work till late nights in the office (often alone or with another colleague) – I would often blast the music on the radio at the desk and bop to it just to… you know to make the night easier to bear.

It worked wonders. Singing along to songs I knew the lyrics to. More often than not, it helped refreshed the mind like an internet browser and whatever mental block I was facing for that moment would eventually turn into a lightbulb moment.

So post-dinner this evening as I sat by the comp to complete some stuff, I asked the Bo – who was having a bit of a writer’s block himself while drafting an email – if I could blast the music. He said “sure!” and within seconds I was humming and he was swaying to the beats.

Amidst of music being blast through the dining/living/kitchen area for some 2 hours, the lovely husband took a walk to get us some teh-tarik, we reveled in favourite songs that were being played and what d’ya know – we coincidentally finished our to-dos at about the same time.

Despite the vast differences in the nature of our work, I love how he makes such a great pseudo-colleague.

{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!

Few days ago, I celebrated the last leg of my 20s.

What surprised me was that despite being the ‘huge-on-birthdays’ person that I’ve grown to be thanks to a childhood full of celebrations in the family year after year, I wasn’t the least irritated at what might have been probably the least exciting birthday celebration in my 20s ever.

As it was, I was quite cheesed off last year when the Bo made me and heavily pregnant 32-weeks-old belly wait for his call all day (I practically cancelled all plans and sat at home to wait for that call only to find out that the office happen to arrange a last minute cny lunch) – it must have been the pregnancy hormones and the dilemma of deciding which cot to buy for the chungkin then – but of course I later found out he was 2-hours delayed due to my birthday present. So all was dusted & forgiven in a matter of seconds of hearing his explanation. :p

BUT THIS YEAR, IT WAS THE FIRST BIRTHDAY I WAS SPENDING AS A MOTHER.

AND SPENDING MY  BIRTHDAY WITH A LITTLE ONE TO CALL MY OWN IS AWESOME in my books.

The Bo took the birthday eve off, we slept in, Liam bunked in with us for a bit, plant his drool all over our faces, fiddled & toss with our spectacles as usual and it was just 3 of us lazing about in bed before deciding how we wanted to spend the day. Lunch was late but yummy, we lined up for 10 minutes to get hands on our favourite bak kwa, had one of the most relaxing caffeine fix ever before winding up our family day out for the little man to get his bedtime routine running.

The BR had booked me for the night and so we met after her hectic day at work. She felt bad about not shopping for my birthday gift in advanced and so I managed to get the eye liner pencil that my makeup guru friends have been raving about, as a present from her. She surprised me with a lovely bouquet of blooms too! And we settled for some late and comfort food dinner and beer + lemonade – which was so good, I had 2. *hic*

We took an insane lot of photos, I sort of photo spam my FB wall and instagram account, we talked & laughed a lot. Aw man, I love my BR so much and how honest we can be with each other and yet hug each at the end of it all. Walked a crazy lot of distance just to get a cab (my feet actually ached for 3 days after) to my place, crashed and watched a bit of TED before switching to HIMYM to which the BR fell asleep on the couch claiming it was under the influence of alcohol which was consumed like…2.5 hours ago?! We ended the night at 2.45am snoozing off in the tv room, conceding defeat that age has obviously taken over the party energizers we used to be.

I woke up at 7.30am on my birthday, stoned and still lack of sleep. The chungkin was all smiles, ready to give me his first hug of the day as he usually does to trade for a bottle of milk, while the Bo sang me another birthday song to wish me (mr once-in-a-bluemoon-romantic had already sung one at the stroke of midnight). Mom treated to a beautiful birthday branch before we made our way to a friend’s daughter’s first birthday party and then headed out for date night.

Came home to another beautiful bouquet of sunflowers greeting me from my gymbobimbos. What’s with friends sending birthday blooms my way? They must have knew that the Bo wasn’t a flowers sorta guy and pampered me instead. I LOVED IT!!!

The Bo kept apologizing for not getting me a birthday present throughout the day. But you know what? Having my loved ones and best friends celebrate me was all that mattered. And the chungkin in my arms? It was obviously the best present.

{sunnies from the GBs}

{BRs since the start of our 20s and we’re gonna rock together in our 30s,40s,50s,60s,70s…}

{brunch @ nosh}

{unfortunate shaky photo, but also only the decent photo of us 3}

{blooms from the BR}

Sometimes it really sucks to not have an income.

Especially when it comes to wanting to celebrate the birthdays of people who do have an income and so willingly share theirs with you just so you can live your dream of spending first-time parents euphoria with a little cute being.

You want to pamper them, treat them, make them feel special, yet there’s nothing you can do that about it without the whats-mine-stays-mine-cuz-I-worked-hard-for-it funds instead of the whats-mine-is-also-yours funds to dip into.

And for someone who has always been huge on birthdays (not referring to budgets) and have always been up to something for the Bo’s since we got together (let’s see… we’ve had surprise parties at his home, at his fav watering hole, at his fav place, at Macadies, at his fav restaurant with a crowd he always least expects) – not being able to do anything (like buying us gastronomic dinners & nice tasting alcohol as I usually do, followed by a night of Jersey Boys was on the cards for this year!) during his last lap of his 30-something relay really sucked. Then again we’ve always said that the big celebration for both of us would come in the same year, when we both enter into the next digit with our birthdays being less than a month apart.

But as silver linings would have it, it turned out to to be one of best gifts & celebrations yet. It was simple, yet it made the birthday Bo gleefully delighted on the morning on his birthday (probably also from the relief of knowing the whats-mine-is-yours funds were spared, hur hur). Mission accomplished.

Order of events:

The little man got up at his usual 7:20am and sang till we woke to pick him up and into our bed.

But this morning, a personalized card made with the help of mommy (only because he requested with those pitiful eyes) was in his hands all ready to give papa as tempting as it was to squash and rip it apart. #thank goodness for hardy parchment paper

Because by the time the Bo gets home from work, the little man is fast asleep.

Hence we got the Bo’s all-time favourite pandan kaya cake ready on the breakfast table while he was in the shower, ready to surprise! surprise!

This year was really special because he had a mini-me to blow out candles with.

Bo couldn’t get the day off work. So we decided to celebrate it in the evening instead sans baby.

We initially planned to check out some ramen places, but the snaking queues put us off. Walked past this charmer of a spanish place.

Birthday boy really needed a beer to unwind after a long day at work, I missed my mojitos too and turns out tapas and alcohol make a good birthday feast.

The highlight of the evening had got to be when the Bo told me that he intended to have a nice night out too as he wanted to let me unwind from mommy duties, take a break and enjoy. Aww. Now what was the occasion again?

I love u Bo! Happy Birthday, and enjoy the last bit of 30s before uncle hood becomes an official association. It’s going to be the best year yet!

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope you had a spectacular start to 2013. I did, although I wished our son was a little more generous in letting me snooze in & cuddle up with him & the Bo for a bit longer this morning…but (we all know) it hardly ever turns out that way…no fault of his that he’s waking up as per his just-another-day-usual aye.

So time check: 11.37pm on 1st Jan and here I am diligently making a conscious effort typing in my first of many blog entries in the year to come (hooray – fingers crossed, i know how distracted I can get with resolutions and all…). 1st resolution: checked! Or was that making sure I lay off more dessert calories this year which have already backfired during our soiree at Au Chocolat earlier today.

The cousin posted this on her wall last night during NYE and I couldn’t help but chuckle at my subconscious thoughts of: don’t screw it up. clean slate, girl!

We did have a good first page for the year I dare say. We had some nice family bonding time, me & the Bo + grandma & her grandson, coffee was great, dinner was home cooked and delish, evening entertaining in the form of DVD movie marathon was great (mom even joined us for one of the 2 movies!), the boy’s been inquisitively active all day long but was adorably manageable so that was also great.

A good start so far. To new beginnings!

Was it just yesterday that I delivered a healthy, adorable bub to call my own? Because it definitely feels so.

Looking at his growth over the past 8.5 months through the 3000+ and counting images that I’ve been happily snapping away always makes me well up in tears in joy. 2012 has got to be the fastest year to pass me by yet.

I remember during the first 2 weeks with the little man, I was in shambles. I didn’t think I’d manage to be the mom I’ve always yearn to be. And when almost everything didn’t work out the way it should have or at least in theory, oh boy – it felt like the longest groundhog day ever. Everything was running in loop with Murphy at the helm. And while I thought I had leap a huge step forward in life when I became mom, undeniably there were doubt & uncertainty that would cloud my mind from time to time and set me a 100 wobbly steps back.

So growth. Physically, let’s face it – I’ve put on that additional 7kg that came along with wanting to be a mom and I don’t think it’s ever going to melt away even with the pilates & zumba that I’ve been sweating out on recently unless some company that specializes in cool sculpting wants to do some charity. In a way I’ve also come to accept nature’s way of giving me a second chance to expand my family (when we’re ready) without needing to go through the heartaches of TTC-ing again. I basically messed up my fertility system 4 years ago (and various doctors confirmed it) when I had an insane rapid weight loss just 2 weeks leading up to the wedding from all that running around, stress on logistics and trying to fit into the dress and not have to hold my breath; and so this time as tempting as it is to be able to wear back ‘em pre-preggy clothes that I splashed half of my salaries on – no more stressing the body out.

Mentally, I didn’t think I’d say this since actively choosing to be SAHM (no offense to SAHMs out there) but I actually grew stronger in a different capacity. Granted, I didn’t have bosses & clients’ expectations to manage or mind-bongling colleagues who would suddenly throw you curve balls after curve balls with their complexities that comes with being women mostly, but I definitely learnt more about myself than I would have in the corporate jungle.

I got to come clean with myself on a lot of things – the good, the bad, the ugly, the celebrated. I got to improvise on the spot without feeling like I was obliged too because I was drawing a salary. I got to work on aspects I wanted to improve on with the initiation of a life coach to get things going. I got to be at peace with myself for most decisions – trade in the holidays and indulgent gifts to be a full-time sahm? Sure, why not! And I got to make new friends who showed me a different but refreshing perspective to life too.

On the marriage/family front, we literally grew from couple to family. It was such an endearing sight seeing how involved/supportive the husband was with baby duties as with decisions made.

So for 2012, I’m extremely thankful for the growth that has surrounded me & my family.

Come 2013, I’m definitely looking forward to continued growth in enriching other aspects of me life.

***

Join us in giving thanks this December!

My 1st WW attempt failed miserably. I was in between choosing photos after photos, getting caught up clicking all my steals under Black Friday deals that I completely missed Wednesday, fell right into Thursday and thought…

{the chungkin and his usual antics. I’m so thankful for you, Liam}

I might as well do a Thanksgiving one.

I’m very very very thankful for the year so far. I got to be mom to an amazing, amazing, amazing cutie. I got to spend as much time as I wanted with him, witnessing all his milestones as tiny or big as they were. I got to do stuff together with him the way I always imagined I would with my kid during the hard days of trying. I got incredible family support especially from my mom who has gone above and beyond in every way possible, as how she’s always has been for me since the day she became my mom. I’m 1/1000 closer to living that dream of fusing work and playing mom together. I’m every bit contented even with no travel plans on the cards or monthly disposable income which allows me to smugly splurge on my wants. I got a Bo who loves me & Liam so much. I got a loving God.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The last 8 weekends have been nothing short of amazing. With the mil out of town and at her elder daughter’s, we’ve basically had the whole place to ourselves and have been doing a lot of family activities around the house.

We’ve spent a lot of time in the living room area, converted part of it to a permanent play space for the little one. De-cluttered and re-arranged stuff as we liked, cooked whatever we wanted, was as biosterious as we wanted to and boy, it was such wonderful moments materializing how living on our own would ever be like. If only. And though it was only for 8 short weeks – we basked in every moment of it.

Suffice to say, we also grew as a family of 3. It was a different experience managing household budgets & groceries shopping and it gave us a really good sense of how expenditure was utilized. We had transparency where bills were concerned and even managed to save some money in the process. We could be candor with each other about everything.

So last weekend, to mark the final weekend of our family freedom fun, we decided to head to the park for an afternoon walk. It was lovely to see the outdoorsy nature of the Bo surface again after taking a 2 months rest to care for his lower back injury and little Liam getting all excited when we went to  the playground – he actually slipped off the slide!

Remember the ah-amazing weekend I blogged about some 4 weeks back with my group of yummy mummies?

Well, amazing mum KK uploaded the edited photos on her FB tonight and it was such a great way to end today.

Looking at all the lovely colors & smiles on everyone’s faces brought back lots of happy thoughts & vibes as I scrolled through the photos amidst doing my night pumping (haha, the things we do to occupy ourselves away from the mundane tasks).

I can’t be thankful enough for the very supportive & wonderful yummy mummy network, and the treasured friendships that we all share. It’s amazing how fate brought us to each other and closer for that matter. And the honesty & love that flows within just warms my heart each time we’re snooping or ranting our hearts out.

Here’s my favourite selection of the lot. Especially the Bo & Chungkin (papa + son) shots…aww finally something frame-worthy for the home. And happy to announce that we finally have some decent family photos too! Although I really need to lose the remaining 10!

{the team of YM..am going to miss yummy mummy A when she leaves for Lux real soon}

{hanging out with SL & KK}

{the chungs}

{sings: we are family}

{por por gets to join in the fun too!}

{papa & his mini-me} *swoon

{my 2 favourite men}

Today we celebrated our little chungkin’s first mid-autumn festival by carrying his very first lantern (thanks aunty Su!) during our evening stroll and he was absolutely mesmerized with the candle light that was glowing from within.

Kept stretching his little arms to grab the paper lantern one too many times and thought I was playing when I kept stretching it further from him each time he got an inch closer by wriggling his body. Perhaps a battery operated one will be the way to go for next year’s celebration (sans the annoying music on loop please!).

Had some moon cakes + tea with the Bo earlier after dinner and it was such a lovely affair. Just chilling, chatting & having a mini celebration.

Happy mid-autumn and moon caking everyone! And on a 2nd note, Happy 6 months my dearest little chungkin.

When I read June’s recent blog post on Love Stories, like many I just couldn’t resist reminiscing about ours.

Realized that I hadn’t document one to remember (also for Liam’s benefit if he’s ever interested to impress some girl with) so here goes…

*CAUTION: It’s going to be a long one…

It was end 2003 when I first met the Bo. He was part of the ‘brothers brigade’ from the groom’s side to gatecrash the wedding that morning while I was one of the 3 ‘sisters’ from the bride’s up against those..erm, 8 men.

[Digression: Me and another 'sister', we had been colleagues for a few months when she (bride) suddenly asked if we would help out with her wedding affairs. And being first timers at this whole gate crashing affair, we thought...why not? Turns out it was part of HIS plan.]

So anyhoo…

During the wedding day, the bo + friend & me + friend were grouped together (2 bridesmaids + 2 groomsmen) to make logistics such as traveling from place to place easier. I didn’t think much of the bo initially, though I did steal a few glances in between, wondering why he was all coy unlike his other good friends who were such amicable folks.

It wasn’t till the wedding dinner later that evening that I found out that the Bo was going to sing during the couple’s 1st wedding march. Woahh. I joked out loud that for a person who barely uttered a sentence all day, it was difficult to believe that he was actually going to sing (and not lip sync). Turns out he was quite the singer (from what I heard), I wasn’t able to hear the performance as I had to manage the reception for guests who arrived late (bummer).

Nothing else happened that evening. The Bo remained his aloof self and I ended up drinking and laughing my night away with the groom’s younger brother instead.

During that same period, I was also going through a rather rough patch with my boyfriend of 3 years then. I yearned for my personal space & freedom to do the things I wanted instead of constantly spending weekends at the garage checking out the latest automobiles modifications.

It was after a BBQ at a friend’s one night. It was 10pm – I didn’t feel like heading home yet and it being the weekend, I started texting friends and asked they were game for a night of chatter & supper. None of my usual kakis were spontaneous enough and so I moved on to texting some of the “brothers” from the wedding as I chanced upon their contact numbers in my phone list. Not sure what went through my mind when I saw Bo’s number (I was probably really desperate for some company!) but I sent a “game to meet now?”

Within minutes he replied “sure, why not”.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. For a while, I thought that I had probably mistaken his number/name for the wrong person. But hey, I wanted company right? So I responded, “I’m serious. Now now now. How long will it take you to get out”.

In an instant I received another reply: “20 minutes. Where are you?”

It felt so exhilarating and exciting! For a start I wasn’t sure if the person who was responding so quickly was indeed the Bo. Yet if he was, this was obviously another side of him that I didn’t know about. Before I knew it, the phone was ringing. He called for my exact location.

Turns out it was the Bo alright. He picked me up and the moment I got into the car (note: we hadn’t had a proper conversation prior), I was just chatting away about my day and asking how was his. We hit it off rather naturally. No awkward silence. No weird vibes. We even had a petrol stop where I said I was going to get some mints to freshen up my breath for his benefit since I was going to be talking a lot. Honesty much?

We went on to have coffee & cakes and there I was, talking and talking like I’ve never had anyone listen to me talk before. And by the time we left for home at 4.30am, I was still yakking away.

Over the next few weeks, our wee night supper & coffee meets became a regular affair (also because I had an insane job which ended at 10pm & beyond). Going out with him was something I constantly looked forward to, because it just felt so comfortable and nice. There were no hidden agendas –  he knew I was with someone and I knew he was almost going to date exclusively with someone else. We respected that. Our outings mainly revolved food, tek tarik and a lot of conversations.

Some months later, the Bo started to ignore my text messages after I wished him Merry Christmas that same year. I texted several times asking if anything was wrong to no response and this continued into weeks and months. Initially I thought that he might have been posted overseas for work but it wasn’t till I got in touch with the bride (we were now ex-colleagues) that I found out that he had been seeing someone else since that Christmas. I was a little cheesed off. He had gone all silent without a word. But after hearing his explanation some years later, I could see why he did what he did. Being him, he definitely didn’t want to stir any feelings of insecurity or two-timing with the girl he was seeing hence he chose to shut out every other female in his life. Hmm.

During other conversations with the bride some months down the road, she would sing praises of the Bo occassionally and mention how I should consider someone like him if I was ever looking to date again although ironically hinting that it might be a bad idea due as we had quite the age gap. I wasn’t keen in what she was saying anyway – I was in midst of a great career jump, new phase of life (just turned 21!), he sounded like he was in a great r/ship and was looking to settle down the last we spoke.

Until some 3 years later.

I received a text message while on my way to work one morning from the Bo. “Dinner tonight?”, it read.

I paused for a while, thought long & hard, before replying “if you can wait for me to end work at 10.30pm”.

“Sure,” the reply came in seconds after. “Text me your address and I”ll be there”.

To be honest, I wasn’t overly excited about ‘the date’. But hey, I could do with some dinner and I was available anyway.

So we met that night. Felt good to see him again though.

Over dinner, he apologized for his sudden disappearance, gave me the cheesiest of explanations but what surprised me was how we managed to pick up so easily from where we last left off even after 3 years. The laughter, chemistry & conversations came on so naturally.

Soon, we were meeting for dinners almost every week. During one random dinner, he offered to drive me & my girlfriends up to KL after I mentioned that we were intending to make a trip there. Funny how my mom (yes my mom!) wanted to tag along the girls trip too! We weren’t dating or anything but I remember being bugged by my mom and my girlfriends a lot during the frequent toilet breaks if we were an item because they could sense the love that was sizzling between us during the long drive. Oops.

I reinterated that we were just good friends and I remember mom going “just wait and see.”

So long story short (….. I’m getting there!)…

Bo asked me over to his place one night on the pretext that his bedroom was sparse and he could do with a woman’s touch. “Whatever for? To impress the next girl you’re going to date ah?” I asked nonchalantly, telling him that he had better thank me should he impress the socks out of the next right one that comes along, before dishing out my critique & suggestions.

It was when he said “out of all the suggestions, what would impress YOU the most?” that I started to blush. I knew where this was heading… and because the dynamics of our relationship was too honest & comfortable, it started to feel awkward… I tried brushing it off but he knew how to get the answer out of me eventually. And that night I lay in his arms for the very first time as we star-gazed ourselves to sleep.

And each time I saw him after that, my heart would skip a beat. It still does today. He just has that effect on me.

{Dating – Jan 2007}

{Dating – Feb 2007}

10 months into the relationship, the Bo suggested a trip to California. He had planned an itinerary which sounded so exciting, I couldn’t say no. Mom speculated that there was probably going to be a proposal involved but I didn’t think much of it.

Turns out mom knew best.

It was just right after sunset at the Grand Canyon when the Bo went down on a bended knee and asked if I would be his. My heart literally stopped. It felt so surreal – a proposal from the man I love against the gorgeous backdrop of God’s creation *hyperventilates*, with a gorgeous ring that fit my fourth finger perfectly. Oh golly! I was in tears of joy!

I was curious to how he managed to get my ring size and planned it all so nicely, sneaking the ring through customs without my suspicions! Called mom to inform her the news the moment we got some network reception a day after and guess what was her response? “I knew it!!!”. Hah Mom also surprised us with champagne & chocolate coated strawberries during our stop in San Fran later in the trip.  Aww…

{engaged! in California}

We tied the knot exactly a year after the proposal on 14 June 2008. And on that wedding night, I finally got to hear my husband sing for the first time via a sabotage request by our emcees (who were also part of the groomsmen). And boy, he’s quite the singer :)

{post wedding tea ceremony – 14 June 2008}

I always wondered how would one know when they have met the one. And now realizing how everything worked out so nicely, such as being in the same company as the bride for a mere 5 months which led to me being one of her  bridesmaid which led me to meet the Bo; and how it was only 3 years later that we were both available & ready for a relationship with each other that it made PERFECT sense how it was part of God’s beautiful plan. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Now, we’re bobo + me = baby chungkin.

Oh what an exhausting weekend it has been, caring for my 2 boys.

The Bo injured his lower back earlier this week – the worst he’s ever had – leaving him with a very slanted lower back, a lot of pain; thwarting all attempts to stand, sit or walk. Lying down has been his only form of pain relief so far, apart from the pain killers prescribed and I know as much as he feels “useless” not being able to perform the simplest of tasks or cuddle Liam,  there’s nothing he can do to hasten recovery but to rest, rest and rest.

Coupled with our little man’s recent bout of random activities – early morning wakes @ 4.30am for 2 days, giggling in his sleep (and this is when I get a few strong nudges to go check on him) and doing 270-degree rotations in the cot from his original sleeping position (let’s give momma a heart attack shan’t we?) through the night with the occasional flips from back to tummy – I am officially in sleep deprivation mode.

I don’t know how I’m getting through the day but I do think motherhood has strengthen my physical &  mental stamina a lot more than it used to. I don’t just whine, procrastinate or sulk. I know I have to do something about it becuase our tag-team is only half strength.

Special thanks to momma dearest for spending most of her weekend to help babysit Liam while I accompanied the Bo to the doc/ran errands. And also to the BR, for the very thoughtful & lovely get-well hamper.