A little sad

Today was Jill's appt with her eye doctor and he wrote a prescription for her. I felt really down when dw called to tell me that. At age 4, she's way too young to put on glasses! At least that's what I think! I'm not really sure of what's exactly happening. I was too confused to ask dw to repeat what he just said. I'm just sad.

On a brighter note, didi had his 1st video arcade adventure on X'mas day... he seemed that he had a good time.. guess his dad is determined to start him young..

And in 2 days, our family of 4 are taking off to Hanoi, a trip off the beaten track, with 2 kids in tow. Not sure how smart of an idea that is ..

Christmas is here again!

Yipee! My favourite time of the year is here again! It's the season for indulgent gorging and excessive spending. Just perfect for someone who suddenly finds herself swarmed with so much work! Way too much! AND yes, I'm talking about MYSELF.

So amidst this dampener, I yearn for that joy that Christmas brings... and on Jill's non-stop insistence that the X'mas tree must be put up NOW because the shopping centres and her school have put up the X'mas deco, it went up last weekend. This is alot earlier than we usually put it up. For DW, 1st week of Dec is just nice. But just to avoid further nagging from his precious princess, he decided to give in and he got himself a little lady elf as an assistant this year. NOT ME.

Her theme: she wants streamers in red & gold, little X'mas balls in red, gold & ?? blue ?? They don't go, but what the heck, as long as she's happy.. This is the kind of innocence that make little children the envy of adults.

And there was also this little boy who had a field time trying to rip the little deco hanging on the trees and trying to eat them. This boy gets his hands on anything & everything. And eats anything & everything he gets his hands on. So if you do notice, my tree is a little bare this year because he wrecked a good number of deco. BUT totally NOT blaming him! It's a perfect excuse to restock on new items. Just gotta find the time to do so..

(pardon the bad photos It's tough trying to take photo of a toddler who just cannot stop moving!)

Now you see it in his hands... (notice the lost puppy look he's giving me, the "I'm so not planning to do anything evil" look)

Now you see it in his mouth...

Happy 1st year Jenson Boy

By DW

My dearest Jenson

A year has now passed since you arrived, it has gone past so quickly and it is a joy to see you so happy and cheerful, crawling all over the whole apartment, or just zipping around your walker like a bumper car.

Your mum and I are learning more about you and are sure you are also eager to start learning more about everything around you. We eagerly await you taking your first steps and speak your first words, it has been a wonderful first year and we look forward to many more firsts with you.

I look forward to you growing up, together with your jie jie as one big happy family. Both of you must learn to take care of one another and cherish each other as siblings, you will have the happy times, and of course the times where you will have your arguments, but always remember that as siblings you have to also learn to be there for one another.

Just like your sister, you are our gift from God, and remember that Jesus will be there for you, just like your mum and I will always be there for you, to protect you from harm and give the best that we can.

Love Daddy

Making Mooncakes

Yesterday was Jill's lunar birthday, 1st day of the chinese 8th month.. I suppose that means she's 5 in lunar years? Yikes, that sounds a little too grown up for my liking!

Anyhow, it was apt that Parkway kids' club of which she's a member, held a " Making Mooncakes" session on that day itself! So we had an hour of fun squishing & rolling the dough! With gloves of course!

short moment of peace

This is when we know we, as parents, can slack abit more.. when we can leave our kids to drink their milk on their own and we 2 can watch a little more tv, in peace.

Our kids have grown :)

she's 4!

It's amazing! My baby girl is 4!

This year she requested for horse riding on her birthday, so off we went to Pasir Ris to let her have a little thrill. Simple & doesn't cost much but yet the sheer joy on her face made it priceless...

1st email fr Jill

Her 1st email to me, typed it herself using my mum's email account..

It means so much to me! :)

My Duplo Baby Boy

Jenson's coming to 11 months and I've been sending out the invites to his birthday party for the past week. We'll be having the usual 1st year party for relatives and really close friends.. And many people's reactions were, wah! didi's going to be 1? So fast! Yeah, I'm with them on that one. TIME SURE FLEW BY ALOT FASTER FOR NO.2!

Just 3 days short of 11 months, this boy can now crawl as fast as lightning.. he knows what milk is.. if he's on the floor and he hears us say "it's milk time", he will immediately crawl over to the little table where his milk feeds are. He knows where the aircons are, the fan and the clock. He understands simple instructions like clap your hands, twinkle twinkle little stars and the song ABC - Z. He is still at the cruising stage, has been for the longest time, and we really wonder when he's going to start walking on his own. He can take about 5 steps on his own now but I guess that doesn't really count, as more often than not, he still prefers to just lunge forward haphazardly.

We are still getting used to his little antics. He pulls stunts that we have never experienced with Jill. He crawls up on you when you carry him, he flips and scampers away when he's being changed or diaper is being changed. If he doesn't want to sleep, he wouldn't just lie there quietly to enjoy your patting. Instead he will yell his lungs out and he will crawl all over his cot just so you can't pin him down. I take that as a good sign, that he has excellent motor skills.

He's extremely adorable and I'm grateful to God for His gift to us.

Time for Didi's passport!

It's time for us to apply for Didi's passport. In less than a month, he's going to make his 1st trip out of town. We've been trying hard to get a good photo of him. Given how this little baby is so much like spidey, hardly having a moment of stillness (except when he's sleeping which obviously wouldn't work either since his eyes are closed), we have been snapping & snapping since months ago. None of the photos were satisfactory enough so we just held back.

We knew that we couldn't delay it much further, so we decided to just send in the best of the worst! But of course deep inside we knew that they just couldn't make the cut. True enough, ICA email came back: REJECTED.

So last week, we activated the entire family, DW, me, Jill, Ah Kong, Ah Ma & our helper to distract didi so we can just get that 1 photo. Pots banging, old folks calling out "didi here, didi here", cheh cheh screaming: "didi look at me!", whatever that worked, we tried. Basically the household was in RARA mode and it was chaotic. I was so relieved when I received the email from ICA: your child's passport is ready for collection.

Adventures of our very last attempt:

Oh my! What's all that ruckus for???

So should I laugh or cry?

I've no idea what these people are trying to do, but it's incredibly boring

I'll give it my best shot now and they had better stop the noise.

Didi at 7.5 months

I've been guilty of not keeping track of didi's milestone achievements the way I did for Jilliane. but somehow because I'm not counting every second of what he's doing, he seems or rather he IS achieving them ALOT faster than Jilliane! I'm really glad for this as this means that he's pretty much on track with the other babies of his age.

He attempted crawling at 6 months, backwards.

He's doing little push ups on the floor perpetually. Preparing for army or what, i dunno.

And he's wheeling himself all over the house and the little mirror at our entrance is now his favourite destination. He ends there and stares at the mirror for sometime.

I really wonder what's going on in his little mind as he does that, is he thinking, who's that little baby over at the other end? Is that really me? Sometimes when I carry him and stand in front of that same mirror, he looks at our reflection and then he looks at the real me then he looks back again with a perplexed look on his face. I figure he's just confused! LOL! Babies & innocence, they're just so lovely!

Old Yellow Wiggle - Greg Page

Old Yellow Wiggle, Greg Page's back!


And he's coming to Singapore! I'm a HUGGGEEE fan of him!! There's something about Greg Page, his chiseled, oh so man looks.. (Jilliane prefers the purple wiggle as she's amused by his constant sleeping)

BUT, abit of sanity is still in me, I don't think I'm going to pay $270 ($90x3 as it's gotta be a family outing) just to see him in person.

Tim vs Joey

Jilliane's crazy about Tim .. Tim Maddren of Hi5.

Recently we've been watching Friends alot as well. Why? Because she thinks Joey's incredibly handsome.

And when I look at the both of them, I realised the similarities between their features :)

3 days of Disney Magic

We had a blast!

Day 1
We got on the plane (as per Jill: ca-thay pa-fi-sic, we are still trying to correct her on this) and 3hrs 50 mins later, we arrived in Hong Kong. Took the transport to Disney Hotel, dumped our luggage, freshened up and rushed down to Disneyland, just in time to take photos with the various characters, played Dumbo & Winnie the Pooh, dinner & then fireworks! It was a hectic day & we crashed into bed at about 11pm.

Day 2
Slept in a little today as the Park only opens at 10am. Took our time with our buns in the room, then wandered round the hotel a while. It was windy & chilly. But it was good. For people living in hot Singapore, we welcome a little cold with a long sleeve shirt and a sweater. Perfect weather! No queuing in sweltering heat made the day alot more pleasant. The queues were manageable and most rides we got away with at most 10 mins of queueing. The worst ones was probably at Autopia and Slinky Dog where we waited for about 30 mins but that's still considered okay by my standards.

Jilliane had a field day with the rides and a bonus to her was when the gorgeous prince kissed her hand. Oh yes, he was so handsome that even mom and I swooned. Needless to say Cinderella quickly became Jilliane's favourite princess.


Staying in Disney Hotel was simply a fab idea! It didn't come cheap, but at least it allowed me to have a Disney experience for the 1st time in my life, complete with Disney bedtime stories and Disney breakfast.



Day 3
And so for Princess Make over, she naturally chose Cinderella. She was damn damn excited about the whole make over process, the make up, the nail painting, the dress, the tiara and all! This is like every little girl's dream come true!



It has been 3 weeks and Jilliane has the memories still firmly etched in her mind. Everyday it's always, "mummy, i want to go disneyland again. I want to sit the small boat and see the baby dolls. I want to sit dumbo. I want to go round and round in the teacup. I want to sit in the dog and chase the tail. I want.. blah blah blah." It just goes on & on. Oh, but she hates the Light Buzz Year ride. Says she's scared of the monsters!

And yes, I tell her we will definitely visit Disneyland again soon, when didi is old enough to join us. Or if she's lucky enough, I may just decide that both mother and daughter will tag along when Dw is in Tokyo for his worktrip and we will head out to Disneysea & Sanrioland! Yipee! Can't wait!

movie tonight!

The last time Dw & I caught a movie (just the 2 of us) was way back in 2010.. Eat, Pray, Love.. Then it was a little treat from Seiki Travel.

Today, we're catching another movie (just the 2 of us). Man on a ledge. This time, courtesy of my mommy, who got this treat from another party.

Looking forward to our romantic night out!

My 2 sweeties

Jill's very loving to didi now, though at times she will complain "Didi kicked my hand!", "Didi touched my dress" and I will always try to explain that it's okay because Didi is still young and doesn't understand and cannot control his actions and seek her understanding. And she will say "ok, I understand". But before I can cheer on this, it will be followed by "I want mummy to scold Didi now"... ??!!

awaiting my trip

am so looking forward to my short trip to HK with mum & daughter. just 3 of us girls.

not because there're no boys on the trip, but because i've not had a vacation since my last cruise in May. And also because much has happened recently that left me pretty frustrated. it'll be good to get away from it all, get away from the people who cause these frustrations, get away from the situations that ARE STILL causing these frustrations.

of course it's not a permanent solution. it's transient happiness. but at least i'm escaping the harsh realities for a while.

and of course, needless to say, i'll miss the boys: dw, jd v2 & dad. take care boys, there will be gifts for all 3, take your pick from mickey, donald or goofy :)

Teaching cycling - fail!

Our maiden attempt to teach Jilliane cycling has failed miserably. She couldn't get the hang of pedaling, which I'm assuming is the most basic cycling skill? Anyone has experience on this & can give us some tips? If you do, beep me pls...

Jilliane vs Jenson

My 2 kids at 4 months during tummy time... Do they look alike??

Jilliane


Jenson

Dinosaur stomps!

Jilliane is going to be 4 this year and it's certainly time to get her more interested in reading. I'm glad that my little girl enjoys being read to, but I know it's now time to introduce her to r-e-a-d-i-n-g, to expose her to phonics.

I've been deliberating if I should send her to phonics classes. I've heard from friends that in this time, it's vital for kids to have a firm grasp of phonics as without it, they will do badly in Primary school, especially for Maths. It has been months and I'm still thinking. At this point, I'm really glad that Julia Gabriel has written a book, specifically on linking 2 alphabets, to teach kids the sounds and to entice their interest in reading!

Rainbow Bear's Dinosaur Discovery Book - wow! This is just in time as Jilliane has mastered single alphabet sounds in school and part of the syllabus this year will be sounds like "ch", "th", "sh" etc. And what makes it even more exciting for children is that this set comes with a story telling cd! So Jilliane need no longer listen to only my voice, which may come across as monotonous after a while. Moreover this book has many tongue twisters, so I'm actually grateful for the cd :)



So off we went "sh sh Shamini Shunosaurus. Shamini Shunosaurus shows shiny sea shells" & "th th Thecocoelurus throws three thick thistles". It was alot of fun as we giggled through all the sounds, rhymes & twisting fun.



I've in fact, even starting reading this to Jenson, indirectly. I'll place him on the bed beside Jilliane and me, hoping he will catch a phase or 2. I'm sure this will be one of those timeless classics, where he will still enjoy it 3 years later. Given that this theme is on dinosaurs, he, being a boy, should be even more excited about the book!

If you happen to read this post in time & are looking for something to do as a family this Saturday, head on down to The Dinosaur Stomp, from 10am to 5pm at Forum The Shopping Mall. There will be a special book signing sessions with Julia Gabriel, lively performances by Rainbow Bear and friends, and a Dinosaur Stomp. In addition, there are going to be art and craft activities, face painting, great goodie bags and prizes to be won from the Dinosaur Egg Treasure Hunt and Lucky Draws. To top it off, this book package will be sold at a 15% discount! Thumbs up! :)

How much they have grown!

Hanny and her family came by my place for CNY last Sunday and we took a photo of the kids... This year, Trisha will be 7, Tristan will be 5 and Jilliane will be 4.

Compare this to a photo of the 3 of them taken in August 2010 and gosh, how much they have grown! I feel so old!

Being Beachy

The gloomy, wet weather has finally come to an end. November to December last year was no fun. We were literally stuck at home. We didn't dare to venture to places that didn't have a sheltered carpark lest the 2 kids got drenched which will then lead to fever & what else not. As such apart from shopping centres, there was hardly anywhere to go. It was always Parkway, Parkway & more Parkway. (note: I12 was not fully opened yet at that time).

New Year was a long sunny weekend and we finally got the chance to head to the beach! It has been a long long time since we went there, given Jilliane's month long illness. It was our 1st outing to the beach as a family, 4 of us. And we're glad Jenson didn't fuss much and we did have a great time, playing, strolling & feasting at the East Coast Hawker Centre.

Getting our hats ready to shield us from the hot sun!



At the beach