Happy birthday Jake

Leading up to his birthday, we made plans of what to do, how to spend time with the boy on his special day. He had gotten better after the pox attack and on the weekend of his birthday meal, he was in fine spirits that very morning... then fell super sick at lunch.


So while everyone was eating away heartily at the restaurant of his choice, the boy was lying asleep, fighting the fever that burned him. The fever pulled his spirits awfully down, to the point that he rejected his cake and present at lunch. Oh dearie me.It upset us greatly to see him in discomfort, with little for us to do except feed him meds and bring him to consult the doctor. This explains why for this 2017, there is no family group picture at his birthday meal.


Sunday afternoon was no better, as he pretty much slept through his fever and only managed to consume crumbs (literally, dry bread). The highlight of the night was when we set up his birthday gift. The husband had this idea of gifting him an electric drum set and oh boy, did his face light up!

First cheery smile from this fever-attacked boy :(

It was a rough night crossing into his actual birthday. Thanks to the husband who managed the night duty of tracking his temperature and dispensing meds, the boy awoke the next day still fever-beaten. I cancelled the secret play-date I had planned for him. In between his grumpy moods, we had some moments where he was able to stay up and engage in activities.

This is a 5yo, deep in concentration

Through the day, he slept and managed to eat some porridge and a good sign was when he requested for more porridge as he was hungry. We were mindful to moderate his intake though, as he had vomiting spells.


Another highlight was the late PM, after he had some snooze and regained some energy - he jammed to some music I played on youtube for him as music accompaniment and it was super cool watching him get into the groove.

My little drummer boy

The finale of his birthday was the cake. It's a bummer that we did not manage to celebrate the cake with my family and his friends, but it still matters that he had a cake afterall.

Playing along to act surprised

Tadah!

Cake-cutting

While the day did not pan out as planned, what's important is that we tried to keep him happy with what we could. This boy will stay positive as long as he gets to play! I cannot imagine that he was merely a bean... just look at him today. To end off this reminiscent mood, here's a picture of this little chum exactly 5 years ago.

28 Feb 2012

Happy birthday my baby boy. You will always be my baby, no matter how big you are. I love you.

Sick bugs, hello March

It has been one event after another.
First, the boy got pox. Then the helper got pox. Then the boy caught stomach flu. The husband started to cough. The girl caught a viral infection (bad throat and high fever). The husband continues to cough. And I am slightly hit by the bug too.

It'd wash over..

The house is clearing out of germs... kinda, and I hope the husband and I get well soon from our bugs leftover from the younglings.


And this is how we welcome March. Ha!

Progress

Mid-Feb: was trying to get my feet straighter

19 Feb

(L) 14 Feb; (R) 23 Feb

As with anything at all, practise makes perfect. Tracking my own progress is interesting, and there is no hard or fast rule against what you may achieve at the end of the day. The only constant is that if you do not try, there is no chance of improving. So always try!


This has been a relevant reminder not just to yoga, but to work and everything else.


Another goal I have is to do a pull-up unassisted. Despite having some muscles, I cannot do a pull-up. Boo. I have just begun working on that by using the assisted chin-up machine at the gym. Let's see how I progress!


TGIF!

A lovely Saturday

The son had chicken pox. He's in the clear now (yay!) but last Saturday, in a bid to quarantine him, we ended up having just the firstborn, an afternoon free from classes and a craving for haidilao that needed to be satisfied.


What happened was an extremely lovely, leisurely, indulgent and lazy Saturday. The husband made reservations to make lunch happen, and after some work with the girl, we commuted to town to meet the husband (who had sent the boy to the doc's and MIL's).


Lunch was lovely - we ate till we had dumplings coming out from our nostrils -  and I thank the husband for being so generous to share his craving with us so that we all get full tummies and hearts.


Post-lunch, we had no agenda at all; and ended up walking around with little aim. The beauty of this was that we ended up walking into a lovely piece of history where my old school sat; seeing some lovely architecture that we wouldn't normally admire and some nice pictures to capture this lovely Saturday.

Swinging fun

The man and the little girl - so much love

The girl enjoyed the time together too, feeling special that she was the only child for the afternoon. I hope that the husband and I can do this with each child more, as the attention and love devoted to one child feels different from when both are together.

Thankful, as always, for time spent with loved ones.

Valentine's Day dinner

After the smirky conversation with the husband, I was truly surprised when he texted me yesterday afternoon asking, "what's for dinner tonight?"


We made rough plans and made a reservation for an omakase meal that we had before, and enjoyed. Come 7pm, I was nearly at the restaurant when the husband rang me to say - horror - that we made reservations at a wrong restaurant. Oops.


So, this restaurant is not the one we had in mind, but since it offers Jap food we decided to try it. 10 minutes later, we walked out, because other than offering us drinks of our choice, nothing on the menu was. Unfortunately, this night, they did not offer the omakase meal - boo.


We ended up driving off to a nearby cluster and having a very simple meal. It wasn't the top restaurant choice, it wasn't very romantic, but I was very happy.


Why?


1. The husband initiated to have dinner with me. Unprompted.
2. We filled our tummies - thankful for simple basics in life; take nothing for granted.
3. We had a peaceful meal, with no one stealing our food, shouting into our ears, distracting us by asking us many questions... you get the idea.
4. With the botched attempt to eat at the preferred Jap restaurant, we will get to go again - hopefully soon!

Sexy date in an even sexier environment

Thank you for being my valentine, my love. I love you!

#meanttobe

So on this day after the "most over-rated love day", I am reminded of some simple things in life that makes it special.


Last week, the mother and I made an appointment together, for an acupuncture session. The weather was terrible that afternoon, and was causing a lot of doom - both literally, the dark skies; and figuratively, by causing huge inconvenience to our commute and plans.


What transpired was a frantic me, a serendipity moment with my mother, an amazing convenience that cropped up, all due to precise timing, unbelievable alignment of time and elements which had me in amazement at the sheer coincidence and smooth outcome.

Chance encounter

It all worked out in the end, which I am thankful for, and I am reminded that things will always work out - I need to have more faith (and composure).


Some things are just meant to be and this was one of those days where I am reminded of this.

Valentine's Day

Conversation last evening:
Husband: Tomorrow is Valentine's Day.
Me: Are you giving me a gift?
Him: What are you cooking for me?
-sniggers-


The husband and I have been together for 13 years, and known each other for 22. We have obviously changed and evolved - both in terms of ourselves, as well as our partnership. It is an amazing journey and I am thankful to have him by my side.

#flashback

Happy Valentine's Day, baby. Here's to many, many more years of love and celebrations!

Running

Tried something new again this day and did a run from office, around the beautiful bay area.

8km.

I must say, that the running route is truly beautiful. Part of the route is also sheltered which makes it a bonus. The view was so pleasant, I did 2 rounds instead of 1 - totally unplanned, and a great result, I must say.


Starting to remember to mix running into my routine. So thankful for lovely skies, beautiful weather and a safe environment to exercise in.

One day, I will make time to lay down on this wooden platform.

Annual corporate lohei - rooster year

For posterity, so I know that on this day, I was part of this lovely organisation among my lovely team, celebrating this lovely occasion with a lovely and extravagant lohei.

Thankful to be part of this lovely corporate family.

Gong xi fa cai ah!

Jake made a rooster

Someone did some craft at school and brought this home. So simple, so cute, so apt!

Rooster

And this is a funny sight of the boy one morning. Tee hee hee.

Sleeping - tucked like a rooster

Lunar New Year, day 3

On the 3rd day of LNY, there was no work or school as it was still a Public Holiday. I squeezed in a work out then brought the kids to have lunch/play at a friend's house. Home-cooked food FTW!


After that, we headed home for a nap before heading out in the evening for a family affair, followed by dinner round 2 at a friend's.


It was a super late night with the husband getting high-drunk, and the kids going to sleep past 1am. ONE IN THE MORNING! -gasp-

One with my lion-dance-loving-child

LNY is probably the favourite occasion for us, because it is a true-blue Asian affair, and one time in the year where you can legitimately do all vices at one time, just because! Haha!

Kisses from the boy. Love!

Sunday Brunch

It was a lovely Sunday morning... and it turned into an even better day when I experienced my first ever Champagne brunch with the sister and the BIL, the husband and some friends!

Cheers!

I had the most splitting headache after (whose brilliant idea was it to bottoms up the damn glass anyway?!) and totally crashed into bed when I got home. If not for the alarm I set because we were hosting dinner at our house... I think I'd have slept right into night time.


Ahhhh... good times.

Rooster Lunar New Year, Day 2

Our second day started with me squeezing a bit of yoga in, then us preparing to head out. On the menu, was prata! The sister and her in-law family hosted us with an indulgent prata breakfast. It was yummy! 

Foo-Yeap-Seah

Then, we made our way to the other in-law family where we had a steamboat lunch and some adult play-time. We finished off with the last stopover at my in-law family.


Everyone adjourned for rest then gathered again in the evening at our uncle's place. It was the usual of fun, laughter, play... and this year, we had a visit from some special huat guests.

Lion dance, 3rd day in a row! And Pika, with our dad.

Day 2 meant that the next day was still a public holidays... hooray!

#neverbefore

Me: good night (kisses the husband)


Him: You are turning 40 already!


Me: TSK. You'll always get there before me, k.


Him: Wow.


Me: ???


Him: I cannot imagine kissing a 40 year old woman!


Me: shrieks in annoyance/ convulses with laughter


My husband, the comedian


-rolls eyes-

Year of the Rooster, day 1

As per tradition, we started off the first day of the Rooster year having the children pay their respects to the husband and I.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Family, 2017

Silly family,2017

I like how we ended up being pretty colour co-ordinated, pretty unplanned. After our home's intimate affair, we continued with our traditional schedule of heading to my Mom's house. This year, the brother and sister have both moved out so instead of them being home, we all made our way to Mom's. We had a fulfilling and heart-warming meal of home-cooked soup and noodles (the same every year! Mom is best!) at Mom's then did our family exchange of hugs, well-wishes and red packets.

Foo-Seah-Yeap.

We headed to Grandma's, then split up for our own family meetings; where we head to the husband's side of the family.

Matchy-match boys

Lion dance - 2nd day in a row!

We managed to head home for an afternoon nap, before the siblings came over to our home for blessings. Forgot to take a youngling's pic, but we shall next time! We played some games and had some drinks together, before heading to Mom's for the annual steamboat dinner with the extended family.
The night ended with the usual round of drinks and card-games, it was nice and fun and tiring. Nothing beats being around family who laugh and make merry together.


Happy lunar new year! Here's to a beautiful kick-ass rooster year! Woot!