Kate's birthday celebrations

Her very first birthday present, received on 15 Sept 2012 - thanks Janelle!

All ready for the party! 16 September 2012. Theme: PINK

 Kate's birthday party

Princess cake!

Birthday girl

Finally! Her own birthday candles!

Cutting the cake

Happy birthday Princess Kate!

With all her gifts - she's a lucky girl!

A baby princess doll

Her beauty table-set. Thanks Aunty Tanny and Jaz!

Dollhouse - thanks yiyi and Uncle Jon!

Tea-set and books - thanks jiujiu and Aunty Minci!

Pink dress - thanks Clarice yiyi and yizhang!

Set of clothes - thanks Weiwei yiyi!

Birthday dinner with her favourite (only) cousin Lukas

That smile, that beautiful smile

Three years ago, I felt contractions. That was the first time I knew what contractions felt like, exactly three years ago. It was painful, and the experience totally mine to experience. I think every mother will agree with me that the birth story of each child is special and unique. Kate's birth story can be read here.

And so, three years have passed and my firstborn is now a very chatty, intelligent, sensitive and beautiful toddler.

She's grown to become her own person, and going through the pictures of her from these three years, I notice that one thing consistently beautiful, is her smile.

Dear Kate,

I cannot believe that you're turning three - THREE!?! I still remember rather clearly the labour, and those early moments when I first laid my eyes on you and rubbed my thumb across your body. I cried tears of joy, not believing that this beautiful little baby was mine. You bring such joy to our lives and I cannot imagine not having you in my life, no matter how tiring it is. You have taught me unconditional love, strength and given me hope that the world can be a better place, because you make it so.

I wish that you will continue to grow and stay happy, and always flash that beautiful signature smile of yours. 

You are beautiful, inside and outside, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You will always be my precious child. I love you.

Love, Mommy

Cutie pie

Look who's going to get his own travel document?

Sibling love

I love mornings. I mean, sure, it's not pleasant when I have a throbbing headache from lack of/bad sleep, and all I want to do is shut out the bright lights and burrow back into the cocoon of my bed (which is very comfortable, by the way). But for those who know, this is indeed an impossible luxury when you have kids. So most of the time, I get up (sometimes by choice, sometimes not) and get on with it.

I’m quite a morning person. I prefer to sleep early and wake up early. My clock is kinda screwed now with looking after the kids but that is my preference. The husband is more nocturnal. He much prefers to do his stuff late into the night (watch movies, surf the night, study, read.. whatever) and then sleep in. So... looking at these pics, guess who’s more like who? Hehe.

Spot the morning person

In the mornings, Kate is fuzzy-brained and lazy. She is also very cranky if she's not had enough sleep. She has this slightly glazed look on her face and she just stretches lazily like a cat. Jake, on the other hand, is quite alert already. (His latest trend is getting up at 5.30am) He’d thump his strong hand and reach out for your nose, and if you respond, he’ll give you that irresistible and rare grin. Totally makes me happy. How to be annoyed with him like that?!  

These pics were taken this morning. Jake was already up and I was just done feeding him, when Kate started wailing from the bedroom. I brought Jake into the room and the moment he saw Kate, he started to smile and wave (thump) his arms about excitedly. (He loves his sister!) I let him loose on the bed and well, I really nearly started to tear watching them together. The way he reaches out for his sister, the way she will lean in to kiss him...

Sayang

Amidst all the hard, hard work of bringing up two kids – these are precious moments that make it worthwhile. I hope the two of them will grow up to love each other deeply, watch out for each other and be there for each other through their lives. I love my siblings and I’m so thankful that I have them to talk to, have fun with, get angry with (beats being lonely!) and well, family just rocks.

My darlings, Kate and Jake.

Painting with yiyi

Lucky us. Favourite yiyi came to visit and kick-started project "names-on-door".

Obviously, she wanted to start with the colour PINK. Her all-time favourite.

K & T for Kate, E for Jake.

More to come (2 more sessions before completion).

Sleeping beauties

Pouting with a frown 

Frowny

Yay, so the husband fixed the machine. But because my brain juices are dry, here's just a short, sweet entry featuring the beautiful gems in my life. They exasperate and stress me out so, but they are so beautiful and I love them with all my heart.

Tonight was one where both were cranky and I felt like supermom cradling both to sleep. Totally awesome.

[note 1: thanks to the husband.
note 2: I have a super crink in my neck from holding them in a rather awkward position.]

But, still awesome. Love.

Random thoughts on a rainy Sunday

• The stupid laptop doesn't allow me to upload recent pictures & I got pissed off trying to figure it out (I didn't) so lost two opportunities to blog over the weekend. (Note to husband: what's wrong with your machine?!) 
• I fell ill after catching something from Jake. Kate's still fighting it but I was down. It's been 3 days and I'm still popping meds while trying not to let my popping headache get to me. (Poppung headache = headache that makes my head feels like it's going to pop!)
• The husband and I went on date night yesterday with a group of his friends. We ate a lot of MSG-ded food and went for drinks afterwards (juice for me). Our conversation through the night revolved around husband-wife-squabbles and babies. We have definitely all moved on to this different stage of life. 
• Kate's becoming more of an adult. She is aware of more things around her, is able to articulate her likes and dislikes and speaks her mind freely. I like that she is vocal but we need to teach her to differentiate between being honest and rude. 
• Kate turns 3 next week. 
• I feel older. Have been more conscious of how I look and I worry that I look bad.
• Work has been very hectic and the coming week will be a whirlwind one! Can't wait for next week, where we get to celebrate my daughter turning three. 
• I have to schedule for my wisdom tooth removal. 
• I love my mother very much. 
• Family rocks. 
• Taboo is fun. 
• My son is becoming a real bossy pants (too). 
• After my last bad-night entry, we had another one which was worse. It involved tears (not all mine), vomit (Kate's), poop (both kids) and bad sleep (everyone!)
• I finally started Jake on semi-solids. So far, he's had apple, baby cereal, Rusks, plain porridge. 

Yup. Told you this was random. Heh.