Old and Comfy

Our Valentine’s coffee date while the kids were taking their afternoon nap.

The plan for lunch was to go try out a sushi joint which I’ve been planing to go with the H, but N wanted shabu-shabu and insisted on it so we scrapped our plans again. Sigh Parents. So off we went on a shabu-shabu family valentine’s date.

Came home, put the kids down for their nap and we sneaked out for a little impromtu date.

The night before the husband asked his brother to take N out, while he took A and sent me off for a nice massage.

Awwww, the little things he does. He even sent me happy pics of A to so that I wouldn’t worry although A was being whiny. The husband is not gd with gifts and big gestures but this is enough, I guess. Haha. And I in turn ordered delivery of his favourite Udang Tauco for dinner. A whole portion just for him. Is this what familiarity does to couples? No need for grand gestures anymore. That being said if he wants to, I’m not one to say no to gifts.

See ya on IG

Some baby took his first flight today!

Oh man, if this is an indication of how it is to travel with A. I think there will be no hols in the near future.

We’ve been so so spoiled by N, N has always been a champ-flyer. Knock off on takeoff and will sleep for most of the flight. Some baby was wide awake the whole time and we kept having to take him out due to turbulence.

I haven’t been home in a year! Yes a whole year! I don’t know where to start. The house next door is rebuilding and it is causing so much problems, N’s room is completely ruined, my walls are all cracked. They insist that they’ll make good the damages but my wallpapers and oh my goodness the endless noise and dust. N can’t even play in her playground because aunty M says its too dusty. Poor baby.

For the first time ever i’m truly not looking forward to being back

Aunty, the H and I were chatting over dinner, and we were saying how I’ve not been home in a year. So I asked Aunty M if she missed me.

👵🏻 “Ngak la, lebih kangen N”

💔

So brutal..

Not going to spend more time lamenting about the inevitable. Dayre’s been a big part of my life with N and we made so many connections with all you lovely ladies.

Just as well that the H’s plans tonight got cancelled and he and N are on some karaoke marathon in the study. So imma spend it adding all you ladies on my new IG acct @pocketsofadventures

See ya on the other side! 💋Don’t be a stranger k!

 It’s a brand new day! It’s stay-at-home day today but I’m hiding upstairs to pump and dayre while baby whines downstairs. Baby why do you whine so much?

Plans for the day

Going to give N her bath, put her down for her nap then meet up with friend at cafe to finalize venue for N’s birthday, hope my other friend joins us for lunch so that I can kill 2 birds with one stone and see her before I go back to SG. I need to bring our helper shopping for things to bring home for Lebaren as well.

Come home, bath N and hope that she naps. Quickly prepare her dinner before HRH wakes up. Have dinner while helper feeds her. Hope she eats, bundle her upstairs to clean up before bedtime. Struggle and chase her around the room to put on diaper and pyjamas. Hangout with gong gong and popo. Say good night, pray hard she goes to sleep without a fight by 9.

And the H wonders what we do all day. Next time he asks me what my schedule is like. I should just show him this.

Baby is knocked out, so quickly squeeze in a much needed mani/pedi.

 

Earlier during lunch..

Crawling the length of the banquette. Good thing Uncle Steven came along to babysit N so that mommy and aunties could chat. N and Uncle Steven get along fabulously, they’re like 2 long lost pals each time they meet.

Feel like raging at the husband now. I was about to put baby down after rocking her to sleep for an hour and he calls just to tell me he’s going for dinner now. He knows it’s her sleepy time and that she is super difficult to put to sleep these days. Rocked till my head was spinning and back breaking, shush till I’m going hoarse.

No idea why N is like that. Suspect it’s because when we’re not home, helper keeps carrying her to rock her to sleep. She used to sleep so easily.

We used to call her sleeping beauty because she slept so much and when she’s asleep it’s almost impossible to wake her. We used to video our attempts to wake her because it was so funny. We would hold her arms or legs up and drop them, still she would sleep. Tickle her, hardly stir. She once slept through a very noisy wedding with live music and only woke up after the reception ended and the music stopped.

Dear baby, please revert to your sleeping beauty mode.

The husband brought home a pint of haagen daz green tea ice cream to redeem himself. So I guess all’s well that ends well.

Let him have a few teaspoons of it while I pig out. He decided to let N taste some of it off his tongue. Super gross those two. So while N enthusiastically licked at Daddy, she also gave him a nice nip on his tongue. Serves him right! But those two are super cute together, albeit a little gross. Need to teach daughter not to go around licking random men …

Under the sea…

 TGIF! Feeling efficient today! I finally settled on the theme for N’s first birthday party with the husband. Sometimes, my husband confuses me.

👩 I’m thinking of a rabbit theme for N’s birthday, since she loves them. What do you think?
👨 No rabbits, she’s not born in the year of rabbit.
👩 Ok. Fairies? Pink and yellow?
👨 No pink, go for gender neutral themes. Cannot gender stereotype.
👩 Ookay.. what do you suggest?
👨 Animals, safari, circus
👩 Ok, vintage circus with game booths?
👨 Ok

Start to make mental list of what I need

Suddenly..
👨 No circus, lets do mermaid theme *starts humming under the sea*
👩 mermaids as in little mermaid? Princess theme?
👨 Ya why not?
👩 Little mermaid as in Disney princess girly theme?
👨 Ya
👩 *shows him picture of turquoise tutu skirt* so N wears this?
👨 Sure!
👩 Huh? How is this gender neutral?!
👨 *ignores me and continues singing*

So now I have one week to make it happen. Thank god for Etsy, Pinterest and my staff in the office.

As always everyone was super enthusiastic to dress mommy and N.
We’re going shopping next week to get decor materials. One of them is sourcing for an entertainer. I’m going to stop by and confirm venue tomorrow, hopefully it will fit all our guests.

Again the husband strikes. He told me to have a small party which is why I picked a cafe over the country club. The club was also charging a ridiculous amount. 50 juta for a kids party? Sorry, maybe I’m too cheap.

Then he chides me for forgetting his Saturday golf group. Erm, I’m not sure a bunch of retirees would be interested in a 1 yr old party? But nevermind. Then he asks if my friend served beer and if we could BYOB. Huh? Beer at a 1 year old party?

God help me. Anyway 1 week to finalize details before we leave. Only coming back the week before the party. *fingers crossed*

7 July 2014

N within the pillow fort that we built for her. Ever since she fell from the bed 2 months ago, we’ve been a bit paranoid. She has no concept of danger.

Story of my life. Wait for thy husband to have breakfast, wait for him to go to office, wait for him to go home, wait for him to have dinner. Isn’t it usually the men who are left waiting for their GF/wives?

Woots! No need to wait for husband to go home today. Came home with the driver first, bet our driver is equally happy to knock off early #doublewin

Best part of the day is when N greets me at the door with a look of pure joy, legs kicking and gives me a big wet slobbering kiss complete with tongue! I seriously have no idea where she picked up the tongue part from. She’s been doing it since a few months old. It’s so shocking yet funny at the same time. My amorous 9 month old.

9 Months Old!

N turned 9 months today. Congratulations baby, you’ve officially spent more time outside than inside mommy. Maybe I should really sit down to pen N’s birth story one day before I forget. The husband took a day off to go shopping with N and I.

Lunch was a huge disappointment and so we had to have ice cream at Ron’s laboratory to make up for it. The husband loved his matcha chocolate, and I the Thai tea with chin chow. Yummy, fluffy, delicately smooth ice cream.

Before baby, shoes were my weakness. Since having N all I buy are clothes and toys for her.

We finally bought a playpen today. The husband was dead against the idea of a playpen previously he said it was cruel to cage a baby. He’s eating his words now. N goes after everything like a curious puppy and she’s really fast. On days that she’s left at home, our helper basically drops everything and simply shadows her.

Milestones this month.

– N can now stand with minimal support
– She is still ultra kaypoh and loves to people watch
– She now has 4 teeth
– She crawls really fast and is starting to take steps on her own
– Her favourite words are “da-da” and “ah”
– She loves books
– She learnt to clap when we sing to her and can open and close her palms to “twinkle twinkle little star”
– She is starting to recognize alphabets (A to F only according to the husband’s experiment)

2 July 2014

Dead tired. The last two days were spent wading through seas of fabric, sorting out logistics and putting things into order in the office before we leave on the 19th. I haven’t had much time to spend with N. So today, my day is all hers.

I’m thankful that my work schedule is mostly flexible and I usually head to office only twice a week. However, it seems more tiring because I can no longer shut out work the moment I leave office. I’m left pondering my to-do list, wondering if things are being executed correctly. Working at home is also close to impossible as N doesn’t understand that mommy needs to work. She would squeal excitedly when she sees me working at the dining table, wanting to play.

If I were to shut myself in the study, she would stare longingly at the door or start scratching at the door and its simply heartbreaking. So sometimes I’ve resorted to camping out at Starbucks for an hour or two to clear my to-do list before heading home to spend time with her. Any further and I will spend more time stuck in traffic than on actual work. I actually spent a whole hour trying to get into our complex yesterday.

Just hoping that things will get easier as she gets older. I want to be there for her but we can’t have it all. So I guess this is the best we can do for now, and I’m thankful the husband is able to support me in this.

Was supposed to spend the day with N at home but ended up sneaking out to have lunch at Old Town to satisfy my soup horfun craving.

Had to do a grocery run as well because our fridge is completely empty for the first time in a long while. Absolutely nothing to cook for N’s lunch today and she ended up having an Ella food pouch.

N and her “huh, I just woke up” face. Filled her water box for her today and she had a whale of a time splashing toys about and squirting water everywhere.