Things are Looking Up

The little baby girl has not been well. Over the past six weeks or so, we have spent a mini fortune at the pd, she has polished off bottles of medication of flu, cough, phlegm, fever, wheezing, etc. She got worse, and was prescribed the inhaler. That didn't work, and was ordered the be nebulised a few times a day, coupled with anti-biotics. After an extended course of anti-biotics, she was still phlegmy and wheezing. She was put back on the inhaler. Finally, last week, she started eating again. She had stopped eating anything for about a month prior to that, and lost about 15% of her body weight.

Needless to say, it's been a very tiring couple of months for us. She refused to sleep in her bed, or lying down at all, for that matter. I held her in my arms at night for weeks on end. And in the day, she was so tired and lethargic that she wanted me to hold her all the time too. Her feet did not touch the ground for five days straight.

But the worst has passed. And even though she's still not a 100%, she's laughing, eating and talking again. And for that, I'm very thankful.

A Quiet 30

On the day I turned 30, I made breakfast for my family, the four of us then enjoyed a scrumptious Italian buffet with my aunt, and we had a feast at home. And a few days before that, I had a lovely popiah dinner at my parents'. I was a little reluctant to turn 30, and wanted to keep things as quiet as possible. I felt old. I felt past my prime. But then... I snapped out of it. Hey! I have two awesome kids, and a lifelong companion who is the best father, and who makes me laugh everyday. All this at 30! I have every reason to celebrate. Sooo... I ate heartily, and devoured all of my three birthday cakes. Happy birthday to me.

Congrats A & A!

Little Mae attended her first wedding today. That of the hubby's old driving buddy, A, and his great lady, A. Congrats guys! May you have many gazillion happy years to come.

It was a beautiful wedding with great food, wine, dessert, all over catching up with close friends. Chubbs especially enjoyed playing with N, the son of the emcee at my wedding. And he reminded me that I really need to work harder at updating this blog. I've been guilty of slacking off, because the four of us have been hit by a horrid flu bug over the past month.

Here's a fab picture of N and little Mae. N is soooo good with kids, playing with Chubbs and entertaining my little girl throughout the wedding. I managed to even sit down for a quiet espresso at the end. Thanks N!

She's One

My baby girl is one! Where has the past year gone? She has been such a sweet-natured girl, who is super affectionate with the people she loves. She often rests her head on our chests (hug), and lunge at our faces with her mouth wide open (kiss). We find ourselves letting her kiss us even though we are left with drool all over our faces after. She's loved to bits by Chubbs, who sees it as his responsibility to look out for her. I'm happiest when they are playing together quietly. Here's to another great year baby girl!

I'm one! Need to change car seats!

After breakfast, they played with toys as usual.

Off to Gardens by the Bay in her new seat.

Happy to be carried around.

Chubbs and his favourite purple flowers.

Pumpkins for Halloween.

Happy birthday girl.

He loved the rabbit display.

Eating apple cake for her birthday!

Little Mae's First First

Today, we had the first celebration for little Mae's first birthday. It was with Fuzzy's side of the family, 50 strong. I love occasions like this because it allows me to catch up with all our lovely aunts and uncles that we don't see so often. And Chubbs absolutely enjoys playing with every one of them.

Although Mae got tired just as the party started, she hung in there to enjoy her birthday song, Chubbs helped to blow her candle out, and she even had a slice of cake! It was a lovely red velvet cake that was coloured with beetroot juice, and she really likes beetroot. Afterwhich, I gave her her bath, nursed her, and she fell fast asleep while the adults carried on with the party.

In all, the kids enjoyed themselves, the adults enjoyed playing with the kids, and we appreciated the family's love for our children. We dearly missed the kids' Yee Sook Gong and Grandaunty Jan (in Vancouver), Sam Sook (in Melbourne), Aunty Jean (in NY) and Aunty Katie (in Vancouver Island) though :( Maybe next year we'll have everyone together.

Cake-eating game faces on!

Sharing Snacks

Little Mae loves it when she hears the word, "Snack"! She drops everything she holding onto, and comes speed-crawling towards me. Today, I pulled out one of Chubbs' favourite snacks when he was Mae's age, puffed kamut. Kamut is an ancient grain, that contains around 17% protein. It's so tasty (think fragrant popcorn) and good for kids. Baby Mae and even Chubbs enjoyed their post-dinner snack immensely. But the best part of it for her, was when Kor-Kor shared the snack from his bowl, and him feeding her. She was giggling when eating, and would pat his back and baby babble whenever she was ready for another piece. To which, he promptly pops another puff into her mouth. Priceless.

Ball!

I can't even begin to tell you how good little Mae is at throwing and catching balls. I'm one of those parents who try to play down my kids' talents (if you even call them that), because we are always biased! Of course our babies are fabulous. But this girl can really, really play ball. She anticipates when I throw to her, she catches without hesitation, and throws it back accurately with a strong arm. She can even change direction and throw to another person. Her favourtie is the tennis ball. She excitedly yells, "Ball!" everytime she sees it, and gets you to play with her. She even hits it with a racket and a golf club to move the ball from left to right and back again. She has very good control and is so sure in her movement. I can't wait to see where this takes her in future.

Using Fuzzy's tennis racket.

Catching with one hand.

Throwing it straight at me.

Chubbs' Day

On the day he turned four (one day after the party), I wanted a quiet day with just the few of us, so we let him choose how he wanted to spend it. He started out with opening some presents (thank you Tai-Pak for the Play Mobil set), played with the toys, then we brought him to Fidgets for five hours of non-stop fun (as per his request). Yes, five hours. I was too exhausted after that :/ Little Mae loves indoor playgrounds too, so it was a great family trip out.

We came home to a steak dinner, complete with the necessary birthday noodle dish, and sang him his last birthday song of the year before blowing out the "4" candle on a home-made tiger (his favourite animal) cake. He requested for orange yogurt cake that I bake all the time, and I melted dark chocolate to create the tiger stripes. He loved it, which made the effort worth it.

Happy birthday, my Love!

 

Waving to Mommy.

 

One of her many funny faces.

Pic including Sam-Sook, via Skype.

Chubbs' Four!!!

When people ask me how old my son is these days, I have to take a moment to think before responding. I often absent-mindedly reply, "Three." But his birthday celebrations over the last weekend most definitely makes him FOUR!!! He's such a big boy now, saying big boy things, playing with big boy toys, and reading by himself. He loves helping with Mae and "watching" her as she potters around.

For his birthday party this year, the colour theme was purple; his current obssession. He loves everything purple, and we really tried to feature the colour in as many ways as possible. I baked chocolate cupcakes with purple frosting, blew up many purple balloons, us, our relatives and his friends and their parents all came purple-y dressed (thank you so much, guys), a purple triceratops stood proudly on his birthday cake, the kids' goodie bags held purple candy, chocolates and Kisses, and there was purple jelly and Ribena for the kids.

I think the kids had a great time being kids, mucking around and running free out on the lawn, which my hubby and I enjoyed watching. Thanks to everyone who came, and who helped out minding the kids. Till next year!

As per Chubbs' request, chocolate cupcakes with purple frosting and sprinkles.

Sharing the bop bag with Nicky.

Kids run wild.

A family pic with tonnes of kids.

He designed his cake. "Chocolate cake with purple triceratops, and red stegosaurus, facing each other."

Serving the 4-kg cake.

He likes this part.

The little one.

Playing with bestie, Charlene.

She had loads of fun too.

Bop bags were the stars of the day.