Jovan's 1st Birthday!

Hohoho.... Our dear Prince Baby Jovan 1st birthday party was a success. Jovan was rather cooperative, though throwing tantrums at times. He was still rather sticky to me, my mother in-law and my mum. However, some of my our friends still managed to cajole and cuddle him. There were some others who attempted very hard to carry him but still failed in their missions. Jovan would turn his head away from them and yearned for me.

We chose to hold the party at my sis's condo function room cos we did not want to spend time and effort mopping and clearing up the mess if we chose it to have it at our place. For Jovan, daddy and mummy did up a birthday poster, birthday wish card and prepared customised kit-kat bars for our guests. Well, the poster wasn't perfect but it's the hard work effort from daddy and mummy. Daddy folded the letters based on origami work and mummy arranged and designed the photos. Of course, we prepared Mickey Mouse goodie bags for our little guests as well. The theme set for the party is Mickey Mouse mainly because our dear boy is born in the year of the Rat, thus we thought this theme befits him prefectly! Apart from that, we engaged professional balloon decor company in doing up the room, not extensive but something simple to spruce up and liven the party with a huge standing Mickey Mouse foil balloon and other helium filled balloons. Of course, to complement the theme, our cake was a Mickey Mouse cake too. It's a 2-tiered different flavoured 3kg Mickey Mouse cake!

Guests started to stream in from 2.30p.m onwards. Apart from family members, only invited those friends who are close to us, thus the crowd is manageable around 40, excluding kids. Jovin and her cousins had their usual great time running around with the party packs and balloons. James and I had our fair share of mingling time with our pals and both our familes had a great interaction time especially my 2 mothers who exchanged much talk about their 2 grandchildren i.e my 2 lovely 'Js'. I was glad my long-time pals like Su Yee, Jennifer and Yeo Leng all came and this was the first time I saw Yeo Leng's son since his birth in 2007! All of us had a great chat and thks to my great pal photographer Andy, we managed to capture so many memorable nice shots.

All the guests were appalled and full of praise for the beautifully decorated Mickey Mouse cake. It wasn't easy getting Jovan to cooperate in posing for the photos though, but Andy still managed to capture whatever he could. As we sang happy birthday song for the star, he was very happy and also clapped his hands heartily! When it comes to blowing of candle, of course, the task was undertaken by Jovan's dearest jiejie. Jovan could only do the act hehe... The House of 'Js' held hands together and cut the cake as we posed for the shot. Jovan was rather cooperative then, thank goodness. Intially, we were worried we couldn;t finish the 3kg cake but to our great surprise, we finished it amazingly. All our friends complimented on the cake and some even took a second helping so that they could enjoy the 2 different flavours. We were so happy both the buffet and cake was so well-liked by all.





The party ended around 5p.m and we reached home with the wonderful presents, vouchers and angpows for our dear boy. Jovin missed her nap, so she dozed off soon after we reached home around 8p.m. Jovan had his nap when we were packing up the function room, thus he was more energetic and had his present unwrapping session! There were so many new toys and guess what? Some of our friends like Jennifer, Su Yee and Chwee Ling were so considerate. They even bought Jovin presents too for fear she would be left out. I bet Jovin would love the Hello Kitty rice cooker set. Jovan was very interested in some of the new toys and started laying his hands on them. Hmm, bet Jovin would surely join in when she sees the toys tomorrow. Now, I'm anxiously yearning to see the photos taken at this afternoon's party.So, for now, no party photos to be uploaded yet. Gotta wait for my dear photographer :)



The party is over. Both the kids are soundly asleep now. Well, as I am writing, realised it's now past midnite. Well, many won't know actually today 1 Mar marks the 14th year of togetherness betwen Dear James and myself. We got hitched and went into relationship from 1 Mar 1995 onwards. Now, 14 years have passed and we are now a complete family with Jovin and Jovan! We are very happy as we are able to celebrate Jovan's birthday yearly with our anniversary! The House of 'Js' will have our own exclusive birthday cum anniversary celebration. Look out for my blog update.
Nonetheless, we are really thankful to our dearest pals and family who really dote on our kids and bought them so many presents. For a moment, we really thought we were seeing those toys on display in departmental stores as I couldn't even picture all the toys in a single shot. Thks pals!

Jovan - Here's to wishing you a Happy 1 YEAR OLD Birthday! Daddy, Mummy and Jiejie will always be there for u. Hugs and kisses to u, my dearest boy!

5,4,3,2,1....Happy 1st Birthday Jovan!

Last year this time, I am already in delivery ward, anxiously and eagerly awaiting our prince Jovan's arrival. Time really flies.... 28 Feb 09 is just round the corner and my boy will turn exactly 1 year old by 28 Feb 2009 0029 hours!

Still remembered James was still taking video shots of me when my contractions hadn't really kicked in yet. Only around 11.45p.m, when the nurses finished setting up the necessary equipment like foetal heartbeat monitor, laughing gas etc, strong and unbearable contractions started kicking in and I wasn't in the least mood to joke with hubby then. I considered myself very fortunate for both pregnancies as both my 'Js' were cooperative enough and gave me a short torturous time. First delivery of 3 hours is already considered a feat. Jovan came out in merely 45 mins, which was even more remarkable. I remembered my strength was really overpowering and 3 nurses were in the ward to prevent me from moving too much as I pushed Jovan out. Remarkably, he came out in merely 2 pushes! Still remembered the first thing I asked hubby was ' Dear, a boy rite?' Hehe....

Many envied me for having such short deliveries and I didn't experience any nauseous feeling throughout for both pregnancies. I was seldom on mc and could move around freely despite the bulging weight gain in the advanced part. The best part of pregnancy was, I could eat freely and enjoy whatever I liked. Being very figure conscious, I am rather diet-abidding when I am not pregnant. Thus, being pregnant gives me the freedom of eating foods like fried kway teow, chicken rice etc. Of course, common pregnancy aliments like fatigue, weight gain is definitely ineveitable. But, being treated like a queen is shiok :) Nonetheless, I managed to shake off the excess weight gain. Back to stricter diets now but rewarded with a lovely pair of kids.

For the past year, Jovan has defintiely brought me much joy and happiness above what Jovin has given me. His learning pace in speech is relatively slower than jiejie, but he picks up skills like bottle-holding, straw-drinking much faster than jiejie. Now, he's still learning how to walk. Only 1-2 steps and he gives up. Hmmm, looks like boys are really more impatient than girls. But, Jovan is closer and stickier to me compared to Jovin too. Whenever he sees me, he would prefer me to his daddy. Poor James, gotta work harder at father-son bonding.

Tomorrow, we are going to hold a birthday celebration for our prince with our close friends and family members. I believe the video and photo shots will relive him of the memories as he grows older and look back at these shots. My greatest wish for my dear prince is to build up a stronger body resistance. stay healthy and dear as always.

Happy 1st Birthday, my dearest Jovan!

Studio Photos ....Once Again!

We brought Jovin for studio photos when she was 4 months and 1 year old then. To exercise fairness between my 2 'Js'. I scheduled another studio shot for dear Jovan this evening. I really salute the photographer as he was really patient enough and spending so much effort in joining us to amuse and entertain the 2 kids, especially Jovan. Taking photos with kids require much patience really and it really wore us out in running here and there, fussing over their temperaments, short attention span etc. Jovin wasn't very cooperative too. The photographer told her to position herself at one end, she would stand far away at another end on purpose. Jovan, on the other hand, also lost tantrums on and off. He wailed as and when he felt uncomfortable, frustrated etc. Nonetheless, we completed the entire shots in 1 hour+ with a total of 150 photos. James was lamenting throughout it was all my idea. We spent money to torture ourselves hehe. Despite that, I believe in capturing significant milestones in children's growth. 1 year old is a major milestone which money can't buy once they pass the mark. Looking at the photos, James stopped complaining cos we were rather satisfied with the outcome. Won't be taking professional studio shots in the next short span, but may consider in the next few years when both are older and manageable. We conclude money still well spent and mission was a success!

The Sickly Pair....

Jovan has fully recovered from his illness. Now, both Jovin and I are down. Both of us visited the doc today. I'm down with a bad runny nose . Given 2 days MC. The medicine was really drowsy and made me sleep like a log throughout the whole afternoon. Jovin's running nose is under better control now, but fever is still hovering up and down. Need to take medicine every 4 hrs. I felt so much better but still in a rather dazed state, walking like zombile, only felt like sleeping. Jovin is still as active though with Barney DVDs accompaning her throughout.Ever since Jovan's birth, I have been in best of health and hardly fell sick. This time round, really defeated by the flu bug and have to take care of the sickly Jovin too with the help of mum fortunately. Hope that both mother and daughter will recover soon :)

Happy Valentine's Day 2009!

We agree it's just another commercialised day, but just feel weird that we do not have anything special to mark the romantic ocassion. Dear and I exchanged our cards and the words really melted my heart hehe....As for the celebration, Dear and I decided for a simple programme at nearby Causeway Point. We had a late dinner cos we intentionally wanted to avoid the lovey dovey crowd at restaurants and car park. However, at 8.45p.m, the queue was still so long especially for western meals. Thus, we abandoned the idea of dining at Breeks and chose to settle for Soup restaurant instead. We had a great meal too with corn and spare ribs soup, the famous samsui chicken, steamed beancurd and fish slices. The food was good and Jovin loved the soup. After a great meal, we went to the arcade and all of us had a fun and enjoyable time playing space hockey, mini basketball etc. Jovin was our referee when James and I played. Jovan remained as our ardent supporter watching daddy and mummy play like crazy in the pram. When we played basketball, we placed the 2 kids on top of the machine and they shouted and screamed so happily as we were rushing to aim for more throws within the stipulated time. Of course, the 2 kids had their usual favourite round of carousel ride before we headed for home.





Hey but that was not the end of our Valentine's Day Programme. We bought a heart-shaped mini valentine's day cake and both James and I enjoyed it. Hehe, guess what? Only the 2 of us enjoyed the cake after the kids turned in and that's our private moments......

This is the 14th year we are celebrating Valentine's Day together. Really cherish all the love bestowed upon me and the kids for the past years.

Dear Hubby, just a simple word of thanks and I LOVE U FOREVER!

Something To Share.......

Attended a parenting talk this afternoon. Really found it very beneficial and interesting especially the target audience was parents with babies/toddlers to manage at home.

Below are some enlightening hard core facts which we as parents should always bear in mind when teaching our kids:

1) A child that lives with ridicule learns to be timid
2) A child that lives with criticism learns to condemn
3) A child that learns with distrust learns to be deceitful
4) A child that lives with antagonism learns to be hostile
5) A child that lives with patience learns to be tolerant
6) A child that lives with happiness will find love and beauty

Besides parenting, the lecturer also gave some tips to managing relationship with spouse. Of the many tips she mentioned, the tip which left the deepest impression upon me is the hilarious scenario act as below.The whole class couldn't stop laughing....

Scenario 1:
Husband: Dear,Good morning, I LOVE YOU! What's for breakfast today?
Wife: Oh my darling, whatever u ask for be it scrambled eggs, sausages or boiled egg. U name it I have it.

Scenario 2:
Husband: Dear, what's for breakfast today?
Wife: U cook yourself lah. Every morning only know how to eat. Can't u cook?

Haha... Morale of the story to ALL HUSBANDS.....
Be it 20 or 80 year old women, all women love to hear 'I LOVE U' from their spouses. These 3 simple words daily is the main secret to a long lasting relationship. Don't belittle it. This is specially dedicated to all my male buddies and of course my beloved hubby James. Dear, are u reading it?

Hope the above tips prove to be useful to u and enjoy family and romance blissfulness always :)

Parents never stop worrying.....

Before I was promoted to a mum, I used to worry over my personal issues only. With the addition of Jovin and Jovan, I always have to worry this and that and most of the times, it's due to their sickness. Just when Jovan has recovered from his cough before CNY, he's now down again. He was having fever on Fri morning, now the fever has subsided. But his phglemy cough has returned and I really felt so heart-broken to hear him cough especially in the middle of his sleep. Brnging him to PD, taking medicine is the last thing that I really wanted to do. But how can he recover without medication? Money aside ( though it's real expensive, I don't deny. ), I really yearn to see and wish for the sickening phglem to disappear from his throat. Hope he gets well soon and hope that he will be in the best of health and have a real happy birthday in 3 weeks time.

Jovan, mummy and daddy really wish the phglem will be rid of your body soon so that you have a good sleep and be healthy always :)

Reunion Dinner.....Once Again

Last Tuesday, we decided to gather for another round of reunion dinner since Sis's family was unable to make it back from JB in time on CNY eve. Using the new Teppanyaki steam-boat we bought, the kids enkoyed frying eggs, sausages, crabsticks on the teppanyaki. Jovin found it so much fun tossing the food around on hot plate, though at times, we couldn't escape from being pricked by the heat. Jovan couldm't eat all those food. Thus, had to give him rice instead to satisfy him. We had the lou-hei after dinner as we were waiting for Dear to return from work. All of us had a final round as we shouted all the good tidings and wishes for year of the ox. Wishing our families all the best things for the Oxpicious Year!

Father & Son

See how daddy James is being 'tortured' by his son......

CNY Visiting continues.....

Last Sun, we paid a visit to my colleague Evelyn's place near Changi area. Evelyn's mum cooked many delicacies and the dishes really whetted our appetites. Jovin was so busy as she made accquiantance with a Eurasion boy who's same age as her. Both of them were just like a little couple, pally with each other one moment, yet they fell out with each other the next moment over petty issues. We, as the onlookers, realy felt so hilarious. It was a short nite spent but a good one. Dear had a good chat with Rosalind's hubby who works in the same company as Dear too, though different departments. The little boy left earlier than us and both of them waved goodbye and hugged each other. What a heart-warming scene. Jovan was happily cuddled by me as I fed him bread to quieten him, hehe. Before we left, Jovin waved goodbye to all amd she couldn't bear to part with the puppies at Eve's place. She loves to look at them buy doesn't dare to touch them though, just like mummy haha. Looking forward to our next get-together session :)

Visit to Botanic Gardens!

We woke up early and bright for an unusal gathering this morning. Dear's long-time JC pal, Fulong has returned from Shanghai for CNY, thus we decided to meet up at Botanic Gardens for brunch, together with Weifeng's family and Baoshun/ Leewen. Dear parked at the wrong side of the car park, hence we walked a long distance of about 20 minutes before we finally arrived at the restaurant. of course, we were among the last to arrive hehe. We felt so happy to meet up with them and Jovin was very pally with Weifeng's son. Kids are kids. They held hands and went around the park one moment, but the next moment, they were quarelling over a ball. So interesting to observe kids' behaviour. After brunch, we adults lingered around the speace near the restaurant and the few kids ran around, especially Jovin and Xinjia. Of course, the daddies were not spared too, had to run around with them. Jovan was in the pram, enjoying the breeze and scnery but he, too wanted to join the fun after some time and I had to hold him around as he couldn't walk yet.





We also went to the nearby fishing pond and the kids had a good time feeding the fish with the food which Leewen bought. Jovin had so much fun throwing the food in the pond and she was thrilled! It was a short gathering with our long-time pals, and we realised the space we needed was getting wider due to 6 kids and 3 prams haha! Dear and I found that Bootanic Gardens was really beautiful and he commented he hasn't been here for ages till I knocked his head and reminded him we were here 4 years ago on our wedding day.Serves him right for forgetting haha! We look forward to bringing the kids here more often as it was a great chill-out and relaxing session :)

CLDDS Annual CNY Gathering

It has been a tradition ever since donkey years ago that the CLDDS pals would always meet up at one another's place. From singles to couplehood to marriage, we've gone visiting to almost one another's places. This year, the central base was Junwei and Tingting as they ahve just newly shifted months ago, thus the arrow naturally pointed towards them hehe.



We reached there around 4.30p.m and were one of the early guests as we saw Jianping and Wendy. It has been a year since we last seen them as they cou;dn't make it to all previous gatherings we held throughout the year. Jovan was rather cooperative and sat quietly on my laps watching Jovin playing WII games. Jovin was very excited as Wendy taught her how to play bowling, but she's still too young to appreciate though. Nonetheless, from Jovin's expressions, we knew that she enjoyed a lot and she even scored a srtike with her kiddy level skills!





Soon after, Baoling, Lijuan and Jimmy all came. Chloe looked frowny as she's just woken up from her nap in the car and she was very sticky to mummy, not willing to allow others to carry her. However, with her unsteady steps, she managed to swerve around the place and it was fun observing Jovian and Chloe who are 1.5 months apart. Both look as chubby but Chlow is able to walk more steadily compared to Jovan. Jovan was very interested on the delicacies and goodies on the table, though he couldn't eat with his miserable 3 teeth. Sobbb.....Jovin, on the other hand had fun as Baoling was playing the mahjong tiles with her. Our princess found it fun looking at the animal tiles, stacking the tiles up and down etc.



Dinner time, Andy joined us and we had the usual louhei with accompanying delicacies. Jovan was enjoying his beauty sleep and Jovin was thrilled and excited over the louhei. She knew it was coming as she did that during CNY day 2 with my family, so she found it so fun. While she was doing the louhei, she kept saying 'Gongxi fa cai ' throughout. Haha, really hilarious.

After a good dinner, we returned to Junwei's place left with ourselves, Baoling and Andy. I offered to take care of the 2 so that dear could have a mahjong session. Tingting also did not join in, so we exchanged some small talk on her pregnancy, the things she need to get ready etc. However, while all these were taking place, Jovin was running around, Jovan was crawling under the table here and there, not easy and really breathless to chase after these 2.

We ended the nite around 11p.m before we made a move. The biggest winner was Baoling and the biggest losers were dear and Andy. It was a great annual gathering and we were commenting unsure where we should go to next year as there would be a new addition. Oh my, 6 babies/toddles! Anyway, the kids were so exhausted from playing that they slept in the car and didn't wake up even when we reached home! It's happy to see our everlasting friendship till our next generation now. I believe our friendship with the CLDDS pals will be strongly binded and we will definitely cherish it :)