Puff puff, we blow 4 times!

This year, Jovan turns 4 and coincidentally, we had 4 cakes haha! The whole month of Feb was truly dedicated to our birthday prince. Jovan's first birthday celebration was held at school on 13 Feb. As usual, we brought the cake and goodie bags, all specially customised Ben-10 apparel for Jovan's class. Jovan was full of smiles and I've never seen him so cooperative in photo-taking. The photos taken that day were excellent and every photo captured the beautiful smile on our birthday boy's face.


The second celebration was on the same weekend with House of Lims & Auntie Bao. Dear and I chose to have the celebration at an exclusive restaurant which serves great Western food. We frequent the place upon dear's recommendation, found it good with reasonable pricing and ambience. We had a small green tea cake and placed our own Ben-10 figurines on the cake, haha self-improvised Ben-10 version of the cake, economical too! Had our second part of the programme to our usual haunt Xin Wang Cafe where Jovan unwrapped all his presents.


The 3 kids had fun with the kids entertainer, Auntie Bao who really devoted her time and energy to them whilst the daddies and mummies took a breather haha. But we soon 'rescued' Baoling by using I-pad and I-phones to divert their attention. It was a great night, of course the happiest was Jovan who got a new Ben-10 bag and a Humongosaur shooter ( to shoot daddy haha!)





The next 2 celebrations were spent with our beloved ones over the weekend. Both paternal and maternal grandmothers whipped up great meals, coupled with our take-away Ichiban sushi, all enjoyed the great delicacies, simply like another round of reunion dinner!






Jovan had loads of fun with PS3, Bey Blade and of course new loves - Daddy and Mummy's super expensive Ben-10 car which really cost a bomb, Hot Wheels, etc. The cake sizes were just appropriate for both days, though dear and I really developed some kinda phobia having eaten so many cakes in a month, hehe...


It's another year. Today is Jovan's actual birthday. I left school early and fetched him from his school directly. Mother and son had a good bonding session through lunch and playground activities. Then, we were too tired, so came home for a nap, a restful and relaxing birthday for our little prince.


Jovan,
Wishing u a happy 4th birthday and stay healthy and cheerful always. We love u forever from the bottom of our hearts.....

乐文长大了！

标题似乎很老套，却又一时想不到更贴切的了。从开学至今，一直马不停蹄地在工作岗位上拼搏，虽同事朋友常戏言我是超级妈咪，但始终不得不承认，身心的确感到很疲惫。然而，身为母亲，孩子至上的原则依然不变。每年宝贝的生日。

我总会悉心规划，做好安排，务必让孩子度过愉快的生日。

今年，乐文四岁了！四年前的今天，我正在医院里，怀里捧着一个重达不过2.6公斤的初生婴儿。如今，宝贝乐文已是16公斤的壮宝宝。说起来，从怀孕到生产的过程，乐文的确非常合作，没给我带来任何不便，只不过他的确给了我一个大惊喜。提早三个星期，迫不及待想来到这个五花八门的世界，不过也只不过折腾了我区区45分钟，再推了三次，一个2.6公斤的宝宝便送入我怀中。但想不到，三天后回去复诊时，乐文却被迫与我分隔因他的黄疸指数太高，因此需要留医两天。那两天，记得我奔波于医院家里两边跑，只因想给他足够的奶水，加上心情起伏不定，那段日子的确不好过。



出院后，就在乐文三周大时，又莫名其妙地残遭害虫袭击，可怜的宝贝的大腿上甚至得忍受皮肉之苦，任由医生在腿上划一道，才让黄脓流出来。当时的我，真的犹如自己被切割一块肉，那种心如刀割的感觉，我深深地体会。。。。之后，又住了两天医院。那时乐文已不是新生婴儿，所以晚上得由母亲亲自照顾。当时宝贝一直泻肚子，我又不适应照顾男婴，所以一直忙着换尿片、24小时照顾他，彻夜不眠。。。这种滋味只有做母亲的才会有所体会。



这四年来，看着乐文逐渐成长，我感到欣慰无比。人家常说，男生学东西比女生慢，也较操心，我非常赞同。乐文的确在学习方面比乐琳慢。

5个月- 翻身
10个月- 出牙齿
12个月- 叫‘爸爸’
14个月-第一步

我们起初很担心乐文在口齿方面的问题，但现在的他，喋喋不休哈哈！但现在所面对的挑战是，叫他配合做功课与认写数字的困难。还有，乐文比姐姐调皮得多，有时真的气得我气孔冒烟，为人父母的痛楚，唉。。。。



然而，养儿育女就是如此。乐文最善于逗我们开心。看到他笑逐颜开，我的烦恼立即抛诸脑后。很矛盾是吧？还在摸索做个称职的好母亲，希望我能够成功栽培乐文与乐琳俩成材。



乐文，祝你生日快乐，做个开心的小BEN-10！

Sweet sweet......甜蜜无比

婚姻是爱情的坟墓？我绝对否决。老公虽称不上完美，但在我们一起走过的这17年，我看到的不只是他的努力，他更不时制造浪漫惊喜，哄我开心。女人嘛，无论3或80岁，总爱憧憬浪漫，时而也希望老公能制造惊喜，为平淡无奇的生活带来点刺激。




We don't actually specially celebrate Valentine's Day, but it's hard to give it a total miss with all the commercial tactics..... On 13th Feb, we happen to be on leave as we needed to settle HDB sigining agreement that day. Guess what? Dear suggested we go KTV! We fetched Jovan from school and brought him along with us! It was so innovative haha! Jovan was interested in listening to us sing rather than sing though. However, he was all hands and legs as he heard the familiar Chinese songs which we often play in the car. We also played kids songs which Jovan was totally awed by the MTVs haha....



Dear and I had a great time singing till 7p.m at such a reasonable rate cos it was weekday! We sang so many duets and of course our all-time favourite 知己which brought us together........



After that, dear brought us to Jack's Place. Dear specifically chose the AMK Jack's Place as that was the place where we had our first Valentine's dinner date in 1996 and till this date, I am still keeping the receipt of our first date then which cost us $72 back then!

The place really relived much cherishable memories. Apart from our couple dates, this is also the same place where I had my 'last' filling dinner before I gave birth to Jovan. Today, we brought Jovan back to the same place. Dear tried explaining to Jovan but judging from his expression, he was clueless to what daddy was talking about haha...

Jovan was our light bulb for the night but we love this bulb. We enjoyed our special Valentine's Day set dinner whereas Jovan had his kids meal. Dear bought the special VDay cake at a hefty price but I really felt sweet in my heart......甜蜜无比。。。。

情人节当天，老公还给了我多一个美丽的惊喜。他买了一套我最爱的PRECIOUS MOMENTS 的情人节用品，再献上一张卡片。里头的字字句句都是老公的肺腑之言，也让我勾起了许多甜蜜的回忆。

虽然已是‘老夫老妻’了，但仍感激老公不辞劳苦地哄我开心。为了这段感情，我们俩都努力付出了很多，只为了经营一段得来不易的感情。很开心自己有个幸福的家庭，也希望我们之间的情谊能绵绵不绝，直到永远。



老公文强，情人节快乐！我和两个小呱永远爱你！！！

Our Ben-10 is turning 4!

Many often comment kids change their preferences very fast. However, this does not hold true for our little Ben-10 Jovan. It has been more than a year and he is still an avid lover of Ben-10. From school bags, stationery sets, wallet, EZ-link card holder, clothing, water bottle etc. he's truly decked in all Ben-10 apparel!



For his upcoming birthday, we have prepared exclusive Ben-10 goodie bags with matching partyware for his school celebration. Jovin was very excited and helped out with the packing too. House of 'J's were all engaged in this major upcoming event.



Time really flies, Jovan is soon turning 4 and I still remember dear joked if Jovan would be born on 29 Feb 2008 then. If that really materialised then, this would be Jovan's first year celebrating his actual birthday. Luckily, he was so eager to see the word, see us or perhaps to enjoy the delicacies haha. That's why he popped out 3 weeks earlier and caught me unawares. I still remembered my gynae told me I was already dilated 2 cm then, yet I still happily walked about without feeling a thing haha....
Nonetheless, it was almost a breeze-through for Jovan's birth. Only about 45mins of labour pain and in 3 pushes, a mere 2.655kg baby prince was brought in my arms.....


Today I see my dear boy happily packing his goodie bags with daddy and jiejie. Really consoled. My boy has grown up but still very baby in certain ways though hehe.... Planning for a series of mini celebrations for our dear boy. Looking forward to his upcoming celebrations with our intimate ones.......

Weekend Dining @ Central!

Brought our little 'J's to Central this evening. There wasn't much shopping crowd, but we enjoyed fun snapping shots of our little 'J's and had a very satisfying meal at Watami restaurant. We ordered the deluxe set for 2 which was just nice for us. Had a great night with my beloved ones.

The Dragon Roarssssss.......

This Dragon CNY differs from the previous ones we had. This year, due to custom traditions, we are not allowed to distrbute ang pows as dear's granny passed away in Nov last year. Nonetheless, we still had a great time gathering and meet-ups with our relatives and great pals.

Relatives
Every year, we used to gather at dear's aunt's place for the 1st day as granny was staying there. However, from this year onwards, my in-law's place shall become the focal point of gathering. Haha that conveniences us too! So my in laws busy prepared and whipped up delicacies for the relatives. We love her dumplings and we actually wiped out over 60 dumplings!


It was a great chit chat session as we rarely meet these relatives. Our little 'J's had fun eating and playing 'SABOTEUR' card games with us. Of course, all were busy eating too amidst all the playing. So my mother in law was the happiest as we helped to 'clear' her stock of festive goodies haha....



As for the 2nd day, we visited dear's maternal grandmother's place as usual. The 3-rm apartment was really bursting with the ever-growing numbers annually. However, at least, we deconflicted the timings so it was still made possible with almost all corners filled. Jovin had her playmates, Jovan had his I-Pad, we interacted with the adults over some card games. The most amazing thing was that, dear's grandmother actually forgoed her usual buffet catering and cooked all the dishes by herself! A 84 year old lady! Kudos. The homemade dishes were really fantastic. especially abalone! Jovin helped herself to so much abalone pieces haha....

Family
For the 1st day of CNY this year, as we were barred from visiting some places, we had some time to ourselves and our intial plan was to catch a movie instead. But alas, we went to both J8 and AMK hub and all tics were sold out! So we decided to give it a miss. Brought the kids to explorer kids instead.

 


Jovin had a art and craft session whereas dear brought Jovan to shop around. We were surprised quite a no. of shops were operating then, Jovin completed her princess scratch artpiece. Could see that she really enjoyed it. Then we settled for our dinner at New York New York. Hmm, this was something we didn't do in the past. The kids and us enjoyed ourselves thorougly.



Therafter, we went to sis's place and played card games together. A night filled with fun and enjoyment!





On the 2nd day, we also went for louhei session with my family at one of the usual Chinese restaurants we patronize. The kids love the louhei session best as they tossed and flipped the ingredients, shouting all the positive tidings. Every year, I truly look forward to this part of the programme when I see all the happy faces on all my beloved ones.

Friends




As for friends, we went to dear's buddy's Krist's house on day 2. This was our first time visit there. It was a small and cosy condo apartment, perfect for the 2! The decor and reno was aptly done suited to their styles. We had a great time there as we were their exclusive guests, so honourable! Before we left, posed some beautiful shots with them. Not easy to get Jovan to pose as usual haha but we still got him to join in the finale shot :)

Of course, every year without fail, we made time for our long-time JC CLDDS pals of 18 years. This year, the hosts were Jimmy and Lijuan. We met last Saturday, went for dinner in the nearby neighbourhood. To our surprise, the food tasted great. We had a 10-course dinner. Over-estimated ourselves, so couldn't finish the food haha...After we returned, the guys as usual congregated at one corner for men's talk and we ladies fussed over the kids. Chloe and Jovin were more interested in their girly activities whereas the rest of the 3 boys were busy playing other interesting toys which really amazed Tingting and myself. Chloe's toys were mainly bought from internet and were really fun. Even we adults were drawn to them. The kitchen and tools set, slicing toys etc.....

 
The climax was here when the play slide made its appearance after being shelved in their storeroom for sometime. The 5 kids took their turns, queued orderly and played repeatedly. Except for Jianping's little Justin who needed more attention and that really made his parents dead exhausted, the rest of us merely sat one side and too photos of our little ones.
 

We were glad our professional photographer Andy was with us and he took so many nice shots of us and the kids. Thks pals! Hmmm, our dear pal has been so busy thta we hardly see him join us for gatherings. This year, he really made it possible and joined us for the reunion dinner and this CNY gathering. He even said in jest " I've clocked my hours haha!" ( Pal, does that mean u won't be able to join us for subsequent gatherings haha?)

It was a pity that that this year's CNY only had 2 public holidays. How I wish this will last longer.... Nonetheless, we still had a great gathering and celebration. My last celebration will be tomorrow when my family will all gather at mum's place for steamboat dinner and a final round of louhei yippie!

HAPPY DRAGON YEAR TO ALL!