My Post-Asia Conference Buzz…

It has been an incredible Conference.

Incredibly awed.

Incredibly exciting speakers.

Incredibly tiring.

…

And I shall restart my blogging from tomorrow!

Walking on Grass

Followers of my twitter or facebook accounts would probably have seen a recent tweet I sent about a recent conversation I had with Jay.

I walked over to Parkway for some ice-cream, and as we were walking along the pavement, I told Jay: “Be careful and walk properly, Jay. Don’t step on the grass.”

His quick retort: “Only cows walk in the grass.”

(Photo credit: Flickr)

But what I didn’t tweet was the conversation that followed.

He went on…

“Elephants walk in grass.”

(He hasn’t mastered using the word “on” yet.)

And continued… “Rhino walk in grass…. What else walk in grass? Mommy, anything else?”

Mommy: “Dinosaurs!”

Jay: “Yes. Dinosaurs walk in grass… (thinking…) Polar bears don’t walk in grass.”

My little Animal Planet spokesperson. (This is now Jay’s favourite TV channel too. Haha!)

A New Beginning… Almost

We really wanted to shift into the new place within a week.

Within three days, actually, if you asked Nic.

But then… contractors happened.

Who only delivered one mattress instead of two.

Who delivered our TV, but came back again to wall-mount it.

Who couldn’t finish painting in time.

Who somehow brilliantly blocked my internet signal.

And therefore, our move is delayed.

Jay can hardly wait, though! His favourite playground’s just a stone’s throw away from our new place!

Asia Conference 2010

Asia Conference 2010 is 7 days away.

“Busy” is an understatement! “AC” is the buzzword around the office. “Starbucks” a close second.

It’s gonna be an awesome Conference! I am so looking forward to it.

Shifting House: Days 2 & 3

In a word: TIRED.

In two words: DOG TIRED!

Gosh, our bones have never creaked as much… we have planned and spent, and walked and spent some more over the last 3 days.

Day 2 of the shift marked the painters resuming their painting job with a vengence. Well, not really. But it wasn’t too bad. In between their hour-long lunch breaks and frequent smoke breaks (cos Nic refused to let them smoke in the rooms), they managed to do quite a fair bit. Most of the original colours of the house have been covered up, and the palette is returning to a nice and homely… NEUTRAL colour.

My helper (and thank God for her!) has been working hard scrubbing the kitchen area while the painters work on the bedrooms and living room area, and Nic & I made a quick trip to Ikea to get some household stuff. We just spent 90 minutes. And plonked down some $380 there. Sigh. House shifting is one expensive business!

Day 3 was the day of walking for me! I went to Balestier to get some lights. Once again flexing some significant shopping muscle, I bought 14 lights in a record 30 minutes, and spent yet another $900!

Jay’s room is also coming along nicely, and we bought some nice and brightly-coloured things for his room. I just need to get some nice animal wall decals, and a set of bedsheets, and I think his room should be done!

Such a tiring few days, but as we work on this house, we are so excited to see it take shape. Looking forward to moving in!

Our master bedroom – finally painted. Lily White & Mocha Delight

Our kitchen… The flat’s previous owners did a good job, and the cabinets are still in a pretty good condition!

Messy messy messy living room…

Never Let Your Kid…

There are many lessons parenthood teaches us.

You learn to see the bright side of things. Like how poo is a good thing when it comes to kids. Or like how sleep is such a sacred thing.

You learn lots of useful things too. Like how I can sing the Animal ABC song “A is for the alligator, with a mouth so big. B is for the beaver who likes to build and dig…”

Today I learnt one new lesson.

Never let your kid play with your camera.

He happily brought it around the house, and was so tickled seeing the image from the camera viewer.

Then he got startled.

And he got so excited he forgot he was holding my expensive camera and not his cheap plastic animal toy.

And he flung my camera behind him. Smashing the poor thing on the floor.

Looks fine, ya?

Except the camera’s NOT turned on.

The lens is stuck.

R.I.P. my dearly departed Ixus 75… :(

Shifting House: Day 1

The day has finally arrived!

Since we set eyes on this flat back in November 2009, it’s been one very long wait. 12 May 2010 marked the official date of our second appointment with HDB, and the day we get the keys to the flat!

Today was such a busy day!

Painting, patching, packing…

And this just marks Day 1…

Stay tuned for more photos!

Chosen.

Pastor Kong preached a phenomenal Mother’s Day message last weekend. Short, to the point, and yet so poignant.

One point that stuck with me… that as much as we don’t choose our parents, they didn’t choose US either. Nope, a relationship between a parent and a child is never one of personal choice. We are chosen. Chosen by God, to be the best parent for our child. In His wisdom, He knew we would do a great job with our kid. Being the best parent to our kid.

Gosh, but there are times I sure feel inadequate as a parent. I recently read a post by a newfound friend, mommy blogger Daphne. It was reading something I could have written myself!

As a mommy, especially for the firstborn, it’s sometimes all about nerves, tears and pure perspiration. Worry seems to be a constant axe hanging over our heads, from the time we welcome the little one in our lives.

“Is baby poo meant to be this colour?”

“Do I really need to touch that?”

“Is baby sleeping/eating/resting enough? Am I stimulating his young brain enough?”

“Is he too hot? Too cold?”

And that’s just in their first year. Then it’s childcare and school, the whole shebang!

Motherhood brings out the best neurotic in each of us.

Like how the grass is greener on the other side, I see some mothers who handle three kids and a job effortlessly. While I struggle keeping my head afloat most of the time. And so, I got to give myself a pat on the back on occasion, sneak a peek at other Daddys and Mommys around who fumble, stumble and laugh through their lives… and I keep on keeping on. :)

Mommy The Wimp

Confession time. I can really be such a wimp at times. Like totally so.

Like I know how baaaadly Jay needs a haircut.

See? Fringe past his eyebrows, and his ears.

See? (He’s doing his rhino impersonation with that finger)

See?

And yet I can still drag my feet on arranging an auspicious day, date and time for me to bring him to the hair salon.

No, not because of the cost involved. Sure it’s expensive, but I’m cool with that.

It’s the screaming that I can’t handle. And the writhing. And the pained looks from the other patrons in the salon. Once, he was kicking up such a big fuss in the kids’ salon, a mother  who happily strolled in with her kid quickly turned tail and almost ran out the door.

He ordinarily calms down pretty fast when he is throwing a tantrum. He’s a pretty sweet kid. Outside the salon.

So yes, I am a wimp.

Teresa used to laugh at my wimpy-ness. And she insisted sending Jay for his last haircut. And experienced the screaming first-hand.

She hasn’t bugged me on the length of his hair since.

So maybe I can get some bohemian, new age-y thing going on for Jay. That might be pretty cool. Hot for this weather, but he will look waaaay cool. That’s quite good, isn’t it?

That Old Adage…

“It takes one to know one” is so true of motherhood.

I am blessed to have many good colleagues working with me, and many of whom are mothers and great role-models for me.

Motherhood is kind of like a secret sorority club. For the grown-up gals. When I was in my teens, I took pride in speaking a “secret" language”. Most Singapore convent girls might recognize the “F Language”? I know, it does sound a bit vulgar, doesn’t it? Haha! But it is simply a coded way of speaking. Easier than it sounds, really. You simply put an “f”-syllable after each syllable. Like “You-foo un-fun-der-fur-stand-fan?” Haha… The F Language isn’t meant to be written. Well, I spoke it exceptionally well. I still can speak it, though my tongue’s not as nimble as it used to be. Haha!

Well… motherhood has a secret language too. That only mothers are privy to. Words like “lactation”, “cabbage”,  “latch” and “engorge” have never meant so much to me in the past! Haha! If you happen to lunch with a party that consists of more than 1 mother, there is a high chance that the two moms would gravitate towards each other and the conversation would be steered towards, you guessed it, their children! And the words we speak… I tell you, it is sometimes like we’re from a different planet. Some say men are from mars, women are from venus. Well, I think the mothers migrate to a brand new planet, cos the way we behave and the way we think is so vastly different from that of another woman. Haha!

Holidays used to mean places where I could have the most fun or the best shopping experience. Now, I have to think of how “child-friendly” each country is.

Shopping-time used to mean more clothes, bags or shoes (or all three!) for me. Now it just means time spent getting more diapers or clothes or groceries for Jay.

I have more friends who have just stepped into this brave new strange world, and others who are about to step in… A warm welcome! It can get a bit strange, a bit overwhelming, a bit lost at times… but like I said, it takes one to know one! There’s another mother who has been through what you’re going or will be going through and who can lend a ear, hand, cot, pram… whatever! ;)

Mother’s Day at Watami Restaurant

On Saturday after service, Nic & I decided to go for our family dinner, celebrating Mother’s Day with Jay.

It was a long day, with our WowART session in the morning, followed by service, but we decided to spend the evening with Jay and with some good food as well. It turned out to be such a good decision!

Nic recommended the Watami Restaurant at The Central, and so off we went for some good Jap food.

There was sooooooooooo much food to choose from! Love their extensive offering, and gorgeous looking photos.

Nic ordered the seafood reimen. Notice, it’s reimen, and not the usual ramen we know and slurp up. It’s COLD noodles, in a kimchi-like base. The cold noodles were also unlike the usual ramen, but were much spring-ier. Bits of sashimi floated around, making this a very appetising meal because of the sour-ish soup base.

I had charsiew ramen, my “usual” Jap dish. I order this dish at most Jap restaurants, so that Jay can also take some of the noodles as his meal as well! Haha…

I cannot remember the name of this maki dish, but it was yummylicious!

Grilled Saba fish. Juicy and yummy.

One of their seasonal offerings, Skewer King – reminds me a lot of Tonkatsu’s famous pork filets! The mayo was divine though!

Yes, my diet plan totally went out the window just for that meal. Hahaha!

Nic ordered this choc ice cream dessert for Jay. Unfortunately, it came before Jay really finished his noodles and the moment he saw it, he declared, “I’m done!” and reached out for the dessert. =.=

This was the only dent in the otherwise-impeccable service of the restaurant!

I love this place, and will definitely come back again!

Watami Restaurant (Central Branch)

6 Eu Tong Sen Street, The Central,
#03-82/83/85/102/108/109
Singapore 059817

Tel: (65) 6323 3398
Operating hours: 11.30am to 11pm

They have another branch at Ion Orchard as well!

Disclaimer: Nope, this ain’t a sponsored blog post! Haha!

A Morning at WowART Studios

Being a blogger can a pretty cool thing. Haha!

On Saturday, a group of parent bloggers were invited for a media hands-on session at WowART Studio, together with our lil’ ones.

Here’s Jay and his funny face, as we were waiting for the session to begin.

Soon, the children were all ushered into a separate room. Check out their matching yellow aprons! So cute and bright!

See those black pieces on the table? It’s black clay!

And most interestingly, the principle told us that they would use this seemingly-yucky black colour on purpose, as children who take to using black would easily take to the other colours like red or blue or green. However, children who are introduced to the colours first would usually not like the colour black. So true!

At first, he was more interested in introducing the black clay to his black gorilla.

But he soon got into the hang of it! And after working on the black clay, he finally got introduced to the colours! And they applied colours on their masterpieces.

And what were the parents doing?

Drinking coffee? Relaxing? Chit-chatting?

I was kinda expecting to do so.

But we were doing the EXACT SAME ART PIECE!

Loads of fun, laughter and squeals from the parents’ room as we were teasing each other on how our art pieces will turn out.

Mommy’s work?

This was the canvas, pressed down black clay on a board…

… which finally looked like this…

 

And ended up like this!

Pretty cool (if I may say so myself!)

And this was Jay’s final masterpiece! Gorgeous!

The parents and ourlittle Da Vincis in the making…

What a fun way to spend the morning!

Thanks to WowART and The Right Spin for inviting us!

If you want to know more about this class, or give it a try yourself,

WowART Studio

Address: 200 Upper Thomson Road #01-10
Thomson Imperial Court
(Opposite Longhouse)

Contact: 6352-2221

My Melted Heart

Please tread carefully.

You will notice a lot of proud gushes and bits and pieces of my melted heart lying around this blog entry.

This is a momentous time for any Mommy.

My first Mother’s Day present from Jay!

I think I may have waited my whole life for this.

When Jay passed me this card, I had a pretty underwhelming response.

Only because I think I might have seriously cried on the spot.

He is such a babe…

and I am proud to be his mommy :)

Detoxing!

I signed up on a one-month unlimited detoxing package with Body Inc, together with some colleagues. I think all the tweets on 600 crunches have gotten to our heads and bruised our fat-but-nonetheless-extremely-fragile egos. Haha!

Today is Day 3.

So far, I’ve been electrocuted, burnt, tanned, steamed and majorly perspired in the name of detoxification.

Why detox? Well, it is to reduce the amount of toxins and pollution into our body and at the same time, to promote healthy eating and nutrition to help our body effectively clear the toxins. All in all, it bodes well for a healthier body!

And it is a trying schedule – we go every lunch, for a quick 30-minute detox session, and then rush all the way back.

I am so glad to be doing this with colleagues – they are my motivation when I feel a tad tired! Hahaha!

For the next month, it’s gonna be more water…

and more fruits

for me!

Talk To A Stranger A Day?

I don’t do well with small talk.

And so I see strangers pass me by every single day, on the train, on the bus (when I do take public transport), the cab driver (this is the more common sight for me), the store assistants, at the food places…

It takes courage to talk to a stranger. They can think I am a weirdo (which is baaaaaad) or they can be the weird ones (which is baaaaaaaaaaadder!)! Hahaha!

It also takes a certain amount of thickskin-ness! There’s always the possibility of rejection and awkwardness (how do you end such a conversation?)

Sure, there are fleeting moments when I wish I had the courage to walk up to a random stranger and go, “Oh, I love your shoes! Where did you get them?” (I would love for this to happen to me!). Or walk up to a bus-stop, smile at someone and say, “Finally it’s not so scorching hot in Singapore!”.

Well, my friend and colleague has started her very first blog, with this totally cool idea. It’s called Talk to a Stranger A Day. Yes, you’ve got that right! She is going to talk to a stranger for a minute for the next 365 days! How AWESOME is that! Pop over to show her some love please! ;)

Speaking Good… Greek?

With a two-year-old terror boy in tow, sometimes I feel like I am speaking Greek.

I think the words that come out my mouth are saying, “No.”

Yet he acts as if I am saying “Oh of course, baby! Carry on, carry on.”

I say “Put that back.”

He hears “Isn’t it an awesome scissors/sharp object/anything that can prick your skin or hurt your eyes? C’mon, don’t be shy, take it for another spin.”

I say “Can you share your toy piano/book/animals with your cousins?”

He hears “Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep them! Quick! Monsters are coming to deeeeeeeeeeeeeevour your toys!” and hurriedly scrambles to slide the said toy under the chair or into any random drawer.

I say “Can I have one honey star?”

He hears “Eat! Eat! Eat! Don’t give any up!” and proceeds to JAM his mouth full of the food.

To be fair to Jay, it isn’t like 24 hours a day when he is in such a mood. Just often enough for me to feel like the hairs on my head are growing whiter a tad faster. Haha!

Two Years & 3 Months Later…

It has been two years, three months and a week since I was officially inducted into the Mummies Club. Some were inducted with a ready heart and a quick smile, others like me were kinda unwittingly sucked entered in.

Just today I visited a friend who was just inducted into this prestigious club, and as she was regaling us with her story about how her baby girl came into the world, and as I stared into the sweet, sweet baby girl’s face, I got reminded of that day when I first saw my prince too.

It is a memory that will probably never fade.

Our first meeting.

Sure, he may not have known me face to face, but he sure was an audience to my chattering and humming and singing and the sound of my laughter.

So really, if you think about it, at that first meeting, he probably knew me more than I knew him.

I always put up this photo, cos I just love it. How serene he looks.

But really, this was our first glimpse of our prince, wails and all.

What a journey it has been.

And how he has grown.

Motherhood has taught me a lot of things.

Some lessons were learnt the hard way. Many tears were shed. Relationships tested and strengthened. Smiles in abundance.

Thank you, God, for this enormous privilege, putting Nic & I in charge of this little fella! May God give us grace, strength and wisdom for the years ahead as well.

My Dream Mother’s Day

For me, my dream Mother’s Day would be one where…

I can sleep in. Till 10 a.m. (I’m realistic too)

(Photo credit: Flickr)

Wake up to a yummylicious fruit platter for breakfast…

 
(Photo credit: Flickr)

Go for a nice and long and therapeutic spa massage…

(Photo credit: Flickr)

Preferably in some totally awesomely exotic place, like Mauritius.

 

Aaah….

Worth a dream anyhow! Hahaha!