Whatever happened over the weekend, stays on facebook and twitter. Just realised all the events for the weekend were somehow facebooked. Even the family BBQ.

The weekend started on the last day of 2009, with me trying to be le chef (my once a year thingy) for our NYE dinner at yveonloft with some friends.

I went for a mishmash fusion menu :: consomme of black poultry (black chicken soup!hah), mince beef and pumpkin pasta (which my helper is getting v gd at whipping up), prawns in basil pesto (much thanks to madmoneymonkey for sharing this recipe!), grilled salmon with mustard/biscuit crust, grilled veg with truffle oil( thanks to beanbean for gifting the bottle, as a bday gift!) and beef sukiyaki (which seem to be the hot seller, cos it was wiped out the quickest!). There was dessert of lychee martini cheesecake which was fabfabfab!And of course, bubbly and beer (Sapporo, no less!).

We did our usual looking back/looking forward thingy but the chief entertainer award goes out to…Nat.

He in his sexy underpants-looking shorts (gifted by babysis), doing his jiggy.

We ushered in 2010, watching UP. When the friends left, tehpeng and I stayed up for another movie – Yes Man. As you can tell, I’m making up for lost time, need to catch up on the movies available at yveonloft!

On the first day of 2010, we threw a party for the little ones to gather, for the mummies to chat and for the daddies to take photos. It was a ‘food from the hood’ potluck and on the table we had -  wanton mee (tehpeng’s fav!)! chicken rice!tau huey!ribs!har-jeong kai!seafood youtiao! We even managed a Surprise! for silver_crv.:)

We all enjoyed the cocoa-powder-covered-choc-fudge delight cake. Perhaps a little bit too much, as some of us had cocoa powder traces on us…(my chin!)

And the babies blogged about the party…

We knew it was time to end the merry-making when the tots started to get cranky on us. After an afternoon nap, we headed down for my uncle’s birthday BBQ. There was more eating!

The next day, tehpeng and I headed down to IKEA with a mission, or 2. To get a cupboard to better organise my bags which were spilling out from my 1 shelving (I do not have alot of bags, I just have very little storage space). And to pick up the preloved-still-in-mint-conditioned Tods bag from squarenails. 2nd day of the year and I’ve got a bag. The year looks set to be baggy-great. Huh huh huh.

Hope your weekend is great too. I guess it’s hard to get back to work-mode, till one steps into reality called office…

I look at my son and I continue to thank God for this wonderful gift who is so precious to us and has been growing and developing well. He’s definitely coming to be a little man of his own character (at this moment, it is still sweet and mild) and with his recent ‘gift of the gab’, he’s been amusing us and chatting us up non-stop with his one-word sentences. I really look forward to having more of such conversations with him in the coming year.

I look at tehpeng and I feel so blessed to be his partner, one who gives nothing short of his all to me, to this family and to our families and to God. He is truly my enabler. When I was really busy at work, he made sure I didn’t have to worry about anything household-related. He takes care of the stuff which I’m not good at (other than making sure yveonloft is as technically advanced as possible, that is). And for being such a participative and involved father as well as my grocery-run partner. He never fails to go along with me, even if I needed to go countless times in a week. And for indulging me and romancing me despite me being a groucho grumpy wife at times.

I look at my family and again, this is the bestest support one can ever get. Our parents have been really integral in me being able to have a peace of mind at work, helping to care (as well as lavish their love and not to mention, gifts) for Nat. I am also glad to see that babysis is also growing up and yet, still rooted to the family and I am indeed very proud of her (tehpeng did say she is almost like me, in some sense and yes, I do agree…..).

I look at friends and am glad we have forged closer ties, have come to support each other in everything (besides shopping decisions..haha) and now, watching our tots grow together.

I look at my work and feel that perhaps, I’ve found my ‘calling’, with this change in job. Work was intense and I was maxed out to the max and yet, I wasn’t complaining. I knew this is it. I am happy, as I’m learning. Indeed, the year ahead comes with greater responsibility but strangely, I look forward to ‘more work’! Hah, ask me again in 3 months’ time…

I look at my passport and other than 2 chops for the trips up north, it was dry. Yes, it was a dry-spell for the travel front but well, looking at my shopping, I guess this part did most of the ‘travelling’ (via online and proxy ). And yes, I did get what I proclaimed I would get in 2009. So did tehpeng, by the way. So definitely, I wish for more travelling next year.

I look at myself and I think, the year has indeed been quite good (while perhaps not extraordinarily exciting) and despite having slackened in my walk with Him, God continues to show me His favour and I can definitely see His hand in everything. My boss gifted me with a daily devotion so this would be a good start to revive my walk with Him.  

Looking at 2010, it may well be another year with not much excitement or big plans, but it is a year of my blessed life and I want to savour every moment. I want to be a better wife, a better mother, a better daughter/in law, a better sister, a better friend, a better colleague/co-worker and definitely a better person in 2010. And definitely to continue to be a blessing to others. And of course, God’s plan and will to guide me to lead 2010.

May 2010 be a blessed year for everyone!

Christmas isn’t Christmas
till it happen in your heart
somewhere deep inside you
is where christmas really starts
So, give your heart to people
you’ll discover when you do
that it’s Christmas, really Christmas for you

Blessed Christmas Everyone!

We had a Christmas tea-thingy for the babies. Yes, everything we do now are for them. The babies parallel-played (except for Sean who was still young to join in, but soon he will!) while the mummies chatted over food (prawns in basil pesto!macaroons!jellyhearts!tiramisu!choc cake!Ice cream!) and the daddies present watched over the tots and took pictures.

Of course we had to take a group shot. Trust me, the view from our side is quite funny too…the daddies with the cameras trying to get a good angle/shot of us.

Seeing this photo posted on facebook, a gf IM-ed me and said :: you and your friends got arm candies!

lilsnooze :: Did we inspire you to have one?

Perhaps this might work as a ‘Have a baby!’ kinda encouragement advert.

Though, it didn’t seem to work on said gf.

As always, Im not quite early in my Christmas shopping (or I get really distracted…huh huh huh). But I’m certainly making progress. Small gifts which I hope will say “thank you for blessing me with your friendship and help this year”.

Another thing on my usual year-end activity is to contribute to the WorldVision Life Changing Gifts programme. This year, there’s an option of giving as a group and I thought “Why not?”. This was something which I’ve been wanting to do, such as a group outreach activity to bless others, as we are really blessed. But with time not on my side and logistics and everything else, this seem the easiest way to start.

I typed out an appeal-email of sorts out to the group to rally for support, with the understanding that donation to causes is a very personal thing.There was no obligation and certainly, their support is towards the cause, not just cos I was rallying for it. We raised some funds which went to 2 causes we wanted to support.

I’m so glad we managed to do this together as a group, and maybe, just maybe, we can do bigger things next year.

The silence on this page can be explained by two words – home leave. The long of the story is that my helper went on urgent home leave, we packed our bags and stayed at my mum’s for ease of care for Nat while we work.

It was one week of me putting Nat to bed which resulted in me sleeping early, without hooking onto the world wide web at night. Except for a quick read of blogs and twitterverse on the handy iphone before konking off (on my old bed).

It was one week of being back “home”. Quite surreal, but driving to work and back on my own is horrid. On the first day, I told tehpeng I missed him sending me to work already. Haha.

Kudos to my mum who gamely agreed to take on nat-care duty and this is the first time she is alone with him without my helper around. On day 1, I called back like almost 4 times to check that she is ok. Well, my mum did take care of me and my 2 sisters on her own AND managed the home. I shouldn’t have to worry. Nat was an angel. My mum decided to sms me updates instead and it really seemed as if she was hitting her KPIs with “nat has eaten lunch, nat is napping now etc..” LOL! In fact, he ate well, he slept well, as if nothing has changed. Even I am amazed. Thank God!

On Saturday, we were back home and this time, my mum called to check on me. LOL! Besides the house being messy, we did ok. Except I realised nat has reserved his non-fussy-eating for grandma only. And tehpeng very nicely did the laundry while I,again(!), konked off with nat for the night.

We celebrated babysis’ birthday on Sat at La Fondue.

The highlight of the week was our NDP staycation. This year, we were nearer and had a gorgeous vantage view of the parade and the fireworks. Totally worth it!

tehpeng :: We finally got it right.

We totally enjoyed the stay. Nat slept really well (not waking up till 9am!) and even readily took a nap. Tehpeng and I are convinced, it must be the bed. And the opaque curtains. We had an exquisite dim-sum lunch at Cherry Garden where Nat displayed his (lack of)table manners – eating noodles with hands and playing with water…this mummy closed one eye and just let him be. It helped that we were tucked into a corner and the staff were so gracious and accommodating, even asking nat(yes! him!) if he wanted more water (after he poured water from cup to bowl), to which I said ‘no thanks’.

I guess the only bummer was that Nat wasn’t allowed to the Executive Club lounge and me & tehpeng had to take turns to eat there. Other than that, we really had a pleasant stay. I am convinced now that we can go for a lounge-around-in-hotel kind of vacation. Yay!

The thing about having a fantastic weekend is that…it’s much harder to get back to work-week mode. And so, its now regular programming for us, with my helper back, which kinda explain why I have the (luxury of) time to pen this lengthy verbal diarrohea post.

To my mum, who mothered me and is still mothering me and now my son.

To tehpeng, who is my partner in exploring & learning on this parenting journey.

To God in whom I know I can entrust all my worries and insecurities of being a mother.

And to my son, to whom I want to be the bestest mother for him & who is giving me so much joy and love.

Thank you.

For without you all, I will not be the mummy that I am.

Happy Mother’s Day to me and to all mummies!