Adding to our little brood was relatively easy but keeping the little newborn alive is altogether another thing. And so of course we celebrate the baby's seemingly fragile survival with a befitting celebration.
And so a tea party was what we had, a relaxing afternoon tea with cupcakes and strawberries and nothing to do with the tea party movement - though we incidentally did come to the same objectives, i.e. reduce spending and in so doing, keep an eye on a possible future household spending deficit that comes with 2 kids, exorbitant car COEs, a typical 6Cs Singaporean mainstream lifestyle of expensive tastes and hobbies.
I realised the only picture I missed out were of the children playing in the playroom/study. I think I didn't dare step in there so no evidence will remain of the havoc wrecked. This is what happens when you have kitchen sets and building blocks with teeny weeny parts and of course, a couple of children in a very small room.
Finally another occasion to bring out the fine china with the last being K's 2nd birthday!
Marshmallows and strawberries for the truly sweet-toothed
Customised cupcakes from my favorite bakery Sprinkles - supposedly the originator of gourmet cupcakes! ;p
The tea party display with beeeeutiful roses that really made me so happy! Of course, the manual labour that had gone into the Ang Ku Kuehs cannot be discounted of course. Kudos to mummy Loke & team Jo-Ann-Na for their unwavering support for this ambitious endeavour.
Cupcakes nicely arranged by pcube (papa paul) and birth announcement cards!
The lovely green bean and peanut ang ku kuehs! And of course, red eggs for the occasion!
The cutie pie showing angry face!
Yup, my V fingers right there!
The reason why we decided to pose with the red eggs as a feature escapes me.
A child for every adult! I think I must have gone for a feeding session here!
Awww... Kaylen saying goodbye to her favourite guy pal. She doesnt like boys (yet) but she sure like this Lucien very very much!
And then the guys also try it out.
Here's a vid of them trying to repair a tank with them inside!
Aww..the sweet couple..
So as the apartment empties out, we finally have the space to try out our new Xbox Kinect! Kiddos go first!
Thank you Jo, Ann & Nana for the wonderful efforts towards the ang ku kuehs and red eggs and perhaps in general, the support of the pregnancy with your kind tupperwares of food up to the birth of lil T and all other aspects of giving help to the then-pregger me... and basically being such regular faces to K! We adore you all!
Thanks for the pressies and all the well wishes everyone! Even for those who were not able to attend (you know who you are!)!
I wanted the blog to be an update of my daily ongoings in Dallas during this temporary stint of 'Being a housewife' but life isn't exactly like the reality tv shows of 'The Real Housewives of New York City' or 'Pregnant in Heels' where we dress up all pretty and have nannies take care of children while the mummies took the time to run politicking with their 'pals'. Hilarious if it is so. There is simply no time. But that is just me. Okay, maybe dress up pretty is like a daily personal preference...but rally, none of the rest applies.
I remember having conversations with friends and family on my decision to start a blog and they were all naysayers...all said that while it is so easy to get started, maintaining it is can be such a bitch.
And so I started out asking myself with just 2 key questions: Would this be a show and tell or simply a way of letting me and my family remind ourselves of what we did and do? AND How do I differentiate what I have on my blog versus what's on facebook?
I decided to go ahead as the blog is definitely narcissistic and is all about me, my thoughts, my family and pals. No noise.
Perhaps then again, life has a funny way of allowing you to prioritise. I would rather spend time reading a book or chalking up play time with Kaylen and Paul... and recently, started digital photobooking. OMG, the end result is fabulous but the amount of time that goes into one is absolutely ginormous! I am still recovering from the last one I did on our Europe trip.
And before you know it, it is time to vacuum the house again.
I didn't realise how slow I am at putting up pictures and hoarding all these memories that of late, a friend wants to hijack my hard drive for pictures of our time together.
So much time has passed since last June so hopefully, slowly but surely, I will start uploading those pics that I have dutifully saved in my hard drive onto the blog!
Maybe I should start exploring one of those voice recognition software-that-helps-you-type programmes. Or maybe spend S$500 a month for a secretary/PA from one of India's service centres to help put my life together.
Like apply for Kaylen's 2012 kindergarten, restaurant recommendations, check out prices of houses, read car reviews and other miscellaneous and random thoughts that usually run up loads of running time when I fancy a want or want a fancy time. ;p
It has been sheer madness since the baby arrived - I still haven't found the time to catch up on ANY drama serials as I had done with Kaylen except for my weekly indulgences - The Real Housewives of New York City, Glee & American Idol - and that is even with help from my lovely parents for the past couple of weeks... I shudder to think how disconnected I'll be to the world once they leave. hahah..
So anyhow, so here is a video of the lil bugger.
Introducing Tyan - pronounced 'Tee-yearn' without the 'r' sound....... 19 April 2011!
She is doing very well now and is gaining weight slowly but surely. At birth, she had a great apgar aka 'how loud you can shriek on a scale of 1 to 10' score of 9 & 10 upon delivery and I think she pretty much maintained that.
I am doing okay so far with the weird sleeping hours so my daily clock is pretty much turned upside down. I am still trying to figure out how to work my usual daily routine with the additional family member. To be honest, the books I'd read about having a newborn in the house isn't far from the truth - the laundry did double, the lack of sleep does take its toll so truly every moment I get to sleep, I should so I don't rack up any sleep debt. And, a potty-trained 3-year-old and a newborn together, in theory, should work out fine but put into practical, it can be a little daunting to cook, do housework or even shower. Let's see how I will be able to work this out in time to come!
The hubby has upped the ante in my perception of him as a daddy & a hubby, be it spending time with Kaylen, doing almost all the time-consuming household chores and even doing the ferrying around even as he went back to work. By the way, I have graded the topmost time-consuming household chore to be folding clothes. In the final weeks of pregnancy, I had sworn off all folding of clothes. I think I have folded enough for a lifetime and then some.
Respect! But sorry pal, you don't get to be mentioned as Superdaddy like you were in the Motherhood magazine after Kaylen's birth!
And a massive thank you note to my parents. Just the thought of them having to endure the arduous >24 hours journey again despite having missed 2 flights out of LA (and therefore 2 days), hanging around the airport hotel during their last trip to visit us in Oct 2010!
And what's even more touching is that their 5 weeks here was purely to see their grandchildren, do my confinement and to ease our transition with the family addition. So save for some neighborhood shopping spots and some online shopping, I applaud them for coming all this way to help us cook every single meal, cleaning up after us, having evening walks with Kaylen so we could take a breather and even bringing the garbage out thrice a week. And every time I walk out of my bedroom door, be it at 5am or 3pm, I see my mum in the kitchen preparing my confinement food. By golly, the hubby had packed food to eat at work too every day!
Thanks mum, for using up hell alot of leave to come here to work so very hard. I really appreciate it!
But the love doesn't stop here. My in-laws, who have graciously waited till after my parents leave, will be here the following day!!! Thank you for being so understanding!! Till the next update!
I knew my lil one had some dancing moves in her... watch this video!
And so, we supported her for her dance adventure as an extracurricular activity after school to prepare the children for the annual dance recital. It was a bit of a tough decision because I knew then back in January that her dance classes were not good but then there was the recital which may give her the opportunity that she always liked - being on stage. So Paul and I decided to let her carry on so that she can a chance to perform before an audience and build her confidence.
*Yes, I'd added an extract of her 15 min of fame on video and it can be found near the end of this blog entry!
It was definitely an expensive decision because in addition to the monthly dance fees from January up to the recital in March, her dance costume, mandatory concert registration including tickets for guests @ USD80 plus the requirement to get her ballet shoes and tights - the whole exercise cost us a hefty sum of almost USD300!
Just like the ladybug costume we got for her last October, I will probably have to milk this costume for all it is worth! How many parties can you go to in a ballerina tutu without having any negative implications on the young one?!
She was really shy once she came out of makeup and hair...
The concert hall..
Ahh... a ballerina moment... LOL!
The ardent supporters came out in full force with congratulatory blooms and even a balloon. NB: Kroger helium balloon is MAD... it has been more than a month since we got the balloon and it is STILL floating in our living room!
Some other acts
Her performance was short and sweet and actually hilarious because of the range of ages in her montessori class (2.5 years up to 5 years old)...
Act Two!
The bored groupie waiting for the lil star to arrive... ;p
Family pic!
Alrighty, all together now!
The day's activities really wore her out and she was totally conked out before we even reached the coffee place just a short 5 minutes' drive away!
After that, we had dinner at Kirin's and here, the group's all super amused by Hard Gay's vids!
A not very professional presentation of the stripping of the Peking Duck's skin.
Group shot again! Thanks for coming to support K's first dance recital!
Ending off with a shot of the spread. The dungess deep fried batter crab was really yummy! We contemplated packing the deep fried crumbs so that the guys can have them with rice for lunch the following day! ;p
