While I lay down and rest... ...

My little tod has been put under the care of her grandparents and daddy. Such has to be the current arrangement. It has not been easy for all of us, the in-laws making sacrifices to be around most of the weekdays while The Husband makes it a point to be home on one of the weekdays and before 7pm on other weekdays.

There are days when my state of helplessness and discomfort spirals downward into a pool of tears as I whine about my frustrations. Yet, I know my Father has been good to me. He gave me this second child which is our hearts' desire. It is a blessing that The Husband run a business where he can shuffle his schedules around for some flexibility to be a part-time househusband. My access to my in-laws is another blessing. I can't imagine Anya's childcare arrangements (none to speak?) if they aren't so available and willing to help.  I have a group of church friends who have been rallying around me in periods, who periodically check on me, send me rhema words of encouragement and speak edifying words to me. Lastly, He also bless us enough financially to engage a maid. This is a final resort that we seek in order to better the current arrangements.

He tells me that His joy is my strength, that there is a purpose behind this time of adversity and He shall reveal it to me in due time. It helps that I have Anya to remind me of the wondrous harvest for my last bout of suffering. Meanwhile, He reminds me to sing praise at all times. For praises keep the enemy at bay! Thanks CC, for the timely reminder!

To end off, so what has my beloved tod and I been up to during those pockets of times that I am well & up about?

12-month visit to the paed's office

This photo was taken before all hell broke loose. For the first time when given a shot (pneumococcal vaccine), she cried buckets. The last few times have always lasted no more than 10 seconds and then life resumed its normality. This time round, out came her favourite hankie, her dummy, her Ee yore and last resort came snacks. Thankfully, the teddy bear biscuits somewhat helped to soothe her nerves.

Sticker time!

One morning after her breakfast, she wandered into the study and fished out a sticker booklet from the book shelf.  The sticker booklet, themed creatures of the sea, is a complimentary gift by her formula manufacturer. With whatever hint of spontaneity that I have left, I sat down with her (later joined by The Husband) and guided her through the matching of each sticker to its correct space in the booklet. Whenever we successfully paste a sticker, she would happily clap to herself and checked that we follow suit in the approving applause.

Such is an example of a pocket of quality time that I share with her these days. My little one seems to have a sensitive soul and has been especially generous with her hugs for me lately. Little does she knows, her hugs are akin to little treasures to me. :)

Sleepless in Singapore

I have been waking up at 5-ish in the morning then not able to go back to sleep... Usually, the wake-up prompted is Anya's stirring. It is a norm for her to stir once or twice each night. While before the merlion days, I could go back to sleep in 3 seconds; these days I would possibly lie awake all the way till dawn. The light sleep signs were evident when I was expecting no. 1 too.

So here I am, wide awake, in my bed with Anya & The Husband besides me, as I type away on my iPhone! We carried Anya back to our bed at 5 after she stir as she appeared to have had a bad dream, crying inconsolably. Such were the occasional privileged times that she gets to co-sleep with us.

This pregnancy has by far being similar in many ways to the last one. I become a light sleeper. I become hypersensitive to smells & get super turned off particularly by my neighbors' cooking & my trusty Dove shampoo. I am disgusted with every little thing, including my own saliva. I turn into a temporary pescetarian where I am drawn to only fruits, vegetables, selectives fishes & seafoods. I throw up pretty much every day now though frequency has thankfully been halved to 1-3 times.

On the other hand, there are a couple of differences. The biggest one being - the last pregnancy, hunger was never iny dictionary till I was well into my third trimester. This time round, I get extremely hungry every 2-3 hours. Like now, my stomach is growling like a guard dog who chanced upon a pack of thieves while I daydream of chocolate-fruit fondue buffets, vongole linguine, wanton mee, vegetarian bee goon and other wondrous foods of a pescetarian.

Yes, so that pretty much sums up my current mood: hunger & sleepless, ready to snare. Meanwhile, allow me to end off with a sweet picture that shows the affectionate side of my darling toddler - a redeeming picture in exchange to hearing me rant. :P

Good Friday Makan Session: Earthquake and Tsunami, when is the next big one?

Good Friday Makan Session: Earthquake and Tsunami, when is the next big one?

Come join us as we celebrate the death & resurrection of Jesus, and to ponder over the bigger schemes of life with IeatIshootIpost blogger. Feel free to drop me a line @ kjkero@yahoo.com.sg for details. :)

This oven is baking again... ....

And the second bun is due in November/December.

This is why I haven't been updating as much as I like to. I am prone to motion sickness which results to hurling like a merlion. Even using laptop can trigger the sickness. So there! Forgive me, should I disappear all the way till Christmas though I am unlikely to be able to stay away from my laptop for such prolonged periods of time.


Meanwhile, I rely on His joy & strength to sustain me and am praying hard against hyperemesis gravidarum.It is amazing how keeping close to God can change my outlook and lift up my spirits. Praise the Lord! For He is good!

Anya's 1st birthday bash

Last Saturday, we held Anya's birthday bash.We had 40 over people at our place, a quarter of which made up of scurrying little ones below the age of eight. This was the first time we had so many kiddos in our humble abode at one time. Oh boy! At one point, I thought we were going to bring down the roof, except that we live in a flat, and ours is not the highest floor. Heh.

The Caterer

As it was meant to be a cosy gathering for the dearest and closest, I decided to opt for a nicer caterer. After some research on online forums, my heart was set on Rasel. The staff, Jyne, who coordinated with me was quick to respond and obliging to special requests. On the day itself, the delivery men was understanding to set up the food as quiet and gentle as they could after The Husband informed them politely that the birthday girl was still taking her nap. And most importantly, we received many positive feedback about the food - including my mom who is a picky eater! Servings were generally generous and hot favs of the day were the chicken bulgogi, nonya laksa and the Teo chew braised duck. I was disappointed that our families (having more Asian palate) did not fancy their signature Sheperd's Pie while some friends raved about it.

The Cake

I was tempted to order one of those fanciful 3-D cakes or cupcakes that many online bakeries offer these days, thinking that it will be such an eye feast for both children and adults. On the other hand, I had reservations given that the old folks usually dislike most fanciful cakes, passing them off as gimmicky and often, too sweet for their liking. Eventually, I decided to opt for a safer choice and ditch the idea of a fanciful cake.

Well, my safer choice turned out to be a slight nightmare in terms of coordination as Bengawan Solo had different random staff calling me once or twice a day making various queries about my preference for the cake. Two days before I was due to collect the cake, my doubts turned to panic when no one had yet to get back to me whether the picture that I emailed them for my customized cake could be used when I left prior messages on both via email and with their HQ staff. I had to make considerable amount of noise before someone could help me to go through all the details of my cake and make a verbal confirmation (& much needed assurance) that my desired cake will be delivered in time.

Thankfully, the end product was as promised. The mango cake was as good as ever, and the customized picture of Anya's current idol (Larry, the cucumber from Veggietales) on top of the cake sent both adults and kiddos cooing and "aww"-ing. I was happy.

Larry, the Cucumber

Are we cutting the cake now?

Goodie Bags

I thought it will be nice to include something that Anya likes in the goodie bags for the little guests - just to share her love around. So, yep, you may have guessed it, in went something Veggietales-related. For the toddlers, they get a Veggietale boardbook, while the bigger children gets activity & coloring books - all of which I purchased online from Christianbooks. In addition, I also threw in some clappers and munchies ( pigeon finger snacks for the tods; gummy bears & jellies for the older children). Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of the goodie bags although I spotted them lying around the house in pictures of when the party was in full swing.

Decoration & Set-ups

I got the banner from Party Joy in Parkway Parade. The cool thing about this banner is that it is recyclable all the way till 5th birthday! All I need to do is the change the sticker of the number (1st to 2nd etc - which is included). Heh, cheapo as it may sound but hey! It is a waste of both materials and money ($15!) for a banner that is gonna stay up there for one afternoon. I decided against helium balloons simply because we have ceiling fans in the flat and dread the thought of the children incidentally releasing the balloons only to be burst by the fans. So, yeah, instead, all the balloons that were put up around the house were inflated by yours truly.

To keep all the 12 kiddos happily occupied, I cleared out all of Anya's toys from the play-barn and lined them up neatly along the walls on the alphabet mats in her room. Then, I threw in those colorful plastic balls into play-barn for some active play. Last but not least, Veggietales were screened on the TV but I later switched to Rapunzel as the kiddos either already owned the VCDs themselves or were not interested. Well, glad to see that Rapunzel turned out to be a big hit.

The children jig around while The Husband acts as bouncer.

Silly Penguin regains popularity!

So yep, that sums up the bash pretty much. Between The Husband and I, we thought it was a blast. We got to mingle around, the kiddos all seemed to have fun, the guests had to good time knowing new friends and catching up with old ones and the birthday girl was happy to eat her cake. The moment I like most has to be the singing of the birthday song. Naturally, everyone crowd around us as The Husband and I stood in front of the cake, Anya in my arms. As we all sang and clapped, my little birthday suddenly sensed the infectious joy in the atmosphere and started clapping excitedly along to the beat while beaming joyfully at me. 

Yes, sweetie, it was your special day. :) Blessed year ahead!

Another birthday greetings!

Blessed birthday, my dear! Finally, we get a good rest. May our Father grant you your heart's desire, and may there be many more blessed birthdays to come!

HAppy BirThdaY!

HAppy blessed 1st birthday, my darling!

Daddy and Mommy are so blessed to have you in our lives! Looking forward to blowing more and more candles with you in years in come.

Hugs & Kisses,
Daddy, AAeehh! and Jiejie.


P.S. More on your birthday celebration later! :)

Making a bookworm out of our offspring.

 Being books lovers ourselves (though we have very different preference in genre!), The Husband and I wish to see our offspring enjoying reading. And the best way to do it, we think, is to begin from young and make it fun! 

Back in the days when I was preggy with Anya, we would read her bedtime stories before we go to bed.  I remember being amazed that she always become especially active, kicking around, during story time. These days, besides having some books available for her own browsing in the day, we continue the bedtime stories tradition - we try to do character's voice/accent these days.

As all parents will know, board books can be very costly! So, my strategy to cut cost and yet have a variety is this:

1. Look out for cheap buys. We have bought some really good and cheap books at the most unlikely places such as Fairprice Finest. 
2. I only splurge on titles that are Anya's favourites (e.g. Veggietales and those that has sounds). 
3. When I do splurge, I try to purchase online where there are usually substantial savings. Christianbooks.com is one of my favourite. 
4. For added variety, we go to the community library. Here, I borrow titles that coincide with her development (e.g. Pony brush his teeth, Happy birthday Little Pookie), knowing that it does not make economical sense to purchase such titles, and other titles that helps to widen her exposure. 

The pirates who don't do anything!

We can see that it is beginning to pay off as Anya will point at a particular board-book and sign "please". At the end of the story, she would hug the book greedily (like what she does with her favourite stuffed toys) to indicate that she wants the book to go into the cot with her. 

Yes, I think we have a budding bookworm. :)