WIP: Celebrations & renovation

Hello, finally! I'm gonna cleared all my backlog of pictures. Today is Anya first day of school (will leave the details on another post) and she just went down for her nap. Arielle has gone to the In-laws' place for some grandparents loving so its all peace and quiet right now. Woots!

In the past one month, all my little pockets of times such as this were eaten up by doing planning / conceptualizing and whatnots related to renovations. While we have a ID helping us but I happen to be quite particular about how the layout of the place should be, how my cabinets should look like, right down to the nitty-gritties of exactly how many drawers, what sizes and where they should be. Actually, I even drew up 2-D pictures of our walk-in wardrobes, TV cabinets and shoe cabinets. Got our ID saying in jest that he ought to frame them up.

Anyways... it's more like MIP (month in pictures) than WIP so this is gonna be a long long post. And here goes:

First, we celebrated Arielle turning one. Its was a small and cosy affair involving our two families over dim sum. We got a client of the Husband to bake a pretty cake themed.. Rabbit. It's was all pink and pretty with a sugar version of rabbit sitting on top. We thought Joanne did a wonderful job replicating Arielle's favourite plush toy. What's a bonus is her prices are really reasonable as compared to a few of her competitors that we checked out.

Rabbit & Rabbit

First taste of cake.

And then, Anya had a date with her cousin, SK, at United Square to catch Barney & friends. Her first of such mascots show.

Transported into Barney's world.

Finally... ...

The keys for our new place came.

In between the last two months, we spent copious amount of time taking walks and going to playgrounds. These days, Little Miss. Mushroom gets to have some action of her own at playgrounds too.

Loves the slide; hates the swing.

Met up with the dear girlfriends. Had a wonderful relaxing two hours catching up with them.

Another nuptial celebration!

This time, its the best friend tying the knot with my JC mate. So so happy for you both!

Renovation has started immediately after we got the keys and is still ongoing...

Every week or other, we hold a meeting with the ID to discuss details on various areas that are going to be done. Occasionally, Anya comes along. Here's how we occupy her...

When the workers saw me taking out my iPad for Anya, they rustled up a little chair for her using cardboard and a toolbox.

Self- feeding has started for Arielle. Like Anya, she suddenly refused to eat at around the time she turned one - their way of demanding more independence at the dining table.

And so, once again, I am going through the phase where I try hard not to cringe as she makes a mess of her radius of one metre during mealtimes.

This night, Anya announced that she wanted to sleep with Arielle. She insisted her way, she got her way. And she has not slept in her own bed at night since.

A substantial amount of our couple / family outings `are spent trawling furniture malls, lighting and fixtures shops etc and lugging home cartons of stuff.

Thankfully, we still managed to squeeze out some time for strolls around our sunny island.

Other than the little strike she put up for a week or two, she really loves her food.

 

And ours.

Christmas came upon us in a jiffy this year. On Christmas eve, we went for a gathering with the Husband's colleagues in the afternoon. With no prior planning, we decided to drop by Epicurious @ Rail Mall near home for a simple quiet dinner.

By 11pm of Christmas eve, the entire household were already sound asleep. Except for me who spent the night reading my novel and doing a bit of QT.

Christmas morning was a joyous one with cheers and shrieks as little girls open up their presents.

There were a quite a bit of wearable gears among baby girl's Christmas presents this last year.

All in all, we had a busy but wonderful and memorable holiday season before wrapping up 2012. Hope you all had an enjoyable time too. Wishing y'all a blessed 2013!

Hello 2013!

Like a whirlwind, 2012 came and gone, leaving us with a couple of battle scars.

Yes. 2012 has not been an easy year for us. We faced new challenges of parenthood that set me back several times. We thought having a second child was simply reapplying what we did with the first child on the second one. Looking back, it seemed almost naive to think this way. Every child are indeed unique in their own ways, and in our case, our two kids are as different as chalk and cheese.

So, while our little feisty Arielle throw us a curveball every other week; big sister Anya become more and more of a person of her own which brings about a new set of challenges suddenly. On good days, she is that sweet, joyful girl who is eager to please us. On bad days, she can be whiny, uncooperative, and listens poorly. Just a week ago, I almost lost her in a mall (twice!) within a span of half an hour.

A little bit more than a year of mothering two small children has left me feeling burnt out more than a couple of times. I have felt, on many occasions, an acute need to get out of the house for a short holiday, a respite from all the madness. Yet, I can't bring myself to do so. And so, I trudge on, relying on the support of the Husband and the strength of God.

The lessons that I am taking with me into 2013 are to be less emotionally attached during meltdowns and face-offs, and to be patient, trust in The Lord, and.. Simply ride through it. I am ashamed to admit that I had, on more occasions that I can count, went on a shouting match with Anya. After the losing-Anya-in-the-mall incident, I have a revelation: Raising my voice is not working. In fact, it is counter-effective. It builds up all these negative energy and feelings that does me nor Anya more bad than good. Prayerfully, I can keep up with this cool act till its etched into a part if me.

The biggest lessons i have learned in 2012 about parenthood is that to put their needs before mine as well as to take joy in little things and find rest in little pockets of times. All these, seriously, will not be humanly possible for me if not for the grace and strength of God refreshing me, bringing me through every day. I believe I can say the same for the Husband.

With 2013 here.. well, actually I have not put in much thought as to what to expect or hope / set out for. Maybe it is because we have been taking in so many curveballs that I no longer dare to hope. Well, I just want to take a quiet moment to type this out and remind myself to simply commit all things onto The Lord and trust in Him that with Him, all things will come through. So... ...

Bring it on, 2013! Blessed 2013, everyone!

P.s. I realize I failed to mention the other aspects of my life other an parenthood. Well, I suppose I AM quite preoccupied with the kids presently. The other aspects are generally good, I'd say. May I just add on one biggie in 2012 is the purchase of our next matrimonial home. We are thankful for the finances to bring us through the transition smoothly, as well as for doing up the place which is ongoing currently.

P.p.s. I know I am really tardy in doing my Week in Pictures post. I have a big bunch of photographs that I have yet to up load and they are continuing to snowball at an alarming rate. Sorry folks (and my daughters who are my main targeted future audience), my life has taken on some serious reshuffling in their priorities right now - all many urgent tasks on hand. I have, however, been updating on Instagram on a more regular basis. You know, photo logging on the go which is easier for me right now. Do find me on Instagram if you are a user there too. It's Joyce_TS. :)