*~ Cherindipity Moments ~*

We finally started a bit of 大风吹 to shuffle some of the furniture around and moved gorgor's bed into his designated bedroom... he was feeling some excitement during our ikea shopping this afternoon and looking forward to getting an adult sized table with a monitor to plug his lappy to, and setting up his new keyboard, gaming mouse and headphones thanks to his uncle. 😅

Had been an overwhelming few years juggling growing up kids, work, transitioning between jobs, and on top of that - part time studies cos of a lifelong interest (but i'm happy i made that decision to do it nevertheless) and of cos other troubling issues at home since grandma passed away... 

was feeling quite accomplished today having taken a CPR/AED course for the first time in my life. Yeah.. it had always been one of the items on my to-do list but never quite got down to it. And thinking how good it is to now be equipped with knowledge and some skills and maybe be able to help someone someday.

But today's post isn't just about that.. I am deeply saddened by the passing of a dear friend.. it came as really sudden news and I was standing in shock not knowing whether to believe if the news was real having seen the friend's name being tagged on a FB post.

reliving my past.. went thru some old blog posts cos i have this empty void in my memories i seem to have erased.. realised how good i am at leaving out details i may not want others to know and for myself to forget. 😅😅 so didn't find what i was looking for but it left me super depressed knowing what I've done to myself for the past yrs. im not sure anymore is this my way of adapting or just a way to avoid. suddenly i look at myself and i don't really know me anymore.. at some point I had already given myself up and just went along with the flow. looking rather accomplished surprisingly but always feel smth is missing...

ahh enough of emo emo..  ive really not given enough time to blog abt my baby girl whom i love so much. not a baby anymore though.. will be back with some more memories i hope.. ❤

Mom keeps reminding me to "record" down the progress of my son so that I can always remember it.
I haven't been a fantastic mom, not really keeping track of my kids' milestones.

His Firsts
Started crawling (properly) at around 8 months...
Started walking (wobbling) around 10 months and definitely properly walking by the time he turned one.
First word? Not sure... but he called "daddy" before "mummy"...
Singing? Cant remember!! But I managed to record when he turned one.. he definitely started singing before that.. well not exactly singing.. just completing songs :)

First holiday was to Melbourne, Australia in Dec 2014 when he was 13.5 months old, a trip with the whole family.. he was super sticky to me then.. because it was a short while after i came back from a HK trip leaving him behind.. it was so bad that I had to bring him with me into the tiny cabin toilet. Things improved over a few days when he found himself comfy with Claire jiejie and Sophia ah-yi. ** Note to self: not to leave my kid behind when he is at a sticky age :P
Second holiday was to Taipei, Taiwan in May 2015 with the hubby's family... was another struggle for me cos i was preggy and both Sunny-boy and me were down with a cold.
**Another note to self: remember to bring medication!

Pre-schooling
Started pre-school in the last week of Nov 2015, couldn't wait till Dec to start him as he was getting too cranky at home.

So after 3 weeks in school "sitting there doing nothing" according to the Principal who advises me to give him more time, he's picked up new words!
Spotted him sticking his head into his school bag saying "Quiet!"
This morning he said "安静!".. haha! Wonder if he's been very noisy in school.
He also said "Good Job!" pointing his index finger.. think he still hasn't figured out how to put up his thumb.
Can see that his teachers enjoy talking to him... one of the conversations they shared with me:

Ms Glenn: "Sunny-boy", who's prettier? Miss Tina or Miss Glenn?
L: Miss Tina (his class English Teacher)
Ms Glenn: A little or a lot?
L: A lot!

(All the above in Mandarin.. well L was taken cared by his paternal grandma whom spoke to him in Mandarin. It's really funny for the teachers that he should have answered this way.. and i'm really glad that they have fun with him)

Funny things he would say

1. "打阿嬷打阿嬷打阿嬷打阿嬷打阿嬷" the minute he step outside the house even before seeing my mom
2. "一样的" to random things.. whether or not they are the same
3. "回来"了to his xiaoyi.. and follow on with what he bought e.g. car seat which is very heavy, bananas, pineapples....
4. blah and blah 累了, 要charge... 
5. with regards to his best friend iRobot.. "按一次， 给他跑" while pointing his index finger

.... and many more that i cannot remember off hand :( 

Sincerely hope I do a better job with the lil one now.. :)

Have been very into visiting different cafes lately; i've always hoped i could own a cafe of my own since after O's when I worked part time at Delifrance. Remembering my jc days where Suming will bring me along to this cafe along bukit timah with live music. So the cafe+live music dream began..
Another side of me loves organising small parties (maybe mini events) and the recent kids' party we had at Brew Maison just inspired me further to have a nice cafe where people could hold small parties. On normal days, I can invite aspiring singers to come and sing... Wonder when i will achieve the financial freedom to do this... Am really envious of people living their dreams but i have so much financial commitments now.. plus our 2 little ones...

Nevertheless, cafe-hopping is still very enjoyable, at least till end of this year while i'm still on leave and ensuring the 2 kids settle well before i start work again in Jan.

Headed out to a nearby cafe before picking up L-gorgor yesterday.
Ended up at East Manhattan @ Lor Kilat, a quiet, slightly english-style cafe..

Was served by a very friendly waitress giving alot of recommendations. But I already set my eyes on the rainbow cheesecake on my way in. :P
Gonna try the avocado with gula melaka cake next time.. :)


Was there slightly after 2pm and had already taken lunch, so was a good time for some cakes and tea. The have a tea-time special from 2 to 5pm for $12, cake+coffee/tea+ a scoop of ice-cream.


Cafe provides free wifi as well ;)

Had alot of advices from fellow moms to prep and prep my kid beforehand about going to school. But it seems like no amount of prepping is enough...

Not sure what got into me today but i painstakingly copied every single one of my livejournal posts to blogger. Export to XML and Blogger import didn't work and i really didn't wanna abandon those posts... already feeling very *ouch* about the photos that are now forever gone. It makes me wonder if google would ever decide to remove blogspot or picasa or google photos for that matter.

My original intention of blogging was to keep my memories (knowing how forgetful i am) and its always fun coming back to the old posts not remembering many bits of those memories until i read about them. but now that there are photos gone forever... potentially i would be losing these memories as well...

I read about moving to self-hosted WordPress for this precise reason. However, self-hosted means i need to start paying for hosting services and my own domain name. There are pros and cons to weigh... I'm still not ready to start paying for blogging.. plus i have to painstakingly migrate all the photos and update the links in the posts. That's a really scary thought.

Anyone gone through this and can give some good advice? Does this really have to be such a painful and expensive exercise? I'm even thinking about going offline, but my dead external hdd is also making me think twice about this. Seems cloud is the way to go if i wanted my memories at least for my lifetime...

Ever since we had L-gorgor, whenever we head out for meals, we need to consider if the place is conducive (not too crowded, no long queues, baby chair available) for kids and whether they serve food (soft foods like chicken, fish, soups, potatoes, carrots, juices, ice-cream, cakes and the list goes on and keeps growing thankfully!) suitable for him.

There are actually quite a number of options for us at HillV2 (located just at the "famous" Hillview roundabout) - western, italian, japanese, even a cafe selling local cuisine. We settled at Dean & Deluca, an upscale grocery store from US.

Oh... the seats are made of metal and i was in shorts so can you imagine how cold my butt felt? Was so envious that L-gorgor had a wooden baby chair... *sobz*







Took a walk after dinner around the small place.. there really isn't much to do.. and it was a drizzly cold night that made it feel like Christmas in Singapore. L-gorgor and daddy were having alot of fun at the water fountain. (reminder to self: to bring extra clothes in future for the kids)

First proper family "outting" after my confinement month to a nearby cafe near Lavender Mrt ~ Oberstrasse. Decorated in the industrialized theme with an open concept kitchen, not my favourite (am a fan of couches not so much metal) but still enjoyable.

entrance

orange juice for the toddler and hot chocolate for the mommy

green tea latte for the daddy

a rosti topped with a sunny side up

chicken baked rice

complete with a chocolate lava cake

Mostly cos the food was great tasting and at a reasonable price and not one of those super expensive cafes. Ended up ordering a tiny bit too much for a late afternoon tea. Have to say though that the food was better than the green tea latte and hot chocolate. The rosti tasted even better than what you can get at Marche.

Its quite a small place though, not great for big gatherings... and maybe 2 or 3 baby chairs available. No kiddy food menu but L-gorgor still managed to enjoy the food we ordered so no trouble there. The owner appeared to be nice and friendly :) was a great experience overall, amd would probably head there again for the rosti and chocolate lava cake!

1. My parents' condo function room - Out. already had L-gorgor's full month party there, and in laws would not be very happy..
2. In law's place - Out. already held L-gorgor's 1st year bday party there.. and parking is always a headache..
3. Hotel ball rooms - Out. A little over don't you think?
4. Country clubs - Out. No special significance.. plus its actually not cheap to book a function room in a country club... hmm..
5. Sakura buffet - Out. recommended by my sis who held one of her kids' full month party there 8 years back. Today it costs about $10 more per head.. hmm... we didn't want our guests to only remember that "oh the buffet was pretty good" and not notice our kids..
6. Restaurants or Cafes??? - Well, never booked one before, could just work! 

This year mom's bday had to be celebrated at our humble home cos i was still doing confinement after delivering Lyra earlier in the month. Hope the proud grandma had fun anyway!

It's difficult to have a very romantic wedding anniversary dinner when we have such an adorable kid waiting at home. Guess its my fault.. i can't leave him at home anymore since the bad experience of leaving him behind when I went off to HK to meet his daddy on his biz trip. Also.. i'm just too lazy to go out too far.. hahaa.. would rather be home to sleep nowadays.. (pregnancy woes)

Well.. we had to settle for a simple 3rd wedding anniversary dinner at the nearby Butter Studio.
One thing we have to count ourselves lucky for that it is just within walking distance.

my lovely dates


me and my iced lychee tea


belgian chocolate tart


pancakes benedict for dinner


salted caramel red velvet cake

still.. a very 幸福 feeling, to have my 2 very loved ones and another one coming (in the tummy) to celebrate our wedding anniversary. :)

Just a few days before flying off to Melbourne.... we had a big feast in celebration of dearie's bday! His parents love to cook (despite already buying alot of popeye's chicken) and we are fortunate for that. :)

A newly opened cafe near my in laws place.. will always walk past it on the way home. Decided to finally visit it on my birthday. The thing about having a birthday in December is, it is so close to Christmas!

Loved the little cafe, its pretty hidden though and business seems slow. Wonder if it will manage..
A small family business i think, the owners' kids are around sometimes as well. Explains why the cafe is super child friendly! Food was great by my standards.. i loved the pasta. It tasted so homely... :)
Little L didn't want his mashed potatoes though.. that wasn't all that tasty perhaps.


 

Entrance to the Espressivo cafe


Little bears wanna play chess!


Some games and toys to keep the kids busy


Kids corner for the little ones to doodle or eat


While waiting for our food~


Mushroom soup


Mashed potatoes for the little one


Sandwiches for the daddy


Ham and cheese pasta for the mummy


a family pic!


Happy birthday mummy!! with a tiny snowman beside :)

Thanks Daddy, for always going with me to check out new places!