My burst of sunshine

Happy turning 3, Gabe!

A Mickey celebration we had for little Gabe, with a line of activities planned his entire birthday weekend! Did you have fun Gabe???

Look at how much your mommy splurged on all these decorations! It was all worth it I'm sure, after all it is the first time in 3 years that we are celebrating Gabe's birthday with him.

Happy 3rd birthday Gabe! Wishing you lots more singing of songs, less scoldings from your mommy, less falls, and more of that happy cheeky smile on your face all the time! Love you lots, little Gabe.

Milo jellies

These Milo jellies brought a smile to this little boy's face. Thank you grandma!

Normalcy, finally

After the last two weeks of chaos at home, we gladly welcome back our much needed daily routine with both arms. So much so, it called for a celebratory dinner on Sunday night. Just before the kids head back to school and I, back to work. :)

Wayne bakes yummy sugar cookies

How times have changed, kids these days lack no activities/lessons to occupy them. Dance, music, soccer, golf, taekwondo, art, clay.. you name it, you have it. The kids enrichment scene in Singapore sure have evolved much over the last decade. Well, us parents are constantly looking out for fun activities for our kids to make better use of their time instead of them gluing their eyes to the iPad, don't we? And, I must say the activities these days, despite being kid-centric is pretty fun and engaging even for us adults! I sure had fun watching Wayne at a recent baking class we attended together. Wayne himself loved it. He kept asking me if it was a one-time class or weekly, and bugged me to find out when the next class was almost immediately after the class ended. Budding baker we have here?

Perhaps it was the small class size which put him at ease, or the young friendly teacher with a sweet smile that made him warm up to almost immediately. Or perhaps it was the fun of making a mess out of dough and fondant. Whichever the reason, I'm glad Wayne enjoyed himself, and I, in his words  became "the best momma ever for bringing him here". Thank you, Little House of Dreams!

Home : Settled in

It has been more than four months since we moved into our new home. We've happily settled in and it is really funny, and somewhat puzzling to me, how it took almost next to no adjustment at all. We were really happy at Martin Place, and to be honest, while we were very much looking forward to our new home,  I thought we would miss our cosy little abode.. at least a little? After all, it was 2 years we spent there, and yes we really enjoyed our time there. Looking back at the 2 years, Martin Place held many happy memories for us and it was also where we experienced many milestones as a family. Of most significance of course was having little Amanda join us.  But surprisingly, no, we didn't seem to reminisce or find ourselves missing Martin Place, as lovely as it was. Well, I take it as a positive sign, how at ease we are in the new place for it to feel like home instantly. Or perhaps, home is really where your family is and less of the place itself.  Nevertheless, we are loving our new place much, and thanks to everyone who had helped us through the preparation and the moving. We were busy as bees for weeks and months, getting our place ready and couldn't have breezed through it without the support of our family. In fact, we still are, with the remaining bits to be completed.

I was hoping I could record the progress of our home week by week from the start of the renovations till its completion, but obviously I didn't have time for that and now that I finally have some time by myself on my laptop, I'm trying to, bit by bit, put down in words the whole journey which was  somewhat stressful yet fulfilling, exciting and gratifying at the same time. 

Renovation

Our renovation took about 7 weeks in total, and was generally smooth sailing and stress-free. While there were some minor hiccups along the way, it was nothing like the horror stories told by friends (of  crazy hidden costs, poor quality and errors in workmanship /design which resulted in delays) and for this, we have to give thanks to Russ, our ID. Towards the last two weeks of the renovation, each visit became more and more exciting, as each part of the house was unveiled to us. Each time we visited, we were filled with anticipation and we were never disappointed, as we discovered new features in various parts of the house being built in. I loved that feeling of being surprised! 

Week 5 - Halfway through

Week 6 - Shaping up

 Week 7 - Finishing touches

Post renovation : Parts of the home

Post renovation : Cleaning and deliveries

The last few days before we moved in, made the most difference, as we got to see the whole house come together as we arranged for various pieces of furniture to be delivered. The last few days were also the toughest as we juggled the deliveries, the packing and the cleaning. I remember scrubbing and scrubbing every nook and corner, till my fingers hurt. I'm glad I had Elaine with us. Even with four of us - the helper , Elaine, HK and myself - we took close to a day to get the place spanking clean. Evidence of our hard work:

The packing and unpacking

The night before the move, as expected, was a mad rush. HK and I stayed up till 4am packing. Although we had started packing some stuff the weekend before, I think we underestimated the amount of hidden items we had miraculously squeezed in our tiny home. I mean, how much stuff could we possibly have given the size of our home?!! Well, turned out we had quite a hidden talent there. The move itself on 25th January, went pretty smooth and with the many pairs of hands helping us that day, we had most of the boxes unpacked within the day. I'm glad I had the foresight to take the following week off, so I could slowly clear the remaining items and be home for some of the remaining deliveries scheduled.

Work-in-progress

Though it has been more than four months, we still have some finishing touches to do, such as searching for decorative pieces like paintings, flowers and artworks for various parts of the house, making our home really ours. We have yet to decide how we want the third room to look like, which is another project we will embark on from the next month. And, our store room badly needs some organizing.

Thankful

It has been one fulfilling journey, and we are so thankful to be able to come home every day to this place we call home. Thank you everyone for contributing in every little way you have! We are grateful.