Weekends should be made of this

On a whim, while lazing in bed a couple of nights back, we decided we were in need of a staycation and voila, here we are! 

Perhaps still recovering from the year end festive mood which was followed quickly by the Chinese New Year holidays, I think the husband and I were never quite ready to face the pressures of work yet again, as we entered this new year. Just two months in, and our body, mind and soul were already begging for some mind-soothing greenery and chillax time by the pool. And as luck would have it, we managed to find a date this week at Sofitel Sentosa which suited our schedule. 

Speaking of schedule - with the new year, we had a new routine; this time as Wayne switched to the morning session in Primary 2. While Wayne had no problems adjusting to the early hours, I totally underestimated the impact it would have on me. It took me the whole of January to finally adjust to waking up at 615am and not fall asleep once the clock struck two in the afternoon. And then, it took me half of February to find the right balance between cooking dinner, collecting dinner from my in-laws and squeezing some exercise into my schedule. 

It’s coming to the end of February now, and finally, I think we are doing pretty well in terms of scheduling. I’ve changed my working hours knocking off at 4pm these days, been polishing my cooking skills thrice a week, leveling up my yoga practice through 7am classes once or twice a week, and have rescheduled the kids classes such that we now have almost the whole of Saturday and  more of Sunday free. I really like this new found schedule, more so than previously, as we now can plan more ad-hoc activities over the weekend as a family rather than rushing the kids for classes. And surprisingly, I am also starting to enjoy my early mornings a lot more. I get more time with the kids in the evenings, pick Amanda up from pre-school earlier and feel a lot more balanced being able to cook, exercise and still find time for precious me-time in the form of massages, hair washes, manicures,  books, magazines and the like, mostly during work lunch hours. 

The last two days have been rejuvenating; a short stay but we managed to squeeze in lots of fun without it being tiring. It was raining most of the time, and so when there was a short burst of sunshine in the morning on the second day, the kids wasted no time jumping into the pool. Looking forward to more of such family moments this year! 

Moving to bamboo....

New set of bamboo dinnerware for the kids. 

So. Pretty. 

Birthday blessings

Each year, on the kids birthday, I scramble to put together a simple party, for both sides of our family to come together and celebrate the birthday boy/girl turning a year older. This year was no exception, we had one for Wayne at Open Farm Community and one for Amanda at our home (realising home parties are still the best). 

Birthdays are great not just for the parties, but for the fact that all our attention is focused on the birthday boy/girl on their birthdays. For most days of the year, we just go about our daily routine, often not even realising what we are actually doing (maybe just me), but on these two days.. their birthdays.. I get that bit sentimental. I pause to recall their first birthday, their second, third and so on. I recall how tiny they once were, how they looked when they were still chubby and all their funny moments. I shower them with love and they get away with almost anything just for that day. Unspoken rule - no scoldings allowed on birthdays. I find myself thinking how I can be a better mommy to them. How I can be more patient, more loving, more fun.. And the list goes on. 

It's nice to just steal moments from our day in and out of hecticness, even if it's just for a few minutes, to remind myself how blessed I am to have this two little ones with me. And for them to feel extra special on this day as everyone comes together to celebrate with them. 

Big families are great ain't it - just imagine the number of presents they received on that one occasion! Too many, I always say. Especially when they don't just buy one toy for them, but multiple!!!! Vivien broke the record by getting Amanda 7 (what 7!?) different toys for her fourth birthday, when she could have gotten one, spoiling Amanda to the max. How blessed they are, thank you yeye, nainai, ah-por, ah-por kheng, uncle J, auntie Jen, grandpa, grandma, da-yi, uncle terry, san-yi, uncle Ken and yiyi for doting on the kids so much. 

Here are some photos of Amanda turning four in July.

A huge relief - tooth matters

I blogged about our worries over Wayne's extra tooth some time back.

After waiting for six months, finally oh finally, his permanent front tooth has decided to make an appearance. 

Most people would have noticed how 'funny' his two front teeth were, the left really tiny and the right gigantic, made to look even more so because of its position beside the tiny right one. If you read the previous post, I explained about how Wayne had this extra tooth (how lucky?!) that came in between his milk and permanent ones (drank too much milk when he was young, extra calcium 🤔). 

We were caught in a dilemma whether to extract it out (he'd be bogeh if the permanent tooth decides not to make an appearance) or leave it until we see signs of the permanent tooth making its way (he'd have to live with the size differential of this two front teeth and even if the perm tooth comes out, because there was another tooth in its way, it may not come out straight). 

Well, we decided on the latter and yay! , since the permanent tooth has in recent weeks been trying to squeeze out from his gums, we finally had his extra tooth extracted.  So that's done, and the next worry is really whether we did it quick enough to allow his tooth to re-adjust its position back to how it should be - straight. Currently it is protruding both sideways and a bit outwards. 

I have to mention the extraction. Unlike the last round where we extracted his milk tooth, which was already shaky anyway, this was more complicated. This tooth had roots, wasn't the least bit shaking, and involved him going through two injections before Dr Chin could bring on the pliers. I squirmed just looking and had to turn away when I saw the size if the syringe (and I'm not someone afraid of injections). It took a while before Dr Chin successfully extracted the tooth, and I must have held my breath for as long. 

What tickled us was when Dr Chin tried to explain what he was doing to Wayne. He tried to use kiddy language for fear of bringing up scary words like injection lest it frightened him, so he was like 'so Wayne, I'm going to have to give you something to put your tooth to sleep' and Wayne was like going point blank 'Are you giving me an injection now?'. Yeah, big boy he is now. Can't kid him. 

Wayne was wonderful, he closed his eyes throughout, held our hands tightly and stayed really still following the instructions of Dr Chin. What a far cry from just a few years back, when to my horror he spat at one of the lady dentist in protest of one of the procedures. Daddy was so proud of him that he immediately received a big Nexo Knights Lego set.  

So for now - let's wait for his tooth to fully make its way out and he'll have not one, but two gigantic front teeth!