Dinner with the Uncles

I might have to rethink using the name Sanjay for Jr, for Papa’s tenants have beat us to it. Sunshine and Ajay welcomed their little boy on Valentine’s Day and they chose Sanjay because it combines both their names.

We visited today, he’s a pie, the girls think he’s like a little doll and it gives them an idea of what to expect once their brother comes along.

The office also had a lo hei session today, we’re going to start renovations next month so that we can combine the people at Springleaf and SGX under one roof. 

Last night, we met his uncles Barry and Gilbert for dinner at Orchard Hotel. But before that, we were in Jurong to visit Aunty Susan and Uncle Henry at their house, we’d all never been!

The spread was quite varied but I was disappointed they didn’t have their fried bee hoon with pigs trotters. I remember it was there last time and the wok hei fragrance was very strong.

The kids had a ball with the dessert section, no holds barred and they helped themselves to the ice cream, and gummies and cakes. Wendy also bought them macaroons…total sugar high!

It's a ...

Guess what? We’re definitely having a boy!

Went for the detailed scan this morning at Radlink clinic in Paragon and after the ultrasound technician scanned my stomach for almost an hour checking every last detail of Jr, she confirmed the sex of the baby. Now I can start shopping, although boys clothes just don’t hold any appeal!

Picked up the kids to have lunch and they weren’t too pleased about having a brother, I think Gigi and Nat were having a sort of competition to see who would get a girl!

Nick had to work in the evening and we had a temple wedding to attend. I think it’s one of the simplest ceremonies I’ve been too, as the couple opted not to do the full works.

The bride Vimita is my 3rd cousin (our grandmas were 1st cousins), if she looks familiar to you, that’s because she’s a journalist on CNA and the groom is from MediaCorp too, a fellow journalist with TODAY, named Derrick. 

Nat loved the colours of the wedding, she’s like me…Indian weddings are always such colourful affairs. Sasha covered her ears half the time, afraid of the trumpet and drums. I need to get them proper Indian outfits for such occasions, they wore Indian-inspired dresses from Monsoon.

 

 

 

CNY 2013

So long Dragon, hello Snake!

Once again we had a relatively quiet CNY with visits spread out over the first 3 days.

It wasn’t really planned but our Day 1 outfits were quite coordinated with shades of coral. Nick only bought his polo tee at the last minute, the girls have had their dresses for a while and I had limited maternity options but decided on a Mango dress I bought months ago because it fit and I realised it matched the kids.

Made the girls offer their father oranges in exchange for their angpows first before we rushed for mass at AMK where we were meeting Mildred.

From there, we headed to Tampines to Uncle Philip’s house as he had brought Amah out from the nursing home for a half a day so that the rest of the Tan family could pay their respects to her.

Swana and co, and Kavi and Ananya were at our house when we returned and we spent the rest of the evening chillaxing at home.

On Day 2 of CNY, Mildred came over bright and early to hand over her angpows to her granddaughters, she didn’t want to do it in her brother’s house and we were supposed to visit her house but plans got canned when some of her other guests couldn’t make it.

In the evening, we dressed the girls in kebayas and made our way to Aunty Darrell’s house for dinner, where she had ordered biryani. There was the customary lo hei which the girls enjoyed and they only ate the crackers.

The aunts were fussing over the girls in their kebayas and the girls had their chance to pay their respects to Ben and Wendy and receive their angpows.

I accidentally left my phone at Aunty Darrell’s house but because she left home for a movie right after we left, I wasn’t able to collect it till the next day.

After the kids slept, Nick and I headed to Kim Tian to meet Swana, Kevin, John, Jeanette and Kaelash for some drinks at Coq & Bull.

Today is Day 3 and we headed to Sunny Spring for lunch with Nya Nya and co. He tapaued an assortment of food including my craving of Indian rojak….mmm.

Uncle Thomas popped by and the girls just love having him around, of course it helped that he came bearing sweets!

My 2 nonyas swopped outfits from the day before and were joined by Gigi in her blue kebaya. We called them Sasha-neo. Gigi-neo and Natalie-neo!

 

 

 

 

Let the feasting begin!

It’s Reunion dinner day and since we didn’t have plans till the evening, we brought the girls out to Sentosa with the intention of going to the beach. But the Sentosa Flower Show was on and parts of Siloso closed off so we headed towards Palawan instead.

 

Gigi joined us with her new scooter and Kavi also came, along with Ananya, Reagan and Riley. Found a small water play area that kept the kids occupied for a good half hour, but that also meant they got really wet and we only had one extra set of clothes which went to Sasha because she was wetter!

Nick suggested lunch at Wave House because it was in the vicinity and guess who we bumped into there? Colin and co, and Jerome and Sylvia etc. They were celebrating Zach’s birthday. 

I saw a really nice blue butterfly that I was chasing around, managed to get one shot in.

Dinner was at AMK, we all chipped in with the steamboat ingredients and Mildred had a yusheng prepared. Aunty Lillian joined too and I showed off the new bling and told Mildred I ‘ketuked’ her son, and she said it was OK! Ha ha

 

Papa is 70

It was Papa’s 70th birthday yesterday and to celebrate we took him for dinner at Tiffin Room, Raffles Hotel. Was going to use my Feed at Raffles card but Citibank were having a promotion and the discount was comparable.

It was just us, Aunty Susie, Mildred and Uncle Cyril. Kevin was out of town and the kids were fed an early dinner so they just munched on papadum and fruits. They were so restless, it was hard to eat in peace especially since we didn’t bring the helpers…they wanted to see the fountain, they wanted to use the loo, they just couldn’t sit still! 

The hotel provided a complimentary birthday cake and the wait staff walked out with it after dinner, singing as they approached the table. 

Food and variety was disappointing, I think there are far better Indian spreads out there for less, but I must say it was nice being at the grand ‘old dame and soaking in the colonial setting.

In other news…guess what? I collected my rock today! I know the last I mentioned was that Nick didn’t even want to consider it, but we worked out a compromise!

The morning after I had told him about it, he asked if I was ok as I was still snoozing in bed. I said I wasn’t ok because I was still thinking about the ring, haha.

Then he made an offer – that if he bought me the ring, no holiday for us (supposed to go Milan in April) and I immediately agreed. I could sacrifice a holiday since I was going to be fat and it wouldn’t have been much fun. Also, his other condition was that he kept the full baby bonus, which I also didn’t mind since I didn’t have a present for him in return.

That day, I went to the Larry at Ion to just check if there was anything else that appealed, and saw an emerald-cut solitaire with surrounding stones for less than 10K. But my heart was set on a cushion so we met at Paragon that evening for dinner and then went to Larry’s.

Tried on the ring again, and he was joking around with the staff. But it didn’t take much to persuade him, his only concern was that he didn’t have his chequebook with him but I happened to have it in my bag (sneaky!) and that was that!

In 15 mins he’d bought me the rock I’ve always wanted and I promise not to ask for any jewellery for the next 10 years! Oh, and here's a shot of me at 18 weeks...