SES MSD - The Reunion

A few weeks ago, I found out Joyce and Nora were going to be in town at the same time and so began an attempt to organise an SES MSD reunion cum pot luck at my place.

Initially there were quite a number of RSVPs but they dropped out like flies nearer towards the event! In the end, there were about 8 of us, add kids and hubbies and there was still a sizeable group. There was so many kids around, at times it felt like a mother's group meeting!

Those who came included Nora and her 8 mth old baby Nadia; Joyce, Xavier and 15mth old Cassandre; Wai Ling and 3 yr old Erik; Yusnita, David and 4 month old Andrea; Wendy; Shin and Pauline. Swana and Gigi made an appearance too, and there was Nick and Nat.





Joyce is expecting No.2, a boy in May, I sold her 2 maternity dresses! Erik 'terrorized' the other girls, Cassandre is so chubby and adorable, so is Nadia. Andrea looks just like Yus!





I didn't really get a chance to chit chat a lot, was busy checking on the food and kids. There was so much food.



But it was really nice to see everyone, some I hadn't seen in like 7 years, especially Pauline and Nora. Wai Ling announced that she is moving to Dubai to work come March, hopefully can have another gathering before that!

Sesame Street comes to Spottiswoode!

We had a small Sesame Street-themed birthday party for Nat at home today, for the extended family including our parents' siblings and some cousins.



As far as themes go, I didn't go all out but there were enough touches here and there to make it a little obvious. Started with the invitation, and I found some partyware at a store in Raffles City. Couldn't bring myself to pay over a dollar per paper plate or napkin so opted for just party bags, party hats, some tattoos and a tablecloth.






I printed some character posters and stuck them along the walls at home and we ordered an Elmo cake from Polar.






Dinner was catered from Sabaidee, the Thai restaurant we sometimes go at Tiong Bahru. That went down well, everyone loved the food. It was really value for money too, considering the menu comprised of 8 items plus drink and dessert. There was mango salad, tom yam soup, seafood fried rice, mixed vegetables, stuffed chicken wings, prawn cakes, dry prawn curry, sliced fish with mango, red ruby and lime juice. The red rubies were huge like marbles!




I hope Nat had fun, it was mostly adults but Riley, Ananya, Gigi and Isabelle were around. Don't think we'll have a similar bash for her 3rd birthday, will focus on Nike's 1st birthday next year instead.


Selena brought me my new Marc by Marc Jacobs tote I had bought through her brother / my cousin. So pleased! Plus the other day I received a Kate Spade bag purchased online which I have declared to Nick is his anniversary present to me. Am not allowed to buy any more bags for the next 2 months...well, except for another MJ tote in a different colour and a Le Sportsac diaper bag I'm eyeing on eBay. Hee hee!




Oooh, and there's a chance Nick might go Greece again in May. Though he offered to let me tag along, it would be almost impossible for me leave Nike so soon after her arrival. But he's volunteered to shop on my behalf so I'll just draw up a list instead!

Happy 2nd birthday Nat!

The munchkin turned 2 today and it was a long day for her!

Mummy, Swana and Gigi came over in the morning, and Gigi couldn't wait to hug Nat. Aunty Sarda popped by and not long after, Mildred swung by with a birthday cake and we fed Nat an early lunch because we had a studio appointment for 12.30pm.



Left the house right after cutting the cake but Nat wasn't co-operating in the studio. She refused to pose on her own, hence I was in most of the shots.




Mildred couldn't get in a good shot with her, and Nat even cried a couple of times and had to be bribed with Ribena and some studio props.

Decided to just buy all the shots taken, and thereafter tapau-ed lunch home. Spent the afternoon making pineapple tarts and made Nat and Gigi pick 4-D numbers when they woke up from their naps.



We couldn't decide what to eat for dinner and were on the verge of Tony Roma's at Suntec when I decided to make a reservation at Sante Fe at Marina South Pier instead. Thought Nat would enjoy the boats and view.

The upper deck of the riverboat was too windy for dining so we changed to indoor seating. The restaurant was deserted, which was a pity because everything we ordered was really good. I shared ribs with Nick, and their mashed potatoes are the best ever. The older folks enjoyed the food too, though the boat was pretty rocky this evening. Aunty Sarda and Arlyn took sea sick pills.

The best part was we were entitled to a 30% discount on main courses because we were dining with 3 generations. That's a daily promotion which we were not aware of so we saved quite a bit. Will definitely be back there soon, need a mash potato and nacho fix before I pop.



After dinner, we stopped by Marina Barrage, the folks had not been before but we didn't stay long because the babies were tired. Nat fell asleep in the car and that was how she spent her second birthday...

My little 2 year old

Another year gone by just like that and the munchkin is 2 years old. Doesn't seem so long ago that she was crawling and doing baby-talk, and now we can have proper conversations with her.


She has a sense of humour and remains cheeky, but in front of strangers she's very shy and takes at least an hour to warm up. When she doesn't sit in the car seat sometimes, she'll imitate me and say 'I'm warning you' with a cheeky grin. Try forcing her into a stroller and she'll wail as if it's the end of the world. The other day at AMK Hub, I tried twice to strap her in but she threw such a tantrum that Nick caved and took her out. Each time he did that though, she would 'make eyes' at me and toss a triumphant smile...sneaky!


She can sing 'Twinkle twinkle little star' and 'London Bridge' in full, as well as the whole alphabet. She can sing along to other songs too, but the words are still distorted. She can also identify most of the major Sesame Street characters including new ones like Abby and Zoe.

She's curious about things around her. When she doesn't know the name of something, she'll ask precociously 'This what name?' like a Buddha painting at Pops' house and a roll of scotch tape but once she knows the name, she more of less retains the information and can even point out excavators at construction sites, and is starting to be able to tell the difference between palm trees and coconut trees.





She says 'yes' like Sean Connery i.e. 'Yesh', and when she poops, she scrunches up her face and goes 'Hmmpf, busuk'. She and Gigi are so cute when instructed to keep their shoes whenever they come back from somewhere. They will remove their shoes on their own and obediently (most of the time) walk to the kitchen and tip toe to place their shoes on the shoe rack. Keeping their toys though is another story...they never put back what they take, but Gigi will sometimes.

Gigi and her love playing 'Simon Says' and sometimes I use it to get things done, like 'Simon says open your mouth' (when trying to brush her teeth) or 'Simon says be quiet' but the moment doesn't last very long.

Everyday now she kisses my tummy and I think she can't wait to see the new arrival. Gigi has started rubbing and kissing my tummy too, though sometimes she aims for the boobs! They both have this 'old lady' walk that they started doing after attending a wedding last month, they must have seen a hunched old lady with her hands held behind her back for that's what they've been doing daily!

Nat has taken to flashing too, she'll lift her t-shirts or dresses and say 'Nat Nat shame-shame' and Gigi has started as well. Think they picked it up after seeing a can-can dance on an Elmo DVD.

Gigi is forming short sentences already at 17 months, like 'I try', 'Daddy sit down', 'Gigi sleep here' etc and she seems to add an 'oh' after each phrase, instead of 'lah' or 'eh' like the Canadians. E.g. 'biscuit oh', 'Nat nat oh', wonder if she picked that from Arlyn, who likes to say 'Oy' after certain sentences.





No progress on the teeth, still at 4. She can identify some animals and can say their names but chooses to make an elephant sound instead of saying 'elephant' whenever she sees a picture of one!

Watermelon

This is my stomach as at 29 weeks...it's like having a watermelon strapped to your body. It's getting increasingly hard to flip sides when I sleep, and getting out of cars and bed is tedious.

Had a scare early yesterday when I thought my waterbag was leaking, but it turned out to be a false alarm. Still went to KK nonetheless to have it checked out and was monitored for an hour and tests conducted, which yielded negative results. Blame it on paranoia after hearing about two cases of waterbags leaking prematurely in the same week, plus on Friday night I had flopped on my stomach after trying to catch Nat from falling off the bed, while she did a somersault so I just wanted to check Nike was alright.

Everyone's been saying I look un-pregnant from the bust up, I do feel slightly slimmer this pregnancy, less water retention plus I haven't been able to eat a lot of sweet stuff because it triggers an infection...so everything in moderation which means not as much weight gained, though there's still 2 months to go. I might just go on a binge!

Spice Girls at the Esplanade

The Spice Girls were reunited today at the Esplanade Promenade, actually it was not much of an activity for the kiddies, just walking around and looking at the skyline, river and Merlion. They entertained themselves by playing hide and seek and going up/down the stairs.






Riley, Sarah and Nat were kind of co-ordinated in green outfits, and Ananya as usual was cranky!

While the rest stayed on to have dinner at Glutton's Bay, Nick picked me up to bring me to Sengkang, where dinner awaited at Kannaki's house.

Me and Nat were the first to arrive...I changed her diaper upon reaching, only to realise there was only 1 left in the bag. We usually pack 4, but had not replenished this time and suay, suay, Nat decided to poop 5 mins after receiving her fresh diaper. Had not anticipated this, since she had already gone in the morning but thankfully there was no need for any more changes after that!

Nat nearly gave me a heart attack at one point, knocking over a tall speaker near a lit candle...thought we would set the house on fire but I managed to catch the speaker in time.

Eventually Puni, Siva, Nikesh and Vig arrived, Puni had a pressie for Nat and all seemed to be going well but not long after she had a crying fit, the first of several. Every little thing would trigger her off, she must have been really tired and cranky. I couldn't eat in peace, she leeched onto me and I had to eat with one had, Vig even helped me peel my chicken wing!




The moment we left, she crashed in the car. Guess it had been a long day for her.