Pressies!!

Little bun received 2 packages from my colleague in the U.K. This is the nth package she's sent him and I am sure I have not seen the end to it!! Yup, my little bun's got an U.K 'aunt' who adores him.. She was supposed to be in town last month and I was looking forward to meet up with her and she too was looking forward to see little bun (the last time she saw/held him was when he was barely a week old). Unfortunately, a few days before she was due to depart, she took a tumble off the stairs at home and broke her foot. 

Here's the little one entranced with the 2 colourful packages... I think he was more interested in the wrapping paper than what was inside! 

This is the Way I Brush My Hair...

After my shower every morning, I will sit on the bed to brush my hair before going to work. Little bun will usually be on the bed with me at that time as he'd have just woken up. This morning, he 'stole' my brush while I wasn't looking and attempted to 'comb' his own hair!! Ok, his actions were clumsy and sometimes he even used the wrong side of the brush, but his intentions were clear with the consistent top to bottom, top to bottom motion (the pics are blurry cos I was laughing too hard)..

If this boy doesn't grow up to be a vain-pot like his Daddy, I'd be really, really surprised! (for the record, Mark spends more time than me getting ready in the mornings). 

Father & Son Bonding

Daddy and I watching the Manchester United versus Liverpool match on Sunday evening. Glory, glory Man United!!! Man U won 2-1! Wheeee..........

Giving Thanks... (cont'd)

Photos taken from Mark's day trip to Phuket a week ago. Apparently when he reached there it was raining cats and dogs.. he soon found out from the locals that it had been pouring non-stop for the past week before he arrived. That got me really worried for him cos the Four-faced Buddha is located in a wide open space, and it was a fairly long and unsheltered walk from the parking area, AND I forgot to pack in a umbrella for Mark. 

Our Angels must've been watching over their daddy cos when Mark reached his destination, the rain had stopped!! You can see from the photos below how wet the ground was. First picture is where the shrine is housed. 

(Ummm.. see that little stray dog in the two pictures? Mark actually called to tell me about her cos she was also there when I was there in early 2011! So happy to that she is well.. it's like seeing a familiar face in a foreign land.. so what if this familiar face belongs to a furry friend? She may be a stray, but she looks like she is well taken care of.. that makes me happy.)

I feel much more at ease (and I am sure Mark does too) now that we can check this off our 'to do' list for 2012. I hope we can be back there again this time next year as a family. And I hope to see my little furry friend there once more.

And before I forget - Thank you, darling, for making this trip for our family. I know that while it was only a day trip, it was very tiring for you... you left home at 6am and only reached home at 1am the following day. Next year, we will be there for the sun, sand and sea. xoxo

It almost slipped my mind that at this time last year, I was spending my time in the hospital's delivery suite struggling hard to fight against the contractions that were threatening to send me into early labour! Ahhhh... how wonderful it is to be able to think back fondly (and triumphantly) at that period time and gaze at the ultimate 'prize' that came out of it all - my little bun!! 

(Terrible photo quality cos it was taken at a rather dim indoor location.. 

I love his impish grin in this pic though. SOOO like his daddy!!)

I have this growing nagging feeling though.. no matter how much I think I love little bun, Mark loves him just that tiny bit more than I do. I LOVE seeing the 2 of them together.. 2 peas in a pod/ chip off the old block... It's uncanny how little bun is exhibiting those very same mannerisms and behaviours that I see in Mark.

Very bored mother and son waiting for daddy to finish his shower so that mummy can go and take hers.  (Yes, I know... my son's forehead is a replica of his daddy's...poor boy).

**Wait a minute.. are those W.R.I.N.K.L.E.S that I see under my eyes??? OMG...***

I am glad I had my phone handy and I managed to catch this tender moment between little bun and Hershey. 

Little bun: Awwww... I wuff you Hershey!

Hershey: **slathering kisses**

Little Bun is 11 Months Old!!

OMG... one more month to go and my little bun will be turning one year old!! If this is even possible, now I love him 100 times more than the day I first held him in my arms.  Every single thing about him is perfect to me. 

Confessions of a Besotted Mom:

1) He has been babbling a lot and no one can make out a word of what he is saying, but I cannot get enough of his little 'airy' baby voice... 

2) My baby perspires a lot and gets 'porcupine' hair when his head is all sweaty but I find that ultra adorable and fashionable, no less. (I have even tried styling it into a mohawk, not much success cos his hair is too fine). 

3) He's now got a grand total of 7 going on 8 teefies now and they are faaaar from being neatly aligned but I find that cute too. See that gap between the 2 top front teefies?

4) He has this habit of letting out a sudden blood-curdling scream/cry in the middle of the night (nightmare??) but even that is music to my ears (after it shocks me out of my slumber). To me, that is a sign that I have a baby and he is sleeping right beside me.. it is not a dream!

Ok the list can go on and on... I love little bun so much. Where/how did I contain all my love before he came into my life?

Giving Thanks...

Remember Mark and I made this trip to Phuket in Feb 2011? We went to a place known as Promthep Cape during one of our sightseeing

trips. Promthep Cape is located at the southern point of the island and apparently has panoramic views of the surroundings. One of the main features at Promthep Cape is the shrine of a Four-faced Buddha. Hundreds of elephants (often regarded as a symbol of Thailand) of various sizes surround the Four-faced Buddha Shrine at Promthep Cape. 

The most 'famous' Four-faced Buddha Shrine is actually the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok and it is known to grant wishes to its worshippers. Anyway, since we were at the Four-faced Buddha Shrine in Phuket, we paid our respects. What neither of us realized at that time was we both made the same wish (ok, admittedly, at that stage in our lives, we both only had one common wish). At that time, we still had no idea that I was already about a week pregnant with little bun. No one would have known because it was far too early. Both Mark and I wished for a healthy baby and promised to return to give our thanks when our wish came true.

Miraculously, a mere 36 weeks after we made our wish, it came true last October and we have our healthy little bun!!

This morning, Mark made a solo day trip to Phuket to give our thanks, as what we have promised. We wanted to do it before little bun turns one year old in October. I wish I could have joined him but due to certain circumstances, I wasn't able to go. HOWEVER, I hope I will be able to make a trip next year end together with little bun. Perhaps it'll be our first overseas trip together as a family. 

Crabby Bun...

Last month a colleague of mine from Japan was in town for a business meeting and I took the opportunity to introduce him to Mark (and little bun). This colleague of mine always takes fantastic care of me whenever I am in Tokyo for business and he never fails to take me shopping in the evenings no matter how much he disliked shopping (usually he'd wait for me at a nearby cafe and chain-smoked while I shopped). Since it was a rare visit for him to my part of the world, we took him for chilli crabs (since this seems to be what we are known for). 

Little bun was rather crabby that evening.. maybe cos he missed a nap or perhaps because he was surrounded by new faces all wanting to play with him. Anyway, I made little bun don on the apron that the restaurant thoughtfully provided (I believe to prevent the gravy from splattering onto your tops). It suits little bun perfectly.. in the sense that it has a giant crab printed on the front... crabby bun.. geddit?! LOL!! 

(Don't be deceived by the smiles in the photos..)

Bye Bye!!

Finally managed to capture little bun's rather unique 'bye bye' on video. I have no idea why his hand has to be placed on/ close to his mouth (what you see in the video is not just a once-off, little bun does it every time we tell him to wave 'bye bye'!). Mark and I certainly didn't teach him that! Ok, I am sure I didn't but I can't say the same for Mark.

Sleeping Bun...

Noticed this little habit of little bun... Every time when he dozes off in the car seat, he'd grab hold of 'Mr Robot', and his grip on Mr Robot will last for as long as his nap. I'd try to loosen his grip but he'd wake up and glare at me as if I'm trying to steal his toy, so now I let sleeping kids lie. (I have long learnt that 'a sleeping child is a good child', as is 'a sleeping dog is a good dog'!)

As much as Mark and I love little bun, there is nothing as gratifying and heart-warming as watching little bun sleep sleep peacefully, lost in his own little world of dreams and safe in the cocoon of warmth and love. Admittedly, his nap times are also the times where we can catch a much needed rest!

Childhood...

We had a little picnic by the pool with little bun's little friend, Faith, and her parents. Faith's mom and I were busy exchanging information about potential kindergartens for our little ones.. Gosh, it is such a nightmare to be a child growing up in Singapore today. I still find it hard to believe how early some parents register their young kids in schools/ enrichment classes.. what happened to childhood?? What kind of 'enrichment' does one need at 18 months? Tuition for nursery classes?? C'mon!!

My sister and I both grew up without attending any enrichment classes and we only went to kindergarten when we were 5 years old. I think I can safely (and proudly) say that we both grew up as well-rounded humans. Such a pressure it is to grow up in Singapore nowadays.. I wish I'd be able to prolong little bun's childhood for as long as I can so that he can enjoy the same childhood that I had. (That said, I could cave in to social pressure like how most parents ended up just so that my child doesn't 'lose out'). 

I saw this quote prominently painted on the outside wall of a kindergarten near my mom's place: Childhood is a journey, not a destination... 

It is very heart-warming to see how well little bun gets on with Hershey.. sometimes, they get on too well! Recently while they were playing, Hershey unintentionally gave him a 15cm scratch on his arm and it was red for 2 days. Good thing it didn't bleed but my mom gave me a hard time for not taking better care of her precious grandson. 

Anyway I figured that if little bun is growing up with a dog (or two) in the house, a few scratches now and then is inevitable. To be fair, poor Hershey had also lost a fair amount of fur in his little grubby hands. 

Little Bun's New Ride

Although she claims that she dislikes kids, I think she is slowly changing her mind because of little bun. 

For the longest time ever, my younger sister had never liked children.. she finds them noisy, dirty, pesky, etc... Admittedly, I was rather worried about how she'd take to little bun when he was born cos I didn't want little bun's childhood to be traumatised by an aunt who doesn't love him and wanted nothing to do with him. Anyhow, I decided to let nature take its course and just sit back and watch. 

In the first couple of months after little bun's birth, my sister was rather aloof with him.. she didn't dislike him, but she just didn't want to have very much to do with him. That said, she did buy him a lot of clothes and toys even then. Gradually she started buying more and more things for him. It got to the extent where I had to tell her to stop buying cos he had way TOO MANY clothes. It was the same with toys. 

Somehow as little bun grew bigger and became more interactive with people and his surroundings, she started bonding with him and I can see how much she loves him (despite her denying it!!). She holds and carries him a lot these days (although she still hasn't gotten used to his crankiness). 

Recently she bought him a tricycle and he loves riding on it. Currently we have installed the steering handle bars so that we can push him along (he legs still can't reach the pedals). I suppose this toy is supposed to last for the next 2-3 years as certain parts can be removed. Basically this tricycle is supposed to suit kids from 10 months to 3 years. Hopefully we will get a lot of use out of it in the years to come. 

Off we go to the pool... (we had a play date/ picnic at the pool with our neighbours on the fourth floor. They have a 1 year old girl called Faith and we have started hanging out recently for play dates for the two little ones..) The tricycle came in pretty handy cos I could put our swimming basket in the bucket and hang little bun's float on the steering handle. Hehehee...