2014

Taking stock of the year that has passed often brings about a sense of dread in me.

What have I achieved in the past year? Oh, nothing much. Same old, same old. Not much of a "career" in the traditional sense. Sure, I've had a kid. Sure, I've had two. Sure, I'm about to celebrate 10 years of marriage in a few months. But other than that? Ho-hum. Nothing much. It's hot today isn't it?

Except, why do I keenly feel the need to identify myself within the confines of a career?

I guess I've always thought I'd be a bit of an achiever when it came to work. (At the very least, I thought I'd be earning more!) And it's a battle I fight each year, when December 31 comes around.

With the drama and adventure of 2013, you'd think I'd have learnt my lesson on what deems as important!

So I guess I really should take stock and refocus on my real achievements hey?

• I've had a kid! He's turned 7! And he's smart and won't stop talking!
• I've had another kid! He's just turned 4 months! And he's smart and won't stop coo-ing!
• Hubby and I have a strong marriage (which I gather, by the rate of relationships dissolving in 2014, is quite a feat).
• I spent the last year in a job I truly enjoyed, and made new friends, some who remain very close.
• I spent Christmas in Brisbane with close friends and got to ride the roller-coasters at the theme parks - trust me, this was a huge Win for me LOL.
• Got to make new friends through Social Media, especially Instagram.

So! What do I look forward to for 2015?

• Baby hitting new milestones
• Celebrating 10 years of marriage
• Deepening meaningful relationships
• Possibly returning back to work. Possibly.
• Trying out new cake designs and recipes and hopefully revamp the cake website.
• Opening a new cafe with hubby and friends.
• Flying back to Singapore to visit family.
• Perhaps taking a holiday to a new destination - maybe Japan? Or Europe again (I wish!!)

In the meantime, this being a BABY blog, and since I've just had another BABY,  here're some pictures to drool over (literally, there's saliva everywhere right now!)

Soooo tiny 

Guess which one is Aidan and which is Adam?!

Aidan celebrating his 7th birthday at school 

Made a Minecraft cake

My lovely kikki. K family 

#squishycheeks

Family shot on my birthday 

More piccies to come!

2013

If challenges reveal who we truly are, then the past year tells me I'm one helluva kickass motherf***er.

In 2013 I:

Started a new job
Booked tickets for Europe
Cancelled tickets for Europe because I found out..
I was pregnant! After 30 long months of trying and disappointments!
I wasn't just pregnant, I was pregnant with TWINS!
I gave birth to 2 gorgeous little girls; but they died peacefully in my arms.
I buried my girls.
I went back to work.
I starting seeing a therapist.
My husband had quit his job; he moved (temporarily) overseas. For 6 months.
I joined a gym; I hired a personal trainer; I joined the gym's 12-week body challenge.
I juggled work, raising Aidan on my own (with amazing help from my neighbours), my baking business, cake classes and the gym.
I finished my therapy sessions.
My husband returned for a month - yay!
I went to Paris and Brittany for 2 weeks!!
I celebrated the pregnancies of my friends and the births of their children.
I listened to their stories and held them as they cried & bemoaned the difficulties of being a new mother (& I confess, made me appreciate not having to go through the same thing again, yet made my heart wondered if I was missing out.)
I celebrated Aidan turning 6!!
I put up with his tantrums without having a tantrum myself!!
I put up my hand and applied for a promotion.
I got the promotion!
I celebrated my sister's wedding - in Phuket!

And now the year draws to a close, and I'm terribly terribly grateful for the roller coaster ride this year has been. In spite of the challenges thrown my way I think back and I realise how much I do really have, and how much I can hope for in the time to come.

Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year, everyone!

PS. Realise I forgot to take a family photo on Christmas Day - but here's us with our Chrissie pressies. I got everything I secretly wanted - wine glasses, a decanter and a new teapot! LOL.

Batman Lego from Sai Yee Tessa and Ton Ton Pierre 

Wine decanter & aerator set - hubby knows me too well! 

New wine glasses 'coz I kept knocking ours over - 

our friends know us too well!

Toshi Milk Jug for E-Gene!

Lately...

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, but at least there's Twitter and FB to keep you guys informed of what's been happening at the Soh household ;p  Will just write a quick one of what's been happening; forgive the 'dry' writing...

SO! Quick news, Aidan did a POO in the toilet ALL BY HIMSELF the other day! Woohoo!

Skip this part if you don't want all the gross details: 

EG left him on the can and closed the door, sat in the hallway to wait (Aidan told him to 'step outside' haha) and promptly fell asleep (?!) I came up to check and lo and behold, after 15 mins he'd done it! After a quick wipe, he got a reward sticker AND a prize from the prize box. Here's to hoping it continues regularly...

We fell pretty sick over the weekend. Aidan caught conjunctivitis AND a chesty cough/cold, which passed on to me by Sunday as he's been making a habit of crawling into my bed in the middle of the night and coughing into my face! Hate being sick, but I'm hoping lots of water will help. At least last night, when I returned him to bed he stayed there after I patted him for a bit. "Goodnight mum," he said.

His imagination's been really taking off, and we've been inventing and telling each other stories lately...he's really into astronauts and rocket ships, and loves Buzz Lightyear! We've just bought Buzz for him during the toy sale and keeping it for his b'day, although I hope we can hold out because his DAD can't wait to open it...I can see the longing in EG's eyes...tsktsk. "I've always wanted a Buzz!" - this, coming from a 32 year-old!!

Our friends Kev and Charmaine are visiting in a couple of weeks and bringing the kids! Woohoo, really looking forward to it!! It'll be rather cozy over here for awhile, and Winter is COLD, but it's SO nice to have people visiting. Can't wait!

In the meantime, here's a couple photos from our church's Annual Dinner on Saturday! I was hosting it again, this time with Carissa, and it was SO MUCH FUN!

Carissa and I at the start of the night. 

That's my mum's kebaya btw!

I did the 1940s hair and tucked the kebaya shirt in. 

Everyone said I looked EXACTLY like my mum!

Side view...yah lah...Poser...

Hmmm...not sure what I'm saying/doing here.

Us dressed up for the Gameshow segment...

I was Candelabra from Kuching, she was Bridget (formerly Xiao Mei...)

Yup...we're a couple of crazy chicks. 

You should've been there, it was a laugh-a-minute riot!

Criss was SO FUNNY and WITTY...we're a great combo ;p

The final contestants all lined up on stage

Candelabra torturing poor Jules...

Final two left...Krystal and Kev! Kev won!!

With the gorgeous Sam Su, whose laughter I could hear all the way on stage!

And my beautiful boys. (Candelabra: "SO HAMSUM AH!")

Hmm...guess that's where he gets his smile from - his Dad!

(You can see his left eye was a little red by the end of the night :-(((  )

Model child

Some recent photos we took. Here's Aidan in his super comfy BabyJo organic bamboo cotton PJs!

Some shots taken in Auction Rooms in North Melbourne, and just outside:

One of my fav photos...the little marlin on his back

I've also recently submitted his photos to a couple of agencies, to see if he's suitable for some work, ever since he got that Heinz print ad done. Fingers crossed! We'll see how he goes...I don't want to end up being a pushy stage mum, but if it's something he'll enjoy, and he can start saving for his college fund or a trip abroad when he's older, why not?

But...whyyyyyyy???

Love this quote I got off Rozz.

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.”

This week has been the busiest and most tiring in a long while. Yet fulfilling.

Worked through the weekend and I'm just so terribly glad to return home and have the bright shiny smiley faces of hubby and bubba. Even if I still have to cook!!

Sometimes it seems that regardless who brings home the bacon, it's the wife and mother who has to cook it! Meaning, even though EG has a long day at work (12-hr days on his feet everyday), and even though it has been draining for me as well caring for a rambunctious 2 y.o., I still pick myself up, greet him with a smile, cook (wish I can say I enjoy it a lot more), clean-up, AND still head to work after. (Which is what I usually do on Mon nites).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.

Just whingeing.  ;p

My days are now filled with:

Work, usually once every weekend (if I'm lucky!)
Drilling Italian verbs into my brain each Tuesday
Caring for and picking up after Aidan
Caring for and picking up after EG
Playdates (which are TIRING I tell you!)
Kids Church volunteering
Groceries (for home and Guava Bean)
Housework
ZUMBA!!!
And, coming soon...cupcake baking for GB.

But I am still grateful. That I have the time and energy for all this!

Now...if only Aidan will sleep through the night and stop coming into my room! This transition from cot to big-boy bed HAS NOT BEEN FUN! Been rather sleep-deprived...

R(A)

More poo talk! Finally he's done a little one in the toilet the other day! When I offered him his choice of chocolate or gingerbread men as a reward, he told me, pointedly I might add, "2 gingerbread men, and 1 chocolate mum!"


Hmmm.... greedy munchkin.


Anyhoos! We've been quite busy lately, what with all the activities and work I've been up to. At least we got a chance to bake together yesterday, using our favourite recipe! Haha, this time he sat on the counter and stirred up the batter, along with helping me to tip the flour and sugar in. Yummers! Although he did sneak a lot of chocolate chips into his mouth while I wasn't watching... tsk tsk...


On a different topic altogether, I've been having more surreal dreams, enough to rival my friend Ami's. This time, John Mayer made another guest appearance, and I think *ahem* we were in love. But it was "Room for Squares" John Mayer mind you, not the recent bad-boy incarnation (I mean, we've all read the recent P-boy Interview --> warning, this links to an unsavoury website so please avert your children's eyes...)


I told all this to EG, and as usual, he laughed. 'Twas a nice dream though, one more notch on my celebrity dream bedpost (altho this is JM's 2nd appearance, heehee!)

Parental gushings

Ooh...a quick update! A just brushed his teeth on his own, properly! He usually just smooshes the brush around his mouth, but today he really looked like he was doing it properly, back and forth, left to right, even BEHIND! WOW!

Sometimes I forget that HE'S NOT EVEN 2 YEARS OLD!!

I think I have a genius on my hand, whose vocab is big, can recognise Alphabets (letter O! letter A!), Numbers (counts 1 to 10, altho sometimes he skips 5, 6, 7, 8) and Shapes (cheese Square! Crescent moon!), is physically adept (he can really catch himself before he falls) and is gorgeous (proof here)! Whaddaya know, we scored the Trifecta, the type of kid/person you can get so jealous of 'coz they're so good at everything!

Haha, ok, I'll stop gushing now.

Must...be...humble...

Happy 21 Months!

So much has happened in the past month it's hard to pen it all down. But I'll do my best!

He loves bike rides, especially since his Grandad brought him cycling around the neighbourhood when he was here, he's learnt how to fake a snore, and he got up to heaps of mischief with his cousin Ariel while she was visiting.

He's really learned a lot in the last few weeks, new words, an EXTENSIVE vocabulary, and he's really recognising numbers and alphabets now. He can point to the correct word (I've been sticking up labels in his room, like "Clock" or "Wardrobe"), and we've started potty training - he can tell us "Poo Poo", although sometimes it's a false alarm. But now he gets out of his bathtub to pee (we'd put the his bathtub into the grown-ups bathtub, and he steps into the big one to watch himself drip a couple drops), instead of weeing into his bathwater. Although for the very very first time, he pooed into his bath on Monday.

Charles has just taught him 'kah' and 'chiu'. (Can we start with English first before Hokkien?!!) And he's also learnt to say a mumbled grace before meals (which sounds something like "isygwehvviuhwiheioheoif.... AMEN!"), as well as sing "Twinkle twinkle little star", while filling in the last word in other songs we sing together. And he's changed "Oh where...is my hairbrush" to "Oh where....is my Gong Gong (what he calls my dad)!" Bob and Larry would have a fit!

Nowadays he's been playing with my iPhone and learning words and shapes through the Apps. He actually sits still! But I limit it to a couple of minutes, so his eyes won't deteriorate too quickly - ack, video games at 21 months! Terrible!

He's also got his first haircut on Monday. It was meant to be a trim, to retain his Zac Efron look, but I think I've turned him into Moe from the Three Stooges. Although I think it's calmed down since then, and it looks a little better. Will post pics soon.

As for today, we were well on our way to our first swim class, but it started raining...again! Battling howling winds, piercing drizzles and a runaway pram for the 30 minute walk to the (indoor, heated) pool was NOT the way I'd imagined it. And I didn't exactly relish the thought of having to corral the little munchkin in the ladies' locker room for a post-swim shower either. I finally decided to turn around. Sigh...maybe next week...when we actually have the car!




So today's rainy-day activity... baking (healthy) butter cookies!

Also... Aussie readers, look out for his Heinz ad in the July issue of Practical Parenting, out this month!!

Fame? Part 3

So, great news, we got picked for the new ad! We're not sure if it's gonna be a print ad or an online one, or if he'll even be featured in the final edit, but we're just really excited to be part of the experience.

The shoot takes place on Monday, and we'll have more details then. My MIL's coming along, since my in-laws arrive tomorrow morning. Yay! We're really looking forward to their visit! Woohoo...it's always great to have family around. :-)

Anyhoos, in other news, Aidan's vocabulary has been expanding daily. He greets me "Morning!" when he wakes up, before asking "Dada, where?!" then "Work!", he can name all his body parts (some even in Chinese!) says "Hi" and "Bye" (did I mention this before?). Yesterday he said "No no NO THANKS!" (hmm...firm but polite I guess!), he can also say the 3 Cs - "cookie", "cake", and "cracker", the 3 Bs - "bird", "bubbles", "bath", "phone", his own name, "Mama, Dada, IVY!" and lots more, I can't keep up! He can even recognise ring tones, and knows whether it's Mama's phone or Dada's.

There are also some words that tickle him to bits which I prefer him not to say. Like "kookoo", which Ivy and Stephen taught him. HARRUMPH! Now he keeps pointing to himself and saying it! Adorable I guess, at this age, but not so when he's like, er, 22.

He's also getting better with sitters, although times at childcare can still be teary. The other day, before I'd even finished leaving instructions with Jon, he'd already said "BYE!!" and waved me off. The same on Monday at Em's too, when I was just heading out to load the car! Cheeky little bugger!

Well, the Foos and Kienan are arriving on Monday...it's gonna be great to see the 2 boys play together again!!

Here's a photo sequence taken at a friend's wedding the past weekend, featuring the Soh boys and Faith, one of Aidan's run-around playmates. Thanks Joy for the photos and captions.

Girl: Wheee!
Boy: Just a minute...

Girl: Ooh, I'm way up high!
Boy: He's MY daddy!

Boy: Get off my dad's arm.
Girl: Eh? What did I miss?

Funny faces

Thanks Jo for the video!




BTW, another milestone, Aidan's learned to feed himself! And I'm not just talking about finger-food - he's mastered that awhile ago. I'm talking about bowls of porridge and pasta! I just pop it in front of him with a spoon, and there he goes. If it's too hot, he says "Hot!" (albeit with a funny accent...sounds more like "hu-ot!"), then blows at his spoonful of food. Or he'll wait til it cools down then shovels it in.

Mind you, it's not a very neat experience, but he does it pretty well, and the mess is quite contained, and easy to clean up. Sometimes he helps me wipe up his mess too (he's going through his "let's copy mummy phase"). What a cutie.

Couple more weeks til the in-laws and friends arrive. Can't wait!!

For the love of beeswax! And other random stuff...

Lots have been happening lately with us over the last few days, so let's get right into it! In reverse chonological order...

Today (Wednesday):
We just made banana and choc chip bread together, and it's baking in the oven. How cute! Aidan helped me pour the ingredients into the bowl. He also helped mash the bananas too! Then we chanted "mix mix mix" (he's SO clever at repeating words now, even the 'S'-sounds which are typically hard to master) as we stirred the batter, and poured it into the loaf pan. Mmmm....the smell wafting out of the kitchen is delicious! All right... shan't be a food flirt, here's the recipe! It's really easy, got it off May Q, no butter!

Banana Choc-Chip Bread
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 C sugar
1 1/3 C self-raising flour
50 ml milk
50 ml olive oil
2 eggs
chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts)
chocolate chips (or chopped choc pieces)

Mix them all up in a large bowl, pour into a greased loaf pan, bake at 180 degrees C (160 if using fan-forced oven) for 20-40 mins till outside is golden brown, and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Serve warm and eat! (If you're really indulging, add a scoop of vanilla-bean ice cream. TO DIE FOR!)

(Sorry if the pictures are a little fuzzy...took it on my 2MP camera-phone.)

Er...the Ribena doesn't go into the cake...it's for the baker's stomach...

He tried to lick the wooden spoon, and got a face full of batter...

The cake should look like this. If yours doesn't, well, maybe baking isn't right for you... ;p

Yesterday:
It was time for childcare again, and neither of us was really looking forward to it particularly. It's always so hard to leave, watching him cry, but necessary. I do believe he needs that interaction with other kids, and plus I need some ME-time! So for the sake of both our sanities (and development), he goes in once a week, while I'm at class.

Turns out, he's adjusting a lot better - less crying, and getting better each time, say the people who work in his room (Pre-kinder one). I can't remember if I've blogged about this, but, he was bumped up to the Pre-kinder class 'coz of some admin error (they thought he was still in Babies), and seeing how there wasn't room left in toddlers, he got bumped up (plus he was close to the right age anyways).

Last week, he was such a little scrapper, pushing back against this other big kid who kept pushing him (in a 'duh...i'm a big giant, hello little thing. Whoopsies, you fell! Duh...whad happened?" kinda way). He kinda reminded me of a feisty chihuahua who won't stand at being bullied, the way he barked back and flailed his arms about as if in a girlfight. This week when the other kid came by, A just ignored him. Haha... well, you gotta preserve yourself somehow when you're smaller and younger than everyone else in class!

As for me, I learnt "i bicchieri va nel'armadio" and "no, non gioco mai tennis". I think I conjugated that correctly...


The day before:
We went to the Collingwood Children's Farm! It was great, we got to see sheep, goats, pat horses, watch chickens cluck and geese and ducks, and a big fat black pig with her little piglets. Aidan had a ball of a time, even though he fell over into the dirt, which got into his nose and mouth. Eww. But other than that, no real anima poo incidents that I had to clean up. Although A seemed more interested in dirt and rocks - kept picking one up after another and wandering around with them. Funny boy! Pictures will come soon in FB.

Another milestone - he's really able to feed himself with a spoon now, quite accurately in fact. He's quite adept at spooning yoghurt into his mouth, although rice, porridge and pasta tend to me messier.

He's also developed a fondness for the blue Ikea kid's chair I've been using to sit on while bathing him. He can actually carry the whole thing, and has been doing so from room to room. He'll even turn it upside down to sit IN it. It's just like how instead of sitting on his Pooh-bear walker, he STANDS on it! Quite proudly too, with a ta-daaaah face! The things toddlers do...

New words spoken: eyes, nose, ear, mouth, amen, chicken!!

As for me: Another celebrity dream - this time, John Mayer called me up, we had a great conversation, and he invited me over to hang out! EG came home and helped me pick an outfit with whatever I had there and then (a black top and a puffy skirt which did NOT go together), and I got into the car. Woke up before arriving. Dang!


The day before the day before:
Aidan found a Forever Sharp knife on the edge of a table in church (& if you've seen those knives, they're really long and serrated at the edge, with twin prongs!), which we had used for cutting a cake. He'd actually reached over and above to grab it. Started wandering around brandishing it, which thankfully a horrified friend discovered and removed before A hurt himself. Or worse, stabbed the Pastor (although at the rate his sermons have been dragging on...doodeedoodeedooo... nahhhhh.)

Pretty eventful first half of the week!