As my work load has returned to normal, my mind started running with a different kind of 'stress'. Which, kept me up till almost 1 am this morning! Yes, unbelievable! I was thinking of what to do for K's 3rd birthday! Lol.

I have made up the guest list, well sort of because I only want it to be with friends and the hubs asked how about his family, which in turn had me asking him if I mentioned anything about mine. So, NO family. Just friends and their altogether 10 children. Although there are only about 3 other kids around K's age.  

So what can I do to ensure that the bigger children will have fun as much as the 4 younger ones? Do I need a theme then? When we attended Shereen's birthday a few weeks back, she had a Frozen theme party with the costume and yellow braided hair. K is still very much into Elmo, Barney and the likes so no frozen theme for her here. Besides, she's still a toddler. Not big enough for Frozen yet! But I liked that the Pannu's hired a balloon sculptor and face/body paint artist albeit for an hour each.

We're probably going to take the cue from them to hold the party from 3-6pm, tea-break time so to speak. But I am not keen to hold it as the Victor's club, which is the far away Changi Beach Club. I don't mind the suggestion of booking a bungalow chalet at the NSRCC but we've terminated our membership already. I remember the only times we booked it were for Ivy when she celebrated Clayton's first few birthdays. If we do manage to get a holiday chalet there, I could split the birthday into 2 days. 1 for family and the next for friends.

What cake shall I get for her? Barney or Elmo? What items for the Barney pinata which we have bought? What to buy for the goodie bags? Now I know why they said to plan at least 1 month ahead. I do hope everyone who will be invited will turn up. If you have any cheap and doable ideas, please let me know. Meanwhile, I'll be googling.

We went on a staycation, this time compliments of Resort World over the weekend. We were booked into a family room at the Festive Hotel and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, just the 3 of us. The occupancy rate appears so much lower compared to the last time we were there and subsequently upgraded to the Equarius. 

The room is fantastic! With a King size bed, a bunk bed and a sofa bed, it can easily accommodate a party of at least 4. Our room faced part of the pool belonging to the Hard Rock Hotel and even the passageway to the rooms were thoughtfully designed. Although the hotels belongs to the Genting group, a lot of thought have been put in to make each of them unique. You can also imagine the amount of logistics that goes on, as guests can go to any hotel's swimming pool and guests at the Festive have their breakfast at Michael's if they have it as part of their package. As we were given a night's stay, we feel that an additional day would be better. Of course, we'll gladly pay for the additional night. 

I guess we had missed out the evening's activities as we were invited to the Victor's for dinner as 1 of their cousins were going back to Perth. One of the families that we went to Phuket with. Initially, we were of 2 minds whether to go but wanted to pass the family a gift so we ended up being there from about 7 to 9ish.

K doesn't recall the last time we had a staycation at Sentosa. Even though we've had at least 2 there. So it's true. Children don't remember much of what they do when they're very young. So I'm glad to have photographs for memories. We spent the first day lounging at the pool at the Festive and for the second day, hopped on to the shuttle to Hard Rock's pool. We definitely look forward to going back again and the next time, will spend ad additional day to walk around the beautiful Resorts World and the rest of Sentosa.

Conversations with K

This happened a couple of weeks back, when we were in the car with K being her usual chatty self and talking to me while I was giving her the usual obligatory answers like 'em, Oh, Yes and so on'. And then what she said next made me laugh.

K: Mummy, listen to me!

Me: I am listening to you.

K: But you are not looking at me! Look at me, Mummy!

Me: Ok, Ok, What do you want to tell me? (Turned my head to look at her)

K took a purposeful turn to look out of the car window and starting talking gibberish. This tod knows what she is doing! And then she giggled! *faintz* As if it was tit for tat!

Yesterday evening, while cooking, a big drop of steaming hot water dropped onto my arm when I lifted up the cover of the rice cover. Both the hubs and K heard me cringe and while the hubs asked if I was ok, K quickly ran to the kitchen and asked if I was alright. She instinctively opened the drawer where I kept the oven gloves and made me wear them! She said:'Mummy, wear this ok then you won't burn your hands.' 

When I recounted what she did to the hubs moments later, we were quite amazed that she knew where the gloves were kept! And her actions were so automatic! Like she knows exactly where everything is kept in the kitchen.

Days with K. How'll I'll miss them.

We dropped by 2 childcare centres in the area where we will soon be living yesterday morning. Although we only had appointment with 1, we managed to view 2. But is was just as well as the hubs and I were not too comfortable with the one that we viewed without the appointment but which a teacher kindly allowed us in. The one that we had an appointment with belongs to a chain, is non-air-conditioned and has a public playground in front of it. They only switch on the air-conditioning during nap time. The only turn off is that they have 3 types of uniforms that we must purchase! The young principal of the centre gave us some time and advised us to think about it before committing as this is an important decision.

After viewing the 2 centres, we had lunch, popped by Jerry's for awhile before meeting up with a potential contractor for and at our would be home. We formalised the purchase of the flat early this week and would like to renovate it as soon as we get the keys as we need to release our current home to the new buyer as well.

The contractor is a referral from Lynn who overhauled her house early last year. His workmanship and quote seems good enough and we hope he will be able to give us a more accurate quote after viewing the flat and understanding what we want to have done. The only headache now is that the old flat still has cast iron pipes in the kitchen and both toilets which are corroding! 

The contractor brought to our attention the slight foul smell that was emanating from the kitchen toilet. The contractor reckons that HDB will do an upgrading at our area to change the pipes but the big question is when. So the husband's next task is to send an email to HDB to check on that and if we can change the pipes ourselves if it's not going to be done by them soon. It is quite bad to the extent that the current owners wrapped newspapers around the pipes in the kitchen. Not only are the pipes corroding, they are also placed awkwardly. Well, HDB do not place any emphasis on design many years back except for the generosity with space. Thankfully, the living areas are spared.

And today, we visited the youngest SIL at home after church today. She looks better and is really a strong person. The hubs told me that while his brother isn't keen to try for another one, she still is. Well who knows. He may have a change in heart in time to come. After all, his best buddy's wife is expecting and is due about a month before their supposed EDD. Well, it's good to know she's all well and good now. That's all that matters now.

When we returned on Sunday, the hubs sent a text through a group whatsapp chat that he created for the family and asked how was the SIL doing. Seems that she was still leaking and was quite heavy.

When I was on my way to work on Monday morning, I saw that the youngest BIL tried to call me twice when my mobile was switched off. Knowing that he sometimes calls me when he can't reach his eldest brother, I called the hubs at work to let him know. Moments later, the hubs called me back to say that the youngest BIL was indeed trying to reach me. They have lost their baby.

I went to see the youngest SIL during lunch time but prior to that, have been messaging the 2nd SIL. Seems like the youngest SIL had given birth prematurely at 24 weeks. She managed to carry her baby from delivery until he passed on, about 4 hours later. The baby was breathing, moving and even hiccuping. But his eyes were still sealed and although externally, he looks developed, internally may not be so yet.

The cremation for baby Roman was carried out yesterday afternoon. Just with family. It is so heartbreaking. And it definitely brings back a lot of other memories for me. Today, they are going to collect the ashes and scatter it at sea.

I just hope now the youngest SIL recuperates well mentally and physically.

I've been so busy at work that I've to neglect my blog for a while and I'm just going to do a quick update before work beckons me again.

We were in Phuket last Thursday and came back today, hotel stay compliments of the Victors. The hubs and I were not too keen on the trip initially but Kenneth kept saying that he wanted to do this for the hubs' birthday as the hubs' has been Kenneth's bff for the longest time and especially since their only son passed away early last year, Kenneth really wanted to show his appreciation this way.

We sort of enjoyed ourselves, sort of because the hubs and I are different kind of travellers from the Victors and Salahudeens. There were 4 families who traveled together for this trip and the Victors and Salaudeens are the sort of travellers who like to soak themselves in the pool for most part of the day while the hubs and I are the sort who like to visit places. We concluded that going on staycations with them would make better sense so in a way, we are sort of deciding probably no more overseas holidays with this group of people.

The hubs brought K to braid her hair when we were at Patong Beach. K, who still dislikes the sand between her toes, stayed on the beach mat the whole time we were there. When we stepped onto the beach, she removed her sandals after the initial steps as the sand were getting into them and then she started walking with her toes curled. It was a funny sight. I guess we need to bring her to the beach more often.

We returned to Singapore on the morning flight while the rest took the noon flight. I had wanted to come back earlier so we can get settled in as it was back to work/school for us tomorrow and also allows the hubs and I time to unpack and for me to do a little washing. On our flight back, Bev was on board and was she surprised to see us! Her little cousin was so happy but thankfully, knows that Bev is working so pretty much left her alone. 

Now, as a family of 3, we can pretty much go on holidays on our own and have a swell time. :)

Happy 2015 everyone! 

We had a New Year's eve dinner with the Victors and Salahudeens before proceeding to the Victor's home. What was supposed to be a short stay for K to play with the girls ended with us staying over to 2015. This the the first time K has stayed up till 1ish in the morning and thankfully, did not show any signs of a meltdown.

On the first day of 2015, we visited the SIL in hospital, just so she doesn't get too lonely. Afterall, it's New Year's Day and of course the youngest BIL and their son were with her. Seems like her gynae has asked them to be prepared for the worse as she bled again. I told her not to let the boy lie down beside her on the bed as he makes so much movements when all she really should have is a stable bedrest. 

Although 2014 did not end on a good note, especially with the loss of the Air Asia flight, I still want to wish for better health for everyone in this New Year.