One

Guess who turned 1, erm, more than a month ago?

This little guy is such a bundle of energy these days and so much fun to be with! It's simply amazing how he's grown... from a skinny little thing at birth, to the Michelin baby at 2 to 3 months. And then he started flipping (4 months), sitting up (5 months) and crawling (7 months)... and then he took his first steps (towards his birthday cake) during his first birthday party - on the 22nd of March.

From copying Kor Kor tons (he still does), getting "bullied" at times even, he's really come into his own person, and defends himself very well, I must say. I bet Christian won't forget when Connor decided to bite him after he snatched a toy! Haha.

Oh Baby Connor, we're constantly amazed at how quickly you pick up words, and how you love singing Wake Me Up Before You Go Go along with daddy and Kor kor in the car. And how the first word you say when you wake up is usually Kor Kor - you simply adore your big brother. You love watching Mickey mouse and you often scamper over to the TV and ask for Mou Mou Mou. You do a fantastic job of shaking your booty to the Hot Dog song, by the way.

And oh, how you drag daddy out of bed just so he can pull down the minions so you can get your daily dose of "Bah Bah Bah". Daddy, right now, is kinda called "Deh Deh" while I'm "Mummeh". You also love calling pop pop, mama, and gah pah (godpa).

I've honestly lost track of how many words you know now - but I know you sort of started with dog dog and cat cat. And car car and bus bus. Why the double words, I have no idea. When something falls, you say "drop", and you love you announce that you're taking steps by saying "wok wok wok". Just the other day, you cracked us up when you proudly declared "wok wok wok" while strutting your stuff, then "I drop" when you fell on your butt. When you're exhausted and want to go to bed, you look around frantically for your nok nok and when you want to eat something you shriek "eat eat eat" like we've been starving you. And when you finish your food you look forlornly at the plate and say "no more".

True to your birth right in this family, you've already got your geek on and can recognise the Hulk and get all excited when you see Captain America's "shield". Unfortunately, you're quite the gadget fiend even though we hardly let you use them - you call the ipad "pad pad" and the phone "fouuu". 

While you took your first steps just before you turned one, it's only in the last week or so that you started walking more confidently. So much so that you try to walk at every opportunity. We just had a crazy "Star Wars" day out when you went nuts walking around at Jurong library, and then an even more trying dinner at Mad Jacks when you refused to be confined in the baby chair and walked out of the restaurant in complete and utter disregard for whom - if anyone - was following you.

You're fast leaving your baby days behind. I don't know how much of these days you'll remember but you know, you'll always be Baby Connor to us. Love you to the moon and back :)

The Walking Babe

Ok, terrible pun I know.

But Connor recently got onto two feet and pushing his push walker around..

Loving it!

The wheels on the bike...

We hopped over to East Coast Park some time ago, to give cycling as a family of four a go.

We were planning on going on two adult bikes with child seats initially, but Christian insisted on his own little bike instead, so, of course we catered to his every whim and fancy :P

Lovin' it!

So, we rented a little bike and an adult one with the child seat - so Ewan and I could take turns going on the big bike and watching Christian.

And we had a blast!

Christian wasn't going too fast, so the, ahem, accompanying parent had to keep pace with him (walking of course).

But Connor was nonplussed about going fast - in fact he loved it, and shrieked away merrily. He also loved it when he looked up and saw our faces looking back down on him.

And away we go!

After a while, Christian sort of realised he was getting the shorter end of the stick, and wanted to have a go on the child seat on the large bike.

It was hilarious because he actually changed his mind at the last minute and was starting to yell "No, no, no, noooo!" but daddy had already taken off. He then realised that it was pretty AWESOME and changed his tune altogether.

So, now he's realised that how shiok it is to be ferried around, we're planning to go again, this time with two adult bikes and child seats. Looking forward!

The Festivities

Totally backdated post here, but I swore to myself I'd put this up before Chinese New Year!
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Christmas last year was a whirl of gatherings, parties and playdates!

The week before Christmas, we had a little playdate at our place for our little friends and their parents from Church.

MSC seedlings

We had a mini-gift exchange - Christian and Connor's first gifts of the season! It was also the first time we discovered that Christian loved giving out presents - possibly more so than receiving them.

Here you go Eli

So many!

Fer me?

Awesome!

On Christmas Eve, we headed to my Aunt's place for a dinner celebration.

The spread

Love this one of Connor with my grandma

Wear the hat Pop pop!

Where's dinner Daddy?

One with mummy

Another with Daddy

And presents, of course

Mine!

Christmas morning started out with Mass, followed by lunch at Ewan's Aunt's place where the family gathered.

Designated gift giver, again

Lil' Santa

Mauling daddy

Dadddy in defeat

One of the cutest things was that the boys turned up in unexpectedly matching outfits with our cousins' three girls... Check mate!

Sitting unbelievably still for a photo

Big bro and lil' bro

After that, we headed home for a little gathering with my parents and Leon.

More opening of presents including those we got the boys!

Lots of ripping

Vtech Discovery Cube for Connor

Thor's hammer and helmet for Christian

In addition to a minion fart gun!

Perfect height!

It was nice that Christmas was actually mid-week this year, which meant that the following weekend was another opportunity for some celebratory fun.

We had a party with my mummy friends and their bubs on Saturday. The babies are all around Connor's age, and it was great seeing how they've all grown in the past couple of months. Most of them were crawling, cruising, and even on the cusp of walking!

Hangin' out with my pals

Chair-struck

Food? We see food?

There was also a little photography corner, where the bubs got their picture taken.

Mums and bubs

Tummy time

Who's that sneaking up on me!

On Sunday, we headed to a friend's place - a condo near Changi Prison - for another party. No pics cos I forgot to whip out my camera (I even forgot to bring Connor's lunch flask back - what's wrong with me!? Doh!) that day. In any case, it was a really nice gathering where we met other young parents and the condo was really spacious and beautiful - possibly because of it's far out location perhaps, space was less of a constraint.

We had heaps of fun this Christmas - and I'm sure the kids had a blast, too. Here's looking forward to a great 2014!

Connor at 10 months

What with Christian starting school and us getting used to a new morning routine, it's been easy to miss how quickly our littlest one is growing.

Brothers

Connor turned 10 months old yesterday. And the little Mister is such a great bundle of energy and it's such a privilege watching him grow.

He's crawling at a super fast speed, pulling himself up, cruising, climbing stairs and outgrowing that stranger and separation anxiety that hit us hardest around his 7th month.



I own the playground

Sleep-wise, we're quite pleased that he goes down at around 7.30pm and wakes around 7am in the morning (I some times have to wake him as we need to get ready to send Christian to school).

As for naps, he's still on two to three naps - a short late morning nap (around 45mins at 10am), a long nap (about 2 hours from 1pm to 3pm) and possibly another short one (about 45 mins at about 4.30pm)

We've been a bit more lax about his bedtime lately, especially on weekends, so he might go around 8-8.30pm - guess as long as he's sleeping about 14 hours a day at this age, we're happy campers!

When it comes to food, my gosh, this little fella is definitely giving his big bro a run for his money. He slurps up his cereal, porridge, and loves taking bits of our food - rice, bread, and basically anything that comes off our plate, he'll assume it's yummy. I've even peeled off bits of chicken to let him gum and it all just vanishes.

Oh, and teeth count at the moment stands at eight - four at the top and four below!

Cheeky bugger

Things between the brothers are getting, well, interesting. I think Christian is beginning to see Connor as a proper playmate - he imitates the way Connor laughs, claps along with him and such - but then also sees him as competition to his toys! Which of course leaves us to much chagrin when they're going for a particular plaything at the same time (which for some reason, is ALWAYS the case!)

Although we think we know what to expect as he's our second, Connor never fails to surprise us with his antics. He's got the most adorable grin which he dishes out to everyone, and loves to "show off" his new skills like clapping, waving his arms and tapping his head.

Love you Baby Connor! All too soon, you'll be turning one!

All smiles in the morn!

 



 

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas came and went... just like that!

I love this time of the year - with all the lights, festive goodies, cool weather, shopping for presents, our Christmas tree, and of course, the anticipation of the birth of our Lord.

It's Christian's third Christmas, and Connor's first. While Connor's still barely getting a grasp on what the season means, Christian, at 2 and a half,  is fully soaking up in the festive spirit.

We put up our tree about a month before Christmas - Ewan and I wanted to surprise the kids, but they got back just as we were putting the finishing touches to the tree - which turned out to be pretty fun, cos Christian wanted to help with the lights and crowning the tree with the star.



Whatcha doin' daddy?

I pood dis heer

Blootiful!

Well, one night, perhaps a week before Christmas, I was getting Christian ready for bed. He was being rather tiresome, saying he wasn't sleepy and refusing to go into his room even though it was way past his bedtime.

So, I decided to wait in his room for him, and pretend to sleep... hoping he would eventually join me.

After some 10 to 15 minutes, I realised that it was unusually quiet outside, in the living room. I went out to check, and this sight greeted me.




Oh White Christmas!

Further damage

I caught him like a deer caught in the headlights. He managed a sheepish "The Christmas tree is so beautiful now."

And added on later, "The snow fell from the sky."

The culprit

The real culprit

 On the bright side, the house smelt like a baby's bottom that evening!

Moving along...

So, I haven't blogged in a while.

Nothing's been up, I've just kinda slacked on this blogging thing and been caught up with well, life.

For one, Connor started crawling, pulling himself up and cruising this past month - which makes things a lot more fun for us! He's realised that he can come after us and not just sit there screaming at us to pay him attention :p

Unfortunately though, he's been trying to pull himself up on everything and anything. Including our glass coffee table, chairs that aren't all that sturdy and Christian. Which can be rather stressful.

He's becoming more and more like a little boy and less and less like a little baby. I think Christian realises it, too, because the "rivalry" seems to have begun a little, especially when it comes to certain toys; but there are also those precious moments, like when he insisted on holding Connor's hand in the car (pissing the little one off incredibly in the process) and holding Connor's head in his hands so he can kiss him on the forehead.

Oh, those two are going fight like brothers, but be the best of friends ;)

The gobbler

At 7 months old, our littlest has quite the appetite.

Sure, we started off shaky with avocado, (see here), but he has since graduated to greater (and yummier) things.

To date, he's tried brown rice cereal, avocados, spinach, pumpkin, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, bananas, plums, carrots, potatoes and broccoli.

I'd steam the veggies/fruits using an electric steamer, blend it using a hand blender, and then freeze it in baby cubes.

(Top to bottom): Spinach, pears and carrots

Sweet potato puree, ready to be frozen

Here's a video of him gobbling up broccoli puree.

Love my little foodies!

Legoland Malaysia Waterpark

We received an invite to Legoland Malaysia's new water park last week and I was all excited about bringing the boys when I realised that Connor didn't have a passport yet! Doh!

After realising that Ewan's passport was on the way to expiring as well, we quickly sent the online applications to ICA and kept our fingers crossed that the passports would be ready in 10 days - and they were!

So, on Saturday, we happily packed ourselves into the car, along with Marra, my mum's helper who'd help us out with the kids.

Christian was super duper excited, having seen the Legoland ad on Okto the previous day and my parents had told him that he'd be going tomorrow.

Super psyched

The drive was pretty smooth and easy all the way to the checkpoint at Malaysia where there was a bit of a jam. But once we got past that, it was really easy to get there. Took us about an hour in all.

The walk from the car park is a little long, especially if you have kids. But we later discovered that there's a drop off point for passengers too, cutting the walking distance.

We also spotted the "dry" Legoland area, which we'd been meaning to check out some time soon, and the almost-ready Legoland Hotel. Would be a blast to get a room and check out both Legoland sites!

Walking towards the park

Entrance to the main Legoland

And walking by the Legoland Hotel, still under construction

Entrance to the Legoland Water Park

The first thing we did when we got there was to have lunch! It was really tempting to just get going straight into the water but the kids had to eat and it was already half past noon. We had chicken and cheese sandwiches at the Brick Bay Cafe - RM25 for a huge Focaccia sandwich, fries and a drink.

Marra and Connor at the Brick Bay Cafe

There, we ran into my colleague Jass and her family. They'd gotten a cabana and invited us to share - perfect! I forgot to take pics but the cabanas cost RM150 for a day's use, and comes with deck chairs, a safe, and cooler to keep your drinks chilled. It was a great idea and alternative to just renting lockers. There were even Cabana hosts who would take your orders for food and drinks and have them sent directly to the Cabanas, saving you time and effort queuing for food.

Right in front of the Cabanas is the Wave pool. This was perfect for the bubs, because it was shallow - even Connor could sit comfortably in the water.

Enjoying the wave pool

Big C perpetually trying to wrestle Daddy

For the little Kiddos, the Duplo Splash Safari was perfect.

Riding the croc

There were Duplo characters that had steering wheels, water spouts, etc, and Christian absolutely loved it.

He also majorly hogged the mini-slides - which meant Ewan had to do them with him some 20 times.

Wheee!

One of the slower slides, but he loved it anyway

Even Connor had a go!

There was a build-a-raft river, which was pretty much a lazy river kind of ride with a twist: There were these floating foam bricks that riders could collect along the way and attach it to their tubes.

Enjoying mummy time

Till this happened

Connor was having fun sitting on my lap, till we went through a water shower - My bad, I didn't even know there was one on the ride! It gave him quite the shock, and he struggled quite a bit, so I had to take him off the tube to calm him down, haha.

So, we completed the river like this, much to his delight.

Happy again

Proud to have completed the river, sans tube

Daddy and Christian, meanwhile, had a blast, collecting as many bricks as they could.

Brick hoarders

Champion hoarder

The larger rides looked awesome as well, but well, we've got little kids and there was more than enough to keep them occupied.

 We also loved the Lego models, scattered around the park, which just added to the atmosphere.
 

Can't believe even this guy is taller than me

Poke-ty poke

We ended the day at the shop, which didn't have much, but we did pick up a few minifig magnets for RM6 ($2+)... what a deal!

The ones Christian decided were "his"

And the others

We were lucky to have left slightly earlier, at 3pm+, as the kiddos needed their naps - and thankfully we did, as it started storming shortly after. We kids were so konked out their slept all the way back to Singapore.

One with bricky

 Looking forward to our next visit there - probably at the main Legoland!