gardens by the bay

photos from a family trip with ah-ma to gardens by the bay...a rare event trying to get ah-ma out of the house - success!!

a wild wild wet end to October!

brought aly to wild wild wet theme park last week. of course we knew aly was too young for most of the stuff, but it was free entry for ntuc members in their birthday month, free for kids under 3 and discounted 30% for daddy so it was too irresistible a deal to pass up...

left Asher with my mom and we set off for downtown east. the weather was great, cloudy, no sun and no rain too.

we spent most of the afternoon at the professor's playground, a 0.3m kids friendly pool with five water slides and a giant water dump where water pours down from a giant pail every 10 minutes or so. i even managed to convince aly to follow me on the water slides twice which she did not like as both ended with water splashing all over her face. she was terrified of the giant water dump too.

apart from the playground, there was a tsunami wave pool which was pretty gentle despite the name. aly enjoyed sitting and waiting for the waves to wash into the "shore" and tickle her feet.

the other family friendly attraction was a lazy river where one could laze on a tube and meander around the perimeter of the park. however aly hated it as she was not at all amused by the small waterfall curtains that appear every once in a while and water gets into her eyes.

so...we eventually went back to the professor's playground where we just chilled with aly doing nothing but making mini splashes in the shallow water...where she went back to being super happy. whatever works Haha.

neither mommy nor daddy tested the more adventurous rides...guess we are not so garang anymore as age creeps up. and again, we ended the adventure with macdonalds teabreak...French fries and chocolate fudge sundae. yummy!

Christmas break

Christmas without a doubt is my favorite time of the year. the  festivities start way earlier as we bring the kiddos over the Dec weekends to check out the shopping mall decors and squeeze in some xmas shopping and the happy vibes last all the way till new year's day!

this year's notably well decorated malls include tanglin mall with all its reindeers and carriages and vivo with the exceptionally gigantic Christmas tree. tanglin mall was the winner with its foam avalanche and "snow"...aly had a love hate relationship with the snow. while she wanted to see more snow, she hated it in her face, hair, eyes and everywhere. she must have also felt rather confused too when grandma told her a few days later that Singapore had no snow because it was not cold enough...but of course the smart alec had the solution ready...she told ah ma to turn on the aircon so there will be snow...

aly loved Christmas trees and stars...wherever we went, she enjoyed all the xmas trees and their sparkly lights n stars. daddy couldn't resist buying our own xmas tree for his little princess. so for the first time in everybody in the family's lives...we decorated our own xmas tree which stood in the corner of our living room. under the tree, we wrapped aly's xmas present, which she opened with much glee and anticipation this year - a little wooden piano. she tested the keys immediately by playing a convincing "twinkle twinkle little star"...

this year's annual xmas party was hosted at our place on Dec 21...earlier than usual. we did pretty well i must say...daddy watched both kids as i prepared the turkey, sausages n ham, creamed the mashed potatoes and made the pasta and salsa and fish fingers for the kiddies. mini magnums, durian puffs and xmas cupcakes from the guests gave the meal a sweet ending.

asher's very first xmas present was from godma...a packet of yogurt baby snacks which he absolutely adored...his first time trying out baby snacks too...it was god daughter hailey's very first xmas too...hailey was as handsome as asher was pretty...haha the two may make a cute couple yet!

daddy brought aly to my office on xmas eve...a half day. the little terror had everybody under her thumb with a flick of her naughty curls...after so long...its still the number one source of attention...at least not many pple ask me if i permed it anymore...

xmas day was way too fun. we took the dukw tours, boarding at the Singapore flyer. this is the second time aly has been on but the first time she was awake throughout...although she was not overexcited about it, i think she still enjoyed it overall.

we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening xmas shopping at suntec with a vengeance...i picked up quite a few work clothes for myself and some clothes for the kids too, not that they needed more...even daddy picked out a pair of gap jeans and a few items from our favorite store uniqlo.

the good cheer continues even as i return to work after xmas as bosses r on vacation and office is quiet until after new year. finally some time to catch up on backlog...without anything blowing up every other day.

finally, posting a few of my favorite xmas photos of the kiddies this year....its definitely a sweet Christmas to remember...

November rain

November came and went in a flash...a tumultuous month for me. i went from being a lady of leisure, spending my days taking care of little asher and enjoying afternoon teas to the other end of the spectrum...working my ass off at a new job. this change happened within a week as i joined the company on short notice at the request of my new boss. incidentally, the new boss is based in hongkong so i make my way there 6 days into the job to spend two weeks there.

the transition was harsh for the kids, mom, hubby and me. logistical challenges came up every other day...the best route to office had me hubby dropping me off at paya lebar to take a train to work. aly would wail almost immediately once i get off the car and sometimes asher would cry in his carseat all the way to my mom's at bedok. working hours were not great either, by the time i got to my mom, i had just enough time to quickly gulp down dinner and grab the kids home.

the hongkong trip was fun with the two kids but not an easy one even with mom and kwang taking care of aly and asher while i worked. it was difficult to do much while trying to keep on track with feeding, clothing, diaper changing and putting to bed a seven month old baby and a two yr seven mth toddler.

for me at work, since i was still nursing, i had to take a taxi back to the hotel everyday at lunch to pump. hongkong is not mummy or child friendly at all...the alternative is to pump in the toilet at work...to me not a viable alternative at all.

i am here in hongkong now alone this time for the second week with no logistical nightmare but now missing the kids terribly.

i am incredibly sleepy as i type this entry...i foresee the number of posts is going to drop dramatically...sigh. its hard to be a working mom and twice as hard when you've gotta start in a new job. thank goodness i can find energy for all this from the strength my kids give me! till the next post which i hope will still be within 2013!