2014 in perspect

This has been a tough year for me no doubt...the emba program, new job and young babies. I swore off work completely on weekends except the occassional email (still bad i know) to be completely with the kids, trying to compensate for every lost hour on the weekday that i dedicate to work.

School is almost done, i graduate in almost exactly a month. While insead had sparked desires of job changes and new ventures, i am keeping those thoughts on the side for now as the current job demands overwhelms. "What for?" Is almost becoming a recurring question and i almost find myself not being able to answer.

But then i digress, this blog is not about me, its about the kids and i managed to not post anything for the last 8 months while there would have had been at least 100 different things to post. I feel terrible of course but no point wasting more time crying over spilt milk so hopefully i get back into a posting routine even if it means doing it on my daily commute to work.

So what happened in 2014 for the kids?
Alyssa has completed her first year at pre-nursery class. Awesome! Not without some ups and downs and run ins with the teacher but still better than we expected. She was definitely a little lady who was smart and knew exactly what she wanted and we had our share from the suffering teachers when she gets upset about not getting her way. But all is well as somehow the little curly haired charmer still manages to always get into the hearts of all the teachers, helpers, and even other parents and kids at the kindergarden. Thank god for that!

Feeding her is still a struggle but she now manages to feed herself simple finger food and get the spoon from bowl to mouth with minimal mess. But since she starts to get picky when left to her own devices, we tend to still feed her mostly to make sure she has all the nutrients she needs.

Her mental ability is leaps and bounds beyond our imagination. She is already grapsing concepts of fractions, percentages,  estimation. Multiplication tables are already excellent with her wonderful memory and she is now able to add and subtract beyond her 10 fingers. Reading and spelling is no issue at all and this year she has started picking up chinese at school.

Her physical development is also coming along well albeit slightly slower. But thanks to ballet class, her basic skills like jumping, coordination and balance are definitely improving. We ended the year also starting her on art classes as we saw her love for aesthetics and drawing. So far, she loves it. I am keen to stick her only in classes she enjoys and no further enrichment at all to hopefully give her the balanced childhood.

Asher is growing up faster than a blink. He is sturdy and strong, soon to be able to fight back his sister now and not just stand and be bullied. He is an active ball of energy, loves sitting on our laps listening to stories and all play. He is all about trains and cars, thomas and frienda and chuggington count as his favorite characters. He recognizes color, numbers 1-10 and shapes. He recently progressed from single words to double words and i look forward to short sentences from him soon. He knows the last words from each sentence of all the nursery rhymes. 

What i love most about our asher boy is that he is always so happy, sweet and lovely. He is definitely one bubbly character although of course he is starting to graduate into the terrible twos phase, so things might change soon before i know it.

I want so much to be able to spend more time with these dear kiddies but work is really draining. Hopefully 2015 will be a year of change. Let's see. In the meantime i thank God for beautiful Alyssa and Asher, and beloved hubby Kwang, who are truly my greatest blessings.

Middle aged crisis ramblings to start 2015

There is one precious thing that long haul business flights can give me...time to think, above all. 2015...the year of the sheep...the third chinese zodiac cycle for me... No longer the same 23 year old travelling the world and collecting mileage and hotel points as accolades. I miss that jet-setting girl sometimes; this has got to be mid-life crisis finally, how do i stop this damned aging?

Still want to do something different, still want to change the world. But the spunk is somewhat muted now. New year resolutions this year, nothing new to shout about. Be a better mom, take care of myself, get a balanced life and give my best at work. Yea and just about do well in everything..."overachiever" someone whispers. Sad yet true...how much more of me is there left to give? Don't know.

So adding one new year wish for 2015...i wish for the blessing to be able to let it go, don't give a fuck...wadever u call it. It comes natural to some but i admit sadly, i am that sucker who just cares too much. I am aware some day my kids may read this and highly likely misinterpret but if that one day comes, i also wish for them, the ability to discern and not sweat the small stuff.

2014 could be seen by the outside world as a highly successful year for me. MBA dean's list, mommy of two smart, cute and active kids growing up super fast and a new fast paced job in a cool industry. But i think i aged more in this year alone than probably the last 5 yrs put together. Not sure if i can ever recover from the mental and physical assault but i am sure looking forward to 2015. There is nothing i have understood more this year than the phrase "there is only one pie regardless of how many ways you cut it"; multi-tasking is a fraud.

But then, that said...no regrets. I paid 150k for that donkey mba damn it, yes i have finally done it. Yes people have worse things on their bucket list okayyyyy...But hey, a few more good friends made along the way, lots of life takeaways and i still have a lot of future years to go and put all that to good use. 2015 will be different i swear, i don't want to miss my kids growing up to begin with.

Also, i want to continue writing and post more about my kids like i promised in the beginning of last year.

How is that for the first post of the year :)

Side tracking a little...i wonder if i have chalked up 500 flights yet by now. I suddenly wished i had counted...ok small voice in head, get out NOW, it does NOT matter! Hahaha.

Helping little star

Aly's favorite library book for the past few months...helping little star. a lovely narration by my little reader. http://vimeo.com/87151007

little star

i found this post saved in my phone today...with this pic alyssa shot by herself and attached here...had to complete what she had started and post this for her :) introducing little star in the pic, which she declares is her best friend. this star has been with alyssa for 2 years now, and lights up with changing colors...the small precious things in her life :)

9 months old asher

Asher has been stealthily growing up behind my back while i wasn't watching. He has four little teeth with a super strong bite and now finishes his meal in 15 min flat max. He has also moved on to porridge and whines and complains if your feeding speed doesn't keep up :)

This week, he is able to sit up from a lying position and catch hold of furniture or his cot rails to propel himself to a steady supported stand. His vocabulary has probably expanded as well of course still all words and babbles only he understands. The first word or first step can't be too far away :)

He has also started to recognize people, por por, papa and jie jie and is incredibly sticky to me...he tries to leap towards me whenever i enter the room. he crawls super fast and takes swigs at everything and anything that catches his keen eyes...especially alyssa's curly locks which are so yankable...haha.

our dear asher unfortunately had another diarrhea episode this month...will he please stop putting everything in his mouth! its not funny...I am also ashamed to announce he fell off the bed for the second time, this time under daddy's watch...little lighting mcqueen f1 crawler...

please stay safe and so adorably sweet Asher, your toothy grin lights up my darkest day.

goodbye 2013, hello 2014!

i wonder how many people are like me, blogging this title this week. another year, another chance for new beginnings and bading farewell to the old.

2013 rewind - a really pretty fab year. we welcomed asher boy to the family on 21 April...an unimaginably cute parcel of joy. we celebrated his first smile, his first coo, first rollover, first laugh and first solids. he can now sit without support and happily puts everything into his mouth and has just started to hold his own milk bottle. when we go home, he holds out his arms to us and starts shouting and bouncing around wanting to leap into our arms. asher is indeed without a doubt our biggest blessing in 2013.

and how could we forget little aly...such a significant year for her, growing each day in leaps and bounds. before she was two, she had already memorized the timestable (though now forgotten), can spell caterpillar, elephant and all sorts of random big words and draw a cat. a few months later, she had phonics down to a pat, progressed to stick figure drawings of the family and could read and spell at will. our little aly also blew us away with her singing, dancing and could even play the piano with her renditions of twinkle twinkle, happy birthday and most recently jingle bells.

while all her love for academics and talent wowed us, our little aly also blossomed into a pretty social flower. previously preferring her own little world, we see her now volunteering to talk to others outside the family. having to share mommy and daddy especially with little bro asher was not easy for a two year old to deal with and it was hard at first for everyone. but god bless our little aly, now she would make sure we bring asher boy home every night.

2014 will be yet another remarkable and exciting year for both my angels.

aly starts the year with her first day of pre-nursery today. she was immensely happy to be in her school uniform. thankfully it was a little pinafore...she is so into princesses and dresses now so convincing her to wear the uniform was relatively easy. the boring white school shoes on the other hand was the hard part.

Going to class with her was pretty cool but the day where we had to let her go in by herself was next wed and i would miss that since she is in the pm session and i am at work. i would think that will be pretty emotional then for such a significant milestone...so it could be a good thing to miss in case i get weepy but more importantly, it would also be easier for aly to go in without excessive fuss we hope since i am not there to cling on. its exciting times ahead i bet, but certainly not easy!

asher on the other hand starts the new year with a set of four front teeth, two on top still popping out and two below. biting and gnawing away at everything and waking up every hour to make my nights absolutely miserable and rewarding me with what else but more bites haha. looks like this little bub will be munching pizza and potato chips in no time at all.

oh well....no resolutions for the year but just a big wish for my family and friends to have health and happiness, the twin most important things in life. happy new year all!

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!!