Vanishing Memories: Candy Coloured Houses

Loving all the fun colours the owners chosen for their beautifully restored heritage houses in Kampung Malabar. That electric blue one with chestnut coloured wooden windows and doors is calling out my name!

 An abandoned, crumbling building against a gorgeous sunny sky.

The shop where the Jimmy Choo trained as an apprentice at Muntri Street.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to everyone celebrating it! Growing up, I kinda took everything my Mum did, from cross stitching personalised pencil cases for me, crocheting and sewing dresses, cooking my favourite dishes ... even doing my art homework when I couldn't do those hideous paper mache craft that every kid was forced to do ... for granted. Even when I was studying abroad, she wrote me letters with detailed recipes when I was craving for a decent Penang assam laksa and shipped over a bunch of bedsheets, pyjamas, even crockery so I could save my precious allowance on other essentials: new additions to my wardrobe makeup ;)

It took being a mummy myself to fully appreciate all the sleepless nights, worries, hopes and dreams that each mother has for her children. A piece of advice I read during pregnancy has stuck throughout motherhood: the day you become a mummy is the day you stop sleeping undisturbed. When Bubs was a newborn, he'd wake every couple of hours to cry for milk/demand to change his poopy diaper and during growth spurts, there were 45 min interval feeds, hoo boy, fun times indeed. As he grew bigger and started sleeping through the nights, I started worrying if he was fine since he was so silent. I remember tip toeing to his cot and trying to see if he was breathing in the dark and poking him just to make him move so I could go back to sleep assured. And that epic night where he was ill, refused to go back to bed after his medicine and we'd to bring him to walk around in the garden at 3am ...

Bubs sticking out his tummy when asked to strike a pose

Despite all those, it's definitely worth it whenever Bubs comes over unasked for a cuddle and a kiss, when he flashes that trademark cheeky grin of his, when he tumbles into bed and asks for a bedtime story :)

This year Hubs ordered mille crepes from Humble Beginnings again in my favourite flavour, Reeses Surprise, so very yummmm and more-ish. No prizes for guessing who had the largest slice.

Look what we got for Bubs - Jenga! I've never played with it before and I thought it'd be good to fine tune Bubs's motor development and teach him some patience.

We did lots of this ... plus crashing and restacking. I'm still a little surprised at how good Bubs is at this and how he's understanding the concept of rules. Anyone keen on challenging Bubs to a game? ;) When we got bored playing, we stacked the wooden logs like dominoes and set them all falling down in neat little piles.

And something arrived in the mail as a post Mother's Day pressie. I paid using Hubs's PayPal which he totally forgot about it until it arrived and he joked that if he knew about it, he'd have skipped the mille crepes. Cheapskate.

The prettiest pair of lapis lazuli earrings from Etsy seller Nell Belle Designs. She has the chicest and most elegant designs on her Etsy store and it was so hard to just narrow down to a single item. I'm getting really hooked onto Etsy shopping, I love how I'm supporting small business owners plus you are getting really good value for quality handmade items. The striking blue with pretty gold flecks and delicate gold wire wrap make these my current favourite pair of studs to wear daily.

Mother's Day Gift Guide

Have you made any plans for this Mother's Day? My brother-in-law is getting married the day before so we're all going out for a nice family lunch right after that. He usually works out of state so it's nice that this year we're spending time together as a family.

Here's a list of cute gifts that would put a smile on Mum for this coming Mother's Day.

This handmade birds nest pearl necklace comes with a customisable initial and has an understated elegance to it.

If Mom has a sense of humour and a fondness for recipe books, Fifty Shades of Chicken ought to catch her fancy. This self styled "parody in a cookbook" offers both laughs (Mustard-Spanked Chicken, anyone?) and 50, what else, chicken recipes with cleverly styled photos.

Remember back then where photos were all developed from film and nearly every mum used the family compact camera to capture candid family photos? Give her back the gift of these memories - Instagram style. Printstagram lets you choose cute Instagram-based photo gifts from framed prints to minibooks.

Who says gifts have to be bought? Make Mum delighted by letting her wake up to these cheerfully coloured pancakes. ps - please remember to clean up the kitchen for her too. Just sayin'.

Does Mum fancy flowers but you want something different from bouquets? Try crafting this gorgeous wall hanging for her from paper mache letters and blooms.

There's Always Hope

image credit

There's Hope for the Hopeless :) Wise words indeed to start this week off.

For those waiting, never, ever give up on hope. It may be all we have at times, but there's always a tiny glimpse of light at the end of a dark tunnel. Let's hold on to that guiding light, near or far, and keep our heads up high.

Dear Bubs: 32 Months

 Dear Bubs,

I can't believe what a difference a few months have made. You seem to have shed most of your baby-ness and become a little boy now. The most obvious physical change is that you seem to have gone through a growth spurt and have grown taller, you're about half my height now though as Daddy has mentioned, I'm too much of a shortie for this to mean anything much!

You're getting a lot better at this potty training business and you're nearly diaper free during the day except for times when we're out and about - this is purely Daddy and my fault because we're germ-phobics and hate bringing you to public toilets. You surprised Por Por by waking up in the middle of your afternoon nap to say you had to wee-wee and then promptly went back to sleep after going to the loo.

You have the most vivid dreams during the night. Once, in the middle of the night, you woke up Daddy to say "Daddy, I just farted!" ... we are both scratching our heads wondering what that dream was all about. You have also been known to suddenly shout in your sleep "I'm flying from the window!" followed by lots of giggles. Daddy says you definitely inherited this sleep talking gene from me.

Traffic lights are fascinating to you now. You'll crane your neck out trying to spot what colour the traffic light is and shout it out. At small junctions where the traffic light is meant for the main road and the car is allowed to turn left without needing to wait for the lights, you'll scold us saying "Daddy, the light is red, STOP". It takes a lot of explanation at how some traffic lights are meant for cars going straight/turning right/etc.

You are now more adept at making conversation and you certainly ask lots of questions. You follow us around like a little shadow asking "mah-meeee, dah-deeeee, what are you doing?", "what is that?". Daddy has pointed out that you're getting a lot better at retorts. Previously whenever I tell you not to sit too close to the telly, you'd meekly just move back. Now you tell me very earnestly "I not sitting too close!". Is this a sneak preview into what you'll be like as a teenager? ;)

You've gotten into the habbit of picking up inanimate objects and pretending that they're phones to hold imaginary conversations with your grandparents. Your pretend phone chats are really brief, you'd go "hmmmm, hmmm, yes, ok, bye bye Grandpa!" followed by a poke to the "phone" to signal that you've ended the call. Just last month you were at the supermarket holding up a black of cheese to your ear and calling Por Por on it. When Daddy told you not to stray too far away, a much bemused bystander told Daddy "he's much too busy talking to his block of cheese".

To my amazement, you can curl your tongue! You've also recently gotten into the habit of putting your finger to your pursed up lips and saying "mummy, shhhhh" when I start nagging talking to you. Daddy never fails to find this funny :p

Every morning, after intensely watching Daddy apply gel to his hair, you've started demanding for gel too, so Daddy has resorted to applying imaginary gel from the back of his hand to your hair. You're so happy about this that you get really upset if we accidentally ruffle your hair, shouting "don't touch my gel!".

You seem to really like elderly folks a lot, you speak to them in a mixture of Hokkien and Teochew and like sitting next to them, chatting to them about anything and everything. You love going to Grandpa's house and enjoy teasing him a lot. One of the best things you love right now is to sit next to Grandpa and watching cartoons together. Both of you laugh together watching classics like Tom & Jerry. I find this really heartwarming because I've fond memories of doing the same :)

Love you lots,
Mummy.