Funny little guy

It's been a while since I shared about our little boy who's growing up so fast everyday! He's got more hair now (thank God) and has developed an obsession with ice. We don't usually give him cold drinks except for the odd Yakult or Milo packet drink - he likes playing with the straws more than the drink itself - but he knows how to go up to the freezer and takes a cube of ice, juggles it around with both hands and eventually when it slides to the floor, he will actually go on all fours and lick it off the floor!! How endearing this little puppy is.

His recent past-time is playing football with his new friend, a 8 year old boy who lives just round the corner, and that makes mama happy too cos he's less of a grouch after having expended some energy outdoors with another child of the same energy level. Actually that makes 2 happy mamas.

His favourite colour is "yellow" (he will emphasise the "low" bit) followed by "blue" and all other colours of the spectrum do not exist.

He loves to eat baos, and everything else (cake/bread/biscuits etc.) is ''No no! Bao bao!" if a bao is in sight.

He acts as my alarm clock in the morning by climbing over the barricade surrounding his sleep area, opening his room door, opening my room door before proceeding to scare the daylights out of me by suddenly standing at my head and speaking in gibberish with a mope of bedhead hair.

He gave his first kiss to Miss Natalie, the lovely offspring of my dear friend Chris the baking domestic goddess. We are pretty sure it was intentional.

He likes and knows the song and actions to Little Einsteins and enjoys Timmy Time, but what I don't get is Pororo??!!!

Our 2nd good and perfect gift

How did we get from this ....

{Nathan Joshua at 15 months}

to this ?!!!

{19 weeks preggers belly}

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father
of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
-- James 1:17 (NIV)

We've been meaning to share this bit of good news for a while but with a pretty rough 1st trimester and a hyperactive toddler to juggle, blogging just takes a back seat I'm afraid.

So yes the oven has been busy growing a bun the last 4 months and we are expecting a little brother for Nathan in early November! This 2nd bundle of joy may have come somewhat as a surprise but we are thrilled nonetheless for this addition and can't wait for Nathan to have a kid brother. It took us much longer to think up of a name for baby challenger #2 but we have finally decided on one after many a spirited discussion and internet baby name-meaning search. It's gonna be a surprise till nearer the date, so let's just call him Baby C for now.

The next big news is that we are moving!

To a supposedly slightly bigger (i doubt) but definitely nicer home just minutes away from where we are so it's not a big move really? A huge bonus of the new place is having babysitters on standby as it will be just across the road from my parents! So technically we are moving back to the street on which I grew up as a little girl. It feels kinda nostalgic and cosy to know that the kids will be growing up playing on the same street, going to the same shops, taking the train from the same MRT station .... and who knows, they may even attend the same schools I did! Haha!

As you know, we like to challenge ourselves (pun intended) by doing things all at once so the move will take place just before or straight after Baby C's arrival. The last time we nearly killed ourselves was when we moved to our current place within the week of our wedding while hosting overseas guests at the same time. Some people just never learn :)

P.S. Just finishing up some listings of new pieces so do watch out for them!

All about a little guy

Just yesterday, our bub at home turned 15 months.
How fast little people grow!

12 interesting funny facts about our toddler:

1) His first proper word was "carrot" (don't ask me how or why, it happened in the UK as his grandpa gave him a real whole carrot to chew on). I've got it on video!

2) He can also say "car", "ball", "bubble" (sounds like "ba ball"), "bird", "milk", "flower" and its mandarin counterpart "hua" (sounds like "wah").

3) He can say "dada" and "mama" but he likes to wind us up by rarely calling us as such, I'm usually referred to "car". He knows where "mama's nose" is though and will point to the right body part on the right person. Phew!

4) His favourite programme is Hi 5. So now mama knows most of the song lyrics, dance steps and dating history of the cast.

5) He can sign "milk" and will ask for it at bedtime when he wants to go to bed. Some mutant signing of milk at other times just means he's hungry and wants munchies!!!

6) His favourite food right now is grapes and he can eat a whole cup of them while watching tv the way adults eat popcorn. Without looking.

7) He is Spiderman in disguise. When you're not looking, he has already scaled the window as high as your shoulder. Gives me heart attacks. Especially when he does those circus knee hooks across the grilles and gives you the look that he's gonna let go.

8) He knows when it's time for a nappy change and will always run as far away from you as he can. But he will come running back when it's milk time and dutifully sit down without being told.

9) He is one of those kids who likes to embarrass you by lying on the floor in public places, screaming and squirming when we try to drag him away from where he wants to go.

10) He knows it's prayer time before milk and will even remind us by clasping his hands together if we forget!

11) He is the youngest in his playgroup but he is the loudest, noisiest, most restless among his classmates and will almost invariably be the one running amok. This week, he led a mutiny in class and everyone went crazy at the same time!! It's a miracle we haven't been kicked out yet.

12) I think he's gonna be a left-hander. And he's quite deft with both feet! Daddy is already mighty pleased with his footy skills at the prodigy age of 15 months. It's his handbag fetish I'm worried about.

It's amazing how children's looks keep changing too! Nate's hair colour is growing lighter so now I do get asked more often about his heritage by aunties when we go to the market. And maybe cos he doesn't look much like me! Haha! At least I haven't been mistaken for a kid-napper yet :p

a proud mama i am,

Nathan traces his English roots - Easter 2010

I have been bugged by friends who complain about this blog needing more updates! (i know i know) So here finally are the pictures from our trip back to UK, like erm almost 2 months ago. Haha! It was Nathan's first time back in England since he was born as we had to postpone the trip at the height of the H1N1 epidemic. He'd only met his grandparents once when he was 2 months old and now it was time to meet the rest of the family!

Spring came late this year so it was still winter wear for us in late March/April.

Nate adjusted well to the cold weather but not his weakling of a mummy who spent as much time as possible indoors and under covers. In front of the telly with Bargain Hunt and Move to the Country. And Top Gear. Hee hee.

They start them young on footie in this family.
He is turning out to be quite the kicker too!


Inquisitively checking out the garden


I just love this shot of him :)


So this is what being a mummy of 2 feels like!

(thrashing and writhing included)

Going to Odds Farm with Nathan and his 4.5 yo cousin Liam

Nate patting an unsuspecting goat


feeding the young lambs milk

Can you spot Nate?

The Easter hunt is on!


Boys will be boys.

Bruises and cuts aside, he also suffered a nasty graze by his left eye while playing.
Liam was not much better. They always looked like they'd been fighting!

The little man grew up loads during our time there and began to demand feeding himself at mealtimes.

And us too, unfortunately.

In case you didn't know, Nathan is one bub who will try anything.

He joined his grandparents in their gardening and basically tasted everything there was - grit, twigs, leaves and all - except worms. Then again, we can never be sure what happens when your back is turned.

And a very scummy little boy crying when we stopped him from lapping up the rest of the suspicous-looking murky birdbath water. SIGH.

Guess we can be consoled in that he's building up his immune system! :p

A birthday and an update

New additions to the shop!

I know it's been the longest time. As V so succintly put it, "your last blog post was dated 9 Feb!!" I can only plead procrastination what with all the Chinese New Year celebrations, and Nathan's 1st birthday bash just a week later. Yes, a full whole year of 365 days has come and gone and our little man is now a full fledged toddling toddler!We had 2 parties for him on the actual day of his birthday - 20 Feb - one for his kiddy friends in the afternoon and another one for the whole clan (my side of cos) at his grandparents' place at night. That Saturday was really the longest day of our lives, if you exclude the wedding and nathan's birth naturally.The kids were such a riot! But so memorable nonetheless :) As we are heading back to the UK over the Easter break, Nathan gets to have another 1st birthday party with his dad's side of the family and relive his special day all over again! I'm just glad I don't have to plan this one haha. We are really looking forward to going back for the first time with Nathan, it really is high time he got in touch with his English roots! Not to mention enjoy a break from the crazy heat that was February. April showers here we come!

in vacation mode already,

Little additions

To fast forward from my last update on the little guy, Nathan is now officially a walker! And gone are my days of (relative) leisure... now it's running after him and saying no you can't touch this, or no running or step, step, STEP!! Oh boy.... It sure is giving me some good old exercise. Exhausting as it can be at times for the adults, it sure tires him out as well so he knocks out for naps and sleeps through the night till cock-a-doodle-doo!

Our days are now spent going to the playground, swimming or having playdates with his friends, like little miss natalie :)

Here they are enjoying their schoolbus ride

And our typical Saturday morning at the playground - the walks there has given the bub and I a nice toasty tan but sadly Daddy is still as pasty as ever hehe. Nate has definitely inherited my ability to tan with minimal sun, phew! We still can't believe he is turning 1 in 3 weeks! Why, he was just a tiny babe when we brought him home with us less than a year ago. And now he is a proper trooper. He is still the littlest walker at the playground but he's not the least bit daunted and goes up to other kids to play with them and is especially adept at terrorising unsuspecting canine bystanders. Watch out world!

I end my little family update with a sweet darling addition to the shop:

{Eléonore}

blissful and contented,

Our Christmas Day

I have been such a lazy bum!

It's unbelievably difficult to get back into the swing of things when you've had a super duper truper long break! I should have been up and busying myself for the new year since last week but seriously, taking that time away from the computer and beading table has been nothing short of exhilarating. I've always felt pressured to work and reinvent myself creatively, especially so when you work from home and only a thin line separates your home from your "office". It really takes a baby to change your priorities!

So it was a neat and tidy difference when I cleared the dining table of the last vestiges of stones and metals for the Christmas hols and did nothing but hang out with family and friends. By golly, there were soooo many presents for the little one that it took us 2 days to finish opening all of them!! (babies have notoriously short attention spans)

Here is our trusty old tree engulfed by a ginormous pile of presents, some DHL-ed over from the UK. It was fun having the postman press your bell nearly every other day with a nice big box that you know hold pressies hee hee.

Opening a gift from Nannie and Raffa before breakfast

Dressed to head out to Christmas service

All that singing and playing tired the little bub out

Opening a gift from mama
- a Precious Moments tree ornament that says "Baby's 1st Christmas 2009"
- which will be kept safely out of baby's reach for the next 18 years haha

Taking a break from opening pressies to play

Continuing with pressies... he didn't like the little monkey bag cum baby "leash" at first.
Poor champ.

Opening pressies is a seriously draining business.

Daddy says epics are perfect Christmas Day movies so he's putting on LOTR on.
Nathan seems to agree.

Going on a walk in his new toy!
(COE not included)

Finally! The traditional turkey dinner.
Nathan had his first taste of brussel sprout mash and loved it!
And that marked the end of Nathan's first Christmas.

But there were still unopened pressies.
So we continued to open gifts on Boxing Day.

This time daddy got knackered first.

Come on daddy! We still have more pressies to go!

So yep, that pretty summarised our Christmas in 2009. We then stayed with the grandparents through to New Year and happily snuggled in bed as a family during the countdown while the kids next door screamed their way to 2010 and nearly drove me mad. Nothing fancy, just some good old wholesome family time together :)

Hope you had a wonderful start to the new year too!

I'll be back with new loot this weekend (i hope). Hee.

my bumbling bundle of joy

And Nathan walks!

Friends tell us this is quite a feat for a 10 month old baby. We really thank God that he is developing so well! It is really is hilarious watching him walking haphazardly before falling on his bum. Maybe I will burn off more calories from chasing him around now. Haha!

proud mama,

Smug Mug

Seriously this is too cute!
That main picture in the middle? Priceless.
All thanks to Val who captured the moment of smugness on his round face!

And this cool little collage? The perks of having a godma in vacation mode :)
Thanks babe for doing this up!

Can't believe the little guy is turning 10 months old this week... geez... guess it's time for some overdue babyproofing! The chomper is a tissue monster. That, or Ikea catalogues. Leave him alone with a box of tissue for just a moment and you'll turn round to see him sitting in a pile of shredded snow. Possibly with some stray bits in his drooly mouth. Extra fibre never hurts I say!

hiding the tissue boxes in sight,