From Bumps to Babes

Time really passes so quickly. 1 year ago around this time, I found out I was pregnant and was so sick that I was almost bed-ridden every day. Fast forward to now, I feel like so much has changed with a baby and one of it is the joy of motherhood.

It is a beautiful coincidence that in this group of gal pals, the 3 of us were pregnant at the same time and had our babies in the same year.




Our little ones were projected to be about 2 months apart -- due in Feb, April and June. However in the end, bestie Cyn delivered slightly earlier than her due date in February. I delivered 1 day before my due date in April. Char delivered at week 37 in the month of May, way before her due date which was supposed to be June. Hence, our babies are no longer 2 months apart from one another.




Another coincidence was that we were all having baby girls. And the last coincidence was that we were all Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) sufferers, or should I say survivors!

While we were suffering during our 1st and 2nd trimester, our WhatsApp group chat became our support group. We ranted and we whined and we "reported" our daily suffering on that thread. Most importantly, we encouraged one another to hang in there.




When we realised we were all pregnant, we made a pact to take a bump shot together or it would never happen again. LOL! Why never happen again? Cyn has 4 kids, Char has 2 kids and they decided they would stop at that.

As we were all so sick during the same phase of our pregnancy, it meant that by the time Char was well, Cyn might have popped. It was such an opportune time to meet up a few days before Cyn popped and sealed memories of our bump shots with so many photos.




Our photographer for that day was my Godson Jase. At 14 years old this year, Jase has grown from a sensible and well-behaved boy into a fine young man. When he was a pre-teen, I kept telling him that no matter how old he is, I would still want to hug him like always. I hope he won't be embarrassed by such a Godma. >_<




I said to him, "Why are you growing taller every day? The last time I saw you during H's baby shower, you were my height and suddenly you are so much taller today!"

So proud of Jase to have gotten into a good school after having missed quite a bit of the Singapore education system when he was over in the UK. I pray that he would do as well academically as he does in other areas of life.




Cyn is so fortunate to have such a filial son. I wish that Baby Ash would grow up to be a filial daughter too. For those who have been reading my blog since Charmaine's (my goddaughter) cancer days, you would know what a sensible boy Jase has always been!




Jase was so patient with us, having to take so many photos till we (more like I) were satisfied. And of course we 3 bimbotic ladies simply had to take a picture WITH him before we let him off to meet his friends.




Cyn said Jase is "trained" well by me coz he has such an eye for detail. After this photo, I told him to change his position to capture us at the right angle. He caught onto the flow and was a natural at instructing us to pose.




For example, could you tell the difference between the next 2 photos?




It was Char's left leg! Jase instructed Char to place her left leg out at a similar angle as what Cyn and I were doing. And that resulted in our favourite picture and the best one to feature on my Instagram.




Our personal favourite was this (even if Cyn's hubz remarked that we looked like we had stiff necks) as we were trying to recreate the pose we did about 8 years ago when we were in NYC.




Not this...




This! Coz we look cuter here.




If Cyn's hubz were to caption this collage, it would be "Still having stiff necks from 2009 to 2018."
-_-|||





~*~*~*~


After our bump shots and after we were more settled down with life, we agreed we should recreate one holding our babies in place of our bumps.




It was so difficult to recreate the exact same pose with the exact same slightly angled position with fidgety babies. Check out how many shots we took in the anigif below! Spot the photobomber while you're at it.




Mums and babes.





In the series of non full length shots, I really couldn't decide which to feature. The adults all had the same expression while the babes looked so comical! I really love the process of how Baby K went from sleeping to frowning with a cute pout and how Baby H was figuring out what Baby K was doing.




The 3 babes all affecting each other to cry.




And then Mia wanted a shot with the babes and she won everyone hands down in posing.




I'm always thankful for being blessed with so many supportive and true girl friends in my life. Also how blessed to have friends sharing the ups and downs of pregnancy, knowledge of motherhood and parenting.




Other than this group of gal pals, I have a couple of people around me (families and good friends) who also became parents all within months of one another which strongly makes me feel that everything happened for a reason and at the right time.

Chinese New Year 2017 -- Year of the Rooster

It is 3 months after the Chinese New Year and I am just done with editing the photos. I say 3 months is a pretty good improvement as compared to the previous years. °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°


IMAGE HEAVY
Loooooooong picture-ful post. Go get your drinks and popcorn while waiting for the images to load. You could even savour your main dish in front of your computer. Those viewing this on your smartphones and other hand held devices, I suggest you skip reading this post till you get home or you might risk jamming your device and cursing at my blog in public. I know my turtle friend did that once minus the cursing in public. =P



~*Pre CNY*~

The Year of The Rooster is my hubby's year (and nope, he isn't 24 years old so figure how OLD he is.)

My MIL who doesn't usually buy chinese zodiac decorations bought rooster CNY decorations for us since it is her son's zodiac year. The boy boy and girl girl chicken with furry tummies are just too cute! I love them and love how festive they made our home look. Now after CNY, they are sitting idly in the cupboard only to be gloriously hung up 12 years later. _へ__(‾◡◝ )>




I looked like I was posing casually with the chicks but check out what went behind the scene. I had to prop myself up on the chair to reach tat level to stick the decoration up. And one of my gal pal who saw the above photo asked me if I was wearing my CNY clothes coz it looked so pink. Well, I was in home clothes -- my VS Love Pink pajamas and FBT shorts. LOL.

Presenting my CNY 2017 nails to welcome the year of the Rooster! Because roosters are not that cute in general, I decided to do a baby rooster instead. I asked the nail artist to modify from a chick nail art and had its hair replaced by the red lines for a baby rooster. 🐔🐓🐣🐥




I did my CNY2017 nails way early as I couldn't stand the ickiness of how long the Christmas nails had grown with the edges flipping up. But after doing so much housework, my CNY nails are starting to show signs of colour lightening at the edges.




After moving to our new home, my OCD nature peaked. I'm constantly cleaning the house largely because of Miyo too. Her fur is too soft and smooth that when they shed, they float everywhere, contributing to 90% of the dust and dirt in the home.

Here are 19 out of 26 household tasks checked! I was surprised by how much the hubz and I could do over the last weekend before CNY and how much we could accomplish when we divide and conquer. Although we did not complete all the tasks, we felt proud of ourselves and had an enjoyable time having people visit our home.




The kitchen counter looked so festive with all the goodies, a nice basket of mandarin oranges and a silly mascot cat who seemed to think it is HER YEAR.




"This is my chilling place ok?"




"Humans, you do not put 2 mandarin oranges in front of me and make me your CNY mascot."




We did not snap any family photo this year during reunion dinner with the in laws coz it was the first time we were seated outdoor where it was too dark. This was what my FIL snapped.





~*CNY Happenings*~


All decked in maroon for Day 1. I suspect this dress would wind up being my Xmas dress too.
I was also  trying to snap my purple, blue and green hair but all the camera could capture was the blue.

When you have an uncooperative cat with a resting bitch face and you just want to take a decent CNY family portrait, you realize that you need to invest in a tripod... or a new cat.




Day 1 would be spent at my family home for lunch. I always LURVE the food that my parents prepare. Yes, both my mum and my dad are good cooks! We had steamboat lunch this year and the soup base is pig stomach soup. They make the best pig stomach soup in the world! We also had the usual CNY dishes like ngor hiang, leek and white-spotted rabbitfish.




As usual, we would have the tradition of taking The Loh Family portrait shots on the sofa and the anigif of various shots on continuous snap timer mode that would follow.







After that, it would be at The Ng Family for the same portrait shot on the sofa and the anigif. Both sofas are getting really old.
（‐＾▽＾‐）







My paternal grandma whom we always find really cute hasn't been doing well these 2 years. She doesn't recognize anyone anymore. I missed this family photo with her while I was paying respects at the in laws' side on Day 1.
(⌯˃̶᷄ ﹏ ˂̶᷄⌯)ﾟ




I forgot which day it was when we had the usual steamboat dinner with the hubz' paternal relatives. I always love all these home cooked Chinese food and kh's eldest uncle and his wife whip up really fabulous home cooked food.







Great home cooked food should be shared.
The best black coffee in the world too!









This pair of yellow birds would come every new year to build their nest at the exact same plant outside kh's uncle's place. I spied a little blue egg in there! So exciting! I guess for a tropical country that does not experience the 4 seasons, this is indeed a tell tale sign of spring's arrival.




A yellow bird also attempted to build a nest on our swing. I wondered if it is the same species of yellow bird. Can you spot the bird and the curious Miyo?




After a good lunch feast, it was dinner feast at my paternal relatives' place. There was a mixture of Chinese and Western food and they were all so delectable too! What a day of lots of good food and family warmth.

Best Japanese sake ever!




There are lots of new addition in this family photo as the younger cousins are all taking their partners along. The youngsters are all growing up and the not so young are all growing old but still keeping our hearts young.




There seemed to be 2 CNY lunches with the the department as one of the day was the actual CNY lunch while another was a CPR workshop day coupled with National Education tour at the Battle Box.




Instead of taking a whole dept shot, we decided this would do when we asked the other table to join in the wefie.




The unofficial 2nd CNY lunch with the dept after our CPR renewal course. We are all certified to perform CPR.










Anywhere also can take photo... Gals... This is in the ladies btw.




The Battlebox tour at Fort Canning may not be cheap but it is worth every cent. This is currently run by a private company and the guides who are volunteers are excellent. If this private company had not stepped out to manage this, the Battlebox would have been closed by the government for the next few years. That would be a huge part of Singapore's history being closed to the public.




After the battlebox tour, a few friends from work headed over to my place to see Miyo and to gamble. What's CNY without some gambling?




The Banker who kept winning sought Prophet Miyo's divine answers.




Everyone loves Miyo even when she has a resting bitch face.










The VIOS decided to replicate the atas CNY BBQ from 2 years back.




Just look at the premium ingredients!




Dot was surprised by the birthday cake for her. Check out the scaredy cat Miyo cowering under the sofa in the last pic. She was freaked out when we switched off all the lights and sang the happy birthday song.




This is what goes on behind the scene when you are the cutest diva RBF cat in the world.




And as the years go by, we continue living young and doing youngish stuff like age didn't matter. Ending off the night with failed 三连拍 which nobody followed and THE silly DAB pose which everyone did!




The last CNY gathering was the Hubz and his uni frenz' annual mahjong gathering. That was the first time we had it at our new place coz everyone wanted to see Miyo too.




The boys plan to take a shot like this for the next few years to come until everyone becomes old uncle and old grandpa.  °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°




And we deep fried for the first time in our open concept kitchen coz everyone had craving for luncheon meat fries for supper.




I thought of scrapping the idea of posting a late CNY post  but felt that it would not make my blog complete if there is a missing post for this year's CNY, and the hubz' year too. I sure hope you enjoyed joining me on my CNY 2017 happenings through these photos whether they are late or not.

It is the Labour Day public holiday here in Singapore and I was supposed to be working on my work laptop for an event we are organising. It would be a real busy month of May this year but hey, I've promised myself that I want to blog more and I'm honouring my word to myself. It feels really good! I realise that the only promise I always break is the one to myself. I will break that habit and continue to keep promises I made to myself from now on.