Nelly's First Birthday!

Before I had Nelly, I was sure I couldn’t love another baby more than I love Adric, and I wasn’t sure I could even love anyone close to how much I love Adric! Then Nelly came along and surprised me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Nelly is so different from Adric and I love them both so so so much, and in different ways..

At one year old, Nelly can walk (actually she took her first steps when she was few days shy of 10 months old!). Her first word was ‘gor gor’ – proves how much she loves Adric! She would follow him around, and would always look for ‘gor gor’ even when he is at school! She was a calm baby from the start – she could easily be soothed by Mummy carrying her (she literally stops crying within seconds after I pick her up). She can already effectively communicate her wants and needs, by nodding or shaking her head.. When I come back from work, she would be the first to greet me at the door. Before I could put down my bags (my work bag and milk bag containing my pumped milk), she would say ‘Na Na’, followed by a few nods of her head, and then she would walk towards the bedroom, indicating it’s time to nurse.

She loves animals.. and can make the animal sounds of dog, sheep, cow and she can say ‘bear’ when we point to the ‘brown bear brown bear what do u see’ book! Her favorite song is Old MacDonald had a Farm, and that is why for her first birthday, we had an E-I-E-I-O party for her! It was a simple family affair, cos we figured we were the only pple she would like to celebrate her birthday with at this moment!

 Nelly showing she is 1!

See how happy she is... (Adric likes to pretend to show his sad face during photo taking..)

 Nelly enjoying the steamboat.. we made sure the birthday meal was something she could join in to eat..

Little cupcake's cake smash with Mummy's home-made cupcakes!

The other cake for the adults and Adric... Adric refuse to eat Mummy's healthy cupcakes!

Nelly cupcake, Happy Birthday!

Cupcake's First Chinese Birthday

Last Sunday was cupcake's first Chinese birthday! She was born on the 25th of the 12th Lunar month!

The whole family had longevity noodles together with cupcake to wish her a long, happy and fulfilling life ahead! Cupcake enjoyed her noodles.. her first time having longevity noodles..

Then we played the guess her future profession game where she picks something (out of a number of random things placed in front of her) indicative of her future profession..

She's gonna be a business women! 
Nelly, daddy and mummy hopes that whatever you choose to do in future, you will be passionate about it, and successful in it! We will be rooting for you all the way! We love you so so so much! 

Daddy's Update - Moments which brighten up our lives

Adric and Nelly are in this wonderful phase which makes them so adorable in their own ways. Little buddy is 4 while little cupcake is 10 months.

Cupcake Nelly is expressing herself more and she is such a sweet cutie pie. She smiles, waves, cuddles and giggles. And our amazing cupcake started taking baby steps when she’s 9+ months! Now at 10+ months, she is walking quite independently and making hasty steps when we hold her hands. Keep it up Nelly.

For Adric, he is inheriting Daddy’s funny genes. I managed to note down a few moments of his humor. These were captured from Jul to Dec 2016.

Scene: At home.

Kakak sounding a little frustrated after repeatedly calling Adric to shower. She smells Adric: Eeeee.. Adric Boosup. Never pong pong [baby language for shower].

Adric: Kakak, have you pong pong?

Kakak: Yes, I pong pong. Only you haven’t.

Adric smells Kakak and said: Eeeeee.. you pong pong already, lagi boosop!”    

Kakak burst out laughing. So did everyone who heard it.

Scene: On the train to Julia Gabriel class. Daddy is standing, carrying Adric and his JG bag. <Shag>

Daddy: You want to carry (the JG bag)?

Adric, avoids eye contact and said softly: No

Then holding my face, he asked: You want to carry?

Daddy: No

And he continuously asked me for a few more times while I repeated myself. I think he wants me to know that no one will say yes to such a question. Point taken buddy.

Scene: At home, bedtime. Mummy chilling out with Adric in his room.

Mummy: Do you like Berries more or LW more?

Adric: LW, because there are more girls there.

Mummy: Berries no girls huh?

Adric: Lesser. LW girls I like more. [He told us his best friends in school are Gwendolyn and Charlotte previously.]

Mummy bursts out laughing. Gosh Adric, you are overtaking my place as the funniest guy in mummy’s heart! Well, at least we know you are straight.

Scene: School <Feedback from teachers>

Adric went to queue for god knows how many extra servings of soya bean during tea break.

Teacher: Adric, you have to finish your food before I can give you more soya bean

Adric turned around and walked off. Teacher continues distributing the food and drinks. Little buddy then proceeds to…. Walk to the dustbin and pour away his food. [I can imagine the shock and horror on the teacher’s face]. Teacher told us, they were speechless. [Oops]

Scene: In school, teabreak again <Another feedback from teachers>

French toast was served. Little buddy didn’t eat it as he dislikes it. Went to queue for drink once again.

Teacher: Where is your French toast Adric?

Adric: In France.

Teacher: You are wasting food. You want to go kitchen to help prepare food? 

Adric: No I cannot, because I am too short.

I think Adric is probably not in this teacher’s favourite list.  

The list of his jokes is longer. I shall save some for next post. Children, daddy and mummy love you so much! You brighten up our lives!

Adric is 4!

At 4, Adric is a sweet, loving, friendly boy on the inside and on the outside, he is a big ball of energy and determination! He will not let anything stop him from doing something that he has set his mind on! And he has lots of opinion on how exactly things should be done – eg, (1) he has to walk down the stairs instead of taking the life every morning (2) when we take the life up, it HAS to be lift 3A1 (when lift 3A2 comes first, we have to make the lift go up again and wait for lift 3A1 to come down) (3) he has to “help” set the GPS to HaoZhouDao Food shop whenever we get into the car (it’s a shop somewhere in  Ang Mo Kio that we have never been to..) (4) He insists his name is Saturn (everyone in school knows he is Saturn or Tu Xin in Mandarin)… and the list goes on =)

We had a week-long celebration for Adric! Starting with a mini celebration in school, with a Saturn cake of course! This is Saturn cake #1..

Adric received many “space” presents from his friends (he is very vocal about his likes, so everyone knows he is a space fan!)… Even the school aunty who cleans the place got Adric a present! Apparently, he is friends with the Aunty too and Aunty likes him a lot!

Then we had a family bbq party with Saturn cake #2!

The next morning, we flew off to Bangkok to continue the celebration..

Adric and grandma at the airport! Grandma and Grandpa flew off to Penang at the same time (they took the opportunity to get in a little holiday too while we were off to Bangkok… they have been busy looking after the 2 littles while daddy and mummy are working!)

Bkk Day 1 – Visit floating market.. we took a boat to visit a house by the river…

Bkk Day 2 – Indoor playground at Ekkaimai Mall..

Adric had a blast! Nelly too!

Bkk Day 3 – Water theme park at Bangkapit Mall..

We also had another cake cutting on Adric's actual birthday in Bkk..

and lots of goofing around in the hotel and pool..

Then it was home sweet home..

Grandpa, Grandma and Yiyi got Adric a Thomas track set, which he loves..

Daddy and Mummy got Adric an easel and a telescope!

Adric, Daddy and Mummy's love for you is as big as UY Scuti (biggest star known!) and we are so so so happy to have you as our son! You have filled our lives with soooo much joy and laughter and we look forward to every single day with you! Happy 4th Birthday! 

Daddy's update (July to Sep 16) - glimpse of what the littles have been up to!

~Hello Children!!

That is what we greet you children when Daddy Mummy reach home everyday.

Adric will be in his cool look, concealing his excitement, while Nelly@Little Cupcake will be all excited and bouncy.

Nelly first, since in most posts we start with Adric.

Here is Nelly having (watching) dinner with us at Changi Airport. She is 5 months old in this pic. So cute in that beanie.

Here's Baldy.. After we hear a Mummy giving us real life example of how her daughter's hair (who we saw) is thick and healthy after she shaves her head.

She's enjoying her new bath tub after Adric buddy threw down the old bath tub's  stopper from balcony.. Oops. Well actually, it was a good switch. This round basin is actually so much better than the actual bath tub. 

At 6 months, Nelly is starting solids for the 1st time ever! She's sooooo excited about it!

So all meals outside, she is no longer a watcher. 

Here's Nelly in her first ever hospital stay. She's caught stomach flu. =( Well, she's good now. Stayed there for 1.5 days. Mummy was with her the whole time! Good recovery Nelly!

Oh 1 more thing Daddy is really proud of Nelly. She can pull herself up and stand, by herself. And she started crawling a little too. And she holds her own bottle too! Also, she's at the stage where she puts everything into her mouth after "twist and turn" the object. So cute.

Spotlight on Adric now. 

Well, little buddy's move on to bigger things from the globe - The UNIVERSE! So he arranged all the balls he can find and they act as the star size comparison (Just like the YouTube video he watches.. EVERYDAY, repeatedly). And so I list a few, Sun, Sirius A, Pollux, Betelgeuse, Mu Cephei (Which he insists is Moo Ka Pai). 

And he scoots. See his "overlap"hairstyle.. It's Daddy's masterpiece. From far it looks ok. Can't say the same for near view. Oops see.. And Daddy was really really touched when Adric still wants Daddy to cut for him, despite it being not as nice as barber's cut. Awww.. sooo sweet little buddy.

And he cycles.

And he swims - Adric has improved tremendously since he signed up for swimming classes. "Wash face, catch goldfish"are some of the fun things he learnt. 

Daddy also encourage him to jump into the pool. It goes like this "Come Adric, I catch you, I catch you", with my arms wide open. At home, we also play this game. Where he will act as me to catch but later on dump me so I drown. His reason: "I want you to learn to swim". Cheeky Adric, we shall try that in the pool. Hee Hee. 

Now the children has began playing with each other. Oh, Nelly simply adores her older brother.  She always screams in excitement and would always reach out to touch Adric. 

"Saturn"and Nelly in the car. This picture somewhat reflects their character at this stage. Adric with his cool and something going on in his mind look. Nelly with her innocent and curious face. 

Random shot of Adric wearing Nelly's bunny hat.

Smiley Nelly.

And to end of.. Our first family We-Fie. Children, you will soon get to know that Daddy and Mummy aren't those into taking selfie and we-fies though.

Love you children so much. 

And my dear wife C. Happy anniversary (Not too long ago). We have been together 1/2 our life! Woah!

Little cupcake's first trip! Batam..

Last weekend we brought little cupcake on her first trip! K and I were not confident of handling the 2 littles by ourselves, so we brought backups - grandpa, grandma and kakak!

Here's little cupcake with kakak, waiting to check in!

Adric and popcorn waiting to check in! The hotel (Holiday Inn) provided free popcorn at the lobby.. Much to Adric's delight!

Then we did a quick splash in the pool..

After which we went out for lunch at Nagoya Mall, which is a half hour bus ride away.. Good thing the hotel provided free shuttle! After lunch, we split up.. Grandpa and Grandma brought Adric to the indoor playground, which cost only 3 Sgd per child! 

Little cupcake and I went to chill out at a cafe.. I had my drink and little cupcake had hers.. 

Here's little cupcake looking all satisfied after her "drink"..

Daddy and Kakak went shopping!

After which we went back to our room.. We had two 2-bedroom suites so lots of space! Here's grandma chatting with little cupcake..

Daddy doing push-ups with Adric on top..

The next morn after breakfast, we checked out the other hotel facilities.. 

Adric posing by himself..

With a monkey..

Little cupcake enjoying the kids club..

Little baby enjoying the kids club..

Then it was home sweet home.. Overall a relaxing and enjoyable trip! The service at Holiday Inn was fantastic!