Planning DN's 3rd Birthday Party

I remember telling friends and relatives at DN's 1st birthday party that his next big parent-sponsored bash would be when he's 21, when we can turn him loose on society and not feel guilty about it. HA! I also remember telling people that the first birthday party was not really for him (he couldn't even eat the cake eh?) but rather, for US (but we could... and it was lychee martini!) - a reward for getting through the first year unscathed, undeterred and most importantly, (mentally and physically) undead.

His 2nd birthday party was a low-key affair compared to the first one. Just a small gathering for his little friends that all of us co-organised. It was a wet BBQ (bleah), but at least we had cupcakes (heh!) and all families were colour-coded. The Ongs were radiant in red. ;)

His 3rd birthday was meant to be a non-event, because hello, I'm giving birth on 2nd September! *hao lian* Unfortunately, both PF and I have severely underestimated the wiles of Master Ong DN. Some time in June, for some strange unknown reason, DN started singing "Happy Birthday". To himself. In a pitiful, self-deprecating tone. Repeatedly. At least he didn't do it sitting in a corner with his head hung down eh? Now THAT would be wily! Besides the birthday song singing, he also started saying things like "Today is my birthday!". To us. In a gleeful, expectant tone. Repeatedly.

I mean, WASSUP??! *narrow eyes*

So yeah, that's how weak we are. We caved in. And moved the 21st birthday party forward by 18 years. :p PF and I are trying to justify this party by telling ourselves that it's DN's last chance to have a party all to himself because from next year onwards, we'll be celebrating the 2 kiddos' birthdays together. Also, I've been feeling awfully guilty about not being able to give DN my 100% when Bessie comes along. I know I don't have to feel guilty, but I can't help but feel a little bad.

Anyhows, back to the party. Why just stop at a cake when you can blow it all (read: child's future trust fund) on entertainment for the kids, helium balloons, themed fillers for goody bags, matching plates and cups and (the piece de resistance) A PINATA FILLED WITH EDIBLE GOODIES! Arriba! Jalapeno! Paco chicano! Ole!

The next thing to do was to decide on a theme. I went with Mickey Mouse because it's gender neutral and I won't have an aneurysm when deciding what to put in girl and boy goody bags. Only over my dead body will I have a Barney party even though that's also gender-neutral. I hate that purple dinosaur (who PF believes is actually a T-Rex with blunt teeth because of its short, useless, flailing arms). And oh yeah, the most important reason why Mickey Mouse? DN lurves Mickey Clubhouse.

The grand plan (and I'm full of these useless things that don't materialise) was to MAKE my own Mickey Mouse pinata with papier-mache. If I could make a papier-mache bowl in primary school, what's stopping a 34-year old from making a Mickey Mouse pinata? Well, how about plain 'ole deludedness? I thought about it for a day and then promptly shelved the thought next to grand plan #2 - baking DN's dairy-free birthday cake, which by the way is sitting next to grand plan #3 - going swimming to work on that tan and get M.Obama arms in time for the party. Like I said, deluded. So after all the grand plans have gone the way of the Dodo, what else is left?

Actually, tons! For 3 days, I pored over the Birthday Direct website, adding things into and deleting things out of my shopping basket. I'm going to keep the contents of the goody bag a secret, but let's just say I bought a few extra just for myself! So exciting, hee. Tomorrow, I'm going to buy the edible pinata fillers and on Friday, DN and I are going to pack the goody bags. Can't wait! :D

It's going to be a mad rush on Saturday though. The cakes need collecting (2 cakes from 2 different places... argh), the food needs picking up (again from 2 different places... argh argh), the ice needs to be bought and the room needs setting up. And all that to be done by 10.30am before guests start arriving. Thankfully, I didn't even entertain the thought of decorations because that might just be the thing that sends me into labour!

The only grand plan that I concocted and actually saw through was scrapbooking my own digital invite. I'm quite proud of this one! Ta-dah!



Invites? Check.
Cake? Check.
Kids' entertainment? Check.
Food? Check.
Drinks? Check.
Goody bags? Check.
Balloons? Check.
DN's birthday present?

OOOOOPS!

About Bessie

I realise I haven't really been talking much about Bessie on this blog and I think Bessie knows because I had Braxton Hicks all day yesterday! Like ALL DAY. Think she's trying to tell me something, hmm. They were still kind of mild and hardly causing me any discomfort, so I'm not that fussed, but woah nelly, I don't have that much longer to go! Technically, it's 20 days to Bessie's EDD (which happens to be the exact same day as DN's EDD) and I am willing myself to pop on 2 Sept - DN's birthday! So hang in there Bessie, no rush. If Bessie really makes her grand arrival on 2 Sept, we're definitely stopping at 2 because if #3 doesn't come out on 2 Sept as well, I will not be able to live with myself. How can one ever live with that kind of inconsistency??? It's just as bad as NOT having all your Yusof Ishaks in your wallet facing the same direction.

Which person in the back snorted "anal retentive"? COME HERE!

This pregnancy with Bessie is very different from when I was pregnant with DN. With DN, I had morning sickness, but nibbling on dried mangoes always did the trick. With Bessie, I puked on the road. Like, on my car tyre! Eeep.

While pregnant with DN, I was quite fit. With no 3 year old to take care of, I could go to the gym 3 times a week. Yoga, pilates, spinning, body pump? Bring it on! Now? Prttthhhfff! Not only is the flesh unwilling, the spirit has gone on no pay leave too. Bah.

Halfway into my pregnancy with DN, no one knew I was pregnant. I was just DYING for the bump to show because I just looked like I had really enjoyed myself at some buffet, sorry, BUFFETS. This time? Bah. I started getting comments like, "Wah, you're so big ah?" in month THREE. @#$%*!! *piah*piah* (read: slap, slap!)

But overall, I cannot complain because Bessie is doing well and growing well. At 36.5 weeks, she weighs about 2.5kg and doc says she'll probably just hit 3kg by the time I pop. Measurements suggest that she's a little on the petite side, but PF and I both agree that health is definitely wealth so it's okay!

And how's DN dealing with the idea of having a baby sister? Well, he knows there's a baby in mummy's belly, but I'm positive he doesn't know what's really flying his way come September. Actually, us too, because the motley (and hao lian) pair of PF and I are still insisting on sleeping at 12-1am even though we know full well about the sleepless nights ahead of us. Back to DN. He can be quite sweet to his Mei Mei at times. We have an empty kitchen roll that we use as a "baby telephone" and DN uses it to talk to his little sister. He says things like, "Hello! My name is Ong Der Nen. Mei Mei, what are you doing?"

LOL!

And the other day he sang Baa Baa Black Sheep to her. She responded by kicking him back.

LOL!

We haven't decided on Bessie's real name (it's NOT "Bessie"!) so the other day, we asked DN, "What do you think Mei Mei's name should be?" His reply? (and it was instantaneous) "Ong Baby Mei Mei!"

LOL!

I bet, if he had known about the wonderful, multiple uses of the word "DUH", he would have added "Like DUH, people" at the end of that.

DN is an Aquaduck

After being on the Aquaducks waiting list for a few months, DN finally got a space in their toddler swim class at the Portsdown Road pool. Quack! It's a really early class, :p but we figure it's a good thing because it gets us off our butts early in the morning and forces us to start our Sundays early instead of lolling and fluffing about at home. Anyway, DN is such an early riser (he usually wakes up by 7.30am) that it doens't make any difference to him. It's me that's the problem - sleep is my good friend, my VERY good friend. PF is on pretty friendly terms with sleep too. >.<

I was so excited about DN starting swim class that I bought him a new set of swim gear - board shorts and a raglan tee. DN was very excited too. On the morning of swim class, he had to lie down to contain himself.

Swim class was real fun and DN just LURVED it. They played with toys, blew bubbles, laughed and (DN's fav bit) sang Humpty Dumpty and jumped into the pool when Mr Dumpty fell off the wall. Actually, he jumped off at "Humpty Dumpty sat on the WALL..." and gave PF a big scare, but never mind.

Here, they're retrieving rings from around the pool to string back onto the noodle that the coach is holding (behind). It's so funny how ALL the kids have their favourite colours. DN only wanted to collect the yellow rings, another girl only wanted the green ones and another one only wanted the pink ones.

It was only half an hour, but DN was absolutely famished after swim class. I think it was because PF told him, "If you don't kick your legs DN, we can't move!" (when retrieving the toys). And he just stood there until DN kicked his legs like Flipper. You should have seen him go man, PF was water-blinded by his wake, haha. And gosh, watch how he just inhaled his porridge at breakfast. And his noodles at lunch. Slow down, my good man, slow down!



We headed home after breakfast and DN konked out in the car... at 11.15am! Quite amazing when he usually has his afternoon nap around 12.30-1pm.

Tut tut!

We usually get emails from DN's school informing us about stuff - what DN should wear on Racial Harmony Day, when is class photo taking, how to be vigilant because of H1N1... boring stuff like that. Then one day, I got this in my mailbox!

HEE HEE HEE! :D

Now for the embarrassing bit. This was the email that accompanied that photo.

"Hi Mummy,
The teachers would like to say 'thank you' for the swiss rolls."

*blush blush* Yesssss... I have been bribing DN's teachers with treats! His first week of school, I dropped off some doughnuts. (I mean, I have to thank them for helping him settle into school right??) Two weeks later, I went over with some steamed paos for tea. (You know, just to check how he was doing in school that day. It's important!!) And last week, I dropped off some Polar Swiss Rolls... for no particular reason really! I was on my way back to the office from a meeting and since I would be passing his school, I thought, "Why not?"

Yeah yeah, so I'm a shameless hussy. But at least I'm honest about it, and now I have a nice picture of my son to boot!

Our First Staycation

Oh my gosh, it was S.O. F.U.N.!

The last time we did this, we picked the wrong hotel. 'Wrong' because it was along Havelock Road, and since we weren't that keen on introducing DN to the world of Zouk, we just went to the hotel pool. *yawn*

This time round, we checked into Orchard Hotel. Ah, decisions, decisions. Pool? Orchard Road? Pool? Orchard Road?

ORCHARD ROADDD! *deep guttural sound from the bowels of my shopping deprived being*

So shop I did. And suffered I did! (at the end of the day) You see, for this pregnancy, I've been as mobile as Raffles' statue. It's no wonder I'm looking more and more like Barbapapa everyday. Just less pink and with more hair. So imagine me in all my stagnant and stationary glory, traipsing waddling up and down Orchard Road as my feet get progressively redder and more bruised by the minute. Do I stop? Hell no! Bring it onnn...! *another deep guttural sound from the bowels of my shopping deprived being*

So yup, we didn't even make it down to the hotel pool. We saw it from our room window though, and had good intentions to squeeze in a dip in the pool, if that counts for anything. :p

The highlight of the weekend for DN had to be the bus and MRT rides. He had a blast flagging the bus down, hee hee.

$1. That's all it takes to make this little guy happy. He loves bus rides!


Even after we'd arrived at our station, we hung around just to let him see the trains zoom past.

We also made a trip down to the National Museum to check out the Verner Panton exhibition. Very cool. PF and I took turns to play with DN in the Phantasy Landscape so we could wander around the exhibition.

In all, we stayed 2 nights. One of the best things had to be knowing there was a buffet breakfast waiting for us in the morning and it only being an elevator ride away. Sweet. This is what DN had for breakfast - hard boiled egg, sausage, pancakes, dried nuts and fruits - ON HIS PLATE. On MY plate, he ate the noodles and on PF's plate, he ate the cold tofu. Halfway through breakfast, I had to bring him to the toilet to poo. -___-

It was a good weekend. :)

DN's First Haircut

DN definitely takes after me when it comes to hair - we both don't have enough. When he was about 4 months old, his hair started falling out and even though he looked like this, I still refused to shave him bald. Every hair was so precious! And so, for the past 2+ years, we've managed to get away with not sending him to the barber's. DN's grandmother has been serving double duty as granny and barber.

But last weekend, we decided to try a proper hairdresser. It was one of those $10 places where you pay via a vending machine. Not bad at all! Here's a "before" pic of DN looking really shaggy. Check out the hair around his ears. It really was time for a haircut!

DN had this funny look on for the longest time.

For 10 bucks, you also get your head vacuumed. Hoho.

DN before...

... and after!

Rather spiffy, if you ask me!

Mr Cable

I can't find my camera cable. ARGH. I have looked everywhere - bags, office, desk (yes, it's a "place" to look because PF's desk looks like this, minus the car), floor, drawers and in assorted nooks and crannies, but I just can't find the elusive, blasted thing! This is very unlike me because I always "put my things back where they belong" (years of a mother's threats nagging conditioning encouragement does that to you). The problem now is, I'm pregnant, so I can't remember where that place of "belonging" is. The bigger problem is, this is not the 1st pregnancy.

And that means a lot of things...

• I lost memory cells the first time round.
• They didn't come back.
• I'm losing more this time round.
• And they're not coming back too!

I'm getting stupider and stupider by the minute and those fish oils sure ain't helping. -___-"

I've got a few things to blog about too (DN's first proper haircut, Our family stay-cation, Planning for DN's 3rd birthday party), so me not being able to find the blasted cable is really getting on my nerves.

It's been missing for about 2 weeks, and after some active searching, I decided to just leave it be, hoping that Mr Cable will just walk up to me and tap me on the shoulder one day. Okay, add "delusional" to the dem-pregnancy-books-don't-tell-you-about-these-PERMANENT-side-effects list.

Mr Cable! Where are you!?

A Breakthrough?

Last week was a bad week in school for DN. He had just gone back to school after a week and a half of staying at home, recuperating from a phlegmy cough. It was BAD. Getting back into the school groove I mean. Even getting him to put his uniform on was a struggle - me running waddling around the house after him as he's moaning and groaning away, "I don't want to go to school!" Drop-offs were worse. Ugh.

So imagine my surprise when there were no theatrics when I dropped him this morning. No crying, no weeping, no complaining. He just let go of my hand and walked through the gate into the playground. He even said "bye"!

By jove, I think we've got it!