Gwyneth's magical pony 1st birthday

Finally getting my butt down to blog about G's first birthday. And i did mention in a few posts back i will be sharing where i got the stuffs for the party and all. 

(PS: none of these are sponsored. I sourced and paid everything, except for candy)

Picking a theme was never difficult. in fact i knew what theme i wanted the day she was born (or even earlier haha!) Since she was born in the year of a horse and shes a girl, My Little Pony was the theme. It was a no brainer since i love all these magical and rainbow. 

We rented some toys as there would be a couple of kids. We didnt want a party that was boring where children sat around and did nothing. And I managed to find a very affordable toy rental company. Got a small bouncy castle and a small play gym for the babies. Additional green tunnel was our own which we got from Ikea. 

Toys from: http://www.toys4rent.sg

Though they arrived a bit late to set up, it is unavoidable since it was a saturday and many childrens parties fall on that day. They did clean and sanitise the toys before leaving which I felt was good! i mean kids germs and all. And the toys were in good condition. The person in charge were flexible too. I managed to negotiate and change some of the party combos they have. So if you see toys you want and arent in the combo package, feel free to email Deborah and she can work something out. 

Customised candy from: Made In Candy (Sponsored since it is our own company) 

Ive always wanted a dessert table since my wedding but getting people to do them is so expensive. I love that companies do personalise things and all but really for the money i rather save it and do it myself. So I customised a banner with a picture of G, with her name and ponies on it. Graphics, price and quality were great!

Banner from: http://signtech.com.sg/printing-services/

All balloons from: http://www.wowletsparty.com/

Store:  69 Moulmein Road #01-81 S(300069)

Big Unicorn, First birthday bouquet, 35 latex balloons, 1 walking unicorn and 12 small foil My Little Pony. 

I got a basic balloon package from them which was $90 and added the other balloons.   http://www.wowletsparty.com/birthday-package-a/

I ordered these customised lil steam nutella cakes for the dessert table. Alot of people loved it and it had generous amount of nutella. 

Steam cakes from: https://www.facebook.com/littlesweettoothbakes?fref=ts

Old school animal, gem and alphabet biscuits from: Biscuit King 

Address: 130 Casuarina Road 

Baskets of mini breads: Four Leaves

Then we made little rainbow marshmellow balls using fruity pebbles. And then daddy made the rice krispy treats using rice krispy cereal puffs. 

Very easy to make. Just put a little bit of butter and marshmellows in a plastic bowl and microwave till it completely melts. then mix fruit pebbles or rice krispy and its done! 

Daddy hard at work 

We printed these huge MLP ponies for decor cause its just too cute! haha

This was G at the start of party when guests started slowly streaming in. She was obviously tired and totally not having fun. haha we managed to put her to sleep for a while while we waited for more guests to come. and by the time the hall was filled she was up and all ready to party! 

Lil Aiden

Finding a cake wasnt much of a challenge either as I knew i did not want to pay an exorbent amount on fondant cakes and I havent found a place which i really liked yet. I had a jelly cake once for my birthday when i was 8. So i thought of a jelly cake immediately and im thankful i did cause everyone raved about the cake!! i was super impressed that she managed to draw up the ponies in a jelly shape!! and mind you that can be eaten too! not only was she affordable but the art work was spot on!! taste was great too! not too sweet and texture was bouncy just like how a jelly should be. im happy to say i have found my official cake person if i ever wanna do jelly cakes again! 

But really the picture doesnt do the cake justice. but im glad all my guests managed to see it up close and everyone had all praises for it! 

Jelly cake from: https://www.facebook.com/BarbieJellyCake?fref=ts

G was so happy that day. Her smile lighted up the room and she made my heart sing. nothing makes me happier then seeing her happy and even though she probably wont remember her 1st party, i know she had fun! 

with my young parents clan. both who are gywneth's boyfriends! haha

Aunty and her lil bubba

Mama and Kong Kong with their Famous 5 grand children

4 generations 

Daddy managed to capture these pure sweet and happy moments of our lil angel 

Grandpa had so much fun with the birthday girl too. taking her on the castle and playing with her. moments like this im glad i have these pictures. these pictures are priceless. 

we have watched each other grow. from those wild drunk days to having families of our own...

I really felt it was my birthday! haha but since it was a magical pony theme obviously i had to dress to fit the theme right. everyone was wondering whose party it was! haha 

And finally my niece with the 2 giant ponies. 

Still cant believe G is 1 years old already. amazing how time has flown by. but then again because she is premature she really isnt 1 yet. so i get to celebrate her officially being 1 on 26th june again. I marvel at how much she has grown and how amazingly healthy she is. 

At 1 years old (corrected age 10mths) G can... 

-say 'mama, dada, nana, yaya, papa and other gibberish words'

-crawls super fast 

-climbs on the table 

-climbs out of a high chair and climbs onto the table 

-cruising 

-she loves steam egg, udon, fried rice, noodles, cakes, pao, french toast, pancakes 

-knows how to clap her hands

-feed herself using her hands 

-feed herself using a small fork 

-knows how to do the action of 'no more'

-waves 

-does a happy dance whenever she loves whatever she is eating 

-pulls the dogs ears and tail, pulls the cats fur 

-chases the cat/finds the cat 

-squeals in excitement whenever she sees the cat 

-cuddles with the dog 

-knows how to crawl up stairs 

-loves the slide and indoor playground 

-loves the ball pit 

-knows the word 'shake' and she will shake the bottle she is holding 

-knows how to play dead (she would fall backwards when we go "BANG") its really hilarious 

-she is super clingy to me (breastfeeding mother problems)

being a mother to this lil angel has been the most rewarding and my greatest achievement of my life. im truly blessed that God gifted us this amazing warrior; she fought for her life during the first 2 months and since then she has been perfectly healthy. out of this 1 year she has never really fallen sick and has taken her immunisation jabs very well too. she has only gotten slight flus and coughs which go away pretty fast. she is a blessed child and im proud that she is mine. 

Crossing the 1year mark as a mother

With G turning 1 in exactly 2weeks, I shall blog about my reflection as a young mum so far for this past year.

The first 2 months after giving birth to G was tortoruous. Having to travel back and forth to the hospital and not having my baby at home with me. I still wonder how I made it through. But I guess her stay at at the hospital let me recuperate from my c sect well and I could also establish my milk supply. I had too much milk in fact.

Having a newborn was tiring. Everything was tiny and fragile. She had lungs of steel though. She cried so loudly in the wee hours of the night. And thankfully my dogs got used to her quite quickly. Though Bullet used to bark whenever G cried.

So I spent 7months at home. Then in December I took the plunge on getting a job which took a toll on me. I missed my baby and the odd hours were horrible. So I quit after 2months and quickly enrolled into a Masters program.

Looking back I am really privileged to be able to watch G grow and witness her milestones. I was there when she could flip from back to tummy.. When she uttered her first babbles... When she could sit up... Crawl... Stand.. When she first fell off the bed...Take her swimming... Take her to play at playgrounds... Take her out almost virtually anywhere... Breastfeed her for almost a year; transitting from bottles to fully latch... Ate her first solids... Hear her first laugh. I am so lucky!

Surprisingly being a young mum I don't attract a lot of judgemental stares (or maybe I do but I don't notice it) but what I realize is people always look at G first and say how cute she is. Being 22years old and having a daughter has its advantage: at least I have graduated from university. Am currently pursuing my Masters at a young age. I can afford not to hold a full time job and witness my child grow up. Because even if I do need to have a full time job, I am just starting my career and being a junior, work responsibilities aren't as heavy. But when you are older and have a child, by then you are probably at the peak of your career and having a lot lesser time to be a mother. So I'm starting to appreciate being a full time mum.

I'm so close to G that it annoys my family sometimes cause there are times she only wants me. But all I want as a mother is to be close to my child. I want her to know she can always come to me and I will ALWAYS be there for her. Like my mum and I. Because I'm so free now, I spend so much time with my mum and its awesome! Even when I'm at my husband's house I don't miss my mum because she comes over or we go out for lunch still. I want G to have this strong close relationship too.

I was never brought up by a maid. My mum took care of my sister and I. So naturally I want my child to be brought up by her own mother too. So while I still can afford to, I'm going to make every second count.

My baby is no longer a baby but transitioning into a toddler. Oh how fast time flies... And I thank God she is healthy and growing so well. She has already achieved so much in a year. I can't wait to see what other amazing stuff she will do. Mummy and daddy loves you G. Our precious Lil angel...

Life of a student mummy

2 weeks ago I took the plunge and enrolled myself into a Masters program. Since what I really wanna work as requires a Masters degree, I decided to go for it. I was suppose to enroll into the July intake but they managed to put me in for the march intake. So I started school on Monday night.

My brain felt rusty... Everything was overwhelming and I immediate felt stress. Masters is a whole other level. And this time I can't afford to play anymore. This is what I want to pursue career wise so I gotta do well. But thing is I hate this subject I'm taking. There is a reason why I decided to graduate with an Arts degree when I could have gotten a full fledge Psychology degree all because I HATE research. Its a chore and very tedious process.

So anyways since I'm trying to be a serious student... I came home after my lecture and prepped myself for Tuesday's lecture. But with lil miss itchy fingers climbing here and there.. Getting her tiny fingers on my laptop it was impossible for me to concentrate -,- see this is the beginning of my life as a student mummy.

And then I wondered how those ftwms who study do it? The work load of a Masters student is already daughting enough. Add on a 9-5 job and being a mum 24/7 and wife... How does anyone do it? I don't know and I'm lucky I don't have to know for now.

Today I'm feeling lazy and I just wanna laze in bed all day till I have class at night. I have worked out my "study" schedule for the next few days so today shall just be a me day. Excuses since I already have such a chill life.

But honestly I feel more tired these days. Getting G to bed takes a painstaking 2hours and by the time we sleep its 2am. And then she wakes up about 5-6am for milk and sometimes if I'm lucky she sleeps immediately. But this morning she decided to play till 7.30am -.- FML seriously. And then she woke up at 11.30am when I wished she slept till 1. My broken sleep is exhausting me!!!

So yea I'm so thankful I don't have a full time job now. I'm sure I will really go mad by then. Praying that as she gets older she will go back to sleeping through again. Sighhh

Oh yes and she had a hair cut by mama a few days back. Tell me she looks like a China doll or Chinese version of Boo from Monsters Inc? Hahahaha

Marriage talk: MBS?

I've been wanting to blog about this for a while. But I've been busy settling school stuff and nursing a bad flu and cough. Baby.. Husband.. Grandma and I are all down with the same virus -.-

Sean and I live at both our parents house. On Sunday nights we go back to his side... Thursday my mum comes and pick G and I up and we head back to mine. But because my place is further to Sean's work place.. He doesn't come back till Friday which gives us 1 day apart from each other. There are days where G and I stay on Sunday nights and only go back on Monday. So sometimes we have 2 or more days apart. One day sean asked me "is this good for our marriage?"

Well there are 2 outcomes of it... 1 it makes a couple still miss each other. Another they grow further apart cause of too much personal space. For us, we've been doing this for a year and over now. What I've realized is that it makes us miss each other more. Like sean will always message me to tell me how he misses his girls when we aren't at home. And because G still wakes up in the middle of the night, sean is very exhausted and he has to work too. So I give him one day to sleep through and rest properly. And when we are there he's not able to "enjoy his shrimp hobby" cause we "disturb" him. So on Thursday night he gets time alone for himself.

While some "old school" people may not agree with our arrangement, it works for us. At first I thought it was weird too. But our parents accept it and then I realize we aren't the only couple! A lot of young married couples who are waiting for their BTOs to be ready actually have such arrangements too. Mainly because of distance from work that they choose to stay at their own homes and only stay together during the weekends.

To me how I look at it for the next 3-4 years while waiting for our house, we can afford to this now. When we move in to our house, its for real. We are stuck together for life! Haha and I'm super close to my family so any chance I get to live back at my own house I definitely will. And they love having G with them too.

And thing is at my own house I can chuck G with my mum in the middle of the night if I'm too tired to deal with her. But at Sean's I'm really on my own since sean has work. I can't be knocking on my in laws room at 3am right? So yea I feel more uncomfy at my own home.

To me even though you are married, you mustnt lose your personal identity. As an individual you still need to have your own personal space to do whatever you want without your spouse. So for us, we have one day apart to do that.

I guess this is what we call a modern marriage. The younger generation has adopted this style of marriage. It may work for some or it may not. Whatever it is marriage is about compromise, open communication and coming up with what works for you guys as a couple. There aren't set rules on how to maintain a marriage. Its finding what works together as a couple.