1st Yr: Actual birthday

I intended to post this on his actual birthday but i couldn't find the card-reader for the longest time so i couldn't upload the pictures. Mountain Boy has taken the habit of swiping things from us, we've just recently discovered where his secret hiding place is so we found a bunch of important stuff there, including the card reader. Naughty little boy... need to start smacking his little butt. JK.

Anyway, his birthday started with an early present. CAKE!!! Yummy carrot cake for breakfast. He kept wanting more but of course i had to limit cos of the sugar.

nom nom nom...

Went downstairs for a walk and he met not 1 not 2 but 3 cute little dogs. He wanted to kiss a dog but of course the dog wasn't willing.

Kiss me so i'll turn into a prince...

The toy poodle puppy was extremely friendly! He kept wanting to play with Mountain Boy who was scared and excited at the same time. It was just adorable watching them both.

We took him out for his birthday lunch at a yunnan restaurant. It was a hot sunny day, complete mistake to dress him in long sleeves. He was perspiring soo much he looked like he had a bath.

I'm ONE!

I think this picture captures his playful "i'm going to laugh because i did something naughty" expression.

This is when he is actually laughs...

I felt very emotional throughout the day. I didn't look or feel fabulous that day but i wanted a picture at 7+pm to mark the exact 1 year mark with my boy.

Mountain Man took leave to play with his little boy. so sweet them two. Mountain Boy likes to "mount" the both of us when he sees us lying down. And then we must jiggle like a human horse. It drives him completely wild.

1st Yr: Letter from Mama

Hi Mountain Boy,

today has been a very emotional day for Mama. Every minute of today i was reliving what happened exactly a year ago. A few times today i secretly shed some tears of joy, I feel so much love for you i don't know if you'll ever understand, maybe when you have your own kids someday you will.

You've turned out to be an incredibly lovable boy. Not just to us but also to the ayi and people who have come into contact with you, even strangers. Do you know that you are famous in our estate for being the earliest walker/most active boy? Our neighbour keeps telling me that you are constantly being mentioned during their dinner conversations because you are extremely clever and advanced. Mama tries to be humble by playing down your developments but truth is both Daddy and I are bursting with pride. We are so proud to be your parents.

I wish today didn't go by so quickly. I wish the year didn't go by so fast. But at the same time I also look forward to you growing up and being a man of your own. We have absolute faith that we will remain proud of you no matter what you do or become.

Remember to always thank the Lord Almighty and rely on Him all the time. Momma and Daddy have always prayed for you and with you every single day for the last 1 year and He has never failed us.

Hope you had a great birthday my dear son...

xoxo

Mama

Happy first birthday my boy!

1st Yr: Actual Day

Weather wise, i couldn't have asked for a better day. The sky was clear, the air was good, not too warm, not too chilly. Autumn is really the best time for alfresco events, the restaurant where the party was held had a huge veranda where the kids could play. I was so excited about the party because i had put in so much effort in making Mountain Boy's first birthday a special one.

There was ONE major glitch... The party was from 330pm to 6pm, Mountain boy had been napping pretty badly the past 1 week so i was really afraid that he would be grouchy at his own party. He struggled during his afternoon nap and slept late so he only woke up at 4:10pm, and then we were held up by a very bad jam enroute so we arrived at the party at 5:10pm! We missed a huge chunk of it, i felt so upset... Luckily Mountain Man was there to hold the fort and the party must go on. The guests had arrived and everyone was already chatting and eating and the kids were running wild.

I was like a madwoman bouncing here and there twisting balloons, blowing bubbles, eating, chatting, and then herding everyone into the restaurant to cut the cakes, and then herding them out again to play zero point, and then packing up by 6:15pm. Kind of like my wedding day, 2 yrs to plan and it was over in just 1 day! I wish i can go through the party all over again in slow motion.

Here are some pictures from the party..

Mountain Boy was very well behaved. He didn't cry, he didn't fuss. He just played along. I don't think he knew he was the star... But when he sees this post he will someday.

T-shirt from Rock Your Baby.

Mountain boy was pretty stunned when everyone sang the birthday song. He must have been wondering why everyone was staring at him and clapping and smiling. First timer at this birthday business.

A nice family picture for keepsake!

After the cake cutting, we adjourned with the Zero Point Championship. See me in action... I was doing the "five times" but i failed miserably my back almost broke. I used to be able to do "five times" 20 times no problem okay. It's the age and the extra weight. The Zero Point Champion turned out to be a man, and he kept insisting that boys played Zero Point too *roll eyes*. Anyway he was a real good sport and i sincerely thank him for humouring the crowd.

Just wanted to say a mega THANK YOU to all the lovely guests who attended the party. Sorry we were late but i hope u had fun regardless, if you didn't i hope u enjoyed the food at least. Mountain Man and Boy and I love u soo very much. Hope to see you again next year.

Click here for the rest of the photos.

1st Yr: Preparations!

The birthday post is WAY too long so i have to split it up.

About 2 weeks ago, we began intensive planning of Mountain Boy's first birthday party. The concept, decor, invite, party favours, games to entertain the little ones, the bigger ones and the adult ones.

Mountain Man and I have one key hygiene factor to meet when it comes to planning parties... if all else fails, the food must at least be good so the guests won't go home unsatiated. So we chose Nyonya Kitchen, a restaurant quite far from our home but serves very decent Singaporean/Malaysian food.

Here's the invite we sent out to our guests.

Games:

Given that the celebration was held at a rustic singaporean restaurant, we thought it would be fun to prepare some traditional games for our guests. I made the zero point and 5 stones, and bought a couple of "chateks" and marbles. The kids were easier, long twisty animal balloons and a bubble gun should do the job.

Birthday cakes: Technically i didn't prepare this, my friend did. I only bought the candles. She was so sweet to bake 2 birthday cakes, one for me and one for Mountain Boy- Lemon cake and Carrot Cake. I love love love her them.

Decor/Party favours: A friend recommended a company that prints stickers and banners so this was easy. But you know these black paper bags? I accidentally bought 200 of them even though i only wanted 20. I'll have to use the same bags for the next 10 yrs!

Well quite a lot of work went into today's event. I think we've also pretty much used up our budget for his second and third birthday!

Anyway stay tuned for more party photos.

Daily Snippets: He's just not that into you

I just happily clicked on an interesting article written by match.com on 5 reasons why the men don't call you back and I started wondering how many single ladies are still reading my blog, helloooo are you still out there? I'm sharing my dating secrets and you don't want to miss this.

I came up with my own 5 theories of why the men don't call you back. Now mind you i've no diploma in dating but i do speak from personal rejection experiences and have friends who wondered why the men stopped calling.

Sometimes i talk to Mountain Man and ask him why men are such jerks and he'll tell me that men often suffer in silence and take the blame when actually it's the girl who was responsible. Can't expect a man to continue dating a girl he finds out he doesn't like right? How else to let her down gently except to just, stop calling. Of course i told him that an expensive offering such as a handbag or shoes would be effective in taming an angry rejected girl.

Anyway, here's the 5 in order of equal importance.

Reason 1

You have BO or your breath stinks. Sometimes it's simple as that...

Reason 2

You are desperate. Sadly, men like to pursue, not be pursued. And by desperate, i don't mean holding a bowl under your chin to catch your drool. Don't try so hard to impress him because chances are he is already impressed with you tht's why he asked you out. If you asked him out, good for you cos if he agreed to go out with you and in that way he is also impressed.

Reason 3

You are not interested in him. Pay genuine interest in his life- army stories, taekwando championships, xbox games. It's OK if you are not interested in these topics, but be a good listener. Say how you're not into xbox, it is OK to disagree. But don't write off his interests...

Reason 4

You know everything and is right about everything. I think men prefer boring women (who looks pretty) to women who has an opinion about absolutely everything (and looks pretty). If you know everything how can the men add value?

Play the game of the modern damsel in distress so the men get to be the knight in shining armor.

Reason 5

You have no self-awareness. There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance, knowledgable and "talk too much too loud". Know your flaws and try to hide them till date 15.

Good ways of leaving opportunities for future dates is to make them during the date. Like "Hey so you like the chicken wings at East Coast right? Let's go next week!". And if agrees but then he still doesn't call maybe he's just not that into you.

Well good luck single ladies...

Perfect companion

Mountain Boy hasn't been napping too well recently. Usually he can do a stretch of 1hr15mins at least in the morning, and then again in the afternoon. I suspect that he is adjusting to a 1 nap schedule and entering what is called the "yuck" zone where 1 nap is not enough, 2 naps are too much.

Because of his botched nap in the morning, i didn't want to bring him to the babygroup in case he got grouchy. So i took him to lunch instead. It turned out to be a very delightful afternoon.

He likes feeding himself now. He can't scoop properly but i normally put the food on his spoon and he does a decent job of putting it in his mouth.

After lunch he went off wandering on his own, he had absolutely no regard for me and didn't follow my lead. When he came to this huge flight of stairs, he didn't even turn to me for help, he decided to squat, turn his butt towards the stairs and crawled down all the way by himself. I was next to him screaming out "Leg first, leg first!". Of course when he completed the steps he looked mighty proud of himself.

After all the hard work, i rewarded him with a car ride at the supermarket. He was a champ at the steering wheel. Only thing was he decided to grab an avocado and sunk his teeth into it, with the skin intact and all! How dare he pick one of the most expensive fruits!

It was just a perfect afternoon. But i do hope that his naps would regulate soon. He isn't sleeping alot these days. about 12 hrs each day, way too little for his age. Good news is his milk intake is up.