Wrong definition?

As I took the MTR home a while ago, I suddenly realised that my definition for SUPER MUM is erroneous. The narrative is fine, but fact is there is no word coming even close to fit the scope of work done by MOM.

Bottomline: Even you were to take 50% of the time spent now, and devote to yourself..you are still a SUPER MUM...

Definition of Super Mum...

I wrote two days ago a post dedicated to my wife, but deleted it yesterday. Whilst the bottomline is gratitude and love, and that no words may describe that, I decided to re-attempt to define this word "Super Mum".

She, who
1. is beautiful - before-during-after pregnancy (yes twice over).
2. is ungrudgingly selfless in her love to her sons (alright, maybe one residual percent to her husband)
3. is successful in career, but yet does not want to remain so (haha...yes, she is just waiting to enthuse her tai-tai DNA into full blown action)
4. is left (alone) to fend off the conflicting demands from our two princes
5. lets me enjoy the "glory" of a returning and fun daddy whenever I am back home.

In short - she is one who is left with no vocabulary for "I/ME/MYSELF". That's SUPER MUM.

So who am I to shamelessly use the words "torment" and "alone", when I have all the time in the world to be surrounded by accounting standards...dry and boring it may be, but I have "I/ME/MYSELF" to me and myself.

To my dearest, I thank you for every bit that you have given us. And for our growing sons, please do appreciate your mum for who she is and what she's doing. But that is if "blogging" is relevant when Iggie/Nick grows up. Maybe I should transfer this blog to my little leather book...

friends ...

i had a great time last night - went out with some gal friends for a fancy dinner to celebrate one woman's big three-oh ... and whilst having that lovely cripsy skin salmon i was just thinking how the different friends that i had through the different phases of my life change and shape me, and led me to where i am today...

which brought me to think about my two boys ... would they have good friends who would encourage them to be brave, strong and loyal ... looking back and recalling some of the gals from school who mixed with the wrong crowd and the troubles they got themselves into, i wonder if these were the same fears my mother had for me while i was growing up ... and how she managed to keep me on the right track .... and would i be able to do that for my sons ... keep them safe on the right track...

well, it may be a little too early to worry - but looking at the choices both of them had made so far .....

iggie had Pooh Bear as his best friend til Crocodile came along ... and now nick sharing the same friendship with Pooh Bear ...

i guess i can only watch from the side and pray always that my lovely boys will have great friendships and i will always wonder where these friendships will lead them ...

here's to all my FANTABULOUS friends out there ... thank you for your friendships, guidance, gossips, tears and laughter!!!

Already missing too much

Just a day is all it takes for me to miss my sons. Maybe that was too much credit (for myself) to say it as a day, it was probably a split second and it was already too long. It definitely was an emotional rush as I received my lovely nephew Tyler in Hong Kong..... That he enjoyed himself so much in Hong Kong is really nice. As I can imagine the same occuring for my Iggie and Nick. However, it was all so wierd whenever he was enjoying, I was a little tormented as the moment of joy felt just little empty...but of course at the same time, it was all so wonderful to see little Tyler being all smiley, and also to observe first hand his gift for reading. Actually it was also very fun to witness the irony of life...how my brother is proud of his son...for Tyler could read much better than him....???hehehe???).

As I kissed little Tyler goodbye at IFC a while ago, I can already imagine how hard it will be for me to do the same when my Iggie and Nick come by in March...

meni mini memi mo!!!

right - so i do have a lot of men in my life ... three of them all at once!!! and here they are ...

M-I-N : maurice - ignatius - nicholas

but together they are definitely not min volume ... its max volume!

very very thankful that maurice is back to spend cny with the boys... and for the past couple of nights, as i sat on the chair (after settling nick down), looking at the three of them in the beds sleeping (and snoring) away .... somehow the eye bags and backaches seem like nothing and it is all worth it... i mean how many people do you know can synchronize their snoring into a symphony?? we have the loud base, the soft melody mixed with the occasional rap of "eh eh.. eh eh eh..."

wonder if heaven makes music like these ... and of course ... for every symphony and song - there is always the silent conductor ... taking in the good and bad ..... ME :)

latte anyone???

chinese new year just round the corner - just two more corners actually - decided to do some last minute shopping with grandma ... and shop we did! we started from paragon to heeren to centrepoint .... from day time til night time!!

and just as we were leaving ... the sky opened up and someone turned on the big tap - it started pouring!!!!.... and with five big bags of new clothes, one quinny zapp and a baby in tow... we decided instead of buying a brolly and braving the rain - lets have some ice cream and coffee!! hee hee! and of course nick had his beverage as well in the cafe .... so we were three VERY happy troopers!!!

Architect Or Engineer?

Everyday I look at my dear Iggie, I wonder if he will be an engineer or architect...Iggie and I just spent a glorious afternoon at our favourite spot at Sentosa. Yes, we have a favourite spot - which is a particular spot on the right side to the suspension bridge (beside the southern most point of Asia...hehe never did believe this tourist spin). Iggie believes that that spot belongs to him. Iggie's favourite activity there is to play with the sand. However he never once shown interest in building sandcastle...his favourite is to dig holes....big holes, or to build a huge drainage system around our beach mat. Once his drainage system is done, he will always "test" them out by fetching buckets of water from the sea. Sometimes I am quite amazed by his determination in testing his drainage system...he will walk sooo far to fetch his buckets of water, and I am not talking about one or two. It is easily twenty. But of course, at the end of the day, he always can totally exhaust himself in this activity, because thereafter, it shall be "Daddy, carry carry carry...I cannot walk anymore..." And how can I refuse, right? So architect or engineer? All Daddy knows is it will be hard to imagine Iggie being a beach bum...cos he shall always be busy digging his sand and fetching his water :)

Lessons from McDonald's

We just stole some moments from our sons (Iggie is in school, and Nick has just been fed) and we rushed to McDonald's to have a little rendezvous. Well, we were thinking if it should be Halia, Prata or McDonald's...but took the comfi option...McDonald's at King Albert Park. Just like courtship...but then again, meals during courtship were never simple affair. Daddy here always saved up for such big occasions (eg Doc Cheng's, Alkaff Mansion, Compass Rose, Prego, etc...hmmm Sharon's disputing all these claims right now, and she says that were ages ago, evidently from the "old" name establishment that I just mentioned)...but bottomline is, I found out much later that all she wanted was (alas) CHAR KWAY TEOW and CHWEE KUEY. So this morning at McDonald's, we placed our order at the counter...she chose hotcakes...and at a flash I saw that McDonald's is offering bagel. And I proposed to have hers switched to Bagel meal (remembering that she liked bagel). When we settled down, she meekly told me that she had actually preferred hotcakes....arrrggghhh....so much for telepathic understanding between couples...more so for one that has brought two lovely boys to this world...:)

Lesson 1: Never assume...
Lesson 2: Speak your mind...

Then we get to eat what we want, ain't it that simple?

For the record, it was my best breakfast since I left for Hong Kong...especially sweet as these are stolen times from our sons:) (tsk tsk...am I bickering for lack of attention or what)...smilz...

PAPI decides to blog...

Intruder blog from big Daddy...

Just saw Sharon's blog on our lovely sons...the best gift from MOM to me. I cannot imagine how both of them have changed every single day I am away from them. From the moment I cradle Nick on his first day till now...he has certainly changed. And Ignatius too...every other day when I speak with him on the webcam, he just talks sooo differently. I guess I am just a proud Daddy...and happy Hubby for all my lovely wife has sacrificed to give the love to us.

Consistent HIGH Quality Products Guaranteed!!

i have lost count of the number of people who commented that nick looks so much like iggie, and my usual response "they came from the same factory using the same raw materials - consistent product guaranteed!".... but yet to me, i think they are quite different.... til i was sorting out some of the pictures and saw a "similar" pose ...

~ ~ ~ tah-da!!! ~ ~ ~

the black & white is Ignatius and coloured photo is Nicholas ......

now they do look alike - same pose, same face, same open mouth .... even the hair-do!!!

but yet to me ... they both are unique and different.... in so many ways ...

the doctor mentioned to me ... "lucky you had ignatius first, that's why you had the courage to have a second one. if nick was the first born, you would most probably stop at one!" ..... ha ha ha!! hmmm .... she could be right ....

but i still love both of them all the same .... just that being the second one is always different from being the first ... that is why they always say "its better to be no 1... " - they get new clothes, new toys, more attention and everything is always 100% STERILIZED & CLEAN .... whilst no 2 ... things can get a little more "relaxed" and used .... hee hee .. but i still got nick nick a new outfit for chinese new year ... so not too bad afterall.....

both are still my handsome babies!!!! love you both!!!

ps: hubby said "since we have such lovely handsome boys... maybe we can try for a girl next time.. what do you think dear?" .... and my response "you must be on drugs .... i am not.... stop dreaming dear..."

2 Princes

presenting the two handsome boys of my life!!!

the two BUNDLES of joy ........ and also the two TERRORS !!!!

life has never been the same (or sane) after the arrival of these two .... no more sleeping and lazing in bed til 12pm or 2pm ....

my days (or nights ... they no longer make any difference now) start at 2am in the morning. i am already up dealing with nick ... then again through the night with numerous feeds and nappy changes .... at 7am iggie will be up ... and if i am lucky - i will get a smiile and soft voice saying "i want to drink milk" .... and 90% of the time, i am not so lucky, thus the whining and crying coz i am not laying next to him, and he wants to be carried and cuddled in bed immediately, though my hands would be filled either with tissue and cotton balls filled with poo and pee from nick ....

sigh ....

then the BIG battle to wash up and be ready for school begins .... with both of us losing tragically - coz the adult would lose the fight for him to be quiet (as there are other members of the family still in dreamland) ... and child to lose his fight to stay home and not be in school ..... so after his LOUD crying of "i dun wan to take my shower!!!! i dun wan to go to school!!" whilst having a quick shower and change into his school uniform ... the Second Battle will start .... "i dun wan to wear my socks and shoes! i dun wan to go!" .... it never ends ....

gone are the days when i could laze in bed and be up only to have lunch .... guess i will only get to have these in my "retirement" years!!!!!!

1 Boy, 2 Pigs & 1 Green Froggie

while shopping in raffles city, had to find a place to "settle" iggie down so that we can do some shopping... saw a toy sofa on display with a couple of pigs and a green froggie ...

hmmm.... a brilliant idea struck me!!!

got him to sit with the little "friends" and wait for the train to come pick them up!! ha ha!

other shoppers in the mall were all surprised to find this little boy amongst the toys while walking pass this little shop and there were lots of smiles and "how are you little boy?" and "hi!" going round....

iggie was quite surprised at their reactions and came running to me and asked "why are people smiling and laughing about?" .. and i told him "they saw the sweetest boy and wanted to be friends with you!"

nick's sweetest smile

here's a pic of nicholas in his best moment!!!

a picture of nick nick when he is not crying is very hard to capture!!! ... and finally i did it!....a sweet smile ... but after this picture was taken ... a big pile of shit was discovered in his pampers .. this smile must be telling me "i just poo poo mummy ... get to work and start cleaning again!!!"

sigh... that is another 50cents thrown away ...

hence my decision to start this blog and put the daily treats and interesting bits from my two little princes here ...