Lil Miss Snap-Snap

Posted on February 27, 2008

Ashley likes to take my Canon Powershot P&S camera and go on a snapping spree…Yee Ha!

Introducing…a sneak preview of the Lil Missy’s toes…

Pictures of feet……(Pardon the mess..my house has been overuled by kids’ toys!)

A portrait of mommy dearest. heheheh…

Ashley’s version of Lomography

A view from the top - of her toys on the floor and a sneak peek at the Lil Missy’s toes…

Our lamp and a partial view of our picture wall… and part of hubs!

In this picture, Daddy is carrying Aidan…

Some of her collection of bags.

(Pictures taken during CNY lunch at our home - 7 Feb 08)

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you’re a star!

Posted on February 26, 2008

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One day, I realised that Ashley came back with stars on her feet. Don’t have a clue what I’m talking about?

(22 Feb 08) - She doesn’t know how to draw a star although she can recognise one. This is definitely the work of Cousin Bridget. She refused to let me wash it off her feet!

On another note….here’s a picture of Grandpa and Ashley taken during Uncle Terence’s early birthday dinner on Valentine’s Day.

(14 Feb 08)

Filed Under Ashley, Special Occasions, Festivals | 11 Comments

good morning kiddos!

Posted on February 25, 2008

(23 Feb 08) - Goooood Morning Kiddos! (Oops. Poor Aidan…being pinned down by Ashley!)

It’s nice to see that Aidan and Ashley have begun to play with each other now that Aidan is bigger and more mobile. But every so often, Ashley thinks that Aidan is as big as her and would lie down on top of him! (There was once when Ashley stepped on Aidan’s tummy when he was like 3 months old..Poor Aidan! Cried like mad...) It makes my heart fuzzy and warm inside to see both brother and sister having fun amongst themselves…

Aidan is always the first one to wake up in the mornings. He’d stand on his cot, face us and cry out to us until we pick him up and let him lie down with us…

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he loves….

Posted on February 23, 2008

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..to eat! There’s never a moment where Aidan will refuse the food that we offer to him. Whenever we are about to feed him his porridge or milk, he’d get excited and call out to us - as though he’s asking us to hurry on up! And when we’re not fast enough, he’d grunt and whine!

(17 Feb 08)

Aidan has become more ‘kepo’ (busybody). Each time he’s on the living room floor, he’d crawl (really fast now!) to Ashley’s ‘office’ area and see ruffle things on the table and see what he can bite on! Ashley on the other hand forbids Aidan from messing around her office stuff!…

(12 Feb 08)

Nevertheless, Aidan loves his big sis. He wants to be near Ashley even when she’s asleep!

(1 Feb 08)

He’s also taken a liking to the stereo and likes to press every single button on it!

(22 Feb 08)

…and is still obssessed with the tv remote control!

(23 Feb 08) - I love this picture….he closed his eyes because at that time, Ashley was waving her blankie around as she turned round and round on the bed next to Aidan.

He loves his toes…

He has recently started to open and close both his hands to the sound of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars’ and it’s funny how amazed he is at himself to be able to open and close both his hands…it’s as though he’s observing his new super-hero power…

(17 Feb 08) - Blurry shot of Aidan opening and closing his hands during mealtime.

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the Don’t-Close-Your-Eyes shots…

Posted on February 20, 2008

When I’m about to snap pictures of Ashley and remind her to open her eyes for the shots, she’d do the total opposite! - she’d close her eyes on purpose!

(20 Jan 08) - Photo taken during one of those lazy Sundays after we got back from mass….

(17 Feb 08) - I took this shot during one of her modelling sessions for Great Expectations. She ransacked my walk-in wardrobe, dug out an old handbag and decided that it was her handbag and started putting her own stuff into the bag!

(1 Dec 08) - This photo was taken during one of the “Good Morning” sessions I had with the kids…..

This picture was taken last Christma while we were at Grandma and Grandpa’s house @ KK. She wanted to shield that cut above her left eye which she had gotten after the nasty fall that day…

(2 Feb 08) - Good Morning kiddos….and once again..notice how Ashley’s eyes are shut tight!

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meal-time fun

Posted on February 19, 2008

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Aidan cracked me up over the weekend when I was feeding him his lunch. Since the top two and bottom two teeth have grown, he’s been biting on the spoon which I use to feed him. So last sunday, I decided to sling my camera over my neck and made it handy so that I could snap pictures of him while he’s up to his antics during his meal-time…

I especially love the shot of him with the spoon in his mouth. He reminds me of Popeye eating his spinach…..

Towards the end of the meal (i.e. when he is full), he decided that his thumb was tastier than Mommy’s goblin concoction and sucked on his thumb instead. I had to literally pry his thumb away from his mouth before he welcomed yet another spoonful of porridge into his wide-opened mouth.

Since he totally dislikes drinking plain water, I attempted to trick the little fellow by giving him water via the spoon I used to feed him his porridge. The moment he tasted water, he spat every drop of it as though he had consumed poison! (as depicted in the picture above - bottom right picture)

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no regrets. live now. just be.

Posted on February 14, 2008

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I love this photo of Aidan having a nap on his daddy’s tummy…this was taken on the 1st day of CNY - during our CNY reunion lunch at our house…

In the interest of photography, Nadia pointed me to this heart-wrenching blog of a superb photographer who’s 3yo daughter, Ava, had passed away a year ago as a result of being trapped in their car in the hot Australian summer heat. Read about it here but before you click on that link - get your tissues ready and for the ladies out there, I hope you’re wearing waterproof mascara! After going through the blog, I’ve a different perspective of motherhood. I realised that we, as mothers, or at least I have been focussing on getting things done perfectly that I’ve neglected the little, important things in life about my kids. e.g.

- trying to get Ashley to finish bathing as fast as possible so that I can move on to the next chore instead of letting her enjoy the water falling down onto her head, face, body….

- not letting Ashley eat her favourite biscuits etc when it is near her mealtime which she then blows up and cry till kingdom come!

- not being able to finish work early to bring the lil missy to the nearby playground so that she can enjoy being a normal kiddo at the playground

- not letting Ashley wear the most atrocious pair of slippers with her nice dress when we’re on our way out of the house….

- insisting on getting Ashley to wear her bib (despite her resistance) especially when she eats Spaghetti Bolagnese so that I don’t have to spend extra time trying to scrub the stains off her dress!

- screaming at Ashley when she irritates the hell out of me by whining and crying - of which I regret almost instantly after lashing out at her….

- so what if Ashley has taken her bath earlier and is still running around playing like a monkey? I used to ask her to cut it out so that she won’t sweat and I won’t have to give her a shower again! (Yea…I’m freaky aren’t I)

Of course with that being said, boundaries need to be set with children. But I guess I can cut them a bit of slack:P

I don’t want to live with regrets.

I want to live NOW. (not that I’m dead now la….you know what I mean..)

Live in the moment.

I don’t want to fuss about being an imperfect mom and just be as long as my kids are growing well for their age, gaining weight, laugh, talk and play to their hearts’ content!

I don’t want to look back and have a list of ‘what ifs’ and ‘I should haves’…

So for starters, I’m glad that I have a job which allows me to work from home…

Next, I need to get a helper to help me out during the day while I work from home so that I can work and at the same time be with the kiddos…(OK time to beg my temp maid to consider ending her contract with the cleaning agency and work for me instead!)

I’m inspired to capture everything about my kids - photos of them, their stuff, their favourite toys, fav shirt/dress, them with their silly antics…everything that surrounds them.

So for starters…here’s a peek at Ashley’s ‘office’ at home (more like her play area but she calls it her office and incidently, it is out of bounds to Aidan! oooooo k….looks like we have to get another ‘office’ for Aidan as well when he’s older…

Introducing…the lil missy’s office.

Some of her favourite colour pencils…

Her boxes of toys are climbing sky high these days…

Her box of junk…Notice the photo albums on the right hand side? She discovered those a few days ago and likes us to go through the pictures with her…..It has been on her office table since she discovered it.

Aidan crawled to Ashley’s table, pulled himself up and was pottering about when his big sis wasn’t looking..:)

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over the CNY holidays…

Posted on February 13, 2008

…the cousins got together during the CNY reunion dinner (day 1) at our in laws’ house. Notice how Ashley is leaning towards Bridget (middle)? That’s how taken she is to her mentor cousin! Everything Bridget does, she would follow. Good AND bad.

The grandparents got together with their grandkids. This was taken at my in laws’ place during the 1st day of CNY (dinner).

Aidan bonded with Grandpa…..

….and his Yeh-Yeh..

Ashley and cousin Bridget sang Negaraku for us after the CNY dinner…

The Lil Missy played at the playground near our house….

She didn’t dare slide down the slide though….she claimed it was too high…

We gambled at our house on the 3rd day of CNY…..

..and while everyone was gambling….Aidan kept Grandma busy…

..and his mama (MIL)….

Aaron tried to check out Ashley’s ‘office table but was later stopped by the lil missy herself!

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the things lil missy says…

Posted on February 11, 2008

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Save money to buy??

Daddy : You must save money so that you can buy…?

Ashley : (without hesitation) ICE CREAM!!!

Too much of Lion King…

The lil missy have been into Lion King these days and each time she watches it, she’d always feel sad when Mufasa falls and dies leaving Simba all alone to fend for himself.

Last night, I was out but according to Hubs, just before she dozed off, out of the blue, she sprung a question on Hubs ..

Ashley : Why did the baby lion cry?

Hubs was surprised by her question which came out of no where….what was his answer?

Hubs : Ask mommy when she comes back… (*slap head*)

Angry with Grandpa

I was told that when I was out last night, Ashley refused to let my dad have a look at some photo albums…..

Grandpa : Ok…if you don’t want to let me see the albums, Grandpa will take your bag back ok?

Ashley : Ok. Take.

And she proceeded to return one of the 2 bags she least likes back to Grandpa. She’s defiant isn’t she?

Grandpa : Ok…grandpa will go upstairs now.

Ashley : Go la…up up up!

And Grandma was laughing to herself at the lil missy’s reactions….

Scary as it seems, I think she’s imitating me!

Where has her loyalty gone?

On the 3rd day of CNY, we had the usual gang visiting us at our house. Our friends, Chris and Cini brought their twin sons (3mo). Ashley was fascinated by them.

Mommy : You want the baby to stay here at our house?

Ashley : Yes

Mommy : and how about Aidan?

Ashley : Aidan can go…

Mommy : What? You want Uncle Chris to bring Aidan home?

Ashley : Yes

Alone

One morning, when Ashley woke up alone in the bedroom, she questioned me when I came into the bedroom…

Ashley : Mommy? Why did you leave me alone in the room?

Mommy : Mommy went downstairs to make your milk…

Ashley : Why did you leave me alone in the room with the monsters?

(20 Jan 08) - Ashley purposely closed her eyes for the shot while holding her new childrens’ bible she got as a Xmas pressie from ‘Ah Pak’ (Hub’s eldest brother) …cheeky gal

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on 1 feb holiday…

Posted on February 10, 2008

….Aunt Twin, Denisha and Darien paid us a visit. Denisha (4yo) and Darien (3yo) were a bubbly duo. The moment they jumped out of the car, they greeted me with a “Hello Auntie” greeting.

Ashley on the other hand was sleeping and was woken up by our guests. So the lil missy was a tad grumpy and needed sometime to warm up. While she took her time warming up, Denisha and Darien were already entertaining themselves - helping me to kill the ants that they saw on my living room floor!:P

And where was Aidan? He was home too….he juggled from being in the cot to being carried by Twin and me and he was occasionally on the floor….

While the kids were doing their own thing….Twin and I caught up. Little did we actually anticipate that we’d meet up again, 10+ years after secondary school, as mothers with kids!

We chatted.

We chilled.

And grumbled abit about motherhood (motherhood always a bed od roses right???) and compared notes on how monstrous we can get with our kids when they push their limits with us….

Towards the end of our meeting, Ashley warmed up when Twin and gang were about to leave!