BDP : AT THE AIRPORT

(From now on, posts that's older will be tagged BDP : Back-dated Post !)

This was when we went to the airport. When I checked the date of when the pictures were taken, it was 1st of November 2009!

Hah! almost a year to the date.

I hang my head in shame!

I am such a bad, bad blogger!

 They even smile alike!

Photographic proof that we were at the airport - here we have a pic of planes.

UPDATE, UPDATE!

If you haven't heard by now, I've been busy "at work" on my new 365 blog.

I initially  thought it would be a great failure but I am pleasantly surprised that I am newly energised by all that daily blogging. I guess the 365-element allowed me the freedom to write up short updates & updating the blog with simple-oh-so-lame pictures of our daily lives.

It is actually refreshing & it does force me to be creative & look at things in a different perspective. I may not update everyday but I do try to re-tell the daily activities that we do all week. It really has been a renewed feeling!

That brings me to this blog .....

I don't know if I want to keep up this blog coz it really is so back-logged with stuff from the last quarter of 2009 till about August 2010 when I started the 365 blog. It is so over-due that it its duly embarrassing! But I know in my heart that the stories need to be told, the photos needed to be published. As I always say, I blog mainly for Ryan's (future) memories & of course my sanity! I don't know if Ryan will even bother to read the blog in the future or think about the effort (& tears) that I put in to keep the blog alive & well. It really is an open diary from me ... to my beloved son.

I don't know, we'll see ...

Anyhoo, do drop by for old news if you're vaguely interested. I will also try to update the long (draggy, mushy) stuff here, as the 365 blog is supposed to be short & sweet.

I will try, folks!

Meanwhile, take care & smile always, peeps!

NEW BLOG

I started a new blog ... eh! don't laugh ok!

Why start a new blog when you can't even manage one miserable blog in the first place? Errm ... why not?!

Ok, ok ... I started the new blog because I was intrigued by how some bloggers did up Project 365's (a photo a day for a whole year). As it was nearly the end of August when I started, of course the blog did not really "qualify" as a 365, but who cares right? I find blogging about 1 choice photo (or 2) a day ... actually easier & actually rather liberating. No need to explain much, no need for mega-long stories. Most of the time, that lone picture will do the talking.

Well, enough small talk!

Hop over my other blog - http://threes-a-company365.blogspot.com/  to see more of us, if you are vaguely interested. I can't promise that there will be a photo a day ... but I will try my very best.

Enjoy!!!

POUTS & TANTRUMS

Looking at these photos, I can't recall what transpired (haha ... am I just getting old & my memory is failing me or its just too many tantrum-throwing that I can't recall them all). I caught many grumpy looks & even some hand-pointing. Not a pretty picture I tell you but nonetheless important to etch in memory.

We all love to think that our children are perfect little angels. The reality is ... they are NOT! My Ryan ain't no angel, I am the first in line to admit that. He sometimes throws tantrums or gives me sour-grumpy looks when he doesn't get his way. But that does not mean that I let him get away with it! No siree!

I am one of those parent that would rather reprimand my own child when he misbehaves than let someone else do the scolding. I am aghast at rude & bad behaviour, especially from children. I also don't understand when parents can just sit back & let their kids say whatever they want, do whatever they want! Does that make it ok? ... just because the parents choose to keep quiet & let the ugly behaviour transpire? I think not! I may not be able to teach other people's children some manners but I'll be damned if my child takes after that bad behaviour. I think I need to speak up more if I want Ryan to grow up to be a respectable man. Shouldn't we teach our children from young? Shouldn't we protect our kids from being bullied? Do we sit back & say nothing ... or do we speak up ... for our kid's sake?

Ryan may not be the best behaved child nor the most gracious, but it is very important to me that he learns to be nice, courteous & honourable.

Now ... if only he would learn to share his things ... that would be good, no?

Still looking sweet here ...

Sour, angry!

Hey! Stop gritting your teeth & stop pointing, boy!

A HAND-ME DOWN JACKET

Ryan is a lucky little boy. He gets tons of hand-me-downs from family & (Mummy's) friends. And in return, when Ryan's outgrows the many clothes or toys, we pay it forward by giving away these toys to other family & friends. Many a times we have given them to charitable organisations too.

Its my way of passing on & blessing others with the many blessings bestowed on us. These items may not be new but they are still in good working condition. Besides, kids outgrow clothes & toys within a blink of an eye that it'll be such a waste to buy brand new when you can get them as hand-me-downs.This also works out for us as we are trying very hard to be ultra-frugal these days. 

I am not a parent that scorns at second-hand goodies. Nor am I vaguely embarrassed to admit openly that my son wears a LOT of pre-worn clothes & plays with a huge variety of wonderful pre-loved toys. 

The fact that Ryan has so many hand-me-downs stuff ... shows that so many people around him ... love him, right? See .. I told you Ryan is one lucky kid!

Ok, so ... the hooded-jacket was given to Ryan by my friend, Lisa (used to be her kids'). Ryan looks cute when he raises the hood to his pretty little head. Here I got some nice pics of him at home.

SO PEACEFUL

Don't all kids look peaceful when they sleep?

The only time that my Ryan can be quiet & still .... is when he sleeps. He's so hyper-active & talkative that sometimes its hard to keep up with him. Try spending a day with this small boy & you'll understand why me & Hubby tire easily these days (of course it doesn't help that we are cranky old folks).

I love to see my son sleep (& rested). It means that I can now have some semblance of peace & quiet ... even if its for a while ...

I love you baby, sweet dreams!

ROLLING WITH TRANSFORMERS

Remember when Ryan used to be sooo obsessed with The Transformers. The obsession may have lessened considerably but he loves those robots still. We bought these Transformers mats at Toys R Us when they were on sale.

Yes ... we spoil our little Ryan but he loves us so much ... in return. 

AN MRT RIDE UPDATE

We haven't been taking the MRT much, as a family these days. What with Hubby being very busy-&-hard-at-work these days, with his new job, Ryan with school & me ... being ahem ... lazy busy busy busy.

Just a simple update (these were taken in January 2010). Ryan now loves taking the train. What a world of difference compared to the early days, when he used to stiffen & look ultra-nervous. He enjoys the train rides these days. He never wants to sit ... he prefers to stand & hold the railings. Which is ok if the train is rather empty, not so good when its packed to the gills with people.

Oh well ...

Talk about these pics being "ancient", Ryan can't fit into the outfit anymore. He's grown!

I'M ON A ROLL NOW ...

... with updating my pics & blog.

These were taken in waaay-back February this year. As usual, whilst waiting for our ride at my sis' place, I can't help but whip my digicam out, to snap a few pics of my boy.

HOW I EAT

Wanna see how Ryan eats his favourite egg prata?

Wanna see how he "tortures" his Daddy ... after eating said eggy prata?

Well, I'm gonna show you anyway!

See what I go through ... on an almost daily basis.

Some days are good, some days are are. not. so. good.

But everyday ... with my boy ... is a blessing!

Prata ... here I come!

Ryan : Let's see how many poses I can come out with.

A LOVING KISS FOR MUMMY

As anyone would have noticed, I don't have a lot of pictures of myself on the blog. Why? Just don't like being photographed, that's all. So when gems like these turn up, I can't help putting them up here for others myself ... to see treasure.

A loving kiss from my angel, Ryan ... captured perfectly by Hubby!

Goes to show that even if we were waiting for our prata to be ready, we can get some touching  pics for memories.

Aww ... so sweet!

So blurry ... but still so loving & cute!

The (sometimes) photographer of the day.

HAPPY SCHOOL DAYS

Ryan has been going to a playgroup for more than eight months now (since the start of the year 2010). The initial stage wasn't a pretty picture but now he's been enjoying his daily school trips. Sometimes I try to snap pics of him before he embarks for that daily 2 hour session.

Why ... you might ask ... take photos of Ryan getting ready to go to school? Well, isn't going to school ... a rite of passage for every child?! So there! Hehe ....

See ... what I'm faced with every day ....

P/S : The logo of his school has been smudged/erased from the photos. Didn't want to put them out in the blog - confidential issues & all. Just so if you were wondering ... if his uniform was bleached or something. Nope!

BREAKFAST WITH MY DADDY

Ryan just loves his egg prata. And since our Precious loves prata for brekkie, we as a family have to suffer eat prata too. I've taken many photos of father & son having their usual morning pratas, here are two of them.

They both look very happy here - looking at them in the photos, puts a smile on my face.

Big smiles all around!

Aren't we feeling happy today!

SAY CHEESE ...

Recently, I've cultivated a rather "bad habit" of snapping photos of my son (under our humble block) ... whilst waiting for Hubby to get the car from the carpark. He'll say to me "Mummy, I say cheese". Yep, my son is so prone to my trigger-happy ways that whenever he sense a photo opportunity for me, he will remind his Mummy to snap away by saying the secret-code words : "SAY CHEESE".

If you think about it ... it's quite funny ... haha, to me anyway!

Ok, here are some random photos I've taken recently.

Nothing significant about them ... just Ryan acting out some of his moves & poses, that's all (he's full of them, these days!).

He loves this blue T-Rex (dinosaur) T-shirt. 

Ryan is soooo much into Ben 10 these days. Here he is twirling his Omnitrix, pretending he's Ben ... haha!

OF SPIDERS, SNAKES & CREEPY CRAWLIES

Do all boys love creepy crawlies?! I was under the impression that they all do. Evidently, my Hubby said "No, not all boys love insects & other creepy crawlies. Don't know why Ryan likes them".

So when my boy recently displayed a keen interest in things that make my hair stand on ends (yucks! I can't stand insects), I was willing to overlook my sheer & utter disgust of all things insect ... just to humour my kid.

Isn't that what we call ... love? ... hehe!

For a while now, there has been a small black spider that lived in our toilet (haha ... yep you read that right!). She has since made herself very comfortable in our loo. How did I know that it was a female spider? Well, she has since reproduced 2 baby spiders. Ryan just adore his pet(-roam-free)-spiders. Every morning he will never fail to greet them "Good morning, Spider!" before he starts his morning shower for school. Yep, that's the innocence of a 3 year old. Lately, the Mummy spider seem to have gone AWOL. My boy has been asking me - "Where's Mummy spider?" Errm ... I just don't have the heart to tell him that she might be dead. I don't think spiders got a long life span. Now that she spawned offsprings, she can go to Spider Heaven peacefully. Amen!

I don't so much love spiders but I was brought up not to kill or harm them. So this mum taught her son the same. So now Ryan just loves spiders too ... well, only the small ones (he's still petrified of huge spiders like tarantulas). He's also into snakes, ladybugs, snails, butterflies, etc.

So whenever we come across a bookstore, I will never fail to drop in to see if they have affordable books on sale. I've always loved reading so I am not at all aghast at spending a small fortune to encourage my son to read & explore his current interests. If snakes & spiders are what he likes right now ... that's what I am willing to encourage him on.

Busy showing his Daddy the finer points in insect study ... whilst waiting for our breakfast prata to be ready.

Ryan : Daddy, come read my book with me!

ANOTHER MONTHLY BIRTH-DAY?

Yep! You read that right!

If you have been reading this blog, ahem ... rather diligently, you might have seen some "oh-so-lame" yet rather impor-tant cake-blowing sessions that we have for our family ... well, it's just for the naughty munchkin (haha! not for the adults).

Yep, just like most kids his age, my Ryan enjoys blowing birthday candles. Errm ... not so much eating the cake though. Ryan seems to dislike any sort of cake these days ... I really don't know why. So this time round, I had this "brilliant" idea to buy a sugar-glazed donut instead. Donuts (among other things) are his new favourites, especially ones topped with chocolate or chocolate sprinkles.

Let's not forget the lone candle!

Smile for the camera!

A single blow will do it!

Will we still do this monthly cake-blowing-thingy in the future? I think we will. As long as Ryan still loves it & enjoys blowing the cartoon-decorated-cake, we will still humour him, with a candle. I think its just a simple act to show to our kid ... that we love him! That every month we spent with him ... is worth celebrating! And although its rather lame for most people, we still do it! I admit that we don't do it every single month ... due to forgetfulness & busy-busy days, but when we decide to do it, we usually celebrate it with little fanfare ... just that lone candle & cake for my angel, Ryan.

How do you celebrate the joy ... your kid brings to you? It may not be that cake or donut or eclair (or presents?), but I am sure every one of us have our own way to commemorate the happiness our children bring to our lives. I know me & Hubby will still keep on doing it, for as long as we can.

JUST MORE PICS TO SHARE

Since I didn't know where to begin on my loooong overdue posts, I guess the simplest way is to start from the present & ... go back & forth randomly. I will try to update the very recent photos but will "return to the past" whenever I can.

Don't get a headache reading the posts, ya?

This particular new red OP T-Shirt (bought during their seasonal sale) had a logo of a "fierce" blue eagle. Ryan refers to it as the "eagle shirt". Haha, that's originality for you!

Ryan looks rather grown up (and serious, no?).

Ok, its time for a cheeky smile for Mummy!

Another cheeky smile before we go!

Oh ... he also wore this same colour-coordinated outfit for the small National Day party at his playgroup. Bright red shirt, light khaki pants ... yep! I definitely wasn't gonna buy a pair of white pants just for that 1 day (duh! didn't want to be wasteful!). Besides, it doesn't matter that the pants are white (or not), what matters most is that Ryan enjoyed himself in his first National Day Party, at school. That's good enough for me : ) !!!

LATEST RANDOM PIC

We had a chance to go the the Jurong Bird Park recently, so I just wanted to share a cute picture of my mischevious munchkin, on the Ben & Jerry's cow mascot at the Park entrance. Ryan thoroughly loved the outing & a bunch of thanks goes to my pal, Lisa for giving us free invites. We also went to the Singapore Zoo too! Haha, so you can tell that I've got a huge bunch of photos to upload soon. Until then peeps ...

A SHORT UPDATE

Hello world!

Ermm ... if you were wondering, yes! we are still alive. Haha! Busy with our mundane lives but still just plain busy. Lots have happened these past couple of months & before you know it .... its the month of August. I've been lag ... the blog's been kinda dead. I know ... I know, no excuses ... it just is. I have such a backlog of photos & stories that it gives me a headache just thinking about it. All I can do is do my best. No promises ... just a concerted effort on my part.

Hey! its just a couple of months before 2010 is over & I haven't even begun updating about the whole year. I don't really know why I've been so lazy with the blog, maybe its just "blog fatigue" or sheer laziness. Its not that I don't have things to share. We do plenty around here, Ryan's been growing (though very slowly) & we have enough activities to keep us busy ... I just don't know where the time went. I hope to change that real soon. I do kinda missed blogging though ... & I feel really dreadful "mummy-guilt" for not documenting my adorable son's milestones ... all the important stuff that needs to be etched in memories & remembered ... for years to come.

Well, here's to more updates ... ya?

P.S : A new start calls for a new outlook, don't you think? Hope you guys like the new look of the blog. Just a fresh outlook, that's all.

MY TWO PRECIOUS BOYS !

The title says it all, ya!

They are both oh so precious to me ... but I'm sometimes ... their harshest critic, & at times ... push them the hardest.

Why do we do that?

Why are we the worst critics, of the ones we love most?

I guess its because we want only the best for them, nothing less! I am far more guilty of that, than most people would like to admit. I know I have to be strong ... & let them make their own mistakes, some-times. I know that its better to be loving & supportive than be destructive verbally but most times, its hard for me.

"Hold thy tongue ... & let love show you the way."