RANDOM PICS & UPDATE

Here's Ryan with his Daddy, enjoying the first meal of the day. Most weekends Ryan will request for his favourite "tata" (prata). We indulge our child coz when a fussy eater requests for any meal, his parents are happy to follow suit. I know prata isn't the healthiest of food but any parent of a fussy-eating child will vouch for, is that we take whatever comes. When my child eats something I buy bulks of it or let him eat his lot (eventhough we do try to restrict his prata & milkshakes to weekends treats only). I am still trying my best to introduce more variety of food for Ryan but its been an uphill task.

Some success these couple of weeks have been - frozen hash browns & fish fingers (lightly pan-fried with extra virgin olive oil), boiled quail eggs, cheats home-made pizza (using frozen pita bread, smeared with spaghetti sauce & served with whatever toppings of desire + cheese), fried Maggie "mee goreng" using just a smidgen of seasoning, home-made boiled mash potatoes with carrots & broccoli.

I am still trying to be creative & will try to add more to his menu. I know that frozen stuff ain't the most healthy but I just do what I can. Bah to those mummies who think that only fresh stuff should be served to kids. We are a family on a very tight budget & with limited resources, you try to be creative or you just die trying. I am reading up a lot on kids meals & borrowing tonnes of cookbooks to pick-up to some recipes to try out for the family. I hope I will have some success to report in the future. Meanwhile, I am just trying out whatever I can. Next week, I will try instant waffles on Ryan. Fruits are still rejected - oranges, apples, grapes ... only local longan are eaten by Ryan. Also trying to think of new stuff, to introduce ...

Daddy, cooling down the tea, that juniour always insist on sipping.

Hurry up, Papa! Me thirsty!

A hand for Mummy!

Playing with his fork & spoon.

Peace ... for the day!

I feed you some air, Papa!

At the nearby kid's playground.

Looking cute!

I'm making a wish ... to play forever!

Hey! My wish came true ... I'm still here!

BACK-DATED POSTS

Just some back-dated stuff to upload. Below are some random pics taken of hubby & son. First few are taken at the famous Bugis Junction water-fountain. Ryan always insists on visiting this water feature whenever we are around this mall. Since I frequent BHG & Kinokuniya often, this fountain gets "visited" quite frequently.

As usual, hubby & Ryan gets close for some water action. Funny how looking at most of the pics here in my blog are of my son & hubby. Not funny haha but funny in an ironic but good way coz for a man that really dislikes his photos being taken, Steven has a lot of photos taken of him (mostly with his son) since Ryan was born. In fact, he has more pics taken with his beloved than he does with his wife. Since we've been married we don't really have a lot of photos taken together (not counting wedding pics, those not counted lah!) because hubby doesn't like to pose for photos but its quite ironic now coz the birth of his only son has changed him so much. He's become the model-poser who's rather patient & game for almost anything!

Yah, its true that it usually the crazy mummy with the digicam perpetually plastered on her face that's taking the pics but I noticed that he gamely poses with Ryan coz he knows it makes his wife & son very happy. Thanks hubby ... I know you do these for us. Thank you for allowing me to snap the thousands of photos of Ryan & you coz capturing my two favourite guys in my life, makes me the happiest. Thank you for giving me gems to look at whenever I am at the computer, thank you for letting me "steal" some of the precious moments that you get to share with our beloved son. Thank you for being ever so patient & gracious. I thank you ...

With many more photos ... in the future!

Look how happy Ryan is!

These photos below were taken in a mall across from Bugis Junction. I think its called Illuma. The place was rather deserted & some of the shops were not even occupied or being renovated. It still had the "new" mall smell ... dusty! In the upper level, there was an arcade, so that;s wehere we stopped by. Ryan loved taking the kiddie rides. There were gigantic Pikachu & Ultraman for him to ride. We crossed the road back to Bugis after that & settled on the ubituqous chocolate milkshake at McDonald's.

Papa, I think I need a short break ...

OK, ready to go!

Giant Pikachu!

Cheeky smiles, all around!

Enjoying his usual drink of the weekend!

Sharing some love with Daddy!

Yummy!

A mischevious smile!

A last sip before we go!

RANDOM PICS

Once again, its random pics time ... of my hyper-active munchkin. Here he is just lying around in his orange jammies, getting ready for bed. He was in "upside-down" mode & gave me a few gems to snapshot. Ryan is constantly happy & grinning ... & that bring a smile on my face whenever I get those smiles in photos. That way I get to capture a moment in time in his childhood ... a happy time, when nothing else matters but having a good time. Every child should enjoy his or her childhood whilst he can coz when tween-hood arrives & adulthood beckons, it aint a smooth sailing ride. So savour childhood whilst its still around!

FUN CAR RIDE

Ryan looked on this ride in earnest but I wasn't really sure ... I was afraid he would be scared of the moving cars so I was rather apprehensive. But he gave me his puppy-dog look & I caved! So here he is, for the 1st time ... riding those rides at the pasar malam.

Looking very happy indeed!

All smiles!

Enjoying the ride!

Hobbing along!

Giving a wave to his ardent spectators - his parents!

Looking behind, to make sure the other cars were moving.

Daddy giving Ryan a shout-out!

Ermm ... Daddy are you still there?

Is it ending soon Mama?

After seeing the photos & video, I sorta realised that it was actually rather dangerous for Ryan to ride all by himself. The seat belts provided were just for show ... I mean Ryan wore them but I think if anything were to happen, them seat belts definitely aren't going to help much. Besides the speed of the rides were pretty fast for a two year old. I bet any child falling off the car ride will get pretty hurt if no one rescues them almost immediately. I don't know if I will let Ryan ride on his own ever again but I will have to decide when the time comes. Maybe I'm one of those mums that are overly cautious but I can't help it - that's my baby! I know there are times we have to learn to let go & be more flexible & let our kids try some things in life but I'm just not ready yet ... I guess! Maybe that will come more naturally to me as Ryan grows older & I am more confident of Ryan's abilities & stability.

The rather whiny voice in the background is obviously mine (I dunno why my voice goes shrill-ly when recorded, maybe its always been like that but I just refuse to accept it ... haha!). You can also hear hubby's voice in the background. Ryan was rather quiet as he was busy enjoying the ride. I'm glad the video went up this time, as I have tried loading up videos countless of times without avail ... as they tend to hang & I simply can't be bothered to try again. It did take eons to load up but at least it didn't hang this time. That gives me the confidence to try uploading vids again next time. We'll see!

MORE RANDOM PICS

Just some random pics for muah's memory.

Ryan giving his Mama a cheeky grin.

Another cheeky pose!

Driving yet another ride.

Looking very much a driver, although this ride doesn't move!

One of Ryan's classic pose ... looking nowhere!

Mama, can we bring this car home?

Papa trying to "steal" Ryan's favourite milkshake?

Who's that Ryan? Its Mama, taking your photos, yet again!

Admiring his new choo-choo train from Daiso.

RANDOM PICS

Before I turn in for the night (its 1:50 in wee morning), I wanted to post some pics of my two boys. This was taken in the Special Care Ward, where Ryan stayed for the first 11 days of his life. Look how tiny he was! He was just over 2kg, a real light weight for a full-term baby (he fitted nicely on the cradle of his daddy's hand). But I was really relieved when we managed to bring him home when they gave him the all clear. At last, I had my baby safe with me, at home.

As you can see, Steven was a natural as a 1st time dad & till today, 29 months after his son was born, he still got the knack of carrying his only (wild) child.

Father & son ... then & now!

January 2007

June 2009

MORE NEW WORDS

Ryan's new words, profiled ... for Mummy's own knowledge.

219. Thats it!
220. Buy kite (he saw some kids kite flying on TV recently)
221. Busy
222. Another one
223. This one

More to come ... I hope.

100TH POST ...

As I've seen with other blogs, people celebrate the 100th of everything - blog posts, bentos, recipes, etc. I wasn't trying to be like the many drone ants out there but ironically, here I am reflecting all that I've written in the past 100 entries. As I was posting the previous entry, I realised that this was gonna be my 100th post. Hhhmm, wow ... I've mused, ranted, grumbled, bitched for at least a hundred times ... haha!well, at least on this blog. Wow! I am amazed that I've gotten this far. When I started this blog, it was from the urgings of my sis, to write a little bit about my son, Ryan ... but this blog has been the perfect avenue for me to pour out my feelings & more.

I am 1st & foremost Ryan's mum but I am also my hubby's wife, my parent's daughter, my niece & nephews' aunt, my buddies' friend but I am also my own person. Through this blog, I have managed to pen down some of my innermost feelings, stuff that I probably couldn't relate to anyone in particular. Eventhough I have people around me that are willing to listen to my endless rumblings, there are times that you just need to ponder things for yourself. Writing here is like talking to a psychiatrist if you will, but its just that the good doctor doesn't talk back & you get no pearls of wisdom in return. Heck! you just try to figure things out for yourself ... just like many things in life.

Calling it therapeutic, is an understatement, coz it really is! Blogging allows you to write out some pent up feelings, reflect on the current state of your "miserable" life & makes you ponder awhile ... while life goes on. Putting things in print allows you to look back on your past life, & let's you rediscover what really matters, are the simple moments like holding hands & having a good meal ... with your loved ones.

It also allowed me to show "off" to the world ... my beautiful family - my hubby, Steven & my son, Ryan, whom I love so dearly, whom I don't deserve. It allowed me to put up the tonnes of photographs that might have gone "buried" in computer-land coz they were not printed & hidden, long forgotten. Putting the countless pictures here allowed me to enjoy all the special moments we shared & let me see how my son has grown, these past two years. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing him literally, grow up in pictures. Its turned out to be an invaluable point of reference for me to look & see, how far we've come ... till today. I am really glad that I chose to blog last year & I don't think I will stop any time soon.

Through blogging, I have also come across many other blogging sites that I've learnt & picked up ideas from. Recently it has even piqued my interest in Bentos, the Japanese art of packed lunch. I was keen to try out packing snacks & lunch for my son coz he's been a really fussy eater & I thought, if I had to decorate & cutie-fy his food so that he'll eat more, than that's what I will do. Well, you never will know how 1 thing, leads to another.

Blogging has also allowed me to revisit the simple art of writing. I've always loved the written word. Infact, I've had designs when I was much younger ... to be a writer of sorts. Funny how life works & the decisions that you make doesn't always lead you to your unfulfilled destination. As obvious to everyone, I am definitely not a paid writer for I have no paper qualifications to speak of but I'll be damned if someone is gonna shut the writer in me.

Eventhough my sentences are far from perfect, my grammar in shambles, my punctuations gone awry ... this will not stop me from writing. I may not exhibit the distinctions that I've gotten during the major exams, I am sure getting some practise out of it. My writings ain't perfect & I will be the first to tell you that but blogging has definitely helped me "release" the pent-up-imprisoned-writer that just yearns to jump out of the surprise birthday cake. I can still rant like no other, I am still as long-winded & I can "yak" & grumble non-stop ... but I take it all, as I am who I am.

Forgive my humble assumptions that some people might actually enjoy reading my writings but I am writing this blog 1st & foremost for my son, myself & my hubby. If someone out there, enjoys reading the simple life that I lead & appreciate my cynical outlook & pessimistic views on life, than good for them & I thank you for that. Me ... I just do it coz its good for me ... & my sanity. If one day, I stop enjoying it ... I will just stop but at the moment, its not too soon.

Happy blogging Lynn! Be yourself ... for at the end of the day, that's all you have.