I'll try harder always

I used to read about mothers who spent their days screaming at their kids and I wonder, seriously? These women must be really hot tempered.

When I say 'I used to', I mean a couple of months ago. In just a space of months, my little girl has grown into a toddler who constantly tests her limits, takes joy in going against my wishes and goes into tantrum mode, well, maybe a few times a day. To say that it's tiring would be an understatement. Recently I find myself talking exceptionally loudly to her more often than i would like. I really used to smile more. Little S has been going, 'Mummy, not angry anymore?' too often.

It has been tough, juggling between two kids who need my attention equally much. I wish I had more time to do some/more home learning with the little girl. She loves going through cards, reading together and most of all, to share a cuddle and a laugh. I wish I had more time to coo and play peek a boo with the small boy. I'm sure I spent more time with his sister at his age. '

*mom guilt overload*

I like to give myself plenty of space and reason so I've been telling myself that everything needs time to adjust blah blah blah. I decided today that I had enough of the reasons and it's time to pull up my socks and make use of every conceivable moment to thoroughly enjoy my time spent with them. Be it learning with little S or attempting to give more cuddles to the small boy who has taken a recent obsession for being held all day.

This means more smiles and less frowns. More cuddles and less hand smacking. And more importantly, more love and patience. More prayers too for all of the above.

It's a learning curve for me too, and I promise my dear ones, that I'll try harder always.

Happy Birthday Mummy Dearest! - Part 2

After our walkabout in Tiong Bahru, it was off for the main programme - SEA at Resort World Sentosa.

One thing to remember about driving to Sentosa is that the parking fees at RWS are rather steep - S$26 after you hit the cap. It's $7 for the first hour and about $4 for every hour thereafter. It is probably not much cheaper to park in Vivo, so the next best alternative is Beach Carpark iat Siloso Beach and taking the train back down to RWS.

The other point to note is that the car park in RWS is absolutely huge! Given the timing we reached there was no way that we could park close to the USS entrance. If it is your first few times I would advise you to take a few photos of the car park numberings on the pillars nearest your lot as I've had friends who "lost" their cars!

We went up the escalator which lead to the waterfront area and took a walk through the little cave entrance, past the visitor centre, all the way towards USS. Along the way you will notice a few places to eat and a Watsons, which was surprisingly reasonably priced for Sentosa.

The most important question for parents with young children is the changing and nursing station. The closest one to SEA is just before the open area with the big USS globe. It was relatively clean and spacious. The room separates into a changing area and a nursing room whih is good. One plea to any parents out there - please don't wash your child's bottom in the sink! I had the unfortunate encounter of seeing one parent do that, so please be considerate to others!

So finally with the children hydrated and wearing fresh diapers, the adventure began!

The area housing the SEA actually has a huge replica of Admiral Cheng Ho's vessel and a long line of quite informative displays along the way to the actual entrance.

I do like a good dose of history every now and then so I would encourage you to take your time to stroll through the displays.

Finally we made it into the actual aquarium. It seems to start off like Underwater World but I can assure you it changes after that!

Just the sheer size of the place will make you go "wow"!

It is really crowded so make sure you keep close watch of the kiddos! But as you can see they will be captured by the fishes!

I won't post too many of my low quality photos but safe to say that the main attraction is the largest viewing panel on record currently. I think it makes a super cool place for a wedding!

Of all the ones that we saw I think our favorites were the jellyfish, the manta ray and this strange giant fish that had no name! Well at least we couldn't find the panel with his description!

It is one cool fish that just goes round and round and doesn't mind other little fish swimming into its gills! Super chill! 

One comment about the place is that because it is so packed you need to decide if you want your young ones up in harnesses or in the stroller. I'd recommend harness only because it is better to have your hands free! The crowd does make strollers a tad more inconvenient.

A cheeky thing about the place is that everyone's favorites are either dolphins or sharks. They had a small little display area where you can catch glimpses of their tails to entice you to sign up for the dolphin packages! The other one is the sharks which are right at the end of the entire visit, so keep pressing on till the last bit!

Happy Birthday Mummy Dearest! - Part 1

Birthdays are always important occasions. Some families have traditions, others may prefer to commemorate them in a more subdued fashion.

Mummy M's birthday celebrations started with a surprise birthday cake from some of the church girls who had to make their way to an ulu corner of Hougang and then hide themselves till the birthday girl arrived. I like these sort of surprises, especially so because we don't do them as often as we used to. I remember back in our schooling days it was always standard practice to get a group of friends at your door with a song and cake. But then again in those days handphones couldn't go to the internet and Friendster was still hip and Facebook still an idea in someone's head.

Then came the actual day where it was just the four of us out for a day of fun - mummy, daddy, 姐姐 and 弟弟. 

First it was a drive down to Tiong Bahru to explore the rest of the area after our previous romp there. One thing to bear in mind is that because it is mostly open air car parks you better be prepared for either the burning sun or drenching rain! Thank God that for us it was the former, though definitely still a challenge to our comfort.

That didn't stop us from deciding to walk around randomly to check the place out. The intention was to find a nice cafe for brunch but somehow we ended up at a corner coffee shop, the super old school kind that literally is at the corner of the street, next to the road (about 5 minutes down from Tiong Bahru Bakery).

It was lunch time and quite packed so we safely assumed that the food must be good. Grabbing the chance while the children were asleep we sat down and ordered teh ping, teh, vegetarian wu xiang and mee pok. In summary the food wasn't that great in relation to my expectations. The one exception was the vegetarian wu xiang which was pretty good. They had a couple of rather unique ones like spring rolls stuffed with mushrooms and a vegan chicken patty that were rather nice with chili sauce. I'm highlighting this dish only because in my excitement to order I didn't realize it was a vegetarian stall! Will I go back again? Maybe yes because I've not tried the Yong Tau Foo there and also because I'm a sucker for quaint little places.

Given the burning sun, we were hoping to find a nice air conditioned cafe to sip coffee and cool down. Just diagonally across the coffee shop was Drips. It came highly recommended by a friend so we decided to try it out. Went in, was appalled by the unfriendly service staff who didn't notice that it was a lady with baby in arms and a man pushing a stroller. All she could say was “里面有位子吗” and left us to manage on our own - we walked out.

Better safe than sorry, so off we went to Tiong Bahru Bakery. It was crowded but we manage to get seats right at the back of the place. Don't need to say much about this place given that everyone probably knows it well, but one new thing that we tried for the first time was the Carrot Juice with Ginger. Pretty groovy and quite refreshing. Recommended food for toddlers around 2 years old - good old crossiants. Compared to the new Sophie's Bakery, I still prefer the ones at TBB. If our daughter likes them they must be good!

Stay tuned for an updated version of this post and part 2 of the birthday outing at Sentosa!