Ethan turns 1

Ethan’s First Birthday

Date : 28 November 2009
Venue : The Paddington House of Pancakes

This is a delayed entry as my little one turned 1 December last year. It was all smiles and laughters at the little party held in The Paddington House of Pancakes, The Curve. We prepared him months (well, maybe 1 month) in advance singing him the traditional birthday song and putting on the “Mickey Party” hat. And yes, you have guessed it right, he loves Mickey. His first Mickey was given to him by his Uncle Chee Wah and Aunt Elaine from Singapore. I have to acknowledge that this whole Mickey thing is not just a marketing gimmick or what not, the character is actually something children just love. I remember my first Mickey, and I bet you had yours.

So, the party started with throngs of assorted tiny pancake canapés lining beautifully on the plates waiting to be served. The guests were of course excited and some ambitious to fill their plates to the brim. I was chuckling quietly seeing them getting so excited over these little delights. The atmosphere was merry and cheerful with Mr. Clown sculpting balloons to young children and those claimed young - "at heart".

I would have loved to bake Ethan's first birthday myself, except I couldn't stand the mental pressures of "what-if-the-cake... ". Therefore, after a long domestic discussion, we got this beautifully decorated 2 tier Elmo Birthday Cake. Contradictorily, we wanted Mickey birthday cake instead, but was told that the cake designer makes Elmo better than Mickey. And so, this was how we ended up with the 2 tier Elmo cake. Surprisingly, we ended up liking the Elmo cake. In fact, everyone did!

It was a blast for the little man as he saw many familiar faces. I am humbled and blessed to have almost all of our family members, relatives and close friends attend our little one’s first birthday. Of course he had people who couldn’t make it but have sent greetings, cards, presents and prayers.

When I look back at Ethan’s first birthday, what struck me really, was the one year of journeying with him in our lives. He has taught me to laugh at little things, smile at small accomplishments, and understand the fact that teaching takes immense patience while learning takes time. He has also taught me patience, perseverance, determination, unconditional love and most of all, to accept and love imperfections as it is. I love him to bits and I thank God for this little miracle.

Goodnight

goodnight...



moon...

Goodnight moon.

We stayed with Ethan's Tata and Neh-Neh till he was one because it was too taxing for Ethan and us to do the whole traveling every morning to grannies place and to be picked up in the evening. Therefore, we chose to stay during the weekdays and come home in weekends. At one point, the little boy was getting confused, didn’t know where he actually belonged. We didn’t have any choice since hubs and I both had to work, we had to settle for what’s best for all of us.

At about 5 months when he was trying to recognize faces and places, we were traveling to and fro (grannies and home) quite a bit. And the poor boy was at our mercy, he had to come with us, wherever we went.

However, one thing he found comforting was this magical book, “Good Night Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown. I remember one night when he was acting up quite a bit, we read him this book. It calmed the weeping eyed almost immediately. And in one of those pages, it reads:

Good Night Kitten

Good Night Mitten

To my surprise, I heard this cutest chuckle when I ended the 2 lines with “Good Night Ethan”... That was magic!

And henceforth, we will get the sweetest smile from him when we do the:

Good Night Kitten

Good Night Mitten

Good Night Ethan!

We bought this book even before he was born and it’s been his best friend even till now. He somehow finds comfort from these reassuring words in the book and he has never once said no to his cow jumping over the moon.

p/s: I had to read him this book, cover to cover for almost 11 times at 3 in the morning that night. I swore, I will never forget...

Good night moon!

Travelling Across South China Sea

It was a short and meaningful trip back home for me as this is the first time Ethan came with us, back to where I came from, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Also, this happened to be his first time in an aircraft.
We went back for a good friend’s wedding, also an opportunity to meet up with the other side of his family.

Overwhelmed.

He made us real proud parents when he didn’t fuss nor whined during both the trip, going there and coming back. Instead, he was getting all so excited, prancing on my lap as we were sharing the seat. And we it was time for the flight to take off, my little prince tugged himself nicely in my arms, nibbling his little thumb and snoozing off quietly into his little dreamland. Believe it or not, I had equipped myself with children’s atarax “just in case”. I was really pleased when I found out that I need not any of them!

And that's good news for me. More trips back home. YEAY!

dum dee dee dum

I sometimes really wonder what's running through his mind.
I really wonder...

Ethan,

Feb 19, 2010

Happy New Year 2010!

I made a new year resolution,... only to my hubby. I will update my blog as often as I could. Ethan is 13 months now, and too many happened since my last entry.
When the clock strike 12 am on new years eve, we were all seated around our black glass dining table savoring Belgium Chocolate Baskins which we queued up for as there were on 31% discount that day.

I felt really melancholic about the whole new year fiesta. I suppose it was mainly because the year just flew by, very quickly, and really, I asked myself, where did 2009 go?
Well, after having to get lost in thoughts for the longest time, I decided to briefly pen them in here to remind myself that 2009 was indeed one of the most significant year for me so far.

1. Experienced first ever post natal depression… It was quite bad and I remember my O&G had to write me a referral to see a psychiatrist. Thank god for best friends; my best bud, my confidant was there when I needed her most. Really, I did not see any psychiatrist what not after that.

2. I got my first ever promotion

3. finally gathered my valor to leave my son behind for Sydney for almost a week, all alone! It was really really good. Having to soak the Australian sun again. I am totally thankful to the dearest hubs for allowing me the time I needed to go away and to gather myself again. Well, of course it helped with the actual reason to Australia was to attend Benjamin and May’s union as man and wife. It was one of the most beautiful wedding I have attended. Perhaps I should write about it on a separate post.

4. Hubby got me my very first coffee machine. Frothing low fat milk is what I look forward to during long weekends. And ever since then, we have been eating wholesome breakfast with Egg Benedict being the latest fad in our ‘family favourites’ breakfast menu.

5. We ate in Bobby Chinn’s. One word: astounding. Food was top notch, milieu was superb and did I say that the food was splendid again?

6. celebrated Ethan’s 1st birthday. This little sunshine managed to put a smile on our face for the past year. Everyday for 365 days. How else should I elaborate? He is our sunshine!

7. became a full time corporate rat racer by day and full time mummy by night. My goodness, rat racing has never been that easy if you ever compare it to sorting a child who is going through separation anxiety (the tears rolling down his cheeks stretching his little hands longing for a hug, turned out to be having to carry him throughout the night because he doesn’t want anyone else except his mummy). It’s tiring and I am not complaining at all.

8. Brought Ethan back to Sabah for the very first time. He was very well behaved during his flight journey, which made it tad easy for us. At least we did not have to deal with stares which will potentially make us looked like we were in a midst of "disciplining your baby, 101".

9. Saw 2 of our Godchildren baptized in SFX; Ethan Zachary Chong was baptized by Fr. OC Lim and Kristen Tham was baptized by Fr. Simon Yong. That would mean, we are now proud Godparents to 4 Godchildren; Ian Lim, Pio Lim, Ethan Zac Chong, and Kristen Tham. We are blessed in so many ways, and we could not ask for more when He gave us Ethan, our bucket full of sunshine.

10. I got my a husband a Macbook Pro. That would mean I will have to adjust my wardrobe stocks for the year 2010, and it will probably look unhealthy as I would need to start my year with high balance brought forward (b/f), low disposals and lower capital. Not too nice looking in my balance sheet, but he is smiling silly. So heck the balance sheet. =)

Happy New Year.
Eat, love and live!