The Big Sister

Sonya and Lydia love "talking" to each other :)

Lydia smiles and smiles whenever Sonya talks and plays with her.

I guess Sonya has that special big sister touch :)

Homework

Here is my beautiful Sonya. All she ever does these days is homework and more homework :(

Good thing I took photos of her this morning else I would not have noticed something wrong at her desk. Can you spot it in the photo above?

It is the position of her desk lamp. We had positioned it on the top right hand corner of her desk so that it will be less likely to be knocked down but because Sonya is right-handed, her hand is always blocking the light. I shifted the light more to the middle of the desk so it is much better now.

The next few weeks will be occupied with even more homework and revision for the upcoming end-of-year examination but we are looking forward to her birthday which falls on the first day of vacation :)

Wild Imagination

Clara was going through her toys and found these little wooden furniture that I assembled when we were in US.

I thought the furniture was so cute but she didn't show much interest in them until this morning. She arranged them on the floor and even asked me where were the Playmobile people as they were the only ones who could fit those furniture.

She was explaining to me what each piece was for.

And this is how you would sit in the reclining chair :)

She surprises me everyday with the things that she can think of and stories / pretend play that she can make up.

How can I not love her even though she really makes my blood boils when it comes to cleaning up :)

ET Visits

My aunt came over to our place yesterday and brought her dog, ET. If you know Clara, you probably guessed that she was really happy :)

Sonya and Clara brought out our "pretend" dogs. The three dogs compliment each other so well in terms of size and colour :)

If I could, I would love to get a dog for Clara but sadly, I don't think we can handle a dog in our house at the moment and more importantly, Sonya is allergic to dogs. Her skin and eyes get all itchy when in close contact with dogs :(

Old Friend, New Friends

A friend that I have known since secondary school visited us this morning and brought her three children along.

The highlight of the visit was the iPad.

It was really nice to meet up with my old friend that I have not seen for many years. It was even nicer for our kids to play together and become new friends :)

Mooncake Festival

It was Mid-Autumn Festival yesterday and a very quiet one for us this year. You can tell that I have been very lazy compared to last year (See last year's). We had a lot more variety of mooncakes but no homemade lanterns, let alone a lantern parade.

I bought mooncakes from Goodwood Park, Bakerzin and 大中国 (needed vegetarian ones). My brother bought the Snow-Skin Mooncake with Champagne Truffle and Ganache from Raffles Hotel. Someone else who came to Lydia's full-month party last Saturday bought the variety box from Bengawan Solo.

Hence, it was really a Mooncake Festival and not Mid-Autumn Festival for us :)

Lydia's Full Month - Part 2

We invited some family and friends over last Saturday for a little celebration of Lydia turning a month old.

I made some mini-cupcakes. I had so much trouble with the frosting (big thanks to the heat and humidity in Singapore!) the last time I made cupcakes, I was glad to find this fuss-free method of using store-bought marshmallow instead. I am quite pleased with the result and it was very kid-friendly too.

I got Lydia bathed and into the new little dress that Karin, my sister-in-law, bought.

My mummy gave her a little formula supplement to keep her nice and happy before the guests arrived.

Food and drinks were just overflowing in our house that day!

My uncle brought his dog, Teddy, along.

Sonya and Clara were happy that there were so many kids to play with!

(Photo courtesy of Pamela)

It was calm and quiet where the girls were playing and chaos where the boys and little kids were :) Even Clara, our champion mess maker, retreated to Sonya's room.

I forgot to take photos for the remaining period of the party but a big thank you for all who came to join in the celebrations and the gifts you brought.

Thank you to my mummy who took an hour long bus journey to come to my house everyday for the past month to help me with Lydia, Sonya and Clara, to cook and clean, but most importantly, for giving me the mental support that I needed :)

Lydia's Full Month - Part 1

Lydia is 30 days old and we celebrated her full-month (满月) with family. My mummy prepared the auspicious red eggs and bought the 红龟糕.

In the morning, we brought Sonya and Clara for some cake decorating fun at the Icing Room.

Lydia waited patiently and eventually dozed off.

Sonya and Clara's masterpieces - perfectly dessert for dinner tonight.

Lydia has these feeding frenzy once or twice daily that calls for formula supplement :(

Full month is also time for the baby to get a haircut. We just gave Lydia a symbolic little trim.

Time for dinner!

But not before a group photo :)

Lydia slept peacefully most of the time during dinner.

That's all for today. More family and friends will be coming over for more celebration next Saturday.