Kieran's Advance Birthday Present

From Aunty Linda and Aunty Lynette. A tad too early, but who cares? The present is extremely timely for our coming trip to Kuantan....

Swimming attire with matching slippers! And because this was picked by Aunty Linda, the suit has excellent UV Protection - UPF 50+!!!!!!

Tees and berms! Very beach wear..... Erm, we're actually heading to Kuantan for my cousin's wedding, but I'm assuming we will be spending some time at the beaches that many have claimed are beautiful.

Oh, they didn't forget a shirt for the wedding dinner!

Of Upgrades and Language

It's that rare time when that old friend comes back from UK.

So we had a dinner gathering at my place last night, just a few of us, to meet up and to celebrate his birthday as well.

As usual, we updated each other on the happenings in our lives, as well as reminisced on the past. Except that this time, the latter included me digging out our VJC year book to do a "Spot the Person" game. Of course, we had to get Mike and RT to do that, since they were the only ones who weren't from the class, and could unbiasedly pick out the before and after pictures.

And of course, to unbiasedly comment if this particular person was p.r.e.t.t.y.

Hmmm. We all pretty much looked the same, you know. I mean, you would easily spot us in a picture dated 15 years back. But this particular one, Lin and I just couldn't do it,. Neither could Mike. RT took awhile, and then decided to spot by lip shape, which he did successfully.

The transformation was a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

The power of u.p.g.r.a.d.i.n.g

But I somehow don't seem to be able to get that drastic upgrade effect. Why ah?

Ok, so much for upgrading. We went on to talk about the much debated mother tongue issue. Funnily, 80% of the population in Singapore are mandarin speaking, leaving only 20% more proficient in English.

Then again, as Lennon remarked, "We are really neither here nor there. Our English sucks, and so does our Mandarin. No one in UK understood me when I first arrived, and neither could my Taiwanese friends understand my mandarin".

Once in the lecture, the lecturer announced the cancellation of the afternoon session. To confirm this, Lennon turned to the guy next to him, a Brit and here was the conversation:

Lennon: So in the afternoon we got nothing?

Brit: Huh???

Lennon thinks for a while and goes, "So we have the afternoon off, don't we?"

Brit: Oh yeah!

Yet another incident...

Lennon: Hey, if you're going to town, can I follow your car?

Brit: Why do you want to follow my car? Do you need a lift???

Our English can be so bad, really. Not to mention the very common "nowSadays", "Can you BORROW ME your pen?" and I recently found out "Melbum" is really part of Australia.

Can anyone tell me where the "M" is in the spelling ogf Melbourne???

Oh, I was contemplating doing a "Scan and Tag" of that yearbook picture.

That person is bloody lucky my scanner is the type that can only scan sheets of paper, not the copier type scanner.

Updates on Our Little Kieran

I think I've backlogged quite a bit. The last post on Kieran must have been when he was......6 months

Let's start with some sleep updates. When Kieran turned 7.5 months, he finally figured that sleep was better than food in the middle of the night. So since then, whoever sleeps with him (Mom sleeps with him on weekdays, and Ron/I sleep with him when we're off) has been managing to get a good night's sleep. Ok, we still wake up when he moves and fusses to pat him back to sleep, but that sure beats waking up to make milk and feed him.

On the feeding side, he's been on cereal in the mornings and porridge in the evenings, with milk in between. Just this week, we started him on cereal in the morning and porridge in the afternoon and evenings. He absoluely loves his smelly fish and brocolli porridge!

One tooth has finally decided to make is appearance this week, and he's also beginning to crawl....erm, squirm?

He now recognises people and certain objects, and has learnt to give you a high 5 (mood dependent though).

Thumbsucking is still there.......

Thanks Ee Ee Im for my Universal Studios Monkey!

Right at my Doorstep

I stepped out of the gate this morning and was greeted by this pretty sight!

And the tree where this pink carpet came from...

And then I walked a little further and I saw this.

It's almost like experiencing Cherry Blossom and snow at the same time.

Nice.

Catching Up

The last catch up with the girls with baby in tow was not very successful. I had to leave early (cos everyone was late!) as Kieran had to drink and go to bed.

This time, I met the girls while Kieran slept at home. And it was much easier. :)

Food was not too bad. And as always, the company was great.

And I got my belated birthday gift from BFC. All the way from Etude House in Seoul.

BB Magic Cream with SPF 30.
O2 Powder with SPF 50.

BFC uses it too and is recommending it to me cos it's good. And knowing that I do not use any make up, she says it's good cos it doesn't take too much time to put on. "Just use half a squirt ok. Cos if you use too much I know you won't like it. So just start with half a squirt k?"

I've used it over the weekend and it's really not bad. Non greasy and takes me less than 5 minutes to apply.

And then when we take pictures, she complains that she is soooo white! Hello! SPF 30 and SPF 50?? Sure white la.

Then the other one complains that next to BFC, they are like Ebony and Ivory! Hello! Dragon boating and marathon-ing?? Sure black la!

After my continued use of my magic cream and oxygen powder, our next photo will comprise just 1 Ebony and 2 Ivories! And RT can play Othello the next time we meet. But white will win.

Why is it.....

...so hard to just be happy?

And on the rare occasions that we are, why is it even harder to STAY happy?

Ampan Boy!

Don't they look alike?? :)