My first birthday with Baby Justin.

It's official. I've taken yet another step into the big 3-Os. Half my age earlier, when I was still a teenage girl, even the age of 20 sounded old to me. However, a decade past the time when I hit twenty, age doesn't feel such a big deal anymore. In fact, I hardly think of myself as one who's 31 now. I guess it also helps when you are working in an environment that allows you to interact with teenagers for most part of each workday. When you're surrounded by youthfulness, you can't help but feel like you're just as young. The only time when you are reminded of how old you are is when your ex-students start joining the workforce as young adults in their 20s. *gawk*

Anyway, though my age isn't exactly a big deal, this birthday is, for there is now a new family member to celebrate it with me! I think this little guy is the most wonderful birthday gift I can ever ask for. :) Of course, there are also other lovely treats and gifts to cherish.

Yummylicious premium oreomisu cake from Emicakes, thanks to Jess & Vincent.

So rich and moist!

 Lovely book that aims to inspire, from Beebee.

 Sweet personal sisterly touch added to the gift:

notes of inspirational lessons that can be gathered from various parts of the story.

Simple chocolate pudding cake bought by mummy,

the first in many years since I stopped being a kid.

Birthday mee sua soup with 2 eggs, a yearly tradition.

A pair of pearl earrings Hubby had me pick from Thomas Sabo's charm collection.

I've taken a sudden liking to pearls. A sign of feminine maturity?

I'm just thanking my lucky stars that I didn't have to report for work today, despite my maternity leave having ended. I almost thought I'd have to spend a dreary morning dragging my feet to the office with utmost unwillingness on this special birthday but, fortunately, I found out after checking that if I didn't have anything on at work, I wouldn't be expected to be there. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to go shopping and dining with Hubby and baby on this day.

~ Happy birthday to me. ~

And here comes the SMURFS.

"La la la la la la... la la la la la...!" The blue people have made a good comeback!

Yes, the very famous Smurfs have recently been introduced to those belonging to the much younger generation who had absolutely no idea how huge these creatures were to people who grew up in the same era as I did. (I'm now experiencing a flashback in my mind in which Hubby looked totally delirious with joy when he located, back at his parents' place, a whole bagful of Smurfs figurines he used to collect when he was younger. A selected few can now be found hanging out at different spots of our apartment.)

Well, now they do. And I must say that some of these young people I know are now self-proclaimed Smurf fans who'd love to live in the same land as these blue dudes. Just look at how fast the Iphone covers that featured Smurfs, sold exclusively by Bossini, were snapped up.

Apart from Bossini that brought in the classic Smurfs merchandise (in fact, I'm wearing a white blouse with Smurf prints that Hubby bought for me some time ago even as I type), it's all thanks to the recent movie "The Smurfs" that the craze was able to return.

But imagine Hubby's and my surprise when we discovered that there were actually graphic novels of the Smurfs that came in a series, with a few stories packed into each book. Hubby managed to get all five of what he found at Popular Bookstore @ Jurong Point:

Nice! Though I'm not exactly in the mood to read comics just yet, I WILL eventually get down to reading these titles. I mean, it's the Smurfs, whom I grew up with. After the daddy and mummy are done reading them, we'll pass them along to Baby Justin for his reading pleasure in future! :)

Baby's diet.

I used to think that it was relatively easy to tell when my baby was hungry and needed milk. He'd repeatedly utter a classic 'heh-heh' and begin pawing at whoever was carrying him while straining his neck towards a particular part of that person's chest, guided by his infantile instinct. It sure didn't matter to baby if that person was male or female! Other than these moves, he might start sucking his fingers to relieve the hunger or, if push comes to shove and he still doesn't get his milk, he'd start bawling with whatever power he could muster from his lungs.

However, for the past few days, it was getting a little more difficult to read his cues. In fact, there were times when he'd present some of these hunger signals, only to reject or end up not finishing the milk he was given. There were also times when he'd appear to be famished, but immediately calmed down and looked as though all had been peaceful the minute he was picked up.

I know I mentioned in an early post that I'd learned not to be such a worrywart and expect things to happen the way I wished for baby. Nevertheless, it's a little tough not to become anxious when Justin had been drinking a consistently good amount of milk at fairly regular intervals for some time, but is now showing signs of being distracted when drinking milk, and perhaps even seeming to lose interest in it. I'm just wondering: Does this mean that my baby boy's finally tired of drinking the same milk for the past 14 weeks of his young life? I mean, it's easy for me to put myself in his shoes, if that's the case. I used to love the wanton mee from the stall near my parents' place and now miss it occasionally when I crave for this delight, but make me consume it for all 3 meals for 3 months and you can imagine how fast I'd run if you presented yet another plate of it to me.

Anyway, if Baby Justin is really tired of his milk, at least both of us can look forward to the next stage of his dietary development -- semi solids! Just another few weeks, my boy, and we can start you on some rice cereal with milk...yipee! That ought to whet your appetite a bit if variety's what you really want. I'm also really happy with a purchase that Hubby and I decided on recently -- a combined steamer and blender that can be used to prepare fresh soft food for Justin later on.

Pretty good, this item. According to what the promoter demonstrated to us, we'd only need to use a bit of water to steam a bunch of items. Turn the container upside down and voila! We get to use the blender function without having to transfer the items to a separate machine. This promotional item came with an adorable toddler meal set as well: 

Super cute, I thought. I know I'd just be so encouraged to eat if my plates and cutlery always came in such fun colours and designs! Hopefully Baby Justin'll feel the same way then. I'm just so keen on introducing more food textures, colours and tastes to baby when the time comes. So many opportunities for some experimenting! It'll be great educational fun for his tastebuds and other senses! :)

A day...of family outing @ Vivocity.

Yesterday was Monday. However, this Monday felt a lot more different from the past many leisurely Mondays I've enjoyed, the reason being that this was the final Monday before I'd officially have to return to work. Oh yes. The weekday mornings of stepping out of the home before 6.30am and arriving at the office before 7am to get myself geared for a hectic full day ahead. The many long meetings I'd have to endure. The inevitable act of adding ten items to my to-do list before I'd even cleared five (sometimes even one). The stress of having my day governed by bells and scheduled events and deadlines. The crazy administrative and marking load. I could go on forever. Well, anyway, most of it will begin once again come next week.

Perhaps that's why I felt the need to relieve some of that anticipated dread and stress of having to give up my current temporary role as happy stay-home mum by creating more wonderful memories of time spent with Hubby and Baby Justin this week. A solution? A family shopping trip!  The mall of choice was Vivocity. Goodness, it's been ages since Hubby and I last visited this place. Actually, we'd only expected to do a bit of light shopping, but this trip turned out to be more eventful and memorable than we'd expected.

The most significant part of the trip, I feel, was Justin's behaviour. He simply appeared ultra happy to be out there dining and shopping with us! Even before we'd left home for the mall, the little dude began smiling widely and flailing his limbs excitedly, as if he knew that Daddy and Mummy were taking him on an outing. At the mall, whenever we stopped to check on him and squatted down to see him at eye level and play a little with him, Justin would squeal with delight and let out quite a bit of baby laughter. In fact, he did the same when Hubby and I were having dinner at The Mussel Guys, Baby Justin just kept wanting to 'talk' to us, and let out his adorable (and loud!) squeals from time to time. I half-expected to get a complaining look from the diners seated near us! Nonetheless, it's exactly all the joyful squeals and giggles from baby that added extra spice to our family outing. I thoroughly enjoyed these moments! :)

 

@ The Mussel Guys: Pumpkin soup with garlic toast



                                     My pan-fried dory fish in cream sauce with fragrant rice 



Hubby's classic fish & chips

Apart from a good meal, Hubby and I also made a few purchases, one of which was totally based on a last-minute decision:





I'd never intended to purchase a new phone at all before this outing since my previous Samsung was still relatively new and working fine but, as usual, my very persuasive can-excel-as-a-sales-executive hubby popped the idea into my mind and talked me into it over our nice dinner. His selling point was that I could do better with a phone that comes with a video call function so that I could call home and interact with our baby 'face-to-face' when I'm away at work. I absolutely loved that idea! And that's how I ended up taking this home. I got this limited white edition at $198 after renewing my contract, which is $30 more expensive than the E72s of other colours, but I must say this was worth the extra bucks as the white just makes it so refreshing to use.

Goodbye, Samsung Wave. Hello, Nokia E72.

Husband and wife phone

Hubby and I have already tried video calling each other -- it was funny the way Justin kept staring at the screen while I spoke to him from another bedroom. Perhaps he was wondering what on earth his mummy was doing in that tiny screen there!

Well, this new buy certainly makes returning to work a tad more bearable. Thanks, Hubby, for the grand idea! :)