It took us a long while to decide whether to pay a few hundred bucks, leave the kids behind and relived our wedding day (I could already imagine my mum looking all stressed out caring for the baby day and night)
OR take the risk and pack the kids with us.

We chose the latter, we brought our 7 weeks old baby along.

Nah, it wasn’t anywhere far. We just drove across the little channel to this island called Sentosa for a little getaway, the exact location where we took our wedding vow many years back, this time, back with 2 kids, not as romantic as before.

The island has changed drastically. No longer quite as idyllic nor quiet, with all sorts of entertainment centers sprouting out all over the island.  There are nightly fireworks at the Songs of the Sea.  There are pubs everywhere.  There is an artificial surf center for those who really wants to surf but didn’t have the time to fly down to Bali. There are people tempting fate doing the flying fox down the hill which I thought this might be more interesting to them.

Add the up and coming IR, and all the other interesting attractions, I can already imagine the Sentosa of tomorrow - crawling with tourists, local and otherwise, big jam on the narrow causeway, double digit inflation, and lack of space on the beach which I am so not looking forward to.

The entertainment centers now breathes more life into the island.  Gets rid of outdated and loss making parks.  Dolphin lagoon appears to be closed.  So much for the pink dolphins which I thought was a far cry from being world class.  I am not too sad about Dolphin Lagoon closing after hearing that dolphins elsewhere such as at San Diego Sea World were treated better.

Mal was contented staying in the resort, feeding the peacocks, playing with the water slide, taking pictures with cool christmas trees made from recycled materials. Here’s one made from 250ml drinking bottles.

and here’s one with him playing the slide. He could do this the WHOLE DAY!

We woke up each morning, looking forward to our sumptuous buffet breakfast at the resort’s cafeteria
We stuffed ourselves crazy with food and ate like pigs
At night after putting the baby to sleep, we ordered room service and had our dinner at the balcony, occasionally catching the fireworks from the musical afar.

We went on the beach tram to explore the beach area, a large part now lined with shops and pubs. So much has changed and there is even a food court which makes it even more convenient for family with kids to visit the island

Before the trip, we worried that the baby will keep everyone awake at night
We worried that we will end up spending money to get ourselves stressed out

After the trip, we realized that being away from the daily mundane chores is by itself a natural stress reliever.
Nursing the baby under the stars with Pulau Bukom greeting us made waking up in the middle of the night less painful

When we were out and about, I chose slinging the baby over our heavily invested jogger
Going up and down the tram with the baby in the sling was a breeze
I was able to nurse the baby discreetly
Most importantly, I could have both my hands free while carrying the baby.
I am selling these slings here.

This trip has definitely made us more confident in handling baby Marcus and we are now thinking of going further for our next holiday with him along.

It has been a while since we baked. In fact, it has been 6 months, since our return from Paris. So when I suggested doing some baking for his little friends who are coming over for BBQ, Malcolm got really excited.

‘It’s going to be fun !’ was his exact words

His excitement lasted long enough to get his hands dirtied and his shirt soiled. His extra pair of hands came in handy when I needed someone to help sieve the flour while I stir the mix.

We made christmas cookies using this old butter cookie recipe we love.

With a new baby, things get a little bit tricky. Instead of 3 hours, we took 3 days to do our bake.

We mix and knead the dough on day 1, cut and bake the cookie on day 2 and decorate them on day 3. Pack them in clear cellophane bags, tie them with gold ribbons and we yield a basket full of yummy bake. The kids love them !

Here’s the recipe we used. Hope it’s not too late for your christmas bake.

Ingredients

170 g butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp of milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar in mixing bowl

2. Mix in vanilla essence, milk and egg

3. Mix in baking powder

4. Stir in flour one cup at a time

5. Knead into a dough, separate into 2 balls and chill in fridge for at least 1 hour

6. Leave the dough 15 minutes in room temperature before rolling

7. Roll and cut cookie

8. Bake for about 10 minutes at 200 deg celsius

For Icing

1/4 cup of powder sugar

1/2 tsp milk

Mix to get desired consistency

It seem to take forever for the tree to be up this year

I thought of getting the fresh fir tree from Ikea
at SGD 69 I thought it was a good deal
save the hassle of storing the tree
and we LOVE the smell of fresh pine

Then we passed by Carrefour
they were having clearance
The deal seem too good to be missed
and we bought the tree at 1/2 price
some ornaments at 80% discount

I have this grand plan of making our own ornaments
and I totally miss the fact that with a 6 weeks old baby
doing craft with my 5 year old will be a totally new challenge

Here’s how the baby looks while we were busy

and we finally completed our ONLY piece of art for the tree

He was warned that he needs to be careful

9, 11, 12, 72
His favourite channels
He wasn’t happy that now he needs to fight with grandpa and grandma for the remote control
So instead, he was given permission to watch them on youtube

He never get bored staring at the screen playing black and white scenes
listening to the old folks rambling on with their theories or recounting their glorious days
With his glass of honey drink sitting right next to where his eyes were glued
It was a setup
Accident waiting to happen

A spillage cut off the power light in less than a minute
put the machine to sleep
We tried everything
But nothing works
The 2 year old machine was declared dead

It was almost a reflex losing my cool
not so much because I cannot tolerate accident
more because I took it as a warning unheed
but he was right
It was an accident
And accident can happen anytime and anywhere

As if to help me simmer down
I turned away
grabbed some papers
and asked him to write

With 2 pages of this
He managed to appease his Dad
It was a good reason for Dad to splurge on his dream machine afterall

and as I sit here blogging in front of this new gigantic cutting edge machine
I realise I have my 5 year old to thank

P/s : my old laptop miraculously resurrected after a week of inactivity.
We end up burning a hole in our pocket for nothing

I get to catch the first golden streak

that lit up the sky and warms the earth

ALL BECAUSE
…
….
…..

I was up at unearthly hour

nursing, burping and changing the baby