1st Birthday Bash

This birthday bash came as quite an impromptu decision. Initially, we reckon that Mei Mei will be too young to realise what's going on, so was thinking to keep it simple with just a birthday cake.

Well, being a first-time parent, i just couldn't bear to let this special day of her lifetime, to be just another usual day. We decided to keep this affair simple with our immediate family (as their kids are Mei Mei's playmates). Also, it it should be a day that Mei Mei will throughly enjoy herself, same for the kids who will be attending this party.

We started off with nothing but a contact for the caterer, and it just sprouted to more ideas like birthday decor, goodie bags (i love this part), converting her room into a playground and finally choosing the cute icing that goes onto her birthday cupcakes. I definitely enjoyed myself from the planning, and can't wait for the her 2nd birthday to happen! As for Mei Mei, well, her photos just explains it all.

wah! wah! wah! wah! am I in heaven?

lagi excited..

super excited....almost want to flip

The place that kids call "home"

The best shot after a challenging 10mins of getting a bunch of kids to pose at the same time (with Mummy always ready to "strike" smile)

The best shot of the day!

En Xi's first tast of whipped cream.

"Princess En Xi's throne" from Uncle Sam & Auntie Sophia

Birthday wishes from Mummy's best pals - who wasn't invited as it was exclusive to those 7 years old and below.

The traditional "chicken drumstick" ceremony (which must be complete with a new pair of walking shoes and clothes to mark her new beginning as a toddler")

Another cake-cutting on her actual day - In fact, the "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" song became her fav song after her party, never fails to make her clap in joy.

don't play play..I'm 1 year old already you know!

The Many Faces of Ong En Xi

Just a random post by Daddy before heading off for another overseas trip for 2 weeks. This year sure is busy with plenty of overseas trips coming up. Mommy is still trying hard to piece together your 1 year anniversary entry and as well as your birthday entry. Meanwhile, Daddy was just browsing through your pictures and can't help laughing to myself when I saw the latter series of pictures. Behold, 4 different facial expressions in a matter of seconds.....

The "I'm a really bad ass and Give me all your $$$!" look


The "Wait, don't tell Mommy I was naughty" look


The "Heh... I was just joking..." look

The "Somebody, call the police" look

Photo of the Day:

I'm a rich babe

Rewind back to 14 Jan 08

A year ago, I was still wondering how this little one in my tummy will look. Does she have my eyes? Would she be as cheeky as Daddy? When Mei Mei was born, I remembered that I was so overwhelmed with this little miracle of life that I broke down instantaneously. And thou she was only seconds old, it felt like we have known each other for the longest time.

Although the past 12 months has been filled with highs and lows, but it has also brought a new dimension to the family, especially our couplehood. Daddy & Mummy may have lesser time for each other now, but it has also made us more appreciative of the exclusive “dating” days (which we used to take for granted before we were parents).

Mei Mei also made me realized that how being a mother is the most rewarding job in the entire universe. No matter how work has compromised my time for her, she never fails to reserve her biggest smile of the day for me.

This posting will re-collect some of the most memorable trivia about Mei Mei, to commemorate the growing up pains, laughter and sweat for the past 1 year.

Medicated top-to-toe
By her 1st mth birthday, the amount of medication she had was astonishing . A nasty case of cord stump, infected BCG wound, and a allergic-prone baby, it's seriously too much to handle for a newborn. When she was 10-day old, the doctor had to put a pipe into her nose to drain the excess mucus that was trapped in her nose pipe (resulted by her sensitivity to environmental dust). That's the 2nd time I cried since her birth, but because I was really upset having to see her go through the ordeal. The first 3 months was indeed a difficult period for a first-time mother like me. What kept me going was something that Daddy said; "This period might be very trying period for us, but it will definitely make us more appreciative of the good times ahead."



Got milk?
During the initial months of her birth, Mei Mei was suspected to have a milk allergy. As she was a fully breastfeed baby, I had to be particularly careful of with my diet, and scrutinize all the food labels of whatever that goes into my system. She was so sensitive that any slight presence of milk will trigger a bad case of ecezma on her cheeks. That period was probably my worst low since her birth. The 10cm high hair
Mei Mei was blessed with a lot of hair when she was born. For the longest time, her hair was constantly standing. Everyday, she looked like she had a bad hair day from her nap.



Daddy's video
The video starring Daddy (made for Mei Mei before Daddy went for his 1 mth overseas training) never fails to brighten the day up for Mei Mei. No matter how cranky she is, this video always manage to bring on the smiles on her face. I remembered that there was one night that Mei Mei woke up in tears for no reason. We are all at our wits and trying all possible methods to calm her down. The crying drama went on until we flashed out Daddy's video, and she instantly gurgled with joy!



Friso Baby
Mei Mei has been starring in Friso TV commercials in the past 1 year, due to a coincidental opportunity when she was born. She is now proudly known as the "celebrity" baby. All thanks to her, Mummy and Daddy manage to save on 1 year worth of milk powder.


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Miss Congeniality
Mei Mei has always been an extrovert. Whenever she sees a child, she always attempt to "strike a conversation" with them. She is also a very spirited and happy baby, and it's never a challenge to capture her smiles on the camera. Looking at the photos we took, we realised that there are so many facets of expression on her face, and she can depict so many different interpretations of being happy!

Blink blink
This is another iconic signature of Mei Mei, when she was about 6 - 8 months old. For some reasons, she always blink with her right eye when the camera flashes (which we only realise later that it's due to a microscopic scratch that resulted it to be highly sensitive to high beams)


Sleeping Beauty
We took this photo when she concussed while watching her favorite "Baby Can Read" program.

Jacob Ballas @ The Botanic Garden

A long overdue post, although Daddy started this posted on 31 Dec 08, Daddy only managed to complete it 4 weeks later. This is party due to endless partying since Christmas, then there was the new year countdown party, Mommy's Papa birthday, your TV commercial shoot and of course your birthday party. Its been one hectic month and much to Daddy's annoyance, Daddy can't piece together something that happened a month ago. But here goes, Charlene stayed over our place for the weekend and we went to the Jacob Ballas Park.

Grandpa, Daddy, Charlene & EnXi bracing overselves for the tunnel ride.

Grandpa with Charlene taking the plunge

EnXi wondering what went by after we made it out of the tunnel.

Charlene seems like having the most fun as we headed for the water themed station with water sprouting out from the ground with plenty of watering cans for everyone to water the nearby plants. In fact, Charlene was crying when we had to head home.

Heath Tip for the Day

Eat your cereals everyday and lose the fab!

1st Xmas with En Xi

This Xmas is rather special for us, being the 1st Xmas with Mei Mei. It has been almost a ritual that I will spend my Xmas with my jie-meis, also know as the 7 Princesses. This year, we have one more princess joining the club. A true princess indeed cos Mei Mei is the first baby in the group and obviously grossly spoilt by the girls. Aside from showering her with gifts constantly, she will always be the centre of focus in all our gatherings. Mei Mei was behaving very well that day, partly because it held at home groun.d. We realise that she is usually quite clingy when she is out with the girls, so we were quite glad that she was enjoying herself that day

The theme for this Xmas - Olympic Mania!

I'm the tennis babe!

The best-dressed couple - Qingwei & Yushan

Selene "Jie Jie" with the En Xi de reindeer

Umm..im quite sure my card is bigger than yours?

Thank You, En Xi

Daddy is having a hard time trying to piece together several events that happened of recent. Blogging about you usually occurs in spurts of inspiration. Trouble is having enough time and energy to stare into the laptop after a full day of staring into another laptop at work. So, more often than not, Daddy had missed out charting a few precious moments of your life thus far. Trying to link all events also prove to be a challenge as well. Then again, who cares if a blog entry is clear, concise and conclusive. But, on another note, Daddy wants you to understand what went through our lives as a family. Daddy has such terrible short memory, I'm worried that all the beautiful memories will just fade into abyss. In my own humble opinion, fading memories is the worst thing that can happen to anyone and to the people around him or her. Enough ramblings from Daddy, time to start my entry for today.

Mommy was recently ill and was down with food poisoning, so Daddy had to take care of you with Grandpa's help, as Grandma was at Uncle Eric's home taking care of your newly born cousin, Julian. For the first time, Daddy became a SAHD (Stay At Home Dad) for 2 days before Mommy recovers. I must say that 2 days sure felt like 2 weeks, cos you are such an impish elfin. The toughest part of taking care of you was trying to wash your hair. Take a good look at yourself now....

Of late, Daddy also managed to catch up with some old mates of mine. Somehow, no matter how cute other babies look, you are always the most "kawaii" to me. Here is Mommy with you, together with Auntie Elaine and Evianne.

Not to mention, you had developed the long lost skill of "Tien Chen Jao", nemesis of "Wan Fo Chao Zong". Susan and Wayne are obviously not too pleased.

Christmas is around the corner, this year is a particularly bad financial year and it seems that the financial turmoil has taken its toll on everything. Even the traditional Christmas lightings seems to be of sub-standard and shambolic. Nonetheless, we went to Borders to get some Christmas gifts and managed to catch some lights. You never fail to amaze us with your different facial expressions. Sometimes, Mommy thinks you are schizophrenia. Here are some of your personalities.

The "I'm very angry-I've horns sticking outta of my head" look

The "I'm a tribal dancer-No wait-I'm a wrestler-No wait-I like to lick" look.


This look is just stupid, but Daddy loves it, cos it always never fails to brighten up his day. Maybe, we can call it the "Cheer You Up" look.

The "Plurrrsee give me my milk" look.

The "OMG! Mango is on Sale" look.

This is our Christmas Tree and you'll be celebrating your first Christmas Party with Mommy's best Gal friends on the eve.

Before, Daddy sign off this entry, Daddy wants to thank you. Daddy doesn't quite understand it yet, but Daddy has now found inner peace and patience. You are the beauty who calmed the beast or you can crudely put it as the ah lian who calmed the ah beng. More importantly, you had shown me how to love Mommy more than ever. Don't ask me how, I just love your mommy more now. Once again, thank you.

Daddy and Mommy in Love

Food and Mei Mei

One of the new-found skill as a parent, is the ability to gobble down our food within minutes. Especially when it comes to dining out, both of us will need to take our turns , while the other strolls Mei Mei in her royal sedan to keep her entertained.

Recently, we found that Mei Mei has taken a great interest in munching anything that goes into her mouth. It was a great way to keep her in her seat without launching a strike of cries and tears. She was busy nibbling away, like a busy hamster. The unusual obedience made me realised that it has been so long that both of us can truly enjoy our dinner, and add in a little chit chat in between too.

I'm so hungry that I want to eat it now...............

Waiter plss...I want to order

Where is my FOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD???

Finally...a full and contented angel.