A Juggling Mom

Motivational Monday – My One Little Word for 2016

January 11, 2016 Comments: 11

It’s been two weeks since the start of 2016 and like many I had a hard long thought about my direction for the year. This was inspired by Ali Edwards when I got introduced to Project Life where she likens One Little Word to “a word to focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life“.

For me My One Little Word is like a compass that directs how I’m going to live my life, a sail what steers me for the next 365 days and a word to keep me focused this year.

My One Little Word for the past two years have been

2014 – Nurture

2015 – Pause

While I don’t think I paused very much last year and may have even suffered from fatigue as I struggled to keep afloat trying to swim against the tide, I did set aside time to nurture myself in 2014 when I embraced a healthier life style and picked up a new hobby, scrapbooking and Project Life.

For this year, I’m going with SIMPLIFY.

SIMPLIFY

A word to remind me to prune away at the areas of my life that are holding me back from living a more purposeful life.

A word to remind me to avoid over scheduling my life with too many appointments and activities that I can’t stop to smell the roses.

A word to remind me to reduce my choices and be more single minded in my decisions, starting from my wardrobe and shoes.

A word to remind me to get rid of the clutter in my life and only hold on to what’s of significance.

A word to remind me to live simply and be contented with what God has already blessed me with in life.

And on that note, I started 2016 decluttering my home and I packed away bags and bags of things that I no longer need in my life, from worn out clothes, to clothes at least 2 sizes smaller, to letters and documents dating back to my first job, craft projects I no longer do or will do, expired stuffs like lotions, make up, and the list goes on….

While I have read the widely popular konmari method, to only keep things that spark your joy, I very frankly and somewhat heartlessly junked even things that brought me joy, because no matter how you see it, they are still cluttering my space, my home, my life. To be very honest, I think what helped was having a right logical and rational hubby who kept questioning why I was holding on to so and so item, that I threw them away to avoid his questioning and you know what, I really don’t miss them at all.

Another area what I’m going to simplify is also on this virtual space of mine where i’ll be more selective of what I post on my blog. I’m sure fellow bloggers will agree with me that fatigue sets in once you lose your direction and voice on your blog. And the last thing I want to do is to feel like I’m just a platform for pushing out reviews and products that come my way. I’m thankful for the opportunities that have come my way, but will have to be more discerning of what I want to feature so that my blog can be a place for me to share stories from the heart 🙂

Thanks for sticking around and I hope 2016 treats you better 🙂

Enjoyed reading this post? Do like my Facebook page to be updated of the next post. You can also follow me on Twitter (@Susankoh) or Instagram (@ajugglingmom).

Like/Share this:

Mother and daughter matching outfits for Chinese New Year

January 8, 2016 Comments: 23

It wasn’t too long ago that we celebrated Christmas and New Year and now Chinese New Year is just a month away. Did I just hear a gasp from you? If you’ve not started shopping for CNY, here’s a guide on where you can get your hands on matching mother and daughter outfits from cheongsam, qipaos to dresses in Singapore.

For those with little boys, fret not as I’ve gone the extra mile to find matching outfits for you too.

Mother and daughter matching outfits for Chinese New Year

Joli Pretty

I’ve always liked the handmade modern cheongsams from Joli Pretty. And this year, they finally introduced their very first collection of mother & daughter set. I like their modern twist to the traditional cheongsam with belts, playful prints, vibrant colours and unconventional design which makes it one of a kind.

This mother and child collection is a pre-order and stocks will only arrive in mid January 2016. When I checked out their website, some designs were already sold out, so if you want to place your orders, you better hurry.

Where to find them: Online at www.jolipretty.com.

The Happy Cheongsam

Another place you can get get your hands on matching cheongsam with your little princess is the Happy Cheongsam. Here, you can expect very wearable pieces that are sweet and delightful.

And rejoice as the collection for mother and daughter matching set starts next Monday, 11 Jan. Go bookmark their website, set your alarm and don’t miss it if you’re looking for modern and sweet matchy cheongsam sets.

Where to find them: Online at www.thehappycheongsam.com.

Glitter Glam and Mary Had A Little Lamb

Glitter Glam really needs no introduction by now. They are a popular home-grown brand that offers contemporary and fashionable work wear. Three years ago, they introduced Mary Had A Little Lamb – the mother-and-child collection where you can find mini-me versions of the same stylish and modern looking dresses.

Sakura recently did a photoshoot for them with her girl so do head over to her blog to see more of their latest dresses.

We like their dresses so much and have a couple of dresses ourselves. In fact, I recently bought another matchy set with Sophie and we intend to wear it for this CNY.

Where to find them: Harbourfront Centre #02-110 and online at www.glitterglamshop.com.

Chubby Chubby

Chubby Chubby is a new brand that I discovered this year and it’s a homegrown label of graphic designer Nix Deng, where she takes her passion for design and turn them into designer clothing and lifestyle products that’s made right here in Singapore. #supportlocal

If you like fuss free and clean designs then this is for you.

I personally like this colourful triangle design cheongsam and judging from the A-line design, there should be no problem running after your kids in this too!

Matching mummy and daughter cheongsams from Chubby Chubby

Do check out their Orient -WOW’16 CNY Collection featuring matching mummy and daughter cheongsams for girls (9months to 10years old), tops, one-piece jumpsuit, mandarin shirt for boys (9months to 10 years old) and even baby girl rompers from 3 months!

Where to find them: Mothercare Paragon and online at www.chubbychubby.sg.

Que Sera

If you’re a vintage lover then you’ll be glad to know that Que Sera will be right up your alley. I first came across this shop when they were back in Far East Plaza and now they are located in Suntec. Que Sera is the first to offer retro matching adult and kids size dresses and each piece is lovingly designed and hand sewn.

They also have cheongsams for this Chinese New Year season and the cheongsam which I wore last CNY was also purchased from them. It remains a favourite piece in my wardrobe as the spring colours are not too over the top post CNY and it very cleverly hides any misgivings even after a good meal. *wink*

Where to find them: Suntec City #02-376

Miz Apparels

For ladies working in the CBD area, you may be familair with Miz Apparels where they offer quality pieces from Korea. Beside ladies apparels and accessories, they also do ‘Mummy & Children’ apparels and are a huge hit especially for the festive season.

Matching mother and son outfit

Some designs come in limited quantity and run out really fast, so do head on down to their shops early to avoid disappointment.

Where to find them: 1 Raffles Place, #04-16/17, Marina Bay Link Mall, #B2-13

Little Qipao

If you’re looking for more oriental designs, then look no further. Little Qipao offers an extensive collection of qipaos for little girls and mummies that are made from premium quality and according to my fussy pot the cheongsam is comfy even in our humid weather, which you can read about it here.

Plus you can even find coordinating outfits for your son and hubby and dress them in traditional Kungfu tops!

Where to find them: Takashimaya and Uptown Kidz or www.littleqipao.com

Camouflage Kids

And because some of you have been asking for matching family outfits, I did a little more research and found out that Camouflage Kids does matching father and son outfit in addition to mother and daughter dresses and tops.

(Father-Son Outfit) Howie Stripes Long Sleeve Shirt - Green – Camouflage - Google Chrome 712016 111521 PM

Father and Son matching outfits from Camouflage Kids

In fact, they even do family sets too like the one below. Isn’t that just so adorable? 🙂

Family set from Camouflage Kids

Where to find them: 313 Somerset, Jurong Point, Tampines Mall and Raffles Xchange.
I hope this list has been comprehensive and offers lots of helpful suggestions as you prepare for the upcoming Chinese New Year in the year of the monkey. Happy shopping and if you know of any other shops that offer matching outfits, do drop me a note too!

Enjoyed reading this post? Do like my Facebook page for more parenting and Chinese New Year related updates and giveaways. You can also follow me on Twitter (@Susankoh) or Instagram (@ajugglingmom).

Like/Share this:

Starting Primary One – We survived the first days of Primary One

January 5, 2016 Comments: 7

This week was a major milestone for Sophie as she leveled up to Primary One! The feeling that my little baby has grown up and is off to Primary One is still such a surreal feeling as we made the final checks for her school bag last Sunday evening. Mummy here, is probably the one who needs to learn to let go and allow her to spread her wings as she enters a new stage of her life.

Her first day went by smoothly and like most first time Primary One parent, I applied for leave on the first and second day to ease her into her new routine. As her school didn’t allow parents to enter the school compound even on the first day, I had to maintain my composure so that she wouldn’t be able to spot the signs of separation anxiety I had as I watch her walk into the gate and disappear into a sea of students. No chance for me to be a paparazzi and watch her from the sidelines.

On my way to work on Monday, the journey was extra quiet and oh how I missed her company and morning chatter which can be sometimes funny and embarrassing at the same time. While at work, I wondered how she was getting along, if she made new friends, ate anything for recess and if she was missing me like I am.

But I must say she did so well on her first day. And like what her principal assured us, our kids are indeed more resilient and adaptable than we give them credit for. Sophie came home with so much to share, from the things she did in her class, to where she sat in class, the new friends she made, her first impression on her teachers and what she had at recess.

When I asked her if she was the shortest in her class, something I tease her about as she’s is so short, she replied with gusto, “No, I’m number 3. Not that bad, right?” We’re so thankful that Sophie is taking well to a new environment and hope that her enthusiasm for school continues.

This year, all Primary One going students received a handbook and it had lots of helpful tips and advice especially for first time parents like us. The orientation at school also gave Sophie her a better idea of what to expect before she started school and while she may not know anyone in school prior to joining, I’m confident that with her friendly and bubbly personalty, she’ll have no problem making lots of new friends.

As I wouldn’t be home with her in the afternoons, I printed a timetable to encourage her to manage her time and be kept occupied with things to do. Praise God, that school’s only a stone’s throw away so we get the luxury of leaving home at 7:10 in the morning and getting home in less than 10 mins 🙂 Hopefully, she’ll ease into the new routine and get used to waking up early.

It’s been an exciting first two days and the journey has only just begun 🙂 For me, I hope to remain a cool headed mum and not be overly stressed at this point in time. A friend once gave a good piece of advice to surround myself with like-minded parents so that we do not lose ourselves in this very KS society where our kids are measured only by their academic success. There is so much to our kids than just their grades and I hope that I will always remember that and impart these value to Sophie as well 🙂

Reading at her new desk that papa bought

Starting on a classic- Charlotte’s Web!

Primary One Diary

Like/Share this:

Reflections on 2015

December 31, 2015 Comments: 11

As the year 2015 comes to a close, my heart feels slightly heavy. While a part of me feels like I should be expressing my gratitude for the many blessings and happy moments for the year, I feel compelled to be real and authentic with my feelings and struggles too.

Though I started the year with the intention to slow down and to learn how to Pause, which was my One Little Word at the start of the year, I felt like I was swimming in the opposite direction the whole time and struggling to keep afloat. If anything, 2015 was lived so hurriedly that it was a battle to carve time out for myself and I felt like I was aimlessly being busy with things that didn’t matter. It was an uphill task trying to be focused and there were many frustrating moments trying to balance family, work, me time and the need to simply rest that I had a very defeated and demoralised spirit.

So many times, I felt angry at myself for being careless with my time especially when I could have spent it with my family or to take care of myself like exercising, sleeping early or nourishing my soul. As a result, I was often in low spirits as I felt like I was letting myself slide down a slippery slope of with my defeated attitude.

Somewhere in the middle of the year, I had a scare when the gynae told me I had a cyst after my traumatic bleeding episode last year when I had to go for my third fibroid removal operation. And to make matters worse, hopes of having another baby seemed so out of reach that I broke down in tears after I attended a baby shower. We have been praying and waiting for things to take its course, but time is not on our side with Sophie turing 7 next year and knowing that if the fibroids reoccur, my gynae is going to suggest to remove my womb which makes this letter to Sophie even more heartwrenching.

To be very honest, I can’t say I liked 2015 very much. No doubt we had many holidays to Krabi, Bangkok, Penang and more recently Hong Kong, where we had lots of precious time as a family as well as with our parents who came on 2 of these trips. But somehow, they leave me even more empty when we are back to the daily grind, to real life.

But I don’t want to just focus on the negatives, after all, we did experience lots of goodness too like when Sophie got into the primary school we wanted. This year, we watch her graduate from her childcare under the loving care of the teachers who have watched her grow up from her playgroup days. Though she’ll be so reluctant to be separated from her childhood friends, I know she’ll adapt well to a new environment.

I have also been very blessed at work to have an awesome bunch of colleagues to work with from Mondays to Fridays despite unexpected changes and challenges thrown our way. To keep us going, we have our happy lunch and coffee and sometimes dessert too. And we not only work hard but play hard together and even went on two holidays together too.

And when I was away on those girly trips, hubby rose to the occasion and took such wonderful care of Sophie which made me appreciate him even more as we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary together.

I count it a blessing to be able to share my experiences with readers like you on my blog like our Primary One journey, travelogues and even experiences with fibroid where my sharing have been helpful and beneficial, inspiring me to keep writing.

Image source: http://www.theclutterbug.com.au/

Indeed writing on this blog has been a therapeutic outlet of expression for me and I hope it remains that way. So if there is one thing that comes to mind for 2016, it is to simplify.

Simplify
To avoid overcluttering my mind, my space, my life
To streamline my life and eliminate the unnecessary
To say no to things I dont need in my life
To be selective of how I spend my time, energy, emotions

With the intention to simplify my life, I think I’m on to a good start already.

Hope 2015 has been good to you. But if not, make it a better one in 2016!

Like/Share this:

Holiday Extravaganza at Legoland Malaysia

December 22, 2015 Comments: 4

The highlight for 2015 must certainly be all the vacations we took this year. From our laid back beach holiday in Krabi to shopping and eating heaven, Bangkok. And it was more eating in Penang and Hong Kong where we had a wonderful time in Disneyland.

And for our very very last trip of the year, we headed up to Johor Bahru for Legoland Malaysia!

Since it was December, the theme park was dressed up for their Christmas Holiday Extravaganza! Upon entering, we spotted Santa and hitched a ride on his sleigh pulled by his trusty reindeers which are all made of Legos pieces! And thankfully we didn’t spoil his ride otherwise he can’t finish his delivery of presents.

You definitely wouldn’t miss the Lego Christmas tree that’s more than 9 meters high and made entirely of Duplo blocks in near the Market Restaurant . What caught my eye were these ginormous drool worthy boxes of Lego at the foot of the Christmas tree. They would not only be a kids dream come true but for adults especially the Lego fans too. If only…

Looks like it snowed in Lego city!

It’s a snow themed Lego City

The first area we headed to was Lego City where Sophie drove a car at the Junior Driving School, an aeroplane and a boat at the Boating School. I hopped on as her passenger on two of the rides and the boating experience was really quite fun.

The queues can get quite long for these activities so it’s a good idea to come here right after you enter the theme park. We waited 15-20 min for the boating school but it was worthwhile being driven by Sophie!

Another parent and child activity that we enjoyed was the Rescue Academy where we had to drive our rescue vehicle to put out the fire.

Here cooperation is required by both parent and child and Sophie was frantically jumping up and down to pump the water to aid Alexis in extinguishing the fire. She even scolded me for taking photos and ordered me to stop taking photos and go over to help! In the end, we were first place under the command of Tyrant Sophie!

Pump, pump, pump!

Next, it was off to Land of Adventure where we took the laser blasting ride, Lost Kingdom and Beetle Bounce, a ride which bounces and descends you unexpectedly.

Surprisingly, the latter was one of Sophie’s favourite ride since it was the same sort of ride that scared the daylights of her when we were in Disneyland. She was so brave that she even lifted her arms and tried to peel my hands off the handlebar to do the same, but I’m not that crazy.

She got to play inside the indoor playground Pharaoh’s Revenge while seeking shelter from the intermittent rain that played hide the seek the whole day with us. A word of advice from my hubs is to leave your kids to their own devices here and not try to climb around with them if you don’t wish to hurt your back.

The only thrill in Land of Adventure was the flume ride but Sophie didn’t want to go on it and I’ve learnt not to force her against her will after a bad experience in Disneyland. So she sat out of it and stayed in the Lego Station at the side of the queue and waited for us. Turned out this was one soaking wet ride and we got so drenched, which explains why I saw people taking the ride in their swimsuit. #notkiddingyou

Since Sophie was not keen on the more exciting rides, we took her to the Duplo Playtown and here everything is Sophie sized!Very friendly area even for little kids where they can have a fun time in the playground or hop on board the Duplo Express.

We crossed over to the Lego Studio and caught 3 of the 4 4D shows screening and the special effects from rain, snow and wind were so realistic. In fact, it was so realistic that Sophie decided to put on her raincoat for good measure! I like her sense of humour.

The shows were pretty good especially Clutch Power. And if you want to avoid the full effects, sit at the back rows which we discovered later and avoided the ‘rain’.

NOW, I’m ready for the 4D show!

Pit your gaming skills and win soft toys!

Lego Kingdom means only one thing, the Dragon roller coaster! Since this was not on Sophie’s agenda, she went for the Royal Joust and this ride is just so royally cute! We had some technical issues on the roller coaster and nearly got soaked wet in the rain but I guess that’s also part of the fun.

And every visit to the theme park is not complete if you didn’t get a photo with the mascots. So here’s one with Frankenstein and Ninjago Kai!

By the way, you must watch the Ninjago Live Show, The Realm of Shadows that’s currently showing at the Lego City Stage and will soon be a permanent fixture of the theme park.

This Bunraku-style LEGO Ninjago live interactive show brings you on an adventure with the Ninjagos through a combination of state-of-the-art 4D special effects, mesmerising puppetry and mind-blowing video mapping! The performers who handled the puppets also had very good control and brought the characters to life.

Alexis and I were glued to our seats throughout the whole 20 minutes and were impressed by the show which made the different settings and puppets come to life in a sensory immersive experience.

Building our Christmas themed Lego structures at Lego Mindstorms

Oh and did you know that just for this holiday season til 3 January 2016, the park’s opening hours has been extended by an hour to 7pm!So before we left, we stayed on to catch the Holiday Extravaganza at 6.45pm and to see if we are lucky enough to win something in their special Legoland Advent Calendar lucky draw that happens every evening.

We really don’t ask for much. Just THIS will do!!!

The 2 hosts sang and danced and delighted the audience as we all tried to keep a look out for Santa to light up the Christmas tree. Of course, he’s found in the end by the Toy Solider and how lovey the lighted Christmas tree looks against the red evening sky

But before we sign out of the park, we had to get our hands on these Christmas themed Lego Baubles and magnets from the Big Shop that will make great gift!

Lego theme baubles that are going up on my Christmas tree!

There are only a few days before the Holiday Extravaganza ends and on 31 December, there’s going to be musical fireworks to light up the sky!

Weather wise, we did experience intermittent rain so do go prepared with ponchos and your brollys. And if you’re wondering about the jam, it took us 1 hour and 15 mins to get from Tuas to Legoland on a Friday morning and surprisingly just 30 mins from JB checkpoint to Singapore on a Sunday late afternoon. It was very unexpectedly and thank God for a safe journey to and fro too 🙂

Hope to come back for their Water Park the next time when the weather is better!

You can read more Legoland Holiday Extravaganza reviews over here, here, and here.

Like/Share this: