A Juggling Mom

Time Capsule – Starting a New Birthday Tradition

August 20, 2015 Comments: 4

Being a National Day baby, I always tell Sophie how incredibly blessed she is to have the whole nation celebrate her special day with fireworks. And this year, we certainly spared no expenses to make it a grand one to mark our 50th year of independence with lots of festivities around the celebration.

Since this is such a momentous year, I decided to start a new birthday tradition and make a time capsule for Sophie’s 6th birthday. After all this is our Golden Jubilee and so much of our Nation’s history has been brought up and it’s extra meaningful to include some of these into our time capsule as well.

Time Capsule for kids

Making a checklist for our Time Capsule

Here’s a list of some of the 10 items that are going into our time capsule to remember the year 2015 and one when Sophie turned 6.

1. Front page of the newspapers on Sophie’s birthday

The 9th of August is an extra significant date for Singapore as we mark our Golden Jubilee. On this date, the Straits Times republished the news from 1965 with the headline “Singapore is out” declaring our separation from Malaysia to be an independent nation that changed the course of our future as a country.

I also cut out another page from the papers on the transformation of Singapore over the years. Would be interesting to revisit these places in 10, 20 years to see the transformation.

2. A mini album of birthday interview questions

I made this mini album with a few Project Life cards from the Becky Higgins Daydreamer edition. I simply adore how sweet the illustrations are especially the cover with the words, Never Grow Up!

Sophie filling up the questions I wrote for her that includes her height and weight to see how much she’s grown and some of her favourite things.

When I grow up, I want to be a …

You can easily google or head over to Pinterest for birthday interview questions if you’re stuck for ideas.

3. Photograph of our family

This was taken on our recent staycation over the long Jubilee weekend.

Sophie requested for a staycation and we headed to the far east over to Village Hotel Changi and even got adventurous and took a bum boat to Pulau Ubin. What a great way to discover a different side of Singapore to get a glimpse of what our early Kampong days look like.

4. Memories from her birthday

I intend to include the deflated My Little Pony and number 6 balloon to remember the birthday theme that she choose for her 6th birthday.

But boy are these balloons going strong! So I’ll probably wait another 2 weeks or so to include them in.

5. Birthday card

I used to pen letters to Sophie on the blog like this one last year. But as she grows older, these personal notes to her are better kept off the blog for our privacy as I do want to record her quirks and funny habits for memory sake.

This year, I made her a card too and this is definitely going into the time capsule too.

6. Special keepsake from 2015

Since I’m no stamp or coin collector, I didn’t think I would go out and buy a special edition of either that are issued this year.

But being such a big Hello Kitty fan, we’ll be including this limited edition SG50 Hello Kitty from MacDonalds into the time capsule! Let’s see if she still likes Hello Kitty by the time she’s 16!

7. Sophie’s artwork

This is a 2-in-1 piece that I added into the time capsule as it is an artwork done by Sophie and at the same time has her hand prints so we can see how much she’s grown over the years.

8. EZ Link card

Since this is the last year that she’ll be using the pre-schooler’s EZ link card, I thought it would be nice to include it into the time capsule when the year ends.

A reminder that she’ll be going to Primary one and needs to start paying for child fare. 😛

9. Travel memories of 2015

This year, instead of travelling out the country, we mostly did staycations as a family.

But very glad that we’ll be jetting off for more holidays in the second half of the year to Krabi (Today in fact!) and to Bangkok in October where I’ll add those photos in!

I certainly hope we’ll have a longer and further one maybe in November before we gear up for the new school term for Sophie.

10. Toy of the year

I’m including this inside as I’m mighty proud of the story behind how Sophie learnt the Rubik’s Cube from papa when I traveled without them and Daddy had to take over. Plus it’s really not easy to master it and I’m glad it’s Daddy who taught Sophie how to do it.

I reckon, we’ll be adding in some more things before we wrap up 2015. It was fun putting this time capsule together and we intend to open this when Sophie turns 16. That’s a grand 10 years later because she says she can’t wait so long till she’s 21 years old.

Do you also have a birthday tradition in your family that meaningful and brings joy for the whole family too? I’ll love to hear from you 🙂

Looking for more ideas for your time capsule, do check out these links too.

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Sophie turns 6 – My Little Pony Birthday Party, Friendship is Magic

August 14, 2015 Comments: 7

As the nation celebrated our Golden Jubilee last weekend, my little national baby had her own coming of age as she turned 6 years old on 9 August.

We initially contemplated travelling over the long weekend when we learnt that 7 August was declared a public holiday. But we eventually decided against it as this was a significant year to celebrate our country’s 50th year of independence and settled on a staycation right at home.

But before the long weekend, we kicked off the birthday celebration with a mini party in Sophie’s childcare centre, the very last one before she graduates from being a pre-schooler and gets promoted to primary school.

The theme she chose this year was My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic!

My Little Pony Birthday Party

When it comes to cartoon cakes, there’s always so many choices available. But I noticed that none of the local bakeries like Bengawan Solo, Prima Deli or Swensons does My Little Pony designs (or am I missing something?).

So I asked for recommendations on my Facebook page a reader, Adeline pointed me to Baker’s Heart.

Cake from Baker’s Heart

And I couldn’t be happier at my choice. Look at the gorgeous looking two tiered cake. *gushes* >.<

Sophie 6 My Little Pony Birthday Party 04

My Little Pony cake from Baker’s Heart

I was so blown away by the vibrant colours and the cake looked as good as the sample photos they sent me. My request for Sophie’s cake was to have it in rainbow colours and they recommended going with rainbow coloured rosettes on the bottom layer and pink gradients on the top layer.

Even her name and the wordings were all in candylicious rainbow colours and all her friends oohh and ahhh at the cake too. And the extra details with the rainbow and stars made it look even more magical.

Just in case you’re wondering, this is a 1.5kg cake and feeds 30 pax just nice with a few coming back for second and third helpings.

Sophie 6 My Little Pony Birthday Party 05

The birthday girl with her K2 class.

Since I don’t get the chance to throw a party, I decided to make a simple centrepiece with a little pink bucket and added photo props of My Little Pony characters like Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle which I printed off from here. To dress up the table, I even brought along a couple more figurines as decoration. That’s how many My Little Ponies we had.

Notice that big ass number 6 balloon in the photos?

The story behind it is hilarious and I thought I should journal it down. I got some helium balloons for the mini celebration and saw that the party shop had a number 6 in golden glitter print. Because my 6 year old favourite colour is golden, I thought she’ll like a surprise and got it.

But little did I know the balloon measured almost 90cm in height and it was too late to change my mind as they filled it with helium. Imagine the stares I received as I took the MRT over to her childcare 😛

For goodie bags, I decided to keep it neutral since she had more boys in her class and got books from the Timmy and Tammy series that’s close to home as we’re celebrating our Golden Jubilee. One of the titles is the newly released, What is Singapore.

Magic Show by Tricky Patrick

To celebrate Friendship is MAGIC, the tagline of My Little Pony, I surprised the kids with a magic show.

I got in touch with Tricky Patrick who was recommended to me by 2 friends who have watched his show. I must say he definitely delivered when he guaranteed the kids will laugh otherwise he’ll tear up the cheque.

Initially I arranged with him to perform the magic show for the older kids in the CC but later thought the younger ones in PG and N1 would also enjoy it and he very readily obliged.

His show was not only entertaining and funny, it was also very interactive and lively as he got a few kids along with Sophie to participate in the magic show. And from the way that he interacted with the kids, you can see that he’s got lots of experience, 15 years in fact and he’s now a full-time magician living his dream to being cheer and laughter to kids and adults 🙂

The kids enjoyed every minute of the show and there was never a dull moment as he wowed the little audiences and adults alike with his amazing magic tricks which had the kids literally for more.

Their ecstatic faces during the show says it all!

At the end of the performance, the kids all surrounded him trying to get him to reveal his tricks but a good magician never lets the cat out of the bag.

That evening, I got a few messages from some parents as their kids were all going on and on about Tricky Patrick and asking their parents to please invite him for their birthday. So I guess you can call it a success!

Sophie 6 My Little Pony Birthday Party 13

Sophie with Tricky Patrick

Exclusive birthday package for fans and friends of A Juggling Mom

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Do place your bookings early as he’s really sought after and you may check out his website too.

Happy 6th Birthday Sophie and may you stay sweet as sugar!

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Dads’ Survival Guide When Mum’s Away

August 10, 2015 Comments: 11

Two girly trips to Bangkok in less than 4 fours months. I joked that my stars must have been aligned for me to be so lucky to do these get away for a well deserved vacation where I can shop to my hearts content without worrying that I was boring the hubby or kid and having all the tom yum goong I want since they don’t take spicy food.

The first trip with the girls in my team was over the Labour Day weekend in May and just 2 weeks ago, I was away for yet another holiday in Bangkok without the hubby or Sophie. After all, it was for my department retreat and it wasn’t appropriate for them to hang around.

Such girly trips are very very rare I assure you, and after I Skyped with Sophie one night because she was in tears, my colleagues commented that I’m so lucky to have such a hands-on spouse to take care of Sophie single-handedly while I’m away and I couldn’t agree more.

So for today’s post, Alexis FINALLY agreed to guest post ( throws confetti in the air) on my blog on a Dad’s survival guide when mum is away.

Daddy takes over when mum’s away

When Susan told me that she was going on a holiday with her colleagues to Bangkok, I thought it was good for her to get away. I don’t mind shopping with her, but I know she’ll much rather be shopping with girlfriends. Besides four days alone with Sophie means I get to spend more precious time with her exclusively.

Teaching a new life skill

We’ve been meaning to get a bicycle for Sophie now that she’s turning six this year. With mummy around, she’ll always more cautious and thinks too much when I try to introduce a new sport to Sophie. But when I’m in charge, we get to be more ga-rang.

A bicycle is a bicycle, so we picked out one from Giant, something I know that my wife will frown upon since she doesn’t think highly of the quality of bikes here. The next day, I brought Sophie to try her new ride at the void deck and in less than 5 attempts, she mastered it!

The key is allowing her to fall and pick herself up. In short- letting go, which mummy will have more difficulty doing so since she’s more protective. But our kids are more resilient than we imagine and I’m proud that I got to teach Sophie to cycle.

Sophie learns to cycle at 5 years and 10 months

Planning our time together

To keep Sophie occupied during our time together, I planned a few activities. The first was a surprise to the Underwater World at Sentosa. The place is nothing to rave about given how old it is compared to the SEA Aquarium in RWS but Sophie didn’t complained and enjoyed the dolphin show.

We had a bit of an adventure and even get caught in the rain. But a little rain never hurts anyone, though I know my wife will think otherwise.

And on Saturday, we went to catch the National Day Preview at the Floating Platform and even bumped into a friend and their family. My wife would be so proud that we got dressed for the occasion in our red and white attire.

At the NDP Preview

Keeping connected via Skype

Sophie missed mummy terribly on the first day and even cried because she couldn’t get to sleep. Thankfully, we are now so well connected and managed to Skyped with Susan.

On the second day, Sophie was much better without mummy and even wrote this note to her mama.

Geek talk with my kid

With Susan, her idea of spending time with Sophie is usually crafting, painting or drawing. But with me, we had a more fun time with Lego.

Sophie attempting to solve a rubik cube

This time though, Sophie got introduced to something new – the Rubik’s Cube. I ordered two of them and tried to teach Sophie the basic moves from YouTube videos I’ve watched but she hasn’t caught on them yet. Nevertheless, it has given me opportunities to share my interests with her.

A grateful mum

So there you have it, my hubby’s survival guide of how he did solo-parenting when I was away. He did confess that they did watch TV and lots of it. But I’m not really complaining since I know he did put in effort to plan and spend a meaningful weekend with Sophie while I was miles away.

In fact, he’s such a hands-on dad that I have no worries leaving Sophie with him at all. And I know that Sophie always enjoys the fun time she has with daddy to pen this note of appreciation for her daddy dearest 🙂

So to my hubby, thanks for allowing me to take time off my mothering duties to go for these holidays with the girls. I have full confidence that you’ll do a great job at taking care of Sophie alone and you’ve proven yourself not just once but twice 🙂 The time that you spent with Sophie will certainly be cherished by her and you’ll always be the best daddy for her in the whole wide world!

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Preparation for Primary One – School Registration at Phase 2B

July 27, 2015 Comments: 10

Like all Singaporeans parents, we had to go through our rite of of passage for my daughter’s formal education with the Primary one registration. For us, we opted a more secure route under Phase 2B with the parent volunteer scheme. Confused about the various phases for Primary One? Read here for the complete low down.

While some friends thought we were being too kiasu since we live within 1km of the school of our choice, we didn’t want to take any chances. We did our maths and according to last year’s statistics from Kiasu Parents, there were applicants who had to ballot within 1km last year at Phase 2B! It was a risk we were not willing to take since we were not keen for Sophie to attend our alma mater since they were both far away.

Diary of a PV Mum

So in the year that Sophie turned four, we signed up to be Parent Volunteers somewhere in July. If this is something you’re considering, do call up the school to find out when they start the selection as some do it as early as January. For grassroots, you have to start in January in the year your child in four-years-old.

It’s not uncommon that the schools will require you to send in a CV of yourself, stating the areas that you’ll be able to contribute towards. Since my background is in the finance sector where I’m doing marketing, I even offered to give workshops on financial literacy and how to use social media among the other areas that I could render my services in. We have heard of schools that conduct interviews of their PV applicants and I joked with hubby it’s as if we’re applying for a job.

The school took a while to get back on our applications to be PV and I was worried that we were given the boot. But later, we found out that it’s because they wanted to give the PVs a good chance when it comes to registration, so they cut off their selection at 2km. A wise choice I’ll say if they’re didn’t want parents to end up disappointed.

Parent Volunteer duties

So what did we do as PVs?

Whenever the school needed parents to help in concerts, events, etc, they’ll send out a mass email and it’s all on a first come, first serve basis.

Alexis and myself have helped out at events such as chaperoning the students during visits to the Old Folks Home, setting up and mending stalls in a charity bazaar, time recorder for Sports Day, putting on make up for the dancers for Chinese New Year concert as well as our Light Saber welding duty as traffic wardens.

The comments from my friends made me LOL!

In all, we clocked in 40 hours between Alexis and myself and I am thankful that through these opportunities, we managed to have interactions with the teachers, students as well as other parents to learn more about the school, it’s environment, culture and values.

These experiences made us feel assured that it is going to provide Sophie with the much needed push to appreciate her Chinese roots as well as values.

You may want to check with the school on the number of hours required as a PV because it can vary from 30 hours to 80 hours! I don’t know how working parents can clock in that many hours, so if the school you’re applying to has such demands, you’ll have to be prepared to apply for leave.

Primary One Registration

When it was finally our turn to register Sophie in the third week of July, we were a bundle of nerves! The process was pretty smooth as we just had to fill in an application form without too much waiting.

I took the opportunity to introduce the school to Sophie and pointed out the classroom and canteen to her. She was so surprised to see a lift on the compound since daddy has been prepping her that she needs to carry her school bag and climb the stairs when she gets to primary school.

After Day One, we checked the stats and the numbers looked favorable. But we didn’t want to count our eggs before they hatched and waited patiently for the results on Day Two.

Finally at 5:30pm on the second day, I called up the school under the pressure from my other friends who were posting about heir successful application on FB and Praise the Lord, Sophie got in without balloting! I was so happy that I texted my family and friends to share the good news!

And of course, we headed out for dinner to celebrate too 🙂

Sophie said every celebration must have cake!

The whole Primary One registration has been such a nerve wreaking experience but thankfully we didn’t have to go to the extend of shifting places like what some parents did to secure a better chance.

Today’s going to be the last phase for those registering under phase 2C and I wish you all the best! May you be successful in all your applications with no balloting required.

Preparing for Primary One

Do hit me with your best tips on how to prepare my girl for Primary One. I know there’ll be lots of things that we need to make adjustments in including waking up before 7am 😛

For now the next thing on the agenda is to plan a family holiday that’s during the off peak season since we wouldn’t have the luxury to do that next year!

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Making time for my Mummy’s me-time indulgences

July 20, 2015 Comments: 6

As a young mum, I remember feeling despondent that my whole life was revolving around my little baby and her incessant demands on me, that I felt like I’m never going to have a life of my own again.

Fast forward to 6 years later with Sophie going to primary school in less than half a year, I can say with much conviction that my mantra of, This too shall pass, has paid off and I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in reclaiming my life and sanity back.

Currently, a big part of me is about finding balance and fulfillment in my life. There are days (rather make that many days) when I feel like an absolute failure trying to be a juggling mum, trying my best to manage a household after work to ensure that my home doesn’t looks like a tornado just swept past and also be a hands-on and involved mum with Sophie by spending quality time with her.

But I’m also a rather idealistic mum, who believes that as much as I’m a mum, I also matter a lot as an individual. So at the end of the day, I like to carve out time for myself and indulge in what I call mummy’s me-time and these are a few of my favourite indulgences.

My favourite Mummy’s me time indulgences

1. Making a beautiful mess

One of my favourite indulgences is to craft. There’s something so energizing about being inspired by an idea, working with your hands to create new possibilities and watching it turn into reality when the completed piece is in my hands.

This hangs on the door to my craft room

I blame Pinterest for always recommending things to me that leave me excited and bursting with new ideas for my next craft projects and another one that’s in cahoots with them is Instagram!

Some of these crafts can be a greeting card for a dear friend. Some times it can be a scrapbook layout to document those significant milestones in life that you want to cherish forever.

Left: Birthday card Right: Canvas art

Scrapbook of Sophie’s first run at the Cold Storage Run 2015

And one thing, I’m working on is Project Life, a weekly documenting system with photos and journals to help me remember my everyday life. if you’re keen to learn more about it, read here.

As I work on my crafts, I like to reminisce about the happy memories behind the photos and be transported back to where those memories took place and i am often filled with much gratitude in my heart.

A new area of crafting that I want to try is sewing, specifically embroidery. That’s the reason why, I’ve been busy pining lots of inspiration on my Pinterest Board and I hope to get down to it before the end of the month.

2. Blogging

You definitely saw this coming, didn’t you? Just like how I enjoy the memory recording process when I do scrapbooks, writing on my blog helps me to recapture the beautiful memories with my family and immortalized them on my blog like when I blog about our holidays and also Sophie’s major milestones.

Blogging also gives me a glimpse into other’s life, their perspective on motherhood and ideas for exciting places to take my girl or things that I can do with her.

Another truth about blogging is that I do spend a considerable time on it. Not just writing a blog post, but researching on a topic, interacting with other bloggers as well as readers on my blog and on my facebook page.

But what I really love about blogging is the community that I’m a part where some of these online friends whom I’ve known on the Internet have gone on to be real life family friends. And that’s the beauty when it comes to friendships, that it knows no boundaries and limits.

3. Watching drama serials

Watching drama series together was something that hubby and I used to enjoy long when we were dating. We would faithfully chase serials like Lost, The Mentalist, Chuck, The Big Bang Theory, Heros and the latest Game of Thrones which is all hubby’s idea.

I did watch a couple of HK and Korean drama serials on my own, But watching them without hubby’s company is quite another experience as I don’t get to discuss the plot and what goes on.

Sadlly, some of these shows have stopped their run while some of them are on a season break, so it’s a self declared tv fast for me.

4. Exercising
I know I ought to be more disciplined in this area of exercise and it’s something that I’m working on slowly but surely. But back when I was more active, exercising was one of my favorite me time as it gave me the space to unwind and think in between catching my breadth that is.

Back when I could conqueror a vertical marathon!

Among the list on my favourite mummy me-time, this is the most guilt-free and healthiest indulgences and I really should get my butt off and get moving to get those happy endorphin up and running again.

Truth is we mums need to remember to recharge ourselves from time to time. It doesn’t mater if you get just 5 minutes of me-time or 2,3 hours in a week. What maters most is to do something that you enjoy and that refreshes your soul and physical being so that you can go the distance.

And as I always remember my hubby, happy wife= happy life 🙂

What do you like to get up to when you get your precious mummy’s me-time?

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Next on the blog train is Beverly. Beverly blogs at Hello Little Sunshine where she documents life as a first time mom with her 3 year old toddler.

Hop on over to her blog tomorrow to find out how she finds time for herself and what are some of her favourite ‘me-time’ indulgences.