Nigel and Natalie say Thank You

Nigel and Natalie wishes to say thank you to everyone.

N & N 1 month

It's Nigel's and Natalie's one month celebration and besides the cakes and vouchers that were sent out to relatives and friends. The immediate family had a get together and dinner at Lao Beijing to celebrate their 1 month birthday. We prepared them early they had a wash and had their meals and diaper change before they left the house. They had new clothes on as well but they were too wrapped up to get a good picture of it, nanny wanted them wrapped up as she feared they would get cold in the air-con environment.

It was an 8 course dinner celebration and we managed to book 3 tables in rooms for privacy. We basically had the entire room booking, as there were only 3 rooms. It was a nice sit down dinner but the 2 guest stars basically slept through the entire proceedings. They had their photo taken with aunty and uncles but they were basically sleeping all along.

They had pictures with Grandma and Grandpa and with our maid and the nanny who would be leaving us soon (and the fun would begin after she left us). Here are some pictures of the occasion and amidst all the excitement, I think we forgot to take a picture of just them and us the parents. What a waste.

Our confinement aunty with the twins and us.

Aunty with our helper.

 

More Family photos

Little Natalie

Little Nigel

 

 

 

Some friends who came visiting.

The little received their fair share of little gifts including their very first Levi’s set and the cutest pair of Nike’s ever ! But they are probably still too small to fit into them yet.

 

 

They had their own little cake which included a pair of booties of top which Nigel is currently able to wear and another set of Diaper Cakes with about 120 diapers which will probably last them …. oh about 1 week !

 

Special Delivery

So the little ones turn 1 month and it's time for that age old Chinese tradition of distributing their one month cakes to family and friends. Me and the missus decided on something which had elements of old and new, old - the red eggs and Ang Ku Kueh, new - cupcakes and fruit tarts.

We had our list made up of the various relatives and friends and what was needed before we placed our order with Sweetest Moments (www.sweetestmoments.com.sg) You can order from them online by making your choices and they will do up the card for you as well. They confirm and even sent you preview of what the cards would look like. They were pretty good and they delivered early as well. Since we had twins we split the boxes equally to be half pink for the little princess Natalie and half blue for the little prince Nigel. We even ordered a few more smaller boxes and a whole box of extra cup cakes.

 

 

They had various designs and we pick out a few. Some of which are shown below both big and small. They come in boxes of 6 for the smaller ones and 10 or 12 pieces for the larger ones.

 

 

So I took half day leave for the big island wide distribution. The cakes arrived in the morning. The missus checked them and they were lovely they had their own boxes with carrying handles and each came with the name of the twins and a card. The Cupcakes even had their initials on it 'N'.

After a quick lunch and allocating the boxes out to which ones go to whom, we were ready to set off. We started at 1.30pm, first stop was to my parents house to delivery boxes which they would help distribute to some relatives for us. After a couple of house visits, I picked the missus up and headed for the office. Then it was off to more parts of the island going east and west before heading north. Made it back for a quick dinner and then it was off to church to meet up with the RCIA group who were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the little ones. Spent some time there before heading home for the little ones to rest but there was still more places to go for me and the missus a couple of central locations were next. Finally the last of the boxes were delivered and I arrived home at 10.30pm. All in, it took 9 hours of cake box distribution. It has got to be a record I think. Totally exhausted from all that travelling.

Tourist

You know how tourist tend to take photo’s of everything and anything that they see during their travels. I have to admit I too would fall under that category but sometimes I think tourist just get carried away. I mean ya taking photos of food items like Ice Kachang, Chilli Crab and maybe even the king of fruits the Durian is to be expected together with landmark buildings and other tourist attractions but recently I was at the bus stop and saw a tourist taking pictures of the Bus Guide !! you know those that they put up to tell you the bus routes. Maybe they wanted to know where they were going or to have a record of where they were suppose to get off or maybe it’s just a novelty item that they don’t have in their country. I’ve even seen people taking pictures of lamppost and street signs, maybe the latter was justifiable.

So what was my most outrageous photo item that I took, well probably something I took more than 10 years ago and if I remember correct it was the room key. Now why in the world would anyone ever take a picture of their room key ! I don’t think anyone would even think of taking a picture of their room key. I guess at that time it was a novelty as the key tag was huge and I mean HUGE, about the size of a dinner plate. never seen such a huge key tag before.

What has got to take the cake for pictures was this group of foreign worker ho took turns posing beside the object that they all wanted to take photos with they even pointed to it and had some ‘action’ shots with it. They were quite happy to click away at the object as they took turns photographing themselves with it. I think they were using handphone cameras. So what was this object that they so greatly admired? It was your average everyday green colour rubbish bin !

Babies 1st Week Home

Finally Nigel and Natalie came home on 30 Dec 2009 just in time to Celebrate the New Year. They were brought home and had their first night together where they both shared the same cot for the time being since they were small enough to fit into one the other cot we could put aside until they were a little bigger.

Here they are sleeping side by side in their new cot after they had freshen up from their ride back home from the Hospital in their car seats. Pictures below were taken during the journey home.

 

The little boy wanted to stay up to welcome the New Year and he just would not sleep, he was having a little tummy ache, so daddy and mummy had to rush and get him some medication (Pu Yi oil or something like that) It really helps as after applying, he quieten down and went to bed. The little girl on the other hand slept through all the excitement. That was the first major emergency.

Nigel was the handsome boy at the hospital nursery, since all the nurses who met us would immediately recognise us once we tell them we were the parents of the twin boy and girl. Nigel is eating well but he is a little fussy as to where he sleeps and bath time is something he seems to dislike a lot. Nappy changing seems to get him really agitated although he would ‘signal’ that he needs a change but when you want to change him he gets a little worked up. But over time he is quieter during nappy changes now. He seems to be going on a growth spurt as he is drinking lots of milk, hungry little guy. We went to the doctors for their first checkup and all seems well for him. He now weighs in at 2.9kg (more than his birth weight of 2.5kg) And the little handsome boy below all wrapped up after a good shower.

 

Natalie was the little Princess at the Hospital Nursery since she was the only girl in the ICU ward together with her brother and another set of twins both boys. She is very different from her brother, a slower drinker but she is getting better as the days go by. She is not so agitated during bath times and nappy changes and tends to sleep anywhere since we have 2 cots, 1 playpen and a baby rocker to choose from, the rocker seems to be what she likes most. Car rides seem to bother her a little but still early to tell since they have not been on many. At the checkup she has gain weight and now is about 2.4kg which is much more than her 2.1kg birth weight and the doctor was pleased considering she put on more than her brother. And the little princess girl below in her rocker.

Car Servicing

I don’t use the car too often these since I take public transport to work on most days but it was time for the 6 monthly car servicing, It is suppose to be the 30000K servicing but my mileage was only 20000K but I knew since it is already 6 months and with Chinese New Year round the corner, I might as well get the car serviced.

I booked my appointment with Kah Motors Leng Kee road branch for 8am. I reached there slightly after 8 as there was a jam along the way. I got a number 21 (there were serving 10 at that point) I actually waited only 10 minutes before my number was called. There was TV to watch during that time and at the same time they had people going round asking you if you wanted a drink and would have made you coffee or tea. You could actually do it yourself but if you did not know that they had a coffee machine the lady there would help you. Its the first time they had it there probably newly implemented procedure. There was even internet access if you wanted to surf the net.

After the standard talk with the service staff on what I wanted done I waited for their shuttle service to the MRT station. It left at half hour intervals which I thought they could have made it 15 min intervals. A short 3 minute ride to the MRT station and I was on my way home.

The car was ready by lunch and I picked it up after lunch again a very smooth ‘checkout’ with the service staff giving a quick run down on what was done.

Weird Loo Tales

Heard the strangest Loo conversation ever today. I happen to be in the loo early in the morning at Bugis. As I sat there doing my thing, 2 guys walked in and one of them went into the cubicle, guy 2 on the other hand stayed was outside. They then had this conversation, now mind you this is a conversation between two guys (I was in the men’s loo naturally, it’s not one of those Ally McBeally unisex type of Loo) with one of them in the cubicle and the other at the urinals. Guy 1 was in the cubicle, Guy 2 was at the urinals and wash basin.

Guy1 : “ Hey I have stomach ache, you don’t mind ah ”

Guy2 : “ No go ahead “

Guy 1 : “ You wait for me “

Guy 2 : “ Ya I wait for you here “

{now what the hell was that, when I heard that I was thinking, why would you wait outside the cubicle when your friend is having a freaking crap in there}

There was a few minutes of silence when, Guy 2 has moved to the wash basin now.

Guy 2 : “ After this we go Lucky Plaza “

Guy 1 (still in cubicle) : “ Can not need to sleep, wah really got stomach ache “

Guy 2 : “ Its because you eat so much breakfast “ {and then he goes on and list the stuff his friend had}

Guy 1 : “ I think eat too much, if cannot go Lucky Plaza we go somewhere near to buy the stuff you need “

Guy 2 : “ We decided later “

Guy 1 : “ The toilet just clean right “

Guy 2 : “ I guess so but it still smells “

Guy 1 : “ ya still got smell “

Now I need to add here that the second part of the conversation you can actually hear the ‘stress’ (if you know what I mean) in guy 1’s voice as he is talking to his friend. Man I’m thinking why does he not just go crap quietly and be done with it. Now that was the weirdest Loo conversation that I have ever heard, I left after the smell part.

Resolutions 2010

A new year and a new set of resolutions. This will be the third year I am actually setting out some resolutions. Sometimes not able to complete all of them but at least it gives you a goal to work towards. Have been thinking about it since last week and finally I have decided on the following 5 resolutions for 2010.

1) Baptism of the Twins

Have to start working to get them baptised, the usual venue for baptism, then need to get their godparents in, rehearsals and picking the day. Not to mention the guest list and after event photo taking and gathering, makan if any. But at least 1 thing is already done. Me and the missus have already decided on their baptism name. We just hope the kids will grow up to like it.

 

2) Catalogue my comic collection

Since I have the details (took 2 years to get that done) now it is time to put everything into the system. Hopefully it will not take another 2 years.

3) Lego and Photos

To finally complete that AT-AT lego that I have been putting off for more than a year and to take photographs of my lego collection which I have been meaning to do since a year ago.

4) Complete a Full Marathon

An ongoing progress since 2 years ago when I started with a 10K run followed by the Half Marathon in 2009 and I hope to do the Full Marathon this year. Target time 6hrs.

5) Finish 3 Xbox Games

Well not to be too ambitions since being a new parent there are other responsibilities, hopefully 3 is a target that can be reached. Maybe 1 is more likely but lets see.

So those are my 5 resolutions for 2010. Back again on 31st Dec 2010 to see how it’s all progressed.