something to think about...

One who says parenting was easy must have been somebody who hasn't been there before.  I've seen seemingly all good and rosy stories around parenting that would lead you to believe that parenting is a smooth sailing journey. I tell you, even a rookie parent like me would attest to that. (well, especially a rookie parent like me :P ) How about the late night hours? the countless nappies and breast-feedings/ bottle washing? and those are just the beginnings..

However, as I watch over my baby son sleep tonight, my frame of mind has changed considerably. Sometimes we have much, (way too) much to complain, but after stumbling upon this blog this afternoon, I don't think I would complain ever again. 

This is a beautifully written little blog that expresses honest emotions, dealing with grief and death. I admit I cried copiously after back-reading the entries. Heart-breaking story with bittersweet notes to it, this blog is a poignant reminder of how precious and fragile life is, and that true love conquers all.

cherish what we have today, for today may be our last...

Bub's one month

Ever wondered where the tradition of giving out cakes and/ gifts on baby's turning one month started from? I don't really want to know, yet this Chinese tradition remains, and if anything, people feel more obligated to give gifts that are not just elaborate & expensive, it has to be big & showy too. *shakes head in dismay* now I completely disagree with that kind of custom.

"When Rafael turns one month..., I stated adamantly, "I'm not going to give out customary gifts out to people & family; especially not with the two red eggs perched on top of whatever the gift is". So I said. and I continued with "in fact, if I have to give out these gifts, I'll do it a day later; so it doesn't have to be exactly on the d-day". 

Well, when this day finally came, I still had to give out gifts, *LOL* my husband's family still follow the custom, and my own less traditional parents, though they don't follow this, still have friends who give us gifts, so it's like, urmm.. giving something in return? ^_~ ahh, what one does to complicate one's own life....

Anyway, I persisted in giving gift of something less customary than a cake and two eggs. Since it's Summer here in Perth, ice-cream could be substituted. For some people, it's individually boxed ice-creams - Movenpick to be exact, and for some others, it's petit pastries. Either way they come in a blue box with ribbon and announcement card. (Thanking my sister profusely for all the help...)

For my husband's family & relatives though, my mom-in-law insisted on getting a whole cake instead of ice-cream, since they don't eat ice creams. Oh, well.... at least I got to do it my way *partly*. Happy one-month, Rafael!

Coming home

Welcoming home Rafael, our newborn son! Finally, after spending a month at the NICU, going home felt like such a relief (which didn't really last, hahaha..). Born 7 weeks early, he ended up being my Christmas day & early birthday present altogether. Thank God he is such a tough cookie, and had minimal problems aside from sleep apnea that is common in premature babies.

Staying at the hospital for a month has its merits though; it taught me quite a few things, probably I could even qualify as a nurse should I want to pursue that career path ^_~ ... But first thing first, motherhood is indeed not quite what I expected. Have you heard of the book "What to expect when you are expecting"? Well, the book is a pregnancy bible, but there's nothing quite like the real thing; I think its justifiable to say that motherhood is 100x more overwhelming.. (Yes, I just dismissed fatherhood altogether, but at the moment, who cares? he he..)

After a while staying at the hospital, we were frantic when told about bub's discharge. How about the baby car seat? Have we cleaned the bedroom thoroughly enough? Have we got enough baby supplies? Well, truth be told, nothing could prepare us for the bub's arrival anyway, so there you go, we simply grin & bear it at the end.. 
 

Baby Shopping - part I

Aching all over from four hours of walking & shopping & carrying baby products back and forth. As the end of the year draws near, I'm becoming more & more reluctant to go shopping because of the sea of people one tends to encounter at the malls. Garden city was no exception...

We stopped by at Miss Maud's at the mall, because I was getting a sudden craving for croissant (don't ask how much weight I've gained, I particularly want to avoid this topic!!!) with ham & cheese, but since they ran out of ham, I asked for turkey instead; hopefully a lighter choice of snack.. ^_~ On a more positive note, my care provider has gotten back to me recently with the good news that my glucose test was normal *reaching out for a piece of Ferrero rocher...* so I was rather happy about it! 

I've been purchasing the bulk of what's supposed to be the essential baby items; including a cot (finally), bottle sterilizer system, swaddle fabric, even down to little tidbits like cotton balls and nappies. I must say it's been quite a satisfying experience, getting all those items and arranging them in our baby nursery (which really IS our room, the baby's taking a big chunk of it now..) and it seems that our living quarter is already getting smaller once the bigger items are set up, especially the bathroom space, it's at a premium now!! :P

There's this feeding chair that I've been eyeing but so far I haven't found the right shade, it's Babyhood Diva Glider chair in beige, and I love the neutral shade so much I've been calling baby stores all over Perth to get that specific shade. So far, I have no luck, but hopefully one store will get back to me and tell me their good news tomorrow..?

It's so comfy to sit on..

An interesting point to note while I'm preparing the arrival of the bub, I was taking out the clothes' tags out of the baby's onesies, even the one with "Low fire danger" written on it, and made little tear at the neckline. Then, I mended them one by one, not with glue (eventhough I was sorely tempted), but with a needle & thread. For someone who has never really sewn anything in my life (save for a few buttons), I managed to get them mended without getting my hands bloodied from needle pricks, and that was tough, because my fingers felt stiff from those darned little stitches. x_x~ Perhaps I should really take up sewing classes.. hmmm...

On junk foods & bubble tea

Utopia has recently been high on my visitation list, I've been trying out different combination of tea, the puddings & jellies they have on stock, and so far, my gut instinct has yet to fail me ;P Tonight, we're having one of those 'junk food' nights out at Red Rooster, but it turned to be a rather 'healthy' junk food because I forgot to ask for chicken leg; they gave us chicken breast instead.. ~_~ 

the classic roast

Oh, and the classic roast (used to be chicken dinner), is still delicious, I think Chicken Treat's version isn't as good as the Red Rooster's one.. I remember we used to go to Red Rooster a lot when I was in high school, and I always, always ordered 1/4 chicken & chips with the small cup of chocolate mousse for dessert... heheh, what a nice way to pile up on those calories...

The meal was rounded off with an order of lychee tea with mango pudding and honeydew pudding.. and peach tea with egg pudding and aloe vera. Yum, they even put bits of lychee in the tea, it tasted so nice! 

Do you know that you can ask for less sugar, half sugar, quarter sugar, or even no sugar with your order? I just noticed it in the order form pretty recently, and since I always ask for puddings/ jellies that are quite sweet on their own, I ask for no sugar to balance it out...

What can I say? I can't wait to have another junk food night soon! *hint: it'll probably be Eagle Boy's limited edition pizza.. We've tried one of them last time, it was the Peri-Peri chicken, and it was awesome with a capital A!*

Crepes for lunch

Found a quaint little place just across the cafe strip in Fremantle.. it fits snugly in the breezy alley way opposite of Time Zone.. Yep, nice little place to enjoy French crepe.. We visited this place a couple of times these past few weeks as we couldn't get enough of those light, yet filling crepes.

The lady owner, cheerful as ever, chatted with us as she delivered our order for the day: ham, cheese & tomato and chicken & asparagus.. and fresh apple juice. What a perfect day to enjoy it too, as the warm sun filters through the rooftop (we sat outside of the shop), and the slight breeze was very nice change from the hot weather we've had in the past weeks...

Chicken & Asparagus

Ham, cheese & tomato

Apparently, this gem of a place was around for a long time, we even tried their crepes one time at the Food & Wine Festival a few years ago. How could we forget something that tasted as memorable as that, I wonder?
 
Well, anyway, now that we know, we'll definitely be returning for more, and just in case you're around the area, you might want to drop by as well.. it's called Pierre's Kitchen, and they really make crepes into satisfying snack/light lunch/dessert..

Notice on updates

I'm updating this blog after months of neglect, yay! Finally have some time to move old files from previous blogs and those that have never been published before, so bear with me, it might take sometime, and I'm going in a flashback mode too.. *impish grin* 

In the meantime, please check out the handful of entries that I currently have.. :) Drop a comment if you have time, and do check back often!

Mermaid & Seascape FREE Cake give-away

After the princess doll cake, I felt like decorating some more dolls, they are so versatile! So, I planned to give this mermaid version away for another little girl's first birthday. It was another fun project, but all cake decorating are usually fun projects, unless you get weird orders, that is.

Unfortunately, the girl's parents have got something planned for the event, and so the mermaid is now up for grabs.. really! At the moment I'm not aware of any other little girl's birthday, and rather than wasting it away, I'd love to give it to anyone who wants it. 

Here's what's included:  

1x 8" (20cm) round dummy/artificial cake with mermaid figurine as centerpiece, and it comes with 16 mini lemon cupcakes, decorated in similar theme. They come in two separate boxes. Below I've included the centrepiece picture (without the cupcakes) 

the octopus is offering a pearl to her...

Here's more details:

For those with genuine interest only, please email me: deemonic@gmail.com or text me on 0421 346 777 in advance, as the cupcakes will only be made then; I'll be more than happy to oblige. (If you want me to send you the pics in more details, let me know too)

Please note that since there's only 1 cake offered, whoever emails/texts me first will get it, and also, I won't be available after 18 December 2010 til' the end of the year 2010, so this offer stands to last for about 2 weeks only! 

We can arrange to meet up for you to pick up the cake. I'm based in South of the River, Perth, W.A. Once again, this cake is completely FREE of charge, you just need to pick it up, that's all...  Hope this mermaid finds its new home soon!!

Not quite a greenthumb

I'd like to think that I'm a bit of  a green thumb, but so far I have yet to prove that I have a talent in gardening. Just recently I became more interested in tidying up and beautifying the backyard (probably due to the fact that the lawn is very patchy and the vegetation pretty much dying.. ^_~, but that's beside the point). So Bunnings and I naturally became close friends... I go there so often that I'm sure pretty soon the shop assistants there will be offering me a discount card or Bunnings' platinum membership card, if they have any...

Well, this story went back a few weeks ago, that's when Spring is in the air and all the pretty flowers are in bloom. Before, I always enjoy looking at a well-manicured and well-kept gardens, *the keyword here is looking* not doing it on my own.. Not for someone who hates insects so much like me, nu-uh! But this particular Spring I suddenly have this urge to try my hands on gardening. What causes it? I really don't know, I just blame it on my pregnancy hormones...

So to cut long story short, I started buying a pot of hydrangeas, lawn feeder, lots of potting mix and mulch, and so on. Diligently I toiled on early mornings and late afternoons to revive my backyard that has been wasted for a long time (my Dad is the only person who cares about the garden enough to mow the lawn and water the garden, but he's not always around...). I hand-watered the lot, replanted & threw away dead plants, and hacked the weeds & moss in-between the paved stones and on the lawn.

Today I look at the backyard and saw some improvements, thankfully, (though the lawn is barely surviving still) and my hydrangeas are blooming beautifully :) The pear, apple & plum trees that my Dad planted a while ago also seem to be thriving, and started bearing little buds of fruits now because of the regular watering & the food compost that I collect daily, all safely buried under the soil. Perhaps sometime next month we could even be harvesting the fruits!

As my pregnancy advances, I do less, even though there are so much still to be done in the garden. If it were up to me, I'd cut down some trees too! ^_^ oh well, it'll have to wait until after the arrival of the bub, maybe then I can further develop these set of not quite a green-thumb of mine!

Thoughts of an autumn wedding

A good friend of mine is getting married on Autumn next year, and I'm enlisted to be her maid of honor. Well, matron of honor to be exact, since I'm married and all.. I'm very happy for her. When I was overseas for a year with my husband, she kept me updated on the progress of her wedding planning (which wasn't that much, considering she had more than a year to prepare it..) 

Once we return to Australia this year however, things changed quite a bit. Well, a big part of was because I fell pregnant; and though I'm happy about it, even if it wasn't really planned and it came as a surprise to both my husband and I, I had to step back from the matron of honor privilege since the wedding is just a couple of months after the bub's delivery; I wasn't even sure whether I could fit into the matron of honor dress yet then!!

But at least I can still do her wedding cake. Yeah, I love wedding cakes. Perhaps because it represents the hopeful couple's aspirations; layers of sweet cakes stacked up high with white/off-white and pastel colours dominating the event. It's all sweet, lovey-dovey and  wonderful stuff. Especially since this wedding will be a good friend's and it resonates with our wedding a few years ago, also in Autumn (in fact, our wedding days are only a day apart from each other!!)

With Autumn theme in mind, and orange being her preferred colour, I can't wait to start making the cake & the decorations soon; before this tummy balloons up and gets too heavy for me to move around. I can't imagine what my wedding florist had to go through before; she was 7 months preganant and still working full time to decorate our wedding venue with flowers.. Must've been really tiring for her!!