If you think this blog is dead...

... think again!  I'm back to my usual long-winded ramblings after an almost 2 week hiatus... :p  Its been crazy-going since the boy fell sick (again, sigh!) a week and a half ago, then I had to pack for our trip to Malaysia... we ended up postponing our trip for a day since Junior had a really bad cough, and thought leaving a day later meant that we could attend another German lesson to make up for the time away, but the class we turned up for was the exact same lesson that we had attended previously (presenting to you, my blur hubby!), so we snuck off for hot chocolate and profiteroles. :)  Anyway, the boy seemed to get better so we ended up in Pangkor for 3 days (will post another time about that!), and are now back in hubby's hometown (Penang).  However, after 3 days of sun, sea and sand, the boy suddenly took a turn for the worse and had a high fever, passed the bug to me, and we've been sleeping it off for the past 3 days.  Talk about lazy holidays!

Anyway, I read this post over at another mum's blog and thought it'll be nice to reflect on each month that has passed, especially since I've not been blogging for a bit. :)  So here's how October has been:

:: Summed up: Very busy, especially on the scrappy front, since both my work at Papermarket and my guest stint at The Studio Challenges started together this month... I've never scrapped so much in my life!  Junior J has been sick alot of this month too (3 bugs in a row), but his interest and appetite for food has improved tremendously in between bugs, so I'm glad about that.

:: Some more stuff crossed off the list:

1.     Cultivate the habit of reading my Bible first thing in the morning: Ok, I've not been able to do this every morning, but at least I've been able to wake up early about 2/3rds of the time and start the day off with quiet time. I must say it really does help me to start the day right!

9. Learn German with the hubby: We started German lessons this month, and wow, learning a new language is TOUGH!  But its been fun practicing with the hubby!

18.  Volunteer for a charity event: Hmmm, we volunteered for Happee Day, and managed to help to take pictures for the last bit of the event, does that count?  Anyway, we will still try to volunteer again for something else! :)

Here are some shot of the boy at Happee Day, while we came too late after church duties to let him take part in most of the activities, he did have lots of fun with the balloons!

Me and my boy, who was rather tired by the end of the whole thing.
He was wearing the crown he made in Sunday School that day...
along with his squeaky airplane shoes (I had bought them for him by mistake,
 as he'd wet his other pair of shoes, not knowing that they squeaked, argh!).
Oh, and the balloon man made us a bear... he was really amazing to watch, and could
even make Mickey Mouse and mermaids, complete with a green bikini!

25.  Scrapbook for a design team: Errr, I think I just covered that...

27.  Eat at Food for Thought: We met up with the hubby's cousin, C, who wanted to treat us to dinner.  I had to hand up my assignments at Papermarket, so we arranged to eat at Food for Thought since it was nearby... The pasta I felt was so so, but my, the pizza was really really yummy!!! 

Thanks, C, dinner was great!

We didn't expect the pizza to be so big, so we were too full for dessert, but I'm definitely going back next time. :)  And on a completely unrelated note (except tummy-wise), we found a really yummy pasta over at Skinny Pizza in Raffles City...

Can you see the little boy, pining for pasta? :p

:: Small steps in learning: The little boy has been amazing me about how he can keep himself occupied by playing with just about anything he can find about the house.  Just take this for example:

He grabbed the plastic bag used to hold a newly purchased pillow, and decided it would be his apron.
He then promptly wore it around the house for an hour, and then proceeded to slowly peel off
the "Paid" sticker bit by bit, placing every little piece carefully into his toy box!

We've also started doing artwork everyday (I'll be filing all the activities here, and you can find the link at the top, under "Art Adventures".).  Its usually 2 pieces, where I try to let him work with new mediums/materials for the first piece, and let him just doodle/dabble on his own for the second.  Its really funny how he's been trying to imitate how I pick up his artwork, hold it up to admire it and go "WOW"... I've caught him doing it after painting a few times and it always cracks me up!

Oh, and in terms of gross motor development, the hubs went and got the boy a Strider, and we've started him riding on it.  He's rather timid by nature and refused to sit on it the first time, but now he's ok being pushed and tries to push himself along for a short distance.

:: Slurpy: I've not fulfilled my 3/7 resolution on the list yet, however, I've recently been really inspired by another fellow mum that I've gotten to know over in Sunday school, and she's been giving me loads of ideas for children's meals.  Since then, I've managed to add more variety to Junior J's meals, and I'm glad that he's been showing more interest in his food and eating better since. :)  Now I'm trying to include soup for him (we've tried cream of mushroom, pumpkin and cream of asparagus aside from other clear soups that we have for meals) since he loves soup, and he gets more varied finger food for self-feeding too. :)

Our soupy son, who loved the tomato soup at Food for Thought so much
that he drank direct from the bowl and got soup all over his nose!

:: So what's next: November is going to be rather different from the usual since we're away for the first half, and will also be headed down to Hong Kong later on as hubby has a conference and is insisting that we go along with him.  I guess its going to be a month for me to play catch up for dissertation writing, continue developing my home-learning activities and work on my 3/7 resolution while we're back home!

Its really been a busy, but really blessed month!

Sorry, not at home!

My 3/7 resolution went down the drain this week, as we took turns being away from home for the past few nights.  The hubby was on call 2 of the days, and has to attend a department dinner tonight.  The remaining days coincided with evening low tides, which meant that I spent a good part of the late afternoon out at the mangroves and could not cook...

Sunset at the research site

Anyway, speaking of being not at home reminds me of a card game we used to play when we were young, called "Happy families".  Ever remember this game, where cards were randomly given out to all players, and the aim of the game is to form up as many families of 4 as possible, by asking a player each time for a specific card that you thought he/she possessed?  I remember how we would gleefully say "Sorry, not at home!" whenever we didn't have the card, and how the families had really cute names like Mr, Mrs, Miss and Master Pint (where Mr Pint was supposed to be a milkman)!

Well, here's an updated version of the game, called "We are a Happy Family".  Instead of forming up families using names, the cards bear various designs from 8 different artists, so you match up the cards using the alphabets at the top instead (for example, set A has 4 different artworks by the same artist).  I really loved the designs, so I ordered a pack to reward myself after my exams (and it just reached me recently, after making it through all the volcanic ash!).  And the nicest thing is, the proceeds for the cards go to the humanitarian organization, Doctors without Borders.  :)  Click here to read more about the cards, or email pintameldia@gmail.com to purchase them.  The cards cost 16 Euros (10 for the cards, 6 to ship to Singapore).

Well, I'm off to key in more data, til next time, have a great weekend!