The Bub in the Belly

This is long overdue, I know. I have been meaning to pen down the various contacts we used for Ryan's 2nd birthday party back in January, both for my own record as well as for anyone who might require such information (here you go, Anonymous!), but kept procrastinating.

As I mentioned back in January, we rented the multi-purpose hall at HortPark. We were expecting about 50 adults and 40 children. HortPark has a selection of smaller rooms, but I would definitely recommend that you go and see the room for yourself, as the location or size may not be ideal for what you have in mind. We initially booked one of the smaller rooms, but after a trip to check it out, decided that it was too small and also in an awkward location. A description of the various rooms together with their rates can be downloaded from the HortPark website.

The booking process was very easy and HortPark staff were very helpful and easygoing. They also let us go in early to set up plus they happily let us store the birthday cake in their fridge before the party.

The birthday cake was from The Patissier. It was 2 kg and the base was strawberry shortcake. It was light, fluffy and just plain delicious. It received rave reviews from everyone, so I would definitely recommend getting your cakes from there. It was delivered straight to the venue.

The food was Peranakan (and halal), catered from Chilli Api Catering Pte Ltd. As usual, Richard and I catered too much, but the food was great, we received nothing but positive comments, so no regrets. If you are thinking of having your party at HortPark, it is a condition of the venue rental that you use one of HortPark's approved caterers, so you need to get their list of approved caterers. Chilli Api was one of them. We also got our dining tables and chairs from Chilli Api.

Toys, yes! The crucial key to the party's success! We rented the larger toys and brought smaller toys from Ryan's horde to create a big playroom for the children, which left their parents free to relax at the dining tables, chat and socialise. (Of course, do consider the ages of the children in deciding whether this will work for you.) We actually rented the toys from two different companies:

From Rent That Toy!, we got Little Tikes Super Ball Pit with 300 balls, Little Tikes PoliceCycle Sounds Rocker, Fisher Price Trike, Redbox Toys Electronic Play Kitchen with 30 pc accessories, and Vtech Build & Discover workbench.

From Singapore Toy Rental, we got a small indoor Bouncy Castle, Dolphin Slide with basketball hoop, Haenim big blocks and 20 pcs foam mat.

Both companies were fantastic, they were able to customise a package for me and were willing to swap items in and out of the package when requested.

We ordered walking animal balloons (helium filled) so that each child could take one home - this was a hit with the kids (goodie bags tend to be more interesting to the parents). We also ordered 50 standard 11" balloons for decoration. All balloons were delivered to the venue by the vendor, Babyterror. No fuss, no hassle.

The photographer, Kelvin, was from LOUD! Kelvin was fantastic, hardworking and creative. After the party, he took some outdoor family photos for us at the park. Kelvin is no longer with LOUD!, he has set up his own company. I will post some of the photos in my next post.

Ok, that's it!

As you know, Ryan turned two yesterday, and we had a PARTY! It took quite a bit of planning, but I'm glad that we went ahead because Ryan (and we) had a blast!

I think I started planning this too early (about three weeks before) because the more time I had, the more ideas I came up with! I had to keep telling myself to keep it simple, keep it simple! And so, yes, we kept it simple. We rented the hall at Hort Park. Catered food for the adults. Rented toys for the children. Ordered a birthday cake. Put together some simple goodie bags. Bought balloons for the children. Hired a photographer.

We had no theme, no clowns, mascots, balloon artists, magicians, face painters or jugglers. Not that I didn't want any, I actually considered all these options but when I told the service providers that the children were mostly two year olds, I was advised that clowns, mascots, etc., are not really suitable for children under the age of 3 and that, even 3-year olds will usually only enjoy this sort of entertainment if there are older children in the group whom they can take the lead from.

We therefore had to come up with alternatives to keep the children entertained and occupied - we decided to turn half of the hall into a big playroom! We rented some toys, including an indoor bouncy castle and a slide, and we also brought some of Ryan's own toys to add to the mix. The room came with a projector so Richard screened some Hi-5 DVDs on the huge screen, which helped to put the children in the mood and gave the party the right feel - come on let's party!

It was amazing to see how all the children naturally gravitated towards the toys and the great thing was that most of them were happy to play without their parents near them, which left their parents free to relax and chat and eat. All the children yelling and screaming and laughing and having fun made the party so lively, which added to Ryan's excitement. Ryan had such a fantastic time, he didn't even need his nap!

Everything went smoothly, everything was delivered on time (the food, the balloons, the toys, the cake) and, from the feedback received, the food and the cake were delicious.

Quite apart from all the presents and red packets that he received, I think Ryan was so blessed to have so many people come to celebrate his birthday, and to bring him warm wishes and goodwill. So here's a big Thank You to all our wonderful guests - hope you had a good time and thank you for being a part of Ryan's 2nd birthday!

I don't have any photographs of the party to show you yet because I didn't take any - I left that responsibility completely to the photographer! I'll post some of the shots when I get them. I've only got some shots of the goodie bags which we packed a couple of days prior. Each child got one goodie bag plus a walking animal balloon to take home.

The thank you note on the goodie bags for the boys. The  background of the thank you note is a photo of Ryan

The goodie bags for the girls

I was struck with a fever, cough and runny nose on Friday. I started my drive home from work feeling chills and by the time I got home, I had a raging fever. I spent most of the weekend in bed. It was quite unusual actually, it was the first time in a long time that I've fallen sick independently of Richard and Ryan. All those late nights must have sent my immunity levels spiralling downwards.

While I was out of action, Richard rose to the occasion, which was no mean feat. Ryan's classes started up again this weekend after the Christmas/New Year break and Richard took care of all that. He was amazing and I can't thank him enough.

We kept Ryan in the same Playclub class to maintain consistency. Unfortunately, Richard said that only one (Safina) of the four teachers from the last few terms remain and almost all of the students are new. Richard said that Ryan had fun though and, at the end of class, his Mandarin teacher from last term came over to his class to look for him to give him a hug. Isn't that sweet?

When Ryan got back from JG Bilingual Playclub, he joined me in bed and slept (from 5 pm) till half-past ten! Unfortunately, I didn't get a proper rest, because Ryan wants to nurse all the time when he is in bed. So, when Ryan woke up Richard decided to take him out for supper at McDonald's (Kallang) to let him expend some energy at its indoor playground while I got into a deep sleep. How wonderful! They had fun too - they got home about 2 am! I was surprised when Richard told me that there were quite a few children there at that hour. Ryan was squealing and shrieking away with them.

I think Richard only got to bed at about 4 am so swimming class was a no-go on Sunday morning. I made lunch for us - roasted rosemary chicken thighs and veggies - with some leftover for dinner. After lunch, Richard brought Ryan for Shichida. I was feeling better in the afternoon so I asked Richard to drive over to Hort Park after Shichida and I took a cab there. When I arrived, this is what greeted me - Ryan fast asleep in Richard's arms.

The room we booked for Ryan's party does seem a little small, so we will try to book a bigger one tomorrow. Ryan stayed asleep the whole time we were at Hort Park and Richard carried him throughout. I guess he was pooped from Shichida. Richard said that Ryan really enjoyed his Shichida class today, he actually clapped his hands after each activity, and in between activities, he was yabbering at sensei to hurry up with the next activity! Hahaha!
I think his sensei is quite grateful for Ryan because, according to Richard, all the other students are running about in class, not really paying attention, while Ryan is sitting down throughout and even clapping his hands in appreciation, hahaha! Well done, son!

Ryan woke up as we were leaving Hort Park so we made a detour to East Coast Park for some food and an evening stroll by the beach. Ryan had a great time there!

Today was a quiet and peaceful day. For dinner, we had another homecooked meal. Richard made us broccoli and lemon chicken with cashew nuts.

Ryan's 2nd birthday is coming up soon, and we've decided to have a small party with some friends to celebrate the occasion. We missed out on our friends last year because we celebrated his birthday in KL with our relatives, so this year is sort of like a "make-up" party. It's going to be a simple one, just food and friends, nothing fancy. We've booked a function room at Hort Park, but we haven't actually seen the room yet - I have a feeling it may be too small. We'll check it out this weekend and decide if we need a bigger room. We'll probably book the caterers as well this weekend.

One more day to the weekend!

We had a packed Sunday. Richard brought Ryan for his swimming class while I brought the pets to the vet for a check-up. Everything is fine - our cat, Tiger, is doing really well, he's eating and drinking and in high spirits. Max the dog had an episode of ticks and mites but it looks like he's free of them now so he's happy. A little overweight, but happy.

After that, we rushed over to Hort Park for Happee Day, which was a charity event benefiting the Children's Cancer Foundation, spearheaded by Mother, Inc. The event started at 9 am so we were really late but we managed to catch Jimmy the Juggler's performance, which was superb. Ryan seemed to be quite interested in watching him juggle his machetes (!) and other stuff.

The event was strongly supported by lots of volunteers and I think there was something to interest everyone - bouncy castle for the older children, lawn activities for the outdoorsy types, balloon sculpting, facepainting and caricatures for the indoorsy types, food for the hungry, performances for the bored, arts and crafts and cake decorating for the creative, PS3 and Wii consoles for the tech-y types, mascots and superheroes to entertain the children, phototaking and printing for the families and fantastic goodie bags for everyone else.

Seeing the Happee smiles on the CCF children's faces was amazing and all kudos goes to Daphne of Mother, Inc. and her husband, Kelvin, and of course the army of volunteers and sponsors. I didn't do anything to help out with the event (but got so much in return) so if you're like me or if you couldn't make it and would still like to assist the Children's Cancer Foundation, please consider making a cash donation. Just click the button at Mother, Inc.

After the event wound down, we went for a quiet lunch at Blooie's with the gang - Shann's family, Alicia's family and Florinda's family. Then it was off to Shichida. We missed last week's class because Ryan fell asleep. This week, we made it to class but that was the only difference - Ryan still slept through it and he woke up just before it ended, in time to wave his hands along to the Sayonara song. His sensei was very amused. We went home and I spent some time playing and reading with Ryan while Richard took a short nap.

In the evening, we met up with Shann's family and Belinda's family for dinner at Casa Verde at The Botanic Gardens. The weather was nice and cool and the children were delighted to be outdoors. Ryan was a little tired by then but couldn't sleep until he had expended all his energy so he wanted to hop, skip and run about. When he was done, he fell asleep in my arms, while we continued chatting at the table. He woke up as we were leaving, which was close to 10 pm. His routine went completely out the window today but I think he had a great day.

Hello October!

When October rolls around, I can feel the end of the year coming. At work, there are performance evaluations to do, bonuses to decide, next year's budgets to put together, marketing plans to consolidate, leave to clear, all the little signals that we've done what we can for this year. At the same time, there are more thoughts of family activities and year-end holidays. I can almost smell Christmas, the wait for it begins now!

Having said that, there's still a lot of stuff to be done before Christmas. The main thing we are busy with right now is getting our new place ready. Well, I shouldn't say that we're "busy" because we haven't actually done much and the place is still empty. I'll just say that it's top priority? Er... perhaps I should just say that we're working on it. At the rate we're moving (a couple of hours of conversation every two days), it's almost like a hobby rather than a life-changing shake-up.

Anyhooo....

I do have some updates from last week (including an update on how we celebrated Richard's birthday) but let me put the photos together first. For today, I want to let you know about an event that is happening on 31 October 2010. Yes, it's Halloween, but that's not what I'm talking about. It's a mini-carnival at Hort Park from 9 am till noon - there will be mascots, balloon sculptors, face painting, magic shows, a truckload of balloons and tons of more cool stuff.  The event, called "HAPPEE DAY", is organised by Daphne of Mother, Inc. with the Children's Cancer Foundation and it's essentially a morning out with 30 children suffering from childhood cancer.

As Daphne put it, "I know the carnival is just one day of fun for these kids who have to be brave and go through years of jabs and treatment. Thing is, we can’t be there through it all, but one day is a start. To let them know that they’re not facing this alone. That there are people who care and are proud of them for fighting and are cheering them on. It’s a day we get to meet them and spend a morning together."

So, if you are free on the morning of 31 October 2010 (which is a Sunday), do consider dropping by. Bring some friends, bring your children and have some fun. Hop on over to Mother, Inc. to find out more.

I had a couple of work meetings over the weekend but we managed to squeeze in quite a lot of family activities so, overall, it was an enjoyable weekend. It was a long weekend as Monday was a public holiday on account of it being Singapore's National Day.

On Saturday evening, we met up with some SMH friends at Shann's house for dinner. I think Ryan enjoyed hanging out with the other babies - he was running about happily and even trying to make conversation. He got another opportunity the next day, Sunday, when we met up with the gang again to have dinner at Paragon (Peking duck!) and after-dinner drinks at Urban Spoon in Jalan Kayu.

We wanted to make the most of the public holiday on Monday and so we thought of making a trip to the zoo to see the animals and to let Ryan have some water play at Rainforest Kidzworld. I guess half of Singapore had the same idea because when we got there, the carpark was full and there was a whole line of cars parked along the side of the road leading up to the zoo. The line stretched for about 2 km! We took one look, made a U-turn and went for an early lunch at Ivin's instead.

After that, we did our rounds at the book store, the toy store and the arts and crafts store, and then we went home.

Determined not to waste the holiday, we decided to go to Hort Park in the evening and go on the Forest Walk.  There are two trails on the Forest Walk - the Elevated Walkway and the Earth trail.  We took the Elevated Walkway which is a metal bridge that meanders through the forest and puts you at eye-level with the forest canopy.

We brought Ryan's little red car in case he got tired and he would sit in it for a while then get up and walk for a while and sit in it again.  Occasionally, he asked to be carried. When we reached the end, we had to go all the way back to get back to the car. Ryan got a little tired on the way back but overall, I think he enjoyed himself.  Check out the photos!

Here's Ryan in his hiking gear. I love this shot - he looks ready to hit the trail, don't you think? I put a light jacket on him because I wasn't sure if there would be insects and mosquitoes. There weren't any so I took it off mid-way.