Nakayla's Full Month Celebration

Before I start on that day's events, the day before Nakayla's full month celebrations, was the day she turned a month old. Traditionally, we were supposed to cut or shave her hair, trim her finger nails and toe nails. But we did none of that. Very different from when Blake turned a month old. When Blake turned a month old, we trimmed a little of his hair (he had so little to begin with!), one of his finger nails and one of his toe nails as a significance.






On the day of Nakayla's full month celebration, things were a little rush as we were holding a luncheon at Roland Restaurant, instead of dinner at home, which was the case for Blake.

I would just like to say how lucky I had been to have made a couple of new mommy friends in 2012, one of whom was Regina! It actually came as a surprised to me when I discovered later on that her father was none other than Roland of Roland Restaurant! My dad and her father used to play badminton together, and we frequent the restaurant on special occasions. My parents also held their wedding dinner there! Can I just say that it completely slipped my mind to consider the restaurant for the celebrations?

It only dawned onto me after I told Regina what a headache it was for me to find a location to hold the celebration as I needed a bigger place than my home for it, and my two original choices were out because of some circumstances considered - weather being the biggest factor. That was when she suggested Roland Restaurant, and within weeks, everything fell into place nicely. Headache gone!

Ok, back to the day's events, I'm going to let the photos do the talking. Haha.




Arrived a little before 12 noon to pack the red eggs the restaurant
very kindly provided into the gift boxes I put together










Timothy dropped by with gifts and left before eating! He brought me a mad awesome gift!


Booties from my mom



Crazy mommy removing the blanket to show off baby girl's pretty clothes




With my confinement nanny


Salad prawns! Sean and my favourite!


And the feasting begins!


My boy eating on his own




Yum yums!


Uncle Roland (carrying baby Renae) came by a while after Regina arrived and was shocked when he saw my dad (in brighter red polo tee) :)

With my grandma


Nakayla with grandaunt (二姑婆) Lanyang


With Yang Ming and Carol, both of whom are my sister's friends, but have treated me like I'm their little sister! If you're looking for wedding emcees, look for them! They make one awesome husband-wife team on stage! Hehe.


Nakayla with grandaunt (姨婆) Gim Keng


Father and son enjoying private moments together


This little girl is my cousin Olicia, making her Blake and Nakayla's second youngest aunt!
She's only nine months older than Blake! They are born in different years though. Their youngest aunt, Ella, was not born yet. Hehe.






And it was meal time for Nakayla before the whole event wrapped up and everyone headed home.

But first...


Family photos!





Got home after the awesome meal at Roland Restaurant, and I started to unwrap all the gifts. Hehe.

Remember I mentioned earlier that Timothy had one awesome gift for me (among the many others he brought for Blake and Nakayla)? THIS WAS IT!


Ben & Jerry's Vouchers!!!!
But that wasn't the only awesome gift I received. Look what owners of Tree & Bee gave me!


So beautifully wrapped!






And my favourite cupcake flavors from Twelve Cupcakes!
I want to thank all who came down bearing gifts and red packets for the celebration, all who were unable to attend but still sent well wishes and gifts, and all who helped me make this full month celebration an awesome one! :D

And a big thanks to Bryan from BLJH Photography for the beautiful photos!

Nakayla's Full Month - The Preparations

Preparations for Nakayla's full month celebrations started from when I entered my third trimester. I had toyed with ideas of what I would do for the gift pack (to order or put my own together), where to hold the celebrations and who to invite.

My greatest focus was on the gift pack. It's the one thing I put the most effort in for all my parties (the door gifts/party favors). After all, my guests will bring it home and might show it off to their family and friends!

After scouring the internet on all the different types of full month packages available, I found none to my liking. It was either not value for money, or contained things that I didn't really fancy. So I decided to put together my own full month gift pack, just like I did for Blake's full month celebrations. I must have thought the same back then. Haha.

For Blake's full month celebration, I put together gift bags with items ordered from two different companies. I had ordered Pulut Inti and Ang Ku Kueh from a nonya kueh factory, ordered some cakes and tarts from a bakery, and had my mom's help in making the red eggs. It was pretty traditional.


These gift bags contained the Pulut Inti, Ang Ku Kueh and red eggs.
The cakes and tarts were in a separate bag.
I had no intentions of ordering from the same nonya kueh factory for Nakayla's full month celebration as I was very unhappy with the items delivered for Blake's full month. They were so tiny and pathetic looking. On top of that, the ang ku kuehs looked nothing like the ang ku kuehs we typically see. It was just a tiny cone-shaped kueh! Honestly, I was pretty embarrassed by it. Luckily, the cakes and tarts were bigger in size and portions (delicious too!). But I could not order from the same bakery for Nakayla's full month. They were closed for renovations and I had absolutely no idea when they would reopen for business.

So for Nakayla's full month, I decided to try something new. Considering I will be having help around (my confinement nanny), I decided to buy and make some of my own stuff to put together in the gift box! I had also found rose and ang ku jelly/baking molds, so it was all in good timing!

First, I tried baking blueberry cakes in the rose molds, but they turned out smaller than expected, for some odd reason. Then I tried making Konnyaku jellies, but those with fruits in them begin to melt when I left it out for an experiment.


After I decided that the cake and jellies were out, I tried making chocolates out of the ang ku moulds. But I only managed to try this out a week before Nakayla's full month celebrations as I had given birth earlier than I expected. I had totally expected her to arrive on her expected due date!

Anyway, the chocolate ang kus were rather successful, and I got better at making them towards the end. I had made them in tiny batches, each with a different method, so they all turned out a little differently.




In the end, I decided to bake mini muffins and outsource the more traditional items - Ang Ku Kuehs and Glutinous Rice. I had ordered them from another nonya bakery, and I must say, I'm mighty pleased with them! :D

As for the chocolate ang kus, they were given out to friends and colleagues who were not able to attend the full month celebrations, but sent their well wishes and gifts anyway :)


Mini muffins I baked


Packed one of my boy's favourite biscuits in too


Something I put together for Blake's school teachers


All packed and ready for friends and colleagues

Besides putting together the gift box, I also designed the birth announcement cards!

Blake's birth announcement card was designed when I was still in confinement. It was the first time I was doing something like that and I had to do a lot of research, and I went through a couple of designs before I was satisfied. His birth announcement card was actually a 4R photo. Haha.


Nakayla's birth announcement card, on the other hand, was really just a sticker and the design template was already all done before I gave birth. Haha. It was much easier this time round because I had made up my mind to use a similar design, just tweaking a little here and there as the size and usage will be different from Blake's. Nakayla's birth announcement sticker was used to seal up the gift box!



That's just about all the preparations I had done for the gift boxes. Next post will be on the actual event!

Blake’s 2nd Birthday Celebration in School

Ah! I’m finally motivated enough to sit down and blog out details of Blake’s 2^nd Birthday celebration in school, after what seemed like forever! Haha. It's the first time Blake ever celebrated his birthday in school! J

6^th September 2012 was the day we celebrated Blake’s birthday in school. It also happens to be the day his preschool was celebrating Teacher’s Day! And, I found out the day before that there was another boy in Blake’s class celebrating his birthday too. I won’t deny. I was not very pleased with that revelation. I wanted my boy to feel special cos it’s his birthday! I was hoping that Blake would be able to at least have one birthday party to call his own, 100%! Back home, we celebrate together with my mom cos they share the same birth date. Haha. Oh well, I’ll make sure to check with the school next year, and arrange in such a way that Blake’s birthday celebration in school won’t clash with his classmate.

Anyway, Sean was not able to apply for leave that day, due to his packed teaching schedule at work. A teacher’s responsibility to the future generation knows no bounds J

Luckily for us, Bryan from BLJH Photography was around to capture the beautiful moments, so Sean did not miss a thing!

I snucked into Blake’s class while his teachers were playing with him. He saw me, and immediately ran to me for a hug. We stayed this way for quite some time before actually starting the birthday celebrations as some of the children were still in a sleepy daze, having just woken up from their nap time not long ago.

I was also explaining to Blake why we were there, and why he was wearing a special number 2 shirt, which my mom bought from USA, instead of his school uniform J

Hmm, am I still one year old?


No! I'm two! J

Poor boy had no idea why there was a big camera constantly taking photos of him. He was still in a sleepy daze, and stayed that way till it was time to eat the cake. Haha. Yes, he takes a while to wake up completely.

His classmate had his birthday celebrated first, as Blake was still not fully awake, and somewhat clinging onto me.

But soon, it was Blake’s turn!

Blake was surprised when he saw his cake. He recognized the cartoon characters, and revealed a slight smile on his face. He did not rush forward, like his classmates did, to attempt to pluck out the cartoon characters though. Haha. He just sat at his seat and eyed his cake with wonder. It was quite a funny sight, cos while Blake was admiring his cake, the adults were holding the other children back to their seats to prevent the cake from being destroyed. Haha.

Once the children had settled, we begin singing the birthday song in both English and Mandarin. Then it was time to make a wish and cut the cake!

Cakes were distributed to all the children and adults in the preschool, and it was during this time that Blake seemed to wake up fully, and understood what was going on. It did not take long for him to be like his usual self again! Cheeky and all J I have a feeling he was in part sleepy, part in shock throughout the whole celebration because for the first time, the birthday song was sang for him!

Some of the teachers were telling me how much Blake loves eating cakes, and that whenever there was a birthday celebration, he will wipe out all the cake given to him, and might even ask for more. Haha.

Party favors were all made by yours truly, under my little home business Ribbons and Tape.
Read about the preparations here :)

After all the cakes and party favors were distributed, and the children have had their fill, the teachers started to clear the mess up (toddlers do eat very, very messily!) and it was playtime for Blake’s class!

This cheeky boy of mine ran and hid under the table the moment he finished his cake. A couple of his classmates joined him, and they were just sitting there, under the table, laughing. I have absolutely no idea what was going on, but their laughter was so infectious, everyone just laughed along with them.

In this photo above, Blake actually held the pose for Bryan before running off. Haha. Love!

Playing with his form teacher, Teacher Meng (蒙老师)

While he was running around his classroom, I grabbed him for a photo. Haha.

After the mess was cleared up, toys were taken out for the children to play. Look at what funny things Blake does to the soft blocks. Haha.

While he was playing with his friends, I spoke with Teacher Meng about Blake’s progress, and everything under the sun. I love how I can talk to her about anything. It's like we're old friends or something. Hehe.

He played a while more with Teacher Meng while I packed up, and soon, it was time to head home!

This boy returned home really happy, and was so high the whole evening!

After Blake’s birthday celebration in school, I took a break the next day. Sean and I brought Blake to the Civil Defence Heritage Gallery (read all about it here) as a mini treat before starting work on his birthday celebration at home, which was in 3 days time. More about the home party in the next entry J
For now, to end this post, I would like to thank Bryan from BLJH Photography for the lovely photos taken and edited. And also, to Lucille from Lea Vanilla Rosettes, for baking such a stunning and delicious cake for Blake’s birthday party in school! J

Related posts:
Blake’s 2^nd birthday - Preparations