Water Play

What better way to cool down from the sizzling heat these days than having a dip in the pool? Both of them enjoy it so much that the parents were made to promise to bring them to the pool more often. My pleasure.

Funny....

...the kids!

Yu Wen pretending to be the patty in the burger.


Yu Hao letting reap one of his dinosaur-like screams again.


Clap clap hands. Many times he'd clap too close to his nose and keep slapping himself on it. Silly.


In one of her "zombie" poses. She said she learned it from Kung Fu Panda, at the part when Shifu tosses a dumpling at Panda.


Fooling around in front of the camera.


Sis wants to hug him, but bro tries to fend off the unwanted attention. Notice the clutter in the background. My home is a junk yard!


He's always tickled by his sister.


Wish they can be happy like this forever.

Joy Kids Bring

Following up on the last post on family, this is an update on the 2 kids back home.

The little boy is a cry baby/whiner/complain king all rolled into one.

Sleepy, he cries. Wakes up, he cries. Hungry, he cries. Want to eat some more, he cries. Head knocks lightly on hard objects, he cries. Change clothes, he cries. Put him alone in playpen, he cries. Sun shines on his eyes, he cries.

His constant whines and cries have become so consistent, regular and mundane that the only way to deal with it is to treat it like we treat road traffic hubbub as background noise. After a while, it really works! I don't hear him now like I don't hear the cars zooming past on roads below my flat. We are however, very glad that he is getting along fine with "jie jie" Yu Wen. In fact, she is the only person who can guarantee a hearty laugh from him, no matter how cranky he is.

Talking about the sister, she's fast becoming, if not already, a chatterbox. Being chatty is one thing, being LOUD is another. If being loud does not catch our attention, she'd sometimes spew amazing words that make me tear. For example, I always like to tease her. One day, I was reading Little Red Riding Hood (English version) and when it came to the dialogue parts, I purposely spoke in Mandarin. Seeing that her face turned blank and emotionless, I asked her if she was angry (that I am pulling her leg).

Then came her reply with a deadpan face:" I am not angry. I'm just disappointed." Suddenly, I was like this stand-up comedian who just told a joke that nobody laughed at. I quickly apologised and got on with the story.....in English.

All pictures taken with Sony Ericsson k770i

Yu Wen, with what she called "leaf satay".


Baby Brother sits on grass for the first time, and you guess it----he cried.


The Sheik

The Young & The Bold

Some of you may remember recent pictures of Ann Shae at her 2nd birthday party. Well, she now has a younger sister named Annabel and they had a full-month party at Il Lido, Sentosa, a couple of weekends ago.

Ken & Eileen were one of the first 5 couples who put their faith and money in this rookie/part-time press photographer to shoot their wedding. I felt so honoured at that time (at least 5 years ago) and the wedding was so fun to shoot because they were surrounded by many loved ones and fun-loving friends. From then, I went on to shoot several more of the friends' weddings and it brought tingle to my tummy that Ken & Eileen still tasked me to continue document their family celebrations.

I really hope I can last many more years in this industry. We hear of the old neighbourhood fishball noodle stall, the family doctor or dentist who takes care 2 or 3 generations of a family, the familiar face who has been around serving customers for decades.

Can we have a friendly family photographer?

Imagine my client saying:" Hey grandson, this is the photographer who shot ah-gong's wedding. You should check him out."

Grandson:" Err...ok ah-gong....let me consider. But you really think Uncle KC can still shoot while sitting on the wheelchair?"

Here's Mini-Me

We do have many similarities.
Some say he's as cute as me. He's a glutton. He always cries to get sympathy.
And we're always fighting each other to get mummy's attention.

Baby Talk

Yu Hao:"Lately, there's been some quiet whispers about me looking a bit like some internet billionaire called Jerry. Well, i don't really know who he is but millions others know him and also his baby by the name of Yahoo!!"

"I've been hearing my dad and mum quarreling too....well, I don't know why they are doing it, but I did hear my dad keep asking my mum 'why?why?why does he look like Jerry Yang? he sounded upset, especially when he said something about the photos."




"My mum kept insisting that she doesn't know this billionaire, and that she hasn't been to USA for the last 10 years. She also protested that she is a Google user. By the way, what's Google? All these mumbo jumbo the adults are saying really confuses me!"

"Then, my dad sounded a bit disappointed....and he sighed and mentioned something about blackmail....child support....rich...and stuff like that. They sure like to use biggish words that I don't understand."

"Well, enough talk. who's hungry? Anyone keen on milk? I'm going to cry real loud now.....I can share my food, and anyway, my mum has another one which I can't always finish."

Family Update

Yu Wen is 3 months away from her 3rd birthday. When I look at Yu Hao (my no. 2 but nicknamed No. 1 because of how his chinese name sounds like), he reminds me so much of Yu Wen when she was younger. And I realised time really flies.

No matter how much time I have tried to spend with her, it never seems to be enough. And in the blink of an eye, she is fast approaching 3, and growing to become more of a headache. Normally, a child would satisfy her curiosity by asking:"Why?" But Yu Wen always try to talk her way out of trouble by asking "Why not?" She's like a mini napalm imploding inside my brain when the frustration and exasperation become too much to contain.



As for Yu Hao, he is more or less trouble-free (not much to ask for from someone who sleeps, eats, poos, sleeps more and eats more and poos hell lot more). He always has this brooding frown and attempts to "kill" with his piercing, intense looks. He's fairly big for a baby his age and carrying him now is part of the repertoire for gym work.




And in case you are still wondering, yes, the yellow patch is his poo/shit/dabian!
Amazing thing is how he managed to land it so high up and in a square shape???

Relax....it's a short week!

Hit & Miss

I mentioned I missed my daughter's debut as a little green leaf at her school performance. My wife told me that the moment the curtain was drawn open, and Yu Wen saw the crowd, she immediately went backstage and sat on the teacher's lap throughout the song, except for the finale when she rejoined the group.

Not much of a photographer, nonetheless my wife managed to capture some nice moments. With a bit of photoshop, one of the images still comes out nice.

The other event which I didn't miss was my son's first month party. Had a nice high-tea buffet at Lao Beijing, Tiong Bahru Plaza branch, with close friends and relatives. And then there was the customary flower bath for the 1-month-old baby.

Baby Brother 7 days

Baby Brother is a week old now, and he's growing well, except for a slight bout of jaundice. As a remedy, we have to "sun" him everyday in the morning and evening. The cap is to shield his eyes from the sun.




According to old wives' tale, babies with two "whirpools" (I don't know what it's called) on their heads will be very naughty and uncontrollable. I reckon that makes sense, cos that's where the two horns are coming out from.

I love children, anytime!

Long weekend

Yu Wen had a wonderfully fulfilling weekend: Friends visiting, breakfast and dinner outings, National Day carnival, Botanical Gardens picnic with cousins where she played with ball, caught fish and shrimps at the pond, watched a bit of fireworks, and finally a durian feast.

She could barely wake up the next morning.

Babelicious

If one nagging wife is not enough, it more than makes up for it with a nagging daughter.
"Daddy, watch out for cars."
"Daddy, drive slowly."
"Daddy! Buckle your seat belt!"

Post-HFMD

Hmmm...even though I have recovered from HFMD, daddy said I shouldn't be too complacent. The government also told us to be vigilant and to check our temperature daily.


Eh...maybe this might give a more accurate reading.


Oh no....daddy is coming with the cane. I think I am going to get Hand, Foot and Mouth whacking.