This year's birthday felt a little more special for me. Besides the fact that it was a solo parenting week and I spent the day with just the kids, it was also the very start of the circuit breaker. Yup, I saw the date 7 April printed in all the news articles, reports and posters days before my birthday and it was destined that we would be staying home, as per what we had been doing for weeks even before that, to celebrate.
As dreadful as it seems, I kind of think that this global pandemic has also helped to shed some light and made many of us ponder about our life's priorities. For starters, we are realising what we have been taking for granted all along and hopefully, when this crisis ends, we can better appreciate the freedom we have, the things given to us and the well-being of our loved ones. If anything, we now understand how an invisible enemy can wreck havoc, ruin lives and break things apart and how we must cherish every single day that we get to live, breathe and love.
We had initially planned a photoshoot session with Bloom Photography on Good Friday, which was three days after my birthday. I had been looking forward to it for a long time because it has been some time since we last did a family shoot and you know how precious these pictures are to me. I thought it was going to be one of the my best birthday gifts this year even though you can say that I kind of gave it to myself since I am the one who will be doing the work for the review and write-up. Haha. Alas, when the announcement on the circuit breaker came, everything had to be put on hold.
With a stroke of luck, we managed to shift the date to a week earlier and despite it being a last minute arrangement, everything went quite well and we spent a couple of hours in Botanic Gardens, breathed in some fresh air and returned home with invaluable memories. I will be sharing more about our experience soon and you can also view more of our pictures on my social media platforms. I think wearing jumpers to match the kids was a great idea because it kind of made me look and feel younger, haha.
Oh, and one of the amazing transformations this year was how I lost 6 kg within 1.5 months, thanks to slim cupping (IG: kappingusg). Never thought that would be possible because I have tried several workouts and those bulges and fats just seemed to refuse to barge. So I was really amazed by how I lost inches in such a short time - I was committed to the no-carbs diet too because I wanted to make sure I was doing my bit. It's been over a month since I completed the treatment and I have resumed my normal diet and eating habits too - which include snacks, ice cream and chocolates because #justcanthelpit and furthermore, it's HBL period. Haha. So being able to still keep my weight below 50kg, you can definitely say it's a dream come true.
On the last weekend before CB, we went over to my parents' place to have a steamboat dinner with them and my in-laws. My parents prepared everything including the yummy food and drinks and even bought my favourite cake - Cocoa Exotic from Four Leaves (anyone loves it too?) - and I was so touched that my Dad remembered. Honestly, family is really all that I need at this point and I am so thankful for these strong family ties. Even though we knew that we were not going to be able to meet up for some time because #stayhome to #flattenthecurve, all of us knew that this would not affect our bond in the least.
On the night before my birthday, the kids and I decided to do something fun together and make a no-bake Oreo Cheesecake! Right, it didn't really turn out to be perfect but it was still very delicious and it meant the world to me knowing that my kids had helped to play a part in making it from scratch. So even though the cleaning up was a little tedious, my heart was full and I was all ready to take on that solo parenting week and determined to still have a blast.
I took the easy way out on my birthday and chose to ask the kids to do their own wraps for lunch. Haha. Yay! It's nice to see how they get a sense of achievement from it and they greatly enjoy being able to create something on their own. Yup, it empowers them in a sense and reminds me to disregard the mess every time I let them get involved in the kitchen but to focus on how it can be a wonderful learning experience for them. We, of course, had some ice cream too because well, it's my birthday and we are all allowed to have sweet treats and do and eat what makes us happy.
Thanks to two very sweet and thoughtful mummy friends, Angeline from Life's Tiny Miracles and Nat from So Natty, we received surprises at our door one after another that day, including cupcakes, DIY cookie decorating set, personalised floral box and even customised birthday balloons. 衷心谢谢，不好意思让你们破费了! They knew that the hubby was not around, acknowledged my 'sacrifices' as a navy wife, and totally brightened up my special day with their heartfelt kindness. I don't think I deserved any of it but really, thank you so, so much. Thanks to everyone who also sent me wishes from near and afar, I truly appreciate all your love!
Before the night ended, we had a simple cake cutting ceremony - just me, the kiddos and our pet hamster Lyra (can you spot her?). As always, I love and deeply treasure all the precious handmade cards the kids did for me and this time, they even included paintings, origami, pop-up flowers and a cute cake topper too. Thanks so much, my dears.
So I guess a stay-home birthday still turned out to be fantastic after all and I felt extra loved and delighted that day. Well, I guess life goes on after that and I have no doubt that our days will still be filled with endless tantrums, nagging, bickers and meltdowns. When that happens, I am just glad that I have these precious moments to look back on because they give me strength, make me count my blessings and remind me to see the bigger picture in life - which, in every way I see it, means to be thankful, positive and happy just to have my loved ones beside me.
Happy 37th to me.
P.S. I sure hope my birthday wish can come true this year so we can all go out in the sun, have fun and give hugs to one another very soon.
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