Never before did we have friends giving birth consecutively. About a month back, my secondary school mates Kenny and Belinda were blessed with Faith, their third child after two boys, on 1 December. A day later on 2 December, Michael's (my primary school mate) wife, Cindy, gave birth to Aydan (or, according to Michael's hilarious cyber-speak SMS, the Aydan 1.0 system came online), their first after the months of anticipation since they first broke the news to us.
So fast forward a month later, we suddenly had two one month baby showers to attend. All because the Chinese are a superstitious lot when it comes to such things and firmly believe that birthdays should be celebrated earlier as doing it later was taboo.
We rushed off from church at 12 noon and headed to Aydan's first, which was held at Persimmon's at the new Link Hotel. Nick and Pat, along with Grace who was ecstatic to see Velouria, were already there when we arrived. It was a nice place with a rather nostalgic feel to it. The rattan chairs and marble table tops used were reminiscent of those old coffee shops that we rarely see nowadays; the buffet spread included the red eggs and ang ku kuehs (must have items that are traditional to Chinese one month old baby showers) as well as herbal tea and chendol; an old spitton was also used as an ornamental flower vase, which I thought was quite creative.
More friends arrived later (Jenny, Alaric and Wai Min) and it was great catching up (and gossiping!) with everyone while enjoying the rest of the simple fare that was offered at the buffet spread. I particularly enjoyed the sweet and sour Thai style fish and the mushroom soup with shao shing cream.
We didn't have the time to touch the dessert as it was soon time to leave for the next baby shower. Fortunately for us, it was only around the corner at Teresa Ville. This party we attended with a certain tinge of awkwardness as I haven't met many of my friends for the longest time (about 20 years?) and I wasn't sure if all of them would remember me, coupled with the fact that Belinda and I almost had 'something' going on but neither of us had any follow-up or closure to that issue (it was just 'one of those things' that was forgotten as time passed). By the time we arrived, the party was almost over and it was a pleasant surprise to meet so many of my old friends after such a long time. Apparently, they had been organising reunions for quite a while now since finding each other again on Facebook; I had already missed a couple and this was my first. This was, again, a sombre reminder for me of how time flies. Major, major bummer.
Too stuffed to eat anymore, we just hung around to take photos (many of which have been uploaded onto the Facebook group) and catching up with my old friends. Many of us took our turns carrying Faith, some albeit rather awkwardly, while she just slept throughout. I reckon she must have been tired and confused by the array of activity going on around her along with all the screaming, jumping older kids (Velouria inclusive).
We left a while later together with most of the group, only to get stuck at the playground for another half an hour after promising Velouria 5 minutes. She was only willing to leave after her skin had broken on her hand from all the swinging from the bars.
So fast forward a month later, we suddenly had two one month baby showers to attend. All because the Chinese are a superstitious lot when it comes to such things and firmly believe that birthdays should be celebrated earlier as doing it later was taboo.
We rushed off from church at 12 noon and headed to Aydan's first, which was held at Persimmon's at the new Link Hotel. Nick and Pat, along with Grace who was ecstatic to see Velouria, were already there when we arrived. It was a nice place with a rather nostalgic feel to it. The rattan chairs and marble table tops used were reminiscent of those old coffee shops that we rarely see nowadays; the buffet spread included the red eggs and ang ku kuehs (must have items that are traditional to Chinese one month old baby showers) as well as herbal tea and chendol; an old spitton was also used as an ornamental flower vase, which I thought was quite creative.
More friends arrived later (Jenny, Alaric and Wai Min) and it was great catching up (and gossiping!) with everyone while enjoying the rest of the simple fare that was offered at the buffet spread. I particularly enjoyed the sweet and sour Thai style fish and the mushroom soup with shao shing cream.We didn't have the time to touch the dessert as it was soon time to leave for the next baby shower. Fortunately for us, it was only around the corner at Teresa Ville. This party we attended with a certain tinge of awkwardness as I haven't met many of my friends for the longest time (about 20 years?) and I wasn't sure if all of them would remember me, coupled with the fact that Belinda and I almost had 'something' going on but neither of us had any follow-up or closure to that issue (it was just 'one of those things' that was forgotten as time passed). By the time we arrived, the party was almost over and it was a pleasant surprise to meet so many of my old friends after such a long time. Apparently, they had been organising reunions for quite a while now since finding each other again on Facebook; I had already missed a couple and this was my first. This was, again, a sombre reminder for me of how time flies. Major, major bummer.
Too stuffed to eat anymore, we just hung around to take photos (many of which have been uploaded onto the Facebook group) and catching up with my old friends. Many of us took our turns carrying Faith, some albeit rather awkwardly, while she just slept throughout. I reckon she must have been tired and confused by the array of activity going on around her along with all the screaming, jumping older kids (Velouria inclusive).
We left a while later together with most of the group, only to get stuck at the playground for another half an hour after promising Velouria 5 minutes. She was only willing to leave after her skin had broken on her hand from all the swinging from the bars.
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