Happy 3rd birthday lil Miss Feisty !!!

My darling little Miss Feisty turned 3 on the 20th of March 2012. It was a whirlwind of stacked donuts fabricated by Lil Miss N and Petit Suisse disguised as a birthday cake.

She then blew out her candle for the first time with said donuts. We had another small celebration with Les Lionceaux, a playgroup we frequent. She became shy and effacée all of a sudden, refusing to blow out the candles or even react to people wishing her a happy birthday. When asked later on why she became statue-like and crispée she replied : I became aware of all the attention focusing on me and I had a moment of panic.

We are not done with the celebrations as yet as we will have another party with all the trimmings: friends and family.

Happy birthday my special little girl ! May you stay feisty but at the same time loving and caring towards us 5, your nearest and dearest !

<3 nbsp="nbsp" ove="ove" p="p">your dearest mummy, daddy and your three siblings

Happy 4th birthday Baby Taz

Petit note : Baby Taz's birthday falls on the 6th of December and as disorganised a mum as I am failed to post in time to coincide with his real date.

6th of December 2011 : Baby Taz turned 4 !

Today marks the anniversary of Baby Taz's entry into the world via voie basse four years ago !

We had a small albeit just between the six of us celebration. As requested by Baby Taz (true to his namesake/astrological sign the Golden Pig) the little party involved copious amounts of all les interdites aka junk food : chips, boissons gazeuses galore, nuggets, bâtonnets de poissons panés, frites, bonbons, Rimuss (champagne sans alcool) and un gâteau d'anniversaire décoré haphazardly with crème chantilly and dispersés de bonbons.

Baby Taz received little cadeaus : complets and une photophore/bougeoir de Noël. I hope to celebrate it with some friends in about a months time so there will be more ambience de Fête but for now this will do.

Joyeux anniversaire mon petit cochon (with the dearest sentiments) !!!!!!!!!!

Nous nous t'aimons !

Mummy, Bo, Petit Suisse, Lil Miss N et Lil Miss Feisty

Happy 4th Blog birthday

I began this blog four years ago on the 16th of May 2007, slightly more than 6 months before Baby Taz's birth.

This fourth birthday marks four kids and numerous events and changes and milestones but most of all it is my vent and a great place to document my culinary triumphs and attempts as well as my own personal growth and reflections and the four kids development and milestones to the best of my ability. I do every now and then go back down memory lane via this little blog of mine which is a minor achievement in itself. It helps to preserve memories because writing in a journal just does not appeal to me as much due to time constraints and lack of writing practice. I like many modern citizens have lost the habit of handwriting letters although I still think that the charm of handwriting can never be emulated or lost-

Happy 8th birthday !

We have the continuum of birthdays as 2nd April 2003 was the day my first born came into the world and it marked my first time being a mum and maternity forever changed my life. Since then I have had three more pregnancies and births bringing my total count to four children.

Petit Suisse's birth was marred by my inexperience and I learnt a lot along the way but it is a learning curve which never ends because parenthood and mummyhood in particular are individually adapted to each being hence its uniqueness is amplified by the peculiar relationships one shares with ones child or parent.

I rented a room provided by the quartier for its residents. I then set up the tables, chairs and decorated with Petit Suisse's, Lil Miss N's and enfin Baby Taz's help (who did more damage than help but no matter). I had borrowed games from the toy library and all was set. Shrek came with a pounding and explosive headache which was just swell. Luckily I had one other parent who was able to stay and she aided me with some game organisation. I could have done it all singularly but with another adult it was more manageable.

They played egg-spoon race, Monsieur-Madame : a game of observation and rapidity which had some fun challenges, Devine-Têtes...

All went well except the number of attendants which was slightly lacking according to Petit Suisse, this was a minor detail and ultimately does not determine the success of a party. It's better to have quality rather than quantity of guests. They really enjoyed themselves and I learned a thing or two which would help me improve next time I organise a birthday party or kids party.

Shrek was of no help in the lead up to and organisation of Petit Suisse's 8ème anniversaire but he did redeem himself with the post-party clean-up and aftermath.

We had a little celebration at home on the actual day : today with 'bun xa`o thap cam' and 'kirsch cake' (store bought).

All in all Petit Suisse almost always has a slight advantage when it comes to his birthday as he has the most birthdays celebrated compared to other members of the family.

Happy 2nd birthday !

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Baby Benben, happy birthday to you !!!!

My baby girl turned two today. What a milestone...two years ago I gave birth to a healthy, relatively big (biggest of the four) baby girl who would turn out to be my baby girl forever because I intend to let you be the youngest : a special honour in your favour ! The thing is somebody has to be the eldest and somebody else the youngest and the middle. I love each and everyone of you uniquely because Petit Suisse : fils l'aîné, Lil Miss N : fille l'aînée, Baby Taz : middle child and youngest boy and you Baby Ben my youngest little girl and forever mummy's baby.

I remember clearly the labour pains and childbirth delivery still plays in my mind.

Your second birthday was celebrated with 'pho*?' a traditional and quintessential Vietnamese beef noodle soup that has swayed thousands of followers due to its simple, homey and balanced but flavoursome and utterly delicious and slurp-worthy soup.

The dessert was a cake made of agar-agar which is much lighter and less sickeningly sweet than the traditional gâteau. It was pretty grâce à la moule that I am grateful for.

I hope you will reminisce back into your second birthday celebration with fondness my little baby girl.

It is a souvenir well worth preserving.

It is the start of spring and your birth signalled a new beginning and how fitting that you should be born at the symbolic start of spring when flowers begin their blooming process and nature is at its glorious best.

Here's to many more a birthday celebrations to come.

Lil Miss N's 6th birthday !

I survived eventhough Murphy's Law dictated that when under stress almost everything that can go wrong will and so it is that I was under intense stress today in getting ready for and organising Lil Miss N's 6th birthday. I had thought that I had it all under control but alas I was so far from the truth.
The day began with my massive spring cleaning sweep. I was determined to get the house sparking and spotless (or as spotless as I can possibly get it given the circumstances in this case four pairs of grubby hands/paws and four like minded rambunctious and mischievious underlings). I forged ahead and ploughed/plowed/soldiered my way through and as Murphy's Law has it all four were geared to get in my way and to slow me down at every turn.

I finally completed the sprucing up of the whole apartment but in the process lost my patience and nerve.

Next came the obligatory cake making and baking. Petit Suisse, Lil Miss N and Baby Ben surrounded me and made it almost impossible for me to access the workbench as they were so eager, enthusiastic little helpers who in their eagerness to help crowded me and were haphazardly putting and mixing ingredients much to my dismay but the cake was made and it turned out delicious if I do say so myself.

The decorations were left minimalist because I had run out of time so it did not look all that festive but that was forgiveable.

Games of Twister, Monza and 'Burg Ritter' were played intermittently with 'party bombs' to save the day and then it was 'gâteau d'anniversaire time and candle blowing time'. I had some leftover cake batter so decided to make a second cake albeit thinner and less consequential. Shrek having blocked ears took out the thin round cake instead of the heart-shaped one I had intended. That in the end did not matter too much as the candles were blown, cake was cut and shared amongst Lil Miss N's friends and she opened her presents : Hello Kitty pencil case with accessories, a kit to create her own bnnn me pocket money.

Her friends all left with a bonbonière each complete with little toys and surprises. A good time was had by all eventhough I felt that I could have been much more organised and the party games should have deroulés more smoothly had I not been collée dessus by a little superglue albeit the little party stopper.
Lil Miss N was stoked and visibly happy and all the hard work paid off.

Shrek then attended a work Christmas function. He drank a little too much and the hard liqueurs made their appearance when he returned.

He came home and assured me that he was fine but as Murphy's Law would have it I was prepared...good thing I was prepared given last year's episode.

Anyway Shrek's favourite expression of all time is 'goulot d'étranglement' which means bottleneck or (throttle) and true to form he puked into our household's goulot d'étranglement aka the bathroom sink which was already slightly blocked for quite some time rendering it unfit for use and hopelessly out of order until it has been unblocked by the plumber.


He had a massive hangover is an understatement... I need not get into the gory and peu appetisant details of this episodic vomissement.

He did redeem himself by vaccuuming and taking out the garbage : tasks which he has not performed/executed for a considerable period of time.

My love affair with Murphy's Laws are still going strong !

Happy 3rd birthday !

Happy third birthday to my rambunctious little rascal aka Baby Taz.
He was born on St Nicolas' day although he is anything but saintly.
He was doe-eyed and taken by complete surprise as he is not accustomed to the whole blowing out the candle process..
We only celebrated his birthday with a Pandoro and sparking grapejuice but no matter he was still awestruck as if he could not believe that the attention was focused and centred on him eventhough he had not done anything naughty up until that moment save the hour long kicking, screaming and wailing fest. He repeatedly said 'Bo biet lam' roughly translated to 'Daddy knows how to fix it!' in relation to a computer game at Ikea that wasn't working. He played that phrase for an hour without any hint of fatigue or exhaustion and only stopped when we went under the rain and he forgot completely because he was so absorbed by the leftover almost all melted snow on the ground.

Happy birthday little baby boy and here's to many more to come !