Welcome Little Man! Jake’s First Month Party

Posted on by Tjin Lee

Life can get a little monotonous during the first month of confinement, so for my own enjoyment, I started planning Baby Jake’s first month celebration. Since so much thought and effort was put into the little event, I decided share my resources and kiddie party planning tips!

We started by finding a venue that I love, chose a theme (Welcome Little Man, with colour scheme of black and white with touches of baby blue) and I went about sourcing gifts and little details that would make the party special. Once again, I’m going to let the photos do the talking!

The Invitation:  I used an image from his Newborn shoot by The Studio Loft. I added in text using an iPhone app called Over, it took 5 minutes – easy peasy! 

The Venue:  The Luxe at 1 Keong Saik Road, this is an Australian-style cafe next to the Working Capitol, and is a beautiful, welcoming space graced with natural sunlight. I fell in love with it for Jake’s party the minute I saw it.

The Welcome Table:   I filled it with little items and gifts for the guests like Kids’ Fedoras and images of Baby Jake in photo frames. I rented the chalkboard signage from Dreams & Confetti at Dempsey.

The Details: Baby bottles for guests to fill with baby blue kisses (from Candylicious at VivoCity), mini cupcakes in the colour scheme provided by Luxe, and a party hashtags so we could see the pictures shared by our friends #hellobabyjake

 
Gift bags for all the guests – filled with a customized selection of gifts – Bow Ties for the men, Mustache knuckleduster rings for the women, Bunny night lights for the kids and cookies for everyone baked by Jake’s grandma.   I designed and ordered customized sticker labels online from Evermine, with his name on them for all the bags and items in the door gift.  The letter pressed Thank You notes below are by Carda. 

All set! Even Big Brother Bubu is dressed to the theme!

Guests arrive (here’s another tip, we staggered the timing to avoid over-crowding for the little VIP, 3pm for Family and 4pm for Friends), and as hoped – the little guests love their bunny rabbits! 

Baby Jake wakes up just for a while to grace his beautiful guests with a half-smile.       

The ladies having a little fun with the Baby Bottles of Kisses xxx

It’s easy to see why Bubu thinks it’s his party.  

Baby Jake’s Balmoral carriage by Silver Cross, and portraits that we made specially for the party.   

A close up on a little guest, and one of the Black and White balloon bouquets.

Goodbye everyone, and Thank You for joining us!

Event photography by John of Episode Photography http://www.episodephotography.sg

Open Farm Community – Family-friendly Spot in Dempsey

Posted on by Tjin Lee

We discovered this place through a friend two weeks ago. Went on a weekend morning and it was lovely with a large shaded sandpit, outdoor seating (with cool blowers thankfully!) and a cafe that opened at 11am.  Plenty of space set amidst lush greenery and a natural farm setting where the cafe/ restaurant grows their own produce. There was also a little kids boutique Tinydipity that sold a selection of clothes, accessories, toys. 

Brunch was great! Serving up the usual breakfast suspects (Eggs Benny, pancakes, toast and sandwiches, lattes, cold-pressed juices etc), but all the ingredients used were fresh – we felt like we had discovered a place we wanted to bring our friends back to.  I’ll let the photos do the talking. 

Open Farm Commmunity is at 130E Minden Road, Dempsey Village 

   

   
Bubu finds a wooden digger. He loves it!  We had to pry it out of his hands when we left 😦


Lovely decor outdoors with spanking new lounge chairs and a funky ping pong table set amidst lush farm greenery #wowicantbelievethisissingapore

   

    
At the Brunch table (still clutching the wooden digger) 

 Beautiful sunlit restaurant space, with high ceilings surrounded by glass windows.
  

Scrambled eggs and sausage   
 
Eggs and toast 

  
Some of the fresh produce from the farm .    
Tinydipity (some cheeky kid rubbed out the Y) – cute little boutique selling fashion and knick knacks 

  We return to the sand pit with his own Digger (fortunately we did because we found the other wooden Digger broken in two and Bubu was really heartbroken that he couldn’t put it back together! 

 
Achievement unlocked! It’s his first time stepping willingly on to sand. The last few times we went on beach vacations, it was a real challenge getting him comfortable with the texture between his toes. He would cry and want to be picked up! 

Verdict: We love it and will be back next week! Note the indoor restaurant closes from 3-6pm and the outdoor cafe doesn’t serve food. They are brand new and still building a children’s playground which will come up next to the sandpit. It does get crowded, so do make a booking if you’re going on a weekend for brunch or lunch. 

Hello World!

Posted on by Tjin Lee

Hi, this is my online journal created to share our story and adventures in parenting, travel and life with Bubu and his new baby brother.
There is often so much I want to share that I can’t fit into a square box on Instagram, so here we are – Outside the Box, and I hope you enjoy what we have to share!
In this first post, I share images of Jake’s first hours and days of life, and that precious, priceless moment when the brothers meet for the first time.

Love, Tjin, Bubu and Baby Jake xxx

Such tiny, precious little hands!

He’s curious!

Can I pet him?

Just hours old!
Jake arrived weighing in at 3.45kg at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital.

We booked The Studio Loft to document the first meeting of the two brothers. While it was tiring for me, on the same day as the birth which was in the morning, I’m definitely glad we did it, because the photos capture a truly priceless first moment. We also did prepare the “Baby Gift” – a gift for the older sibling from the new arrival, apparently this helps with goodwill! I’m not sure about the goodwill, but his gift of a new truck definitely kept Bubu occupied for the next three days!

Daddy, what’s that!
  

It’s your baby brother, Bubu!

Daddy getting to know the new guy

And three days later, we are ready to go home!