Day in A Life – DIAL with JahBella

Today I’ll be hoping onto the blog train where Jacqueline of The Little Mom left off and I’ll be taking you through a day in my life – our “Helpless Sunday”. 🙂 Yes it is one of those weekends where we require double the energy (because we no longer outnumber the kids) and we are operating on half the rest or wherever rest the kids will allow us that day. :p

8am – Our day starts bright and early between 7am to 8am when our children’s natural body clock demands that the whole family gets up with them as well. We typically spend the next hour getting everyone ready and are all set to leave the house by 9am.

9am – We have decided to keep things really simple today and find ourselves heading to a playground at a nearby mall. It is Jah and Bella’s first time at this playground.

9.30am – The weather decides to make us scramble alitle and it starts to pour, 2 minutes into our play! We decide to have some breakfast at Swensens, hoping the weather would eventually clear up.

10.15am – Thankfully the weather clears up by the time we are done with breakfast and the kids get to burn off some of that energy. Phew!!

What you don’t see in the playground photos, are the multiple trips I had to make to the toilet that morning. Yes both kids decide that this would be an absolutely fabulous time to do a Number 2, one after the other…and mummy was toilet IC for the day…:/

11.15am – It was time to pick up some lunch while the kids are still in a happy mood and can cope with some waiting. The kids also get their much awaited balloons and are super cooperative! Well except for Bella who melts down when her bread was taken away from her in the car….yes she has been eating since 9.30am….zzzzzz

12.30pm – We settled down for lunch as soon as we reached home and the kids are fed, showered and ready for their naps by 1.30pm. Although it is really anyone’s guess how long Bella would actually nap. We are trying out a new routine today with me being in charge of putting both kids to nap (we usually divide and conquer) but lets see how this works..really crossing our fingers today!

1.30pm – Off I go with Bella in my Rose and Rebellion In-Between Carrier (yes this is slightly bigger than a regular baby carrier so it fits a young child perfectly with lots of space to spare) while Joel watches TV with Jah. Mission Completion! The little one falls asleep in 5 minutes!!! Now to remove her from the carrier and hope she doesn’t rouse…:) There is hope for rest today!

1.40pm – Off to ‘collect’ Jah for his naptime – this one takes a little longer to fall asleep but is less torturing on my back since I just have to lie next to him and hug him to sleep. Asleep in 20 minutes! Nap time for mummy until Jah wakes up. 🙂

4.30pm – Kids are up! Activity and snack time!! Yes, Bella has been tasked to clean the table because she was naughty and drew on the table and floor instead of in the book. Tsktsk!

6pm – Off to get some drive-thru Macdonald’s and to get the kids out of the house for alittle while…

8pm – Movie night after dinner..winding down for the evening before I drag Jah off for his shower and bedtime…Tonight we are watching Percy Jackson!

9pm – Off to bed for the kids (takes me about 30 minutes to put Jah to bed) and then some relaxation time for the parents…

930pm – Some relaxation time for the parents…some entertainment and wine!

Just another weekend (and let’s just say this was one of the smoother days :p)..just another day in the life of JahBella’s Mummy.

This post is part of the Day in a Life blog train hosted by Mum in the Making. Click on the button below to take a 24 hour peek into the lives of different mummies, or link up with your own post!

Next Up on the blog train tomorrow!

Pearlyn is mum to a primary schooler and a toddler. She loves her role as a mother, although she wishes she could nah less sometimes. She blogs about how God has blessed her family at Blessed Family.

3Apr2015

Cold Storage Kids Run + Discount Code for JahBella’s readers

Posted in Media Invite, Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

With two extremely active kids (ok 1 extremely active and 1 extremely hungry kid :p ), we have been contemplating bringing Jah and Bella for their first race/ run for some time now. However our main concerns have also been whether they will be able to cope with the length of the run, whether they will be able to cope with the crowd of adult and kids runners and of course safety especially when the run takes us to the road.

I was very excited when I heard about the Cold Storage Kids Run which is back for its 8^th consecutive year, because it is designed specifically with the kids in minds! With 13 categories consisting of competitive (sprint) to non-competitive (family fun) races and ranging from 800m to 1.6km, kids from 6 months to 12 years old will be able to participate.

The fact that the run is a kids-focused running event (Asia’s first and Singapore’s only!) that is conducted within the ground of Gardens By the Bay, addresses a lot of my concerns.

Jah and Bella will be participating in the Family Fun Category which allows for 1 parent to accompany 1 child and they will be attempting 800m under the Jolly Kiwi Category for 2-4 years old. Super duper excited that we will be able to run in the same category as a family (perks of having kids close in age 😉 )

This year, the Cold Storage Kids Run will also be introducing a new 3Gen Family Run category to promote inter-generation fitness and bonding so those who want to include grandpas and grandmas can also do so.

See the chart below for more details on the race categories.

Race Categories

Categories

Kids’ Ages (yrs)

Distance

Sprint (Individual, Boys / Girls)

Speedy Orange

Sporty Apple

Boogey Banana

11 & 12

9 & 10

7 & 8

1.6km

800m

Family Fun (1 Parent + 1 Child)

Happy Grapes

Merry Berry

Jolly Kiwi

Stroller

11 & 12

9 & 10

7 & 8

5 & 6

2 – 4

6 – 23 mths

800m

3Gen Family Fun

(1 Grandparent + 1 Parent + 1 Child)

4 – 12

800m

When I told Jah a few days ago that we will be participating in his first run and he will get his own little race t-shirt (which has green – his favourite colour) and a medal if he finishes the run, he was ectastic! I’m confident that this will be an awesome introduction to the world of running for Jah and Bella! So if you are looking to introduce your kids to a race/ run as well or a fun and healthy way for them to burn some energy, sign up for the Cold Storage Kids Run now!

Do note that this year’s run is limited to the first 5,000 registered participants so do register early. Running Clinics and Dynakids Classes will also be held every Saturday in the month of April and slots are running low for these fun fitness classes so check out this link – http://www.kidsrun.com.sg/fun-camps and register fast!

Oh yes and before I forgot! All readers of Jahbella.net will be entitled to a 10% discount on top of the early bird rates (before 9 April) and off regular rates (after 9 April). Just quote G3TACTIV3JAhB311A when registering for the race! 🙂

Scroll down for more details or visit the official website at www.kidsrun.com.sg for more information.

Happy Running!

JahBella’s Mummy

Race Day Details

Date: 17 May 2015 (Sunday)

Location: The Meadow @ Gardens by the Bay

Time: 7am – 12pm

Registration period: 19 March – 16 April at www.kidsrun.com.sg

(Early bird discounts available if you register before 9th April)

Activities on race day include a sports-themed carnival, running clinics, sports introductory classes and more.

Registration Fees

Category	Early Bird	Normal
Sprint	$32	$35
Family Fun (including 3Gen Family Fun)	$40	$44

Race Pack Collection Details (Fun Fest)

Date: 2 & 3 May (Sat & Sun)

Location: F1 Pit Building

Time: 11am – 8pm daily

Activities include stage games, mascot appearances and more.

9Mar2015

JahBella’s Day Out at Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden

Posted in Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

The very first time we visited the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden, Jah was a mere 5 months old infant. I remember Joel and I pushing him around in his infant car seat cum stroller and taking a stroll through the ‘little park/garden’. Quite obviously we didn’t find anything suitable for a 5 month old and proceeded to forget all about that little place in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Fast forward almost 3 years later and now with 2 kids in tow, we decided to head over to the Jacob Ballas Children’s Gardenfor one of our weekend morning outings.

The Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden is free of charge and the only requirement is that kids are accompanied by adults and adults are accompanied by kids. I found that requirement quite cute. :p Oh and also no food and drinks a lot so please feed the kids before going there.

We fed Shaun the Sheep before our visit and we got a happy sheep!

The garden has a small water play area (mainly equipped with little jets and sprays on the ground), a sand pit area, lots of interesting fruits and plants growing along the pathway, a suspension bridge, a nice treehouse with 2 slides and a large sand area as well as lots of other educational areas for the other kids. We spent almost 2 hours at the gardens and most of our time was spent at the treehouse and exploring some of the little nooks and crannies of what Jah calls the deep dark woods! We even had some fun narrating and role-playing the Gruffalo story while exploring the ‘woods’.

We spotted bananas on our walk in…:)

Mummy! The bananas are green! My favourite colour!

Quick guys!!!

Huge treehouse!

The garden is supposedly targeted at 5 year olds to 12 year olds (especially the more educational activities) but my 21 month old toddler and 3 year old kiddo did just fine although you will probably want to keep a close watch on those age groups and follow them around. We also saw lots of kids their age who were happily enjoying the water play area and the other sand pit.

Think the sand there was quite tasty too…

Come meimei…korkor wait for you..

Meimei! We are going on a mission!

Whee!!! Byebye!

A mouse took a stroll in the deep dark woods, a fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good!

Be prepared for the kids to get alittle grubby with all the sand and sweat but nothing a little water and washing can’t solve.

Literally a tree house…

And yes they entered it..

There is also a little café at the entrance of the garden and that was where we headed for our quick lunch. The kids were pretty wiped out by the time we were ready to leave so we figured rather than pack them off somewhere for lunch, a quick fix at the café was just perfect.

The seating area is very family friendly and they even had little chairs and tables for the young ones. The seating area can get pretty packed at times but you will eventually be able to get a seat if you wait around alittle. We were fortunate to find empty tables as we were exiting. The café has a wider ala carte menu however I didn’t notice it and ended up ordering their set menus. The meals took about 10 minutes to be served which was perfect for famished and impatient children. A wonderful morning in all and definitely adding it to our list of places to go that won’t break the bank. 😉

Grubby, sweating…

Thirsty…hungry…

JahBella’s Mummy

8Mar2015

Penang Holiday (Oct 2014) – Adventure Zone

Posted in Holidays, penang by jahbella

Adventure Zone was initially meant to be a back-up activity in case it rained during our time in Penang. How could we let good sunny days go to waste, after all we were staying at a hotel with fantastic pool facilities and a nice beach right in front of us. However the kids got alittle bored of swimming everyday and so we had to bring in our stand-by activity.

Adventure zone is a facility with drop slides and play equipments for the whole family. There were slides available for all ages and also for those with little dare devil children (I didn’t know mine were until then). For those who are considering to go to Adventure Zone, please bring along socks, long pants and a long sleeve top , this is to help prevent ‘burns’ when coming down the slides and they are really strict on the dress code.

I know my kids look like they are on a winter holiday

It is located within the grounds of the Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort and Golden Sands Resort so it is ultra convenient for families staying there. It is a 3 minute cab ride away from Hard Rock Penang. The good thing about the place is the fact that adults need not pay if they were accompanying a paying child.

Upon entering the facility, you will find lockers for you to keep your belongings and a small café area for the kids to take a break or for parents of older children to ‘hang out’. The café area has an unblocked view of all the slides so that you can keep a watch on your kids from where you are. It is also located right next to the toddler play area which is very convenient.

Toddler Play Area (Separate from the big play area and slides)

We spent alittle bit of time at the toddler play area for Jah and Bella to warm up but they really didn’t need much of that. I think all our indoor playground sessions in Singapore made them a little more adventurous. :p

We initially rode tandem with Jah and Bella on the ‘gurney sack’ slide but it wasn’t long before Jah wanted to go on his own and we were coming down the slide, side by side. The only downside of him having so much fun and wanting to go again and again, was the fact that I had to repeatedly climb up the long flight of stairs for 3 seconds of ‘thrill’.

Whee! It was quite fast!

Thank goodness there were other areas for them to explore and Jah and Bella occupied themselves with climbing up ramps and across ‘bridges’.

Miss Dare Devil Bella

We were there for almost 2 hours and in that 2 hours, Jah had silently worked up the courage to attempt one of the vertical slides. I never knew this boy was so fearless. I have to say that it was probably easier for him to attempt it since I was lowering him down the side whereas other kids and adults (like myself) had to sit on the ledge and well push ourselves off the ledge. Scary stuff!! (And it wasn’t even their scariest slide).

The scariest slide of the lot…we didn’t try it

My little fearless boy looked like a rag doll coming down the slide and he was so disoriented after landing in the ball pit that he wasn’t quite sure where to go but 30 seconds later, he wanted to go again!

I have to say that we didn’t really expect much from Adventure Zone but I guess sometimes all you need are a few slides and a dose of courage! We will be back the next time we are in Penang for sure!

JahBella’s Mummy

1Mar2015

iTheatre’s Aesop’s Fables (Media Invite)

Posted in Media Invite, Plays/ Theatre, Reviews by jahbella

Theatre boy (Jah) and I were invited by iTheatre to their latest production Aesop’s Fables at the Raffles Hotel Jubilee Hall and we decided to bring Papa Joel along. Papa Joel usually hates it when I ask him to join me for a play or musical because he just doesn’t have the attention span for it :p But he was more than willing to come for this production because he wanted to witness Jah’s interest in theatre for himself.

This is our second time at an iTheatre production (the first was Hop and Honk) and I have to say that you realize how super passionate they are for theatre and super good at what they do when you see the effort that goes into their programme booklet, stage set and props.

Mandatory Poster pic

Checking out the programme and activities in the booklet 🙂

Thanks for the goodie bag iTheatre!

Programme Booklet

Awesome backdrop

The 50 minutes show (no intervals) revolved around a theatre troupe, the Crowfoot Troupe taking us through 8 fantastic fables. The show was filled with catchy tunes, intelligent humor and great acting! Jah had declared a few times to me that he was scared of some of the characters even though he understood that it was all pretend, just like in his speech and drama classes. He even said “the uncles and aunties act so well!” :p

Wefie!

The show is suitable for theatre goers ages 3 years and up. Although they do say till 13, I’ll have to say “up” because adults like Papa Joel and I enjoyed ourselves immensely too! Papa Joel actually thanked me for bringing him along for the show!

Not only did I enjoy the production elements of the show, I also truly enjoyed the storyline. It was nice to be reminded of the moral of the story behind each Aesop’s Fable. Yes the ones we had learnt as children but somehow had forgotten that they apply to us even in today’s world. It also has given me a lot of ‘material’ to work with for the next couple of months when it comes to introducing Aesop’s Fables to Jah and telling/ reminding him of the moral of each story.

So if you are looking for some good fun for the family and something educational for the little ones then check out iTheatre’s Aesop’s Fables! We can’t wait to catch Gingerbread Man by iTheatre when it premieres in May! 🙂