The last day of 2008

So here we are, the last day of the year. I guess the easiest way to see how far you've come is to see where you were this time last year.

Last day of 2007, the accounts for The Studio Loft were sorted and my Loft partner and I parted ways (business wise that is, we are still good friends). I was left to run the studio business which we started in May 2006, I just hired my first employee Ashley, I have months of backlog orders to clear, I was 3 months pregnant. In other words, I was in deep s**t and I thought 2008 will be a tough year. It was, but it was also my most rewarding year.

I have to thank my family (my in laws who come almost everyday to the studio to look after Dyl Dyl, Erwin who does most of the household chores and look after Kay, my dad who's the studio's resident handyman, Kayden for being such a great Gor Gor to Dylan and Dyl Dyl for being such an easy baby!), my friends (Alice who took my place while I was on maternity leave, Corinne who helped me with the breastfeeding shoot and for the lovely red chair, all others for their endless support and referrals), my staff (Ashley, Charlene and Hitomi our intern for all their hardwork) and not forgetting all of The Studio Loft's clients who made it a great year for me and the studio. THANK YOU ALL from the bottom of my heart :)

Halfway into 2008, I became a mother of two when my lovely Dylan boy was born! He's the sweetest and most cheerful cherub next to his brother and I love them both so so much :) It helps that Kay is not jealous of his younger brother at all and "ger-rums" him whenever he has the chance. I break into a smile thinking of them both together :)

Without health, there's no happiness. And I am lucky to be healthy the whole of 2008 and able to work 6 days every week! So here's wishing you all a very healthy and happy 2009!!!

On the third day of Christmas...

7 years ago today, I became Mrs Erwin Seow!
Happy ROM Anniversary baby! :D

This day is also my cat Zen Zen's birthday, he popped out of his mother just as I was leaving the house for the Registry of Marriages.

On the second day of Christmas...

To usher in the year of the Ox/Cow (my year!!!), The Studio Loft will be having a promotion that's similar to the one we had for Christmas - 3 days of walk in.

After the last shoot for today, Charlene and I went downstairs (one of the perks of having your studio right smack in Chinatown!) to get some props for the promo. We also picked out a cute cheongsum outfit for Dylan (yes, the poor baby is going to be the test dummy again!). When we got back, I woke him up seeing that it was almost time for his feed and got him to "work" hahaha :p



the top was kind of small, ok ok his neck was too fat! we couldn't get the first button done :s


this is a re-creation of Kayden's CNY shot 2 CNY ago. view Kay's version here.


here comes the spectacles again! suits him don't you think?


added on 31st dec:

On the first day of Christmas...

Merry Christmas! :)

Dearest blog readers,
In this time of joy and giving, I would like to give thanks to my wonderful family and friends, my loyal clients and of course all you readers who spend some moments of your life reading my blog. Thank you all and may this Christmas bring you peace and joy :)

Greeting card from my family:


Greeting card from The Studio Loft:

Edward Scissorshands I Am Not

Dyl's hair was coming over his eyes and I was not going to send him to Junior League for a $20 haircut, so I did it myself :p

I found a great way to cut his hair without all the mess, just had to plonk him into his plastic bath tub (without water) in just his diapers. So all the cut hair goes into the tub which you can rinse off later and I don't have to worry about him falling over since he can now sit up and hold onto the sides of the tub for support. Perfect! ;)

Check out his before pix...





And this is the after...yes I know, I made a mess of it hahaha but he still looks cute so who cares :D

Happy half-year Dyl Dyl!

My little Dyl Dyl is 6 months old! He's the cutest, happiest, strongest little baby in my eyes and literally a chubby bundle of joy when placed in my Pupsik pouch!

He has started on solids but still not too keen when fed. The neh-neh is still top on his list :p I will try sweet potatoes and some fruit puree later on this week. Hopefully the new taste will whet his palate.

The round thing has also been rolling quite a bit lately resulting in a few falls off the bed. I always find him on his tummy when he falls, thank goodness for that as he has quite some "spare" in that area to cushion him :p Of course he still wails but nothing that a quick kiss and pat can't fix. Kayden is now the official "baby falling" announcer. Whenever he sees baby rolling too close to the edge of the bed, he will run up to us and announce,"Mummy! Baby is rolling rolling, going to fall down!" This is despite me putting a wall of pillows and bolster all around him. He has also learnt a new trick, he goes on all fours like in a crawling position but doesn't move forward. If he needs to move forward, he does it by digging his toes into the mattress and pushing his body weight forward together with his arms.

Dyl is also beginning to recognise people by sight. When he sees me leaving, he will sometimes cry. I catch him playing by himself when he wakes up and nobody's around. He will play with his toes or stare at his fingers, "read" the fabric books or tug at the blanket. However the minute he spots anyone, he will start protesting and you'll have to pick him up.

He can also be very charming, on the train to the studio, he ALWAYS reaches for the bag or shoulder of the person sitting next to me and flashes them his winsome smile! Naturally these people will smile back and try to hold his hand. I don't like that as Dyl stills sucks his fingers and fist. But how to tell these people not to touch him? arrgh. So I just have to remember to wipe his hands once we arrive. Oh and 8 out of 10 will ask me if he's a girl :s Think it's time to cut his hair...

It's been a busy month and I am sorry I have no pictures for this post, will try and take some shots of Dylan at home this weekend.

Happy half-year Dyl Dyl!
May the next half be just as fun filled and you still as happy.
Mummy loves you heaps! :)

35!

I'm 35 today! Thank you all for your well wishes :) Yes unlike most ladies, I am not shy to reveal my age :p Comon, it's just a number!

The day started off with us trying to introduce organic baby cereal to Dylan who is a few days shy of his 6th month. He wasn't too pleased and here are some photos of his reaction to the new experience.


Then it was off to the PS Cafe at Palais for brunch with the usual suspects. We make it a point to celebrate each other's birthdays each year and today was my turn. The food was pretty good but the waiter wasn't. He stopped me from taking any pictures of what we ordered :s Thank you Corinne, Yvonne & Nic, Terence and my family for celebrating this day with me :)

(Click image to view larger. All collages created by the wonderful free software Picasa 3. It ROCKS! Go get it! :D)

A week of surprises!

Surprise #1
My friend Raquel who's working in Dubai is back for a short holiday and she popped in the studio on Thursday for a visit. I decided to bring her out for lunch and invited the girls as well but they declined saying they will go for their lunch later. As we were coming back from lunch going up the stairs, I noticed the door was left ajar and the aircon was spilling out. I quickened my pace and walk through the door about to tell whoever it was off for leaving the door open and I was met with the girls and Rose (our cleaning lady) singing Happy Birthday to me with cake in hand :p Man was I surprised and I didn't even suspect anything. They even got Raquel in cahoots with them to stall for time. So sweet of you all, thanks girls! It's a great surprise :D And what a yummy cake it was too.

Surprise #2
It's the second Christmas Walk In yesterday and as the first one only had 3 families walked in, we thought it will be another relaxed day. I was about 5mins away from the studio when Hitomi rang me and said there were 5 people there already! The crowd didn't stop till about 3plus. All together, 31 families came for the walk in! A big thank you to all of you who came and made our second Christmas Walk In an unexpected success :)

Special thanks to my staff Charlene who shot all of you except the last one. She didn't even get a chance to sit down all day and also did not have her lunch. Same to Hitomi our intern who did well to coordinate all of you and organise the photo selection process. Thanks girls, much appreciated!

Surprise #3
I was shooting the first family this morning when a delivery guy walked in with a very cute looking flora arrangement. I thought it must be for the company upstairs and that they have made a mistake but the flowers were FOR ME! :p I quickly looked at the card and they were from that not-one-romantic-bone-in-his-body husband of mine! :D I was totally SURPRISED and ELATED to receive my FIRST (wedding bouquet don't count la) flowers from him in all our years together. CANNOT BELIEVE! Thanks baby! The card addressed to "Mummy" read: "Happy Birthday!! We love you lots lots!!! -Your 3 rascals, Dyl, Kay & Daddy". Awww, so sweet right? Love you all lots lots too! :)

my kooky bouquet, too cute! and the fat thing next to it too who kept trying to pluck out the daisies :p btw it's made of real flowers!


daddy and kay were not around to take this photo with us but their thoughts are!

Finding Miss Gostelow

Throughout my life as a student, there have been many teachers, lecturers, trainers and tutors but only a few stand out and are fondly etched in my memory and top of the list is Miss Gostelow, my primary school teacher. I never forget her even years on when I was in secondary school and in the MRT train, I saw her with her husband and as I was hesitating to go up to her, she saw me and instantly spoke in my direction,"Meiling right?!" I could only smile sheepishly after that :p That was the last time I saw her.

My little cousin who's like 20 years my junior happened to study at my alma mater Raffles Girls' Primary School and I asked her, during a Chinese New Year visit many years back, if Miss Gostelow was still teaching there, she scratched her head. Then I remembered that Miss Gostelow married a Mr Tan so I asked my cousin about a Mrs Maria Tan and she said yes yes still there! I made a mental note to search for her email address and drop her a hello but never did.

Then this week a Bloom client Nicole mentioned to me that she was also from RGPS and we started to talk about the teachers we remembered and of course Miss Gostelow was brought up :) So I did a google on her name and after a few different configurations with her maiden name and married name, I found a mention of her in the search results, she was one of the National Day Award recipients in 2002! Through that link, I learned that she's now teaching in Methodist Girls' Primary School. I quickly hopped on over to the school's website and started searching for her in the staff section but couldn't find her under TEACHERS. Disappointed, I tried a search of her name within the site and finally found her to be the teacher in charge of the Library there! Her email is also listed and I am going to write her an email this weekend :)

I am 99% sure she will remember me - Xu Meiling the clumsy "oopsy daisy" girl :p Will update here with a comment. This is so exciting for me, it's like finding a long lost pal. Speaking of which, I am also looking for my best friend in primary school, Irene Ng Wai San whom I lost touch after she moved out of her Ghim Moh flat. Can't find her on Facebook or Google. This will have to be another blog post. Miss Gostelow, I am writing to you soon!

Little Santarinas

More Christmas shots, little girls this time.