Frannywanny

I can't believe I have 3 year old twins! It still feels like yesterday when I patiently waited for my scheduled CS day to come and how Paul and I finally welcomed them in this world on that fateful day at 6 in the morning. It's been 3 years of living a purposeful life being called Mama by my intelligent, adorable and very sweet twins J & L.  For someone who loves to plan everything down to the last detail, 2020 really taught us to be flexible, to be resilient, to accept change and to roll with the punches. As they say, when life throws you lemons... you make delicious lemon squares. Haha! Seriously, the year went by so fast and while it wasn't really a smooth sailing one, it's the year where we got to spend the most time with family. Before the pandemic happened, I worry that I might miss out on their developmental years as I have gone back to working full-time and I often wonder if doing so will make me spend less time with them too. I guess, life has its funny way...

Earlier this month, we celebrated the birthday of one of our househelps, B. My twins would point to her as "Yaya B" which makes her very happy. She's been with us even before I gave birth to my twins and in this day and age where long-lasting househelps are a rarity, she's definitely winning the loyalty award so to speak. I do value birthdays and it has been a tradition for us to celebrate the birthdays of everyone in the house thus including our loyal helpers and even Kuya M, my Mom's driver of close to a decade. Nothing grand but rather we would prepare a simple but meaningful meal for them. After all, they have made the sacrifice to be away from their own families to be able to stay and to work for us so in return, we make it a point to make them feel like they're part of the family. I've been away from my own family to work abroad for 4 years and I know how it feels when it's your birthday and you're not with your loved ones. I am very lucky ...

Just like that the 1st of June is over and I'm officially 34 years old. Yay? Definitely, another year hopefully filled with more blessings, more adventures and more happiness. So how did I celebrate my birthday? I'd say, I got what I wished for. I simply just wanted to relax all day and waking up past the normal waking hour on a weekday was definitely a good way to start my birthday. This was followed by a delicious Japanese lunch buffet with Paul and a trip to our happy place -- IKEA. After this, I pretty much stayed home and relaxed some more. As you all know, my birthday celebration doesn't end with just one day. I can't wait to celebrate this with my closest friends here in Singapore too! It was definitely a day filled with so much love. I have yet to reply to all 100++ messages that friends have sent to wish me a happy birthday and there were those surprises that made my day extra special. Like that yummy Cedele Carrot Cake that my best friends T and E sent ...