no. 6 - dear peanut

Remember, as far as anyone knows, we're a nice, normal, family.

(this sign also hangs outside the Goh family door)

CNY this year, we received notice that my sister was expecting and the Goh genes would live on - in the form of daddy Goh's female clone combined with muscle-man-brother-in-law who is permanently unfazed by anything (except daddy Goh's female clone).

Naturally, mum and I cried.

Much of it had to do with excitement and a lot, a lot, of joy.

You see, the Goh family and the amazing relations we have made through marriage have a lot a lot of love to spare - and I guess a little bundle of joy/ sleepless nights was something that we hoped to have - obviously in my case, not through me first, given that I can barely stop tripping over my own two feet.

Pre-wedding, i would talk about it extensively with mum over facials - how strange it would all seem that as their baby daughter (me, yes I am known as the baby daughter/ sister) attempted to move out, a little one would move in to terrorize their lives. Well, not that the 3 dogs don't already run the house and all our lives.

Post-wedding, it was time to plan for a baby shower, worthy of our Goh genes, once the dust and excitement had settled from my 3 day wedding celebrations. Because being excessive is almost second nature to us (have you seen my mother's isetan grocery haul and my obsession with cage free organic eggs?) this also had to be a gender reveal for the family and my sister's close friends who could barely contain themselves with guesses.

As I'm not much of a pastels person, this meant dispensing with the usual pastel blues and pinks and we headed straight for a yellow/ grey/ black bee themed shower after some extensive inspiration hunt on pinterest

Because I'm Val, in-theme guest prediction forms were ordered from Amazon (because they only come in sets of 50 I have a lot of excess despite me hounding everyone to complete a form, so please let me know if anyone is organising a baby shower and would like some guest prediction cards, if not.. that will also be used for the next baby shower I organise) and I tried as far as possible to ensure that the decorations were made out of recycled/ upcycled materials (because how much more waste does the world really need)

- the gift box and cubes that spell out "baby" were made out of the copious boxes I have amassed from moving into a new home/ purchasing items for my new home.

- yellow wrapping and the backing support for the food signs were actually coloured document dividers from the office that were being replaced.

- the gold and silver balloon tassel-balloon weights that were used for Mark's Marry Me balloons at the engagement party were re-purposed as table decorations.

- wine bottles and gorilla juice bottles served as the flower jars and photo frames and other decorations that I had kept from my wedding were used for signs and decoration fillers.

In the lead up, there were requests for full length photos to properly examine her tummy, discussions on how her beautiful complexion must mean that it can't be a girl because they normally steal their mummy's beauty and wati staring intently at Sam over dinner to ascertain if that was a pointy tummy or not.

There were also many premonitions from the mothership, who announced time and again that she had dreams, many in fact, that told of a boy. While my eldest sister asked me the week before if she should wear Yellow or Red after I told her to come dressed in the colour of her gender guess - I mean, really?

In Goh family style, there was plenty of food and the ever incredible Cupplets outdid themselves (as they do time and again) with a cake that I could have only dreamed of. What was even sweeter was how excited they were to do a gender reveal party cake for a couple whose wedding cake they made 4 years ago.

Keeping in theme of "what would peanut bee"! Sam & Ernest created this gender reveal bee-themed cake with the idea that the top piece was like a cake lid being opened for the reveal. I mean, seriously.

I really didn't need to decorate the rest of the room with this stunning centerpiece - which wafer flowers and fondant bees I've gleefully kept in a jar in my fridge :D

Perhaps if they last, they'll be re-purposed for Peanut's 1st month party.

Sam (of Cupplets) also made cake pops and mini tarts for the event and made sure I left the shop with a pack of her always-amazing bite sized chocolate chip cookies (which I very excitedly binge consumed ... as I did the last time she packed me a bag of them as well). Its actually not possible for us not to have a soft spot for the amazing Cupplets team <3

Because the family isn't crazy enough, my sister found a best friend who is hilarious and as crazy if not crazier than all of us combined - Allie, the maker of scones and sausage rolls, Emi's mama and gamemaster for the day.

I for some reason cannot upload videos of the games but let it be remembered that in addition to the many things that Allie is, she is also one heck of a gamemaster and I think we all laughed to the point of stitches.

Meet Allie, don't mess with her.

She has the power to convince grown men and women to get competitive over emoji interpretation, drinking out of a squeezy bottle, bounce across the room with a balloon under their shirt and ball in between their legs and of course, stand around wrapped up with tissue-paper diapers.

dear peanut,

if not already apparent - we're extremely excited to have you join our very crazy lives.

we may not be the most normal family around and the 3 dogs can be noisy at times, but we are extremely blessed with many people who love your parents and your soon-to-be extended family. they love your parents/ family so much that they're willing to walk around in tissue paper diapers, make you a cake that most can only dream of, help prepare for a baby shower to remember and keep you and your parents in their prayers every step of the way.

you may not have our surname but you've been blessed with our Goh genes and always always remember, that I am the best aunt you will ever have & you must love me most after your mummy and daddy (and maybe your dogs). we will fiercely love and protect you and I hope you take after our fervour but preferably, be slightly less fierce as we can get a little scary at times. heh.

p/s the only catch is you will never hear the end of it if you dare grow up and not give your seat up to the pregnant, elderly and injured on the train. If I may refer you to your mama's old facebook rants, you will understand why.

thank you everyone for coming and being so lovely and sporting <3

also yes,

Peanut is a boy.