For a good night sleep: The right pillow

We spend a third of our lives in bed, and averagely 8 hours a day so naturally selecting the right pillow for quality rest is essential. 

I have been experiencing neck stiffness and aches, waking up during the night as my current pillow was not providing the comfort and support for quality sleep. It was starting to become lumpy and saggy due to wear and tear so I have been looking out for a new pillow. 

I was pleasantly surprised at how fast the delivery was when I placed an order for the

Origin Mattress Superior Coolmax Latex Pillow. It arrived on the same day of my order! 

What I really like about the new pillow is the Coolmax® Cooling Gel material, together with natural latex, it gives a cool feeling throughout the night which was an added bonus to a better night rest. In our local humid weather, it is easy to break out in sweat and this affects a good night's sleep.

The pillow is also made of natural latex, which moulds to the shape of your head thus providing you with the right level of sleep support. It is also extremely durable and has hypoallergenic properties namely lesser dust, bacteria or mould issues. This is suitable for young kids and promotes a relaxing quality sleep.

A differentiating point of this pillow is the removable Tencel Fabric Pillow Cover that comes with it. The luxurious fabric is machine washable and it helps to extend the pillow's quality and we can use it for a longer time. The Tencel fabric is also hypoallergenic, lightweight and perfect for hot weather climates like Singapore.

For an enhanced sleep, comfort and to establish a healthy bedtime routine, give this pillow a try.

Currently it is on a promotion price $129 (usual price is $159).

Follow Best in Singapore for recommendations of the best offerings in Singapore, including this review on the best pillows.

Happy Birthday to me!

A day well spent with loved ones, headed for lunch with Daddy Darren, catching up with a girl friend over high tea and indulged in sweet treats with the kids. 

Aiden and Ava wanted to choose a Paw Patrol or princess theme cake for me, luckily we established that the birthday girl chooses her own cake.

  

A macaron unicorn cake, with rainbow, panda, chocolate & gula melaka cupcakes. Got them from Butter Studio, and they look better than they tasted. 

An exciting year ahead for us, moving into a new home in two months' time, Aiden starting primary school, and embarking on a new role myself.

Photos before we stuff ourselves with cake.

Aiden and Ava stole bites in between pictures.

Striving to spend more quality time together as a family and one on one time with each of them in the year ahead.

Flower Jamming with A Better Florist

Flowers evoke feelings of joy, happiness and it is always heartwarming to return home to fresh flowers in the room.

Flower arranging can be therapeutic with the interaction with various blooms, colors and putting them together in a pretty bouquet.

Together with a girl friend, we attended a flower jamming session with A Better Florist.

An experienced florist from their team demonstrated to our group of 10, on a rose bouquet arrangement before we set out to pick our flowers. It definitely looked easier than it really was, as we spent a much longer time putting our bouquets together.

We started picking our flowers and foliage for our bouquets, worked on stripping the flowers of its leaves up to 3 inches below the flowers and trimmed the stems at an angle to increase surface area for water. Any thorns or extra branches were removed at this stage as well. 

Next, we decided on the shape of our bouquet, whether it will be a fan shape or round bouquet and started putting it together.

Once we are happy with our bouquets, we secured the stems in place with tape an inch below the flowers, and trimmed the stems to about 3 inches below the flowers.

 

A fan shape bouquet, ready to be dressed.

 

Demonstration on wrapping the bouquet. 

 

Securing the wrapping with twine and ribbons.

And here we are with our creations.

A good learning session and it was fun bonding over flowers. Inspired to work with Aiden and Ava with their own flower arrangements for our home and bouquets for our loved ones. 

Keen to try your hands at flower jamming?

Use this code 'PRIVIKIDS20' for 20% discount on your session with A Better Florist. Keep updated with their next session in July on their Facebook page.

New Gift Ideas for Baby Showers and Your Loved Ones

Presenting our first collection of baby and mum gift sets, and Jellycat soft toys with fresh blooms.

Each gift set can be customized, as you select the products that go into them, as well as the flowers, add a card for a more personalized touch.

For the baby boy, we have selected a cuddly Jellycat monkey soft toy which is safe for newborns, together with two pairs of socks from Korea which feature cute illustrations and in the softest material for those little feet. An organic cotton bird tweets as baby plays with it, a favourite from Australian brand Maud n Lil, and two baby rompers made from organic cotton material for sensitive new skin. These will be housed in a rainbow suitcase, perfect for storing knick knacks or to beautiful a shelf at home.

For baby girls, select between our bestselling Jellycat bashful bunny or every girl's (and lady's) favourite unicorn soft toy. Featuring Sapling Child organic cotton pink printed romper and a sweet flamingo print socks with non slip soles.

For your loved ones on their birthdays, or simply to make their day, you can personalize a bouquet of fresh flowers with our wide range of Jellycat soft toys. Simply drop us a note at helloprivikids@gmail.com if you would like to customize a gift set and we will be happy to help!

 

New year, new wardrobe

Welcoming the year of the rooster, most of us also take the opportunity to spring clean our homes, the kid's wardrobes.

Staying true to bringing in quality, unique designs in comfortable material for your kids, we launched many new brands including Sea Apple, a home grown brand carrying organic cotton and designs for the festive season, Kate Quinn, a renowned US brand for their range of refreshing prints and organic cotton material, and Little XO Kings, a street wear brand from the US. 

With increasing demand for twinning amongst siblings, we have put together a few looks for you.

For this look, we went for pastel shades for both Aiden and Ava. Ava is dressed in Sea Apple modern cheongsam with our new pompom hair clip, while Aiden is dressed in a Blue Gradient Shirt and jogger pants. 

For this look, we have both Aiden and Ava dressed in Little XO Kings newly launched camouflage top and dress. More designs available here.

 

Here are some looks from Sea Apple, with accessories we curated for you.

Hello 2017!

The Year of the Rooster arrived so soon in January, we went right from 'Jingle bells jingle bells' to 'Gongxi gongxi gongxi ni'. In fact, Ava was still belting out christmas carols, and getting teased by Aiden.

This will be the final year Aiden and Ava attends the same preschool, with Aiden in Primary One next year. I strive to spend more quality time with each of them, coaching each of them and being stricter when disciplining them.

We began spring cleaning and preparations for the lunar new year, less than a month after the christmas celebrations and countdown to the new year 2017. We roped in the kids to clean the house and they really surprise me. Aiden could help with vacuuming the floor, and tidying his room, light mopping of the floor and folding the laundry. I found out how meticulous Ava was, when she arranged the drinks in the refrigerator. She was really pleased with her accomplishment and requested for more tasks to do. Hope this is a good start to regular housekeeping with the two of them.

For their CNY celebration in school, the dress code was oriental. Spoilt for choice this year as we introduced a few new brands including Sea Apple, Pocket Pig Diary and Glitter Glam in our stores, we picked out this Clear River Shirt for Aiden, a mandarin collar short sleeved shirt with cute chinese knots as buttons. Ava picked out a red cheongsam, in very comfortable cotton material.

Love how these outfits can be worn for other occasions, and with the material great for our weather, lesser complaints and more cooperative kids.

We have had positive feedback on the lightweight material of these outfits, and have a wider variety available in stores. Looking forward to welcome you to our stores, as we reopen on Mon 30 Jan 2017. 

The Yangs go to Sydney 2016 (Video)

Our family holiday in Sydney, Australia in November 2016!

I was there for a work conference so I took the opportunity to bring the kids along too. Ava celebrated her 3rd birthday there and it was hilarious how we just couldn't find candles and lighters after buying the birthday cake(s). The weather was wonderful and the sights were beautiful. The locals were very friendly too!

Day 1: Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, Darling Harbour.
Day 2: Sydney Tower, Sydney Fish Market, Madame Tussauds, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay.
Day 3: Cockatoo Island, Australian Museum, Hyde Park.
Day 4: Bondi Beach, Wildlife Sydney Zoo.
Day 5: Taronga Zoo, Luna Park.
Day 6: Manly Beach, Circular Quay.
Day 7: Home sweet home.