Sunshine Present

Kaden received yet another present from Mummy friends, the Sunshine Gang this year... And it is a automatic scooter... 

Look at the all smiles Kaden and you can tell how happy he is... =D

More About Reyes... (Compliments from iPhone Apps)

Ever since Sean introduced me to apps on iPhone that can be used to edit photos, I am hooked... I downloaded a couple of more free apps to try them out and I can say I am very happy with the result... 

Here's an update of my little prince, compliments from the photo editing apps from iPhone =D

This is the little feet of my 2nd prince... Aren't the toes long? 

The grandparents commented that the "longish" toes are like Mummy more than Daddy...

Reyes had more hip-cups than Kaden when they were young. Here's a method passed down by the great great grandparents on how to curb hip-cups... 

Holding on to the milk bottle with Mummy's aid before turning one month old... Reyes, Mummy won't snatch your milk bottle away... ke ke ke... 

Finally, a picture of Reyes smiling... 

Reyes' best activity... Nap time after milk...

Kaden Turns 3

Kaden just turned 3 recently on 2^nd June and we had 2 separate celebrations for him this year.

Part 1 of the Birthday Celebration…  At School…

We had always enrolled Kaden in schools that follow the MOE time table; hence his birthday celebration always fell within the school holiday, which meant that Kaden had never celebrated his birthday in school before.

This year, we wanted Kaden to have a taste of a birthday celebration in school; hence I decided to celebrate his birthday during the last week of school term on 21^st May. It was weeks before his actual birthday and I was still in my confinement after giving birth to DiDi but we decided to go ahead anyway. I managed to sneak out for my dearest Kaden too after seeking approval from Dear, so that Kaden won’t be disappointed.

We ordered mini cupcakes as his birthday cake from Sweetest Moments and I also prepared some goodies bags for him to distribute to his classmates.

Kaden went to school dressed smartly and you should see the happy smiles that he had on his face, while we prepared the cupcakes, Kaden blowing out the candles and him distributing the goodies bags.  

Next year, I will definitely celebrate Kaden’s birthday in school again.

Part 2 of the Birthday Celebration…  At Home…

When Kaden turned 2, we held a BBQ for him. We invited our friends and their kids from CLDDs and ZHSS. Our dear Ah Yee even made a birthday banner for him. This year, I was still doing my confinement on Kaden’s actual birthday, so we held a mini celebration for him instead.

We ordered a cake from Pine Garden and this year, the theme is carebears. We ordered mini buffet and we invited our immediate families as well as our best pals, House of Js and Baoling to celebrate his birthday with us.

Although the scale of the celebration is smaller, the kids did enjoy themselves with the beautiful cake, the scooters and all the other toys in the room.

Well, as long as Kaden is happy, we will do everything for him.

Kaden, Daddy & Mummy wish you Happy Birthday… May you 身体健康, 快高长大, 开开心心.

Brotherly Love

We had been a little worried about Kaden's acceptance of his little brother but all the worries were unnecessary. 

Coming to one and a half month since Reyes joined the Lim Family, Kaden had been very good to Reyes... Kaden is like our little helper. I guess this is what they call Brotherly Love !!!

Final moments of... Confinement... Hurray...

Today marks the last day of my confinement since I last gave birth to Reyes on 09th May 2012. Finally... after tonight, I am going to have a good bath 1st thing tomorrow morning. 

This confinement is very different from my previous one, despite the fact that I'm having the same  Confinement Aunty. During my 1st confinement, we were not staying with dear parents, hence the  Confinement Aunty had lots of freedom on handling Kaden and taking care of me. Our parents would only visit us regularly. During these visits, my MIL would occasionally expressed her dislikes over the fact that Kaden drank his milk too slowly and the  Confinement Aunty did not warm up the milk. However, all the displeasure ended during the last day of my confinement when  Confinement Aunty went home. 

For my 2nd confinement, as I'm now staying with my in-laws, before dear and I engage the same  Confinement Aunty , we actually consulted my-laws if it will be alright to engage the same Confinement Aunty. With their blessing, we went ahead for the booking. I thought I can have a good rest during my one month of confinement but sigh... That's when all the ultimate troubles began... 

 Barely 9 days into my confinement, my in-laws barged  into our room, with my FIL very angry and pissed off and my MIL super upset, with tears almost flowing down her eyes... They had a long list of things about the Confinement Aunty that they disliked... 

Here's some of the complaints... 
(1) Confinement Aunty was mistreating my little Reyes i.e. feeding him to much milk and pinching Reyes till his face was filled with red little dots whenever he emerged from bathing... 
(2) Confinement Aunty always locked herself & Reyes in the room, with Reyes crying out loudly but denying their entrance into the room... In fact, my FIL commented that the Confinement Aunty was resting more than me who had just given birth
(3) Confinement Aunty pushed all her duties of taking care of mine and Reyes' laundry to my maid. In fact, my maid claimed that the Confinement Aunty even asked her to wash her clothes
(4) Confinement Aunty is very unhygienic i.e. did not use baby liquid detergent to wash the milk bottles

The list actually went on and on and on, till it came to a point that Dear and I decided that to prevent further conflict between the Confinement Aunty and my in-laws, as well as not to make the relationship between ourselves and the parents... We decided to request the Agency to take back the Confinement Aunty. 

The agency offered a choice, either to exchange a new Confinement Aunty or just terminating the services totally. After talking to my mum, I decided to just do the confinement myself... What I was afraid of is with a new Confinement Aunty, history might repeats itself... 

In the end, on the 10th day, I continued with my confinement without a Confinement Aunty. Luckily, my mum and my MIL helped me out for the rest of the 3 weeks. My mum actually cooked my confinement meals for me, bathed little Reyes and came over at night to help me look after Reyes, so that I could have a good night sleep. My MIL would helped me to cook my soup and made my red dates drink. I, myself would look after Reyes in the day. 

With the combined power of the 3 Mummies, finally we reached the last day of my confinement. Tonight. I will be taking care of Reyes myself... **cross fingers and cross toes** 

Hope all things will turn out well =D 

On a last note, I really like to thank both side of parents for helping me out with this confinement... of course, not forgetting all the 3 Daddies who went marketing, who became driver etc etc... Will be giving all a treat sometimes next week to 慰劳 everybody =D

Mother's Day Celebration

I was on confinement this whole month, hence was unable to bring Kaden out on weekend... Luckily, Dear was adventurous enough to be able to bring Kaden out by himself... Of course, not forgetting my dearest Sis & Mum who also helped out once in a while...

Last Saturday, Dear brought Kaden to my mum's place for the community centre's Mother's Day celebration. Kaden was indeed happy as he finally had a chance out of the house after a long week confined at home with him, apart from him going to school...

Here's some photos taken by my sis and Dear during the celebration... with Kaden enjoying himself listening to KTV songs by uncles and aunties, and not forgetting the goodies like free mango pudding and pop corn...

Kaden even  brought back one mango pudding and one cup of pop corn for me... Aren't he sweet =D

I am a WATER dragon...

I am indeed a water dragon... I just simply love water and I love showering...

With water running down my back... SO SHIOK...

** Photo enhanced using iPhone app "Photo Wonder"... Start to love this app...

Photo Wonder... Compliment of Sean...

While out lunching with the Dream Team United, a picture of Kaden was taken... Sean downloaded an application from iPhone known as "Photo Wonder" and used Kaden's photo as a trial...

Effect of the photo turns out really well... Here's it is... 

Fun With DIY Cooking

Recently, Kaden had found clips of adults / kids trying out the Popin DIY Japanese Cooking Set. He showed them to me and I was quite impressed with it, The Popin DIY Japanese Cooking Set varies from ice cream set, bento set, donut set, cookie set, cup cake set and lots more... 

I was pretty impressed with the clips and the Japanese who came up with these. Hence, I went to search online to see if I can buy the sets anywhere locally for Kaden to try them out personally.

Results of search : There were lots of people selling these sets online but I finally found one online company that bring these sets in from Japan, and deposit them in various shops, in shopping centres around Singapore. Nex actually has one such shop, where my sis helped to make the purchase. 

OMG, these Popin DIY Japanese Cooking Set really don't come cheap. 

5 boxes of the Popin DIY Japanese Cooking Set actually costs me S$50.... @_@ lllllll

I opened one set (the ice cream) for Kaden to try his hands on. He was so so happy. 

Here's my review of the set...

The content is quite little for $10 a box...The **ingredient** are just the right size for my Kaden... The instructions on the box are all in Japanese but can rely on the pictures at the back of the box. It is good enough. Being the kiasu me, I even on the you tube video clips and followed the instruction. Most importantly, Kaden is super excited and happy. 

Conclusion, I must say this is $$ well spent. 

However, I am not going to let Kaden finished all the $50 in a single day. Since I will be at home for 4 months, I shall engage Kaden in DIY cooking every weekend... Ke ke ke...

Happy Mother's Day

2009,  couple of weeks after we celebrated Mother's Day for both our mummies , we welcomed Kaden into the family. 

3 years on, in 2011, in his playgroup, Kaden made his 1st art piece for me... **So happy and touched** It was a big paper sunflower, and in the middle of the flower, he wrote "I LOVE MUMMY". I knew the art piece was done with the help of Kaden's teachers, but nonetheless, I was happy that there's Kaden's effort within it. Now, I placed the paper flower in the display cupboard in the bedroom, so that I can get to see it everyday. 

This year, we welcomed Reyes into the family just days before Mother's Day. Reyes' birth, itself  is the best Mother's Day gift to me.  

Kaden, on the hand made another art piece for me this year, in his new school. The 2nd day Kaden visited me at the hospital after I gave birth to Reyes, he told me that he had a surprise for me at home when he 1st saw me. I was so touched... Told him to keep it properly and showed it to me when I get home.    

I was discharged on Saturday, a day before Mother's Day. The moment I stepped into the house, Kaden ran to me and shouted "Welcome Mummy! Welcome DiDi!" I was so touched that I hugged and kissed Kaden. Then, Kaden gave me his mother's day gift. I teared a bit cos I was too happy... I missed my Kaden so much while in the hospital... Kept thinking whether he will be alright with just the company of his grandparents and no Mummy for couple of nights. In the end, my worries turned out to be nothing. Kaden is a big boy now and he made it through without any hip-cups. 

This is the art piece from Kaden... It is a hand made card... 

The wordings on the card is written by Kaden, with the teachers guiding them. The pasting of color papers around the card and inside the heart is done by Kaden himself, though... Nonetheless, it is the efforts that counts and I love the card a lot. 

I now placed the card together with the big flower (last year Mother's Day gift), in the display cabinet inside my room. I even went further and took a picture of it and make it the wall paper of my iPhone occasionally. I just wanna show the whole world how bless and how loved I am to have Kaden in the family...   

Blogging Again

It had been months since I last stopped blogging... 
Sigh, I wanted to blog about Kaden's progress and the little activities that the Lim Family had been doing over the countless weekend, but really 有心无力...  Projects at workplace had been keeping me very busy... Symptoms from 2nd pregnancy is worse than my 1st i.e. more vomiting, more kicking from little Reyes while in my tummy, and hence equate to a very tired mummy by nightfall... And lastly, sticky Kaden who demands lotz of attention whenever I'm at home... 

I'm now into my 1st month of maternity leave... Having some free time, hence is picking up the habit of blog writing again... Wanted to pen down all interesting things about Kaden and Reyes during their growing up stages...

To kick start, I made some changes to the blog, apart from just updating new posts...

~ There's now the 1st family photo that Dear & I took with Reyes @ TMC, just like that of Kaden
~ Updated  Kaden's picture of the day and added that of Reyes
~ Added picture of the day of the 2 brothers too
~ Did up a stick family picture for the Lim Family (inspired by my best pal's blog)
~ Remove the ticker for my pregnancy countdown and added to a birthday ticker for Reyes
~ And lastly, updated the description of the writer, from About Me (Really about Ting only) to About Us (This time about Dear & Me), with additional text on us being just a happily married couple to what we are now, as a family of 4  

Looking forward to enjoy motherhood to my 2 princes... Hope to be able to manage my time well to juggle having some ME time i.e. facial, blogging etc... some couple time for just the 2 of us i.e. spa, dinner, movies etc and lastly, some family time (sometimes just for us with Kaden alone and sometimes as a family of 4)

Meanwhile, I just wanna announce : I AM BLOGGING AGAIN =D

Brothers !!!

A lot of people who had visited us at the hospital or at home, or had seen Reyes' photo commented that Reyes looked  exactly like Kaden... 

I must agreed that the resemblance is indeed there... However, there is still some differences if you observe carefully...

Similarities

Both brothers have the same initial shape of the eyes... Hopefully Reyes' eyes will be as big as Kaden's... They have the same nose shape too, just like their Ah Gong... 

Differences

I carried to Reyes almost to full term, so Reyes is definitely much heavier, and his measurement is higher than that of Kaden... The 1st time we saw Reyes cry and yawn, we concluded that Reyes has a bigger mouth than Kaden... Reyes' forehead is also more squarish like his Daddy while Kaden's forehead is more roundish like me... 

Here's the photos of my 2 princes when they were just days old... 

At the hospital, we 1st introduced Reyes to Kaden. As what the old folks suggested, we bought a gift on behalf of Reyes and gave it to Kaden, so that Kor Kor will be pleased with the new addition to the family... Kaden was really pleased with the gift, which is a Elmo Play Doh Mixer Set but he seemed more interested in the gift than looking at Di Di... 

Back at home, Kaden started to accept the fact that he had a little brother, through small little gestures... He will ask for Reyes the 1st thing he came back from school... He will run to inform the Confinement Auntie & myself whenever Reyes cries... He will observe Reyes's action, then mimic them for me to see like Reyes' yawning, sticking out his tongue etc... Even when Daddy comes back from work, Kaden will hold Daddy's hands and tell him, go look at DiDi... So heartwarming... 

But we did realized something interesting...  whenever we were not looking or did not mention or asked Kaden to sayang Reyes, Kaden will be by Reyes' side patting him softly... As long as we made a comment, Kaden will act blur and walked away... I guessed Kaden is still shy about showing affection for Reyes... 

However, I am sure that as the time flies, the 2 boys will grew up to be very close, just like me and my sis... but boys being boys, they might develop their brotherly love through snatching of toys and fighting, ke ke ke.... 

回顾... 决定... 过程...

当初的决定

I wanted to go for natural birth while delivering Reyes. However, Dr Woody discouraged this as he said there are high risk involved. He went on further to elaborate the % of babies who are stillborn or born with defect. He also mentioned the complications of natural birth delivery that the Mummy will have i.e. tearing of wound etc. Dear heard it and decided that I should go for C-section instead.  

C-section it shall be and now the question boils down to whether it shall be a full GA or half GA. 

In 2009, Kaden was bestowed to us almost 5 weeks earlier than his expected due date.  My water bag was leaking to a point that when I was admitted, there was almost no more water within. In addition, I was not experiencing any contractions or dilution, hence as a result, Dr Woody had to perform an emergency C-section to deliver Kaden out from my womb. 

I still remember.... 

1st June 2009, Monday afternoon 

Dr Woody visited me in my ward. Dr Woody told us "Baby has to be delivered via C-section, so Mummy go on half GA. Daddy change and go in. Baby comes out. Daddy takes pictures. Both Mummy & Baby safe. Good"  

Dear and myself, totally unprepared and stunned, looked at one another. We swallowed our saliva and decided to opt for full GA back then. We were totally unprepared to **witness** the whole delivery process then... So Kaden was delivered via full GA, and as he was born slightly premature, he had to be nursed in NIUC for a day. 

For a 1st time Mummy, I only gotta see Kaden a day later... 的确有点遗憾 as I did not witness Kaden's 1st cry, nor am I able to hold Kaden in my arm the 1st moment he was born... 

So this time round, to bring Reyes into the world, Dear & I opted for half GA C-section surgery. I wanted to go for natural labour but Dr Woody discouraged it as there is higher risk involved.  However, I wanted to witness Reyes's 1st cry, and I wanted to be able to hold Reyes  in my arm the 1st moment he was born..

Little did I know... 

生产的过程

600am, I was wheeled into the operating theater... 

615am, the anesthetist gave me a shot of epidural in my spin... it was painful... I recalled that I had to curl up like a baby when the shot was given... I can feel a sharp distinct pain in my right  leg... The anesthetist had to massage my spine on and off and adjust the dosage of the shot before the pain in my right leg went away... I was so scared then... 

620am, Dr Woody came and he started to prep **my tummy** for the ops... No feeling felt in my lower part of the body as the epidural started to take effect...

625am, Dear came into the OT room, dressed in full gear... He held my hands and asked me not to worry... From scared, I became relieved... So glad that Dear was going through this whole process with me...  

639am, Reyes' 1st cry filled the whole room... and tears filled my whole eyes... 

Conclusion... no pain experienced during the C-sect... No **scary** noise that I saw from the forum abt cutting sound of the tummy... Guess I was too scared to  concentrate on the sound, even if there is any... However, the after effect of the epidural shot is scary... my hands were shaking non-stop for the whole morning... and I had the nausea feeling throughout the day... Luckily, I only vomited once...  

Despite all this, I still think it's worth it as I get to see my little Reyes... 

Welcome... My Prince Reyes...

09 May 2012, 0639....

We heard the 1st cry from our little prince, Reyes Lim..

Reyes was born, weighing a good 3.08kg, at length of 50cm and head circumferences 35cm. His 1st cry is loud and clear. I almost teared when I heard the cries.  

Dear managed to snap some pictures of little Reyes when Dr Woody held him up for the 1st time from my womb. After which, the nurse proceed to weigh the little prince, took his measurement and count his little fingers and toes. All through this while, Reyes was crying non stop. 

The very next moment, the nurse placed little Reyes into my arms. Immediately, Reyes stopped crying. The power of bond between Mummy and her child... This time, I cried... I really cried... Watching Reyes lying in my arm really warmed my heart...

My Prince Reyes,

Welcome to this world...

Welcome to the Lim Family... 

8 May 2012... 9 May 2012... Before I Pop...

8 May 2012

Hospital bag packed... Cord blood banking package and the welcome gift from Reyes 弟弟 to Kaden 哥哥 ready to go...

About 11pm that night, we settled Kaden with the grandparents and the maid, and off Dear & I went, with our **lugguages** to **report** to Thomson Medical to **check in** for the birth of Reyes for the next morning.  

Feeling : Mixed... Excited with the expectant arrival of our new bundle of joy... Scared about the upcoming c-sect ops... And of course, lots of anticipation about the new journey of parenthood for 2 boys...

Little mishap @ the admission counter before Reyes' arrival... TMC admission counter can't find my name on the registered list of patients for C-sect on 9 May 2012... As usual, the staff told me, Dr Woody forgotten to help me book my slot in the operating theatre, as well as an one-bedded room for my hospital stay... Quoted by the staff "It's common... All  Woody's patients are like walk in customers... Ke ke ke"

Nonetheless, the hospital staff managed to squeeze in a slot for me at the OT for my early C-sect. However, as there are no more one-bedded room available for me, I had to decide whether to downgrade to a two-bedded room (which means Dear will not be able to stay with me throughout my hospital stay) or upgrade to a single premier room (which means Dear is able to accompany me during my hospital stay but of course, we gotta pay $100 plus more for the room)... In the end, we decided to go for a single premier room. 

For our 1st night stay which is FOC, we were given a single deluxe premier room1st as the single premium room will only be available the next day. We will move to the new room only after other patients check out... Can you imagine the cost of the hospital bill if we really took the single deluxe premier room... Actual price of the room, if we really opt for it costs over $1,000 plus per night... 

After settling down in the room, I began counting down... The night seems very long as I could not really get any sleep... 

9 May 2012, Early Morning

4am, the nurse came by to give me some medication to pass motion... And I was to change into the hospital gown...

5am, the nurse came by again to check on my blood pressure...

Finally, 6am came... in a while more, the nurse will come by to push me into the operating theatre....  I'm waiting... waiting... waiting...

I can... and I made it !!!

Hurray... I can do it...

Finally, I can brush my teeth... and I can gaggle water and spit them out...

I also learned to start eating on my own...