The Apple's Diary!

Jonathan received his 2nd birthday goodies bag.  This also means that I have 2 more months (or actually less than that) to plan for Jonathan's ( terrible ) 2 birthday! Ahah...

all about Jon Last Friday marked the end of Semester 1 for Jonathan at his playgroup. We received all his handicrafts at school and a CD with photos of him in school and also progress report. Honestly, I don't put academic learning a priority for Jon at Mindchamps. I selected Mindchamps because their low teacher :  students ratio (1 : 6) and a positive environment. When I toured the school, I was greeted by well behaved children, clean environment and positive vibes from the teachers. When I had my first Parent-Teacher meeting, I didn't expect to be briefed on what he had been taught. Well, I must say Jonathan is doing way better than I expected him to, although he is still lag behind compared to his peers. all his handicrafts the doggy and cow he made When I got back his handicrafts, I was quite sure the teachers helped him out. But I had to take back my words. My oh my! Jonathan did all by himself. painting making his Father's Day pr...

I can't recall when was the last time I stepped into a cinema to watch a movie. Last Friday, seizing the opportunity of my company's movie night, I brought Jonathan to watch Monsters University. Not the best seats but aisle seats were good enough for me I didn't know what Jonathan's reaction would be towards the dark hall and big screen and loud sounds. To prep him for that, I repeatedly told him what we would be doing. We reached early and redeemed our popcorn snacks. Went for early dinner so we could both relax. Then of course, my helpful colleagues helped me with my diaper bag or when I had to go and buy some breads to standby and when I had to diaper change for Jonathan. I guess being early helped a lot. There was enough time for him to get familiar with surroundings. I grabbed a booster seat on our way into the hall but he didn't want to sit on it. In fact, he didn't want to sit on the seat but on me. Jonathan in cinema for the very 1st ...

16th June 2013 16th June marked Matthew's turning 6 month old and also Father's Day! I bought this mini golf chocolate truffle cake on that day itself. mini golf choc truffle cake We didn't go any where but just had a simple dinner at home. father and sons But bliss is anywhere, anytime when the family can come together and have a meal. jonathan's handicrafts  Originally, Jonathan's school was organising a day trip for the champs and daddies but it was cancelled. So Jonathan did handicrafts for his father instead. appreciating jon's works Darren speaks very little romantic or touching stuff and he shows his love and care for this family through his actions. He manages all the diapers, milk powders and tends to Jonathan while I take care of Matthew. He hardly spends on himself but saves for us. I hope the boys will grow up respecting their father and in turn, be a responsible man, son, father and husband to their own ...

Apologize for this long silence. June has been a horrible month. The whole family took turns to fall sick with Matthew being the hardest hit. What happened was Jonathan started with a running nose. Then I caught the bug from him, as I had posted before. Then Darren was next. After which, Jonathan came back with running nose and phelgmy cough. It was very bad and he had to be nebulized as it became bronchitis. Jonathan on his neubulizer treatment We took him off from school for a week to let him recover. Then Matthew caught the bug and being the youngest, he got really sick. At one stage, PD suspected he had pneumonia but decided that even if we admitted Matthew to hospital, the treatment would be the same. Matthew - high fever in the middle of the night and a phlegmy cough  Matthew is on antibiotic regimen for 7 days and poor boy, he has very bad diarrhoea from the antibiotics and his butt is red and painful. He had been on nebulizer for a week and he has no...

I always believe in this mantra - That everyone can fall sick except mummy. The reason is very simple, if mummy is sick, who is going to look after the kiddos. So I have been very active in keeping good hygiene, boosting my immune system with Vit C pills, rest whenever I can. But alas, mummy still succumbs to the deadly virus. I started to have high fever on Monday night and it lasted for more than 48 hours. The fever finally broke (I hope) this morning. It was horrible to keep having 39oC fever and not subsiding. my assortment of medicine I hope I can be well enough to return to work tomorrow... work is piling up.

Now that Jonathan has attended Playgroup for almost 4 months, he brought home his first birthday goodies bag on Monday. When I probed him further who's the birthday girl or boy, he just kept quiet. Oh well! Ahah... inside the goodies bag are all chocolates, sweets and biscuits that he can't eat. Yes, we are still stringent on what he eats. We don't offer him any sweet stuff except for ice-cream which he rejected at times. So all these go into the "piggy bank".. hmm maybe one day I should blog about this piggy pig that is full of chocolates and sweets.

Last Sunday, I went on a pastries spree. I was at Joo Chiat and I came across Bread Project. This little shop does mainly on exotic French breads and pastries. I bought one of their orange pie. I didn't know what came over me. I had Darren to drive all the way to Tiong Bahru to pick up some more pastries from Tiong Bahru Bakery. Now I really have a lot of pastries to finish. Here are some of my reviews on my pastries spree: 1. Bread Project's orange pie - The crust was firm but inside was soft. It had a very pleasing orange tingy flavour to it. 2. Kouign Aman Choc - This was delightfully chocolate-ish. Very crispy. 3. Plain Kouign Aman - Delightfully sweet. Not to be attempt unless you have a sweet tooth. 4. Croissant Almond Chocoloate - Surprisingly that it was not heavily laden wtih chocolate chips. This actually worked to its advantage as so not to overcome the croissant's sweetness by itself. 5. Raisin Bun - Crispy with the right amoun...

milk at reservior I am facing this problem. For an unknown reason, I have milk accumulating at the reservoir when I pump. It does not happened all the times. I have changed all the spare parts and I still get this now and then. Does anyone know what happened? I'm using Avent Single Electronic Pump by the way.

Matthew has been showing a lot of interests in our food. He even opened his mouth when we held our spoon near his mouth. So after getting the green light from PD, I started Matthew on rice cereal today. As with Jonathan, I try to give organic stuff to Matthew too, as long as possible. For his first rice cereal, I decided on Healthy Times' Brown Rice which is (1) a single grain (2) organic (3) texture is smooth I added 3 scoops of the brown rice and mixed with 1 spoon of powder milk. I got slightly less than half a bowl from this mixture. Matthew opened his mouth readily, eager for his first taste of rice cereal. But after a few spoons, he started to fuss. Oh dear! I guess he is still not really ready for rice cereal. In the end, the rice cereal was forsaken and Matthew got his milk. So much for a highly anticipated weaning and the little boy was soundly asleep after his milk.