The Apple's Diary!

he will need to work on his laptop. working like an adult Or he will be the train master. ensuring the train reaches its station on time Or he is busy building a house. construction in progress And this is a slice of Jon's life.

Hais... remember all the preparation and the hype to our 1st family photoshoot. Well, it ended with an email from the photographer that the media card was corrupted and I got a full refund. Only 37 photos were savaged from the 1hr plus photography session. Disappointment but I won't put the blame on the photographer. It was just unfortunate that the slim chance of having a media card getting corrupted fell on us. We are now enquiring a few photographers and hoping to do a re-take soon. On another perspective, the failed photoshoot session served as a good trial. Certainly need to get a more natural makeup and the hubby needed some covering up on his panda eyes. Meanwhile here are some photographs that were savaged.

Qns : When you have a 2 year old and a 10 month old together, what do you get? Ans : Tons of screaming Yesterday Jon went into another episode of terrible 2 again. Refusing his dinner and proceeding to throw his bowl of rice onto the floor. Fine. Refusing to bathe and proceeding to cry hysterically while I dragged him to the bathroom. Refusing to keep his hands off and continuously pressing the fan's buttons. What do you get? A malfunction fan that exploded. Yes. No kidding. The casing came off, the plastic blades broken into small pieces and having it flying all over the room. I was so mad that I didn't even remember to take a picture of the exploded fan. I got so angry that I forgot that how Jon could be hurt by the flying plastic blades. He? Came crying in terrible fright and climbed onto our bed. Quietly let us change him into his pyjamas   and went to sleep without a single sound. And it happened I re-read "What to expect during the first year?"...

Woohooo.... 16 October saw Matthew turned 10 month old. My sunshine baby never failed to surprise me everyday. On the eve of turning 10 month, my Matt took 15 minutes to grasp the concept of straw drinking. Yes.. he was that fast! What I did was to use a regular straw and pinched some water up. Then I inverted the straw and let him tried to suck the water in. After a few rounds, I put the straw into a cup of water and he started to drink from the straw. Afterwhich, I transisted to Pigeon Mag Mag cup (stage 3) and using the same way, pinched some water up. At first, he didn't understand that they were all straws. But after a few tries, he got it! I really marvel at how fast he picked up new skill. When Jon was doing something, he would stand and observe. The next minute, he would be off to show you that he could replicate the same action. my sunshine baby The good point is that he learns REAL fast and because he picks up so fast, all the bad habits fall in almost as ...

Having 2 kids really means even lesser "me" time and "couple" time. When we are not busy trying to get the 2 kiddos to bed OR not arguing with each other on upbringing issue OR not falling asleep while putting them to bed... whatever time remains, it is used for "me" time. We tried to take time off from work so that we could have couple time but this didn't work. Although he could be on leave, his phone was never on leave. Ending up most of the time, he was talking more to his phone than me. We revert back to lunch date which works best for us. Most of the time, impromptu! Afterall, it is also hard to match 2 schedules for a lunch break. Today is one of the days we had our impromptu lunch date! Where else could it be .... but Sakuraya Fish Mart. We are really a great fan of sashimi and just nice, they are having 50% off salmon sashimi (14 - 20Oct, only at Anchorpoint Outlet). How could we miss it! Ika, hotate, tako, salmon, maguro I lo...

A much postdated entry on Father's Day. The story began with ..... I was alerted that a video clip for Father's Day was played in the church and Darren with Jonathan were in it. We missed service because Jonathan was sick and I thought it would be good for the duo to catch the video. So I went around asking who had a copy of the video and finally .... after 4 months, the video is in my Air. The father of a righteous child has great joy;  a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.                                            ~ Proverbs 23:24 clip from the video clip from the video On some of our nightly chats, Darren would say that it doesn't matter if our sons are not as bright as others, not as rich as others, the most important is they must be righteous. He emphasize on several occasions that the right values must be imparted to his...

Besides the necessary birth certificate, Jon & Matt, these 2 brothers received their 1st participation certificates on Sunday. 1st ever participation certificates They had successfully completed a term of music and movement at Our Music Studio. It had been an enjoyable term for them. However, we only signed on another 3 more lessons for next term as we could not commit to a full term because of the several breaks. Thankfully, the management let us sign on a smaller scale. Another 3 more weeks of drumming and dancing...  (we are) looking forward to it!

not missing any corner cleaning is never so serious He got down on his knees and even lie flat so he would not miss any niche in the room. Not even the corner that's underneath the wardrobe. Should I give myself a pat for having a son that takes cleaning seriously? haha... he could just put "aunty" out of job!

The most difficult stage of a baby growing up would be the teething process. Poor baby needs to go through so much pain to get the pearlies out. Doesn't seem fair for a little baby. I have tried a couple of ways to soothe the swollen gums when teething begins and mind you, the poor baby would be cranky, unsettled and in pain for a very long time before the pearlies made their appearance... as long as 2-3 months, no kidding! We used to apply teething gel for Jonathan liberally until PD told us that we should limit our use to only 2 times a day max because of the salicylic acid which is not very good for little baby. Then we chilled the teething toys and gave it to him to chew. I bought all kinds of teething toys, from hard to water-based teething toys. It helped a little and of course, prayer that Jesus would take away the pain. Now that it's Matthew's time to go through the tedious cycle, we soon realised that no 2 babies are the same. For example, Matt doesn't lik...

Jonathan's PG Lavender class has its Parents-Teachers meeting push forward. This is because the chinese teacher, 张老师 is leaving. I had some alone times with her today and asked if she is moving on to a new school. Apparently, she is leaving due to health reasons. Tears welled up slightly in her eyes when she spoke of the early exit she has to make. Obviously this is a teacher who really loves her students. When she spoke of Jonathan, I could see that she takes pride that her young charge has improved leaps and bounds. I have to agree that whatever Jon has learnt and known, it is more of the teachers' efforts than us. I am grateful that Jonathan's first teacher impacted his life positively. Jon's 1st Teacher  I do not know how is Jon going to cope and adapt when 张老师 is gone. Even Ms Melanie pointed out that Jon Jon is very attached to her. We wish her well and hope our path will cross someday again. farewell gift for 张老师 One thing for sure, besides...

Got to admit that this is a world of technology. Who doesn't own a smartphone nowadays? Even my parents minimally have a Samsung S3. When we are out, parents placing their iPad, iPhone etc at dining table for the kiddos to play games or watch videos are common. I have been controlling the exposure of iPad and iPhone to the boys and I have resolute not to use such gadgets at the dining table and minimally at home and in the car. Yet, I have to admit this small little window allows me to have some free moments. so engrossed in the S4  too engrossed to notice me I downloaded some phonic songs and that keep Matt glue to his chair. A useful tool to create some free moments but every second the screen flashes, I could imagine the detrimental effects it would have on Matt. Another irony of life again!

Yeah!  Chubby Matt has a good reason to be happy. He is confirmed a place for next year playgroup class in Mindchamps Fusionopolis. Will update more once I have the details. *edited* Last night I was too sleepy to continue. With Matt entering Mindchamps (earliest in July) and the fee adjustment, childcare remains the major expenditure we have. Plus the maid, we are spending almost $3000 a month just on childcare. It is quite irony as I have told Darren, that I am spending my salary on childcare and is like I am earning to send my children away from me. While he agreed that it is ironic yet he added that I am too short fused to stay home with the boys. Sigh! I do hope the boys will enjoy Mindchamps and I pray hard that I get a good salary increment every year.

The dreadful postnatal hair loss was my worst fear. Learning from past experience, I started applying hair serum to nourish my hair during my 2nd pregnancy. Although the hair shedding process still happened, the duration was shorter and the amount of hair loss was also visibly lesser. However as my 2 pregnancies were very close together, my hair volume took a toil. Bald spots were visible and I was really upset. I kept my hair short and Grace, the regular hairdresser I go to, recommended that I should go for scalp treatment. This would help to keep my scalp healthy, remove the grease and allow the hair follicles to have the space to grow. After 2 treatments, I decided to sign on a package for another 3 more sessions. After each session, I could feel my scalp is indeed cleaner and I feel refreshed as well. At the same time, I also applied Phytocyane hair serum. Floxia from National Skin Centre Pharmacy Phtyocyane Hair Serum from Watsons So Floxia has been accompanying ...

As mentioned before, Jonathan enjoys his music lesson every Sunday at Our Music Studio. Matthew joined in the fun in his own baby class since he needed to wait for his big bro. Initiallly, Matthew was not keen and kept very still for the first 2 lessons. Now... he is readily to roam around the classroom. chasing after the ball He loves playing with the balls before the start of lesson and he would just crawl around the classroom. paying attention  i love ball When lesson is going to start, he would sit and clap along with the teacher and the rest of the class. He really love to go around and socialise with other babes and experts have mentioned that it is okay for babies and toddlers to wander around the classroom. They may appear not to pay attention but they are absorbing all the details. Children's Day gift  Since last Sunday was near to Children's Day, Matt got a pair of socks and balloon from OMS as Children's Day present. ...

Wow... finally a decent cheng teng (清汤) in Clementi area. The last traditional cheng teng I had was years ago at old Tanglin Halt which the hawker centre had torn down and rebuilt. The old lady selling it was nowhere to be seen. So on Sunday, a new stall selling mainly cheng tent opened in Clementi Central hawker centre. Of course, I just had to try it. four seasons cheng teng traditional ingredients Four Seasons Cheng Teng served it hot or cold and is priced at $2 per bowl. No additional charge for takeaway. Trust me, my photography skill doesn't do justice to the cheng teng. I love it. I ordered takeaway cold cheng teng and to my delight, the sweetness was just nice. The stall had plastic bowls of cheng teng ingredients all ready. They just need to add in the hot or cool 塘水 or longan water to it. If you want it cold, they then add ice cubes into it. No shaved ice and that's what make the sweetness just right. It's good old cheng teng as they used tr...

The long awaited photoshoot is finally here. While the kids were napping in the afternoon, I went to get my makeup done at Face Bistro. oops... what a great difference! I got Lay Shan to help me with my makeup which she completed within 45 minutes plus eyebrow trimming. I'm not used to wearing makeup so the eye makeup portion was most difficult to me. It made my eyes teary with all the eyeliner and mascara. But I got to admit the effect is great, worth the $58 excluding the eyebrow trimming. We decided to go for a blue theme for this photoshoot. Here's me with Matthew, getting ready to move out. matt with his signature electrifying hairstyle For some unknown reason, Matt's double eyelids gone missing today. Just when we were going for photoshoot, he woke up with single eyelid and puffy eyes. Oh Matt oh! You have water retention at such young age?! Our blue Polo tees were from Giodano (for adults) and Esprit (for the kids). The adults paired with jea...

our caps Are we going outdoor? Nope. We are going to do a family photoshoot tomorrow. It was long overdue as I initially booked the package which was meant to be my maternity photoshoot. Then I got lazy and tired but LittleMissRabbit, Hongyin was kind enough to let me change to a family photoshoot. Although the appointment was done 1 month ago, I still didn't manage to prepare the props completely. family tee The family tee didn't turn out what I wanted. Our names could hardly be seen on our grey family tee. I didn't manage to book a pedicure and manicure session simply because I didn't have the time. I only got myself a makeup session and bought another family theme outfits just before I left for my work trip. Nonetheless, I hope we would have a good time, creating lovely memories.

At first, I was really sceptical. How could essential oils build up immunity? Slowly, I started hearing testimonials of how essential oils help their babies, especially building up immunity. When Jon started falling sick frequently, I decided no harm trying out this non-invasive solution for a stronger immune system. Got my first 2 oils from a fellow Sept mummy friend around July. I asked plenty of questions before getting the oils from here as I had to consider that Matt and Jon slept in the same room and I can't risk Matt. I was recommended Thieves and RC. Both are blends of essential oils with Thieves mainly as preventive and RC more for respiratory issues. I'm into my 2nd bottles now and I have started lavender eo for a good sleep and lemon eo for bringing down fever, as antiseptic and for the refreshing lift I sometimes need. my EO - thieves and RC I religiously dropped a drop onto my palm, rubbed and then covered my hands over the boys' soles every nig...

Ditto. Children's Day... childhood memories of this day is vague. Probably during our era, celebrating such occasion was a luxury. In today's times, perhaps parents need an occasion/ excuse to splurge on their children, to lessen the guilt of not spending enough time with them. I am one of them. The dilemma and debate whether my decision to return to workforce constantly play out in my mind. So on this special day, I took them out for a treat. Our first pit stop was to Swenson for a family meal. Happy Children's Day I noticed that the restaurant basically had 2 groups of people - the working nearby and families.  Indeed,  I guess most parents flocked to the baby market at expo, if not, they would be crowding family friendly malls and restaurants. Okay... I guess most of us got to take leave on this day because of CC closure and is a school holiday. Darren was in reservist and so there's only me, Jon, Matt and maid plus my mum and my nephew. Lunch was good w...

Jon celebrated this special day with his friends in school. We were told to let him come in cartoon costume. We didn't had any costume and not really any carton printed tee. So we actually bought a new of clothing with Mickey Mouse print. cheerful jon As Darren was in reservist, I had to bring him to school myself. We came out of the house earlier so we could have breakfast together. enjoying his breakfast finishing his french toast Jon has a penchant for Ya Kun's french toast and I guess his daddy really spoilt him at this. The past few days, I had come to discover that Jon needs his Ya Kun before school otherwise he would be extremely cranky. all ready to set off Like a caffeine addict that needs his coffee, Jon needs his french toast. It recharges the little boy's battery and put him on a "ready to go" mode. gift from school I guess it must have been a fun filled day for him. When I picked him in the evening, h...