Our Happy Little Suns - Reagan , my firstborn son

The purpose of creating this blog is to document the beautiful footprints of our happy sunshine boys and to share our exhilarating parenting journey. I thought I should then dedicate a post to them, introducing my two precious little sunbeams in my life. 

My first sunshine in my life is named Reagan, it means "little king" (he is still ruling  ...). I usually pen him as Rboy in my blog. Rboy is the child that was born too early. At my 28th week of pregnancy, my blood pressure hit over 200, I bled profusely , vomited uncontrollably from the intense pain in my abdomen, followed by a minor seizure attack. The doctor explained that my placenta had detached itself and there was sign of fetal distress. Baby's heartbeat was dropping alarmingly and they had no choice but to remove him from my womb to save his life and mine. Very quickly, I was wheeled into the operating theatre for an emergency c-section under GA. Pre-eclampsia was what they suspected I had, a life threatening pregnancy condition which affects 2-8% of all pregnant women.

My baby boy was delivered with no signs of life. He was neither moving nor breathing. The medical team rushed him to the NICU , trying their best to resuscitate him.

We never forget the doctor's exact words , "He is a miracle baby."

My baby won the first round of battle... which is to stay alive.

(Reagan 's 1st day at the NICU)

Rboy is a 29weeks preemie, weighing 1.2kg, which dropped to only 950grams the day after. 

To witness my baby boy painfully tangled in all these wires and tubes was truly heart-breaking.

His tiny ribs were expanding and contracting in a sickening manner, gasping for every breath in great difficulty...but I was not allow to carry or to comfort my baby. The only thing I can do is to watch, wept...and pray...I never felt so helpless in my life.

The sense of guilt and worry got my anxiety soaring high. The prolonged uncertainty and fear of having a struggling preemie in the NICU is inevitable. I was totally not prepared for this.

The next couple of months was an emotional roller coaster ride for us. A melancholic way to begin our first-time parenthood journey. Although Reagan looks so tiny and fragile, he was a strong warrior and fought hard to overcome all life-threatening medical conditions that came his way. During his two months stay in the NICU, he was diagnosed with lungs infection, bleeding in the brain and a hole in his heart. We can do nothing but to pray, and yes we prayed hard..every minute and every single day.

Miraculously ....he recovered from all of the above conditions. Doctors have no explanation . "Sometimes it just happened. " they said.

Beyond the traumatic experience, came the triumphant. We waited for 59 enduring days before we get to cuddle our precious baby boy back home with us.

I learnt that prematurity can have long term side effects in life. Premature babies who survived are at risk of impaired cognitive skills which includes developmental delays and learning disabilities. Comparing to their full-term counterparts, they also face higher odds of chronic health issues and lower immunity.

Therefore I made the most apparent decision to become a stay-at-home-mom. We had too much lost time...now I just want to bond and spend every minute with my baby. Equipped with an early education background, I wasted no time to bond with my boy, exposed him to lots of sensory play and right-brain stimulation. Rboy was a very calm and quiet baby. His physical/motorskills milestones were lagging behind even after his adjusted age. It was until nearly 2 years old then he learned to walk independently.

On the other hand , we also noticed that Rboy had an astounding attention span and was very keen to learn and explore. He grew very fond of flashcards and attained very strong interest in alphabets and numbers. It was until around the age of 13 months then we found out that he could easily recognise alphabets, including differentiating all upper and lower case letters. He understood numbers and its quantity, as well as most colours and shapes, even the more complex ones like rhombus, sphere, pentagon, octagon ,cylinder etc. The most amazing discovery was that Reagan could recognise and read words at the age of around one year old. It was not easy to pronounce the words very well at his age, but he could sign to us or point correctly at every word we asked for. I tried my best to keep up with his speed of learning by engaging him in more challenging "words play" which he loves so much.

Before he turned 2 years old,  he could identify any random words and able to read , pick up and form sentences.

With no knowledge of phonics, he was still able to "decode" or "breakdown" words and read them accurately. It didn't take long for him to turn into an independent reader by the age of 3. Picking up any children book and reading it by himself became a very easy feat to him. And now, his current favorite stunt is unlocking our cellphones to read our messages , or to log into YouTube to type in the names of the videos that he wants to search for.

(Reagan at 3 years old)

Soon, through the encouragement from one of his teachers, we sent him to a child psychologist who put him through the Stanford-Binet V, an internationally recognised IQ assessment test. We wanted to understand more on his intellectual capabilities and learning, as well as the ways on how we can support him further. The report showed that Reagan scored within the top 1% and was placed under the gifted range. With his IQ report, he was successfully accepted by Mensa at the age of 3.

Rboy has grown to have a character of his own. He has never really been an active child and usually prefers to watch and observe his surroundings, but neither is he a withdrawn boy. He speaks with enthusiasm about things he loves, like trains and railway tracks or his favorite movies that he watched. He also possessed the traits of a perfectionist and has high expectation of himself. This leads to frustrations most of the time though. He has a fear of not getting things done in the perfect way he wants and would then choose not to attempt. It was obvious that he has an issue of facing failure, which is not supposed to happen at this young age. Rboy also prefers the company of older children and adults and often have very few words with kids at his age. Therefore, confidence and social skill are something I like him to improve on.

It's still very amazing to watch our tiny fragile little baby grow into a boy with so much love and personality. Witnessing him once fight for survival in the NICU is an unforgettable memory in this lifetime of ours. This experience also put things into perspective for us as we learned to even more cherish the value of life. We are always reminded of the heartache we felt in our journey to be with him, which made our heart filled with so much gratitude. We are so blessed to have our Rboy, our beautiful bundle of joy. 

Please hop on to the next entry here on my second baby sunshine, BabyK .



Mrs & Mrs Classic Singapore Press Conference 2016

It must be "God's sign!?" I texted my girlfriend immediately to share about the guest blogger invitation for this year's Mrs and Classic Mrs Singapore pageant press conference. It was so coincidence that the day before the invitation came, we were in a discussion about this pageant dedicated to the married and family community. I even expressed my interest in participating the next round and the best way to learn more about this annual event, is to be there at the event of course! Therefore I like to thank ermsingapore for bestowing me this opportunity to witness this event, interact with the contestants and past years winners and to learn more about their journey.

The pageant is not so much about flaunting or showcasing women's physical attributes. It emphasizes more on promoting female empowerment , inspirations , women's confidence and lastly, just being proud of who you are.

(Camera crew ready to roll!)

Mrs Singapore category is catered to married women age 25-45, and age 46 and above is for Mrs Classic Singapore. Here are some of the contestants for this year 2016 Mrs & Classic Mrs Singapore doing a self-introduction of themselves.

These ladies came from all walks of life and every one of them carries a unique story. None of them see this competition as a fierce meaningless battle for the crown. Instead everyone looks at it as a whole new learning experience with other women out there who share the same visions as them. This is also the reason why they are gathered here together today, to learn , to share , to support and to inspire one another in this pageant.

The press conference is held at Zell-V, a skincare system which specialised in cellular therapy products for rejuvenating and anti aging (ooh i love the word "anti-aging" so much). One of the pageant queens was sharing with me how effective the products are. I definitely wish one day I've got the chance to splurge on it. Anyway check out the gorgeous Kenny Santika, the ambasssador of Zell-V who is also the winner of Mrs Singapore Universe year 2011 (in white). And the glintz lady standing next to her is our Mrs Singapore Universe 2014!

It was a pleasure to meet the queens and to hear them share their pageant stories. When they won the pageants, people look up to them, full of respect and admiration. Therefore it is important that they serve as a role model to influence, encourage and inspire women to overcome their fears and follow their dreams.

I've a selfie taken with Classic Mrs Asia, a very bubbly lady who is a proud mother of 6 kids! And she is definitely forever young at heart! Her secret to everlasting youth is.....always stay happy! I'm also very honour to be speaking to Grandma Universe who shared with me what she gained from joining the pageant and how she has been constantly improving herself. Age is just a number and beauty grows with it. She even encouraged me to take part in the next round of Mrs Singapore! See... I'm already practising my pageant-pose with them, all ready! Haha!

(Look at their blingbling crowns and title sashes! One day I really like to earn it for myself :))

The route of the beauty pageant is an amazing one. It is also a journey of self-discovery because along the way, these girls get to recognise their strengths, beliefs , personal values and areas which they never knew they would be capable of. They also get to learn new skills from the pageant that helps with their own personal growth ,leading to greater fulfilment in life.

From today press conference, I understand that some of the contestants are also involved in different community/charity work. Joining the pageant will offer an opportunity to network with certain organisations which can help them to bring more awareness to the work they are doing, whether if it is raising funds or recruiting volunteers. These women really just want to make the world a better place.

Best of all, during their pageant journey, new friendships are created and will last for a long time because most of them have similar background; mothers with kids and family. They get to find and learn from like-minded friends who share common goals and inspirations as them.

If you like to know more updates for this year 2016 Mrs & Mrs Classic Singapore, do head over to their FB page. And if you're interested in participating, do look out for the announcements next year around Jan/Feb !

Lastly, I shall end the post with a picture with Shayne, another guest blogger invited to this event. I would describe her as a very dedicated and professional blogger. She even has a name card ready, how cool is that! Do check out her blog here, as well as her post on this event and her vlog !

It was rather amusing that Shayne and I were trying to find a good backdrop for a photo together and we ended up using the banner of Zell-V. So we took this photo while the ambassador Kenny Santika in the banner was actually right in front of us haha!

To wrap it up,  I shall end this entry with one more big thank you to ermsingapore for the opportunity to be here. I've learned so much just by interacting with the ladies there today. And yes, I'm pretty sure I'll be trying my luck for Mrs Singapore 2017 next year! Please support support! Thank u~

Reagan's 4 Years old Birthday House Party

In a twinkle of an eye, our darling first-born son Rboy, the miraculous 29weeker premature baby, is going to turn 4 ! This is the first party we planned together as a team. Well, in another words he instructed me what he wants for his birthday and I just fulfil his requests (yup some sort of teamwork here...)

1. Birthday Cake
"Chocolate! Chocolate!" always the same answer if you ask what kind of cake Rboy wants. My boy is crazily obsessed with chocolates (which kid isn't) and to him, all cakes have to be in chocolate flavour, otherwise it don't deserve to even be a cake. We talked about the design of the cake, and his expected answer was "choo choo train! like this one!" He dangled his newly bought Mickey Mouse train carriage toy in my face. My initial idea was to get a nice classic old-school chocolate cake and then placed his toy train on top of the cake as the decoration. Good idea right?
 My first choice was Lana chocolate cake, but it seems that they have already disappeared to another dimension. It was so damn difficult to reach them. After calling them for days, they finally picked up my phone but was extremely inflexible and refused to take my order because it wasn't Tuesday (because Tuesday is their only orders-taking day. Not stated anywhere on their website either. WTH.). They wanted me to call back to try again the week after. When the following week came, I gave up after they refused to pick up my call for 5 continuous days.
In the end I checked out another bakery called NaNa Bake Jelly & Cake (good recommendation from a friend), which ended up as my choice. I sent them a photo of my son's toy train and they promised to create something similar to it...with chocolate fillings of course.

The transaction was smooth, price was reasonable, home delivery was punctual and the texture and fillings of the cake were good. The guests were impressed with the cake and my boys love it...and that's what matters the most.

NaNa Bake Jelly & Cake
Price: $160 (2kg) for the above train cake.

2. Kids play area
We were contemplating between sandplay or water play area for the kids to have fun first while waiting for all guests to arrive. So glad that Rboy chose the latter because it made cleaning up so much easier than sand. The day before the party, I visited Daiso and Toy R Us to grab some water toys and threw them into the ground pool we set up. Needless to say, it attracted all the kids to the pool immediately once they reach the venue.

 

 

Ocean Snapset Pool - Toy R Us - $34.90
Water toys - Daiso/Toy R Us - $2-$10

3.Entertainment
Reagan requested for a clown or a magician for his birthday party. I thought a clown is "scarier" for young children (I had a fear of clowns when I was a kid. All thanks to the movie Poltergeist.) Rboy associated magicians as people who do tricks and have the ability to pull rabbits out of their hat. Therefore I went in search online for magicians who can do shows catered to younger kids 3-5 years old. That's when I came across Sherman Tang from The Magic Empire.
Sherman doesn't pull out rabbits from his hat, but he has two kick-ass puppets that made Rboy and his friends laugh so hard. It was the highlights of the birthday party and probably most of the kids' first exposure to a magic show. I knew the show was a success because the day after the party, a few of the parents texted me that their kids were still talking to them excitedly about the magic show they watched at Reagan's birthday party.

 

 

Sherman Tang from TheMagicEmpire

Price: $199 nett for basic package -40minutes

 

4.Food

I don't like the idea of splurging on a catered buffet with full set up that can range from $600 onwards. Therefore I opted for the mini buffet set instead, which means the food are delivered in aluminium trays without any tables and chairs set up, but I get to save at least half the price. I've totally forgotten to take some photos of the food and before I realised, most of them were finished. I've really hungry guests that day. Anyway I ordered from the website Foodline, spent some time reading on the reviews and made CurryPot as my choice. Everything went smoothly, the food arrived 25 minutes earlier than the stated timing and I received good feedbacks for the veg and their famous curry dish.

 

CurryPot

9 dishes for 20 pax + home delivery - $308

 

Overall, the biggest benefit of organising this birthday party is the opportunity for Rboy to experience and learn to be a good host for his friends. Before the party begins, I told Rboy that it is compulsory for him to greet every guests who arrive, receive the presents himself and thank each of them personally. I'm not going to do it on his behalf because he is already 4, old enough to learn how to do so himself. And after his party ends, he has to go to every friend to thank them for coming to his birthday party. If he does a good job following the instructions well, he will be allowed another birthday party next year.

 

And yes, he is granted another party next year :)

 



Travelling with kids to Batam - Montigo resort

At 45minutes ferry ride away from our sunny island Singapore, our Sunshine boys were warmly welcomed by Montigo resort, a luxurious seafront villa in Batam.

 

The first beautiful sight that greeted us once we entered our living room is the glistening blue water at our balcony.

 

Before I could stop them, they boys sprinted their way to the inviting pool and began their water fight. BabyK's giggles were unstoppable even after I've just reprimanded them for getting themselves wet.

 

It didn't take long for the boys to jump into their swimwear and hit the water again.

 

From our private pool, we can get a good view of the glowing horizon and the captivating beach during sunset.

The kids' great grandma and great aunt were invited to join us on this trip, so I was really thankful to them for helping me with my little monkeys.

 

The living area is decently spacious and immaculate. It comes with a useful attached kitchen stove and microwave. On the first night, we made full use of it by baking sweet potato, corns cobs, buns and even cooking dumplings! Thanks to the boys' great grandma and great aunt who brought along so much food for the kiddos. They have this perception that Batam is a deserted island and decided to bring along an entire "provision shop".

 

The 2nd level is where the master bedroom and guestrooms are. I love the refined-furnished bedroom because it has really good amble space for me and the kids to mess up...

 And the attached bathroom that comes with a luxurious ceramic bathtub.

 

On the highest floor is an open-air attic suitable for parties/ functions or a place to set up a nice bbq dinner. It was scorching hot when we came up, so it didn't take long for us to make our way back down again.

 

 

Overall the resort is decently neat and well-kept. There is still signs of wear and tear around the house though, but obvious only if you really go around inspecting every corners like Sherlocks. I do noticed rust and some yellowish stains on the floor tiles and furniture.  

I live with two active boys and a china man, so those little defects don't bother me much.. In fact if anything in my house is still in working condition, I feel blessed haha.

 

 Below is their public pool for all guests to be used but strictly forbidden for children (as stated from the sign) haha! Totally understand...a quiet pool for adults to hide away from noisy kids.(how I wish I've this in my house). Anyway it was perfectly fine for the boys as they were already contented with the private pool in our balcony.

 

Most of the beach resort stays don't offer decent breakfast, but the one at Montigo goes way above our expectation. .They do make effort to serve GOOD proper breakfast.

With 6 live stations, they won in terms of the quality and variety. I remembered having fishball noodle and even Chinese mutton soup on one of the days...and that's for breakfast!

The condiments below are mainly to complement their porridge, certainly an effort to try suit every guests' kind of tastebuds.

 

The kids were informed that there was a kids club nearby...and so needless to say, we headed there immediately after breakfast. With a water-play area, a kick-ass slide, a ballpit and a whole level of toys, it's a great place to keep the kiddos busy while the adults can have some "me-time"...which means a good time to fiddle with our phones without distraction.

 

 

Timetable of the daily kids programme organised by the Kids Club.

 

On our 2nd night, Hubs arranged to set up the BBQ dinner right next to our pool. BabyK as usual, is always the first one at the eating table haha.

 

Table was nicely set up for us  and the best part is...we do not need to do the BBQ-ing job!

 

Service at Montigo is excellent. The staffs there are a bunch of passionate people eager to go all the way out to impress their guests.
And let me tell you why I felt this way. That morning while I was at the café selecting my bbq orders for our dinner at our own unit, I couldnt find any suitable soup dish on the menu for the kids. Thus I just brushed it off and told Hubs that the boys will just make do without soup today . However I was unsure if they overheard our conversation or the staff brought it up to the chef, because coincidentally that evening, the chef arrived with a complimentary bowl of piping hot corn soup. It was not in the menu, but he had specially prepared it just for the kiddos! I was truly touched by this nice gesture.

 

Next, the chef and his assistant even offer free "baby-sitting" service for us !Well actually after completing the BBQ and serving us like royalty, they helped to entertain my kids so the adults can engaged in their own conversation and fully enjoy our dinner in peace.
 

Best of all, my cheeky and active boys really love their new playmates!

Service that goes an extra mile. They really made our BBQ night an extreme pleasant one, and my boys had a great time indeed, thank you!

 

The next morning, weather was perfect, so we explored the jetty and took more photos there.

High tide vs low tide.
 

A water sports centre is just situated nearby but it didn't arouse enough interest for us to explore there.

 

 Other activities tat we did there:

1) Shopping at Nagoya mall, which was quite a distance from our resort (around 45 minutes taxi ride). We had A&W for lunch and stocked up quite a few cheap toiletries from the supermarket there.

2) While daddy took the kids to the pool, I brought the kiddos' great grandma for a pampering footspa at their in-house Spa and Massage centre and she loves it.

3) During the night, there were a few rounds of fireworks display and the excited kids managed to get a good view from the balcony.

 

 Everything was smooth and perfect right from our first day to the last .The only issue we encountered was the army of mozzies commandos that charged in at night, especially the living room and balcony area. Luckily I did my research before we came and was aware of this problem from the reviews I read online. Therefore I smartly prepared myself with 6 packs of mosquito patches (stick on my kiddos 24 hrs around the clock), 2 bottles of homemade repellents and my own aroma diffuser to safe guard all my people.

 

 Overall, kids had a wonderful time and the adults were contented with our short getaway at Montigo. In fact on our last day when we were making our way back to the ferry terminal, Rboy was whining to go back to our resort.

 

He just cant get enough of fun...haha