Showing posts with label 0-1 Month. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 0-1 Month. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Ashton's Full Month shower

The past week was hell. With the passing of my Sheltie Alice and Ashton being hospitalised, it was really quite overwhelming for me. I thought I had to cancel on my friends and Ashton would have to miss his own party. Horror of horrors!
Luckily on Sunday, the party went on in full swing as planned.



My neighbours Peifen and Ivan with their daughter Lyndsey.
Peifen is due in December, a baby boy!

My Buddha baby with his pot belly, oblivious to
the hoo-ha surrounding him.

Andy's cousin's baby, Sebastian, who is 1.5 mths older than Ashton.



My dearest Meena arrived with Vetrin. Such a big boy now.

My very unglam Aunt LY in green. My favourite person in the world!

The bouncy castle was a hit with the kids! See my cheeky monkey Adam.








With my Meena. Aunties forever!


My babes. 16 years of friendship!
Siew Wei is preggy with her No.3 - another BOY. OMG we need girls pleaseeeeee.

My ex-colleague, Joey. Her baby Naythan is 2 months older than Ashton.

Adam was a real gem at the event. He helped me distribute the gift favours to our guests and he didn't for once whine or throw a tantrum. He just entertained himself on the Bouncy and went about his own activities and I didn't have to worry about him at all.
Adam, you make Mama proud. You are Mummy's shining star.

I love my kids and Hubby dearly!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Saturday: My scariest day yet.

On Saturday, just a day before Ashton's Full month shower, he was admitted to the hospital.
He had a fever, and we had initially wanted to bring him to a PD near our place, but because the wait was too long, I suggested that we brought him to KKH A&E since I'm a staff and thought that could speed things up.


However when we got there, though we were attended to immediately, we were also advised to admit him for observation. I thought we would be sent home with just Panadol and an order to monitor his temperature. I didn't expect for my baby to be hospitalised! I swear I nearly shit in my pants!


Ashton in Ward 56, KKH.


When we reached the ward, the doctors and nurses came to check on Ashton, and later on we were told that because he was only 5 weeks old, they would do "symptomatic treatment", which is to do tepid sponging and monitor his temperature and not do anything invasive unless absolutely necessary.
Every hour, the nurses came to check his temperature. His highest was 38.3deg.
He wasn't even on any medication at all.

Our entire Saturday was burnt, shuttling to and from home, getting his stuff, taking turns to look after Adam, etc etc.
By evening, I still hadn't had lunch, was too worried to rest, and thought I was going to pass out.
Thankfully I did not.
When Aunt LY came to visit at about 6.30pm, I decided I had enough of the hospital and demanded that we be discharged there and then!
The nurses and doctor came to talk to me but I was determined to get my baby out. "I'm a staff nurse and I can do the monitoring at home" I barked. I was a crazy Mummy like that!
In the end, after another few hours of monitoring and Ashton had 2 subequent afebrile readings, the doctors relented and let us go home, but not without first signing the "Discharge against hospital advise" indemnity forms.

My baby's party is tomorrow! I had to get him home by hook or by crook!
It was melodramatic but we eventually got him discharged and we finally reached home at 11pm.
I monitored his temperature every hour and I did tepid sponging just in case his temperature rised agin. Thank God the highest was 38.3deg at the hospital and thereafter it was just afebrile.

P.S. I never had to deal with sickness with Adam up till he was about a year old therefore this experience is new to me.

P.P.S. Subsequent children are more susceptable to illness especially when older children are sick because they can pass on from drool/ touching things/ sneezing and coughing without covering their orifices. I shall always keep this in mind.

Anyway this boils down as the scariest day of my life. I certainly hope it stays that way.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Planning Ashton's Full Month shower

** Edit to add: Photos from Ashton's Full month party HERE :)

I spent a good part of my confinement month planning Ashton's Full Month shower.
Armed with only my laptop and i-Banking token, I sourced, paid and arranged everything while being cooped up at home. The wonders of technology!
This blog post will include the bits and pieces of the Party planning process, along with vendors' websites/contacts for your easy reference.

Invite:
This is the invite which I created using Photoshop for all our invitees.
Pretty invitations can be received by your guests by just an MMS or Whatsapp away.
** The full version has the venue printed.
*** credits to Baby shower authority and Photocard chef for the graphics.




Banner:
I ordered this banner from Rachel who runs an online craft shop MY BEANSPROUTS. Website here. Her email is: mybeansprouts@yahoo.com.sg
Go take a look at what she has to offer. Rachel's very gifted with her hands. From DIY personalised banners to Cupcake toppers, you should find your party needs there.
She charges $2.50 per panel (of banner), so it's really not very expensive.



Gift favours:Favours! My favourite! I try to make sure no guest leaves my children's parties empty handed.
I found these gift favours at BACHELORETTE PARTY SUPPLIES. Website here.
If you are looking for affordable and unique favours for your guests, Rachel (a different Rachel from mybeansprouts) has them for weddings and baby showers.


I ordered 120 pcs of favours for all our guests in a mix of Rocking Horse candle and Rubber Ducky handsoap.
Due to the short notice, Rachel did not have the quantity I wanted, so she had to place an order with her supplier and thankfully the favours arrived on time and she personally delivered them to my doorstep. Talk about excellent service!

Our favours delivered!


Bouncy Castle rental:
We rented a bouncy to contain our guests' mini-me's otherwise their parents won't be able to eat and chat in peace!
There are many Toy Rental companies in Singapore with a wide range in terms of shapes, sizes and price. We chose Singapore Toy Club for the price and size (we wanted one which wasn't too big to be set up at a corner of our function place but still large enough to fit up to 10 kids).

Buffet Caterer:www.ecreative.com.sg
They have a Buffet menu specially for Full Month parties here.
They also have tables & chairs for rental if you intend to hold your parties at function rooms.
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Hope you find the list useful for planning your own parties.
Ashton's baby shower will be held this weekend. Excited!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

A Sunday with my boys: Mid-Autumn festival celebration.

Happy Sunday everyone! I spent my weekend with my boys, and you'll be surprised to find out my 29-yr-old keeps me on my toes as much as my 3-year-old. I'm the go-to person in the entire household, ranging from milk demands to asking where are the [insert objects] kept.

My life after confinement has been a little (very) crazy. On the first night that Adam came home to sleep, I ended up shuttling between his room and my master bedroom.
I must've woke up about 700 times that night, from breastfeeding to changing diapers, to changing clothes for Adam who wet his bed, and then trying to put them all back down to sleep again.
I was so tired that I didn't even have the energy to change Adam's sheets. Guess what? I laid a towel on the urinated patch and urged him to go back to bed.
By daybreak, our sleeping arrangement became like this - Adam & I on his bed, the baby on a mattress on the floor.
And I wonder why I'm perpetually tired?

I'm so glad it's the weekend because I promised Adam that I can finally bring him out!
Here're some photos from our Sunday

Going out for Lunchie with my lovely boys.


You have no idea how glad I am to be able to step out of the house!
My yellow fellows


By the way I found a CUTE thermal bag by SKIPHOP to store my Breast pump essentials.
So love!!
In the evening we went to our estate's Mid-Autumn Festival celebration. We got goodie bags, lucky draw (didn't win), mooncakes and lanterns! Adam had fun running around and playing with candles.










 I swear I live in the most happening estate in Singapore. Every occasion also got events one!
Ok I'm going to bed. One whole month of being cooped up at home leaves me with many errands to run next week. I'm contemplating buying a baby carrier so I can go out with Ashton hands-free to run my errands.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Happy Full month Ashton!

Ashton celebrated his Full month on Friday 21.09.2012. As a rite of passage, he shaved his hair and eyebrows then offered prayers to our ancestors.

With my Aunty LY.


The staff from Hua Xia came to shave his hair which will be made into a caligraphy brush.







Fourth generation!




Do watch this space, I'll be sharing his Full Month shower planning in a seperate post. Happy Full month, Ashton baby dearest! and Happy weekend all!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Big brother, little brother.


I told Adam not to be rowdy around the sleeping baby but he wouldn't listen.
As punishment, he's been made to cajole a wailing Ashton.
He tried patting him, didn't work, so he leaned forward to plant a sloppy kiss on his little brother.
Ashton looks peeved and ready to box Adam with his smelly mittens!

I swear when he's not being naughty (rarely), Adam is such a sweetheart.
He is so protective of his lil brother, which really melts me much.
I never expected such displays of affection from my child, but now I know we need to give our children more credit than they are due.
Adam, your Mama is so proud of you!

Monday, September 10, 2012

(More) Baby Ashton

Our special delivery: a gift from God.




a contented baby in luxury sheets

So... I've been sucked into a brutal routine of feeding, pumping, burping and diapering.
Fussing over this tiny baby, crooning him to sleep, relishing in his faint milky scent.
I nearly forgot how it feels like to have a newborn.
Thank you Ashton, for enabling me to fall head over heels all over again.
Throughout the span of my pregnancy, I often wondered how I could love another child as much as I love Adam. How am I going to share a love so profound when Adam has already occupied every molecule of my heart?
The moment I lay my eyes on you, I knew that the capacity of a Mother's heart knows no boundaries.

So do I love you both differently or equally?

Adam is rambunctious, Ashton is delicate.

Adam was a difficult baby - one who had problems keeping milk down, and had to be held upright for at least an hour everytime after a feed. If he stretched or so much as burped, milk would regurgitate out of his mouth and nose. It was scary for a first-time Mummy, and during his early days, Andy & I would just stare at him while he was sleeping just to make sure he was breathing.
I even kept a log book just to record how much milk he drank and how much he regurgitated.
I pumped hard & furious just so I could measure how much milk he consumed.
Then there was the colic. My best friends were Dentinox Anti-colic drops, Ru Yi oil and tummy binders. I always had them within reach, that was how obsessed I was.
Adam also had problems sleeping. First week of his life, he had day-night confusion and kept awake at un-Godly hours. After that was solved, we found out there was a bigger sleep problem awaiting us - nap time! There were days where he didn't nap!!
And we all know it too well - if a baby doesn't sleep, you don't sleep and not only that, you can hardly get anything done at all.
Adam was (and still is) demanding and over-indulged. Very typical of a first child. Ohh, the novelty and special feeling.

In comparison, Ashton is a much easier baby. He feeds and sleeps and poops like clockwork - predictable and oh-so-bliss. And due to Adam's presence, Ashton has to take the backseat and be contented just being part of all the Adam-ism. He also has to make do with Adam's hand-me-downs. Ashton is our last baby and I doubt we will go overboard with all those shopping and fancy gadgets again. I'm grateful and thankful that he doesn't care. And I also thank God for an easy baby, and pray for this to last.

If I said I loved my children equally, that would be both the truth and a lie.
Because in all honesty, I love them differently, but I also love them all the same.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Sunday with my boys

Is it because of my confinement, or is the weather really hot?
Anyhow, some bubbly bath is the highlight of the morning for my boys.

Are you ready to beat the heat?


I didn't teach this.


My punk baby!




I didn't think I could love any other child as much as I do Adam.
But now, I know I can.