Jayden CLAPS his hands for the first time on his own!

"I am grateful for all things that are showing up in my Life now....." This was a statement that I have penned down on my feelings at my facebook today. In my heart, I was telling myself to accept my son's condition wholeheartedly and be grateful for it.

Somehow, things just moved smoothly for my son, Jayden today. Today is a usual Wednesday afternoon for Jayden. He was supposed to be at school to do his speech theraphy and other learning activities. My son has always had mid-line issue. We have been trying to get him to clap his hands without success from 18 months onwards. He is currently 4.5 years old. During the circle time today when the children sang and did movement songs, my helper and his teachers witnessed for the time first time that Jayden clapped his hands on his own without prompting at the end of a song.

Jonathan and I are very excited with this achievement from Jayden . It's really a great milestone for him. Little by little he is progressing.

Jayden, you are indeed our little warrior. AHO! AHO! AHO!

Fulfilling A Simple Wish for a Dad who Leads A Simple Life

My mum had quietly told me over the weekend that my Dad wants to catch the local produced movie "Money Not Enough II". However, if you ask him to go on his own or with my mum, he will complain it's expensive.....taking into consideration those travel expenses and ticket expenses.

All this while, my Dad has always been a simple man. He eats simply, wore simply, never bothers to spend on himself. If he were to expend money on anything beyond his basic needs, it's always for his wife and children when we were young and now on his grand children when they came along.

Ever since his kidneys failed and had to be on 3-times weekly dialysis, he hardly can spend time on entertainment or travel. I had initially planned to bring him for a 1-day trip to Bintan early next month but he didn't want to go along with me and discourage me from bringing my kids there as they are still young. I know he just didn't want me to expend the money on him and he finds it better to use my children and that the place has alot of mosquitoes not wise to bring so young kids there.

I know his character. So if it is withing my limit and time , I will take him to where he wants to go since it hasn't been easy life for him these few years to go through the dialysis.

"Well, catching a movie is simple," I told my mum. "We can go with him ."

So on Monday 11 Aug, I pre-booked 4 tickets for GV-J8 4pm show to bring my folks and girl to watch this movie together since Jayden's school is off for the day after National Day Celebration.
So that leave the afternoon free for me to bring him on this "expedition"

It's a weekday movie hence ticket was not too expensive at only SGD7.50 per ticket. My dad enjoys the movie alot as there were dialogues in Hokkien and nice Hokkien song to go along in the background of the movie.

My 5-year olf girl, on the other hand, was asking the grandma for the translation of the movie for the Hokkien part as she is so used to English and Chinese conversation at home.

After the movie, we had our dinner at the food court there. Sherise also went to the amusemnet station next to the food court to play some driving machines. The grandpa had wanted to exchange some tokens for her but she told him she can just play as it is because she has phobia with any rides that is on the move.

I am glad to be able to work on a home-based business using the internet. I have been able to spend more quality time with my folks. They are getting on in years but my other siblings have limited time for them because of their own business or work. They have gone through alot to adopt and raised me to what I am today. I just want to repay them when they are still around.


Mama Serene
P.S: Want to know how I can earn a passive stream of income while being home with my children and folks, check this out www.whyworkathome.org/truehaven

A Homely Italian 8th Wedding Anniversary Dinner


Nestled in the eastern end of Singapore at Upper Changi North Road, we found this small , homely Italian restaurant Porta Porta that served authentic Italian food. The restaurant is run by the chef and his family. When we first entered the restaurant, we were welcomed by warm and cozy furnishing. Even my five-year old daughter commented that "This place is like a home".

I got the name of this restaurant from internet a few days back while searching for a venue nearer to our place to celebrate my wedding anniversary tonite. This is because I have requested that my mum to help me tend to the other two younger kids so that Jon and myself can have a small celebration of our own tonite. And she gave us a 3-hours off to settle our celebration. We cross checked our target with Makansutra manual, which gives it a 5 chopsticks rating out of 6, before deciding to take up the offer.

It was a very wise selection. We went for their special evening set dinner "Faite" . It costed S$48 per head and you subject yourself to "whatever, whatever, whatever" the chef cooked that nite. This is a 15-18 course sampler meal. We had no idea what he would prepare tonite, but we just make sure that there were not too much of creamy or cheesy stuff when we ordered since I was still recovering from my stomach flu. We also make sure there weren't raw food as Sherise will be sharing her portion with me. The waitress was also kind to check with us if there are any meat or food that we do not take.

For appetizers, we had home-made bread with 4 kinds of dips and vinaigrettes, deep fried bread with fresh tomatos toppings, seafood salad, baked eggplant (Sherise's favorite for it taste like lasagne's to her) and smoked cheese. Next came my favorite - fried green mussels with herbs and tomato sauce, chicken soup, For main course, we had pasta vongole, tuna spaghetti in tomato sauce, baked chicken with potato and herbs , seafood platter which is made up of fried buttered prawns and calamari, and lastly stewed lamb for the red meat entry. As for desert, we were served chocolate ice-cream and tiramisu cake tonite.

Overall, it was a dinner filled with curiosity in nice homely ambiance. My daughter was so excited with the "unknown" that stirred up her curiosity to try every single dish that was served. It's great to see her being so open to "foreign food" for the first time.

The bill for the night was less than S$120 for our table of 3. For a fine-dinning restaurant, this is within a reasonable price range. The food was also served at a right pace and the right temperature. We started our dinner at 7 pm and finish our dessert by 8.10pm.

Before leaving, we had our family photo taken as remembrance.

Mama Serene
P.S: Want to know how I can earn a passive stream of income while being home with my children, check this out www.whyworkathome.org/truehaven

So fulfilling!! 4 months at home beats 10 years working

How time flies? 4 over months have passed since I stopped working. It's been a very enriching life to be able to work at home and be next to my children. I have been blessed with so many wonderful events over the last 4 months.

Firstly, Jayden started creeping in April 08, 1 month after his 2-yr old birthday . Now he can pull himself to stand. Every morning when he wakes up , he will sit up on the bed himself and creeps towards the door himself. Before that, he always cried to get our attention to go to him to carry him out of his bed. This is really a great milestone for him. He has since discovered that he can do more with his mobility now . My kitchen drawers have been a great scavenger hunting ground for him to explore.

Secondly, Jeslyn our third child started creeping too. She started creeping too around the same time as Jayden at 6-mth old. All I can say about this girl is she is definitely a survivor. Her development was way ahead of her sister and brother. She didn't like cereal nor pureed fruits. So she join us in eating whatever we eat. She started taking mee sua, noodles, rice and apple sticks at 7-8 mth. We just let her eat anything that she attempted to try. Now she can chew apple sticks and baby biscuits on her own. It was totally different case for her sister or brother. I guess she's been trained early to self-feed because my maid always feed the older ones first before coming to her. So she got to bring food to her own mouth if she wants to eat anything.
In a way, it is much relief for us adult taking care of her.

Thirdly, I have been able to grow my alternative stream of income by working from home on the internet. The internet marketing system that comes with the business has allowed me to meet many new business partners from around the world who are like-minded. Many of these are people whom I do not know. It is indeed a brand new experience for me. In a way, I was very thankful for this opportunity to be able to stay at home to help my son in his therapy sessions while keeping myself occupied and coping financially with the income that I derived from it.

In addition, to prepare for my elder daughter's Primary-One enrolment next year, I have had the privilege to be able to do parent volunteer services at my desired schools of choice.
I actually volunteer for more than a school cause my area is a pretty new town and are populated with young couples having school-going kids. The two schools are all within 1 km of my address but they are both pretty hot picks in this area. How wonderful to be a Work-At-Home mum? I have the flexibility to dictate how I want to use my time. :)

Mama Serene
P.S: Want to know how I can be home with my children and still have income flowing in, check this out ----->>>> www.WhyWorkAtHome.org/truehaven

Jayden's First Separation from Mummy since birth
The Culprit - HFMD

Jayden is currently down with hand, foot, mouth disease, diagnosed on Saturday 24 May. As this is a very contagious disease, his paediatrician advised me to keep my other two kis separated from him.

I had to be rational to have him put up at my mum's place though I very much wanted to take care of him myself. If I don't recall wrongly, this is the first time he is away from me for so long. The last one was when I had to be hospitalized to deliver Jeslyn, even that is only 3 days.

As he need to be separated from the other two for 1 week, he can only return home this coming Sat. Much as I was upset with this arrangement but I had to remind myself that I am also a mother to Sherise and Jeslyn and their health condition must not be compromised particularly when Jeslyn is still being breastfed by me at 7 months old only.

I could only visit him when the other two are asleeped and after every visit I had to make sure I bath myself and changed my clothes before I hug or come into contact with the other two children back home.

Today I had Sherise with me so we stood at the gate to see him only. He looked much better. His rashes and ulcer had more or less stabilised and the antibiotics seemed to be taking effect. I had instructed my mum to give him lots of fluid and to keep him on usanimals and poly-c. My mum says his appetite is back. He ate any thing that they fed him and that meant his ulcers are no longer as painful as they were before. That more or less set my heart at ease.
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Jayden started to say "Ma" in March!!

It's was 30 Mar and the whole family was getting ready, dressed up to prepare to attend my sister. Jennifer's birthday celebration. I was putting socks and shoes for Jayden after his afternoon nap on his Japanese seat. When I was done with his shoes and ready to get up, he reached out both his arms and say "Ma.." for the first time of his life , signaling to me to carry him.

I was so happy for this is the first time in two years of his life that Jayden actually call me with an intention. I couldn't control the tears swelling up in my eyes at that instant for I have been expecting this since he was one year old but most of the time he just looked at me and smile. My decision to stop working and be home with my kids was really right thing to do. I saw him making so much improvement this month and am so contented and satisfied with his progress. He is able to crawl and move down the crawling track. He knows how to support with his hands whenever he sit too long and got tired without letting his whole body just toppled off like before.
In addition, he also attempted to talk and babble when he gets excited and happy.

Well Done Jayden!! Mummy is looking forward to see you walking before your 3rd birthday come along. Go! Go! Go!

I am FREE Today!!

Yes, I no longer need to account to anyone. I am FREE today!! I came back home yesterday bringing back all my mugs and personal photos and ornaments that I have displayed in my cubicle in my office. The feeling was mixed. I was quite sad to leave my collegues and subordinates afterall I have been with this company for almost 10 years but I was happy that I no longer have to wake up to a morning alarm to get ready to go for JOB and I can now be with my kids all day.

The happiest of all should be my children, no 1 being Jeslyn. Jeslyn is four months old now but ever seen I went back to work after my maternity leave, she has been rejecting bottle and refused to take in any milk fed to her other than her soother - Mum's nipples. She would cry herself to sleep and go without milk the entire half day while I was at work. My maid and mum , her primary care takers while I was away, couldn't do anything. I always need to rush back home, taking care not to overwork, for fear that she would be starved. NOW, she can finally with her mum all day.

I worked up my timetable yesterday night for this coming one month ,setting aside the timeslot for my business, my children, husband and parents. This is because I got to be very discipline now from this day onwards as my income will depend on the effort that I am going to put in for my business. Daily necessity is currently being taken care of by my husband, however, I will need to work on the business to generate extra for my own personal use. I still prefers to be self sufficient. Somehow, I do not like the feeling of relying on others.

I am happy to have a good start today. I gave my blog a new update and touch up. I make a commitment now to have more frequent entries to account to myself from this day onwards. :)

Entry by Mummy Serene