Just great!!

It's Kaylen's review this morning at the doctor's and he was certified that he has recovered from the dreaded HFMD! Little guy lost some weight, and it's very much the nightmare of my mom who kept on saying that she took so long to have him put on some weight, and see now, he lost it within days. Oh well, that's what you have with little ones. My mom is the sort that prefers his grandson looking like "marshmallow man" , but for me, just as long as he is healthy which is the most important. So i can just imagine what my mom is cooking for Kaylen today for lunch & dinner, surely something yummilicious.

At this moment, i'm just one happy person that my son is all well again, and yes a very mischevious one indeed. Oh well, boys will always be boys. As much as how much i prefer girls in the past, now that i have my little boy, i'm truly blessed to have him, and to me he is just as good. Many has asked when we will have our number 2, and that maybe number 2 could be a girl this time round (very much wished for by my dad who simply adores little girls and says that my number 2 is sure a girl), and jayce says he would like to have a girl as well. I'm not too stressed about the gender, it could be a boy again, we never know till number 2 arrives. To me, just as long as our baby is healthy, it's all i ask for. But in the meantime, don't think number 2 will come so soon. I just want to be able to spend more time with Kaylen now, and till he is much older (maybe 3 or 4) , we will start considering adding another member to our Lim family. It's just not happening yet, we're happy with the 3 of us now.

Today's a great day so far for me, and hopefully i have some time after Kaylen's gone to bed to work on a new layout. Feeling productive at the moment.

Till my next post, have a good day!

I have been scrapping

Yes, managed to complete 2 layouts during my chinese new year break at home. Here they are:-

Titled : Cherish Life Everyday

Journaling reads:-

Love that smile of yours Kay.

It never fails to make me smile

back at you. Don't ever stop

smiling dear cause i always

want you to be happy.

Love, mommy

Titled: Play Water

Journaling reads:-

See how much you love the water now.

You were initially so afraid of the

pool months ago, but just look at

you now.

Way to go Kaylen.

We're all on half day work today, and leaving soon for lunch with my colleagues at the boss aka my dad's house. So it's off to the scrapbook shop today with Jayce + Daiso our regular fix of stuff. Kaylen's with my mom today, and i will be seeing him before his afternoon nap later.

Have a good day!

At 20 months...

We love the time we have with kaylen, watching him play, and as he grows up so quickly, and developing so much more of his own character, we always find ourselves telling each other "we cannot believe that our baby is now so big"?? At 20 months, kaylen is :-

• starting to know what he wants, and is discovering the power of "scream". it's an headache when you get him screaming, and shortly after screaming he tells us by patting on his chest that he is afraid.


• starting to say a few more words than 1 month back. We're getting - bye bye, car, bar (for barney) & ball.


• showing more of his emotions as he begins to understand what he is watching on his usual barney or bob builder shows

And being parents for the past 20 months, we've learnt to;-

• think further ahead in life, and about how our actions would affect kaylen somehow


• take sacrifices cause it's not about just the 2 of us anymore, it's more about us as a family.


• putting kaylen first when we make any family decisions
• to treasure the precious time we have with each other, and with our little guy and time passed are memories kept forever so it's important to not to take things or people around us for granted
• be more responsible (not that we are irresponsible adults, but with a little guy whose always watching our actions & conversations, we are more careful now) with our actions

This parenthood thingy is much more than all those i mentioned, it has made me think more as a person cause i have a little one to bring up, and always thinking about how my son would turn under our guidance as it's not my dad's days where me or my brothers turned out not too bad as adults, having proper teenage days, and practically our parents didn't have too much a headache bringing us up. So with children at Kaylen's generation, it's a totally different story with the world they are now exposed to , and the influences around us, but one thing for sure, i'm bringing my son up the way my parents and grandparents taught us through. With our family believes which has been passed down from my grandpa days, and what my dad has taught me about life, all these i'm passing them on to Kaylen. Both me & jayce has very different upbringing, and 2 people from very different family styles, so sometimes it's challenging as to how we want Kaylen to be brought up cause we don't always agree. It's not something bad, but we have loads of thinking at times before we decide on what to teach kaylen. Mind blogging at times but why think so much (my brother would agree to say that I think far too much or bother too much, and he would always say to me "just let kaylen be") cause being parents is such a fun process seeing that our little one now is practically copying our every single movement or sound we make. We have our fair share of "why he is behaving like this" or "how should we go about..." or "what if it is like this...", endless at times.

Oh well, i'm having fun being a parent, and that's what matters most.

Just love it

Chiling out at home during the festive seasons is just simply great. I get to spend loads of time with Kaylen (we see his little red dots disappearing, and for the blistered ones they are turning dark red today, and appetite improving), and i know he loves having both me & jayce around cause frankly speaking it is only during the Chinese New Year that we get time off from work to just be with him. It's a good 4 days at home with him that matters most to me, and once we start work again, it's not easy to have time away from work cause it's back to busy busy days again. Time flies, and the 1st month of the year is coming to an end, and in early March i will be away for a good one week to Frankfurt, and it's winter time there which i dread. So much to do and prepare when I return back to work, and i'm so looking forward to having February come round.

You know what i did for the half of today which starts today at 8am (i'm lucky that Kay slept a little longer this morning, and i was up till 3am scrapping!! You heard me, I WAS SCRAPBOOKING, finally!). I made pancakes this morning for the boys, and Kay wanted the part of stiring the mix, and in the end i had to give him the whole pancake mix to keep him occupied (with jayce watching over as he stirs) while i made another bowl of mix.

Yummy pancakes which Kay loves time to time,

a break from softmeal bread & cheese (his all time favourite) or

cereal

After breakfast & bathe time, it's off to kaylen's own playtime, and this time it's with daddy's handphone which is still charging away.

Then it's play in his room with the picture cards with daddy.

It's on to laying down for awhile (these days with the HFMD, kids gets tired easily, and he was slightly slowing down at about 10plus this morning already which he usually doesn't)

And now as he naps (almost 1 hour already, and hopefully he sleeps more to rest and gets well), i get my own me time, and planning on some scrap later on, and surf some of my favourite scrap sites). I simply love the new year holidays. We start on Thursday again, but only for half a day (it's tradition for us to have lunch at the boss's place, and so i have a good half day to spend with kaylen again), so officially work seriously starts for us on Friday which for me has been a good complete 1 week break. It's simply more time for everything.

Here's a peek at what i created last night...+ yes some handwritten journalling which sometimes i wish i had a printer at home, cause i hate my handwriting. Seems to spoil the LO, but what the heck, it does make it my own LO orginal afterall. Needed a happy cheery LO after last week's hectic & stressed out episode.

I'm off, and be back again with more stuff tomorrow...have a happy tuesday guys & thanks for coming by. xoxo

Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!

Warm chinese new year greetings to all, and i'm truly touched to all you gals, Yati & Pooi for sending us regards to Kaylen, and he is now so much better although he does look droopy eyed at times, and tired out easily. Definitely still loads of rest as we go into Day 3 of this dreadful disease. He is due to have a review by his doctor this Friday, and as i read that even with the symptons of HFMD gone after 1 week, the virus is still within his body and he is still able to pass this to anyone. So it's no playgroup, no public/crowded places for the next 2 to 3 weeks. Would very much not want any parent within our control to have their kids going through what we had just gone through. I know this HFMD is so common here, but one can never be too careful to monitor our little one's condition (even with the fever gone, the dotted rash not appearing anymore, and ulcers getting better). This episode surely taught me to be extra careful with Kaylen's personal hygiene of having to wash his hands every time he is home, before food and after playgroup (we are already very careful to ensure that we wipe his hands, but this still happens), and as he loves to have his fingers in his mouth once he has his fave pillow, we should be even more cautious.

So, 1st day of New Year started at 7.15am for me, having to prepare in advance Kaylen's lunch before we leave home for family visits to my dad & my in-laws. The rest follows:

• 8am - Kaylen is awake (after 4 nights of crankiness, finally last night he managed to slept through the night from 8.30pm till 8 am this morning
• 8.30am - Kaylen getting ready to leave the home for CNY visiting (only going to my dad's & inlaws, and no where else, we're going to be home quarantined this year). Managed to take some photos with Kaylen in our new clothes
• 9.00am - at my dad's place, Kaylen having his breakfast at grandpa's, and off to great-grand ma's home which is less than 5 mins away
• 9.10am - no one is up yet at granny's place, we hanged around, and kaylen was having the time of his life palying with the bowl of melon seeds....
• 10.45am - at my in-laws place for a vegetarian breakfast along with my parents, and kaylen is starting to get very sleepy
• 11.45am - back home at Punggol with my parents , feed kaylen quickly , bathed him, and had him take his nap at 12.30pm.

So as i blog away, both kaylen & jayce is fast asleep, and till he gets up (hopefully he sleeps till 3pm), i hope to be surfing my favourite blogs (haven't done that for 2 days already), and even though stuck at home most of the Chinese New Year, i figured out i would have more time for scrapping which i did not manage to start yesterday. My stuff are all packed & neatly tugged away. We don't usually decorate for the Chinese new year (i'm more of a X'mas person), so i have these at home to get me into the new year mood.

These "huat" cakes are in brightly coloured orange, and a lovely pumpkin
Manage to get these pretty coloured Mu Dan flowers this year

And lastly, our photo shots with Kaylen, which Jayce has gotten the "better" look of Kaylen
It was only 8plus in the morning, and just look at Kaylen's face!!! Not feeling too happy.Oh well, have yourself & your family a great new year ahead!!!

My Day

I'm still coming to terms that my lil guy has HFMD, and i really appreciate all my friend's concern about kaylen, and i know in no time, he will be well. Day 2 on how kaylen is doing seems better. Fever has gone since last evening, and till now there seems to be no signs of it coming back. Some of his red dots had started this morning to form into blisters, we saw more ulcers on his inner lips & tongue, and more little red dots appearing at his lower part of the limbs. Oh how i wish time will just speed by quickly so that he can be feeling much better, and gone are the spots & blisters are gone for good.

Kaylen has definitely been very cranky lately as a result, and the fact that he does not want to eat as much as he wanted to is tough to see, and him not being able to sleep properly right through the night without awaking and crying madly and not knowing what he wants is just tough for us, his grandparents and everyone else. We will be going back home to Punggol tonight cause my mom needs a break, 3 nights without having enough rest, and looking after him when i work is tiring for her. Now that his fever has gone, it would be much easier. We just have to be more patient as we feed him, encourage him to take more liquid. i got to take stride that as my boy grows, and goes to school in the future, him falling ill is something we cannot control. We can only take precaution as in his hygiene of washing hands after coming in from the outdoors, and before meals. We can only ensure that his daily meals are of healthy and balance, and loads of liquid during bad weathered & hot days & making sure that he gets tons of love from us which always makes everything better.

I tried to take my mind of for awhile, and has been days since i last scrapped, or blog surfing, or even had the mood for anything Chinese New Year. Even our spring cleaning took a stand still since Wednesday, and with us going back last night to clean up the whole place, we actually have not much to do to complete before the Chinese New Year. We're just looking forward to going back to our own home.

Manage to stumble upon October Afternoon's new blog, and am loving their latest ranges which i figure would be shown during the CHA Winter fair which starts in Anaheim on the 26th, and waiting eagerly as our LSS brings in all the latest series from a list of my favourite scrap brands, and one of which is OA. Here are few of my fave PP from OA's latest series - "Ducks in a row" & "Cherry Hill", simply cutesy.

Like all who's celebrating the new year, it's going to be all about family. I get to take a break from a super hectic week at work clearing up before we take a one week break, and from a super stressed mid week of Kaylen falling ill, and now with him feeling slightly better, i'm hoping that my week with Jayce & kaylen will be well spent at home, enjoying each other's company, and nursing Kaylen back to health again.It's just going to be a quiet week next week for us. I hope to be able to catch up with scrapbooking which i missed out the whole of last week. We'll see how it goes, i've started partially on Valentine's Day gift for my office colleagues (it's going to be a group photo of us at the Pulai Spring for our company annual dinner, and something they can hang if they like), and then for few of my close friends V Day cards, so it's actually loads to do till this very special day which i love. Oh i love February!!!

Till then, have a good week end ahead, and stay happy!!!

My Son has...

Hand Foot & Mouth Disease (HFMD)!!! What are th odds that for a lil one who seldom goes out, to playgroup once a week, and no where else, he actually got it, and seeing my baby being down with high fever, and painful sore ulcers in his mouth since 2 days ago, and now covered with little red spots, just made my heart sank. All mommys out there would most likely feel the way i do, and it pains for me to see that he is not as lively, not much smiles, and you can see his discomfort on his face.

It doesn't help that Chinese New Year is only 2 days away, and us Lim's would most likely be staying home through the whole of the Chinese New Year period. Oh well, not much of a choice. We just hope that with each day passing, Kaylen would recover from those nasty ulcers, with his fever subsiding as i speak ( i hope it does not come back again for good). It would be liquids and more liquids for him as i did my own mini research about this dreadful sickness that plague little ones,and all parent's nightmare. So you can just imagine the mood i'm having now and the rest of the family.

Get well soon Kay, mommy will always be loving you, and be by your side during the whole time. I've not slept well for 2 nights already, and since i'm not going to be going out this Chinese New Year, it doesn't matter that i have myself panda eyes...

So here i am wishing all an earlier " Happy New Year", and with the new year, may you all be blessed with good health & prosperity all year round!!!

You've been picked...

Oh how i wished that i had a RAK for each & everyone of you, and thanks for taking the time to visit my blog, and leaving me with precious comments. But not to worry as i'm sure that very soon, i will have another round of RAK giveaway after having to organise all my scrap supplies. Not being able to display all my supplies, i tend to miss out of some lovely stuff as i scrap. So stay tune. Not to keep you all waiting, here are my pick of gals to receive the RAK below. Please sent your mailing address to : tanyinwen@gmail.com, and i will have the RAKs send out very soon to you.

This RAK below goes to : Ms Heather Prins

This RAK goes to Ms Eebing

This RAK goes to Ms S@lene aka Yati

Off to dabble with my scrap stuff ( i guess it's sorting patterned paper time now), before we head out this evening to the Night Safari with Kay. It's his 1st.

Have yourself a great Sunday!!

Clean Away

With Chinese New Year only 1 week away, our household is going crazy. You would think that with only myself. jayce & kaylen, how messy can our home be??? Surprise, we can get rather chaotic at home with our mess, and i would very much like to add that it's mostly my stuff. Jayce is the one who has very little mess, and you can imagine what we'll be doing throughout this weekend. As i blog away, jayce is clearing out one of the cupboards, and i overhead him telling Kaylen "ask mummy if she has anything to throw". I guess i have loads and we are only 40% through our household spring cleaning, and we made it a point that we would be completed by this friday.

I have the pleasure of having both my guys with me today at home, and with me & kaylen around, jayce is never able to get anything done around the house. It's either kaylen tagging behind him as he vacuums (kay has this love hate relationship with the home's vacuum cleaner), or its mummy asking jayce questions on whether if this is done yet, or can you help me get something while i do something else....

With me goofing around as kaylen has his afternoon milk, it's no wonder that jayce has to stop what he is doing to help take some photos of us.....

i'm officially in charge of my scrap desk ( that's what jayce says i better concentrate on organising, and it's my nightmare that my scrap area was looking like this huge mountain of everything about 3 hours ago when i took the picture, and not much has lessened since then). And as i plough & scratch my head, i side tracked to put together another 2 RAKS for tomorrow's giveaway. Would very much like to share cause i just have too much of the supplies, and i know for sure someone out there is able to do justice to these pretty scrap supplies of mine. So take a look below of the additional 2 more RAKS which i will give away in tomorrow's pick. 3 lucky people will be chosen tomorrow.

Where do i start???

This RAK among it has lovely rub ons from Cosmic Cricket, limited edition Studio Calico clear stamp

which i have not used at all + whimsical birdcage chipboards from My Little Shoe Box

Another RAK among it has rub ons from Cosmic Cricket + Prima chipboards + Floral clear stamp by Rhonna

Farrer (Autumn Leaves)

Have a great weekend ahead guys!!!

I'm so waiting for this...

New releases by Cosmic Criket, and series which i'm sooo going to get when they hit the shelves at our local scrapbooking stores. Of the new series, love the ones below - "Girl Friday" & "Lil' man" as it's suited best for my good pals & my little guys whom would be great to work with such yummilicious paper designs.

Till my next post, stay happy & hope your week has been great so far!!

I'm inspired to create this

A few days back i stumbled upon loads of lovely mosaics from reading one of my favourite bloggers, and from the mosaic which i love best, i created this piece of LO. Titled : Just wait one minute okay? (documenting Kaylen's photoshoot just in order to get a decent passport photo). A memorable moment to scrap about. Following the colour scheme (which i realise that my scrap supplies are all mostly about these colour combination. Here's my take, and am just loving how kaylen is staring back at his Uncle Yang Lee just for that 1 minute.

By the way, the cardstock which i used was of light baby pink, but it turned out white

from the scan.

Journaling reads:-

To take your picture just for your passport was

certainly not easy. Uncle Yang Lee took ages

and after so many zillion shots, this picture was it.

Phew!

The mosaic which i picked to have my inspired layout

My remaining days till the end of this week are as busy as ever, with another group of suppliers to go, i'll be able to tie up loose ends for the year (as in the lunar year), and with another 1 month to go, i'll be off to Frankfurt for 1 week business trip, and it's where i'll be missing my little guy once again.

Creating small talk

This is what my conversation with Kaylen is like whenever i try to have him say something:

me : Where is kaylen??
kay : "slient", looking back at me, and patting his chest
me: Where is mummy?
Kay: thereeee...
me: Where is daddy?
Kay: thereee...., then followed by his baby talk of which only he understands

Above is about as much as he says to me at the moment when i ask him questions. Most of the time, it's just me talking away....

Still awaiting till the day i get more words out of him.

My RAK giveaway is still open till the end of this week, so drop me a comment, and i will be annoucing the RAK's owner by this Sunday.

Just a regular Monday for me

I woke up this morning asking myself "what day is it today?", was yesterday Sunday? I had to think for 1 second, and then realising that i got to get up and get to work. It's usually like this when i go from the weekends to a work week. I guess some of you out there would also go through the same Monday mornings as i do.

Yesterday's renioun went well for everyone except for me. I had a bloated tummy in the midst of enjoying dinner, and with a screamy little boy whose sitting right next to me, and kept on pulling at my hand to hook onto his hand, it's not really helping my discomfort at all. Felt sick, can't stand upright, and just needed to rest.

Talking about screamy little boys, we are noting that for the last 1 week, Kaylen's morphed into another stage of his little life where he doesn't want anyone of us (including my parents) to be separated from him. We have all to be TOGETHER. Once anyone walks away or gets down the car, he would burst into tears, followed by goooey mucus....oh man!!! He gets whinny too whenever we leave for work. I guess as he approaches 2 in the next 4 months, i would be seeing more of his own personality, and being very Kaylen. Also many tells me about the "Terrible 2" stages of toddlers. Hmmm i'm just awaiting to see how he would turn out to be???

Worked on a family LO taken recently at my brother's ROM in Dec, love the photo cause it's just tough having to take a family picture when most of the times, Kaylen wants to be down on the ground running about. So, i'm glad our pictures turns out well (you can already see Kaylen pouting at the fact that the photographer took some time to take our shot).

Title: With Love,

Remember i told you guys that i was going to organise my scrap supplies? During which i came across some of the scrap supplies which i have not used (from rub ons to stickers, to flowers etc), so i decided to put together 1 RAK which i'll like to give away to anyone who would like to have them, and put them to good use. So just leave me names, and by this weekend, I'll make a pick.

Here's the RAK which i'm giving out

This week would most likely fly past quickly cause i'm having overseas suppliers visiting, and by the time i'm done with them, it's weekend again. So till my next post, have a good week!