You can see he’s delighted with his work of art!

Happy mid-week everyone!

Daddy asking Xi En: M is for ___  ?

Xi En: M …… ermmm…..

Daddy: M is for Macdonald’s!

Xi En: Errmmmmm….. M is for Mummy!

Daddy: Macdonald’s!

Xi En: Mummy Mummy Mummy!!!!!!

I love my boy and his loyalty towards Mummy over Macdonald’s!

No french fries stand between us hey.

Oh….I just remembered M is for MONDAY too….

Hope your day won’t be too blue!

Wonder if things could have been different if the actions were different. And that leads to regrets and “if-onlys”…

Many wise men said not to live life with regrets; make everyday count, look forward and not backwards and etc…. but how often on a blizzard cold morning like this.. one just felt like reflecting on the past; allowing these few moments to look back. Possibly dwelling the past is different from reflecting on the past, ya?

Recent bout of bad news didn’t help the insomnia.

Life is so fragile.

So fragile.

When such thoughts arise, I steal a kiss from my boy and give him a oh-so-tight hug.  I am thankful for my once-so-fragile little life.

Getting off to work soon – on a sleep-in Sat.

Life is good because of decisions you made.

Starting the weekend with a new Chinese song my little life learnt recently.

Such melodies stored in my phone are like energiser in my life.

“pulling-the-carrot”

When you become a mummy, you love taking photos even more!  Kim got me a light-weight camera with DSLR photo qualities!

Just want I need… can’t imagine lugging a full-on DSLR along when I need to run after a toddler!

One review said that this is for the soccer-mummy who wants interchangeable lens with more power but is afraid of too many buttons and a complicated interface. Sounds like moi.

Everything is made simple with this camera.

We tested the camera and it’s amazing! Yet to test out the DSLR functions. Just the regular auto, scene and art modes.

These are the day shots:

A very unwilling pose:

That’s a wide yawn! watch the files!

with Mummy:

with Daddy:

Indoor shot (taken by Po Po):

Dressing up at the library:

We were at ilight Marina Bay last weekend to test out the night shots.

Night photos turned out decent.. but could be better with a tripod of course..

The “Wonder full” light and water show for the night. Very entertaining for both young and old.

One of my favourite shots of the night:

Another lovely shot:

The stickmen in normal mode:

The stickmen in pop art mode:

One of the few night portraits  which turned out alright…

Overall, very satisfied with the new camera!

Remembered an article written by a journalist-mummy last week. She said that grandparents are busy being surrogate parents while the real parents are probably just part timers! Quite true.. And after coming back to a 9 to 6 job.. I am feeling this even more.

It’s a choice. & I have chosen otherwise.

Praying Xi en will settle down well in school real soon so my guilt can be lessen… somehow….

Decided to make this blog look like mine.

Now the link to this blog will be http://evespiration.com/

Evespiration : What inspires her/eve ….. The blog’s name came about after some nights of dreaming what tagline to use. It’s a little cheesy but otherwise useable.

Hope my readers will like this and do leave a comment when you dropped by. Bloggers need comments to write on. Thanks!

2nd thing we did today – Flew a kite at Marina Barrage.

Today….. I learnt how to fly a kite! Don’t laugh. It looks easy but it ain’t that easy!

Kim and I struggled for a while before we could get the kite up in the sky. I learnt that one was supposed to wind back the strings and let go at critical stages when the wind blew.

Totally life lessons.

It’s all about giving and receiving.

It’s all about let Go and let God.

It’s all about letting the hurts, pains, regrets of the past years fly up in the sky and worry no more…..

It’s easy said than done of course. But we all live on don’t we.

Anyhow, I just realised today how refreshing flying a kite can be……

2012, here I come!

I met a mummy in an online forum who contacted me after hearing about our story. 

I have asked E to share her story so we can go on encouraging other mummies who might be in a similar situation. Mummy E is an amazing woman who endured it all for her baby boy, Joel.

“ This is a long testimony that I want to share how Jesus protected my pregnancy, baby Joel who was born 3 months premature. Both my husband and I pray for a second baby. I was confirmed pregnant in Nov’10 and was advised to go through amniocentesis test due to my age. The procedure was done at the 4th month of pregnancy. My water bag leaked on 21 Feb, that was 17th week of my pregnancy. I rushed to hospital and was immediately admitted due to womb infection.

In the first few days of hospitalization, my gynae put me on anti-biotic drip to bring down the infection. Things started to look better when my infection marker dropped. Alas, when I was looking forward to discharge, my water bag burst. What I thought would be a short stay turned out to be a nightmare of long hospitalization.

My gynae took ultrasound scans on my womb and told me that my amniotic fluid was very low. Normal range of Amniotic Fluid Index (AFI) is range 8-18cm but mine was lower than 2cm. My condition was known as Preterm Premature raptures of membranes (PPROM). The condition then was very unfavourable for my baby as the amniotic fluid is critical for the lungs development during the 2^nd trimester. The low fluid environment would also affect the physical developments of the baby.

My gynae painted a very bleak outcome for my baby and advised me to abort the baby. “This is a baby that you would not want.”, was the exact words he used. Through all this while, the baby heart beat is very strong. It seems that we are being placed in an impossible situation. The gynae told us that there is no effective method to patch the leak and we can only leave it to fate. His advice was to stay in complete rest, drink more water and hope for the water bad to reseal itself and the amniotic fluid to increase.

We cried to God and pray everyday for the water bag to heal and amniotic fluid to increase. However, the ultrasound scans would disappoint us every time. Apart from this, we were also worried about the rapidly increasing medical bills. Despite having bought all forms of hospitalization benefits, the insurance company refuse to pay a single cent due to their strict definition of what constitute an “approved” condition for pregnancy complication.

Things did not improve and we made a decision to transfer to KK hospital subsidized ward due to financial concern. The first doctor who visited me in the ward had also advised abortion and when told we want to keep the baby, he said “God bless”. Through the stay in KK, my amniotic fluid remains less or equivalent to 2cm. We searched the Internet for any recipe that would help to increase the amniotic fluid, but none was useful. The team doctors advised me to abort on several occasions. They gave the ultimatum on the 24^th week of pregnancy as that was the last week allowed for legal abortion.

Both my hubby and myself put our trust in the Lord, believing that my baby will not be due so early. We thank God that Jesus has the final say over my situation, Jesus had come to give my baby life and life more abundantly. Though there were times we were battling with emotions and bad thoughts, but deep in our hearts we knew that this baby is from God, therefore Jesus will take care of it!

At my 27^th week of pregnancy (30 Apr), I had placenta abruption and had to immediately undergo a crash caesarean to bring out my baby; he was 3 months premature!

He weighed 970g and was immediately sent to NICU. He was discharged from KK after 4.5 months stay. We named our baby Joel.

It was not a smooth stay for Joel either. Due to prematurity, he was diagnosed with a condition known as Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA), hernia and weak lungs. He required extra oxygen for breathing for most part of his stay.

God had amazingly healed and restored Joel’s body and growth. Joel’s heart PDA closed up, the hernia operation was successful. Joel had also successfully weaned off from tube feeding and was able to go on full bottling.

I brought Joel for a recent doctor appointment and their comments were that Joel didn’t look like a preemie, his growth is above average compare with his peers and he is very responsive! Today he weighs 5.7kg, praise God! We give all the glory to our Lord Jesus!

Indeed it is Jesus’ finished work and His precious blood that we are protected from power of darkness, sickness and diseases. He placed us in the right place at the right time to have victories in our lives, victories over our situation. Though there were times of ‘why’, but Daddy God is faithful and He loves us despite of our mortal reasoning. Jesus blood has always protected my baby and my family members. Although the 10 weeks stay for me and 4.5 months stay for my baby were dark but praise to God, those days were temporary! Joy comes in the morning!! Psalms 30:5 And this joy is forever!! Whenever I look at my baby Joel, I can feel that this is really a gift from heaven. Joel smiles alot too

I would like to attach Joel’s pictures, on the day he was born weigh 970g, tube feeding and a recent photo.”

“ He had made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end”  Ecclesiastes 3: 11 (NIV)