Tonsillitis!

Jay just recovered from a 2 day viral fever and on the very next day Jo got the fever too. She was whimpering in our bed in the morning and I found out that she was burning up.

Having 2 kids, fever is no longer anything to be anxious about. So we just gave her paracetamol and monitor her. But by afternoon, her fever still has not subsided at all, so we took her to the GP at Mum's place. The doctor couldn't find any other symptoms, so he just prescribed her the usual fever meds and told us to go hospital if the fever doesnt go down.

2nd day and her fever is still here. At lunch time she (wouldn't? couldn't?) eat her lunch. Base on a hunch I used a flashlight and looked in her throat. It's red, swollen and covered in ulcers!!!! I'm not a doctor but it's obviously not an average case of sore throat!! My 1st guess was HFMD? And I worry because of Jay.

So after Jay fell asleep for his nap, Cobby watched Jay while I brought Jo to Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital A&E. Its a Saturday afternoon so most GP are closed. The A&E is packed!!

We waited for sooo long... There were posters everywhere asking non emergency cases to go to the GP instead. I was bombarded with guilt! But the GPs were closed and what if its HFMD?

When we finally saw the doctor she diagnosed it as Tonsillitis and gave her antibiotics.

It painful... you can't eat, you can't drink and you're in pain all the time. As a parent, you feel so helpless watching this happen to your child. But at the same time, the constant whining and resistance  to eat and drink is really driving me mad!!

I really hope she gets better soon. For both our sakes..

To be continued.....

Christmas at The Gardens 2014

Cobby needed to clear his leave days, so he took every Friday off till the end of the year. Today we went to Gardens By The Bay! We headed out after Jayden woke up from his afternoon nap and headed straight to the kids playground.



After they got all sweaty and sandy at the playground it was already almost 5pm, so we headed to the water play area. Cobby took over and accompanied the kids while I chill out.

It's fun playing in the water, but I hate the washing up part! No proper showering area for adults, and with such long hair, it's really mafan for me. So I gave it a miss and chill out on my chair instead. But it didn't last as the kids water area closes at 6pm, so at 5.30pm, they announced that they are closing and 6pm and switched off the water. Just like that! Some poor family just arrived and made the kids take off their clothes without realising that they are closed. I told them and they just looked so confused, expecting the water to turn back on anytime soon. haha.. poor kids were so disappointed!

By the time the kids washed up together with like 200 children screaming and shouting in a tiny communal shower area, it was already close to dinner time, so we headed to our favourite Italian restaurant there, Casa Verde. On the way there we saw the beautiful lights. I suggested we take some photos now or it would be too dark to see our faces later!

The Princess and the frog??? :)

Ok, let's go for dinner! Sometimes I feel like a tour guide. Bringing the people out for fun but at the same time, your mind is always working. Naps, snacks, play, washing up, take pictures and moving the crowd along to make sure they get fed on time. Not forgetting making sure they get home on time to wash up and bedtime!

The restaurant was right next to the picnic area, but for Christmas they surrounded the grass patch with brilliant lights and even "snow"! So pretty! MTV time!



When it started to "snow" I brought Jo out again but I didn't let her play with it. It's soappy bubbles! Not real snow ok? WOuldn't everybody get all soapy?? Eww.. Sorry I'm just too anal. Well I'm not alone. Cobby wouldn't even let Jay walk on the grass patch as it's all muddy from the wet weather. Haha..

After dinner we strolled around the Supertree Grove as they were having a Christmas wonderland event. There were stalls selling plants, chocolates, candles, crepes and even beer! All the while, Christmas songs were playing in the background while the Supertrees like up and blinked with the music. So festive!

I would love to stay longer but I having 2 young kids, I don't have the luxury. So we headed back to the car and along the way, marveled how beautiful the lights look in the dark.

Overall a very nice afternoon. The kids had their fun, we had a very good meal of delicious pasta and pizza (without needing to wait too long) and the Chirstmas event was enjoyable.

Singapore Science Centre Dec 2014

The school holidays are here again! I love this time of the year. Unlike childcare centres, Jolie's kindergarten do have school holidays. So since the kiddies will be at home all day, better plan some activities for them! I wouldn't put the Singapore Science Centre (SSC) down as part of our agenda because both kids are still a little too young to truly appreciate the information and knowledge when visiting the place. But SSC was having a Transformers 30th Anniversary Exhibition. So anybody who grew up watching Transformers cartoon and/or loved the Transformers movies would naturally want to check it out!

Mark Wahlberg......drooool.....

Ahem, anyway, it was quite exciting. We went, it was raining like mad, but we went anyway after Jayden had his nap. But when we arrived, we realised that it was already reaching closing time. ***SLAP FOREHEAD***!!!

Well... nevermind, so we went for dinner and came back next week. This time round we went early in the morning after breakfast! Man.. it's been years since we've been there and it was just as fun and exciting! There were lots of hands-on activities for the children to learn and play. But the 2 kiddies were so excited they were more interested in touching and trying everything than actually learning the science behind it. Hubby and I felt like little kids ourselves, wanting to try all the activities too. But we were too busy trying to keep track of the 2 kids, running around like sheep dogs herding 2 excited sheep.

Along the way Jolie saw this giant head and wanted to go inside. But it's actually a separate exhibit and we had to buy a separate ticket from the main entrance! So mafan!! So if you want to go to the Human Body Experience please remember to buy a ticket 1st!

I wanted to see the exhibit too so I went with Jolie while Jay and Cobby wait outside. WARNING! The exhibit involves climbing through tight spaces and it's dark with loud sounds. So small children or older folks may find it difficult to go through it. I find it thoroughly fascinating and fun but Jolie was quite scared and kept rushing me through all the organs without exploring anything nor giving me a chance to listen to the narrator! Sigh, waste money!! (oh btw, you go through the "body" and end up coming out of the anus! Haha.. so funny!)

So finally we got to the Transformers Exhibition. The front area was a little lame, with Transformers in different backgrounds. But the models weren't very detailed, so it was a little lame to me.

Jolie doing an Egyptian pose next to the "pyramid".

I know it says "no climbing" but nevermind lah, Jayden's so light anyway..

There was a laser game where you have to go through a maze of lights and see who completes it fastest with minimum contact with the lasers. (reminds me of Catherine Zeta Jones in Entrapment) So father and daughter gave it a go and they did pretty well!



There was also a multimedia light display which was quite mesmerizing.

There were 2 booths for people to take pictures with the Transformers but it was abit stupid as the resolution was so blur and the camera was too high! So most children had trouble taking the pictures. Duh...

Ok the only thing that was a little more impressive was the 7 metre tall Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee. I imagine that they would be this tall if they were real!

Unfortunately the kiddies weren't that impressed as the giant robots were forgotten the moment they spot the ball pool..

While the kids go crazy Cobby and I explored the vintage Transformers toys on display. I was transported back in time where my brother and I would play with some of this toys when we were kids. Imagine if we have kept the toys, we'll be rich! haha..

There were also many art and craft stations but we skipped that because it was almost lunch time. So we took some photos and left the exhibit.

Overall I was a little dissapointed by the Transformer Exhibition. I would have expected a little more for their 30th Anniversary? But what was really surprising was the cafe food at the Science Centre. It was surprisingly good! They got western food, but they also have chicken porridge for the little ones, which was surprisingly delicious! And I like it that there were more free scientific exhibits right next to the cafe. So the little ones can go play before and after food.

The Science Centre is some where you wouldn't go often, but everytime we visit we had a good time. I think when the kids are in Primary school, they would really benefit from a visit to the Science Centre. So maybe the next time would be a couple of years later? haha...

A Busy Saturday!

There's a Family Day organised by Cobby's unit on Saturday morning, so after breakfast we headed to Khatib Camp III and went inside the camp grounds for the every first time. First impression? Very... clean and neat.

The event was held inside one of the giant workshop and the activities were already in full force. After a short speech we were invited to sign on a poster. Upon closer inspection did I realised that Cobby had submitted a photo of our family at Comic Con! So it's a no brainer what he should write on the poster. (Well, it should be The Force is strong in this one, but it's ok)

Jolie made a beeline for the bouncy castle. After much bouncing, she settled down for some art and craft.



Someone told us there were games on the other side of the workshop, so we went to take a look. There were some simple games, so we just couldn't resist trying them!

There were also snack stalls like old chang kee, popcorn, candy floss and ice popsicle! Jayden never had one before so he wasn't too sure what to do with it. Watch jie jie!

Cobby was MIA cause he had to queue up to get his free Old Chang Kee goodies. It's free, so you can imagine how long the queue was! I had to babysit 2 excited monsters! They displayed some of the vehicles the work with and I was just amazed how little my kids look next to those huge machines!

There was ONE balloon sculpter that just stands there and made balloon sculptures one after another, non stop! The kids love him!

While Jolie was back at the bouncy castle, I queued up for her to get her a balloon. She asked for a flower bracelet, but I thought a flower wand was cuter. But when I gave her the wand she didn't want it and asked for a bracelet! Oops, a guess mother may not know best!? It's embarrassing cause I had to go back to the guy and queue up again for another sculpture. But the guy was very sweet. Not only did he gave her what she wanted, he even made one to match her dress! How thoughtful!

By the time we left it was almost lunchtime. But we skipped lunch as we had eaten so much junk food! Haha... But it was nice to see where Cobby spents most of his time. Didn't get to see his office as it was locked up, but we did walk passed it.

So we went home and after their nap we had to go out for round 2. Jolie still have her gym class, so after her class we went for dinner at Suntec, our favourite place, Peperoni Pizzeria. When we were heading back, we passed by a counter asking for people to write down their wishes for 2015 on the Marina Bay wishing sphere. I wrote down our wishes and Jolie insist on writing too, so I let her. :)

We quickly head back to Marina Square for The Pororo Christmas show and managed to get a seat inside. But we were abit late in getting the photo pass so no photo with the cast.

But the kids loved the show anyway!

After the show we headed home. Seemed like such a long day with so much activities! A fruitful day!

Just us girls

It's Tuesday, so I would usually bring the kids over to my Mum's place for dinner. But I've got something planned today! We went over to Mum's place earlier, let Jayden take his nap there and after he fell asleep, Jolie and I went swimming at SAFRA Yishun!

YEAH!

As you can see there was only a few persons swimming there. It's like our own private pool! Shiok ah! Somemore it was so bright and sunny. It was so much fun! It's been so long since I've been to a pool without Jayden. It's so much more relaxing without constantly watching him and him pinning for me when it's my turn to play with Jolie. It's 100% attention on Jolie and it was obvious she was loving it! We swam and joked and played in the water. It was so much fun..

After our swim we headed back. We walked towards the park opposite the SAFRA and was curious, so we checked out the viewing tower. I know there was a small park and reservoir there, which was just next to Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital. But I didn't know the park was so pretty!

>

It was just a few hours, but we had such a good time together, just us girls. Nowadays my attention is mostly on Jayden. Mainly because he's at an age where, if you turn around for just a minute, he would make a huge mess or get into trouble. Even if I want to give Jo some love and cuddles, Jayden would get all jealous! He would scream and shout and cry and try to get between us. I could insist on hugging Jo, but then the moment would be ruined by his tantrums. So spending some alone time with Jolie was a nice way for me to bond with my baby girl again. It feels good, and I must remember to do this more often. :)

Jolie's school concert 2014

Time flies and it's time for Jolie's school concert again. Jolie's K1 this year and like last year, the school was very mysterious about the performance. They asked the kids not to rehearse at home, so even when I asked Jolie to show me the dance, she did it very reluctantly. Anyway, this year my Mom came to watch the concert too. Sis was supposed to come but she forgot, so... there. Since everybody was coming, Jayden had to come along for the very 1st time too.

We headed out early to take breakfast after dropping Jolie off at school. After breakfast we headed to the school. The school say it's going to start at 9.30am so naturally many came early, hoping to chop a good seat. But at 8.45am we were still greeted by locked doors. There was a huge crowd outside the concert hall, young, old, children and babies, everybody was desperately fanning themselves and trying not to melt in the blistering heat. I was getting so frustrated! Everybody (including me) was all dressed up, now we're gonna look sweaty and oily and stinky. Why can't they let us go inside while they prepare!? ARGH!!!

Finally they opened the doors and we were welcomed with sweet sweet air con! I think everybody breadth a sigh of relieve as they made themselves comfortable in the air conditioned hall. Soon the heat exhaustion was replaced by anxiety as late comers have a hard time finding a place to sit. Thankfully we found a long row of seats just nice to fit all six of us.

I don't mean to be rude or anything, but the pastors and their speeches are sooo boring! At first we listened and nod, then we started to be distracted, then we wonder when was he ever going to finish, and... he's lost us. (Went to talk to other parents) When he finally wrapped up his speech there was a thunderous applause. I think everybody was just glad we can finally watch the kids perform!

Well the kids performed very well and we enjoyed watching (and commenting) all of their fancy costumes! Many looked quite nice and can be worn outdoors, like Jolie's, while others just looked down right silly! Jolie danced very well this year! Even other parents commented that she danced very well and know all her steps! *PROUD* Of course I had to be polite and humble and praised their kid too. But it was obvious she wasn't as good as Jolie! Hahaha!

Next year would have been Jolie's graduating year. I KNOW I'm sure going to cry because my eyes were already wet watching the K2 class in their graduation gowns THIS YEAR. And I don't even know them!! Oh dear, must remember to bring tissues next year. So that concludes the concert. After that we grabbed some snacks, which was awesome. Last year we only saw empty trays.. After that MIL and SIL went off and we ate lunch with Mom. A very fun day! Check out the photos we took and the main performance by Jolie's class. The finally 2 songs by the whole school wasn't shown as Jolie hidden behind many kids. No point showing.