ALL TIRED OUT

I'm tired. Because Jonathan kept waking up with the runny cum stuffy nose and loads of drooling cos it was hard to breath and swallow saliva at the same time. Me - never mind. I'm only concern for Jonathan cos he's more tired than me. Black rings appearing under his eyes.

I think this is the longest flu he's ever had. Most times, he recovers within one/2 days. This one happened on Sunday afternoon.

This morning, after he fell into deep sleep from his wake-n-sleep episode that lasted for one hour, I couldn't sleep. So at 6am, decided work on the flex material for some t-shirts I'm going to print on soon.

Nice and quiet, except for the chinese music from the park downstairs while a group of elderly ladies do their morning exercise. Tempted to join them but didn't want to tire myself especially when Jonathan wakes up ... although I know exercise might refresh me a little.

It's passed the afternoon. Brought Jonathan to see the doctor again this morning, after last night's doctor's diagnosis didn't work. Hopefully this new medication will stop the runny nose.

I long for the all-through-the-night-sleep again.

Thank you Jesus for answering my prayers. More importantly that Jonathan be well again.

TEE-SHIRT FOR HOON

Printed this for Hoon. Based on the verse from John 15:7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."

IT FLU BACK

What flu back was the flu that left last week. Jonathan's nose started being stuff Sunday afternoon and by evening, he wasn't feeling good already.

It doesn't help that the weather is so erratic. What made it worst is that we just had to turn on the air-condition because it's totally unbearable in this heat to fall asleep no matter how tired we are.

And the fact that my 15 year-old air-conditioner changes it's mood even though we set the temperature for the correct cool. Sometimes we set at 23 degrees, it feels like 28 degrees throughout the night. then suddenly it will dip and 23 degrees feels like 18/19 degrees.

Siow! So it happened last night. Jonathan woke up with his hands, legs and nose cold as ice and the mucus level escalated. Gave him medication and that didn't stop him from waking and sleeping in this pattern for the next 3 hours!

No school teacher .. who promptly told me it's ok...no need sorry...take care.

7.5, 10, 30

That's the measurement of medication I gave to Jonathan today. He caught the sniffles again last night. That's probably due to the air-condition. A chain of events:

1) It's very hot! turn on air-condition
2) Stuffy nose starts
3) Give medication.
4) Health improve, give multi-vitamin + C to boost immune system
5) Starts constipating
6) Give fruit juice
7) Doesn't agree with stomach
8) Cycle starts from #3.

Any ideas to help improve this situation? Greatly appreciated.

FINALLY MET THEM!

Finally met Valeria and Rachel today! We were supposed to meet on Friday but Valerie and Rachel had shopping to do which they could not finish {more Valerie actually who just couldn't stop buying haha!}.

This morning, I went down to meet them and shop (more!) with them at Spotlight.
I'm glad I caught them before they left for home. See you again soon ladies!

{from left} Valerie, Rachel & me

Finally got to meet Rachel {a scrapbook artist}

Helping Valerie to pack cos she had loads of purchases!

Valerie bought me this yummy papaya pickle. Love it! Chilled it and it's yummalicious!
{She actually bought a tub for herself and finished it all at one go!}

T-shirts I printed for them.

{above} for Rachel

{above} for Valerie

{above} for Penelope ... her blog header

For Scrap-n-Crop {hopefully to be in the store soon :) }

DEAR JONATHAN

My new friend May wrote a letter to her daughter, Vera, who has Trisomy 18. She has just turned 14th month old yesterday.

So i decided to do the same ... not because Jonathan turned 12 yrs, 2 months and 17 days today, but because of what happened this morning.

Dear Jonathan,

You woke up this morning at 5am, soaking wet at the waist from the leaked diaper.

You called and you called but I didn't notice it because I only slept at 3.30am this morning. But when I woke up after you touched my face, I found out that your pajama trousers were wet.

I regret not coming to you sooner, even when I was just lying next to you. You must have felt uncomfortable but thankfully, your pajama top was not very wet.

I changed you in the early hours of the morning and as usual, after waking you couldn't go back to sleep. You needed me and both of us drifted slowly back to sleep.

This morning it was difficult getting up, but I managed when the alarm went off at 7.15am. Read the devotional {which I can't even remember in my sleepy stupor} but managed to shower and got ready.

You woke up with the slightest movement and even though you were sleepy, you didn't go back to sleep again thinking I would return to your bedroom. It was daddy who went to you so you could catch a few more shut-eyes before it was time to go to school.

You were very tired and I tried forcing you to go to school. You whined and I still forced to you get up. You cried and I still said you had to get changed. You didn't wail. Just silent tears that rolled down from your eyes.

Why did I insist that you go to school today? It's because of the numerous times you have missed school. We go to school for one day and then events happened that prevent us from going for the rest of the week.

I felt guilty that you were missing out ... I felt guilty that the teachers and therapists were missing you ... I felt guilty that, you, not being in school was disrupting alot of things ... I just felt guilty.

Most of all, I felt guilty that I had to enforce it on you because of how I felt.

In the end, when I took you in my arms, you fell immediately into a deep sleep. That was how tired you were ... and all I thought of was my own feelings and the feelings of others and not yours. I cried silently so as not to wake you, thankful that I made the decision to let you stay home.

Today, mommy made a mistake. Things happened beyond our control. I shouldn't have been angry with GOD too. I took things too seriously.

You are a great child and I'm thankful to God for your lovely nature. You love me and daddy so much that you don't ask for much. Even today when I asked if you wanted a toy, you said no. Not only today but almost every time when we want to buy you something.

You are just you and we love you for that.

Mummy will be even more sensitive to your needs.

Love Mummy

PINK NAIL WITH A PURPOSE

Stubby hand ... but I'm showing off my pink nail that was painted by Hazel Menon on Monday 20th April.

The ever bubbly Hazel Menon from Immanuel Beauty School was so kind to come down to Jonathan's school to assess some teenage girls on their co-ordination skills. Reason being .. perhaps maybe some of the girls will have the potential to attend a nail technician course so that she can make it her career when she graduates from school.

{NOTE: Immanuel Beauty School offers courses to teenage girls who drop out of school or from girls' homes.}

So ... it was a pink nail with a meaningful purpose!

It was fun {for me}. I got to be the "helper" and gave Hazel another pair of eyes to observe the girls. The cute thing was all of them had already trimmed their finger nails so they could not really practise filing nails on each other! LOL!

I learned a trick or 2 about nail care. Besides having my finger nail painted pink {which incidentally ... after we left school ... I realised I don't have a nail polish remover! aaahhhh!} and having it stay with me till my nail outgrows it {of course I'm not going to buy a bottle of nail polish remover! LOL!} I had both my hands massaged by Hazel and one of the girls. How cool is that! It was so good. I just may do that on Jonathan cos I felt a little different after each massage.

Thanks Hazel for doing this and treating me to lunch!

AIR-CON AND NOSE DON'T GO HAND~IN~HAND

I have sensitive nose. The sinus gets worked up whenever it doesn't agree with anything.

I snort and snort until it gets on everybody's nerves ... haha {the faux-natural instinct of the nose's nature, NOT!)...haha!

anyway ... forgot to turn off the air-condition last night when i feel into a deep deep sleep in Jonathan's room. Normally Harith will do the honors for me but because it was so humid hot last night, he thought we could use another few hours of the cool room.

Turned out to be cold for me, not for Jonathan.

I ended up with a stuffy~cum~runny nose. took a pill at 4am and feeling better already to face another hot~humid~lots of water drinking~kinda day.

Hope everybody's well hydrated too!

I WANT IT MEANS I WANT IT!

Jonathan loves his tape recorder. I transfer his game shows into audio and he will listen to the recorder while we are out.

Earlier, I told him to stop listening and placed it in the box that I have of all his gauze, plasters, etc.

He wanted it ... so ...

First... take a look at the exact position where the tape recorder is.


Then ... aim at the tape recorder with his right hand.

He managed to pull the tape recorder out by holding the strap. Flung it so high that it landed with a "thut" on his mattress and I couldn't play the recorder. Told him the consequence of him being impatient. He cried a bit. But when I managed to restore the recorder, he was all smiles again.

My boy!

PHOTO OVERLOAD ~ MERLION AND SUCH!

Class outing ... NOT! for Jonathan yesterday. We did plan to meet his teachers and classmates at the Merlion Park. But communication with Teacher Lay Keong revealed heavy downpour in town. So we decided to detour to Marina Square as we didn't want to be stuck at ONE FULLERTON when his teachers and classmates make their way back at school.

We walked to the Esplanade after having breakfast at Marina Square. It was drizzling and we were trying to catch a glimpse of the children on wheelchair in a distance (see the merlion at the far background?) but was told they were ready to head back to school.

Decided to take a picture as proof that we were "there?" haha!

Zoomed in on the merlion ... no children with wheelchair in sight!

So...we headed to the library @ Esplanade ... much to Jonathan's annoyance of having to wait for daddy to finish choosing his classical CD!

So to pass away time, I played peek-a-booo with him, took more pictures of our handsome prince.

Then he stretched his hands and I gave him the camera and told him that as long as he sees mummy in the LCD screen, he can press the snap button ... which he did ... even though I was holding his index finger.

Finally ... the rain stopped and we decided to head to the Merlion Park cos we have never been up-closed to the Merlion before! It was a 5 minutes walk from the library.

Snapping pictures along the way.

The Merlion ... funny how we have never thought to go there even though we are Singaporeans!

Got a tourist to take this picture for us.

Harith ... "moving" Jonathan's head to show him the Merlion.

I'm so glad he smiled in this picture ... and did it naturally without coaxing too!

A small replica of the Merlion.

We walked along towards Fullerton hotel, below the highway.

Jonathan had a good time. He enjoyed it and I hope his teachers and classmates did get a chance to see the Merlion. We had and went home.

But on the way home, he started feeling sick. We were only outfor 4 hours and in the afternoon, he threw up a couple of time.

This morning I asked him why he said he felt fine the whole time it was out. Only when he was in the taxi on the way home that he felt sick. He said he was tired. I guess it was probably sitting on the buggy for a prolong period and also the stuffy taxi with the driver driving at such a slow speed cos she was on the phone!

Eventful day wasn't it?

JONATHAN, DO YOU WANT TO GO FOR CLASS OUT?

{This happened in class after I took out a consent from Jonathan's folder about a class outing to Merlion Park tomorrow. We always use sign language for Jonathan to answer "yes" and "no". One hand sign letter n for "no" and the other letter y for "yes".}

Zoe: "Aunty Serene, can you put the signs in front of Jonathan? I want to ask him a question."

Zoe: "Jonathan, do you want to go for class outing with us? Yes or no?

Jonathan: touched "yes"

Me: "Are you sure?"

Jonathan: touched "no". Then facing Zoe, I told her he doesn't want to go.

Not wanting to give up, she asked:

Zoe: "Jonathan do you want to go for class outing with us?"

Jonathan: touched "yes"

Me: "Do you really {stressing the word} want to go?"

Jonathan: touched "yes"

Zoe: "Good boy." Satisfied and walked away.

haha!

FLYING ANTS AND SHADOW PLAY

While feeding Jonathan, saw some flying ants on the floor near his mat. Then I looked up and saw lots of them flying around the ceiling light. Immediate action was to turn off all the lights in the house. After a while, they disappeared altogether {probably invading another house...lol!}

While in total darkness, I took out a small flashlight {torchlight} and shone it around the house. Got Jonathan smiling. I made him hold the flashlight, pointing to my hand and I signed the alphabets on the wall. He thoroughly enjoyed it.

My attempt to capture a picture of my shadow failed..haha {that's a "w" up there!}. But at least I managed to hold the flashlight and camera together with my right hand, which I must say was not e.z!

We had fun.

"I want to join Rachel Greig in Scrap-n-Crop.com's ART RETREAT because ..."

I'm not attending this retreat because I'm not flying to Malaysia. But I'm nominating Penny {aka good friend} who totally totally deserves it because of all the hard work she has done ever since Scrap-n-Crop was born!

PURPLE FINGER TIPS

Call it purple finger tips or bluish hues. I got the diagnosis term from Dr Ong tonight.

Peripheral Cyanosis is due to low hemoglobin. I've checked out what it means .. why it's related to Cyanosis. Here's the answer.

Further from my earlier post. Googled on peripheral cyanosis and found that one of the factors is due to lack of vitamin and iron.

So .. that's probably why. Have to give more to Jonathan now. The only problem is he constipates when given too much vitamin. So then have to find other solution to the poo~poo issue. But .. tt's ok. More honey and fruit juices!

I'm off to work ... yes ... at 3.30am! LOL!

GOT THE MOLAR

For a week now, Jonathan has been clenching his teeth. We always hear this clicking sound coming from his mouth. Most times we always tell him not to do that.

Then one day i asked him whether he's got pain in his teeth, he said yes.

I checked .. I don't see anything.

Then I asked if any of this teeth is coming out, he said yes.

I checked .. I don't' see anything shaking, even pressing his teeth with a towel wrapped around my finger. Pressing my hand against cheeks too. Maybe that was why I couldn't feel anything. The towel was too thick, and so is his cheek walls...haha. I pried open his mouth, I don't see anything.

The dentist once told me if I see the molars yellowing, that means it might drop off. This will happen between 12 and 14 years old. But then again, his teeth are a little yellowish so it's hard to tell..haha.

This morning, there were blood stains on his bedsheet. I was wondering if he bit his lips again.

The clicking actually got louder since last night.

When Harith came to his room, he was shock to see blood coming out of Jonathan's mouth.

I pried open his mouth and saw a loose molar tooth. Used a small towel and took it out. Harith passed me some gauze, I let him bite on it and the bleeding stopped.

Asked if it hurt, he said no. Asked if he's happy the tooth is out, he said yes. Gave him a dose of panadol to ease the pain.

I still have the molar. But not nice to show, with all the dark fillings it looks like it was decayed. Yes ... nowadays, fillings are dark colored. Dentist say last longer.

Thank God it came out while we were all awake. Every night we pray for Abba Father to watch over Jonathan as he sleeps, keeping him comfortable, protecting him. Abba Father never fails. Otherwise he might have choked on the tooth.

Pray for your children.

I'M GOING IN NOW!

Despite having just recovered from his flu and still under antibiotics and other medicine, Jonathan wants to listen to music with his daddy.

Harith was busy with something and told Jonathan to wait. But as you can see ... our little boy CANNOT wait!

I was at the computer and when I turned my head, he disappeared! Not on his mat. Only for me to discover him at the doorway.

He shifted and shuffled into the music room only to be blocked by the bed at the entrance.

So funny! He even does this just to come to me while I'm at the computer. And from the smile on the 2nd photo, he's pretty proud of himself for doing this! ;o)

NEW SCRAPBOOK DESIGN

Simple ... just came up this after Jonathan slept 2 nights ago. Will get it printed on a t-shirt soon.

PURPLE FINGER TIPS

Jonathan's school nurse noticed his fingers a little purple last week. She was concerned.

I have been noticing that his palms and legs tend to be a little pale on certain occasions.

While at the doctor's yesterday getting his flu fixed, I asked Dr Ong.

He said nothing to be concerned about. Nothing that need pursuing. He gave me a medical term and said that his wife is also like that. He said, if his lips are pale, then we have to seek medical advice and treatment.

I googled the word he gave but cannot find anything. Maybe I got it wrong. Have to ask him again.

Then I read from a forum that someone had a dislocated shoulder and affected the nerves and his fingers sometimes turn purple.

Jonathan's shoulders have also been "clicking" whenever he rotates them. I don't know if that's the problem. Will have to check with his neurologist on our next appointment. Can't bring forward the date cos every date is booked!

But for now, at least I'm glad it's nothing to worry about.

ARE YOU GOING TO FINISH STRONG?

Ngaire Bartlam from Australia had this video in her blog. I just have to share it {Thanks Ngaire!}

Be encouraged today and everyday ;-)

PARENT/TEACHER MEETING & HEALTH ISSUE

Had the parent/teacher/therapists meeting yesterday. Went well. First time in all the meetings for Jonathan .. I didn't feel anxious or stressed. I supposed it's because we have Jonathan's curriculum changed and everything is easy going now. So ... since he's always away from school quite alot, the goals for his therapy are the same as last year ... LOL!

I'm grateful to Teacher Lay Keong, PT Kumar, ST Kunal and OT Mohanty for their hard work and for their dedication in wanting to help Jonathan to the fullest! KUDOS TO YOU ALL!!

We talked about why Jonathan skips school ... not sleeping well, falling sick etc. Then ...

When I got home in the afternoon after the meeting, our prince fell sick! Sigh ... brought him to doctor Ong and found his respiratory track a little noisy.

So ... we're on antibiotics again ... sigh ...

We had a fitful rest last night. I fell asleep instantly at 11pm only to wake up at 1.30am by Jonathan's calling me and H telling me Jonathan's soaking wet cos I didn't change his diaper. H helped me change his bed sheet while I changed his pajamas.

Woke up every 2 hours ever since to check on him.

It's no fun when he's not well but I'm just thankful that he's ok after waking up today. No sound on the chest area but I still have to administer the Ventolin inhaler for a few more times.

TAARE ZAMEEN PAR ~ EVERY CHILD IS SPECIAL

I've watched this movie and I absolute fell in love with the boy character who had dyslexia.

The struggles he went through .. nobody knew what problem he had, even his parents ... especially his father ... who thought that the boy was rebellious, lazy and didn't want to study ... sending him to a boarding school ... only 9 years old ... to fend for himself ... and who almost went into depression.

It took a special education teacher to find out about the boy's problem.

This reminded me of a friend who had the same problem. She didn't find out about her child's condition until he was almost in primary 6. He showed signs from the very beginning ... :(

The part that I remembered best is what the special education teacher said to his father, who wanted the teacher to know that they cared just because they went online to research about dyslexia:

{Not exact words}
"Caring is hugging the child, telling him you will be there when he needs you ... to come to you whenever he has a problem ..."

If you can get hold of this movie ... watch it. I did.

Thanks to Jonathan's teacher.

NEW T-SHIRT DESIGN

I'm so happy ... I finally could get wordle going! Created this t-shirt design {thanks to www.wordle.net} of all the names of my family members, from my dad, mum, sibblings, nieces, nephews and grand niece and nephew!

Can you find my name?

Total number of people: 37! Woo hoo!!

Email to order!