GETTING BACK TO MOMENTUM

This is my "back de-stresser"  haha.  Got this for $1 at the pasar malam {night market ... READ HERE} that was around here 2 weeks ago.  Whenever I feel the strain on my upper back, I'll just use this to relief the muscle.  But my lower back is still a little achy.  The pressing on the nerves still gives me a little numbing sensation on my legs.

Thank God it doesn't affect me that much.  Had to finish 8 birthday cards but finished these last month.  I've actually done 6 but didn't take photos of the rest.  But here are some.  I haven't printed the inserts yet.

Then made 350 bookmarks.  Print, laminate and cut.  Used the chomper for the rounded corners.  It was tough cos the chomper was more suitable with paper and not plastic.  So for some, I had to double punch.  One card 4 corners, double punched would be 8 corners.  With 350 bookmarks, that would be 2800 corners.  My right hand was pretty sore {even with breaks in between}.  LOL!  I think I have to invest in a heavy duty corner rounder soon.

So I have to get back to the momentum again....I need to work work work!!!

The only momentum I've yet to get going is getting Jonathan back to school :(

CRUISER

We have finally decided on the Convaid Cruiser.  Ordered from DNR wheels, who were kind enough to give us a good discount.  We decided not to ask the school for help because we need to be in school regularly to justify the application for financial aid to buy an equipment.  We haven't been attending school.

It's ok.  Scrimp and save, the Cruiser can be paid haha.  The Lord can provided :)

In any case, the Cruiser looks like this:

The order will take 6 weeks to arrive from USA.

I can't wait for Jonathan to have a good seat and thus able to get a better posture.  For me, the Cruiser will be easier to handle than the Rodeo we have at home.

I'M THINKING

I've been thinking ...
Whenever both my boys are alseep.
There are times when I'm up in the wee hours of the morning,  then I will start to think ...
::

• how nice it would be if Jonathan could talk to me
• how nice it would be if Jonathan could walk
• how nice it would be if Jonathan could go to school
• how nice it would be if Jonathan was ...

 Tears :"(

16 YEARS + + + + + and STILL IN LOVE

Harith and I were married on 12 March 1994.

We dated for 7 years and now ... married for 16 years ... wow.

So a week ago, I decided to bring down our wedding albums from the cupboard and I started flipping through the pages.  It's funny when you see the photos all over again.  How you were asked to pose in certain way, how in the 1990's things were so different from now.

We didn't have a professional videographer.  But we had good and professional photographers (one of them was a photographer with the local newspaper then).  And we had loads and loads of films of photos.

It took me about 3 months to finish decorating my wedding albums 1 and 2.  I would have been the first in my household to do scrapbooking then.  But back in those days there weren't any acid free scrapbooking patterned papers, embellishments, charms and alphas.  So I made do with cut-out pictures from magazines and printed some myself.  I used the sticky album pages.  Now...if only I new back then that scrapbooking would become such a trend, I would be a millionaire by now :)

16 years is not long compared to my sisters who were married way before me.  But I'm glad I married Harith.  Although there are ups and downs, I love him deeply.

Here are some of the outdoor photographs we took outside the National Indoor Stadium at Kallang.
{Note:  i don't have a scanner.  Reproduced these pictures using my camera, taken directly from the album under shiny covers}

My nephews, Leon (right) and Amos (left).  They were my page boys for the church wedding ceremony.

This was taken at the Indoor Stadium

My handsome husband (not the big glasses..haha)

Me ... queen for a day! sitting on an overturned boat.  Our photographer friends gave us the misty feel to alot of our pictures and they were really nice.

Our church wedding invitation I made myself.  Pasted 4 pieces of circle cardstock and the protruding sides were folded down to form into a sqaure envelope.  The invitation {bottom left} was printed and pasted in the
envelope with the flaps overlapping each other when folded.

My niece, Nicole, drew this for me while my sister's family was out-stationed in Phoenix Arizona USA.
My sister Leanne mailed it from there and it's called "Wedding March with Flower Girls, by Nicole Wee"

Harith's nieces, Rachel (behind) and Rebekah (front) were our flower girls.

A page from the album of our church wedding section.  I printed the exchange of vows onto transparencies because I wanted to have words in the album without covering the photos.

I was late for the church wedding by half hour because there was a miscommunication between my dad {who was to walk down the aisle with me} and our brother-in-law {Francis}who was actually supposed to pick my dad up from home.  My dad made his own way to the church LOL!! and poor Francis had to rush to and fro.  Now... wouldn't it have solved all problems if we all could have mobile phones back then?  hahaha!

On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed our wedding.  An event that I will keep looking back with a smile on my face.

Harith is still trim and fit, although his glasses are now the smaller and more trendy type, not the gigantic gorgles haha.  I've not worn any contact lenses and have grown sideways {in fact ... all ways ...haha!}  But centred in God's love for us, I'm just glad that I have him as my best friend, soul mate, true love and father to my son.

I'm more in love with him.

16 years + + + + + much much more :)  Thank you Jesus ...

I WANT TO BRING JONATHAN TO MORGAN'S WONDERLAND!

I want to bring Jonathan to San Antonio, Texas!  The world's first Family Fun Park for children with special needs!

Any sponsors? LOL!

Read the inspiring story that started the building of the Wonderland HERE!
Check out the facilities HERE!

OUTGROWING THE MACLAREN

Jonathan is outgrowing the Maclaren Elite Buggy.  His legs are tall and he tends to either dangle it outside the footrest or twist his leg like you see above cos he likes to cross his legs.  Besides, the seat itself has not enough space for his growing bum.  He is kinda like sitting on the edge of it already.  Ideally the depth of the seat should reach the back of his knees.  And he's been twisting his body in a funny way when on this buggy.

So we went sourcing around for new buggies.  Went to a major supplier of special equimpment and they let us try this:

Both of these were unsuitable because the back rests were too short.  For the left buggy, the handle bars obstructed Jonathan's seating position as he tends to extend his arms outwards.

Currently, we have this option:

Folds into upright umbrella style which is good.  Lighter than the Convaid Rodeo Tilt that we have at home from Make a Wish Foundation {see NEW EQUIPMENT POST HERE}.  Also, when I'm alone with Jonathan, I'll be able to handle this rather than the Rodeo.

As Jonathan grows older, the equipment becomes bulkier and, of course, more expensive.  And to add to this, he needs full body support.  So wheelchairs are out.

I called another supplier 2 days ago to ask about their product and this is what transpired:

Me:  "I saw an All Terrain buggy on your website.  Looking for one for my son currently using the Maclaren."

Salesman:   "All Terrain Buggy and Maclaren are about the same size.  (then starts talking to his colleague about other suggestions without putting me on hold and I thot he was talking to me and it happened a few times!  LOL).  Want to try any child wheelchair?"

Me:  "My son needs full body support."

Salesman:  "Oh ... like that headache man."

Me:  "Ok.  Thanks for your help.  Will source somewhere else."

Well...it is a headache if they have never had a client who need full body support.

We only want what's best for Jonathan and to keep his body in good alignment as much as possible.

ALPHABET BOARD

This alphabet board was made a few years back.  When doing spelling using this board became too slow, I stopped using it.  It's been in the storeroom for a while already.

We met Jonathan's new speech therapist in school for the first time in February.  He had to find out what Jonathan used for communication and we kinda like concluded that we may have to go back to the original method of using the picture exchange card system.  but he still wanted to see more of Jonathan to find out a suitable communication method.

We have been going through this for many years.  And I think I have also blogged about it in the past {though I'm too lazy to search}.  But it always comes back that "I already know how Jonathan communicates through special signals, he still needs to find a way to communicate with others."

It's a repeated theory.  I guess I've grown comfortable with the communication level that Harith and I have with Jonathan.

So today ... I decided to get the alphabet board out.  He was, in a way, happy to see it after a long break.
With his unsteady arm movements, he was very willing to spell CAT, JONATHAN, TELEVISION, HOUSE and COMPUTER for me.

Sometimes his hands will spread across 4 letters.  But each time I tell him to clench his fist or close his hands so he can touch each letter better, he will do it.  By doing this, his whole hand will rest on just one letter of the alphabet.

It took a while to spell each word.  Sometimes when the word is long, he forgets what he had touched earlier and I have to keep prompting him.

Wtih him not attending school regularly, it's time I start him on some work again as I've slackened a lot.

I hope with practice, he will be become better and more flexible in his move.  And being on the new wheelchair seat helps give him the proper support to move his hands a little easier.

CHINGAY FLOATS

Saturday night 27 Feb 10.  We found out about the chingay floats months back.  I was excited for Jonathan cos he's never seen floats before.

There was a flashing sign put up at street 32.

 

  

And delays there was.

We were there waiting at 8.45pm.  They contigent was supposed to arrive at 8.50pm

Crowd gathering but still no floats.

At about 9.15pm  they appeared.  We moved up closer to where they stopped.

Then when they started moving up, I caught a few pictures.  The rest were video clips that I took

 

  

Jonathan liked it.  I'm glad we brought him down to the street and I'm happy that the Town Council organised this and we didn't have to go to town to watch the parade.