MARINA BAY SANDS 30 DECEMBER 2011

On Friday, we brought Jonathan to town again when he said it was alright to go out.

We took a cab to Marina Square, had breakfast and decided to walk to the Helix Bridge since we've never been there.  Before we set off, I thanked the Lord for good and perfect weather with little sunshine and God answered again :)

Jonathan absolutely loved the Helix Bridge because he could enjoy the sights of highrise buildings.  Something that he loves very much.  We walked through the Shoppes @ Marina Bay Sands, passed by the Casino (with a very smokey entrance).  We went to Marina Bay Sands Hotel and wanted to go up to the Sky Park but it was closed for a private function (and we found out that it was closed for some parachute jumping through the New Paper).  We ended our outing at the Esplanade having tea and when we got home, Jonathan was just absolutely a-okay!

Thank you Lord for your constant healing over Jonathan's body.  I believe that we will see more good things in 2012.  Today is just the first day but I'm already very excited and planning for our next day trip and perhaps...in the new future...another hotel stay.

Happy New Year to all.  And I leave you with some photos that were taken on Friday, 30th:

this was the first picture I took after entering the Helix Bridge.  I just love the city skyline.

This is the stretch of the Helix Bridge.  It looks like this now but at night, it's filled with lights.  We have yet to go there at night.

You can see the smile on Jonathan's face because he got to see all the high rise buildings.

this was taken when we stood in front of the Art & Science Museum.  They were showcasing the Titanic Exhibitions but we didn't want to go.

That's the "hand" looking Art & Science Museum.

On the way to the sky Park, we had to walk through the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.  Looking up from the ground, they are hotel rooms.

Before we reach the Hotel, we had to pass the Casino.  It was really smokey.

That's the entrance.  I saw a young man holding a stack of $50 notes about 2cm thick entering the casino!

At the Shoppes @ Marina Bay Sands, there was a mini "Venice" where shoppers can rent a boat and "sail" through this short canal.

See the people queuing on the left.  The boats were paddled by staff.

 Before we left Marina Bay Sands via the Helix Bridge, I just had to take this picture.

And finally... a close up of the Singapore Flyer.  Another attraction we haven't been on yet.  As you can see, the Lord gave us perfect weather.  Breezy and no sunshine :)

Thanks for dropping by :)

RASH DISAPPEARING

Oh...forgot to update that after 2 months, the rash on Jonathan's body is finally going off.  the spots that were red turned brown and the skin peeled.  I'm still applying cream on those little dots but I'm just happy that they are finally gone and whatever virus that caused it has finally disappeared.

Thank you Lord!  And thanks to those who prayed for his recovery :)

ORCHARD ADVENTURE - 21st to 22nd DECEMBER 2011

Jonathan received an early Christmas gift from his Aunty.  A one-night stay at Mandarin Orchard.  It was a brand new experience for him.  My sister wanted him to catch the sights and sounds and feel the Christmas spirit down town.  Something that we might not do this year because of the erratic weather.

A few days before we were there, it was raining everyday.  But on that day we were at Orchard Road, the weather was superb!  Praise the Lord for answering our prayers!

We checked-in in the afternoon.  The hotel was so crowded with guests and mostly were Indonesians or Chinese nationals.

Our room for the night.  A king size bed.  He was surprise that we were in this room as I didn't want to tell him earlier (just in case he decides not to go...a decision which I regretted later).

Took a stroll in the afternoon after having lunch.  there were many painted elephants along the stretch from Lucky Plaza to Tangs.  Later we found out it was a project to encourage people to help save the elephants.
I particularly liked this elephant (below).

We went to 313 Somerset and managed to catch one of the first carol performances.  Jonathan liked these.  Sat there listening to 3 songs before we left for another place.

We went back to the room to feed Jonathan and rested for a while.  After dinner, we ventured out again.
It was so crowded along the Orchard Road.  But I still could take this picture (below).  There were strips of LED lights embedded into the ground.  I thought they were rather unique.

This is the Ferraro Roche Christmas tree in front of The Heeren.

Jonathan didn't particularly liked the crowd.  So we went into Orchard Central and had dinner at Garuda, an Indonesian restaurant on the 7th floor.  We decided to sit outside at the balcony and it was breezy.  Jonathan liked Orchard Central because of the bubble lifts.  haha

After dinner, we decided to walk back towards ION.  See the crowd below?

The lights along the road were beautiful :)

This picture was taken in front of ION Orchard.

While we were catching another carol group performing, we also chanced upon the mini Christmas Float Parade.  The timing was just great!  Here's a short clip of the whole video of the parade:

Since Jonathan didn't nap that afternoon, we would think he would be very tired.  We also gave him his nose medication because the air was dry in the room and he was snorting somewhat.  He couldn't sleep until 2am and only managed 20 minutes of sleep and didn't want to from then on.  Despite our efforts to make him rest and turning off the air-condition (and the room was still cold), he couldn't go back to sleep.

We finally felt that it was time to let him rest and checked out early.  We felt bad that we had to "abandon" the stay.  We deliberated for a long time before making the decision.  When we reached home, he came down with low grade fever.

It was a great night for us and a good "sleeping experience" for Jonathan.  I guess he was too aware of the new surrounding.  But I think it was the nose that gave him more discomfort.

I want to thank my sister, Emmy for her generous gift and God bless her for being so kind to us.

I asked Jonathan if he wanted to try staying at another hotel again, he said "yes".  The next time we do it, I'll make sure I tell him first  And also to look for a hotel that has windows that can be opened LOL!

DESIGNS FOR SALE

Hello, my blog visitors,

I have these 2 designs for sale.  They will be printed on any color shirt you want (subject to availability).  The design on each shirt is 27cm wide.  Will be printed centralized on the shirt.

Price for each shirt (that includes GST, shirt, printing service) : $16. You can add a small caption for an extra $1.

For Singapore only.  If you are interested, please leave a message on the "Comments" box.

Thanks!

A TSHIRT FOR A GOOD FRIEND

I wanted to give my good friend a present.  And we were already going to meet for dinner and I had 3 days to think of something, prepare the transfers and get it printed.

I came up with this:

It's a little dark.  Had to use my mobile phone to take this picture but it turned out really nice.

Why this design?

My friend's name is Mabel.  I wanted to show that the different font of "M"s reflect the different personalities/moods/etc.  But despite who we are, Jesus still loves us as we are.

I liked it and hope my friend does :)

Will show you another 2 designs later.  Thanks for visiting :)

I'M BACK :)

My last post was almost a month ago.  I've been busy...and...lazy.

Thanks to May of Love and A Leap of Faith and Busy Mommy for dropping by.  We have brought Jonathan back for a review.  The rash is somehow clearing but a little slowly.  The "virus" is clearing from his body and there's no need to got to the skin doctor.

There are some new ones here and there but most of those on his lower body are almost disappearing.  When they dry there a small scabs that come off.

He says it's not itchy, which is either a way to avoid going to the hospital or just to avoid more medication.  But for now, we will just continue applying cream on those spots.

Jonathan has been very vocal lately and I'm very happy that sometimes he tries to follow what I say.  Some words seems audible but of course when you ask him to repeat it, he just gives you an "ah".

Note:  Sorry...when I converted the clip from quick time to wmv, I couldn't rotate the image.


He's a growing teenager with his own demands.  So sometimes when demands are not met quickly, he will resort to his antics like the above video.  He will start tugging at his BARD button and then his tummy will be exposed.  So most of the time I'll have to ask him to pull down his shirt.  He's actually getting really good at this skill.  Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or get angry.

By the way, since he went to school, we have taught him to reply "yes" and "no" using his hands.  And because we wanted him to use his left hand more, we decided to put "Yes" band on his left wrist.  So now, his "yes" is answered by raising his left arm.  But somehow, for his "no", he decided to hold his hands together..LOL.  It's supposed to be his right hand.  This method has been really effective communication for us.  But most of our family members or friends still use the sign language of "yes" and "no" to talk to him, which is fine too!

But I'm just thankful that he's been healthy.  In 11 days time,we will be staying a night at a hotel in Orchard.  My sister was kind to book us a room for Jonathan to capture the Christmas spirit there.  Please pray along with us that the weather for the overnight stay on 21st will be excellent so that we can enjoy the sights of lights and sounds of Christmas carols.

Thanks so much!  God bless!

IT'S BEEN ALMOST A MONTH

And the rashes on Jonathan's body are still there, some appearing on his armpits and a few dots on the face.

We brought him back to the GP, this time around, seeing another doctor on duty and was prescribed another type of anti-allergy medication and cream.  Doc said that the rashes should clear within 7-8 days with this medication of Dhasalon but if it doesn't then he has to go for a jab.

I've seen improvements.  Most of them have turned a little brownish.  I do hope they clear quickly.

I've decided to google the different types of rashes but nothing seems to fit what Jonathan has.  Of course that's good.  But it would be good to know what it is.  But so long as the rashes clear, I'm ok without knowing what it was in the first place that caused this.

Thank you Lord for healing Jonathan.

I've also been busy.  One order after another, although they are small.  I've decided not to take any orders for Christmas.  Don't want to be swamped.  But other than this, I still have a pile of tshirts to clear and keep in the cupboards because they are just lying in the working room and collecting dust!

Wanted to print bags tonight but decided against it because I'm just too sleepy.

Better go now.  Thanks for dropping by!

I DON'T UNDERSTAND

That's what Jonathan said to his daddy today.

He loves it when H carries him to sit on his lap and watch TV together.

On times, like today, when H has to go to work, it will be really hard to put Jonathan on the mat because he still wants to sit on his daddy's lap and straightens his body so that it will be really difficult to lift him up from H's lap.

So...H this conversation started:

H:  "Daddy has to go to work.  I need to put you on the mat.  Do you understand what daddy is saying?"
Jon:  "No."
Me:  "But daddy really has to go to work already.  Do you understand that he needs to put you on the mat and go to work?"
Jon: "No"
Me:  "So if I say you can still sit on daddy's lap and he stays home, you understand what I'm saying?"
Jon:  "Yes".

ok...we lose.   haha

But we still had to put him on the mat cos H was running late already.

VIRAL RASH...

That's what the doctor said this morning when we brought Jonathan to the clinic.

There's a lot of spots on his body.

It started around his lower tummy and I thought they were diaper rashes.  But from small red dots, they became dark colored.  Then it slowly spread up, to his upper body and some at his armpits.  Nothing on the back.  Because he kept saying it wasn't itchy, I left it, thinking they will disappear soon.  So it's been at least 4 days.

I kept racking my brains as to what was causing it.  Even decided to change pillows and H thought it could be the bed mattress.  But we just got the mattress!


Cannot be bed bugs because they attack the exposed areas like the arms, face, legs and a bit of the body.  But in this case, it's the total opposite.  Can't be chicken pox either because there are no watery spots.

Doc said he's a little phlegmy in the lungs.  Something we didn't even noticed because he was all well and active, except for last week when he had a little stuffy nose.

Jonathan kept saying that it was not itchy.  But as I recall, he's been on his tummy quite a lot for the last few days.  Perhaps just to rub his tummy against the mat to reduce the itchiness. Well...telling us it's not didn't stop us from bringing him to the clinic, something that he wanted to avoid.  But after the visit, he just had to tell daddy the truth.

Hope this clears soon.

DIET REVIEW PLUS A FEW QUESTIONS ANSWERED

We were at KK this morning for Jonathan's yearly diet review.

Weight:  Estimated 23kg (same as last year)
Height:  Estimated 129cm (up by 3cm from last year)

The good news, he's growing and still having enough intake of more than 2 litres of fluid a day.  Just need to boost his weight by adding milk powder.

Last year, it was recommended that he takes 6.5 or 7 scoops of powdered Isomil Soy Milk. (My journal post HERE). But each time I do that, he has watery stools.  So that option was out.

In today's meeting, dietitian PKY recommended that since we were trying to increase the 0.5 or 1 scoop of milk powder in the feed, why not we just put in a 180ml of water with 3 scoops as an extra feed.

I've done this before whenever Jonathan wakes up in the middle of the night asking for milk.  So this method of increasing his milk powder will be either done during the "in-between" water feed (4 water feeds, one to be taken out with 3 scoops of milk) or as an extra milk feed, from 5 feeds a day to 6.  If I choose the latter, that means this milk feed will be done around 1-2am.  This is fine by me since I sleep late anyway.  Moreover, using this method doesn't cause him to have diarrhoea.

Dietitian is happy that I've started using rice water into Jonathan's feed (as I've mentioned HERE.)  She said that rice water actually helps the milk to settle down because of the carbohydrate.

I had questions for her today, questions that came about while chatting with friends about diets for our children.

1. Is 300ml per feed of milk too much for Jonathan?  Including water for flushing, it comes up to about 330ml.  This amount is more than a cup.
   Answer:  So long as his kidneys are ok and he doesn't retch or reflux, this is not a real problem.  A good way to know is how many diapers he changes a day.  For Jonathan, it's about 6 pieces.  So that's quite normal.
2. A friend suggested that I cook vegetables inside the rice water to give Jonathan more nutrients.
   Answer:  Some minerals or vitamins in vegetables like magnesium do not leak out into the water when you boil them.  So in order to get these minerals/vitamins, you actually have to eat the vegetable itself.  So it's only half truth that when you cook vegetables, you get ALL the nutrients from them.  She recommended a good vitamin from Centrum.  It's for adults but for Jonathan, I have to break the table into 2, dissolve half of it in water and give it to him daily.
   I'm not prepared to give him daily doses.  So if I decide to try, it will just probably be once a week first.
   
3. Brown rice water is good.  Is it true?
   Answer:  Yes, it can be better than normal rice water as it gives more Vitamin B.
   (Note:  I think I'll just mix a little of brown rice with the normal white rice).
   
4. Health store actually recommends pro biotic powder.  They say it helps boost immune system.
   Answer:  While pro biotics can be good for the body, it actually helps only when a person has tummy problems like diarrhoea.  It is good bacteria for the intestine but not something that will boost up the immune system.

We chatted about other things that I currently can't remember.  On the whole, it was good to catch up on the diet plan.  Next appointment is one year later.  And hopefully by then, Jonathan would have gained a little more weight.

Thanks for dropping by and sharing my thoughts :)  God bless!

BARIUM FLUOROSCOPY TEST

Jonathan did the barium test today.

The doctor injected about 18mls of barium through his PEG.  Then we had to move him around.  First, take some photos while he lies on his back.  Then turn to the left, take photo, then turn to the right, take photo.

Took about half hour.  It was fast.  final results:  No abnormality found and the surgery site at the esophagus is still intact.

Thank you Jesus for good results.  Now we rule this out and there's no acid reflux.

And thank you to those who visited my journal and saying a prayer for Jonathan.  Deeply appreciated.

After the whole procedure, we were surprised that he didn't want to go back.  So we took him to Marina Square for a walk.  It's nice to go in the morning.  No crowd.  We had breakfast, walked to Suntec and Carrefour, had lunch at the Sudanese restaurant (the lady boss gave us complimentary dessert because she said it's not easy to look after a special child, and she even offered to take him for a walk because he was fussing and wanting to leave the restaurant).

It was a good morning out.  We got home just in time for his next feed and thankfully, he's ok.

Thank you Lord for everything that went smoothly this moring.

GASTRO APPOINTMENT

Jonathan finally had his gastro appointment at KK yesterday (24 August 2011).

Dr Chu is a very nice lady.  Jovial and easy to relate to.

She gathered all the information from us with regard to Jonathan's history -

• Was he already retching during early years
• when did we get the surgery done for the PEG (feeding button)
• why did we switch from Karihome goat milk to soy milk

and some other questions.

From our discussion, she told us there are probably 3 possibilities of Jonathan's vomiting episodes:

1. The fundoplication* that was done during the surgery 4 years ago, for the feeding button, has loosened.
   *SEE FUNDOPLICATION
2. The brain sending signals to his body.  She gave an example of a child with fits.  When the brain sends signals to the body, then fits starts.  In Jonathan's case, it's retching.
3. Food allergy.  There might be a small component of food that he's taking that he cannot handle.  One way is to take a blood test but may come negative for food allergies.  The other is to switch to another type of milk formula that has more nutrients for a week to see reaction and then switch back to soy to see if there's another reaction.

Well, we have decided to take the barium test (managed to get a slot on 5 September) and to see what's the outcome.  Jonathan has to fast for 6 hours before taking this test.

And in the meantime, since the next appointment is only 2 months later, she's prescribed 2 types of medication just in case Jonathan needs them.  Ranitidine Syrup and Domperidone.  Both to prevent acid reflux.  Expensive medication.  But so long as he has no gagging or acid reflux, there's no need to take them.

The milk formula she recommended is called Peptamen Junior by Nestle (because of his current weight).  I was shocked by the price : SGD45 for a 400g can of milk powder.

Jonathan's consumption of milk is at least 20 cans of 400g milk powder a month.  It will cost at least SGD900 per month if we decide to switch to this milk powder.

I posted a journal about his feeding issues HERE 2 months ago.  Till today, adding milk to rice water has stopped him from gagging and his got full tummy feed.

So I hope that come 5th September, the results will be good.  There's no reflux and no surgery needed to fix this problem.

Thank you Lord that everything will turn out good and there's going to be a solution to this.

Thanks for dropping by :)

SLEEP PATTERNS

change with season?  days?  I don't know.

But Jonathan's sleeping pattern has been changing almost everyday.

On good nights, he sleeps at 12midnight, wakes up once and goes back to sleep on his own.

Sometimes, he wakes, looks for me and I have to stay with him in his room till he goes back to sleep again.

On not so good nights, like last night, he slept at 12 midnight.  Woke up at 3am, didn't go back to sleep till 6am and woke at 10am this morning.

When he fell asleep, I went to work immediately because he was not well 2 days ago so my work has been held back.  Just when I wanted to retire to bed, he woke up.  And when I was trying to make him go back to sleep, his daddy came back from his work at the studio (at 3.30am).

So that's it.  Jonathan heard the door click and his eyes just opened even wider.  Daddy kissed him and tried to coax him back to sleep but in vain.

I gave him a feed at 4.30am, hoping that he will go back to sleep.  But no.  even when I had to give him medication for his stuffy nose.

I gave up.  Held on to him to soothe his excitement and turned on my laptop to keep myself awake.

By 6.30am, he was fast asleep and I put him back on the bed. I slept around 7am.

Today, I'm a little dazed from the lack of sleep.  Being awake the whole night is tiring.  But thankfully he woke up at 10am so I had at least 3 hours of sleep and he took a half hour nap today.

I don't know.  He's just full of energy even though he had a disturbed rest last night.

Most of all, I'm thankful to the Lord that he's healthy.  That's what matters most for me.

JONATHAN CRIED TODAY

It was a heart-wrenching cry.  The type of cry that you will cry along too.

We went for breakfast this morning.  Took a walk to the hawker center that passed a government kindergarten.  We saw a class was marching to their teacher's command "One, two, three, four ..."

Suddenly, Jonathan started tearing and became upset.

While crossing the road, he was unhappy.  Kept pouting his lips and his eyes looking sad.

After crossing the road, we took him to one quiet corner and wiped his face.  H was getting upset because he didn't want Jonathan to cry big time and start having secretion.  We thought he didn't want to be there but it was not.  Finally, we realised that he was upset because of the children.

Anyway, we talked and consoled him and he was ok.  Had breakfast and then we came back home.

He continued the day, watching television, listening to music and took his nap.

When he woke up, he started tearing and crying.

Most of the time I will refrain from asking him questions that will make him cry even more.

But today, with my gut feeling, I asked him the following questions:

"Are you still thinking about the children this morning?"
"yes"
"Why do they make you cry?  Is it because you want to walk just like them?"
"Yes."  and he continued to cry loudly.

I cried with him.

That evening, I was an emotional wreck.  It was bad timing that I was expecting a guest but I couldn't cancel it at the last minute.

Jonathan is beginning to show his emotions more lately.  Now I know why he's been asking to listen to some healing songs lately and kept asking us to repeat them.  I believe he wants a miracle to happen.

H prayed for him before he slept.  I prayed that today's incident will not affect him deeply again.

Lord, hear the prayers and cries of Jonathan.

COMPLETED AND COURIERED!

The birthday booklets ... remaining ones for the year have been completed and couriered to the rightful owner!

Thanks Ms MW for being so patient with me :)  You are one of the best customers I have ever had!

So here are the final 4 booklets/card:

I kinda like the effect of Earnest's book cover.  Used rikrak ribbons and glued only on one end.

The flower pattern paper has glitter on them.  so I added these tiny beads that were actually meant for mobile phone covers.  The whole strip of beads already had adhesive backing so all I did was cut each bead out and pasted on the pattern paper.

Close up...can you see the tiny beads?  For the maroon backing, it's actually a piece of my tshirt transfers.  I used my scallop punch to cut them out.

This card I made for Esther was simple.  My good friend, Olive, gave me a set of gltter birthday patter papers and a roll of lace ribbon (with adhesive) that she bought from Korea.  I used the lace to line the bottom of the card to make it look like the candles were on a cake.  Kind of like this effect.  But the only thing was when I got up yesterday morning, I realised the color of the chipboard alphas don't mactch!  haha.  Well...that's my mistake for working under a dim light at 3am!  LOL!

This hanger hearts was done a few months' back and I decided to use it for Mabel.

Because the front is already complexed, I wanted to keep the back simple and plain with just her name.

Trimmed the paper cards to the same size as the circle coaster for her friends to write their messages for her.

The booklets and card were couriered yesterday to MW yesterday and hope she's got them.

We celebrated my mom's 82nd birthday today.  My mom was born in Swatow, China.  They used the chinese lunar calendar to record their birthdates so today is actually the day she was born.  The 30th day of the 6th of the chinese calendar.  It's the chinese leap year.  Otherwise, there's no 30th day on the 6th month.  It's complicating isn't it?  haha.

Although she was not very sure what the occasion was, she was alert and quite chatty.

Happy birthday mom!  I LOVE YOU veryX100000000000 much!  Pictures later :)

I'M SO PROUD OF JONATHAN

because he went for his dental "maintenance" without fuss :)

He was brave and so cooperative.  It puts a smile on my face that my teenage boy is mature and sensible.

I actually took some pictures with my mobile while we were waiting.  But I can't seem to get them out of my phone.  Anyway, here the chronicles of a day at the dental surgery:

• 6am Jonathan woke up.
• 7am Left home for KK Hospital
• 7.45am, we arrived at KK Hospital Day Surgery.  Note:  Good to do this during school term because it was not crowded.
• 8.10am, placed local anesthesia cream on the back of both of his hands for IV. 
• 8.30am, assessed his condition, took his temperature.  Initial reading was 37.6 degrees.  I think it was nerves that shot his temperature up.  Later on the second take, his temperature went down.  Then proceeded to change him into the gown, what was left were his diaper and socks.  He said he was not cold, even though I tried to cover his bare legs.
• 8.40am Went up to the Pedae Operating Theatre.  Another set of questions and to confirm that he's the correct patient.
• 8.45am  We (just Jon and I while H waited outside) were asked to proceed to the front of the operating theater where the doctors will come out to meet us.  First a nurse appeared, asked the same set of questions and provided me with a yellow gown, hair cap and shoe covers.  Then Doc Toh came and she explained to me what she planned to do.  While talking to her, Jonathan started voicing.  He said he wanted to do it quickly and get it over and done with.  haha After her, the anesthesiologist came to assess Jonathan.  She asked me to open Jonathan's mouth but I could see she was annoyed when I told her he couldn't and even asked Doc Toh to confirm that Jonathan has no locked jaw.  She only became ok when I apologised.  Must have thot I was playing tricks with her.
• 9am Another doctor came to assess the local anesthesia on Jonathan's hands.  I found out that she was the senior anesthesiologist.  She's very friendly, unlike the first lady who was more serious looking.
• 9.15am  We went into the operating theater.  Jonathan got nervous when he saw the bed.  I carried him onto it, they held on to him and suddenly, he became very still and just looked ahead while they inserted the IV into his right hand.  When the doctor injected a white liquid into the IV, he slept straight away and I was asked to leave.
• 9.30am  Went for breakfast with H.
• 11am Doctor came out and explained to me what happened and what she did.  then I was allowed to see Jonathan after they woke him up
• 11.30am After the senior anesthesiologist confirmed the go ahead, we went down to recover room.  Fed Jonathan 50mls of water after waiting for one hour.  Half hour later when he didn't vomit, i gave him some milk.
• 12.30pm  When he didn't throw up after the milk feed, we were allowed to go home.

The whole procedure took about 1.5 hours.  What was done:

• Scaling to clean all the teeth.
• Filled a tiny hole that was in one of the molars.
• Extracted 2 baby molars that were already shaky and finally put a layer of protection over all his molars and teeth that are unreachable.

On the whole, his teeth are ok and there are 2 more baby canines that is still firmly fixed on his upper jaw so she didn't touch that.  His teeth are now as white as snow :)

Next cleanup will probably be another 3-4 years.  Doctor Toh told me that because Jonathan's jaw is small, there are another 2 molars that might not have enough space at the back and may grow outwards.  And also just in case wisdom teeth grow, then they can do another surgery to remove them.  well...I hope no wisdom tooth at all!

The whole dental maintenance was estimated to cost $1000 plus.  But they did tell us that there might be additional costs.  So we'll wait to see the total bill when they mail it to us.  Note for parents:  For day surgery, you cannot deduct payments from Medisave.

Jonathan is a good patient.  He doesn't fuss.  The only time he did was that he wanted to go home straight away haha.

While talking to the anesthesiologist during assessment, I mentioned that Jonathan has motion sickness.  So after this dental treatment, they gave him a medication to prevent him from vomitting.  That really helped because he came home absolutely fine.

I'm also thankful that when they removed the breathing tubes, he didn't have a lot of phlegm.  This usually happened to alot of patients.  When he did have some in his throat, he was able to cough it out.

He still looks drowsy.  He said the gums are still a little sore and has requested for panadol.  But he's happy and the gums are slowly healing.

I'm very happy with Doctor Toh from the National Dental Centre.  She's so good with Jonathan and if you have any children who need dental care, get a referral and go see her.

As for me, I was knocked out when we went to bed.  I woke up at 4am feeling anxious, like any parent of a child going under GA.  I'm still a little shacked.  But thankfully, God has seen us through, especially Jonathan and took the pain away from him that he was able to recovery so quickly.

Thank you Lord!  I'm grateful :)

If your child is going under GA for the first time for dental treatment, feel free to ask me anything.  I would be happy to help you in any way I can.

SAVINGS FOR MOMMIES OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

This information is for all mommies of children with special needs.

We know the cost of all milk and diapers really takes a toll on our monthly expenses.  We are always on a lookout for lower priced items.

I found this website through my niece and it has helped me reduce some $$.

For Jonathan, he currently takes Isomil Advance 3 Eye Plus.  At Shop & Save, the price is $39 for a 900g can.  In other medical shops, lowest is $36.  At Luvbabies, I pay $35 per can and I order at least 8-10 cans per month supply.  Sometimes they have promotion at $200 for 6 cans.

Jonathan uses Mamy Poko diaper XXL.  Lowest I can find is $13.80 at a medical shop at Pasir Ris.  But even though Luvbabies sells them at $14 per 28pc pack, it's still a good deal.  For diapers, it's around 5-6 packs a month.

Spend more than $200 and you get free delivery.  But you have to order online.

Monthly expenses for Jonathan just for these 2 items is almost $450.

Go to LUVBABIES, create an account for yourself and hope this will help you save.

If anyone out there knows of any place that sells these items at a lower price, do leave a contact in my comment box so that we will know where to find them.  I would appreciate no spamming please.  Thank you.

1)  Propax gauze (lowest price I can get from Pharmex is $0.85 per pack for 7.5cm gauze)
2)  Tagederm Transparent Film Dressing (lowest priced is $60 per box of 100 from DNR Wheels)

MAY HAVE TO POSTPONE

the dental treatment cos Jonathan's caught a cold tonight.  He's resting.  But the secretion is making him cough and thus deep coughing causes him to retch.

Me...I have forgotten to give him flumucil to lessen the phlegm.  Now whatever I give him doesn't sit well in his tummy and a slight turn will cause him to throw up.

Hopefully he will sleep right through tonight.

He's quite sensible now.  He knows that whatever he takes will be thrown out, he kept saying 'no' to food, even to porridge water.  I'm just happy that he's able to communicate with us.  At least we know how he's feeling.

The funny thing about Singapore weather is:
To warm, we turn up the fan speed and open the windows wider.
Early dawn, the temperature drops. We have to lower the fan speed and close the window a little. Sometimes I'm so deep asleep that i forget to wake up to check on him.  The little boy will be all curled up.  He doesn't like blankets.  Will wake up if we cover him with one.  The again, it's just too hot to cover him with a blankey!
Lowering the fan speed makes him perspire.  Then we're back to square one and it becomes chilly.

And no...he doesn't like to sleep with the air-conditioner on.

Sigh...

Better to postpone the appointment than to go through serious consequences.

Lord...thank you that Jonathan has speedy recovery!

WHAT HAS JONATHAN BEEN UP TO?

Nothing much.  Except that he's begun this tactics just to get my attention and doing things for him QUICKLY!

No amount of "please wait"...  "hold on a minute"... will make him wait patiently.

He will either pull his feeding button or roll off out of his floor mattress to where the computer is.  Or he will start kicking the box that I put near him where all his gauze, wipes and daily amenities are.  Or he will start pulling the diaper bag across his face.


No amount of stern warning will stop him.  Until you have done what he wants you to do.

Teenager?  Yes.
Naughty?  Well...he may be to some who are strict parents.  To me, I don't think this is it.

Reason being?  It's also partly my fault.  Because sometimes when I say "wait a minute", I will make him wait more than a minute.  That's actually not a very good example isn't it? haha.  He knows mommy's bad habits!

Now...I will explain to him what I'm going so that he knows he has to wait.  He's able to wait till I finish whatever I need to finish then he gets his request.  But of course, when he's impatient, he will start from square one and I'll be raising my volume LOL.

I cannot wait for the time when he will start saying "mom, please help me play this video or music."

Till that time, I'm enjoying his "NO!" that he so clearly says whenever he doesn't want any particular item/video clip/music.

On another note.  I noticed the muscle on his right leg, just behind the knee, tends to be a little tight.  He crosses his legs when he sits on his buggy/chair.  but he straightens his left leg more.  So the crossed leg is bent almost quite frequently, although he does straigthen it from time to time.

Maybe I will get my friend to give him a good massage to loosen up the muscles.  Will see how it goes.

:)

DENTAL CLEANING/EXTRACTION BROUGHT FORWARD

Jonathan's GA dental cleaning and extraction has been brought forward to next Friday 22nd July.  They can put him in the first slot because the other children are older.  Usually they will put the youngest children first.  Even though there are a few who are younger than him, Jonathan being a child with special needs gets the appointment first.

Extraction is for the 2 baby-molars that are still intact but shaky.

If you happened to drop by my blog, do send a prayer to Heavenly Father for Jonathan that he will continue to be in good health.

Thank you very much!  God bless!

SHORT CONVERSATION BETWEEN FATHER AND SON

was very funny as they were sitting together watching video clips on the Youtube.

Usually H will choose the clips.

One wrong click and H will get a loud "NO!" from Jonathan.

In this instance....
Jonathan:  "NO!"
H:  "Why don't you say yes Jonathan.  Your "no" is already so clear.  It's time to start saying "yes" then watch this clip."

haha...I enjoy moments like these :)

WOODEN COASTERS

I enjoy experimenting.  This time around, experimenting on customer's order, as well as spoiling a few. heh heh

Customer Ms J order 21 printed wooden coasters.

 I have never done layering on wooden coasters before.  The very first piece I tried on was this pink flower.
It was simply cutting the flex and printing on the coaster and that's it.

With layering, it's a little more delicate.  First the bottom layer (blue cloud and stars) has to go down first.  I have to bear in mind that wood also radiate heat.  So at 180C degrees plus the wood, I have to make sure the transfer gets pasted down onto the wood.   My mistake was not sandpapering the coaster first to make the surface smoother. (Will remember to do this next time).

The 2nd layer, which are the words goes on top.  Temperature was still 180 degrees but I have to hold it for only 4 seconds instead of the full 10.  this is because if I hold the heatpress too long, the areas surround the alphabets will start to wrinkle.  so it's like 1st layer, press 10 seconds, remove backing, press for another second or two.  Second layer, press for 6 seconds, remove backing and press for another second.

I can't use this light blue flex.  it has a white adhesive back so when I press too long, the white adhesive bleed out.  But thankfully, this time around it's less than 0.01cm.

So long as customer is happy.

Tested on hot plate.  Holds very well.  Another successful project.  Thank you Lord!

DENTAL CHECK UP 1 JULY 2011

Jonathan finally had his dental appointment today after it was postponed many times.

Seems that there are 2 more baby molars that are not out yet.  But they look really tender and pink.  One of them is shaky.

Dr Toh scheduled him for a major GA clean up / surgery (if necessary, to remove the baby molar...she said better to do it while he's asleep if they don't drop out before the clean up date) / coat a protective layer over all his teeth after scaling to prevent tooth decay / patch any holes (if any).

His first major clean up was done when he was 9/10 years old.  So this will be his second clean up.
Scheduled date - 19 August 2011.  Although check up is at the national dental centre, day surgery will be done at KK Hospital.  Dr didn't want to do anything earlier because she wanted to wait till most of his adult teeth are out and this is a good time now.

I'm trusting the Lord that everything will go on well before and after the GA.

We were late for our appointment by 15 minutes because there was heavy traffic due to an accident at CTE (AYE) although it wasn't en route to national dental centre.  But somehow, traffic was quite slow towards the entrance to CTE.

We ended up waiting one and half hours for his appointment.  Found out from Dr Toh that from the start at 9am, everybody was late so all the appointments were pushed back.  What made our delay was there was a difficult case before us.

So we came home and the retching kinda started towards evening.  But thankfully it wasn't serious.

Now...I'm staying in Jonathan's room to monitor his condition.  It will probably be another long night.  He's fidgeting and waking up every half hour but still doesn't want anything to drink.  I guess he knows his own body.

Gotta go.  He's awake again.

Thanks for dropping by.  I do appreciate a prayer for him.  God bless all!

FATHER'S DAY GIFT FROM JONATHAN

Jonathan wanted to give daddy a gift.  Since we couldn't go out to buy one, I asked if he wanted to give daddy an ang pow (red money packet).  In this case, the envelope is gold. hee hee.

I held his hand to write on the envelope.

I asked him how much he wanted to give.

Me:  Do you want to give daddy $10?
Jon:  Yes
Me:  Is it too little?
Jon:  Yes
Me:  $20?
Jon:  Yes
Me:  Is it too little?
Jon:  Yes
Me:  How about $30?
Jon:  Yes
Me:  Is it too little?

This went on until we reached $50.  He said $50 is ok.  Not too little.  When i asked if he wanted to give $60, he said no.

My next question:

Me:  Do you want to use your money or mommy's money?Jon:  Mommy's money

Harith said he's a smart boy ;)))))  haahaha

Both of us said a prayer for daddy.

Thanks Harith for being here with me all these years to watch over Jonathan.  Happy Blessed Father's Day Dear :)))

BTW, I got a rose from Jonathan on Mother's day.  I didn't blog about it then cos I was busy.  But it was really a beautiful gesture.  I didn't even know he had a discussion with his daddy about buying a carnation.

This morning at 2am, I finished up a couple t-shirt for my niece-in-law's sister who is getting married this year.  At the same time, printed 4 rompers for my grandniece.  Simple words on a white mothercare's romper.

These are for Natasha, a cute little chubby cheeks princess who looks exactly like my nephew :)
Uniquely her name means CHILD OF CHRISTMAS.

3RD DAY - SO FAR SO GOOD

Whenever Jonathan has retching or vomiting sessions, i always switch to porridge water without milk.

3 days ago, I decided to put this into his daily diet.  Only for 4 feeds out of the 5.  His first milk feed is usually at 10am so I give him the usual water and milk.  Then for the rest of the day, it's porridge water and milk powder together.

So far, it's been the 3rd day.  I don't see him gag that much.

Perhaps it's the insufficient food intake that's making Jonathan have gastric problems.  I'm still not sure.  But this porridge water, cooked really thick, does help.  A friend suggested alternating with organic brown rice water.  Will try this at a later stage.

I just got a call from KK Neuro Dept this morning informing me about the appointment with the gastro doctor on July 20th.  Thanks to Dr JW for giving us the referral.  At least it will give us an idea how his tummy is functioning and hopefully there will not be any acid reflux at all.

He tells me now whenever he's hungry so that's good.  He's growing and I guess he will need more than what he's taking now.  Will call the nutritionist to see if there's a free slot on 20th as well.


Thank you Lord!

Jeremiah 30:17  "I have given you back your health and heal your wounds", says the Lord.

NUTRITION ... IS HE GETTING ENOUGH?

I'm not sure if Jonathan is taking in enough nourishment although I've met up with the nutritionist.  I may have to see her again.

The current feed given was 6 scoops of Isomil EyePlus but increase to 7.  But whenever I increase the milk feed, he has diarrhoea too.

Tried to switch back to goat's milk but had diarrhoea.

I think he needs more.

I need wisdom to do this.

ACID REFLUX

I have been busy.  And I have been stressed over Jonathan's health again. 

Lately, he's been drooling a lot.  He's nose, since a while back has been stuffy.  He's also be gagging quite a bit and sometimes out of the blues, he starts retching.

A few days ago, he arched his back twice during feeding time.

My friend's daughter just had a reflux test done 2 days ago.  She's going for surgery to get a feeding button fitted.  She called me to update about the test and she mentioned "heartburn".

After our conversation, I began to wonder if Jonathan is actually having acid reflux or Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).  Read more HERE.

I googled for acid reflux symptoms and found these:

Older infants and children are more likely to have more subtle or 'silent reflux' symptoms, including:

• irritability
• trouble sleeping
• anorexia
• weight loss
• failure to thrive
• arching the back while feeding
• apnea
• painful or difficulty swallowing
• recurrent abdominal pain
• chest pain
• a chronic cough, recurrent pneumonia, or persistent asthma symptoms
• a hoarse voice
• Sandifer syndrome - posturing episodes that are often mistaken for seizures 
• nausea

Jonathan didn't show most of the symptoms up there.  But he has also been waking up in the middle of the night, runny nose, nausea and the arching of his back while feeding.

I'm not certain whether he is having GERD.  But since he had his button done, he also had fundoplication too.  So I'm not sure what's happening at the moment.

So this evening, he suddenly started showing signs of being unwell.  I decided that we should just take him to the doctor's.  Told the GP about my suspicion and he prescribed gastric pills and Domper for stomach pain, to be taken once a day.

I'm going to see how this is going to take effect.  I read that giving too much antacid is not good as well so I asked for the smallest dose first.

Will write to his neuro.  Told Harith that we should get his reflux checked.

All these while, since early this year, the vomitting was more frequent and yet I kept thinking it's because of his blocked nose and drainage that was causing him to retch.

I'm hoping that it will not be reflux problem.  I don't want him to go through surgery again.  But for now, I have to give him his feed, then prop him up for at least 2 hours before I let him lie down again.

I feel for him.  I feel sad that he has to go through the retching episodes again and it's taken me this while to realise that.  I was too absorb in thinking that so long as the milk doesn't come out of his mouth like what they describe about patients with severe reflux, that means he's ok.

This evening, when he heard me call the clinic, he started tearing.  He hates to go there because of the smell of medicine each time he enters the place.

I need to be more sensitive to his needs.  I need to pay more attention to him.  Sometimes to compensate to prevent coughing, he suddenly jerks his body and I will ask him to control himself.  I shouldn't have done this.  I should have helped me in whichever way I can.  I MUST REMEMBER THIS!!!

Lord...continue to give me wisdom to help Jonathan and be more aware of his immediate needs.

IT'S HERE AGAIN!

I'm just wondering why is it that Jonathan keeps having stuffy nose?  Maybe the house is too dusty with all the tshirts that I have for my printing, maybe the air is unclean, maybe his immunity is low?

Doctor said today that it's the environment.  To solve the problem complete, move to Perth or Melbourne.

I asked ... "how about USA?"  haha.

Yup...Jonathan's runny cum stuffy nose is back yet again.  It's frustrating.  Last night he slept and woke up a few times all because of the runny nose even though he was given Zyrtec before sleeping.

In the heat of my frustration of seeing him going through this, I gave him Piriton, which I wasn't supposed to.  but it did help him sleep till 10am.

Now he's on another dose of Augmentin.  doctor was saying it's really in the air.  Having air purifier doesn't help much because we don't want him to be in the enclosed room and then having problem when it comes to normal air.

So besides having Augmentin, he was prescribed Dhasalone (180mls to be completed) and Singular tablets that supposed to treat asthmatic patients to get rid of any sensitivity.

In 15 days' time after completing the Singular tablets, we have to go back for a review to see if the medication works.

Hoping that this time around, we can really get rid of this nose problem.

IT COMES SUDDENLY

Out of the blues, suddenly it just comes and stays throughout the whole night.

I'm talking about falling ill.  Jonathan started coughing and gagging in the evening yesterday and then it started.

He wasn't throwing up but when he coughs, it gets so bad that it causes the retching sensation and he starts gagging and throwing up.

Thankfully I had all the medication in the fridge.  I usually stock up and self medicate but if the situations worsen then it's a trip the doctor's.

He had a fitful sleep last night and I hardly caught a wink only to sleep for a couple of hours from 5am.

This morning, he woke up, I gave him the ventolin puff and he went back to sleep till 12pm which was good because both of us could rest.

He's better now, a little lethargic, but able to laugh at some wheel of fortune shows.  He's sitting on the Rodeo now and watching some classical music performance.

Thank you Lord for speedy recovery.

BOOKMARKS & BIRTHDAY CARD

I completed an order of 9 bookmarks in mid March.  I'm quite happy with the results and the friend who ordered them was really happy with them.

For the front, I got some free vector art from the web, incorporated them together with the verses that the friend wants for each student.  Laser printed them onto cardstock and laminated only this side.


For the back, I used assorted scrapbook pattern paper, cut out the names with my Pazzles Inspiration.  Then I created a 0.1cm path over the letters and thus gave them each a dark or white background.

As usual, my love for rick rack ribbons never ends.  My only mistake was putting glue on the paper instead of directly on the ribbon.  By applying glue onto the paper and then pasting the ribbon down, it spreads the glue and they ooze out, making the paper dirty.  I definitely will not use this method again!

So here are the completed bookmarks:

Note:  My all time favourite bookmark is Peter's.  It was tough initially but the Lord gave me the inspiration for that bookmark.  I only regretted using the odd fonts for Sain Chee's card.

And at the same time, I finished (finally!!!) the 2nd birthday card.

I used patterned paper and cardstock to cut out 4 circles using the Martha Stewart circle cutter.  Once they are cut, I folded them into halves and joined them to make it into a square card.  The flower was the lace ribbon that I bought earlier.

Sewed the 2 circles to using cross-stitch thread.  And put clear birthday stickers.

I've still have a few more birthday booklets to finish.  but in the meantime, I have to start working on another 10 bookmarks for the same friend.

Thanks for dropping by!