ONE PICTURE SAYS IT ALL

Jonathan loves to lie down next to me whenever I lay down on his mat.  His favourite position is to roll over to me, place his head on my lower back and uses my body as his pillow.

I've taken a few pictures of that position before but I cannot remember if I have ever posted it here.  Oh yes I did!  It is HERE :)

Anyway, it was one of those days and that day, he decided to hold my hand and when I stretched my arm, his had just continued to rest there.  So I decided to take a picture.

After I took this photo, while uploading it into Facebook, I realised the word GIFT was just above my arm. I was really surprise by it.  Yes....Jonathan's name means GRACIOUS GIFT OF GOD.  He is a gift, no matter what.

This picture says it all.  It was so nice :)

God bless!

REFLECTIONS OF MY BIRTHDAY 19 OCTOBER 2014

My special day started at 12 midnight on 19th. H placed his hand on my head and prayed a wonderful and nice prayer over me.

I'm grateful to my family. My love and my son. thank you for your unfailing love for me.
And so my day came and went and I'm reflective only now when the "day" has ended.
The first 20 years was of baby steps to youthful fun.

The next 7 years was of career, courtship and one step into marriage.
These past 21 years have been eventful...of married life, family life and back to trying to lead a life with passion.

Who would have thought that 48 years have passed by and I still think I'm the baby girl of my big happy family and a mother of a child with special needs, who laughs at my sometimes childishness, actually, most of the time.

I'm not shy to say I'm 48. Sometimes I look at others and i think "he/she is younger than me? and he/she is more mature than me!" hahaha. I'm thinking...I'm going to hit 50 in two years and I'm like....wake up kid!!! hahaha

I've seen life in birth, I've seen death occurred, I've seen mid life crisis in others and I've seen happiness in most. Although one brings joy and the other brings sadness, there's not telling when or where good or bad will happen.

So at 48, I've asked for health, wealth, happiness and long life. At 48, I seek to still improve my skills, dare to challenge myself in things I don't actually do all the time; and at 48.....live life to the fullest no matter what.

Live a life...laugh in life...take pleasure in life. Don't be nasty...don't fret...don't criticize. Most of all, I try not to let the downs make me go downer, if there is such a word. But I shall let the downs bring me up, because the word "down", when read upside-down, starts with a U and ends with a P.

UmoP.

Easy to write and say but sometimes hard to achieve. Still I can tell you....it's such a pleasure and elated feeling when you are able to do it. And I'm proud to say I have achieved some.
I moan and I groan when things don't go my way. Still acting like a big fat kid. I've got a long way to go in this area hahaha.

So at 48, a BIG AND HUGE thank you all my wonderful family and my dearest friends near and far. For all your best wishes of blessings and love and gifts. It's so nice to have a birthday and it's so nice to know that you are loved again and again every year.

And I'll always be reminded:

F or I have watched over you.
O ver all the years you have lived.
R edeemed by My Son's death at the cross.
T otally saved and given unmerited grace.
Y ou shall be blessed for I AM your blesser.
E ven though the valley is hard to travel,
I will never leave you nor forsake you.
G ood will turn out from the bad that you have experienced
H ope will become real.
T ake heart....because I will be there for you.

48.....

The next day, H bought me a cute little fan.  He said it will keep me cool while I work without turning on the air-con.  I love it!  USB plug and it's not too strong that gives me headache when blowing at my direction and yet, it does keep me cool.  It oscillates as well which is good.  Thanks dear!

Then my good friend and Unnie, Olive, gave me a nice paper bag with beautiful ribbons.  She knows I love ribbons and when she was in Vietnam, she bought these for me.  Thanks unnie! Too nice to use them! hahaha

Love to all and God bless everyone for reading this post of my journal :)

BARD BUTTON CHANGE ON 23RD OCTOBER 2014

It was time for changing the BARD button again.  Two days before 23rd, I called the Surgical Department to request for a time slot to change the feeding button.  Jonathan heard our telephone conversation.  Even though I tried to speak in words that didn't reveal "hospital", "KK', etc, he knew what it was all about.  Of course he reacted with a little anger but was soon calmed down after I explained the need to do so.

Thankfully Jonathan was willing to go to KK that morning. He didn't even protest. But I did remind him it is time for button change and he was alright with it. Normally it would be a struggle just to get him onto the buggy.

The waiting time for his appointment with the neurologist was almost 1.5 hours. The doctor said, "it was good to see Jonathan again after 1.5 years." Haha. Review went well. That day we found out he is already 150cm tall. And that's almost my height! They will have to use a longer measuring tape in future haha.  I'm grateful to Dr C for caring about Jonathan's well-being.  She has arranged for us to be under STAR Pals.  We will be meeting the nurse representative this coming week.

After Neuro rushed down to surgery for the button change. I was happy that an experienced nurse was there. She always changes buttons at a fast and efficient manner. First thing she asked me was "Isn't he afraid?" If Jonathan was, he didn't show it. Haha. Our boy was as cool as a cucumber haha. They know him by name and even after so many years they will still ask if he was nervous. I should have said I'm the nervous one haha.

I scooped him onto the bed, they got their things ready, applied lubricant around the stoma and then nurse said "sorry ah". The next thing I hear was a "pop" and a little grunt from Jonathan and done. All within 30 seconds. Very little bleeding. Thank God for that.

We fed him there. It was meal time and also in a way to test the button. gave him panadol to ease any discomfort. The young girl next door was crying and screaming and the prince kept wanting to peek through the door.

"Do you have any pain at the button area?", I asked. He replied "no".

We reached home and all was well.  Jonathan didn't show any motion sickness even though I had his inhalant ready in the bag in case we needed it.

I'm very proud of Jonathan for going through this procedure year after year.

Thank you Lord everything went well. Till next year. Thanks everyone for your encouragements and reading my journal.

HULA HOOPING EXERCISE

I watched a doctor program on tv recently and they introduced hoola/hula hooping as a form of exercise. I decided to check it out. I found out that hoola hooping can help strengthen the back muscle amongst other benefits. And so i ordered one online from www.hulahoopsingapore.com and received it end September.  May, the owner of the hulahoop company, said for the first week, I should hoola for 5 minutes per day so that my waist will not be sore and slowly get used to the hoop.

Since Jonathan was not well, I didn't touched it till a few days ago.

I tried and the hoop kept falling. It's not easy to control and the foam hoop, which is 100cm in diameter (according to Mary is ideal for my height) is 3 lbs. This hoop has adjustable weight by adding small iron bars inside the hollow part of the hoop that adds up to at least 5 lbs. The foam hoop cost $69.90. Plus shipment courier I paid a total of $69.90.

It's quite funny trying to keep the hoop up. Jonathan kept smiling at me. Haha. By the end of 5 minutes I was actually perspiring. H said it's because I had to squat and stand just picking up the hoop that dropped so that's counted as exercise already haha. Ya very funny!

I didn't give up.  Every chance I get in between taking care of Jonathan, work and house chores, I'll pick up the hoop and start hoola-ing.

Today, I did a few 2-5 minutes exercises.  Each time I did about 200 rounds, the last slot I managed to go up to 350!  I kind of found my rhythm.  But sometimes when I get distracted, the hoop starts to move down and then I will speed up my movement and it moves up to my waist again.

I do find that it helps with my back.  For the last 2 days, I don't seem to feel the nerve aching at all.  I don't guarantee that this is the result of the hoola-hooping but only time will tell.

But it's been fun.  At least i get a break in between what I was doing that time and it gives Jonathan a chance to laugh at my comical movements. haha.

Stay healthy everyone!