TAN FAMILY CHRONICLES

Backpost: 1st Jan 2011 - The twins turn ONE!

2012-02-09T01:23:00.000+08:00


1st January 2010 Isaac @ five days to 3 years 5 months Asher & Shawna @five days to 1 year old

If you look to your right, you would have noticed that we have added a Facebook plug-in for a Fan Page of the Tan Family Chronicles!!! Yes, I've finally got round to doing it! So, in order to celebrate that, I've done a nice long backpost with pictures of Asher & Shawna's one year old birthday party, and what turned out to be like a "year in review" post for 2010. Here's the link, enjoy!!! :)

Back-Post Blog

2012-01-01T01:23:00.000+08:00

HELLO!!! :) Happy New Year everyone!!! :) You know, the BackStreet Boys? We're Tan Family Chronicles - the Back-Post Blog kekeke... Yes, I know I'm like an entire year behind in my blogging pictures-wise. But still, I refuse to skip a whole year, and I will attempt to do some concurrent blogging. Yes, I invented that phrase "concurrent blogging" - it means that I will post 2011 and 2012 concurrently! (Brilliant! ain't I?!)

So, say in January this year, you'd see Jan 2011 posts as well as Jan 2012 - though of course, the 2011 posts will be backdated to Jan 2011 - so you'd just see a post with the links. This will facilitate my Blog2Print printing you see. Thus as you might be able to guess... my new resolution this year is to get up to date with my posting!!! woooohooooo!!! (Hey! Stop all your "yeaaaah, riiight, Pam."s Think I can't hear/see you issit... *evil*eye*)

To start of the new year, we have this lovely pictures of Shawna which I took with my phone on 2nd January 2012 :) She's really such a cutie-pie... when she ain't a chili-padi :p We'd brought the kids down to the coffeeshop a few blocks away, for breakfast. The cleaner lady recognises us already. She literally seen us grow up - from when we were just married, to having Isaac, the twins, and now the kids are all so big.
We used to be quite pally with an indian cleaner there, think he was a foreign worker - we aren't sure, coz we don't really talk to each other. But lotsa smiles around (and hubbs calling him "brudder!"), he's always very helpful finding us a baby chair, cleaning the table etc. When hubbs was trying to clear his closet, we brought down to our friend the pants and shirts which was still in very good condition. Sadly, he has since stopped working at the coffee shop, and we don't know where he's gone to. Hope he's doing well. Ah, reminiscing mood I'm in. Must be coz of the new year... :)
We brought the kids swimming at the NUS Guild House at Kent Ridge too, coz Isaac has been asking to go swimming coz he hasn't been almost all of December, since it was always rainy or (we felt) too cold to swim. Though, by the time we took the kids outta the pool, the grey clouds were gathering too. We didn't want the kids to swim when we felt it got too cold, coz we didn't want them to fall sick. The kidzes and I have been prone to falling sick in 2011. Let's hope 2012 onwards would be much better for us! :)

Popo say drink water can pass motion easily!

2011-12-01T23:23:00.000+08:00

Isaac's really quite a good boy who listens to what we say, generally speaking. Of course he has his tantrums and stubborn behaviour etc, but he is also the sort to "file away info" for furture use.

Just a few days ago, one evening, he jumped up from the dining table and said:"Mummy, I need to pass motion."
Me:"Oh. Sure, go ahead."
Isaac:"Come and switch on the light for me, Mummy."
So I got up, followed him to the loo, switched on the light, leaned against the sink as I watched him strip off his pants and climb onto the toilet bowl.
Isaac:"Mummy, I need to drink need water."
Me:"What? Now? Drink later, after you're done passing motion."
Isaac:"No!!! I need to drink water now!"
Me:"Huh... But why - "
Isaac:"My motion very difficult to come out! Popo says drink water helps my motion come out easier."
Me:"Popo is saying you must drink lots of water EVERYDAY. Now then you drink, I doubt it's gonna help."
Isaac:"Huh?"
Me:"I mean, it's not going to work, too last minute already. Mummy tell you already, you've to eat lots of vegetables, eat lots of fruits, drink lots of water EVERYDAY then you'd be able to pass motion with ease."
Isaac:"I want water now!"
Me:"Okay okay, fine, you can drink water now if you want. I'm just telling you, it may not work."

I used our cup (for brushing teeth) and filled it with a bit of tap water, and passed it to Isaac. He took it, drank a sip, and while holding on to the cup, still perched on the toilet bowl, he start to move his bowels (what's the proper English phrase for "gek sai"?). With the cup (and the water in it) shaking from the force of his movement, I quickly told him to put it on the water cistern as I didn't want him spilling it. Besides, he needed both hands to help him balance on the toilet bowl...

Plop. Plop.

Isaac:"There. You see. Drink water already, motion come out. Popo say one."
Me:"Wow, yes. Okay, good! Well done!"
Isaac:"Popo also take a cup and put tap water for me to drink, you know."
Me:"Reeeaaallly..."
Isaac:"Yes."

Hmmmm... I'd have to go check with my Mum on this one! :) And tell her how seriously Isaac takes her word :)

My trolley load of kidzes!

2011-11-21T21:23:00.000+08:00

This picture was posted on facebook exactly a year ago - on 21st November 2010. Flash to the past! :) Comments collected, below! Pamela Tan : My trolly load of kidzes!
· · Share · Edit · November 21, 2010 via Facebook for BlackBerry® smartphones

Emily Loo, Cindy Quek, Jean Ang and 8 others like this.
- Germaine Teo-Chan Wah, they sell pretty cool stuff in supermarkets these days hor! :D
  November 21, 2010 at 12:56pm · · 1
- Pamela Tan Yeah, I think so too! :)
  November 21, 2010 at 1:02pm ·
- Daphne Chan where to buy where to buy?? Isaac's got a new hairstyle!
  November 21, 2010 at 4:39pm ·
- Foo Pei Teng How much? What's the refund policy like? :p
  November 21, 2010 at 8:42pm ·
- Pamela Tan
- It's totally DIY one. WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), no refunds, no exchange allowed. The one time registration fee is minimal, delivery charges quite standard, it's the maintenance that's quite shiong. Very time consuming and can be very costly.
  
  But for the amount of joy and laughter they provide - quite value for money lah. Highly recommended! In fact, if we have time and money, we may get a fourth one! :)
  November 21, 2010 at 8:59pm · · 3
- Foo Pei Teng ROI not guaranteed....principle also not guaranteed....i think i will give it a miss! :)
  November 21, 2010 at 9:36pm ·
- Pamela Tan Take some risk and enjoy the journey! How well the trip goes is what you make of it! :)
  November 21, 2010 at 9:39pm ·
- Pamela Gordon so you had to push another trolley for your groceries? Lol!
  November 21, 2010 at 11:17pm ·
- Maureen Ngam Good on you...Pamela...this is the SPIRIT OF MOTHERHOOD! Jia you!!! U look fabulous SUPER MUMMY!
  2 minutes ago · · 1

Music to our ears

2011-11-16T19:23:00.002+08:00

I wouldn't consider Hubbs and I as music fanatics, but we liked music good enough - listening to music, singing songs, making music (noise), going to musicals...

I've always liked listening to the radio, my tapes and CDs - did my fair share of taping songs off the radio, rewinding and playing songs over and over again to write down the lyrics (All I wanna do is make love to youuuuu!!!) But I've never been in the band nor have I really tried to learn to play any instrument at all - though I do have lotsa good friends who were in the band, but I dun think that counts. Well, about the closest thing I'd have experience as close as being a musician, is when I'm in the music corner during our Playback Theatre performances. And that was mostly when I was pregnant with Isaac and couldn't be up and about, prancing on stage - so I got to be the musician.

Hubbs, now, is a different story. He appreciates music to the extent that he did learn to play quite a few instruments - the guitar, the erhu, the guzheng, the piano... He even took part in a number of school-run talentimes. In the eighties and nineties, he was quite active in the local xinyao scene, frequenting the ming2 ge1 can1 ting1s till the owners recognise him and counts him amongst their friends. Oh, and, when we go to ktv - our friends certainly appreciate his singing better than mine!

So we've always kinda wondered, if any of our kids would be musically inclined? I was just wondering. But I know hubbs harbours a secret (though pretty apparent, to me at least, it is!) hope that the kidzes turn out more musically inclined than not.

We try, quite hard, I think. Since Isaac was a baby, we'd be playing him CDs of classical music, Cai Qin (hubbs') and Roxette (mine!) etc... We got that nice set of dvds the HBO Classical Baby series where they play famous pieces of classical music while show animation on the screen. We even sent him for the Yamaha music appreciation class - though we stopped that after about half a year, coz I thought it was quite crappy. And now, Isaac's taking piano lesson, and hubbs too. And it seems that Isaac's taking to piano pretty well - when he's in the mood, of course. When he's tired or otherwise distracted, he wouldn't be very attentive in class. Well, guess that's normal student behaviour. But all things considered he's doing quite well. He even knows how to read the music notes! Which, to me, is amazing, coz I could never read those bean sprouts, no matter how I try - ok maybe I didn't try very hard, but still...

Now, Asher and Shawna love listening to songs too. They enjoy the show Hi-5 and would often dance and sing along to the songs. When watching Little Einsteins, they'd both clap and pat along with the characters on the show, and they'd answer questions posed by the Little Einsteins, and by Dora in Dora the Explorer.

I found this very interesting because when Isaac was at that age, or even up to a year older than the twins are now, he didn't use to pat along, sing along nor dance along. So I thought it was rather interesting to see the twins do it now. In fact, it's only because Isaac sees them doing it now, that he follows them and does so as well.

In the car, the kidzes have already started fighting for "air-time" - they each request the CD they want. Isaac would want certain discs in particular, while Shawna would insist on those she wants. Since most of both request lists are majority nursery rhymes, I don't understand why they can't both listen and enjoy the same disc.

Shawna has interesting short-forms for songs. You know usually, when we want "Twinkle twinkle little star", most kids and adults shorten that to "Twinkle twinkle" but no, not Shawna. Let me share with you some of her short-forms that I've noted so far:

"Up above the" = Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
"Bus" = Wheels on the Bus
"Stream" = Row, Row, Row Your Boat
"Ee-eye-ee-eye-Donald" = Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Isn't it interesting that she doesn't use the usual abbreviations? So what does it mean? I don't know, that her mind works in a slightly different way? Haha I'd keep you updated...

Now how about Asher? Asher loves songs. He doesn't quibble over which disc is being played coz he seems to like them all! How'd we know? Coz he seems to know how to sing all the songs!!! Yeah, he's one amazing boy - he seems to know the lyrics and would sing along to most of the songs. He doesn't belt out full sentences of lyrics of course, but he'd say the words wherever he knows. But seriously, if you hear him, you know he KNOWS the songs. He can however, sing the full alphabet song. Oh, and hubbs has noticed that Asher seems to have a preference for Chinese songs. Yes, hubbs is MOST pleased.

So... Exactly HOW musical will they turn out to be? We'd see :)

Pedantic Industrious Isaac

2011-11-11T08:23:00.001+08:00

Isaac can be a little pedantic at times...

Last weekend, Isaac had earned enough stickers on his sticker chart to get a MacDonalds Happy Meal, and he wanted to redeem it on Saturday. So I brought him to Macs and he was enjoying his meal when...

Isaac:"Mummy, where's my toy?"
Me:"Oh, it's here, I kept it."
Isaac:"Oh okay."
He was silent for awhile... Thinking...

Isaac:"Mummy, say "keep", not "cap" (he pats his head with his hand - which is sign language for 'hat'). Say "keep"! You cannot say "cap", it's wrong. You shouldn't say the wrong thing, later, I follow you, you know."

Hahaha... Apparently my lazy Singaporean tongue got me caught in a situation again!

Me:"Isaac, you're right. I shouldn't say "cap"; I should have said "kepT" (emphasizing on the T at the end). "Kept" has the same meaning as "keep", except that "kept" is in the past tense - it occurs in the past."
Isaac:"Huh? Same?"
Me:"Yes. Same meaning, but past tense. But you're absolutely right Isaac, Mummy shouldn't have said "cap", I should have said "kept" instead. "Kept" is K-E-P-T, not cap (pat my head) C-A-P."
Isaac:"Yes, don't say wrongly, Mummy." (He said in a castigating tone.)
Me:"Yes. That's why it's important to pronounce our words properly. If not, nobody knows what you're saying. Right, Isaac?"
Isaac:"Yes, okay, Mummy."

Right then, the first thought that crossed my mind was that I was so glad I'd always insisted that Isaac enunciates his words properly, especially the "T"s at the end of words! :p And then the next thought was... Ah! Industrious Isaac's just like Pedantic Pamela! RAAHAHAHA...

Shawna loves books!

2011-11-10T07:23:00.002+08:00

Shawna loves to read. Every night, while her brothers are watching tv, Shawna would also watch for a little while, then she'd get bored... She'd turn to me and say "Mummy, room!" - pointing the way to the room. "Read. Room. Mummy!" And so, I'd quickly set the limit for the boys ("Isaac, Asher, when this episode ends, no more ah!") And off to the room, Shawna and I would go.

Shawna still at the stage where her concentration span is not very long, so we're still reading relatively short books, or books with very few words, or picture books. Currently, all her favourite books happen to be board books. Which is good, coz they're hardy enough to stand up to Shawna's rough handling.

Her favourite set of books now are the Karen Katz Baby's Box of Fun set of three books which we have. They're a really simple lift-the-flap books which teachers the baby about their body parts ('Where is baby's belly button? Under her shirt!!!') The board pages are great, but the flaps can't escape the Twin Terrors. Just this morning, Shawna tore off another flap.
Polar Bears don't swing in the Jungle, Monkeys do!!! (pix below) is another of her favourites. It's a book on animal in their natural habitat, but there's a twist in that they'd place an animal that's not supposed to be there, and they'd ask the readers to point out the odd-animal-out. This very thick board book also has 'windows' that can be opened and shut. When closed, you see the name of the animal, when pulled open, you see the picture of the animal. Good for Isaac, who's learning to read :)
Last night, I told Isaac...

Me: "Okay, you go get something to read, while Mummy go and bathe. When I am out, I will read to you."
Isaac:"Okay, I will read the babies' books now."
Me:"Babies' books? Why are you reading the babies' books?"
Isaac:"Because some of them are nice! That's why!"

Isaac's quite good at reading now. When I read to the babies, he'd often read along with me. Sometimes, when I get out of the shower, I see him reading to the babies :) He's really a very sweet kor kor :)

How to increase milk supply?

2011-11-03T08:23:00.003+08:00

Tandem breastfeeding - latching two babies at the same time. Photo taken in April 2010, twins Asher & Shawna at 3 months old.
I've been wanting to write this for a long time, but it has always been pushed back, for, afterall, I DID know the answer and I could always tell my friends and family in person. But I did want to write this, so that it forms part of the vast resource the internet is to people who need this info...

How to increase milk supply? This is a question that plagues mothers who wish to breast feed - how to increase their supply of milk - since this is essential to breastfeeding. Before I begin (coz the article is going to end before you know it, and you'd be like "Huh. That's it?"), just wanted to state for the record my breastfeeding credentials (basically, so that you'd believe me, you doubting Thomas /Thomasina?!).

I have three children, Isaac is 4 this year, and the twins Asher & Shawna turn 22 months old in three days time. I breastfed Isaac from when he was about four days old, to when he was 2 years old. He did not start to drink formula milk (he refused at first) until he was almost 3 years old.

Asher & Shawna were also fully breastfed from when they were four days old (seems like my milk tends to take about four days to come in), till they are about 18 months old. For both Isaac's time and the twins' time, I had surplus milk to store in the fridge and freezer. All three of them did not take well to expressed breast milk (EBM) and frozen milk. Thus, both times, I had to resort to giving away milk in order not to waste it.

So would you believe me when I tell you my method of increasing milk supply? I've never read it in any book or magazine, nor on any blog or website... So! You heard it here first! :)

The theory behind my method is well known though. It's DEMAND EQUALS SUPPLY (hmmmmm, do Econs students have better milk supply, you think?). This is what led me to discover this method. I said to myself:"If Demand = Supply, and I need more supply, then I should increase demand!!! Eureka!!!"

Most people do this ("increase demand") by pumping AFTER the baby suckles from the mother - this is also what you sometimes read in books. But there are two problems about this. (1) If you're taking care of the baby on your own, you're likely not to have much time to wash and sterilise the pump before and after use - there's simply not enough time! Not if you wish to sleep and eat at all! I discovered this while on maternity leave. But what's worse is... (2) After the baby has suckled, there is "no milk" left to pump! Nothing comes out! Thus, I concluded, that this "pump after baby drinks" is not a good idea.

Meanwhile, being the new mother that I was with Isaac, I was learning all about "Letdowns". In the context of a lactating mother's "letdown" Merriam-Webster defines it as "a physiological response of a lactating mammal to suckling and allied stimuli whereby previously secreted milk from the acini is expelled into ducts and drawn through the nipple". What this means is, basically, when the baby suckles enough to stimulate the breast into triggering a letdown, the milk will gush out in spurts out of the nipple, instead of say trickling or dripping out (or not at all).

Before I knew what a letdown was, I used to tell hubbs "It's The Bolt. Everytime Isaac starts suckling, I'd pray "God give me milk. God give me milk." And then God answers my prayers! He sends The Bolt of Milk! Look at the milk shooting out!!!"

And this happens to both breasts/nipples. Thus, even though your baby is only suckling one side, the other side will also experience a letdown. We mothers who know the preciousness of every single drop of milk tend to feel an extreme heartache when we feel the milk spurting out of the other side, being wasted... There is the breast shield you can wear in your bra in order to "catch" the milk dripping out. But I thought to myself, what a waste! We should pump during the letdown! That'd get the milk all out!

And so I did. I used an Avent Handpump, stood it in a mug beside where I usually sit to breastfeed Isaac. And when it is time to feed him, I latch him on one breast, carefully position him so that, by using the breastfeeding pillow and any other tiny pillow or towel to prop the baby up where necessary - you can actually free your arms, or at least one arm.

With this free arm and hand, take the manual pump, and stand by... Let the baby suckle, and when you feel the letdown coming ("The Bolt is here!!! Drink Isaac, drink!!!") START PUMPING!!! You'd find that with the letdown, pumping is no problem at all! If your baby can initiate multiple letdowns for you, all the better, you'd be upsizing the bottle attached to your handpump in no time at all. (Read more about The Bolt here.)

I started doing this with Isaac one month before I went back to work coz I wanted to build up a frozen store before I went back to work. Within a month, my freezer was full. For essentially, I'd built up enough supply to feed two babies! Read this post to see pix and see how I position the baby and pump at the same time.

If you find pumping while feeding a baby difficult to handle, perhaps this La Leche Hands Free Pump Bra may help you. It's a seamless padded bra that features a one-hand drop up for nursing and a second layer for hands free pumping with a breast pump. So, using this bra can help you manage the pump while latching the baby.

Well, if you have only one baby, it's not necessary to build up so much supply, that's true. But this is one fantastic way to get your supply up, especially if you're a new mother who just delivered your baby. For that's the greatest fear of the mother who wants to breastfeed - that she has not enough milk. It also doesn't help that our parents' generation is the one that doesn't breastfeed, and grew us up on formula. So we've all heard about how discouraging our mother/mother-in-law can be with their constant questioning on whether we have enough milk for the baby to drink.

So let me teach you want to do. Since birth, you should start breastfeeding. Each session, latch baby half an hour on one side (say the Left side), while you pump the other side (the Right side). After half an hour of latching and pumping, stop. Then, take whatever you have just pumped on your right side, and feed it to the baby straight away.

In the first few days of their birth, when your milk isn't fully in yet (like mine only came in on the fourth day), you can even top up with a bit of formula milk - but only after the half hour of latching, and drinking the expressed milk, then if baby is still hungry, top up with some formula. We did this with Asher & Shawna for the first two weeks after they were born. After two weeks, we did not have to top up with formula at all coz my supply was strong enough to fully cater to their demands. That was one proud day for me, I can tell you that :)

Feeding back whatever you just pumped to the baby also serves another purpose: it puts yourself and the elders' hearts at ease to know that, minimally, the baby has that amount of milk to drink (what they see in the bottle). So, you can tell them, "See, they suckle for half an hour, then drink THIS some more! Sure enough!" Well, if not enough, then you top up with a bit of formula milk, like 20ml or something. This will all go a long way to set the elders' hearts at ease, and reduce the number of "Have enough milk or not?" comments that you will get.

So... try it out. It works, trust me. Using this method, I fully breastfed my twins for 18 months. As they preferred to have uber fresh milk - wanted to latch rather than drink from the bottle - I had loads of frozen milk spare and could afford to give them all away to feed a third child. And the size of your breasts have absolutely no bearing on the amount of milk you can produce. Yes, really :)

Now you know how I did it. How I built up my supply in order to feed my twins Asher & Shawna. It is tedious and tiring (I even pumped for night feeds), but oh my, it IS worth it. So, mothers, take heart, KNOW that you CAN breastfeed your baby, if you want to. It is hard work, but if you set your hearts and be determined, and persevere all the way, YOU CAN DO IT! :)

If this article has helped you, let me know! I welcome comments! And ask your questions too! :)

Marry a nice girl, please!

2011-10-21T07:17:00.005+08:00

Lucas, Isaac & Charlene - November 2010

Last night, while I was reading to the kidzes before bedtime, Isaac suddenly said something which launched us into the following conversation...

Isaac:"Mummy, one day, I will find a nice girl to get married."
Me:"Huh?! Oh yes, that's right, please find a nice girl to get married, and have some nice kids too..."
Isaac:"Yes, I will find a nice girl to get married."
Me:"So who do you want to marry?"
Isaac:"Er... Charlene, I want to marry my friend Charlene."
Me:"Oh, as in Charlene che che? Lucas' sister? Auntie Mary's -"
Isaac:"Yes, yes, my friend, Charlene!"
Me:"Oh okay! Yes, Charlene is a nice girl indeed... Erm, so you better be a good boy then."
Isaac:" Huh? Why?"
Me:"So that Charlene will want to marry you. Girls like good boys, you know."
Isaac:"Lucas is a boy, so he cannot marry..."
Me:"No no, you're right, he's a boy, so you can't marry him, erm, not really..."
Isaac:"Yes, so he cannot marry Charlene, he must find someone else. I marry Charlene."
Me:"Hahahhaa... Oh I see... It's okay, dun worry, Lucas is Charlene's brother. So she won't marry him. You don't need to worry about Lucas. It's Enyi you have to keep your eye on."
Isaac goes deep in thought...

Me:"What about in school? Who's the prettiest girl in school?"
Isaac:"Alycia. And Macy. Alycia is prettiest. And Macy also. And Charlene is prettiest also, but she's not in my school."
Me:" *laughing* So how come you suddenly think of marriage?"
Isaac:" huh???"

Isaac, Macy & Alycia - August 2011

hahhaha... I never found out. Perhaps I'd ask him again tonight. Or maybe I should ask his school teachers... hahaha...

Isaac's 2nd book is here!

2011-10-13T23:23:00.000+08:00

Isaac's book is here!!! hehehe... very pleased with how this book turned out :) Look at the screen shot below! Most pleased, most pleased. Wanna see? Meet up with me!!! kekeke... otherwise, go here!

Made the book with Artscow. If you're inspired - read this post of mine on Artscow before you embark on your journey with them. Oh, and let me know which email address you want me to send you a referral email to, no trouble at all!
Think I didn't post this picture above when the books came. I'm very pleased with how Asher's book turned out. But not so with Shawna's book. Shawna's book looks a lot better on the computer screen than in 'real life'. I think it's to do with the background being too reddish - makes the pictures appear reddish too. I've decided to re-do Shawna's book with a different kit - one that's not so reddish, to see if it'd be better - I'm certain it'd be better!

Asher's book turned out very nicely. On the computer, I thought Asher's book was too plain, and that Shawna's book looked nicer. But it turned out that Asher's was nicer, think due to the blue, and the simplicity, actually brought out the pictures better. Well, lesson/s learnt!!!

Here are the links to these books:

Ah!!! If only I have more time on my hands, I'd do loads more books!!! SO satisfying!!!!

Nice socks, or not?!

2011-10-11T12:10:00.002+08:00

I posted this picture below on my Facebook wall yesterday, and generated quite a few comments on it.

Here's my comment that went with this pic post:"For the record, I wanted him to wear white ankle socks (or at least any other coloured ankle socks!) but he thinks his socks are very matching and he refused to change coz he says I'd not be seen with him today anyway. *faintz*"
It was hilarious - look at the reaction I got: -

Foo Sock Peng, Wu Yuping and 2 others (Nicholas Loe & Pamela Gordon) like this.

Nining Rowe lol
Yesterday at 9:17am ·
Dawn Lee alamak....
Yesterday at 10:54am ·
Cindy Quek Wahahahahha
Yesterday at 11:27am ·
Phyllis Mok yes pam, it's matching. left and right match ;) hahaha... be comforted that my hub wears uglier socks for his runs
23 hours ago · · 1 person
Hweech Chng For better or worse, Pam, haha.
21 hours ago · · 1 person
Foo Sock Peng Now the whole world knows!
18 hours ago ·
Ratz Domingo eh? i don't seem to see anything wrong with the combo leh... thot tt's the 'in'/'hip' (or whatever it's called these days) thing to wear? :-P
18 hours ago ·
Lim Yen Peng Haiz.. Man r like that. I will also ask yenn Wah to pull down his socks whenever his socks r high. They just dun see what's the prob. Or maybe it's cos we r called women. It just look ugly to us.
15 hours ago ·
Tan Eng Wee Thanks Zhen Guo! It's called acquired taste :p
15 hours ago ·
Ratz Domingo Lol. now I see why men and women compliment one another... :-P
15 hours ago ·
Ratz Domingo you're always welcome bro ;-)
15 hours ago ·
Tan Eng Wee 随性嘛。。管他人的眼光，自己开心就好！:)
15 hours ago ·
Sharon Tan Pam, u buy for my bro la :-)
12 hours ago ·
Portia Tan Muahaha u r always so farnie bro!
10 hours ago ·
Pamela Tan
‎@Sharon, he HAS many pairs of ankle socks, jogging socks, sports socks but he just wants to wear these coz he thinks it's a great match!

@Zhenguo, you same same as him that's why you can talk like that. We must find you a nice girl to take care of you and take care of things like that kekeke...

@Hweech, Yanping, Phyllis, that's how the men know we love them, right? Coz we allow them to leave the house to go out on their own in their hideous getup coz we respect their unique(ly them) dress sense.

And hubbs shows that he loves me when he changes his socks if I ask him to, coz he'd be out with me (and seen with me) hehehehhee...

Do a Dobby!!! Show your love with socks!!! Hahahhahahahahaha...

3 hours ago ·

Hubbs only realised last night that I'd posted the picture of his socks, even though I'd tagged him in the post. He said:"You should have posted a full picture of me, then they can all see how it matches." I replied:"That's not the point - it doesn't matter if you were wearing shorts, coz you're still not supposed to go out wearing shorts or berms with socks like that?!" hahahhaa...

We both had a good laugh. I knew he'd find it funny, that's why I posted it :) It's hilarious, it is! And it is soooo him. And for people who know him personally, they'd know what I mean. This is part of hubbs' charm. The "uncle" charm. hahahhaa...

The thing is, the socks do (sorta) match the shoes (which is why hubbs keeps on insisting that it DOES match), but to us women, we feel that it doesn't "match" the rest of the get-up. Like, he should be wearing sports socks - be it ankle whites, long whites (then look like school boy, or tennis player? hahaha), or coloured ankle socks at the very least. But then again, at least he's not wearing black business socks ;p (That's not to say he didn't try that before - yes, he did change out of those when I asked him to.)

We had a new colleague in office recently, who'd just relocated to Singapore to work. He was a bachelor, living by himself here. Recently, we started noticing that he'd come to office with his clothes un-ironed. But the clincher was when he recently appeared with his pants cut off at the ankles - yes! instead of having it shortened and properly hemmed - he'd simply used a scissors to cut off the excess length! The ladies in office were all horrified, but we made excuses for him amongst ourselves by saying that he was a foreigner here all alone.

Then a colleague of mine said:"No lah, he not married lah. If he has a wife, she'd not let him out of the house dressed like that. Coz I will not let my husband out of the house wearing his pants like that." Everyone laughed, and nodded. Being all either married, or attached or soon-to-be-married - we could all identify with that statement.

Somehow that statement stuck in my head and I kept thinking about it. It is very true to a large extent. And when this socks conundrum came up, I was reminded of this statement. So when, hubbs protested me asking him to change out of his socks by saying:"But you won't be out with me today - so nevermind lah!"The first thing that crossed my mind was:"But how can I let you out of the house like that?!" :p

But I think I can. I think, and I realise, and I know, that I love him enough to give him that bit of choice and freedom to dress that way and make a little fashion faux pas, if he so wishes. Similarly, I appreciate it that he does change out of his socks if and when I ask him to on the days when we are out together.

So, yes, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, nice socks or not, till the end of time. I love you hubbs!!! :)

The Fiercest One

2011-10-04T08:14:00.000+08:00

Who's the fiercest one? Shawna, of course. From very early one, we could tell, that Shawna was a fiesty one. She's one that knows what she wants, and she'd fight for it. She's persistent as well and won't let anything sidetrack her or distract her. If anyone snatches anything from her, she'd snatch it back, but not before hitting or biting whoever it was who dared snatch stuff from her. Yes, Shawna's The Fierce One, indeed.

Asher's The Quiet & Affectionate One. He's more quiet than Isaac was, and definitely not as fiesty as his sister. He's usually more quiiet, serene, calmn and collected, all round Mr Cool, he is. Quite different from his brother and sister. As a result, he's often at the bitten end of his biting sister. Though that's not to say that he didn't "ask for it" - it's usually coz he's snatching something from Shawna which prompts Shawna to give him a chomp. And if Shawna's a Biter, Asher's a Pusher. He often pushes Shawna, which usually earns him a reflex-push and another bite.

And Asher, being The Affectionate One, even likes to push people for the fun of it. Isaac's often at the receiving end of this one for Isaac often reciprocates - if he's in the mood to play. Asher would push Isaac, and laugh when Isaac turns around to tickle him. And they'd tumble about each other on the mattress or on the floor, giggling and laughing. Afterall it was Isaac who taught Asher his favourite game of "Walk, walk, walk, walk, BOOM!" - where they shuffle about walking on the mattress muttering "walk walk walk walk..." And "BOOM!" Sees them all tumbling down, and often, on top of one another.

Asher also likes to drape himself on people. He'd do that to Shawna, and Isaac and also to hubbs and I, when we're seated on the floor.Shawna usually finds it annoying and would either shrug or push him off. Isaac would usually give in and start playing rough with him. If I'm with them in the bedroom lying flat down on the mattress, Asher would enjoy sitting on my back, bouncing up and down. Same, if I'm facing upwards - I use this as my abs workout since I'd need to tense my abdominal muscles so that Asher's jumping on my tummy won't hurt me. If I'm seated, Asher would climb up my back to sit on my shoulders.

Of the three of them, Asher's the one to most readily hug people when we tell him to (usually to say goodbye, as in "Go hug Gong Gong, Po Po, say bye bye!") He'd readily run forward to give his hugs. Shawna would follow his example. Isaac... Depends on his mood, he'd hug readily if he's in a good mood, but not if he's not in the mood.

Shawna the Biter, Asher the Pusher, and Isaac? If anything, Isaac's the Whiner. He whines and nags quite a bit. In fact, he nags so much that hubbs says he's exactly like me in that respect. Unfortunately, I do agree with his assessment! Isaac's quite the smart mouther and a naggy one. Yes, as bad as me, he is!!! So much so that when I "argue" with him, I feel as though I'm arguing with myself! :p

All three of them are generally cheery children, as in, they are pretty smiley and laugh all the time, which is good :) They DO have their fair shares of fights and tears though - which kid doesn't?! :p

Spare capacity

2011-09-27T19:45:00.003+08:00

One of the most common questions I am fielded with is "Wow! 3 kids?! How do you cope?!" Sometimes I reply "With a lot of help!", sometimes I say "My husband is very hands-on with the kids, so that helps." And it's true. I think I'd have been a lot more stressed out and frazzled if hubbs weren't as hands-on as he is.

Though, sometimes I get this question in its "Irritating Variant" - some people ask "Twins?! 3 kids!? CAN you cope?!" Or "Can cope meh?!" To which I usually reply calmly "Cannot cope also must cope!" Or sometimes I simply say "Caaaaan..."

I often joke, though, that I even have "spare capacity". Coz if I carry one child in each arm, and have the third child holding on to my pants leg, I still have another pants' leg spare. Sometimes Isaac'd piggy back while I carry the twins. Not often, though, of course. The extra weight of all three kids is crazy on my knees.

When I was breastfeeding the twins. I'd often be tandem feeding them (i.e. both at the same time) and Isaac would snuggle up behind me, or at the end of my feet. Sometimes, I'd be breastfeeding one baby (the other one is sleeping) with Isaac in my other arm. Then when the sleeping baby stirs, I'd use my foot to stroke the baby and soothe the baby back to sleep. It's clean! :p Besides, it works :)Also, this leaves me with the other foot as spare capacity.

Nowadays, every night, we'd more or less be able to make the kids sleep on their own beds. However, throughout the night, the kids would gravitate towards me. By morning, I usually have Isaac on my left, Shawna on my right, and Asher'd be using my tummy as his pillow and my thighs as his armrests. So my sleep in the first half of the night's usually better and unfettered, but the later half feels squashed. But I think I'd miss it when they stop doing this.

I love it that the kidzes love cuddles. Maybe's it's coz I consciously and conscientiously hug and kiss them, and ask them for hugs and kisses as well. Asher especially, is very affectionate. He loves to go about draping himself on Shawna and on Isaac. Shawna gets irritated by him doing that, though - I suppose it's akin to being ambushed from behind, sortof. But she would hug Asher and/or Isaac whenever we tell her to.

Isaac has also come to be fairly affectionate. When the twins were babies, Isaac used to rain kisses on their hands and feet - then he'd look at me and say "Mummy see, I kiss my babies! Just like you!!!" The first time he did and said that, I almost cried. At that time, Isaac was still trying to get used to having siblings and he'd been incredibly jealous of them to the extent of beating them. Thinking that I'd make him even more jealous if he saw me kissing them, I tried to only kiss them when I thought Isaac wasn't looking. However, it seems that Isaac HAD seen me kissing the babies, but he not only didn't get jealous, he started emulating me by showering them with kisses too! Sweet!

I love asking the kidzes for kisses. Isaac's pretty generous with his kisses. Asher would oblige as well. Shawna's... Very frugal with giving out her kisses, I must say, though she's started to give kisses too, lately.

The usual kiss-exchange with Isaac goes like that:
Me: Hi Isaac, can I have 10 kisses, please?
Isaac: I'd give you 8 kisses.
Me: Huh?! 8 only?! I want 10!
Isaac: Okaaay... I'd give you 10 kisses. *muakz* one, *muakz* two, *muakz* three, *muakz* four, *muakz* five, *muakz* six, *muakz* seven, *muakz* eight, *muakz*nine, *muakz*ten!!! And I give you 5 bonus!!! *muakz* *muakz* *muakz* *muakz* *muakz*!!!
Me: Wah!!! So many bonus kisses!!! Thank you!!!

Then Isaac would ask me for kisses, and I'd give it to him, plus plenty more bonus kisses. Nowadays we have hugs and bonus hugs too. I can't wait to get bonus hugs and kisses from Asher and Shawna too!!! :)

Making time to write!

2011-09-27T19:31:00.000+08:00

My problem with blogging, has never been that I didn't have anything to say - more like, that I didn't have time to say it. As in, I don't have enough time to write. I love writing. But good writing takes time and inspiration.So even if you've got a good spot of inspiration, it'd be all for nought if you don't have time to write.

Thus, it is, that I was struck by a good idea this fine evening - I shall write on my mobile during my almost-hour-long commutes that I have to make to and from work every weekday! Excellent idea, ain't it?! So here I am! Writing my first post on the train! :)

By doing this, hopefully we'd be back to posting everyday again. We'd see, eh? :)

Artscow photobooks and whatnot!

2011-09-19T23:23:00.007+08:00

Heya!!! So sorry for the disappearing act, but I've been busy, you see! I've been doing up photobooks and other photo-related gifts. Let me show you what I've been up to!

First up here below is this iphone 4 skin which I did. This turned out very well, and when I posted this picture on facebook, I got a record number of Likes, and many many comments, mainly asking me where I'd did this and how much it cost me. The short answer is: I did it on Artscow during one of their promos and it only cost me US$8.99 inclusive of shipping to Singapore. The promo's now ended, so you won't get it so cheap if you do it now now. But if you read till the end of this super-long-post (you have been warned) - you will find out how you can get to do this at a discounted rate from it's usual non-promo pricing of US$13.99 (for the skin) + US$3.99 shipping.
Above is a 7 inch by 5 inch, 20 paged(sides) photobook I was trying out coz (1) I suddenly realised I half-did this book years ago but never completed it, and (2) there was a promo for the 7x5 book which cost me US$5.89 including shipping to Singapore (crazy pricing eh?!). So, I actually surprised the hubbs with the above two items, as his birthday gifts. He just turned 39 years old on 17th September 2011! You can see the entire book here at this link - though you may need to install the Silverlight software.

And I also did up a whole bunch of 8inch by 10inch stretched canvas which were on promo for US$8.99 each inclusive of shipping to Singapore. Hence, for this whole installation below, I spent less than S$180, including the nail thingies that we bought to hang them! I must say it turned out pretty nicely as well - the placement layout could definitely have been better... but overall, not too bad...

We managed to find a spot of empty wall to stick them on - my in laws' place! My mother-in-law's been diagnosed with lymphoma, and so she's been missing the kids lots since she no longer stays with us to take care of the kids. So, I thought this huge collage of the kids' pix will cheer her up as it allows her to see the kids 24 hours, 7 days a week AND she gets to "show off" nice pix of her grandkids to whoever comes by to visit her! Good idea, right?! :pThe projects above weren't THAT time consuming... it's the ones below that took up lots of time... the photobooks!!! I've been meaning to do them, of course, but was busy and all, so actually, it was also coz I wanted to do these for my mother-in-law (portable photobook compilation of the kids' pix - the better to show off with, anytime, anywhere!!! :p) coupled with an Artscow promo that had the 39 paged 8"x 8" photobooks each going at US$12.99 including shipping that spurred me into action to do the Asher & Shawna books. Currently, they have been shipped and are on their way to me now! I am eagerly anticipating them, and hope they turn out well. Again, you can view the full books at these links here - Shawna's book & Asher's book. Here's a screen shot of the books below at the links - you can flip the pages page by page there.But yet, what really started all this was when I did Isaac's book more than 2 years ago - this below (and at this link) is Isaac's book. I initially also did a 39 paged book, but expanded it to a 60 paged book when they had a promo for that at some point... So!!! Have I interested you enough to go crazy on Artscow? :) But before you do, read my quick-start info (and a million disclaimers) below, before you embark on your journey with Artscow. I dare say you may regret it if you don't read what I've written below before you start Artscowing... You have been warned!

What was intended to be a short and sweet note blossomed into a freaking long six paged essay!!! So….

THE SHORT: Click here to go to Artscow to register your account (registration is free) – http://www.artscow.com/?Ref=608220 Have fun tinkering around and read below if you get confused and don’t know where to start.

THE LONG:

Hi everyone,

The last time I wrote out this note was in 2009, and some things have changed since then. And since there’s recently been some interest from you guys on Artscow due to the pix I posted on the stretched canvases, the iphone skin, and photobooks – here I am doing a major update on this note. Oh, and let me state upfront that I am not connected to Artscow in any way at all (other than being their customer).

Artscow is this online website which does a lot of personalised gifts, anything from photobooks to bags and t-shirts to iphone skins and even coasters, dogtags, mousepads and aprons and lots lots more. The prices on the website are in USD, and when they say “shipping” they mean international shipping.

I’ve been using them for a few years already, and have tried them out for more than 10 types of their products. They have promos which make them so cheap that I could not resist trying them out, but their quality is not consistently top notch such that if and when I recommend Artscow, I am careful to make known my nitpicks and be generous with my disclaimers. However, my average experience with Artscow has so far been above average and their prices are cheap enough to be taken as paying for a lesson learnt, if anything goes wrong.

Of course, many things affect quality. One is the innate quality of the products they offer. However, equally important (if not more important!) is the quality of the photos you use, and also the design of the product which you submitted. For example, I found that the picture quality of the photobooks can be a bit grainy and a bit too red, at times. But I realised that if my picture is bright and of high resolution, they turn out great in the photobooks. So picture quality is important! Rubbish in, rubbish out! Overall, I would recommend Artscow if you’re willing to take a bit of risk. Nevertherless, caveat emptor – buyer beware!!! The choice is yours!

Artscow has “regular/standard/usual” pricing for their products which can be found on their website. Their regular pricing is fairly competitive when compared to similar vendors which offer such products locally. However, if you make use of their promotion coupons and credit systems, Artscow can be so cheap you wonder how they make money.

Apparently Artscow is a Hong Kong company, which has a website targeting the US market. But they produce in Hong Kong (or maybe even in mainland China?) and hence, costs are low for them (I assume). Also, this is one website which there is no such thing as “combined shipping” (i.e. buying more items at one go in order to minimise shipping costs). In fact, I believe they earn off their “shipping costs”. For example, you can use a coupon for a free 39 page 8" by 8" hardcover image-wrapped photobook, but you have to pay US$13 for shipping. If you buy 5 books using 5 such free coupons, you still have to pay 5 x US$13 = US$65 for the 5 books. Some people may say this is misrepresentation, but to me, I suppose they’ve got to earn somewhere somehow, right? So it doesn’t bother me – to me, the effective price of each book is US$13 inclusive of international shipping, and that’s mighty cheap, if you ask me.

But remember! It’s only this (super) cheap if you use the free/promo coupons or the free credits. So! I'm writing this quick-start info to give you a bit of orientation around the Artscow website. (What was intended to be a short and sweet note blossomed into a freaking long six paged essay!!!)

REGISTRATION
Firstly, get registered. Click on this referral link (http://www.artscow.com/?Ref=608220) and register your account. It’d be great if you use the referral link to register, so that you get an additional "1200 free prints credits & 3 8"x8" photo books, and other photo gifts" and I get referral credits. Once you have registered, you need to log-in. Only by being logged in, can you access your account details and sections which I will mention below.

COUPONS, CREDITS & DISCOUNTS

Artscow has many products as you can see on their website. You may explore the website at your leisure to see all the stuff they can do, but I shall use the following three items as examples.

These pages show the regular pricing (usual/full pricing) for the products, pricing does not include shipping yet.

Photo books: http://www.artscow.com/photo-gifts/Photo-Books

Canvases & Stretched Canvases: http://www.artscow.com/photo-gifts/Canvas

Phone skins etc: http://www.artscow.com/photo-gifts/cat0511

However, with coupons and credits, you can often get the product free, and simply pay for the shipping. OR use their promo coupons which usually include shipping costs in the price. You can often save up to 80% of the costs this way.

You can obtain Artscow credits and coupons on products in several ways:

Credit & Discount page https://www.artscow.com/Member/CreditDiscount.aspx (link for this is on the left hand side of the website, under Member's Area) - you have free credits for a load of items, especially if you’re a new member. They give you the item for free, but you have to pay for shipping.

Credits have expiry dates and so they have to be used by that date, failing which, the credits 'disappear' - are not valid anymore.
Credits can be transferred to other people if you do not need them.
To transfer credits, you click on Generate under the Transfer Key column, to generate a transfer code, which you can email/message to your friend for them to take into their account (to validate the code).
To validate a code (if you're at the receiving end of a transfer code), you go to your Credit & Discount page and paste the transfer code into the box and click "Validate".
The credit your friend has given you will appear in your table of credits. The expiry date remains the same.

Coupons - often emailed to you by Artscow themselves (you’d be on their mailing list once you register an account with them. Alternatively, you can “like” their Facebook page to always be kept informed of their current promo). Some are "Coupons for more credits", whereas others can be "Checkout coupons".

Coupons for more credits - these codes are meant to be inserted into your Credit & Discounts page (see above) to validate it. As with most codes, there would be an expiry date for the use of the code. However, upon successful validation, it would give you more credits, which usually have 1 month validity period before they expire.
Checkout coupons - these are meant to be inserted into a box on the right hand side of the website in one of your screens in checking out items in your shopping cart. Also usually has an expiry date. Therefore, these coupons which has a promotion or a free credit have to be strictly used by their expiry date.
"One use per houshold" checkout coupons - There are some checkout coupons that can be found here and there on the website, that can only be used once per household

Special Sale page http://www.artscow.com/promote/fcfs.aspx (link is a tab on the top of the website) - are the current ongoing promotions. Artscow issues new coupon codes on this page everyday for a range of products. If I recall correctly, this is a Checkout Coupon which you enter upon checking out, to obtain the discounted rate. These deals are usually pretty good coz they have a discount off the usual product price, and usuallly include free shipping.
Forum page http://forum.artscow.com/Default.aspx (link is a tab on the top, right hand side of the website) - scroll down to the Hot Deals section, where people share freely the coupon codes that they do not require anymore. The two discussion boards are:

"Hot Deals" and
"Discount Coupon Codes Exchange Corner"

Google it! - Apparently there are websites on the web where people consolidate coupons such as this. So just google "artscow coupons" and you can get quite a few hits, two of which I found are:

Coupons and credits come by easy for certain products like photo prints, but not so often (or never at all!) for some other products. For example, I have never seen a coupon for t-shirts. When you are unable to find coupons/credits for a particular product you want, look for a generic discount coupon so that you can save in other ways. For example, two coupons currently found on the website are

FREESHIPPING25 - for free shipping for orders of US$25 or more (expires 19 Sept 2011)
DISCOUNT25P - 25% discount off all items excluding photo prints

Well these may expire very soon, but I'm sure you get what I'm trying to say. Also, Artscow tend to come up with coupons very often, so new ones should be out soon after these expire. These two coupons above have been around for a long time, seems to be a mainstay. Though I do recall that they both used to be 30% instead of 25%...

HOW MUCH IS SHIPPING?

As mentioned above, Artscow is not like the usual online retailers we are familiar with, where shipping gets cheaper if you buy in bulk. Artscow seems to charge per unit bought - like I bought three 8" by 8" photobooks, but had to pay US$13 for EACH book's shipping. Which is obviously over quoted, but then, that's obviously how Artscow makes money, otherwise how do they survive by giving away free stuff all the time.

Well, anyway, how I normally find out how much shipping is, is to add the item to your shopping cart, and just go through with checkout until you get to the screen which shows you the shipping cost. The shipping cost would appear on the same page which they show you your address and ask you to confirm it. Therefore, so long as you do not go beyond that page - you have not confirmed your purchase, so you don't have to worry about having to purchase the item just to find out the shipping cost.

But the good thing about "free shipping" is, it's international shipping. Thus, whether you send to Singapore, or USA, or Australia - it's the same rate they charge. So, for example, if you want to send a book to your friend who's overseas - you can actually just have Artscow ship it directly to them overseas, at no extra cost to yourself! Also good for those who are outstationed overseas, you can do up a book of your kids pix, and send it directly to Grandma & Grandpa who's in Singapore! How's that for a Christmas surprised idea! :)

DESIGNING YOUR PRODUCT

The beauty about Artscow is that the prints on the products are fully customisable. The only limit is your imagination and effort.

Firstly, to be able to access the Artscow online designer, you have to download and install the Sliverlight software onto your computer. Follow the links on the website. Then you can through the "Create your own products" (tab on top of website) and then through whichever product you want, to click the "Create it!" button, access the designer, and work your magic! The programme is relatively easy and intuitive to use, as you just drag things here and there. Let me know if you have any problem, will try and guide you, if I can.

Using other people's template for your own product

If you think you’re not very creative and you’re afraid of having to design your own item, you can always make adopt another person’s design as a template – you just have to insert your own pictures. Go to the Gallery (http://www.artscow.com/gallery) and you can see a lot of products which people have uploaded for your viewing pleasure, and for you to copy if you wish to adopt their design as a template for your own product. Click on the product to see it in detail.

For example, when you are viewing a photo book that someone else has done, there is a button on the right hand side, above the product that says "Create a book like this".
Click the button, and the Sliverlight designer would open with a template of that book right there with all the layout and design same as the one you just viewed – but without the pictures.
All you have to do is drag in your own pictures and make your own amendments to it.
Save the project, and it would go into your Saved Designs!
When you’re done with your project, you Add to Cart, and you can purchase it.
Remember to use a checkout coupon if you have one! Credits would apply itself if applicable.

Designer Kits - Sometimes you see under an item the yellow lettering highlighted in red:”Designer Kits”. Click on it, to see how many Designer Kits were used in designing that item. If you use this template for your item, you have to pay that dollar figure in the drop down (when you clicked on “Designer Kits”), one time off payment (you can reuse unlimited times). Designer Kits are like packages of background papers, embellishments etc, that were designed by a third party (not Artscow). There are also free kits that you can use. For example, if you go through the links below to see the photobooks I made for the kidzes.

Shawna’s photobook – designer kit used is free of charge - http://www.artscow.com/gallery/book/8x8-shawna-book-39pages-complete-ux5ittluqy4d

Asher’s photobook – designer kit used costs US$1.49 – it’s a one off payment, and I can use it as many times as I wish to do so hereon, without having to pay anymore. http://www.artscow.com/gallery/book/8x8-asher-book-39pages-completed-e1v7ts8dc5vo

Isaac’s photobook – no designer kit used at all (at that time I hadn’t figured this thing out!) http://www.artscow.com/gallery/book/isaac-first-years-60-pages-qi3x80xt47h0

UPDATE 14th October 2011: Just received Isaac's book on his 3rd & 4th year yesterday 13th October 2011, here's the link for that book http://www.artscow.com/gallery/book/isaac-years-kids-children-0tikr5kmioqw - I'm very pleased with it! :) Go see!!!

Complete your design - and wait for a coupon

Well, we're all very busy with work and family, right? So what if you don't have a coupon for what you want to do right now?

It's okay - just do up your design first - it takes time, you know.
Whilst doing it up, keep a close look-out at the forums for anyone throwing out suitable coupons for your use - and grab it!!! when it turns up!
Alternatively, you can even post on the Artscow forum asking for such and such a coupon.
Wait! Before you do that, you can check with me or with your other friends whom you know have an Artscow account – they may have a coupon and can transfer one to you. Thus is it is good that we have an Artscow community of our own, so that if and when we need free credits, we can transfer them to each other ;p

So once your product is done, you can either use the best coupon you have at hand, or simply wait longer for a free coupon. Unless you urgently need it – then you may have to just use a generic 25% off coupon or a free shipping coupon or something… Or try to save in other ways, for example, if you're thinking of photobooks - the 20 page 8"x8" photobook coupon seems to come by pretty often. So you can often grab that. If you want 39 page 8"x8" photobook and you can't find such a coupon, then you can use the 20page coupon to do a 20 page book (but with added pages up to 39 page).

REFER YOUR FRIENDS

After you have tried out Artscow, you may wish to refer your friends. As mentioned (ad nauseam) I make sure I point out what I dislike about Artscow to people I recommend them to, because, I am not 100% pleased with them. I want people to know what they're getting themselves into. I feel, the main positive point about Artscow is that it is so cheap, that people can afford to try out for themselves without much monetary outlay.

How to refer friends?

Click on the Refer a Friend link, found on the left handside bar under Affliate https://www.artscow.com/Affiliate/ReferFriends.aspx
Key in your friend's email and name.
Click "Send"
Your friends would receive an email from Artscow.

Benefits of referring friends?

Artscow gives your referred friends "1200 free prints credits & 3 8"x8" photo books, and other photo gifts" - so for those who want to do photobooks, you have 3 free photobook credits already!
Artscow gives you points for every successful referral. You can accumulate points to redeem product credits. The table can be found at the Referral Report link https://www.artscow.com/Affiliate/ReferralReport.aspx
As mentioned above, it is good that we have an Artscow community of our own, so that if and when we need free credits, we can transfer them to each other ;p
But best of all, to me, referring friends who are interested, is sharing with them a good bargain we have chanced upon - share the good stuff, man! :)

I think the above should have given you a good overview on how to milk the (Arts)cow :p Let me know if you need help from me, whether it is in using the designer, or anything else.

Looking forward to see your creations!!! Have fun!!!

;)pamela

Here are my comments on the Artscow products I have tried making before

Photobooks – generally good. Could be better, but value of the price of the item, is very good. Watch the designing to make sure you cover the bleed.
Dog tags – very good, I was very pleased with them, but don’t put them in places which have them in the sun for a long time, will cause it to split.
Iphone 4 skin – very good.
Coasters – average. I didn’t use a photo, but used pictures (for a game component).
Note pads – very good.
Canvas bag – generally good. I just used a black and white logo though, so not sure if it’d be good with pix.
Recycled bag – generally good. Black and white logo turned out nicely, but the stitching on the handles of the bag can be improved.
Name stamps – very good. Did name + cartoon logo stamps for kids’ stocking stuffers.
Playing cards – very good. Watch the designing to make sure you cover the bleed.
Magnets – very good. But now after 2 years, starting to have rust spots.
Car sign thingy – looks good as new on my sister’s fridge.
Mouse pad – good.
Cosmetic bags – very good.
Watches – not good. The pix on the watch face is very good, nice. My issue is with the quality of the watch – very cheapo. Not recommended, unless they improve the quality of their watches. However, my ex-colleague made this and liked it very much – maybe the ladies’ cut watches are of better quality than the mens’cut ones.

If you have used Artscow before, or intend to do so, do share with me your experiences so that we can know which products to avoid, or mistakes to avoid making when designing our items... but most of all, we can "show off" our stuff to each other!!! :) Have fun!!!

Isaac turns 4 on August 6th 2011

2011-08-28T23:23:00.000+08:00

Isaac birthday 6th August fell on a Saturday this year, so we celebrated on 5th August, a Friday. We did a simple one, just a Thomas cake and party hats. But thankfully, at this age, that's enough to make them happy.
Above, Isaac and Neha. And Alycia and Macy :) This is also the first year that Isaac would have his brother and sister celebrate his birthday with him in school.
We managed to get Asher to sit with Isaac for the photo, but not Shawna. Being their first week in school, Shawna was still rather sticky to us, when we're around in school.
The kids lapped up the entire cake! Most of the girls had seconds, and so did some of the boys. Isaac was so slow in eating (as he usually does, says Teacher Lina) that he did not eat fast enough for seconds - coz everyone else ate up the extra cake before Isaac said he wanted another piece! :p
We decided not to give a goodie bag this year - the hassle of putting together a bag was a headache. Perhaps I had too many "prerequisites/qualifiers" - I refused to give candy nor silly toys, so that kinda ruled out a lot of stuff. hahaha... Apparently, we weren't the only parents who found that a hassle - this year, most of the parents gave other stuff. One parent just ordered a Macs Happy Meal for each kid - so each kid had the Happy Meal toy. Another parent just gave a Pooh & Friends ornament thingy - different kids had a different character (Isaac's was Tigger!). For us, we managed to find this kit, that can be used to make window decals kinda stuff. Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to test it out though. The idea behind this was great, we thought. But the paint's kinda overly water, and not thick enough. As such, the decal thingy's really thin, and it was hard to do a nice design in the first place coz the paint was too runny.

But the kids loved it - well, at least, Becca, Isabelle, Natalie and Isaac loved it. (Yeah, we got extra sets to give them to the girls too). They liked doing the craft work. Pity the quality of the set wasn't better - yes, another made-in-china product. Ah well, now we know we better test stuff out in advance! :) But hope the rest of Isaac's classmates had fun with the kit! :)

The twins start childcare!

2011-08-26T23:23:00.001+08:00

Pictures taken on 2nd August 2011 - Asher & Shawna @ four days to 19 months. Isaac @ four days to 4 years old! :)
Given Isaac's positive experience in childcare, my original intention was to send the twins into childcare soon after they hit 18th months. However, 3 kids in an above average childcare is no small strain on the pocket, even after Government subsidy of $300 per kid - in fact, the childcare charges $1,000 per kid per month, so 3 kids is a minimum of S$2,100 total, after subsidy, but before extra lessons (like Isaac's Science lesson and Music lesson). Anywayz, seriously no joke - so hubbs thought of waiting till end of this year before sending them in. However, turns out that we had to send them in earlier... So, it came to be that, on 1st August 2011, the twins started childcare. They are 5 days shy of being 19 months old.
It's the school policy that for new students, the parent can spend the first three half days with them, but thereafter, they want you to leave the kids there. On the 1st day, hubbs had to work, so I had our helper come with us. So I didn't take pix, thinking I had another 2 days to do it. On the 2nd day, hubbs insisted that we leave them with the teachers while we went out for morning coffee at the cafe. And on the 3rd day - hubbs told me to go to work! *sob*sob* Yes, I'm trying to explain why I have so few pix of their first three days in school!!! hummphh!
Generally, the twins are coping well. I think it helps a lot that Isaac is around. It seems that Isaac would often pop by the twins' classroom to check on the kids. And Shawna would also ask for him pretty often. Shawna is very happy with the food, and tends to finish her meals. She would even feed herself. On the other hand, Asher doesn't seem to be taking to the food well, and tends to rely on his powder milk for main sustenance.

Hubbs is usually the one who drives them to school, and picks them up from school. He says that Shawna would usually be the one who instinctively know that he's about to leave, and she would hang on to him crying. Asher, for the most part would be happily wandering off to play already. Our guess is that Shawna, being a little more 'developed' than Asher, is more aware of what is happening, and hence is more sensitive. However, hubbs says that lately, Asher has learnt as well, and occasionally cries when he leaves. However, as of now, the end of their first month, they seem to be settling very well.
And here is Kor Kor Isaac and his N2 Flying Fish friends! Look how much they've grown since the time Isaac joined the childcare in March 2010. Isaac enjoys having his brother and sister at school with him, and he's been taking pretty good care of them.
In fact, I have noticed, that since the twins started childcare, the three kids seem to be closer. They'd play together more now than before. And their favourite form of playing together is to fall on each other and "tackle" each other. They also love to hug and kiss each other. I mean, don't get me wrong, they still fight and snatch and all that, but I do find that they're also more loving to each other. Look at this picture below taken on the evening of 4th August after school one night - Asher was just lying on Isaac and they were both watching tv, waiting for their dinner to be ready. So sweet, right!? :)
Let's hope Isaac keeps up being a good Kor Kor! :)

Now, let's do 2011!

2011-08-25T23:23:00.002+08:00

Nope! Isaac doesn't wear specs! He's just trying them on coz I was at the opticians getting my glasses done. pix dated 18th July 2010! More than a year ago! :) I can't help it! I just must have pix with every blog post, if possible!!!
Right!!! Now with 2010 completed, we can start on 2011! Before you start to groan, thinking that this is The Forever Back-Posting Blog - fret not! I have decided to go about this concurrently - meaning, I'd start posting CURRENT news (hurrah!!!) starting with the beginning of August 2011, interspersed with backposts starting from January 2011.

Have I confused you already?! kekeke... Never mind, just come back often to catch up on The Tan Family Chronicles - that's what's important :) Yes, that's right! So, even before you go downstairs on 27th August 2011 to cast your very secret vote on who you want to vote in as your President of Sunny Island Singapore - you should come here to this blog to check it out for your dose of nonsense from Mrs Tan-Tan (yours truly!!!).

Now, as you can see, I'm in quite a mooood... so! Let me regale you with a shitty story! A nice one, I promise!

You see, Isaac having just turned 4 on August 6th 2011, has (since a few months ago) begun his "Why?!" phase in earnest. Why this? Why that? Why? everything! He asks questions about anything and everything. Thankfully, I'm one which has all along been in the habit of explaining things to him since he was born, so I am quite well... used to answering his questions. Though, recently, it gets a little tiring.

Anyway... so one of the more interesting conversations went like that one day a couple weeks ago...

Isaac: "Mummy, (he said in a very serious voice) why does food we eat become motion?"
Me: (*blink*blink*) "Erm... riiiighht... why does food become motion?"
Isaac:" Yes. Why?"
Me:"Okay, you see, when you eat food, the good parts of the food are nutrients. They help you grow your hair, your nails, make you grow taller... But the not-so-good parts of the food, become motion. That's why."
Isaac:"Oh.... like junk food?"
Me:"That's right! Junk food has very little nutrients in them, so a large part of junk food becomes motion. That's why you should not eat too much junk food. You should eat good healthy food with lots of nutrients."
Isaac:"Oh..." (pause) "Mummy, what is nutrients?"
Me:" Erm, nutrients is the good part of food lor. Like Vitamin C!"
Isaac:"Oh! And Vitamin A and Vitamin B?"
Me:"Yes, that's right! Vitamins are good!!!"

The first time he asked, it was about 2 weeks ago. Since then, about every 3 or 4 days or so, he'd ask me why food becomes motion, again :) But he does seem to understand, sort of. He just likes to hear me explain it.

2010 is done!!! yay!!!

2011-08-21T23:23:00.001+08:00

Congratulate me!!! I'm done with 2010's posts! It only took me more than half a year, but it's done! Daph says my blog is the "Backpost Blog" but what can I say, it wouldn't be true Chronicles, if I don't chronicle EVERYTHING! hahahaha...

Trawled my phone pix to find these two below! Taken on 31st December 2010 - Asher & Shawna were bothered by the flash from my phone camera, hence the squinting. But I thought they look cute anyway :)

Enjoy the back posts - links below!!!
December 2010 back posts!

November 2010 backposts

2011-08-17T23:23:00.000+08:00

Here's the last of the November 2010 backposts! Woohooo!!! Just December and I'm done with 2010!!! Then can blog2print 2010 already!!! yay!!!

Enjoy!!! :)

Congratulations Mr & Mrs Pang!!!

2011-08-16T23:23:00.000+08:00

The congratulations are way overdue! My sister-in-law (hubbs' sister) got married last year on 20th November 2010 - just did this backpost on that. The pix below, stolen off her facebook, are pix of their honeymoon in Greece mid-December 2010.
Welcome to the family, Ashley!!! :)

Cheese Snatching with Isaac

2011-08-14T23:23:00.001+08:00

This is Cheese Snatching by HABA. I'd gotten it sometime back, and didn't manage to break it out until recently. I had read about it off a fellow BoardgameGeek (Mark Jackson's website http://akapastorguy.blogspot.com/) and so I wanted to try it out. Mark's tried many of HABA's games, and often, his opinions are mirrored by mine, so I was keen to try this game since he'd given it a positive review.

pix taken on 13th August 2011
Isaac @ 4 years

It was a neat little push-your-luck game which had dice-rolling and one picking up cheese slices - you decide when to stop, which you should, before the cat catches your mouse. Simple, a nice one for the kids :) risk management, counting. My only complaint is that you didn't really have to think much so play the game - but that's just me, I like "thinking games" but I know of lotsa people who like games which you didn't have to think too much.

In any case, looks like this game is out of print. Thus, I'm glad I got hold of it when I did :)

I enjoyed the game quite a bit, actually, despite it being quite "non-thinking" in nature. I was also glad to note that Isaac did not make a fuss when he had to lose his cheeses when the cat caught up with his mouse. He was very calm about losing his cheeses, but thereafter, he kept a close eye on my turns - to make sure that I would lose MY cheeses when the cat catches up with my mouse! Hahaha! This is definitely good progress for Isaac has always been a very competitive boy, and quite a sore loser ;p

Backpost is about a game too! Viva Topo with Isaac! :) That's a much longer post - enjoy!!!

Breastfeeding, Dr Seuss style!

2011-08-04T23:23:00.004+08:00

I have decided that I shall not mourn my end of my breastfeeding journey... instead, I shall celebrate the fact that I have breastfed my kids for so long! I just came across this from an email Andrea sent me some time ago, and I love it, coz I love Dr Seuss! Enjoy this poem, obviously spoofed off Green Eggs and Ham!

Breastfeeding, Dr Seuss style!

Would you nurse him in a park?
Would you nurse him in the dark?
Would you nurse him with a boppy?
And when your boobs are feeling floppy?

I would nurse her in the park.
I would nurse him in the dark.
I'd nurse with or without a boppy.
Floppy boobs will never stop me.

Can you nurse with your seat belt on?
Can you nurse from dusk til dawn?
Though she may pinch me, bite me, pull,
I will nurse her til she's full.

Can you nurse and make some soup?
Can you nurse and feed the group?
It makes her healthy strong and smart,
Mommy's milk is the best start!

Would you nurse him at the game?
Would you nurse her in the rain?
In front of those who dare complain?
I would nurse him at the game.
I would nurse her in the rain.
As for those who protest lactation,
I have a perfect explanation.
Mommy milk is tailor made
It's perfect food, you need no aid.
Some may scoff and some may wriggle,
Avert their eyes or even giggle.

To those who can be cruel and rude,
Remind them breast's the perfect food.
I would never scoff or giggle,
Roll my eyes or even wiggle!
I would never be so crass or crude,
I KNOW that this milk's the perfect food!

We make the right amount we need,
The perfect temp for every feed.
There's no compare to milk from breast-
The perfect food, above the rest.

Those nursing smiles are oh so sweet,
Mommy milk is such a treat.
Human milk just can't be beat.
I will nurse, in any case,
On the street or in your face.
I will not let my baby cry,
I'll meet her needs, I'll always try.
It's not about what's good for you,
It's best for babies, through and through.

I will nurse her in my home,
I will nurse her when I roam.
Leave me be lads, leave me be ma'am
I will nurse her, Mom I am.

Source: Unknown. (Let me know if you know who wrote this!)

Maybe I should write a poem too... titled Green Milk and Pam!!! kekeke...

Nightly routine (plus backposts!)

2011-07-28T23:23:00.002+08:00

hubbs posted this onto his facebook on 28th July 2011 - he was just done with his 'duty' that night - getting the twins to sleep! :) He'd bring the Asher & Shawna downstairs for a stroll in the stroller while I am upstairs with Isaac going through his night time routine, before bedtime.

Isaac's night routine after dinner is usually
1) play boardgame/s
2) drink chocolate milk (packet UHT)
3) brush teeth
4) read books
5) sleep

Lately though, we've been having problem playing boardgames - coz the twins wish to join in! I think it is good that they wanna join in - that they are showing interest. But then Isaac isn't as patient or as "forgiving"with them as we are, when the twin don't "play properly". I used to insist that we play at the dining table instead of on the floor, where the twins would "disturb" us. But since the twins got more mobile and are very good at climbing the dining chairs in order to join in our games... Isaac has been getting very frustrated. He'd be very pissed when his game is being disturbed and he'd either shout and scream at the twins or he'd end up crying "Somebody, take the babies away!!!" So... we haven't been playing as much as we'd like to lately.
But recently, when hubbs takes the babies down for their night time stroll, I managed to break out a quick game with Isaac before we start reading the books. Like on Tuesday night, we managed to play 5 rounds of Strong Stuff (aka Barenstark) before we went to the bedroom to read.

Reading. Isaac loves reading. Every night, we'd bargain how many books we should read. He'd want 5, I say 2, and then we'd settle on 3. Then after the 3 are read, he says he wants 2 more. And then 2 plus 3 books later, I realised we've read 8 books already... and I'm like "It's time to sleeeeeep!!!!" He'd smile and me and say "Okay Mummy :)". My Isaac is so sweet... when he isn't in a bad mood.

November 2010 backposts!

I passed The Milk Trial!

2011-07-25T23:23:00.000+08:00

So this is it. I have come to the end of The Milk Trail. I have passed my Milk Trial. The end. Sigh. Yes, I'm actually kinda sad. I have mixed feelings about it really...

On one hand, I feel kinda relieved to have stopped breastfeeding coz... it's a kind of freedom. Freedom from having to wake up several times in the night to breastfeed. Freedom from worrying about whether I need to pump now, or later? or how to store milk? etc... Freedom from worry about whether I'd get blocked ducts, or mastitis or plugged ducts or sore nipples... Freedom to wear other tops during the weekend instead of my nursing tops all the time (Impossible to find Spiderman nursing tops!!!).

On the other hand... I will miss breastfeeding. Already, when Shawna weaned herself off, I was starting to feel a little sad. As Shawna drank more (longer sessions and more frequent) than Asher did, I didn't aspect that Shawna would be the one to stop drinking before Asher did. Neither did I expect her to wean herself off. Silly as it may sound, I felt kinda hurt when she decided to wean herself off. But that's just how my little girl is - she's one strong character who has a mind of her own.

So... why stop? Well... There's a school of thought that follows the theory that: the longer you breastfeed your child, the better it is for the child - nutritionally, and for the mother - against breast cancer etc, and good for mother-child bonding etc. I generally belong in this camp. So I would have been happy to go on breastfeeding for like FOREVER. Plus I really get a kick out of people going like "Wah!!! You so good ah! Still breastfeeding ah!!!" Makes me out to be a super mummy like. *hyuk*hyuk*hyuk* Oh and when one is lactating, you practically EXPEL calories, right?! What's not to like?! :)

Well... yes, all the inconveniences as previously mentioned. Plus there is the other school of thought that breastfeeding past the first year isn't really any much point (they claim the nutritional benefits have largely decreased by then). Also, the lack of a straight night's sleep for almost 4 years straight was starting to have a toll on me physically... And... I really wanted to start losing weight in earnest - you can't go on a diet or lose too much weight when you're breastfeeding - coz the toxins (that you produce while losing weight or whatever) would get into the milk, and we don't want the babies to drink milk with toxins in them (no matter how organic these toxins are... :p)

So, there was another agenda behind my recent trip to Europe - to wean Asher off the breast. Asher had recently (before my Europe trip) been enjoying suckling very much. He'd always enjoyed it, but since we came back from Australia, he's been having it good coz he can have both sides to drink from since Shawna didn't want any.

Ask any mother who's been breastfeeding for quite awhile and you know that it is particularly difficult to wean a child off the breast. Frankly, it's not only the child, but also the Mummy, I feel. I find it extremely difficult to refuse baring my chest (kekeke) to my children when they ask for milk... Breaks my heart to say no. So... I know, the only way to stop, the easiest way rather, was for me to go overseas - without Asher. Hence, this trip was designated The Trip to bring The Milk Trail to an end...

Thus, it is to be recorded, that I breastfed Isaac for more than 24 months, Shawna for 17 and a half months, and Asher for just over 18 months.

Sobz. I miss breastfeeding already!!!

Paranoid Pam feels good to be home =) (plus backposts)

2011-07-21T23:39:00.000+08:00

It's good to be home. It really is. I'd just returned to Singapore on Monday 18th July 2011. I was in Europe for a week - Prague and Bratislava - for work mostly. Generally, it was a good trip. I got to meet my bosses and my colleagues. And I got to see two nice European cities. Except, I really missed hubbs and the kidzes.I know it sounds sappy, but really, what's the good of seeing something beautiful when you don't have your loved ones around you to share them with?

In the beginning I keep having running conversations in my head, imagining what I'd be telling Isaac if he was around, to ya know, like "See, Isaac, look at that!" etc... or the comments I'd make to hubbs about the things I see. Very quickly, I wised up that they aren't around. Then I started composing my running commentary on pictures that I take that when I get to see them with hubbs once I get home... it was like I was making a point to remember stuff about Prague just so that I can go home and tell hubbs about them...

I guess I'd never really realised what a part of me hubbs has become, that only when he isn't around, that I feel less than half... absence makes the heart fonder huh :) But other than that... yes, the trip was good. Work-wise, all went smoothly. Colleagues are all generally nice and friendly, bosses all nice and understanding. Prague and Bratislava were both very beautiful.

All my prayers to bring me back to my family safe and sound were answered - I wasn't conned or robbed, wasn't raped or murdered, luggage didn't get lost, didn't drop my camera, didn't lose my keys/money/laptop/passport, plane didn't crash nor fail to land properly. I didn't even get lost, didn't miss my trains nor flights, and all the food I ate all tasted nice. See, you can SO tell I had a great trip! =)

But honestly, I did enjoy the trip to a certain extent. I'm the kind that seriously wouldn't mind going places alone - so being alone on this trip (yes with no other Singaporean colleagues or whatever) is completely fine with me. It is also physically a break for me to be away from taking care of the kids. It would be the first time in almost 4 years that I've had undisturbed sleep. It was also the first time I travelled Business Class - the 12 hours in the air flew past in a jiffy, slept great on the plane. Hahaha... yes, it seems that about the thing I enjoyed and relished the most, was probably the quality sleep I got! :) and in my sleep, I can dream of my kidzes and hubbs! hahahhaa...

The last of the October 2010 backposts...

We're back! (plus Oct 2010 backposts)

2011-07-05T01:23:00.000+08:00

Hello!!! Sorry for disappearing for so long! Been busy, kids sick, plus we went traveling! Yes! We packed up all three kids and went off to Western Australia for about 10 days in mid June 2011. Below are the two mobile upload pix that hubbs and I uploaded to our facebook, before we boarded the flight.
Above: hubbs' pic. His description was:"3kids, 3 luggage, 1 stroller, 1 car seat n 2 adults. Perth, here we come! :)"

Below: my pic. My description was:"Our bags are loaded, we're ready to go..."
Rest of the pix would be uploaded soon yeah. Though was quite an effort getting it up on facebook, but I think it would be nice to have them here as well...

It was a fantastic trip. Absolutely exhausting, sure. But great fun. Was totally fab coz it was a Cuzzies' trip! The adults were all cousins, and their respective kids! So, me & hubbs + 3 kids, plus my sister & hubby + 3 kids, plus my cousin, plus another cousin & wife + 3 kids = 7 adults & 9 kids!!! are we crazy, or what?! kekeke... Kids ages range from 8 years to 18 months... The kids had a blast! Playing together all day and night, here there and everywhere, they had loadsa fun!

Ever since we got back from Perth, Isaac still thinks about the trip a lot. He now knew the names of all the cousins and uncle and auntie he had in Australia... Ee Yew Hui, Uncle Joel, Auntie Andrea, Jarrod kor kor, Zachary kor kor and Caitlin - the names just rolled off his tongue.

We could tell he really loved it, and would love to go on a Cuzzies Trip again. The next morning after the day we came back to Singapore, I overheard him talking to Shawna after Shawna did something wrong... Isaac:" Shawna, you better behave yourself ah... if not, you cannot go Australia... EVER AGAIN!!!" hahaha... this was reminiscent of us telling him (before the trip):"Isaac! You must be a good boy. If you're not a good boy, then you don't go Australia ah..."

Then a couple days after that, early in the morning, the first thing he said when he woke up was:"Auntie Andrea, Jarrod, Zachary..."
Me: "Why Isaac? Did you dream of Auntie Andrea, Jarrod and Zachary?"
Isaac: " What is dream?"
Me: "Ermm... dream is when you see pictures of them in your sleep... Did you dream of them?"
Isaac: "Yes..."
Then he proceeded to tell me what Auntie Andrea was doing in his dream, but I couldn't make head or tail of it...

The next day, we woke up, lounging about in bed, talking and then he mentioned his cousins...
Me: "Do you know how many cousins do you have?"
Isaac: "Three! Rebecca, Isabelle and Natalie!"
Me: "Hahaha... yes, they're your cousins, but you have more! Still have Jarrod..."
Isaac: "Zachary and Caitlin!"
Me: "Yes, and Dylan and Daylin too! So how many do you have?"
So we counted them as Isaac said the names out...
Me: "Do you know who are MY cousins?"
Isaac nodded: "Ee Ee Yew Hui and Uncle Joel!!!"
Me: "That's right!!! Excellent!!!"
Isaac: "and Auntie Andrea!!!"
Me: "Hmmm... actually Auntie Andrea is... do you know who she is?"
Isaac: "She is Jarrod & Zachary's mummy!"
Me: "Yes, so she is actually Uncle Joel's wife... Just like Mummy is Papa's wife, and so Papa is Mummy's husband!"
Isaac: "And Uncle Joel is Auntie Andrea's husband!"
Me: "THAT'S RIGHT! Excellent!!!"

And then, a few days later, I was parking the car, and there was a man getting out of the car next to ours, and Isaac exclaimed: "Mummy! That uncle looks like Uncle Joel!!!" I turned and looked, and he was right! The man had the same built as Joel, similarly dark skin tone, short hair and a pair of Oakley sunglasses perched on top of his head - much like how Joel likes to wear his sunglasses. I was impressed :) he DID look like Joel!

Then last night, when we just got home, and we were at the door to our place, taking off our shoes, when Isaac suddenly said: "Mummy! This would be a GREAT place for us to play hide and seek when Jarrod & Zachary come!" This kinda took me by surprise and I managed to stammer out a "Yes, it would..." Thankfully Isaac didn't ask when they'd be coming... coz nobody knows when they'd be back... sighz! (Fodder for a separate, depressing blogpost...).

So anywayz, yes! as you can tell, Isaac had an absolute blast! Now, if I want him to behave, I'd just say... "Isaac, you better behave... or you'd never go Australia EVER AGAIN!!!" ;p

October 2010 backposts!

The last of September 2010 backposts

2011-05-29T23:23:00.000+08:00

Yes, that's it from September 2010! And with these done, we'd be moving on to the 4th Quarter of 2010!!! YES, we are making PROGRESS! :)

Wake up, kidzees!
My little manja!
Isaac's haircut
Swimmingly fun!
Ian & Amanda's wedding

6th Anniversary of our union! :)

2011-05-23T01:23:00.006+08:00

Six years ago today, 23rd May 2005, we got married! :) Happy Anniversary, hubbs!!! :) The past 6 years have been amazing, and I couldn't have chosen anyone better to spend that with :p

Last year, we shared what happened on our wedding day with you. This year, I'd share with you the wedding day powerpoints that we showed our guests on our wedding day at the church reception. We had a long story to tell, so we broke it into 3 powerpoint slides. Here's all three series in one long blog post.

After all this time, we still enjoy looking at these slides... As per the usual custom in wedding powerpoint slides... we start with the baby pictures... enjoy!!!
INTERMISSION!!! :)

So before we start Chapter 2 below... a fun fact about our wedding day... Do you remember what day was 23rd May 2005? It was a Monday, yes, a weekday! Actually, it was Vesak Day! We got married on a public holiday! So, even though we did our official & customary & church wedding all on the same day, hubbs and I will usually wish each other "Happy Annniversary!" twice a year - on Vesak Day and on 23rd May! :)
INTERMISSION AGAIN!!! :)

Now, before we start on Chapter Three... I must confess... that I can't remember the exact date which hubbs proposed to me!!! And hubbs can't remember either!!! But every year, we know the anniversary of his proposal and we remember it... how??? Coz... he proposed to me on Easter Sunday!!! :) So every year on Easter Sunday, we look at each other and say:"Do you remember what today is?" :)
6th January, Easter Sunday, 12th May, Vesak Day, 23rd May, 6th August, 17th September... all year round, we have special days. Thank you for sharing in our joy today, everyday!!! :)

Every friend we have is a sprinkle of icing on our cake. Thank you for making our lives so sweeeeet!!! :) *muakz*muakz* !!!

"Mini-me"s??? (plus backpost links)

2011-05-17T01:23:00.000+08:00

We were in West Coast Plaza sometime in late April 2011, and there was this parent-child lookalike contest, which we could have a picture taken by a professional photographer. Can't recall what we stand to win, if we win, but we just wanted to have the picture taken. And try our luck. So here are the two pix. Don't you think hubbs and Asher look alike? And what about Shawna and I? :)
Backpost links from Sept 2010 & March 2011 ! :)

Backposts from September 2010

2011-05-16T01:23:00.001+08:00

Did these two last week but didn't get round to posting the back links :p

We're into September 2010! Yay!!!

Look like me or not? (Plus backposts!!!)

2011-05-05T23:23:00.000+08:00

Isaac's school is asking for pictures of Mummy & child for a lookalike contest. How? This one can? Look alike??? kekeke... I'd let you know if we win, k.

Backpost links!

Tan Family Chronicles - Blog2Print!

2011-05-05T21:23:00.000+08:00

People always express wonder at how I have the time to keep up with this blog. Well, I always say that I make time to do this, because I think it is important to chronicle the days as they past, for... firstly, the kids grow so quickly! Growing a family is a wonderful journey that may be tough when you're in the midst of it, but eventually, we make it through, and we often look back in wonder of how we did it. I don't want to forget my experiences, especially the good ones! Secondly, if you don't actually take note of what you're doing, a whole year (years!) can fly past and you're left wondering "What did I do this year?". Thirdly - it's just an excuse for me to write, so that my verbal diarrhoea is assuaged to a certain extent. hahahahahhahaa...

But here is the point of this post - I wanted to share with you a service I found which helps me print my blog into books. Seeing the books printed full of content all written by me, and photos of my kids, does play a large part in keeping me motivated in to keep my blog going.

This service is Blog2Print!!!
I was paranoid about losing the contents of my blog should Blogger one day suddenly collapse, or some earthquake causes the internet to go haywire. So I was searching for a service/vendor that can print my blog, without me doing it manually. And finally, last year, I found this fantastic service called Blog2Print - they actually print out a copy of my blog and bind it into a book!

All you have to do is:
1) give them your blog URL,
2) enter the time period you want your blog posts printed,
3) choose a cover, choose a cover photo
and voila! you can print a book out of your blogposts!

It's really easy to use. And they're constantly improving their service by adding features which make your book even more customisable. But it's optional whether you wish to further customise - things like the ability to choose certain posts, or delete comments etc. But the basic functions are very easy to use, and very good already!!! I did not fancy manually printing my blog as it is bound to be a very tedious exercise!

The books are available in softcover, or hardcover, and you can even order a pdf copy of the book which costs US$7.99 the last time I did that. Yes, I actually ordered both the hard cover copy as well as the pdf copy (for back up! :p).

You can see some of the books I ordered in the first pix of this post. That's how they packed the book when they shipped it - they shrink-wrapped each book to a cardboard which was bigger that the book, so that the danger of it getting knocked into is much reduced. So the books got to me in great shape - no dented corners whatsoever! :)
Blog2Print actually prints the blog in chronological order so that the oldest post (in the time period specified that you wish to print) is right on top, so you read the book in chronological order like a normal book... as opposed to blogs which have you reading "backwards" in time since the newest posts are on top.

They also have a content page with page numbers, so that if you wish to look for a particular post, you can look at the content page to help you search for it. Very handy indeed if you have a lot of posts like I do!

The best part about this is, they print out the photos I have on my blog in full colour!!! And the colours turned out very nicely as well - forgive the quality of my pictures here for they're taken with my mobile phone. But trust me, the colours of the pix in the books look great! :) They even have a 'space saving' mode where you can choose to have them layout the print of your posts such that the pictures of the post are printed, then the text (actually, I can't recall before or after). But I didn't choose that, as I intentionally like to space out my pictures and and my words. However, as you can see, even in this mode, they still try to save space (and hence save money!) by printing two pix side by side if there is no text in between. Hence, you may have noticed in my recent posts that I have started to have my text every two pix, instead of between each post. kekeke...
Blog2Print has cover templates for you to choose from. You can then upload photos to be used on the covers - front and back (below). They even have an option for you to insert a dedication page. It's really quite cool :) When I first discovered this service, I printed one book, just to, ya know, try it out. And I really liked it. So when a discount coupon comes along, I printed the rest of my blog! So that first pic up there was when I printed like 4 books at one shot.

Oh they're not 4 copies of 1 book, they're 4 different books. I generally try to squeeze 1 year's worth of blog posts into 1 book, but even then I have so many posts in a year that the book got too thick, so in the end I had to print 2008 and 2009 into 2 books each. Each book had more than a hundred pages each. So together with my 2007 book (only one since the blog was only started in August 2007), The Tan Family Chronicles Series now has 5 volumes!!! kekeke...

I'm looking forward to printing my 2010 posts, once I am done with all my backposting! Oh! Yes, this is also the reason why I am backposting all posts with 2010 pix to December 2010, so that they would appear in the 2010 books that I print with Blog2Print!
Blog2Print is a fantastic service. Of course, they have room for improvement. My wishlist would be (1) Option to have bigger pictures printed in the book. (2) Fully customisable covers (3) Ability to choose the fonts used. But so far, they have been great, constantly asking for feedback, and coming up with new features. One of my wishlist items used to be that they have a plain black cover template - and now they do! Yay!!! Makes me wanna print them all out again, this time in black covers! Classic!

Oh! One thing I haven't covered is the cost. Price of the book you create depends on a few factors:
1)Hardcover or softcover?
2) Number of pages
3) Contents in full colour print, or black & white?

Prices start at 20 paged book - Full colour - US$14.95 Softcover / US$24.95 Hardcover
Every additional page costs US$0.35 each.

Black & white book start at US$10.95 each, additional pages (after the first 20) are at 10 cents each only.

Above prices quoted from Blog2Print website as of 1st May 2011.

To know exactly how much you have to pay for your book, you should go create one online, and then take the transaction as far as seeing your total cost (which they add a shipping fee to). This is the only surefire way to know how much your book costs. Just be careful not to confirm the transaction if you are not ready to buy the book yet.

So how much did my books cost? Well, for the lot of 4 books you see pictured above, that I made in July 2010, I paid a total of US$302 - which translates to about S$430, inclusive of international shipping from USA to Singapore. This was after a 15% discount coupon I used as well. (Go sign up at the website, it's free to create an account. Now and then, they will send emailers with discount coupons during certain times of the year. If you're not in a rush to get your book, just wait for a coupon before you print a book. 10% is more common. 15% is a steal! which I why I went ahead to print 4 books at once.)

The 4 books I printed are full colour, hardcovered books, about A4 sized (can't recall A4 or Letter sized). And the page count for my 4 books are 166, 141, 201 and 200. That's a lot of pages! So, in my opinion, S$430 for 4 thick books, including shipping, is very worth it. If I had to spend the time and energy to manually print my blogs and bring them to a bookbinder to bind, I think it will cost me more than S$430. So, really, highly recommended, especially if you have a blog.

They even have a Everything2Print service where you can print... well, everything! You can 'print your word doc, pdf, twitter, facebook... Though I can't imagine how they'd print the facebook, I didn't try. And I'm not a twit (kekeke pun intended!) so I dunno how that's gonna work... but I think it's a cool service to check out too! :)

Oh! before I go, one warning though, their international shipping is SUPERBLY SLOW. Really. Really. SLOW. So, dun be a cheapo like me to choose their cheapest shipping (I regret choosing their cheapest shipping). I think should choose one of their better shipping methods. Then again, maybe I'd just write them some feedback complaining about their shipping.

OH speaking of which... They do NOT accept Singapore registered credit cards. Which is really dumb. So I paid via Paypal, which they accept. No biggie for me coz I have Paypal, but for those of you who don't have Paypal and don't have any credit cards not registered in Singapore, bugger - Blog2Print's loss for not getting your biz coz of this silly policy. Just thought you'd like to know.

Alrighty! So run along now, go check out Blog2Print. The pix in this post aren't the most flattering at the moment. Will take some better pix and update this post with them. Or if and when you come by my place, I could show you the books themselves! The Tan Family Chronicles Series Volumes 1 to 5!!!

Shawna goes shopping (plus backposts)

2011-04-28T23:23:00.003+08:00

Again, pardon the picture quality - these are pix from my phone, taken a week ago, last Friday 22nd April 2011.
We were in a shopping centre which had some kiddy rides like the one above. Hubbs was carrying Asher, and was talking to a friend he had bumped into. I was talking to Isaac, Natalie and Becca, trying to teach them how to steer the ride, as well as stop the machine, to prevent any collisions.

Suddenly, my helper walked past me, and said "Did you see Shawna?!". Immediately, I started scanning the surroundings, coz clearly, Shawna had disappeared. My sister overheard, and started searching as well.

We were in an open area that led off to quite a number of shops. Thankfully it wasn't very crowded, and I could see quite clearly into all the shops and I didn't see Shawna in them. However, there was that Cold Storage which went quite deep in... somehow, I just thought I should search inside...

And true enough, there she was. At least 10 metres deep into the store, Shawna was walking around the fresh produce section. And she was, just... strolling. She wasn't even crying nor looking for any of us!

SIGHZ! It was quite a scare! - "Shawna!!! Don't go off shopping on your own okay?!?! Must bring Mummy along!!!" :p

Backpost links

Random (plus backpost)

2011-04-22T23:23:00.001+08:00

Hahaha I'd always wanted to do that - name a blogpost "Random". Why? That's coz I would have never thought of doing it. But like last year, there was a time, when I discovered some young people (defined as young working adults younger than me - sob sob, once upon a time, I was these people, but now I'm no longer one of the youngest in the workplace! sob sob). I digress. Anyway, one time (a few times), I was reading some young people's blog, and these people (so not just one blog, but many blogs) titled a lot of their blog posts "Random". And it's not just one person (blog) but many people do that! In the end, I noticed that the common denominator, was that these people are all younger than me. Sob. Generation gap. Must be! What other explanation can there be!?!? :p

Oh! I was inspired to name this post "Random" coz the 3 mobile phone pix (uploaded to facebook)below have no connection (sorta). So... very... RANDOM... lor!!! HAHAHHAHA :p kekeke...
8th April 2011. Asher, Isaac and Shawna in the car - in their child seats. I wanted to take this picture, to chronicle the days that we have to have 3 child seats in the car. With 3 child seats, our 8-seater Honda Freed is reduced to being a 6 seater car. Which is just right for us - hubbs and I, the kidzes, and our helper. If we need to ferry someone, out goes one or more child seats. Same, if we need boot space. It's a hassle, yes, but I wanna train the kidzes to sit in their car child seat. They're really much easier to handle when they're all seated. Asher & Shawna, have (thankfully) taken to the child seat much better than Isaac did at that age.

March 2011. Macy & Isaac's puppets that they did in school (childcare). I love taking pix of his art and craft etc :) (Much easier to keep than the actual stuff themselves!) Cute puppets!!! Before Isaac attended childcare, he only answers to "Isaac" and "Wenyuan" his chinese name. But his school teachers seem to make it a point to call him by his full given name now and then, as such, Isaac knows his full name. Which is Isaac Emmanuel Tan and his dialect name. I believe it is the school teachers that "taught" him that Emmanuel is his name as well. Not me, not hubbs. His dialect name as well! Coz we hardly ever call him by his dialect name. I did ask the teachers if they did that intentionally - coz I notice that they do that for all the kids, not just Isaac. And they said yes. Cool! :)
13th April 2011 Isaac was very sick this week, fever and cough etc. Didn't go to school the whole week. And I was in between jobs, so I got to be home with him a bit. We spent quite a lot of time playing games that week. (And playing his choo choo train - his Thomas and Friends train tracks - but that's another picture, and another story...) So, this picture above, is of us playing Ninja Versus Ninja. It's one of his favourites at the moment. He won this game that we played too! (I was close behind, ok. Just 1 point behind!!!) I like this game too. But actually, I think it is not so suited for Isaac's age, as it is cheemer (tougher) than it looks. I think he will enjoy it more when he is older. But then, he enjoys it now already, so *shrug* better still!!! :) Read more about the game here http://www.myfirstgames.sg/ninja-versus-ninja.html

BACKPOST LINK - Friday nights fun! :)

Trying very hard! (plus backpost)

2011-04-19T23:23:00.000+08:00

Yes, me, I'm trying very hard to catch up with my backposting - which till now, is still in August 2010! But I've managed to keep this blog up for 3 years plus (since Isaac was born) and I shall continue to persevere!!!
I'm also thinking if I should concurrently update the new pictures while doing my backposts... still considering, coz the chronologicalness ingrained in me is protesting... But, I don't like to have wordy posts without pix, so here! I have got the pix below off hubbs' facebook - these are pix which he has taken with his phone and had them uploaded on his fb. So, forgive the blurriness eh, but in the meanwhile, they'd do - so that my blog post is not pictureless!!!
Also this is an attempt to capture the pictures that we have taken from our phones. The pictures from the phones are usually a bit blurry, and quality wise - not very good. However, they really capture the spirit of the moment, sometimes. And often, they wind up being our handphone wallpaper etc for a period of time. Something to look back on as well. So, the Tan Family Chronicler (that's me) will want this chronicled as well. Enjoy!

pix taken circa April 2011
Asher & Shawna @ 15 months
Isaac @ 3 years 8 months

The two pix above, was hubbs brave brave attempt at bringing the 3 kids to Jurong Point, all by himself! I was away that morning - was Qing Ming, went with my parents and the Lee Family relatives to sweep tomb... Brave hubbs! :)

Oh!!! Almost forgot my backpost link - Beautiful kids, they are! Good post with lotsa beautiful pix!!! :) Enjoy!!!

Sick, again?!?! (plus backposts)

2011-04-18T23:23:00.000+08:00

We're all sick! Again!!! Yes, we were, last week was quite bad, like the entire week, we were all sick. But we're better now...

It first started with Isaac last Saturday night 9th April 2011 - he had fever. Started Saturday night, through Sunday. Monday we brought him to see the pd. Coughing very badly. Fever. Sick through Tuesday, and Wednesday...

Wednesday night, I lost my voice. Think I caught the bug from Isaac and it caused my voice box to bugger up - rendered me voiceless. Through Thursday, Friday and Saturday, you hardly heard anything from me. Sunday was just slightly better. Hubbs was enjoying the silence tremendously.

By Sunday, Isaac was much better, and so was I. Think this was largely coz on Thursday, we went to see my uncle who is a GP, and we were both put on antibiotics. However, by Friday, Asher came down with fever, and Shawna on Sunday... SIGH...

Anywayz, as of today - Monday 18th April 2011 - Isaac is better and went to school today (after skipping a whole week last week), I am better and went to work today (1st day at work!!!), and the twins are better now. Hope we're all on our way to complete recovery! :)

Here are two backposts for you! Pix from 6th August 2010.

Catching up!

2011-04-07T21:21:00.003+08:00

yes, trying trying! Trying to catch up on my blog. Just uploaded like more than 50 pix into draft posts for this blog... took a lot of pictures last August coz it was Isaac's birthday month, you see.

As you know, I am now in between jobs. Starting work on 18th April, and people ask me what do I do with all my time now, before I start work. Other than my blog, believe or not, I am still catching up on my farewell lunches! hahaha...

Also, I started arranging gatherings with friends... And need to pop by to see friends who have delivered their babies but I haven't had the time to go visit (Weiping, Cecilia, Weiling... congrats guys!!!) Busy with My First Games, making supply orders, collecting supplies, making deliveries, updating the website with new games...

Oh and having fun! hehehe... hubbs took leave today to spend some time with me! We went ktv - KBox lunch special, and then went swimming after that. Then I went to get my wisdom teeth extracted - minor surgery, now I am 2 teeth less, and have a swollen cheek. Hahahahaha...

hubbs tortured me by buying durian... sob sob... I couldn't eat, in my condition. I guess I could, if I really wanted to. But, nah... I'd be on liquids for the rest of today, thank you very much...

And now have been at the computer for awhile now, catching up on my blogging... new post here! Miss the kidzes? enjoy the pix!

My Ascendas Farewell Email

2011-04-05T01:17:00.000+08:00

Hey hey hey!!!

Firstly, just wanted to point out that I did a backpost - Isaac in School - pix from August 2010, I just wrote it but posted it to 18 Dec 2010 9.23am. So you can scroll down to see it, or click on that link above.

Secondly... remember I told you I had tendered from my job? My last day was 31 March 2010. And below is my farewell email to all my colleagues! :) I had kinda written it in a rush, so it is not as good as I'd have liked it to be, but unfortunately, it'd have had to do coz I was running out of time to write it. Still am pretty proud of it though. Go read! :)

p.s. I tried my best to keep it short and sweet already!!! No verbal diarrhoea-ing!!!

Hi everyone,

Today is my last day in Ascendas. All 4 years and 9 months of my tenure here. And what a ride it has been! :)

You may have heard of the saying that people are in your life for a reason, a season or for lifetime. I truly believe in that. I am grateful to have got to know each of you sometime in this past 4 years and 9 months.

I have learnt a lot from all of you. Be it finance basics, or property management issues, or legal clauses and concepts, all the way to tips on how to deal with morning sickness, kids throwing tantrums, enrichment classes or baking cakes and cookies and fengshui theories and many many more. You have enriched my life and made me what I am today. My arsenal of lease and asset management skills have been built up here thanks to all the guidance and learning I have gleaned from all of you. I can firmly proclaim that I am a better person today, than when I joined 4 years and 9 months ago, because of you, all of you. And for that, I sincerely thank you.

People ask me if I am sad, or happy to be leaving. I must confess that I look forward to moving on, and pray that my choice of pasture, is greener than the one here. But I am also sad, for Ascendas has come to be a home to me. The people here are beyond nice, and the many friends that I have made here are friends that I wish to keep for a lifetime. Many lifetimes! J

I also thank those of you who have bought me farewell lunches and farewell gifts. I very much appreciate the food and the gifts, but more importantly, I value the time and the company you have given me. I hope this is only a farewell for me in Ascendas, but not that of our friendship. I look forward to keeping in touch with you in the many years to come.

Think of me often. Laugh when you do so. Talk about me, go ahead, gossip, and keep your eye on my facebook page and read my blog often. Bug me to meet up for lunch. I welcome it. Ask me for info or advice – I’d definitely try my best to help you. If I run for election, vote for me :p One last thing I would ask of you, would be, to remember the best of me. Forgive my transgressions and remember me well. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!

Someone asked me “How do the people who leave decide who to get their farewell email?” This friend then proceeded to tell me to please include her as a recipient in my farewell email. I am flattered that she has asked this. So, please let it be known, that it is my intention to include everyone I know in Ascendas, to be a recipient of this email. If I had accidentally left out anyone, please feel free to forward it to them.

4 years and 9 months is not a super long time to be in a company. Nor is it a very short time to be in a company. But 4 years and 9 months is definitely too short a time, to get to know a person well. Many of you know that I am in Lease & Asset Management, and that I have 3 kids (my boy Isaac, and a pair of dragon-phoenix twins Asher & Shawna). Many of you even know about my passion in boardgames.

But did you know that I used to collect dead mosquitoes and lizard skeletons? Or that I have an interest in a form of theatre called Playback Theatre and have once performed in The Esplanade? Or that my childhood ambition was to become a policewoman, then a writer, and subsequently an architect? :) In short, stay in touch, I have enough skeletons to spill for a lifetime!!! :p

Thanks to technology, please find below a plethora of ways to keep in contact…

My email address: emailpamela(a)yahoo.com
My mobile number: xxxxxxxx
My msn messenger: emailpamela(a)hotmail.com
My facebook account: emailpamela(a)yahoo.com
My blog: www.tanfamilychronicles.blogspot.com
My dream: www.myfirstgames.sg

All Ascendians, past and present, will always have a special place in my heart :)

Love, hugs and flying kisses (with saliva spraying all over you)!!!

;)pamela

REASON, SEASON, OR LIFETIME FRIENDS?

People always come into your life for a reason,
a season, or a lifetime.

When you figure out which it is,
you know exactly what to do.

When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need
you have expressed outwardly or inwardly.

They have come to assist you through a difficulty,
or to provide you with guidance and support...
to aid you physically, emotionally, or even spiritually.

They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrong doing on your part
or at an inconvenient time,
This person will say or do something
to bring the relationship to an end.

Sometimes they die.
Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand.

What we must realize is that our need has been met,
our desire fulfilled; their work is done.

The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.

When people come into your life for a SEASON,
it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.

They may bring you an experience of peace
or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it!
It is real!

But, only for a SEASON.

And like Spring turns to Summer and Summer to Fall,
the season eventually ends.

LIFETIME relationships teach you a lifetime of lessons;
Those things you must build upon
in order to have a solid emotional foundation.

Your job is to accept the lesson,
love the person/people anyway,
and put what you have learned
to use in all other relationships
and areas of your life.

It is said that love is blind,
but friendship is clairvoyant.

Thank you for being a part of my life...

Written by: Brian A. "Drew" Chalker

Guess what?! I'm rambling!!! I mean, I'm quitting!!!

2011-03-22T23:23:00.002+08:00

SIGH. I feel so sorry for my blog. It must be feeling so neglected ;p Work's been crazy. And what with us trying to start My First Games, and keep it going, and with my 3 lovely kiddos... People tell me they're amazed that I have a blog. Well, I am determined to keep it going!!!

SO! I have decided to quit my job and update my blog on a full time basis!

NOT! hahahahhahahaa.... though... seriously, do you enjoy my writing? Would you pay good money to read something written by me? Perhaps you could start by simply dropping me fan mail... or add comments to the page... (can you hear the desperation?!)

Actually, I decided to quit my job to do My First Games full time..... NOT! *sob*sob* I wish!!! Sigh, I really wish. But then, I am not getting a lot of business, and the margins are not fantastic, so... I'm afraid I can't do it full time yet...

But seriously seriously (I should inprove my vocabulary).... I am quitting my current job! ;p changing jobs. Yes, yes, I found a job before I quit (is there such a word as "quited" as in past tense of "quit"?). Would still be in real estate (no, not agent)...

So anywayz, I have 2 weeks break coming up soon. And I plan to catch up on my blog then. Wish me luck! And stay tuned!!! :)

oh and as you can see, the above rambling is the result of not updating my blog for a long time. Cold turkey!!! blleeaauughhhh!!!

Asher & Shawna's 1st Year birthday party

2011-01-01T15:31:00.000+08:00

Post written in Feb 2012, backposted to 1st Jan 2011. Yes, I know, more than a year late... ah wellz... better late than never :) I'm also trying out blogger's new interface - which is a bit too smart for me, so if the formating looks weird, yes, it's a lil my fault, but mostly blogger's fault :p

We celebrated the twins birthday on 1st Jan 2011, coz it was a public holiday, and coz 6th Jan 2011 fell on a weekday (a Thursday, if you're wondering), and traditionally, Chinese believe that you should only celebrate birthdays in advance, but never belated. I wonder who set such 'rules' to begin with. It's silly, if you ask me. But some things are not worth arguing over, and some "rules" are quite harmless to follow, and so people of our generation usually just shift our schedule around to follow these (probably archaic) "rules".

Hubbs managed to book this huge function room at the MOE Recreation Club at Evans Road. It was nice and huge, had grounds outside for the kids to run around and play frisbee and catching. There was even a grassy slope that the kids started climbing, until some got hurt and they naturally wised up and stopped...

As you can see, I had our usual Spiderman cake made. Yes, Spidey cake for Spidey kids okay. That's always the case for 1 year old Spidey Tan Family babies. Yes, because I say so ;p Besides, the kids wouldn't know the difference, right? Also, the first year birthday is not only to celebrate the first year of the kid's life. It is also to celebrate the parents surviving the first, and toughest (in our humblest opinions) year of the kid's life. Yes, indeed, a celebration of life - that we have lived through that year!

Indeed, looking back, 2010 was very tough for us all. The twins were born on 6th Jan 2010. Those of you who are parents would know, that having one infant to take care of is tough enough. Having two... really takes the cake. (I can't even start to imagine how having triplets would be!) So we had two little infants to take care of. Double the diapers to change, double the time I had to spend breastfeeding them, double the crying, double the bathing, double the everything. On top of that, we still had to cater to Isaac's increasing demands for attention. And to make it worse, because we started Isaac on childcare, he (understandably) caught viruses and bugs and whatnot - came back and passed them to us too. Bad for Isaac, worse for babies, and hell if we adults got it too.

Imagine hubbs and I with 11 kids!!! Cool, eh!? :)

In June 2010, it happened. Hubbs had been sick for a long time, with cough and whatnot, remnants that never faded with an earlier episode of when Isaac came back with a cough/flu (I can't remember), got fever. Either Isaac or hubbs passed something to the twins... Asher came down with croup, triggered by whatever it was Isaac passed him. We brought him to KK Hospital Children's Emergency, but coz he was less than 6 months old and had difficulty breathing, he was admitted to stay in hospital. I stayed with him. We were there for two days. Meanwhile, my mother-in-law who was staying with us to help out with taking care of the kids came down with the bug too. From the hospital, I told hubbs to bring Shawna to my parents place to quarantine her from everyone at home who was sick. My helper soon came down with the bug too.

My parents, my sister's family, and us.

After two days in hospital, we discharged, and went straight to my parents place, intending to stay there to keep away from all the sick recovering back home... but when I saw Shawna, and heard her breathing... I went back in to KKH with Shawna - she had developed croup too. I checked into KKH with Shawna the same day that I had discharged with Asher. I spent my third consecutive night in hospital.Back home, my father-in-law had fallen ill as well. But thankfully, Isaac was better already, and my mother-in-law and helper could rest since the twins weren't home.The following day, I discharged with Shawna and went to stay with Asher and Shawna at my parents place. My mum started sniffling too. And two days later, I started to cough as well. Thankfully though, by the time I fell to the incredi-bug, everyone else was well, and so, I could finally rest, after a very trying week. These two weeks were the most challenging period of the first year of the twins lives for us. Within the first 6 months of the twins' birth, hubbs lost 10 kg. Yes, seriously.

Hubbs' parents, his sister (and her husband) and us! :)

Thank heavens, that episode was not repeated again, and we're praying that it never will. Every time I pray now, the first thing I pray for is good health for my kids and everyone we know. We are also thankful for the amount of family support we had, for without them, we would not have been able to cope with Isaac and the twins. We were also blessed with good a good helper Lina, whom we hope would continue to be a good helper.

My parents and their 6 grandkids!

When people realise that we have three kids, of which two are a pair of twins, there are invariably two comments. Those who are not married or who do not have kids, will comment:"Wah!!! Twins!!! I want!!!" Those who themselves are parents would comment:"Wah, not easy ah, twins. One already cannot cope..." :) To this we'd reply:"Luckily God sent us Isaac for training first! :)"

Yes, having twins is not easy indeed. But we wouldn't change it for the world.We love you, Asher & Shawna, happy birthday! :)


All pictures in this post taken on 1st January 2011. Asher & Shawna @ five days to 1 year old Isaac @ five days to 3 years 5 months old

31st December 2010

2010-12-31T23:59:00.002+08:00

And we've finally come to the end of the year 2010! pix taken on 31st December 2010, post written in August 2011, back posted to 31st December 2010.

It's been an eventful year for us, 2010. Well, actually, maybe it's just 2 main "events" - Asher & Shawna!!! :) 2010 is truly their year. They were born on 6th January 2010. But there was so much anticipation of them for much more than a week before their birth, and after that, Asher & Shawna truly filled our lives. How blessed we are!!!
Asher, above, "being a baby" :) We often say he's the most manja of the three, but frankly, so is Isaac. So shall we say, "it's a boy thing"? Maybe! But Shawna also has her times when she seeks affectionate cuddles. Nowadays, this happens early in the morning at about 6am, when she's about to wake up, she'd crawl into my bed to cuddle up with me before waking up properly.
And of course, we celebrate my Dad's birthday again since it's the actual day. Traditionally, he'd have a party on 31st December, but since my sister had the Christmas party this year, my parents decided not to hold the usual 31st December party.
So a simple one it was. 2 tubs of yummy Ben & Jerrys ice cream for my Dad the ice-cream lover, surrounded by his beloved grandkids!!! :) Happy 61st Birthday, Daddy!!! :)

Christmas time is family time!

2010-12-25T23:59:00.004+08:00

pix taken on 25th December 2010! post written in August 2011, back posted to 25th December 2010 :)

Christmas time is family time! My sister kindly offered to host the Christmas party at her house. We made sure to take the requisite family pix immediately after most have had their dinner. As usual, with so many in the picture, it was almost impossible to get a perfect one - thus I'd uploaded two - with these two combined, it'd be a perfect pic! :) You can see above how our clan has grown! Above is the pix of The Cuzzies + spouses/partners + offspring, if any. And not even all the Cuzzies are there! In fact, there's only 10! Just slightly less than half-strength! And for the individual family shots... presenting the Number Twos!!!
The Number Tens above (sorry Chiang, this was the only pic I had)... and the Number Threes below... (great pic, if I do say so myself!!!)
Number Fours above very under-represented... ;p

And the Number Fives below, yes, that's us!!! :) I suppose you could say we are... prolific?! kekeke... Again, please combine both pix for the perfect photo! :p
Oh and we had to celebrate the birthdays of the two December babies, of course! Yew Luang's birthday on 24th, and my Dad's on 31st. And in December 2011, we should have another birth to celebrate! Congrats Yew Luang & Chin San!!! :D
Isaac and Natalie in one corner playing with spud heads... and lookie lookie, cute pix of my Asher below! (Taken by Yew Yi, I think. Thanks!!!)Can't wait to celebrate Christmas in 2011!!! :)

Kidzes circa December 2010

2010-12-22T01:23:00.003+08:00

Pictures here taken between 1st & 11th of December 2010. Post written in August 2011, back posted to 22nd December 2010, 1.23am

Asher & Shawna are 11 months old. At 11 months old, both Asher & Shawna are crawling very proficiently. Shawna can even stand on her own, without support from us, nor from holding on to furniture - she can do this since she was about 10 months old.

At 11 months, Shawna started to take her first steps :) Somehow, she found it very amusing (and probably liberating) to be able to stand and walk - thus she was very motivated to keep practicing until she could do it. She would even beat our hands away or pull her hands out from us, sending a clear message that she wanted to do this on her own, and not with our help.

I love seeing Asher & Shawna in Isaac's clothes - they're both wearing Isaac's pyjamas. We also enjoy seeing Shawna wear Chloe's or Natalie's clothes. Of course, Natalie's clothes were largely from Becca and Isabelle, so all the more meaningful it was. Brings back all the nice memories of when the older kids were younger :) also serves to remind us how quickly time flies! how old we are! and how we should really treasure each and every day of our lives!
I'd wanted to take this picture above to see the contrast in height between Isaac and Shawna :) Isaac looks like such a big boy next to Shawna! And his cheeky grin! :)
The kids love to push each other on the car. But while Asher doesn't mind Shawna pushing him along, Shawna doesn't like it when either Asher or Isaac pushes her. She wants total control!!! :) Look how steady she is standing on her own!
Look at that look on Shawna's face, and how straight and purposeful her pointing action is. Yes, she's the One Finger General! She loved having her grandpa carry her, and she would point in the direction she wanted to go. Usually, she'd be pointing to the main door - she loves going for walks downstairs with her grandpa!Shawna's Grandpa's favourite, I think! :)

School "concert"!

2010-12-21T21:23:00.007+08:00

pix taken on 30th November 2010, post written in August 2011, back posted to 21st December 2010, 9.23pm.

I love to watch kids perform! I find it very entertaining! Also, perhaps, I am looking forward to the day Isaac, Asher & Shawna can do playback theatre with hubbs and I - we'd form our own Playback Theatre troop! :) Perhaps conduct lessons for kids to do playback? you never know! :)
It was a year end Graduation Ceremony to mark the end of a school year, where the kids would progress to the next level. Isaac hence went from N1 to N2. He was very proud of the fact that he was "growing up" and would soon be in N2 already. Teacher Lina did a good job in drumming it into Isaac that being older comes with more responsibilities kekeke...

Can you see Isaac in the far left? This is the "dance item" put up by the N1 kids - though there wasn't much dancing but more ribbon waving. Still, it was cute :)
Each level combined to perform an item or two. In the picture above, the kids were supposed to represent an animal each. They acted out a simple skit. Ooooh, so reminds me of the skits we put up in primary and secondary school.
This is the "real graduating class" - the K2s! They're all wearing their respective school uniform of the school they would be attending in the following year 2011. Thought it was a great idea to make them wear the school u. Makes them look all grown up, too!
Even the dance item they put up was more hip and happening! :) Joy, look at Zara's pose, below! :) Stylo mylo!!!
Back to the N1s for a song & dance item :) All stand there, blur blur like that. hahahaha...
Nice pix with Teacher Siti, Teacher Lina and Hu Laoshi - Isaac's Chinese teacher in N1.Isaac with a constipated look?! hahahahahahahhaa...

My smiley twins!

2010-12-21T21:23:00.003+08:00

pix taken on 28th November 2010, post written in August 2011, back posted to 21 December 2010, 9.23pm. Asher & Shawna @ 10 months plus

I love this picture below! My smiley Asher & Shawna! I'd just shaved their heads when they were 8 months old, and about 3 months on, you can see that Shawna's hair is thicker and grows out faster than Asher's. You can see their budding teeth in this picture too! :)
I love happy babies pictures!!! :)

Firestation visit

2010-12-21T19:23:00.004+08:00

Pix taken on 27th November 2010. Post written in August 2011, backposted to 21 December 2010, 7.23pm. Isaac @ 3 years 3 months plus

The first year the twins were born was very tough for us. Handling 2 babies plus a toddler was really no joke. Already-skinny hubbs dropped 10kg just in the first 6 months of the twins birth - hence further decreasing the probability of my weight being lower than his again (yes, I was once lighter than him okay!?!).Just as we were adjusting to the twins, Isaac was also adjusting to having two new siblings. We were quite conscious about making sure that he didn't feel "left out" or "neglected". Hence, we made sure that hubbs and I would spend time with him. As I was fully breastfeeding the twins, I was sorta needed around the twins more, yet when Isaac is home, he'd want me to spend time with him as well. Thus, I was often exhausted. To give me a breather at times, hubbs would bring Isaac out on mini-excursions. This fire station visit was one of those :)It so happened that when they were at the fire station, the main big fire engine had gone out on a call. So Isaac was kinda disappointed that he didn't get to sit on it - though he got to sit on the other fire trucks, ambulance, motorcycle and such. So naturally, hubbs promised him another visit - and you know what, till today, Isaac still remembers this and reminds us that we were supposed to bring him to the fire station again! Time to plan a visit soon! :)