Follow-up Eye Review and a Second Opinion (kind of)

Posted in Kids health by jahbella

Its been almost half a year since Jah’s first eye-test and the very dramatic days that followed (his head injury). It almost feels like eons ago and most definitely a period that we still have ‘nightmares’ about. So when it was time to bring Jah for his follow-up eye review, we were feeling pretty stressed up. Though the eye-test and the head injury were not exactly related, we couldn’t help but associate them. 😦

We were initially supposed to bring Jah back to the Eye Centre for his review but given that this was likely going to be an annual affair, we somehow felt that we needed to find a doctor whom we were comfortable with and to just get it right from the ‘start’.

I did alittle bit more research, asked around alittle and finally settled on a doctor who comes pretty highly recommended. Ironically, she was one of my choices for Jah’s first eye check-up until we decided to go with the Eye Centre…hmmmm….

The doctor sees both kids and adults and the clinic was rather full when we got there at 1030am. However Jah was very comfortable with the environment and perfectly happy with the little box of toys and shelf full of books in the clinic.

We waited about 45 minutes before Jah was called by the Optometrist to do some tests. (Pretty long wait but it was a pleasant wait). The tests were done at one go which made it a lot easier for us.

We were called into the doctor’s office shortly (because 3 kids in front of us were all in the toilet at the same time! Hooray! :p) The doctor did a simple examination of his eyes and was really patient with Jah. She was also really reassuring and told us that there was no change in Jah’s astigmatism ‘degree’. She felt that his ‘degree’ was rather mild and told us that at 3 years old, a child’s vision is expected to improve with age and he will be able to see smaller/ farther items as he progresses/ as the brain develops. Oh so this is why he couldn’t see the last row of shapes no matter how hard he tried! Smack head! :):O

She told us that she personally would not have prescribed him with glasses but the fact that he was happy with the improved vision, we could of course continue but we did not have to enforce 24/7 compulsory specs wearing. Phew! It was such a relief for us to hear a second opinion on the matter. While the diagnosis was the same to a certain extent, the approach/ solution was totally difficult.

We came out of the consultation, understanding his situation and what he needed or didn’t need a lot better. We were reassured rather than petrified that our kid’s vision was going to worsen if he didn’t wear his specs every single minute.

All in all, a very successful reassuring eye-review which well honestly didn’t cost more than what we paid at the eye centre and we took all of 1.5hour before we were off to lunch and Toysrus for a reward. 😉

Glad that we found a decent doctor for Jah to follow up with. 🙂

JahBella’s Mummy

24Feb2015

What Chinese New Year means to me as a mother

Posted in Our Thoughts, Parenting decisions by jahbella

What does Chinese New Year mean to you? Or should I say what do you think of when I mention Chinese New Year? I think to many, Chinese New Year reminds them of some of the obvious, like lots of feasting and snacking on goodies, visiting relatives and collecting ang pows as well as reunion dinners and ‘lo-heing’.

Oddly, my Chinese New Years have never quite been about the above things except for reunion dinner which I absolutely love (because my mum was a fantastic cook and my sister has inherited her genes). But I don’t quite do or like to do most of the obvious CNY stuff.

Our Reunion Dinner feast this year cooked by my sisters dearest..

Rather CNY reminds me of the little family traditions that my mum used to insist we follow as kids.

Traditions like having a new set of PJs to wear on CNY eve or my mum forcing us to stay awake past midnight because apparently the later you stay up, the longer your parents live. Nowadays we will be chasing our kids off to bed, the earlier they sleep, the longer I feel I will live. :p

CNY also reminds me of the whole family crowding around the TV on CNY eve and watching the countdown show. The evening was spent with me translating the fortune predictions for the various zodiacs in our family because the geomancer’s mandarin was too ‘chim’ for my mum.

CNY is just one of many occasions/ festivals that remind me of my mum.

CNY is one of many occasions where I wish I could turn to my mum to ask if I am doing things right with my kids.

As a mother, it is also one of those occasions that is often bittersweet because I wished I could share my own experiences as a mother with her and ‘compare notes’.

Remembering my mum and her little CNY traditions is also one of the reasons why I am trying to establish my own little CNY family traditions that my kids can hopefully look back on one day. Even if some of these little CNY traditions may deviate from the norm or ‘obligation’/ expectations of others. Us kids were the only things that mattered to my mum and so I suppose if I had the chance to turn to my mum today and ask her for her opinion on the traditions I’m thinking of setting..I think I know what answer I will get.

I know I have big shoes to fill and as I search for my footing as a mother this CNY and the CNYs to come, I hope I do my mum proud. 🙂

JahBella’s Mummy

21Feb2015

Hong Kong Holiday (May 2014) – Langham Place Mongkok

Posted in Food, Holidays, HongKong by jahbella

During our dating years, it was extremely hard to convince Joel to holiday in Hong Kong and I didn’t quite know the reason for his reluctance. I only found out the reason for it when he finally agreed to visit Hong Kong in 2009. The first thing he said to me as our taxi pulled out of the airport was, “wow! this isn’t like Young and Dangerous at all!” (Yes so now you know which era we are from :p).

So anyway he has been quite in love with Hong Kong since then and it was extremely easy to convince him to bring the kids there (on such short notice) despite just returning from our Perth holiday.

Family Pic before we jet off!

Admiring the Social Tree at T1

Stickers are extremely serous business! Do not let your child discover your secret sticker stash pre-flight!

Pushing his sister around HK Airport

So what is there do do with kids in Hong Kong you ask. Everyone would tell you to “Eat and Shop” however we could only manage the ‘eat’, ‘go to Disneyland’ and ‘eat somemore’.

While staying at one of the Disneyland would probably seem like the most obvious choice, we decided to stay in Mongkok instead. We chose the Langham Place Mongkok for its location and also because the the range of room types that were available for families. (Also the hotels at Disneyland were extremely expensive if we wanted to cater for 3 adults and 2 kids 😦 )

We ended up with two rooms that were inter-connected which gave us our privacy but still allowed us to holiday as a family. Staying at Langham Place also allowed us to head down to the streets at night when the kids were asleep and our helper could still watch out for Jah who was in our room.

We managed to go for massages and awesome suppers without worrying about traffic. Staying in Mongkok also meant that we could have our pick of the local food with the kids without worrying that it was past their bedtime (after all we were only a few streets away from our hotel).

Room 1 with a babycot

Room 2 with a king size bed

The bathroom in the main room – the other toilet only had a WC

The kids were really delighted by the food that we had (dim sum, char chant eng sets and roasted goose rice!) What can I say, my kids love their Chinese food!

Picking up dinner 5 minutes after we checked in

Famished after his flight – we managed to pick up dinner right in front of our hotel..yummy!

Awesome street snacks enjoyed in the comforts of our room with the fantastic city view

Snow Ice at a Dessert shop, a short walk from our hotel

How the loves of my life entertain themselves before food is served

Whack first!

Talk later!

I apologise for the lack of char chan teng pictures. There was a really yummy place in front of our hotel too but yes we were too focused on wolfing down our food each time we went there. I am still dreaming of their Bo Luo Bao and their Satay Beef Noodles.

The only downside of our location was the fact that we had to travel abit to get to Disneyland. (MTR going there and a cab coming back). Given that the kids needed their afternoon naps, we pretty much had to visit Disneyland over two days (a morning and an evening trip).

To be honest, it would definitely be a struggle for me to decide between Langham Place and Disneyland hotels for our next trip. Guess we will just have to see if food or sleep reigns supreme!

JahBella’s Mummy

16Feb2015

Royal Caribbean – Mariner of the Seas – JahBella Part 5 (Johnny Rockets and Fisher Price Toys)

Posted in Cruise, Holidays by jahbella

After our little ice-skating adventure, we decided that it was time to eat (AGAIN!) Yes, I think our helper wanted to faint from the frequency and size of our meals on the cruise. We didn’t head to the usual lunch spots like Main Dining Room and Windjammers for our lunches onboard so I will not be able to attest to the quality and menu there. However if like me, you have kids who can survive on fries alone and don’t mind a chocolate milkshake or ice-cream ;P then Johnny Rockets would be the place for them (and you). We went there for all our day meals and those meals were perfect for a nap after. At Johnny Rockets, you basically pay a flat fee of $5 per adult and get to order anything from their menu. Items on their menu include burgers, fries with different toppings and desserts. Beverages are charged separately but that didn’t stop us from purchasing their yummy milkshake. As Joel and I were on the drinks package, our beers and soft drinks were covered and our yummy milkshakes were 1 for 1, for Crown and Anchor Society members. Super duper yummy!!! Jah was also introduced to the smiley face ketchup at Johnny Rockets where they asked if he wanted ketchup and they would draw a smiley face on a plate with ketchup. He started asking for a smiley face at every meal after that (the staff always obliged :p). Thank goodness he hasn’t asked for it since we got back. Johnny Rockets is the perfect place for some casual American dining plus a little entertainment from the dancing staff. 🙂

Burgers are awesome!

Yes super awesome!

Performance!

Just around the corner from Johnny Rockets, you would also find the Babies Club for little ones from 6 months to 36 months. Babysitting services are offered there and we saw that some parents had avail themselves to this paid service. We, on the other hand visited the Club for an entirely different reason. The Club also offered a toy rental service for kids below 3 years of age. You are allowed to take ‘home’ to your cabin, 1 set of Fisher Price toys which you can either choose to keep for the entire length of your stay or return the next day and exchange for another set of toys. As these toys are available on a first come first serve basis, we would recommend you hop over early to select your toys. When we got there at 8pm on the first night, most toys were already taken up and we were very fortunate to have found something that Jah liked. We almost had a meltdown when he realized there were no more cars or train related sets. The Fisher Price toys were pretty fun and came in very handy in keeping the kids occupied in the room. Now if only our kids could be occupied with just one toy at home. Apparently kids understand the concept of making do and making the best of it. :p

Playtime!

I have to say that this toy rental service came in very handy for us during our first cruise trip with Jah and now even more so with two kids. No more lugging toys on holidays to keep them occupied! Although I will probably have to figure something else out once they both of them hit the 4 year old mark….

JahBella’s Mummy

13Feb2015

15 things I will do differently in 2015

Posted in Blog Train, Our Thoughts, Parenting decisions by jahbella

So when Rachel of Catch Fortywinks initated this blog train, I was excited to attempt my first blog train and attempt to write outside of my comfort zone. However I was also alittle concerned if I could find 15 things to do differently in 2015. Not because I’m perfect but because this was a way to document some of my New Year resolutions and to be honest, I’m not very good at keeping to my resolutions. It becomes a whole lot scarier when it is no longer just promises you make in your head but instead written on paper or in this case, on my blog for everyone to see.

But I figured since there were so many of us doing this (34 of us mummy bloggers to be exact), I might as well attempt it and try to have some fun while I’m at it. You can read the other 33 posts at this link 🙂

So here goes nothing, continuing from where Mamabliss left off on the blog train yesterday…15 things I will do differently in 2015 (in no particular order).

Enjoy our family holidays and go with the flow– ok this is not to say that I will stop planning our family holiday itineraries. There is no way that the kids or Joel and I would survive an unplanned holiday. We need structure! However after all the planning has been done for my sanity, I will enjoy our time together and if it means we deviate from the plan slightly during the holidays, I will go with the flow. I will no longer chase the next time slot on our itinerary, I will live in the moment with my family. 🙂

No more standard praises– No more ‘good jobs!, no more ‘wow that’s awesome!’ I am going to start qualifying what was so good or awesome about what Jah or Bella had just done. There is going to be more “I’m so proud of you because…” and “we feel very happy that you…”

Photo Credit: completecoach.pro

No more patronizing ‘Yes’, ‘That’s nice’ and ‘Ok’ – I have been very guilty of just responding to Jah without processing what he is actually telling me sometimes. This happens a lot in the car when my mind is on something else and he just wants to have a conversation with me. I only catch myself when he does a follow up question or statement that I can’t respond to or realize that I have given him permission to something that isn’t allowed.

Stop rushing the kids – I suppose with the exception of rushing for school or work in the morning (within reason). I will stop rushing my kids on weekends. “Hurry we are going to be late for waterplay, finish your bread and lets go!” Nopes, no more of those.

No more handphones during playtime –This is going to be tough but I know that Jah is getting increasingly annoyed when he sees Joel or I holding our handphones during playtime. I am going to eliminate the use of handphone while playing with JahBella. No more scrolling facebook or checking my Whatsapp messages.

Bag Checking – I used to be involved when it came to what goes in and out of Jah’s school bag each day. Then Bella came along and I outsourced the packing of both their school bags to my helper and yes sometimes we drop the ball. This year, I will personally check their bags to make sure that nothing is missed from their communication books and the right items are in their school bags, this is going to be my new night routine.

Be present but unavailable –I don’t know about other mums but I find myself ever present and ever available with my kids even if I shouldn’t be. For example, how many of you find yourselves in the shower but have your ears peeled in case one of your kids start shouting for you or starts a tantrum or a fight with his/her sibling. I find myself always in ‘fight mode’, on my toes and ever ready to run out even if there was another adult in the same room with them. So in 2015, I will be present (aware of the troubles outside in case I need to intervene at some point) but I will try to be unavailable (let someone else attend to the issue first). :p

More family bikes rides– Allowing for more activity time as a family of 4. Equipping 2 adults to handle 2 kids and creating more opportunities for Jah and Bella to co-exist and interact.

More couple bikes rides/ skate scoot nights– Creating more opportunities and space for us to communicate and ‘operate’ as a couple rather than as parents.

Read more –I used to read and then the kids came along. I now buy magazines that I would like to read but never find the time to flip through them. So in 2015, I am going to make full use of my Kindle Fire and start reading again. Perhaps some book reviews too?

Getting our hands dirty – I will attempt more activities in the outdoors (sandplay, waterplay, nature stuff, gardening) as well as indoors (arts and craft, painting, playdoh) with the kids and worry or fuss less about how we are going to clean up.

Savour the bedtime conversations – I am often in a rush to put Jah to bed. I typically sit in his room (in the dark) for 30mins to an hour until he falls asleep (in my lap). This is normally my down time where I get to catch up on my tv dramas on my tablet while he slowly drifts off to sleep. So I often find myself hushing him or cutting our conversations short so that he would drift off to sleep faster. I need to start enjoying the bedtime conversations with my boy before he stops wanting me in his room even if it means delaying my down time.

Spending more time with Bella– Having kids who are close in age has its pros and cons. Jah and Bella are only 18 months apart and this meant I had to focus a lot of energy and attention on Jah even after Bella was born. It has become routine in our household for me to attend to Jah’s needs while Bella’s needs are met by Joel or mostly our helper. With Bella slowly developing her own personality, I need to start ‘knowing’ and understanding her as well as I know her brother. I need to start spending more focused time and conversational moments with her, to know what makes her tick.

Targeted Online Shopping– No more impulse online buys full-stop.

Blog more about our experiences and write more outside my comfort zone– 2014 was an overwhelming year. I only started blogging in July and had the whole of early 2014 to document and catch up on. The moment I started blogging, I also became more aware of how we were spending our time as a family and with it came more opportunities to do things differently with our kids and more things to blog about. I’m not complaining though. I love that we are now so much more conscious of how we spend our family time and weekends and I get to blog about these experiences. In 2015, I will be seek to blog more! – catch up on overdue posts, discover new experiences with my kids and lastly, come out of my writing comfort zone which means more active participation in blog trains and the likes.

Heres to doing things differently in 2015! 🙂

Next Up on the Blog Train is Summer from A Happy Mum

Summer is a media executive turned SAHM from Singapore who stepped into the gratifying journey of motherhood during her 4-year stay in Sweden. Life has never gotten more fulfilling since then and she is now the mother of two lovely girls. She believes that contentment is bliss and that happiness is about making the best of what you have. A Happy Mum is a place where she blogs about motherhood, babies, kids, love, DIY crafts, travelling and all things happy. Check out what are the 15 things that this happy mum will be doing differently in 2015 tomorrow!