Rent-A-Toy

Last two weeks, I've rented a toy for Joel... It was my first time and I think it's practical! I didn't know what Joel likes, cos he still very young to appreciate toys and infant toys are not cheap... One simple toy can costs more than S$50!! What if, he doesn't like to play, then it will be a waste... Then, storing the toys is also a challenge...

In S'pore, I've found 3 sites doing toy renting service. I've chosen rent-a-toy.com. From what I know, they have been around for quite sometime and they have varieties of good toys... Besides that, their pricing is pretty reasonable too.

For a start, I've rented this educational toy: Little Tikes 5-in-1 Adjustable Gym.

There are hanging toys and a motion activated "kick pad".

Joel loves to kick cos there are sound and lights. But after awhile, he'll get bored and he'll kick the whole toy away...

Renting it @ S$22.80 per month. Pretty reasonable, right?

Tatted Doily

Gosh! The drilling & hacking sounds are driving me NUTS!!! The whole block is participating in this upgrading program. Upgrading program includes: lift upgrading, replacing toilet and kitchen piping and installing new clothes hanging rack...

The noise has affected me greatly but I have no choice but bear with it... Thank God Joel is fine with the noise. He still can sleep through the noise!!

What I've been doing for the past week? Well, despite the noise, I've completed a few stuffs... Mainly helping Betsy on an order and making something for my dear brother. Will blog about them soon. Stay tune!

This is a tatted doily that I've made during my confinement... Suppose to give to someone but I was too late... :( Will have to post over then...

I love the color very very much. It's Flora thread that I've bought from Jessica.

Spring in Singapore

Made these beautiful brooches for sales @ MAAD over the weekends. You can find out more information by clicking on this link...

I've made them in green, yellow. pink & blue. Perfect for your blouses, bags, hair bands, hats/beanies, scarves and etc...

I'm selling one piece @ S$8.00. Buy any 3 @ S$20. They can be found @ Knotty Bicsie's store. However, I won't be there because I have to take care of Joel. Betsy, thanks for helping me.

Angelic Doll for Steph

Steph wants an angelic doll... She wants her angel in white and dusty pink dress... So, I've made her an angel with white and dusty pink dress & dusty pink wings with halo of paper flowers. Hope she'll like it.

Beanie for SY's niece

I've made this beanie for SY's niece from Australia... She's one year old this year. I really hope she can wear it...

I'm using cotton yarn for this beanie...

Happy 4 months old, Joel

Joel is 4 months old today. :) Specially for Joel, mommy and daddy are very proud to have you. You are God's best gift for both of us.

Joel's progress:

• Coos a lot! Hmm... Does this means, he will be talkative when he grows up?
• Recognize his mommy and daddy, he will smile whenever he hears our voices
• Love nursery rhymes, especially Humpty Dumpty
• Smiles a lot
• Drools a lot
• Licks and sucks his fingers and knuckles whenever  he's free or he's hungry
• Love mommy's milk!
• Colorful lightings attract him
• Able to lift up both his legs
• Likes to play with his fingers
• When lying on his tummy, he will be able to lift up his buttock
• And now, he is able to turn to one side. Shows that he's going to turn his body

I think that's about all...

My crocheted dolls...

I'll like to apologize to those who wanted to see listing of dolls that I'm selling. I don't really have any ready made dolls. I made upon request. But following can be your guideline. ;)

It's better to contact me and at least 1 or 2 months in advance.

From beginning, I never like to make repeated dolls. I like to accessorized them and make them different. If you observed carefully, all my wedding couple dolls are different.

The foundation of the dolls is straightforward. It involves sphere, cylinder, square and cone shapes. So, it's up to me how to assemble them and accessorize them. With different outcome, it always gives people the 'WOW' effect and this motivates me to continue making...

I won't claim that my designs are original because most of these dolls are inspired by my buyers!! They requested and I made them. ;)

10 Customized Dolls for Ivy

Ivy has bought a pair of wedding dolls from me couple of month ago. She brought them for her wedding shoot in Hong Kong! Wah, I've not been to Hong Kong before but my dolls did! Not bad!

Photo contributed by Ivy (with the blurry couple)

Their big day is coming soon. During month of March, she contacted me and wanted me to make 10 dolls for her sisters (姐妹). All her dolls had to be different. It was a challenge then, cos I was doing my confinement and not sure would be able to deliver. Thank God her big day falls in month of June and she needed them by end of May. THANK GOD! That's mean I have 2 months to complete them.

I had no clue what to do, so I asked for her all her sisters' profiles. To make my life easier, she asked me to make 5 angel dolls with different colors and another 5 customized according to her sisters character & favorite colors.

For these set of dolls, I'm using plastic eyes. My brother was the one who suggested that I should put eyes. Since he is the arty person, I should just listen to him. ;) The outcomes are AWESOME!

Doll 1: She's married. Has a bubbly & chatty personality. Also loves beaded stuff. Well, Ivy said she like to act cute. =P

I've made a doll with a bum at a centre and tie the bum with crocheted flowers. She looks mature but at the same time, cute.

Doll 2: She loves purple. Very artistic person and always tied her hair. She loves nature.

So, I've made a doll with side bum and wears a lilac dress with small flower.

Doll 3: She is romantic and likes to dream. Her favorite colors are pink and blue.

Hmm.... Dreamy, so I've decorated this doll with lots of flowers.

Doll 4: She's a teacher and has short hair. Her favorite colors are darker colors, like black, gray and dark red. Ivy said, she doesn't like cute stuffs...

Making this doll was a challenge because I don't really like to use dull colors to make my dolls. It took me awhile to think of what I should do. Well, the outcome is pretty cool! My brother likes it a lot.

I've made a red & black dress for the doll & crocheted a cardigan for her. 

Doll 5: She's love pink! She loves to bake...

When I read her profile, straight away I knew what I wanted to make. A doll with a chef hat! Ivy loves her the most. Cute right?

Lastly, 5 angel dolls... Loving all of them.

I've made crown for them instead of usual halo. Besides that, all of them hold a heart.

I'm glad that Ivy LOVES them all!!! Her mom even asked whether any of these was for her. She plans to keep one of the angel dolls, but now, seems like she needs to give it away, to her mom.

Happy Birthday, Usha... :)

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY USHA!!" Belated birthday greeting to Usha.

She is my swap partner for Birthday Swap that organized by Faizon from Shuttles and Needles group (SnN). But her birthday was in the month of March. Well, month of March and April, I was very busy coping with my new life. =P Fortunately, Usha is very understanding and had given me ample of time to prepare her gift. ;)

Usha told me she would like to have big size crochet needle that able to crochet 3/4 strings of 4 ply acrylic yarns. So I got her 3 big size crochet needles and she likes them!

Besides that, I also given her my new version of crocheted doll. Well, will blog about it soon. Then, 2 packs of button maker and also 1 pack of heart shape button since she also collects buttons.

Usha seems to like flowers, so I've also included some paper flowers that I got from Bangkok

And of cos, YARNS.... Hope she likes all of them.

Packed in a box and I've posted it FINALLY! But also with the help from Betsy. Hehehehe =P

With Joel around, I'm not able to move around freely or do whatever I want like before :( Thanks to a bunch of good friends who are always there to encourage and help me.

Wedding Dolls for Jin

My brother, Jin ordered this pair for his friend. He requested for plastic eyes cos he finds them look more real. Due to his 'last minute' order, I had to rush so, I had simplified the dolls.

I'm surprised with the result. Pretty cute! My brother also find them quite cute especially with the plastic eyes. What do you think?

This pair is smaller than my usual wedding dolls. It's around 3.5" tall. Besides that, less accessories too.

Don't you think with plastic eyes, these dolls look livelier? I may use plastic eyes for my other dolls, including my wedding dolls. :)

Beanie Hat for Joel

Since I've made 3 beanies, I decided to make one 'beanie hat' for Joel... Beanie hat?? It's a beanie with a short flap so that the flap can covers his eyes from light. I'm using Egyptian Cotton yarn and it's not too warm to wear.

I took this picture while he was asleep in his carrier. The beanie hat fits well on him.... And the flap works well too...

Beanies....

Last week, I was helping Betsy to make 3 beanies for one of her buyers... Wah! Stress man! Cos all beanies had to be completed within a week. I was kinda worry whether I could deliver or not. At last, I managed to complete 1 full beanie, that means with accessories, I completed the other two but without accessories... Thank God, Betsy rushed the other two and also corrected one of them for me before delivery... =P It's a good collaboration, even though there's some hi-cup here and there. Thanks Betsy for giving me this opportunity....

Aren't they cute?!! Can't wait to see baby Chloe to wear these little beanies. Hope they fit!

New Year Exchange #2

Needle & Shuttle (NnS) has organized a swap during new year. I was excited cos my partner is Faizon! She is our tatting guru! Visit her site and you'll be impressed by her tatting works.

This round of exchange, we'll have to make a string pouch. I've made a simple crochet cum fabric pouch for Faizon. I've also bought her some button makers, hopefully she can used it for her new projects. Actually I've tatted a small zip pouch, but I didn't send cos it wasn't nicely done... I promise to make her another one next time when my tatting is better.

Managed to send it out before my delivery.

Last few weeks, I've received these from Faizon!

GOSH!!! Beautiful tatted pouch and a tatted mat... Besides that, a pair of tatting ear rings! And other stashes like needle holder, button and eyes! Loving all!!! Thanks Faizon. This is really a great exchange.

2 months later.....

It has been a month since I've blogged. What happened?? Some of my friends wrote to me asked me what's going on cos they have not been seeing me online for awhile...

I was busy coping with Joel. Since my confinement lady left, I was left alone with Joel during day time. Initially was indeed tough, I suffered from slight depression. I cried with no reason and felt so hopeless & lonely. =( Due to stress, anxiety and lack of sleep, I fall sick. I had bad gastric and severe asthma attack... :( Was on medication for 3 weeks, hence I had to stop breastfeeding Joel. Thank God, I had recovered and today I've started breastfeeding Joel. Scary huh! On positive side, I've learnt a lot from this experience. All I know, being a mom is not easy at all! There's a saying, Mother is the GREATEST, that's really true!

During this time, thank God for few of my good friends, who came over to visit me and once awhile called up to check on me. I'm grateful for my husband too. He is very supportive and understanding. Despite his busy schedule at work, he would try his best to come back early to help me and he was on night shift for the past 3 weeks taking care of Joel!  Father is also the greatest!

Joel is growing very well.... Now he is weighed at 5.5kg! He was only 2.8kg at birth!

I'll be starting a new blog on my experience bringing up Joel as a 'full-time' mom soon... Hopefully, it will help some of new mummies out there... ;)

Joel's Full Month Celebration

Joel has turned 1 month old yesterday but we celebrated his full month on Sunday together with our family members and close friends.

Early in the morning, my CL (confinement lady) who we called Auntie, made Red Egg. Red Egg (红鸡蛋) signifies longevity and happiness in Chinese custom. Auntie had made 50 red eggs that morning to serve our guests that attend Joel's full month shower party.

Then, she bathed Joel & cut Joel's hair... :)

The celebration was held at my cousin's place. We rented a function hall at her condo.

Special thanks to my in laws for preparing the vegetarian food, to my cousins for helping us out with the place, to Ngiam for taking such a nice photos, to Rei for making Joel's cake and lastly, to all of our friends & relatives for their wonderful gifts & blessings....

Family portrait taken by Ngiam... :)

Rei's Cake... YUMMY!!!

We will also like to say thank you to our confinement lady, for taking care of me and baby Joel... :) Tomorrow will be her last day and she was busy cleaning up the my place. She was suppose to leave today however, she stayed for another to help out. I'm so touched. Thanks Auntie. Both Joel and I will surely miss you very very much.

Booties from Aunt Betsy

Betsy, Michelle and Dewi came over the other day to visit me and Joel. Betsy made this little booties for Joel. He wore it for checkup the next day... :)

Thanks Aunt Betsy.... :)

Our Bundle of Joy, Joel Tan (陈俊文)

Today, Joel is 2 weeks old.

Mummy's favorite picture

Joel arrived to this world on 25th of Jan 2009 @ 9:05pm... It was a Chinese New Year Eve. He was weighed at 2.8kg and at the length of 50cm.

Joel's Tag

I went through a hard long labor. Joel was in a very awkward position during labor. Though his head was engaged to my cervix but his body was curved toward the left. Initially, Doc used vacuum to pull Joel out but FAILED. So, he quickly changed to forceps. When he was trying to pull baby out, he realized that baby's unbiblical cord entangled around his neck. Getting an EXPRERIENCED doctor is very important at this point. It was too late to go for emergency C-sect. My Doc quickly unwind it and pull my baby out safely. Well, poor Joel suffered few bruises here and there. So, when he was out, he was frustrated and tired at the same time. He didn't cry very loudly. Doc suggested that to keep him in ICU for a night for observation. Thank GOD he was OK.

How about ME? Was I in PAIN? Hehehe.... Thank GOD I was on Epidural. So, I didn't really feel the 'pain' throughout the labor. But I could feel the whole process of baby being pulled out. I'm sure without Epi, I'll faint!

Thanks to nurses and midwife from Mount Alvernia, They were very caring and patience. I always thought nurses from hospital were very fierce and unforgiving. But not them, they are encouraging and they even cheered for me when I was pushing. ;) Of cos thanks my Doc, who did a great job in delivering my baby. We will like to apologize to him for rushing back to hospital after his reunion dinner. =P

Well, my dear husband was with me the whole time. He was asked to cut Joel's unbiblical cord and shouted "I AM DADDY" (X3)....

That was me in delivery suite

Baby Joel

Joel with Daddy. Joel looks exactly like his dad.

Joel with Mummy

I've uploaded more other Joel's photos in my Flickr album. Feel free to browse.

Baby Joel is really a gift from GOD. I would never thought having a beautiful child of my own.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
(Psalms 127:3-5 ESV)

Crazy me! Baking Chocolate Chip Muffins...

Counting down to Joel's coming.... My actual delivery date is on 21st of Jan 09, Wednesday, which means 2 more days to go... My gynae said if he still refuse to come out after the actual date, then he'll need to do something about it... I pray that, Joel will come naturally.

BUT I still feel like baking... Some of my friends said I'm crazy... but just couldn't help it... The night before, I bought 2 cakes of butter from NTUC and my husband was giving me that look 'ARE YOU SURE?'.. Managed to convince him that the butters can be kept for future use and it's on promotion (Buy 2 @ S$3 something)... 

So, yesterday, I've baked Chocolate Chips Muffins!!! I got the recipe from Rei's Double Chocolate Chips Muffins. You can find the recipe here.

I don't have cocoa powder at home, so I replaced it with 2 tablespoons of MILO.... Taste great!

It's really easy to make... Took me less than half an hour to prepare the batter... All done in one single mixing bowl.... ;)

Give it a try!

Our Baby Room

Guess what! Our baby room is double the size of our master bedroom!! Lucky Joel! What you see here is only 1/4 of the room.

The wall is originally red. The Chinese believes that you are not suppose to use the paint during pregnancy, otherwise baby will have birthmark on his face. Well, I don't really believe it but I believe that paint has lethal chemicals and it's not safe for pregnant women. So, it's better to paint after delivery. :) Hence, we decided not to paint the room until baby is born. And I will like the wall to be in blue.

In order to decorate the room, we have wall decal across a portion of the room. We changed the curtain that bought from Ikea. Besides that, pasted some cute wall stickers. Simple but I like it. :)

Oh, that froggie is a laundry basket that I got from 'pasar malam' (night market). :)

"Dear baby Joel, this is what mama and papa can do for you for the time being... Hope you'll like it... "

Baby Project No.4 - Hot Air Balloon

My fingers are numb and very swollen since few days ago... :( Crafting has became a challenge to me cos I can't hold needles & scissors for very long....

So, took me awhile to complete this project. And think this will be my last project before going for my delivery and confinement.