not been in the mood...

Not been in the blogging mood lately. I go back to work next Monday. Although I'm looking forward to getting back into the office environment, and the thrill of starting a new job (i'm being seconded to another organisation for 2 years to do a different job), I'm so terribly afraid of how much I'm going to miss the 2 little ones that have been keeping me occupied for the last 5 months. It doesn't help that their personalities are beginning to show, they are always smiling and babbling constantly.

So, i'm spending every little moment of my day with them, or stoning, watching tv, reading or napping. Little luxuries I'm sure I will not be able to indulge in once work starts.

So...

Laterzz......

Our home: Eclectic is Ca-pa-lang?

Busy busy busy with the boys and with looking for IDs and contractors who can do up our home just the way we want it and just within our budget!

We already have a clear picture of what we'd like our home to look like in colour. Yeah, hubby and I spend more time thinking about what colours our walls are going to be rather than what is the best layout...what sort of lighting we want....how to arrange the kitchen in the best possible way and other boring stuff like that. Thankfully we have very good advisors in this areas, who've had very good ideas that will help us save space, make our spaces look bigger etc.

But now colours...that Mr Eveel and I understand. Our colour palette will be inspired by a traditional Turkish hanging lamp set of 6 which we purchased during our trip last year. This will be hung over our antique marble table in the dining and will be the focal point of our home!

We unpacked 1 lamp out of the set of 6, and placed it under the light so that we could share our
design inspiration with the IDs we met.

My brother said, "Huh? Antique marble table and hanging traditional turkish lamps? Wouldn't they clash?"

I replied," My style is eclectic what?"

He retorted," You mean ca-pa-lang lah? Same lah!"

Heh...

payback's a BIATCH!

Snapped on the macbook photobooth!

In August, millions of Muslims all around the world will fast for a month. I have begun my fast a month early. This year eveeleva will be fasting for 2 whole months instead of 1.

Thanks to my pregnancy last year which kept my head literally down a toilet bowl, I wasn't able to fast for the ENTIRE month of Ramadhan last year. So I have to payback a whole month before Ramadhan comes around this year.

So it is 5.21am in the morning and I am having my cup of rubbish 3 in 1 coffee (where is the coffee imp when you need her?)  At 5.30am my first day of a 2 month fast will begin.

Wish me luck!

fake polaroid app

I wish i had a real polaroid camera, but i don't. For now i'll have to be satisfied with the iphone app instead. Here are a couple of snaps i took while taking a stroll with the twins.

US...staying us.

It has been exactly 16 weeks and 2 days since we became parents. It's really easy to forget just who we were...no...ARE as a couple before the craziness of 3-hourly feeds, dirty nappies and crying babies.

Early this year, when planning for our anniversary celebrations we had planned to continue a newfound tradition of celebrating our anniversary with a staycation at our favourite hotel.  We were fools to think that we'd be able to leave the twins, who would then be 2 months old, and spend a romantic night together. When they babies came, I didn't need to say a word, Mr Eveel picked up the phone and cancelled the reservation.

We did celebrate, choosing to dine at Lau Pa Sat where we 'pak tor'-ed quite regularly while we were dating, and indulged in dessert and coffee at Oscars. But, we spent most of the time talking about the twins. We hardly talked about us. There was no hand-holding and gazing into each other's eyes. No, no, no! Noone would have thought we were out celebrating our anniversary. But neither of us fell asleep at the table, and that was achievement enough!

Last night, Mr Eveel said something that really struck a chord with me. He said that he was enjoying our conversations and discussions for our new home. It was something he missed very much, and reminded him of us, sans twins.

It is timely that at 16 weeks, the twins have learnt to go to bed at 7pm and to stay asleep, after their 10.30pm feed, all the way till 7am. It has let us regain our sanity, and left a bit of time for Mr Eveel and I to reconnect allowing us a glimpse of the couple we used to be. I know things will get better, and everyday we get closer to that moment where we both turn back together and realise how much we have grown together.

Happy Belated 2nd Anniversary Honey!

I know this is 2 months late, but it's been a hell of a 4 months hasn't it? I've always wondered who I'd be able to go through hell and high water with, and I'm glad its been with you!

monochromatic (the Flynn)??? yeah right!

What was I thinking when I was contemplating changing my dress style and colour palette to The FLYNN? I'm glad you have all helped me understand that I AM about colour. A black and white eveeleva, is no eveeleva at all.

Here's to the real Eveeleva! In no less than her signature PINK  (top, watch & glasses!)

Top: Bysi
Jeans: GAP
Watch: NIXON
Glasses: Ralph Lauren

A family heirloom...

Our family has had a old marble topped kopitiam table for as long as I remember. And for as long I I could remember, I have always always loved it. I remember telling my mom at 15 that I wanted the table for my own home one day. So I refused to let them throw the table away when we moved to our current residence and even convinced my sis to keep the table in her room while I went about looking for a husband, then looking for a place to live in. LOL.

I didn't take a snap of the marble table but it looks something like this, except the legs of the table are much much bigger and grander looking.

Talking about our upcoming reno with my folks, and the fact that I will be taking our marble topped table along with me, my dad told me the most interesting of things. The table had belonged to my grandfather long before I remember it existing in my parents first flat in Bedok. It sat in the basement of my grandfather's kampung house at Jalan Eunos, and it was a hangout spot for my uncles, who used to sit around, chat and smoke.

And my grandfather, who was a driver for the British army when they were still based here, had gotten the table from the British. I don't have the details, but my dad told me that when they packed up and left, furniture on the base was, I dunno, sold or given away. That was how my grandfather came into posession of the table.

I was thrilled to hear this. A piece of history in my new dining room! Love lah...

I am sooo going to grill my grandmother about the table and how grandpa came into possession of it!

Our renovation journey begins here...

We're getting the keys to our 4-room HDB flat in a week. It was like striking lottery when we received our ballot number for the ballot for the leftover/balance flats sale. The 4-room flat is at Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 right across the road from Bishan Park, a 5 min walk to AMK Mrt station and a 5 min drive from my folks. We couldn't have asked for more. Especially when we were looking at resale flats at the area which were going at 150K more than what we are paying for our brand new HDB flat.

And now our renovation journey begins...

We've met with 2 Interior Designers..from Brilliant ID and D'trenzo so far...I'll blog about that more laterz.... For now...here's some pics to give you a feel of our design inspirations and what we hope to materialise in our first home!

Breastfeeding- my wave of relief...

Folks have been emailing and asking me whether I'm still breastfeeding. The thing is I never quite started. Well, successfully that is.

The one thing I want more than anything in the world is to fully breastfeed the twins for as long as I possibly can. I am not oblivious to the wonderful benefits of breastmilk. But I have SERIOUS supply issues. I just cannot supply.

I have visited the lactation consultants several times. I've tried breastfeeding continously, I've tried feeding whatever i had then pumping, I've even tried the Supplemental Nursing System (SNS) to keep the twins on the breast long enough for me to produce more milk. But it has all been unsuccessful.

And yes, I also tried to eat/drink everything that was recommended. Someone said oatmeal helped her, so i ate oatmeal. I had green papaya, fish head, spinach. I drank mother's milk tea. I even got my Gynae to prescribe me extra months of Domperidone which was supposed to double your milk production. You name it, I've tried it. Yet, my supply remained at 35-40ml everytime I pumped.

The end result was unhappy, hungry, crying babies and a desperately miserable me.

So i gave up.

What i do now is express twice a day. Each time I get about 40ml, and I give whatever I can produce to the twins. This didn't help remove the total despair I felt for not being able to breastfeed. It was horrible. Although I stopped crying every evening when hubby came home, it took just the shortest article on breastfeeding in a magazine to set off the tears. It didn't help that everyone, absolutely everyone I meet would ask if I was breastfeeding. I always struggled to explain why I'm not breastfeeding, always choking back the tears.

I've only recently got a grip of my situation. It took a trip to my Gynae office- my 3 months check up. When checking my uterus, Dr Tham told me that my 'monthly visitor' would not be coming back for some time as the uterine lining was still very thin. I exclaimed to him, 'Its amazing how such miserable and miniscule breastfeeding can still keep the monthly visitor away huh?'

He replied, and I love him dearly for this, ' Just shows how hard your body is working to try and produce the milk. It probably was and is the stress of taking care of the twins that's hindering the milk production.'

I could have crumbled into a pool of tears there and then. A wave of relief washed over me. I know I've been trying my best. That I know. I know it could have been stress that was stopping me from being able to breastfeed (after all, I stress over the littlest things), but to hear it from my doctor. It was just what I needed.

So it is what it is. I pump twice a day now. And even if I can squeeze out a mere 10ml of breastmilk I will do so. Because it is so precious to me. And it means everything that I can give even a tiny drop of milk to my babies.

You mummies out there who have a decent, not to mention an abundant supply, I hope you count your blessings every single day. I'd do anything to have had your luck and experience.

How quickly they grow (part deux)!

I posted a pic of the gang of 3, a mere 2 months or so ago...

Look how they have grown! 

Yes, its getting closer and closer to the time they will terrorise us ALL!

Just a point of clarification, the cheeky looking one on the very left in red is not my son.

I love him as much as I love the twins, yes.

But of my womb he did not pop out of!

LOL....

BTW...happy belated 1st birthday MIK!

Alamak Mat!

Regardless of which part of the crib I put him (Upin) in, he ends up in a corner.

Yes, I am witness to a Mat in the making.....

suka relak one corner lah.....

aper nak buat?

we luv our twin stroller...

We can't live without our wonderful twin stroller from bumbleride that hubby had shipped in from the USA. It was a gift from the twin's uncles and grandaunt, and what a fabulous gift it is.

The twins happily riding in their stroller

Beyond being a stroller from mall to park, in fact I think it could do very well in rough terrain, it has been a great vehicle for the all important NAPS that our twins need. They get soooooo cranky without their naps, and when they nap, it leaves Mr Eveel and my arms free to eat, and have coffee etc.

Look carefully to see their bums and a pillow. The twins having a happy nap!

Yes, they nap on their tummies, so we just lay some swaddle cloth over the seat, tap them to sleep, flip them over and they nap away. We've realised that we don't even need to stay stationary when they nap like this. We can shop and push the stroller around while they continue napping!

Napping away while Mr Eveel pushes them around!

Absolutely amazing!

The only problem we have is finding restaurants and cafes which are spacious enough for us to roll our stroller right in. Currently, we're stuck with the cafe on Level 5 or the coffee clube at Paragon as well as Starbucks at Marina Square.

Please share if you know of good TWIN stroller friendly places. It would do our social life real good!