A Homely Italian 8th Wedding Anniversary Dinner


Nestled in the eastern end of Singapore at Upper Changi North Road, we found this small , homely Italian restaurant Porta Porta that served authentic Italian food. The restaurant is run by the chef and his family. When we first entered the restaurant, we were welcomed by warm and cozy furnishing. Even my five-year old daughter commented that "This place is like a home".

I got the name of this restaurant from internet a few days back while searching for a venue nearer to our place to celebrate my wedding anniversary tonite. This is because I have requested that my mum to help me tend to the other two younger kids so that Jon and myself can have a small celebration of our own tonite. And she gave us a 3-hours off to settle our celebration. We cross checked our target with Makansutra manual, which gives it a 5 chopsticks rating out of 6, before deciding to take up the offer.

It was a very wise selection. We went for their special evening set dinner "Faite" . It costed S$48 per head and you subject yourself to "whatever, whatever, whatever" the chef cooked that nite. This is a 15-18 course sampler meal. We had no idea what he would prepare tonite, but we just make sure that there were not too much of creamy or cheesy stuff when we ordered since I was still recovering from my stomach flu. We also make sure there weren't raw food as Sherise will be sharing her portion with me. The waitress was also kind to check with us if there are any meat or food that we do not take.

For appetizers, we had home-made bread with 4 kinds of dips and vinaigrettes, deep fried bread with fresh tomatos toppings, seafood salad, baked eggplant (Sherise's favorite for it taste like lasagne's to her) and smoked cheese. Next came my favorite - fried green mussels with herbs and tomato sauce, chicken soup, For main course, we had pasta vongole, tuna spaghetti in tomato sauce, baked chicken with potato and herbs , seafood platter which is made up of fried buttered prawns and calamari, and lastly stewed lamb for the red meat entry. As for desert, we were served chocolate ice-cream and tiramisu cake tonite.

Overall, it was a dinner filled with curiosity in nice homely ambiance. My daughter was so excited with the "unknown" that stirred up her curiosity to try every single dish that was served. It's great to see her being so open to "foreign food" for the first time.

The bill for the night was less than S$120 for our table of 3. For a fine-dinning restaurant, this is within a reasonable price range. The food was also served at a right pace and the right temperature. We started our dinner at 7 pm and finish our dessert by 8.10pm.

Before leaving, we had our family photo taken as remembrance.

Mama Serene
P.S: Want to know how I can earn a passive stream of income while being home with my children, check this out www.whyworkathome.org/truehaven

So fulfilling!! 4 months at home beats 10 years working

How time flies? 4 over months have passed since I stopped working. It's been a very enriching life to be able to work at home and be next to my children. I have been blessed with so many wonderful events over the last 4 months.

Firstly, Jayden started creeping in April 08, 1 month after his 2-yr old birthday . Now he can pull himself to stand. Every morning when he wakes up , he will sit up on the bed himself and creeps towards the door himself. Before that, he always cried to get our attention to go to him to carry him out of his bed. This is really a great milestone for him. He has since discovered that he can do more with his mobility now . My kitchen drawers have been a great scavenger hunting ground for him to explore.

Secondly, Jeslyn our third child started creeping too. She started creeping too around the same time as Jayden at 6-mth old. All I can say about this girl is she is definitely a survivor. Her development was way ahead of her sister and brother. She didn't like cereal nor pureed fruits. So she join us in eating whatever we eat. She started taking mee sua, noodles, rice and apple sticks at 7-8 mth. We just let her eat anything that she attempted to try. Now she can chew apple sticks and baby biscuits on her own. It was totally different case for her sister or brother. I guess she's been trained early to self-feed because my maid always feed the older ones first before coming to her. So she got to bring food to her own mouth if she wants to eat anything.
In a way, it is much relief for us adult taking care of her.

Thirdly, I have been able to grow my alternative stream of income by working from home on the internet. The internet marketing system that comes with the business has allowed me to meet many new business partners from around the world who are like-minded. Many of these are people whom I do not know. It is indeed a brand new experience for me. In a way, I was very thankful for this opportunity to be able to stay at home to help my son in his therapy sessions while keeping myself occupied and coping financially with the income that I derived from it.

In addition, to prepare for my elder daughter's Primary-One enrolment next year, I have had the privilege to be able to do parent volunteer services at my desired schools of choice.
I actually volunteer for more than a school cause my area is a pretty new town and are populated with young couples having school-going kids. The two schools are all within 1 km of my address but they are both pretty hot picks in this area. How wonderful to be a Work-At-Home mum? I have the flexibility to dictate how I want to use my time. :)

Mama Serene
P.S: Want to know how I can be home with my children and still have income flowing in, check this out ----->>>> www.WhyWorkAtHome.org/truehaven

Jayden's First Separation from Mummy since birth
The Culprit - HFMD

Jayden is currently down with hand, foot, mouth disease, diagnosed on Saturday 24 May. As this is a very contagious disease, his paediatrician advised me to keep my other two kis separated from him.

I had to be rational to have him put up at my mum's place though I very much wanted to take care of him myself. If I don't recall wrongly, this is the first time he is away from me for so long. The last one was when I had to be hospitalized to deliver Jeslyn, even that is only 3 days.

As he need to be separated from the other two for 1 week, he can only return home this coming Sat. Much as I was upset with this arrangement but I had to remind myself that I am also a mother to Sherise and Jeslyn and their health condition must not be compromised particularly when Jeslyn is still being breastfed by me at 7 months old only.

I could only visit him when the other two are asleeped and after every visit I had to make sure I bath myself and changed my clothes before I hug or come into contact with the other two children back home.

Today I had Sherise with me so we stood at the gate to see him only. He looked much better. His rashes and ulcer had more or less stabilised and the antibiotics seemed to be taking effect. I had instructed my mum to give him lots of fluid and to keep him on usanimals and poly-c. My mum says his appetite is back. He ate any thing that they fed him and that meant his ulcers are no longer as painful as they were before. That more or less set my heart at ease.
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Jayden started to say "Ma" in March!!

It's was 30 Mar and the whole family was getting ready, dressed up to prepare to attend my sister. Jennifer's birthday celebration. I was putting socks and shoes for Jayden after his afternoon nap on his Japanese seat. When I was done with his shoes and ready to get up, he reached out both his arms and say "Ma.." for the first time of his life , signaling to me to carry him.

I was so happy for this is the first time in two years of his life that Jayden actually call me with an intention. I couldn't control the tears swelling up in my eyes at that instant for I have been expecting this since he was one year old but most of the time he just looked at me and smile. My decision to stop working and be home with my kids was really right thing to do. I saw him making so much improvement this month and am so contented and satisfied with his progress. He is able to crawl and move down the crawling track. He knows how to support with his hands whenever he sit too long and got tired without letting his whole body just toppled off like before.
In addition, he also attempted to talk and babble when he gets excited and happy.

Well Done Jayden!! Mummy is looking forward to see you walking before your 3rd birthday come along. Go! Go! Go!

I am FREE Today!!

Yes, I no longer need to account to anyone. I am FREE today!! I came back home yesterday bringing back all my mugs and personal photos and ornaments that I have displayed in my cubicle in my office. The feeling was mixed. I was quite sad to leave my collegues and subordinates afterall I have been with this company for almost 10 years but I was happy that I no longer have to wake up to a morning alarm to get ready to go for JOB and I can now be with my kids all day.

The happiest of all should be my children, no 1 being Jeslyn. Jeslyn is four months old now but ever seen I went back to work after my maternity leave, she has been rejecting bottle and refused to take in any milk fed to her other than her soother - Mum's nipples. She would cry herself to sleep and go without milk the entire half day while I was at work. My maid and mum , her primary care takers while I was away, couldn't do anything. I always need to rush back home, taking care not to overwork, for fear that she would be starved. NOW, she can finally with her mum all day.

I worked up my timetable yesterday night for this coming one month ,setting aside the timeslot for my business, my children, husband and parents. This is because I got to be very discipline now from this day onwards as my income will depend on the effort that I am going to put in for my business. Daily necessity is currently being taken care of by my husband, however, I will need to work on the business to generate extra for my own personal use. I still prefers to be self sufficient. Somehow, I do not like the feeling of relying on others.

I am happy to have a good start today. I gave my blog a new update and touch up. I make a commitment now to have more frequent entries to account to myself from this day onwards. :)

Entry by Mummy Serene

I will soon be Work-At-Home-Mum (WAHM)!!

Another 13 more days, I will tentatively walk away from my JOB to focus on my home-based business on a full-time basis. Really can't wait for 1st Mar to arrive for I can then totally be a WAHM.

2007 ended on a busy note for me. My third child, Jeslyn, was borned on 10 Oct 2007 , 3 weeks earlier than her expected due date. Though I was not so lucky to be able to give birth to her naturally as she stays in breech position, she arrives safely and that was most important thing to us . Currently at 4 months old, she is alreay a strong girl, who can hold her head up firmly and always wanting to stand when you carry her by her arms. That was the difference between Jeslyn and our second born, Jayden.

Jayden currently at 23 months, still cannot walk or crawl. Doctor diagnosed that he was having global delay in development and referred him to early intervention programme at Early Years Centre of AWWA Special School. He has since started his lessons in early January. Because of his programme which requires an accompanied adult in class, I chose to walk away from my full-time JOB by going on no-pay leave for a year.

I was lucky to have started on a home-based business 4 years back. At least, I can fall back on this alternative to derive a supplementary stream of income while I tend to my children :)

Posted by Mummy Serene

Serene's 2007 Mid Year Business Recap

The first half of the Year 2007 really filled me with challenges.

I have extended my part-time employment into Year 2007 because my mother who is children’s primary caretaker was facing some challenges in her health. In Nov 2006, she had to undergo a surgery to remove her entire thyroid gland as she was down with Multi-nodular Goitre. The lab analysis after the surgery revealed that one of the nodules was cancerous at the early stage and hence was not invasive. I am really thankful that the cancerous nodule was detected early. Because of this early detection, she was saved from all the chemo or radiation theraphy treatment. I believed the supplement products , which she started consuming 2 years back, had in a way helped to curb the cancerous cell from spreading and I am really thankful for this.

In view of the fact that she had a recent operation, I did not want to impose too much stress by leaving care of my kids entirely to her so I opted to carry on my part-time employment into 2007. Deep down in my heart, I was also hoping that I could use the time when I stayed at home to develop my pipeline business, so that it could free me from going back to full time after this. However, subsequent event just do not develop according to one’s wish.

While I was making plans to run for my directorship in my business in April, my mum was caught with acute pain at her right abdomen area. What we expected as appendicitis turned out to be a colon infection. She got half of her colon removed as one part of it was very inflamed. The surgeon had to remove the infected portion to prevent the spread to the rest of the colon. As a result, my mum went through this second major operation 6 months after her last one on her neck.

After the operation, she was very weak as she had two big cuts at her abdomen area. For the time being, she is not supposed to carry heavy weights. Lab test had showed that the infected colon contained some small nodules but they were found to be benign and the family is really relieved for that outcome. According to the doctor in subsequent follow up appointment, my mother’s colon got infected due to prolonged constipation she suffered since her 30s.

In the past, she always had to depend on medication to clear her bowel whenever she encountered constipation. However, when I started her on the supplements from my business, her condition improved tremendously. She was able to clear her bowel daily without much difficulty. However, I guess the damage to her colon was long there before she started on this supplementation, so it was just impossible to reverse the damage that has been done. Anyway, the doctor had told us to ensure that her bowel is frequent otherwise she may risk losing the other half as well. So she is faithfully taking all the products I gave her.

Though I took a break from my business for a while, I was happy that it is still bringing me some residual income while I was tending to my family. All this was possible because I had laid the foundation earlier. In fact, this is the most attractive part of this business. Even if you have to take a temporary break, the other business partners who have come into business because of you are still growing their business. In a way, they helped you secured this stream of income. All this would not have been possible if you hadn’t imparted them the necessary knowledge to ensure that they can work independently when you are not around. This is a real pipeline business and I am really thankful to be able to find such a wonderful opportunity.

The USANA Baby

This is our lovely USANA baby, he is our lovely 8 months little boy Jayden, why is he a USANA baby, well, unlike our other kid, upon the beginning of the gestation, his mum is already fully on USANA supplements so had grown full with USANA supplements in the womb :)
Cheers check him out as our first Tan's family Youtube star!


Posted by Daddy Jonathan

Reset Day 5 - Final Day (04 May 06)

Last Day: My waist is down to 31 “ , I am starting to feel that I can once again fit into my pants.


Posted by Daddy Jonathan

Reset Day 4 - 03 May 06

8 am Started with the Dutch Chocolate,essentials and 2 x proflavanols.


12.20 pm Happy to go out for a quick shop for joel belated birthday gift, but upon returning I discovered to my horror - I forgot to bring along the Vanilla flavor shake but I did remember to bring my shake bottle :( , but lucky me, I had pack my fruits and vegetable - 1 apple, 2 stick of celery, a few baby tomatoes which was very tasty and some carrots. Since I have no shake, I ate most of the fruits and vegetables. With the little walk to do the shopping and also making a trip to the car park to renew the coupons I had much of walking exercise.

4 pm Have a ‘coffee’ session with a partner - actually I had mineral water but the strange thing is that I don’t feel hungry although I was on a pure vegetable and fruit lunch diet :)

7.30 pm Had a strawberry shake with lot of fruits - honey dew, tomatoes, papaya and bananas. After dinner I went to weight in expecting to gain a bit of weight but was surprise to discover that I have lose more weight - my weight now at 64Kg , I have lost 7 Kg since I went with the Reset program. Although I had a mix of vegetables and fruits and quite some amount I still lost much weight. Energy level has been down slight but I don’t feel giddy. Although I am a bit worried whether my weight drop is too much. Tomorrow is the last day of the 5 day Reset phase 1. I went to check my BMI online here - Health Promotion Board - BMI Calculator, my original BMI before the program was (71 kg/1.78M) = 22.4 and now my BMI today (64 kg/1.78M) = 20.2. Please see the chart (HPB website) below for reference :

BMI (kg/m2) (for adults)
Risk of Heart Disease and Diabetes

27.5 and above - High Risk
23.0 – 27.4 - Moderate Risk
18.5 – 22.9 - Low Risk (healthy range)

Less than 18.5 - Risk of nutritional deficiency diseases and osteoporosis

Posted by Daddy Jonathan

Reset Day 3 - 02 May 2006

7.30 am Start with morning Wild Strawberry, realized that the sequence of taking the different flavor affects the mood of the program, vanilla is not very tasty, so when I take it yesterday evening it affected my mood. So I decide to take the vanilla during lunch.
8 am Weight again and my weight has gone down to 69 Kg although I have tried many ways to shed the 1-2 kgs in recent years I was not successful.
12 pm Vanilla Shake with water melon and honey dew with 2 baby carrots and 2 strawberry.

4 pm baby carrots with 2 strawberry.

6 pm Dutch Chocolate with 2 strawberry and some pears.

Posted by Daddy Jonathan

Reset Day 2 - 01 May 2006

9 am some leg raise and crunches exercise

9.30 started the morning with dutch chocolate flavor and a big banana, essentials,2 x proflavanol and lots of water, have learn the experience from yesterday. Most important I have not felt weak and still have energy to do the things I want.

Posetd by Daddy Jonathan

Day 1 Side Profile :)

Posted by Daddy Jonathan

Day 1 Front Profile :) - Starting of Reset Programme

Posted by Daddy Jonathan

The Reset Programme

If you ever wonder why you feel sleepy after a moderate lunch and that you feel like eating something around 3 / 4 pm then you might be suffering from a glycemic (Official Definition) roller coaster ??? What is this you might say, check out what this mean and then check out the benefits of this 5 days programme.

Posted by Daddy Jonathan

A Singaporean Couple’s Dream to Freedom

October 2003

Story of our life

Jonathan and I are what you would consider a young typical Singaporean couple. We graduated from a University with a degree, found a good job and worked hard to get our own executive apartment and a car. We also enjoyed a few years of blissful married life before planning for a kid. Things started to change in our family when our daughter Sherise was born and Jonathan got promoted to senior position. We have always wanted to participate more in Sherise’s development and growth, witnessing every milestones of her life be it her first word or first step. However, we just couldn’t do that because of our work commitment. Being a senior IT Consultant, Jonathan had to work long hours sometimes even on weekends. His work also required him to travel out of town very frequently. The only chance he got to see our daughter awaked was just a brief 30 minutes early in the morning before we set off to work. I struggled to take care of my daughter on my own after work whenever he had to work late. Sometimes, it made me wonder whether my daughter actually has a dad and I still have a husband for he was not always there when the family needed him.

Jonathan and I actually sat down one day to have a heart to heart discussion. We contemplated whether he should look for a lesser-paid job to have more time for the family or I should stop work and fully devote my attention to my daughter. We were not able to come to a conclusive decision because there were too much bills (the car and housing installments) to pay and depending on a single source of income was just of the question.

Around the same time, I also developed a back injury, which caused problem to my desk-bound job. I could not sit long on my desk due to excruciating pain on my thigh. I spent a substantial amount of medical fees in the diagnostic and treatment processes, which were not claimable through insurance policy or medishield fund. These fees plus monthly maintenance of house and car, and other family expenses became a perpetual struggle to keep up. We were living from paycheck to paycheck. We knew that something was not quite right for we were not happy. However, we just don’t know what to do about it.

It so happened that a classmate of Jonathan approached us one day to have a stake at a free home-based enterprise. He said that this opportunity will lead us to where we want: True Financial & Time Freedom. We were pretty skeptical about it? How can one have time freedom and yet be financially free? He directed us to take up a copy of Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. After reading the book, we found the answer to the root of our unhappiness. We were both earning a source of income that is active in nature all this while. This sort of income stopped when we stopped working. That was the dilemma for us. Much as we want to spend more time with our daughter, we just can’t be personally involved in her daily care. We send her to my Mum’s place every morning before leaving reluctantly to get to office in order to get a paycheck at the end of the month. True financial freedom means being able to develop a stream of income that is passive in nature, which means money continues to flow even if we are not working. After getting enlightenment from that book, we were determined to embark on our search for this stream of passive income. .

We did our due diligence evaluating this classmate’s offer and all the others that were available in the market. We finally took up the offer for we found that it was a fantastic way to earn our passive income. We started a business with a company endorsed by Robert Allen, a multimillion dollars financial guru. (http://www.robertgallen.com)

Opportunity
We would like to help people seeking to live life on their terms, or seeking time freedom, financial freedom so that they can join us in this great journey. This life path is for Jonathan and I. Whether it is for you or not, we hope the following information will allow you to evaluate: http://www.whyworkathome.org/truewealth4u/

May you find true health and freedom in your life!
Serene & Jonathan

Check out our family blog at Tan's Family Blog