The weather's ridiculous

I decided to bring Renee to the doctor again yesterday since her cough returned. But MIL said we should bring her to see a Chinese sinseh instead since the Western medicine seems to have no effect on her. So we trudged to Whampoa Blk 93 to see him. He operates from a HDB flat and only starts work at 1 pm. Anyway, sinseh says Renee has to stay away from cold drinks, ice cream, sweets, chocolates and fruits! Fruits can you believe it? And all the things that she loves, poor thing! And he gave her this bottle of powder to be mixed with water and drunk three times a day. Wow, that has been challenging cos it smells and tastes funky......oh well, let's see how it goes.


I didn't write in my blog that the glass from one of the light fixtures in the playrom cracked and crashed to the floor last Wednesday. I thought nothing of it, just thankful that Renee and I were in the living room when it happened. We are always in the playroom and were just in there minutes before it happened. Then it happened again last evening, another one cracked and crashed - this time in the living room! Someone up there must be watching out for us because we were not in the living room this time. Geez. FIL went to remove all the glass fixtures in the house and it seems there are about 9 pieces that already had cracks in them. The weather's been really hot these few days and I wonder it that had anything to do with it because of the expansion and contraction of the glass.


I met Yu lao shi when I sent Renee to school today and she said the school will most likely close down due to the HFMD. Apparently, 3 of the children take the school bus with some children from another school and those children passed the disease to 2 of the kids from Renee's school. Hopefully with the closure, the spread will be controlled.


Tomorrow, we are attending Bohe and Nan See's solemnisation at Seletar Country Club. It starts at 11.45am and we need to reach there around 11am. Counting backwards, means we need to start getting ready around 9am. Yes, with two rascals and myself to get ready, it takes forever! Renee will run around without her pants after peeing and it takes some convincing to get her to put them on again. Russell poos and pees plenty. Yesterday FIL picked out some yummy Durian from Geylang and I ate a heap of it. I think that is why his poo was all bubbly this morning. No, not bubbly, frothy now that I think about it. Renee had some durian too. Wait, do I hear you asking, isn't durian fruit? It was the last time I checked but MIL says durian is not so cooling, so ok. Ohhh-kaaaayyyyy.........moving on.......


Will try to get some pictures at the ROM tomorrow!

Let's go swimming soon!

Hi there, been MIA for over a week. Busy as ever with the two rascals.


I sent Renee back to school on Wednesday and I was planning to do some housework during the 3 hours that I had. The time passed really quickly and I tried to get as much done in that short period. While I was rushing to clean the toilet, I slipped on the step and fell on my back, to the left of my tailbone to be exact. So many thoughts rushed through my head at that moment - will the back of my head hit something and knock me out? If it does who will attend to Russell if he needs to drink his milk? Who will pick Renee up after class?? Argh!! I'd better be more careful in future, I have two kids to answer to!

But other than that, it is great to give Russell more attention for that short period in the morning. I haven't been able to give him that with Renee demanding my full attention (in other words: to avoid getting into trouble).


Renee's still coughing a little even after finishing the WHOLE bottle of cough mixture and MIL says the western medicine is making her weak. I decided to give Renee some G3 from Pharmanex to improve her immune system since mixing with other sick kids in her school makes her prone to getting sick. I guess that is the least I can do for her.


We've been wanting to bring her swimming for the longest time but we had to let her get well first. So for the last few weeks, we've only been able to stare jealously at the ang moh family who spends the WHOLE afternoon at the pool every day. As an incentive, we went to Takashimaya last weekend and got her a whale and a lobster float, together with a new swimming costume. The old float and costume that she had is way to small now. Hopefully with these new gadgets she will want to get INTO the water instead of just walking on the edge. We got a matching pair of trunks for Russell also.














The weekend's finally here and I am looking forward to go house-hunting with my friends again. No, we are not looking to move at the moment but after seeing Janice and Kaising's new place (which is just beautiful!), suddenly it is fun to go look-see again. Hee hee....

My 5 kg Rascal

Brought Russell to see Dr. Vas today. I thought she was gonna give him his 6-in-1 jab today but no, it was just a check up. She said he was doing very very well, totally impressed at his weight. "Wow oh wow! Just breast milk and he has put on so much weight! Wonderful!" Me thinks she was just buttering me up so I could swipe my MasterCard with a megawatt smile on my face. Sigh. I'm such a sucker. Waiting for half hour, check up over in 3 minutes and then "ching ching" pay money.....$80 to be precise.....hmmm......I'm going out to buy that toy medical kit for Renee to play with......

In-laws brought Renee along with them this afternoon so I could have an afternoon off. Well, I decided it was time to rush through the housework. Vacuuming, mopping, dusting, ironing. Things that I cannot do with Renee around. Whenever I pick up some equipment, she decides she wants to do it too. "I do, I do" and then snatch it from me. Good to have such a wonderful helpful daughter but then she will abandon it halfway. I wonder whether she will want to do the housework when she is older and I actually want her to help me!! ha ha
I suppose she is bored with the same toys day after day. I went out and bought a roll of paper and Easy Paints from Early Learning Centre the other day. They have such great toys. Got the paper and paints all ready for her to draw. The first day she was a bit hesitant. Day 2 and 3 she was super-enthusiastic I had to hide the paints away. She even asked to sit on her high chair - gasp! Never before!
It seemed like such a great idea when I bought the stuff. When all the paints were neatly in the box. Not so great when the paints are on the floor, wall, her arms, hands and all over her clothes. Sigh. Well, it would be wrong of me to limit her creativity. Already, MIL says Renee seems bored in school and wants us to send to speech and drama lessons......are there such courses out there for a 2 year old?!?!? Gonna refer to the Pre-school guide that Serena passed to me......
Ok, off to finish up the rest of the chores.

Finally, I'm Mummy!

Yes! Finally, Renee can pronounce Mummy correctly. Now I am 60% Mummy and 40% Amy....hee hee......

Renee's getting better with Dr. Ong's medicine. Her mucus is not so green anymore. My throat is hoarse though. I can't really talk because that will aggravate my throat and start me on a bout of coughing. Just when I was thinking of sending Renee back to school on Thursday, her Teacher called me and told me that there are 2 new cases of HFMD. Last week there was one case so thankfully her cough kept her away from school. No joke this epidemic. Our good friends Hunn Wurn, Sandra and their daughter Emma all got it. It was really bad for Emma because she is still so small. So here goes another few more days of Renee, Russell and myself in a confined space. I am getting my in laws to help deliver lunch to me because I can't bring two kids out at the same time by myself.

I am getting my good friend Wendy to let me try her baby pouch, she says it is much easier than the Sarong Sling. I break out in a sweat trying to get Russell into it and it still doesn't fit right! Hopefully with the pouch, I can handle both kids at once. We brought the two kids out to Parkway last week twice to test out how two adults would handle two kids. Now that we want to put Russell in the pram, Renee also wants to sit in it! Prior to Russell being born, she refused to sit in the pram. Now that there is competition, she also wants to sit in it. Geez. We have also installed another car seat for Russell so that there is no unfairness. Hopefully now that Russell sits in his seat, she will follow too.

Two times of everything! Getting expensive man!

It's 2.20am

what am I doing at this hour making a blog entry??? after waking from a restless deep sleep (make sense?) I feel kinda refreshed. Four hours of imagining picking up that last deflated balloon that Renee left strewn around her playroom can make you crazy even during slumber. I have been down with the flu and I have been taking a tablet of chlorphineramine (aka the little yellow tablet that makes you drowsy as shit) every night. I weighed the pros and cons. Pros: get well. Con: makes waking up for nighttime feeds damn torturing.

Fortunately, Russell has his own way of waking me up. After each 2 or 3 or 4 am feed, he blasts away. I have learned over the last few days that he needs to blast away for about 4 or 5 times before he is done. Changing after hearing the first bomb is too soon. Many a good, unsuspecting diaper has been lost in battle this way. So I will take off his pants (not the diaper, mind you, that would be disastrous) and go pee, take a drink, boil some water, blow my nose and then return to do the task. Last night, he pooed BIG TIME. The walls were beautifully decorated and if I didn't have my hands full (of shit), I would have grabbed my camera and done some CSI work. Why he doesn't poo so much during the day time (when i need to be awake) beats me. Maybe he just wants to wake me up: "hey mummy, I am awake, why are you still in lala land?" Well, poo on the wall works well.

Finally brought Renee to see Dr Ong for her cough and flu. 3 weeks is just too long man. He said the mucus in her nose is greenish which indicates infection. She now has 4 different medicines to take including an antibiotic. I should have brought her to see the doc earlier for my own peace of mind. But Dr. Vas has been on leave and I didn't want to go all the way to United Square (note to myself: you are stupid plain and simple). What made me decide to bring her to see the doc? Puking at Borders in Parkway. That's right, if the security cameras are recording all her puking sessions, we may be BANNED from Parkway pretty soon. Anyway, Dr Ong says strictly no going out for the next 5 days, dashing my plans for eating my fav WTM this weekend. Hopefully the medicine cures her in time for Auntie Kai Chee and Uncle Yat Bin's 50th wedding anniversary this Tuesday. Which reminds me, I have been wanting to call my cousin Gayle since she returned to Singapore on Monday. Gayle, if you are reading this, I will try to call you Saturday afternoon during my pedicure session. Yes, I am leaving the kids with Eugene for about 2 hours. No problem he said. Ha ha, let's see if he can get by without calling me.

Ok, water has boiled, I have drunk a whole glass of water and I should be going off to catch up on my sleep now. Make another entry soon.

G'night!

I survived day 2!

hihi, wondering where I've been? Sunday morning, ILs left us on our own as my one month confinement was over. Well, it was a nightmare I tell you! Renee screaming for attention, Russell was running a fever (caught the flu from Renee) and I was feeling a sore throat coming about. We were just desperately trying to get our footing.


The whole of Sunday night, Russell kept waking every hour and a half (you could hear difficulty in breathing due to a blocked nose). I was so tired and just wanted to sleep in on Monday morning, but NO CHANCE! Shortly after Eugene left for work, Renee woke up. Renee's still down with a bad cough and runny nose so I kept her home to prevent infecting some other unsuspecting kid. SO, Renee, Russell and myself in a confined space for the WHOLE DAY.

Lots of crying from Renee. She wanted this and that. I just have to let her cry it out sometimes just to make a point that she can't have everything she wants all the time. Seems to be working.

Today is Tuesday and I can see she is starting to understand that I can't be at two places at one time. Less crying.

It's 10pm and the two kids are sleeping already, just manage a short blog to let you know, I survived TWO DAYS alone with TWO KIDS WITHOUT HELP! Yeah!

Tomorrow's another day though, hopefully all will run smoothly.

Exams are coming

....and the band competition is fast approaching. For weeks now, we have been hearing the TK Secondary School band practice their formation. In the first few weeks we started staying here, we only heard snippets of the whole show. Then as the weeks passed, they started combining these snippets and these days, the formation is almost perfect. There are days where the field is being used for other ECAs and it is almost like a withdrawal symptom! We crave the music! So i don't know what's gonna happen once the competition is over! We'll have NO music to while away the afternoon with!

Renee's learnt how to march and say the word "march" thanks to the band. "Left, right, left, right", we have to "tan up" (Renee means :"stand up") and march with the music. The instruments I bought her during Christmas comes to good use. She shakes them in tune with so much enthusiasm.

Here's a picture of the band from our window. We have a bird's eye view and it is really great to be so near the school - it's so lively and makes me feel like a teenager again. Seeing all these activities brings back such good memories of my own secondary school band days - of course, we were hardly as good as these kids.

Russell's room also gets the full blast of the music. Wonder whether he will sleep more soundly or be restless when it is too peaceful.

Caffeine....

....is a drug yes? I had a little lapse yesterday, was craving for the taste of Nescafe Rich 3-in-1 and MIL said ok lah, confinement nearly over, have a cup lah. Wow! 2 hours later, I had this massive headache that lasted till I decided I could take it no more. I reached for the Panadol and by 1am, I was all better. Abstaining from it for so many days must have cleansed my system. Should I give up my favorite beverage? How ironic, I used to have to drink coffee to PREVENT headaches!

As the end of my confinement draws nearer, I look back and feel extremely thankful for all the help my in-laws have given us. I know I sound ungrateful and skeptical all the time but I am sure when you are young, you just hate listening to your elders, especially when you know they are right and mean well. In fact, I can't ask for better in-laws and grandparents for my children. They really go all out to do everything for us. Sometimes I just roll my eyes when they overdo it. But, hey, which MIL will mop the floor everyday for you? Iron the clothes (pjs and bedsheets included) and wash the dishes (cos I am not supposed to touch water) when I feel perfectly ok to do it myself. I can see that the skin on my MIL's palm starting to peel from using the Ru Yi You on Russell's tummy. From experience, you shouldn't be touching water after using the oil. I tried it when I was taking care of Renee and I felt like I had arthritis on my hand.

The only reason I can think of to explain my skepticism is that we have different views/ways/methods of raising children.

So, as I look back, I can see that Russell's face has changed so much from the time that he was born. His cheeks have filled out, the pjs that use to be too loose on him are now fitting (his toes now reach the end of the footie), his chicken thighs are now piglet thighs (complete with folds, same with Renee) resembling lotus roots (leng aw/lian ou).

He must be getting a lil' somethin' somethin' from the breast milk I have been feeding him, makes the multiple feeds at night all worth it. I have eaten well the past month but it is time to stop the meat meat and more meat and pig innards for every meal, it wrecks havoc on my cholesterol, as was the case during my last confinement!

Cheers and see you on the other side soon! Hopefully, caffeine is part of that world!

Photos

Finally managed to get a shot of Renee in her uniform! Ha ha...don't you just love the skort???

Here's one with my relatives at Russell's first month party.

Here's a great one of Daddy and Russell.

Here's one of Renee when she was in a better mood on party day!

We were so happy to have everyone's company and are so thankful for the generous gifts and ang pows. All the money will be going into Russell's Trust Account, same as with Renee's case. Of all the gifts we received, I am most tickled by the one my good friend YY gave us. The Wee Block! Check it out - self-explanatory! It is a NECESSITY for boys, we have had a couple of "blessings" these past few days!