Alone with one rascal

Eugene's on the plane headed for Newark and I am home with Russell who is asleep. In-laws brought Renee to church this evening as there is a children's mass. Not sure what time she will be back but I am using this time to pack some stuff and update my blog. Throwing things away is really satisfying especially when it has no purpose and has been lying on the table collecting dust. I must have walked to the dustbin at least 50 times to throw away dribs and drabs of RUBBISH! How we ended up with so much crap escapes me! I have been surfing the net to give Eugene my shopping list (did I try to figure why we have so much stuff??) so that he can lug stuff back. Mostly I want to get stuff for the kids' new room, I have the color scheme and decor all planned out. In fact, I have the house I want to buy in mind, don't know if it will still be unsold by end of July, fingers crossed. I know Janice is gunning for us to move there!

My parents have been visiting me to help buy food, entertain and pacify the children. It is the little things that really matter when you are all alone.

OK, back to the shopping list, I feel so deprived as I have not had a proper shopping expedition since Renee was born. And that was more than 2 years ago!! So I am shopping through Eugene! Hahahaha

Russell is better

The day after our visit to Dr. Vas, Russell was really listless. He slept at 7.30pm and got up around 6am, without waking up for his feed. Good for me (having a good night's sleep) but bad for him. The medicine, nose drop and spray did not seem to be working. He slept for hours on end and did not regularly wake up for his feeds during the day. On Saturday, I brought him to see Dr. Vas again. She said he needed to be given antibiotics as the phlegm had travelled downwards. So we were given antibiotics and also rented a nubuliser machine. When MIL saw the machine, she was like, "wah, your mummy so busy (I guess she wanted to say "doing rubbish")....I have to put Ventoline, Atrovent, Saline and Pulmicort into the machine and let Russell breathe in the fumes. It is supposed to open up his airways and the Rhinathiol is supposed to dissolve the phlegm. Just three days of this treatment, Russell seems to be doing better, he gets up for his milk every three hours, his cries are more demanding and he is breathing better. When he was sick, his cries were so weak which made me so uncomfortable. Well, at $255 for this treatment, it better be working!!

We have temporarily stopped looking so intensively for our new place as Eugene is leaving for Connecticut this Friday. However, we have narrowed down our choice to 2 possible places. But in the meantime, we will be moving to my in-laws' place in July and when our cash comes in at the end of July, we will purchase the new home. Hopefully the prices take a little dip by then and we can settle into our new place around October.

My 6.675kg Rascal

Yesterday, we went to see Dr. Vas for Russell's 6-in-1 jab. Appointment was 10am, we didn't get to see her till 11am! After the Vesak Day holidays, there were so many sick children. Because Russell had phlegm and mucus, Dr. Vas said no jab. So, she treated him and Renee at the same time since both of them were having the same symptoms. Russell had a tiny tube inserted into his nose to suck the mucus out. Of course he howled and MIL was asking the nurse, "are you sure this is right!!?!?!" It sure looked painful for my poor darling but after that he fell right back to sleep as if to let us know that he was breathing better.

Anyways the bill came up to $283, I thought I heard wrongly! We have to go back for his jab in two weeks, where we'll be "fined" again....

Dr. Vas was very pleased with his weight though, "wow! 6.6 kg! and he is only 2 months!!" *swipe card*

Here's a picture of my 14 kg and 6.675 kg rascal! Renee was so excited and tickled to take a picture with her brother that she didn't insist on grabbing the camera away from me!

More house hunting over the last two days, Eugene and I are getting a bit tired so much so we didn't bring Renee along tonight. We are going to make our decision by this weekend - thank goodness!

Let's start packing....

Finding a new home has not been easy because we are working against time. Our buyers have already exercised their option so basically we need to move in less than 9 weeks. And Eugene will be leaving for The States on the 28th, which leaves us one more weekend to exhaust all options.

The weather's not been cooperative and lugging around 2 rascals in this heat who have their own agenda has been trying. We have our trusty property consultants (you know who you are) helping us give their "expert" opinions and advice - many thanks for that! The best part is they also help keep a watch out for Renee who has been acting up. I thought her the following phrase, "Renee chu pattern" and she has been reciting it non-stop. Ha ha......She must feel the stress that we are going through, my little darling!

We must have seen about 20 places over the last 2 weekends. Each has its own pros and cons as you can expect so it is difficult to make a decision.

Tomorrow's another day and we have made 2 appointments so far, Eugene took his bicycle out to pre-checkout one of the apartments that we are viewing. He just called me to say he likes it. Wow! Very rare as my husband is super fussy.

Regardless, I'll have to start packing soon....not looking forward to that AT ALL!

We're moving

Yes, unexpected, I know. To where, we don't know yet because we have not found a place. So now starts the gruelling task of finding a new home (not house, my mom insists, but a home). It was a tough decision selling our place, I love the wind, the space, the brightness and the environment. But ultimately, we being typical Singaporeans, are looking for something freehold. And in a time of property slow down, we were fortunate to have our good friends G&V refer a ready buyer to us and selling our home in a day, rather it took the buyers 5 minutes to make their decision.

We will probably have to put up at my in-laws for a few weeks or months while the new place is being sourced and renovated. Trust me, it was a difficult decision to make, I was still still sitting on the fence at the 11th hour. But we have to be practical and I was happy with my decision once I gave Eugene my go-ahead.

Wait for our update.

Happy Mother's Day!

My friend Wendy reminded me that I was supposed to take a monthly picture of Russell so we can see the changes. Since I see him every day, I don't really feel there are major differences but to those who rarely see him, they are surprised that he has grown so much and looks so different.

So...here's Russell after his bath tonight....at 2 months, 6 days.

My SIL calls him "loti-been"....aka Bread Face. If you turn him around you can see the shape of the cross-section of a loaf of bread....hee hee.....Today, I let the kids put on the clothes that Auntie Gayle gave to them (but stupid me forgot to take a photo!) and I realised that Russell's double-chin was kinda in the way, we couldn't button up his top button!! ha ha ha....

I did take one of him with baby Jessica, his "girlfriend".....judge for yourself....chin-chin galore!

After going to Sentosa last Thursday, Renee developed a runny nose on Friday and by Saturday, her cough returned. This time I decided to bring her to the doctor straight away. From the last experience, I decided that two of us sick at the same time would be really tiring so we went to see Dr. Liew. I used to see her when I was younger and staying at my parents' house and I always felt better after that...dunno why. Anyway, the medicine that Renee and me got seems to be working!! I can feel my throat clearing up and Renee's runny nose has stopped and she is coughing less now. The medicine also knocks both of us out - SWEET!

Thankfully, the last two nights, Russell slept 6 hours through the night before yelling for his feed. Yeah! Having my 8 hours beauty sleep is on the horizon!!!

Here's Renee at Underwater World, the lighting's not too good but this was one of the exhibits that she was really excited about.

I had a fabulous Mother's Day even though I did not receive an LV from Eugene......my two kids are present enough!

Mosquito attack!

It must be the numerous construction going on around our area. Renee was bitten on her face two weeks back and before the scars had time to heal, she was bitten again, this time the mozzies bit her feet as well. Night time has been challenging as she will wake up in an itching frenzy and can't sleep properly. The best part of it is I put insect repellant on her exposed skin and have the electrical Baygon on every night and yet! Should we move?? Hee hee.....inside joke.....

Yesterday, my in-laws brought us to Sentosa as Eugene forgot to bring the Zoo tickets back. My goodness, every attraction has its own entrance fee, and in-laws bought goodie after goodie at each stop - it gets expensive man! Fortunately we only went to the Merlion and Underwater World. They should have some warning before guests enter the attraction. When we entered the Merlion, it was pretty dark and Renee held on for dear life. "I wan go home" she said and that was our first stop!!! Once we reached the top of the Merlion, she had a smile on her face. At Underwater World, she was splashed in the face by some over-enthusiastic stingray at the Touch Pool. I wanted to show her that the fishes and stingray in the Touch Pool were harmless but in the end I was too scared myself to put my hand in the water.....hee.....

Between climbing the slopes with two kids, three adults, a pram and bags of baby stuff and stopping to feed Russell, by the time we were done at the Dolphin Lagoon, we finally left Sentosa at 6.45pm! Geez!! SIX hours and only 3 attractions?!?!!? Hmmm......I guess our day trip did leave a lasting impression on Renee as she remembered the Merlion and the dolphins the next day.

Today Eugene was on leave as I told him to go see his company doctor to treat his eczema. I thought it was better to deal with it before he leaves for his US trip. By the time he returned from the doctor's, it was almost 4pm. We met Janice and Tyler for dinner at Carl's Jr. Oh wow! That was some yummy burger man! I thought it was worth the money! Yumm!!!

Ok, off to put cream on Renee so she doesn't have a restless sleep from the itchiness tonight.

Draw fish

That seems to be Renee's favorite phrase, only it sounds more like "go fish". She gets excited when she sees fishes. My in-laws wanted to bring her to Underwater World but by the time we finished all the chores, it was close to 3.30pm and I said it was such a waste to pay the entrance fees to Sentosa and only have time for one attraction. So we decided to go to the Botanic Gardens...not having a pram is quite challenging because Renee prefers to be carried....and we have two kids to lug around.....in the heat.

I don't remember when was the last time I went to the gardens but it was refreshing to see such peace and inhale fresh air. We only spent about 2 hours there and headed home after dinner at the food court.

I have asked Eugene to get tickets to the Bird Park and the Zoo from his company since my in-laws will be bringing us out regularly. I wanted to bring Renee to the zoo when i was pregnant but Eugene said pregnant women cannot go the zoo....go fish man....I don't understand that belief at all!

Eugene will be away for a whole month in June as he was one of the 4 candidates selected to attend a training course conducted by his head company. So, I'll have to rely on my kid's grandparents to entertain us during that month that he will be in Connecticut.

Here's a picture of my mini-mes and myself at the Botanic Gardens. Can't really see Russell's face but you get the idea....

Here she is with her grandma close to the swans at Swan Lake. When we first saw the swans she grabbed us very tightly as she was so afraid! But after that she warmed up and wanted to go and touch the swans.....err....the lake looked kinda green and there was no way i would want to jump in after her!

The Aftermath

Renee woke up at 3.30 am and asked for some water. After that she went back to sleep. We woke up around 8 am and in-laws decided to bring us out to AMK and Ikea. That was a good thing because it kept her mind off the pain in her thigh (where the sedative was administered) and the discomfort in her mouth.


My dear daughter is not supposed to eat hard foods but being the greedy one, she insisted on eating whatever we were eating. Yup, fried fish definitely is more appetitizing than plain old porridge!




Thought it would be good to load a picture of Renee up close so you can see for yourselves the swelling above her upper lips. The swelling is also causing the nose to flare up a bit....She reminds me of an anteater and I keep making fun of her..


My heart aches everytime I see her mouth, I hope the swelling goes away soon......

Our visit to the A & E

Yes I mean Accident and Emergency....the casualty? Renee......

The day started out normal enough, 4 of us getting ready to attend Bohe's solemnisation. Thereafter, a gathering at my good friend YY's house. Today we had a girl's afternoon. Wonderful tea and good laughs with my closest girl friends.

YY's due early July so today's gathering was geared towards labour pains, baby talk and child safety. Specifically child-proofing our houses for the sakes of our precious ones. We were removing piece after piece of breakable stuff from Renee's reach and I casually mentioned perhaps we need to move the coffee table as well. Not 5 mins after that remark, Renee did something I have seen countless times. She looked up and shook shook shook her head. I think she must have lost her balance and she fell and hit the coffee table.....or rather, the coffee table hit her....hee hee.......her mouth hit the edge of the table and it started to bleed.....a lot.....she has hit her mouth many times before and we have seen blood before but this time the bleeding was non stop and she was histerical. I told myself to keep calm as if I was panicky I am sure she would have been even more histerical. Well, my wonderful friends suggested we go to the A&E and we were off within minutes. YY drove Mel and myself with my two kids to KK A&E and boy were there a lot of "emergencies". We got a queue number at 5.47pm and we were given a priority line. My dear friend Serena was on the way home and she passed the hospital and decided she had to join us as well. Bless you girls!

Eugene met up with us shortly after that. We finally got to see the doctor around 6.45pm and thereafter a dentist and were advised that Renee's gums were lacerated, ie the gum was pushed upwards. Apparently the doc said he could see the bone....ewww.....and if we did not rectify it, her gums could become infected. Ai-yoh....normal day, my foot......Anyway, he said she was lucky that she didn't hit her teeth cos that could have halted the growth inside the gums or something......sorry, I could see his mouth moving but not everything went past my eardrums.......he lost me at "I can see the bone"......

Since Renee had consumed something prior to the coffee table hitting her, we had to wait till 8.30pm till the dentist could stitch her gums. Seven, count them, seven stitches in all, my friends. She was given a sedative and I had to leave the room. The procedure was over in a short while and she was taken to the observation room, where she finally woke up around 11pm. Eugene and I left shortly before she woke up as we had Russell with us and we didn't want him staying at the hospital any longer. Her grandparents stayed by her side and brought her home after the doctor gave his review. We were finally reunited around 11.30pm at home but she was in a deep deep sleep. Sigh. We are due for another review with the dentist in a week to check whether her teeth and the gums are ok.

She's now sleeping soundly and I think she may wake up when she feels hungry. Look out for my update.