Back to work

We had a chocolate cornflakes with sprinkles afternoon, the kids enjoyed this because they got to dirty their hands!!

3 rascals posing together

6 months have passed in a flash! Riley turned 6 months on 29th October 2011 and I came back to work on 1st November 2011.

I am still nursing him at night and before and after work. He had a reaction to his BCG, his lymph node at the groin area was swollen and actually had pus. I went to Dr Vasanthi about 3 weeks ago to get his jab but with the swell and an ear infection, we had to postpone the jabs. Those were some horrid days, running to the ENT specialist at Parkway Health and the urologist at Gleneagles. Dr Cheah actually cut open the lump to squeeze out the pus and the abcess. Gross! I went alone to Gleneagles and was so shaken by the horrible narrow car park and when all the blood rushed out I could feel my legs go soft. Last Saturday, the doctor said the wound was healing well but he has another lump which is not ripe. We have to monitor it and if it turns red, we have to do something about it. Here's Riley 3 hours after the traumatic experience (for mummy and baby!) at the doctors.

Russell is really really sensitive to chicken. A little bit of chicken will set him off with a cough and he will be very very phlegmy. For him, I have resorted to bringing him the sinseh, he doesn't respond to Western medicines. Here's the cheeky bugger. He's been displaying middle-child syndrome, my poor baby feels so neglected, we really need to pay him a lot of attention. Sometimes the crying goes on for a long time. I think we spend too much time at my inlaws house, so much that he probably thinks my inlaws are his parents. They also spoil him lots. Eugene and I need to buck up on this front. And we will stay at our own house once my SIL gives birth in December. There is really no space for another two persons to stay at my inlaws.

Renee had one of her lower baby tooth drop out 0n 9th October 2011. Guess how? She bit Russell's hand and it dropped out! I turned around and wondered what a piece of chicken was doing on her thigh! It was actually her tooth! That night the tooth fair paid a visit. She had tonnes of questions about the fairy and was sooooo excited!! Wahaha! The innocence of kids!

Updates

Riley has reflux according to Dr. Vas. Some parents I met in her clinic tell me how it affects their children and I have to be thankful Riley doesn't have it so bad. Some kids can't keep their food and milk down and have to resort to medication to avoid vomitting. At almost 4 months, Riley is 8.14 kg, which according to the good doc, is the weight of an 8 month old! Geez!

Russell's been doing great, I tend to forget he is no longer just 3 years old, he is now closer to 3 and a half years old. The things he asks and says sometimes surprises us. Where did the years and months go?

Renee is now 5 and a half years old, next year we'll have to register her for Primary School! Goodness!

With my sister-in-law's baby on the way, many questions have been bouncing around in my head. My inlaws are about to embark on a real roller coaster of kids. From having only 2 grandkids at the 4 months ago to having 4 grandkids in 4 months. They are going to have their hands FULL! We have offered them a maid but my MIL has declined.....for now at least.

Pictures to come. Been too busy for ANYTHING! What I'd do to get a facial or just go shopping for myself......

Don't forget about us

With a baby in the house, we tend to forget about the two older children. I think they got a lot of scolding from us, because they love Riley so much, they always sayang him. But kids being kids, they don't know how to control themselves, don't know how strong they are. It has been really stressful. I understand why some women could end up with post-natal depression. Luckily for me, I have a very strong backing from my inlaws, parents and Eugene. I could not do without their help! Renee and Russell at Parkway Parade, during our first outing with Riley. Overwhelming!!! Geez!!

We brought inlaws and the kids to Universal Studios on one of the days during the school holidays. Bringing a young one there is taxing!! We spent 8 hours there and this time I could ride on the rides with them. When I was pregnant, either Renee or Russell could go with Eugene only. Battlestar Galatica was awesome! The kids and my MIL opted out of that one. I had to breast feed Riley three times during the time we were there. Luckily the toilets were not that foul.

Russell practising his headstand. He does this over and over and inlaws always threaten to hit him with the cane. They want him to stop in case he injures his neck. Gymnastics anyone?
Russell with his mid-drift singlet! Ha ha. And Renee's feet next to her books, Teacher Michelle said she must improve on her reading. So we had to spend some time making her read during the school holidays.

We also met up with Athena and Auntie Karen and LeLe and Auntie You Yenn at Fidgets. The kids love indoor playgrounds now! We brought them to Go-Go Bambini the week after that. Above picture taken before we left for Turf City. It was also the day it flooded big time at Bukit Timah. Fortunately we passed the flooded area right before it caused chaos!
My big boy, no longer a di-di!

Term 2 Art: Cats

Renee enjoys Teacher Grace's art class. For Term 2, the theme was cats. Here are the pieces she did, with Teacher's help.

Memories

Water retention. Didn't have such a painful experience with Renee and Russell. This time, I could hardly bend my feet. And elevating them overnight didn't help. Swollen feet day before delivery day.....Big belly for the last time, I can't see my feet, linea nigra visible.29th April 2011. After 5 hours easy labour. Riley is out in two pushes. Epidural worked very well this time. But the after effects were terrible. I puked my breakfast bee hoon right before delivery. I couldn't eat for the rest of the evening as well, the nausea was really bad this time.Riley had jaundice, like Russell did and we rented the machine again. Rental cost seemed to have gone up quite a bit!

Pictures!!!

Day 1: Our family of 5!!

Wearing a body suit, borrowed from Vivian, still loose on top.. Kor-Kor wants to carry

Three "dears" caught in headlights! Ha ha

Russell with his TL faceBig, Small, Medium
Jie-Jie wants to carry

In his Newborn diapers, taking a break from the light therapy machine for his jaundiceTwo months later.....

Baby Riley

Time flies...baby Riley is almost two months old, which means I haven't been updating my blog for more than 2 months too!! It's a combination of tiredness, lack of time and overall trying to maintain my sanity....

Riley was born on 29th of April 2011.... Which is the date I predicted. During my check up on 28th April, Dr Chen said I was already 3.5 cm dilated, I was actually surprised she didn't get me admitted that night. I went home and had the whole evening and morning to prepare myself, even had a last burst of energy to clean the house and do some laundry ha!

Anyway, labor was fairly short and within 4 hours of oxytocin being administered, Riley was out in 2 pushes, it was easy-peasey!! Both gynae and pediatrician encouraged me to have another because it was so easy for me. Riiiight!! Delivery is the easiest part....after that comes the sleep deprivation, engorgement, mediation of fights (between the two older kids on who gets to carry the baby first).....did I mention sleep deprivation???? Doing it at 35 years old is totally different from doing it at 30 years old!!! I feel so exhausted some days. Confinement food came from Newbaby and I got Kwek to give me 10 days of post-natal massage. Paid extra money for the ampoules for even quicker weight loss.

Both Renee and Russell began sleeping through the night when they went two months plus so I'm hoping to get some good sleep in the coming days ahead...please??

My sister-in-law is finally pregnant after years of trying. I cried when I heard the good news....my kids will have a cousin by December!!

Will try to load some pictures and update my blog soon.....

Nesting Instinct

Yeah....that phrase......so true in recent days for me. I'm having my confinement at my in laws house this time. My kids still need to attend school every day so I felt it was very demanding for them to travel up and down to pick and send the kids while MIL takes care of me during the month. So I've been treating every day like it's my last day at my own house! Been doing the laundry and ironing everyday. I feel damn disturbed if I see the laundry or ironing basket full of clothes.

Last Friday was Good Friday and the kids were off from school. I was so looking forward to resting but the whole weekend, Russell kept waking up before 7am!

The kids playing with my iPhone. Taking photos of each other.....

On Easter Sunday, we went to The Beach Hut for some cholesterol-laden breakfast. Eggs on our plate, like we've not had eggs before! Crazy!

Each set comes with choice of eggs, hash browns, orange juice and free flow of coffee or tea. For about $14.....

The kids preferring to eat the free flow toast instead of helping us with the eggs! ARGH!

Rare picture of Russell smiling. We've been asking him to smile for the cameras lately. They had their class photo taken last Wednesday and he's been only giving us the Power Rangers stance all this while......

One taken by Renee.....think that's the only record of my belly so far!

34 week check up

Was so looking forward to seeing Dr. Chen on the 14th of April for my 34 week check up. However, when she heard I'd been having a sore throat and runny nose, she wasn't too happy with me for not seeing a GP or making an appointment to see her. What to do? I was having the seminar on Monday when my throat started acting up and I thought I could endure another day of runny nose when it started dripping on Wednesday. That, plus I had a positive indication for strep B....again. Was given a pressary and a bunch of medication for my sore throat and runny nose. Antibiotics, vitamin C and chlorpheniramine and MC for the next day. Had to message my dad and my colleague about my unplanned MC. My dad replied back, saying I needed to take care and that he noticed I don't take my illnesses seriously. And that I hardly sought medical intervention when sick. I started tearing at the Kopitiam that we were having dinner at. How to take leave when we are short handed? So with the two "reprimandings", I just couldn't help but start bawling when we reached the car. Eugene was totally clueless why I was crying. Men! They have no emotions or pregnancy hormones!!! Can't blame them! Anyway, I left there with a super cute 3D scan of Riley.....thick lips! Hello pouty! Dr Chen said I should try to endure another 2 weeks when I am at full term. She's had a couple of her patients delivering before term. That made me panic a bit. Spent the whole of Friday resting, couldn't really sleep though, even with the super yellow pill. Maybe I was restless or it was just too freaking hot! I finally managed to get my hospital bag packed on Saturday, I'd been putting it off for too long. I just have to grab my medical reports from the office on Monday and stuff it into the bag and I'm all done. I feel so unsettled because the whole house is a mess! After Eugene's return from Texas and SIL's return from Hong Kong, we have so many parcels (gifts) lying all around the house. On Sunday, I decided we should move Renee's new bed to her current room so she can carry on sleeping in the same room as Russell. We spent nearly the whole morning reorganising and finally went to Robinson around 2 pm to get a bed rail for her. I'm was afraid she'd fall off the bed!! Anyway, we spent about $40 for the bed rail and we got Riley's hello gift for them at the same time. I'd gotten the kids gift for Riley last week already, both were chosen by Renee.

Away from the kids

Eugene was away from Singapore from 2nd April till 10th April. I decided to stay at my inlaws during the work week.

On 2nd of April, inlaws brought us to the airport at night for MacDonalds. Here are some pictures I took with my phone. I was looking at my son, he looks like such a big boy now! No longer a baby!!!

On the 3rd of April, I kept them at home. I brought them out for dinner, by myself! Had to brace myself before getting into the car. Renee had requested for Old Town. We reached there at nearly 8.30pm, had trouble getting a table, had trouble getting the waiter to clean the table, had trouble getting the menu and placing our orders! Finally I took matters into my own hands and grabbed an order chit and my own pencil and wrote my own order. After finally jamming my order into the waiter's hand, the manager came by and said our order would take 30 minutes! I was so tempted to grab their hands and get out of there! But where else could we go? It was crowded everywhere! Thankfully both kids behaved very very well, and our dinner went by smoothly! I think having Eugene or my inlaws with me, the kids would literally climb over our heads. But with just me, they were angels!!!

Started bringing over some stuff for my one month stay at my inlaws during the confinement period. The week went by pretty fast, I went home every day to do the laundry and chores in the evening and in the morning.

Eugene returned around midnight on the 10th of April, but before that I had to have dinner with some overseas customers. I left the kids at my inlaws for 2 nights. Renee was soooo sad to see my go but Russell couldn't give two hoots, waving goodbye at the gate!!! Hmmm.....By the time I slept on Monday morning, it was 1 am! I had to wake up at 6.45am. Super tired and missing my kids.

I'll be seeing the kids later tonight after 2 days away from them! Renee has memorised my mobile number and will call me regularly to ask when I am coming back!!! At least someone appreciates me!!!

32 weeks pregnant

All I can say is: CONTRACTIONS!!! Not the real thing but I've been having really tight Braxton Hicks contractions. One day last week, I actually woke up from a jabbing pain in my right top rib and the contractions kept me awake for 2 hours.

Yesterday I visited Dr Chen for my check up and she asked me to pack my hospital bag this weekend. Eugene missed the check up as he was so busy he forgot all about it! Plus he had a last minute conference call at 8 pm. So I made my way to dinner at Compass Point myself, to the clinic myself and back to inlaws myself.....thankfully public transport is not atrocious in Singapore!

Dr Chen also asked me to take it easy, don't walk so much, don't work so hard. I was like, HUH? then how to function on a day to day basis? I have been blessed to have smooth pregnancies the last two times, I try not to let this affect my normal life. I go on with the housework, I carry pails of water to wash the balconies, I carry Renee sometimes, Russell more often (MIL says we have neglected him). I mop the floor, wash the clothes and bend down a lot to pick up toys and clothes. I squat, I sit on the floor. Somehow I feel like it will help me with an easy delivery as well.

Anyway, telling Eugene that I need to pack my bags sort of jolted him out of his day to day work stress. He's travelling to Texas for a week come next Friday. I assured him no problem! I won't deliver so early.

My next check up is April 14 and thereafter it will be fortnightly. Should baby Riley arrive early like Renee and Russell did, I hope we have another bundle of joy by April 28th!! I will be at 37 weeks then, full term. Baby is now 1.8 kg and Dr Chen noticed how both Russell and Renee were born at 3.1 kgs. She joked and wondered if we could pull a hat-trick. She's funny lah!

School holidays March 2011

Daddy has been very busy lately and can't even take leave during the school holidays. So over the first weekend of the holiday, he tried to do so many things with us, even though he had to work the whole day of Saturday :(

Russell at Sapphire, The Jewel Box (Mount Faber)

Russell with Daddy on board our cable car. Renee was too afraid to look.

On Saturday night, we went to Mount Faber and we told the kids we were taking a cable car ride. They were so excited even though they didn't know what it was! The whole dinner they kept looking out into the distant night, where we could see the cable cars heading towards Sentosa. Finally at 9pm, we got our tickets and boarded a cable car. Immediately after take off, Renee hugged me and was so scared!!! I was pretty scared, this was my first time also, but thankfully it was at night and dark, so I couldn't really tell how high up we were! Russell was very brave and had no fear, he kept chatting to Eugene, who kept asking him, "do you want to be a commando next time? Have to jump from this high you know?" To which little Russell replied, "yes!" Ohhh-kaaayyyy!!!

The round trip took half an hour, we didn't get a chance to step off because the last ride back was 9.30pm. Which is just as well, I imagine if we had disembarked at Sentosa, it would be impossible to get Renee back onto the cable car!!!

The kids waiting for their breakfast at The Beach Hut

On Sunday morning, the kids woke up at 7 am!!! OMG! We had to force ourselves out of bed around 7.45am, started getting ready to go out for breakfast. Eugene suggested we go to The Beach Hut at East Coast as they had a breakfast buffet. When we finally reached there at 9 am, we realised they no longer offered a buffet, it was now ala carte. We ordered 3 sets to share among the 4 of us, there was free flow of coffee and tea and toasted bread with jams and butter. The kids enjoyed the scrambled eggs and hash browns.

After that, daddy brought us to a bicycle kiosk to rent a Quad Velo. See picture above. It cost us $30 to rent for an hour. Totally zero hip factor plus we cycled like mad but the thing couldn't really go fast. I had to stop a couple of times as my legs weren't long enough and my belly was in the way!

After that Renee said she was HUNGRY!!! So we headed to Ikea to look for her bed and also to let the kids snack on their favorite $1 hotdog. We've been looking for a new bed for Renee because we need to make room for Riley. I've been going through all the possible options for arranging their beds/cots. I'm quite stressed over it! Anyway, after a fruitless trip to Ikea, Eugene said he wanted to go to Courts to get a new phone, our home phone has been down for sometime, so we needed to get a new one. By this time, Russell was cranky and we left after getting the phone. The kids fell asleep immediately after getting into the car, by the time they awoke, it was time almost 6 pm for Russell. Renee woke up earlier so I brought her downstairs for a dip in the pool.

We had a late dinner at Parkway and returned home soon after that. It was a long day for me. Everyone had a nap except for me.....but it was indeed a packed day, which we did so we could do something for the kid's holiday.

Russell turns 3!

Mummy me is so unfair, I loaded all of Renee's birthday updates but not Russell's!! Here it is!

Although Renee celebrated her birthday two weeks before Russell did, when his turn came, she seemed to forget all the things we did for hers! There was some jealousy from her, although both had two cakes, both had presents and ang pows. I think she just felt left out when everyone gave Russell so much attention.

Anyway, we celebrated his birthday in school the day before his actual birthday. I ordered a really cute train cake from Bengawan Solo, I though the N1 kids wouldn't really appreciate cake the way the older kids would but boy was I wrong man! Cake was almost polished off!

He was really excited the whole time my MIL, FIL and I were there.....He kept telling everyone, don't touch my cake!!! Look at his stance!! Wah lao!

Ha ha, I just realised his shirt color was the same as the cake!!! hahaha! I got some goodie bags for the kids although it wasn't as fancy as Renee's. But those three year olds probably wouldn't know the difference! Hee!

On his actual birthday, my inlaws got him a Cars cake. Renee wanted to touch it and when MIL said she couldn't she was so upset. That started her on a downhill ride! It was a nightmare lunch! It didn't help matters when my SIL arrived with a Thomas and Friend present for him that was unwrapped. Wah lao, Renee kept wanting to see it and would fume when he was holding onto it!!

After the long lunch, I told everyone to GO HOME! I got the two to take their naps and after that, both were angels for the whole weekend. Really man!!!