Renee graduates from Kindergarten

Heh heh, seems like such a big deal! Here's her super cute picture!

We also attended her ceremony, which was held at Paya Lebar Methodist Girls Secondary school, coincidentally. She was in a dance number towards the end of the show, our miss go-go dancer was supposed to be an Eurasian.

All in all, I am really happy with her performance in her last year of kindergarten. Teacher Jean did a great job, she is very strict but at the same time she gives the kids the respect in that she watches them from afar, giving them enough space instead of hovering around them. The kids learned discipline and independence. You can see the difference between the younger kids and those in K2. They are definitely much more mature and I just have to wipe a tear away when I think of the first time I sent Renee to play group in 2008, how she cried like mad, and how independent she is now.

Toilet training

At 6 and a half years, I finally started night toilet training Renee. I know it is very late but I was just too tired to wake up in the night and she complained that she was too tired in the morning from being woken up. But I just told her that we would start when we went to Club Med, can you imagine your friends laughing at you if they find out you are still in diapers? And then, she agreed. So we started in June and over the last 5 months, we've had a couple of "accidents", the usual, nothing I can't handle.

Then I started night training Russell sometime in September, which at 4 and a half years, is also quite late. It was a challenge to train both of them because my inlaws tend to give them milk at night, which is a recipe for disaster! Sure to wet their beds, and it is really difficult to convince Russell not to drink at night. But I find that it is easier if we go home earlier, and I can control their liquid intake after 6 pm. I only need to wake Russell up once and we're fine till the morning.

There were a couple of times when washing the sheets was a daily affair. Not funny at all, especially when it rained during the day, making it almost impossible for the laundry to dry by night time.

Next year, Renee starts school at Paya Lebar Methodist Girls Primary School, which just got changed to a single session school, meaning she has to be at school by 7.20 am! Goodness. We have decided that Eugene will send the kids to school in the morning and Riley to my inlaws and I will pick them up in the evenings. I have proposed that we order tingkat food so we don't linger at inlaws till late. The kids will probably need to sleep by 8.30 pm in order to wake at 6.15 am! I really don't know how it's going to go and I'm a little worried.

The kids fooling around, wearing Renee's school uniform! I have two daughters!

Club Med Phuket

The kids' first time on the plane! How exciting!

We went to Club Med during the June school holidays, for 5 days 4 nights. We had adjoining rooms, which was great because that meant we didn't have all squeeze into one single bed! They each had their own bed, a playpen for Riley and we had two bathrooms to use! The two kids went to Mini Club Med on the first day while we went to town with Riley. On the second day they didn't want to go to Mini Club Med much to my dismay because we had paid for it in our package price! In the end, we had to trick them into going but by afternoon they were ready to call it a day :( Russell "complained" that the staff made him eat a lot (haha) and Renee said she didn't want to watch TV when it was TV time (double haha).

There were 15 children in total, so it was heaven for the kids. All day we ate, drank and swam. By the third night, the kids were so tired, they slept right after their bath!

On the last day we brought them to Patong Beach, because I didn't want the kids to think Phuket only equals Club Med.

Overall a good trip, the kids enjoyed themselves and Renee kept saying she wants to go back and occupy the SAME rooms were allocated.

SICK SICK SICK

The "sick" season began around 28th April. The first one to be affected was Russell, in fact he went to Riley's party with a high fever and sat out a lot of the activities. By 30th April, it was Renee and my turn to get sick. We all went to see Dr Yong, even Eugene. He was "out of order" on 29th April, slept the whole day. But Eugene recovers fast, it only takes 1 or 2 days for him to bounce back while the rest of us trudge along feeling shitty. The two boys had fever for a few days and it brought back painful memories of when Russell had to be hospitalized. By 7th May, I was on my second week of coughing and I went to see Dr Liew, this time I have conjunctivitis as well. On 8th May, when the fever didn't subside, we brought Riley and Russell to KK Hospital. Russell was given a chest X-Ray and found to have the beginning of a chest infection. However, he was still able to walk around the A&E. As such he was given antibiotics and we were allowed to bring him home. Riley only had a blood test, which showed he was clear of any virus or bacteria. So he was given normal cough medicine and allowed to return home.

After the third day of lying around moaning and sleeping, Russell had a turnaround, he woke up for longer periods, his fever subsided and he was eating and drinking normally again. By the 5th day, Riley started showing signs of what Russell had. He just lay there moaning and couldn't drink his milk or eat anything. On the night of 12th May, he fell asleep but he woke up three times in half hour, gasping for air. I knew something wasn't right and spent the whole night worrying, I think I didn't sleep much, for I was checking on him and coughing like mad as well. Renee helped me by sleeping next to Riley, to prevent him from falling off our bed. Yes, ever since he got sick, Riley would only sleep on our bed. So here Renee is, woken up each time Riley turned, and she's holding on to her vomit pot. She'd cough till she had to vomit all her food/phlegm.

All in all, not pretty. We were a sick family.

On Mothers' Day, we brought Riley to the A&E again and this time the doctor attended to him immediately, as he was labelled "breathless child", oxygen level had dipped to 90%, the normal should be about 95%. You could see he had difficulty breathing, using his stomach to breathe. He had a chest X-Ray this time and it showed a chest infection. But because he was super lethargic and not taking any food or liquids, he had to be admitted. That's not music to my ears at all. I was battling the cough and being in the germ-laden hospital with air conditioning, that made it really unbearable. Thankfully, Eugene stayed the first two nights with Riley while I went home and tried to recuperate. I had fever every single day, and my conjunctivitis acted up again. Apparently the virus that causes conjectivitis is related to the virus Riley had. I was then on my second course of antibiotics. I stayed on the third night, it was such a horrible experience. I was coughing and no doubt disturbing the other patients and their parents. 

A couple of times I drove home, in a daze. I don't even know how I made it home in one piece. On Wednesday night, I drove home and half way driving, I puked all over myself. Gross I know but I think that was the turning point. The virus must have left my system then, because after that, I didn't have any more fever! On Thursday, I picked MIL and the kids up to drop MIL at the hospital while Eugene and I went to school to meet the teachers. I ghosted through those 2 hours as well, trying to look away so the teachers couldn't spot my red eyes.

During Riley's stay, the doctors had to put an IV to feed him the fluids he wasn't taking and to give him antibiotics. By the second day, his hand had puffed up and the IV had to be removed. The nurses and doctors tried find another vein but to no avail. The next option was to put a tube into his nose to feed him. That took forever as well and 2 minutes after it was inserted, Riley deftly removed it! Thereafter, they tried many times again to put it in but no luck. By then, I was a wreck. From seeing him struggle and finally being so worried he wasn't getting his fluids and medication, I broke down. The nurses came and tried to assure me they'd do their best to find another vein, etc. I just cried. Any by some miracle, maybe my baby knew I was distressed, he started drinking his milk! All 120 mls of it!! And I patiently fed him 4 hours later which he also willingly drank. That was the night I stayed over at the hospital. I slept a little better than I did at home. The next day, he actually started eating some porridge and in the evening, he even ate some macaroni!

That to me was such joy!

By Thursday late afternoon, we were allowed to return home. It was great to be out and carrying him in my arms in non-hospital pyjamas. My in-laws told us to keep the two older ones away from Riley for the weekend. So, it was a rather quiet weekend for us at home. I spent the time washing all the bedlinen, all laden with germs, vomit, spit, whatever! It was hard being away from Renee and Russell for so many days. We were finally reunited on Monday.

I hope this virus stays far far away from us!!!!

Riley turns 1

Yeah, we can't believe it either! We celebrated Riley's birthday a day earlier at Cafe Mosaic at Carlton Hotel. We were still unsure whether to have a big party or just a little one with just our family. In the end, I felt bad that we didn't have one for his full month like we did for Russell and Renee. We also had a big first birthday party for them so I guess we should celebrate the joyous ocassion for Riley too!

Russell wasn't feeling well, in fact he was having a pretty high fever right up to us leaving the house for the hotel. I felt so bad for him as he literally sat out the whole party, never before have we seen him so tame. Well after resting the entire afternoon and through the night, he woke up on Sunday morning and was raring to go! Eugene caught the flu bug as well and was out whole of Sunday, drifting in and out of sleep while I battled to keep my eyes open from waking at 6 am! I managed to last all the way till 11.30pm without any sleep. By then Riley caught the bug and he and Russell took turns to wake up through Monday morning. I don't know how I managed to get up to get to work. It is one of those days that I wish I could just sleep in but I can't as my colleague is on leave the whole of this week. ARGH!

I managed to get a 3D cake from a lady called Prima, she did a pretty good job with the rabbit theme that I requested. Renee had a dog, Russell had a mouse and Riley had to have a rabbit cake! The chocolate with meringue and butter cream was really yummy. At first I thought what a waste because the buffet already had a huge spread of dessert but I couldn't go without "THE CAKE".

Anyways, here are some pictures from the party.

I didn't realise having 45 adults and 20 kids all glaring at you can be quite scary. That must explain his facial expression!

Up close of the little rabbits and carrots.

Riley is the only one who has started walking before turning 1! It's so cute to see him shaking his bon-bon while walking unsteadily at first then getting faster as he gets more and more excited at his freedom!

Malacca

Somewhere during our busy lives, we managed to bring the kids to Malacca. We left on a Saturday morning and came back on Sunday evening.

It was quite fun travelling with Uncle Chen Yu and Auntie Jovin and their three kids. The kids got on very well, except for the beginning where Russell would disturb and hit the others, I guess it's his way of warming up? By the time we were on the way home on Sunday evening, he'd gotten along with Chen Xi, chatting up about their daddy's "panties" and "diapers"!! Wahaha! The men were shaking their heads!!!

Equatorial Hotel was pretty nice but it was pretty difficult to bathe Riley in the big bathtub and also I couldn't really prepare porridge for him. I brought along the bottled cereals but he didn't quite like it. Jonkers Street was a challenge with 6 kids and 5 adults. Luckily we started early and left around 7 pm before the place got too crowded. Chen Yu's children are used to sleeping early so they were waivering around 6 pm. We had to pump sugar into their system and get those cheap toys to entice them to continue!! Wahaha!

The next day we had a simple breakfast at a nearby coffeeshop, used the pool (which was surprisingly clean and big with many sections), did some shopping and ate chicken rice balls before heading back to Singapore.

Our next holiday will be in JUNE!!! Look out for pictures! I can't wait for that one!!

Russell turns 4!

Yes, it is birthday after birthday coming at us!

Russell turned 4 on the 5th of March 2012. As usual, we celebrated with him in school, this time without Eugene as he had an audit at work and couldn't take leave. Russell was super excited and hyper, and so were his classmates!! Truely a rowdy bunch, I really pity the teachers who have to control twenty 3 to 4 year olds at the same time! We took out the cake and the curious tots surrounded the little table like bees to honey, one of them even took a swipe of the cream!!! That prompted Russell to follow suit! Goodness! Teacher Irene sent all of them back to their own tables and only the 4 girls were allowed to stand by Russell. Kinda reminds me of a Robert Palmer music video, hahaha! Anyway, the girls were allowed near the cake because they weren't so wild. However, as soon as the girls surround him, Russell declared he doesn't like girls! Fainted!!! He subsequently dragged his chair away from the girls so his back was facing the entire class! Double faint! The teacher just said, "Let him have his way, it's his day afterall!"

I managed to squeeze out some goodie bags for the kids again, I nearly went insane as I was already so busy but what the heck, he was so excited that his Mummy did something for his friends.

During lunch time, SIL treated the kids to MacDonald's again :) so nice of her. However, with as many kids as adults, it was real chaotic. We were trying so hard to prevent the trays from falling off the tables!!!

Renee turns 6!

Yeah I can't believe it either!!! Next year she goes to primary school! Geez!!! I'll be an old woman soon!

As usual we celebrated her birthday in school. This year she said she didn't want a cartoon character cake, she just wanted a normal cake. Huh? All she could talk and think about was the goodie bag! Mummy, you need to buy this and that. And I suppose she must have told her friends about what I prepared, because she was telling me her friends were so excited about her upcoming birthday. As usual, I went to Daiso for some inspiration and ended up buying some cute notebooks for the kids. I bought 30 notebooks in total and came out satisfied because I was sure the kids would like it. On top of that, I dropped by Giant and got some cookies and chocolates to include in the goodie bag. I still remember doing the same thing last year on Valentines' Day!

Eugene managed to take leave that day so he joined us for the celebration, while my FIL stayed home to take care of Riley. Russell came over to join his sister for the 20 minute party and it was so difficult to send him back to class after that! Anyway I saw Renee roll her eyes when Russell came over......OMG, so young and already "embarrassed" by her younger brother's presence!

In another 10 days, we will celebrate Russell's birthday in school.....off to Daiso again!!!

We brought them to Toys R Us last Saturday to pick their presents. Renee picked a food set as she's been learning about food groups in school - what to eat more of and what to eat less of.
Russell picked the green and blue ranger from Power Rangers Samurai. Yeah, cos he's into these type of cartoons nowadays.

Riley just followed us here and there, but before long he's gonna want to pick his own gifts too!

Time Flies

I have been so busy! Every day is a mad rush to wake up, get snacks ready for the kids to eat before their extra classes, get them ready for school and get myself ready for work! I wake at 6 am every morning and by the time I'm ready for work, it's already 8 am. I used to be able to do some small task after seeing the kids off in my FIL's car like washing their milk bottles or some ironing, but I really don't know why there is not enough time anymore!

Washing and ironing seems to be a daily thing. Sleep seems to be insufficient, what with me still waking up to breast feed Riley twice or three times a night. Before I drift back to sleep, Eugene's alarm wakes me up at 6 am while he snoozes for the next 20 minutes! ARGH! I am not that talented that I can just fall back into dreamland! So here I am awake at 6 am, worried that I can't get the kids ready in time for school when my FIL arrives to pick them up around 7.20am. What will we do when Renee enters Primary 1 next year? We still haven't really decided where to send her. It's either proximity to our house (for ease of transportation in the early morning) or proximity to my inlaw's house (for ease of transportation after school hours).

At the moment, I still have my sanity and take it in my stride. The kids keep me going. Here we are on CNY morning in our New Year finest clothes!! Ha ha!

Riley turned 9 months over the CNY holidays. I can't believe it. Soon we'll have to rack our brains for a party venue for his 1st birthday! We didn't have a full month party for him like we did for Renee and Russell, so I feel I owe him one, you know? He started standing up in his cot and wiggles him bum like mad trying to crawl. It's a funny sight, together with his two-tooth smile that can melt your heart!

Look at that smile, he was mighty pleased with himself for pulling himself up into a standing position!! His little fingers grabbing the edge for dear life! Changing clothes and diapers have been a real struggle as he hates lying on his back while we're doing it!

Each time I write a post, I marvel at how the kids have grown. Renee's in K2 now, she's got spelling and ting (1) xie (3) every week. Before the first test, she'd start crying before we even got to picking up a pencil to practice. That was frustrating but after she scored 100 marks for both tests, she was more confident and practicing was more pleasant! Even weekly homework has become the norm for her, she willingly takes her books out to complete and her writing's improved quite a bit. She's able to write her Chinese name pretty well too!

Russell's in N2 now. He's started bringing homework home on Fridays too. Not to easy for him though, he isn't used to it and thinks it is for fun. He doesn't even hold his pencil properly. We think he knows his alphabets but he just doesn't want to say it out loud when we ask him. I think we didn't give him a long enough stint at Growing Up Gifted. Renee attended GUG till end of N1 and she had no problems with her ABCs. We need to really focus on Russell as we have pretty much focused on Renee and Riley being the oldest and youngest child. Physically, he's grown so much taller! And with Chinese medicine when he gets his cough, I can tell he doesn't get sick so often and he is really really active and sometimes I think overly hyper!

Riley's other lymph node started swelling over the last two weeks. I guess we need to make a trip down to Dr Cheah to have it removed again. I dread it! He's much bigger and can be quite strong in struggling. So NOT looking forward to it!!! In laws say he is very good-natured and understanding. When Roland cries and needs to be picked up, he won't fight for attention instead he will offer toys to him and just look curiously at this other little being!

Excuse me while I go think of how to answer Renee's burning question about the birds and the bees!! Did I mention she's only 5 going on to 6??

I'm so NOT looking forward to the kids growing up! I love them so much as they are!!