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!!

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!