Peanut

Really happy to see Peanut eating and drinking well again.

For more than a week, or maybe almost 2 weeks, she was eating poorly or rejecting food.

Now, her appetite has improved much. While she is not voraciously gobbling up her food, at least she's taking bowls of mee sua and porridge again. And guzzling her milk. And requesting for her favourite mixed berry yoghurt melts.

Eat well and eat more my sweet happy girl.

Mama's aim is to have you reach 9.7 to 10kg in a months' time!

Stay happy, healthy and strong always!

sigh..

This week...I don't quite know what to say anymore.

Helper complained of gum infection and a resulting fever. I brought her to the dentist today.

Turned out that a root canal was needed. And a hefty $480 flew out of my pocket. Un-claimable from her insurance.

I can only hope that next week will be better and subsequent weeks will get better and better....

Mindfulness

Slowly reading up on this from time to time...

Mentally jotting down some key points....but realised I'd do better if I were to pen it down here for regular consumption. 

• Being present and aware of the current space, where we are and what we're doing
• Not being overly reactive or overwhelmed by the things happening around us 
• Listen with intention and attention 
• When listening, affirm first before you differ 

Enough points to focus and practice on for the next couple of weeks. 

Ganbatte...

Peanut

Amidst the challenges of this week...there have been several bright points as well. Most of it was about discovering that Peanut actually is aware of alot of things and is quite sure of what she wants.

Peanut's a smart one. She knows where to find her snacks and which particular container it is in.

She also knows that her favourite cheese is in a particular compartment in the fridge, which is in the kitchen. She can point and point and point you in the direction she wants to go to...until she eventually brings you to the cheese lol.

She has her favourite water bottle and if she gets thirsty during a meal, she would insist on drinking water first before continuing.

She has discovered that a particular light switch turns on the orange lights above our kitchen bar counter. She doesn't like to switch on the other lights in the house as they are natural white light but she likes the orange lights.

She is able to match and fit some of those shape blocks through the right holes in the cover of the box.

She seems to like tigers or pictures of tigers. When I point to the tiger in her picture book and give a roar, she tries to mimic me by opening her mouth wide as well...just that no sound comes out haha.

Grow well my sweetie...
Stay strong and fight the germs....

The doc is a little concerned that your weight has remained stagnant for the last 3 months...And these 2 weeks of back-to-back illness has caused your weight to plummet even more as you simply had no appetite...

Your cheeks are no longer chubby, your arms and legs are so skinny now. Mama could see your ribs the other day...and part of your spine. :(

It hurts to see you looking so subdued and thin....:(

你一定要加油!!!!!

The bumpy ride continues

This week has been bad.

It showed signs of abating yesterday....because Alyssa was eating better and drinking milk better, although her diarrhoea was still somewhat present. Nadya's fever was gone as well and I thought we were in for a smoother ride finally...

Alas.

In the middle of the night. Nadya complained of stomach upset and went to poo. It was diarrhoea-like. Watery and full of undigested food. I could see bits of watermelon.

This morning, she vomitted some of her milk out, accompanied by long strings of saliva.

Win liao lor.

Sigh.

===============
Really wondering if this house is....not clean..
if you know what i mean.....

this year has been rather challenging.....

tantrums

There is only that many tantrums that one can "endure", in a given situation and given space.

There is only that many kicks that one can endure, in a given situation and given space. 

Pek chek.

No more Blogger app

I will be posting less frequently I guess. Because Google discontinued the Blogger app on the Apple istore.

Horrid news. The app still worked perfectly on my old iOS even though it has been discontinued but ever since I updated my iOS, the app could not function anymore.

Rather upset. Now I don't know how to upload pictures....and how to blog on the fly.
Alternative blogger apps don't work as well and seem to have a problem with uploading of pictures...

:(

uglified

Went to the doc on Monday morning again. 

This time for my eye infection. Right eye was reddish, waxy, itchy, swollen and a little teary as well. 

Drama weekend

It's been a challenging weekend so far.

Saturday morning we discovered that Nadya had fever. Gave her medicine from our stockpile at home.

By 4:00pm, Alyssa started vomitting. In fact, she vomitted 5 times in 2 hours and ended up looking rather pale. She was also lethargic and subdued. We rushed her to KK's AnE. She was immediately given anti-vomitting medicine and put on glucose electrolytes for the next hour. 15ml of the glucose solution once every 15mins. She was much better after the medication and was back to her cheery, cheeky and active self.

The doc had warned that with such a stomach virus, she might develop a fever and also diarrhoea. True enough, the diarrhoea came at night. Poor girl. She was in so much discomfort that she was crying and whimpering most of the time. Sigh.....

By the time Sunday morning came, she was cranky. Her appetite seems almost non-existent now...and it is very worrying. :( Her weight has remained stagnant for the last 3 months...no more chubby cheeks, no more thunder thighs. :(

As for Nadya, her fever showed no signs of abating and peaked at 39.5C on Sunday afternoon. It has remained under 39 ever since. Which is a good thing. The bad thing is that now she is showing signs of having cough and a phlegmy throat. And she is showing signs of feeling nauseated. Maybe the stomach virus has reached her.

And the story is far from over yet....K is having conjunctivitis and high fever...Nadya was complaining of painful eyes and kept rubbing her eyes this afternoon. She is showing signs of getting it.

As for me...I had a bout of diarrhoea on Saturday afternoon and while that was the only episode, my stomach has remained queasy after that. Both K and I went to the doctor's this morning....but now I seem to have gotten red eye as well. My right eye is aching and starting to turn a little bloodshot and swollen. Both eyes are itchy too.

Tomorrow is Monday. Both girls definitely won't be going to school. We would need to bring them to the PD again...and I would need to go the GP again to get eye drops for myself.....

Oh ya. The helper is also having a runny nose and headache and is self-medicating.

Sigh. Quite teruk this time round.

I told K that we needed to all bathe in flower water already......banish all the bad stuff....

It's 1030pm now on Sunday night. Nadya just woke crying and coughing and retching. She said she felt like vomitting but didn't do so in the end.

I think I'm in for a long night again....

Jiayou
Jiayou
Jiayou

P/s: Alyssa vomitted on me a total of 3 times and pooped on me once....

Ohm...

Afterall these years, I've not mastered the skill of not letting others affect me too much.

The Coll is still grating on my nerves whenever she nitpicks on certain areas involving me and my work.

My BP rises rather quickly when she gets into that mode. I tell myself to calm down and not get too agitated over her. Yes, it works to a certain extent. And then thereafter I find myself holding it in.....

可是。。。憋气不是件好事。。。

Crushes

Nadya seems to have a crush on 2 boys. We were lounging around on the mattress in her room a few nights ago and she started telling me about "Timothy" and "Sean".

She got so shy and started smiling so shyly. Never happened before but I recognise that smile...I had it when I talked about boys when I was 13?

I've never heard of Timothy and Sean before as well. Apparently they are older boys in the K2 class.

And in her words..."They are taller than me". LOL...so cute.

And in her words again. "I like Timothy."...and almost like an afterthought...she added "And Sean
also."

I can sense K's hackles rising already!.....

Can a girl have crushes at age 3? Lol...

C.S.I - level 1

I've developed a bad habit of late.

I CSI some of the acquaintances around me.


If I'm in the midst of engaging a vendor, sometimes I check up on their publicly available information online.  I've done it on some others...including a parent or two of Nadya's classmates.

It's more of curiosity and 38-ness, rather than fulfilling any real need to gather intelligence on them.

It's not a nice thing to do I'll admit that. I should put a stop to it....

The Small One

Helper had to peel Peanut away from me this morning...
Her fever is no more but she is still having a stuffed nose and a bad cough so we thought of keeping her at home today.

She had wanted me to carry her...She'd crawled over to me and raised her arms to be carried...I obliged and then stuffed my face in her fluffy hair. She patted my face. A first!
(Wait, or was she trying to swat my face away? hmm....)

But alas, I had to leave home and send Nadya to school and then go to work myself....

When the helper tried to carry her, she turned away and shook her head...She then grabbed me tightly by my neck and buried her head in the book of my shoulder....

Helper had to then peel her away....

She protested and bawled...

She watched me while the helper walked away and brought her to the balcony to distract her...

Those big watery imploring eyes...That red face when you cried...

Mama is sorry sayang...Mama needs to go to work and can't be at home with you today...:(
Stay strong and fight the germs okie...
Mama will see you this evening and Mama will make sure to give you lots of hugs and kisses..
Mama misses you alot...:(

Conversations with a 3year-1month old

Last night while playing in her room.

Me: Can I have a hug?
N: No. I hugged you just now already.
Me: ? .......Can I have another hug?
N: No. Later.
Me: Orh ok...:(

Three-nager indeed.

===============
On the Sunday just past.

Me: Nadya!! Time to shower! You need to bathe already! Don't dilly-dally....*nag nag nag*
N: Wait Mama.....be PATIENT! *gives me the hand signal for waiting*

zzzzz....I'd used the phrase "You need to be more patient" on her that very same morning....

Low Night

Felt like the crappiest, shittiest and most incompetent mother in the whole world last night.

We missed attending Nadya's ballet mini showcase and parent-teacher conference with her ballet teacher in school.

Simply because I'd missed seeing the email notification.

And we only found out about it last night when her friend's parents noticed we were not there and kindly sent us numerous videos of the event.

Guilty like fuck.
And felt absolutely absolutely bad.

I was beating myself up over it and I couldn't sleep till 1am.

Sigh.

Anyway, told myself to move on and strive to be a better mum.

===============

dates....

days....

lists...

to do...



to plan....

to buy.... ..... ....

to think through .....

to remember....

daughter/ wife/ mother/ sister/ daughter-in-law/ colleague/ friend/ team leader/ personal assistant/ menu planner/ events planner/ administrator/ toilet attendant/ sleeping assistant/ hug dispenser/ jukebox/ employer/ baby carrier/ ...... ...... ...... ......

Housekeeping

Along the way, I've come to realise that some folks have dropped me off their FB friends list.

I think I need to do some housekeeping one of these days as well.

WHY WHY and....WHY?

All because one Christian name was left out during an airplane ticket booking. I've had to spend a good 1.5 to 2 hours this afternoon trying to solve the issue. 觉得挺无奈....

I had to speak to call centre staff based in India and Hong Kong. Send emails to people based in SG and in HK. And incur a charge of USD$50 just to get the name amended.

Like pssshhawww.
What a waste of time and money (stupid admin fee and stupid IDD charges).

Sigh...but it's for my parents...so I shall not complain anymore.....

The issue is still not a 100% resolved. I still need to wait for SQ to get back to me with a confirmation.

Hair Velcro Patch/Strip

I thought it was a commonly known cosmetic item. But erm....apparently not.

When I first used it at home 2 days ago, K looked at me incredulously and asked me what the hell it was LOL. He also said it looked rather "auntie".

Nadya was fascinated with it and instantly said "I want that!".

When I used it in office yesterday, both male and female colleagues in my team were intrigued. They asked questions like "What is it??", "How does it stay on the head and hair?", "How to use it?" and the most common comment was "I've never seen it before!"....

Hahaha.....

Motherhood is when you.....

• get so tired from the lack of sleep and from the interrupted sleep that you end up using your body wash as a shampoo...
• start humming children's songs and ditties when walking by yourself...
• start putting your children's needs above everything else...
• realise even more how important family is...
• forget to shave ever so often and rely on your cardigan as protection in case your colleagues get scared shitless by your stubby pits...
• plan your meals and outings around kids' schedules and preferences...
• start getting referred to as someone's mummy instead of your own name...
• see another mother struggling with her kid and you give her a knowing encouraging smile...
• really hone your multi-tasking skills...
• get so frustrated you shout at your child...only to feel god-damn guilty about it 2 minutes later...
• .............
• ..........
• .......
• ....

Matchy Matchy!

My parents bought them matching tshirts last weekend. Cute as can be! The princess figure on the tshirt actually has a sensor and lights up when there's movement or when you tap it in the centre.