False Measles?

On early morning of Christmas (abt 3.30am), realised Shawn had fever when I woke up to his crying for milk. Scare me, quickly fed him paracetamol. Then brought him to our bed to sleep so that i can monitor his temp.

He seems ok in the day. Fever came again at nite.

I was on leave on Fri, 26 Dec. Had wanted to bring the kids out with my mum. Since Shawn was unwell, we stayed at home. In the evening, my FIL came to fetch us to YC's grandma's hse.

That nite, Shawn temp went up very high. His whole body was very hot (compared to earlier where only his neck/body is hot, hands and legs were not). I took his temp and the reading was 40.2 degree. I didn't sleep well the whole nite as i kept sponging Shawn. Poor boy, must had been very uncomfortable. What made things worse was that Cherylin suddenly cried in the middle of the nite when she couldn't find me in her room. Went into her room to console her, tell her mummy gotta go to attend to didi as he's sick. She refused to let me go initially. When i asked again that she sleeps on her own, she nodded her head. I asked again and she nodded again. Hence, i kissed her goodbye and went back to my room. A while later, i heard Cherylin crying. She's asking for mummy (though she earlier agreed to let me go but deep in her heart she wished mummy had stayed). This time round, i decided to sleep with her and brought Shawn back to his cot.

YC and I had thought that Shawn's fever was due to teething (he had loose stool too, which is also a symptom of teething). When we saw that his temp was so high, we decided to bring him to the PD in the morning (his temp in the morning was 38.4 degree).

After asking some questions and examining Shawn, Dr Heng said it could be false measles. He confirmed that it's not due to teething as usually temp will not exceed 38 degree. We felt more at ease after bringing Shawn to see his PD (though i understand fever usually last for 3 days and it's the 3rd day when we went to the PD), even though Shawn would have recovered even without seeing the PD (which is true cos i only fed him one dose of paracetamol after that and he was ok since then).

Shawn developed slight cough. Hope he'll recover fast. Hate it when he had cough.
Hmm...maybe it's not false measles afterall as I don't see rashes on Shawn's face and body. *touch wood* - hope the rashes don't come late (cos PD said will be very ugly :)

Some updates to Shawn and Cherylin's height and weight after visit to PD on 27 Dec:
Cherylin - 100cm, 15.8kg
Shawn - 75cm, 9.32kg

I need my sleep

Cherylin will be starting nursery 1 come Jan. Her class starts from 8am to 11am. Because it's so early, we decided to let Cherylin stay with my mum and bring Shawn home on weekdays.

Peng san, me going to be a super duper black eye panda if Shawn still can't sleep thru the nite. imagine 7 days a week without a good nite sleep for at least once, how to tahan? hope i don't sleep during work else jiat lat. Shawn, Shawn, pity mummy k? can try sleeping thru the nite from now on?

what's the reason for him not sleeping thru? i think it's because he didn't get the amount of milk he required for a day before he sleeps. now at close to 11 mths, his milk intake is only 150ml max. most of the time, he can't finish his milk. my mum said he always don't want to drink his milk. wonder if it's because he prefers latching on or wat.

Pray hard that his waking up at nite will stop soon. else i really don't know how i can survive at work.

Retail therapy

Went shopping at Vivocity last Sat (20 Dec). Bought some clothings for myself, YC and Cherylin last weekend (Sorry shawn, will get something for your next time). Five pieces for about $141. Haven't been buying clothes for myself. Kept wearing the same old clothes over and over again. So decided to pamper myself a bit. With the sale going on, the clothes are quite worth buying. bought a red top and a black knit skirt. YC said the top is just nice for CNY. Good, i'll have new clothes to wear on CNY. I usually don't bother getting new clothes on CNY. So for some years, i'll just wear my old clothings.

Bought two tops for Cherylin - 1 in turqoise and 1 in purple. We had a hard time trying the clothes on her. She kept fidgeting and can't stand still.

As for YC, it's a black stripe shirt. he wanted to get maroon colour but his size is not available.

Christmas' Eve

It's Christmas eve today and I only need to work half day. Earlier was thinking if i should ask my mum to bring the kids out in the afternoon. Decided not too since i have so much barang barang to carry (my milk bag, christmas gifts and laptop). Oh, i brought my laptop home as i'll be on leave from fri till next tue. super long weekend for me :)

Am surfing net at Gloria Jean's now. (keke...not a bad idea to bring back my laptop).

Been very busy at work lately. Hardly have time to idle at work nowadays. So taking the chance to catch up with fren's blog and update mine :)

Fever due to teething?

Shawn had fever on sat (13 Dec) nite. Discovered at 12am plus when he cried for milk. Fed him medicine (got it when he last went 4 jab), and took temperature. 38.1 degree. Think his fever was due to teething. Shawn slept w YC n I dat nite. Easier for me to monitor him.

His fever was gone on Tue morning. :)

The Coffee Nations

Haha...promoting for my brother in law. He opened a cafe called The Coffee Nations in Aug 08. Officially opening was in Sep 08. Though newly opened, his cafe was featured in the newspaper at least 2 to 3 times so far. Not bad huh for a new start up cos it's free publicity for him. Too bad it's location is not that centralised (it's at Bali Lane, diagonally opp Gateway/Raffles Hospital), else i would bring my friends there for coffee when we have our usual gatherings. There's a coffee that's quite unique, it's laced with peach liquer and honey. Too bad i can't drink too much now cos I'm still breastfeeding. :)

Toothless no more? Soon...

Shawn is already 10.5mths old, and is still a toothless baby (when majority of his peers already have at least 2 teeth). This weekend, YC discovered two white buds on Shawn's lower gum. Hmm.. both me and my mum didn't spot it at all (some more, YC is the one who spent the least time with Shawn and yet he can see :P). True enough, when i look closely, i can really see the buds. Yippee! Shawn will have his teeth soon. And that means he'll be able to eat more types of food. Shawn always make noise when he see us eating and he was not given any. Since he has go no teeth, we are more wary of letting him try our food. So, i always tell him "you can't eat cos you go no teeth. next time when you've teeth, mummy will let you eat, ok?"

What should I do?

I was reading the blog of my fren whereby she commented that she’ll allow her kid to enjoy herself/be herself (i.e. let the kid do whatever that she likes) as long as the kid doesn’t overly disturb others. She doesn’t want her kid to grow up being shy or timid. After reading this, something struck me. Whether I had been too restrictive on Cherylin’s behaviour when she’s outside.

Nowadays, YC works late every day till 11pm. Hence, I will bring Cherylin home on my own. We will take a direct bus from my mum’s place. Cherylin likes to sing loudly when she’s on the bus. Afraid that she’ll disturb others, I always ask her not to sing so loud. She doesn’t like it when I said so. She’ll be unhappy and ask me why she can’t sing loudly on the bus. This is one of the reasons she quoted for not wanting to follow me home lately. So, I tried to turn a deaf ear when she sings. Somehow, when she gets really loud, I can’t help but to stop her again. Do you think I should let her be and ignore others who may be annoyed by her? I thought I shouldn’t. Just want to know opinions of others…

Dental Visit

I went for my yearly dental visit on Mon, 24 Nov. Heehee...it's been more than a year since i last visited a dentist. Blame it on my laziness, excuses. High price to pay for skipping 1 visit last year. Do you know how much it cost me just to have my teeth cleaned, polished and two fillings done (and 1 of the fillings is really very minor). A whopping $300! My most expensive dental visit to date. Haha..i think the clinic assistant was also paiseh when she told me the charges. Want to know the details? Here you go:

1) Consultation $20 (this is the minimum amt that the clinic charge. think the other items are too ex hence they decided to charge bare minimum? why did i say that. it's because the whole process took me 1 hour, so logically consultation charges should be high for such long duration)
2) Cleaning $80
3) Polishing $40
4) Fillings (for 2 teeth) $160

YC said it's very ex cos the clinic is located at Orchard. Perhaps bah cos I've been visiting the clinic for the past few years when they were at Raffles Place (cleaning and polishing only cost me $40 back then). This is the first time i go to them after they've shifted to Orchard.

What can Shawn do now?

Shawn is 9.5mths now. Let me note down his developments:

1) Sit very steadily
2) Crawl very well and fast (he can crawl to me real fast when he spot me at a distance.)
4) Listen to instruction (a little - if he holds something on his hand and you ask him to pass it to you with hand stretched out, he'll do it. Tried and tested by my mum, me and a relative)
5) Stand with support
6) Cruise with support
7) Clap very well (he can understand too when i ask him to clap. hee.. very cute)
8) Still bo geh, but he likes to eat. Will make noise/cry loudly if we don't feed him what we are eating. (err...YC said my mum fed him fried rice when we went to food fair last weekend - will tell mum not to do so in future. other stuff that she fed, like rice, bread, fruits, i'm ok.)

I can't recall if i'd hug and cuddle Cherylin (when she's a baby) as much as i do now to Shawn. Somehow, can't resist hugging him. One thing for sure, i kiss both just as much :)

Sick

Cherylin had many episodes of fever since Apr this year. I can easily count the number of times she fell sick. Apr, Jun, Aug, Sep, Oct. OMG, five times to date. Not sure why her body is getting weaker now. She was stronger when she was a baby. Could it be due to her going to playgroup (started this year)? Could it be due to her not wanting to eat her meals (thus not getting enough nutrients to stay healthy)? Hope she doesn't fall sick so easily again.

Happy birthday!

Yeah! It's my birthday today. This year, no special delivery of flowers. Haha. Instead had breakfast with YC at Coffee Club in the morning. Arranged to meet my mum and kids for dinner this evening. Yesterday, told Cherylin that it's mummy's birthday on the next day. Hope she remembers to wish me Happy Birthday when I see her later in the evening :)

Playdate for Shawn (18 Oct 08)

We went for a playdate for babies last Sat. It was held at Jaslyn's place. All in all more than 10 babies turned up for the playdate. So happy cos i could just place Shawn on the bumper mat for him to entertain himself with the toys, while i munch away. hahaha.. It's Cherylin who kept me busy, kept waiting me to accompany her to the bumpermat to play/watch the babies play. Strangely, Shawn started to clap after that Sat afternoon. And he repeated it many times. Find it so cute. Wonder who he learnt the clapping from?

Tiger Food Jar

Bought the food jar months before i delivered. Finally got around to trying it out two weeks ago. 1st time i cooked rice with the jar. It really worked! 2 hours later, ta dah, the rice is cooked at 2pm. Can even keep warm till 12 midnite (YC worked till very late that day so he had his dinner only at 12 midnite).

The 2nd time, i tried cooking porridge. More of teo chew porridge then those nua nua kind for baby as i only cooked for 2 hours. Recommended time is 4 hours for porridge. Shall try again to see if i can get those really nua porridge.

Conclusion: good investment - save electricity, convenient to use especially when going out. :)

Shawn's developments

Standing with support
Abt 3 wks ago, Shawn could pull himself to stand when inside the cot. He was closed to 8mths then. Am quite worried abt him standing as the cot is not at the lowest level yet. Kept telling YC to lower the cot but still not done yet :p

Crawling
Yday mum was saying that Shawn can crawl very well when on bed. He had showed that he could crawl weeks ago. Just that i didn't let him to be on floor for fear of him knocking his head onto the hard floor. Decided to let Shawn try out today after wat mum has said. True enuf, he is able to crawl n didn't knock his head on the floor :)

Talking
I always wave bye bye to Shawn before going to work/going back home. Yday, heard Shawn saying Bye bye twice. It was loud n with gesture included.

Ritz Carlton Stay (20 Sep 08)

It's the 3rd time since Dec 08 that we went for a 1-day 'holiday' at a hotel. Been looking forward to staying at Ritz Carlton.

Cherylin was very excited when I told her about the stay. She's been talking about it, saying that she want to go for the stay. As usual, she ran around the room when we reached. The bed was a bit high (as in she had to climb up. Haha, so she told me she prefer the bed of Swissotel the Stamford which was much lower). Hence, she played mostly on the floor instead of on the bed.

YC and I were impressed with the service of Ritz Carlton. When checking in, the staff asked me to take a seat while she process my registration (I was carrying Shawn). There was a staff that served us cookies and drink when we wait for our turn. She even engaged Cherylin with a conversation. Lastly, she accompanied us to our room and did a brief introduction to us.

[NB: Coincidentally, the day of my stay (20 Sep) was the grand opening of YC's brother cafe. Hesitated whether I should postpone the stay. Decided to go ahead as I'm afraid YC may have work commitment if we were to postpone.]

Sad

I'm so sad that I have to blog this down.

I used to be quite close to a colleague of mine. Not sure why, she started to distant herself from me and another colleague (who has already resigned). It became so obvious that I'm so conscious when I approach her. Guess it must be due to something that I've done that annoyed her. Seriously, I'm not sure what I've done. I plucked up my courage and asked her directly one day. As expected, she said there's nothing wrong. Just that she's too busy to talk. I'm a rather sensitive person. Hence, I'm pretty sure that she's distancing herself from me. Why am i so sure. That's because she's still the same person in front of others.

Really really sad that things turned out this way. Worst part is I don't even know what had happened. :(

Shawn can sit up :)

Shawn has been trying to push himself up for a while. His legs are rather strong as he could lift up his bum quite effortlessly (thanks to the FP jumperoo – he must have trained his leg muscles while playing in the jumperoo). At times, he will end up in the push up position. Very cute to see. This morning, Shawn was on our bed when he managed to sit up on his own after trying a while. I’m soooo happy when I witness that. Quickly told YC. Only then he told me that he had earlier seen Shawn sitting up when he’s in his cot. Duh, never tell me earlier. :P


Pictures of Shawn trying to sit up. Was too engrossed watching him perform the 'act' on our bed that i didn't take any photo then. These were taken when Shawn tried to sit up again when in his cot.

Shawn with 公公 and 婆婆

Shawn rarely takes picture with his grandparents. The one with gong gong was taken during ryan's bday party while the one with po po was taken during keith's bday party.

FP Jumperoo (Part 2)

Earlier, I was saying that Shawn does not seem to enjoy the jumperoo (which i thought is a waste). About 2 weeks ago, i realised Shawn is enjoying jumping in the jumperoo, and he can jump real high. Cherylin told me she showed didi how to jump. Guessed Shawn learnt from jiejie the skill of jumping. We could leave him in the jumperoo for a good 45mins. Hee.. good cos it means i can have my dinner in peace. but my mum said can't let him jump t0o much at nite else he'll have nite mare.

Cherylin away from home

YC is on reservist these 2 weeks. Hence, we didn't bring Cherylin home since Mon (only bring Shawn and her back on Fri nite with the help of my mum). Am afraid that by the end of the 2 weeks, Cherylin will refuse to go home with us. Come to think of it, maybe not. Cos my mum will be away for holiday for 6 days straight after YC's reservist ends. So she will be staying with us for at least 6 days consecutively. Better tell myself to stop being so paranoid.

Fridge spoilt?

I got a fright 2 nites ago. On Mon nite, after expressing milk, i opened the fridge to place my pump into it. To my horror, the light was off when the door was opened. My 1st reaction was "what will happen to my ebm?". Luckily YC was allowed to come home while on reservist. So I quickly called out to him. I think I would have cried if there's no one at home. The thought of all my ebm going to waste freaked me out. Upon inspecting the fridge, we are not very sure if it's indeed spoilt (cos i can still feel the coldness when i open the freezer). Instead of taking chance, YC suggested bringing the ebm to his aunt's hse (she has a big deep freezer). At least i can set my mind in peace. I left a bottle of unfrozen ebm in the freezer that nite, to test out if the fridge is still working. Ended up it's xu jing yi chang, it's only the light bulb that's spoilt. Hopefully nothing will happen to my fridge hence forth, at least during the time when I'm still bfdg.

Birthday Celebrations - One after another

We've been attending birthday parties for consecutive weeks since late July.:

27 Jul - Ryan's birthday
3 Aug - KX's birhtday
9 Aug - Da Jiu's birthday
10 Aug - Shannon's birthday
17 Aug - Keith's birthday

So Cherylin got to sing birthday songs, help serve birthday cakes for the past 4 weekends! She used to be reluctant when we asked her to help distribute cakes. Nowadays, she'll go up to the table where the birthday cake is placed, get ready the serviettes for the cake cutting/serving. She also enjoyed handling over the present to the birthday boy/girl's mummy. I think she takes it as an SOP (cos when Keith's mummy asked Cherylin to pass the gift to Keith. Cherylin replied "no, must give to mummy").

Updates on Vaccinations

Shawn has completed all the required vaccinations till 6 mths old. Wanted to update long ago but kept forgetting:

5-in-1 - 2nd Dose (15 Jun)
Brought Shawn for his jab on 15 Jun, Sun. Went to the clinic early at about 8.10am to beat the crowd. Shawn was still in dreamland when we carried him. Doctor took his weight and height. Weight was 7.6kg (but must discount a bit cos of his wet diaper). Height wise I can’t see clearly when it was being measured. Shawn cried a little when the vaccine was being injected. Cherylin looked on by the side. Didn’t take any pictures as YC was not with us.

Rotavirus - 2nd Dose (25 Jun)
Wt: 7.5kg Ht: 67cm

Thought it'll be a breeze to administer the 2nd dose since Shawn took the vaccine happily the last time we brought him to Dr Heng for the 1st dose. Dunno why Shawn kept crying when the vaccine was given to him. Maybe he's sleepy? The entire process took a few minutes (cos i videocam-ed and saw the time lapsed).

6-in-1 - 3rd Dose (13 Jul)
Wt: 7.65kg Ht: Oops, can't remember :P

Shawn is a brave little boy. He didn't make any noise when he was poked with the needle and injected with the vaccine. Dr Lawrence was as surprised as I did. He didn't gain much weight since 4 weeks ago though. Height wise i think it's abt the same too. Okie, the next 'compulsory' vaccination for him will be the one for chicken pox (to be taken at 12 mths).

Sleeping thru the night

My mum told me earlier this week that my little nephew, Bryan is already sleeping thru the nite (and he's more than 3.5mths younger than Shawn). My brother told me Bryan will sleep from 12mn to 7am. Me so envious leh. Why am I so 'pai mia'? Cherylin only started to sleep thru the night when she was 10+ mths. Hence, I'm sort of prepared that Shawn will not start early either. Nevetheless, whenever I hear from mummies/daddies that their bbs has already sleep thru the nite, so how i can help but feel envious. My panda eyes are getting worse, and so are my mum's :P

Funny Sleeping Pose

Shawn slept on my arms and I wanted to change his clothe diapers. So I put him on the changing mat. Was so amused when I saw him grabbing him toes while he's sleeping. I quickly dashed out of the room to get my camera. Luckily managed to catch this shot. Hee :)

Swissotel The Stamford (21 Jun)

We went for hotel stay at Swissotel again. Hee. This year we are grounded in Singapore as Shawn is too young to travel. Hence, going for hotel stay is like a 'compensation'. We planned the stay to be around YC's birthday. So, it's killing 2 birds with 1 stone. We had a birthday cake and Cherylin happily sang the birthday song for daddy (nowadays when she sees a cake, she'll go "happy birthday to you...happy birthday to you...etc")

FP Jumperoo

YC's cousin lend us the FP jumperoo. Have been hearing from friends that their baby like it alot. Hence, was looking forward to seeing Shawn enjoying himself in it. However, it turned out that he's not quite interested. Mum said he started to 'ngek ngek ngek' after staying in it for a short while. I think it's because he doesn't know how to jump yet. What a waste. Got to use this toy foc but Shawn doesn't know how to 'appreciate' it.

Shawn in sunglass

Bought Shawn a sunglass for fun. The tiny weeny sunglass is so cute. Heehee..

Tofu milk milk?

Cherylin calls this 'tofu milk milk'. It does looks like one, isn't it? :P

My nephew's 1st month celebration

Went for Bryan's 1st month celebration on 15 Jun. We all had a good time during the celebration, enjoying the food and the company. Cherylin played with Adriel, Adric and many other children/adults who were present that day. Caught Shawn laughing happily when he saw jie jie playing with a football. Dunno why he kept laughing non-stop. Probably he'll become a soccer fan in future :P

Bring Kids to Work Day!

Yesterday was “Bring Kids to Work Day”. Coincidentally, heard of two other coys that had the same event yesterday. Started to prep Cherylin since the day I heard that my office’s welfare team will be organizing the event. Initially Cherylin said she didn’t want to go. However, nearer the date, she changed her mind and began to look forward to the day, 20 Jun. Couple of days before fri, Cherylin kept saying that she wants to follow mummy to office. Told her it’s not time yet, gotta wait for Fri.

As usual, I tried to carry Cherylin off the bed (she’s usually still sleeping and will want us to carry her to the car when we leave the house). She didn’t want to be carried, said she wanted to continue sleeping. Told her mummy bringing her to office. Immediately, she opened her eyes and said she wanna change her clothes (much to our surprise as we had prepared to change her in the car). So Cherylin had her teeth brushed and clothes changed before we departed.

While at my workstation, my colleagues tried to engage Cherylin but she didn’t greet nor answer them. So proud rite? Haha..it’s her character, what to do? She’s just like mummy. So shy when meeting people for the first time. Auntie Doris came over with a tray filled with sweets and chocolate. Cherylin happily took the sweets and thanked Auntie Doris (at least she’s familiar with Doris). She stuck to me like glue and followed me wherever I went.

The programme started with distribution of goodie bags. A mini office tour followed. Next on line were balloon sculpting (hee…managed to learn a trick or two. Not that difficult to make a balloon hat) and colouring. The last programme before lunch was magic show. Cherylin suddenly burst into tears as the magician was performing. She was scared off by the wig he put on half way thru the performance. Cherylin then pulled me away saying that she’s scared. So we left the venue and went back to my workstation. Lunch was Happy Meal from McDonald’s. Cherylin had her nuggets while I expressed my milk in the nursing room. She must be real hungry as she gobbled up all the nuggets (1st time ever).

Brought Cherylin to Suntec and we had free ice cream, complimentary from a telco whose was having roadshow then. Bought her the Gingerbread Man cookie from a café (she had been asking for it). Then, we had coffee and shopped for a while before Cherylin got tired at around 4.30pm. Could tell that she wanna sleep when she asked me to bao bao her for a while (she don’t usually ask me to carry her unless necessary – cos she knows mummy has got no strength to carry her for too long :P). My arms almost broke when I reached the bus stop at St Andrew Cathedral. Me too was rather tired and took a short nap while on the bus, with Cherylin sleeping on my laps. Felt so relieved when I reached my mum’s place and put Cherylin onto the bed. This little darling of mine has really grown up, she’s now too heavy for me to bao bao for a long time liao.

Hong Kong (May 2006)

Was tidying up pictures and saw these photos taken while holidaying in Hong Kong 2 years back. Cherylin was only 14.5mths then. :)


Making cheeky face
Milk time


Playground at the Peak
Washing bum in hotel sink


Jumping on bed
Soundly asleep in baby cot

Kungfu Panda

Brought Cherylin to watch Kungfu Panda together with YC's SIL and his niece. It's Cherylin's first visit to the cinema. I've never considered bringing her to the cinema becos she's those who cannot sit still in front of TV (ok, the only exception is when there's Tom & Jerry. She can guai guai lie on the bed to watch for 30 mins). Since I have complimentary tickets (courtesy of cordlife) for yday's show, might as well try bringing her to the movie. For the 1.5 hours, she sat beside me for 45mins (and talk to me/ask questions/say 怕怕 non stop). For the next 45 mins, she got down the chair and started to entertain herself with the steps. She went up and down the steps repeatedly. Luckily there were lots of children during the screening, so she's not the odd one out.

Am I too strict?

YC said I’m too strict with Cherylin. Afterall she’s just 3 years old. Every little thing that she doesn’t do right gets on my nerve and I’ll raise my voice on my little darling (like when she don’t want to eat meals, don’t want to bathe, don’t want to go toilet, don’t want to change into her uniform, don’t want to go to bed early, etc…) Now that I think back, feel very sorry for being so harsh to her especially when I should be showering her with more love (in case she feels that Shawn has taken over her position to be mummy’s darling). Every morning when I send her to my mum’s place before going to work, she would want me to brush her teeth, help her change into her uniform, give me a hug, say “bye bye mummy” and ask me to come home early before I go off. Isn’t that sweet of her? Sigh…time for me to fan xing else my Cherylin would 1 day say she don’t want mummy :(

Cherylin had a fall

Cherylin fell and cut her lips yesterday. Poor darling. She was sobbing when I reached my mum's place yday. It must be very painful for her. So heartpain when i saw the plaster on her lips. Immediately carried her in my arms and hugged her to sleep. My mum said she was running towards her (my mum was changing diaper for Shawn in my brother's room) and must have tripped on the high chair leading her to fall and hit against the metal bed frame.

Carry 弟弟

Cherylin simply loves to carry her little brother. Look how happy she is whenever she's 'allowed' to do so (with our supervision of cos) :P