Golden Pillow: Curry Chicken

Our dinner last weekend. Yummy!

Very Drained

Yes, I'm very drained.

ALMOST Admitted

ER was sleepless last night and kept crying. He started panting very badly, couldn't catch his breath properly, and threw up many times.

By morning, he looked horrible with puffy eyes and dark eye rings.

I was so thankful he had some pasta stars in lean meat soup base for breakfast. I didn't dare to give him milk because I was worried that would clog his airway up with thicker mucus.

Mr Liow wanted to be around to bring us to the doctor, so we waited for him to come home after a meeting.

And we saw Dr Lee.

She gently rebuked me for not returning with ER for the review 2 weeks back. I regretted too :( we were busy packing for Desaru and I thought since ER had recovered, I'd pass the review for another day, and then I forgot.

Apparently, the inflammation will return if not terminated. Dr Lee said she had to ER to decide what next to do.

This time, the inflammation came back and hit ER bad :(. Dr Lee said it was acute and that ER had to be nebulized at the clinic twice, half hour apart. And he had to take Prednisolone.

It appears that she seems to be treating Asthma in him as I read up a little on her prescriptions.

She wants to try terminating the inflammation.

ER did not usually bother about the nebulizer but at the clinic, he struggled. The whole night, he wanted to suckle to sleep but couldn't because of his blocked airway. At the clinic, he was so tired he latched, but couldn't suckle like last night.

Since he dozed off while he latched, it was easier to use the nebulizer. After a while, his airway cleared up a little and I could feel sucking and drinking as he latched, asleep.

Dr Lee checked him again after the first session and was pleased to hear his airway was less congested that 15mins before.

If it didn't sound clearer, she would arrange for him to stay for a night. She said in some cases, the congestion can get so bad the patient has to be nebulized half hourly.

Thank God ER wasnt one of such that she mentioned. She said to puff him again before we leave.

After the second session, ER woke. He appeared much better. Still panting, but less upset! He smiled and chatted with the usually hostile pharmacists at Kinderclinic as Mr Liow paid, and even got a sticker from one of them.

As instructed, we are to nebulise him every 4 hours, alternating between ventolin-saline and ventolin-pulmicort. Dr Lee said we can stretch the interval to 6 hours if he is not panting too badly.

And we are to feed him Prednisolone. That is the challenging one, because it's bitter :(

We're to bring him back for review this Saturday. She's going to teach me to use the exhaler before his condition worsens the next time I notice symptoms. That is provided ER is good enough to be taken off the nebuliser by then.

What a day! He's been sleeping relatively well since his eyes shut 3 hours ago, after throwing up. I pray he gets the rest he didn't get last night.

Rest well, baby.

Panting

He's panting again. And threw up 3 times. He sounded terribly choked, and even when he threw up, it wasn't much mucus.

We're going back to Dr Lee again. I need to know how to use the chamber and the exhalers. Need to know how much and often, and when to administer.

The teething pain only made his discomfort worse.

I'm tired too. Been collectively getting little rest over the past 2 days and none last night. He's not moving now, but still panting. That means he's still alive. And his finger is in my belly button now. Suckling doesn't comfort him. Digging my belly button does.

My chance to get some shuteye.

Swollen Gums

This is just one. There are 7 other sites of swell, 4 of which are molars and worse than this.

Poor baby. It'll be over soon, before the second molars come in.

My break

Mr Liow had been wanting to learn to play Super Mario on the electone for a while. So I went online to search for scores.

Here's an easy one:



I haven't much time to practise with the little tiger insisting he sits with me each time I do and it's challenging to hear myself play when he's hitting the notes at the same time.

It was nice. :) My first piece practising from scratch after.....16 years.

It's been a week and finally it sounds neater. Once I'm familiar, I'll start practising with daddy.

New Teeth

ER is growing out 8 teeth now.

He's in obvious agony, especially now. He whines when he feels the pain, digs into his mouth and complains :"pain pain!"

He drools and bites the spoon I feed him with. And he puts random toys to the erupting gums to grind on. He speaks like he has numb jaws occasionally too.

At 11.35pm now, his eyes are puffy from being sleepy and he almost drifted off to sleep, lying on the abandoned toddler bed without suckling.

He asks for the teething gel periodically by rubbing his gums and pleading: "gel gel!"

Dun recall AN having such hard time when she was teething. Or was it only because ER displays his needs better than she used to?

His runny nose scares me...I wonder if it's because his bronchitis is back again, after just slightly more than 2 weeks of being well, or if it is because he is teething.

I hope it's the latter.

He's finally fallen asleep as I'm writing this post. The next few days are not going to be easy.

Fasting

Now he's totally NOT eating. Not even his favourite mee sua. And he's dripping mucus again...

Great.

What next? What new?

Moody

Been rather moody and touchy since 2 days ago and it seems AN is at the receiving end more than anyone else.

Since 2 days ago, of all times, she started to have night toileting glitches. I can wake her up to pee and she'd still have her training pants wet the next morning. It's been months since she stayed dry at night and would wake me up to bring her to the restroom if she needed to relieve herself.

I was disappointed, no doubt. And she was frightened when she knew she wet herself. I was so so tempted to scold her and it took me tonnes of energy to keep myself from saying anything.

Very very moody.

And ER is teething. Finally, those missing teeth are sprouting! 8 of them are appearing at the same time. Must be painful because he's not chewing his food and his appetite got worse than ever.

To ensure he continues to receive nutrients, I gave him milk more often (since he's not eating) and I guess he's growth rather sick of it. He threw up as much as I gave him on several occasions...

My only consolation is, this happy boy keeps my moodiness under control with his cheerfulness.

I feel bad towards AN because my tolerance level is lower than usual as it is and it's almost like nothing she did was right...

There was finally some improvements tonight. She didn't get into trouble for anything.

But she was wet again when I woke her up for toilet duties at 1am. :( Could feel my anger gushing up to my head and THANK GOD I fought back the urge to react! She gave me a sleepy smile, blissfully unaware that mummy was fighting herself inside.

I love her. I need to show it more :( I need to keep my emotions in check :(

So Cute

ER wearing Darius' "doctor" specs. Soooooo cute!

Colourful bugs

Love this random doodling by AN. It's so colourful! For Auntie Shirley who likes colourful pictures.

Multiples of 2

I was counting some stuff in twos and AN started helping: "2,4,6,8,10".

I was shocked and asked if she had lessons on multiples of two already. She said no but her teachers count the students like that (in pairs, I guess)

Kids sure learn fast.

Synchronised Sleeping

They always end up sleeping the same way at night.

My very very precious ones....

Toddler AN

Good Music Teaching Method

Mr Liow's Birthday update

A quick one. Had to use the computer to do this and ER is struggling to mess up my post. -____-"

http://littleflowertwointow.blogspot.sg/2012/06/happy-birthday-dear.html

Always By Your Side

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet.  ~Vietnamese Proverb

The 2 of them may not be doing the same thing, but they never fail to be near each other, just in case one needs the other.

AN was made to face the wall and he went to hug her. Realising that jie jie is not allowed to leave, he decided to stay with her, and pass his time ransacking my cabinets.

To laugh or cry?

I laughed. Hehe.

Funny AN

We were lazing in the kids' room a while ago and AN accidentally hit her toy organiser. It sounded like a fart, somehow, to Mr Liow.

He joked that I farted in his face and I retaliated by stepping on him.

AN jumped to her daddy's defence and asked me not to do that, explaining endlessly like an old woman, why I should not do that.

After a while, we all went out to the living room.

Mr Liow launched a loud gas attack as I was making milk in the kitchen.

I heard AN exclaim: "Hey Daddy! You farted in my face!"

I was waiting for her to come running to me to complain but she didn't. She continued, saying: "But dont worry daddy. I won't step on you."

Lol! Funny people stay with me.

Blow Wind Blow

Went out, came back, and saw this:


Now, where should mummy sleep?

Sister's Boy

Whenever ER gets disciplined for something, he goes crying to AN for comfort.

AN jumps to his defence instantly whenever she senses that he is about to do, or already doing something that is not acceptable. She pleads on his behalf, for leniency ("he's just a baby..he doesn't know it's wrong", "Mummy, don't be angry with him.").

Or she will simply behave the way she wants him to, to get him to copy her doing the right thing (e.g. Sit during his meal, even when she's done with her own food and really wants to dance to the music of a cartoon). Sometimes, she firmly repeats our instructions to ER and leads him to obeying.

Or she will just hug him when he cries.

What I see from this picture, I think he was crawling towards her, half asleep.

Yes, he cries and jie jie responds. Except that at this hour of the day, she's too far away in dreamland.

Simply enjoy watching how AN is so protective of him (other than times when he gets on her nerves) and how he loves to follow his sister so much.

Reminds me of BM...

The Same

4 years ago, AN wouldn't chew and swallow her food. She would drink milk and throw up afterwards. I finally reached the end of that dark tunnel slightly over a year ago. She's still not a keen eater but she eats and I'm rested.

4 years later, ER is forcing me to travel back in time, back to when nothing I cook, do or say will make AN take in any more than 300 calories each day.

For kids who eat and drink when they should, calories are just figures. For kids like mine, they mean proper nutrition and growth.

Today is one of those days when I am made to wonder how ER will ever grow with such little milk and milk intake.

200mls in the morning, 5 scoops of ramen for lunch before he threw up more than what went in. I am crossing my fingers and hoping the rest of the day will be better.

:(

Maybe, the problem lies with me...

AN Says

Part 1

Mum brought her out on Wednesday and they walked passed 2 elderly gentlemen who were conversing loudly with each other.

AN turned to mum and commented: "是这样的。老人家讲话会比交大声. (It's common that old people speak louder)", and then she continued as if empathizing with mum: "象你. (like you do.)"

I have a very understanding girl.

Part 2

I was hugging her before she left for school a while ago and then she said: "I love you mummy. Come, let's go home."

Haha.

Nice try.

Incredible

Can't tell what it is yet but this is incredible, something totally beyond my expectation, in the most pleasant way!

:)

P.s: I'm not pregnant.

Fellow Patient

2 Fridays ago at Kinderclinic, while waiting for his turn to see Dr Lee, ER made a new friend. He kept wanting to go inside to look for her (he repeatedly pointed at yet and told me "go in") but he was having a fever and we had to wait outside. And both of them played together, separated by a glass. Lol!

Happy Birthday Dear!

Check in time was at 3pm and we reached Festive Hotel early, so we left our bags with concierge and went off to enjoy ourselves.

First stop was to Butterfly park where we (AN & I) got to feed the birds. The birds must have been well fed because they weren't hungry. Took them a while before they would come take the honey water (I assume it was) from my hands.

And then we went into the butterfly area. AN was terrified of the butterflies!! So much for "I want to see butterflies!" She was shunning the butterflies all the time we were inside. And this girly girl tried to to avoid touching the tiny branches that sticking out. She did get used to the place after a while and started to observe the butterflies. We got to discuss a little about the many beautiful on the different breeds.

After the 'live' butterfly area, we came to the enclosed area where we saw samples of the different types of butterflies, similar to what we saw in Desert Museum. They are really beautiful creature. Some are shimmery, some are matte. Regardless of what colours they are, all the colours look good with each other. It's like a MASSIVE SCALE COLOUR WHEEL all spread out for us to choose matching/complimentary/harmonious colours to go with each other.

And we saw more insects. Other than AN, we all got to touch and hold the stick insect and leaf insect. We have seen the stick insect many times at the insect enclosures in zoos but never got to hold them. And this is my first encounter with the leaf insect.

As usual, AN the girly girl was nowhere near us when the stick insect and leaf insect were out of their 'habitat'. ER on the other hand (being young and fearless), couldn't wait to hold them. He won't be holding them. He would be more likely squishing them to death. So, the up close and personal experience had to be limited to them hanging from his clothes.







The rest of the day was free and easy. ER fell asleep and I stayed with him in the hotel while Mr Liow and AN went for a swim.

We went to watch Song of the Sea (did I get it right?), the once-upon-a-time-FOC laser show that cost $10 per ticket now. It was worth the money spent. Good effects.

Sorry dear, I forgot the cake. I do hope you enjoyed your day though.

I love you!

Updated 14th June 10.45am