Happy Children's Day 2013

Yesterday was Baby Rae's first Children's Day party in school.

All schools (primary and under) were closed on 4 October 2013 Friday so there was no school for her but her school had organized a party with fun filled activity like balloon sculpture, face painting, manicure! kids gym demonstration, positive focus talk for parents and kids, bouncing castle, ball pits etc.

I brought her to the party yesterday.

To let baby experienced the joy of giving, I packed small gift packs for the whole school to let her distribute to every kids in school on Thursday 3 October on pre Children's Day as not all will attend the party next day.

I sent her to school and informed the teacher to bring her around to do the distribution.

She came home after school a very happy baby!

The gift pack consists of healthy organic treats which has no artificial addictives, which I hope all the kids can consume and a parents would also feel safe to let their bb eat in peace.

See my happy baby at the school Children's Day party.

It never appeared to me that she'd be so ill 2 hours later .......

Misadventure

A mother gotta do what a mother has to do!

If u were in Takashimaya shopping mall yesterday afternoon, you'd ve seen a crazy women shouting for help and asking for trained medical profession to come forward to help her bb who was in fits and unconscious.
Her call was answered and her bb was attended by a trained nurse who happened to be shopping and the Taka staff rendered kind assistance.
They were sent to hospital via ambulance for treatment and her bb is well n playing now!

I wanna thank all who has assisted in anyway, help or just standing by watching the free live drama.

No, I'm not ashamed of what I've done!

The ambulance medics said baby was in fits and the KKH doc diagnosed that the fits was caused by fever, till now I am still wondering what have I missed or done wrong.

Baby attended her school Children's Day party yesterday morning, she was playing happily and eating fine, she fell asleep on our way to Taka and awoke when I was choosing shoes, she helped me picked the colour, then I made payment and asked her if she wants some milk, she said no and she said she wanted cake, so I proceeded to B2 to q up for the cake.

While in Q, I maintained conversation with her, then suddenly I saw her not responding and her eyes rolled backward as her whole body became stiff. 

I quickly jumped out from the q, carried her, held the stroller and went up to B1 while my mind ran thru all the possible solutions and at the same time kept calling her name.

I realised I am not moving fast enough with bb, stroller, diaper bag in the crowd and definitely can't make it to taxi stand fast to rush her to hospital, I was thinking of calling her dad to come but it'd take him sometime to arrive from work, I also think she needed medical help immediately, so I made the instant decision to seek immediate attention to get help, which started the big calling for "help" scene.

No word can described my fear, my fear of losing my precious baby..........

I'm glad I did the right thing as I know I can't handle the situation alone with a sick baby, stroller, diaper bag and a very worried mum who may not be in her right mind in a crowded shopping mall.

She still has fever and is sleeping now.

I hope she can recover ASAP!

Note to self, must attend First Aid course to learn some life saving skills.

Midnight demand

Baby is recovering from the common cold and she has lots of phlegm in her throat, so she feels the discomfort and would drink more water.

Usually baby Rae would cry and whine in the middle of the night and I'd need to guess what she wants as I've no clue. I'd either pat her to sleep or make her milk. 

Each time I'd tell her she needs to tell mummy what she wants so that I can attend to her needs swiftly.

Early this morning, she woke up in the middle of her sleep and said "I want water"!

I gave her some water and she went back to sleep.

I was very happy as she is able to communicate her needs to me in the middle of the night which makes it easier for everybody.

I hope she'll continue to do so.

Actually, at 19 months old, baby Rae had begun to talk in sentences, like "I like", "Give me phone", "Bye see you" "where is it" etc.

Everyday is a "Discovery Day" for me as I get amazed and impressed by my baby's development!

This is the good part of being a SAHM!

I'm around to witness her little achievements as she grows ...........

The best suction tool!

After buying various kind of sucking tool for removing the mucus from bb's nose, I realized that the best tool is none other then ME!

Yah, it's gross but I think the best way to clear bb's congested nasal is by the use of my own mouth to suck out the mucus!

Only a Mother would dare to do this out of LOVE!

I've asked RY to do it but he shake his head vigorously and refused to do it for his bb!

Yes, my darling girl is down with common cold and is now having bad congested nasal.

She is still active and playful despite being ill.

She started sneezing 3 days ago and yesterday she had mild fever, but this morning, her fever went up to above 38.6'c.

So we went to TMC PD clinic and the doctor prescribed some cough and cold medication as well as Ibrufen which is to be used when she has high temperature above 38.5'c to bring the high temp down.

She "merlioned" her dinner due to the congested nose as she can't swallow her food.

So I gotta use my mouth to suck out the mucus to relive her uncomfortableness.

After resting for an hour, I fed her some milk and checked her temp which was 39'c and quickly did a wipe down then gave her the Ibrufen.

Before she slept, I checked that her temp had gone down slightly to 38.6'c and hopefully she will feel better after a good night of sleep.

A Mother's simple wish is to wish that her bb get well soon!

HFMD in Rae's School

Last Tuesday afternoon, Bb Rae's teacher called that there is a confirmed HFMD case in her school.

A boy was rejected entry on Monday due to fever and the following day a visit to the doc confirmed that he has HFMD.

The teacher informed that upon knowing about the HFMD case, they have disinfected the school facility and all toys, but advised parents to decide if they would like to keep their child away from school for sometime as the incubation period of the virus could be up to 10 days.

After discussion with RY, we've decided to abstain bb from school this week as not sure if there maybe new case.

Lucky I am a SAHM, so I'm able to make swift decision to stop bb from school as I can look after her myself.

So in time of such emergency, being a SAHM is good!

Happy Wedding Anniversary 2013

RY came home with a bunch of flowers last Monday!

I am happy that my hub remembers and still gives me flower ..........

Happy Teachers Day 2013

Last Thursday was Teachers Day celebration day in BB Rae's school and the following day was a day off for all the teachers in SG, so no school for bb (not sure if it applies to just preschool and primary schools).

I only realized on Wednesday about the celebration and was wondering if I had sufficient time to prepare the gifts for the teachers.

On Thursday morning, I quickly sent bb to school then came home to do house cleaning and left home at 10.30am to the shopping mall nearby to shop for gifts.

After walking around, I decided to get the teachers a gift pack consists of a Hand cream and a Face mask.

I bought the items from SASA and the sales assistants were very kind to help me removed the price tags and helped me packed them into individual packs.

Next, I went to a kiddy shop to get a Hello Kitty (HK) post it note to write the message.

Then I found a quiet corner to repack and sealed the gifts and attached a HK note each.

I checked the time, it was about noon and I had not finished packing.

Lucky RY called me and informed that he was nearby and offered to fetched bb home.

I got him to fetch me from the mall to go to the school together.

We reached baby's school at about 12.30pm and I told bb to distribute the gift to the individual teacher personally, there were 13 of them.

The teachers were very happy and my bb enjoyed giving too!

I am glad that I managed to get the teachers' gifts in time (in a mad rush of course).

Hopefully next year I can be more prepared!

Baby in School

Yesterday was bb 1st day in school!

I woke her up at 7.50am to fed her milk and shower her.

We reached school at 8.20am to q up to let the teacher check her temperature and examine her hand, foot and mouth before letting her inside the school.

It was breakfast time and bb Rae sat down at the dining area to eat with her new friends.

Breakfast was cornflakes with milk but bb preferred hers without milk.

After breakfast, it was story time before the children went into their individual class.

There were 2 other new kids in her playgroup and the teacher let them play at the big play area.

I left the school at about 9.30am as I felt that I should let bb get used to not having me around when she is in school.

The teacher informed that should bb cry uncontrollably or any emergency, she will call me.

I went back with a heavy heart.

I came home to do house cleaning and prepare the ingredients for dinner.

I also checked on my phone continuously for fear that I might missed the school's call.

RY fetched me for lunch at 12 noon and then fetched bb home.

The teacher informed that Bb behaved very well and was able to sit through the class.

She was also able to follow instructions and didn't look for me.

She managed to eat half a bowl of porridge with teacher's assistance.

But bb had a bruise on her left upper eyelid on the first day of school.

Before I left in the morning, she was ok.

The teacher was very apologetic and explained that she didn't cry and nobody knew what happened.

RY and myself were "heart pain" but nothing can be done except to apply some ointment on her when we got home.

On the way home, bb told me that she is very happy and likes school very much.

I gave her some apple and milk.

She napped for 2.5 hours.

Today is her 2nd day in school.

I woke her up at 8am to prepare her and reached school at 8.40am for breakfast, she ate cheese sandwich.

I left at 9.30am and fetched her home at about 12.15pm.

The teacher feedback that she was good except that she doesn't like to share toys with friends.

She also finished a bowl of rice with tou foo, fishball and veg soup.

My precious bb had a fragrant pear and milk.

she just slept at 2pm and I shall wake her up at 4pm.

I hope my bb can adapt well in school fast and pick up good habits like toy sharing, self feeding and good social skill.

Mummy was sick

Last Friday, I woke up with a heavy head and aching body.

I thought I'll be ok to perform the daily task, so I cooked for bb, did some house cleaning, woke bb up and fed her milk then bathed her.

But towards lunch time, I was feeling really tired and lousy and quickly text RY to come home for lunch to feed bb as I was really sick to do anything.

I was lying on the sofa while bb played in the living room and she would come to me and asked me to play with her.  Being really weak and sick, I just stared at her and didnt do anything.

My bb was frustrated as she couldn't get mummy to play with her, so she walked up n down and threw her toys all over to seek my attention.

My good husband came home at 12.30pm to feed bb Rae and also bought me mee hoon soup for lunch.

After feeding bb, he rushed back to work.

I was so sick that I slept in the afternoon together with bb and I woke up in time to cook bb's porridge for dinner.

RY came back early to cook dinner for us.

He took care of bb while I turned in early for the night.

The next morning, I woke up with painful throat and then realized that I was having tonsillitis.

I drank plenty of water and recovered by Sunday.

The last time I was so sick was last year June when I was down with rota virus infection.

I always took great care of myself as I fear to fall sick since I am the sole care giver of bb Rae.

Fortunately RY was in town so he was able to help out.

I can't imagine what will happen if he is on biz trip ..........

Note to self, must really take good care of my own health for the sake of my bb and hub!

 

Ok, we'll go to School!

We've finally decided to send baby Rae to school and she'll start on 2 Sept for half day class.

The school allows a 2 weeks trial period and in the event that baby doesn't like it, we can withdraw her.

During the registration, I've raised few concerns to the Principal and she assure me that my worries are trivial and can be easily resolved.

These are my concerns:

1 Baby Rae is still unable to self feed

Principal : the teacher will feed her till she is able to self feed and usually with peer learning, she'll pick up the skill fast.

2 Baby Rae prefers soft diet and chew her food thoroughly so she eats really slow

Principal : she is an active toddler and requires lots if energy to be active, should encourage her to eat more solid diet and the teacher will be patient in her feeding.

3 Baby Rae is very active and can't sit still, so may not be able to blend well with the school system

Principal : it's normal for kid like her to run around and many kids started this way and gradually get used to the school routine

4 Baby Rae is very expressive so she may make loud noises if things r not to her liking.

Principal : it's normal for young toddler to make nose as they have not master the right communication skill. They'll learn through teaching and playing.

5 Baby Rae is tall and strong to her age and may exert too much force on other kids, like pushing or patting hard.

Principal : the teachers will observe and ensure the safety of the kids and do corrective action should they spotted any pushing or beating incidents.  Teacher will feedback the incident in class to parents but will not reveal the "culprit" identity so as not to victimized the child.

6 If due to emergency we're not able to pick baby up by 1pm, what should we do?

Principal : Arrangement can be made for the parents to fetch the child later if due to emergency, but not on frequent basis.

We're pretty satisfied with the Principal's replies and went ahead with the enrollment instantly.

A day out in RWS

I've won free tickets to SEA aquarium in RWS from CIMB bank and need to collect the tix by this Wednesday. The tickets are valid for 180 days.

So yesterday, I brought BB Rae to RWS by MRT and bus (I hardly take taxi as I think it's pretty costly to me, moreover we lives in town so public transport is pretty accessible).

I brought a stroller with me since I think it's useful to stroll her around the big RWS compound.

We took a MRT to Harbourfront station and changed to RWS bus transfer,

It was pretty tough to handle a baby, a pram, diaper bag and her lunch bag (brought porridge to feed as I'm limiting her in take of outside preservative, MSG and other additives laden food). 

Boarding the bus is always a real challenge as the entrance of SG buses are pretty narrow with a railing divider.

We collected the SEA Aquarium tickets and then went to lunch in McDonald.

We walk around the big compound before we head home.

We took the RWS bus transfer out of Sentosa then took a direct bus back home.

Baby was really tired from the running around and had a good nap when we reached home.

It isn't easy to bring a child out alone and I do hope people will be more compassionate to lend a helping hand if they ever see a struggling mum in need ......... A simple gesture of opening the door or pressing the lift "Open" button would definitely help!

School or No School

My baby is 19 months old and next week, she will be 20 months.

I am in a dilemma whether to send her to preschool.

In SG, 18 months old toddler can attend preschool or child care for either half a day or full day.

I've found an ideal school for BB Rae and is able to enroll her anytime but am still pondering which is best, should I send her to school now or defer her till she turns 30 months or older?

I feel that baby is not learning much when she stays at home and I certainly doesn't want to make her a TV addict.

I am always tired as I gotta wake up in the middle of the night to comfort her as she tends to wake up in her dream.  During daytime, I will do housework, cooking and laundry and can't do much teaching as I am burnt out.

I feel sorry for my baby that she has to follow me around at home watching me cook or I will turn on the TV to keep her occupied.

If she goes to school, she has playmates and get to learn while I get some rest.........

But sending her to school may mean that she will get sick easily.

I'm also afraid she may not be able to adapt well in the school environment as she has me around most of the time.

Am in a dilemma ..........

What should I do?

Teething Bleeding

Bb Rae is considered slow when it comes to teething.

She had her 1st tooth when she was 8 months old and when she was 1year old, she only had 2 upper and 2 lower front teeth.

Then when she was 14 months old she had 4 upper and 4 lower front teeth.

Her molars only came out few days ago (last Monday) while we were in Ipoh for the long weekend vacation.

Her 1st upper right molar erupted on Monday then 2 days later the other 2 appeared at the same time, now awaiting for the left lower molar to come out.

Last Friday (we were still in Ipoh) while cleaning her teeth after milk, I saw blood stains on the handkerchief.

I was shocked as this has never happened when she had her front teeth.

The bleeding lasted for about 3 days and it finally cleared yesterday.

I checked up the Internet that this is teething bleeding as the big molar pushes its way up and out on the surface.

A check with my other mummy friends confirmed that this is normal.

According to the dentist, baby will experience most discomfort when the canies teeth erupted.

I hope that Baby Rae will be spared from any teething agony (a simple wish of a mummy)!

Update on 18 Sept:

Bb's left lower molar came up when she turned 20 months old and few days ago, her left upper canie tooth eruptef, so now left with three canies and the last 4 molars which should appear when she is about 2 and 2.5 years old respectively.

Bye bye EBM!

I just thrown away many bags of EBM as they were beyond 6 months old.

Amazing huh, I had produced so much milk for my bb and these were just the excess pumped out and not to mention a carton full was discarded last Nov prior to house moving!

Back from Europe

We're back from Europe since last Fri and now I am busy unpacking and doing the laundry.

Before we left SG 2 weeks ago, the sky was blue but when we returned, the sky was grey and the air smelled bad due to the haze.

I've been doing laundry portion by portion so that I can move the clothes indoor to air should the haze worsen.

A glad that the sky seemed clearer since last Saturday.

I must say that traveling with a young toddler is very challenging.

Throughout the 2 weeks trip, I didn't have a good sleep as bb Rae turned cranky during bed times due to foreign environment and I gotta calm her down.

I am really glad that I managed to wean her off from EBM as it was impossible to wake up early to express BM.

I was awake since 4.30am daily to ensure we were on time for the tour and if I gotta express BM, then I'd need to wake up at 3am!

The weather in Europe was very pleasant, it was early summer so it wasn't hot nor cold.

Baby was able to eat a packet each of bb food for lunch and dinner and she had more milk then usual; she drank 4 to 5 times daily instead of the usual 3 feeds.  I guess the jet lag had make her lost of appetite.

She slept in the coach most of the time and when she was awake she'd played with me or RY or the tour mates (we joined a guided tour instead of free n easy).

She behaved so well that all the tour mates including the tour leader were impressed with her.

Europe is not very stroller friendly, so most of the time I carried her in the carrier.

It was a wonderful experience to travel with bb as the last time we were in Europe was just RY and me!

I think bb will not remember anything about this trip.

Most important is we as parents experienced traveling with her when she was 17 months old!

I'll cherish this memory........

Let me show u some pics of my cheeky girl during this trip.

Packing up for the Europe trip

Prior to the arrival of bb Rae, packing for holiday or biz trip was easy and merely took me a few hours to complete.

But with baby (especially such a sticky one), it seems to be taking me forever to pack ........

I can only pack while bb is asleep and gotta do it early in the morning like 4am and have about 3 hours each time to organise and pack for 2 paxs (bb and me).

Do note that not only I gotta pack her clothes, I also need to plan how many diapers/ wipes, how much milk powder, bb food pouches (yep, she is still eating bb food as she only has front teeth and no molar yet so she refused to chew or grind food which is not soft to her liking) and which toys to bring along etc ........ 

I only managed to pack for bb and has yet to pack for myself.

Wish me luck in my packing and hopefully I can pack in time!

Toughest job!

I met up with a mommy friend 2 days ago for lunch.

We were supposed to meet in Orchard for lunch but due to me lack of sleep (bb's mid-night Merlioned episode), I was too tired to travel so my friend came to the mall near me for lunch instead.

It was a nice meet up and we chatted over lunch to share about our little ones and also about being mum.

We both agreed that being mum is a tough job and I personally feel that being a SAHM is the toughest job I've ever had ........

SAHM has no annual leave, sick leave or time off, no salary, no bonus or AWS, no overtime pay but overtime is expected, multi tasking is also expected.

SAHM contributions has the least recognition in the society!

SAHM like any other job has its ups and downs, as well as work stress but we've no HR dept to complain to.  We only can talk to hubby and hopefully he listens but sometimes he is the source of our frustrations so he may not understand.

Being a SAHM means that hub and others like MIL may've certain expectation on you being able to clean house, do household chores, cooks, care and discipline bb with perfect score of 10/10 since you're home all the time.  

RY expects me to attend to bb whenever she gets cranky especially in the middle of the night or early morning so that he can get a good sleep and if i dont act timely, he'll get upset.  MIL expects me to handle all housework by myself and not bother hub so that he can concentrate working and have good rest after work. (Note: MIL has never taken care of her kids full time as her mother helped her while she worked).

Anyone who is a SAHM like me with no helper would understand that its no mean feat to handle housework and bb alone.  

I need a break too!

When you're at work, you get tea break and lunch break but being a SAHM, I've no such break!

My meal time is a short 5 mins to let me swallow my food without tasting it.

The worst part is when baby cries while I've stomach upset and gotta decide which to do first, attend to bb or go toilet, it's an agony to hold back your "shxx" while attending to bb but its also heart breaking to hear her cries loudly and fiercely.

Rae is very "sticky" to me and want me to carry her like a koala bear and refused to leave me to let me do my work.

The rewards of SAHM is non-monetary!

I get to care for bb personally, ensuring that she eats balanced diet and be part of her growing up companion, play with her and teach her words.

We sing/ dance and laugh together.  

My job satisfaction is when I see her growing up well and hear her call me MaMa!

i'm also glad that I'm able to witness her achieving the different milestones.

So there is pros and cons of bring a SAHM and I hope the cons are temporary only.........

As a matter of fact, I do enjoy my time with bb Rae.

She "Merlioned" in the middle of the night!

Yesterday was a horrible day for me!

It was the 1st time Bb Rae vomited and it was in the middle of the night!

If you've seen our Spore icon Merlion, you can imagine why I use it figuratively.

She started crying in her sleep at about 2am and I tried to pat her back to sleep but with no avail.

Then I gave her some milk and she clang on to me to sleep but when I tried to put her back into her baby cot, she cried fiercely and "merlioned" whatever was in her stomach!

So I gotta clean her up and also clear the mess on her bed, change the bed sheet etc.

Just when we thought we can catch some sleep, she pooped and hub gotta change her diaper.

We only managed to go to bed at about 5+am!

I hope this wont happen again as its really tiring .........

Preparing for the Europe trip

We'll be going to Europe next week and now gotta start preparing for the trip.

I gotta plan what to bring for bb since its going to be cool spring weather there.

Not only I gotta pack her clothes, I also need to pack her milk, snacks. Bb food and medication  etc.

I should be bz doing the packing till the day we depart for Europe.

Down with common cold

Bb Rae is down with common cold and has been sneezing with running nose for a week.

I weaned her off from EBM just before she turned 17 months old and after a week of no breast milk, her immunity went down.

To boost her immunity, I've given her Scott's Emulsion and hopefully she can recover fast on her own with no medication required.