Not Done Yet

Lil Isaac's bday bash is about 2 weeks away. Other than booking the function room at Centris, I am almost at ground zero. *panic, panic*

When jiejie had her one year old bday party, I even baked her cupcakes. Poor Lil Isaac. I haven't confirm the number of guests coming, haven't order the buffet, haven't confirm the toys, haven't order the cake and haven't prepare the goody bags. Boo! Mummy is really busy at work and both at home. No time, no time. I better start doing something soon. This is afterall a last bday party for a long time to come. With 2 kids, parties are the last thing on my mind. I think family dinner and cakes are good enuff. Hoho.

Mummy Lim

Growing Up

Daddy Lim had to work late tonight and mummy has to tuck jiejie to bed AND latch didi. Luckily, didi wasn't too tired and I get to tuck jiejie to bed 1st while auntie entertains him. This reminds me of a grumbling post that I put up a few months back while still on maternity leave. Then, I was lamenting about how the 2 kids cannot take turns and me wishing to have a clone or a switch on the kids. Things are so much different now.

Jiejie is much more cooperative now. When I need to attend to Lil Isaac, she is usually willing to wait. Daddy Lim is normally the one who tucks her to bed now and she has very much become a daddy's girl. Daddy Lim definitely pampers her. While trying to tuck her to bed just now, she gave me her foot and ask me to give her a foot massage. Win liao.

They are both growing up and I must remind myself to enjoy them more. For record, Lil Isaac shows us that he can sign "no more" and do a flying kiss today! Who taught him? He picked it up from my SIL! So proud of him.

I am so looking forward to Lil Isaac growing up a little bit more and we can have a slightly easier overseas family trip. Oh boy, I need a holiday.

Mummy Lim

In Denial

Jiejie is in denial. She wet our bed again last night. I set my alarm clock at midnight and had intended to wake her up for the toilet but she beats me to it. She woke me up before midnight, mumbling that it was wet. Poor bed.

This morning, I told her that she wets the bed last night but she refused to admit.

ML: Jiejie, you shh shh on mummy's bed last night leh.
LS: No, the bed is not wet.
ML: Yes, you touch here.
LS: No, not wet.
ML: It is. You smell, got shh shh smell.
LS: (sniff sniff) No, don't have!
ML: (????, also go sniff sniff) Have!!!!! So smelly lor.
LS: No!!! Don't have!!

Jieje is obviously in denial. Hohoho.

Mummy Lim

War Against Constipation and Allegric

Yday was day 4. Lil Isaac only managed to pass out a little bit of hard stool on day 3. To prevent another bout of extreme constipation, we gave him a dose of lactulose and he was closely monitored for allergic reaction.

Again we don't know what helped but he moved his bowels 3x yday. The first time, he passed out hard stools. There was no hives but he was busy scratching in the night and woke up 2x instead of the usual once. Is it the lactulose? Nobody knows. Well, we are just glad that he poo poo.

This constipation problem must be resolved soon. His appetite for milk has suddenly increased and my supply is unable to meet his demand. He is clearing the miserable stack of frozen bm. At the rate that he is going, I think we will need to supplement him with fm pretty soon. Not that i am against fm but fm is well known to cause constipation for full bm babies. Round 2 seems to be starting soon. -.o"

Mummy Lim

Congrats Ah Yee

Ah yee finally graduated from her masters. If my dad is still around, he would be so proud of us. Our parents are not highly educated and worked as hawkers for most of their lives yet their 3 kids all graduated from NUS. Both my brother and sister have a master degree. Moreover, ah yee was his favorite child. He would be so proud of her.

Ah yee invited us to her convocation. I had wanted to attend but decided otherwise when I realize that I have to sit in the hall for 4 hours just to see her for that 30 secs. So, we brought Lil Shauna to take pix with ah yee after her convocation instead to show support.

Daddy Lim and I were on half day leave and also took the opportunity to have a quiet lunch before we picked Lil Shauna from school.



My brother and his family were also there. Popo stayed at home with Lil Isaac and my youngest niece. We decided to leave Lil Isaac in Centris just in case he terrorise us all during the long car journey. He is so capable of that and the car journey is uber long. The convocation is held at expo. Coupled with the rush hour jam, we were more than happy when Popo offered to help us take care of Lil Isaac instead.



The 3 girls were eventually having a better time running around and lying on the floor than to take pictures with ah yee.


Yeah, congratulations ah yee. You made it.

Mummy Lim

Blocked No More

Remembered about the bad constipation that Lil Isaac has last week? He poo poo on his own after I got the suppository in. I said "on his own" bcos the suppository came out whole with a pellet size poo poo. But he also managed to remove a lot of poo poo after that. And then, he continued to move his bowels 3x! Each time, the stools were hard. Goodness, he was really a crawling bag of sh!t!

The removal of those hard stools seem to have unblocked his system. He started moving his bowel everyday or every other day after that constipation episode. His appetite also increased, though I can't tell for sure that the input and output issues are related lah.

All the credits have to go to Popo. After all those constipation, she has taken all the efforts to feed Lil Isaac lots of fibre and lots of water. Lil Isaac has even increased his milk intake, from 120ml to 140ml. He still doesn't enjoy his bottle and Popo took the pain to spoon feed whatever that is left in his bottle. I think Lil Isaac can do with a little bit more fats. He is at the 50 percentile, weighing about 9kg at 11month. I prefer him to be chunkier, at least I don't have to worry much if his appetite drops when he is sick. Hehe. Silly mummy.

Yeah, he is poo-ing. Seeing his poo makes me happy.

Mummy Lim

Invaded!

There are many PRCs living in Jurong. I suppose quite a few of them are SPRs bcos they have their family in toll. When Lil Shauna was little and I used to bring her down to the park for walks, we see many PRCs grandkids with their grandparents.

The situation seems to have worsen. Lil Shauna's ballet class has so many PRCs kids, at least 30%! I am sitting in the LCentral lobby waiting for Lil Shauna to finish her class and I am the only SGP parent. I don't know where are the rest of the SGP parents but I am sharing the lobby with 5 other PRCs parents! Help! We are being invaded! These are only PRCs and we still have the Indians, Filipinos and Mynmese. Stop the foreign talents!

Mummy Lim

Surprise!

Somebody called out to me while I was in Suntec just now. I saw a familiar face and recognized that she is an ex-school mate but I couldn't remember which school and her name. I was really surprised when she mentioned that we were primary school mates. I lost touch with ALL my primary school mates. In fact, the only school mates that I am still hanging out with are the SHSS girls.

She told me that she is keeping touch with some of the primary school mates via FB and asked me for my FB. She mentioned that she will add me. She then went on to rattle some names of our primary school friends and it brought back memories. I mean, how long along was that!!?? 20 years??!!

I am excited and checked my FB for a few times already to see if she has added me. Goodness, I am again amazed at the power of FB. Maybe I should try to look for some of the primary school friends than to wait for this particular friend to add me.

Mummy Lim

Walking

I remembered that Lil Shauna started learning how to walk when she was 11 months old. She started her unassisted steps when she turns one. Although walking brings about new set of problems, I prefer her to walk than to crawl. That is bcos she always attempting to struggle free so that she can go to the floor to crawl, even when we are outside.

Lil Isaac is now at that stage. He is turning 11 mths but is showing no sign of walking. He barely cruises and doesn't attempt to walk assisted. Is it bcos boys are slower? I don't know but I do know that he is a master crawler and is everywhere on his fours. I was hoping that he would walk soon. It is a struggle now when we are outside. I am soon looking forward to him walking when we go for out next overseas trip, believing that it will be better and easier if he walks.

So, what can he do not? When he is in a good mood, he can wave bye-bye, clap and raise his hands when he hears "hooray". He can say "mum mum" for food and loves hide and seek and can go "ah-tah" non stop.

It is so tiring to chase after him now. I pity Popo and auntie. It is ok, time flies and he will grow up soon.

Mummy Lim

Kiddy Ride

If you ask me, the ride is pretty worth it. For $3, it kept jiejie happy bcos she gets to steer the ride and pillion mummy and didi.

Mummy Lim

NUH Specialist Visit

I brought Lil Isaac for his follow up with the NUH specialist this morning. Our appointment is at Clinic A, the same clinic which jiejie had her follow up 3 years ago. It brought back lots of memories. Then, Popo will tag along for every single follow up appointment and I enjoyed her company. Now, she is far too busy with the other 4 kids at home to tag along. So, it was just Lil Isaac and me. I was actually a little anxious at first but reminded myself that it will be the few occasions that I have time alone with Lil Isaac and I should enjoy him.

We had a fairly easy time, even when we were caught in a traffic jam on the way to NUH. The hotdog bun fulfilled its purpose. Lil Isaac was very noisy when the PD was reviewing him bcos it was his nap time and he was thus not very happy to be poked and had his backside examined. He fell asleep when I latch him at the clinic after the PD’s review and slept all the way home.

I had thought that we will be seeing a skin specialist for his eczema. This was what the PD at NUH A&E’s referral about. Interestingly, a PD saw us and she did a thorough examination on Lil Isaac, asking about his hives, his eczema, his constipation, etc. I am actually quite glad. She asked me a ton of questions on his eating and bowel habits, which I found myself inadequate to answer. I wish Popo was there with me. She appeared to be more concern with his constipation problem than eczema. I supposed so too since his eczema looks very much OK today but his constipation problem had been plaguing us and today is day 5 of Mr Poo Poo’s absence, adding on to the trouble that he passed out pellet size poo poo yday and he bled. Poor boy.

The PD said that she could feel hard stools in his tummy and ordered suppository to help get rid of the hard ones that blocked the exit. The usual conversation about improving his diet, lacing it with more vegetables followed. I didn’t really catch all of what she said bcos Lil Isaac was moving around and performing his stances. We were again given lactulose to ease his constipation. The PD guessed that his hives were likely to be a result of a viral infection than allergic to lactulose. Then again, we were asked to go easy with lactulose and to monitor him closely. We can also opt for prick test for allergies that trigger his eczema. I haven’t decided on that. We can also start giving him fish to see if he is really allergic to fish as per his first hives reaction to probably anchovies. All in all, there is no conclusive evidence to prove that Lil Isaac is allergic to a particular food/ medicine. We could order prick tests or simply try again and monitor. This is on the account that his reactions were pretty mild on both occasions. We are given a follow-up appointment 2 months down the road and I am happy to realize that the referral from NUH A&E PD entitles us to subsidized rates. Yippee.

We were given the same suppository which that locum failed to stuff into Lil Isaac’s backside. I was worried at first. However, I actually got it in very easily at Centris with Popo helping to distract him. I suppose Lil Isaac is a little more relax with Mummy poking his backside than some big size uncle, which helps greatly. Popo called shortly after I left to inform that the suppository came out with another pellet size poo poo. It didn’t look as if it has dissolved. She was suggesting giving him the lactulose and I was thinking of giving him suppository no. 2 tonight.

I received another call a while later to tell me that Lil Isaac poo poo on his own, before Popo managed to give him the lactulose and there was a lot of poo poo. I bet the smell was overwhelming too. The best part, Lil Isaac pushed out the poo poo with ease, with no sign of pain, discomfort or tears. Hmm.. I don’t know what worked, the lubricant, the suppository, the papaya that he had last night or the plum this morning. Anyway, it is news worth celebrating!

I hope things get better. I really hope. This poo poo war is very taxing.

Mummy Lim

Constipated Again

I was instructed to buy papayas bcos Lil Isaac is constipated again. Today is day 4. Popo says that the poo poo is stuck there. There was lots of crying today but he only managed to squeeze out a small pellet. He bled there too. Poor boy. Popo even asked if we should give him the suppository.

I thought that we should try natural. Other than papaya, I bought plums and pears too. I hope they will help to expel Mr Poo Poo.

Popo fed him papaya just now and he tried again. He cried very badly while trying. It must be a combination of pain and discomfort. He finally got rid of 2 pellets and the second one drew blood. Ouch!

Popo will continue with plum tomorrow morning and if he still cannot move his bowel tomorrow morning, I am going to give him the suppository. I am glad that I am on morning leave tomorrow. I am supposed to bring Lil Isaac to NUH for the specialist follow-up on his eczema.

This is a terrible recurring nightmare. Popo is feeling so stressful over Lil Isaac's constipation problem. Getting him to poo doesn't mean the end of the problem but simply the start of the next problematic cycle. Popo packed so much fruits in his daily diet, how can he still get constipated? I am wonder if the constipation is triggered by some allergic that he develops over certain food that we gave him.

Please pray that he will be able to poo poo tomorrow.

Mummy Lim

New Aim

I am busier at work now and I am constantly running from one place to another, one task to another, one meeting to another. The only comfort is that I seldom have to work super late. Then again, it is usually 8pm when we get to the kids. Whatever time left to spend with them is so precious especially now that Lil Shauna turns in early in view of the absence of her afternoon nap.

Time passes too fast, days are flying by. I cannot believe that soon year 2011 is left with 3 miserable months. What have I accomplished? Well, if sustaining breastfeeding is an accomplishment, then I think I have one on my list. Otherwise, I better work hard to list down some new year resolutions for the next year. Which reminds me, I don't think I have achieved any of those that I set last year. Bleeehhhh...

And it doesn't help that I flare so very easily and quickly at work. Well, I haven't yell at somebody for awhile but I have definitely blew my top and raised my voice for countless of times just this past week. I get upset bcos i am too impatient. I get frustrated when others are not running fast enuff or doesn't get what I am am trying to bring across. It has gotten to a point that I wanted myself to cool down, especially when I realized that others are "cooler" and work still get done - no need to make myself miserable and spoils others' day. This will also save me from potential heart attacks.

For some unknown reasons, I ended work feeling bad yday. Maybe it is PMS, just that I am blessed with the absence of the "auntie" due to breastfeeding.

Yeah, cool it, cool it. Enjoy work. Work is miserable enuff, I shouldn't squeeze myself into a corner. Enjoy life, enjoy the kids. I am reminding myself to give the kids more hugs and kisses even when they irritate me to the point that I am worried that I might murder them. On that account, Lil Isaac looks super cute when he is asleep in my arms after the night feed. That is of course on nights that I have more energy, other that those that I required to crawl back to bed. Lol.

Mummy Lim

Only 3?

I cannot believe that Lil Shauna is only 3. She looks so much older.



Don't you think so? Or maybe all kids like older than their age now?






Mummy Lim

Why She Likes Ballet

Bcos she gets to be a ballerina.
Bcos she gets to wear her leotard, stocking and tutu.
Bcos she gets to wear all pink.
Bcos it is a girly thing to do.

She loves her ballet class. And I am so glad that she enjoys her class. I hope she can progress in it for a long time. At least it is a good skill.

Mummy Lim

No More

The fever is long gone. The hives are gone too... so are the eczema areas at his inner elbow and behind his knees. All thanks to the 1% steroid cream that the PD prescribed for his hives.

We are stopping the cream now that the hives are gone. We expect the bad skin to come back soon. Let's see how the specialist's visit goes next week.

Mummy Lim

Hives

Yes, the hives tortured us last night.
Popo called yday afternoon to inform that Lil Isaac had developed hives on his legs. She thinks that it is somehow related to his fever, what we called fake measles, just that this is hives and not measles. She went on to say that the situation appeared to be improving and reckoned that there was no need for medical attention.

Well, Popo sounded really cool about it and thus I wasn’t worry. I thought that it is probably some kind of fake measles too. Afterall, we didn’t introduce new food this time, not like the anchovies scare that we had the last and first time that Lil Isaac developed hives. However, we did give him the medicine to ease his constipation yday morning and that is something new.

When I was latching Lil Isaac in the night, he appeared uncomfortable, crying intermittently with his eyes closed amidst attempts to suckle. He fell asleep at 9.30pm and I was surprised to learn from auntie that the hives appeared to be spreading. They initially only appeared on his calves but were starting to appear on his thigh. Hmm.. maybe Popo’s eye are failing her and she thought that the condition was improving.

The itch woke Lil Isaac up at about 10.15pm. With the power nap, he spent the next hour crawling around, refusing to sleep, even when I brought him to our bedroom and switched off the lights. After lots of struggle and crying, he finally fell asleep at 11.30pm and I was hopeful that he would sleep through.

I was barely into dreamland when I heard Lil Isaac cried. I was pissed and almost lost my cool when he kept struggling and crying when I tried to latch him back to sleep. That was when I realized that the hives were appearing on his arms! Poor boy, he appeared to be really uncomfortable and very sleepy, trying to scratch himself and dozed off and was awoken again bcos of the itch. I became paranoid and was scared that he grew an allergic reaction to the constipation medication. I bugged Daddy Lim to send Lil Isaac to the West Point Hospital, which is open 24 hours, just to make sure that his airway is not swelled.

The GP at West Point Hospital didn’t want to treat Lil Isaac as he is not a PD and suggested that we sent him to either KKH or NUH instead. We were told that NUH has a Children A&E and we did send him there. I was glad that we did bcos the NUH Children A&E is relatively empty. We would probably spend hours waiting if we had sent Lil Isaac to KKH.

Lil Isaac was fairly cooperative and I delivered the constipation-fever-fever-constipation-hives story to the PD. There was no wheezing, which means that his airways are fine. The PD guessed that it is probably a viral fever, which in turn caused the hives but we were told to stop the constipation medicine to play safe. She also commented that Lil Isaac’s eczema should be receiving some attention and we will be given a follow-up at NUH for his eczema. We were given medicine to treat his allergic and a 1% steroid cream for the hives.

We reached home at 3am and Lil Isaac fell asleep in 15 mins. Popo said that he woke up at 7+am but had a solid 3 hour nap in the late morning. He must be really, really tired. His poor parents are even more pitiful. We crawled out of bed this morning to go to work despite having only 3 hours of sleep. Jiejie? She slept through the while saga. Lol.

I hope we have no more scares. I am very, very tired.

Mummy Lim

What's Next?

Lil Isaac was still feverish when I touched him this morning. Mummy J saw my post and asked me how he was. She mentioned that a friend's son was also constipated and had a high fever for no apparent reason too. He had intestine infection and was warded to have the hard stools pumped out. -.o"

I panicked, called Popo to check on Lil Isaac and asked Popo to give him the medicine that the doctor gave last night to ease constipation. Popo said that his temperature came down and was hovering around 37.5 degrees. We will be monitoring him and I intended to bring him to the PD if his fever doesn't break by tomorrow.

Thankfully, the fever left. He was active the whole day and had a good appetite. He also poo poo. Maybe it was the medicine or maybe the fruits that Popo has been faithfully given to him helps.

However, in the afternoon, Popo called to inform that Lil Isaac developed hives on his leg. We don't know what is he allergic to. We didn't introduce new food. We can only guessed he came into contact with dust/ dirt or the poo poo medicine gave him an reactive.

Haiz, this is so tiring. When is it gg to be smooth sailing?

Mummy Lim

Fever, Fever Go Away

Remembered that Lil isaac came down with a fever last week when he was constipated for 5 days? The doctor said that he had a viral infection. His fever came down the next day with medicine.

For some weird reasons, Lil Isaac came down with fever again last night. The only difference is that he managed to poo poo yday morning. He felt warm when I latched him in night and Popo called to inform that he was feverish in the morning. We still have fever medicine from the last visit and he was active the whole day.

We brought him to the GP just now. He has no cough, no running nose, no sore throat, no stomach flu, no ear infection. The doctor is also not sure why he is having a fever too and again told us that it is likely to be viral fever. Lil Isaac was 38.8 degrees at the clinic!

Haiz.. Why like that? When will this end? Headache plus heartache. Please help to pray for speedy recovery, that this is nothing serious.

Mummy Lim

Lil Isaac

This is his puppy eye look after he was given the suppository by the locum. It is such a rare shoot. This tiger is always so daring and on the go.


Happy baby.



Mummy Lim

Haircut

Lil Isaac went for his first official haircut.

He get to sit in this kiddy car seat. He loves "driving". The haircut only cost $10 and he didnt cry.

I still prefer his old hairdo. With the haircut, his ears and face suddenly long very long and fat. Lol.


And jiejie looked in horror as the uncle cuts Lil Isaac's hair. Jiejie wants to keep her hair forever now, like Repunzel.

Mummy Lim

Finally

Finally, finally, Lil Isaac poo poo. Today is the 5th day and he again woke up with a fever. -.o" We gave him medicine but had intended to bring him to the PD if things still don't improve tomorrow.

His constipation caused us alot of heartache. I was upset that nobody can tell me if he is constipated bcos of the lack of fluid or fruits or he is simply not eating enuff. Lil Isaac drinks fairly little milk and he doesn't eat solids as well as jiejie used to. He is picky and it is sometimes so tough to get him to eat his porridge. Popo thinks that Lil Isaac should eat more too and ask me to ask the maid about his fluid intake, who in turn gave me a blur look. Then I got frustrated that Popo left my son under the maid's charge and felt that she should have done more for my son. Popo thinks that we have a maid and Lil Isaac is her charge and she should do more. Anyway, we were all upset and Auntie has new order to give Lil Isaac at least 100ml of water and juices on top of milk everyday. Since Lil Isaac is still on full BM, mummy is going on a no fried food, lots of fruits and fluid diet next week to see if it helps.

Lil Isaac is gone after the medicine. He is still active. We attempted to feed him water whenever possible. He finally moved his bowel after a whole plum this morning. Phew! I was so happy and broke into a dance with jiejie. Yeah! Cartwheels! I was as happy as she has seen gold.

The cycle starts all over again. I am gg to switch Lil Isaac to barley cereal, Popo going to increase fruits intake, auntie going to feed him more fluid, we are going to continue the nightly massage and mummy is going to change her diet too. Please, Mr Poo Poo, we have done enough. Don't hide from us.

Mummy Lim

Day 3

Today is day 3 and still no sight of Mr Poo Poo, but at least the fever is gone. Our siren is going off. Popo gave him honey dew and apple yday. We also gave him some prune juice in the night. On top of that, we gave him a tummy massage for 2 consecutive nights. The massage is supposed to help to ease the constipation. I bought plums and asked Popo to give him today.

It is quite frustrating sometimes bcos I am not the main caregiver. I can only nicely ask Popo to give Lil Isaac this or that but she might or not. Then again, she's really busy with all the 5 kids everyday. We can only do our best to make sure that whatever Popo needs to help Lil Isaac to move his bowel is available and we be faithful to give him his tummy massage every night.

Haiz, I get so happy now to see Mr Poo Poo, as if I am seeing gold. Boo!

Mummy Lim

Still a Baby

Lil Isaac is still having a slight fever. He slept with me last night and woke up once to latch. He stirred quite a number of times in the night but settled back to sleep after changing positions. He is just like jiejie and moves so much in the night.

Lil Isaac was probably tired from the fever and the crying. He fell asleep at about 9pm despite taking an evening nap on the way home from auntie’s place and also on the way home from the clinic. As I lie down beside him, he was back facing me and I suddenly realized that he is so little. He is so small size lying on that big mattress with only his head appearing from the blanket. He is still a small baby. My heart melted and I was so fascinated by his hair that ended at his neck and appears to curl a little. I couldn’t help it but want to cuddle him and stroke his hair. Hahaha, sound all motherly?

I didn’t even mind when he woke me up whenever he stirred. When he settled back to sleep, I actually found myself starring at him quietly, savoring the moment. Poor Lil Isaac. I hate constipation.

Mummy Lim