Wednesday 30 April 2014

Counting down 10 weeks!

Yes, we're 30 weeks and three days today, woohoo!

Nowadays, I love rubbing my belly at the front over my top/dress, just to feel my belly button ^.^ I used to dislike the thought of an outie. But now that I have one, courtesy of the little one inside, I find that I like it! Ok, maybe I also know that it'll be gone soon..

I feel that he has grown quite a bit. His movements are just everywhere inside! Yesterday, he found a new spot to punch or kick. I was going up the escalator at the station when I felt this sudden ache in my left side. I didn't really feel movement, just the sudden ache. And then it happened a couple more times as I walked home. I figure it hurts more when he aims at the soft parts - while my abs are pretty well exercised in my years of sucking in belly, I can't say the same for my sides!

This week, I also started drinking bird's nest. I found two boxes of single servings from my last confinement time and packed them into the fridge. After that, I'll start on concentrates that Mum got for me. I find that after taking that, I don't get hungry for breakfast until 10 am! Useful when things go crazy when I arrive at work, like what happened today..

Last week, I started feeling Braxton Hicks contractions. I knew it felt like a tightening but I only vaguely remembered what it actually felt like before last week. Now I shall add on the sensation of needing to pee as well!

And speaking of remembering things, or rather, forgetting things, well, I won't say I have pregnancy brain but I have already forgotten the pain of morning sickness! I mean, I know it's awful but how exactly? I've forgotten. That's nature's way of making us reproduce right? :p

It's the last day of April now. 10 weeks sound short but it is actually some time away. My May will be terribly busy with work. And June, well, I'll be very busy with handover. Won't be in the mind to chat with my little baby like I used to do with ZK inside, sighs.

Well, now I'm looking forward to the next doc appointment, to ask about the ache in my upper thigh and especially to see the little rascal within! :)

Sunday 27 April 2014

Pregnancy super pains

With ZK, I remember feeling a soreness at the joint between my upper thigh and pelvis on the left some time towards the end of the pregnancy. My earliest memory of that was when I was pulling on leggings in our temp place at Kembangan.

Well, with 小马哥, I started feeling this pain a couple of weeks, or more, ago. And last week, there were a couple of times when it hurt quite bad after lying in a bad position on ZK's bed for a couple of hours. But Sunday, after watching the musical (which I still haven't written about! Argh!), I felt a lot of pain when I got up at the end, but I could still walk.

Then Monday happened. Somehow, the pain intensified. That morning, I was on my way to discuss something with a colleague when the pain shot through my leg and I had to stop. Another colleague had to go bring the chap to find me instead, so paiseh. And for the rest of the day, if I didn't move for a while and stood up to go, I felt pain after the first few steps. I had to hold on to something to move myself across, s l o w l y... Until somehow, the pain drained away and I could fly again.

It went on like this. But Thursday was a bit different. I felt slightly less pain than before for most of the day, but there was one time in the morning when I stood up and felt the pain immediately and it was very, very painful!! I couldn't even sit down again! Had to hang in there until the pain dissipated.

By Friday, thankfully, I no longer felt the crippling pain though I constantly felt an ache. So I can no longer walk very fast like I used to (and like!) but at least, I'm not in super pain as well.

I was supposed to have a prenatal massage at home but the auntie first of all changed the time from 11 am to 9 am last night, then whatsapp-ed me this morning to cancel cos her husband could not send her! So irritating! I was reminded of what happened with her for my postnatal last time - she simply couldn't keep time. So I found a few other options and once confirmed, I would call her to tell her I no longer required her services.

I'm no longer in great pain today but I thought a massage could help with blood circulation and I was right - I managed to get a slot at Knead downstairs. The lady was very strong! And she had a good go at my left thigh when I told her about the pain. I walked out feeling loosened up. I still felt the pain here and there after that but I thought there was an improvement already.

And although it felt super oily during the massage, after a wipe with the covering towel, I didn't feel too oily, which was good as I shouldn't shower immediately after a massage and ZK would surely come near me.

Today is probably the second time I felt false contractions for this pregnancy. I couldn't really remember what it was like but I remember a tight sensation that made me want to go pee - and I knew it wasn't little baby. My belly also felt tight, although less so than with ZK probably cos of the flab all over :p

We're already 30 weeks - 10 more to go! :) And I shall be expecting water retention within the next two or three weeks! NOT looking forward to swollen extremities *.*

Wednesday 23 April 2014

My learning boy

I think our little boy has grown and learnt a lot this month.

First of all, he knows that when the door is closed and he enters the room, he should close it behind him!

And he's finally saying "water" instead of gu-wa gu-wa - the gu-wa gu-wa was my mistake as I used the sound of water (actually gulu gulu!) when I was trying to get him to drink water some months ago!

He's getting defiant too. Since last week, a few times when I scolded him, he gave me this defiant look with mis lips together and the jaws moving side to side. The scary part is how much that reminds me of myself hoho!

And as I was expecting "表" (不要) from him any day, he came home with "don't want" one day, and has been saying that all the time ever since.

Mama: Milk milk? :)
ZK: Don't want!
Mama: Let's change diapers!
ZK: Don't want, don't want!

But this evening, he said 不要 when I asked him 要不要 something...

He's also a bully - at home, one night when he woke, he told Papa to 睡觉 but told Mama to sit down with him in his bed *.* That was before we started the sleep training of course. Sometimes, he would simply pull me into bed with him. And if I didn't lie down but propped my head up with my arms, he'd say "more!" But last Saturday morning, he was kind to me - I was watching him having his morning milk on the sofa and he told me to 睡觉 on the sofa :)

And in school, he has a knack of bullying his friend A in front of his mum!! The teacher told me that they are pretty rough with each other the whole time, just that when it's ZK being rough, it's always in front of A's mum! The other day, A saw Y arriving and said "kakak" while walking to the door. ZK pulled him back by the hair! Since then, he would pull his own hair when he mentions A's name. Similarly, he would say "bite" when he mentions H cos he had bitten her before *.* And that isn't all. He also gave L a bump on his head with a toy car! Argh!

But just now at dinner, he said "A, push" while pushing his waist and we wondered... Who pushed who?? So I asked him in parts:

Mama: 谁 push?
ZK: A
Mama: 谁痛痛?
ZK: Kaikai

Awww... My poor baby.. I shall verify this with the teacher tmr - not to complain but to see how much my kid could communicate!

He's also adventurous. He wanted the big pot on the hob. So I let him try its content - Japanese curry! I warned him - 辣辣!He rejected the meat and carrot but lapped up all the sauce and asked for more! So I gave him curry on rice - he loved it! Granted, Japanese curry isn't exactly spicy. The next day was Good Friday and we were at dim sum when he wanted the plate of chilli sauce. I warned him again but he might have thought it was the same 辣 as the day before... Anyway, he ended up wiping his tongue with his hand! We had a good laugh though :p

We were out for dinner on Sunday and he refused his car seat and ended up standing behind me while I had to hold myself from falling on him. But we had a lot of fun as he was happily singing! He can sing "row row row the boat / sailing down the stream" - with the first verse clearer than the second, obviously. He can sing parts of "wheels of the bus", like "beep beep beep", "swish swish swish", "up! down!", "wa wa wa" and "all through town", and make all the right actions, including opening (the door of the bus) and whacking me on my face *.*

But we failed to convince him to go to bed without the pacifier - I tried to tell him that none of his bedmates (penguin, DD, BB and MM) had a pacifier, and he brought his pacifier to them before popping it back into his mouth. Ah well.. Let's have him sleep well first..

Now it's time for some photos...

His craft work from school - gotta peel off that sticker on the jar that's blocking my dearie! Have to keep it off him cos water leaks every time he shakes it!



Smiling at my camera flash! Still pretty toothless...



Last time, he used to frown at my flash - I was trying to video him doing head, shoulders, knees and toes when he caught sight of the light..



Now he wants the flash all the time!



Courtesy to DC and SL, we have one more indoor activity - colouring! He now goes to the desk to look for pens and asks for "paper" to "colour". Of course I hide his box of crayons during weekdays or we'll never get to playgroup! This is the prettiest doodle so far. After this, he seems more intent on emptying his crayon box and putting everything back again..



The fateful Saturday that led to Sito's panic about ZK being spoilt... Before ZK started crying, it was perfect to stand behind the two of them :)



He had a meltdown during dinner and calmed down with Suzie. We gave him a coin again.



This was after he broke a bottle at Cold Storage and before another meltdown when the ice cream was gone... So cute :)



Update 24 Apr 2014

On the way to school today, he gave me another story - that he was the one who pushed A! I asked the teacher who told me the two of them were always pushing each other, snatching each other's toys etc. Looks like ZK has found a buddy if you ask me!

Tuesday 22 April 2014

Update on ZK's sleep

The silly little boy has slept on the floor the past three nights.

Yesterday evening, I was playing with him before bedtime using his penguin puppet. He likes it when I put on the puppet and make the penguin eat the fruits in his book. He likes to put it on as well but makes it eat animals in the other book! I always tell him to say hi instead :)

Anyway, so yesterday, I put on the puppet and told him to sleep with the penguin in his bed at night instead of on the floor. I didn't know if he understood that but I did know he understood that that meant I wasn't going to be there cos he immediately frowned and came to me, calling me and asking me to hug him. So he stood in front of me and let him hug him for a long while. So poor thing...

I didn't let up. I continued to tell him about our sleeping arrangements. I told him I would at most visit him twice. But it turned out that I only had to go in once last night when he woke at 1.30 am. After the first visit, he went quiet in 15 minutes, We watched him on and off and caught him going for water and coming back to the door to sleep on the floor *.*

Tried to tell him about sleeping in his bed just now as well. Again, hugs.. I hope he'll get it tonight. Our floor isn't cold even with the aircon but it's hard!

Update 23 Apr 2014

This boy woke at about midnight, cried for five minutes and went to sleep - on the floor. When he woke at 5.10 am and started crying, he didn't stop soon - cried for mama, cried for kakak, cried for yeye! I saw him searching for his pacifier so I went in to get it - I could see it from the camera. But guess what, when I went in, he hurriedly dropped his bolster on the bed, took the pacifier from my hand and dropped it on the bed, and guided me out of the room saying he wanted milk!! He was refusing to be put back in bed! Argh! 我被骗了!Ended up reading and playing with him in his room until 6.30 am *.*

Sunday 20 April 2014

Raising our kids the right way

Sito suddenly worried about ZK getting spoilt on the way home yesterday. There were a number of trigger points, including a broken bottle at Cold Storage and an crying episode where ZK wriggled on the ground in the MRT station cos we got him out of the bakery.

So after some discussion, we decided to start disciplining him more.

1) First of all, he shouldn't be the centre of attention all the time. I'm glad I have been doing that. I avoid busying myself all over him all the time. Sometimes, it's nice that he wants me to sit with him to do things. Other times, well, he doesn't actually need someone with him so I'll let him be.

My greatest achievement must be mealtimes. Nowadays, I get home before he does, put all his food into one bowl, mix everything up, and wait for him to get there. After making sure he's fine with the food, I have my dinner next to him. I chat with him - or to him *.* - during dinner, only checking on him every so often for that super big and messy mouthful of rice.

Recently, I manage to take his weekend breakfast easy too. I no longer rush to prepare his breakfast cos he's fussing. Instead, I show him what I'm doing, I ask him if he wants his peanut butter, tell him to wait for me patiently in an even tone - if I don't feed on his haste, he won't be able to feed on mine too. I'll even take my time to get a bib for him. But lately, he's been rejecting his bib at breakfast, probably because he doesn't wear one at breakfast in school.

Another issue is sleep time - he always expects me to be with him all the time. So we let him cry it out last night. He woke at 10.55 pm and cried for me at the door. Within five minutes, we agreed that I should go in to put him in his bed. But I didn't say anything other than "joot joot" cos I had to get his pacifier. He cried again when I left. 10 more minutes later, I went in and told him the plan for the night and bade him goodnight before I left. He cried again of course. But now there were lapses of silence. By 11.30 pm, we thought there was no need for a third trip.



I set my alarm for 5-15 minutes for the next half an hour to check on him via the camera. Eventually, we found him asleep on the floor at the door. Poor boy. He woke again at past midnight. And he fell asleep - at the door again - until 6.30 am.



I woke at 4.40 am feeling shocked and guilty that I fell asleep while he was crying the second time he woke - though Sito assured me that by then he had stopped crying. I woke for good just before he did to brush my teeth so that I could be with him 100% when he woke. Soon, he woke - happy! I was so relieved! And in all, he slept more last night than if he were to wake and roll for two or three hours.

He was rather sticky today though. We thought it could be because of last night. I can deal with that so long as he gets enough sleep.

2) Next, we decided that he shouldn't get his way all the time. He emptied his toy box again this morning and I made him pick some up but it wasn't more than he usually picked up anyway. Sito slapped his hand after repeated chiding about him hitting an empty box on the dining table - quite hard. He said it was very 心痛 for him but ZK wasn't going to fear my two-finger slap *.*

3) Third, well, he shouldn't get new things all the time. He wouldn't know how to be patient and how to appreciate what he has if this goes on. We don't want him to grow up expecting new things all the time. It's toys now. What would it be a few years later? Digital gadgets? Sito has a good idea - to give him new things only on his birthday. If he gets new things all the time, what can he look forward to on his birthday? Sito and I had the same thought - some gigantic birthday party?! NOOOO!

And came across this article on Facebook earlier this month. It's called "Why I took my kids’ toys away {and why they won’t get them back}".

When we started our journey with ZK, my idea was to minimise toys. In fact, I got only one toy for him before he was born - Sophie the Giraffe cos of the sound, the size and the bite. Later, when he was very young, I got him a wooden car I happened to come across cos wood is a good material for children and well, he's a boy so.. And then I saw the EverEarth 5-in-1 activity cube that is good for developing his motor skills. When he showed an interest in balls, I got him some cheap ones that occupied him in the bath as well. And we also got him some Mega Bloks to encourage creativity. Sito got him a cute little crocodile pull toy from Indonesia - he really wanted to get something for his little boy :)

And that was all the toys the parents got him. Even then, I haven't brought out all the balls or all the Mega Bloks yet as, good as he is to help pick up toys, he is still unable to pick everything up, which means it's yours truly who will have to do it - so fun, especially when you're pregnant, the husband is sleeping and the helper is out on Sundays *.* And not to mention it's hard to instil discipline - Sito calls it the dirty dishes syndrome where the person who could endure it the least will end up washing the dishes. But frankly, when the mess is huge, not just kids but even adults will tend to procrastinate!

The toy box now sitting in our living room consists of mainly toys from family and friends. And there are more in the cupboards waiting for their chance to be played. I don't know when that will be because even with one box, he's not playing with everything in the box. But he will empty the box anyway!

Actually, I want to get something for my little boy too. But he gets so many now. Sometimes I feel a little sad that I can't get some of the nice things I see outside because he has too many already. But I tell myself that what's the point of indulging myself if he is not going to be able to play with everything and will only pick up bad habits along the way?

Really, as adults, how often do we get new things? So why should we set our kids up for disappointment later in life?

This will apply to 小马哥 as well. In fact, I'm very ready to throw some toys away if they refuse to help each other pick things up, just like in the article!

4) And since we're on the topic, Sito brought up something he read - which I probably read too! - about how we should praise kids for their specific actions instead of the kids themselves, e.g. when they get good scores for an exam because they have studied hard, not because they are so smart. But Sito said the opposite holds true if we want to teach morals, e.g. when they help someone because they are kind.

5) More from our chat today, cos we had some time to ourselves this afternoon as we went to watch a show - more on that later - about our behaviour when our kids start primary school. This stems from my observation of mums around me. Sometimes, I think parents these days interfere too much with their kids' studies, e.g. taking leave during PSLE. Really?! My parents didn't even know my exam schedules!

Sito said he'll be chill but suspected I'll be a tiger mum *.* Well, I don't know but I'm trying to keep chill too. What's the point of stressing them out when the primary school years are really the last few years of childhood for them? I'm not saying they shouldn't study. But at that age, if they don't want to study, it's hard to force them. And forcing is never good for instilling anything but fear of the very thing itself.

And there's no need to manage the kids' schedules for them when they get to the age of being able to do it. Or actually, they should be given the freedom to learn to manage their own schedule from a young age. No need to handicap them with our help.

Ok, end of post. I'm going to sing - very inspired after the show today despite my ulcers!

Saturday 12 April 2014

ZK made us proud today :)

I woke before ZK today - rare! But it was because he was up a lot last night.. Anyway, so he woke at 7 am and sang one line "rain rain go away" - in a cute albeit not so perfect pitch :) - and the clear skies turned grey *.*

So we didn't send him to school in the end. The rain stopped within an hour and I dashed to the supermarket for some bread for his breakfast. Thankfully he didn't seem very hungry this morning.

We left the house before 10 am - that was really early considering that Papa was involved haha! We got to the clinic at around 10.15 am, registered as walk-in cos I couldn't get an appointment and ZK was three months overdue for his vaccination - clashed with some other vaccination and the stomach flu thing.

That marked the beginning of a super long wait.. But we also observed wonderful things about our son.

1) He knows what he wants and is not afraid to go get it! Never mind that an older kid was playing with it...

2) He allowed a little girl to touch what he was playing with :) Unfortunately, she didn't reciprocate and was whining and crying a lot. Oh well, we asked ZK to go play with something else and he did.

3) It was a little top-like thing a six-year-old was playing with. ZK was quite mesmerised with the swirling. We told him to just watch. But eventually, he managed to reach out and stop the toy to fiddle with it. He even managed to make it swirl a little bit. Lucky for him, the older boy was a very gracious kid. He just watched this toddler play. He even introduced his six-month-old sister to us and told us his age when we asked. We told ZK to return the toy to the 哥哥 and have him teach him how to make the toy swirl. He obliged! And this went on a few rounds. The two boys were quite enjoying themselves sharing the tou :) Then all too soon, the older boy had to go. ZK returned the toy to him but when he saw the family disappear behind the door, he went for the door! Poor boy..

4) We were sitting opposite a young baby at one point. I pointed out the baby to ZK and he went over to say "baby" and tried to sayang her. I was a bit worried about the mum's reaction but she was fine. Turned out her elder son was just a few months older than ZK.

Awww, we have such a good kid! Playful yes, mischievous sometimes, but overall, a good boy :)

Playful ZK :)



We went downstairs for a snack just past 11 am. I gave ZK his last pack of baby bite biscuits. Then my kaya toast arrived. He had some and enjoyed it! I was so happy - can give him toast next time :) With kaya and butter!

Then things went downhill. He got tired and wanted to sleep but it wasn't conducive. So he cried a lot. Some distraction here and there helped a bit. But he wasn't happy. When he calmed down a bit more, we gave him some Gerber puffs. He was playing with the empty box when it was finally our turn - at past 1 pm!! We went in for two minutes *.*

ZK is a big boy now and big boys get jabs on their arms. He cried when the needle went in but stopped very quickly. But another bout of fussing ensued during the wait to pay. We eventually left past 1.30 pm, and barely got on the bus when he dozed off in Papa's arms. Poor thing...



We left him to nap at home when we went downstairs to grab some lunch - that was past 2 pm! Thank goodness for the late morning snack else we would be very very starved!

We all managed to nap a bit until 4 pm. ZK didn't have a proper lunch so I gave him some Nestum. Then he wanted to go out cos he saw his new shoes and socks - this morning, we found that he could fit into his new shoes and let him wear that so that his dirty sandals could take a break in the laundry...

We went to Ikea! He had so much fun bringing many many bear bears from their basket to a particular cot, watched by Papa while Mama grabbed a new changing mat and some boxes for his crayons and markers. He was too short to get into the play area. And the adults were not hungry enough to eat at 6 pm. And the Ikea cafe was full.

Play pretend!



So we paid and went to Anchorpoint where he fell in love with a kiddy ride that had lights and played short bursts of music at random intervals. He was dancing! :)



At one point, a little boy came over to the kiddy ride, accompanied by his family helper. We told ZK to sit to one side to let the other boy sit with him - the kiddy ride was meant for two. To our surprise, he shifted to one side and let the boy up! We learnt that the boy was just one month older than ZK. But that was it cos he was quite shy and got off into the helper's arms. ZK saw him go and beckoned him to "sit down!" while patting his little hand on the seat next to him! Oh my little boy...

We went to Sakuraya for dinner. I pointed out a crying baby and he said 哭 and pulled his index fingers down his cheeks - the gesture was a tad far from his eyes but it was clear what he meant. I told him that he must sayang a crying baby.

Now I'm rather hopeful that he would be a good 哥哥 to his 弟弟 :)

Thursday 10 April 2014

ZK stories

After biting three kids last week, ZK came home with a new "watch" yesterday - he got bitten by another kid!

Teacher: Why did you bite ZK?
Kid: He bit me yesterday!

Haha! Then his reaction was a little slow right... But the teacher told me that actually, the day he was bitten, ZK snatched something away from the bigger kid. Then I say obigoot!

Then this evening, Y brought ZK back with a story - she saw ZK hit poor Hannah who was just minding her own business staring into space. ZK just went over and whacked her with his palm! The poor girl whined..

When I was removing his shoes while he was on the stroller, I scolded ZK for hitting her. I told him that he shouldn't hit other kids. If he wanted to hit, hit himself! And right then and there on the stroller, he hit himself! *.* It was just like when I told him to bite himself if he had to bite!

Well, at least I know that ZK would use his fist. Not quite appropriately right now but hopefully he'll learn when to use it. It's playground ethics right? If you get bullied by other kids, don't just cry - retaliate! I won't be there all the time. I can't whack the other kid so let them sort it out kid to kid!

Had a chat with my colleagues over lunch today. One taught her son from young to use talk instead of his fist. In fact, she told him to never lift a hand - his taekwondo black belt was for defence only. He's 10, big-sized but gets bullied in school often. I think I'd rather ZK get into some trouble than get bullied. Let him learn how to be good the hard way rather than feeling sad/afraid all the time. And so far, it looks like he's no pacifist, ha! Way to go, my little boy!

What makes me happy

Today, I thought about what made me happiest - being with Sito and having ZK and this little one inside :) And also moving out of AMK.

Then I thought about what makes me happy. And the list seems long.. In no particular order:

- Looking at my husband and thinking he's cute
- Looking at my ZK and thinking he's cute
- Feeling little baby's movements, and eventually looking at him and thinking he's cute too
- Looking at their photos
- Copying ZK's expressions, speech and actions with Sito
- ZK pulling me down to his bed cos he wants me next to him
- ZK stories - see next post
- Clear blue skies
- Pretty stuff, e.g. a great pedicure, hair clips
- Cute stuff, e.g. fluffy accessories that I'll never buy, small fluffy white clouds
- Buying things with a shopping list
- Wandering about Daiso without a shopping list
- Snacking through main meals
- Baking, cooking, eating!
- Eating without fear of gaining weight - only while breastfeeding I'm afraid!
- Daydreaming (I usually feel happy after that cos I won't know a thing while at it!)
- Feeling contented because I am

There are probably more, but don't think I can list them all. I'll just be happy (+1!) that I have a long list of things that make me happy :)

Saturday 5 April 2014

My poor ZK again..

This poor boy was jumping on our bed and leapt off the side where there was no one!

I was cooking, heard screams, dashed in, saw his legs in the air, and my heart sank - looked bad! :( He was crying as a bump formed on the left side of his forehead. Kept telling me "jump jump" as he cried. I told him, no jumping on the bed! And he went "no no" while continuing to cry.

Silly boy, this isn't your trampoline! Aiyah, so poor thing la! So 心痛 :(

Then he was playing with pegs as usual when we were changing his diapers after lunch when he suddenly started howling - a bit of his thumb got caught in the mechanics of the peg! Now, that sounded a lot more painful than the bump of the head!

SL said she did that to hers so that he wouldn't play with them anymore. But I doubt this one learns leh... He still wanted to sit at the desk despite falling off my chair earlier this week..

So just now, SL and DC were here with their little one Isaac. ZK wasn't as friendly towards him as he was towards Vera - obvious preference for girls!! They were even trying to snatch the chair out of each other's hands! Quite hilarious actually... But later, when DC gave ZK some snacks, he started being more open and willing to share. Ah well, really have to introduce the little baby to him gently, preferably with snacks *.*

On another note, I'm also very poor thing - ZK bit me on the thigh until it bled. The spot is still red and swollen. I feel super sorry for the three kids - two older boys and a younger girl - whom he bit in school on Monday to Wednesday... I scolded him fiercely when I heard about the biting on Thursday. Told him to bite himself if he wanted flesh!

Thursday 3 April 2014

ZK down, Mama down

Yes, double post today.

So ZK woke at 3 am last Saturday and as he was going back to sleep, I heard from Y, he puked out his dinner. I was asleep but could hear ZK earlier. It had got quiet but I saw light from the kitchen. I peeked out, saw Y watching his pacifier and learnt what happened.

I went in to find ZK who was sitting on the blanket and leaning back on his bed, looking lethargic. No wonder it was quiet! So poor thing! He saw me but didn't move much. We cleaned him up and changed his PJs - he started to doze off while we were changing him! Must be quite tired...

I decided to put him back in bed myself but he got more alert shortly and rolled about. Gave him some water and suddenly, he was whining and puking again. Nothing solid, just some liquid which I caught in my hands. I told him I'd be back and went to wash my hands. Y saw the light and helped clean him up before we tried to sleep again.

But he puked again! Still liquid and this time it got on the bed and blanket. Repeat the cleaning. But this time, we had no more bedsheets. So we just changed his PJs and let him sleep on a cleaner spot. I also found that he was slightly feverish. So worrying.. He vomited a few times in the past couple of months, which we put down to indigestion or overeating, but this was the first time he had a fever too.

Saturday morning, he couldn't finish his usual milk. He tried to sit up and out came a bit of milk. Sighs. And when he was walking to or out of his bedroom, he puked out the rest of his milk. We were supposed to see the PD for his vaccination after my gynae. We decided to go to the PD anyway but to have him checked rather than vaccinated. His fever was still on-off.

He was all fine at the gynae. At the PD, we puked some liquid on himself and me after having some water. We didn't manage to change him cos it happened to be our turn! Doctor said he was a little bloated so it was probably some stomach flu. He advised against milk - his usual and soy too! - for a couple of days and to stick to non-fat foods. He also said he might have loose stools after the vomiting passed..

We changed him and gave him some bread while waiting for medicine. Then we left for our lunch.

ZK fell asleep on Sito on the way to lunch but woke when we were being seated. I dared not give him much ramen but luckily, he didn't have much appetite after the bread and had only some Gerber puffs. We even took a walk to Daiso to buy some cleaning stuff before taking a cab home, as he looked tired.

He dozed off again by the time we got home but woke when I tried to put him on our bed so I thought, let's change his diapers. I stood up, got to the door to ask Sito to come help and suddenly, he vomited down my back! Then he turned around and vomited again, down my front!

The sound was horrible. So worried for my little boy. Y took him to the changing table to wash up and change while I washed my feet before helping out. He seemed better after vomiting so I went to take a shower before putting him in bed. Oh, also gave him a bit of medicine but he didn't like it...

He woke and had some Nestum with mostly water - I took a risk and added a bit of soy milk to give him his usual taste. He ate everything - and it stayed in his belly, thank goodness cos that was his only food after he vomited out his dinner, milk and bread.

Made some mee sua for his dinner. He didn't eat as voraciously as usual. He took slightly more medicine. Must be getting used to the taste.

Sito and I went out for dinner after I put him in bed - he slept really early at 7 pm. But he must be uncomfortable as he woke at 8.30 pm. I came out of the shower finding Y with him. I took over and managed to settle him after a long while. But as I was preparing to leave his room at 10 pm, he woke! I didn't get out until 12.30 am!

And then he kept waking up too. In the end, I spent most of the night with him in his room. Good that I could check his temperature too. But I came down with a cold that is just subsiding today.

Gave him soy milk and Nestum the next day, which lasted him until lunch at Mum's place. He didn't eat much of his lunch but had some steamed cake instead. By then, he was taking full dose of his medicine, which I called "vitamins" - sly mama!

My poor baby playing with a thermometer on Sunday morning:



He took a nap and woke to more cake. He was quite happy. No more vomiting. No more fever too. Phew! And he had more dinner on Sunday. We remained cautious and gave him only soy milk diluted with water in a cup. Novelty and yummy so he took everything happily. Sito put him in bed for me as I was feeling really bad...

Monday was the test cos he was going to take milk in school. I gave him Nestum for breakfast and sent him to school with five scoops of milk powder per feed instead of his usual six. Everything was fine. That was it! My baby has recovered! :)

And guess what, on Saturday, I didn't feel much of my ulcers. I though worrying over ZK somehow sent my other nerves into recession but no, the pain has really subsided! I was - and still am - keeping my fingers crossed. I'll wait until this weekend to give the verdict on my ulcers.. Cos I'm nursing a cold so that pain might be suppressing ulcer pain *.* We'll see.

Today, I put ZK in bed for the first time since Saturday. I had also been outsourcing night duty to Y since Sunday night so I missed him so much! It was so much fun just now! We sang and played a bit before turning out the lights. He wanted me to sing "row row" and he said "ah!" at the end :p Also asked for 星星 - that was new cos last time, he would only give me the gesture for stars. And of course, he wanted "bus". Took a while but eventually he dozed off. My little boy, sleep tight :)

Update at 26w4d

Well, obviously I have not lived up to my word to document everything in this pregnancy.. Hmm.. Well, at least I'm doing it periodically! :p

Ok, my little baby is protesting inside now but hitting me repeatedly down south *.*

So.. Today, at 26w4d, I discovered linea nigra! It's still faint but it's unmistakenable. It seems to have appeared overnight! Or was I too ill the past few days to notice?

And today, I also noticed that my belly is looking a lot more protruding! I ordered a sandwich for lunch and didn't get a drink. The guy gave me a free drink cos "you're pregnant" :) "and the meatballs are really huge!" Haha!!

Little baby has been having fun, I think. Last week, he gave me some hard knocks inside. I could feel my insides lurch to one side! And I'm starting to feel something hard sliding across small parts of me here and there - very fun :)

Yes, I'm really enjoying his movements! :) There's so little time to enjoy foetal movements - just a few months!

So we went for the usual prenatal visit last Saturday, the third since I started on my package - feels good to walk out without paying! Of course it was all paid upfront but still :p

Anyway, cos it was a Saturday, it was the perfect opportunity to bring my hub and my pup! ZK was having fun with the toys at the reception when we bumped into an acquaintance - she's due in May and has an elder daughter one month older than ZK who could say a lot! I was so envious.. Bah, don't be a tiger mum!

We didn't wait too long. We went in, ZK said hi :) And we got down to the scanning.

I've been telling ZK about baby in my belly for a while. And this scan confirmed that he was all confused - when he saw my bare belly, he pulled up his own shirt and said "baby" *.* Of course he couldn't understand anything on the TV and was soon pointing to the sink wanting to wash his hands or running to the cabinets trying to destroy things..

It was the first scan that we didn't really pay much attention to - poor little baby :( But we heard his weight - 866g! Woohoo! I like to hear him gaining weight. Of course that's a given but it's nice to know :)

Unfortunately, we also heard mine - I have gained 8kg already! I thought I gained that much at 32 weeks with ZK but I just checked my records - no, I gained that much just before 26 weeks! Woah, I feel so much better haha! But I'll still check my weight. After all, I started from a slightly higher base than last time. And it's only the responsible thing to do for my little baby.

Little one, Mama loves you :)

Tuesday 1 April 2014

My poor ZK

This morning, as usual, I placed him on the chair to watch Thomas while I washed up. As I was lathering my face, I heard a dull thud, a little scream from Y and crying. I dashed out to find that my little boy had fallen off the cushion on the chair and hit his forehead on the left, apparently having slipped off the cushion :(

It was my fault :( I should never have let him be alone on the chair. I should have insisted on removing the cushion which he had recently started to like. I should have been with him.

He was such a poor thing. He didn't cry for very long but he asked for his pacifier amid sobs and then his bolster. We moved him to his bed where he stayed just hugging his bolster. There was no swelling. I think he had a scare :(

Thankfully, he was up and playing before long, although he wasn't letting go of his pacifier and bolster. We let him be. And when he wanted more Thomas, I moved the laptop - luckily it was charged! - to in front of the TV and tried to place ZK on the sofa. He refused and moved his chair right up to the laptop. I had to shift his chair all the way back to the sofa to put some distance between him and the screen. Luckily, he was alright with that.

Again, my fault. I was already thinking of buying a smaller TV two weeks ago to replace the monster in the living room so that we could watch TV without worrying about our eyes, especially the little eyes, but I didn't take action. If I had bought a smaller TV earlier, he would be watching Thomas at a lower level instead of at my desk.

Sighs, at 20.5 months of age, I let my son fall from an adult chair and hit his head :(

He had fallen off our bed before - that was in India when he was sleeping with us and moving in the night. But we were lucky cos he landed on his butt, cushioned by diapers and fleshy butt cheeks. He just woke and whined. He fell off the bed one more time after that. I can't remember whether that was in India too or at home but it was a minor fall. Think he supported himself or Sito did.

There were near misses when he was younger. But he learnt to get off the bed the butt way quite quickly and I guess we got complacent. That's why he started falling off recently.

I'm nursing a bad cold now but I target to get that TV by this weekend so that we can have some entertainment and, more importantly, peace of mind!