How's your day?

Wednesday, 5 July was significant.

We were in the midst of the usual bedtime routine when out of the sudden, Kai asked me how my day was.

I've been asking about his day - in very specific ways like, what did you have for lunch today - for some time, and I got limited responses. But now that he's asking me, he would talk about his day as well. It's wonderful!

There were times we both forgot of course. But this boy was so cute. He told me in the morning that he forgot to ask about my day the previous night :)

I'm imagining the day when five of us are sitting around a table exchanging little stories of our days :)

The kids don't get tired

As expected, it was my turn to be down after Yu. Nothing serious but I was so tired yesterday that I couldn't wake up after Yu woke up from his afternoon nap, and I fell asleep before 9.30 pm last night. Today, I feel much better. Hope it stays that way...

So Yu had a review on Wednesday and was taken off the nebuliser, phew! I really hate that. He sometimes smiled at the beginning but within seconds he would be wailing. He's better now, less coughing, less phlegm. But I'm aiming for zero phlegm so the meds continue...

Yang took this photo - poor Yu

Starting to sleep better

Kai started carrying Yu this week...

Kai was strong enough to carry even Yang so I only had to make sure he put him down properly. But Yang tried to carry Yu today and that was so scary!!

Love this shot of them sharing a look :)

But the poor long-suffering Papa was crushed!! And so was I at times. They took the word horsing around too literally....

Yu: "What is 'go, horsie, go'??"

Kai climbed up on his own but couldn't get down

Yang paddled really hard at the fitness corner

We started going back to the playground downstairs. We used to get lots of mosquito bites there but it was ok the past couple of Saturdays. And it was a lot less walking compared to if we had gone to the "new" playground across the road coz we would walk to Star Vista from there too whereas we would take the train from the playground downstairs.

Was this his first time in a kiddy ride?? Mama can't remember! Ah well, third child :p

We had a play date today with Yang's friend, H. All my boys had/have a classmate called H! H1 wanted to watch a movie with only Kai; H2 named her doll after Yang - hoho!! H2 eats raw carrots and handed them around freely. Only Yu bit. Maybe we'll have one kid who eats healthy? *hopeful*

The friends jumping in her brother's cot

I really wonder where they get all their energy from. Coz I need some of that!! How can they jump around whole day and then take a long time to go to bed? This week was quite bad - Kai and Yang were sleeping past 9 pm all week. And Yang especially, kept coming out. A couple of times, Kai fell asleep before Yang! Even Yu could stay awake for five hours and still struggle when I stuffed the pacifier in. And Yang and Yu are still waking at night, especially Yu of course.

I had a very late Friday night, which perhaps contributed to the very tired Saturday. By the time I got in bed at past 1 am, I realised that Yang could come in within the hour. It was so depressing. And indeed, Yu woke me at 3+ and I found Yang sleeping like a log on my legs *.* It's so sweet to have Yang there but it makes it really difficult for me to tend to Yu, and if Yu doesn't sleep, I don't sleep.

But one good thing about Yang coming in is that he gets more interaction with Yu. Some mornings, they were both awake at 5 or 6+, and they would play with each other. Twice this week, I saw Yang put the pacifier into Yu's mouth - they looked so happy!!

It's only 9.30 pm but I'm tired already. I'm now waiting for a work email to come in so that I can have a look at it. Hope I can settle it within 10 minutes! Despite the two cups of coffee at the playdate, I really want to get in bed now!

I forgot how fast I could walk in heels

Very fast. In kitten heels la...

Took out an old pair of open-toe heels to wear this week. My aim is to wear them out so that I can clear my shoe cabinet... But in doing so, I felt GOOD! Gosh, how long has it been since I last wore heels??

My colleagues have been commending me on my appearance lately. And it all started with my new haircut on Yang's birthday - I came home looking like the good old mf plus some flesh all round...

mf at 37, with some life-changing lipstick

So nice right? Taken the day after the haircut. Of course, I never look like that again coz I don't style my hair with my hairdryer! Most days, I'd be happy if I only remembered to put on some hair oil to tame flyaways. After all, I no longer have rebonded hair so it can get quite messy...

The hair and the lipstick are the two recent little things that are pulling me away from my usual mama look. You can tell from the waves in my hair that I've been tying my hair for the longest time. Letting it down these days feels really good - when the weather is kind..

The lipstick was a surprise though - it didn't make my lips any drier than expected, as was usual of previous lipsticks. This is one of five or six sample size Clinique Chubby Sticks that PC gave me over last Christmas. Now I'm very tempted to buy the full size when I'm done with the sample.

And all that gua sha seemed to have helped. I have observant colleagues who stared at my thighs underneath Uniqlo tights!

I'm so happy to be slowly reverting to the good old mf :)

Besides my looks, I'm also trying to be more green. I used to be very green. Now, it's hard. And my children are contributing to food waste every day, not to mention electricity and water. My living room bench is full of toys that will eventually end up in a landfill. So I need to do something. I started packing my mixed rice without the plastic bag. I was thinking of going with my own container next but it's tough deciding between plastic and water for cleaning up... I was also wondering if I could use my own cup for bubble tea, and decided that it's good enough that I boycott LiHo for its cover.

Work-wise, I'm back to long hours. Not as bad as 2008 but it's bad for a mama of three who doesn't get enough sleep during sleeping hours. Tonight, I decided to stop going through item after item. Work can never end but I grow old every minute. Let me spend some time writing here. It's kind of therapeutic :)

The brothers two by two

It's been a while since I updated on brotherly activities. So here goes!

Samurais on Racial Harmony Day!

Actually, they looked more like tofu workers without the swords..! And the red man on the front isn't even a samurai; it's a sarubobo coz Mum they all got three sets of these during their trip to Takayama. Yu's is a baby version. Hope to wear it one day...

The two of them also came back with henna tattoos on their hands. Very nice! But they faded easily. The next day, there was a charity flea in school and their teacher drew more henna tattoos on their hands. Love it :)

Kai doing rock-climbing!

Yang doing his monkey thing above the slide

Oh but wait - Yu had a go at the playground too, thanks to Papa!

We set off quite early yesterday, after their afternoon nap, coz we wanted to go to J Cube to take the excavator rides. But there's now a very distracting sand pit, meant as a waiting area for kids but they were so taken with it that Kai only did one excavator ride while Yang did both the excavator and the ball pick-up thing. I used up the last token :p

So happy with sand

Me :p

Happily looking out of the window on the train from Jurong East

Last night, while I was busy with Yu, Yang opened a drawer in the living room and discovered a stash of toys - I've been hiding them right under their nose for some time! Ah well... But at least they were treating them like new toys now. In fact, they didn't even play with the new toys they got from the charity flea yesterday!

For once, toys kept them very occupied after their shower

Today marks the end of a month-long birthday celebration for four in the family - Yang, Ah Yee, Kai, Jiejie. Both boys had some chocolate cake after quite a long break. They drank quite a bit of water so I hope no cough comes round tmr... Though Kai was already coughing a bit..

Now this is familiar...

"Xiao GeGe, wake up for chocolate cake!

I must really dig out the one with Yang disturbing Kai!! It's so fun to watch their interactions. At this point, it's usually two by two. May take quite a while before the three of them can play together as three.

Two days of child MC

I was at a media event on Wednesday morning when I got two text messages from the teacher and the principal - Yu measured 39.5 deg! But I couldn't leave so I asked them to help sponge him. By the time I was done, there was no sound from the school so I happily continued to work. Ya, I know - bad mama! But babies have fevers right? :p

Wanted to go pick him up at 3 pm after finishing up loose ends from the morning but got a call before 2 pm from the teacher that Yu was hitting 41 deg! I packed up and cabbed down.

The poor boy was so unhappy! :( And yes, he was hot - 39.5 deg in school just before we left. He was so hot that his cheeks turned pink! And he seemed quite lethargic and took a few naps under 30 min. I wanted to bring him to the PD but the clinic closes every Wednesday afternoon. So I fed him ibuprofen and just monitored him.

It was quite obvious when the fever subsided - he became happier! But very needy. If I carried him, he wouldn't let N take him away. I had to put him on the floor to play and move away. Then when he saw me, he whined. Poor baby but Mama had to work...

Yu took a dose of paracetamol at dinner time, without dinner, and went to bed. He wasn't warm the whole night. Sent him to school for a while so I could pack a few things. Got an appointment at 11.10 am so went to pick him up to go see the PD - just wanted to get this bout of illness cleared up.

He was quite happy on the bus, looking around

"I like going to the doctor's coz there are toys..." 

PD suspected the flu and ordered a test. He cried so hard during the swab *.* It was a short 20-30 min wait, during which he fell asleep. The test was negative. But since he has been coughing for so long, he gave him antibiotics and nebuliser on top of the usual symptomatic stuff - for phlegm, running nose, fever.

I had never seen a nebuliser before. Thought it looked like my pump with its cord and stuff :p Maybe it's the name - Medel or something. Kai had something similar at 6-7 months but it was a puff into some cylinder. This was something else. But both had the same result - plenty of crying and screaming!!

The nurse did a demo since I was a noob. The movements woke him. After the initial cries, Yu was just shouting. She said it would take 7-8 minutes. Gosh.

Had lunch and bought some snacks before going home. He dozed off along the way but woke just before we got home. As expected, it was tough at home. His fever returned while we were out so he was unhappy. It took a while for the medicine to kick in. I was so tired that I took a quick nap. When I woke, he just fell asleep. But it was time for the nebuliser!

Playing with the gym ball - spot the nebuliser behind!

But I took some time to look for a plug coz the machine has a two-pin plug. By the time I set things up, he was up. I tried to administer the thing myself but he was too strong. Sorry, baby, gotta pin you down :(

Happy when it was over

I was with Kai and Yang when Sito came home. Yu tends to wake when Sito comes home - daddy's boy? :) So he woke. And since he was up, I gave him the nebuliser again. Kai and Yang wanted to watch, and they were so cute - they asked me to stop it already coz I was burning him or he was crying! Such empathy :)

Kept Yu at home the next day to continue the four-hourly nebulisation though he was no longer running a temperature. We started the day at 6.30 am - with nebulisation :( I think he has been traumatised :(

It's hard to keep the boy at home for long coz he gets restless. He likes going out. When he didn't want to let Sito carry him this morning, I asked Sito to go touch the baby carrier. Yu smiled and reached out for him, hoho!

So thankful that he napped for just over an hour in the morning! Managed to cut his nails. So sad he woke just before nebulisation time. I was hoping I could do it to him while he was sleeping. He was so angry after that that he punched me! And he was so sad as well and refused to let go of me. So conflicted, my boy :p Really is 最爱的人伤我最深 :p

Playing with balls - love this expression

Silly boy was hitting his head with the ball

Went to Vivocity for lunch. It was crowded and I wasn't too hungry so I just bought chicken to eat on the way to Daiso :p Bought a flask to hold barley so we don't end up with eight cups in the fridge every Wednesday. And a non-slip mat in preparation for Yu's shower. That was my entire Daiso shopping list but I left the shop $12 poorer... Hmmm...

Got back in time for his second nap. Actually way ahead of time. Took a while before he went down. I wanted to sleep too but it was almost time for his nebulisation so I waited... Yet he woke very soon! So we traumatised him once more :( I couldn't take it anymore and let N play with him for 45 min while I took nap. Left the house for tea right after my nap. Yu was so happy to see me and/or the carrier!

My coffee, my cake and his bread

He rejected the break after the first cube, and played with the box instead

"The cover is more fun!"

And then he suddenly decided he would eat! But he dropped more cubes on the floor than in his mouth. I encouraged him by clapping for every successful feed. He loves to clap too!

Chomping while seated like a baby beng

I was very happy that we spent some 40 min in Costa. I really enjoyed my tea and watching this boy at the same time :)

Bumped into colleagues who were in the area for a meeting and chatted a while before spending some time and money in Watsons. Then it was time to go back for a shower!

Decided to take out the non-slip mat to try but this boy wouldn't stand! So he sat on the mat and played with the water on the floor! Ah well... I gave him a quick shower and got myself a bit wet, but it wasn't too bad. Nursed him a little and left to pick up his brothers. Set him to bed after yet another nebulisation, sighs...

And this morning, we tortured him another time before going back to the PD for a review. His wheezing had improved yeah! But coz he still has lots of phlegm, PD wanted him to continue the nebulisation for four more days!!! At a reduced dosage of three instead of four times a day. Sighs... I'm reducing that to twice a day from Monday so that he can go to school.

Poor baby Yu, hope you are rid of the cough and phlegm asap!

The absolute cuteness of the last baby

Yu doesn't sleep well. (What's new?) I usually hold him in my arms until he sleeps. Then I'll carry him over to my bed and lower him down, still snug in my arms. When both of us hit the bed, we'll be lying next to each other, my right arm under his neck. His head is resting on his left on my arm, and his left cheek will be fatter and rounder than his right. When I'm not too tired, I'll not remove my arm immediately. I'll watch him :)

He is so cute :)

He's cute when he's smiling

He's cute when he's crying/whining

He's cute when he's expressionless

He's cute when he's playing

He's cute when he's eating

He's cute even when he's pooping! (Sorry no picture :p)

But of course, he's cutest when he's sleeping :p

My kids make me speechless or lol

Both Kai and Yang say the most amazing things. Amazing not just they're my sons ok :p

Mama: I have four favourite boys in the work - Papa, Kai, Yang and Yu:)
Kai: *pause* Is papa your son?
Mama: Um, no... But he's still my favourite boy...

Kai: Can we go out?
Mama: I think we can!
Kai: Say "we can"! Don't say "I think"!

I was trying to revise his Chinese enrichment class...
Mama: 你会不会跑步？
Yang: I can only walk!
And one time, Kai chimed in absentmindedly when he was busy nearby: He can but he don't [sic] want to...

Kai needed to pee so I looked into the accessible toilet to see if it had a child seat. No. But I didn't look closely enough coz Kai spotted a kiddy toilet bowl right across from the main one.
Kai: oh I can use this one. I think this is a good idea *nod nod*

Kai: I didn't have a good weekend..
Mama: Huh? But you had candy, lollipop, ice cream and yummy cake!
Kai: ... but no chocolate...

Seriously, no good weekend?!

Oops, looks like it's mostly Kai now. But I'm sure Yang's turn will come :)

Babyled weaning?

I thought of this before but didn't act on it coz he seemed to be eating ok in school, and babyled weaning is quite a bit of work, what with thinking of the food and the cleaning up. Though I must say cleaning up won't be done by me :p

But the past week reminded me of babyled weaning again. He kept rejecting his dinner so when Kai rejected his dinner (what's new?!), I gave some of his plain rice to Yu and he lapped it up!

Stuffing his face silly

I put some fish into his cereals earlier and was rejected. When I tried to sneak some of his fish into the rice, he could tell and stopped eating it *.* I think I would need to reintroduce fish to him...

Threw him a slice of wholemeal bread one morning and he ate about half of it

Checked back old photos - Kai could eat a cheese sandwich on his own by about one. Hope Yu can too - three more months!

Yu also had strawberry after rejecting yet another dinner, courtesy of Yang who rejected his strawberries. Just what's wrong with the kids in this house, all rejecting some food?! Argh!

"A little sour but I like it!"

Yesterday and today, Yu had quite a bit of cereals though. But I hope to give more "real" food than cereals - both Kai and Yang had quite a bit of those, especially Kai coz there was no cooked dinner for him on weekdays until he was 15 months old!

So maybe I shouldn't be lazy and should start thinking of some kiddy food for the babe... Jia you, mf!

The hair, dim sum and couple time weekend

This has been such a good weekend on so many counts.

First of all, Yang finally got a haircut!

He resisted a haircut for the longest time. His hair was so long that it was hard to wash his hair, especially when he doesn't like water in his eyes! I thought he and Kai look more alike with short hair right after the haircut. Last night, when Yang walked into our room, I thought it was Kai but the height alerted me that it was Yang. I really should go dig out photos of them at the same age for comparison!

Second happy thing - my polo char siew buns kena stunned by Kai and Yang! Gosh, I've been waiting for them to like dim sum so I didn't mind! Still some way to go for the other items though... Both boys ate quite a bit yesterday - fish porridge, char siew noodles without char siew, the bun.

Kai gave up his bun after Sito had a bite, something about saliva *.*

Yang had half of that

Kai said something funny when the porridge arrived. I asked Sito to remove the coriander coz the kids wouldn't eat it...

mf: 把那些菜拿走吧
Kai: That's not vegetable. It's only grass.

Hohoho!! He has said some funny things lately but I'll save them for another day..

Third - we had a very nice break today though Sito had to work. Very nice coz Yu was asleep most of the time so we didn't have to cut short our break to walk him :) And even though he had to work, it wasn't so intense that we couldn't talk.

Hello, Dear :)

Me and the sleeping boy, hidden

But my back still hurts now *.* I don't know if it's age or the darn carrier which is really old and worn now... I carried Kai for a long time, Yang less, and now Yu isn't even one yet!

Fourth - today at Mum's place, Yang ate lunch and dinner all by himself! He can do that for a long time but usually he wants someone to feed him. I really hope he can consistently feed himself so that we can soon go out on our own without having to bring N. Yesterday, N was only helping to feed Yang, coz Sito was cutting the noodles for both boys at the same time. Imagine, if both could feed themselves, Sito can easily take them both and have his own food while I take Yu and have mine! Looking forward to spending time as a little family on a regular basis, like we did every Saturday before Yu :)

On a related note, Yang finished his last can of formula this week! I didn't replenish even though he had asked for nai nai here and there. I just stopped it abruptly though I had given him verbal warnings for some time. I think Kai didn't even notice it when he finished his last can, coz he wasn't having it consistently in school or at home by then. But so far so good - no crying. Yang is really no longer a baby :(((

No more nai nai :(

Kai's birthday weekend

Kai has been harping on his present since we bought it, all the way through Yang's birthday - may I open my present now? May I open my present on Yang's birthday? Can Yang open his present on my birthday?!

Kids....!

But finally, it was Kai's turn to open his present! I promised him that he could have it the Saturday before his birthday. He eyed it in the morning, he eyed it during lunch, he eyed it before his nap. And then he had a nap and woke with his present in mind!

Opening it with Papa

Waiting patiently at the end of a long wait..?

Starting to play already!

He wanted to go to Earle Swensen's at Vivocity, the exact same place where we celebrated Yang's birthday. But we wanted to go to a regular Swensen's since we didn't want the salad buffet. We managed to convinced him about Swensen's at Clementi Mall :p

The kids had some fun at the little playground while I did a quick grocery run at NTUC downstairs. And then it was time for dinner! Service at this Swensen's is usually slow. So it was good that we started early. Kai didn't want the ice cream cake but a candle wouldn't stand in the sundae so we went without a candle. The result was that the boys tucked into the ice cream before we could take a proper picture.

The only decent one where most of us are looking at the camera and I wasn't blocking Yu!

Kai fed me a tiny bite of his sundae and finished the rest of it. Yang didn't finish his Milo dirt pot so Sito and I had quite a bit.

Coz we left the house pretty soon after opening his present on Saturday, Sunday morning was the time when he had more time to play with it. He didn't want to share much with Yang though, so there was quite some whining....

So pleased with his toy!

But he couldn't stop Yu, haha!

Due to Chengzhu, we didn't get his cake. Mum ordered a rainbow cake instead and everyone loved it! In fact, Kai chipped off a corner before we even sang for him... Yang just woke and was quite grouchy so I carried this 14kg boy through the singing...

Perfect moment just before the candles were out!

Source: Ah Yee

I must admit I almost cried towards the end of the singing - couldn't believe he was turning five!!

This morning, however, Kai seemed to have forgotten it was his birthday. I wished him happy birthday in the morning and he went, oh! *.*

After sending them to school, I came home to play with Lego... Trying to make something to put on the cake coz he didn't want Trolls, bleah! In the end, it was just too hard! I'm so not creative ok... So I took his helicopter, which he built on his own from only a mental blueprint, and changed the bricks a bit to make the colours more uniform. I also gathered a few policemen along with Spiderman and the Green Goblin :p Oh, and a few "fires" to place next to the bad guy whose hand welds what could only be a torch, hence the fire :p

Happy birthday, Kai! :)

Hugs :)

With his K1 friends

Singing birthday song with the whole kindy group

He served the cake to his friends and teachers after I cut it - got order one, ok...

And then we walked home in the slight drizzle

I had wanted to bring him to the playground but since it was wet, we stayed in to do some activity books. Then we went to walk around the Lego shop downstairs before heading for lunch at Sushi Tei coz he wanted to try sushi. Well, I should have known better coz he had tried it that day we went to the dinosaur exhibition. Basically, he didn't see any sushi he liked *.* But he enjoyed his soup udon and katsu with sweet sauce!

Plenty of poses though

Yes, you! :p

With that, my boy is five. May you grow healthy and happy as you discover more and more about the world :) Love you lots!