These shoes were made for running

All good things must come to an end, and I bade my new pair of shoes goodbye.

You have served me well

 

 

It had been nearly 2 years, since I bought this pair of shoes. I remember how it hurt me the first time I ran in them. But after running it in (pun intended), they were amazing. They have accompanied me through 2 half-marathons, and my consistent runs through the years.

 

I feel slightly nostalgic throwing them out, but they no longer serve me well because my calves have begun to hurt when I run in them, and I think the support is no longer.

Good bye, shoes. Thanks for the great run.

#parentingstruggle - reflections

It has been a struggle.

Specifically, my lack of control over myself. It is not new news, but in the last #parentingstruggle moment two nights ago, I paused and reflected (again) and I am reminded that I am in control of myself. Or rather, in my case, it is I should be more in control of myself.

I can blame anything, and anyone, but ultimately, what happens is from me. To be honest, the first step in this acknowledgement, is painful. I am not proud to say that I have bullied my children in my weaker moments of outbursts; but I am going to doggedly continue down this path of self-awareness and pursuit to make things better.

To tell myself of my lousy behaviour is quite shocking, and I am still reeling in this self-realisation. But as with things where we have heard repeatedly, sometimes, it takes the nth time to hear it again to actually understand it.

I am reading through this article I found on the internet and I have been reading through it slowly, and repeatedly. Some gems I pick out include:

...in the storm of our anger, we feel righteously entitled to our fury

The best defense is a good offense, so we lash out at our child in anger. The whole process takes all of two seconds.

Parents and kids have the ability to trigger each other as no one else can. Even as adults we are often irrational in relation to our own parents. (Who has greater power to annoy you and make you act childish than your own mother or father?)

I will continue on this mission.

Princess Sunday

On the last day of the Easter long weekend, we rocked up at a princess-themed party for K's little friend.

A walk-in wardrobe filled with costumes for the
princess and knights wannabes!

Cupcake deco station

 

Sticker tattoo station

 

Everyone gets a chance to be on-stage

Teamwork

Fixing a puzzle

Knight J's team

 

In his knight costume

Riding in a carriage / story-time

The children had fun, and the concept was pretty entertaining. I'm not sure if I encourage such fluff but hey. It's a one-off party, so it's fine. The place was slightly cramped, but I think that the children couldn't care less about that so it was a pleasant afternoon spent for them. This activity ended our Easter long weekend. Back to the grind!

Baking Saturday

A playdate lunch with a girlfriend, turned into an afternoon of impromptu baking for my firstborn. She has a baking bone in her, this one (ahem, I claim no credit) and I'm so thankful that I have friends who can actually help her with this tactile experience. Off she went on her own and spent an afternoon kneading, sprinkling, whisking and what-nots. The end result was lovely - she delivered a whole tray of amazing baked fare of muffins and cookies.

 

Whisking

Plating

 

Drizzling muesli

Healthy blueberry muffins and salty-choc cookies

Face of concentration

A Good Friday at the beach

Munchkins

 

Heading outdoors is such a happy affair. The sun is shining, the breeze is cooling, the kids are laughing... all we need is (1) coleman with ice to chill the drinks (2) random food like chips, simple sandwiches and fruits (3) play items like frisbee and beach toys, and (4) comfort materials like hammock, mats and if you are professional like us, a make-shift table with chairs. That set us up proper for a good 3+ hours.

 

In that time, the husband and I also completed a good workout that consisted of a 1km swim in the sea (pant pant the waves make it so much harder!) and a 5km comfortable run along the beach.

Post-workout happiness

 

Throw in some silly games to fill our guts with laughter ...

Eat-the-chip-on-your-face-without-using-your-hands

It was a lovely, lovely start to our long weekend.

Love language - quality time

After our "very" romantic message exchange, the husband and I did manage to find some time to spend with each other, on our wedding anniversary. It took place after a long day of (1) having the children taken care of thanks to favourite nainai, (2) us clearing our work after 12 hours from 8am to 8pm (3) an impromptu conversation exchange between him and I at 855pm to arrange for a time and place to meet...

 

I was early. I spent about 30 minutes cruising around the mall aimlessly, to decompress. It had been a long day and I was trying to snap out of work mode. I was tired of milling around after a bit, and headed to our agreed destination... and managed to stroll around for a bit of reminescence. Our meeting place was Emerald Hill, a row of shophouses that had been standing there for as long as I can remember, serving alcohol and their famous chicken wings.

 

Why this place? When the husband and I first met in 1995, we were younglings in high school. When the husband and I were slightly older younglings (about 2001), with disposable cash at the 'ripe age for drinking', Emerald Hill was one of the spots where we would meet to have drinks and hang out. Not very often, but we did. I believe it was also one of the first places we met on an unofficial 'date' during those initial years (the other was Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in the now-torndown building "The Promenade"). Emerald Hill is also the same place where I climbed daily to go to school for 2 years, and being there that night felt highly nostalgic. I was trying to immerse in the feel of memories...

 

Surprisingly, or not, the pubs were still popular and crowded with people. I opted to head to a nearby option rather than our regular old pub specifically, for practical reasons. I just wanted to sit down and have a quiet drink and I did. By the time the husband turned up, I was somewhat relaxed, had some wine and the chicken wings were on its way.

  

A book and a glass of wine. Bliss.

 

I think the night was very nice. I was thankful that the kids were well taken care of, and that I had time to myself. We spent the night talking, and after having had time to reflect upon this time spent together, I am reminded that a common love language of the husband and I have is 'quality time'. Given that it is a scarcity, or it's not as easily available for us, makes any time together more precious. The things we spoke of, were also more real, given that our life stage is obviously different - not just as individuals, but of us together, as a couple. Sometimes, you want to pull out all the stops to have a party, or sometimes, it's these private moments that mean more.

 

Happy Anniversary, Babe. I love you.

March School Holidays - Disney On Ice

 

Last year, I brought the children to watch Disney on Ice for the first time. We had a nice time and since it also coincided with the school holidays, I signed us up for it again. This year's highlights were (1) Frozen - the movie that's taken over our world by snowstorm and (2) the husband actually came with us! While he was half-bored (to death), I'm happy that he made it with us. As our schedules pack up, any time for family-together-time is much appreciated.

 

The evening went quite fine, with a simple dinner, followed by the children hanging out with their little friends, and enjoying the mass sing-along with familiar tunes from Disney.

 

 

Who loves cotton candy!

 

K singing along, J's enraptured face. Love this!

8 years

And they say romance is dead

Turning 36

I have mixed feelings about this birthday, as I turn 3-6. Yes, age is just a number and I know I have heaps to be thankful for, so while I take more time to gather my thoughts (not just about turning another year older, but the direction and challenges that are already presented to me this year, and in anticipation of what more is upcoming, it's a year of trials, learning and character development - especially in the areas of patience, and to be present)... here's a recap of how I spent my birthday on 18 March 2016.

 

My day started out early and dark. I had wanted to clock a run to start the day right, and I did.

 

Wearing my new top!

 

I've become pretty good at listening to my body, and making my exercise plans materialise, just by being dilligent in actively planning what I want to do for the day (still toggling between yoga, HIIT and running), and being disciplined to do them. It's not difficult, since my body has been in rhythm for the past few years, though my recent struggles have been to push myself to bed earlier so that waking up isn't as difficult.

A slow, leisure run to start the day right

My pace for running has dropped. I seem to have lost the speed and motivation to move quicker, though I still have the desire to keep running. The distance I accomplish are also comfortable within 5-6km and I have little time/motivation to go further. I think it's a phase I'm going through, where I view running as a form of outlet my body needs/wants (yes, I do crave to run) and there is no need for me to push myself as there is no 'goal' I am trying to hit (no trainings for any long-distance runs). I'm happy though, as I'm listening to my body and still clocking some movement.

Then, I prepared for work and a little buddy accompanied me, working up a sweat while at it.

WHEEEEEEE

My work day was relatively uneventful - no crisis, which is great, and through the day, I received greetings from well-wishers and I felt very thankful to be remembered by my friends and colleagues. I got e-greetings, about 150 wishes from Facebook, and text messages from my friends around the world - and it was amazing.



Feeling blessed

 

Jap lunch treat from this team, and a chocolate cake to top it off

 

I ended work not too late and managed to fit in a leisurely happy hour beer with some colleagues. Then, dinner (that I chose, and booked for myself. I had to book it under the husband's name because I wanted to put in a 'birthday request' for his wife).

 

We enjoyed a sumptuous dinner of clam/mussel soup, beef cheek, seabass and pizza at Etna. I tried it some months back and had wanted to share the place with the family, so glad that I did. To finish off the night, we received a sweet treat, which was announced to me by the children "it's a secret I cannot tell you!" for the early part, to J asking outright "where is the birthday cake!" after it took a little too long to arrive, for his liking. Ah, kids and their blatant honesty. Love it.

 

Happy birthday Mommy

Jake's rendition of our family. He started writing his name first, then asked how to spell
"LOVE" then "FROM" - except he heard "S" instead of "F".
"LOVE SROM JJAKE" 

Us.

 

An even better version of us - too funny not to share!

Post dinner, we strolled around the hood a little before heading to the car. I was stuffed.

They were looping about on the little tree strumps, for giggles. Made me laugh.

 

We headed home, still stuffed, and I was close to knocking out for the night... and the very secretive kids then declared, "MOMMY WE HAVE ANOTHER SURPRISE FOR YOU"

 

Another cake on my birthday to end the day

Everyone was too stuffed to eat the cake by this time (except for the bits of chocolate the kids picked at) but I do appreciate the thought. I have a thing that cake is a must on birthdays, and I know the husband - if nothing at all - will try to fulfill this.

It was a simple day, but I give thanks for every bit of love that came my way. Turning 3-6? Always fine as I am supported by the love from my family and friends all around me.

Feeling the love - my birthday gifts

I didn't receive much gifts this year, and actually, if I think back, I probably don't really receive much of them anymore anyway. So any of them really make me feel happy, because it is testament of people who care and that in itself is precious. The first set of gifts I received was from the sister and her fiance. Knowing me as well as they do, they gifted me with a complete new set (top and bottom) of new gear from a French manufacturer! The quality is great and the neon yellow is stunning!

 

Trying out my new gear... and mini-Superman

 

Special mention here that not only did I receive the gifts, the sweet couple even headed their not once, but twice to help me change the size so that it'd be a good fit on me. I love the print on the tights!

 

Thank you my sweet sister and the fiance!

 

The next gift I received was from my girlfriend, who is always thoughful with her gifts. It came in a beautiful container that I can recycle, a lovely hand-written note (her writing it still the same from high school till today!), a bottle of oil "Inspiration" (how apt. Can never have enough of that) and a customised notepad with my name!

 

Especially for me

#countingmyblessings

March school holidays: the kids go to Sentosa

After a lunch hour of fun with their friends and I, the kids were in for a real treat. The indulgent grandparents brought them both out for a whole day. They were picked up at 8+am, and only home about 6pm... that's a full day out! I am so thankful for the help and love from my parents, as they spoil the kids on these little adventures that mean the world to them - and me.

 

So, they spent the day at Sentosa, our little island of fun-fare. I have no good pictures to share, but here are some verbatims from the children:

 

"We are going to take cable car!"

 

"We sat on the horse and it was so fun!"

 

"We shoot and shoot you know, then the horse (.. incoherance...) you know?!"

 

"We didn't go to the water park. Cos it was too hot."

"I was so tired I took a nap. But only for a while then I have energy to play again."

 

"We had ICE-CREAM!"

 

"We played SO many times you know?!"

 

"It was SUPER FUN"

 

"Mommy! See we have CABLE CAR WATER BOTTLE!"

The kids obviously had a blast, and it really made me feel less guilty ... that they did go out in the sun to have fun while they could. And just as a parting shot, here's a picture of their extravagant toy/bottle gifted from their nainai.

Cable water-bottles - his and hers

March school holidays: visit to LEGO office

I did not take any leave this week. I guess good things do happen if you think hard enough about it because on a chance basis, a girlfriend and I developed a genius plan where she'd help pick my kids from home and bring them to the office for a lunch hour visit. This means that the children get shuttled to and from home safely, and they also get to play outside of home, I do not need to apply for leave and I also get to see them and have lunch with them for a good solid hour. Hooray!

 

 

Q, K, J, E

 

After a hearty lunch of chicken rice tapau-ed, we began the exploration of the office. My children have been here before, but the boys hadn't and it was a great experience to show them everything and have observe them and their reaction to the office. I am always reminded of how amazing a work space I have each time a fresh pair of eyes come in to view it.

 

We then spent a good solid amount of the hour at this brick wall. It's Easter soon, so we built a rabbid rabbit to add to the Easter-themed wall.

 

RABBID

 

Proud little builders

 

I noticed that J had lost interest in helping out with the main piece, and although K did help out, I also noticed that she was building something else on the side.

Take note of the cluster of random bricks in the middle (beside the unfinished egg)

I asked J what he was building and he honestly replied, "I did not help with the rabbit. I build my own thing. It is a football field (left) and garden (right)."

Why is it so colourful, baby?

"I wanted rainbow so there is a bit of rainbow there and there in my football field and my garden".

I am so proud of him - for his own imagination - he did build a few of his favourite things (football) and I wonder if he managed to gather all similar coloured yellow bricks, or if it was indeed random? Regardless, I always love to hear his artistic interpretation as it shows how his mind works.

K's L-E-G-O

K wanted to build something "on-theme" I guess, and went with the safe brand name of LEGO. In between helping out with the rabbid build, she went about to fix this L-E-G-O. What I felt was commendable in her efforts, was that she was stumped at how to fix the letter "G". There was a "G" that someone had already built on the wall and I told K to mimic it. I am very pleased with how her final output looked!

The children left soon after and I went back to work.

It was a nice day!

Hope #parentingstruggle part 2

After my jolting lesson about temper management, it had been a pretty good month of conscious holding back before tipping point, resulting in no yelling at the children! It had been fantastic - as I deem that yelling at the children is not the best demonstration of my behaviour to them, yet despite knowing that, I had not been behaving well at all. So this month of mindful holding back and not yelling is an achievement for me. Like, a major one.

 

However, the record broke last week. Bleargh.

 

Truth is, I know it always starts with me, so let me lay that out first. I lost it over hanyu pinyin and a very distracted child who was absolutely not paying attention. *insert frustrated emoticon with nostrils emitting smoke

 

In retrospect, I could already identify pain points leading up to the outburst, but I stubbornly refused to acknowledge the right moment to stop. Instead, I doggedly pushed on, then snapped and frightened the daughter, made her cry... I was disappointed with myself, because I was doing so well. Did I beat myself over it? A little, but not enough to give up on this mission to improve my temper and our relationship.

 

After the episode, I calmed down and I started to cry. I sniffed and I explained to K that there were several things that's happened recently that is really getting to me.

 

1) Her lack of ambition and poor attitude towards school work

I asked her why she doesn't take pride in her work, choosing to rush through things and deliver mediocre work.

Her lack of attention during class and while doing her work is so evident (!) - there was one whole page that was empty where she obviously did not even bother to fill in or totally missed out (sigh).

The time and effort we spent to practise spelling at home, does not translate to results. She comes home with errors - some of them poor spelling, some of them poor writing that the teacher penalised her for.

 

2) Her lies

It comes in spurts, and a recent huge episode that we discovered was her blatant lying about what she's eaten for recess. She chooses to twist her words and withholds information that doesn't paint a wholistic picture... and when we find out, it's heartbreaking.

 

3) Her general bratty behaviour

I raised to her specific instances where her outright tantrums and bratty responses to the people around her, I told her of how she is perceived when she behaves like that and I also tell her how awful she is during those moments. The eye-rolling, the constant whining and rude demands she makes are all grating traits that upset me.

 

I pleaded with her to consider her own actions, to think about why she has become this way. I also reminded her (tearily) that she is a very sweet, kind child and she should not be behaving this way. I questioned why she has changed so much, and I wondered where my sweet child is.

 

I garnered a reaction from her... first it was horror and fright at my outburst (sigh), then she cried alongside me as I poured my heart out to her. Then as I 'sobered up' from my emotional barrage, she did too and I tried to normalise our evening out by moving on to regular routine like showering and preparing for bed.

 

Then 2 things happened, both unprompted.

 

First, a love note from the girl.

 

K's after-thoughts

I will be a good girl and listen to my teacher in my cl(a)ss. I will be good at home and at school

 

My heart bloomed when I read this from her. I know that my daughter is going through a phase where she's discovering independance and perhaps it's all as much and difficult for her to handle as anything at all... and to uncover this little gem of the sweetness and love from within her... I'm relieved, thankful and happy.

 

The second blessing that happened, right after I read the love note from K, was from the boy.

 

 So, throughout the outburst, the boy was in the room (with doors shut). No doubt he'd have heard me raging too, but by the time he emerged from the room, things had normalised. I also had spent some time with him practising his writing. After we were done, and I was preparing to shower (feeling all deflated and lousy, may I add) I heard the boy ask for a scissors. I yelled at him from the room to use the 'baby scissors' (we're going through some real scissors practise which I have highlighted can only be used under the supervision of an adult) and he hollered back "ok!". Then just before I stepped into the bathroom, he came and handed this to me.

A love note from my boy

I was bemused and asked, "what is this baby?" To which he replied, "I love you Mommy. See I draw the heart by myself". In his original note to me, there was only 1 heart. I never knew he could draw a heart and so, I asked him to show me how he drew the heart all by himself, and he proudly showed me - which explains the final picture.

I explained to him that sometimes, Mommy loses my temper but I will always love the children and he seemed to understand that.

I have some reflections on this:
1) I will continue to practise being in control

2) I am human and sometimes, it's probably fine to let the children know that too

3) My children are sweethearts, underneath their sweat and grime and whine and naughty antics, they are sweet and loving and kind.

4) No matter how I fail in my attempts to become better, my children love me.
This, I think is a point that stresses upon what I mentioned before, of unconditional love. I know that no matter what the children do, how mad I am, I will always love them with my heart. Sometimes, in such moments, I am reminded too that no matter what, they do love me too and that is such a precious reminder that I thank my lucky stars for this amazing form of blessing.

And now, I march on towards better parenting because it's all about learning and the journey, not just about being perfect.. and sometimes, it's these little imperfections that allow such beautiful stories of love to prevail.

My birthday cake #1

Happy birthday, me!

On a super humid and warm Sunday, I was filled to the brim with food and love.

My mother volunteered to cook up a storm for me, suggesting her home-cooked style curry that's always a hit with everyone, and when I requested for her signature mee sua, she obliged in a heartbeat, with zero hesitation.

I received my first birthday cake of this year, and doesn't it just look amazing? Thanks to the sister who helped to organise a birthday gift that is highly practical and super loved, and the cake that made the afternoon of feasting super sweet.

The day finished off with an impromptu dessert session with the brother and his wife, and the husband. A simple affair over mango pomelo, durian paste and black glutinous rice with ice-cream, and light conversation with the people whom I love.

It was a nice day.

Lessons of love - a Valentine's Day story #parentingstruggle part 1

This post is slightly belated, as what I'm about to share took place on Valentine's Day, 14 February. It's taken me a while to write this, because I guess I was uncertain of how to put it down, but it's timely that I do this today.

 

Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate love - in our younger days, I'd yearned to receive flowers and gifts and cards, to feel special. Who doesn't love surprises? I remember the first Valentine's Day I spent with the husband - when we were younglings aged 17. We did the whole shebang - flowers, candlelit dinner, and even a photo by the restaurant to capture the moment for us. Off-hand, I cannot remember any other Vday celebrations that the husband and I had... though I do remember I inked KATE on me and I remember it as my Vday gift from the husband. Since then, though, I think we hadn't done anything too elaborate...

 

Anyway, this V-day came and went by with no fanfare. It was a Sunday, we had lunch with the parents and K came back from school with some stationery and a note to wish us Happy V-day.

 

Love from my baby girl

 

On that morning, K also drew up hearts for some of us - her Papa, me and her favourite yiyi + Uncle B and Nainai. The day went by uneventfully and for some reason, I was highly strung out and stressed and grumpy as the day went by. I was (over) focused on driving the kids to bed as it was a school day the next and I guess their behavious of whining and naughty antics just culminated to a very short-tempered and grumpy me. Writing of this many weeks later, I cannot even remember what it was that made me snap, but snap! I did.

When I did, I said cruel words to my daughter, words that I am ashamed of and words that I will never say to her again. Because those words were said in spite, in anger and totally unnecessary. That night, I slept fitfully and I relinquished all night duties to put them to bed. Instead, I cocooned into bed and wrapped myself in shame. Perhaps it was the moment, perhaps it was the constant nagging to myself and awareness that I had to stop snapping and yelling at the kids, perhaps it was the shame - whatever it was, it jolted me to be conscious of my outbursts. I've always been a yeller, allowing my emotions to get the better of me and I am never pleased or proud of it. But truth is, I never did anything actively to change it - I had the intent to, but I was never successful in manging it any better - until this incident.

 

I had broken the non-yelling spell though. I broke it last night with another incident. Yes I am bummed at my record being broken but I still clap my back - it had been nearly a month of non-yelling, with conscious awareness that I can control myself and my emotions before I snapped. I know there is hope and I am determined to keep trying.

 

To end off, here's sharing the sweetest thing that my son did. That V-day night, after my horrific and unkind outburst, he stood beside me as I was drying my hair in the room. He drew a picture for me.

 

"You and me, Mommy. I'm sorry."

 

He told me not to be sad, and that he loved me.

In that moment, I felt even more ashamed at my lousy behaviour, but also so grateful that my children had the big heart to forgive me and continue loving me despite my shortcomings, and short fuse. It was a valuable lesson to learn on any day, but I guess having happened on Valentine's Day made it an easy mark to remember and a coincidental lesson of unconditional love.
This love that ran both ways - my knowledge and want to become stronger and better for my children, and their innocent and whole love for their imperfect mother.

Strong lessons of love on this Valentine's Day, and one that I will always try to remember so that I can march on with purpose and become better.

Jake the sick

You know how I was lamenting about what a rough week it had been last week? It'e because instead of actually going off on what I labelled part 4 of Jake's birthday celebrations, which was a holiday to Hong Kong, it turned out to be us staying out of home for 3 nights, for a very different reason.

 

It all started with a temperature  (as it typically does) on Sunday. We did what we usually do - see the doc to get meds (Monday) monitor the temperature, administer medication as needed (paracetamol for regular fever and brufen for anything higher than 39.5degrees) with no panic. I held the sister off from checking in for us on Tuesday, the eve of our intended holiday as his temperature was still not going down, and just as well that we did that, because his fever did persist. J's body temperature typically goes pretty high (based on past ill patterns) so while we were concerned, there didn't seem a need to worry - yet. On Tuesday evening last week, the husband made a call that we should bring J to the doctor again because despite the medication, fever did not abate.

  

Snoozing - it was late, he was so tired and burning

At the slightly crowded clinic, the doctor assessed him and because of the persistent fever, recommended that we admit him for further tests. Unfortunately, Thomson Medical Clinic did not have any beds available in the padaetric wards. He suggested that we head to the nearest hospital - and after spending 2+hours there, we headed to Mount Alvernia with the letter from this first doctor.

 

The A&E department at Mount A was even busier than Thomson Medical and I was so bummed out. I had to awaken the boy up several occasions because we were on the move and I felt so tired for him. Thankfully, a kind nurse saw me trying to make him comfortable on the chairs in the waiting room (expected waiting time was 1-2 hours), directed me to a room that had a bed.

 

Still waiting - snoozing at the room a kind nurse got us

Very fortunately too, there was a padaetric doctor who was already at the hospital reviewing another case, and so our wait got bumped up speedily as this doctor attended to us after she was done. After waiting a while more, we were directed to a room and the husband accompied the boy while I proceeded to settle the admission administrations. Can I just say that the administration is such a pain. It took me 3/4 of an hour to sit there, and try not to fall asleep to pay attention as the administrator laboured over the details of ward prices, medicine prices, prices not inclusive of a-b-cs, and after signing 3,847 forms, I was done. By then, I was entering a zombie zone because I had awakened at 5am like any regular school day, and after a full day of work and going home to try to pack for our intended holiday, to bringing the son to not one, but two hospitals (it could have been worse I guess. We could have had to visit a 3rd hospital if this hospital was full too, I guess) to have our child taken care of... I had officially been awake for 18 hours.

Finally asleep in his bed for the night

Despite being dog tired, I was hungry so when the husband suggested we grab a bite, I agreed. After a quick supper and sending him back to the hospital then driving myself home and after taking a very quick shower, I laid down at 3am. I had been awake for 22 hours in total.

The thing about having one child in hospital, when you have two children, is that one child is leading a regular routine... so at 5.30am which is 2 hours after I knocked out, the daughter was up to go to school. I'm so thankful that the MIL was over last week, because she pretty much kept the girl on her routine as normally as possible as the husband and I partnered each other to look after the boy.

I awoke properly - with a start - at 9am, with the sun in my face. I had a quick breakfast (coffee), and headed to the hospital.

Received this pic from the husband as I was making my way to the hospital

The husband had an uncomfortable night with the boy. In the double-bedder ward, he had a creaky reclining chair to sleep in, throw in the nurses who come in every few hours to take temperatures/observe the patients, and the other patient in the ward - let's just say he's had better sleep in alternative spaces. Thankfully, we had already put in our request to switch wards if any single ones became available and our prayers were answered when we were told we could switch rooms.

 

J looked in good spirits, if not slightly puffy-eyed. He was still running a fever. Thankfully, he still had some appetite and I fed him the lunch provided by the hospital and then shifted rooms after he had his meal.

First meal @ the hospital

New ward

 

Thank goodness that the single ward had become available! The space, the privacy, the comfort (within reasonable limits of a hospital) was an amazing difference and truly made the stay way better.

 

Though we had a new sofa, he was still bored.

 

Treat of phone use

 

KO

After napping (where I crashed too), we all awoke to feeling slightly rested. The boy had a shower and we willed the time away by drawing and talking and whatnots and we all cheered when the husband came back to relieve the night duty. Being cooped up with one person is pretty trying.

I went home quite early this second night, and was in bed by midnight.

Breakfast: day 3

The husband left to go on an errand while I stayed with J. We went for a walk.



Wall of pride - see the paper pegged to the bottom right corner? That's his!

Happy with a balloon that I got to humour him

Cookie monster

We played snakes and ladders

Because I'd be out till late that night (the husband had class), I decided to pick the girl and spend some time with her. Also, we thought it'd be nice of her to visit because J had been out of home for 2 whole days by then and wasn't to be discharged that day.

 

Visitor - having lunch

 

Life goes on

 

After K cleared her homework, the husband took her home and I was left with the boy. Thankfully, he was tired and we both managed to snooze. 

 



Rest makes him better!



 

We had dinner (we had gotten used to the hospital spread by then) and the TV programmes (bleagh. With no cable, OKTO was his favourite channel) and I was thankful for some reprieve when Godpa visited to play with him.

 

Evening visitor

After Godpa left, the husband arrived. We put J to sleep then headed out for supper again. Imagine that, twice in 2 days! The odd connection about this particular supper place (Founders Bak Kut Teh at Balestier Road) is that the husband and I had gone there for a meal when I was in labour. J was in my tummy and we'd done a pit-stop that was near to the hospital of delivery. How odd the connection that this time round, also in the night time, that we were out because of J and yet, this time he was "not there" either.

Anyhow, after the meal, I sent the husband back to J and headed home.

For the 3rd morning in a row, I awoke with the sun shining into my face. It's really an anomoly because I hate sleeping in the light and for the sun to be up for hours and shining into my face and for me to continue sleeping... I was tired!

After breakfast and some chats with the MIL, I made my way to the hospital. On the way, I received the best news from the husband - J could be discharged! I did not even have to park - merely picked them up from the pick-up point and headed home.

Yay we get to go home!

That afternoon, everyone was home. I went to pick K from school and had lunch with her then sent the MIL home. The husband was home and it felt so nice to be normal. After 3 nights out, it sure felt nice that the whole family was together again. The doctor agreed to discharge him on the account that he no longer had fever. The damn fever lasted for a whole week.

So that ended our 4D/3N escapade to the hospital with our sick child. Truly, it wasn't the same sort of bonding time I had in mind when I wanted to spend time with him when I booked our holiday, but let's not lament on what flavoured milk had been spilt. Instead, here are 3 things I'm thankful for, to finish this off on a nice note.

1) I'm thankful that he has recovered from the flu and that the sister had caught just a bit of the cough but otherwise, is fine. Hooray.

2) I'm thankful of the partnership between the husband and I - we worked well together. A by-product is that we both had time to be with each other, a rarity given the busy schedule of the husband (I may be busy but I'm busy around the office or the home or the children's activities - I'm busy around perimeters). Thank you to the husband for our amazing partnership. We were so attuned to each other by the end of these days together that we started parroting each other on several occasions after!

3) I'm thankful for the time with my boy
True, it's not the same as Disneyland, but it was still precious time to not be at work and to be by the side of my baby. Sometimes, it's tough to find time as life gets in the way so I'm thankful for the time that we spent together. It was, sometimes, at the expense of time with my girl, but it is situational and I'm not going to beat myself up over that. In an ideal world, I'll love to be able to have one-to-one time with each child, as dedicating attention to one and receiving the full attention is amazing.

And so, with these thanks, I end this post that this damn viral fever be gone!