We are at the beach

"Mommy, this is you (top) with long hair, then Papa (red) and a red boat, and
me and cheche. And this (the jagged lines) is the water. We are at the beach."
Picture and story credit: J

My munchkins and I

Monkey faces - happy to countdown to Papa coming home. Whee!

A pair of squabbly siblings

When I was younger, I remember fighting with my brother and sister quite a fair bit. We would fight over who sits where, who takes what, who plays what... you name it, we'd have fought over it and if you didn't think of it, we probably fought over that too.

 

I identify that it's a phase, a loooong phase in a child's life to fight with the sibling, since I did too. But as a parent, the stress of having them squabble constantly is such a pain. They fight incessantly over the tiniest things and so far, I have attempted different measures to control it. The husband has forced them to hold hands, we make them hug each other and apologies, we put them in the naughty corner together, we put them in separate naughty corners, we banish them to the room to think of their own behaviours, we have told them off of the importance of their one and only sibling... the list goes on.

 

Does it stop them from fighting? No.

 

I sure hope they will grow out of it one day (I know they will) and become a tight unit of siblings as I am with mine.

 

In the meantime, on this note of my ringing ears from their constant quarrels, there are indeed moments where they are very sweet and play with each other. I live for such moments.

 

A short moment where they were talking with each other in regular voice.
Aahhh...

Good riddance

 

GOODBYE GERMS AND INFECTIONS AND MEDICINE.

 

And... hello Friday.

A birthday shout-out to my beloved mother

Happy birthday, Supermom

Sick bug

It's been more than a week since our household has been invaded by the sick bug. It started the week before, with the husband being sick, then me and the son has been holding up with a mild cold. The daughter has been hit the worst, clocking up a whooping 4 days of absence from school last week and the damn fever still hanging around. I have spent many nights un-sleeping all of last week to monitor her temperature and provide medicine where needed (yes, it was needed). It is very unfortunate timing that the husband is not around to help - he is usually way better at night-feeds due to the night owl he is, so boo hoo hoo. So, after 2 doctor visits and a persistent temperature, the husband and I decided that a blood test was necessary for us to properly understand the root of the problem.

 

It was dark when I woke her up and she was mildly startled. I carried her and told her that we had to go to the doctor's... and we were half-asleep quiet on the drive there. I felt guilty that I could not let her sleep in... but I had to work and this was the only way to do it so that our life would be running like clockwork. I consoled myself that she could stay home to rest for the full day, so she will be fine.

 

We registered ourselves at 6.05am. Due to the awkward hour, we were only ones first in line to see the doctor! We probably interrupted her sleep *insert sian face

 

Given that we had no idea what was the problem, some tests were put in place. A urine test, a blood test and a swab test. Everything cost me a whooping $400... this must be my shopping record of spending a big sum of money, and all before the crack of dawn. Whoop-dee-doo *insert super sian face

 

Nuggets of anecdotes/information of this hospital visit included:

1) The daughter was relatively co-operative. She kept silent mostly (tired alert) and obliged when I nagged her incessantly to consume water.

2) She was a trooper during the blood withdrawal for the tests. I credit myself, because I hugged her close and tickled her to distract her so that she wouldn't be too obsessed about the needle prick.

3) The nagging of water consumption paid off and we managed to grab her urine sample relatively quickly. I will not go into detail the things a mother does... but yes whatever you can imagine about a bottle, a child and a mother's hand to collect pee... probably did happen.

4) Despite the sickness, she was very pleasant and remains my adorable child.

5) The traffic on the roads was amazingly smooth. Probably because no sane person will be happy on the roads between 5-7am.

6) Delifrance at Thomson Medical is not open by 7am.

7) This was probably one of the shortest doctor visits we ever had, with us arriving and exiting the hospital within an hour.

8) We paid for this efficiency, literally. With the surcharges and all...

9) I managed to delegate the medicine pick-up from a regular clinic with the help of the MIL

10) I managed to come to work and act as if my life is perfect.

 

The hospital rang me up by 7.30am (the efficiency continues, I guess morning is a period of high productivity?!) and with the diagnosis in place, I am relieved because the daughter must be on the road to recovery!

 

 

Getting her nose swiped

 

It has been a long week. Happy Monday everyone.

What is under your table?

A 4-year-old boy

 

A 7-yo and same 4-yo