just upload one photo for fun. good night.

many things happened recently

serene has popped! welcome little isaac..thank God for fast and smooth delivery...3.5hours labor only...very good! visited the chong family yesterday, serene is doing very well, can see the glow on her face (not fat ah, serene, is glow!). little isaac is very cute!

sent bernie off yesterday too, he's off to egypt for 3 years (bernie, am i right?)

we gave bernie a memorable farewell...
firstly, kelvin gave us a treat in mcdonald
2ndly, kelvin spilled ketchup
3rdly, i spilled milo (large size) and stained bernie's luggage...

hope you like the milo smell...

year 2008 will be a quiet year? jem flies a lot, bernie not around, chong family will be off to beijing when isaac turns 3 month old. nat will spend more time with family...lesser gathering. raymond and ting fei (our sengkang neighbour, also jem's ex-housemate back in perth) have moved out and staying with family, will probably sell their flat. don't have close neighbour like them to talk to liao...

bernie gave his farewell speech 2 weeks ago...hahah...casual one lah! he said
1. cherish relationship (family, friends...etc)
2. get a life...

the 2nd one...struck me though...get a life...not that i've no life now, with the boys, i'm dead busy when home alone with them...maybe i need something more...searching...

ian: "no no"
me: "no what?"
ian: about to cry "church no"

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driving along cte (central expressway) or tpe (tampines expressway), heading home direction
ian: "ah gong house"
jem: "we're going home ian"
ian: "no no, ah gong house, ah gong house"
jem: "ian doesn't want to go home? that's ian's home, daddy mommy's home"
ian: "no. ah gong house"

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2 things i wish it won't happen, but it happened.
1. ian doesn't like to go home
2. ian doesn't like to go to church

we're heading to church this morning, as we turned into expo carpark, ian said he doesn't want to go to church. already, jem and myself felt sad about ian doesn't like to go home...and now add one more big blow...doesn't like to go to church.

salvation is easy...to live as a christian is challenging...to live by example is tough...this is my ideal life at home...whatever i do at home, i'll talk to Jesus as though He's physically there, chatting with Him, worship God and teach our boys to talk, to pray in daily basis...turning on christian musics, have lots of bible stories, whole family attend cell faithfully without missing one bit, actively involved in church activities, our boys can't wait to go to church...etc etc...

let me tell the reality...
life at home, thomas and friends and lightning mcqueen everyday, want to listen christian songs, kor kor wants thomas songs, bible is collecting dust in living room, instead of talking to Him, i forgot His existence 95% of the time. the remaining 5% is when the boys are crying, misbehaving and sometimes say grace, that's when i said "oh God, please help me". till date, i haven't even attend my new cell group since transfered from my old cell at least 2 months ago....old cell cannot tahan me anymore...haha.

no wonder ian doesn't like to go to church...this is the life example i'm giving him everyday.

i'll continue to work on the ideal life...not 100% but at least try 50% first :P...

toilet training

i'm not really ready to toilet train ian yet...the thought of having to clean up the pee mess...and at the same time, this kor kor ian loves to step and conveniently sweeps his pool of pee everywhere...uhmmm...wait okie...till nathan can sit on walker.

only poo poo, i have been encouraging him to poo in the potty, he didn't tell me whenever he wants to poo though, many times he pooped half way and i get him to continue in the potty, other times, i happen to catch him squatting at some corner...then i know he's about to do some quiet business out there. i will ask him "you 'uhm uhm' huh? quick!!! lets run to the toilet, potty potty!!!!", then he'll run...very cute :P take off his diaper and there you go...he wants privacy...so have to close the door and wait for him to call me when he's done.

i bought thomas train underwear for him...had my first 'trial run' yesterday. he refused initially, i got to encourage him by saying "come, show grandpa what you're wearing, show po-dou, gong-dou your thomas train, wahhhhh!!! so handsome :P"...then you'll see him smiling, walking around showing off his underwear.
have to make extra effort to bring him pee every half an hour... but i guess, maybe must let him wet his pants a few times to feel the discomfort, then probably he might tell me....without me asking him one day.

any fussyless way of cleaning up the mess? without having to wipe, and then mop the floor, then wash the mop, then squeece the mop dry, then...then then...zzzzzzzzz

excuses

sometimes i'm just amazed at the excuses come out by a 2 year old boy.

i brought ian to j8 today...this little kor kor refused to walk and kept wanting me to carry him.

waiting for the lift
ian: "mee, bao bao"
me: "唔使啦, 自己行" (you gotta read in cantonese way okie, i talked to him in cantonese)
ian: "mee, pain pain"
me: "pain? 邊度?"
ian: point everywhere, all over his body "here here here"
me: "自己行啦, 你好重哦"
ian: show a very cham look "mee, bao baoooooo"
me: carry him

reach downstairs
me: put him down again
ian: "mee, car car" (it means, there's a lot of car, you better carry me, safer)
me: look everywhere, only see ONE car FAR FAR away "嗰車咁遠!!! come, let's run"
ian: "mee, pain pain" touch his feet
me: ".....冇痛啦, come! 我哋一齊行"
ian: "meee!!! bird bird, bao bao!!!!" (it means oh no!! there's birds, i'm scared, carry me)
ian: blocked my way "mee, bao bao"
me: give up, carry him

there are a lot more...sometimes, he pretend crying...there's no tears, then imitate his brother's cry "ong nga ong nga!!!" one hand hugging me, another hand busy scratching the mole on my arm.

fun age to play now.

notice there's not a lot of pictures uploaded recently huh...

i'll try to okie...sometimes i'm too lazy to edit them...sometimes, left with little time for myself, i simply want to chill out, just type and go.

we celebrated ah bo's birthday at hospice last saturday, it's a surprise birthday for her...if you want to see pics...go to joyce's blog okie (that's jem's sister). ah bo missed ian a lot, and i can see that she's very happy to see ian that day. supposed to call ah bo everyday, and let ian talk to her, gotta confess i'm not been consistent ...:(. she will be discharged by end of this month...government subsidy over liao, and because her condition is stable, it's a good news that she can leave hospice finally. we feel is time for her to leave the place too, the 1st time when i visited her 2-3 months ago, there are quite a few patients there. this latest visit, left with 2. so...the rest you know where they went to by now yeah...depressing.....the good is she'll be staying at my in laws' place and we'll get a maid to take care of her.

you can read what joyce talk about ah bo...there's one thing i want to repeat...thank God for sustaining her life...

i went to see gp yesterday. the rashes has spread to my neck liao...a lot of scratch marks now...anyway, came back with 2 types of pills and 1 cream

1. clarinase - 5mg loratadine and 120mg pseudoephedrine sulfate
2. semprex - 8mg acrivastine
3. betnovate cream
*mannnn....thank God i didn't take pharmaceutical course, the terms are so chimm...

asked doc whether the medicines are safe for breastfeeding and he said yes. uhmm...doubted his expertise so i went to check the internet about the medicine myself. interesting yeah, doubt his expertise and still see him??!!! i don't know, maybe just desperate, i need some instant relief). and guess what, this is what i got from the net.

This medication passes into breast milk and can harm a nursing baby. Do not take this medication without first talking to your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.

though he gave green light to eat, i decided not to...don't want to take the risks...unless any of you have a pharmacy friend and he/she said is 100% safe for breastfed baby. i found another way to relieve the itch, not completely...but definitely better, ie. bath cold water. ideally, bath at least 2 times a day, but i can only bathe after the boys sleep at night..

so....that's the thing about breastfeeding, though you're not well, can't take any medicine, coz some of them passes into breast milk.

my dad, eldest sis and her 2 younger kids (she has 4 kids) were in town last week. glad to have family around, they stayed for about 6 days. my sis came to see doc, she's got rashes (eh??!!! does it run in the family??? i have that too!), backache and nose problem.

after seeing docs for 2 days, the rest of the days are free and easy. we went out shopping with 4 kids!!! cook at home and my sis' kids are very well-behaved, not only playing with ian but also help looking after nathan. my sis really 'geng'! did a very good job as mom!

of course, the house is a bit chaotic at that moment, but i enjoyed my precious time with my sis, chatting and cleaning at the same time (just in case you wonder where jem is, he's out of town). we chatted till mid night, it was a great time, coz i hardly talk to her....looking back, it's good to have the house a bit messy, the longer i clean, the longer we talk :D. she's good in baking, i love her cakes...she baked cakes and pizzas (much better than pizza hut) when i was back in tawau last year...and this trip, she cooked most of the time. i was a bit panic...never cook for so many people before but she did it all.

thankfully my dad came with sis...think he knows the hospital inside out liao, akachi with all the docs and nurses, my sis can see all the docs at one go smoothly just because of his networking skills ;P he's good at making friends (wish i inherit this gene from him). he cooked mee hoon soup on the day when they're leaving. am very touched. my dad's love language most probably is act of service :D.

love my family :D

what happened if your son said he prefers to go grandparents place than their own home?

we went home just to take some stuff after church today, ian kept saying "ah gong house".
i feel sad though. that makes me feel our home is not a nice or boring place to stay :( but i can understand why he said that, coz there are many people and he can get all the attention. there's always very yummy homecook food cooked by ah po, unlike his mom's cooking, vege so-so only, soup always tastes diluted, some dish either too salty or always the same :P.

many people asked me how i can cook and take care of 2 kids at the same time...oh well, all things are possible, just whether the standard is good. mine....not good. there's this old chinese saying, a satisfied tummy (sth like that) can make your husband looking forward to come home... jem doesn't like outside food, so whether his wife's cooking nice or bad, he'll still come home, bo bian...:P but my desire is to cook good and yummy food for my family...i love to hear people saying they like their dad/mom/grandparent's cooking. when the boys are bigger, i'll take up some cooking and baking courses and start visiting food blogs:)

my mother in law always ask whether ian can stay over their place without his parents...my answer is alway no. the reason is because i'm selfish. i want my children to be with his parents, period!

*sigh* am attacked by rashes monster again! doesn't feel good when the whole body starts itching and the rashes are spreading all over...probably due to hormonal change or ate wrong food (according to GP). i just recovered from it about 1.5 months ago, not knowing what's the cause of it and just let it recover itself. tried very hard not to scratch but once start scratching, i couldn't stop! and that lasted more than a month and now back again, haizzz!!!...going to see doc this week, hopefully can get referral to national skin center. looking at my body, as though has just been vandalized...

sorry, this is a very depressing entry...all negatives...allow me to complain okie, i'm very itchy! very very itchy!!! very very very itchy :P

13 days

believe it or not, nathan didn't poo for 13 days!

if i didn't read the forum months ago, i'll probably freak out! total breastfeed baby, how can it be??!!!! i read one thread couple months ago, a mom posted out this problem and the response she got is...normal for breastfed babies.

i got this comment ever since i started sharing my baby didn't poo for x number of days...

"huh? didn't poo for long...baby is heaty, better give him WATER"
"so long?!!! baby CANNOT be like that you know, baby MUST poo??? NOT NORMAL you know, last time my baby didn't have this problem, why like that ah?"

again, i manifested the stubborn and defensive side of me...sorry...rather rude again *sigh* (connie, can you please control your temper?!!!)
"WATER??? no need water, why must give water when nathan can drink from me???!!! if he needs water, i'm here!!! what's wrong with giving breastmilk. NO WATER!!!"

i posted out my concern in the forum too...my in laws started to worry about nathan and i need to ensure them everything is fine. relieved by many mothers answers...some said should see pd, but most said is normal, another mom said the longest record one mother shared in the forum is 21 days! but i guess if a paediatrician says normal, i'm sure my in laws feel more convinced.

so there i went, brought nathan to see pd at amk baby and child clinic. thank God the pd is pro-breastfeeding, he's dc. vella, jem and his sister used to see him when they're little too. he shared that his baby didn't poo for 13 days, he too...said is normal for breastfed baby. so long as baby appear happy, active and didn't vomit or not well, baby is fine. was given some kind of pill to insert into nathan's backside to induce poo poo....but doc said not necessary, just for standby. i didn't intend to use too :P

and guess what, nathan poo the next day (13th day). my goodness, that's A LOT!...thick, slimy and dark orange color (sorry, a bit too descriptive here)...took me quite a while to clean his backside. i believe this will continue to recur.....oh...it's happening now...today is the 5th day, nathan still no sign of pooing, except when he farts, wow....the lingering rich aroma is simply unforgettable.