Christmas is finally at it's end. Before christmas, I made a wish to have more rest and sleep for once...and I got what I wished for - food poisoning!!! Sat night had party at in laws place and took the same food as 25 other people, and unfortunately, I was the only one who woke up with food poisoning the next day! Poor me panicked as I had to take care of 3 kids!! My stomach spasms was so bad I can hardly sit up straight, plus I had bodyache all over. I quickly went to see the doc and took an anti-vomit jab to curb my nauseas and hurried home to take care of the baby. I was practically confined to bed with no strength and had to get in laws to take care of the 2 elder boys while hubby helped with the bb at home. Luckily things got better on Christmas eve, and by then I had stop vomitting and the bodyache subsided. The only thing was I was too weak from lack of food. I faster replenished my body with food and fluid to prevent dehydration and altho I was so tired and sleepy from the medication, I couldn't rest at all with 3 kids clinging onto me like leeches! Today I am almost recovered, only thing is that I don't feel hungry for food at all and can hardly digest much food.

Poor me had few parties planned but had to cancel one party at my place on sunday and skipped one party on sunday night at relative's place. Today we all went over to sis' place for lunch and had a great time talking and playing wii at her place. Just few hours ago we proceeded to in laws place for dinner and came back to rest for the night after the kids had their parties for the past few days lol.

I guess the happiest should be the kids, going from parties to parties, and meeting all our relatives who hadn't seen each other for a while, playing together, and of course getting the loads of presents will make the best part for Christmas. I'm sure next year's Christmas will be a much better organised one with our new place and kids growing up older and more manageable. With the end of Christmas, it means year 2007 is coming to an end. This year is certainly an unpredictable year for me with a lot of changes. I wished 2008 will be a better year, altho I am expecting myself to be a lot more busy than current, with all the things happening next year.

Finally I am able to find some peace and quiet moments to update my blog. Its been crazy with bb Min around and Hao on school holidays. Good news is that Ee is attending half day child care now and is adapting well. Just few days and he's no longer clingy and seems to be starting to enjoy activities in school. Altho he has just caught a cold yesterday, I hope things will not be as bad as when Hao first started school and needed few months to really get immuned to the germs spreading around and being sick etc. Crossing fingers on that!

Min is still adapting to the environment...he's not really establishing any routine except morning times but at least he is sleeping better and longer stretches at night and I am picking up on my sleep too. Still deprived but not as bad as when we first started out LOL

Nic's back in Singapore again. She's such an angel for bringing back my loot and hubby Wii set. He and the kids are having fun with the games, especially Hao who's getting better and better at it. I just can't wait to have our new house ready soon so we can move over with bigger space for our family. It's really getting a bit crampy and noisy with the kids.

Hubby's car broke down last week. After a series of troubleshooting by various parties, they finally found out what's wrong with the car. Sigh..gotta spend another sum of money on the repairs. Our air conditioning system ran into problems too and needed some servicing...not sure what's coming up next...hope things turn out better soon!

I am having another round of blues again. Sometimes I wonder if there's anything wrong with me feeling so full of resentment and so abandoned. I put in my best to care for my baby but I still feel like a failure...a bad mother...

It's been 6 weeks since Min arrived. He's still sleeping short hours (even at night) and nursing more frequently than ever. I've heard plenty of comments and criticisms on how I am handling him, how I should put him on a nursing schedule, and how I should sleep train him and make him less dependable on me blah blah...but the fact is that he's only a tiny baby! True, I've my share of complaining of being sleep deprived and emotionally charged and loss of freedom etc, but I've also tried my best to respond and take care of his needs and make sure he is thriving and gaining weight and receiving attention from me in the best possible ways ever a mother can give. Babies don't come with manuals or settings and everything I do I have to learn from scratch. I've came a long way in the past 6 weeks. The fact that I am the only one who can read his signals and know what he wants when he cries and differentiate his hunger cries etc, I've achieved more than anyone else..Ironically there are many who have "shared" their concerns and comments about how I should do this and that, and how I should train my baby etc, when I really needed help, there was no one I can turn to. Who can help me take care of baby at night when I'm sick last week? No one. Who was there when I was so hyped up due to sleep deprivation? No one. Who was there to help me when I need just an hour of sleep to make sure I function better when my baby needs me? No one. I was alone, 24/7 with no help whatsoever, figuring out what baby wants, enduring his ear piercing screams and cries, and at times when I am doing that, I was crying to myself and applauding myself for a job so wonderfully done as a mother.

Who would have guess that I was just crying to myself 1 hour ago for being so tired and lonely, now I am so feeling so satisfied and giving myself a pat on my back for giving my kids the best that I can - to respond to their needs in the best possible way that I can no matter what time of the day and how I am feeling. I may at times be frustrated and wished to be single again with no family commitments, but the truth is my kids completes me as a person and i've learnt so much from them that I couldn't from anywhere else. The process is tough but the end product is sweet LOL There are times that I wonder if this is what I truthfully believe in or just something that I use to psycho myself so I feel better but I think I'll just leave it as it is for the time being....

Now back to the well deserve 15 mins or 30 mins (if I am lucky) sleep while the baby is sleeping now....

Baby Min is finally 1 month old!!! We had a celebration today at in laws place for his full month and the kids had great fun playing together with the other kids who came. Although the costs of the celebration is about an arm and leg to us, we are quite glad most of the guests had a good time gathering together.

Finally Min is 1 month old and we are now officially free to go out on weekends! Today we went out together as a family the very first time, and it's quite a challenge with Min's grumpiness and always wanting to nurse for comfort..also had to change his diapers many times since he's nursing a lot and output is certainly a lot too. Cannot imagine how things will be for the many weekends to come when we have to get used to lugging 3 kids and a maid out together every weekend.

The past few days has really been bad for me. Being sleep deprived has caused mood swings and bad blues for me that I felt I wasn't functioning properly at all. There's really minimal help as baby Min needs me to nurse him and wasn't really sleeping very well at night for a couple of days before the weekend. Luckily there was some improvements for the past 2 days, and baby Min was able to sleep stretches of approximately 2 hours, enabling me to sleep longer stretches too. It was also good that Hao was busy with his rehearsals at MediaCorp for the Star Search finals dance item and was hardly at home during weekends. Ee was being cared for by my mum and I could really rest better in the day time when baby Min is taking his nap.

Good news is that we have bought a new house. It's an Executive Apartment in the same neighbourhood, just further down away from my current place. We bought it at a very reasonable price and we thought it's really an ideal place for us with 4 bedrooms, big kitchen, big living room, dining area plus a balcony. In addition, it's on the 7th floor, which is nice for us and right in front of the balcony is a small garden and no blockage from other flats, enabling ample sunlight to shine into the house. Overall, we are very pleased with the place and is really looking forward to renovating and moving into the place next year. Finally we have one less thing to worry about, and now the next thing after baby Min's full month is to get Ee into nursery and spend some useful time learning things in school. Thinks it's about time already.

Looks like things are getting into gear and moving in the right pace for us now. :)

It's been 9 days since Baby Chin Ming arrived. Things around home have more of less settled into place. Although Ming still doesn't have a schedule and is waking and nursing at his own timings, at least now he's more manageable. Night times are still erratic, but getting better. On good nights, he can sleep a long stretch of 3-4 hours, though most of the times, he won't sleep more than 1-2 hours at a stretch. Nursing is a challenge. My nipples are sore and cracked from his constant suckling but at least I can see he's nursing more. With his slow pace of nursing, most times he can only finish in 30 mins nursing both sides (that is if he has fallen asleep throughout the whole time) or up to 50 mins if he's constantly falling asleep. The good thing is I don't feel engorged now, meaning he's slowly clearing my breasts and my supply is meeting is demand just nice. Other than that, Hao and Ee are getting used to having a baby brother around, and the fact that Mummy here has less time for them, as I need to focus more on the baby now. My domestic helper is a godsend, helping with all of the housework and playing with the kids when needed. I didn't think I can survived without her help.

All these aside, I am still feeling a little bit blue now and then. Baby blues and hormonal changes mostly I think. At times, I feel like a super mum wanting to do so many things and keeping the household going, but at other times, I feel like a complete failure as I couldn't hold on to things at home and keeping my own mind sane. There are nights when I just burst into tears out of nothing with negative thoughts and self pity, while there are nights when I am full with so much energy that I couldn't sleep at all. It's only been 9 days...its going to be a long long way to go till I can relax my mind and raise up my feet for a while with the kids being more independent. Here we are talking maybe another 2-3 years time. Sigh...meanwhile I can only pray for the short term and hope my mind will still be sane after all..

My Birth Story - Baby Chin Ming

These are photos taken in the hospital on Day 1:

These are photos taken at home on Day 3:

Baby Chin Ming was born at 39 weeks exactly at 12.37pm on 19th October 2007 after a long long wait. I was supposed to be induced on 22nd Oct if he's not coming out over the weekend but I guess he couldn't wait till then and decided to make use of the weekend for mummy to rest :)
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Thursday 18th Oct 2007

8pm:

Reached home with my 2 boys and starting to feel contractions coming on. I wasn't overly alarmed as I had a few times of false labour which ended up with the contractions subsiding, so didn't alert anyone. Played with the kids and waited for hubby to be back from work.

9pm:

Hubby back from work. Told hubby about my contractions and I started to time it. 8 mins apart. I thought it was still early and continued with my routine of tucking the kids to bed and taking my shower and even ate some supper.

Friday 19th oct 2007

1am:

Contractions still regular at about 8 mins apart, though it was getting more intense. Told hubby that he should be prepared to go to hospital tomorrow and he panicked and started to clear his work. I retired to bed and tried to get some sleep.

3am:

Managed to steal some sleep and woke up to time my contractions. 7mins apart now. Have a very strong feeling that it's going to be time soon but knowing my dilations comes in very slowly, it's still too early to head for the hospital. Decided that I should hold till the morning after I send the kids to the school and my mum's place before heading to hospital. Hubby woked up sensing I was awake and asked if it was time. Told him to get some sleep while I do something to occupy myself since I can't sleep.

4am:

Got out of bed for hot shower. Packed my bags for last min items as well as school bag for ds1. Couldn't sleep so I surfed the net and updated my MP3 player.

6am:

Contractions are 5 mins apart and getting intense. I can still hold out and told hubby that will have to head to hospital once the kids are ready to head out of the house at our regular time of 7.45am. He went back to catch little more sleep. I chatted with my SIL over msn, updating her of what's going on.

7am:

Hubby woke up for shower, woke the kids up, shower ds1 and prepare him for school. Ds2 still in slumberland. Contractions 5 mins apart still. Though contractions are intense, I'm not sure if I should head to the hospital for another long wait.

7.45am:

Head out of the house and drop the kids at my mum's place which is 5 mins away. Contractions 4 mins apart.

8.15am:

Reach KKH. Can't walk when contractions are coming in, have to stop periodically against the wall. The nurses thought I was in labour when I walked into the delivery suite seeing how much pain I was in. I was amazed at myself for holding out for so long. Nurse wants to do a VE but I declined, prefer to wait till my gynae comes in. They pushed me in for observation while hubby heads out for breakfast and coffee, knowing that there's still plenty of time till the gynae comes in.

9am:

Gynae comes in and annouced I was 3.5cm dilated and contractions 3-4 mins apart. Decide to get me into the labour ward and burst the waterbag. Hubby returned from breakfast.

9.30am:

In delivery suite with waterbag burst. Told all that I will not be taking epidural or any other meds. Waited for the time to come.

11.30am:

Contractions 1-2 mins apart but gynae says not there yet as dilation only 7cm. Have to hold on for a while more till I am more dilated and I try with all my might to contain my pain and urge to push. Had to start using the laughing gas to relax myself and helps the dilation to progress faster.

12.30pm:

Time finally come and my strong urge to push starts to set in. The nurses alerted my gynae who came in very quickly when I just started to push. In 2 pushes at 12.37pm, Baby Chin Ming was out and his loud booming crying voice filled the whole delivery suite. I told hubby to hurry over and check the baby while the gynae was busy with me. Hubby said the baby looks different from my other 2 dss.

Finally everything was over. Was glad to made it through without epi. Gynae ordered them to prepare lunch for me in the delivery suite but before I could eat anything, I went into slumberland and didn't wake up till 2pm and baby was already out for tests and hubby was sitting comfortably in the armchair next to me watch HBO on TV. Seeing I was ok, he went out for lunch while the nurses cleaned me up before we head up to the ward at 3pm. I was alert after that for the whole day and was glad when my family came to visit us with my 2 dss. Was discharged the next day morning to head home.

Been having contractions since last night. It's now 7+am in the morning. From the 10 mins apart contractions till about 5 mins apart now, I think it should be about time to head to the hospital. Glad that I was able to endure till now, carefully managing the contractions to my best ability so that I can send Hao to school for his field trip and then Ee to my mum's place before heading to the hospital with hubby. Not sure how's my condition now, but I am crossing my fingers that it will be a quick one for me. Though 5 mins apart, contractions are getting pretty strong and I dread what's gonna happen later on when the labour progress, as I recalled the time I had Ee without epidural. It was definitely not enjoyable with all the pain and screaming LOL. However, as much as I can I'll try to avoid epidural this time round also, and see how far I can go.

Hubby is up and taking a shower now, and I've called mum to informed her that I'll be heading to the hospital later after dropping the kids off. She sounded relieved as she's been waiting for this day too, wondering when I'll ever be giving birth and expecting my calls in the middle of the night anytime to tell her I needed to head to the hospital. This will better be THE DAY to end all our wait. It'll be embarassing if I were to go to the hospital and they declare it a false alarm and send me home to wait again right? *Gulp*

Crossing fingers and praying hard!!!

Today is day 3 of my maternity leave and there's still no signs of baby wanting to come out. Just went for checkup yesterday and gynae announced that my cervix is dilating very slow and steadily and only reaching 1.5cm...just 0.5cm improvement from last week. It's really slow and steady. Baby is already in good birthing position like since 1 month ago but things are still not happening! After much discussion, we decided that we'll set a deadline to see if things are going to happen over this week. If not, we've decided that we'll go ahead and try to induce the baby on next monday. By then baby will almost be in full term and all ready for the big big world.

It's a rather tiring waiting game this time round, with friends, relatives and even my hubby asking me why this time round it's taking so long for the baby to come out. Well, I wouldn't know the answer, but one thing for sure, we're all getting rather impatient. Better to get over and done with than continuing to wait and not knowing when things will happen.

I think for now, I'll just enjoy these last few days of peace and quiet before the baby comes and turn the whole house into a battlefield again for the 3rd time. Crossing my fingers that the labour will be fast, easy and smooth without the need for any epidural. Pray pray pray..

Ok here's the update from my gynae visit on Tuesday 9th October.

Baby is all heads down in good position ready to see the world. Cervix is 1 cm dilated - 9 more cm to go, which can take a long long time still!!! Everything else good, baby is a healthy 2.8kg (estimated) boy. Contractions has been coming in rather frequently now, though strong at times but still not regular and can disappear for a while and come back to haunt me for few hours type. Overall, not much improvement!

Am getting so impatient. Already hit 38 weeks, 1 week longer than the last time I had Ee. He came out at 37 weeks @ 2.75kg. This baby is already 38 weeks and 2.8kg AND still no signs to come out. Hubby say he's too comfy in there and probably very lazy to move now. Sigh...

Anyway, I'm crossing my fingers very religiously and praying hard for a easy baby. Not easy from the way my gynae describe him to be very active during all my ultrasounds. Maybe can try and train him to sleep on his own and then eventually starting sleeping through the night from 2 months? Hee...am thinking too much now. He's not even out yet! Who knows how he will be and what sort of pattern is he?

Finally today is the last day of work. So sick of working and the travelling part. Sitting one whole day in office is a dread. Even when at home also cannot rest in peace. Will be officially starting my maternity leave next week till first week of Jan 08. 12 weeks of break. Hope baby comes out soon and not waste my leave waiting at home. Worse if he's going to be an overdue baby! Please pray for the best for me!

It has been crazy for the past 3 weeks. First my hubby had to go on a 1 week business trip to KL, then after that it was Ee's birthday celebration and then Ee was just hospitalized last week due to tummy problems. Sigh I am so physically drained now...

It had been a long time since we've brought the kids to the beach. When hubby was outstationed, sis and I brought the kids to the beach on one Saturday. They really enjoyed themselves very much and if it's not for the sudden downpour, they would have very much stayed at the beach for a long long time!

After the trip to the beach with sis and the kids, I urged hubby to bring them to the beach again. A part of me was quite sad that we might not be able to do so once the baby arrives and to me, every weekend is so so precious and I just wanna spend as much time with them as possible. When the baby comes along, we won't be as mobile for the first few months. They really had a good time with daddy on the beach!

Finally Ee is TWO!!! What a milestone for him and me :) I can still remember the day he was born and how he turned our lives upside down for the first few months, and then sticking to me for breastmilk and suddenly he was all grown up, fully weaned off and ready to go to school next year! Although his speech is a little slow, he can express himself quite clearly to me now (Erm, only I understand what he wants LOL). He especially enjoyed himself with the Karaoke system at the dinner restaurant and was singing along with the mic and all!

After Ee's birthday celebration, I was so much looking forward to my own birthday celebration on 4th Oct, and thought I could have a nice quiet dinner with hubby on that day and then patiently wait for the arrival of the baby anytime soon.

3rd Oct evening, I had a sudden onset of contractions from 6pm and lasted through to about 11pm at night. I thought the time had finally came and told hubby I needed to rest and laid in bed at night to ease and time the contractions. The last I timed was still about 10 mins apart and coming in not in very regular intervals. Anyway I managed to fall asleep at about 11pm+ after the kids were asleep.

At 4am in the morning Ee came into my room crying and I thought it was just another episode of night terror and didn't think much but carried him back to his bed and laid down on the mattress beside him. He didn't settle in to sleep immediately like he usually does, and instead continued to whine and toss and turn in pain and keeps crying. I sensed something wrong and sat up to take a closer look at him and was shocked to see that he was screaming in pain, cuddling himself on the bed and crunching down holding on to his tummy. I didn't know what to do as I couldn't carry him due to his weight and my big pregnant tummy and went to wake hubby up. Hubby came carried him and tried to calm him down but it didn't seemed to help one bit. Hao by this time was half awaken by all these commotion. I panicked and ask hubby what should we do as I've never seen my kids behaving this way and I am very sure something is very wrong with Ee. Hundreds of possibilities cross my mind but I was feeling helpless at the same time, didn't know what to do next. Hubby calmly told me that we should bring Ee to CGH and have a look and see what's happening to him and I quickly packed some things and hauled Hao out of bed, apologising to him and explaining that we need to bring his brother to see the doctor for his tummyache. Hao was very understanding and didn't fuss much and quickly climbed out of bed, asking if my baby was hurting me in my tummy and if I was the one who needed to see the doctor. I hurriedly told him again it was Ee and not mummy or baby and we should move fast.

We hurried into the car and rushed to CGH. Luckily for us, it was only a less than 5 mins drive and the A&E was almost empty when I carried Ee, half running, in there. Throughout the whole journey he continued to scream and kick and the nurses were quite alarmed when we ran into there. I quickly explained to the nurse what happened while she entered the details into the computer system and proceed to assign the doctors to see Ee. By then hubby had to take Ee over from me as I was not able to carry a screaming and kicking Ee for long and we hurried into the observation room for the doctor to examined him. It was unfortunate that Hao and I was not able to stayed with Ee throughout the examination as it the room is too crowded and they didn't want another child to be in the room experiencing the trauma of his own brother being examined. I had no choice but lead Hao out of the room to the waiting area and quickly called my dad at home, knowing that he won't be sleeping yet as he just got off work. I explained the situation to him and asked if he could come to CGH and pick up Hao over to his place to stay for the night just in case Ee needs to be admitted. He hurried over and took Hao over to his place so we could focus on Ee.

An X-ray was arranged for Ee and me being pregnant, was not able to be with him again and I could only wait and wait outside, crossing my fingers and praying that all will be fine. According to hubby, Ee behaved really well during the X-ray and didn't need to be pinned down the table and just let the nurse do her job. Results came out and doctor concluded that his tummy seemed a bit bloated and suspected it to be Intussusception, where the small intestine is being sucked into the big intestine causing spasm and pain in the tummy. He explained that there's no children specialist in CGH and told us to bring him to KKH and wrote us a referral letter to be transferred there immediately. By then Ee seemed to have calmed down and no longer in acute pain and was seemingly drifting off back to sleep after the 1 hour ordeal. Hubby and I decided that we should proceed to KKH and made our way there.

It was the same quietness in KKH and we quickly registered and explained to the nurse what happened and proceed to see the doc on duty. The doc examined Ee and then just coincidentally another episode of spasm and pain recurred and the doc managed to see Ee "in action" with the screaming and kicking in pain and she told us the same suspicions as the doc in CGH and told us that Ee should be admitted for ultrasound and observation. All tired out, we proceed to admit him into KKH and I called my parents to let them know of the progress so they won't be so worried.

After all the hassle, Ee seemed to have recovered and didn't showed a bit of pain after that while in the ward. The doc there explained that she will have to insert a needle into his veins in prepare for the drip for him. As they proceeded to the next room, with my hubby carrying Ee, for the insertion, I could hear the screaming and crying from Ee begging them not to do it as it's really painful. I could do nothing but sit there and cried, feeling so heartpain. All I wanted to do was to hug him and say it's going to be ok but I couldn't do anything of that. After the ordeal, he was totally tired out and drifted back to sleep in his little cot. After an hour or so, while he was sleeping soundly in his cot, we had to dragged him up from his sweet dreams and brought him to the ultrasound room. He behaved really well during the scan and only held on to my hand tightly, not wanting to let go. Ultrasound results came back ok and all we do is to wait and see if the pain will come again. Fortunately the pain didn't come back and he was given the all clear and was discharged the next day on 5th Oct. He was a little fighter and was so brave while undergoing the tests and examination and I am really proud of him.

After he came back, he had complained of tummyaches a couple of times and developed fever for a day but other than that, he's all well and active as ever. We'll never know if the pain will come on again but just have to monitor him and cross our fingers he didn't have to undergo the ordeal again, especially the needles and drip which cause so much pain to him in the hospital. Now we are just hoping to nurse him back to health and getting his appetite back. From the fact that he's starting to fight and quarrel with his older brother, I think he should be well back to his old self soon!

My new boss is driving me crazy. She calls me for every single thing be it big or small and thinks I am a wonder woman. When she wants things to be done, it must be done now and she doesn't take NO for an answer. If you tell her NO, you are not trying hard enough to fulfill her requirements. What shitty position I am in right now. How I wish I can just throw everything down and go but I can't...URGH!!! Hope I survive another week and then think of alternative for her NOT to bother me that much!!

Been having nasty contractions and pains for the past few days. Was really not up for travelling to work and staying there for full 8 hours in the stinky, stuffy and suffocating office so I decided to tell my boss of my contractions and told her I'll work from home for the rest of the week. Had a good nap the whole of yesterday morning and managed to recuperate and get some energy back into my restless GIGANTIC body. Now I am just 5 weeks away and feeling that each week is creeping past very very slowly. I just can't wait for the little guy to be out of my body so I can turn and walk properly again LOL Now I just feel like a BIG penguin who makes my hubby laugh whenever he sees me walking *URGH*

I am counting down...about 6 more weeks till EDD!! Am crossing fingers that baby will arrive early and end my agony. Am feeling extremely uncomfortable now...major movements in my tummy as baby is encountering space constraints. Even a little flip to the side is like giving me a sidekick and making me moan in horrible uncomfort. Other than that, I am easily tired out, lazy, sweaty and experience uncomfortable contractions on and off. Of course all these are signs that my baby is developing well and active...but I just can't stand it! Usually the first trimester and the last weeks of pregnancy is the worse for me. I'm getting paranoid and always dreaming of me going into labour with all sorts of funny situations with no one beside me etc. This week is worse as hubby is on business trip away in KL and won't be back till Saturday late afternoon. Also I had to go into office practically everyday to assist my new boss in getting familiarize in our operations. Not sure if she knows I'm due in 6 weeks but she haven't been asking or getting anyone in taking over my work...I also can't be bothered much...just do my work and hand over when the time comes. She probably has better things to worry about...

I am counting down to my last 8 weeks of pregnancy now. Getting heavier and easily tired out even though it's just going out for a simple meal. The last stage of the pregnancy is usually more unbearable as the baby is bigger now and fighting for space with my internal organs. Getting heartburn now and not able to eat as much as I want so gonna cut down my food intakes and take small meals instead. Sigh I wish everything will end faster and baby grow up faster LOL

Karen's Baby Mathew is already 1 month old! Can't believe it's so fast!! Seems like yesterday when Karen told us she's pregnant during this year's CNY. Now cute little Mathew is 1 month old and I am giving birth soon too. Was chatting with Karen about my worries yesterday and feeling a little panic about how I am going to cope with 3 kids now. Usually it's easier said that done about planning and training the kids to be independent but what will happen no one will know right? Just like when Ee was born, no one expected him to have jaundice for one whole month and everyday we have to bring him to the Polyclinic for checks. Was a bad experience with Ee's jaundice and the fact that he doesn't nap easily! Eileen can vouch for that when she came to visit me during my confinement LOL Now I just hope for a smooth delivery and easy baby to care for *Cross Fingers*

Haven't been talking to Nic for almost 2 weeks. Wonder how she's doing. Not sure if she's in US or Beijing now...miss chatting to her....

Going for my gynae checkup later...Hubby wants to have curry fish head for lunch so gonna hurry him to get out of the house soon as my tummy is growling...

It's been a while since I've updated my blog. Another 9 weeks to go before the baby pops and I'm getting lazy as day goes by. Was checking thru my phone and found some photos that I didn't update into my blog in August. They are just some photos that we took at the Hyatt swimming pool when we stayed there during Nic's last visit back.

The boys really enjoyed themselves in the pool with hubby but too bad I was getting big and too lazy to join them :P

OK here's another few pics that we took when we visited the Qian Hu Fish Farm during the National Day holiday. The kids had a go at the lokang fishing pond over there and took their first fishing lesson from hubby..

These are the first few photos you'll see Hao with glasses too! I think he looks really studious with glasses and more refined LOL. Not too bad looking. His eyesight has improved a little since he started on the glasses and the doc say it's just a matter of time to recovery and he might not even need glasses in future. I am so glad he's just long sighted and not short sighted!!

The only unfortunate thing is that his stye at the left eye did not go away after 4 months of antibiotics and our patience wore out. After a couple of consultations with the doc, we decided to go ahead with the surgery to remove the stye. The date was set and he completed the surgery 2 days ago on 22 Aug. Everything was well except for the side effects of anaethesia which left him groogy, nausea and sleepy. He vomitted many times and only managed to eat proper food the very next day after the surgery. I think what affected him most is not the pain from the incision at the eye, but more of the after effects of the GA. Poor boy didn't eat for more than 24 hours! Was so sad and heart pain, but was glad he took it well. Now he's back to his bubbly, cheeky, normal self!

Went for gynae checkup today. All was well and baby is now estimated to be in 28 weeks, weighing 1.34kg. Contractions have been coming in pretty frequent now but at random intervals, and walking have became rather painful at times as the baby is exerting pressure on my pelvic bones. Gotta take things slowly now.

Work has been pretty slow and boring. Been doing what I can but am not entirely motivated to do much. Been wanting to find other things to do and finally I've got an opportunity to be the sole distributor for a nursing wear line. However, things are still in the initial stage and not much have been thought through. Am still half hearted on this but am afraid that I'll lose the opportunity. Need to think through thoroughly..

Finally finally update all my posts with photos. Realise that we are not photo enthusiatics hee as the photos we took are really very few.

It's been raining quite often lately. Pretty weird for the month of July. Well, it shows that Mother Earth is pretty sick as weather is getting haywired...

Hao's swimming classes was cancelled today, so we had lunch with my in laws. Dim Sum lunch to be exact but it wasn't exactly a good meal...there was a long wait at Yan Palace and food was served at very long intervals. In the end, all was eager to get out of the restaurants and gobbled the food in a hassle and left.

Had a bit of warm sun in the afternoon with slight breeze so we took the kids swimming at Elvina's place. Had great fun. Dinner was Sakae at the airport but now I am already feeling a little hungry haha...My appetite has been increasing lately and I am so scared I will get a big baby inside pretty soon! Better curb my eating!

Pretty late already...going to sleep...*yawn*

Time flies and Nic is already back in the US. 2 weeks she spent back here in hometown passes so fast. Really going to miss her so so much. Hope she can be back here in Oct in time when baby #3 arrives. Had a really good time catching up with her (altho not enough time really as we are both so busy!!)..

It's been a week since we came back from our Hong Kong Disneyland trip. Everyone had good fun on the trip, and we all came back more tired than ever :P

The kids behaved terribly well on this trip and rather cooperative too. After we came back, Hao kept telling me that he misses Mickey Mouse, and would like to go back again soon for another visit at Disneyland! Was thinking maybe we can do it again next year or the year after, or perhaps at Tokyo or California! Pics have been updated at my shutterfly photo website!

The kids enjoying themselves in the Grand Plaza Hotel.

The queue to The Peak, Tram ride with Ee enduring the heat in there and Hao enjoying the view up at the top of The Peak!

Food! Glorious Food! at The Bubblegummers Restaurant at The Peak!

Taking the China Star Ferry back to Tsim Sha Tsui from Hong Kong Island after the visit to The Peak. It was a merely 5 mins ferry but the kids enjoyed themselves.

Disneyland here we come! Too many things, too little time and no space left in the camera!!

This is Hao's favourite character and photo!

I am now 6 months pregnant now, with the tummy getting bigger and bigger everyday, I've become more tired and lazy as time goes by. The bad part is that I've send the maid back to the agent as she fell short of our expectations and started behaving rather strangely after she got wind that we are going to get a replacement. Now we are just waiting for the replacement maid to pass through her tests and prob we can collect her this weekend. Crossing fingers that she can meet our expectations and help us out for the next 2 years...

This has been a very tiring school holiday for me. For the first time ever, Hao doesn't need to attend school at all for one whole month (he used to be in child care which doesn't close for school holidays) and is at home the whole day long. Couple of times I brought him to work and I must say he behaves himself quite well and manage his own stuff without much disturbance to others, but most of the time, he's at home with my mum or myself.

We've cultivate the habit of going to the library once every 2-3 weeks and borrowing books of his interests - majority subjects in cars, trains, any other automobile or marine life. At least his general knowledge is increasing LOL

Yesterday we went to catch the movie SURF UP. Just him and me, in the lazy afternoon. He enjoyed the show very much and could understand what they were talking about and the jokes they cracked in the show. Overall I am glad he enjoyed himself thoroughly.

He's been doing some maths work at home too, spending at least 2 hours a day with me on his worksheets and then some time in play and some time in watch TV. Now I can see the difference when I am around at home controlling what he does and when I am working and he only watches TV the entire day. Cartoon nowadays are not exactly the best form of education for kids especially when the cartoons are rather violent. Thankfully school reopens next week and he'll be back in school for half a day.

Finally our trip for Hong Kong is settled and now we are just waiting for next week to leave for our holiday! Hope the whole family enjoys this trip. After that will be another round of getting prepared for the baby's arrival and also my popping in oct. Crossing my fingers that things will go smoothly...



Went out on one weekend to Millenia Walk and saw many many nice cars...


Took this at Paragon when we went to settle the air tickets for the kids at SIA..

The mystery is finally unveiled...we'll be welcoming another baby boy into the family! We are all having mixed feelings. We really hoped for a gal this time round after 2 boys, but who knows, it's going to be another boy too! 3 boys in a row...I guess I'm really gonna give up. Not willing to try another one again...Nevetheless, we are still happy that the baby is healthy and very active inside lol

At last we have booked our Hong Kong trip for July. So far planning has been ok, just that duno what we need to expect over there. Hopefully the weather is nice and less hot than Singapore (heard it's hotter!) and the kids won't be cranky there. Crossing fingers that everything will go smoothly since this is the first ever family trip (4 of us only) and that this will also be the last trip for us as a family of 4!!

Posted are the photos taken on Hao's 5th birthday. We brought him to HarbourFront for dinner and trip to the ToysRUs there. Saw few of his favourite characters!!

Its been 1 month since I last posted in my blog...it shows how lazy I've become!! It has been a busy busy month of May. Went Bangkok for a short 2 days trip without the kids! It was my first trip ever without the kids and the very first time I left Ee in the care of my mum for 2 nights without me. It turned out pretty ok, except with Hao calling me and asking me to go home soon :P

The last two weeks was packed by the office move as I had a lot of admin and coordination work to do, finding out what needs to be done and the packing and actual move. Finally we've moved into the new office, however, we're still not settled down yet as the furniture have yet to be arranged (according to the boss' liking) and PCs not set up etc. Sigh, been really stressed up with the move and have not been sleeping well. My boss left so it's now us and the directors. Things will not be the same again...

Finally Ee is cleared of his fever. Now is just a small bout of running nose and cough but other than that, he's on the way to recovery.

Very surprised to hear that many kids have been sick since last week. This round of viral is hitting the kids real hard and they are all taking a longer time to recover from it. I've heard fever lasting for more than 1 week and more parents having to take leave to be home with the kids. Also heard that Jedd and Jenn was down with HFMD last week. Luckily my kids didn't get it from them LOL

Hubby is flying off to Bangkok for his SAP Bootcamp tonight and won't be back till Sat night. I've been contemplating to join him there for a few days stay since his company is staying for his hotel room. Mum is ok with taking care of the kids but I'm still skeptical about it :P Will see how it goes on Wed and then decide whether to go over on Thurs or not. Prob I'll be taking early flight back on Sat to take care of the kids as hubby's flight will only reach home at 9plus at night.

Today is Day 3 of Ee's fever. Last night at 2.30am his fever went up to 39.2 degree celsius and vomited again. Luckily I managed to bring him to the toilet in time and didn't dirty the bed and floor. Sis woked up and helped me to change him and carried him while I changed my clothes and prepared his med. At the same time dad came back and helped to carry him too as I was simply too exhausted and was having a major thumping headache due to lack of sleep and rest. Hubby has already flew off and I was glad I stayed over at sis' place so there's more people to help out with Ee.

4am Hubby reached Karachi and I sms him Ee's condition. Called him and chated for 10 mins on his flight journey, the place and hotel, as well as Ee's fever. Boy I was glad to hear his voice even though both of us was dead tired. I missed him so so much, maybe it's the hormones plus lack of sleep and the headache, I was missing him so so much. I remained awake till 5.30am as I couldn't sleep at all after popping 2 panadol extras to ease my headache and watch some TV. 6am my helper woke up to do her household chores and I was wide awake at 6.30am, couldn't fall asleep to the sounds in the house. By 7.30am everyone was up and preparing to go out and I was ushering Hao to prepare for school. After all was done, I send mum to the market and went home to freshen myself up and grab my laptop to sis house (picked up mum on the way) to start my work for the day. It's gonna be another long tiring day for me as I am crossing my fingers for the hundredth time, praying for Ee to recover quickly to his old cheerful self and that I can rest a little soon...

It was the Mayday holiday yesterday, the last public holiday for the next few months. We thought we'll spend some time with the kids outdoors and also let hubby take a good rest since he's been working really hard these few months and he'll be flying off for business trip today. Atlas, things didn't turn out the way it was imagined when Ee woke up at 4am in the morning with a horrible fever and started coughing and throwing up. I had to woke hubby up to help me with the cleaning as I fed Ee medicine, crossing my fingers that it was a small episode that will go away in the morning. It didn't help that a storm was brewing outside and it had start to rain quite heavily.

Ee fidgeted and got cranky, refusing to sleep till about 5am and kept tossing and turning as he slipped in and out of dreamland. Hubby and I didn't have much sleep too till about 6plus am in the morning when Ee finally fell into a deep sleep. Subconsciously, I heard Hao waking up at 7plus am and thankfully our helper was there to help with Hao and didn't disturb our sleep till about 8am when I woke up. As I was freshening up, Hao came into the room and gave me the "morning papers", something that he had drawn (with the help of the helper pasting papers together). He was so cute when he handed me that.

Ee woke up a while later and his fever was still not subsided as I gave him one insert to make sure the fever don't keep going up. He was pretty alright after a while, played a little and watch some TV while I slipped out to get breakfast for us all. By the time I got back about 15 mins later, hubby was already up (about 10am). We stayed home for the day and hoping Ee will be fine soon. By afternoon, it was obvious his fever was not going away for a while. Even with the med and inserts, his fever hovered around 38.5degrees celsius and all we could do was sponge him, bath him, feed med and carry him, making him as comfortable as possible.

As we were supposed to go over to in laws place for dinner, I had to stay home with Ee and the helper while hubby bring Hao over for dinner at about 5.30pm. About 6.30pm, Ee's fever peaked at 39.8 degrees celsius despite all the med and bathing so I called hubby to leave Hao for dinner there and hurry back to bring Ee to the clinic. We managed to see the doc at only 7.45pm and as usual told us the possibility of either viral fever or false measles and advised us to con't giving med and sponging him. After paying $50 we headed to fetch Hao (and packed our dinner), went home to feed Ee med again (double dosage) and crossing our fingers again that his fever will drop while we eat dinner in haste.

Thankfully his fever slowly subsided and reach to a normal level but not before he broke out in sweat throughout the time, which was a good sign. Now his fever will still come and go but at least he's alert and fever in control with the med. Will have to send hubby to airport soon and hopefully all will be well again soon.

I was glad to hear that hubby's coll's baby is fine after the tests. However, just last night, we got news that the wife was admitted to hospital again for bleeding. Sigh..it's so sad to hear that...I just hope both the wife and the baby will be alright soon.

My parents have finally moved over to my sis' place. Their place will start renovation on Wed and it is estimated that the entire project will finish in 3-4 weeks. I am crossing fingers that there'll be minimal conflicts in these 3-4 weeks and everything will be back to normal..

Went for my FTS yesterday. Glad to hear that baby is growing well at 13 weeks and risk of down syndrome is very low. At the same time, heard from hubby that his coll's wife, who's also preg at the same gestation as me, had received bad news from her gynae that her baby is not growing well and need further tests to determine if they can con't to keep the baby. It's very sad to hear that as I know they've been praying and trying for a baby for so long and finally conceived this baby through IVF but now it seems like the possibility of being able to keep the baby is so slim. I can imagine the stress the wife is going through, and the self blame and sadness. It makes me feel really blessed that my kids are all well and healthy and my baby is thriving well in me.

Things are still the same at work. Been going into the office twice a week to clear the admin work and also check for any updates going on in the directors' offices. So far no news...well no news should be good news right?

Finally finally my maid is here. Rather, she's been here for a week now. So far so good, not much problems for her to settle in, other than the fact that the kids (especially Ee) needs more time to get used to her. Having someone to take care of the housework is such a wonderful feeling. At least now the house is not so messy and in the mornings, we'll all wake up to a nice and clean house.

I've been getting more and more back to work life now, with more expectations at work. Luckily the 1st trimester is nearly passed now. I've been more or less feeling much better and more energised now after a good long rest. Hopefully everything will only get better! I'll be spending more time back in the office now - at least 2 days a week, to help with the administration stuff as no one is taking care right now. Hopefully in 2 weeks time, things will be clearer and there's be a clear direction where the company is heading.

For now, we've been rather settled down after the first phase of transition. Now we're just waiting for the time to come to receive our 3rd child and getting into the second phase of transition and then will be the last phase of getting a bigger house and looking into school options for Hao to enrol in for primary education. The next 1 year will be a major change for us with so many things ongoing and definitely going to costs us a bomb with all that. Crossing fingers as we step into every new phase of our life.

Next week I'll be going for the first foetal scan for abnormalities. Hope everything will be fine too.

Things are slightly better this week. Very minimal morning sickness and finally feeling a bout of energy back to my body. Managed to catch up with work and starting to follow up with some cases on hand. Time used more effectively rather than lying in bed all day moaning about the nausea and weak body.

Mum is not around this morning so I am going to be managing both kids on my own. Tried to sleep in later this morning but Ee woke up at 8 plus so I had to drag myself out of bed for breakfast and bath. Managed to check some work email and send some emails while he's playing beside me at this moment. Later will have to fetch Hao from school together with Ee and get some lunch before heading back to mum's place as she'll be back in the afternoon after finishing her stuff. Sounds like a boring and tiring day for me ahead!

Finally going to maid agencies tomorrow afternoon as hubby has took half day leave. I'll be heading into the office for some work handover, and then meeting hubby after lunch to visit the agencies. Hopefully we can settle the maid stuff tomorrow and not drag it further.

This weekend we'll be house viewing. A property agent friend has arranged some house for us to view. It's going to be a busy busy period going forward with so much activities going on. Not sure if all these changes are for the better or worse. Well, we can't turn back now and expect things to be as per normal. Changes around here are definitely required (it comes with a price of course!!) and I'm rather worried about how we are going to cope financially. Things will be tougher when I completely stop work in months to come. I'm looking at at least stopping work for the next 1 or 2 years till the baby is older. Hopefully I can get some part time work to get myself going and earn some extra income, but most of the financial burden is going to be loaded on hubby. Thankfully his job is still stable now, but we can't always be too sure about it.

Sigh can only take one step at a time now and cross our fingers hoping everything will turn out well...

An Unexpected New Journey

Dizzy spells, drained of energy, morning sickness, emotional, temperamental etc..These signs describe me perfectly recently. It happened during the CNY period, when I realised I was pregnant for the 3rd time. Surprise surprise! It certainly took me by surprise and immediately I decided that I wasn't ready for this baby. We hadn't really planned to have another one, not to mention Ee is barely 17months old. Taking care of both kids plus the housework and job and pregnancy was not something in my mind at all. Hubby took it better than I did. All I could do was cry and cry, telling him I was scared of this commitment and I'm not sure if I can cope with what was happening. Even till now, I have not fully accepted the fact that I am pregnant and going to have another baby soon. Sigh...things really took a big twist this time!

Anyway for the past few weeks, I didn't have the energy to do any work, just focusing on resting at home. Thankfully my boss is understanding and allows me to work from home till we get a replacement for me. The first 2 weeks was horrible. Everything horrible sets in and my whole world turned upside down. All I can do is stay in bed with minimal movement. Every movement I make will cause me to head straight to the toilet. I couldn't hold any food but was hungry all the time. Pre-natal depression set in and I was emotional and crying all the time, telling hubby I can't go through this all over again. I guess saying I wasn't prepared for the baby was a total understatement...I felt I was totally rejected the baby.

Now I am feeling much better. The EDD is still not set as the time the baby was conceived was not determined yet. So will have to wait for next checkup to confirm that. I hope things will slowly get better so I can be back to normal again for my kids. Luckily the kids are not too demanding now and hubby has been extremely supportive to this pregnancy and contributing a lot more than he used to. Praying hard for things to get normal soon.

Things have been rather confusing lately...I'm not sure how to put it now but since things have been confirmed, decisions have to be made soon.

Last weekend was a fantastic weekend for us. We brought the kids to the Zoo. It was Ee's first time and he enjoyed looking at the animals very much. We all had a great time there. After that we proceeded to the Ritz Carlton for one night stay, complimentary of my sis in law, Nicole. Coincidentally, there was the lunar new year fireworks that night and we had a great view of that from our hotel room. It was an awesome sight for us and the kids were totally speechless to see the fireworks so near!

Sunday we went back to the room again and saw another round of fireworks after dinner with hubby's family. Hao and Ee was just enjoying themselves in the tub when the fireworks started and it is not hard to imagine both of them stunned in the bathtub looking at the fireworks.