Isaac's sick! :(

Yes, my Isaac is sick! :( I was in a meeting yesterday afternoon when the school/childcare called to say that he is listless and feverish, about 37.4 degrees. Luckily I took the call... I have the school's number saved in my phone, you see... so when I saw it was a call from the school, I thought:"Better answer. They don't usually call for trivial matters."

(pix below taken on 5th March 2010... when Isaac's not sick!)Teacher Lina called, said that Isaac was listless after his nap and didn't want to go to the playground and play; took his temperature and it was 37.4 degrees. Something like that. Some times when you hear disturbing news, you can't remember the exact content. Just roughly roughly.

I was disturbed coz I was stuck in a meeting, and had another at 5pm - when I'd rather run to school to see Isaac. hummphh. Plus hubbs had the car. hummphh. plus MY BABY's SICK?!?! sob sob.

Also, there was no reason for Isaac to be sick :( I mean, it's not like he was caught in the rain, or slept without clothes on, or went without his dinner last night... hubbs had the same reaction as me - he was like "Huh? sick? How come ah?" - which were my first questions as well. Oh yah, we react like that coz... Isaac is seldom sick. Well, seldom sick without reason...
Well luckily hubbs could go pick him up immediately... He then brought Isaac to see our family doctor, who gave him a generous prescription of fever medicine (more generous than the pd usually does...) and an antibiotic too. hubbs was like "huh, isn't he too young for antibiotics?" Which the doctor replied "Rubbish! No such thing lah!"Well, okay, if that's what you say... We weren't inclined to disagree with him - coz he's my Duah Pek. So typical of him. hahaha...
It was about 6pm, so hubbs thought they could come pick me up since my official knock off time was 5.45pm. So they came round to my office. But guess what, I was still in the meeting! It went on and on, round and round. So frustrating! And then suddenly hubbs called me on my mobile - Isaac puked in my office recept! :( oh dear.

I dashed out to the recept to find a huge pool of vomit at the recept area, hubbs with a huge patch of vomit on his pants, and Isaac, stripped down to his diapers only. The poor thing. He's very particular and hates to be in his clothes even for a moment longer if they have vomit on them. He'd request to change out of them immediately. Well, who wouldn't, yah?

But bad mummy here couldn't leave yet. Coz I was taking minutes and was sorta coordinating this meeting. Damn, if I wasn't taking minutes, I think I'd have dropped and go. SIGH. I could only point them in the direction of the toilet... and took off my jacket for Isaac to wear.
Meeting went on insufferably long till it was almost 7 by the time we were done. I quickly ran, got my stuff, and went to meet hubbs and Isaac at the car. Poor Isaac was quiet and listless all the way home. He even fell asleep halfway home, whilst munching on a biscuit.

When he got home, he laid down on the playmat and didn't utter a word. He was so quiet, it was painful to see him like that. Yet when I ask him "Isaac, are you okay?" He'd look me in the eye, nod, and say "Yes."

pix above taken on 5th March 2010
Isaac @ a day to 2 years 7 months

He managed to eat half a bowl of porridge for dinner, and we then got him to bed early. We tried to use a wet towel to 'sponge' his forehead, but he didn't like it. Kept swatting our hands away or moving his head away from us. He didn't seem to mind if I just wet my hands and put it on his forehead - so I just did that for the whole night.

At one point, hubbs felt his head, which didn't seem that hot at that point in time (due to my constantly wetting his forehead) and took his temperature - 38.2! Gosh! And that's after all the 'wetting' I've been doing?! Isaac's never had a temperature this high before :(

Isaac was in pretty good spirits though. Considering. The down end, he'd be quiet. The uppity end, which happened intermittently throughout the night, he'd be cheery and he'd sing and talk to us cheerfully. So cheerfully that hubbs and I would look at each other and give each other an incredulous look.

He's a very good boy lah, Isaac. hiaz.

Get well soon, k, Isaac? Mummy loves you.

Sarong MerBabies!!!

Remember the Sarong MerBoy from 3 years ago? Hahaha... now we have the Sarong MerBabies resurfacing!!! wooohoo!!! :) that was a fun post - I enjoyed re-reading it again ;p (shameless self-promotion of my own writing).
I realised, upon reading that old post, that I never really explained why we started using the sarong. Isaac was a big baby you see. Well, I mean, he grew to be pretty big for his age when he was just a few months old. By the 2nd month, he had already more than doubled his birth weight of 3.22kg. I was breastfeeding him "on demand" you see - i.e. whenever he made so much of a sound or fussed, I'd give him the breast.

Not the best methodology - on hindsight. But at that time, it'd work and breastfeeding-on-demand was promoted by breastfeeding authorities and enthusiasts... so... *shrug* it well put me on the slippery path to being Isaac's pacifier for 2 and a half years... but, no regrets lah. It was an experience :)

So anyway, Isaac, being big as he was... by the time he was slightly more than a month old - he couldn't be 'wrapped' by those 'baby wrappers' cloth already! So we didn't wrap him like most babies are wrapped - coz the wrappers couldn't contain him!

But Isaac sorta had colic when he was 2 and 3 months old - he would cry at 7pm every night, unconsolably, till about 10pm at least. Nothing we do could pacify him, not hubbs carrying him and walking around, not music, not aircon, not even the breast. He caused us much grief indeed ;p (It's funny now, thinking back. But at that time, was quite hellish.)

We have a Malay neighbour, the auntie, she's really really nice. She started to come over in the evening to see Isaac when he starts his crying. She'd offer to take him from us for awhile, just so I can rest, and we can have our dinner in peace. It was a much needed for me as I'd been taking care of Isaac all day, alone, without help.

But the amazing thing was - Auntie had this uncanny ability to settle Isaac! She'd manage to get him to stop crying! It was very amazing. Well, it was experienced Auntie vs First Time Parents Us, but still... very steady, I tell you! (Actually, we later found out, that what really prompted Auntie to come over and takeover Isaac, is coz she couldn't bear to hear him crying and crying every evening... hahahaha... must sound like we're torturing him - when actually HE is the one torturing US!!! ;p ;p)

So it turns out that her main method of calming him down, was to wrap him. But coz all his wrappers were too small... She gave us one of her brand new sarongs - the one Asher is in (picture above). The sarong is huge, and so was perfect for wrapping Isaac in. And so the Sarong MerBoy was born. After that, we constantly wrapped Isaac during bedtime and when he fussed, and it'd almost always work in calming him down.

We're eternally grateful, Auntie!!! THANK YOU!!! ;p

pix taken on 5th March 2010
Asher & Shawna @ a day to 2 months old

So I happily took out my collection of sarongs to use for Isaac :) My precious collection of sarongs. These sarongs (you can see a variety in the Sarong MerBoy post) belonged to my Popo, my maternal grandma :)

She was a Peranakan, you see. And so she was always dressed in kebayas & sarongs. After she passed away, my aunties split up her collection of the traditional clothing amongst them. I managed to procure some pieces for myself too - being one of her favourite grandchildren helped ;p

Thus, my Popo's sarongs are put to great use here! :) The kids love them, and I love seeing them in her sarongs. And I'm sure she'd agree with me :)

The kidzes' smiley first names!

Once again, I'm behind in my posts. Behind being defined as photos in post being posted long after they were taken... In this case now... about 2 months. Pictures here were taken on dated 4th March 2010.

I always know I am behind in my posts when friends/colleagues/family see any of the kids and go "Oh! They look so different!" or more tellingly "Eh??? This is Isaac? He looks so different!" They don't even recognise him. HAHAHA.
Initially, I used to internally react like "Huh, of course different lah, you last saw them weeks/months ago!" Then later I realised that they were comparing what they see now, to what they see on my blog ;p For despite me religiously stating the the dates which the pictures are being taken, I guess it's natural that people tend to think that that is the 'current state' of how the kids look like. Well, all I have to say is... where kids are concerned: Change is constant!!!

Look at my Shawna :) smiley ain't she? Hehehe... yes, Cin, the two small ones are as smiley as Smiley. I love these pix of Shawna, but they look kinda grainy. I've been griping about the picture quality of my pictures lately... which caused hubbs to say to Asher last night:"You see, Mummy is trying to justify buying a new camera..." ;p bleeeaaauughhh - hummph, buy already don't let you use, then you know.
I started this post thinking that I should quickly just post it, to get the posting going to try to keep up... and then I started talking. hiaz. you see lah.

Oh did I tell you that Asher & Shawna both have very long and sharp tongues? We realised this even during confinement month, when they stick out their tongues, it's like very long and sharp. Confinement nanny said they'd grow up to be "very good at talking." hubbs says:"yah, just like Mummy. Mummy, retribution coming..." ;p
I love putting Asher & Shawna together and see how they interact. They don't seem to mind each others' flailing arms and legs and would not cry even if one kicked the other or their arms hit each other. Instinctively, they tend to link arms, or even to hold each others' hands. Even when they topple over and 'crush' each other - they don't mind, and won't cry.

I'm so glad the twins are as smiley as Isaac. Oh that reminds me, I haven't told you how I named them, did I? You all know what "Isaac" means, right? It's a biblical name (name from the bible) that means "He who laughs". And laugh and smile Isaac did. Which is why Cin calls Isaac "Smiley" (I love it! :p).

 And so when I was naming the twins, I wanted something in a similar vein. I found Asher! Asher, one of the 12 sons of Jacob, means "Happy". So long before I even conceived Asher, he had a name already :) My second son was always to be named Asher.

I had a tougher time looking for a girl's name though. I wanted a biblical name, with a good meaning, 2 syllables... I wanted the meaning to be along the lines of Laugh/Happy like Isaac's and Asher's... but then it was like 'Abigail' which is like no-no for naming your daughter with...
The biblical criteria was also very tough - coz there're very few female names in the bible. The obvious ones were far too common, and were almost all associated with people we know. None really caught my eye. So I decided that I'd relax my 'biblical' criteria to include variants of biblical names - this widened up possibilities quite a bit, especially since I may now consider female variants of male biblical names.

Was flipping one of my many name books (started collecting them when I was 16 - when I was searching for a confirmation name for myself)... when I came across 'Shawna'. It is a female variant of Shawn - alternative spellings are Shaun & Sean - which are essentially the Irish version of the biblical name 'John'.
Thus the name Shawna shares the same meaning as the name John - which means "God is gracious". Which is a good meaning, and biblical, and pretty unique and has 2 syllables. Perfect! And so that's how Shawna came to be called Shawna.
To tell the truth, the only misgiving I had about the name was that it didn't have a meaning along the lines of 'laughter/happy' - I was afraid that Shawna wouldn't be as smiley as Isaac was. But it was the best name I could find... so I went with it... perhaps, I thought, the gracious Lord would be a smiley one as well? :)
Looks like I needn't have worried! Shawna's plenty of smiles! :) In fact, she started smiling and laughing before Asher did. She did so from 1 month plus onwards, Asher, from 2 months onwards. Isaac started smiling in his first weeks! Look at my Isaac below :)

pix taken on 4th March 2010
Isaac @ two days to 2 yrs 7 months
Asher & Shawna @ two days to 2 months

12th May is my birthday!

It's my birthday on 12th May 2010! :) I had a fantaburrific day! :) Let me tell you all about it...

First we brought Isaac in to school... then hubbs and I went for breakfast at West Coast Macs ;p We bumped into hubbs' students from the school he used to teach in and he had a nice time chatting with them... meeting his students never fails to brighten his day :)

Then we rushed home, and brought Asher & Shawna out to the paediatrician for their jabs. Guess what?! Asher weighed in at 7.15kg and Shawna at 6.2kg!!! Wooohooo!!! So they're both officially more than twice their birth weight! What a great birthday gift from the twins! :)

Date	Asher	Shawna
12May10 (18 wks)	7.15kg,61.5cm	6.2kg, 58cm
15Apr10 (14 wks)	6.7kg, 61cm	5.5kg, 58cm
8Mar10 (9 wks)	5.6kg, 58.5cm	4.7kg, 55cm
18Feb10 (6 wks)	5.1 kg	4.6 kg
6Jan10 (at birth)	2.770 kg, 48cm	2.815 kg, 49cm

Pd says they're both doing well physically. Asher's at 75th percentile for his weight, and Shawna at 50th percentile. So both are good. We're still on 100% breastmilk at the moment, so that's cause for celebration! I'm hoping to stay on 100% till the twins are at least 6 months old. If I can do 2 years like I did with Isaac, that'd be best. We'd see how it goes.

But the weight gain by Asher & Shawna's great, and developmentally they're doing everything they should be doing - I think! Dr Agnes Tay is not exactly very vocal when it comes to such things - she just goes "Good, good! Clever boy, Asher! Clever girl, Shawna!" Even when I ask her "Why you say he/she clever?" in a bid to try to get her to elaborate, she doesn't say much. Maybe I ask the question wrongly. Perhaps I should just say "Can you please elaborate?" Hmmm... mental note to ask questions point blank in future.

We brought the twins home, and I did a quick pump before we went to Jurong Point for lunch - not before we checked out the movie timing for Ironman 2. Managed to get in a decent lunch (ang mo jiak at my request! ;p) before we went for the movie at 2pm. It's been like more than 2 years since we last went to a movie theatre for a movie!

Not bad, the movie, but we thought Ironman 1 was better. The sound quality sucked though - too loud too loud and sharp - hurt our cultured ears kekeke... Guess we were too pampered by our sound system at home. Plus we couldn't prop up our legs and were constrained by the seats. We really prefer watching movies in our home theatre - and this trip to the theatre reminded us why!

The only downside to watching movies at home is that we have to wait for the shows to come out on dvd before we can watch them. But that doesn't bother us very much. We're not hung up on being trendy and IN with the times. ;p

After the movie, we went to have a neck & shoulder massage... wooo shiok shiok... though in the beginning, I was like in throes of pain. But I gradually got used to the kneading, and soon I was in dreamland - took a nap! :)

We upped, refreshed! And realise it was getting late. Quickly skipped home for a pump again, before we went to pick Isaac from school. Then we went to West Coast Plaza for dinner at Sushi Tei :) and topped off the night with 2 slices of cake at Starbucks and Isaac & hubbs singing Happy Birthday to me in English and Chinese :) shall upload the vids I took of that.

I was a great day! I got to spend time with Asher & Shawna, with hubbs, and then Isaac too. Perhaps it sounded like an ordinary day to you. But with a toddler and 2 infants in our lives, this day is certainly not the 'norm' nowadays! We usually eat at home now that my in laws are staying with us and coz it's easier to settle the kids that way. So eating out is a treat.

hubbs and I also made it a point to take leave on this day and spend the day together. This is a luxury thanks to hubbs' position with MOE HQ, coz when he was teaching - he couldn't take leave. We had initially wanted to do something more out of the ordinary, like some sporting activity. hubbs suggested the adventure rope course and flying fox at Sentosa. I was thinking of canoeing, cable skiiing or wakeboarding.

But in the end, we decided on movie & massage. Coz I can't help but think back to when I fractured my elbow 2 years ago while rollerblading when Isaac was about 9 months old. Here are the old posts on my arm: pam's arm update; breastfeeding with cast on. I thought I had a post telling you guys on how I broke my arm... can't seem to find it though...

Anyway, like I said, I was thinking back to that time and how inconvenient it was for me to have my arm injured, with a baby to care for. Now, I have a todd and 2 babies! It'd be hell if I broke my arm or any other part of my body this time again. And given that my body ain't in too good a shape lately... we decided that some sedentary activity is probably best.

I was reflecting on how I really made it a point to want to take time out to celebrate my birthday this year... Not that we didn't celebrate it in the past. Sure we did. But it was the usual dinner with family, cut cake, etc. I usually didn't bother taking leave. It was usually quite a 'normal' day for me. But this year... I wanted to celebrate it... and I wondered why...

Maybe it's because I feel very mortal nowadays. I mean, not like when I was younger (defined as: before having kids? ;p ) and feel kinda invincible. Well not invincible, but like, ya know everything is like "won't die one lah" kinda feeling... or "die die, so what?" ... I dunno how to say this.

Oh did I tell you that I thought I was going to die? There was this period during this twins pregnancy of mine, that I thought I was going to die in childbirth. Guess it was the hormones acting up, mood swings, coupled with the knowledge that there tends to be complications in giving birth to multiples.

I'd cry and ask hubbs "What if I die? Who's going to take care of Isaac and my 2 babies?". So drama, right? Yeah someone would probably take care of the kidzes, but I wanted to be the one to take care of them! Not someone else!!! I didn't even ask hubbs if he'd remarry - I didn't want to hear the answer - coz either way, it'd make me feel bad.

But yeah, guess motherhood changes you that way. I used to be a daredevil. Well, kinda. Used to cycle down slopes and round corners without braking, drive up to 140km/hr at times, enjoyed watching my collection of sadistic slasher/serial killer movies and reading serial killer books.

Now, the serial killer stuff sends chills down my spine when I imagine that it could have been my own kids who were kidnapped and killed by these serial killers. I think, thrice (okay maybe twice) before I run an amber light or when I intend to jaywalk. I think of all the risks and consequences of doing something, and weighing these carefully, before I do it...

I'm SO glad that we went to New Zealand for our honeymoon and did all those stuff: sky diving, canyoning, cave exploring, climbing atop big rocks... I'd always thought that, given the chance, I'd do all those things again. But I'm not so sure now. I regret that I didn't decide to shell out more money to do a longer skydive. At that time, we thought it was too expensive to pay more to jump from a higher height - for extra time in freefalling - we figured that we shouldn't spend too much where we could help it, and that we can always come back next time to do it, when we presumeably can better afford it. Now, I'm not so sure I would go skydiving again!

So chicken, right? Like the trip to Perth last June, when we went to Pemberton, Perth to see the tree and climb it. Well hubbs climbed, but I didn't. It was just out of the question. I did not even consider climbing it. It was a straight no. I had Isaac for an excuse, like "Oh, Isaac would cry if I climbed up coz he'd want to be with me." But I didn't even need to say it. No one needled me for not climbing, so I didn't need to utter any excuse. But it struck me how I absolutely refused to climb it, when I know I'd have been one of the first to climb that tree if I didn't have kids.

So... I think, it's a celebration of life. It amazes me that I have come this far in life and I have a lot of things to be thankful for. For the first time ever, I thanked my parents for bringing me up. Hehehe... not in person, of course. I said it over sms. They wish me happy birthday over sms, so I replied and said "Thank you for bringing me up this past 31 years." Who says technology makes communication impersonal?! ;p

I also thanked my sister for "tolerating" me this past 31 years. Our relationship when we were younger wasn't exactly very peaceful, if you know what I mean. Typical, lah I guess. But when we look at Rebecca and Isabelle quarelling now, we understand exactly kind of grief we brought our parents. HAHAHA... Retribution, we say. Though I am still praying that Isaac, Asher & Shawna would get along very well and not fight and quarrel as much as my sister and I did! :p

This year, I also made it a point to reply every sms and every facebook message I received wishing me Happy Birthday. I figured since people take the trouble to message me on my birthday, so I should take the trouble to reply, right? In the past, I thought it was a waste of time (facebook) and money (sms) to do so ;p

Sigh. I feel so old, thinking of all this. Oh but you know what?! Just the day before my birthday, I was talking to a new friend, and she was guessing my age to be... 25!!! WOOHOO!!! hahahahahhahahahahahahahahaa!!! It was an educated guess too, coz she knew I had three kids and that I was a uni grad. She thought I married early, had kids early. (Hey you, stop pretending to choke ok. And don't be mean and say people cannot count, ok. Just accept the fact that I look young ;p) hahahaa... then I thought - or maybe I very immature, childish. hmmm... then suddenly, I thought "If she'd seen my tummy pix, she probably wouldn't think I'm so young!" Hahaha what a random thought that was!

Hmmm... kekeke... you want tummy update??? ;p Gross you out, again! Ah!!! I just got a great idea for more blog posts - the GROSS YOU OUT Series!!! wooohooo!!! wait till you see the Pamela's Incredible Twisting Arm!!!

Our current room layout

Yep, this is it. Our current room layout. Luckily our master bedroom's pretty big. After the confinement nanny left, we rearranged the room and managed to fit in both cots, in addition to our King sized bed.

You know how hospitals have the nurses' station in a ward? Well, I have a mini nursing station between my two cots. This is where I sit on the edge of the bed, and feed the babies. I have on the table everything I need - the hand pump (to pump the other breast), bottle of water (breastfeeding is thirsty business), tissue paper (messy business too), vitamins (must maintain my milk to be chockful of goodness), nailclippers (I usually cut the babies' nails when I am feeding them) etc...

I have a chair there, but I sit on the edge of the bed more often than I do on the chair. Primarily coz it's a kind of a squeeze to sit on the chair... The babies are growing longer (taller) by the day and so if I am sitting on the chair to feed them, once they kick, they will hit the cot. Quite difficult to manage, so I usually sit on the bed.

Bad thing about sitting on the bed is that my back has no support, and also, it's quite a strain for me to stand up and down carrying the babies who are getting heavier by the day. As a result, my knees have been having it very bad, and are now constantly screaming in pain :( I have problem coming down stairs now, and squatting is a big issue.

Everyday I go toilet and thank technology advancement that we no longer really use squat toilets now ;p Only thing that bothers me, is that it hurts when I have to squat to get down to Isaac's level to talk to him. So at home, I simply end up sitting on the floor. But it'd be so wierd if I just sat on the floor everytime I want to talk to Isaac when I'm at his school. Thankfully, they've many mini chairs about, which I'd quickly drag one to sit on, whenever I need to get down to his level to talk to him in school.

Speaking of physical pain... my ankles were hurting too, did I mention? Thanks to my flatter than pancakes flat footed feet (is there even such a term?!) The pain got very bad after spending 12 weeks of maternity leave at home walking about without footwear - no support = pain. Now, back at work for more than a month already, wearing my trusty boots and $300 pair of customised orthopaedic insoles - my ankles are much much better and my feet no longer feel like they're dropping off anytime soon. Best investment I ever made buying that pair of insoles. Should have bought it when I was a teenager or something.

Did I tell you about my wrists? Yeah pain also. Beginning to sound like an old woman, right? Pain pain pain. Not so strong as before, and there's a cracking sound, and sometimes the wrist gets stuck in a certain angle and must be 'clucked back'. Dunno how to say lah. Don't know how it came about either. Maybe it was all that rough play with Isaac. Dunno. But now, if I hold the babies too long in one position with my hands, the wrists would act up.

Pain pain pain. Sigh. Feel like my body's falling apart sometimes. See what pregnancy does to you. Labour pain is nothing man - at least you can take an epidural for that. It's the after-pains that kill you. Oh yeah and for awhile, when I breastfed, the womb would contract you see (due to breastfeeding) - the PAIN of the contraction is the same as labour pain contraction lor - faint - without the epidural, mind you. And without the gradual increment of pain so that it's easier to withstand. No no, this one just hits you. PAINPAINPAIN.

Okay, enough of my pain. Dunno how this post about the room layout became a post on pain ;p Here's a look at one of my JOYs!!! :) So cute and tiny on the bed, isn't he. Ahhh... with kids like that, a bit of pain nevermind lah :)

pix taken on 3rd March 2010
Asher @ three days to 2 months old

To buy or not to buy?

A camera! A good one! yeah a Digital SLR or whatever you call it. Problem is, am kinda lazy to learn to use one. But then Hweech says it's very easy to pick up, and I'd always been more technically (or technologically? hmmm...) inclined - so if she says it's easy, I should be able to handle it, right? Look at all the pictures in this post - most if not all, look great! Hweech took them - except those that she's in, of course. But then, she is modest and says that it's the camera that makes the pix look great and not her photography skills. Well, a modest craftsman praises his tools, I always say.
Here she is, Auntie Hweech & little Shawna. But these pix and more that I have seen, are really making me consider getting a DSLR. Also, lately, when I take pictures using my camera, I've been getting more and more dissatisfied with them. Dunno why. Last time not so bad leh.
Nice pix of Irene & Cel. This was a farewell gathering for Cel & Alan before they head off to China where Alan's gonna work and Cel's gonna tai tai. Silly billies skipped off without even smsing us goodbye - luckily we managed to squeeze in this gathering before they left.
Coming back to my camera... so how? Buy or don't buy? Hmmm... It has actually been at the back of my mind for quite awhile. But recently something happened which made me seriously consider getting a new camera... We almost lost our camera.

Yes, thanks to hubbs. Again ;p He was gonna bring Isaac to the playground, so I'd asked him to bring the camera along to take pictures of Isaac as we'd not have pix taken of him in awhile. So hubbs brought the camera along, came home, and he only remembered that the first thing he did when he came back, was to carry Shawna, and both his hands were empty.
Try as I might, questioning him, to see if he could remember where he last saw the camera, where he left it, etc... he couldn't recall. He kinda insisted that he didn't leave the camera at the playground, but yet he couldn't say for sure if he brought it back (so contradicting, right?!).

Sighing in my heart, I prepared myself for the worst case possibility that the camera was left behind at the playground. I couldn't blame hubbs, I blamed myself. I should have known better than to ask him to bring the camera along. Those of you who know hubbs would know what I mean - he has such a high tendency of losing stuff! Wallets, identity cards, cameras, and lately even the twins' birthcerts - he'd accidentally left them behind at a government body's counter. *FAINT* that's hubbs for you. For me ;p
So, which was why I was seriously entertaining thoughts of getting the DSLR since it seemed like I'd need to get a camera anyway. Heart itchy itchy... Quite an investment though, think it's like a thousand bucks or something. But then again, I love taking pix of the kidzes... and if I wanted to get one and learn to use one, I might as well do it asap so that I can start taking nice pix of the kidzes, right? (Do not disturb - self-psychoing in process...)
See! Nice pictures, yah?! Hahaha or maybe it's coz I look more than half decent in these pix ;p
Crazy shot below - the mum gone nuts!
I'd smsed my mum to check if the camera was in the house - but she'd replied that she didn't see it anywhere. I was even thinking of driving back during lunch, to check with the coffeeshop near the playground to see if anyone had returned the camera. I had pix in it that I hadn't downloaded... so... well, desperate times call for desperate measures, right?
That's Asher and I above and us with Irene :) Think Shawna was sleeping by then, which explains why the subsequent pix are all of Asher... But guess what?! On Friday night, my mummy called to say that she found the camera! It was on the elephant seat just outside the front door!!! Woohoo!!! Fantastic! I could get back the pix now, and best of all the camera! It's never a nice feeling to lose something.
But then, now I don't have an ironcast reason to buy the DSLR ;p Then I thought... I know, get hubbs to buy it as a birthday gift to me since my birthday's coming! kekeke... since HE was the one who lost the camera, right? kekeke... But now we've found the camera...
Besides, hubbs bought something else I wanted... Air Supply tickets!!! yay!!! We're going to see Air Supply!!! I'd wanted to go see Air Supply last year when they were in town, but when I told hubbs, you know what he said?! He went "Huh? Why you wanna go see 2 old men sing?"

I was like "WHAT?! You can go and see Cai Qin concert for more than three times?! But I cannot see Air Supply?! You see old lady can, but I cannot see old men?!" hummphh!!! :p I didn't need to remind hubbs that one year, he wanted to see Cai Qin concert which fell on our wedding anniversary date which he'd obviously forgotten.

Properly chastised, hubbs promptly showed very positive and enthu reaction this year by buying the tickets very soon after I brought his attention to the fact that Air Supply was in town again ;p so sweet of him.
So! I shall spare him the camera expense (on account of the fact that he didn't lose the Lumix + he bought Air Supply tix already) and pay for it myself... IF I really get it... So how so how...
Haiz. Think the choice is clear! (Coca cola?) I shall get the camera lah! birthday cum mother's day present to myself, cum anniversary present to hubbs & myself!!! kekeke.... see, so many occasions - that should justify the cost... ;p
So the story of the faces on the magnadoodle went like this... Isaac wanted me to draw Asher, so I drew the one on the lower right hand side face. Then he said to "draw Isaac" - so I drew the one on the lower left hand side... Then he said to "draw Papa" so that was the one on the upper left hand side... and when it came to "draw Mummy" - the monkey looking one was the best I could manage. hey, I drew them all upside down, okay?! hahaha... Poor Shawna never got drawn coz Eason came and we were all distracted by him.
Here's Eason!!! :) So cute, right?! Weiqin's & Eric's Crown Prince Eason. Somemore akan datang? :p

pix taken on 20th February 2010 by Hweech!
Isaac @ 2 years & 6 months plus
Asher & Shawna @ 6 and a half weeks
Eason @ approx 4 months old

She flipped! sorta!

Yeah Shawna flipped! She did! On Sunday- 2nd May 2010 - so that makes her 16 and a half weeks when she flipped. She did completely turn over, though she hasn't managed to get her arm out from under herself. Think she'd be able to do that by this week.Asher is able to half turn already, but not completely turn over yet. We figured that he's heavier than Shawna, so inertia is greater *snigger*snigger*... maybe his diapers too heavy, take it off and maybe he can flip kekekeke...
But then again Isaac was heavier than Asher is, and Isaac flipped at 14 weeks! So... no excuse leh ;p But Isaac was always a quick one developmentally, and everyone's unique, so shouldn't compare, yah? :)
Growing up, I always remind myself that next time when I have kids, I will not compare them and unwittingly pit themselves against each other and promote sibling rivalry. But as time passes, and now that I am a parent of more than 1 kid... I can see that it's inevitable that comparisons be drawn... But I find it's more like comparing case notes, ya know?

But then again, I may speak too soon. My sister was just telling me how she sometimes compare the girls and use them to urge each other on - despite having the same thoughts as me that we should not compare the kids and encourage sibling rivalry. (Haha, see how scarred for life we are!?)

pictures taken on 28th February 2010
asher & shawna @ 7 and a half weeks

See that's hubbs and his dual baby holding pose, which he can sustain standing up, even! He's very good and can do that pretty well, coz his arms are long and strong. I can't do that pose, coz hmmm... maybe my arms not long enough - babies too big for me to do that already. Plus my wrists are like kinda loose and hence kinda weak, so not very strong... a bit tough to do that pose. Sitting down with the weight of the babies on my lap, can... but not standing.

Oh, but I can do both babies over my shoulder though. kekeke... show off show off, one day when I carry like that must get hubbs to take a picture... kekeke... over shoulder easier for me coz the weight is on my body rather than solely on my arms.

My darling armful of babies! :)

Asher & Shawna

Here they are! More pictures of Asher & Shawna! I love this picture of Asher - he's got a great smile! :) In fact, think we're gonna use this picture of his for his baby footprints thingy... Remember the last time I was telling you about their weight?

Well, guess what, they've grown some more! ;p

Date	Asher	Shawna
6 Jan 10 (at birth)	2.770 kg	2.815 kg
18 Feb 10 (6 wks)	5.1 kg	4.6 kg
8 Mar 10 (9 wks)	5.6kg, 58.5cm	4.7kg, 55cm
15 Apr 10 (14 wks)	6.7kg, 61cm	5.5kg, 58cm

That last post, I was lamenting on how Shawna didn't seem to be taking as much as Asher, and hence didn't grow much. Since then, I've been talking to Shawna and asking her to drink more. Together with many prayers to the good Lord, Shawna's drinking more now, and growing well! Pd says we did well and Shawna has caught up in her weight gain - i.e. no more alarm bells ringing!Of course, Shawna is still not as big and heavy as Asher. But like I have said many times before, I don't mind that. Girls tend to be on the smaller side, and I certainly don't want her to be too hefty. Beside Asher, it is fairly obvious to any onlooker that she is smaller in size.

As such, people often assume that Asher was born bigger, at birth. Or they would say that because Asher was born first - and hence is older than Shawna - thus, he was naturally bigger in size. Hmmm, twisted logic, that, I thought.
Well anyway, Asher was smaller at birth. He was born 2.770kg and Shawna at 2.815kg - both are approximately 2.8kg in weight. But technically, Shawna was heavier than Asher by like 45 grammes. (Once she pee & poo, she'd be same weight as him. HAHAHHA)
It's just that Asher drinks more milk, and feeds in higher frequency. At one point, he would want to drink at every 2 hours while Shawna could last from 3 to 4 hours even though she drank lesser. Talk about inefficient male bodies!
But as of today, we're glad to announce that both Asher & Shawna are drinking well. They're both drinking my expressed breast milk (EBM) on weekdays day time, through the bottle, while I am at work. As of today (17 weeks), they can drink up to 140 ml every 3 hours.

pictures above taken on 22nd February 2010
Asher & Shawna @ approx 7 weeks old

Thankfully, the twins do not have problem with the bottle like Isaac did. This was one lesson we learnt with Isaac. During Isaac's time, as I was adamant on breastfeeding him and latching him on, we introduced the bottle too late (think only when he was about 10 weeks old), and too infrequently at that, such that he rejected the bottle.

Or rather, maybe it wasn't the bottle he rejected - but that he only wanted to latch on to drink milk from the source, yours truly. When I was on maternity leave, Isaac drank and drank from me and grew very big in size. But after 12 weeks, when I went back to work, he refused to drink from the bottle much. He would only drink a little, and basically wait for me to go home and drink from me.

As a result, his weight gain slowed dramatically, and we literally saw him whittle away his accumulated bulk. Sigh. At that time, he would only drink 40ml to 60ml every 3 hours. Try as she might, my mother-in-law couldn't get Isaac to drink much more than that.

Thus this time round, I made sure that we introduced the bottle earlier, from birth, in fact. As early as when I was on confinement, I would always latch the kids on, but after they stop suckling, the confinement nanny would feed them (top them up!) with more milk through the bottle, to make sure they were getting enough.

So we're pleased to see now, that the twins have no problem with drinking EBM at all :) Well done, Asher & Shawna!