My Isaac loves me!

My Isaac loves me!!! Yes he does!!! kekeke... well, call me paranoid, but since he was young, I'd always wondered if he loves me. Hubbs says "Of course he does, don't be silly..."

Now that Isaac can speak, I always ask him "Do you love me, Isaac?" And he'd say "Yes, Mummy. I love you!" hehehee... but then again, I taught him to say that... so... is it counted? hmmmm... paranoid mummy... pix taken on 2nd May 2010

Isaac @ four days to 2 years & 9 months

But... actions speak louder than words, right?! hehehehe... this was what happened recently...

Asher & Shawna are both teething... thus, they have taken to biting and pulling (i.e. hold down a bite and pull) my nipple while they drink. While it is painful now, it would be more painful when they have teeth. Thus, I have to tell them not to do it...

Me: "Asher! Don't bite Mummy! Cannot bite!"
Isaac: *horrified*look* "Mummy, Asher bite you?!" - said Isaac in a grave tone.
Me: *nod*seriously* "Yes, he did. He bite me."
Isaac frowns. Has his arms akimbo, looks at Asher, and says in a serious and stern tone "Asher, you cannot bite Mummy. It is very painful, you know? Very pain. Cannot, ok?"
Then, Isaac looks at me and say "Cannot bite you, right? So pain!"

Ahhhh.... :) He loves me, right?! *grinz*

Milestones!

These pix are from 2 months ago when the twins were 4 months old... which... makes... them... SIX MONTHS OLD now!!! wooohoooo!!! They turned 6 months on 6th July 2010 - about a week ago - when we were trying to get over the virus that attacked us all.
Thankfully, we are all now much better. The twins are now breathing fine. They just both have some remnants in the form of a bad cough. Isaac is almost completely ok. I just have a slight sore throat left. Only hubbs still feels a little out of sorts - but even then, he's waaaay better than a week or two ago. Thanks everyone, for your concern! :)
So, recently, in this past week that we're recovering from the virus attack... we realised that Shawna has achieved two milestones! Firstly, she can sit on her own! :) She can actually sit on her own, without any back support or us holding her, for quite awhile - say at least 5 whole minutes, before toppling over.
Second milestone is... her teeth have erupted!!! Well, actually, I haven't seen them. But I have certainly FELT them!!! ;p Both Asher & Shawna enjoy chewing on my finger-knuckles - so recently, I have felt the sharp teeth of Shawna! :)

pix taken on 8th May 2010
Asher & Shawna @ 4 months & two days

What about Asher? He can't sit on his own yet, and I haven't felt his teeth break surface yet. But I'm sure it'd happen in the next few days. So far, they have both been reaching most milestones within days of each other :)

Superman Isaac!

pix taken on 2nd May 2010
Isaac @ four days to 2 years and 9 months

You know how kids have phases. Well, Isaac is no exception. He has many phases. So many, some pass so quickly, that the phase is over before I even get to blog about it.

Anywayz, here above is one of those phases that have passed... thankfully! At that time, Isaac, after bathing, would insist on having us tie the towel behind him like that, and he would want to zoom about like Superman.

Except that he's not even zooming around like in this picture. In fact, he'd want hubbs to pick him up and 'fly' him around! I didn't manage to catch a picture of that. But I did catch this one above - which I thought was hilarious.

Complete with red underwear. What a hoot! :)

Don't eat the giraffe please!

Last night, Isaac was eating his green grapes (He ONLY eats green grapes, he says. I dunno why also.) when he saw Shawna chewing on the ears of her soft toy giraffe...

Isaac: Shawna! Don't eat your giraffe, okay!?
Shawna ignores her well intentioned kor kor...
Isaac: It's not for eating, okay?! Eat food! Not eat giraffe!
Shawna continues chewing on her giraffe while we laugh silently...
Isaac: Papa, can you tell Shawna not to eat her giraffe, please?
hubbs: Oh okay, Shawna, please don't eat your giraffe...

pix taken on 1st May 2010
Isaac @ five days to 2 years and 9 months

Cheeky CROUPY Isaac

So what is croup?

Basically Croup or Acute Laryngotracheobronchitis (ALTB) is a viral infection of the throat (upper airway). The virus causes swelling of the voice box (larynx) and windpipe (trachea). The swelling narrows the airway and makes breathing hard.

As the upper airway (the lining of the windpipe and the voice box) becomes progressively inflamed and swollen, the child may become hoarse, with a harsh, barking cough. This loud cough, which is characteristic of croup, often sounds like the barking of a seal.

If the upper airway becomes increasingly swollen, it becomes even more difficult for a child to breathe, and you may hear a high-pitched or squeaking noise when a child inhales - this noise is called stridor.

We first came across croup... with Isaac. One night, a few months before he turned 1 year old, he was sleeping fine when he suddenly started coughing and made weird noises. It was clear that he had difficulty breathing, and so we quickly brought him to the hospital as an emergency case as it was in the wee hours of the morning.

He was put on the nebulizer, and after observation for two hours, cleared to go home. The first time this happened, we were scared stiff coz it seems like his life was in danger, he was literally having problem breathing.
After that first incident, when Isaac was more than a year old, it happened again. Also in the wee hours of the morning, we brought him to hospital emergency again. Same drill - nebulizer, observation, clear to go home. This happened again after Isaac turned two. We were beginning to think that he had 'budgeted' himself to have croup once a year!
If you're wondering if I ever written about this croupy business with Isaac - well, I didn't. The first time it happened, I was so traumatised that I just pushed the entire incident out of my head. Me, the stickler for dates and details, can't even recall when it happened.

Subsequent times as well, I was just too disturbed by it to write about it. The ever optimist, I only want to remember happy things ;p Furthermore, with Isaac, it was usually very short episodes. Once we got him to the hospital and had him nebulised, he was fine.

pictures taken on 1 May 2010
Isaac @five days to 2 years and 9 months

However, this time, it was so eventful, that I felt the need to blog about it. I wonder what started it all. Was it Isaac's cough germs that spread to hubbs and the babies? Or was it hubbs' virus that wrecked this havoc?

We'd probably never really know. As of today, Thursday 8th July, the twins are breathing better, no more croupy sounds. But they're both still coughing very very badly. hubbs is still not completely well yet: no fever, but still has sore throat, cough, stuffy nose etc. But he'd much better than before.

As for me, my fever is gone, and now I just have a stuffy nose, cough and sore throat. Of everyone that fell sick, I have the mildest attack already, so I'm not complaining. Let's hope we'd be completely well before this week is over! :)

We're all sick! :(

This past week has been a long week for us. Let me start from the beginning...

circa June 2010

Isaac has been coughing... since... dunno when. After so much that happened this past week, I also can't recall exactly when he started coughing. It was getting quite bad coz one night he coughed till he vomited, while sleeping. He has been taking his oral medicine for quite some time without getting much better and we were still having problem getting him to use the inhaler - he's terrified of it!

But guess what... his teachers didn't have problem at all... Voila! With the help of Teacher Lina & Teacher Foong Ling, Isaac was using the inhaler. With them using the inhaler on him in school, he seems to have gotten over his fear of the inhaler, and even allowed us to use it on him at home. Consequently, he started to get better.

24 June 2010 Thursday

Last Thursday night, hubbs started having fever, the whole night.

25 June 2010 Friday

In the morning, I was trying hard to wake Isaac to have his breakfast and go to school/work when hubbs told me that he wants to bring Isaac to see doctor. I was like "Huh? But he's getting better already." But hubbs said that Isaac had been coughing for a long time, and hence wanted to bring him to see the doctor. So, on Friday, Isaac didn't go to school, and he went to see the doctor, together with his Papa. (Maybe hubbs just wanted company to go see doc ;p)

26 June 2010 Saturday

Hubbs has been running a fever up and down, continuously, since Thursday night. Isaac was still alright, no fever, just the cough. Shawna had a bit of running nose.

27 June 2010 Sunday

Hubbs was still running a fever. As the fever has been going on for so long, he decided to go down to NUH A&E to see doctor. There, he did an x-ray and a blood test. X-ray showed that his lungs were clear, aye okay. But his blood test showed that he had low platelet count - 145 - which is below the 150 lower end of the 'normal' range.

Having low platelet count meant that he was a suspected dengue case. There was apparently nothing he could do to help it either - except to rest more. We put it down to hubbs' busy schedule over his June peak period. It wasn't even soccer, coz even though hubbs had succumbed to temptation and subscribed to World Cup, he did not stay up to watch the 2.30am matches coz he didn't feel up to it.

28 June 2010 Monday

I brought Isaac in to school. Hubbs was on mc and at home. Asher started to cough very badly, and Shawna had a slight runny nose, so hubbs brought them to the paediatrician. Pd prescribed stuff for Asher, but not for Shawna.

I wanted to leave office by 4plus. But after rushing some urgent matters, it was 6.15pm by the time I got to leave. Ah well, better than my usual 7pm, I thought. Just as I was keeping my laptop, Teacher Foong Ling called - Isaac was running a fever!!! :( He was very subdued when I saw him. On the way home, he started to get cranky.

At home, Asher was beginning to sound really bad, coughing. As I was eating my dinner, could tell that Asher had difficulty breathing, and he started to sound like he has croup. We were familiar with croup... thanks to Isaac who has had no less than 3 episodes of it in the past 3 years. It was time to bring Asher to the hospital. Since Isaac was running a fever, and likely to raise hell if he didn't follow me out, he came along as well.

We got to KK Hospital - Children's Emergency at about 9pm plus. Asher was sounding so bad that people waiting for their turn at the Emergency were telling us to cut the queue and go first. We went immediately, and was sent right in.

Apparently, Asher's oxygen levels were affected by his croupy breathing :( The doctors quickly brought him in and put him under a hood and gave him a dose of dexamethasone. After observing him for 2 hours, Asher was still having problem breathing and hence, doctor says must admit him to hospital to stay over night.

29 June 2010 Tuesday
It was past midnight by the time we admitted Asher into the hospital ward. Isaac was just given medication for his fever, and he went home with hubbs. Poor hubbs, still sick to his bones with fever, had to send Isaac home, and grab stuff for me and bring it to hospital for me. After that he left the car at KK and took a cab home.

Asher was put on a device that would monitor his oxygen levels and heart rate. When he was admitted into hospital, his heart rate was about 160. At one point in the morning when he was crying, his heart rate went up to 213 :( Doctor examined him, and said that he'd have to stay Tuesday night as well.

At home, Shawna was still okay with a slight runny nose. So we decided to bring her to my mum's place - wanted to separate her from all the sick people at home, hoping that Shawna would not fall sick as well. Those sick at home included hubbs, Isaac and our helper.

30 June 2010 Wednesday
Asher was doing much better, and doc says we can be discharged! Yay! :) We decided to bring Asher to my mum's place. Again, to distance him from all the sick people at home.

When we got to my mum's place, and I heard Shawna's breathing :( She's obviously starting on croup as well. So I washed up, and headed back for KK Hospital, with Shawna this time round. She got a dose of dexamethasone as well, and eventually, Doc says she has to be admitted too.

So back I was in KKH's Ward 62. With Shawna, we got a window corner Bed 24, which was right beside Bed 25 which Asher was just in earlier this same day... My third night in KKH.

1 July 2010 Thursday
Yay! Doc says Shawna's fine and can go home! So we were discharged from hospital :) Asher was still with my mum. Isaac's fever has abated. My helper was better too. And though hubbs was still sick, I missed Isaac terribly, so we went straight back to Jurong West with Shawna. I thought the worst was over.

2 July 2010 Friday
At 5am, Shawna started to breathe horribly again. Sounded really bad. Hubbs and I exchanged a knowing look. And a sigh. I grabbed stuff essential for a hospital stay, and went off to KKH again with Shawna, in a cab. Hubbs hasn't been getting the rest he needed with all the driving around.

Luckily, Shawna didn't need to be admitted. After a dose of adrenaline, she was breathing fine, and we were given the okay to go home. I decided to bring her to my mum's place this time. And I would stay overnight there as well.

I really missed Isaac and loved seeing him the night before, but he missed me so much too, that he wouldn't allow me to take care of Shawna or allow me to rest at all. He just wanted me to play with him and spend time with him. But I knew if I didn't rest, I'd fall sick too.

So, I thought it was best that Shawna and I stayed with my parents for a day or two. When I got to my parents place... to my dismay... Asher was sounding horrible as well :( So back I went to KKH with Asher again.

Thankfully, after a dose of adrenaline as well, Asher did not have to be admitted too. So we went back to my parents place and stayed the night. At home, Isaac was well, but my mother-in-law was the latest to succumb to the virus.

3 July 2010 Saturday
We were closely monitoring the twins. Shawna seems to be better, but Asher was still sounding croupy when agitated. At rest, his stridor (heavy breathing when taking in air) was very obvious too. I was literally on standby - to listen out for when I had to take him in to Emergency again.

In the afternoon, I started to develop a fever myself. I didn't realise it as I thought it was just a headache. By the time I thought to take my own temperature, it was night time and I was 38.7 degree hot and my nose was flowing like a tap. My mum had also started to cough and had stuffy nose.

4 July 2010 Sunday
My mum started to develop a fever and was beginning to look very tired. My fever has been going up and down as well, stuffy nose and cough had settled in as well. We decided to shift everyone back home so that my mum could rest. Besides, my mother-in-law and helper were much better and could take care of the babies now. Thus, we all went home on Sunday.


Now, wasn't that an eventful week!?

Hady's birthday party

Hady's our Malay neighbour's grandson. We went to his 1 year old birthday party... but forgot to take a picture of Isaac with Hady!!! Shucks!!! Shall ask Sunarti - Hady's Mummy if she has facebook and add her... surely she has FB and pix of Hady there... :p
This is our Malay neighbour, with Shawna. We call her Auntie, but Isaac and the kids will call her Nenek (correct spelling???) - Malay for Grandma :)
Isaac in his party hat and balloon art :p Surprisingly, as Isaac grew older, though he plays less with Auntie's daughters (the younger one below), he seems more comfortable with them in the sense that he would be okay with giving them a hug and a kiss when we see them. He calls them Kak kak. (correct spelling??? geez, someone corrected me on this before, but I can't remember!)
Here's a nice pic of Shawna! :)

pix taken on 1st May 2010
Isaac @ five days to 2 yrs 9 months
Shawna @ five days to 4 months

Isaac, my Isaac!

You know I have been telling you all these conversations I have been having with Isaac? They're just a tip of the iceberg! pity I can't blog fast enough to document them all. Here're some conversations and anecdotes about Isaac...
There was a period of time when Isaac didn't want to go to school. I don't think he didn't like it. It was more like, think he wanted to stay home with me. So this conversation took place a couple of months ago, in the car, on the way in to school/work...

Isaac: Mummy, today no school.
Me: Have, today have school.
Isaac: No, today no school!
Me: Isaac has school, and Mummy has work.
Isaac: Mummy no work!
Me: Mummy has to go to work, Isaac.
Isaac: No work! Throw away your work!
Me: Oh, you want to throw away my work?
Isaac: Yes! Throw away your work! No more work!
Me: *sigh* I wish (talking to myself)
Isaac: No work for you! No work for Mummy!
Me: But if you throw away my work... my boss will get angry with me. Mummy's boss will scold Mummy.
Isaac: *horrified look* No! No! Don't scold Mummy!
Me: Then you don't throw away my work, okay?
Isaac: *tearfully* *nods* okay, I don't throw your work away.
Me: Okay, thank you for not throwing away my work.

Heart pain. My sayang wants to spend more time with me, and yet I have to go to work. *sigh* So sweet, right, my Isaac?

Suddenly, he turns to me and says
Isaac: I won't throw away your home!
Me: Oh yes, please don't! We need our home!
Isaac nods sagely, and looks out the window...
In the beginning, when he started childcare I used to be able to pick Isaac up at about 6pm. Or rather, I made it a point to try to pick him up at 6pm, coz that was roughly the time most other parents came to pick up their kids. Right in the early days, Isaac used to get upset when the other parents came to pick up his friends, but I wasn't there yet. He would cry and all.

But as the work piled on me, it became a struggle to pick him up at 6pm. I started to consistently only make it to pick him just before 7pm. In the beginning, he would cry... One day, I went there, at about 6.45pm, and couldn't find him with the rest of the kids. He was following Teacher Foong Ling around, while she was spraying the sanitizer around the centre.

He saw me and quickly came over to hug me, and dashed off to get his bags. Teacher Foong Ling told me that he was getting all teary when he saw the other parents coming, so she quickly told him:

Teacher FL: Isaac, do you want a sticker?
Isaac: *still teary eyed* Yes, I want!
Teacher FL: Okay, I give you a sticker... *pastes it on Isaac's shirt* but you can't cry. Coz if you cry, the sticker will drop.
Isaac: *eyes widen in horror* *nods quickly* *holds back his tears and sniffs*

As they walked around... Isaac was getting kinda upset again then Teacher FL quickly say
Teacher FL: Oh oh, your sticker dropping already, don't cry don't cry!
Isaac: Oh! Oh! *composes himself to not cry*

So cute, right? :p My poor Isaac. Gradually he got used to the fact that I'd come quite late. I'd usually be one of the last, just before 7pm, like 6.55pm. Some days he'd tell me

Isaac: Mummy, today I am number 9.
OR
Isaac: Mummy, today I am number 10.

I always wondered what he meant, but when I asked him, he just tells me he is the 10th student or the 8th or something like that. THEN, I figured it out... If he was the last one out, he is No. 10. If he was the second last one out then he is No. 9 and so on so forth. I wonder who is it that counts the last 10 students like that?

Feel quite bad when he clocks "Mummy, I am No. 10 again today!" He says it matter-of-factly now. Though sometimes when he is tired, he goes "Mummy, all my friends go home already." SIGH.

pix taken on 23rd April 2010
Isaac @ 2 years 8 months plus

But work has been crazy for me. Coupled with the fact that I now have less time. I can't go to work early coz by the time Isaac wakes up, eats his breakfast, and we go - no matter how I rush him, the earliest I can get into office is about 9am, usually 9.15am by the time I get in :( so late! Then, I have to scram by 6.50pm latest to get to the centre before 7pm... not forgetting that I have to make time to pump twice a day in office... *groan* really no time...

Sometimes, I wonder if I should have chosen a childcare that's nearer home so that hubbs can send and pick up instead. But ultimately, I think this is better coz if not, I'd probably work till 9pm everyday at least, and I wouldn't have the first hand experience of sending and picking Isaac from school and all those stuff...

So... praying that things get better at work! :) Quickly do handover!!! :p

We cut their hair!

The twins! Yeah, shave botak! We shaved isaac when he was 4 months old. So we thought we'd probably do the same this time round with the twins.
Shawna had more hair than Asher at birth. It was also starting to drop out - yes, she was shedding hair on her crown. So, we thought it was about time to shave too. Asher didn't have much hair to begin with, and it grew more slowly as well. So, time to shave so that it'd grow more quickly! :)

pix above taken on 3rd April 2010
Asher & Shawna @ three days to 3 months

pic above taken on 1st May 2010
Asher & Shawna @ five days to 4 months

Voila! Botak duo for you! People say they look more similar with the same hairstyle. Actually, what they mean is, they can't use the hair as a 'cheat sheet' to obviously say the one with more hair is Shawna. hahahahhahahaha...

Isaac swimming!

This is Isaac in his swim wear :) The tee's made of the swimsuit kinda material. Thought this was easier than getting him into those one piece suit kind, which is kinda hard to wear.
Natalie, or as we call her - Bei Bei! :) Hardly get a shot of her. Thought she looked very cool, brooding here. Hahahhaa...
It's been awhile since we took pix of Isaac, so I intentionally brought the camera along and told hubbs to take pix. Must give specific instructions to him to take pix, then he will take. If not, no action. Like

Me: Dear, take picture, now.
hubbs: Oh okay.
Me: Take take!
hubbs: yes...
Me: Again, take now!
hubbs: taking taking!
Me: Did you take him smiling? Must take him smiling okay?
hubbs: Have lah.
Me: Take some more! some more!
hubbs: I told you already *something*inaudible*
Me: Just snap! Digital photos you know, can delete one!
hubbs: *grunts*
After all my nagging, look at our nice pix! :) hehehe turned out a decent bunch of pix :)
Isaac was playing with this crocodile and insisted on sitting on it. It was pretty hard balancing him on the animal though.
Isaac loves swimming. He loves the water, since young. With his two arm floats, he can stay in the water without support for quite awhile.
I asked hubbs to pop over to the lap pool to take a picture of Isabelle and Becca having their swimming lesson. Isabelle looks so small compared to Becca in the photo! Was really cool to see them swimming like that :) We plan to start Isaac in swimming lessons with Natalie, sometime next year, I think. Or maybe end of this year.
I managed to get Isaac to agree to stop sitting on his croc, and get into a float by himself. We were turning round and round and round! See video! :)
You know what is he doing below? He's putting my hair behind my ears! :) Then he planted a kiss on my cheek! :) My sweet Isaac! :)

pix & vid taken on 27th March 2010
Isaac @ 2 years 7 and a half months

Sweet hubbs of mine!

Here's hubbs with our three lovely kids. Sweet hubbs of mine. Without him I wouldn't have these three beautiful kids (obviously) ;p What I also mean is, without him, I wouldn't be able to cope with having three kids. For those of you who has seen hubbs with the kids, you can easily see that hubbs is very involved in with the kids. Very hands on.

He's a great father who does everything he can with the kids. Even from Isaac's time and now with the twins, hubbs would bathe the kids, change their diapers, feed them (using the bottle when they drink from the bottle, and now, feed Isaac his rice/porridge etc), carry them and walk them till they sleep, play with them, bring Isaac out on his own... etc... He does everything that I can, and more! :) The only thing he can't do, that I can, is to breastfeed the kids ;p

pix taken on 21st March 2010

Asher & Shawna @ 2 months plus

Isaac @ 2 years & 7 months plus

This is our new room layout - the mattress where Isaac used to sleep on is back, and we moved out one cot. The other one remains. Much better this way.
Here's Isaac torturing his Papa - making hubbs his personal play-gym equipment :p Sometimes Isaac likes to step on hubbs' back too, literally stand on hubbs - but hubbs likes it coz it's good massage he says :p

People like to see hubbs in action with the kids. Once, at a family gathering, my auntie actually remarked to hubbs "Your kids are so lucky to have a fun dad like you." hahahaha... It was kinda awkward coz we didn't know how to react to that statement other than just smiling and saying 'thanks'. But it's a great compliment :) kudos to hubbs!

Which reminds me of this one time, when hubbs was talking to my grandmother... and then she started telling him that I (her grand daughter) is so lucky to have married him, and that he was a very good husband and father :) Hubbs is a naturally charmer lah. He charms the socks and stockings off man and woman, old or young!

pix above taken on 1st June 2010
Isaac @ 2 years 10 months

Here's hubbs in action - singing to Asher! :) Cantonese song no less! :p Not one of the usual songs he sings to the kids though. He usually sings chinese nursery rhymes to the kids. Or recites Tang Dynasty poems or something.

pic & vid above taken on 5th June 2010

Asher @ a day to 5 months

Ah ha! A more recent edition of Isaac at play in his Papa Gym. Isaac loves to flip over our shoulders like that. He used to flip over my shoulders like that too. But we had to stop him when I got pregnant with the twins.

And after I delivered, coz Isaac was jealous of the babies, he tried to flip over my shoulder while I was breastfeeding the babies!!! Very dangerous :( at one point, I had to lock the door when I breastfed the babies, to prevent Isaac from doing this...

Hubbs would hold Isaac in such a way when he flips so that Isaac doesn't hurt himself... see the video below...
Ah... Isaac loves to do this, he enjoys standing on hubbs' shoulder - balancing. And he doesn't want to hold on to hubbs hand for support either! Very daring, this boy!
So, before we end off with the video below.... Happy Father's Day, hubbs! Sorry, this was supposed to be posted on Sunday... a bit late but better late than never yeah! :)

pix & vid taken on 19th June 2010
Isaac @ 2 yrs 10 months plus