William in hospital

Last night at around 130am, hubby and I drove William to Pantai Hospital A&E to be admitted. His cough was not getting better after seeing his paed on Friday morning. Our trip back to Seremban for the weekend was therefore cancelled as the doctor wanted to see him again on the next day. I was told to give him ventolin syrup every 4hours.

His cough persisted. Hubby was outstation and after he got back that night, we decided not to wait till morning to bring him to the hospital. Deep down, we both feared the same would happen when he had bronchiolitis.

So, at the A&E, the medical officer put him on the nebuliser, first for ventolin and the second I dunno what. The single rooms in the ward was all full, and we had to take the four-bedded which was empty to pass the night whilst they put us on waiting list for the single room. Hubby spent the night and morning with him. William's treatment was 4 hourly ventolin on the nebuliser.

Today, they transfered us to our single room.

His room, C529

They did an X Ray and blood test on him. He is diagnosed with wheezy bronchitis. His blood test results are on the high side, but still normal. Thank God. We still await the result on the microplasma bacteria, and hope it's not a high level.

Today William was jovial when Popo, Victoria and Kakak visited him. He hardly slept last night and cried when he was on the nebuliser, but during the day time he didn't cry. Probably because he liked the young smiley nurse who attended to him. : )

Checking out the points near his cot.

Lemme out!


At night, hubby brought a surprise Valentine's dinner for both us comprising of KFC, masala tosai (in remembrance of our first valentine's at an indian restaurant), homecooked chinese food, Haagen Daz 4 flavour ice cream, Ferrero Rocher chocs and a decorative flower. It wasn't much, but truly a sweet gesture. William slept early and allowed us some precious 1 hour to chat (it's been sometime since we get this luxury because of his work and the many lou-sang dinners he's obligated to attend, and the kids' routine).

Happy Valentine's. We pray William's condition is not serious, and he will get the green light to discharge as soon as possible.

A weekend in Sitiawan and Ipoh

Every year we would make our pilgrimage back to Ipoh and Sitiawan as part of the CNY pai nian to visit my paternal grandma (ah chor) and my maternal grandpa (tai gong). This year however, we almost broke our record because we stayed a day longer in Singapore and came back tired. Hubby had to work the following week.

But on Friday 6th February he managed to get half the day off, and we made our trip back after I picked Victoria directly from school and hubby from work. We had our tapau-ed lunch in the car on the way up north.

First stop was Sitiawan. Ahma, as I call her, was already waiting for us. We spent a good 1.5hours chatting with her, and William got to know his Ah Chor a little bit better, whilst Victoria was still reserved and wanted to spend her time in the garden.

Playing on Ah Chor's bed

Ah Chor was ill for a while last year, and had to move her bed to the living room. She is a strong willed woman, and I'd say, she's strong in her Christian faith too. Praise God she is now more mobile and independent, although she still has a local house-help.

We asked her if she wanted to run any errands or buy any grocery. Or if she'd like to join us for the famous James' ais kacang. She decline us in all. So after saying goodbye, we went to look for the local ais kacang man who's gained his famed for his yummy dessert and his smart black and white bow-tie attired. Unfortunately, he wasn't open that day, so we patronised one of his "impersonators".

Yummy Sitiawan ais kacang, rich with kidney beans and just the right amount of coconut milk and brown sugar.

William, with his happy 4-toothed smile! He is soooo kissable!

We spent two nights in Ipoh, and during this visit, Victoria saw some monkeys in Menglembu (thanks to 5th Grandaunt who drove her all the way there) and bought some Valentine motif panties (to add to her recently purchased Cow motif panties collection), some hair clips and another pyjamas. We had the famous ipoh chee cheong fun with deep fried pork skin curry, and hong kong chee cheong fun (Victoria's favourite breakfast in Ipoh) and not forgetting the delicious sumptuous home cooked food at Tai Gong's house.

Sometime I miss the good ol' times during CNY visit to my grandparents, before I married. There were so many of us, as all the relatives make the way back to the patriach or matriach's house. The younger ones or the boys would bunk on the mattresses on the living room floor and everyone would be eating everywhere during meal times. Those days we could play fire crackers which was still legal, and there were fun times catching up with cousins whom I hardly see. Now, it's quiet when we go back with the kids because everyone's done their visiting, but then again, we get to spend more quality time with Tai Gong, Ah Chor and the Ipoh relatives. And we get more attention back! : )

Unwell again

The kids have been having runny nose for the past two weeks which have developed into cough with lotsa phlegm. On Thaipusam Monday 8th Feb, hubby and I brought them to the A&E of Pantai Hospital because Victoria's cough was very bad. After her episode of pneumonia in December and William's bronchiolitis in October, we are very fearful when the kids show almost similar symptoms. The medical officer on duty prescribed some prospan cough syrup, paracetamol, polaramine, arythromycine antibiotics and another liquid syrup to stop the runny nose for Victoria.



As for William, she told me to continue with the mucosolvan to disolve the phlegm and polaramine for the flu.

They kinda got better after that. But on Wednesday I thought we better bring them to see our normal paed to have some reassurance. He told us to stop the medication if not necessary as he encouraged self-healing. So I followed his advice. Victoria improved, afterall she has finished her 3 days antibiotics. But William deteriorated with very bad cough. He couldn't sleep well.

Today I brought him to see the paed again. He diagnosed him with mild bronchiolitis.

Poor boy. They put him on the nebuliser in the clinic. I took home ventolin syrup. I hope he gets better, tomorrow we have another appointment. Hopefully he is properly diagnosed so he can get better this weekend.

God, please heal these little children.

Playful at dinnertime, although unwell.

Teething biscuits

We bought these teething biscuits for William. Since we have been adviced to be very careful with his diet (come to think of it, we wish we had known better during Victoria's time), I managed to source for these biscuits which are egg-free and diary-free, from an advert.

Pureen Baby Biscuits, made from Italy.

Jie Jie can't wait to feed me.

He didn't quite like it at first try. See Vic's face... she must be thinking, "What's wrong with you? I loved mine when I was a baby, and how I wish I can have a bite too!"

The remains of his biscuits (oh dear, now only I realise how his hair stands up from this pic)

First Lion Dance in Malaysia

After asking and looking for lion dance in Singapore during our CNY holiday, and failed to see any live performance (Yeh Yeh even drove all of us including Victoria out at night in search of a lion dance), Victoria finally got her chance to see a real lion dance this morning, courtesy of Daddy's dealers in Mutiara Damansara. We woke early, to be there on time at 830am, but the lions and drummers only arrived 845am.

William came along too, but didn't exactly see the lion dance as he was sleepy and halfway through, dropped off to sleep while drinking his milk. Victoria... well, she was busy running here and there, sometimes yelling, trying to avoid the lions, and being scared and at some points I had to carry her. We even went out of the showroom to watch the lions. At one point, I thought the lions were going to the reception area, but then they suddenly made a turn and headed towards our corner... just after I told Victoria that they won't come near us. Aiya! Victoria must have thought that the lions were after her.

It was truly an experience for her. Last year she wasn't afraid, at least not THIS afraid. I think she's like me, when I was around her age. I shared with her that Mummy was once afraid of lion dance as well, and I hid behind the curtains behind the door when the lions were outside our house. I actually thought, at that time, that the lions will eat me if I go near them.

After seeing the lion dance, we asked her if she was happy. She said yes, but she doesn't want to see anymore lion dance.

Making cookies again... Round 3

After a few months (which seemed like a loonnggg time) of not making cookies, yesterday hubby and Victoria got down to making some cookies, this time with improvised recipe. They added bananas, carrots, raisins besides the usual chocolate chips and preserved cherries.

Here are some pictures:

Preparations

Gluten free, egg free, wheat free, diary free, MSG free, soy free. Yeh Yeh bought two packets of these from Cold Storage in Singapore, since we couldn't find it in Malaysia.

Cutting the dough


Cutting the carrots into small pieces

Baking in the oven
Yummy cocoa cookies!

Chinese New Year in Singapore

As with previous years eversince I married, we've been celebrating CNY in Singapore where my mom in law's mother and 6 sisters stay. The two differences this year are that we drove down ourselves, and with TWO kids in tow. The maid stayed back with my parents, and for once, we have to DIY everything ourselves, from packing, to unloading, to feeding and caring for the kids and entertaining and pacifying them. But I love it. For a while, it's a welcomed change. : )

We had dinner with Popo and GongGong on 28th Jan, which is the "Nin Yia Bat" (2 days before CNY) and it was a lovely homecooked dinner. Victoria wore her cheongsam for the first time.


The next morning, we left early at 7am after a light breakfast. Victoria had her fried rice on the way. The weather was clear and good, and the kids were awake and quietly excited.

We arrived Tuas for breakfast at 1030am. Traffic was good, even at the immigrations. After checking in at the Riverview Hotel, we had late lunch tapaued from the food centre nearby by my FIL. There were not many choices left at that time and day, but it was definitely a delicious charsiew siew yoke (BBQ and roast pork) with sour pork vege soup. The sellers were almost out of stock of their rice, and the third stall where FIL bought the soup was only willing to sell us 4 packets of rice.

In the evening, we had our reunion dinner at 6th Ee (aunt)'s condo, together with TaiPo and 7th Ee's family.

1st Day
The first day of CNY we prepared ourselves in the hotel room, then had the normal "pai nian" with my in laws before making our way to TaiPo's place. Victoria was her cheongsam for the second time and William in his little red "Monster Club" shirt from Pumpkin Patch since I couldn't find a suitable chinawear for him at his size.





2nd Day
We took along our induction cooker this year to boil porridge for William, instead of relying on relatives, like we used to when Victoria was an infant. So, we brought along the ingredients of rice, carrots and long beans, with cereals as backup. I tried cooking porridge in the house once before this trip, and was prepared for the high heat (the lowest is still too high for the small pot) so we used a bigger pot, and kept watch on the porridge. Just as it was nearing cooked, I smelt some burnt smell. Yikes!! Immediately I checked the porridge and realised that, despite all the mixing and making sure the ingredients didn't stick, there were some beans and carrots which stucked to the base of the pot and got burnt. The rest, although still looked good didn't taste good. So I threw it all away. What a waste. But thank God for the cereals.



We checked out of Riverview Hotel today.

We had lunch at 5th Ee's place. Then we went to Robinsons in town before checking in to Grand Hyatt along Orchard Road. (We had complimentary rooms, which they then upgraded us to the Junior Suite complimentary too... wow... I love these Singaporeans!! OK, seriously, thanks to my hubby too who charmed them into doing so, hehe!)

The King Sized Bed

The entrance to the bathing area, consisting of a bath tub, wash area, shower and sink.
The view from the living room

Part of the living room

Work area in the living room
Bath tub... pity I didn't have time to use it... only Hubby did ; )

Victoria and Daddy went for a swim at the nice Hyatt pool after we got back from Robinsons. I dunno to swim, but looking at the pool and the facilities sure made me wanna get in there and get wet. William got his swimming trunks wet but didn't like the cold water.

Run run!!
Enjoying ourselves



The waterfall along the way to the poolside



3rd Day
Hubby walked out with William in the morning to buy us all breakfast. Victoria had her tosei (yeast free) and bacon and we had carls' jr. It was a yummy and filling breakfast.

I had these while waiting for Hubby and William's return.
Enjoying her apple while looking at the view outside

Lunch was hosted by 7th Ee at her place. After which, we left to rest at the hotel because William was tired. Mummy and Victoria walked next door to CK Tangs to do some brief shopping before going back to the hotel for her bath. There wasn't much time to rest, and we had to go for dinner, which we planned at Wisma Atria. We decided to walk there, but somehow the walk along the underpass was long and tiring with all the escalators. During dinner, Victoria knocked out. She just leaned on me and closed her eyes. So we put her on William's stroller and I carried William.

The stroll back to the hotter was nice, and the weather was a little windy. Although tired, I really treasured these times.

4th Day
No visiting, and we spent the morning packing, and loading things in the car after William bathed. Again, the boys went out to buy breakfast for us whilst I sterialise William's bottle and cooked his porridge. Victoria had her favourite tosei again because she's requested for it, and the bacon, while we had something different from Carl's Jr.

We initially intended to go to Ngee Ann City but ended up in Vivo City after deciding to check out early. We didn't have much time in Vivo City to shop as lunch already took 1.5hours, and we had to leave by 3pm to arrive Seremban in time for "reunion" dinner with Popo Gong Gong and Yi Yi Yi Cheong.

This is how we left the room....

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!