Little Miracles

Our First Visit to Six Flags New England

April 28, 2013 in Emma, Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah, Parenting, Vacation | No comments

We had planned on going to Six Flags New England after lunch, when the accident happened. And when we were done in Urgent Care, it was already about 4:00p.m. Pete and I were ready to go back home to rest, but then Ethan and Hannah asked, “Mommy, Daddy, are we going to see our surprise now?”

You see, we had told them both that we would be taking them for a surprise that day. They remembered.

So I checked with the nurse and doctor and Hannah got the go-ahead, with the caveat to avoid getting the wound wet. So we made the 1.5 hour drive to Agawam, MA for our first visit to Six Flags.

We had gotten season passes to the theme park, so we’ll definitely make a few more trips there before we leave for Malaysia. Hannah took a quick power nap on the way there, but was all excitement as we arrived. Unfortunately we had to queue up to change our printed season passes to photo-ID ones, and that took about 30 minutes or so, a LOOONG wait for people with kids, let me tell ya.

Here are some of our pictures. Because Ethan and Hannah wanted to go on ride after ride, Pete had to take them on those rides when I had to breastfeed Emma or change her and then I would meet them at a later time somewhere. On rides that the kids had to be accompanied by an adult, we had to make use of the parent swap, where either Pete or I would ride with one kid first and then subsequently, we can ride with the other kid without having to queue up again.

It was quite an experience being in a theme park with three kids now, especially also since Emma chose that period of time to poop a few times!

It got colder in the night, and I could not believe that we actually stayed up till park closure at 9:00p.m. Well, we will definitely be back! 😀

The kids are already requesting to go back the next day itself! LOL

Hope to get more pictures during our next visit!

The Accident

April 24, 2013 in Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 5 comments

It was just like any normal Saturday. We woke up and lazed around at home, before getting ready to go out for lunch. We were all still a little tired after our trip to New York, but we were all glad to have had a good night’s sleep.

Lunch was at our favorite Japanese restaurant; Ethan would have his favorite chicken katsu set and Hannah loved the oranges that were provided as dessert. The kids had finished their lunch and I was just about to finish mine when the accident happened. 🙁

Ethan and Hannah had got up from their seats and were playing not too far away from where we were seated. The restaurant was rather empty at that time, so they had quite some space to themselves. Suddenly, we heard a loud thud and when Pete and I look towards the kids, we saw Hannah faced down on the floor.

I got up immediately to help her up, and I was shocked to see blood running down from a big wound on her forehead. I hurriedly took her to the bathroom to wash up, but after wiping the blood away, my knees went weak when I saw what a big gash it was. I decided to ask Pete to wash the wound up instead. Hannah was sobbing, but I could tell she was very strong.

We did not see how the accident had happened, but Ethan said Hannah had ran and tried to grab on to a nearby pole. She missed and hit her head on the back of a chair and then fell on the floor. The impact from either the chair or the floor must have caused the big gash.

The waiter gave us a couple of band aids to cover the wound up meanwhile, but we knew we had to bring her immediately into Urgent Care. When we arrived at the medical center, the nurse calmly told me she had to check if a doctor was available. Well, thankfully we were able to get someone to see Hannah almost immediately. She had stopped crying then, which was a good sign.

Upon checking the wound and cleaning her up, the doctor said that he would need to stitch up the wound. First, some numbing gel was applied to the wound and I had to hold a cotton gauze on the wound to make sure the numbing gel would take effect. After 10 minutes, the nurse replaced the cotton gauze with a fresh piece and also a fresh application of numbing gel. The nurse also gave Hannah an “I Spy” book to occupy her time while we waited for the gel to take effect.

I tried my very best to put on a brave face for my darling Hannah, although being a Mommy, I was all freaked out beyond belief.

She asked, “Is it gonna hurt, Mommy?”

I told her, “No Hannah, the doctor will only sew up the wound so it will become better.”

And she replied, “Okay Mommy. I will try my best to be brave.”

And she was. Indeed. 🙂

The doctor came in soon after and got ready to stitch up the wound. Hannah held my hands when the doctor put the first stitch in, but she said she didn’t need to hold my hands after that anymore. All in all, there were 3 stitches and also a running stitch all the way through the wound. Hannah kept very still throughout the entire procedure, although she did seem a little bored towards the end.

The doctor and nurse both said that Hannah did very well, and that she deserved a gold medal, to which she replied after they were done with the stitches, “So where’s my gold medal?” 🙂

After the stitching, the doctor washed the wound up and put an adhesive-like substance on either side of the stitched wound and then applied a thin striped bandage to cover the wound up. The stitches would be removed this coming Friday but meanwhile we were told to keep the wound dry.

Hannah left the medical center with three pretty stickers too, all her own choices. We’re praying that her wound would heal up beautifully and well. She’s looking forward to removing her stitches in a few days’ time.

To The Big Apple And Back

April 22, 2013 in Celebrations, Emma, Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Vacation | No comments

Last week, we made a quick trip to New York and back. The primary reason for this trip was to get Emma’s birth registration and Malaysian passport done at the Consulate General of Malaysia. Previously for Hannah’s case when she was born in California, we did not need to make the trip to the Consulate General of Malaysia in LA, and we only needed to Fedex all the necessary documents.

However, now that Emma was born in the East Coast, the rules for birth registration at the Consulate General in New York were different. Not only did the Consulate General require the baby to be physically present at the point of birth registration, submission could only be done from 9:30a.m. – 12:00noon. Same-day collection would only be guaranteed if we submit the documentation at 9:30a.m. in the morning, so in order to comply with that and not have to wait to collect the stuff a day later, we decided to go to New York on Thursday, stay the night and then submit the registration early Friday morning.

We left a little later than planned on Thursday morning (what’s new?), and while Emma was wide awake when we drove off, she fell asleep a few minutes later.

Hannah and Ethan were as excited as ever about our trip. Here’s Hannah showing you how happy she is…You would know by now who’s the one who’s ever willing to pose for the camera and who’s just the opposite. 😛

Emma was dozing away beautifully and only woke up after we had our lunch; we stopped at Subway in Rocky Hill, Connecticut before heading on towards The Big Apple.

Traffic was unbelievably heavy on a week day, and even heavier when we arrived in NYC. We drove straight towards the Financial District and parked our car near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.

There wasn’t a long wait thankfully, and we boarded the ferry not long after. Emma was quite fidgety at that time, and we soon found out why: she pooped while we were on the ferry!

Pete managed to take the kids up to the deck to get a closer look at the Statue of Liberty though. It was rather cloudy that day but the kids just loved the ferry ride.

Upon arrival at Staten Island we took the next ferry back to Manhattan. On the return ferry, and after changing Emma, I put her in a baby sling, and took her up to the deck for about a minute or two. She was still really restless, even though I had fed her, and even when we put her in the stroller and pushed her out from the ferry. In fact, Emma only settled down and fell asleep in the car, as we made our way to our hotel.

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Cooking Class

April 16, 2013 in Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Hannah | No comments

Lately Hannah has been slightly disinterested about going to school. She would grumble about being sleepy in the morning and I would have a hard time waking her up. Then she would be all clingy and did not want us to leave her in school in the morning, sometimes citing tiredness or tummy upsets. Her teacher however, says that she is enjoying her time in school, and her uneasiness wears off after about 3 minutes.

Nevertheless we tried many methods to make her like going to school: bringing a soft toy, bringing a book to share, telling her about something interesting that would happen in school. Some worked for a while. She’s also been asking me to pick her up a little earlier from school. You see, her class has activities in the a.m. and then lunch at about 11:30a.m. After lunch, the kids wind down for some quiet time or nap time, around 12:15p.m. Hannah asks me to pick her up around 12:30p.m. and we’re guessing it could be that she’s a bit bored by the non-activity.

In any case, I’ve decided to start her off on a weekly cooking class on Fridays in school. Hopefully it will be something she will look forward to every week for the next 2 months or so, at least till we leave. (She’s been looking forward to her Phonics Adventures classes every Monday and Wednesday, so having a Friday cooking class to look forward to could be the answer!)

She had her first class last Friday, and I was surprised to see her get up early that day, all by herself too! The Cooking Class method must be working, as she was excitedly looking forward to it the whole week!

Last week, she made Dunkaroo Dip, using yogurt, cool whip and confetti cake mix. She definitely had fun making and sharing it with us when she brought it home. We had the dip with some Teddy graham crackers.

I’m sure she can’t wait for her next cooking class! 🙂

Those “Hannah and Mommy” Chit Chat Sessions

April 4, 2013 in Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting, Sleep | No comments

Each night (well, most nights…when Hannah is not too overly sleepy), as I tuck her in to sleep, we will share a special minute or two just to catch up with each other. Sometimes she will request for a bedtime story and sometimes she will tell me a bedtime story instead. At times, we’ll help each other make up stories…short and funny ones.

Yeah, my Hannah still sleeps with me and is very much attached to me. She says she will move to her own room when we get back to Penang, so hopefully she’ll keep her word.

Our chit chat sessions are special moments I would treasure forever. Even though I need to nurse Emma, Hannah is being very much the helpful big sister by bringing me the nursing pillow and then as I nurse Emma, Hannah will ask, “Can I hug your hand?”

Now how do I say no to that? 🙂

We chat about everything at all: how her day was, what day it would be the next day, what we would be doing the next day, how Hannah sleeps like a starfish, we discuss how we’d share the blankie…and then she would yawn, close her eyes and fall asleep. It is the perfect end to every day.

Big Brother and Big Sister

March 27, 2013 in Emma, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 1 comment

Ever since Emma came into our lives, I can tell that in a way, it has brought Ethan and Hannah closer together. It’s not like they weren’t playing together before, but I kind of feel like they look happier together now. It’s as if they now have something special in common, i.e. a little sister they can call their own.

It’s truly a blessing Ethan and Hannah have each other because it sort of distracts Hannah (especially) from jealousy and inevitable sibling rivalry. On the contrary, both Ethan and Hannah adore their little sister Emma. They witnessed her being born and that in itself is the most precious thing in the world.

Hannah, especially is very fond of stroking Emma’s hair and head and has, on many occasions, asked to hold and carry Emma (under adult supervision, of course).

When Emma cries, Ethan and Hannah will ask that I check on the baby immediately to see if she’s all right. Hannah will sometimes say, “Mommy, I think Emma wants breast milk!”

So I think this sibling relationship between the three have gotten off to a good start. 🙂

Of course, we did give it a push in the right direction by doing a couple of things on our part too. When I had Hannah, I brought along a photo of Ethan with me to the hospital, and similarly, this time, I had with me photos of Ethan and Hannah.

They were certainly happy to see it when they visited me. 🙂

(The purple bag beside the picture frame is a gift bag from the hospital. It contains a lavender spray, a few bars of lavender oatmeal soap and some lavender cream. Heavenly!!)

We also did the gift gesture from Emma to Ethan and Hannah when we got home.

Hannah asked, “But Mommy, how did Emma buy the presents for us?”

And Ethan answered, “Of COURSE she didn’t! Mommy and Daddy bought them!”

They were happy with the gifts all the same though. 🙂

When I had to stay in hospital for 2 nights, Pete had to single-handedly manage both kids, and I was primarily concerned about Hannah. Ethan is quite independent and matured enough to understand most things, but Hannah would be away from me for the first time ever, so I expected a certain amount of insecurity. Pete said it was harder dropping her off at school (and still is, sometimes), so I really hope Hannah will overcome her insecurity soon. That being said, Pete did an excellent job in caring for them both in my absence, and for that I am truly thankful. 🙂

So yeah, both Ethan and Hannah adore little Emma and they can’t wait for her to grow up so they can play with her, especially Hannah, I think. Ethan’s gonna be a terrific big brother and Hannah’s gonna be an awesome big sister. 🙂

Hannah says, “Mommy, now there are THREE girls in our family!”

And Ethan continued, “Yes, and now there are also THREE kids!”

The girls outnumber the boys BUT now the KIDS outnumber the grown-ups. This is gonna be interesting. 😛

The Wondrous Birth of Sweet Little Baby Emma

March 20, 2013 in Breastfeeding, Celebrations, Emma, Ethan, Hannah, Parenting | 14 comments

It has been a little more than a week now that we have been blessed with Little Baby Emma in our lives, and sometimes I still can’t believe that she’s here! 🙂

We had been waiting for her arrival since I hit the 38th week, and every day since then had been anxiety-filled and putting what-ifs into question. I had also gone for several rounds of prenatal fetal non-stress tests before Emma’s arrival, and every time I had been told, “Your baby looks perfect! This baby’s beautiful!”

Apart from the regular Braxton-Hicks contractions I had been feeling, there was no other indication that Emma was gonna come soon. Week 39 came and there was obvious stress on my bladder and pubic bone. I was finding it increasingly hard to move around, but I still did my regular stuff: cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and even some yoga and light cardio on the elliptical. Her movements in my belly were more prominent at night. I tried to keep my mind off the waiting by doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, rewashing Emma’s crib linens, whatever I could think of, but nothing happened.

I drank a lot of labor prep tea (containing red raspberry leaf) and also had yogurt with pineapple in it, in the hope of starting off labor, but guess what, nothing happened.

Initially I had predicted Emma would be born on February 28th, but that day came and went without incident. Then Pete predicted she would be born on the same date as her sister Hannah’s birthday, but March 2nd came to pass too. Then we thought it would be March 5th, and I thought for sure it would be March 8th. But nothing happened.

Incidentally, we had a blizzard on March 8th, which lasted till March 9th, so had she decided to make her entrance that day, it would be hard for us to make our way to the hospital too. Clever girl. 🙂

On Saturday, March 9th, I felt stronger contractions, or rather they felt like the urge for a bowel movement. Nothing happened then though, except that I *thought* my mucus plug was dislodged that day. On Sunday March 10th, at about 11:00a.m. I definitely had “the show”, and I excitedly told Pete about it.

“This is it,” I said. “Emma will be here in a day or so.”

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A Definite Case of Déjà Vu

March 8, 2013 in Funny Moments, Hannah | No comments

Hannah did something really amusing today, which reminded me of what Ethan did a few years ago, when I was pregnant with Hannah.(Remember this?)

Today, I caught Hannah cheekily prancing around like this:

She had stuffed one of her favorite soft toys under her shirt and was pretending to be me!!

Cheekiness, much? …or is it just one of those Like Brother, Like Sister moments? 😀

Hannah Turns Four!

March 5, 2013 in Celebrations, Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones | 3 comments

Last Saturday, my little sweetheart of a little girl turned FOUR!! She had been looking forward to this day for a long, long time, and she had already started the countdown to this auspicious day after Ethan celebrated his birthday about a month ago.

Being a little paranoid and worried that my third little bub might arrive on that same day, I had a contingency plan in place for Hannah’s birthday cake. Thankfully, this year, Hannah requested for a cake that did not require much shaping and moulding on my part. So the backup plan in case I was not around was that Pete go get a store-bought cake and then decorate the top with my ready-made cake topper.

However, in the end, since my third little one decided that it was still more comfy in Mommy’s womb, I still got to bake and decorate Hannah’s cake….and a whole lot of fun I had!

Hannah’s crazy about Princess Jasmine and the song from the movie Aladdin: A Whole New World, so it came as no surprise when she’d requested for a Princess Jasmine-themed cake. I ordered the edible cake topper online and only had to bake the chocolate cake and decorated it with chocolate ganache, frosting, chocolate rice and some orange slices. The addition of the fruits was Hannah’s idea too.

And afterward, because the weather was not-too-cold, she took her present for a “test drive”…or “test ride”.

It was the first time Ethan took his scooter (our Christmas present to him) for a spin too…and boy, did we have fun!

Definitely an awesome way to spend a birthday! Happy Birthday Hannah!

Snow Play with My Little Miracles

February 21, 2013 in Entertainment, Ethan, Exercise, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 1 comment

We’re right smack in the middle of the School Winter Break now, and the kids are just enjoying the vacation. Today, I single-handedly brought both of them grocery shopping and told them that if I was pleased with their behavior at the store, I’d take them out for some snow play.

I kept my promise.

After lunch, the kids were garbed in their snow gear: snow pants, snow boots, hat and mittens and we took a quick stroll to the little playground area in our apartment. There was a slight breeze, but the kids were kept nice and toasty in their snow attire… and they had so much FUN!