Bible Verse of the Day

The Making of A Lego Engineer

May 9, 2013 in Ethan, Growing Up | No comments

Several weeks ago, Ethan brought back a note from his school informing us that the school would be hosting an 8-week Lego program for kids.  Ethan would fall into the program for children in grades K-2, and registration was on a first come, first serve basis.

The cost for this program would be $125 per child, however, the organization running this program would also be sponsoring 4 “scholarships” by way of lucky draw.

Just for fun, I entered Ethan’s name in for the lucky draw, and guess what…he WON!

So he stays back in school every Friday now, for his program named Pre-Engineering With Lego.  There are 16 children per class, and I can tell he really loves it!

Class Description: Students will build cities, bridges, and motorized cars/planes and explore many creative possibilities of engineering with the LEGO system.  With access to over 100,000 pieces of LEGO, your child will have the opportunity to build what they have only dreamed of with the support of an experienced instructor to guide them.

Last week he told me he built a tall tower in class, and when he came home, he built this structure, and asked me if I knew what “technique” he used to build the wall.

The answer is “OVERLAPPING“: which will result in a stronger structure. 🙂

Lego Engineering FTW! 🙂

The One With The Cradle Cap

May 9, 2013 in Emma, Growing Up, Parenting | No comments

A couple of weeks back, we noticed that Emma was beginning to develop some red rashes on her scalp.  We’d thought it was just an extension of her baby acne on her face which we figured would heal itself by the 2nd month.

However, the rashes on her scalp began to take on a yellow-brownish look that was crusty and scabby.  It looked really dry.  After googling and calling her pediatrician, Emma was diagnosed as having cradle cap, also known as Seborrhoeic Dermatitis.  Apparently it is pretty common in newborn babies.

I also noticed that the rash had spread to behind her ears and it looked really uncomfortable for her, because it was red and raw.  Also, it was oozing some liquid. 🙁

Our pediatrician suggested we try some hydrocortisone 1% cream on the skin behind her ears.  It’s a steroid cream, so I used it sparingly.

Thankfully, this treatment cleared her up within 2 days. 🙂

That wasn’t the end of it though.  As soon as it cleared, I noticed Emma’s neck area was getting really red and sore.  The creases in between her folds had some creamy-like substance too.  Fearing an infection, I took her to her pediatrician, and the doctor thought it looked like a bacterial infection.  She prescribed bacitracin, an anti-bacterial ointment to be applied 2-3 times daily.

Also, because her cradle cap scabs were still present, the pediatrician suggested the following steps to be done 3-4 times weekly:

  1. Using some baby oil/olive oil, massage gently into scalp to soften the crusts.  Leave on for 10 minutes.
  2. Loosen the crusts gently using either a soft baby toothbrush, soft comb or wash cloth.
  3. Shampoo off using an anti-dandruff shampoo, containing selenium sulfide.

We’re so pleased to note that we are seeing so much improvement after treatment.  Emma still has some rough patches on her skin which we are treating with the hydrocortisone, and hopefully her skin will clear up 100% soon.

 

Easel Fun on Warm Spring Afternoons

May 8, 2013 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | No comments

Well, we finally get to put the kids’ easel to good use!  We’d shipped it over from Malaysia, but since it had been incredibly cold over the last few months, the easel has been kept in storage.

Spring is finally here and the days are getting longer, not to mention warmer.  The afternoons and evenings now often see us having warm sunlight on our patio, so we took the easel out for the kids last week.

…and boy, were they delighted!

They even brought their chairs out, to make it more comfortable while painting!

They certainly had FUN! 🙂

Ethan Earned a Medal!

May 8, 2013 in Ethan, Exercise, Growing Up | No comments

Last Saturday, after his second soccer practice session, Ethan proudly showed me the Sportsmanship Medal he had earned.

The teams play either a  4 vs 4 or 5 vs 5 game at the end of each practice session, and at the end of each game, a “Sportsmanship Medal” will be awarded to a participating team member.  Sense of teamwork, playing to the best of his/her abilities and hustling to make a play will be some of the considerations when awarding the medal.

So proud of Ethan, and he is improving every week too.  Pssst…his Daddy takes him to a nearby park on a couple of evenings during the week days for “extended” training too, now that it’s warmer outdoors. 🙂

Great Progress With Chopsticks

May 7, 2013 in Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones | No comments

Hannah has certainly come a long way learning how to eat with chopsticks.

Using a pair of regular chopsticks fixed together with chopstick holders (to enable kids to learn this skill), she eats her slippery udon this way.  Personally I find it more difficult to use the chopsticks with the holders, compared to her training chopsticks at home, but Hannah seems to be able to master it pretty well.

She’s always asking me if she’s holding the chopsticks correctly too!

Ya Gotta Love The Beautiful Game

April 30, 2013 in Ethan, Exercise, Growing Up | No comments

Last Saturday morning, Ethan attended his first soccer practice.  It was an 8-week program we had signed him up for, and he had been eagerly looking forward to it.  All this while, he had only been watching soccer (football) matches on the telly and also “practising” his skills indoors.

Here he is, reluctantly posing for the camera because he could not wait to go for the practice.

Don’t those boots look totally awesome? 🙂

He was given a jersey with a random number, coincidentally his was number 20. #rvp

I thought the jersey was super cool.  It was black on one side and if you turn it over, it was silver grey; made such that they could use it for home and away games with other teams!

The kids went through some basic dribbling exercises, taking turns to shoot and defend and then just controlling the ball.  The soccer practice ended with a match between Ethan’s team and another team.

Ethan had a whole lot of fun and has been telling me about his “plans” on how to score goals in the upcoming match this coming Saturday.

Removing The Stitches

April 30, 2013 in Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 2 comments

Six days after Hannah’s wound was cleaned and stitched up, we visited the doctor again to have her stitches removed.  She was in good spirits and could hardly wait for all the stitches to be removed.

The nurse told her it would be easy-peasy and would not hurt.  First, the steri-strips (little paper bandages adhered by glue) were removed; she had 4 of these, and then we waited for the doctor.

The doctor came in shortly after and told Hannah it will just be a quick snip-snip and then it will all be over.  She laid down on the treatment table, and although there was a very slight discomfort when the doctor tugged gently on the stitches, the entire process of removing the stitches took no longer than 5 minutes.

The doctor advised us to keep the wound area dry for another week or so to ensure it heals well, and also to avoid putting lotions, creams or sunscreen.

Thank you everyone, for your prayers and support 🙂

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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