Bible Verse of the Day

On the Road to Recovery

September 9, 2010 in Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 4 comments

recovery

Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and support.  She’s well on her way to recovering from herpangina.  The doctor had given Hannah the green light to be discharged from the hospital yesterday morning, after 2 nights of being warded.

Her appetite had improved, although not yet back to the voracious intensity it once was.  She loves eating her favorite “nana”, drinking lots of water and before we left the hospital, she had some chicken noodle soup.  Oh, and of course, she’s on the super special diet of Mommy’s milk loaded with lots and lots of antibodies!

She’s back to her cheerful self, although she’s very “clingy-koala-like” sometimes.  Get well soon, baby! 🙂

Down with Herpangina

September 7, 2010 in Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | 6 comments

I knew something was amiss last Friday night when I was dressing Hannah up in her jammies after her night shower and noticed that her upper right gums were unusually red.  Yet, she seem unperturbed by it and did not complain of any pain. 

I should have trusted my motherly instincts…

On Saturday morning, she registered a fever of more than 39ºC, but after a dose of paracetamol, she was her usual active self.  She had fever the whole of Saturday night, but on Sunday, she was okay for most part of the day.  She was giving us mixed signals and we actually thought it was because she could be teething.

On Sunday evening, she started refusing her milk…yes, I am still breastfeeding her, and it is very very unusual for her to refuse the breast.  She was also biting many of her toys and seemed very contented when I offered her a teether instead.  She drank a lot of water, but didn’t seem interested in anything else.  And her fever was still fluctuating up and down.

herpangina1

Thankfully, she accepted the breast after her bath and slept soundly after that for the whole night.

Enough was enough.  I took her to see her doctor the next morning.  Doc said, “Didn’t expect to see you guys in here so soon…” You see, we had just been to the doc’s a week ago for Hannah’s vaccination.

After checking Hannah (her fever had gone up to 39.2°C!), doctor confirmed what Hannah had was a case of herpangina, an infection of the mouth and throat caused by the coxsackievirus.  The ulcers were present only in the mouth, thankfully.  However, the doctor recommended that Hannah be admitted to the hospital for monitoring and observation, because in some cases, the virus could affect the brain and cause fits. 

Hannah also had to do an electrocardiogram (ECG) and take a blood sample, from her arm.  She was a perfect angel through both procedures, not crying at all!  In fact, she’d also taken a blood sample from the left arm a week before to confirm she’s no longer iron-deficient (she’s not anymore!) and now the blood sample is from the right arm.  For a child her age, it is indeed heroic to go through these without shedding a single tear…

So, we got admitted into the hospital yesterday evening, and despite the fact that she is active and her mouth ulcers were getting slightly better, we have to stay on for one more night because her fever is still yo-yoing.  Thankfully she is back to her normal breastfeeding routine and is willing to drink water.  This morning she even took a few spoonfuls of fish porridge and half a banana for lunch.  The recommended diet for someone who has herpangina is lots of cold fluids, including yogurt drinks, probiotic drinks (like Yakult), yogurt and ice cream. 

So when Daddy came to visit just now, he brought some of these stuff over.  Oh yeah, we decided on the single-bedded room this time round, given that it’s better for Hannah not to share a room with someone else, since herpangina is highly contagious and she will be in isolation.  Anyway, we have a mini fridge in the room now, that’s why we can store all this cold stuff! 🙂

Because herpangina is caused by a virus, antibiotics will not work, so Hannah is only on Paracetamol for occasional fever and/or pain, oral gel and spray, Vitamin C and another type of Vitamin C to improve her appetite.

Ideally Ethan is not allowed contact with Hannah, but we really had no choice because they are both very close to each other.  Besides, Pete is caring for Ethan now while I am in hospital with Hannah, so Ethan will have to follow Pete when he comes to hospital.  What we could do was to keep reminding Ethan not to touch anything in the hospital room and keep his hands clean at all times.

I’m praying that Hannah’s fever will be stabilized by tomorrow morning, so we can be discharged.  I know she has a strong will and determination, just like me…

herpangina2

Ethan’s First School Concert

September 3, 2010 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up | 5 comments

A few weekends ago, Ethan’s preschool had a little concert.  The theme of the concert this year was “The Garden”.

Prior to the concert day, Ethan had been reporting to us as to what he would be doing.  Apparently he would be singing and dancing in a Chinese song performance.  Initially he was supposed to say something in Chinese onstage together with another girl, his classmate.  But the teachers then decided that the girl would say it on her own, and Ethan was instead tasked with introducing his performance number….yes, in Chinese 😛

On the evening of the concert, we all drove to Ethan’s school and Ethan went off to the room to get into his costumes and do some *hair and makeup*. 

The concert was rather well-organized, and given the fact that the performers were all 2 to 4 year olds, it was superb.  Based on the concert’s theme, all the performances were centered around the garden theme: flowers, planting, the sun, farmers…etc.

Ethan’s performance was the very last one, and the truth is, both Pete and I were REALLY proud of our boy because he did a FANTASTIC job.  He danced, he sang and he thoroughly looked like he enjoyed himself. 🙂

Hannah unfortunately had fallen asleep before her brother’s performance, so we’ll have to show her the video some other day.

Here’s Ethan introducing his group’s performance.  What he said was,

“我们是地球的孩子 ( wǒ men shì dì qiú de hái zǐ  )” which means “We are the children of the Earth”, a very meaningful song indeed.

 concert3

We actually practised saying what we *thought* he was supposed to say during the concert, but little did we know that what we practised was a different phrase.  It was the *earlier* one, but the teachers had changed it.  Anyway, Ethan still managed to say the right one when the time came.

And here are some of the *rather blurry* photos from the concert – these were the best we could get from where we were sitting.  We’re waiting to see the video 🙂

concert1

concert4

Ethan exuded confidence and showed us what a big boy he was becoming.  On stage, we could tell he was very HAPPY and he was looking out for Daddy and Mommy, perhaps to tell us, “Look Dad and Mom!  Here I am!”

And we are so very proud of him. 🙂

concert5Photo credits

Parroting…more or less…

August 24, 2010 in Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones | 1 comment

 

Here’s a video of Hannah calling Mommy, Daddy (Deh-deh), Ethan (Nah), Hannah (Annah!) and Ah Ma (Mah).

Home Activity Time

August 19, 2010 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah | No comments

afternoonactivities2

It all started off when I decided to print some simple activity sheets for Ethan to occupy himself with.  The internet has an endless resource of all sorts of activity sheets and Ethan loved them all.  He loves using his pencils and color pencils and completing everything those activity sheets required.

Then Hannah got interested too.  Of course, she can’t quite do the activities per se yet, but she just simply loved the idea of holding a pencil or color pencil and scribbling on a piece of paper.

She would pull up a stool and sit together with her brother and they would both go wild with their creativity.  Yes, sometimes they snatch from each other and yes, sometimes it gets out of hand and they start scribbling on the tables, but still, it’s such a joy to watch them spending time together…and not pulling each other’s hair out! 😛

afternoonactivities1

Hannah at 17 months

August 17, 2010 in Hannah, Milestones | No comments

hannah_17monthsScrap Credits
Where Dreams Come True QP from Fly Pixel Studio
Fathers Day Alphas from Stacey’s Scraps

Weight

Heavy!

Height/Length

Growing taller and taller by the day!

Teeth

8 incisors (4 top and 4 bottom), with a few more teeth appearing at the back, possibly pramolars.  I’m cleaning her teeth daily with a special tooth tissue, but when those run out, I will start her teeth brusing regiment. 

Motor Skills

  • Hannah can RUN around.
  • She can do the down-dog (or downward facing dog) pose.
  • She can cross her fingers (both fingers together).

Communication and Social Skills

  • Hannah can point to several parts of her body when prompted, e.g. nose, hair, fingers (she’ll cross her fingers), tummy, cheeks.
  • Says “Poopoo” quite consistently, though often it’s just a false alarm or she just wants to sit on the throne.  But a few times when she said, “Poopoo” and gave that oh-so-familiar *straining* look, I’ve successfully taken her to the potty and she’d successfully poopoo-ed! 🙂
  • Calls “Mommy!” very clearly, Daddy is still “deh-deh!” and Ethan is either “Anah!” or *points finger at Ethan*
  • She knows her name is Hannah and can call herself “Hannah”.
  • Can parrot everything rather well, which resulted in her calling “Mah!” for “Ah-Mah” when my Mom was here for a visit.  Made Grandma pleased as pie. 🙂
  • Hannah is very friendly and is a very sociable little girl.  She will wave and say “Hi!” to anyone she meets, even strangers, especially so if the person is a child.  And then she will also happily wave “Bye!” when we are leaving.
  • Hannah can nod her head (for yes or affirmative answers) or shake her head vigorously (when she means no) and she does so meaningfully.
  • Can say “daw” for “dog”, “bur” for “bird”, among others.
  • She can scream her head off.

Food and Feeding

Hannah eats almost everything we eat now, with the exception of herbal stuff which we don’t know the contents of and food high in sugar and salt content.  She eats porridge on weekdays and mostly rice and noodles during the weekends.

As for milk, Hannah is still on 100% breast milk, with a little sampling here and there of chocolate milk and fresh milk.

Little Mister Creativity

August 11, 2010 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | 1 comment

Ethan stayed home from school today, because he was still nursing a forceful dry cough.  Didn’t want him spreading those germs around school.

Just so he doesn’t miss out too much, I called up his teacher and asked if I could homeschool him today.  His teacher prepared some activity sheets and I stopped by his school to collect them just now.

After I had explained the first activity (writing and coloring) to Ethan, I left him alone and went about my house chores.  When I came back to check on him a few minutes later, this is what I saw on his chair:

 laughorcry

Now I don’t know whether to laugh or cry…he said he wrote his name on it because the chair belongs to him. 😛

..oh by the way, the picture above shows him in the background busy doing some *painting*… 😛

Lullaby

August 10, 2010 in Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah | 2 comments

 

Is Hannah asking for a lullaby?

Well, Ethan certainly thinks so…for every time Hannah sweetly says, “Lullaby, lullaby..”, Ethan will say, “Mommy, Hannah is asking you to sing her a lullaby”, and when Mommy is busy, Ethan will take matters into his own hands and sing, “Lullaby, and goodnight…little Hannah go to sleep…”

Everybody say…”Awwwwwww…..” 🙂

Practice Session?

August 5, 2010 in Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones | 5 comments

sassygirl

Lately we’ve noticed that Hannah loves to walk around on tiptoe.  Even if she wasn’t reaching up for anything, she would toddle around the house tip-toeing all the way.

Could it be that she’s practising to move around in heels?  So soon??!!!

Bursting with Confidence

August 4, 2010 in Ethan, Funny Moments, Growing Up | 5 comments

cheekyethan

It’s difficult to imagine that Ethan was once a quiet boy, unable to express himself … but now, he’s all words and active as ever.  He speaks like an adult, possibly because we have never used baby talk with him before.

I’m not allowed to call him “darling” or “sweetie” or “baby” anymore, because Ethan says he is not a small baby anymore.  Now he is a “medium boy”.

He picks up after us like a sponge; whatever we say or do is repeated in a similar fashion, often in an endearing manner:

One morning, when his Daddy gave him a kiss on the forehead before he left for work, Ethan responded with, “Awwwww…” , maybe because he heard me say that before.

He’s also learning the “Copy me” game now, where he would cheekily follow what we say or do.  And then when I start speaking to him in Hokkien, he would retort, “Mommy, why are you speaking in Spanish?”

Sometimes Ethan says logical things like:

“Mommy, I drink chocolate milk and fresh milk.  I don’t drink low fat milk, because I’m not fat!”

We’ve had embarassing moments too, like last week in church during the sermon, Ethan proclaimed loudly, “Daddy, why is he taking so long?”

…and his questions just keep getting harder and harder:

Ethan: Mommy, where is God?
Mommy: God is everywhere, Ethan.  He’s all around us, He is in our home, He is in school with you, and most importantly, He is in our hearts. 

Ethan: Where is heaven?
Mommy: Heaven is where God lives.  It’s a really beautiful place and someday we will all go and stay there together with God.

Ethan: Why doesn’t everybody know God?
Mommy: Well, maybe because not everyone has gotten the chance to know God yet, Ethan.

Ethan: Why doesn’t *** pray to God? (he makes this remark because he noticed that some homes do not have the cross hung outside the door)
Mommy: Oh, maybe *** DOES pray to God…it doesn’t mean he/she doesn’t pray to God if they don’t have a cross outside their house.

Some questions are simply too *HARD* to answer…

Ethan: Daddy, why are we parking on the 6th floor, Daddy…why why why?

He’s even got a plan for the future:

Ethan: Mommy, when I grow bigger, I’ll go to office with Daddy; and when Hannah grows bigger she will go to market with you, Mommy. 🙂

And he keeps surprising us every day…especially with his reading skills.  A few nights ago, as we were tucking the kids in to bed, Hannah brought their goodnight story book, and Daddy said it’s Mommy’s turn to read.  But Ethan interjected and said, “NO!  I wanna read tonight!”

And he did.

The whole story…all by himself, save for a word or two, which he paused and asked us how to pronounce.

He did such a good job, really.  And even ended the story with a dramatic “THE END”.

How can we not be beaming with pride? 🙂

ethan-playground

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