All About Your Child

Thank you everyone for your consoling and encouraging words. I wanted to answer some of your comments in the comment boxes itself, but I’ve got a feeling, you probably won’t go back to the comment boxes to check my replies and there were alot of stuff I would like to take this opportunity to clarify too….

Because of the unpredictable weather, my elder one (the weaker boy) sneezes and coughs much more at night. Just like last night, he coughed till he vomits again. But it was brief and so it was settled fast.

Shemah’s hubby swear by his prevent-night-tantrums ritual (see her comments). Though I am a Believer of Christ, I am still a very superstitous person. To me, there is no harm trying things that doesn’t cause anyone to get hurt, instead it may just provide a solution to the problem. So when I hear such things, I do try! Guess what? I DID BATHE my little Binbin with ‘Hong Hua’ leaves (see the post ‘It’s Challenging-part 2‘) before he slept perfectly well for 2 nights now.

As I was once able to see the ‘unclean’ I know ‘they‘ can be quite disturbing at times and my friend, Candy, who still sees them told me that this ‘power’ can be hereditary. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that. But dear friends, I free from the ‘harassments’ already ever since I accepted Jesus Christ into my life. So IF Binbin really has it, I know there is a way to stop this.

Yes, he’s feet have not stepped into a Church before, ‘cos my MIL and FIL is strongly against it and they have warned me that if I ever try it, they would be ready with their armour and weapons to wage a war against me. But the time will come…Binbin and Keatkeat WILL be stepping into Church without pressure….

In Shemah’s comments, she mentioned about some parents having angel-patience too. I’ve been to other blogs where the parents say how well they handled certain kiddy situations that sounded so much like a direct copy from the parenting manual and that sounded just so non-human.

I’m sorry if I’m going to say something that doesn’t seem pleasant- I believe everyone should blog what’s true and what’s really from the heart. But there are people out there who blog-to-impress and when I realized it, it’s off my Google Reader list. I understand that different people blog for different reasons but whatever the reason is, shouldn’t it be truthful?

I blog what really happened, what really went through my mind, what I really felt at that moment. If I don’t feel like saying it, I’ll just SHUT UP!, instead of (lying) blogging what other’s would go “Wow” over. I love to have people who like THE REAL ME to come over to this tiny space of mine and not purposely attract traffic here for the purpose of popularity, though it will definitely boost my income with page-per-impression.

Some of you know that I rejected the tag on “A Tribute To Mom and Dad”. As much as I’m crazy over tags, I refused to do this tag, ‘cos I have nothing (good) to say about them. They are good (as a human) in certain ways, but as parents, they failed badly towards me. Did they support me? No! Did they console me when I was sad (oh how could they, when they are the cause of the hurt)? No! Oh well, ok, my mom gave birth to me and my dad housed me, that’s probably what made them good parents, does that count? I don’t hate them anymore, just that I REFUSED TO write something that doesn’t come from my heart.

Many do not understand the magic behind fengshui, many thinks that it’s a non-Christian-like behaviour, but did you know that many churches are built upon the advice from Fengshui Masters? Anyway, I’m not here to argue anything, it’s just my belief. And as for Lynn’s comments, active animals (like your horses) and active items (like waterfall) should never be placed in the bedroom, ‘cos it will cause troubled minds and restless souls, hence should never be placed in a place where everyone needs to rest and have a peace of mind.

Thank you everyone for loving my boys so much…yes Binbin slept well for 2 nights and I hope he continues for as long as forever and as for Keatkeat, it’s going to be a long term battle between his sensitive nose and his Bronchitis, which comes on and off….*phew* at least there are days where he does have good rest…

Today is the MunYee’s 4th birthday! We celebrated it almost the same way as we did for Weidong’s Birthday - A Chalet Celebration -pretty much the same.

Please allow me to introduce this miracle kid.

When my eldest Sis-in-law was pregnant with her, she bleeds frequently to the extend of being hospitalized for observations and for just-in-case situations. In and out of the hospital she went ever since she was 5 months pregnant and each stay lasted 1 week.

MunYee was born almost-dead. Yes, she was as white as a sheet of paper when she came out from the womb.

Bags of blood and lots of other equipments were poked into the tiny prematured baby like a string-puppet, in order to sustain her life.

For 3 full-months, she went through phototherapy to deal with her jaundice, which was the cause of her unusually dark skin now. The phototherapy not only darken her skin, her TEETH ARE BLACK TOO!

Poor girl started school this year and her classmates LAUGHED at her Black Teeth…*sigh* But that did not stop the like-to-go-to-school-MunYee from having phobia of stepping into her class. She was as determined to go to school as she was determined to live when she came into this world.

Yup! That’s little MunYee, a very stubborn strong girl whose character is very much her icon now. Once she set her mind on doing something, she must get it done even if my Parents-in-law or Bro-in-law chase her with a cane.

See the naughty Binbin licking the cream off his fingers after ’stealing’ it uncaught.

Look at the stare from the birthday girl’s face. *Laugh*

There are very limited photos this time because I FORGOT TO BRING THE CAMERA and my phone-camera is terrible, so all shots were contributed by MunYee’s dad, my eldest Bro-in-law.

I bought 5 presents for MunYee, but BIL only took a shot on the Minnie Bag. The ribbon on Minnie’s Head is a pop-up cushion - Really nice!

On top of that I bought her 2 Mickey-Minnie mouse folders, a Mickey-Minnie mouse coin box and a Mickey-Minnie sticker to past on her ezlink card.

And so I did it again - Won the heart of the birthday child - she was carrying it the whole time and hugging it to sleep too….LOL simply because I bought gifts which have her favorite characters on them….kids are just so easy to please. *wink*

I over-slept this morning. Keatkeat was supposed to be in school by 8am, but that was the time I woke up. He usually needs about 30-45mins to get ready, laze around, whine a little, brush his teeth, wear his shirt, wear his shoes….in sllllloooowwwww motion.

Even when I was awake, I couldn’t get my tired body out of bed. With the travelling to and fro from the hospital, staying there to look after my FIL did tire my aging body. Sorry Keatkeat!

My FIL had an operation yesterday. The doctor inserted a tube to enlarge his shrunk gall. The tube will be remove only 4-6weeks later together with the couple of stones found in his gall as well.

Because my FIL’s platelets count is still not increasing and worse, it’s not reacting to the antibiotics (which is supposed to help increase the growth of it), so the doctor doesn’t want to do a ‘long’ surgery in fear of pro-fused bleeding.

He can only consume fluid now and constantly vomiting phlegm so it’s really quite a heart-breaking sight. He is bed bound till his platelets starts to reproduce by itself to the ’safe-level’ and provided his ‘yellow-ness’ disappears….

Thank you everyone for your concern and prayers. Thank you, thank you!

Psssst…..did you know Keatkeat is not my first child?

She came by way before I was married, way before I worked in the Child Care Centre, way before I started giving tuition and way before my menstruation came the very first time. Did I hear you say “Huh?”

I started taking care of her when I was only 7 years old. I changed her diapers, bathed her, prepared milk-milk for her, played with her…..she is my one and only sis, I call her Meimei. This picture was taken when I was 8 and Meimei was 1.

My Mom took care of her most of the time, but when it comes to school holidays or weekends, she would disappear to the mahjong table and leave little baby Meimei to me and lo-and-behold, she would be back in time before Papa comes home from work.

Papa had 3 jobs at that time, to support my Mom’s medical bills, my education and the family expenses. My Mom had her 2nd relapse (Cancer) when she was pregnant with my little sis. Her doctor persuaded her to abort my sis, but she insisted on having her. Luckily, my sis was born healthy, much healthier than me, that’s what all the adults said.

You can say my Mom trusted me alot, or you can say she is ONE IRRESPONSIBLE MOMMY, two-sides to a coin. I accept both thoughts whole-heartedly.

While my friends were playing at the playground, I was wiping the bum of my sis. That was my very first job (unpaid) - Nanny.

As little Meimei grows, usual siblings fight came along, jealousy grew in my heart as my Papa (unmistakably) shower more love towards my sis. It was an obvious fact that even the neighbors could tell.

Our relationship took a big step forward when our parents start fighting (go read My Story for the reason). Since then it has only been my sis and I, the only 2 sane people in the four-walls, till I got married.

Oh dear, this is suppose to be a happy post, now it seems like a sad one.

This was the durian cake (as she requested) we bought for her birthday from Angie The Choice. This cake has a pretty name called Charlotte, too bad, that’s not my sis’s name….

Her name is very close to mine. I’m Angeline and she is Angela. *wink*

Bottom-line, I love my sis in a very unusual way, its a mixture of siblings love, motherly love, teacher love and friendship love. Probably that’s why when she was younger, all her friends say we don’t behave like what other siblings do….right Meimei?

Happy Birthday Girl!

This morning at 10.30am, my FIL was shivering very badly, almost into a fit.

The doctors from Tan Tock Seng Hospital decided to do an ultra sonic scan for him and will be transferring him to the ICU.

Yet after waiting for 6 hours, the doctors came back and said they couldn’t fulfill whatever they had promised earlier because there isn’t a ’spare’ bed for my FIL in the ICU. *Urrrrrgggghhhh*

And because they do not have sufficient supply of the Platelets, they could not put the scope into my FIL. They were worried that any rupture internally may cause profuse bleeding. So they are waiting for more supply of the Platelets from Singapore General Hospital. *Double Urrrrrgggghhhh*

Anyhow, my FIL is having oxygen assistance right now. He seems better when we left at 6pm but he is definitely getting more yellowish…..*sigh*

Many DIL may not feel much for their FIL but for someone like me, who hardly had father’s love, my FIL is like my ‘real‘ dad and to see him lying there, breathing heavily is really an unbearable sight….*heart sank*

Ok, I have said before, I can’t pin-point the happiest event or the happiest day of my life as a MOMMY, but I definitely can tell you the WORST DAY or rather the WORST EVENT that happened to me being a Mommy.

Thank you (the majority) for your votes for today’s post. *Muack*

Here goes…..

Keatkeat was barely 2 years old, still wearing his diapers and haven’t given up his pacifier yet. Binbin was just a chubby little baby lying comfortably in the Baby-Sling across my shoulder. (THE LADY IN THE PICTURE IS NOT ME.) I showed the photo so that you’ve got a better picture of how I carried Binbin.

I was having a day off from my stall. I missed my kids too much. So I brought them out to the supermarket. We bought a pack of toilet rolls, the kids’ diapers, a 1.5 litres of detergent, Allan and my shampoo (we use different brands).

Could you imagine how full my hands were? I could hardly walk properly with one hand completely belonged to my wobbly 2-year-old, Keatkeat, holding his small hand tightly. The other arm was full of the shopping stuff. The back of my shirt was completely soaked with perspiration.

I was well-known for perspiring freely since young. So when I was in the Chinese Dance Group for my extra-curriculum activities during Secondary School, I had to put on double-layer of cosmetic, or they will be washed off (probably) even before I’m up on the stage for the performance.

It was really terrible then. All my friends would be wearing make-up when we go shopping, but I’ll only put on my lipstick, or else I’ll look like I’m going for a Halloween party, especially if I had my mascara on.

Ok, so we were done with our shopping and were waiting for the feeder bus to bring us home. While we were in the queue at the bus terminal, I felt some warm stuff splashing on my feet. I looked down and saw a thick greenish substance on the floor, just below Keatkeat’s feet.

I thought he accidentally stepped onto the gross slime on the floor and pulled him away. But I was wrong. COMPLETELY WRONG. The gooey slime was flowing down his legs.

Everyone in the queue backed off, the smell was really appalling! I’ve never smelled something that bad before, it’s like a 2 day-old-vomit, kept in an air-tight container that’s splashed onto your face!

In less than 1 minute, the houseflies came and devoured the green pool and started to hovered around Keatkeat’s bum.

I was puzzled. Keatkeat had his diapers on right? Then how could the diarrhea come out? Could it have over-flowed?

Everyone was looking at us, it was extremely embarrassing. I wished I could be as silly as an ostrich, to dig a hole in the ground, bury my head in and think that no one could see me.

I scooped up the still-haven’t-got-a-clue-what’s-going-on Keatkeat, together with all the other heavy stuff from the supermarket, and went behind the 2 storey shop-houses nearby.

As we moved away, aunties, girls and boys in school uniforms were whispering and mumbling away….I shut my ears so as not to hear some unpleasant comments, or I’ll probably turn back and give them the deadly stare.

Luckily Binbin was super cooperative. Wasn’t cranky at all even though the shopping bags were fighting for space with him against my chest.

Finally I found a quiet place behind one of the shops. I was ready to discard everything that’s on my 2-year-old. Even his new shoes which we bought 1 month ago. As I put him down, I realised he had stained some of the plastic shopping bags and my T-shirt!

When the diaper was off, I noticed that the gooey greenish shit was too thick to be absorbed by the diapers, resulted it to over-flow. And when I was half-way removing his terribly smelly shoes, houseflies from no-where came and join in the fun. They irritated the puzzled Keatkeat, “why is Mommy taking off my pants here?” Keatkeat started to whine and refused to cooperate.

As if the day was determined to make it the ‘Ultimate Unlucky Day of My Life’, it started to rain!!! Singapore’s weather is really so unpredictable! It was sunny a while ago, you know!!!

I plucked out his dirty shoes and socks. In super fast-forward speed, I transferred the 2 bottle of shampoo into the plastic bag holding the detergent, trusting the strength of the bag, but prepared for the worst. The rain was getting heavier…..we were getting our hair washed now….

With the empty plastic bag, I threw in the stinky shoes, socks, pants and soiled diaper; threw that pack of junk into the dustbin, which was conveniently standing beside me and head back into the shelter; frantically looking for another quiet place to continue my dirty job. But there isn’t a quiet place. With the sudden downpour, everyone was taking shelter too.

By this time, everyone was staring at the 3 of us like as if we were filming a drama. I was trying to juggle the bulky stuff together with the half-naked and shoeless Keatkeat, at the same time controlling my pressure on Binbin who was still very cooperative lying in the sling.

Finally, there was this stairway that leads up to the second floor of the shop houses. It was less crowded but still, there were spectators. Come to think of it, there wasn’t a single kind soul who came forward and asked if I needed help, which I terribly NEEDED an extra pair of hands.

I cleaned Keatkeat’s legs with care. Fully utilizing every inch of each tissue paper, ‘cos I’m only left with 4 pieces! Tell me how UNLUCKY am I?

The only Clever or Lucky thing I did was - I BOUGHT A WHOLE PACK OF DIAPERS. So I tore the plastic packaging with my razor sharp fingernails and pulled a brand new nicely folded diaper out. Opened up his short legs and wore it for him in a standing position. It wasn’t a pull-up, so it took some time to get it in position.

By then, all the shopping bags which sat on the floor were wet with rainwater that flowed in. Keatkeat couldn’t walk because he didn’t have his shoes anymore. So there I go again, hugging all the stuff on one arm and Keatkeat gripped below my other armpit.

We went back to the place where the nightday-mare started and waited for the feeder bus again. The heavy downpour had ‘diluted’ the thick slimy poo and so it didn’t smell so bad as before. We waited for about 5mins, my arms were on the verge of having a cramp!

The moment we got up the bus, the other passengers who went up before us were either pinching their noses or fanning their faces. I could hear them say, “Ohhhh….what’s that smell?! So smelly! Where is it coming from?!” Oh yes, MY SHIRT!

I couldn’t discard my shirt like the way I did for Keatkeat’s pants right? I couldn’t have gone topless with just my bra right? I have used every piece of tissue paper to clean Keatkeat’s legs and have forgotten about my shirt.

The ride home took another 5mins. Another Lucky thing - there were shelters all the way from the bus-stop to my house. I can feel the sore in my arms. The strain was becoming unbearable. My legs tried to be faster but were limited.

When I got home. I put down little Binbin and the stuff, carried Keatkeat into the bathroom, stripped myself, threw away the shirt which may not even smell nice after 10 washes, and ended the most disastrous day of my Life as a Mommy. *Phew* This is truly by-far, the Worst Day of my life as a Mommy!

-The End-

Oh people, tell me I’m not the only one, to make me feel better, won’t you?

Wanna say “Thank You” for all your encouraging words on my Friday post.

Yes dear friends! I did it! I couldn’t recall what Anthony Robbins said that woke the ‘Fearless Giant’ in me, but I recalled the thoughts which went through my head when I was in his seminar…..

“What if, one day, something happened to Allan and I need to rush him down to the hospital, do I wait for a taxi that probably may not come in time, what will I do? Stand in-front of my own car and instruct it to drive us to the hospital on its own like the show ‘Night Rider’?! …..I won’t call for the ambulance, ‘cos my previous experience with one was horrible, they are not as fast as what we expect of it. So in times like this, when Allan’s life is in my hands, what would it be like to just get my butt on that driver seat and sped off, what difference would it have made….. A HUGE DIFFERENCE!”

I remembered this thought and it made me said, “Yes!” when Allan asked me yesterday, “Do you want to try driving our new car?”

This post is specially dedicated to Blessed Mum and LZmommy and to all of you who have this question itching in your head. Thank you!

*Laugh* Pregnant?! Oh how I wish I could be (by accident), ‘cos Allan and I have decided to stop ‘OUR MANUFACTURING COMPANY’ since 2 years ago. We can’t afford another kid when we are sooooo in debt. Any of you out there thinking of setting up your own business, pllllllleeeeassssseee do your ‘homework’ well and dig into fengshui stuff too, one wrong move and that’s what happened to us.

I said BIG CHANGE remember (ooops! I forgot, its probably just to me), I’ve been pregnant twice, so pregnant would not be that BIG to me. Am I killing you already? *laugh* I LOVE quizzes and riddles, so if it’s ever my turn to give one, I’ll make sure it’s not that simple. *Laugh*

Ok, ok! I can feel flying darts heading towards me….So this was what happened:

My elder bro-in-law wanted to change from his Toyota Vios to a MPV Honda Stream to better accommodate to the 7 people in his family - My parents-in-law, his wife, 3 kids and himself of cos.

My BIL thinks that Allan should consider taking over his Toyota Vios and sell away the van. The van that Allan was driving belongs to BIL too. Allan drove BIL van because 2 years ago, Allan started his delivery business and BIL needed Allan to help him deliver greeting cards and calendars to his customers.

BIL owns a printing company on top of his permanent job as a technician and he will continue to pay 40% of the car installment for Allan, just like what he did for the van, in exchange for Allan’s help in delivering his cards. BIL business is not as good as before already, so there isn’t that much cards to deliver, hence a car would do the job.

If you recall the post about Keatkeat opening the door while the vehicle was moving, which could have killed him….yes, that was the van and not a car. So Wonderful LIfe, you commented that we should have switched on the child lock function….we couldn’t, cos there isn’t one for the van!

My much earlier blogger friends like Slouching Mom would have seen the post about the sofa (see picture here) we placed behind the van. Yes, I can hear you shout, “That’s so dangerous! No seatbelts!” And can hear some of you Singaporeans, “It’s illegal!”

Ya, all true but that’s all over now.

So for the past 1 week, we have been going to different dealers to get the best offer. Check out with the insurance company on the premiums to decide whether to change ownership or not. Check out the penalty involved if we change a finance company. Settle all the necessary van-related matters. Kept popping by my BIL house to discuss about details. Check out the price of spraying the car white, instead of its current blue, from different companies that do spray jobs, because of fengshui reasons….etc

Getting the best price for the van took most of our time. But the BIG CHANGE I’m talking about is NOT the change of vehicle. It’s dealing with my phobia of cars.

We used to own a small Toyota Starlet almost 8 years ago. Could you believe it - I will bang the Starlet, one way or another, EVERY TIME when I’m in the driver seat. After about 5 times, I gave up. I got scared. I got worried. I started to doubt myself.

It was only last year September, in Anthony Robbins seminar, did that MAN changed me. He took away my phobia of driving in that short 2 hours.

I have not driven a vehicle for 7 years and yet that MAN gave me the confidence to drive a van right after his seminar and I have been driving the van till the very day I said goodbye to it, accident-free.

When we took over the car, my little evil voice which has been quiet for almost a year started to speak again.

“Yes, you can drive a van, but you can’t drive a car.”

“A van is taller, so you can see further and react earlier, but now its a car, it’s not as easy.”

“You like to be in control of things, that’s why manual-drive in the van suits you, but now, it an auto-drive, it’s different.”

and it just went on and on and on…..

My friends say I’m weird! They said auto-drive is so much easier than manual, yet I love manual-drive. It may sound so true, but auto-drive makes me feel that the car is in control and not me, that’s what I don’t like.

We have took over the car already, but I still dare not drive it. Allan knows my fears. He went to buy blind spot mirrors and a longer rear-view mirror to help me see better, but I still have not driven it yet.

Allan said, “drive only when you are ready.”

So my devil voice and my angel voice are having arguments constantly….who would eventually win, I don’t know….That’s the BIG CHANGE I’m talking about.