3 + 1!!

How is everyone??

I wonder if anyone still read my blog...well, it's my fault. I've been really really busy (or should I say, too lazy) to write anything.

Loads of changed since the last post.

I'm writing this from my office desk now. Yes, I'm gainfully employed and working as a Research Fellow in some research institute. Work's great so far, people's fine, and everything's under control.

Sean has been enrolled into a childcare centre, which is located perfectly in the same building as where I'm working in. So he attends a full-day programme now, and life goes on mundanely...

Except....

We are expecting an addition to the family come June 2011!

Yes! I'm expecting, in fact, 3 months 2 weeks now, and baby's EDD is 13 June 2011, which is just 2 days after Sean's birthday!

I should put in a baby ticker here some day, for me to keep track of baby's growth too.

And Sean's birthday countdown ticker too...

I want to do so much - my heart is willing, but my body is not.

I get tired so easily now. This pregnancy has taken its toll on me.

For a start, the morning sickness is so so much worse this time! I can still keep food down, but it seems I feel repulsive at so many things all I want to do is to stay at home and cuddle up in bed.

I cannot stand the sight of food when they are presented in a big quantity. I couldn't tolerate the smell in the foodcourt! There was once I went downstairs to get breakfast and I was queing up to buy food. And halfway through, I just started seeing stars and started blacking out. I had to squat down and recover. Then I crossed the road to get home, only to feel faint again and I had to squat down again to hyperventilate.

It's always worse the second time, they say.

Well, I hope the worst is over, now that the 1st trimester is over. But I still get the occasional bouts of nausea and migraines (very frequent now, could be due to work..).

Despite all this discomfort, I hope baby is growing well inside.

About Sean now...

He is growing so well I'm so proud of him. He had no problems whatsoever settling down in the childcare centre. No tears, no fuss at all, can you imagine that? I was all prepared for horror stories like him not wanting to stay there, or not wanting to sleep, or eat...but Sean has proved to be such a capable and independant boy.

He talks more now, which is a big relief to us. Sometimes he will break into a tune all of a sudden. Like last night, he sang out 'Ke Ren Lai' in such a funny way it made both Steve and I break into stifled laughter. He is a very very adorable boy, and I am really very lucky to have him.

And Steve, he has been the most accomodating husband ever. Due to my pregnancy and work, I sleep very early now at about 10pm, without doing any housework. Steve then has to be the one to wash the bottles, and get ready Sean's bag for the next day, wash the laundry, dry them etc. Tell me what state would I be in without his help?

I'm a lucky girl after all.

Christmas is just 3 days away. And I'm glad that I'm working now cos that means I can finally buy something from my own pocket as presents to give away to my loved ones.

I have bought tickets to the Ai Concert for my parents and big aunties.

I have bought something that Steve really wants for his birthday and have gotten ready something else for him for Christmas.

I can finally buy something on my own for Sean.

All these will be placed under the big Christmas tree at home, and they will have such a good time unwrapping them.

I'm loving life now, seriously.

Changes

There are a few big changes taking place in our lives now.

I have slacked so much in blogging for the past few months that I've missed out on noting down the major milestones and experiences of Sean's.

We also had a fantastic stay at Marina Mandarin during the F1 weekend and experienced the adrenaline of the race. Memorably, we also witnessed the drivers' parade, AND....Alonso waved back at us! There is video proof! Hahaha!

About Sean's updates, for a start, ever since we returned from Edinburgh in August (gosh, I didn't blog about the Edinburgh trip too!), Sean started attending a daily 2-hour playgroup together with his cousin Zining. My brilliant boy coped very well and settled in without tears by day 3. Well done Sean!

And during those 2 hours when I get to spend some time alone, I managed to land myself a job.

So now as I'm typing this post, Sean is already in a new childcare centre, which is located in the same building as where I'll be working. And I am feeling so lonely and lost without Sean that I cried so much just now. Sigh.

More about the childcare centre and my job in later posts, which I hope I will not procrastinate about again.

First up, here are photos of my boy, not so little anymore. But he remains my little darling boy whom I love very very much.

Forgotten

This space has been neglected for too long.

Let me stage a comeback soon.

First, I must attempt to recover all the missing keys from the keyboard plucked off by this cheeky monkey.

We're back

Missing in action for more than a month now.

Our time spent in Edinburgh has been a pleasurable one. Sean loves the mountains, the grass, the wind, the weather.

I was out of touch with blogging here.

I missed out on writing about Sean's 25 months.

We got home about a week ago and I am still trying to adapt.

Sean has fallen sick again. High fever rose to a worrying 40.2 deg on the 2nd night but now has gone away.

But in its place has come a very bad cough.

Is it my fault that Sean seem to fall sick so often so easily?

What has happened to all the goodness of the 14 months of exclusive breastmilk?

It's not as if Sean has been in playgroups or childcare centres that he would be more succeptible to fall sick more frequently.

Sigh.

And we have actually signed him up for a daily 2 hourly playgroup starting next Wednesday. The good thing is, he will be attending it with his cousin Zining.

I am looking forward to that.

But Sean must get well and strong first.

My darling Sean, get well soon ok.

Mummy looks forward to receiving flowers from u again.

We've survived

True to its word, the terrible twos' started off tremendously terribly.

Two days into his 2nd birthday and on the eve of our departure, Sean ran a temperature. I had felt that he was warm to the touch in the car on the way home back from Jurong Point. We took his temperature and it was 37.8deg. After we washed him up and changed him into pyjamas, his temperature had shot up to 38.5. We added a dose paracetamol into his milk and he finished it up while sleeping.

We then kept monitoring and checking his temperature. At the same time, we were also catching the Canadian F1 race in the living room, running into the room to check on Sean.

I think it was 15 minutes into the race, and I went in to check on Sean. To my dismay, Sean had thrown up and vomit was all over his shirt and mouth. Strangely, Sean was still sound asleep.

We got Sean up and checked his temperature. It has gone down abit, but he was extremely fussy and whinging alot. We're no sure if it's because he's feeling really sick, or simply because we have disturbed his sleep. After cleaning him up and changing him, we decided that Sean seems fine and was more tired than anything else. So I pacified him back to sleep.
Sean's fever subsided subsequently and was fine throughout the night.

Steve and I were struggling whether Sean should take flight. We were hoping against hope that it is just a mere case of heatiness, and that the fever will go away for good and Sean will be well enough to fly. So we still packed everything that was needed for the trip deep into the night till about 5am.

However, Sean's fever spiked again in the morning to 38.9deg. We then brought him to the PD. PD diagnosed that it could be a bacterial infection thus the sudden bouts of fever and ordered antibiotics. She also advised us not to bring him overseas as if Sean's condition is to deteriorate, it could result in pneumonia.

There is really no other choice to make. Sean is unusually unwell this time compared to the past, where he could still be his cheerful self despite having fever. Daddy would have to fly alone.

Sean has also decided that he doesn't want to go, cos his fever spiked to a worrying 40.4 deg in the afternoon soon after his paracetamol wears off. He was shivering and crying alot and looked really poorly. We rushed back to the PD and PD ordered for him to go to the A&E for a blood test and Xray. At the same time, Sean was given a suppository which brought his temperature down fairly quickly.

At NUH, Sean had settled down and looked positively sanguine. He was also very cooperative with wearing a mask, and the nurse checking his blood pressure and heart rate.


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The above was written about 2 weeks ago and had been saved as draft since. I just don't really have the interest to continue to blog since then. Anyway, to cut the long story short:

- all of us were suppose to leave for Edinburgh on 14 June
- Sean developed high fever on night of 13 June
- fever spiked to as high as 40.4 deg on 14 June. All hopes of leaving that night were dashed. Safety comes first for Sean
- fever was on and off for Sean. Suppository was given 4 hourly on the advice of PD. To bring down the temperature, as well as to relieve pain in Sean's throat where the PD observed ulcers.
- Rashes developed on trunk and limbs of Sean on 16 June. He's never had these before. On the other hand, his fever is now under control.
- Fever broke on 17 June.
- I developed fever and shot up to as high as 39.4 deg.
- Blister-like rashes developed on my hands and soles. Quite painful too.
- Recovered in 2 days.
- Suffered from gastric flu for another day.



Fast forward to today, we've survived without Steve for the last almost 3 weeks or so. All thanks to my parents who have kindly stayed over with us during that period of time when Sean was sick. I was really quite paranoid to leave Sean alone for that few days when his fever was coming on and off. For fear that he could go into seizures due to the sudden spike in temperature. I couldn't go to the toilet without worry, I couldn't do anything without fearing for Sean. Heck, I simply couldn't leave him out of my sight!

Thanks so much to my parents. Without them, I would have gone bonkers.

And now, life has pretty much gone back to normalcy. My parents have gone back home since last week and it's back to shuttling to my parents' place during the day and back home to sleep.

The one thing that has gone to tatters is Sean's perfect sleeping habit. Before, Sean is able to just get into his bed and fall asleep by himself. Now, he wants me to cuddle him to sleep. And he would wake up in distress so often during the night, looking for me to carry him to sleep. Sigh. I wish for things to go back to before again.

So we're set to join Steve next Thursday. I am really really looking forward to joining Steve. I miss him so much over the last 3 weeks.

I just hope I can survive the 13 + 1 hour transit at Heathrow flight with Sean in tow.

June June go away.

July will be a much much better month yeah.

Sean is 2 years old!

Oops, I'm a year older today!

Happy Birthday my handsome darling Sean!

Keep up that great big smile!