mummy's home ...

 The most awaited event happened over a week ago ...mummy came back for a short hols on 20th Nov. I picked Dom & Jane from the airport ...and when we arrived at home, Al was asleep while adik was playing inside his crib. Adik immediately went to mummy's arm when mummy came to him ..so sweet! He still remembers his mummy ...

but it was heart wrenching to watch Al's reaction to seeing his mummy after 6 months of absence ...when he opened his eyes, the first persons he saw was Jane and Dom...and he actually covered his face again with his pillow before slowly opening his eyes again ...bet he was in disbelief! He smiled and asked daddy to carry him ...he looked shyly at Jane, and after a while he ran and hugged Jane ..it was a touching moment! for both mother and sons to be reunited after a 6 months absence ...bringing tears to my eyes and to my mom's as well!

Hand Foot and Mouth - the symptoms

We went to Dr Tan's Clinic last night...Airell was spotting sores on his feet and hands, and as Jane suspected it was the symptoms of Hand Foot and Mouth Desease (HFMD). Poor boy ....

Airell has sensitive skin - up to the extent that he can only uses Eubos cleansing gel for his bath. He's allergic to Johnson & Johnson products! and my GOD, the Eubos brand is so expensive ...anyway, when we saw that he has a few spots on his leg on Saturday, we didn't think much of it ...until yesterday afternoon. Jane saw that spots are turning into sores/ blisters ...and can be seen on the soles of his feet. and a few hours later, the spots started to appear on the palm of his hands ....the doctor confirmed Jane's suspicions...


But thank God, the doctor said that Airell is showing the symptoms of spotting those sores ..and that they are only on his foot and hands ...his mouth was ok last night, and he is still very active, had no fever, and  very vocal! But we can't help being scared, my mum especially, when we heard about this - coz we have a toddler in the house and we all know that HFMD is a contagious desease ...with no particular cure - it  just has to run its course! By the way, we were told that Airell could have got it through contact with a person who has HFMD. Then we remembered the incident in Spring Shopping Mall a week ago when a spotty (and sick) looking toddler came over and touched Airell, and none of us were fast enough to stop him! ...both Jane and I were wondering what made the boy's face spotty at the time! Now we suspected that the boy was the culprit! Plus the doctor said the incubation period of the virus is between 3-7 days ..and that is about the right time frame of the incident!

spots on his feet

the blisters

I googled the HFMD - to look for guidelines, as well as warning signs etc when I got home last night. Apparently it is a common disease affecting infants and children (under 10 years old), and in most cases can recover in 7-10 days. One website explains that, and I quote:

"HFMD is moderately contagious. Infection is spread from person to person by direct contact with nose and throat discharges, saliva, fluid from blisters, or the stool of infected persons. A person is most contagious during the first week of the illness. HFMD is not transmitted to or from pets or other animals"

Another thing to remember about HFMD is that the virus can remain in the body well after the symptoms have gone away - meaning still contagious weeks after the symptoms are gone!

Like i mentioned before, there is no specific medication for HFMD - we were given an antivirus last night - and that is just to stop the virus from spreading further (i think!). However, these are some of the common good hygiene practices that parents and caregiver can apply ..

1. washing hands frequently - especially after changing diapers and so on - and must wash correctly (not just with water!)
2. avoid close contact with persons with HFMD - this includes kissing, hugging etc.
   

Symptoms of HFMD (source: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/enterovirus/hfmd-qa.htm#1) includes "fever, sores in the mouth, and a skin rash. Often begins with a mild fever, poor appetite, malaise (feeling vaguely unwell), and often a sore throat. One or 2 days after the fever begins, painful sores develop in the mouth. They begin as small red spots that blister and then often become ulcers. The sores are usually located on the tongue, gums, and inside of the cheeks. The skin rash develops over 1 to 2 days, with flat or raised red spots and sometimes with blisters. The skin rash does not itch and is usually on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. It may also appear on the buttocks or genitalia. A person with HFMD may have only the rash or only the mouth sores".


I hope my dear Airell will get better soon - and in the meantime, we are told not to have any visitors at the house ....preventive measures and all that ...

Our little guest

Last Wednesday, we had a little guest at the office ...the little madam herself, a.k.a Iris came with mommy to the office ...the babysitter was on leave - hence, it explained Moi's decision to bring her in ...she has definitely grown up ...no longer the sweet baby that I knew ..but transformed into a super-sweet little girl ..very cheeky, super friendly and very active ....as evidenced by these photos!

trying her mom's phone ....

she posed when she saw i pointed the camera at her!

Going for "wok wok" (literally translated as Walk!)

getting her own water ...hehehe

hehehehe trying to get to the other side!

It was fun having her round ..she kept popping up in my room every so often ...just saying "yiyi" hehehe ...then off again ...doing her rounds visiting mommy and then Aunty Dr Wong ...hehehe...

P/S Iris - you are welcome anytime at the office ....this yiyi will store more food for you!

christmas is round the corner ...

The title of the posting says it all...Christmas is just round the corner...less than 40 days away to be exact...the shopping malls have started to have their annual xmas decoration ...went to THe Spring last week and the giant Xmas trees are already up! Won't be long before the sounds of "jinggle Bells", "White Xmas" and so on playing non-stop in the shopping malls ....

As for us, we plan to go back to our "country retreat" ..hehehe sounds posh isn't it ....my sister will be coming home on Christmas Eve...and after they (my parents and siblings) attend the Xmas Mass on Christmas morning, we will be heading to our country retreat ...would be fun, coz it will be a first for Al and adik ....


I havent done any Xmas shopping yet ...i still think it is still a tad too early! Plus, I am busy with work at the moment, so I will be heading for the shopping malls when it is nearer to the time ...


P/S I love shopping for Christmas gifts ..especially now that we have two kids at home!

Babysitting Diary

the very first time that I babysat both Al and Airell on my own for more than 2 hours was last week ...twice in a week! Mum and dad went back to the village - because they wanted to check out their fruit trees (it is the fruit season now). Hey, motherhood is tough - i know that ...but what i did not know was that taking care of two kids are HUGE task ...

9.00 am mum & dad left the house (after the bathing and the feeding and so on)- al cried coz he wanted to go with them ...

9.05 watching BEE Movie - to keep them entertained ..

10.00 both kids wanted their bottles ...and the BEE Movie is still playing (they love this movie!)

10.30 adik fell asleep ( so excited!) but Al was so noisy that it was a long process before adik is fully asleep!

12.30 Al finally decided that he had enough, and he went off like a light ....and i started to mark the assignments ...

1.30 Adik woke up! so, i have to stop my marking ...and entertained adik ..sat him in his walker, and gave him his cute, colourful book ...he was content for about 30 mins! so i was alternating between Channel 613 and the BEE Movie (again!)

4.00 Adik went to sleep again (yipee!!) but by them I was too tired to take any more pics ...and my stomach was really grumbling! Cook an asam laksa maggie ....but before I can eat it, i had visitors coming over! my cousin and the kids were here for a while ...

4.30 Al woke up, and my maggie was still left untouched in the pan! the visitors left at 5.30 ..and i had my maggie then!


5.30 Watching Night at the Museum ...while at the same time giving Al his bath ...

6.30 mum and dad finally arrived! hand over the duties ...and collapsed in front of the telly ...

Note: it is a tiring job ...lots of responsibilities ....making sure the kids are fed, are clean, happy (as in not crying!) and entertained ...but it is kinda FUN ..hehehe very oxymoron, me think! and i fell asleep before 9pm that night!!! Full of exhaustion ...

a little trip and fall ...

Al had a little accident a while back ...i did plan to do a posting on that but completely forgotten about it until i saw this pic in my camera ...yet to be downloaded! and that was a picture from last month ....talk about disorganized ...

anyway, this was the result of his little trip and fall ...he was being extra naughty that day ..climbing, running and shouting ...just like Attilla the Hun in his fav film (Night at the Musuem) ..that night he climbed on my dad leg ..but slipped and fell ...it wasn't that bad coz he fell near a mattress ...but still spot this wonderful bruise on his  forehead ...the red lines are the result of falling on top of our rattan mat ...he was crying, but only for a minute or so ...so, i guess it was not that bad ..plus, incidents like this are normal for kids his age - that's what i am told anyway ....the good thing, the kid is resilient coz he started to do the exact same that cause him to fall right after he finished that milk bottle ...aaaahhh the wonder of being a kid! Bless ...

my gila2 friends ...

these are my closest friends ...and yea, we are the crazy mois ...hehehe ...talk non-stop, sometimes we just shouted at each other from our own rooms, without bothering to go to the person we are speaking with - I guess, it must annoys our other neighbours ....and these are just some of our crazy antics ...hehehehe ...

Just for clarification - we are serious when it comes to work, but we do crazy things to release our stresses ..it include indulging in crazy shopping (me mostly), crazy imaginations & angan2 (ladies - I am talking about the Alaska thing heheehe) ad lots of other crazy but fun stuffs ...

Lunch at Swee Kang

One of the places that we would love to go, but never seems to find the time to do so, for lunch is Swee Kang ...not sure if that was the correct name, but my friends call the stall like that ...it is famous for its ABC and sotong kangkung ....a few weeks ago, Haslina and I had lunch there - that was only because we were having a meeting nearby ...

The sotong kangkung before -

Sotong kangkung, after mixing all the ingredients

i tried their Durian Ice, instead of the usual ABC ...it was good, but i am not that fond of having durian as part of a dessert or pudding ...so, i won't be ordering this again, yummy as it was ...

and my dear friend enjoying her selection ....

furniture shopping

at long last .....we finally have the time to go out hunting for furniture ...mom had been complaining that our plan to shop was always cancelled ..due, mostly, to my unpredictable workload ...so last weekend, all of us (3 adults, a baby and a little toddler) went out on a shopping trip ..it was raining but we didn't care hehehehe

went to four different shops and managed to get everything in my mom's list: an oven; a bookcase; a cabinet for the kitchen as well as a mattress ...we sure had fun ..Al, especially, was estatic when he saw me trying out the mattresses at the shops ..he joinned me (he jumped up and down on the mattresses) when I tried all the mattress there were in the shop ...much to the bemusement of the sales assistant ...but who cares, anyway ...we sure didn't ...

Mom and adik were tired of following Al and I round the shop ...the next time I saw them, they were sitting down comfortably in the sofa section of the shop ..of all the nice, elegant sofa, they choose to sit on this gaudy one! and refuse to move to the nice one for me to take photos ...reason: too tired to move hehehe ....

while waiting for me to pay, Al was playing outside ....all in all, it was a fun, albeit a tiring, outing for all of us ...

after work ...

these are the scenes (most evenings) when I get back from work ...the two boys will be waiting for me..if I went straight to the kitchen, they would cried out ...thinking i didn't notice their outstretched arms ...

It is always the case that when I am holding Aai, the elder brother would "park" himself near us as well ...this is the time when my parents would normally have dinner while the three of us would be in front of the tv ...or Al and I would be on the floor playing while adik watches us from his play pen @ bed ...

Ever since they stay with me, i feel that coming home is fun ..something to anticipate. I would feel guilty if i have to stay back at work, know that Al, especially, would be waiting for me ....

luncheon with the Mois

last Friday, the two mois and I went for lunch at the Spring ...i thought I couldn't make it at first coz I just lost my document files that very morning - long story - but i managed to re-do everything and hence, able to make it for lunch. It was great ...we had time to eat ...and do a bit of shopping before heading back to the office...

The food was nice, I had sizzling chicken noodle and mango cendol special for afters ...the cendol really nice and refreshing! I would certainly be having that one again when I'm going for lunch there again ....

The three of us decided that we will allocate every friday for our out-of-the-campus-lunch ...it would be great coz we would be able to just eat in peace (without people knocking on the office doors!), able to browse the shops in leisure and gossip (of course!) ...so, here i am, already looking forward to our next outing ...

busy work schedule

I have been so busy in the last 3 weeks ...main reason is that on top of my own job, i have to attend this post graduate diploma course - and it is a one week course with lots of assignments, and lectures from 8-5 ...the course itself is fun ...it was Module 5 - meaning i have 2 more modules to do before I graduated ..and most of the people attending the module are familiar faces ...so, it was ok ...and these are photos taken from one of my lecture - the topic for that day was a bit dry and we find ourselves nearly dozing off. Well, actually one of my collegues did, and he SNORED for at least 10 minutes hehehe

 

 

these two are sitting behind me, and they kept me "alive" ...with their jokes hehehehe



but on top of the course, i still have to do my other duties ...i.e. marking and doing my part for the research report & presentation. That's why i find my self going to lecture @8, doing my marking during lunch breaks & coffee breaks, then straight on meeting with the other research team member to do follow up, discussion etc ...i have so many hats on that i dont have enough time in a day to finish it all ...

This photo here was taken when me and two other collegues were discussing our prelim research findings and organizing strategies for the presentation ...rather than meeting in our offices, we met over a late lunch ...i had a really nice sandwich at the time - thanks Doc for the treat ...heheheh like fendi always said, when I am stressed, I ate a lot ...hahahah ...

Al's shopping trip

The previous weekend, my dad and I took Al shopping …well, my mum was not well, and we were running out of foods and other household stuffs ...so, we had to go out. Decided to take Al with us  ..and boy, did he had a great time ….

He even chose his own stuff at the cold storage section …well, he can only reached the yogurt drink, so he took one and put it in my shopping basket …

He has a great time strolling along the aisle …luckily not many people were at the supermarket at that time …

and another pose before we went home ....

So, mummy – please take note. Al loves shopping and daddy already said that Al and mummy can go grocery shopping together when mummy is here ….

old photographs

i was browsing through an old album of ours a couple of weeks ago ... lots of memories there. It was nice to be a child, isn't it? carefree, no responsibilities, play at will, and lots of fun ...but some of the photos were a bit "vague" in the sense I don't have any recollection whatsoever on when it was taken ...hehehehe ...like this one below...i know it was taken in our old longhouse ...with our neighbours ...i think i must be primary 1 or 2 then ...dad told us that the pic was taken either during Gawai or Christmas coz that was when we would stayed overnight the longest at the longhouse ...coz our longhouse is about 45 mins from our home in Sri Aman, we often have daily visit instead ...anyway, i think the photo was taken by Aunty Ivy coz she had scribbled something at the back of the photographs ...

These two, on the other hand, were taken in Sri Aman ...way back in the early 1980s i think ...i know i was in primary school then. Our neighbour took the pic ..of me, my brother and his sons and daughters ...i vaguely remembered this event ..i knew it was during the Merdeka celebration - coz i recalled going to see the parade, and the traditional longboat races! We have lost contacts with this family ...after their dad (who took the picture) died, they moved away ...the three younger kids were sent to the orphanage, if i'm not mistaken ...

lots of happy memories there ..captured in the old photographs ...unlike now, where most of my photos are still stored digitally in the PC ...what if the PC got corrupted??? I did store some in the CD...but then again, what  if the CD got lost, corrupted and so on ...