31 May 2009 - Jerlene is home sick

Though Jerlene's next PD review is tomorrow, we decided to bring her back today as we really missed her too much. When she saw us, she immediately ran to me saying "爸爸抱抱". At that moment, I'm hers.......willingly........

First we went to Novena Square and United Square where Jerlene had so much fun in Toys-R-Us. She refused to leave and spent more than an hour in the store. After which, we went to a nearby property launch (Mezzo) to take a look before heading home. When we reached home, she ran straight into our bedroom and start jumping on our bed. She was so happy to ba at home.....and daddy is so happy to have Jerlene at home too!

30 May 2009 - We miss Jerlene SO SO MUCH!

The title says it all. Today is Saturday and we are unable to bring both Jerlene and Javier out for some fun time. Can't wait till Monday to have Jerlene back home........

28 May 2009 - Influenza A

Jerlene has been having flu, running nose and cough recently. Not sure where she caught the virus from, probably from the school. As my two nephew were also having running nose, my sister brought all of them to the PD (Dr Tan). After they did the mucus test, all were tested positive for Influenza A.
Influenza A virus causes influenza in birds and some mammals. Just for your info, There are several subtypes, labeled according to an H number (for the type of hemagglutinin) and an N number (for the type of neuraminidase). There are 16 different H antigens (H1 to H16) and nine different N antigens (N1 to N9). The recent outbreak of H1N1 virus is a subtype of Influenza A virus.

Variants are sometimes named according to the species (host) the strain is endemic in or adapted to. The main variants named using this convention are: Bird Flu, Human Flu, Swine Flu, Horse Flu, Dog Flu and Cat Flu

One of my nephew seems more serious so he had to take anti-biotics. Btw, Tamiflu tablets are really in a shortage now. As for Jerlene, Dr Tan said that it was not too serious and decided to let her body fight the virus without medication. My sister actually asked the possibility of H1N1. but Dr Tan said it's unlikely. It will cost about $300+ just to do the H1N1 test. When Dr Tan realized that I had a baby at home, he started to become quite worried because there is no medication for infant. If Javier caught it, he will most likely need to be hospitalized. So his advice is to separate Jerlene and Javier.

The next review with Dr Tan is next Mon. So from now till then (about 3 days), Jerlene will be staying at my parent's place. I'm going to miss her so much.........

27 May 2009 - Is that a dimple?

I did not realize it till I see this photo. Is that a dimple? :)

25 May 2009 - My cough is getting worse

My cough is getting from bad to worse. Every few minutes I will cough uncontrollably for a very long stretch. And today I've even lost my voice. All my colleagues in office had advised me to go home but after 2 weeks of reservist, there are tons of work being piled up. I tried to clear as much work as possible before seeing my company doctor. And result was, 2 days MC. The doctor said I definitely need lots of rest in order to recover. I've lost 5kg in the past one month. However, even when I am at home, I could hardly find time to rest because Javier is quite cranky recently and Jerlene keeps wanting my attention. Tracy was equally tired with the two kids plus housework. Right now, we seriously thought of getting a helper to lessen our burden. Especially when Tracy goes to work in a month time, we need to get someone to look after Javier as we do not intend to send him to infant care.

Really hope my persistent cough will go away soon.......

24 May 2009 - Javier does not like messing with his hair and face

Just like Jerlene when she was few months old, bathing is one of the most enjoyable moment for Javier as well. However, he does not like me messing up with his hair and face. Everytime I tried to wash his hair and face, he will frown and give me an annoying look. But when it comes to washing the body, he enjoys very much, especially when I splashed water onto him.

As seen from the above photo, I only use a small pail instead of the big tub to bath him before bedtime. The tub will be used for the morning bath. Having said that, Javier will not be able to fit into the above pail very soon.

22 May 2009 - Javier's new car seat and stroller

There was a Robinson sale today and it so happened that there were a few items that we have been shopping around for quite sometimes, and they were selling cheap for members. The two main items that we are looking for are a car seat and a stroller for Javier. As we still have several Robinson cash vouchers from our previous purchase of a LCD TV, we actually bought all these items for FREE! :-)

Although the car seat is a little too big for Javier now, he seems quite comfortable in it.

As for the stroller, it's again Capella and slightly bigger than Jerlene's one. The frame looks tougher but the material used for the seat looks harder.

20 May 2009 - Not feeling well (me)

After many disturbed sleep over the past few nights, I'm finally down with fever and flu. It's really tiring for both Tracy and myself in the past few weeks. Javier needs a feed every 3-4hrs throughout the day and night. And Jerlene has been very attention seeking recently. We simply have not much time to rest as there are also housework to be done. Hopefully this will be a quick passing stage whereby Javier will start to sleep through the night, and Jerlene can be more independent. Now that both Jerlene and Javier are sleeping, I better go get some rest. :-)

P.S. Looking at both Jerlene's and Javier's photos is a good way to make me feel much better.

17 May 2009 - The "Ah" words

Jerlene seems to have learnt many words recently. However, her pronunciation seems a bit problematic. Words that are of two syllabus, she will replace the first syllabus with "Ah". Some examples are as follow:
Daddy = Ah Di
Barney = Ah Ni
Water = Ah Ter
Teacher = Ah Cher
Elephant = Ah Phant
and many many more.....
I've tried correcting her but did not seem to help. Guess I'll just have to keep reminding her whenever she "Ah" the words again. :-P

15 May 2009 - Javier > Jerlene

Jerlene has been growing at 15 percentile all this while and we concluded that she's probably of the smaller build type. Javier, on the other hand, seems to be growing at a higher percentile. Clothes that we thought he should be wearing at month 3 fits him nicely now. He currently weighs about 4.8kg at week 6. I can really feel the difference by carrying him now as compared to Jerlene then. My hand goes "numb" much faster when I carried Javier. Many people told me boys are usually bigger than girls. It seems true for this case. Anyway, as long as he's healthy, big or small build does not actually matter.

14 May 2009 - Jerlene's speech development

Jerlene really speaks and sings a lot recently. She can say things such as "I want brush teeth", "I want apple", "爸爸没有来", "Bye bye 爷爷" etc etc. As for songs, she can sing the full "ABC" song, though some of the letters she will simply skip. Other songs that she sings are "Twinkle twinkle little star", "Baa Baa black sheep", "小蜜蜂" etc etc. Though some of the words she cannot really pronounce well, fortunately, her pitch is quite perfect. In terms of counting, she can count from one to twenty.

Anyway, my little princess is growing to become a pretty girl. Loves to see her smile, especially when she poses in front of my camera.......

12 May 2009 - Javier has discharged

I reported to camp today but has told them that I may need to rush back to hospital if Javier can be discharged. At about 10am, Tracy sms me saying that Javier can be discharged today. As such, I requested for time off to settle Javier's discharge. Finally, we can all be home, home sweet home.

After I settled down Javier, I quickly rushed back to camp. Though it's tiring rushing here and there, seeing all are well and healthy is much more important.

8 - 11 May 2009 - Javier was hospitalized

On 8 May morning, Tracy called me at office saying that Javier has a little fever (37.5). I thought it's common for baby to feel a bit warmer so I said to monitor a bit more. In the afternoon, his tempeature suddenly shot up to 38.5. That is a bit unusual so Tracy quickly brought him to the PD at Mt Alvernia hospital. After my meeting, I immediately rushed down to the hospital to meet up with Tracy. Javier's temperature then was more than 39. He was put on an intravenous drip and need to administer antibiotics through the drip every 12 hours. When I saw his hand, I really felt very heart pain. He's only 6 weeks old and got to put through so much suffering. Must be very painful when they insert the tube into his vein.
The hospital has taken his blood and urine for some lab test. Javier got to stay in hospital for the next 3 days so that he can continue with the antibiotics administering. On the first night, as there is no more single room, I cannot stay overnight with Tracy and Javier. So I went to pick up Jerlene and went home to take a rest, and prepare myself to take over Tracy the next day.

Next morning, I brought Jerlene to my parent's place and went back to the hospital. Javier's temperature seems to have come down to around 37.5 so we felt a bit relieve. The PD suspected that it's either Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) or viral fever. Need to wait till the lab results are out before we can confirm. I managed to get a single room for today so that I can stay overnight to help out.

On Sunday, Javier's temperature suddenly went up again. The PD said that this trend is not normal and suspected it's probably caused by bacteria infection. True enough, when the lab results are out, it's confirmed that Javier has got UTI. The bacteria is called Escherichia Coli, in short, E. coli. It is responsible for approximately 90% of UTI seen in individuals with ordinary anatomy. In ascending infections, fecal bacteria colonize the urethra and spread up the urinary tract to the bladder as well as to the kidneys. A urinary tract infection is a bacterial infection that affects any part of the urinary tract. Although urine contains a variety of fluids, salts, and waste products, it usually does not have bacteria in it. When bacteria get into the bladder or kidney and multiply in the urine, they cause a UTI. Although they cause discomfort, urinary tract infections can usually be quickly and easily treated with a short course of antibiotics. The PD advised us to let Javier stay in hospital till his temperature went down to normal level for a continuous 24 hours.

On monday, although I'm supposed to report to camp for my reservist, I called up to request for one day exemption as I need to bring Javier for an ultrasound scan. This is a precaution to make sure his kidney is not affected by the bacteria. We are glad that the result shows his kidney was not affected. Since last night his temperature has also gone down to normal level. Seems like the antibiotics has kept the bacteria under control. If his temperature continue to remain normal, he can be discharged tomorrow. Javier, be strong ok........

5 May 2009 - Jerlene's April Artwork

I've brought back Jerlene's artwork for the month of April today. The theme for April is natural disaster. I find it weird to have such a theme for two year old playgroup. Anyway, here are some of the artwork which she has done. Looking at it, the artwork are mainly done up by the teacher. Jerlene had done her part by doing the thumb and palm printings on those drawing.

As Mother's day is round the corner, Jerlene has also made a bunch of flower for Tracy. This is the first gift from Jerlene for mommy.

4 May 2009 - Toilet Training

Childcare centre seems to have toilet trained Jerlene recently. She has been telling me she want to shhh shhh on several ocassion and pulled me to the toilet. We have bought a child toilet seat for her quite sometimes back and finally Jerlene wants to use it. I set it up and place Jerlene on it but nothing seems to happen. She just smiled and after a while, she asked me to carry her down. Anyway, it's a good start and hopefully, she'll slowly get use to using the toilet seat.

3 May 2009 - Javier joins the dark forces (pacifier)

Unlike Jerlene (http://jerlene.blogspot.com/2007/03/16-mar-2007-dark-forces-strip.html), Javier has joined the dark forces. He does not reject the pacifier that we gave him. Occasionally, he will spit it out but most of the time, he will suck till he sleeps. There has been many debates on whether to give baby a pacifier. We did not give Jerlene the pacifier, or rather, she rejected it all along and instead, she uses her thumb as a replacement. Up till now, we still cannot wean off her habit of thumb sucking. As such, we decided to give Javier the pacifier and hopefully, it's easier to wean off later.

1 May 2009 - Javier's 1st outing

Today is labour day and I brought my entire family to Suntec. This is Javier's 1st official outing since birth. However, we did not stay out for too long as Javier kept asking for milk. He has been drinking quite a lot recently.

After we reached home and fed Javier, Jerlene started to pat 弟弟 to sleep.

Javier seems to be dreaming of his future army life. Not sure who he is saluting to.