JD used to love red.  Red was his favourite colour.  He still likes red.  But lately, he is into blue.  Blue shoes, blue pants, blue hat, blue shirt, blue pen, blueberries, blue autobots, blue ranger, blue balloon, blue ball, blue water bottle

So a when I chanced upon this pair of kid’s birkie being discounted by 70% a month ago, I had to get it.  And it is so cool. 

So he was blue coordinated that day, and the blue Yeti Spaghetti shirt is his favourite at the moment.  Thank goodness his school uniform is also blue!

I am slowly finding the mood and energy to blog.  The last two weeks have been a bit of a hit and miss, and whilst the first week of school holiday is almost over, I am also slowly finding the mood to write.

Jayden - 4 yrs 9 months

The beginning of the 2 weeks started with an accident at home involving JD.  My son has always had some form of allergies since he was a young infant.  When he was 13 months old, he had a severe reaction to eggs when we tried it at home.  That was only a quarter teasppon of egg then.  Since then, we have stayed away from eggs.  Also because of his allegies, we also later found out he is severely allergic to all kind of nuts.

We have had zero incidents since he was first confirmed with allergies.  Over the years, we have talked to him about his allergies, raising his awareness, getting him to question everything that was given to him, and even when attending parties and social gatherings, he has since learnt to ask “Excuse me, have this got eggs and nuts in it?”.  If so, he has learnt to walk away from the food gracefully without a fuss.  We are always careful if someone next to him might be eating an omelette or a peanut butter sandwich.  We have to make sure there’s absolutely no skin contact at all.

But 2 weeks ago, while we were making pizza for dinner, JD joined in to help.  I decided to try the new jar of sundried tomato pesto my husband bought from the supermarket.  JD asked if he could try the pesto and without thinking twice I just said “yes”.  So he dip a teaspoon into the pesto and had a taste.  Then he helped himself to the pineapples I have put in a bowl.  He liked it.  Well, 10-15 mins later, he came to me and said “Mummy, my tummy feels really full.” So I got him to lie down and he lost interest over the pizza even when it was done.  10 mins later when I checked on him, he had hives coming out around his mouth.  I knew straight away it was an allergic reaction and gave him 5 ml of antihistamine.

I thought it was the pineapples that gave the reaction.  And I also thought the antihistamine would take effect real soon.  But 10 mins later, he was getting really uncomfortable and itchy.  Then he started to cough, his face turned bright red.  He kept saying to me “Mum, I want to go see a doctor.”

It was Sunday night, 7pm, raining, windy and cold.  Most doctor surgeries are shut.  A minute later, he coughed again and this time he really didn’t look well.  So I grabbed my bag, keys, wallet, left Chloe with my husband whilst I calmly drove to the closest hospital and within the speed limit.   I didn’r rush as the road was wet.

In my mind, I was rehearsing the whole CPR procedure I have learned.   Because as you know, when a person has severe allergies, they go into an anaphylatic shock, their airways get swollen and that could impair their breathing.  It was just a 5 mins drive to the hospital but I kept talking to him, listening out to him as I couldn’t turn to look at JD.  When we got there, JD was in a good spirit.  He even sang to me “Mummy, we gotta run run run, run as fast as you can…”. 

I guess everything happened at the right timing.  5 minutes arriving at the hospital, JD went into a severe shock, his whole face turned red, puffy, his lips swelled up, his body was hot, full body shaking, he had hives everywhere all over his body, he couldn’t stop scratching.  The nurse let us in quickly and JD was given all 5 different drugs to prevent his body from going into further shock. 

The doctor had to give him 2 needles in his bum, and man, as much as he hated it, crying out to me “Mummy, I don’t want the needles”.  Like every parent in similar circumstance, I succumb all my energy and faith, stripped down his pants, held him down and said to him while looking straight into his eyes “Jayden, I am not going to hurt you, I just want to help you get better.”

He stopped crying instantly and 2 needles went in.  Then there were 3 other medications he had orally.  40 minutes later, he was completely knocked out by the drugs, and fell asleep.  We kept him there under observation for a few hours and it was close to midnight when I came home with JD and went to bed.  His body shivered all night due to the shock.

Chloe and my husband were worried and did not go to bed till we were home.  Incidentally, my mobile phone also went flat whilst we were at the hospital. 

I slept a little that night.  The next day, my mind was all over the place.  I so wanted to talk to someone.  My hubby had to be away for a conference for the next 2 days.  I kept thinking of what food have caused the allergies.  After one morning, I realised it wasn’t the pineapples.  It was the sundried tomato pesto.  Like all pesto, which I have learned now, consists of cashews and pinenuts.  Yikes.  I held my breath for a while, but also breath a sigh of relief because at least it wasn’t a new allergen. 

Later that day, I sat down and calmly explained to JD about the incident.  I said to him it wasn’t the pineapples, but the sundried tomato pesto that caused his allergies that night.  I said it has cashew nuts and pinenuts in it which I did not realise.  Therefore the unfortunate incident and I was glad and proud of the fact that he knew his body wasn’t feeling right and insisted on seeing a doctor. 

That was 2 weeks ago now.  I did not blame myself for the incident and neither did I embark on the guilt trip.  Because the main thing is I identified the reaction, followed up with the necessary actions, got to the doctor at the right time, JD got treated and recovered.  It’s important that as mothers we do not blame ourselves, because we can be on that guilt trip forever.  So whilst at the hospital, I told myself in words “Pris, you are not going to blame yourself for this.”   Because knowing myself, if I have blamed myself, my week would just go downhill from there.  So I had to stop the guilt trip before it started.

It was just more of the shock and lesson I learnt that shook me up a little bit and left me feeling slightly disoriented for a number of days.

For now, he is back to normal.  I still carry the Epipen (adrenaline shot for allergic reaction in times of emergency) with me everywhere I go, continuing to check all labels, checking the food when we dine out…

JD is due for another allergies follow up in August.  Oh, and we also since consulted a naturopath about his allergies condition, and JD is now on a health kick diet of NO corn, maize, cow’s milk based product, chocolates and white flour.

Here’s a shot of the Ninja JD snacking on a big bowl of fruit salad for his afternoon tea.

So in the last weekend, I spent 2 hours in the supermarket studying every food label, buying brown rice milk, stocking up on more wholemeal flour, wholemeal pasta, wholemeal cereals, brown rice, thinking creatively of healthy snacks that don’t use any of the above. 

He is doing very well.  On his last day of term 2, his teacher gave each of them a Freddo frog chocolate.  He gladfully handed it to me, said he would swap the chocolate for somethingelse.  Another day someone offered him a glass of bottled orange juice, he politely declined and said “No thanks, I don’t need it.” 

Chloe - 1 more day to turning 2

Chloe, apart from her snooty nose is doing fine. 

She said some funny things.  The other morning, upon hearing the rain, she exclaimed out loud, and this time in Mandarin:

“妈咪， 滴滴嗒嗒， 滴滴嗒嗒， 下雨了”！

She is talking well, very chatty, very curious, very friendly, love her brother, love her friends that come around everyday.

Her favourite saying in the morning is “Wake up mummy, good morning mummy, wake up 哥哥， good morning 哥哥， bye bye daddy!”

Sometimes she sounds like the DJ greeting us on the radio station, hee!

She rushed to the gate every morning, reporting back to me whom have arrived.  She run to the children, saying “Hello, good morning” really really close to their face.  She knows every child by their name.  When it’s home time for the other children, she knows to pick up the right bag, right water bottle, right shoes for the right kid.  She is quite an observant child, watches every move around her, and imitate.  Oh, she is funny.

She is also Miss Independent at this age.  She has to try everything herself.  Climbing into the car and her car seat.  Putting on her own shoes.  Taking off her own clothes.  Undoing her own nappy.  Pouring milk into her cereal bowl in the morning.  So to not crush her desire to be independent, I let her do most things but by factor in extra 10 minutes into most things so that we won’t be late for school, appointments and etc.  That way, there’s not much frustration involved, she gets to learn, I am on time and it works out well.

She is turning 2 tomorrow.  2 years old she is going to be.  Not a baby, but still the baby in our house :) 

Some cupcakes we baked earlier in the week to celebrate with all her friends.  These cakes, apart from the icing, are super healthy as it’s made with wholemeal flour, no eggs, olive oil, and very very litle sugar.

Me

Oh, I am okay.  Tired some days that’s how I would put it. 

My mum asked me to drink chicken essence which I have been faithfully doing.  But I need to go see my herbalist for hebs to supplement my qi.  I am feeling quite depleted of it lately. 

I was very moody and tired the weekend just past.  I felt drained.  Somehow as the school term ended, my whole body also felt the need to rest and recharge.   I was tired of looking after so many children in a week.  They have all been incredibly demanding and challenging. 

So to sort out my messy thoughts, I cleaned out my children’s clothes from new born to now and was shock at how much clothes they have.  With a boy and a girl, there’s almost double of everything.  I have cleared it all, some pass onto friends that are expecting, some to charity, some I kept for keepsake. 

I don’t want to put a pic of me up here yet because 1.  I need to go trim my eyebrow 2.  My hair needs a cut and perm again.  Yes, look is still important to me

As a family 

We are going away on a short trip tomorrow, 4 days 3 nights somewhere down south.  We just booked the accommodation 2 hours ago and I hope for a good break.

“哥哥， fight fight, hia hia hia”….

All the time, she was using her fairy magic wand, swinging around in the air, with one leg up to her knee…

Ah, too much superhero influence.

I was craving for some burger last week.  Not just any burgers, but I wanted the taste of a freshly made burger, biting into a fresh beef pattie, filled with lots of chopped onions, carrots, parsley, celery..ummm

So we made our own.  The good thing about a homemade burger is you can choose the cut of the meat, minced it yourself and the freshness of the beef is what makes a good beef burger.  No dodgy ingredients in them, because you minced the beef yourself

The process is simple.  I have a Kitchenaid Mixer which with a mincer attachement and that can mince up the beef quickly and easily.  Next in go chopped carrots, onions, celery, parsely, add some salt, paprika, black pepper and a dash of barbecus sauce if you wish.  I also added a heaped teaspoon into the mince to help bind the pattie together when I cook them on the babrbie later on.  You can use eggs to replace the flour if you wish, but we have an “eggs-free” home because my kids are highly allergic to them.

Sit them in the fridge for about an hour.  Take them out again, rolled them into the size of half a tennis ball.  When you are ready to cook them, put them in a frying pan, or a barbeque, gently flatten it with the back of your spatula and you should have the patties ready in about 5-10 mins.

We also made some tomato chutney to go with the burger and it was delicious!  So delicious that I ate the whole burger, and not even a bite left. 

A friend and I met up for coffee the other night.  As we sat there, exchanging stories about our day, the school holidays, the kids, their antics, our frustrations, we laughed, we agonised, we frowned, we nodded in unison,  and we came to realise that…

Yes, some days it can be a lot of work.  Different levels of interests, needs, wants, expectations, routines, abilities between 2 kids…

But then, they are a lot of fun.  They are priceless.  They are good kids.  They drive me crazy some days, but they are still my kids.  And I love them so.  So much. 

There is nothing better when you sit in the living room, watching the siblings played, laughed, teased one another, rumble tumble with each other, one rolling onto the other’s back, chuckled and yes, it is noisy, rowdy at times…but you know what…

It is good noise, healthy noise, happy noise because that’s what a family home with children should sound like.  Sometimes we must also be thankful for the times when they cry, fight, bickle because again they are all in the process of growing up.  And they are healthy and happy.

 Sometimes she cried because she didn’t want to sleep, put them 2 together, they played till they fell asleep.

They love catching the train, going to see daddy in the city, one of their favourite Friday outings.

Big brother JD taking over the role of teaching his little sister…C, Cer, for Chloe

She loves sitting on her brother’s lap, sometimes he obliged, sometimes he say “No Chloe, you are too heavy!” Hiakhiak

Sometimes he just let her play with his toys while he watches on…

My two kids are now at the stage of really playing together.

They ride their bikes together in the backyard.

They roll around on the bed together.

They goof around together.

They like hanging out with one another.

They pack up the mess together.

They eat together.

They do lots of things together.

More often than not, they are also in mischief together.

They fight.  They cry together.

But watching them together make me happy.  Really happy.

A week ago, just after the last kid had left, JD would go out to check the letter box.  Among all the bills, supermarket catalogues, local newspapers he brought back in, we also found a hard A4 envelope.  I left it all on the kitchen table, didn’t think much about it until that night when I sat down to check all the mail.

Just as well I haven’t ripped the big A4 envelope apart in all four corners, because in there was a little surprise.

A surprise that came in a reward, a reward that made me realised “It has all  been worth it”.  An encouragement for myself that I must have done something right.  And I can proudly say now maybe I don’t suck so much in running my own family daycare and looking after 4-5 little children everyday by myself. 

It was a certificate to say I have been nominated in the category of “Childcare Worker of the Year”.  I was like a little school girl proudly showing off my certificate to my husband, the same kind of satisfaction we received as a kid when we were the student of the year or some sort, though I was never. 

But I was definitely doing the “punch in the air” move!

Then, I also realised, without the parents, I would not have received this special certificate.  So I have been fortunate to have parents of the children I look after to nominate me…. it was very nice and encouraging. 

So 10 months into this career change, it has been a great effort and I hope it stays that way. 

You have been waking up every night in the past week, created a big fuss, refused to settle by anyone.

Because you just

- wanted me to hold you while you went back to sleep

- wanted to hold  my hands till you were ready to let go 

- wanted to make sure I was there day and night

- wouldn’t leave me alone

- wanted to be cuddled, held, picked up…

Oh, it’s one of those phase we are going through again, tiring it may be.

But I still love you.  Because I know those damn molars that are trying to stick out are pain.in.the.butt!  And luckily you are cuter that those 2 damn molars!

I haven’t gone shopping, I mean shopping for new clothes, new shoes, everything for ME for a very long time.  At least 6-8 months I think.  It takes time to look, browse, trying out sizes, cuts, waiting in the queue for change rooms…and I can be real lazy when it comes to that. 

But I needed to because my 2 pairs of shoes I wear everyday have seen its better days, my winter wear is really a bit outdated and I want to look like a cool mama too!

Last weekend, with a very patient shopping companion, we began walking the mall, browsing, telling me what looked good, what not.  And he usually gives me his most honest opinion.

I tried on shoes, heels, flats, boots, high knee boots, ankle boots, stilleto boots…yes, I tried on many many pairs of shoes and boots.  

My shopping companion just sat next to me, smiling at himself in the mirror, pulling funny faces at me, picked out shoes for me to try, stand in the line to queue for me while I browsed, nod his head, shook his head, yawned…and after many many pairs of shoes, we settled for this!  Yes, my very first pair of winter boots!  I have never owned one before, but I am so into them now. 

But here’s a confession, I didn’t buy just one, but I bought 3 pairs of shoes that day! 

Then we went shopping for new winter jackets, jumpers, sweaters, cardigans…again he was patiently tagging along as I browsed.  When he got tired, he just sat on the lounge chair provided in the shops, stuffed himself silly with lollies provided…again he would try to pick, choose, and finally after many jackets, think, ponder, we settled for this new dark greyish black jacket. 

As we were walking out of the shop, we both stopped and saw a cute little knitted vest.  Oh, so 70s, but so cool looking.  Quickly, I thought of what I already have to wear underneath it, a denim mini skirt, tights, boots..yeh!  So we bought it too!  Because it was hugely marked down, bargain!

And I also bought 2 more basic tops because I desperately needed some long sleeve fitting tops to go under jackets, some short sleeve shirts, vest and more.  Again, he patiently stood next to me, asked if I wanted to try a pink, a green, a purple, a red…but I settled for a very light beige colour top.

Then I bought a dress, oh, I love this!  It is so soft, fits perfectly, looks good with boots or flats! 

By then, it was almost 3 hours since we last set foot in the shopping mall, I needed a break.  So we stopped for coffee, milkshake and donuts.

Also not forgetting I needed to reward my very patient shopping kaki (i.e. companion).

Yes, my shopping companion is my 4yo son!  So I bought him 2 little Transformers figurines to add onto his collection.  And I was quite surprise to learn that he knows all the names of the various Transformers characters, cool!

Yes, after 3 hours of walking the mall, I was gone, because I have not shopped like that for a very long time.  It was a long overdue retail therapy, and my 4yo shopping companion did not whinge once except when he was hungry, needed a snack or a toilet break.  Which all I happily and gladfully obliged.   

Now, I can’t wait to get into this colder weather with my new wardrobe, boots, scarf, beanie, and not forgetting tights!  Oh, if there’s one thing I love about winter fashion, it’s tights!  I love them! 

And if you are wondering where my husband and Chloe were?  The father n daugther were home having a long siesta and the mother n son snuck went out for retail therapy!  Hee!

Does your child have a favourite story?  A story book that you need to read every night?  And honestly you can memorise the whole story and was hoping your child won’t pick up that same story book again.

My son has lots of favourite stories and every night we sit at a cozy reading corner in his room, going through books.  I love that time with him, when he has me all to himself.  It’s a nice way to end the day with your child, reading a book, talking about the book, and have some cuddles before they start to squirm away from under your arms, ha!

Lately, at our story time, I decided to do something different.  JD loves drawing, painting, making things.  He is good with his hands and he has great imagination which usually translates into something quite remarkable.

So last week, we took out his scrap book, some marker pens and I got him to make up a story of his own.  He started by making up one sentence, then me adding another sentence, then him, then me again…

As he came up with his story, I also encouraged him to draw it out concurrently.  And that went on for a good 30 minutes. 

He started telling me a story about the His Rockets and The 3 Aliens.

I can’t remember the whole story, but it had something to do with his rocket flying into the space, landed on planet Mars, and he was drawing lots and lots of line to show me the “best” way to reach Mars.

Then there were some aliens that have long arms, long legs, sharp teeth…that came to look for the monsters.

Finally there was a big bang, and there were meteorites flying everywhere!

It was great fun.   My objective was to give him the opportunity to create a story of his own, illustrate, explain his thoughts, imaginations all by putting his pictures into words.

But it can also be an opportunity to broaden your child’s knowledge on topics of their interests, their volcabulary, explaining to them how the universe works by making it all exciting and most importantly in the way they can understand and comprehend.

It was spur of a moment thing, different, fun and it makes my child happy! 

My next project is helping JD to create a book of his own, that is another post next time.