Monday, August 10, 2009

The Dark Week

Just a week ago, the happy baby still spotted a double chin

Hai, it's terrible to be sick ... the skinnier version

It all began last monday when i came down with a high fever at night. A visit to the doctor revealed that i had a severe flu complete with cough and running nose. I was given multiple types of medication and told to stay home for two days.

The virus must have been passed to the baby since i still continued to nurse her. On Wednesday, baby started to have diarrhoea. We did not suspect anything at first as we introduced a small amount of infant formula and we thought it could be the new milk. The other hideous side effect was a damaged backside with itching red nappy rash, which made baby uncomfortable sitting down and her appetite went down by half. Finally a high fever at 39 degrees broke out on Friday. The baby clinic was full and we had no choice but to go straight to KK.

Diagnosis could not determine the true cause of the sickness, and the doctor attributed to a possible viral attack passed on by me (and daddy was sick too). We went home and continued on regular dose of paracetemol. We also had to feed baby Pedialyte, a rehydrating solution to replace water, glucose and electrolytes (salt) back into baby's body.

We came to another major headache. Baby has to be on a total fluid diet due to the diarrhoea, so that means only milk and the Pedialyte solution (which baby hated the taste and hardly drank any). But since i was badly sick too, the breastmilk supply continued to dwindle. Baby has a lactose intolerance and vomits each time we fed infant formula. The only other thing baby could drink was soy milk, which we had tried feeding a hundred times without success as baby is extremely picky about the taste.

If we could pull out our (or the baby's) hair we probably would. Seeing the poor child running a nasty fever, watery stools, hungry, crying but just refusing to drink the soy, any parent would give a million to reverse the situation. I was literally praying on my knees and crying my heart out to the Lord. The hungry baby would rather bite her pillow with pearly tears rolling down those sickly eyes than to drink the soy.

The night passed on so slowly i woke up every other minute to check if the baby was alright. At the first sight of dawn, i made another feed of soy and saying the most desperate prayer, the baby grabbed the bottle and quietly emptied the contents without a single coercion. I guess this is what we know as survival instinct. The poor baby have gone hungry for almost a day and finally ignored her preference and succumbed to her body needs. I was awestrucked and praised my Lord for this miracle!

The high fever persisted through the whole of Saturday, hovering between 38.4 to 38.8 degress. We diligently fed her medicine, then milk, then pat her to sleep, and the entire routine went on for as long as we could remember. I still said my prayers each time we fed her soy and thankfully she was consuming a reasonable amount each time.

As the day breaks on Sunday, the fever finally came down to 37.4, and going forward came back to normal to 36.2. I really do not have the right words to express our relief and joy! Baby was able to make a little play, respond a bit to people, and we almost caught a glimpse of the naughty baby back into action, biting and chewing slowly on her toys.

The dark week past, and today the fever has said bye bye. While the frequency of stools has lessened but we continue to monitor as the consistency is still watery. Baby can start to eat a little cereal and seems to be getting back to usual. However we found that she still can't smile like before. Probably will need a longer recovery period before the true blue cheeky girl is back.

Monday, August 3, 2009

I am 8 months old!

Our baby is like a doll to us... literally!

Bet you didn't know everyone calls me 娃娃!

I hate to say this but truly TIME FLIES! Unknowingly, i have survived 8 months of late nights and breastfeeding, baby can now flip left right up down center, crawl with a wobble, blabber non-stop, clap when you sing a song, and flap like a bird! It's amazing what babies can do?!

She's quite funny to play around and we have a lot of joy at her expense e.g. making her turn round and round using a toy bait and laughing at her funny reactions etc. The entertainment is quite a good return for my investment haha. So those of you feeling bored, quick go and have a baby la :)

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Cornflake Cookies

Karen happily whisking away


Fold in the flour bit by bit

Ta-Dah! ~ Golden brown cookies with crunchy cornflakes!

Karen even got me a heavenly bday cake! Made my day!

Karen came over for our first baking session together, and i must really thank her for this wonderful cornflake cookie recipe!

Just whisk sugar and butter until fluffy, fold in flour and egg, roll out balls onto the crushed cornflakes, send them into the oven and voila! there you have it! Crunchy cookies that melts in the mouth! Cannot stop at one, two or three!

It seems pretty easy to manage and the results are really good, so i will try to make these again on my own. Thank you Karen! And looking forward to more (free) baking classes from the guru!

CORN FLAKE COOKIES

Butter – 1 lb (16oz)
Flour – 1 lb (16oz)
Sugar – 0.5 lb (8oz)
Egg yolk – 4Salt – a little
Cornflakes (crushed - you can also whisk them in a blender) - one box or tray

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
2. Whisk butter and sugar until white and fluffy
3. Fold in flour, salt, then add egg yolks (i used salted butter so didn't add salt)
4. Roll balls out of the batter, and then roll them onto the crushed cornflakes
5. Send to the oven and bake for ~20mins

A nice aroma will prompt you to check that it's ready and you can try poking it with a fork and it should come out clean. Cookie is not so hard so don't overbake it!

Enjoy! ~~

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Baby Runs

Thank God for making me well
I will eat more fruits & vegetables to be healthy!

... a fever, that is :(

Brought baby for her 2nd pneumococcal jab on monday and she merely let out a short cry when she realized her backside was being attacked by an unknown.

Yesterday, about two hours after feeding her some egg yolk, she did the merlion stunt and vomitted everything out over a span of 5 episodes. Was truly heart breaking to see her feeling all weak at the end of it all. She cried and mumbled softly in distress while we patted her to sleep.

Shortly in the night baby developed a >38 degrees fever and continued to sob/cry/complained on and off. We fed her the fever medicine every four hours, checked her temperature every hour. Poor baby. Poorer mom & dad barely having any eye shut.

Thank God that as the day breaks, deliverance came along as well. Baby woke up smiley and started to get active and talkative no different from any other day. Fever was gone so we fed her as usual. We could see her coming back to her pink of health. So thankful to God for His protection!

So, we don't know if the jab caused a fever that made her vomit, or that the egg yolk made her vomit and caused a fever. We are just glad that the trauma is finally over and that baby is well again. Time for us to catch some rest!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Happy Birthday MaMa! ~~

Favourite chocolate cake


Creamy CHOCOLATE (again!!) cake .. LOVE it!

The only baking recipe book i'll ever need in my life with >100 recipes


Best gift of all - baby claps while i sing myself the bday song

YAY! I'm one year younger *er hem*, though i'm particularly puzzled why lines have seemingly landed probably from mars or venus. Ok, this is self-denial. Friends thank me for providing such a real life explanation of the term, better than Oxford dictionary :p

Spent a nice evening with my family eating ji-cha at chinatown. Cheap and good! Sorry no pictures. I was so busy eating and only remembered taking pictures after i gobbled the last bouncy sotong ball. Later we went to Ministry of Food @ Raffles City for dessert. This time i was proud of myself that i did remember to take out my camera and shouted for everyone to hold their spoons. Eh, how come cannot switch on one? Camera spoil ah? Alamak no battery!! So you can attribute this either to my old age, or to the sotong balls i had for dinner.

A big thank you to all my dear friends and sisters who sent me warm wishes via every possible channel. Thanks for the cakes and especially to SC the marvelicious recipe book!

Frankly i don't mind growing older, only if wisdom comes together in the package. So my prayer for the coming year, to be a wise woman, a submissive wife, a patient daughter, a loving mother, and last but not least, youthful and beautiful ALL THE YEARS! Cheers to aging gracefully! ~

Friday, July 10, 2009

Family Day Out

Hmmm Yay!! I'm thrilled to be out!

Ok, now i'm feeling bored ...

... because they are enjoying omu rice without me! Hng! ~


Nevermind, i have my own biscuit


Fist licking good

I will enjoy my bites while you enjoy yours!


Monday is off day for daddy so we decided to take baby out (without the maid!) Of course daddy is the manual carrier so mummy is freed up to shop *keke*. It is always very fun to bring baby out in the carrier because she will be so excited and flapping her arms and kicking her legs non-stop. It's like stuffing a frog into a t-shirt.

We spent some time in taka and had omu rice at the food court. Was a really nice time of family bonding. Thank God! ~

FOX Baby - SALE

I just happened to PASS BY the fox store in Compass Point and ...

Calling all mummy frens! Fox Baby is having their end of season sale now, up to 50% off! If you are a citibank card holder, you get additional 20% off the total bill, from 9 to 12July only!

I have always loved Fox for their oh-so-preeetty little dresses and so-very-trendy baby wear. So to doll up your prince and princesses this season, hurry down to the stores this weekend! :)