Faith walks... her first few steps

Finally! After turning up her nose at the idea of walking, Faith just walked her first couple of steps 10 minutes ago!!! YAY!!! I'm so excited and happy :)

Since a couple of weeks back, Faith suddenly decided that she would like to learn to stand on her own two feet -- literally. And so, she practices standing on her own. It started out with her gingerly balancing herself from a sit down position to a half crouch and then a finally, her standing. As the days go, she gets more adept and confident at it. Now, she can stand longer, unassisted.

A few moments ago, as she was standing, I reached out my hands towards her and told her to walk towards me. And she did! Two steps. All on her own. Before she plopped back down onto her tushy. I think she is now ready to learn to walk.

Ooohhhh... isn't it wonderful :)

Poop alert...

After more than a week of runny nose with still lots of thick, gooey, slimy, greenish-yellow goo coming out from her nose, I finally brought Faith to the clinic yesterday. The runny nose and thick mucus showed no signs of abating nor improvement and we're leaving for Phuket on Monday. I knew then that its inevitable... we would have to start her on a course of the much dreaded bad word in my vocabulary -- ANTIBIOTICS :(

After a day of Augmentin and two other new medications (Sinupret & Polaramine), her nose seems better. It doesn't flow freely like a tap anymore and the gooey gunk is much much reduced, even though I can hear her blocked nose at times.

Unfortunately, she has been pooping more and having a little diarrhea too. All a result of her reactions to Augmentin. Today's garbage bag yielded a fully filled and heavily loaded amount of soiled and used diapers. My mom and I were on poop alert since yesterday, ready to change her anytime we discovered any poop or loose stools.

The current strategy that her regular paediatrician and I have agreed upon is to administer the antibiotics at a moderate dosage over 5 days instead of the usual 7, as well as to boost her intake of probiotics from once to twice a day -- we use Reutefene.

So far, her backside's doing alright. It was a little red towards late evening but we managed to catch her loose stools in the nick of time and washed and changed her diaper. Additionally, we're liberally smearing Sudocreme, an antibacterial nappy rash cream, after every nappy change.

Its now the end of Day 2 of the antibiotics course and I'm praying we will all get through the next 3 days without Faith having a raw backside! Please please please...

Last lesson for the semester at Little Gym

Faith did a make-up class yesterday at the Little Gym as she had missed a lesson while she was sick some weeks ago. It was also her last lesson for the semester with the Little Gym. Originally, I had signed her up for a 4-week summer class but becos she was the only one for the class in that session, the centre suggested that I consider another date/time, enrolled her for the next full semester or get a refund.

Reluctantly, I had to ask for a refund becos there aren't that many lessons for the summer classes and the timings for the available sessions didn't fit Faith's routine. The next official semester starts from 23 Jun 08, but by then, I'm not certain if we would still be in Singapore as Louis might be on a project somewhere else. Hence, this might be Faith's last lesson at Little Gym for a while to come.

Frankly, as I've written before in some of my earlier posts, Faith and I always have a fabulous time at the Little Gym -- we sing, jump, laugh, roll and tumble around, gallop and run all over the place and made friends with lots of people and babies. We have both benefited from the Little Gym experience and the contrast, I feel, is most prominent in Faith.

From her first lesson when she was rather lost and hesitant about the various activities and equipment, Faith has morphed into a confident and exuberant baby, screaming and shouting with joy, clapping her hands and doing her little dancing jig while on her knees during lesson time.

I've gained confidence as a mother not only from tumbling and rolling with her... every lesson at the Little Gym reinforces the concept of patience for me as a parent. Having patience in knowing that kids will learn and do things at their own timing, when they are ready. The key is not to force them to do anything against their will or which they are fearful of.

As parents, we are often compelled to compare the progress of our kids with others. Be it their birth weight, the amount of milk they take, how soon can they flip onto their tummies, when do they crawl or the number of teeth they have sprouted, blah blah blah... In short, we are guilty (whether conscientiously or not) of rating and comparing every single little milestone in their lives from the minute they arrive into this world.

What I like about the the Little Gym classes is that just as they cheer every kid for accomplishing a feat or deed, they encourage and give a pat on the back just the same if kids show reluctance, resistance or fear in attempting any of the physical activities. They will say "Its alright... they are not ready yet. Thank you [insert baby's name] for trying."

And my baby? What did she learn? Well... I'm really proud of her. I think she's come a long way. She knows the routine for the 45-minute session and what to expect. At the start and end of the lessons where the children and mummies (as well as maids and grandmas for some) clap and sing or ring their cluster bells, she would kinda follow in tune, banging enthusiastically on the floor along with us too.

Her all time favourite activity that she loves the most is anything that has her doing somersaults (called forward roll), backwards somersaults and the "woo-bee-doo", which I've described before as her doing a 360 flip mid-air.

At home, she would occasionally get into the position of doing a somersault, with her hands and feet on the ground and her cute little tushy pointing upwards at the ceiling like an inverted "V". She would giggle and laugh when we peep at her from the other end of her little upended buttocks :)

Before, she was so wary of the teacher that when he attempted to pick her up to demonstrate to the class for any activities, she would cry in fright. But at her last Thursday class, she allowed Teacher Firdaus to pick her up and use her to demonstrate to the class. With a smile on her face.

Also, either she's not quite at the age to grasp the concept of being possessive, but she would be willing to put toys back where they came from after each playing session. The Little Gym reinforces the concept of letting children move forward to grasp a toy from a common bin/basket, play with them for a while and then put them back. So, when we brought her to Kindermusik last Friday, the daddy was so please to observe that his little girl would cheerfully put all the musical instruments back when the teacher ask for them. Not all the kids on the class were happy to give up their "toys" though :)

One last thing that we both learn from going to the Little Gym that has made things so much easier and better for us -- though not directly related to Little Gym -- was that I learnt to drive Faith alone on my own when the car is available at home. Until then, neither Louis nor I have ever driven with her alone. In fact, I would always sit behind with her while Louis sits alone up front.

I decided to take a chance once when Louis was overseas for a trip. She slept on the way there and entertained herself with my cellphone and other toys on the return trip :)

Now that Little Gym classes have ended, we've decided to let her attend Kindermusik and learn something about music appreciation. I feel this is something that Faith would enjoy as she loves to "sing" to all the different types of music she hears -- be it on the telly, cellphones, at the shopping mall etc etc. Let's hope she would learn and enjoy herself just as much as she had at Little Gym.

Girl's daddy

It's been confirmed, or at least, there is a general perception - that Faith has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. In contrast to Faith being Daddy's girl, I'd like to think that I am girl's Daddy.

And I really don't mind because it is wonderful to come home and have Faith crawling towards you, expecting a lift, a hug and kiss.

And how when we wake up on the weekends, Faith "expects" me to carry her up by crawling up to me and stamping her feet on my cross-legs.

And I have this game that I love to play with her - when I carry her around the house or even when we're outside in a mall or something, I like to ask her - "Where should we go?" and she points when she knows or she gets puzzled when she can't make up her mind. Either way, I walk wherever she points - no questions asked.

It's really the joys of fatherhood I'm experiencing and I'm cherishing every minute of this. Because I know when Faith grows up, or so I'm told, such a bond is not something one gets every day. With so many distractions like school, her friends etc , I'm sure I'd miss having Faith's hugs and being commanded around.

In my own self-defense, I'd scold Faith (sometimes with Eve) when she gets into her very naughty moments - stubbornly refusing to drink her water and when she crosses the line of not wanting to sit down when having dinner. And worryingly (or is it part of her growth), such naughty moments are becoming increasingly common as she is now more restless in the day and harder to coax to sleep in the nights.

For sure, Eve has had to deal with most of this given that she is around most of the time, and I think this is when I've become increasingly appreciative of the fact that we have at least one of us around to discipline and guide her into knowing what we as parents expect of her. Fingers crossed!

Family Day - Hippo Bus Tour

Saturday, 24th May 2008 has been branded Singapore's inaugural National Family Day. As part of the programme to encourage families in Singapore to eat and spend time together, there have been free tickets given for a number of outdoor rides and other assortment of activities. My elder SIL had "won" 7 tickets to ride on the Hippo Bus Tour and together with my PILs and us, we have been invited to join them for the tour too to fully utilise all the tickets.

Actually, there were 8 adults and 1 toddler (Faith rides for free) in total. I guess it being a family day and all, the organisers were generous to allow all of us up the bus even though technically, Adrian was scheduled to "stand down" if our PILs were to join the bus tour :)

The scheduled departure was for the 1.30 pm bus. Our little family of 3 and my PIL went a little earlier so that we could feed Faith her lunch, as well as grab ours before the boarding time. The ACES family left even earlier to take the train and have lunch at Millennia (or was it Marina Square?) before we all rendezvous together at the departure point i.e. Singapore Flyer.

It must be the first time that the building of Singapore Flyer had seen so many people! There were scores of families there for the free Singapore Flyer rides, as well as folks departing on the Hippo Bus. At the ground floor of the ticketing booths, it was a carnival-like festive feeling with a few clown-like characters walking on stilts, balloon sculpturing, face-painting etc. Anders was rather frightened by the guys in stilts cos when they walked near him, he burst in tears and was cowering by the wall in fright. Poor boy :(

There wasn't really much of a queue for the Hippo Bus Tour. We managed to squeeze on board the bus that was departing. However, the family had to split up as we were the last group to board. The ACES family headed up to the open-air top deck, or what is known as the "topless" part of the double-decker bus. My FIL and I sat at the very last row of the lower deck, with Faith choosing now and then to alternate between the both of us to carry her. My MIL was sitting a few rows ahead of us and there was only standing room for Louis.

Halfway through the ride, Anthea came down to join us cos she said it was sweltering up on the upper deck. Indeed, the weather was again blistering yesterday afternoon and she said that even though she was sitting on her cap, the seats have been heated up from the noon-day sun. Hence, her decision to seek refuge from the air-conditioned deck below :)

Since there wasn't already any seat left, Anthea ended up sitting on my lap while my FIL carried Faith. Halfway through, Faith decided that she wanted to sit on my lap too. So, we had Anthea hug Faith on her lap, while Anthea sat on mine :)

The bus ride was over in about thirty (30) minutes. The bus toured mainly around the Suntec and City Hall area, covering places like the Padang, old and new Supreme Court, National Library, Suntec City Mall and the Fountain of Wealth, Raffles Hotel etc.

An anecdote that the bus commentator shared about the Raffles Hotel, other than the fact that the Singapore Sling was concocted at this famous landmark was about Michael Jackson. A few years ago when Michael Jackson had a concert in Singapore and booked most of the hotel rooms for himself and his crew, he even wanted to book the entire Singapore Zoo for himself.

However, the decision of the government was that it was a tourist location opened to the public and politely declined him. As a goodwill gesture, they had the late Ah Meng (another famous orang utan) to have breakfast with him instead at the hotel :) This was actually the origin of the Breakfast with Ah Meng that subsequently became a highlight in the Singapore Zoo.

I couldn't really remember much of the rest cos I was busy trying to entertain Faith on the trip, not that she needed much distracting really. This was her first time on board a bus and she was rather curious about the people and her surroundings.

All too soon, the tour ended and we were back at the coach bay at the Singapore Flyer. On alighting, we were told to collect our goody bags at the collection centre. My MIL and SIL went together to collect the bags while we loitered around the landing area. Anthea saw a booth where they were doing face-painting and wanted to do it. Unfortunately, they were finishing up the last few paintings for kids and we were told to return at 2.30 pm for the next round of face-painting.

We decided to join my MIL and SIL and headed towards the collection centre. There, we saw yet another booth with face-painting. Even though the guy next to the artist doing the painting said they were done for the current shift, my MIL gamely walked up with Anthea in tow and asked the artist after she was done with her last charge if she could do just one more. She was nice and willingly obliged.

And so, Anthea had her forearms painted with flowers by the artist and she was rather pleased with the final result. She was telling me that the flowers were very pretty as they were dusted with some glittering paint as well.

After her hand-painting, we parted ways. The ACES family headed back towards the MRT to take a train home while we also headed home with Faith.

Housekeeping

Our part-time cleaner took a holiday for 3 weeks and so, either my mom or ourselves have been cleaning the house during the period that she is away. Since we were doing the cleaning, we decided to organise the house a little bit, making it hopefully, less of a hazard to Faith when she's crawling around and trying to reach for her toys.

While at Ikea the other day to get a storage box to put some of Faith's books and other odds and ends, I came across a tall, 4-tiered clothes drying rack. Prior to that, we had 2 of those horizontal clothes drying rack. Combined, they pretty much occupied the entire length of our balcony, together with a 2-tier rack that was used in the past to place my pots of herbs.

We returned to Ikea on Sunday night as I had in my sleep-deprived stupor, bought the wrong storage box. Hence, the return trip to buy the right storage box and also the clothes drying rack.

It was a little of a challege for us to fit the rack into the car as it was long and not collapsible. After some shuffling and reshuffling, we managed to squash the rack spanning from the front passenger seat to the back. There was a little logistical rearrangement on the trip back home as the car can now only take a max of 3 more passengers -- there was originally 5 of us in the car.

Hence, my MIL, Faith and I took the car with the ACES family while my FIL drove the car, along with Louis and younger BIL at the back -- heard it was a tight squeeze even though my BIL is skinny :)

We came back home after dinner and my FIL and BIL helped to assemble the rack for us. We also hauled out the unused plant rack (which my PIL took home and now use to put their shoes :)). There's now a little more space in the balcony.

At the same time, we changed the placement of her toys from next to our daybed to its current place next to the TV console. I've rearranged all her toys and books into the 2 storage containers she now has. The picture above is of her the next day, curious about this new "house" for her books and toys. On the positive side of things, the box is big and spacious enough to put in everything with loads of spare space left. Meaning, that we can now buy more toys to fill it up. Hahaha... just kidding!

The previous location was a little dicey becos there was a protruding ledge from the side of the daybed where we used to put her toys. Each time she crawls in and out, we were afraid that she might either bump her head on the protruded ledge or topple unbalance onto the balcony floor.

They say a cluttered house bodes a cluttered and messy life. With the new arrangements, I feel that our living room looks a little better and more airy. My mood's lighter and I'm happier each time I see our living room :)

Frustrated

It is so very frustrating that Faith has just barely recovered from her last bout of viral infection and she's now down again :(

Since yesterday, she has been having a running (tap) nose and mild fever. This morning, she started drooling non-stop, probably becos she's teething. So now, she's dripping mucus and saliva from the nose down. Her fever comes and goes in the day, usually showing just around the end of the 4-hour interval when she is due for another dose of fever medication.

Last night was terrible. We alternated between switching the air-condition off (becos of her blocked nose) and turning it back on again when we discovered she had fever -- in a bid to cool her down. She kept waking up every half an hour or so and started crying. Most probably, its becos her nose was blocked and it was uncomfortable for her to sleep.

Towards the wee hours of the morning, I discovered that she was running a temperature. Hence, we administered a dosage of Progesic. Even then, the temperature didn't really go down by much. I managed to put a cool towel on her forehead for a while before she started swiping it off her head.

She might have caught a cold going from extreme temperature changes going in and out of the hot/humid weather these days into air-condition places. The weather recently is terrible. Just when we thought there was a respite from the hot weather, it returned again in full force. I really hope the weather would let up some but a recent newspaper article said otherwise -- the heat spell is likely to continue all the way till June with possibilities of temperature rising to a high of 38C even!!!

On one hand, I can try to think of all these as building her immune system to console myself. But very frankly, I can't help feeling frustrated and upset. I do feel some amount of guilt, wondering if there was something I didn't do or done wrongly that resulted in her getting sick so soon again.

Sigh... such is the responsibility of motherhood I guess... treading uncharted waters on child-rearing and hoping that you would wise up and learn all the tricks and tips so that your kid doesn't have to suffer too much along the way.

Question: Would we be able to save more if I work?

Having received an unexpected windfall recently, I decided to splurge on a fairly expensive set of toy for Faith. Quite possibly, this is the most expensive item that I have ever bought for her. And while at the cashier, a colourful box of shakers caught my eye and I ended up adding 2 cluster bells instrument to the purchase.

The source of the unexpected windfall wasn't any lottery winnings by the way. Even though I had been on 3 months of maternity leave, followed by a 2-year leave of absence (which is termed as No Pay Leave or NPL for good reason) after the birth of Faith, I had technically "worked" for 3 months last year. That qualifies me for a pro-rated performance bonus that is paid out this year in May.

Having that extra bit of money seemed to induce a heady sense of impulse buying tendency. Actually, to give credit to myself, only the cluster bells were an impulse purchase. I had been eyeing the bead maze toy for Faith for quite a while. But becos they were rather expensive [from my perspective], Louis and I decided to put off the purchase for much later.

Since the extra bit of bonus came in and I figured that this would absolutely be the last time in my 2-year NPL that I would receive any further moolah, I decided to bring forward the purchase of the bead maze. Besides, this would be something that I got for Faith with my own money. Sounds logical, yah? At least this sounds perfectly reasonable and absolutely intelligent rationalisation from the viewpoints of an ex-shopaholic ;)

Even though my mom thinks otherwise, objectively, I don't think Faith has a lot of toys so far. The amount of toys she has only fills a 45cm tall Ikea storage basket. Of course, I've excluded cloth and board books from the list. Books can't be classified as toys! Books are well...educational books.

Thankfully, we don't have many big toys that take up space either. The only one that she has currently is a walker that converts to become a toy car. Other big sets of toys that she had played with were gratefully loaned from a few generous friends. Including the latest acquisition, Faith currently only has 2 big toys -- which I'm sure my mom would say is 2 too many :)

All this long[winded] preamble serves to surface a recent discussion that I had with Louis just before he left home to board the red eye flight to Doha. One of the issues discussed was whether we would be able to save more if I work too. This cropped up in the context of whether I should and would return to the workforce after my 2-year NPL is up.

Alright... if my boss(es) are reading this, let me inform that we have yet to reach any conclusion on the latter issue as there are other factors that would come into play around the time my NPL ends ;)

Back to the point about whether we would save more if I work... the conclusion at the end of the discussion was that we might not really save more or even if we did, it wouldn't be that much more.

If and when I go back to work, our total household income would definitely increase. However, in proportional to that additional income, we would also be increasing our spending. I am dead sure that I would be wearing off the soles of my shoes spending my lunch, after office hours or weekends buying a long list of toys and clothes or sign up endless enrichment and/or learning classes for Faith.

After all, there's a whole industry of all the conceivable and inconceivable things that parents can spend on their kids and I'm pretty certain there are some statistics out there supporting the fact that guilt-ridden working parents (as well as SAHMs) are contributing to the industry's double digit growth rate with their purchases. And let's not forget, with that much more money, how about taking 2 or 3 trips overseas to far-flung places a year, or maybe another one more insurance policy to add to the life, endowment and educational funds that you've already bought for your kid?

As highlighted with my purchase today, its really hard to ignore that siren-like call to spend spend spend some more moolah, knowing your next pay would be deposited into your bank account in the next few days. With that all spending, its not hard to imagine that an inverse-co-relation between increased income and savings could very well happen.

Of course, just as there are households who would spend more money with an increased household income, there are those who need both parents to work just to make ends meet and for some unfortunate others, to barely live on a day-to-day basis :(

We've been very fortunate and ever thankful that our financial situation has afforded for me to take a leave of absence from work. Yet we can still live comfortably with Louis being the sole bread-winner.

In perspective, I have come to be more mindful and careful with my spending in a single-income household. Okay... maybe I still have some occasional lapses and overspend a little, but I do try to keep it in check and as a whole, am successful at it more often than I fail :)

There's lesser of an urge to impulse buy or continuously buy things for Faith to assuage the guilt that I am not able to spend more time with her. In fact, more often than not, Faith's happy to play with things like my measuring spoons, salad bowls, digital thermometer, Ikea kids' cups and bowls and whatever that catches her fancy in the house. Unfortunately, that also includes other forbidden items like our cellphones, TV/DVD/cable remotes, music player etc.

I'm blessed to be able to spend a lot of time with her, watching her tackle every development milestones, be there to kiss and hug her for every single minor or major achievements or something as fulfilling as attending Little Gym classes with her on a weekday, freeing the weekends for more family time -- I've seen kids attending classes with maids and grandparents instead.

I am also able to leisurely pursue some of my passions like baking, attending cooking classes, hitting the gym at off-peak hours and stuff like that that a working mother would be hard pressed to squeeze any further time out to do. And if I'm not lazy, I am able to cook a nice home-cooked meal much to the appreciation of my dear hubby.

Becos I'm not plagued by stress at work, I am a much happier person and hence, a better wife and mother. Most importantly, becos I'm a SAHM, Louis and I have the ability and flexibility to fed and raise Faith with the values that we believe in and hold dear to.

Certainly, working would provide me with some amount of financial independence, a wider perspective in life, colleagues that I can chat and gossip with, and of course, a safety net should either of us ever lose our jobs. However, in the whole scheme of things, being a SAHM has provided me lots of benefits and pluses that might not be equitably compensated by a monthly salary.

So, back to the question of whether we would be able to save more if I work. Well... maybe we would be able to save a liiiiiiittle bit more, but I'm not sure if I would be a happier person as a result. As for Louis, he said that whatever makes me happy makes him happy too.

Ahhhh... what a wonderful husband I have :)

Day 3 - Doha

This morning, I got up rather relaxed. Didn't get a chance to swim today, because I had slept at past 1 the previous night preparing for one of the sessions today. Nonetheless, I had a good night's sleep. I realised later that not everyone was as lucky as me - somehow people weren't sleeping well here or had problems getting to sleep and I thought it was strange cos' the bedsheets were really comfortable.

Realised today that a number of people were sick - people were having tummy aches and throwing up - about 5 persons - likely from the food from the previous night. But we decided to monitor a little to see if things were fine. By dinner time, things looked up.

We went to the Qatar country chair's house this evening for dinner. Given that we were a party of close to 60 people, you can imagine how big this house was. It was a really nice place and I felt - really nice of him to host us in his house personally.

Tomorrow, we'd be visiting the Ras Laffan site - this is the site of one of Shell's largest investments globally. Will be hot but should be an eye-opener for us!

Day 2 Doha

Day 2 went quite well - no new pictures because I had to host the Convention today and was essentially on my toes the entire day. Day started at 545am with a swim at the pool - I went down to the pool and realised there wasn't anyone giving any towels, so I came back to the hotel and took my own towel. Even though it was a freeform pool, it was nice to swim.

The hosting went well - I think the folks enjoyed the ice-breaker I had put together using their photos and I was glad that all the effort paid off. The rest of the day was just spent making sure that the programme ran smoothly - as would have expected, energy levels went down towards the end of the day and the Convention team was spaced out.

Had time to go for another swim in the evening after talking to Eve...then went for dinner at a Lebanese place - the hotel food tasted better. After that, came back to the hotel to prep for the Session tomorrrow - even though I'm not hosting the day, I am doing one part of the programmes, so had to prep anyway.

As part of our now annual convention, I boarded a redeye Qatar Airways flight destined for Doha last night. The flight was uneventful, but I was reminded of why I still preferred Singapore Airlines over other airlines. Qatar Air was actually not too bad - its television screens were much larger than what you'd find on SQ Business and the bed was a straight incline - close to a flat bed that you will not find in most SQ flights barring the newer ones. However, service was the key - not only did Qatar not have the camomile tea that I was accustomed to, service was also quite slow - when I woke up from my sleep and wanted some water for example, I ended up waiting quite a long while for water.

My first impressions of Qatar was that it was a rather efficient place. The airport clearance was really quite quick and it was a breeze to get a limo from the airport to the hotel.

The Sharq Village Ritz Carlton did not disappoint. It was a low-rise propery about 1 plus years old and from the facade, looked like a big compound of low-rise buildings. Inside, the compound consisted of two very nice pools and was next to a beach. There was also a nice gym that was open 24 hours.

My friend Z commented that when she went to the Souk the other day, the local folks were looking her up and down which made her feel very uncomfortable. Having heard that, I was glad that Eve did not come here cos she would eventually have needed to go out of the hotel potentially alone. Perhaps it would have been much better at the city centre shopping malls and not the souk, but oh well, perhaps a case of sour grapes. :)

Overall, Day 1 was tiring - once landed, started planning for Conventon and had no time for a swim. To the extent, I squeezed in a half an hour of gym time only after dinner which made me feel more confortable.

Time to go rest for now...

THE Wedding of the year

10 May 2008 - The day the last and youngest of the Tan brothers got hitched, ending 30 years of bachelorhood :)

After all the months of planning and coordination for this BIG day, the actual day actually passes by in a whizz that the night ended before I knew it. For the wedding couple, I'm sure it would have passed even faster than the wink of an eye.

Almost everyone in the family was roped in to help out with the wedding. Adrian was the "Specialist" in charge of the reception and guest list for our side of the family. Thanks to him, the wedding couple managed to save a table last minute as there were last minute drop outs from our side of the family. Indeed, the Specialist takes his responsibilities very seriously and excels at it :)

Louis was also kept busy that night with some of the event logistics and also coordinating the picture taking at the dinner tables. Throughout the evening, he was gone more than half the time helping out :)

Anthea was the flower girl for the evening's first walk-in with the bride and her father. She was so excited about it for months now and on the actual day, she was all made-up with her hair curled into lovely ringlets. She looked every inch the little princess that day, walking in straight and proud and throwing rose petals beautifully down the aisle :)

Anders was the first to hit the wedding couple's bed and roll/jump on it. Base on my limited knowledge, its a symbolic ritual so that the new couple will soon bear a son themselves. But we have given this old custom a modern twist... as soon as Anders jumps onto the bed, Anthea and Faith followed :)

Since she can't quite stand up/walk yet, Faith put her skills developed at the Little Gym to good use. She flipped TWO (2) somersaults on the bed. Hahaha... if Terence's and Cherry's future kids turn out to be gifted in the area of gymnastics, we all know where the kid gets it from ;)

The morning passed by rather quickly. While most in the family were gathered at my MIL's place before 9.30 am to await the arrival of the wedding couple, Louis and I were trying to rouse Faith from her deep sleep at that time. After rushing to feed and change her, we hurried to my in-laws' place for the tea ceremony. Even though my MIL said that I didn't need to go cos she was concerned about me moving around too much with a sprained back, this was one ceremony that I didn't intend to miss.

After all, it would be the first and last time that I would get to be served tea as the 2nd SIL in the family. I reckon that the next time (if we still keep to traditions) that we would be served tea would be when Faith or my nieces and nephew wed. The topmost picture shows Terence and Cherry with us after the tea ceremony.

The picture that you see of Faith is one of her trying to self-feed. I don't know what possessed my half-crazed hubby to let her feed and make a mess of herself on the morning that we are pressed for time. But apparently, we aren't that pressed for time if he even manages to take some pictures too ;)

Anyways, to cut the narration short, I'm just going to show and comment on the few pictures that I managed to take. Was so busy throughout the day that I didn't really have much time to take pictures. As for the wedding, my elder SIL has posted a long one on that which you can read here :)

Now, the entire Tan family is nearly complete with Terence & Cherry's wedding until the day they start adding their own kids to the current list of grandchildren :)

In this picture, Faith is doing a mock rocker-like jumping stunt while on her knees when we were in the study room in the morning. Since she isn't able to stand up on her own as yet, this is the closest form of "dancing" that Faith does whenever she's happy or trying to dance along with Barney and gang or Sesame Street :)

Here, I'm with my dad and Faith at the wedding dinner. This was the GAP dress and cardigan that I mixed and matched for Faith. TG Goh, our relative who specialises in bridal make-up and was the make-up artist for all the 3 daughters-in-law of the Tan family asked why didn't I try putting a hairband for Faith. I've tried all sorts of bands and clips to make her look more girlish. Unfortunately, Faith hates them all and invariably pulls them off her head whenever I try to put them on :) Oh well... she'll just have bear with the comments that she looks like a boy until her hair grows longer.

This picture needs no explanation. Took this in between the dinner when Louis managed to sit for a spell at the table to eat some of the food. The last 2 pictures are of Faith and me and the only family shot that we took of ourselves that day. Wasn't the best shot of us 3 together, but beggars can't be choosers ;)

Together at the dinner table

Paranoia or just good hygiene practice?

Short of writing a letter to the Ministry of Health (MOH), which I don't intend to, I hope this is a good outlet for me to give vent to my frustrations from my return from a trip to my regular family clinic. That and the satisfaction of banging out each and every single alphabet on my laptop!

Went to see the doctor today after 2 days of suffering from my sprained back without much improvement. Maybe I should have listened to my mom cos she say it would be a futile trip as the doctor is only going to prescribe painkillers and medicated plasters. On hindsight, she was definitely right and spot on about the prescription and if I hadn't gone, I might have spared myself this feeling of frustration and unjust.

Typically, I am very particular that when a doctor sticks the ear thermometer into my ears, he/she change the new lens filter. This habit has been drilled into me since the SARS scare in 2003 when the newspapers mentioned on many occasions about good hygiene practices to change the lens filter of the ear thermometer EVERY single time before one puts the device into a person's ear.

Even though the fear of SARS no longer strikes fear in Singaporean's heart, it is my personal sentiment that the good hygiene practice from that period shouldn't be rendered irrelevant.

It was no different this time around when the doctor tried to check my temperature with the ear thermometer that I asked if it was a new lens filter. And this was the regular doctor that I've seen many times and whom I've stated my requests before firmly but politely in the past. In fact, he was the same person who actually noted my requests and have been accommodating to it in the past.

I do not know the reason for this change of attitude, which did not seem to be his normal self. When I asked the same thing again today, even though he did change the lens filter, he said that I was paranoid. To give emphasis to his point, he repeat again that he thought I was "too paranoid" and that it didn't matter! To further add salt to injury, when he picked up his stethoscope, he said to me "BTW, this isn't new either...".

What really frustrates me at this juncture is that I didn't tell him off. Instead, I let it pass and am now stewing over it and its making me very very upset.

My point is that I'm not standing on any moral high ground and telling him that he should change his lens filter for every patient. I'm only requesting for mine becos I feel strongly that its good hygiene practice. So what even if he might have clean it with some disinfecting swab after? The point is that the lens filter had been used on I don't know how many patients before they changed it and neither he nor I have any idea the hygiene factor of other patients before me.

As a patient, I think it is not unreasonable to state my preference and this is not any new or uncommon practice. In fact, it IS good hygiene practice, isn't it? Yes, I understand that as a doctor with his own clinic, he might have to worry about bottom line and if he can reuse the lens filter, it is one of the many ways that would help him to cut cost and keep his consultation fees low. If it makes it any difference to his overhead costs, he could have asked me if I would like to use the old fashion mercury thermometer.

However, I do not think that it is fair of him to tell me that I am "too paranoid" and neither was the comment about his stethoscope not being a new one professional either.

After recounting to Louis this incident, he said we should not go back to the clinic in future. No doubt that could be a stand for us, but nonetheless, I am indignant that what I feel is not an unreasonable request is made to feel like one and by that, places me as a person who is "too paranoid"!

Sprained back

Certainly age must be catching up with me. I sprained my back yesterday half way while vacuuming the floor. Even though it hurts a little then, I continued to vacuum and also moped the floor.

My pay off was a sprained back. Sigh... got nagged by my mom and she insisted on rubbing my back for me last night. Hmmm... it was a good massage though. At night, Louis came back late cos he was out with his colleagues for a farewell dinner for one of them. Made him massage my back a second time in compensation for returning late ;)

Unfortunately, this sprained back is the most serious thing that ever happened to me in my life. Never had something like this before. It actually hurts when I tried to turn or switch positions while on the bed. Couldn't quite sit down properly without hurting the back as well. Thus, its really difficult when I try to pick Faith up or put her to sleep at night as it requires me to bend my back.

This morning when I woke up, the pain abated a little but I'm left with an aching and slight "sour" feeling just above the small of my back. My mom helped me to rub my back again and she insisted that I paste a medicated plaster after that.

Hope that it would go away soon with a few more back rubs... especially with the wedding this Saturday and me trying to look good in stilettos. Geez...

Pictures of Faith

Realised that the blog is too wordy these days. Hardly took pictures of Faith. So, feel compelled to put some images and make the blog more "cheerful" :)

Took pictures of Faith while she was crawling around in the kitchen today. She's trying to eat/drink two of the forbidden food that she's barred from eating.

One's of her holding on to an orange and the other drinking Yakult, or rather an empty Yakult bottle :) Doesn't she look so much like a boy in the picture holding the orange? And oh, you can see the 2 big horrible mosquite bite marks on her face in the 2nd picture :(

Canelés

I only discovered these little nuggets of goodies a few months back when I bought one to try after I couldn’t get my caramel sel macaron fix at Canelé. When I first sank my teeth into the canelés, I was a little surprised to find the outer crust a tad hard. But that gave way to a nice caramelised crunch with a good bite and a soft moist centre, not unlike the texture of some nonya kuek-kueks.

And that was the beginning of my love affair with canelés, to the extent that I would bypass the rows of macarons in search of these little black-brown treasures.

A lot of people must feel the same way too. Cos many a times when I hit the Canelé counter in the late afternoon on weekdays, I would learn to my dismay that they have all been sold out. They seem to be a popular treat.

I swore that I would learn to make canelés on my own. That way, I can make my own and fix my cravings whenever the mood strikes. That resolve turned out to be a little harder than I had expected. Becos the key to baking a good canelé requires the use of copper moulds. Silicon bakeware just don’t make the cut. And finding copper canelés in Singapore is a lot harder than one would think.

While at Jocelyn Shu’s cupcake class one day, I had the chance to ask her if she had any idea where to get copper canelé moulds in Singapore (apart from overseas). Our conversation was overheard by Shermay herself and she excitedly told me that she’s getting Daniel Tay of Bakerzin to conduct a class on making canelés. Concurrently, she’s also sourcing for a supplier to acquire copper moulds for the class participants.

Hooray!!!

And thus I found myself at class last Saturday, and am now the proud owner of 12 pieces of copper canelé moulds. Truth be told, those copper moulds cost a bomb -- due to rising cost of copper and the strong Euro. But I had discussed the purchase of them with Louis and he gave his nod of approval even though they were costly cos he is a canelé fan himself too :)

I really have to make lots of canelés to make the moulds worth the price. So far, I’ve already made two batches of it. And they all turned out great. A tad sweet but I can easily adjust the amount of sugar in the original recipe the next time.

Updates on Faith

Over the last few days, we hit our highest record of going to the doctors since Faith was born. On the Labour Day holiday, we wasted our time at our family clinic with the locum doctor on duty that day and on Fri, Sat and Mon, we went almost consecutively to her regular paediatric clinic.

I decided not to bring her to see a doctor even though she developed fever on Tue becos I knew that so early on, it would be hard to make any diagnosis on why the fever came on. Besides, I had all the necessary fever medications on standby at home. Unfortunately on Wed night, she started to develop a bit of high fever in the middle of the night. Came Thur, it was too late to bring her to her regular paedi as it was a public holiday.

A decision was made to bring her to our family clinic, which Louis and I go regularly to. It was Faith’s first time there. While the regular doctor is a very nice and competent man, the locum on duty that day, to our dismay, on the opposite end of the spectrum. She was an elderly lady and to cut a long story short, was totally inept, clueless and most importantly, wasn’t even paying attention to most of what we told her. I find that a serious flaw for a doctor. Thankfully, we only paid $12 for consultation and no medication. Suffice to say that it was a totally wasted trip for us.

Friday morning when she woke, we brought her to Kinderclinic. Unfortunately, the regular doctor is off every Fri, so we decided to see the 2nd most popular paediatrician there. By then, the discharge on Faith’s left eye had spread to the right and now, the eyelids on both were a little swollen. The diagnosis was that it was probably some viral infection as the doctor had seen a few cases recently where the kids developed swelling on their eyelids. We were given an antibiotic eye drop to administer to her thrice a day.

Sat morning, we woke up and in the midst of changing her from her PJs to a shirt, saw the onset of rashes developing around the front and back of her trunk area. Decided to bring her back to the doctor again. The symptoms that she had for the last few days seemed similar to Roseola, which she had in February, while we were in Beijing.

The paedi said that it was closer to hives, as the sizes of the rashes this time around were not the same and were of different sizes. Thankfully, the rashes didn’t seem to itch, neither did they bother Faith in the least. We were told to give her antihistamine, which we again have at home.

It was a good thing that we brought Faith to Kinderclinic on Fri even though her regular doctor was not in. Cos when we were at the clinic on Saturday, there were so many patients there that the clinic was almost bursting at the seams! In fact, I found out from the staff on Mon that they worked until 4.30 pm that Sat, when they were supposed to only work half day. Indeed, the horrible weather of late has resulted in many a sick kid.

And that brings me to the reason as to why we brought her to the clinic again on Monday... becos she started to develop a chesty cough at night by Sunday. Worried that it would escalate to something serious and might require the use of a nebuliser like the last time, we decided to bring her in again for the third time.

It was a good call too. Cos the doctor said that her lungs have just started to develop phlegm. She recommended for us to try Singulair, along with Zenmolin. When administered earlier at the onset of the cough, can be effective in curbing or having the cough escalate further into something more serious. Given her past history and the tendency for her cough to develop into slight wheezing, we decided to give it a try.

After the medication, we are glad to report that last night, she had her best sleep in the last few nights. She coughed a lot lesser than the previous 2 nights and I stopped hearing the chesty cough that alarmed me on Sunday night. We are keeping our fingers crossed that she would recover with this round of medication. Her hives have also thankfully recovered after 3 days.

However, I am irritated to note that she was bitten by a mosquito on Sunday night – I had a total of 5 bites myself! She now has 2 prominent big red bite marks on the left side of her face; 1 near her temple and the other on the side of her cheek. It took more than a week the last time even with constant application of calamine lotion for the marks to disappear. Now, she’s going to have those 2 ugly marks on her face on my BIL’s wedding this Sat. Darn the stupid mosquito! I have since taken steps to “fumigate” the room.

Sigh…