From Russia With Love

We finally made it there :) It was Mei Mei's first oversea trip, and she's having a great time!

We actually prepared pacifiers for them in case they complaint of ear pain due to the height pressure. Furthermore, since both of them still having runny-nose like syndrome, we're advised to prepare lots of juices or sweets for them to chew as the runny nose might cause ear pain during the flight. But I found that pacifiers worked best for them, and came in real handy too, compared to lollipops and mentos! Surprisingly, both of them took it very well, and we don't have any problem with them at all during the flight there. At first, Jie Jie was afraid of the aeroplane, so Daddy told her it's train. Somehow she bought in that idea, and didn't seem to be scared anymore. But when we reached there, she told Daddy that actually she knew it's aeroplane, but decided to play along with Daddy! As for Mei Mei, she's very excited, and didn't show any sign of fear at all. I do nursed her on and off so maybe that helped on the pressure problem too. I also gave her the ventolin spray before the takeoff.

Both girls carrying a Tigger each with them

My sister had rented a very nice and cosy apartment for us. It was located on Moscow's most charming and lively pedestrisan street, The Arbat. I felt like being in Europe while walking down that street.

We're very very satisfied and happy with our apartment, really.

The girls in their first winter jackets

Looking at the photos, you must be thinking how cold it's in Russia right? Well, we're already warned that it's summer so it's adequate to just bring windbreaker or normal jackets, but since Sze Juin had bronchitis 1 week before the trip, we wanted to be more equipped. Ended up, Hubby and I kept thinking it's very cold there, so we bought mostly winter clothings for the kids and ourselves. That ate up a lot of luggage space actually.

Who knows when we reached there, it's so much hotter than in Malaysia! But luckily the apartment that we're staying in Moscow was fully air-conditioned, so the girls still get to wear their winter jackets :) Just for fun, actually.

Warming up the fireplace?

I'll just share a few shots of the places we went to in Moscow on the 2nd day there (we actually arrived in the late afternoon so we stayed in the apartment most of the time that day.

Russia is so much sunnier and more colorful than what Hubby initially projected as cold and grey. More photos to follow later, after I've compiled them. So stay tuned :)

Bronchitis and Father's Day

Sze Juin had fever for nearly a week before we finally took her to see the doctor. Prior to that, Jie Jie had fever first, we took both of them to see the doctors (two separate doctors) and during both times, SJ was checked and diagnosed to be perfectly OK. So only Jie Jie was on antibiotics, but they couldn't find anything wrong with SJ.

So when SJ's turn to have fever, we thought it was just a normal sore throat and took her to see the doctor. But still again, nothing wrong with her, not even a red throat. So we thought it's OK. After about 1 week and her fever still didn't really go down, we took her there again, and this time the paed suspected it's bronchitis. We're asked if we wanted to send her for chest x-ray to be certain that it's not pneumonia, we agreed. Luckily it's just bronchitis. Initially we didn't want to take her to see the doctor because if it's suspected dengue, she'll need to have her blood taken and we didn't like that. So we just stop her fever by using Paracetamol and IbuProfen.

We chose not to be admited, so we had to make several trips to the hospital for nebulizer treatment. I took the day off and my boss is so nice to let me work from home for half a day so that I can bring her there at least 3 times a day, and thank God after the 4th time, doctor found her 80% recovered. I was so relieved, because we'll be travelling in a exactly a week's time.

This was also her first time taking antibiotics Zithromax. I only managed to protect her from antibiotics for 2 years and 1 month :( Anyway, that helped her condition to improve a lot, so I wouldn't fret. Besides that, she's also on Singulair, and probiotics.

SJ holding her own nebulizer valve

She's so coperative when it comes to giving her the nebulizer treatment. Even the nurses were surprised, normally kids that age would cry or protest, but SJ co-operatively allowed them or me to put that on her. Sometimes, she even wanted to hold it herself, all through the whole process. I was so proud of her. 

Being a kiasu mom, I also took her and her Jie Jie for Ayurvedic treatment, since I wanted something to keep them from harm while we're travelling. It's OK to take the Ayurvedic herbs together with the western medicine (1 hour apart), and I felt more secured  having something with me while we're away. I'll also be bringing all the basic medications along. The paed also gave me the ventoline inhaler, in case I'll be needing that during our trip. I think we're well prepared, and since SJ's recovering very fast, I'm hoping she'll be fully cleared by then. 

Well, all this actually happened on Father's Day. So you can guess how Father's Day was celebrated this year. Anyway, we did manage to squeeze in a simple dinner together as it's also Sa Chik's birthday that day.

Amah's Birthday

We celebrated Amah's birthday at Hokaido Restaurant. Hubby's really impressed with the dishes there so he took us there for an experience for ourselves. I couldn't agree more with him. What I liked best about the restaurant was the sequence on how they served the dishes - large plates of fruits and vege before meat and finally carbohydrates. Really a very creative and healthy way of eating!

Preaparing to cut the birthday cake

Did you noticed the girls in their new dress? It's a belated Christmas presents from Aunty XP, and they loved it very much! Thanks XP, it's so very thoughtful of you. The dressses just arrived at the right time for such a special occasion :)