Pneumonia!

Sze Yi's nearly 1 month-long-cough had finally been diagnosed to be due to pneumonia. Sometime during the CNY season, she had been coughing on and off. At times, she would throw out everything and ended up crying. The reflux was so bad that she was afraid to sleep after that (this always happened when she's sleeping). We brought her to see the doctor, and she was given Rhinathiol. When it didn't get better, we went again. A different paedatrician was on duty. This time, she was given polaramine. The paed thought that it could be due to her having flu, which caused the phelgm to irritate her throat.

We did not see any improvement at all. But it didn't happen every time she's sleeping, so we thought it was not that serious. Then, her fever came. We took her to see the doctor when the fever didn't go down after 2 days. This time, the paedatrician heard something in her right chest, so she was immediately sent for x-ray. The results confirmed the paed's suspicion - she's having pneumonia. Her right lung was badly infected, while the left one was partially infected. In other words, it's full of phelgm. We were told that it was rather bad, and she had to be admitted right away.

My poor girl went thru some tough time having her left hand injected so that the antibiotics can be administered thru the drip. Apart from that, she was given Nebulizer every 4 hours.
There were also the other medicine that she had to take orally - another type of antibiotics, vitamins and Rhinathiol. Today, she got another one added to the list - she had runny nose after staying in the air-conditioned room for 2 nights. It was so pitiful looking at her, but she's a brave girl. She cooperated very well with the nurses and doctors, and even put the syringe into her mouth on her own (for all the medicine). In fact, she adapted very fast into the new environment. Last time when she was hospitalized due to HFMD, she wouldn't want to sleep on the bed. She was very clingy and cried a lot. But not this time. She's indeed a big girl already.
Oh yes, she was also given the Mantoux test, or also known as the Tuberculosis Skin Test to check if she had the bacteria that caused TB. The result would only be available after 3 days. Luckily, it's negative. The reaction was minimal, there's no swelling on her hand (look at the area inside the big circle, the date this test was given was written beside the circle).

I was told that she needed to be admitted for at least 5 days. After that, she would need to come back for follow-up check-up, and another round of x-ray on her chest. I prayed that this would end soon. Right now, we've been taking turns to stay in the hospital with her - MIL, hubby and myself. And I can't spend the night with her because I have to nurse Sze Juin at night. So, my shift was usually the day shift - which means I need to take leave. Well, this was not how I wanted to use my 5 days forced leave for this quarter... Anyway, thank God that Sze Juin's fever had subsided, so there're less things to worry - well, at least for now.

Home Made Clothes

We're lucky enough to have some home made clothes. When Amah is free, she would made something for us to wear. Even my bedsheet & pillow cases were made by her.

Before I was born, Amah has sewn (hand-sewn, mind you, since she didn't have a sewing machine) these pajamas for me. A few sets, I would say.

Me at 4 months old...

Now, these have become hand-me-downs to Mei Mei.

Mei Mei at 8 months old

Do we look alike?

Then, Amah made this for me sometime during CNY two years ago. That time, it was rather long so it made me look like I was wearing a maxi dress.


Amah also used the leftovers from her cloths to make this dress for Mei Mei.


And our new pajamas for this year's CNY... we have 2 sets each.

A Dip in the Pool

I have a phobia on water, Eeeiii! I would scream when I heard people splashing water. Maybe that's why I didn't want to have my hair washed. Or my face too. I'm so scared the water would go into my eyes. Due to this, nobody can make me take a dip in the pool anymore.

During the CNY weekends, Mommy and Daddy wanted to take Mei Mei to the pool. She has never had this experience before. Of course I didn't want to. Finally they managed to convince me by promising that they would go to the baby pool only. Not the adult pool. Ok, so I agreed. But upon reaching there, we were greeted with so many children. Maybe due to the holidays. And they like to splash the water! Arrghh! I didn't want to go down. I cried and cried. Until Mei Mei got scared too. She clinged tightly to Mommy and didn't seem to enjoy the water at all - not like when I was small. But she's very quiet, didn't cry like me.

After that experience, Mommy did not ask me for a swim anymore. Until last Sunday, I suddenly said I wanted to follow Daddy down. So Mommy changed me & Mei Mei into our swimming suits. I've got a new goggles too, to prevent people from splashing me. See... I'm all ready and set!


And after that, we really did have some fun at the pool. Why? Coz there were no people around! Oh, that was during lunch time, around 12noon! Who would want to come down for a dip around this time? So I could enjoy some peace of mind without fearing anyone splashing me!

Mei Mei's not afraid of water... see those water on her face!


Me too, me too! I felt 'protected' today!

Aha... I took off the goggles!

My 9 Months Update

Ok, so this will be my 1st post here - yeah, I've migrated finally...and I'm 9 months now.

Height: 68cm (No, I didn't shrink.... Mommy made a wrong measurement last month. This was taken at the paed's clinic, so this should be more accurate).

Weight: 7.7kg

Teeth: 4 now! My 2nd lower incisor (the right one) is halfway up now but Mommy noted that it’s slanted a bit. Hopefully it’s still in the process of growing. My 2 upper incisors were coming out too - together instead of one by one like the lower ones. I find this chart a good reference on when what should appear and disappear:

Feeding: I'm now having 2 servings of solids (cereal mixed with milk) per day at Auntie's place. Since the organic brown rice cereal that I used to have was out of stock, Mommy got another cereal substitute for me.

During the weekends, Mommy normally cooked porridge for me instead. I was introduced to more food this month, which includes potato, sweet potato, millets, quinoa, pork, chicken, broccoli, oat, pumpkin, cabbage, and also 2 different types of pear from the one that I tried last time.

Motor skills:
- I know how to come down from the bed using my bum bum first. I would turn when I reached the edge of the bed, then use my feet to touch the floor. After that I'll land on the floor with my bum bum into a sitting position. Clever or not? Auntie (my babysitter) was really impressed!
- I know how to wave bye bye now. When people said "bye" in the lift, even though not to me, I'll automatically wave my hand too. Me perasan? No lar, just being friendly mar...

- I just learnt how to do twinkle twinkle little star too!
- I'm now crawling everywhere like a pro – I no longer wants to be carried. I would wriggle myself out and insist on being put on the floor. Even Amah can't keep up with my pace, hehe... doesn't this show how fast I am?

- I am able to stand for a longer period (need to hold on to something of course), and slowly learning to cruise. But sometimes I forgot how to sit down after standing up. I'll just let go and throw my bum bum on the floor back - which results in a loud thud!

Vocabulary:

- To everyone's dismay, I refused to speak any words at all this month. I only called people by saying "Ei, Ei" to get their attention.

- Oh yes, but I speak like a tiger now. How? Yes, I would roar nearly most of the time. That day, Auntie told me, "You're not 小老虎 (litle tiger), but 小老鼠 (little mousey).

- Ah, but just a few days back, I finally said 华 (flower in Mandarin). And when Amah sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to me, I would said "How" together with her when she sang "How I wonder what you are".

Others:
- Now I can fight with Jie Jie on her toys already. I love to pull Jie Jie’s hair. I can’t resist from grasping her eye lashes too, which resulted from me being scolded by her – “Ahh… Very painful one ah…Mommy see what Juin Juin is doing to me!”.

- I love Jie Jie's pacifier. Whenever she drops it, I would quickly crawl towards it. A few times, Mommy, Daddy and Amah caught me sucking hard at the paci too. I only got this chance when nobody noticed it so that I would have enough time to crawl towards it and put it into my mouth.

- I didn't like to be rocked to sleep nowadays. I would fling my head backwards so that Mommy would put me on the bed. I normally go to sleep on my own after Mommy finished nursing me (if it's time to sleep la, if not I would scream until they let me go to join Jie Jie out there). Ah, but it's not that easy to get me to sleep nowadays. I would turned and rolled on the bed, and throw my body on Mommy several times, until I finally felt sleepy and dozed off on my own.

- When I wanted to put something in my mouth and they took it away，I would scream very loudly and cry. Amah said I'm more bad tempered than Jie Jie wor...

- Ah, and I love to do this nowadays - fling my head back and fall backwards. So, Mommy is getting worried now coz I never check what is behind me before doing this act.

- I would crawl to find Mommy when I feel sleepy or wants nen nen. She always got my hint because all the while I'm playing by myself. So, when I suddenly went to her, she would know what I want.

- I can't remember what else... so I'll just put etc, etc... for now :)

My Little Valentine

Ah, now that a colleague pointed out that last Friday was Friday the 13th, I finally found the missing puzzle. It’s not like any day that day. Why? Because I was down with a high fever and a very bad throat. Even my fingernails all turned blue black. Hubby needed to sponge my forehead to get the fever down, despite me having taken paracetemol and the antibiotics! Well, hubby used Sze Yi’s small towel to sponge me, but this little girl of mine just wouldn’t let him! She said that it’s her towel, and she wouldn’t want to share with Mommy. So, in the end, hubby needed to get his towel instead, which was rather too big actually.

The next morning, when I woke up, I went to prepare the kids’ porridge. After that I took my medicine and went back to sleep. MIL helped to entertain Sze Juin after I changed her nappy and cleaned her (this little girl is certainly an early bird). Not long later, Sze Yi woke up and went out to join them. After awhile, she came back to my room and said “Happy Valentine’s Day”. Then she asked me to hug her. After that, she said “Kiss me”, and after I did that, she said, “Here’s your present”. It’s one of her toys, of course. And she repeated the same thing with Daddy, a different toy too.

Here’s the Valentine Card she made for us.

My Dopod's camera was really bad, so it didn't capture it in the correct colour tone. The little chocolate at the bottom right was supposed to be for the Mommy, but she told me that she wanted that!

No matter what, I just can't resist loving this little Valentine of mine :)

Naughty, Naughty Girl

Sze Yi insisted to follow me to Church just now. I told her that she must behave herself in Church later. She said ok, so I took her with me.

But she was very naughty and created a lot of mischief. Later, she asked me to take her to wee wee during the sermons. I told her to wait. She quickly said the much feared words; “Yau chu lai liao” (want to come out already).

So I took her to the toilet, but upon seeing that it’s just very little urine only, I felt cheated and started to lecture her. She quickly put her hands together and said,
“Please, Jesus. Pu Yau gei Mommy angry” (Please Jesus, don’t let Mommy get angry”.

Let's Go Kai Kai!

Recently, Amah thought of a very brilliant way to bring us both kai kai. We both loved it and have been looking forward to it!

Conversation with Jesus

My MIL told me this a few days back. She saw Sze Yi lying at her bed and mumbling something to herself. That was after she got scolded by hubby & me for doing something naughty which I couldn't remember now. Curious, she asked Sze Yi what was she saying. Here's how the conversation went.

MIL: What are you saying there, Sze Yi?
Sze Yi: I'm talking to Jesus.
MIL (surprised): What are you telling Jesus?
Sze Yi: Gei Amah de jiao mei you tong tong liao (let Amah's leg no more pain pain)
MIL (touched): Gao...Jesus kong Amah ka e hou boh? (Did Jesus say Amah's leg will heal?)
Sze Yi: Beh, Jesus say beh (Cannot, Jesus say cannot)

Aren't she cheeky? You see, I've been teaching her how to say her night prayers. After Amah had a fall that day, we would pray for her leg to heal faster. Besides that, I also taught her to pray for the rest of the members of the family. And she would add on her own - also for 2nd Chik Chik's Jie Jie, 3rd Chik Chik's Jie Jie, and Chiu Chiu's Jie Jie. 3 Jie Jie in total. She was referring to their girlfriends, of course!

After I've completed the prayers with her, she would normally ask me.
Mommy, what did Jesus say?
I would say, "Jesus said Ok."

But, I didn't know what makes her say that Jesus said Amah's leg cannot be cured! And here's another funny part.

MIL: You pray to Jesus one ah? Not Puchuma meh? (she was referring to our Goddess of Mercy).
Sze Yi: No, I pray to Jesus one.

New Kid on the Blog

I've got a new team mate - yes!

From now onwards, this will be our blog, Mommy felt that it's easier to maintain one blog instead of 2. Furthermore, most of the posts would touched on us both, so no point separating us.

CNY 2009

We had a great reunion dinner at Amah's house on the eve of Chinese New Year. After a superb dinner prepared by Amah (even Mei Mei sat on the high chair with us although she didn't eat any of the food), Daddy took us down for some firecrackers game. But I was too scared to watch so we came back up again. Nothing beats staying at home and washing Daddy's & Mommy's hair!
On the first day of CNY, we only managed to visit Yi Po's house. Here's the family photo taken (2nd Chik Chik was carrying me, I was especially attached to him).

After that, we both felt sleepy and made lots of noise. So, we didn't get to visit the other relatives' houses anymore. Initially, Mommy & Daddy wanted to go back to Ipoh on that very day, but because we're so uncontrollable, they had to change their mind about it. But after reaching home, see how active we were. We've had enough sleep during the long jam at the ferry. Only Daddy got to sleep while we 'entertained' Mommy.

On Chor 2, we went back to Gong Gong's and Poh Poh's house. I had lots of fun with the treadmill, piano, staircase, etc.. and not to forget Gong Gong, Poh Poh, Yi Ma and Chiu Chiu. Xiao Yi Yi didn't come back this year for CNY, she's still in Russia studying medicine. To make long stories short, the highlight of the day was I felt down the staircase! Nobody saw how it happened. Mommy was bathing, I locked Daddy in the room with Mei Mei and forbade him to come down after me. So, when I slipped a step and fell, I was very scared and didn't make a noise. Chiu Chiu & Ta Yi saw me later, with my head down and legs up stuck in between the railings at the side, staying very quietly there. In a jiffy, everyone came to my rescue and was busy massaging me and asked me what happened. I still looked guilty because I locked Daddy in the first place... luckily all my bones were still in-tact.

Later at night, after the yummilicious dinner prepared by Poh Poh & Gong Gong & Yi Ma, Mommy changed us into our pajamas. See our new pajamas made by Amah...it's fully cotton and really suitable for this hot season.
And it's time to go back on Chor 3 (Daddy got a reunion dinner with his school mates on that day in Penang)... here's our family photos

And this was taken on Chor 4, we had lunch together with Amah & Chik Chik at Corner's Club... (Mei Mei was getting impatient already)

Later at night, finally it's time to sleep again.. tomorrow Mommy & Daddy will start work.

Christmas 2008

This Christmas was Mei Mei's first time going to Church. Both of us kept fighting for Mommy's attention in the church. Don't you think that our attire were kind of a Christmassy theme?
Later, at Amah's house - both of us busy opening our Christmas presents.
Dinner at G Hotel...
This year, we didn't go back to Poh Poh's & Gong Gong's house for Christmas because both Mei Mei & I have just recovered from HFMD. So, they all came to Penang instead, with Ta Yi and Chiu Chiu and Jie Jie. We have lotsa pressies to add on to our collections! Hey, it looks like my toys were more interesting, huh? Everyone's looking at me!

They didn't stay for the night, though. We had a long lunch at Kim Gary because both of us were fighting for Mommy's attention. Everybody tried to entertain us, but in the end, both of us still wants Mommy.

After that, we went home for a rest because both of us were tired. But upon reaching home, none of us want a nap. Instead, we continued playing with our toys. We then went for a dessert at Haagen-Dazs before they all head back to Ipoh.

Dongzhi Festival

See how fast I grow up? This is so much in contrast to last year's Dongzhi festival!

I'm 3!

My 3rd birthday is something to remember.

Mommy has asked me what cake I wanted, I told her I wanted a Barney & Elmo cake. But she can't find a cake with 2 characters inside, so I have 2 instead!

I celebrated in school the day before - which happened to be a Friday. Mommy also ordered some mini cupcakes for my friends, thanks to the contact from Aunty Shooi.

Daddy has asked this question - What can RM158 buy? Two cakes? Mommy answered - 50 cakes!

Not really, it's more than that... Happiness, friends, childhood, wonderful memory...

with Daddy, Mommy and Amah

with my classmates (the rest were on holidays)

with my teachers and schoolmates

Cake cutting ceremony....

Enjoying the cakes...

Isn't it wonderful? And on the real day itself...

Wait... where's Mommy? You must be thinking that she's the photographer. Oh, how I wished! But wrong. She's in the hospital. With Mei Mei.

Yes, Mei Mei was admitted to the hospital due to HFMD (coxsackie) on this very day. Unfortunately, she got it from me. Daddy rushed home to celebrate my birthday with me after completed the admission process. Yes, you can see from the pictures that it's going to be a party. Amah has cooked lots of goodies. My cousin Sarah would be coming in awhile. Everything was cancelled at the very last minutes. But I still got my presents.

Mommy only managed to catch up with me when Daddy relieved her in the evening. I was in Tesco with Amah & Chik Chik then.

Oh, it was certainly a birthday to remember. I wished Mei Mei would be well soon, I was not allowed to visit her in case it spread back to me. How nice if bad things never happen on birthdays.... that will be my birthday wish for all my coming birthdays.