It's getting harder... and harder to ...

..... harder and harder to leave Keira behind for my business trips. *sob*

Only when I became a mum that I truly understand why it's so hard. Before Keira came into my life, I used to "fully-utilize" my trips.... making sure that I don't tire myself out by arriving earlier into the country and not rushing to get out as soon as my commitments end. However, now it's different. As much as possible, I'll take the last flight out of Singapore and the earliest flight back to Singapore! It's tiring, yes.. especially now expecting bb#2... !

Now I am in Bangkok for a week, and end of this month, I'll go to Jakarta. Thank goodness that these 2 trips are not back to back like the last one in Jan - when Keira did not want to go home with me!!!! arrghhhh...........................

Keira got Flu

Keira was down with fever last Thursday morning. Probably got the flu virus from my mum who was sick on Wednesday. It was too last minute for either of us to stay home with Keira when we only found out mum was sick on our way to bro's home. Lucky K papa managed to take urgent leave 2nd half of day - but all was too late, Keira caught the flu!

How vulnerable bbs are! Walked from home on thurs though... Keira was so sick. Her cough was really bad.. phlegm and all... each time she coughed, she'll cover her mouth followed by "pain pain".... *sob*. Keira's fever gone down by Sat, but her cough will take her awhile to recover, and her voice was cracking. So tough to tell her not to scream/cry/talk... I was so worried that she'll lose her voice! Good Grief, I went thru that and certainly do not want her to go thru it! Good for her...she did not lose her voice... however, this time round, K papa got the flu from Keira!!!DUH! It's super contagious!

Last night, I woke up with sore throat... and I began to worry... thots of Laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx, usually accompanied by hoarseness and coughing or temporary lost of voice)...scares the hell out of me!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.... I do not want to contract that again! Immediately, I took an extra srong strepsil (although I wasn't sure if I can take that while preggie :( ).

Hope we'll all get through this virus and not have any trouble! I can't afford to get sick - for bb #2 and my work :(

Boy Boy or Ge Ge?

Make your vote today... Boy Boy or Ge Ge???
Sometimes she looks so much a ge ge, and at times, she looks like a boy boy... However, her eyes are too enchanting for a boy boy.. hehe..

Super Weird...

So what's wrong with Keira lately? She's been behaving really weird... super weird....
Here are the unusual things happening to her:
1) She stopped drinking milk since last friday (till now - it's been 5 days). These 2 days, she will only drink when my niece is also drinking (in the morning, that's it). She lost weight too, can definitely tell from her face and tummy...
2) She's been calling "ah ma" and "ah gong" alot. Every nite when I bring her home, she'll want to be carried, refuse to let me get changed. She'll sob/cry for ah ma and ah gong until she ZZzzz in my arms...(so I have to carry her and walk around for a good 20 mins every nite... hmm.. a preggie carrying a 9.5kg for 20mins!)
3) The way she looks at strangers these days... more weird than anything! Previously, she'll be a little shy and still smiley. This time around, she stare at them with face tilting back, eyes squeezed upwards, lips locked.. as if she's going to fight them. Gosh... Funny thing is... with this look of hers, those strangers found her really cute!!! my....hope she will not behave this way when we go visiting on CNY! :s
4) Crying and crying over the weekends... we still can't figure out why, what's wrong...

All of the above, I can only suspect the following causes:
- Could it be that we left her with ah ma and ah gong for 2 weeks coz I was travelling?
- Could it be that she's teething with pre-molars?
- Could it be due to...hmmm.....something... not clean (arrghh... I dun want to believe in this)
- Could it simply be due to growing up changes?

Hmm... I have no idea! I called Dr Ngiam yesterday, was hoping to fine answer(s). I was surprised ... when ...
Dr said: Dun worry, if she is just not drinking milk, no problem. They dun need milk after 6 mths, they only need solids.
I said: Huh? really? I thought they need milk for calcium up to 2-3 yrs old?
Dr said: That's wha ang moh say! You are not ang moh.
I said: So how do I ensure she gets enough calcium etc.
Dr said: From the solids that she eats.
I said: Well, I am not sure why her behaviour is so weird, not sure if she's teething
Dr said: If she is only refusing milk, then dun worry.
I said: Do I need to bring her down to see you.
Dr said: No need.

So, I am not too convinced about the milk thing. If possible, I'll like Keira to have some milk everyday as a supplement. I mean, how are we to ensure that she gets enough of vitamins/nutrients from solids.

So... despite all the above... here's a video clip of Keira trying to see what I was taking on my phone.

I miss Keira...

It's been 2 weeks away from home for me. Last week in Seattle, this week in Hong Kong. Only got home 1.5 days to see my little wonder. I really miss her... every much. I want to hug her, kiss her and smell her! Will be seeing her tomorrow night when I get back home. Ohh....

Keira rooting for Liverpool? ...

Is Keira a big fan of Liverpool?

Nah... she has no idea who, what Liverpool is! It's just a Liverpool jersey my eld bro bought for Keira during his KL trip. It's a #8 ... so all Liverpool fans out there... you probably (definitely!!!) will know who dons a #8 jersey right???? ... at least K papa knows!

Oh well, Keira does look really cute in jersey. In fact, I like little ones in jersey! Last sunday, we put her on #8 Liverpool jersey to Kah Motors... and haha... as expected, she was mistaken for a 'boy' by one of the sales engineers. However, at MIL's place, the neighbour (whom we've never met before) could tell that Keira IS a gal in jersey! :-p

Oh oh... before I forget.... (duh!) ... K papa also wore his Liverpool jersey on this same day as Keira, and he fondly referred themselves (both papa and keira) as "teammates"! Me? what about me? No, I was not their "teammates" coz I do not have Liverpool jersey. Perhaps, I should get a MU jersey for myself and Keira the next time!

宝贝2: 2nd Trimester begins....

This week marks the start of 宝贝2's 2nd trimester. This is also a critical milestone as it means 宝贝2 has achieved stability. Well, this coming friday, I will get to see 宝贝2 on scan and looking forward to that... however, I am feeling jittery over the blood test this friday too. Gosh, I am starting to freak out now when I am typing... b..l...o...o...d.... t...e...s...t!

I will also be bringing Keira along as she will be getting her 15-month jap at Dr Ngiam's clinic. Hope Keira will be focused to catch 宝贝2 on scan this friday coz the last scan, Keira was so engrossed with the weighing machine than looking at the monitor. *sigh* ...

Hmmm, wonder if I'll be lucky to see 宝贝2 gender this friday.. hmmm... in some pregnancies, Dr can tell if bb's a boy even at 11 weeks.... for girl, they probably can't be too sure until after 16 weeks... that's what I read from magazine. So.. let's see....
So, am I hoping for a boy or girl with 宝贝2? Well, if 宝贝2's a boy, it'll be nice... even if 宝贝2 is a girl, I'll be equally happy. There's just so much to buy and explore for girls.... love that! The dolling up part is just so enriching! haha...

This time round, I don't think I will opt for a 4D scan at 24 weeks. Reason being, it's expensive and the 4D scan does not turn out good if there are so much "tissues" covering bb's face - and this was exactly what happened with Keira's 4D scan the last time. I think it was like an extra $200-$300 (can't recall), and I was a little taunted with the 4D scan as Keira looked like she had uneven patches on her face!!! Scared the hell out of me then! I remembered I was "secretly" praying that Keira will turn out "nicely" at birth.. :-p
... and she did... haha... smooth skin and great features! ... and I always tell my hubby... this is perhaps the wonder of 马表燕窝。:-p (or am I just finding excuse to pamper myself with bird's nest????) ... haha...

So this time around... it's going to be 马表燕窝 for 宝贝2 too.

X'mas Present for Keira

On Christmas Day, we made a shopping trip for Xmas presents for our nieces. Decided on Takashimaya as the venue, and headed there...

It was not easy looking for suitable gifts as we hoped to get what's needed, rather than buying for the sake of buying. Anyway... we finally found something for Karin, Valerie and Heidi :)

Oh, there was no intention of buying anything for Keira.. haha... however, we chanced upon a Hello Kitty Supermarket Cart with loads of groceries and I was impressed and tempted. Coz Keira is always so super interested in our shopping cart whenever we visit supermarket during the weekends. She'll "copy" our actions of pushing the cart, picking stuff and dropping into the cart. Hence, this Hello Kitty is fantastic for Keira. When I took the cart to Keira, she went crazy!!! pushing the cart all over Taka... and refusing to let it go. Finally, we decided to buy this for Keira as an Xmas gift! gosh... kids these days are sooooooooo smart!

Here's Keira and Hello Kitty supermarket cart, at home...

So interesting... here are: Coca cola, milk, pokky, sardine, veg can, fruits..etc..

宝贝2

Oh.. yes... 宝贝2 means... I am expecting baby #2 now. Baby#2 will be over 3 months by this Friday which means I am looking forward to crossing this 1st trimester milestone!

Why so?

Baby#2 pregnancy wasn't a stable one. Had light spotting which later became fresh red bleeding. During a span of 1.5 weeks or was it 2 weeks, I visited GlenE and Dr Chan so often to get hormone injections and was on Duphaston pills like 3 times a day. The hormone injections were the fearful one, coz:
1) I am afraid of injections!
2) After-effects of hormone injection was so painful (taken at buttock close to side-pelvic area). Yes, the pain occured 1 day after the injection and lasted for next 2 days! It felt like a WWF wrestler had punched you real hard at your pelvic with super sore bruises after. Try sitting or sleeping on the side with injection and I'll go... OOOHHH...ARGGHHHH!!! This was not yet the worse.... the ultimate experience was... before I could get over with the pain from injection, I had to go for the next... ! All in, I think I had 5 hormone injections and am glad this was over!

So much for the painful experience, I think the worst hit is still the emotional aspect. The fear of going to restroom coz I was so afraid to see any spotting/bleeding. Once, I thought I was going to lose baby#2 when it was more than spotting! That moment, my heart was pounding real hard and I was so frightened. Every thought was fighting for a space in my mind, every thought was flashing through my mind....."did I do something wrong just now?", "did not not have enough bedrest as advised by Dr Chan?", "am I weak to carry baby#2?", "was it because I travelled twice while unknowingly expecting baby#2?" .... oh.. it was emotionally stressful, so uncontrollable. Thank goodness, Dr Chan and Dr Sng were really encouraging. These words " it's not you, nothing to do with you, it's just that the pregnancy itself is unstable" ... these words made me stopping finding fault and concentrate on bringing the pregnancy to stablility.

So, baby#2 experience so far has been different. Different coz I did not have to go through a threatened miscarriage when expecting Keira. Life is so vulnerable and precious. Others have gone through worst times than me, and I am thankful baby#2 is getting stable with a good heartbeat per last check. Next week, I will be doing my triple test and looking forward to seeing baby#2 on scan.

Saturday Breakfast with Keira in Pajamas

Oh... 'jean jean, the mean machine' - a quote from a colleague... :-p

How true!

Here's the story.... it happened on a sunny saturday morning...usually Keira woke up as early as the birds catching worms. Shortly after, we took off to IMM for breakfast. K papa and I got changed, but not Keira .. hehe... she was still in her pajamas :-p Anyway, I thought, what the heck, she will go un-noticed anyway and she will not mind!

That morning, I had craving for BK breakfast... cool, ordered our food, and Keira in pajamas got a morning gift from Mr BK staff - a BK crown! Take a look...at 'princess keira'... hmm.. she looks more like a 'prince' than 'princess'...

Keira had BK too! wiping her mouth after her big breakfast! Yummy!

After breakfast, Keira in pajamas took a brief walk around IMM....

Here's her fav Elmo/Big Bird machine

Keira strolling in her pajamas! The whole mall seems to belong to her - and just her!

Let's take a look at Keira running in pajamas! She's everywhere!