Midnight Madness

So the four have already ganged-up and done their first Dunni on me:

4am.
First, Micah cried because he's unwell. He's the last of the boys to be down with fever due to a bad sore throat. (Max and Myron had their 3 days back.) He wanted the air-con on and a blanket.
Then, Myron cried because he was disturbed or for some-other-reason-I-don't-know-what.
Myra follow suit and cried for milk.
While I was giving Myron some water to drink to calm him, Max started a nightmare, woke up and asked me why wasn't I sleeping beside him as I had promised earlier.

It's actually the first time I'm dealing with this on my own.
Usually I'm fortunate enough to have Grandma to help, at least do something for the older one, or put Myron into the sarong swing so that he will go back to sleep.

So this has been an interesting challenge.

Oh, I forgot to mention that while we are back here for this two weeks, Gadget-daddy is working in Korea.

So, Myron had some water, but continued whining sleepily cos he realised his sister is crying and that I would soon have to nurse her.
Then I gave Micah his dose of paracetamol after turning the aircon back on. Told him to either go sleep at his corner furthest from the fan, or go get his own blanket from his corner.
Fed baby girl while patting Myron back to sleep.
Finally I went and lay down beside Max for a while and covered him with a make-shift blanket (a bed-sheet, cos Myron was running around without a diaper for a few minutes after his bath, and decided to poo on my floor and then climbed up the bed and sat on the blanket.)

Actually, my days are usually not as happening as this.

The more usual dramas would be:

Having to play judge, jury and executionist for the battles between the boys, and very often they would end up on some therms on their own.

Diaper changing and feeding the girl in hiding is the other thing I do. I have to do so in hiding because she is now very easily distracted, and Myron usually would make a fuss or come and fuss about her while I'm nursing her. Either way she will not feed well and later will be a grouchy baby when she's sleepy and hungry.

I am really trying to spend as much time as I can with Myron. I want to assure him that being the younger middle kid, with 2 older brothers playing by themselves and not wanting him to disrupt their Lego-building and other battles and a baby sister who occasionally needing undivided attention, Mommy and Daddy loves him so so much and we so want him in the family. So I read with him, cuddle him, occasionally sit in front of the computer with him, and hold him while he flips through the photo album on my iPhone.

So I ended up here, blogging again, as I have done before, and how I got started, because after being woken up by the kids, I can't get back to sleep...

Let's see how tomorrow works out, I mean later today.
I know I'm gonna fall asleep with feeding baby girl. just how many times and how long each time. :P

Have a good day, y'all.

Sink, No Sync

This weekend, we are all out of sync and sinking.
Gadget-Daddy left for Singapore on Friday, leaving our weekend in some subtle kind of chaos.

Out of Sync.
It all started with a text message from my older sister in Singapore on Friday morning.
We had planned for this trip for more than 2 weeks and they boys had been really excited. Up to the very last minute, my younger sister and I were putting together a party pack for the 4 kids to celebrate Xue Han's birthday. I had also stayed up to 2 am on Thursday night packing stuff and filling the immigration card. We were all so so ready to go.
Friday morning, got the boys up for breakfast and changed and suddenly I saw the message from my sis saying her daughter has fever and cough. "You might want to reconsider bringing your kids."

The 4 cousins, CNY 2008

So the drama began with the boys crying, still wanting to go, but cannot go without Mommy and Mommy can't go because Myron has no food source except Mommy and he cannot risk being exposed to some germs/virus because he is too young. We spent two hours talking to the boys, bargaining, etc. (plus having to deal with anxious Grandma motherhen-ing around us all). Finally, Max decided he was going to go anyway* and so we packed his clothes from our suitcase (which was already in the car boot since the night before) into a small bag and handed his passport to his father, who was, actually, totally serious about taking him along, as he believed he could handle him "by himself" (besides there being other adults around, but they are not exactly counted as they are not from our home).

So we Max went off with Gadget-daddy in the car.
Our secret back-up plan was that Max be left at my mum's house when Gadget-daddy goes to pick her up for the trip. (She was getting a lift to go down Singapore to make rice-dumpling for my sister. We had also planned this weeks before.) I will then go pick Max up from there a little later, using grandpa's car, and send Ee-ee to work too.
Of course Gadget-daddy was seriously planning to take Max, as I'd said, but my sister called from Singapore, and again said her daughter is quite sick and we'll just have to wait for 2 more weeks for the school break before we get to see them. So I called Gadget-daddy that we'd have to use the back-up plan (Plan B? C? Oh, I can't keep track).

The whole time after Gadget-daddy left the house with Max, I was getting an ear-full from Grandma about how rash and silly we were letting the little boy go with his father alone. So when I finally told her that we are going to pick Max up from my mom's, Grandma was all too eager to follow along, as if she needs to see that Max still here for herself, asap. Unfortunately for her, Grandpa had left the house for his morning jog (couldn't stand the drama enfolding at that time) without any house keys. So she had to stay home with Myron after all, and that set us back like a whole hour "behind schedule" as it took her time to change, going out to try to look for Grandpa, and then me having to express milk for Myron**.

Micah loves taking photos with baby Myron.

So I finally left with Micah to go get Max and Ee-ee and headed off to a usual hang-out mall. We headed for the pasta place, and were obviously their first customer for the day (who eats pizza/ pasta at 11am?). But the pasta was not made right (they over-cooked the sauce, but we did not complain) and then one of the boys had a toilet accident because he was too buzy playing and did not mention the need for the toilet (which was like 200m away) till it was too late. So we ended up having to buy pants because we had used grandpa's car and there are no extra clothes for them there.

Finally Ee-ee went to work and we headed home.


Sinking in pee.
I was reading Toddlerdaddy's post on potty training his four-year-old and thought, "Yes, we should be making more effort night potty-training our almost 5 who like to have a bottle of milk (another thing to wean of soon) just before bed."

So for the past four days, Micah was doing well, as he goes to bed about 9.30 pm, and then we will wake him up to go to the toilet about 12am before we end our day. Then mommy will get him to go the the toilet again about 6am after the baby feeds. We have been so proud of ourselves for the whole week. Then after Gadget-daddy left on Friday morning, that night, Mommy*** fell asleep with the boys and was woken up at 3 am by Max (who had been sleeping without diapers for about 2 months now) crying that his pants was wet. He was actually sleeping on my bed. Then I looked and saw that the other one had also wet his bed. So, exactly, like Toddlerdaddy, I had to peel off pee-clad boys in the middle of the night.

All these might have just slip from being blogged about if the same incident as last night did not JUST happen (and I had changed the sheets this morning, and will have to do so again tomorrow). After changing the boys I was lying in bed and thinking about blogging this, and thought, Oh, if only there are wires I could hook up to my brain and get the computer to jot down my thought... Then the picture of a cyborg came to mind and it was just too freaky. So I had better just do what I want to do.

Oh, Can't wait for Gadget-daddy to be home tomorrow evening.

Now I am ready to feed the baby.

* Part of the drama/problem was because we made the mistake in saying we will take the boys to school, since they are up and dressed, but you know that's just "Preposterous!" that was to them as they were suppose to go for a holiday to see their beloved cousins and not school. After all, we had told them the day before that it was the "last day of school." And Max is just the least keen kindy-goer any kid could be.


** If you're wondering why I did not just strap Myron in a carseat, which we do have, and bring him along, Well, it would have given grandma another bout of high blood pressure as she is always worried about babies crying and then they might vomit and then choke in their vomit. Plus, it poses too much a danger as it might also distract the driver and cause an accident. Plus we have the other 2 kids in the car... *sigh* I am not worried, really, but I know she will be at her wits end thinking of me alone with 3 boys in the car on my way back. I listen to the old folks too much. If I had insisted on leaving with Myron, I know she would have chosen to come along and leave poor grandpa standing for hours at the front of our gate.


*** Besides the fact that we had had a dramatic morning that started at 7am, and that I did not sleep till 2.30 am the night before, I never realised how much I have been pushing my body to work for me around my 4 guys. So the only reason I usually stay up till 12am is because then I can have some time with Gadget-daddy, usually involving some adult conversations, like reporting what the boys did the whole day from my side, and some ranting from either/both sides. Occasionally we watch a bit of a movie and I am also, quite often, required to go rummage and whip something out of the kitchen.

Arrgh: Drama In The Womb

Had a Shocker today.
My baby's BREACHEd!!!


Last week the baby was ok, in the right position.
He had been so for the last three months.

Today the baby turned and now it seems it's in an obligue position.
His head is up again, nearer to my left ribs and the bum is down towards my right hip.

Doc' advice is to have C-section asap.
He means tomorrow.

He is worried if in case my water breaks suddenly and will put the baby in grave danger, as natural birth is now impossible.

Haiz!!

We want to wait, to talk to this naughty little boy and tell him to get back into position.
Now is not the time to protest on having to come out and try to get too cozy in side.

I am also concerned about having the baby out by tomorrow as both the boys are not well.

My back-up plan now is, if we really have to have the baby out by tomorrow, I might have to stay at my mom's for a week while the boys recover from their flu.

Not the best of plans. I am sure the boys would be upset, because they cannot have Mommy with them and also cannot see their baby.

Arrgh!!
This is so unexpected.

Drama In The Morning

Ee-ee and I figured: This boy is just pushing for luck.

In the Morning Max kicked up a big fuss about going to school.
He insisted it was already the last day. I explained that this is a new week.

He refused to change (forget about taking a shower), didn't want any breakfast and insisted that Grandma was to stay home and not go along so that he too could stay home.

I carried a wailing-and-kicking 3 year-old to the car.
He refused to get into his seat, so we both sat at the driver's seat for a while, while I talked to him.

Finally I managed to get in into his seat, with some coaxing and persuasion.
He was still protesting.

When we got to the main road he was alright.

We chatted about the different cars we spotted on the road and looked out for trains.

Mommy talked about how Mom and Dad both loved school from the first day of school and we never cried because there's just so much to do and it's so fun to be in school (this is all true, btw) and our teachers were all good and helpful.

When we got to school, Max protested a little at the stairs. He wanted to go buy sugar with Ee-ee and bake cookies with her. But when he got in and put his bag down, he was already running off to see what a teacher was doing in preparation for that day's craft. He never looked back.

Well, we might have... or we should probably expect a few more days of morning drama but I think he's ok.

Adventures And Misadventures

The first night and the last night in Singapore were the most heart pounding ones for us.

The first night:

Gadget-daddy had to go over to Suntech City to have a dinner-meeting/meeting-dinner (however you put it) with some colleagues in Singapore. It was still not officially a public holiday as yet. So my sister and I decided we would eat at a shopping mall near her place. It's not a very big mall, but the food court has quite good food.

We got some Japanese food (bento box) for the kids. I fed the boys, my sis her kids, while the her hubby and our mom took turn to go get their food.

Done feeding the boys, I decided to get my Nasi Padang.

When I returned, I saw Micah, but Max and my mom were not there. I thought she had taken him for a walk. She suddenly turned up and asked where is Max.

My heart skipped maybe 20 beats and I started on one end while my mom took the other end of the center of the mall (we were on the 4th floor, the middle is like an open area where you could look down to the concourse.) I actually peeked into a video shop and an electrical shop, in case he had wondered into a shop he fancied.

I must have the most worried look on my face because a lady suddenly asked, "Are you looking for your son? He is over there" and pointed further down the path. As I looked, I saw my mum in hurried steps and the caught the last to screams of a terrified boy. But he was at last safe in her arms.

I scolded and lectured him while I held him tight. I suppose I was as frighted as he was.

The story behind the missing boy:

He had run off when I went to get my food. My Mum wen tafter him, and then Micah went after my mum. Somewhere in the middle of their "exploration, Micah, who had caught up to his bro, turned to run baack to the food court. So it was Micah leading the way, followed by Max and then my Mum behind them. Somewhere along the way, Max got distracted, and my Mum did not see the little boy veering off somewhere. Che got back to out table to see only Micah and no Max. She went another time to search for him, and this time when she got back, I was already back with my food. The rest is as above.

After that, due to all the excitement, I was actually gobbling my food down, still in the mode of the adrenalin rush.

The last night:

I had a fall.

To cut the long story short, I was distracted by my crying nephew. I was trying to cheer him up, while I was piggy-back-ing Max and missed a step.
I landed on the floor on all fours and Max slid off my back. He was not hurt but cried out of a shock.

We had gone out to pack dinner back to my sister's because her girl and Micah were still asleep at 7pm (late nap). Gadget-daddy stayed back to watch over Micah while we took a walk to the next block where there were lots of shops and restaurants.

I managed to walk back to her place but by the time I got to her house, My right foot hurt so much I could not even stand. It was sheer pain the moment I put a little pressure on my foot. I suspected I had fractured a bone, but am thankful later to discover it's just a very bad sprain.

Later I was laughing with my sis, saying when I fell the first person I cried for help to was my Mom. She said, "yeah, we still want our Mommy."
Now my Mommy's the one giving me a good rub on my badly sprained ankle.

So that's the Misadventure of the our first and last night in Singapore.

Moans and Groans

I lay on the bed feeling my muscle tensed.
Oooh...
I arched my back a little and then back down.
Aaawh...
I moved my hips slowly, up and down...
My eyes closed, feeling every little sensation.
Oooh...
I was panting.
Gasping.
Breathless.


Gadget-daddy rubbed me a little on the belly.
"You OK?"
"Mmm... yeah," I whispered back.
He brush my hair back a little with his fingers and looked at me most lovingly.
Both the boys were asleep downstairs.
We are at last alone in the room.



Well... my dear readers... it's not what you think.
Just teasing you a little...


Just before the lying down on the bed,...

I had just changed the sheets on our king-size bed. Mind you, a non-spring but firm mattress is a lot heavier than a spring one.
Then I mopped the floor and mopped the stairs from downstairs to upstairs. (Reason being that my bucket of water is from the bathroom upstairs and I did not want my footprints left trailing on the wet stairs. And I was ready to head for a nap.) That's really putting a test on the back.

And while I was doing all that, Gadget-daddy was also getting ready for a nap:
unwinding with a round of some stealth game (Splinter Cell) on his X-box.

Yeah, we get ready for bed (nap even) very differently.

He finished and came into the room just as I was doing a back-roll, trying to relief my back off the backache. Oh, could I feel every creak and crack of it. It's hard to mop the floor being 4.5 months pregnant. But I know I'm only half way through this 9 month marathon! Phooof.

And then we fell asleep within 5 minutes.
This is the bit of just before the whole house was asleep in the last post.

(And now as I am getting ready for bed, Gadget-daddy is again on his X-box - the same game. We are all creatures of habit. Hehehe... Good night.)

Confusing Our Kids: Take 1

Scene 1:

Mommy (in an exasperated tone): Come on! Hurry up!

Child runs from the bedroom towards the stairs.

Mommy: Slowly. Slowly. No Rush. Remember, slow on the stairs.


********

Scene 2:

Grandma: Aiyo! Don't play with the cats. They have lots of germs.

The next day,

Grandma: Micah, come take the cat out of the kitchen. Quick!


*******

Scene 3:

Grandpa: Wash your hands properly. Use soap.

10 seconds later,

Grandpa: Aiya! Why you play with the soap! (Puts the soap out of reach.)

------ End of Take 1 ---------

Tricky B&B Qs

Micah asked some tricky birds and bees questions the last two days.


Q 1. Testicles

I was putting on his diapers for him 2 nights ago and he was checking out his own anatomy.

Micah: Mommy, what's this thing? (squeezing one of the two)
Mommy: Don't do that (trying not to sound too panicky).That's what you need when you're big to be a Daddy.
Micah: What? How to be a Daddy?
Mommy: Yes. That's how you'll have your baby. Then you'll be a Daddy.
Micah: But I'm not a girl. I cannot have a baby. XB (cousin sister) is a girl. Next time she can have a baby.
Mommy: Yes, but all babies must have a Daddy too, right?

Silence for a couple of seconds.

Micah: Where's Daddy?
Mommy: Downstairs, doing some work.
Micah: Can we read still?
Mommy: No, it's time to sleep.

Phew. Escape!
I'm sure he'll come back on this on another time least expected. Just hope it won't be in a too public a place.
EEeek!



2. Girls' Anatomy

Max was already asleep. I was going to get a quick shower, so I asked Micah to take his milk first and I'll come back to snuggle in a while. As I walked into the bath room, he came in after me..

Micah: Mommy, girls have no k-k-jiao (penis)? Then how do they shee-shee?
Mommy: Well, there is also a place, near the bum.
Micah: Let me see yours. I want to see it. Where?
Mommy: No you can't. Go drink your milk.

Mommy pushed him out of the bath room and made sure the door is locked.
I was lost between being baffled and bewildered.
Definitely nervous.

Where is Gadget-daddy?! Hey isn't this suppose to be your job?!
You settle the boys and I'll do the girls (if and when any).
Phfffff....