~ HFMD ~

Ok. Face the facts.. Gladys confirmed to have contracted HFMD. As to how she got it since she is not in school or childcare?? Frankly I don't know...

She was still having a mild fever in the morning.. 37.5.. Her mouth uclers increased and the blisters on her hands and foot became more prominent. We separated Denver from Gladys immediately and took him to my bil's place. In the meantime, we took Gladys again to the clinic and this time, the doctor confirmed it's HFMD. He warned us to monitor Gladys' temperature and if high fever persist, or if there are abnormal signs like fits, dehydration, not active or increase in rashes, we should send her to the hospital immediately.

Just as we were trying to manage Gladys back home, mil called to inform us that Denver is having a high fever... Hubby quickly rush back to take Denver see the family doctor again. As there were no blisters developed, it's hard to diagnose if it's HFMD. Usually, we will only know 2-3 days later... in the mean time, we can only monitor.. Denver was taken back home to my bil's place to rest... however, he call us to take him back home in the evening.. I'm sure he misses us (especially since he is ill) and doesn't want to be left alone.

Hubby and I were also worried that if Denver got HFMD, it will affect the other kids too...so he took him back and we separated Denver and Gladys in two different rooms. Trying to avoid their contacts to the minimum..

Denver was really weak when he got home. He looked so drowsy and was not the active and talkative boy that he used to be.. Hubby said he vomitted earlier and his body was really hot. We feed him medicine and took turns to sponged him.

I was glad that Brother and HJ came to visit the kids and help me babysit. He bought a couple of toys and Gladys was really happy and occupied.. I managed to settle, clean up some of the stuff and rest awhile. It's hard to do any work with Gladys always looking for me... and now with Denver falling sick... it's even worse. Sighz..

Hubby going to look after Denver while I take care of Gladys...The next few days are going to be challenging... I hope I stay healthy too so that I can take care of them.

~ Bad Weekend ~

As if last weekend wasn't bad enough... this week was even worse!

I was so looking forward to a nice long weekend due to the Deepavali holiday on Monday.. thought can bring the kids out .. or have a good rest... Unfortunately, Gladys is still down with a fluctuating fever.. to make matters worse, she is now having rashes over her hands, foot, body.... :(

It may be due to the medicine that she is developing an allergy.. or it could be due to HFMD. We took her to see the family doctor this morning. However, he wasn't able to diagnose and confirm if it's HFMD. I just hope it was an allergy develop by the infection as the doctor has suspected.. Gladys' anti-biotics and coughing medicine was changed to the ones she normally took and we need to watch out if she develops a high fever (40 degrees) again. If so, we have to bring her to KK Hospital for blood test. :(

Later in the morning, hubby took Denver for his swimming lesson.. Gladys was very cranky and she clings on to me every minute.. I had to carry her everywhere and she keeps crying.. She couldn't eat and refuse to take her medicine. A couple of times she vomitted clear liquid and I was so busy cleaning up the mess.. she refuse to sleep and couldn't poo...

Finally waited till hubby got back home and managed to feed her medicine... sighz.. I hoax her to nap with Denver.. and I was so tired myself till I fall asleep too... woke up at 4 plus and Gladys was cranky again... I have to hoax her to eat porridge, bath and we went out to have dinner with my in laws and bil's family to celebrate my mil's birthday at a resturant in Defu Lane.

May not sound like a good idea to bring her out since her fever went up again.. 37.8 degrees... anyway, we went ahead.. and luckily her fever subsided again.. After dinner, we went back to bil's house where my mil help Gladys to poo out by putting Johnson Johnson shower in her buttocks to act as a lubricant so that it's not so painful for her.. It did work and Gladys manage to poo a lot out..

We went back home and we were worried as Gladys keep complaining her mouth is in pain.. she refuse to open her mouth and drink her milk very slowly.. I'm so worried that it's HFMD.. :( I hope it's only normal ucler that she is having due to the too much chips that she had the other day... sighz.... I can only wait till tomorrow morning to bring her to the family doctor to check and confirm again.. now all I can do is to carry her... I am very very tired...arms almost no strength already.. and she don't want hubby to carry.. Denver is being neglected as well... oh gosh.. I just don't have spare time and energy for both now.. Heeeelpppp.. :(

Please get well soon girl..and no HFMD Pleeassse.

~ High Fever ~

It's been awhile since Gladys last had a fever.. Unfortunately, she caught one yesterday night after we returned from Compass Point. We went there to shop for birthday presents for Karena (Florence's baby girl) and Kaiser who are celebrating their First year birthday coincidentally next Saturday..

Gladys don't feel well after returning home and starts to have a fever. I don't know if it's the after effects of the funeral, or if she had too many chips as my mil has adviced, or she had contracted the virus at the shopping... in anycase, she looks really sick and tired.. I didn't have any good night rest and fell asleep while sponging her.

Today is 2nd uncle's 头七。Fil and Bil had to go pray in the morning. I went over to help look after Gladys since only Mil is at home. Gladys still had a mild fever when I left... She looks very tired and always cling on to me.. I went back home after Fil return and when Gladys is napping..

Just awhile ago when Hubby and I return to have our dinner, Gladys' temperature shoot up to 40.2 degrees!! Gosh!! She never had such a high fever before.. only occasionally hitting near 39 degrees.

We quickly took her to a nearby clinic since the usual one that we used to go is closed on Friday evenings. We were no. 2 in queue and luckily the doctor came in shortly. A nice uncle who is also having a high fever himself actually gave us the priviledge to see the doctor first! Such a kind act!

Doctor prescribed Brufen, antibiotics and a coughing mixture to Gladys... while waiting for the medicine, Gladys vomitted..... making a mess to our clothes, the floor and chair in the clinic. Luckily, the clinic assistant is very kind and helpful. She quickly gave us a white cloth to clean ourselves and didn't show any signs of displease.

While driving back home through the carpark, Gladys vomitted again.. :( I had to alight first and quickly took her back home to cleanup. After feeding the medicine and sponging her, her fever finally subsided.. Even still, she clings on to me tightly like a koala bear and looks extremely tired.

Gladys is finally sound asleep now.. I hope she feels better tomorrow.. Get Well soon!

~ Funeral ~

All I can say is... it has been a very difficult weekend...

Hubby was awaken by a phone call on an early Saturday morning.. he rushed out of the house shortly. I knew then it was no good news. True enough, I received bad news that my fil's 2nd brother has passed away.

For the next 3 days, the whole family were busy with the wake and funeral proceedings. Hubby was really busy and tired running between work and family matters. I stayed home in the day looking after the kids and take them to the wake in the evening and staying through the night.

On the first night, we sitted around and helped to fold the incense papers. The atmosphere was weird when mil saw her youngest son and his family. Anyway... it was a long day and Sunday was extremely tiring as well.

Hubby left early in the morning and slept very little the night before. I looked after the children, and bought them out to Rivervale Mall for lunch @ McDonalds. It was a hot afternoon.. I even thought of giving up the idea and just order food in.. but didn't want to keep the kids at home all day long.. Got Denver a Happy meal toy and I tried the new Wasabi fish fillet burger.. Not so bad. Luckily it was rather cooling on our way back home and we all had a short nap..

Waking up to a very rainy afternoon and I rush to get ready and prepared to go to the wake. On the 2nd night, we were involved with the rituals.. Wearing a white top, a pair of black pants and moving around the void deck with a pair of white socks, we prayed, kneel and listen to the prayers. Fil cried a couple of times.. especially so during the proceedings to send our uncle over the bridge.. It was really sad...

After supper and finishing all the prayers for that night, hubby send us back and we reached home around 11pm. Both the kids are still awake! I quickly settle them down to bed and waited for the clothings to be washed so that I can hang them up to dry.. Hubby on the other hand went out again to the wake area. I think it was almost 1am when I finally fall asleep....

I took an emergency leave off today.. as it's the day to 出宾. We woke up at 5 plus.. got ready and went out around 620am. Had a couple of morning prayers and a light breakfast before sending our uncle off..

We headed to Mandai Crematorium where the body is sent to be cremented. Younger Bil help to send the kids and me back home while the rest waited to collect the ashes and a slot later in the afternoon.

Luckily the kids are able to bath and eat on their own.. I only need to pay more attention with Gladys.. Make sure the older kids do their homework while I put Gladys to nap and rest for awhile...

Everyone were so tired when they got back home around 2 plus... hubby was extremely tired too. He managed to catch a little nap till evening..

Tomorrow is the last day for PSLE marking.. so Brother will be returning to mum's place after tonight... we went to visit his new house at Potong Pasir which is still undergoing renovation. A pretty big place and I'm sure it will be very cosy once all the work completes. Can't wait to go visit. :D

~ PSLE Marking Days ~

Brother came to stay over at my place for a couple of nights because he was assigned to mark the PSLE papers at Rivervale primary. My home is just a couple of minutes walk away and it's very convenient compared to mum's place.

The kids were extremely happy to see their favourite uncle.. hehhe.. Brother as usual always bring new stuff for them to play. He got Denver an IQ game and Denver loves it very much. He also got a toy crocodile and we played for awhile.. Luckily I did not have night teleconference scheduled last Thursday.. so we had dinner at KFC - Compass Point.... went for a little walk around and headed home. The kids were very active still and played for quite some time before I manage to put them to bed..

Brother will be staying on Sunday and Monday as well.. I'm sure the children will enjoy it.

There is going to be a long weekend coming week due to the Deepavali holidays.. Hubby thought of having a short getaway with the family.. didn't manage to book a chalet... so maybe a short trip to Malaysia would be nice. Yesterday there was a Malaysia Tour fair at the Singapore Expo. We went straight there after work and gathered a lot of brochures while walking round the booths... A short stay at Pulai Springs Resort in JB caught our eyes.. $75 per night - Suite room.. sounds good.. Anyway, we didn't book any package and headed back home..

~ Disappointed ~

Denver made me so disappointed and mad today. He has not been doing his homework lately.. Hubby and I already warned him last friday when he did not do any of his work. Still can come and tell me "Mummy, I didn't do my homework" when he saw me... I asked him "Why?".. he didn't reply me.

Over the weekends, we told him to be good and finish his homework. I even reminded him this morning before leaving for work and he did it again! He did not listen to Ah Gong, Ah Ma.. played with his Yu-Gi-Oh cards, watched TV and did not complete his homework when I am home from work.

Hubby caned him on his hands 4 times.. but he doesn't seem to learn his lesson and started laughing again.. didn't show signs of repent at all. So, I made him stand along the corridor in the house for an hour with no TV programs, no games, no toys and no stories. He started standing from 7pm... after 15 mins, I can see that he is starting to get tired.. then he said "Mummy, I want to 大便." So he went to the toilet and stayed in there for quite a while.. Frankly, he is just using that as an excuse...anyway, I gave him his toilet break and he continues to stand for another 45mins before heading to bed and sleep..

I asked Denver if its worth being punished for skipping his homework which he just need to spend 20-30 mins doing. Because of that, he cried, got caned, not allowed to play, stand for 1 hour and made everyone unhappy. Sighz.. I doubt he understood... I'm not at all confident that he learnt his lesson.. Tried soft and hard methods and it doesn't seems to work.. what can I do with him????

~ Bubbles Bubbles!! ~

Brother bought a nice bubble gun and the kids get to play Bubbles outside the corridor at my mum's place! Needless to say Denver and Gladys are very excited and can't wait to get their hands on the bubble gun. :)

Apart from watching them playing happily, I am also enjoying the nice view from the top. Suddenly miss the good old times and days...

Sad to say, I don't remember spending much of my childhood outdoors when I was Denver's age... most of the time I was 'confined' at home... The most vivid memory was I could not follow my brothers downstair to play when we were still staying at a 1-room flat in Whampoa. I was so sad... couldn't understand and kept asking my mum.. Why??

Even when we moved to the place where mum is staying now, I don't get to go downstairs often or play at the playground.. so I will always watch by the window seeing what are the other kids are doing downstairs.. like carrying lanterns during mid-autumn festival... playing with candles... making sandcastles with their small buckets... and many more.

Still, even if I don't get to go out, my childhood was still very happy and memorable... why? because it was filled with great time spending with my 2 lovable brothers.. like the argument I have with them while playing the boardgames, role play and pretending with the figurines, watching our favourite cartoons, playing the sega games and then upgraded to computer games.. there were so many sleepless nights that time...

I really missed those times... Now that we have grown up, each of us have our own family life. Eldest brother is going to have a baby next year and 2nd brother is also settling down and moving to a new place soon.. I'm sure we will all be busy but I do hope that we will still get together and meetup.

I wonder how Denver and Gladys will remember their childhood.. I surely hope it will be something that they treasure forever... to stay bonded and look out for each other as they grow...

~ Night out with the kids ~

Hubby got a job yesterday evening at Tuas. Hence, I decided to take the kids to the Library @ Compass Point. (Denver has been 'complaining' he has not been there for some time.) Anyway, while hubby is on his way there, I am on my way back home.. Wanted to go home, put my laptop and change to some casual clothings but was 'welcome' by dark clouds and heavy rain. :( I was stranded at the LRT station.. I have 2 options.. 1) Go to my inlaw's place with heavy bag and stinky clothes or 2) Take a risk and go home.

Anyway, I took the train back and thank goodness.. it wasn't raining at my area.. :D at least not yet.. :p I quickly walk back home, changed my clothes, pack the stuff and headed straight to my inlaws. Had my dinner, got them ready and off we go!

Denver and Gladys always get very excited when they are taking the LRT.. :) Our first stop - Library.. and this is were they got 'crazy'!! Gladys is practically running all about.. grabbing the books from the shelves.. bringing it to the table.. flipping (lucky not tearing).. Denver was also busy walking around, looking at books.. It took me a hard time before I finally pick 4 books for Denver. Phew....

There is a food fair at Level 1 of the shopping mall. We took the lift down and was greeted by a Magician in costume.. He was so tall and funny looking.. The moment Gladys saw him.. she got such a shock that she quickly demand that I carry her.. Gladys was really scared and dare not look at him. Denver used to be like her when he was young.. very afraid of them.. Now that he has grown up, he understood things better and is much braver.

The magician show Denver a small trick... He took out 2 red balls from his pocket and put one of the balls in Denver's hand...with a magic touch, when Denver open his hand, he now has 2 balls. :) Denver was really amazed.. hahaha.. Gladys by now has warm up abit.. but still feeling scared and refused to come down.



We continue to look around the food fair and I bought some snacks for the kids.. Bought a bottled drink from 7-11 and by now, Denver complains again that he is tired and need to sit.. So I took them to Mcdonalds and had a Happy Meal together. By now, Hubby has finished his work and had dinner.. but he will need some time to travel down to pick us.. so I took them to Metro to see toys..

By the time I got home.. I was sooooo tired.. suddenly felt that my whole body is aching.. and the next moment, I am already fast asleep.. zzzzzzzz

Denver disappointed me today when he did not do his homework and did not listen to my inlaws. To think that I even took him out yesterday! Hubby and I was very angry with him.. and scolded him.. He cried.. but I wonder when he will learn to be more discipline and responsible.. Sighz...

~ Mega Boss ~

Have been busy for the past 2 days because our "mega" boss came to visit on Monday. There are 1:1 session, dinner, lunch, meetings, town halls to attend to... Didn't really had an idea what to discuss with him at first.. but end up blabber quite a couple of stuff. I discussed with him on the challenges I am facing on the travelling, night meetings and the on coming weekend support. Being a mother of 2 young children, I do need to have priority on them as well. Don't know if it's a good or bad thing to mention it in that way... anyway...we shall see.

We had our team dinner at Palm Beach at One Fullerton. My first time there... classy seafood restaurant. We were seated outside and got to enjoy the beautiful scenary, see the merlion, Singapore flyer and it's skyline.. gentle breeze at first but it started to get hot towards the later of the night. Still the night lights and hearing the sound of the boats passing by is really cool. We had chilli, black pepper crab, steam fish, vegetables with mushroom, prawns and opened 2 bottles of red wine. I was really tired by the time I got to my inlaws place to pick the kids up. Everytime I have red wine, I realise I will have a headache the next day..

Yesterday's schedule was also very packed. We were involved in whole day meetings and there is also a lunch with the entire Infrastructure team. Did not have much time to attend to other issues/emails. Before we leave for the day, had a nice handshake with mega boss as he is heading back to US the next day.

By the time I got home, I was so tired... Gladys has been coughing for the past 2 days and it got worse.. She cough through the night and developed a fever at around 3am. I did not have much sleep and couldn't wake up today and end up working from home.

~ Farewell ~

Jason, another colleague & good friend has left the company yesterday.. His 1 year contract has ended and found a better job offer. We are very happy and glad that he is able to embark on a more stable career ahead. Jason is a really nice chap.. 好好先生., always smilely, soft spoken and helpful. Hence, a group of colleagues orgranised a farewell dinner with him yesterday at Dian Xiao Er - Vivocity.

I managed to find some time and join in the dinner. Arrived Vivocity an hour early and got to do some window shopping. The other colleagues got delayed due to a traffic jam... and hence dinner started late. Still the food came in fast... I guess all of us were really hungry by now and the food was gone in awhile. :) We chatted through and really had fun.. I had to leave early to take the kids home.. as hubby is waiting with them @ CompassPoint. Ran all the way back as I was running late... still I was happy to see them. Phew... another week has past.. Next week, the big boss is coming.. hope everything will go smoothly.