The Brothers

Tobey- Ever cheerful and friendly, Euan- Ever serious and reserved. Their personalities couldn't be anymore different. Only thing in common, they absolutely love and adore each other.

Euan at 16 weeks & Tobey at 3 years 7 months

My darling Euan smiles alot nowadays. His hobby is finger sucking. I remember Tobey didn't take to soothing himself by doing so, although at that time we encouraged it so that he can use that to fall back to sleep in the middle of the night. He preferred the pacifier. Euan on the other hand couldn't take the pacifier. It triggered his gagging reflex when I tried introducing it to him. I guess because he doesn't take the bottle at all. At a luncheon yesterday, a French mummy friend of mine was kind of 'disapprove' of me letting Euan do so, saying that it'll become the hardest habit to break and so on. But seriously, how do you stop a baby from sucking his own fingers??? I am quite relaxed about it to be honest. It's a small matter in the grand scheme of things. YUP. totally different from the first baby. Not that I am adopting a 'tidak apa' attitude towards my second one, it's just that I know what to worry and what's not worth worrying about. I've learnt that they grow up at a blink of an eye, so it's most important to enjoy them as much as possible, rather than worrying about why is he not drinking from a cup yet, or flipping to his side yet, etc. Like SK said, "Have you met a healthy baby that grew up not knowing how to walk ?" (Edit: I misquoted him, it's actually "Have you met an adult who is still crawling?")

Euan recognises us now. He cries when someone he's not seen before carries him. He loves us to carry him about and hates to be put down on his bouncer/cot/bed, unless it's nap time. He loves going out. When we put him in his winter jacket, he gets all excited! He naps two 30 mins naps and one 2 hours nap during the day. His night time sleep commences from 9pm to 9am. He still wakes up for feeds, especially so last week, I think it was his 3rd month growth spurt. He's showing alot of intrest in solids. Whenever he sees anyone eating, he would do his 'munching' mouth movement. I will definitely wait till month 6 to introduce him any solid. It'll be rice cereal followed by chinese rice porridge with added vege/meat/fish one at a time as I slowly introduce them to his diet. This time I will forgo western style of steam and mash vege, etc. Easier and tastier. I can't believe he's in his 4th month already. Time really flew by. Here are several pics taken today :)




My darling Tobey has started his swimming lessons this month. His lessons are being held at the hotel's indoor pool behind my house (1.3 m throughout). It's just 5 minutes walk. But I still drive as it's still too cold for him to walk now after a swim. I just dry him and bundle him into the car after his lesson. He takes his shower when he reaches home, rather than doing it in the hotel changing rooms. He's being taught by his instructor Jeremy together with another student Lian. (not Liam, but Lian). I think he enjoyed himself, although at one point when Jeremy let go of him so that he can learn to float on his own, he started to protest and wanted to get off the pool ;)

He can write his own name now and started writing it on everything he owns(like his cupboard!!!) until we stopped him.His current favourite TV programme is the Octonauts. He's started to venture into really spicy food. Kept saying things like "Hot noodle that one, more please". Still loves school 3 hours a day. When I asked him whether he wants to sta 6 hours on some days (so that I don't have to do the school runs on some days , as he has 15 hours a week free schooling) he said "No , it's too long mummy". My son is truly a creature of routine and loves his home comforts. Oh well, maybe later :)) Here are few pics during him during his swimming lessons.

3 months old Euan

We didn't gel his hair. It's naturally curl-up into a stylish point at the top. His forehead still smells fab!

Hello 2011!!!

Since I last posted, Euan has grown up alot. He'll be 3 months old in a few days time and is due for his 3rd month immunisation jab on the same day. This little baby still is very sweet and considerate. He has taken to sucking his own fingers to comfort himself. During the night, he comforts himself back to sleep and only cry for feed if he really have to. Very thoughtful baby hahaha! He recognises faces and ask to be picked up in his own way. During bath time, you can ask him to kick the water and he would proudly do so with a big toothless grin on his face. These few days, it's as if he just noticed his tiny toes. He would wiggle them and move his feet in circular movement whilst watching intently. I guess his feet are always covered by his sleepsuit, hence he never knew. Euan adores his daddy and Tobey. He loves watching them play from a corner and would not take his eyes off them and their toys.

Euan watching daddy and Tobey playing Wii. These pictures were taken on the 5/12. When Euan was 2 months old. Will load up his recent pics soon.

See how he happily joined in the gang

Learning from his big brother

*** Warning- Long winded posting below***

December hasn't been a good month for us health wise.

It started with SK accidentally shut the door on Tobey's left ring finger on the 7th of Dec. We rushed him to A&E and his finger was x-rayed. It had a hairline fracture at the very tip. They bandaged him up and put him on a course of antibiotic to avoid any infection. We kept him home from pre-school but he still went to perform in his nativity play on the 9th as he had been practicing really hard for it. As he's a sheep for the play, he's suppose to take off his t-shirt before putting on his costume. He refused and wouldn't let his teacher take it off for fear that it might hurt his bandaged finger.

my darling with his injured finger

He got really bored midway

Posing with something we won in the raffles draw

We took him for further 3 check-ups. It's all healed now, but the boy still insist on having a bandage on until his new nail grows back. Whenever he accidentally pull off the bandage he would cry out of fear, as if his finger fell off. Silly bunny.

On the 19th, Tobey started to have a flu. For the next few days he had mild temperature at night and that followed by a terrible cough for a couple more days. Other than being snotty and very lethargic, he was well in himself, as in he still as active as usual. We wanted to bring to go to the church service on the eve of Christmas, but since he's still not completely well, we didn't. When he got better, except for a lingering cough, SK and Euan fell ill with the same virus on Christmas day! Both of them were being hit REALLY hard by this strain. SK was literally bed-ridden for a few days. It was so heart-breaking seeing them being so weak! I weren't so worried about SK, but was quite panicky for Euan. He was just 12 weeks old. I didn't want to leave any stone unturned and was ultra alert of the symptomsor changes. For the first 3 nights, I took him to see the out- of- hours doctors. The doctor on the first night even offered him antibiotics! I stopped after 24 hours as it did not take effect( after seeking approval from a doctor first of course) and I was then pretty sure it was a viral flu. Antibiotics would not help. I don't understand how can a doctor just put his finger in the air and simply prescribe antibiotic to such a small infant. On the second night, he vomited one of his feeds. The second out-of-hours doctor said it's just a very bad flu. Just treat him with calpol(children paracetamol) and neurofen (children ibuprofen) at home and let the virus run it's course. On the third night, his cough was getting so bad that it again triggered his gag system and he vomited twice. I was so anxious and thankfully the third out-of-hours doctor wrote us a letter and referred him to be seen by the paediatrician immediately. Euan was being examined thoroughly for the next couple of hours (wee hours of the morning till 5 am). I told them that my concern is his hacking cough that is so bad that it's causing his body to jerk and gag. He is being diagnosed as having Bronchiolitis. Apparently, this virus affects mostly babies between 3-6 months during the winter months. they have been seeing so many babies this winter down with the same virus. The symptoms are mainly coughing, accompanied by mild fever for the first few days. The coughing is the only way the babies use to clear their airway of mucus. Since babies aren't able to spit out phlegm like adults, they just retain it longer until it's being expelled in their diapers. The severity of the symptoms peaks at day 3 then it stays bad for 4 days and gets gradually better in the next 3-4 days. There's nothing the doctors could prescribe him. We were just instructed to keep him hydrated and temperature down. I think he turned the corner and started to get better on day 7, except for the irritating cough. Again, I took him to the our local Cambourne paediatric doctor to be checked out again, just to make sure he hasn't got any secondary infection such as a sore throat. He was alright. She told me that almost all of Cambourne babies are down with this virus this winter, it just went around the village. Great. Today is day 10 and he's 95% back to himself. There's still this stupid damn cough that appears a few times in a day. Oh, hubby's purchase of a vaporiser is worth every penny. It humidified Euan's room and help loosen his mucus from his nose and airway, hence made his breathing easier and gave him better sleep. And to think that I actually objected to this purchase a few months back. Sigh.

SK is also almost back to his usual self. He's alright, except that he felt cheated of his Christmas holidays. 8 days were used up to nurse this virus off system. I think before next winter break, I would try to keep Tobey off school for a few days. Really don't want any of us to spend another Christmas being sick.

As for me, I am just so glad that my 3 sweethearts are ok now. I only managed to go to the sales twice. But didn't managed to get anything for myself both times. However, I did quite good on the internet shopping front. Breastfeeding shrinked me a little, so I dug out many pairs of jeans which were banished to the top of the cupboard and suddenly have new clothes to wear..hehe.

To family and friends, here's wishing you good health and lots of love in 2011.