Romancing the Husband!

It's been a while since The Husband and I had a proper date. When we do meet when Anya is at the in-laws place, it is always a rushed meal at a location determined by the nature of the errands that we need to run. And when we do, The Husband always let me choose the restaurant - his rationale being I don't get to eat out as often these days. In addition, I have been rather snappy at him lately. Yeah, me bad! Anyway, so I thought we deserve to do a proper dinner date where we get to eat good food unhurriedly AND simultaneously (can be a challenge when Anya is around!).

The Husband has a very Asian palate. Where possible, he prefers to stick to Chinese, Japanese, Thai or local fare. For a gastronomical indulgence, he usually opt for seafood - specifically crabs & lobsters. I knew exactly where to go. ;)

To keep him in suspense, I chose an outlet of the restaurant chain that we have never been to. Thankfully, it was very quiet ( in fact, we had the entire restaurant to ourselves till halfway through the meal!) and yet, the quality of food was not compromised. I ordered the set meal for 2, did a few customisations (no sharks' fins!) and boy were we stuffed! We had to have the desserts to be taken away!

Sorry they are all half-eaten. I kept forgetting to take pics!

Very satisfied & stuffed

It was no doubt an relaxed & enjoyable evening and we even took a stroll, hand in hand, down the Singapore river before calling it a night. Very romantic indeed! The Husband cheekily requested for me to snap at him more. In response, I gave him a fake smile and rolled my eyes. Heh!

Pugga-dorable Anya

Two Sundays ago, the one when The Caterpillar was squealing away in the hypermart (so that Mommy can locate her & Daddy again no matter how far they wandered off), we did a spot of window-shopping too. Passed by Zara and I couldn't resist popping in to have a look at the babies' apparels while The Husband & The Squealing Baby waited outside.

Five minutes later, I emerged out of the shop looking all flushed. The Husband shot me a suspicious look (which is deserving on my part since I have spent a couple hundred bucks on myself in another outlet just one week before that).Couldn't contain my excitement on my purchase, I whipped out the item out from my bag. Tadah! The Husband smiled. I knew he would like it too. Anyway, it is just a regular long-sleeved denim grey tee-shirt for Anya. What holds close to our hearts is the picture of a pug that is embroidered on the front of the shirt. Actually, it is really meant for baby boys, but hey, tee shirts can be gender-neutral right?

So, last Friday, our little model wore it out for the first time! I'm just looking forward an opportunity to let her wear it out together with The Furkid! According to what I envisioned, it will be very adorable!

The doctor said...

...that it is a viral infection. Phlegm, runny nose, cough & throat inflammation. Thankfully, there is no fever so far and she is holding up well, i.e. not cranky, still a happy baby. Though she hasn't slept well for the past two nights, at least it wasn't like the fever episode where she would wake up & keep crying inconsolably.

At this moment as I am typing away, she is happily drifting in her walker (the type that resembles a spaceship), squealing & charging at the poor furkid who had to keep moving her nap place for fear that she (The Furkid) might be run over. Haha! The clever dog just trot over to me, pawing my thigh to carry her onto my lap. Now she is peacefully snoring on my lap.

Back to Anya's viral infection. Given Anya's age, the doctor did not want to prescribe antibiotics & cough syrup. Instead, she is given a nose drop & another syrup to clear the phlegm. I reckon it will take a matter of weeks for her to recover. Meanwhile, The Husband & I are gritting our teeth (and trying hard not swallow anything) while sucking her phlegm/mucus using this nasal suction device. While nothing other than air goes into our mouth, still.... Very icky, i tell you! Perhaps, Mike Rowe may want to be our apprentice for a day or two as a feature on Dirty Jobs?

Come lie down with me..

Another impending visit to the doctor...

As i'm typing this, The Caterpillar is asleep right next to me. I was awaken by her coos via the baby monitor at 6-ish. The Husband was already up preparing to go out for his cell & confirmed that she is up. Since she is just talking to herself, I didn't get out of bed. "She may go back to sleep after a while," I thought. Ten minutes passed, The Husband has gone out, her coos are visibly louder. Hmmm... I decided to bring her over to our bed where I can try soothing her to sleep a while longer with me.

When she turned around to face me, a tiny alarm rang in my head. Is that mucus all over her nose & cheeks? Why are her eyes puffy? How come her breathing is so noisy? Recognition dawned on her face and she started beaming at me. Her morning smile. But instead, her smile froze midway and choked into a cough instead. I picked her up & carried her back to my room where I can observe abit more.

Yup. My above observations were all correct. She is having a runny AND stuffy nose, puffy eyes & coughing away. I fetched her sippy cup, gave her a drink of warm water. That seemed to make her more comfortable. Soon, her eyes started to droop. Yet, instead of closing her eyes & go to sleep, she stretched out her grubby hand to touch my face (I was lying next to her). It was in that position She fell asleep. Sigh.. My poor baby.

I dread what is to come. Pray that she will not be as uncomfortable as the last round of sickness. Already, she whined & whimpered a couple of times as she sleeps beside me. Oh Father, let Your presence fill us so that we may be strengthened & comforted. May Your protection & healing be over her.

Daddy & mommy's bed is really my playground!

Well, especially on another hazy afternoon of  air perfumed with Something-is-burning. Closed all the windows, turn on the A/C, bring in the air purifier, clear the blankets to the side & lastly, scatter some of her toys onto our bed. Tadah! The ideal sanctuary for her playtime!  Thankfully, The Husband & I like our bed not too soft, so she can roll & wriggle around with ease.

Hmmm... I think The Husband will feel a tad of jealousy reading this post at his work desk. Heh!

Anya's mom
Sent from my iPhone

A short report card @ six & half months

My little Caterpillar,

You turned six months with a fever & a congested nose. Not the nicest way to mark the date. Mommy & Daddy were up to our necks nursing you back to health & juggling our other responsibilities. Here's a quick pen-down on your progress over the past one & half months.

Biggest milestone:
Sitting up on your own (We'll prop you up in the sitting position and you can hold yourself there).

Sitting up on her own & proud of it!

Cushioned crib for a baby who just learned to sit

Other mini milestones:

• You eat your veggies! Till date, you have tried carrots, broccoli, spinach, potato, sweet potato and squash. Mommy & Daddy are so proud of ya!

Good little girl eating her awful-tasting spinach

• Rolling over can now be done from the right and from the left, from back to front & vice versa.
• Your vision has become visibly sharper! How do I tell? Example scenario:You are taking your bath in the MBR bathroom. Muff trotted up to the entrance of the MBR which is about 3m from where we were to check out what the ding-dongs was about. You coo-ed your special coos that's reserved just for Muff, indicating your recognition for her. :)
• Attempting to pull your torso away from the ground into a crawling position. Even though you are not quite there yet, your eagerness will still prompt you to wriggle forward.
• You cry when carried by arms belonging to unfamiliar faces. Not a good thing if you consider the fact that you cry too when Popo and Gugu (whom you see once a week/fortnight) carries you. Well, I console myself with the thought that at least we will be alerted if some stranger comes along and pick you up when we are at the mall.

Warming up to Popo

Your character is shaping:
Definitely a happy, cheerful baby (thank God for answering this prayer!) who is generous in your smiles except when strangers carry you, of course.

Touch is your love language, which I suppose is the case for most babies. You enjoy massages & tickles thrill you to no end. When I put you in your bumbo chair & sit down next to you, you will reach out and rest your hand on my thigh. Once, Daddy & I sat on the floor watching TV while you were in your bumbo chair between us. You stretched both her arms outwards, rested one on my lap, the other on Daddy's and beamed at us. Our hearts melted into a two puddles.

Biggest event of the month:
Had your first haircut two Saturdays ago. The hairstylist was.... yours truly, using a stationery scissors (it was sort of on impulse and there's no proper salon scissors at home!). Nevertheless, we thought you look much better! Your crowning glory finally resembles one instead of a badly assembled scrawny bird's nest and your face is more framed. More importantly, there are lesser tangles that Mommy has to tackle with. Yeay!

Before haircut

After haircut

All in all, the past one & half months was filled with a mixture of tears and fears, laughter and giggles. At the end of it, Anya, Daddy & Mommy are finding ourselves falling deeper and deeper in love with you.

Baby, meet The Vacuum-cleaner

The new vacuum-cleaner that we bought two months is awesome! The suction is uber powerful that dust mites that are burrowed deep in our beddings are not spared. The machine are various functional brushes & tools that can be attached to the machine for cleaning specific furniture & awkward places around the house. Moreover, the machine can double up as a air purifier!

Needless to say, we are very pleased with it. I mean, what's there not to be pleased about? Since we started using it, we get to walk on flawlessly clean floor (oh, it mops too!), sleep on 5-stars hotel-like clean beds & breathe in dust-free air with a tint of orange. So yes, as I cite the goodness of the vacuum-cleaner, I start to think that it's more than awesome! I'm fact, it's is more like the dream of a vacuum-cleaner! It's almost next to perfect! Well, almost because there is a tiny weeny flaw - the thunderous roaring sounds that it makes when it is at work. For most families, I believe, this little hitch can go unnoticeable! - except that in our case, it is as glaring as the afternoon sun these days. Reason being: the thunderous sound scares the s*** (poop as she identifies it) out of Anya.

On the very first day when a sales rep came down to do a demonstration, our little one had cried buckets despite being in her Daddy's arms who was standing a good 2 meters away. Thereafter, we could only use it when she is at the in-laws' place or when both The Husband & I are home. In the second case, one of us will vacuum the floor while the other will lock himself/herself in the furthest possible room with Anya. Not very practical, huh.

So earlier on, I tried to vacuum the floor with just Anya & myself at home. My plan was to carried her in my arms while switching on the machine, let her accustom to the noise before dropping her in her playpen while I get down to work. I introduced to her the machine, pre-empted her by mimicking the sound, then proceeded to switch it on. It started roaring, she started crying. Calmed her down, then tried again. Same results. Sigh.. Looks like we will have to make do with dusty floor for today.

Multi-tasking already?

 

We had a long day! Church service in the morning followed by lunch & grocery shopping. She was all bright-eyed & smiley, squealing excitedly the whole afternoon. I swear she could be heard within a radius of 15 meters at the hypermart. 

With all that adrenalin swimming in her body, she naturally took more time to wind down for a much-needed nap after we got home. By the time she finally fell asleep, it was already almost 6pm, barely 2 hours before her dinner time. I had to literally pry her up from bed.

So there we have a hungry AND sleepy baby satisfying both needs simultaneously. This multi-tasking ability, I believe, is inherited from her mommy - yours truly. :)

Anya's mom
Sent from my iPhone

There hasn't been much updates lately as Anya has been unwell on/ff. Since the flu episode, it seems that her left ear has been bothering her. On good days, she would be like her normal self except that she refuses to sleep on her left side & when she is at upright position, her head will somewhat be tilting towards the right. On bad days, she would scream & cry buckets at the very slightest contact with her left ear.

Anyway, I shall not dwell too much into the details. Let's just say that she had fever, slight diarrhea, some loss of appetite, a mysterious ear ache that both PD & GP could not find anything wrong with, and three consecutive sleepless nights.Now that things seems to be better (her fever has cleared for more than 24 hours!), we could only guess (and hope) that it was really teething and nothing else. Her left ear seems to bother her less now too, though she still refuses to sleep on her left side.

Looking back at the series of events of the past week, I could feel tears threatening to well up my eyes & my heart aching again.. It is very distressing & heart-wrenching to see your own child suffering and yet there is only so much you can do to make her comfortable / well. And in this case, it was made worse by not knowing the exact cause of her affliction. It was a test of my faith to be able to cast my worries & fears and trust that He is in control.

Now that Anya is much better, The Husband and I are not taking it for granted. For the past two mornings that we woke up from more rested sleep, we find ourselves hugging her and praising the Lord after checking that her temperature is normal. We are so thankful that she is back to her joyful self and are praying that she continues to recover well.

The little tear-stained face

She was up most part of last night. Her left ear seemed to hurt again. She kept pulling at her ears & hair, while rubbing her face against the bedsheets. Now she is running a fever again. :( I just wish I know how to make her well again.

Well, still, I thank God that her appetite is hearty & I can cheer her up with abit of play.