Kiefer has rolled over.. all by himself

Kiefer has finally successfully rolled over without his arm getting stuck under his body!! He did this yesterday on the little mattress that we laid him on!! Well done fer fer!!

He has been able to sit a little while on his own since he was about 5 months. His back is rather strong. I think it may be because we put him on the Bumbo. Kieran didn't have the Bumbo until we brought it back from the US when he was about 6-7 months. He is very interactive and often gurgles and smiles when spoken too. On the whole, he really is a very good baby!! :D

Beach Activities

This is what Kieran does at the beach.

This is what Kiefer does at the beach! :P

My name is...

... Seashell Amy Choo Training!!

Haha... just had to blog this down. We were teaching Kieran our names, i.e. What is Mummy's name? What is Daddy's name? And when it came to my name, the Daddy had to go confuse Kieran with the word sea shell. Yes, he knows what a sea shell is, and when i break my name up for him, is able to pronounce each syllable "Mi-shell" but when you ask him what mummy's name is, he'll go "Sea-shell"!! haha..

Also, he is still not very good with vocalising words and whenever he cannot pronounce a syllable, he'll substitute the syllable with "A" e.g. A-mouse = mickey mouse, A-bra = zebra. When you ask him to say "mummy" syllable by syllable, he'll be able to do it. But when you ask him to say the 2 syllables together, he'll always go "A-meee"!

The last part of the name came because Kieran always says" choo train" or "training" when he sees a train. (ok, he currently has the habit of adding "-ing" to his words. I think it started with the word 'swimming'. Then it became "training" (train), "fanning" (fan). It's quite funny to hear him say that actually!! Well, since my surname is "Choo", Daddy started the "Seashell Amy Choo Training"!!!

For the record, Kieran is starting to recognise colours already. He is quite sure of the colour red, orange, yellow and blue (in order of getting the colours correct most of the time).

asthmatic bronchitis...

That's what the Dr says. Everything seems to be a sudden occurrance. He woke up crying 2 nights ago and we thought he was just being cranky and wanted water or something. He was kicking and crying uncontrollably and because we were rather tired ourselves, we just kept trying to make him go back and sleep. I woke up after a while to find that he was taking very short breaths and breathing really hard. I felt his heart pumping really hard and fast as well. owever, I didn't think that he was having asthmatic problems or had trouble breathing (K never had anything like that before thus I didn't realise or think anything further - lesson learnt here).

We decided not to let him go school in the morning and Daddy stayed home with him yesterday and brought him to the dr.
He came home from the dr with loads of medcines and the nebuliser. I didn't like it that he was put on steroids, but I guess we'll have to break the asthmatic cycle somehow first. It was difficult to get him to use the nebuliser as he was absolutely terrified of it. I think it's the sound and the vapour that was coming out of it. Anyway, long story short, it's real big trouble getting him to take the meds and use the neb every 4hrs!

This morning, we somehow managed to get him to be not so afraid of the neb anymore. He allowed me to use it on him while Daddy carried him, watching Shrek. At least he got most of the meds in him. Nonetheless, I think the 2 of us inhaled quite a bit too.

Here's the list of his meds:

1. Prospan - cough/ expectorant/ mucolytic/ bronchodilator
2. Klacid (clarithromycin) - antibiotics
3. Prednisolone - steroid to reduce inflammation
4. Ventolin - to open the airways
5. Pulmicort - preventive steroids
6. Fluimucil - mucolytic

Ventolin and Pulmicort are used together in the nebuliser. Hopefully the dr says that we won't have to use Pulmicort anymore.


That's Daddy and Kieran playing with the neb mask!


Finally not so scared of it anymore..!!


Getting scared when it was turned on and the vapours started coming out.


That's him watching Shrek and using the neb.

edit:
Dr said that we had to continue with the neb for a few more days but she said that I could reduce the pulmicort to only once a day only. the other times of nebbing to use only ventolin. I told her I would stop prednisolone and she oked that. She also said to give him zyrtec which i stopped for awhile. maybe that was y the cough aggravated. hmm..

Anyway, he cried and cried when we nebbed him just now. poor baby. I think he was really tired as well cos he napped very little in the afternoon. Almost fell asleep towards the end. When we were done, I went to the kitchen to make milk for him and when I returned, he was already asleep!!

Yes, also gotta thank tw for whatever she did to help Kieran. Thanks!

Back to work..

It's back to work for me. :( After staying at home for the last 5.5 months, it's quite a drag to go back to work. Even though there is no teaching to be done now (students are now preparing for their exams) and there is only consultations, it feels quite dreary going back to work. I miss simply playing with the boys. At least, there is only 2 weeks of school and we'll be closed for the year end break. Next year will be the start of my real working again! :( :(

Cleared out my table of trash and papers and now I have clean, empty table to start work again. I think I will have to make my corner and homely as possible, seeing that I'll be there for a long, long time. I'm going to try to clear away my files sitting on my shelves to make space for new stuff as well.

I've been pumping every 3-4hrs now. So it's usually about 930am and another time at about 1230pm or if I go off early, it's only once a day and I'll be home to feed fer directly. I am not pumping a lot at each pump only about 4oz, but I guess it's alright as long as I pump as many feeds as he drinks. Recently I've been thinking about BFing Fer for longer than a year because Kieran is rather germy. He's just recovered from his cough 2 weeks back (with 3 days absent from school in 1 week) and now he is down with the sniffles again (tho' less severe this time). I hope that if Fer is BFed longer, he will be stronger to resist the germy Kor kor. My target for now is still 1 year, and I think i'll see how it goes when the time comes. The vain me wants to go back to wearing dresses and stuff!!

my little EMO baby...

Kieran was so so sad that Mummy and Daddy have to go to work. Yesterday, Daddy had a late day so we could all go for breakie at MacD's. He was so happy when he woke up in the morning and we said that we were going MacD's. He said "syess!!" then said "fer fer". So we all went and had a great breakie. Then the sadness started when Daddy dropped us and Grandpa's and had to drive off. He didn't want Daddy to go, and once he realised that Daddy had to go, he clung on really tightly to me, knowing that I would have to go work too. (We've been telling him that for awhile to get him prepared for my return to work). I carried him and walked around with him a little and told him that I would send him to school cos I had a free day. He was still very sad, and didn't want to take a shower. Slowly I managed to change him into his uniform but he still held on to me and looked sad and was going to cry. So I gave him a photograph of Mummy and Daddy (I just pulled it off the photo frame at grandpa's) and told him to look at the photo when he missed us and that we will be there when he comes home from school.

Once we reached school, he knew that he had to go in and so he walked to his teachers by himself, actually went into their arms asking them to *carry him*, and looked at us with red, teary eyes. I took out the photo from his bag and let him hold it. When I reached back the house, Gareth's mummy smsed me and said that K was crying when she was there. When she asked him why he was crying, he tearfully showed her the photo i gave him!! HAHAHAHA... sad but funny little boy huh? EMO kid i say..

I called the school a little later and the principal told me that the entire morning she's been hearing teachers going "kieran! kieran!" not in the reprimanding way but was trying to distract him and make him happy. But after the snack, she said that he was alright and playing already. :D

Such a sad, funny little boy eh..

I'm really going back to work on Monday already, I think I will miss him (and Fer) more than he misses me. :(

Back to scrapping!!

Since I've finished sewing the little stuff for my babies, it's back to scrapbooking for me! In the last week, I've done 3 layouts. 1 traditional layout and 2 digital ones. I've also started sorting out my papers by colours and am half-way through that. I'm determined to pack up my stuff nicely, cos I realised that all my scrapping stuff are all over the place!!

Well, it's back to work on Monday for me. :( Kieran is feeling the separation anxiety already. Actually myself as well. On one hand, I'm happy that Kieran is so much closer to me, on the other, it breaks my heart to see him cry when I drop him off at Grandpa's. I think he's been through so many adjustments these 5 mths! And he is doing so well (yes, I say this all the time). Great job Kieran!

blocked ducts...

... ouch..!

School called...

... to ask us to bring Kieran home early (at 1030 am). I happen to bring Kiefer for a walk to the NTUC and when I came back, I saw that FIL's car was not around.

I think he wasn't feeling all too well today. He was sleepy when he reached FIL and didn't want to wake up to play even. He coughed badly and vomited when he reached school this morning and had to change into his spare clothes. FIL sent him to school today and so he was the one to change him, I guess he wasn't cleaned up all too well cos I still smelt puke on him when he got home. The wipes in the bag was unopened as well. :( Anyway, it seemed that he coughed so badly that he vomited the phlegm out in the morning. The teachers said that he was cranky and cried quite a bit. Also, he looked really uncomfortable. I thought it was probably because of the smelly pukey stench on him. FIL said that he probably felt left out cos he was the only one not in uniform! Whatever it was, I checked with the teachers that it was definitely not because he didn't want to go school. Why? Cos this morning, I didn't send him to school. I just packed him in the car and said bye to him. He was a little unhappy about that and actually wanted me to go along. I thought it was time to wean him off me in the mornings as well since I got to go back to work on Monday. :(

*I'm glad that I stayed home the last 5 months with the boys! K is happy at home with Mummy and that he actually wants Mummy to be with him! On one hand, I want him to be independent, on the other, I want him to be Mummy's boy! Dilemma! Sometimes I feel bad that Kiefer may not have this chance when he is about Kieran's age. I still hope that I'll be able to stay home for awhile when Kiefer is a little older.*

Day at the beach

No swimming on sat cos Andria's mummy wasn't free and since we haven't been to the beach in such a long time, we've decided to go and have some fun in the sand.

K hasn't been playing sand in a long while and thus he felt yucky standing on the sand. He didn't even want to put his feet into the water! He simply sat at the edge of the mat and dug away at the sand!

Finally finished..

Finally finished my recent craze of sewing projects!! And now, I can get back to my scrapping! :P

This was a little black/white/red book that I made for my little Fer Fer. Kieran had a red/black/white ball last time (store-bought) and I wanted Fer to have something that was his and not a hand-me-down, thus this book!! Everything was handsewn except for the sides where I had to sew the pages together. I used the machine for that, but I'm just lousy with the machine. Had to sew and re-sew a few times cos the something always happens. You can actually see that the stitches are not even and are missing at places. I reckoned i would probably have to re-sew this when it falls apart someday. 

Made this little car for Kieran. He has this habit of bringing his toys to bed and we are always sleeping on his little die-cast cars. Copied this design from beep beep. Well, mine definitely doesn't look as nice as the one she has done! After I finished, I realised that my car was a little out of shape! The body should have been a little longer. Nonetheless, I think Kieran likes it, tho' he still prefers his car to be able to roll about! Anyway, I just wanted my 2 little boys to have something that was mummy-made, so that they can remember that mummy stayed at home with them for a little while when they were growing up. 

And yes, and here's the 2nd pair of leg warmers that I made. I like this one better than the first! Must remember to get this type of socks if I were to make some more. And I think Fer looks like a big boy in this photo! He certainly doesn't look like a 5 month old! I thought he looked like a tiny 1 year old or something! Just look at his face!!

Kiefer is 5 months old!

Our little baby is 5 months old! time seem to fly by faster with him! He's really a big baby now. No more a helpless little infant. He is vocal (should hear him whine and complain when we ignore him!) and inquisitive.  A little update:

1. always turns towards sounds, especially when the TV is turned on, you'll see his head turning towards the TV!
   
2. Inquisitive - grabs at anything that he can get his hands on and promptly shoves them into his mouth. we often find wet soppy blankets, towels, hankies, clothes around him.
3. starting to roll over. will roll over when shoved.
4. hold his head very well. 
5. sits up for long periods with some support
6. loves to put his legs up in the air and holding them with his wet, soppy fingers
7. blows raspberry bubbles till he is all soppy
8. smiles and laughs whenever people talk to him
9. still sleeps quite a bit. usually dozes 1hr after every feed and if no one disturbs, he'll sleep till his next feeding. :D
10. weighs 7.5kg (plateauing already!! or else he'll be ginormous!!)