Shanle's 1st Month

The past two weeks were really hectic days for me and my family. We celebrated Shanle's 1st Month on 18 Nov 2006, the day Irene was discharged from SGH. Fortunately, we were able to reach home at around 1:00 pm, just in time for the luncheon. By the time we got home, the place were already swarmed with our relatives and family friends. Our dear Shanle had to hold the fort alone for a while. After the luncheon, our friends and colleagues started streaming in for the afternoon tea. Everything went smoothly and it was a great time to catch up for everyone. The only regret I had was that I did not have the opportinunity to take more video clips and photos. Otherwise, I will have a longer video clip to share. Anyway, below is the video clip I did for Shanle, capturing moments of his first month. The main attraction will be the shaving of his newborn hair. It's really amazing how cooperative Shanle was.

We will like to thank everyone for taking your precious time off to visit our humble home and share our joy. Thank you very much for all the gifts, voucher and angpows. They really come in very handy at this financially squeezy time for us.

The 1st month party was just the start of our hectic days. On the Thursday of the following week, I had to sit for an exam on Computer Comms, the final module of my long-drawn part-time degree programme in Computer Science at SIM University. I had only three days to prepare for it. At the same time, my workload doubled as my colleague left for his pre-posting language training without a successor. I got to hold the fort of our little unit alone for probably the next one month or so. As Irene was just recovering, I had to do all the household chores from mopping to washing the window panes.

Fortunately for us, my mother-in-law volunteered to take care of Shanle full-time for the week of my exam, sparing me from the disruptive nights. For the benefit of those who could not turn up for the party, my in-laws lived in a nearby block within the same precint, 5 minutes walk away. If that is convenient, that's not all. My parents occupy the flat directly below ours. We are akin to living in a mansionette except that the staircase is external. I am reaping the fruits of good foresight when we planned our home back in 2004.

With the strong family network support, we pulled through without too much hardship. We have been taking care of Shanle in the night since a week ago. The feeding timings are becoming more regular nowadays (11-12pm, 3pm, 6pm) so I have been able to get enough sleep to fend the following day's work. It's hard but I find it quite enjoyable... caring for Shanle and seeing him grow bigger and cuter each day. I will put up more photos as we go along! Watch this space.

Irene Hospitalised

This is a tough year for our young family as we fell sick one after another. Irene was hospitalised two days ago at SGH for gastro-intestinal pain and severe vomitting. Compared to her earlier ailment this month, she was feeling worse this time round. Her symptoms were identical but this time the vomitting was much more severe as she threw out all the oral medication given. Our GP gave her a referral letter and we went straight to SGH A&E. The response time was quite good and she was admitted a couple of hours later. The doc put her on drip and she had to fast, no food no liquid. It was a tormenting time for her yesterday but she recovered quickly today. If everything is okay, she should be discharged tomorrow - just in time for Shanle's first month party, fortunately. The SGH doctors are running a series of tests to find out the cause of her frequent abdominal pains. We are not optimistic that they will find anything affirmative. This is not the first time she has been thoroughly tested and scanned. But we will just keep our fingers crossed if this second opinion may shed further light on Irene's condition. If not, we will turn to TCM for answers.

Recovering from viral fever

I have not switched on my computer for the past three days as I was down with a viral fever since Wednesday. I went to see a nearby doc on Thursday morning. But as my fever subsided and I was allergic to most painkillers, doc sent me home with a day's rest. The fever came back soon and it went up to 38.8 deg C by the same evening. I went to another doc in the same neighbourhood to get some medication. The new doc gave me some antibiotics, Vitamin C and some doses of Tramadol, the only painkiller I wasn't allergic to. But Tramadol did not appear to kill my headache and it got really bad the next day. The fever was gone by Friday but the headache lingered. By Saturday, I have no choice but to revert to Traditional Chinese Medicine. My father-in-law drove to to a Makuang Clinic in Yishun and the sinseh gave my some powder medication to ease my headache. It worked wonders. I woke up today clear of the headache. Still, I am feeling weak from the ailment. I think it is time to kickstart my regular workout. This laziness and 'no time for exercises' excuse will not do me any good.

Shanle's Four Wheeler

Shanle got his first four wheeler today! This CAPELLA PETIT Optima Air Stroller bought from the Kiddy Palace in Marina Square, is a gift from his aunt, my sister Eileen. The price of the stroller is quite reasonable, S$199 after discount. I like it a lot, especially the bright red linings and ease of opening. We nearly burn a big hole in my sister's pocket with the other choice, a Combi new model Riccowa, which costs S$599!!! Fortunately, good sense won our minds in the end and we opted for the more practical and economical choice.

My Travelogue of Taiwan

Irene has fully recovered and things are back to normal again. I was busy this morning uploading the remaining 6 of the 12 albums of photos that I took during my stay in Taiwan from 2002 - 2006. I always wanted to pen down some thoughts about the various vacations I spent at the scenic places of Taiwan and also to share the photos with my friends. I think I will spend sometime each week to blog about each photo album I uploaded and the interesting encounters we had along the way. If I can find my old travel itineraries, I will be glad to share them through my blog as well.

For friends who cannot wait for my travelogue, you can visit my MSN Space to browse the photos. I have been using MSN Space for quite sometime and I beginning to find it unattractive. I have moved my blog to blogger.com because MSN requires my friends to sign up before they can leave their comments. The level of flexibility to add html/javascript in MSN is also limited. I am now trying out a new website, Fotki.com, to host my photo albums. If it worked well, I'll move over soon and close down my MSN Space.

This is the first album loaded on Fotki.com. Do pay a visit and let me know which photo album host you prefer. Cheers!

Irene is ill

I took urgent leave today to tend to my ailing wife Irene. Her stomach spasm is back and she has been vomitting out everything she took, water included. I brought her to Thomson Medical Centre around midnight and we returned with a few packet of drugs for her spasm, headache, fever and nausea. She was alright when she got home. But things got worst this morning and she vomitted all the drugs she took. Without the drugs to relieve her pain, she felt horrible. I took her to a nearby clinic to get a jab and we were given a fresh round of medication. She's now much better. Shanle has to get by today on formula milk as the doc wanted her to suspend breastfeeding until she recovers.

早出晚歸

時間過的真快,小善樂出生已經有兩個星期了. 我每日早出晚歸的心情也有了微妙的變化. 一早上班不曾無精打彩, 晚上回家也充滿了喜悅. 有時候一個人在捷運里想著家中的母子還會不知覺的傻笑. 今天早晨, 小善樂在我還沒上班前就以甦醒. 他兩眼汪汪好奇的看著我. 我心頭一熱, 將他抱起,擁入懷中. 一個新的生命帶給了我莫大的推動力. 我一定要好好的把他扶養成人. 要如何教育他正確的價值觀,我就得傷傷腦筋了.