Playing with Evelyn

Before Evelyn was born and there was still space in my tummy, Evelyn would be moving around especially in the evenings when I am resting. And you would be so amused when you see my tummy moving as Evelyn moves around inside. Here's a video I'd taken of you being entertained by Evelyn. It was suggested by Alan Ku-ku and I'm glad I did make a video:

And now that Evelyn is here, you love her so much. You keep wanting to kiss her and hug her..

Sunday Afternoon in Straits Quay

Today we went out for lunch in Straits Quay. Ah Kong wanted to try the restaurant, Cheeky Duck's dim sum. A problem we are facing at the moment is Evelyn being unable to sleep on her back, thus not wanting to sleep in her stroller *sigh*.. so Ah Ma and I took turns to carry her. You on the other hand, enjoyed your lunch, especially the lor mai kai and you even tried the wu kok which you liked. Here you are finishing the last of the lor mai kai:

As we did not manage to see the Christmas tree when we were in Straits Quay on Friday, we headed to the front where VW was having a display of their cars for test drive and there was a clown who was making balloon figures on request. So you queued up and requested for a "blue sword"

And here you are with the giant tree and your sword:

And what was Evelyn doing while we got your sword? Sleeping in Ah Ma's arms in the air-cond. After that we headed to see the renovation in the condo before heading home. Daddy was not with us as he's in Singapore. We sure miss him, even though he's just gone to Singapore on Thursday.  

Evan Loves the Rain

We had gone to Island Plaza with daddy and Ah Kong one of the weekends before Evelyn was born. Ah Kong was there to look at some furniture. We were bored so we went to look at other shops and ended up in Guardian. This shop in Island Plaza is quite big, so we just wandered around when you saw them selling umbrellas.

You asked me if you could have one. I wonder why it is so fascinating to you. I guess it's because you never get a chance to use it. So in the end I agreed to buy you one. Then we brought it up to the house and never got a chance to use it. After my confinement was over, there was one day when we went out with daddy and it was drizzling. When we got back it was still drizzling, so I allowed you to play outside in the rain with your umbrella.

And here you are grinning from ear to ear playing with the umbrella.

I love it that something so simple can make you so happy. The happiness on your face is really priceless. 

Evan's Last Day in Kindergarten

You had been telling me that you and your friend will be sad on the last day of school. Next year you're all going to the "big school" and sadly none of the children in your class will be going to the same school as you.

Well in preparation of the last day, we picked the papers and all to make a card for your teachers. I had also made my own card to thank the teachers and bought the wrappers for the little gifts for the teachers. Here's everything all ready this morning:

This morning you were up even before I got to your room to wake you up. I guess you were excited. You quickly showered and dressed then we went down for breakfast. Soon it was 8am and time to go to school. I took a picture of you in your school uniform (the T-shirt) which you would be wearing for the last time.. before you headed to Ah Ma's car. Daddy is away on travels so Ah Ma is your driver for the day.

As with every morning, I'd stand upstairs and wave to you and you'd wave back either making silly faces as you waved or waved in your funny ways. Here you are waving and making faces as you drove off:

Then you went off to school. As a surprise, Ah Ma and I planned to pick you up. When we reached school, most of the children had gone off. Before saying goodbye to the teachers for the last time, we took some pictures with your teachers and even your friend Ari who was also taking pictures with the teachers. After finally saying goodbye, we headed to a surprise lunch. You were given and choice and (not surprisingly) you picked Spasso Milano (your favourite) in Straits Quay.

Here's what we had for lunch; Buffalo Mozarella Pizza, Pescatore and Pasta Formaggi:

 After lunch, we had to leave immediately as you had art class. Too bad we did not have time to look at the Christmas tree which is already up in Straits Quay. We will go another time with daddy, ok.
And here's Evelyn all KO-ed after the busy day (I wonder how come she's so tired, when she slept most of the time we were out *grin*)



Lucky Evelyn and Evan

I'm very glad that we took the time and effort to ensure that you will be loving towards Evelyn. Most importantly was that we'd bring you along for all of my check and you'd get to "see" your mei-mei while she was in my tummy. Another thing we did (as suggested by a good friend) was to let you pick a present for Evelyn to be given to her when she arrives.

So when we went to KL in August we'd stopped over in Ikea for a quick lunch and pick up some things one of which was a soft toy for your mei-mei. You walked around and finally picked up this cute little rabbit. When we got home, we put this toy into a little bag for you to bring along when Evelyn arrived. At first you told me to bring it with me as it's a "girly" toy and you didn't want to be seen carrying it. After a lot of persuasion and convincing you agreed to bring it with you.

So when mei-mei finally arrived when you came to visit (and have dinner with daddy and I in the hospital) you brought this little gift along for her. So now, this little rabbit sits on the baby cot downstairs and accompanies Evelyn when she takes her afternoon naps.

After Evelyn's fullmoon, you were a little sad. You asked me how come Evelyn had so many gifts while you didn't get anything. I reminded you that you did have a present. Kelvin had brought you a gift when he'd come for the party. But that wasn't enough to convince you. You said you'd only gotten ONE while mei-mei had so many. So I explained to you that it was Evelyn's fullmoon that's why the presents were for her. There would be no presents for her when it's YOUR birthday. And you understood.

Then I'd told daddy about your disappointment. So he said that he'd let you pick a toy for yourself and consider it was a gift from mei-mei. So this is what you'd picked when we went to Toys R Us last Saturday:

So looks like you're both lucky to "give" each other a present.

A Little Gift From Mrs Shanti

You came back from school and excitedly showed me that you had a gift. It was from your class teacher, Mrs Shanti Lee. You were so excited that you had problems trying to open the nice bag which the box was inside.

At last you managed to get it out. Wow.. such a nice box. And inside was a pen. 

It was such a thoughtful gift. It even had your name engraved on it.

How sweet.. I'm sure you'll miss all your teachers in your school.

Precious Ones

Here's a picture of our precious ones..

Happy Halloween with Evan

Came across a mummy blogger sharing on how to make some Halloween decorations, so after you had completed your homework and Evelyn had finally dozed off, I quickly went upstairs to gather the materials we'd need and we started on our project.

As there were 3 items, you picked the pumpkin and I picked the cutie bat. You drew out the outline and the shapes of the eye and mouht of the Jack-O-Lantern and then cut out the shape while mummy helped you to cut out the eyes and mouth. While I helped you cut these shapes out, you helped me to stick on the googly eyes and then draw the smiley mouth with the two fangs.

It's fun doing this quick craft... especially since it's been a while since we've done any crafts together. In fact, our stash of toilet paper rolls in the bathroom is getting more and more and daddy is wondering why we need so many of them!

Another Lost Tooth

On Tuesday when we were still in the hospital, my phone rang early in the morning, even before Evelyn was brought to mummy for a feeding after her morning bath. I was still sleeping when my phone rang. I was wondering how come daddy was calling me (based on the ring tone) when he was sleeping in the guest bed in the hospital. I took a look at the caller ID and it was a call from the house phone. I answered and it was you calling. You were so excited and told me that your tooth had fallen off.

So on 25th September you lost your upper right incisor. Now you have a gaping hole. It's very appropriate to sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" *grin*. Hugs for my little brave boy. No tears, only excitement when you lose your teeth. And of course all excited because you know the tooth fairy is coming.

And now another tooth is also loose. I wonder when that one will fall off.

My Precious Little Boy

Your mei-mei has been back for and while and I love it when I hear you refer to Evelyn as "mei-mei". And you keep telling me that you love her so much and that she's so cute. You even exclaim that she's grown (every other day). Then sometimes you'd compare yourself to her size wise: your feet, your hands and once you'd even tried to lie next to her to see how "tall" she is compared to you.

You were still coughing when she first came home but occasionally I'd let you carry her for a while (with our help). And the happiness shown on your face.. is priceless. After putting her down, you'd say that you are very strong and can carry weight over 4kg, showing us the exercise weights that we have.

Here's a picture of you carrying her (with daddy's hands supporting)

A big hug to my good boy who adores his little mei-mei so much and who has been a very well behaved little boy throughout my confinement.

Another Checkup

We had to go in to see Dr Mary again on Monday after we'd left the hospital on Saturday. Again you had your blood taken and we were given the syringe of glucose. So when we went down to the lab, half was given to you and then you had your blood sample taken a few minutes later. This lab technician seemed to be better at taking a sample. You were not bothered by him at all.
After your blood test results were out, we went to see Dr Mary. Your bilirubin level was at 145. Yay! All cleared. As it was the day after the school concert, Evan Ko-ko came along with us to see the doctor. And Dr Mary heard his cough which did not clear yet. So she even prescribed him some medicine before we left. You were also given an appointment on the same day as I'd have my next appointment with Dr Low. It was to check up on any possible heart problems. According to her, any problems would start to show after 2 weeks.
Ah Ma who'd left us at the hospital to run some errands picked us up and home we went. I'm glad that everything went well.

Back to the Hospital

You had an appointment to see Dr Mary on Thursday after you were discharged on Tuesday. Daddy took the day off to bring us to the hospital. After we arrived, your weight was taken and I was given a little syringe of glucose. It was for you to take which apparently reduces the pain when they take your blood for the jaundice test. We went down to have the blood taken and despite the glucose given to you (half before the blood was taken and the balance for after) you decided to scream at the technician who took your blood. Poor thing.

We went back up to the paediatric floor to wait for the results. You slept happily in daddy's arms. Then we were called. Your bilirubin level had shot up to 295 that day. So, there was no choice but to admit you and I. Yup, I stayed in with you as I was breastfeeding you. You were immediately stripped and a mask put over your eyes and put under phototherapy.

We stayed from Thursday and on Friday, your bilirubin level had dropped to 190 but Dr Mary wanted it to go lower before she'd allow you to go home. So we stayed another night. On those days, you were under phototherapy most of the time and was brought to me in the room opposite the NICU when you awoke and wanted to be fed. During that time, I also expressed my milk for that the nurses can try to feed you (by spoon) so allowing you to remain under the light for longer periods. I'm so glad that my milk started to come and that there was enough for nme to feed as well as express for you.

Nights seemed especially difficult and there was one night when I could hear your crying away and so I went over to have a look. In the end, you just wanted a little cuddle. Maybe you missed me... I managed to take a picture of you with your eyes covered as I carried you

On Saturday morning, you were given a bath a little later as it was an off day in the hospital and the nurse had informed me that your blood would be taken later too.. at around 10a.m.. We waited and then Dr Mary arrived. She gave you the all-clear and we could go home. Yay! Your bilirubin reading was 140.

Daddy came shortly after along with Evan kor-kor as they had gone out for breakfast together. After the bill was settled we headed home.

So as daddy says, at 4 days old you had your first tanning session. You seemed ok from it all. The only effect we noticed was the peeling of your skin, which the nurse said was normal for babies having had the phototheraphy.

Time to Go Home

Dr Low gave me the greenlight to go home on Monday evening when he came to the room. Evelyn was with us in the room at that time. Happiness... That night daddy stayed with me in the hospital. And then he heard what I had been telling him. Evelyn's crying sounds arrived before she physically arrived in the room! The nurses would bring her from the nursery when you woke up in the night hungry. It was on average twice per night.

In the morning, she'd be given a bath at around 7am then brought back to mummy for another feed. That morning, Dr Mary visited us and told us that her jaundice level was at 180 and that she could go home (if it hit 200 that she'd have to stay on).

After lunch and a few nurses including those from the chaplain visited us, we were good to go. Daddy had settled the bill and you just needed to have one last injection before we could go off. While waiting, we got these pictures: 

The nurse helped to change Evelyn into her "going home" suit:

Evelyn was put into your carseat and this was her reaction whenever the car stopped:

Welcome home, Evelyn!

More Pictures of Evelyn

I stayed in the hospital alone (unless you count Evelyn) as you had insisted that daddy stayed at home and accompanied you. On Monday, daddy dropped you off to school and also headed to the office to clear up some work for the morning. That morning Ah Ma also came with your two Tou-tous and Boh-boh Poh to visit Evelyn.

Daddy came later on with my lunch and most importantly his DSLR. He wanted to take nicer shots of Evelyn. You had wanted to come visit us, but you needed to do your homework and you had tuition on Monday night. But in the end, as a reward for you we decided to cancel your lesson and so you got to visit Evelyn (and the iPad which was with me..) and have dinner with daddy and I in the hospital.  

While I managed to persuade daddy to go home and accompany you, you had very graciously allowed daddy to stay the night with me, saying that you'd sleep with Ah Kong and Ah Ma.

Here are some of the pictures daddy took:

Oh yes, I'd forgotten to mention, when I was wheeled into the room, I had a smile on my face as this was the same labour room I was in when I delivered you 6 years ago:

The Arrival of Our Little Evelyn

It was a usual Sunday morning and I woke up at 4.30am thinking I needed to go to relief myself (as usual). But when I went to the toilet, I realised that there was blood. I went back to bed and daddy woke up for a while, I told him there was blood, but nothing to be worried about. But despite my nonchalance, I was a little worried. Shortly after that I felt some discomfort and by the time daddy woke up at 7 all ready to go for his golf game, we wondered if it was advisable for him to head to the game or for us to go to the hospital. We could not decide if it would be a false alarm.

In the end, we decided that he'd come with me to the hospital for a check with Dr Low. I called ahead and informed the nurses at the OBGYN reception then headed to have a shower. By then, the contractions seemed to be 4-5 minutes apart. We quickly had breakfast and daddy arranged the NeatSeat and a towel (for fear of my waterbag bursting on the way) and off we headed to the hospital. As for you, you had just come back from a morning walk with Ah Kong and we managed to persuade you to stay at home and only come to the hospital later IF I was really in labour.

Daddy dropped me to quickly register. I informed the nurse again and they quickly informed Dr Low's nurse about me. I was to be the second patient as there was already one patient who was waiting for her turn to see Dr Low. I had given a urine sample and I thought I saw Dr Low's nurse come out to test it and made a quick dash back into the room before it was my turn to see the doctor.

A quick scan (baby was estimated to be 3.5kg) and a check showed I was 5 cm dilated. What?? That sure was a fast one.. as compared to what I went through 6 years ago...

A wheelchair was ordered and I was wheeled straight to the labour room while daddy went to make arrangement for the payments etc. By then it was about 9.40am. It's not very good when you are lying facing the clock and the minutes are ticking very slowly while the pain is coming more and more regularly!!

Daddy came back to me and stayed with me most of the time, making calls to let Nanna and also Ah Kong and Ah Ma know that your little mei-mei was planning to come soon. After drifting in and out from the painkillers, feeling so much pain and fighting a bout of nausea it was finally time for mei-mei to arrive.

I was 8 cm dilated by then (it was around 12pm). She had put in a catheter then burst my waterbag (which did not burst in daddy's car after all..). Then it was discovered that there was meconium in the water.. mei-mei had poo poo-ed already. Dr Mary (whom we had requested) was quickly informed and Dr Low was on his way. 

Finally after a lot of pushing Evelyn finally arrived at 12.38p.m.. I didn't get to carry her like I did with you. She was quickly put on that little place to be cleaned and checked by Dr Mary, while Dr Low stitched me up. It was worrying as I didn't get to carry Evelyn but I could see her. Dr Mary checked and she informed me that all seemed well with her, but there is still a worry about meconuim in her lungs which will show in the next 6 hours. I finally got to carry and cuddle her after a while and tried to feed her. Then she was taken away for a bath and I was resting in the labour room while waiting to be moved to my room.

By then, daddy's WatsApp was busy buzzing with messages from your Kor-kors and Ah Peks. We didn't even know her exact birth weight. I got back to my room to have my lunch and you were already there, happily playing on the iPad but happy to see me too. Then you all went to the nursery to take a look at Evelyn. At long last after I had my lunch, Evelyn was brought to the room for a cuddle with mummy and to be fed by me, now officially known was Evelyn's "moo-mmy"

The Delivery Box

I didn't know it but it looks like it... my mummy must be a delivery box. It was Sunday and I had gone for a morning walk with Ah Kong. When we got back, daddy was telling Ah Kong something about "going to deliver" and "false alarm". I wanted to go along to the hospital to see the picture of mei-mei when Dr Low scanned her tummy. I liked looking at the scan because mei-mei likes to do funny things. But this time, mummy asked me to stay at home as I hadn't taken a bath. Luckily Ah Kong said he'll bring me to the hospital later on.

I waited for mummy to come home but she didn't. And again, I heard Ah Kong and Ah Ma mention the word "deliver". I wonder who is delivering what..

Later on, we left to have lunch. I had my favourite "char kuey tiau" and they even packed lunch for daddy. Then we went to Adventist Hospital. Nanna was also there in the hospital. We waited around and I had the iPad to keep me company. Then suddenly they said it again "She has delivered". Delivered what??

Next thing I know, I was told that I am a big kor-kor and my mei-mei is here already. Waitaminute.. I thought mummy told me she was supposed to come on the 29th? Oh well.. I've been waiting to see her anyway. I was so excited. It was a long while though before mummy came to the room and even later before we got to see mei-mei in the baby bassinet after her bath.

Good thing daddy had his camera. He showed me pictures of my mei-mei. She's so cute.

I already knew her name by then: Evelyn. Mummy says her full name is Evelyn Ban Yen Xin:

Here's a picture of my mei-mei, don't you think she's cute? 

See? Told you my mummy is a delivery box. She delivered my mei-mei.

Another Missing Tooth

About a week after your tooth fell off (with daddy's help) another fell off (7th September). This time it's the right lateral incisor. You just suddenly showed daddy your tooth. It seems you were "playing" with the tooth and the next thing you know, it's in your hands!
Here's a picture of you taken the next day when we had dinner in Euro-Deli:

Daddy secretly took a video of you eating. It was so hilarious as food kept falling out and you didn't really seem to notice that happening.

Evan's First Steak

As I was dying for steak and we thought that there may not be any more opportunity this trip to have steak at our favourite place, Jake's Charbroil Steaks we headed there for lunch after the tea ceremony on Saturday while most of the Ban clan headed to Li Yen for dim sum.
How can we be a stone's throw away from Jake's and not feed ourselves steak. We didn't care that it was odd to have steak for lunch but who cares.. So off we went after a change of clothes for you and daddy. We settled down and took a look at the menu. They had kids steak too. And to our surprise, you agreed to try out the steak. I guess it's the allure of the fries more than the steak which enticed you to try!
Here's your steak:

And here's daddy's XL steak:
We polished everything on our plates. And then we had our desserts.. Burp.. that was the yummiest lunch ever! And till now you'd occasionally ask daddy when we'd be going to Jake's for more steak. Looks like we've converted you to a steak lover too *grin*

The Wedding Day

The next morning, I woke up earlier so that I could have enough time to get ready and also to get you ready. As the night before was a late night for you, it took me a while to get you up. Finally we were all ready and headed to Ashley Kor-kor's suite to await the groom's arrival. Here's a shot of us together which daddy took before we went to "hide" in the bridal room i.e. to take care of the door. Yup, we're the second barricade consisting of 1 heavily pregnant lady and two 6 year olds!

At last Uncle Dennis and his buddies got through the "test" eating all the scary concoctions prepared for them. Then time to get through our door. The bribe was SGD1000. We pocketed it (but was later confiscated) and opened the door for him to come in and claim his wife.

When all the necessities were settled in the bridal suite, they headed to the special room provided by the hotel for the tea ceremony. After the tea ceremony, we had group pictures taken. Here's one of our family with the bride:

After that, we headed back to the room for a quick change and then headed to Starhill for our steak fix. Then mummy went off for some retail therapy and you and daddy went back to the room for a snooze.

We woke up refreshed and went to the pool again for a dip. Then started to get ready and have a light snack knowing dinner was to start late. It was a good thing that you were excited about dressing up. So at around 6pm you pulled on your long pants and behold.. mummy had packed the wrong pair. This was a VERY small pair! Oh no. You told me it was fine, but you looked really odd in the pants. So we quickly changed and "ran" (almost.. how to do it with my big belly...) to Pavillion. And I tell you, searching for black slacks is no easy feat! In the end, we settled for something black and decent enough to pass as slacks and headed back to the room to change and get ready.

Phew.. very stressful. But we were on time. Everyone was still mingling around having pre-dinner cocktails. You stayed with Ashley Kor-kor's friend who briefed you and her son along with Hailey and Jamie on what to do later when dinner commenced. Yup, the 4 of you were the page boys and flower girls.

Ta-da.. here's the bridal couple making their entrance:

Dinner was a pleasant event. It continued way into the night and after a while, we headed back to our room first. You KO-ed almost immediately, despite the afternoon nap. And I soon joined you. Daddy who had changed continued in the suite for more alcohol and laughter with the aunties and uncles before heading back to the room to sleep.

Going to KL

We all took Friday 10th August off to head to KL. This time mummy had to sit in the front passenger seat as my everywhere has swelled up so I'm not able to squeeze at the back with you in your car seat and Ah Ma. Way before our trip, I had to work on you so that you don't complain or make a fuss come Friday.

So early on Friday morning you woke me up before my alarm clock rang. Guess what the time was? 4.30am! Yikes.. it was dark outside and I told you to go back to bed. When it was the "real" time to wake up, it was easy for me to wake you up, as you were so excited to go to KL.

When everyone was finally ready, and the car was packed, off we went. It was close to 9 by then. Hhmm.. we planned to leave by 8am, but that was not to be.

We took a leisurely drive and had a stop in the Bidor rest stop to stretch and also to use the facilities. Through the ride, you reminded me to exercise my feet just as Dr. Low had advised and you even demonstrated to me how to do it.

At last we arrived to our first stop. It was Empire Shopping Gallery. Yup.. you had not forgotten the slide, so off you went 3 round. After that we were caught in a slight traffic jam, seeing it's Friday and lunch time. Next stop was Ikea for lunch and to pick up a few small items (boot was too full for anything bulky anyway..).

Finally, we headed to the hotel off Jalan Bukit Bintang. By the time we arrived, most of the clan had already arrived. There was a wait for our hotel room. And at long last we were given our room. Here you are checking out our bed:

As the reception knew that we were getting angry from the long wait for our room, they offered to give us a room with king sized bed and an extra bed for free. The bed was brought in after we'd left the room to go for a swim. Here's your bed complete with the toiletries for you:

Daddy managed to get a nice picture of Eason who was smiling happily for the camera.
Daddy also took a shot of the bride, Ashley Kor-kor:

I got a shot of Uncle Dennis trying to relax before the big day:

And here's one of us together before we headed back to the room to shower and get ready for a little kai-kai before dinner:

After our shower etc, we headed to Mercato in Pavillion to pick up some milk for you and me, some snacks for you and some wine for everyone. Went back to drop the items in the room before heading to Li Yen for dinner. For dessert, I ordered mango pudding, my favourite dessert. You took one taste and decided to tax my pudding. But you were so excited with it that you choked and all your dinner came out with the pudding. Aihh.. good thing I noticed your "funny face" and pushed the bowl in front of you, so good thing there was no mess on the restaurant floor. Sigh...

We went back to the room to rest and also have supper. We decided on pizza and even called daddy to come back to the room (he was off for a drink.. or two.. or three.. or more) to join us for some pizza. Then it was time to call it a day and go to bed.