Officially stopped BF

29 Jan 11 - The day I officially stopped BF cos the last pack of FEBM was gone. Switched off the stand alone freezer last week too. Have been mixing FM with FEBM for Raelynn and she's taking it well so that's a relief. :) I wouldn't never have been able to stop BF on my own (will have felt too guilty). Stopped BF cos of the circumstances after the accident so in a way, I'm glad the decision was taken out of my hands. Time to take out the BF ticker. I've lasted almost 14 months (3 days short) so I am still proud of myself. Hope Raelynn will stay healthy and grow up tall and strong. :)

Red CNY dresses

Although we don't have plans to go CNY visiting this year (cos post accident, must wear brace plus no car), I couldn't resist ordering two 'Ang3 gong4 gong4' dresses for the 2 gals from SMH BP. Thought they look so sweet. I especially like the one of Raelynn doing a 'Marilyn Monroe'. :)

Follow up dr review

Came back from dr review at cgh, condition not worsen (good news) but still need to wear brace for 6 more weeks (bad news). Thought my 6 weeks started from 14 Jan, how come kenna restarted and now still got to wear for 6 weeks.

Next review is 7 mar, so close to my phuket trip on 14 mar. Hope I can still go for my trip lor. Got to wear the brace for so long. Hiaz. Went back to Lifeforce rehab centre and adjusted my brace slightly to give my face more breathing space. Bought another cervical collar too and it costs $156. No choice cos the brace is too uncomfortable to use on the bed so look for another alternative so that I won't feel so miserable. Met a couple there and the Malay lady is still wearing a hard plastic brace though her accident was in Nov and her fracture is only in T12, guess I can't complain. :p

Wonder if I was right to insist on no surgery so I went to search online. Looks like most pp will only go for surgery if there is nerve damage (which hopefully I don't have). So, brace is the best option for now bah. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000443.htm

RaeAnne is 3 years old!!!

Raeanne finally turned 3 today. She is 12.8 kg n 95cm tall. We did not managed to go out n celebrate as a family today cos hubby brought RaeAnne to her music class in the morning and went for tuition in the afternoon and he's tired out. But at least we walk out to nearby Ntuc together to buy mamy poko diapers for Mei Mei.

She was a very sweet gal together, maybe because she knows it's her birthday.She asked me a few times, 'Mummy, are you feeling well?' When I said no, she took the 'yoko yoko' and wanted to apply the yoko yoko for me. :) When I was watching Japan hour and said that the gal was so nice to bring her Daddy and Mummy on holiday. I asked her 'Next time when you grow up and have money, will you bring Mummy on holiday. She replied. 'Monday, Monday, I bring you on holiday'.

hehe, so sweet, don't know if it'll be an unfulfilled promise. But I'll look forward to the day when instead of we bringing the gals on holiday. The gals will bring us on holiday. :)

Happy 6th wedding anniversary (again)!

Today is our customary wedding anniversary. Normally, we don't celebrate in a big way since it's after our ROM anniversary and hubby's birthday. But after surviving the accident, must learn to appreciate each other even more. Plus hubby just had his hand operation on Wed, so I bought an Ipad for him as anniversary present. So that it's easier for him to type and read chinese comics online.

Got it from SMH WTS thread at almost $150 cheaper than retail and the seller delivered to my house on Wed night, just a few hrs after confirming the deal. But another forum mummy got it even cheaper than me from hardwarezone forum at only $820. :( Oh well, never mind, as long as hubby likes it right? :)

Anyway, we can't go out to eat since we already ordered tingkat but we did tapow some salmon belly sashimi from NTUC finest to jia cai. After accompanying hubby to polyclinic to change his bandage, we popped by Tampines Mall and had a snack at Wang Jiao and hubby bought 2 sets of drama DVD (1 taiwan, 1 korean) and promised to watch them with me. I hope it's true and he won't fall sleep halfway as usual. hee. :P

Birthday celebration at Elfa

RaeAnne's school is closed tomorrow for staff training. So, we had to celebrate early for her birthday which is on Sat. Luckily, I had ordered most of the items from Party City when preparing for Mei Mei's BD party. Cos post accident, we really don't have the time and energy to shop for her party stuff. But we still had to scramble to buy party favours and sweets/jelly last minute cos we didn't know there were 18 kids in her class including herself. I only see her own class ie. PrenurseryIIA (only about 6 kids) but PrenurseryIIB are also counted cos they share a classroom (separated by book shelves) and the same lunch break.

With me and hubby in bandage and brace, we were quite a sight walking to the CC with maid, baby and MIL in tow. I got the most curious stares from kaypoh aunties and uncles cos of my neck to waist brace. But bo bian, told myself must be thick skin and sacrifice my 'face' for my daughter. After all, it's her 3rd birthday party and I wouldn't miss it for the world. :)

RaeAnne got the pink smiley face cake that she requested for and all the kids are happy with the party bags and cake. We didn't bring the cake back since it wasn't very big in the first place. No place to store in the fridge also. But in hindsight, we should have cut a piece and put into tupperware for Ye Ye. I was too busy trying to take photos that I forgot. :P One of RA's classmate, a little boy by the name of Ryan Koh (Standing behind RaeAnne) likes me so much (despite my strange looking brace) that he called me Mummy and tried to leave with me. So sweet. :) Even RL hasn't called me Mummy yet. Duh...

Anyway, we also got RaeAnne's fortnightly progress report from school today. Her English lessons were of good progress but Chinese vocabulary 有待加强. These were for words like 幼儿园,再见,小朋友,你好etc. Yes, although we do speak Mandarin at home, we don't use such words often. No wonder she doesn't know. Got to hide the 'Beauty and the Beast' book which she loves and start reading some more of the Pelangi chinese books that we used to read to her. :P

Hubby's in the news today

Just found out that my hubby is featured in today's 联合早报, in the 现在 supplement. Haven't seen the papers yet, cos my mum was the one who tipped us off and we don't subscribe to chinese papers but at least managed to find the article online http://www.zaobao.com.sg/fk/fk110119_009.shtml. There is a reporting error though cos my hubby studied at NUS/NIE, not in USA. :P No photo in the online version though. But maybe it's better this way cos I don't like the photo they used in the article. Asked hubby and he said the student journalist took many photos, don't know why they picked that one. :P

Post accident

Quite a few people asked me how we are coping post accident with my neck to waist brace, hubby's fractured hand and 2 active kids below 3. Grandparents support is minimal as ILs pop in only when we call them for help eg. this afternoon MIL came over cos the maid wanted to go to PO to send $.

I am stiff in the morning, can't get off bed without going Ow, ow, ow. Hubby is even worse cos he has to sleep at the reclined position or he can't get up in the morning. Very difficult for him cos RA will always kacheow him at night for shh shh or milk or just to get Daddy to sleep with her.

I lie flat on my bed as much as I can. I am most comfortable lying down on the bed actually cos no need to wear the brace. My dr said I can skip the brace when showering and sleeping so I'm cheating a bit (ok, ok, cheating a lot) by lying down on the bed and using iPhone to surf net most of the time. but it's also very straining for my eyes. Think my myopia power will increase after 6 weeks.

A lot of things that I took for granted eg. shower, surf net, carry Raelynn, even drink water, I can no longer do comfortably esp with the brace. I often had to pull apart the chin support to breathe properly cos it was so claustrophobic to have half your face covered with a hard brace. :P

So, I have to find ways to improvise, utitlising whatever I can to make it work. :p

To surf net without the brace, I prop a big pillow behind my back and sit up straight, keeping neck in neutral position, then I put a Giant table tray with fold out legs (that we bought long ago for RA) then put 3big photo albums on top to prop up my laptop. That means that I can look at the screen comfortably without straining my neck but it's too high for my hands to type. But luckily hubby reminded me of the wireless keyboard I bought while still working at CGH. So, I connected the wireless keyboard so that I can type it on my lap. Very useful when I need to post on my blog or forum.

To shower, I got to sit on a stool, put my toiletries on another stool and position the showerhead so that it sprays directly on my head. I need to keep my back straight and lean back on the wall most of the time. Over head and bending down my head is discouraged by the physiotherapist. I managed ok but still have problems washing the upper right hand part of my shoulder due to the stiff back so hubby helps me. Drying my hair with a towel is also difficult since I'm supposed to minimise over head arm movements so I sit on a chair while hubby blows dry my hair with his good right hand.

To eat, we have ordered tingkat since Monday and hubby will put the pink table top on top of the coffee table with all the tingkat containers so that I can eat without looking down. To drink water, I use a straw so that I don't have to tilt my head.
I tried to wear the brace to eat the first few days but it was so claustrophobic cos I can't tilt my neck and my chin is half hidden. I broke one of my Corelle bowls (Duh, won't they supposed to be break resistant?) on Sunday while trying to eat my fried bee hoon dinner cos I can't see properly. Think it'll be difficult to buy a replacement cos that particular green lotus design is being phased out. :(

Hugging RL can only be done when someone places her on my lap but it's always very short hug cos she will struggle to get down. As for carrying her, it's even more impossible, cos it will strain my compression fractures at T1-5. So, I've sadly fallen out of favour cos she prefers the maid who can pick her up from the cot when she wakes up and carry her when she is pushed down by Cheh Cheh. In fact, she started to call 'Aunty' yesterday and often looks for the maid when she is out of sight. Hiaz. Such a practical gal. :P

But luckily, last night, when she was whining and trying to fall asleep, I put my hand on her hand to prevent her from 'tunneling' off the bumper mat and she fell asleep in just a few seconds. It was the first time I managed to make her sleep without letting the maid take over. At least it's a small accomplishment.

Hubby is a GREAT help to me (he brings me my water, my painkillers, helps me with my shower, hair drying etc). Sometimes we can't help commiserating about our fate as we go ow, ow, ow together especially when we are trying to find a comfortable position to sleep at night or when we are trying to get up from the bed. Sneezing and coughing literally 'rips us apart' us cos it is so damn painful esp to the ribs and painful muscles. But have you ever tried to stop a sneeze or cough? I have not had much success so far. It's worse when we laugh. So got to avoid comedies for now.

But yes, above everything else, we are thankful to be alive and see our gals' faces again. So got to keep reminding ourselves when the going gets tough. :)

Poor hubby going for day surgery Tom, poor guy got to go alone n come back alone cos he doesn't want to trouble his parents to accompany n technically they also didn't offer. Hope he doesn't feel too drugged tom and will make it safely back in a cab.

Mixing Friso3...

Decided to start mixing 1 small scoop of Friso3 to Mei Mei's EBM this morning. She took it well so did the same tonight. This way, I can slowly get her used to the taste of FM while depleting the remaining bags of EBM. Hopefully the FEBM can drag until 2 Feb, then she will be 14 months. Nice date to wean off BM totally.

Surprisingly, RaeAnne asked for milk by 830pm today and fell asleep before 9pm. Maybe it's because she went to school and went out with MIL and hubby to Tampines interchange to buy her birthday present. She wanted a pink bear but don't know why she came back with a pink stuffed piggy instead. Hubby is not complaining cos the toy from Toy R Us only costs $9.90.

I didn't follow cos it's tiring to go out for long with my brace. Yesterday, we went to the CC NTUC that's just 5 mins walk away cos I need to get sweets for RaeAnne's party packs. Quite a few people were staring at me though I wore a hooded jacket to try and hide the brace. It didn't help that the neck brace in front can't be hidden from view since it blocks part of my chin.

To mix or not to mix

Counted today and I have 17 bags of FEBM. Won't be long before the FEBM gets depleted since I am no longer pumping. Just hand expressing a bit when I feel full (not really). Got to start 'training' RL to take Friso3 which is what RA is taking. Wonder if I should mix FM with EBM or just let her take it neat. Afraid that she won't want EBM (bland) after taking FM so in a dilemma when to start giving it to RL. :P

Once the last bag of EBM is gone, wonder if I should sell the upright Farfalla freezer which I used to store EBM. It has served me very well for the last 11 months but it does take up a space in the kitchen. After the accident, think the chances of trying for no. 3 is even slimmer cos I need to defer my RES course and both hubby and I need to recuperate and recover from our fractures too. I already managed to sell the Arms reach cosleeper and got $100 for that. Not bad, considering that I bought it for $139 in 2007. :P

Oh ya, Mei Mei said I don't want 'sleep' today. Apparently, she said 'Eat' to Ye ye very often too. Tomorrow, starting on 2BQ tingkat for lunch and dinner for 10 days trial. Hope the food is good. Hubby has always been excited about tingkat so hope he's happy with the food. :)