Admitted

after 24 hours of watching amir refusing to eat, we sought the help of our saviour, dr azizi. we called him late yesterday afternoon saying we're worried about amir, he's so weak and we want to admit him. he said ok so we went to dsh.

i think amir remembered the time he was admitted last year and cried out the moment he saw the hospital bed. the nurses took some time inserting the drip. the admission process was a bit slow and we were shown to the room after more than an hour waiting at a&e (there were only 3 other patients).

amir was given voltaren and antibiotics, besides the drip. ariff was his relaxed self and slept with amir. asyraf was bored in the room and wanted to follow the nurse do her rounds.

Rumah Sakit Part II

i think it was about this time last year that rumah sakit part I came out. it was worse the first time around as it hit me, hubby, amir, asyraf and the unknown being who quietly locked herself in my house, otherwise known as tiza.

this time, it hit only the boys. ariff had very high temperature on tuesday. it was quite bad that hubby drove to the nearby clinic at 430am thinking it was open. unfortunately it wasnt and we were finishing our stock of paracetamol. thank God, it was enough to last the day and we went to the clinic again after work.

this is the 2nd time ariff's been sick and for the second time, the doctor suspected chicken pox. he had red spots on his face and according to the doctor the virus is going around. this time, i was prepared. but alhamdulillah it wasnt what the doctor suspected and by thursday, his fever had gone away. it left him with the sniffles, although not as bad as the one he previously had.

as ariff's fever started to wane, asyraf's teacher sms-ed me saying asyraf felt very hot. when we got home, we checked - he's temperature was 39.5c. hubby gave him voltaren and his temperature quickly went down.

on friday i monitored asyraf. but he looked and felt fine. shortly after lunch amir complained he had stomach ache. before he finished talking, he threw up all he ate. he looked shocked, i looked shocked. okay...where did that come from?

the was just the beginning. he continued to throw up again and again until everything was out of his stomach. he asked for cold water and threw that up as well. it became a vicious cycle for him, drinking water and throwing up. he threw up nothing but water until 645am this morning. i counted, it was almost 15 times. he had diarrhea as well.

come morning amir was all skin and bones, his lips were dry and he was just laying down on the bed. he refused soup, he refused rice, he just wanted cold water and dry corn flakes. i wanted to admit him to dsh but hubby wanted to see the outcome of the medication he got the the clinic first.

amir fell asleep after we gave him his bath, maybe because he wasnt sleeping well last night plus he was tired from the throwing up. ariff slept the whole morning as he was still taking his flu meds, which makes him drowsy. so my "usually not well" mat bum bum was extremely hyper and extremely bored running around by himself, with no abang long to disturb. he even climbed on the bed to wake ariff up.

because of the throwing up, my first half of the weekend is filled with 3 loads of laundry and a round of mopping. we also had to give irina's birthday a miss. so sad...i'd love to see her again, she's just so cute.

Time And Children

if this is not known yet - we have 3 children. yes...3 boys, aged 38 months, 16 months and 6 months. and no, we have no maid. a shock horror to some, a life to us.

i'm not saying its easy but its not rocket science either. we go through life like everyone else, we sleep, we change diapers, we go to work, we buy milk, we talk, we do laundry, we cook, we eat, we read, we watch telly, we soothe crying babies (all 3 can scream out loud at the same time!). we do all that, just like any other parents.

i've never use my children as an excuse not to do certain things and i never use my children to gain sympathy or attract praises. of course, there are things we have left behind because we have children but we do that conciously. we dont spend hours at the mall anymore (hubby and i used to do that during our 'berdating days'), we dont spend hours idlying on the bed during weekends anymore, we dont eat out as much as we used to anymore (that one is also due to less disposable income). but we leave those behind happily, conciously and with no regrets.

there are people who say - you've got three kids, you dont have a maid, its ok if you dont cook. or they say - with 3 kids and no maid, you cook - amazing. excuses and praises. we dont ask for them, we dont need them.

for us its simple...we have 3 boys, we have to take care of them. maid or no maid, work or no work, we have to do what we have to do. that includes cooking, that includes getting up in the middle of the night, that includes waking up and dragging your feet to work the next day. we dont do this better than parents of 1 child and we dont do this worst than parents with 6 children. we just...do!

and no, we're not the only ones who do this. parents everywhere do the same. they get up, go to work, come home, cook, clean, bathe their kids, lepak with them, go to sleep.

to me, although juggling to raise children and to manage a household and to work, is not an easy task, it doesnt have to be difficult as well. proper planning helps, time management helps, not expecting a lot helps tremendously.

when one gets pregnant, plan for the 9 months of pregnancy, plan for the 9 years of raising a child, plan for the 9 years after that when they reach their teenage years. when one plans a family outing and plans to take the family shopping, plan the night before. plan what to wear, what to bring, where to go, what to buy, what time to have your dinner, what time to leave, where to park. you can plan all that...plan not to face a hassle, plan not to face the crowd, plan not to have your child throw a tantrum. granted not all plans will go smooth sailing, but there's no harm in taking 2 minutes off your precious time to just sit and jot down what needs to be done.

for us, going out doesnt have to be a stressful time. i put aside the boys' clothes, i pack their bag the night before. come morning, they are ready by 8am - we are early risers and i insist that my children bathe once they get up, no excuses (drill sargeant, i am). once they are ready (extra clothes are set aside in case something happens), the parents bathe. 30 minutes, we are done. we have time for a quick bite and bottles of milk and a trip to the bathroom before we leave. by 930am we're out of the house and within half an hour, we're already in the shopping mall. go where we need to go, do what we need to do, by 1130am we'll sit down for our lunch. when the crowd starts to build up, we're already in our car heading back home. we went out...we bought what we need to buy...we go back. minus throwing up, minus tantrum, minus headache.

we do this to accomodate both worlds, to go out and to have a screaming-less session while we're out. the parents can enjoy their time and run their errands, the children can have fun as well. we can eat as a family with minimal screams and "amir, no"s. we can do all that and still arrive home feeling like the day hasnt passed by in a blink of an eye.

of course, even after reading this, i'm sure people would go...."alah, you takpe lah, anak you baik-baik semua. i ni anak satu tapi nak jaga...mak ai...susahhhh". or "you are so lucky to have such angels for children, mine is sooo difficult to handle". or "how can you come and go within 2 hours, mana cukup nak shopping?" or "tapi i cannot lah because my child hates to be strapped in"

to me, its all boleh lah...its just whether we nak or tak nak.

and a final note - no, my children are not angels. try living in our house for a day, can you handle the screaming and shouting and throwing by the children and the parents? they are not angels, but we accomodate and adapt to their styles and their time so that while we are in public, people can assume there are angelic.

All Out

i went all out this weekend. i went grocery shopping, i cleaned, i cooked, i did 4 loads of laundry (could have been more if it didnt rain on saturday), i played with the boys, i even ironed (gasp!!)

grocery shopping and cleaning was done on saturday. i swept and mopped the whole house (someone was supposed to vacuum and clean the fan but he didnt...no prizes for guessing who). i washed the bathroom (ours and the boys) on sunday morning. i also cleaned the kitchen and the stove.

this weekend i craved for steak (can someone crave for steak?). i also made barbaque chicken, mashed potato and veggies. on sunday i made ayam masak kicap and kobis masak lemak. easy but yums. ariff finally had his first full meal at home. before this we've tried gerber, nestum, heinz in the bottle but he's finally taken a liking to heinz breakfast cereal. i wanted to finish my cooking off with some mini cuppies for the boys but that plan didnt materialise.






















we spent the whole weekend just entertaining and being entertained by the boys. amir is as usual his hyper self. very stingy when it comes to his toys (asyraf can only play with the new trains when amir's asleep) but he misses his brother terribly when they are asleep. asyraf is becoming amir's shadow. he does everything his abang long does. they do the cutest impersonation of mickey mouse. he's also shown off a new skill this weekend. asyraf cant sleep with the tv on. on sautrday, before he nodded off he asked me to switch off the telly. once it was off, he sighed 'aaahhhh' and fell down on his pillow. within 30 seconds he was off to dreamland.

Pain & Joy

if there was one thing guests to our house would comment, it would be...tinggi nya tangga. yup we have a very long staircase. there's no landing, it goes up and up and up. tssc once said, sapa jatuh ni...tiada maaf bagimu. so far, alhamdulillah, we survived our staircase. we can bring down 2 boys at a time, we can bring up 2 boys at a time, we can bring our laundry basket and a boy, we can bring up 3 daycare bags, i can bring down my huge tummy and a boy.

















i was horrified to find out that, during asyraf's birthday, iman (nad's son) went all the way up my staircase unattended. if something had happened to him (nauzibillah), i dont know how i would react.

but yesterday, our worst fear became a reality. hubby was carrying both asyraf and ariff up the stairs. amir followed, his arms hugging a container of cereal, as usual refusing to hold on to the railings. i was at the foot of the stairs, sorting out the laundry. it happened in a blink of an eye. one minute amir was saying he wanted to eat, the next, he was rolling down the stairs. hubby screamed, i screamed.

i ran up the stairs, stopped amir after 10 steps (he fell down 10 steps!!). quickly held him in my arms and felt for bruises. his heart was beating so fast. he kept repeating, "amir pusin, amir pusin." he didnt cry, too shocked i think. hubby put down both boys, took amir and put the cold pack on his head.

















i can replay what happened thousands of times and i get goosebumps every single time. please god, let that be the one and only time we have to experience that.

this morning amir's bump wasnt visible anymore. instead it was asyraf who had a huge 'egg' on his head. where did that come from?

















our pain turned into joy today. i had a note from the poslaju postman. we went to pick up our parcel in the morning. on the parcel was written "thomas & friends". i was excited, hubby was excited. he stopped the car by the roadside and we ripped open the envelope. amir was screaming at the back. it was james and ben. amir now have 4 trains. also in the parcel was a top for ariff and a set of fridge magnets.



















they were all courtesy of syerah. if she was in front of me, i would have cried and hugged her. amir kept saying...ni auntie syerah beli, ni auntie zu beli (sorry syerah, mak angkat sorang lagi dapat credit pulak). syerah...we dont know how to thank you, we pray your delivery will be a safe and happy one. insyaallah next week penguin sampai.

the trains kept amir busy while we had breakfast. ariff as usual was his cool self. it was asyraf who needed constant looking after, especially with the mugs displayed at his chest level and lack of highchairs.


























before we left, we stopped by cold storage to get a little bit of groceries and a whole lot of dry goods. its a weekend of cleaning and trying out new formula and eating steak.

















footnote - amir went for breakfast diaper-less and came home dry. we're so proud of him.

Something New

new toys and new phrase

we got amir (and asyraf) thomas and percy using parkson vouchers. amir has been playing with all 4 non-stop. he's got himself a new phrase that he repeats all the time while playing. "thank you thomas, cries percy" in the exact same tone the narrator uses. next up is james for ariff. i also want to get the sodor mat for him to play the trains on. for now, amir has settled with quarter of the track asyraf got for his birthday.

new skills

amir is now almost fully toilet trained. he gets a star everytime he goes potty and soon he'll be getting a certificate. i took him for a haircut last weekend. he looks slightly better now.

asyraf can climb up to our bed.

ariff has pushed his chest up and can shuffle around on his tummy. he's also been lifting his head up while on his back. sitting up and crawling is the next stage, i think.

new food

we're getting better at managing our time and nightly chores. we can now make time for a quick dinner at home (either take away or dinner from the tupperware). i make soup for the boys on sundays and heat it up with rice once we get home from work. i didnt realise they eat a heck of a lot.