its good to be back

its 15 past 11 on a wednesday evening.... THE WIFE is in the shower, junior is in his bed, number two is in his swinger, they are both in their own room they share..... and i am just catching up on this blog thingy... its been a while since i had time to burn..... its good to be finally in my own bed again after two years on the floor....

number two is turning one in a few days time... hes appetite is very good... he is wearing xl diapers and he is able to down his bottle of milk in 4 minutes..... i actually timed him.... 200 ml of milk, gone in 4 minutes..... he is able to get around very well in his little walker and whenever he sees us sitting at the dinner table for meals, he would rush over, expects to be picked up and fed.... he is that hungry..... he weights a little over ten kgs and chances are, he would outweigh junior in months......

junior is still not eating very well... not pooing very well..... he can actually go seven days without pooing..... he gets very cranky though.... we tried all sorts of stuff... change his diet.... make him eat lots of fruits.... drink lots of water.... nothing worked.... we are thinking of changing his milk formula.... maybe that will help, we heard from friends and relatives that their little ones start to go when they change their milk.... i guess theres nothing like crap in the morning to start the day right... hmmm.....

conversation with junior

its 30 past midnight, junior and THE WIFE are in bed, number two is in his cot and this old man is just finishing his homework...... everyone is down with the coughs and runny nose... junior had fever for the last three nights, number two is coughing like a old smoker, THE WIFE isnt really feeling too good.....

gloomy as this day may be.... today is also the first time i have actually talked to junior over the phone.... i was calling me mum and junior was home from school as he wasnt feeling too well.... i was calling me mum to check on junior when junior picked up....

junior: hello?
me: hello? is that huai tan?
junior: daddy
me: are you feeling better?
junior: yes daddy, i no more sick, tomorrow can go wai gong house
me: are you sure?
junior: yes........
me: then what is huai tan doing?
junior: watching pocoyo
me: is it nice?
junior: yes, i see pocoyo and he is running around and i am watching and i like pocoyo
me: did you da bian today?
junior: yes
me: are you sure?
junior: yes, i da bian today
me: okay i want to talk to ah mah...

and he pass the phone to me mum.... i know this is not much, but when you consider that junior is 2 months away from his third birthday and he is able to converse without using baby talk, i think its not too bad..... maybe i should get him to stop watching cartoons and teach him useful stuffs like how to drive, then maybe he can send me to and from work pretty soon......... hmm......

six packs vs a barrel

its 20 to midnight, the kids are in bed, THE WIFE is getting juniors stuff for school tomorrow, i am hacking away at the computer.... i noticed that this is only the third time i am updating this blog this year.... hmm...

it was two sundays ago when number two was admitted into the hospital for his corrective surgery.... he was discharged last tuesday.... everything that can go well, went well..... and number two is now poo-ing the normal way... just as babies does.... its stinky... messy... and would you believe it, wonderful...... number two no longer has a bag on his tummy.... although there are three lines across his little belly button..... like railway tracks, he has two east west and one north south line.... for a eight month old, hes taking it pretty well...... the nurse commented that he cant have a six pack anymore.... i guess why settle for a six pack when he can have a full barrel just like daddy.... hmmmmm......

we are to expect a nasty case of nappy rash, as advised by the good prof p....... to be able to see number two without his bag is nothing short of a miracle.... the bag was always on him since day 3 of his life..... THE WIFE was always struggling to change the bag and number two would always cry in agony everytime she does it..... even the nanny whom we have engaged during the first month have never seen a baby cry so bad before... the nanny would wipe away her own tears when she sees us change number twos bag.... and when she cant take it anymore, she would go into the kitchen and cry and leave THE WIFE and meself to handle number twos crying.... but thats all behind us now...... i guess, things can only get better from now on....

the night before school

Its 5 past midnight on a friday morning... THE WIFE is in bed as is junior and number two.... i am just finishing up checking me office mails.... i am at home doing work... past midnight..... school is not the only place giving out homework... hmmm...

tomorrow is a big day for junior, tomorrow is the day we start him off in daycare.... sort of like school for him... where the kids will sing and dance, learn the alphabet, count and mingle..... maybe even pick up bad habits from each other and the odd flu bug if any of the kids are sick.... hmmmm..... the wonders of communal living...

we are sending junior to a neighbourhood nursery, nothing fancy.... we figured the whole idea is to let junior mix with kids his age, not try to turn him into a pint size version of einstein... hmmm.... just kids@tama jurong pte ltd...... the whole registration and deposit and stuff like that set us back $986... and a monthly fee of $350, after subsidies..... i guess its not too bad..... we get to have someone take him off our hands 5 hours everyday for 5 days a week.... in fact i think they should charge more.... imagine being coop up in a room with 40 screaming kids, 11 hours a day, 5 days a week.... it would be a wonder if those teachers would want kids of their own....hmmmmm..... whatever they are paying the teachers, its not enough....

i dont think junior is as nervous as THE WIFE and me... we gave him the idea that its all fun and games, things to do and friends to make.... but somehow, i cant help but feel nervous, it is the first time in his life, we will entrust him to a group of strangers... people we dont know.... i guess its the letting go part that is tough, come tomorrow i am not too sure who is going to have problem letting go, junior or THE WIFE and meself.... hmmm...

even better than best

its 5 past midnight on a tuesday morning.... THE WIFE is in bed, junior is at his wai gongs place and number two is in nuh at the pediatrics icu..... we admitted number two to the hospital on sunday as planned... THE WIFE and i spent the night at the hospital and number two was wheeled into the operating theater the next day..... i didnt sleep much the night before, somewhere between the crying baby in the next bed and the yacking by the doctors nearby, i reckon i got about three hours of sleep..... considering that a hospital is where people go to to get better, good luck trying to get some decent sleep there.........

number two was wheeled into the theater at 10.30 that morning... the nurse estimated that he would be done in three hours time... THE WIFE and i went for some breakfast and a little shopping for my up coming trip.... we got back to the hospital at 3 but it was about 4 in the afternoon that we received a call from operating theater that prof p needs to see us urgently..... believe me whenever a surgeon wants to see the next of kin after an operation urgently, nasty ideas would rush into the head.....

we got into the operating theater holding area in double quick time, prof p was still in his scrubs...
me: hows everything?
prof p: i got good news and not so good news.....
me: okay.... whats the good news?
prof p: your son does not have hersprung.... we did a test to confirm the condition before removing the intestines because i want to be really sure, we were about to remove a very long portion....
me: okay...
prof p: then the results came back, theres ganglion cells.... we did five tests near the end of his small intestine and one more at his large intestine, they are all normal....
me: okay, thats a good news.... the bad news?
prof p: well, the test would take about 30 to 45 minutes, we cant possibly be standing around doing nothing.... so we prep a portion of his large intestine......
me: and?
prof p: when the result for the large intestine came back, and it was positive, we have already stop the blood supply to that portion of the large intestine.... that part is dead, we have to remove it and joint whatever is left together....
me: and?
prof p: well, the removed portion would not affect him too much, whats more important is that we have save the valve at the end of the small intestine and the section near his anus.... he will be able to control his bowels like normal....
me: why is it that mount alvernia tested negative and you tested positive here?
prof p: i am not too sure, we have send more samples for testing and should get the full results in 3 days time... i cant remove the stoma yet because, the size of the intestines are different, one is the size of a earthworm and the other is too big... we have to joined his intestine and still leave a stoma, so that some of his poo can come out through his tummy, some can come out through his large intestine thereby stretching it.... in three months time, when the earthworm gets to the size of the other intestine, we would only need to do a minor surgery to remove the stoma and he will be fine......

believe me, this is wonderful news... junior does not have some birth defect.... he will be able to poo and function like all kids..... up till yesterday, the best that could happen was for number twos operation to go smoothly and that everything would go as planned.... but the best did not happen... something better than best did....

i love you

its 15 to midnight on a monday night, number two is in his cot, junior is in me bed, THE WIFE is busy putting away the laundry and me?.... well, allo allo is on... rene is trying to help the two british airmen escape.... hours of fun......

we were suppose to be in the hospital today, number two was scheduled to have his corrective surgery... it was last month when prof p decided that number was ready for his surgery.... we were all getting ready for this day when a nurse called on saturday and said something cropped up and prof p cant make it..... we were rescheduled for next monday...30 march.... better not be aprils fool....

number two is getting bigger.... he weights about 9 kgs.... wears the same diaper as junior and is wearing what junior used to wear when he turned one.... yup, number two is that big... he is able to sit in the chair junior used to sit and join us at the dinner table.... THE WIFE is starting him on porridge and papayas.... he seems to really like solid food.... i call him jojo now and he looks my way whenever i call him that....

as for junior... he still poo once a week.... dislike meal time, i practically have to force feed him at every meal... and weights a little over 12 kgs.... he is turning out to be a smart boy, he would walk up to grandma and say, "ah ma, i love you, i did not bully edbert today, you bring me to imm?" and me mom would take him shopping..... with his big round eyes and mascara lashes... who can say no?..... i guess beautiful people are dangerous.... we are thinking of sending him to daycare... let him mix with kids his age.... maybe he can pick up more tricks to try on grandma.... hmmmm....