Mummy's update - HFMD

3 weeks back, Rye Li had Hands, Foot, Mouth disease (HFMD). There was a girl at Aunty Ng's (daycare), who is also her classmate at kindy had it first over the weekend and we were warned by Aunty to watch out signs on Rye Li.

On Wednesday itself, we noticed one red dot on her left thumb (the one that she sucks on) and didn't think anything of it. The next day, that night itself, she complaint of pain in her mouth and when we looked inside her mouth, we noticed some white spots already and knew that she also had it. So the next day, both her and her mei-mei, stayed at home with their paternal grandparents who were both down from Penang.

Both hubby and I expected her to whine and moan about her condition since this girl cannot stand pain (compared to her mei-mei who had this in July). But surprisingly, as much as she complaint it was painful to eat and drink, she would eat and that's mainly due to us threatening her that if she doesn't eat, she will have to go to the hospital and that she will need drips. This worked since she is so terrified of needles. I guess it's easier when they're older enough to understand to reasoning.

So she skipped school for several days and I wanted to send her back to both school and daycare the following Wednesday or Thursday (since she has recovered by then) when on Monday night itself, Haye Li also had it (poor Haye Li, had it the second time within 3 months!). So the remaining days of that week, they were put up at their maternal grandparents' since Ah Kong and Ah Por had to go back to Penang. Rye Li had so much fun there and she was really happy especially since she gets to eat ice cream everyday!

The other highlight of her being sick is that finally, she can now miss school officially because she is sick. Usually her friends, skipped school when they were sick and she would compare herself to them especially her classmates who also go to the daycare as they would hang out at the daycare. She had tried numerous times with me when she was coughing or had the flu as to why she cannot just stay at Aunty Ng's like her friends when they were sick. I've always managed to reason with her till now. So, she's really happy that she got to miss school! LOL!

As for her thumb-sucking, the little dot on her thumb became a big blister as she was sucking on it in the first few days she had HFMD. So I told her not to as it would hurt. I didn't really expect her to listen to me as she can be one stubborn girl and also old habits are tough to get rid off. But she has not sucked her thumb since then till now! The first few nights I knew it was tough on her as she could not fall asleep without her thumb so I told her to think of happy things to dream off, etc. She was still touching the fabric of her little bolster's cover, another habit of hers while sucking thumb and she used both hands this time round.

I was praising her after over a week of not sucking her thumb and told her that if she manages not to suck her thumb at all till her birthday year end, on top of what I will get her for her birthday present, she will also get to chose another BIG present. So we shall just see if she manages this or not! :D

My mei-mei & I

I love playing with my mei-mei right from the start. When she’s in her cot, I will want to play with her. If I can’t reach her, I will grab a chair or stool and play with her.

These days, I will ask mummy to put mei-mei next to me on the bed or mattress so that I can play with her. I love kissing and hugging her although mummy will scold me for being too rough on mei-mei. When mummy is not in sight and mei-mei cries, I will pat her and go “ok, ok, ok, mei-mei don’t cry, cher-cher here ok?!”

Initially, when mei-mei was just born, I didn’t understand why mei-mei doesn’t want to play with me. Now, I’m happy when she smiles or laugh at me when I play with her. When this happens, I will tell mummy that “mei-mei likes me!”.

I’ll let the following photos illustrate how much I love my mei-mei!

my playmate at home!

see, i love my mei-mei so much, i don't mind her pulling my hair!

giving a helping hand


we even read books together!

we watch tv together (i need to teach her young!)

i even try and 'feed' her

and sleep together (when mummy is watching us that is as i kick a lot in my sleep)

If you would like to see more photos, you can go to my mei-mei's blog by clicking on this. :D

Guess who is who? *updated*

This is an updated one of the below post....looks like most got it right. A & C are Rye Li and B & D are Haye Li. There are some similarities but they do look different, we shall see when Haye Li grows in the next several months.

Here's four pictures...two are me when I was a baby, and the other two are my mei-mei, Haye Li. Will let you know by Haye Li's full moon, next Friday, 21st November 2008, the answer. :D ....Mummy still thinks that both of us look like our Ah Mai (papa's sister).

A)

B)

C)

D)

Why are we doing this? Coz people has been saying we look alike and yet papa disagree. But there are many pictures that show our similarities. Mummy doesn't see what is his problem since both of us look more like his side than mummy's side. She always tell people that I only resemble her 'there' all this while and she's doing the same to my mei-mei too.

Sticking to mummy

From this post, papa managed to snap a shot of how gluey I am to Mummy lately.

What exactly am I doing? Well, I'm lying down on mummy's legs while watching my cartoon on TV.

Mummy’s entry – “Don’t want mei-mei”

Guess it’s too good to be true if Rye Li really didn’t have problems adjusting to her new mei-mei. In the first week, she was alright with some unhappy faces now and then.

However, in the second week, more like over the weekend, she started showing her true colours. I guess it’s also due to the fact that she didn’t have a nap that day. She wanted milk and then changed her mind that she wanted milo and she wanted to make it herself. So I said I will teach her and then I found her toys to be scattered everywhere on the floor and asked her to put them back. She reluctantly did it with a black face and took her own sweet time. So I hurried her with a lot of nagging and still it didn’t work. So I took the cane out and she hurried a little but wanted me to help her. By this time I was too mad to help her and started threatening her with the cane. Till this day, I have yet to use the cane on her but only to threaten her when she gets out of line.

I guess having the cane also didn’t work and I was boiling mad already. So I nagged her and told her that I will take all her toys and throw them away and so I packed the toys into a bag and kept them out of sight. I also didn’t want her to think that the cane is only for ‘show’ so I used it for the first time on her hand. She cried after that pitifully and went to her room on her own and cried on her bed. I let her be for a while.

After that, I went to her and asked her to apologize and told her that I will make her milk and to lie down in her room. I added that I will also sleep with her. She didn’t dare to ask for her milo as she knew I was boiling mad already. After she drank her milk, she fell asleep with me at her side. I wanted to be there for her when she got up but she slept through our dinner time so we left her be in her room.

When she got up, I was already with Haye Li and I guess she wasn’t happy with that sight. She starting making a fuss, not listening to us at all. This time, Haye Li also wanted to be nursed. And Rye Li insisted that I carried her. So I passed Haye Li to hubby and asked Rye Li to come onto my lap on the sofa (I don’t dare to carry her just as yet since she is pretty heavy). I tried reasoning with her but her mood was pretty messed up already. Then she said “Don’t want mei-mei” and I went, “Ok, if you don’t want mei-mei, mummy will find an uncle or aunty out there who wants mei-mei and I will give mei-mei away”. She wasn’t happy with this either but whatever it was, no matter how much coaxing we gave her, she refused to let me nurse Haye Li then and the poor baby was crying too. Luckily, I had a bottle of expressed milk in the fridge and hubby warmed that up for her.

So I tried coaxing the big baby for a while and she asked for Milo. She actually remembered the events before her nap and asked that she wants to make it herself. And so I gave in and only then she said “Ok, mummy, mei-mei” and pointed at me and then to Haye Li (indicating that I can nurse her now). I just told her “Too late already girl, papa already warm up the bottle! And now I got to go and pump”).

Since that day, it has been a struggle now and then when she’s home (this is why I insisted that she still goes to the daycare as I would not be able to handle two kids at one go even with help at home as she wants my attention too!). It’s interesting when I reminded her that she said doesn’t want mei-mei anymore so whoever comes to my place, I would tell her that they would take her mei-mei back and she would not allow this saying “Nobody take my mei-mei, my mei-mei is mine!”. As much as she is jealous over her new sister’s existence, she is also very protective over her.

We also had our fair share of:-

“I hate mei-mei”
“I want to fight with mei-mei’
“I don’t want to friend / talk to mei-mei”

When I’m in a better mood, I will reason with her on what she had just said. But when I’m already tired, I will ignore what she just said.

We are also learning how to deal with two kids at the same time. It is very exhausting and I’m so careful not to overdo my conversations with Haye Li in front of the big baby so my bonding with her is only when Rye Li is not around. Or when I do have conversations with her in front of Rye Li, I will need to include Rye Li too.

Mummy’s entry – When Rye Li met Haye Li

I have to say that I once again, underestimate Rye Li. I should give her more benefit of the doubt. Overall, she has taken to her mei-mei way better than what I expected.

Since Haye Li came out early in the morning and I was already all knocked out by the delivery, hubby went and pick Rye Li up from my sister’s place. He brought her home to make my confinement drink and later, brought her out to get a gift for Rye Li and Haye Li. Rye Li’s gift from Haye Li was bought some time back and has been in hubby’s car all this while. I got her a Disney Princess activity book which has some colouring book, stickers and a puzzle (something she loves doing lately). I also added a Mickey Mouse colouring book in it. Her papa also bought her a toy at the store while she chose a gift for her mei-mei.

By the time she came to the hospital, it was early evening. I made sure that Haye Li wasn’t in the room with me then (something I just learnt from my colleague that week itself, that is, do not have the baby in the room with you yet when the elder sibling arrived).

When she came into the room, her eyes were looking all over – I’m guessing either to see where her mei-mei was or where her gift was. Hubby was carrying her and I asked her to come to me. She willingly came to me. She wasn’t her usual self and that was because she just woke up from the car ride.

Hubby went back to the car to take the presents up – they were huge as Rye Li chose a ‘masak-masak’ (malay: cooking) set for herself while she chose a baby Mickey and Minnie musical mobile for Haye Li (hubby said she insisted on this one instead of a nicer and cheaper one so he gave in).

I asked her if she wants to see mei-mei and she said yes. But she was more engrossed with her gifts than mei-mei later on. I guess this kind of worked as she didn’t react to me carrying and nursing Haye Li later on. When it was time to leave, she did show her face as she wanted to be with me and I reminded her that I’ve told her before (which I have prepared her for many weeks now) that my doctor said I need to stay at the hospital for 2 nights and that her papa will be looking after her. I told her that I would see her again the next day. She accepted it and later hubby told me that in the car she told him “I miss my mummy and mei-mei”. She was also alright throughout the night without me. In fact, too good! Those 2 nights without me, she didn’t ask for milk at all from hubby but when I came home, she had been asking for milk in the middle of the night!

The next day, same thing. Not much of an issue and I told her that we will be coming home the next day itself.

While breastfeeding Haye Li, I pulled Rye Li’s leg and told her that once mei-mei was done, it would be her turn. She found this funny and said “no”. I did this to her many times and her reply was always “no”. On the day we checked out, I tested her again and she came to me. She actually put her lips to my nipple and then went “eee-yuh”. I asked her why as she used to drink my nen-nen and her reply was “Because it’s smelly!”. Haha...reverse psychology do work! ;)

Also, on the day they came to take us home, I asked her permission whether her mei-mei and I could go home with her. I allow her to make decisions when it is appropriate and when she makes them, I praise her. When she was playing with her cooking set, she asked whether her mei-mei can play with her. I told her that she is still too small but praised her anyway for wanting to share her new toys with her mei-mei.

So how has it been so far at home?! Well, she has yet to throw any tantrums or voice out her unhappiness with mei-mei being around. But she has been showing her sulky face when she can’t get things her way – not that she has not been this way too before. The first night home, I happened to put Haye Li next to me on my bed. This is where Rye Li sleeps and when I asked her to come lie down on the bed, she refused with a sulky face. Then only I realized it was her spot and I said that I will put mei-mei back into the cot. Only after that, she lay down on her side. I told myself that I need to be extra careful now when dealing with no. 2 in front of no. 1.

But I am amazed that she is alright with me handling Haye Li all the time and when Haye Li cries, she tells me that “mei-mei wants nen-nen”.

She is not happy that I can’t bathe her now or get her ready for bed. So I’m compromising with her that either her papa or Kakak bathe her and I will wear her clothes for her. I try my best to be with her when I’m not attending to Haye Li but I can tell you, it is not easy at all as you’re already so tired from the sleepless nights. I will post more on the aftermath at my blog. This is all about how Rye Li is taking it to her new sister.

I’m just overall proud of her and I know it has only been a week. I have been preparing her big time for this and I also heard that no matter how much you’ve prepared them for a younger sibling to come, there will still be some resistance. This was why I expected the worst but instead, I was surprised myself. If there are any changes, I will also post on this.

My mei-mei is here!

My mei-mei came out already! Here's some pictures of her and I together...if you want to see more of her pics, you can go to her site at http://haye-li.blogspot.com/.