Friday, October 31, 2008

Who Says Chalks Are Passe?

Mommy's not a big fan of chalks, since I still shudder at having to do class duties cleaning the chalkboards during school days. Remember those dusting? These days schools are either shifting to whiteboards with markers or using projectors. Lucky kids.

Well despite the near demise of the chalkboards, I have found some interesting ways to use the chalks for child's play. Afterall, they wash off so easily....
Kierra practising her writing...
Kierra posing, as always
A happy playdate shot
Eugene enjoying the weekly playdate
Pie can draw too...

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Why Donate to Public Cord Blood Bank?

There was this very insightful article in the Straits Times on Saturday 25 October titled "Go Public When Banking Cord Blood" by this senior writer Andy Ho (whom Mommy adores for picking out interesting but overlooked topics and putting together logical discussions on them). It was something that Daddy and Mommy felt pretty strongly about since having done some research and speaking to Granduncle Steve (who gave us a lot of useful information). So Mommy ended up writing to the Straits Times forum about it. They contacted Mommy last night on the phone to verify my personal details, but didn't confirm if they will be publishing it. Then again, I thought I might as well share my thoughts here. The below was what I had submitted.

**** start****
I fully applaud Mr Andy Ho's insightful review "Go Public When Banking Cord Blood" published in The Straits Times dated 25 October 2008. Back in 2004 when I had my first child, my interest was naturally piqued when there was so much fanfare about banking a baby's cord blood. Like all parents, who doesn't want the best for their children since it was marketed as the best kind of insurance you can give to your child?

Fortunately, I did some research and discussed this option with my gynaecologist, who gave me very useful information on cord blood uses and its benefits and limitations. So did I bank my child's cord blood? No. The reason was simple. Like what Mr Andy Ho had mentioned, most of the conditions that cord blood stem cells may cure a baby of later in life would have been pre-existent in his or her cord blood. Plus back then, the fact that future uses of cord blood banking and the stem cells in there are still largely speculative doesn't warrant us spending so much money harvesting and storing it.

Now, I am not saying that cord blood banking is useless. In fact, evidence has it that it has been useful in treating blood related disorders and certain cancers. Bearing in mind that, I am all for public cord blood banking and have been persuading people around me to do that.

This is especially true for Asians. Why? I had learned from the Singapore Cord Blood Bank's (SCBB) website that overseas public cord blood banks do not have enough samples that match our (Asians) multi-ethnic profiles, which makes it even more compelling for us to donate our children's cord blood (if there are no complications at birth). I conclude that this meant cord blood from a largely Western pool will have a very different make-up from that of Asians.

While I respect that cord blood banking - private or public is a personal choice, I fully support going the public cord blood banking way (save those who opt for delayed clamping way and there are no complications at birth). It was unfortunate that my children were all born before SCBB was active, but I for one will definitely donate my child's cord blood if I ever have another child. Afterall, why not offer the opportunity to help save someone's life?
***end***

Ok, I still have something to add which I had forgotten about. I'm not suggesting that we donate cord blood to the public pool because we won't be able to use it anyway if there are faulty cells. In other words, I don't mean that we donate what is inferior to the public pool. What I merely meant was that as it is a public pool and it costs good money to store them, the public banks will be even more stringent about the quality, so anything that is deemed less than what is "perfect" in their guidelines will probably be dumped, rather than kept. As for private banks, the main motivation is profit so it is in its interests to store that inventory of cord blood for as long as it is profitable and mutually desired.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Singapore Zoo on Deepavali 2008

It was a while since we had been to the Singapore Zoo. Mommy asked Daddy yesterday if we could go this morning since it was Deepavali and we didn't have anything lined up. Mommy wanted to use this opportunity to take some photographs for our website as well.
Our journey begins...
Model gets cheeky
Making funny faces
Kierra looking happy when we mentioned lunch
We didn't wake up as early as Mommy wanted to (Mommy hates the big hot sun and getting roasted) but we went anyway. We got a couple of good shots which can be used for our site and had some fun family moments as we went along working. The funny thing was, instead of taking photographs of the animals and being so intrigued by them, we ended up being amazed by a spider right in the middle of the web, and a sound asleep dragonfly. Check those photos below.
Sleeping dragonflyThe spider and its web
One thing we did learn that was new about the animals kept at the zoo - the monkeys could "talk" very loudly. Oh, Mommy just forgot what those monkeys were called. They were black and quite near to the entrance. Let me see if Daddy can put the video we took up on Youtube. Kieona and Kierra ended up imitating them too. :))
Kierra looking glum as there's no food in sight yet
Kieona having a little fun with Daddy

Lift Upgrading (LUP) 1

The huge crane - guess it's purpose?
See how far it stretches?
The crane holds these metal chains which are then tied to the concrete slabs as they get sawn
Oh, so the crane prevents the slabs from falling off
The empty space where the slab used to be
It's been hell of a noise when they started sawing and hammering away the walls for the lift upgrading project at our block of flats. The noise although for pretty short periods of time, still gave Mommy a headache. What a relief that the kids are all in full day school now, so it didn't quite affect their naps. However the house got rather dusty and we're all displaying some symptoms of side effects like cough (Daddy) and sensitive nose (Kieona). The other unfortunate thing is that it has been such a difficult period to work from home.

We're trying to look on the bright side of it all though - it means we can quickly get lifts almost at our doorstep!!!
Making the concrete lift shaft
The concrete shaft all completed for ground floor
What we see when we open our front door

Sometimes We Have Nice Dinner

When you stay home and are very hands-on with your kids, the sometimes rather unfortunate things is that we cannot afford all the time in the world to constantly be creative with their food. Many experts have recommended that food be presented in interesting ways so that kids love them and do not need further prompting to finish up.

Not that we have much problems with our kids eating at home since they almost always prefer home-cooked food to outside takeaways or even restaurants. Then again Mommy was in the mood for presenting the food nicely, so we had this nice fried rice with chicken and a little bit of salad greens, all prepped in a short time of about 15 minutes (excluding the time the rice cooker took to cook the white rice). Well, I'm convinced they ate a lot faster than normal.

Now the challenge will be keeping it up (which by the way we haven't).
Wow, looks yummy....
Kierra enjoying her salads
Kieona just picking out the egg yolks that she doesn't fancy

Teeth at Grand Old Age of Three

Dear Kierra has always been very late where teeth is concerned. Her first teeth sprouted at around 10 months and now at the grand old age of three, is sprouting her last set of molars. Wow, mighty late.

The cons of it? Her slow eating - as she uses her front teeth for chewing and sometimes it can take a looong while..... apart from that, no major worry. The only consolation? I've been told that later bloomers (in the department of teeth sprouting) will mean that the child will start having decays later.
Kierra using her front teeth as usual
Not sure if it's true. Kieona has been having a lot of cavities (she started sprouting at 6 months and finished by around 2 years old) and we've spent quite a lot on dentistry for her. Would not have mattered much to Mommy that much if she had not kept insisting on keeping her looks in pristine condition for any shot at modelling.

What to do? No choice lah....

Sunday, October 19, 2008

No Baby....

Of late, Kieona has been asking for another baby in the house. She said our house should have three children. Of course, her requests has been much protested by Kierra and the way it was protested became a topic of teasing by Mommy.

Just a week ago Kierra while sitting on the toilet seat doing her big business with Mommy waiting at her side, she said she doesn't want another baby. When asked why, she thought for a while and said, "If there is another baby then Mommy will carry baby and will not carry me anymore."

Mommy told her that it was a silly thought and whether there is another baby in the future or not, Mommy shouldn't carry Kierra as Kierra has grown up and is getting too heavy for Mommy. However, Mommy can still carry Kierra and Kieona if they get really tired and needs Mommy to carry them while they nap. After a while Kierra exclaimed, "Mommy, you only have two hands. I don't want another baby!" A strange exclamation right? So Mommy asked what does having two hands got to do with babies?

Kierra replied, "You have two hands, then one hand hold Jie Jie, and another hand hold baby, what about me?" I burst out laughing at this point, but the poor little girl had started pouting and immediately burst into tears.

Ahh, kids... I'm sure I will one day look back on all these exchanges and be glad to have been able to spend most of their first few years with them.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Swimming Lessons 10 October 2008

Daddy got a very cool gadget for the camera that can help us use our regular camera under the water. Fantastic and that was how we were able to take photographs of the kids learning swimming and how they look underwater. Until you see it for yourselves, you will never understand the heartwarming feeling we felt when we see our girls, especially Kierra being so comfortable under water. Is she a mermaid?
Kierra & Daddy
Kierra flying...
Kieona & Daddy

Check out this Facebook Album for more of the swimming photos.

After Mommy had posted this blog entry, some people had asked me if there was a special camera that we used for these shots. For the record - no. Actually the solution was pretty simple for us. We already have two Sony digital cameras and really didn't want to part with a few hundreds more for a under-water camera. Daddy did some research and found some Olympus ones that could do under-water shots, but at more than S$400, it was really quite pricey since we don't need another camera. Voila, we found this website and bought this product called a DiCAPac Waterproof case for digital cameras. At around S$50, we had the problem solved and got all these fabulous shots with our lovely daughters.

Just a small little note here though - it is just a recommendation and we (including our business BabySlingsAndCarriers.com) are in no way affiliated to this website. Do check with the website if you have specific questions.

Kierra's 3rd Birthday

Kierra's birthday cake (the home version)
The lovely pair of sisters
Mommy helps to cut the cake
Let's dig in!
Happy Birthday to You (x2)
Happy Birthday to Kierra
Happy Birthday to You......

You're a big girl now, darling.....

Kieona's First Music Concert at Yamaha

It was an exciting day when Kieona went to perform for her first music concert for her class in Yamaha. It was a mini-concert with just the parents and the kids who are attending Mrs Jen's class, but nevertheless an enjoyable one. Initially Mommy was worried about whether she may freeze as she's never been the best keyboardist in class. Then again as mothers all do, I encouraged her as much as I could, had her well-rested and practised with her more frequently nearer the date.

Knowing her temperament, I had to dress her for her role and made sure she liked the clothes she wore and the way the hair was styled. Every little detail I could think of I did to maximise her potential. After that, I just told her to enjoy herself. (That's the only thing I can think of to tell her since I didn't want her to get stressed up. Even if it didn't go well, I will still be proud of her.)

With Daddy, Kierra and Maria also attending, Mommy wanted Kieona to feel proud of her performance. Perform she did. In fact, everyone thought she was very lively and Mrs Jen was surprised at her performance. Good job, Kieona! Your hard work paid off! Just like your gym coach Janelle said to you before - if you keep doing, you can only get better.

Kids preparing for singing
Kieona concentrating
Kids singing the song "Whales' Sneezes"

Check out Kieona's keyboard performance on Youtube.




Eugene's last week at Godma's

It's pretty sad letting Eugene go to a childcare. Even though it has been a real hassle having him in our house, it was still difficult for Mommy to let go. Afterall he's always been here since his mother gone back to work. Unfortunately, there's a lot more things that will be more difficult at home if he continues to stay on. As it is, Mommy already feels very guilty that her girls are not getting enough attention with Eugene around, so there is not much choice but to let go. Nothing is forever and I'm glad that we got to spend the last 15 months together.... we did enjoy a lot of one another's company in the last few days.... some pictures we took for keepsake....
Tickling Kieona...
Riding bicycle
Eugene riding pillion
Kierra's 3rd birthday present
Eugene grabbing Jie Jie

Ryan Cousin

Come meet Kieona & Kierra's cousin Ryan. He's around Eugene's age and is the son of Baoling - Mommy's cousin (Wai Po's older sister's daughter). Sounds complicated. He's a lot more adventurous than Eugene when Ryan, his grandma & Baoluan Yee Yee visited. A pity the girls weren't in. Pie got scared when Ryan got close.
Ryan & Eugene on the sofa

Aloha Loyang Chalet 2008

Somewhere in mid-September before Eugene went to childcare, we all went for a extended family chalet at Aloha Loyang. It was the first time we ever decided to go together on the chalet and given the very attractive rates during off-peak and the subsidised rate Michelle Yee Yee can get as a civil servant, we all went ahead to have this well-deserved bonding event.

The kids all had fun, especially at the pool and indoor (air-conditioned) children playground. The pool was fantastic as the water was always warm in the evening and it was just right outside our chalet! Kieona kept asking to go to the pool and the girls just didn't want to get back into the chalet once they all went into the playground. Well, on such hot and humid days, the air-conditioned playground was too much to miss. It's fortunate that this time of the year most of the kids in school are preparing for exams, so there really wasn't anyone in the playground except us, which was excellent given that our kids are all so young and probably will get pushed around if there were older kids.

We had barbeque on day 2 in the evening. Boy! There was just too much food. Mommy the non-BBQer volunteered to prepare the salad greens instead as I so hate the smell of BBQ in my clothes and hair. Plus, (although it sounds so bimbo I still got to say it) the smoke will probably ruin my already bad skin!

It was such an excellent idea to have this family gathering, we all though. Michelle Yee Yee said it'll be nice to have an annual one, which I kinda agree. With everyone so busy with their own schedules, it's tough getting together apart from the usual meals. Well, I'm sure the kids will be elated if they hear of another chalet coming up.

As for us the parents, Daddy and I were plain thankful that we get to spend some time away from the children while they had their naps, and we had some time to hold hands and play lovey-dovey. Check out those photos!

Hello Daddy!
Pie woke up but couldn't find anyone...
This is how we panggang, MariaWai Gong sure is busy with the two jewels

For more photos, check out our Facebook album.

The 1st Nosebleed

We've often hear of little children having nosebleeds either because their bodies are "heaty" or because the arteries in the nostrils are not mature yet. Well, we had a lot of nosebleeds problems for Kieona when she was younger and there was always so much blood. I was glad for a while that Kierra never seem to have that sort of problem. Unfortunately she did at the age of almost 3, her first nosebleed.

The only consolation? It wasn't a lot compared to what we used to see come out of Kieona.

So how do you treat nosebleed? Best way (I read and researched) to treat such nosebleeds is to hold the child upright (standing best). hold head downwards a little and press and hold gently on the bridge of the nose. The exact position is somewhere in between the eyes. Hold for 5-10 minutes and it will do the trick. What I didn't know back then - tilt head backwards and place ice on forehead. Doesn't work at all and I found out later that by doing that the child may either get choked, or the backflow of the blood actually causes sore throat problems in the next few days.
Kierra being tended to in the morning by Maria
That is blood, but it's really quite a non-issue to Mommy already
It wasn't painful, but it's my virgin nosebleed you know

Kierra's Big Ear Wax

I know this sounds gross, but I had to do this for the record. Look at that huge piece of impacted ear wax I found in Kierra's ear. No wonder she's been digging with her fingers and couldn't hear me.....
Kierra's impacted ear wax

Little Hairstylists Part 2

Kierra with her hair styled by sister dearest
How Kierra's hair turned out