Smiley

Sihuai loves it if you're there smiling at her when she just wakes up. She enjoys having us making cooing noise at her. She's fascinated by colorful toys we dangle in front of her.

It doesn't take a lot to elicit a smile. Just by been there and smiling at her would get her laughing back at you. Lovely :)

She's about 2 month-old now.

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Coffee

Am now at the two cups of coffee a day, and yet still feeling tired and sleepy stage. But at least i can drink coffee and also get about 6 hours nite sleepthrough if I'm lucky. Lux doesn't have that luxury.
Also note to self: do not buy coffee at starbucks on way to work. they just don't pack what's needed.

Twist and Turn

How do babies fart? By twist and turn. Waking Sihuai up at nite to feed means u have to give her an extra five minutes to twist and turn to get her farts out. Then she would be able to feed more comfortably. O/w she would be doing rock and roll while feeding or else be crying a fuss.

So far, her stomach issues have been milder than Siyuan. We suspect it's becos she has better "milk management" as the maternal nurse in Australia called it. ie, she doesn't overfeed, whereas Siyuan would even store milk in his mouth. Her twist and turn also seems more effective in getting the fart out, although this bit could be wrong as my memories of Siyuan's early days have already faded away, leaving only the nice bits.
Lux says my memory has been sanitized.


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Siyuan and No

Supposedly toddler learn to say no quickly, which then becomes their fav word. Siyuan learned the word MORE first and preferred that. Yes, he's a glutton.
Now however, at 2.5 years old, the word no is creeping into his vocab more and more. Even to the extent that if I use Putonghua to describe something, he would say no, preferring in in English.


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Sleeps like her brother

Here's a picture of her fav sleeping posture. Yes, it's the same one Siyuan had at that age and for a while.

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The weary bit

okay, so the excitement has worn off. Sihuai has also moved from the sleep 20 hour-phase, and is more alert. Naturally in the second month, the development of her stomach meant more wind, more discomfort. Been breastfeed meant she could go for two weeks without pooing. U can imagine what happens then.
The second and third months are the tiring part.
We're starting to put her on her front. This a pic.

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Put, Put

Sometimes when we carry Sihuai, Siyuan would ask that we put her down on his lap while he sits on the couch.
And yes, he can be very possessive about his sister. When other kids or strangers started looking at her when we went out, he would crowd round her protectively. Once, he even told his maternal grandmother that Sihuai was MINE, MINE when she pretended to carry Sihuai away.

Sihuai, Tough It Out

Well, we didn't celebrate Sihuai's first month birthday since that was when Siyuan went to the hospital. We've entered the phase when Sihuai would progressively get gas problems. However, because she seems to control her feeding better (ie she doesn't overfeed like Siyuan who even stored milk in his mouth), the problem was less extreme.
Her maternal grandmother, who was visiting, also remarked that Sihuai cried less often.

It was also easier to deal with the crying bouts associated with her stomach discomfort as we knew what it was about. It was incredibly frustrating when Siyuan had it becos nothing we tried worked and the crying made me feel angry and bewildered. This time, it was simple: Sihuai, you just have to tough it out.
Of course, we burped her,cycled her legs and massaged her belly to help.

There's of course a cycle also to her behavior. After she pooed, she would have a good day, and then as the shit builds up, her farts would get incredibly smelly and the stomach uncomfortable. She seem to be doing a 4 days cycle between poo. Siyuan once went 10 days before pooing. That's normal, our maternal nurse in Melbourne had told us. Breastfed babies can go up to two weeks without pooing.

Finger Chewing

Since coming back from the hospital, Siyuan has dropped most of his fingers chewing habit. It had started with his thumb and escalated to him putting his whole hand in it. We suspected he was doing it because he was bored. Maybe he thinks finger chewing would lead him back to the hospital.

Oh, for the next couple of days after he was back, he was incredibly fascinated by his toys. He's well now, but seemed to have passed the bug to me and Lux. Children!

Siyuan and the hospital

So he's sick, the A&E doctor said to me. I nodded and started to tell him about Siyuan's high temperature.
Oh, he's vomiting, the doctor said. I looked down, and the remains of Siyuan's dinner was all over both of us. While I looked on in stunned silence, the doctor quickly took wipes out for us to clean (must be a common occurence!).

That began Siyuan's three days stay at the hospital. By the time we were admitted to his room, his temperature was at 41 degrees and he was lame as a duck. What started as a simple flu had escalated. While normally we would have kept him at home, the swine flu and the presence of Sihuai had our doctor advising us to bring him to the hospital.

We were put in the infectious ward for children, and shared a six-bed room with a kid that's probably about 10 years old. With just three of us and two huge air-cons bellowing away, it was a pretty cold night. Siyuan kept me warm as we shared the couch. He refused to sleep on his bed alone.

By the next day, his temperature had come down. Blood and a nasal swipe tests didn't reveal anything unpleasant lurking other than a normal flu bug, but the doctors wanted to be sure. So we stayed a third day. The doctors were concerned because of Siyuan's chronic coughing. (pollution and dirt in HK)

By the third day, Siyuan was bored out of his ears, and was happily pulling levers and wheels on his bed. We played hide and seek. At lunchtime, he would loiter near the door waiting for his food. We weren't allowed to wander around becos it was the infectious ward.

IF the experience of staying in a private hospital proved underwhelming in HK, the stay at Pamala, a public hospital showed why many still praised HK for having a first-class healthcare service. The care was professional and good. The furniture was older and the queues longer (45 minutes to collect his medication), but the doctors and nurses clearly knew what they were doing. The nurses showed excellent care as well as give us good advice.

The cost of seeing an A&E doctor and the three days stay? HK$200, or about S$40 or A$30. That's inclusive of the tests and chest X-ray they did. AMAZING.