The latest vaccination drive was for students who would be taking their National Exams and we booked her a date during the June hols.

She was supposed to get her second dose earlier but she had a paper just a few days back and we didn't want to risk her falling ill just before so we waited till today.

Daddy took her down in the afternoon.

like the previous times, she returned with freebies. 

She is resting now and hopefully she will feel better tomorrow. 

In 14 days, our entire nuclear family would be vaccinated but I doubt this changes much for us - we are already staying home during the weekdays and much of the weekends as well.  

Since the announcement was made last December that vaccination for our country would start, I have been praying for an answer as to whether we should take it. While some were rejoicing that teachers would be on the list of priority people who will be receiving the shots, I was in two minds. Deep down, I strongly believe that C19 would go away, that is when the world gets things right. Yet at the same time, I am looking at how countries have been handling the pandemic and see that that is not going to happen any time soon. :( 

My prayers didn't yield an answer for months but God did give me a sign and told me to go ahead. This came after much anxiety and agony in the early days of March. So with prayers from close friends, I put my name down for an appointment.

The wait time was short although there were over 20 people ahead in the queue. 

I asked if I could take a photo of the shot. A series of questions were asked at the registration counter and the next appointment was scheduled. Then I was led to a booth where the same set of questions was asked again. I guess they just had to be certain before sticking the needle into the arm. It was over before I knew it - just like an ant bite. 

Looking pretty tired after the jab. Then I was ushered to an observation area where I had to be for 30 minutes.  

After 30 min, we walked up to the counter where we were given our "discharged" papers - a vaccination card which had our details and the name of the vaccine that we had taken. We didn't feel anything unusual after - soreness of the area where the shot was at and that was it. 

The arm became a lot ore painful the day after actually and lifting it to open an overhead compartment was slightly more difficult. We felt tired and just wanted to nap more. 

Will update again when we go for our second dose. - 13 March 2021

We went for our second jab on 3 April - this time round, there weren't much of a queue. We showed the appointment/ vaccination letter that was issued after our first shot and waited our turn. Similar to the first time, we were asked a series of questions and more importantly, we had to state the side effects we had. 

Us, sitting our 30-minute observation out. At that point in time, we didn't feel anything - no soreness of the arm where the jab was, actually we didn't even feel the pinch of the needle. No headaches, nothing. 

I did fall ill the next day - fever, body aches, the soreness of my arm was worse than the first time and I was exceptionally tired. I was out for 2 whole days while Daddy came down with a mild fever in the evening. His recovery was a lot faster - by Monday he was up and about as if normal, while I was still trying to sleep my aches away.

So concludes our C19 vaccination journey. Word has it that it may be an annual thing now and honestly I am not thrilled about it at all.  

From instant udon noodles, we have moved on to savoury oats. After some research and discussion about what kind of ingredients to use, we took the plunge and like what they say, "the rest is history."

We started with this first: dumplings, fishballs, and frozen vegetables. We added egg for that extra flavour. 

Then went on to experiment with other kinds of vegetables. Here we used mushrooms, cabbage, and carrots. When we become more confident, we added meat like sliced pork.

This is our favourite! Cherry tomatoes, caixin, fish and cheesy fishcake. Now that we have gotten the hang of it, we are more willing to try different types of (uncooked) ingredients which are of course healthier choices compared to the processed sausages or crab sticks. 

3 tablespoons of oats, with these ingredients - it keeps us filled yet doesn't make us feel bloated or sleepy. :) An additional plus: there is no need to pre cook any ingredients as the microwave can settle that easily.

When C returned with a letter after a health check in school, my heart dropped and for the longest time, I was in denial. After a regular eye check, the report was that C's vision has deteriorated and now she would need glasses. :(

We were advised to return 3 months later to have her eyes checked again. I have been reminding C to do her eye exercises and hopefully get her vision back to normal before the next check-up. (fingers crossed)

An incident prompted this entry.

We were having lunch at a hawker centre. This hawker centre is located at a mature estate and during lunch time, we noticed that most of the patrons there were the elderly. It took us a while to find a table and get our food due to the peak hour but that didn't trouble us much.

We noticed that there was an elderly woman slouched over the table just behind ours. Before Daddy could sink his teeth into the food he bought, a loud thud startled him and he turned around to find that the elderly woman had fallen off her seat and hit her head. He immediately attended to her and asked if she was all right. He asked if he could contact anyone in her family and all she could tell him was her home number. She has a husband living with her but he wasn't at home to pick up the call. Daddy then asked if he could contact her children to which she replied she didn't know their numbers.

There was a swell on the back of her head and fearing for her safety, Daddy called for the ambulance. The paramedics who came tried rather unsuccessfully to retrieve information from her due to language barrier. This was easily solved as Daddy and some helpful by-standers translated the questions and answers. All this while, calls to the family home remained unanswered. It was only after much persuasion,3 hours later and complaints of feeling dizzy and faint that the elderly woman agreed to go to the hospital.

This incident got us thinking... . How did the elderly woman feel? She must have been terrified. How would her children have felt when they find out what had happened? Let's not jump to conclusions here and say that her children didn't care. They could have given her their contact numbers and the elderly woman might have forgotten where she had the numbers written down. She would most probably have them in a note book by the telephone at home like how my mum and dad.

Then I remember something a friend posted on her Facebook page. It's an identification tag she has gotten made and on the tag, the important numbers of the next-of-kin and her medical history. Perhaps I should get one for my mum with all of our mobile numbers on it or for C. In case of any emergencies, I wouldn't want to be un-contactable.

When C was younger, she would wear this to bed.

Grand Mummy improvised and made this "grobag" for her because she wasn't able to keep her blanket on at night. I thought it was a good idea to just let her wear her blanket during her bed time and this piece of garment was something C used for a number of years. 

C is now 8 years old and she has her own room where she sleeps in and every night, we talk about her covering her body securely because we don't want her to fall ill or catch a cold. She would be nicely tucked in before I went to bed but it was a different story the next morning. C even recently asked me if Grand Mummy could make her another grobag so that she didn't need to worry about kicking her blankets in the night. 

I think she must have heard enough of my nagging because she decided to solve the problem by putting on socks before she slept. 

It is the school holidays and as promised I took C to the dentist. Luckily she was able to slot us in her already-packed schedule. 

Her adult canine tooth on the right had erupted behind her milk tooth. It seems like a common problem for C and when the Doc examined her teeth, we saw that the one on the left was also going to do the same. I eyed the Doc suspiciously and she immediately advised against removing so many teeth at a go. 

We have a problem. Her front teeth aren't straight and the Doc asked if she had suffered a fall when she was younger. It was C who exclaimed that she did and even sustained a cut on her chin and Doc suspected that it was the fall that cause the adult tooth to be shifted. She wrote us a letter for a referral to the Health Promotion Board to see if she needed braces to correct the front teeth but the wait is terrible; 8 months just to see the specialist and then we will have to wait again for another appointment. Sigh... 

C has a new favourite place.

I had wanted to get somethings from Watsons and we went there in the evening. C walked around on her own and then came back with these.

Apparently, she stood at the spot and examined the different brands of multi-vits. She eats her daily dose of vitamins every morning after breakfast and her supplies were almost finished. She had picked these 2 bottles and was telling me about the contents of these supplements.

I asked her if she would consider other brands and she gave me a run-down of how she came to her decisions. She had been scrutinizing the labels. :)

These days, it's either pouring cats and dogs or we are melting under the sweltering heat and it is no wonder that many of us are feeling under the weather. Daddy came down with flu and despite that day off from work, he hasn't recovered. In fact he got worse and started coughing 2 days ago.

He is down to the last 10 ml of his cough mixture and he doesn't look anywhere near recovery. This morning while out on our groceries shopping, we saw that lotus root was on sale and quickly bought it as I wanted to prepare this remedy for him.

My mother-in-law would always prepare this when she hears him cough... .

The raw lotus root was washed and grated before it was given a good squeeze to extract the juice. I did this for 2 rounds; the second was diluted with water. As for the dry residue after that, it was thrown away.

Then the mixture was put over low heat and brought to a boil. Because of the starch from the lotus root, it is advisable to keep the flame low and to keep stirring the mixture. Rock sugar was added to sweeten the mixture. When the mixture had boiled, it would thicken.

Pour it into your mugs and let it cool. 

Daddy likes it both warm and cold so we had 1 mug put in the fridge. For that added crunch, you can add diced water chestnut. A simple home remedy to keep that itchy, scratchy throat away. :)

Our group of friends started us on this. They play regularly and on Saturday evenings, when we haven't got any plans, we will join them for a game or two.

These are the first racquets we bought. Got them from Katong Mall several days ago so that C could practise. She isn't good at it at all. Haha. But she is willing to learn. :)

Her junior racquet is shorter than the regular one and it is a lot easier to manage with her small hands. Daddy's was a flashy gold and it is surprisingly light. After each session, he would complain of muscle and body aches but he enjoyed the workouts.

I have fond memories of badminton; C's grand daddy used to play with me when I was her age and it was a game that grand daddy was very good at. I remember how we would play on the road just in front of our house and how we had to stop our game and make way for passing cars.

I had this ominous feeling last Wednesday evening. Wasn't able to sleep too as I was waking up ever so often to check on Cheryl: either a touch on her forehead or to pull her blanket up to cover her. Thursday morning, Daddy text to say that C was running a fever but she had insisted that she would be fine after taking some medication.

At 4 that afternoon, I received a call from her and she was burning up. Hence I rushed down to pick her from school and we headed off to the doctor's immediately. It was a long wait. We started off by waiting indoors but the air conditioning proved too much for C whose fever did not subside at all. We eventually moved outdoor to wait for our turn.

A clinic assistant came out, not long after, armed with a thermometer. "39.5. You will go in next." She commanded. It wasn't our turn yet but I was thankful. Inside, C told the doc how she was feeling and he prescribed some medication for her cough and runny nose.

15 minutes later, we received the meds and went back home. C went to bed immediately after dinner and medication but 3 hours later, a check on the thermometer revealed this:

Our poor Precious... I gave her another round of meds and very thankfully her fever came down soon after. She was able to sleep better that night. Precious missed much of her weekend because her fever did not go away entirely. She was looking forward to the Cold Storage Kids' Run but had to stay in because the fever.

Just before Precious went to school on Monday, she called and said that she was running a temperature again so she stayed away from school yet another day. I took off at the earliest possible time and got back to take C to the doc again. 

He prescribed her an entire new batch of medication and gave her 2 days off from school.

Last evening, Precious complained of an upset tummy and she said she visited the loo many times in the day. I am going to monitor her further and see if she needs to visit the doc again today.  

C has outgrown all her sneakers. All except her school shoes. Since Precious has a day off from school today, we decided to shop for new shoes.

It didn't take her long to decide on the pair she wanted and she went prancing around the store. :) These shoes are actually meant for her run with Cold Storage Kids' Run that is happening later this month. Daddy commented that they were nice and she confirmed that they were comfortable.

This wasn't the first time that C had complained of stomachache. Initially we thought it was because she might be constipated and advised her to always finish the water in her bottle.

Today, I received a call in the afternoon. Had thought that it was C as she some times would give me a tinkle during recess but I took a glance at the clock and saw that recess was over and there was no way it could be her. The voice at the other end asked if I was "Cheryl's mummy" and I knew instinctively that it was from her school. C was in the sick bay and she was unwell. I dropped everything and rushed there immediately.

My poor baby teared when she saw me. The clerk said that she had been complaining of tummy ache and was nauseated. Later, C revealed that she was hungry and had not eaten enough. :( She has gastric pains. She had thought that it was because she wanted to poo and asked her teacher for permission to go to the toilet but she didn't manage to get anything out and in the loo, she recalled that she wanted to vomit and that was when she started crying.

We decided that we would give her packed lunch again: we stopped as she had earlier wanted to buy food with her friends during recess but I think just for now and for the rest of the year, we would give her a little extra during recess. To be suffering from gastric pains is no joke: and worse, it takes years to recover completely. We pray that there will not be another attack.

Last week I received an email from Mindy. In the email, Mindy hooked me up with this really cute and adorable website where parents, kids, teachers and even dentists can use.

With this personalised brushing chart, I am sure Precious will be very happy to brush her teeth every morning and evening. :)

Print a Tooth Brushing Chart for Your Child - Tooth Brushing Charts for Children

Parents, you can also get a widget for your blog.

I received a call from Precious at 2.30pm and she was sobbing and complaining of being feverish. I left for home at the earliest possible time so that I could check on her.

When I got back, she was sound asleep and thankfully the fever she had complained about was gone. When she awoke, though I had wanted her to stay in instead of going for her ballet class, she insisted.

When her fever didn't seem to make a comeback at 6pm, she asked again if she could go got her dance class so we went.

However after that, she seemed unwell again and Daddy and I wasted no time and took her to our Doc.

Just look at the concoction of medicine she had to take. Doc initially wanted to put her on the nebuliser as she was whizzing rather badly. He saw the grave look on our faces and pondered over a little while more before prescribing the medicine.

We seriously hope she will recover quickly. The poor girl is in bed already and we pray that she will have a restful sleep.

Princess has the day off tomorrow and the next to rest and I will have to reschedule her dental appointment.

Today is the third day into Term 3 yet Precious hasn't gone back to school.

Her school bag was all packed yesterday but C is now still sleeping away because she wasn't able to rest well last night.

Her temperature suddenly went up on Monday morning and Daddy brought C to the doc. She was given 2 days off and even though C tended to recover fast, this time round, the bug seemed more stubborn than usual. 

We collected her homework from school and last evening, she sat down to complete them. I saw that she has started to learn the concept of money. And this reminded me of something I prepared for her a long time ago. I had printed and cut out specimen of the dollar notes and coins of different denomination for the purpose of counting. With that, we would play our "Shopping" game.
Though still running a temperature, she managed to finish her assignment and went on to pack her bag.

This morning when I was getting ready to go to work, I went to check on her and realised that she was burning up; so high that she vomited. Sigh... she would have to stay in today as well. We are praying that she recovers quickly. 

2010 was the first year we signed up. This year, C mentioned that she wanted to run in the Kids' Run too hence I registered us for the event.

C and Daddy posing for pictures just before the flag off. We arrived just minutes before the flag off actually and immediately went to queue at the holding area.

Our pals who also took part in the event. Daddy who was standing by the side of the road missed C and I as we came by. We were the first batch of runners.

C, with her medal! She was very proud of herself. This girl is fast! She sped off after the air-gun went off and I was trying to keep up with her. After some 200 metres, she slowed down and commented that she was tired but she persisted on as I told her that the finishing line was just up ahead.

"Excellent job, children!"