What weekend means to the boys (The Sleep Edition)?

1. Snuggling at the corner of my bed in the middle of the night because they’re too tall to squeeze in between us now.

2. Mass family afternoon snuggles. The rule is there is no rule on positioning. At present, everyone manage to surround the little princess.

3. Getting ready for bed means lugging their mattress from their room to a small space beside my bed. Not forgetting the pillows too!

4. While everyone’s watching tellie in the living room, bed time also means playing babysitter to their cupcake. Not really.

5. It is the only time they can convince me that it is fine to sleep past midnight.

Of course I would first listen to what they have to say because there are times I need to intervene. Danger and safety for instance. Boys this age are prone to experimental accidents. They know that it’s dangerous because mummy tells them so but how true it is they may be a little too curious thus cross that line.

Speaking of experimental accidents. As I passed the boys’ room earlier, I caught Iain looking fidgety when he saw me. That look of ‘to tell or not to’ told me that something was up. When I entered their room, Daansyh was hiding behind his book shelf and Iain gave that ‘oh shit’ look. So I asked what happen. Shifty (and runny nose from crying I guess), Iain told me that his brother was hurt. Daanysh immediately cried and I saw him holding on to his toes dearly. Believe it or not, what I saw almost made part of me laugh at first. He had stapled his own toe! One side of the staple had entered right into his flesh and there was blood. I had to use quite a bit of strength to pull it out! I got annoyed at how silly his answer was eventually.

Me: So tell me what happened? Something must have happened for the entire staple to poke right through your nail.

Daanysh: I just want to try….

Me: Want to try it again? (grrrrr)

And look what I found in my Inbox this morning!

It’ll be held at Downtown East’s Event Square on 13 & 14 August 2011 at 3.30pm and 7pm.

Photo taking passes will be given out limited to only 50 families per session. NTUC Union Members are also entitled to a free 4R photo!

I’ve marked this event on my calendar, how about you?

Cupcake knows what to expect and for us caregivers, we anticipate thus we can easily recognise her needs. On contrary, routines may not work out on certain occasions. Outings for example must be plan before or after a certain activity. If we plan to be out for the entire day we need to take into consideration her needs as she usually gets cranky when she misses her morning or afternoon nap. Bed time routines will also need to be shifted to a much earlier time if we intend to be out for the night. Once we put her to sleep, she can sleep through the night and not realise that we have brought her out. Another issue this Ramadhan is that break fast coincides with her bed time. She’ll end up being super cranky as we tend to bring her into the room after break fast. She has been falling asleep at 830pm since the start of Ramadhan.

Tara doesn’t sleep much during the day. She has many short naps in between play time though. In the day time she demands our attention. She needs someone to talk and sing to her all the time. She loves reading with her brothers, watching her favorite videos on YouTube or simply being talk to. She cannot be left alone in her cot for more than 15 minutes and putting her to sleep is a formidable task. She naps only after she’s overwhelmed by an activity.

Play time with Abang Daanysh

Don’t leave me alone! I want more!

BRB after a short break.

Tara’s bedtime routine starts with her afternoon bath at 6pm. She usually gives her cue by giving her “I’m pissed and impatient” cry by 530pm (she should be tired from the day’s action). Activities after bath time are usually mellow such as reading or singing on my bed before lights off and feed and its la la land for her by 730pm. It works very well for us. Once I put the boys to sleep at 830pm its ME time. No more children to attend to. It’s the time where I find time like this to blog, send resume, watch TV… anything that I want. Cupcake only wakes up for milk and will immediately return to la la land after her feed. As long as the room is dark she knows it’s night-time and she knows now that no one will play, sing or talk to her when it is dark.

Her day will begin again the next morning when she wakes up for her feed at around 8am to find her first ray of light outside my window. Morning baths cannot be delayed later than 930am. The routine will then repeat itself again for the day.

Quick I need my shower now!

I’ve enjoyed every bit of my 12 weeks spent at home with Cupcake and sweetie pies. I have little idea how this routine will work out when I get back to work, 4 more weeks to really enjoy! *sigh*

In addition to the chicken essence and bird nest, I have just added BRANDS InnerShine Berry Essence to my nightly ritual. Of course I don’t drink all 3 (or 4 if you include Yomeishu) in one night. I’ll alternate these treats and my least favorite night would be the chicken essence night. Have to admit that on some days, I’ll conveniently forget. -_-

Well from what I have read, the mixture of these 7 berries is great for the eyes. Yet to find out the effects but no harm trying since it’s really affordable and it tastes so good too! The Prune Essence apparently is for radiant beautiful skin. Might want to try that the next time.

Anyone drinks this on a daily basis?

Thus I began reading thoroughly on both ADHD and high intelligence in children since both are of two different subject. I chanced upon this study conducted by Yale University which studies the co-occurance between high IQ and ADHD in children. High IQ in reality does not offer any defense against ADHD according to the study. In fact many children have been misdiagnosed as ADHD when in truth they are truly gifted. Or high IQ children have been dismissed from having ADHD since their IQ scores were very high. So how do we know if our kids are the highly intelligent ADHD type ? Here’s what I have gathered.

“The high-IQ, ADHD group lacked self-management skills and the ability to focus. They tended to procrastinate and be forgetful and had difficulty in harnessing their talent to complete many daily tasks, the study found.”

These kids are often described by their parents as lazy, not showing enough effort and unmotivated. They show traits of ADHD such as fidgety, acting on impulse, constantly in motion or talk non stop, forgetfulness, difficulty in focusing on a task, inability to follow simple instructions and do not seem to listen when talked to BUT they are also the ones who top their classes, have vocabulary exceeding that of their peers, have amazing memory, superb motor skills and are often described by their peers and teachers as lively and free-spirited.

ADHD alone is a very broad subject and the above findings are based on what I have found over the internet for the past couple of days. I have yet to find THE answer. Our society is lacking the knowledge on this very issue and surmise hyperactive children as undisciplined. One thing I agree is ADHD is not caused by poor parenting or sugar rush.

An interesting fact:

Albert Einstein, President George Bush, Beethoven, Leo Tolstoy and Tom Cruise are among those who are ADHD.

Sources:

High IQ Offers No Protection from ADHD Effects

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)/Behavioral issues

Famous People with ADHD

What is ADHD?

Both my sweetie pies have exhibited extreme love for their baby sister and so far, no sign of jealousy like how some have anticipated from Iain. Being my baby all these years we have questioned how he would react to the additional member. But being a warm and tender natured boy, he has displayed himself as the protective and loving brother towards his precious little love. After getting ready for school he’ll be the first to plant wet kisses on Cupcake’s cheeks secretly urging her to wake up. Getting the boys to wash up when they get back from school has suddenly turned out to be an easier task. The moment they’re clean they would fight over who gets to carry their baby sister first. Good night kisses are no longer mine (now, I have to ask).  I have now moved down to Number 2 on their list… *sigh*

Anyway, while I was still at ‘revamping’ the blog I discovered the share function. A late bloomer, yeah I know. I can actually now choose to publish my entries on Facebook and Twitter, not that I blog much these days. Say holla if you’re reading this! And I wonder who still have the URL to my old blog? I’ve been raking my brain and tried all sort of possibilities. Being a bummer at home I’ve turned into a nostalgic bore.

I’ve been inpired to blog again and hopefully it’s not half a year an entry mode again.

Spent the entire day changing the layout of this dying blog and condensed and removed some of the past contents. Just doing that alone tires me. I’ll just end today by introducing our newest addition, Tara Nadyne.

The brightest of stars that gives us hope.

Tara a day old.

A week old.

Iain staring into his precious face.

I’m already missing you, we’ve never been apart and to only hear what others have to say about you torments me. The memory of my first kiss for you still triggers tears in my eyes. I can’t wait to hold you dearly in my arms. For all the pain we’ve been through, it’ll be  all worthwhile.

Welcome to our world love.

From the beginning everything was the total opposite of my first two pregnancies. From what I remembered as hassle-free, with morning sickness that lasted not more than two weeks, this time, my morning sickness lasted for more than 2 months! I was so weak that I didn’t even want to leave the bed, not even for a bath. My menu for all three meals was simple; bread and butter. On good days I was able to eat baked potatoes with salted butter.

While preggers begin to enjoy the honeymoon period in their 2nd trimester, I began to develop high blood pressure (pre eclampsia). I researched on special diet that helps to reduce HBP in pregnancies and it eventually went down. That was when I also decided that I had to stop forcing myself to continue with night shifts. Everything suddenly turned out better. I felt healthier, less lethargic and I was relieved (and elated) that finally I was able to enjoy preggy-hood like everyone else.

With the ‘new found’ energy, we went searching for baby stuffs, went shopping, ate nice food almost every other day, just like how all other preggers are enjoying this period. It didn’t last long though but it was the best days.

I entered my third trimester with full of hope that things were definitely looking more cheerful despite the frequent backaches caused by the increased weight. Even sleepless nights didn’t dampen my positive attitude. I distract myself by occupying my waking hours dedicated to the boys, resting as much as I can get and eating!

When we went for our 7th month scan, we found out that my placenta hasn’t moved away from the cervix. My gynae told me not to worry as we had about 2 more months to observe. The usual case of placenta previa is that as the baby grows larger it will help to push the placenta further from the cervix, closer to where the blood supply is. I didn’t think much about it as I’ve read reports that this will only affect a small percentage of women. What are the chances of me contributing to that small percentage right? I mean, it’s an international figure so my chance of being in the 0.5% pool is almost impossible right? Well I thought wrong then.

I was also diagnosed with Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), this I believe is contributed from the fact that I try not to go for many toilet breaks while at work. It developed into high fever that lasted for more than five days and normal paracetamol did not work at all. For the first time in all three of my pregnancies, I was admitted.

Less than a month later I was back at the delivery suite all distressed. Almost all of us, Singaporeans were awake. Waiting for that very result which will change the political system here. There I was lying on the couch, fiddling with the TV remote changing between Channel 5 and Channel News Asia while at the same time reading updates from Facebook, Temasek Review, The Online Citizen, Today Online and whatever social media platform I could get my hands on. In fact I was ‘busy’ updating myself with the General Elections. I was waiting impatiently for the results of my ward, Aljunied GRC. That is when I felt what seems like ‘pee’ trickling out. I immediately stood up to rush to the toilet. What I initially thought to be incontinence turned out to be haemorrhage. Blood was gushing out uncontrollably as I walked to my mother in law’s room. I was crying by then. There was just too much red, fresh blood on the floor. I immediately called my husband who was at work and my mom who thankfully wasn’t asleep yet due to the GE. She came down with my brother and I was in the hospital in less than an hour.

Many things were considered at the delivery suite including the size of the baby, how much have I dilated, the regularity of my contractions and fetal blood pressure. I was immediately given Adalat, a labour-repressant to stop the contractions and a jab of the extremely painful cortisteroid in order for the baby’s lung to quickly mature in case we go into emergency preterm labour. During the stay, my dosage of Adalat was increased when contractions became more regular. Everything was done to make sure the baby remains in my womb since she is strong and healthy enough.

Right now I’m ordered strict bed rest and there’s nothing much to do other than watching TV or read. I always find that writing keeps me sane. Yes, from everything that I have been through for the past 8 months I can safely say I am going into a serious depression. There is so much one can cope from physical pain and a series of unpleasant news. Pregnanthood is supposed to be a joyous moment for every woman; at least this is what I had thought. But being me, I try means and ways to turn adversity to my advantage. I’ve been given enough Hospitalization Leave for me to reach 36 weeks of gestation. That would be the ideal for both mother and child. Until then I’ll have to succumb to boredom, pain and anxiety with a pinch of optimism.