Week to jan 15th

Sun: we went to Kim's place for lunch. We picked up Eunice (Kevin xiao's fren) and she left her phone and had an arduous time getting it back.

Mon: Josiah back to school - it went ok but he had the longest nap, even he mentioned it. S went to his 1st bball game NYK vs bobcats.

Tue: crazy day. Went for listed, girl was asleep so no need for crèche, went out for lunch, hung out in the park, forgot buggy board and poor Josiah walked back. Burnt the microwave cover cos I left it on the top of the stove.

Wed: went to BBB and got iPad holder. S picked up J and we ordered from the Land of Plenty. Spicy noodles but pretty good.

Thurs: rainy day. Picked up J but rain stopped thankfully. Made tau foo Soong. Woo!

Fri: play date on 19th floor, came back went to food emporium to buy cupcakes for J's bday celebration in school. Jackson asked me where are the party bags? Came back and J wanted to play with Jack and somehow all the neighbors ended up in the apartment. Made kaya also. Phew! J was star of the week - he needs to bring letters Q and R to school.

Sat: went to flushing and ate Malaysian in a Vietnamese rest. Bought groceries for Chinese New Year.

Sun: went to mary zudeima's place for lunch. Nice home. J learnt to lie today. Refused to say sorry. Argh!

Zombified

Still suffering from yesterday's lack of sleep.

S: did you like the chocolate muffin?
J: oh yes, it's so yummy and delicious, you must try it!
S: (laughs)
J: what's so funny?
M: (laughs)

You had to be there.

NYC so expensive

We had a late night trying to figure out our finances for the year. Our resolutions: eat out less! NY is such a tough place to live in. But then again, we felt the same way in London too. Is it just us?

S keeps thinking we save too much which is such a ridiculous concept. One can never save too much. One day he'll thank me.

First day back

S went back to work today, leaving me with the two kids.

Joanna sat up for the first time on her own. At 6.5 months, you did it girl!

We had hard shell tacos for dinner while Josiah had the usual delicious chicken soup.

It turned -6C today, absolutely freezing, the only comforting fact is that NYers tell us that this is as cold as it gets.

Warning: Too much poop details. Do not read if squeamish

Now that Josiah is back home and semi tolerating solids, I can blog about every mothers nightmare.

A trip to the ER at 1.30am!

Josiah has been suffering from diarrhea since Monday. It wasn't anything too bad, and so we just carried on as normal. Tuesday night he woke up every hour and I noticed blood in some of his stool. Wednesday took him to our Pediatrician who said it is normal and he looks fine. Thursday he was looking good in the day but once evening came about. He was in so much more pain. But somehow my "mummy instinct" did not kick in yet. Somewhere around 9pm, I felt like something was wrong. Joanna was being fussy and after settling her went to check on Josiah and found him so tired he did not even realize that he had gone all over himself. In hindsight, I should have gone then but we thought he was sleeping so we'll see what happens in the next few hours. I packed his clothes and stuff to bring to hospital, just in case. He slept with me and the moment I felt him stir, I quickly helped him to the toilet. He was crying so hard and I knew it is time to go. The next 24 hours was the worst experience in being a mom. The helplessness of watching your child in pain, weak, having to endure a battery of medical test... I cried so many times and felt so alone but had to carry on for him. They took blood, gave him IV fluids, took x-rays, ultrasounds but were unable to find anything. Yet he was still having painful bloody stools that left him sweating.

Since S was with Joanna, I knew that even with a switch I'd not be able to get some sleep. Luckily, I manage to get our helper to come for a few hours. And Mary, from the assembly came all the way from New Jersey so I could further sleep another 2 hours. It was all that was needed to keep myself from falling apart. For those with family and friends nearby, be thankful and grateful that in event of such emergency, you can turn to them.

Basically lab test came back positive for bacterial infection, basically severe food poisoning. We are guessing from him eating his chicken rice in Chinatown on Saturday, he ate it all because it was good. I have to say, I am not sure I can look at that chicken rice dish without feeling angry!

He was released home a few hours before 2012. Hence, I did not celebrate NYE this year- to top it off, Josiah fell of the bed and had a bump on his head. Sigh, 2011 was not his year.

He has been on a diet of dry food like toast, cereal no milk, potato and chicken soup with rice. He is still going and in some pain so am still praying for full recovery. As his friends start school today, looks like he'd be home another week.

I'm dreading the next few days looking after both of them without S!

Josiah's Birthday

Our little big boy has turned five. Hard to believe that five years have passed so fast. We're most thankful of course that Josiah has recovered well from the recent Campylobacter Jejuni coursing through his body. He woke up with a little tummy ache in the morning but was ok for the rest of the day. He managed to keep down some toast with jam (no butter!), cheerios, rice and soup and... some blueberry muffins.

We didn't want to let him have a cake yet so we went to Food Emporium and he choose the mini dozen blueberry muffins. Tried to persuade him to go for chocolate chip but he insisted and after eating the first one said to me, "See? I do like blueberry muffins!"

It was nice with my parents first calling to wish him happy birthday, then S' parents, then the Leongs in the evening - who sang Happy Birthday for him and finally the Batchelors, who Josiah shares his birthday with.

It's not the scale of party that we had last year in London but Josiah was happy and that's all we can ask for.

ps: S had to forego his NBA ticket to stay in.

pps: Joanna had her first taste of broccoli today - she didn't look too impressed.

With my new favourite toy: Iron Man (with the triangle, mom)

The number five has to face me

2011 Lookback

Here are some of the 2011 highlights that we are grateful to our Lord and Saviour for in 2011:

• The wonderful and safe delivery of our beautiful girl, Joanna Ow Yang Jo Ling
• How the two siblings seem to get along. Josiah loves her and says that's the #1 reason he prefers NYC to London. The way she laughs when Josiah entertains her.
• How quickly Joanna started sleeping through the night. Sleep is a wonderful thing.
• Our fantastic parents. S' mum who came to help set up our apartment and then mine when I was so pregnant and couldn't get around, to helping out with the first few hardest months. My dad for entertaining Josiah for 3 months so Josiah wouldn't feel left out.
• The believers' at Midland Park Gospel Hall, especially the Huans and the Hamiltons who helped us settle in and had us over lunch and arranged a baby shower.
• The apartment - having a place to call home that is our little comfort from the madness of the city. 
• The smooth move from London to NYC. Our second major move to another city, this time when I was 7 months pregnant. Truly our Lord showed his name in Jehovah Jireh when all we needed came through.
• S having a job when so many are struggling this year in this tough time.
• Safety - despite the freak weather in NYC from an earthquake, to not-Hurricane Irene in August to the freak snowstorm in October, we were kept safe.
• For the dates that S and I have had. We've managed to try a few Michelin star restaurants (Jean George, Nobu and Daniel).
• Amazon and Fresh Direct: Internet shopping - the boon of every parent! And the bane when the credit card comes in.
• Geneva School - such a blessing to find a good Christian school and that Josiah was accepted. The weekly bible verse, and wholesome spiritual teachings.
• Splurging on our bed - so good we have to mention it!

Milestones for Josiah in 2011:

• Understanding time. Dates and days. Its so convenient now that we can explain he won't be able to eat / get something until xx.
• Counting to 1,000 in English, about 50 in Mandarin and maybe 10 in French and Spanish (we'll see if the last two last).
• Singing "Two Tigers" in Mandarin and some French songs we don't understand.
• Reading - he can read the Usborne reading series (Level 3), and is so keen on having stories read to him from either the Usborne series or the Jesus Storybook.
• Wearing his spider-man costume every other day (only the red one please).
• Speaking more confidently and talking. (Tough question: How did Joanna come out from your tummy? From your belly button!)
• Eating a wider variety of food - pizza, noodles and beef burgers (Shake Shack only). Fav food are chicken rice and chocolate chip cookies (with a small detour to pound cake for 4 months).
• Handwriting - after 2 months of Kumon, his handwriting improved where he can grip his pencil correctly and write his letters mostly legibly.
• Counting - again Kumon helped him to start basic arithmetic.

Milestones for Joanna in 2011:

• Being born (woo hoo!)
• Sleeping through the night at 3 months
• Sucking her fore and middle fingers on her left hand to self sooth.
• Getting over mummy cutting said forefinger at 5 months (while trimming nails).
• Having a left foot that seems to have a life and beat of its own.
• Itchy fingers that scratch every surface and grab anything in its grasp.
• Crazy funky hair from birth that's mellowed a little in month 6.
• Already a high achiever (top 80th percentile in weight, although only 50 in height): Wearing 9-12 month clothes from Carters and size 4 diapers from Pampers at 6 months.
• Eating oatmeal cereal, carrot, apple and squash. Her favourite is toast.

Here's some of the lowlights of 2011 (well it wasn't all good):

• Josiah coming down with a severe case of food poisoning (campylobacter jejuni). I took him to the NYU medical center after he was so dehydrated. Thank the Lord it wasn't anything worse and thanks to Mary Z for spotting me when she had a party to organise.
• Not being able to be there for Steven Tallash when Mary was called home.
• Not living with a washer and dryer.
• Having to make friends all over again.
• Living with NYers - such a grumpy and arrogant city.
• Having to clock 100 hours while having 2 kids.
• S working late hours again (while having 2 kids)
• Having to relearn how to get bargains - it seems like we keep overpaying.
• Living further away from Chinatown(s) - no more Fortune Cookie / Gold Mine.
• Learning how bad Chinese food is in NYC - seriously, what's up with the quality?
• Learning how to tip - after tipping 10% in London, the 15-20% in NYC is like reprogramming.
• Losing S' DSLR on our trip to Philadelphia with all our photos.

Here are some milestones for us:

• Handling 2 kids and clocking 100 hours of work and cooking meals.
• The start of our relationship with french press and fresh bagels.
• Made a better effort making our house a home. Organized the cupboards, hanging pictures.
• Surviving more than 24 hours of no sleep during Josiah's food poisoning.
• First baseball game (NY Yankees) and American football (NY Jets)
• First American holiday (Philadelphia)
• First Thanksgiving dinner at the Huans.
• First MGPH conference.
• First time staying over at the Ninans.
• First baby shower at the Hamiltons.
• First iMac and iPad
• First time kitting up our home with the whole furniture and electronics.
• First time seeing the Bersih rally
• First Bugaboo (got the Bee)
• Here are some NYC firsts:
• Cruise around NYC and seeing the Statue of Liberty
• The MET
• Rockefeller Centre during Christmas
• Grand Central
• Central Park (the playgrounds, the zoo and the reservoir)
• Natural History Museum
• Empire State Building
• Macy's, Bloomingdales, Century21
• Chrysler building
• South Street Seaport
• DUMBO
• Flushing
• Highline
• Chelsea Market
• Flatiron, Union Square, Madison Square
• Walking around UWS, UES
• Finding Zabar's and Sable's

2012 Happy New Year!

Jan 1 2012: our goal for this year - to blog everyday. S will try and take a photo to add depth to it. We've started our first day of the year and of course, we didn't get to go to the meeting. Josiah is still recovering from his food poisoning. Thankfully he's taking solids but we've had to keep it simple. He asked for pizza and cake - but got Cheerios and rice instead. He's been a trooper though. I went to get supplies at D'agostinos, my one trip out for the day. Lovely weather. We stayed at home and tidied up the book rack after Max and Yoon Mei commented how messy our apartment looked. Sigh. We try but I guess we'll never be tidy. S left in the evening to get Josiah's presents. We just didn't have time to get it with J falling ill. Unfortunately they sold out of the one toy he really wanted - a 4 pack iron man set, so we got a subtitle instead. Will update how that goes tomorrow! We finally watched the King's speech. S tried to put Joanna to bed but no success. Yesterday was hilarious, she couldn't recognize S without his glasses on. She was so upset. Then again I clipped her in her high chair today. All these accidents...