Gone and Back, In and Out

Busy busy busy - nothing else can better describe the last couple of weeks.

It was one full week of packing before the whole family packed off to Australia (Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney to be specific) for 10 days on 12 July. Gosh... Mummy used to bring one hand-carrier for a week of vacation but this time round, the hand-carrier was only good for diapers, a can of formula milk, wet wipes and medication for the kids. It was no small feat to pack for 4 of us. The thick clothing took up a lot space and the worry that the kids might dirty the clothes with food, puke and what not made me want to pack more than less... and that didn't help again.

Frankly, I was looking forward to having a holiday (I haven't been to anywhere since 4 years ago!) but on the first day there, I so wanted to come back home. Elaina reacted quite badly to the foreign land - the lack of routine contributed largely to it. She didn't manage to catch much sleep on the plane even though we were hoping that a red-eye flight would mean that she will be knocked out by the time the plane took off... obviously that didn't happen. By the time we had the first opportunity to give her some milk, she was all puffed up from the crying and lack of rest. The milk did knock her out though and didn't wake up until mid-afternoon. By then she had missed her breakfast and lunch. The only decent meal both the kids had were dinner. I felt so bad making them starve.

Elaina spent most of the following days clinging to Mummy. She lost her appetite somehow and was always crying for attention. She did enjoy parts of the trip but her upbeat mood was sporadic. I lost my appetite because of tiredness - my back was at the verge of breaking from the carrying that I did in the 10 days. Both Elaina and Mummy lost some weight when we got back.

Matty on the other hand had huge fun. He ate well, slept well and was always roaring to go. The best part of the whole trip and probably the only accomplishment is to see Matty enjoying himself. If only we had the time and mood to bring him to more places and packed in more activities for that 10 days....

The near-disastrous trip ended on 22 July and life sort of went back to normal for less than 3 days before Matty got hospitalised for gastric flu which made him unable to keep any water or food down. The doctor kept him bedridden and on the drip for one day. My worries that he would attempt to yank the drip-off, throw tantrums were unfounded. He willingly stayed in bed and glued himself to the TV and books. The 13-hour nap he took on the first day helped reduce the chance of him getting bored. Matty was finally out of the hospital on 27 July.

We are now back to the usual routine - Elaina is happy that her days are normal again, Matty is glad that he can finally get his normal food and milk... and Mummy is flat-out from all the running around.

Terrible 2 No More?

Matty is finally 3 and Mummy really looked forward to it because it means we have survived yet another year of parenthood and most importantly because of people around have been telling me how a Terrible 2 Toddler will miraculously turn into a not so terrible toddler when he gets to add another candle to his birthday cake.

Not sure if the theory does indeed hold some truth or because Elaina is now becoming a terror, Matty seems to be a lot more co-operative these days (except when we tell him he needs to share his toys with his little sister). I do see less tantrum coming from him lately.

Elaina on the other hand is getting Mummy frustrated. She clings to me like the cling-wrap, demands to be walked, makes a din when I try to get her to take a bath and refuses to allow anyone of us to close the bedroom door with her constant "open, open, open" when she knows that we are trying to put her to bed. I can't wait for this phase to pass through really soon, that her sniffles will go away completely before this weekend and that her teething which has been putting her in constant pain to subside. My patience is wearing extremely thin and that is not good especially when we are flying off to a holiday in another 5 days.

It is a good thing that Matty has fully recovered after his long bout of flu and cough (possibly due to Mycoplasma) and that we are finally seeing him smile a little more. Bringing him on to the Singapore Flyer made that bit of difference to his birthday and brightens him somewhat. I am sure he is looking forward to the holiday and will enjoy himself lots. Hopefully we can say the same about Elaina.

Good luck to us... we need lots of it!