wat a traumatic fortnite...

it has truly been an extremely angst-ridden fortnite for mummy and daddy. for starters, we brought ryan to the pd on the 19th of nov for his eczema and let him stayover at tehteh dominic & mama margaret's on the 20th. the very next morning, we were blasted with the news that there was a swell below his chin. we went over to take a look and decided to bring him over to see David for consultation. he gave us Augmentin (antibiotics) and told us to continue to monitor him since his temp is on the rise. just about evening, ryan's fever hit a high and his whole body was filled with rashes. mommy brought him down to see unc rod with tehteh and mama. he wrote a referral for us in the event we wanted to admit him. come about 10 plus, ryan's entire body was red with rashes and daddy decided to send him down to thomson medical for a thorough examination. we saw the in-house GP and the nurses contacted dr stephen ng since dr tan was away on hols. ryan was admitted and dr ng concluded that ryan could be allergic to augmentin as well and introduced klacid with ryan responded well to and with the addition of prednisolone, ryan's rashes subsided. they had to do a blood test to determine the nature of the fever and all and that was the first time daddy had to carry my lil rascal while seated and blood was extracted with a syringe. at the very instant when the needle pierced through, ryan screamed "oow" and immediately daddy's heart sank when he saw the tears rolling down his precious lil one's cheeks. ryan cried for a while more till he was given 2 stickers to divert his attention from the pain. the ryan stayed 2 more days and was discharged on the 21st. the swell was still there and we were slammed with a 1k professional fee from the stand-in doc!

ryan was once again active and up to his usual antics throughout the week that followed despite the random irritation of the swell under his chin whenever mommy or daddy touched it. daddy decided to bring ryan down to see dr wong at olive tree to seek some closure for the swell and was told to continue with klacid and hopefully the swell will settle or else a biopsy needs to be done thereafter. everything was normal till sunday morning when daddy noticed the swell reddening and spreading to the right side of ryan's chin. daddy grew concerned and was on the lookout for an increase in temp. true enough, ryan was down with fever the following morning and we called the pd for advice. we were asked to proceed to dr cheah's clinic at gleneagles for immediate attention. dr cheah was very experienced as he answered daddy's various queries and that the swell was due to bacterial infection of the lymph nodes and most times could be soothed with the introduction of antibiotics. in ryan's case, we had to proceed with the next stage which is incision to remove all pus thereby leading to the recovery process. ryan refused to remove his tee and once again, daddy had to carry ryan while the surgeon applied local anaesthesia to the swell. on being pinned down, ryan started struggling franctically and screaming. daddy was angst-ridden as the doc proceeded with the incision and lots of pus was removed. all this while, ryan was crying and struggling to break free but with the help of the nurse holding on to his legs and daddy holding on to his hands, the procedure ended shortly thereafter. we were taught how to clean and replace the gauze and told to return in 2 days for a follow-up cleaning and assessment. daddy hugged ryan tightly and promised to buy him anything he wanted at toys 'r' us. we went over to forum's outlet and there ryan picked out a 1:7 scale size ferrari f430 remote controlled car and a junior golf club set which he has been pinning for. on seeing ryan's joy and satisfaction, daddy felt better following the eventful morning.

3 hours followed and once again, ryan's fever escalated and mommy was at a loss what to do since we inserted the suppository at 11.30am and it was too early to give nurofen to bring down the temp. mommy called gek hong and was told to give paracetamol and continue sponging him. come 4pm and ryan's temp was 39.3 and mommie became flustered. called olive tree once again and was told to give nurofen which effectively brought down the temp. 3 hours later again, ryan's temp shot up once again and daddy called dr tan for advice if we should bring ryan to thomson for medical attention since his temp escalates every 3 hours. daddy know that mommie is feeling really drained and exhausted from all the worry and looking after of our lil rascal. daddy told mommie to bring ryan down to thomson so that the nurses can help in managing the fever and continue monitoring. dr tan went over and decided to do a few blood cultures to investigate the cause of the fever which relapsed after a week. by the time daddy got there, i was told that the nurses would be doing the "drip" procedure on ryan and we knew wat would follow. daddy carried ryan to the next room and ryan immediately suspected wat was to follow and wanted to go out. we were asked to leave the room and the next few minutes was terribly traumatic and heart wrenching!!! ryan screamed and cried "nono, oow, i want mommie, nono" as the nurses held him down and inserted the needle for easy access of blood samples. once again his hands were taped with a foam board under each to prevent him from tampering with the needle on his right hand. daddy hugged ryan tightly as ryan sobbed away. ryan had some corn muffins from kenny rogers and tehteh and mama left a while later. daddy found it difficult to leave as he prayed over his precious lil one who fell asleep after a terribly traumatic and eventful day. hope his temp will stabilise and a closure be attained for his spate of fever from the infection.

our latest acquisition: the QUINNY BUZZZZZ!!!

a new addition to the family of strollers!!! this brings the total to FOUR!!

no. 1: the MAXI-COSI TAXI (damage: S$ 645, predecessor of the quinny)
no.2: the made-in-japan COMBI (damage: S$ 700, weighs a mere 4.2kg)
no.3: the MCLAREN stroller (damage: not so bad at $245)
no.4: the new acquisition, the QUINNY BUZZ!! (DAMAGE: $ONE THOUSAND FIFTY!!)

all that for 1 kid (with another on the way). and it just seems that the price keeps on escalating with each buy! this is def the last stroller for us! mommie just cant stop herself whenever she set her eyes on a gorgeous ride for our lil one(s) and i cant really do anything to stop her for fear of constant persuasion tactics (nagging to put it simply).

the latest addition takes up so much boot space we are so thankful our ride's a SUV. seriously, although you can strip it down part by part, you dun wana do the hassle each time you load and unload it from the car. the color's nice, APPLE they call it and ryan loves it the moment we brought it home! he had the virgin ride (though it's really meant for Valerie/Branden) and enjoyed every sec of it! though it can take a max weight of 18kg, we do not wana risk ryan jumping on it and spoiling it in the process. so it's nicely wrapped and taped up in a corner awaiting the arrival of junior the 2nd!

but i have to admit, its really comfy and i am so tempted to sit on it! hahaha...it feels so soft and cool and a nice color to top that. love the hydraulic open-up function with just a single press of the catch at the handle and it COMES TO LIFE! hahaha impressive to the max and there's a catch for everything. it's hard not to fall in love with it, seriously. love the suspension which means junior gets a comfy ride on watever terrain! off-pavement? no problemo! hahaha... its truly a heavyweight when it comes to pricing and the actual weight!! a hefty 12.8kg!!!! thats 3 times the weight of our COMBI!! the MAXI-COSI TAXI was quite heavy but without the car seat attached, it was pretty ok at prob 6kg but even without the seat, the BUZZ is still about 9kg!! guess i really have to train up those muscles to be able to load and upload it from the car! mommie will just be carrying junior of course! she will prob fall over with it! hahaha

ryan's 30 months update!!

ryan's already 30 months old! how he has graduated into a full blown rascal! hahaha.... he's such a joy to be around with these days! he never fails to put a smile on your face with his multitude of funny antics despite some very frustrating moments! mama (mommie's mum) always say though he's such a rascal, he's soooo geram (some malay word for something). mommie is still as busy with her marking and complaining! one great news: mommie has been aceepted to nan hua high! that's like a triple upgrade!! and whenever she's stressed out, she can always walk across to our church for some quiet time with God. daddy's waiting for the lil rascal and mommie outside the zoophonics school at beauty world. he has been attending classes since 3 months ago with 30mins of chinese and an hour of english. there's art and craft, phonics of course and the usual songs they sing week after week! no wonder ryan's pretty bored of it all and pretty lethargic in class! poor mommie!! but i must say that ryan's pretty fast in picking up the entire zoophonics of alphabets! tell him an animal and he will say the corresponding sound! amazing the first time i heard him say! money well spent! hahaha...

daddy's been travelling and just returned from Hanoi. First ever trip to the land of communism. was there for a week and everything seem so affordable, cheap would be too degrading a term to use. food was out of the norm and they do not have deep fried spring rolls in hanoi!!! asked for them wherever i went, from classy to the roadside cafes and no fried spring rolls!! the nerve of them all!! my first scooter-taxi ride and it was truly exhilarating! hated the pollution though, there were thousands of scooters everywhere and it was truly a case of order in chaos!! had seafood for every meal and even went to Ha-long bay, rumoured to be one of the 8 wonders of the world, but seriously, it was just a test-your-stamina trekking up and down the caves kinda trip and not forgetting the sun bathing onboard a Chinese junk experience. it was an enjoyable experience no doubt with extremely cheap massage (imagine this: you pay S$6 and you get a foot and full body massage within an hour. pay S$12 and you get the same massages with a few other tricks thrown in for 2 hours! not surprising that uncle ian and i went there daily after dinner. called mommie everyday and my lil rascal refused to speak anything more than a "daddy!" before running off! hmph!

teh-teh fat (daddy's dad) is to be admitted today for his bypass op tomorrow morning. will bring them to our place for our lil rascal to entertain and spend time with him before i drop them off at the hospital. as usual, daddy's worried about the op and everything! after all, teh-teh fat has slogged hard for the family and it's about time for him to retire and indulge in his fav. hobbies like offshore fishing, gardening and travelling.

mommie's been hoping for a meimei and she has since convinced me to change from PROJECT RACHEL to PROJECT VALERIE. its about time for a didi or meimei for ryan since he's already 30 months. at least there's someone else to share his wealth of toys!!! we are almost drowning in his sea of toys which he would flaunt around by scattering them all over the house! and when you ask him to pick them up, he would divert your attention to something else or make up another funny antic to distract you. this boy's the ultimate! of course we have to be firm on several occasions and he is one who is not receptive of any harsh talk or punishment! that will only make him more rebellious and stubborn. oh did i mention he's one awfully stubborn kid and the only way is to talk to him nicely and hopes that he will comply! hahaha... what are we to do with him except to love him for who he is! afterall, he's our pride and joy! hahaha... that said, we always try to discipline him whenever he crosses the line by putting him in a "naughty corner" which he never fails to kick up a big fuss by crying and say "NO!" and "i want go there!" (meaning anywhere out of the corner). another peculiar trait of his is that whenever you ask him to apologise, he will only put his right palm to his head (symbolising an act of apology, dun ask us where he learnt it from, we have no clue watsoever!) and if you insist on him verbally apologising, you have to try to convince him to do so! hahaha.... and if you succeed, they will shout it out "SORREE!" of course we will deem it as an act of defiance and often he has to say it again in a milder tone before he is let off! SIGH!

of course the above are just his negative traits and to start talking about his funny antics would be too tedious a task! at the end of the day, his positive traits truly outweigh his negatives so thats why he's still our lovable lil rascal!! just remember, be nice and talk to him in a mild tone whenever you want him to do something and he may just do it! hahaha (thats if he has not distracted your attention to something else, unless that's something he favours!)

RYAN CHUA: our pride and joy!!

wow! it's been awhile since we posted anything cos we have been thoroughly busy. mummy's so tied up with marking scripts and i have been travelling for the past 1 month! yeap, was away from the 1st to the 26th of april. missed my clownish boy and wife terribly to the point of tearing at times during our multiple Skype sessions. 1st stop to vienna and then to czech republic to check on production and then back to vienna and then to geneva for the setup. stayed in france and commuted to geneva daily cos france is simply breathtaking amidst the snow-capped mountains. after 2 weeks in europe, it was back to bangkok and enroute to shanghai for another show. long haul trips needs some time to get used to. anyway, 6 cities in a month is crazy and caused the 'foreign' feel when i got back home. the sight of my beloved wife and my mischevious son behind the glass panel at the arrival hall was a sight to behold! truly emotional! a hug and kiss was never enough to make up for a month's absence. the next 2 days was filled with ryan goin "i want daddy!" for everything (bath times, changing diapers, the works). one amazing realization was that ryan has been WEANED OFF his pacifier!!!!! woohoo!!! kudos to mummy and ah-ma for not relenting on the chilli juice method! one other thing i cant stop asking ryan to say is whenever i ask him if he needs to change his diaper, he will reply "No Neeed!" the intonation is simply to die for! hahaha.... my lil boy has grown tremendously both mentally and verbally over the 1 month and i m truly proud to be his daddy. we bought him a rock guitar at ELC after shopping ard at taka and toys'r'us, cos he was simply obsessed with strumming a guitar. he would strum his body and its truly hilarious! gong gong must be behind it all! back home, he was so excited and was strumming away after we put on the shades and attached microphone that came with it. to sum off, ryan's a precious gift from GOD and we will always treasure and luf him amidst all the clowning around and cheekiness!

ryan's 2nd birthday cake design

family photoshoot no. 2!

my groovy boy!




it's a 1st march 2008 saturday morning as we head down to bugis for our 2nd family portrait. pretty apt as ryan's gona turn 2 in 2 weeks! mummy decided that we should dress in jeans and a white top. brought mickey and pluto along (frm HK disneyland, bought by grandparents from both sides) since they were part of the pic taken a year ago. how our boy has grown since! the make-up artist wanted to do up ryan's hair but i firmly rejected!! OMG! the entire shoot took 2 hours and we were trying soo hard to get ryan to be in position or rather to smile at the camera amidst running ard and ransacking the toys they provided. we moved between 2 studios but we prefered the white background over the green! nice pic of my groovy boy who NEVER fails to dance to any music being played anywhere! just 2 days ago, he went on his own up a stage near the coffeeshop near mama's place (palm gardens) and started line dancing which gong gong has been teaching him! wat a sight! he went forward, backward, did a turn with hands moving to an invisible beat! he dozed off in the car and had a long nap before we went over to daddy's parents place for dinner.

Barney put me to sleep...

16th January 2008

It was 8.15pm and Ryan climbed onto the massage chair after gesturing to mummy that he wanted to watch Barney...

Yup, the little one knows and is pretty good at demanding for whatever he wants!

Mummy plays the vcd for him and within 10 minutes, the rascal had dozed off!!! Haha!

Just look at the rascal with his ah-bu (bolster) slumped in the massage chair comfortably...

Conrad, anyone?

23rd December 2007

We stayed over at Conrad hotel today and it was SUPERB!!! The room, pool, service, people, etc...

Mummy gives them 5 stars!!! Or should it have been 6?? Anyway, just know that it was a really memorable stay overnight at the executive suite which we were upgraded to! Hehe..

Ryan had a good time, of course! Just look at him amusing himself with the complimentary apples and teddy bear...

A fantastic stay overall!