Helpless

Last week on Presidents' Day Monday, Sarah started to have diarrhea. Since then, she has been pooping 5-6 times a day.  While some babies do poop 5-6 times per day, this is not normal for Sarah. Since she was a baby, she was well-trained to poop once a day, in the morning, during her 1st feeding of the day.  After she started eating solids, she pooped one extra time during the evening hours between 5-6pm.  Yes, she was that consistent.  So when she pooped more than normal, it concerned me.  Worst was that her stool were watery.  Other than the diarrhea, she showed no other signs of discomfort.  She continued to laugh and play as normal. Her appetite did not change, no fever, and her drool were still as plentiful as before - meaning she was not dehydrated.

I brought her in to see the doctor on Friday.  There was little he could do. There is no "medicine" to treat diarrhea. He gave us a cup to collect a stool sample. Sarah's demeanor was still normal, up until Saturday night.  At that time, she started to have a runny nose.  Her eyes were glassy and watery.  She was antsy.  By Sunday, she has a full-fledge cold.  Runny nose, congestion, and cough.  No doubt she was uncomfortable.  Besides all those symptoms, she still had the diarrhea.  Poor baby!! Poor baby Sarah!! But she is still a trooper. Despite of all that, she still managed to sneak in a few smiles and even some laughs to calm her nervous-wrack mommy down.

Yesterday night at 1:30am, Sarah developed a fever of 102 degrees.  Although this is not the first time Sarah has a cold, this is the first time she has a fever.  Thank goodness I stocked up a bottle of infant Ibuprofen in my medicine cabinet "for emergencies."  Well, yesterday was the emergency.  I gave her the medicine as prescribed on the box (but not without first spilling at least 25% of the bottle onto the counter with my nervous hands).  After 20 minutes, her temp dropped to 100.2. Then another 20 minutes later, it went down to 99.2.  I was relieved that the med was working.  Sarah woke up this morning and didn't have a temperature.  SQ stayed home to take care of Sarah ~ thank goodness she was able to keep the temperature down throughout the day without the need for another dose of Ibuprofen.  She still pooped more than normal, but the last 2 times, the stool were more formed, and not watery, which is an improvement. 

It breaks my heart to see Sarah is such discomfort.  I feel so helpless.  I don't know what to do other than to hold her, but she sometimes gets antsy and don't want to be held.  She still wants to move around and play with her toys, which is a good thing.  When I hear her congested nose wheezing, I feel so bad.  And when she  coughs, it must hurt her lungs. Oh, the cons of putting your child in daycare!  I know her cold is just a phase, and soon enough she will recover from it... and that she will develop a stronger immune system.  I'll try to think positive!! I just want my baby back to normal again.  I miss her giggles and laughs.       

Work From Home

Today I still felt pain in my left rib area and it felt more intense.  Although it has been a couple of days already, the pain hasn't subside.  I think I made it worse by carrying my 19-lb baby around on Sunday.  I should have known better not to do that.   I woke up this morning barely able to move so I decided to work from home (and since I had my laptop with me).  I love working from home, and here's why:

• Because I can wake up at 8:30 and be on time! 
• Because my commute time is cut from 45 minutes in the rush hour traffic to ZERO minutes
• Because I don't have to worry if my outfit matches my shoes or vice versa.  I can work in my comfy PJs!
• Because I can watch TV and relax during my lunch hour
• Because I don't have to deal with my co-workers chit-chatting or speaking loudly on phone calls
• Because I can start prepping for my dinner early

Sadly, I don't get to work from home often.  My boss is old-school and she still believes in "face-time."  I guess she questions if we 'actually' work when we stay at home...which is the silliest thought ever.  For sure, I am just as productive working from home as I am in the office.  The only down side is that because I'm working remotely, retrieving files on the network drives can be a bit slow.  Otherwise, everything is the same...and I'm a happier person all around, which makes me a more productive employee!           

A pleasant surprise

I walked into the office last Friday and saw my boss delivering little white envelopes on everyone's desk. I got one too. I opened it up to find a summary of my 2010 bonus payout, and I was extremely surprised (in a good way)  at the amount!  You see, I work for a retail company. Our main objective is to drive sales and earn profits for the company by buying the right products to sell to customers.  This might be an understatement - but I have a highly stressful job with lots of responsibility and accountability.  I'm dealing with hundreds of million of the company's dollars afterall.  I get paid a decent salary, but what really motivates me is our annual bonus. If I meet all my targets (and there are few of them) then I can earn a bonus equivalent to 30% of my salary. During a good year, this 30% can easily jump up to 40% or 50%, etc.  But there are hardly any "good" years... the targets are usually aggressive and some even impossible to reach.  If I get at least 15% at any given year, I am content.

Well, last year, in 2010, the company had a "good" year.  Overall, sales were great, and profitability was outstanding.  Within my area of management, I've exceeded on some targets and missed some.  But net-net, I got a great bonus %.  Although I got a great %, I only worked for 5 months last year... So I figured that even a great % against my 5 months worth of pay is not going to yield any big dollars.  So here was my surprise when I opened the envelope.  The great % was calculated against my full year salary! What a pleasant surprise! It's too good to be true. I can't quite believe it....

I guess with everything in life - if you don't have high expectations, then you won't be disappointed.  If you don't expect it but end up getting it, you will be so ecstatic to receive such a pleasant surprise!!

So my sister (she got a big bonus too) and I decided to celebrate our bonuses by treating our family to a nice dinner at Koi Palace.  Koi is pretty well-known for their great and innovative Chinese dishes. Or maybe I should use the verb in past tense, was known.  We ordered a set menu, which came with Shark Fin Soup, Abalone, scallops, crab, etc just to name a few.  We also added a Westlake Minced Beef soup (for non Shark Fin eaters) and Peking duck.  I must say that all the dishes were kinda bleh.  It's not that they weren't good, but I guess I expected them to be great.. (the higher expectation = the bigger disappointment).  I definitely didn't get the WOW factor - you know, the memorable dishes that had everyone at the table talking and reminiscing and thinking about when's the next time we'll all go again?  Well, didn't happen with this dinner at Koi's.  And of course, service was mediocre.  It'll be a long time before I revisit Koi's...at least until my memory of this meal fades and I accidentally put them back to my good restaurant list again.    

Baby Essentials

I seriously believe that the baby retail industry is out of control.  There are gadgets and stuff for everything baby because marketers are great at making you feel guilty for not buying the best for your baby.  But you know, the truth is that most of the products, you can totally live without.  Well, the other day, while browsing through Amazon.com, I came across a list a mom compiled, of all the baby items she actually used and liked.  Okay, I'm not dumb to know that the list was sponsored by Amazon.com, so of course, it was bias! Well,  here is MY list of items I actually used & find helpful.  (Of course, as they say, every baby is different!)  Also by the way, I'm skipping diapers, formula/breastfeeding needs, and car seat essentials.

1. Diaper Champ.  Skip the refills, you can use the plastic bags you get from Target, grocery store, etc.

2. Only 2-3 receiving blankets. The ones the hospital give you are bigger & better.  The ones you buy are usually small so your baby is going to outgrow it very soon.

3. Snap N Go stroller frame.  This is to be used with the car seat.  It's great.  It's small and compact and folds up nicely.  Skip the travel system.  It's heavy and bulky.  By the time your baby outgrows the infant car seat, you can get a simple lightweight umbrella stroller instead.    

4. Changing pad

5. Onesies - haha, this is funny. For a whole week or so, Sarah didn't wear any clothes. She just got wrapped up in blankets.  Eventually, you'll need them - skip newborn sizes!

6.  Infant bath tub

7. Baby nail clipper - baby's nails grow so fast! It's nail-clipping time every 3 days! 

8. Play gym - not a 100% necessity. Baby can lie on a bed or a carpeted floor.  The Play gym offered some sort of stimulation, but I question its claim.


Things I didn't (or rarely) use -

1.  Baby wipes.  I wash the baby's bottom with water & pat dry with a towel instead.
2.  Diaper Rash cream
3.  Humidifier
4.  Baby bouncer
5.  Baby bottle stertilizer
6. Pacifier (Sarah never liked it or learned how to suck it)
7. Baby hooded towels (you can totally use regular towels)

Cough, cough, cough

I have been struck with a nasty cough these past 3 weeks. I don't think I've ever experienced this long and stubborn of a cough before, ever, in my lifetime.  It first started with a sore throat end of January and then the coughing began and it never stopped.  Of course I thought the coughing would eventually go away, but 3 weeks later, I am still coughing.  Worst is that sometimes I will have these cough spells that can go on for a good 5 minutes.  My throat gets super itchy and then I cough and cough until tears roll down my cheeks and my face turns flushed red.  It's really embarrassing (not to mention annoying) when I have these uncontrollable cough spells.  I finally went to the doctor's this past Tuesday.  I was afraid that I might have bronchitis, but thank goodness I didn't.  My lungs are clear.  The doctor thinks I have a post-nasal drip, caused by sinusitis.  Basically my sinuses are congested and the mucus that accumulate in that area falls into throat, causing me to cough.  I got prescribed Codeine and OTC Claritin.  Took the meds for 2 days now, and there seems to be a sight improvement to the cough. I just want to be done with this cough!!  It's really annoying.  Not a great start to the year, health-wise....

Update (2/19/2011)
I can't believe that due to my excessive coughing, I've pulled a muscle in my left rib area.  It is painful whenever I deep breathe and extremely painful when I cough!  It even hurts when I put on a jacket or lift up Sarah.  This is not good.  This is not the progress I was looking forward to.

A Letter to Sarah at 8 months 10 days

To my little silly girl Sarah,
Recently,

1.  We found you to be extremely camera shy.  You would be laughing and giggling like your usual self; but the very second that you see a camera out in front of you, you immediately freeze. No more smiles, no more giggles. That's why it is so hard for us to capture these precious moments with you on camera...
2.  You love to wave your arms up and down, up and down, and squeal!  Just love it when you do that - looks like you're having so much fun, and it surely brings a big smile on our faces!


See your hands waving?!



3. You are always so smiley!  I absolutely love your laughs and giggles. You can laugh at almost anything. You are a happy baby! :-)

4.  I think you might have ezcema. There is a constant red rash on your face, right near your mouth.  Sometimes the area will get so dry that your skin gets scaly. Most of the time, however, your skin is smooth to the touch, but the red rash is still there.  I think it's because your face is constantly wet from your drool. We're loading up a lot of Aquaphor on you - hope it helps.

5. You are trying to crawl, but not yet. You haven't really been given a lot of chances to crawl, so you haven't mastered the skill yet.  But you're making progress! You've found a way to move about, which is rolling!! No, you can't roll your way around all the time!

6. You have 2 teeth now! They are now prominently displayed whenever you smile.

7. You don't like Gymboree.  You just don't.  I don't know what's with the place, but you don't enjoy the activities one bit. You cry or whine during the whole session.  Either that, or you stare at the other babies. Not sure why.  But next week will be your last week there.

8. You've learned how to play with us.  You once held a blanket up high to cover your face, then you lowered the blanket - you did this repeatedly. We know you wanted to play Peek-a-boo with us.  You've also learned how to softly bump your head against mine - because then we will look each other in the eyes really close and we both laugh our hearts out. 

9.  You've outgrown your infant car seat and we've since switched you to a convertible car seat.  You will be using this car seat for the next 5+ years!

10.  You now say the words, "da-da" and even sometimes "da-dee."  Your daddy gets super excited when you say these words, but I highly doubt that you're actually calling him!  When are you going to say, "Ma-mee?!"

oh Silly Girl, you are the joy of my life. You can make me smile, laugh and cry at the same time.  Love you, love you, love you very much!!     

 

Gymboree

SQ bought a Groupon for a month's worth of Gymboree classes back in September. Before we knew it, the Groupon was expiring this month, so we had to use it or lose it.  We joined the Saturday class for Babies 6-10 months old and went in a couple of weeks ago. Today was our third class. Even though we made an effort to go in 10 minutes early before class start today to get Sarah familiar with the environment (recommended by the instructor), she still cried.  She cried during the last 2 classes too.  I don't exactly know why. She might be just overwhelmed, which I thought was weird because she is used to having a lot of kids around her in daycare.  I guess she's just a scaredy-cat.  Whenever the instructor rings the bell, Sarah gets scared and cries. She is unable to do any of the activities because she's scared.  She doesn't even attempt to crawl or try to have fun. Most babies there giggle in delight whenever we sing songs, blow bubbles, or do parachute time.  Nope, not Sarah.  She is probably too busy counting the minutes until we're done so she can leave...

So needless to say, we probably won't be extending our membership. We're done after our Groupon classes end - 2 more classes.  I'm glad that we didn't have to pay full price.

    

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Happy 8-month Birthday!

 

Guess who turns 8 months old today?!  My sweet little baby Sarah!!   

Happy Year of the Rabbit!!

Sarah wishes everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous Year of the Rabbit!