Fever for real

This is AN's 1st fever, not as a result of her jabs. That is precisely why we are getting increasingly worried. Why fever all of a sudden? Was it coz she caught a cold when I bathed her? Was it coz the weather was tooooo hot yesterday that when we walked in and out of the shopping centre each time, the extreme temperature changes were too much for her young system? Was it a virus???

Her fever subsided before we fell asleep last night but her body felt a little too hot to the touch this morning and when we took her temperature again, it was 38 deg celcius.

I gave her the fever medicine and then she threw up. Glad she didn't throw up on the carpet tho. Would have been double mess if she did. Mr Liow suggested we continue to give her the fever medicine which I stubbornly refused coz she was better after a while, at 36.7deg cel.

The fever came back again by lunch. I then gave her the medicine. Mr Liow again, suggested we feed her the medicine according to instructions even if she appeared better. So as to prevent the fever from coming back. I should have listened to him previously.

If she doesn't get better by this evening, we'll have to bring her to the doctor's tomorrow. Fever may indicate infections which we, as laymen, may not be able to tell what the underlying causal factor could be.

:(

She is still active and playing happily tho. She still wants to walk around, can laugh and play still. Only tell-tale sign was her voice. You know, a person's voice somehow sounds different when he/she's having a fever.

Poor baby :(

Driving Test + AN is feverish

Going for my driving theory test in a while. Pray for me please. :)

Will update whether I'm upgraded to a driver status or not.

*Updated: 2300hrs, 7th June 2008*
The driving centre was closed today. It's only opened on weekends, so it's just too bad. I'm still a passenger.

AN was having fever an hour ago. Mr Liow thought her body felt hot and upon taking her temperature, we saw she was having a fever at 38.3 deg cel.

We immediately sprung into action, pulling out the fever medicine we got from Dr Terrance Tan previously, the measuring syringe and a wet towel. After administering the medicine, I kept wiping her and the last we measured 15mins ago, she was 36.8 deg cel. Thank God!

I should be going for the theory test this monday since Mr Liow will be on afternoon shift and may be able to drive me over for the test. Will keep updated again.

Meanwhile, please keep AN in prayers. Please pray the fever will not come back again.

Not to forget, we came back today to a perfect site in the toilet (as with every other times we leave BM and come home). BM have been doing their business perfectly in the toilet on papers since they came back from Camalot.

They have also been quiet (except for the occassional barking at each other or wierd noises they hear) when we came back today.

We reached home and realised we forgot to get something. Since we were already outside our home, we stopped to listen if they were barking. They weren't. We went ahead to get what we needed and came back again, no noise. We drove to the letter box to check for mails, and then returned again. No noise.

I think BM have evolved into perfect furkids!

TGIF

I am forever looking forward to weekends, esp now that we are here.

Mr Liow has been nagging about me getting my driving license and giving me tips on what questions will most likely to appear in the theory test. And finally he's decided that I should take the test tomorrow, whether or not I am ready. I think I should just go for it too. Who knows, I may just pass ; p

Our stay MAY not be extended afterall. The boss back in Singapore, after some deliberations, decided there are not enough officers back home. Well, things are never firm till papers are signed so I was half expecting that the extension may not be as firm as Mr Liow was confident it was when he told me we'd be leaving in Dec 2010 instead of Apr 2010 few days back. Didn't wanna snub his excitement so I held my tongue. It doesn't really matter to me, when we return tho. :)

Have I mentioned that it's so cool to shop online here? You get perks sometimes when you are invited to do surveys, something I'd have taken for a scam if I were in Singapore. Deals that came in spam mails that are too good to be real back home are REAL here!

I bought moisturisers online and saved on shipping charges coz I hit a minimum spending amount. I was invited to do a survey and after I was done, they asked if I'd like to subscribe to magazines which will be free for a year (12 issues). I only had to pay $2 for handling and shipping.

I opted for Elle, Readers' Digest and Motor Trends for Mr Liow. Let's see if the deal is for real, or if the magazines come only in sample forms.

Got to go now. AN's sleeping and I better go cook now. She doesn't always allow me to cook in peace you see? hee. Blessed weekends to you guys too!

Updates on AN and BM

Human kid first.

AN is still tumbling here and there but is improving with practice.

She is now able to understand things I say. Like when I ask her to bring me her "Please, God" book (her favourite book), she'll go dig into her pile of books to look for the little yellow one and bring it to me. She'll sit beside me and participate by flipping the pages for me (even before I finish a sentence sometimes -_______-"). She likes this book and will point in its direction and look at me. I just have to ask her to bring it to me and she will, and then the reading-flipping routine starts.

She likes to stand on the high chair halfway thru meals and Mr Liow had on many occasions, firmly instructed her to sit. She understands it when we tell her to sit now, but she will try to push her luck by slowly slipping her feet under the table, onto the chair and standing up real slowly. If she's in the mood to obey, she will sit and smile. Otherwise, she'll use this as an opportunity to throw tantrums. Guess it all depends on what she wants. If she really wants to get out of the chair, she won't b as nice as to sit and smile back at me bah? hee.

AN has seen me giving BM treats and will imitate (but I don't do what she does, ok?). Her daily duties include: picking up BM's toys and treats and bringing it to them, going around the house to look for BM, going to check if their water bowl is full (by putting her hands into their bowl -_____-"), and if they pooped (she will point and let out an "ay!" when she sees poop in the toilet).

Simply put, her life revolves around BM. Sometimes the furkids just want to sleep but she will force feed them treats by putting their pigskin roll onto the flr in front of them. If they ignore her, she will pick it up and put it on their paws. If she sees no responds, she will poke the roll into their mouth to feed them. What royalty treatment! To BM, that's pure nuisance. hehe. Maen will usually walk away, irritated. Baileys will jump to lick AN in the face and AN will then start to giggle. I am almost sure that was her intention when she attempts to feed them.

She makes all sorts of funny sounds of exclamations like "ay!", "ah!", "wah!" etc. She's learning to imitate us. She wants to be part of our conversation and wants to behave like us (and BM too. I've not mentioned that she kept putting their bones into her own mouth have I?).

She goes "ay!" and points when she sees dogs on TV and on streets, "wah!" when she I feed her (I take it as a compliment that she likes my cooking.hee), "ah!" when she pushes a spoon into my face (I'm supposed to eat what she feeds me too) and many instance where we can't seem to relate her exclamation to anything in particular. To encourage her to be expressive, I've started to do things in exaggeration (she will imitate), even to the extent of dancing with her in public. So embarrassing.

She baby-talks us now. Very talkative. Although I may not understand what she's saying, if I only observe close enough, it's quite easy to tell what she's trying to say. She'll go "ay" over anything that catches her attention. If she wants that, she will open and close her palms to indicate "come".

Mr Liow hid our VCD/DVD files under the table, behind a table cloth. She saw him taking a DVD out from the file one day and kept crawling over and flipping the table cloth us exclaming "ay!" and giving a cheeky smile each time, as if to say "I know where you keep those stuff you are trying to hide from me!"

She will tell me "mam mam" or "nan nan" if she wants milk now. If I am not fast enough in giving her what she wants, she will help herself (it'll b quite obscene to describe any further).

She can sip from a straw now :)
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Furkids
I've been walking in and out of the house each day. Baileys has been desensitized, I think. He's no longer as uptight when I walk out of the house. Maen will still whine as I open the door to get back in. That's if we keep them in the kitchen/ breakfast area.

Maen completely ignored my leaving the house when I walked out with them having the whole house to themselves. Baileys 'saw me off'' but there was no barking whatsoever.

They do well with treats now. Anxious dogs can't eat right? Both forget about us when we leave the house now, if there are treats for them in the kitchen/breakfast area. Else they will linger around the gate and Maen will bark (not as 'ferociously' as weeks back tho) we do not return in a while. My last timing was 10mins.

I know Maen will bark though. For no reason in particular.

Every morning by 7am now (sometimes earlier), Maen will bark. Not as us, mind you. She barks at sounds she hears, at cars driving by (she looks out of the patio and keeps herself entertained) and whatever catches her interest.

Baileys will scratch and scratch the bb gate downstairs. Sounds really irritating when I'm trying to sleep but at least he's not barking. That's the only problem with him now (not a big problem tho).

He's such a dear boy. He housebreaks fast, since young. This Baileys was like made to fit into the Liows' family model. He knows our habits and communicates himself well to us in the way we will like to communicate. He knows what gets on our nerves and will only go that far as to tell us what he wants. He knows when never to step beyond a boundary. He waits and doesn't push his luck with us. He tells us things when he barks (unlike Maen who barks for no obvious reasons many times). He's a boy of habits and very easy to understand. I've always been hoping he'll turn into a real boy but it will never happen. :(

Maen on the other hand has an angelic face. She's an angel, if she's involved in everything we do. She's super expressive, vocally. She barks at Baileys when he's minding his own business and chewing on his own pigskin. She has hers which she hid and wants Baileys to give his up. She doesn't like me to disappear from her sight, without her (it's slowly improving now with practice). She's still like the little baby girl I used to know. I spoilt her..hmm...She HAS to sit on my laps and is slowly starting to take her place again. I have to be in control of her and not the other way round. Have to keep reminding myself of this.

They are doing great on By Nature (their current brand of kibbles). Although shedding (I guess it's part of the detox process with a change of diet), they are pooping nice firm stools and not in as large as amount as they used to poop. They are scratching tho (which is usual). Could be due to the carpet. Carpets can never be cleaned to perfection (even if cleaned, there may still be shampoo residues). One thing I like abt carpets is, they conceal dust and fur well.

Baileys seem to be putting on more flesh now and Maen losing those excess she put on at Camalot. On the whole, By Nature has exceeded my expectation of it, by far.

3rd June 2008: AN can walk!!!!!!

She started taking mini steps on her own on 2nd June but dared not venture anymore than those steps she took.

We've been encouraging, coaxing, tricking (we've used all sorts of ideas just to get) her to walk on her own.

She's been chanting "zou zou zou" (if it's not a coincidence, that meant "walk walk walk" in chinese) when she walks holding our hands since last week.

So Mr Liow and I had an idea. We both sat a little further apart and one of us held her lightly while she walked towards the other. We chanted "zou zou zou" and she started walking like always. Then while hoping she focus her attention on walking, we gently shook her hand off and then she took more than just her mini steps.

Lots of praises when she reached the other party and she started to find it interesting to walk on her own.

We sat further and further from each other for her to walk to, from one end to the other end of the room towards either of us.

So ya!! AN took her many official steps on 3rd June 2008.(^_^)

The Liows at rest + new additions (toys and treats) + interesting finds

My Animal-Planet-watching babies. Baileys was the 1st who got excited at seeing another dog on TV. He's always been an Animal Planet fan. Maen followed suit when she noticed what Baileys was jumping at. And in no time, AN went on the join in the fun.

I had to tell Baileys to back off from the TV before he attempt to jump into the TV and he obeyed. Maen was so attracted that she seemed to have not heard me at all..hmm..

Still stuck

Here comes another busybody

And the 3 of them sticks around together.

My TV watching Mr Liow with the furkids last night. He surprises me pleasantly many times just as I thought he no longer loves BM as much as before (erm...he loves Maen much less than Baileys by the way. He's a Baileys-lover, not so much of a dog-lover). It's been a long long long time since they last slept on Mr Liow's laps. In fact, Maen hardly ever initiates climbing onto Mr Liow's lap.

Guess what these are?

Postage stamps! How can one bear to use these? Or are these common postage stamp designs?

Our toys
Mr Liow bought me this: Nintendo DS Lite. He insisted on getting me one so that I will not feel bored at home. Thanks for the gift dear. But hor, seriously, I have no time to feel bored. Not since we reached wor.

And this. Monopoly now allows transactions by card. muahahaha!

AN's toys
She's been the biggest beneficiary of every individual shopping trips we made. Toys and books, more toys and more books!

That's for her to learn about shapes.

This is a drum that has, as one of its mode, alphabet display, each time we hit it.

Mr Liow's encik's girls dropped by weeks ago and brought along their doodle board which AN enjoyed scribbling on. Mr Liow decided to get her one since it's so cheap!

Winnie the Pooh automobile which she can either ride or rock on.

Books, some from Borders, some from Toys'r'Us. These cost from $2.99 to $6.99 each. Cheap right??

Same goes for the 2 in picture below.

This one teaches letter, phonics and has music (most baby toys come with music anyway)

Baileys and Maen's treats
Treats here are cheap. I really mean cheap. Healthier versions of dog biscuits (those that do not contain corn, wheat or by-products) or have meat as 1st ingredient cost probably $10 at least in Singapore.

These treats with ingredients we prefer to feed them, cost like $3.99 or 2 for $5!!

This brand labels meat as 2nd item on the list!

And where in Singapore do we find Blue Buffalo biscuits at $3.99 each?

Can't remember how much this cost already but oh well, it's smoked. hee.

hAPPY bIRTHDAY TO mR lIOW

Had wanted to write this evening while AN's asleep and Mr Liow away at a farewell dinner for those of his guys who will be leaving in few days' time BUT the network was down and unrecoverable till my smart hubby did a reset when he came home.

I'm starting to see more and more of Mr Liow's smart & innovative side. Not that he's not smart and innovative before I saw that in him recently. There just wasn't much need for him to show off that strength of his that much when we were back in Singapore I guess.

We've wanted to do up the garden this weekend but didn't have time to do so yesterday (Sat) and not today as well coz I spent a long time in the kitchen cooking and Mr Liow had to watch over AN. By the time I was done, it was a short while to him having to leave home for the farewell dinner. Next weekend I guess.

This is the walkway leading to our home. Forgot to take a picture before the revamp but try picturing the walkway without the mini fences and large pebbles, and full of fallen branches and dried leaves. Mr Liow cleared the pathway, gathered large pebbles (easily available right outside our home. LOTS and LOTS of them!) and laid them nicely along the path. And then he put up the fences that we bought last weekend. We have a pair of small roadside lamps that's solar operated. He had no time to put that up today. Will do so soon and then I'll post more pictures of it.

Oh ya, AN had some wierd looking bumps yesterday. They look like 'feng mo'.

Those bumps came and went fast. They appeared at various parts of her body, disappeared and emerged at other parts of her body again since yesterday. By now (it's Sunday night at 10.25pm here as I'm typing this), her skin's cleared of all. Thank God for that. We got worried coz it started to look worse by last night.

That reminds me, once upon a time when BM were still young, I also had to worry about them having bumps on their skin. hehe. Now they scratch at nothing in particular. Wonder if that's good or bad news. hmm...

Mr Liow will be on day shift next week (from tomorrow) instead of night. hee. I don't have to spend lonely evenings without him for a week.

Lastly, Happy 31st birthday dear. May the Lord bless you with wisdom to lead, passion in your daily duties and sincere friendship among colleagues with whom you work. Not to forget, journey mercy as you travel home each day, and no FAIRS, no GAIRS, no problems so that you can come home earlier each day (ok, just joking about coming home early).

Feel really bad that I got you nothing. The only thing I can give you for your bird day was Lor Mee lunch this afternoon that tasted nothing near to Lor Mee back home (but it still tasted good right?? ;p)

Blessed birthday dear. Love you.