Browsing Tag

kirsten kao

I like my life without all the drama.

October 15, 2010

I’ve been trying to teach the kids to be thankful no matter what happens but these kinds of life lessons are best learnt through experience. It’s easy to teach thankfulness when life is good, when they get a gummy or a trip to the zoo but when everything seems to go horribly wrong, that’s when being thankful really counts.

Such as days like today, when Tru is just recovering from another “mommy I can’t breathe” lung infection episode. After I just spent the last two nights watching him to make sure he’s still breathing and alive. I doze off for a while and I dream he’s wheezing and I wake up to find that he is actually struggling for air which is a far worse nightmare.

Then we head off for breakfast this morning and everyone gets stricken with food poisoning so severe the husband gets admitted to the A&E at Changi Hospital. And I’m driving the kids home when Kirsten starts throwing up fountains of um, vomit for an entire minute non-stop like a bad spoof of The Exorcist. I mean, I’ve never seen anyone throw up continuously like that for that long in my life. For the next hour or so, she would vomit a handful of yellowish stuff every 5 minutes. It was unreal.

So I rushed her to the doctor and when I got back, I started feeling nauseous and pukey but I was too weak to drag the kids with me to the doctor again so I just stuck my head in the toilet bowl and tried not to pass out. It was all very exciting in a only-when-it’s-not-happening-to-me sort of way.

The husband in hospital, Tru in recovery, Kirsten in a pool of vomit and me, in the toilet. Take that, Korean melodrama.

It’s hard to be thankful on a day like today because it hits you like a freight train and knocks you out with a solid hadouken. But at the risk of sounding like a lunatic, I do got a lot of things to be thankful for.

1. I’ve got the best sick kid ever. The worst thing about having sick kids is that they’re extra whiney, which is understandable and fully warranted. But baby girl is so badass at being sick, she make it look like a walk in the park. She spent the entire day sleeping and looking so sweet and stoned all at the same time. When she’s in pain, she snuggles up on my chest and grabs my shirt real tight, then throws up on me.

2. Tru’s lung infection episode lasted 24 hours, the shortest one yet. He usually takes 3-5 days to recover but this time around, he was up and running after a day. Always a good sign.

3. We’re all on the road to recovery so the worst is over. Hopefully we all get some decent rest tonight, which is the best part about recovering from an illness – enforced rest. Some sleep always makes me feel better.

4. Not technically related but jailbreak for iPhone 4.1 is out. I’ve waited a long time for this and it is awesome.

5. I lost an entire kilo today. Mostly water, I know, but my stomach looks flatter than it has been in a long time. Silver lining, y’all.

by Daphne

stuff best described as not safe for parents

Awesomeness in a book

September 7, 2009

sneak peek of the awesomebook

So over the weekend, Kirsten got the coolest present ever. It was a scrapbook from her aunt (plus her BFF and a bunch of other folks). Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. “A scrapbook? What are you, like 3?” Which was kinda what I thought at first because I was actually into scrapbooking when I was in fact, 3. Except that the S got lost and it was more like a crapbook with gaudy cutout pictures and huge blobs (which I drew).

Till this day, I still draw like a 3-year-old and not in the that’s-so-cute-and-childlike sorta way, but the get-that-thing-out-of-my-face kinda way. And before you get all judgey, I’ll have you know that I make up for my lack of artistic talent in other ways. Some guys can draw, others can shoot foam out of their ass (baby girl, I’m looking at you), and me, I can hoola-hoop for a *really* long time while standing on one leg and with both hands tied behind my back. Impressive, I know.

Right, so when I saw the scrapbook, my jaw totally fell and hit the floor because it was awesomeness in a book. It should be called an awesomebook and trust me, when you see it, you’ll be wishing you got one just like it so you can show off to all your friends that you’ve got an awesomebook and they’d be all like, “I wish I had one too”.

Even though it technically wasn’t for me because the title says a hundred rules for kirsten kao, I still teared a little when I got home and read it. It was filled with pictures that they drew/shot themselves, which were totally gaudy awesome. And apparently, she had to pull a thousand favors and make a complete fool of herself by wearing her PJs (without the pants) out to a fancypants cafe. I would have paid a lot of money just to witness that alone.

With this brilliant move, yi-yi’s (that’s what we call teenage grandaunts here) stocks have risen exponentially. When Kirsten turns 18 and she gets asked what’s the best present she’s ever received, it’s not going to be the Audi TT that mama bought, but the awesomebook that took a thousand hours to make.

PS If you want a sneak peek at the making of it, you can check out this site.

by Daphne

motherhood

10 things I love about you

August 13, 2009

To my princess,

A month ago, I was screaming my head off in the delivery ward being all unglamorous and trying to push an entire human being out of my body. In the moments of respite between contractions, I would close my eyes and imagine how life would be like with you in my arms, to hold you and smell you and get to know you. Right now, those moments seem like a lifetime ago and I can’t imagine life without you in the picture.

It’s been an entire month of unspeakable insanity but in the midst of the sleep deprivation, postpartum depression and accursed hormone fluctuations, I’ve had the most wonderful time just looking at you and loving you.

On this first month milestone, here’s Mommy’s list of the top 10 things I absolutely LOVE about you.

1. The way your tiny little mouth breaks into a giant smile after you finish your milk. I had no idea your mouth was capable of opening that wide to accommodate that grin. And who cares if it’s gas, it’s nice to be smiled at anyway.

2. Your lovely baby smell right after a shower (even though it doesn’t last long – but that’s fine, I dont take that well to heat myself).

3. For not blinding and killing me with your poop. Have I said that I was eternally grateful? Yes, I am.

4. How you let me hold you for as long as I want without squirming or trying to break free. I’ve never had that with your brother.

5. The way you settle so comfortably on my chest. It’s the only way to calm you down on those particularly fussy nights.

6. Your chubby cheeks that’s always threatening to eat up your entire face. Also, sorry I bit your cheeks so many times. I can’t help it. I’m taking medication for that.

7. The way your itsy bitsy fingers grab on to my shirt/bra/hair/skin so tightly just as I’m attempting to put you in your cot. “No, mommy, nooooooo”

8. How you pout your quivering lips right before you break into the scream of your life like a prelude of what’s to come. That totally cracks me up.

9. Your ability to sit in the baby chair for extended stretches without fussing while your brother takes his turn at tormenting me.

10. The look of adoration you reserve for your daddy and me. That, to me, is worth all the madness in the world.

You, baby girl, are the beating of my heart.

With all the love in the world,

Mommy

by Daphne