Colds and holidays

1. COLDS

this is one (*&(*&(*7of a head cold.

I don't actually remember ever being sick for so long in my adult life! ( maybe it's amnesia already )

It started with one of the kids.. Annika I think, she had a high fever for over 5 days, cranky, coughing and running nose for the next 10. Sounded like croup, and after almost 2 sleepless coughing weeks I caved in and gave her a dexamethasone shot.

Seemed to do the trick, she got better in a further 2 or 3 days.

Then I caught the bug, after stupidly letting her put the nasal spray in MY nose while trying to spray HERS. DUMB.

Now its been 2 weeks, I've been swallowing blister packs of paracetamol, naproxen and antihistamines like candy.

I sick of having this nasal congestion and particularly blocked ears. So irritating.

So I finally took some prednisolone ( I've always been a non believer in that stuff for colds ) .. but it seems to work!! IT's finally shifting.

2. HOLIDAYS!

Finally!!

Chris has been given the opportunity to go to Davos in Switzerland for an AO course...

so we are ALL tagging along!

It was Pa's idea.. I was actually considering just going without the kids...

It's going to be one expensive trip. We've booked the air tickets.. and they came up to a whopping SGD 14000 already. That's for 6 adults and 4 kids. MH's mother is coming along for the holiday.

We've been frantically searching for affordable accommodation. It's been a LONG search.

We're thinking of going skiing in Zermatt, at the mighty Matterhorn. Accommodation there is crazy expensive. The cheaper options look quite scary old, like 1960s old, and the newest apartments come at rates of over CHF 1000 PER NIGHT! ( 1 CHF roughly 1 USD). A really nice one had a price tag of over CHF 7000 per night. Sleeping 10.

We're still left with the Lucerne leg of the trip. Shabby old apartment or average hotel? The average hotel option came up to SGD 1181 per night for all of us.

But I think we're all rather excited... it'll be the first with so many kids on a long haul flight to somewhere quite unknown to us. I guess the first rule is to simply have NO expectations, relax and go with the flow... if Annika eats only fruit loops the entire trip, so be it!

Birthday weekend

Not the kids.. but mine... sweet 35!

I didn't have any special events lined up for me, my dear hubby forgot to get me a proper cake, and nope, no breakfast in bed from the kids either.

But... I am grateful for the other things.

The nurse in my clinic, D, DID get me a birthday cake a few days prior to celebrate. So I did have 1 cake.

We had a delightful Saturday evening with some new friends ( classmate of Annika's from Bibinogs ) --even Annika has a social life! We were invited to their almost-penthouse apartment, and the mother made a 3 course meal for us. And had drinks including wine and beer.

On Sunday morning I got up and got to go for a run with my sister... so that was her gift to me. We wound up in Upper Bukit Timah road, couldn't get a taxi so called my BIL for a lift.

We did have dinner at PS Cafe at Dempsey Hill, which my mother likes ( that's why I chose it ), and I got lovely presents this year! A Nike+watch from Chris (yeah!!), Nescafe Dolche thingy that makes coffee from my sis and BIL and his mum, and a oh-so-soft Christian Dior black leather clutch from my parents. ( Just in time for my brother's impending engagement/wedding etc for next year )

Of course the icing on the cake was that Chris cleared his exits, so no more excuses not to do his share of parenting!

What else touched me was that I had good friends who remembered AND bothered to wish me Happy Birthday...I'm sometimes guilty of being too lazy to do it even though I see it's their birthday through FB or something else.

It was also sad to know that some friends that I thought would have been friends for life were no longer as close. And to know that I have now been excluded out of their lives too.

But its ok.. we all change and people drift in and out.

Now to start planning holidays!!!

A relief

It's been a stressful month ( or year..) with Chris' exams..

Yesterday judgement day arrived.

And he cleared the hurdle!

Sweet relief. It's like freedom has been handed back to us. No more strategic weekend planning to get kids out of the apartment, no more late night studying ( for him ).

Just over the last weekend, we had a long weekend holiday( Malay Hari Raya celebrations ). Quite l-o-n-g.. Warni had Sunday off so it was a little stressful trying to keep it together that day. Mostly because the kids were still recovering from the last brutal round of colds. Annika was a grouchfest.

I am so grateful for good friends... C invited us over for playdate and dinner.. and when she realized we didn't have help for the day she was so kind to provide dinner for us all. And it was nice to have an activity to go to, that made the rest of the day seem more directed.

We had spent the morning prior to the playdate with family.. and boy, was it STRESSFUL..

First..we were supposed to go out for breakfast, but when I rang the house, turned out my sister had gone running and had not returned.Her husband had disappeared too. My parents were babysitting her kids without help either.

By the time she returned, showered and was ready to go, it was past 9am... we drove over to Takashimaya to Paul Bocuse for breakfast. Which we finally ate at 10am.

After brekkie, we wandered around the shops.. we wound up at the kid's section. Turned out they were having a Disney Princess promotion, and with purchase of $80 of their products we were entitled to a kid's photoshoot in princess garb.

Of course we were suckers..

Madison and Elizabeth both got to be Belle. The pictures turned out quite nice, but unfortunately Madison is not a budding model... she is sadly unable to smile naturally at the camera.

Shopping and the photo shoot took over an hour to accomplish... after which we had to find Annika some food.. she refused to eat breakfast earlier..

So while Chris and I were busy waiting in line to get her food/finding a table, we left Madison and Elizabeth with my parents and sister.

Halfway through Annika's meal, out of the milling crowds Madison and Elizabeth suddenly ran towards us. Just the 2 of them.

I was flabbergasted. Where were the 4 adults that were supposed to be with them????

So Chris and I wound up with all 3 kids. Waiting for the other 4 adults to look for us. And feeding all 3 of them.

Finally someone rang and of course they had been looking for the 2.

Amazing. 4 adults could lose the 2 of them.

Stressful morning to say the least.

So I was really grateful to C for inviting us over for dinner later that day.

Now that Chris has finished his exams, it's my turn to say 'thank you' to her... which will happen next month!! Spa treat!