101 Things to do but only 24 hours in a day

Each day, I have 101 things to do. I have.........

• 101 errands to run
• 101 chores to complete
• 101 activities I want to do with my children
• 101 things to say to my spouse
• 101 things to blog about

............ and............. only a very small portion of it gets done in a day. How ah?

How to give your child medicine and make sure it stays down

Does anyone know how to do this? I need some help here. I kept on making mistakes.

With my girl, who is four, it is much easier. When we first came home from the doctor, I showed her the medicine and exclaimed "Look, it comes with a cute cup, like one of your toy cups. Would you like to try it?" (The medicine had a little measuring cup that came with it). She immediately nodded at with that, each time she took the medicine from the "cute cup" eagerly even though she grimaced whenever she drank it. And that was that. Very simple.

Not with the younger boy though, who is two. At first, before he became even more sick. He could still play along. We made it a game. "Everyone say AAAHH" I called out and we all opened out mouths in unison and when he did, I squirted some medicine in. Then it was "Everyone say MMMmmm" to get him to close his mouth, followed by "Everyone say EEEYEEA" while we shook our heads and laughed to indicate that it tastes awful but its ok, we know, but its still fun to play. He played along the first few times.

However, when he became more sick he didn't want to "play" anymore. He screamed, he struggled, he pursed his lips and gritted his teeth and UWEK! I made many mistakes that I want to record here to learn from it.

Fed him a drink just before the medicine
*Cry*
UWEK!

Fed him a drink after the medicine
*Cry*
UWEK!

Fed him a meal BEFORE the medicine
*Cry*
UWEK!

Fed him a meal AFTER the medicine
*Cough*
*Gag*
UWEK!

Fed him the medicine on an empty stomach with no food afterwards
*Diarhea*

Put the medicine dropper in the middle of his mouth
*Cry*
*Gag*
UWEK!

Tried to put his medicine into his favourite drink to "trick" him
He refused to drink after the first sip

And finally, after all that, we found the winning formula. First, prepare the medicine without his knowledge so he does not start crying in anticipation. Then mummy carries him and traps his arm in hers (he struggles less as compared to being carried by daddy), tilts his head back at an angle but not too far back and daddy squirts the medicine in. (Must squirt from the side of the mouth, not the center to prevent a gag reflex). If he clenches his teeth or purses his mouth, then daddy needs to press his cheeks to get him to open up. After that, mummy have to carry him elsewhere to soothe, calm and distract him and prevent him from crying for the next one hour. After that, its ok to give him some fluids and food. He may still throw up when he coughs but maybe by then some of the medicine has gone down, hopefully.

When daddy is not around to help and he refuses to cooperate, I have to strap him down on the highchair, go behind him to trap his arms and when he opens his mouth to cry "Squirt!" Bad mommy!

Phew! Thankfully, he is ok now. I've really had enough of cleaning vomit but most importantly, I'm relieved he is ok after 10 days of being sick. The doctor said there are some cases of pneumonia going around.

Can other parents share with me, their winning formula for giving their child medicine? Its a fine art, I tell ya. Hehe.

Tired

I'm so tired.... Spent all of the five days holidays holed up in the house looking after baby. He was quite sick. He had high fever which wouldn't break. It went down on medication then up again, very high. (Above 39 several times and even above 40 once). He needed sponging and had to put in a suppository on 3 different occassions to bring the fever down.

He lost all his appetite and wouldn't eat ANYTHING for days. His lips became dry and peeling. I had to force feed him medicine on his empty stomach, sponge him etc. Baby was whiny because he was so uncomfortable. He slept quite a lot because he was very tired and whenever he was awake or even semi-awake he called out for me "Amah, Amah, Amah", he whined. (No one else would do, not even daddy) I was worried sick. And now, I'm sick.

I need a break but there is none. How I long for a break but I can't have one. The hubby has just fallen sick himself. My girl has started sneezing and if she starts another new sick cycle, I am going to cry. We're all at different stages of the sick cycle.

Luckily, by yesterday, baby looked much better, almost back to his usual cheerful self and his appetite was back. When he was sick, my girl was neglected. I did not have any energy to play with her (although I tried to give her one on one time when baby was asleep). Still, it was not enough because baby took up most of my time and energy and she sensed it. When her dad asked her to show me something, she said "Baby, doesn't want me to go near HIS mummy."

I noticed that the sibling rivalry heated up considerably when there is inequitable treatment. And so they fought (yah, sick oso can fight), pushing each other feebly and crying mostly. (Really kenot tahan).

I'm so tired. I'm so tired of all the worry, whining, fighting, crying and being on call 24 hours a day. I need a break. :(

Totally Natural Appetite Suppresant

Today, I'm going to share my diet secret. I have a couple of totally natural appetite suppresants at home. Its guaranteed to work. Its not a herbal concoction. Its not a synthetic pill. No tiring, sweaty exercise is required. Its totally natural with guaranteed results! Okay, okay, enough selling, now for the secret.

First, you need to have two sick kids. Then you lay your dining table with freshly cooked, good looking food. Then you feed each of them a mouthful. Then you watch as the vomit flow (no, the more correct adjective would be "pour") right out of their little mouths, one after the other, spraying the high chair and dinner table with bile. By now, your appetite is feeling a little suppressed.

Then you tell them "Don't move! Don't touch anything!" while you run around frantically (this is good exercise) searching for some toilet roll to do a quick and simple clean-up of the mess. Then you change one of them and are thankful the other doesn't require a change of clothes. You are also glad, they have not yet taken their dinner and the vomit did not hit the food. After the change you cleanup the table with a wet cloth and proceed to feed the kids. By now, the natural appetite suppresant has fully kicked in. You no longer feel like having your dinner.

And if thats not good enough, you take the sick kids to bed, only to be woken up at 5am by two feverish crying kids. (waking up early is good for health). You feed them medicine, sponge the little one, change them and get them to bed by calming them with 4 stories. It has to be 4 stories or they can't sleep (according to one of them, my girl that is). Then you lie down to rest while rubbing the tummy of the little one who is in pain. Very soon after, the little one throws up on the bed.

So you get up to rinse the soiled bedsheet and give it a nice new change. This time you are thankful his clothes don't need a change. (Theres always something to be thankful for if you look hard enough) Then you breastfeed the kiddo (thats bound to make you lose even more weight) to calm him and get him back to sleep.

Then you are unable to go back to sleep so you get up to blog. There! Dieting secret revealed. Good anot?

Ok, enough nonsense. (1 Sick kid + 1 Sick Kid = 1 mom blogging nonsense.)

Time to go back to ZZZZZZZZZ! Goodnight. Oops. That should be Good Morning.

Notes:

1. Even times like this have its worth in the memories they make.
2. Looks like the cold bug has hit us. It hit Mr MG about 2-3 weeks ago and I was just congratulating myself for managing to avoid him passing it to us. Thats no mean feat I tell you. We avoided him and managed to avoid his germs to avoid the unmerry go round. But then my girl got sick (probably from germs picked up at kiddy rides, kiddy rides can be really dirty) about 2 days ago and has now passed it on to her little brother. So it looks like the unmerry go round has started. Will I be next? Better go back to sleep now or else not enough rest = low resistance. I CANNOT afford to fall ill. Afterall, I'm a mom. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Early Stages of Toilet Training

Yesterday my boy saved us two diapers! I was delighted. I think he was too.

I noticed recently that he could tell me whenever he had a poo or pee. And so, once or twice when his diaper was still dry before a shower, I would encourage him to pee during his shower. With the sound of the shower running (it helps), he managed to pee and would laugh at his own "success". (Things that we take for granted is an achievement to a child trying for the first time.)

Last evening, he pointed to the toilet and told me "I want to shh shh (pee) there." I checked to see that his diaper was still dry and took him. It took him a little while. I told him "C'mon baby, got shh shh or not?" He said "Don't have", "No more" and "Dunno". Lol! I turned on the shower, kept on encouraging him and he managed to do it. Again, he laughed amazed and delighted. So was I.

Later in the evening, after his milk, he told me "Shh shh again" "Do you want to go there to shh shh" I asked him and he nodded his head. Again, his diaper was dry so off we went to try.... and success again! He was delighted. I was delighted. Looks like we're off to a good start in toilet training. Hehe.

Moms who like to exhange toileting stories, please head on to Lazy Mom's Approach Towards Toilet Training on my Mothering Times Blog.

Related Links:

I'm Ready For Toilet Training
Bed Wetting Troubles