A miserable two-week..

Not only people who are getting married next week is busy (referring to Fina), but married people with children too (referring to Yours Truly)..

The past two weeks was an exhaustive 14 days of my life. Work is the normal reason. But, beyond that is Ashraff. The first week, Ashraff was attacked by a disease called Balanitis, an inflamation and redness at his "bird" caused by bacteria/virus. At first, we thought it is just the normal nappy rash. But looking at Ashraff who screamed his heart out in what used to be an enjoyable bathing time, made us bring him to the paeditrician. According to paed, not all boys can get easily affected at that place but Ashraff is the type that is vulnerable to it. And by right, boys like Ashraff has to be circumcised at an early age (under 6 mo), where the procedure can be done under local anaesthetic (lesser side affects as compared to general anaesthetic). Since Ashraff has passed that age, paed advised that he has to wait till the right age (the earliest is 5 yo) to get a normal adult circumcision, with again under local anaesthetic. Within that period, Ashraff might suffer from Balanitis for maybe another 2-3 times.

Oh! How I wish we have circumsise him the moment he was born. We have thought of that before but the cost to do it at the place where he was born was beyond our budget so we decided to find somewhere cheaper. But Ashraff's fussy and colicky behaviour has taken its toll, so we had to put our plan on hold. And I presumed you know what happens to the plan, yeah..Proscrastination kills! So, if any of you has given birth to a baby boy, do get an early circumsicion for him!

Right after he has recovered from Balanitis, Ashraff was attacked by another disease..A Mouth Disease (doctor has forgotten to give us the scientific name for it, if any). At first, I thought Ashraff was teething as he showed the same sign like drooling, loss of appetite and restless nights.

Then he had a slight fever, so as usual, Ibu took an emergency leave in the morning. During the day, I observed his temperature and just gave him the normal standby medicine in the fridge. But, when I saw his gum was exceptionally red and swollen, I rushed to the paeditrician for a check-up. It turned out to be that all Ashraff's gum, tongue and lelangit was full of white spots i.e ulcers caused by bacteria/virus and he was put on antibiotic again. Poor baby!! How he hates taking medicine!

So, the next few days was a dreadful event for the whole family as we seldom hear Ashraff's laughter and blabbering. Only crying and wailing, out of pain and hunger. Our nights was even worse as Ashraff woke up every half and hour, screaming(you should see a pair of panda eyes I have now...a sign of a caring Ibu. Cehh!). It is sad to see how he kept pointing to his milk and food, and yet when we tried to give it to him, he pushed it away, crying.

Yesterday, Ashraff has shown a sign of recovery as he started taking plain rice (but not his normal cereal and porridge) and drink some milk. And he also had a sleep-thru night yesterday, perhaps trying to recover some sleep after the interrupted sleeps he had few nights before.

During the two-week crash course, I learned these lessons:-
(i) No matter how tired we are, do not complain as it is never as tiring as taking care of a sick child (sekarang ni tgh insaflah..esok2 lupa lagi..hehehe).
(ii) Hygiene is very important in taking care of a child. It is not that we do not know or practice this, but the two diseases occured recently involved virus, so there must be something lacking. So now, I'm like a freak..sikit-sikit sterilise. Sikit lagi nak jadi macam Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets.

But all in all, with the recovery of both disease, it is a sign of relief for both Ibu and Ayah..which leaves me with something to blog on..hehehe..

How's Raya?

How's Raya? A near-to-compulsory question the moment you return to work after Raya holiday.

I have to say that our Raya is great, alhamdulillah. Though I could not sleep over at Tok Mak's house during Raya Eve, just like planned (aunties and uncles decided last minute to go back to JB, bringing my cousins along), Hubby is kind enough to drive all the way to JB from Pontian that night so that I could spent the meaningful night with my parent. And came back to Pontian late in the night. Thanks dear!

Ashraff was cooperative with us throughout the whole period, including visiting about more than 10 houses in a day at Muar. He captures everyone attention with his jovial character and his blabbering in "German" language. Thank God he has lost his stranger anxiety and can get along with just about anybody (except for my Uncle Raymie who scared him to death).

One thing I found out during Raya is Ashraff likes to socialize with children that is at least 2-3 years older than him. And is more attracted to cute lil lass..hmmmmm...

I guess by mixing and socializing, Ashraff learns lots of new skills during Raya. He knows how to say "Bye Bye" with action, "Kuk, kuk, kuk" - imitating the sound of rooster (and continue to do this while searching for one in KL..feeling all frustrated when he could not find one..) and pointing his fingers to place he wants to go or things that he want.

All in all, just like every Raya, it feels good to be able to meet with relatives that we only met once a year (that is during Raya). One thing that saddens me is that they are lesser house to visit in Muar (we used to visit more than 10 houses) as some have passed away for the last one year. During the year, mak's pak long and pak uda have passed away. Tok Lon's mother has also passed away. Those were a must-visit house in Muar the previous year. I guess that is life..

Unlike Muar, Pontian and JB, in KL is all about visiting the second generation - mak and abah's cousin, me and hubby's cousin and also friends. So, most of our nights during weekdays and the whole weekend are spent visiting or entertaining guest.

Oh yeah, friends, do come to our house in either Bukit Antarabangsa and Cheras. But do buzz us first to make us stand-by for your visit. We PLAN to do open house but it is still in planning and Raya is almost over, so I guess we won't be having any this year..Maybe next year..