SF & SW Down

Shien Wei and I had the worst tummy upset ever yesterday!  We were both “down”.  It started with myself vomitting in the middle of the night and having tummy ache.  I couldn’t sleep and I was restless.  While all this was happening, SW was snoring away oblivious to the fact that his wife was vomitting her guts out in the toilet!!

Shien Wei went off to work leaving poor sick wife behind with 2 kids (JW didn’t have school yesterday).  I could not even get out of bed at that time.  My whole body was aching like hell and I was so weak and restless.  I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t move and my whole back was in pain.  I was commanding the kids from the bed.  I could only have 5 minutes sleep at a time.  I was miserable!!  Luckily the kids were behaving and wasn’t getting into too much fights.

SW called me at about 8 am telling me that he too had gone to the toilet twice and his body was beginning to say that there’s something wrong.  By 10 am, he had gone to the toilet 4 times and decided to come home from work.  By this time, I had vomitted again but felt a little better after a shower. 

Shien Wei came back, vomitted a few times and we decided to try to rest for a while and re-assess the situation later.  Shien Wei and I slept for a bit (JX napped and JW was watching TV) but didn’t feel any better so we decided that we had to go the hospital.  Our bodies were aching, we were feeling nausea, tummy aching.  So, for the second time in exactly a week, we rushed to the ER at Med Care hospital.  It was again a Friday so the Emirates Airlines Clinic isn’t open so we had to go to an affiliated hospital. 

We registered and was attended to immediately (because there wasn’t anyone else waiting, and not because we were in critical condition).  We were both attended to by 2 different doctors (male for him an female for me) and both decided to put us on drips for rehydration.  The drip also had nausea and pain medication too.  The only difference was that SW got 2 pain jabs from the male doctor!! 

The kids were with us the whole time.  Jia Wen was an angel and was a little worried about her mummy and daddy.  Jia Xiang refused to go into the ER with us (he had his reasons) and stayed outside for a while before he decided to join us.  Since we were put on drips, we were in the ER for about 45 minutes.  The kids behaved well and we both felt so much better after the medication.  By this time, it was already about 6 pm. 

We got home feeling better but after a few hours, we could feel our body slowly weakening and we went to bed early.

This morning we woke up feeling so so much better.  We woke up terribly hungry so we had “Milo O Panas” and had noodle soup for lunch.  I haven’t gone to the toilet at all today. 

Till now there are two possibilities to what caused our “episode”:

1.  Steamed fish we had at a restaurant nearby the night before
2.  Overdue cut pineapple from the fridge the night before
3.  Stomach virus / flu

Hmmmm… your guess is as good as ours.  But one thing that is quite certain is that the drips were a tad over the top although it did make us feel better.  Private hospital mah!

DXB’s Chrysler Building

SW took these photos yesterday.  He calls it his “masterpiece”.  This building which looks like NY’s Chrysler building is a good landmark to where apartment is.  They are called Al Kazim Towers. 

He took these photos from the car while I was driving.  These buildings are on Sheikh Zayed Road.  The line running across the picture is the Dubai Metro line. 

School Sports Day

Today Jia Wen experienced her first ever school sports.  It was a fun fun and it was more of a telematch rather than real sports.  It was fun but I think I had more fun than Jia Wen did.  The weather was hot and by the end of the event, the kids were exhausted, drained and dehydrated.

I had a good time taking photos today because I didn’t have Jia Xiang with me.  Jia Xiang stayed home with daddy today so I was free to run about taking photos without worrying about JX running about.  I am sure if JX was there, he would be part of the sports too!!

Anyway, there were a lot of parents there too and like me, everyone was geared with the camera, video cams taking photos and cheering the children on!! 

Jia Wen is in the Red Falcons house

 
So were Ana & Tara

It was a hot and sunny day!

 
Eager parents!! 

Parents had a turn at “sports” too!

 
Red Falcons won Sports Day for Year 1 & 2.  Hip hip hooray Red Falcons!!! 

Thats the end of this year’s School Sports!! 

More pictures on facebook.  I took so many pictures that I can’t fit into this entry.  

JX’s Fall

Jia Xiang slipped and fell this morning. He hit the coffee table and got a 1 inch cut right above his right eye.

SW was at work. It is a Friday so the Emirates Airlines Medical Centre is closed so we had to bring him to the nearest affiliated hospital. Rushed to the Med Care Hospital by taxi and SW met us here.

His cut didn't cause much bleeding and I am not sure if he was crying because of the pain or because of the commotion. While waiting for his turn at the Emergency Ward, he was running, playing around like normal but when it came to his turn to see the doctor, he started screaming and struggling.

3 people had to hold him down while the doctor dressed up the wound. The nurse held his head, I held his body and hands and JW held his legs down. He cries, screamed, struggled. He sweat so much during the struggle. The doc had a hard time dressing his wound up because he was moving so much. Doctor used "superglue" to close his wound up. Nurse asked what we fed JX as he was very strong and solid!!

He fell asleep in the car on the way home, exhausted from the struggle and cries. By the time he went home, he had forgotten about the fall and what happened to his head and he was running about like before!!

Doc gave antibiotics in case of any inflammation and told us not to shower his head for 1 week.

I guess every kid has to have a scar at least once in their life yeah? 

 
On the way to the hospital in the taxi.  He bled very slowly. 

Taking his pulse. They took his weight too and he is 18.15 kgs!

 
He was running around the hospital waiting for his turn.  But…

 
when it came his turn, he struggled, screamed, cried, kicked, punched, pinched!  He kept on crying and saying “home, home home”.

Look at his face.  All sweat and red.  At this point, he was saying “no” to the doctor!  Pic on the right – all done, going home now. 

RIS Parent Teacher Day

Jia Wen’s school had their interim Parent Teacher Day last week where parents got to meet the teacher one-to-one to discuss the child’s progress in school.  Parents also got to go into the class and to check out their child’s work and of course I did it!!

The school encourages free writing and these are some of the things that she wrote that I found interesting.  Some has topic to their composition and sometimes they are asked to write rhymes too. 

Jia Wen’s handwriting has improved a lot from the one in the above picture.  Her handwriting is smaller and much neater now. 

In their school, the teach students phonics and that is how they teach the students to spell and write.  They do not emphasize or really care (for now) whether they spell the word correctly, as long as they know how to make the sounds to the word and spell it roughly, it is acceptable. 

Ok, I have to admit that I did snoop around other students’ work too. 

In this interim, we also received a progress report on Jia Wen and here’s what she got:

Ratings:

W = Your child is working towards the level appropriate for their age
M = Your child is meeting the level appropriate for their age
E = Your child is exceeding the level appropriate for their age

Jia Wen’s Academic Report:

English – M
Maths – M
Science – M
ICT – M
Geography – M
French – M
Arabic – M
Art & Design – M
Physical Education – M
Music – E

Jia Wen’s Pastoral Report:

Settled in School – Always
Happy in School – Always
Participate in lessons – Always
Produces appropriate work in lessons – Always
Produces appropriate work at home – Always

When I met the teacher, I told her that we weren’t too concerned about her academic progress but we are more concerned about her social skills and how she is mixing with other children.  According to Miss McLaren, she is a delight, helpful and friendly.  She mixes well with everyone.  Jia Wen can be a bit authoratative sometimes which gets her into trouble but she apologizes for it.  The teacher said that this is a very normal “girl’s behaviour” and I have nothing to worry about her social skills.  Miss McLaren also said that she works hard in class. 

Way to go Jia Wen!!!! 

Happy Birthday Daddy

As you all may already know, SW had one of the most memorable birthdays ever which I shall not go into right now.  Tired of explaining to everyone already but just to cut long story short, he spent his birthday in the air flying from KL-DXB-KL all in less than 24 hours. 

SW arrived back from KL on 1 Nov (his birthday) so Jia Wen wanted to make a surprise for him.  So she and I worked on something to put at the door for when daddy returns home.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!  We love you very much!!!!

And because he flew back to KL again just 4 hours reaching Dubai, we couldn’t really celebrate with him so no cake! 

Birthday Boy

HAPPY

BIRTHDAY

SIDNEY!!! 

We love you!!!

Love from Jia Wen, Jia Xiang, Aunty Szue Fei and Uncle Ooi!!!

Halloween Night @ Tecom

The Tecom Families organised a Halloween Night at our 1st floor terrace.  It was another chance to get together and to meet people who live in our building.  Kids got to dress up and go trick or treating.

Jia Wen went as a Batgirl and JX went as “BONE”, well at least that’s what he calls himself.  Most of the kids dressed up for the occasion but adults didn’t make any effort at all, shame on us. 

Since it was a pot luck party, I had decided that I’d make kebab sticks, hotdogs and nuggets for the kids.  I prepared the hotdogs with onion and dill pickle relishes.  Sadly, it didn’t get finished.  However, my kebabs finished and I was happy that it did.

 
I made to 2 types of chicken kebabs.  The one on the left is marinated with tumeric lemon grass sauce (from the bottle) and the one on the right was marinated with yogurt. 

Right after finishing in the kitchen, I got the kids ready and put on their costumes.  Before we left, I squeezed in a few photoshooting.

Chinese Batgirl

Raunchy!!

 

 

This was JW & JX’s first time trick or treating.  JW enjoyed herself but JX did get a little scared.  (psst, it was my first time too!)

 

This was the coolest apartment.  The kids were greeted by a few cabin crew guys who dressed up, gave them sweets and they were also playing haunted music in their apartment.  It was very cool and they were such great sports! 

 

HAPPY

HALLOWEEN!!!

Fancy Dress Parade

Jia Wen’s school had a Fancy Dress Parade this morning.  All the students were asked to come to school dressed up and since Jia Wen had chosen to be a Batgirl for the Halloween party tomorrow, she went to school as a Batgirl!!

I was such a fun day in school.  All the students were so happy and they were all filled with excitement.  The parents were there to take pictures and pictures!  It was a casual and fun day.  It was exciting to see the kids parading their costumes at the field.  Some were literally melting in their costumes.  I am glad JW chose a cool one.

The school gave one price to each class for best dressed student. 

This first batch of photos were taken in the morning with my Ixus. 


Batgirl Jia Wen and Cleopatra Louisa Schneider

Pumpkin Fairy, JW and Sexy Pumpkin Princess Hazuki

Scream-ing Benjamin, Batgirl Jia Wen & Pirate (another class)

 
Princess Anna Schneider, Batgirl Jia Wen, Cleopatra Louisa Schneider & Sexy Pumpkin Princess Hazuki

Everyone were so well dressed. 

Batgirl Jia Wen & Sheikh Hamed Khezri of Iran.  Bumblebee boy. 

Angelique, Louisa, Anna, Rosalie & Jia Wen

Jia Wen’s Pirate Umar.  Future F1 Driver

Iseg the Skeleton and Cowboy.  

Marching for the parade.  This first batch of parade did not involve Jia Wen so I had time to snap pics of other children in other costumes. 

 
The parents of this boy used a bolster cover, cut out some holes and he became a ghost. 

Look at the parents!  But it was fun!

 

 
Some teachers dressed up too which I thought all teachers should have made the effort to. 

This lion must have been burning inside his costume. 

This dragon was the most elaborate home-made costume I saw. 

Pirate of the Carribean with Little Red Indian.  A Chinese Concubine.

JX as JX. 

A fellow Malaysian friend from the same school.  Justine and her son Iseg. 

It was a fun day.  The atmosphere was good, the kids had fun and the parents definitely had the most fun! 

Johan from South Africa & Sexy Pumpkin Princess Hazuki from Japan

Marching out for the parade.


There was music being played and the boys were having fun dancing to the music. 
 
My Batgirl

 
Spider Queen Miriam
 
Princess Tara from UK
 



Hover over the above pic and see whats the digital number for this pic and see the connection between the number and whats on this picture.  Get it?
 
Pirate Umar from UK, Sheikh Hamed from Iran & Princess Rosalie from Quebec. 

Anna from Brazil, JW, Miriam from Norway, Lisa from India, Sophia from Germany, Isabella from Australia and Tara from UK. 

 
Anna & Jia Wen with Miss McLaren.  Rosalie and Tara

One of the teacher dressed up as Darth Vader
 
Sophia & Isabella.  Isabella, Tara & Rosalie

 
 
Pirate Umar (A boy who Jia Wen cares about)

Singaporean Samurai.  I love that Pirate costume that comes with tattoo sleeves!

A very unhappy Bumblebee. 

Unhappy Fairy



More pictures to come.  Do come back later.