Dear Kristen,

Since Mummy is busy trying to get things ready for your birthday party this Sunday, Mummy will just upload one of the digital scrapbook pages that she prepared for your album.

Checklist:

Invitations - Sent out (Mummy is still thinking if she is missing anyone or if Daddy has forgot someone!)
Decorations - Some gotten from Birthday Direct (Thank Auntie Gaby), and some from concourse... She's missing alot more! Sigh.
Poster - Designed, just needs further approval and then to print and cut.
Caterer - Mum's Kitchen
Cake - Hot Fuschia.... Need Daddy or a volunteer to collect it from Farrer Road (Anyone coming from that area please SMS Mummy or Daddy)

I keep thinking I'm missing something!

Here's one at the gathering with Mummy's secondary school classmates that her ex-teacher organized. See, you enjoyed yourself mingling and playing with the Aunties. Haha.. Yes, they're Aunties. And yes, you'll address them as Aunties no matter what funny reason they give you to call them something other than Aunties!

To Everyone who was at Kristen's Party last night,

Please send me the photos that you have taken ASAP so that I can upload them for everyone to see.

Email to: kristenbabe@gmail.com

Thank you!

[edit: for those who are confused, the 22nd party is still on!!! see u there!]

Thank you to those who asked...Mark & I appreciate your concern!

Dear Kristen,

You're slightly better now. Your fever went down after taking the Ibuprofen for 2 days. But silly Mummy, thought that once your fever went away, I could just stop your paracetamol medications because I didn't want to overload you with drugs. But. Your fever came back, and the forum mummies told me that I had to feed you the paracetamol for at least another day. The Ibuprofen though, was only meant for when your fever was really high, like 38.5 or more.

So you're back on paracetamol, and cough & cold medications. Actually, you like the paracetamol mixture alot. I guess because it tastes like strawberries. You would willingly open your mouth for the medicine! Haha... Druggie!
But you hate the cough mixture... You'd turn your head away from where the syringe-ful of cough mixture is coming from. But, you know, you still have to take the medicine... Otherwise, how is your cough going to go away? Mummy feels very terrible for forcing you to take the medicine... You'd be squirming and screaming, and we'd just put a little into your mouth... and you'd swallow, pull a face and then cough a little like you're choking from the medication. Sigh. But what to do? You're getting too smart for distractions.

Anyway, tonight is your first celebration for your birthday! Mummy is hoping everything goes well! Especially since these past few days your timing is a little off... because you're sick. So she is hoping hard that you would be awake at the dinner.

Oh yes, some people have been asking Mummy if she has a wishlist for your birthday. Well, Mummy came up with a general one here. If any group has bought or is going to buy a big-ticket item, please let Mummy know so that there won't be duplicate present. Mummy does not want to end up exchanging or selling the gifts!

Okay, disclaimer - Mummy is NOT expecting people to get presents, this list is for those friends of Mummy who were already asking Mummy for ideas on what to get you. Mummy is writing this down so that she does not have to sms everyone one them. This is like what ang-mohs do... Birth registry, Wedding gift registry... Like That. So those koo-koos who think that Mummy is being greedy... well, they're not Mummy's friends so they can go away.

In no particular order of preference:

• Ang Pows - Always welcomed. Goes into your bank account for you to go shopping, I mean for your studies.

• Books - You just love turning the pages of your board books! Especially your Blues Clues' Nursery Rhymes. Paper-paged books will be saved for when she's a little bigger and not keen on tearing them just yet. Yup, you love looking through books and pointing at the pictures.

• CDs/DVDs - Although Daddy dislikes the Purple Dinosaur, Mummy heard that the Purple Dinosaur can be pretty educational. So far, Mummy has got for you "Baby can Read", "Baby Einstein" (entire series), "Left Brain & Right Brain" VCDs/DVDs. Any others are welcomed too! Mummy doesn't mind that you watch TV... once in a while. Sometimes Mummy and Daddy become boring people and the TV would probably teach you more. It also gives us ideas on what types of songs we can sing for you. Ya, after a while, we get bored of singing Old McDonald's. 

• Push-Along Convertible Tricycle - This one is a tricycle-like thing for babies. For younger babies who can't cycle yet, the parents can push the long handle from behind. For older children, the foot rests can be taken off and they can cycle the tricycle. It has to come with a protective barrier to prevent you from falling off though. Mummy wants this. Haha... She wants to bring you for a walk in something other than the pram. But... Mummy thinks that Auntie Mel & Auntie Mein are getting this for you.

• Photoshoot Voucher - http://www.thestudioloft.com.sg/
  This will be Mummy’s 2^nd attempt at bringing you
  for a photoshoot on the 4^th of August! This time we’re going to try
  this place that Auntie Angela brought Emma to. So… If anyone wants to get us a
  gift voucher for the photoshoot which would cost approximately $90 for our
  “Little Big Shot” and about $30 for your Mummy & Daddy to be inside the
  photos too. Ummm... But if no one gets us this, it's okay. Mummy has already booked the slot and is already going to pay for it.

• Clothes - Sure sure. You have tons already actually. But if there's anyone who wants to get for you some clothes. Not a problem with Mummy. You're currently about 9.5kg and (Mummy forgot to measure your height). Your feet are about 14.5cm long. In case it's too complicated, bigger is always better.

• Ride-alongs - You don't really know how to ride yet... But, I'm guessing you would learn within this year. Don't you look cute? hehhee.. This was taken at My Gym. You struggled to get off it within 1 minute.

• Toys - Always welcomed too. Preference is for "noisy" toys to help encourage you to use your hearing. Also, turn-taking toys or cause-and-effect toys are good too. You seem to like V-tech toys... Any animal toys are welcomed as well. Wait. Any toys that are deemed educational, Mummy does not mind. Haha..

Okay, this is just a preference list... Mummy has run dry on ideas on what to get for you already. Let the Aunties and Uncles think and be more creative than Mummy okay... If Mummy can think of somemore she'll just add on to this list.

Love,      
Mummy

Dear Kristen,

You gave Mummy & Daddy a scare over the weekend. You fell very ill and you were so weak that it broke my heart to see you like that.

It started on Saturday afternoon. Mummy felt your body was warmer than usual so we took your temperature and it showed about 38+. We thought it was probably just a 'passing fever' so we just monitored your temperature and gave you some paracetamol that we got from the clinic before. You had diarrhoea too, your usual once-a-day poo-poo became a thrice-a-day poo-poo. Mummy also put the Osim chilling fever band that Uncle Kelvin got for you before and tried putting a cool wet cloth on your head.  But later at night, your temperature did not go down... In fact in went up! You woke up at around 2.30 in the morning crying away, and at that point, your temperature was up to 39.6 already.

We quickly brought you to NUH Children's A&E to get you to the doctors because apparently, what we were doing did not work. Yah, we drove all the way from Pasir Ris to NUH. Why not CGH? Cos we brought you there before and they told us if there was something serious, they'd just refer us to KKH because they do not specialize in paeds. Why not KKH? Because we were there before and we did not exactly like it, plus the many horror stories Mummy has read from the forum about the place. So... NUH was the simple next choice, plus Daddy said it's not that much further.

When we reached there it was about 3.15am and there were no other babies there. So you got to see the doctor immediately, no waiting. They gave you a suppository to bring down your temperature. Well, that is like a tablet that the push into your... poo-poo hole! At first Mummy thought it was because you were teething, which caused you to have fever and caused you to have diarrhoea. But the doctor said it was gastroenteritis. Something like a stomach virus because you were farting alot too. We went back at about 4.30 and when you woke up the next day, your temperature went down.

BUT!!! In the afternoon... your temperature shot up again to 40.6!!! Mummy & Daddy flipped and we brought you to NUH again. This time it was reeeeeally crowded and we had to wait for so long before we got to see the doctor. Fortunately we gave you some more of the medicine that NUH had given us the night before (Ibuprofen & Paracetamol)... and by the time we saw the doctor, your temperature had dropped considerably.... to 39+ again. Sigh. You were so weak through out... and so manja. You kept resting your head on my shoulder... which is not normal at all.

So on Monday, Mummy took urgent leave to take care of you and also to show Auntie Belle how to feed you medicine. You got much better and by the afternoon, your temperature had gone down and you were back to your normal self. Playing, smiling and laughing. Phew~.... Only problem was that your appetite had dropped considerably.

BUT!!! That was not the end of it. You developed a cough and cold! So at night, Daddy & Mummy had one of the longest nights ever. You kept coughing in the night and waking up. Crying... and no appetite... So Daddy & Mummy had to take turns putting you back to sleep. Poor Daddy... was in the midst of his reservice and had to go off to army at around 5 in the morning. By that time you had woken up many times already and we decided to switch off the aircon so that the air would not be so dry and so you could sleep better.

And on Tuesday night, you still did not recover from your cough, and since Daddy was not home, Grandma and Mummy slept in the living  room with you to take turns to care for you too. Ow... it was bad. You kept coughing in the night and again, you had to be pat to sleep many times through the night. The next morning, Mummy brought you to the PD at Elias Mall to get some cough mixture.

Finally, last night you had slept through the night. Phew. Mummy was so tired! Right now, you're still having the cough and your appetite is fluctuating up and down. Daddy is coming home soon OK? He's been very worried about you too because he keeps asking Mummy how you are and if your temperature has went down. See.. we love you alot alot alot. Really hope you'll be 100% fine soon!

Dear Kristen,

We've finally caught your steps on proper video! YAY! We're extremely proud of you... and you were taking more steps today than usual! Well, that's the good news for today.

Bad news for today? You've got the fever. Guessing that it could be because you're teething... but there could be other reasons too I guess. You seem to be having diarrhoea too. We're extremely worried and your Daddy is super kanchiong.   Just trying to wipe you with some water every once in a while to cool you down. Hopefully by tomorrow you would be better.

We had the Zoo, visiting Mummy's old babysitter's house and going to a birthday party all planned out today. But the Zoo did not work out because Mummy did not want you to go into the rain/drizzles just to go to the zoo for the family day event in case you fell sick. But you fell sick anyway and we could not go anywhere else. Sob. You were really cranky today and seemed a little weak. Hope that you will be able to sleep through tonight to get the rest you need.

Oh. And Ipoh Koon is back from Switzerland for a short while this week. And she bought you ALOT of clothes from H&M (some for when you're like 2 years plus.. haha) and a toy piano (I bet you'll love this) and a SIGG bottle! Fortunate girl!!! Must Thank Ipoh when you are bigger okay! It's a really pretty orange bottle with bears on it. So cute. I love it! haha...

Here's a video of you walking with Daddy!

And here's a video of you walking with Mummy!

Dear Kristen,

You're a very lucky girl. You're getting to celebrate your birthday THRICE! Well, originally it was supposed to be twice, once on the day Mummy was planning (for months) to throw you a party, and once on your actual day. But now, suddenly, there's an additional day. So it's thrice! You're so loved.

Well.

Here's the invite for your birthday that Mummy had planned. Mummy and Daddy will be emailing, sms'ing and calling out to friends and family to invite them over the coming days. For those that we haven't been able to invite, we love you all the same okay? We'll just meet up another day

Love,       

Mummy

Dear Kristen,

Today we went to White Sands for dinner and you got to try some whipped potatoes from KFC (without the sauce). You loved it. But because you just had your dinner earlier on, you did not finish the container. Mummy is really excited for you to turn one. Because then, you would be able to eat so much more things (still... with Mummy's & Daddy's knowledge and approval of course).

Anyway, Auntie Margaret is back in Singapore. Mummy isn't sure if she's been playing with you during the day because Mummy is not around, but she's not in during the evenings. She must be enjoying herself with her friends! Kristen... One thing for sure, it's GREAT to have her back! Will you be like that next time? Will you be one to go out with your friends alot? Or will you be a homebody? Haha... Before you came along, Grandma would definitely say that Mummy is the type that goes out with her friends alot. Now Mummy & Daddy are very much homebodies... 80% of the time

Mummy shopping.. And Daddy does too (only when he's buying his things). And... well it looks like you'd love shopping next time too. There was once that we went to Mango at Tampines Mall and since there was a sale going on, Mummy decided to go shop a little. So Daddy carried you and walked around Mango with you. He reported that you kept grabbing the clothes, flipping through them and feeling them! Haha! Seasoned shopper already eh!

Here you are 'shopping' too! Watch the last part where you seemed to browse through items in the 'shelf'.