Not Much Going On

With Dad, Kelly and Ethan feeling under the weather, little has gone on the past two days. The weather has not been cooperating either, with the sun only breaking today after several days of rain (at times extremely heavy downpours). So, I have found time to sit and post several pictures on Facebook, and also blog a little.

Tonight we have another dinner planned with some family friends. We have done most of our shopping that we hoped to do on our trip, but disappointingly for me, not a lot of site seeing in Singapore -- partly because it is so difficult to get everyone ready to go anywhere (especially with three boys), partly because everyone but me has lived or grown up in Singapore and so the "downtown" or "Esplanade" or certain shopping centers are all but "been there, done that, don't really want to do that for some time to come", but also because of the weather and illness that's been going around. What ever the reason, it is quite a loooooong journey to then be cooped up at home all day, no?

There's always 2010 for the next family reunion?!

Last night, Ethan had another wheezing episode (or few) and Kelly and I had little sleep. Early this morning, mom and dad and Kelly took Ethan to the hospital to get some oral steroids to help with his breathing, as well as a nebulizer since the one we own is not portable, and we did not take with us on this trip. Personally, it has been sad and frustrating to see Ethan suffer so much. And to think this is now likely going to be a part of our everyday and travels. Ethan is doing marginally better now, and Kelly is taking a much needed nap (actually has been napping most of the afternoon now, though not without being disturbed by Ethan who wishes only to be with mama all the time). So not very restful, but at least something. Poor, Kelly!

Mom has now taken Ethan for a walk around the block.

Adeline has been working hard the past two days on completing her Master's thesis corrections.

Yuske and Michelle have been back at work the past couple of days, and the boys to school (pre-nursery for Ryu and nursery-1 for Jun), so they are gone literally the entire day until mid/late evening.

So it is looking like this vacation is coming to a halt far earlier than our return flight to the U.S. :-(

Sharks! Whales! (And An Emergency Hospital Visit?) -- Oh My!

What a trip. Total exhaustion. It all started with Ethan wheezing early Friday morning. His breathing was so laborious that Kelly was actually worried and wanted to take him in to Fannin's (Regional Hospital) Emergency. We were thinking of cancelling our trip altogether. We had booked into the Glenn Hotel and already had tickets for the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coke museum. But Noomsie was sick.

So we took our time getting ready, to see if Ethan's condition would improve and whether or not he could take a 2 hour drive to the big city. And actually, if he could, then we would rather take him to Scottish Rite, a children's hospital in Atlanta. And so Kelly administered a medication using a nebuliser (a piece of equipment that aerosolizes a liquid medication to be breathed in). This usually helps Noomz with his breathing, and it did the trick, though to last for the duration of the car ride we were not sure.

But with Ethan seeming his usual self and breathing with less "effort" we decided ok we will take to the road.

Just minutes into our trip Ethan fell asleep, but his breathing had returned to wheezing (Kelly had her stethoscope on hand and was checking Noomsie periodically). So our first destination was going to be the ER at Scottish Rite. There, Noomz got a double dose of some steroid and other breathing treatment (again through a nebulizer) and had a chest X-ray taken. He was also given Motrin for his fever which was at 102.2F. His X-ray was clear and so no worries of pneumonia or other. We arrived at the ER around 11:30am and we were not discharged until nearly 4pm. So a good start to our trip (spending hours in a hospital)! But all for Ethan as he is our precious.

His usually smiley self, I couldn't help but take some pictures of him in his baby hospital "gown". I am just glad he is doing better, though still sick, but not seriously, and quite manageable for now. We know he will suffer from asthma (if not these string of wheezing episodes are already alluding to) since both mom and dad have had asthma as kids and both grandfathers currently have this respiratory ailment. But we hare hopeful that Ethan will outgrow it somewhat.

Not taking any chances, we bought an air purifier and a new humidifier for his room.

Once we were discharged from the ER and on our way, we decided to check into our hotel room. The Glenn Hotel is smack in downtown ATL and very close to our other destinations for this trip -- namely the "largest aquarium in the world" (the Georgia Aquarium) and the museum that is all about "happiness", the Coca-Cola museum (or the World of Coke museum).

First we went to the G.A. It was huge, but to be honest, the Singapore aquarium seemed more "grand". For some reason, the G.A. did not really live up to my expectations, though some tanks were downright enormous -- have to be in order to hold whales I suppose.

Ethan was out asleep the entire time we were there, which was unfortunate. He woke up when Kelly and I were nearly through the gift shop on our way out. So we decided to turn back and have Ethan go through one (of the many) section to at least see a few aquatic animals.

After the aquarium we rushed to meet up with my aunt Tita Flong and her friend, Chari, for lunch at the Hong Kong Harbour restaurant. A typical "hole-in-the-wall" type of restaurant, where the quality of food is far more invested than the surrounding decor, we enjoyed dim sum while Ethan made sure to make more work for the restaurant staff by ripping any piece of paper or napkin he could get his hands on.

My camera had run out of batteries but luckily, through eating lunch and waiting some, the battery "recharged" enough somehow to take one more picture before dying again. We new the picture was taken since the flash went off, but we could not even turn the camera on again to check to make sure.

So no batteries and no camera and still had the Coke museum to go to, and Ethan was awake. All in accordance with this trip I suppose -- nothing going as planned that is. And already I have plenty of pictures of fishes and sharks and jelly fish from our Singapore trip of '05. Why did I not save my battery!!! Aahhhh.. so frustrating. So anyways, again waiting to recharge a batter, I managed to capture the large coke bottle on the top of the museum. Check My Picasa.

But totally useless trip in terms of memorable pictures, though it was so nice to see Tita Flong and Chari and to spend time with them, and for them to see Ethan for the first time too! They both agreed Ethan looks more like Kelly.

And so I got progressively ill as the trip went on. Very chilly and damp, and not a great time to be sick and around a lot of people. But heck, trips we seldom take so darn it, we were going somewhere.

We did do shopping as planned, and bought a Zanzibar (safari-theme) small table and two chairs for Ethan -- toddler furniture -- and a toy chest also the Zanzibar theme. We bought tofu for Ah Ma and some other gifts for the boys when we go to Singapore. (which is in 6 days!)

I bought Kelly some Givenchy earings and Dior (Miss Cherie) perfume and gift set from Macy's -- belated anniversary present. And so shopping-wise this trip was as planned. But the crowds and traffic were almost more than we could handle given our congested heads and stuffy noses.

Back at home, we've been unpacking, getting rid of garbage and packaging and now cleaning and going to pack. Let's hope we can kick all this sickness before our flight!

Round 2

Well thank heavens for moms. Just two days after Kelly's mom returned home, my mom is here with us for another couple of months. And boy am I grateful for the help! THANK YOU, again, moms. It should be another learning experience for all of us, as Ethan acquires new 'developmental milestones'.



We used the Amby hammock, and Ethan seems to like it (although he was fed and dozy-eyed before we placed him in the sleep-aid aparatus). Here are some pics Kelly took of him in the Amby.

Oh, and Ah Ma, I used your "sayings" to help me this afternoon when Ethan was fussing and it worked! I said, "sayang, sayang, ungah, ungah, sayang..." :-D I repeated this several times while rocking him of course, and I think your Hokkien/Singaporean (??) sayings have some how stuck to him.