That's the cheery Athan we all have been longing to see ever since he fell sick. He is much more happier now. He is still coughing a little bit, but there's no more wheezing. The doctor did tell us that the cough will take a bit of time to clear, so that's not a worry. I would say he is back to his normal self. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. We really appreciate it.

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Calvin pointed to the socks on his right foot and said to me "yucky". So I told him to take his socks off and I'd wear a clean pair for him when I finished feeding the baby. Before I knew it, he took the "yucky" socks off, found a clean replacement on the couch and took it to his dad. When he came back to me, he was *proud* to show off his feet to me -- he had different socks on for each foot. I tried to explain to him that he should wear the socks in a pair, but he would not budge. He has made up his mind to wear mismatched socks for the rest of the day and to childcare as well. *sigh* You know what his reason was? He said to me that the other socks wasn't yucky, so no need to change! :)

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What seemed to be a mild cough and cold has developed into some more serious. Athan's condition got worse two days ago. He coughed a lot more, sneezed a lot more and he had a fever too. And, at times I thought I could hear him wheeze. He was definitely more cranky than usual and there was hardly any smiles from him. I got worried and brought him to see his GP yesterday. Well, my baby has bronchiolitis.

It is a chest infection where there is inflammation of the *bronchioles* which are the smallest branches of the respiratory tree of the lungs. Apparently, it affects babies from 2 weeks to 12 months and it takes about 3-5 days for the symptoms to improve. Unfortunately, there is no medication for it and the only way is to manage the symptoms at home. We were told to monitor his breathing and feeding. The worst case scenario is when his breathing becomes difficult. When that happens, we have to take him to the hospital immediately. So, I was up most of last night checking on Athan. He was wheezing quite a bit, but he was breathing quite alright and was still feeding quite well.

Athan is much better today. Thank God. He is still wheezing and coughing, but he is smiling and playing a lot more. I think he is on the road to recovery and I hope his symptoms will continue to improve over the next few days. Do pray for him.

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Five and a half months. Where does the time go? I still remember complaining to my good friend, Flora during the first 6 weeks when things were quite tough that time was going too slowly! Flora used to tell me the time would just zoom past me before I knew it, and that I should enjoy the time with baby Athan because she herself has already forgotten what it is like to have a baby. She is right. I have already kind of forgotten those early days with Athan. I better enjoy my baby when he is still a baby. :)

Athan is quite sociable at the moment. He usually returns smiles to those who smiles at him or play with him. We love his huge toothless gummy smile. So cute. This won't last long as I suspect his 2 lower teeth are coming out pretty soon. He looks at his surrounding quietly when I take him out for walks. He enjoys going out, especially when he is being carried (front facing) in the baby bjorn carrier. He takes car rides and pram rides much more better now. At least he does not scream his lungs out like when he was younger. These days, he just sit there and suck his thumb. Yup, he loves to suck his thumb.

Athan sleeps on his tummy just like his brother. Recently, he managed to wriggle his way to the top of his cot and flip himself over so that he is lying on his back. Robin was the first to discover that our baby has developed such ability when he went into Athan's room one midnight to check out the loud screaming. Why was Athan screaming? Well, he managed to flip himself over and got himself stuck at a corner of the bed. BUT no one has yet to see how he roll himself over. He refuses to perform when we put him on a mat on the floor when he is awake. *sigh*

Athan is quite ready for solids. We just have to wait till he get over his cough and cold. I hope and pray that he will be a good eater.

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Besides having no hot water at home, our 2 precious boys are sick. Calvin has worse symptoms. He started coughing on Tuesday, and by yesterday he had watery eyes, blocked and runny nose, moist cough and fever. Yup, he had the lot. His coughing is worse at night and so there's been night waking. Baby is coughing a bit, and has been waking up at night after sleeping for only a couple of hours! This night waking business is really draining me and I have to admit I do get snappy when I am tired and have not had a break. Thank God that today has been a better day for all of us.

Our hot water unit has finally been replaced today! I am so happy. We also brought the boys to our GP for a checkup this afternoon. Good news is, both their lungs are clear. Calvin seemed a lot better this afternoon although he is still coughing. I hope the boys will get well soon and sleep better at night.

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Our 10-year-old hot water unit broke down on Monday. We had no hot water from the tap for the past 2 days. I have just realised how good it is to have hot water straight from the tap, especially now that the weather is cold and the boys are so young. We do have cold water from the tap, but Robin had to turn the main tap off (cutting all supply of water to the house) because water kept gushing from the hot water unit even though it's valve has been turned off. Well, apparently the valve has worn out. *sigh* We only turn the main tap back on when we had to do dishes or need water for baths. For other times, we use water from buckets. It is quite inconvenient but manageable.

Another issue. It's so hard to find a plumber (who do not over-charge and answer all of Robin's questions patiently) to come over to replace a new hot water unit ASAP. Finally, we found our gas plumber who could do the job, but he could only do it on Friday! No choice. We have to wait and endure another 2 days of inconvenience.

Water is indeed very very precious. We don't realise how much water we use each day and how much water we could have saved each day.

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I brought Calvin to the "story-time" at our local library yesterday morning. It was a half an hour session that started with some singing followed by a couple of stories and then a craft activity at the end. Yesterday's craft was to make a penguin as shown in the photo. We have been to the story-time sessions several times now, and I think Calvin likes it, although...

Well, Calvin is the sort of kid who likes to observe rather than participate when he is in a group environment. He is especially so when he is new to the environment. I mean, he does not shout out answer to the question asked even though he knows the answer (he whispers the answer to me, at the most), and he does not sing and dance or do the actions to the songs freely even though he knows how to. He prefers to sit and watch other children in action. And that's exactly how he was during the story time session yesterday. However, when he is at home, he is our *entertainer*. He sings loudly, dance freely etc. I guess he just needs to be familiar with the place and people before he opens himself up. So, how do I know he likes the story time? Well, he was the one who asked to go to the story time, and he often *talked* about the session afterwards.

It is good that the local library holds story time for children. They welcome babies too. In fact, the singing session in the beginning is catered for babies and very young children. My little Athan will enjoy the singing, I think. :)

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We had our good friends over for a simple pizza dinner on Sunday evening. There were 6 adults and 5 children -- 11 of us in total with Athan being the youngest. It used to be just the 6 of us -- 3 couples without children. We used to sit around at someone's home after dinner, sip wine and chat till the cows come home. But now, look at us ..... we have a couple of children each and our lives have changed forever! :) We no longer eat dinner at 7pm, we eat at about 5.30pm together with the children and dinner is over by about 6.30pm at the latest and by 7pm, everyone is on their way home so that the kids can go to bed. That's how things are now. We are so used to it.

Anyway, we did have a nice evening with our friends. Our litle home was filled with warmth and noise from the children's playing and adult's chatting. I like it. I think the children had a ball despite the occasional snatching of toys and screaming. Both Alison and Calvin love playing with Robin and vice versa. Robin is like a big kid when he is with the kids. He makes them laugh.

I managed to eat and catch up a little with the ladies while carrying Athan around. The baby was quite well behaved, given that his bedtime was delayed. He was busy looking at the people and sucking his thumb.

Towards the end of the evening, we looked through some of the photos our friends took during their recent trip to the US. They took heaps of photos, good photos.

Thank God for good friends.

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