Chinese New Year - Sickness

Happy Chinese New Year!  Wishing everyone will have a nice beginning to a fabulous year, you will all be healthy and have lots of luck and fortune.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a great start though, sick today.  I've got a runny nose and very irritated eyes.  My eyes are bloodshot, can barely open them and feels itchy.  No pain and no discharge, just watery.  Will be seeing the doctor tomorrow if this continues overnight.  I have a feeling it's from all the dust that we cleaned out this week.

Josh is also sick, as he's been throwing up since yesterday after every feed (pic above).  It's not as bad as when he got sick during xmas time but close.  Good thing is he doesn't seem bothered by it.  We are doing lots of laundry.  Hoping we will all get better soon.

Bye Bye Ginger Soup

Here it is, my final bowl of ginger vinegar pigs feet soup.  I can't believe it, I've been drinking this for the past 5 months!  The last couple of pregnancies, the pot only lasted 2 months and then cracked, which ended the soup's life.  Good bye soup.  You've been very good to me.  Until my next pregnancy...LOL.

Tweetie Bday

Tweet was extra lucky this year, as he got 2 bday cakes.  All because his cousin is getting married on his bday so we had to move his cake cutting days to 1 day before and 1 day after.  We only took a pic of the cool birdie cake though.  Happy bday ah tweet!

Congrats to Tony and Eva - Newly Weds

We were happy to attend Tony's wedding today (Rich's cousin).  Due to Jas' Chinese school and her final exam today, we could not allow her to skip today's session.  Me and Jas attended only the dinner, whereas the rest of the family went to the ceremony. It was a beautiful wedding with family and friends.   Congratulations to you Tony and Eva!

Josh - 5 Months and Shots

Josh finally is well enough to have his 4-month shots, even though he is 5 months old today.  He had 2 shots today.  He was such a terrific boy, he didn't even cry, not a tear.  He did whimper a bit when he got the second needle but that was it.

Here are his stats:

Weight - 8.4kg (18lb 8oz) - 90% percentile
Head - 43.5cm (17 inches) - 50% percentile
Length - 67cm (26 inches) - 75% percentile

We discussed Josh's head shape again this visit and the doc agreed that it hasn't improved.  She will refer him to the plagiocephaly clinic at the Children's hospital for further assessment.  In the meantime, I've made an appointment to see a physiotherapist about his neck muscles, as he seems to prefer to look right all the time.  We literally have to push his head to the left, in order for him to look left.  Not good.  We'll see what the pros have to say.

Eczema on Face and Head

It seems Josh is very itchy, especially in the face, head and neck areas.  He already has cradle cap on his scalp and he's scratching all the time until bleeding.  His face has eczema as well.  We have to put mitts on him every time he sleeps.

We are now creaming heavy moisturizer on him every few hours, trying to control his itch.  We have to use hydrocortisone cream too (don't like it) but we have to use it or else, he'll claw his face off.  So now, we are on the hunt for a good cream that can stop all the itching. 

Previously we used Aubrey Organics but this cream doesn't seem to work for Josh.  He rashes up afterwards.  Right now, we are using Curel Itch Control.  I'm trying to get my hands on Cerave, as I've heard awesome reviews.  We also stopped using Johnson and Johnson head-to-toe and I've stopped eating nuts, dairy and gluten.  Hoping we can pinpoint what it is he is sensitive to. 

Julia - no more rashes

After being on the clean diet for a week, Julia's skin cleared up very nicely.  No more rashes.  Yay!  

She's back to her mischievous self.  Now we are slowly adding back other foods into her diet.  

Plagiocephaly - flat head?

In early December, I noticed that Josh's head seemed a little flat on the back of his head.  I don't know, maybe it's just me.  But his head is not round at all.  The back of his head looks like it drops off a cliff (see pic).  I've been repositioning his head every time he naps and sleeps at night, to ensure he is looking left.  He definitely prefers sleeping on his right side and his head shape tells that too.

I chatted with the doc today (he's still sick so could not have his shots done) about his head but she didn't seem concerned at all.  We will monitor this and see if the repositioning makes any progress.

Julia - Rashes on Face

Julia has been having a constant rash on her face the past few days.  It won't go away even with hydrocortizone cream and benadryl.  We are guessing it is something she ate and her body is just not fighting it off since she is also fighting the cold/flu.

We've taken to putting her back onto the clean diet of only chicken, broccoli and rice for a week to see if her skin clears up.