au.was.here.

this one is quite old. it think it first came out in '94 or '95 but i heard it playing and i can't get it out of my head. whenever i hear it, it elicits a strong emotional reaction from me but i don't really know why. must be the drum beat or maybe the haunting melody. although i occasionally, sing to parts of the song, i realized i do not know the exact lyrics so i looked it up on the net. as i read it, it puzzled me at first but as i analyzed it, its message must be another subliminal reason why i like the song. here it is:

yesterday was a generally nice day for us. we had some simple family bonding time watching Spiderman at the Podium. it's rare that we watch movies as a family considering the theater prices these days, it's cheaper to watch on DVD. but since yesterday was mother's day, it was a good excuse to splurge a little. Kiko, my eldest, didn't join us --as usual-- he has a life of his own these days, or he just prefers to spend time at the computer playing games. i don't have the patience to mess with teenage angst on this day though so i let him be.

we had pizza dinner inside the moviehouse because we would be too late for the screening if we finish dinner first (at the small resto, NYPD) beside the theater. i absolutely must take pics of this day but i unfortunately forgot to bring my camera so i had to make do with my cell phone. despite the poor quality of the photos, these pics should make it to a scrapbook page because not only is this a rare occasion for us, this is also Raj's first movie excursion! of course, he didn't quite make it past half the movie. he was asleep before Spidey even got to wear the black suit! around 9pm is usually his bedtime and we started the movie at 8:30. oh, well... i expected it anyway, but i had laughs when he was speaking loudly at the movies, asking all sorts of questions and i tried to shush him. i spoke in a low whisper so he would get it but he imitated me by speaking in some kind of loud whisper that everyone at the moviehouse probably hears anyway. good thing there were few people and we didn't get thrown out.

thanks for the well-wishes friends! raj seems fine naman today...

the ultrasound did show a slight swelling of his kidney but the doc explained it away as probably due to the infection. some sort of UTI that sometimes happens daw to uncircumcised males. hmmmm... i was a bit afraid yesterday because the yaya noted that his face looked puffy. i noticed that too the previous night but i thought it might be my imagination. when we brought him to the doc naman, she said his eyelids are not puffy naman so no need to worry. she just changed the antibiotic prescription and told us to see the results of the urine culture next week. she also asked us to do another urinalysis by Friday and another ultrasound after a month. makes me wonder tuloy if i should NOT be worried indeed.

otherwise, he seems like the happy boy that he is. he is more himself today, makulit and nang-aaway already. he's very spunky again and i cannot be happier...a happy mother's day to me indeed.

on different note: i don't know why my kids like this stuff when it gets their faces all distorted after popping one in. Sure i like Nerds (the sweet sour candy) but this one is really sourrrr!

Raj seems to like it and i get a kick out of watching his face all wrinkled when Kara makes him take one.

except for the sick baby boy here











this is a typical night in our bedroom:

three silly, noisy girls playing. i don't know why they are in our bedroom when they can make all their noise in theirs!










tonight the game is: ilong...ilong...ilong...ilong...ilong...tenga! (do you know this game?) don't make me explain...










of course, the little girl never fails to cry about something di-tsi (2nd sister, Kara) does and this is how she usually ends up: thumbsuck...cry....












a few minutes later, bati na sila...











this morning, i was so happy Raj already seemed to be happy and playing with his toys,













and fighting with sis Reine,












so hopefully everything will be well tomorrow,



another pogi shot of my
talkative little cutie pie

been to the doc's today and made several trips to St. Lukes for Raj's urinalysis. hard to concentrate on work. i was expecting the fever to be gone by now but it still rages when we miss the combined paracetamol and ibuprofen. what's surprising is that Raj's fever is high when his skin feels almost cool. while we were waiting our turn to see the doc, Raj didn't feel hot at all. in fact, his skin was almost normal to the touch. when the nurse took his temp, it was 38.7 C. i wonder what his temp was on those times i didn't take them and he felt reaaaally hot? probably well into the 40s. no wonder he was shaking and vomiting. i am thankful though that he is not prone to febrile seizures like Kara was when she was a baby. those episodes were really scary! i remember running barefoot to the hospital when our klunky car stalled as we were taking baby Kara to the ER. luckily, it started a short while later. otherwise, i would no doubt need to join my daughter in the ER when we get there if my asthma starts up.

i got the lab results around 7pm tonight and called Doc Vicky Ang. she gave me antibiotic dosage instructions over the phone after i relayed to her the results. what makes me a bit worried was that she also instructed me to get ultrasound tests on Friday...i didn't have the courage to ask why she thought he needed one...

yesterday, i had a scare...

last saturday, Raj caught a bug and was having fever into the 4o's. i even thought i wasn't going to make it to the Pinoyscrapbooker's EB that coming Sunday. i was putting together the make-and-take kits i promised between nursing the baby's fever all night and didn't get any sleep. good thing, come morning, Raj seemed well enough so I thought maybe i'd drop in the EB after all and would just come home earlier than usual...and so i did.

i was chatting with Mommy Edna at the EB and she mentioned some home remedies that i thought might be good filed away as knowledge i can use at some point, when the opportunity presents itself.

1. to prevent febrile seizures (kombulsion) : feel the baby's temperature by his head and feel his feet temperature. make sure the temp of his feet and head are not too different. this head should not feel too hot and his feet too cold. if this is the case, sponge his head with a face towel soaked in cool water and massage his feet to get warm.
2. to ease sticky phlegm: get a face towel wet with water, and put on top of baby (or adult's) chest. cover with a second dry towel. sleep with it. mommy Ed says, by the next day, the phlegm is more easily expelled.
3. to stop hiccups: fill your mouth with water, cover both ears with fingers and swallow. Mommy Edna swears by it! :-D

to this conversation i contributed something i heard from the radio as i was in the car,
4. to stop insistent coughing: slather Vick's Vaporub under the baby's (or adult's) foot and cover up with socks. the radio guy "guarantees" this to stop coughing.

hmmm... will update when the opportunity for me to test this personally arises. of course, these home remedies are not intended to replace the doc's meds and advice.

yesterday, monday, first thing i did was set an appointment with the pedia. after checking up my boy, she diagnosed it to be "tigdas hangin" (some kinda virus i can't remember). I told her about my concerns of dengue but she assured me that since it is hot summertime, dengue cases are rare, which put my mind at ease. she gave us 2 meds for Raj's fever. she said it is to be expected for fevers with this bug to be very high. instructions were for round-the-clock meds and to see her back on wednesday.

by that afternoon, Raj looked normal and well and i needed to do groceries. since Raj always insists to come with us and i didn't really want to leave him, i took him with us. Big mistake.
i thought we'd be back in time for the next dose of meds but by 5 pm, we were about an hour late. i wasn't too concerned because he was looking well. he fell asleep in his father's arms but when he woke up, he looked ashen. his lips were white, skin was blotchy, and toes were bluish. he didn't have a fever because his skin was very cold. man, was i afraid! i immediately called up the doc and she told me to bring him in. after asking me some pertinent questions, i got a scolding: "who brings sick babies to go grocery shopping?" she said...arrrrghhh...

in short, she sent us home. she said Raj just got too cold. and here i was thinking: what if it was a misdiagnosis? i wanted to get him admitted to the hospital right there and then but i had to trust the doc. "nasa loob ang lagnat", she said. i suddenly remembered mommy edna's advise number 1. so i took out two hot water bags and put it by his feet. slowly, his color returned and so did the fever. it eventually subsided though when the meds took effect.

today, we've kept the fever at bay but he's still all cranky. hopefully he'd be all well tomorrow.

i decided to do a new blog to separate my scrapping material from my other thoughts... maybe it's another attempt to fight scrapbooking overtaking my life these days...hahaha... i simply refuse to be essentially and mostly a scrapbooker... MUST...get...a...life!....

or maybe it's no use fighting it. i don't know. but i do know that some of my friends might not be interested in my scrapbooker persona while my scrapping buddies might not be interested in my non-scrapbooking blah-blahs...

or maybe...i just want to mess around with another blog header...weheheheh...

hmmm...it's probably all of the above...

so here goes a new soapbox...