cheering team

with such powerful cheering leaders, i believe a speedy recovery will be in full swing!

genki

when heather was still small, i recalled that she had fallen sick all the time and we had to bring her to doctor almost once a month. thank god she seems to have become stronger and stronger when she grows up.

last week she was having a fever again, but i was glad that she seemed still genki and energetic as usual, still having fights with rafael over toys, books and ipad, still jumping on our bed before and still saying "i miss you papa" when i reached home.

she did it to herself!

a few things to note after the accident:

- has she learnt a lesson? definitely not. she has been climbing up on the stool as usual, to reach for the things on the dining table or in the kitchen that are not supposed for her.

- kids got amazing speedy recovery. last week she could hardly open her right eye but now she could open half of it (as for me, i have no-eye-see as always!)

- murphy's law does apply to us. last wednesday amy was thinking about to buy an arnica ointment just in case of any "incident" but was told it's out of stock. and then heather fell off from her crib that night...

- we are "glad" that the fall only caused her some bruise marks but (hopefully) not any impairment to her eyesight or fracture. and we thought it's "lucky" that the accident took place only after our photo shooting at studio and two weeks before the chinese new year, which means she still has time to recover and doesn't need to put on this smoky eye make-up when visiting our friends and relatives... : P

i'm back

回來了，幾星期前妹妹病了，還證實患了哮喘，她倒是只發燒了幾天，做媽媽的竟自己元氣大傷，一直提不起勁寫。嗯，其實我也樂得看mac的字。

回來了，台北五天遊。妹妹十一個月，第一次一家四口外遊，比想像中輕鬆，雖然最後一天發現走路太多負磅太重腳上長了個水泡。我們算不算minimalists？四口子合共帶了一件不到17kg的寄艙行李，加爸爸的小背包，和日常出外用的lesportsac weekender。不止一個朋友問，你們會帶helper去吧？吓，難得幾天可以不見她喎！

回來了，追了兩天google reader仍有1,000+條feeds未看。努力中。

回來了，不用上班兩星期真爽，連工作的郵箱密碼也忘得一乾二淨了。

we're back from a 5-day trip to taiwan. thought we did pack light - one 16.9kg travel bag + two small hand-carry items.

cry

heather has been a bit cranky after recovering from illness a few weeks ago. now she always cries when she is left alone – even for just a few minutes.

yet, she still cries gently and sometimes it’s hardly for us to notice if we are not in the bedroom. i like how my friend describes: my one-year-old son’s talking is even louder than her crying!

warning

dear parents, i think this serves a useful warning to your kids not to rub their eyes with dirty hands. otherwise they will suffer what rafael is suffering now...

各位小朋友，千祈千祈千祈，洗手洗手洗手，如果唔係就好似佢咁‧‧‧問你怕未！

lucky lucky me

工作的關係，到了新德里一趟。和中國被西方稱為超級強國，我想新德里作為印度的首都，城市規劃和建築，應該和北京差不多吧。我的酒店座落在領事館區一帶，晚上到達時，也不知是煙霞或是霧氣，總之四週朦朦一片。第二朝由窗戶望出去，心裡納悶著怎麼四週的建築物都是殘殘舊舊，也不知還有沒有人住。

到外出工作時，車輛走在馬路上，一旦停下，總會聽到敲窗的聲音，轉頭一看，原來是一位赤腳女子，抱著一個大概六七個月大的嬰兒，四週向人討錢，我不忍跟那女子有眼神接觸，連忙別過頭往另一邊，誰知那邊也站著一位手抱嬰兒的女子，亦避不了她的目光，我原本以為她眼中應該是充滿令人憐憫的眼神，誰知我看到的是絕望的眼神，我想她根本沒有預期她的行動會有甚麼收成，敲打每一輛車的窗其實只是例行公事而已。

我知道印度政府正積極推動金融業和資訊科技，但同時它究竟有沒有想過如何幫助那些赤貧的國民呢？不要再推說只要經濟發展蓬勃，自然有滴水效應，這個說法就連我們的特首也不相信。不過，我想在各個超級強國的政府眼中，扶貧這個議題，一定不會優先處理。

回到香港，妹妹病倒了，看著她，不其然又令我想起在印度那對向人討錢的母女（子？），同樣是六七個月大，但遭遇卻差之千里，我也不知怎樣解釋，只好說一句：妹妹，你真幸運！

saturday night fever

週末狂熱，說的不是我們，而是在上星期五注射了疫苗的妹妹，自週末起便持續發低燒，就算食過退燒藥，不久後體溫又再上升。但妹妹真的很乖，完全沒有扭彆，就算我們整天外出，也不曾大哭。今天我中午回來，就只見她一個人靜靜的坐在搖椅上，把玩著手中的小玩具，完全是自得其樂！噢，妹妹，你乖巧的性格，能不能分一點給哥哥呢？（這一篇觀賞期有限，到哥哥看曉中文我就要刪除它喇，哈哈！）

又，妹妹你這溫柔體貼的性格，究竟又像誰呢？: p

low maintenance baby

愷霖其實不是easy baby，她簡直是個low maintenance baby。

她像個鬧鐘，每天早上總是七時到七時十五分才起來（生病除外）。間中我比她早起，或凌晨醒來，發現有時候她醒了，會望望那個音樂轉轉，摸摸東摸摸西，不發一聲，然後竟然自己啜著手指再睡！

有時候忙著沒空照顧她，放她在小床上，她又會呼呼的自己睡去。

會啜手指的孩子真好，能自我安慰。有時候，真是半天也沒聽到她哭一聲。

兩個星期前，她的那顆痣突然在換膠布時脫了下來。血流了很多，不過事後竟自然痊癒了，幾乎像沒事一樣。後來醫生說那應該不是血管痣，或許只是細菌感染引發增新的組織，也不知道它脫落的原因跟那一大桶藥水有沒有關，總之沒事就好。

我喜歡看她傻呼呼的樣子，有時候看著看著，也覺得怎麼真的長得有點像她爸爸？我常跟mac說：她樣子像爸爸，但性格像媽媽呀！:P

drugs

i was completely in awe when i received this bottle of medicine at the prescription counter today.
今天在醫院待了六小時後，取得一大瓶藥水。



there's about 800ml, and little heather has to drink it up in one month.

hopefully she will respond well to the medicine which might help her haemangioma shrink.

實在很難想像才只有12磅的小人兒要在一個月把整瓶幹掉。

幸好愷霖和哥哥小時候不同，吃藥一般都很合作。加油啊妹妹，爸爸媽媽和哥哥會一直伴著你來打仗。

strawberry

大概由個多月起，愷霖的左臉上長了顆紅色的痣。

最初還以為她甚麼時候抓破了，後來發現怎麼久久也未退？醫生說有可能是士多啤梨痣，說再觀察一段時間。

近這兩個星期，痣長了不少，像個不大不小的血泡。上星期，痣就在愷霖午睡時被抓破了，血停不了，趕緊去看兒科醫生。醫生連忙叫我去急症室，到了急症室後我們又被人用救護車送到另一所醫院去，進了兒科外科病房。弄了兩天，血終於止了。醫生說，這是血管瘤，起因不明，一歲前是生長期，大部分患者的痣會在10歲前自然退去。愷霖畢竟是女孩子嘛，我們當然特別緊張，也不希望要待至10歲，但是現在還不知道下一步要怎樣，兩天後去覆診。

我感恩，爸爸是在昨天而不是事發當日出門公幹，還可以即時放半天假跟我在醫院等。我感恩，我還有兩個星期才要上班，這段時間可以陪愷霖往醫院去跑。我感恩，愷霖的個案算是輕微，上網找資料知道有些患者的痣甚至長在眼皮上，影響視力。

得了原因不明的病，有時不禁會想：為何是我們？

大概是上天給我們家的一點考驗吧，我想。家裡有困難的時候，倍發覺伴侶的重要。真的，幸好沿途有你。

愷霖雖然受了一些苦頭，卻仍是個快樂易帶的可人兒。



we found that heather has a haemangioma (some call it strawberry mark) on her left cheek. last week she was admitted to the hospital because the bleeding on the lesion couldn't stop after she scratched it during her nap. she's doing fine now with a swab covered but we are not sure of the next step yet pending further check-up and advice from doctors.

remember she's the kind of flower that could still thrive in undesirable situations? she could overcome this challenge, we're sure.

outside the windows

兩周一聚第三十九期：窗外

2005年6月，在巴黎kong的窗外，風光明媚。謝謝你，雖然不喜歡巴黎，不看sex and the city，還是願意陪我到carrie去過的這餐廳。那是個平日的下午，餐廳和這世界，都只有無憂無慮的我倆。飛機因事延誤了一整天，也不打緊，我們就索性享受多一天巴黎時光。

2006年9月，從輕井澤到東京的路上，你在駕車，我在拍攝窗外的風景。那是我們的honeymoon和babymoon，你陪我全程不吃壽司魚生，我們一起期待著小生命的來臨。最初到輕井澤的途中，我們因不熟悉GPS的指示走錯幾次路，晚上又被GPS引領到恐怖無人的郊外，嚇過半死最後還是安然到埗。



2008年5月，香港國際機場，靖愷指著窗外的飛機。那是我們第一次舉家外遊，靖愷才只有15個月大。那天沙巴刮起怪風將沙灘椅都吹起，我幾乎以為是海嘯。我們各自逃走，你負責收拾細軟，我負責揹著靖愷。後來我在酒店房間等了好一陣子也不見你回來，擔心得要命，幸好你不久就回來了。

2010年6月，往醫院的路上，窗外天色昏暗。謝謝你，這段日子每天工作15小時仍抽空駕車送我和女兒到醫院覆診。女兒一次又一次被抽血，聽著她的哭聲，我知道，我們必須更加堅強，才可以好好照顧孩子。難關縱有多難，總得會過。

無論窗外是好是壞，前面的路會是平坦還是難行，我知道，沿途有你，我們就甚麼都能解決。只要，有你在一起。

update

thanks for all your blessings. heather was discharged after phototherapy for one day but we're still struggling with the jaundice and breastfeeding.

her jaundice situation seems to be improving but the progress has been slow, which is common among breastfed babies. we've been in and out of the hospital for blood checks to monitor her situation and luckily we got daddy to be our driver.



bottles were introduced to heather starting from the hospital stay and she has got some nipple confusion which led her suck even worse while nursing. with the help of a le leche league leader, i am using this straw-like lactation aid to give supplement of expressed breastmilk to heather while she was nursing. hopefully she will learn to latch on better and drink more at the same time so her jaundice situation will improve further and she will get back to her birth weight soon.



for my part, it means waking up heather round the clock for nursing plus pumping 8 times a day to keep up my milk supply. it was a complete chaos last week but as you can see me finally updating this blog, we can proudly say that we've already got used to this crazy routine. i even got the energy to read through all my google reader subscriptions plus online newspapers this morning. :P

will need to monitor heather's jaundice situation for a while. no more blood tests for our little girl i hope. fingers crossed.

hospitalised

heather is admitted to the hospital because of jaundice, and i have problems with breastfeeding.

having nursed rafael for more than 2 years, i thought i'm pretty much a veteran breastfeeding mother and i thought it's just going to be smoother this time. while rafael was such an avid drinker and cried for hunger every hour, heather has decided to give us a peaceful mind by not crying at all and sleeping through the night from day 1. of course her mother tried every method to wake her up to nurse more, but she's just so determined to sleep and put on a hunger strike, actively sucking for only one or two minutes each time and not swallowing even when she's cupfed with expressed milk.

nothing in, nothing out. and that's why she's not able to get rid of the jaundice-causing bilirubin which needs to be passed out in her stool and urine.

we're hoping that the light therapy will help her and the nurses would be able to make her drink more at the hospital. meanwhile, with too little stimulation from my dear girl, i need to rely on regular pumping to increase my milk supply.

remembering those sleepless nights when rafael was a newborn, i was so eager to finish the book "no cry sleep solution" before heather was delivered, little do i know that sleep turns out to be the last thing i wish my girl to do now.

thanks for all your blessings and kind wishes for heather and us, i'm sure this difficult period will pass by in no time.

sick

打敗仗，病倒了。低燒，38.2度。

從未試過這麼擔心自己生病的。急急帶上口罩，怕傳染給靖愷。接著翻書，確定一下輕微發燒不會對胎兒有太大影響。

靖愷說：媽媽，我唔想你病呀！你唔好病啦！

淚水就忍不住留下來。

小B這天又開始踢得明顯，好像在告訴我：媽媽，我還好。

看了醫生，吃了一顆退燒藥，熱退了，只剩一點點頭痛、喉嚨痛和鼻塞。

今早檢查，小B也一切正常。安心了。

thanksgiving

學校派通告說，感恩節當日，請孩子都帶一些食物回學校，學校會代為送給老人院，給老人家點點溫暖。

兩天前就開始請靖愷在家裡的乾糧中挑點甚麼。

"我唔想呀！"

不要緊，我們送了食物給老人家，自己可以再買啊！

"但係我唔想喎！"

這個孩子，平常請他和家人分享食物都很樂意。再問為甚麼，是因為你不認識他們嗎？

他點點頭："我都唔識佢地。"

唔，那我們遲些去探探老人家認識他們，好不好？

又點點頭。

感恩節到了，可是昨夜小人兒氣管發炎，發燒了，也咳得厲害。

在感恩節這天，我仍是感恩，幸好在孩子病倒的時候，有爸爸在我們身旁。

rafael is having a fever starting last night. and on thanksgiving day, i'm really grateful that daddy is around at a time we most needed him.