Si Shen Soup with mini pasta shells

Today, I made 四神汤 （Si Shen Soup ~ a revitalizing herbal soup）, with mini pasta shells. The function of the soup is to invigorate the function of the lungs. As usual, Xavier loves them and had a big bowl of dry pasta shells cooked using the soup as base for both lunch and dinner. It's kinda tasty.

I had macaroni soup for lunch as well.

I bought those ready packs from ZTP, which consists of the following: Fu Ling


Huai Shan


Xiang Lian


Qian Shi


I added in a pack of ribs and some red dates and honey dates to make it more tasty.

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Yet another shocking surprise !

Yesterday, we brought Xav to Dr Ong to check if he's well enough to take the 2nd dosage of the MMR as he was supposed to take in end of sept. PLUS he is also late for his 18 months DPT Booster jab (faint...why so many jabs ?!?!...)

Got a shock out from it. Not only we did not managed to have his jab taken, as he was still rather phlegmy, Dr Ong said that he has to be on neubaliser for every 4 hourly for three days and go back for review on thursday !!

There goes our initial plan of wanting to bring him to sentosa Underwater World as we thought he is more appreciative and responsive to his surroundings now.

He can tell us "Fish" from far when he sees the tanks in shopping malls ! So we thought he might enjoy if we bring him to see the big fishes there !

Anyway, gotta go back home for the neub sessions ! Here's Xav enjoying his show after the neub session ...


Enjoying his favourite steam "Man-tou" at the same time .. shiok heh !

He always love to stuff his mouth full when he eats bread or anything soft ! Look how greedy he can be...



He can eat and do the actions @ the same time ! When the word "Chin" is screened ...


Brought him down for a walk in the neighbourhood in the late noon. Here's daddy trying to bite Xavier again...


A very sweet moment which I managed to capture when Xav rested his cheek on daddy's face.. Look @ how daddy is enjoying !


Been a long time since Xav came to the playground, but his hand and eye coordination in climbing up this ladder has improved greatly !!


He moved up much faster and more coordinated but of course with assistance from daddy,


Xav: I'm reaching !!


Xav: Finally !!


Sitting on the shaking bridge ...


Xav: Watch me do my pull ups !!


Xav: one... up .... !!


Xav: Guess how long can I hang there !


PHEW ... tired ... As if daddy is training me for IPPT !!


Xav: I'm up again !!


"Horsey horsey don't you stop, just let your feet goes cliperty clop ..."


Heeee haa.... here I come !!



Recently, Xavier's language skills picked up quite a bit. Whenever, I read to him a sentence in a book, he will try to repeat the last word of every sentence.

Now he sees duck, be it a toy or picture, he will tell me it's "duck" and he has been imitating how an elephant, parrot, dog and cat sounds ! Sounds fun ?! I download the animal sounds into the iphone and he loves it. Once a day, I will go through that with him.

And he learnt to call "daddy" and will say "daddy" whenever he sees daddy's picture in my mobile phone and also he is learning how to say "Hi"

For flashcards, now he recognises and knows how to say it out for "Tiger, Eye, Sit, Clap and Eat"

He just learnt star and moon. "Moon" was when I sang "Hey diddle diddle" to him. Hence, now, when I sang till before the "Moon" word, he will goes "mmm" and surprisingly, when I read "The very hungry caterpillar" to him on the first page:

Mummy: In the light of the ...
Xav: mmmm (Moon)
Mummy: a little ...
Xav: Eh (egg)
Mummy: lay on a leaf.

Quite an achievement for him here. Looking forward to read together with him.

Another mischievous side of him was now he planted his kiss on our face coupled together with a "Lick".. oh gosh .. imagine he starts licking you on your cheek! But quite cute though ! hahaha...

Been teaching Xavier how to say "Urine" whenever he pees .. hoping that he would tell me whenever he wanted to but I know that takes time especially for boys to learn how to control. But he actually utter "urine" during his shower yesterday when he was pee-ing. He also repeats after me "change" whenever I change his diaper and he will lift up both his legs high when I say "legs up", it's for me to wear his diaper easier.. =p

IPhone 3g (s)

Thanks dear dear for the iPhone ! It really rocks !




Or should I put it this way, it's so convenient with all handy applications. Imagine I can check my mails, go into facebook, msn chat, update my blog... (am trying my first attempt here )

And best of all, nice games for both adults and kids ! Dear dear has loaded some educational games for Xavier !

Thanks to caca who taught me how to use some of the functions as well as the kind of application to load.


I think I'll be "addicted" to it !!

Here's Xavier watching doraemon...


Think I'm going to ask dear dear settle for iPhone for his new phone. Shall form a group of iPhonatics !!!!

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Croup

It is a viral infection of the vocal cords, voice box (larynx) and windpipe (trachea). It is usually part of a cold. Swelling of the vocal cords cause hoarseness. All children with croup have a tight, low-pitched "barking" cough.

Stridor occurs as the opening between the vocal cords becomes narrower. Stridor is a harsh, raspy, vibrating sound when the child breathes, and is usually present only with crying or coughing. As the disease becomes worse, stridor also occurs when he is sleeping or relax.

This normally lasts for 5-6 days and generally gets worse @ night. The symptoms are usually worse in children under 3 years of age.

Medication such as "Dexamethasone", a steriod, which helps to reduce the swelling of the windpipe and vocal cords, thus relieving breathing difficulties maybe be prescribed by a doctor.

Warm clear fluid may be given to help relax the vocal cords and loosen up the mucus. Avoid anyone smoking around the child as smoke can make the croup worse.

Consult the doctor should the croup lasts for more than a week, breathing becomes difficult or if stridor returns when child is at rest, poor feeding, lethargic or child appears pale or blue.

The child and Antibiotics

Came across some brochures during the hospital stay, so I thought it be good for me to make a note or something to refer to. Hope this little information are useful to all who have been following my blog.

1. WHAT CAUSES INFECTIONS?

Infections may be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungus or parasites.

Most SORE THROAT, COUGHS, COLDS and GASTROENTERITIS are due to viruses.

Bacterial infections in childhood may include PNEUMONIA, OTITIS MEDIA (MIDDLE EAR INFECTIONS, MENINGTIS (INFECTION OF THE COVERING OF THE BRAIN) and URINARY TRACT INFECTION.

2. WHAT ARE ANTIBIOTICS ?

Antibiotics are drugs prescribed by the doctors to fight disease-causing bacteria. When used properly, it can saves lives. However, improper use of antibiotics can be harmful to the child.

Antibiotics do not work on viruses. Children usually recover from common viral infections spontaneously after several days.

Bronchiolitis

Been running in and out of KKH ... Poor Xavier was admitted in for acute bronchiolitis yet again ! He had his first episode in June this year ... And this cough bug he got from his classmate, eventually landed him in hospital.

His cough worsen when I brought him down to mum's place on last sunday. The coughing interval was so frequent that I felt so uncomfortable about it. By dinner time, I decided to bring him to KKH to make sure he is not wheezing as I thought that I couldn't wait till tomorrow for his PD. What if in the middle of the night, something happened .... and you see, truely enough, the doc told me he was wheezing slightly and his breathing is quite fast. It be good to admit him for further observation.

Luckily, no drips were needed this time round as he could still take in fluid. They put him from a every 4 hrly to 6 hrly, neubaliser treatment, so as to loosen up the cough. No other medication were given as they believe in clearing the phlegm first, coughing will just heal by itself, depending on his own immune system.

1st night, after he fell asleep, it is so much easier to put this over him, else he would be screaming and crying in fear, thinking that pain might be inflicted on him.



He had a 3N stay at KKH and finally got discharge today after he was given the oral syrup instead of needing him to inhale the medication like an astronaut with the box over his whole head and face.

The next day, he had a hearty breakfast ! His bad cough did not affect his appetite definately ! He had cornflakes, two slices of bread plus 120ml of milk.



Playing at the rest area ... and he wanted to put himself into the frame of the bead chaser !



When caca came to visit yesterday, we went to the garden to take a walk while Xav had his fun running around !





I found this at the Admission office when we went there to sign the medisave form. They were exhibiting the apparatus used in the 1950s.

This is interesting ! "The foot that rocks the cradle"



At the end of the bed, did you see a white cradle ? This is how the story comes about.

From the boards" By the 1950s, childbirth had changed from an event that took place in the home to a hospital-centered event. Giving birth in a hospital became an event that drew women together, as could be seen in the backdrop photo. The postnatal ward was also referred to as a "fish market" by the midwives - because of the din arising from about a hundred beds in the C ward. In those days, there were so many babies born and not enough midwife hands; it was the mother's foot that rocked the cradle !

Follow by a Baby balance here on your top right.

From the boards "This spring calibrated hand-held scale is light weight, portable, and compact, so as to fit in midwifery kits used in 1940s and 50s. The infant was placed in the sturdy sling with two rings, through which the hook at the end of the spring scales - calibrated in pounds - was attached.

Approximately one-sixth of all newborns globally suffered from Low Birth Weight (LBW), the single most important underlying risk factor for infant mortality. This low cost and simple to use device is useful for identifying life-saving interventions for LBW high-risk infants in cases where infants are born at home and conventional weighing scales are unavailable. "

The next picture shows some exhibits such as the operating table/ birthing table, drip stand, steam heated instrument boiler, infant incubator as well as a chemical sterilization container.



Then, we headed for our breakfast at Delifrance while waiting for the medication to be prescribed to Xav.



Xav's been given "Iliadin" nose drop to clear the congestion as well as Salbutamol to open up his airway.

Shall keep Xavier with me until end of October, hopefully he can fully recover by then so that I can start work with an ease of mind =)

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Spicy Mayonnaise Crab Meat Stick Salad

Appetizer for dinner shall be Spicy Mayonnaise Crab Meat Stick Salad.

Ingredients for dressing as follows:
1. 1 tablespoon Chilli Sauce ( I use Nissen Sweet and sour chilli sauce)
2. 3 tablespoon Mayonnaise
3. 1/2 tablespoon Fresh Milk ( I used Magnolia full cream milk)
4. 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice

This salad dressing is not spicy at all ! Xavier was enjoying every bit of the cherry tomatoes which we added into the salad .. Slurrrp ...

Ingredients:
1. Crab meat sticks (Shredded)
2. Cucumber (Shredded)
3. Some cherry tomatoes (Halved)

The sauce looks yummy enough to eat. Simply just drizzle over the salad !!

Spare rib soup with black bean and lotus seed

Had a small clean up earlier in the morning and my nose started to sneeze non stop due to the sensitivity to dust. Wouldn't it make a good excuse to excuse me from doing house chores the next time ? hahahahha ...

Initially had planned to bring Xav out for an early lunch, after that dear dear can bring him back while I go down to visit Edna. wHo knows, this fellow again, fell asleep at 11 am !!! Guess he was too tired from his early waking this morning at 5.30am. I wonder was it because eh slept too early the day before (7.30pm while he was half way watching the show)

Ended up, we went for a quick lunch with him asleep in the pram and we went back home as my runny nose was making me so tired.

Went to NTUC before we left to grab some prawns for tonight's dinner.

Very weird combination for tonight's dinner .. hahahahah ... Combo of western and asian food.
1. Crab Meat Stick Salad as appetizer
2. Marmite Prawns
3. Spare rib soup with Black Bean and Lotus Seed
4. Porridge (Supposed to cook rice, who knows in-laws went out last minute and said that they will be having dinner outside)

Imagine 20 large prawns, one big plate of crab meat stick salad and one big pot of soup for just two person ! so I told dear dear, prefer to eat porridge as it is less fulfilling as rice in order to finish up everything.

With the two of us, plus little Xavier, we finish all the soup and dishes !

Xavier loves the soup ! The end result is rather thick and tasty ! One word to describe "SHIOK" heee ... he keeps asking for more soup during his dinner and even had my share during my dinner ! This soup here can help tonifies blood and eyesight, nourishes yin and removes heat.

(Pic to load later)

Ingredients as follows:
1. 100g Black beans

2. 100g Lotus seed

3. 60g Solomonseal Rhizome (Supposed to be 100g, but I had insufficient)

4. 100g Barley

5. 50g Dried Longan

6. Some ginger
7. 500g Spare ribs
8. 1 litre water
9. Salt to taste

Method:
1. Blanch spare ribs in boiling water and remove.
2. Combine all ingredients except salt into pressure cooker, boil for 20 -30 mins (Allow pressure to settle after switching off the fire)
3. Add salt to taste and serve.

It's really yummy ! A nice soup to try !

Yu guo ~ 4th Visit

Today, went back for the tui na. This time round, Xavier improved !! No more crying and he was relaxing when dear dear carried him !! Today's condition is still the same for his back ..

I wonder why he is so heaty inside !!! I have been giving him all the cooling tea on alternate days and yet still the same !! Not sure, if it's the accumulation of eating cereal for too long ... ... Hence, I hardly give him any cereal for brekkie now. Mainly, it's wholemeal bread with a bit of jam spread over the slices and a cup of milk.

Anyway, today's brekkie was special. Xavier cut out his own stars with my guidance. I held his hand and taught him how to press and cut out from the bread.

(Pic to load later)

Yu Guo ~ 3rd Visit

Wednesday was closed ...... and can you imagine, only skipped for one day, without going for the tui-na and the cough came back !!!! Not sure if it's all about psychological effect or the tui na really works ..

Went back on Thursday, but it's a different doc this time. Xav was given another type of herbal pack. This time round was to wrapped around for 24 hours.

But he still coughed though. Strangely enough, it's only between 10.30 pm to midnight. After that, he was alright and slept through with one or two short cough during his sleep.

These two days, been making crysanthemum tea for him to bring down his internal heat. Hopefully, his is not that type of cough that lasts for 100 days.

Just a reminder to those who does not know that you can't take fish and chicken when you are having a cough.

Yu Guo ~ 2nd Visit

Guess it really works !

After the second session of massage, Xavier slept through the whole night without even waking up once ! Hope he gets a real, nice sleep after the weeks of interrupted sleep !

Though there is still phlegm in his throat, I shall continue to bring him for a few more sessions to help clear his phlegm and internal heat. Meanwhile, shall boil another round of apples with fritillaria and kernel almonds for him to assist in speeding up the recovery process.

Baby Massage @ Yu Guo

Brought Xav to "Yu Guo" for massage yesterday, together with Jo and Edna. Poor tots .. both are sick and poor mummies equally tired from taking care of the cranky ones.

Steph recommended me to bring Xav there long time back, but did not managed to find the correct time to go. I went there once for treating my backache with acupuncture.

Yu Guo also specializes in Baby Massage for the babies well being. Anyway, brought Xav there to see if they can do anything to cure his cough, despite having to haven taken Ventolin about a bottle and a half for two weeks, he is still coughing and these few nights, we hardly get a good night's sleep due to his frequent wakes, not only that, he woke up being so frustrated ! He can just kicked angrily in his sleep and scratch himself. We thought that the room temperature was too warm for him as he could not sleep in the air con.

The physician told me that Xav's stomach is a bit bloated and had advised me not to overfeed Xav. The has resulted in him not being able to digest properly while he was sleeping and as a result, he felt "burning hot" in his body when he sleeps at night. This explains the frequent frustrated wakes.

After the consultation, followed by a massage by the therapist. It was not painful at all, as they used very gentle strokes. But Xav was crying on and off, probably, he doesn't like to be "touched" by strangers !! hahah..

She did the "Gua4 Sha1" on Xavier's back, it's also a very gentle process, his back turned "pinkish red", and was told that Xav's internal is very heaty, by doing that, the internal can be "removed" in a way.

Xav was given four herbal packs to be worn on the belt, covering his belly button for treatment of his cough and to sleep better.



I did not give him his last feed (Milk) for yesterday as he had late dinner at about 6pm. True enough, he woke lesser last night, think he woke only once and that only wake was not as frustrated as before and most importantly, he coughed lesser.

Today, probably I shall bring him back for another session if it really can help him.

Details of the clinic as follows:

YU GUO Chinese Physician Acupuncture & Physiotherapy Pte Ltd
8-B Jalan Masjid #01-04
Kingston Terrace
Singapore 418929
Tel: 64474761

Nearest Mrt: Kembangan

Lotus Roots with Cranberry beans soup

Yesterday made Lotus Roots with Cranberry beans soup for both lunch and dinner.

Method and ingredients used is the same as how I prepared the former SOUP, just that this time I added cranberry beans.

Cranberry beans also known as Zhen Zhu Dou, looks sweet in the pink and white coating.

(Pardon the phone pics)

I bought a pack from the fresh market for $2 a pack for 240g.

The beans were so soft and gave the soup a powdery effect when stirred. The aroma of the soup is great ! Dear dear's reaction when I first open the cover "wow ... smells nice ... "

I used the soup to cook porridge for Xavier and there he goes, lotus roots porridge with minced meat.

By end of dinner, as usual, soup all sold out. Glad that they like it.

Bacon with asparagus

This is the easiest dish which I ever prepared. No seasoning needed and you just pan fry !!

A good friend of mine cooked this for me when I was on beat duties few years back. Very heart warming to have a dinner prepared by a friend. Thank you. Till date, I still remember how yummy this side dish is.

Ingredients:
1. Bacon slices
2. Baby Asparagus
3. Cherry tomatoes (Optional)

Method:
1. Rinse the asparagus and cut into halves.
2. Divide the bacon strip into half length as well.
3. Wrap the asparagus using the bacon strip and secure with a tooth pick.

4. Pan fry till bacon turns golden brown or thoroughly cooked.
5. Remove the toothpick before serving.

*The asparagus will be cooked as well as the heat passes through the bacon. You can choose to blanch the asparagus in boiling water. But it will be as crispy as just leaving it alone with the bacon.)

Pears/Apples with Fig fruit, Fritillaria and Kernel Almonds

This recipe was given to me by the chinese sinseh to cook for all of us who have caught the cough bug.

Fig fruit can clear heat and phlegm, nourish the lungs and aids digestion with it's high fibre content.

Fritillaria also known as Chuan bei, at the same time, too remove heat, moistens the lungs, clears phlegm and relieves cough. It is very effective against prolonged cough due to vacuity of lungs.

Ingredients:
1. 140g fig fruit (I cut into half)
2. 70g Kernel Almonds
3. 20g Chuanbei powder
4. 12 bowls of water (Chinese bowl)
5. 2 large pears (Shui Li)/ apples, cored (if not 3-4 for small pears/ apples)

Method:
1. Put everything into pot and bring to boil.
2. Simmer for one hour and serve.

Xavier loves it and drank one full cup within 15 mins. Hopefully this works on him and is able to stop his cough at night and in the early morning. I'm exhausted from the night wakings when he was disturbed by his cough when the phlegm just got stuck in his throat.

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Apple soup with Kernel Almonds

This soup can help to clear lungs, detoxifies and improves digestion.

Function of white fungus and Kernel Almonds, please click HERE

Ingredients:
1. 1 red apple
2. 1 green apple
3. 10g white fungus
4. 12g Kernel Almonds
5. Cane Sugar
6. 200 ml water

Method:
1. Peel the apples and remove cores.
2. Soak white fungus and removes the stem. Rinse and set aside.
3. Put all ingredients into stewing pot and stew for 2 hours.
4. Serve warm.

This is Xavier's tea time special for the day.

I actually went to consult a chinese sinseh @ Yu Guo today as I my throat kind of feels phlegmy and I just cannot cough out the phlegm. The bits that came out were yellowish and I believed, I'm super heaty inside me. Plus, I woke up with a swollen right eye for no apparent reason. I believed I could have caught the bug from both father and son, just that I'm still need to be in working condition to take care of the both of them.

Advice from the sinseh was to boil some apple soup just like the one above which I have made to help with the cough and phlegm or boil the apples with Fig Fruit, Chuan Bei and Kernel Almonds.

And also to boil some crysantheman, using the residue to apply on my swollen eye and I can drink the remaining water to cool down my internal heat.

Stirred Fried Broccoli with minced meat

The day before, Xavier had stirred fried broccoli with cheery tomato slices and minced meat with tomata paste to go with cous cous. I have added some minced prawns in it as well to gradually introduce seafood to him after 18 months.

I'm glad that Xavier eat almost everything. At least, I prepared a balanced diet for him without having to worry that he does not want greens. So long as the food is not hard to chew, he will practically just take anything we gave him.

Earlier had brought him down for a walk as he knows to how to tell us that he wants to go down for a walk by waving his hands frantically and walk to the door !

He had always loved to sit on the red benches available in the park. Here's Xavier with the big kor kor.

I'm like almost half dead to be grounded with him at home everyday. Mainly, to pass time, either I surf for soup recipes or I bring Xav down for walks, most of the time, I'm in the kitchen either washing my clothes or just cooking meals and soups.

Coming up next will be Apple soup with Kernel Almonds.

Anyway, a quick update on Xavier. He surprises us again. This time round, I showed him the word "SIT" and he read it out to me ! I taught him "Chin" recently. He could now showed me the following body parts correctly: head, hair, nose, ear, mouth, chin, tongue, fingers, hand, toes and legs.

I'm still trying to teach him elbow, eye, knees and ankle.