Spot the Difference

 

 

Honestly, I couldn’t tell them apart myself for the first 3 months. Had to rely on Supermama’s powerful motherly instinct. Only now can I confidently say that I know for certain which one is Raina and which one is Raisa. Hooray for Zombiedaddy.

Fever

I believe one of the most important thing every parent cannot do without is a digital infrared thermometer.. You know, those little gadget that only takes 2 seconds to read your child's temperature. How else do you know that your child is having a 40degree high fever and needs to be rushed to the hospital or just a low-grade fever that can be remedied with a few doses of paracetamol. Especially now with the swine flu already on our shores, you can never treat a fever lightly. And forget about those older thermometers that need to be put in the mouth or under the armpit and requires a full minute to read the temperature. Don't think the twins can sit still for a minute with the thermometer under their armpits. Imagine this scenario, let's say we manage to sit Raisa still with the thermometer sticking out from under her arm. Before you can say "50 seconds to go", Miss KayPoChee Raina will crawl over from across the room with sudden interest on her sister's new toy. What we would end up in getting after a full minute, is the temperature of the floor with a thermometer covered in saliva and the twins wailing. Definitely not very effective.
Supermama called earlier today to tell me Raisa had a fever.. it was quite high almost touching 39degrees. With Nuha last time we would have panicked but we are much more calm with the twins. With experience comes wisdom i would say. Either that or we are just too tired to go panicky over every cough, sneeze and fever. Supermama gave Raisa a cold bath and a dose of progesic. She's hovering at just below 38degrees right now. She also still has all her appetites so we are not too worried. But at the same time, having fever equates to crankiness.. cranky babies cry and make alot of noises. When one baby cries the other baby cant sleep too. Before you know it, you have two cranky babies. Aahh gotta go, Zombiedaddy on double duty tonight.

How Much Does A Garden Wedding Cost?

Over the last few months I have managed to put aside some cash for rainy days. What i mean by cash is some coins stashed in a can, and what I mean by rainy days is a 42-inch plasma TV. If it's a storm and not just rain, it means there could be a home theatre set thrown into the package as well. If all goes well as planned, by the end of the year at the latest, there's a big chance that you'll see me lounging on the sofa with a remote in my hand, a plate of baklava on the side-table and a big smile on my face enjoying the HD quality picture emanating from my new shiny monster screen TV.

The thing is things seldom go as planned in my neck of the woods. It could be for a lot of different reasons, although most of the time they are caused by the three lovely girls whom I played a big part in bringing into this world. This time though I blame it on the weddings that we were made to go to over the last four weeks. Weddings mean there would be smartly dressed grooms and shiny sequin-covered brides. To a five-year old, these shiny brides look just like beautiful princesses from magical castles far far away. And who wouldn’t want to be a beautiful princess from a magical castle far far away?

On the way back from one of the weddings, Nuha my five-year old angel suddenly said that she’s a princess too and she’s going to have a garden wedding at a hotel. I almost choked on the asam boi that I eat to keep me from dozing on the wheels. Somebody, press the Panic Button please! My five-year old is thinking about her own wedding already.. and a garden wedding that is. I turned around trying to find some quick answer from Supermama who I was sure would be as panicky as I was. But instead there she was, trying to stifle a big laugh when she’s supposed to go berserk and be on panic mode like me. This was definitely not right. I had to do something quickly to clear my eldest daughter’s head from all these wedding ideas.

I managed to compose myself enough and told Nuha in my calmest possible voice that she’s only five and she’s not going to be in any wedding of her own for many many many years. I think I did say the word “many” quite a few times. Nuha immediately answered “I know lah Abah, Nuha cakap je, ni masa Nuha besar nanti lah”. Aaaaah! It was such a relief to hear that from her. I don’t think my heart could take it if she had mentioned a boy’s name instead. I also asked Nuha why a garden wedding and why at a hotel? She said a princess should be surrounded by flowers hence the garden theme. And the hotel is for Mama and Abah to stay comfortably during the occasion. That’s very thoughtful of her though I bet I won’t feel comfortable at all at my own daughter’s wedding. Suddenly the song butterfly kisses comes to mind.

Remember the coins I stashed for rainy days.. Well rainy day no longer means 42-inch plasma TV. Goodbye new shiny monster screen. Goodbye universal remote. Goodbye 1000Watt Home Theatre System. Rainy day now means a garden wedding with lots of flowers in a hotel somewhere that is fit for a princess. Come end of the year, it’ll be just me and a plate of baklava trying to watch some movies on the small 21-inch screen with smudges from the twin’s saliva coated fingers. Hmmm. anyone knows how much does a garden wedding cost?

Nuha loves flowers..

The saliva factories