Sick Bela

Bela has been absent for a few days from school a few weeks ago as she suffered from infection. The first started in her ear and she complained of pain that we decided to bring her to a doctor. Thankfully after taking antibiotics, the infection got cured.

Then just a few days after, she started to get nose infection this time. She was not able to go to school for two days and she has to take another round of antibiotics.

That is why hubby got vigilant in observing cleanliness at home. He instructed our house help to make sure that the house is spot clean. Then he also contacted Houston Pest Control to make sure that we have the experts in making sure that our house is not and will not be infested by pest like cockroaches which we know brings diseases.

We hope and pray that our kids will be spared from anymore sicknesses and we know that keeping our house clean is one way of achieving that.

A Lawsuit

Bela was born with a congenital heart disease called Ventricular Septal Defect. This means that she has a hole in her heart. We are so lucky because the position of the hole was not sensitive that it did not require an operation. But Bela’s doctor had to prescribe a medicine for her to regulate the flow of blood in her heart to help her with her breathing.

According to Bela’s doctor, VSD is one of the most common congenital heart disease for babies. We can never really say what caused this heart problem so there is really nobody to blame for what happened to Bela.

But the condition of our neighbour’s kid who has a cleft lip is a different case as they suspect that this was brought about by the medicine Topamax that the mother took while she is pregnant.

I told them about Topamax lawsuit and they are really keen in finding out if they have a case against the makers of this medicine. So they contacted O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath – Personal Injury Lawyers – 808 West Avenue, Austin, TX. 78701 – 512-494-9949.

Lawyers from O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath have the experience and the expertise to handle personal injury cases such as the case of our neighbour so I am sure that my neighbour is in good hands.

Sick Bela

My bad. I was sick last week and as expected, I passed the virus to my two kids. Bela was the first one who got sick after me. Howell fetched her from school and Howell told me as soon as they arrived that I better check on Bela’s temperature as she is hot and Howell was right as she has low grade fever. She was still active though and so I did not get worried.

Good thing they don’t have class from Thursday to Friday so she was able to rest. Even though she is sick, she is still active and she keeps on playing and jumping. Thankfully we have a home theater system with dvd, so I was able to stop her from playing and make her sit down by playing her favorite DVDs.

Her fever is actually on and off as she will have normal temperature during the day and will shoot up at night. This pattern continues until Saturday and so we decided to bring her to her paediatrician Saturday morning. We were advised that if she will continue to have fever until Sunday, we should bring her back to the hospital for blood test.

I am glad that she is doing ok now – no fever but she still have cough and colds and she was able to go back to school today after being absent for two days. I pray that she will continue to get better soon.

Protection from Dengue

I received a circular from Bela’s school informing parents of the preventive measure that the school is taking to prevent Dengue since dengue cases has doubled for this year. So all prep students will be asked to wear the following on specific days:

Monday – School uniform with knee high socks
Tuesday – Grade level t-shirt and jogging pants
Wednesday – Maong pants and t-shirt (I rarely buy t-shirts for Bela as I don’t find it good on her but now that they will be required to wear t-shirts once a week, I have to look for wholesale lots of t-shirts so Bela will have a lot of t-shirt to use during their civilian day).
Thursday – P.E t-shirt and jogging pants
Friday – school uniform with knee high socks

All the parents are really happy with this step that the school have taken to protect our kids from dengue while they are in school. I know that dengue is a very serious illness and so I am really happy and I feel at peace now that my Bela will at least be protected from dengue.

Kudos to the school administration of St. Scholastica.

Bela @ the ER Part 2

I was reading about car insurance reviews last night as I want to do my research as early as now for our car insurance when hubby called my attention and showed me the rashes on Bela’s arms and legs. As I posted here, we went to the Emergency Room last night as we know that if the allergy spread, there is a possibility that Bela might have difficulty breathing.

As much as possible, I hate bringing Bela to the Emergency Room as I know that it is their standard operating procedure to conduct all laboratory exams to rule out what is causing the problem. The last time we went to the ER was when Bela had a high grade fever and it was really a very traumatic experience for Bela. But look at Bela last night while she was at the Emergency Room:

One of the patients in the pediatric department was dancing and when Bela saw the boy, she asked me why he is dancing. This is our conversation:

Bela: “Mom, why is the boy dancing.”
Me: “Because he is happy because he will not be getting an injection from the doctors.”
Bela: “Oh, me too. So I will dance too.”

And so she started dancing.

When the doctor approached Bela:

Bela: “Doctor, no injection please. I am just here because I just want to ask you why I am turning red.”

I was really glad that the rashes subsided while we are at the Emergency Room and so the doctor just advised us to continue giving her anti-histamine for the allergy. I hope this is the last time that we will have a trip to the Emergency Room.

Bela @ ER

We brought Bela to the Emergency Room last night. Since last Friday, we noticed that she has red spots on her cheeks and rashes on her arms. We just gave her Loraped (anti histamine medicine prescribed by her Developmental Pedia) and the rashes went away. But then the next day, the rashes on her arms are back again and so we gave her 5 ml of Loraped and the rashes disappeared again.

Howell and I got alarmed yesterday because we noticed that she have rashes on her back, arms and her legs are so red already that we decided to go to the Emergency room. We checked and she has no fever so we got a little peace of mind that at least it is not measles.

We told Bela that we will go to the hospital so the doctors can check on her and her first answer was “Mom, no injection please.” The last time we brought her to the hospital was when she had high grade fever and they have to conduct CBC and other laboratory exams that is why she is really scared when she saw the Emergency Room again. She kept on telling the nurses and the doctors that she doesn’t want injection and she only wants to ask the doctor why she is turning red.

Good thing the rashes and the redness subside again when we are at the Emergency Room and so the doctor just prescribed Loraped and advised us to give to her consistently for 5 days.

I will bring her in for check up also to her Developmental Pedia just to be sure…

Sick bela

Bela was sick last week. She has high grade fever since Tuesday but then it was on-off and her temperature is ranging from 36-39 the next day. We brought her to her pediatrician on Thursday since it has been days already and she still has on-off fever even after taking her medicines.

Her fever spike to 40 C Thursday evening and we panicked and we decided to bring her to the emergency room. They conducted urinalysis and blood test (CBC) for her so they can find out what’s causing the fever. We got the results the next day and her pediatrician prescribed an antibiotic as Bela have infection as seen on her blood exam.

Good thing we can easily order for medical supplies online from JazzMedical. What we like about them is that they have very low prices for all their medical equipments and medical supplies. They even have 24/7 customer service and they even accept Paypal as their mode of payment for a more secure shopping.

Thank goodness Bela is doing okay now. She has no fever since Sunday so looks like the antibiotics is working. She really loose weight but at least her appetite is back now and she is back to being the active and talkative kid that we know. I hope and pray that nothing like this will ever happen to our dear princess again.

Picky Eater

Bela is really one picky eater. Maybe she got used to the texture of those baby foods when she was a baby that is why we are really having a hard time feeding her with real foods now that she is a toddler already.

She eats rice now but without any viand and so we just have to put soup or sauce to her rice so at least it will have some taste. That is the reason why up to now we are still giving her milk to supplement the nutrients that she is not getting from not eating meat and poultry.

I took this picture last week because I was really surprised when she started munching on this banana and she was even able to finish it:

Maybe she got really scared because I was teasing her that she will get pimples and scalp pimples if she doesn’t eat nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables. LOL. I already talked to her pediatrician about this and he said that we will wait for a few more months to check if she will increase her height and weight before he starts Bela on a work up because so far, Bela is still within the average.

But I do hope that she will start to eat real food soon as she is getting older already and with all the activities that she will be doing now that she is entering big school come June, she will really need all the nutrients that she can get so she will grow up to be a healthy kid.

2nd Dental Visit

Before I continue reading about adipex side effects, let me make a post first about Bela’s last visit to the dentist before I totally forget blogging about it.

We went to Baby Ultrasound Company at SM The Block last March 7 for my 4d Ultrasound. In front of Baby Ultrasound’s clinic is the clinic of The Tooth Kingdom. They have a small play area for their patients which caught Bela’s attention and she kept on insisting that she has to go inside to play. I told her that a community helper dentist has to check and clean her teeth before she can play and she agreed.

It has been more than a year already since she last visited a dentist. We did not go back after her first visit because she was traumatized and was really crying the entire time so her dad did not want to bring her back. (You can read all about it here.)

Her visit this time was really different than her first experience as she was really cooperative. There was a flat screen TV in front of the dental chair so Bela was just watching the Barney movie the entire time and the dentist was also very good in pep talking Bela that she was able to make Bela do whatever she asks Bela to do. In just a few minutes, the procedure was done (cleaning and fluoride application).

Bela will have to go back again after six months and I will definitely bring her back to Tooth Kingdom again instead of the first clinic that we visited.

Parent’s Love

Last Sunday, Bela was really sick. She vomited 7x that day even until 1 AM Monday morning. It started when she drunk Zesto which he threw up a few seconds after drinking it. Since then, she said that she has awie tummy and after every milk feeding, she will throw up again.

We did not want to bring her to the emergency room because we know that all kinds of laboratory exams will be done to her if we admit her there. So we just called hubby’s friend who is a pediatrician because we can't contact Bela's doctor because it is a Sunday and we don't have her cell phone number. Since Bela doesn’t have fever, she said that it is okay if we don’t want to bring her to the hospital yet and she just prescribed pedialite and anti-histamine medicine.

The last time Bela threw up was at 1 AM and the next day she is the same active Bela. But we let her skip school that day and hubby and my mom brought her to her developmental pediatrician in St. Luke’s. Bela had urinalysis but good news is that the results were ok.

Howell said that it breaks his heart every time Bela is sick like that. That is why he will really do anything for Bela. I remember when Bela had allergy and she has been coughing for weeks, Howell immediately installed humidifier filter to help cure Bela’s allergy. Bela is really a daddy’s girl.

But I guess, all parents will really be heart broken seeing their children get sick and be in that condition. That is why we are really hoping that Bela will not get sick like that again and that is what we are always praying for – that God will always protect our kids and keep them safe from any harm and sickness.

Bela, MSS, Dev Pedia, OT

We had our first Parent-Teacher’s Conference at Bela’s school last Monday. So far, Teacher Sarah said that Bela is really doing well in class. I posted the whole story here.

Since we have been consulting a Developmental Pedia and Occupational Therapist for Bela, I asked Teacher Sarah about Bela’s hyperactivity. Teacher Sarah said that she and her co-teachers noticed that Bela is only hyper when she is at the romp. Inside the class, she really follows the routines and actively participates in classroom discussions so I was really relieved upon hearing that from Teacher Sarah.

This is their Romp Area at school:


The toys inside the romp are really Bela’s favorites like the slide, and the small toy train which she calls her truck. She would even pretend that she is shopping for truck accessories for her truck every time we are at the mall.

She also loves playing in the slide, with their Kitchen Play set and she love shooting balls too in their small indoor basketball court. I guess Bela is just one playful child who really loves playing and having fun with her classmates.

For Her Safety

My daughter is fond of drinking cold water or juices for the last months. I know too cold drinks might be bad for her that’s why I manage to control it and try to discipline her. Maybe it’s because of the hot weather that makes her want to have cold drinks.

There are even times wherein she will ask her yaya to put some ice on her drink if she’s still not satisfied with the coldness. Actually before, I instructed my yaya to not give her ice because I am not sure if the water that is used in making it is safe and well filtered. But then, my Bela is very persistent that sometimes she pleases me so much just to have ice in her drinks and I have no choice but to give her.

So what I did is ask my hubby to buy ukf8001axx for water filter so that we can have an assurance that the ice is clean and as well as the water.

Now, I am assured about my daughter’s safety but still, I’m trying to discipline her and control her hobby. LOL!

Little Einsteins Toys

Bela saw this at the mall today and she got really excited and played with it right away.

Then when I turned on my PC and logged in to Twitter, I read Peachy’s tweet about some of the online sales so I got interested to check this at Amazon. Imagine, it is only $25 at Amazon and it is P2500 at Toy Kingdom.

Little Einsteins is really one of Bela’s favorite. We gave her the talking Little Einsteins plush toy last Christmas and Howell bought the Pat Pat Rocket too when he was in Majuro and up to now, Bela never grew tired of it. So now I am thinking should I buy this or not? LOL.

I also found this from Amazon. It is price at P3200 at Toy Kingdom and it is only $47 at Amazon. Big savings…Hmm, let me think about this… LOL.

Picture snagged from Amazon.

Bela's Journal Report: June 22 - 26

A Busy Week with the Green Cocoon
June 22 - 26

Dear Mom & Dad,

We are on our second week of school and the kids are continuing to enjoy going to our different stations. Aside from our stations the kids are also getting excited everyday, awaiting the Specials for the day. This week for Music and Movement, we had hopping, walking in tip toes and jumping while music is playing to strengthen their gross motor skills. For Cooking, we cooked eggs in different ways and had the kids choose which one they like to taste. Too bad we had no classes for two days, we missed this week’s Library Day and AVR Day. However, we still had fun during Outdoor, when we had a school tour.

Ysabela shows eagerness in coming to class. She listens attentively to discussions and participates in answering questions and doing board activities. For our lesson on letter Aa, she was able to recall examples such as ant and anthill. She loves going to different stations and loves the sand and water play station as she usually goes there first once she comes in. She is able to rote count 1-10 and recite the alphabet by rote as well.

Last week, at the manipulative station she was able to creatively put together different shaped blocks and said that it was a castle. She decorated her name tag deciding on where the sequins and what colors to use. She listened attentively when we had storytelling at the Library and participated when needed. She also enjoys manipulating the computer during AVR day. Plus had a very enjoyable time during outdoors playing ball with her peers.

This week, she was able to arrange letter blocks to form MSS and can also say the name of her school when asked. During cooking, she was very interested and excited to help in preparing and cooking the eggs which we cooked in different ways (sunny side up, scrambled and boiled). After cooking she had her share of the eggs which she had fun eating. She even agreed it was delicious. In writing, although she seeks help, she shows interest in doing her tasks and tries to write the lines on her own when asked. She also enjoyed watching herself and her peers from a big mirror hop, jump, and walk on tip toes.

Teacher Sarah, Eulene and Raizza

On our Stations This Week:

* Sand / Water Play Station – Dig for things found in the school and place them where they should be, tracing standing and sleeping lines, tracing slanting lines
* Reading / Listening Station – Sort pictures that begins with Aa, Sort pictures that begins with Ee
* Literacy Station – Spell MSS using letter blocks, Match people in the school to this rooms / workplace
* Discovery / Art Station – Explore a box with things found in the school inside
* Math Station – Counting from 1-10 using things found in school cutouts, Identifying rooms on the left and right, Following instructions: Putting things on the left or right
* Manipulative Station – Aligning 10 beads, Aligning 20 beads and rote counting 1 – 20, Naming rooms and things I the school using pictures, School puzzle.

Next Week’s Lessons:
* Letters Ii and Oo
* Parts of the face and body
* circle and square
* is and are
* same and different
* curve lines

Green Cocoon’s Ice Cream in a Bag

Every week, the Green Cocoon Class will have a special activity and part of them was cooking. Last week, they cooked eggs in different ways (sunny side up, scrambled and boiled). This week, Bela and her classmates were taught by Teacher Sarah and Teacher Eulene on how to make Ice Cream in a bag.

They sent us the recipe on how to make the ice cream (oops, looks like I will really be needing my Fenphedra. Since last week, I have been eating sweets like leche flan, ice cream and cake since we have left- over from my grand mother’s party so I will really need the best diet pills if I am serious in loosing weight)

So here is the recipe for Green Cocoon’s Ice Cream in a bag as shared to us by Bela’s teachers:

½ cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons salt
Ice Cubes

Procedure:

Put the milk, sugar and vanilla in a small resealable plastic. Place the salt and ice cubes in a big resealable bag. Shake the bag until ice cream forms.

Sounds simple. I will try this with Bela this coming weekend as Teacher Sarah told me that Bela had a great time while they were doing the ice cream.

Bela's Journal Report: June 16 - 19

GREEN COCOON’S FIRST WEEK
JUNE 16-19

Dear mom and dad,

It was a successful first week for us in the Green Cocoon class. The kids had an exciting time going from one station to the other for our Work Time. Some went to the Sand / Play Station, some to the Literacy Station, some to the Discover / Art Station, some to the Math station, some to the Manipulative Station and other to the Dramatic Play Station and the Reading / Listening Station. We also have a doodle page ready for those who wish to practice their artistic skills.

They too adjusted well to the routine and were at ease with their environment. They followed the routine well. Starting from Work Time, where they explore the different stations, Circle 1 where we greet each other, accomplish our attendance and weather charts, sing some songs and discuss lessons, Snack Time, a time to fill our hungry little tummies, Circle 2, a continuation of lesson discussion, Specials, where we enjoy various activities on different days. Monday, we have Music and Movement, Tuesday, we have Creativity / Cooking, Wednesday, we have Library Day, Thursday, we have AVR (Audio Visual Room) Day, and Friday, we have Outdoor Play. We too have Chinese time, where we learn to read, write and speak Chinese. All these activities were welcomed by the kids with much excitement.

We hope that the kids won’t loose their interest in these school activities as we have lots in store for them. We also hope that hand in hand we will make your child’s Cocoon experience one that they won’t forget.

Teacher Sarah, Eulene and Raizza
Green Cocoon Teachers

Next week’s lessons:
* Rooms in the school
* Things seen in the room
* People we see in school
* Letters Aa and Ee
* Circle and Square
* Left and Right
* Slanting Lines

On our Stations this week:

* Sand / Water Play Station – Transferring sand from one container to the other, transferring water from one container to the other, Tracing standing and sleeping lines on sand.
* Literacy Station – Differentiating MSS from other establishments, Making rules and decorating them, Trace or Write MSS

* Reading / Listening Station
* Discovery / Art Station – Coloring my school, Drawing MSS
* Math Station – Counting 10 school cutouts, Drawing 10 standing and sleeping lines
* Manipulative Station – Building MSS using blocks

Havaianas children's flip-flops being recalled

I was not able to catch the early evening news but my aunt told me that there was breaking news today about the recall of Havaianas flip flops.

Around 210,000 Havaianas children's flip-flops is being recalled because the decorative paint that they use for the sole of the flip flops is suspected to have lead that is in excess of what is declared as the safe level by federal standard.

Those flips flops without decorative paint are not being recalled.

The styles of the Havaianas for kids and babies that are being recalled includes: Baby Estampas, Baby Pets, Kids Apple, Kids Fairy, Kids Flores, Kids Lighthouse, Kids Monsters, Kids Surf, Baby Letrinhas, Kids Sports, Kids Candies, Kids Fun, Kids Love, Kids Sereias, Kids Speed, Kids Lucky Bug, Kids Pets, Kids Rock, Kids Slim, Kids Wonder Woman, Kids Small Flowers, and Kids Tropical w/Kit.

Bela loves her Havaianas flip flops as it is really comfortable and so she has quite a few pairs in her collection. So I immediately check if the pair that she has is included in the styles that is being recalled, and unfortunately it is.


This is Bela's current favorite flip flops.I have to do a research now about lead as I am now praning.

Sick again

Bela got sick again last week. One of her classmates has colds and so when she got home from school, she caught the virus too. Also, her youngest aunt, who is her playmate, has colds too so maybe she got the virus also from her.

She has high grade fever for one day and looks like she was really not feeling well as she was not active and she prefers to stay at our room and she kept on saying that she needs to rest. She even asked us to give her strawberry medicine (Paracetamol) so she will get well.

It is very rarely that she gets sick like this so every time she has fever, my husband and I are really panicking. Good thing that my mom and dad just lives near our place so they always come in to the rescue whenever we need help. And I am also thankful that we are equipped with baby supplies like a digital ear thermometer so we can always get a reliable reading of her body temperature every time she is sick. We always buy our baby supplies and medicines from Allegro Medical as they have a complete range of supplies for all our health and fitness needs like Blood Pressure Monitor, Bela’s milk and vitamin supply or even latex exam gloves. We even set an auto re order system so we will never fail to order our monthly supplies of vitamins and medicines not jut for Bela, but for ourselves too.

I am so glad that Bela is doing ok now. Hope she will not catch any virus again as it is really difficult for us parents to see our kid suffering from any illness.

Bela is Sick

My baby is sick. She vomited after she finishes her first bottle of milk when she woke up last Saturday morning. This is just a usual thing for Bela since she has gag reflex. She easily vomits if she feels her hair inside her mouth so I thought there is really nothing to worry about. And besides she is still very energetic and she is very excited to go to her trial class for her ballet lesson at Halili Cruz School of Ballet.

So we left around 10:30 AM and we dropped by first at Mind School Specialist to enroll her for their summer program and pay the reservation for this coming school year. She vomited again on our way there but I still did not suspect anything as she even played at the school’s romp area and she even explored the toys in her future classroom when Miss Beth (MSS Secretary) gave us a tour again as it is Howell’s first time to visit the school.

Then we left MSS around 12nn and she kept on asking for iced tea since she got thirsty after playing at the romp. Then after her first sip of her iced tea, she vomited again so we decided to just go home and just reschedule her trial class at Halili next Saturday.

When we reached home she is still active and her temperature is okay. The whole afternoon pass and she did not vomit again although she consumes less bottle of milk that day but she always wants to drink water. She went to bed around 10 PM and then she suddenly woke up and vomited again and when we checked her temperature, she already has a low grade fever. I called my mom in panic as this is the first time that Bela got this sick so Howell and I are not used to her being this way.

My mom gave her Paracetamol and she fell asleep after that. The next morning she still has low grade fever (37.7) but she drinks her milk and she is always asking for noodles. She did not vomit the whole day and her fever was gone so we decided not to bring her to the emergency room as I really hate the ER at Chinese (only interns will entertain you there and I am sure they will do a lot of blood tests on Bela and I don’t think I can stand seeing my daughter cry while they are doing all these tests). We will bring her to her pediatrician tomorrow and I am really praying that she will get better as I don’t want to her be confine.

Etc, Etc

Bela is not feeling well today. Her grandma has cough and colds and since they are together the whole day, she now has colds too. And she is really irritated every time she has colds. Sometimes she can’t sleep straight at night and she has to wake up every now and then because she is having difficult time breathing. Of course, Howell and I has to be awake too to attend to her so there are times that we only have 2-3 hours of sleep and we have to go to work the next day (There are even times that I look like a zombie or I like I have been using weight loss pills). I hope she gets better soon as I am sure we will really busy with family gatherings next week.

==

Last Wednesday was Bela’s Christmas program at Toddlers Unlimited. Since she was able to take a nap on our way to school, she was in a good mood and she really made us proud with her performance. Howell hasn’t downloaded the pictures yet, but I will post it soon.

Last Wednesday was also their last day at school so she has a few weeks off from school. I am sure she will miss her classmates and teachers as she really enjoys having playmates now. Just last week, we had a conversation about this:

Bela: “Mommy, mommy where are my friends? Where are the girls?”
Me: “They went home already because it is already dark.”
Bela: “I want a playmate mommy.”
Me: “Tomorrow, you can play again with your friends.”
Bela: “I want a playmate mommy!”
Me: “Do you want a baby brother?”
Bela: “Yes, yes, yes. I will share my toys with baby brother”