Dim Sum Mum - Tess' Little Pieces

life is beautiful

if you want to read a story of love, courage, and hope - even when the outcome is uncertain, please click on this link.

http://www.cfhusband.blogspot.com/

scroll down to the bottom of the page and read up, and by the top you will be in love with baby gwyneth, and holding your breath to know if tricia has really understood that her little girl is doing wonderfully, miraculously well.

a bit of background, i was introduced to this family by a friend of mine from another website -- tricia has cystic fibrosis and was getting  ready to go on the list for a double lung transplant (if you want to read their account, go to dec 1 2007)  and found herself pregnant.

http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=50

the pregnancy was a blessing, but fraught with complications. tricia developed gestational diabetes, her lungs had less room, which required her to take portable oxygen tanks with her everywhere and around 30 december everything started to go pear shaped. tricia was admitted to hospital. on 8 january, little gwenyth was delivered. i believe tricia is still on a vent at this time.

please read. the pictures alone will grab your heart and not let it go.

i'm starting to put my summer together. it's a bit complicated.

we are planning on leaving hong kong pretty much the minute school gets out. the reason for this is because when school ends for the year, everyone pretty much scatters, and it gets pretty lonely. all the kids programmes are very expensive and not so interesting. last year we stayed in hong kong for three or so weeks after school completed, and we will not be doing that again. it was pretty drab for them.

so what are we going to do? charmaine called the other day and said, "i really want to spend time with you and your family this summer. how can we make this happen?" she offered her home to me, but let's be honest, if i come, it is going to be for a month, and that wouldn't work. her husband would definitely get tired of having us in his house and i am sure that charmaine would too.

she suggested that she find me a cottage. now, given that we had such a great experience a couple of years ago when charles' sister carolyn located us a "three family cottage" , this is highly appealing. however, the cost of flying the kids across the country (flying to canada is prohibitive enough!) makes me realise this likely isn't going to happen.

so i am looking at alternatives. my incredibly generous friend heidi has offered me her place at whistler, but it is nowhere near a park and doesn't have a backyard. pam has said we can stay at her place, but i don't want to impose on her. but you can't expect people to jump around for you, and they have their own lives too!

not having a driver's license is a toughie come summer time. the kids want to do summer activities but unless they are within walking distance or the bus, how can i get them there?

another option we are exploring is going to thailand for a while. that might be a good plan because it is cheap to fly there and there are kids tennis and swimming lessons.

i am not angry at epilepsy, but at times like this i sure wish i could drive. or that canadian cities had better bus systems.

carys stayed home from school today. her fever is still well above 100. she's a good, if quiet companion. definitely the easiest of the four to have around. she doesn't make suggestions, just makes her own entertainment. she really is a pet. even though she is feeling grotty, she just manages to be pleasant and conversational, only requesting books being read to her and the occasional piece of paper so she can cut it with a pair of scissors.

at one point she did look up and say, "there are no people here, only carys and mummy." i agreed that was so.

last night she didn't get much sleep, but i did. we kept her in her own bed, and although she cough coughed and cried in confusion when she woke up and wasnt sure why she was awake, i slept right through it all. absolutely through the entire thing. magnificent heard more than he did the night before.

day three at small world's d2 class, sela reports that her best friend is jasper and that is who she is playing with all day long. it wasn't a mistake to put sela in this class, was it? if carys ever gets better and can reenter the work force i will let you know how she adjusts to her class.

until then, adieu. tonight is book club, we're discussing we need to talk about kevin.

..coughs and couches, sofa and sniffles..

when carys went to bed last night, she was coughing a bit. nothing noteworthy, if you check yesterday's blog which was written about an hour after the varmits toodled off to bed.

so suddenly at around 9.30, coincidentally around the time charles waltzed in the front door, it was all "cough cough cough" from carys.

"when did she start with that?" inquired the loving husband.

"just now," i said firmly.

the coughing continued. cough cough cough cough. bark bark, cough cough. bark cough cough. sort of waking up the other kids

at around 11.30pm charles vanished. i was busy watching 30 rock and so i wasn't as alert to his absence as might have been.

when alex baldwin had finished being stone faced and pithy, i got up for my man. and i found him, asleep on the sofa, with carys entwined around him. she was cough, cough, coughing and he was drowsy but not fully asleep.

i made magnificent go into the bedroom and i slept on the sofa bed with carys. she is a nice girl, but honestly, she was sniffling and coughing all night long, whinging and moaning when she woke up. she managed to clutch BEBE to her firmly, but couldn't find the strategically placed sippie cups i placed around the bed. so she would groan softly on the bed, until i in a stupid slumber would give her a tissue or a cup or a cuddle. poor kid.

at around 6pm sebastian came in, absolutely delighted to see the sofa bed out and to see family members, awake ones at that. of course this was when carys was just getting to sleep, so in no uncertain terms i told sebastian to please leave and come back when the sun was awake.

i don't think i slept last night. but i did sleep from 6am-8.30am. and then i got up and made a doctor's appointment. carys has tonsillitis, poor button. she was an angel at the drs appointment, and afterwards she ate a croissant while flipping through a copy of "guess how much i love you" while i drank a strawberry/apple smoothie.

so now i have to accept that i won't stay awake for 30 rock because i need to get to sleep.

bumpy road back to school

since taking the bedrails off young carys and sela's beds, i have witnessed the two young maids in very interesting resting positions. often, i creep into their rooms and see carys with one foot planted on the ground, the other touching her calf. arms are usually spread over the mattress. sela seems to have no problems with blood racing to her head, she tends to drowse with her head draped over the mattress. i shift the girls back into bed, remind them to stay in bed, and bob's their uncle. a few bruises, a fun scrape on sela's chin, but this is growing up, kids! not for the weak at heart which is why jasper still has bedrails and probably will until he is 10.

on a happy note (very happy for me), the kids went back to school today and there are some changes. sebastian and rufus are no longer at the same table. sebastian is now at the same table with three girls and two other little boys. he appeared to be enjoying the social aspect of having new table friends. SUCH CHATTINESS!

miss gail, the much loved principal of small world called me to let me know that sela was having absolutely no adjustment issues to moving to the new classroom. "she asked her teacher how her Christmas was" i learned. jasper was enjoying playing with his sister, but considering that he only plays with girls most of the time, having his sister in the class is no big adjustment.

when gail called to give me the sela update, i said, "oh, i only wish i could hear that carys is doing so well without her sister." gail laughed and responded, "i can see her right now, she was just doing a project with miss jenny and now she is working indpendently." i asked carys today when she came home and she said that the highlight of her day was playing with her friend mika. i think this is going to be a good thing, having carys on her own.

bad things commenced when the kids came home. they were shattered. every single one of them cried between 1pm and 6pm, and it's not like any of them were bleeding. they were all in bed by 7pm. it is approximately 7.38 right now and i think a couple of them might still be awake but i am not going to verify that guess unless i hear the thump that confirms someone has fallen out of bed.

shoes or spews

last night magnificent and i were preparing to go out and i showed the girls the shoes i was going to wear. they were very impressed and made all the right sounds.

sela put her hands in the air and said, "mummy can the girls put the beautiful shoes on?" and i replied in the negative.

"No darling, mummy is putting the shoes on, and then she and daddy are going out."

"ooohhhhh!!!" and her mood went from sunny to sulky. we have been trying to manage sela's sulkiness in the last few weeks - it is an unattractive habit and she is prone to it right now.

"my tummy hurts!" she declared. "My tummy hurts so much! i am going to vomit and it hurts!"

she dashed into the playroom, swishing the sides of her princess nightie. "my stomach hurts!"

she stalked a few more steps, whinging about the pain in her stomach, and approached gary, who was unobtrusively working on a light fixture in the playroom. "gary! i am going to vomit, i have a pain in my tummy and i can't try on the shoes!"

gary looked at me and i asked, "sela, do you need to sit on the toilet?"

and she looked at me and walked over to me, and shook her head, at the same time, raising her hand and leaning it against the closet.

and then the vomitting began.

one huge splash.

carys burst into screams and tears.

i kicked off my shoes,

"good girl, sela, you are being very brave!" i encouraged her, just in time for the second wave to ricochet off the closet on to the floor.

i debated if there was time to get her to the bathroom, looked at the volume on the floor/closet and decided it wasn't worth the potential mess. so i supported instead, pulling back her nightie and pointing down her head for yak #3.

when it was all done, i took her and sobbing carys "my sister won't stop vomitting!" into the bathroom and i gave sela a drink of water. then i washed her hands and feet. changed her nightie and let her select a new nightie.

"so very proud of you kitten" i told her. and really i was. she hadn't cried a bit. she had known the vomit was coming, and i was the bad mum who hadn't believed her. "i am so proud of you sela, most people tend to vomit all over carpets but you didn't."

i asked her if the vomit feeling was all gone from her tummy and when she assured me it was, i asked her if she wanted a banana. she agreed happily and then i gave her one. we held a brief practise session of what to do if she ever felt the vomit feeling in her tummy again, (permission to scoot out of bed even though we dont get out of bed after bedtime). and then i left.

i felt pretty guilty afterwards though. she had told me she was going to vomit and i thought she was being all dramatic. what a crap mum i can be sometimes!

another review

somehow, i managed not to read ian mcewan's atonement since it's publication. the excellent novel unfolds during a summer's day in 1939, at the rich tallis estate, when young briony watches her sister strip and jump into a fountain while the gardner watches. she draws her own conclusions, and consequences follow. the war is on the doorstep, and over the next years, the damaged lives continue as the three main characters (robbie the gardener, briony the younger sister who is also a writer and cecilia the older sister) try to move on.

i will rectify that error sometime in the next six weeks, probably on the flight to canada. however, last night i did see the movie.

what i liked:

some excellent performances, particularly by james mcavoy, the young briony (love her glares), actually all briony's were excellent.

the cinematography was excellent, enhancing some truly chilling, erotic and suspenseful scenes. the use of playing back/forward was also effective.

brilliant use of the typewriter for sound accompianament. at times you felt that robbie, who was indeed fortune's fool, was a moth caught in those relentlessly pounding typewriter keys.

i don't know the technical term, sound editing possibly, but whatever it is, this movie had it. the clink as the ceramic hit the bottom of the pool. the dying gasp of a match.

there are moments of extreme poignancy to this movie.

i would like to see james mcavoy get a nomination, and several nominations for the movie. keira knightley is being touted and promoted to get an academy award nomination (she already has the golden globe nomination), but i won't feel like she has been cheated if she doesn't take home oscar.

the kids are happy on the playground. today is the last day of hols, and i gave them the choice of hanging out with mummy at the park or going to a friends for lunch with other helpers...they chose going to the friend's. i am v. unpopular, even with my kids. little rotters.

this should be the last review for a while.

late nights on air

being a former resident of yellowknife, northwest territories, i was thrilled to hear that elizabeth hay's latest novel, LATE NIGHTS ON AIR was set in yellowknife. admittedly, the story is set in 1975, five years before our green station wagon and grey car arrived to the north, but still...i was very excited. and ecstatic when my father in law bought me the book for christmas.

i have promised to lend him the book, so doug, please don't read this review any further.

i really wanted to love this book, and indeed, aspects of the book i truly enjoyed. being able to picture streets, locations, sights. appreciating how the author attempted to write the near impossible sound made by ravens. descriptions of the very cold weather, the sudden arrival of winter, the non existence of autumn.how some arrive in yellowknife for a "fresh start" and how others simply fizzle and burn due to a saturation of confinement. alcohol and boredom.

but i couldn't care less about the protagonists. dido paris wasn't nearly as interesting as her name, and i couldn't understand the fascination. i suppose harry is interesting, but i guess i met too many guys like him when i was in yellowknife to find him anything special. the supporting characters were noteworthy, although hay did not do them justice, and her secondary and interesting story of the berger inquiry on the pipeline hangs there as a stalemate. i remember being in the classroom and doing a project on the pipeline in 1981, how it might affect migration patterns...the author never really wraps that up or into the story.

by the end of the story, the one person i cared about had love denied, and after that, i really didn't care any more. when one couple is reunited, it's too little too late. they don't have any sustainability and i really didn't care any more.

even though i left the north, i do love it, and sadly, lyrical descriptions aside, i did not love this book. which is unfortunate because hay is a talented writer. this seems like a harsh review and i hope it is not too contradictory to say i did enjoy the book very much, mainly because of reasons listed above. there is a lot of description there.

the book has also been nominated for a giller prize, which shows just how crap my reviewing talents can be! don't trust me, read it yourself.

my book club is also reading "we need to talk about kevin" if you want to send me your thoughts about that. i am finished it, don't worry about ruining the beginning for me.

otherwise, it was a good day. i had a neuro appointment and that is where i was able to finish the book. 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading waiting to see the doctor and then another 20 waiting to pick up the medication. and the dr said good things. i am a bit worried because my blood levels haven't been taken in a year or so, and my liver probably needs to be checked up on, and also, i have had a headache for the last 6 months, so it is probably time for an mri. but otherwise, im pretty pleased that i can waltz in there and say no seizures for seven months.

on the not so good side....two days after finishing my medication....my throat is sore again, unmistakeably. ouch ouch ouch. tomorrow i am in search of a good dr.

i have one new year's resolution. to pray more.

a clever person observed, "that's  very clever. now you can pray for more patience, to lose 5 (more like 10) lbs, for airfare prices to go down..."

i went to shenzhen with andrea today. we had a very fun time. i bought a pair of very cool black dior heels. they are so great, i have to show you the link:

http://www.styledrops.com/handbags-21394.html

now, the shoes i got are last season, but these are pretty close. the heel is lower, and thankfully, so is the price -- HA HA HA !

i also got a funky pair of zebra striped ballet flats and some 2005 sweeties from chanel; black and white ballerina flats. patent leather. very nice.

on our way back from shenzhen andrea and i decided to treat ourselves and ride in "first class", which is 66 hkd, while regular cattle class is $33. first class guarantees you a padded seat. there is no standing room. we were joining the queue, when i saw a lady trying to jump infront of us. normally, this wouldn't irk me overly, however, we wanted to be facing the same way the train was running. we sped up our steps and got in line before the lady, who sniffed at us.

when it came time to board, the lady tried to brush past andrea and jump the queue. i watched her doing this and said, "excuse me."

this lady glared at me, and then mimicked me. "excuse me".

excuse me?

she said it again and glared at me.

can you imagine? mimicking me because i encouraged the basic laws of etiquette? the cheek of her.

she repeated herself again (that's three excuse me's in a faux canadian accent for those of you keeping track) and andrea and i burst out laughing which wasn't the result she was hoping for, apparently. what was she hoping for? fisticuffs?

we took seats and sank into them gratefully.

we saw truculent girl as she was leaving the kcr, and she glared at us again.

one thing about going to shenzhen is you are thrilled to get home and shower. the shopping mall is full of smokers and is grimy and there are strangers touching you from the moment your passport is stamped, beckoning you toward their shop..."missy missy!!" they hang on to your clothes, wait for you outside of shops, trail after you.

but i guess andrea and i managed to find the one person who didn't want to follow us. getting ahead of us was more her style.

excuse me?