Fingers Clamped!

OMG!  Most of the times, Renee would wait for us to get the car door for her, only on some occasions will she do it herself(esp. this BM cos its doors r heavier than the V's) and what happened today, was the result of sucy very occasion!

Having woken up early to finish up the birthday card she did for her aunty Elsie, she was very tired and fell asleep on the way to her violin lesson.  Her classmate phoned but papa told me not to wake her to let her recoup some sleep.  However, when we arrived downstairs the teacher's block, unlike most times when she napped in the car, she opened the door herself today(she'd normally wait for us to get the door for her). Probably still feeling sleepy, she might have leaned against the car near the door and the downslope condition of the road could have caused the door to close.  What's worser was that this car is equpped with automatic suction lock catch and as a result, Renee's fingers got clamped by the door!  What was meant as a safety feature(in case doors were not closed properly with children in the car) could also backfire on situations like that...

Papa had carried Rachel up from the car seat and I've gone over to take over since I have to bring both of them up to the teacher's whilst he park, then suddenly I heard Renee screamed "Pa Pa!".  The sight of her hand clamped in the door nearly caused my heart to drop and ached sooo much  when I saw how 'flat' her fingers had become.  Of 'cos she cried and silly her even apologised, aiyoh...  that's just her...  She must have been in such great pain and Papa 'scooped' her up immediately to comfort her, then, he hurried up to inform the teacher of the accident and have the lesson cancelled.

Remembering the AMK community hospital, we drove over but it's changed to a Thye Hua Kwan Hospital and we had to drive over to Khoo Teck Puat hospital where she had an X-ray done.  Luckily, thank goodness, there's no fracture found and we were recommended a lotion by the chinese physician when we went there for their follow-up check up later in the evening.

Even the teacher was worried/concerned and phoned us up shortly to check on her condition...  He too, was shocked when he was first informed of the accident and had immediately asked how many fingers were affected and must be disappointed to learn that she's given MC excuse from writting for the next 14days...(If writting is a problem, then playing violin would be tougher, haiz...)

I hope Renee's fingers will recover soon.

(Meantime, mummy's being blamed for not getting the door for her... ^-^" )

Where's My Baby?!

I've got a big shock today when I came back to meeting hubby at the school's lobby after sending Renee up to her theory class.

We were running abit late and on such occasions, I'd normally rush up to the class with Renee and will meet hubby and baby at the lobby thereafter.  Today, somehow, it just didn't cross hubby's mind that in such rush, I wouldn't have the time to unbuckle Rachel from the car seat and then carry her up and rush jie jie up to the class - well, if that's feasible, why hadn't I done that before, correct?

Anyway, after rushing Renee to the class, I came out of the elevator and saw hubby standing casually outside the door, looking relaxed, alone...  I looked around him, but there's no sign of baby Rachel nor her stroller and my eyes went wide!   He saw the look on my face and asked me where's baby?  OMG, my heart nearly dropped!  We both rushed back to the car and thankfully, it had only been a very short while that he's left her in the car and she was still sleeping, GEEZ!

Dental Follow Up

As everything had seemed fine during Renee's dental follow-up appointment today, the doctor proceeded to do some 'cleaning' for her and the next visit is scheduled a year later, for a normal routine check/cleaning.

The past few visits, it had appeared that her teeth are in good clean condition but this time round, tar tar has formed! Why? 'cos we've started letting her brush her teeth totally on her own, a few months ago!(I used to brush both times for her, then slowly progressed to letting her brush only in the morning and then...).

All these while/visits, she had always been calm and relaxed but this afternoon, as the doctor was cleaning a couple of plague that had become abit harder to remove, she cried at the end of the session - it hurt(when she rinsed, there was abit of blood trace)... Prior to the tearing, she was making 'some sound'(her Aunt Elsie will know this sound very well, hahaha) due to the pain and the doctor teased her "aiyoh, don't make this kinda sound, it scared me, like a monster", hahaha. Then when the cleaning had not stopped as she'd wished, she began to 'shake-kick' her legs and the doctor teasingly told her to stop "aiyoh, don't do that, you want to break doctor's chair isit?" hahaha. Sooo funny! Luckily, although I hadn't got my camera with me, I've had the wholesession video-ed with my mobile! :D

Dental Follow-up Check

The initial plan was to bring Renee to the NDC for her follow-up check straight from school today but Papa, being him(close links will know wat I mean... :>) changed his mind as usual and said that I should bring her home first. Fine, that resulted in us not being able to go for our lunch as I've 'predicted' and he, on many accounts, had not and I ended up feeling super hungry whilst waiting for our number to appear on the que number screen @ NDC.

Good thing we were the 1st on the senior doctor's afternoon appointment list and we didn't have to wait long. However, in less than 10mins consultation, though alittle more detailed with her, we left after paying a bill of S$94.00. Nothing's done, nothing's prescribed, just merely checking... We were told to return in another 3 months' time and when I went back to the room to ask if it's really that necessary since everything's seemed rather fine now, the doctor though not unfriendly, was stern with her reply. Yeah, this is what you get from a senior doctor in a govt medical centre and u're paying a high private rate for their 'attitude'... Honestly, if not for the 'record', I wouldn't bother to return there... However, she did give me a little advice about the growth of Renee's teeth which I find useful(although I believe any experienced pte practitioner would do the same too). Well, we would perhaps see how things go before deciding if we'd be returning to her in 3 months' time, haiz, we might just do so...

*oh ya, so far, all the dentists whom had seen her had asked if she's off-bottle and when I replied that she is, since a long time ago, they all remarked that it's very good. So I'm glad I've not taken too much heed to the old sayings of 'let them drink from the bottle as long as possible'...

Thereafter, due to hunger, we 'hurried' over to Vivo for a quick lunch and time seemed to be rather 'long' today 'cos it was only 4pm by the time we're done with our 'shopping' around the mall(even walked over to the neighbouring mall out of boredom). We had thought to drag our stay at Vivo so we could drive over to my mom's for dinner since she'd phoned last night, saying that she missed Renee but... she's already kinda prepared her dinner so the idea had to be abandoned and we decided to head home for a rest - well, papa rested whilst mommy went about the chores and showering Renee as usual... Then at night, we went over to Compass Point and Renee was overjoyed to have her 'heaty outside food' again at the Jack's and again, she was so full that she couldn't even finish her ice-cream(but hmmm, she seldom does that anyway, :>).

Good Friday Long Weekend

I've forgotten about this Good Friday holiday until I tried to book an appointment with the PD's clinic for that day, to remove Renee's stitches. With that day being unavailable, I tried the following day, which was however, not allowed as it's the day after a public holiday, huh, what kinda policy is that?

Friday

Hubby had came home(at 4am!) with a lucky draw(from e dinner) winning of S$600 Takashimaya shopping vouchers and though he'd wanted to share it with the clients whom had invited him to the tournament, they had declined and so, he thought it would be polite to use them to buy them each a golf tee - which I also felt it's right/fair, :). And since he wouldn't need all of the vouchers, he sent us to Orchard road for our little shopping escapade, hahaha but guess where he'd gone to himself? - Back to the Casino! Geez, he had made a little winnings when he was there last week but he'd returned abit back to them yesterday. I've cautioned him about being addictive but he said he's merely going back there today as the entry pass' still valid til 10pm, well... Anyway, when he finally came to meet us at Swensons @Ion Orchard, he claimed to have just break-even(no loss, no wins for the day) which I hope was true, :).

Enjoying her pre-dinner snack, :)

First it's hands shaking, then it's 'candy time'! :D

Met her cousin Yu and managed to take this pic with her :)

Her dinner

Saturday

Although most of us had gone to bed late last night(esp me, at 2:30am), we still woke up early as we'd been told by the PD's clinic that for walk-ins, we'd need to be there before 10am to register. We've reached the clinic at around 9:30am but as we're expected to wait for 5-6 hours, we decided to just proceed to the GP's after we've gone for our breakfast and got our stuffs from Daiso. It's a good thing that our preferred doctor's on duty at that hour.

Renee didn't allow the doctor to remove the stitches but after we've assured her that it would be more ticklish than of pain, she relaxed. It seemed like the wound hadn't heal as fast(the wound bled a little when the doc tried to clean the scap off) and the doc advised us to just put on the plaster when going to school but remove it at all times when at home(we had continued with the plaster when she goes to bed 'cos she feared of touching it by accident whilst sleeping).

*luckily we've gone back to the GP's 'cos then we had the chance to get another copy of the doc's referral letter which the KKH's doc had misplaced - see!

We had quite forgotten about our que at the PD's and they called me when we were picking Renee up from her art class. Geez, if we've not changed our mind, it would have indeed been a 5-6 hours wait! They really should change their inflexible system to allowing people to fix appointment via the telephone(esp. for those whom are already on their records) rather than insisting that we go down to register for nothing and waste everyone's time.

Sunday

Today, after hubby's came back from his golf game and had taken his nap, we headed back to Takashimaya again and finally bought the backpack which Renee had her eye on, on Friday, :). The value of money is really getting smaller and smaller - we've only got hold of a few household items(inexpensive ones) and we've already used up close to half the vouchers...

Nice Friends

Apart from the stickers she's got from the dental centre(even the man at e radiology dept. gave her quite a few lolz), she's been receiving more from her friends since she's returned to school on Monday.

Her friends had even 'allowed' her to sayang their little sister/cousin attending the same preschool when they had previously 'protected' from others' touch last time('cos she really loooves those little girls and likes to sayang them and her friends knew). This just went to show that she's got nice friends from this class and it's nice to know they're so kind towards her after learning about her injury, :).

Dental Check-Up

Despite having gone to bed late at around 9:30pm last night, Renee still woke up at +/-8am, came to my bedside and waved a milk powder pack she's removed from her sample packs she's given at school yesterday. She had told me that she liked it very much and would like me to change her milk to this brand, lolz but when I told her that the nutrientional contents in her current milk seemed to be better, she then said that she'd have this at night and the usual one in the morning(we've already cut her off night time milk actually) which I agreed of 'cos and told her that she'd need to drink alot more water if that's the case.

Remembering the dental check-up we've to bring her to, I immediately switched my mobile on but at 10am, there was still no phone calls from the centre. A note on the map attached to the referral letter indicated that we should call the centre, after 1 day, if we do not hear from them or KKH but I didn't wish to wait as Renee is still unwilling to chew*(due to pain), not even her favourite bread.
*she has however, decided to chew abit when I bought some paos after our lunch and I guess, after so many hours w/out her fav bread, she simply couldn't resist, heee.

Whilst on the phone with the National Dental Centre, I noted that the attending doctor at KKH had not indicated an urgent attendance by the dental doctor(I guess that's why they've not acted faster?) on the referral letter but in replying to their query, I informed them of Renee's inability to chew as yet, which to them, was probably also a good cause for concern. Luckily for us, there were 2 cancellations in the afternooon(2 and 2:30pm) and we grabbed the 2pm one.

At the NDC, although we were next on line, we still waited for quite a while before the dentist actually attended to us. It turned out that she's an intern if I'm not wrong, 'cos after a pretty long consultation with her, we still had to wait for her senior to have a look which warranted another x-ray 'cos apparently the former had not detected the obvious fracture line on 2 of Renee's upper teeth! Then, though I've expected to speak to the senior after the 2nd x-ray, we weren't given a chance to(she wasn't even back to review further) and the very friendly intern(in actual fact, dentists are trained pyschologically to be extra nice due to obvious patients' fears), being reprimanded by the senior right infront of us(for not detecting the fracture lines and the defective equipment in the room), had became not so friendly thereafter and we were quite abruptly 'dismissed'.

By the time we've gone for the 2nd x-ray, hubby had returned to join us(I had still thought that we'd need to go back ourselves when I told him to go tend to his work, so you can imagine how long we were there).

There were a total of 2 'cuts' on her bottom gum resulting in the 3 front bottom teeth to wobble - The nerves seemed to have been affected and I'm to monitor, should she complain of more pain in the near future, chances that the nerves might 'die-off' and that's when the teeth will drop. The only consolation to this piece of information is that, in normal circumstances, the baby teeth will start to drop from 6 years old onwards and since she's 5 now, she need not wait for too long before her adult teeth to surface.
Even if the teeth do not drop, she might still experience more sensitivity now til the 'change', haiz...

This incident, together with our experience at KKH yesterday reminded me on why I've always not liked going to the public hospitals/medical centres(although the doctors and nurses had been singing 'praises' of her) if one can afford it. My biggest regret now is that I hadn't been calm enough to think properly 'cos if I had, I would have asked the GP to refer us to a specialist and probably, we wouldn't have to subject our precious one to being a 'guinea pig'/experimental, training objects.

Whatever it is, there's nothing we can do now but I will most probably bring her to the PD to remove the stitches 'cos I'd prefer better advice/treatment on how to minimise her scar and 2ndly, I will find out if I could ask for a senior consultant on her dental follow-up check(which will be in a month's time) before deciding if we should go for another check with a private practitioner(if you have any good recomendations[scar treatment &/or dental], pls let me know).

Meantime, I would need her to lay off her violin practices/lessons for a while and I hope it won't be too long 'cos we've already skipped her lessons for a month already...

The stitches

5 Stitches

Today hadn't been a good day. First, we've gone to SengKang's Daiso right after school and I didn't have a pleasant lunch at the foodcourt there - rude hawkers.

Then back home, as I was busy talking to PX whilst sorting and packing things up, we heard a rather loud tug coming from the 'study/activity room', followed by Renee's cries. I quickly got up and PX also stopped her ironing and tried to rush over. Renee, coming out of the room, was bleeding non-stop! There was quite abit of bleeding from her mouth(blood stains on the floor) but we couldn't tell for sure where she was bleeding exactly 'cos there also seemed to be a cut under her chin.

PX asked for some sugar and after rubbing some onto her gums for a couple of times(first she checked if thr's any loose tooth), the bleeding slowly began to stop, *phew* and we managed to see that there's a cut under her chin and another on her lower gum. . We had thought to leave the laceration under her chin as we were afraid that stitching it up will leave an ugly scar but upon my closer inspection, it seemed like the skin had torn rather 'wide' and I'm afraid that the open wound would get infected.

It was raining and at a time close to the taxi drivers' shift changing hour, I was afraid of a long wait but I failed to contact hubby. I phoned the PD's clinic(funny their phone always seemed to be off hook at times and this is actually bad) and they told me to bring her to KKH or a GP where surgery's allowed if I think a stitch's required. I tried to phone hubby again and when I still couldn't get him, I decided to try and see if any of my sisters could help. Knowing that Sis isn't sure of the route to our home, I dialled Eileen's but my BIL wasn't home and thus, I called Sis. Whilst waiting for my sisters(Li guiding Sis over), hubby phoned back(must have read my urgent msgs) and told me to wait for his return in 20mins' time but as my sisters were already on the way, he then suggested meeting us at the clinic. PX later told me that I had turned 'white' when I saw Renee bleeding, well, that's probably a very natural maternal reaction...

The GP assessed her injuries and advised that it's better for her to have the laceration stitched to prevent a bigger and uglier scar and so, with her referral letter, we rushed over to KKH children's emergency department, in case Renee needed to be sedated. Luckily for us, there weren't alot of patients there this afternoon. I was supposed to go back with Renee myself as hubby needed to attend to some work he's dropped to come over, but he later managed to get his bro to tend to them on his behalf and stayed on.

We were given an option between an application of local anaesthesia or, in case she struggles, a sedation by either inhalent device or injection. Without saying, we went for the formal(but were made to sign on the form for allowing the latter in the case where sedation's really required) and to prevent the sedation, I explained to Renee a couple of times on what would happen should she resist.

Never had I known how a shock could do to one's body and now I knew for sure, it's - sheer Exhaustion. To begin with, I was already feeling tired, still recuperating from the extreme lack of rest/sleep the whole of last week and thus, this was like adding fuel to a fire. Whilst waiting for the anaesthesia to work its magic, hubby went to look for a drink and as much as I tried to control myself, I still succumbed to a doze, though sitting very closely to Renee(arm over back of her seat). What had seemed to me a doze of merely a few seconds had actually been one of about 5-10mins and I awoke to the calls of my child's name(so, it's good thing that they've pronounced her name correctly) to the surgery room.

I was told to place Renee on the 'table' and to prevent her from sudden movement or struggling from fear, she was tightly 'secured' by wraps and her chin was raised up by the nurses placing a small bolster like pillow under her neck. First step - cleaning(to prepare for the stitching) and Renee was so frightened but immediately calmed down(shld have seen the 'eyyy?' look on her, :P) when she felt that there was actually 'no pain' and we knew then, that the 'magic' has taken its effect, :). But the cleaning had made the view of the wound alot more visible and seeing the flesh, I made a face to hubby and I guess 1 of the nurses must have seen the look and quickly asked 'is mommy ok or should daddy hold her?" Oooh, though I'm still ok to hold her, I responded quickly to that suggestion, heee.

3 stitches were initially expected but after the 4th, the doc said a 5th's needed, oh man! In fact, Renee had already started to complain "why so long?" at the start of the 4th and after the 5th, she broke down and teared, awww...

Although hubby had requested the doc to 'make it nice' but to be realistic, he's just a doc at KKH children emergency dept. afterall and we really cannot expect too much(maybe my gynae will do a good job but we can't go to him right?). Anyway, all we can hope for now is that the scar won't be a bad one, *crossing fingers*.

For precaution's sake, the doc had also given us a referral letter for a dentist to check on he teeth/gum and as the centre's already closed by the time we're done, we now have to wait for them to get back to us on the appointment date/time tomorrow. Hubby asked if we could do without it if we find that there aren't any damage but I thought, since her 1st proper dental check is long overdue, we could use this as an opportunity to act on it, :). Let's hope all would be fine.

heart-aching right? It was heart wrenching for me... :(

After the stitches

Stolen!!!

I had been contemplating if to go out today and finally, when PX was leaving, I decided to just go ahead and bring Renee out since we've planned to let her skip school tomorrow(thinking to bring her somewhere). This proved to be not a wise move as it cost me my important documents !!!

I was shopping for vegetables and my bag, though both handles clasped tightly together on the trolley hook(thus narrowing its opening), was without a zipper and that perhaps, made it easier for the thief to grab whatever they were looking for - in this case, my wallet. I had just turned around to choose the vegetables and something nugged at me to look into my bag and check for my wallet. Then it striked me, it was gone! It's funny, it wasn't that crowded but there were people around, including some staff standing at the 'counter stalls' facing me and it seemed like no one had witnessed anything! A maid standing nearby with a child in stroller said she didn't see anything as well, arrrggggghhhhh...

I approached the Cold Storage staff but they couldn't do anything and not wanting to waste anytime there, I went up to OCBC bank to make a report but was told to use the phone there(placed near the ATM machine) and though they were sympathetic, they took sooo long to complete the cancellation of my cards. After I've informed the other banks, I went down to the mall's customer service and again, they also can't do much I supposed and I only left my particulars and details of my lost items(the important ones) so that in the event that any of the items were returned, they could contact me.

Next, I crossed over to SK hub to file a police report. Again, they took a long time to finish the report and although the officer said that they will investigate into the matter, I doubt there's much they could or even will do about it... It's not a big matter, to them, afterall.

When we got back to the mall, I thought, luckily I still had some red packets in my bag(for standbys) which I could use to pay for the vegetables that we had gone there for in the 1st place and so, we went back to CS. Then whilst que-ing up, Renee said she needed to pee, oh man, this is the 2nd time during our short period there, arrgggh. No choice, I had to put the vege back but good thing was that, they were still at the exact spot when I tried my luck going back there later.

It was at the point when she told me that she needed the loo again that I finally almost broke down out of sheer exhaustion/exasperation, but sensing her fear, I tried my best to control myself. And I told myself thereafter that I have to stay calm as I still need to drive back...

This incident had kinda scared Renee and poor her, gotta follow me around making the reports. She had cried when she learnt of the loss and I tried to calm her down by kept telling her that it's

alright and it's not her fault at all, haiz... She must have been very tired and hving only gone to bed not too long ago, I told hubby that we'll just let her skip tomorrow's class. Besides, I have no mood and I don't think I could sleep tonight - in fact, I'm depending on the chocolates now for some form of comfort...

What I only hope now is that the someone who stole my wallet would PLEASSSE return my IDs and whatever cards/contents that are in it to me. I've just found out that I might have to pay S$300 to have my ID card replaced, not to mention that I'd still need to get another wallet, Oh man!!!

I'm trying to take this incident in good stride in the sense that it might be a case of 'Por Cai Dan Zai' but the loss not only caused me to burn a big hole in my pocket, it's also extremely troublesome for me to have those important documents replaced(gotta wait a few months for the ID to be replaced even!), geez! I really hope I could have at least my ID card(it's the most costly and most troublesome) back! Please, please, pleeeaaassseee, :...(

Swollen Thumb 2

Got the cream sis recommended yesterday and it really works! Just after 1 application, the pain reduced quite abit and the swell's also gone down. However, Renee's nagging at night whilst I was washing my face(I tried to quicken up to answer her, thus...) made me hit my thumb onto the tap again, :( and the pain's back... Nevertheless, it is still getting better :

On Friday morning

This morning - u can see the bruise better when it's healing

At my mom's, most of us were already quite full after Li's home-made sushi, so we decided to visit the pasar malam stalls downstairs. Again, Renee's doting aunts Li, let her take the ride(although I felt it's an exp one, aiyoh, 1 dol for a normal ride at a housing estate? Ridiculous, the ones downstairs my mom's are only 20cts each ride) and Elsie bought her the following. Hv told them not to indulge her but as usual, their replies : "aiya, nevermind"...:

I've already got her disney roller stamps some time ago and yet she still chose this, haiz... turned out, it didn't work very well, hahaha. I guess what a golf shop's sales staff has told us is really true - non-export china products, not q-controlled by the brands are really inferior :

one can tell its originality easily by the mixture of 'characters' in a pkg, lolz

but the cards are nicely printed though

Swollen Thumb

Lately, I've been preparing dinner at home(when I say this, I meant for our family, not just Renee's :D) and after our Japanese curry chicken wings dinner few days ago, I thought to prepare another simple meal yesterday since we've got fresh foodstock. I have alot more ingredients than usual to put into our soup this time and I was happily chatting with Renee whilst trying to slice off some pumpkin, not paying much attention since it's not the first time I'm handling such a big half of a pumpkin. I've never thought that pumpkin flesh could actually hurt so badly and as I sliced into it, its flesh sinked under my nail and dug into the bed of my thumb, OUCH! bloody....

It was still ok albeit some soreness but when I woke up this morning, oh man, my thumb's swollen! In fact, I couldn't even have a good night sleep as I was feeling the pain all through the night. This is how it looked this morning... not that bad right? But I tell you, it's super painful and piercing even! I can't even touch a single thing nor do anything with my thumb. I have to try lift off the pot/steamer's cover with my left hand, which is not as agile and thus, got steam burnt a couple of times, though nothing serious 'cos I tried to be extra careful since I can't afford to have my left hand hurt as well.

Not sure if you can see the lower white coloured line under my nail - that's how deep the pumpkin flesh has dug into

In the afternoon, just when I thought it was going to get better, I had to hit my thumb onto something each time I do some chores and thus, the soreness shot up and it's got much redder(my cam can't really relay it though) and the 'white line' has become a greyish patch:

Workshop & Seminar

Daddy drove the car to the reporting centre after we've sent Renee to the school('cos I'm alittle phobic to drive the car now, hopefully it's only for the time being). It's near the workshop, so we just drove over and left it there for what necessary action that's required later(the other party's insurer's surveyor to take photos, etc) whilst the driver of the workshop took us home. We should be able to have my car back by Saturday judging from the minor damages on the surface(not sure if the impact would have caused any damage to the interior as the damage on the other party's car's quite bad).

The preparation of Renee's meal and the seminar kept my mind off the incident('cos the image kept flashing in my mind).

Daddy hadn't the mood for the talk tonight and perhaps, the audience we've got(from advertising in the wrong section of ST) wasn't as suitable, so we finished pretty early and daddy went to meet his overseas client whilst his bro drove me to pick Renee up from Eileen's.

Whilst relating to my sisters online about the accident and when we came to the part where I heard Renee's cry, images flashed again and I felt a rush of emotion... has the effect finally sunk in, is this the real aftermath?

The Accident, The Number

Daddy had always trusted and preferred european made cars to those of asian made for its stability and hard(er) metal. Years ago, he met with an accident that re-enforced his belief on this and today, unfortunately, the incident I've encountered further enhanced that thought(the other vehicle, a Japanese make, has a bad dent and thank goodness, mine was not that bad, given the impact).

We were on our way home from school and at inches(probably a couple metres, i'm no good with this) from the 1st stop line, with the traffic light turning red, I stopped. It wasn't a very slow stop, neither was it an emergency brake(no screeching sound anyway) but this lady behind had to bang head-on to my vehicle's rear. I wasn't even going very fast(as nearing traffic light) and naturally at that distance and speed, I had to stop. I came out to check on the damage and straight away, the lady driver of the other vehicle raised her voice and hand at me :

Driver : "how can u stop like that"

Me : (surprised)"it was amber turning red, I have to stop"
Driver : "Ya, but you cannot stop when it's amber, you have to go"

Me : (shocked this time) "hey, if you asked the traffic police, they'd surely tell you otherwise when you see the lights turning amber."(not to mention we have to slow down when nearing traffic lights/junctions, did she pass her theories? this is sooo basic)

She then continued to argue on her 'dash on when amber' point but I told her she should have kept the appropriate distance in the first place and besides, I have a child in my car, does she really expect me(or even anyone, for that matter) to dash over at that speed? Then, she began to apologise and explained that she was actually turning into my lane to which I told her that she should have been even more careful in that case.

*What's with some drivers these days, still yell at the 'victim' when they're at fault? For those who remembered the case of my car being scratched(at the carpark of Compass Pt, a few months ago) by another lady driver whom insistently went on to park her car, knowing that mine was super near hers? - Same accusationing happened then(for the record, paintwork resurrection was paid by them).

I was still ok and came out to check on the damage but when I went back for my mobile phone, Renee cried out for me and was crying badly. I turned from 'stable' to a state of panic when I heard her complaining of pain at the back of her head and big tears were rolling down her cheeks. I quickly went to check on her and not finding anything serious with my layman knowledge, I went back to tend to the accident situation. I told her that we'd have to move our vehicles off the main road but I would need to take some photos with my mobile phone first and she followed suit. Daddy was on his way to his appointment but he contacted his workshop agent and he arrived shortly after the agent did. Good thing for their existence, 'cos I still have not fully recovered from the shock I've got when I heard Renee's cry and couldn't think straight on what to do next(my past working experiences in related fields didn't help, again...). Even the other lady driver benefitted from their pressence as she was actually at a loss too.

The first thing daddy did upon his arrival was to check on Renee and he then asked me to take her to the Paediatrician for a check-up. However, they were closing when I phoned and they couldn't make an exception as the PD's needed to rush to the hospital, so I headed home.

Once home, normal routine resumed but I maintained a watch-out on Renee for signs of giddiness/sleepiness/vomitting. Blessed, protected, Renee's ok(as per PD after her check-up) and that's all that matters... The PD asked questions on how the accident occurred and about the car seat we're using. She commented that we've made the right choice by using the 5-point harness high back booster, instead of taking on just the booster seat, for stability/security, as she's not of appropriate age/size/height/weight for just the seat alone(luckily I've insisted on this man, though the adjusting knob at the head-rest is an issue for me now).

What's next would be to follow up with the reporting to our insurance companies and so forth and well, you might all think that's about all for now?... but haiz, when daddy was on his way to pick us up from the PD's clinic, he phoned to tell me that our vehicle nos(same no. actually, so only 1 set of number but am not gonna reveal the prize placing to maintain privacy) came out in the 4D results and what's worse was - daddy didn't place his bet!!! Oh man! Although he wouldn't be betting alot but the winnings would still be a pretty good amount and will certainly be handy now especially when he's looking for office locations. Arrrggghhhh...

Daddy was pretty upset about this miss(particularly this) that he got sooo muddle-headed that he forgotten about his handbrake when he came to pick us up from the PD's clinic and the vehicle was moving when he was getting outta car/I was holding on to the door, geez! All I can do now is to urge him to forget about the 'small' missed fortune(small as compared to our safey) and what's ours will be ours in one way or another. Besides, our daughter's fine and that's the best we could ever ask for...

The aftermath - Upon reaching home, I was slowly recomposing myself from the incident but unable to shake off the image which I still remembered very clearly - I still saw her car in my rear view mirror after I've stopped and thinking to myself "*phew, the car's sooo close, luckily it din hit mine" and just in the second when I turned my gaze back to the front, we were 'banged' forward...

*Sob sob*, but we're still friends... :)

When I got to the school after my facial(sooo 'lucky' today to have the HOS-head of salon attending to me!) today, the children were again playing the 'big bad wolf' game at the hall with the teachers. Renee came to me(surprisingly she walked and ran towards me) with a pitiful look and told me that Vanessa had pushed her, causing her to fall and hit the floor, resulting in a rather big lumpy patch on her forehead... :(.

I was just wondering last week how nice if the school allows home-clothes this Friday - with it being the last day of school for the year, 'cos Renee's got 3 pcs of the school T-shirts, so it'll be just 'perfect'(for me, cos i don't have to iron again, haha) if she wears them for only 3 days this week(thursday being the Teacher & Parent Meeting day). Then, I saw the notice in the book - It's home-clothes attire on Friday, Hurray!

We were requested to bring some food/snacks for the children to share during the class party and on our way home just now, I teased Renee if she would share the food with her friends and she went : "I want to share my food with WeiWei, Tony, Kirsten, Vanessa....." Ohhh, I'm glad she's forgiven her friend now when she had earlier pouted that her friend had caused her to fall and had not apologised...

The little big-eyed girl, Vanessa(the tallest in the class and has the longggest hair) looked frightened when she saw me just now and when I smiled at her, she almost teared... Oh geez, she must have been soo afraid that I'll scold her, poor kid... - Renee had also told me that Vanessa only ate biscuits during lunch break(her own) 'cos she doesn't like macaroni and no-one prepared any meal for her to take in school, pooor thing...

Photo Recovery II

Yes, I've got the refund! :D

As I've only been able to recover 3/4 of the pic(though full in preview) with the paid programme, so I emailed them. They provided some explanation, like those I've already read in their Q&A but they were very nice to suggest that if I do not wish to keep the programme for future use, I could give them my order no. and they'll provide me with a full refund.

I've just checked with my card's bank and noted a S$57.45 credit though I was charged S$57.90, why the deduction of S$0.45? exchange rate difference? Doesn't matter, just take it as payment for the 3/4 pic heee.

I've successfully connected the 2 pics together and though if u look really really close, u can see a line but nevertheless, it's good enough for me already :)

Photo Recovery

Some of you whom have tuned in earlier might have seen my 'notice' for technical help/advice.

I was cropping the photos late last night and I must have been too sleepy that I accidentally saved an edited version on one of them(the one of her holding/showing her shells collection on the beach) to its original copy instead of the copy that I've created! Tried frantically to salvage the situaion (even did system restore-back date a few times) but to no avail. Finally gave up due to sheer lethargy at 3am...

When I told daddy about it this morning, he also felt the heartache as that was really a very good pic of Renee! Luckily he didn't scold me hehe. So, since I'm unable to meet the spree organiser to collect the artwork today(again), I decided to stay home instead, cook some soup(for dinner) and get set for more explorations. I put up queries in the forum, emailed photographers and friends but none could help, so I went online to search for more help.

Found a couple and there's one pretty good one(a card recovery prog from USA) but to get the full picture, U'll need to pay. My friend Karen also helped me sourced for a couple more(thanks to her) but sadly, they all ended the same - either have to pay or can't view/retrieve. Most of these programmes would need to read the card from the camera or card reader and I was perspiring like mad, switching from gadget to gadget.

In the end, I telephoned daddy and he said to go ahead and pay for the card recovery programme(S$57.44) but the particular picture that I wanted to recover was only 3/4 when viewed full! Aiyoh! But funny thing is that it's full view in the preview box... why? I don't know, but I've emailed them about it.

Meantime, 'cos I've still got the 'cropped' section, so I tried to 'connect' the 2 pics and finally got a full view(not entirely but at least her face/body is in full view) and I feel sooo relieved! At least I could still have this nice photo though it sure cost a bomb! hehehe

Now I just hope that the merchant would be able to resolve the problem and let me have the full pic back.

Another Fall?

I remembered the first fall she had, which also resulted in her lip bleeding, was when she was much younger and it was the first time she wore a 'tight' skirt(in woven material) - the the skirts she had worn prior to this piece, were usually in soft stretchable cotton and flare in cut, so more 'mobility'. Thus, I guess she wasn't used to it and she was running happily to hug me when she tripped, fell and cut her lip.

This time round, the cut seemed abit 'deeper' :(

It was around 10:30pm, she stood on the potty chair, moved about whilst waiting for me to get her toothbrush ready and perhaps, being a little tired, she lost her balance, slipped and FELL!!! I was squeezing the toothpaste onto her toothbrush then and couldn't catch her on time and she hit her lip against the basin, OUCH!!!

Though it must have hurt badly, she only cried for a short while and later said that she doesn't want to brush her teeth anymore, heeeee - Of cos not, well, at least for tonight or so. Then she started complaining that she won't be able to eat her porridge, golden pear and green pear(her absolute favourite) and pouted...

To pamper her, I told her to go pee and to sleep on my lap whilst I watch the TV on the sofa. Trying to sleep, she started to 'press press' her bolster, touch the sofa, stroke my arm - and that's when/where she saw a tiny patch of blood stain(hers) and started asking what it was(I didn't even know it was there). I just told her that it's just chocolate stain, so as not to trigger her 'pain' and she went "huh, chocolate?".

Slowly patting her to sleep, I had a better time to look at her lip and the sight of the wound just made my heart ached sooooo much... but comforting myself, I just listen to what daddy said "it's actually also good that she has these small falls(hopefully not too often), so she'll learn". But still...

Finally she slept and daddy carried her to her bed. I went in with them to help him but the minute he put her down, she started crying/reaching out for me with out-stretched arms and said that she doesnt want to sleep on her bed. To calm her, I quickly sat down on her bed to comfort her and she soon went back to sleep again... Hope she won't wake up crying tonight :(

The pic below will show U the cut on her lip but -WARNING :

I must warn those who love her lots - it'll break your heart to look at it.

(ok, to offer your aching heart a soothing effect, check out what Daddy said : look at her, she even posed with a slightly opened mouth for you to take the pic! hahaha)

oh, and the tiny patch of blood on my arm(can u spot it?)