G12, Canon 550D, Canon S95, Lumix LX5?

I have been thinking of buying a proper camera for the longest time but I don't know if I will be able to take nice photos. 

My main subject will be of course, my precious girl Larissa. I need something that has high shutter speed but is not too bulky so that I can carry it with me all the time. I am pretty new at photography so I guess a full fledge DSLR like the Canon 550D is out of my league. 

Here are the camera that I am considering. 

Canon G12

Canon S95

Any photography buffs out there who can give this mummy a hand and let me know whats the main difference between the camera and which one is recommended?

Attack of the Rashes!

As Larissa's fever started to subside, ugly rashes started to rear their heads.

It started out on the third day into her fever, a little bit on her thighs and a little bit on the back of her arm. Overnight, the rashes seem to spread like wild fire and the next morning, they appeared on her tummy and legs.

This was on the 4th day

This was taken today

The rashes spread to her private parts

And finally, to her face

From the pictures, you cannot see the rashes properly but it was very red and angry looking. There was so much rashes that I brought her to the pediatrician again earlier to have it checked out. Thankfully, the pediatrician confirmed that Larissa is recovering well and the rashes are a sign of her recovering.

Finally Getting Better!

After so many days of torture, Larissa's condition is finally showing improvement.

Yesterday afternoon, her temperature seem to have gone down to her normal body temperature of about 36.6 degrees. Being the kiasi mummy, I insisted on giving her another dose of paracetamol just to make sure that the fever is gone for good.

She fell asleep at 7.30pm, woke up for milk at about 9.30pm and she slept for quite some time before waking up wailing. There is something different about her cries at night though. In the past, when she is hungry for milk, she will simply sit up and whimper a bit, just enough to wake me up so that I feed her but last night, she woke up wailing like she was in pain or something and she will refuse to let me carry her so I have to let her wail for a while before she is ready to be carried. Anyway, she woke up and wailed about 2 times but she fell back to sleep after a bit of cuddling. The third time, she woke up at 4 am and refused to go back to sleep. I had to let her crawl around a bit and let her get tired before I carry her and cradle her to sleep.

In the morning, I confirm that her fever is gone for good! Yay! Yippee! Hooraay!

However, she still rejected her morning milk feed and took only a few spoons of porridge for lunch. As she took so little food, I tried to give her a milk feed but she still rejected. Sighs. I can only hope that she starts eating soon or she might become a skinny lil girl.

Another Trip to the Pediatrician

Another sleepless night last night. I had the aircon on at 25 degrees to ensure that it is cool enough for Larissa. She woke up a few times throughout the night and I had to soothe her so I woke up in the morning feeling like a zombie.

This morning, after Larissa woke up, she propped the upper half of her body on my bolster while she squatted in a frog leg position. I was observing her as she went about moving herself and after lying still for a while I can hear her moving her bowels. It seems like she is having pretty bad diarrhea. She lay still for a while after that and I went to tell my mother-in-law to get the water ready to bathe Larissa.

After showering her, we brought her down to the pediatrician. After a thorough examination of Larissa, the doctor concluded that she was having a gastric infection. Gave her some meds and we were sent home.

I think I am really too tired. I can't take it anymore. Especially with Larissa refusing all food and only has minimal milk intake. I am starting to snap at Larissa and I have an urge to just strangle her. Sighs. I wonder when will the torture stop.

Larissa's First Fever

On Saturday evening, I brought Larissa to West Coast Park for my colleague's birthday celebration. We were there for only about 2 hours. We reached home at about 10pm and when I showered Larissa to get ready for bed, I felt that she is a bit warm to the touch but I thought it was only because she was teething and I did not give it too much thought.

On Sunday morning, Larissa was very irritable and cried at every little thing. I found that a bit weird as she is usually an independent baby. However, I confirmed that she is sick only when I tried to feed her lunch. She rejected all her food and spit everything out. I started to panic soon after. I was at my mother's place and my thermometer was at my mother-in-law's place.

I checked with my mom and she assured me that it was probably only because baby was teething. Later when I got back to my mother-in-law's place at about 4.30pm, I took her temperature and it measured 38.3degrees. I freaked out. It was a Sunday and no pediatrician is open, it means that I will have to bring her to the hospital. I tried to feed Larissa some paracetamol before we went to the hospital but Larissa hates the paracetamol and every time I try to feed her will result in her vomiting. We cleaned her up, gave her a shower and got her ready for the hospital. However, before we were about to get her out of the house, I took another reading of her temperature and it read 37.6 degrees so we decided that we shall not go to the hospital first and observe her at home. That night, she woke up several times as she was very uncomfortable and I had to soothe her. At times, it simply means having to cradle her in my arms for a long long time. That night, her temperature at 4am read 39.1 degrees.

The next morning, first thing in the morning we got her cleaned and we brought her to the pediatrician. Apparently, there is nothing wrong with her. The only thing the doctor found was that her throat was quite red, probably a sore throat and its probably viral. There is no medication for her, the only thing is to make sure she is comfortable and to bring down the fever. The doctor prescribed some neubrofen but I am determined not to let Larissa take the medication unless her fever hits 39 degrees.

I wipe her down every other hour and I bathe her twice a day. She is still rejecting food but she is still latching on. Rashes have appeared on her thighs and I'm suspecting that its false measles and if it is, it means that the fever is gonna break soon.

It is heartbreaking to see my girl so sick and especially so when she vomits every time she takes the medication. I tried to give her all 5 mls at one shot and it ended up pretty bad with her vomiting all over. The method that works is one which I give her one mls at a time and I have to press her nose to make sure she swallows.

She is starting to have diarrhea, which I am unsure if its one of the symptoms of false measles but I am hoping that she will recover soon. Sighs....

Attack of the Rashes!

As Larissa's fever started subsiding, rashes started to appear on her body.

It started out as tiny patches of redness on her thighs and arms. On the fourth day, a lot of rashes came on her tummy and a little on her back.

This morning, the rashes were so red and angry looking that they scared me.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Caught?

I received a call from my mother yesterday which gave me a shock. The first words she said was to tell me to leave my husband. When I further questioned her, she said that my sister had just spotted my husband holding another woman and even carrying her handbag at Bugis MRT. That is not possible, he was supposed to be at work! What is he doing at Bugis?

I was in shock and denial at the point of time. I called my husband immediately and asked him where is he. He told me that he is in the train and at Somerset MRT already. I questioned him if he went to Bugis and the answer was unfortunately a yes.

Why is he at Bugis when he was supposed to be at work? What was he doing? Was he there with a girl? His answer is that he was with his colleague waiting for his work to start but his work was cancelled last minute and his colleague was then sent him to Bugis MRT. So he went there to buy my favourite yogurt and wanted to give me a surprise at home.

My sister is very sure that she saw my husband and says that he was only 10 meters away from her when she saw him. He was chasing the train when my sister saw him and when he saw my sister, he only ran even faster and he boarded the train just before the doors closed.

Now, I check with my sister what he was wearing and she says that he is wearing a pink tshirt with black bermudas. When I got home, he was wearing a orangey tshirt with white bermudas and my mother in law swears that he did not change after reaching home.

Now, what am I to do?!

Larissa's Birthday Chalet Day 2

D went home as he had to work in the morning so there were only Larissa and myself in the chalet room through the night. I woke up before Larissa did and managed to get myself showered before Larissa woke up. She woke up at 8-ish, I bathed, changed her and we are out of the room for me to grab a bite and to take a walk around before my sister in laws wake up.

I grabbed some take away toast and we wandered around Costa Sands. Luckily I brought my MIM sling and I could sling her and bring her around the premise. There is a small fish pond in front of the stage at the entrance of Costa Sands and I tell you, it has got HUGE fishes! Really huge! I do have to admit that I am a bit afraid that they might just jump up and bite. Well, that what the fishes in the pond my primary school used to do. They'd jump up for food and the water in the pond is murky so we can't see the fishes.

hmm...fishes?

hey fishy fishy fishy!

ignoring me?

The pictures really don't do the fishes any justice. They are really BIG! Do pop by and take a look for yourself the next time you are there. After just 10 mins of looking at the fishes, Larissa got cranky already. Time for us to head back to the chalet to let her get her nap.

Back at the chalet, my sister and mother in laws are still asleep and so I put Larissa down to sleep and I took a short nap. The plan was to bring Larissa for a swim or to Wild Wild Wet to have some fun in the afternoon. My inlaws got up late, probably 1pm and Larissa was up soon after.

As we got ready to go to the swimming pool, it started raining. Damnit, what rotten luck we have. I have already changed Larissa and myself into our swimming suits and yet we're stuck in the rain till it stops. So, while waiting, I decided to unwrap Larissa's birthday presents and let her take pictures with them all.

After a few photos, it became evident that the rain is not gonna stop anytime soon so my mother in law suggested that we change her into her birthday dress and take photos of her, which I did.

The rain came to a drizzle at about 4 pm and I had enough of waiting. Since we have free tickets, I decided to bring her to Kids Explorer instead. So, I told my sister and mother in law to bring Larissa to Kids Explorer first and I will join them after I showered and changed. When I got there, they have not entered the place as my mother in law refuses to go in if we need to buy the socks and pay for entry. In the end, only myself and Larissa went in there.

As Larissa still cannot walk, there is not much that she can do. I brought her into the ball pit and put her in. Its the first time that she is in there and she was overwhelmed. She cried when I put her in and held onto me tightly. However, after about 15 mins of warming up, she got used to the balls and the sinking into the balls. LOL. She soon started picking up the balls and throwing and even tried to chew on the balls. She still held onto me for fear of losing me though. So cute. heehee...

We got back at about 6.30pm and they started barbequeing again. My husband's side of relatives came for a second round of barbeque. I had to settle Larissa down for her dinner and to shower her later on. She started fussing at about 8.30pm and I put her down to bed. After she fell asleep, I stayed outside for a while longer and at about 9.30pm, I heard her wailing. When I got into the room, it was too late and she cried so hard she vomited all over the beds. Sighs...My poor darling. I had to wipe her again and play with her awhile before she could go back to sleep. This time, I decided to stay in the room with her and thats how my night ended. 

It was a pity that it kept raining throughout the 2 days we were there and Larissa is too young to play at Wild Wild Wet or to enjoy herself at Kids Explorer. Maybe I will book again next year when Larissa is older to bring her there to play. 

Larissa's Birthday Chalet Day 1

This is a long post so its gonna be a 2 or 3 part post. Do me a favor and click on the ads above and on the right okays? Thanks!

Wow, its finally over! We had a three day two night chalet over the weekend at Costa Sands Downtown East to celebrate Larissa's very first birthday.

The day started early, I was woken up by Larissa at about 8am. From the moment we woke up, it was a  crazy frenzy to get things ready. My mother-in-law had to get preparation ready. They prepared fried bee hoon, fried rice, fishballs, nuggets, chicken curry and some cooked vegetables to bring over to the chalet for the guests later. Everyone had to help out as there was so much to do.

At about 12 noon, I went to the shop at Sembawang MRT to have Larissa's photos developed to fit them in the 12 month picture book. I only got back at about 1pm and I had to start packing. I hate packing coz its so stressful! I remembered going on a trip to Malacca when I was in Primary 5 and guess what? I forgot to pack all my pants and had to spend the entire trip in my school dress. Luckily it was only a three day 2 night trip or I would probably start stinking. You know whats worse? I brought 2 school skirts to Malacca and only came back with one. Can you imagine how a person like me is going to pack for 2, myself and Larissa? LOL. I had to go over the items in the luggage like, 200 times to make sure that I did not miss out anything and I am glad to say that I did not miss out anything this time! Boy, am I proud of myself!

We initially wanted to check in the chalet at 2.30pm but due to delays here and there, we only checked in the chalet at about 3.30pm. So little time and yet so much to do! My guests will start streaming in at 5pm and I had to do up the decorations and blow up the balloons. This I was damn angry I tell you. I think Downtown East uses bloody non-stick wall paint or what, I tried like 200 times with so much tape and yet the decorations I hung up would drop whenever I walked away. Seriously, FML. In the end, I decided to not give the decorations a damn.

Larissa fell asleep on the way to the chalet and woke up soon after we arrived so she was super cranky throughout her birthday celebration. She only managed to "hang on" till about 9pm and I had to put her down to sleep almost right after the cake cutting.

Did I ever mention that my husband has got A LOT of relatives? There were so many of them swarming the area that night that I think my relatives and friends got overwhelmed. Even I myself was overwhelmed by them though I had met them before.

Later the night, my side of the relatives came, only my uncle's family, paternal grandma, my dad and my mom came. So freaking little when compared to my husband's side. Anyway, that night, I came to realize that an online friend's husband's mom's sister is my dad's brother's wife. Very long winded but somehow connected. LOL. Small world isn't it? heehee...

At about 12am, my friends were still hanging around and I decided to take a shower before joining them for a chat. Guess what? They were all gone after I came out from the shower! That cut my night short and I went to join Larissa in lala-land soon after.

Here's some photos from the first day of the chalet.

This is the cake I baked that turned out to be like a brownie as it was only 2 inch high.

Larissa in the princessy dress that Mich bought for her.

I actually prepared a pretty hairclip for Larissa but like mommy, she hates to have accessories of any kind and proceeded to tug it out even if it means tugging her hair out as well.

My mom, myself and Larissa. Do we resemble each other?

Finally a photo of me and Hazel. Shane is sooo cute! Can we exchange babies for a day?

All the babies! The biggest baby is the youngest, guess which baby is that!