Alex's First Safari Party.

People always say that when you organize a birthday party for a baby who will not remember the party, you are actually really doing it for yourself.

That is absolutely true.

Not gonna try to come out with a list of reasons to why I decided to spend money for this party for a  little boy who is way too young to understand and most likely will not enjoy the party anyways. Heh.

Having Alex changed my life - that is one.

I never had a birthday party growing up - that's two.

Having children has always been a dream of mine and now that it is realized, I can only imagine all the future birthday parties I am going to have with them - that is three.

And I have the world's best husband - main reason.

To be honest, I didn't think at first Adrian would be on-board (so quickly) with the idea of having a party to celebrate Alex's birthday. I thought I would need to do more convincing and stuff like that.

But all I did was ask him this - "Baby, what is your budget to celebrate Alex's first birthday?"

And his answer blew me away - quite literally as I was taken aback and fell further off on the sofa. I remembered giving him that confused look and asked him again the question.

He obviously read my expression and immediately lowered down the number. Hah. But it was still way higher that I thought he would agree.

So, that was my green light to proceed with the planning. I Instead of having a small one with families, I decided to go bigger (a bit) and put a max of invitee at 100.

My main people were definitely both Rachel and Vanessa - and the 'official committees' and 'non-offficial committees'. Hah.

Thank you guys for helping out! You guys are the bombs!

And thank you Indy for taking these photos of the event.

Most of the decorating items were bought in Shopee because cheap cheap ya.

The hardest part in planning this party was definitely finding the right place to have it. I have probably emailed/whatsapped to at least 15 cafes/potential venues and most of them were either too small or too expensive. So glad we finally found Tummy Bowl.

It only crossed my mind to have it there as I love eating poke bowl and although Adrian had never tried them, he trusted my judgement. But of course I needed to let him try first.

After his first try at Tummy Bowl, he was having them at least once a week - kid you not. He dined there so often until the owner also knows him by name already. Heh.

Then, I did the invitation card using Canva. Proud of myself please thank you.

I ordered 20 chocolate cupcakes from Sweet Creations at RM8 and there were super yummy! It was bitter sweet so it was really easy to eat as it's not overly sweet like most chocolate cupcakes. Rachel made the main cake for Alex to smash.

Then, we have some people helping to do some side dishes as well.

Okaylah, I think nothing much to say already. Just enjoy the photos!

So as you can see, Alex did not really enjoy the party ya. He was a little bit more cranky than usual and maybe because suddenly so many people surrounding him and his nap before the party was really short so ya. But we did have fun. We still continued taking photos and laughing despite him crying. Horrible parents us. Heh.

Thank you for all your presents and angpows - we really appreciate all of them! Sha Lynn and Daryl helped to unwrap them and of course they quickly pick which one they were going to have since some of the items, Alex still too young to use. Heh.

Thank you also for taking your time on a Saturday to make this a happening one. I know at one point, the place because really crowded and noisy and hot but I guess that's what makes a party a party, right? Hah.

Now the next question is will you still have a party when Alex turns two? - Uhhh, obviously yes. Hah.

But seriously, thank you all for loving Alex (and us). Heh.

For Alex Koay (our firstborn son), 

Our main desire for you is that as you grow up, you will find your identity in your Creator and not in the world, not in your friends and definitely not according to both dady and me. We want you to pursue the things of God and to be His salt and light to this broken world. 

We don't want you to chase money and fame. We want you to know who God is and be His hands and feet to the people. We pray that in everything that you do or say or show, you do all of them with God's love, and that you will love people like how God loves. Most importantly, we pray that you will have an intimate relationship with the Lord and walks always in His ways. You are his. 

We love you forever, you cheeky ball. 

Till next time, bye now. 

Alex Fights Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) at 3-Months-Old.

So, I thought it is time to talk and post on when RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) decided to attack a three-months-old baby boy, named Alex Koay.

It all started with coughing and flu and then it got worse with phlegm building up and he was just not sleeping and breathing rightly.

We went to see the doctor and he was given some medicine and his very first session of going through the nebulizer. He took like a champ please. He was so curious with the smoke coming out but did not fuss at all - though feeling super uncomfortable.

Then, few days later, his body started showing red marks and slowly over the next few days, his entire body would be in red - like tomato red. He was not in pain though. He was just struggling to breathe properly because of the flu and cough (becoming worse).

It was a scary time for Adrian and myself because we were just clueless on what was happening. Dahlah Alex had to deal with having thick phlegm on his throat and coughing his lungs out and having fever every now and then, he still had this tomato-redness going on.

Adrian was panicking and that made me panicked because it was just insane. Like I have never seen that on Sha Lynn or Daryl so this is new and alien to me.

I remembered we rushed him to Adventist's Emergency because it was just too scary.

Doctor Mary (on-call) checked him and let him go home to be monitored. But he was not getting better. We returned to the hospital the next day (I think) and decided to see Dr Pong instead. He checked his breathing and immediately asked for Alex to be given an oxygen tube because his oxygen level was dropping and abnormal.

Turns out the redness was an allergy reaction to don't know what. Doctor initially thought it was Ventolin but when the redness was gone, we tried again and he never turned red again. So, it shouldn't be the Ventolin. Or anything that he was drinking because he was fine with Similac.

Till today, it remained a mystery to what causes the redness on his entire body.

At that moment, I thought the inner-me crashed. Of course I still held it together because if I panic, Adrian sure also panic. Hah. But we were in good hands so we know all will only get better. It was heartbreaking nevertheless to see Alex being poked (first time) with needles and put on an oxygen tube. He was crying the entire time because it must have been too scary for him to be surrounded by people wearing masks and gloves. I would too please. Heh.

Thinking back right, it was quite drama la to be honest. They put him on a big roller-bed and rolled him out using the main entrance where everyone was at, and it felt like everyone was probably thinking, "Wah this is serious wei. This baby gotoxygen tube all"

Then, we went to the main lifts because the staff-lifts were all under maintenance and the bed could not fit inside. Even with the main lifts, we had to lift one side of the bed up and everyone was squeezed up real bad.

I was just staring at Alex who by then had fallen asleep with all the pushing around. I should have slept on the bed with him and have them push us around la. I was beyond exhausted at that point of time - physically and emotionally drained.

Adrian went to do all the admission paperwork thing so he met us upstairs when we checked-into the Isolation Ward.

They had removed the curtain (or it was already missing I don't know) to monitor Alex's oxygen level throughout the night. And that means zero privacy for us.

Felt like we were animals in a zoo because other parents and children would walked pass our room and stopped at the window and just stared at us on the inside. It was the most awkward thing ever.

And we were not allowed to bring Alex out of the room because RSV can spread okay so stay in the room nia. No fresh air whatsoever for 5-days.

We stayed every night with him (of course) and because he was only 3-months old, he still needed to be rocked to sleep and also because he was feeling really bleh - which we didn't mind really but it was tiring to the max.

The hospital bill came up to about RM6000 (I think - averagely RM1000 per night) but Prudential covered it all so yay.

So, this was it.

His very first hospitalization story at 3-months old.

What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger okay.

Stronger and better. All of us :)