Our poor little boy's tummy doesn't agree with the amoxicillin at all. Everything seems to pass straight through him (I am sure after a lot of discomfort and pain for him). He has been having over 7 very wet bowel movements the last two days. Believe it or not, we haven't really had blow out diapers until now! He is also not eating much. I did go back to the clinic yesterday and got a prescription of lactobicillus to help rebuild the "good" bacteria in his tummy. However, it doesn't seem to be working yet. He actually seems more gassy than before. We are trying to make sure he gets enough fluids by giving him pedialyte and water.
His ear infection seemed to be getting better yesterday as he was not pulling his ear and he seemed very happy last night. But for some reason, it seemed worse today. He started pulling his ear again, had a low grade fever this afternoon and was generally more grumpy.
Sometimes is so hard to tell when he is not feeling good cause he doesn't cry and scream like other babies. He just becomes a bit more grumpy and groans and whines more. Our poor little boy.
We would really appreciate it if you can say a prayer for our poor little boy!
Thank you very much,
Sonia
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Isaac's First Ear Infection
Dear all,
Our poor little guy got his first ear infection. I am not sure if this is related to the weaning of my pumping and therefore him not getting breastmilk anymore (he won't eat any of my frozen breastmilk). In any case, he started pulling his ear but not that often about a week ago. As it happened quite far and few in between, I just continued to observe him. Last night, when I came home from work, he was really pulling his right ear almost all evening. Plus he had a slight fever of 99.5 F. We called Dr. Che last night and he called us back (can I just say Dr. Che is really, really awesome?) and told us to give him a bit of tylenol and observe. Isaac's fever was gone this morning but both Jong and I had a gut feeling so we wanted to bring him into the clinic anyway and Dr. Che was able to fit us into his busy schedule in the morning. In any case, he checked and Isaac's right ear is "angry red" and confirmed that he indeed has an ear infection. I was just really glad I listened to my instinct and brought him in. Dr. Che said he always listens to mommy's instincts (again, isn't he awesome?). Isaac is now taking amoxicillin. Unfortunately, the amoxicillin is causing him to have diarrhea but we are praying and hoping that it will get better and most importantly that his ear infection completely heals!
Your prayers for our little guy would be much appreciated!
God bless,
Sonia
Our poor little guy got his first ear infection. I am not sure if this is related to the weaning of my pumping and therefore him not getting breastmilk anymore (he won't eat any of my frozen breastmilk). In any case, he started pulling his ear but not that often about a week ago. As it happened quite far and few in between, I just continued to observe him. Last night, when I came home from work, he was really pulling his right ear almost all evening. Plus he had a slight fever of 99.5 F. We called Dr. Che last night and he called us back (can I just say Dr. Che is really, really awesome?) and told us to give him a bit of tylenol and observe. Isaac's fever was gone this morning but both Jong and I had a gut feeling so we wanted to bring him into the clinic anyway and Dr. Che was able to fit us into his busy schedule in the morning. In any case, he checked and Isaac's right ear is "angry red" and confirmed that he indeed has an ear infection. I was just really glad I listened to my instinct and brought him in. Dr. Che said he always listens to mommy's instincts (again, isn't he awesome?). Isaac is now taking amoxicillin. Unfortunately, the amoxicillin is causing him to have diarrhea but we are praying and hoping that it will get better and most importantly that his ear infection completely heals!
Your prayers for our little guy would be much appreciated!
God bless,
Sonia
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
This is my story, This is my song.
This really will be my last blog entry tonight. I was having trouble falling asleep and read my friend's blog. In her blog entry, she mentioned the chorus of a hymn I haven't sang for a long time. I remembered how I used to like this hymn so I went to look for the lyrics:
Blessed Assurance
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with his goodness, lost in His love.
(Refrain)
I don't think I ever really understood the lyrics before when I used to sing this hymn. As I am approaching Isaac's and Rachel's birthday, a bittersweet day for me, my mind started playing the "what-if" games again.
Singing this hymn again made me think that the writer of the hymn probably went through some pretty difficult times. This hymn is so much more meaningful after having gone through last year. I am reminded that:
This is MY story, This is MY song.
Jesus wrote MY story and MY song the way it is.
Oh, how I want to be praising my Savior all the day long for my story and my song. How I want to be perfectly submitted to Christ. To be lost in His Love. To be able to do this all the time and not just once in a while.
My prayer this week and next is that I can sing this and mean it every day of my life:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
Blessed Assurance
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
(Refrain)
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with his goodness, lost in His love.
(Refrain)
I don't think I ever really understood the lyrics before when I used to sing this hymn. As I am approaching Isaac's and Rachel's birthday, a bittersweet day for me, my mind started playing the "what-if" games again.
Singing this hymn again made me think that the writer of the hymn probably went through some pretty difficult times. This hymn is so much more meaningful after having gone through last year. I am reminded that:
This is MY story, This is MY song.
Jesus wrote MY story and MY song the way it is.
Oh, how I want to be praising my Savior all the day long for my story and my song. How I want to be perfectly submitted to Christ. To be lost in His Love. To be able to do this all the time and not just once in a while.
My prayer this week and next is that I can sing this and mean it every day of my life:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Isaac's Girlfriend
This warrants its own title. I wanted to introduce you to Isaac's first girlfriend. Its purely an online love right now and they haven't met yet. But you never know how things might turn out later... Her name is Alicia. ^_^
Sonia
Sonia
Earthquake in Japan - We are okay
Dear all,
A few people have asked us if we are okay after seeing the news on the earthquake in Japan. The earthquake was in Northern Japan and quite far away from Tokyo. Although some people said they felt it, we didn't and we feel earthquakes all the time. We are always a bit concerned about the "big" one that is supposed to hit Tokyo any day. The good news is our apartment is in a brand new building and should be pretty safe in an earthquake and so is my office. The only question is I am not so sure how safe Jong's office is since its in an older building. Hopefully, we won't have to worry about it!
I should have taken a picture but we put a baseball cap on Isaac for the first time today before my dad took him out for a little walk in the morning as I was leaving for work as the weather was beautiful. Isaac was so funny because he kept looking up at the bill of the baseball cap wondering what was going on with his head! That image kept me chuckling all day at work today!
Well, I gotta go for now.
Take care,
Sonia
A few people have asked us if we are okay after seeing the news on the earthquake in Japan. The earthquake was in Northern Japan and quite far away from Tokyo. Although some people said they felt it, we didn't and we feel earthquakes all the time. We are always a bit concerned about the "big" one that is supposed to hit Tokyo any day. The good news is our apartment is in a brand new building and should be pretty safe in an earthquake and so is my office. The only question is I am not so sure how safe Jong's office is since its in an older building. Hopefully, we won't have to worry about it!
I should have taken a picture but we put a baseball cap on Isaac for the first time today before my dad took him out for a little walk in the morning as I was leaving for work as the weather was beautiful. Isaac was so funny because he kept looking up at the bill of the baseball cap wondering what was going on with his head! That image kept me chuckling all day at work today!
Well, I gotta go for now.
Take care,
Sonia
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Spring Equinox
Dear all,
Yesterday, Wed March 21 was Spring Equinox and a national holiday in Japan. I enjoyed having an extra day to play with Isaac and took a couple of videos. Of course, Isaac basically wore me out and I didn't get around to uploading the videos last night but better late and never.
Isaac has this toy where you are supposed to throw a ball into the container and you get rewarded by music, sounds and lights that come on after you put the ball into the container. Isaac of course has his own idea of how he would like to play with this toy. Ever since he started crawling, he would basically crawl up to this toy, open up the door where the colorful balls come out and try to eat or lick them. I finally recorded this on video.
The second video is actually probably kind of boring. Its just Isaac crawling around. But since Jong is still in the US and missing Isaac lots and lots. I thought I'd post it anyway.
We will have a tough week next week. Remy will be taking a week off to go back to the Philippines for her daughter's high school graduation. Since the end of March is one of the busiest times at work because its financial year end in Japan, I cannot take the week off. So my dad is arriving tomorrow to help my mom out. My parents will take care of Isaac while I am at work, and I will come home and take care of Isaac as soon as I can. I will also be the one getting up to feed him (he still wakes up once or twice each night) and will have to do this with no naps during the day! Remy is Isaac's favorite feeding person and tends to not eat as well on the days Remy has off but so far, she only takes one day off here and there. So please pray that Isaac will eat well with us next week. Please also pray that Isaac will not wear my parents out too much during the day and may be even be able to miraculously sleep through the nights next week for mommy! Jong will also be back on Saturday but he has been so busy lately. Hopefully he won't be too busy next week!
My guess is I probably won't be posting much next week!
God bless,
Sonia
Yesterday, Wed March 21 was Spring Equinox and a national holiday in Japan. I enjoyed having an extra day to play with Isaac and took a couple of videos. Of course, Isaac basically wore me out and I didn't get around to uploading the videos last night but better late and never.
Isaac has this toy where you are supposed to throw a ball into the container and you get rewarded by music, sounds and lights that come on after you put the ball into the container. Isaac of course has his own idea of how he would like to play with this toy. Ever since he started crawling, he would basically crawl up to this toy, open up the door where the colorful balls come out and try to eat or lick them. I finally recorded this on video.
The second video is actually probably kind of boring. Its just Isaac crawling around. But since Jong is still in the US and missing Isaac lots and lots. I thought I'd post it anyway.
We will have a tough week next week. Remy will be taking a week off to go back to the Philippines for her daughter's high school graduation. Since the end of March is one of the busiest times at work because its financial year end in Japan, I cannot take the week off. So my dad is arriving tomorrow to help my mom out. My parents will take care of Isaac while I am at work, and I will come home and take care of Isaac as soon as I can. I will also be the one getting up to feed him (he still wakes up once or twice each night) and will have to do this with no naps during the day! Remy is Isaac's favorite feeding person and tends to not eat as well on the days Remy has off but so far, she only takes one day off here and there. So please pray that Isaac will eat well with us next week. Please also pray that Isaac will not wear my parents out too much during the day and may be even be able to miraculously sleep through the nights next week for mommy! Jong will also be back on Saturday but he has been so busy lately. Hopefully he won't be too busy next week!
My guess is I probably won't be posting much next week!
God bless,
Sonia
Monday, March 19, 2007
Videos and a Prayer Request for a Friend
Well, Jong is away traveling again so its more active posting for me! Here are some videos for your viewing pleasure. ^_^
This is a really cute one of Isaac eating apple tonight. He just looks sooooo cute when he eats something he likes! He is funny when he doesn't like something. We found out that he doesn't like avocado last week. He took one big bite and then had a funny expression on his face (bad taste in his mouth type expression) and started spitting it all back out. I think its because the avocado tasted too bland. A lot of preemies don't like bland food and need stronger tasting food. After his avocado experience, he would only take a small first bite each time we start feeding him to confirm that he likes what he is eating first. He has very picky taste buds!!!
It seems like Isaac can play peek-a-boo with me. When I first got home tonight, I had him on his belly on my bed and he was digging his face in and I would put my face next to his head and he would look up and laugh at me when he sees me. We kept doing this for a while (with me coming in from his left and right side randomly). When I taped him after his bath tonight, he was kind of doing the same thing.
The following video is from a couple of weeks ago. It was of Isaac army crawling. He can crawl much faster and better now. I haven't had a chance to catch him crawling on video lately as I want to do it when he is not too tired (and when I can remember the video camera!). Hopefully I can get one done soon.
I would like to ask you to pray for my friend S. She got pregnant with twins through Snowflakes Embryo Adoption (adoption of frozen embryos). However, she started cramping and bleeding really badly at around 7 weeks pregnant and has been on bed rest since. She learned late last week that one of her twins didn't make it but her other twin's heart was still beating strong. However, she is still bleeding and cramping badly. She is on strict bedrest and I know from first hand experience how difficult that is - and its more difficult for her as she has other kids. I know how hard it is to have to just lie there and wait, not knowing if your child will make it or not (and having to grieve another child). Each day seems to drag out sooooo long while you are trying so hard to control your thoughts and your fears and to try to trust in God. She is only at 8.5 weeks now and has a long way to go. Please pray for her and her baby. Please pray for God's miraculous healing so that her bleeding and cramping will completely stop so that she can carry her precious baby to term. She has been so heavy on my heart lately. Thank you very much.
God bless,
Sonia
This is a really cute one of Isaac eating apple tonight. He just looks sooooo cute when he eats something he likes! He is funny when he doesn't like something. We found out that he doesn't like avocado last week. He took one big bite and then had a funny expression on his face (bad taste in his mouth type expression) and started spitting it all back out. I think its because the avocado tasted too bland. A lot of preemies don't like bland food and need stronger tasting food. After his avocado experience, he would only take a small first bite each time we start feeding him to confirm that he likes what he is eating first. He has very picky taste buds!!!
It seems like Isaac can play peek-a-boo with me. When I first got home tonight, I had him on his belly on my bed and he was digging his face in and I would put my face next to his head and he would look up and laugh at me when he sees me. We kept doing this for a while (with me coming in from his left and right side randomly). When I taped him after his bath tonight, he was kind of doing the same thing.
The following video is from a couple of weeks ago. It was of Isaac army crawling. He can crawl much faster and better now. I haven't had a chance to catch him crawling on video lately as I want to do it when he is not too tired (and when I can remember the video camera!). Hopefully I can get one done soon.
I would like to ask you to pray for my friend S. She got pregnant with twins through Snowflakes Embryo Adoption (adoption of frozen embryos). However, she started cramping and bleeding really badly at around 7 weeks pregnant and has been on bed rest since. She learned late last week that one of her twins didn't make it but her other twin's heart was still beating strong. However, she is still bleeding and cramping badly. She is on strict bedrest and I know from first hand experience how difficult that is - and its more difficult for her as she has other kids. I know how hard it is to have to just lie there and wait, not knowing if your child will make it or not (and having to grieve another child). Each day seems to drag out sooooo long while you are trying so hard to control your thoughts and your fears and to try to trust in God. She is only at 8.5 weeks now and has a long way to go. Please pray for her and her baby. Please pray for God's miraculous healing so that her bleeding and cramping will completely stop so that she can carry her precious baby to term. She has been so heavy on my heart lately. Thank you very much.
God bless,
Sonia
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Long Overdue Update
I don't know what happened but I had every intention to update our blog last weekend after our series of doctor's appt. But somehow, time flew again. I spend every weekday running between work and home to try to get work done but still squeeze some time in with Isaac. Then on Saturdays I usually run errands and on Sundays I spend the whole day taking care of Isaac.
Anyway, the doctor's appointments went well. We first went to St. Luke's on Wed March 7 for Isaac's "official" follow up. Dr. Kusakawa was very happy with Isaac's development. Isaac put on a show and commando crawled for Dr. K. Isaac is currently able to breathe on his own when he is awake but still needs supplemental oxygen when he is sleeping. Dr. K said said that they will probably do a sleep study on Isaac in early May to see if he can come off of oxygen completely. This will involve a monitor that can record his oxygen saturation levels all night. Isaac was okay till he got his Synargis (anti-RS virus) shot. Unfortunately, they use very long needles at St. Luke's. Poor baby.
We then went back to Toho to have Isaac's eyes checked out on Thurs March 8. It was very good timing because both Isaac's NICU primary nurse Ayako-san and Isaac's GCU nurse Imae-san were working the day shift that day and we were able to visit them after Isaac got the eye drops to dilate his eyes and we had to wait 30 minutes before the eye doctor checked his eyes:
When it was time to have his eyes checked, the doctors took Isaac from us into a room. We figured it was not fun for Isaac because by the time they took him out, he looked pretty worn out. Poor, poor baby. The good news was his eyes were fine (because of the language barrier, that's about all we got from the doctors. lol).
On Friday March 9, we took Isaac to Dr. Che at the international clinic for immunization shots. This time, Isaac figured out that it wasn't going to be a fun visit and whined the whole time we were there (so far he has never complained when we go to the doctors and would only cry for a little bit after getting shots). Fortunately, Dr. Che uses much shorter needles so it wasn't too bad for poor little Isaac. We put shoes on Isaac for the first time for his visit with Dr. Che. Check out Isaac looking cool in his New Balance sneakers:
We invited Pastor Dennis and Judi over for dinner on March 8 Thursday after our Toho visit. It was there first time to meet Isaac. We had great fun and fellowship that night.
The rest of the pictures are from this past week and this weekend.
What's Daddy and Isaac up to?
I haven't taken sleeping pictures of Isaac for a while so I took a few on Saturday:
I also realized I haven't taken bath time pictures of Isaac so here is one (*For those of you who checked earlier, you will notice that I took out a few pictures. Jong didn't think the conveniently placed leaf was big enough and that Isaac was going to get mad at me when he gets older, so I took them out ;)).
Hope you all have a blessed week!
Sonia
Anyway, the doctor's appointments went well. We first went to St. Luke's on Wed March 7 for Isaac's "official" follow up. Dr. Kusakawa was very happy with Isaac's development. Isaac put on a show and commando crawled for Dr. K. Isaac is currently able to breathe on his own when he is awake but still needs supplemental oxygen when he is sleeping. Dr. K said said that they will probably do a sleep study on Isaac in early May to see if he can come off of oxygen completely. This will involve a monitor that can record his oxygen saturation levels all night. Isaac was okay till he got his Synargis (anti-RS virus) shot. Unfortunately, they use very long needles at St. Luke's. Poor baby.
We then went back to Toho to have Isaac's eyes checked out on Thurs March 8. It was very good timing because both Isaac's NICU primary nurse Ayako-san and Isaac's GCU nurse Imae-san were working the day shift that day and we were able to visit them after Isaac got the eye drops to dilate his eyes and we had to wait 30 minutes before the eye doctor checked his eyes:
When it was time to have his eyes checked, the doctors took Isaac from us into a room. We figured it was not fun for Isaac because by the time they took him out, he looked pretty worn out. Poor, poor baby. The good news was his eyes were fine (because of the language barrier, that's about all we got from the doctors. lol).On Friday March 9, we took Isaac to Dr. Che at the international clinic for immunization shots. This time, Isaac figured out that it wasn't going to be a fun visit and whined the whole time we were there (so far he has never complained when we go to the doctors and would only cry for a little bit after getting shots). Fortunately, Dr. Che uses much shorter needles so it wasn't too bad for poor little Isaac. We put shoes on Isaac for the first time for his visit with Dr. Che. Check out Isaac looking cool in his New Balance sneakers:
We invited Pastor Dennis and Judi over for dinner on March 8 Thursday after our Toho visit. It was there first time to meet Isaac. We had great fun and fellowship that night.
The rest of the pictures are from this past week and this weekend.What's Daddy and Isaac up to?
I haven't taken sleeping pictures of Isaac for a while so I took a few on Saturday:
I also realized I haven't taken bath time pictures of Isaac so here is one (*For those of you who checked earlier, you will notice that I took out a few pictures. Jong didn't think the conveniently placed leaf was big enough and that Isaac was going to get mad at me when he gets older, so I took them out ;)).
Hope you all have a blessed week!Sonia
Monday, March 05, 2007
Isaac - a couple of firsts
Dear all,
The weather was really beautiful in Tokyo this weekend. Sunny and quite warm! So I took Isaac out on the stroller for his first walk yesterday. So far he has only gone out for medical appointments. The funny thing is, because we never go out, Isaac really does not like being strapped down. So he didn't seem to enjoy his walk that much as he was strapped down by a 5-point harness. He might be a bit unhappy too because I might have dressed him too warmly. In any case, you can see his pouty face on his walk below. Hehe.
Jong and I also went to Toys R Us this weekend. We got a little tricycle for Isaac that we can push him around with a handle. He is still a bit small for it but he is able to sit up by himself while we push it. We put a little cushion in it so there is a bit less room for him to slip through.
I had taken some video of Isaac combat crawling this weekend and I even dressed him up for the video - in his army pants. But something happened when I tried to download the video and its all choppy so I gotta get Jong to fix it before I can post that.
Isaac has been army crawling for a bit over a week now. He is basically a non-stop machine. He is constantly moving around. The moment we put him on the ground on his back, he turns over immediately and tries to crawl away. This makes it quite challenging when we are trying to change his diapers or when I am trying to put his Oximeter probe on his crooked big toe (actually his really tiny crooked big toe). When he crawls, he is really only using his right arm (for some reason he doesn't like to use his left arm for strength) and muscles his way through. It turns out to be quite comical as he looks like a wounded soldier commando crawling. May be I have watched Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers a few too many times in my days (war movies are Jong's favorites). He also tries to stand with our help as much as he can. When we are holding him, he either tries to lean all over the place (seemingly thinking he can get away) or he tries to crawl up on us.
I loaded this video last Thursday but didn't get a chance to upload it on the blog yet. I probably am going to get yelled at by one of Jong's cousins who sternly warned me against showing Isaac any TV at all as its bad for developing his attention (you can even hear me telling Jong we can't post this video - but the video ended up being too cute so I couldn't resist). We only let him watch a little TV each day and we do so because he really is constantly on the move and watching his videos is the only time he calms down and stays still and quiet. Isaac being able to stay still and quiet is beneficial in two ways - one is he breathes really well when he is sitting quietly watching his videos and the second way it helps him is he gets to learn to sit by himself. Most of the time when we try to get him to sit by himself, he topples over as he is trying to lunge forward to reach some toy or he wants to start crawling again so he still isn't sitting very well. Yes, we have a baby who can somehow crawl all over the place but not yet able to sit still by himself that well!
We started to try to feed him some oatmeal cereal this past week. He really liked eating it but his milk intake went down again and his weight gain stalled. So we are going to take giving him solids slower again.
Isaac has a whole bunch of doctor's appointment this week. St. Luke's on Wednesday for his general follow up, Toho on Thursday for his eyes and Dr. Che for his shots on Friday. It will be a busy week for us!
God bless,
Sonia
The weather was really beautiful in Tokyo this weekend. Sunny and quite warm! So I took Isaac out on the stroller for his first walk yesterday. So far he has only gone out for medical appointments. The funny thing is, because we never go out, Isaac really does not like being strapped down. So he didn't seem to enjoy his walk that much as he was strapped down by a 5-point harness. He might be a bit unhappy too because I might have dressed him too warmly. In any case, you can see his pouty face on his walk below. Hehe.
Jong and I also went to Toys R Us this weekend. We got a little tricycle for Isaac that we can push him around with a handle. He is still a bit small for it but he is able to sit up by himself while we push it. We put a little cushion in it so there is a bit less room for him to slip through.
I had taken some video of Isaac combat crawling this weekend and I even dressed him up for the video - in his army pants. But something happened when I tried to download the video and its all choppy so I gotta get Jong to fix it before I can post that.Isaac has been army crawling for a bit over a week now. He is basically a non-stop machine. He is constantly moving around. The moment we put him on the ground on his back, he turns over immediately and tries to crawl away. This makes it quite challenging when we are trying to change his diapers or when I am trying to put his Oximeter probe on his crooked big toe (actually his really tiny crooked big toe). When he crawls, he is really only using his right arm (for some reason he doesn't like to use his left arm for strength) and muscles his way through. It turns out to be quite comical as he looks like a wounded soldier commando crawling. May be I have watched Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers a few too many times in my days (war movies are Jong's favorites). He also tries to stand with our help as much as he can. When we are holding him, he either tries to lean all over the place (seemingly thinking he can get away) or he tries to crawl up on us.
I loaded this video last Thursday but didn't get a chance to upload it on the blog yet. I probably am going to get yelled at by one of Jong's cousins who sternly warned me against showing Isaac any TV at all as its bad for developing his attention (you can even hear me telling Jong we can't post this video - but the video ended up being too cute so I couldn't resist). We only let him watch a little TV each day and we do so because he really is constantly on the move and watching his videos is the only time he calms down and stays still and quiet. Isaac being able to stay still and quiet is beneficial in two ways - one is he breathes really well when he is sitting quietly watching his videos and the second way it helps him is he gets to learn to sit by himself. Most of the time when we try to get him to sit by himself, he topples over as he is trying to lunge forward to reach some toy or he wants to start crawling again so he still isn't sitting very well. Yes, we have a baby who can somehow crawl all over the place but not yet able to sit still by himself that well!
We started to try to feed him some oatmeal cereal this past week. He really liked eating it but his milk intake went down again and his weight gain stalled. So we are going to take giving him solids slower again.
Isaac has a whole bunch of doctor's appointment this week. St. Luke's on Wednesday for his general follow up, Toho on Thursday for his eyes and Dr. Che for his shots on Friday. It will be a busy week for us!
God bless,
Sonia
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Remembering our Darling Little Hero
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:12-13
Today was the one year anniversary of quite a few things:
-the one year anniversary of when Rachel's water broke and our lives were forever changed
-the one year anniversary when little Rachel became one of the bravest girls in this world and started hanging on for her dear life for 5 more weeks to save her brother's life
-the one year anniversary of when we started asking so many of you to start praying for us and so many of you did and we cannot be more grateful or more humbled by all of your prayers
-the one year anniversary of when a lot of miracles started happening because of all of your prayers
We spent the day honoring Rachel's memory. It was a quiet day for us. Jong and I took the day off and stayed off of the internet for most of the day until a little while ago (which is quite a feat, especially for Jong!). We spent the morning playing with Isaac and then went out for a nice lunch with each other. We then got some balloons and came home. My mom, Jong and I then each wrote a little note to Rachel (and Jong also wrote one from Isaac to Rachel). In the late afternoon, my mom, Isaac, Jong and I headed outside onto our deck with the balloons. We prayed together and then we released the balloons in memory of Rachel. The weather was beautiful as you will see in the video and the pictures below.
We are also doing a few other things to honor Rachel's memory. First of all, we are lighting a candle for a little while each night until Isaac's and Rachel's birthday on April 4, 2006. We started to do this tonight as a way for us to remember the brave 5-week fight Rachel fought to allow us to have Isaac home with us today. We will also be donating to National Park Service's Cherry Blossom Tree Replacement Fund to have a cherry blossom tree planted in Washington, D.C. in Rachel's memory later this spring. I am still coordinating this and will let you all know more details once its arranged. I also started a new March of Dimes band for Rachel to honor her upcoming first birthday - Rachel's First Birthday March of Dimes Band.
I want to share something I wrote a little while ago. It is taken out from the end portion of a testimony I shared back in January regarding my infertility and loss journey.
Why?
I still hurt a lot and I miss Rachel terribly. Sometimes I think isn’t it amazing that after going through infertility, we had to go through all this as well? But the amazing thing is through out all this, God made it so abundantly clear that He is good and that He has a great plan for each of Jong, me, Isaac and Rachel.
He broke me and then He transformed my heart. I am not the happy go lucky person I was before. My joy now is tinged with bitter-sweetness but it’s a deeper joy. I am more in love with Jesus. I am more in love with Jong. My parents have been beyond amazing through out this past year and I have been blessed with more time with them that I ever thought I’d have after I got married.
In a strange way, when I think of all that God has allowed to happen in our family, I feel a little special that He picked us to go through all of this. I kind of feel like He must really love us to want so bad to make sure we stay close to Him. I mean it hurts Him more than it hurts us when we hurt.
Another amazing thing through this journey is how overwhelmingly blessed by God we have been through prayers from hundreds of Christian brothers and sisters. Your prayers did amazing things. I am not a persistent person and I am generally a lazy person. But I did a couple of things both Jong and I never imagined that I could have done. I went to the hospital every day during the 6 months except for 2 days even though I started working full time again in May. The round trip to and from the hospital was about 2 hours. I also pumped for Isaac started in April and am still pumping as he was never able to breastfeed directly even after coming home. I have never stuck with anything for this long (except for Jong) so it must be your prayers that have made me able to do this. And oh the blessings that Isaac has that will follow the rest of his life because of the immeasurable amount of prayers he has received and is still receiving.
We never imagined that we could be this blessed despite having lost one of our children and having to watch our other child suffer through so much. Don’t get me wrong, I still have my bad days, my down days, my angry at God days, my days when I get so envious of others who got pg easily/had normal pg/birth experience/had normal newborn/baby experience. But when I sit down and I am honest with myself, I know in my heart that I have been blessed beyond measure.
Before I go, I just want to share one of my favorite verses when I look at Isaac:
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (New International Version)
9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
We just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for all of your prayers this past year. Your prayers have brought us through this past year so that we can have this living miracle in our arms today:
Last but not least, Isaac army crawls:
Today was the one year anniversary of quite a few things:
-the one year anniversary of when Rachel's water broke and our lives were forever changed
-the one year anniversary when little Rachel became one of the bravest girls in this world and started hanging on for her dear life for 5 more weeks to save her brother's life
-the one year anniversary of when we started asking so many of you to start praying for us and so many of you did and we cannot be more grateful or more humbled by all of your prayers
-the one year anniversary of when a lot of miracles started happening because of all of your prayers
We spent the day honoring Rachel's memory. It was a quiet day for us. Jong and I took the day off and stayed off of the internet for most of the day until a little while ago (which is quite a feat, especially for Jong!). We spent the morning playing with Isaac and then went out for a nice lunch with each other. We then got some balloons and came home. My mom, Jong and I then each wrote a little note to Rachel (and Jong also wrote one from Isaac to Rachel). In the late afternoon, my mom, Isaac, Jong and I headed outside onto our deck with the balloons. We prayed together and then we released the balloons in memory of Rachel. The weather was beautiful as you will see in the video and the pictures below.
We are also doing a few other things to honor Rachel's memory. First of all, we are lighting a candle for a little while each night until Isaac's and Rachel's birthday on April 4, 2006. We started to do this tonight as a way for us to remember the brave 5-week fight Rachel fought to allow us to have Isaac home with us today. We will also be donating to National Park Service's Cherry Blossom Tree Replacement Fund to have a cherry blossom tree planted in Washington, D.C. in Rachel's memory later this spring. I am still coordinating this and will let you all know more details once its arranged. I also started a new March of Dimes band for Rachel to honor her upcoming first birthday - Rachel's First Birthday March of Dimes Band.
I want to share something I wrote a little while ago. It is taken out from the end portion of a testimony I shared back in January regarding my infertility and loss journey.
Why?
I still hurt a lot and I miss Rachel terribly. Sometimes I think isn’t it amazing that after going through infertility, we had to go through all this as well? But the amazing thing is through out all this, God made it so abundantly clear that He is good and that He has a great plan for each of Jong, me, Isaac and Rachel.
He broke me and then He transformed my heart. I am not the happy go lucky person I was before. My joy now is tinged with bitter-sweetness but it’s a deeper joy. I am more in love with Jesus. I am more in love with Jong. My parents have been beyond amazing through out this past year and I have been blessed with more time with them that I ever thought I’d have after I got married.
In a strange way, when I think of all that God has allowed to happen in our family, I feel a little special that He picked us to go through all of this. I kind of feel like He must really love us to want so bad to make sure we stay close to Him. I mean it hurts Him more than it hurts us when we hurt.
Another amazing thing through this journey is how overwhelmingly blessed by God we have been through prayers from hundreds of Christian brothers and sisters. Your prayers did amazing things. I am not a persistent person and I am generally a lazy person. But I did a couple of things both Jong and I never imagined that I could have done. I went to the hospital every day during the 6 months except for 2 days even though I started working full time again in May. The round trip to and from the hospital was about 2 hours. I also pumped for Isaac started in April and am still pumping as he was never able to breastfeed directly even after coming home. I have never stuck with anything for this long (except for Jong) so it must be your prayers that have made me able to do this. And oh the blessings that Isaac has that will follow the rest of his life because of the immeasurable amount of prayers he has received and is still receiving.
We never imagined that we could be this blessed despite having lost one of our children and having to watch our other child suffer through so much. Don’t get me wrong, I still have my bad days, my down days, my angry at God days, my days when I get so envious of others who got pg easily/had normal pg/birth experience/had normal newborn/baby experience. But when I sit down and I am honest with myself, I know in my heart that I have been blessed beyond measure.
Before I go, I just want to share one of my favorite verses when I look at Isaac:
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (New International Version)
9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
We just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for all of your prayers this past year. Your prayers have brought us through this past year so that we can have this living miracle in our arms today:
Last but not least, Isaac army crawls:
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