Finally a Recap of Isaac's and Rachel's Birthday

Dear all,

We are finally basically all healthy in this household! Although it was a really rough week, the great thing is Isaac is now eating really well. Its almost like after getting so sick and being so hungry, he now realizes that if he takes his sweet time or doesn't eat much like he did before, some disaster could hit any moment and he could go hungry. We will take it! We thought it would take at least 2 weeks to gain back the weight he lost but it looks like we are already back to the weight he was at before he got sick, may be more (tonight's weighing wasn't very accurate since we weighed him right after he finished a 180 ml/6 ounce bottle - yes mom if you are reading this, he regularly finishes 180 ml bottles now!).

Anyway, I just wanted to describe our day on Wednesday. Both Jong and I took the day off to celebrate. As mentioned before my dad had arrived before to help my mom with Isaac when Remy was gone last week and they were still here. Remy returned from the Philippines last Sunday and Jong's mother arrived on Tuesday so we had a very nice family gathering.

On Wednesday morning, at 9:58 am, the time when Rachel was born last year, Jong and I lit a candle to remember our baby girl. We just hung out at home for the next 102 minutes. At 11:20 am, the time when Rachel's heart stopped beating last year, we blew out the candle. It was a bittersweet moment for us. We knew she has been so happy in heaven but its also hard to believe that it has been a year since our brave and beautiful baby girl was with us.

I then headed out with my parents to pick up Isaac's birthday cake. I was very fortunate to find a lady from our church, Shimuzu-san, who agreed to bake a cake for us as I am not very talented in that area and would have just not done it considering how worn out we all have been due to Isaac's sickness the week before. As you have seen in the pictures I posted, the cake turned out beautifully. I also picked up some cherry blossom tarts and used one for Rachel's birthday cake and some balloons.

When we got home, Isaac had just woken up from his nap so it was great timing. We set the table and put him in his dolbok. In Korea, Dol, the first birthday is a very important occasion. People normally have a huge party but since we are still in flu season, we just kept it to family. After we put his dolbok on, we decided to move on to the Toljabee, a traditional event at any Dol that supposedly determines the future of the child based on the symbolic nature of what object he grabs from the choices laid out in front of him. The traditional choices are a bowl of rice (representing prosperity), money (wealth), thread (longevity), a notebook (a scholarly life) and a pencil (an artistic/creative life). We were a bit creative and put out a bible, a pen, a plate of rice, a book, a tennis ball and a USB cable (since we didn't have a spindle of thread and because of Jong's love of computers and Isaac's love of wires stemming from the wire stuck on his toe for his probe for the Oximeter which he constantly tries to grab at and to eat but is always forbidden to do so)).

In any case, the first attempt was very unsuccessful. Isaac was not happy wearing the dolbok and was probably overstimulated from all of us (me, Jong, 3 grandparents and Remy) rooting him on and just stayed at the original spot and cried and cried. I won't post the video as the video just consisted of me and Jong trying to "negotiate" with each other - me trying to go hold Isaac and wanting to wait a while before we tried again and Jong wanting us to stick with it for a bit longer. However, here is a picture captured from the video with poor little Isaac crying. Perhaps its a prediction that Isaac doesn't like making choices. Hehe.

We finally gave up and moved on to the cake. Here is a video of the birthday song and the blowing of the candles. We were kind of goofy and sang happy birthday twice.



We went back to the Toljabee after the cake and after feeding Isaac some milk, this time without the dolbok, and we were a lot more successful. Except for the video operator (Jong). Somehow he only captured the beginning part and did not capture the important part when Isaac picked out his items. Hehe. In any case, at first Isaac decided to think outside of the box and didn't go for any of the items we set out for him and tried to get out of the mat to his toys (this part is on video). When we were finally able to get him to focus on the items we set out for him, he immediately made a dash for the USB cable which he of course tried to eat. We like to think that this means that he will be really great with computers. It then took him a little while to decide but he went for the tennis ball. So our little boy is completely after his daddy's heart, who also loves his toys, his computer and his tennis (and in that order). Isaac made his daddy very happy.

Here is the incomplete video but cute one of Isaac crawling:



My parents left for Canada the next day. My mom has basically been here for 6 months except for a 2 week break since Isaac came home from the hospital so I think she is going to miss Isaac terribly and Isaac will miss her very much too!!! She was so awesome here. She really put in a lot of sweat and love into making sure Isaac is taken care of and properly stimulated and tried to work on him developmentally as much as she can. We will definitely miss her a lot. However, she deserves a long nice vacation as taking care of Isaac is hard work! Fortunately, Jong's mother is spending a week here and really enjoying her time with Isaac so Isaac is still getting tons of great attention.

I hope every one will have a Happy Resurrection Day tomorrow!

Blessings,

Sonia