Jumperoo and Cracking Up

First of all, I have to confess how dumb I feel. We used to have this digital camera that was pretty old. We could take short video clips with it but the quality of the video was not good. The only videos I have of Rachel before she went to heaven and our early videos of Isaac were recorded with this camera. Then a few days after Rachel and Isaac were born, Jong got a video camera. It wasn't a digital video camera but one that recorded on tape and then we were able to convert the video from tape to digital. It was a long and tedious task but that's what I did for all of the videos I have uploaded on here. May be half a year ago or so (or may be even longer ago), I switched laptops and we never got the driver to recognize the video camera and the software to convert the videos to digital installed on my laptop so I was not able to upload any videos. This is part of the reason why I haven't uploaded any videos for so long. On top of that, I have not been good at getting the video camera out as it was larger.

In the meantime, around when Isaac got out of his home quarantine in May 2007, we got a new compact digital camera (we also got a Nikon D40x later but now I have lost the charger for the Nikon so I haven't used that in a while). Its an Olympus U830. And for some reason, it NEVER occurred to me that I could use it for videos. I guess because I just assumed the quality would be bad like our older camera. So I was clueless this entire time until Ellen came and actually used our Olympus to record some short clips of Isaac and Abigail. So its so easy now - I can carry around the compact camera and take pictures and videos!!!! And the video files are already in digital form so I don't have to spend anytime other than the short time it takes to copy the files over! I just feel so dumb!!!! I barely have any videos of Abigail until recently!

So to make things up and since daddy is not here right now, I am loading two new videos from today.

First one was from this morning before I left for work with Abigail in the jumperoo:



Second one was from this evening showing Remy making Isaac and Abigail completely cracking up:



Sonia

Bonus Video of Abigail

I tried to upload this video file onto photobucket but it didn't work and then I realized that I could just use blogger video! This is a video Ellen took while trying to get Abigail to laugh. Ellen was successful in at least getting Abigail to smile. I have GOT to try to get a video of her cracking up by herself (which she does all the time). She can be so hilarious!

Picture Update

We have been so busy! Jong's cousin Ellen came to visit us from the US earlier in August and then three Japanese college girls from our church's 45 English Freedom Camp (45 is taken from Micah 4:5) stayed with us as part of the camp's home stay program. We had a really wonderful time. Especially Isaac who just soaked up all the girl attention. Isaac is going stir crazy this week with no pretty girls left staying at our place to play with him and has been getting himself into a lot of trouble. Fortunately, preschool starts again next week. However, we are still waitlisted for the 3-days a week program so for now, Isaac will still just be going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The good thing is Ellen took quite a few pictures while she was here since I have been so bad at taking pictures lately.

This is a cute picture of Abigail Ellen took:
Isaac really loves coloring and it was his favorite activity with his Auntie Ellen!
We all went to Odaiba on a Saturday and there was a little beach there. Isaac really liked standing at the edge of the water.

Also, you will notice that Isaac's right eye is patched. We have been to a couple of eye check-ups at St. Luke's and the opthalmologists confirmed that we should patch his right eye for 3-4 hours a day to strengthen his left eye (which has severe ROP and has poor vision) so that he will favor his right eye less, which in turn could cause his vision in his left eye to worsen even more.
Just a lovely picture of Auntie Ellen and Abigail:
Jong had to be away on business on my birthday this year (I like recording this sort of stuff on the blog so I can check next year in case he decides to be gone next year too. Mwahahaha). Fortunately, I still got to celebrate with my two very lovely miracles and Ellen who bought me the yummy birthday cake!
Isaac and Auntie Ellen:
Isaac loves playing with water:
I took this one over the weekend. She is getting better at tummy time now and not complaining as much. Ain't she the cutest?

Abigail rolled over from back to front today

Just wanted to record this for the history books since I wasn't very good at recording Isaac's milestones and this is probably the best place for me to record everything without losing the record. LOL.

I have been wanting to do a long update about Isaac's eyes but need to find some time!

Sonia

Had to share a song that really moved me

Another micropreemie mom clued me into this song. Tears won't stop falling.

He's My Son - by Mark Schultz



Here are the lyrics:

I'm down on my knees again tonight
I'm hoping this prayer will turn out right
See there is a boy that needs Your help
I've done all that I can do myself
His mother is tired
I'm sure You can understand
Each night as he sleeps
She goes in to hold his hand
And she tries not to cry
As the tears fill her eyes

CHORUS:
Can You hear me?
Am I getting through tonight?
Can You see him?
Can You make him feel all right?
If You can hear me
Let me take his place somehow
See, he's not just anyone
He's my son

Sometimes late at night I watch him sleep
I dream of the boy he'd like to be
I try to be strong and see him through
But God who he needs right now is You
Let him grow old
Live life without this fear
What would I be
Living without him here
He's so tired and he's scared
Let him know that You're there

CHORUS

Can You hear me?
Can You see him?
Please don't leave him
He's my son

Another Eye Checkup

We took Isaac to have his eyes checked again today. I ended up missing a whole day of work because we had to spend such a long time at the hospital but it turned out that the wait was worth it.

First of all to recap, Isaac has ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity) Level III which was stabilized by laser eye surgery while he was still in NICU at Toho University Hospital. Since he was discharged from Toho, we were able to change his primary hospital from Toho to St. Luke's International Hospital. A hospital established by missionaries and is still based on Christian principles. However we were told that we should continue to go back to Toho to follow up on his eyes. We have been going back to Toho but unable to communicate with the doctors as they do not speak any English. We have only been told that "nothing has been changed" each time we have gone back and the visits are always traumatic as they take him away from us and do not let us be in the same room when he is examined. Our last visit was in January 2008 when we were told "nothing has changed" and we don't have to return for a whole year. However, we started noticing that Isaac has been squinting a lot with his left eye plus he seemed to bump into things more often. At his last visit at St. Luke's, we voiced our concern to Isaac's ped Dr. K and Dr. K referred us to the Pediatric Opthalmology Department at National Center for Child Health and Development. We went to

We waited about 1 hour 45 minutes before we even got close to the exam room. When we were called in by the nurse, we were quite discouraged as they did not seem to know how to deal with a toddler

Isaac's "Should Have Been" Birthday Party

Since we did not get to really celebrate Isaac's birthday back in April as it was a day after Abigail was born, we had a birthday party at Gymboree on Saturday for him. We picked Saturday as it was a day after his original estimated due date.

I had a bit of a picture disaster. I couldn't (and still can't) find the charger for our nice camera - the Nikon. I charged our small camera but forgot to put the battery in before we left for Gymboree. Fortunately, I brought our video camera and I can take pictures with it as well. Anyway, I ended up not remembering to take a lot of pictures anyway. But here are a few that I took.

Gymboree Time:

Cake time:
A couple of shots of the kids with Remy after the party was over. I have no idea what Abigail was looking at.
A very, very cute picture of our little lady Abigail.
A bonus picture of Abigail.

Abigial's measurements

By the way, I had a typo in the post re Abigail's weight. I think she weighed more than 6.1 kg last week. Anyway, we had her 4 month check up today and she weighed 6.3 kg (almost 14 lbs).

So here is how she measures on the growth charts:

around 25 percent for height
a little over 50 percent for weight
80% for head circumference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just think the measurements are so funny. We haven't measured Isaac lately but his weight is not in the charts again (meaning less than 5%).

Our boy has a knack of picking out foods that don't have a lot of calories to like. The latest thing we discovered he likes - popcorn! He loves it! But we when we tried to add more butter, nope. We figured at least the texture of popcorn should be good for him. :)

We are throwing a "Should Have Been" birthday party for Isaac at Gymboree tomorrow since we didn't properly celebrate his actual birthday in April a day after Abigail was born. This will be the first birthday party for him (and for me to throw for a kid)! I am still looking for our charger for our Nikon. Hopefully I can find it tomorrow morning!

Sonia

Sonia

August 1st

was Isaac's and Rachel's original estimated due date 2 years ago - the date they should have been born. They should have been 2 years old today instead of 4 months ago.

Instead Rachel is in heaven and Isaac is skin and bones and not chubby like his new full term sister Abigail.

I do feel very, very blessed 99% of the time. But right now I am missing Rachel like crazy and wishing Isaac wasn't born so early and still face so many challenges. Right now, I wish I had the chance to see Isaac and Rachel together outside of my womb. Right now, I wish I had ALL three of children on earth with me instead of having to wait till I get to heaven to see one of my three children. Right now I wish people won't so easily forget that I am a mother of 3 and a mother of twins.

But then I breathe out. My heart feels better. Because I know Jesus understands how I feel, I know He grieves with me and I know He won't forget.