40th-41st Week

Guess what? Our little princess Emily is here!!! She was born on November 8th, at 15:52. She was 7 lb 4 oz and 19.5 in. For the past two weeks, David and I were awed by this little girl, trying to figure out what she needs and how to meet her needs, day and night ... We felt like two months have passed by. Often heard new moms talking about the survival mode they were in for the first couple of weeks, seldom did I truly comprehend what it meant. I have a new hightened respect for the moms who kept sending emails with baby's pictures and updating the blogs daily in their motherhood - where did their sleep go??? Please forgive us if we haven't replied to your emails during the past two weeks. We were in so much fun!!! And it was a real challenge for me to sit down with loads of stitches.

Our Emily is really a sweet delight! I still can't believe she is here right next to us in the bassinet sound asleep. She is such a good girl that she only cries when she is hungry or hurting. Even those cries are low pitch, short ones, sometimes I say cute alarming sound. She has her personalities already: always sneezes in three; most time uses three diapers per change; likes to smile in her dreams; likes to move her arms/hands (David said she is going to be the orchestra director/composer); has hiccups after every feeding; enjoys sleeping on daddy's chest; ... One day, David was holding her in the arms. I went close and put my face on her arm. Emily turned her face and reached over and gave me a kiss on the face - That surprised both me and David. David joked that she managed to steal a kiss from mommy! Emily also taught us many life lessons already: before she fell asleep, she always uses her corners of eyes to check on us (as if saying: are you still there?). Just as what we often do to our Heavenly Father...

David is such a wonderful father and husband. He got up three times a night to feed Emily most of time. Whenever he's at home, he always holds her, talks to her, and plays with her. Emily and I felt so well-cared for. I wouldn't have recovered so quickly without my sweetheart! He definitely is more sleep-deprived than I am.

We are also soaked in the support and love from our friends. Grandpa Jack took us home from the hospital and helped us to settle down. Dawn organized a group of friends to bring us meals every other day. Pam, Kathy and Fang cooked so many traditional Chinese meals trying to make up for the blood I lost. Jerry's parents cooked many delicious and nutricious food. Gail came over to clean the whole house for us. My previous co-worker Nadia came every morning to baby-sit Emily for a couple of hours so that I could take a shower and take a short nap. Gayla took us to the doctor's office for Emily's two-week checkup ... David and I offered thanks everyday for our wonderful friends! You all made such a difference in our life!

My parents are going to Beijing today. They will have the visa interview on Tuesday (Nov. 25th) at around noon (Dallas time Monday night around 10pm). If they are granted visa, they will be here on Dec. 3rd.

Emily is two weeks old now. She is as healthy as she can be. She weighs 8 lb. Her length is 21 in. As the weather gets cold and the flu season just started, we probably won't take her out for a while. We did take lots of pictures of her. But we haven't had time to upload them to the computer yet. Next time I'll post some pictures ...

Happy weekend everyone!!!