When A Child Is Born: 4 Months 2 Weeks

This past week is wonderful: first of all, it is the spring break week! Only two people in our team were working (I’m one of them). Work is so slow and easy. I had a relaxing time in the office. The weather has been most beautiful with 70s degree and sunshine every day. David moved the tomato and pepper plants to the vegetable garden outside. Several teacher friends came over for a visit during their break: Paul and Jerry came over on Wednesday; Tracy came over on Thursday. We were so happy to catch up with them!

Emily enjoyed the nice breeze and bright sunshine too. She was fascinated by the dancing leaves, flying birds, yellow flowers, and all kinds of sound outside the house. She rested better with longer naps. She really worked hard on her legs – You can tell from the video below that she was very proud of the baby steps she made when she was supported by daddy. She started to sit in the bumbo seat – but not longer than 20 minutes a time. She gave free smiles to everyone. She likes to twist to her right side and fall asleep at night. Sunday (on my birthday) she successfully rolled over a couple of times without any aid! That was the best birthday gift I got! We started to experiment with the iron-fortified rice cereal after her last feedings before bed. We are surprised at how well she took it. But she won't eat more than half tea spoon of the rice cereal every time. Her bed time has been 7:30pm consistently (if we allowed her). She has linked bathing-feeding-sleeping together. That’s so easier on us.

It’s hard to think about it. Last year this week we just found out that we were going to have a baby. Emily’s size was 1/3 of a rice grain. And her heart beat was 109 per minute! In one year, she’s grown into a happy, lovely and beautiful girl of 26 in. long! How blessed we are to be her parents! We thank God everyday for the joy she brought to us each moment.

For my birthday, Robert and Gail took us to a wonderful steak restaurant Friday night. I indulged myself with a crabcake, steak, spanich salad, and baked potato. They were so good! At work, we had mini-cheesecakes and icecream. Yummy! Saturday, David arranged a surprise party with some of our Friendspeak friends at a Chinese BBQ restaurant for lunch. We had dinner at Brooks and Ann's house with another Chinese couple. Sunday we had lunch with some church friends at Jerry's parents' restaurant. Jerry's parents and the waitress just loved Emily! At Friendspeak, David got a big Chinese fruitcake. People enjoyed the cake as much as I enjoyed the Happy Birthday song! Emily was popular everywhere we went. Everyone commented how good she was. Ann made her laughing out loud many times. She delighted everybody with her bright smiles and giggles although she was overwhelmed/over-stimulated by so many people and missed her much needed naps. David and I thought she will grow up a people-pleaser! I got gifts from Dad, Amy and Kendall too! Thank you my dear husband, my loving friends and family for a very happy birthday weekend! Don't you love your birthday being spreaded over several days!! God has really blessed me with another great year. I'm looking forward to what lies ahead in the next year!

Surprise lunch with friends