Andy is 2 months old today! We sang Happy Birthday song to him as soon as he woke up in the morning. David is off today so we are having a long happy July 4th weekend! Andy has pretty much a regular schedule now: sleeping at 9:30pm- 8:30am with three feedings in between (1:30am, 4:30am, and 6:30am), napping at 10:30am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm and any other cat naps here and there. He doesn't sleep long during the day. So that keeps me occupied almost all through the day. I can't believe that he had his first fall accident already! He fell off the sofa while I was in the kitchen. I felt terrible afterwards. I wished my hugs and kisses would wipe off all the fears and tears that came with the fall. I asked Andy's forgiveness. To my surprise, he started to coo back with a pleasant smile as if he was carrying a real conversation. He has smiled to people for a while. But that was the first time when he intentionally cooed back. He is such a sweet boy and it just made my day! Like his sister, he liked the book Good Night Moon and talked to it when he is read to.
Andy usually is happy after his naps. But he has to go back to sleep within one hour. It has been challenging for me to put him back to sleep. What worked yesterday may not work today. I'm constantly looking for a new way to sooth him. Recently he had crying spells almost every night between 6:00 and 9:00. But no matter how difficult it was, the ultimate reward of holding a sweet sleeping child against my chest was priceless. When our missionary friend Eileen stayed with us, I told her how much work it takes to raise a child. She said to me "You are raising a man!" She was right: I am raising a MAN, a mighty man of God, a future adopted son whom God loves dearly. Every time when I thought about this, I thought about Mary. How did she raise Jesus when she knew that she was raising the only Son of God? Did she have difficulties putting baby Jesus down for a nap? Without the modern soothers like swings, swaddling blankets, car seats, bouncers, disposable diapers, etc., I bet she had to come up many creative ways to soothe babies. Bible didn't give me much clue except saying that she "treasured all these things in her heart". Wouldn't it be nice if God gave us a step by step parenting menu on how to raise babies? It was precious to see our Andy's sweet sleeping face; it was precious to hear his rhythmatic breathing and tiny sleeping sounds; it was precious to meet his smiling eyes; ... it was precious to mother him. There are some things that a mother can not share with others, that can not be captured by cameras. I'll treasure all these things in my heart also!
We learned a lot in the process of taking care of Andy. We learned the baby's sleeping cycle and the twenty minutes rule; we learned to alternate positions in feeding, holding, sleeping, etc. to prevent the flat spot; we learned to practice rocker, pacifier, and swaddling since Emily never got to use any of these. Andy developed a severe flat spot on the right side of his head during the first couple of weeks. We started aggressive correction remedy. Every time after putting him to sleep, I would wait for at least 15 minutes to make sure his head stays at the left side. He woke up many times because of that, but it's better to have inconvenience now than regret later.
Visit with Grandpa (Happy Father's Day Grandpa!!!)
(Andy June 2010)
Here is a quick summary on Emily:
Emily really enjoys playing with her adult friends every day. Her vocabulary expanded so quickly that we had difficulty catching up with her. She says two words sentences now, such as "Andy's crying" or "Andy kup (Andy woke up)", "Go outside", "Get down", "Thank you", "I love you", "Good girl", "Dirty ball", "Dad's home", "More rice", etc. She calls Andy's monitor "Andy's phone". Emily says "Andy crying" hundreds of times a day even when Andy is not crying. David said she must think Andy's last name is "Crying".
Emily loves reading now. She would gather all her books around her and sit down to read on her own. Her attention span has increased a lot. She can sit and finish reading five or six books at a time. She can also build the 10-cup block tower by herself and know the majority of the alphabet. I'm so proud of her!
Well, I can't say enough how much Emily loves her brother. She thinks about Andy all the time. She gives Andy hugs and kisses dozens of time a day. And I am so glad that she is very sweet to him.
Emily did have some regression after she had a baby brother. She began to show interest in the milk bottle, pacifier, baby swing, baby car seat, etc.
Sundays are always the busiest day of the week. When we got home late one Sunday, Emily was so hungry. As soon as David put her on the chair and I put the dinner on the table, Emily yelled out "Amen, Amen!" before we even sat down to say the prayer. She got it right that she can't start eating without saying "Amen".
Emily is more and more independant. She likes to wear her pink sunglasses. But she always puts it up side down. She prefers feeding herself with spoons. She can also put on her shoes - often backwards.
For Father's Day, we made the chocolate chip cookies for David and served them on the red "You Are Special" plate with the milk. We love you sweetheart! You are the best father for our kids!!!
Happy July 4th!!! (Emily and Daddy made this cake)
Here are a couple of videos:
