Waving and Grandpa's visit

Emily's new development this week is waving bye bye. She first waved with us when we saw Dad and Linda off on Friday. Then she waved several times during the weekend. Our Frienspeak readers loved it when she waved at them when they left the room. Emily is also obsessed by walking and standing with our help. She can't quite use the pushing toy independantly yet. But she loves to hold our hands and walk over and over until we are worn out. She definitely slept more these days with all the exercise she had. She also started humming, clapping, and rocking along with the music. Her favorite words are still "mama" (which happens to be Chinese "Mom") "dada" "baba" (which happens to be Chinese "Dad") "yeye" (which happens to be Chinese "Grandpa") "yaya" ...

(Cruising in her crib)

Dad and Linda stopped by Friday for lunch on their way to Austin. We had hamburgers for lunch. Emily so enjoyed their visit. David got several really sweet pictures of her with Grandpa and Linda. Friday night we went to pick up some magazines that I bought for Emily -"BabyBug". I can't wait to read them with Emily later.

(Laughing with Linda and Grandpa)

(Forehead kisses with Grandpa)

(Momentarily sitting between walks)

(Daddy put double clips on Emily)

We met with David's cousin Gregg's family for lunch on Saturday. It was great to catch up with them. Emily enjoyed playing with everybody too.

Dad and Linda came in late Saturday. We had ribs for dinner and played with Emily for the rest of the evening. Emily was so excited to play with so many people. She loved having grandpa and Linda with us. David and I loved it too.

We drove separate cars for church on Sunday again because David had to teach the Single Purpose class. I took Emily home to take a nap after the first service. David came home after the class. He really enjoyed teaching the class on "baptizing into the red sea". I wish Emily and I could listen to his teaching.

Ray and Olivia brought Stephen to FriendSpeak Sunday afternoon. It was the first time for us to see them after Stephen was born in April. He is a big boy and has a sweet disposition. Emily played with Gail and other people. She was so sleepy in the end but she managed not to fall asleep until we came home and got ready for bed.

(Emily and Gail)

Here is a prayer that Gail forwarded to me this week:

My Sweet Baby (pray for your babies) by Charla Aldous

My Sweet Baby -a loan from above.

No better treasure

Could I have more love.

Standing here beside you,

But as I pray,I lay my hand on your head and I say....

"May you grow up to serve Him all of your days.

May He lead you and guide you in all of your ways.

May His Hand bless your future with friendships that last.

May you cherish your youth and not grow up too fast.

I stare in wonder at your tiny frame.

Just to think that God knows you by name!

He knows every hair on your beautiful head.

He knows all your thoughts before they are said."

"May God grant you peace in the midst of a storm.

May God give you strength even when you're forelorn.

May you answer the door when Jesus comes knocking.

May wisdom guide you when your mouth is talking.

May discretion protect you and keep you pure.

May you never stumble or fall before the Lord.

May your heart remain humble to the very end.

May uprightness and truth be what you defend.

May the world not ensnare or change who you are.and

May the light that's within you shine like the stars.

May angels surround you - body spirit mind;

May favor and peace be yours to find.

May rejection and pain never reach you.

May your spirit grow old for what you're called to."

As you rest in God's careI will rest, too.

Knowing that Jesus is watching over you.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Team Training, House Warming, and so on

Last week I worked from home to protect Emily against the stomach flu. Luckily she was fine. While I was at home, we tried to let her sit on the potty chair. She peed in it as soon as she sat down. It was so much fun to catch her peepees. But we only tried it occasionally - when it's convenient for all of us. Hopefully with occasional experiences, she will figure out where she should go in the future. Amy, Kendall and the kids came in Friday night. Emily sensed that something exciting was coming so she wouldn't go to sleep until after she saw everybody, which was one and half hours after her normal bed time. Saturday morning we all went to Diane's house warming party. Emily made a new friend there - Ron Green. She stayed with Ron smiling and clapping through most of the party. We came home after noon for the LST training. Johnny and Leslie came to our house. We had some pizza and cake during the four-hour training. Johnny and Leslie even practiced using chopsticks. After the training, we went to David's good friend Larkin's daughter's wedding at Prestonwood Baptist church. It was a very nice and simple wedding.


We went to the first service on Sunday. David and I drove separate cars because he went to SMU to pick up Terry to go to church with us. It was the first time for Terry to go to church. He liked the sermon and enjoyed the singing very much. David took him to the Searcher's class before they came home. We ordered some Chinese dishes for lunch. Then David and Terry rented a truck to pick up the dining furnature that Terry bought. David came home to take a shower. It was time for FriendSpeak and church again. While David was reading with Victor, I took Emily to look at the VBS decoration at church. Emily enjoyed touching the bubbles, inflated tire, butterflies, ropes, etc. They really did a wonderful job decorating. I can't wait for Emily to go to VBS in the future! Amy and Kendall headed back to Austin after they visited Kendall's parents' church.


Emily is 9 months old now! She got A+ again from her doctor at 9-month checkup. Her height is 29.8 in. (off the chart again) and her weight is 19.9 lb (75%). David said he was going to buy a basketball for Emily's 1st Birthday since he thought Emily was going to be a basketball player.

Here are some pictures of the week:

Emily's third tooth just came out. It's on the top. Now when she is a little fussy, we have to guess: is it toothpain, is she bored, or is she hungry/thirsty, ... so many variables!


Emily had a new toy - Chicco walker. She liked pulling the ladybug to hear the music and holding on the toy to walk. Emily loves standing and walking. Her face can turn from cloudy to sunny instantly when she stands up with our support. We suspect she might walk before she crawls.
And she still loves being held

Here is a picture of David's produce from the backyard. The squash was so big that it was almost as long as Emily. The cucumbers are big too. David made several batches of picos with them already:



David made the thinnest-crust pizza last week using tortilla bread, brussle sprouts, spinach, tomatoes and cheese - Hmmm, yummy!

Here are Leslie and Johnny learning to use chopsticks - they are pros now!

First Pool Party and Stomach Flu

We have many pictures and videos to post this week. So I'll keep the writing short. We didn't do much this week because of the bronchitis. I took three days off to stay at home. David was getting better toward the end of the week. But we went to a pool party Saturday afternoon. David began to throw up and go to the restroom every couple of hours starting from Saturday night. Poor David - he had chill and high fever again this weekend. The bugs really struck him hard. We are still walking on the eggshell to keep Emily healthy this week.

Where is Daddy??

I want to play with Daddy

Reading big book

It's fun to read

This week Emily knows to pull up the pumper pad to see whether we are in her room or not. Here is a picture of her peeking through the slot to check on us before she fell asleep. She does that when we came into the room to pick her up too ...

"Ha, you are still here!"

Forget about all the expensive toys! Emily's favorite toys can be a piece of paper towel, paper, any pen, sticks, or scarf. She can play with them for hours from left hand to right hand. We have a video on that. But it is too big to post, I guess.

Look, I can stand!

First pool experience at Kathy and Li's house

Emily was ignoring the camera
This is a video of Emily moving the beads on the maze before going to bed. We kept the room dark so that she knew it was about bedtime. It was the first time that I noticed she moving a bead all the way through. Her finger really developed a lot.

We also have a video of Emily reading with David. For some reason, we couldn't upload it. Here is a Youtube version of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDdSqqTx-0U

Rolling Fun and Bronchitis

This past week was a very busy week for us. Joey came back from Taiwan. David resumed the Friendspeak lessons with him on every morning. Jason and Megan visited us Tuesday afternoon. Then David went to the airport to pick up a Chinese student Terry. Terry stayed with us for a night since his apartment was not ready yet. Wednesday morning David took him to his apartment near SMU campus. Then David had Friendspeak with HongYing in the afternoon. After I came home from work, it was time for him to go to Church for Friendspeak again. After FriendSpeak, he went to Sue's place to fix some computer problems. He started feeling very tired and weak on Thursday. But he hated to cancel the lunch with Nathan on Friday. By Friday night, he was having 102 degree fever. I asked him to go to CareNow. The doctor told him that he was having Bronchitis. We had to cancel the party at our house for some of our FriendSpeak readers on Saturday. For the next three days, David barely had strength to move inside the house. Because it's highly contigeous, David restrained himself from touching Emily. We prayed that Emily will not be infected and get sick. Luckily the doctor told us today that the contigeous period was over. We are so relieved!

As far as Emily, she is more and more fun to be with. She started playing games with us. When we put her on the sofa, she would intentionally roll all the way over to us and fall in order for us to catch her in the mid-air. If she sees us behind her, she would throw herself back to fall on us to make us laugh. From pictures and video below you can see what a girl she is growing into:

Besides the spoons, purple cross, balls, Emily also likes to chew on this:

this ...

this ...

and this ...

Playing with herself in front of the mirror

Playing with Katie and David

Welcome to America, Terry (we used the self-timer. Notice how Emily looked at camera ...)

Rabbit checking out soccer ball

Like Mother, like daughter ???

Like Father, like daughter

"Warning: I'm going to roll!"

Rolling fun



Playing in the exersaucer

Clapping and Happy Time

This week we had a doctor’s emergency visit because Emily cried several times Monday night and Tuesday morning. We were afraid that she had ear infection. After the doctor looked at everything. He assured us that it’s just her teething – her top two teeth are coming out! We were thankful that Emily hasn’t had any real sickness. Hopefully we’ll keep it up for many months or years to come.

Friday night David and I rented a Chinese movie “Happy Time” using our Block Buster gift card from Dawn. The movie was a lot better than I expected: real, touching, and funny. The only thing is that the language has a Beijing accent; which is difficult for David to catch up. The English subtitle sure is helpful. Saturday we took my car in for the inspection and oil change after we ran some errands. David’s reader Hongyu and his wife Sandy invited us for dinner after FriendSpeak. Sandy got a job in Virginia. So she will be moving in a couple of weeks. Sandy has been coming to FriendSpeak for over three years. We will miss her a lot.


Emily’s new exciting development is clapping! She claps whenever she is happy, excited, or when she wants attentions. One morning when David walked into Emily’s room to see whether she was awake, she surprised David with her beaming smiles and clappings. Here is a picture of her clapping. We also got several videos of her clapping. Her expressions in the videos are much more animated.

Emily laughs a lot. She laughs when she touches a stack of blocks to cause them to fall down; she laughs when she kicks at the ceiling fan; she laughs when her eyes lock with ours; sometimes she just laughs for no reason. She still loves watching the sign language video. She also comes up her own sign. Below is her sign for “I’m done with eating”:


Emily never passes an opportunity to play piano. Every time when we walked by the piano, she would reach for it. Here is a picture of her playing:

This is a picture of Emily kissing herself in the mirror. She also likes to smile at, wave at or give a high five to “the baby in the mirror”:


Here is a picture of Emily playing with Daddy:


This is a picture of Emily happy with the ball:


This is her reading with Daddy:


This is a video of Emily kicking at the ceiling fan – her daily dose of exercise:

Hot Summer Account

It was so hot this past week with three-digit high five days in a row. Emily enjoyed her daily indoor activities with David. She expresses more and more of her will/preference in a very subtle way. When she wants me to stop touching her hair or stop playing with her toys, she would look at my "guilty hand" and gently pat on it. At first, David didn’t know what it means. After I explained its meaning as “please don’t”, we both laughed. Emily is gentle with everything she touches, except the piano. She loves playing piano. But she couldn’t make any sound at first because her touch was too gentle. So David had to teach her to pat on it with more force. We taught her not to be gentle now and we will have to teach her to un-do that in the future. Besides piano, her favorite toy is the blue ball (yes, this little girl likes blue). She has been enjoying the ball swirl giraffe. Her expression was so animated when she tried to track the balls. Her whole body dances!

Emily definitely likes vegetables more than fruit. That surprised us since most babies like fruit. But David and I don’t like those smashed jar fruit either. I’m sure Emily will like the real fruit when she can bite off it. Talking about biting, Emily’s teething was really bad last week. She woke up twice in the middle of the night crying. The rubber spoon has helped her to relief the teething pain. Hopefully she will feel better this week. By the way, Emily's favorite words had been "Dadadada" two weeks ago. Last week it changed back to "Mamamama".

We started potty training for Emily last Saturday inspired by a book borrowed from Dawn and our friend's son who was potty trained before one year old. We were really encouraged by the results in the first couple of days. Emily is an excellent communicator. She has always let us know when she poops and she never poops when she is sleeping. It made so much easier for us to start with potty training. We caught all the poopies (although for the first one, she was already in the middle of it when we got to the toilet and it was a hussle) and one peepee in the toilet. Emily seemed to be very happy when she realized what happened. We can’t wait to use the potty chair when it arrives.

Emily seems to get over the stranger anxiety already. Now she uses her delightful smiles to bring joys to everyone she meets. This morning when David took her for the morning walk, they walked by a man. David said "Good morning! I also say hello for Emily since she can't talk yet". That man replied: "She did better than that - She gave me a beautiful smile already!!"

Robert and Gail invited us to their house for lunch on Sunday. They showed us the pictures they took during their vacation in the west several states. We really enjoyed those pictures, stories, food and our visits with Richard and Cathy too. Actually we enjoyed it so much that we forgot to take pictures. We didn't do a good job taking pictures this week. Well, below is a picture as a representative:


A side note: Many of my friends asked about my family when they heard about the riot happened in my home town last week. My family live around two hours away. So they are safe, except that I still can’t reach them by phone or email yet. My sister and brother-in-law went home for vacation ten days ago. They had booked a tour group this week. But all the tour groups were canceled because of the violence in that area. I wasn't surprised about the news because the Uighurs (Muslim) had thrown bombs and killed people over the many years when I grew up there. But my heart hurts deeply to read about how they brutally attacked so many innocent people who they didn’t even know... Remind me of 9-11. How can they have so much hatred to the passerbys and normal people on the street? I feel that it's so helpless and hopeless to instill love and peace in those people's hearts. Only God can make it happen. I can only pray that God's true love will find a place and take root in people's hearts there; and God's spirit and healing power will bring forth hope, reconciliation and new life to everyone affected ...

Happy July 4th

Our holiday weekend started at 1:00pm Thursday afternoon. David and I did some spot cleaning in order to prepare for the July 4th party. I was easily overwhelmed by how much work it took to clean the whole house. But “Hey, who said that you have to have a clean house to have the party?” Amy, Kendall, Chloe and Sophia came in town Friday afternoon. We had roast for lunch. Friday night we met with Steve and Delfina at On The Borders for dinner. We had a great time.

Here is a family picture that Amy took for us. Thank you Amy for taking a beautiful picture for us!

Saturday morning David took Chloe and Emily for a walk. They became the main attraction on the trail. Afterwards we went with Amy to see Diane’s new house before we had lunch with Sherry and Diane at Gloria’s. Our friends gradually showed up at 4:00pm. It was great to see them and their babies. Below are some pictures we took:

(Stroller walk with the girls)

(Charlie playing with the blocks)

(Emily joined Charlie)

(Chloe playing the ball swirl)

(Amy H. and Emily)

It was the first time for Emily to attend a big party like this. But she did very well. She seemed to be happy sharing her toys with others too.

Here are a few other things going on with us this week:

Emily likes to play her tongue with the new teeth. I guess she is getting used to the new residents in her tiny mouth. Her favorite chewing toy is the spoon. Her favorite color is blue. We bought some used toys for her. She loved them.

David accidentally scared the Gecko that the Gecko broke off its tail in our bathroom sink. David took the tail-less Gecko out of the house afterwards, feeling bad for this little poor guy.

Our air conditioner was broken. It cost us $1500 to fix it. We also repaired the sprinkler heads and the kitchen disposal system this week.

Monday Dawn gave birth to baby Austin. We went to the hospital to see her. When we entered the hospital room, she was holding a well-dressed baby. "Wow... Look at him! How alert he is! He is big..." David and I commented one after another. Later on we realized that Dawn was holding her friend's three months old boy. Austin was held by a girl at the corner that we didn't even see. How embarrassing!!! - it shows you how quickly parents forget how small a new born is!