Life with two kids

In one sense, time flies! Today is Andy's one month birthday. In the other sense, as someone said, "the days are long and the years are short". For the parents who are in the middle of taking care of a new born and a 18 months old at the same time, it's so easy to lose perspective.

People remember the hard time and challenges the most. If I tell you that it's not hard to take care of two babies - I'm lying. Although I was prepared mentally before Andy was born, the reality still hit me when Emily cried almost to vomiting because I refused to hold her while I was feeding Andy. Emily had her "Big Sister" t-shirt on but she didn't know what it truly meant for her. Since Emily had cold and diarhea for almost two weeks right after Andy was born, even she was so gentle and sweet to Andy, I still tried to isolate her in order to protect Andy. The pain of rejection was real to our 18 months old princess, just as the pain of not being able to pick her up and love on her like I did before was real to me. I didn't care that I couldn't get a nap because Emily and Andy had different schedules. I didn't care that I was still recovering physically. But I care that my sweet daughter couldn't get the love she deserves. When both babies cried, all I could do was to hold Andy and let Emily hold my legs. One night, Emily jumped out of her crib and cried to our bedroom! I wished I had more hands to meet both babies' needs at the same time, Luckily things are getting better every day. Now Emily is recovered from the sickness and she is well adjusted. She has grown so much in one month! When I fed Andy, she just sat at my feet. When I told her not to wake up Andy, she would tip-toe around Andy's bed. She thought about Andy all the time and she is very gentle to him.

"It takes a village to raise a child". That's certainly true for me. I couldn't have made the one month mark without the "village" around me. Gayla was the most helpful person who took care of Emily whenever she could. She played with Emily, took her out and watch over her while we were gone. Dad took care of Emily for two days while we were in the hospital. Nadia came to cook, clean, and play with Emily as soon as she came back from the vacation. That was such a big help that I couldn't imagine what it would be without her. Until now every time when the door bell rings, Emily would say "Nadia!" Fang, Dawn, Kathy, Angela, Lori, Kyri, Nikki, Louella, Sandy, and Jean Ann brought meals to us when we couldn't even find a time to eat a family meal. We literally lived on these meals each every day. Our friendspeak readers Cindy and Michelle came to play with Emily whenever they can so that I could take care of Andy and other thing without too much stress. Thank you everyone for blessing our family with your love, time, service and thoughtfulness! We will remember this forever!

Emily and Gayla

Emily and Nadia

Andy is a sweet boy - really! I can already see the easy going personality in him. By now, he is in 75 percentile by weight and height. He is such a clean eater that we hardly used any bibs or burping cloth. He has charming sleep grins that can melt anybody's heart. Just recently he gave me two big open mouth, whole face smiles! I wish I caught them in the video. His crying is like a talking that he tried to use his eyes and crying voice to tell us something. That made me wanting to be a good student to decode his language. David and I have learned so much from him on how to be a better parent. He likes to be held tightly and danced to sleep (David couldn't believe this: after we tried swaddling, swinging, holding, rocking, sucking and all failed, I invented the dance for "Jesus Loves Me" and it worked 99 percent of time to calm him and put him to sleep in two minutes! When it worked the first time, Andy let out a big sigh and gave me a beautiful grin. That brought tears in my eyes.) David used to sing "Jesus loves me" to him and say "You are in Daddy's arms, safe and secure" over and over during the sleepless nights. Needless to say, our hearts were stolen by this helpless and beautiful child. We are certainly growing with him!

There are so much to write about. But I'll wait till when I have time. Most people are more interested in the pictures than the words. So for now, here are some pictures of the month:

Emily took her baby for a walk

Emily helped Daddy to plant the grass

Emily was so tired that she fell asleep in the middle of lunch

My friend Kathy bought us a car toy when she came over to see Andy. Emily loved it!

Emily also got the water table to play with. See how happy she was!

Shopping girl

Emily fed her baby

When I couldn't lift Emily unto the highchair, she climbed onto it with a stool.

David's reader Joey and his mom and his brother (from Taiwan) came to visit us. Joey told David that he wanted to be baptized. It brought tears in David's eyes.

Andy is here!

(It takes all the time and energy to take care of two little ones. Hopefully I will catch up and return to the blog land soon ... )

Our son Andy Austin Woodward was born at 5:48pm, Sunday May 2nd, 2010, in Centennial Hospital in Frisco TX. He weighed 6 pounds and 13 oz and was 21 inches long.

We are so excited and thankful for this blessing from God. We look forward to raising our two kids with our family and friends to love and serve the Lord!

Here is a re-cap of the birth experience:

12:00am Sunday I began to feel little stream of water but not sure whether the water broke or not. We called Gayla to watch Emily and headed to the hospital.

Saturday midnight/before going to the hospital

The nurse wasn't sure whether the water broke or not. She did a half-hour test and it was positive. So we stayed in the hospital and waited for the labor to start. The labor didn't progress much until the doctor came at 9:30am in the morning to break the water from the bottom. It turned out my water broke from the top.

The nurse who attended the birth Jennifer Conway was very encouraging and kind. David was the best labor coach. The whole birthing experience was so much better than the first time around. Andy arrived safe and healthy. We were so glad that he was able to room in with us. That was the experience we missed when Emily was born.

The next day, the hospital gave us a celebration meal. David had lobster and steak, baked potato, grilled asparagus, 6-inch tall cheesecake, imported fruit juice; and I had chicken and shrimp, vegetable, fruit salad, chocolate milk. The meal was delivered on a round table covered with white table cloth with fresh flowers and candles. That was the best hospital meal we've ever had although we liked every meal there. When the staff came to pickup the table, we told her how nice it was. She said she wished the hospital would do that for them on their birthday ...

We came home on May 4th. We had a lot better experience at Centennial hospital than at Presbyterian in Plano. Everyone and everthing were beyond our expectations.

Dad has been taking care of Emily while we were in the hospital. He did such a great job and I'm not sure we could have done better than him. Amy and Kendall came in on Thursday. David made two cakes for Amy and Dad for their birthdays (Did I mention that Andy was born on Amy's birthday?). We were so glad that we could spend some family time together to celebrate Andy's birth.

Welcome home from Emily and Grandpa

Family picture

By the way, Happy Mother's Day!

Still Waiting

The doctor told us that I'm 3 cm dilation now. So Andy will be here the latest next Friday. As we are waiting in excitement, I couldn't help thinking about these Bible verses:

Psalm 127:3 “Children are a gift from the Lord; a child is a reward from Him.″
Psalm 139: 13-14 “For YOU created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful I know that full well.”

Isn't it awesome that God knows Andy's name and the number of the hair he has even before he is born? Talking about the name, for those of you we haven't told you, "Andy" is from "Andrew" who always brought others to Jesus. Since "-drew" is difficult for my Chinese folks to pronounce, we picked "Andy" instead, which means peaceful and inspiring in Chinese.

Here are two of the several places that Bible talked about Andrew:

John 1:40-41 "Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). Andrew brought his brother to Jesus.

John 6:8 "Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" 10Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish."

As the first called of the apostles, Andrew has a keen perception regarding spiritual truths and a strong sense of personal conviction. His missionary spirit, and his decision of character which made others appeal to him when in difficulties, enabled him not only to accept Jesus as the Messiah, but to win Peter and others as a disciple of Christ. We hope our Andy will follow Andrew's good example in the future.

Here are a couple of Andy's nursery pictures (The window and the glider chair are not in the pictures):


Emily is still changing everyday. She babbles more with longer sentences and giggles to make us laugh. Ever since we had dinner with Ron and LaJohna Mitchelle last week at Bebe's and LaJohna took Emily for a Hockey Pockey dance, she entertains us with her dancing feet all the time. She longs to play outside with rocks, dandelions, butterflies and flowers. She loves to be a good helper: taking the trash to the trash can; sweeping the floor; picking up the toys; delivering the dishes to the sink, etc. We suddenly feel like she isn't a baby any more. She is such a sweetheart that even during her sickness, she didn't bother us to get up in the middle of the night. We could hear her sneezing, coughing, and sometimes labored breathing with her mouth, but she kept quiet otherwise and always went back to sleep on her own. We are so glad that she got over the cold.

Counting Down Days

Last week, after we put Emily into the nursery for three nights, she got a bad cold. Her teacher (a volunteer who normally doesn't work in the nursery) liked Emily very much and told us that she was the sweetest girl. The last night when we picked her up, we saw her eating cookies that her teacher gave her. We appreciated the teacher for loving her. Then we began to worry that after playing with so many toys that other kids played with, it wasn't the safest thing to do. Up to today, Emily is still fighting with the cold. David and I walked on the eggshell trying not to be sick during the last couple of weeks before Andy comes.

This is our sick princess blowing bubbles with her nose

Gayla has been a great help and blessing for us. She babysat Emily every time when I had a doctor's appointment. Last week after the appointment, we went out for my birthday lunch (do you just love the birthday that lasts for a month?!). Then we did shopping together at Costco to stock up things.

Can you tell that Emily absolutely loves Gayla?

To make Emily feel better, I asked our friend Angela where to see the blue bonnets. I was surprised to know that it's just right near our house less than ten minutes away. So here we went.

JCPenny's blue bonnets field

Emily was so excited to see those beautiful flowers. She was also very brave to try to touch the bees. There were lots of bees in the flowers. So we didn't stay long in case being stung by one of them.

During the weekend, right before we left to run the errands, we saw a group of cuties walking right across our front yard. Emily screamed and followed them for a long way.

Oh, one more thing about Emily: she is getting so tall now that she can reach anything close to the edge of the kitchen counter or dining table. She broke one bowl and one glass already. Look, I'll just spread her snacks on the highchair. She can take care of the rest of it.
Our time seems to be running out quickly. Today the doctor told us that the baby is very low and the cervix is about 2 cm dilated already. We set up Andy's nursery and washed everything that he may use for the first couple of weeks. I also made dozens of dumplings to stock up. We just pray that God will keep us healthy for the last couple of weeks and bless us with a smooth delivery and a healthy baby.

Spring Status and Testimony

This week we got together with some of our friends before we run out of time. If I haven't told you, we are expecting Andy to arrive around early May since he is already in 88 percentile by weight. Emily and I had lunch with my previous co-workers. We also went to Debra and Lance's family adoption shower. Then we had dinner with Fred and Fang on Saturday. David has been actively cleaning and organizing the garage. I took care of some basic baby things for Andy. Emily continues her journey of potty training. She has been on cloth diapers for a couple of weeks. Now we started to put on her split-bottom pants so that she will be more aware of her elimination. She feels more and more comfortable sitting on the big potty. We are making good progress.


We are also attending the Relationships Matter seminar held by Prestoncrest. Can you believe that when the old Texas Stadium was tearing down, Jerry Jones was speaking at Prestoncrest? :-) Jerry and Lynn Jones spoke for six sessions on Sunday. We attended most of them and the Monday night session. Hopefully we can make it tonight and Wednesday night. Emily did better and better at nursery. The teachers commented how well she did for the last couple of weeks. Last night we heard "She was happy". We are so proud of her. At 17th month, Emily also started to stack the cups or blocks on the top (she only knocked them down before); experiment to say "NO" and "Yes" (I have to say that it was so precious to hear those first childish "No"s and "Yes"es); help daddy with gardening (she loves being outside); and help mommy to close the doors and drawers. She began to like the pouched eggs and meat. Below is a picture of her eating ribs at SpringCreek BBQ:




Our friends in Beijing Andrew and Jamie sent us a testimony of a Chinese lady who was baptized this Easter to translate into English. It was a great testimony. I wish every new Christian could articulate and share his/her stories like this. Here is the word-by-word translation that I'd like to share with you:

God created everything. Of course the four seasons are God’s wonderful creation too. I don’t know what your favorite season is. Mine is Spring.

I like Spring. I was born in the morning on a spring day. So my parents gave me the name “spring morning”.

I like Spring. It gave me a curious childhood. Remember when I was a child, every early spring, when I saw the budding grass from the corner of the wall and the side of the road, I would run to them with joy, keel down to watch it in wonder for a long time. The surrounding area was still yellow and dry. The wind was still cool. But the grass extended their head to welcome the first spring wind and the first warm sunshine.

I like Spring. It brings me hope. As I grew up, I realized that not long after I saw the first grass, the whole earth would be clothed in green. The yellow flowers would show their smiling face. I knew that before long mom would put the long-waited flower dress on me.

I like Spring. It represents new life and symbolizes hope. After I went to the middle school, I learned the essay from Mr. Zhu, Ziqing called “Spring”. He described Spring so beautifully that I liked it more. I knew that it would bring the new life and hope.

I like Spring. I was married in Spring. I knew that he was not the best man in the world. But he was the best one for me.

Now I like Spring more. In this spring, I gained new life and became a child of God. I was so happy, and so proud. I know that God created everyone. But not everyone can become his child. I thank God for loving me so much and choosing this spring to give me a new life!
When I came out of the water, I knew all of my sins were forgiven and I was saved. I became a Christian and a new member of God’s family.

Before this, I was like a blind person. I didn’t know God and didn’t understand God. My education from my childhood, my family, my friends and co-workers prevented me from knowing God sooner. Every time when I had difficulties, I was lost and alone. I tried to solve the problems on my own. But I couldn’t. Sometimes I just thought, everyone had their own problems, not just me. But when the problems got bigger and bigger, I had no choice and I was in a dead end. What was the purpose of my life? What was the meaning of life? How should I resolve my problems?

Earlier this year I met Andrew. He brought me to God. At first he didn’t push with a big theory. He just gave me a Bible and told me that it could help me. I was in doubt. But after I read just a few pages, I was grabbed by it. I read the Bible every day to get more from it. At the same time I saw many people’s sermons on the website. They helped me a lot. I felt I was a dry sponge trying to absorb every drop of water (just like the dry land trying to absorb the rain drops). At that time, I asked myself why I hadn’t read the Bible earlier and why I didn’t know there were many sermons on the Internet. Was I too late? But I believe all these were arranged by God. He let me to know him when I needed him the most. After that, I had many questions when I read the Bible. Every time when I asked Andrew, he would explain it to me in great details and encourage me to learn more. He told me that we can’t understand everything in Bible. Some people still have questions after a whole life of studying. But it doesn’t affect their love to God and God’s love to them. I participated some activities from the local church. The Sunday sermons helped me to understand more about Bible. The sisters’ singing often touched me deeply. Sometimes I felt that I was lack of confidence and belief. I asked Andrew to pray for me. He told me that he had already prayed for me many times. He said I could pray to God also and God will hear my prayer because He loves me. I’m so thankful for God’s love. I’m thankful that God didn’t abandon me. Gradually I learned to pray to God, just like a child talking to the father. I admitted my past mistakes and sins. I asked for His forgiveness. I told Him my problems and difficulties. I asked Him to help me. Little by little I saw the changes happened in my life. It was a true joy to see that. The joy reminded me of the feeling when I saw the first grass in the early spring days of my childhood. I believe and I know that there will be greater change in the future. Thank you God! Thank you for loving me!

Now I am a new born baby. I know that Satan knows about my weakness. He will attack me at any time. So when I ask God to protect me, I also need to learn more about how to fight Satan’s attack.

Thank you Andrew and Jaime, thank you the brothers and sisters in JingSong church! Thank God for He loved us!