Simple Things

While looking for family quotes for a photobook I was working on, I came upon the a story and photo that I thought was touching and amazing. It came out a few years ago and many sites say that it should be the picture of the year or even the picture of the decade, but only those who obtained that one specific issue of a USA Today would have ever seen it. The "Hand of Hope" photo is of a 21 week old unborn baby Samuel being operated on by a surgeon; the baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Fortunately, they heard of a surgeon who performs remarkable in-utero surgeries to correct problems before a baby is born. According to the text and the photographer Michael Clancy's point of view, "During the surgery on little Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed, hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger...as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life...Little Samuel's mother said they 'wept for days' when they saw the picture." Though some may find it a bit gory, the incredible photo shows God's precious gift of life.

Sometimes it is the simple things in life that can have such an affect and touch us. Our little Sweetpea has started to respond and smile more now. It is those moments when she looks up and smiles at me that makes the sleepless nights and everything all right and worth it. It is through her simple gesture that I am reminded of God's blessing, and I look forward to experiencing more joys of motherhood as we watch her grow up.

1 Month Party & More Fun Pics

This past weekend has been a very eventful one for our little Sweetpea. During her one month pediatrician visit last Friday, she got her second Hep B shot. We also found out that she did quite a bit of catching up in terms of her weight. At birth, she was at 25 percentile for weight, now she is at 50-75 percentile, weighing in at 9lbs 6.5oz; that's almost 3 pounds weight gain and more than the standard expected gain of 0.5 to 1oz per day... so I really wasn't imagining things when my arms was getting tired as I fed her the other day :) Other than her weight, to show how small Sweetpea is, we thought it would be cute and funny to take a picture of her in a pot (maybe stockpot) perhaps with a chefs hat or something, but we may be too late because of how much she has grown... so we did the next best thing we could think of.... take a look


Saturday was Sweetpea's one month birthday celebration.
Happy one month to our precious, growing baby girl!
Photo with Ama and Ancong
Meeting Toby, Auntie Ang, and Uncle J
Lovely flowers from Auntie Yvonne
Storytime with Auntie Grace


Sweetpea's playmates and their mommies
Sweetpea, Lia, and Daddies
Rather than reposting some of the same photos, you can view more photos at her Michelle Ah-ee's post about the party. We'd like to say a special thanks to her Ama and Ema for "catering" and preparing all the decorations; the food was very tasty and our home beautifully transformed! It was such a blessing having so many friends and family come and celebrate this milestone with us. Towards the end of the event, I got a piece of cake which seemed to have a word that echoed some of our emotions as new parents. Indeed, we are sad the party and Sweetpea's days as a newborn have to come to an end, but we cherish each day ahead and look forward to sharing many more milestones with our little Sweetpea.

The Nursery & Fun with SLR

Some of our friends have been curious about Sweetpea's nursery... but we have a backlog of postings and pictures we need to get to and haven't gotten a chance to post one of the nursery until now. So, here's a glimpse of her nursery.


Now, about the camera. We've been contemplating about getting an SLR camera for a while, but they are so pricey. Shortly after Sweetpea was born, however, we caved in and purchased a Nikon SLR. There's too many features to learn -- all I know is point and shoot. Anyhow, I thought we'd have some fun with the camera. Here are a few of my shots as a budding photographer :)




I then noticed that the bear was about the same size as Sweetpea, so I took the following picture to show her daddy and our readers. Looks like they're having fun :)

4 weeks old and First Outing

This past Thursday, our baby girl turned four weeks old. Time flies by so fast! We can hardly believe how much tinier our little Sweetpea was when she was born. They really do grow very fast... every week she changes. I miss some of those days already, but she is starting to smile and respond more, which we also look forward to. She's getting more fat and more color now :)

Since it is the landmark 1 month, we got to go out for a little bit for the first time other than going to the hospital or pediatrician's office. Here's how her day went:





Sleep - yes, that's very important.










Play














Sleep some more










Yay, we're off to see the world. Well, not really... just Crossroads "mall" close by our home.





Sweetpea was asleep when we arrived but when she woke up, she looked around in wonder and amazement. We even got to eat at the food court. Here's daddy burping her.

Playtime with Mommy

I know most of my pics posted so far has my eyes closed, so mommy is posting a few pics of us when I was about 2 weeks old.


See, I still like my right hand, and left hand is for eating


Here, I'm about to make a face I often do... even though there's no sound, everyone always says, "ooh, owoo, or o" whenever I make it

Meet the Hand

On the story of Sweetpea's birth, I wrote about the hand that she had to have next to her head when she was delivered. I'm fairly certain that it is her right hand, and I've been meaning to post some pics. Seems that my youngest sister also noticed her attachment to her hand and beat me to posting. Check out her July 3rd blog entry... the only thing is that she called it Sweetpea's early initiation into the world of cell phones, lol. All the hand pics she posted were from Sweetpea's first days, 2 pics in the hospital and 1 on the car ride home. Sweetpea's daddy says there were a couple of ultrasound pics with her hand next to her head as well, so I'll post a pic or two of that and perhaps other more recent ones when I get a chance.

Sling Baby

Happy 4th of July Everyone! Since it hasn't been one month yet, we're still confined to the house, so our family will get to share the fireworks experience on TV this year, not that we went anywhere in particular the previous years.

Anyhow, today's topic is babywearing. I had purchased a pouch sling prior to Sweetpea's birth and have recently had a chance to use it a few times these last few days. My verdict? I'm amazed at how well these actually work. I'm not sure if I've worn it or put it on right since I'm new to putting an infant into a pouch sling, but it's like magic when I put our little one into this cozy confined space. One minute she's crying and then a few seconds after putting her in the sling, she calms down and falls asleep. The first time, it took me a while to get her in it while she was crying, but when she got in, and I walked around a couple times, she fell asleep. It has also worked great when she gets fussy about being put down. After putting her to sleep and putting her down, she would sometimes wake up after a few minutes, realize she's not being held, and start crying again. Daddy sometimes spends over an hour walking her throughout the house...circling the living room, kitchen, and family room, and going up and down the stairs... because sometimes she gets upset if you just sit still and hold her. So far, the pouch sling seems to be working great. I'll have to practice a bit more with putting her in there since I'm sometimes concerned that her head looks like it's bent towards me; we'll have to get Auntie Ang, a strong supporter of the pouch sling, to come over, demonstrate, and check our positioning. But, for now, so far, so good.