Daniel at 6 Months and Enjoying the Park!

Daniel is 6 months old now and we're able to do lots more with him which has been so much fun! Our friends from England, Essi and John with their daughter Ava (12 months old), stayed with us for a couple of days last week and we took our children to the park. Daniel went on the swing for the first time and really enjoyed it! We are now going to the park with him often and enjoying the outdoors as much as possible before it gets cold.

Daniel on the swing for the second time ever!

This was fun to watch: Daniel and Ava together on the swing!

Daniel squealed with delight on the swing!

Swinging next to my son: so much fun and so cute to see the size difference!


Daniel trying out the slide for the first time!

Playing with Ava...

Trying out "The Alligator"

So many new things, how fun!

Some new things Daniel has been doing:

- In the last few weeks, Daniel has been grabbing toys and other objects with both hands, switches from hand to hand and holds them for a long time. He loves to stretch out his hands to grab things and likes to examine his toys in great detail.

- He has recently started to play with toys during bath time which has been fun to watch. He also loves to splash the water and doesn't seem to mind his face getting wet!

- He can sit for a few seconds on his own with his arms supporting him but still tends to flop to one side.

- He is turning a lot on the floor and has woken up completely on the other side of the crib in the morning. He turns around by turning on his side over and over again.

- He loves holding and playing with balls! Jonny is hopeful that this will lead to a great love of football! :-)

We're Back From Europe: Check-out the Slideshow!

We're back home after almost 3 weeks away in Europe. We had such a wonderful time - so many special moments with family and friends! We thank God that everything went so well! Daniel, who turned 6 months during our trip, did wonderfully and proved to be a very adaptable little boy! We are amazed at how well he did; he did not suffer any jet lag on the way there (it was a little harder on the way back, but he still did better than us), slept well in 3 different cots and just took all of the novelty in his stride. Thank you Lord for answering our prayers! Once again You are teaching me that I shouldn't worry so much and trust You more!

We first went straight to Eastbourne in the south of England to attend Abbie's wedding. It was great to see Jonny's English family again and introduce Daniel to all of them. The wedding was on a beautiful sunny day - a true gift from God since it apparently had not been as nice in months - and we got to witness the beautiful commitment of a special young couple. We are so excited about their marriage and look forward to following their new life together in the months and years to come!

We then went to London to prepare and participate in my dear sister's wedding to tio Juju! Wow, they are now husband and wife and we are so excited for them! Congratulations again! It was a very special and intimate wedding and everything turned out just as they had hoped. They are now honeymooning in Brazil and we can't wait to hear how they are doing!

After a busy week in London doing lots of wedding stuff and then spending time with friends and family, we traveled to Portugal for 5 days. We had such a nice time enjoying my mother's wonderful hospitality and enjoying our walks by the sea.

So now we are back home and trying to readjust to our normal routine and work life. Jonny's mother is visiting us for the next month so it's nice that we are not alone again. Daniel is back with Azad for 2 days a week so that he doesn't forget her while Heather is visiting.

We have over 400 photos of our trip and so I thought it would be best to just put up a slideshow - I'm continually amazed by technology! :-) So check it out if you have time and enjoy! The photos are not all in the right order of events since they are from several different cameras!

Happy Birthday Papai!

Dear Darls/Papai,

Today we thank God for your birth 31 years ago and for making you so special. We love you so much and feel so blessed that we are so intimately related to you; me as your wife and Daniel as your son - we really could not ask for a better husband and father! Thank you Lord for creating Jonny and giving him to us!

May God continue to bless you in this new year of your life and may you be guided by Him more and more to fulfill His perfect purposes.

We are looking forward to celebrating your birthday with our families during our upcoming trip!

With all our love,
Wife and Babes

***

A summary of Jonny's 31st Birthday...

Our day started with Jonny putting Daniel on his tummy before we left for work and he used his arms a lot more this morning which was fun to see! He also enjoyed looking at the mirror - see the third picture below:

In Jonny's lab, there is a tradition for the last person to have a birthday to make a cake for the next person. So Jonny's research assistant, Yu, made this beautiful Chinese sponge cake (which Jonny also loves to make but cannot decorate as well :-))

Jonny and Yu with Beautiful Birthday Cake

Finally a photo of us together - it's been a while!

After work we picked up Daniel who continues to thrive with Azad. It is also wonderful to reunite with him each time we pick him up and he's always so happy to see us. He's now sound asleep and has no idea that at this time tomorrow, we will be at the airport... We're really hoping that this trip will not be too hard on him... but we are so excited and can't wait to see many of our loved ones reading this blog again.

***

And here is an extra photo...

We love this close-up of Daniel taken this past Sunday, it is very him

Getting Ready to Cross the Atlantic!

Only 6 days left until we travel to England! We've been busy getting things ready for our trip and are getting more and more excited! First, we will participate in Jonny's cousin's wedding in the south of England and then in my dear sister's wedding in London! Can't wait, we are soooo excited! We will finally be able to introduce Daniel to his grandmother Heather, the extended English and Brazilian families and lots of friends!

There is sooo much to think about and prepare when traveling with an almost 6 month old! Long gone are the days when I could pack a couple of hours before our flight! And we are really wondering how Daniel is going to cope with the long flight and jet lag... I think it will be interesting to say the least! He has finally been sleeping through the night quite consistently and now we are going to interrupt his body clock! Oh well, it will be worth it!

After England, we will be going to Portugal for 6 days. My mother is so excited about taking Daniel for a walk along the beach - she's been talking about this since I was pregnant! So it's going to be very special.

Our little boy is growing up so fast and is already weighing 17 pounds (almost 8 kilos)! He continues to be obsessed by his feet and sucking his toes. In the last week he has done some new things like: grabbing and holding his bottle on his own; clearly stretching out his arm towards things he wants (like me or his bottle); he turned from his back, to his side to his tummy once; and has been blowing bubbles with his saliva - quite messy! :-) What has been really fun recently is taking him for walks in the stroller. He really enjoys it now (about a month ago he really did not and I had to quickly rush home!) and loves to look at the trees! I can actually stop walking for a few minutes and he just keeps peacefully looking at the nature around him. I think he gets that from his dad!

After we get back from Europe, we will start to introduce solids. I can't believe he will soon be starting this new journey! If any of you reading this blog have a specific book you recommend about introducing solids, please let me know. I'm actually getting excited about this and seeing how he will react to each new and exciting flavor!

Anyway, here are some photos I took of Daniel yesterday (5 and a half months old) outside on our deck - he loved looking at the trees and feeling the breeze (August this year has been just perfect - not too hot!):

So cute holding his hands together!

My heart melts each time he smiles!

Daniel enjoying looking at the trees...

Daniel at 5 Months and Showing Signs of "Independence"

We can't believe Daniel is already 5 months old! We've been enjoying him more and more as he has been doing more things and becoming more aware of the world around him. Yesterday was my "day off" with him and we had fun, though by the end of the day I was completely wiped out - it's so much harder being with him all day than working outside the home! :-) I have so much respect for full-time mothers with multiple children, how do they do it!?

Here are some recent photos of Daniel and his new found love: his feet!

Daniel is an energetic little boy!

He loves to hold his feet with both hands and tries to eat them!

Look at his concentration and how he folds in half!


He does these new things as if he's always done them, so matter of fact!

He is thriving staying with Azad 3-4 days a week, thank God it's working really well. He naps sooo much better there than at home. The other day he slept there for 3 hours and at home it's rarely more than 30 minutes!? The main difference is that there he sleeps in the same room as other children (usually with one other, sometimes up to 3 depending on the day). It just seems weird that he would sleep better with more people around... I don't know, it's so strange! He's always happy when we pick him up and now we leave him there completely at peace.

One big thing that's happened in the last few days that has been difficult for me to accept is that he has started to prefer the bottle over nursing. Only a month ago he did not like the bottle! He still nurses but quickly gets impatient even though he is hungry... When I realized this this past weekend and we tested it by giving him a bottle which he quickly consumed, I was devastated... I had had all these dreams about nursing him until he was about 1. But I guess that with the bottle he can eat much faster and so it's much less work for him. Apparently this is quite common for babies who have several bottles a day. Oh well, I'm starting to accept this transition though I still have not given up on nursing just in case he learns to enjoy them both... My little boy is growing up so fast! But as Jonny likes to remind me, our goal as parents is to bring him up to be independent, so I guess I'm already seeing signs of that happening. It just seems too soon! Oh well, I'm thankful that at least I have been able to nurse him for 5 months and I will always cherish that experience.

On a more lighthearted note, we had a funny experience on Tuesday night with Daniel pooping in the bathtub. Since he was only a few weeks old, we have been bathing with him every night and we cherish our bath times with him. But on this particular night, Daniel decided to poop during bath, and oh, how he pooped! This night it was my particular turn to bath with him. I was holding him upright playing with him a little and suddenly I saw some poop floating around me. I said "Jonny, we've got a problem here!" He then pooped AGAIN and AGAIN! In between the first and third poop our door bell rang and Jonny went to answer the door. After the third poop when I realized that the quantities were vast and it was all around us and starting to stick to our bodies, I started calling for Jonny and shouting "HELP!" I could not get out of the bath because I was holding Daniel and trying to keep his hands down because there was poop on his hands and he was trying to put his hands in his mouth! When Jonny returned, he was shocked to see that we were literally surrounded by poop! Jonny said "I can't believe this little boy can produce so much!" "Yes, he can, and what timing!" :-)

Photos of Daniel After a Long Day with Azad and Azra

Daniel has now been with Nani Azad and Auntie Azra for 2 and a half weeks and he just loves it there - praise God! Yesterday we finally took some pictures when we went to pick him up after work:

Daniel very happy on Azad's lap (Azra on the left)

Daniel is so loved by them, they actually compete to hold him!

After picking him up, we decided to do a quick shop but did not have our stroller with us. But Daniel did great inside the shopping cart! As long as he can hold his monkey or chicken (or both at the same time - a new skill!), he is usually very happy! :-)

Remembering Jonathan David: 18 Months

Dear Son,

Today you would have been 18 months old and we are remembering you today in a special way. How we miss you! How we wish we could be with you! We often wonder what you are like right now in heaven... But for sure we know that you are so well, only having fun and completely healed. The image of Jesus with his arms around you holding you gives us much comfort. How we wish we could hold you again! But until we are called home to join you, we are comforted knowing that you are better than us. Your little brother, for example, in his short life so far has already experienced fever and pain. But you haven't and never will! And because of this, because of your eternal perfect life, we thank our Lord Jesus today even more for all that He has done for us. Because of Him, you are well, because of Him, we will be together again forever.

We love you so much. Even though the pain of losing you is less, even though we have experienced joy again, be sure that you will always be remembered and loved. And as soon as your baby brother Daniel can understand, be sure that he will know about you, his big brother.

With all our love and many, many kisses, touching your sweet face in heaven,

Mamae and Papa

Things Can Change So Quickly!

This past week has been better than the previous week... At the beginning of last week, after getting used to the idea of leaving Daniel with Kalida, she informed us that she could no longer keep Daniel and that we had to find another place for him! We were devastated; in summary, she had already committed herself to another family who hadn't confirmed a starting date but suddenly showed up with their infant last week...

And so our frantic search began for another family day care for him... After calling more than 25 places and interviewing 7, we finally found Azad and Azra, two young grandmothers (also from Pakistan!) who live much closer to us and are just what we were looking for. It was so hard for us to have to look for a complete stranger to look after Daniel; at times like this, we really realize how hard it is being so far away from family. It's such a big decision and responsibility finding just the right place (there are some terrible places out there - we saw some and were shocked!), and we don't want to keep moving him from place to place... But this time (we really hope so!), it's going to work out for the long-term and for the better.

It turns out that Azad is the mother of our eye doctor and so we have a connection with her after all! Though Kalida was great with him, this time he's got two women looking after him and they only have 1 other toddler there full-time. So basically Daniel is getting lots of love and attention, which a little baby needs. Most importantly, he's doing great with them. Every time we've picked him up this past week, he's been happy and very calm. He's eating and napping great; so so far, so good! I'll try to get some photos of Daniel at his new day care next week.

So after last week's distraction, we've been back at work this week and finally focusing better. It's been great working from Jonny's lab and having this extra time together. I even went to DC this week to catch up with colleagues and see my friend Katie (it was great seeing you, so excited for you!) which was nice.

Today we went for Daniel's four month's check-up and he got four shots on his thighs! We really hope that this time he will not react as badly as he did last time - he had fever for 5 days in a row. So far he's doing well, just a little fussy, but no crying or fever yet. He's currently asleep right next to me in his swing... We have a great Pediatrician and she was encouraged to see Daniel growing and developing so well. He even put his toes in his mouth for the first time in front of her today, it was so cute and we were all excited! He continues to be long and thin: weighing 15 pounds and 6 ounces (7.1 kilos) and is 26 1/2 inches long (67.3 cm).

The other big thing that he has just started to do is holding out his arms to be picked up! When I arrived to pick him up from day care yesterday, he stretched out his arms to me! It's so fun seeing him do new things literally every day!

Here are some other things Daniel has been doing and that we have captured on camera:

Daniel can now sit well in the Bumbo seat! This was his first try next to his very proud Papa!

He's also just recently started to put his toys in his mouth!

Loves to devour his monkey!

Keeping his legs high and holding his feet is still his favorite thing!

Daniel also loves being held up high and kissed - not the best photo but you can see his enjoyment!

Recent Photos of Daniel at 4 Months

Today we spent some time by the pool and Daniel loved being outdoors half naked! :-) Look at the fun he had:

And grabbing his feet!

This is Daniel with me after waking up from a nap a few days ago: You can really see how long he is getting!

And we tried his "jumperoo" today and he liked it but he is still too small for it since he can't touch the ground yet! Will wait a little longer before trying again...

Back to Work!

So much has happened since the last blog. Daniel is almost 4 and a half months old! I returned to work this past week and thank God, Daniel did great without me - better than I did without him the first day for sure! :-) There were some changes in Daniel's day care arrangements. After really considering all the work I have to get done each week, Jonny and I decided that I should have 3 full days of work instead of half days. So Daniel is now being taken care of by Kalida, a Pakistani woman who has a family day care and who had been highly recommended by a friend (thanks for being so understanding Justyna about this change, you're wonderful!).

Kalida is great! She is so calm and experienced, has 4 adorable children, and most importantly, Daniel is having a great time there. Every time we have picked him up after work he's been happy. Kalida's children love to play with him and so he's getting lots of interaction and just seems to be enjoying himself so much! Apparently he laughs a lot more with them than with us and they have promised to get it on video next week! The first day was a little hard because he didn't want to take the bottle but by the afternoon he ate and has been eating well since then. He's also been napping their more than he does at home (still 30 minutes at home!) so that's amazing to me too.

Kalida with her 3 daughters

Kalida with Daniel: Her calm presence gives me much peace!

This is Daniel after his second day with Kalida as I put him in the car seat to come home - Happy!

And for me, though I still think about Daniel a lot during the day and worry about him, it's been good to get back to work. Since I'm an official telecommuter and can work from home (the commute to DC is far too long), we decided it would be best for me to get out of the house and have some adult interaction. So I've actually been working from Jonny's lab (his boss said it was fine for me to work from his desk!), and it's been great! We can get to spend a lot more time together this way and I'm not alone at home all day.

So all in all I just have to praise God about how wonderful the transition has been this past week. It hasn't been easy, but it couldn't have gone smoother than it has. I have continued to battle with insomnia and anxiety but it is getting better and now that this big step in going back to work has occurred, I think I will continue to get better. Please do continue to pray for me. Having a baby has been a much greater adjustment than I had ever imagined!

Big developmental advances and changes in the last couple of weeks:

- Daniel is grabbing things more and more and now even his legs and feet! (It amazes me how he doesn't seem to realize how exciting this is, he just does these new things as if he always has!)

- He's laughing more and more - though still quite short laughs.

- He is cooing so loudly that you can hear him from a long distance - and his voice even went a bit hoarse for a few days!

- He's stopped turning from his tummy to his back but is threatening to move onto his side when on his back.

- He needs to wear a bib all the time now because he's drooling so much - we go through 3-4 bibs a day!

- He's been sleeping now without a swaddle for about 2 weeks and is doing great - it surprised us that it didn't affect his sleeping at all, the time was just right! This was something I was anxious about too, but like most things, I didn't have to be!