Amazing Changes In The 10th Month

Daniel is coming to the end of his 10th month and we have just been amazed at how, just in the past few weeks, he has developed so much! It's less than a month since we returned from Malaysia and Daniel had just started to crawl and now he can:

- Crawl very quickly (we really can't stop watching him now for a second!)

- Pulls himself up onto his feet quickly and with only one hand. His favorite activity now is to pull himself up on pretty much anything he can - including walls and doors! He absolutely loves standing up by the window and looking outside! He also loves to stand in his crib which he does immediately after waking up (this has also resulted in him fighting sleep at night and wanting to keep standing in his crib for longer!)

- He can climb our stairs by himself (with us straight behind him, of course)!

- AND.. one of the cutest things that's happened recently is that: He's now clapping!!! He loves to be sung to and will join in with claps!And what's interesting is that he claps mainly with his left hand. Is this a sign that he is left-handed?! :-) His friend Takumi, only a couple of months older, definitely claps with his right hand. We'll video him clapping soon for you all to see this interesting phenomenon!

- Another cute thing that has happened is that he has become very attached to his classic teddy given by his uncle Peter - it's definitely his "lovey" and he loves to sleep holding it!

Here are some photos of the boy wonder with his teddy and standing in his crib on a recent early morning:

To Our Beloved Son On Your Second Birthday

Dear Jonathan David, our Beloved Son,

Happy 2nd Birthday! We are thinking of you today so much, remembering the precious time we had with you exactly two years ago...

We have mixed feelings today: we are thankful that we had the privilege to meet you, to hold you, to have you as our first son, but we are also sad; missing you so much and wishing that we could be with you again. Our first prayer this morning as we woke up was "Lord Jesus, please give Jonathan David a very special hug for us. Please let him know how much we love and miss him!"

But, we are comforted by the fact that you are very well in heaven and celebrating your birthday in the most amazing way - we're sure that whatever you are doing today, our human minds cannot even conceive of its greatness! What joy it must be to be in glory! For this, you are truly blessed; you had the privilege of going straight to heaven and not having to endure this fallen world that we live in. To be face to face with Jesus, surrounded by the love and presence of our Father, perfectly healed, in perfect joy; wow, how amazing!

Until it is our time to join you, know that you are so loved and so missed. Know that as our first son, you hold a very special place in our hearts and always will.

Happy Birthday to you, our beloved son!

With all our love, now and forever,

Mamae and Papai

Busy and Some Great News!

We've been busy the last couple of weeks juggling home and work, keeping up with an energetic crawler, child-proofing our home, catching up with some friends and enjoying historic moments. Here are some recent photos of what we've been up to...

We've also got some great news: Our "Green Cards", American Permanent Residence Cards, have finally arrived! We've been waiting for them for about 2 years and are so thankful and excited that they are here! Having them means that Jonny and I can change jobs without having to be sponsored and whenever we want to, come in and out of the country without worrying about visas, etc. And the timing couldn't be better since Jonny's post-doc position is coming to an end in the summer! God is always on time! We're excited and waiting on Him to show us what He wants us to do next and where!

Happy with our "Green Cards"

(though they're not "green" at all; not sure why they are called that!)

Daniel and Enya playing

Daniel has lots of hair now all around

(We recently trimmed his fringe a little because it was starting to cover his eyes)!

Visit to Maria Helena's house: She kept her Christmas tree up for Daniel to enjoy and he loved it!


But we had to work hard at keeping him away from it because he wanted to grab the ornaments all the time!

Opening the last of Christmas presents...

We all enjoyed watching the inauguration of President Obama and to capture the historic moment on camera for Daniel to see in the future! We must keep this new President in our prayers!

Daniel at 10 months!

Our boy wonder is 10 months old! He started to crawl forward (he first crawled backwards into a sitting position for a week or so in Malaysia) on New Year's Eve, a few days before turning 10 months. Check out the video of him crawling this past weekend. Since then, he's already crawling faster and for longer stretches - amazing how they learn quickly once they start!

It's been so much fun watching him crawl and he now plays on his own for much longer since he can easily change position and toy. But of course, his new motility is making us child proof our home very quickly! See in the video how he is attracted to the stairs!

Other things to remember of Daniel at 10 months:

- He is now waving (flapping hand!) more consistently when we say "hi" and "bye"

- He's starting to enjoy more finger foods such as pieces of chicken and cheese

- He can last without a nap for much longer and can even "skip" one if his two naps when necessary (like when we go to church on Sunday morning).

- He is becoming a lot more assertive about what he "does not want" and has started to complain more when we change his diaper and clothes! I think that now that he is crawling, he doesn't want to stay still for long so he makes a fuss when he has too! "Disciplining" has officially started in our home at 10 months! Lord, please help us as this new side of parenting begins! :-)

Back Home and Finally Recovered

I finally have the energy to blog again. We arrived back from Malaysia this past Saturday and have, since then, been recovering from our long trip back home...

Our last week in Malaysia was also wonderful and we have many treasured memories - gosh, just remembering everything makes us feel sad because we had such an amazing time! One of the highlights of our last week was our visit to an Orchid Farm (owned by a friend of Jonny's dad) and we had a private tour and tutorial! Wow, we just love those flowers and were literally surrounded by thousands of all colors and sizes! Check out the slide show for some photos of our last week (to download, click on the slide show and you will be taken to Picasa):




The only negative thing about the last week is that Daniel caught a cold and for the last couple of days, wasn't able to enjoy himself as much. We actually contemplated in changing the date of our flights to make sure Daniel was OK to fly, but there wasn't any availability until January 15th. So, in faith and trusting God for strength, we left Malaysia late on Friday night and after 31 hours, arrived safely home. It was a difficult journey, Daniel had a fever on the first flight, but we saw blessings throughout, including being able to take a shower at the airport in Seoul which energized us. It was also special to arrive and have our dear friend Sivert pick us up at the airport.

We were soooo exhausted when we got home and since we had no food in the house except for cereal and some bread in the freezer, we called our dear neighbor Justyna to bring us some milk to get us through the first night. She kindly brought us a lovely soup and some cake too so that was an additional blessing! We were shocked, however, to discover that our front "storm door" had been blown off on New Year's Eve and that our cat, Buffy, looked fatter than we remembered (she is now on prescription diet food!).

The jet lag this way back has been much worse and for the first 4 nights, none of us slept well. In addition, we really noticed how dry it is here after being in the tropics and have had to drink loads of water and moisturize more than usual! :-) But since yesterday, we have all been sleeping better and Daniel had a great day with Ruth today and has pretty much recovered from his cold as well as the jet lag.

So, here we are, back home, after 3 amazing weeks in Asia. We so enjoyed it and wished we could stay longer! But at the same time, it's nice to be home and back to our routine.

I hope to blog more soon about Daniel at 10 months! He is so active now and crawling everywhere - so cute to see! Must upload a video soon... But for now, good night - still have to catch up on sleep so better get going!

Second Week in Malaysia!

Our second week in Malaysia was also wonderful and full of memories: Celebrating Christmas; reuniting with family and old school friends; eating loads of different and delicious foods; sweating a lot (it's been extra hot and humid the last few days) and enjoying seeing Daniel change by the day and also enjoy meeting our loved ones.

Check out the slide show for photos of the second week (to download, click on the slide show and you will be taken to Picassa):

Unfortunately, we will be returning home this coming Friday night and should be arriving back home around lunchtime on Saturday, the 3rd (because of the 13 hours time difference, we'll actually be gaining a day on the way back). We've so enjoyed being here that we are feeling sad to be leaving soon. But, we are frequently reminding ourselves of how blessed we have been to be able to come here and experience all that we have for almost 3 weeks. We still have 3 more days to enjoy!

In the meantime, we are wishing our loved ones a Happy New Year!! Will blog again next year!

First Week in Malaysia!

We've been in Kuala Lumpur for one week and are having a wonderful time! Thank God, we are all now completely adjusted to the time zone and Daniel is back on his schedule and sleeping through the night again. It was exhausting the first 4 days for us all but definitely worth it! We are so happy to be here and still have almost 2 weeks before we return home.

We are so enjoying being in the tropics and our daily swim with Daniel is such a treat! The first day we decided to take Daniel to the pool, I told Jonny: "Let's go slowly, let's dip his feet in first and see how he reacts." I honestly thought that it would take a few days for him to get used to it. But, Daniel just loves the pool and after only dipping his feet in for a couple of seconds, he loved being thrown up and into the water with lots of laughter and excitement! He didn't show any fear or hesitation whatsoever! Check out the photos and you will see exactly what I mean!

We have also discovered that Daniel loves dogs - Jonny's mother has two - and he really enjoys going for a walk in his stroller and seeing all the different trees and surroundings - Jonny's parents live close to a tropical jungle; it's just beautiful! On the downside, Daniel has been bitten by mosquitoes for the first time ever but thank God, he has not had any bad reactions. It's also a new experience that he gets to sleep under a mosquito net which he loves to touch before going to sleep.

It's also been so lovely spending time with Jonny's parents and seeing their love for Daniel. Yesterday, we got to introduce Daniel to several of his grandfather's golf friends and they each got to hold him and it was so sweet to see their happiness in finally meeting their friend's grandson.

Anyway, check out the two slideshows below for photos of our travel and our first week here! (To download photos, click on the slideshows and it will take you to Picasa)

Slideshow #1: Travel from US to Malaysia via Korea



Slideshow #2: First week in Malaysia

Greetings From Kuala Lumpur!

We arrived safely and well in Kuala Lumpur late on Sunday night local time; more than 48 hours after leaving our home. Thank God, considering how far away we have come, the trip went very well. Thank you for your prayers! Daniel did great on the flights and is now adjusting to the 13 hour time difference. During the first 15 hour flight to Korea, he didn't sleep much but was happy playing in the baby bassinet Korean Air provided and enjoyed being held by different passengers who thought he was cute (by the way, we highly recommend Korean Air, the service was great!). The next day, we flew to Malaysia and Daniel slept most of the flight and did well despite us getting home at about 1 am. So far, nights have been the biggest struggle with him waking up frequently and by the end of each day he has been so tired that he hasn't wanted to have dinner; but each day we have seen improvements and tonight he ate well again and was less tired.

We are now here staying with Jonny's Dad who has more framed photos of Daniel than we do - how wonderful to see how loved Daniel is by many! The weather is hot and humid and we are loving it! We've been thoroughly enjoying the foods that we had been eagerly waiting to eat and are planning to hit the pool with Daniel soon.

Will post pictures and write more once we too have adjusted to being on the other side of the world!

Daniel Gets the Giggles!

A couple of days ago during dinner, Daniel got the giggles and we captured it on video! He laughed and laughed with our dear friend Maria Helena; here are a couple of minutes for you to share in our joy!

Boy Wonder Now 9 Months Old!

Our precious baby boy officially became 9 months yesterday! It's been 9 months since we were at Mercy Hospital meeting him for the first time... Wow, we didn't realize then just how much he would change our lives. And it's just not in the sense of less sleep and him getting most of our attention; having him has completely changed the way we think about ourselves, our roles, our family, our future, our relationship with God... everything. And we know that, God willing, in the months and years ahead, the privilege of being Daniel's parents will just continue to change us. Parenthood is transforming... I didn't realize 9 months ago it would be this much.

We've had some special times over the past week: Thanksgiving with the Staggers and Ritchies; party for Daniel at Maria Helena's so that he could meet her closest friends and Maria Helena spending time with us on my day off. Check out the slideshow for our favorite photos - if you click on the slideshow, you can download the photos through Picassa (unfortunately our old camera broke on Thanksgiving so we haven't got any photos of that special day).

We now need to start preparing for our upcoming trip to Malaysia! We are leaving one week from tomorrow and will be away for 3 weeks. We are really looking forward to going but kind of dreading the flights there. We will first be taking a 15 hour flight to South Korea, sleeping over in Seoul and then making our way to Kuala Lumpur. We ask for your prayers for the flights over; Daniel is so active now and we're just not sure how we will manage to entertain him for so long in a confined space... oh well, we'll manage somehow! The time difference is also huge - 13 hours ahead from here - so that too will take some adjusting to... Please do keep us in your prayers! But once we are there, God willing, we will get to enjoy spending time with Jonny's family, introducing Daniel to family and friends, being outdoors in hot weather, swimming pool, wonderful food, etc... it's going to be worth it!