Verene with Asher and McKell
The Getz and Deckers both had babies about the same time as Verene. Around Christmas time the Deckers had us and other friends over and we were able to get a picture of the three of them together!
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January 31, 2008
Family Time
Janae and I have been blessed with a lot of family around us. First of all, my Mom lives nearby, Janae's parents came here just before Verene was born, Autumn and Christian live nearby with Celeste. Nice at times...
It's been nice for Janae's family to be re-united. Both her parents live in Taiwan and both their daughters and their granddaughters live in the same town in Northern Virginia. It was great they came to help with us being first-time parents. The best part of having them here for the first 3+ months is having hands. We miss our hands so very much. Janae than I feels we can do NOTHING when the baby is awake but attend to her every need. It's great when you have a family to help. Too bad we still had the night shift. No relief there.
They left at the end of the year and we had to finally learn how to be parents on our own. Bad - we don't know what we're doing. Good - we don't have someone else tell us that every day! This is them at the airport with their grandkids.
This picture is at a Christmas brunch that Antoinette, Janae's sister's mother-in-law hosted for all extended family - hers and ours! She's truly genuine in treating extended family, no matter how removed, as her own. My Mom and sister were invited to the brunch as well! For them it's my son/brother's wife's sister's husband's mother!
It's nice to have Mom living in the area. Big difference between living in the area and living with you!!! Anyone who has lived with parents or in-laws for extended periods of time must understand. She's a nice constant that we see regularly and still have space for both of us to live our separate lives...perfect. Of course she's also excited to be grandma! It's her first!
Mary wasn't able to make it home for Christmas but sent her love with shirts from Case Western. In the Huang-Lee tradition of cheez, we're cheering her on in her first year of med school. Think twice before sending us identical t-shirts because we have no shame embarrassing ourselves!
January 30, 2008
Baby Blessing and belated Thanksgiving
It's amazing to think that 2007 is already past and it's almost February! Between getting used to being new parents, having Janae's parents living with us, and remodeling the kitchen and a half-bath, the year ended on a hectic note. I feel as if things are finally kind-of returning to normal. I'm finding time to look at pictures of the cutest baby in the world and reflect on how fast she is growing! It feels like just yesterday that we had her baby blessing at the church but that was just 2 months and a couple baby clothing sizes ago.
For Thanksgiving, Zonzon came from Michigan, Mary from Ohio, and Debbie from Boston. It's nice having Mom live close where others travel to us! Having family here for the holiday created the perfect opportunity to have Verene's baby blessing at the church. Fathers typically perform the blessing and I was extremely nervous. For weeks I did my best to prepare myself through studying the scriptures, fasting, prayer, and meditation to know what to bless my daughter with. The experience was intense. I have a new level of respect for others who have also blessed their babies!
What was special about the blessing was what I learned about my hopes and desires for Verene. She's going to be a lawyer. Just kidding. What's important is that she is happy! I think lawyer just got axed from that one criteria alone. Maybe I'm just tainted by Aunt Debbie's workload. Seriously, I desire for her to be happy, gain a deep understanding of who she is and how she is tied to the families Janae and I come from including our ancestors. At the end of the day, success is measured by how happy you are!
It was so nice having family, friends, and neighbors as part of the experience. I was so grateful that Mary and Debbie were able to be there. This was a big event and it was just nice having close family and friends be a part of it.
After the blessing, we had a little gathering at the Purdons. It was nice to have neighbors, friends, and especially family there. I hope everyone had a good experience with the baby blessing. It was quite the fathering experience for me.
January 26, 2008
Feeding time
Verene is SO cute when she eats. Her little hands aren't large enough to grab the bottle so she grabs the index finger of the hand holding the bottle. If I start pulling the bottle away, she'll tighten her grip and pull my hand back in. She's basically telling me "Don't even think about taking my bottle away!" I guess I better not mess with her when she's eating.
Well before she finishes her bottle, she will fall asleep with the bottle in her mouth to take a break. As soon as I try to move the bottle from her sleeping mouth, she'd wake and cry. Somehow even in her sleep she is conscious of where the bottle is...ALWAYS. After putting the bottle back, she'll stop crying and start eating until she falls asleep again.
We've started her on some solid foods now. It's very obvious she is not a fan of them. She even recognizes the jars. When she sees the jar she'll immediately close her mouth. It doesn't matter if she was smiling and laughing or just dazing out into nowhere, she knows well what the jar means - veggies. I guess it's genetic. Kids don't like veggies. If it was me, I'd take the breast over processed food any day.
January 24, 2008
First pain
Today was the first time I felt real pain because of my daughter. It was in middle of my work day when I got a call from Janae. Her voice didn't sound quite right and I remained calm while she explained what happened. She was cutting Verene's nails (you know where this is going) and accidentally cut her finger. I cringed in my seat picturing her delicate fresh tender skin broken by metal. My heart sank and I almost cried out of pain for her. Janae obviously felt terrible as well. Blood dripped down her little finger and eventually stopped.
The beauty of the experience for Janae and I was the babe's reaction. She initially cried but quickly turned it to a big smile - the kind where her eyes are closed and she's grinning ear to ear - as Janae picked her up and held her. Imagine having blood running from your hand for the first time and having zero animosity towards the one who caused the pain immediately after the act, even if the act was unintentional. As this is the first time she got hurt, perhaps she didn't know how to respond in anger or spite. Her naive innocence and immediate forgiveness of Janae is simply sweet. Both of our hearts melted. How can we not love such a child? This must be what Jesus meant when he instructed us to be as a little child - forgive quickly and hold no animosity in your heart.
When do we learn to not immediately forgive and give a big smile instead of feeling the some degree of anger?
Do I love and forgive my parents unconditionally knowing they never intended to hurt me?
I experienced the perfect response to both of these lessons today from a 4 month old babe.