Isaac is born healthy!

Dear all,

We want to share a good news with you. Isaac is born at 12:12pm today. The pediatrician just examined him and said he is a healthy boy. He has a lot of hair like Meredith and he weighs 8lbs 8oz. Praise God for this good news and thank you all for your prayers and support throughout this pregnancy.

Waiting on C-Section

Today is February 28. Tomorrow morning I will go to Sugar Land Methodist Hospital to have my c-section. It felt like ages since the doctor informed me about Isaac’s dilated kidneys in my 20th week of pregnancy. As I recall, when I received the news from Dr. Starr, I was in the midst of teaching in my class room. I couldn’t remember what lesson I was teaching, but I remember telling my kids that I needed to make a phone call to my husband at that time. I have a trainee teacher from Austin High School in my class at the time. I asked her to take over my class and helped me to conduct the lesson. All I can remember was searching frantically on the web for more information about dilated kidney (pylectasis). I was shaken and terrified upon reading that dilated kidney a soft marker of down syndrome. During lunch hours and off periods, I locked myself in my room and cried helplessly.
The following weeks were tough as I cried everywhere I had been. I cried when I was driving to training center, school, church and even in front of Meredith. It felt like I lost the bearing in my life. I even quit my job in December 2007 because I was so stressed out. I was very careful about my prayers to God and I also make sure that Eric is praying not for God’s will, but only our will. Our will is for Isaac to be healthy and God must not let anything bad happen. I read about Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane shortly before he is crucified. Jesus asked God if he could NOT go through the immense suffering on the cross but ultimately he chose to let God’s will triumphed over his will (which means he has to die in the most painful way on the cross). I was stunt. I don’t have faith or courage to pray for His will to be done in my life if it means Isaac might be unhealthy. What if his will is for the worst fear in my life to happen.
However, prayers have slowly changed my mind, I finally have faith to pray for God’s will be done in my life. I came to realize that it is not easy to ask someone to pray to seek for God’s will. It might be cruel to pray for God’s will be done in someone life without first asking how he or she would feel during the period of suffering.
I had detail ultrasound exams every month following that. Thank God that my 28th and 32nd week ultrasounds results did not break my heart into pieces. They did not see any other soft markers of down syndrome in addition to the dilated kidney. God has strengthen my heart through all the people around me. People in our church poured out their love and support for us throughout all this. Their prayers and love sustained my hope through this period. I also developed a closer relationship with God due to this. I am uncertain about how I will feel when Isaac is born tomorrow. Deep down my heart, as a mother, I want him to be a healthy and normal boy. I want him to be just like any of the kids we see in Sunday School. If something negative happen, I think my heart will freefall into a dark place for a while. I am not sure how long the suffering might be. But I am certain that God’s love is amazing and sufficient for everything that we might encounter and we will be able to live through anything with God’s grace.

Gullible Parents Overspent on Portraits

Meredith portrait 2 Jan 2008, originally uploaded by Meredith Sugar Land.

Meredith's Portrait Jan 08

Meredith Portrait Jan 08, originally uploaded by Meredith Sugar Land.

Confinement Helper Needed

There is a high demand for confinement helper and nanny in the chinese community in Houston area. Boon Hong started looking for a confinement helper since a few months ago. We thought that we found one good candidate. She was recommended by a number of our friends that used her service before. Unfortunately, there's a baby boom going on. There's another Malaysian couple from Penang that's also interested in this candidate. This friend's due date is only two to three weeks before Boon Hong's due date. Some compromise/agreement was reached so that both parties can have the service of this sought after confinement helper. Anyway, as a back up, we decided to run an advertisement (highlighted in green in attached photo) in local chinese newspaper. There are many people (at least ten) that responded to our advertisement. Right now we shortlisted to four candidates. We went to visit several "auntie" at their home just to see how it is. Anyway, some at stay at home housewife looking for a short term part time job, some are actually running professional confinement center from their home. For about $2,500 to $3,500, they will let you go stay at their house for one month after the baby is deliver. Then they will take care of you, the baby and also cook confinement food for seven days a week for one month. One person that responded is a professional confinement auntie from Los Angeles, she is asking for return air ticket to LA on top of the confinement pay. Anyway, we will probably stick to a local candidate who will stay at our house for 5-6 days each week to help out. But still, this will be a back up and the preference is still to have the candidate that our friend used before.

Amsterdam photos

Windmill near Amsterdam city limit

Amsterdam has so many canals. It is different from Venice because there are roads parallel to the canals. In Venice, the canals pretty much hug the buildings.

Toilet in Anne Frank House.

Ice skating rink near Leidseplein

Middle eastern market in Amsterdam

They also call this Tut Tut like in Thailand but I think in Amsterdam it is more of a novelty for tourist vs. real transporation.

Amsterdam- so many bicycles!

I went to Amsterdam in the first week of December. I was shocked to see many bicycles. Everyone rides a bike no matter rich or poor or big or small. The weather was in the low 30F range and it rained almost the entire week. But yet, people still get around their business riding bicycles. I saw some mum bundled up their toddlers and just placed them in the wooden carriage in her bike and then ride around the entire town. Amsterdam is also very dense and compact. It is well suited to bike commuting with abundance of bike lanes on every street. I wished we can do that here in Houston and not get run down by a car or pick up truck.

Parcel from Malaysia

Boon Hong received a parcel from Malaysia today from her parents and sister. We were about to leave for Hsing's bridal shower when a pick up truck dropped off the parcel. The postage from Malaysia shocked me. It costs RM 379 to send this parcel from Johor to here. With this amount, one can fly from Kuching to KL and back. But Boon Hong and I are very happy to receive this parcel. Boon Hong was kind of down because her parents couldn't be here last time and this time when she gives birth. She was happy to see the parcel. After all, it took quite a bit of effort to buy everything and then the put together the parcel to mail it. We opened the parcel and there are various mushroom, dried fish, and herbs inside.

Meredith playing "Little Pirate". We went to race go-kart today for Joseph's bachelor party and we got the black hoodie to line the rental helmet.

Meredith at Hsing's bridal shower. She borrowed the head decoration and the bouquet from Hsing. She can't wait to get marry!

Colorado trip

I traveled to Colorado in December to my project site. It's very remote. With the snow storm in Denver area, it took me one full day to get to the site. The area is call Piceance Creek. The natural beauty of the winter landscape posed a nice contrast with the various industrial activities taking shape in the area due to the oil and gas boom.

Dressed by father or dressed by mother

You can tell quite easily whether Meredith is being dressed by me or by Boon Hong on a particular day. I tend to dress her quite casually or actually sometimes in a more sloppy manner. In this first three photos in this posting, I took Meredith to Sugar Land city square to see the Christmas tree and the toy soldiers on display. This was back in 3rd week of December. Boon Hong wasn't feeling well so I put on a sweater for Meredith and took her out to see the Christmas display. You can see a tissue paper tucked into Meredith shirt, her shirt got wet before we went out. I taught her how to layer it with a tissue paper underneath so we can avoid changing cloth at the last minute.

Several days later, we went Christmas shopping in Galleria. Boon Hong dressed Meredith in the same sweater this time but with slightly different outcome (the last three photos in this posting). She looked less sloppy.

Boon Hong Last Day at School

BoonHong's farewell card from her students

Meredith said "Dii Dii tekk" meaning that she knows these toys are for her brother. But she already started playing with some of the toys.

DSCN2812, originally uploaded by Meredith Sugar Land.

Time went by very fast. Two and half years ago, Boon Hong was applying to be a teacher after she became certified. She started teaching seventh grade math at Jackson Middle School. This school is an urban school in downtown Houston. Almost all her students are hispanics and many come from low income families. There are problematic students but there are also some good ones that made her think it's worth it. She struggled a lot initially but this year her students result have been improving and she is even made a lead teacher this semester. Today is the last day at school. Today she officially became stay home mom and begins next chapter in life. She originally planned to quit next January or February (1 or 2 months before her due date) but a few things happened that prompted her to quit earlier. The primary reason is she is rather stressed about a complication that has arise in the pregnancy. Another reason is this pregnancy seems to be a lot tougher for her than last one. She is always out of breath and breathing heavily and constantly tired. Today I went to picked her up and help her clear out her classroom. Teachers in her cluster (her team) had organized a baby shower for her on the last day. She received a lot of diapers, a big frog and many other cute things. Some gifts are from her students. Anyway, Meredith learnt to say that "Isaac tekk" and "dii dii tekk" when she saw all those gifts. But she is not shy about playing the toys first even though she said those gifts are for Isaac.