Memorial Day Weekend

Starting the transition to the big boy bed

Daniel and Yu Shu visit from Chicago

Meet the Illinois "Go" champion

Feeding the goats

Carousel, notice the new buzz

Headlock from Enya

Isaac Videos. Talking, Singing, Riding.

Fun with Adam and Shandis

We were welcomed home from Roatan by Adam and Shandis. We have not seen them since their wedding, which is almost two years ago now! Wow, time just flies. Every time we see old friends, I am constantly reminded of God's faithfulness and placing strategic people in your life. I have to say, they will forever be our life long friends. We had a lot of fun catching up, getting to Shandis better, and constantly reminisce the "good old days." Can't believe college has been years already! Love you guys!

It's a boy

21 weeks, healthy.

Honduras

We are back from our Roatan trip with Lester, Judy, and Courtney. Courtney is still down there volunteering. It was a great trip! We literally did nothing! We hang out at the beach, snorkeled, dan and lester went diving couple of times, and Isaac really enjoyed his first experience with the big blue. We stayed at the Las Rocas hotel and had oceanfront breakfast daily. Amazingly, the sun rises so early that we are all up by 7am and leaving for the beach by 9. The down side is that the sun goes down around 5pm and by 6pm everything is pitch black! Its nice to be away from cellphones, computer, and TV for a change.
Clinica Esperanza- we had the opportunity to visit the clinic that Courtney was volunteering at. It a small clinic started by Ms. Peggy, a Christian nurse with a heart for the locals of Roatan. She is in the process of building a hospital for the community. Hopefully, Dan and I will also have the opportunity to go back and voluneer as well. It was a good reality check from vacationing and seeing the needs of people. Through Peggy, we were invited to a pig roast the was held at the Bay Island resort once a week to help raise funds for local schools. Other than the yummy food, they had a band, crab races, and free tequilla shots. Isaac was the dancing king that night. He was clapping with the band and going up to people just dancing. On our way back in Houston, we had a guy come up to us and told us how he was also at the roast and had recongnized our dancing king and wanted to come over and say "hi".
Isaac had a lot of fun overall. He suddenly seemed so much older to me. He is talking a bunch and definitely vocalizing his needs and wants. The whole week he was the typical beach bum--other than sun screen, all he had was a diaper.
all in all...great trip...can't wait to be back again.

"The land"

The joy of motherhood

SO today, I had another motherly opportunity to clean up Isaac's poop in the bath tub. I quickly picked up the majority leaving one small piece as Isaac kept saying "poopoo." I turned around to retrieved the last piece, but no luck, "where did it go?" I asked him. I then looked down into the tub and saw that he had stepped right on it, smooshing it flat and scattering the feces all over the tub. I think he even got disgusted himself, because he wanted to get out of the tub immediately!

Isaac has been going through talking stages like lightening. He now can point out objects and tell you what they are without you asking or prompting. Every time we go by this flower pot by our house, he will say "fla-wer". When he hears Dan urinating in the bathroom, even if he is several feet away, he will say "peepee." When Isaac lets out a little fart, he will grab his diaper and say "uh oh." And if you ask him what Nemo says he will give you a whole sentence ("Ah-oo-ah-ee-ah-o-o-o!") that sounds just like the part of the movie when the tank is initiating Nemo to tankhood. Every morning I will pray with Isaac for our day, now he is even saying "amen" with me at the end of the prayer.These are just few examples, but it is so funny to see him grow. We taught him buggers awhile back and everytime we ask him where is his bugger, he would grab his nose and say "yewwww." The other day, I was caught red handed picking my nose in plain view of Isaac, as he goes "yewwww" to me--that taught me only thing, DO NOT PICK YOUR NOSE AROUND YOUR SON, BECAUSE HE WILL POINT IT OUT TO YOU!

As for me, I am feeling great. Definitely showing --pictures to come. We are excited for this next baby ultrasound, gonna find out if it's a boy or girl in a couple weeks. I am feeling some movement now, with different positions I can feel the baby. Now, I am slowing getting to the point of feeling winded again. But regular exercise has been giving a lot of energy for the day, thank God.

This week...

This week has been long for various reasons, but for one thing that I can say is that God is good all the time. When we might not know why different things happen for various reasons, we can only trust that God knows better than us:)

Isaac has been great! He had a cold over Easter weekend, as you can see from his Sunday best outfit, he was pretty crabby. He has been talking up a storm and constantly voicing his opinion. He is like a little man. Today, we went out to Dim Sum with the Stalls and filled our bellys up with some good food. Elizabeth was on a quest for the "milk powder and cream pastry" (its better than what it sounds) after four different bakeries and finally at our final store, we found it at last!

This afternoon, Dan and Isaac spray painted his table set and went around the house to wash the windows. Isaac may not be able to do much, but he sure loved being Daddy's helper! Isaac understands a lot of what we tell him. He is even able to start pointing out objects that he notices on his own without us prompting him. Today, we were out in Chinatown, he suddenly said, "airplan" and pointed to the sky, it even took Dan a few seconds to find the plane.

Isaac's new bff

Using the spoon

He actually ate the whole thing by himself.

American Idol Toddler

The box

This is definitely his new favorite game.

A Lazy Rainy Saturday Afternoon

Parenting

The past week or so, I've been having random conversations with my girlfriends about parenting. And it got me thinking....so I figure I'll share my thoughts about parenting. Sally-it was really great talking to you!

First of all, as parents we are blessed to have kids in our lives. I will be the first to say, I am not the perfect parent. In fact, I'm far from it, but by the grace of God, he is teaching Dan and I about parenting every day as we grow with Isaac. I don't think we can ever be fully prepared to be a parent- financially, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Isaac is at that age where we need to start thinking about discipline. I am reading this book called "Don't make me count to three." It's written by a Christian mom who wrote about her experience in a love-oriented discipline. It has been interesting to read, and to implement some of the stuff with Isaac. Isaac is pretty good at listening. I think the biggest thing of all is him understanding me and me trying to understand him. I want to raise my kids in a God-centered surrounding and through that raise them to be God-loving people. I don't want to be their friend, not just yet, but for now, their parent. I pray that my relationship with my kids will grow through the years and not distant due to the "teens." I think those are just excuses for parents to justify why their teen are not close to them. I think it is possible for the perfect balance. Since I am a working mom (well, part-time), I am doing things differently compared to someone who stays at home full-time. I'm not working for money or prestige, but purely for the fact that God has called me into a profession and also the important role of a mother. God will never give you anything you cannot handle. And that has just been it for me, He has blessed me with a great life. When I am working, I feel that I am at the place where God wants me to be in terms of serving his people. When I am at home, I feel the love that God has for me as He teaches me to love my child. I can now almost understand how much he loved Jesus and what an incredible sacrifice it was to send his one and only son. I do whatever I can to make sure that my child is safe and healthy. with that said, I guess all in all for me as a parent is to be Christ-center and being prayerful throughout this journey...any thoughts?
well, Isaac just got his 15 months check...30.5 inches and 24pounds and 10 ounces..you would think he would weigh more by the way he eats, but he is only 50th percentile. He much have his dad metabolism! I am jealous!

Courtney to Seattle

Dr. Fister visited us over the weekend. She decided just a little over a week ago to stop by. We had so much fun catching up and just lounging around. As you can see, we ate pretty well too!

Dan also decided Isaac needed another haircut. Instead of going out and spend $$$, we decided Daddy will do the honors. To my surprise, Isaac was very good. He sat on his red chair out on the patio reading a book, while Daddy cuts away. In the beginning, Courtney and I were a bit worried, because it looked like a rat just bit through his head, but Daddy redeemed himself, and Isaac now looks like a little boy!

Happy Birthday Michael! (sorry few days late)

Wishing a happy birthday to my brother-in-law Michael Lee! May your year be another full of blessings as God continues to bless you and May in abudance! Isaac misses you too. He points at your picture everyday. You may only made it in his baby book once, but he loves you to pieces!
Happy Birthday!

Yay! Dan is home!

I haven't been able to blog because Dan has been gone at a review course in Texas these past few days. Boy, it's different without him. I am thankful for a supportive, very involved husband! Isaac had a hard time with him gone in the beginning of the week. He would cry during bedtime looking for Dan.

Speaking of my son... we were suppose to go pick up Dan at the airport last night. Just 15 minutes before I was about to get ready to leave, Isaac started crying from his sleep. I went down and picked him up thinking we'll just get ready and go, the next thing I know, he started vomiting thick chunks of food from lunch. I caught with my hands and try to stay as calm as I am. Secretly thinking to myself, we might still be able to go the airport...well, once that thought slip through, he vomited again. This time all over me and my clothes and the carpet. So, that was it. I had to call Dan, who was excited for us to get him that he'll have to get a ride home. By the time he got back it was 11:30pm. All three of us were pretty tired and Isaac was still dry heaving. He stayed that way all night waking up every couple of hours crying and holding his tummy. This morning, he was a little bit better, but started having diarrhea and fever and some more vomiting. Poor baby! We just put him down for bed, I pray that God would give him a restful night and heal him for this. Pray for him.

Isaac at the park

Here is a few pictures of Isaac and I at the Wright park behind our house. He really likes the slide and the swing and basically freedom to walk around in a hug open space.

Auntie Michelle here! Oh, and Tantrums?

Michelle was here the past weekend for a short visit after her ski trip at Whistler. It was a blast to hang out with her. We visited the Space Needle, EMP, Pikes Market, and the world famous Starbucks. Well, famous to Michelle. She held her breath as she walked into the original coffee shop and I quote, "I feel like I am meeting a celebrity." Isaac was even able to say her name and know exactly who she is...

Speaking of Isaac, he had his first tantrum over the weekend. We went to University village for a shopping break and visited the MAC store. Like father like son, they were both mesmerized by the tech world. I took Isaac to the kiddy playstation and let him play around with the keyboard. After a long while, I suggested we leaving and started walking away hoping he would follow. Not only he did not follow me, he replied "NO" and proceeded to fling his body backwards on the ground crying. Finally, Dan came over picked him up and told him we have to go. Isaac started kicking and screaming as we walked out the door. We had to put him down on the sidewalk to let him calm down. Every minute he got to leave, he would want to walk back into the store. Dan tried to hold him and he would just push him away. Thank God this only lasted a few minutes! I can't believe how much will power a little guy has already! We are going to have to start discipling.