Thankfulness Friday - 外婆

Happy 外婆.

Cute Baby.

Mama, octopus with eight legs is funny!

Mom has been watching Baby Bunny since I've gone back to work.  She takes better care of her than I do, I must admit.  It was 外婆 with whom Baby Bunny had her first laugh fest months ago.  If Baby Bunny speaks Chinese, she will have learned it from 外婆.  Hooray for 外婆!!

Reading is fun!

Baby Bunny and I have a bed time ritual.  Right before I put her down for the day, we read at least two books.  It's almost always "Goodnight Moon" and something else from her library.  "Squishy Turtle" is a fun book that she's got in her hand in the video.  She can sit in her highchair and look at that one for a good 10-15 minutes.  I think I have most of the text memorized by now.  This week, we got "Barnyard Dance" which is a hoot!  I think it's my current favorite.

Thankfulness Friday - Bright Sunny Days

This has been an extraordinarily warm winter.  We've had a freaky snow storm at the end of October and a couple of flurries here and there since.  There hasn't been enough snow even to shovel.  I look outside my window, and the sky is brilliant blue.  The sun is shiny.  Birds are chirping.  Even flowers are starting to bud and bloom.

Thankfulness Friday - Friday!!

It's Friday!  This has been a very long week.  I took Bun Bun into CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) on Tuesday for a full assessment.  As expected, she is developmentally delayed in a couple of areas: language and cognitive skills.  She isn't as far behind with her physical abilities; her weekly PT sessions certainly take credit for this.  The doctors recommended adding occupational therapy and special instructions to help bring up those other skills.

Meanwhile, Waipo has been getting her to do more exercises during the day.  We lay a blanket on the floor and help her learn to sit and roll over.  She's been loving this kicking coaster seat for a while now.  Her legs are now finally long enough to bounce off it for maximum fun!

Except for grunting and crying, she isn't very expressive.  Although, for the past couple of weeks, she has been making raspberries.

Thankfulness Friday - Prayer Partners

I can't remember when I started to pray with Wendy in the early mornings.  It must have been at least 10 years ago.  We decided to meet at 6:30am one day a week at first.  Then, it became twice a week and has grown over the years to include 4 other ladies.  Having to get up early was very, very difficult at first especially in the winter time when the sun hasn't even risen yet.  It did get easier.  With Bun Bun's arrival, I haven't been able to get to early morning prayer, and I miss it.

Recently, I've found a colleague to meet on a weekly basis and pray.  This has been an answer to prayer!  Hooray!

Thankfulness Friday - Beets

In the winter months, there aren't many vegetables to whet my appetite.  Seems like I always buy same stuff every time I go to the produce market - cauliflower, carrots, lettuce, peppers, potatoes...  This week, I picked up some beets.  I don't know many recipes that uses beets.  So, I ended up cutting one up and throwing it in a pot of boiling water with potatoes, carrots, onion, and some meat balls.  It turned out to be a great meal.

Looking forward to the spring and to starting the vegetable garden again with yummy tomatoes, basil, peppers, and egg plants.  Last summer, I tried growing beans, but didn't have much luck.  Then, being pregnant and with the early arrival of Baby Bunny, the garden was very much neglected.  We hope to be more adventurous and ambitious this year!

Smile!

 Can't get enough of pictures with Baby Bunny smiling.  She is cute!

Thankfulness Friday - Truth For Life

I am a self-proclaimed Alistair Groupie.  Alistair Begg that is.  He is an amazing preacher at Parkside Church in Chagrin Falls, OH.  I had blogged about visiting his church a few years ago.  Most recently (last May) John and I traveled up to the Brooklyn Tabernacle to hear him preach.  That was a grand experience which included listening to the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir live and in person.  I first heard Pastor Begg preach on the radio as Truth For Life ministries about 10 years ago.  In addition to the clear and relevant Biblical teachings, the broadcasts also stood out because of Pastor Begg's Scottish accent.  And, when his announcer introduced him, it sounded like Alex Trebek, the host of the TV quiz show Jeopardy.  Ever since I got my iPod 6 years ago, I've been downloading TFL podcasts and listening to them in the car.  I think even Bun Bun knows Uncle Ali's voice since she's been listening to him in my womb.  Alistair's messages are always timely.  I credit his sermon series on Ruth to my meeting John.  That's a long story for another day.

This has been an incredibly discouraging week.  Experiments did not work.  I had no confidence going into the start of the new semester.  On Tuesday, Alistair's preached from Romans 12 and reminded me to work as if for the LORD rather than for man, to persevere...  It was tremendously uplifting!

Check out Truth For Life!  You can download podcasts from iTunes or directly from the website, all for free.

Hands

Ooohh...  These belong to me...

Baby Bunny has lately been fascinated by her own hands.  She stares at them, plays with them, and twirls them.  I caught her looking at them the other night.  She was in her crib about to fall asleep.

Thankfulness Friday - Productive Week

It is the last week before classes start.  First day of the semester is next Tuesday.  We have an extra day off to observe Martin Luther King Day.  This has been a crazy busy week but a very productive one.  I started several experiments and will go back to work on Monday to finish them.  I hope and pray they were all successful.  All in all, this was a very productive Christmas break.  Really since the summer, the lab has been cranking out a lot of data.  It helps tremendously to have three very hard working and capable students in the research lab.  This is excellent since I will have a good amount of results to write up for my manuscript.  If all continues to go well, I will have a journal article published this year.  Of course, this will alleviate a lot of pressure come tenure review time.

Gotta go... Bun Bun is awake!