Christmas day

Family picture for Christmas 2006

Uncle Kyle and Auntie Belle's gift was a big hit with Benji

Zac looking cute in his new monkey hat

Benji is all of his glory (wearing the necklaces he made himself plus his new frog rain boots)

All in one day

It's quite amazing the range of emotions I can feel in one day towards our toddler.

Admiration for his new words (today's word was "new").

Concern when he scrapes his knee.

Extreme frustration when he won't take a nap after 2 hours of me trying to put him down.

Lack of sympathy when he first gets cranky because he's overly tired.

Eventual pity when he's just so tired he can't think straight by 6.30 p.m.

Love and affection when he wants me to hold him before bedtime...

True feelings are coming out

Benji: "Just sit there like a good little boy, Zac."

Zac: "I've had enough of his patronizing - I'm gonna get that guy!"
(You might need to click on this picture to see the true expression on Zac's face - it's worth a click!)

Benji's favorite part of a Christmas tree

This is the first year we bought a live Christmas tree. I am enjoying the lovely scent in our living room. Benji enjoyed the decorating, but his favorite part of having a Christmas tree is ... the needles! Most people find them a nuisance, but for him it's the best - because it means he can use the small hand held vacuum every day to clean up the needles that dropped over the course of the day. Like they say, it's the small things that make the holiday fun. :)

Sling baby

Zachary just loves being in the sling - whether Mommy, Daddy, or Nona is wearing it. He especially likes to fall asleep in there.

Zachary has found his thumb

He seems to be following in his brother's footsteps in liking that thumb.

The first snow of the season

7 weeks old today

Several people have asked us what Zachary weighs. We finally bought a new scale, so we can report that he is currently 14 lbs. (!). He seems to take after his brother in being a chunky baby. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Benji thought that putting the hor'deurves table at his level was a GREAT idea! A big thanks to Belle and Kyle for a lovely Thanksgiving meal.

Craft project with Nona

Nona taught Benji how to make a bracelet out of cereal. It was great fun! He enjoyed wearing the bracelet ... until the temptation just got too strong and he just had to eat the pieces of cereal.

The three little kittens lost their mittens...

... but Benji found his red ones!

Benji likes to read the classic nursery rhyme with proper attire. :)

Big belly

Hi everyone! My mommy's milk is high-fat, so I have quite a little belly now. In fact, I think it's about time to eat again - gotta go!!!

Love,
Zachary

Linerider

Check out the new link under "His Links" called "Linerider". This is a cool site and especially cool for geeks. Could be hours of endless fun! Be sure to check out the works of others under movies link there.

A few more shots of Zachary

One month birthday party

Yesterday was Zachary's one month birthday. None of us can believe he's already one month old! The Chinese do a special celebration at one month. One part of the celebration are hard-boiled eggs dyed red, which you'll see in one of the pictures. As you'll notice, Zachary slept through his whole party!

Family of FOUR :)

Grandpa and Ralph are playing with Benji's tools!

Uncle Kyle is helping Benji get some cheese dip for his chip - airplane style!

The proud daddy with his two sons

Benji's helping Zachary open his presents

Nai Nai, Shearn Yoong, and Zachary

Sunday picnic at the park

Benji has a book about a picnic, so he was thrilled to experience his first authentic picnic. And the best thing about a picnic at the park is that afterwards, you can go play on the playground!
Zachary also enjoyed the picnic. (He's very easy to please right now though!)

The real reason why we have kids

The picture says it all.... :) Just kidding, folks. We just happen to have a son who loves to help. Laurel's pose does seem quite believable actually.....

A bumble bee jumping on our bed

Sleeping companions

I was worried how nap times would go with two kids, but so far it has been really smooth. The three of us all lie down in Benji's twin-size bed without problem. After Benji is asleep, I move to our bedroom with Zachary. But I had to snap this picture before picking up Zachary. One day I am sure these brothers will be the best of buddies - maybe even sleeping companions someday.

Some more recent shots of Zachary

Mo.....

At breakfast table this morning, I told Benji that tomorrow, I would have to go back to work. After I said that, he responded, "Mo" (more). More, I asked him? More what? And he said, "Daa-dee" (daddy). More daddy? More of daddy?

I'm not sure if it's coincidence or he understood the concept of me being gone (I want to think it's the latter), but it sure is true for me. After these two weeks, I want more of my wife and my kids. These past two weeks have been more of a blessing to me than to them, in my humble opinion. I believe we've just become a closer-knit family than ever before. I think Benji just thrives with both parents around at all times. Benji and I does have a great relationship going already, and these two weeks just made us that much closer. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with him (and of all three, I spent most of my time with him just because of the newborn arrangements). Cuddling in his small bed and slept in a bit in the mornings, running errands together, doing chores at home together.....

I love spending time holding Zachary and just looking at his features and his expressions. I love touching all the small-ness of him.

For Laurel and I, these two weeks have just been magical for both of us. I don't know what is it about newborns, but we remember vividly the same emotions we have now as when we had Benji. We remembered the night before I was scheduled to be back at work, we both just embraced and cried for awhile and prayed together. The Lord has really drawn us both closer together through the birth of our children.

I think it should be me saying, "Mo...". "Mo... wife-y, mo.... Benji and mo.... Zachary..." I'm still trying to come up with the brilliant idea of being home full time and still earn an income. I think it's justified that full-time moms and dads should get paid like any other full-time occupations. Anyone out there wants to employ me to be a full-time dad to my kids? Anyone?

Same shirt, same activity, different year, different baby

Here is Shearn Yoong sleeping with baby Zachary in 2006...

... and here he is with baby Benji in 2004. What a good Daddy!

More pictures

Benji likes to hold baby Zachary (with a little help) and give lots of kisses!

Zachary with Auntie Teresa, our friend and doula at the birth

Mommy getting some tickling action in with Benji

Kite-flying day!

The many storybooks we've been reading to Benji contain characters flying kites, and he's seen pictures of kites everywhere, so he seemed to show some interest in this kite-flying thing. His uncle recently bought him a kite to play with but we have not had a good windy day to play with. Well, that changed on Wednesday. It was a good windy day. He woke up from his nap and mommy told him we're going out to fly a kite. Oh! He was ecstatic! He ran into the living room saying, "kite! kite! kite!" Didn't even care for a routine papaya snack!

Laurel didn't want to miss his first experience with kite-flying, so we did it in the front yard instead of a big, wide open space. Suffice to say, the trees didn't bother him one bit. In fact he wanted to kite to get entangled in the trees. His idea of kite-flying, I suppose, since all the books he read seemed to have kites stuck in trees all the time. He thoroughly enjoyed himself that day. He was just beaming from ear to ear. It was a great day!

And we're off to a good start! He was pretty good actually. His pace was fast enough for the kite to remain in the air. He was busy running so he didn't really get to see the kite go up

And here comes the tree.













See kite fly!

Benji and his new life

Benji has shown remarkable connection with Zachary. He's always showing concern when Zachary cries, loves to get close beside him to hug and plant kisses on him. In fact, his goodbyes now are mainly for Zachary. As Laurel herself puts it humorously, "my importance has been displaced by the baby". No, mommy still has a place in Banji's heart. We think he's just excited about the new baby. There's been a situation last night where we had to hold him back from waking up a sleeping Zachary, and Benji cried pretty hard. From our point of view, we felt like he cried because he felt he's been chastised just for being excited about baby. We had to take some time to explain to him the real reason. Not sure if he understood it all, but we hope our affirmation of love to him in the end is a clear summation of what we wanted to let him know.

We've been trying to keep as nomal of a life for Benji as we possibly could. I took him to Gulley Park yesterday morning for some father-son time and we had a blast. There was some sort of event going on there, so he got to see and touch a real fire truck, and saw an ambulance. He braved the highest spiral slide there for the first time and did that a few times. We people-watched some. Then we went shopping at Wal-Mart. What an exciting day!

Of course, I've also been doing other things with/for Benji that Laurel would normally take care of during the day, so these past couple of days had been particularly bonding for us. However I think he was starting to feel a disconnect with mommy. She's at home but not doing anything with/for him. So we were real glad that Laurel was well enough since Saturday to do a few simple but necessary things with Benji like storybook time, walking with him around the house when he needs to show her something and has some personal time to play and talk with him. Hopefully this will turn back the tide for Benji somewhat.

Here's a recent photo of Benji at his best again. This was not a posed photograph. He was sound asleep when I took it. Lately he's been covering his eyes just like it is in the photo when we (he does this especially to me) discipline him, because we make him look at us when we talk to him. So our theory is that he's dreaming he's been disciplined? Maybe.... Regardless, it was a cute bellybutton.

Baby update

After much verbal repetition of different names and much discussion, we have decided to name him Zachary. It's just not easy giving names with the last name we have. Zachary is a variant of the name "Zechariah". Zachary is Hebrew for "God remembers", or "renowned by God". We'll keep the chinese name under wraps here for reason of internet anonimity. You can ask us personally of course. Who knows what crazy things people can do nowadays just by knowing your name!

Here are a couple more shots of Zachary.
Photos looked a little dark. Not sure why. Maybe it's a good excuse to get me another digital camera! :) Honey, it's for the kids....

At this moment, he is asleep in my arms blogging with me in his dreams I'm sure. Mommy needs a much deserved break before the long night ahead.

How has life for him been the past three days? We think he's coping and adjusting well. Definitely wants a warm body close to him for comfort and security. He's developed some red spots on his body which we're trying to figure out if it's heat rash or reaction to the laundry detergent. He's doing much better now. He has had his fair share of meconium poops and we had the pleasure of getting a visible confirmation of urination. It traveled a good 12 inches across the room onto mommy's dress and the bed. It's funny how parents cheer for the seemingly weirdest things in life! Hey, if these things are vital indications of working bodily functions, we'll cheer anytime! Zachary came out with a bit of a blueish face, but that's gone now. He seemed to love the sling, which Laurel is thrilled about. His makes faces constantly when he sleeps, which is fun to watch.

Laurel has continued to show signs of speedy recovery. She has been up and about pretty comfortably since Saturday. We're making sure she stays low key to expedite the recovery to full strength and health. I would definitely covet your prayers in this regard.

And..... it's a.... boy!!!!

After laboring for roughly 6 hours, Laurel gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. 1 oz shy of being a 10-pounder, measuring a good 23-inches long. He made sure everyone knew of his arrival with a wonderful, healthy cry. There is a church nearby that rings their bell by the hour, and friends and relatives said that they heard the church bell rang at noon, followed by the cry of the little baby boy.

We have yet to decide on the name, but we got a couple of days to do that. Mommy and baby are doing wonderfully well. That you for all your prayers. It has been a tremendous blessing to watch God at work once again. Thank you to all the members of the birth team, you guys have been a real blessing to us to see your selfless sacrifice, going all out to help in any way possible. We love you all.

Picture above: Baby boy floating in a wonderful, warm herbal bath with mommy.

The whole family just adoring the little guy. Benji is such a sweetie - he brought both his green blankies to share with baby, and being very gentle with baby.

We will keep you posted as the days go by and as time permits!