Update on Andrew

Last week, Andrew had his one year check-up. He's now weighting in at 11.5 pounds; 24 inches long. Still very small for a one year old.

For those who doesn't know, he has a missing chromosome:18p-

He is making small progress throughout his speech, occupational and physical therapy. He can't roll over, crawl... just about everything a baby his age should do. Hence, therapy. He can sit up for 2 minutes with assistance. A milestone. That's about the longest he can sit up before falling over. YAY! Go, Andrew! He hasn't babble yet. We've also started getting him to eat rice cereal. Another milestone.

He will be needing eye surgery. His left eye (which still drifts away) needs eye muscle surgery to help keep it align with his right eye. After that, he will need another surgery to lift (I think) both eyelids. That will help him be able to see better so that he doesn't have to "throw his head back" in order to see. Often people have asked if he is sleepy... well, no... it's his droopy eyelids causing him to look that way. That's just about as wide as he can open them.

In short, will you please pray for him to strive and grow? It's the little things we often take for granted.

Thank you to all those who have been praying for him. It means a lot to my family.

Throughout trials, I don't always see the good but I've learned to praise Him for everything because He has been good to us.

Below: You'll see a picture of me with my beautiful yet sweet little guy. And another picture with just my three beautiful children that God has blessed me with.

Andrew turned 1!

On December 3rd, Andrew turned one year old. It's crazy how fast this year has flown by! But then it's like that with all of us, right? ;)

Anyway, we had a busy day.. it started off with taking him to Speech Therapy. Then I waited until my mother in law and Matt got off work to celebrate. My mom stopped by earlier to bring him a birthday cake. Thanks mom! We gave Andrew is small bite of his own cake but he didn't really know how to eat it yet. He's in the process of learning to eat. I've been feeding him rice cereal one time a day. I haven't followed up with his feeding consistently. He is finally getting the hang of swallowing his own food. Praise the Lord!

Well.. it is 11pm on my time. I need to get some sleep so that I can take him to his Physical Therapy at 9am and then later on the same day he'll get his 1 year annual check-up with his pediatrician.

Hopefully I can do an update about what we have been up to lately. Sorry I haven't been able to post like I should. I hope you understand.

Well...

today I decided to try and play with my Final Cut Pro X program. I know... I know.. I still have a lot of work to do in order to make it look perfect, you know? I'm determined to and I know that I'll eventually get there. Well, I hope! And yes, I'm really trying hard.


I hope you enjoy watching. Hee hee

My girl singing in the choir for the first time.

It was so special to see Joanna singing in church with children around her age. I just LOVE it! We were visiting a church and this was our second time visiting and I was amazed at how quick my daughter could pick up a song. Okay, I am not too surprised because she loves to sing at home. I mean, she really loves music! Hmmmm... what does that mean? Do you know? I honestly didn't know that they were going to sing that day, Matt had point me to where Joanna was. I was like what?? Of course, I had to grab my phone camera to capture it. You know it! I wasn't going to miss her first time singing in a choir. NO WAY!! As you know, I wasn't sure how she'll do especially singing with a choir in front of the whole church. She can be shy sometimes. So I was very impressed with her and I think she did great! Don't you? Yes, I've noticed...she's a little dramatic at times. Hee Hee

My favorite was when she was up there waving at me (not captured on video) and when she kind of lost her balance.

I remember thinking back wondering what it's going to be like to watch them do things for the Lord. I thought when my children are old enough, I'll enjoy watching them participate in any activities for the Lord. Am I making any sense? Anyway, this was one of them. I just LOVE it.

Photo Booth Fun at Marquita's wedding

Yesterday, I went to a friend's wedding. It's been years since I've last seen this friend. Her name is Marquita. And yes, I am much much older than her but she is still as sweet as she was when I first met her. I'm so proud of who she has become. She is a doctor now but I'm not sure in what field. At her wedding reception, they provided a Photo Booth for the guests to take, frame the photo to a board and write her well wishes. We even got a copy for ourselves to keep. Sweet! I love this idea! I might consider that for my children's future wedding. If they think it's a cool thing to do. I mean... they even have silly props to use but we didn't use any. We're kind of boring! Perhaps, next time!

Below, you'll see that I am next to a teen (on the left). I just met her yesterday and found out that she is an exchange student from Vietnam. My cousin Khai and his wife Zulema (on the right) are hosting this sweet teenager.  How cool is that? She speaks English very well and is wanting to learn about computers. From what she told me...

Anyway, as we sat in the Photo Booth, we didn't know what to do. Like when to smile for our pictures... but that's what makes it fun. See?  We're laughing at the times we didn't take it like we wanted. And I think I kind of embarrassed them with my craziness. Hee Hee!  Oh well. At least, the first one came out right! Yay!

I really had fun taking pictures with the gals. I know I would with you too!  Wanna?

In Loving Memory: Joe G. Garcia

I have had a lot going on. I even had my laptop broken and just got a new one. I thanked the Lord for allowing my data to be restored (got everything back) and for blessing me with a new MacBook Pro and iPad. God has been so good to me!

Well, here are some of the pictures of my grandpa and his relatives and friends.  I'll be sure to come back and blog some more about what's been happening lately. But right now, I have to get ready to take Andrew to his Speech Therapy. Until then!

My grandpa passed away

Yesterday morning, my grandpa went with the Lord.

I haven't been on here for several days. It's been crazy with my grandpa. Earlier last week, I almost lost him but because he was rushed to the hospital and got the care he needed, the Lord spared him and I'm thankful for that because I wouldn't have said my last goodbyes, gave him my kisses or to let him know that I loved him one last time. If you don't know me.... I am the kind of person that will take advantage of these times knowing that his time was short and that anything could happen. He was being treated due to fluid in the lungs caused by poor functioning of the heart.

I also learned that he was diagnosed with stomach cancer.

I knew that time was sensitive and I thanked the Lord for giving me the opportunity to spend these last few days and for allowing me to tell my grandpa that I love him. To have him say "I love you too" was especially sweet, special and somewhat comforting...

Thank you for praying.