i think i will be a copy-cat with regards to the style of writing blogs :-P (thanks to kimmy and laurie) i find it easier to read and actually compose if it were arranged in a topic-by-topic manner… so, that’s what i’m going to do! :-)

SHOHSY!

she is now 10 months, with four teeth, (2 up and bottom), and she continually talks! LOL love the sound of my “mama/mommy” name and her “dada/eehhh!” (she calls david like that LOL) i find it amusing that she would kind of imitate me when i sing to her… she also is very keen on not only recognizing animals but also by their sound and tries to mimic it as well.

she also has a good sense of rhythm to music. she loves to dance and bounce to the beat whenever we play music. she is still crawling like a spider and standing to whatever she could reach to pull herself up. she loves the piano and playing tunes on it. she can walk assisted with one hand holding on to us and she could stand up by herself for like 3-5 seconds and fall down. :-)

she loves to help in whatever way she can. she loves to see me cook and clean the house and be “part of it”. she loves to see and “help” her daddy fix stuff by giving him tools :-) i just love how david and shoshy interacts… she loves it when david would read stories to her before bedtime and her favorite thing is when david would play the “chase game” and chase her around the house. she giggles and belly laughs like crazy! among the many things she loves is to “fly” around the house and be a football baby. :-)

LOL overall, she really is a very good and happy little girl. she is one smart little one and we love waking up next to her every morning (more like, she waking us up) :-)

and oh, by the way, she also is a drama queen :-)

there’s my baby of many talents! :-) LOL

HOUSE HUNT

As our house hunting goes, we actually almost closed in a house in just 2 weeks but decided to terminate our contract because of several reasons after we had the house inspected. It is an older home, built in 1914 (we love the charm and style of the older victorian homes) but along with it comes all the MAJOR repairs that needs to be done. We having nothing against doing repairs but since we thought that we are paying too much for the price for all the work that needs to go into it, and the MAIN biggie was, it does not accomplish our goal of having economies of scale (with regards to the long-term goal of having recurring income for the event we stay in the PI). If that place had economies of scale built into it, we will be all over it!

So now, we are still looking. We actually found one that is very promising but it still remains to be seen.

Guess that will be all the updates for now.. that’s all the major ones I have in mind right now… unless I think something later and amend this one :-)

i am super excited about shoshy’s teeth finally coming in. the two bottom teeth are coming in at the same time! i am so glad that her teething was not a painful ordeal for her. she is super cool! :-D LOL

aside from crawling (which i need to clean the floors all the time coz she follows me all around the house) and pulling herself up to standing, she’s starting to cruise on her own. i am thinking on how i can get stuff done when she starts walking and running around. :-) just the thought of that makes me so excited! i’ve read though not to wish for that to happen too soon because you’ll never have a break!

i love love love love mommy-hood!!! :-D

Anywayz, for newzy news..

We’ve been so busy lately looking for houses/properties. I didn’t know this can be such a frustrating and long-drawn endeavor! We are wanting to avail of the first-time home buyers credit ;-) We think now is the perfect time to buy.. and also, we are thinking along the lines of investment properties, like a multi-fam or a single family house with a basement that can be converted to a living space or a carriage home that can be rented out. We are thinking along these lines for another source of recurring income when we leave for the philippines and live there… plus david wants to personally build our “real” home there. Anywayz, we are still in the process of looking.. there are a few good deals out there but still have to weigh everything.. opportunity cost. etc.. etc..

anywayz, hope i’m not boring you with real estate stuff.. lol

Now to our little girl.. Shoshy is now 7 months and crawling like crazy! It is interesting that she started “officially” crawling on her 7th month birthday :-) She is just being a little sweetheart and a smarty-pants.. lol.. and more and more of her personality is coming out. She is a very happy baby.. she would clap her hands all the time and laugh and sing. She is also very strong-willed that it is even funny to watch when she gets angry or upset. She would extend her arms real hard and her face would get all red and she will have this look of defiance… (with her arms raised!) lol .. and that is defintiely NOT acceptable to daddy and mommy LOL but there are times we would just have a hard time keeping a straight face disciplining her when she does that because we think it’s too funny and cute! LOL Our little girl’s got some hidden spunk and fire! We are channeling that though to being a positive thing.. and i would say that little girl’s got some determination. She would pull herself up to standing in her little pack n play crib and would not give up until she was successful.

But we are so pleased with her development and growth. She makes our days so joyful that we cannot be more happier.

I upload pics on facebook so you know where to look. I still have to upload her recent 7 month pictures.. it’s been a busy weekend too for us as david’s family came into town for memorial day weekend.

Before i forget, i wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to Jeb and Laurie for the arrival of little Amberly Dawn. I’m sure you have seen the pictures and know the stats of all of it.. just go to their website. But I would say she is a very special little sweetheart. She is soo adorable and cute! I am also glad that Laurie is well and labored pretty easily… a 5-minute labor is hard to beat! LOL We cannot wait to see the new little one at the Feast! I am soooo looking forward to it and seeing everyone too! It will be my first real feast here in the US so I am excited :-)

CONGRATULATIONS too to Matt and Sabrina! Their wedding looked so gorgeous! We wish them success on their path together as a newly married couple :-)

And camp in the Philippines just ended. I am so thankful to God that He made it to be a HUGE success. I miss camps there… I know that the bar of standard out there is so much higher than what we have here. Truly a unique experience if anyone of you goes to the Philippines either for camp or a feast.

Anywayz, I guess my blog is not neglected anymore.. hehehe.. i will try to update as often as i can… :-)

oh, before i go, here is a six-month picture of shoshy…

hope you guys are well! talk to you all soon!

love,
~cheryl

Anywayz, How is our little family doing? I cannot be more happier!!! :-D David is as always, GREAT and Shoshana is growing and developing in leaps and bounds. We feel very blessed. She is turning 6 months this coming April 18th!!!! She is just getting cuter and cuter everyday :-)

I will write more later as Shoshy woke up already. I have more to tell … Hopefully I get the time again :-)

david and i are amazed how fast she is developing and how fast time flies! it’s even funny we don’t even remember now what it was like before we had a baby. we are excited with all the developments she’s been going through lately but at the same time, we will be missing our baby girl :-) :-( (sigh… mixed emotions)

i have not been updating here as much as i find it easier to update in facebook, uploading pics and videos. but i’ll still keep this alive and try to put interesting content in here. (as i am boring you already with baby stuff lol)

we’ve been thinking more and more of going home to the philippines soon. we’ll see how that will materialize..

other than that, everything’s great! hope everyone is well. i have to keep up with all your other posts coz i know it’s been a while…. :-)

laters!

I discovered that I would scale mountains and cross oceans, and yes, even put my life on the line just to save and be with my child.

I think it’s amazing how God put into the human design the capability of being parents. It is so that we can actually KNOW and experience how He loves His children unconditionally — even to the point of giving His life for us. I think being a parent is a huge faith booster.

I have learned to appreciate God’s commands even more. I learned that when God commands us to do something, something He mentions in the Bible, He knows very well why we have to follow it. It is for our own good. Being an All-Wise and an All-Loving Creator, He never intends anything to harm us nor withhold anything that is good for us. He just wants the very best for us — even to the point of sharing His majesty and splendor with His children in the future.

Being a human with limited understanding, I want my child to trust and obey me. So how much more should we trust and obey God completely and take Him at His word?

I leave that thought up to you :-)

thanks to jebby for getting our (mine and meryl’s) sites working again! and thank you meryl for the new look! :-D thought it’s time for a change because of all the MAJOR changes that has been happening lately ;-)

it just seems like yesterday that Shoshana was born. But now, she’s already 3 months!!! I cannot believe it.. it seems like she just has grown overnight. I would say she is one smart kid. As early as 2 weeks, her eyes would follow me around and she would focus on people’s faces, studying them intently. At 9 weeks, she would respond so well to david and i, like she’s carrying out a conversation with us. And now at 12 weeks, she is giving out hearty laughs and giggles! We are so happy for her development and we thank God for her everyday. I think the sleepless nights are paying off already :-D

Aside from baby stuff, David and I are doing very well. I cannot be a more happier wife and mom :-) I am blessed to have a very helpful, kind, considerate, loving, sensitive and responsible husband. I am so proud of him because he is such a good daddy that Shoshana is turning out to be a Daddy’s girl :-) He plays with her all the time upon arriving from work and also when he can, comes home for lunch just to see and spend time with us. I love it when he comes home for lunch, it is such a special treat! It means a lot because he’s got very limited time but still makes the effort.

It’s a new roman calendar year. The past year has its ups and downs but i would say it has been a very bold and challenging year for us. We got pregnant in January, travelled A LOT! (i have seen 11 states already since i got here), started our own business, moved into a new place, had a baby and now we’re a family of three! That’s a lot that can happen in a year! We feel very blessed despite the economic down-turn. We place our lives, our future and our plans in God’s hands, knowing that He will direct our paths. He has been faithful everyday providing for all our needs and protecting us. We thank Him for the things we know He has blessed us with and the things we do not know too. I’m sure there’s more out there that our eyes cannot see.

As I write this, I am remembering the events that happened on that fateful day of january 16th, 1987 - also a friday. To those who are my friends at FaceBook, you can just read the account there. I posted the story “In the Shadow of Death” written by my father and “Held Hostage” written by my brother Daniel. I just find it significant coz this year, the date falls on the same day as it was 22 years ago. And how can I forget my youngest sister’s birthday? She was born right after my dad got home from that hostage drama.

Happy Birthday Meryl! We love you so much! I personally cannot imagine life without you… :-) [But then again, if you were not around, i would have been the youngest and I would have been assuming your role of being the center of attention LOL just kidding :-P] You have grown into being a beautiful, kind-hearted, talented, smart and responsible young lady. I am so proud of you. Please keep your light burning brightly. (why am i writing this here? i will just copy-past this to your website.. hahaha]

*****************************************************************************

started: thursday, october 30, 2008

we have to miss this year’s feast because of the baby’s birth. as you all know, october 12th came rolling right along and no sign of baby.. until six days after. those six days were the longest days for both david and i. we were all geared up on having the baby at home but the baby was taking its sweet daisy time =) we were kind of anxious because we want to head up to steamboat springs if the baby comes a little bit early. we really missed being at a real feast site. keeping it at home is really not the same.

well, for the birth stuff, to start with, i really have no clue what real contractions should feel like. i was having painless cramping for days and i thought that that was the real deal. i felt that i would be having the baby anytime. (i was hoping that those contractions were the real stuff… but no.. lol) we purposely didn’t want to have an internal exam prior to the real labor (to see how dilated am i) because we just prefer it that way.

well the pain came right around friday but it was not that intense and it was still erratic… but i thought that was it! i was having a baby! we started timing the contractions until up to 3 am saturday dawn and it was like 45-55 seconds in duration and 4-5 mins apart. we were using the online contraction timer and david was all crazy about getting the average time of my contractions, putting it all into an excel speadsheet and even graphing it! LOL that saturday dawn the contractions got more intense so we called the midwife around 3 am and she came and checked how dilated i am and i was disappointed to know that i was just 2 cms =(

i was so ready to have the baby already and was feeling very uncomfortable. i was just concentrating on breathing and relaxing. david is such a tremendous help and a wonderful birth coach!

saturday morning came and the contractions are still pretty much the same in time and intensity. david just gave up on the charting thing since it was exhausting and it’s pretty much status quo… lol. he got some rest while i cannot really get rest. i have not been getting enough rest anyway weeks before so i’m kinda used to it.

we were trying to help the dilation along by walking that saturday afternoon but i just have to tell david to stop after every 5-10 steps because the contractions are already coming in pretty hard. i have to hang on to him on the neck and groan.. it was pretty intense.

anywayz, the contractions kept escalating to the point that i have to tell david to call the midwife around 10 pm that night. david bought me a fit ball and i was bouncing on it to help with the pain of the contractions.. that was fun and was so helpful.. now i need to actually use it for its intended purpose, to be fit LOL =)

going back to my story, when the midwife checked me, i was already ready fully dilated (thank God) coz i cannot handle it being more painful and just to say that i have a little more ways to go. thankfully, i didn’t know that i have already passed the transition phase and i was just so elated when the midwife said it’s time to start pushing.

i loved the pushing part. we tried different pushing positions coz i just had a big baby with my petite frame. =) i’m trying to recall, i think i’ve been pushing for 45 minutes-ish.. lol

as i was pushing, a lot of interesting things happened. it seems like i had more than one bag of water… the big bag of water splashed on my midwife’s face as i was pushing (lol) but before that i was already leaking some fluid when i was having contractions. (we were suspecting it was amniotic) so when i started pushing, a sheath of membrane came out. the midwife marveled at it as she has never seen that before. we were suspecting if it came from the bag of water i was leaking from? there was a suspicion that i could have been carrying twins but just got dissolved in the early stage. another reason for the suspicion that i could have been carrying twins was because the midwife hasn’t seen a placenta so huge from all the hundreds of single babies she’s delivered LOL and like 6-8 hours after, a huge mass of placenta like thing / clotted blood came out of me (sorry for all the gory details.. lol) we really don’t know. but all those were just interesting. and i lost a lot of blood too. it kinda got david and the midwife scared but thankfully, it stopped. i was just very weak after the labor from fatigue, lack of rest for a couple months, loss of blood and i did not have the appetite before the labor to eat. all the food and snacks i’ve prepared were gone when we were waiting for the baby to come LOL

well, for all its worth, the baby was well cushioned with my supposedly “many bag of waters” and has gotten a lot of nutrients and oxygen supply from that huge placenta.. =)

the baby came out at 11:36 pm, october the 18th, saturday night, with a full head of hair, wide-eyed and alert weighing 8 lbs and 3 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long. david caught her and it was such an amazing moment. they gave the baby straight to me for it to suckle. i can still remember holding her for the first time. she was so warm and beautiful =) it was so funny at first, we were all caught up with the excitement of the baby coming out that we forgot to check “down there” (coz remember we were expecting a boy .. lol) it was such a huge and pleasant surprise to see that it was a girl!!!

we couldnt ask for a more healthier and beautiful baby. the midwife said she is just too perfect and beautiful for a newborn babe. and we both agree =) (of course, we’re the parents =P LOL)

that’s it for my birth story!!!

finally concluded: december 10, 2008

A LOT has happened lately!

Let’s see….

1.) There’s having the baby (long story .. LOL)
2.) My postpartum weeks
3.) Shoshana’s first month
3.) Travel to Kansas for Thanksgiving
4.) A week’s visit to Wisconsin to visit Laurie & Family (a last minute thing)
5.) Finally back home & Shoshana’s first plane ride
6.) And a ton of pictures to upload!!!

Soooo.. i will be working on updating you guys on that. :-P

I will post this blog first so that you know that i am still alive and well lol. I am taking this rare time to update since Shoshana’s been real good on sleeping lately… but who knows for how long she’ll get up this time.. so my blog updates are dependent on that . :)

Okay, i better get to work on it but first, I’ll send this off :)

oh, here are some sneak pics :) more to come!!!

david and i are extremely pleased with our surprise feast gift! as you all know, we have been expecting a boy all these time… but still we are very happy with the unexpected outcome. :)

i had a completely natural home child birth and our baby came out with a full head of hair weighing 8 lbs and 3 ounces and measuring 19 and a quarter inches. she came out with her right hand/fist pressed against her head which caused me to tear a little bit. it didn’t warrant a stitch though so the midwife just used some glue.. (never heard of something like that before)…

i would like to tell more details on the birth experience itself but i really need to sit down and focus which i don’t have the luxury yet as of this moment :)…

anywayz, here’s a picture of our baby girl, Shoshana Lynn Rogers. hope you are all doing well and have come back from the feast well and inspired!