27 Feb 2011

We went to church this morning with Charlene. After service, we had lunch with our cell group at Long John Silver. It was our FIRST lunch with our cell group! Thank you Lord Jesus!

26 Feb 2011

Today we went to Ah Sang's place to visit him and his family. We truly thank God for Ah Sang who reached out to us back in Nov 2009 on the day when our hopes were dashed by the doctors' poor prognosis. Yes, medically Charlene's prognosis remained poor. But our hope is in Lord Jesus Christ.

Ah Sang also invited his friends, another family. At first glance, the family looked really normal. It was only when the Dad asked his 20? year old son to share with Uncle Ah Sang what he did in the gym that got me puzzled. Later on, Ah Sang told us that the gentleman sitting there, eating by himself, talking etc is a living testimony of God's grace. The boy (an ex ACS rugby player) got into an accident and suffered traumatic brain injury. One half of his body was paralyed. Through God's grace, he recovered. And though he was unable to play in competitive sports, God opened another door for him. He has completed his diploma in art and painting and will pursue his degree next year. His Dad also shared that through his son's accident, it has united the ACS community. God is just so amazing!

And we are glad we brought along Charlene's milk (read 19 Feb post). We fed her and were able to stay longer for fellowship with our fellow brothers and sisters. Hearing the sharing of what God has done for them uplifted our spirits.

22 Feb 2011

Daddy was on leave and went to school with Charlene and me. Charlene is such a smart girl. She was awake the whole morning though I was desperately trying to get her to sleep. Then when it was time for school, she slept. She slept through her occupation therapy session and only woke up in the middle of her physiotherapy session. She was awake in the multi-sensory room (everyone's favourite room with smoothing music and lights) but went back to sleep after we returned to the classroom.

19 Feb 2011

We got up all excited for the "Big Day". It was a church wedding of 2 of our cell group members. I have prep Charlene for today all week. I will tell her everyday "Charlene, we are going to Uncle Man Loon and Auntie Shumin church wedding on Sat. Charlene must be a good girl".

And thank God, we got there on time despite getting out late and the taxi getting lost.

It is the FIRST time that we attended a church wedding as a family! Thank God! Charlene was absolutely pretty and fantastic throughout the whole service. She fell asleep after it ended and that gave us time to eat lunch before rushing back home to feed Charlene. Christine told us to just pack Charlene milk stuff along when we go out next time.

 

14 Feb 2011

Yay, we spent Valentine's Day together as a family. We were running low on Huggies diapers and hence we decided to bring Charlene out again. We took a bus there (2 stops) and she was all quiet. Afterwhich she started crying in the pram (either she wants to be carried or the road is too bumpy). While I was busy buying the diapers, Dez was busy pushing her around. He said that Charlene was looking around at the lights, the new surroundings.

On our way home, we took the MRT. Charlene was giving the "Eh, where am I? What is this?" look. And when I told her we are in the MRT, it is moving, blah blah, she smiled. Though it was only a stop from Khatib to Yishun, it is the first time that Charlene went on the MRT! Yay, thank you Lord Jesus!

13 Feb 2011

Charlene started using her button buddies today. They arrived yesterday and took almost a day to dry (a strong evidence of their absorbency). They are definitely more absorbent than the gauze. So I don't have to keep changing gauze (and hence cutting them). Seeing them also made my day happier as they are so pretty and cute. Changing them is no longer so dreadful. I am going to leave one at the hospital and tell the nurse to recommend to other patients. Fyi -  http://www.mybuttonbuddies.com/

We took Charlene out for a night stroll. It was a good time-out for me and Dez. Enjoying the night lights and the chill wind blowing into our faces. We are grateful and thankful for little things like this that we can do together as a family.

11 Feb 2011

11 Feb 11
Today cell meeting was a potluck gathering. We had been preparing Charlene for this event throughout the whole week, reminding her that she needs to be good so that we can potluck with the rest.

Thank God for answering our prayers. We had a great time this evening with our cell group.  Charlene was absolutely good! She was quiet and smiley and quite contented. We also thank Alicia, Christine and Bernard for "baby-sitting" her. I am very impressed with cell-leader Bernard. He didn't even need to shake or rock Charlene. He merely held her in his arms and speak to her. Amazing...

I am really glad to have a break, to have a chance to Lo Hei, to potluck with fellow brothers and sisters. Our cell has been great support to us and I am sure they also praise God for the good things they see in Charlene. May God's blessings be upon all of them in the year of the Rabbit.

We thank God for our first Lo Hei together as a family. And our first potluck with our cell group.

8 Feb 11

Charlene is very sleepy in school. Despite all her crying, she still got all her tasks completed. She is super fast in expressing her displeasure. Each time, Teacher wants to do something with her, she will start to cry. And when she is being cuddled, she will stop immediately. Really amusing. At the same time, it's also gratifying to see her response improved so much. Just a few months back, Charlene was so slow in her responses that we often don't know what's upsetting her. It's so wonderful to see her improvement. Thank You Lord Jesus for watching over her.

Part of the school routine involves playing toys with Charlene. Last week, Teacher gave Charlene an alligator on her left and a flurry star on her right charlene threw her hand away from the star This week, Teacher gave her 2 toys to pick again; flurry star and a spiky spider. The star was on her left palm and the spider on her right. Charlene almost immediately moved her left hand away. I decided to ask Teacher to perform a little experiment I told Teacher to swap the toys; star on her right and spider on her left. Charlene did not move her left hand away. This means that Charlene was really indicating her preference, not that Charlene can only move her left hand. Praise Lord!

6 Feb 2011

We thank God for the many 'first' that we have with Charlene in the Year 2011.

This morning we went to church and Charlene was awake and listening attentively throughout the whole service. As she did not cry, we didn't have to rush home to feed her milk. We were able to spend some time catching up with our cell group people. Charlene was looking around and got upset when we decided to leave.

Seeing how cooperative she is, we decided to have lunch at 'Wendy's' fast food restaurant. Charlene was so good. We had our first lunch together as a family in a fast food restaurant. Dez and I are very happy. We hope that we can have lunch with our cell group the next time. We also hope to bring Charlene to other places together.

5 Feb 2011

Charlene is in a happy mood today. Daddy talked to her using high pitch voice (like High 5). And she has a lot of response. Daddy is training Charlene to smile. And it does seems to be working. For 30 mins, Daddy will say 'Charlene, pretty smile' and Charlene smiles. Then he will praise her and say good girl, clever girl and Charlene continue to smile happily. Daddy was so excited to see Charlene smile that he forgot to take video (now he can't blame me for forgetting to videotape the last time).

Praise the Lord!  A few months back, we won't have seen Charlene smiling so readily and happily for an extended period of time. It's great that Charlene is learning and we will continue to condition her and pray for her social smile...

Here's the video of Charlene's smile.

3-4 Feb 2011

Chinese New Year
This is the first time we are celebrating Chinese New Year together. Charlene is so good. Despite being overwhelmed by many relatives, she did not cry. We thank God that the button did not leak, it would have been difficult to change it in other people's house.
Many people said that Charlene looks like her Daddy (Daddy is upset). They also love Charlene's hair and complimented her for being so cute.

Our friends, ZS and Jo came to visit us. We really appreciate their thoughtfulness in coming to visit us on the first day of the Chinese New Year.

Poll:- Charlene Fave Pose

We were looking through the photos and realised that Charlene really like to pose, with her right hand on her right cheek.

So we decided to compile all out of it, and invite everyone to vote for your fave picture of Charlene's pose!

Picture 1

 Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5

Picture 6

Picture 7

Picture 8

Picture 9

Picture 10

Picture 11

Picture 12

1 Feb 2011

I am totally amused by Charlene today.

I laughed and Charlene smiled.
I played songs sang by Taiwanese band Mayday and she listened attentively.
I sang along, she got upset.
I stopped, she showed the "I am appreciating this music face".

Thank God for the fruitful day that Charlene had in school.
Initially, she cried and puked and refused to turn to her left during physiotherapy. But she stopped crying once she turned to her left.

Teacher gave her 2 toys to choose; a flurry yellow star and a rough rugged alligator. Charlene doesn't respond. But she kind of throw her left hand and hence the star away. Teacher thinks she choose the alligator. Perhaps, cos Charlene smile after hitting the alligator (cos it gives out a squeak, just like her favourite toy squeaky hammer).

For the first time, Charlene was not sleeping. She was looking at the ceiling of the multi-sensory room as the lights went round and round.

I laid her on the textured floor (which is pricky) and she protested immediately.

Charlene cried non-stop but the moment I put her in the bath tub, she stopped immediately.
The moment I took her out of the bath tub, she cry immediately.