Friday, May 20, 2011

What my family has given me...

 





"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." 
Winston Churchill

You're my perfect gift, a gift that I could never have imagined in a million years but have always dreamed about.  At times I wonder if I should dare to wake up from utopia.  I am so thankful for my three precious gifts.  Miracles happen, one step at a time!



One of my all time favorite picture ~ early morning on 4/26/2011.  The most important men in my life were sharing in one of those moments ~ greeting the day!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Extraordinary Privilege


My dear son, I am profoundly at awe by how remarkably resilient you are!  After fighting an ear infection and strep throat and having to endure two days in the emergency room, your spirit never broke.  Although you were really tired yesterday and your body was fighting a fever of 105, you still found the strength to give mommy kisses on her wrapped injured arm.  Am I not the luckiest mom in the world?

Ethan, you are so brave and your sweet spirit serves as a guiding light for me to continue to stay strong and to be positive.  You are but only three; however, your sweet disposition and attitude through all this is an indication of your maturity and your unconditional love for mommy.  Your irrepressible laughter during these tough moments and every moment in between is music to mommy’s ears.  Although mommy should be the person to comfort you when you are not feeling well; you undoubtedly took on this responsibility with open arms.  Your tender whole hearted hugs just takes mommy’s breath away and I whole heartedly love you.

You are perfection, an answer to mommy’s prayers.  You are the culmination of everything that is good and loved in this world.  How fortunate for me that I was chosen to be your mother!

Thank you, thank you, and thank you.
Still smiling after a visit with his doctor!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

It's not Friday the 13th!


Ethan and I went to bed really early last night.  Marisa went to her girlfriend’s surprise sweet sixteen birthday party.  Van was working late and it was really a perfect night to snuggle with Ethan.  At first, I just wanted to put Ethan to bed since we’ve been out shopping all day.  I needed a moment to myself and saw a perfect opportunity to get Ethan to bed.  The next thing I knew, it was seven o’clock Sunday morning!

It was sunny and perfect after a gloomy Saturday.  Marisa was up early too so we thought that it would be nice to meet up with daddy for lunch.  Both of my kids were so excited to see daddy.  Marisa was excited that I was going to help color her hair.  I was extremely excited to see my children gleaming with happiness.  Since Van wanted to have a nice family dinner and was planning to leave work “on time”, we just took a quick bite for our late lunch.  We told daddy that we would shop around Kingstowne until he was ready to leave.

Our family outing turned out to be more than what we were expecting!  After returning Van to work, we wanted to hit TJ Maxx, Famous Footwear, Home Goods, and Ross.  We ended up at Ross first and were going to work our way up to TJ.  Marisa helped Ethan out of his car seat into his stroller.  I was putting something away in the trunk of our car when I felt and heard a loud thump.  At first, I thought someone hit our car when they were trying to squeeze into a parking space.  I walked around to where the sound resonated and behold, a lady had slammed her door into the side of our car.  She left a huge dent on the passenger side of the door, well, it was the back door.  I approached the lady and she exclaimed that her car door was too heavy when she swung it open.  I asked to get her information then headed towards the back of her car to get her license plate number.  She entered her car; my assumption was that she was getting her information ready.  Without warning, she slammed her car into me.  The impact caused me to jerk into a “c” shape ~ the top half of my body fell forward on the back of her car while the bottom half of my body went under her car.  Just imagine my children witnessing this traumatic incident!  I called 911 and asked my daughter to get a camera so that I could take a picture of the lady’s car.  After hitting me, the lady continued to stay in her car and screamed out for me to move.  Then she proceeded to scream at my daughter and claimed that she did not hit our car nor did she hit me.  While I was on the phone with the dispatcher, I told my daughter to stay away from this lunatic since I did not know what she was capable of.  She jumped into her car and proceeded to leave but I stayed behind her car to block her.  Within minutes, Officer Kelley arrived.  I was on my way to greet the officer when lady saw an opportunity to escape!  She drove off!  It wasn’t very smart of her because the police gave chase and brought her back to the scene of the accident.  Prior to the officer’s arrival, I asked this lady how she could be at this age and not want to take responsibilities for her actions.  What has this world come to where no body wants to be held accountable for their choices? 

The officer took my statement and then took the lady’s statement.  She denied everything.  The officer asked if our cars were moving when she hit my car.  I said no.  He then advised me that he would not be able to give her a citation since it was not considered a moving violation.  Then I told the officer that when she struck me, what would that be considered?  He approached the lady, who continued to stay in her car.  She claimed that she did not see me.  The officer asked if I needed to be taken to the hospital.  I was more concern for my children but I also did not want to make a mistake and not get myself checked.  I said yes and within seconds, a fire truck and the ambulance arrived.  The firemen approached the lady and asked if she needed to be taken to the hospital but I said, “Excuse me; it is I who was struck by this lady”.  Marisa had to run to the bathroom and Ethan was in his stroller listening to music.  Thank goodness that he did not fuss and I was so proud of my daughter for being such a grown up and was there for her brother.

I wish that I was able to get information for the gentleman that saw everything, but when the officer arrived at the Springfield Heathplex, he said that I did not need a witness.  He said that she finally admitted that she hit me.  He gave her a citation and she is at fault.  He also said that she is from Mexico visiting her daughter who lives in Annandale and the car that she was driving was a rental.  He went even further to say that this lady was crazy, I don’t know if he was suppose to tell me that, but I figured that as much because it just did not make any sense.  Why would you try to escape knowing that the police was within a foot of your car?  My daughter asked why this lady thought that she was in the right especially when it is common sense that you have to look both ways and behind while backing a car out of any place!

What a day!  I ended up with no broken bones but a bruised left hand, arm, elbow and wrist.  My right foot has a small fracture but nothing major that would require surgery.  I now have a slight headache, tender shoulders, stiff ring finger, painful left arm and my knees and body are a bit sore.  It was such an ordeal for my kids, but my little angels are now safe and sound asleep.  Thank God that my children were not harmed.  Thank God that this loony was not driving so fast that she would have dragged my body to no limits.  Thank God that I’m breathing although I was pretty shaken up to have my children experience this horrific side of a human behavior.  Marisa said that it was a good thing for this lady that she was not old enough to stand up to her.  I told my daughter that she did stand up to her because she remained calmed and collective and not let this lady swayed her to do anything rash.  This is a sign of maturity and this is a sign that doing what is right will always stand up to anything.  I am a proud mother, indeed!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Bubbles and more bubbles

"Ba-Ba", Priceless
A glimpse of what pure bliss looks like!
 Go Ethan Go!
 Having fun with cousin Elise.
  How fortunate I am to be so smitten by my Ethan!

Cross our fingers and our toes


Ethan is back at school!  It was really difficult for me to send Ethan to school because I despise it so much when my baby is sick.  Seeing my baby suffers and not having the ability to help him just makes me feel so helpless.  But, Ethan is such a fighter and has taught me to have patience ~ state of endurance under difficult circumstances, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation or pain.  Oh how fortunate I am to have this little angel. 

My heart felt like it has wings when I saw Ethan's face gleaming as we approached the front steps of his school.  Ethan was so excited that he lost his right shoe while prancing to his room.  If Ethan could have his way, he would go barefoot.  I would not go as far as to say that he refuses to wear shoes, because he loves to put mine, Marisa’s and dad’s.  Keeping shoes on when mommy wants Ethan to do so is a huge task but when Ethan does it on his own, he’s happy as a clam.  I guess he is very Asian in this way because it is our custom that we take off our shoes when entering our home or the homes of others.

Watching my son shine while waltzing through the hallway brought tears to my eyes.  My thought for that moment was, "WOW, I wish that all kids were like my angel...full of life, full of love, full of wonder, full of joy, full of patience, full of forgiveness, and full of happiness!"  What a blessing Ethan is in my life.  It was an overwhelming feeling of great pride when Ethan glided through the hallway like he was floating in the heavens saying “HI” and sharing his huge smile with everyone.  No mothers could be more proud than I was at that moment.  Thank you for allowing me to be of a great witness to Ethan’s journey and continued miracle.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Let's try again

Ethan's first day back to school after a long needed rest.  Now, mommy can have her long needed rest too!  How can I rest when at times I can hear Ethan call for me?  No, I'm not going crazy.  I miss my little man running around the house and calling for me every possible chance.  I miss seeing his glistering eyes and gleaming smiles.  I miss his laughter and him asking for "BOB BOB" and "BELL" in such an innocent tone.  I’m going to miss seeing/hearing Ethan say another amazing word out of the blue and then celebrating with him like crazy when he repeats the word.  Like “BAG” and “SHOES” and “FEET” and “UN, TWO, TREE, ORR, IVE” and “CHEESE” and “BABY”.  Oh yes, Ethan loves calling his big sister “BABY” since this seems to get her attention more so than “SA SA”.

We've been so fortunate to have Ethan's teacher come to our home to teach him while he was home-bound.  It's been nice for the past two months, actually, to have a one-on-one session with his teacher.  I was most amazed that Ethan sat at the kitchen table for one whole hour with his teacher.  It's difficult to have Ethan sit still for longer than half an hour, with the exception of watching Spongebob.

My TO DO list includes but not limited to:
1.   laundry ~ from eight this morning until now, I've been able to do four loads...GO MOM!
2.  clean up the living room ~ putting away Ethan's toys, blankets, and shoes...until my helper return home and undo what I've just put away.
3.  watched the news about the most historic event - the death of the monster who was responsible for 9/11.
4.  make an appointment to take our car in for an oil change, minor tune ups, replace light bulbs and an inspection.
5.  need to make it to Costco to print over 1,000 random pictures.  Oh yes, my sister-in-law asked if I’ve gotten enough pictures of Ethan…not nearly enough, I don’t believe.  I still have to print pictures from Ethan’s birth!  I’ve been organizing and putting pictures in the albums but have not put together a complete set because I need to get some more albums from Costco.
6.  organized some of my favorite pictures of my baby boy for his scrapbook.  I really need to complete this project!

Oh look, it’s eleven fifteen so I need to get ready to pick Ethan up from the bus stop.  We’re heading done to Lorton to drop off the car and then to finish up with helping my sister-in-law move.