Home of the Four Trans

August 13th marks two milestones in my children’s lives.

First, it is the day of Nathan’s coming into this world. He is my firstborn and represents true love. I never knew I could love anyone so much until I met him. From the moment I held him for the first time after 10 months of incubating him, 12 hours of labor, and 27 minutes of pushing, I knew I had a special boy on my hands. He turned his head to respond to my mom on one side, and my mother in law on the other when they called him. He also gave me eye contact. What kind of newborn who had just undergone the trauma of entering the birth canal does things like that? Mine, apparently. Nathan has never failed to amaze me since then. Upon meeting, most people think he’s 4 or 5, but, he’s now only 3. He knows how to negotiate. For example, I’ll tell him, “If you eat all your food (he is a lazy eater), you can have 5 m&ms.” He’ll respond with, “How about 10 m&ms,” then raise up both hands to show me 10. Nathan is a person you have to experience to understand how amazing he is. Words cannot describe how humorous and intelligent he is. I thought there was not possibly any more room in me to love another child the way I love him. I thought how unfair it would be for our other children (and if we should have any more) because I would not love them the same way.

Then, Justin came into the world and proved me wrong. We’ve jumped through firey hoops with this one, and would do it all again for him. One year ago on August 13th, Justin had his first open heart surgery that sent us all on an emotional rollercoaster ride. Now, a year later, he is a bouncing bundle of joy who just smiles, smiles, smiles.

My plan was to take the boys to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach to celebrate (they both love watching the fish swim around and around). But, of course, Nathan had one of his 20 minute tantrums because he was “tired”, and did not want to get in the car. Instead, he wanted his milk in a bottle (yes, he’s still on the bottle. He knows how to drink out of a cup, but loves his bottle because it’s comforting), lay on the couch, and watch CARS. I had packed everything into the car, with one remaining item left to load (Nathan), and he threw everything out, including his favorite white blanket and pillow, soiling it in disgusting dirt, germs, and wood chips (from one of Loi’s projects). I put it in the laundry closet. More crying ensued. Meanwhile, Justin was in my arms, staring at his brother like, “What the heck are you doing?.” There were moments when Justin even flapped his arms in excitement, thinking all the rukus was some game. When his brother did not respond to the arm flapping and squealing, he got confused and started to cry. I loaded Justin back in the car in the garage (to keep him away from the noise), and tried to calm Nathan down. I gathered all my patience up, bent down to his level and told him that I knew he was tired, and that I loved him. I gave him a hug, and that (finally) made everything better. By then, it was already 4 o’ clock, Justin was tired, and I was exhausted, so we all took a nap together.

An hour later, I woke up and prepared the house for our family to come over for Nathan’s 3rd celebration (so spoiled!). Loi came home with the food (prime rib and sides. Yum!) and built Nathan’s present (a bite sized CARS computer desk). After a 3 hour nap, Nathan woke up to opening presents from his aunties. After dinner and cake, Nathan received his gift from us that was hidden under a blanket.

We celebrated Justin’s anniversary by saying “Happy Anniversary.” We didn’t want to take this day away from Nathan.

We have had more parties this year than ever, with each of our boys celebrating their birthdays three times. But, I’m not complaining. I’ll take planning a party to planning a surgery any day!

Here’s to a healthy year for both my boys.

Apparently “technology” is not my middle name. I am a little lame when it comes to uploading pictures to our blog, hence the lack of pictures. I’m still trying to figure out how to use the iPhoto application to upload pics in an efficient manner. Uploading each one by one is a little painful. Over 500 digital images are trapped in our camera waiting to be revealed. I will give them a chance, don’t worry.

In the meantime, here’s a quick update in the life of the FourTrans:

-Justin’s teeth are finally coming in! First the right bottom, now the left. So cute! Lucky for us and him he did not experience any symptoms of teething pain. I was just beginning to believe that his smile would be forever gummy (seriously!).

-Justin had his first birthday party with over 150 attendees with a King of the Jungle Safari theme. It was awesome. Justin also had two heart friends there.

-We experienced our first “vacation” together as a family of four at Disneyland and San Diego for 5 days.

-Upon our arrival home, Nathan got sick and experienced some asthmatic symptoms for several days. We gave him inhaler treatments. He still has a runny/stuffy nose, but has improved.

-That week was spent gathering ideas and materials for his CARS themed party, as his party was scheduled to be that coming Sunday. I hit up Target and Michaels for inspiration and returned home with awesome party favors/activities. We ordered a jumper, ice cone machine, cake, and food.

-Friday, 8/8/08 was the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in China, which we all gathered around the TV for. More importantly, we celebrated Justin’s official birthday with a gathering of family, cake, a birthday song, and presents.

-Sunday was Nathan’s turn to party (for his birthday)! It was mayhem, but I think kids like that sort of chaos where they’re allowed to run around and be free. The jump house was the hit of the party. Justin slept through most of it.

I will post pictures when I have more than 10 minutes of free time. The kids like to keep me busy. Boys!

He made it! Today at 0308 marks the first year since Justin’s birth. Loi and I just sang the birthday song to him, and, now, he’s asleep on our bed.

To him, it’s just another day. To us, it’s a wonderment.

But, today, like any other day, we worry. This morning, he was fussier than usual, sweating a little during one of his naps. His eyes also looked a little puffier. After his lunch of winter squash and a warm bath with a bathtub of balls and squishy animals, he’s back to his usual self–smiling and happy. Relief.  If he continues to be fussy, I think I might call his cardiologist.

His (as well as Nathan’s) well-check is scheduled for next Friday. Can’t wait to see how he’s grown.

Thanks for checking in. And, if you can, whisper a “Happy Birthday!” to Justin.

Allow me to remind myself: this is a child’s birthday party. A scrumptious, chubby-cheeked, sunshine-faced of a child. But, this is a child, nonetheless, that I’m throwing a party for. Not a bride or groom.

It’s almost 11PM, and I’m sitting here with some party anxiety. My list of things-to-do has been checked and rechecked. My vision of the most imaginative and personal King of the Jungle Safari themed first birthday is materializing. I just hope everyone will enjoy themselves.

Bags of activities, party favors, and scrapbooking supplies are sitting by the door waiting to be loaded into the car to be transported to the banquet center. The items on my list that have been outsourced are at partial completion, and are promised to be done by tomorrow 9AM. Excited for such a, uh, grand event–it’s Justin’s 1st birthday party!!!–but, nervous. I just want everything to be right.

Stay tuned for pictures!

OK, how did this happen? How did Loi turn 30?!?!?! That means I’ll be 30, soon. Can’t believe how quickly time flies.

Loi’s younger sister and I threw a “surprise” bash for him this past Friday, that turned out to be not so “Surprise!” after all. One of his friends accidentally slipped when he called our house to talk to me, but got Loi on the phone instead (friend later confessed that he had “failed the mission”). All week, Loi pretended not to know, but I knew he knew because I found the e-vite to his party on my email had been opened (not by me). Regardless, I continued about with the food ordering, and pretended that I didn’t know that he knew. Exhausting, right?

Come the day of, I was totally unprepared. I couldn’t figure a way to leave the house without abandoning him with the 2 boys and their neediness (Nathan wanted to be played with, Justin needed to be fed, bathed, etc…typical day). He also had to work from home. Finally, close to 3PM, as Nathan was going down for his nap, I started acting exhausted, like I needed to get out of the house STAT before I’d go CRAZY, told him I needed to go shopping as a relief. Without any hesitation, he let me go. Donned with disheveled hair and Justin’s leftover pureed sweet potatoes on my dress, I grabbed my purse and made a run for it.

Of course, 3PM on a Friday is rush hour traffic time. Perfect. I had two stops to make and needed to report back to party central by at least 5PM to set up the birthday banner, decorations, tables, and chairs. Not to mention, I had some items on the menu that still needed preparation. I did not get to party central until 5:30PM. By the time I carried the food in from the car (with the help of our wonderful nephew. Hi, Andrew!), it was already 5:45PM. The phone started ringing. Guests were showing up at the gate. Crap. I am the worst party planner ever!, I thought to myself. I can plan parties for hundreds of people, but not for my one husband’s 30th birthday.

The bright side was there were actually going to be people at this party (yes! I got one thing right.). Initially to help with the set-up, but they later were allowed to join in the fun, too! The early birds were assigned tasks such as setting up the tables and fold out chairs, putting up the banner/decor, making an ice run (thanks Rusty, Randy, Tom, Anh, Joe, Bailey, Timmy, Leanne, Phuoc, Johnna…did I miss anyone?). Organized, right? As I realized there were many hands on board to assist, I left to pick up Loi from our house.

Got home and no one was ready…burned another 20 minutes packing the diaper bag and dressing the kids before we were all actually loaded into the car to go.

“Where are you?,” texted his younger sister. “Almost here?”

30 minutes later, which would make a total of 80 minutes since I left party central to pick up Loi, we made it through the gate leading to party central. His friends’ familiar cars gave it away, though, as we drove down the street. He called me out, at which point, I still continued to pretend like I didn’t know what the heck he was talking about.

As we entered through the front doors, there stood his crew of people who hollered, “SURPRISE!” Good times.

Loi was actually surprised. He did not expect the party to be held at party central, but at our house. He also did not expect as many people to show up.

The remainder of the evening was spent with semi cold food (as we were missing parts for the food warmers, so we didn’t keep the food warm. Outside. At night.), drinks (all prepared for that! Makes everything all better), conversation, and some friendly banter.

The most memorable moment of the night for Loi? His 15 year nephew DJ’ing for him. That made him feel old. He told me that he used to do that. Time flies!

Happy birthday, Babe!