Category Archives: Lily & Leo Video

Happy 6th and 9th Birthday Leo & Lily!

Happy 6th and 9th Birthday Leo & Lily!  Leo stretches 3’10” and weighs 44.7lbs! Leo has been developing so much in the past year.  He can eat almost everything now (that he’s not allergic to) except soupy things.  He is good at holding the food himself and taking big bites out of it but now that he’s starting to lose his baby teeth, it’s a little more challenging since he doesn’t know to bite from the side of his mouth.  No worries Leo, mommy will cut up the pieces of food for you!!!  Some of his favorite foods are pizza, cheeseburgers, ham and cheese croissant from Starbucks haha, anything chicken, and chocolates!  He also like chips and tons of different crackers and gold fishes, apple sauce and yogurt!  He likes strawberries, blueberries and blackberries and looooves bananas.  He still drinks pediasure about once to twice a day to keep up with his calorie intake!  He also likes the mango dragonfruit drink at Starbucks and smoothies from my café!!  He also drinks water like a camel haha!  I’m so proud with how much he finally loves food!!

Leo is starting to read and is really good with making sounds of each letter!!!  He will sometimes call the letters by the sound instead of the letter names since that’s how he learned it, which is great for reading skills!  Leo can also count to 20 pretty well, we are just working more on counting objects instead of just counting to 10 or 20 each time haha. He loves reading time and listening to stories!

Leo likes making with dolls and figurines.  He likes to also put them in his mouth due to his sensory needs.  Leo is a huge fan of Spider-Man and all the marvel superheroes like the hulk, iron man, and captain America.  He likes to stand in front of the mirror and pretend to shoot spider webs from his hands or sometimes flex his muscles like the hulk.  It’s super cute!!!  Leo also loves music and dancing and he’s learning more words to songs and loves to sing along to al his favorite tunes even if it’s not completely clear, it’s still super cute!!  

This past year has been so difficult for many reasons, zoom therapy and schooling is not very productive for Leo but I’m so glad to see him still making progress this past year.  I’m super proud of Leo and his physical development is around a 24 month old, but he is just so smart amazing!!!  He is starting to jump more, we are just working on him bending his knees more before jumping but he’s able to jump about 8 inches out!!!  So great!!!  He loves swimming in the pool with his floaty vest!  He isn’t afraid to hold his breathe and go under the water either!  He’s super sweet and very empathetic to others emotions as well.  Leo is going to be done with kindergarten next week and will then be officially a first grader!!  He’s so friendly and social, he loves everyone and has no stranger danger or separation anxiety haha.  I feel like I say this every time but I’m so constantly amaze by all that he’s achieved and overcome!  I love you so much my petite prince Leo!!!  I can’t wait to see what more amazing things you will do and achieve.  Happy Birthday my adorable son, mommy is so proud to have you!!!!

Happy 9th Birthday Lily!!  Lily is 4’2” and weighs 51.4lbs! Lily loves all kinds of noodles, especially garlic noodles.  She likes broccoli and corn and will eat pretty much all kinds of sea food, but for some reason, all other meats are not impressive to her, even the fanciest steak in town, she will not eat it with much enthusiasm haha.  Her favorite restaurants are Olive Garden and Chili’s and anything with crab and noodles haha.  She likes all kinds of snacks as well except she’s not into cakes.  Unique child haha.  She enjoys doing lots of arts and crafts and likes to draw and color.  She’s getting

 

more detailed and creative in her drawings, she like to draw sloths, puppies, animals and her family!  Lily likes crocheting and knitting and has become pretty quick and diligent at it too!   Lily just finished the 3rd grade (year 3 month 9) and her end of the year math and reading scores shows that she’s at a 5th grade level (year 4 month 9)!  Wow Lily, you are so smart!! Even with distance learning, she still managed to keep up with her studies and excel!  I’m so proud of you my Lily pad!

Lily has mastered riding her bike with no training wheels, but also picked up some new outdoor sports as well.  Lily learned how to roller skate, and now roller blading!  She prefers roller blading over roller skating, maybe because I have roller blades too, so we match.  She also picked up longboarding within 5 minutes!  She is so fearless and I admire her bravery and her positive enthusiastic attitude when approaching new things!  I need to get myself a longboard so that she and Alex can teach me haha.  Perhaps I’ll have better luck with that than a skateboard maybe?  She also really enjoys playing tennis still and needs to upgrade to a bigger tennis racquet since she’s getting bigger!  Where did my baby go??  At least I can save her old racquet for Leo now!  Lily also had her 1st communion and received the Holy Eucharist!  I’m so super proud of Lily for completing her 2 years of religious education at St. Denis Catholic Church.  She really embraced all the teachings and I’m so happy her hear her say that she wants to be the best version of herself possible!!!  I cannot be any more proud!

Lily enjoys working on jig saw puzzles, but also word searches and spot the difference type of games!  Lily likes to play board games now too.  Alex and I introduced her to Catan Jr and Dominion and she totally caught on right away and had so much fun!  Yay to another board gaming buddy!!  Lily also likes sloths to the point where it’s an obsession like her momma, and enjoys drinking boba, especially with taro or ube milk tea!  Lily likes to play with slime still…it’s a love hate relationship with me and slime… Lily also enjoys playing with Legos and putting together fun Lego sets.  She enjoys building things and doing science experiments and projects as well.  She’s an amazing little helper and would love helping me do things from helping me cook, bake, and even folding the laundry and vacuuming.  Lily is so sweet and kind, she has a generous heart and is so mature and wise for her age.  She’s growing up so fast, but I’m still so grateful she enjoys giving and receiving hugs and kisses!!!  I will cherish all our snuggles on the couch together and all the enthusiastic “Mommy!” from her every time I pick her up from school.  I love watching you grow into your own independent, confident, healthy little person and I can’t wait to see more amazing things you’ll do!!  I love you so so so much my sweet Lily pad.  Happy 9th birthday, you make mommy so proud, I love you 3000 times infinity!!!

Here’s their annual birthday videos, enjoy!!

Happy 5th & 8th Birthday Leo & Lily!

Happy milestone 5th birthday to my little prince Leo and happy golden 8th birthday to my princess Lily!!  Lily measures about 48 inches tall and weighs about 42 pounds.  Leo stretches about 44 inches and weighs in at 37 pounds.  This year we had to experience the unfortunately worldwide pandemic of covid-19 and so the kids this year celebrated their birthday at home through zoom.  I made a balloon garland and blew up a ton of golden and different blue color balloons to decorate the house as well and made them each a display cake that had all their current favorite things on it.  I also made a read strawberry cake for Lily with whipped cream cheese frosting on it and got Leo a cheesecake since he cannot have eggs.  The morning of their birthdays, I surprised them with a bunch of blue balloons all over the floor of their bedrooms, so that was very fun to watch them wake up to that!  I had a bunch of candied bacon for their dessert as well and ordered Olive Garden (Lily’s favorite) delivered for lunch and invited friends to wish the kids a happy birthday!  It wasn’t as extravagant as I planned for earlier this year but it was still perfect because the kids had so much fun and felt all the love from everyone, and that’s all that matters.

Lily learned how to ride her bike this past year and nailed it really quickly, within 30 minutes! I’m so proud of her dedication and willingness to learn, even if it may seem scary at first.  She also learned how to swim, and can even do the forward stroke decently.  She can float and play in the pool all on her own with no floaties, what a big girl now!  Lily really likes to cook and bake still, she’s my little sous chef!  She also likes to practice origami and her favorite thing to fold right now are boxes, cubes boxes where you blow into it and it puffs up into a box! She is a very social person and so staying quarantined these last few months have been quite challenging, as I’m sure is the case for everyone else right now.  She does facetime with her classmates and so that helps a bit.  She likes to go and ride her bike outside or go swimming or play on the splash pad to cool off and burn off some energy.  Her favorite shows are The Last Airbender and The Legend of Kora.  He favorite movie was Sonic the hedgehog and she loves playing Arms and Animal Crossing on the Nintendo switch.  She also really likes playing with slime and watching a bunch of YouTube videos, especially of Collin Keys and he craziness haha.  Lily also likes reading a variety of books, and reading to Leo as well.  What a great sister Lily!  Lily also donated her give jar to her 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Barnes because she said she loves Mrs. Barnes and she had so much fun in her class and wants to donate her money so Mrs. Barnes can get more things to help teach more kids.  Lily, you have such a sweet and amazing heart, you impress me everyday with your kindness and generosity, I love you so much!!

Leo loves Chuck E Cheese right now and I would say it’s pretty accurate to say that Chuck E Cheese is his best friend haha.  I got him a Chuck E Cheese doll for his birthday and he brings him everywhere he goes.  It’s so cute to him so attached to him, and he’ll even pretend to give Chuck E Cheese his milk, and share his snacks with him as well.  He also likes watching Peppa Pig, GooGoo GaGa on YouTube, Pixar’s Bao, Float, Birds and Moana.  He likes to sing a lot more now and will try to sing along to random songs on the radio, but he favorite is the Happy Birthday song.  He can sing almost the entire song pretty well!!  Leo loves dancing to music, or even when there’s no music, and he loves to follow along to the Chuck E Cheese Cha Cha dance video.  He memorizes all the words and moves and will shout along periodically the words!  I love to watch his excitement when he plays the dance video, he has to stop what he’s doing and dance along!  It’s super cute!  Leo is also increasingly more affectionate and loving as well, it just truly melts my heart.  He’ll come over and randomly gives me hugs and kisses.  Sometimes he’ll ask me to give him a piggy back ride going down the stairs as well.  He needs to remember to not let go sometimes but he knows to hold on for the most part!  Leo really likes to climb, run around, play with swords, and baby dolls.  His vocabulary is increasing and he’s able to put 5 words together in a sentence recently too!  He blows my mind with how smart he is and how much he’s learning and able to achieve.  He’s also able to eat pretty much everything now too, except for soupy things, he’s still working on that.  He can eat rice dishes, noodle dishes, all kinds of seafood, chicken, tacos, any kind of sandwiches, he is such a great eater now!  He also still loves fruits, strawberries, blackberries, grapes, cherries, apples, oranges, pears, everything!  I am constantly so proud of him!  The zoom sessions for therapy and school has been challenging but I’m so glad he continues to make movement in his accomplishments.  You’re so incredibly amazing my petite prince Leo, I love you oh so much, and you light up my life!Happy special milestone birthdays Lily and Leo!!  I hope you both had an amazing birthday this year.  This year has definitely been a challenging and different experience for birthdays, and any kind of social celebrations, but I’m glad that it doesn’t take much to make your guys happy.  I’m glad that you both appreciate the little things that just feeling my love for you is enough, and that I can make you happy with what I have.  You guys are my everything and I’m definitely going to take you guys on a big vacation next year when things are safe.  Can’t wait for more adventures with you Lily and Leo, I love you both so much!!  Your hearts, smile, laughter, hugs and kisses makes me the luckiest and happiest mom in the world.  Happy golden 8th birthday Lily!!!!!!!  Happy milestone 5th birthday Leo!!!!!

Here are Leo and Lily’s birthday videos, Lily riding her bike with no training wheels, and Leo’s video of his 5 word sentence!  ENJOY!




Happy Birthday Leo & Lily!


Happy sweet 3rd birthday to my handsome petite prince Leo and 6th birthday to my beautiful princess Lily!!  Lily weighs in at 37lbs (8 percentile) and stretches 44 inches tall (32 percentile) while Leo weighs 29lbs (21 percentile woohoo!) and stretches 37 inches tall (41 percentile).  Leo is getting smart and clever and sweeter each day!  He is now developing empathy and when he sees someone like Lily get hurt, he goes over and tries to give her a hug or looks at her face and tries to see if she’s ok.  If he gets in trouble, he’ll know he did something wrong and start to pout and then go to try to give you a hug as if he’s trying to say sorry!  He’s so silly and I just discovered he has a favorite hiding spot for some of his favorite toys.  There has been some toys missing when I would clean up and put all the toys back in their designated spots, but I’ll look all over the floors and under the couch even and can’t seem to find some toys.  Then one day I saw Leo put his tiny hand down the corner of the couch between the pillow and couch and pull out a toy!  A HA!  I found his secret hiding spot!  I went to check and what do you know, all the missing toys were there!  Haha, silly Leo!  He likes to clean up and now and after his naps and sleep, he would pick up whatever stuff animals that he would toss over the crib, and throw it back into his crib!  He also like to throw random toys into the kitchen sink too.  I think he just sees me and Lily putting dishes away and so he wants to participate too, so cute!!  Leo also will understand the word “hug” and likes to hug his arms and hug toys, hug anything really, and he likes to give hugs as well.

He can now sign “sleep” really well and when I tell him it’s nap time or goodnight, he will sign sleep very gently over his face, it’s so cute!!  He really likes to explore now that he is more comfortable walking all over the place!  He is very curious and likes to take in the environment and see how things work.  Leo had a series of assessments done with the public school district for his transition from the Early Start Intervention Program with the Regional Center to the public school system.  They say he’s around a 10 month to 1 year old in terms of development and that he will qualify for special needs education, and they recommended the school in Claremont called Sumner Danbury Elementary School where they have a built in therapy facility there that Leo would benefit greatly from!  They even have a pool that he can do therapy in as well!  The school sounds amazing for him!  Leo is starting to eat a tiny bit of thicker foods.  I made him a mashed avocado banana yogurt recipe and he ate it and didn’t mind the chunks in it!  Fingers crossed, I hope he will start moving on to more solid foods soon!  He really like sweets and lollipops and candy, I wonder where he got his sweet tooth from?  Haha!  But he also likes to lick lemon slices…  He likes to see what you’re eating now too so I think this new curiosity with food is a huge development!  I love his growing mind and sweet loving spirit!  I’m so proud of Leo, and cannot be more happy with his progress and development.  He is amazing in every way, and will always be perfect in my eyes!  Happiest 3rd birthday my handsome petite prince, I love you so so so so so so much!!



The kids are growing up so quickly, I just want to bottle up their youth and innocence forever!  Currently Lily is into the shows Spirited, Dr. Seuss, the Magic School Bus, and Vamporina!  She really likes playing with dolls and pretending to be a shop owner and selling you groceries or ice cream or anything really.  She likes going fishing and catching the fish with the giant net that’s bigger than her and putting the bate on her hook and casting it into the water as well. Lily also likes to read books and is doing pretty good at writing out sentences and sounding out words and spelling it like how it sounds.  Spelling isn’t always correct but it’s a super great start for learning to write right now!  She comes up with silly and funny sentences too, like “It is raining outside but I wanted to play.  I guess I will wait.”  Haha!  Lily’s been saving up money in three different jars (Give, Save and Spend) for the past couple months and on her birthday, I said she can use the money in her Give jar to someone or something to help make the world a better place.  She wanted to give her money to teachers, specifically her kindergarten teacher Ms. Edwards because she feels you make the world a better place!! How sweet is that?! So told her that I’ll matched how much she saved (and rounded up haha).  I attached a video message from Lily as well!  This was the wonderful response from Lily’s teacher:

“This email made me cry many happy tears! Happy birthday sweet Lily and thank you so much for your kind-hearted gift on your birthday. It means so much to watch that video and hear your kind words. It is students like Lily that make me love coming to school everyday and I look forward to seeing all the wonderful things that Lily is going to accomplish! She has such a kind heart and I am so honored to have been her teacher at QS and be the person she chose to present her Give jar to… Thank you, again, my heart is so full from Lily’s thoughtfulness.”

I’m so proud of Lily and it melts my heart to see her touch others’ hearts like she’s touched mine.  Lily felt so happy when I read her the email, and her smile just lit up the entire room.  You can feel the fullness of her heart, and I hope she continues to feel that throughout her life, and keep making a difference in this world!

Lily is also very into arts and crafts and has a very imaginative mind!  She likes to draw and color and make things with cutting paper and gluing things together.  She likes to make Leo laugh as well and feels very proud of Leo every time he makes a new sound or does something new!  She’s such a proud big sister and that warms my heart as well.  Lily also graduated from Kindergarten and she also got chosen as one of the readers of the classroom too!!  Great job Lily!!  Lily really enjoys summer school fun club at Maple Hill and she gets to do so many fun things during the week!  I can’t believe my baby girl is going to be a grade schooler now, time sure flies by!  Lily’s piano teacher said that Lily is really mature and is keeping up with the lessons and doing really great in class!  I see a lot of a growth and improvement in just her hand positions and fingers as well.  It’s impressive at how fast they pick things up at their age.  Lily also loves gymnastics and her favorite thing to practice are her handstands.  She’s improving a lot in that as well and is becoming more bold and daring and really willing to throw herself into the activities and give it her all!  She was very excited but also reserved at first, now she jumps onto the balance beam, doesn’t even look scared of the heights, and she even climbs the rope about halfway up the wall too!  Way ta go Lily pad!!!  Her bright generous sweet caring nature makes me so happy!  Happy 6th birthday my Lily pad, I love you so so so so so so much as well!!!



Check out these kiddies’ birthday videos!

Gratitude

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Gratitude, it’s not happiness that brings us gratitude, it’s gratitude that brings us happiness – Unknown.

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this blog so this will be a very long one…so brace yourselves haha.  For Halloween I made Lily a Wonder Woman dress along with the leggings, arm bracelets, and a shield!  Lily likes wearing her dress to school and going out and just for any ordinary day and it makes me happy that she loves it so much!  She tells her teachers and that I made her dress for her and she just has such a big smile on her face too, it makes me feel happy that she’s so proud of my work for her.  I made a cape for Leo to be Captain Underpants but it was way too cold for that costume, so He was a last minute Batman Pumpkinpants haha.  Lily loved her costume and I bought her some Wonder Woman books before hand and so she loves the story of the amazing amazonian princess and brought the book while wearing her costume for her literary parade at school!  Lily also had her first field trip at Quail Summit to the Santa Ana Zoo.  She loved seeing all the animals and she said her favorite were the butterflies and monkeys.  Lily really likes going to school, morning care and after care (aka Fun Club) and she’ll complain sometimes that I pick her up too early (5pm isn’t really that early…).  I’m glad she gets so stimulated at school and is making friends with kids of all ages!  Every time I come to pick her up, all the big kids know her name and always run to give her a hug before we leave.  That’s so sweet and heart warming!

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I had the honor of having our family photos taken by the super amazingly talented, and kind soul, Lisa Holloway.  Here are some of the many favorites from that session.  I will cherish these memories and I am so grateful to have these beautiful kids to call mine.

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Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. – William Arthur Ward

Lily really enjoys all her extracurricular activities after school.  She has Jazz Dance, Baton Twirlin & Pom Pom, and Tennis.  Her absolute favorite is tennis and she always ask if she can do it everyday!  At least she gets to do it twice a week whereas all the other classes are just once a week.  I’m more burnt out taking Lily to all those classes than Lily is haha!  I’m very impressed with Lily on how quickly she learns and picks up choreography as well.  She only attending 3 classes to learn her choreography for her Jazz Dance Recital, her normal weekly classes are just for learning techniques of dance.  From just those 3 classes alone and lots of practice, she was able to dance through the whole routine for the recital and wasn’t even one bit stage fright or nervous!!  She’s so great and better than I’ll ever be!! =)  She also remembered her entire routine for her baton twirling parade and did so amazing well too!  I’m so proud of her and all of her accomplishments!  Leo is getting better at eating purees but he will still have days where he just doesn’t want to eat.  He expresses lots of interest in music.  He really likes the piano and likes playing with my keyboard and banging on drums.  He has a special technique where he uses his mouth to play the keys at the same time as his cute little fingers too.  The look of focus and concentration on his face when he plays the keys are just too cute and priceless.  Every time I try to play on the piano, he usually comes zooming over and pushes me aside and takes over haha.  He is signing more and more each day.  He’s really good at clapping his hands for “good job”, he knows “open” and “close” really well, and understands “more” and “head/hat” as well.  He’s getting better at waving bye more consistently too.  He is a super fast crawler, and he loves to climb all over the place now.  He likes to climb and sit on top of the kid’s table, on top of the couch, on top of anything he can climb onto really.  He loves stairs and even though he doesn’t know how to climb down, he is fearless.  He is able to take 3-4 steps on his own when you prop him up, and he is getting really good at walking while holding 1 of his hand.  I really feel that the hippotherapy is helping him a great deal with his core strength and balance and over confidence in himself and his physical abilities.

It was so windy! This was the best selfie I can get of the three of us!!

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Thankful for my two joys of my life!LilyLeoThanksgiving2017

Christmas blessings with my loves!  Lily is understanding more the joys of Christmas and really enjoys getting into the holiday spirit.  Lily got to go shopping at her school Santa’s Workshop for a whole week and she had a blast buying fun little toys for herself and Leo and even aunty Leilani!  She has a lot of fun picking out gifts for her teachers and friends and she even said she forgot to buy me something and has the saddest look on her face.  I told her it’s sweet of her to want to get me something but I told her all I need is her and Leo =).  Leo loves playing with Leo and he seeing her playing the iPad and would like to imitate her tapping on the screen.  He’ll see me working on my laptop and would come over and tap on the keyboard too.  He’s so cute and is trying to imitate us and it’s great to see him observing and developing mentally like that.  Leo is always so super happy, and Lily is the best person to make him laugh.  He loves being thrown in the air, looking at silly faces, and is strangely amused with the window blinds haha.  He also likes crawling into tunnels and small enclosed spaces, maybe it’s just safe and cozy in there for him, but he likes sitting in closets and the princess tent as well.  He doesn’t like wearing socks for some reason so they don’t stay on his feet very long, the only way to keep them on is to put shoes on him.  Apparently, he feels that socks should go in his mouth, not on his feet… Leo is super social and loves being held by anyone and everyone!  Leo recently had a hearing test again and they couldn’t get any concrete readings on his hearing, but they did say both ear drums weren’t responsive, so we will have to take him to an ENT for further investigation.  He also had a GI appt at Choc and for now, we just have to keep trying to feed him solids, there’s not much else we can do except continuing with therapy.  He’s gained 1 pound in the last 3 months so at least he’s still growing and that’s the important thing.  Lily loves to be a helper when Leo’s teachers come over for his therapy sessions, and she really pays attention to everything Leo can do, and likes to tell me all his developments with such pride!  I’m so happy to see them together and so happy.  My heart is and full and warm because of them.  I’m so grateful for my greatest gifts in the world, I would not be the person I am without them.  I try to give them the best love and care I possible can give them, to show them how much they mean to me, and I hope the feel my heart.  I love you Lily, Leo and my angels!!!  Can’t wait to see what 2018 adventures awaits us!

Gratitude is not only the greatest virtues, but the parent of all others. – Cicero.

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Enjoy these videos of the kiddies!!  They are growing up so fast, I’m glad I’m able to have these videos to look back on and relive those memories!!












Happy 14 Months Leo!

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Leo 14 Months

Happy 14 months old to me precious Prince Leo!  Leo weighs about 19.8 pounds, and stretches about 30inches long!  Leo has been make slow progress, but still great progress!  He is getting stronger with his core muscles and is able to sit propped up longer and sometimes he can even lift his arms to reach for things too.  He is slowly getting more comfortable being on his knee and squatting (with assistance), and reaching for toys while sitting in his booster chair.  He really like the crinkly texture toys, give him a piece of paper and he’ll be entertained for hours!  He also is working on standing, you have to really prop him and hold him in place but he is starting to put pressure on his feet so that is definitely good progress.  Before, he would just bend at the hips and not even let you hold his legs down, so this is wonderful progress for him!  Also, he started to chew on his crinkly fabric book for a tiny bit, so that’s super great  because he usually doesn’t like to put anything in his mouth besides his thumb and his bottle for milk.  I hope he will start to explore the world more through taste soon!

LeoChewingonFabricBookLeoHouseStarkLeo is in the process of being put on a wait list for a full time school program called Early Head Start.  We don’t know if we qualify financially yet, we will know in a few weeks, but for sure we know that Leo qualifies since one of the specialty is that the program is offered for children with disabilities, and Leo’s diagnosis would qualify him, and since he is already receiving help through the Regional Center, he would get higher priority for the wait list too.  Hopefully he can get in so he can get extra special attention and care while I’m at work!  Grandma did a great job watching Leo but it’s getting time for him to start going to school.  Leo also got his second hair cut, this time a home hair cut by Mieng and I think it looks pretty good!  Leo looks so cute and handsome and very stylish!!  He was very cooperative too, just hand him the phone and he’s occupied and calm.  He likes to look at his reflection on the phone, or himself with you have it in the camera mode haha.  Who wouldn’t like looking at that cute little face?? Leo has been sick with a fever and bad phlemgy cough for the last few days and it makes me so sad to see him not feeling so well.  He would cry from feeling so uncomfortable in the middle of his sleep but even though he’s crying, I can’t help be think he’s so cute haha.  I hope he feels better soon though, he’s always in happy spirits overall though.  Leo is getting bigger (taller at least) and stronger everyday and I’m so proud of him!  I love you so much Leo, you’re my rainbow at the end of the storm!!

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LeoAtClassLilyEggplantLily is so happy and always such a character, I can never get enough of her.  Lily is always bursting with happy excited energy and she has a pure love and appreciation for everything!  I watch her with such awe as I see her talk about things, her thought process behind all her actions.  I feel like she speaks so maturely for her age.  Her understanding and processing of information is just so impressive to me.  All the things that I try to teach her, seems to really get absorbed by her, and she’s developing into such a beautiful little lady!  I had a gift for her just yesterday and she didn’t even see what was inside but the fact that I had something for her, she was so ecstatic and grateful that she kissed the cardboard box it came in and said it’s so beautiful and she’s so excited!! haha.  Lily still really loves to be hands on and help me cook.  At her school they have a garden and grow their own veggies and so she learned how to wash and roast eggplants!  She gets exposure to lots of different healthy foods at LePort, and it really helps her branch out and try new foods too.  She loves working on puzzles too and is working on her writing skills.  She knows a couple words from her Spanish class, particularly “frutas” for fruit and “bebe” for baby.   She is such a sweet, smart and kind girl, and I love her pure innocence and happy nature.  I cannot be more proud!  I might be biased, but I don’t care, =P.  I love her so much!LilyYodaBest

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Here’s some video fun of the kiddoes!



Happy 8 Months Leo!

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Leo 8 Months Old

LeoSleepingThumbLeoGrumpyFaceHappy 8 Months Leo! Leo is about 16.8lbs and stretches about 27 inches long!  He still drink a little over 5 ounces (165cc) at each feeding, 4 times a day, and is still sleeping very well through the night (about 12-14 hours straight!)  Leo likes to babble a lot, most ba ba and on three very distinct occasions, he said mama!  He will also say “ma” a lot too along with other sounds.  He is finally reaching for his toes and is getting better at sitting by himself but he still needs assistance or else he’ll topple over after a few minutes.  He is recovering very nicely since his surgery has well, he still has some stitches but it will go away soon.  He likes to suck his thumb a lot now, probably due to teething.  He has two very prominent teeth on the bottom but more will probably start peeping out soon since he is starting to drool more now too!

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Leo w/Occupational Therapist Jan

Leo still hasn’t been taking solids very well, so he had a consultation with an occupational therapist, Jan, to help work with his feeding.  I’ve been trying to give him puréed squash, but she suggested maybe trying peach or maybe something a little bit citrusy or cold even to wake up his taste buds so he knows that food is in his mouth, rather than something more subtle and luke warm.  She also said his cheeks are very tight so we will have to go back to massaging his cheeks and mouth as well.  Overall though, Leo is growing each day and is constantly making progress, slowly but surely!  He is also starting to kick a lot more and rolls around all over the place now too!  Some times it looks like he wants to crawl as well but doesn’t know how to quite get to his planned destination yet.  He is better at holding onto a toy and shaking it up and down to play with it as well!  He is getting sturdier and his neck is getting much stronger too.

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Leo 32 Weeks Old

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Leo 33 Weeks 2 Days Old

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Leo 33 Weeks 4 Days Old

Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!  Happy year of the Monkey!  Lily loves wearing her áo dài and Leo looks so handsome in his blue outfit as well!  Lily is getting much more cooperative when it comes to me taking pictures now!  Also, check out Lily getting pampered for her photoshoot (which she ended up not taking a picture for but still got paid! haha) for MGA Little Tikes HERE!  She’s very into girly stuff these days, so this was a nice day for her!  However this will be the last time she’ll be working for now, we will give her a break until she’s not as camera shy around strangers.  Back to the Lunar New year though, Leo got to celebrate his first tết and he sure can back with lots of lucky li xi!  Lily thinks all the money is suppose to go straight to her piggy bank and when my dad asked her what he will do with all her money, she says “nothing!  You put it in your piggy bank!!”  I trained her well hehe.  Lily and Leo are always so happy and wonderful.  Lily talks so much and is so brilliant and smart, she never cease to amaze me.  Leo is so mellow and happy, he is truly a gift that keeps on giving.  With this new year, I hope it brings new fun adventures, I hope it allows me to embrace change and hardships with confidence, and mostly, I hope it brings lots of love and happiness.  I am still very sad that Luna is no longer with us, but it just further strengthens my life philosophy; Life is too short and precious, live your life how you want like how you want it to be, be the person you want to be, and always love and treat the people that mean most to you like there’s no tomorrow.  You can see more pictures from our Tết festivities HERE.

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LeoTet2016

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Here’s some video fun of the kiddoes:

Happy 4 Months Leo!

Happy 4 Months to me sweet little prince Leo! Leo weighs in at 11.25 pounds, stretches 23.5 inches, and head measures at 15.25 inches. He is still under 0 percentile but he is growing on his own curve and that’s the important thing. He is 5% in height so I’d say compare to his weight, he’s a tall boy! hehe.  Leo has been having some dry skin and it’s too even all around to be excema so his pediatrician feels it’s probably related to his tet18p, so he recommended putting Aquafor on it.  It really helped a lot and I think in a couple days his skin will go back to it’s super soft baby skin that everyone is so jealous over!  Leo also had his hearing diagnostics again last week and I am happy to report that his hearing is now normal!  He can now hear the low tones just fine and there’s just some remaining fluids in his ears.  They suggested him see an Ear Nose Throat doctor but his pediatrician says he’s still pretty small so lets just wait it out a little longer and see if it’ll drain naturally.

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Leo 16 Weeks

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Leo 17 Weeks

Leo has been doing well in his therapy sessions, he’s had 3 so far.  He is working on his motor skills and working on his reaching and grabbing skills.  He is also working on tummy time to strengthen his neck as well.  His therapist, Amy, said that development wise he is almost at the 4 month mark.  We just need to continue working with him with, but overall he is doing great!  He is cooing a lot more now compared to just a couple weeks ago!  His voice is super cute!!  Leo is very happy and calm and loves to play.  Amy said he is a very social baby and loves people, especially his mommy!  She said that I am his motivator and that he will always try to find me and see where I am, so I will be his toy and try to get him to look up at me during tummy time, and encourage him to push himself up to find me.  He has been doing really well in terms of movement though, he almost rolled over from back to tummy all by himself!  He is very good at rolling onto his side though.  He likes to sleep on his side since we put him on his side to help him digest and in case he throws up, so I think he prefers that now.  His feeding is improving a lot now too, he takes the bottle a lot quicker now and can finish it in about 20-30 mins now!  Once in awhile it’ll still take him almost an hour, but he’s doing so much better.  He occasionally throws up but now it’s down to maybe once a day instead of twice a day with some small spit ups in between.  I’m so happy that he’s overcoming so many obstacles that are put in front of him.  Leo is so amazing and strong, he is my inspiration!  I’m so proud of him!!

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Leo 4 Months Old

Lily has been such an amazing and wonderful loving sister as well.  She always gives Leo kisses and has been doing really well with him being her new roomie too!!  Lily is so silly and has such a big beautiful personality, I just love her to pieces!!  Her current favorite shows on netflix and youtube are Octonauts, Masha and the Bear, Dragon Tales, and Peppa Pig.  She also recently discovered Handy Manny and My Little Pony too.  She loves strawberry and watermelon ice cream (aka frozen yogurt haha).  She has a ginormous sweet tooth, I think that’s mommy’s fault…hehe…, and she is so sweet, helpful, and loving.  She pretty much talks like a normal little person, it’s so amazing how big her vocabulary is.  Sometimes she articulates certain spots in words that makes her sound like she has an accent, it’s super cute!  Lily loves to cut and glue paper, paint, do lots of drawing and arts and crafts.  She loves playing with bubbles, balls, and tools.  She also likes books and reading stories out loud too.  She loves to wearing dresses (particularly the “beautiful one with all the colors” that I made for her, and head bands as well.  She is so bright and cheerful, her happiness just explodes from her little body.  I love you so much Lily, you’re my amazing little Lily pad!

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Enjoy some videos of the kiddos below!!

Happy 3 Months Leo!

Happy 3 Months my little prince Leo!  Leo weighs 10.05 pounds now (still under 0 percentile but he’s growing so that’s all that matters) and stretches 22.5 inches long (3 percentile)!  He is growing bigger and stronger each day and he developing into such a bright and happy boy!  Leo is starting to smile more now and is very alert and likes to look at his surroundings and just take it all in.  We are letting him sleep for a 5 hour stretch at night but we will start to let him sleep longer now that he’s gaining a decent amount of weight!  He feeds about every 4 hours, and takes about 95cc per feeding.  He still throws up now and then, especially when we increase his intake, and he takes about an hour to finish his bottle, but lately he’s starting to take maybe 45 mins!  Leo had his hearing diagnostics a couple weeks ago and for both ears, his high and mid tones are normal but he has trouble picking up the low tones.  He has more trouble in his left ear than in the right. LeoSmile1 The doctor thinks it could be due to fluids in his ears that prevents the ear drums from moving properly but they need to check to make sure it’s not nerve damage, and they couldn’t test him at the time since it needs to be super quiet for the test to take place and by the time it came to that portion of the test, he was already awake and feeding (to keep him from shaking the equipment off his head and ears) and the sucking of the bottle was too loud for the test.  So we will come back end of September to see if it’s due to nerve damage or if it’s just fluids.  If it is just fluids then eventually he will be able to hear low tone sounds but the fluids can come back.  If it’s nerve damage then it will be permanent and the low tone sounds will be very soft and hard for him to hear, but it’s not serious enough for him to need a hearing aid.  I think that’s pretty good outcomes!

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Leo 10 Weeks Old

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Leo 11 Weeks Old

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Leo 12 Weeks Old (PC: Phong Truong)

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3 Months Old

Check out these video clips of Leo during his tummy time, making silly faces, and some bonding time with his Ông Ngoại (grandpa)!

LeoSmile2Overall, Leo is doing so great and it makes me super happy!  Sometimes he does a vigorous head shake that’ll be on and off for 10-15 minutes, and after doing some research on the trusty internet (haha), I concluded that it could be due to blockage inside his ears and so it’s probably bothering him and he’s trying to get rid of the annoyance.  I would massage his ears when this happens and he actually calms down so I feel like that could be it.  He is so calm and mellow and happy, it just warms me heart to be with him.  I’ve also met with a case worker from the Regional Center of Orange County and she is setting Leo up with an in-home infant program for babies with special chromosomal needs.  A therapist will be coming once a week for an hour to work with Leo and make sure he’s developing on track.  If he is showing any signs of delays or needs help reaching his development goals, the therapist will work with him to get him to where he needs to be.  Also, if the therapist feels that Leo needs extra help from an occupational or physical therapist, then she will make that recommendation and get that set up for him as well.  This will be great for Leo regardless of delays or not because this will only help Leo become a healthy strong and smart individual!  Leo also went on his first family vacation to San Diego and got to go to the beach and watch his first sunset and he loved it!

Also, Lily is such an amazing big sister to him.  So far, she hasn’t shown any signs of jealousy!  I try to be very conscious about how I treat her when Leo is around and even when other people are interacting with Leo, I try to make sure to give Lily attention too so that she doesn’t feel like everyone is so focused on Leo that we forgot about her.  Whenever she comes home from school, she always asks where her baby Leo is or if she sees him she goes up to him and gives him a kiss!  She’s so super sweet!  She likes to hold him and always asks to feed him and say he’s hungry and needs his milk haha.  She likes to watch us change his diaper and would sit and watch him get a bath too!  She amazes me so much and I cannot be more proud of my precious Lily pad.

Lily also started the new school year at LePort a couple weeks ago.  She is really cute and wants to bring her baby Leo to school with her too, so I thought it would be cute to take this picture with Leo inside her backpack haha.  Lily also made a new friend at school, a new student named Zoey and her teacher Ms. April says they’re inseparable!  That’s really cute that she can make friends so easily.  She’s still such a happy and spunky little toddler.  She talks so much now and speaks in complete sentences, it’s like she’s a tiny person!  You can read some of the super cute and clever things she says HERE.  She understands everything I say and hears everything too.  She’s always paying attention so its harder to get things past her, she’s definitely a smart cookie!  She loves to draw, paint, color, and do all sorts of arts and crafts.  I feel like she’s definitely my mini me!  Haha!  She also likes to paint her nails, wear hair accessories, dresses (no pants!), and is very into sandals now since she sees us wearing them all the time.  She also still loves minions, she likes to play in her kitchen and make me a “special lunch”, play with play doh and now legos!  She also likes to play with her toy cars and guns as well!  So well rounded!  Her favorite shows are the moment are Masha and the Bear, Octonauts, Dragon Tales, How to Train a Dragon, Cinderella, Wreck it Ralph, and the Minions Movie!  She has moments where she’ll be very good at eating but then other moments where she hardly eats.  She’s so easily distracted at home but when we do go out, she tends to be better at eating, probably because there’s no toys to play with haha.  I love you my Lily pad, you are so wonderful and amazing, you light up my life!  Happy 3 months Leo, you are such an amazing little fighter, I love you so much!
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Here’s a couple videos of Lily being a wonderful big sister burping her baby brother and then another video of her at Target, and then one of our fun at the pool together!

Our Little Prince Leo Has Arrived!

LeoDinhNgoAfter such a long journey, our precious sweet little prince Leo Dinh Ngo is finally here on June 7, 2015, at 4:59pm, weighing 5 lbs 5 oz, and measures 18 inches long! Once again, this entry will document my whole labor experience, so if you don’t want to know the details, then just enjoy the pictures, and don’t worry about the text. After all, this blog is for Leo to read one day, so for us to reminisce on our adventures together!

After experiencing 3 false alarms, I decided to wait it out a little longer before going into the hospital, since I really did not want to be sent home again if the contractions decided to ease off (or Leo decided it was too comfy in my belly and didn’t want to come out).  I started to get pretty consistent contractions around midnight of June 7th, and so I started to track them on my phone with a contractions tracking app.  After 2 hours of tracking, they were consistently happening every 7-10 minutes sometimes 4-5 minutes too.  I was still worried they would stop being consistent so I stuck it out for another hour but I told Khoa to get ready because I feel (and hoped) that this would be the real deal.  So finally after 3.5 hours of tracking, I decided to go.  We got to the hospital around 4am, with Lily, and we got settled in and they tracked me for an hour.  My last appointment with my OB showed that I was 3cm dilated, but when I got to the hospital, the on call doctor said I was only 2cm dilated.  You can’t go backwards but I guess the hospital doctor was more strict with her measurements…who knows.  So by the end of the hour, she said I’m close to 3cm, so because I showed progress and I had consistent contractions, they finally decided that I’m indeed in labor!!  Finally!!

LeoContractionsWe got admitted to our labor and deliver room, and Lily was really sweet and kept popping her head up from the pull out bed that she was laying on with Khoa, and would just look at me with concerning eyes, to make sure that I was ok.  She’s such a sweetheart.  Soon enough, her and Khoa fell asleep, and I eventually went to sleep for a bit too.  The nurses would come in now and then to see if I needed anything and asked if the pain level increased or anything.  The contractions definitely became more frequent, but they didn’t really get more painful, and so it was just a waiting game.  Around 11am, they broke my water and that must be the most unpleasant part of this whole labor experience in my opinion haha.  So after they broke my water, the contractions actually started to slow down!  That was really strange, so they nurse gave me pitocin to increase my contractions, and eventually that worked and the contractions definitely started to get more painful and I finally asked for the epidural around 2pm.  At that point I still measured 3cm, they noticed that Leo’s heart rate would decrease every time I get a contraction, but they said it was a variable decrease in heart rate so they had a feeling that his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck.  So they had to do an anmio transfusion and put some fluids back into me so relax the cord to take pressure off his neck.  How scary does that sound??  The nurses and doctor seemed pretty casual about the whole thing so it must have been a common thing so that helped me not freak out…  They also made me wear an oxygen mask, like with Lily too, to help increase oxygen flow to Leo as well.

By 3:30ish, I felt like I could feel the tightening of my stomach, like as if I can feel the contractions again, so I told the nurse and she gave me another small dosage of the epidural.  However, around 4ish, I felt like I can feel the contractions again but a little stronger this time.  The nurses didn’t want to give me more epidural in case I get too numb and can’t push, but they said that I shouldn’t be feeling the contractions and that it should only be pressure.  However, I know my body and what I was feeling was not just pressure and turns out, it was my body getting ready and to push Leo out!  LeoGoldenHourSo the doctor checked and I was already 9.5cm!  She asked me to give a test push and what do you know, she said it’s time to push for real!  So she called all the staff members that need to be there for when Leo’s here so they can all be ready to examine Leo and get ready for his care.  There were at least 8 doctors and nurses from various departments, so many people all ready to take care of our Leo!  Once everyone arrived, the doctor told me to start pushing when the first contraction came.  So I did and one of the nurses thought maybe Leo will be here on the 2nd contraction but the doctor said “nope, he’s here now!” and I looked at Khoa with an expression on my face like “is that true?” since I can’t see anything down there, and next thing I knew, they were handing me Leo to hold!  My Leo, my rainbow baby, you are finally here in my arms!!

LeoFeetI could not believe how quick that was, it must have been about a minute!  I was in more disbelief that our precious Leo is finally here and that I’m holding him in my arms and I can hear his beautiful cry of life.  Tears of joy started streaming down my face as I cried with my Leo.  My heart was filled with so much joy and happiness.  I’ve been waiting for this day for almost 2 years now and after the crazy roller coaster we’ve been on to end, so that we can start a new adventure that included our Leo, and finally the wait is over.   It was such a blur; I remember people checking him, listening to his heart while I’m holding him and looking into his eyes and ears and then Khoa cutting the cord and then they quickly take him aside for a couple mins for further examination and then they handed him right back to me.  They told me they’ll let me have my golden hour with him and then they will bring him to NICU for further examination, testings, and care.  So for a whole hour, it was in eternal bliss.  I just held my Leo close, skin to skin, and savored each breathe he took, absorbed his warmth, lost myself in his little baby noises, and counted my lucky stars for having this special day.

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ToLilyFromLeoEventually I got moved to my recovery room, which happened to be on the same floor as the NICU, so Leo was only 50 feet away from me across the hall.    Before I did that, I got some presents ahead of time, and surprised Lily with them in our room, and told her that these are presents from her new baby brother Leo!  So she said “from Leo?  Oh thank you!”  She loved it all and started to draw in the notepad and play with the snap bracelet and the minion flash light glow toy too.  I wanted to do this for her so that she can feel special and loved even while all this stuff is happening with Leo, I want this to be a fun event for her so that she doesn’t get jealous of her new brother.  So far I think it’s working!  Once I got settled to my room, I got to visit Leo in NICU.  They had him all nice and cozy in his incubator since his body temperature was a little low.  They told us that he had his first feeding (he drinks a higher calorie formula called 22 Calorie Enfamil) and that he took the bottle all by himself too!  That was a major surprise and amazing news since we were expecting him to have feeding issues and would require a feeding tube since 41/42 babies with tetrasomy 18p had that problem.  I guess our Leo is just such a strong fight that he’s IMG_7070the 1 baby out of 42 that beat the odds!  I was so proud of my son and that was just the icing on the cake for me.  Even though he was in NICU, they provide the homiest environment for the babies, so I was still able to take him out and hold him whenever I want and he definitely looked very happy and comfortable.  On the 2nd night at the hospital, since Leo was doing so well with his feedings, they let him stay in our room.  I was so excited and Lily was super excited as well!  She insisted on helping with his feeding and at one point told me to let go of the bottle because she “got it” haha.

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Of course the last night of our stay, we had a nice celebratory dinner and I kept a bottle of the apple cider to drink when Leo turns 1 years old!  I did this with Lily and it’s cute to see how huge the bottle was when she was born and then how it looks like a normal size bottle to her a whole year later!  I can’t wait to do this for Leo.  It’s silly and small but it’s fun =).  Also, thank you to everyone who sent us flowers, balloons, drinks, snacks, and gifts for Leo and for everyone who took the time to come out and visit me and Leo at the hospital.  The flowers and balloons really helped make my room that much brighter and made me feel really special and loved.  I know Newport Beach is not very convenient for a lot of people, so it means a great deal to us and we are truly touched by all the love and support that we have received.  We also really appreciate all the phone calls and messages as well!  I got discharged the next day, but we found out that since Leo’s feeding on his own started to decrease, he had to go back to NICU and get a feeding tube to help him get the nutrients he needs to grow.  We were disappointed due to the emotional roller coaster we’ve been on throughout this journey, but we only want what is best for him and whatever care he needs, we want him to have it.  However, it was very saddening to be wheeled out of the hospital without my precious Leo in my arms, but I know that he will be in great hands in NICU and he will come home when he’s well and ready.  LeoHospitalFlowers

Leo’s Progress: He had a bunch a tests done, a heart ultrasound, renal ultrasound to measure his kidneys, hearing test, head scan, scrotal ultrasound, and a macro array chromosome test.  Most of the tests came back normal with nothing major to worry about.  The renal ultrasound showed fluid in his kidneys but there are no obstructions and the kidneys function normally so we just need to do a follow up ultrasound in a few weeks.  Normally people don’t do renal ultrasounds on newborns because organs are still developing so you normally wouldn’t see a completely normal renal ultrasound anyways.  Leo failed his hearing test but they feel that it could be due to fluids in his ear, so they taught me how to massage his ear and stroke his face to draw out the fluids from his ears.  He will be retested soon.  We are still waiting for the results for the macro array chromosome test and that usually takes about 2 weeks to get the results back.  All that being said, we are super thrilled that nothing major is found and that our Leo is physically great!  His stomach is still on the small side but other than that, he is exceeding all out expectations and I cannot be more proud of him.

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On day 4, Leo weighed 5lb 1oz, which is borderline to the 10% maximum of normal weight loss.  So whenever Leo doesn’t finish his required amount of milk his feeding, they will gavage (getting the formula to his stomach directly through the tube) the rest of his formula.  The occupational therapist taught us how to massage Leo’s mouth and gums to get him to nipple the bottle better, and to loosen his jaw cause she said it was really tight.  It really helped and for a couple days, he was doing so well and would finish most of his feedings.  He would drink enough cumulatively for that day that he didn’t need to gavage any of his feedings.  He did often get really sleepy halfway through or near the end of the feeding and we would have to burp him or unwrap him to wake him up to finish his feeding.  Each new day/shift, he would get an increase in the minimum amount of milk he would need to take.  When it finally got to a minimum of 45cc per feeding, he suddenly started to slow down on his feeds and not complete them, and they would have to gavage the rest of his feedings.  Before when he had a minimum of 35cc, he would sometimes go above and beyond and finish up to 45cc!  All of a sudden, he can barely finish 25cc out of 45cc, and he’s been throwing up at each feedings for a whole day now. He would be wide awake but he just won’t nipple the bottle.  The nurses and doctors say that his is due to the tetrasomy 18p and that feeding issues was a huge part of this.  I don’t understand why he was doing so well and now he’s not, but they told me that sometimes you have to get worse to get better.  He went from 97% of completing his daily feedings to 77%, to 55% to maybe 10-20%.  Leo has a smaller stomach too, so they feel that the increase in volume is too much for him and so that’s why he throws up.  So for now they’re only going to gavage his feedings, slowly in a span of an hour, to see how he takes it, allowing his stomach to digest the milk and make room for more, so that he doesn’t throw it up.  Then we will work on getting him to nipple again.  It will be a long journey, but I know he can get through it.

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Leo 1 Week Old

It’s very hard to keep it together and to stay strong for my little boy because this whole process has been an emotional roller coaster for all of us, and I feel very overwhelmed at time but these emotions.  Every time I see great progress, I get an immense amount of hope that goes along with it, hoping he will be able to come home soon and explore this great big world together with us.  However, when we start to see set backs, it’s saddening only because I want my little Leo to be okay, and I worry like any other mother would worry, about the well being of my boy.  The last couple days it seems like his feeding abilities have been getting “worse”, but it’s not his fault at all.  I know he is doing the best he can, and he just needs more time to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.  All we can do is wait for him to let us know what he is capable of, and be patient and encouraging along the way.  My little Leo has already beat so many odds to get to where he is now.  If we didn’t know his diagnosis, he would be like any other baby, but with the struggle of feeding, which is not a big deal at all in the grand scheme of things.  After every storm, there is a rainbow of hope, my Leo, my rainbow baby.  Overall he is healthy and I’m able to hold him close, feel the warmth of his body, listen to his cute little voice, and look into his brilliant bright eyes.  Even though things have been rough, just being able to be with my Leo makes me happy. He will have a long journey in NICU, but he will be in the best of care, and I cannot be more grateful to all his nurses and doctors there.  I am eager to have him home, but only when he is ready.  I miss him terribly when we are apart but luckily there’s a live stream camera that allows us to check on him whenever we want, so that helps a lot!
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Here is a super sweet and cute video of Lily being such an amazingly loving big sister to her baby brother Leo!  She impresses me so much with her gentle compassion and it just fills my heart with so much love to see her so nurturing and caring to her baby brother.  I love my babies so much, you both are so amazing!

Stay strong my brave little Leo.  We love you so much and I know you are doing the very best you can!  No matter how long the rain lasts, there will be a rainbow in the end.  No matter how sad you may be, believe, that happiness is waiting.  Leo, you are my rainbow, but you shine brighter that all the colors in the world.  We will eagerly, yet patiently wait for your homecoming!