Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends and Family,

2009 has been a roller coaster ride for our family. We celebrated the new year by welcoming Logan home from the hospital, and the company of Virginia's parents. We also celebrated Aidan's 3^rd birthday in January. We enjoyed and treasured the family time we had, until things started to go downhill.

Logan has gotten very sick and left us in April. That was the lowest point of our lives. But instead of focusing on the negative, we have learned to think of the great things that Logan has brought us. He brought our family closer and friends together (those that we haven't had contact in the last 10 years!). He showed us how lucky we are to be surrounded by caring people. We had friends and family offering advice, prayers, food, gifts, and most importantly, emotional support. We are truly blessed. This is what we are going to remember Logan by.

In May, Hank stayed back in California to hold down the fort, while Virginia and Aidan went to Macau for a vacation. It was a much needed vacation and we were showered with love from family and friends we haven't seen in a long time. Aidan was totally spoiled by everyone! Grandparents, uncles and aunties, and little cousins all wanted a piece of him, and showered him with love, gifts and good food. No wonder he was so chubby then! Virginia also got to hang out with her old friends, to catch up, and to chat about life as parents. Most importantly, we were glad to be back when Virginia's mother had surgery, and Aidan was there to lift up her spirits.

Virginia finally went back to work in July, after an 8-month leave of absence. Life is somewhat back to normal, and work has been keeping us busy. Hank survived a round of lay-offs at Yahoo. We're lucky to still have jobs, while seeing many got laid-off.

We've seen Aidan grown up a lot since we got back from our Asia trip. There had been concerns at school about him not listening in class, short attention span and not sitting still. But for some reason, he seemed to have matured within our one-month vacation. He is able to express himself better in words, will sit down during storytime at school, and can hold a conversation. Of course, he is also very good at selective listening (translation: not listening to what we wanted him to do but continued doing what he wantsed to do). He has shown a little more interests in painting/drawing, but his obsession with numbers, cell phones, cameras and laptops has just gotten stronger.

In mid-November, we moved into our new townhome in Sunnyvale! Everyone was excited and nervous about this new change. Aidan was happy to have more room for him to run around, and stairs to climb up and down. He has his own room, yet he still comes over to our bed every morning and sleeps horizontally on top of us!

It's December now, and our new home is 80% furnished. We're glad to end this year on a positive note. In less than a month, Aidan will be turning 4! Time sure does fly!

Lastly, we want to wish you all a very Happy and Healthy 2010! Please stay in touch!

Love,

Aidan, Hank and Virginia

Welcome to Heaven, Monica!

Dear Logan,

Mommy received sad news today from work that my co-worker's sister, Monica, passed away last Saturday. Monica is the sister of Auntie Shelley, who I work with somewhat closely the past several years. Monica has Down Syndrome, and cancer took over her, and caused her a lot of pain. She spent the last days of her life in a hospice, but surrounded by her beloved family. I actually don't know Monica very well. I believe I probably only met her once or twice when she came to visit The Arc, and came to our client holiday parties. Even though she's not a client of The Arc, many of our clients know her, and were saddened by the news.

I remember talking to Auntie Shelley last Wednesday during the client holiday party that she's not sure when Monica would leave. My other co-worker, Auntie Kerry, and I were suggesting Auntie Shelley to take last Thursday and Friday off, not worry about work, but to spend more time with Monica. Auntie Shelley planned to work last week and possibly this week, but would spend time with Monica in the evening. We suggested her to just take the days off, and spend the time with Monica, plus her other sisters who were coming from out-of-town. I'm glad she really did take time off. Everyone at work was super supportive of each other, esp. during times like this. I know first hand what a great agency I am working for. I also told Auntie Shelley that even though one could be mentally prepared for what may come, when the time really comes, the pain is still there. I might not know exactly how Auntie Shelley feels, but I could guess. I believe she's relieved that Monica won't be suffering anymore. But on the other hand, she will miss her dearly.

So Logan, if you see Monica in heaven, keep her company and welcome her with open arms. Pray that her family stay strong during this difficult time, but know that love and support are just a phone call/e-mail/text message away.


Miss you,
Mommy

Holiday Cards...

Hi Logan,

This year, we finally did the cheesy thing. We sent out holiday cards with our picture on it. Yes, we did the unspeakable!

Ever since the birth of your brother, I've been wanting to do that. But I never did, thinking it was a little too cheesy to do that. Then last year, I finally wanted to do it, especially, since we have added you to our family. But then, I said, I'll wait for another year, because we didn't know when you would be out of the NICU. And by the time you were discharged, you still had your feeding tube and nasal cannula, so I canceled the thought again. I said to myself, I could do it next year when we could have a nice family picture. Year after year, I wanted to do it, but I didn't.

This year, after a minor internal struggle, I decided to finally take a family picture in front of our Christmas tree, and take that family picture. I felt guilty for doing it, because you weren't here. But then, I couldn't feel guilty every year, and kept on not doing things and not moving on, right?

Even though you're not in the picture, you're definitely in our hearts. Your spirit continues to live among us, and also in the special ornament that I purchased for you last year.


Miss you,
Mommy

Daddy's Birthday Recap

Hello Logan,

I'm sorry we didn't get to go visit you last weekend. It's been raining like crazy last week and I'm glad to finally see some sunshine this week. We'll definitely come see you this weekend.

Let me tell you how we celebrated Daddy's birthday last Sunday. We didn't do anything exciting, but I think it could be one of daddy's most memorable birthdays (at least I hope it was).

During the day, we met up with Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle John and Auntie Katie for the annual noodle meal to celebrate Daddy's birthday at his favorite Taiwanese restaurant. This is a family tradition that everyone in the family gotta have noodles for birthday. You know, long noodles symbolizes long life. So it's pretty important! I know if we didn't go out for noodles, Daddy would probably have noodles at Grandma's house. What made this meal so especially special, was that it was the first big family meal we had. You wouldn't know how significant this meal meant to Daddy, and especially to Mommy. We had waited for 4 years for this meal to happen. And you know, I think we were able to all sit down and enjoy a family meal because of you.

After lunch, we went home to enjoy some birthday cake. Uncle John and Auntie Katie went to a fancy bakery in Saratoga to get Daddy a delicious Mango Mousse birthday cake. Before we enjoyed the cake, we also looked through their wedding pictures taken in Taiwan. Such beautiful pictures, and Uncle John and Auntie Katie looked so happy together. Now we're officially a family!

At night, Mommy planned a surprise birthday dinner for Daddy. He thought I was just not telling him where we were going for dinner, but didn't know there's more to it. Mommy actually invited his close friends to this Afghan restaurant called Kabul, which is close to where we live. Definitely a surprise! We've never had Afghan food, and Daddy totally didn't expect it. He was honestly surprised to see all his friends sitting there shouting out "SURPRISE" when we walked in. What's better than good food and good company? A few of the friends came over to our new house to hang out after dinner, just chilled and talked.

Like I said, nothing exciting happened, but definitely a meaningful and memorable birthday. I hope Daddy had as great a time as I did.


Love you,
Mommy

Quick update

Hi Logan,

Sorry Mommy hasn't been writing to you lately. Life has been busy. The move, of course, is all done. But the packing and unpacking are not. Each evening after work, I'm so tired already that I just want to veg in front of the tv, and not unpack anything. Most of the rooms are unpacked, except for my office/guest room, which also serves as a storage room for now. However, we need to clear stuff for Friday. We have finally purchased a sofa and loveseat set, and a bunk bed. They are both going to be delivered this Friday, and we have to prepare for them to arrive. I just moved some of the boxes in my office to the bathroom. Guess where I stack them? In the bathtub! Perfect place to stack up all the boxes, since we don't use this bathroom often.

I hope there's still enough room for me after the bunk bed is installed. The bunk bed is mainly for Ah Gung and Ah Po when they come to visit. This will be their room. When Auntie Mena or Uncle Carlos comes, they can sleep there as well. Other times, it will be my office, which I don't really come in as much.

Daddy's birthday is this Sunday. We'll probably be having lunch with Grandma and Grandpa, plus Uncle John and Auntie Katie. Then at night, we'll celebrate ourselves. We'll probably stop by and come visit you as well.

This week has been very cold. Can you believe it actually hit the 20s and 30s at night? Luckily, we are in the new house with heat and double-paned windows. It's actually not too cold when all the windows are closed, even without the heat on. But we still have the heat on, esp. for your brother since he still comes over to our bed every night and sleeps on top of the blanket. We don't want him to be cold.

Just a quick update for now. Once we get the couch and bunk bed, I'll take some pictures for you to see.

Take care now.


Love,
Mommy