15 days old -- Proud owner of US Passport!

Joshua is now the proud owner of a U.S. passport at age 15 days!  Thank God for the speed of this processing!  Jenn thought that yesterday was Joshua's 2 week doctor appointment so we hauled the whole family down to the doctor's office only to find out she had the wrong date.  Fortunately, the trip was not wasted.  We took a jaunt across the street to the Botanic Gardens for a few pictures, and then learned Josh's passport was ready for pick-up at the U.S. embassy next door.  For about half a day we entertained ideas of going home early, but then we found out the next document won't be complete until February 8th.  So we are sticking with the original plan of heading home on February 11th. 

A passport for Joshua

Our newest family photo!

Mommy with her boys!

15 days wit Bethany Joy

 Thoughts of Bethany

I didn't remember right away on the morning of Joshua's 15th day.  Dave reminded me.  We had 15 sweet and painful days with Bethany before she went to Jesus.  I haven't been able to help remembering some of the events of those 15 days and contrast them with the last 15 days we've had with our very healthy boy.  Now our hearts and our hours are full of joy and gratitude for Jonathan and Joshua ....except for that one missing piece that is Bethany ....the piece that will be found again when we are reunited in heaven someday.  On the days when Jonathan is driving me crazy and Joshua is struggling with gas bubbles in his tummy, it's nice to know I have one child who is perfect in heaven!   Bethany's website is still up. 

Singing to Joshua

Looks like I finally am able to upload this video!  Josh was 3 days old at the time!  Hope it gives you a chuckle!

Side by Side

I couldn't resist ....
Jonathan on the left at 2 days old.  Joshua on the right at 8 days old. 

The boys together -- sort of

I'm wanting so badly to get some pictures of the boys together!  Today we tried it with Daddy helping.  Jonathan wouldn't sit still, so we resorted to pulling out some new library books that Sister Gene brought home last night.  This is a lovely photo....too bad the top of Dave's head got cut off! 

 

Such a cool book about diggers and earth movers!  Jonathan's attention was quite captured by the pictures, and Joshua was just happy as a clam to be included.  

I suppose we always wonder what other people think of us.  Lately I've been thinking that YOU'VE been thinking...."That poor kid Jonathan needs a haircut!"  It's true.  He just refused the last couple of times, and then it just got so cute I couldn't bear to cut it.  But today was the day -- the perfect combination of willingness on Jonathan's part and pity on my part (his head must be so hot!).  It's not professional, you know, just a running over the head as fast as possible with the clippers.  Here's the post haircut proof picture!  Feels like I have a different kid!

Our first week with Joshua

So amazing to think that exactly a week ago, we were in the delivery room!

We've had happy moments, wow moments, "ah-hah" moments, and quite a lot of confused and grumpy ones too.  After seeing the "first family photo" on our e-newsletter this week, one friend wrote and said Jonathan looked rather confused.  Poor guy, he really is.  I still don't have a photo of the boys together -- Jonathan doesn't really sit still for long enough and hasn't learned how to be gentle.  I've tried to hold the camera in one hand while protecting Joshua with the other ....all is blurs.

One big plus of this week is Jonathan has been spending a ton of time with his Daddy.  They go to the playground each morning for over an hour.  They went to church all on their own yesterday ....walked to the bus-stop without a stroller!  We've discovered the community pool is only a 19 minute walk away, so Dave is excited about taking Jonathan there as often as he can.  Only $2 (SGD) for both of them to swim, and 4 pools to choose from!   Jonathan has needed a lot of limit-enforcement this week, and I'm so thankful Dave is here to help.   He is a great daddy and a wonderful and patient husband!

Joshua is as sweet as can be, in his first few weeks of newborn perfection before colic and other stuff set in.  One thing we learned with Jonathan is overstimulation = not a good thing.   So Joshua is already going to bed when Jonathan does, and our evenings have thus far been quite peaceful. 

A few pics from our week: 

This little bamboo chair (which I refused to sit in while pregnant) is the perfect baby lounger!  It only weighs about 2 pounds and can be moved anywhere in the home! 

This photo is to answer that question "What color are his hair and eyes?"  His hair is darker than Jonathan's was, I think and his eyes are kind of a muddy hazel (not newborn baby blue.)  My hunch is that Joshua might be our brown haired, brown eyed boy.  We'll know for sure in about a year. 

Just throwing this one in because it's cute!

Gotta show off the whole package, especially those cute toes!

"Show me your teeth" did not produce a smile this time.  Here is Jonathan yesterday carefully arranging his cars for a photo.

First Pictures: Joshua Jason

Introducing Joshua Jason Patrow!  3.225 kg (7lbs 2 oz) 50 cm (19.7 inches) long. Born at Gleneagles hospital, Singapore, January 10, 2012 at 1138 am!

We like him quite a lot!

As always God provided perfectly in all ways.  This labor was a little different than with our other babies, but it was exactly what it needed to be!  We had a good night's sleep and started our breakfast routine at 6:30 am.  At 7 am I was noticing some increasing regularity and strength to my braxton-hicks and thought maybe it was the real thing.  We made it to the hospital by 9 am.  I had to have an hour long antibiotic infusion prior to delivery.   By laying very still on my left side in bed and by prayer and worship music was able to delay progression until that was all taken care of.  Finally, Dave helped me up and with a bit of walking, swaying and then a bit of moaning and screaming, I dilated from 5 cm to 10 cm in the space of about 10 minutes!  Shortly thereafter, Joshua was born, safe and sound!

Our first family photo!  Jonathan was cared for by our friend Jojo, who went above and beyond the call of duty.   Jojo, thank you.  Jonathan's first meeting with his brother consisted on a quick climb up on the bed, a brief glance, and the words "baby brother."  Then he was completely distracted by the buttons on the hospital bed, the remotes, the cameras and gadgets on the bedside table, eating a banana and then exploring the entire room!  In this photo, he looks a little spaced.  That's because we were finally able to get him to sit still by turning on some cartoons! 

Yesterday was the day after Joshua's birth, and here is Dave holding the actual Singaporean birth certificate in his hands.  We had heard it was possible, but thought it was too good to be true.  By comparison, in Oklahoma there is a 30 day wait for a birth certificate with no option to expedite.  All that was required was $40 and a 2 hour wait.  We also were able to get Josh's passport photos taken in the hospital the morning after his birth.  After discharge this morning, we took a short taxi ride across the street to the US Embassy where we applied for the special consular letter of birth abroad AND the passport, which the lady told us will be here in 1-2 weeks!  That's faster than you can get a passport in the US!  After that, the last step is the visa.  We have airline tickets to leave Singapore on February 11, and so far things are looking good! 

We praise and thank God for his faithfulness and provision!  It's been difficult to be separated from family at this time, as you can imagine.  We miss you, grandmas and grandpas!  Yet we are amazed at how God is giving us the help we need.  We are especially thankful who has helped with Jonathan these last 3 days....amazing!  I am also grateful for the 2 night (standard) stay in the hospital where Josh and I could rest and heal and get to know each other a bit without distraction.  It was needed!

Well, we are caring for a 2 year old and a newborn now!  Until the next update!

Announcing our new arrival! Joshua Jason Patrow!

We're so grateful and thrilled to announce God's newest blessing in our family, Joshua Jason, arrived at 11:38 am, January 10, 2012, Singapore time. 

It was about a 4 1/2 hour labor and delivery with no complications.  Mom and baby are resting fine!  We hope to have pictures and more details up tomorrow!

A brave adventure at the Singapore zoo!

Well, since Dr. Irene said she thought baby will be "a while" in coming, we decided to give up sitting around waiting for nothing to happen and make a big adventure to the Singapore Zoo!

Folks, I have to tell you, the Singapore zoo is AMAZING!  It's big and their animals are lively and many are free ranging ....meaning they are not behind fences or nets or glass walls.  At our big zoo in Oregon, I remember the poor elephants.  Of the half dozen times I visited, I never saw any of them out in their yard.  They were always in their covered area, standing on a sad concrete floor looking....blank.  Here the elephants are kept very busy working.  They have baths and do shows and work and give rides and get yummy snacks several times a day, and it seems like they love it.

Our first stop was the Sea Lion "Splash show."  I gave Dave a bad time for being so excited about getting to see a Pacific Northwest sea lion.  We got there good and early for our front seats.  While waiting for the show to start, Jonathan played in the water splashing out of the tank and  made a new friend, Scarlett, who is from England.  (You can just barely see her behind Jonathan in the picture.)  They both were soaking wet within 2 minutes and had a great time squealing and splashing and copying each other.  As for our front seats, we quickly vacated them after the first big splash from the sea lion.

So here are Jonathan and Dave watching the elephant show, which was our second stop.  This morning I asked Jonathan what he saw at the zoo, and after a while he answered "elephant draw picture!"  This is what he remembered the most of the whole day.... Before the show, one elephant was out in the yard "finger painting" with her trunk.   Artistic expression for elephants!

An example of elephant art I pulled off of the web

More of the elephant show ....two elephants working as a team!

While we were waiting around, Jonathan quickly found a "digger" in the gift shop.  "Drive digger, drive digger, drive digger!"

Soon little Phillip came along and since there were 2 steering wheels Jonathan was happy to share his digger.  Dave visited with the little Russian boy's parents, Igor and Olga.  Having kids is such a wonderful way to meet people, and I wished that Jonathan could have more playtime with both Scarlett and Philip.  I also wished that we could hang out with their parents more!

We made it in time to the giraffe feeding.  When asked, Jonathan said he did want to feed the giraffe, but he got a little worried when that big blue tongue came reaching out at eye level! 

Here, he's a little braver!  This morning, he also recalled giving the giraffe a "snack" and was excited to see the pictures. 

Here are Dave and Jonathan at the white rhino exibit.  There were 5 rhinos.  I just couldn't get them in the same picture.  They were kind of dirty and ugly.

So, it was a very fun day, and I walked the whole day all around the zoo and did not go into labor, despite some moments of discomfort.  Jonathan did NOT fall alseep in his stroller as we had planned.  We left the zoo at about 5 pm and decided to try coming home on public transport -- bus-subway-bus.  (In the morning, we traveled by taxi for $28 SGD = 20 minutes.  Cost by public transport is about $4 = 2 hours.)  Jonathan did fall asleep at the train station and all was fine until he woke up in an extremely crowded subway car about 30 minutes later.  It was the worst meltdown EVER ....almost wiped out all of our happy memories of the day.  Fortunately, we have pictures of the happy day at the zoo and none of the meltdown so I think I know what we will remember in the end.   We're very thankful to have had one last family outing, just the three of us, before baby brother's arrival! 

Pregnancy update 38 weeks: short and sweet

Okay, it's not sweet, in the sense that I won't be eating any sweets this week.  My weight is up a kilo (2.2 lbs and baby's is up a bit, to 3.4 kg from 3.2 kg.)  Dr. Irene is not concerned about my weight, and happy that baby is growing....she just doesn't want him to grow too much.  She said "tighten up" a bit on my diet.  Big sigh.

So, in other baby news, he's slowly coming down but not "engaged" and she thinks he will still be "a while" in coming and my "biggest baby."

As of today, Saturday, I am officially more pregnant than I have ever been!  

Learning to smile for the camera....finally?

  I think I may have finally figured out how to get Jonathan to smile for the camera.  He usually freezes when I pull it out.  He has a toy camera here and will often instruct us to smile ("mile!  mile!") before pretend-takng the picture, but I just don't think he knows what it means!  In most of his pictures, he is so solemn looking ....either that or he is just a blur because he's rushing to the camera to try to see the digital image on the back.  So today at the playground I tried "Show me your teeth, Jonathan!" and here are the results! 

 Okay, it's not his "real" smile, but I'm hoping it's a start in the learning process!

Lost his shoes, took a spill, and coming over to mommy for a hug.  Too big shirt and too short pants..... they're called play clothes!

Jonathan is loving my new thrift shop find -- his pop-up Wiggles playhouse.  It's a bit worse for the wear and ripped in 3 places, but he will disappear inside it for long periods of time (okay,  maybe only 10 minutes) and play with his toys.  At night he puts some of his cars and trucks "to bed" in there before climbing in his own bed.