Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

It is the time of the year again. It is a grest time to reflect on a year coming to an end and another year starting.

In Wu's family, we are very grateful and thankful to our Lord Jesus Christ for everything that He has done and everything that He has given us.

We are also grateful for our families and friends around us who gave us a lot of support throughout the year.

I hope that we can all take time to rest, relax and reflect. Above all, remember what Christmas is all about - Jesus Christ coming to live amongst us in preparation for his death and resurrection so that we can all be saved.

Carol, Stephen and baby Nathan wish everyone a very happy and safe Christmas. All the bests for the New Year to come!

From Baby Nathan 朗研

Photo taken with Nikon D300 with Neutral Picture Control with Saturation +1.

Nathan Celebrated his 1 Month Birthday - With Style

On 11 December 2008, Nathan celebrated his first month birthday. It is a milestone for both mum and baby. Mum completed her 1-month confinement according to Chinese tradition.

At the same time, Nathan's celebration was nothing short of style and tradition too - shaving of his birth hair. It is a family or cultural tradition believing that baby hair will regrow faster and more dense.

Mum was first a little concerned about his bald look. I thought it was going to be fun.

On the day, my hairdresser came to my home (it was very kind of him). We laid down a big towel on the floor and put Nathan on that. He opened his eyes a bit and checked what's happening.

The hairdresser started shaving. Nathan must be feeling quite comfortable as he was falling asleep again. It must be because of the extra cooling that he was getting. He slept all the way to the end of the 30-minute shaving session.

Nathan looks like a little monk!! Haha, very funny. I know, I know... you guys will be asking about the photo... Here it is:

From Baby Nathan 朗研

Photo taken with Nikon D300 with Neutral Picture Control Saturation+1

God's miracle on every one of us!

Today celebrates Nathan's first month milestone. As I reflect on the past month seeing Nathan coming to this world, one of my old thoughts about God re-surfaces - each one of us is a miracle from God.

We understand that a single cell divides into two, then four, then eight.... Different types of cells form different parts of the body. Eventually, a human body is formed - a baby. As time passes, each one of us grows up.

Perhaps, all we understand are just observations rather than what makes this possible.

Do we really understand why this happens? DNA is currently the answer but I still argue that we are still only making observations rather understanding how a single cell can become a human body which seems to have infinte complexity.

As I look at Nathan, I see him making funny faces and noises while he sleeps. He also moves his arms around at times when he sleeps. How's that possible? No one taught him that. How about the fact that Nathan (or any baby) automatically switches from getting supply of oxygen via the umbilical cord to via the lung right at the first breath!!

This is one of the interesting posts that Nathan makes:

From Baby Nathan 朗研

I cannot stop to be amazed by the imprints of God's design in each one of us by simply looking at Nathan.

If you are doubting whether the creator of the world exists, I encourage you to start exploring by just thinking about a miracle that has already happened to you - the design and growth of your very human body!

Photo taken with Nikon D300 (NCP Neutral with Saturation +1) and AF-S 18-200mm VR.

God's Grace

I spoke quite a bit about baby Nathan but not much about the one who gave us this precious child - the creator of life, God.

Carol and I waited for many years for a child. During the waiting journey, God kept reminding Carol (and I) that His promise would come true. While I was not upset, Carol went through quite a bit of agony and medical procedures along the way. Doctors said that it was difficult for Carol to conceive and her obstetrician was surprised that we didn't try IVF at all.

It is our belief that God is the creator of life and He will give a child to us in His time. We keep our faith with God and He never let us down.

God also provided us with an excellent obstetrician. Yes, Carol had to go through a long labouring period of 17 hours and still ended up with cesarean section. God's provision was well ahead of us. The obstetrician did an excellent job and Carol did not feel any pain with the wound after the operation.

All these had happened with divine provision from God but not co-incident or luck. If anyone of you reading this is still in doubt of God, I invite to give a chance to yourself to explore more about God.

Here is a photo of Nathan sleeping. His hands move around quite a bit during his sleep. In this incident, he shows that he has inherited some of his mum's sleeping habit of covering part of his face while sleeping.

From Baby Nathan 朗研

Photo taken with Nikon D300 with Neutral Picture Control with +1 saturation.

Does size matter?

He was born with a weight of 3.37kg or 7lb 7oz, length of 51cm and head circumference of 35 cm. He lost about 0.24kg in his first week which was quite normal.

After 2 weeks, he is already at 3.44kg, length of 53.5 cm and head circumference of 37 cm. He is growing steadily. Those newborn-sized clothes are getting a little tight now.

He is sleeping most of the day and night just like most babies. This is surely making a life a little easier for mum and dad. He can usually have 4-5 hours in between feed during the night.

Some vital statistics apart from his physical measurements:

• Finished a box of 108 newborn nappy in 10 days
• Finished a tin of S26 Gold formula in 10 days in addition to mum's breast milk
• Longest stretch of sleep is 5 hours
• Longest stretch of exercise on a play gym is 5 minutes

Here is Nathan showing off his new mitten.

From Baby Nathan 朗研

What is in the name (Part 2)?

What does Nathan's Chinese name -  "朗研" mean? 

Nathan's Chinese name is formed by two characters "朗" and "研". Carol picked the "朗" character while I picked the "研" character. Both Christian and Chinese names were picked when he was enjoyed his 6th month in mother's womb.

How are these characters pronounced?

• 朗 - "Long" in Cantonese, "Lang" in Putonghua (Mandarin)
  
• 研 - "Yin" in Cantonese, "Yan" in Putonghua (Mandarin)
  

What do these characters mean?

• 朗 - Bright and happy
  
• 研 - To study and research
  

It is our hope that Nathan will be happy througout his life. He will also have a spirit of "study and research" to look beyond the surface of any subject matters. We both think that these are critical characters for Nathan to have great sense of purposes for his life.

Combining Christian and Chinese names, our hopes rest in God that Nathan will have faith in God, be happy in God, bring out the truth to this world and understand the true need of people in this world beyond the surface.

Okay... photo time... many of you have asked for a photo of Nathan with his eyes open. Here is one of my favourite shot of Nathan... Looking very charming...

From Baby Nathan 朗研

Photo taken with Nikon D300.

What is in the name (Part 1)?

So, why the name "Nathan"? Carol and I picked the name for a couple of very important reasons. 

Nathan is a Hebrew name meaning "Given" - "Given by God". Baby Nathan is truly given to us by God. Carol and I waited for a baby for a long while. We never gave up on our hope in God. We learned to be patient and eventually God's promise came true. When both of us saw Nathan in the operating theatre, we were overwhelmed with joy!

The second reason rests in our hopes for baby Nathan's character and personality. Nathan's Chinese name is also embbeded with our hopes too (which I will talk about in a future post). 

In the Second book of Samuel Chapter 12 of the Holy Bible, God sent Prophet Nathan to speak to King David about the King's commiting adultery and even set up to have the woman's husband killed.

It is Carol and my hope that baby Nathan will grow up and be able to:

• Have total faith in God
• Stand up for the truth
• Be brave to tell the truth

Enough for that at the moment. Let me share with you a very interesting photo that I took the other day. Nathan was having a big yawn... probably ran out of patient with dad adjusting the camera...

From Baby Nathan 朗研

Photo taken with Nikon D300.

My First Post

I was meant to get going with this blog a while back but never got over my laziness. Now that my first child was born last week, I guess that I don't have an excuse any more.

It is a joy to see baby Nathan coming to this world. He is a perfect model - he is not scared of flash, he stops and posts for daddy...

A shot that I really like so far:

From Baby Nathan 朗研

This one was taken in hospital while Nathan was 2 days young. He looks like he is having a sweet dream. He also has some interesting facial expression like this:

From Baby Nathan 朗研

When Nathan was 1 day young, our local newspaper photographer came to take photos and you know what??? Baby Nathan appears in our local community newspaper on 19th November 2008:

From Baby Nathan 朗研

That's it for this post. In my next post, I will talk about the meaning of baby's Christian and Chinese names. Stay tunned...

Photos taken using Nikon D300.