Archived News

2004

December

Trying very hard to gain some mobility, Madeline started scooting forward and crawling backward. As the result, childproofing the house would soon be the top priority on James and Phyllis' to-do list.

November

"Look at me standing on Elliot's hand!" said Madeline. While attending our dear little friend, Ryan Chang's, 2-year old birthday party, Madeline showed off some skills that nobody was aware of before.
James started attending more cooking classes at The Institute of Culinary Education. For those of you who wanted to try the new dishes, please let us know and we would love to have you as guinea pigs.
Madeline started having solid food this month. So far she had tried rice cereal, oatmeal cereal (which we found out she was allergic to...), sweet potato, avocado, and banana. To her, meal time was just another kind of play time; the spoon and bowl looked more interesting to her than the food itself.

October

This Halloween, the Shaw-Lin residence had the cutest pumpkin in the house.
Madeline managed to turn on her bed-side mobile on 10/29/2004, probably by accident. She was entertained and we were amazed.
Together with the neighbor and family friends, Phyllis and James hosted their first (and most likely last) yard sale. People started ringing the door bell at 8:30 AM despite the yard sale sign which said 10 AM to 5:30 PM. Some people bargained to death no matter how low the price was. Overall it was an interesting learning experience if one did not expect to make $$$ from such an event.

September

Madeline rolled over by herself for the first time on 9/19/2004.
Phyllis' ikebana (flower arrangement) group had an autumn enchantment exhibition in Tenafly Library. Click here to see Phyllis' arrangement.
Not only is Madeline sleeping in her crib, she had managed to learn to fall asleep on her own at night. This is a highly prized skill since it frees Phyllis and James from hours of weight lifting and endless rocking.
After several days of struggle, James passed a kidney stone -- a tiny tiny one which still gave him enough pain to go to Emergency Room at 1 AM. Now he has to drink lots of water to prevent it from happening again. Odd enough, because of this stone, James actually experienced the same symptom of pregnancy and birth-giving.
Madeline was greeted by the ocean for the first time at Woods Hole, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. During the trip, she also had her Taiwanese 4-month "Saliva Retraction" ceremony which was meant to bless her growing up with good health.

August

Madeline slept in her crib in her room now! For the first 3 months of her life, Madeline shared the bed with Phyllis while James immigrated to the guest room. In early August, the transfer from Mommy's bed to crib began. Madeline demonstrated some protest for a few days but quickly adjusted. Yeah!!!

July

James was in U.K. for a week to attend INLG 2004 while Phyllis experienced the life of a single parent. Phyllis and Madeline were both exhausted by the time James got home. James was disappointed by the food quality in London. Therefore all were happy when the week ended.

June

Time passed by very quickly when all one had to do was nursing, burping, and diaper changing around the clock. Madeline had her first official social outing on June 5th when she was taken to a local pizza place to dine with some family friends. She slept most of the time so that Mommy and Daddy could have lunch in peace. Everyone was impressed by how good a baby Madeline was.

May

The day of delivery:

2:30 AM		Phyllis' water broke and was told to go to the hospital.
10:30 AM		Doctor declared what Phyllis had was premature membrane rupture, meaning water broke before labor started.
11 AM		Began using Pitocin to induce labor.
9:34 PM		After hours of laboring without Epidural and one hour of pushing, Madeline (formerly known as Sharka) was born.

April

Sharka progress report on 4/28/04 = 1 finger tip/75%/-1 (dilation/effacement/station). The translation to non-pregnancy term = Sharka could be here any minute now. Exactly when? Only Sharka knows...
On 4/20/2004, less than 3 weeks till Sharka's due date, we went for a checkup. So far so good and Sharka is estimated to be 6 pounds now. For those of you who are familiar with the pregnancy terms - Phyllis' effacement had begun ("it is very thin now" quoted the doctor) though no dilation yet.

March

To prepare for Sharka's arrival, Phyllis and James have started the childbirth classes. The classes are pretty fun, except the part when we have to watch the tapes of other people's delivery.
Just when we thought all the snowing is over, we got hit by a snow storm 4 days before spring!!!

February

Sharka is growing and getting strong inside Phyllis. We not only feel the movements, we can see them, too!

January

We are having the coldest winter here in 111 years!!! New snow falls before the old snow melts. Snow shoveling and ice breaking become almost the daily exercise for James who is praying for an end of such torture...