Raising Two Chen Girls

First Violin Lesson

Tina — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 03:57:00 +0000

I had hoped to start her with piano. It would have been easier in terms of schedules and my comfort with the instrument. But little girl refused with all her might.

So tonight she started with her first violin lesson. The violin is auntie Betty’s first, size 1/16. It’s tiny, and it is just the right size for the tiny girl. She was brave and attentive during the lesson, and I was proud of her.

Maddy’s 7 year old checkup

Tina — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:03:08 +0000

Height: 47 1/4 (25-50%)
Weight: 53 (50-75%)
BM 1-17 (75-85%)

Blood pressure 96/63

Eye sight (20/30)… have to keep an eye on eye sight since both mom and dad have bad eyes.

Ears: perfect hearing.

Chang Reunion for Ah-goon

Tina — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 01:53:57 +0000

This post is way overdue…

We had a family reunion at Virgina Beach for a week to celebrate ah-goon turning 75 early this year. Lots of pictures for our good memory:

http://www.cheninfo.com/photos/v/Years/2010+Photos/Sept+2010+Photos/Virginia+Beach/

San Diego 2010

Tina — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:44:41 +0000

A dear friend from college got married in San Diego, and the Chen gang went for a short weekend trip to meet up with most of mommy’s good friends from college. It was wonderful seeing Kevin, Matt, Viv (and her family), but sad that we didn’t get to meet up with Karen who couldn’t make it last minute because her baby got sick.

Interesting trip though.. We got bed bugs at Handlery Hotel and Resort San Diego the first night. Maddy woke up 5am CA time annoucing that “There are bugs around Meimei”. Poor hubby is suffering from countless and puffy bed bug bites a few days later. Maddy on the other hand got a stomach bug somewhere.. vomitted all over the nice clean hotel, and then the rental car.

The Chen’s also missed our flight (really not a news for us), but were able to re-book and came back a few hours later. Other than that, it was a lovely trip

Happy 7th Birthday Madison

Tina — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:45:10 +0000

Happy Birthday my love!! The girl’s transformation during her life time:

Last Year in Preschool

Tina — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:45:08 +0000

Today baby girl started in K3, the oldest classroom in her preschool.
It still seems like yesterday that I was pregnant with her and how she decided to come out when I was in 32 weeks. This tiny tiny baby with a huge personality is now over 4 years old!

Little Fish

Tina — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 03:40:52 +0000

The big girl is a dry duck. It took her two summer worth of pool days for her to let go of our necks in the water. Even though she knows how to swim now, she is never that comfortable in the water. In many ways, I am glad that she is as cautious as she is.

Baby girl is completely opposite. Olivia is fearless and she is all about just pushing people away and dive into the water all by herself. I don’t know what possess me to let her go into the water without her floatie yesterday. She was beaming with glee like she has found her new freedom.

The delight in her eyes concerned me a great deal and I asked Joe to teach her how to swim as if it is his highest priority in parenting. Guess what I found after coming back from Maddy’s piano lesson:

Olivia Swims!

Pool fun

Tina — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 02:59:03 +0000

Ahgoon came to swim with us on Sat. Maddy was really looking forward to it because I joked about having them complete in swimming.

It’s these captured moments that I am so very grateful that God has blessed us to have ahgoon/ah-ma so close by:

Filthy but cute

Tina — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:03:42 +0000

We’re enjoying the nice spring weather here. The girls schooled, ate dinner, scooted around, chalked drawing in the driveway. They are covered in dusts but as cute as they can be.

Visiting the Curry’s

Tina — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:02:53 +0000

We finally made the trip to MD and visited our new cousin Levi. He is a cutie with two big beautiful eyes in blue tints. Big eyes don’t go with Chinese not to mention colors other than brown. As expected, my sister Betty handles motherhood with grace and calm.
Levi is a typical healthy baby. He sleeps, drinks, and pees/poops in the baby 3-hr cycles. The little boy has an obsession with ceiling light and he gets so mad if he can’t see the light. Their two doggies Tanner and Peanut are sweet to the baby. The girls have much more interests with the dogs than Levi. Poor Peanut is traumatized by Livy because all she wanted to do is following her and brush her like a baby doll.
We had a wonderful time with the Curry’s and were sad that the weekend ended rather quickly. I do have to admit that while Levi is as cute as a baby can get, I am glad that I’ve passed that stage of life. All power to you, Auntie Betty!!