06.30.04
Posted in Maddy at 11:04 pm by tina
We signed the contract with the new buyers today. With God’s blessing, we will close shortly before leaving CA.
On the other hand, the original buyers refused to sign the release of contract form and are still trying to get their loan. It is WAY after the expiration date of our multiple extensions to them. Part of me felt bad for them, the other part is quite annoyed at the fact that they are still trying to drag things out. They seem like nice people and they really like our place, but hey…. this is strictly business. Don’t be buying things above your ability and don’t be signing contract and refuse to live up to your ends. Besides, if they had asked ‘nicely’, I would even consider returning the deposit back to them.
All in all, I’m glad the ‘open house’ phase is over.. again. We will celebrate when the money is in our bank.
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Posted in Maddy at 8:29 am by tina
I went to the daycare a little late during lunch time yesterday and saw that Maddy already sat in the toddler’s table and ready to eat her lunch.
I wanted to run in fast and make her say grace before she eats. But to my surprise, Mrs. Rocio made her pray before she started. I was overwhelmed with gratefulness at that moment.
In this area where self-sufficiency is above all… in this high-tech and high quality but totally a secular daycare, God placed Mrs Rocio to be Maddy’s primary caretaker. How she goes out of her duty and cares for Maddy’s spiritual growth without my asking.
Thank you so much, Mrs. Rocio.
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06.28.04
Posted in Parenting at 8:22 am by tina
Ever since Maddy learns to pull herself up, she literally doesn’t not stop from being a worm, wiggles herself here and there. With the pride given to her parents, there is also headaches goes along.
She learns to get out of the ‘burrito’ position after we put her down to sleep and stands up in her crib and enjoys her new found freedom, then she cried wanting to get out.
So we go in every 5 minutes. Put her down and leave the room, again and again this past weekend. It gets old real quick. I gave in after a while and rocked the ‘now-very-tired’ girl to sleep while thinking “I don’t remember either BabyWise or Baby Whisperer ever mention that we have to go through sleep training multiple times”
Joe and I help out in church nursery yesterday. A new baby came with his nanny. She held him for the entire hour while he napped because she said that he’s going to wake up if she puts him down.
Then I remember why we (and other parents who believe in sleep training) go through this process. It’s either we endure through a couple of dreadful days (or weeks in Maddy’s case), or we can choose to do the extra and unnecessary work for the next year (or two… or more).
So here we go with sleep training again with her crying now louder, longer, and more stubborn. God help me look forward to the long term benefits.
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06.25.04
Posted in Maddy at 8:26 am by tina
Our buyer’s loan fell through. Although they asked us a favor and we extended our ‘verbal’ extension to next Monday, we are re-listing our condo this weekend again.
In all retro respect, it’s actually not that bad of a deal. I checked the housing market, and amazingly the similar condos are selling more now than just one month ago. That’s the crazy CA housing market for us, which I am glad to part soon. In addition, we will receive the deposit they put down: it’ll be at least one more additional option for our new house in NC.
The only hassle is that we will have to keep our condo sparkly clean for awhile again.
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06.24.04
Posted in Maddy at 9:10 am by tina
Praise God!
Maddy got into our first choice daycare Primrose at the Park 1 mile away from Cisco Campus in RTP staring Augest 1st!!
We found out yesterday (from Joe’s RTP co-workers) that 90% of the kids there have Cisco parents and it is practically like a Cisco daycare. We were so prepared to find the second choice school and wait for another 5 months, but God is so great to us.
Joe said we should go home and do the ‘Chen’ dance with Maddy tonight 
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Posted in Maddy at 8:07 am by tina
A few people from daddy’s new group in Research Triangle Park came here this week to meet up with the folks in San Jose. They visited Sanana Rows and loved there. There is no such things as a ‘outdoor’ shopping centers and outdoor eating back East. You can’t have those without the CA weather.
My ex-coworker Sam, who just moved to RTP this week, IMed me and said that it is POURING out there, and it’ll be like that all week. Yep, I remember the so-called ‘Four-Season’ weather… raining in the spring, hot in the summer, very very pretty and nice in the fall, and cold in the winter.
We have been purposely making our way outside on top of our regular walks to the park to get all the good weather in our systems. Brownie and Maddy will be in a big shock when they first hear the thunderstorms there. It’s not something I look forward to, but we’ll adjust. Maybe we’ll venture out in the rain and play outside like they do in the movies. I am looking forward to the few snowstorms there though. Hopefully it’ll be near the Xmas time and we will have a white Christmas for the girls. We’ll definitely make a snowman and maybe a snow doggie.
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Posted in Maddy's First Meals at 7:47 am by tina
They served tuna fish sandwich at the daycare yesterday.
Maddy did not like it at all. She had a bite and left the rest of them on the plate. In fact, she only ate her string beans for lunch, and Mrs Rocio and I were ’shocked’.
I was quite happy actually because I thought she might start eating ‘less’, but I was wrong. She was starving by dinner time, I guess. Maddy ate a whole banana, 10 cut up grapes, 3 oz of cut-up carrots and asparagus, a handful of cheerios, and screamed when I said all done so I had to feed her 2 more oz of baby jar winter squash.
So much for my wishful thinking!
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06.23.04
Posted in Maddy's First at 8:52 am by tina
Maddy got promoted to sit in the regular grocery cart seat like a big girl last night.
She was so happy and so proud… hanging on the bar. When we stopped the cart to pick up our grocery items, she rocked back and forth in the seat wanting us to push her. Silly girl.
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06.22.04
Posted in Maddy at 4:38 pm by tina
Maddy’s growth report:
8/18/03 6 pounds 1/2 oz; 19 inches
9/03/03 6 pounds 14 oz; 19 3/4 inches
10/15/03 10 pounds 9 oz; 22 1/2 inches
12/17/03 14 pounds 7 oz; 23 3/4 inches
2/18/04 16 pounds 11 oz; 25 1/2 inches; head 17
6/22/04 19 pounds 4 oz; 28 inches; head 18
I did a little digging myself just to make sure that Maddy is truely not overweight although Dr Rossin has repeatedly told me that Maddy is an average kid. How can she be an ‘average’ kid when she is the heaviest baby in both her homebase and at church compare to kids her age?
Anyway, I printed out the percentiles from
growthcharts
and circled her information myself.
On the length-for-age and weight-for age charts, she is on the 50% curve. On the head circumference-for-age, she is between 75 and 90%. Poor girl.. she inherited big head from her mommy. On the weight-for-length chart, she is between 50 and 75%. I guess she is ok after all.
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06.21.04
Posted in Maddy at 9:23 pm by tina
Six more weeks before we move back to NC.
I stopped packing 5 weeks ago. It’s still too early to box up everything considering we are using most of our stuff in the condo now.
Moving has always been fun for me. My best friend always teases me about not having any sentimental values for anything (and therefore it’s very easy for me to pack my stuff.. I don’t have much, and I rather even drop whatever I have and replace them when I get there)
I like moving because I get Joe to donate a bunch stuff that have no practical use for him except cluttering up the space.
This is the first time we have so much stuff to drag with us; half of it is for Maddy. I still can’t believe that her ‘things’ occupy 1/2 of our total possessions even after I donated/sold more than half of her stuff. How is this possible? The child is less than one year old?
My in-laws (future landlords) are flying down to NC to prepare the condo for us next weekend. It’s awfully nice and sweet of them and we’re very grateful. With Gary (Joe’s roommate 10 years ago) leaving at the “couldn’t-be-better” timing, we’re amazed at how God provisions every little details for our transition. We will ask our in-laws to check out the plots/models we have been eyeing on for the past months. It will be fun re-familarizing with the area and getting our place ready.
We are enjoying CA as much as we can at the mean time. For one thing, we won’t have the California weather any more. Today, we walked to Pizza California and ate outside. Maddy ate a whole bunch different veggies from their salad bar as usual, and she even shared some with Brownie.
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Posted in Maddy at 4:28 pm by tina
We wanted to wait until we move to RTP before buying Maddy the next stage car seat; however, both her weight and height have pretty much exceeded the limit of her infant car seat, so we broke down and went to get her a new one.
I had read a few reviews on them and asked different parents about their opinions, so it was not too overwhelming when we got to BabyRUs. Poor daddy though.. again, he had a bad experience at BabyRUs. Too many choices and too many harnesses… and he couldn’t figure out how to find out the ‘color’ of the car seat from the label. I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty when daddy started to sweat like crazy and got all quiet about the whole thing.
On the contrary, Maddy and mommy had a good time. We had fun checking out and trying out new things there and left all the hard work to daddy. What is Father’s Day for if we don’t put him to hard work once in a while.
I found out that the same car seat is selling for $20 less at www.babyage.com
After the ‘trial’ period daddy is going through during the next couple of days, I will order one on line for my car.
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06.18.04
Posted in Maddy at 8:52 pm by tina
Maddy’s daycare had another homebase potluck/get-together today. We celebrated the kick-off of their summer program; Kendall and Amelia’s birthdays; and of course, the Father’s Day.
Maddy made his daddy a spiral mobile: cut from her finger paints and a picture of her in a toddler’s car is attached at the end. It’s pretty cute, but I think the candle holder she ‘made’ for Mother’s Day is much prettier.
Mrs Veronika baked a cake decorated by Cheerios for the birthday kids. I didn’t give Maddy any cake though. We better wait until she is at least one year old for any sweets.
It’s nice to hang out with all the parents on a regular basis, specially all of our kids are pretty much on the same development stage. Well, Ashley beat all the kids. She is walking like a champ now, at 11 months.
I think Maddy is the only baby in her homebase went through ’sleep training’. Some of the kids still wake up in the middle of the night or sleep with their parents. Some parents have to spend 1/2 to 1 hour to get their baby to sleep.
I almost gave them a lecture on how they can have so much more ‘free’ time if their kids are sleep trained. But I didn’t.. One important lesson I learned as a parent is that my parenting values are not the ’standard’ for other families. Joe and I have found the ways that work well for us as a family, just as other parents will find their ways to deal with their parenting issues.
I hope whichever daycare Maddy goes to in RTP will also have frequent get togethers for the parents.
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