12.31.04
Posted in Maddy's First at 8:09 pm by tina
After everyone kept telling me that Maddy’s hair is un-ruling, I finally broke down and agreed to give her a trim. I had refused anyone’s suggestion that she needed a haircut earlier because Maddy’s hair growth rate is slower than snail crawling and I really want her to have long hair.
We took her to JJ’s Kids Cuts of Cary recommended by other friends. The place is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. All the seats were little truck, airplane, or horse; every station has a TV. In the waiting area, there are computers games for older kids and indoor playground for the little ones.
Maddy chose the Wiggles as her entertainment and got into her firetruck station. Everything was ok until the lady took out the cap. I guess it took Maddy by surprise and then she didn’t want to sit in there by herself any more.
No worries… They also have regular seats for the tramatized kis. Mommies get to sit with them. Maddy did well after sitting on my lap. Although she was suspicious at times when the lady cuts her side hair, she enjoyed her Wiggles and the toy cell phone from the stylist.
Since it is Maddy’s first haircut, we also receive a little lock of her hair as keepsake. It looks like Maddy will get to know the place very well for the next couple of years!
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Posted in Maddy at 5:53 pm by tina
The Changs went their separate ways today. Auntie Betty went back to Jersey, and the rest went back to TN.
Unfortuately, Maddy felt asleep in the car ride and didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to everyone.
Brownie rested all day after a whole week of fun with Candy, but I’m sure she’ll go through some Candy withdrawal time in the coming days. They had grown inseparable and always accompany each other when they go out to the backyard.
It was really nice having everyone over. With our extra space in the house, we’re able to retreat to our own area whenever we want to. Maddy got to play with all the Changs and wrapped everyone around her fingers.
Happy New Year!
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12.30.04
Posted in Maddy at 12:03 pm by tina
I ran across the article during break: Babycenter top babynames
Madison made it from #3 in 2003 to #2 in 2004, and Emma is #1 now. Personally, I think people pick Emma because Rachael’s daughter is named Emma on Friends.
There are some poor kids out there with names that will be laughed at.. Poor kids. According to the article, some were named Curry, Farfalla, Sushi, etc.. imagine the torture they have to endure in school. I thought my Chinese name is bad enough. Wei-Chou (Great Universe when you translate it)… I don’t know what got into my parents to give me a horrible name with zero femininity. I still remember first day in junior high when my math teacher called the row and couldn’t find ‘Wei-chou’ after I raised my hand many times. Later she said she was looking for a hand from a guy and wondering why I kept on raising my hand. I guess I should be glad that they did give me Tina as my English name instead of something like Matthew or Jacob.
I like Madison. It is feminine but not girly.. a girl’s name with a feisty punch to it. It suits Maddy well.
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Posted in Maddy at 8:18 am by tina
Maddy learned to open the doors. She still has to tip-toe when she does it, but she loves doing it.. open-close-open-close. According to ah-gong and ah-ma, she was upstairs opening and closing the doors for a long time yesterday.
She bonded with ah-gong too. When we first saw them in TN, Maddy didn’t go to ah-gong very much, but now she looks for him and gives him her funny giggles. Maddy definitely worn ah-ma down. Ah-ma didn’t get up at 5:30am like usual and she asked mommy for coffee (regular, not decaf) this morning.
I think Maddy is spoiled this week. She seems less patient and goes for the “I want it now” attitude. Must to all the attention she gets from the grandparents. I am sure they tended to her every little whines.
Ah-ma taught her many things: different colors (which I just started to explain to her after she has learned her body parts recently); counting; the squeezed hug. The squeezed hug is the best one: Maddy wraps her hands around my neck and squeeze tightly. She’s as cute as it gets.. as spoiled as it gets. We will have to change the latter part next week.
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Posted in Maddy at 7:57 am by tina
Just out of curiosity on how people praise on the cleaning services they use, I hired April’s Cleaning that many Cisco employees have been satisfied with to do our year-end cleaning.
I don’t think I will be using a cleaning service on regular basis. It’s not that they didn’t do a good job. In fact, they did a great job. According to my parents, four people came and cleaned for more than 2 hours. That is at least 8 hours of cleaning, which I don’t do on a weekly basis.
I guess they did a lot of things I wouldn’t deem ‘necessary’ on a weekly basis such as dusting the blinds. And true they did a good job, but I didn’t feel like it was so exceptional that I am wowed over.
So I am back to cleaning the house myself… Although I would recommend them to anyone, and I would have them back maybe twice a year for the spring cleaning type things.
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12.28.04
Posted in Maddy at 8:25 am by tina
Perhaps it’s because of all the excitement and people in the house, Maddy woke up at 4:00am crying. I took her into our bedroom and tried to get her to sleep again:
Maddy: Hat-hat
Mommy: You don’t need a hat right now. Maddy needs to go to sleep
Maddy: eh-eh.. (started to throw her tantrum)
Mommy: Do you want to go back to your crib?
Maddy: (all the sudden all quiet and shakes her head violantly)
Maddy: bai-bai? (blanket in Chinese)
Mommy: Here it is… good night
one minute later..Maddy got up, pointed to mommy’s glasses on the night stand:
Maddy: Gla! (and pointed to her bridge on the nose)
Mommy: Does mommy need to wear my glasses right now?
Maddy: (Nodds…)
Mommy: (put on my glasses).. Can Maddy go to sleep now?
Maddy: heh heh.. rolling around on our bed
At which point, daddy was woken..
Daddy: Madison Chen?
Maddy: (threw herself on the bed and pretended like she is asleep)
…another 30s of quietness…
Maddy got up again.. rolling and mumbling… Daddy took her back to her room.
She must have felt asleep for a bit… but woke up again at 5:15am cryig…
I went to her room and pick her up so she doesn’t wake up the rest of the family.
Maddy: (points to the door)
Mommy: We’re not going out right now.
Maddy: (points to her new yellow couch)
Mommy: Ok, we can sit here.
Maddy: bai-bai? da-da? …fuss fuss fuss
At which point daddy walked in..
Maddy: heh heh.. da da… smiled in victory and stared at me
Mommy: Madison@#$
Daddy left the room
Maddy: da-da? da-da? bai-bai?
Mommy: You have your bai-bai.
…. Maddy passed out…
When we left for work at 8:30am, Maddy was still asleep.
Now that Maddy is pretty much sleep trained, we do make excpetions for her to be a tyrant at night sometimes. I feel quite tired today, and I don’t know how some parents can do this night after night.
It’s cute though.. how she threw herself on the bed and kept still as if she was already asleep when daddy said “MADISON”. Such an actress!
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12.27.04
Posted in Maddy at 9:12 pm by tina
Apparently, Maddy had a great time today.. showing ah-ma the way to the lake to see duckies; opening up mommy and daddy’s closet and show ah-ma what belongs to mom and what belongs to daddy; eating ah-ma’s homemade cooking and complaining not having enough; playing with her new hammering toyset and hitting ah-gong’s head for fun….
She wore the grandparents down. Ah-ma and ah-gong went to sleep at 9:15pm…same time that Maddy went to sleep.
It looks like ah-ma and ah-gong will need all the rest they can get to keep up with our little tyrant for the rest of the week.
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Posted in Maddy at 12:18 pm by tina
The whole Changs drove back with us yesterday from TN.
Maddy’s preschool (I don’t know why they always felt ‘insulted’ when I say daycare instead of preschool, so I will try my best to say preschool from now on) is closed all week, and we’ve recruited the grandparents to watch Maddy for us.
It’s not much of a break for ah-ma since this is supposed to be her vacation from her preschool in TN… We thank them very much for driving all the way here and take care of Maddy… and cooking so much for us.
Auntie Betty and uncle Andy are also here. Betty is busy getting her brand new townhome ready to be rented out. We hope to see her more often from now on. Maddy loves auntie Betty anyway. She always gets nice gifts from auntie Betty for no reason. Auntie Betty got her a pretty kiddy couch that matches perfectly with her girly bedroom, not to mention many cute outfits that mommy wouldn’t even normally get for her.
Daddy Joe is doing well so far with one exception when uncle Andy was about to install some stuff on his computer, but he centered himself quickly and didn’t make a big deal out of it (thanks honey). The Changs haven’t driven him crazy yet, but we will see by the end of this week. 
I’ve always wanted to see if daddy can be ‘broken’.
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Posted in Maddy at 12:00 pm by tina
We drove back to TN for Christmas this year. For our own sanity, we switched Maddy’s car seat so she faces the front now. She seems to be much more patient when she can see what is around her.
It was a nice and relaxing break… All we did were eat and sleep and eat more and sleep more. Ah-ma cook up a storm and always made special dishes for Maddy even for breakfast. Maddy will be so disappointed when her personal chef leaves end of this week.
Brownie had a very tiring weekend. Grandparents’ Pekingese Candy turns out to be a tough little dog. Although she is smaller than Brownie, she managed to steal Brownie’s treats at all costs. Sometimes they play as if they love each other; but other times we had to break them up before one of them gets hurt.
TN hasn’t changed much since I left for college many many years ago. I took the doggies for a walk in the neighborhood while daddy and Maddy sneaked into the playground of the daycare next to us. It was such a weird yet refreshing feelings… People there probably never heard of IPO; never knew what Cisco does; never had experiences in working more than 8 hours a day; but I imagine they have their love ones just as much. Their lives are slow, yet peaceful. They all live in houses that would cost more than $2 million easy in the bay area… I guess, that is something people would never know in the bay area: what it feels like to own a large land and a nice new house and still not having to worry about making the mortgages; they wouldn’t believe it is normal to know all the neighbors and kids on the block; they couldn’t imagine the family sitting out on the porch and doing nothing as daily family activities.
How I used to want it all: I wanted the fast-paced career so I can work on the most advanced technology; I wanted to live at somewhere it’s close to cities, countries, mountains, and beaches; I wanted a nice big new house in the best school district without having pay two legs and two arms; I wanted to live in a neighborhood where people know each other’s lives; I wanted us to have family time everyday without us working long hours all the time; I wanted us to be closer to our parents so Maddy can get to see them more often.
And I look back now…. as I thought of the life styles of all the areas I had lived at; as I thought about the stage I’m in… inspite of my initial and occasional complaints, mysterious God has given me everything I sought important! Funny my Christmas gifts had come little by little throughout the year…
Thank You! and Happy Birthday to You, Jesus!
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12.15.04
Posted in Maddy at 10:04 am by tina
After I stopped by a few local owned coffee shops and other chained java stores… after I’ve learned to enjoy whatever coffee comes my way in my Southern new home, our local newspaper had an article today: STARBACKS IS COMING!
Could it be? Could it be? There are two huge new retailing areas they’re developing between home and work. If Starbucks only knew the Chens are here…. My hope that they will pick one spot as one of their 15 new shops in NC.
Then I will sing: bye bye Caribou coffee, bye bye Bear Rock Cafe, bye bye Cup-a-Joe… And… May we have one grande Caramel Macchito, one tall Caffe Latte, and a piece of banana bread for the little one?
Can’t wait!
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12.14.04
Posted in Maddy at 8:52 pm by tina
Thanks to Joe’s brother and my mother-in-laws new renter, the luggage we had to ditch at the Denver airport during our Thanksgiving break made it back to us today.
I have never been so excited to see our dirty laundry. Well, Maddy has been wearing the same things over and over and I was about to break down and just buy her another set of outfits… but all her warm clothes are back! She was happy to see her snow boots, wearing them all the way until bath time.
Thank you Dave, thank you Gayle!
We will try to catch the regular boarding time from now on
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Posted in Maddy at 8:45 pm by tina
Primrose hosted their annual Parents’ Night Out today. Joe and I did a little Xmas shopping first, and stopped by a little Japanese restaurant called “Little Tokyo”. We had our dates there a decade back!
It was wonderful. We didn’t have to order things Maddy can eat, and we didn’t have to share and feel half hungry after the meal. They even gave us a dynamite scallops appetizer and fried ice cream dessert for free. I was totally stuffed by the time we finished dinner.
I did miss Maddy though, and felt a little bad that I gave up our quality time today. At the same time, I was also glad that Joe and I got a private and peaceful two-hour break. We’ve been just running errands even when our new baby sitter watches Maddy on Sunday afternoons. It is nice remembering what it was like before Maddy once in a while.
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