It's been too long

Hah...finally...a little break time to blog:)..Feels forever since the last time I wrote anything. This past week has been especially long since I had to prepare for the first exam. But...we're here now and that's done....well, until I have to do the 2nd exam in early May..:) I missed Payton's first b'day last week (sorry big boy), but I really needed that quiet time alone. I always crammed everything at the last minute, I don't think my brain will work any other way...so it was good to have the total peace and quiet time , even only for few hours. I don't know if Dads are the same , but as a Mom, it's hard for me to completely focus on the books and pretended that I am childless...oh well, we'll see.

To pick up where we left off:), we all went to Victoria that Chinese New Year weekend. We haven't been back for a while, and plus we hadn't seen our newest niece Turquoise and plus again it was chinese new year..so after the usual being at each other's throats and packing like we're going to stay there for at least 1 year, the van was packed, the kids were packed and asleep and we were good to go for the 3 o'clock ferry on Feb 15th. Going on the ferries these days is just soo much pain for me...when Shun and I were on long distance, we took turn going over every other week...so yeah, I really am not excited at all when the ferry captain announced that there's a pod of whales swimming 100 miles away from the boat...now is even worse, ..packing for the kids is just crazy...seriously, it almost feel like the house was half empty when we left...and we were only there for 3 nights. One thing for sure is that I should never again let Shun pack for the kids' clothes!:) He pretty much packed Kairo's whole wardrobe:)...I guess the packing part is not that bad, the unpacking part is the worse. Anyways...enough about this, gives me a headache right now:)

Victoria was good and relaxing...it's always nice to have extra set of hands to help:) plus, the abundance of food at Shun's parents' house didn't hurt either:)..We got to meet baby Turquoise for the first time...and she was cute and seems to have this calm presence . Kelly and SJ seemed very relax as a 'first timer':)

It just so happenned that Valentine's day was Jesse's 30th b'day. So his sisters threw him a party at their place on the weekend in the afternoon. We were supposed to go there with the kids too, we haven't seen their newest baby boy either, so it would've been good, but the kids were napping at weird times so we ended up didn't go. Instead, we met up with them later at night at Legends. YES, we finally went clubbing:) It was so much fun....i was just telling Shun how back in the days , like 8-9 years ago when we used to frequent these kind of places, the kids that we saw that night were only 10 -12 years old...elementary school!:)..and now we are partying in the same place:)...It's funny to see how things don't change...all the bumping and grinding...the drunk guys dancing like crazy while trying to 'accidentally' bump into hot girls' asses...girls wearing skimpy clothing dancing ever so seductively:)...ahhh...the smell of youth...hahah...or obliviousness...:)..little did they know how those exact actions would lead them to what we are now...mothers of crying, pooping, screamin babies:)

I lost my voice there, thanks to actually talking with everyone:) It's always fun talking with the boys though...especially when they are sobber:)...we hang out there until about 1:30 ish ....and boy we were beat! we were soo beat that we got up the next morning (bright and early at 6 of course, because the kids got up at that time) with sore throats:(

Anyways, it was all fun and everyone is now back to our normal selves. Phew!

Bopomo

As Lyn mentioned in her blog, the free pic from Bopomo is done and here. I quite like the picture actually..too bad Indie wasn't smiling and too bad her camou dress isn't showing very well:)

It was nice to hang out with the Bennetts again after a while. Lyn and I took the kids to the nearby park and I went crazy practising my shots:) Kairo is so clingy to Lyn for some reason, hey not that I'm complaining or anything..heheh....ahhh..I should take a picture of Lyn carying Kelan on the back and carrying Kairo in the front:)

Anyways, here are some pictures I took from the park.

Mommies Movies

Boy what a hectic day today is!! Lyn , my neighbour Mai and I tried out our first Mommies and movies out at the Ridge Theatre. They had free Bopomo photo session and apparently free gymboree class, which we really couldn't figure out where or if it actually happenned. The movie they were playing was Happy Feet, which according to my brother is really cool so I was all so excited about it. Only problem is that Wednesday is not my 'day off'...I have both kids with me...but despite of Shun's suggestion to get Kairo in daycare today, I insisted that Kairo would have a lot of fun and I really want to take him there, I mean Indie can't enjoy the movie..and Kairo has never been to a theatre before and he likes penguins..

But I guess I didn't prepare enough, ...the place was sooo packed with kids and strollers and Kairo didn't seem to want to cooperate. Lyn and Mai helped out a lot in watching Kairo (thank you girls!!) but at the end, I just had to cut it short...(actually, it was only after Lyn took off that Kairo started saying 'Take care mama, I'm going with Auntie Lyn okay"...so really THANKS Lyn!!:) ) I kept on telling myself that there are other Moms that come with both their kids...I don't know if they come with their moms or partners or nannies too but I've seen few Moms having both their kids with them, so if they can do it, I should be able to do it too right? But at the end, I just got too nervous. Before we left, and I've told Kairo that we're leaving , he said okay and took off...I was panicking looking for him in the dark, but he apparently went outside the theatre , grab a bottle of water (I don't know whose) and came back inside the theatre...gosh..and then he told me that he got the water...anyways, since we had to park our strollers wayy in front , I had to drag him to go there too and then went all the way back to leave..and at this point..he said bye bye to pretty much everybody within the last 10 rows...I guess I was lucky that he didn't actually want to chat longer with each one of them.

The lesson learned today is to prepare healthy snacks for him, instead of letting him munching on the popcorn, ditch the humongous stroller, and feed Indira before hand (well this one really depends on the time of the show). I guess this is one of the downsides of having the kids so close together, especially that I'm doing it bymyself. However, I think the upsides of it definetely worth all this headache. As I was driving home, Indie started to get cranky and started to whale...but then big brother started playing with his straw while saying his own version of "Abra-kadabra" and that made her laugh...and then he repeated it and then she laughed again...they did it for maybe 1 minute or two and it was priceless for me. Every morning, when they first see each other again after they wake up, they both had this plastered wide smile on their faces and Kairo would let Indie touches his face and he would giggle about it. I guess I better start video taping...:)

Photography class

As my favorite person's mentioned in her blog:), Liz and I went to one of the photography class by David Smith at the Surrey Art Gallery this Sunday (Feb 4). The guy seems really nice and laid back but boy, his pictures are very captivating. He specializes in people and travelling pictures , and it must've been a combination of his creativity and the sharp eyes for editing that made those pictures look so alive and the colors so vibrant.

That has got to be the live huh...he is hired by this cruise ship (what was that liz..I forgot.)to be the onboard speaker for the ship's photography class. So that's all he does I guess, him and his wife get to travel around the world for free and while doing so, he takes awesome pictures of stuff and manage to sell those pictures for commercial purposes and make even more moolah...sigh...I pick the wrong carreer..:(

So the class was quite good, got some tips for taking pictures, editing and creating slide shows, I was hoping that we get to actually use our own camera to kinda applied what we've learned...but all in all, it was really informative and got Liz and I dreamed and drooled about vacationing to those places:)

One day Liz...one day:)

Last week...

Last Friday, Feb 2nd, after about two years of talking about going, we finally went out and enjoyed a piece of Dine out vancouver. The first year was supposed to be in jan 2005, but Kairo beat us to it :)

We picked a Thai restaurant ,Chillies on Beach Ave to try and it was quite good. We were thinking to try Cru on West Broadway, apparently it was really quite nice dining and all, but when we tried to book up the place 1 week before our planned date, the place has already been booked up. So yeah, Chillies is one of the $25 ones, very reasonable, but it really tasted good and after that we got to walk around by the Marina there for a bit only though, yeah, skirt and boots just don't cut it for this weather:)

I started with Tuna Lettuce wrap for appies while Shun started with the prawncakes...both were pretty good, though they could lessen the fish sauce on the lettuce wrap ...ah what the heck, I LOVE fish sauce:)..For entree, shun picked the beef short rib in Thai sauce and I chose the tigerprawn with greenbean and basil. The beefshort rib were quite spicy actually, but nonetheless yummy:) and for dessert Shun picked the boring mango ice cream and fried banana:) and I tried their Thai style tapioca pudding...all were really good and I think my alcohol tolerance has increased since the last time I drank because I ordered a glass of Cesar , drank it all and didn't even get a hive..like at all. This was an accident by the way..didn't really like the taste of vodka but forgot to tell the waitress that i wanted the drink virgin...:)

The kids are doing good, my school is still behind...same old same old:) Oh , we ran into Nat Cliff and Alexis last Sunday at The Bay Metrotown. As soon as the elevator door opened, I heard this very loud " Oh my God" courtessy of Nathalie of course:) We joined ourselves to sitting with them at the food court and at the end kairo got a DQ ice cream treat from Alexis...yum:) It was cute how the two sort of play together...Alexis was very nurturing...she brought her toys to kairo, came and pat his back, and even told Kairo that Indie is his sister...hahahha:) She is really sweet Nat...I think you guys should seriously thinking about getting her a brother or sister!!:)

And the day before that was Mr. Sales' 1st b'day. Too bad I didn't get to use my camera at all. But it was fun to hang out again and for the kids to play around in the ball pit. It would've been a good time to try to practice some shots huh Liz? Lots of colors, kids running around, falling all over the place...ahh..next time:)

Well, since , as mentioned, I didn't get to use my camera at Rylan's b'day, didn't bring my camera when we ran into Alexis and her parents, the only picture we have is the boring one of us at Chillies and one of Kairo and Indie. I don't know how he managed to get in to the exersaucer while Indie is still in it...must be painful for her...ouch..

It's Gymbo time

We had Kairo's 2nd b'day party at Gymboree last Saturday and it was so much fun, even for me just watching them. Kairo had such a blast there and also at night at Pao and Cheryl's that he's losing his voice now...oh well, once a year is okay i guess:)

It was such a big difference to see him playing at gymbo now compared to when he used to go there for a class. Well the obvious reason was that he is now very mobile and he can pretty much go anywhere he wanted withouth having to drag me or shun with him...hehe....when he was in gymbo class, he was about 8 or 9 months, he was actually showing lots of interest too. He climbed, slided and crawled into the tunnels...I guess that's why I'm in love with gymboree, it really encouraged Kairo to do all these things without having to force him to do it.

Something that I notice now with Indie is that she isn't into crawling at all, in fact, she isn't into moving around at all:) She's just content with sitting and playing with her hands. Apparently, according to my Doctor, boys develops their gross motor skills first, so they can move around and get all over the place i guess:), while girls develop the fine motor skills first, like twirling their hands, wiggling their individual fingers. They will catch up at the end, it's just that the different gender develop different skills first. It was actually a relief to hear that, cause I was worried that my little girl is going to be one lazy ass...heheheh:)

Anyways, here are some pics from the party at gymbo (thanks for Auntie Suzie for doing the deed:) ) There are like 80 pictures from the party, for the complete pics click the b'day cake picture here

Thank you again for coming and for all the nice gifts and nice after party (courtesy of Uncle Pao and Auntie Cheryl) for Kairo and us. It's definetely a memorable one:)

And just like that, he turned 2...

Yep, My boy is turning 2 today...singing happy b'day to himself and wishing himself a happy birthday...heheh...well, we sang and wished him happy b'day too, but when he sang it himself it sounded like he's singing to himself:)

Thinking back two years from today, everything seemed to happen in fast forward. My contraction started Jan 15/05. We were suppose to drive down to that Bowling alley by Holdom skytrain station for John's 27th b'day but since it started to snow around 6.30ish pm that day, Shun decided that we should take the public transit so that we would eliminate any chance of slipping and got stucked in the car:)...I remember that day, my first night on maternity...we walked chocolate in the snow while still discussing what names we should pick if they baby's going to be a girl. I miss those walks now, we used to do it everynight when I was pregnant with Kairo...we bundled up chocolate and my pregnant self, and off we went walking around that Kits neighbourhood, always said that one day we'll buy a house there hhehe....Kairo's name was 'invented' during those walks, along with many other names that got invented and turned down:)

Anyways, on our way to the bowling alley; we had to bus it to Granville station and then skytrain it to Broadway station then change train to Holdom station; I started to feel this pain on my lower back. We thought that it's due to too much walking (although the whole trip I was sitting). As far as I can remember, the pain was tolerable. I think the biggest thing is that I didn't even think that the baby will come anytime soon. It was weird back then, the whole pregnancy seemed so surreal, let alone delivering and carrying the baby in my arms. I kept on telling myself that I was overdue when I was born, so my baby will be too. So eventhough the pain came and went and came again, I really thought it was my body getting tired....until we hit the bowling alley and out of the blue I felt this really sharp pain on my lower back and Shun had to give me a counterpressure....well, I thought for a bit that it might be a contraction, but since it didn't come back, I thought it was nothing:)

Liz and Bry gave us a ride that night, and I remember that we got home right at midnite and I felt that I was really ready to hit the sack. The whole day Sunday was pretty much a write off. I spent soo much time in the shower cause it felt so good and the rest of the time lying on the couch on my side...we didn't actually leave the house until 3 or 4 pm and even then we were only on the road for maybe 1/2 hour and then headed back since my pain started to come again. But it's amazing how your brain controls your attitude, cause even up till then, I still didn't think that it was an early labour or anything.

It was until about 7 or 8 pm that night when I still had the pain that it started to sink in that I might have a contraction already...that the baby might come early and the most terrifying thing...the baby will be here soon....I spent the rest of the night pacing while breathing properly. Shun tried to coach me and being an unexperienced Dad-to-be himself, he told me to go lie down and have some sleep...heheh....little that he knew that if I could do that then I won't be pacing and breathing like a maniac. Past midnite Jan 17, I phoned the hospital and explained my situation, and then she told me that it didn't sound like a false labour like I thought it was, but it sounded like an early labour. She said I could either go there or stay home..and being still on denial, I opted to stay home while wishing that the pain will go away and I can start my day fresh and pain free tomorrow (right!:)...I lasted 2 hours in that pain, and by 2:15 am I jumped out the bed and screamed to Shun that I couldn't take it anymore. So he phoned the hospital and then off we went to Women's.

The whole trip in the car was painfull. Good thing it was in the middle of the night so the street was really empty. And as soon as we got admitted and I got dressed and stuff, the nurse told me that I was 5 cm dialated. I think then was when it hit me that there's no way i'm closing in after 5 cm dialated, the next thing that will happen is that i would get dialated even more, and after that, I would get to see this little person face to face. It was the scariest thought for me...we weren't ready at all!! We didn't even buy a crib yet, we haven't even done any hospital tour yet, and the most important part, I was mentally not ready yet...everything came waay to soon.

By 6 am that day, I was pretty much fully dialated, the more reason why they didn't even recommended me to take any pain killers since the baby, supposedly, was ready to pop out. But being me, things are rarely go smoothly. Kairo was breached and they had, many time, tried to get me to push while they tried to turn him...with no avail of course. I think the contraction part I can tolarate, but once they induce me and made my contraction harder (to try to get kairo to turn on his own), that's when I started to weep and asked for epidural. I tried everything, the gas, birthing ball, shower, squatting, walking, sitting on the toilet...everything...nothing works. At the end, they let me had the damn epidural and that was the most relaxing 2 hours or my life:) After 40 hours of labour(started Jan 15), Shun and I can finally rest..for a bit.

One hour after the magic drug was in, the doctor came in and said that they might have to do a C-section on me since they've waited 7 hours for the baby to turn and tried every thing to get him to turn but didn't work. I was soo sad at that point. Its the thought of surgery and stitching that freaked me out...but the good doctor said that she'll give another hour and see if anything progressed...but in the meantime, they already took my blood sample and got the emergency OR ready.

By around 2 pm, she came back and said that the last resort to deliver naturally is by vacuuming him out. My main concern was whether or not it could have a long term damage to the baby's brain, but she said the only damage would just be a temporary cone head:)... but she said I had to push really hard for the suction cup to catch the baby's head.

Well, the good thing about epidural is that it numbs your pain...but it could back fire that in critical time like that, when the fate of this delivery is based on how hard I push, I couldn't feel a damn thing! I felt like I was pushing but I couldn't feel anywhere else in my body doing the same thing. Lucky for me, the nurses were helpful and after 2 pushes, I felt this feeling of being 'unplugged' and there it was...a baby..with the white umbilical cord attached, got pulled out of me....

Kairo Isaac Dimas Chiang was born at 14:12, weighing 7lbs 5 oz, 51.5 cm long, 12 days ahead of schedule...when he was born, I didn't even remember to ask whether or not it was a boy or a girl..I was busy worying of the fact that he didn't cry. The doctor had to tell me 'by the way, it's a boy':)

It's still hard to believe sometimes how fast he grows. Especially now that he talks back, and copying and having lots of personality:) Like yesterday, as I was cooking and slaving myself in the kitchen (something that I never thought I would ever done before I got married:) ), he pulled up a chair on the other side of the kitchen counter and stood on it and just casually asked me questions like 'what are you doing mama' (he asked this about 10 million times btw), and when he saw I was cooking him some broccoli he went on and on and on at how much 'I love broccoli':)

Anyways baby boy, may you find all the happiness in the world and may your life will always be blessed with love and laughter. Happy 2nd birthday my son....many more years to come..and may your Papa and Mama be around to see it.

This is fun:)

I love this thing! hhaha:)...if it were not because of this website, I wouldn't know that my daughter have the slight similarity to Will Smith:)


Here's mine:)

Mommies lunch date

Here are the pics from the lunch date:) We should do this more often...and Richmond is a good place for everyone right...seems that it took everyone 15 minutes to get there...what do you guys think?
In age order:)

It's like they're playing tag...Kelan bugged Rylan, Rylan bugged Payton and Rylan won cause Payton got nobody else to bug:) (cousin Indie might get too feisty if you bug her Payton:) )

Kelan, it's about time you show some affection to me...otherwise....

Yeah, we need to get out more..:)

29 years old!

Well, according to my Mom, on a Thursday at 3pm exactly 29 years ago, I began my debut as a human being who breaths air, 10 days overdue. I still remember how what seems like a lonnngg time ago when I was 14, I told my brother, who turned 20 then, how old he was! Sigh..little that I knew:)

My b'day started with a little surprise from Shun. I have to say that after all this years, he still managed to really surprise me with his surprises. He asked me to add more time to the dryer after he put my gift on top of the washer. And of course, I didn't even look at the washer and went straight to the dryer and when he asked me to see if the washer was closed, I saw this big box sitting on top of the washer:) Apparently it was 12:07 am already:)

The day was pretty low key, Shun took it off so I managed to have longer nap with Indie while he kept Kairo company downstairs. At night, my cousin came to house sit for us when we sneaked out to have dinner at this greek place less than 5 minutes drive from our place.

To my surprise, the food was reallly good. The place was Santali and it was a chinese-chefed Greek restaurant:)..but it was really good. We ordered from that place before but last night it tasted much better. We started of with a glass of wine for Shun and just a specialty coffee for me. Shun had yummy calamary for appy as I chowed on my dolmates!! love those stuff. We both had lamb for the main course, he picked the rack of lamb while I picked the shoulder...it was really tender and good, melt in your mouth. We closed it off by sharing a dessert of cheesecake wrapped in fillo pasty with vanila sauce. The place was quite small and we were pretty much the only people there. It was a very nice and quiet dinner and we talked and laughed and even argued ( of course:) ) The plan was to have dinner and a movie, but Indie's teething kinda messed up her sleeping schedule that she wakes up before midnite sometimes, so we just have to go see a movie some other time. Have to say the dinner was the icing on my 29th b'day cake:) Shun suggested that maybe we should pick one day in a week and do this once a week...excellent idea but hard to do cause my cousin is the only sitter we have and he's only 20, Friday is of course his partying day:)..but we'll see:)

Anyways, thank you so much for you girls and guys that emailed, phoned, friendster messaged and e-carded me:) Wonderful friends and families ,excellent food and a loving husband...what more can I ask for:) Thanks again everyone!:)

2007!

This has been redundantly said, but Happy New year everyone!:)...10 years ago on January 2nd, my parents and I arrived in Victoria right after the snow storm. I still remember how this country smell, the coldness in the air and how really super tired I was. The snow in Victoria was like knee high, not very many places were open and did I mention how cold it was for us? Funny that until then, Canada was only a name I saw on those teeny boopers magazine that I used to love, you know how in magazines they have prices in US and Canada. It's crazy the surprises life has for you..never in a million years I ever thought that 10 years from that day, I will be right here, sitting writing my blog, in my house, married and a mom of two...:)

Anyways...our new years eve was really mellow. I didn't even realize that it was new year already until Shun wished me happy new year. He hummed (kinda off tune) the Auld Lang Syne and we had our little goofy dance to start the year:) Earlier that day we went to church and it was one of those moments that I got so emotional. Maybe it was the christmas songs (yes, we missed church on Christmas day!!!!!!), or maybe it was the fact that we were all there as a family (even for only short while cause Shun had to take Kairo to the back), but whatever it was, it really moved me that I cried. Embarassing, since the lady 2 rows in front of us saw me and smiled:) oh well:)

Just like the last two new year days, we went down to the states to pick up another baby item. Were supposed to meet up with John and Lyn down there but kept on missing it and at the end we met up back in Canada, outside Wal Mart in Langley hehhe:) So new year day was pretty much spent on the road.

For the past how many years, my resolution is always the same, including this year of course. So I think this resolution is going to be a decade resolution and hopefully by the end of the decade I will have achieved most of it:)

Many things in store waiting for me this year. As I mentioned, there's this school thing that I kinda sort of started already. There's also 2 photography courses that Shun gave me as a christmas present that I will be taking in Feb and March. Liz and I will be doing them together, so I really can't wait for those days to come!:) A full day course just me and the camera! I guess it's a double gift, the courses themselves and the fact that I can get a break from both kids for the full day!!:) I agree with you Nat...we all love our kids soo much, but yes, a break from them once in a while is only healthy!.

So 2007, here we come!!!:)