Are you tired of the rain yet?  Every year we get lots of rain around this time but it’s always so hard to get use to it.  Yah-yah loves the rain only because she gets to wear her butterfly boots.  She loves putting them on and splashing in the puddles.  Mind you even on sunny days she wants to wear her boots! 

This past month or so we thought we would start a new tradition with our girls.  I can’t remember who it was that told us but we loved the idea none-the-less. They told us we needed to date our kids.  We have started to take Yah-yah on dates.  We will start it with Mattie when she is old enough.  Yah-yah got to pick her date night location.   With daddy she decided to pick “Old MacDonald’s” (aka McDonald’s).   She was so excited to go with him and talks about her date night every time we drive by a McDonald’s.  She always starts off with “remember our date night….??”.   I took her to a place called BabyEats and she really enjoyed that as well.  It was actually really nice to be able to spend one-on-one time with her.  I missed being able to just have her all to myself.   I can’t wait to start doing this with Mattie when she’s old enough.  Actually, I told the hubby we need to start dating ourselves as well.  I can’t remember the last time we had a dinner and a movie on our own.

Yah-yah also made her first trip to the dentist.  She did a great job!  She surprises me all the time.  I thought there would be tears and tantrums but there was actually none of that.  She opened wide, had her teeth brushed and flossed.  The part that I think she hated the most was having the fluoride trays in her mouth but who likes that.  I am certain that her being able to watch Treehouse while all of this was happening definitely helped the process.  She shocked me even more when the entire family went in to get our flu shots.  She loves playing doctor at home and often times she’s the one administering all the shots and check-ups.  I brought along Mr. Bear for her comfort and she held on to him for dear life, while she sat on my knee.  She watched the needle go in and didn’t let out a single tear or cry.  Wow!  Either she’s got a really thick skin or a really high tolerance for pain.

Mattie continues to amaze me with all that she’s learning.  She nods her head whenever we ask her questions like she knows exactly what we are talking about.  There is something about Cheerios that always puts a smile on her face.  She definitely knows what we are saying when we ask her if she wants Cheerios. Her sleeping is definitely getting better and she allows me to be able to get at least 7 hours of continuous sleep.  Perhaps she senses that I am headed back to work soon.  She is also starting to learn to walk with a walker.  She still getting use to it because often times it runs away from her and she ends up going a little quicker than she expects.  She loves it though.  She is a speedster on her knees as well.  She’s also become a little fearless.  For her there use to be an invisible barrier in the living room.  She never roamed by herself beyond our living room.  One day, she discovered there was more to our house than the couch and now she’s everywhere.  You can always hear her little hands pattering along the hardwood floors.  We have to make sure that all the doors are closed so she doesn’t start discovering on her own.  She especially loves Yah-yah’s room because it’s full of goodies to explore.

That’s it for now!  Keep dry and warm!  Winter smells like it’s just around the corner.

Ciao!

A Little Unsure? A Little Scared?

The fall has finally arrived. The cold mornings, the glorious hues on the trees and who can miss the rainy days. This fall is a little different for us in that Yah-yah has started preschool. We are into the second month of school and still have mornings when she’s not quite sure if she wants to go. She’s made a couple of friends so far and randomly starts singing songs she’s learning. She’s also getting to learn some Italian and Yoga. We often wonder if she’s just as kooky at school as she is at home. Is she a terror? Does she listen? Does she share? Is she a bully? Or is she being bullied? And to think this is preschool…wait until she reaches high school. Eeekkk!!

Mattie has been making leaps and bounds. She’s started cruising furniture and has been crawling all over the house. She’s a quick study as she is signing “more” and “all done”, waving “bye”, saying “mumma” and has a few other tricks up her sleeve. She recently battled through the addition of four new top teeth. She has the cheesiest smile as she squints her eyes and flashes those pearly whites. We’ve also been able to spend a little more time together now that Ga-jea is at school. We are trying to avoid the second child syndrome but apparently my lack of dedicated blogging has already made it inevitable. I was a second child and turned out not too bad. (Right Nan and Wah?)

We recently came back from a trip to Quebec City and Montreal. I still remember the beautiful reds, oranges, greens and yellows in the trees were when we were driving from the airport. It’s a wonderful province. With much reluctance the Wu’s accompanied us. The reluctance wasn’t on our part but more so the Wu’s as we decided to bring Yah-yah with us. They invited us but I am sure wanted to retract that invitation when we decided to bring our girls along. Yah-yah added some spunk to our trip to say the least but that’s only because she wanted to make sure Di-yee and Uncle M wouldn’t be missing their own kids. All in all, we loved all the beautiful history that was so rich in Quebec City and Montreal and the wonderful food (thanks Karen for the great recommendations!!). Just a tip, do not look for Etienne Cartier’s tombstone in the Notre Dame Cemetery as you may miss the bus and lunch!!! The Metro is definitely not stroller friendly but I would trade our Skytrain for it any day. Kudos to Montrealers!! They are so friendly. There were many times when we had our maps out and people would stop and ask if we needed help. I am going to try and be more like that here!

Yah-yah learned some French and insisted that we say “mercy” (merci) to everyone. She got to taste her first poutine, french crepe, and smoked meat sandwich. She loved the airplane and the train ride. Actually, I think it was the lolly that she really enjoyed on the plane. It was her first taste of candy ever. She learned quickly that if her ears hurt from the ascent and decent she could get one. Watching Treehouse (cartoons) on the plane I am sure added to the excitement! Mattie on the other hand learned to scream at the top of her lungs. That was a joy when we were at restaurants. I couldn’t give her Cheerios fast enough. I am sure we angered many restaurant patrons. Luckily, she lost that need when we got home. We also discovered that she’s a fan toeng (rice pot) just like her dad. We lugged 10lbs of jarred baby food for her only to discover she wasn’t a fan of any variety. When we got home and made her mushy rice and congee she couldn’t get enough. I guess a true Cho she is.

All in all we had a wonderful vacation and it was nice to be able to take the girls to experience our beautiful country. Time is fast approaching where I am going to be back at work so I definitely am trying to savour all our moments that we get together.

Make sure to stop and look at all the beautiful changing leaves. It took me a trip to the east to discover we have trees just as beautiful here.

We have started a somewhat new tradition in our family. A couple years ago we decided to start taking family vacations with my entire immediate family. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins included. Mostly, it was so that we could all vacation together and enjoy one another’s company but with the added bonus of nannies and babysitters to help us out. Well appreciated!!! Many thanks, many thanks to Gong-Gong, Paw-Paw, Sam-Yee and Beuw-Yee. We definitely couldn’t vacation like this without family that didn’t love and accept our noisy, crazy, whiny, talkative, cranky, hungry, inquisitive, kooky, and energetic kids (hubbies included, right, Nan?). This year we decided to head south for a trip to Portland. Planning a vacation like this does come with its challenges though. We know that our numbers may grow in the future and we have yet to decide on a cap as to how many will be our limit. For the time being if we can find accommodations that will allow us all to sleep comfortably than we are in.

Of course, planning like this comes down to the two older, more opinionated, sometimes called “bossy”, older-more wise sisters. Our planning consisted of:

• finding a place to stay that would accommodate all 13 of us — not always an easy feat and requires planning half a year in advance, with room configurations that allow the little kids to sleep while the adults can stay up. Included in this may be having kids sleep in walk-in-closets and bathrooms!!!
• planning activities that appeals to the masses — entails researching activities and planning them to each day with the option to change if something comes up
• planning meals for each day because feeding 13 people for a week is challenging, especially when you have some that can’t eat wheat, milk, eggs, cheese or meat
• ensuring that everyone has travel arrangements to and from our vacation
• strictly enforcing a one overnight bag limit for each person traveling so that there was enough room to fit everything
• packing the mini-vans strategically so that there was enough room for everyone to sit safely for the duration of our road-trip.

Our vacation to Portland required a 4am departure so that we could allow the kids (big and small, right Ange?) to sleep for the majority of the trip and an avoidance of waiting at the borders. Potty breaks were a definite must and you had to be quick when the announcement was made. Keen eyes on the I-5 were required so that the next exit could be taken to avoid any accidents in the car.

All in all, we had a great time! We stayed at a beautiful house and made use of all the amenities. We got some outlet shopping done, made it to the beach (Seaside), went to Multnomah Falls, explored a beautiful city, learned to play cribbage and tried out some famous Voodoo donuts — (mmmmm…Memphis Mafia…boo…Mango Madness). Yah-Yah had a great time with her cousins. All three of them running rampant throughout the house. Who wouldn’t like a vacation where everyone caters to your every whim — where bed time and nap time weren’t always followed to a “T”.

While on vacation, Mattie moved from her “Roomba-like” crawling to being up on her knees. She still isn’t ready to make the move to completely crawling on her knees but moves a couple inches forward before resorting to her army crawl. I am sure she is looking forward to the next vacation where she will be able to run around with all the big kids.

That’s it for now! Hope you all had an opportunity to have a wonderful summer vacation this year
or we have convinced you to try one with your families next year! Really they are great fun!

Welcome to our newest location for blogging! I decided to change locations because I like this site better. Anyway, I am hoping to return to blogging because the hubby has been making me feel guilty that I haven’t been chronicling Mattie’s development. My days are definitely a lot more fuller than I would have imagined with two. With Yah-Yah in many activities and outings this summer the blogging had to be put on the back burner.

Mattie has been so active and army crawling all over. She’s speedy and always getting into Yah-Yah’s stuff. She’s really active and can’t sit still. The hubby and I are a little worried about what kind of toddler she’s going to turn into if she is so non-stop now. She’s also very vocal and always has a smile for you. Unlike Yah-Yah when she was little, Mattie smiles all the time. Warms our heart!!! She’s also got two pearly whites on the bottom which makes her smile that much better.

Yah-Yah also had a great week of VBS and by the middle of the week was saying bye to me before we even got to the doors. It’s bittersweet to see her so independent! We thought that she would reach her teenage years before she started being embarrassed by us but it’s already started! We were trying to videotape and photograph her dancing and singing and all we have in our recordings are her saying “no, daddy, no…” Who would have thought a 2.5 year old would already be embarrassed by her parents!!?? She’s in store for a whole lot more…it’s our privilege as a parent, isn’t it?

That’s it for now! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

PS With the addition of the hubby’s new camera we have a ton of pics! I am just trying to weed through them to post! They should be up soon!

Wow! Has it already been two months since the last post? Mommy’s been a bit busy. She and Auntie Mars are working on something so they have been a little preoccupied.
As for Mattie and I, we have been busy with Music and Art class. Music class is my favourite because I get to sing and dance. Don’t be surprised if you hear me humming a familiar tune or making up my own. As for dancing I do a whole lot of that too. Besides, Mattie loves to watch me dance around. Speaking of Mattie, she’s been squawking like a bird. I guess that’s her way of communicating with us. It sure does get our attention because she’s so loud. She’s also been sitting up on her own but sometimes she needs a bit of help balancing or she ends up doing face plants into her activity mat, right daddy? Oh, and she’s drooling like crazy. We don’t see any teeth yet but she sure does love to blow raspberries. We laugh at her when she does it so that’s probably why she keeps doing it until her bib is dripping wet. Mattie is always full of smiles and daddy calls her smiley. You need to just give her a big grin and she’ll smile right back at you.
Another few weeks and Mattie is going to start eating big girl food or at least something mushy. She’s looking forward to it because she’s always trying to steal a bite. She’s been close to getting into some chocolate cake…smart girl!
Mommy has been telling me I am turning to be a bit of a sassy girl. She’s hoping I grow out of that soon because she’s scared I will be a bad influence on Mattie. I am still working on my independence, so I want to make sure that I can do everything myself. I want to put on my own clothes, shoes, and jacket. I want to pick my own food. I want to pour my own cup of milk. I want to get into the car seat and put on my own seat belt. I would even drive the car if mommy let me.
I have to admit that my ideas are not always my own. I do borrow some of them from my wonderful cousins. Mommy calls this the “monkey see monkey do…” phase. Caleb and Micah are wonderful monkeys to follow. They always have great ideas when it comes to playing, running, jumping or just being plain old silly. Although, I must admit this does often times lead to a bit of monkey wrestling or monkey crying though.
Hopefully our next post won’t take as long! So long for now from this little monkey!

Mommy, daddy and I have had a few discussions of how unfair second and subsequent born kids always get the short end of the stick. Pictures being taken are seemingly fewer, extra diligent care and attention seem a little sparser, and attentiveness to every cry and whimper is not dealt with as immediately.
It is only fair that I be given the opportunity to do a little blogging of my own. That’s right; it’s Mattie’s turn to write a bit about life. Mommy’s going to help me get a little more into this whole blogging thing. I can’t let Yah-Yah (or a.k.a “Ga-Jea” – older sister) do all the speaking for us. As for me, sleeping is my most favourite past time and has allowed me to grow steadily. A girl needs as much beauty rest as she can get. I am recognizing more and more faces and love to smile at all those who smile at me. You can even catch some giggles from me occasionally. Aside from mommy and daddy, I think I get the most kisses from Ga-Jea. She loves kissing, hugging, and holding me. She loves me so much that she even shares her colds with me!! I don’t mind her so much right now because she’s actually quite an interesting girl. She sings and dances for me and even helps me out when I am unhappy. She rocks the bouncy chair and also puts the binky into my mouth when I need it. Mommy does have to always remind her to be gentle with me though. There have been a couple near misses as a few too many bounces on my parents’ bed have landed her pretty close to me.
I am holding my head pretty steady now and always want to sit up. I can even hold it up when I am on my tummy. I do have to admit that tummy time is definitely not my most favourite thing to do. Ga-Jea usually joins me for that because she loves the play mat; I think more than I do. She really seems to enjoy all my toys and of course mommy has to remind her they aren’t hers and that I am sharing them with her. Don’t tell her but most of the toys were hers when she was my age.
We finally managed to get Ga-Jea into her into her big girl bed and her new room. She’s been sleeping in it for a couple weeks. Yippee for me having my own bed! I haven’t slept in it yet, though. I think mommy’s holding onto me in her room for a bit longer. Apparently, she had a hard time leaving Ga-Jea alone in her room at first as well.
We managed to register and make it to music class. Thanks to Auntie Joyce for encouraging us to join. It’s great to be able to get out to do some singing and dancing. We go to art class as well but I am a still too young to use the glue sticks and paint brushes. Ga-Jea’s favourite things are the googleey-eyes on all her projects. She’s always asking, “Mommy, where are the eyes?” Appropriate for animals, but not so much for a castle or tree.
We also made it to a wonderful Charlotte Diamond concert. It was lots of funny. We went with Auntie Mars, Caleb and Micah. Eden stayed home with her “Paw-Paw”. Auntie Mars thought she would be happier at home, Eden that is. The older kids had a lot of fun singing and dancing. I watched about half of it and then fell asleep. You know being unable to sing or dance makes the music not as exciting. That’s my update for now. I will be sure to keep you all posted so you just don’t get only Ga-Jea’s point of view. Don`t forget to check out daddy`s newest obsession; his camera and of course picture of us girls!
So long for now!!

It’s been said that having one child to contend with is lots of work but having two the work some how triples or quadruples. While some may call it obsessive complusive tendecies, mommy likes to think of herself as organized. She’s finding that getting organized with us two girls has been a bit of a challenge and at times a bit stressful. Getting out of the house requires a bit of preparation and a lot of cooperation from me. A bit of an off day from me can cause us to be out of the house an hour later than mommy planned. A trip to the potty on the way out, a search for a toy to take in the car ride, refusal to put on shoes instead of my snowboots on a bright sunny day, Mattie needing a diaper change, and before you know it we are late. We have definitely been making more trips out and the panic that use to run through mommy while out with us has disappeared. We’ve been to the library for story time, we done a few grocery shopping trips, and we even went to Abbostford for a playdate with Payten, Elliot and Nikki.
Sorry, it’s been a while since our last update. Getting to the computer has been a bit of a challenge for mommy. This mat leave mommy has been finding that watching daytime TV, napping and anything computer related are no longer options for her during the day. Of course us girls have our schedules timed so that mommy never has to feel alone or think that it’s too quiet in the house.
The past month we’ve been enjoying the snow with my first sledding experience. Mommy and daddy took me to the park close to Paw Paw and Gong Gong’s house and I had a wonderful time. I made them go up and down over and over again. I know that mommy and daddy had a great time and think they secretly went sledding just for themselves but needed me as an excuse. We also built a snow family and realized that I really love playing in the snow!
Mattie has been doing well and managed to catch a cold from me. Okay, I admit it! It’s from all those kisses I give her because it’s so hard to resist those chubby cheeks. She’s been working very hard to build up all her little rolls and super cute chubbies. She’s been sleeping a whole lot and finally has started to be more awake. She’s been talking and smiling, gooing and awing. She smiles at all of us when we talk to her. Daddy’s seems to be her most favourite right now but not to worry, it won’t take much time for us to convince her that the girls are just as fun!
She did have her first set of shots and she didn’t see them coming. I tried to warn her but I guess you don’t know until you experience it yourself. There were many tears but lots of hugs and kisses from us to help her through it. Watch out , sister! There’s a few more sets to come! Mattie has also learned to take the bottle and found out how comforting a binky (pacifier) can really be.

So my newest craze is a very strong fondness or shall I say obsession with stickers and bandages. They are both along the same family of stickiness. Stickers can be found in most corners of our house, in the car, on your socks or even on your clothes. They just seem to stick all over you. I guess it doesn’t help if I get a hold of a whole book and go wild. At any one point, I can stick a whole page of stickers on my entire body. Sometimes they end up on Mattie but Mommy makes me take them off right away because she says Mattie doesn’t like them. Give Mattie a year or so and I will show her how much fun they really are. Who knows perhaps this is a start to bigger and more permanent expressions of my personal art, tatoos!!! Right, Sam Yee!
Anyway, that’s it for this post! Don’t be suprised if you happen to step or sit on a sticker because it probably was me who put it there for your enjoyment!

One more thing can be crossed off mommy’s list of accomplishments…taking us girls shopping. Yes, after 7 weeks mommy finally ventured out of the house with Mattie and me, all by herself. It may seem rather trivial at first but the intricacies of being out on our own had caused mommy much worry and trepidation. Visions of me running down the store aisles and pulling things off the shelf and Mattie screaming in her car seat made the thought of going somewhere public not even a consideration. With the gorgeous sunny day staring at us through the window mommy knew she would have to do it sooner or later. All of us fed, bathroom trips made and diaper bag stocked she bundled us up and headed out. Mind you it was just a two hour outing to pick up some toilet paper, Draino and a few other supplies. So you may be asking why it took two hours to pick up a few things. The drive to and from the stores was about 25 minutes. My small bladder accounted for 10 minutes and 3 trips in and out of our car seats into and out of shopping carts took 30 minutes. Negotiations on my part for my favourite CD and stickers took another 5 minutes. All in all, our entire shopping trip was great. I didn’t scream down any aisle and Mattie didn’t make a peep. We are saving that for later! We thought we would ease mommy into the whole thing. Watch the Visa bill, daddy!! Once mommy and Auntie Mars get coordinated they are going to be hitting the malls!
Mattie also marked her official entry into Cho babyhood with her very first “blowout”. Apparently I am quite infamous for these having a few spectacular ones in my diaper days. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term a blowout is exactly as it sounds. Blowing out the front, back, or side in any combination. We do have to give the honours to Eden though. A few weeks ago she required some hosing off as her blowout ended up her back and side, all the way up to her armpits. Way to go, Eden!! I think that comes pretty close to my all time record at Granville Island.
Mattie is still sleeping lots but I try and make lots of noise so that she’ll stay up and play with me. Mommy says it will take some more time for her to actually stay up during the day.
We are finally getting out and about for a couple days out of the week. I can’t wait to see what else mommy has planned for us this up coming year. I am so happy to have mommy with me! Mind you, I am sure mommy is counting on being able to drop me off at grandma and grandpa, occasionally, so that I don’t forget their faces.

Anyway, that’s it for this week! Hopefully we will be out for more adventures for me to share with you.

Okay, so it’s been a while since mommy has had a chance to post anything new but she’s back…finally! Getting more than 3 hours sleep and adjusting to being a mommy of two has been a bit of a challenge but she’s learning every day. Especially now, since daddy has been back at work!
This past winter has been a whirlwind of activity including the arrival of the newest member to our family…Matteah! Mommy says that Mattie is better behaved than I was when I was her age. Can that be true? Mattie has been allowing mommy to sleep more than 3 hours which apparently, I didn’t always do. She’s also a lot more easy going and just sleeps most of her days. Boy is she missing out on the world! Don’t worry, I will show her the ropes when she’s old enough to stay awake for more than half an hour! I love her to pieces. I help out mommy whenever I can and I can’t stand it when mommy doesn’t pick her up when she’s crying. I insist that she’s held until she stops. I give her lots of kisses, but apparently too many because I managed to share my cold with her (and the entire Cho clan). My kisses are sure contagious!! I help rock her in her bouncy chair and make sure that mommy knows where Mattie is at all times! I do have to admit that on occasion I have called her Eden. Eden is my newest cousin. She’s the sister to Caleb and Micah. She arrived in November, just three weeks before Mattie. The girls are going to rule…poor Caleb!!

This December also marked the turning of my ripe old age of 2. Two sure is old! I dance and sing, jump and get some air, sing songs that I know the tune to but no one understands the words and talk up a storm. I am always asking questions and make sure that I keep mommy and daddy busy by making them do everything with me. They say I am hitting my terrible two’s but I say I am expressing my personal views and opinions! Is it so bad that I think my bedtime routine lacks variety and that I need to ask to go to the potty, drink of water or read more books before I really am tired? My personal expressions (the ones that entail crying and screaming), the ones I am passionate about, have landed me in time out though! I guess I should curb a little of the passion, huh?

As well, not only did Mattie join our family but my “Bak Bak”, finally got married and we welcomed “Chi Chi” to our family. Collectively as the Cho clan we can say “FINALLY”! We were all excited and had a great time. I was asked to be a flower girl but on the day of the wedding I decided that walking down the aisle and having everyone stare at me was just a little too much. Needless to say, I had a very pretty dress to wear!
Well that’s it for now! Check out our newest pics and thanks for being so patient with the posts! Now that mommy has gotten herself a little more organized we should be definitely updating you on our family more frequently!!

…wear diapers. What do you get when you are sans diapers and go potty in the toilet? Yep, you got it a Big Girl with a trim booty. No more wet, saggy diaper bum. Mommy decided that I had been diapers long enough and wanted me to move onto the next step using the potty. Okay, so I am not perfect and I am just starting but you know my small bladder, and my distracted mind don’t always get me to the potty in time and I have had some accidents. But what do you expect when you get really mesmerized by the Mr. Potato Head with the big googly eyes or if you have accidentally put Mr. Potato head in heels and given the Mrs. the moustache. I do have to admit that I still have a fear about public washrooms. I definitely pick and choose the bathrooms that I think are safe to go in and defiantly refuse the shady looking ones. Mommy urges, pleads and bribes but she won’t get me into a dimly lit, smelly bathroom.

Well since my last post mommy, daddy and I went on a road trip down to the Oregon Coast. We stayed close to Seaside in a small town called Gearhart. We rented a little seaside cottage and I had so much fun. I loved the beach and sand, even the freezing cold water. The temperature definitely couldn’t keep me away from dipping my feet into the ocean. I actually had trouble getting to the beach because the sandy path leading to the beach was enough of a distraction that I had to stop and play all along the way. We did lots of shopping and of course had many lazy days just lounging around. It’s so much fun to have mommy and daddy around 24X7. We definitely need to do that more often.

Mommy’s tummy is definitely getting bigger and I often take a peek under her shirt to see if I can see the baby. I put my ear up to her tummy to talk to the baby and mommy says that the baby kicks whenever it hears my voice. Apparently, the baby already likes me better than daddy. I think we are going to get along smashingly. I give it kisses through mommy’s tummy and definitely love to give her tummy lots of hugs.
I have also learnt to count to ten in English and Chinese and learned to sing the alphabet song. The alphabet song sounds a little like this “H, I, J, K, M, M,N, P”. I also have found a CD that I absolutely love and insist that we play in the car. Yeah, so I may ask for the same song to be repeated the entire car trip. If you aren’t ready to hear a song 10 times over you may not want to ride with us but you never know you may want to sing along. The tunes are catchy. I have also learned to car dance. I have some great car dance moves.

Enjoy the rest of the sunny weather. We have lots of great new pics, check them out!