Raising Lydia Anne: Father's Memoir

Lydia's Mell Dolls

2010-07-24T13:46:00.004+08:00

Lydia and her cute Mell Japanese dolls...

Lydia's New Haircut

2010-06-12T09:35:00.004+08:00

My wife took our little girl to John's and Daddy's hair salon (MasMas Hair Salon) near our house and look what the hairstylist did to Lydia's hair.... everyone loves her hair very much! : )

2010-04-09T18:15:00.003+08:00

Lydia is this year's January Super Kid!.... finally. : )

Bumblebee Class [Lydia]

Teacher: Jeannie, Dolly

Bumblebee's Super Kid truly deserves this award as she has shown great improvement both in academics and behavior. She has grown accustomed to our style of teaching and learning and has grown to love her school and class. She has finally understood how it is to compromise and in return, gained lots of friends and garnered respect and love from others. That is why we give this Super Kid Award to none other than…. Lydia! Continue your good work and you will succeed more!

Wedding Flower Girl

2010-02-04T16:00:00.010+08:00

Lydia's first time to be a flower girl in a church wedding. The bride happens to be my wife's bridesmaid 10 years ago... : )

In church for the wedding ceremony walk...

With church friends...

At the reception...

Lydia's brother John with the other flower girl...

Lydia is wearing pink shoes... : )

They look like grown up teens...

With Grandma at the dinner reception...

CKids Preschool Christmas Show

2010-01-21T17:25:00.003+08:00

Last year after my son John graduated from Hurray Montessori Preschool, both of our kids moved to new schools separately near our house district. My son started grade school while Lydia entered a new American preschool nursery called CKids which is a full-English preschool. Lydia had some adjusting to do at first in her new school with new teachers, classmates, and learning system. Good thing it didn't took long and now she is having a fun time at school.

During their Christmas show program which was held in a big auditorium, Lydia's Bumblebee class wore Teletubbies costumes. It was a great show by the way. : )

So cute...

CKids wishes everyone a White Christmas...

My Ballerina Girl

2009-08-26T21:08:00.005+08:00

My ballerina girl... ballet lessons in her kindergarten school at Hurray Montessori.

Too bad she got no talent of Hollie Steel... : )

Happy 4th Birthday (Hello Kitty Sweets)

2009-07-09T21:40:00.000+08:00

Lydia celebrating her 4th birthday at Hello Kitty Sweets...

A-bu Tin Tin (阿布丁丁)

2009-06-25T13:17:00.002+08:00

Delicious pudding (烤布丁)... A-bu Tin Tin (阿布丁丁)!

Something in Common

2008-10-04T11:55:00.005+08:00

Look what Suri and my daughter Lydia have in common... they both got the same little giraffe! (I just happened to saw this yesterday from the MSN web)

Lydia's giraffe sitting at Daddy's bookshelf...

My wife actually bought it last time from her business trip in Portland. Or maybe my wife and Katie have something more in common... aside from having a good looking husband? hahaha.

Really cute...

But Daddy said I'm cutest...

Watermelon

2008-08-07T10:26:00.000+08:00

Watermelon.... yummy!

Glass of Water

2008-07-29T23:09:00.007+08:00

A glass of water please...

I'm Three!

2008-07-09T17:35:00.000+08:00

We celebrated both Cindy's and Lydia's birthday at Ruth Chris steakhouse where they presented us this nice birthday dessert!

Me and Mommy

2008-06-03T23:31:00.001+08:00

Lydia is starting to get chubby again...

At the Park

2008-05-25T19:47:00.002+08:00

Lydia enjoys a sunny day at the park with her brother John...

Motorbike Lovers

2008-05-06T11:31:00.000+08:00

Motorbike lovers...

Lydia's Flower Sunglass

2008-04-27T17:48:00.003+08:00

Lydia's summer flower sunglass... and her new pink kids cayman crocs with strawberry jibbitz!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2008-04-19T23:44:00.005+08:00

I will remember this birthday of Lydia's grandma at a Taiwan resto. Lydia that night wants to play with the china plates and her mommy had to force the plates out of her hands... and Lydia reacted quickly (a behavior at her age right now) by throwing her spoon where she was also surprised perhaps and when she saw others looking at her, she started crying very loud. Great! Now everyone's really looking at us. Good thing, she finally accepted for mommy to hug her but kept crying until she felt asleep. I said what a way to celebrate her grandma's birthday halfday during our dinner by crying and then felling asleep.

Funny thing was later after our dinner, she was awaken by her brother who was starting to sing the birthday song when we took out the birthday cake. Grandma then took Lydia to her lap for the birthday cake cutting. Her brother's birthday song saved the day and Lydia is happy!

Lydia at IKEA

2008-04-11T23:53:00.004+08:00

Photos last December when I took a day off from work and went to IKEA with Lydia. There was not much people so Lydia had the children section much for herself.

Church Playmates

2008-04-08T22:19:00.005+08:00

Lydia with a church playmate... they sometimes play, and they sometimes quarrel, hahaha!

Lydia loves Cold Stone

2008-04-07T20:42:00.006+08:00

My Strawberry Banana Rendezvous...

Summit Resort

2008-03-29T19:31:00.001+08:00

Lydia at Summit Resort castle garden in central Taiwan last week.

Me at Outback

2008-03-26T01:22:00.003+08:00

Lydia at Outback enjoying calamari and bushman bread...

Wanna Ride My Scooter

2008-01-21T21:24:00.001+08:00

Wanna ride my scooter?

I'm a Hilfiger Girl

2008-01-03T22:10:00.002+08:00

I love this Tommy Hilfiger white winter coat gift given by Aunt Sandra to Lydia.

Sour Face

2007-11-20T23:02:00.001+08:00

Lydia likes to make a sour face expression when eating oranges...

Little Lydia and Prince Andrew

2007-10-02T17:52:00.001+08:00

We went home to Manila last month for my cousin's Johnny wedding reception. I took this photo of Little Lydia with her tall cousin Andrew.

Happy 2nd Birthday

2007-07-09T21:56:00.001+08:00

Happy birthday, Lydia.... you're two years old! Let's try this awfully chocolate banana cake.

My Big Sister Hannah

2007-07-07T22:17:00.001+08:00

Lydia loves to be with her church sister Hannah, they are close friends.... brother John agrees.

Play Ball at the Park

2007-07-01T22:07:00.001+08:00

Lydia plays ball in Sun Yat Sen memorial park while also posting for a photo with Taipei 101 at the background.

Lydia's driving a Train

2007-06-28T21:48:00.000+08:00

Li'l Miss Lydia is driving a train at Toy'sRus.... see how she enjoys it?

Rainy Days Problem

2007-04-24T17:15:00.000+08:00

Mommy! Can you open the door quickly? I can't hold on to this big umbrella anymore....

Oishii!

2007-03-11T22:40:00.001+08:00

Caution Wet Floor

2007-02-01T22:00:00.000+08:00

Little Lydia in the Philippines - Part I

2006-10-17T17:29:00.001+08:00

Little Lydia finally gets to visit Daddy's relatives in the Philippines during the Moon Festival holiday period...

Lydia and Mommy made sure Daddy took a photo of them inside the airplane...

Lydia plays with brother inside the airplane...

Uncle Marcos took us to the newest shopping mall near the airport after we arrived for lunch and Starbucks...

The first thing that caught Lydia's attention when we arrived at Grandma's house is the stairs... just like John when he first came here at 9 months old.

Lydia climbs the stairs while John uses his head to push her forward...

Lydia finally climbs to the top of the second floor while brother follows her.

John and Lydia tries the bathroom in Grandma's house... this is the bathtub?

Lydia now starts walking down the stairs with the help of Mommy.

Little Lydia and brother John meet their cousins - Andrew, Cheska, and Jill. Their cousins can't speak much Mandarin so there were some language barrier, hehe... Daddy has to work hard in training John and Lydia how to speak English.

Go to Part II - http://lyannechu.blogspot.com/2006/10/little-lydia-in-philippines-part-ii.html

Little Lydia in the Philippines - Part II

2006-10-17T10:24:00.000+08:00

Here is Part II of Lydia's family vacation in the Philippines... During the weekend, we went out of town to Fontana Water Leisure Park in Clark Pampanga and the next day to Eagle Ridge Clubhouse in Cavite.

Lydia with Aunt Susan, Aunt Julie, and Mommy in front of the vacation house as we arrived Fontana...

Lydia enjoys the swing ride with Daddy and Mommy inside the Fontana clubhouse...

Lydia sits on Grandma's lap on this swing in Fontana park...

Lydia poses with Aunt Susan and Mommy and John.

Lydia tries the Wave pool shore with daddy as this beautifully tan lady crosses by, hehe...

The next day, we first had lunch at this local seafood wet market where you first buy fresh seafoods in the market and then take them in the small catering behind where they will cook them for you..

Mommy and Lydia outside this seafood market...

Lydia sits on the stroller in front along with mommy, John, cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandma... Grandma ordered chili crabs, fried tempura shrimps, clams, and Lapu-Lapu fish.

After lunch, we head off to Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club in Cavite where we went swimming again, while others went to the gym, massage, or just stroll around...

Mommy and Lydia takes a photo on the swimming pool area...

Lydia wants to try the pool...

Lydia wants Daddy to let go thinking she can swim or walk the pool like her brother John...

Mommy takes Lydia for a stroll around the sports clubhouse..

Lydia poses in front of the green field...

Part III - the Shopping Mall:
http://lyannechu.blogspot.com/2006/10/little-lydia-in-philippines-part-iii.html

Little Lydia in the Philippines - Part III

2006-10-17T08:31:00.000+08:00

Part III of Lydia's visit in the Philippines... Monday is left to ourselves and we went off to the newest mall in town - SM Mall of Asia.

SM Mall of Asia near the airport... really big!

Daddy checks out the long lists of stores and shops inside the mall while he carries Lydia...

Lydia enjoys this horsey ride mini carousel at Tom's World inside the mall...

The mini carousel starts circling and Lydia really gets excited...

Giddy Up Horsey!!!

We took a break at Iceberg for some local halo-halo and mango ice.

Ice halo-halo traditional and mango... yum! yum!

Lydia tries to eat the tissue paper after Mommy won't let her eat some ice halo-halo mango...

Lydia gets to test drive the push cart while she sits on her brother's lap... of course, Daddy is the one pushing the cart.

Brother John relaxes while he lets Lydia do the driving, hehe...

Finally back to Taiwan....

Walking, Climbing, Biking?

2006-08-31T16:48:00.000+08:00

Lydia is now starting to walk... and can climb bed, sofa, even her brother's bicycle... now she even wants to ride it...

Lydia climbs into her brother's bike...

Brother John takes Lydia to a ride while she attempts to stand on her feet...

Mommy joins the fun... yeah!

New Summer Hairstyle

2006-08-15T09:54:00.001+08:00

Lydia's new summer haircut...

My Baby Girl is 1 Year Old

2006-07-09T22:27:00.000+08:00

Today is the 1st birthday of my baby girl, Lydia Anne - 1 Year Old. She's still more attached to her mommy than to poor old daddy me (sigh)... but soon she'll be a daddy's girl when she grows up, hehe.

I took my family together with Cindy's parents and brothers to Brother Hotel Orchid Room (蘭花廳) for my favorite Taiwanese dishes served with sweet potato porridge (清粥小菜). My son also loves to eat sweet potato. One of our favorite dishes is the oyster with black beans.

Then we bought a mango mousse birthday cake at the 13F, brought it home to grandparent's house and sang a birthday song to Lydia Anne together with her several young aunts. Lyanne is so lady.

Happy Birthday, Chieh-En. Happy Birthday, Mei-mei. Happy Birthday, Lyanne.

Brother Bullies Little Sister

2006-07-05T12:03:00.000+08:00

My wife is shooting a clip video with our kids using our digital camera. Big brother John is eating my favorite grain chips while baby sister Lydia goes near him to share some of his food. This video was caught by our camera... naughty John, poor Lydia!

Lydia still looks at the chips while John makes a monkey face, ha ha ha!

Cute Shirt, Cute Girl

2006-06-12T23:55:00.001+08:00

My wife bought this cute T-shirt for our cute little girl... but a "Tomboy Girl" printed on it?

Lydia Anne in HongKong

2006-05-15T22:44:00.000+08:00

Lydia Anne finally joins Daddy, Mommy and brother John in her first trip abroad to HongKong for 3 days and 2 nights. We stayed in Langham Place hotel (see some reviews from TripAdvisor) - nice and new hotel, good location, a connecting big mall and subway, very nice staff, and good food as well. We decided to skip the Disneyland plan this time for fear of too many people as it was Golden Week in mainland China and holiday in Hong Kong as well. We just enjoyed our time in the hotel, the mall, and Victoria Harbour. The hotel buffet was also great and lots of food.

(1) Lydia ready to board the airplane...

(2) Lydia taking a bath at the hotel upon arrival...

(3) Lydia trying out Langham Place Hotel's blissful bed...

(4) Daddy and big brother joins Lyda in bed while Mommy takes this photo...

(5)Lydia likes the bed very much...

(6) Milk drinking contest with brother John before bedtime..

(7) Goodnight..

(8) Lydia in Hong Kong Victoria Harbour...

(9) Lydia sleepy after strolling Victoria Harbour...

(10) Waaa!!! I want to go home...

John takes Lydia for a bike ride

2006-04-16T09:25:00.000+08:00

Baby Lydia enjoys a bike ride from her brother John... round and round and round around our dining table.

Lyanne is now 4 months old!

2005-11-09T22:33:00.000+08:00

Lyanne is now 4 months old! Brown hair and loves to smile.

First Family Photo with Lyanne

2005-10-30T22:55:00.000+08:00

Finally, our first family picture with baby Lyanne.

Miss Lyanne is now 1 month

2005-08-09T12:30:00.000+08:00

Little miss Lyanne is now 1 month old! Congratulations also to my wife Cindy for a great job as mommy.

Lyanne is now 3.4 kilos and getting big.

Sleeping Beauty

2005-07-26T13:06:00.000+08:00

Lyanne sleeps soundly... sleeps... sleeps... sleeps.

Big Brother & Little Sister

2005-07-18T19:30:00.000+08:00

Meet big brother John plays with his little sister Lyanne...

Little Miss Lyanne Arrives Home

2005-07-12T13:03:00.000+08:00

Welcome home, little miss Lydia Anne (潔恩). As usual, everyone says she has her daddy's lovely nose. She also has her brother Little John's hairstyle (Beckham) when he was a baby.

Here is her brother Little John when he was just 10 days old:

Cindy Gives Birth to Lyanne

2005-07-09T21:58:00.000+08:00

Praise the Lord! Cindy already gave birth to Lydia Anne exactly Saturday 10:51am. She weighs a slim 2636 grams. We went to the hospital around 10:00am and had a quick smooth delivery. Thanks for church brothers and sisters for always praying for Cindy and baby Lyanne.

Lyanne's Chinese Name

2005-06-02T18:11:00.000+08:00

Cindy and I are leaning on "潔恩" (Chieh-En) as Lyanne's Chinese name. 潔 (Chieh) is from the word 聖潔 which means 'pure or holy'; while 恩 (En) is from the word 恩惠 which means 'kind or gracious'. It is a Chinese custom to have one similar word in Chinese names of children in one family. The Chinese name of Lyanne's old brother is 啟恩 (Chi-En) so both of them have the same last word 恩 (En) in their names... May God be gracious and kind to us.

Lyanne is in Normal Position

2005-05-29T06:05:00.000+08:00

Praise the Lord! Just after two weeks, doctor said Baby Lyanne is back to normal position. Thanks for the prayers of the church! Still need your prayers for Baby Lyanne to be healthy.

Lyanne is in Breech Position

2005-05-17T12:37:00.000+08:00

Doctor told my wife last two weeks that Baby Lyanne is lying with her head upwards and not downwards towards the uterus (breech position). We still have 1 and a half months before Cindy gives birth. Otherwise, Cindy will need to have a cesarean birth (剖腹產). Ouch! Doctor advised her to do some exercise in the bed. Asked for our church to pray for a normal delivery.

Read more: http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pregnancy/childbirth/158.html

Choosing Lyanne's Chinese Name

2005-05-05T04:00:00.000+08:00

Is it tough to choose a Chinese name especially for a girl? It has been driving us nuts trying to figure out the right name for Baby Lyanne. Some names we listed were either already used by others in our church, or it sounds like other names in our church, or simply does not sounds good or does not have any meaning at all.

Welcoming Lydia Anne

2005-04-22T01:17:00.000+08:00

Me and my wife will be posting blogs during the course of our coming second baby due this month of July - Lydia Anne (nickname: Lyanne or Little Anne)

(Baby Lydia Anne)

Her first name 'Lydia' came from my morning Bible devotion in the Book of Acts:

"One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. 'If you consider me a believer in the Lord,' she said, 'come and stay at my house.' And she persuaded us. " (Acts 16:14~15)

"After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia's house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left." (Acts 16:40)

Her second name "Anne" is derived from Anna, the prophetess mentioned in the Gospel of Luke:

"There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eightyfour. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem."

My prayer is for our coming daughter to grow as a worshiper of God... that our Lord would open her heart to respond to the word of God... that she and her household would believe and serve the Lord... to shelter and help those who minister to Jesus... and to speak about Jesus and His redeeming grace.

As we pray, we offer this child again to our merciful and loving Father God.

In Christ,