Welcome back to the "normal" edition of our homepage. To be honest with you, all that pink and red was beginning to get on my nerves. But then again I need to get used to it since now there are TWO FEMALES in the household and I'm heavily out numbered.

Well, it is a bit unfair since I'm the one updating the webpage most of the time and so Chris really doesn't have a chance to voice her opinion. That is why on this edition of our homepage, you will see more of Chris' "contribution" to voice her opinions. Afterall, the "C" in "C&J Homepage" stands fo.......what the??!!.........HEY! You little.......BRITTANY!

Also, you now can browse our news headlines here on this page, click on a headline and it will go directly to it, instead of having to scroll through everything. Just a little new function I've learned lately.

Brittany has been smiling a LOT more lately, and we've actually even heard some laughs. I think she recognizes both of us, as she has been smiling at us when we talk to her. She's even been smiling at strangers, so I think she has finally mastered that art. Brittany has also been talking more, and coos at us all the time. Jason recently went and bought a mini tape recorder to record her sounds so we can thoroughly embarrass her as a teen. There are some nights when we put her to sleep and she sits and coos for several minutes. Jason and I are always tempted to go in and talk to her, but we like our sleep too! =)

We recently had some company from Brittany's Grandma Grams and Uncle Noah. Though they don't really interact yet, Brittany and Noah definitely look at each other. Sometimes she'll smile at him, but not all the time. Funny story....Jason came home from work one day when Grandma and Noah were here, and both of the babies started crying while I was making dinner. Jason and Grandma thought it was funny at first, but then Brittany and Noah kept feeding off of each other. The next thing we knew we had two very hysterical babies on our hands! Quite a predicament I must say! =) I also went down to spend some time at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and with all the recent visiting, Brittany is starting to smile and recognize her grandparents.

Jason and I recently purchased a camcorder. We're hoping to get it by the end of next week. Brittany is cooing so much lately that we wanted to get it on film. She's growing so fast and changing so quickly that we need to get it on film or we'll forget what she looked and acted like. I don't know how possible it is, but Jason really wants to be able to put a video clip on this site. It may be awhile though, so don't get too excited. A sound clip will probably come first in that respect. (Jason: Yes it is possible to transfer some of the video clips onto this site, but it will probably be some time before it can be done, since we’ll need to find a software to do it.)

Christine had her 20^th birthday on April 16, and we thought it was very nice that it fell on a Sunday this year. It would be great, I wouldn’t have to go to work, and we would spend the whole day together, go for a picnic in the park during the day, have a nice dinner in a fancy restaurant, and it would be a day that she’d never forget.

Well it was a day that she’d never forget all right. But it didn’t turn out exactly as planned.

For starters, the weather was very very crummy. Thick clouds in the sky, with temperature at about 35 degrees F (2 degrees C). The sun did not come out once all day. So much for a stroll in the park. And we also forgot that we had a daughter. Brittany apparently decided that she didn’t care whose birthday it was, that she was the baby in the house and everyday would be her day. She was unconsolably cranky all day, crying and screaming, wouldn’t eat long enough to fill her hunger, and wouldn’t nap long enough to rest her tired little body. And yes she was sooooooo tired, or what you would call "over-tired," but didn’t know how to fall asleep. That’s part of the reason that she was so cranky. We tried everything. The longest nap she took was about 1 hour, Chris’ lap. But as soon as we put her down in the crib, she’d wake right up as if to say "What do you think you’re doing? Don’t think I don’t know you’re trying to leave me!" By the end of the day Chris and I were both physically and mentally exhausted.

Eventually at about eight o’clock that night, Brittany finally fell asleep for the day, and it made things better when I gave Chris her birthday present. We got to spend some quality time together without a screaming baby, and Chris’ birthday was not completely ruined afterall

As spring is nearing and the temperature has risen somewhat, a few guys from work are getting together to play some flag football (that’s the American style football, not soccer) once a week. I had decided to join in, with the objective of just getting out there for some fresh air and some exercise. Two weeks ago Friday night was the first time we played. I came home that night and walked in the door, looking and feeling like I had just received a serious beating from 10 men, a few bruises here and there, but sore all over my body. Of course Chris and Brittany were standing at the door, and all I remember was Chris laughing at me. It was an amusing sight though, that I was walking like Frankenstein, trying to minimize the length of my strides so as not to hurt anymore than I did. All day the next two days, I was still sore though increasingly getting less so. A lot of stretching helped. And by Monday I was feeling great, because I wasn’t hurting anymore and because it felt great to start my body back on a "moving" mode.

Since then I have played one more time last week, and hopefully continue on every week for as long as the weather is nice.

Brittany is now 4 and ½ months old, and according to "popular opinions" this is the time when she’s supposed to start teething. In the beginning we had no idea what was wrong with her; she was so fussy all the time, apparently in pain but we could not figure out what it was. We tried everything, checking her diaper, feeding her, rocking her to sleep, checking her temperature, to no avail. Then one day Chris talked to her friend Courtney, a young mother of two, and was told convincingly that Brittany must have been teething. Sure enough, when Chris stuck her finger in Brittany mouth and felt around her gums, there were bumps underneath. Yes, she was in fact teething, which explained her recent sleeplessness (and ours too) and fussiness. She would wake up screaming two to three times every night, and now apparent to us that she must have been in pain. So we gave her cold teething rings to chew on, and she would gnaw away to relieve her pain.

The pain must have gone now, because she is once again sleeping through the night, and much easier to deal with. She still continues to chew on everything she can get her mouth on, which includes her bouncy car, a telephone, daddy’s fingers, mommy’s nose, and her all time favorite: both of her fists at the same time. Even then, once again she is a happy baby, talking and yapping away like she used to. And all our lives are much happier now.

Because Brittany is a breast-fed baby, everytime she is hungry Chris would have to feed her. Brittany is hungry every few hours, so Chris can never get a break, even though I try to help out in most other ways, I cannot be the one feeding her. But now, once again thanks to Courtney, who has lent us her very very nice hospital grade electric breast pump, Chris is able to pump milk and feed Brittany the bottle. In the beginning, Brittany did not know how to eat out of the bottle, since the motion is different between bottle feeding and breast feeding. For those of you who are unfamiliar (including myself a few months ago), eating from a bottle the baby has to suck, but eating from the breast the baby uses her tongue to manuever under the breast to press out the milk. So when we gave Brittany the bottle at first, she would try to tongue the bottle nipple but couldn’t get the milk to flow through. And she would still cry because she’s still hungry and not getting any food. But we kept trying persistently, and she is now beginning to get the idea. She is now a versitile baby with both bottle eating and breast eating skills. This is wonderful news to Chris because now she has the option to sleep through the night and maybe let me feed Brittany sometimes. Later on we may even be able to get away by ourselves for a few hours,  have her babysat for a while and will still be okay. What a relief!!!

June 29, 2000

This was Chris’ first Mother’s Day. She was very excited about it, and all the pressure was on me to make it a memorable one for her. Came Sunday morning, I got up and made her breakfast. Nothing spectacular, just eggs and toast and cereal. But the point was that she didn’t have to make it herself.

It was a beautiful day, sun shining and wind breezing. So we decided to have a picnic in the park, and brough some leftover bread to feed the ducks. There were no ducks to feed, but Brittany went on her first swing and slide ride. Not by herself obviously, but she seemed to enjoy it very much. She had been very very good all day, mostly quiet and lots of laughters.

I gave Chris a couple of gifts, one is a electric self-massager, because she sometimes has back pain and I’m not always available for backrubs. On behalf of Brittany, I also bought her a "casting set," with which we can make a mold of Brittany’s hand and foot, mounting them on a wooden base for keep’s sake. So that afternoon we had a lot of fun holding Brittany’s foot in a tub of gooey cement-like material, making a mold of her foot. We made a big mess, but it was fun and it turned out very nice. . It turned out really well, and is now a treasured keepsake kept in her room. In Chris' words, "I’m sure I’ll love to look at it as she grows."

That night, I made Chris’ favorite dish, Fetticini Alfredo (with fresh cheese!), for dinner. It turned out better than I actually expected, thanks to a good receipe.

All in all, we had a very good day and I think that it was a memorable first Mother’s Day for my dear wife Christine.

Every few years, the Tse family sisters (on my mother’s side of the family) coordinate a family reunion. The first one was about ten years ago in San Diego, California, where my aunt Catherine lives. Because that time all the sisters (a total of seven) and others jammed under the same roof and spent days together, and with the location of the reunion, it was conveniently called Hotel California. From that point on, every reunion carries the name "Hotel XXXXXXX". This August it’ll be held in Toronto Canada, where aunt Sandra and her family live.

Yep, Brittany officially has teeth, two of them to be exact. She got the first one on Tuesday May 23, 2000, and its neighbor followed closely (the two front bottom teeth). They have slowly been coming up more and more over the past month, and Jason and his sore fingers will tell you. We’ve been using a baby toothbrush on her after meals to keep her teeth clean (no toothpaste yet) and the doctor just put her on fluoride drops at her six months checkup. You’ll probably even be able to see the teeth on the latest photo page if you look close enough.

Happy 21st Birthday to Christine!

I don't know why I've been delegated to write this (Christine) seeing as the celebration of my 21st birthday is not something I remember very well. I turned 21 the day after Easter (april 16th) and the following Saturday night Jason and our neighbors Doug and Karen took me to dowtown La Crosse and we all celebrated by drinking wayyyyy too heavily (not to worry though, as they tell me that we took a cab home). We had a mutual friend watch the children, and had a really great time just going out and being couples, rather than parents for one evening. 

On the actual day of my birthday, I was in Darien visiting my family. Mom had a beautiful birthday cake made for me, with some of my pictures from my baby days to my graduation, my wedding and my becoming a mother. All the pictures are actually frosting on the cake, so not only did they look nice, they tasted pretty good too. Mom and I went shopping as my birthday present, and I got a lot of new clothes since most of my old clothes don't fit anymore (and that's kind of a good thing because that means I lost a lot of weight!).

Since our last update, I have started working a few nights a week to set aside some money for college, as I will be returning to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse this fall. The hours work out in a way that Jason gets home at five, we eat dinner together as a family and then I go to work at 6 p.m. Jason has really been enjoying the bonding time with Brittany, and the job gives me a chance to get out and earn some money of my own. We also have Brittany set up in a day care for the fall when I go back to school. She'll be there Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, and will be home with me the rest of the time. I think it will be a good opportunity for her to make some friends and socialize with children her own age, and the woman who is providing care is absolutely wonderful with children. I have to say that I'm very happy at this point in my life, and I'm quite excited about being able to go back to college this fall :)

We are the Champions!!!

In the past three years I have been participating in a pool league. Every year from September to the end of March, a few guys from work and I play once a week in a bar-sponsored team against teams from other bars. At the end of the regular season, there is a city tournament in which the first 3 places win award money and trophies.

For the second time in three years, our team was able to win first place in the tournament this year. Last Saturday on March 17^th, we played in the tournament and it was a long long day of a lot of pool shooting. We started at 10:00am, played our first round, and advanced to the second round. We lost in the second round and were sent to the losers’ bracket because it was in a double elimination format. The next game began at 5:00pm, and we were able to continue beating other teams in that bracket. We beat 3 teams in the losers’ bracket and advanced to the finals against the winner of the winners’ bracket, which turned out to be the very team that beat us earlier that day. The game started at 9:30pm. By that time we were all just physically and mentally exhausted.

In the finals, since our opponents were from the winners’ bracket, we would have to beat them twice in order to win the title. And we beat them twice.

Suddenly, none of us was tired anymore. Adrenaline was pumping and we were high-fiving each other and screaming “YEAH BABY!!!” Each of us received a beautiful trophy, the team as a whole received a plaque and award money. We even had our picture taken and it was published in the league news magazine. Because I had been the captain of the team and organized the team’s rosters and activities, I was voted by the other team members as the team MVP. And we also received a plaque for taking 3^rd place during the regular season. So by the end of the day, I took home one trophy, 3 plaques and money winnings.  

Before going home, the team went back to the bar that sponsored our team to announce our achivement. The DJ announced it to the crowd, as I held up the plaque high over my head, the entire bar cheered and applauded. It was quite a rush. I cannot wait until next season starts and I hope we can repeat our success.

Fun with the phone

As you may remember from previous pictures, Brittany seems to enjoy talking on the phone. Despite the three toy phones that she has, she prefers the real thing probably because it gives a real dial tone and the buttons make a beeping sound with she pushes them. Sometimes we leave the cordless phone in low places and she gets a hold of it and starts dialing. Normally she would press a few buttons, and would get a "The number you have called is not a valid number. Please check the number and dial again" message. So usually we just let her play. But this time it was different.

As I was holding Brittany one afternoon, and she was again playing with the phone and dialing numbers. Suddenly I heard the other end of the call sounded like something like "...how can I help you?" I immediately grabbed the phone out of Brittany's hand and apologized to the person on the phone. "My daughter was playing with the phone. Sorry for the call." He said it was no problem.

About five minutes later, someone was knocking on our front door loudly. Bang Bang Bang. As I opened the door there was two uniformed police officers standing outside, asked if they could come in. I thought Oh my God what had happened? Was someone in an accident? Did we break any laws? They said that someone dialed 911 and they traced the number to our house. Still in shock, I explained that it was Brittany, our 15-month-old, that had placed the call and probably had a crime to report (that she was hungry or something). Apparently it was a routine procedure that as soon as 911 was dialed, the call is traced and cops will show up to see what happens. We assured them that there was no emergency, and the chance that a baby could dial the numbers nine, one and one in a sequential manner is probably pretty rare. It was just an accident. The police officers were friendly enough to be very understanding and were not upset at all. What a relief.

Needless to say, from that day on Brittany has not been playing with the real phone anymore.

Our new toy: A 1 GHz computer

Until recently, we have been struggling with our old PC, a 120 MHz dinosaur. It was top of the line when I bought it, but that was in 1995. Now it seems so slow and more and more frequently it will crash for no reason. And the sound has been gone for a year. So we decided to move on with the times and purchase a up-to-date computer system.

As for the old computer, we will be setting it up down in the basement. Chris has decided to use that for her late night typing when we goes back to school next fall so the click-click-click won't keep me up (our computer is in our bedroom). 

We are very excited about our new computer. Finally we can play games with Brittany, listen to online radio (such as Hong Kong stations), watch DVD movies and download mp3 (and be able to play them!)

Welcome Mexico!

Here's an email we received recently:

Can you believe it? As the person putting up the website, I cannot tell you how glad I am to get a fan mail like this, although I'm sure her compliments were to the pictures, not the webpage. Nevertheless, the email made my day. Thank you Susana, and welcome to the Cheng Family Homepage.

Mississippi Rising

As some of you may have heard, the Midwestern United States recently has been facing a flood problem. This is due to the weather warming up, and much of the ice in the northern Dakotas and Minnesota are melted, causing the water level in the Mississippi River to rise. Many cities in the southeast Minnesota, including Winona (the town I work in), and southwestern Wisconsin including La Crosse (where we live) are flooded in some areas from the overflowing of the river. Some dykes (which I have now learned are essentially banks along the river to stop the water) are not tall enough to hold the water, even though in LaCrosse they are 20 feet high, the water level was predicted to be at 23 feet. This year is the worst flooding in La Crosse in 30 years.

Fortunately, we live on relatively high land. I don’t know how high above the river it is but I’m sure it’s at least 40 feet. Many riverfront restaurants and stores would have to be completely submerged before we would have water flooding. But we do have sympathy for the some of our friends that live near the river. As you can see in the pictures some houses have their first floor half way flooded and the people are forced to either live on the second floor or evacuate entirely. In Winona, we are directed to put our computers up on the desks and move documents up from lower desk drawers, in case the offices are flooded. At this time, the river has finally crested (meaning it’s reached its highest level) and can only recede from this point. No flooding in the offices and no damage done to us.

Enjoying the outdoors

Goodbye old man Winter. Spring is here. The weather has been so nice outside lately, the temperature has been in the 70's F (low 20's C). The sun is out shining almost everyday, but not too hot thanks to a slight cool breeze. So this is the season to go outside and play. Brittany is excited especially since she's been couped up in the house most of the winter.

As much as possible, we like to take Brittany to the park. Before the big flood, we used to go to the Pettibone Park in La Crosse. It's a very big park with wide open fields and plenty of room to run around. Ahhhh, all the new things to see and touch. Brittany particularly loves to pet the trees. But the flood has swallowed the park up and it was at one point completely under water. So we discover other places to go.

There is a children's park called the Myrick Park, right across the street from Univ. of Wisconsin La Crosse campus. It is like a kid's heaven there. Lots of slides, swings, climb-in maze, monkey bars, you name it. Right next to it is a small zoo, with rabbits, chinchillas, monkeys, bears, goats and peacocks. And it's all free. Needless to say there are tons of other children there as well, but that does not phaze Brittany at all. She would walk right up to a kid and start talking to him/her. It's so cute to watch.

During the weekdays, when I get home from work there's usually still a couple of hours of good sunlight, but not enough to go to the park. So after dinner we would go out for a walk. Brittany has her very own vehicle, with a personalized license plate and all. She absolutely loves to ride in it. We push the car by the handle bar from behind, and all she has to do is sit there and enjoy the breeze in her hair and all the neat scenary that we pass. But when the sun goes down, that's the difficult part, because it means she has to part with the car and go inside!

New tricks for Brittany

Brittany is now at an age when she learns a new trick almost everyday, and the latest thing she learned is saying “uh-oh”. I think it’s because Christine says it sometimes, and just one day she dropped a toy and she said “Uh-oh.” That blew my mind since I did not expect that at all. Now she says it all the time, whether it’s really an uh-oh incident or not. It’s so cute.

Another day we were playing with her in bed, and as usual she was climbing all over us like we were jungle gyms. She accidently poked Chris in the ribs and Chris said ouch Brittany you hurt Mommy. “Sorry.” Did she say “sorry”? I think she said “sorry”!!! She hasn’t said it since but we know now she knows what it means.

Ever since she has been walking, we have been putting shoes on Brittany. Her first couple of pairs of shoes were lace-tied, then we began to buy velcro shoes for her so she can learn to put on her own shoes. The next thing you know, she’s very much “attached” to the velcro shoes. She loves putting them on, taking them off, and putting them on again. This can entertain her for hours. She can’t quite put them on by herself yet, but she tries real hard and most of the time demands us to help her by bringing the shoes to us and sitting on our lap. She sometimes even gets interested in shoes that are just a bit too big for her (like wearing mine in the picture!)

New family protraits

Here are a couple of the newest protraits we had professionally taken at JC Penney. Since the last protrait (as you see on this page's background), Brittany has grown up quite a bit, Chris cut her hair and lost of lot of weight (and returned to her beautiful self), and I buzzed up my hair. Click on the pictures for a close up.

Next step: Sony Playstation 2?

Even before we got the new computer, we had already bought a computer game for Brittany. It is from a highly recommended computer learning series called Jump Start, which has multiple titles tailored for different age groups. The one we got for Brittany is called Jump Start Baby, and it is so much fun. Games like Peek-a-Boo, Sing-alongs, colors, what-to-wear, and a family tree where you can customize by scanning in your own pictures. The games are also very interactive, Brittany can press any button on the keyboard or the mouse and a frog will jump out or a bird will chirp. She giggles everytime she plays it, and she sometimes dances with the nursery rhymes too. We are so glad we got this game, and as soon as she’s old enough you can be sure Jump Start Toddler is her next present.

November 22, 2001

Welcome back to our website. This update has been so extremely overdue, it's almost embarrassing. If you want to hear my excuses, life has been very busy, with Christine now going back to school and work at the same time, we don't have much time to do anything other than catching up with chores. But there is not enough excuses to leave family and friends out of the loop, so I apologize for the delayed update.

Since last May, many many things have happened. Brittany has grown up so much already, through her ever-expanding vocabulary and personality. 

Christine is going back to school at UW-LaCrosse, and is doing very very well. I had made a trip back to Rochester for a college friend Tomi's wedding, and had a blast hanging out with lots of my old friends. Our second car Ford Escort had finally bit the dust, and we had replaced it with a 1997 Honda Civic. So many things.

Oh yeah, and I turned 30. I keep trying to forget that part.

Anyway, I hope this update will keep you up to date with us for a little while. With lazy me responsible for the website, who knows when the next update will come! (Ouch, that hurts Chris).

Oh by the way, HAPPY THANKSGIVING, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Jason Cheng

Chitty-chatty Brittany

Since our last update, Brittany's vocabulary has expanded at an incrdible pace. She now speaks in a manner which we understand, and instead of saying individual words she will sometimes speak using complete sentences. For instance, if she wants a snack, she will call "Da Da, apple please." It's so incredibly cute. She says "peas" instead of "please", of course. One of her funniest mispronunciations comes when we ask her what sound a duck makes. Instead of saying "Quack Quack" she bends her arms like a duck and says "Duck Duck Duck". Makes us laugh everytime.

Little girl with an attitude

One of the greatest thing of the last few months is the growing personality Brittany has developed. She now has a very strong personality with definite likes and dislikes.  She says "Nope" when doesn't want something, and she will tell you if something is not right. She scolds Daddy by shaking her finger at him and yelling when he doesn't take his shoes off when he comes in the door. She also has preferences about clothing, what toys she likes and dislikes and even discovered how to sweet talk Daddy. The way she tilts her head and gives you the look, bats her eyes with a sweet smile on her face, can get you to do anything for her. She will definitely not be a wallflower. She has this spunky personality that we both love to watch.

Day Care

Starting this past September, Brittany started going to day care three mornings a week. Kim Fenske, the day care provider, is absolutely wonderful with Brittany. She is state-licensed and has a degree in Elementary Education. Impressive resumé aside, she is very patient and understanding, yet never spoils or neglect the children. Brittany adores her and her three boys, and loves going to her house to play. Kim does a preschool program with the children she watches, so every once in a while Brittany comes home with a lunch bag puppet or a paper puppy. The fact that Brittany has playmates makes us feel that it gives her the social interaction she needs at this age. She has made so many friends, and especially loves Baby Emily, a 3-month-old there. I think we are very lucky that Brittany is going to such a wonderful place for day care.

Back to school Christine

The reason that Brittany started day care is that I have started back to school this September. I'm still attending the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse, though I'm only a half-time student rather than full-time. I'm taking 3 classes (8 credits): Music Appreciation, History and Communication Studies. They are all requirements to graduate. I'm really enjoying them, particularly my speech class (Communication Studies). I'm getting straight A's right now, and have my finals in about a month. I'm still working at the grocery store though, so I'm constantly busy.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Jason had been taking the old car to work, an old Ford Escort which we bought third-handed with plenty of miles on it. For a while it had been flirting with the end  of its life by displaying occasional problems, and last month it finally retired itself. Jason tried driving it to work one morning, and the transmission was slipping to the point that it would not upshift past third gear to highway speed. After some scrambling for rides and trying to find time to shop for cars, we finally decided on a 1997 Honda Civic. Since Jason is the one primarily driving it, we got a car that was more for his taste. It's a manual transmission and that means that I have some learning to do. Brittany loves the car, and the first time we drove her in it, she screamed when we tried to take her outof the carseat. We let her sit in the car in the parking lot at home, and it took us a good 20 minutes to convince her to come inside the house.

Life as a gymnast?

In the last couple of months, Brittany has decided that walking is not the prefered method of transportation. She JUMPS everywhere. Jumps to get to her highchair, hops to Kim's house, bounces on the bed, leaps into leaves. You get the idea. She's surprisingly agile, and always amazes us by her ability to stay on her feet. She even treis to jump down the stairs but of course we are quick to put a stop to that. And her new found hobby naturally made her a perfect bunny, which we dressed her up as in Halloween. She was so cute. (Pictures have not been developed yet but will be followed shortly).

Jason's BIG Birthday

Yes, I'm finally an old man. Or may be that I've finally grown up to BE a man. On October 12th, I turned 30.  And believe me, Christine did not forget, and didn't let me forget about it either. On the night before my birthday, we told me that she had to work (she didn't) and she sneaked into my office and decorated it with black balloons, streamers, ribbons and this obnoxious inflatable cane. Needless to say, I was very surprised when I got in. All my coworkers teased me all day, not about my age, but about the decorations.

Brittany helped Christine decorate a cake, in which she apparently stuck her finger a couple of times, unable to resist the tasty frosting. She also helped me blow out the candles and make a wish. The most touching part was that Christine had taught her to say the word "birthday" so she could wish Daddy a happy birthday, although she kind of says it "burd-dei". I am very glad that I have this loving family to celebrate my BIG birthday with me.