Welcome to Baby Ashley

Hello world! On Saturday morning, October 13, 2012 the Wang Gang welcomed our fifth member to the world.  Her name is Ashley Wang and she was born weighing 5 lbs and 11 oz.  

She's also got a good pair of lungs on her.

Lauren the Commander

See Video 402 of Lauren's little giggles which are super cute as she exercises her power over us.  She says "sleep" and "wake up" over and over and loves it when we obey her.  ("Gow gow" means sleep in Cantonese.)

Girly Girl Lauren

Lauren is a real girly-girl.  Besides loving pretty dresses, hats, having her nails cut and hair done, she also loves to wear sunglasses. She now often asks to hold them before she sleeps. 

See Video 401 of Lauren who has perfected the art of putting on her sunglasses by herself and even pushing them on top of her head.

Happy 2nd Birthday to Lauren!

October 1, 2012 marked Lauren's second birthday.  She turned TWO years old and officially became a toddler.  She's no longer a baby!

See Video 400 of us celebrating her birthday with a cake and the birthday song.  She seems to appreciate all the attention!

Sweet Sisters - Recent Videos

Our girls are so sweet together.  They play together really well now and although Lauren can be a bit demanding sometimes, Natalie is a great older sister and treats Lauren very well, often good-naturedly giving into her little sister.

Video 398 of Natalie and Lauren having fun drawing "air letters" in the taxi on our way home with ba-ba Clark.  Lately, Lauren has been very proactive trying to copy us when we speak, learning new words and perfecting her speech.

Video 399 of Natalie and Lauren playing with a camera together. Natalie loves to take pictures and now that Lauren is beginning to understand that cameras capture fascinating images (i.e. of herself) she's beginning to like them, too!

Nicholas' Birthday Party at Jumpin' Gym

On September 16, cousin Nicholas had his 4-year birthday party at Jumpin' Gym.  Of course, the kids loved it and had a great time playing, snacking, and eating sweets and cake!

Also, on this day Clark organized a special father-daughter outing with Natalie and took her to see the bubble show :)

Look at the excitement.

Carol, that is the most awesome robot cake we've ever seen!

This cotton candy was even bigger before the kids (and adults) dug into it.

Look at the excitement.  Kids and ball pits are a match made in parental heaven.

Lauren also got into the ball pit fun.

Lauren was given free reign with the cheetos and shared 2 bowls with her cousin Michael.  After she finished, she looked at her fingers and said, "Dirh-tee!" and needed them to be cleaned.

All-in-all, a great party!  Well organized, Carol Yee-yee!

Lauren's Baby Voice - Vehicles

See Video 397 of Lauren identifying vehicles in a baby board book.  This video was taken in July (sorry, a bit slow to upload!) and you can see she's getting much better at pronouncing different words and identifying objects and animals.

Primary School Applications for Natalie

We're so proud of Natalie for being accepted to our first choice for primary school. Here she is during the interview a couple weeks ago.  Thanks for Jackie Yee-yee for practicing with us almost every day in the week leading up to the interviews! 

Back in Hong Kong

The girls returned to Hong Kong end of August and we've missed them SO MUCH!  They are so fun to have around and we love having them home.  So, what have they been up to lately?

I took the girls out the day after they returned for some breakfast (and jet-lag curing sunshine) at the neighborhood McDonald's.

See Video 396 of Lauren and Natalie being silly and having fun together while out to breakfast at McDonald's.

The girls enjoyed napping on our bed as they recovered from jet-lag.

Natalie will be a flower girl at a wedding soon.  Here she is trying on a potential dress for her big role!  The back has a nice big, pink ribbon.

Here's the side and front view. More pink bows and ribbons!

 Of course, Lauren had to get in on the "pretty dress" action, too.

Our pretty girls standing together.  Natalie is a great older sister and always tries to help Lauren and gives in to her.

Now that the kids are back from summer holidays, some weekends can get pretty "kid crazy".  We always seem to have about 10 kids over at our place now!  It's tiring but we love it :)

Now that we live at Pokfulam Gardens, we have a pool just downstairs and the kids love swimming = bonus!  Here the Hua's (Toby and Caleb) stopped by for a dip in the pool with Natalie, Nicholas and Lauren.

With Summer over, it's back to school for Natalie.  Here the girls share a hug in the morning before Natalie heads off to the school bus.

On another day, the girls sit together while waiting for Natalie's school bus.  Lauren will begin school herself on Oct 1 (when she turns two years old).

While Natalie gets tutored at Debbie Yee-yee's house with her friend Olivia, Lauren hangs out with Olivia's little sister (3 year old) Sophie who kindly shares her cheerios and biscuits.

Later, look at the concentration on their faces as they try to figure out what this big toy does.

Natalie and Lauren have also been getting re-acquainted with Aunties and Uncles (our friends).  Here they are out for a stroll with Vivo Yee-yee.

We bought a new house!  One of Natalie's new toys from Canada is this 3-storey doll house.  It fits her numerous barbie toys.  Here Vanessa, Victoria and Natalie pose beside the house they all "helped" assemble.

Natalie says, "Thank you, Ba-ba, for making me my new toy!"

Peek-a-Boo Lauren

Um, there is someone hiding behind that curtain?

It's Lauren!  She LOVES to play peek-a-boo. 

See Video 395 of Lauren playing peek-a-boo with the blankets on our bed.

Another Clark look-a-like?

At 32 weeks to go, we had another visit with Dr. Doo and he kindly took a 4D ultrasound scan for us.  Here she is - baby #3!  Looks like another Clark to me with that nose and those lips...

Summer in Canada

Natalie and Lauren are now spending the summer in Canada with their grandparents and their cousins.  They are having such a good time, they don't even want to talk on the phone or facetime with us!  Besides summer camp, here's a glimpse at some of the other great experiences they're having...

Natalie making home-made raisin bread in a bread-maker.

Natalie going to chucky cheese with cousins.

Lauren enjoying fresh, summer strawberries with cousin Elise.

Natalie playing on the monkey bars.

Natalie and Lauren dressed alike with cousins Elise and Abby, and posing with Nai-nai.

Natalie in the dinosaur room at Grand River hospital getting checked.

Lauren at the petting zoo getting close with chickens.

Lauren feeding baby goats carrot sticks.

Natalie also feeding the animals with celery and carrot sticks.

Lauren passing out in car seats between adventures with cousin Michael.

Natalie popping her head out of the sunroof with cousin Nicholas.

Lauren learning to putt.

Natalie practicing her golf swing.

Natalie with her cousins hugging each other for comfort as they approach the "dark tunnel" train ride.

Natalie flying high with cousin Vanessa in a ride at Woodbine Center.

 Natalie having her face painted with cousins. She's a butterfly!

Lauren riding the tiniest merry-go-round ever.

Cuddling and giving kisses to a happy Por-por with cousins.

Playing at the park with cousin Michael.

Natalie jumping and hanging with cousins.

Lauren creating chalk art.

Riding bikes in the backyard in Toronto with Gong-gong.

Lauren playing rope with cousin Michael.

Look at the cute smiles!

Visiting the fire station with cousins.

Natalie "driving" the fire truck at the fire station.

Posing with cousins and the truly wonderful and patient firemen at the fire station.

Sitting in the ambulance and getting their finger pulse checked by the paramedic.

Natalie wrapping home-made dumplings with Yeh-yeh, Nai-nai, Por-por and cousins.

Swimming together with cousins in the backyard mini pool.

Visiting the library and posing with cut-outs.

Natalie liked being the princess (Lauren didn't know what she was).

Natalie and her cousins checking out twenty books and reading them together at home.

Sisters playing on the see-saw in Waterloo together.

Playing at the public splash pad on a hot summer's day.  

Now THAT's how to spend your Canadian child-hood summers.