Reasons why my blog revival failed

OK, so I'm about to explain (with my tail between my legs), why my recent blog revival failed.

1. My phone blogging idea went kaput/caput/capoot (how the hell do you spell that??) because apparently my phone has a character limit of 160 when you send to non-verizon phones (meaning a website or e-mail address). So, my ideas of blogging while on the go did not GO very far at all. I actually wrote two nice blogs during my commutes to school and tried several ways to send it, but now they are forever trapped in the memory of my phone, never to be read.

2. The second reason is also the answer to anybody asking "how's life with another baby?" or "how's the baby?" or "getting any sleep?" Well, my experience has been that the second child is much much easier! I've already perfected my various infant holds, my walk-and-bounce is finely honed and able to quell most types of cries (except the one that results in a pass to mommy), and a lot of the general questions and worries that we had with Connor have given us the experience to tackle most issues that come up with Zoë. Now, that being said, there are still some things that come up and some situations that are new that require some improvising or pondering. But, in general, I'm personally much more experienced when it comes to dealing with a baby (of course, that's not too hard, because I was completely INexperienced the first time around!) Anyways, that's just one question. The more important question is "how is life with TWO kids?" Now, this is where the question gets interesting and may require a lot more time to write about than I currently have (I'm administering a quiz to my 9th grade chem class right now, so unbeknownst to them, I'm blogging while they all labor over a quiz...heh heh heh). Anyways, having a newborn AND a two and a half year old is exhausting! Perhaps I will detail further anecdotes about specifics in future blogs (yes, hopefully they continue to come...), but my days usually start with waking up, getting myself ready, waking Connor up and getting him fed, cleaned, dressed, teethbrushed, put in his coat and shoes, and out the door (all with the help of Shannon - until she goes back to work). I'll pause here to say that this almost NEVER happens without some kind of breakdown incident. Either we chose the wrong cereal, or he doesn't want to wash his hands after he pees, or he doesn't want to put on his pants (or his shirt or his shoes or his socks or his coat) or he desperately wants to wear a pair of jammy shorts to school in the middle of winter and not the nice warm pants that we picked out...the list goes on and on and usually days include a combination of these. So, that's just how the day begins! Then I go to work and do my thang and try to do as much work that I used to do at home (grading, planning, prepping, reading, etc.) while I'm at work. Because when I leave, we pick up Connor and head back home. Now, it's time to work on dinner and playing with the kids and entertaining Connor. If I even try to sit down at my computer, he pulls me up and says, "no daddy! come play with me!" Then, we have dinner and by the time we're done, there's a little more play time while the adults clean up and then it's time to put Connor to bed. This includes bath time (sometimes for both kids), getting into jammys, brushing of teeth, bedtime stories, and then the actual going to sleep (the whole process of which can take up to an hour, maybe more depending on how wired Connor is). Now that Connor is finally asleep I can finish cleaning up the apt (which is never ever really "done"), do any work that "must" be done for the next day of school and by this time, it's really late and I need to collapse into bed. So, all of this is a very long-winded way of explaining why blogging can't be done during the weekdays.

3. To follow the previous point up, we've been away almost every single weekend since mid-December (either to NJ, CT, or MA) to visit various families and functions.

So, my quiz is almost over. I've already had to quickly minimize my screen when students come by to ask me questions or hand in their quiz. But, I hope that this explains a little bit about why blogging has become increasingly more difficult (I was never really good at it to begin with).

But, check in every so often because maybe things will change or I'll figure something out. But, in the meantime, keep going to http://ctam.shutterfly.com to see updated pictures (including ones from x-mas and our family trip to Florida).

Also, if you want a consistent blog to go to, Jon is amazingly persistent in his blogging! (of course HE only has ONE kid! J/K)

TTFN!

My brother is already making me sick...

No, no, no...not MY brother (as in Jon), but Zoë's brother! In a few hours, Zoë will turn a week old! And, as of yesterday, Connor has already gotten her sick. So, that means that Zoë had her first cold in her life within 6 days. Good job Connor! Unfortunately, it was pretty much inevitable. Since this weekend, both Connor and Shannon had colds (coughing, sneezing, runny noses) and Connor especially had all sorts of stuff leaking out of his nose. So, Zoë's immune system was no match for his barrage of kisses.

Connor has actually been extremely cute with his little sister. He loves her so much and always runs over and wants to touch her or kiss her (usually right smack on the mouth), or touch her hands or feet or hold her. So far, he was been doing great as a big brother! The only side effect is that he has been acting out a little bit with stuff that doesn't have to do with Zoë...like throwing his toys all around and refusing to pick them up, or ramming his cars and toys into walls, refusing to get dressed, not listening to us, etc. It's not all the time, but it's all for attention and we've really been making conscious efforts to give him attention and love and not ignore him. Oh well, I guess jealousy is also inevitable. Either way, he has been doing great so far and is a great big brother. For proof of the kiss attacks and hugs and love, go to the shutterfly page and check out the latest pics.

Thanks for tuning in to the blog. I'm still hanging in there and posting as often as I can, so feel free to spread the word! Hopefully I can keep this up!

To sum up: please refer to my old post about sick Connor. Sick babies are pretty darn pathetic and sad and it's even sadder when they're only 6 days old. Anyways, today she is already feeling much better, so that's good. Hopefully she'll be 100% again soon...until Sicky Mcsick-a-lot picks up the latest bug from school and brings on another round of kiss attacks...ah, sibling rivalry...

Things to give thanks for...

As those of you who read this blog already know, Thanksgiving day 2008 marked the day that we were surprised by our new baby girl! Both Shannon and I were convinced that we were going to have a boy, but as history proved once again (we both thought our first was going to be a girl...) we apparently don't have good instincts when it comes to guessing babies.

The experience of the birth was like nothing I've ever experienced before in my life. Shannon had a homebirth at .... well, home, and it was amazing! If you're interested in the full details, you'll just have to come visit us and we can tell you the whole thing. But, to sum it up, we had a wonderful home midwife who was really cool and calming. We rented a birthing tub from her and the birth actually took place in the tub. Shannon went into labor around 10:00pm the night before and got into the tub around 1:30am and baby arrived at 4:02am! My favorite moment was when, on the final push, Shannon is grunting and pushing and all of a sudden starts saying "where is it? where is it?" frantically and starts looking around and reaches into the pool and pulls out the baby! Apparently, the baby just seemed to kick off her and ended up all the way across the pool! (I'm convinced this is how Michael Phelps was born.)

Anyways, Shannon pulled her up and checked and we all found out that it was a girl! It was an amazing time and one that makes this whole "not finding out the sex of the baby until it's born" worth it, because I was just awe-struck! I mean, a GIRL? What do I know about raising a girl....of course, what did I know about raising a boy before Connor? Anyways, it was amazing.

Since we both thought that it was a boy, we had a boy's name. But, we were having troubles coming to a consensus on a girl's name. The past few weeks, we've been talking about options and creating and thinning down lists. There were names that I liked and names that Shannon liked, but nothing was really sticking. (That's why we think she was so late. She was waiting for us to find a name for her!) We knew that we wanted the middle name to be Cecilia (after my aunt), but the first name was eluding us. I can't tell you exactly what made us stick with Zoë, but there were so many things that I loved about the name. The one thing that was the sticking point was that it was only three letters long. Zoë Tam? Is that long enough? It's saving grace is that it is two syllables. Plus, the Umlaut is really badass and, as Jilly puts it, "heavy metal". However, it might prove difficult in various legal documents. I'm already trying to figure out keyboard keystrokes to get the Umlaut in various computer and internet programs...

Also, according to our many baby name books, Zoë means "a life-giving woman ; alive" and Cecilia is the "patron saint of music", which we kinda thought were cool.

Anyways, that's the short story of her name. So, lady and gentleman (I know who my readers are), please welcome to the stage...Zoë Cecilia Tam!

Of course, pictures are on http://ctam.shutterfly.com

It's like....you know...

Today we're 8 days past due (missing one's due date constantly reminds me of late homework or an overdue library book), and the natives are getting restless. Being patient people, we've done pretty well so far, but I think the weariness of waiting has finally gotten to us. We're definitely ready for the waiting to be over, especially the one who has to constantly carry the "expected guest". As we continue to wait for Godot, I thought I'd share some of the analogies I've heard and perhaps add a few myself.

Last week, somebody compared my waiting experience to this..."it must be like seeing a snowstorm outside your window and listening to the radio for school cancellations, but not hearing it." Despite the quotation marks, I paraphrased a little because I can't remember exactly what she said verbatim, but that was the gist. That person did add, "but much worse, I'm sure".....thanks.

However, that's not a bad analogy. It's an extremely exciting thing to wait for and we've prepared ourselves for it for many months now. As the due date crept closer, we knew it was imminent. Since Connor was on time and this was our second child, we were both convinced that it was going to come early. Then,....it didn't come early and the due date was upon us. So, we expected it to happen on the due date and...the due date came and went. Then, after that day, it was a matter of "it can happen any second now!" and here we are 8 days later, still waiting with baited breath (does that mean my breath smells like worms?) and we're still in that "it can happen any second" mentality and boy is this exhausting! Right now I'm grading and trying to concentrate on these lab reports, but it's hard not to think "it can be any second now!" There have been a few minor contractions, but nothing that sticks. But, once there's a heavier contraction and once they happen more frequently, then it's GO time and we start the next chapter of our lives! However, until then, we're just......waiting.

So, I'll add some other analogies to see if I can capture this feeling for those who have not experienced it first-hand:

1. it's like that last day of school before summer break, but at the end of the day they say you have one more day of school. This continues for a week.

2. it's like trying to go to bed on Christmas Eve, when all you want to do is fast forward the clock and run downstairs to rip open the presents. You somehow make it through the night and run downstairs, only to find out that Christmas was pushed back another day.

3. it's like the last 10 minutes of a car ride where you need to pee really badly and you finally get home to run to the bathroom, only to find that there's a long line of people waiting to use the bathroom.

4. it's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife....NO ALANIS! THAT'S NOT IRONIC! THAT JUST SUCKS!!!!

OK, so maybe these analogies got a little out of hand. I started feeling like I was playing "what's worser than worse?" Also, that last one is just some pent up frustration from the 90's. Sorry.

Anyways, you can tell that it's on my mind. To further prove it, here's our latest beer:

Wai Ting Tam

So, due to the fact that I have at least one reader (yay!) I'm going to continue my streak of posting. It is now Saturday night (5 days after our new baby's due date!) and we're starting to get a little impatient! Both Shannon and I went to work last week and we were bombarded by questions left and right which ranged from "No baby?" to "What are you still doing here?!" For the most part, we've both been pretty chill about waiting, but the questions are starting to become a bit much. From what I've heard, it's normal for babies to come up to two weeks past their due date. However, we were spoiled the first time around since Connor was right on time. This next one seems to have a few extra genes from the Kelly side, possibly causing him/her to be a bit tardy.

My brother and Brenda recently went through their waiting period when Kaylani was born 5 days after her due date and they were going absolutely crazy while they were waiting (www.jontam.com). I'll admit that I would be much more anxious if this were our first child. However, now I'm just taking care of Connor, and when he goes to bed, I try to finish my school work as quickly as possible and try to get as much sleep as I can at night. It hasn't been that long since Connor's started sleeping through the night and I'm trying to cherish uninterrupted sleep while I can get it! Oh sleep, I miss you so....

So, to conclude, no baby yet. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl so we're still working through our lists of names. But, whether it's a boy or a girl, perhaps it's chinese name should be "Wai Ting Tam".

p.s. - finally updated pictures on Connor's shutterfly account with pictures from the summer. Enjoy! (http://ctam.shutterfly.com)

Kaylani

OK, I'm swamped right now, but to further my dedication to this blog, I'm posting a referral. Go to www.jontam.com for new pics of my new niece!

Here goes nothin

OK, so here's my 1st blog entry from my phone. I'm going to see what happens when I include a picture of the bus stop that I'm standing next to. If this is successful, there's a good chance that I'll actually post somewhat regularly. Well, here goes!
-Jeff Tam cell

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required. Visit www.apple.com/quicktime/download to download the free player or upgrade your existing QuickTime� Player. Note: During the download process when asked to choose an installation type (Minimum, Recommended or Custom), select Minimum for faster download.

3rd try is a charm?

OK, so there are a few things that indicate that this latest attempt to start up my blog again will work...
1) I have been re-inspired to blog since my brother started blogging (www.jontam.com) about the newest addition (so far) to the Tam family. (I just came back from seeing my dear Kaylani and she's absolutely beautiful! I just met her and I already miss her!)
2) The whole reason that I started blogging to begin with was that I was a prospective father (over 2 years ago) and now that I am about to be a father to a second one, I am once again motivated to blog. (Next Tam - due November 17th, 2008)
3) I'm still reeling with inspiration from our new President and I feel compelled to "change" my ways. I'm telling you, this is more inspiring than any "New Year's Resolution" that I've ever made and broken!

But, the biggest reason why I think this will work this time:
4) I got a new phone that has a qwerty keyboard and I can now just text my posts directly to my blog. So, that means that I can blog anytime and anywhere that I want to!

So, hopefully this works and if so, I'll spread the word. For now, I'll just blog to the blogosphere and if you found this post because you're still checking it every so often just HOPING that there is something here, THANK YOU and I greatly appreciate your dedication and I hope that I won't disappoint you again!

I hope that I can keep this going. To continue this hope, I'll leave you with our latest beer label. We drank the first few bottles last Tuesday and as you can see, it worked!

Wish me luck!

Days gone by

OK, I did it again. I once again ignored my blog for months on end. In fact, this hiatus was even longer than the last one! So, my humblest apologies to my dear readers, and although I would like to say that I'll be more diligent in the future, I can not make such promises. Instead, all I can say is that I will do my best and thank you for checking in every so often.

Anyways, with a long hiatus comes a long list of things that have happened in my life since my last blog.

I'll start with a new list of Connor's milestones past:
1) he now crawls, stands, and cruises (walks on his feet while holding onto things)
2) he started walking last week and he is starting to get pretty good at it. He'll take a bunch of steps and then stop and stand, and then continue on. He can't really make it long distances and he'll usually resort to hanging onto something or crawling, but he's making good progress!
3) He now eats baby food and all sorts of solid foods (apples, pears, peaches, bananas, ground beef, steak, chicken, some fish, green beans, broccoli, carrots, and squash)
4) He still hasn't purposefully said any real words, but he's definitely making a lot of noises and trying out new sounds. He's said things like dadadadadada and mamamamamama and bababababababa. But, he's not really talking to us, so we're not counting it.
5) He's pretty good at waving hello and good bye to people.
6) He likes playing peek-a-boo with people, but his version is to look at you sideways and smile.
7) He's very smiley and just a very happy baby in general.
8) He loves music and often times will dance by bending his knees, flailing his arms and rocking his body and head to the beat. He also really loves live music so I play the guitar and drums for him a lot. Also, we sing to him a lot and sometimes he'll even sing along.
9) He doesn't really sleep much. He usually takes a nap in the morning and a nap in the early afternoon, but then he usually stays awake until 11 pm or midnight. Sometimes, if we're out and he's too interested in everything around him, he won't take his naps, and then he gets cranky.
10) He has a natural mohawk. Or a faux-hawk. We honestly don't put anything in his hair, although I'll admit that I will sometimes run my hand through it to accentuate it some more. It's just the way his hair is growing in and we love it!
OK, that's all for now!

snotty little child

Not much time for a long post. Connor has developed his very first cold and I have to admit, it's pretty darn pathetic. Nothing quite sounds as pathetic as a 4 month old baby coughing and sneezing with a runny nose and phlegm clogging him up. Yes, it may sound gross,....well, it is. But, it makes him so sad because he doesn't know how to cough up the phlegm or blow his nose, so he's just...leaky.

In the meantime, I'll post the newest beer label (It is an imperial stout,....so yes, it is a clever name):










Additionally, we brewed a second batch of our Big Apple Hard Mother $*@&%# Cider and reused the label (see previous post).

I hope to post before the holidays, but I may not. We're heading up to New England (CT, MA, RI) for x-mas and will probably stay up there until New Year's (Shannon has the week off).

If I don't post again, HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!

Who's your daddy?

Well, it's official. I've been on paternity leave for 5 and 1/2 weeks! I can't believe that it's been that long already! As my lack of updates may indicate, staying at home with a baby takes up much more time than I was expecting! I knew that it would be a lot of work, but I was expecting a little more free time! But, I do have to say that I have been having a blast and it is totally worth all the work! So, I have actually tried many different versions of this post, but I keep getting interrupted. So, I'm going to post some lists to consolidate my thoughts.

Major milestones already passed:
1. smiling
2. laughing
3. grabbing things
4. putting hands together
5. playing with toys on his play mat
6. rolled over twice (back to front)
7. grabbing his feet
8. recognizes the tv and enjoys the colors and noise
9. can push himself up when on belly
10. stands on feet with a lot of assistance

List of duties (heh heh....duties....) when staying at home:
1. diaper changes (#1)
2. diaper changes (#2)
3. feedings (every 2-3 hours)
4. playtime on his play mat
5. swing time
6. carrying him around in Baby Bjorn
7. playing in crib and watching Baby Pooh mobile
8. nap time
9. cleaning up drool, spit up, etc.

Once I figured out his feeding schedule, we've been taking adventures around the city. I'll just strap him into the Baby Bjorn and we'll travel through the subway system to go shopping, or visit my school, or visit Shannon for lunch, or travel pretty much anywhere. I have plans to take him x-mas shopping later. OK, well, speaking of which, Connor is starting to get fussy, so I'm going to go and figure out what he needs. I have a lot of thoughts for future posts, so hopefully I get to post soon! Ciao!

Monkey business

I meant to post this yesterday, but HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Three little beers

A quick late-night post: So, I promised a peek at the three newest additions to the Duckhat family!


First up, we have the Duckhat BIG TENT Chocolate Porter. The theme is of Josh and Melissa's wedding (which was around the time that this beer was brewed and for which a big tent was rented). For those who don't know, we make all of these labels ourselves and these labels are placed on each and every bottle of Duckhat beer. Josh and I take turns creating the labels and the theme of the label is usually something that has taken place around the time of the brewing. The recipe was for a regular Porter, and we decided to add fancy chocolate powder to our brewing process. This beer is good to go and it turned out really really well! Yummy! We are all so excited that this tastes so good!




Our second beer released was the Duckling Double IPA. See if you can guess what event the brewing of this beer was around... I think I mentioned this in a previous post, but this beer marked a change in the way we make our beers and it is very exciting. This
is our first all-grain beer and we are very excited to make that leap. We are getting a few steps closer to being true homebrewers.

Just an aside: Josh and I are quite modest people (despite the numerous labels that feature ourselves and our lives). The label above depicting the wedding was created by me to honor the wonderful occasion. This label was created by Josh to honor the arrival of Connor. It was the way our label creation rotation turned out, but I do wonder what these labels would look like if our turns were reversed...


Lastly, our third beer is an Oktoberfest Ale and was dedicated to the wonderful thing that is known as October baseball. This year, both the Yankees (woo hoo!) and the Mets (Woo hoo! from Josh) clinched positions in the postseason earning a spot in their pennant races. For those who are not familiar with baseball, baseball in October signifies the postseason and culminates in the World Series. Unfortunately, the Yankees were knocked out early by those damn Tigers, but the Mets are currently still in the fight to enter the World Series (tied 3-3 with the Cardinals) and will play their final game tomorrow!

Also, the beer was named in honor of this stat-o-matic game that Josh and I are obsessed with, which is based on the old game called "Pursue the Pennant"...good times...good times indeed...


OK, that is all for now. I need to go beddy bye. If you would like to reserve a sample of these beers, feel free to post a comment or send me an e-mail. Every beer that we brew is in limited quantities, so act fast before they're all gone. If you want some, I'll try to put it aside to reserve it for you, but unfortunately, I can not make any promises. Your best bet is to come visit me as soon as possible to grab your limited edition Duckhat beers!

My B

So, I apologize to my very small number of readers for my long hiatus from this blog. In fact, it's very possible that I no longer have any readers because people have given up on checking for updates. In fact, it's very possible that I never started out with many readers to begin with. Anyhoo, I'm going to post anyways and pretend like I'm not talking to myself online.

As you can imagine, things have been very crazy and busy and have only gotten crazier and busier when school started again in early September. Here is a list of things that I can think of off the top of my head that have happened since my last post:

1. Kristen and Jake got married! Yay! I am so very happy for the two of them and regret that I wasn't able to join them for their celebration in Seattle, but think many happy happy joy joy thoughts for them!

2. Connor has gotten so much bigger! When he was born, he was 6 lbs, 11 oz. This week, he is somewhere between 12 and 13 pounds and he is only 2 months old.

3. For updated pictures of Connor, feel free to go to http://ctam.shutterfly.com/

4. The Yankees win the AL East division title! Yay!

5. The Yankees win game 1 of the ALDS against Detroit and I was at that game! Yay!

6. The Yankees lose the next three games and blow it in the ALDS against Detroit. boo.

7. Duckhat brewing Co. pumps out another 4 beers! Three bottled beers: Chocolate Porter, Double IPA, and Oktoberfest Ale. One beer currently processing: Stout (pictures of bottle labels to follow)

8. Josh creates new Duckhat Brewing Co. pint glasses and they are awesome! (picture of glasses to follow as well)

9. Barenaked Ladies release new CD entitled "Barenaked Ladies are me". Takes a little getting used to, but I like it! My favorite track is "Maybe you're right". Give it a go if you haven't heard it...

10. Plane crashes into a building on the Upper East side of Manhattan...woah! Turns out that Cory Lidle (new Yankees pitcher) was in the plane...double woah!

I think that pretty much sums up the last two months of my life (well, except for the many hours working at school, and the many hours grading and planning and reporting and then the many hours at home caring for Connor and the many hours not sleeping), but that's life! Well, ... that's life as I know it for now!

Shannon returns to work in a few weeks (she has been working so hard for the past 2.5 months! Anybody who says that being a stay-at-home parent is lazy or easy or "lucky" is out of their minds! Plus, I can only imagine that it gets exponentially harder as the kid grows up!) When Shannon returns to work, I have planned to stay home with the Con-man for over two whole months (Oct 30 - Jan 8)! So, I am very much looking forward to that time! But, with that comes the responsibility of planning out two months of work to give to the substitute teacher, so my time between now and Oct 30 is going to be very busy. Well, dear readers (or reader,...or perhaps, nobody...) thank you so much for coming to visit the site again and feel free to spread the word that I'm back baby! Feel free to post a comment. I'd be interested in seeing how many people actually read this. Since I've only told about a dozen people that this site even exists, I'm pretty sure that now my blog is just me talking to myself. Well, on that note, peace out homeslice!

ba doop ba doop

I have Tivo.

I love Tivo.

So, why is it that I still time my kitchen runs and bathroom breaks during commercials and rewind if I don't make it back in time?

On Target...

So, yesterday our new family took our first official expedition to the real world (we have taken trips to the Pediatrician's office, but this was a real jaunt). Shannon, Connor, grandma Kelly, and I all took a trip to Target to get a few things like a new hamper and some other household assundries.

First of all, Target on a Sunday afternoon is craaaaaaaaazzy! Considering that we are both off and free every weekday, that was a tactical error.

Second of all, I now appreciate how much effort and time goes into travelling with a baby!

When we woke up in the morning, we knew that our goal for the day was to go to Target. It wasn't urgent and it didn't NEED to happen yesterday, but we thought that it would be nice to make a trip and since we needed stuff at Target, that was the plan. So anyways, we knew from the moment that we woke up that Target was our ultimate destination (ironic, I know...Target) Anyways, after the morning feeding and changing, etc., we ate breakfast and prepared ourselves. Then, it was time for the late-morning feeding and changing while we continued to enjoy some coffee.

As we were nearing departure time, Connor was sleepy but just starting to stir. This meant that he was close to being awake, which also means that he is close to wanting food and being fussy. So, we were thinking maybe we should just get moving, otherwise we would never get to Target. So, we prepared everything for our departure. Everything includes the stroller, the diaper bag (making sure the diaper bag is suitably packed with extra diapers, wipes, extra clothes, extra blanket, and an extra hat), some water and a piece of fruit for Shannon, the car seat, and of course, the baby.

Once everything was all set and Connor was all strapped into the car seat, it was of course time for him to drop a #2, so we had to stop to change him and then get him strapped in again, but then he was awake and hungry, so he was being fussy and crying a little. Anyways, we plowed through it and head out for the car with all of our stuff. Then, we kept forgetting things in the apartment as we were heading out the door (water, then a Target gift card, then the directions, etc.), so it took us a while to get to the car.

Once we got to the car, the trip was a lot smoother and aside from a break to feed Connor in the car in the Target parking lot, our trip was smooth sailing. (Although as I said above, Target on a Sunday was a baaaaaad idea!)

When we returned home with all of our Targeted merchandise, we were exhausted. So, that was our day. Apparently, when you have a newborn, a trip to Target is a whole-day affair.

p.s.-Happy one week birthday, little dude!

Happy birth day baby!

BAM, it's a boy! Connor Michael Tam was born at 1:27 am on August 7th, 2006 (or 08/07/06,...sorry, I just can't get enough of that!) He was born at the Roosevelt Hospital birth center at 6 pounds, 11 ounces and he was 20 inches long. I really just can't get enough of this little dude. I can stare at him for hours...and I think I'm just going to go do that now. Enjoy some pictures!

Under the bridge

Happy Birthday Shannon! In honor of Sha's birthday, the two of us and Jon took a walk around the hood and walked along Riverside Park up to the George Washington Bridge. It was a beautiful day for a walk and we had a great time chillin in the park. I don't know how many people know this, but there is a little red lighthouse directly under the G.W.Bridge and it's pretty cool to see.

Anyways, I thought it was a great under the bridge photo to add to the blog.

Bam Blog #1

So, here it is, the very first baby blog entry. Just so you all know, baby is still in Shannon, so no baby just yet. Shannon is officially off from work as of today (Yay!), so now she can relax, kick back, find fun things to do, and not have to work! So, from now until our very own "Labor day," we'll just be waiting and trying to relax. Because we don't know the sex of the baby, we've been referring to the new baby as "Bam". Dave came up with that nickname. It's short for "Baby Tam" and it just kinda stuck! So, Shannon and I are both quite ready for Bam to make his/her grand entrance and from here on in we're playing the waiting game. August 7th is the due date, so we'll see how punctual little Bam is...

What are they thinking?

I don't understand something...why is it that teams still seem to pitch to David Ortiz in the bottom of the 9th inning when the game is close? Last night, the Cleveland Indians were ahead of the Red Sox 8-6 in the bottom of the 9th inning and trying to close out the game for a win. As usual, the Red Sox somehow found a way to get two men on with one out and guess who steps up to the plate? Yup, Papi Grande.

Now, I probably don't have to tell you what happens next, but just in case you don't know how it ends (how it always ends), Ortiz hits a homerun to magically win the game for the Red Sox by exactly the right number of runs. Not just enough to tie the game or to cut down the lead. No, enough to just win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning.

This was his FIFTH walk-off hit this season and 15TH (including post-season) walk-off hit since he joined the Red Sox in 2003.

So, here's the thing...why do pitchers still pitch to him? I understand if the bases are empty and you're up by two runs or more, but with two runners up and him representing the winning run?? With the scenario above against the Cleveland Indians, I wouldn't think twice about walking Ortiz and loading up the bases! Either Ortiz hits a home run and the game is over, or Manny hits a homerun (or a double) and they win the game. OK, I understand that the threat of the Red Sox order is that you walk Ortiz and you end up with Manny (who is just as bad when it comes to clutch hits), but here's my radical idea...walk Ortiz AND Manny. You're up by two, so you walk Ortiz to load the bases and then you walk Manny to cut your lead to one and then you try to get some outs. I'm not saying it's not risky and I'm not saying I would do it everytime, but it just seems time and time again, the Red Sox win off of these stupid walk-off hits.

The Red Sox have built a line-up that is extremely smart. Two guys to lead off your lineup who are very good at getting on base. Then Ortiz and Manny. Very smart. Very annoying. That's why I hate the Red Sox.

But, mark my words, the Yankees will win the division and the wildcard will not be coming out of the AL East.