Cameras are rolling!

So, Zoë first rolled over on Feb 4th, 2009, but it was really a one-time thing. Shannon put her down on her back, she was shifting left and right and then *poof*, she rolled over to her front! But, that was more of a freak thing and didn't happen again for a long time. Well, on Wednesday, February 25th, Zoë repeated her performance.

Shannon put her down on her blanket on her back and she was reading a little coupon book next to her. Well, the next thing she knows, Zoë flipped over onto her tummy. Well, she grabbed the camcorder to record the event and guess what? She rolled over again back onto her back! So, enjoy the video to see Zoë official "third" roll (the first from her front to her back) and her first official roll caught on tape! Now, she is a rolling fiend and loves rolling from back to front. However, she's not so good at the front to back yet, so she often finds herself stuck on her tummy and then she starts to get upset.

Anyways, enjoy the video. Also, I posted pictures that I took at the Ceilidh on shutterfly, so feel free to go check those out too!

Ceilidh-rrific!

So, we're back from the Ceilidh (pronounced "Kay-lee") and it was a rockin' great time! The Kellys definitely represented with the following set list:

1. Wild Rover - part of ensemble leading the Sing-a-long to start the performances
2. Galway Bay - Mary Ann
3. Danny Boy - Heather (backed by Uncle Steve)
4. I Know My Love - Heather (backed by Shannon and Uncle Steve)
5. The Worst Pirate - Sung by Michael Daly (but originally a song of Ceann - Pat and Brian Halloran's band, cousins of the Kellys)
6. Auld Grey Man - Shannon
7. Mick McGilligan's Ball - Mary Ann (backed by Shannon and Heather)
8. Love You Til the End - I forgot who sang this (but backed by Heather and Uncle Steve)
9. The Fields of Athenry - Uncle Steve (backed by Heather and others)
10. Four Green Fields - Heather
11. Too Ra Loo Ral - Heather and somebody else leading a sing-along
12. Isn't It Grand Boys - Heather, Uncle Steve, Mary Ann and ensemble

So, the evening started with an hour of music from a Celtic Band named Woodkerne. (Connor was a huge hit all night because he would run around, dance, and definitely stole the show more than a few times!) Then, the other performances started at 9pm and lasted until midnight! All the performers were great and it was a very relaxed and fun environment where the booze was flowing freely (BYOB) and the setlist loose.

Connor was extremely well behaved and had a blast (he definitely turned into a pumpkin at the end of the night and was very sleepy, but what do you expect, it was midnight! He danced a lot, ran around the whole theater, shared the stage with his family, sat in the audience and listened with Yeh yeh and yin yin (the Tam grandparents who came down from Boston), and loved the whole show! Zoë was also passed around and was very well-behaved. All in all, it was an extremely successful outing with the kids and we're glad that we were able to share it with them.

As a treat, I am also showcasing my brand new HD digital camcorder (that I got for Christmas this year - thanks mom and dad!) The quality here on the web is not HD, but that's because I condensed them to a more reasonable size for web-viewing. During the Ceilidh, I only recorded the songs performed by Kellys (however, tragically and unfortunately, there was a camcorder mishap and Shannon's song "Auld Grey Man" wasn't recorded and I am super bummed about that. I'm trying to track down somebody else's recording of it...) and I figured out a way to post them all on YouTube. So, you can find them here, or I've also embedded them below at the bottom of this post. If you press play and then scroll over the video, you should be able to select all 10 of the videos (including one of Connor dancing around the theater to Woodkerne).

Anyways, enjoy! Also, I'll post some of the photos soon (I need to weed out some of the photos from the 209 that I took! But, I'll eventually post them on Shutterfly or picasa and let you know when I do.

Shameless plug for my wifey

Picture from last year's Ceilidh

OK, it's not even my plug to make, but since I'm going to go to it, I'll give it a shout out.  This Saturday (Feb 21st), I'll be in New Britain, CT at something called a Ceilidh.  A Ceilidh is a Gaelic word meaning party or happy gathering, one filled with music, stories, dancing and celebration.  The local CT theater (Hole in the Wall Theater), that Shannon and her family have been involved with as she grew up, is hosting a Ceilidh and there will be a ton of Kellys there performing (Heather, Mary Ann, Uncle Steve, and yes, my dear wifey, SHANNON!)  Last year was their first Ceilidh (in which the above mentioned people all performed) and it was so successful that they decided to do it again!  It was a lot of fun and I had a blast!  So, if you're in the area and you want to come have a great rockin Irish time with Connor, Zoe and me, you should definitely come by!  Connor didn't come last year, so this will be his first experience with the Ceilidh (and seeing his mommy perform on stage!) so I know he'll have a great time! You should probably call (860) 229-3049 for reservations because it is a small theater and I don't know how many people are planning on going.  

The cost is a suggested donation of $20/person.  According to the website, the evening will begin at 6:00pm with free Irish step-dancing lessons.  Then, you can try out your new moves from 7:00 to 8:00pm to a live Irish band.  Then, the performances will be from 8:00 to 11:00pm, including a variety of Celtic music, dancing, and readings.  Heather, Mary Ann, Shannon, and Uncle Steve are all slated to individually sing traditional Irish songs.  Plus, I believe the Kellys have been given a blank check, so any other Kellys are welcome to just show up and perform, so there may be some other guest appearances!  

Anyways, come, bring a six-pack of beer (I'll probably have two with me!) and enjoy the festivities as we prime our pumps and warm up for St.Patrick's Day later in March!  I'll be sure to post pictures of it when we return home.  

#34

The number 34:

According to wikipedia, 34 is the ninth distinct biprime and has four divisors including unity and itself.

34 is the magic constant of a 4 by 4 normal magic square (all rows, columns, and diagonals add up to 34)

#34 is a song by the Dave Matthews Band on their debut album, Under the Table and Dreaming.

34 was the number retired by the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers for Nolan Ryan.

Also, this post will be my 34th blog post ever! (Wow, bet nobody saw that coming!) It's taken me 2 and a half years to get to my 34th blog post. The reason why I bring this up is because Jon just reached his 100th blog post a few days ago (in 101 days, I might add)! I definitely applaud his dedication and stamina, but in no way promise that I will reach my 100th post anytime soon...if ever.

Anyways, I'll just slowly chug along and write my 34th post...by the way, I've noticed that a lot of my blog posts include a discussion of the process and idea of blogging...kinda circular, no? I'll have to work on that and if I can ever successfully be a consistent blogger, maybe then I can stop blogging about blogging...

Since my last post was more on the negative (yet, continually humorous) side of having a two-and-a-half year old, I thought I would discuss the wonderful side of having children (including that two-and-a-half year old douche bag).

So, a quick, incomplete, and ever-growing list of those amazingly heart-melting moments that you get to experience as a parent. I have to say, I LOVE being a Dad! I've always used to enjoy playing with kids and being the goofy uncle/friend who isn't afraid to crawl around on the floor or act like a kid, but it's completely different when you have your own children.

Before I held Connor, I had only held two other babies, and it was TERRIFYING! I held my breath, scrunched up my shoulders, awkwardly held the baby for a minute or two while I continued to breath ever so slightly and then finally passed it back. It was almost like somebody passed me a bomb and then took it back. But, with Connor and Zoë, it is the most comfortable and wonderful thing in the world. Sure, I was still afraid to move when I held Connor the first few times, for fear of doing anything to hurt such a fragile thing. But, the learning curve was steep and I was soon a pro. Now, I just love holding them and watching every move that they make. Ironically, it still took me a longer time after that to feel comfortable holding other people's babies, but now I think I've got it down pat. Anyways, every day is filled with small little things that makes being a parent such an amazing thrill.

A short list showcasing those moments that still make my heart melt (in an incredibly good way) and the things that keep me sane through the more challenging aspects of parenthood. Again, not necessarily in any particular order:

1. That first moment of holding your baby all wrapped up in a blanket, new to the world.
2. That first time that their tiny little hand grabs your finger (see pictures above: Top=Connor / Bottom=Zoë - both on their first days)
3. The first time that they look at you with some kind of recognition and give you a smile.
4. Hearing them laugh.
5. When you're holding them and they snuggle their head right into your neck and fall asleep.
6. Watching them sleep. They look so peaceful and angelic.
7. When they run to you and give you huge hug, so excited to see you.
8. When they say "I love you daddy" totally unprovoked (even when its provoked, that's cool too)
9. When they are able to tell you what they did in their day (Connor just recently started doing this. On the way home from school, he tells me what he and his friends did in school)
10. When they dance.
11. When they watch everything that you do and then start imitating it (Connor loves to "play" Guitar Hero and he even holds his own guitar and sometimes imitates the hip gyrations, dancing, and crazy things that Jon, Josh and myself do....it's hilarious watching him lie down on the floor next to Jon as they "both" wail away on a solo!)
12. Just in general, watching as they develop (motor skills, language, independence, coordination, conceptualization, etc.) It amazes me to no end how fast they develop and pick things up and I love literally watching them "learn" right before my own eyes. I get such a huge kick out of hearing the things that Connor has come up with on his own.

Obviously, 1-6 I've enjoyed with both Connor and Zoë and 7-12 were just Connor, but like I said before, this is a very incomplete list and I could probably go on for a long time. But, it is now crazy late and I have to go to work tomorrow morning, so I need to stop writing. But, it's been an amazing ride so far, and I can't wait to see what lies ahead! I'm sure I can create a whole list of things that I'm looking forward to (first Yankees game, playing a game of catch, first time ice-skating, etc.), but I'm just going to continue enjoying what I have now and I'll take it one step at a time.

Don't say that!

So, for those of you who don't read the comments for this blog, Connor developed this thing where his response was a variation of the scenario below:

Me: Connor, don't throw that. Please go pick that up
Connor: NO! YOU pick it up!

or

Me: Connor, don't do that.
Connor: NO! YOU don't do that!

Well, that was a wonderful phase of his and actually got me to chuckle to myself a few times. But, Connor's new thing is saying "No! Don't say that! I don't like that!" Usually the "thing that he doesn't like" is us telling him to be gentle with his sister, or to be careful of where he's kicking his feet (near his sister), or to listen to his parents or a variety of comments that we make that might indicate that we are concerned about what he is doing. Allow me to paint you a picture:

Location: Tam apartment living room
Time: weekday 5:30pm

Dad is sitting on the living room couch playing with baby Zoë. Connor, a two and a half year old boy, runs into the room and jumps onto the couch. Connor starts to grab Zoë's hands and pulls them towards him to kiss them.

Dad: Connor, be gentle.

Connor continues to pull and twist Zoë's arms.

Dad: Connor, calm down....Connor....

Connor does not seem to be hearing Dad and continues, now trying to pull Zoë by the arm in an attempt to kiss her face.

Dad: CONNOR! STOP! STOP!
Connor: NO! DON'T SAY THAT! I DON'T LIKE THAT!
Dad: Connor, you can't pull on Zoë's arms like that and be so rough with her. You can hurt her.
Connor: No! I DON'T like when you say that!
Dad: I'm sorry, but I'm going to say that because I don't want you to hurt Zoë.
Connor: But I want to kiss her!
Dad: Well, you have to be gentle. If you can't be gentle, then you can't kiss her.
Connor: NO! DON'T SAY THAT!
Dad: Connor, stop talking like that to Daddy. I don't like when you use that tone of voice.
Connor: NO! I DON'T LIKE THAT! DON'T SAY THAT!
Dad: Connor, please stop saying that. If you're upset, then tell daddy why, but don't scream at daddy like that.
Connor: (lowering his voice) I want to kiss Zoë...
Dad: Can you be gentle?
Connor: yes...
Dad: OK, here, give Zoë a gentle kiss.
Connor: *kiss*
Dad: OK, thank you, that was very gentle. Thank you.

Connor runs off and plays as if everything were ok. Dad looks at Zoë, rolls his eyes and says, "your brother is a monster!" Zoë looks at Dad and smiles a big goofy baby smile.

The situations usually vary, but the discussions are very similar. We've instituted a "quiet chair," which is pretty much the same as a "time out" and our discussions sometimes continue into the chair. So far the "quiet chair" is at least a little effective and he is able to sadly discuss what earned him time in the chair and he sadly apologizes afterwards. After he apologizes, he bounces off to do something happily and usually doesn't repeat the same offense for at least a little while. Luckily, Connor has been very loving to Zoë and we're not seeing any malicious jealousy behavior. Most of the time, he is just unaware of his strength, Zoë's fragility or his presence in relation to her.

On the one hand, it's probably good that Connor is able to convey that he doesn't like something and that he is able to stand up for himself. If some other kid in his school says something that he doesn't appreciate, then he should say "NO! DON'T SAY THAT! I DON'T LIKE WHEN YOU SAY THAT!" But, when it's directed towards me and I feel that my request is reasonable, it's a tad bit frustrating. Of course, reasonable is a very subjective thing, but when the request is: "Connor! Be careful! Don't stand on that stack of chairs! You're going to fall!" or "HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY! Don't touch those knives in the dishwasher!," I feel pretty justified in my requests no matter what he doesn't like to hear.

By the way, these "discussions" are really fun when they happen in the morning and we're already running late and need to get out the door to go to work, but he "didn't like" that I told him to put on his shoes/pants/eat his cereal/brush his teeth/etc.

Sigh, I can't wait to see what his next phase is going to be!

<3 <3 <3

Today is February 14th. Valentine's Day. I am not a Valentine's Day person. Now, that's not to say that I'm an anti-Valentine's Day person, per se. I don't go around wearing black and killing everybody's buzz and bah-humbugging all the lovey dovey couples that are out celebrating. But, I don't think it's a real "holiday" and I don't go out of my way to "celebrate." The thing is, I love my wife. I've always loved her ever since the day I met her (ugh, major cheese, but I guess I'll leave that in). However, I don't need some day on the calendar that dictates that I show my love.

There was a time when we used to "celebrate" and go out to dinner, but it was impossible to get a reservation, I'd buy some overpriced flowers, we'd wait forever for a table and eat in a packed restaurant filled with other couples. Was it a nice meal and a nice time together? Yes. Did I enjoy the company of my significant other? Of course. But, did it have to happen on February 14th? Why can't we just do this every so often and "celebrate" what we have for ourselves?

Luckily, Shannon feels the same way about this "holiday" and we find times throughout the year to celebrate what we have and treat ourselves to a nice dinner and some random gifts to one another every so often. The only reason that I'm not ANTI-Valentine's Day is that I don't mind the idea of it. You should take time and make sure that your loved one is loved and appreciated. You should take time and treat yourselves and acknowledge that you're happy with your partner. For some people, this one day is how they do it and the other 364 days, their love is assumed or unspoken. But, I think that's a shame and a waste.

That being said, we don't have any plans for today. In fact, we have plans to go visit some friends of ours and our kids will play. We'll probably come back home, play with the kids, eat leftovers, and go through the good-night rituals. We're not going to "celebrate" in any special way, but we'll certainly say that we love each other and we'll tell our kids that we love them. The picture for this post includes the three people that I love the most in this world. Of course I love many other family and friends, but I can't actually express how much I love my kids and my wife. And I'm not going to...just because it's Valentine's day and I refuse to be forced to do anything just because I'm "supposed" to. :)

Happy Valentine's Day everybody. Now, go tell somebody that you love them. But, just remember to tell them tomorrow and the next day too...

Such Great Heights

10 reasons why I love living where I am up here in Washington Heights (not necessarily in any particular order).

1. It's relatively close to work (30 minutes on one train)

2. It's "close" (this includes short drives, mostly to the Upper West Side) to a wide array of wonderful food of all types of styles: BBQ (Daisy May's - driveable without crazy traffic on West Side Highway, Dinosaur), good pizza (Grandpa's! Woot!), Asian (Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Malaysian), Burgers, Tacos (real Mexican ones), Dominican (of course), French, Cuban, and I'm sure much much more.

3. Amenities of the building (doorman - don't know if I can ever live without this again!, dishwasher, gym, "affordable" parking garage, nice laundry room in basement)

4. Nice family atmosphere in the building

5. Very close to Riverside Park with beautiful view of the GW Bridge.

6. Extremely close to Yankees Stadium (10-15 minutes by bus / 30-40 minutes by foot)

7. Since we are able to keep a car here, it's convenient to visit our families (with little traffic - 1.5 hours to CT family, 3 hours to Boston family and 1.25 hours to NJ family.)

8. It's a very spacious apartment (especially by NYC standards) and it's really quiet in our apt.

9. Tons of culture and activities to go to in NYC that are just a subway ride away (now, if only we took greater advantage of this!  At least, we used to more before the kids...)

10. Close proximity to our dear friends (but not as close as we'd like to many of our other friends and family all around...)

Well, those are just a few reasons why I like it here.  If you've never been to visit, please come stop by and check it out!  If you have visited before, please come and visit again!  

Well, I'm still sick and Shan, Con and ZoZo are all in various stages of sickness (luckily, most of them near full-recovery), so I'm going to go to bed.  But, aren't you proud of my blogging efforts!  I hope I can keep this going through baseball season!  (I start coaching in early March and pitchers and catchers start tomorrow for the Yankees! Yay baseball!)

Good night!

Stupid Boron

Random funnies:

Josh sent me the video below of Conan's reaction to the NYTimes retraction:



Here's the link to the Huffington Post article about it.

Yes, I'm a Chemistry teacher, but more importantly, I'm a man who enjoys funny.

On that note, I enjoyed Jill's post about the absurdity and surrealness (surreality?) of Facebook so much, that I find it necessary to repost it here (sorry for stepping on your e-turf Jilly!). But, as a good teacher and student, I will be sure to cite my sources:



Also, go to Jill's blog for some funny videos about cats (I won't steal those for my blog).  

Hilarity abounds! Enjoy!

Twenty-Five : Part Three

21. I have a weakness for bacon. If it's cooked right (nice and crispy, but not dried out and leathery) then I could definitely eat a whole pound of it by myself in one sitting. The Golden Corral breakfast buffet is very dangerous for me...
22. I can understand a lot of Cantonese but I can't speak very much of it.
23. I hate sweatpants and never wear them.
24. I have been trying to work on my photography skills and find it to be one of my favorite hobbies with the most benefical outcomes (I end up with thousands of pictures of my kids!). I help to shoot pictures of the annual youth choir musical back in my hometown and I was the principal photographer at a cousin's wedding. Although I am really enjoying the digital camera format, my dream is to have a dark room in my future house to work in so that I can continue my film development techiques that I learned in my photo class from grad school.
25. I really enjoy my job teaching high school, but my dream would be to work professionally on something that I am passionate about and love to do (music, photography, baseball/Yankees, beer brewing, something creative, etc.) But my fear is that I would become less passionate about these things if they were my "job" and not just a hobby.

Well, that finally completes 25 random facts about myself. I have to say that it was an interesting exercise to do. I found myself toeing the line between writing a resume of random crap and making confessions (there were a few random facts that I chose not to disclose...) Anyways, there, I conformed and I'm an e-follower, but I promise nothing will happen to you if you don't continue this thread, no riches nor poorness will be bestowed upon you and there will be no penalties inflicted upon you or 24 other people. However, I still wonder if I can even get 25 people to read this?

p.s. - I just found the picture on this post on my camera. I love how it makes both of them look so much older than they really are! Also, go here for the rest of the updated photos.

Twenty-Five : Part Two

11. My middle name is legally "Ki-Tak," which is my chinese name (pronounced "Kay - duck.")
12. I strongly believe in the idea of sustainability and recycling, but sometimes get sick of all the rules and dos-and-don'ts. Can't I just put any kind of plastic in the recycling bin? Do I really have to find the numbers and sort accordingly? What if my cardboard box has plastic attached to it?
13. I always laugh when I see somebody fall, but then I feel bad.
14. I homebrew beer in my apartment with a friend (although this is not news since I've posted about it in the past.)
15. I love travelling and have travelled to 13 foreign countries. I plan to travel to many more.
16. My absolute favorite place to visit was Ireland and I definitely plan to go back.
17. I think that everything my kids do is the coolest thing ever and I can just watch and play with them for hours and hours.
18. My favorite food is steak (duh!) and my favorite cuts are prime rib and rib-eye.
19. My favorite non-steak food is hot Italian sausage.
20. My favorite non-meat food is Shannon's homemade spaghetti sauce with Linguini (although I guess it's made with hot Italian sausage, but the sauce alone is also so delicious!)

OK, only 5 more to go! Stay tuned!

Twenty-Five : Part One

OK, so I'm a little bit torn about this post. On the one hand, I really like the idea of random things and it seems like a neat idea for a blog post. On the other hand, this whole 25 Random Facts thing has really blown out of proportion and I don't like the idea of being a "follower" of a fad. Also, I really despise chain letters and this is basically a new-fangled Facebook version of one (tag 25 people and keep it going). I've been tagged once and I've read others and the baseball blog sites (of which I've been addicted to during the Hot Stove months - namely www,mlbtraderumors.com) had a version about 25 random facts about random Yankees.

So, I've decided to go Jon's route (Feb 5th) and blog about 25 random facts, instead of doing the Facebook thing and forcing 25 people to read it and proliferating it. Now, the trick is to find out whether I actually have 25 readers to this blog yet, so if you want to comment on it, we'll all see if I can reach the magic number of Twenty-Five and what you all do from there is up to you...well, enjoy!

Also, because of time-restraints (and also to stretch this out into 3 different posts), I'm going to separate this out into 3 installments. Welcome to Part One!

1. I love the smell of freshly-mowed grass and the smell right when it starts to rain on a hot summer day.
2. I can play the guitar, the trumpet, the piano, the djembe drums, and the Guitar Hero World Tour drumset (does that count?). I've also been trying to learn the harmonica and the saxophone and would love to learn how to play a real drumset and the banjo one day.
3. In the later years of my life (all post-college), I have become allergic to cats and pollen, become intolerant to lactose, and developed eczema.
4. I have been a soccer, basketball and baseball coach (at the middle and high school level) and I was the faculty advisor to the Model United Nations club (long story, but I got roped into that one!)
5. I have played an entire season of an MLB baseball game (on my ps2), which includes pre-season games, 162 regular season games, and of course the post-season (where I won the World Series). That was a good summer!
6. I don't read very much, but I've read every Harry Potter book (most of them twice).
7. U2 is my favorite band and I've seen them live 6 times. The Zoo TV tour was the first concert that I have EVER been to and is still the best one that I've EVER been to.
8. Green is my favorite color, black is my favorite color to wear, 13 is my favorite number.
9. I have visited (I don't count airplane layovers) 30 of the 50 states in the US.
10. I love lamp.

Grande half-caf Wifi with a blog, no whip

OK, so anybody who knows me knows that I'm a bit of a technophile. I love the latest tech stuff and I love playing with gadgets. So I'm in heaven right now because of the way that I'm writing this post! Because Connor is majorly sick today (104.9 degree fever this morning), I took the day off to help bring him to the doctors office. Logistically, it made the most sense for us to drive down to the office (which is on the Upper West Side of Manhattan). It also made sense for me to drop Connor and Shannon off at the office and circle around with Zoë until she fell asleep. So, the drop off went according to plan. Zoë was fussing (she seems to hate her car seat when the car is not moving). So, I drove down the street and stopped at the red light (wah wah). Green light...drive through intersection (silence). Red light at the next block (wah wah). OK, so these city streets aren't going to cut it. So, I drive uptown a little bit taking all sorts of turns to avoid the red lights and make my way to the west side highway. Ahhhh...perfect! A nice long stretch of highway where I drive back downtown at a nice steady speed and by the time I'm back in the neighborhood of the doctor's office, Zoë is asleep in her car seat.

Now, this is where the technology part comes into play. Because of my new gadgets, I had a plan : to park the car with the sleeping Zoë near a Starbucks. Since it's NYC, I knew there was a *bucks right across Broadway from the doctor's, so I made my way there. I was in luck! A spot was open right in front! So, I parallel parked and this is where my journey through the net begins...

1. First, I check that Zoë is still sleeping (check!)
2. I take out my new iPod Touch and turn it on.
3. I hook it up to the Starbucks Wifi (because I have a Starbucks "Gold" card which lets me have an hour of free AT&T Wifi in Starbucks a day).
4. Voila! I'm on the internet and now I'm blogging!

Now, to be perfectly honest, I simply started the post in the car parked in front of a Starbucks while waiting for Connor and Shannon. But, now I'm at home finishing up the post. But, it was still an excellent use of time and resources!

Also, today marks another step forward in the world of technology. This blog site is officially open for business and may start getting some more traffic (aside from my 5-8 usual readers - thanks to you guys by the way! I know who you are and you're all wonderful!) I officially put a notice on my Facebook account about this blog, so people officially know about it and perhaps more people will actually start reading this thing. Hopefully that motivates me to actually write here somewhat regularly...we'll see! Anyways, if you're here for the first time from Facebook, Welcome! As you will read, I am not the most consistent blogger, but try to do what I can. The posts run back a little more than two years, so pace yourselves and read a post a day. Maybe by then, I'll have added another post (but I make no guarantees...)

As an update, Connor is feeling a little bit better. He has an ear infection and we brought him to get a chest x-ray to make sure that his lungs are clear, but they should be fine (just a precaution because he has a nasty cough and because of his unusually high fever). He's now on antibiotics and has been using an inhaler. Anyways, Sicky McGee is curled up on the couch next to mommy and ZoZo right now and I think I'm going to go join them.

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

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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!