Home Again

Just got back home from a conference in CA. Everyone but the in-laws are asleep already. No welcome party at home! Too bad, RyanC will have to wait for the Japanese chocolate I received as present... It was weird not seeing RyanC and AidanC for a few days. AidanC seems bigger while sleeping quietly in the crib. I am afraid to open RyanC's door since that'll wake him up for sure - need to fix that door so it doesn't make s0 much noise when opening/closing.

Since I was away for a few days, I had thought I would get plenty of sleep at the conference but that didn't work out. It wasn't because I tried Long Island iced-tea at this bar inside Mariott that costed $10.87, which caused me to feel the effect for a day or two...

Anyways, on the first day of the conference, I sprained my back muscle while carrying my super cool backpack that was supposed to provide excellent support. I should not have kept it on one shoulder to balance between the backpack, a plate full of not-so-great food (sandwiches), and a glass of coke.

It also didn't help that I sat in front of little kids in both out-bound and in-bound trips so I couldn't nap. They seemed to enjoy kicking chair non-stop. I missed my boys...

This trip I didn't go to eat my usual stinky-tofu. Instead the best food I had were outside of the conference:

• peking duck
• pearl milk tea
• steamed fish

Rain rain rain!

It started raining this evening after yet-another team-celebration where we had free drinks and snacks. No we don't always have so many celebrations -- it's just that the celebrations piled up this year when things finally got done. It will probably be another year before I get invited to another one of these....

It's raining cats and dogs. We have lost our satellite signal so there is no TV. I guess it's one of those rare occasions where we wish we had cable. It's a good thing that in-law already mowed the lawn. :)

Eggs!

I love eggs.

The other day in-laws bought 12 dozens of eggs because they were on sale. That's 144 eggs and we have been eating eggs daily. With 5 adults in the house, that means it will take us ~14 days to finish these eggs if we each eat 2/day. RyanC usually eats a little of the egg-white area and spits out the egg yolk, which is the best tasting part for me but wife strongly discourages me from eating too much for health reasons.

I probably will have egg-phobia by the end of this week.

Last Sunday in-laws drove to Denver (1-1.5 hrs drive) to get fresh vegies & fish -- I think they just needed a break from us. Wife and I stayed home with RyanC and AidanC most of the afternoon until RyanC started getting restless. I took RyanC to CircuitCity for some father-n-son bonding experience. He had fun re-arranging items on shelves.

I had bought this notebook backpack on-line since I have been worried about using non-padded backpack for the laptop daily. However, CircuitCity didn't have it in store despite pomising it will be available within 24 minutes of ordering on-line. It was annoying to see them cancel my order without making any attempt to get the item in-store. That's when I looked at the order form more closely and noticed that they owe me $24 giftcard if the order is not ready in 24 minutes. They honored that promise only after I pointed that out. So I took RyanC to BestBuy to see if they have the same backpack in stock. Score! BestBuy had two in stock and I got them to price-match CircuitCity's web-special. This Synergy backpack has so many pockets that I don't know what to do with them all! I really like the padding it provides even though the bag itself weighs ~3.5 lbs.

New finding: RyanC loves XBOX 360 -- or he just loves anything with buttons. He saw the XBOX 360 and immediately reached for the controller. He didn't care much for the giant HDTVs though... we will have to work on that.

On a different note, CherkyB and the family has finally moved to Colorado! Welcome!

Kiddie Pool

RyanC went swimming at the community pool on Sunday evening. It was the first time he went this year. He had an entourage consisting of grandpa, grandma, uncle and mommy. I stayed home to watch baby AidanC since I was too exhausted...

Then the other night I watched the video captured by RyanC's uncle...

RyanC was giggling and laughing in the kiddie pool with grandma standing in the water with him. Mommy was standing to the side of the pool taking pictures. RyanC was having a ball.. and he was also grabbing onto this big and colorful beach ball and moving it around in the pool. Grandpa called out to RyanC to ask for the beach ball. The little boy then walked across the shallow water to give the beach ball to grandpa, who was sitting a few feet from the pool, a few feet from uncle who was filming the happy boy. Then little RyanC walked back into the kiddie pool. Here is mommy's view of this:



Well, what follows was rather surreal...

RyanC stepped into the pool, lost his balance, and then fell face down into the water. On the video, I heard wife saying "hurry!" while RyanC was struggling unsuccessfully to come to surface. In the background, grandma was standing there in shock, not knowing what to do... even though she was standing in the water and a few feet away from RyanC. It seemed pretty scary to watch RyanC's submerging body with little hands/legs not finding a place to push up. Soon, super mommy showed up in the view, handed the camera to grandpa (who just stood up) urgently, and then went into the water to pick up the not-so-thirsty boy.

I counted the time silently as the disturbing images played on... it took about 5-6 seconds for da boy to be rescued.

RyanC wimpered with a few weak cries. Wife pushed on RyanC's tummy and that forced some water out of his mouth... A few minutes later, RyanC was back into the pool as if nothing had happened. Everyone kept a close eye on him but no one stood next to him in the water.

This was caught on tape by the dedicated video-capturing uncle, whose calm hands enabled us to have these unforgettable images/sounds. The video was as nerve-wrecking as wife's story afterwards. We are all relieved that RyanC is okay. Grandma was too traumatized by this -- she does not want to take RyanC to the kiddie pool again.

Coincidentally, recently RyanC also started having nightmares and would go hysterical around 3:30am-4:30am, requiring someone to hold him and calm him down afterwards. We have no idea if it has anything to do with the kiddie pool incident since he does not yet tell us about his nightmares. However, based on some sleep-toddler-talk heard by grandpa, it might be related to the flying bird incident, where a bird flew into him and scared him so much that he is now afraid of anything (fly, moth, butterfly, bee) that flies near-by.

Today RyanC said "ba ba" and "ma ma" several times to me on the phone while wife coached him on the side. It was the first time he actually "talked" to me on the phone with more than coincidental mumbling. It made my day. :)

Another Celebration

We had yet another celebration last night for project completition. Wife changed her mind about going and the official line is that "She is too tired from taking care of the kids" but everyone thinks it's really because most spouses/SO cannot stand geeks talking to geeks about work at such celebrations.

Each RSVP'ed individual got 2 tickets for the drinks of our choice and I had 4 to spend since wife was no show. Hence, I took advantage of the situation and tried 3 new drinks. (gave one ticket away to Mr F.A.)

White Russian - this was recommended to me at the last wedding I had been to but I never got a chance to try it since I had Long Island Iced Tea then. It tasted a bit too sweet though.

Vodka Tonic - CherkyB had recommended this one earlier after hearing about me drinking sissy drinks. It was not too bad (since I finished it) but I really can't remember how it tasted.

Seven & Seven - Quite a few people at the celebration was drinking this and I seem to think I liked this one the most -- though I can't tell if I had been drunk by this time.