Mega PhotoBlog Deluge

It's almost midnight and finally all 3 boys are asleep, the laundry is folded and I'm going to attempt to update this blog. After 7 months. This is a month by month photoblog. Which means no captions because Nathaniel would be 2 if I had to do captions before posting.


October 2009: Nate's 1st month! I forgot how tiny! Isaac/grandparents at Fall for Arts on Roosevelt Island, Apple & pumpkin picking, Hanging out with Meekers, Isaac's cool cardboard boat complete with US flag, visit from Isaac's godfather, Auntie May visiting, Isaac's art class, why is everything Isaac?? oh yeah, Nate is there too..sleeping, getting a bath, sleeping, yawning, being held, hanging out in the pouch...life of a newborn.


November 2009: Nate's 1 month, Isaac checking his bro out with stethoscope, other great brother pictures, Nate with another baby friend both like floursacks (not a lot of pics here, parents obviously still getting used to having 2 kids)



December 2009: Another Auntie May visit! Rocking Horse Ranch with our godson Christopher and family, Train Show at Botanical Gardens, Christmas with both sets of grandparents



January 2010: Liberty science center, Isaac and a few special ladies from our building,
Nate's 3 months, Visit from Kezia and James (my college friends)



February 2010: Sledding, so fun! Best to go downhill with a friend and have daddy pull you back up! Tummy time for Nathaniel who's 3 months now!



March 2010: Grandparents, Fieldtrip to my clinic, Brother pics, First matching outfit (so cute, there will definitely be more!)



April 2010: Our trip to Jamaica at Franklyn D Resort (Taking advantage of Dan's time off between jobs!)

Nathaniel Wang Dean Chen!

Isaac's "didi" (little brother) has finally arrived! Here are some catch-up pictures.

Two Years Old! (And about to be a big brother!)

Isaac has turned two! He's saying so much, and it's just a lot of fun watching him grow! Not that he hasn't also experienced some terrible two episodes, but for the most part, he's just really cute.

Here are July pics. We went to Arlington, VA for a short trip and saw old friends. I went to San Francisco for work, met up with May, went to a bridal shower and visited family. Isaac's bday was July 28th.



Pictures from August: Isaac's birthday party (we kept it small, just Roosevelt Island folk), trips to New Jersey, Sesame Place, Ocean Grove beach, and other assorted photos. (Dbl click to watch videos.)



Also, we did a commercial for Roosevelt Island that's been playing on Taxi TV in NYC. It's an unabashed plug for the island. You can see it at: http://www.riverwalkcourtnyc.com/testimonial01.html

So, we are due for child #2 any moment now. I'm 39 weeks and feel very fortunate that I get to update the blog before baby madness starts all over again (it all feels like borrowed time at this point). In some ways, the second time around is less scary and you know what to expect. But in other ways, doing it again with a toddler makes the whole thing a new experience.

We've been telling Isaac about having a "xiao di-di" or "little brother", and he has been kissing my belly, patting it, knocking on it to say hello to his brother. And he even brings toys or food to my belly when we talk about sharing with his brother. But I'm sure he can't possibly know how his life will change (and we can't predict what it means for us either). He is about to be dethroned as sole prince of the house to welcome another little prince into the family. We are going to do our best to give him as much attention as possible, but he will have to learn sharing to a whole new level!!

Anyway, we will post news of the new baby! We'll have to change the blog too since it will no longer be a blog just about Isaac...

Maybe I should make these semi-annual updates...
So here are pictures from our trip to Mexico in March. This was before H1N1 hit. At that time we only had to worry about drug cartel craziness. Glad we went when we did! We went with 2 families- my cousin Erling and my friend from residency, Caroline. It was a great time for kids and adults!




Here are pics from us announcing to our folks that Isaac is going to be a big brother! He's going to have a little brother to play with and hopefully not beat up too much. Baby is due early October-or maybe late September! Also, pics of Isaac's Catholic baptism (yes, he had a Protestant dedication before).




Over Memorial Day Weekend, we took Isaac to a farm in New Hampshire. We wanted to get him out of the city, see some animals in real life and breathe some non-city air. (Also in this set are pics of Isaac's godfather and our godson.) There are a few videos in this too-- if you double click and view it through Picasa, you can see the videos. There's a great one of the two boys snoring at the end- turn up the volume!

Happy Year of the Ox!

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's time for the one-holiday-late update! Here are pictures from December, Christmas and New Year.



Looking at these pictures made me realize how enjoyable vacation is- fun just to hang out as a family and not worry about our to-do lists. Can't wait for the next one.

We do have a new camera now and so have been taking videos again. But now having technical difficulty on the computer end, so that'll have to be another post!

Fall 2008

Here are pics from Halloween and Fall. Can't believe it's almost December!!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and we are thankful for so many God-given blessings. We are thankful that Dan still has his job, and that I am not in the finance industry. Things in NYC have been tumultuous, but there are so many things for which to be thankful.

Isaac is thankful that his daddy collects Happy Meal toys for him during his lunch hour (though he's wondering what happened to his actual meal...), and he's happy his grandmother runs a private catering service for him, dropping off meals early in the morning when everyone's still asleep. He is thankful that mommy is often a pushover when it comes to bedtime, and she spends the day with him on Fridays. Now that it's colder outside, we spend a lot of time in our building's playroom, and he loves being chased up and down our hallway (lots of squealing which I'm sure the neighbors love).

It's amazing watching him learn so quickly. He understands so much of what we say now (both English and Chinglish!) and will get his shoes, go to the bathtub and give us things when we ask (sometimes). He even sometimes give me a kiss on the cheek, and seemed to have no problem giving a little girl a kiss too (see pictures).

He also has finally begin to get the whole sign language thing (I felt like I was doing it with no results for so long). Some of the signs he's making are: dog, eat, bath, hat, head, grape, fish, more, all done, sleep, hurt, ball, bird, diaper, car. He's signed please and thank you a few times, but definitely prefers to point and whine.

He is doing a lot of jabbering now and having conversations with himself and us using his secret language. He loves to say "uh-oh" and imitates us every time we say "WOW" or "WHOAH"-it's so cute.

His favorite sport right now is climbing and trying to give his mom a heart attack. He found a way to push his toys up to the radiator, climb onto the radiator, and then onto the windowsill and just squat there. Which I guess is better than when he climbs unto a chair or couch and jumps up and down. Dan caught him once mid-air while he was tumbling down head first. It was one of those slow motion moments that I watched while from the kitchen.

We have no videos, because Isaac killed the camera by dashing it to the ground. I thought it might revive itself after a while, but Dan reminded me that electronics are not living creatures and once broken, usually stay broken. We will probably get a new one for Christmas, so stay tuned.

Isaac's Turned 1!

What a delinquent parent I am! I just realized I'm still working on Isaac's 1 year update and he's 14 months already! Dan says I should blame it on the chaos on Wall St., and the recession leading to production delays, but it's really more like mommy's extra work hours which are a bit removed from financial markets (thankfully). No more procrastination, will just have to forego the captions.

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So we've hit the big one year mark!! Hurrah to Isaac! Hurrah to his parents who've survived the first year of parenthood! We have lots of pictures and lots of catching up to do.

Basically, Isaac is a very active toddler now who doesn't like his mom being on the computer, so these updates get harder to do.

So, these are general pics which include photos from 11-13 months, including some professional photos we had taken.



Here is Isaac doing his first chore around the house. We pay him in watermelons.


These are pics from Isaac's first birthday party! We had Marcia the Moose give a puppet show for the kids. As far as Isaac could figure, the puppets were the real deal! He had a blast.


Next we have pics from our trip to Arlington, Va in August. It was a nice minivacation and we had fun seeing old friends and visiting our old neighborhood.

Finally, we went to a wedding where we discovered that Isaac is a better dancer than both his parents. And he knows it. Check out the self-applause.


More photos from the wedding of Jen Lo (who was a crucial link to Dan and I's initial meeting).


Already...until next time! (Hopefully he won't be 2 yet...)