"Not My First Rodeo" (Me, About My Second Rodeo)

Everyone said second labors are much faster than the first, but we really had no idea how true that was.  Three pushes and Wesley was out!  Six pounds, five ounces.

Vicki did great, and is thrilled to be done with the dieting!

The Big Day

It was certainly the most harrowing experience of my life. All the more terrifying considering we hope to go through it again at some point.

We called the doctor's office around 5:30am; Vicki was in a bit of pain but her water had not broken and her contractions were not very consistent. The doctor on-call told us, in a way which clearly indicated he was not quite awake, to wait until the contractions became more consistent. We both tried to get some rest again. I was much more successful, unsurprisingly.

At 9ish Vicki woke me up to tell me the contractions were becoming unbearable. We called the office again, and this time our doctor was on duty. He told us to come in.

We got to the hospital around 9:30am. Turns out Vicki was at 8cm already. A bit flustered, I scrambled to tell her family and wondered if they would be able to get here in time.

Vicki was fully dilated pretty soon, but we tried a few things to get the baby to turn around before trying to push. Eventually they had Vicki start pushing at 1pm. She started off making good progress, but after about two hours or so, things got stuck somewhat. The nurse started telling Vicki to rest every other contraction, and I was getting increasingly anxious watching the baby's heart-rate drop during every push. All the while the possibility of resorting to a C-section loomed, something none of us wanted.

At the three-hour mark we decided to try suction. The room bustled as preparations were made; scrubs were donned, and the doctor put Vicki into stirrups which were of course too big for her. The plastic suction grip was attached, some violent maneuvers ensued, and baby Warren was out, a full mane of hair adorning his impressive torpedo of a head. Born face-up with the cord around his neck, he looked exhausted; his cries were so feeble as the pediatrician whisked him to the warming bed. I cried too, watching him there, both of us so helpless.

The first week had its share of anxieties too. Warren wasn't sleeping well the first few nights, and I was afraid I might go crazy, anticipating the next three weeks of the same. Turns out Vicki's milk took a while to come in, and the little guy managed to drop to 5.1 lbs by that Friday. We started him on formula at that point, which eased his fussiness a lot at night and he soon returned to his birth weight. Tomorrow we find out the progress he has made since then.

Life, as Vicki and I have known it up to this point, appears to have been changed forever...

Warren Tran Shih

Born May 26, 2014, 3:57pm

5 pounds, 11 ounces; 19 inches

Daly Tripper

It's been a few weeks now in our new city! We took advantage of the weekend and made a trip to Golden Gate Park.

While we waited for the Muni at the Daly City BART, an elderly Asian lady tried talking to us, but we couldn't understand her. Finally she pointed to something behind us.  Turns out we were waiting at the wrong stop; she must have noticed we were waiting for the 28-bus after seeing us rush to catch the one that just left.  I was impressed that she put in the effort to let us know!

We ate and picked up some random necessities at different shops.  We even dropped by an estate sale along the way.  It turned out to be a really nice, sunny day, which was a huge contrast for me, being cooped up in gloomy, foggy Daly City all week.  Here's a picture of us waiting for the bus again, enjoying our first (quite cheap) "self-serve boba" milk tea:

Public transportation gluttons

Hitched

photo:  Alan Harris

Wow.  It really happened!  I put in my share of time and effort, but really Vicki gets all the credit.  Somehow we managed to pull it off in these past three months.

I'd like to give a very heartfelt thanks to everyone who went out of their way to attend.  If it wasn't the most complicated ceremony/reception arrangement possible, it must have been close to it.  It meant so much to us to be able to see all of your faces.  Friends and family came from as far north as Seattle, as far south as Texas, as far west as Taiwan, and as far east as France.  As much as Vicki and I dislike being the center of attention, we are so moved by the love and support you all have shown us.

And as if coming out all that way wasn't enough, everyone gave us so much!  Thank you all for your kind generosity.

It would be impossible to adequately thank everyone who helped make this happen.  We definitely could not have done it without the help of: Vicki's mom, aunts and uncles; her sisters Karen, Mimi, and Betty; and her bridesmaids Joanne and Ann.  A special thanks to groomsmen Ben and Joel (and their wives, Claire and Joanne) for throwing me a blast of a party and as well as staying so on top of things throughout the entire marathon of a day.

And a heartfelt apology to all those we couldn't invite.  Hopefully we will get to see all of you in the near future.

Thanks again, everyone!

P.S. I also deeply apologize for the band at the reception.  Yikes.

The Hills are Alive! Run!

On June 30^th I joined one crazy crew of fans at the Sound of Music Sing-A-Long at the Hollywood Bowl. It's kind of like the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but for kids. And strange fanatical adults.

These photos were shamelessly stolen from Claire. Of course I only stole the, uh, relevant ones.

Claire kept snapping pictures so I decided to start pointing out the object of interest in each one, in case it wasn't obvious. This is the only example I stole from her site though.

We pretty much baked for the first hour or so before the sun dipped past the trees, during the pre-game entertainment.

The pre-game was emceed by Melissa Peterman, who was actually quite entertaining. So much so I am almost tempted to check out an episode of the show of Reba where she apparently is part of the cast. Almost.

The real endurance part of this mad race was the endless costume parade. Of course it's cute in the beginning but wow, two hours? Yikes.

One of the winners of the costume contest is pictured here. They're the curtains that Maria uses to make play clothes for the kids.

One of the great scenes in the movie, complete with subtitles by which to sing-a-long.

This (third from the left) is the actress who played Liesel in the film.

Heh, I'm pretty wiped out at this point. All in all, lots of fun! Thanks to Steve and Sophia for putting it all together.

Tom's Birthday

Happy Fourth! A while back (May 10^th of this year) the McCaa family celebrated Tom's birthday.

TJ!

These photos are all from Carly's camera, which is probably why she's not featured in any of them, unfortunately.

Ah, I miss San Diego.

Richard & Susan's Wedding

Susan, Richard

Whoops. These are pretty long overdue — I had drafted this up but never posted it.

Richard and Susan got married! Last year October!

Needless to say it was a beautiful ceremony.

Richard was a touch nervous (but of course you can't tell).

Richard actually asked me to arrange one of the pieces performed in the wedding. It was neat to hear it played by some real musicians.

Chris played an original on her guitar as well.

During the reception I had a great talk with Tammy Flemming. She's very approachable and is a lot of fun to talk to. Overall the wedding was very well done and a lot of fun.

Taiwan 2005

Okay, trying to catch up on the past year — only nine months late! My cousin was married in September of last year and I made a quick visit to Taiwan for the tea ceremony, which was a week or two before the actual wedding. This my uncle Hong-Sie, aunt Lo-Ying, their grand-daughter Mao-Mao, and my mom at lunch. Uncle Hong-Sie and and aunt Lo-Ying were so hospitable, carting us around everywhere.

On the way to the wedding

Whenever I try to get my mom to treat me more like an adult she brings up things like this photo, where even a woman at her age gets relegated to the center seat when her parents are around.

A photo collection of the wedding couple.

My cousin Yu-Chow's wife and her son. I think they were married a year or two before this; unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to that wedding.

My uncle Chiu-Che, his two daughters, and grandma.

My cousin Jonathan and I. How is it I'm the oldest but the shortest of the cousins?

Jonathan's girlfriend Jia-Jia.

My cousins are so musically talented. I'm just a hack in comparison.

Grandpa enjoys a story from one of the relatives.

My cousin Candy entertains grandma.

The mother of the bride, the groom, and my aunt Yung-Hui.

My cousin the bride performs the tea ceremony.

The happy couple at the reception.

Operation Safe Place Accomplished

The Dream Team (most of it anyway)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Here's a little blurb I wrote on my trip to Waveland, Mississippi.

There is no reminder of how much we are at the mercy of our surroundings quite as profound as the site of a disaster like Katrina. And there is no example of purity and innocence quite as vivid as a child. And that innocence served as a sign of hope — for recovery and renewal. During this trip I was able to stand right on the coast of the gulf, where the grace of God manifest in a rising sun over peaceful waters stood juxtaposed against the wake of destruction on shore — collapsed houses, clothing strewn about, boats floating in trees instead of water.

You want these people to watch your kids?

The children I was able to spend time with did not seem too affected by the disaster and were just happy to be kids. It would have been interesting to know how much each of them lost exactly but that was not our role there and I was glad to be able to bring them a sense of normalcy as their parents sought aid from FEMA. I know there were other groups that did hear from the kids about things like having to dig through rooftops to survive.

Hotel Morrell

Aside from the kids there was also the muggy heat of the day and frigid cold nights to deal with — the first two days were quite warm but then a cold snap hit and we ended off the trip with at-freezing temperatures at night. Waking up at 5:30am, working with the kids until 6pm, having to share the mens' bathroom with the women for a day or so, fighting off mosquitoes, was all part of the adventure. I wasn't really prepared for an entire week without laundry facilities either, which made for some creative wardrobe rotation.

So Spoiled!

The most rewarding part was spending time with people, both those on the trip and also others who had come to Waveland just to help out. Some were there just to give massages to the other volunteers. Many were there serving food — several from our group helped too. It stirred faith in mankind to see so many people sacrifice so much just to be a small part of the enormous task of healing a part of our country and nation.

Some of the devastation

Song devotionals, late night Sonic run, Pete being More than a Woman, never-ending pork and dance parties at the Wavy Gravy, terrible "Texas" accents, ultimate frisbee, sleeping bags full of Repel, Wild West, endless Matis Yahoo, the peanut gallery, Team Weenies! Thank you, everyone; this trip has been a wonderful adventure and full of great memories!

More devastation

Check out more pictures at Shutterfly. Unfortunately I only have photos from about the first third of the trip; my battery ran out as Crystal M. got a bit snap-happy. Thanks everyone: Erwin, Tracy, Charlene, Adam, Bryce, Sam, Jesse, Yolanda, Georgiana, Erika, Crystal M., Crystal Z., Natalie, Nereida, Lan, Janie, Pete, Faith, and Priscilla!

Time to Reflect at the Gulf

Watch this space for more photo links. Also stay tuned for a video, coming soon.