Another day, another blood tube. Still no cry today even though he was awake. Our lil Dan is one tough baby. He has been closely monitored for his Bilirubin. His level is peaked out today and should come back down tomorrow. He’s also regaining his weigh thanks to his loving mother for her continuous nursing.

Dan gets lots of love from his big brother. When he cried, Dao gave him kisses and told him, “It’s ok baby brother. Don’t cry. Big brother is here.” The first thing Dao did when he woke up was running over his brother’s room, giving him kisses and reading book to him. He picked out the book that he could memorize by looking at the picture. Already Dao proves to be a great big brother.

Dao continues to crack us up with his reasonings. “Please feed me the pear because it’s too cold.” When Grandma told him that her hands are dirty; therefore, she can’t play with him. He responded to her, “Here’s the towel grandma. Clean your hand and go play with Dao.” To grandpa, “Would you like to help Dao [setting up] bowling?” Seeing Dao continues to develop his personality makes me happy. Seeing him showing his love for his brother makes me proud.

Before having our second child, I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t be able to love all my children the same way. Now I have discovered that I don’t have to love them the same way. Each of them is unique and my job is to nurture them and love them in their own way. That’s what make each child special.

Like mama, Dan lets nothing get in between him and his sleep, even a pinched needle. Yesterday he needed to get blood test for his jaundice. The technician worried that she would wake him up when she pinched the needle into his foot. I reassured her that he wouldn’t. She was amazed that he made no sound as all even when she squeezed his foot to draw the blood. The day before that he didn’t cry at all in the hospital when another technician took his blood while he was sleeping. The first time when he was awake, however, he was bawling.

Big brother Dao shows mucho love for his little brother. As soon as he woke up, the first thing he wanted to do was to stand by the crib watching his brother sleep. He also helped be getting the Vaseline and diaper when I changed his brother’s diaper. He showed his brother his trains and his iPod.

The gap between the two of them seems to bridge well. If his little brother were to come out when Dao was around two, we would have more tough time with them both. We’re also very fortunate that Dan likes to sleep. He was been sleeping so much ever since he came home from the hostipal. His wait has dropped 10% because he rather be sleeping than taking his milk.

Thanks for all the tweets and comments on Facebook regarding to our new bundle of joy. We all went home yesterday. Lil Dan slept like a log in his own comfortable crib. Big brother Dao kept wanting to look and touch his baby brother. Dao is very gentle to Dan.

If Dao is a copy of me (that’s what most people said), Dan is a copy of Dana. Looking at him reminds me of Dana’s baby picture. Dan is doing great. Still, we’re very fortunate to have grandparents helping us out. It would be tough if we were to do it by ourselves. We’ll have a full schedule for tomorrow.

Dung, Dan and I are still in the hospital while Dao is staying home with grandparents. I was hoping we get to go home today because I really miss Dao. Holding Dan in my arms gives me nostalgia. I can’t believe two and a half years had gone by already.

With the new baby, I feel like I am reliving the moment even though the experience is completely different. I thought I was well prepared for the second baby, but Dan isn’t anything like his brother. As we have witnessed yesterday. When he wanted to come out, he waited for no one. I didn’t even get a chance to park the car in the parking garage. I didn’t want to miss the occasion so I just left the car right in front of the main door. I didn’t even have the time to grab the camera out of the car.

Today is only his second day in this world, yet he is already attaching to us. We placed him in his crib and he cried. I picked him up, held him closed to my chest and he slept without a sound. I placed him down and he started to fuss. He’s too adorable not to pick him back up. All the lessons we had learned about our first child had gone out the window. I feel like it’s a whole new journey again and we will have to navigate our ways around him as we had done so with Dao.

I am looking forward to going home tomorrow so that I can spend the rest of the week with my boys before heading back to work. Seeing them together and witnessing Dao showing his affective for his baby brother makes me feel blessed.

Of course my boys wouldn’t be here without the wonderful person who gave birth to them. She endured all the pain throughout the journeys. There is no word I can describe how grateful I am to have her in our lives. Loving her simply isn’t enough because her love for all of us is unsurpassable.

This morning my wife warmed me, “I think our boy wants to come out.” I joked with her, “Then you better start walking.” I was not expecting that he would want to come out two weeks earlier than his due date. I took Dao to daycare, stopped by Einstein Bros. Bagels to pick a cup of coffee, and drove to work listening to Eric Dolphy. I got to work, pulled in the parking lot and found out that I left my laptop at home. As I was about to head back home, my wife called and said, “You better get home. He’s coming out.”

I rushed back home around 10am, called the doctor, and headed straight to the hospital. While going through the registration process, Dana couldn’t endure the contraction. The nurse checked Dana and immediately rushed us into the delivery room. She called the doctor, but confirmed that he wouldn’t make it in on time. Another doctor in the hospital took over the delivery. After five our six hard pushes, our lovely boy came out.

Trương Công Đán was born on November 29, 2011 at 11:50am. He was 7bls and 3oz and 20in tall. His older brother called him “baby brother” and gave him kisses. We’re very happy that he’s now here with us for the rest of our lives.

The last few months has been tough dealing with Dao as he is going through his terrible-two phase. He would say no to everything as if his brain had been wired to do so. Do you want to brush your teeth? No. Do you want to change new clothes? No. Do you want to take a bath? No. Do you want to play with iPod? No. Then he changed his mind. Yes, I want iPod.

He fought back everything I do for him. At times, I just shut out and let him do whatever he wanted. I wouldn’t hold him in my arms to sleep and I wouldn’t read him a book. He would get frustrated and butted his head against my nose when I tried to closed my eyes pretending to sleep. Lucky I didn’t have a nose surgery or else it would have been broken so many times. When I just couldn’t take it anymore, I just walk away and let him scream.

I couldn’t take control of the situation and I ended up letting him gets his way. Then I realized that I am not fit to be a dad, but it’s a bit too late now since another boy is coming out soon. How am I going to handle the two of them?

Fortunately things are getting a bit better now. He still says no and still hates brushing, but he is more cooperative. Things are done much faster now and I get him out of the house by 8am and getting to bed by 9pm. I am not sure if he’s getting off his terrible-two state or I am getting accustomed to his rebellious.

Daycare sent Dao home Monday afternoon for a high fever. I took off Tuesday to take care of him. He fussed and refused everything from food to milk to water. I had to take him to the shopping mall train to get him to eat. We sat in the food court and watched the train goes by. I made a deal with him. If he eats we would get to ride the train. If not we just go home. He screamed and screamed, but he knew he better eat to get on the train.

Tuesday night, he got better and could be back to daycare the next day, but grandparent drove down just in case he would still be out sick. He ended up staying home for the rest of the week and didn’t want to back to daycare. He loves spending time with grandma because she plays with him as much as he wants to. None of us could do that except for grandma and he knows it. He was sitting on he coach, watching Jay Jay, leaning on her and eating a cheese sandwich like a little king.

While grandma was occupied with Dao, grandpa fixed things around the house. The damn towel bar in the bathroom kept falling off the wall because I couldn’t nail though the wood. I put on compound and screwed it back in. It fell off again the next day; therefore, I just left it like that. I was just going to get rid of it, but I hadn’t have the time. Yesterday, I discovered the bar was back on the wall and tightly secured. I need to ask him how did he do it. He also made a holder for Dao’s bathtub. It looks pretty clever.

It’s always a great pleasure having the grandparent visiting us. They’ll off to Cancun with my sister-in-law and her husband for five days. I am sure they’ll appreciate the quietness and the relaxation after what they had been through with the little kid.

Dao has a great memory and remembers most of the books we have read; therefore, I liked to do a bit of interactive reading with him. For example, when we read Dr. Seuss’s ABC, I said “A” and he said “alligator.” I said “B” and he said “bumblebee.” I said “C” and he said “camel.” When we got to “I,” however, he said “gai,” which means scratch in Vietnamese, but the actual word is “itchy.”

Another book that he liked to read is P.D. Eastman’s “Are You My Mother?” He started out with, “A mother bird sat on her egg. The egg jumped.” The I read the next few lines with him filling in the sentences. When we got to page eight, he got up, jumped and yelled out, “the egg jumped. It jumped, and jumped, and jumped.” Then I said, “Out came…” He screamed, “the baby bird!” He also said, “I am too loud.” I replied, “Yes, you are.”

One of our favorite books is Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go. Here’s how we read it:

Me: Congratu…
Dao: lations!
Me: Today is…
Dao: your day.
Me: You’re off to…
Dao: Great Places!
Me: You’re off and…
Dao: away.
Me: You have brains in your…
Dao: head.
Me: You have feet in your…
Dao: shoes.
Me You can steer yourself any direction you…
Dao: choose.
Me: You’re on your…
Dao: own.
Me: And you know what you…
Dao: know.
Me: And YOU are the guy who’ll decide…
Dao: where to go.

My mother was discharged from the hospital on Sunday. She’s recuperating. Thanks to all of you who sent her love and prayers. When she was taken to the hospital, the first thing came to my mind was that please don’t let her ended up like her sister who had a stroke more than a decade ago and has been in bed ever since. Friday night when I visited her in the hospital, she was murmuring some words while sleeping and she looked so much weaker than two weeks ago when we were in Mexico.

When I went back to Lancaster last week, Dao and Dana didn’t come with me. I didn’t want a pregnant woman and a little kid to be around the hospital. Saturday I was sitting by my mom’s side watching the snow fell and I missed them so much. I missed hearing the little one talks. I missed hanging around with him. I missed reading our favorite book together (Oh! The Places You Go). Heck I even missed the moments that he drove me to the wall like brushing his teeth and getting him to sleep. Yes, I had those moments when I said in my head, “Go the F to Sleep.” I didn’t see him for three days and it seemed like forever. Then I realized that the last time I saw my father was in 2001. Damn, time goes by so fast.

I also missed my wife even though we only communicate with each other on the basic level. These days if we go any further than that, we would ended up arguing. If we talk to the point where I started to feel comfortable, I would bring up my problems and she is sick and tired of hearing them. I am sure you’re pretty tired of hearing them too if you follow this blog. Carrying the baby is already hard enough; therefore, I try my best to keep my own issues to myself and not giving her anymore burden.

Dao was being a very good boy today. He helped me clean up the toys and organize the house; therefore, I took him out for a treat. First we went mini-golfing and he made a hole in one. Then he ate almost an entire jumbo hotdogs and popcorns. After that we headed over to the ghost train. We had to wait for half an hour just to get on the train. Though the ride was filled with fun Halloween spirit, Dao was ready for a nap.

After the ride was over, I gave him milk and drove around town enjoying the beautiful red and yellow autumn leaves and listening to Sophie Milman’s latest album In the Moonlight. I got this album a few weeks ago, but haven’t had a chance to really listen to it in its entirety until now. I liked the album so much that I stopped by Starbucks drive-through, grabbed me a venti cup of coffee frappuccino, turned off the engine and wrote a review on a piece of napkin. I really miss blogging about music now that I no longer have the luxury to do so.

After that I drove around bait more and then headed home. As soon as I put the car into park, he woke up. He didn’t want to go back in and wanted to go table train so we headed to Barnes and Noble. He played train, lego and read some books. Before we knew it, it was already 7 p.m. so we better headed home. It was indeed a fulfilled father-and-son day. I can’t ask for more than these precious moments together. I did leave all of my own issues behind while I was with him.