diff --git a/src/dag/dag-module.cpp b/src/dag/dag-module.cpp
index c346f44..de9b43b 100644
--- a/src/dag/dag-module.cpp
+++ b/src/dag/dag-module.cpp
@@ -47,7 +47,10 @@ DagModule::getAncestors(EdgeState state)
     auto parent = getOrConstruct(toStateName(ptr));
     // if this is pending, update its descendents
     if (parent.status == EdgeState::INITIALIZED) {
-      NDN_LOG_TRACE(parent.stateName << " is a pending state, stop here...");
+      NDN_LOG_TRACE(parent.stateName << " is a pending ancestor, stop here...\n"
+                    "Adding " << state.stateName << "into descendants..");
+      parent.descendants.insert(state.stateName);
+      update(parent);
     }
     else {
       // we gonna expand this ptr in the next round.
@@ -76,7 +79,10 @@ DagModule::getAncestors(EdgeState state)
         }
 
         if (parent.status == EdgeState::INITIALIZED) {
-          NDN_LOG_TRACE(parent.stateName << " is a pending state, stop here...");
+          NDN_LOG_TRACE(parent.stateName << " is a pending state, stop here...\n"
+                        "Adding " << state.stateName << "into descendants..");
+          parent.descendants.insert(state.stateName);
+          update(parent);
         }
         else {
           nextFrontier.push_back(parent.stateName);
@@ -168,6 +174,12 @@ DagModule::onNewRecord(EdgeState& state)
   if (!state.record.isGenesis()) {
     evaluateAncestors(state);
   }
+
+  // resolve all pending descendants
+  for (auto& desc : state.descendants) {
+    auto descState = getOrConstruct(desc);
+    evaluateWaitlist(descState);
+  }
   return *this;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/sync/sync-module.cpp b/src/sync/sync-module.cpp
index 8619a1f..e02473b 100644
--- a/src/sync/sync-module.cpp
+++ b/src/sync/sync-module.cpp
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ SyncModule::recursiveFetcher(const NodeID& nid, const SeqNo& s, std::shared_ptr<
       }
       acc->clear();
     }
-  });
+  },
+  MAX_RETRIES);
 }
 
 Name
diff --git a/src/sync/sync-module.hpp b/src/sync/sync-module.hpp
index 56543bd..42de772 100644
--- a/src/sync/sync-module.hpp
+++ b/src/sync/sync-module.hpp
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ using YieldRecordCallback = std::function<void(const Record&)>;
 class SyncModule
 {
 public:
+  const ssize_t MAX_RETRIES = 3;
+
   explicit
   SyncModule(const SyncOptions &options, const SecurityOptions& secOps, ndn::Face& face,
              storage::Interface storageIntf, const YieldRecordCallback& yield);