Its off to work we go!

the other day i had a special treat. Theresa and akello stopped by my work to say hi!
it was a complete surprise and so much fun. "i was on the way back from walking him on town lake and i thought i would swing by...there was a free parking space, so i had to stop!" said theresa. And just in time for lunch too!.



We went next door to Jo's Coffee for lunch and akello slept for pretty much the whole time. it was the first time we were out and about with akello. it was really cool to have him stop in. i wanted to put him on all the chairs and take pics, but i knew better than to overstimulate him in an already stimulating environment.

Product Review: My first years Bottle warmer



Having already bought and tried a portable bottle warmer that we thought we could get double use out of, we were unimpressed. so we took it back and got this one. it costs a little bit more but it's for the home and works a lot better for us.

it heats up the bottles very quickly. but if you get one, read the directions!
you see the little viles of water that attach to the sides? those are the trick. you fill them up to a certain amount depending on ounces and size of bottle. You must be precise, a little bit too much and the milk boils. a little too less and youve got room temp milk. it takes a little getting used too. when your ready to warm it up, you pour the water in, put in the bottle, and press start. it works by boiling the water on the bottom. and its barely any water. imagine a shot glass. now imagine 1/4 of that. thats about how much water goes into it, wich can be confusing at first.

it also comes with a handy cooler that holds two bottles and an ice pack. we havent used that part yet.

i give it 4 out of 5 nipples.

Recommended. Get yours here

feet

The 2 month checkup!

akello is turning out to be such a sweet sweet sweet little boy. So precious and wonderous, so fun and joyous. So it was with great trepidation that we took him into his two month checkup to get 5 shots!



it was so sad! he would be all happy and smiling, and we just knew that he was only minutes away from needles being jammed into his thighs. Oh it was painful. I didnt want theresa to have to hold him down while the nurse did the shots but i didnt say anything. Theresa asked if i wanted to do it and i said that i would be happy too. well i was thinking, how is this going to affect him?

he looks at THeresa and i as his gaurdians, his protectors and care-givers. i didnt want him to think that "oh, I SEE how it is" So when it came down to it, the nurse told me to hold his arms and not his legs. I was like, "oh, ok, i got an idea."



i didnt want akello to associate theresa or I with the traumatic expireance of the shots. So i held his arms from behind him without him ever looking at me, then i tried to keep my face out of his view. When she did the shots, all he saw was that lady in green sticking his leg, and then Mama coming to the rescue!


i know some of you think im silly, and i know the baby wont remember all this, but i still think it has an effect deep down inside somewhere.



He had to get 5 vaccines, but only 3 shots. they combine the vaccines.

he was sooo sad. but he bounced back quickly once in mamas arms and more importantly on mama's breast. He did really good, but four hours later, back at home,he started the most horrible cries. He was in a great deal of pain, unconsoleable high pitched pain. Luckily, theresa told me to stop at walgreens on the way home from work the day before to buy infant tylenol drops, so as to have them ready for this day. i went in picked them up, and then rushed home! i came through the door all hurridly, like the guys in the movies with the anectdote in hand with seconds to spare. I rush into the office and start taking off all the safety seals and what nots, and I ask theresa, "whats wrong, what happened?!"" She's like, "whats wrong with what?" and i look at akello and then the tylenol drops. She munchs on a pringle and then says, "oh, thats for tomorrow."

geez.

well after he went into his cries of pain, we started to give him his tylenol once every 4 hours so as to beat him to the punch. It worked, and he never cried like that again for the rest of the day. He slept good that night, i think 4 hours straight!

the little dude was all doped up! gettin some of that nyquil sleep! but theresa told me it had nothing to do with it.

so we have made a couple of changes to the nursery. We took the big mobile that sits above his bed down and put it in the living room. Theresa told me that he would wake up at night and see it, and he would spring awake! Theresa still sleeps with him on his floor bed with him. Soon she will be transitioning away and leaving him to sleep on his own on the bed. i think. dont quote me. i might change what i said tomorrow.

this blog is funny, cuss i usually only write on it after everyones in bed. so i cant go ask theresa questions about anything, so it will be 3 days after i have posted somehting and i will get an email from her all, "45 minutes of solitary play time??!!" "thats when they are 2!" oops. my bad.

so, well see.

but, we moved the mobil to the living room. it looks really cool in there. i positioned it so that he can sit on his bouncy seat under it and can make the choice to look up at it or look outside. see video



Choices are a big thing with montessori. your not supposed to command his attention.
he shouldnt have anything all up in his grill so as to not let him look away if he decides to.



its neat, becuase i wil just be sitting next to him, whatching him look at the mobil and wanting him to look at me, so its always cool when he turns to look at me for a while.

today i was kissing him and he was smiling everytime i did it. that was fun. i caught it on video.



i also took away a piece of the mobil thats above the changing table and put it on the light above the dinner table. im trying to figure out a way to do the same thing above his car seat. hmm...


without center piece.


relocated to dining table

i added an acrylic vase that i found at container store to the nursery. THeresa always has a multitude of books and her journal kind of sitting in the corner so I turned the vase sideways and used it as a book holder.



I also moved the eames rocker to the living room because we never use it in the bedroom right now. Theresa is never in there, just me. And I use the rocker in the nursery when I’m with him.

As he grows and our patterns change I can see us changing a lot of things. Theresa told me today that she wants to move our glass coffee table upstairs for that learning to walk stage. I agree, it will be nice to have a big open area in the living room.

2 months, I mean 8 weeks.

TWO MONTH BIRTHDAY!

for some reason people start notating time in weeks rather than months the first day you find out your pregnant. There is always of course the 9 months that we hear about, but other than that, it's a lot of "weeks". I know theres good reason for it, its a lot easier to say 7 weeks than one month and 3 weeks. but it does take getting used to. I am more fluent in baby time now and understand when people tell me that there 13 weeks pregnant and what not.

another thing that i have noticed is that all the baby books refer to a baby as she.
"if she gets fussy, try this..." its always she. for that i dont know why. He is a lot shorter. yes one letter but still a third shorter. mmm, im tired. i find myself thinking a lot about things to say for this blog. great things. good topics. but at the end of the night my mind has been drawing a blank recently. I am very busy with a lot of things and pretty tired and yet, i think i used to be more busy and even more tired.

I can't explain it really.

Akello is a joy and I just love those first moments when i see him when i come home from work or when i wake up in the morning.

Theresa told me the other day that she looks at akello and she feels as though god had forgiven her for all her sins. As if to say that the slate was wiped clean, we were blessed with akello, and then God said, start again. Theresa said she had been thinking alot about soldiers in general and how everyone is a child to someone. and not matter how old or how tough one marine can be, he's someones baby. and to loose a baby.....

She went on to say, that children are the only thing that grounds us as a people. We are born, beautiful children innocent and growing....and then the world shapes us...and then we become adults and our outlook changes and we become selfish, (we are human) but then...a child comes into our lives and it brings us back, it grounds us, gives us perspective.
Her comment really touched me. I found it to be profound.

Speaking of god, we are excited to bring him to church on sunday, he is over the 8 week hump and we are now comfortable taking him into large public areas.


Akello has let us have dinner together for the past two days. its been nice. usually we take turns eating. we put him in the carseat on top of the table and he just hangs out and tells us about his day as we eat. a squeek here and a little giggle there.

He loves to look up. at the dinner table he looks up at the light fixture. I was surprised it held his intrest so much for not moving at all, and then i realized that there is a mirror in the light so as to reflect the light from the bulb and maybe he sees us move in the mirror, since we dont turn on the light when he is under it. He is loving on his mobils. The mobil above the bed is his favortite.

here he is talking to the one over his changing table


Theresa told me that its good to give him 20 minutes of solitary play time, and when he turns one, about 45 minutes a day. Thats usually where i will put him. under that mobil above his bed. One time i got down there and looked up, to see his point of view. That mobil is pretty cool. soon i will film it so you can see.

Montessori recommends that when designing a nursery room to get down on the floor, at babys level and to see things how he sees them. Would a bunch of toys piled up in the corner instill a sense of order? hmmm.....

Theresa and akello get around a lot and have been going to a class there or a playgroup here, or ....
as last sunday, Micah's birthday party!


Later that day,
Jannete and Larry came over for dinner and brought with them an awesome dessert.
hAGEN DAZZ Mango sorbet, with fruit on top. what a healthy (im guessing) dessert


jannette and AK


Sorbet. Recommended

oh did you know...Hagen Daz is a completely made up name. it doesnt mean anything. in fact i think its an american company, I remember in college reading this book on branding, and this was one of the case studies. The guy just wanted a name that american consumers would think sounded european so he made up a name, added a umlat and ta-daaa!!

silly americans! (i think he was an immigrant)

anyway i digress,

oooh, so the bouncy seat arrived days ago. Akello digs it. it looks really cool. It has 3 levels of incline. in the picture below it is sitting up, hence him falling into the support sling.


on the picture below he is at full recline, so i took off the support. We are just using full recline for now



We like to play with him using a silk black and white scarf. i will roll it up in my hands and make it dissapear and then pull it out of my fist like a magic act or something. Soon he will be able to appreciate the texture.






Laura stopped by to visit with her little ones Paloma (above) and Nadine (with laura below)



too cute!


Laura is a montessori teacher and longtime freind of Theresa's. Theresa has learned a lot from her over the past two years as she has volunteered her time with her school so as to observe and learn montessori stuff. When laura pulled up, we were totally impressed with her mobile mobil. Check this out!!




at one point all the babies were together and theresa snapped this hilarious picture!


It was really neat to see paloma as an awesome young child, a model of how we would love akello to be. Paloma would make a mess, and Laura would say something like, "do you want to clean up your mess. You did that, do you want to clean it up, and paloma would just hop right to it. it was really cool.

We like to go on walks, its good for all of us. It puts akello to sleep, Theresa and I can talk and catch up, and its good excercise.
On this day it was a bit sunny so we put on his hat


and then he was asleep


nothings as cute as baby low cut ankle socks

More Cheeks

road trip

Last week we took our first road trip, all the way to san marcos to see grandma and grandpa and all their neighbors. My dad bbq'd and i managed to not overeat since we were only there for two hours and there would be no time for naps. This was the first time that Great Grandma got to see him too!


grandpa and his built in BBQ scented burp cloth


Tia Gina


Great Grandma Pauline and the newest baby to the family since my sister (who is now 28)

From the Desk of Theresa Garcia

The following was written by Theresa:

So, I am finally catching up with the events of Columbus Day weekend. It’s been hard to find the words and the time to express how meaningful it was. It was a reunion of sorts, an introduction, a welcoming. The majority of us have known each other for over six years, Michelle, Stephanie, Jamie, Marian, Gina, Rhonda and me. After some reminiscing we traced the lineage of our relationship back to Marian.


Rhonda and Akello

We’ve spread out through the years and only 3 of us including me still reside in Austin, 1 in California and 2 in New York. Austin is basically the center for us, home. As we came together we met significant others (Gil, Angela, Chris, Justin) broadening our circle of friends with even more loved ones. The circle is even extending to other generations as our children get to know each other Christa (5), Eneas (15 months), and Akello (7 weeks). We’ve had so much to celebrate in the recent years but few opportunities to get together. I feel so happy, proud and humble that the birth of Akello inspired this reunion.


Angela and Akello

Fact: Did you know that Akello means to bring forth? How ironic….
What a special time! I get to see my beloved friends. I get to be reminded that time and space cannot break the bonds of our friendship. I get to introduce Akello to more members of his extended family. His village is growing!!!!
The highlight of our weekend together was gathering at our house for a potluck.


Michelle and Akello

We noshed, we reflected, we caught up and Akello was able to go from person to person getting much love and attention.


Christa

His other young friends were also getting acquainted as Eneas (Michelle’s son) and Christa (Rhonda’s daughter) played around like brother and sister.


Eneas

Having Eneas here was such a treat. He is full of energy and toddler curiosity. It definitely helped Gil and I get a glimpse of our future and the way we will need to childproof our home. Eneas was so sweet to Akello. He kept blowing kisses. He really loves babies. I can’t wait till they are able to play together.


Gil and Akello


Another highlight of the weekend is that I had my first night out while Gil stayed home with Akello.


Stephanie and Justin

We went to Trudy’s which is kind of a tradition and a must do when your in Austin. I skipped the Mexican Martini (another tradition) but allowed myself to have some of the spicy food I’d been avoiding. We had a great time hanging out although I have to admit it was hard being away from Akello but I’m glad he had some hang time with Daddy.

As the weekend came to a close it was hard to say goodbye. It went so quickly but we could rest assured that we will see each other again because Jamie and Chris are expecting their first child in April. So we’ll be having another reunion and celebration in 2007.


Jamie and Chris

Friends are priceless. Although we don’t see each other often or even talk to each other on a regular basis we are friends, deeply connected, we care about each other, we support each other and we celebrate each other.
I wish for Akello such friends such as these.


Marian and Theresa

Cheeks

Those cheeks!!! mmmm, i love his cheeks.