What Have We Done?

23 months!

2011-06-25T23:05:00.006-05:00

Dear Chuy,

The great blog catch up continues... you are much older than 23 months at the time that I am writing this, but let's see if we can't jump in our 'wayback machine' and do some remembering about what we were up to... ready? GO!

We went to Aquarena Springs in San Marcos to celebrate Mother's Day together. We took a glass bottom boat ride, strolled around an aquarium and enjoyed the day together. Turns out Aquarena Springs used to be way cooler with a swimming pig and dancing mermaids back in the day, but Six Flags and Sea World moved in and changed everything.

I will say I was a bit disappointed to hear that the swimming pig no longer swam, but we had fun regardless. Here you are showing your appreciation for your mother on Mother's Day...

We shared my body for 40 weeks, you could at least pretend to like me on Mother's Day...

Your sports obsession continues and gets stranger by the day. I went to the kitchen to grab you some more water and in the 25 or so seconds it took to do that, you grabbed the remote control, turned the channel to ladies golf, and managed to start recording it... really? The only sport more boring than golf has got to be ladies golf...

Here you are with the dog pound... I like how you are all piled up in the corner of the crib... and to think, just a few short months ago, I was terrified to let you sleep with any stuffed friends in the crib, but you're a big boy now, so, I think you can handle it...

Your buddies Syl and Viv hosted a mommy meet-up at their house right before Easter. They happen to have a piano... you happened to love it... good boy... no drummers...

I like how all the other kiddos are happily hunting for eggs while you are having a blast throwing ping pong balls as though the are baseballs and you're playing in the World Series... too funny...

On Easter Sunday, we took a trip up to Lakeway to have fancy brunch with our family friends...

Here you are before brunch in your Easter best... gotta love that clip on tie...

Our fancy brunch! The only person missing is your Auntie Vic, who was taking the pic of the rest of us...

Super happy fun time family portrait on Easter... Look at that lake! No?

They had a petting zoo at the restaurant... You l.o.v.e.d. it - mostly because there were ducks to chase and geese to feed... good times...

Your Daddy graduated from college! Did you hear me? I said GRADUATED from COLLEGE!!

Pretty darn big deal... Your Uncle Matt, Bachan, Auntie Vic, and Clover all were there to help celebrate! Poor Auntie Vic, always taking the picture means you're never in the picture!

You and Clo spent the bulk of your time at Daddy's graduation trying to escape from Daddy's graduation...

Daddy's Graduation party - quite the array of guests - a pirate AND a cowboy attended...

I'm glad to see you've been practicing your Handsome Boy Modeling School moves. Your teacher at escuela, Ms. Niecy, says that you're going to have to get a job soon to support your lunch habit... looks like professional male modeling might be a good option...

23 months old means you're only 4 short weeks from being a 2 year old. WHAT??? Are you kidding me??? What have we done...

Love,

Mommy

p.s. Everytime I look at the picture I think you've got your best Joe Pesci voice on and you're saying 'ay... oh... fuggit about it'...

22 Months!

2011-06-25T22:32:00.004-05:00

Dear Chuy,

I'm playing a little bit of catch up here on your blog - you are way older than 22-months at the time that I am writing this, but that's cool - we've been busy l.i.v.i.n...

Check out your awesome tiger pants - wouldn't you rather I make sure you own stuff like these pants than make sure your blog is always up to date? ...that's what I thought...

So, what were we up to in your 22nd month on the planet? Well, looks like we finally got around to planting some new plants in the backyard. It snowed this past winter for the first time in many many years and your Daddy and I both talked about how we should probably bring the plants in, but neither one of us put our words into actions and, therefore, had to get some new plants for spring...

You really enjoyed using your baby rake and wearing Daddy's gloves to help us plant. I think your favorite part was the watering - you even liked to pretend water the plants - so cute...

We've been spending lots of time outside in the backyard - mostly because it's not 100+ degrees yet... it will be soon and for many months to come, but for now, it's so pleasant outside...

Thanks for saving some kisses for your Mommy - I sure do love them!

You got a super cool action adventure tent for Christmas and man oh man do you love it! Looks like Daddy is enjoying the action and adventure of it all too...

I absolutely love this picture of you when we were playing peek-a-boo in the adventure tunnel... plus, you're wearing your duck-billed plaid-a-pus tee - a Mommy favorite...

We met Auntie Yaz, Uncle Chris, and Baby Weezy at the park for breakfast tacos and playground fun. I think you're favorite part was the slide. It was hard for Moms and Dads to let you do your own sliding, but you're getting big enough that you can handle it all on your own...

You've really been into wearing Daddy's hat lately. It does look pretty darn handsome on you...

You also think it's hilarious when Mommy wears Daddy's hat - I think it looks better on you and Daddy...

You may be a big huge toddler man now, but you still enjoy stuffing yourself into one of your toy bins with all of your friends...

It is absolutely crazy how fast the time has gone. I am in awe of how much you grow and how much you learn on a daily basis. You are an awesome, unstoppable force of nature and it is amazingly, fascinatingly wonderful to be the person you call Momma.

I love you,

Mommy

p.s. This is your new friend Bootsy. You have much love for him and I'm glad he's part of your dog pile every night in your crib...

21 Months!

2011-04-15T15:33:00.006-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Now that I'm finally getting around to writing your 21 month blog, you're already 22 months old... can you believe it? You're almost 2 years old... 2 YEARS OLD!!!! Still can't believe that my sweet precious little tiny baby is an almost 2 year old. Nuts.

Lately, you've been into hanging out in the back yard, which is awesome because we have a huge back yard that we barely ever used and it is perfect for burning off extra toddler energy. You'll be climbing these trees by yourself in no time.

I found this totally awesome baby rake at a local garden shop. I thought it would be so cute to see you rake the leaves with a rake your size... not use it as a weapon to ward off your own mommy... so mean...

Here's a pic of you and Daddy playing soccer/ rake as the train goes by. You sure do love that train!

This particular evening, you decided that your high chair is for babies only and that a mature man like yourself should sit in a big chair to share fake pears with Daddy...

Tooth brushin and throwing mad plaid styles...

Your sunnies... you call them 'EYES!' and that's what you say until we put them on for you... then you request 'OFF!!' until we take them off of you, at which point you say 'EYES!' until we put them on for you, then...

This picture was taken before the great bath accident of 2011, wherein the baskety thing on a pole that holds our soap and accessories kinda got loosened by one Mr. Toddler man and then it kinda fell into the tub where it kinda bumped you in the nose. Now baths are around 7 minutes of screaming terror... good times...

Oh snap! The Rodeo came to town and we were all over it. I heard they had a monkey named Bandit that dressed up like a cowboy and rode a dog around a track. Once we arrived, there was no Bandit, but there were many other awesome attractions...

Like PONY RIDES!!! You were so amazingly excited to ride the pony. I honestly felt really bad for those ponies that day, but that's another story for another day.

PETTING ZOO! Oh man, you were running around like a crazy person petting all these poor poor animals...

A real live Texas Longhorn! This thing was huge. I had to get a pic of you with it - it's not everyday we see a real live Texas Longhorn despite the fact that our friends in different states think we all wear hats and boots and ride horses to work...

You are on a non-stop crash course with turning 2. I still can't believe how fast this has all gone. It seems like only yesterday I could put you on a blanket and you would just hang there and play with your toes... it also seems like a lifetime ago...

Love,

Mommy

20 Months!

2011-03-03T19:48:00.006-06:00

Dear Chuy,

20 months! You're almost Two-Years-Old... what? Huh? Really?

I would say all the usual things like 'I can't believe you're almost two', but unfortunately for me and your Daddy, it's pretty darn obvious that you're almost two. Even your teacher at escuela, Ms. Neicy said that 'you've gone and caught yourself a case of the twos'... couldn't have said it better.

Your most favorite word in the entire world is 'no'. Followed by a close second place of 'mine'. You have also been combining these words to make super awesome sentences like 'NO MOMMY... MINE!' When you're not in a terrible two mood, you are still the sweetest most awesome baby on the planet. When you are in 'the zone'... well... sweet baby... you're kind of... a monster. But let me just say, I love my sweet baby monster with all of my heart...

In other news, you've got a new cousin. His name is Baby Bryce and he is super cute... Here you are with your cousin Logan inspecting the new arrival...

You also enjoy bringing toys to the dinner table. We tried (briefly) to take a stand and not allow toys at the table, but, you know, sometimes, you have to pick your battles, so, we've decided that hitting the TV with an empty paper towel roll is most definitely off limits, and instead, it's totally cool to bring toys to the dinner table. Win-win.

One day, as we were leaving escuela, your teacher gave you a small apple. I thought that you would just hang onto it, maybe throw it around, but since I always peel and chop your apples into baby bites, I had no idea that you know how to just eat an apple...

Speaking of apples, they don't fall far from the tree in our house... cute hats for all Corcoran boys!

Um... since when did you sign a contract with Abercrombie and Fitch? You must be a student at the Handsome Boy Modeling School with a drop dead gorgeous handsome face like that...

We took a trip to the park to ride the Zilker Zephyr train and afterwards, had ourselves some ice cream.. yum!

You and I went on a grand adventure this past month. Since Daddy had a dental hygiene convention to attend (which was cancelled due to snow), you and I hopped a plane and went to see Auntie Gigi and Uncle Charles in California!

Here we are on the beach - it was your first time to see the ocean and you made a beeline for it. I had to run to grab you so that you wouldn't just dive right in and swim away.

We did some power shopping while we were in town. Here's a pic of 'baby's first trip to H&M' - Mommy's first trip to H&M too... Mommy had much fun there. Looks like you and Auntie Gigi had some fun too!

Your Auntie Gigi sure does love you to pieces...

All your friends from Sesame Street came to town to put on a show. I've never ever seen you more excited than when Elmo first stepped onto the stage. It was a moment I will never ever forget.

Poor Daddy, no matter how hard he tries to not think about dental hygiene, it follows him around like a bully with yellow eyes...

I can't believe that I almost have a 2-year-old son. Even when you're being a complete Grump-a-saurus Rex, you're forever and always my sweet booty dew...

Love,

Mommy

P.S. I tried three different times on three different days to take a sweet smiley Valentine's Day picture for your card and this is the best one I got...

19 Months!

2011-01-26T13:48:00.009-06:00

Dear Chuy,

19 months, huh? That's crazy!

I am, once again, a little bit late getting to the blog this month, so, yet another bit of catching up to do... how's about we do it with a handy dandy photo montage?

Your Grandpa and Granny Sandy came to visit a week or so before Christmas. None of y'all would look at the camera, so, here is a study in profiles... I'm so curious to know what you're thinking in this pic - you look so serious...

We went over to our buddies Swede and Catherine's house for some fondue fun. Here you are taking a break from the dipping goodness... oh how we love to dip things in cheese in our family...

Christmas Eve was spent over at Clover's house - we had much fun, lots of tamales, I think there were 4 different kinds of pie there (and yes, we sampled them all), and you and Clo both got awesome reindeer courtesy of your Nana Libby (Clover's Nana).

This pic is one of about 273 taken on two different cameras and up to four iPhones in an attempt to capture the two of you dressed in Christmas finery... in front of a Christmas tree... smiling at the same time...

I think we did pretty good capturing the moment and I wish we had a picture of all of us being complete crazy people behind the camera as we tried to get you both to smile...

Christmas morning was just us three as a little family and it was fantastic! Santa was very kind to you (and me) - bringing you lots and lots of toys and a cool art easel and bringing me an awesome Shark steam vac... woot!

The first gift you went for was your buddy Elmo, or as you call him, "MELMO!!!!". Santa was kind and left MELMO!!!! unwrapped so that you could play with him immediately upon discovery.

Your Bachan got you a most awesome Dyson vaccuum - it actually works, has attachments, and makes a cool noise. You have much love for your new vaccuum and you are most definitely your Father's son...

Auntie Regina sent the cutest Christmas outfit ever. We all love penguins in our house... specially when they're wearing tuxedos!

She even sent penguin socks to match... cause she's good like that...

On New Year's Eve, we invited some of our friends over for chili and tiramisu cheesecake...

Once again, the crazy parents decided that we needed a picture of all three of you baby-types together, sitting still, and possibly smiling... Weezy has you and Clo beat on the sitting still. I do like how you managed to steal that poor baby's teething giraffe. You toddlers are tough.

Here's a pic of the kids table at our New Years shindig - you, Tanner, Tristan, and Clo all enjoying some chili and cornbread!

Here is a very rare photo of the three of us together all at the same time. These types of pics don't happen very often...

So, here we are - it's almost February, you're almost 20 months old, and Valentine's Day is just around the corner. You are so chatty and funny lately it's an absolute joy to be in your presence (with the exception of the few times that you need to just lay on the floor and scream for no reason...).

I can't wait to celebrate 'Baby's Second Valentine's Day' with you and as always, I'm so excited to see what new tricks you'll have up your sleeve in the next month.

Love,

Mommy

P.S. I'm completely fine with you dumping the contents of that cabinet on the floor all at the same time. Why? Because you love to put them all back and close the doors when you're done...

Whole bunch of catchin up!

2010-12-16T14:47:00.012-06:00

Um... hey there... how have you been? Sure has been a long time since I've come around this neck of the interweb... oopsies... just been busy, you know having fun, work work working, and all that kind of good stuff. We have a whole bunch to cover on today's edition of "What Have We Done" and I think I would prefer to do it as a photo medley... mostly because I love medleys...

Here we go! First stop, Halloween!

Why have one DJ Lance Rock when you can have a whole DJ Lance Rock family!!! We got to rock our costumes at Tallulah's second annual Tiny Tot Halloween party - it was much fun.

Instead of letting you loose with a sharp knife and a pumpkin, I thought it might be more fun (and by 'fun' I mean 'safe') to use craft paint and paint up our pumpkins this year...

Turned out pretty good, don't cha think?

17-months old!!! Something super duper major happened this month... you got promoted to the next room up at day care - the 18 to 24 month old room... the big kid room... Ms. Neicy is your new teacher and she's amazingly kind and good hearted. You've been having fun getting to know the older kids, participating in show and tell, drinking from a real cup, all sorts of good stuff.

We all went to Goblins In the Garden at the Wildflower Center. Here- you and Clo are having a secret baby conversation... wonder what you guys are discussing?

Paper towel rolls are the most awesome toy that have ever been invented. I'm not sure why I've ever bothered to purchase other toys, as this one is the best.

I taught you how to do knuckles and then how to blow them up. You are really into both.

Hanging with your cousin Logan at Fujiya! You two are hard to get in focus in the same photo at the same time...

Your GM Aubrey came to visit and I took a bunch of blurry photos of the occasion...

Such a good helper in the garden!

You and your bestest friend on the whole planet... puppy.

Thanksgiving 2010!!! Fredericksburg, TX

We were lucky enough to be invited to go to an awesome ranch house out in Fredericksburg with our family friends to celebrate Thanksgiving. We knew the house was going to be awesome, but what we didn't know was that there were tons of farm animals waiting for us when we got there...

Like Finn, the 5-week-old baby cow that slept on our back porch and let all of us pet him and some of us feed him with a giant baby bottle.

You and Clo both decided that homemade cranberry sauce was the total baby jam and that the canned stuff can just go away.

Here's a rare pic of the three of us together in the same picture!

Our Thanksgiving dinner - I took the pic, so, am absent from the table...

This awesome place also had 5 or 6 horses too - here you are bravely petting one of them... they wanted carrots real bad.

When we got home to Austin, we got to go and visit with Miss Weezy May!

You kind of mostly wanted to shake her bouncy seat really hard, poke her eyes out, and steal her bottle... which translates into complete love for a toddler...

18 months old!!!!!

I swear, the day you turned 18-months old, you started chatting up a storm. Most of what you tell us we can't understand yet, but you seriously have crazy intense conversations with me, Daddy, Puppy, yourself, your crib, pretty much any available listener.

We decided to take you to see Santa Claus again this year. We weren't sure how you would react to him - strange guy with large beard at the mall - but we wanted to make sure you had the opportunity to chat with him about Christmas presents.

Turns out you were ho ho horrified of Mr. Sandy Claws. Your father decided (on Santa's suggestion) that we do a 'drop and run' so that we could at least get a picture of you with the Jolly One...

Here's Daddy dropping and running.

Here you are with a 'Daddy, why did you leave me here' look on your face...

Look, Sandy Claws, I'm not sure what your game is, but I know I don't want to play it.

...and furthermore, I would love some new books, maybe a baby vaccuum, and perhaps a puzzle or two... and make it snappy.

...and then Santa threw you into my arms and started singing "Jingle Bells"...

Whew! Glad that's done... til next year... mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!

Last weekend, we took you to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live! It was pretty darn awesome.

You were mesmerized by your TV friends being all live and in person! I was pretty darn excited that Biz Markie and Leslie Hall were there too.

All in all, we've had a super fun, super busy couple of months. We're gearing up for your second Christmas and for a whole new year. I can't believe that it's almost 2011...

Love,

Mommy

P.S. If you ever wonder why there are less pictures of you in your second year than there were in your first, it's because most of the pics I take look like this...

...mostly due to the fact that you can't ever stop moving... not even in your sleep!

16 Months Old!

2010-10-13T14:34:00.003-05:00

Dear Chuy,

You're 16 months old! What the?

Lately, we've noticed a significant change in how you perceive and understand the world around you. You are much more aware of stuff and you are starting to recognize and say what things are... "Puppy!", "Owl!", "Shoes!".

You are also more sensitive to things - like the never ending train parade that happens behind our house, or the day we scared the Grilled Cheesus out of you at Target by pushing the 'try me' button on the Big Foot display... sorry about that, it will never happen again...

Your Halloween costume is complete. I will not be unveiling it until we go to our Halloween party this weekend, but here is a pic of you wearing one of the key accessories...

You've always been a fan of puppets, but lately, you want to be in charge of them. They are no longer fun when on Mommy or Daddy's hand, but are a total laugh riot when you're wearing one!

We made you your first P, B, & J sammie. You loved it. It was peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat at our house...

This is your most favoritest book on your most favoritest subject ever in the history of books about subjects. You are a man obsessed with puppies. Seriously. It's kinda crazy. I'm not sure if we've mentioned this to you yet, um... but... we're CAT people. No dogs in our house.

Your GM Aubrey made you your very first dookie chain. It was a little hard getting photographic evidence of you wearing it, but here's the best we could do...

You've decided that walking was cool, walking on tippie toes was awesome, and walking backwards was the shiz... but climbing stuff is off the baby chain!

Here you are climbing Mount Laundry Basket.

You are going to give your poor mother a heart attack.

I would love to be able to remember what we were discussing in this pic, neither one of us looks pleased...

...and then you hauled off and smacked me square in the nose...

...and laughed about it...

I love you too,

Mommy

15 Months Old!

2010-09-20T15:15:00.005-05:00

Dear Chuy,

You are 15 months old this month and you are rocking and rolling! Your walking has turned into running, and your babbles have turned into crazy words and almost sentences. When Daddy left for school the other day, you looked out the window, waved, and said 'Buh bye puppy baby!'...

You've been getting better at eating with a spoon as well. Most of the time, the item that you scoop up actually ends up in your mouth. There was one day in particular however that we seemed to take a step backwards... spaghetti day.

They feed you spaghetti at escuela and you never come home covered head to toe in it, so, they must have some sort of magical day care trick that I don't know about...

I'm not sure why Daddy decided that you needed a giant plastic fork, but he gave you one, and here's what happened...

Granted, you seriously enjoyed yourself, we got an awesome video of it, and I'm still thankful that we took your shirt off first, but the amount of spaghetti consumed versus used to 'decorate' the kitchen was not what I was looking for that day.

You've really been into pillow forts lately - which I think is so cute! I used to be way into pillow forts too - like Mommy like Son I guess. It's so cute how you want us to build them around you. You'll just sit and play with your puppy or Mrs. Hoppel inside the fort...

You've realized in the past few weeks that walking is fun, running is more fun, but climbing things is most certainly where it's at. Here you are trying to scale the arm of the couch with assist from the Lego bucket...

...here's a seriously dangerous move wherein you not only balance on the back of the Wheelie Bug, but you take it a step further by trying to stand on it's teeny tiny handle... yikes... seriously kid, you're going to give your mother a heart attack.

...and last, but not least, you've figured out how to conquer the ottoman cubes... all by yourself... with ease... we're so doomed...

Last weekend, we celebrated Sylvia and Penelope's 2nd birthday party at LocoMotion - one of those crazy bouncy house places. You LOVED it and thankfully didn't catch any viruses! Yay!

New raincoat! You hated me stuffing you into it, but it's SOOOOOO cute...

Having snacks with Logan at your Bachan's house. She got you two that cute little table to sit and eat at... like big boys!

All in all, we had ourselves another super busy but fun month. I can't believe how much you are talking and using your sign language - it's so crazy to be able to communicate through language with you. I'm not sure I'm ready to have full blown conversations yet (tender Mommy heart and all), but I'm down with talking about where Daddy is and if you can get into the bubbles (bath)...

Love,

Mommy

14 months old!

2010-08-18T10:28:00.006-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Today is my 35th birthday! That's right, your Mommy is officially an old lady. "Middle Aged"... sounds dreadful, doesn't it? Thankfully, I don't act like I'm a grown up very often, so, at least there's that.

You, my son my son, are 14 months old this month! Crazy! This time last year, you were recovering from a battle with some pesky viral menengitis and I was questioning the whole 'day care' decision and feeling bad for my sick little baby. This year, you're happy, healthy as a horse, and thriving at your escuela - thank goodness!

So, what have we been up to lately? Well, we've been holding off getting your hair cut because it's never been cut before... and they're your sweet little baby hairs... and I couldn't bring myself to admit that my tiny little baby is a big bad toddler that has some crazy Bill Murray hair going on.

We decided on just a trim, just around the neck and ears and that our buddy Stacy was the lady for the job!

Turns out, one out of one babies agree - haircuts are super scary! You were not a fan. I think that you were upset in anticipation of the scissors hurting you... but then seemed confused when they didn't hurt at all.

Thankfully, it was all over quickly and Stacy let you play with a comb and help sweep up hair.

In other news, you've really been into reading your books lately - especially if they are peek-a-boo books. This particular book is a farm peek-a-boo that makes animal noises when you lift the flaps. It's pretty darn entertaining. You're even starting to make the animal noises along with the book. Too cute.

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I'm so thankful that your teacher at escuela, Miss Jasmine, likes to take pictures as much as I do! Here you are at school finger painting...

I think you might be enjoying yourself just a little bit... :)

I can't believe how fast you grow. I can never believe how big you are. I am never surprised at how smart you are - you're my super baby genius. It is so much fun watching you learn and explore.

Love,

Mommy

P.S. This pic of you and Daddy is too much - I love both of my boys!

Thirteen Months Old!

2010-07-19T08:49:00.009-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Can you believe it? You are one year and one month old! We're totally rocking out your second year on the planet... pretty cool, huh?

You have been changing soooo very much in the past couple weeks. For one thing, I think your head has gotten bigger - it's very difficult to get your shirt over your head nowadays...

You're also really super duper into reading books, having books read to you, bringing us books to read, even sitting in our laps and turning the pages. It's been really cool to see you start to realize what sounds animals make and that you remember where the 'touch and feel' parts of your farm peek-a-boo book are.

You've also figured out how to climb the couch - and you've gotten pretty sneaky about it. Turns out, when you walk behind me and then get perfectly quiet and still... you're up to something, and that 'something' is climbing the couch like a little monkey. Here you are trying to get your Daddy over the arm of the couch - danger, danger!

We celebrated the Fourth of July at home with your BFF Clover, Auntie Vic, and Uncle Dave. We started the day watching the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog eating contest (also known as the one time during the year that we tune to ESPN), then had our friends over for a cook-out. It was good fun, you ate a whole 1/4 pound Kosher hot dog plus beans and corn... you're hungry!

You had a fun party at escuela too - here you are with your friends... funny how your plate is empty, but everyone else has a full one... my boy is hungry!

Your cousin Logan celebrated his 2nd birthday on July 9th - we went down and had ourselves a cook-out that weekend - it was tons of fun!

Logan has all sorts of big boy toys that you had much fun borrowing... like this awesome slide!

Your teacher at escuela, Miss Jasmine, loves to take pictures as much as I do - she's been e-mailing me what you've been up to while you're at school... how fun! Here you are playing with the sprinkler during water play...

...and here you are playing with a cool steering wheel toy on the playground... I've also seen you enjoying that awesome tractor tire there behind you...

Happy 13th month, my funny sunny boy!

I predict more fun, sun, swimming, and good times before summer is over.

Love,

Mommy

Tiny Hatter Birthday Party!

2010-07-08T10:49:00.004-05:00

The most awesome Tiny Hatter Birthday Party wrap up!

http://www.larkcrafts.com/craft-your-life/tiny-hatter-birthday-party/

One Year Old!

2010-06-24T08:56:00.006-05:00

Dear Chuy,

You're ONE YEAR OLD!!!

Well, actually, you're one year and a couple weeks, we've been busy swimming and having fun, so, not a lot of time left to blog about it... Anywhoo...

Your mommy has been having a bit of trouble accepting that her precious little tiny baby boy is no longer a baby. You're a toddler now. You walk all around the house like a crazy man, you go to big boy escuela now where you have to do grown up things like wear shoes and drink from a sippy cup. It's so exciting to see how much you are changing and growing, but my tender mommy heart misses her tiny little newborn baby sometimes (though, I will say, I don't miss getting up every two hours in the night to feed you)...

We had a killer, white hot, over the top, kind of ridiculous, super awesome 1st Birthday Party for you and Clover over at Auntie Vic and Uncle Dave's house. What started as a 'tiny hat' theme ballooned into a full on Alice In Wonderland Mad Hatter tea party!

Here's a pic of you and Clo in your fancy pants outfits...

You weren't too fond of your flouncy Mad Hatter goodness - can't say I blame you - it was super hot outside and you're wearing a wool jacket...

Here's Mommy, Daddy, and Baby Hatter...

Oh yes, there were still tiny hats involved and Daddy has an awesome white rabbit tee too!

One of your Auntie Vic's friends made the most beautiful tiny hat cakes for you and Clover...

We decided to strip you both down to your diapers (though Clover is still wearing her Mary Jane's... cause she's a lady...) and let you go crazy on your tiny cakes...

Here you are blowing out your very first birthday candle...

I was so incredibly proud of the moment when we sang happy birthday to you and Clo - it brought a tear to my eye.

Then, you and Clo got down to business...

I did manage to get a bite of your cake - it was the most delicious cake I think I've ever tasted. It's almost a shame that you guys were set on 'total cake destruction' mode, only a couple bites actually ended up in your mouths.

On your actual birthday, we opened presents at home. Here's a pic with you and a small portion of your birthday loot. You are one spoiled little mister - you got soooooo many presents from all your friends and family.

We took you out shopping and then had pancakes for dinner - mommy favorite (and hopefully yours too)!

Of course, we also had to have a B-Day celebration at escuela too - here's a pic of you with your buddy AJ...

Mmmm... cupcake...

Your B-Day party was also your last day at your baby escuela. You see, there's another location of the same escuela that's only a mile from our house, so, I moved you. It hurt to leave all of your teachers and friends, we both miss them terribly, but it is so nice that it only takes 15 minutes to pick you up now - instead of an hour.

Happy happy birthday, my sweet little boy. I can't believe we've made it a whole year. I can't believe how much you've grown. I can't believe that you're walking and soon you'll be talking up a storm.

It is so incredibly crazy how fast this year has flown by. I can't even imagine my life without you - I love you so very very much and I can't wait to see what you'll be up to in year number 2!

Love,

Mommy

Eleven Months Old!

2010-05-19T13:46:00.005-05:00

Dear Chuy,

What? You're 11 months old already? How did that happen?

Better question... when did you stop looking like a little baby and start looking like a little boy?

Huh? When?

Your Mother's tender heart would like to know because she just can't take it. Where'd my baby go?

You've been spending more and more time doing your 'baby work'. What's funny is that I know you could totally walk on your own if you wanted to - you just choose to use the furniture and the walls and this here cart for balance. Daddy and I have both seen you just let go and stand on your own, however... maybe by your 1st birthday?

Here you are helping Daddy do the dishes. You are so completely your Father's son - you LOVE watching Daddy do the dishes - you cry when I take you away to go and play...

For Mother's Day, we took you to the Children's Museum. We all had a blast - you especially loved looking at the fishies... then we all had pancakes for dinner... cause that's what Mommies like!

My sweet boy made this for me at escuela - it's paper that's full of seeds, so I can plant it and watch it grow!

Your Auntie Regina came for a visit last weekend - we had much fun! I can't believe you're actually smiling in this picture - too bad I look like a wreck, but you and Auntie Gigi look great!

Through the magic of science and technology, I am now able to post videos to your blog. Yay! Thanks to Auntie Gigi's fancy schmancy camera. This video is of you playing with a spoon at Casa Maria. You are such a silly rabbit.

I can't believe that in 20 days you're going to be 1 year old. Can't believe it! This has truly been the best year ever and I just can't wait to see what you'll be up to in year 2.

Love,

Mommy

10 Months Old!

2010-04-14T13:58:00.008-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Last week, you turned 10 months old. Less than two months until your 1st Birthday. Can you believe it? Where did the time go? This was seriously the quickest 10 months of my entire life.

You're on the verge of a major major major baby milestone... walking... walking? walking!

We got you a little clackity clack alligator push cart and you love it.

You always look so determined and serious when you push your cart down the hallway. I've made up a song about you and your 'baby work' - remind me sometime, I'll sing it for you...

You've also taken to cruising around all the furniture - mostly to get to kitties who, thanks to your mobility and lack of volume control, want little to do with your company at the moment.

Tis a shame too, because you have much love for these beasts... your Father and I don't quite understand what you see in them, but you don't have to clean their litter box, so, perhaps that has something to do with it.

Another new 10-month-old situation? Eating.

You've decided that baby food fed by spoon is for babies, not big strong 10-month-olds with 'baby work' to be done.

You now prefer your food on a plate, bite sized, not too hot, and make it snappy!

Thankfully, your plate has a suction cup on the bottom of it, even though said suction cup was no match for your brute strength last night... but hopefully you'll figure out not to throw your plate across the room at some point... right?

Easter was a couple weeks ago and you and your classmates at escuela had a fine time 'hunting' for eggs.

Here's a little Chuy fun fact for you - Mr. Baby Pants doesn't like grass... in fact, he hates it.

When we sat you down, not only did you start crying, but you also pulled the exposed parts of your legs up and away from the evil green menace...

Needless to say, you hunted your Easter eggs from a cute airplane mat.

I think we need to continue with our grass aversion therapy...

Easter Sunday, we had our family and friends over for a good ol fashioned Easter dinner - complete with pot roast, au gratin potatoes, and green bean casserole- it was good times.

Here's a pic of you and your cousin, Logan - you guys look like double trouble...

Clover and her family joined us on Easter as well - we had good times.

No baby-types wanted to wear these ears, but we tried our best to get a picture of all three of you anyways...

All in all, we had a great month - as usual - watching you grow taller, watching your hair start to get curly, just simply being amazed at the fact that you exist and you're our son... it's still so crazy to me.

Happy 10-month birthday, my sweet precious boy - I am so looking forward to what you'll be up to in month 11!

Hmmm... perhaps smiling at the camera will be on your list of tricks?

I sure hope so.

Love,

Mommy

9 Months Old!

2010-03-17T14:45:00.008-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Happy Nine Month Birthday last week and Happy St. Patty's Day today!

You're a funny little guy. All of a sudden, one day last week, right around your nine month birthday, you started doing all sorts of new tricks all at the same time... as though you had a baby checklist that you were trying to complete.

Scooting backwards turned into this crazy little Quasimodo frontwards scoot/ crawl, which pretty quickly has turned into an army crawl. You still don't care to use your knees at all, instead, you just reach and grasp with your arms and scoot along on your belly... pretty awesome stuff.

Last Sunday morning, I heard you waking up, so, I came to fetch you - and here's what I found...

Yep, you've figured out how to stand up in your crib... yikes! Daddy and I immediately lowered your crib mattress so you can't flip over the top of the bars... yet...

Since your crawl/ scoot has become fast and furious, we also decided that it was time for a baby gate... crazy, huh? The cats aren't fond of this set up, but they'll get over it... literally... :)

You sure do want that trash can now that you can't get to it...

Bath time remains the same - you love to splash around - I just had to include this pic in your nine month blog because you are so freakin adorable...
All those people at the grocery store or wherever we happen to be are right - you should be a baby model...

You have been completely enamored by your Rowdy Roddy Piper Horse lately. He's your bestest horsie friend ever in the whole world...
Seriously, you have great love for this horse.

So, yesterday your Walking Wings arrived. You see, since you've been crawling and scooting, you've also been getting really good at pulling yourself up to standing and almost cruising around the furniture...

I thought this little harness would be just the thing to get you on the road to walksville...

Unfortunately, before we strapped you into this contraption, your Daddy scared the beJesus out of you with a laughing monkey toy...

Needless to say, you weren't in the best of moods to try a new situation like these Wings...
I think we'll try again another day.

As of today, you are 40 weeks old... which is very significant to me. You have now officially spent the exact same amount of time out of my belly that you spent inside my belly. Which seems crazy - it all just goes by so fast...

Love,
Mommy

Eight months old!

2010-02-15T09:32:00.003-06:00

Dear Chuy,

You turned eight months old last week! You've almost been out of my belly as long as you were in it... almost...

I can't believe how quickly you are learning new tricks and how fast you are growing.

You know, every parent we ever chat with always says how fast you baby types grow up... and they're right. It still seems like only yesterday we were setting up your room and getting ready for your arrival, and now I'm already thinking about your 1st birthday party... crazy!

This week, we celebrated our first Valentine's Day together...

Of course, Clover's Mommy and I decided to take the two of you to the mall, dress you up as cupid, and take lots of photos...

So, when you're in high school, and you're being a complete teenager, I'm going to bust out these photos and show all your friends...

Another new trick on your roster? Scooting around on your belly... almost crawling... for now, you can only go backwards or do log rolls to get where you want to go. Last night, you were so frustrated that you couldn't figure out how to go forwards... Don't worry, I know you're going to make it happen and I'm sure it will be soon... guess I need to look into those baby gates after all...

Yesterday, you, me and Daddy went over to the Kerbey Lane and had breakfast for dinner... for Valentine's...

A little fun fact about your Mommy... I LOVE breakfast for dinner - specially when it includes pancakes... you didn't take to the pancakes as much as I thought you would, but you did enjoy watching all the other diners come in and out of the front door...

Happy Valentine's Day, my littlest Valentine! I can't wait to see what you figure out in month eight!

Love,
Mommy

7 Months Old!

2010-01-21T14:14:00.006-06:00

Dear Chuy,

You've been 7 months old for a couple weeks now, but, I'm a bad bloggy mommy and haven't gotten around to documenting it until today... oh well...

It's only because we've been so busy enjoying ourselves, I haven't had much alone time with the computer, but I'm not complaining about that!

So, what have we been up to?

Well, first up, we made the executive decision that you are too big a boy for your sweet little baby swing. We donated it to your escuela so that the smaller babes in your class can swing in style. Since we were down one large baby item in the living room, we all headed over to the Babies R Us and picked out a Jumparoo!

OMG - you so totally love this crazy thing. You do this little jig everytime we put you in it. Squeals of delight, whomping with the purple hippo whomping stick, turning around and around - this was such a good decision - way more fun than your swing!

We had quite a cold snap a couple weeks ago - it was colder in Austin than it was in parts of Alaska - that's cold! (and not just "Texas cold"). I worried that your coat situation wasn't going to keep you warm enough - what about your baby legs and baby feet? Thankfully, they sell these full body snow suit situations. You seriously hate being put into this get up, but once you're in, I'm sure you are roasty toasty warm and ready for the walk to the car.

I finally wised up and realized that if I turn the flash fill light off on the camera, I can almost catch you smiling! You're such a happy giggly baby, it's a shame you do the cold blank stare face in all of your pics.

I can't believe you're almost 8 months old. I feel so lucky to have been blessed with such a happy, smart, cute, easy going, super awesome little dude.

I'm excited to see you do your new tricks like rolling over and over, scooting around (on your back, which is kinda weird... you should try it on your tummy), making kissing noises, waving bye bye (to yourself), eating new and different foods, saying Dadadadada when your happy and Mamamama when you're super pissed.

These milestones are bittersweet - you're so much more interactive, but you are no longer my little tiny baby boy - you're my big strong monster baby boy... at least you still like to hang out in my lap and suck your thumb when you're sleepy...

Love,
Mommy

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T09:56:00.008-06:00

Dear Chuy,

Happy New Year! Can you believe that it's 2010? I'm still getting used to the idea that we're starting a new decade... not just a new year.

2009 was one of the best years of my life, thanks in no small part to your arrival. I'm so excited to see how much you grow and develop in the coming year - you'll be crawling, walking, talking, celebrating your 1st birthday - all sorts of incredible stuff!

So, today, while you nap, I'm gonna make us a black-eye pea and sausage stew - for good luck, and Daddy and I are going to take down the Christmas tree.

Your first holiday season is complete - I think you had fun - it's too bad you won't remember any of it, but I took about a million pictures that I can bore you with when you're bigger.

Happy Happy New Year, baby boy. I hope that 2010 brings you all sorts of new adventures, lots of love, and many more good times with your Daddy and I and all your friends.

Love,
Mommy

6 months old & baby's first Christmas?

2009-12-28T17:42:00.009-06:00

Dear Chuy,

Wow, where does the time go? One minute, you're my cute little Indian for Thanksgiving, and the next minute, bing bang boom - you're six months old, Christmas is over, and Mommy hasn't blogged about any of it. Bad Mommy.

There's a lot of ground to cover here, so, let's do it with a pictorial, shall we??

You turned 6 months old!

Things 6 month olds in our house do include: rolling from tummy to back and from back to tummy, sitting up almost completely on your own, saying 'dadadadadadadada', though, we're not sure if you know who this dadadadada character is yet...

We took a trip to meet all of your family up in Boston. This is a pic of you picking out which channel you and Daddy were gonna watch on the plane.

It was snowy in Boston. You were unimpressed.

We all made Santa beards at Mommy Club this month.
I think you liked yours the best...

Elf shoes on the other hand, were a big hit!

I put your tiny fingers to work making all of our family and friends their Christmas prezzies... finger paintings!
Sometimes you actually enjoyed the painting!

We took you to the mall to meet Santa dressed as Santa.

A note to all the mommies and daddies out there in the internets - if you ever want a taste of what it feels like to hang out with somebody famous at the mall... dress your baby like Santa during December - it was cray cray...

You and Clover had a Christmas Eve dinner date...

It is now official that you heart tacos...

Santa brought you a Plex Keytar. I'm glad he did.

Of all the instruments that exist in the universe for you to possibly be interested in when you're older, the keytar is most definitely at the top of my list for you... no pressure...

Here you are, my sweet little man, on your very first Christmas morning playing with your reissued vintage Fisher Price telephone.

I love you so very much and am so happy that we got to celebrate our first Christmas together!

Love,
Mommy

One Little Indian

2009-12-05T08:06:00.003-06:00

Dear Chuy,

This is your Thanksgiving outfit - complete with Indian headband, although I'm not sure if we're Native American, but it seemed a better fit than making you a pilgrim for the day.

We had a terrific first Thanksgiving together - turkey in the crock pot, stuffing, pumpkin pie (which you loved right up until you bit your lip, then, not so much).

I am so thankful to have you in my life and to get to be your Mommy.

Happy Turkey Day, my little Indian!

Love,
Mommy

Turkey Day Table Fun!

2009-11-24T14:40:00.004-06:00

This year, we've got something extra special to be thankful for... it's our little man's very first Thanksgiving!

I wanted to commemorate the occasion with something special that we could keep and use for years to come.

Thankfully, my buddy Vickie Howell has the perfect idea for a Turkey Day keepsake that was not only fun and easy, but Q and I were able to create it together - our first crafty collaboration!

Turkey Day Place Mats!

Since Quinn is an experienced painter, I thought he would like to provide the focal point to our place mats. My original thought was to get him to do hand prints and then I would make them into 'hand turkeys' - kinda like elementary school.

What I didn't know was how completely impossible it is to get a 5-month-old to hold a hand covered in paint still for even two seconds...

So, my hand turkeys quickly became more of an abstract study in orange... which turned out beautifully!

After Q was done with his portion on the place mats, I stamped 'Quinn's First Turkey Day' on them in copper sparkly fabric paint (a little note: fabric paint isn't the best option for stamping - I probably should've used stamp ink... so, they're far from perfect, but that's just how being crafty goes sometimes)...

I attached Quinn's art to some plain brown fabric, embellished with ribbon, sewed into place mats, and that's it! Easy peasy!

Check out Vickie's column, Craft Apparent, over on PBS Parents for inspiration on your own version of Turkey Day place mats!

Happy Thanksgiving!

5 Months Old!

2009-11-12T11:12:00.006-06:00

Dear Chuy,

You are 5 months and two days old today and oh my goodness, you're rocking and rolling!

You've got not one, not two, but THREE teeth making their debut in your mouth.

What's up with three teeth already? You really do want a biscuit, don't you?

Well, we haven't gotten all the way to biscuits yet, but we have tried rice cereal and sweet potato.

You don't seem to be a fan of the rice cereal and I can't say I blame you for that - it's kinda yucky.

Sweet potato, on the other hand, seemed to be delicious! Maybe we'll mix the two together sometime just to see what happens.

In celebration of you starting solid foods, I though I should whip up some special 'big boy eats solid food' bibs for you to use when we eat from a spoon...
Pretty cute, huh?

You've also added reaching for objects to your list of 'things that I can do' this past week.

We were hanging out making chicken in a packet for dinner the other night and you helped me by tenderizing not only the onion, but the brussel sprouts and squash as well!

Your Godmother Aubrey blew into town for the weekend and we caught up with her at the Whole Foods - man, she loves her some Baby Quinn, I tell you what!

It's almost Thanksgiving and I'm so looking forward to celebrating your first one - you are what I am thankful for this year... and maybe we'll finally let you have that biscuit you've been craving...

Love,
Mommy

Baby's 1st Halloween!

2009-11-03T10:03:00.015-06:00

Dear Chuy,

This past weekend we celebrated our first Halloween with you on the outside.

You were totally in my belly last Halloween, which made me extremely tired and hungry for candy...

This year, you're out, so, it was time for pumpkins, costumes, and pint sized Halloween parties!

First up, they had a little party for you guys at your escuela. It was super cute.

You made your costume, although, you didn't seem very fond of wearing it...

You made a little Trick or Treat canister too - I didn't even know about it - it was an awesome crafty surprise!

Ozzy was very fond of the contents of the canister - sugar cookies wrapped in plastic bag... cat favorite...

They took school pictures that day too - I thought a tuxedo t-shirt and driver's cap were in order...

Such a handsome man!

So, that night, we carved our pumpkins - I actually just drew your design on yours - after Daddy and I carved our giant pumpkins, our hands were tired and we didn't feel like carving another...

You'll just have to get bigger so you can carve your own!

In the meantime, I drew a lion pattern on your pumpkin - cause you love the lions!

The next day was Halloween and we attended a Pint Sized Halloween party thrown by our friends Jen, Chris, and Tallulah...

We were the Family Wolf...

You and Daddy had a good time wolfing it up...

All your baby buddies were there...

We took another pic of you, Clover, and Tallulah on the couch - man, you guys were all so much smaller last time we did this...

When we got home from the party, I thought you'd be stone cold tired and ready for a big nap, but you were wide awake and ready to play!

So we took a stroll around the neighborhood...

Then we lounged and watched the Halloween episode of Yo Gabba Gabba..

Halloween night, your Dad and I handed out candy to the neighborhood kids and watched a scary movie... you were finally ready for your big nap...

All in all, I think it was the best Halloween ever and I'm a little sad because we're never going to celebrate your first Halloween ever again...

The Pumpkin Patch!

2009-10-27T10:58:00.006-05:00

Chuy and I met up with some of his baby friends (and some of my mommy friends) at the Pumpkin Patch this past weekend.

I thought it would be a perfect time to show off his skeleton outfit and candy corn shoes and get some awesome pics with my new fancy camera...

Little man still refuses to look at the camera or look happy in any pictures, but the lighting was nice and the background was very... Halloweeny...

Check it out!

Oh well... someday maybe he'll look at the camera - heck, he might even smile for it once in a while... he's still cute as can be and we definitely had fun at the patch - although the photographic evidence of said fun doesn't exist, so, you'll just have to take my word for it...

4 months old!

2009-10-16T10:51:00.003-05:00

Dear Chuy,

One year ago today, I wasn't feeling very well - tired, hungry, nauseous, etc... so, I went to Target on my lunch break and bought a pregnancy test... and then it came up positive... and then I texted your Daddy that he might want to come home from work early because I had something to tell him... yes, I told your Dad that we were pregnant through the magic of texting.

I can't begin to explain the journey that began that day, but what I can say is this - I'm so very happy that two pink lines turned up on that test that day and am even happier that you made it to the outside world safe and sound...

So, now you're four months old and have already started to get your first tooth! What? Huh? Tooth? Really? Yes, I said tooth!

You've also moved into sleeping in your crib at night - which is going far better than I expected it would - it's still a little weird putting you down and leaving the room, but you seem to be doing just fine with it.

In other news, your Halloween costume is complete! I won't spoil the entire outfit here and now, but will give a sneak peek at how cute you look in the hat portion...

Speaking of hats, I tried out working with fleece for the first time this past week - whipping up not one but two warm winter hats for you - here's the dinosaur hat...

...and here you are in your skeleton outfit with matching pirate hat that I found in the dollar spot at Target - wow, keep mentioning the Target here on this post today - it's quickly turning into my favorite store...

Are you almost smiling while you look directly at the camera? Weird... are you okay?

Love,

Mommy

My little strong man...

2009-10-14T10:55:00.006-05:00

My buddy Vickie Howell has just launched a new bi-monthly column over at PBS Parents! It's called Craft Apparent, and this month, it features four completely awesome baby Halloween costume ideas that go easy on your budget as well as your time and skill level!

Baby Quinn was asked to be a model for one of the costumes... Baby Strong Man...

I love that all the costumes featured in the column start with a plain white onesie. This one was dyed with coffee for the 'skin tone' effect! A little embroidery floss for the fake chest hair, some glitter cheetah fabric, felt, yarn, and fabric paint for the barbell and bing-bang-boom - baby strong man!

Getting a mustache on Mr. Man turned out to be a bit of a challenge, but we worked as a team and figured it out!

Head on over to PBS Parents to check out the rest of the costumes, you'll be glad you did!

No papparazzi, please...

2009-10-05T07:12:00.005-05:00

My in-laws always joke that if you even so much as remove your camera from it's case around me, I will automatically pose and smile for it. Maybe it's all the theatre I did as a kid, maybe it's my Leo nature, but I never met a camera I didn't like.

My son, on the other hand, has a mission - to never ever look directly at a camera and to certainly never ever smile for one. It's become his life's work and he's very dedicated to his cause.

Over the weekend, I decided that since it's officially October now, that we could start dressing him in his Halloween pajamas. He looked so cute and was so smiley about it, I grabbed the camera. What followed has been documented below...

I swear to you, he would be looking, posing, smiling, etc. right up until I would click to take a picture, then he would turn his head away lightening fast... like an anti-picture ninja...

Hopefully this is just a phase? At least his Daddy and I know that he is a smiley happy baby - we just don't have photographic evidence to back up our case...

17 weeks!

2009-09-29T11:18:00.007-05:00

Dear Chuy,

So sorry for my radio silence lately - I've been a very bad blogger and need to just jump in and start again - whether I'm feeling bloggy or not...

You are 17 weeks old this week and oh my gosh - are you a different baby. It's like somebody turned a light bulb on in your head. You are noticing everything, wanting to touch everything, wanting to put everything you touch into your mouth - it's awesome. You're smiling, laughing, even getting scared at things - which I find cute even though it makes you cry. I just love that you're so aware...

You started at your new escuela two weeks ago... so far, so good! You seem to really like your teacher and your baby friends there. You've been doing all sorts of crazy activities - from painting pictures (with paint and pudding), to getting to feel and play with whip cream.

Miss Linda keeps you busy over there and I couldn't be happier! Even their viruses are kinder and gentler - you only got a goopy eye and a chunky cough this time around - no hospitals or meningitis... yay!

In other news, we all attended Sylvie and Pen's 1st birthday party - it was monkey themed and I think you had a good time. You certainly looked sharp in your matching shirt with Daddy... oh, and check out those awesome hot rod shoes you're wearing... I made those for you!

Speaking of shoes, I also made you a rockin pair of fake snakeskin shoes... but you don't seem to be a fan of those yet...

At our monthly dinner party, you and Clover both decided to coordinate the matching zebra outfits... you guys have secret talks about stuff, don't you? Is that why you don't want to use the pacifier anymore?

Last week, the temp dipped below 90 for a couple of days, which, here in Texas, is known as 'winter'... so, I had to rush to your closet and bundle you up before you caught a chill. You look so handsome in your hand knit sweater made by a friend of ours... such a good lookin little man!

Very soon you are going to be four months old, and very very soon, we are going to have to make the move from the bassinet to the crib... in your room... by yourself... all night. I'm sure you'll be fine, but I'm all in a tizzy about it.

Too fast! Too fast! I want to savor these moments!

Love,

Mommy

3 Months Old!

2009-09-01T18:24:00.006-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Man... so much has happened to you since I last wrote. Where to start? Where did we leave off? Oh yes, day care...

You attended that particular day care for less than two weeks. I didn't mention this to you earlier, but the director of old day care sold it to some random people one week before we started taking you there... and never mentioned it to us... pretty lame, huh? Well, it gets worse.

Your first week, you caught a virus from one of the yucky kids there. Unfortunately for you, your virus turned into viral meningitis and you were hospitalized for two days. I was completely freaked out and took the next week off from work to take care of you.

The last place I ever wanted to return to was that place, but your Daddy and I thought that perhaps the worst is over - kids get sick - yada yada... So, we went back.

Your second week, the ladies that usually take care of you there weren't working one day. Instead, the new director and her assistant were in the baby room. Once we arrived home, I discovered that they hadn't changed your diaper THE WHOLE TIME YOU HAD BEEN THERE... all day... 6 hours... WTF.

So, we're done. We're not going back there ever again, and yes, I did report them, thanks for asking!

But Mom, where am I going to go now?

Don't worry boy - I have not one, but two fantastic new options for you - just trying to figure out which one is more awesome, but I assure you, people will be changing your diaper all the time from now on.

In other news, we went to your buddy Evan's 1st Birthday party. It was a tiny mustache party...

Oh, and I got you a jumpy seat... which seems to be mysterious to you...

It's been a crazy few weeks - I hope I never have to see a nurse put a spinal tap in your back ever ever again. But you've bounced back and are bigger and stronger than ever!

Love,
Mommy

Heartbreak City

2009-08-14T10:39:00.006-05:00

Dear Chuy,

This week, I packed you a bag, strapped you into your car seat, took you for a drive, then dropped you off with strangers for hours while I went to work.

Okay, fine, they're not really strangers and I do pay them to watch you, but why do I feel like I've completely abandoned you on a daily basis?

Over and over - one stupid day after another?

I knew this phase would be difficult - I knew I would be sad on Day Care Day One, but I was not prepared for the complete heartbreak that occurs literally every morning around 9:29am (because you have to be there at 9:30) when I hand you off to the nice lady, you fuss, I tell you it's okay, you look at me and flash a huge smile... then I leave you...

I hate this. Truly. Hate.

There has to be a better way?

Love, Mommy

P.S. You are one smart looking fellow in your Bumbo chair...

2 Months Old?

2009-08-04T16:25:00.011-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Last night, I tried to stuff you into a set of your newborn footie pajamas... your Daddy said that you looked like a Boudin sausage... so, you're now officially wearing your 3-6 month clothes exclusively...

It made me a little sad today to pack up all of your newborn gear, because you're not a newborn anymore and you never will be again. You're a big boy now and you're just going to get bigger and bigger until you move away for college and I spend my days blowing up your cell phone because I'm worried about you... that's how this goes, isn't it?

You've had another busy couple of weeks... you grabbed your grabby toy for the first time on your own...
You took a ride in your stroller for the first time... I think you enjoyed it, although it was kinda hot, but it did happen to be the day when it wasn't 3,000 degrees outside...
Your Grampy and Auntie came all the way from Boston to visit you...
You sure did enjoy hanging out with them... I think they're quite smitten with you as well...

We even tried out some baby carriers and slings this week... you hated all of them with a passion... most notably, the Baby Bjorn...
Oh, and I made you a little applique onesie - thankfully, I put it on a 3-6 month sized onesie...

I still can't believe that your 2 months old... so crazy... where does the time go? Your Daddy thinks that since you're such a big boy now, it's time for you to get a job... 'cause that's what big boys do, they work... so, there you go... get to it...

Love,
Mommy

6 weeks old!

2009-07-22T13:26:00.008-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Today, you are 6 weeks and 1 day old - can you believe it? Thanks to my C-Section, I get to hang out with you at home for a couple more weeks, which is awesome, because I can't wrap my head around having to drop you off at day care yet... so, for now, it's you and me during the day!

You've had a busy week this week... your new fancy swing arrived...
...and you love it.

I had decided long ago, before you were ever a twinkle in my eye, that when we had a baby, we wouldn't be 'those people' that keep large baby gear in their living room... that our house would be relatively unchanged and we'd keep all that crap outta here...

... but then I saw your buddy Clover in her swing... and she loved it... and it suddenly seemed perfectly normal that people with babies have baby gear in their living rooms... and that there's nothing wrong with that... I mean, you need a place to relax too, right?

You, Daddy and I also went to a dinner party this past week - we had fun and some of your buddies were there...
We all loved that your outfit matched the ladies and that it wasn't planned!

The biggest news this week was that your creepy umbilical stump finally fell off - revealing a super cute baby belly button and making it possible for Daddy and I to give you a real bath... in the sink... with soap and water!
I just love this pic of you watching Daddy giving you a bath - so sweet...

So, that's what you were up to this week!

Oh, and by the way, why is it whenever you and Clover get together you always try to take her shirt off?
Fresh...

Love,
Mommy

Five Weeks!

2009-07-14T16:05:00.005-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Happy five week birthday!

I think you might be having a growth spurt this week and here why...

First up, there was the sleeping through the entire night on Sunday night.

Once we got over the shock and horror of neither one of us waking to feed or change you in the night and the fact that you were merely sleeping and not dead, we have been curious as to why this might have happened.

I know I shouldn't look this gift horse in it's mouth, but you shouldn't be sleeping through the night for a long while...

Turns out, it was a fluke and you're back to your regularly scheduled program.

Next was your schedule yesterday - which included three activities... scream, eat, sleep... in that order... repeated every two hours on the dot as though you can tell time. No time for tummy time, no time for Wee See, no patience for Jacque, nada... scream, eat, sleep, repeat.

The few times your eyes were open yesterday, you looked to your side at what seemed to be nothing, which made me decide that there's something wrong with your eyes - you're not looking at my face - you're supposed to be looking at my face this week... and smiling... there were no smiles at my house yesterday.

Today, things are different again - more sleep than scream or eat, although you are still waking up for your meals... because you are your mother's son... but the few minutes when you were awake today, you looked me right square in the eye... and smiled...

Thank you, I will stop trolling the internet for possible diseases, injuries, etc. that could be impairing your vision or social skills... you're fine and I'm crazy.

Love,
Mommy

Wee See

2009-07-09T13:14:00.007-05:00

So, a couple weeks ago, a buddy of mine mentioned Wee See on his Facebook status...

What is Wee See? Well, according to their website...

Part art installation, part pacifier, Wee See is a collection of black-and-white animations built from basic shapes to delight both child and parent. As vision develops slowly over the first months of life, Wee See provides surfaces of bold, well-defined artwork to engage your baby’s curious mind and bring the screen to vibrant life.

With great sensitivity to the delicate nature of the audience, Wee See’s animations move methodically slow and maintain an extraordinary simplicity yet remain endlessly inventive.

With both DVDs containing an original score by Tim DeLaughter, each moment has extra meaning. The same level of playfulness and care at the heart of the imagery also shines through in the music.

Yes, Tim DeLaughter - of Tripping Daisy and most recently Polyphonic Spree fame.

Even though I'm not a fan of Tripping Daisy, I've always enjoyed me some Polyphonic Spree and thought that Chuy might like to have some DVDs that are geared towards him - but in a peaceful, thoughtfully artful way... not an annoying purple dinosaur or adults dressed up like kids dancing around kind of way (I know, I know, that will come... but for now, I get to pick the viewing pleasure...)

So, I ordered them.

I think Chuy is a fan...

On this particular day, he had been a complete Fussy Gus all morning.

Thankfully, I remembered that we had just received the DVDs, so, I popped one in...

Magic...

Peaceful engaged child - he watched the whole thing start to finish - not bad for a newborn...

Granted, my boy loves the TV just like his parents, but he speaks a particular version of pterodactyl when viewing Wee See...

It's a little hard on my adult eyes as it is all black and white, but the music is actually quite nice, so, if I have something I'd like to get accomplished (like typing this blog), it's the perfect entertainer that we can both enjoy!

One Month Old!

2009-07-07T16:23:00.007-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Happy one month birthday! I can't believe it's been an entire month since they ripped you from my uterus after 20 hours of labor.

It seems like only yesterday I was moaning and groaning about being so incredibly pregnant... I thought for sure you were never coming out of my body - that I would be pregnant forever with a giant man sized baby... thankfully, that's not the case!

You've acquired all sorts of new skills and tricks... you can hold your head up for a super long time, you've discovered the tv (and you yell at it just like your father) - I'm not exactly sure what your beef is with Brooke Shields, but you certainly told her a thing or two while she was speaking at Michael Jackson's funeral today...

You are generally more aware than ever before - Jacque the Peacock is suddenly interesting, the cool rainforest aquarium in your crib is even more riveting, and you've been enjoying relaxing on the quilt that your Bachan made for you while watching your Wee See DVD...

I wish it wasn't over 100 degrees outside everyday - I'm sure you would really dig hanging out in our backyard or taking a walk in your stroller, but we'd both die of heat stroke, and the whole point of this entire adventure is to keep you alive, so, guess we'll be waiting a few months for that walk...

I can't believe that my maternity leave is half way over... I'm very saddened by the fact that in four more short weeks, I have to take you to day care... and leave you there... all day... every day... it's so weird and too much for my tender new mom brain to handle, so, for now, I'm trying not to think about it.

Happy one month birthday, son - your daddy and I love you!

Love,
Mommy

IN MEL WE TRVST

2009-07-05T11:34:00.006-05:00

There comes a time in every baby's life when they get to listen to their very first record!

This day is actually a bigger deal for daddies..this daddy in particular...especially when the baby is less than 4 weeks old.

So, the kid can't really appreciate what you've painstakingly chosen from your vinyl collection, but that's not what's important.

What is important is finding a decent mix of composed music, catchy singalongs, and high-larious dialog for fathers and sons.

That's why I went with Mel “It’s good to be the king” Brooks' HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART I.

It met all the criteria...

1. Composed music: Brooksfilms "housecomposer", John Morris does his usual bang up job scoring the film.

2. Catchy singalongs:

3. And last, but certainly not least, High-larious dialog:

Ok, so Chuy slept through most of it...but it's never to early to start brainwashing the little guy at an early age, right?

3 Weeks

2009-06-30T15:27:00.004-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Happy 3 week birthday! I can't believe that three weeks ago today, at this time, I was hanging out in a hospital bed waiting for you to arrive. Some days it seems like you just got here... some days it seems like you've always been here.

Today is the first day your Dad went back to work and you and I were left alone to face the world. It went pretty well - we had a crazy rain storm which first knocked the cable out, then all the power went out - but just for a little bit. When it came back on, we watched Pretty In Pink - as there was no cable and no Dads around to stop us...

I mistakenly thought that I would be able to get a nap or two in during one of your naps, but you had different plans for me today. Just as I would lay you down in your crib, your eyes would pop open. The first few times, I thought that maybe you would take a look around and then go back to sleep... I was incorrect.

So, after four different attempts, I have officially given up and decided to write this blog instead... which is funny, because you've been snoozing away in your bouncy seat since I turned the computer on... silly rabbit.

Some things you can do today on your 3 week birthday include: focusing on our faces... making cute little noises that aren't cries... holding your head up for a few seconds... sometimes even moving it from side to side... you have an entire repertoire of faces that you make - your Dad and I always say that you have a PhD in Face Makery... and you've become more awake and alert than ever before - even more than yesterday!

I still can't believe that you're finally out of my belly and into our arms - I can't wait to see what amazing skill you master by tomorrow... or Thursday...

Love,
Mommy

Junior Cryptozoologist

2009-06-16T11:31:00.008-05:00

The little man hasn't been on parole for a whole week and we've already been out hunting the elusive Chupacabra.

So far we’ve had no luck in locating the rascally "Latino Bigfoot", but we did run across a Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (aka Capybara) outside of the Babies R Us this weekend.

The boy was unimpressed with this graminivore and he quickly reminded me that if there were no Mexican goat suckers in the parking lot it was time to get him a hamper for his dirty drawers and a space themed play mat for tummy time.

Baby Quinn has arrived!

2009-06-11T23:31:00.004-05:00

Baby Quinn Kirby Canacorn has arrived!

Tuesday, June 9th 8:18pm
8lbs 2oz and 20 inches long

He's happy, healthy, and totally awesome!

I am so excited that he chose me to be his mommy - that makes me one lucky lady!

Project Middle Name: the 80s Edition

2009-06-05T10:19:00.008-05:00

I made a deal with the Hubs last weekend.

The deal was this... if Chuy decided to arrive before midnight on Sunday, May 31st, I would agree to his middle name choice... which is Tuscadero... yes, of Pinkie and Leather fame.

Unfortunately for the Hubs, May 31st came and went, Chuy still hasn't decided to arrive, and Tuscadero is officially off the table.

However, I have no middle name choice to replace it with... what's a girl that doesn't want to name her son Tuscadero supposed to do?

Thankfully, our friends Vickie and Dave came to the rescue!

I present to you their list -

Project Middle Name: the 80s Edition...

oh, and yes, Chuy's name really isn't Chuy... but we all knew that, didn't we?

Quinn Fletcher (Fletch)
Quinn Michael J. Fox
Quinn Duckman

Pretty In Pink is most likely my favorite movie of all times. Duckie is one of my all time favorite characters. Thanks to him and an early high school almost boyfriend, I discovered the Smiths... you see where this is going, but, yes, Duckman is a viable option.

Quinn Bastian
Quinn Atreyu
Quinn Gmork
Quinn Ghostbuster
Quinn Willis (Either Bruce or Drummond)
Quinn Indiana or Indy
Quinn Jones
Quinn Elliot
Quinn Nakatomi - nice - yes, I think the Hubs would like to name the baby after the building in Die Hard...

Quinn McFly
Quinn One Eyed Willy
Quinn Solo
Quinn Knightrider
Quinn Kitt
Quinn Airwolf
Quinn Labyrinth
Quinn Dr. Emmett Brown
Quinn Obi Wan
Quinn Vader
Quinn Skywalker
Quinn Bueller
Quinn Ferris
Quinn Billy Jean (is not my lover)
Quinn "the heart of rock 'n' roll"
Quinn Rosco
Quinn Duke
Quinn Snake Eyes
Quinn Thundercat
Quinn Voltron
Quinn Doogie

I love Neil Patrick Harris so much, it hurts. Doogie is on my short list, but the Hubs thinks it should be his entire name, in quotes, with the MD after it...

Quinn Axel
Quinn Thriller
Quinn Mad Max - no way, I couldn't even make it beyond the Thunderdome...
Quinn Riggs
Quinn Maverick

I think this might be my #1 favorite name on this list... Quinn Maverick... totally sounds not only awesome, but a little bit mysterious too...

Quinn Iceman
Quinn Goose
Quinn Ramboo
Quinn Balboa
Quinn Dundee
Quinn Miyagi
Quinn Daniel-san
Quinn Jackson
Quinn Connor
Quinn Footloose
Quinn Hungry Eyes
Quinn Pee-Wee
Quinn Beetlejuice
Quinn Montoya (both Inigo & Vickie--my maiden name) ;)
Quinn Benjamin
Quinn Jake Ryan

Yes Yes Yes!!! Oh, so, just because I name my son Jake Ryan doesn't mean the real Jake Ryan will appear? Bummer... never mind...

Quinn Wyld Stallyns
Quinn Rufus
Quinn Bill & Ted
Quinn Wyatt
Quinn Kelly LaBrock
Quinn St. Elmo
Quinn Gizmo
Quinn Cooper
Quinn Duran
Quinn Morrissey
Quinn Jett
Quinn Blackheart
Quinn RoboCop
Quinn Jovi - this is a fav as well - I never knew until a couple years ago, that if you put Bon Jovi's Greatest Hits on, I know EVERY WORD to EVERY SONG... not even kidding... it was frightening...
Quinn Poison
Quinn Boingo
Quinn Elfman
Quinn Devo
Quinn DMC
Quinn Scissorhands
Quinn Rorschach
Quinn Grayskull
Quinn Gargamel
Quinn Rubik
Quinn Karma Chameleon
Quinn Ash (Bruce Campbell)

Thanks so much Vickie and Dave! We had a tiny list of a couple names that we weren't sure about - now we have tons of options... although, I have noticed that there's one particular name that's been left off this list... I'm certain it was an oversight and not some weird hang up about this person, their angelic voice, or their most awesome band...

What about Quinn Steve Perry?

39 Weeks...

2009-06-03T16:29:00.006-05:00

...also known as the longest week of my entire life... or how I spent my summer vacation in 90+ degree weather being pregnant with something the size of a large rabbit...

Those marks are from my elastic waistband... not stretch marks... Just FYI...

Dear Chuy,

Dr. E said I've only dilated another 1/2 inch since last week - no further effacement - no change in your station...

I've eaten a pile of spicy food, pineapple, and painfully hobbled around the hike and bike trail a few times this past week - unfortunately to no avail...

Needless to say, I'm beyond frustrated, upset, uncomfortable, and sometimes in pain.

The Doc didn't bother to measure you or listen to your heartbeat today - instead he opted for an extremely uncomfortable cervical exam... which was awesome, but his lack of interest in your vitals today makes me think that you're done cooking, there's nothing more the Doc can even do but wait at this point...

Every place I've been today has been full of outside babies - laughing, hanging with their mommies, wearing cute outside baby clothes, the works.

Oh, how I wish you would just go ahead and come on out - I'm so ready, I'm beyond ready...

Applique!

2009-06-01T15:01:00.006-05:00

It dawned on me a few weeks ago that my hopefully-soon-to-be-born child might need a little sun hat considering it's already in the 90s here in the ATX.

So, I popped over to Target to see what my options are...

Turns out, if you're a boy baby, you get really plain, ordinary hat choices - navy or khaki... no designs... no patterns... nada.

If you're a girl baby, you have at least 10 to 12 different super cute patterns, colors, sizes, shapes - it's like an all-you-can-eat buffet of baby hats all in various shades of pink with flowers, butterfiles, ladybugs, etc.

I went with both the navy and the khaki - one is toddler size, one is infant size. My nephew, Logan (and his parents) will be visiting us later in the month from North Dakota - where I'm pretty sure it's still snowing and they don't ever see the sun... so, thought he could use a sun hat for Texas as well.

I left the Target with two plain boy hats and an idea... what if I were to try doing an applique on them... hmmm...

Thanks to a little searching on ye ol' interweb, I figured out what kind of interfacing I would need (Wonder Under) and that it's super duper cheap... yay!

Next up was figuring out what type of designs I wanted to do on the hats. For my first try, I thought I would keep it simple and just do the babies initials - in similiar fabrics...

Check it out...

I think they turned out pretty darn cute! The Wonder Under was sooooo easy to use - I'm already thinking about shapes and patterns for some onesies...

Our Baby Bibs are Famous!

2009-05-29T10:33:00.004-05:00

Okay, well, not quite famous, but I did happen to mention to the fine folk over at Stencil 1 that we had a great time using their book Stencil 101 to make our bibs...

...and they just so happened to blog about it on their site yesterday...

Check it out here!

More Baby Bibs!

2009-05-28T10:17:00.006-05:00

Finally! The patterned baby bibs are complete!

My boy Chuy now has 10 custom made bibs courtesy of his mom and pop and the fabulousness that is Stencil 101.

The first six on muslin and the remaining 4 on various scraps of fabric I had in my stash... check it out!

I used plain white terrycloth as the back - figured it would be soft and would soak up various liquids well...

Now, to make a cute baby hat out of some awesome hot rod car fabric... because all babies need hot rod sun hats, don't cha think?

38 Weeks!

2009-05-27T14:05:00.005-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Today marks 38 weeks and two days that you've lived in my belly.

We have 13 days until our due date.

It's been an amazing journey with you - starting with my magical ability to make two pink lines appear on multiple home pregnancy tests... seeing your tiny little pea shaped body on the ultrasound machine for the first time... hearing your heartbeat... watching you grow on the inside (and me grow on the outside, unfortunately)... feeling you move around, kick, hiccup, squirm, flutter... it's all been overwhelming, uncomfortable, scary, and exciting, but most of all an absolute miracle.

Dr. E said that I'm 2 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced at today's check up... which means that you are getting ready for Phase 2 and so am I.

I'm ready... I think... for the most part... are you?

Gettin' Ready!

2009-05-24T13:27:00.008-05:00

Man o man, only two weeks until the arrival of Chuy, The Amazing Outside Baby!

Or it could be three weeks...Dr. E says he'll give it a whole week past the due date before inducing labor, much to The Wife's displeasure and discomfort.

There's so much to do to get ready for Chuy...Let's see...
We've set up the crib, the car seat, and the stroller...we've purchased diapers, bottles, baby pants, sheets, towels, bibs and a ton of other stuff...but it feels like I'm forgetting something....

Oh snap! I gotta' organize my comic collection! We can't have a jumbled mess o' comic books in the house! What happens when it's time to teach Chuy some life lessons according to the Silver Age and my Amazing Spiderman is mixed in with my Justice League Of America?!

Luckily, all my funny books are in these handy short boxes (and mostly in alphabetical order already)...I got rid of all my bulky long boxes years ago when I finally trimmed some fat off my collection (I'm looking at you, everything drawn by Rob Liefeld).

It was fun going through my collection again and wondering just what heroes and villains my little buddy will be into. What artists will inspire him to draw? Will he prefer Marvel or DC? And most importantly, will he realize that Thor, Frog Of Thunder was quite possibly the most awesome idea Walt Simonson ever came up with?

I know it's still a ways away before Chuy can fully appreciate what comic books have to offer...but thanks to my Virgo tendencies, this collection is ready!

Now, let's whip that record collection into shape...

37 Weeks!

2009-05-20T13:52:00.004-05:00

Dear Chuy,

Dr. E said that you are fully cooked and can go ahead and come on out whenever you feel like it.

Your father and I have discussed, and we too think that it's totally cool for you to make your move...

I know, I know, we've spent the last few months telling you every day to stay in there, cook good, etc... but you done did all that, so, now it's time...

Do the Stanky Legg

2009-05-15T11:02:00.004-05:00

Recently, I was waiting in the truck as the Hubs ran into the store real quick and a song came on the radio...

That's right - Do the Stanky Legg!

Interested in what is involved in doing the Stanky Legg, I listened closely to the lyrics. Turns out, the Stanky Legg is quite involved.

There's doing the actual Stanky Legg itself, then doing the Booty Dew, then dancers are instructed to "Get it... now get it... now get it"... hmmm...

I've noticed that this is Chuy's favorite new dance. Since he has now flipped head down (like the super baby genius that he is), his feet are hanging out near my rib cage... literally... sometimes you can see him pushing one of them out just under - kinda freaky looking... definitely Doin the Stanky Legg!

Upon further investigation of Chuy's favorite dance, turns out the dudes responsible for bringing the Stanky Legg to the masses, the GS Boyz, are from Dallas - also known as my home town... holla!

MTV News.com recently did an interview with the GS Boyz as to the origin of the Stanky Legg... here's what they had to say...

"He started doing his leg, like that," Southside said, explaining the motion where his partner Prince started rotating his leg in front of him, the way you would twist your foot to put out cigarette, except using the whole leg. "I was like, 'Hey, that looks stanky.'" And the Stanky Legg was born.

There are many many You Tube videos of people doing the Stanky Legg in their living rooms and kitchens, but the best, by far, is the video of Soso Deff n Aleia So Phresh doin the Stanky Legg...

Let's watch...

So, the next time you're wondering what it's like to have a 6+ pound baby hanging out in your belly... now you know! It's kinda like he's doin the Stanky Legg!

Baby Bibs!

2009-05-13T14:38:00.010-05:00

In an on going effort to make sure that the cobbler's kid has shoes, I've tried to make sure Chuy gets to have at least a few handmade-by-me items in his stash of stuff...

One idea that The Hubs and I most recently tried our hand at was one that we participated in at our friends Vickie and Dave's baby shower a couple months ago...

Stenciled baby bibs!

Thanks to the awesomeness that is Ed Roth's Stecil 101, stenciling has never been easier or more fun...

Check it out...

Me working a deer bib...

The Hubs getting in on the crafty action...

We stenciled on plain muslin as well as patterned fabric (which I have yet to sew into bibs... the couch and Oprah always tend to win that contest)...

I used a bib that I received as a present as my pattern and used velcro to make the closure at the top...

All in all, I think they turned out really cute...

More pics soon when the patterned fabric ones finally are complete!

36 Weeks!

2009-05-12T13:57:00.005-05:00

My belly button hurts.

Dear Chuy,

It is 28 days until your due date. We had our 36 weeks Doctor appt. yesterday and he said all looked great! I'm 60% effaced with no dilation, but Dr. E said that if you were to decide to show up tonight, that would be fine and you would be in good shape. Not to put the pressure on or anything, but it sure is hot outside and your feet are none too comfortable wedged inbetween my ribs...

I will say, though, that I would rather give birth to a Gemini than a Taurus, so, I guess if you want to wait until after the 22nd of May, that's okay with me too.

What's most important is that once it's time, you get down to business and get up out of there - no dilly dally... you hear me, boy?

Mr. Canacorn: Exposed!

2009-05-10T17:46:00.007-05:00

I was totally called out today on Awesomeness (NSFW)...by a kid.

It was all because of my thoughts on this video by brokeNCYDE...it's called FREAKXXX:

I'm not going to go into what I though about it here, but you can read my original (totally safe for work) post, brokeNCYDE…Good For The Kids?, if you want some perspective on sydney :)'s response.

Here it is:

sydney :) Says:
May 10, 2009 at 3:14 pm

"I’m a KID. and Brokencyde is not dumb music.. for “dumb” kids. your just too old to be listening to it.. so just get over yourself. Second they do NOT look like assholes. I met them last week with my MOM. They are some of the sweetest guys I have ever met in my life. They alll bangin. Your obviously too old to know whats going on in the world anymore =)"

The Wife thinks all this is totally hilarious.

I think this is a good wake up call for what the future has in store for me once Chuy is a teenager....oh, and no matter what sydney :) says, I still think they look like a gaggle of assholes.

Time to move the bassinet...

2009-05-07T13:45:00.001-05:00

We've been keeping the bassinet that our dear friends gifted us in the garage since we got it - to keep cats from sleeping in it...

Last night, we came home after seeing a movie to find this in our garage...

That's right - a big giant SNAKE! In our garage! Hanging out around our baby's bassinet! Not cool!

I've been wondering when the right time to bring the bassinet into the house would be... looks like that would be now-ish...

35 Weeks!

2009-05-05T14:46:00.005-05:00

5 more weeks to go... 35 days... seems so short... seems like forever...

I can't believe that in little more than a month, give or take, little Chuy will be paroled and we will finally be onto the next phase of our lives - being his parents!

I think pregnancy lasts for 40 weeks for a couple reasons - one, obviously, is to grow a baby... but the other is to give said baby's parents around 10 months - almost a whole year - to get used to the idea of being somebody's mom or dad - and not only that, but to be so excited by the thought that they just can't stand to have baby in the belly one moment longer than he needs to be in there.

This is where I'm at this week - I'm so ready to have my little guy on the outside I can barely stand it... hurry up 35 days... I'm ready!

Drool

2009-04-30T13:27:00.005-05:00

I'm an only child.

I never had younger siblings hanging around for me to help out with. I did a little babysitting when I was in high school, but the kids were 7 and 9 years old and "babysitting" meant hanging out, watching 90210, and eating dinner on their Dad's country club tab... not too shabby.

Needless to say, I have approximately zero hours of baby training. I've never even changed a diaper. When friend's babies end up in my arms, I usually give them back pretty quickly, but only because I'm not sure what I should do with them.

As we're getting ready for Chuy's parole, I'm learning more and more about the mysterious world of babies... today's lesson... apparently, they drool... alot.

There's so much drool, in fact, that you need to be armed with things like bibs... and towels...

Thank goodness for Baby Stuff by Aranzi Aronzo! *yes, when I said I was going to make every single project in this book, I wasn't kidding*

Check out these awesome drool towels...

So cute - even if I do say so myself!

There's two different kinds here... Flimsy Bear...

...and Flopsy Bunny...

They were super dups easy to make - just a little terrycloth fabric, some felt for the eyes, and a bit of embroidery floss for the noses and mouths - that's it!

Best of all, apparently babies like to chew on the arms and legs of the Bear and the Bunny too - so, while he's being entertained, he's also staying drool-free, which makes this borderline OCD clean freak mom-to-be just a little bit more calm about the drool situation.

34 Weeks!

2009-04-28T14:40:00.005-05:00

34 weeks! Only 42 days until my due date... which sounds like crazy talk, but it's true! We had our short and sweet doctor visit yesterday - measured the uterus, listened to Chuy's heartbeat, complained about my hot flashes, etc.

Dr. E said that 34 weeks is when the doctors all breath a sigh of relief. He said if Chuy were born today, he would be a bit small, but would be in good shape - lungs are developed and what not. So, that was nice to hear - not that I want little dude to come out before his timer goes off, but if he happens to pull the cord early, we're cool.

My uncomfortable-ness has hit maximum overdrive lately - clothes are not my friend - it's always hot no matter where I am (yes, I guess it is just me... and the basketball sized baby in my belly) - if I drop something, it's staying where it landed - I wore a napkin as a bib during lunch today and it was a good thing too because it was littered with ranch dressing upon completion of my spinach wrap...

42 days... 42 days... it will all be worth it!

Crafty Friends!

2009-04-27T14:43:00.004-05:00

We've hit another milestone in our journey through pregnancy... the baby shower.

It wasn't so much a 'baby shower' as a party where baby things were discussed and presents were presented... we wanted it to be laid back with no 'shower' games and we wanted both ladies and gents to be able to attend...

Thanks to our friend Yasmine, we did have exceptionally gourmet snacks - there were cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off and everything - f.a.n.c.y.!!!

A great time was had by all and we received many many awesome and useful presents from our friends.

A few of these presents weren't off the registry, but instead, were handmade, and are so awesome, I thought I'd share them here...

Our friend Sara made us some hand screen printed onesies... a scooter, a truck, and a pill bottle...

So cute! She was concerned that the pill bottle might be a little inappropriate, but it is certainly the right amount of inappropriate for our family!

Our friend Catherine also made us some hand screen printed onesies - 3 black cats!

Yay! Kitties! But Noelle, don't you have 4 black cats? Well, kinda... but one of them has white on his face and a giant white foot... so, technically, I do have three black ones and one Oreo flavored one...

Our buddy Susann made us some hand appliqued onesies... an owl and a musical necktie...

There were two reasons I was a little tiny bit sad when I found out the little guy was a boy... one is that he most likely won't want to take ballet classes... the other was that I thought that baby girl clothes were cuter than baby boy clothes and I'd be stuck buying him sports related crap because there wouldn't be any other choice.

Well, I'm still a bit sad about dance class (I mean, if he wants to, that's cool with me), but am so glad I was wrong about cute clothes! My little boy gets to wear necktie onesies! Take that - frilly girls clothes!

Speaking of necktie onesies... why should baby get to have all the fun? Check out the Daddy and Baby matching set - handmade by our buddy Mandy Joe...

Isn't that the best ever? Can't wait to take a million pictures of Daddy and Baby in their outfits!

Last but certainly not least, check out the most awesome Knitty Robot - handmade by our friend Vickie...

How amazingly rad is this robot? The Hubs keeps asking me how long it must have taken Vickie to make Mr. Knitty... my answer is always 'if I tried to knit something that cool, it would take me 7 years... and it still wouldn't be finished...'

Here's a pic of the Knitty Robot with his new buddy Gigantor...

Aw... robot friends...

Thanks again to everyone that came out to spend the day celebrating the arrival of our little guy. And thanks for all of our presents - they were all awesome!

Portraits

2009-04-26T10:13:00.006-05:00

Today, Chuy's most awesome Godmother is coming over to shoot our pregnancy portraits.

Hopefully, they'll come out half as good as these...

Baby Gear

2009-04-25T18:18:00.004-05:00

And now it begins...Baby gear.

The stroller/car seat was easy enough to put together...and thanks to the LATCH system, the installation of the car seat was a breeze...mostly. The sucker still isn't totally level and wiggles just a little too much for our liking. Luckily we have a car seat fitting class this Thursday to make sure we figure the damn thing out.

It's totally weird having a car seat for Chuy in The Wife's car since the little man won't be paroled for another 44 days....I guess it will be even more totally weirder-er once there's an actual baby in it.

I've been handling my upcoming fatherhood pretty good so far..or is it pretty well? (Damn, I need to figure all this grammar stuff out so I can teach Chuy how to speak good English well!)

Anyway, I haven't freaked out too much these past 7 months...but I have to admit the stroller and car seat combo was a one two punch of reality. It was a complete, This is really happening moment...

Man, this last trimester is going to be over before we know it...and we'll be strapping our son into his totally level, totally secure car seat and taking him home sooner than later.

33 Weeks!

2009-04-21T13:57:00.006-05:00

33 weeks today!

Only 49 more days to go until D-Day... give or take... you know, if Chuy wanted to come out in about four more weeks, that would be a-okay with me...

I've been getting more and more uncomfortable, tired, swollen, and sweaty day by day... pregnancy... it's so glamourous...

The boy seems to be doing well in there, so that's a good thing and makes every last stupid symptom worth it...

I just wish these last 7 weeks would hurry up and be over so I can have my prize AND be able to touch my toes again...

I'm sure these last weeks will be the longest/ fastest weeks I've ever lived in all my 33 years...

Bible Studies

2009-04-19T07:09:00.004-05:00

Teaching Chuy about religion might be tricky...Luckily SPIDERMAN can help!

Click to embiggen!
(via QUEER THE PITCH)

Tweeting from the Womb??

2009-04-16T10:47:00.007-05:00

Seems like everyone has a Twitter these days... I do too, although I rarely think of anything I deem important enough to tweet about...

The Hubs tweets with his bloggy friends about movies and stuff - but that's still limited use of the Tweet-phenom... neither one of us is telling the world where we're getting coffee at the moment... we loathe the drop-by...

Yesterday, while doing some 'work', I happened upon this article - about the Kickbee...

Uh... what's a Kickbee? Well, the Kickbee is a device, worn by pregnant women, that detects fetal movement in the womb and sends a message to Twitter... no, seriously...

Chuy's daddy and I would find this info incredibly fascinating - if it were Chuy's kicks - but I can't imagine others would want to 'follow' him on Twitter... maybe I'm wrong about that... people do love to Tweet...

For more info on the Kickbee, check out it's developer's portfolio here!

32 Weeks!

2009-04-14T14:51:00.006-05:00

32 weeks! Only 56 more days according to my preggers widget...

This week the tiredness of the first trimester has noticeably returned, which does not please the client... I have crafty things to accomplish, shelves to move around, a job to, at the very least, show up to everyday... you know... life stuff to do? But all I want to do is wedge myself in the corner section of our comfy couch and watch tv or read or play on the 'couch computer' - my name for our new laptop - thanks again, Greg - that long walk to the office was just too much...

The belly has grown a half inch in a matter of days... pretty incredible! I had a couple days of back aches and lower ab pain, but now all of that makes sense - Chuy is hopefully gaining a 1/2 pound a week from here on out...

All in all, I'm getting really excited to meet my little guy and in contrast, really tired of being pregnant... but I know it will totally be worth it - I mean, I AM giving birth to a super baby genius...

The Godmother

2009-04-07T06:24:00.012-05:00

Who goes there?

Why it's The Wife, Baby Chuy (in belly), and the totally awesome Ms. Aubrey Edwards.

We met Aubs (aka The Hurricane) 5 years ago through some mutual friends...and like everyone that's ever met her, we fell head over heels for this broad!

So, what makes her so special?

She's a saint:

She knows how to ride a bike:

She likes guns:

She's a real hot dog:

She's a go-go dancer:

And she finally did something about that wolf's tooth of hers:

Oh, and this Paul Engemann song pretty much sums her up:

She's also a rambler, a gambler, a lover, a fighter, a teacher and one of the best photographers on the planet!

And those are just a few reasons why The Wife and I could think of no other woman to be the spiritual co-parent of our child.

Thanks for being you, Aubrey Edwards! You're going to be the best mentor our son ever did have!

31 Weeks

2009-04-06T14:03:00.006-05:00

31 weeks as of today!

Only 9 more weeks til due date... that's only 64 days... and that's if he's exactly on-time, which considering who his parents are - is completely likely...

We took our childbirth class this weekend - 5 hours of fun... it was mostly interesting - learned about some breathing techniques... different stages of labor... drug options... got to take a tour of the hospital - which was awesome - free wi-fi!

The experience of going to the class and taking a peek at the hospital really turned my focus from being pregnant to almost being done with that and having to deliver Mr. Chuy into the world...

It's so strange to think we're so close to meeting our little guy in person... and so very exciting! Oh, and just for the record... people who are close to actually having to give birth really shouldn't watch episodes of TLC's A Baby Story... oh, the screaming... I get it... it hurts... alot...

Best Print Ever

2009-03-28T09:56:00.004-05:00

The Wife recently posted this on her blog:

"This print is so incredibly awesome, it makes my heart race and my head light every time I look at it... and there's so much to look at! It's part of a limited edition set of 50, and I want one so bad it makes my teeth hurt... "

Of course I bought it for her. She's going to put it in Chuy's room with the other awesome prints we have from BERKLEY ILLUSTRATION!

Check 'em out and add a touch of class to your child's room...or one of your rooms.

The Nursery...

2009-03-24T14:04:00.001-05:00

We're finally on the home stretch of nursery decorating at Casa Canacorn - just a couple tiny details to go and we'll be ready to roll!

I was so concerned that it wouldn't be the vision I originally had - but it is - more so than I ever imagined...

Let's take a peek, shall we?

The door to his room... this Q came white, but it was nothing a little blue paint couldn't fix...

The room is so small it's hard to get good photos, but this is the window wall complete with bookshelf, toy box, and some art and goodies...

The bookshelf has the owl that I made for our little guy a few months ago, my old owl lamp that I painted blue, and some books, toys, and baskets. We painted the inside of the bookshelf as well as the outside rim in blue too - just to make it a little more unique.

The artwork above the shelf came from Berkley Illustration

I so totally love these guys and their animal portraits and am so glad that we are the proud owners of not one but two prints! In fact, just talking about them makes me want to buy more... hmmm...

Moving on...

The Toy Box - which at the moment is more of a storage box for crib sheets and whatnot. The pillows on this box are both special to me - the white one with the blue dots came from our Trading Spaces room - it's one of the only original items not in that room now. The pink kitty/bunny/bear came all the way from Japan and makes an excellent pillow when on a plane. The black furry one isn't a pillow at all! It's Ozzy Osbourne-Corcoran who was following me around asking what this room was for and what exactly is going on with my belly... poor guy...

These silkscreened squid/ spaceship dudes came from someone who was making a bid to make some posters for me at my old job. I can't remember his name now, but I've always liked these little prints and knew I would use them somewhere someday for something...

Next up is the changing table/ dresser area. We highlighted the dresser with a bit of blue on the drawers - once again, just to make it a bit more decorative and a bit less plain white. I really like how it came out!

The artwork is from my old sewing room - The Hubs bought one of these for my B-Day a million years ago from Ye Ol' Urban Outfitters... I immediately went back and scooped up the rest!

Oh, and yes, we're leaving the plastic wrappers on not only the changing pad but the crib mattress as well... keeps the cats away...

This bookshelf shares the wall with the door. On it we have some super awesome night lights from Ikea - the Spooka series to be exact, a Friends With You Mr. TTT Rainbow, books, baskets, my Garfield doll from when I was little - I literally loved the stripes off of him, and a robot and gorilla courtesy of my baby daddy... you know, to butch up the room a bit...

The prints above the shelf are from Gama Go...

I used to be a wholesale customer of theirs, so, each year, they would send me a limited edition, numbered, very rare print as a Christmas present... these are two of them... pretty darn cool, huh?

and finally...

...the crib wall! We now have a mattress for the crib... wrapped in plastic to keep baby kitties from wanting to nap there... We opted to do the big dots on this wall instead of hang up any art - as we have trains that drive by right behind our back fence... making everything in the house do a little shimme shake...

So, there you have it - an almost complete nursery!

Just have to make some cute slip covers for the cube benches and of course get some more books and whatnot for the shelves... oh, and give birth to one incredibly cute baby genius to sleep in the crib, get his diaper changed on the table, and play with his toys!

28 Weeks!

2009-03-17T13:48:00.004-05:00

Only 12 more weeks until we get to meet baby Chuy face to face... it's hard to believe he's almost here, although sometimes it seems like June won't get here fast enough.

We had our doctor's visit yesterday - nothing too fancy - he measured my belly, we listened to Chuy's hearbeat - Doc said he sounds like a happy baby in there - which made me feel very happy and relieved!

Usually, by the time the doctor visit rolls around, I've convinced myself that there's something horribly wrong in there... but there never ever is, so, I should give myself a break.

Glucose test happened as well - hopefully that turns out okay and we should be all set for smooth sailing to the finish line!

Just one million more things to do and purchase before the little guy gets paroled...

Curtain Impaired

2009-03-12T14:05:00.002-05:00

I gave up making curtains for my house many years ago after many many failed attempts...

Just couldn't ever get them quite right.

I even tried my hand at Roman Shades here and there, but that was a mess as well...

Finally, I concluded that of all the talents that I may have, curtain-making will never ever be on the list... which I've been fine with for years... purchasing modular Swedish blinds, or lately, custom cellular blinds - a new fave.

But Chuy's room needed some more colors than just green... I knew I shouldn't even attempt to make a curtain - especially now that my sewing room is a pile of clear plastic bins out in the garage - but I threw caution to the wind and decided to at least try...

Voila! It worked!

...and it actually looks good...

I'm still in shock... I think the main reason for the success was that I made it cafe length - not ceiling to floor - or even worse - when you try to make it fit exactly in the window... nightmare!

I was so excited at how the curtain came out, I decided to make a crib skirt as well...

Keeping the mattress out of the crib keeps the cats out of the crib... in case you were wondering... but, check out that nifty skirt - pretty cool what a bit of fabric and some sticky back velcro can do to liven up an otherwise plain crib...

Here it is close up...

So, now I can bring in some solid colors that aren't green - blues, oranges, yellows, even black - so many possibilities!

There's a crib in our house...

2009-03-09T14:11:00.002-05:00

Saturday morning, we got up early and took a little road trip to my Husband's most favorite place in the whole world... Ikea!

A little Mr. Canacorn fun fact for you - not only does he despise large shopping situations full of people that are most certainly trying to get in our way - but he also has absolutely no tolerance for eating food at such places... like the food court at the mall... or the restaurant at his favorite Swedish modular furniture store...

...but for his wife and son-to-be, he made an exception... and even liked it... and was amazed at how good it was even though it only cost $ .99 cents... he's a keeper.

Anywhoo... we didn't just drive all the way to Round Rock to eat cheap breakfast... oh no... we went with a plan and a list and ended up getting all the large pieces of furniture for Chuy's room in one fell swoop...

This would be our Son's furniture... all of it... so Swedish and modular...

We got home and set forth to build all of the pieces...

This was a bit of an OMG moment... there's a crib in our house... for a baby... our baby... weird...

Did you know that you have to buy the mattress separately?

I didn't... and no, I'm not going to make my baby sleep on wooden slats covered in tin-foil... the foil is to keep the cats away, although somebody jumped in a couple times and made short work of it... we're both pretty sad we missed this particular cat-tastrophe...

Bookshelves for books, baskets full of stuff, stuffed animals, etc...

Dresser that will also be used as a changing table...

A couple of items are not pictured here - a storage box thingy on wheels and some cube ottomans... all of which are currently undergoing makeovers and will be featured at a later date...

So, yeah, Friday night... no crib in our house... Sunday morning... baby's room in our house... our baby... what have we done???

Saturday Morning Cartoons

2009-03-08T18:11:00.003-05:00

Saw THE WATCHMEN today...

Now if only this cartoon existed:

If it did, I'd love to see the look on Alan Moore's face.

How many different cartoon references did you catch?

Oh yeah, the movie was more awesome than not...but I'm still going to make sure Chuy reads the original 12 issue comic run before he sees it.

Dawn Of The Dead

2009-03-07T08:25:00.006-06:00

Today, The Wife and I are off to Ikea to buy furniture for Chuy's new room.

Like most husbands, I absolutely dread the trip to Ikea...I really don't mind shopping...it's the other shoppers I hate.

I know I'm not alone here, but I really can't stress how much these mindless consumers bug the shit out of me. These slow shambling creatures make my hands itch and my brain break out into a cold sweat...

I find myself daydreaming of various high powered rifles or even a handy machete to help me and my pregnant wife get through the damn maze of the undead and the flat-pack designed furniture (at affordable prices) like a modern day Stephen and Francine.

But, alas, I am armed with nothing....and I am forced to bob and weave, defenseless, through the drooling, Swede-obsessed living dead, on my quest to buy a fucking crib and some shelving.

And once the horror of shopping is done I get the pleasure of assembling our new purchases.

Thankfully, Ikea provides easy, breezy, wordless instructions:

What started as a perfectly fine blue boy's room...

2009-03-04T14:37:00.001-06:00

Before

I always liked how calm and serene this room was when it was my sewing room. We always joked that if we had a boy, we wouldn't have to paint the room, it was ready to go...

...that is until we actually found out we were having a boy... at which point, my super relaxing blue room became completely unacceptable...

Must have green. Not just any green, mind you... the brightest, craziest green I could possible get my hands on...

Let's back up a little... here's the inspiration room... courtesy of Oh Dee Doh...

Cute, right? Sure is a bright green, isn't it?

Since we both agreed that we liked the inspiration room, it was time to get started...

The Hubs has a slight obsession with making sure all the painting supplies are perfectly clean and in "like new" condition... Personally, I could care if it's clean - once the old paint dries, it's kinda like a clean slate, no?

Even though the Doc said painting was not harmful, I still picked the lowest VOC paint I could find and purchased this nifty mask - it's made especially for painting fumes. It actually came in handy as the smell without the mask was overwhelming. My awesome Ghostface Killah shirt is courtesy of the Hubs and also the only old t-shirt we own that fits me at the moment...

Okay, on to the room...

Wow... that is one heck of a bright green room...

What have we done?

I'm not sure if I'm laughing or crying, but this was the point in the day when we figured out that we had turned a perfectly fine blue boy's room into an Acid Green Nightmare Factory...

So, the next day, we started on color number 2... Here's a little Noelle fun fact for you - I can't possibly paint a room just one color anymore, they all have to be at least two colors, sometimes more.

I had this idea to do big circles all in a row on the wall the crib will be on - just to give it some interest and because I'm afraid to hang any pictures above where my baby will sleep - what with all the trains that go by right past our backyard fence...

I was a little aprehensive after the Acid Green Nightmare Factory day previously, but knew it was going to be okay, or at least I hoped it was...

I'm pretty sure I'm smiling in this one - the circles and the color were exactly what I wanted!

The Hubs filling in all the circles that I outlined... he's such a good helper...

Finished dot wall! I'm really happy with it.

I think once we get some furniture in there, maybe hang up a picture or two, and most importantly, the custom blind that I ordered needs to arrive, because around 5:30 or so each day, the sun shines so brightly in that window... it casts an Acid Green Nightmare Factory shadow into the hallway... like some sort of nuclear experiment gone terribly wrong...

Menu Confusion

2009-02-27T08:44:00.003-06:00

Pregnancy has so many side effects and symptoms that nobody ever mentions to you until you are actually pregnant... hip pain... acne... my hair seems to be going straight... but the strangest symptom I've had lately is menu confusion.

I first noticed it the other night - we were out to dinner with some dear friends at a Greek place by my office. I love this particular Greek place - go there for lunch all the time - always order the same thing - the gyro meat and chicken combo plate. It comes with hummus and pita so you can make little gyro or chicken sammies... delish!

When the food arrived, our friends got the yummy gyro meat/ chicken situation, while the Hubs and I ended up with a Combination Platter... hmmm... sounds close in name to the Gyro/ Chicken Combo plate, but vastly different.

I didn't want to be one of 'those' people that sends food back when it was my mistake, so, we ate our Combination Platter - which, for the most part was good - had many different samples of Greek fair, but was missing the all important, infinitely tasty Gyro meat... bummer.

Cut to this morning... I wanted some orange juice and maybe a McMuffin of sorts, so I headed over to Mickey D's to make this a reality. I order the #3 combo with an orange juice and pull around to the first window... as I'm driving around to the window, it dawns on me that the #3 isn't in the McMuffin family... I should have been tipped off when the lady asked if I wanted butter and jelly for the biscuit... hmmm... no one has ever asked me that about a McMuffin before...

The #3 is a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. I once again didn't make a stink and change my order at the window because it was my confusion, not theirs, that led to this mistake.

It was yummy and came with the all important orange juice, so, in the end, no harm or foul... just so strange that I for some reason can't seem to order what I want from restaurants anymore... and I have no one to blame but myself...

Green Can Be A Problem

2009-02-22T14:16:00.001-06:00

We've started painting Chuy's room this weekend...I'll let Ken Nordine tell you how it's going so far:

Secret Maternity Clothes?

2009-02-19T14:05:00.005-06:00

So, I'm hanging out in the junior department at Nordy Town the other day... yes, that's right, I'm a 33-year-old pregnant lady that still has the urge to shop in the junior department.

I know Stacy and Clinton would tell me I'm not being age appropriate, and they might be right, but 33 is a tough fashion age - probably too old for juniors, but too cool for the ladies department.

Anyhoo, as I'm wondering around, I keep finding clothes that will fit my growing belly... which I find to be strange...

Why would there be preggers clothes in the juniors department? Is the rate of teenage pregnancy that high? Do they know that old ladies like me like to troll the racks for trendy stuff?

Here's the really crazy part... I purchased these jeans from that department...

Notice anything out of the ordinary on the waistline of these jeans? Oh, I don't know, like THEY"RE MATERNITY PANTS???

Literally, maternity pants - disguised as "lounge pants" in the juniors department.

I scooped them up as quickly as possible because they're the only dark straight legged maternity jean I've ever seen.

Oh, and here's another interesting tidbit... when I went to look the company up on-line, there's absolutely no mention of "The Lounge Act" jean... hmmm...

I smell a teen pregnancy jean conspiracy...

What Does The T.S. Stand For?

2009-02-18T18:02:00.008-06:00

Waaay back in 1982, this Mr. Canacorn was just a lil' guy all of 10 years old...I was obsessed with many things: KISS, Star Wars, comic books, and the commercial for new Robin Williams movie, The World According To Garp.

I knew every line of dialog featured in those 30 seconds by heart and I made sure to recite them out loud every time the commercial aired...which was a lot. I know it might seem strange for a 10 year old to be into an adaptation of a John Irving novel, but it wasn't Mr. Irving's exploration of "fatherhood, lust, adultery, and loss" that intrigued me...oh no...it was all about Robin Williams for this kid.

Okay, look, I can't stand Robin's stand up now that I'm in my 30s but back then he was part of the Holy Trinity of comedians I worshiped. Along with John Belushi and Fozzie Bear, Robin was one of the funniest men in the whole world and there was no way I was going to miss this movie!

Thanks to my constant reciting of the Garp commercial I slowly drove my father and his (jerky) second wife to the brink of insanity. And when the commercial wasn't airing and reruns of F Troop weren't keeping my attention, I would act out the short quick scenes that permeated my every waking thought, further driving my dad and step-monster into my diabolical plan of taking me to a movie I wanted to see more than CAVEMAN or GOING APE!

Like most only children visiting their divorced dad for the Summer I got my way. But dad played it cool and said we were going to see ROCKY III again, even though we just watched that cinematic masterpiece the week before...HMMMMMM. Even though I wasn't eleven yet I was smart enough to see through his ruse, but I played along and even faked confusion once the trailer for ROCKY III started before the movie. Needless to say, TWATG was one of the greatest movies I had ever seen in my 10 years on the planet.

So why am I bringing this up on a blog dedicated to becoming a first time parent? Well, I guess because this film (and novel) has been on my mind quite a bit recently. If you've seen or read GARP and you're a man, you can probably guess why. The fears, triumphs, loss, wonder, and joy of being a son, husband, and parent are deftly handled in Garp's story and I can't help but relate. That, and it's a fond childhood memory involving my own father...and everyday I wonder more and more what kind of memories I'll get to create for Baby Chuy throughout his lifetime.

Anyway, I plan on revisiting THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP in the coming months with The Wife and I'll be sure to share my thoughts on it when we do.

Oh, one more thing: My Uncle John is in the movie as Man in Tree...wanna see?

Musical Taste from the Inside?

2009-02-18T13:59:00.008-06:00

So, my "What To Expect" book told me a few weeks ago that baby Chuy could hear... mostly my heartbeat, digestion noises, stuff like that - but it also mentioned that Daddy Canacorn should start talking to him and that he could hear music.

Well, since us Canacorns met while both working at a particular Record Store, music is a big part of our lives and we were both excited to find that Chuy could start listening to music with us.

I thought I should get one of those "Build Your Baby's Brain" classical CDs to start with... everybody likes a baby with a big brain, right?

Daddy Canacorn brought us two CDs to get started...

Build Your Baby's Brain...

and Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of The Cure

Chuy and I listened to The Cure first. The 15-year-old New Waver that still lives within me was quite pleased that I was playing Cure songs for my son. The songs are slowed down, instrumental and quite smooth, but still The Cure nonetheless. My client was pleased.

We popped the classical selection in next. This CD is great if you haven't worked in a Record Store for the past 15+ years. If you have limited knowledge of classical music and just want something nice and relaxing, this is the disc for you. However, I would recommend not listening to it while driving as it may cause severe drowsiness... I think it also caused fetal drowsiness - which could come in handy when Chuy gets paroled.

Since both CDs could be considered 'lullaby' types, I thought I would move on to something a bit more lively...

The Charlatans UK "Between 10th and 11th

and The Dandy Warhols "Dandys Rule OK"

Baby Chuy was going nuts during the Charlatans - granted, it's a pretty awesome CD - I've personally loved it for many many years now. Guess the kiddo is partial to shoe gaze, which works for me!

He didn't care much for the Dandy Warhols, however. I'm not too surprised - Dandy's Rule OK is their best outing by far, but is no match for Charlatans greatness.

I think we're going to try some Alice Coltrane next... maybe some Herbie Hancock? Gotta love that Headhunter...

24 weeks!

2009-02-17T11:04:00.005-06:00

Baby Chuy is the size of a foot long hot dog this week!

This baby keeps getting more delicious!

What If?

2009-02-16T07:41:00.004-06:00

I know kids have tons of questions...I can only hope Chuy will come up with one as important as this one.

What Middle Name For Son?

2009-02-15T18:19:00.005-06:00

Well, I don't know if y'all have heard, but The Wife and I are having some troubles agreeing on a middle name for baby Chuy (yes, this is one of those bloggy-type nicknames just in case some psycho decides to track down our family and kidnap our soon to be born super baby genius).

I've asked family, friends, and even strangers on the internet...and no one has come up with a great middle name. What's a father to be to do?

I'm not sure what most fathers to be would do, but I sure as shit know what I'd do! I'd ask Ookla The Mok! I know, I know, that sounds crazy! Who in their right mind would ask a humanoid, lion-like creature with yellow eyes and fangs anything...never mind what to name your unborn son?

What can I say, I'm kinda' weird. Anyway, I asked and he delivered! Check out what the big guy had to say HERE and don't be afraid to ask Ookla any questions you may have. Not only is he super cool, but he's wicked smart too! Just shoot him an email...he uses Gmail and everything:

DearOoklaTheMok@Gmail.com

Even though The Wife and I still haven't figured out Chuy's middle name yet, Ookla has given us a lot to think about.

Thanks again, you big lug!

Snapshot Of Awesomeness

2009-02-15T18:06:00.007-06:00

Would you look at that?

There seems to be something inside of The Wife....AND IT'S ALIVE!

That's right, boners, I'm gonna' be a father!
I've seen enough movies to know that this will not be good for the rest of you.
You have been warned.