4-months-old

This is what 4-months-old looks like...

I really do wish I could take credit for his gorgeousness. I know every mom has spent hours and hours staring at their babies, yet there are moments I feel like there must be something wrong with me because I can't take my eyes off this boy. My sister forecasts many a phone call from teenage girls in the future. Let me make this clear...NO. Enough said.

At four months Mr. Nico continues to be fascinated with his hands and has finally figured out that instead of trying to shove his whole fist in his mouth, a couple of fingers will suffice. Plus, he loves to hold your hand, especially when eating and falling asleep. I want him to do that forever. He has also discovered his feet and grabs for them as much as possible. Rolling over is just around the corner and while he has been scarce with his laughter, when he lets it roll, it definitely rolls. Smiles and sounds, however, are never scarce, and he loves, loves, loves singing. He almost loves it as much as the moment his papa walks through the front door from work...that is the highlight of his day for sure. I need to get that stuff on video. The thing is, plain and simple, the boy is a complete and total joy. I wish I could take credit for that too, but I really believe it's just how he is wired. I find myself picturing him in the future and then I have to remind myself to enjoy the now because it has already gone so fast.

The sleep thing could be better, though. While in the last week he has made great strides and is only waking up once a night, I don't think I have ever felt this tired, well, ever. I have been told the sleeping-through-the-night thing will happen soon. I am just afraid that when it does, I won't actually be able to wake up. It is amazing, though, how functional you can still be when sleep deprived. Granted, every once in a while the sleep deprivation shines through...like when your husband puts the ice cream back in the fridge instead of the freezer, and when you catch at the very last minute a typo you were going to give to students that would have been very, very bad ("cummer" is NOT a good replacement for "summer"). And I must say that I hate acid reflux. I despise it. I loathe it. I want it to go far, far away from here, especially the gagging cough that sounds like he is about to give birth to his insides. Acid reflux can kiss my butt.

In short, our boy is growing like a weed and continues to make our world go round. May the teenage years stay very far away and may he want to hold my hand for a very long time.

8

Today my Ana turns 8.

And this was our phone conversation this morning:

Me: Happy Birthday Ana! Can you believe you're 8?

Ana: No, I can't.

Me: I know, me neither.

Ana: Yeah, when I started 2nd grade I felt decrepit and today I feel even more decrepit.

Me: (Silence, thinking to myself, "Is this what the new 8 sounds like?")

So today Miss Smarty Pants turns another year older, another year smarter, and another year funnier. I love this kid with all that I am.

Happy Birthday, Ana Banana!

Firsts

Apparently "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round" is HYSTERICAL.

Just ask Nico.

While singing and shaking his little legs, he laughed for the first time today.

And it wasn't a pansy laugh either. It was a laugh straight from his belly and it MADE MY DAY.

Actually, it MADE MY WEEK.

The thing is, this week has been hard.

First, he bloodied his own head by going after his itchy cradle cap in the middle of the night. I must say that finding your baby with bloody scratches all over his scalp at 3 in the morning is not my idea of a good time. Thanks to a quick trip to the doctor and some steroid cream, his scalp is looking pretty darn good right now. It's hairless, but it's bloodless. I'll take than any day of the week.

Then, starting on Tuesday night, his acid reflux took a turn for the worst. The coughs and gags that came out of his 3-month-old body were deafening, and I'm not exaggerating. I wish I was. None of us got more than 20 minutes of sleep at a time for two nights in a row. NOT. GOOD. NEWS. Thankfully this time I just had to call the doctor and as of last night, our little one is on acid reflux medicine. While last night wasn't perfect, it was so much better!

So much better, in fact, that today he LAUGHED and my heart sang! This mom stuff rocks.

For the record...

...this is what happens when a 34-year-old software developer and father of one goes up for a header during a recreation league soccer game:

After three hours in the emergency room, five stitches, and dry heaving (me, not him), this is the end result:

Awesome, baby. Freakin' awesome.

This is how rumors get started...

It all begins with a "discovery." Leave it to my high school students to plot this out.

Today my yearbook students attended a yearbook workshop. While they hated every second of the presenter, they LOVED looking at yearbooks from other high schools all over the country. They looked and looked and looked, and here is what they found:

They are convinced this is my long, lost daughter. This is her senior picture. She attended some high school in Bothell and graduated last year. For the record, that means I would have been 14 when I had her. Those who knew me in high school would tell you this - NOT POSSIBLE.

But so convinced are my students that they have begun Facebook-stalking whoever this poor girl is. They are scaring me, and yet, I must admit, there is a bit of an uncanny resemblance.

You know how they say everyone has a twin in this world? Perhaps she is it. But daughter she is not, dear students. I don't even have one of those.

But I do have one of the other kind...

...isn't our resemblance uncanny too?

10 Weeks

It has been two months since I have blogged. Blame it on him:

And now my darling boy is already 10 weeks old. 10 weeks means cooing and singing and smiling galore. It means the shaking and rattling of hands and feet, and the ever-so-close discovery of sucking a thumb. It means the following of voices and sounds and the throwing a bloody fit when having to sit all by himself in the back of the car. It means growing and growing and growing, so much so I wish it would just stop. It means the almost sleeping through the night and morning cuddles with mama in bed. God he smells good.

But perhaps most importantly it means complete and utter infatuation. I get absolutely nothing done during the day - which until he came I never understood - and I just stare and stare and kiss and kiss. He is the other love of my life and Trevor feels exactly the same way. This is love in its most purest of forms. I can honestly say that with him, I have never felt more unselfish in my whole life. That feels pretty damn good.

Tomorrow I go back to work, which means somebody else gets to do the staring and the kissing and the cuddling for a while, and I am not quite sure how I feel about that. I know I will be counting down the hours until I am with him again. I just hope he doesn't forget me. That freaks me out because, well, I am a freak of nature. He has brought that out in me.

I wish I could slow it all down and yet I cannot wait for all that is to come. To all those who told me it would come (especially YOU Melanikis), you were right. It was so worth the wait.

Cousins, Part II

The whole familia rolled into town this weekend and for the first time, the three cousins were together. At only three weeks older, Alex clearly could eat Nico for lunch. Luckily, he restrained himself and baby Nico still lives. They shared floor time together and even held hands. My brother predicts these two may raise some hell in the future. I prefer to think they will be each other's numero uno amigo and keep each other out of trouble, but that job may be relegated to Ana. She has slid into the role of older cousin flawlessly and I have no doubt these two boys will want to follow in her ever footstep. And can I just say for the record that the Gonzalez's have yet to make an unatttractive baby? I know, I know, I can't take a lot of credit for mine but damn he is beautiful. Watch out world, here they come!