What's All This White Stuff?

Antonio spent his first night at home after visiting the grandparents for Thanksgiving. And what did he wake up to find?

Snow! Lots and lots of snow!

Mommy and Daddy quickly got him dressed in his snow outfit to get some pictures, but the snow had already started to mix with rain, so we didn't stay outside very long.

But Havana isn't a little baby, and she can brave the elements, or to tell the truth, Mommy and Daddy make her brave the elements to go potty outside because that's the kind of terrible people we are. First we bring a little boy into the house and give him all of our love and attention, then we make her go outside in the freezing weather to do her business. (Sorry, this last paragraph was dictated to me by a disgruntled canine sister.)

This was already a busy morning. But then we had visitors. Aunt Becky and Uncle Greg came over with Antonio's cousin's, Torin and Preston.

(Now Uncle Greg can have the picture he didn't have on his birthday.)

Preston gave Antonio his first nickname. Because he's two years old and has a binky in his mouth most of the time, it's sometimes kind of hard to understand what he has to say, thus, his trip to go see "Cousin No-no."

All in all, it was a good morning. And there was more activity in the afternoon, too. So come back later and read all about that.

Happy Turkey Day!

And first of all, Happy Birthday, Uncle Greg.

(Since I don't think a picture of Greg and Antonio exists at this time, here's Antonio and his cousins, Torin and Preston.)

Today was Antonio's first Thanksgiving, and he looked extra handsome in his fancy Thanksgiving clothes.

Here is a list of things he is thankful for:

Grandma and Grandpa (Barge edition) -- They love to love Antonio. He loves that.

Grandma and Grandpa (Rodgers edition ) -- They also love Antonio. He doesn't mind that one bit. (Here's Grandma and Antonio the day before Thanksgiving.)

Uncle Rich -- Antonio met his Uncle (or Great Uncle, I think) Rich today. It was love at first sight.

Uncle Alvin -- He talks to Antonio all the time, and today they watched football together. Even better than that, Alvin taught Antonio the first of many bad habits he'll probably teach him in his lifetime -- how to suck his thumb. Next week, Alvin will teach Antonio how to swear.

All his other friends and family -- Antonio was so loved today, I'm sure he was enjoying himself and how spoiled he was. That's what holidays are for, I guess. We usually do our best to neglect him, so I hope he doesn't get too used to it.

Comfy clothes -- Antonio is thankful that at the end of Thanksgiving, after eating his fill of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie (or in this case, breast milk) he can change into sweats and a t-shirt and just kick back and relax.

And last but not least:

Mommy and Daddy -- Believe it or not, until today, we didn't have any pictures of Mom and Dad and Antonio. We fixed that today.

Havana was thankful to be included, too

El Cazador is the bestest!

Happy 40th Birthday, Grandma!

We're up in Oak Harbor for Thanksgiving. Mommy and Daddy get to eat all the turkey they want. Antonio still just gets to eat mommy's milk. Before we get to the turkey, we ate at El Cazador. (It's not the only Mexican restaurant in town, but sometimes it sure seems that way.) Antonio will eat there another 31,932 times in his lifetime. (This is just a rough -- yet conservative --estimate.)

There will be another update with more pictures after dinner. (And football.)

People, Let Me Tell You 'Bout My Best Friend

Antonio had a good day today. I know this because Debbie told me he had a good day. I am in Los Angeles doing my Los Angeles thing, so I don't now firsthand. He's been having lots of good days lately, and he's been doing a lot of talking. He has a lot of things to say.

Oh, and he's had a busy week. Let's see. Sunday night, we had dinner with friends. (Yes, we had dinner with friends on Saturday night, too. What can I say, we're party animals.) And yes, there was another young female who was smitten with Antonio. This time, he was flirting with an older woman. He's a charmer. Don't Charlie and Antonio make a cute couple?


Antonio also went to the doctor. He weighed 11 pounds 4 ounces. He is now officially a big brother to Havana. (She weighs in at 11.1 pounds. Every time. No matter what she eats. Much like me, I weigh [redacted] pounds. And I've weighed [redacted] pounds since I was [untrue number] years old. I haven't gained a pound in years [This is not true at all.].)

So between the dinner parties and the doctor visits, Antonio's had a pretty good week. He's not so sure about next week. Sure it's a holiday week, and I'll be home for 10 straight days, but his best friend won't be around. This is Laurie. Antonio can't say enough good things about her.


Actually, Antonio can't say anything about her, because, you know, he's 8 weeks old and whatnot, but if he could say something about her, it'd be good. She hangs out with Antonio during the day when Mommy's working and Dad is out of town, and best of all, she takes really great care of him. He loves Mommy and Daddy, but she is his best friend. I know when he sees her again a week from Monday, he'll break out into a huge smile.

And that's the best thing in the world.

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Posting this a few days later because I've been trying to figure out how to put movies up on the blog. But I can't. Even if it's possible for some people to know how to do it, I can't figure out how to do it. This is bad news for all of you who are reading this, because if I could figure out how to put movies up here, you'd be able to see Antonio taking a bath and then peeing on me. First time that's happened. He enjoyed it.

Antonio's Busy Day

Guess what? Today, Antonio attended his first Husky Football Tailgate.

After that, it only seemed fair to take him to his first Husky football game as well. This picture was taken when the score was 3-0.

Let's just say the score did not remain 3-0. Antonio cried.

(Okay, I realize that the 2006 University of Washington football team is, for lack a better word, sucktacular. Really, I knew going into the season that we were not good. But if you start out 4-1, that just kind of gets a person's hopes up. Then to play tight games against USC and Cal, well, that gets a fella thinking about bowl games. But COME ON. Stanford? Really? Stanford? We're going to lose 20-3 to an 0-9 Stanford team? On the bright side, at least our seats should be better next year.)

After football, we went over to see some friends. But Antonio was not interested in the younger (three days younger) girl who was there, too. No, he was more interested in the handsome baby in the mirror.

Happy Halloween, Part 2

This Halloween we just sat around on our couch by our pumpkin.

Don't worry, next year, he will be a monkey. (Like I told you before, monkeys are funny.)

Happy Halloween

So the monkey costume was too big. That's too bad because Antonio really wanted to be a monkey for Halloween. (This may or may not be true. But what is true is that his dad wanted him to be a monkey or Halloween. [Monkeys are funny.])

So what is Antonio going to be?

Antonio is going to be Antonio with an outfit that has ghosts on it. It's very frightening.

Havana is going to be a dog, because neither her mom or dad are in favor of dogs in costumes. But if they were to change their stance on that divisive subject, Havana would probably wear this:

You know what, never mind. Havana is going to wear a costume this year. Sorry, girl.

Happy One Month Birthday, Antonio

So what did Daddy do for his son's first one month birthday? (Yes, I know one month birthdays really don't exist, but work with me here.) I went to Los Angeles.

Actually, I've been here two days now. I'll be back in Seattle tomorrow night. But this is the first two days I've spent away from my son. (If you don't count the Tucson trip, which for the sake of this argument, I'm not.)

Who knows how much he'll have changed by the time I get home. He could be laughing. Or smiling more. Or talking. Or doing long division. Who knows.

Or he could just be looking at himself in the mirror again, which is what he did today.


All I know is, this is the last time I'll ever be away from my son this long again. (If you don't count next week, when I'll be coming back down here, which for the sake of this argument, I'm not.)

Antonio and Antonio

Happy birthday, Grandpa Tony!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this weekend, giving Mommy and Daddy time to go to their first home Husky game of the year. They now wish they hadn't gone; not because the Dawgs lost, but because when they got home, Antonio had a new Canadian whiskey sleeping bag.

(Antonio says: Mommy and Daddy say I should buy American, but the Maker's Mark poncho hasn't arrived yet. So it's Crown Royal for me.)

As much as Antonio loved his Booze Bag, he failed to show it by having two very rough nights with THE SCREAMING AND THE CRYING AND THE YELLING AND THE UNHAPPINESS AND THE CARRYING ON AND THE WHATNOT.

Not even his Winnie the Pooh friends could calm him down. Although he has started watching them as they spin above his head when he's getting changed. (Yeah, it's about the cutest thing ever.)

Then today, he met another cute baby. His name was also Antonio and he lives in the mirror on Antonio's playmat. He stared at himself for about 30 minutes. (Wait, I take back what I said about the Winnie the Pooh mobile. This was about the cutest thing ever.)

Oh, and to make sure you know that I don't think everything he does is the cutest thing ever, I refer you back to the paragraph about THE SCREAMING AND THE CRYING AND THE YELLING AND THE UNHAPPINESS AND THE CARRYING ON AND THE WHATNOT. Because that wasn't cute. At all.

But enough about that, look at this:

And again, all is forgiven. (And yes, his cheeks are starting to get chubby. And it's about the cutest... nevermind.)

Antonio's Got A Milk Drunk Going

Not much new. Still pooping. Still eating. Still sleeping. This is what Antonio looks like when he's had just a bit too much to eat.

Here are more pictures of Antonio and various family members in the past week. See you soon.

It's Been A While

Antonio is almost three weeks old now. (Still can't walk or talk; does that make him a slow learner? I still don't know much about these baby things.) In those three weeks, I've learned how to handle some of the baby duties with skill and ease. Other things, I'm not all that great at yet. So in case some of you were wondering how Antonio's father was stacking up, here's a handy list of things I'm pretty good at:

1. Diapers. I can change diapers with the best of them. I don't know where I gained this ability, but if Antonio needs a changing, I can get him clean in about 3 seconds with very little fuss.

2. Doing Laps. These don't always work to calm the little man down when he's fussy, but a few dozen (or hundred) laps around the upstairs have been known to quiet some of the cries. These are sometimes in connection with:

3. Singing. I do not have the best singing voice. I also do not have the worst singing voice. (Although I'm closer to the bottom than the top.) My knowledge of music is limited to Kenny Loggins (70s Kenny Loggins, not Danger Zone Kenny Loggins) and Michael McDonald (Not the 7th Heaven guest star/MadTV star but the ex-Doobie Brother/Steely Dan backup singer), so Antonio doesn't get the best songs sung to him, but he does know the words to Ya Mo Be There already. Most of the other times, I just sing the UW fight song, which brings me to:

4. Pac-10 Football Officiating. While I have no practical experience in this, I do think I could accurately make judgment calls about when to stop/start the play clock. (And no, I'm not bitter, because you've still got to get the play off, but there should have been at least four seconds on the clock.)

That's pretty much the extent of my skills. For most everything else, Antonio just likes his mommy.

Not that I blame him; I like her, too.

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Here's an assortment of pictures. Enjoy.

Actually, this is only one picture of Antonio and his cousins. I'm having problems uploading pictures, so I will do an update of just pictures later.

The Poop Face

If you see this face, it's already too late. Antonio is up to something. And it's never pretty.

So, other than eating, pooping and sleeping (not always in that order; sometimes all three at the same time), Antonio hasn't done too much yet. I know he's only two weeks old, and really, he's not supposed to be doing much, but I expected more than this.

I'm not asking for him to do long division or to be able to quote Shakespeare, but anything would be nice. I mean, he just lies there. And even when he's not just lying there, he just looks at things. But since his vision hasn't developed yet, he doesn't really see anything. So what's the point?

Here are some pictures of Antonio sitting around with Mom and Dad. And Havana. Notice how much better at posing she is. And she's a dog. You call her name, and she looks at you and waits for the flash. Him? Not so much.

Check out Antonio's cool new pram. It's a gift from Jeff's boss. And because he's not good at posing, look who looks like she enjoys it more than he does.

But you've got to give the girl credit; even though she's older, she's been with Mommy and Daddy longer, and (to be honest) she's much, much smarter than he is, Havana is really starting to warm up to her brother.

Her world has changed (and not necessarily for the better), but pretty soon, Antonio is going to be her best friend. Hopefully by then, he'll know more tricks than she does.

You're A Big Boy Now, Antonio

Big day yesterday for Antonio. But first things first. Happy Birthday, Mamma Mary.

Yesterday Antonio went to the doctor for his first check-up. He's gaining weight like crazy (all the way up to 7 pounds, 3 ounces) and is looking very healthy. In fact, the doctor confirmed my earlier belief that Antonio is, in fact, the best baby ever. So, if one out of one doctors agree, then it must be true, right? That's 100%.

Then Mommy went to dinner with some of her friends, giving Auntie Kel another chance to swing by to have her share of Antonio. She knows about the 100%. She's no fool.

But wait, you're thinking, if Debbie went to dinner with her friends, what about Antonio? Who was watching Antonio?

I was watching Antonio. By myself. And do you know what? We all survived. In fact, Antonio, Havana and I took a stroll around the neighborhood.

And then he ate. And then he slept (kind of, mainly it was just crying with his eyes closed.) But then Mommy came home. And all the kids were happy to have her back.

Especially me.

Football Fever

Antonio watched the Seattle Seahawks on television for the first time tonight. He was all decked out in the new outfit that Daddy's friends Matt and Tessa bought for him. He looked great, and he was ready for action, but he was just a bit fussy. Maybe he knew more than the rest of us?

Fittingly, just twenty minutes after the 'Hawks finished pooping all over Soldier Field, Antonio finished pooping all over his new clothes. I'm worried about next week when the Huskies take on USC. It could get ugly.

Luckily, Dad will be home to watch that game with him. He's back from the excursion to Tucson where he watched both his alma maters (alma mati?) play football. Luckily, the team he still roots for beat the team he never had a rooting interest in, and he got to spend time with his friends happy for the victory.

But he wasn't all that happy, because he was away from little Antonio and Antonio's Mommy. They were both in good hands, as Grandma and Grandpa were helping out again this weekend.

I know Daddy is happy to be home, and I think Antonio and Mommy are glad to have Daddy home. Now Daddy promises to never, ever leave Antonio and Mommy alone again. (Until he heads back to LA for work, that is.)