Happy Birthday, William Howard Taft

Antonio's first Presidents' Day. He celebrated by going to his grandparents' favorite Santa Monica dining establishment, Callahan's. It's really good.

We had to drive because the weather was not cooperating, and when we got home, we decided to take a few pictures of Antonio and his grandparents. It's not an easy task. Getting the two of them to smile at the same time and have both sets of eyes open and teeth showing and having them not look scared... it ain't easy. We took a hundred pictures before we had one that we deemed suitable for putting up on the blog. (Okay, I'm exaggerating. We only took 98 pictures. [And about that, I am not exaggerating.])
Then it was Mommy and Daddy's turn. Three pictures. All of 'em winners. Here's one of them.
After I took the in-laws to the airport, wouldn't you know it, but the weather turned and the sun came out. So the three of us took a little walk toward the ocean. Antonio was a cool customer again.
Today, Antonio came into work with me for a little while. He was flirty as always and everybody loved him. But how can you not?
Then it was another walk. Antonio's getting used to those.Oh, and tonight at bedtime, Antonio discovered that he could get his feet in his mouth.
Good times.

Antonio's a California Boy

Since Debbie and Antonio are in town and the weather's wonderful, we decided to take advantage of the of the sunshine and took off for a stroll. Antonio put on his best California outfit and hit the town. Needless to say the ladies loved him.

His parents thought he was pretty cool, too.

California Here I Come

Antonio is in California. Though he's a Washingtonian at heart (like his mother and father), we knew sooner or later he would make a journey to Santa Monica to see where his father spends his weekdays.

So Debbie and her parents braved the pre-Presidents' Day airport crowd and flew down to LA for the long weekend. (Deb and Antonio are staying the rest of the week).

Antonio, who already has an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Number, flew First Class (thanks, free upgrades) and enjoyed all the amenities -- like plastic cups.

As nice as it was to see my family when I got home from work yesterday, it was even nicer to wake up this morning with my family here with me. We had a nice quality morning.

Then Antonio got to wear his warm weather clothes for the first time. Yeah, he wore an outfit I'm sure I have a (much) larger version of, but I thought the kid looked pretty darn good. Then he got to hang out in his baseball-themed room.

I'm sure there will be all sorts of adventures tomorrow as well. But even if we just sit around the house, it's nice to have the family here with me.

Happy Valentine's Day

Antonio put on his "Little Flirt" bib for the Night Before Valentine's Day festivities. (Which is pretty much like every other night.)The bib is pretty much the most fitting piece of clothing he owns. He is the biggest flirt in the world. It's pretty sweet. But since I'm not in town today, Antonio decided to get me the best Valentine's Day gift possible. He's coming to Los Angeles to spend a week and half in a row with his dad. Mom's coming, too, of course.

Havana, however, has to fend for herself for a while.

Antonio Can Go Wherever He Wants

Antonio did something about 28 years before his dad did. (And no, I'm not talking about kissing a girl.) Antonio got a passport.

Actually, he hasn't gotten it yet, but he's filled out his form (Mom did it for him) and filed it, and in six weeks he will have his passport.

Since we're heading to Mexico for vacation in May, we thought it'd be good if we didn't have to smuggle him into the country. I guess I didn't need a passport to go to Canada back for Expo '86.

Here are some pictures of Antonio getting his passport photos taken:

And here is a picture of Antonio with his next set of passport photos after the passport office said the others didn't work as official photos. (Stupid Sears Portrait Studio)

And yes, I changed Antonio's diaper in public.

Antonio's Weekend

Antonio didn't have the busiest weekend, but he did get out and have a little bit of activity.

In addition to his morning exercise in his Jumparoo and his evening baths, he and Mommy and Daddy went to Auntie Chrissy's house to get things in shape for the arrival of Antonio's new cousin. We made some good progress, even though Antonio wasn't much of a help carrying heavy objects from one room to another.

After that, we had a nice quiet afternoon and evening as a family. Then, this morning, Antonio had his first taste of rice cereal. His reaction? I don't think he would mind if it was his last taste of rice cereal.

But he's a growing boy, so he'll get used to it. There will be more in the next couple days, as Antonio has a very busy week planned. Stay tuned.

Antonio and His Great-Grandpa (Now With More Pictures)

Antonio has his Grandpa and his Bonk (that's his other grandpa), but today he met his Great-Grandpa.
Deb and Antonio made a little field trip this morning to go to Tia Maria's house. Antonio was just a little baby when he met her the first time, but he was quite happy to see her again.

The main reason for the field trip was so Antonio could meet Great-Granpa Barge for the first time. I wasn't there, but it sure looks like they hit it off.

UPDATE:

Here are some new pictures.

Antonio Got Good With God

Guess who went and got himself baptized? If you're reading this (and I assume you are), then you probably already know the answer is Antonio. He went and got himself baptized.

We brought Father Heffernan in to do the ceremony. He married Debbie's parents, baptized Debbie, and married the two of us, so it only makes sense that he baptized Antonio, too. He's an old school Irish Catholic priest, thick accent, and he never ages. (Deb calls him the Dick Clark of priests.) He's might be a bit of a living cliche, but we think he's perfect.

Antonio wore pretty much the shiniest infant tuxedo I've ever seen. (And I've seen a lot of them.) He looked fantastic.

We had brunch (yes, at the Country Club) after the baptism. Everyone, especially Antonio's two Godmothers, Nina Chrissy and Auntie Becky (non-relative version), had a good time.

Antonio was so well-behaved (what else is new?), and we had a wonderful weekend on the Island with our families.

You Guys Suck.

There was one thing that could ruin Havana's Snow Day fun.Havana has more eye trouble. This time, it's the other eye. You should have seen the look on her face when we broke out the cone again. She is not happy. On top of everything, Mom gave her a really bad haircut, too.

Poor girl.

Snow Day!

Woke up Tuesday morning with a bunch of new snow outside. So no school for Antonio or Havana. Dad even worked from home this week rather than brave the icy roads Wednesday morning to go to the airport.

There was new snow in the backyard for Havana to play in. (For a tropical dog, she sure does love playing in the snow.) After all that outside activity, there was nothing that could possibly ruin her spirits.

(And yes, there were people skiing past our house.)

Antonio's Actually Average After All

Remember all that talk about how special and perfect Antonio is? Well, it turns out he's actually pretty average.

Antonio went to the doctor today for his four month (Can you believe it's been four months already?) shots. (Antonio says: "Yeah, those were not fun. You guys suck.")

He also got weighed and measured. He is up to 14 lbs. 12ozs. in weight, and 25 inches long. He's a big kid. Or so we thought. Turns out those measurements are both in the 50th percentile for his age. Which I guess is good, if average.

His head circumference is in the 75th percentile, though. Kid's got a lot of brains.