Anthony's Baptism

Anthony was baptized today at Grace First Presbyterian Church, my family church. He pretty much slept through the ceremony, he didn't even stir when Pastor Steve baptized him.

I had a hard time finding appropriate clothes to wear--little boy white suits were incredibly awful. We settled for a little sweater vest with a polo shirt and khakis. He ended up looking absolutely adorable.

Everyone at church thought he was just precious and so well behaved.

We're going to the zoo zoo zoo

We went to the Santa Ana zoo with Anthony's cousin Kurt. Kurt is almost 2 and LOVES the zoo, especially the elephant ride.

Anthony spent most of the morning asleep and missed his opportunity to ride the elephant. Maybe another year. He also slept through most all the monkeys and the birds.

After lunch we went on a train ride and visted the farm part of the zoo. We saw sheep and pigs and goats and horses.

I'm getting better at smiling

Anthony is getting more and more smiley. We haven't gotten a great one on camera yet. (But, when we do we'll be sure to post it.) Here he's flashing a bit of a smile at Grandpa. In the mornings he's all smiles, but once in awhile he'll give you some nice toothless grins in the evening, too.

Merry Christmas

Anthony's first Christmas was very nice. He was a great boy at church, slept through the whole service. Grandpa showed him off at the social hour afterwards. He woke up just long enough to get his picture taken in the Narthex.

When we came home after church Santa Claus came, can you believe that?? Santa Claus was pretty darn good to our little guy. He got some dude-duds to wear to school in January, some neat books from Grandma and Grandpa Moragues including Big Red Barn and from Grandma and Grandpa Stein a "Me Do It Chair" from Community Playthings like his cousin Kurt has. He even got some toys including a cell phone from my cousin Andy and a toy airplane from Grandma and Grandpa M.

Anthony pretty much slept through present opening, I'm not sure he even noticed the chocolate Santa Claus in his stocking. Just as well because I plan to eat it.

Over the River and Through the Woods

To Grandmother's house I go.... Well, really we went on a road trip down to Southern California to visit my grandparents. I was really, really good for most of the trip.

Mommy says: We got an early start as I was worried about traffic. It wasn't quite as early as I had hoped, but we got through the 152 hassle before any traffic built up. We stopped for a prune juice breakfast bottle at Casa de Fruta as the little guy was a bit constipated. There was some real traffic on I-5 in the middle of nowhere which got us worried, but things picked up.

We had an early-ish lunch at Carl's Junior where we had our big adventure. Huge poopy blow-out diaper with a big mess and a screaming baby. In retrospect the prune juice may not have been a great idea. (In the past it took several days worth of prune juice to make anything happen.) I particularly enjoyed the parenting advice from the 16 year old busing tables.

We got in a little traffic at the end. Motion stopped and Anthony woke-up. We thought we'd have to stop for a bottle 20 minutes from my parents but he fell back asleep.

Truthfully, the trip went really, really well.

Trip to the Tech Museum

We went with Grandma and Grandpa to the Tech Museum. Unlike our previous trip at Thanksgiving, Anthony was amazing. He was snoozy in his stroller for about an hour, then it was time for the IMAX movie, Wired to Win. He was starting to fuss a bit, and I was ready to take him out. Then the movie came on. He was ENTHRALLED. The colors and surround sound kept his attention. It was actually remarkable about how he sat on my lap, chewing my finger and staring at the screen.

Afterwards we went back and played in the computer area. Amazingly, there wasn't a line for the Adept robot, so it drew a picture of Anthony sitting on Daddy's lap.

Grandma came to visit

Grandma and Grandpa Green came out from Colorado to meet Anthony his weekend. Here's a picture of Grandma and Anthony getting to know each other. (He's wearing his dude-duds Celisa gave him.)

We had a great weekend! Grandma gave him lots of bottles and plenty of snuggling. (And he didn't even spit up on her too much.) We also had an early Christmas. I'll have to be sure to take a picture of Anthony wearing his little Santa hat with the Pooh-ears.

We went for long walks every day. We also went to the Tech Museum (I'll post about that later.) On Saturday evening we drove out to Half Moon Bay to explore the shops and have chowder for dinner at Barbara's FishTrap.

Anthony is very excited about the adventures he's going to have with his Colorado Grandparents when he gets older. We'll ski in the winter and get him a little PFD so we can sail in the summer on Grandpa's sailboat.

Fun Duds

Check out the sweater and hat that Miss Ercilia (Daddy's former housemate) sent! Am I styling or what??? They are decorated with llamas, just like in my book Is Your Mama a Llama?

I wore this to the airport to pick up Grandma. She'll want to know that I'm warm enough. (She's always pestering Daddy to wear a neckwarmer when they ski.) Funny thing--when she got off the airplane she told Daddy that I was too warmly dressed!

Mommy's Good Sleeper

Generally, Antony is a really good sleeper. For the past two weeks (maybe longer?) he's really only been waking up once during the night. Then we had a really nice stretch of sleeping essentially through the night. He woke up at 4:30, the next morning at 5:30, then at 6:30, then, well, back to 5:30. Still, though, sleeping through the night is in sight.

Bob and I have made the deal that if he wakes before 5:00, its my responsibility, but after 5:00 it is his. We have not yet had one of those moments where we lay in bed debating whether he started fussing at 4:59 or 5:02.

By the way, check out the little sleeper that Aunt Erika gave him. (My mom loves the little sleeping bags as they kept me in my crib.)

Visiting Santa Claus

We went to the mall with Victoria and Anthony's birthsiblings to visit Santa Claus. Anthony as obviously unimpressed by Santa, even if his beard was real.

Poor Yesenia, she was very excited to see Santa Claus up 'til when she got in close. I think she found him a little intimidating. Tatyanna really liked him, though.

Storytime with Daddy

Daddy and Anthony had a nice story-time last night. They were reading my favorite adoption book, Tell Me Again About the Night I was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis. Daddy was adding his own editorial, though. He doesn't think that baseball is the perfect sport, but he explained that airplanes are pretty darn cool.

2 Month Check-up

Anthony had his two month check up on Wednesday. He now weighs 13 pounds, 5 ounces (90%) and is 23 1/2 inches long (75%). Growing like a weed. He wears 3-6 month clothing all the time now.

He got four shots and an oral vaccine, too. Unfortunately, shots were not quite as easy as when he was a newborn and didn't even seem to notice them. He calmed down pretty easily, though. He was a bit grouchy for the rest of the day and spent the day sleeping on my chest. He slept all the next day, too. Now he's back to normal.

Warm and Snug

Winter is coming! Well, winter in California, but it still gets nippy. Today Anthony wore the bunting that Grandma Kay gave him for the first time. Is he absolutely precious or what??

Two Months Old

Can you believe it? Our little man is two months old!

Things Anthony can do now:

Stuff his whole fist into his mouth and suck on it

Stand up (he can support his weight but clearly requires balance support)

Control his head while standing or sitting (most of the time)

Smile (but only in the mornings)

Coo (mostly vowels, but once in awhile I get a goo)

He's starting to learn that its easier to life your head if you use your arms, too.

Sleep, only waking once in the night. (We're really looking forward to when he can sleep through the night.)

I think that's it for baby tricks.

Our Little Elf

Check him out!

We made the bulletin board

Our first trip into the IAC office last year we admired the bulletin board of families who had recently adopted.

Today at the party we admired our own photos on the board. They just post the "Dear Birthmother" letters, we need to send them a picture of our little guy to show off to everyone how cute he is.

We're looking forward to our opportunity to take him to an information session and show him off!

Christmas Party

Today was our adoption agency's Christmas party. Anthony got to sit on Santa's lap. Daddy thinks that Anthony wants a 42" flatscreen television for Christmas. Mommy thinks that Daddy is silly.

Needless to say, Anthony was a little underwhelmed by Santa Claus. He was a good sport about doing the Christmas craft, I'm not sure he even really noticed the wet squishy paint. At least he didn't keep his fingers balled in a fist.

We showed him off to the social workers who helped make us a family. Of course, everyone admired his full head of hair!

Starting to Enjoy His Toys

Anthony is starting to enjoy his toys. He likes his little play gym that the Thurgates gave us. He doesn't bat at the toys on purpose yet, but he swings his arms and sometimes gets them. What he really likes is the star on top that plays music and has flashing lights. That totally gets his attention every time.

Anthony also really enjoys his Winnie-the-Pooh mobile over the crib. Of course, nothing beats the ceiling fan for a cheap fix.

More Mastication

Sucking on mommy's finger is even better than sucking on my own!

I'm good at sleeping!

Anthony is turning out to be a very good sleeper. He naps really nicely during the day (at least some of the time.) I've instituted a 3-yawns and you're out rule. After the third yawn, he gets swaddled and goes into his crib. Even though his little eyes are wide open when I put him down, he's usually asleep within minutes.

At night we're doing very well. (Although publishing this is sure to ruin everything.) Typically we'll top him off between 9 and 10:30. Then he'll sleep until 3 or 4am. A quick feed and re-swaddle and I'm back in bed within 30 minutes. He'll babble for 5 or 10 minutes, but then he'll fall back asleep and sleep until 7 or even 7:30. Not bad for a little guy who's not even two months old.

Note: He is indeed a bear if he doesn't get his naps in. Thanksgiving we went to the Tech Museum to see the Body Worlds exhibit. It was a very cool exhibit, but he hadn't napped properly in the morning. Then by afternoon he was FUSSY and too tired and overstimulated to sleep in his Baby Bjorn. Eventually I put a receiving blanket over his head and he was out, just like I'd covered a birdcage. He was AWFUL that evening. We'll be better about naps in the future.

BTW, the exhibit was neat. I highly recommend seeing it!

Clothes

Now that Anthony is getting bigger (we think he's twenty-four inches long), he is starting to fit into real big-boy clothes. Well, at least the clothes in the 3-6 month size that everyone has bought him.

Its fun getting him dressed every morning now that he doesn't mind onesies being pulled over his head.

His coloring is the exact opposite of mine, so I find the colors he looks good in just fascinating.

He looks fabulous in cream, yellow and orange. He also pulls off muted blues and grays very well. Baby blue isn't his color, though. He definitely looks better in muted colors than the primary colors that I am drawn to.

Loving Grandma Donna

Mommy barely got to hold Anthony over the weekend. Between a grandparents and 3 aunts and uncles, he was well loved.

On Friday after Thanksgiving we went shopping at the bookstore with Grandma Donna so she could buy some books for Anthony.







Boy did we get books, including:
Runaway Bunny Board Book
Are you my Mother?
Goodnight Gorilla
Very busy Spider
Make Way for Ducklings
Mr. Pusskins
Cars and Trucks and Things that Go (Richard Scary)

Unfortunately, they did not have Big Red Barn which was on the top of her list.

We're going to have to get a real bookshelf for the nursery. Anthony has so many books now. (His Grandma Elinor and Aunt Erika also like to buy books.)

Anthony's First Babysitters

Uncle Dave and Aunt Julie babysat for us Sunday night so that Bob and I could have our first date since the baby came. People told us to not trust Uncle Dave to babysit, but he did a GREAT job.

Bob and I had a nice dinner at Fiesta del Mar and then we went to the Books Inc cafe for dessert. (We met at Books Inc for coffee for our first date.) I did a little shopping for the "Gift of Reading" program. Its my favorite Christmas time charity. I bought A Wrinkle in Time, Charlotte's Web and Buenos Noches Gorilla.

We got home in time to see Uncle Dave change Anthony's diaper and put him to bed so we could play Hearts. (Poor Bob got stuck with the Queen of Spades about 10 times in a row.)

Master of his hands

Check it out--he's learning to suck on his fist. He'll also hold my hand and suck my finger and his fist at the same time.

Mommy dresses me funny, too

Only she did it on purpose!!!

Our bedroom is a little chilly at night and I worry about Anthony being cold. His current sleepwear are:
Layer one: a cotton pajama suit
Layer two: fleece swaddle blanket (he really sleeps better being swaddled)
Layer three: His insulated sleep sack.

We inherited a few of these from one of Bob's co-workers. (Yes, it was worn by two boys.)
Of course, since his arms are swaddled they can't stick out the armholes.

I couldn't stop laughing the first time we did this!

Starting to smile

This is a place-holder picture until we can get the real thing on camera.

Anthony did his first real smile at Bob this morning. He was waking up and Bob stood over him to say "Good Morning" and Anthony gave him a full smile with checks and everything. We were so excited!

He's only done it a few times since, but they're just precious! (This was something I'd been looking forward to for a long time. I'm fine that he smiled at Daddy first, I'm glad I got to see it.)

Grandpa came to visit

Grandpa came to visit for Thanksgiving. (Well, it wasn't just Grandpa Vince, but Grandma Donna and Uncle Dave and Aunt Julie and Aunt Jessica. We had a full house!) Grandpa was SOOO excited to finally have a grandbaby to spoil. They had a nice time together, especially in the mornings when Dad got up early with the baby. Here's Grandpa giving Anthony a bottle, and Anthony is totally checking him out.

Be sure to notice how big his hands are! When Daddy was little, Grandpa (well, his Daddy) liked to hold him high overhead in those big hands.

Of course, Anthony spent plenty of time sleeping on Grandpa's chest, too. That's pretty much his favorite activity.

When Anthony gets bigger we'll go to the lake house in Kansas and Grandpa will take Anthony fishing and bird watching on his boat.