Another milestone!

Baby's first ER visit. I would have much rather done without this milestone for quite some time, but as far as trips to the ER go, it could have been much worse. Ana called me at 5:00 and left a message on my cell phone that Domi was vomiting with diarrhea. Chris had told me this a few minutes before I got the message, (since he has his cell phone on and people can actually reach him!) but said she told him everything was fine.
I got home after a crazy commute due to the torrential rains that hit the city especially right by our place. I walked in and nearly passed out. Domingo looked like he was made of wax. He was so pale and cold, and just laid in Ana's arms like a rag doll. I picked him up and he didn't even acknowledge that I was holding him. After about 10 seconds of this, we decided, let's go to the ER!
A short car ride, about 10 calls to my brother-in-law pediatrician, and few small vomits later we were in the parking lot of Children's and Domingo was looking around talking cheerfully and several shades pinker than he was 15 minutes before. So I was all, let's go home, and Chris said no way, we didn't come all the way here just to turn around and go home, yet another call to Ian broke the tie and we went in to the ER. So we went into the hospital, got triaged, and were sent to "urgent care" which is apparently less critical than the emergency room. The doctor said that Domingo has a stomach bug, that will probably take a few days to get through his system, and the only worry is if he gets dehydrated. So now the trick is to get him to take the pedialite that he HATES, and make sure he doesn't loose too much fluid. Luckily today he slept in (6:30 a.m.), with a SUPER stenchy poop, but in good spirits. Ana said that he didn't have any more vomiting, and no diarrhea to speak of. Hopefully this is more of a 24 hour bug. I got home tonight and Domi was tired, but super smiley and happy to see me!

When Blogs Collide part deux

We had a super busy fun weekend in Boston. We hung out with tio Gustavo, did some sight seeing, and ate some incredible meals. Check out Gustavo's food blog for more play-by-play of the amazing meals we ate. I consider myself kind of a "foodie" and a fairly good cook, but being with my brother always puts my everyday meals to shame. He is such an artist. He is very creative and inspired by food, it inspires me to eat better too. But then I get home from work and I'm exhausted and after putting D to bed I look over at Chris and say "How 'bout some nachos?" and he never says no. One of these days I'll bring my A game when Gustavo's around and we'll see how I match up.
See Domingo practicing his "mas" sign, in this picture? Mas what? I have no idea.

This post has been sitting fallow for several days since we had a pretty exciting few days as later posts reveal. Here are a couple choice pics from our great fun-filled weekend.


What Domingo wants more of, is sand in his mouth. Salty!



Visiting the Sister-in-law's in-laws.


Hey Boston! Colin had us at hello too.

Busy weekend!!

Worthy of a double exclamation point even. We just had a super fun-pak weekend. It's started on Saturday morning, we went to Morris to have an early Father's day celebration with Abuela and Abuelo. We all went swimming and hung out with the primas. Domingo was a little overwhelmed at first. Oddly enough, he's not a big fan of the pool. This is strange to me because he LOVES the bath tub. Maybe the water's too cold, or there were too many people. He was also reluctant to get in the lake the other weekend, it was really wavy though, and much colder. Who knows, I'm sure he'll get in to it sooner rather than later.

We played dress up with fancy Chinese pyjamas that Abuela and Abuelo brought back from Chinatown in Boston. Domi's great-grandpa Jake would appreciate these terrific outfits on Domi and the twins, they look so cute!






Then on Sunday we came back to the city to meet up with friends and go to Domi's FIRST CUBS GAME! To be perfectly clear, this was his first ex-utero Cubs game, as we went to 3 or 4 while he was just a little bean in the oven. I think it was appropriate that they lost 11 to 3. Why get the little guy's hopes up that we'd actually win a game. Domi's got to learn to love the Cubs, warts and no-wins and all.



Just like his Daddy, Domi can't keep his eyes off the game.



Riveted to the game.






Then finally the biggest news of the weekend...
HE'S MOBILE!! Yes it's true, ladies, lock up your daughters, or your musical whales. For a while now Domingo has been rolling to get from here to there, then more recently he's started really trying to inch his way forward. This weekend he made a major breakthrough on the movement front. It's not quite a crawl, the belly is still definitely on the ground. But it's forward movement using his arms and legs, so that counts as crawling in my book! Enjoy!





He's Mobile! from alice on Vimeo

Happy Father's Day!

The best present ever, nap time with Domingo.
This post is dedicated to the man who I couldn't have made it this far without. You take care of our family first before anything else. You keep us safe and warm and do more than anyone could ask, all with out a word of complaint. You keep this blog full of great pictures too. Happy first Father's Day. We love you the most. xo Domi and me.

Rohayhu Paraguay!

A boy after my own heart. I love Paraguay too.

9 MONTHS UPDATE!!!

Sorry I've been so delinquent on the month day update, but that's life I suppose! Last week you turned 9 months, officially out in the world as long as you were inside my body. Crazy.
You've started doing such fun stuff recently! You are babbling more and more, but are communicating with signs so much now. You tell me when you want more, usually when you are eating, but have also started saying more when we sing and you want to keep going. You also love looking at lights and make the sign for light when we say "luz". The ceiling fan also continues to hold your attention for long stretches of time and you inform me excitedly that it's a fan.
You are still not crawling yet, but do this "bulldozer" type move where one shoulder is in the ground and you push with your legs. You also continue to roll to get where ever you want to be, not very efficient but it gets you from A to B, you are the SUV of babies. No walking yet either, but you have started to pull up on people and furniture. We weren't sure if you'd skip the crawling altogether, but it looks like you may do it after all.
Speaking of super sized, you had your 9 month doctor check up, and are back on the charts as far as length and weight are concerned. You weigh in at 23 3/4 pounds (90%) and are a whopping 30 inches long (95%). Head circumference is normal too, 19 1/8 inches(75%). So all in all, you are still a very big boy, but totally healthy and normal. We are all expecting that as you get more and more mobile, you'll start to slim down. Or we'll just have to avoid horizontal stripes across your giant tummy. You were once again such a trooper when it came time for shots. Daddy had to "get our stuff together" while mommy held your hands so the nurse could stick you with 2 shots. You were more annoyed with the fact that you couldn't move than the shots I think. They were over and done with before you got to your familiar red-faced shots scream. Then within 20 seconds you were calmly looking around the room again. I decided not to lie to the doctor and fessed up that you still aren't sleeping all night long. My original plan was to say, "yes, he sleeps 12 hours and don't I just love it!" but Daddy said my sudden onset of narcolepsy would probably give me away. She gave us a little warning that babies with sleep issues at 9 months often have them at 2 and 3 and 4 years too, but again, if we are ok with our current situation, great, and if not, she's available for suggestions to change it. I continue to just love your doctor. She told us she herself was going thorugh similar sleep issues, and had her baby cry it out recently. Now she has gotten a few full nights sleep and it's awesome. I have no doubt it's amazing, awe inspiring and worthy of singing about, but... There's always a but isn't there? I just need to mentally prepare for having you leave our cozy family bed. I'm thinking maybe when we have our 10 day lake vacation love fest we can see if I'm ready.
The milk machine is starting to slow down as well. While I'm with you, you nurse several times a day, and you don't act like you aren't getting enough milk. However, when I'm at work I'm pumping less and less and I don't really know why. Ana is convinced I need to drink "rice water", the water that's left after you soak rice. She said she nursed her son for 3 years and the rice water was the secret. From what I know of the human body, there is no reason why this would do anything except make me puke, but hey maybe puking is part of healthy milk production?
There are some changes on the horizon at Domi's world, as Mommy is planning on cutting back to 3 days a week at work starting July 1. I am totally excited as now I'll be with you more than I'm awayfrom you. Hopefully you'll not be too sick of me by the end of the long weekend. I know I'm super excited and wish it was starting right now. What a great way to start the week! Love, mommy.

Yes Michigan!

Domi's first trip to the cottage on Lake Michigan was a relaxing and wonderful success. We had such a nice time with Farfar and Grandma and tia Hez and tio James came up for a bit today. Now we are home again, and wiped out from all the fun in the sun. I'll just post these few pictures and go to sleep.

Mommy and baby both blindingly pale in the warm sun. Please note the SPF 55 on little baby no-tan.

Mommy's clearly over her fear of feeding you new foods.

Family portrait.