3 weeks in and I have not been forgotten

I see that my Daddy finally made a post of his own after Diego was born. I am not sure when he found the time. From the looks of his stubble and the rings under his eyes, he hasn't been getting much sleep. I, on the other hand, have been sleeping like a baby. :)

The past three weeks have been fun and tough. I love my baby brother. I love saying his whole name, "Diego Nicolás Acosta". I love giving him hugs and pat-pats. I love showing him some of my old stuff so that he can play with it.

But he cries a lot. Daddy tells me that he can't talk so he has to cry instead. When he cries, he usually wants Mommy's milk. Sometimes he cries because he doesn't like his dirty diaper. I try to tell him he will get used to it (like me), but he doesn't seem to understand yet. During the day, he mostly drinks Mommy's milk, sleeps, or cries. I can't wait until he can play with me.

It has definitely been tough sharing time with Baby Brother and Mommy and Daddy. It seems like Mommy is always feeding him. It's also tough when I have to go to school, but Baby Brother gets to stay home. That was only tough for a day or two. Since he can't play yet, school seems like more fun to me now.

Daddy still plays with me a lot. Mommy plays when Baby Brother is not drinking Mommy's milk. Also, we have had Tía Michelle and Granpa J come visit us two times. Tía Michelle brought me some fun toys (thanks, Tía) and she brought a toy for Baby Brother too. Mommy has helped me with some fun projects too. She made me a spiderman costume and we worked hard to make Daddy's Father's day card. I am a little sad that Mommy can't pick me up right now because of her ouchie, but I ask her every day if she is feeling better. She is definitely feeling better, but she still can't pick me up yet.

Having a Baby Brother who can't play yet is not all bad. I have been able to go to the museum a couple of times with Daddy. They have an airplane there that you can be the captain of. They have a tractor that actually drives and scoops and dumps (although it has been broken lately). They have a trolley and a lot of balls, bubbles, fish, lizards, a cow that you can milk, a virtual dance machine, and a mini HEB with real checkouts and everything. I know there is something that I forgot about, but I will tell you about it next time.

Since Tío Miguel, Tía Danielle, and Lilly were in town for father's day, we got to go back to the museum to play again. The tractor was off duty, but we were able to play with the hard hats this time. I showed Lilly how to dance to the drums. It may look like a blue wall to you in the pictures, but across from us is a screen. When we move our hands around, we play the virtual drums. It is really fun!

Father's day was a special treat! Grandpa J and Tía Michelle came back to stay with use again. Tío Miguel, Tía Danielle and Lilly were there. Lito and Lita came over and so did Tío Abuelo Mon, Tía Abuela Syl and Tío Monci. We had a fun time barbecuing and eating all the yummy desserts. Mommy and Daddy seemed to handle it all pretty well even though they had to take care of me and Diego and get ready for the party. It's good that they had helpers. After all the eating was over, Lilly and I got to play outside in the water and it was a lot of fun.

For father's day, I made Daddy a picture frame at school that says "You're my all star Dad" and a coaster. Diego made him a frame too. Mommy and I also made Daddy a special card. We worked hard on it to be sure that it was perfect for him.

I guess the only thing left to tell is that Diego had his checkup with Dr. Fitch (he's a nice man) today. He had to get two pokes. Daddy told me that he weighs 8 pounds (25-30%), is 21 3/4" long (60%), and has a 14 3/4" head (25%). I am not sure what the percents mean, but Daddy says that I had a much bigger head when I was Diego's age.

I hope that you all had a happy father's day and we still have a guest room if you want to come play with me.

Oops, almost forgot. The pictures are here.

TTFN

PEA

PS Diego's ouchie on his belly button fell off today. Yay!!

Welcome Diego Nicolás Acosta

So I was going to apologize for not posting since April 2010 when I noticed that a little friend of mine has been posting in my place. If you read the last few blog posts, you will see that Pablo has been sneaking online to make a few of them. Since he has already taken over, I will let him continue to post on his own. I may drop in and post on his blog from time to time, but this will be one of my last posts. Pablo, this blog is all yours (as the blog name suggests).

The past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind. Diego was a scheduled C-section. Despite knowning his birthday (June 1) we were still struggling with names through 10:47 AM June 2. We picked a name and turned in the form with 13 minutes to spare before he officially became Baby Verorinca-Martinez Acosta. They threatened us with having to deal with the government bureacracy to get that changed. It turns out we are procrastinators and work well under pressue. Who knew (besides all of our friends)?

We found out that the "scheduled" part of the C-section depends on the doctor's schedule, not ours. Dr. Hasty had a tough surgery before ours that ran late. We were delayed a little over an hour. That was pretty nerve-wracking for V. I tried to distract her by talking about names and being silly, but it only worked a little bit.

The surgery went off without a hitch. No mishaps with the surgeons (unlike last time) and the baby popped right out (also unlike last time). We didn't have a doula this time so the anaesthesiologist was key comforting/distracting V while I went with the baby (at V's insistence). It was all a bit easier this time around knowing what to expect and knowing from the start that it would be a C-section. Presumably it will be even easier next time around if there is a next time, but don't ask V or me about that right now. The one thing that doesn't seem to be any easier this time around is V's recovery from the C-section. It doesn't seem any worse either. It's just tough.

Logistically, Lito and Lita were super stars. Pablo spent the first two nights at their house and they took him to school the first two mornings. After a day in the hospital with V and Diego, I would pick Pablo up at school to visit baby brother (FYI: Pablo wanted to name his new brother Baby Brother Acosta, but V vetoed). We had a few hours for all four of us to hang out each night and then Pablo would leave with Lito and Lita to spend the night. The third night, V was feeling brave. She sent me home with Pablo so that we could sleep at our house. The plan worked well since the nurses were awesome and V was feeling a bit better by then. It really helped that Diego was a good boy that night for Mommy. Pablo got to sleep at home (he had been asking about that) and I got a full night's sleep in preparation for the lack of sleep to come.

Saturday morning, it was time for Diego and Mommy to come home. Lita stepped up again and took Pablo to music class and to the park/library while I went to the hospital to pick up the rest of the family. The ride home was uneventful and we were settled in when Pablo and Lita arrived.

Throughout the whole process, Pablo has been very excited about meeting and playing with baby brother. We have been reading him some books so that he knows what to expect, but he was still surprised at how little baby brother was and how few things baby brother could do. He loves holding baby brother and giving him pat-pats. He is a good helper in bringing things to Mommy or me as needed (ex. pacifier). He watches over baby brother when he is sleeping (sometimes). He can't wait for baby brother to be able to play with him.

All in all, it has been the expected emotional jumble of anticipation, excitement, incredulity, disbelief, and "what did we get ourselves into-ness". I wouldn't trade it for the world.

All the photos are here.

Enjoy the photos and the videos. Enjoy Pablo's future posts.

Alfonso (aka Pablo's Daddy aka Diego's Daddy)

PS The biggest mishap so far was losing less than a quarter ounce of some milk that V had pumped (definitely my fault). At the time, V and I were sleep-deprived and very emotional and it seemed like a huge deal. In retrospect, it was a trickle of gold, I mean milk, that was washed down the drain. You know what they say... don't cry over spilt milk... unless it makes you feel better.

PPS I updated the photo links on the previous blogs so that they will work now. If you had trouble in the past, you should be able to see them now.

PPPS One of the things Pablo is very interested in is how we change Diego's diapers. He knows that babies need to wear diapers. Consequently, since he is not a baby, he has concluded that he doesn't want to wear diapers any more. We told him that he needs to learn how to use the potty first. So in addition to the new born, we are starting the potty training with Pablo now (at Pablo's insistence which makes it much easier). I think his day care will help out too.