To Thanksgiving... And Beyond!!

It has been a while since my last post. As Diego gets bigger, it is harder to find time to write the blog since we spend so much time playing together.

Diego is almost six months now and I am almost three years old. I will be three years old next weekend and we are celebrating at Kiddie Park (thanks for the cool idea Alejandro). Yes, it will be a Buzz themed birthday party. I will hopefully get to wear my buzz pajamas for my birthday, but we will see (Dad says yes, but Mom says no). On my next post with the birthday pictures, you will see who won that discussion.

Since I last wrote, lots of things happened so I am just going to hit the highlights.

I went to Denton with the whole family to visit Lily, Tio Miguel and Tia Danielle. We went to the Peterbilt open house on Saturday and to the Texas State Fair on Sunday. It was a long weekend with lots of fun and lots of driving. Lily taught me how to cheer for the Rangers while I was there.

For Halloween, I was Spiderman, Diego was a spider, Mommy was a spiderweb, and Daddy was a Houston Astro player. One of these things is not like the other... We went trick-or-treating at Lita's house. Lita was dressed up as Amelia Bedelia. While we were out trick-or-treating, Lito, Tia Abuela Syl, and Tio Abuelo Mon were at home handing out candy. We saw lots of cool costumes on our trip around the block. I scored some good candy, but somehow, it was "lost" by the time we got back home.

The weekend before Thanksgiving was Lito's 70th birthday party. He wanted a small party, but he ended up with about 60 of his closest friends and family. All three of his sons (my Daddy and my two Tios) were there, but only Izzie made it down with Tio Nando. Leo stayed in Boston with Tia Laura. We look forward to seeing both of them at Christmas!! All in all, Lito had a really good birthday. He had a fun time with all of his friends and 4 out of 5 of his grandchildren. He got a coffee maker that Mommy says is really neat, but I still don't drink coffee so I couldn't tell you. After Lito's party, Izzie and Tio Nando stayed around for a couple of days and Lily went back home. I had a lot of fun playing with Izzie especially when Lita would pick me up early from school so we could play together.

Thanksgiving was fun. Brigitte came for another visit. Tio Monci was at Lita's too. The best part was that I had 5 days in a row to play with Mommy and Daddy and Lita all day. School starts back up again on Monday and I look forward to playing with my friends again. Until then, one more day of fun at home!

Nicknames for Diego (so far):

Diegui (pronounced D-A-Ghee with a hard G)

Diego-Bo-Bego

Diegui-Bo-Begui

Baby brother

DBB

Later Mater,

Pablo

Here are the pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/101137831624121289778/ToThanksgivingAndBeyond?authuser=0&feat=directlink

My parents are getting some sleep now

In case you were wondering, Diego is two and a half months old. According to my parents, he is sleeping more at night which is letting them get more sleep now. I don't know if it is true since I sleep through whatever crying he does at night, but I can see my parents are getting more rest. This is good and bad. They are less cranky (good), but they have more energy to call me out when I try to pull one over on them (bad). I will see if I can get Diego to put in a few rough nights for them at the end of each week so I can take advantage of sleepy parents on the weekends. :)

Things have been going well since I last posted. I have had some fun visits from folks in San Antonio (Grandpa/Tia Michelle, Tio Miguel/Tia Danielle/Lily, Tia Sandra from Saltillo, Laura my old nanny, and my friend Julian). I really had fun playing with Lily when she came. We stayed up way past our bedtimes, but I managed to get back to my sleeping schedule soon enough. I went to a birthday party at Kiddie Park (thanks for inviting me, Alejandro). Although I didn't play with too many of the other kids (they were a little older), I had a blast riding the rides. My Daddy tells me that a lot of the rides are the same ones that were there when he was a kid in the 80's. The merry-go-round has been there since the mid 40's.

There were two big events this summer for me. First of all, I got to go to Boston to visit with my cousins and only Daddy came along. That meant that Mommy was home with Diego. Things were going fine on both sides of the trip until Mommy got sick at home. Daddy says it's hard to take care of Diego by yourself, but really hard when you are sick. We told Mommy we hoped she felt better, but we reluctantly continued to have fun in Boston.

Tio Miguel, Tia Danielle, and Lily came to Boston (from Denton) at the same time. We had 4 out of 5 of the cousins together and we all had a lot of fun. We went to the park by Izzie and Leo's house. We went to the children's museum in Boston. We went to Maine to Nana's house. We went to a Red Sox game and watched a pitcher throw his 2,000th strikeout for the Red Sox. I am not sure how many strikeouts that is, but I know it is a really big number. We played with toys and made funny faces, spoke crazy languages (ask Leo about "jabi jabi"), and had an all around good time. The trip ended with a visit to Drumlin farms the morning before we had to go to the airport. We saw a ton of animals and even got to go on a hay ride!

The other big event for me was that I graduated from the duckies class to the bunnies class. I am definitely a big boy now. I have the underwear to prove it. Whether it's Buzz Lightyear or Woody or Lightning McQueen or Nemo, I always have some stylish underwear on these days (except nap time and bed time). I still have an accident or two from time to time, but I am getting there. My new teachers are Mrs. Susan and Ms. Lorraine. They are very fun. I especially like the way Ms. Susan reads me books at the beginning and end of the day.

After those two big events, I have had some smaller trips highlighted by visiting my padrinos in Houston. We stayed at Henry's house, but Henry, his mommy, and his new baby brother were not there. Henry's Daddy James was there and he made us feel like we were at home. Thanks a 2,000. During the trip, we were able to go spend a day with Kien and Madrina Judy. Diego came on this trip this time. It was one of his first car trips. I think he is starting to like the car seat, but he hasn't decided yet. I keep trying to tell him it is a great place to sleep, but he doesn't believe me yet.

We hope to see you soon!

PEA

Enjoy the pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/101137831624121289778/MyParentsAreStartingToGetSleepAgain?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Missing photo link from last post

Apparently, I am not the technilogical genious I thought I was. I somehow messed up the link to the photos on the last post. Here it is again:

https://picasaweb.google.com/101137831624121289778/3WeeksIn#

I blame IE9. I had to redo the post in Google Chrome to get the link in there.

PEA

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.

Four Day Weekend

Yes, I know that baby brother is coming soon, but with Memorial day and a teacher conference day, I had a four day weekend. Unfortunately, Daddy only had a two-day weekend, but that meant that Mommy and I got to play.


Friday, Mommy and I went to the children's museum. Did you know they have an airplane there that you can sit in? I was Captain Pablo for a while with Mommy as my copilot. They also have a tractor that you can sit in and load rocks from the scooper into the dump truck. It was so much fun!! Friday afternoon, Mommy brought out my surprise water toy and we had some fun in the sun. Daddy took a couple of pics and some video. Not too many though.


Saturday, I went to music class and fed the ducks. After my nap, I went to Lita's house to spend the night. Mommy kept talking about going on a date with Daddy (whatever that means), but I had a lot of fun at Lita's.


Sunday, I met Mommy and Daddy at church. After church some run of the mill playing happened before nap time. After nap, I helped daddy build a shelf and I played in the box. It was a tight squeeze, but I made it.


Monday, Daddy had to work, but he took his lunch break to go with me and Mommy to see where they are going to keep Baby Brother. Baby Brother is coming on Wednesday. I like goint to the hopsital because they have elevators and I can push the buttons. I liked watching the babies even though some of them were crying.

The day ended with Lito, Lita, Tio Abuelo Mon, Tia Abuela Syl, and Tio Monci coming over for burgers. Tia Abuela surprised me with a new blanket that has a lot of guitars and says "Rock"!! I love it!


Oh yeah, I opened my camera that Tia Michelle gave me so I have started taking my own photos. I am no longer dependent on my parents to take them. I will post some of my first works in this group. See if you can guess which ones are mine.


I hope to see you all soon,
Pablo Elias Acosta


Picture and video: click here

Ready for baby brother!!

So the baby brother talk has been escalating the past few weeks. Apparently he is coming home soon. It is a little confusing since he is already home (in Mommy's belly), but I guess that means Mommy has to go away first and then they will both come home with baby brother outside of Mommy's belly. All I know is that I was pretty excited to be a big brother, but now they are telling me I have to stay at Lita's house for a night or two and I am not so sure I like this whole baby brother thing anymore. My room did get an upgrade so I have that going for me.


Since my last post, I had a huge Fiesta party at school. I met the King (see the pics) and played guitar and danced. For Easter, we went to Indiana to visit Jill, Emeka, Sonny, and Esphyr. For an added bonus, I got to hang out with Eshpyr's Grampa Paul and Grama Rosie. It turns out that almost everyone I know named Paul can really play the guiter (Mr. Paul at school and Grampa Paul in Indiana). Since my name is the spanish version of Paul, I guess I am destined to play guitar too. Maybe one of those big mariachi guitars....


Mom and Dad have been working hard on "getting ready for baby brother". I am not sure what the big deal is, but I can't wait to play with him. Mom and Dad keep asking me what I should name him. At first I said Rico (after a boy in my class), but I don't like that name anymore. Gretchen's (another classmate) baby brother's name is August. That sounded good for a while. Now I have setlled on simply Baby Brother. It's short and to the point. However, after my guitar-playing revelation, I may opt for Paul so that we can play guitar together.


I hope you enjoy this post. If this whole baby brother business is as good as they make it sound, it may be a while before I post again. If not, this blog may become a gripe-fest.


Hasta Luego,
Pablo Elias Acosta


Pictures: click here

Big Boy Bed

My Dad has been doing a much better job of keeping track of his iPhone so I haven't been able to post for a while. However, there is something called tax day that has my Daddy pretty busy and I managed to sneak his iPhone while I am taking a "nap" today.



The recent big change in my life has been the switch from a crib to a big boy bed. I know that Baby Brother is going to need my crib so Mommy and Daddy bought me a big boy bed to sleep in. I am pretty good at sleeping through the night in it, but I have had some trouble with nap time. It's all getting better now. The best part about my new bed is that it has a top bunk for when my cousins come to visit!!



I only have a few minutes so I posted a few quick picks from the month of birthdays in March. I also got to see my cousins from Boston when they came to Texas for a wedding. We went to the zoo and had a good time!! I can't wait to visit them this summer in Boston.



I have had lots of fun during Fiesta and I will post those pictures soon!!



Here are the pictures and a video or two.



:)

PEA

To the rodeo... And Beyond!!

I still haven't been able to get my Dad to make another post for me, but I had a little time for a quick update (Mom and Dad think I am sleeping, but I snagged Dad's iPhone on the way to bed).

Last weekend, I went to the San Antonio rodeo!! My friend Julian went with me (his Mom and Dad are friends from Rice). We had a good time playing on the tractors, petting the animals, eating rodeo food, and watching the calf-roping. I was so excited about the calf-roping that I put on my cowboy hat as soon as I got home and started roping my stuffed cow from the back of my trusty steed (er, I mean Moose). Unfortunately, Daddy didn't get any photos of that one.

The weekend after the rodeo, we went for an "adventure" (according to Mom). We stayed in Austin with our friends Stew and Angela. Did you know Stew has TWO BIG GUITARS!! I was in Heaven. I didn't even mind that Ali would lick my face any time she was within licking distance. Also, as it turns out, I might be part Brazilian. Angela was teaching me a very cool Brazilian song that I can't get out of my head.

After saying a very sorrowful good bye to Stew's guitars (and Stew, Angela, and Ali), it was off to Ikea to buy a bed for me. It turns out that Baby Brother (who I think we should call Rico, but Mom and Dad hate that name) is going to get my crib and I get a big boy bed. So far, this was my best Ikea trip ever. I got to sleep in the car with Daddy while Mommy went inside to do all of the work. At the end, we drove back to our house in San Antonio. I was so happy to be heading back home that I made up a song about it on the way. I don't think Mommy and Daddy were paying attention to my new song, but once I work out the kinks, I will play it for them on my little guitar. "Going back to our house. Going back to our house. going back to our house"

Yikes, I think the glow of the iPhone under the door is giving me away. Next time, I will need to pull the blanket over the phone first. Rookie mistake!!!

Here are the pics and videos

Hopefully, my Dad will write next time, but don't hold your breath.

PEA

PS Don't blame me for the lack of photos. Mommy and Daddy are still slow on the draw.

My Daddy dropped the ball....

... and I have to pick it up.

Yes, it's rough being a two year old these days. I finally learned about blogging only to find out that my Daddy hasn't posted anything since April. Good thing my Mommy has a Facebook account. If you want up to date news, that's where it will be. I will do my best to keep things up to date through this blog, but we don't get computers at school until I move up to the three year old class next Fall.

Since it has been so long since my Daddy has posted, I am just going to put a bunch of photos onto the web site and let you look through them. I will get you up to date on more recent happenings with me and my family.

Thanksgiving was great!! I love, love, loved the visit from my cousins from Boston and Denton. I can't wait to go to Boston this summer and I definitely want to go to Denton very soon.

My 2 yr birthday party was a BLAST!! About 6-7 kids came over and we played with airplanes!! I had an airplane cake (thanks Lita!!), pin the propeller on the airplane, a ball pit, and lots of friends/family to play with. What more could you ask for (other than presents, of course). I did get some presents, but Mommy and Daddy asked my friends to bring donations to St. PJs childrens home here in San Antonio. We had quite a haul. Mommy and I delivered them before Christmas so that those children could have a Merry Christmas too. Thanks to Noah, Mia, Lawson, Alejandro, Julian, and all my friends who came to my party. It was way better than my first birthday party (which was cancelled because I didn't want to get everybody sick).

Christmas was great! I spent Christmas Eve with my family in San Antonio. I spent Christmas day through New Year's with family and friends in Houston. I am very sorry for getting my Padrinos (and Kien) sick while I stayed with them.

After the Christmas break, I had a wonderful trip to Colorado with the Rice crew. For some reason I haven't figured out yet, my parents call this trip BBRAG. Last year at this trip, I vaguely remember helping Terry learn how to change a diaper (I was so young back then). This year, it was Jeremy's turn. I really like playing with all the kids (Kien, Grant, Zane, and Liam) and I can't wait for the next round (Jeremy and Bonnie's baby, Grant and Zane's littlest bro/sis, and of course, my BABY BROTHER). I just wish Kien could get in on the sibling action...

The trip was fun. I got to play in the snow, see horses, see tractors, go snowshoeing (well, Daddy wore the snow shoes and carried me), go sledding (this wasn't so much fun for me because the snow kept hitting me in the face), play with new games/toys, read new books, and generally have a blast! It was also my first trip in my own seat on the airplane. Mommy and Daddy bought a cool roller cart for my car seat so I was able to roll all over the airport. Extra bonus!! We got to eat cake for Arpi and Kate's birthdays!!

After that trip, it was back to the daily grind at school. Believe it or not, we did have a snow day thanks to about 1/4" of snow. I don't know how to drive yet, but I really don't know how to drive in snow.

It's now rodeo time. We had pony rides at school. Mommy and Daddy couldn't make it so I can't wait to show them the pictures. I heard Daddy say something about going to the livestock show this weekend. I sure hope so. This is the last weekend they are in town.

I hope all of you are doing well. Yes, I did mention a baby brother earlier. He will be joining the family in late May/early June. I was so excited to be a big brother. I couldn't wait. I even told mommy "I can't wait to meet baby brother and baby brother's mommy". I have since found out that MY Mommy is also going to be Baby Brother's Mommy. I am not sure how I feel about that yet, but I have been told that I will get all the new stuff and he will just get my old stuff... so I got that going for me.

Pictures (My Daddy also dropped the ball on taking more pictures, but this should at least let you know what I have been looking like for the past 8 months):
Album
Videos

I promise I will do a better job than my Daddy of posting blog updates (that's not very hard when it takes Daddy 10 months to post).

Ciao,
Pablo