All about Gustavo - familiaspencer

November in a flash

Wow, the month of November went by super quick, probably because of all we had going on.

First weekend we went to the Brevard Zoo - we got the annual pass so we will be going back a few times.

Then for daddy's and mommy's birthday we took a short 2 night cruise to the Bahamas. He seemed to be doing that first half day and night, but he woke up at 11 pm complaining his ears hurt. We ended up taking him to the infirmary on board, he had a bad ear infection but luckily the antibiotic seemed to work on him quickly and he slept fine after that. We spent the day onshore at the cruise's resort. It was a little chilly to be on the beach but that didn't deter Gus that much. He'd play until he'd get cold, then we'd spend some time warming up at the jacuzzi, then back to the beach. We decided to just head back to the ship after lunch because he was really tired and we just relaxed for the rest of the time. On the drive back from Palm Beach sunday morning he slept well in the car, so we stopped on the zoo again that afternoon.

For thanksgiving the three of us just stayed home and the long weekend was really nice to catch up with some projects - including putting up Christmas decorations and putting up pictures in picture frames bought on Black Friday from 2 years ago. So here comes December, with Christmas in sight I'm sure it will go by just as fast as november did.

Halloween - Magician Edition

This year his costume was easy to pick: almost every night for several months now, right before going to bed, he asks us to tie a sheet around his neck (his magic cape) and he does a magic show for us. This is something he saw in an episode of Caillou and he likes to copy the tricks from that ever since.

So, I though I'd give him a nicer magic cape. Then daddy had the idea of us complementing him: mommy as the magician assistant and daddy as the rabbit. :)

Friday was his first Halloween party at daycare and I was happy to be able to attend with daddy and see him play with this friends there.

On the weekend there was the party from the city of Longwood - we got there just in time to sign up for the costume contest and thought, why not - and ended up signing up. Between that and the contest itself we went around the kiosks they had set up and mostly they were games that you played for the candy, so Gus had a lot of fun. When it was time

for the contest itself and we had to line up Gus couldn't wait to go up there, being his usual attention-seeking-self. So he wasn't shy at all at telling his name when asked and won first prize on his category (2 to 4 years old). With the prize (Build a Bear gift certificate) he got Gobi (his bear we got last year) a car and a spider man costume.

Then it was trick or treat day itself and I thought we'd just go to a couple houses and back but when got a hang of it he didn't want to come back home. We ended up going around a couple of blocks and even when he was super tired of walking he still wanted to keep going.

We had so much fun that a couple of weeks later, he still asks about going trick or treating. At least Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

Two and a Half

I can't think of anything new to say about Gustavo at this age. We measured him at about 37 inches and 32 lbs. Tantrums are somewhat frequent but mostly we've learned how to defuse it and deal with it. He continues to be bossy, but if we talk to him at his level he can be understanding.

He just amazes us with all he does and says. I haven't been keeping good track of it, so I thought I'd start a new session called "Gustavisms" that should be easier to updated. I'll only keep it in english because even though he seems to understand me speak portuguese, he has mostly settled in speaking english.

Labor Day weekend with Olivia

Our friends Guilherme and Vera came over for Memorial day weekend and we got to meet Olivia! She is adorable and has the cutest head of hair ever! She is also super easy going like her parents so we had a very busy weekend. After picking them up at the airport saturday we had a late lunch at a Chinese place and just headed home where Gus got aquainted to "Olina", and he did fairly good at sharing and being gentle with her.

Sunday we went to the beach south of Daytona and we got perfect overcast weather - the water was warm yet confortable play on the sand - no shade needed! Just that when it was time to go not sure which kid gave more trouble to leave, Gus or uncle Gui...

Monday we went to the Orlando Science Center. Gus knows the place so much he gave them the tour. We stayed until we were all very hungry, so from there we went to a brazilian style steak house on I-drive. We ate way too much as it is customary, and ended the day walking it off at Crane's Roost park.

Their flight back was tuesday afternoon, and I took the day off so we could get the pancake breakfast at Deleon Springs. It was great to catch the park on a tuesday without the crowd. After the yummy breakfast we had a few minutes to enjoy the springs before we had to leave for the airport. Guilherme jumped right in, but Gus hesitated in the steps with the cold water - or so I thought.

Since I thought he woudn't go in because of the cold I let him walk around the border by himself and to my surprise he suddenly took a turn and jumped in. In panic mode, I jumped right after him clothes and all and handed him to dad. He was fine - he does this at the pool at the Y and turns around and swims to the border, so he could have stayed there a few secs and I could have reached for him. But panic is panic, so when I walked up the steps is when I noticed I busted my knee open on a rock. Between that and having the eletronic car key wet in my pocket and thinking of being late to the airport I had a few moments of "Oh Crapsicles", but it all turned out fine. Car key worked, I was able to drive to the airport in time, and 5 stitches later I won't barely have a scar to use for guilt trips when he is older.

In any case, it was a thrilling ending to a great weekend. Thanks for coming guys, gotta do this again (Minus the knee part)!

Emerson's B-Day

A party, splash pad and playground - Gus says count me in! He had a lot of fun, including some ice-tasting with Teagan and trying to butt in other people's conversation. At least someone in the family is a social butterfly... ;)

Bike & Trains

We try not to spoil Gus too much, still it is amazing the amount of toys a little guy acumulates in a couple of years. But with Uncle Nando and Aunt Marci spoiling him from thousands of miles away we just can't win. They like sending him stuff out of the blue, and last item was his first bike/tryke. He was very excited helping put it together, but it was still on the big side to him, but he can paddle a bit with help (and was able by himself a couple of weeks later). Uncle Nando and Aunt Marci, thank you, we appreciate, but leave some spoiling to us! ;)

On that note I resisted buying Gus the train set from IKEA a couple of trips down there. He loved it when we went there and it was available for playing, one time he played for about an hour straight. Still I was trying to wait for some special occasion. But last time we were there they didn't have it out and I felt sorry when he held the box, so here it is, and it is his favorite now.

Camping

The idea of camping came out of seeing Gustavo be really interested in rocks, leaves, bugs and so on, and even though it is too hot we thought one night was doable. We decided to go to Ichetuknee springs, spend the saturday night camping and float down the river sunday morning.

The campground was nice and shady and Gus really loved helping set up the tent. After that, we left for dinner and when we got back to the campground daddy started a fire and we had roasted marshmallows. The tent was pretty hot to sleep in, but Gus slept on his diaper and we managed okay. It took him a while to fall asleep due to excitement with the flashlight and all, but once he did it was smooth sailing. Thankfully my biggest worry of mosquitoes did not materialize, between the citronella candle and the off we didn't get a single bite.

Sunday morning we took the 1 1/2 hour down the river and Gus was really excited at first, but at points he was bored. We just needed to keep pointing things out to him and he'd be fine. We saw birds, turtles and otters, and had a lizard come onboard (and on top of Gustavo's head).

So, it was a fun weekend, but camping will definitely be on spring or autumn next time.

Kite

The great thing about this age is that it doesn't take much to entertain. Daddy was a little disappointed the kite didn't take off, but it didn't matter to Gus, he seemed to really enjoy it. Little kite, little flight, big wow. :)

Big Boy Bed

We knew we would soon need to convert Gustavo's crib into a toddler bed. So on a trip to Ikea a couple of weeks ago we got the bed rail that would go with his crib. Still, as always, I resist the change as much as I can for fear of his reaction. But having had funny sleeping arrangements last weekend I think pushed him to really try to climb out of his crib and daddy caught him almost falling through when he woke up from his nap yesterday. So we did an emergency switch last night, and he loved being able to "help fix the bed".

And again he proves that I have nothing to worry about, he slept just fine, and didn't even climb out of his bed this morning. It is the end of another era, but I am so proud of my big boy Gus for how easily he handled the change to his big boy bed.

Mom and Dad's anniversary weekend

For mom and dad's anniversary we decided to take a long weekend. We went to grandma's house on saturday and after Gus went to sleep we were able to go out to dinner. Sunday morning Gus played with Kaytlin and in the afternoon we checked in a hotel on the beach. Gus enjoyed every minute of playing in the sand and on the pool, then the 3 of us had a wonderful peruvian dinner.

Monday morning we stayed on the beach up until check out time, which was just about when he was getting really tired. We kept him awake for luch and he slept most of the way back home. Not a cruise, but still a very nice weekend. :)

4th of July

This year was Gustavo's first actual 4th of July celebration. My friend Carole told us about a parade in the small town of Geneva, and that sounded really good. We met there right when the parade was about to start and boy, did he love it! Size-wise it was perfect - it wasn't too crowded so we set right by the road, and the parade was just long enough too so he didn’t get bored. He loved seeing the firetrucks, cars, horses and was so happy to get a flag and wave it. Of course the fact that there was candy being thrown everywhere helped.

When it was over we were going to stay a bit in the fair like thing they have, but it was too hot and really not good for baby Johnny or Gus. Then our plans to have lunch together at a favorite pizza place didn’t work out because the place was closed due to the holiday. Oh well, in the end that was ok because he was getting past due for his nap.

At the end of the day we wanted to see the fireworks from the Science Center terrace, so we headed over there around 6:30 pm. He had fun there as usual, but as I feared he was getting too tired and I knew we wouldn't be able to stay that late. Luckily they had a "Ka-boom" show right at 8pm, where they poped some balloons each with a difference substance used in real fireworks and they pop with different effects and colors. So we told him those were fireworks - that plus all the fireworks from the neighboorhood were enough for him, and he went to sleep happy having really enjoyed his first 4th of July celebration.

Brazilian June Festival

June in Brazil there are these parties to celebrate Saint John, Saint Peter and Saint Anthony's day. They are like fall festivals here with typical food and dances. Last saturday Resurrection Church in Winter Garden had this celebration, we had gone a couple of years before Gus, but I had forgotten to look it up in time and missed it ever since he was born.

Luckily a friend from work frequents that church and told me about it this year. It started late for Gus-time (6 pm) but we met up with the kids and Gus had a lot of fun playing with Chris (and Carole and I), so we only stayed for about an hour but it was very worth it.

Father's Day

Father's day sunday we headed out to Fort Melon park with the intention of going to the splash park. Strangely the splash park doesn't open until noon on Sundays, go figure. But Gus was not phased and had fun playing with daddy on the playground instead.

We had lunch and after Gustavo's nap we headed to Blizzard Beach instead. It turned out a great father's day, Daddy and Gus enjoyed every minute of it.

Dentist

I've been postponing sending Gus to the dentist at least until he has 2 1/2, mostly because I dreaded how he would do, as even a cleaning can be painful. But with the likelihood that insurance will soon change at work, I decided to just get it over with since now we are covered 100% on preventive and who knows what it might change to.

We prepared him by showing a Caillou episode where he went to the dentist and he was excited about it.

Getting there he was scared to sit down by himself, but once he sat on daddy's lap things went super smoothly. He was told to open the mouth saying "A" like an alligator, and worked so well that we use that when we brush his teeth now.

The dentist and hygienist were amazed at how easy going he was, and everything looks good. So I didn't have a reason to dread after all.

Pre-school

May 31 was Gustavo's first day at pre-school. we started researching beggining of may, with Gus and Daddy going to a few places and narrowing down to three. Then mommy went to visit those places and found them all nice and failry similar, so Gus ended up going to the one closest to home. We wanted to start him slowly, so he is only going 2 morning a week. Since he had been going to the Y and also played around during the first visits he had no problem staying the first day, except he was tired and wanted to nap with the other kids when daddy came to pick him up.

The second day was also no problem, but he had just stated to fuss when daddy arrived - probably because it is changing his nap time, making it a little bit later, and he gets super tired.

The past week Dad said he runs right in like he owns the place, and he started to talk about "Lucas", so I am happy he already has a buddy there. :)

Busy Busy

I feel like life has been non stop since we came back from Brazil, with something to do pretty much every weekend. First, vovo came with us and spent about 20 days, the weekends we took a trip to St Augustine, than we went to Grandma's house, and to Sea World for the final one. Gus also went with vovo and Grandma to Kennedy Space Center one day while mommy worked.

Then a friend of mine came for vacation and we joined them at Hollywood Studios for our last day of the 4 day Disney pass. The other weekend we met up for lunch.

There was the weekend when Kaytlin and little Sean came over and we went back to the petting zoo. All of them did great, and they were so cute seeing the animals together.

A breather weekend means yard work and Gus enjoying the pool in the backyard, and on Memorial Day we went to Blizzard Beach with a friend from work.

So this year with passes to Sea World, the OSC and Disney water parks after two this is shaping up to be a very busy summer - just the way Gus likes it.

2 Years

Due to the trip we only had Gustavo's 2 year checkup appointment a month after his birthday. According to the doctor's office he was 36 1/2 inches. I thought that sounded too tall and sure enough, they were wrong by 2 inches... He is about 34 1/2 inches and almost 29 lbs, all about average, and he is otherwise doing fine.

Potty training is going so-so, he can go most days without accidents, but when we went to grandma's over the weekend he had 3 accidents in a row. He did great over the trip to Brazil, but #2 is mostly done when he is wearing a diaper for a nap or sleep time. In 2 months he only did #2 in the potty a couple of times. Still I am happy to be down to 2 diapers a day.

He loves to talk and can tell these super long stories, but we will understand 10% of what he says when he gets on that mode. He likes to play with us, and he will tell me "up in the sky" when he wants me to stand up. He plays pretend and will squat jump saying "i'm a froggy" or he'll have his hands up and make a motor sound saying "i'm an airplane". If he falls or gets hurt when he is in a good mood he immediately says "I'm ok, mamae", even with a clearly scraped knee, but if he is in a bad mood any little thing triggers a cry, even if it is a forced fake one. In any case, we love all the little quirks of our Gugu-bear.

Turning 2, trip to Brazil

After the birthday party at home we started preparing Gus for the big trip, talking about airplanes and his vohvoh and the other party. So he was excited the day of the trip, which fell on his actual birthday.

He was a little agitated in the flight to North Carolina with the excitement of the airplane and everything, but in the layover who knew they had rocking chairs in that airport! I rocked him to sleep, and he kept sleeping through all the buzz of the plane loading and taking off and everything, he only woke up around breakfast time. I couldn't have asked for better.

We got there saturday morning and we were beat, but Gus was happy to meet Vinicius and see all the family again. Sunday was his party, in the common area at the first floor of my parent's builing. He did good most of the time, hugging and kissing everybody as they arrived, but at points it all seemed to much for him and he tried to run away from where the party was going on and just wanted to chill sitting at the stairs.

For the first week there we had planned a trip to a resort with my cousin, so Gus and Gabriel could spend some time together. They had met briefly when they turned 1, but this time it was so cute to see them both interact. Gabriel is very cute and lovable and would call for Gus and try to start talking to him. Gus was more on his own, but warmed up to Gabriel quickly. The place was very kid-friendly and we all had a great time there.

We were back to Rio thursday, and friday we made our way to my brother's home, a couple of hours away from Rio.

They set up a small pool for him and Vinicius and it was very cute see him interact with his cousin who is 9 months old. Saturday we went for a boat ride, Gus enjoyed it a lot but was getting fussy easily because he didn't have a nap this day or the day before. We went back to Rio that evening and the long day got to him, he had a big meltdown saturday night.

From then on we took it easy, sunday we went to a playground with his godparents, Clarinha another day and Tia Graca another.

On the flight back with vovo his sleep was agitated waking up often for brief moments, so that kept me awake the whole time. And ofter two weeks packed with fun and activities, he was happy to see grandma at the aiport and we were all happy to be back home.

Birthday Party (US version)

Gustavo's birthday celebrations started early. We are going to Brazil around his actual birthday, so we had a party for him on the 12th.

Since Christmas we've been reading the "Clifford's Birthday Party" book for him, it is one of his favorites. The week before the party we started telling him about it, so he was excited Saturday morning, and ended up taking a late and short nap. With that mommy got a little behind on the preparations and was still finishing up when the guests arrived.

But it turned out fine, we loved having all the kids around, and Gus did fairly good sharing his toys.

When it was time for to sing Happy Birthday and he saw everybody singing for him, he got a shy face for a moment - I guess just then he realized it was his party. :)

We'd like to thank everybody that came to the party and made it so much fun:

Noo, Jasmin and Lily

Ken, Maddy and Emma

John, Carole, Chris and Johnny

Joe, Laura and Teagan (too bad Em couldn't come!)

Heather and Kaytlin

Grandma, Aunt Vicky and 'cool Mike

We hope everybody had as much fun as Gus did!

Festival of Chocolate

A friend from work invited us to go to the Festival of Chocolate this past weekend and we saw it as good match for fun for Gus (because it was at the Orlando Science center) and for mommy (because it had chocolate). :)

We made it there sunday afternoon and the place was packed. It was so crowded that it wasn't very condusive for little kids to play, but mommy and Gus loaded up on chocolate right away.

That might have not been a good idea because Gus got really hyper. Luckily (at least at first) there was a stage where kids were playing and dancing. With that Gus got occupied and even though he was the littlest guy there, the bigger kids were no match for him. Watch Video

Problem was when it came time to clear the stage for the next attraction, "Mr. Look at Me!" did not want to concede the spotlight. He litterally says "Look at Me!", and we don't know where he gets it from as both mommy and daddy are shy.

So we ended up having to pry him out of there kicking and screaming... but he definetely had fun while it lasted. Thanks Carole for being so supportive and such a good sport!

Magic Kingdom (Potty training)

We didn't know if it was a good idea to go to a Disney park just one week after starting potty training, but with an upcoming trip and not wanting to go when it gets too hot we decided for it.

So instead of diapers, I packed a potty topper. :)

The park was super full maybe because it was President's day weekend, but we used fast passes for pretty much everything we did, so waiting in line was not an issue. In between fast passes we would do things with short wait, and the day was pretty packed like that.

The plan was to take Gus to the potty in between rides, but we got on a roll one time and that was the only accident we had - totally our fault, poor guy. Otherwise he did absolutely awesome.

He liked pretty much all the rides, and one of his favorites from last year he enjoyed again this year, the people mover. I only regret taking him to Phillarmagic, it was a bit scary and he was very jumpy with the stuff coming out at. At one point he screamed, I felt so bad. But we calmed him down and at the end he even said he liked it when we asked (he likes to answer yes though).

Again he was super tired by late afternoon, so we left around 6 pm. I thought he'd fall asleep right away in the car like he usually does, but instead he started singing a made up song. It was so funny, we had to take a video to capture the sound. The Phillarmagic made an impression on him because on his song he says "donald duck is broken" - Donald gets pushed around on it. But I think having him recount the day like that was a sign he enjoyed it.

23 Months

Time is flying toward the big 2, and we are trying to teach him to say answer "two" when we ask "how old are you". But sometimes he confuses with the answer to "what is your name". Daddy is also teaching him mommy's name "pa-ni-na" and daddy's name.

We started to have him put down the cat food a while ago, and if he catches us doing it we get a big fit, the food is his and his only to put down.

He also learned somewhere to say "no, that's mine!" very enphatically, we are trying to teach him that it is not nice. But it is funny to hear that when I say I'll take a bite of his food (that usually gets him focusused back on eating).

I also love that he started to make up some songs, we can only catch a word here and there, but it is so cute. His dance moves are also hilarious, but I am yet to catch on video because if he sees the camera he wants to hold it and take pictures himself. Mr Independent he is.

Potty Training

I took Valentine's Day off to make that weekend maybe the most non-romatic thing you can think of: potty-training.

When I read abouth the potty training in 3 days method I found I'd give it a go, so we waited until we thought Gus was ready.

We had been doing a light version just having a potty around and he would go a day here and there right before his bath.

The method says you have to keep the child bottomless while at home. So it didn't start so well when Gus would not allow us to take his pants off. To avoid tantrus, he won. But we kept asking him every 10 minutes if he needed to go and he would mostly say yes. He would sit on the potty and most times do some. He only had one accident that day.

Sunday was about the same, but at that point he was doing #2 during his nap time, so still in diapers. Monday he had an "accident", he actually peed on purpose when he was mad about something. We had the first #2 in the potty monday evening, but almost missed as we caught him when he started.

I came back to work tuesday, but the rest of the week was about the same, except we worrying about him being constipated, and eventually we noticed he pooped during his nap time or bed time.

He also doesn't tell us he needs to go, we have to ask frequently, but he does have a clear sign as he will hold his wee-wee when he needs to go.

All in all we think it was a success, we are down to 2 diapers a day for when he sleeps! Yay!

Hollywood Studios

Since the previous weekend was so great we were eager to go back to the next park, so we hoped away the 40% chance of rain in the forecast. Things didn't start so good with the gloomy weather and persistent drizzle, but when we found out the Mickey Mouse Club House show was close for revamping, we were super bummed out. It was the main thing we had in mind for Gus, oh well.

At least we got fast passes for the Toy Story ride, which go out fast, but they were for 5 pm, and we didn't know if we could stick around that long. So we soldiered on, taking it easy with Gus. By noon things were starting to clear and he had a blast in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. As we were waiting for the 3pm parade, Gus saw the path that was cleared as an opportunity for him to show off. He loves being the center of attention... After that he got slow from being tired again, but when we made to the Toy Story ride he perked up and seemed to really enjoy it. So the day wasn't that bad after all.

Disney again - Animal Kingdom

This year Disney is back with a good special on the park tickets, and we couldn't pass again.

We waited for the perfect weather weekend and started off with Animal Kingdom. It is great to see Gus recognize Disney when we are getting there, he has become a Mickey Mouse Club House fan of late.

With that, he did great with the character pictures. When we were in line for a picture with Mickey and it was about to be his turn, Mickey had to leave for a quick water break. Gus had been observing how people pose, so when Mickey left I think he thought "No Mickey? No problem!" and he went and stood where Mickey was supposed to be and started posing himself... too funny. :) Of course he was happy to see Mickey come back and posed with him as well. :)

This time we took him to "A bug's life", and he seemed to enjoy it with the 3D glasses and all, we also saw a couple of shows and went on the Safari, but since he didn't nap by 3 pm he was super tired and didn't seem to care about anything. We ended up leaving shortly after that, but we it was a great way to spend a Sunday.

22 Months

Stubborn and bossy... who does he get this from? Gus really knows what he wants for himself AND others around him and if he doesn't get his way it is tantrum-city. I thought he had bad tantrums before but these now are so sudden, with immediate tears, that is requiring us to be very creative in findind a distraction. Find the right distraction and tantrum and tears are gone as intantly as they came. When I can, I cave in, I think he is just trying to assert himself.

A great positive of that is we can most of the time ask him what he wants, if he is done eating, etc, and he clearly tells us what he wants and needs. Sometimes his speach is still very babbly and we can't get a word, but he also surprises us with quite clear full senteces about something he saw or did.

He will grab us by the hand and ask us to play with him, one of his favorites is kicking or throwing a ball in the hall way, but he also likes to draw and pile up his mega-blocks.

He enjoys watching TV, his favorite shows are Caillou and Clifford on PBS. Some mornings he wants to come to our bed and watch cartoons as soon as he wakes up. In a way I love this because on weekdays I can prepare breakfast and get ready for work quickly and we get to stay in bed on weekends, since he wakes up around 7 am most days. Hopefully this won't become a problem when he himself needs to get ready for school. ;)

Haircut (again), Vohvoh goes back (again)

I think it hasn't even been 3 months since his last hair cut, it just grows so fast... Even though we like the Justin Bieber look on him, it is time to go when it starts bothering his eyes. This time he almost cried when we put him on the chair, but he was okay when the buzzer started.

Then on the 30th we went to drop vohvoh at the airport again. Gus was fussy on the way to the airport, but seemed all right there and even the day after she left. But I think it has sunk in that she left because after a couple of days he started saying "vohvoh left airplane" around the time he'd be saying goodnight to her. It breaks my heart, but we will see her again in a few months.

Christmas

I will be sad putting away Christmas stuff this year, as Gus enjoys every detail of it.

We had him open his presents slowly, having time to enjoy each one of them, and he just seemed to love everything.

He loved playing with his new toys having Vohvoh and Grandma Sue around. He also helped give out everybody else's presents.

For me the best gift is the joy he brings us, Christmas morning was one of those moments you just want to re-live over and over. Can't wait for next year already.

21 Months

Gus turned 21 months in a busy weekend. We started off taking him to the Christmas party at my workplace where he was running wild and not minding a bit all the attention.

Saturday morning he met Santa at the Y and didn't want to take pictures with him, but had fun and did some crafts.

In the afternoon we went bowling for the first time, and Gus managed to beat mommy and daddy with 86 points! After the first game he was done with bowling and played in the arcade for a bit before we headed home.

I measured him and he is around 34 inches and weights 27.5 lbs. He keeps us laughing with the things he says. For a while, after he said "Thank you" he'd immediately say "You are welcome" except we thought it sounded like "Chewbacca", so now we say "chewbacca" instead of "you are welcome" to each other.

He is also turning out to be very controlling. I have these pajamas with kitties on it, and if I show up in the morning to pick him up with something different he says "mommy put the kitties". I wonder from whom he gets this?

Gobi

To kick off Christmas, we took Gus to build a bear on Sunday. We wanted him to pick his own bear, but I guess he is still too young for that - whatever we showed him, he liked. So we ended up picking the bear for him. Once he was stuffed and dressed, he had fun "giving it a bath" and taking it for a ride in the store, even though he seamed to have preferred the bear's car to the bear himself.

During the bear's registration, when we asked him what was his name, the first thing to come out of his mouth was "Gobi"! Not sure how he comes up with stuff... granted he speaks a lot of goobley-goo, but Gobi caught on. He loves his Gobi and now he has to hug him and put him to sleep during his sleep time routine. :)

Green Meadows Farm

I had purchased the tickets to go to the Green Meadows Petting farm on the internet a while ago, and had been meaning to make it there, but we waited for the wather to be just right and it was so worth it.

We arrived there beginning of the afternoon and quickly joined a tour which takes you from each attraction to the next. I had no idea it would be like this, I thought we would be more free-roaming, but I liked to be with the tour as I feel we got to see pretty much everything and do everything. The only problem is that it was non-stop, and we almost missed Gus snack time, luckily I took some grapes and we fed him those here and there.

Gus got to ride on a pony but didn't seem to excited about that, I think what he liked the most was to hold a chicken. He enjoyed the train and hay rides and most of the animals, but since it was non stop by the end he was starting to not care about them.

On the way out we had him play in the tractors they have on display and it was like he got a new jolt of energy because we did not want to leave them.

Even though we were all tired and hungry at the end of the day, we all had a lot of fun and I hope to go back in a few years.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was a lot of fun for Gus. He always loves to go to Grandma's house for all the attention, but this time he really enjoyed playing with "Kay-lan". They played peek-a-boo and in the slide and swing set, they pushed each other on the little car, they played some ball and they rode around together in the wagon until mommy got tired of going round and round the house. :) It was great to be able to let them entertain themselves!

Apart from that, thanksgiving was great as usual, we are thankful for wonderful meal and to have such a good supporting family.

20 Months

Gus had already been wanting to do things for himself, but at 20 months he can't really do a lot of what he wants to do, so we end up with a lot of "situations" - most of the food on the floor, tantrum to put the shoes on, and so on. When I say "mommy helps" he says "tatavo help!" (meaning "me do it").

He loves when we read to him, and can complete most phrases on his favorite book "Harold and the purple crayon" - he pretty much knows it by heart now. He also can sing twinkle twinkle little star, but he most prefers to fill in the blanks.

I got a used bike trailer on freecycle and since the weather has been perfect we take him to the park on it almost every day - and he loves "his bycicle". :)

And now we have chair pictures galore, his new thing has been to go sit on his chair and ask us to take picture - I love this trend! :P

Cousin Gabriela visits

My cousin came to spend her vacation in the Orlando area with her family and sunday came for a visit. We spent a great afternoon. After a barbecue lunch we went to the playground in Sanford. The boys played until it was getting late for Gus and we had to call it a day.

It was great to see her and her family, my mother loved getting the latest news from family back home and Gus loved having cousin Felipe to play with.

Landon's Birthday

We were very excited to attend Landon's first birthday. We had only seen him when he was about 1 month old, too long! At least we've been keeping up with him on Facebook, but he is even more adorable and funny in person - such a happy little guy! And even though he is 8 months younger he was keeping up with Gus pretty good.

Gus had a great time with him and the other kids there. It was funny to see how he thought it was weird that he wasn't the center of attention. Too bad they live so far, we wish we could get the kids together more often.

Rally, Longwood Gardens, "Teek-tee"

Mommy doesn't watch much TV nowadays, but John Stewart and Colbert shows have always been favorites and the few left that we still watch. So when they started talking about the rally I really wanted to go. Then I found out our good friend Vera in Delaware also wanted to go it was a date.

We met in the DC airport and could see the place would be packed from the subway ride. Actually, even the fligth was at least 30% rally goers - people with rally t-shirts and signs. And packed it was, but the atmosphere was very calm and fun. Going with Gus we planned to stay in the outskirts, but it was so full that it was hard to find where that was. As we were trying to find an emptier spot we were lucky to notice they had opened up a patch of grass that had been closed off, so it was empty and since the rally was already going it didn't fill up that much.

Gus had a ball. I think he will be a politician, he was working the crowd, walking up to random people saying hi, petting dogs, talking to other kids. I made us Elmo hats and it was fun when the kids recognized it. Since I was chasing him around all the time I didn't have time to pay attention to the rally itself, but we felt very good about going. After it ended our friend Guilherme met us and we went searching for food. The city was crazy, all places were packed and it was a while before we could get out of the mall.

Sunday we went to Longwood Gardens, which is 40 minutes from their house. The place is beautiful and had quite a few kid friendly things to do. Gus loved the train, the pumpking patch, the kid's garden, but I think most of all he loved playing with "Ve-lah" (Vera) and "ti-Gui" (uncle Gui).

After that we went trick or treating with him for the first time. Since we started late we only went to a few houses, but he enjoyed it. He would say "Teek-tee" when we talked to him about it, but not when the doors opened - but he said "tik-u" afterwards. :) Back in the house We let him have some "colate" (chocolate) and he liked seeing the kids come around.

Monday was coming back day, we were all exausted but it was a great fun weekend. Gus woke up tuesday asking for Ve-lah. We wish we could see them more often, hopefully we will when their new baby is here!

Zoo Boo at the Central Florida Zoo

Last year we ended up going to this event at the Central Florida Zoo by coincidence, but this year we went because I found out about it. It is not a very big deal, they have trick or treat stations but I like that most kids are in costume. And since he knows a lot of animals I really thought he'd go crazy about seeing them this time. Well, he talks the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk... ;) He preferred the halloween decorations and to just run around and climb stuff.

But I think he got tired quickly - it was super hot - huge contrast with last year when we were freezing.

He didn't seem into the animals at all, but during his sleep routine when we recount the day he was saying "uh-huh" like he usually does for when he means yes, and when I mentioned the elephant he said "bucket" because he saw the elephant pick up a bucket and walk around with it while we were there.

19 Months

At 19 months we are again hit with the realization of how quickly time is going by, as we are start this year to do the same things we did last year and it really doesn't feel like a year has come and gone.

We went back to the fall festival, the pumpkin patch, the Central Florida Zoo, but it is very different to go with a running toddler. It is a little more challenging but also more fun. Gus loves to run and jump - he wants us to chase him around the house and giggles all the way - I love it. Except I can barely keep up with him!

He is starting to "sing", if we sing his favorite songs and stop at certain parts he will fill in the blanks. I can hear his tone improving too, but usually he just blarts out the word loudly. He asks us to put on his favorite CDs and we sometimes catch him humming quietly too, so cute.

As for stats, I will start only doing it every 3 months, because I don't think there is a lot of change from 1 month to the other anymore and besides it is a PITA to get him to stand to get measured or to sit for pictures.

Pumpkin Patch

This year we couldn't keep him still to take pictures:

Oh, well...

A trip to Ikea to buy a kitchen table for the house and we end up also getting a table for Gus. Oh well...

And he not only loved his table he had fun stomping on the box for ours. Oh well...

I wanted to get some outdoor pictures for his 18 months and had the *brilliant* idea to do it by the fountain in our little downtown area. I thought he'd get a little wet, what surprised me was how quickly he got soaking wet. :) Oh well...

Miami

Vohvoh was again coming back arriving in Miami on Sunday, so we decided to take a long weekend down there. We headed down friday to get settled and didn't do much as the weather was rainy that day.

Saturday morning we went to Key Biscayne, to the Bill Baggs State Recreation Park. The morning was cloudy and windy, but that just made it nice so we could stay a couple of hours on the beach.

The beach is not very nice, with the strip of sand very small, but the water temperature was great and we had to pry Gus out of there. We cleaned up and drove around the park so he would nap. When he woke up we had lunch at a restaurant they have there and it was delicious fish. Afterwards we rented a bycicle/car thingy and rode around for a half hour, Gus really enjoyed that.

Vohvoh arrived sunday morning really early and tired, so we just headed back home. Gus was really happy to see her. It was a worderful weekend, but unfortunately we had forgotten the camera, so no pictures at all!

Tooth Brush

Gus is really good about getting his teeth brushed, I tell him we are going to make the sugar bugs go away (tip from a dental hygienist) and it is a fun time right before bed time. But I have been still using the finger brush and lately he was biting really hard, so he finally got started with a real tooth brush. It is a little harder with Mr. "I do it myself", but my fingers appreciate!

18 Months

18 months felt like a big milestone, and it was great that it fell on a saturday so we could have a fun day for Gus.

We ended up going to Bounce U, he has been trying to jump lately (he can't and it is very funny to watch him try) so we thought he'd have fun.

When we first went in the room though it was so loud with the air compressors that it made him uneasy.

But we took it easy with him approaching each house slowly and having him touch them, and as he saw other kids running around he went in, but still he was very cautious. Later they opened another room with a house that had a small slide and that was perfect for him. At that one he started running and even tried his jumping. Even with the noise we had fun, mommy liked the big slide. :)

He had his appointment and he is doing really good, except for his "going" too often. They think it might be parasites for lasting so long, and we are getting him tested, but I disagree and we think we nailed it down. I cut down his milk consumption to 1 cup a day - before he was chugging milk down as much as he wanted, but since we started controlling the amount we've seen great improvement.

He throws temper tantrus for the smallest reasons, but it is easy to distract him out of it and we are learning to avoid them. He makes us laugh with the things he says, one I love now is "hipopocato" for hipopotamus (hipopotamo in portuguese).

I also love when I put him to bed, we sit in the rocking chair and go through everybody we can think of:"tatavo sleepytiiime, smokey sleepytiiiiiiime, woof-woof sleepytiiiime...." with the sweetest sleepy voice. He can't say "love you" and says "love wo" instead. We love "wo" too, Gugu Bear. :)

Mickey BackPack

I know Gus is young for a backpack but there was a good special at the Disney stores and I couldn't resist. I can't say I regret it a all, from the moment we opened the box he was all over it. The novelty wore off a bit, but he still asks us to put it on him. I just love the way it looks on him. :)

Seaworld - Part 2 and visit to the hospital

We started off the long weekend by heading to SeaWorld to be there when the park opened. The plan was to get there early so we could ride the roller coasters and have the rest of the day for Gus.

This worked nicely as there was just a 10 minute wait on Manta and no wait on Kraken, but it was already 10:30 when we where done. We did the seals show which Gus enjoyed a lot, but by the end he was dripping in sweat. There were no clouds and the heat took a tool on him. We had lunch and he didn't eat much, then he was super tired but wouldn't nap and we kept him for the Pets Ahoy show. I wanted to try to have him nap so he could play in the playground the rest of the afternoon, but he just kept getting fussier and fussier so we went home.

Getting there I quickly realized what the problem had been, he started having diarrhea. When one of the diapers was nothing but a mucus with blood stains we called the nurse line and she told us to take him to the ER

Ugh - hate the ER - we waited 4 hours before we were seen by a doctor. He thought it was a virus but I was skeptical with the diagnosis since he had no other symptoms at all. Thankfully he didn't prescribe antibiotics right away, they took a sample of the diaper I had saved and would call us if the results showed he needed meds.

We took it easy sunday and monday and Gus kept getting better, and still no call from the hospital so I think we are ok. And even though today he seemed iffy we are not as concerned and will check with the doctor tomorrow.

Visit to Emerson and Seaworld - Part 1

Last weekend was a really busy one, on saturday we visited our friends Joe an Laura who just welcomed a new baby boy to their family. Little Emerson is adorable and so tiny - I had forgotten how little and light they are and it is hard to think Gus was about that size when he was born. Gus and Teagan took a little time to warm up to each other but it was fun to see they start to interact.

Sunday we went to Sea World - it was a cloudy day and thankfully it didn't rain. When we saw the roller coaster we said wow - from then on he would repeat "Wow" when it went by. Gus really seemed to like the shows and was somewhat interested in the animals, but I think he had the most fun in the little splash area they have. Since they have the 2nd day free, we planned to go back the following weekend. This was nice because we didn't rush knowing we could catch up on what we missed.

17 Months

Gustavo at 17 months is full of ups and downs, with sudden temper tantrums, but mostly is fun to be with.

He is picking up a lot of action verbs, so he is getting pretty good at giving us orders:

"sobe" to help him up somewhere, "dah" to put him down, "abe" to open something, "tira" to take something out, "bota" to put something in, "gada" to put something away, "senta" for me to sit down and play with him.

He is also starting to tell us when he is tired: "sleepylum" (sleepy time) and he seems to

understand most of what we ask him, having learned the magic "naum".

So far it is very funny to see him say no, shaking his head as he says it - he means it too at this point, but for yes he usually just doesn't say anything. The exception is he will say "yumm" if we ask if he wants to eat when he means yes.

His vocabulary is getting pretty big, but a few words he made up and he won't change to saying it right. He is set on the old "ba" for cookies and "ah" for milk or water.

He also made up a word we find so funny we are not discouraging: capumba, can mean napkin or toilet paper, or cleaning action. We don't know where it comes from because it neither sounds like it should in english or portuguese.

A few words he also switches from saying in english or portuguese like socks/meia and shoes/sapato.

His love for water continues but I noticed he gets snotty nose whenever we take him to the beach - not sure what to do about that.

Tatavo (what he is calling himself) is about 27lbs and 32" tall.

Mommy

Yesterday, finally! He says it with a big smile, like he knows I was waiting for it. He will say it when he sees me in a picture too. What can I say, he just makes me happy. :)

16 Months

Gus is such a quirky little guy at 16 months. He often talks and talks, babling for minutes non-stop with what seems to be all different sylables, pointing and gesturing, I say he is speaking italian. :)

And you never know when he will pick up a word you say, most of the time he is mimmicking the sound and forgets it.

He is starting to tell daddy when he has poop, even though it must mean more than that to him because we get a few false alarms.

He now climbs on the coffee table and couches/chairs, and since we can't contain him any longer we finally put our living room back to its original non-corraling configuration.

When we wants to sit down, instead of getting to it turning and sitting, he walks backward all the way from where he first things about it until he hits his target. He did this over and over when we were taking his chair pictures, he cracks us up!

We went back to the Lk Mary Splash park on the afternoon of his birthday and we had a good time, he also seemed to enjoy it better this time.

First Cruise

To celebrate mom and dad's anniversary we took a 3 night cruise to the Bahamas.

Check-in on the boat was a breeze, so we settled quickly - Gus loved the balcony right away, and we took the rest of the day to walk around the boat.

Having the balcony was really nice, Gus is early to bed, early to rise guy. We would put him to sleep around 7pm and we would read in the balcony until we got tired.

The first night was great, Gus slept the night through until 6AM.

Next day after breakfast we started by getting to the splash pool, which was all ours at 7:30 AM. Then we had 2nd breakfast (hey, it's a cruise), and took Gus to the Kid zone.

This was the only part of the cruise I thought was lame, they have an area with toys from 8AM to 12 pm only, where you can take small kids. The toys were lame, the setup not very nice, and since it is not staffed I thought they could keep it open all day long.

We had lunch and went to Nassau in the afternoon. We walked around a block on the city and I didn't see much interesting, so we took a ferry to Atlantis because a lot of people suggested checking it out.

It was a nice big hotel with a cool aquarium in the atrium, but we couldn't get close for free. It was still nice for Gus to walk around and burn some energy. The ferry rides were "interesting" - they really want to pack those up to get maximum profit - I don't recommend for the faint of heart. After a nice dinner, Gus went down quickly, but woke up around midnight and it took us 2 hours to get him back down - ouch.

Then he was up at 5:30 in the morning, we had first breakfast in the dark and saw the sunrise.

The advantage of waking up so early is we were on the first tender boat to the private Island, getting there at 8:15 AM. The beach was great, warm and clear water, soft sand, and we played there for almost 2 hous. People would comment on how much he loved the water. Gus crashed and took a good nap on the ferry back to the boat.

After lunch we walked around the jogging deck with Gus in the stroller for his afternoon nap, and after that we went back to the splash pool. This time it was full of kids and Gus had an awesome time.

The last night was another challenging one - he would wake up about every 3 hours, and even though we got him back to sleep within 15 minutes it was not fun to feel like we were in the newborn phase again.

Even with the sleeping issues, it was a wonderful break for us and Gus enjoyed it a lot. He will sure miss all the attention - the entire time the crew was all over him - one server in the buffet would always say with his thick jamaican accent: "hey Mr boss, man!". And let's just say Gus got proficient in his "high-five". :)

4th of July Weekend

The weekend started with a big new first for Gus. Friday evening was the first time we took him to the child care place at the Y. We were afraid he was going to freak out, so we only left him for a half hour. We came back to check on him from a distance after 10 minutes - we couldn't see him but we saw the thumbs up from the lady. He was playing happily when we picked him up, and the lady said he did really good. So we left him for an hour saturday morning while daddy and I took a class - again he cried a bit just when we dropped him off, and he even gave the lady a hug when we came to pick him up. He is such a wonderful kid.

Sunday we went to grandma's house and because the weather was crummy we had pizza instead of a cook-out - he loved pizza so much he quickly learned how to say it. He spent the afternoon playing with Kaytlin, and as usual he loves the attention from grandma and aunt Vicky. We got home aroungd 8 PM just as the fireworks were starting to get really loud, but luckily that was no problem for him - it just kept us on the edge because we couldn't sleep through it.

I was off monday, and the overcast weather was actually perfect for heading for the beach - we enjoyed the warmth without the scorching sun. On the way we realized we forgot his toys, but he didn't care, he had a ball with the sand. We had to dunk him in the water several times because he would get upside down, lay belly down, lay belly up... roll around... breaded Gus anyone? The pictures came out fuzzy because the camera had condensation.

When we got home he even helped mommy with cleaning, if only he stays this way!

Bye-Bye vohvoh

Last weekend we didn't do much because mommy went to take vohvoh to Miami Airport. The day before we had lunch at the park close to mommy's work and took some pictures of Gus with her.

He gave signs of missing her immediately, that night was the first in months that he gave some trouble to go to sleep. Usually bed time consists of bath, brush teeth, say good night to cats (and vohvoh), than mommy shows his stuffed animals and frogs around his room, reads his Bazoople story and he lays down awake without a sound and falls asleep in five minutes. This night he didn't want anything to do with anything and kept calling daddy. I think he was afraid because in the previous night he woke up to a missing vohvoh, that daddy could go missing too. But he got better, it has been a week and he started to link the computer to her, because he has talked to her on skype a few times. But he still says "bye-bye vahvah" at bedtime.

15 Months

Yesterday daddy took Gus for his 15 month appointment. The doctor assured our worries are normal for this age: the fact that he became a very random eater recently, and that he won't say mommy or words with "m" for that matter. Otherwise, he is doing great growth and health-wise, he measured 31 3/4 inches and weighted 22 lbs 9oz. At home he is non-stop running and climbing, he picks up words easily as far as repeating after us and as long as they fall in his easy range of pronounciation of b's, d's and ts, some c's and l's. So, he picked up the name of his first cat: bu-di-ti (briggitte), and now Smokey and Michi are "bu-di-ti" as well. He is also calling daddy "da-di" sometimes, but it is still mostly "da-da".

Father's Day at Deleon Springs

Mommy's plan for father's day was to leave the house early and have pancake breakfast at Deleon Springs, where you can cook your own pancakes at the table. It turns out a lot of people shared the same plans, so by the time we made it to the park a little after 9 am the wait at the restaurant was over 2 hours. But we took the boat tour and then splashed on the cold spring water a bit and soon it was time to eat, it didn't feel like a wait at all. And it turned out good, as we all enjoy pancakes for lunch.

Gus took his nap on the way home and when it got there he had to hurry and get ready for a portrait session at Sears. It was as much as a gift for daddy as it was for mommy, because I love the pictures of my guys together.

Vinicius

Yesterday Gustavo's first cousin born on mommy's side arrived, we are very happy for my brother and his family and we can't wait to meet him.

Fort Mellon Park

A friend at work was showing pictures of his grandson at this place and I immediately thought that would be a nice place to take Gus. So we took advantage of another super hot sunday to go there. Daddy took a turn getting wet this time, and mommy got a little bit jealous seeing the "boys" have so much fun, but it works better this way to take pictures. Hopefully I'll be the one enjoying the refreshing water next time.

Afterwards we spent a little time on the playground which is very big and full of fun toys, but not the best place to be in the heat of the day. Some of the metal toys were hot and Gus learned to say "ai-ai" (something like ouch) when he touched them. We'll go back at a later time in the day so he can enjoy that better.

Second Hair Cut

I really like Gustavo's long hair but when I started to see him make an effort to shift focus it was time to get it cut again.

We found a place close by called Santa's Barber shop, and it is called that because Santa owns it. Santa cuts hair and builds toys all year... wow, what a busy guy!

But it was Mrs Santa that in effect cut his hair, and he did great. When it first started he threatened to cry, but I kept him busy with his favorite rattle and he relaxed toward the end.

The longer hair makes him more baby-like, but it is not worth jeopardizing his vision, and I do like my little man's new look.

Independence Days

Mr. Gus is wanting to be more independent these days. I started to try to help him put the spoon on his mouth, and if we fill it up, it usually makes it to its final destination fairly full still. We really have to watch him because sometimes he pushes it too much into his mouth and can hurt himself. Problem is he does not appreciate the help - wants to do everything alone. And now, if I don't let him feed him self, he asks for "cu-lah", (colher = spoon), so we have to keep him busy with a book or something while we feed him.

One thing he can do well is eat corn on the cob, but at some point it turns into "brrroommmmm-brroommmm" and he starts to play with it as if it was a car. :)

Memorial Day at Myakka River State Park

Memorial Day weekend we headed over to Grandma's house to have a cook out at the park on Sunday. We set up his pool with a bit of water to keep him cool and that was a good idea because it got really hot mid-day.

In the afternoon we took the tram ride, and even though we didn't see too many animals it was worth it because he got to take his nap.

We did see deer a few times and just one alligator.

It was fun and maybe later this year we'll go back to take the air boat ride, maybe when it cools down a bit.

Lake Mary Splash Park

We enjoyed a nice sunday morning at the Lake Mary splash park. We were first to get there so in the beginning Gus was a little leary. But as more kids showed up, he got used to it and started to feel more confortable playing in the water. There is also a nice park and a big pavillion, and since it is fairly close to us, we should be spending a few more weekends there this summer.

14 Months

Gus turned 14 months on Tuesday and I was holding on to taking the pictures until I could keep my promise to finish his growth scale tracking. I finally finished it Sunday, this was simple to make because we had bought the animals a while ago when we wanted to make a lamp. It is cute, so I am happy we didn't use them for a lamp.

Nowadays he is climbing like crazy, dances by stamping his feed (used to just squat a little before), and learned to turn round and round until he falls. He says a few more understandable words, "bu-sa" (blusa = shirt), "vava" (vohvoh = grandma) and gets very talkative at times, but still no mommy.

He measured 30 inches in his new scale and is still about 22 pounds (we weighed him at the Brevard zoo).

Brevard Zoo

Yesterday we went to the Brevard Zoo, which was recommended to us by several of Daddy's colleagues, and they were right. This is such a great zoo/park for a little one. It has a splash park, play area and petting zoo, all of which Gus loved. He also enjoyed looking at the animals, but mostly preferred walking around "on his own". He is pretty self sufficient these days, even pushes his own stroller. :P

He also made friends with a deer! It followed him a bit as he walked down the boardwalk.

We had an awesome time and and will be going back, I am sure any kid age 1 through 10 would have a blast at this place.

Mother's Day at Venice Beach

This mother's day we headed down to grandma's house so Gus would spend mother's day with mommy and his 2 grandmas.

Saturday he got to play with Kaytlin and he is pretty much keeping up with her now. He also enjoyed playing with the big dogs and it was very funny to see him try to lay his head on them as he does with Smoky.

Sunday we went to Venice Beach which is close by.

The beach wasn't as nice as the beach on the Atlantic side in terms of the sand and space for him to play, but the water was nice and warm and he again had a great time, and so did mommy, grandma and vohvoh.

Afterwards aunt Vicky and uncle Mike had a barbecue for us which was delicious, and Gus loved corn on the cob, he was eating it like a pro. A few bites of mine were not enough for him, he had to have his own. ;)

Thanks daddy for planning this great weekend for us.

At the beach

We've been meaning to go to the beach since we saw how Gus liked it the first time, and we finally made it this weekend.

Even with our expectations, it still surprised us how much he loved it. We almost couldn't keep him out of the water, and he had a ball running around and playing with the sand.

It just got me worried to have him out in the full sun for long, so we only stayed an hour and a half, but I think we would've gladly stayed there all day.

We need to be taking our little "pisces" out to the water more often.

Lunch with mommy

Mommy is working near a nice park, so one day a week we have a pick nick during lunch time. Gus loves watching the birds and squirrels while he eats. He then plays for a little bit while mommy goes back to work. Now that I am working full time every minute we can spend together counts.

Cool guy

This is Gus looking super cool with his new jeans and shirt.

Thanks Ken for the cute outfits. :)

First big boo-boo

Now the he is pretty much running, Gus likes to go up and down the house with toys on his hand, So we knew this was bound to happen sooner or later. He fell and the toy scratched his face, on his nose and just below his eye brow. Fortunately, he didn't hurt his eye, and he only cried a little bit.

"ga-da" "da-ia"

Gus loves to put things away: "ga-da" is for "guarda", put away in portuguese. He puts away things in his toy basket, boxes, etc, but he also says it when he is done with something and throws it away. Another word he likes to say is "ia" or "da-ia", for "sandalia", which means flip-flop or open toe shoe in portuguese, except he uses it for any shoe (we have another word for closed shoes-sapato, hard to teach him the distinction). Check out the video of him putting away grandma Socorro's shoes

13 Months

I wasn't going to keep doing the monthly thing, with cake and gift and pictures and measuring and everything, but his 13 month b-day fell on a sunday, so we couldn't resist. So we got a cake and bought a play tent for him. I thought he'd like the tunnel, but it is too old for him so we will put it away for now. We went to a new park and he was having a great time until it started to rain, so our day was cut short, but at least we got to relax at home.

He is weighing about 22 lbs, and is about 29 inches tall. This time he stood on the scale and stood up against the wall to get measured, which is so cool (also maybe why he is "shorter" then last measurement). So I am thinking next month gift will be a thing to put on the wall to keep track of his height. :)

Epcot

Sunday we used up our last Disney ticket at Epcot, and it was great that both Grandma and Vohvoh went with us. The park was beautiful with all the flowery displays from the flower and garden festival. I thought this was the least baby friendly part, I don't think Gus enjoyed the rides as much as in the other parks. Also he was more of a handful being able to walk around. But still I think he had fun, specially having spent time with his grandmas. And even though the middle of the day got pretty hot and all of us crabby for a while, we all ended up having a good day.

Swimming Lessons Again

Saturday we started the swimming lessons at the Y again. Gus was not really liking it in the beginning, it didn't help that the water felt cold. But as the class went on he warmed up to the teacher more and ended up enjoying it. He really likes the climbing up the wall part and the fetch the ducky part. I think he will enjoy the whole class in the coming weeks, now that he saw how fun it was towards the end.

Back to work full time, down to one

It has been 2 weeks that I've been back to work full time, in a new job.

I was really sad leaving home the first day, and I missed Gus throughout the day more than I thought I would. I was relieved to come home and find him happy as can be with vohvoh, so from then on it has been fine. He even says bye-bye when I leave in the morning.

And we are down to one nursing a day. Working full time, I leave for work really early and since he started to drink whole milk I decided to cut the morning nursing. This was another sad day for me, but he didn't seem to miss it. I had been wanting to completely wean him, but with the way I felt giving up the morning one, I am not sure how soon I will want the bed time one go.

First Easter Egg Hunt

Gus went to his first egg hunt today. I found out at 10:30 AM and it would end 12:30, so we decided to go suddenly, we still got there in time to do some things. Gus did not like taking his picture with the easter bunny, but I can't blame him, it looked a little freaky. Otherwise, it was an okay event, still worthwhile because Gus had fun.

Gus eating apple

Teagan's Birthday

Saturday Gus woke up super clingy and fussy because of the shots the previous day, but I really wanted to go to the party to see Joe, Laura and Miss T. He met Kendall, Jen and Bobby and loved the buzz with all the kids around. It was good that we went, going out improved his mood and we had fun at the park. Teagan was so cute, and like Gus, she chomped down that 1st birthday cake! Gus thanks Teagan for the turtle puzzle, he really likes it! ;)

12 Month check up

After a long day flight back to the US, Gus was grumpy for a couple of days. But as soon as things were starting to settle back to normal, we had his 12 month appointment. Doctor said he is doing great, even though I am a little concerned that his percentiles are on the low end. Problem was he took 3 shots that day, one on one arm and one on each thigh. One of the shots left him with a hot red bump on one thigh that didn't go away for 5 days, poor guy. He is 29 1/2 inches tall and 20.2 lbs.

Parque Lage

Parque Lage is a park a few minutes down the road from my parents apartment. It was pretty neat to go there because we were surprised by this gang of monkeys! We were lucky to go there on a monday morning, a lot of people have pick nicks there on sunday so the monkeys were having their time with the leftover trash.

But Gus was more impressed by a little girl that was screaming at the monkeys then by the monkeys themselves. In any case, it was a cool way to spend our last day in Rio.

Gabriel's Birthday

Sunday was Gabriel's party, Gustavo's second cousin who is just one day younger than him. Gabriel is such a cute and easy going little guy, and Gustavo enjoyed playing with him, his other second cousin Vitor who is about a month younger, and some other of Gabriel's friends.

It was also good for mom and dad to just enjoy the party, because during Gustavo's birthday we barely had time to sit down and eat. Unfortunetely their stay in Rio was also short, so hope to get the kids together again in the future so they can get to know each other.

Birthday Party

Saturday we had Gus' first birthday party. He had fun with, getting all the attention from everybody, specially his godfather, and even though he got tired he kept a reasonable mood until the end.

The party was a success thanks to the help of so many people: cousin Amanda with the place and last minute details, aunt Marci and uncle Nando and aunt Graca with the food, aunt Ceci for finding the tables and chairs, and even cousin Deborah and aunt Marta helped with clean up! (Oscar speech, I know). Thanks everybody and anybody I might have forgotten, and everybody who came to celebrate, helping make this such a special day for Gus. :)

Boy from Ipanema

We finally took Gus to the beach and his debut was at Ipanema. Early on a weekday was perfect the perfect, not crowded, not too hot, and waves were just right.

I thought he'd be afraid of the water because it was a bit cold, but he absolutely loved it. Whenever I tried to have him walk away from the water, he would turn around and walk towards it. He also loved playing with the sand and seemed to like getting it all over him, and luckily didn't attempt to brush his eyes or mouth. He even ate these air cookies sold by street vendors that walk around the beach, and loved them like mommy does.

I was well worth it waiting to only take him during the trip to Rio because it was such a pleasant experience for all of us, also you can't beat that view!

Birthday

The week in Rio was busy, visiting everybody and finishing up the details for the birthday party. So Gustavo's actual birthday was spent at home, he opened some presents and had fun with the car he got from his godparents.

He reached a big milestone on his birthday, he started taking steps the week of the trip, but as we took him to play with his car at the open area down at the apartment, he was actually walking back and forth from mom to dad. He is such a strong little guy that he can walk holding a plastic bench my mom has.

He is very expressive, talks, points and gestures a lot and we love to pretend we understand him and talk along. He keeps adding words to his vocabulary "e-ia" (meia, sock in portuguese) and says "in-da" (dinda - pet name for godmother) when we work on it with him. He will ask for water even when his cup is not in sight ("a" or "a-da", agua in portuguese), and we better listen to him on this one or he gets upset if we don't give it to him right away.

I can't believe a year ago I had that little helpless being and he is up to so much now. Gustavo, we love you so much and are so proud of you, we couldn't ask for anything more!

Uncle Fernando's House

Sunday we went to Uncle Fernando's House, which is 1 1/2 hours from Rio. The house is great and he had a big barbecue for us. Gus had a ball, he spent most of the time in a basin filled with water, and between the god parents, grand parents, and Duda Mel (the dog) he was busy and happy all day. At night the heat got to him, so we ended up coming back next day, but we hope to come back to spend some relaxing time in the future.

Christening

Gus met his Godmother, Andreia, the day before, and his Godfather Guto the day of his Christening, and he loved them right away.

The ceremony was great, it took place at the chapel of a nunnery (Convento das Clarissas), and it was very close and personal. The priest (Frei Bras) really engaged Gus, and he only whimpered when he first got his forehead wet.

The priest said it was Gus - and not mom and dad - who chose the godparents, and I truly believe that.

We are so happy Gus is so loved, and are glad to know he will have such amazing people for support and guidance through his life. Thanks Guto and Andy. :)

Aunt Marci - Thanks for the delicious lunch we had afterwards, Aunt Graca, he loves the Inseparable Bible and aunt Simone, mommy will fill out the history of the Baptism book as soon as she has time! Thank you!

Trip to Brazil

Gustavo's first plane trip was a very long one, thankfully it was overnight. We were able to use the basinet they provide in the plane, and it worked well for the first 3 to 4 hours of the flight. After that Gus started streching, and since the basinet was not big enough he woke up and from then on we could not get him to lay on it. He didn't sleep well after that, and only wanted daddy to hold him. Then we had a long 2 hour lay over in Sao Paulo where he napped a bit on the moby wrap. When we finally made it to Rio he conked out in the car ride from the airport, and took naps in the afternoon.

The first night was rough with him waking up a lot, but it was all it took for him to adapt to all the changes in time and routine, and he did pretty well for the most part after that.

He loved meeting everybody: Uncle Nando, aunt Marci, cousin Bernardo, grandpa and grandma (vovo and vohvoh), aunt Graca, cousins Amanda and Clarinha, that just on that first day!

Gus and Kaytlin Birthday

Since we are going to be traveling for Gustavo's birthday, we did a small celebration together with Kaytlin who turned 2 in February for the family here. Gus loved his smash cake!

First Steps

A couple of days ago we were trying to get Gus to stand up. He stood there for a few seconds and ended up taking his first 2 steps March 2nd! These were very "stumbly" and quick, and daddy caught him just in time.

Yesterday we were practicing standing up and he is getting better at it, now standing for at least 5 seconds - but no steps. But today he stood there and took a few steps again, full 4 steps towards his walker. He has done it a few times already, so it looks like walking is just around the corner.

Hugs, Pointing

Daddy taught Gus to give hugs, if we are holding him and we say "hug" he will lay his head down on our shoulders for a few seconds. He is such a sweet little guy.

And now he learned to point with his index finger. This is cute, but I am not sure I like this so much. I will have to hide the baby treat boxes that usually sit on our kitchen table, because he clearly points to them during his meals now.

Hello, daddy?

Since he got a toy phone for Christmas Gus knows to put the phone to his ear. And for a few weeks now, daddy has been calling from work once a day, and Gus "talks" to him (says "da-da" when he hears daddy's voice).

One evening I was in the middle of brushing his teeth when the phone rang. I was going to ignore it because it was his bed time routine and I didn't want to interrupt. When Gus noticed I wasn't paying attention to the phone, he put his hand to his ear and said "da-da?", looking at me like "you are not going to get that?". He amazes us more and more everyday. :)

(it wasn't da-da on the phone by the way, but he got to talk to vohvoh).

Hollywood Studios

Last Sunday was such a beautiful day, it was great to be able to spend it at Hollywood Studios. Since we thought there wasn't as much for Gus to see, we took the time at the character greeting lines and Gus got pictures with Goofy, Mickey and characters from the movie Up. He had a blast at the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground. He liked the Little Mermaid and the Mickey Club House shows, but if you ever go, skip the Narnia Prince Caspian thing (it was just very lame). We had fast passes to go on the Rock'n'Roller coaster and took turns going, but by that time it was 6 pm and luckily Gus fell asleep so he didn't feel like he was just waiting. Another fun day, too bad there is only one left. We will probably wait to go to Epcot when it has the Flower & Garden festival.

11 Months

11 Months... next one will be the Big One, Gus!

This time he really ate his cake, and was so happy with the gifts daddy got him: Ernie and a rubber ducky.

As for milestones, he is still only cruising and loves to walk with his walk behind toy. We got him to stand up for just a couple of seconds here and there, but as soon as he figures out what we are trying to do he sits down, he really does not like for us to let go of his hands. His balance is improving though, he can walk with me holding just one hand, still he prefers to have a hold of both.

I think he is starting to name stuff, he is usually pretty consistent, "ba" for banana (he even recognized them in the supermarket), also "ta" for the cats (even though it seems most things are "ta" now), da-da for daddy, "pa" for his foot (because it is "pe" in portuguese and it is in a song I sing a lot for him). And me, I am mostly "ba-ba". If I try to teach him the "m" sound by making "mmmmmmm-ma" he goes "mmmmmmm-ba", it is cute. He will get it, I've heard some "ma"s before, usually if he is babbling in angry mode.

He is about 20 lbs and 28 1/2 inches long.

Full smile, "Didn't", Claps

On the teeth front Gus has 2 more coming out, one on each side on the bottom, so it looks like he will have all 8 front teeth showing for his birthday. :)

"Bu-tah" is gone, but now he is saying something that sounds like "didn't". Whenever he comes up with these words he repeats them over and over, so it is funny that he says "didn't, didn't, didn't" and we are like "didn't what, Gus?" :)

And finally, after trying to teach him for months, he is clapping! My mother would try to teach him but at that point he was too young and he didn't really pay any attention. Recently, he would bang things together and sometimes clap one hand open but the other closed, but this monday he finally got it. It is not "patty cake" because I mostly try to talk to him in portuguese, but he understands when I ask him to clap, and he has also been clapping to music on his own. :)

Puppet Show

For V-day we took Gus to the Puppet Show in the Altamonte Mall. We saw "The Frog Prince: A Love Story". Gus enjoyed it in the beginning, but was losing interest half-way through it, I had to keep pointing things out and whispering on his ear to keep him from crawling away. The show was short enough so that was not for too long, and me and David enjoyed it and want to go back. Couldn't take pictures there, but I got this from their web site:

Gus likes Gus

After we took the Christmas pictures at Sears we took a survey and they gave us a free 16x20 portrait in return. We finally picked it up and I already had the frame bought and all, so I put it in the frame as soon as we got home, and Gus really likes the baby in the picture (and so does Michi).

Amends with the hat

I've been keeping the "scary hat" around and have been playing with him, by putting it on me, or putting objects in it, and Gus finally is okay with it. So I was able to take my desired picture, too late for the birthday invitations but I used it in a label to attach to the party favor boxes, and I am very pleased with the way it came out. This is the picture I used for the labels:

And this is how the labels and invitation turned out (portuguese because the party will be in Brazil):

Magic Kingdom, First haircut

When I heard about the "Baby First Hair Cut" at the barbershop at Magic Kingdom that sealed the deal for us getting the 4 day pass - had to have Gus first haircut there! So we went this past sunday, and even though it was really cold it was a wonderful day.

We started with the hair cut and he did great, they really know how to keep the babies distracted, so Gus had a great time during the whole process, just playing with the stickers they put on him and the little Mickey-light-thingy she had me hold for him. He got his Mickey ears that say "First Hair Cut" and this certificate:

Then we started walking around and pretty much stopping at every attraction that had no wait and Gus could go. We think Tomorrowland was his favorite place to walk around, it really caught his eyes and he kept looking up at the planets and everything up there. We stumbled across a couple of parades and he enjoyed those, he liked "It is a Small World" and we even took him in the Haunted Mansion - which to him, lights and things moving around, all the same, not scary. The only thing missing was pictures with the characters, but the lines for those always seemed pretty big and we didn't want to waste that much time just waiting in line.

It was a long day for him, we were in the park from 10 AM to 7PM, but we couldn't have asked for him to be any better. I had been to the Magic Kingdom once before, and I confess - going only as an adult I thought it was a bit lame - I was always a roller coaster kind of gal'. But going back with Gus gave the park a whole new dimension - I enjoyed the "silly" things and everything else through him and I can see now why kids love it so much. We really didn't want the day to end.

Bu-tah

We are calling it the first word he made up.

A couple of days ago he woke up saying this over and over and hasn't stopped since, dad says he is a "butist". :)

Oh, and he is saying da-da, no signs of ma-ma yet...

Does this look scary?

Well, Gus thinks it does...

I decided on the theme for his first birthday (jungle animals/safari), and I ordered the helmet because I planned to have a picture of him wearing it on the invitation and also have him wear it at the party.

It didn't work out... for some reason he is terrified of the hat! I've been keeping it around to see if he gets used to it, but if I show it to him he still acts very reserved and won't touch it, and gets upset even if I wear it... it is kind of funny, but not really.

I guess I'll never know what goes on that little mind of his.

Animal Kingdom

I didn't intend to take Gus to Disney so young because I wanted him to really enjoy the visit, but the 4-day deal for Florida residents is really good and we couldn't pass it.

We didn't regret it - Gus enjoyed it fine! We got there around 11:30 AM and decided to head for the Finding Nemo musical show. I thought it was going to be good for him - but only after seating down we found out it was going to be a 40 minute show, yikes! In the beginning he was really watching everything - but then it turned into the stare and he ended up falling asleep half way through it. That turned out being okay, we were able to enjoy it and he rested a bit, which kept him happy for the afternoon.

He didn't care about the animals as much as I thought he would - even in the petting zoo the animals didn't catch his attention too much, but he enjoyed looking at the colorful decorations everywhere. He liked the birds flying over us in the bird show and liked taking pictures with the characters we found - he would always try to grab them (sorry Pocahontas...).

Next: Magic Kingdom, we are looking forward to it! :)

10 Months

Gus 10 month birthday started again with a cake, this time baked by Daddy - Daddy should be the cake baker from now on, it was much better than mommy's. :)

For a gift, he got these soft blocks that I sewed from his receiving blankets, each one with a letter to spell GUS. It was a lot of work to sew the letters, but I am happy with the end result - Gus likes them (probably more due to the bells that ring great thanks to a contraption that daddy came up with) .

We weighed and measured him today and came up with about the same numbers from his last appointment a couple of weeks ago. I tend to worry a bit about him not gaining weight, but I suppose he is fine, he looks and is very healthy.

Not much progress on the talking area, still no ma-ma or da-da, but he started saying sa-sa. When we try to have him say something new, he likes to pass his tongue around his lips and wants us to imitate him instead. Kid likes to be in control. :P

He is still cruising, and is walking much better with his walk-behind toy, can only stand unsupported for a few seconds, but has only done it a couple of times.

He smiles so much now and is figure out things, from day to day we see how he plays with his toys differently, how he points and looks and so on, our little guy is always amazing us.

Leu Gardens, long cold

Since I was off from work monday we decided to go to story time at Leu Gardens which happens every first monday of the month. It was nice and we took a stroll of the gardens afterwards, and even though it was really cold, Gus enjoyed playing in the grass.

Tuesday we had his 9 month appointment. His nose was starting to run and he didn't gain any weight in a month but they didn't seem to worry, the doctor said he is perfect. He eats a lot and very well, he is probably not gaining as much weight because he is on the move all the time nowadays. We even call him Pacman because if he sees one of us eating something he will come clear across the room with his mouth going "open/close/open/close", and we have to give him something or he'll fuss.

Well, the runny nose plus the shots at the appointment turned into a really bad night sleep and full blown cold. He is still really stuffed up today, going on a week long cold. I feel so bad to see him suffer to eat and sleep and can't help but feel guilty for taking him out in the cold. :S

Christmas

Gus had a great first Christmas! The morning of Christmas eve we had our little Christmas at home since we were going to Grandma Sue that day. On the previous night, dad had arrived home with a bag from work: his friend Ken had got Gus gifts! Gus liked the frog (which we named Ken) but loved the busy balls. Thanks Ken, we thought that was so sweet. Gus liked ripping the paper from all the gifts we had for him, and his favorite toy was a little train.

Christmas day was long, but Gus did great, even though he got overwhelmed by the dogs a couple of times. I can't blame him, 4 big hyper dogs will overwhelm anyone. He again enjoyed ripping his gifts open and loved every one of them: a book and frogs from aunt Vicky, activity cube from Grandma, a book from aunt Kim and a walk-behind toy from Santa (plus a bunch of toys from Kaytlin).

Back at home on the 26th Christmas kept going: he got a box from Brazil with toys from Vohvoh: a Woody-woodpecker and a toy telephone.

Thanks everyone for making Gustavo's first Christmas so special!

9 Months

His 9 month appointment won't be until January 5th, but mommy couldn't resist doing the measurements and taking the pictures around his birthday. Looks like he is still around 19 pounds, so weight gain has slowed down and it looks like he grew another 1/2 inch, total 27 1/2".

The ma-ma and da-da sounds are long gone, his thing is with "B": "a-ba", "ba-ba", "buh", "hum-bu" and he loves to blow raspberrys. He figured out he is Mr. Funny Guy when he does this forced laugh - gets us laughing every time. He has also been doing this face, folding his bottom lip out:

He crawls everywhere, is cruising on furniture and doesn't seem to slow down for one second, always reaching, banging, grabbing and so on. Gus in one word at 9 months: "rambunctious".

2 More

Or maybe actually 4 more. Again it seems out of the blue we saw 2 coming out - top canines. The other two we see the bubbles and a little white but still under the gum. These will be his front top 2, so soon he will have 4 teeth on top. My poor shoulders, he already loves to bite!

Santa Pictures

Here is Gus with Santa, he did great, he started a sour face a bit afterwards when Santa moved him from one leg to the other but even then it was just a cute uncertain look that I wish I had on camera! :)

Afterwards we let Gus play at the play area and he had a ball, he really likes to be among kids, specially when there is a lot of running around.

Gus loves boxes

Well, I guess all kids do, right? And Christmas time + online shopping have given him some great "toys".

Christmas Pictures

With the arrival of Landon (Gustavo's newest second cousin) Aunt Vicky wanted to get Christmas pictures with all the babies. So we drove all the way to Jacksonville to meet Landon (who is about 3 weeks old) and get the pictures. They were really backed up at the studio and we had to wait over an hour to get started. But even with that and the drive, Gus did really great. Landon is so cute and was such a trooper during that time as well, he is such a calm baby! The wait got to Kaitlyn though, and when it was time to get her pictures she did not want anything to do with the camera. So we only got a couple of pictures of the 3 kids together, which show the desperation in trying to get them. :P

We will just try to get pictures Christmas day at home where it won't be intimidating for the little ones, I am sure they will come out fine. :)

Today we lowered the crib

We really should have done this a week ago because we keep finding him sitting up, and from that it doesn't take him much to get up. We procrastinated a bit partly because of lack of time, but I also didn't want to do it because I was afraid how it would be to put him all the way down there when he is asleep. Also, it made me sad to see it so low, yet another sign that he grows so fast.

But when I put him down for a nap this afternoon it was no problem at all, and he slept for almost 2 hours which is extremely rare for him, so I am hoping the lower crib did the trick!

Happy Thanksgiving

Indeed it was. It was great to see Gus enjoy his first thanksgiving. He played with cousin Kaitlyn and loved the excitement of the dogs and cats around, not counting all the attention he gets from Grandma and Aunt Vicky.

Gus is truly blessed to have such wonderful loving families, and for that we are really thankful.

Vohvoh went back again

Wednesday we dropped vohvoh in the airport again, and it seems Gus misses her. In his bed time routine we say good night to everybody, and when it comes time to say good night to her he looks at her room expecting her to appear.

He already "talked" to her on the phone and recognized her voice, we will just keep showing him pictures and have them talk so he doesn't forget her much.

8 Months

On his birthday Gus woke up with the sniffles for the first time, and he is still getting over that cold.

He has taken a few "steps" of crawling on all fours, but for the most part he crawls on his elbows and gets from point A to point "hey you can't touch this" really quick.

I miss the peaceful diaper changes on his changing table because lately it has been like WWE SmackDown with the twisting and turning and pulling and kicking.

We've found him standing on the crib a couple of times, so it is time to lower it, but because he is starting to pick himself up we got him an activity table and he loves it.

He stopped babbling, will only have a day or another here and there when he "talks", mostly now he says "aaaaahhh", but he is clearly understanding meaning of certain words now, and we even think he says "aaahhhh" for "Agua" (water in portuguese). :P

The stats: he is about 19 lbs and 27 inches long.

Halloween

Halloween was such a busy fun day. In the morning mom went for the swimming class for the first time (it was supposed to be a dad thing but dad wasn't feeling good in the morning), and mommy loved it, we can see Gus enjoying each class more and more.

Than we carved a pumpkin (actually mommy's first one) and Gus liked helping with the sliminess.

And for the evening, Gus had this spider costume (thanks Joe and Laura), and we took pictures at Sears with it (will post when I get them), but we ended up getting this skeleton onesie because it was so hot. We went to the Halloween event at the local police department and we think Gus had a good time. They had a balloon guy and Gus got - you guessed - a frog!

So sweet

This has been one of his new trends, cute poses on his hands when he is in his high chair. Problem is, he does that while eating too, and since the bibs don't cover his arms feedings are requiring full change of clothes and wipe-downs.

He has also been giving kisses, I love me some "Snuggle-berry pie". :)

7 Months

Wow, it feels like as the months go by, time goes by even faster... and Gus keeps on growing, he is about 26 1/2 inches long and weighs around 19 pounds. He scoots but hasn't locked in one method yet, sometime he scoots and rolls, sometimes pushes with his legs, sometimes pulls himself with his arms, but is definetely on the move and we will be babyproofing this weekend (hopefully!).

We took him to the zoo for his birthday but I don't think he enjoyed as much as I expected. I thought he'd love to watch the animals because he is really aware even of squirrels when we go for a walk, but I guess he was tired. He still is not a good napper and fell asleep on dad at the very end only because he was exausted. At least he wasn't too fussy and we still had a good time.

Here he is, first thing in the morning:

Gus in the pumpkin patch

Fall Festival, Story time

We've been keeping Gus busy on the weekends because he seems so bored at home.

Last sunday we made it to the Fall Festival at the church and he liked riding in the little train (well, that was pretty much the only thing he could do there, so we rode 3 times), but he enjoyed seeing all the buzz.

Monday I took the the day off because we had carpet installed in the new room and to go away from the smell for story time at the library. We never saw Gus so happy, it was great!

Our little pisces

Our little fishy had his first swim lesson today and loved it! In fact, I don't know who enjoyed it most, if it was him or daddy. :) The teacher was great, and daddy and Gus even did the hokey pokey, too funny! It will be a total of 8 lessons at the Y on saturdays, and we are already looking forward to the next one. Check out the videos too.

On a side note, being there made mommy want to go back really bad to the workout classes, but right now I feel it would cut down on the time I have with Gus. New Year's resolution, maybe?

Gus in a pot of Honey

Uncle Jack did this, showing off his photoshop skills. :P

Kinda about Gus

Also yesterday Grandma Sue and Aunt Mary came to visit, and brought this very cool graduation gift for Dad:

First Tooth-asus

Gus got his first two teeth, the bottom front ones, which started to break through the skin (or at least it's when I noticed) yesterday.

I should have known, he was just not being himself last week, grumpy, fighting the naps like crazy, night wakings, trouble nursing, you name it - I was really getting frustrated and at a loss.

I wasn't checking his gums because during his 6 months appointment the doctor said they were far away. I should have realized 2 weeks is a long time at this point. I actually found them by accident, he was being very fussy and I just ended up putting my finger on his mouth to let him suck on it, and that is when I felt the serrated edges of the teeth. Later in the day we went for a walk and I saw them and they even show in the picture:

SOoooo... I am glad they showed up and I am hoping that is the explanation for his behavior lately, but sheeshhh.... is it going to be like this for every tooth? Yikes.

6 Months - the brag post

Ooops... Gus turning 6 months was not only about getting vaccines.

He is able to sit up on his own and really doesn't fall down anymore but we have to be close by because he throws himself back sometimes really hard. But he did great when we went to get his pictures taken:

That day we stopped by the play area at the mall and he loved to see all the kids running around, I have to find something for him to do with other kids.

He is babling a lot and clearly says da-da, I haven't really caught a good ma-ma yet, but I love to hear anything he has to say, even his screeches. :)

Sleeping is becoming more challenging. He rolls easy from back to tummy but mostly not the other way, so if he does that during the night sometimes he wakes up crying and doesn't go back to sleep without one of us rocking him. Also the already short naps he takes are becoming more sporadic and he is fighting it harder to fall asleep. I really hope this is just a phase that will pass soon.

6 Month appointment

We had his 6 month appointment a little early, on the 14. Gus is such an "average guy", 17.7 lbs, 26" tall, both around the 50th percentile. Same shots this time, but I knew what to expect: fussiness for a couple of days, a little fever and what looks like a sore thigh with the usual red warm bump. :(

Curry face / First time at Church

It is official, Gus ate out for the first time this saturday at Sweet Tomatoes. We went there to celebrate vohvoh's birthday. It was time for him to eat and he would would not nurse there - too distracted. After trying mashing some cantaloupe and that not working at all, we decided let's just eat quickly and go home. One of the soups was vegetarian yellow split pea soup. When I tried it, it had a really light curry flavor and it looked like just like his peas at home. So we went for it, mixed a little bit of water and he liked it! =)

Also for vohvoh's birthday she asked that we try going to Mess, we went sunday morning at the 7:30 AM - good time because it matches his morning walk. We stayed in the cry room just in case, he "sang" and fussed a bit towards the end, but overall he behaved really good.

Bananarama

Gus loving bananas in the mesh feeder:

Labor day

Gus did good in the 3 hour trip over an back from Grandma's and had a busy saturday: He was excited to see cousin Kaitlyn, play in the exersaucer, touch the dogs, spend time with his Grandma, aunts and uncles. He even met his aunt AnnMarie with his cousin baby Landon who is due in november.

Lots of playing and little sleeping got him way off his napping schedule which resulted in bad sleeping at night which meant cranky Gus on Sunday. He was okay in the morning and during the only nap he took, Grandma Sue sewed this book I got for him. I feel sorry to come up with a project and end up having her do it, this happened with his first blanket too... but she says she enjoys it, so hey! I really appreciate it, especially because I lack the time and patience nowadays. She does it with such love and care, I am sure Gus will treasure these when he gets older. Here is the picture of the page where she embroidered his name:

Monday, at home, Gus did his catch up: the poop as discussed in the previous post, and in the afternoon he had the longest nap in months, over 3 hours straight. He usually naps 45, 50 minutes tops! We were worried and kept checking on him, and when he finally woke up he was in a great mood. We then set up the pool outside again and it seems he is starting to enjoy it, reaching for toys, splashing the water and so on. It was a great weekend, and not only about poo after all. :P

A post about poo

Yes, my life has been so eventful these days that I find poo interesting enough to post about. Gus is a very regular, once a day type of guy in that department. I guess after peas, lentils and carrots his system had to shut down for an upgrade. :)

So after 3 days of no poo we stated to worry a bit. We were at grandma Sue's house for the weekend and we thought that plus being tired from not napping well was making Gus a bit cranky.

At her suggestion we gave him a little water with karo. And then next day - labor day, Habemos poop! Habemos poop 3 times! And sooo stinky! It is definetely a new stage, mommy now is a little grossed out about the poopy diapers... :S

Give peas a chance

I couldn't resist adding an entry with this title, I loved it when I saw it in a peace sign onesie. :P

He adapted to the cereal better, so we thought we'd give peas a... try. This is the messiest peas face I got.

Indoors Pool

Bath time is one of Gustavo's favorite times, so we figured he'd like a pool. So sunday we were going to set it up outside in the backyard, but since the weather was looking stormy we just put it in our "ex-porch-forever-under-construction-hopefully-one-day-will-be-an-office" room.

In the beggining he has not really liking it but didn't cry, and once we put him in the float he was enjoying it more. If the weather is good we'll try again this weekend and hopefully he'll like it better at a warmer setting.

5 Months

Tuesday Gus turned 5 months and as usual it is an excuse for vohvoh to bake a cake "for Gus". ;)

He still is not good at rolling and I keep trying to practice with him, but he just doesn't get what to do with his arms yet. So I am thinking he might skip crawling, we'll see. He does love to stand up and we pretty much have to make him sit down, because I am afraid he'll get bow legged standing up so much.

It has been a month he has had the jumperoo and he could be the poster child for that thing. He got pretty well coordinated "dancing", his legs go left-right-left-right... We always get a kick out of watching him on it. :D

And our little guy keeps getting bigger, 17 lbs and 26" long. Mommy loves his chunky thighs. :)

Eating cereal

At almost 5 months, last saturday we decided to have Gus start eating rice cereal. This was mainly because during the week when he gets a bottle of breast milk in the afternoon sometimes he seems hungry afterwards.

We did it saturday and sunday and he seemed okay with it - definetely not loving it, and he only really ate a couple of spoons.

I think he knew what we were up to because this week I was told he seemed totally satisfied after each bottle, apparently he did not anymore of that goop! :P

Dad's graduation

Yesterday Gus got to attend daddy's big day! We were worried how he would do because those cerimonies can be long and boring but he did great. Well, he had his grandma and vohvoh there, and also his aunt Vicky. She really is a baby whisperer, whenever he started fussing she was able to calm him down - thank you aunt Vicky!

Here is his Class of 09 picture, and here more pictures.

My clone

Gus had a really busy day today with going to the aiport in the morning and doctor's office in the afternoon.

It had been two weeks after his 4 month appointment and that was the day the doctor noticed this "diaper rash" on his front area. The doctor dismissed as possible allergy to something I ate and not to worry about it.

I thought it was maybe soy milk I had been drinking, but two weeks later the rash would not go away and was riding up his belly. So I decided to switch pediatricians because even though I liked the doctors there I thought they don't address an issue as quickly as they should and we were never too wild about the staff. Also I read about types of rashes and from the descriptions I thought he should have known those were not likely food allergy.

So far so good at the new office. The doctor described the problem as sensitive skin and prescribed hidrocortizone for 5 days. My mother said I had the same issues as an infant so it turns out Gus really is my clone, down to my skin problems... :s

Grandma and VohVoh

Last weekend Gus got to spend 3 days with his Grandma Sue and he loves the extra attention. One cute thing he started doing when she was here was he started with these very poutty lips. She started calling him lippy, which we thought was pretty funny and we laughed. In turn, that made Gus think it was funny and crack a smile and almost laugh. So he got in this cycle pout/laugh that was soo cute and funny and kept us all laughing for a while. :D

And today we went to pick up his other grandma (VohVoh) at the airport. He smiled when he saw her and she says it is because he remembers her. ;)

In any case, he was happy to see her, here are pictures of his smiles at the airport.

First Laugh

He laughed! And I consider it my first "dated" first because...

Rolling over: even though I was there when it happened I was so zoned in with taking pictures that Dad had to tell me it happened, so I count as his first.

Smiles: since babies have involuntary ones in the beggining I am not sure when they started to happen on purpose.

Sleep through the night: I didn't note the date, maybe out of shock of it suddenly happening and fear of it being a fluke (and thank God and knock on wood he has pretty much been doing it ever since).

This is how it happened: yesterday evening I thought I'd give the Moby carrier another try - I had stopped using it about a month ago because Gus was not liking it anymore. So I go in front of the mirror to put him in and he felt so snug and secure and seemed so happy in it that I started to jiggle a bit and sing-say "Moby Gus, Moby Gus". That gave him the big smiles, and I guess that and being in front of the mirror seeing the smiling baby made him laugh! I kept doing it and he kept laughing until he got hiccups from it... It was one of the cutest things I've seen so far! And we were able to "reproduce it" today, but it took a lot more work (blowing raspberrys + jumping up and down + us laughing + mirror). A workout I tell you, but totally worth it! :)

GIMP

Is an image manipulating software that daddy downloaded and was playing with, and fixed one of mommy's fuzzy pictures to look cool with the watercolor effect:

4 Month appointment

Gus went for his appointment today and everything looks fine, he is doing everything that is expected of him at this age and is growing great, so we will likely wait 'till 6 months to start solids. His weight is 15 lb 8 oz and he is 25.5 inches long, both in the 75th percentile, head circunference in the 50th percentile.

He took his vaccinnes today and cried with tears which breaks my heart, and cried all the way home (he doesn't usually like the car seat anyway, so adding the pain in his thighs to that doesn't help). But he was ok as soon as we got home and is sleeping right now. Hopefully he'll just go through the night like that.

The rattle

We went grocery shopping sunday and as usual end up getting something for Gus. This time it as a $2 rattle. Guess what? It is his favorite toy, over the $80 jumperoo... :P

It has the great feature "can be put in mouth" - which is the one he cares about the most right now. :D

4 Months

Saturday Gus turned 4 months old and we think he had a very nice happy birthday. We got him a jumperoo and he already seemed excited about it while dad was putting it together. And when we first put him on it we were talking to grandma Socorro via Skype and she got to see it "live", which was pretty cool.

Later we were doing tummy time, just taking pictures of him and I was clicking away and he rolled over for the first time, right at his 4 month old birtnday! It was funny because I didn't even realize at first, Dad was the one that said "he just rolled over" and I was like "oh, yeah, I guess he did"! I reviewed the pictures and it was there.. hehehe. We think it was kind of an accident because he hasn't done it again since - he still doesn't like to be on his tummy for too long and after a little while just buries his face.

We go to the doctor for his appointment on wednesday - not looking forward to the shots. At least we'll know how big he has gotten. He looks way bigger and is getting too long for his 3-6 month sleep-n-plays. How heavy depends on how tired I am... ;)

10 year anniversary

Last thursday July 9th was our 10th wedding anniversary.

First, we got a new camera which we've been enjoying by taking tons of pictures of Gus (as if we were not taking enough pictures before). We got some very funny goofy faces.

And to celebrate we took a few days off to spend together at home and we went to Rainbow Springs over the weekend. It was Gustavo's first big outing and he did great. We took him to K.P. Hole County Park on Saturday and dipped his feet in the water. Next day we went to the Rainbow Springs State Park - we skipped the water there but took a nice walk around. We had a great time and can't wait to go back when he is old enough to go tubing!

4th of July

No, we didn't do anything special or went anywhere for the 4th... I am just sitting here, dreading these fireworks, thinking it is a miracle Gus hasn't woken up with them yet. Some of them are pretty close and very loud. UGH! Whoever invented these didn't have a sleeping baby around...

I uploaded some pics of Gus in the high chair. I used to have him sit by us whenever we are eating at his bouncy seat, but it just didn't feel right to have him so close to the floor. So since he is holding his head a little better, we set him in his high chair and he seems to like it better! He is still exclusively breastfeeding though. :)

Oh, we also gave him a "test-drive" on the walker, he seemed to enjoy it a bit but I think he is still too small, he was basically leaning against the front and his feet could not touch the ground yet. We'll try again in a couple of weeks.

And to take my mind of the d*** fireworks I "andywarholized" a picture we took today, I think it came out decent for using "Paint"!

Father's day

On Father's day we went to Sears to get family portraits. Gus would not smile for the camera for anything, he was just too curious with the new surroundings and kept looking around. But we can't complain, he did great even with the outfit changes and we love the end result. After that we planned to hang out at Crane's Roost but it was just too hot a day, so we just chilled at home. It was great to have such a relaxing family day. Here is Gus and dad with his "Daddy is my super hero" outfit. :)

3 Months

Gus turned 3 months on the 18th, but only today did we have time to weigh, measure and take "3 month" pictures with him. Yeah, I am crazy and have to have this ritual with tons of pictures, but he did great (even after a trip to target and home depot!).

He is about 14 to 15 pounds, can't be sure with my crappy scale at home and pretty much 24 inches long. Growing so much, so fast!

Oh, mommy also found the "black and white" feature on the camera, so here is my favorite from that:

Happy times

Gus is not too much into tummy time, but last tuesday I propped him up with the boppy and he enjoyed it for a couple of minutes. This is way better then crying right away! This worked a little bit yesterday too.

We also get a kick out of him at the changing table, we have these shelves with stuffed animals, and he is now always very amused by the feet of the bear hanging down, his smiles are so cute!

I am also much happier with his trend of sleeping from about 9pm to 5am. Even though 5 am is really early for me, some days he goes right back to sleep until like 7, some not. But I can't complain - so refreshing to sleep 6-7 hours in a row! :)

Gus and his froggy

Yesterday while mommy was changing Gus he discovered one of the frogs she painted for him. He was talking to it and laughing at it. It was so funny and we were lucky to both be here for it.

Visit to Grandma's

Last weekend Gus took his first trip to Grandma Sue and Aunt Vicky's house. It is a 3 hour car ride and Gus is not a fan of the carrier. He was awake and happy when it started but had a melt down 30 minutes into the trip. We had to stop to calm him down and after that was great - he slept the rest of the way. The way back was hard though, had to stop a few times and he didn't sleep even after nursing.

He had a great time there - Grandma Sue and Aunt Vicky are great with him and they always make sure to make things perfect for us. It was fun to watch him with Kaitlyn (and her bit of jealousy - so cute!). And of course they always send us home with a ton of stuff. Again we appreciate! Thanks Heather, Vicky and Sue for everything!

While there he also met cousin Heather and aunt Kim. That's all aunts and uncles on his dad's side, so now he needs to meet his uncle Fernando on my side. We hope we can do this soon! :)

Uncle Jack visits, Grandma Socorro goes back

Memorial day weekend was busy and sad for Gus. Saturday we got a visit from uncle Jack and his wife all the way from Ohio. There are some great pictures of Grandma Sue with Gus from this visit.

Sunday we went out to eat and later to the airport to drop Grandma Socorro. She had some issues come up suddenly and had to go back unexpectedly. Gus will for sure miss her, so will we as she is a great help, but she should be back as soon as possible. We got some pictures of Gus wearing "long jeans" for her as she is always amused by him wearing long pants. :)

Here is a picture of Gus predictable smile - we take a walk every morning and for over a week now he smiles and laughs at the car seat sun shade (not the toybar, go figure...)

2 Months

Gus had his 2 month appointment last thursday. He more than doubled his birth weight at 12 lbs 11 oz and is measuring 22 inches, so he is a little short for his weight. I guess mommy has been feeding him too often... ;)

He also had his shots, 3 pokes, ouch! That made for an interesting evening... I felt so bad for the guy, one of the shots made his thigh really sore. :(

Apart from that, being 2 months is fun! He really started to enjoy his toys, he will play in the baby gym for a good hour, and is starting to like the bouncy seat and swing. But the ceiling fan in our living room is still one of his favorite friends! He always likes staring at the black blades contrasting against the white ceiling.

We are also enjoying this age a lot, he is in a good mood more often and we can really get him to smile and coo at us. :)

Here is one of my favorite pictures from this period, Smoky watching over Gus playing:

Mother's day

I got a great smile from Gus for mother's day! He has been smiling for a little while now and I've been taking tons of pictures trying to catch one on camera, and on Mother's day there was this one of him smiling at me! :D

We had cake at home, late lunch at Jason's Deli and a very nice walk at Crane's Roost park at the end of the day. It was an absolute gorgeous day. :)

Back to Work

Yesterday was 6 weeks for Gus. I was dreading this because it meant I would go back to work. Well, turned out it wasn't that bad, and it actually gave me a feeling of being normal again. Nonetheless by 5 o'clock I am definetely missing him a lot and ready to go back home to him.

The challenge will be putting a couple of hours at home because it seems to me he is awake and usually cranky all day long. Thank God for my mother or this would be impossible...

I uploaded the pictures of his 5th week, check out how much he has grown:

Week 1

Week 5

1 Month Old

Saturday Gustavo turned 1 month old and we went to Oasis (cuban restaurant) to celebrate. It was the first time we went out to a restaurant with him. I was hoping he would sleep through it, but he wanted to enjoy it too I guess. ;) He was ok when we got there but got fussy and we had to hurry home. Later we took a walk around the lake and fed the ducks, but he again fussed when we tried to take his chair pictures.

Also sunday grandma Sue came visit with Aunt Mary (who made him a wonderful quilt). He fussed most of the time and got us all worried.

We should have known it would be that way, for the past week his sleep pattern has been deteriorating, he grunts, seems to be in pain and even cries while sleeping. So he is upset and very demanding most of the day. We called the ped yesterday (monday) and he got started on mylicon. He seems a little better today - fingers crossed.

Easter

For Easter Grandma Socorro made Gus a cake. Mom wanted to take pictures of him with his outfits and with the cake, but Gus was not up to Mom's plans... so he was not really happy. Sorry Gus, we will make it up to you next year. ;)

Also Dad gave him his first bottle of breast milk, I am not sure how that will work out since he chugged the whole thing in like 2 seconds (so it did not soothe him like nursing usually does).

Visiting Little Teagan

Yesterday we went to Joe and Laura's to meet Teagan and she is soooo beautiful! It was great to see how happy they are too! :) Laura looks really good, she seems to be handling that first week much better than I did. I felt like a zombie (and really, still kinda do...)

And what a difference a couple of weeks make at this point! Teagan is only 13 days younger than Gus but I was amazed to see how much smaller she is. I couldn't believe he too was that small just 2 weeks ago. I knew he had grown, but did not realize how much until I saw little Teagan. Cliche but so true, time flies with the little ones...

8 lbs!

Yesterday Gus was 3 weeks old, and from the 2 week appointment the doctor asked us to call if his cord stump hadn't fallen yet. So we did, and we had to go back today. He is already 8 lbs 1 oz!! That is over a pound in a week! She treated the cord with silver nitrate and said it should fall within a week, it is taking forever and driving me crazy.

The good thing is being over 8 lbs we thought we'd start graduating Gus from new born to 0-3 clothes, and took some chair pictures.

Due date

April 4th was Gustavo's original due date. I was so attached to it and really believed he would arrive today - even though it is very rare for babies to arrive right on the due date.

Well, he is 2 weeks and and 3 days old and the detail of the date does not matter, we are so happy he is here and doing great. We have some more pictures of him hanging out with dad, I also have been obsessed trying to get good tiny hands and feet shots. :)

Oh, Gustavo's friend Teagan Ripple did arrive late on the 31st. Congratulations Joe and Laura, she is adorable!

Baby Ripple should be here soon!

So today I get an email that Laura is in the hospital and her water broke. I am so excited for them!

Gus is being very good so I've been able to take it easy and actually catch up with updating his baby book, all these journal updates here (since his birth!) and I am constantly checking for updates on Baby Ripple. She should be here anytime now! :)

Cousin Kaytlin

Today Gus finally met cousin Kaytlin! She was sooo cute meeting "the baby", check out the really cute pictures. She also had fun with Gus' chair, we put the pictures in the chair section for comparison.

Grandma Sue and Aunt Vicky also brought some new born clothes that actually fit Gus, I was so worried he would arrive big that had hardly any on that size. The 0-3 months are still huge on him! So thanks Grandma!

Visit from the Ripple's

Today we had a visit from very pregnant Laura and Joe. She is due the day after Gustavo's estimated due date and looks very ready for her little girl. It must have been hard for her to come over so we really appreciate the visit, the gifts and the wonderful pictures they took of Gus.

We hope "Cricket" comes soon!

First Week updates

We've been busy keeping up with Gus schedule, taking pictures and so on.

Tuesday we thought he was a little jaundiced and went to the doctor. We saw Dr. Alber who was really nice. Gus had 15 billirubin, which is a little high, and he had us come back to see if the levels were moving and which way. Good news is he was already 6lbs 4oz, 2oz up from his birth weight.

So it is back to the Dr. on Wednesday, this time we saw Dr. Hillock who was also great. The levels were slightly higher (15.7), and we were trying to do the prescribed 10 minutes of indirect sun, which is hard to find at home. That was a good excuse to take Gus on the stroller for the first time, but since it was drafty we just went to the corner and back.

Another re-check with Dr. Hillock on Thursday showed the billi at 15.4, so since it is stable she said he should be better on his 2 week appointment, so we will try to keep up the sun until then. Gus weight was 6lbs 6oz.

As a week old Gustavo received an "international registered package": a gift from Andreia (cute blanket and outfit - Thanks aunt Andreia for everything and the card!) and also a really cute gift from work, check it out:

First chair pictures

At 5 days we took Gus first chair pictures. We will be taking those every month, it should give us a good idea of how big he is getting! :)

Busy first saturday

This morning we went for the 4 day old check up. Gustavo saw Dr. Chong and was 5 lbs 14 oz, so he did not lose too much from his birth weight. Interesting was he measured 18.75 inches, down from the 20 inches they measured at the hospital. I am attributing to his cone head coming down from birth.

In the afternoon Gus got to meet Grandma Sue and Aunt Vicki. Since dad is in such a hurry to see Gus walking, they brought a walker and other toys. Thanks Grandma Sue and Aunt Vicki! A few more pictures here.

Coming Home

The night from 3/18 to 3/19 was very restless at the hospital. Gustavo was fine, it was the hospital staff coming in every 5 minutes that bothered us.

My doctor had suggested I stay another night but after the first night experience I said I'd rather not. So she said as long as the pediatrician is ok with it, you can go home. It felt like forever waiting for the pediatrician to come discharge Gus, it was already after 2 pm when he came in.

After that, we had to wait for the nurse to fill out paperwork, and finally around 4 pm we got to come home with our little guy.

Hospital stay Pictures here.

March 19 was also cousin Gabriel's birth date! Since Gus ended up being 1 day older, he says: Welcome to the world cousin Gabriel!

Gustavo's Birth

Tuesday (St Patrick's day) at work I thought I was having braxton hicks when I was really in early labor. I had been having those "cramps" sporadically since the night before.
When I got home from work I was still in denial that it was labor and started going to contractionmaster.com to time them.

David came to have dinner with me at home at 10 pm. We called the hospital and since I explained the contractions were not exactly 5-1-1 she suggested drink water and lay down to see if gets better. My husband went back to work.

Going to bed just made them more painful, and at 1:30 in the morning I called him and said I wanted to go to the hospital. When he got home I could barelly walk to the car during the contractions. We got there a little after 2 AM and in triage I was 8 cm dilated already, the nurse said I'd start pushing soon. I said I wanted an epidural, they took me to the L&D room and the epidural came maybe 40 min afterwards. I really needed it because the whole time they were asking me questions to fill out forms and I could barelly think straight and answer anything through the pain and they were really frequent at this point.

The anesthesiologist came and asked if I was sure I wanted it you've been through the worse on your own... I said YES! He did something that gave me almost instant relief, and it was much better because I could concentrate.

Shortly after I started pushing, they added pitocin to speed the contractions (they slowed a bit with the epidural). I think I pushed like 40 minutes, and he was born 4:58 AM.

All was not as planned: I was going to try without the epidural, but I guess the speed of things and me having "the shakes" scared me into getting it. I didn't want a mirror, but when my husband suggested it I let it be and ended up thinking it was amazing to see him come. I got a small tear - but after a few days it is like it didn't happen. All in all labor was not as bad as I was expecting, I thought I'd be scared and was not and as soon as he came out to me was like there was nothing else going on. :)

We got to the hospital in such a hurry that we left bag with cell phones and cameras in the car. The bad: no pictures right at birth, the good: we really enjoyed the whole thing just the two of us. :) It was truly the most amazing experience of our lives.

All about Gustavo - familiaspencer

Featured pictures

Journal

November in a flash

Halloween - Magician Edition

Two and a Half

Labor Day weekend with Olivia

Emerson's B-Day

Bike & Trains

Camping

Kite

Big Boy Bed

Mom and Dad's anniversary weekend

4th of July

Brazilian June Festival

Father's Day

Dentist

Pre-school

Busy Busy

2 Years

Turning 2, trip to Brazil

Birthday Party (US version)

Festival of Chocolate

Magic Kingdom (Potty training)

23 Months

Potty Training

Hollywood Studios

Disney again - Animal Kingdom

22 Months

Haircut (again), Vohvoh goes back (again)

Christmas

21 Months

Gobi

Green Meadows Farm

Thanksgiving

20 Months

Cousin Gabriela visits

Landon's Birthday

Rally, Longwood Gardens, "Teek-tee"

Zoo Boo at the Central Florida Zoo

19 Months

Pumpkin Patch

Oh, well...

Miami

Tooth Brush

18 Months

Mickey BackPack

Seaworld - Part 2 and visit to the hospital

Visit to Emerson and Seaworld - Part 1

17 Months

Mommy

16 Months

First Cruise

4th of July Weekend

Bye-Bye vohvoh

15 Months

Father's Day at Deleon Springs

Vinicius

Fort Mellon Park

Second Hair Cut

Independence Days

Memorial Day at Myakka River State Park

Lake Mary Splash Park

14 Months

Brevard Zoo

Mother's Day at Venice Beach

At the beach

Lunch with mommy

Cool guy

First big boo-boo

"ga-da" "da-ia"

13 Months

Epcot

Swimming Lessons Again

Back to work full time, down to one

First Easter Egg Hunt

Gus eating apple

Teagan's Birthday

12 Month check up

Parque Lage