I hope I win something

I'm not to proud to beg..and one of my favorite babysites, babygizmo.com has a contest and I really want to win something! By posting on my blog, I get 5 additional entries for day! woohoo! bring on the stroller...or something else cool. Art thinks it might be time for me to go back to work, due to the extensive emotional capital I am spending hoping I win something.

My hat freakin' rocks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a little video footage. It's some shaky camera work, but a good chance for you to see how he's moving around if you haven't seen him in a little while. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

General business

Joaquin was a little under the weather this week with some general GI distress. Which has turned me and Art into complete germaphobs. When Art goes to work everyday, I figure he may as well just go out and rub his hands and face in a pile of used kleenex.


On the plus side, Joaquin is a huge fan of this activity...sitting by the sliding glass door and watching The Outside. He sat here for 25 minutes yesterday, and I'm pretty sure he hasn't voluntarily done anything for 25 minutes besides sleep in his whole life!



He is feeling much better now, thankyouverymuch.

Ryan Grant O'Neal

Joaquin has a little cousin! Ryan was born at 4:23 a.m. on 11.11.08. He weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. We went to Joliet to visit the new little family and everyone looks fabulous. Everything went well with his birth--he is a cute little guy as you can see. I'm really excited to see our family grow!

Month 5

Dear Joaquin,
This week, you turned 5 months old. I'm not sure if I will always write to you every month--but you have done so much this month. Everyday, we find new things that make you laugh or smile. Everyday, you show us new skills.

You are a real honest to goodness baby now--not a larva anymore. You are a big baby with cute chubby hands and cheeks. You laugh when we kiss your belly or make farting noises. You already enjoy potty humor--how advanced! After all those months of work learning to hold up your head, you can now hold up your own head, and most of your torso. I can carry you on my hip now and you wrap your chubby legs around and hang on.

Since you are a big baby, you no longer take your naps in the swing. You sleep in your crib like a real baby does. Your dad thinks I'm a little psychotic about your new nap schedule. It means I'm housebound a lot of the time because I don't want to disrupt your schedule. But it took us a while to get here, and I don't want to mess it up.

You are a pro at rolling over from your back to your tummy. You prefer to sleep on your tummy. Or, maybe you don't prefer, you at least deal with it--because you're still working on rolling the other way. You are exploring the confines of your crib. You like to wrap your hand around the edge of the mattress. It's just one way you are exploring and opening up to the world.

Your culinary tastes are moving beyond the boob! Your favorite foreign food is water from my glass--you don't want it in a sippy cup, your want it in a real glass. So, as soon as I get water from the fridge, you reach your arms out for it and make a fishy face and wiggle wiggle wiggle. And I put the glass to your mouth--there is a lot of excessive tongue wagging, but you are a pretty good drinker! Still working on that bottle though...

The day after you turned 5 months old, Barack Obama was elected as president of the united states. You went with me to vote, and even got your own sticker. If you are ever asked where you were when you found out, you were sleeping in your crib while we were downstairs watching tv at home. There were fireworks in our neighborhood. We had friends at the rally downtown--but it was a quiet night at home for the three of us. But you and I are both lucky to have this happen in our lifetime--and maybe in 40+ years, you will be the first half-Mexican president ;). But lets not get ahead of ourselves--you still poop in your pants.

Love,
your mama.