Lucas and Óscar

Hell on Wheels

2011-04-09T21:25:00.004-04:00

Three days ago, Lucas asked me to take off the training wheels on his bike, that he didn't need them. He was right.

Notice how he stops and quickly looks back ... searching for the skid mark on the sidewalk.

Happy Birthday Óscar

2010-11-28T22:16:00.004-05:00

Today Óscar turned one!

Looking sharp.

Just want to bang on the drums.

Cake, yum...

Do I have something on my face?

All done.

Lucas (TV zombie) and Óscar.

backwards pants and other photos

2010-02-15T21:00:00.004-05:00

(notice the backwards pants)

Lucas now owns a drum set...lucky us!

We ordered earmuffs for him but he wouldn't wait until they arrived to try out the drums.

Smiling baby

Smiling again

Óscar in the Bumbo

Head gets heavy after a while. See Lucas in the Bumbo at around the same age.

Yum, hand.

Unlike Lucas, Óscar likes the swing.

Lucas and his tiger.

Big brother, baby brother

brief update

2010-02-05T21:42:00.002-05:00

Óscar just had his two month checkup and everything looked good. He is very easy going and even sleeps which we appreciate!

Lucas couch-surfing

Lucas loves his baby brother

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T00:47:00.002-05:00

Happy Holidays! For Xmas eve we went to Liz and Chris' and guess who made an early appearance?!?

Like most children his age, Lucas was not quite sure what to make of Santa.

But he did sit on his lap to collect his gift.

Auntie Kate took him shopping for presents for his family. Thanks Kate!

Lucas recently drew a self-portrait. Quite impressive level of detail for a not-quite-three-year-old. FYI, the large circles on either side are tennis balls!

Posing next to his portrait:

Today Lucas turns three! Happy birthday Lucas!

And here is a video of Óscar:

More pictures of Óscar to come...

Update

2009-12-13T00:15:00.002-05:00

Óscar and family are doing very well. It's great to see Lucas interact with his baby brother. He is very happy to have him around and has not asked for us to take his brother back to the hospital. He does ask Ellen if her belly is empty now. I am quite impressed at how well is adapting to not being the center of our family's universe. Great kid. As promised (Ron!) here are more pictures of the baby and family.

Ellen and Óscar

Lucas meets his baby brother.

Lucas was quite excited to meet him and was very gentle. He held his hand for a very long time.

Of course he eventually asked to hold him.

Óscar crying.

Óscar swaddled.

First bath.

Janz proudly wearing his son.

First real snow of the year.

Lucas had been dying to make a snow angel for some time and finally does.

Baby Brother

2009-11-29T18:28:00.004-05:00

Meet Óscar Nicolás Castelo Barnum, born Saturday at 3:25 AM.

Family is doing very well. We just discovered that the hospital has internet so more pictures will hopefully come soon.

Halloween

2009-10-31T23:10:00.005-04:00

Lucas had his third Halloween today. Unlike in previous years, this time around he really got it and had a blast.

Lucas the Cowboy

DJ Lance Rock and Cowboy Lucas

Wet and windy Halloween.

Lucas and his friends.

Happy Halloween!

Finally, a new post!

2009-08-04T20:54:00.011-04:00

As you may have noticed, it has been some time since I last posted. Between traveling, lack of internet access, replacing our old laptop, and keeping up with Lucas it has been difficult to post. However, I have been snapping away pictures of Lucas in the interim and here are some of them.

Last day of School: Playground

Playing with Julian

Going to Mimi's for Ice Cream

Bidwell Parkway Concert

Nigel, Mimi and Lucas

Night of the Living Dead

Grandparents' House

Lucas and Tamsin

Tanglewood

Aunt Jojo and Lucas

Aunt Julie

Tiff's cool phone

New Hampshire

Ron and Lucas

Lucas and Ellen (different Ellen)

Ethan and Lucas

Goodnight

(he is not really sleeping...)

Mayday

2009-05-31T22:53:00.004-04:00

Lucas likes the nice weather we have been having (though today was a bit chilly). He enjoys "helping" us with the garden. I hope he learns how to use the lawnmower soon.

Spraying water everywhere.

Jumping down the steps.

Eating cheese.

Staring into the lens.

Funny face.

Nice kid.

Nice boots.

Where Did April Go?!?

2009-04-30T23:32:00.009-04:00

April has been crazy!! We have been very busy with work, Lucas, life, etc. But things are great. I am enjoying the new camera, so here are more pictures. Sorry for the lack of witty commentary but I need to get some sleep!

Lucas and friends

Blue car

Lucas at Mimi's

Hard work mowing the lawn

Sandbox at playground...with trucks!

Jumping bridge

Great penmanship

Walking home

Yogurt on hair/face/shirt

Paint on hair/face/shirt

Climbing "all by myself"

Blue sea horse

More climbing

Running with shades

The Great Cornholio

"Cheese"

Put your eyes on Papi

New Camera

2009-03-25T23:22:00.008-04:00

We bought a new camera, so here are some new pictures of Lucas.

Lucas fell and hurt his upper lip at the playground. It healed quickly but he had a swollen lip for a day or two.

Watching cars go by.

Eating "junk."

Licking frosting.

Riding his scooter.

Duck helmet.

Brown Car at Wegmans.

Tired at Wegmans.

Taking out the trash.

Cabin Fever

2009-02-28T23:00:00.005-05:00

It's the end of February and it's still very cold outside (14° as I type this). At least it gets a little warmer during the day so we have been walking to the Elmwood strip again. Can't wait until it is warm enough to hit the playground! At any rate, on to the pictures.

Here is Lucas eating a lime popsicle.

Somedays he'll eat them, others he couldn't care less about them. That's the way he is about eating anything these days, which makes cooking food for him a very challenging mind-reading game.

In school they tell us that his favorite activities are gym and music. Clearly he gets his athleticism from his parents, but no clue about the music.

Lucas has many toys, yet rather than play with all of them he chooses one and finds creative ways of playing with it.

Not content with just putting his head in the box, he has to raise the stakes by running around with it on his head.

Lucas biting a straw...not much to explain other than he looks cute and full of trouble!

So I leave you with Lucas playing a song on his tiny viola (not a violin). If you can't hear the tune... be grateful cause I hear it all the time!

Xmas in GA

2009-01-31T23:52:00.003-05:00

Here is Lucas shoveling snow before we flew down to Georgia.

It was quite a bit warmer in Georgia.

It was nice to get away from the snow and frigid weather. I think Lucas appreciated the warmth too.

First present, Xmas morning:

He's got the gift unwrapping part of the holidays mastered. Since his birthday is shortly after Xmas, he did tons of unwrapping over a period of about a week.

Back in Buffalo:

Nothing better than your own Junior Helper Carpet Sweeper. It actually works which is great!

Green Hair

2008-12-15T22:39:00.003-05:00

Lucas came home from school today with green hair.

And here's his latest self portrait.

Cute, no?

Splinters

2008-11-30T22:24:00.001-05:00

We recently had 10 face cords of wood delivered and let me tell you, that's a lot of wood! I was hoping the delivery truck would fit between the houses to dump all the wood behind the house, but alas it didn't so it was all left on our driveway. The thought of moving all that wood by myself made my back ache so when Lucas offered to help I accepted.

All that child labor wore him out.

I mentioned in a previous post that Lucas "learned" how to use the camera and is very enthusiastic about getting his hands on the camera anytime he sees it.

Here is one of his many shots. Gotta work on that auto-focus.

And finally a bonus video, Lucas in his mother's shoes.

October Pictures

2008-11-01T00:40:00.007-04:00

Okay, so I didn't actually post this on October 31, but all the pictures are from October...plus I didn't want Lucas to have to undergo psychotherapy in his thirties because his father didn't post in October of his second year of life! Now that I got that off my chest, here are the pictures:

Sleeping with toys

He loves his Sit 'N Spin. Please don't let him know that with batteries it also plays music and makes all sorts of sounds!

When I went to upload the pictures to the laptop I noticed it was taking a little longer than usual. To my surprise there were a ton of pictures on the camera, but I had not taken that many pictures. Seems Lucas figured out how to use the camera! Some pictures are curious...

...but some look kind of neat.

Here's a great picture of Lucas relaxing, probably watching TV.

He bumped his forehead on the leg of a piano (how musical!) a couple of weeks ago and ended up with two black eyes.

And of course, you can't have an October post without Halloween pictures!

Though it looks like an alien or something, it's a frog costume. He wore it for about an hour before he wanted out. I took him trick or treating, which he enjoyed, but he kept on giving people candy instead of taking it. He would reach in his pumpkin and hand candy to the person that answered the door. Nice to see him share, I guess.

So there you are, October pictures. (Bunny, happy now?!?!)

School

2008-09-30T23:16:00.006-04:00

Lucas started school in September! Yay! Here he is on his first day of school.

Nice shirt! We prepped him a few days in advance so he wouldn't freak out on his first day. He was pretty excited. Here he is walking to school with Ellen.

Once in the room he has to wash his hands. It's school policy. I am actually more concerned about washing them AFTER picking him up!

He didn't really mind being left at school. After all, they have toys!!!

Ellen picked him up from school and it seems he really was into painting. Notice the paint on his brow (it was worse before his teacher cleaned him up!).

He really likes school. For the past week he seems to only nap on school days. Hmm...note to self: Sign Lucas up for school 5 days a week...

Now that he is in school we may have to get another fridge to handle the constant influx of artwork!! Here's his very first one.

In other news...Lucas tried an onion recently. Not sure if he liked it or not. I tried telling him he wouldn't like it but he wouldn't listen. He was taking bites out of it. Yikes!

He's also taken up photography. Here's a self portrait.

And finally, nothing like dancing in your father's shoes wearing underpants!!!

Summertime

2008-08-31T20:49:00.004-04:00

Lucas and family are doing very well. He keeps growing, talking up a storm. He likes to eat but can be difficult at times. One day he'll eat incredibly well and then one day he wont eat anything but bread. When he is in an eating mood, he'll usually feed himself. Sometimes he's right-handed, other times left-handed. Go figure.

As you probably know, Lucas has amazing hair! It's magical, really. Often I forget to brush his hair after showering but it still dries perfectly straight. Check it out:

Wet Hair

Dry Hair

I wish I could do that.

I think it's funny that whenever Lucas sees a string instrument he calls it a viola. I hope he's not traumatized someday when he realizes that no, it's not a viola, it's a violin.

He's cute, no?!

Tanglewood

2008-07-31T23:13:00.004-04:00

Lucas spent July in the Berkshires at Tanglewood. He went to a few concerts but lost interest once he heard James Levine had to cancel most of his concerts for medical reasons. So instead he tried new foods.

Arugula, yum!

Abuela Lourdes came to visit him for a weekend and they had fun playing with bubbles while wearing no pants (Lucas, not Abuela).

And though he couldn't go to his weekly yoga class, he would go through his poses every morning before going for a walk into town.

The house we were staying in was for sale so Lucas thought a pink flamingo or two on the lawn would help sell it. Here he is inspecting one shortly before a viewing.

We are back in Buffalo and I have to find our camera's charger or else no more pictures (or a new camera)!! For the next post, I'll try to shoot some video of Lucas talking. Hilarious.

Summertime

2008-06-28T21:59:00.008-04:00

Ah, summer's here! Great time of year to have an 18 month old. As you can see behind Lucas in this picture, we have a lot of weeding to do! Luckily his sandbox keeps him busy. Check out his shades, so cool.

We visited the grandparents in CT, they have a pool. It was pretty hot today so what better way to cool off than a quick dip in the pool, with Grandpa's help of course.

Here's Lucas in the pool a year ago! I guess he's grown a bit.

Lucas seems to really like the computer! Perhaps I should cut down on my own computer use, set a better example. The bowl next to the computer has Cheddar Bunnies, one of his favorite snack foods.

Gardening and Biking

2008-05-31T18:50:00.005-04:00

So here's my monthly post! I promise I'll post a lot more in July while out in Tanglewood. The weather has been very pleasant so we have been getting some gardening done. Obviously Lucas wants to help.

Now if we could only teach him to do some weeding.

We also bought him a helmet so he can ride his "bike" around.

We purchased a bike trailer today and it should arrive next week. We can't wait to get out on our bikes again!

Stitches and Monkeys

2008-04-30T23:49:00.004-04:00

Lucas hit his head a few weeks ago and needed three stitches. Poor baby.

He's fine now, but it was scary when it happened. I thought he was broken so I was going to ship him back and try to get a refund...

Unfortunately, I did not keep the invoice so we had to keep him.

These days he is into drawing...

and wearing his shades. Too cool. Just pretend that's a motorcycle and not a bouncing zebra.

And here are his monkey slippers. Thanks julie!!

He is growing fast, saying a ton of words, sleeping some. Great kid really.

Sir Godiva and other pictures

2008-03-20T21:46:00.004-04:00

Today I offer you an assortment of recent pictures of Lucas. Here he is with his zebra, though something is missing...

Call him Sir Godiva.

We got rid of his Pack N' Play and just keep him in a hamper. He loves it.

One of his cute winter hats.

"Ahh!!"

He likes playing underneath the sideboard. Go figure.

Even while sleeping he salutes his adoring fans.

Who knew a curtain could be so much fun.

All done and proud of it.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Lucas. Not just because of the amazing balancing act but because of his intense look. I might actually print this one out.

First Haircut

2008-02-29T22:34:00.008-05:00

Almost missed doing a February post, good thing it's a leap year. Today Lucas got his first haircut! For this special milestone we wanted to go to a true barber, not one of those silly salons that charge way too much to shampoo your hair and get you a latte. So we went to see Roberto the barber.

"what are we doing here?"

"what's that man doing with those scissors?!?"

Always good to know where the nearest exit is located.

He took it like a man.

Four people to give one haircut.

Luckily Roberto is a pro and brought out a lollipop.

Much better...

or maybe not!

Sad Lucas.

All better.

Handsome boy

January pics

2008-01-28T23:00:00.000-05:00

Here are a bunch of miscellaneous pictures from this month...

Normally we are not into plastic or battery operated toys, but Lucas loves his Bounce and Spin Zebra. The sounds it makes are not too loud and the tune is kinda catchy.

Lucas, smile for the camera!

Before coffee...

After coffee...

Where's Kat?

I command you to play with me!!! (Kat likes the cage)

Yum, bacon.

We had a birthday party for Lucas and made cupcakes. Lucas enjoyed his very much.

He liked it so much he rubbed it all over his face.

Learning to use utensils.

Birthday fun with the neighbors.

Baby Legs

2008-01-06T11:10:00.001-05:00

Nice legs...

Happy Birthday/New Year!!

2007-12-31T23:22:00.000-05:00

Today Lucas turned one! He could hardly contain his excitement.

Ellen baked a cake and we went over to Shieh Jian's to celebrate. I am happy to report that Lucas didn't get too much spit on his cake while trying to blow out the candle!

I think he approved of the cake.

We gave him a frying pan for his birthday. He loves it.

Kat was hoping we wouldn't notice her when we went for a walk.

Happy New Year everyone! Next year should be fun.

Xmas Miracle

2007-12-25T13:48:00.000-05:00

Lucas walks, it's a miracle! Actually, he started walking a few days ago, so its not really a xmas miracle, but still very exciting. I guess now we really need to child proof our house!

Happy holidays to all!

Snow

2007-12-16T18:43:00.001-05:00

Lucas just keeps getting bigger (as he should). He has been filling out over the past weeks, probably getting ready to grow quite a bit. He's almost walking, easily standing on his own for short periods of time. Here he's standing outside in the snow.

He liked playing in the snow, though he hates wearing mittens.

I had to make sure there was no yellow snow before letting him loose on the sidewalk.

Here's a fall picture with his Grandpa.

Lucas loves his new bear from Uncle Peter and Aunt Donna.

Don't know how to explain this next one other than saying he had a blast playing with the bucket.

Check out his Chucks! They don't fit him anymore.

After playing in the snow we headed over to Starbucks for coffee. Lucas just wanted to eat the cup sleeve.

General Cuteness

2007-11-18T22:10:00.001-05:00

It's almost Thanksgiving so here are some pictures of our little turkey.

"Ahhhh"

After a nice hot bath, Lucas likes to put on his bathrobe and lounge around the house.

I am sad to report Lucas may be a hockey fan. Kate, it's all your fault!
Notice what he is standing on.

At least he also likes playing the piano. Behind him you can admire our missing spindles on our staircase, the same staircase he loves to climb. Probably should fix those someday...
Notice the cool hat. Will post more pictures of the hat later.

Obviously Lucas is not tall enough to reach the piano, so he's figured out how to compensate for his shorter stature.

He is looking very cute these days...

Halloween

2007-10-31T22:12:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, I hate Halloween. However, I now have something to look forward to: Lucas dressing up!

Liz and Chris down the street have two wonderful kids that are a bit too big for this costume, so they passed it on. Thanks guys!

We carved two pumpkins, and I like how they turned out.

This last one already got smashed by neighborhood idiots, but I think I can put it back together, just to show them.
So another Halloween and we managed not to run out of candy and I didn't get arrested for choking any teenagers asking for candy without a costume. Can't wait for next year.

And to finish out this post, here are some recent pictures of Lucas.

This is the tiger that Eddie and Jacquie gave to him when he was tiny. He loves it.

For some reason, Lucas doesn't like having his diaper changed. He just flips over and runs off.

I can't remember if he had his diaper on for this next one, but he sure is happy.

He Posts Again!

2007-09-30T20:12:00.000-04:00

Well, about time I posted. Had I not posted today I would have missed having a September post and I'm sure Lucas would have held that against me some day.

Lucas is doing very well. He had his 9 month check up recently. We found out our baby is a light weight. He would probably weigh more if he were not so active all the time. More on that later. And it turns out he has a big head! In the last three months his head grew a whole inch around. No wonder some outfits are hard to pull over his head. He's lots of fun, even though it can be exhausting to keep up with him.

As you already know, Lucas loves his solids.

He also started eating fruits whole. Ellen and I are petrified when he eats large things like that, fearing he'll choke. But he hasn't yet and he loves feeding himself.

Here he is with his former Sippy Cup (turns out that some plastics can release toxins, blah blah blah. Next thing you know they'll tell us smoking is bad for babies too).

As I mentioned above, Lucas hasn't gained much weight recently. Here's why.

Yes, he can walk, at least assisted! And when not walking, he's crawling all over the place. He also likes to stand up at the coffee table, especially while eating my keys.

Here's a close up. Cute, no?

This is Lucas having a bottle while Ellen teaches. I'm not sure if this is a yoga pose, looks more like Pilates.

And here we are taking one of those rare naps.

Portland

2007-08-18T23:46:00.000-04:00

We were recently in Portland, Oregon for Christine and Kristopher's wedding. Lucas had a great time traveling. Many firsts for him. He embarked on his quest to become concert pianist. Just wait till he can reach the pedals!

We stayed in a Marriott Residence Inn, much to Lucas's delight.

He loved rolling/crawling around on the carpet...

...especially if a bag was lying around!

Also, the hotel room had mirrored closet doors which provided hours of entertainment.

Lucas got to meet Uncle Mike (aka The Godfather (not Lucas's)).

We visited the International Rose Test Garden, acres and acres of roses.

Though Portland is about 100 miles from the ocean (I thought it was closer), we took a day trip to the see the Pacific Northwest Coastline, which I had never seen. Neither had Lucas. We stopped at the Ecola State Park (which I keep confusing with Ebola, which is a potentially lethal virus). Lucas enjoyed sand for the very first time. Strangely enough, he didn't try to eat it (which is a good thing, with all that ebola).

And then the wedding! Here's Uncle Erich feeding Lucas as Aunt Lee looks on.

Mmm, beer...

Aunt Jane (his great-aunt) was awesome! She and Lucas had a blast.

Aunt Bunny (aka Christine) and Uncle Kristopher (aka Kristopher) were kind enough to dance with Lucas on their wedding day!

Aunt Bunny has a fascinating necklace. Can Lucas eat it?!?

Too much excitement for a boy of just 7 months.

Found the Cable

2007-08-03T21:00:00.000-04:00

Finally, I found the cable for the camera. So back to posting. Now that Lucas eats solids, we figured it was time to buy him a high chair. So many choices! We were leaning towards the Eddie Bauer chair, which is nice, but ended up with the cool looking Stokke Tripp Trapp. We like that it doesn't have a tray, which allows Lucas to join us at the table, plus it's a chair for life. He'll take it off to college some day.

Check out Lucas crawling!!

He hasn't quite mastered the art of crawling yet, but he does get around. Quite slowly, which is just fine with us. Time to baby proof the house!!

Lack of New Posts

2007-07-29T09:02:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of new posts. I have somehow misplaced the USB cable for our digital camera so I have been unable to upload pictures to my computer! Ellen and Lucas return from Tanglewood tomorrow, so they'll help me find it. Now that Lucas can crawl, we'll just put him on the floor and he'll find everything we have misplaced for the past 6 years. So stay tuned for lots of posts and pictures.

As a teaser, here's a picture of Lucas taken with a cellphone:

Reading Already

2007-06-28T23:47:00.001-04:00

As you can see, Lucas has good literary taste. He tried a Newsweek, but the New Yorker had a more agreeable aftertaste.

Put your foot in your mouth

2007-06-27T13:45:00.001-04:00

New trick:

Tons of new pictures (just 14)

2007-06-24T19:31:00.001-04:00

Lucas and family are doing quite well. Here's Lucas practicing for crawling. We are terrified that he may be mobile in a month or so!

At least all that exercise gets him tired.

Finally we got a picture of his two teeth. He is currently working on some more. Needless to say, he is a little more difficult while teething.

He can now sit in his car and play.

He loves rolling around on the floor. He can now roll in all directions, which is how he gets around.

Here's Lucas hanging out on his mat sitting on his own. He's taken a few tumbles, but for the most part can sit up unassisted.

More pictures of Lucas eating.

Mia came by today to see if Lucas wanted to go for a ride with her in her new wagon. Though still in his pajamas, he couldn't refuse.

After all that fun, a nap is in order. Hope he sleeps longer than 20 minutes!

Tin Man and other photos

2007-06-09T12:00:00.001-04:00

Hello again. It's been some time since I have updated the blog, we have been traveling, busy with baby, life, etc. Lucas is doing very well, teething and all. I still haven't been able to get a picture of his teeth, he moves too much! So instead here's a picture of him with one of his many toys.

The tin foil keeps out transmissions from outer space. He learned that from me. Actually, the foil came about while Lucas and I sat around waiting for Ellen's rehearsal to end. We were both pretty bored, so obviously we had to put the foil to good use. He eventually fell asleep (without the foil).

Lucas's eating of solids is progressing very well. He masted rice cereal and has done avocado, bananas, and will soon start sweet potatoes or peas. Here he is enjoying his avocado.

He likes grabbing the spoon, just doesn't know how to use it. I am happy to say that he loves his solids.

Like every other year, we had our end of season picnic at work. Only this year, Lucas came along. Here he is with Kate, and Shieh-Jian in the background. How can he ignore Lucas's charm?!?

That's more like it! As a side note, the building behind them is the world renowned Kleinhans Music Hall, but I am sure most of you recognized it!

This next one is a horrible picture of me, but it's a good picture of father and son bonding while watching TV. Just have to teach him how to fetch a beer.

Finally here's Lucas in his car seat. I think he is getting a little too big for his infant car seat. He doesn't really like being in it too much. We just bought him a new one, just have to get around to putting it in the car. He better like the new one because it is good up to 65 pounds, which for Ellen and me was sometime in high school!!

Getting Big

2007-05-17T16:18:00.000-04:00

I recently refloored Lucas's room. The old floor was painted and not in good shape. Hopefully we can move him into his room soon!

For the past few weeks Lucas has been putting EVERYTHING into his mouth.

We figured he was telling us he was ready for solids. So we tried some rice cereal.

He didn't really care for it, so we'll hold off on the solids for a little longer. Turns out he is chewing on everything in sight because he has a tooth coming out!! Explains all the drooling and fussiness. I'll try to get a picture of his tooth later.

So to ease the pain he's turned to beer. Takes the edge off, but makes him sleepy.

Here he is looking cute in his red parka.

In other developmental news, he can now sit up on his own as long as he puts his arms down.

But the moment the hands come off the ground... down he goes!

He likes his Kat. Sometimes she likes him too.

Worm Wrestling

2007-05-09T20:41:00.000-04:00

Weather too nice to post!!

2007-05-08T20:19:00.000-04:00

Okay, sorry for the lack of updates. Been trying to spend time with my son rather than admiring his blog! But I wont send you off empty handed. Here are some pictures from the past few weeks.

Abuela Lourdes came to Buffalo last month. She had not seen Lucas since he was a few hours old.

He now likes hanging out in his Bumbo, playing with his toys.

And finally, he is big enough for his jumper!! (thanks Shieh-Jian)

Lucas quit smoking a few months ago, but he still gets the cravings.

He has been getting lots of floor time lately, not because we are lazy parents but because he loves it.

Hiatus

2007-04-16T16:19:00.000-04:00

Sorry for all this time without updates. We have been very busy traveling and life with baby. But we have been taking pictures, so here are a few from the past few weeks.

I can't really explain the silicone bowl on his head. He plays with them and I just felt like putting it on his head. It stayed there for a surprisingly long time.

This last one we sent to JCrew wondering if they needed a baby model.

On our way to Connecticut for Easter. Lucas was great in the car for the 6 hour trip. Mostly he slept.

Lucas looking cute.

Lucas with his Grandma. He loves his Grandma (and his toy).

This is his new carseat. This one stays in CT for when he visits. Though he looks very serious in the picture, he was quite pleased with the carseat. Lots more room than in his infant seat. We'll probably have to get him something bigger for our car soon.

"I will eat that baby in the mirror!!"

Grab

2007-03-26T22:10:00.000-04:00

Lucas has started grabbing things around him. Here he is in his bouncy chair. "Which toy do I want to grab?"

When we first brought him home I thought that the chair was poorly designed because the toys seemed so far out of his reach!

He has also discovered the great taste of his hand.

For some reason Lucas likes raising his legs up in the air while lying down. I thought maybe it was that his diaper was too big, but he seems to just like lifting his legs up.

Here he's grabbing toys hanging from his Boppy playmat.

Check out his Eddie Munster hairline.

At times Lucas pees so much it soaks through his clothes! I guess that means he is well hydrated. Needless to say, he can go through several changes of clothes in a day. Today he's up to his fourth outfit.

Monkey suit! Hopefully this will be his last outfit today.

Chin up

2007-03-24T18:11:00.000-04:00

Lucas has had very good head support since birth, but now he is lifting up his head while on his belly.

But all that head lifting is hard work!

So he had to take a nap in his pink swaddle.

Baby Noises

2007-03-18T16:33:00.000-04:00

We took some videos of Lucas talking and making noises. Here he is in his Pack 'n Play gabbing away.

Here's more talking but this time in his swing. Listen for the hiccups towards the end of the video.

And lastly here's Lucas playing in his boppy. Make sure you turn the sound UP!
(And in case you were wondering, that's the baby, not me!)

Getting older

2007-03-18T16:17:00.000-04:00

Today Lucas is 11 weeks old! We are doing very well. He is sleeping a lot more. For the past two nights he slept for seven hours straight! I think the last time we slept that long must have been around 6 months ago. It feels great to sleep. Here are some long overdue pictures.

His abuelo is visiting us this week from Miami. He loves to hold his grandson, even when he cries, which is much appreciated by the parents!

Crying and Sleeping

2007-03-09T17:08:00.000-05:00

Don't get me wrong, Lucas is a happy baby. But like all babies, he does cry often. So what to do with a crying baby but take pictures!

That's his hat, not a turban! But like I said earlier, he is a happy baby. After crying a bit, he usually perks up.

He loves his carseat! Yesterday I drove around for almost two hours with Lucas while Ellen taught a couple lessons. He was being a little difficult at home, so I took him for a ride. He was out like a light in about 5 minutes. If only gas prices were lower!

Today we went out for a bit, gorgeous day here in Buffalo. However, his BundleMe may have kept him a little too warm! He started crying mid-trip, so we stopped to check on him. Poor thing, he was all sweaty! We took off his pants and socks, and that calmed him down. Here he is after we got back home.

Swing Revisited

2007-03-09T16:53:00.000-05:00

As you may recall, Lucas did not like the swing we purchased for him back in January. In fact, he hated it! But now that he's an old man we figured he was ready to give swings another shot. Kim and Ethan were kind enough to lend us (Ethan, you are so getting it back!!) Mia's swing now that she doesn't need it anymore.

He seems to like it. He wont stay in it for hours, but he'll do 10 to 15 minutes, long enough to eat dinner in a hurry.
Speaking of videos, check out Shieh-Jian's video of Lucas talking!

More Fun Photos

2007-03-01T21:37:00.000-05:00

My dad's been too busy lately to post on my blog so I decided to help him out.

Here I am in my new rugby outfit. Aren't I cute?!

Check me out in yellow. I love my Los Pollitos Dicen outfit.

Ooh, is that my hand?

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, this last one is for Paul. Hope you like it!

More Pictures

2007-02-24T18:12:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Just been a little busy and Lucas has been a little crabby following his first round of shots. He is feeling much better though. So here are some pictures.

Here's Lucas in his frog towel from Larry and Karen. Adorable!

He now can sit in his Bumbo. Check out the his head support.

He likes it in there. Maybe we can now have dinner without having to hold him in our arms.

Now check out this closeup. Neck, what neck?!

Crying

2007-02-18T19:47:00.000-05:00

Here's a short video of Lucas crying. I know, not nice to film him crying, but I wanted you the viewer to get the full Lucas experience, both the good times and the bad times. Plus he's cute even when crying.

Got Milk?

2007-02-18T18:34:00.000-05:00

6 Weeks

2007-02-11T13:06:00.000-05:00

6 weeks, amazing! Time keeps flying by. He is definitely not a newborn anymore, which is nice but also a little sad. Now I actually get physically tired after holding him for an extended time. This last week we reached new milestones. First off, he can now face forward while in his BabyBjörn. He really likes being able to look around, rather than just staring into my chest.

Compare that to this a month ago. He looks bigger, no?!

Another milestone this week is that he finally outgrew his first newborn outfit. Luckily, a bassoonist in Boston sent him this cool new outfit. You can't quite appreciate the full get up, but trust me, it's adorable.

He liked it so much, he decided to take a nap in it.

And finally, today Lucas started his Itsy Bitsy Yoga class at East Meets West! How yuppie is that?! It meets once a week, a room full of baby yogis. I had a rehearsal so I was not able to go, but Ellen says he loved it. Everyone was impressed by his head control. However, all that yoga can really wear you out.

Mobile Watching

2007-02-09T10:29:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of videos for your viewing pleasure. They are both of the same thing, Lucas watching his mobile in his crib, so feel free to only view one and tell me how cute and enjoyable both were! Grandparental units may want to watch both repeatedly.

5 Weeks

2007-02-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

Today Lucas turned five weeks old. He is doing very well. For the past week he has been consistently sleeping four hours at a time every night, followed by another two to three hour stretch. Needless to say, we are pretty happy about this!

Here's Lucas posing on his boppy.

Here he is in his bouncy chair, wearing yet another flannel shirt, this one from his Aunt Bunny.

Sleeping. Notice how he holds his pacifier in place with his hand.

So far so good.

Flannel and Denim

2007-02-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

Lucas is currently in his Boppy pillow next to me, staring me down, so I'll make this one quick.
Lucas has owned a pair of overalls since birth, given to him by his wonderful Aunt Lee. We tried bringing him home from the hospital in his cute tiny overalls, but he was swimming in them! So we put them away. So now, after four plus weeks, we wanted to try them again. After all, overalls are adorable on babies.

Aunt Lee also gave him a nice flannel shirt to go with the overalls, but he got too fussy so we gave up on the shirt for the above outfit. This was last week when he was little, so now fast forward to yesterday. He's now a grown man, dressed just like his papi.

He then decided that I had taken enough pictures.

Soon when he's bigger, we'll get him some Chuck's to complete the look.

4 Weeks

2007-01-28T20:29:00.000-05:00

Today Lucas is 4 weeks old. It's amazing how quickly the weeks have gone by. Soon he'll be driving. Here he is looking at his toys.

"♫♪♫ You're So Vain...♫♪♫"

Nipple Confusion

2007-01-26T13:43:00.000-05:00

So Ellen started teaching her course at Canisius which means once a week it's just Lucas and myself all alone for about 4 hours. As some of you may know, babies eat all the time, usually every two to three hours. So doing simple math, this means that once a week I need to feed Lucas while Ellen is gone. Due to his father's anatomical shortcomings, this was a source of anxiety for me. I was not sure how he would respond to a bottle, plus in the back of my head I kept thinking about the dreaded "gingivi...", I mean nipple confusion.
So as any musician would do, we tried it out the day night before, our little dress rehearsal.

Well, he didn't seem to mind. But then it hit him.

"How did YOU do that?!?!" he seemed to wonder! "YOU are not suppossed to do THAT!" However, he quickly got over it and resumed feeding.

I am happy to report that the next day went without a hitch, and though he will drink from a bottle, he much prefers the real thing.

Lucas and his pacifier

2007-01-25T16:20:00.001-05:00

Here is a little game we like to play. Lucas drops his pacifier and I pick it up. We like to play it for hours!

The moment I stopped recording, he dropped it again.

Wegmans

2007-01-22T16:35:00.000-05:00

Busy day today! We had to make a trip to Wegmans and decided to take Lucas along. So after feeding, it was time to bathe. Mondays seem to have become bath day, which is amazing because it is also the one day of the week his father showers. He (Lucas, not his father) seems to enjoy bathing.

All done, nice and clean.

Now, off to Wegmans. Will he make it through without crying?!?

I know, some people place the car seat in the basket part of the cart, but from what I hear that's not really safe. So we just carry him in the cart. The drawback is that you really can't fit that many groceries in your cart. It gets a little crowded in there.

He was great the whole time out. We even had time to stop by M&T and deposit some checks. It wasn't until we arrived home that he started complaining a bit.

Not bad for his first trip to Wegmans.

Milestones?

2007-01-20T14:20:00.000-05:00

Here is Lucas discovering he has hair:

And here, I could be wrong, but I think he is smiling:

Okay, so we might be stretching it a bit. I guess we are desperate for signs of developmental growth! At least he is sleeping better.

And finally, here's Lucas wearing his Mysterio t-shirt:

Lifesavers

2007-01-17T14:14:00.000-05:00

As Kate recently mentioned , we have discovered the power of the hair dryer! At times this is the ONLY thing that will calm Lucas down from one of his scream fests. So thank you Conair, you are a lifesaver.

Another shout-out definitely goes out to BABYBJÖRN! We had been counting the ounces until Lucas was big enough to go into his BabyBjörn, and alas the time has come:

Also, this picture reminds me that I need to shave.

And last but not least, check out Lucas's new friend:

His baby friend down the street, Mia, liked her UglyDoll so much that she got one for him too. Thanks Mia!

Two Weeks

2007-01-14T17:59:00.000-05:00

The thing with taking pictures of a two week old baby is that you can't really ask them to hold a pose. Basically you get what you get, and if you are lucky it is in focus and worth keeping. So you take many pictures and occasionally things work out. This was a new funny face.

I also liked this one, with his "I promise to keep you up at night" face.

Swing

2007-01-12T14:15:00.000-05:00

After hours/days of trying to soothe Lucas, we broke done and bought a swing.

We read so many reviews online about how much babies LOVE to swing in their nice and shiny (did I mention expensive) swings. Parents would post in tears thanking their lucky starts that their swing had saved the day. I could almost taste the sleep!

Well, Lucas did not like his swing. He definitely gives it two thumbs down, or better, one tongue out. So back to the store it goes.

When Animals Attack!

2007-01-10T14:09:00.000-05:00

It's a jungle out there! Actually, it's a jungle in our living room. Perhaps I should pick up a little...

Thanks Eddie and Jacqui!

Awake

2007-01-08T17:57:00.000-05:00

Just so you know, Lucas does open his eyes at times!

And here's Grandpa Rick with Lucas in the kitchen.

First days home

2007-01-07T10:43:00.000-05:00

Today Lucas is 1 week old. To celebrate, Ellen and I will try to get some sleep. So here are some more pictures of Lucas shortly after his arrival home.

And just so you don't think he's always a sleepy angel:

Lucas at the hospital

2007-01-06T18:34:00.000-05:00

Lucas was born December 31, 2006 at 9:54 am.