Licorice Lollapalooza

I don't know why, but he loves his book, "Colors with Oswald". I just like the licorice lollapalooza part.

Smart Boy

Check it out. He can put the circle in the right hole. He's brilliant!!

John's Little Brother

Maureen and Nicholas Edward are doing fine. They went to visit Dr. Tsui (he's the doctor that gave John a great circumcision) and to have a structural ultrasound. Dr T said all was well with mother and child. The structural ultrasound showed that all the organs were fine and developing. Maureen was greatly pleased because she feared Nicholas would have gastroschesis (intestines grow outside of the body. She watches too many Special Delivery programs on Discovery Health).



If you look at the arrow in the photo, that's an image of his third leg, if you catch my drift. It won't be long before he's giving Tommy Lee and Milton Berle a run for their money.

One Year Check Up

Johnny D went to visit Dr. K today for his One Year check up. As always, John followed the rules and didn't pee on Dr. K. We can be thankful for that since he tends to follow his own rules these days. It's all that crazy rock and roll music his mother listens to. It certainly isn't the Nina Simone or Leonard Cohen that I listen to.

As for his stats, our John is quite healthy. He weighs 20.6 lbs. He's in the 16th percentile there, so he could stand to gain a few pounds. He is 30.3 inches tall (64 percentile, so I'm good there. Maureen and I are short. We hope he takes after other members of our families). His head is 19 inches in circumference. That's the 92 percentile. I'd have to say we have quite the little melon head on our hands. He's not quite like "HEAD" from "So I Married an Axe Murderer", but he's getting close to it. If his head were spherical and pointy like Sputnik, I'd feel ok calling him HEAD, but for now, he's just Melon Head.

To close, we are pleased with the results and look forward to watching this little terror grow. Dr. K did mention that some babies get into the Terrible Twos just after their first birthday. We know that our John is there. Oh well, he could only be an innocent angel for so long.

John's Favorite Book

Right now, John really likes reading Colors with Oswald. For those of you that don't know who Oswald is, he is a blue octopus with a questionable hat. Maureen has some choice comments on his chapeau. Basically, John will listen to it and ask Maureen to read it again, and again, and again, and again, and again until he wants to go do something else. My favorite part is when Bingo Bunny orders a licorice lollapalooza. The lollapaloozas are extra chewy at the Big City Diner.

Good and Bad John

JD woke up this morning at 6:30 and played nicely in his crib for a good 20-minutes before he whined that he needed attention from us. He had his breakfast and played nicely. He even realized that he should give us a break and took a nap from 9:30 until 11 AM. It was such a nice day that we decided to go to Maggiano's for lunch. All was well until we got to the restaurant and Little Man Jones decided that he couldn't sit still. We had to get our lunch to go and headed over to Grammy's to go pick up things we didn't get after the party yesterday. He just wanted to be held and we wouldn't pick him up. He wailed like a male banshee. So, I'm undecided if he's good John or bad John today.

John's First Birthday Party

On Saturday, July 11, 2009 (International 7-11 Day - Free Slurpees at participating 7-11 locations), we threw John his first birthday party at Grammy Brady's house. It was quite a hot day, but people seemed to enjoy themselves for the most part.

The day started out easy enough. Our boy woke up at 6:30 as is his custom. He had his bottle (aka baba) and breakfast (aka mush). He was so excited. He could sense something was up, but he just didn't know what. He also didn't take his mid-morning nap. Unfortunately, that played a big part in JD's antisocial behavior later in the day.

Grammy Brady said we should have the food delivered early since it would be close to lunch time. We served Greek food from Daphne's Greek Cafe. There was lamb (my sister refused to believe it was lamb), beef kabobs, and chicken kabobs. If ever you are looking for a nice easy catered meal, try Daphne's, the sides (rice, salad, and pita) are enough to fill you up. And, they deliver. The food is good and priced quite reasonably.

The old folks sat under the umbrellas since it was a rather hot day. The young folks were running around and even played a game of monkey in the middle. Some kids even started to wrestle with the blow up monkeys later in the day. There weren't any planned activities. Actually, we did plan on having a couple of games with prizes, but we didn't bother to bring them out. We figured it was easier for the kids to run around and tire themselves out. Plus, we didn't exactly have prizes for everyone and we know in today's world that everyone needs to get a prize or someone will leave with tears. It's a shame really. Kids should learn that there are winners and losers in life.

At about 1:30, we brought out the cake. John was being a little too antisocial since he didn't take his nap. He only wanted to be held by his mother. He wouldn't go to his grandmothers or anyone. It was a bit upsetting, but no one seemed to mind our little antisocial boy. He really does take after me in that way. In the shot on the right, you can see one of his more socialable moments. I wonder what his cousin, Matthew, is thinking as he stands back there with his water gun?

Once everyone was gone, we decided to open up gifts. I think this may be the only time in his life where John won't care about gifts. He just wanted to crawl around Grammy's house and let his Cousin Adriana and the Lopez boys, Dylan and Matteo, open up his presents. They were very good helpers and I'm sure John would give his thanks to them if he knew to say thank you.

Thanks to all who attended. We hope you enjoy your party gifts. For those who consume them, I must warn you that the gifts will one day be collectors items. They may be worth money when John is a famous international playboy. I do not want your ignorance of the collectible market to ruin your chance to make a quick buck later in life. Some of you loyal readers will receive one of the fine prizes. Be on the look out on Monday morning or in the mail later this week.

Today

John's winding down from his birthday party. He's super tired, so he hasn't felt like any photo shoots. I'll post photos of his birthday party tomorrow.

Also, we have selected the name Nicholas Edward as the name for John's little brother.

He Doesn't Like Crumbs Cupcakes

We picked up a cupcake at Crumbs today in the hopes that he'd have fun and play with it. He really wanted nothing to do with it. He didn't even want to play with it. I guess he prefers Sprinkles to Crumbs just like mommy and daddy. Oh well, he's still cute and no one can take that away from him.

John Opens Some Gifts

As part of the birthday celebration, John got to open a few presents. He'll open the balance on Saturday.The first gift was a Little People School Bus from Maureen and me. Maureen still has some of her original Little People play sets and people. This bus had a bus driver that Maureen thought could be a woman (even though it has a mustache), a little black boy (we call him Token), and a little girl in a rain coat (we call her Maya). Also included in the school bus was a wheel chair. We put Maya in the wheel chair and she goes in the back. It's a little annoying to see socially conscious toys like that. We're all different, but the same...Just Like You and Me.






The second gift was a Little People farm build it set from the Upshaw's in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Thanks to Uncle Rick, Aunt Kaitlin, and Cousin Shelby for the great gift. As you can see from the photo, John really likes it and can't wait to play with it.

Birthday Part I

This afternoon, we headed to Larchmont Blvd for some lunch and to pick up some things at the toy store (really cool prizes for the goody bags) for his birthday party. After lunch, we headed to 31 Flavors for some ice cream (Thanks to the Smiths of Rhode Island for the idea). As you can see, John isn't sure if he likes it or not. He keeps opening his mouth, but the look on his face would have you believe he doesn't like it.

Prepping for the Big One

As you may or may not know, tomorrow is John's birthday. He officially turns one. As prep for that, take a look at this video. It'll give you the glimpse of the past year in about 15-minutes. I'm sure only his grandparents and parents will sit through it, but there are some good clips. ENJOY!!!

Hey Baby, It's the 4th of Julyyyyyyyyyyyy

Yesterday, we had the good fortune to attend the annual barbecue at the Bator house. John made his first official appearance this year since he didn't quite make it out in time last year. I must say that I felt bad using the charcoal briquettes. I felt as if I were cheating on Sweet Lady Propane, but the propane grill was cooking too slowly and the charcoal was cooking nice and fast.

For the most part, John was good. I say for the most part because he wasn't quite used to everyone in attendance. He's quite standoffish when he wants to be (he gets that from me). He did warm up a bit and behave quite well...until the fireworks came out. At that point, all bets were off and we had to go home. Poor little guy got scared and we beat a hasty retreat back to Park La Brea. Oh well, I suppose we can go without fireworks for the next God knows how many years since John II will probably be the same.

July 4, 2008: False Alarm

It started out as an uneventful day. Maureen was due on the seventh, so we decided to go do our jurisdictions (you need to watch the Duggar's to get that). We headed out tot he grocery store to pick up our supplies. While there, Maureen had to stop in to the restroom. When she came out, she had this weird look on her face and said that she thought her water may have broken. We finished up at Ralph's and went home.

At this point, Maureen calls the doctor's office and they advise to go into the Emergency Room. It's about 1:30 PM and there's not much going on at the Emergency Room. We were escorted into a room and basically sat there for 3.5 to 4 hours waiting to see if the Mrs. had gone into labor. It was funny how they'd apologize for sticking hands and fingers in certain delicate places in Maureen. Anywho, at about 5:30, they told Maureen that she wasn't in labor. It turns out she may have had a little accident.

One good thing was that we got to watch Gangland on the History Channel. There was a marathon on tv that day and we learned about all sorts of street gangs. Previously, our knowledge of street gangs was based on Boyz in da Hood and Blood in Blood Out: Bound By Honor.

It would take 2 more days before our little John would decide that the time was nigh. That's quite a story that involves Showboat, The Last Dragon, the Wimbledon final, Coldplay, and baby poop. I'll be sure to post it on Tuesday.

A Good Toothy Smile

Tomorrow, I'll post the story of how almost made it to the Bator barbeque last year. It's a doozy.

Keyboard Kapers

Can you guess why our keyboard no longer works?

Maureen and John's Balboa Island Adventures

John and Maureen spent a few days behind the Orange Curtain on Balboa Island. Here are a few shots of John and his friends as they frolic about the Little Island.

John and Maureen went for a bit of a walkabout. Here, John's not too excited with the prospect because he's like me...too cool for school. He did have fun. It just doesn't seem like he's too excited at this point. For those of you that are curious, our John chose that shirt for himself. He really loves monkeys.

Much like myself, he isn't a fan of the beach or things aquatic. Well, I suppose he can grow to like those things, but his first exposure didn't exactly endear him to the sand and the sea. His friends, Alyssa and Jake were kind enough to play and entertain him. Or, maybe it was the fact that he was wearing Euro trunks that kept him from truly enjoying the experience. Either way, he did have fun as you can see in the video below.

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No, he's not naked. He's wearing his Euro trunks that we picked up at H&M. He's quite comfortable with his body, so why not flaunt it like Simon Van Kampen.

Stand Tall

Our Little Man is ever so close to walking. As you can see from the video, he can stand up with assistance from the Elmo table (thanks Cousin Suri for sharing). It only should be a couple weeks before he takes his first steps and turns into little Teeny Tiny Tumbles because God knows he's going to fall down.


No, this wasn't shot during an earthquake. There's no steadicam shots here. It's all handheld. We are reality at its finest!!

There should be some good photos and video of John from his trip to Newport Beach with Maureen. I'll just have to listen to more trance music to occupy my time until they get home. The music really doesn't go anywhere, but it kills the time.