Tuesday, December 23, 2008

ESTROGEN-OPOLIS!!!


Mya orders a chimichanga.

Estrogenopolois (noun): Home in which the man is overrun by females and, as a result, is subjected to Real Housewives of Orange County, candles and feelings.

This is where Eric will live. Last week, we got final confirmation...we are having another girl! Our previous OB in the valley -- the lovely Dr. Russo (she will be missed!) -- gave us a 90% chance that we were having a girl. That 10% margin of error was shattered when the latest ultrasound revealed a huge lack of penis-osity.

Penis-osity (noun): Anatomical ownership of a penis.

So we'll end up with a second girl! Pretty sure that Wendy is going to be sneaking chemical castration solution into all of my beverages from here on out, so don't go counting on us adding a boy to our litter. We're very excited. Wendy is due April 12 or 13 and, despite grandma Patsy's objections, going to be naming her Ella Grace. (Sorry, mama...it's not after your mother-in-law, we promise. We just like the name!) In other news, we're spending Christmas week in our new home without the benefit of health or immunity. We're all sick.

Plague-ified (adjective): Household-wide cold or flu infection, often accompanied by a week of sleeplessness, clothes covered in vomit and barely-legal doses of immune-boosting supplements.

BUT...we're looking forward to seeing Mya -- now 10 months old! -- rifle through Christmas presents in the next two days, even though she'll have far more interest in the wrapping paper than in any of the zillion gifts her grandparents are going to get her. Here, you'll see a few recent pics of our growing Mamu. She's a handful. She went from doing the Army crawl to a regular crawl pretty quickly, and overnight seemed to start pulling herself up into a standing position. Now, she's standing on her own for around 30 seconds at a time. But she often becomes so impressed with herself, she starts clapping and falls on her bum. Here's some recent pics and video for you to peek at. Her two-tooth smile and goofy grin are just -- to quote Wendy -- "the bees knees!"

Anyone see the resemblance between this shot and the cover for Michael Jackson's Thriller album?


Mya enjoys a morning laugh with her daddy.


Don't worry...if this black cat crossed your path on Halloween, it meant good luck for the year to come! (Or another baby for mommy and daddy...)

Even after getting scratched on her face by our kitty Bengal at grandma Patsy's, Mya-moo is still all smiles in her new house. Life...is...good!



Her little giggles are the perfect cure after a long commute or a rough day at the office.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

BOUNCING BABY (BOY?)


So here we are again. Baby No. 2 is on the way. By the ticker to the right here, you'll see that we're expecting somewhere in mid-April. Our O.B. -- Dr. Joie Russo -- predicted April 12, but that will likely change a few times before baby shows up.

This time has been a bit different. We know what to expect and are understandably less paranoid about every little thing. This week marked the start of Wendy's second trimester (where did the time go???) and, thankfully, Wendy's finally starting to feel better. She endured about eight straight weeks of 24/7 nausea and general pregnancy-induced malaise.

But new baby is doing great (see above pic), bouncing up a storm in his mama's belly. During this 13-week ultrasound, we got quite a treat. At one point, he "jumped" from one side of his sac to the other. It was an amazing, athletic move that left us laughing and, once again, amazed at how the Lord builds babies. Today, a little fetal leap. Tomorrow -- because that's how it will seem -- a pair of squishy baby thighs, diapers and gummy smiles. Wow.

(NOTE: The word "his" was a deliberate and shameless attempt by baby's daddy at the Jedi mind trick. In fairness, this ultrasound session didn't yield any conclusive evidence one way or the other on baby's gender. Dr. Bradley, our perinatologist, gave us an admitted poor estimate of 60% that we're having a girl.)

Stay tuned for more updates!

PICTURE THIS...

We interrupt your normal text-heavy helping of updates in place of this picture-caption installment. Also included: Video of peek-a-boo and evidence of Mya's drinking problem. Enjoy the Mya...she turns 8 months next week!
Here's a shot of Mya, doing a wardrobe test-run for her future at the convent.

As you may have gathered, Miss Mya absolutely hates the camera. (NOTE: Mya absolutely loves the camera.)

The only thing she likes more than looking into the camera lens? Looking at herself in the mirror.

Mya loves trying on hats now. Here, she sports her mom's diva Rhythm Nation lid.

Pictured here in her new room in Orange, Mya holds her future -- and our retirement plan -- in her hands. Yes, that is a mini-Wilson beach volleyball. Olympics 2028?

We caught Mya tangling herself up in her floor gym. Her embarrassment is evident.

Mya and her daddy enjoy a quiet weekend morning on the couch. Not pictured: the obscenely-soiled diaper she gifted us upon waking.

"I love wearing dad's fedora!" coos Mya. "Uhh, wait...why does dad have a fedora? Is this the 20s? What's wrong with this guy? I'm surprised he's not using a gunpowder flash camera."



Mya's an easy mark for dad's primitive sense of humor.



Video evidence of Mya's drinking problem.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

LIFE AND TIMES OF A FERTILE FAMILY

The brown-eyed beauty you see shooting adorable glances at you here is now nearly seven months old, if you can believe it. We believe it because hardly anything she has in her closet fits her anymore.

Mya, at a doc's appointment just two weeks ago, was 18 lbs. 7 1/2 oz. and 27 1/2 inches long. Interestingly, at the same age, her mother was 15 lbs. 12 1/2 oz. and 26 1/2 inches long. Those differences are amazing! Just goes to show that Mya is putting on baby chub at an alarming rate, but that her height is keeping up pretty well.

Also, as you know from the previous blog entry, we are currently expecting our second child. Wendy is now 9 weeks prego with our second offspring, according to our OB, Mya's delivering doc, Dr. Joie Russo. We had the privilege of seeing our new baby on screen for the first time. Seeing that little heartbeat is no less breathtaking the second time through. No one can tell us that life begins anywhere but conception...

So needless to say, it's fun and exciting times in the Velazquez household. Stay tuned for more. In the meantime, please help yourself to these photos selections of miss Mya Moo from the last few weeks. Also posted are two videos of her enjoying tummy time with mama and her cracking up at daddy's Elmo giggle. Comments are welcome...

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

UHH...YOU'RE WHAT?


NO, this is not our baby, BUT...

For those of you who haven't heard yet, we're crazy people. On Sunday, August 10, Wendy informed me that she is, in fact, with child. More to the point, she shoved a positive pregnancy test in my face and said "I TOLD YOU!" Point taken. (Seven weeks now, hence the random, Google-pulled pic of a 7-week ultrasound.)

We had blood drawn twice that week -- on Tuesday and again on Friday -- to check her hCG levels to make sure. And what do you know? Her levels had nearly tripled and we were officially, lab-confirmed preggers.

To answer your questions:

1. Yes, we are a little bit crazy.

2. Yes, it was a little bit of a surprise.

3. Mya is six months old.

4. Yes, we ARE excited...thanks for asking.

Initially, we were taken aback but we are an awesome team and are really happy to have been blessed with another pregnancy. Wendy is getting back into pregnancy mode. She's eating better, exercising, and resting. But she's also already enjoying the perks of early pregnancy: fatigue, nausea, sleeplessness, temperature fluctuation and vertigo. Ahh, the joys of motherhood.

So we appreciate everyone's prayers and well-wishes. We plan to keep everyone up to date, as always, right here on the blog. Our first doctor's appointment for this one is September 3 -- stay tuned!

(NOTE: When speaking to Wendy, do not under any circumstances, reference the several instances of twins on her side of the family.)

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

FROM THE VIDEO LIBRARY

Here's a small assortment of our favorite short videos of Mya from the last month or so. Included are her first real giggles, her lovely singing voice, her first trip to the beach and the first -- although certainly not the last time -- she decided to punch her dad in the face for a half hour. Enjoy!









Wednesday, July 16, 2008

MYA'S SWEET 16

That's right...this lovely little face belongs to a little girl bordering on 16 pounds. At just over 21 weeks old, she's still growing at a pretty good pace. In the span of a week and a half, she put on almost a pound and a half, likely due to the fact that she graduated into the glorious (and messy) world of baby food.

This past month, she also had her first swim! On the 4th of July, she took a dip in grammy Ethel's pool. Then on the 5th, she went in my aunt Vickie's pool! It was utterly hilarious to see her kicking her little chubby feet and splashing around in the water -- she definitely enjoyed it. See our family photo below for a peek at her swimsuit!

On the development front, we're "encouraging" her to say "mama" as her first word, but who knows how long it'll be before that happens? She has made the "ma" sound with Wendy's encouragement, but we wouldn't be surprised if her first word was "donut" or "nap" -- just because we talk about those things often in this household. For now, enjoy the new pics and as always, feel free to leave us comments.







Thursday, June 19, 2008

OUR FAMILY SCRAPBOOK: MONTH 4

Below is a small selection from our family scrapbook -- all of it from the last month or so. Mya is four months old now and is getting, well...fat! Her thighs are blowing up like she's the heir to the Michelin empire and her chins are multiplying like a mogwai thrown into a bathtub. (Yes, I referenced Gremlins.)

It's all good though. She's still a healthy eater, but is taking in more and more formula since her mama's back at work now. With both of us parents back at work, life has been pretty hectic, but we have great bosses and we're managing our schedules very well. Amazingly, we find time to take pics occasionally. See below and enjoy! And if you have comments (read: compliments!), please click "Comments" at the end of this post and drop us a line!


"I love my mommy! She sings to me and cuddles with me all the time. Plus, she's the milk...which is great for helping me grow strong bones, fat wrists and chubby thighs."


"Sometimes, when you're a baby, you hit yourself in the face with your rattle...it's for fun."


"I hate tummy time, but I LOVE taking photos!"


"Daddy took me with him to a photo shoot for work. I didn't see what was so exciting."


"Of course I can sit up on my own. I can also topple over onto my side without help. I'm good that way."


"I have every confidence that double chins will come back into style by the time I'm out of diapers. So really, I'm ahead of the game."


"Musical butterfly plush toys -- they're what's for dinner."
(Click the play button on the player to view video.)

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A "MODEL" CITIZEN

Well, Mya is just over three months now -- 13 1/2 weeks to be exact -- and is just blowing our minds with how cute she is. She's 13 pounds even and 25 inches long, the latter stat putting her in the 90th percentile (not a surprise considering how tall her mother is).

Her incredibly talented Auntie Amy is also nuts about her and has gone snap-happy with her camera. Here are some of the pics she took recently. And as you can see, Mya still loves the lens.







Wednesday, May 7, 2008

ANYONE SPEAK BABY?



Anyone speak baby? Because I'm really wondering what the heck she's talking about. This is what happens when Mya gets chatty so I decided to try to capture the moment on film. More video to come soon...

Sunday, May 4, 2008

BABY DIVA GOES IN FRONT OF THE LENS

Yes yes, little baby Mya had her first "official" photo shoot. And by "official," we mean "paid for." While auntie Amy has been wonderful at taking about a billion photos for us, our wedding photographer Candy Cordes (www.candycordes.com) stopped by on Saturday (May 3) to take Mya's "newborn" photos.

I won't give too much away -- let's just say there were naked baby butts involved. And in what was perhaps the pinnacle of the shoot, Mya peed on her dad's back. Don't ask how. The first few pics are from the shoot. The remaining few are just a random sampling from the last two weeks. She turns 10 weeks tomorrow!













Monday, April 21, 2008

TWO MONTHS IN THE BOOKS!

Today (April 21), Mya is all of two months old (that's eight weeks to the pediatrician crowd out there)! As you can see from the pics below, she is growing fast and getting painfully more adorable by the minute.

Her eyes are getting lighter and lighter but we think they're more likely to end up a light brown or hazel instead of her mom's crystal blues. She's mixed in a few giggles, which is absolutely heartwarming. But the coolest thing yet? She is watching TV!!! Baby Einstein is a sure bet but tonight we sat and watched Finding Nemo with her. Between her love for TV and her love of naps, it is abundantly clear -- she fits right in with the existing family dynamic.

But enough yapping -- we'll dive in with one of my favorite pics ever. It's her cross-eyed face that she does from time to time, usually when she's trying to drop a deuce. Another photo in this post shows you the danger of the dreaded nappy-hair gene (carried by her father, of course), which sometimes rears its ugly head after she has a bath. Enjoy!