9 days in Houston...

Dear Augosto.

Life has been pretty crazy here in good ol' H-town. Not crazy in a bad way, either. It's just been a lot of getting up and going and stopping and so forth.

I have tried to take as many pictures as possible to document all the great things that have taken place in the last 9 days.

Here are some of them...

This is you after your first plane ride(from MKE to IAH). You were pretty calm for most of the flight. Most. Not all. But luckily you were calm enough not to drive everyone on the plane crazy. :)



This one was taken a few days before Christmas. On the left are Grandma and Grandpa Lopez. On the right, Grandma and Grandpa Rios.



We took this picture at my buddy Hugo's house. It's what I call my "Vicente Fernandez" picture. It's a little obvious that you were more interested in the hat than Hugo's camera.



That's all I got for now.

We have one more day in Houston and we are going to try to make the best of it.

Hope you have enjoyed the holidays. Especially since the weather in Milwaukee is nothing like what we have been experiencing. As I type this, it's 11 degrees in Milwaukee and 44 degrees in the Bayou City.

No matter what we got the heat crankin'.

Love.

Dad.

a portrait of a brown American family...

Dear Augosto.

I just wanted to write to post a quick picture.

Today, your mother and I went to visit my buddy Hugo so he could take pictures of us in his studio.

Here is my current favorite.



Me, You, and your mom and a copy of the Spanish version of Where the Wild Things Are.

The holidays in Houston have been a blast. Wish we were here longer.

Love.

Dad.

This week in Pictures--Week 8

Dear Augosto.

Yesterday, we took you to the doctor for your monthly check-up. Unfortunately, this also included shots. 3 of them. You were quite brave and took them with a heart full of optimism. But, gauging from your crying, they still hurt.

Just seeing that "what in the world are you doing because that really STINGS" look on your face hurt us too.

As of yesterday, you are coming in at 12 lbs. 9 3/4 oz. Your length is 23 3/4 inches. I keep telling your mother that it won't be long before you are borrowing my clothes.

Here are you pictures from this past week.

I took this one while your mother was reading Las Rimas de Mama Oca(Mother Goose Rhymes en Espanol) to you. You are not one to actually look at a book while someone is reading it, but you do like the sounds. I did the same thing when I was a kid too.



This is what you wore when we took you to meet your mom's students.



Your mom says that this picture kind of reminds her of my big brother. I agree very much.



I took this one while we were making breakfast tacos for your mom.



I don't know if we have ever mentioned this before but you have your own bath pod. And you LOVE it! Some days it takes you a while to warm up to it, but most days you just sit in there and enjoy it.



This was taken right after we took you out of the bath pod.



That's all I got. Tomorrow we start packing for our trip to Texas.

I can't wait for you to meet my parents and the rest of the Rios clan.
And who knows? You might even get lucky and meet my buddy Hugo.

Sincerely,

Dad.

a tale about eyelashes...Part 2

Dear Augosto.

Here is the continuation of the "eyelash" story.

Summing up what happened, I am in the bathroom and I just trimmed the lashes off of my left eye with scissors.

Then, my big brother walked in, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

He noticed the scissors in my hands and snatched them from me, "You're not supposed to be playing with these."

I denied playing with them and asked for them back. He refused. I got mad and started yelling at him. Unfortunately, I yelled loud enough for someone else to hear.

Moments later, dad walked in and asked, "What's the problem?"

I wanted to tell him about the scissors but I also knew that I would get in trouble for playing with them.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong, dad."

Just as I was about to walk out of the room, Dad noticed something on my face.

"Did you do something to your eyes?"

I shook my head. I convinced myself that I was telling the truth since I didn't cut both sets of eyelashes. Just one. So, technically, I only "did something" to one eye.

Dad kicked us out of the bathroom and I ran outside. I was so glad that I wasn't in trouble that I immediately forgot what I did to my eyelashes.

It wasn't until later when I was at the park playing with my friends that I started to remember again.

"What's wrong with your eyes?"

"Nothing."

"They look weird."

"There's nothing wrong with them. Let's just play."

No matter how hard I tried to pretend that there wasn't anything wrong, it only seemed that more people would notice. The boys at school. The teachers. The girls!

"What's up with your eyes? They're not pretty anymore."

Eventually, people stopped calling me "Pretty Eyes" and just started calling me "weird."

Regret soon became a close personal friend.

It wasn't long before I started to realize that life was better when people called me "pretty eyes." People at least smiled when they said it. And they didn't look at me like I was a three-legged dog!

Luckily, it didn't take long for things to go back to normal. My eyelashes grew back. Boys and girls started calling me "Pretty Eyes" again. And, most importantly, nobody looked at me weird.

The only thing different was that I was just a little bit smarter.

I tell you this story because we both have the same eyelashes. I hope you never regret them but if you do, then I hope this story helps.

Have a great day.

Love.

Dad.

a tale about eyelashes...Part 1

Dear Augosto.

When I was a kid, I did something very dumb. I trimmed my eyelashes.

I was seven and we were still living in Cottage Grove, a very small inner-city neighborhood in Houston.

In Cottage Grove, almost every kid who ran around the neighborhood had a nickname. One kid was called "Big Red" because he looked like a mini-sumo wrestler with coppery red hair. Another kid was called "Juice" because that's what his name translated to if you mispronounced it. Another was "Fat Joe" because he was...well...not skinny and his name was "Joe." (This made a lot of sense since there were at least four or five Joe's running around.)

I was one of the few who had the luck of having more than one nickname.

Curly--Because of my hair.

George Jefferson--Because of the way I walked.

Can Opener--Because of my teeth.

Pretty Eyes--Because of my eyelashes.

None of those names seemed to bother me except for the last one.

The boys in the neighborhood would make fun of my eyelashes because they were very very long. There was never a day that went by when I would hear something like "Hey, you got girl eyelashes."

I don't think this would have bothered me as much if the girls didn't tease me too. But they did. Truthfully, I think they teased me because my eyelashes were longer than theirs. They weren't being mean. They were being JEALOUS.

I eventually got tired of my nickname.

One day, I walked straight home and into my room. I found my construction paper cutting scissors(the ones with the round tips) and went into the bathroom. I stood in front of the mirror and, without much hesitation, I trimmed the eyelashes over my left eye. Trim is actually generous. What I really did was just cut straight across being very very careful not to cut my eyelid or my eye!

As I was about to do the next one, my big brother walked into the restroom. For some reason, I forgot to lock the door.

To be continued...

cooking with Augosto...

Dear Augosto.

This morning we were up pretty early. Somewhere between 5:30 and 6am.

I tried to keep you entertained as best as I could but nothing was working. You weren't up for a GREEN EGGS AND HAM. You didn't want to play "lets see who can stay quiet the longest." You didn't even want to do "tummy time."

So. I came up with another idea.

I decided to show you how to make breakfast. And not just any ol' breakfast. We made breakfast tacos!

At first, I was thinking of holding you while breaking eggs and heating up the tortillas but then I realized that there was a better way.

The BUMBO chair.

Before your Aunt Whitney came over, I didn't even know this thing even existed. But this chair has come in quite handy. Instead of just laying you down and waiting for you to cry or grunt, I put you in the chair and put you in the same area I am in.

This chair doesn't beat out me holding you. And you have made that quite clear. But you seem to like it from time to time.

Here's proof.



We successfully made the tacos and your mother loved them.

Not long after that, you were ready to get out of the kitchen and into my arms for a long morning nap.

And since my belly was full, you weren't the only one catching some zzzzzz's. :)

Hope you had a great day.

Love.

Dad.

celebrating the little things...

Dear Augosto.

I've written a lot about your sleep habits. How you like to sleep whenever you feel like it. And how you prefer anything but the crib. Stuff like that.

Now, I want to mention a few words about "waking up."

One would assume that when a baby wakes up from a long nap, he/she would cry to let the parents know "Hey you people who feed me and clothe me, I'm up!"

This is not particularly your style.

When you wake up, you GRUNT(I don't know a better word how to describe it but that's exactly what you do.). And you don't do it once or twice. You do it a lot.

First, it starts out tiny. Like a small cough. Then, it increases volume. Like you're trying to clear your throat. It continues to get louder and more elaborate until it sounds like your trying to lift a car with those chunky legs you have.

Your mother has compared what you do to the main character in the movie SLINGBLADE. He grunts too. But he's not 2 months old. And he's usually awake.

The funny part about this is that your eyes usually remain closed the whole time you're doing this.

I am convinced that you are not grunting because you want us to know you are awake. You are doing it because you want us to be aware of what you accomplished.

If it were a conversation, it would go like this.

AUGOSTO-- "GRUNT" = "Hey, mom. Dad. Look, I'm awake."
ME--"Great. Do you want to read a book now?"
AUGOSTO-- "GRUNT" = "No. You're not paying attention. I'm awake. Look."
ME-- "I am looking."
AUGOSTO-- "GRUNT" = "Isn't that cool? or what?"
ME-- "Yes, it is cool."
AUGOSTO-- "GRUNT" -- "I am awake! I am awake! I AM AWAKE!"

If this was a musical, this is the part where dancers and singers and mariachis would come out and celebrate, "He is awake!"

As I think about all this, it makes me realize how the smallest things seem so trivial to someone like me. Waking up. Breathing. Walking. Using two hands.

And yet to you, someone who is still new to the game of life, it is the biggest deal in the world.

So, grunt away young man and I'll grunt with you.

Sleep well.

Love.

Dad.

this week in pics -- week 7

Dear Augosto.

Today, we had to say "goodbye" to Grandma Lopez. She hopped on a plane and returned home. We are so grateful that she was able to fly up here and help out while I dealt with finals and your mother returned to work. I am quite sure you had fun too. :)

Since today is Saturday, here are pictures from this past week.

You and the Northwestern Bear(Uncle Farhan bought this for you). I took a lot of these pictures hoping to also get most of the Christmas tree in the background but this is the best I could do.



You on the swing. From what I hear you really like this thing.



I took this picture on the day I returned. I just love that smile.




Before Grandma Lopez left, I hooked up her camera to my computer to see if there were any pictures of you that I didn't have. I found this one. Not sure when it was taken but I had to share it.



That's all I got for today.

I don't know if I have mentioned this but I look forward to spending a lot of time with you next week. Starting Monday, it'll just be me and you and the fat cat. Your mother will be around but she'll be working hard for the money.

Have a great day.

Love.

Dad.

new feature

Dear Augosto Readers.

I have added a new feature to this online journal(I still refuse to use the "b" word).

If you want an update of "Dear Augosto" sent straight to your e-mail, then visit: http://royalmexicanboy.blogspot.com/ and put your e-mail address in the subscribe thingy on the right.

I'm still new to this so I am not sure how it works but I wanted to spread the word.

Take care

A.D.(Augosto's Dad)

a holiday tradition...

Dear Augosto.

Before we get swept up in the holidays with packing and flying and visiting the Rios Clan & the Lopez clan, I just wanted to quickly write about a Christmas tradition that your mother and I have. One that we started before we were married.

Basically, every year we buy a Christmas ornament for our tree. One year, it was a cat ornament that we got from an art museum in Chicago. Another year, it was a Cirque du Soleil ornament that was filled with swatches from the performers' costumes.

This year's ornament reflects an exciting time period in our life. It marks your first Christmas with us and it also serves as a reminder of my steps towards obtaining a graduate degree.



I joke with your mother that you too will one day be a Northwestern Wildcat. I would tell you how she feels about that but I think that's one thing you should find out on your own. (HINT: She went to USC.)

As I type this, I'm listening to Christmas music and taking a break from reading The Time Traveler's Wife(I figured I needed to read something other than books about writing right now). As for your mother and grandma Lopez, they are having a grand ol' time at UW-Milwaukee watching William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The cat is nowhere to be found.

And you. You are sleeping.

Life is pretty cool right now(Outside it's cool too. Too cool. 16 degrees).

Stay warm and enjoy your own Midwinter Night's Dream.

Love.

Dad.

back in MKE!

Dear Augosto,

It is so great to be back home. WOOHOO!!!

After catching 2 trains in 2 degree weather(not considering wind chill), your mom picked me up at the train station. Unfortunately, she had to go back to work. So I dropped her off then zoomed home.

After grabbing all my bags, I ran inside and there you were hanging out with Grandma Lopez. You looked very happy. :) And you looked BIG and HEAVY. But then again that should be no surprise to me since I hear that you are feeding like you are getting ready to be a sumo wrestler!

Once I got off all my 47 layers of clothes(it's a midwest thing), I picked you up and almost instantaneously felt the difference. You seemed about as heavy, if not heavier, than a sack of potatoes. And I'm not talking about those small little red ones. I'm talking about those big ones. The ones look like dinosaur eggs.

There was a point where you were getting sleepy and I sat in the rocking chair to rock you to sleep. It wasn't working so I tried holding you out flat in both arms(Grandma Lopez says you like that). Well, this was worked for a little while until...my arms starting hurting. Then my back. If you are going to continue with your feeding frenzy, I think you and might have to have a talk about sleeping positions very soon.

No matter what I had a blast just being back with you. We had "tummy" time. I read one page of Humpty Dumpty to you(I would have read more but you weren't having it). I watched Dr. Oz while you slept. All this beats those sleepless graduate school nights. But I'm almost done. June is right around the corner.

I hear you stirring so before you wake up I want to post the most recent picture I have of you.

Is this a smile or what?



From what I hear you have been smiling a lot lately. And laughing.

I can't wait to hear you laugh.

Take care.

Love

Dad.

all done!

Dear Augosto,

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Very sorry it took me so long. I had a lot of writing to do and a very very very short time to do it in.

No matter what. That is all behind me now. Now the big priority is cleaning.

I've got to wash clothes & dishes. Put books back on shelves, recycle papers and find those pens I keep losing. And, most importantly, clean out the fridge.

When it come to the food box, I'm being relentless and tossing everything. Left and right. I don't want to know what this stuff smells like when left in there until January. I'm sure you and your mom don't either.

When I'm done with that, then it's time to pack. Tomorrow morning, I hop on a train and head home.

I can't wait to see you and your mother.

I didn't go home this last weekend so I could focus on finals and it turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. Luckily, I have pictures of both of you taped to my wall to help me get through the long days of punching keys and staring at a computer screen. And believe me, the pictures helped. A lot.

Also, I can't wait see what new pictures we have so I can upload some more pictures for you as well as the rest of the world to see. I think I have exhausted all the ones I have saved on my computer.

Oh WAIT!

There's one more I haven't shared. And it's my current fave.



Tomorrow, we'll be back together just the way it should be. Like a family.

See you soon.

Love.

Dad.