27 and 7 weeks!

Today is Nate's birthday...Happy Birthday Nate! Coincidentally, Joaquin turns 7 weeks on the same day Nate turns 27. Nate has been living with us this month as he waits for his future roommates to be out of their lease. It has been nice...Joaquin likes to be held and walked around the house lately and having the extra set of hands has been useful.

This week, Joaquin's big things are:

*Practicing standing: He can do this longer than just about anything else...rest on my lap, push himself up, gets all excited that he is standing. So cute : )

*Smiling and laughing: So after I wrote last week what a serious kid he was, he starts smiling and talking and cooing all the time. And I think he is working on trying to laugh. He does this panting/happy noise combination that sounds like the beginning of a laugh. I guess we'll have to stay tuned!

6 weeks

Joaquin is 6 weeks old, which seems like a big milestone to me, but I'm not sure why. We did introduce a bottle this week and it went well...seems he is happy just to be eating! Pumping seems like it is going to be a challenge though. Joaquin eats almost all day long and I just don't have much time (or supply) to be on the pump for any amount of time. I think we may try pumping during his long, glorious, through the night sleeps we have been so blessed with...bummer. Some pics of his first bottle:



He is such a mover. He can hold up his head for quite some time now and move it from right to left to look at things. He has also managed to army crawl his way off his boppy playmat and seems more and more interested in holding whatever his food is coming out of. Lots of cooing and talking to us too, but not alot of smiles. He seems almost studious...always exploring his surroundings.

Finally, we got the proofs back from his professional portraits. To view them, click our photographer's web site: www.shannonlottphotography.com.

Click "client proofs".

Password is "Joaquin". We love them, hope you enjoy them as well!

Added pictures

I have added pics to our shutterfly page. You can access the page by clicking on Joaquin's pic in the sidebar to the right. My goal is to update this every month, but I am not making any hard promises. Whenever I do update though, it will be there.

5 weeks

We had an active weekend with our guests and Joaquin got to visit Hollywood and the Aquarium of the Pacific. He did really great on all of our excursions while he was in the sling. The car seat though...not so much. I guess we just have a little lovebug on our hands that wants to be held. Honestly, in places like Hollywood where it was uber-crowded, being compact and using the sling was much easier. Anyway, it is so fun to learn more about him and his preferences--I love the process of becoming an expert on my son!

At the aquarium, he woke up for the last half hour and we took him really close to some of the tanks. He really liked looking at the fish and the foam on top of the water. I have a feeling we'll be visiting there frequently over the next few years.

1 Month!

Joaquin is one month old today. We can not believe it, it seems to have gone by in a flash.

Joaquin is smiling alot more lately and we think we'll get a genuine, reactive smile any day now. He's also going through some separation anxiety and wants to be held all the time, usually by Anjelica. We are going out more and he does very well in the sling, not as much in his stroller.

Today, his Grandpa is visiting from Alabama and we all went to Santa Monica. Joaquin's first trip to the beach...or a beach adjacent area : )

We love him so much and find us already missing him from his 'younger days.' Is there a way to slow this down? Can we keep him this small and still experience him growing up?

We took one month pictures today and although the last one is the winner, we thought it was pretty funny as a series...