At Starbucks

Starbucks is boring when you can't have a Frappuccino

...to Starbucks

The ride sends him straight to a power nap. Believe it or not it was actually a little chilly, hence the jacket. Sam is so hip.

Stroller ride...

Sam cam

All smiles

Sam is the happiest baby I have ever seen. I have to admit I haven't been around many babies, but I have heard the stories. So before Sam came, I was ready for anything: long nights, crying spells, and tired arms. But at ten weeks now, I've yet to go through the experiences that hero-mommy stories are made of. Since we brought Sam home, we worked very hard to let him know that Mom and Dad are always there for him. We ignored all the notions that this would make him a spoiled baby. We picked him up and soothed him every time he cried. After all, the world can be pretty scary when you are tiny, half-blind, and have been used to being inside of someone else for 9 months! So we carried him often. We let him nap on us all the time. And as silly as it felt, we talked to him all the time. Disregarding all the advice about forced schedules, we worked hard to figure out what his feeding and sleeping patterns were (and they changed often!). Maybe it's his personality, maybe it's just plain luck, but Sam is a very happy, comfortable baby, and quite the contrary is starting to emerge... he is also a bit independent! He hardly ever cries because he knows that whatever he needs is already on it's way. He has periods in the day where he is happy just staring and talking to his toys while chomping on his hand. He's also sleeping through the whole night! And at just 8 weeks he started gracing us with his first giggles, smiles, and happy sounds (these have grown to full ahh-goos, oohs, and ahhs conversations in the last week). He's attentive, curious, and has the sweetest stare. We are the ones that are totally spoiled by him.

New skill

Sam and Natalya

Just a few years ago, this little girl's mom and I used to sit in The School of Architecture courtyard at the University of Miami while sipping coffee. Life was hard then. While sipping our coffees slowly, we complained about our demanding schoolwork, our Cuban moms, and ourselves. Proportionate to our heights, she had a "venti" and I had a "short". I am assuming that everyone is familiar with Starbucks terminology by now. We rolled our eyes and took sometimes hours explaining with much detail our situations to each other. I would pick at her lunch; she always brought to school her own lunch. It was this great steak salad, with homemade oil and vinegar dressing. Slow, tidy, with warm hands from our cups, that was lunch then. To those of you who might not know this, I love coffee. Not loads of it. Not so much because I need it in the morning. I love it with lots of steamed milk, foam on top, and preferably with someone else. But this is lunch now. Sometime during the 45 minutes that she and I met at this French bakery, a juice was spilled, half a lunch was wrapped up for later, and the table almost tipped over. We got a few words in to each other, and some looks from other people too. Oh yeah, and the coffee was cold. But look at this picture...life is definitely much better now.

Little feet

They tell me that you can't really remember just how little they once were... so I took a picture.

Sleepy

Sam wears pants... and loves it

Sam, all ready to go to Brandon's first marching band competition. All his students were going to meet him tonight so I made sure to dress him extra cool. Sam seemed like he had a great time. He was awake the whole time, and was really alert during the pit and battery warm-ups. He wanted to be held upright, kept his little neck up the whole time so that he could see over my shoulder, and kicked his legs under my arm. I thought the drums would startle him at least a little bit, but they just seemed to get him excited... a future musician in the making for sure! Not bad for his first loud outing and Brandon's section even won "Best Percussion" for their division.

Sam suddenly goes gangsta...must be the baggy pants

Wearing pants is funny