Week 14: Three Months and the Beginning of Papa and Grammy's Day Care

Sunday, January 11th, 2015

The Grantster turned 3 months old this week!  He is really starting to fill out his mini chair, and he doesn't fall over nearly as easily as he did for his one and two month pictures.  Once again he is sporting his dinosaur month tie, and he decided to stay in his pajamas for these pictures.  So without further ado, here is a 3 month old Grant!

The first couple pictures were practice shots without the tie.  These were actually some of the best ones we got.

We then put on his tie and he started off good.

But then he started slide down the chair...

...perform karate kicks...

...hang out with his Triceratops...

...and eventually he just got tired and decided he couldn't hold up his big head anymore...

Grant has also started to spend some more time on his play mat.  He still seems unsure about it, getting scared if we leave him on it and watch from afar, and crying if he is on it for more than five minutes.  But he does seem to enjoy it at times, or at least he is interested in some of the jungle animals hanging from it, and he has started to grab at some of them as well.

This week Katie went back to work at the University of Virginia.  We have decided that she will finish working through the semester, but once the school year is over in May, Katie will stop working and come home to be with Grant as a full-time mom.  I am pretty jealous actually.  So we thought that we were going to have to put Grant into day care for about 4 or 5 months, but my parents offered to come and live with us in our guest room and watch Grant during the day while Katie and I are at work.  It is a lot easier for us to leave Grant with his Papa and Grammy compared to leaving him with a stranger at day care, even though we know that he would have gotten a lot of care and attention at the day care that we were considering.  Well they came down this week and have moved in, and they have already started having fun with Grant.

Apparently it was a tiring week for Grant, but there is nothing better than when he just wants to lay on my chest and sleep.

Week 13: A New Year with Grant

Sunday, January 4th, 2015

It is a new year. 2015! And it seems like every New Year's celebration is getting better and better.  Last New Year Katie and I had just gotten married, and now a year later we just celebrated our first anniversary and we already have an almost-3-month-old son.  Our lives are truly blessed, and Grant brings so much happiness to Katie and I.  My New Year's resolution is to be the best husband I can be to my wife and the best father I can be for Grant.  Another resolution of mine is to give Grant a little brother or sister.  Grant's New Year's resolution is to continue to sleep, eat, and poop like a champ.  He also has crawling, walking, and talking on that list.  It will be a big year for him, and we look forward to all the fun and joy he brings.

Week 12: Christmas in New Hampshire!

Sunday, December 28th, 2014

This past week was spent up in New Hampshire at Papa and Grammy's house, my childhood home.  It was extra special because the entire family was able to be there, all five brothers and their families.  Total there were 15 family members in the house.

On Monday, Katie, Grant, and I took a day trip down to Boston to meet up with a very good friend of Katie's, Brother Allen.  Brother Allen is a member of the Brotherhood of Hope, and he helped run the Catholic Student Union at Florida State while Katie was a student.  He helped develop her faith, and for that I am grateful.  We met him for lunch at the Faneuil Hall / Quincy Market area downtown.  It was a lot of fun, and Brother Allen was very excited to meet little Grant.

The rest of the week was spent together at the house with the entire family.  Grant spent a lot of quality time with his Papa and Grammy, his uncles and aunts, and his three little cousins.  There are so many fun pictures of Grant from the week that I am just going to post a bunch of them below.  Enjoy!

Grant was also featured on our Christmas card.  Sleep in heavenly peace!

Week 11: Grant the Sailor Man Meets Santa

Sunday, December 21st, 2014

This week we dressed Grant in a sailor suit that Grammy gave to us.  This sailor suit is special because me and all of my brothers were photographed in it when we were around three months old.  Because Grant is really big for his age he already fills out the sailor suit so we decided to take the pictures now.  He had a lot of fun with it!

I am not great at knowing who a baby looks like, even my own baby.  Lots of people say that Grant looks just like me, while others say that he looks like Katie.  And then one person even said that he looks like his Cuban grandfather.  But after taking these pictures and then comparing them to the picture of me in the sailor suit, I can see that he at least looks like I did when I was his age.  Below is the picture of me when I was three months old.

This was also a big week for Grant because we went on our first trip up to New Hampshire to visit Papa and Grammy's house for the entire week of Christmas.  We got there on Saturday, and then on Sunday we decided to go to the mall and let Grant meet Santa for the first time.  It was great, and Grant was not like most kids who scream bloody murder when they have to sit on Santa's lap, although it would have been kind of funny to see Grant go crazy.  The man who played Santa was skinny, and he didn't really look the part.  His face and beard were fine I guess, but it would have been nice to see a little more chub.  I wanted to go up to him like Will Ferrell does in Elf and tell him that he smells like beef and cheese and that he sits on a throne of lies.

Here are Grant's first pictures with Santa.  They will be fun to compare from year to year.

And here are some cute pics of Grant in his football onesie enjoying the college football bowl season.

Week 10: Grant's 2-Month Checkup

Sunday, December 14th, 2014

Grant had his two month checkup this past week.  He had his measurements taken again, and boy is he growing!  He is definitely filling out now, which is great improvement from the first few weeks when he lost a bunch of weight.  He now weighs 12 pounds and 15 ounces (we will round up to 13 pounds), which puts him in the 62nd percentile.  Not too shabby.  He isn't the chubbiest baby yet, but he is working on it!  His length was measured at 24 inches, which puts him in the 84th percentile.  I am hoping that he grows to be as tall as I am, so he is off to a good start with his height.  And the best part of the checkup was finding out his head size.  His head circumference was 16.25 inches, which puts him in the 96th percentile!  Obviously he has a huge brain in there and he is going to be a super genius!  Katie has been telling me that she thinks his head is unusually big, but I have been telling her that it is a regular size...but clearly she was right.

Grant also had his first round of shots, which was a little heart breaking.  The pediatrician had Grant lie down on the table, and I stood behind him and held his hands.  Before the shots went into his legs he was in such a good mood, smiling up at me.  But then his doctor held down his legs and quickly stuck him with three different shots.  As soon as the needle went into his leg his smile vanished, he looked up at us with a stunned and betrayed face for half a second, and then he began to scream.  Not cry...he screamed.  That lasted for about ten seconds before it turned into a loud cry, which then turned into a whimper after Katie held him for a minute.  He whimpered for a few minutes before we were able to calm him down and get him to smile again.  Like I said, it was a little heart breaking, but luckily it wasn't traumatizing, at least for this round of shots.  Maybe next time he gets shots he will remember it.  Here are some pictures from before and then after the shots.

Grant and Katie have also been continuing their morning tradition.  He is so happy in the mornings, and Katie just loves staying in bed and cuddling with him.

He has also been getting some more time on his activity mat.  He seems to be getting better at purposefully moving his legs and arms, evidenced by the video below, showing him kicking at the whale.

Week 9: Two Months and Grant's Trip to Jacksonville

Sunday, December 7th, 2014

This week Grant turned 2 months old, and he is changing so much these days.  He has really filled out since he was born, and he has also developed his own little personality.  We took some more pictures with his dinosaur month ties, and some of our favorite ones are the outtakes of him crying.

Grant also made the trip down to the city of his father's birth, Jacksonville, FL.  We actually even stopped by my parents' old house, where I spent the first two years of my life.  I don't really remember anything about that house, but my parents showed me some pictures of me when I was a baby at that house.  Here are the past and present pictures of me at the old Jacksonville house.

We were also able to go to the church where I was baptized.  Here is Saint Catherine's Catholic Church back when I was baptized, and then again with me holding my son.

The stop at my parents' old house was just a bonus.  The real reason we came down to Jacksonville for the weekend was to celebrate Katie's good friend, Mabel, and her 30th birthday.  Another added bonus was that Nunu was able to make the trip to Jacksonville for the weekend.  The first day we were there we went to a Christmas parade in the city, Grant's first parade.

Later that night was Mabel's party.  And let me tell you it was quite the occasion, with a very extravagant dinner at the Italian restaurant, Maggiano's.  Mabel really outdid herself, with five different appetizers, and four different main course dishes, all served family-style.  It was DELICIOUS!  Grant dressed up and wore his pink bowtie.

It was a very fun trip down to the state where both of Grant's parents were born.