Teo-G at 4-weeks

Our littlest, best-est buddy turns 4-weeks old today (Friday, May 1). Not exactly a month yet, but only a few days shy of that mini-est of first (of many) milestones.
Aside from seemingly gaining another pound (he's like a little cannonball now), he is definitely more alert with his eyes; I think his clear vision has kicked in. He REALLY looks around a lot more now, and can follow your movements closer. And he is acknowledging people a bit more. Well, that's a gimmee with Candice. He's attached to her (literally) for a good part of the day. But there is NOTHING that melts the heart more than looking right at him, saying "hi" (or some other crazy baby talk) and getting a smile in return.
He's been out a number of times, going to Tanner's baseball games, chillaxing in his stroller, fully cocooned, or going on walks (he rides) to the park with the family.
We expect our professional photo pics to arrive today or tomorrow, so please check back soon, as I will post the best of the bunch.

Little Buddy at 3-weeks

Teo celebrated his first 3-weeks on earth this past Friday.
Plus he had his first doctor's appointment the day before. And as we suspected, after watching him fill out every day it seems (especially his face, as you can see by the pics), and eat and sleep like a champ, he gained a pound-and-a-half. He now weighs 9lbs. Yes, he weighed 7lbs.-14oz. at birth, but he lost 1/2 of a pound by the second day in the hospital, so was down to 7-1/2 pounds, but has gained the weight back and lots more in these 2-1/2 weeks home. Doc says he's in the 75th percentile for weight gain. Plus he's grown a 1/2-inch, and is in the 50th percentile for reaching that mark. Guess mom's juice is jacked. And I can attest that Teo is HIGHLY addicted to the juice - so hooked is he that he even CRIES for it! Candice gives in every time, too. What an enabler.
He seems to love the light and contrast. He'll stare at the TV (that's just great), and loves looking at one of our living room lights, as well as the vertical blinds when the sun is cracking through.
His schedule is still a work in progress (in terms of obliging Candice and me with more than a 4-hour stretch of sleep here and there), but I think he is ever so slowly staying up longer and longer and sleeping a touch longer. I guess the whiskey I told Candice to drink just before his 9pm feeding is starting to kick in with him. Pretty soon we'll have them on the coffee kick to get him jump-started in the morning. It'll help in his walking training we'll be starting after he turns 4-weeks old.
And as you can see by the pics, he is our beautiful little buddy. I keep telling Candice HE should be the new face on all the Gerber packaging.

Various Stages of Attachment

To say that Teo and Grandma Connie are bonding is an understatement. He really enjoys her singing to him and and bouncing him to sleep and holding and carrying him in various positions and the endless baby banter. And she truly loves her little grandson. We will have to be certain to keep a very close eye on Teo when Grandma packs her bags for her return trip home; she's indicated more than once that she's going to spirit him away from us back to Chicago.

The Flying Nun

Grandma Connie draped Teo's burp-cloth over is head while he slept, and commented that he looked like the Flying Nun - not that anyone under age 40 would even get the reference. Google it if you're curious (or incredibly bored).

Grandma Connie Visits

Teo's Grandma Connie is here in SoBur, visiting with her only grandson. (When you're truly GOLDEN, only one is needed; any more is just overkill and pretentious - or needy or something.)
Anyways - needless to say, she is absolutely fawning over her little buddy. It's great to hear her sing and talk to him constantly, much like I remember her doing with me when I was about his age, with MY GIANT BRAIN being stimulated by her dulcet tones.
She's been having a great visit, and it is also been great and helpful for us (Candice and me). We even tried to go out for a quick bite to eat, thinking that if he was fed, we could leave him with Grandma and we could run out the door and have at least an hour to ourselves to enjoy a meal at a nearby restaurant (great burgers), but no sooner did we get our food, and literally seconds after I looked at my cell phone to see that no one had yet called, did the phone ring and were told he was screaming his little lungs out. Of course we expected him to be sound asleep when we got home, but being the considerate baby that he is, he was still screaming.
As Grandma C will attest, he is changing rapidly, with his little face filling out rapidly, his body seemingly growing LONGER by the day, his hair is a bit darker, and he now has little eyebrows and beautiful curly little eyelashes. Amazing to watch.
On Friday, Teo celebrated his 2-week-old birthday. After singing Happy Birthday, we took him down to the local tattoo parlor and all got matching "Teo Rocks!" tattoos.
Yesterday (Sunday), the whole family (Teo, Can, Tan, Gil and Connie) went down to Marina del Rey to get our family photos taken by the same woman who did our maternity pics (and our wedding pics). We were a little worried about the long drive for Teo, but he slept a good part of the way there, and all the way back.
The shoot went really well, not knowing how Teo would react to flashing lights and being bandied about like a little prop. But he did great, save for a few crying bouts that he had totally earned and was entitled to. As soon as we get the disc, we'll post a couple of the best images here. And I think there are some really GREAT ones, too. Please stay tuned.

Teo's First Outdoor Excursion

His first outdoor excursion, other than the VERY first excursion he took from womb to reality, that is.
Last Saturday we decided to take a family outing to a nearby park that we like to go to, and since Teo is still a few weeks away from being able to be left at home alone, we took him along with us.
As you can see by the pics, he was pretty well wrapped up in the cocoon that he likes and is used to - though as of late that is changing (as is he).
It was a beautiful spring day here in SoBur (South Burbank, for you slang-impaired), with temps in the low-70s and a pleasantly cool breeze. Teo LOVES to look around at all the pretty things in the world - which for him has only been our apartment - so we thought his first trip outdoors would be a festival for his nascent vision and further stimulate his GIANT BRAIN, but alas, he slept through the whole thing, except for a brief moment at the park where he popped open his eyes for a few secs, just to see how boring everything really was.
Oh well, he still gets his glipmses of nature when I take him outside on our balcony and dangle him over the edge. He loves that! Plus it's a better view for him from there, what with being less than 2-feet tall and all.
He's been on a couple of walks with Candice since, and has even been awake for it. Guess he's figured out that he's in it for the long haul, so best that he gets with the program, boring or not.

The Incredible Multi-functional Boppy

The lovely Candice Juarez is modeling the latest in breastfeeding/comfort/safety gear. It's not only a great infant support pillow for use during breastfeeding (and Candice highly endorses and loves this product in it's intended use), but we discovered that it also doubles and triples as a great in-flight neck pillow (in case you have an over-sized giant head), as well as impact safety protection - provided you turn your head sideways upon impact. And if you DO decide to wear it on the plane during your next vacation/business flight, please take a picture because I would like to see who the person is with not one self-conscious grain in their body.
Bad enough there's a picture online on the web, available to the entire world for viewing. (Oops! Sorry Candice.)
NEXT POST: Teo's first outdoor excursion.

100-percent True Story

When Candice and I got pregnant, we originally thought (secretly hoped?) that we would be having a girl, and had a name picked out from Day 1: LOLA ISABELLA JUAREZ. We had come up with that name well before we even got pregnant, we were so excited to have a baby, and our little girl at that.
Well, needless to say, we didn't have a girl, and when we found out at the ultrasound that we were having a boy, there went the ONLY name that we had ever considered up to that point. So the long and twisty road to finding a name for our little boy began, which is a whole different story unto itself.
Fast-forward to Friday, April 3 and Candice and I are in the labor/delivery room at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7am in the morning. Our OB/GYN doctor, Dr. Pearson (the man who will be delivering Teo into the world), arrives about a half hour later and checks in to see how Candice is doing. Soon after his assessment, he gets up and leaves the room, apparently to check in with another patient who is in the room right next to us and is also in labor at the same time as Candice. And the last name of that woman next door, as told to us by our nurse? JUAREZ. (Wait - it gets better.)
So we couldn't believe it when we heard that in all of LA, in St. Joe's in Burbank on the exact same day and the same time that Teo was arriving, another Juarez baby just happened to be arriving in the room right next door, being delivered by the same doctor. What are the odds? If our last name was Smith or Jones, we might not have been as surprised as we were.
So after the joy and excitement of Teo's arrival, a couple of days later (still in the hospital), Candice and I noticed on the little cart/bed that Teo was wheeled around in had a fluorescent-orange label on it next to his little name card that said "Name Alert," and I asked the nurse if that had anything to do with the other Juarez baby being born at the same time, and she told us that was indeed the reason; the neonatal and hospital staff needed to be aware of which baby was which, and hence the tag.
So I aksed the nurse, out of sheer curiosity, if it wasn't too imposing on them if she could please find out what the parents had named their little Juarez baby. So she comes back about an hour later and tells us the name.
They just happened to have a little girl. And her name?
LAYLA ISABELLA JUAREZ. Are you freakin' kidding me? (My reaction.) Jeepers! (Candice's reaction.)
I think our little Lola couldn't bear NOT to be with us, so sent some kind of sign in spirit that she was around and waiting.
Thanks for the sign Lola/Layla, and thanks for watching over our little buddy.
Til we meet again... in the SAME labor/delivery room, though, and not next door!

There's cute...

... and then there's CUTE.

The pic at right and the one posted here along with this post is Teo on Day 2 at home.
As you can see, Mom is really looking chipper and beautiful and beaming - part from being more rested and the comforts of sleeping at home, and part due to the fact she was able to shower. (Before you skewer me, Candice TOLD me to say that! I think she's ALWAYS beautiful, no matter what.)
When we took this picture, I half-jokingly asked Teo to smile too, and being the genius Golden Child that he is, he happily obliged. Can you spell CUTE? I think I might have to find Teo an agent and start finding work for him in the "business." (We do live in LA after all.) I was going to wait until he was 3 years old before I sent him to Tijuana to sell chicle on the streets like any decent hard-working baby should be doing by that age to earn his keep, but with that face and that GIANT BRAIN, I think he'll be a shoo-in for some commercial spots (like his mom!) to get the career going.
So if he becomes the bread-winner in the family, I can let the whole should-be-walking-before-2-months-old thing go.
Enjoy.

Teo Buddy is HOME

Greetings all.
G-Daddy still here as mommy recuperates some more and tends to our little buddy.
Teo made his way home by way of his first car ride on Tuesday afternoon around 12:30. He had just been fed at the hospital before we left, so he slept through the whole ordeal of dad trying to figure out how to get him into his car seat. Once in, we drove the 4 minutes it takes to get from the hospital to our place, which is literally down the street a bit. (It was VERY comforting to know it was minutes away when Candice would be going into labor. I couldn't imagine being stuck on the freeway with Candice having contractions 4-minutes apart. Nightmarish for all indeed.)
We made it through the first night, mostly intact. Dad's got diaper duty along with Tanner, and that is proving to have it's own learning curve. Each change I/we get a little better at getting the position and adjustment just right, but because of first-timer fumbling and bumbling the first day home, Teo managed to pee/soil 5 blankets, 1 pair of jeans (mine) and my arm - 2-feet away!. Today is going considerably better :)
He got up at 2am for an hour of feeding/changing/cuddling and then again at 4am and at 7:45am. A little rough, but manageable. We'll see how the next few days and nights go.
I'm just a tiny bit worried about him, though, because he's not walking yet. He's IS the Golden Child after all, so I expected walking by now and then levitation at 1-month, but that's cool, because he did say his first word already, so I'll give him another few days for the walking thing.
Enjoy the pics!

Day 3 of Teo's TOE (Time On Earth)

Images from Day 3 of Mr. Teo's debut.
Don't worry - it won't get to "Day 344 of Teo's debut" with images posted every single day. Well, at least I don't think so. TBD.
He already looks like he's 3-weeks old instead of 3 days, with such healthy looking skin and tone, and he's so alert with his eyes and responding to noise, most notably our voices. But then he IS the Golden Child, so I expect him to be walking by day 10, talking by day 21 and painting his first masterpiece by week 12.
Nina Sylvia (Gil's cousin) stopped by for a visit, as well as more family and a couple of Candice's friends from her previous location in Monrovia.
And in case you were wondering about the photo of Teo with the old looking doll, that is "Joshua Curmudgeon" I believe is his name, and that was the size that Teo's big brother Tanner was when he was born 6-weeks premature . So we placed the doll next to Teo for comparison of the two. What a difference 6-weeks makes!
More to come. Please check back soon.
G-Daddy

G-Daddy here again.
Images from day 2 of Teo's time on earth (TOE).
Big Brother Tanner (10 yrs old) Nana and Bumpa (Candice's Mom and Dad, respectively - no age available), OLDER sisters Tatia and Julie (and two of her children Kylie and Griffith) came to visit, as well as Gil's good friends Unkie Ken and Auntie Monica. Dr. Pearson, the man responsible for delivering Teo, also came by to say hi, but also to whisk him away for a little snip-snip (for the boys only), which was one of the worst 10-minutes of my emotional life. My heart went out to my son as much as humanly possible as he wailed away in what must have been horrendous pain. Thankfully it was a very brief procedure.
Candice was feeling much better, and was able to get up and walk around by the late afternoon. And eat solid food, which made her MOST happy.
Much thanks to all who have sent well-wishing emails, and I apologize to those who didn't get the original email; please don't feel slighted whatsoever- it was hard to get everyone I wanted on the list. I was in a hurry to get back to see my wife and son!
More to come with Day 3 of Teo's TOE.

The Debut of Teo Gilbert Juarez

Hi Everyone,
Gil here, subbing temporarily for Candice.
Teo has made his big debut into the world! He arrived yesterday (Friday, April 3) at 1:52pm, weighed in at 7lbs. 14oz., and at 21.25-inches in length. Many thanks to all of you for your calls and texts, sending well wishes and congrats.
Being completely (and impossibly) unbiased, he really looks fantastic - great skin tone, a healthy pink glow, and as beautiful as can be.
Mom is recovering nicely at the hospital. Due to umbilical cord complications and also that Teo was sunny side up (instead of the normal and preferred face-down), he had to be delivered via C-section. It was a long day, especially for Candice, starting and 4:15am, but she was the greatest trooper of them all. Despite the pain and endless rigors of the day, her usual sunny disposition shone through at all times, and never once did she complain. Our greatest concern was to bring Teo into the world in the safest way possible, for both him and mom. After witnessing yesterday's events, and not to mention the last nine months of what Candice went through, as I have told friends and family, if it were men that had to bring babies into this world, there'd be 6-million people on earth instead of 6-billion.
While I wanted to post every picture taken so far, I posted here what I thought were maybe the best views of our new little boy, and with his mom and dad.
Lots more to come, so please check back soon.
Gil (G-Daddy).