Visit to Dr. K

Nicholas had his second visit to Dr. K's office. He is in good health. He now weighs 9-lbs. 12-oz. He's still 22.5-inches long. His head was normal. He doesn't quite have the melon that his brother has. He has minor congestion, so Dr. K recommended that we use the humidifier in the room. Since John's using the humidifier as well, I had to go get a second one for our room. The benefit to having the two humidifiers is that Maureen and I will have good skin from now on.

Update on The Tsar

Our Tsar Nicholas the Resplendent has a little cold. At least, we hope that's all it is. He doesn't have a fever, but he does sneeze every so often. Aside from that, he has his 3-week check-up tomorrow. We'll see how he does with Dr. K.

Other his cold, he's still doing well. It seems like he's eating every hour, but it's more like every 2 to 3. At night, it just seems like it is every hour.

Christmas with the Grandparents

We took Nicholas over to the grandparents' houses. This was the first time that Nicholas was going to meet Grandpa Juan. As we got there, Grandpa was on his computer talking to my cousin, Mario. So, Nicholas got to meet Cousin Mario and his family as well. Mario loves Johnny and always talks to him over Skype, so he knew who was talking to him. He just loved being held by Grandma Maria. He also sat and enjoyed his yogurt lunch.

We later stopped by to visit Grammy Brady. She was getting ready to host a Christmas gathering of the Zamarin side of the family. We couldn't attend because Dr. K asked us not to go to any family gatherings to avoid any germs. John took full advantage of the backyard. He loves to run around. He even played a bit of basketball. As you can see, he was quite good at slam dunking the ball. He's even more talented than that little boy Graham from the "Your Baby Can Read" dvds.

Guess Who Has an Omphalos Now?

On the first day of my matriculation to university, I had two classes, French 1 and Art History 101. I really can't remember anything from French I aside from my teacher's name being Marcella, but I do remember one tidbit from Art History. It was a class on ancient art and the professor started lecturing about the Minoan civilization on Crete. There is a stone somewhere on the island which is called the omphalos, or navel, since the ancient Greeks thought that was the birthplace of the world. Anywho, Nicholas' umbilical stump has fallen off and he now has an innie omphalos.

How many of you can remember something that you learned your first day of undergrad?

Happy Belated Birthday Auntie Lulu

Blame my dad for being late with the greeting, not me.

You May Be A Redneck, If...

I hate to admit it, but my little boy has a mullet. It's not quite as great as the Afromullet, the Meximullet, the Jagrmullet, or the Minnesotamullet, but it is a mullet nonetheless. I suppose you could look at it this way. From the front, he's all business, but in the back, he's saying, "party on!" All he needs is a t-shirt tuxedo and he'd really be all business, but he still likes to have a good time.

Happy Birthday Auntie Kaitlin

New Video

As I have said, the Tsar doesn't do much right now. He just sits there, drinks his bottle, goes to the bathroom, and sleeps. I must say he is quite a noisy sleeper. I have never heard a baby make as many noises as he does. He's definitely my son since I have been known to saw wood when I sleep.

Here's a little video of Nicholas as we watch our favorite show as a family. In case you are wondering, that's Davy and Goliath in the background. We still can't tell what color his eyes are. Yesterday, I though they were blue and then green. Today, they started to look brown, but then they started to look blue. I just wish his chameleon eyes would pick a color.

First Trip to the Outside World

As readers of our other blog about John know, we had nowhere to go yesterday. We decided to take a walk and introduce Nicholas to John's favorite fountain. It was a pleasant day in the seventies, so don't fret over the baby catching a chill. He was suited up in a nice warm Carters outfit.

When we got to the fountain. John decided to run all over the place. He made a little Chinese friend who's grandmother decided to let us watch her grandchild whilst playing with John. Note to parents, please do not assume that I am going to watch your child if my child is playing with yours. That's just lazy and inconsiderate. Anywho, Nicholas kind of just sat there and may have even dozed off a time or two while we were at the fountain. I know John enjoyed it more as you can see from the video.

Hmmm, Is He Planning To Take Over The World?

It may seem like the Tsar is taking a nap, but take a look at the way his hands are clasped. It's quite reminiscent of Mr. Burns from the Simpsons. I know John is very good at thinking "Excellent" as he clasps his hands, but it looks like his little brother is just as good. Oh well, they are going to rule the world some day, so I think I'll be ok when they take over.

First At Home Bath

Maureen gave Tsar Nicholas his first at home bath yesterday. John didn't want to have anything to do with it, so he was running around in circles. Nicholas seemed to enjoy it. Well, he didn't protest or cry, so I take that as enjoyment. He just sat there like the little lump that he is.

Once his umbilical stump falls off, we'll be able to give him a full blown bath. I wonder if John will want to help? Speaking of umbilicals, I had no idea that babies had umbilical stumps until I was 16-years old. I remember seeing Dillon Lowther's umbilical chord 20-years ago and freaking out until I was told that all babies have stumps. I was dumbfounded. Well, I guess I was just a guy. We don't care about details like that. Plus, they never showed anything like that in movies or tv-shows.

First Trip to Visit Dr. K

We took Little Man Smith to his first appointment with Dr. K. For the most part, he was a screaming mess. John cried less when he received his flu shot on Saturday. Anyway, back to the story.

Nicholas has lost 6-oz. Dr. K says that's normal, but he'd like us to make sure he's not losing more weight. It was a great screamfest. Dr. K said that he had great lungs. Also, he raved about his circumcision. He actually asked who did it before he looked at it. When he found out it was Dr. Tsui, he said that he didn't even have to look because he knew what a good job he does.

So, Nicholas passed with flying colors. We're going back to see Dr. K in two weeks for his three week check-up. It'll be loads of fun. Hopefully, we won't have to dress Nicholas in something that Randy would wear in A Christmas Story.

Eye Color

We still can't quite tell what his eye color is going to be. Early on, we thought they were brown; however, as the days have gone by, we'll see all sorts of colors in his eyes in the light. For now, we just say they are grey. What color do you think they are?

How Are Things with the Boys?

Nicholas is still a little lump (that sounds so bad, but it's a really good description) that doesn't do much more than eat, sleep, and poop. John likes to hover around him. He'll lean in and giggle, but he won't touch him. He's quite hands off with Nicholas. I placed the baby in John's lap while he was lounging on the bed and he wanted no part of it. Hopefully, he'll keep his hands off policy until he understands the difference in gentle touch and rough touch.

Brotherly Love

It's day two and John has yet to get upset at his brother. We hope to keep it that way until Nicholas is old enough to defend himself. They'll be able to settle it in and old fashioned Kumite fight.

A Blue Lantern?

A couple of weeks ago, John was inducted into the Green Lantern Corps. It seems that a couple of little blue people came and gave Nicholas a Blue Lantern ring of Hope. I guess our youngest is now a member of the Blue Lantern Corps. It's a good thing that John has his green ring. As we all know, the blue rings are pretty powerless unless they have a green one around them.

Night One

It seems Nick's Filipina nurses gave him some bad habits in the nursery. Little Man Smith decided to make it an all-nighter. Just when he'd settle down and we were ready to turn out the lights, guess who'd decide to wake up and cry for formula.

I'd doze off ever so often, but inevitably, I'd wake up and hear Maureen saying, "Are you hungry again?" Good Lord, I never knew a baby could drink so much.

Little Man Smith

Little Man Smith (John is known as Little Man Jones) is home. He's basically been sleeping since we got home at 10:30. John has been very good with him. There has been one incident. Nicholas started to cry, so John started to cry along with him. He didn't know what else to do. Oh well, he's a loving older brother.

Our Little Michelin Man

Maureen and I realized something today. Nicholas is already wearing size 1 diapers. The nurse did say the first diaper that was placed on him was rather snug. Oh well, it's good that Babies R Us has a decent policy regarding exchanges on diapers if the cases are unopened. We knew he might be big, but we never thought he'd skip newborn diapers.

He really impressed the delivery nurses with his size and strength. The one who did his APGAR assessments was amazed that he was almost able to stand on his own legs when she held him up. We'll see what Dr. K says when we go visit him on Monday. As long as he doesn't pee on Dr. K, I'm sure everyone will be very happy.

A Nice View

This is the view of the mountains from our apartment's living room window. This was the site that greeted me this morning. It's quite peaceful. I'll always remember the heavy rains when Tsar Nicholas the Resplendent was born. With Prince John the Rufus, I'll always remember the Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal Wimbledon final and singing Old Man River with Mother Brady.

Day Two

Tsar Nicholas had a very big day today. Well, actually, it might be considered to be a very traumatic day for him, but I don't believe all that hooey that he's going to remember his circumcision. Once again, Dr. Tsui did a masterful job on a circumcision. People praised the job he did on John and the nurse was just RAVING about his work. I'd post a picture, but I'd never take a picture of that. I may have taken a photo of John's first solid movement, but I do believe in some sort of propriety when it comes to the tallywhacker.

Anywho, he had his first visitors today. Some of Maureen's co-workers paid a visit. I'd list the names, but I really wasn't paying attention when Maureen mentioned them all. It seems they all held The Tsar and he was quite friendly.

We still can't tell what color his eyes will be. Last night, I could have sworn they were brown. This afternoon, I kept looking into them and started to see more color in them. We'll see how this turns out. He has a great head of hair and some eyelashes. His lashes aren't as great as John's "Romance Novel Leading Man" eyelashes, but I think if we use that medication that Brooke Shields represents that we should be ok.

Vatican Twins?

What do you think? They have the same nose, cheeks, and chin (John still has more of the deep set Kirk Douglas cleft though).

Quite Fitting Don't You Think?

Happy Birthday

President Roosevelt said that December 7th would live on as a day of INFAMY. I say it will live on as a day of celebration because the Resplendent One himself, Nicholas Edward Gonzalez, entered into this mortal coil that we call life. All went as planned. The operation was a success. Unlike his brother, he didn't eat his poop, so he avoided a 3-day trip to the NICU.

When he was pulled from the womb, the immediate reactions were unanimous: Good Lord, he's HUGE!! Two nurses told Maureen that she was lucky it was a scheduled c-section because there was no way he would have fit the natural way. He weighs 9-lbs 6-oz and is 22-inches in length. In comparison, John was 8-lbs 7-oz and 20-inches in length. Our two delivery nurses are convinced he's going to be a linebacker. Since they are from the Midwest (Minnesota & Michigan), I'll take their word for it.

Mother and son are resting comfortably at the hospital. Your correspondent is back home manning the wire to spread the word.