Rayo Family News

What a Great Day!

2011-04-17T23:02:00.000-04:00

We finally got to get outside and play! I grabbed both boys, hooked the trailer up to my bike, and we took a ride to the soccer fields at the Park of Roses. To play soccer with Uncle James and Cousin Tenzin. Henry started itching for the playground right away, so our plans changed and we lit off for the slides and swings. Emerson had an absolute blast tagging behind his big brother and cousin. Then we all went to the library, and eventually made our way home. Quite needed and deserved after the freeze we've been feeling lately ...

Mommy's little protester

2011-03-02T08:31:00.000-05:00

Our family is very interested in Ohio Senate Bill 5, which seeks to strip collective bargaining from all public employees, which includes teachers (including Mommy!). Henry and Sarah joined a protest at the Statehouse. Henry held his sign proudly.

When asked about the bill, Henry responded that if they pass the bill, it means that "they don't want Mommy to be a teacher anymore." Interesting perspective ...

Emerson went poopy in the potty!

2011-01-13T19:46:00.001-05:00

Henry just came down to inform me that our youngest just told his Mommy "potty", went and sat down, and went poopy in the potty! Saints be praised! Who knows if this will be consistent, and I don't care. We'll revel in this for now.

May the Force be With You

2010-11-03T23:35:00.001-04:00

Halloween was incredible this year. It was Emerson's first year of walking door-to-door, and Henry has quickened his candy-seeking pace. The boys got all dolled up for their school's Fall Festival, then went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, then donned their costumes one last time in Grandview (thanks Matt and Laura!). this picture says it all ...

The Marauder!

2010-06-30T22:59:00.000-04:00

Emerson is fully mobile now, and can often be found careening through the house getting into one sort of mischief ... Or another. Henry announces his arrival by yelling "The Marauder's coming!" which will almost assuedly be followed by Emer's infectious giggle and, when he whips around the corner, his impossible smile. Impossible because no matter what he's doing (coloring the dog, throwing chalk in the toilet, pulling out your chest hair), that smile makes it impossible to be mad at him.

And he knows it. Everyone better buckle in!

Braces!!!

2010-03-02T16:31:00.001-05:00

Yeah .. it happened. I can't shake it anymore ... I had to get braces. Or lose my teeth (eventually). At least, that's what the orthodontist said. And the periodontist.

So, here's the scoop after a couple hours with them:

They don't hurt. Yet. They do, however, feel roughly how I thought they would on the back of my lips. That is, until I ...
Talk! Talking is a big part of my job, and it's just plain weird now. Hopefully this improves.
Or Chew! Eating sucks! It's bad enough that I have to eat a sandwich as if it were a landmine, but I also keep about half of it in in my damn braces ... and it's a bear to get crap out (I'm assuming that I'll get better at this, too, but still ...)
I'm sure I'm not the only adult to get these things, but not if today's visit is any indication ... everyone else got to go to soccer practice, or got to play, or had a recital ... I had to get back to work.

So, bring it with your schoolyard taunts, tired insults and hard luck stories ... I've got 17 months, 30 days left of these things (plus 3+ years of retainers) and I'm in it to win it.

Merry Christmas! (belated)

2010-02-10T11:37:00.001-05:00

Christmas was absolutely incredible this year. Even though we got nothing but rain (Brown Christmas, anyone?) we had an absolute blast. The weekend before, we we blessed to have all of our family in town, and the boys got to see all of their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, parakeets, orangutans, et-cetera, et-cetera.

In addition, Emerson got to go to the Aquarium and his new favorite place, COSI.

He and Henry had a blast ... Emerson is so excited to explore EVERYTHING. He loves to figure out how things work. Henry ran laps around Kidspace while Emerson sat contently examining the plastic bricks. And splashing. And splashing some more.

When it came to Christmas itself, Henry was a little more chill that morning than we thought he'd be. He had been so excited about everything else that we thought he'd explode when he saw the Christmas tree loaded up with presents. He was definitely interested, but not giddy. That is, until he started opening his presents ....

Then it was ON! We all stayed in our jammies until 2:30 PM, skipped out on going over to my parents house (sorry, Grammy and Grandpa) to lounge around some more, then went to a big family Christmas for dinner. After years upon years of trucking around to a bazillion places each Christmas, this was my first to just sit around all day (and we still had to leave for dinner!). Merry Christmas to all!

In the Xmas spirit

2009-12-12T11:36:00.001-05:00

The tree is up, the stockings are hung, Christmas music fills our
halls and the "family" bed, as Henry calls it, is the prime spot to
watch Christmas movies. Here are our two little elves ...

Go Bucks!

2009-11-21T14:31:00.000-05:00

Emerson is enjoying his first OSU / Michigan game (so far).

Yep ... Underwear on the Head

2009-10-13T23:53:00.001-04:00

I told Henry to put on his underwear. This was the result. Goes really well with his homage to Animal House.

Henry has been an absolute godsend with the Emerson (but hasn't he always been? He is, after all, his Gaga's Baby Hope).

I'm still learning so much about this parenting thing. Dads (and Moms) have been telling me since he was born to cherish every moment, and I thought I understood what they meant. As I was climbing up the ladder to his bunk bed this evening, it washed over me that this kid won't be 4 much longer. And then he will never be four again. Will he still insist that I sleep up with him (no)? Will he still sing James Brown, Ray Charles, and Beatles songs with me (hopefully - fingers crossed)? And dance uncontrollably?

I went out to the car yesterday and noticed that the dome light was busted. I looked at it for a minute, then dismissed it so that I could get Henry and Emerson ready. Henry bounded out the driveway, opened up his car door, settled himself into his car seat and promptly (right away) told me that the light wasn't working because my (driver's) door was still open.

And he was right. I hadn't quite closed it all the way, and even though the door was closed, the sensors thought it was open.

Henry 1, Daddy 0.

IMG_0586.JPG

First Pictures!

2009-10-06T19:18:00.000-04:00

Sarah has planned, since Emerson's birth, to get pictures of the boys
before Emer sprouts his first tooth. Then life happened for about six
months.

Yesterday she was feeling around in his mouth, and felt a tooth! So we
called an audible and got pictures. Tonight. Here's a behind the
scenes shot. The real pictures will be posted soon.

Catching up on the end of summer

2009-09-27T14:22:00.001-04:00

We have had a very busy summer just trying to keep up with Henry, and
keep up with Emerson's high expectations of us! We have, however,
squeezed in some time for fun. You can see Henry trying to convince
the camera of the awful time that he's having just before and after
dancing like a mad man at a joint concert of the Symphony and the OSU
marching band.

Unfortunately, Sarah and I have have spent the last month taking care
of each other, combatting a case of the flu and a tweaked back
(Michael) and a severely sprained ankle (Sarah). Here's hoping that
the fall is a bit less crazy!

Who's 4? I'm 4!

2009-08-30T11:44:00.001-04:00

IMG_0468
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

On our bike ride to campus, Henry stopped off to hang out at The Numbers, which is a series of number sculptures on the outskirts of the Engineering buildings. Most of them are upright and huge.

Henry, however, wanted to find the "4" (for obvious reasons) which was off in the corner, and sat flush with the ground. After a bit of searching, we found it. Here's Henry sitting with his quarry.

Birthday's! - Henry's and America's

2009-08-30T11:36:00.000-04:00

Henry turned 4! Henry turned 4! As usual, the small family birthday that we had in mind ballooned up to 20 people (we just don't have a small family, and really need to come to grips with it!). Gramma Schmidt made an appearance. Auntie Pammie called him during the festivities. And all of the usual suspects were there: Grammy and Grandpa Rayo, Gaga and Papa, Jimmy, Erin, and Asia, and James, Rachel, and Tenzin. Uncle Jonna was noticeably absent ... we hope to see him soon!

Henry's big present this year was a big-boy bike, replete with training wheels. Have no fear, the frown that you see on his face has nothing to do with the bike. He has inherited his mother's absolute and complete loathing of cameras, and slapped that face on just before all the flashes went off.

Along with Henry, the country had it's birthday, and it was the first time that Emerson witnessed it! He wasn't all that impressed, sleeping through both the parade and the fireworks. Henry, however, was quite engaged and excited, and saluted the servicemen.

Henry also had his first "friend" birthday this year along with his family birthday. We did pretty well for having 10 4 yr. olds (all boys except one) caged inside a Graeter's, plied with ice cream and cake, and set loose. Everyone lived, and much revelry was had.

Catching up - Emerson's first DriveIn!

2009-08-30T10:51:00.000-04:00

Whoa ... it has been a long time since I've written. Here's a quick update. After 6 weeks, my paternity leave ended (right about the time where I expected to start that "mommy" blog!). Within two days, I transformed from being blissfully unemployed to full-on, 50-60 hours a week. Amazingly enough, I remember how to work like that!

In the meantime, life didn't slow down at home in the last . Emerson went to his first drive-in movie (and Henry's second). This is us in the back of the Murano, just before the movie. Henry actually fell asleep in the middle of the SECOND movie, which started at 10:30 (Henry fell asleep at 11).

Henry went to his first baseball game!

(Click to make this one bigger ... it's a pretty sweet picture of our seats!)

Henry's first time sleeping in a tent outside (which was really a trip, because he really likes jumping on air mattresses).

... and there were tons of other Emerson firsts through June that I frankly can't remember anymore!

New Daddy Blog!

2009-06-01T11:10:00.000-04:00

OK, I entered a contest. To be a mommy blogger. Eternal optimist, right? Well, they were pretty serious about the mommy part, so I was out on my tuckus. So I'm going to blog anyway. I won't be flooding this blog, though ... I'm starting a new blog, Lightning Dad, at http://lightningdad.blogspot.com. So you guys won't have to hear about cloth diapers, Moby's, how not to dress kids, and the like (unless you want to!)

I'll also be on twitter as LightningDad.

More Emerson and Henry pictures shortly.

Periodontal Surgery: Not fun

2009-05-20T21:45:00.002-04:00

NOTE: no pictures on this one. You're welcome.

So, after a year of being really mad at my dental insurance, trying to figure out a flexible spending account, and generally dragging my feet (my excuse? A rough pregnancy and a French Fry!), I finally got the periodontal surgery that I needed. I would like to take this moment to thank the genetic c0cktail that sent my grandmother, mother and father for the same surgery.

Worst part? The 4 hours of cutting, scraping, and sewing? Nope. The novocaine. Almost passed out. Had to request a pre-sedative (pre-sedative?). Which they had to send someone (in their car) to go get while I was in the chair. Or maybe they called Cafe Courier. I was a bit busy at the time.

It was very strange listening my tunes (thank you thank you iPhone!) while they were doing their work. I started with an audiobook, but I couldn't concentrate on it. I switched to Medeski, Martin, and Wood, then finished with Beirut. Very very cool. I great way to dissociate myself what was going on, but still able to listen for instructions.

Craziest part? They numbed me up so much that my nose went numb. It (and my mouth) is finally past that, and I'm on serious pain medication. But doing fine.

The Story of Emerson James Rayo

2009-05-18T18:09:00.000-04:00

If I wait any longer to pen this, I'll forget the good parts ...

We had been circling April 17th, French Fry's due date. We were a bit bummed that Bryan, Sarah, and Annalia wouldn't be able to see him on his first weekend, because of Bryan's business trip to the great state of Alabama (they're hiring, by the way, if you're a GIS dude and can convince Bryan to quit). However, they would be down the weekend before (Easter weekend!), and we were planning on sucking the marrow out of the weekend.

We were getting ready for our Easter festivities, the Michigan Rayos had just arrived, and we had an impromptu toddler dance party, replete with a dancing chicken (playing, of course, the Chicken Dance). It was a blast, and we turned in late but knew that we would be waking early to get the kids ready for the Duckling Day Parade, an annual Easter Tradition.

Instead, we woke to contractions. Big ones. At 4:00 AM. At 6:00 AM, we woke up Henry and told him that we would be going to the hospital soon. As I went down to give Bryan and Sarah the news, Henry rode out three or four contractions with Mommy. She squeezed his arm to get through them. Henry soldiered through it, didn't ask any questions, and they watched cartoons together.

Once arriving at the hospital, the labor and delivery went quickly, and were as uneventful as a "normal" birth could be. Sarah pushed for about 30 minutes after about 4 hours in the hospital.

The fun started when we realized that he had fluid in his lungs that he couldn't aspirate. His lips would turn blue when they removed the oxygen mask. Fun, huh? They whisked him off to the NICU, got him hooked up to CPAP and an IV, and we rode it out.

As emotional as it was, I fully realized that he wasn't in any serious danger ... we just wouldn't get to hold him or have him as quickly, and that meant that WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO NAME HIM. We had fully expected to shoo everyone away for about an hour, take a long look at him, and figure out who he was. That would not come to pass, because we went right from the NICU to his car seat to go home, and the hospital gets cranky about not naming your baby before you skedaddle out of there. So, in between the 35 visits between the NICU and Sarah's room, visiting with family, getting everything ready, and (oh yeah) sleeping, we did get some time and came to a decision about his name.

Emerson James Rayo. The feisty SOB that would be doing everything his way, thank you very much.

We got home without a hitch, and we're not really sleeping very well. And it's wonderful.

The Parade that we Missed

2009-04-20T10:13:00.001-04:00

Not that I'm complaining, but there are consequences to be paid for spending a weekend in the hospital, even if it is for the incredibly wonderful, life-changing experience of welcoming your second son into the world.

Unfortunately, our consequences were missing just about all of the Easter festivities of the weekend. This started off with the Duckling Day parade, where Henry and his cousins donned their duck uniforms and marched proudly with a hundred or so pint-sized cohorts.

We also missed all the family dinners, but we didn't miss any of the food! Thanks to all of our family for feeding us the last week, and visiting the new boy!

They sleep!

2009-04-16T11:30:00.001-04:00

Yes, there's a lot of sleeping going on in our house lately. And a lot
of not sleeping.

Emerson James came home!

2009-04-15T11:53:00.001-04:00

I'll be posting the extended version later, but wanted to let everyone
know that everyone is home and doing great!

French Fry's official name is Emerson James Rayo, and he is just as
spirited as he was in the hospital. He eats great, but only on his
terms. Sometimes breast, sometimes bottle - no rhyme or reason.

He's asleep on my chest right now!

Baby!

2009-04-11T12:45:00.001-04:00

Born at 12:25 pm, 8 lbs, 9 oz.

No name! More later.

Where's French Fry?

2009-04-11T11:38:00.001-04:00

They have his bed made, they have his hat ready ... but that dude
hasn't shown up yet!

French Fry's Room - Crib Side!

2009-03-28T08:54:00.003-04:00

As promised, crib-side pictures!

Henry has graciously donated his crib (which is the same crib his mother, two uncles, and cousin Tenzin slept in), his wall signs, bookcase, changing table, and diaper pail. He's so generous!

And, as always, Henry wants to say hello!

French Fry's Room (part 1)

2009-03-25T13:53:00.007-04:00

I couldn't get the crib side to come out, so you'll have to be OK with waiting on the edge of your seats in anticipation. Here, for the first time in cyberland, is French Fry's room!

We changed an accent wall, added a ton of baby furniture, and took out all of our guest room furniture. A pretty major overhaul. Luckily, I convinced Sarah that our paint job from 4 years ago would still work for the baby!

Next up ... crib pictures!

2009-03-25T13:53:00.001-04:00

Almost ready ...

2009-03-22T17:03:00.001-04:00

We have been painting, building, finding, and cleaning like madmen. We now have all the tools ready for French Fry. Not that we're saying that we're "ready" ... We just have all the gear ready. Henry wants all of his grandparents to know that we love you and miss you very much (they were all out of town this weekend!)

Henry's first signature

2009-03-19T22:09:00.001-04:00

Ok, maybe this is only cool to Sarah and me ... Henry did this a
couple weeks ago. Lately he's been back to his Geometry proofs.

Before I forget ...

2009-03-10T22:59:00.000-04:00

I keep meaning to start penning all of the things we've been doing lately before I forget all of them. Everything is moving so fast and frankly it's hard to keep up with all of it.

French Fry's room got finished two weeks ago, and we took the last vestiges of our crap out of the closet last weekend. The basement guest suite (which will actually be pretty !@#$ cool once we straighten up) is now outfitted with a full bath, double bed, and an iMac which could easily double as an Entertainment Center (as long as you only want to watch Disney movies ... that's all it plays!).

All that's left is some trim, some shelves, and some straightening up. We might just get that finished before our little one arrives.

I've rented a megaphone to talk to French Fry. I heard it's loud in there. Wanted to make sure I got through to him. You know how kids are. In all seriousness, he's been high-fiving me lately.

Henry is absolutely awesome right now. His imagination is through the roof, his curiosity is insatiable, and his laughter is infectious. The dude rocks. We spent last Saturday morning cruising Hot Wheels cars around our bedroom ... worth every minute. He is helping out with the baby preparations, and is very excited about his new brother. However, he isn't French Fry's brother. He is quick to tell you that he's French Fry's Big Brother. Nothing else will suffice.

Spring is breaking, even though I know that it will run and hide from Winter at least one more time this month. So be it ... the last weekend has been lovely. We're seeing our neighbors again. Some are just finding out for the first time that we're having a second child. Oops!

Our big boy camper

2009-01-26T07:46:00.001-05:00

Henry found his tent this weekend, so we put it up and he's been
sleeping in there for naps and overnight.

He must have found a really comfy spot last night, because he wasn't
budging when I tried to wake him.

Then, all of a sudden, he popped up, started reaching for the granola
bar that I brought for him, and stumbled
Into our room to watch TV. All without opening his eyes. Ah, the
Thornburg sleepwalking/sleepgrowling/sleep disorder has befallen him.

The house is no longer safe, I fear.

Some Fun We Had: 2008

2009-01-22T21:53:00.002-05:00

Holy crap, 2008 went fast. Here's a taste of some of the stuff we got into. Obviously not everything, but I thought this was nice ... some beach time, some pool time, some snow time ... and all of it Henry time.

With a new finished basement, a new job (wait ... two new jobs), new classes that Sarah took on, and oh yeah, a new babe on the way (shout out to French Fry), I'm pretty excited that my head hasn't exploded.

Quick note on the video: our sled popped on the run after the last one shown in the video. We started veering towards a fallen tree, Daddy our Stalwart Hero got Henry out of harm's way, braced for impact, Saved the Day, and started hearing the telltale hissing sound of a failing tube sled. So we packed it up and went home. Arrgh.

Daddy 1, Sled 0

2009-01-17T14:16:00.001-05:00

Henry has been dying to sled ever since the snow came three days ago.
Unfortunately, it's been subzero (seriously) ever since. Today it's
15, so we're going out. Henry's napping, and I'm inflating the tube.
Even bought a new pump. Easy, right?

This is the concoction that I devised so that I wouldn't have to
resort to huffing and puffing. And yes, those are vice grip pliers.

First "sleepover"

2009-01-11T10:20:00.003-05:00

Henry has been asking for a sleepover, so two nights ago I made the mistake of telling him: "We can't do it tonight, but we'll do it tomorrow." What a boneheaded move: everyone that knows that child knows that he doesn't forget ANYTHING. So, lo and behold, after I tucked him in last night and got snuggled in on the couch, I heard him calling down to me:

"Daddy! Daddy!"

I went up to see what was the matter, and to remind him that he should only be calling to me when he's in trouble. He let me know that (1) I forgot to put his night light up on his loft and (2) that I forgot about sleepover. D'oh!

So I made him a deal: I'd lay down in his room until he fell asleep.

It was actually a very surreal experience. I got to see Henry's room after hours. I got to see what he sees right before he goes to sleep. It was very much Henry's world. I had visions of how this is going to work when he's 15 (and I shuddered). And I got definitive proof that our little dude has a really hard time settling down and going to bed. He tosses. He turns. He kicks. He readjusts. He whispers. He repeats the whole process. And finally, he falls asleep.

He made sure to tell me this morning that he was awake when I snuck out last night. A very Henryesque comment, to be sure.

Happy New Year from Batman

2009-01-10T20:07:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year! We had a fantastic Christmas, and a great start to the New Year. Christmas was all about superheroes for Henry (as you can, I hope, see in the picture). He got costumes, action figures, pajamas, underwear, accessories ... the whole superhero schmear. And not to be outdone, the supervillains got a place at the table, too. Daddy got a Wii, and Mommy got a bracelet so that she always had a place for her "h" charm ("h" stands for ???).

Shannon and Jen were in town (for two weeks!) and we spent as much time as we possibly could with them. We attended their son's first birthday party (ok, it was kind of a Fiesta Bowl party, but we won't tell him). Shannon and I played the Wii quite a bit over the two weeks, and continuously schemed more ways to play Olympics, or Wii sports, or Excitebike (which you can download right on to the Wii! Who knew? Not me!)

Hope you all had a fantastic break from the action, and are recharged for the next year. And, if you're in the Midwest, hopefully all of that Christmas cheer takes you through the rotten weather it appears that we're going to have over the next two months (just keep humming "Winter Wonderland" ... maybe that will work)

A Special Birthday Greeting

2008-12-11T16:58:00.002-05:00

Henry wanted to make sure that he wished four very special people a very Happy Birthday today. Without further ado ...

Lots of Crazy Kids at our House!

2008-11-27T10:13:00.002-05:00

We are blessed to have very dear friends. We are cursed that, with some very notable exceptions, they are all out of town, and most are out of state. It shouldn't be hard to imagine that we relish the times when they visit us, or we can visit them. Our last two weekends were dedicated to such visits.

First, Bryan, Sarah, and Annalia descended on Columbus to help us celebrate our many (OK, three) November birthdays. The three cousins got to play a lot, with Annalia starting to get into the groove with her older cousins. Henry and Asia flew around the house (as usual), trying not to maim the baby.

Just before the visit, Sarah had an epiphany ... Henry's cousins (as of December 11th) neatly arrange themselves by age. Every year is covered, and French Fry makes for a very dapper Zero. We found a great shirt maker (all done on the internet, even though the store is about a block away ... perfect for a geek like me) and made shirts up. Don't be surprised if you get one for Xmas! Revelry was had, and BSA (Bryan, Sarah, and Annalia) made it safely back home.

The very next weekend we got a visit from Chris, Kim, Matthew and Emily (the Williamses!). We watched the Bucks game (a surprisingly calm 42-7 drubbing of that team Up North (don't know if we'll see such a lopsided score again anytime soon). The kids were in their Buckeye finery (of course). We then went to dinner, and finished it up huddled in each of our cars at Sonic (not a very social plan), talking to each other through cell phones because it was too cold to get out of our cars. Que ridiculo!

Good times! Thanks for coming, everyone!

A friendly game of chess

2008-11-26T16:20:00.002-05:00

Henry loves playing games now, and a recurring favorite is chess. And why not? His pawns can run really fast. His King has superpowers (and sometimes takes breaks on the sidelines). All of his pieces move in mysterious ways. Fun.

Baby Number Two! Code name: French Fry

2008-11-22T23:58:00.001-05:00

Baby Number Two!
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

OK, OK, OK ... I get it. You knew all along. You've seen Sarah in the halls, or heard about her getting nauseous, or wondered "Why no more feta?" -- or -- "Why isn't Sarah having her usual weekend benders?"

Let me just confirm it for you then. The secret is out. The cat is out of the bag. The monkeys are roosting. We ... are ... pregnant (wait, am I allowed to claim that, too? Is it endearing or haughty?)

Henry has informed us that the baby is in the French Fry phase right now, and will advance into the Cantaloupe and finally Watermelon phases (which, by the way, we are using as baby names until we find out the gender). Henry also gives the baby a kiss and a zerbert each night, and asks all kinds of great things about it ("Will the baby have a beard?")

It's a blast so far, now that we're past the puking. And the vertigo. That was not fun.

Sarah's only current affliction is Thirstinasia Moltocrazentia. She sometimes drinks so much with dinner (ethanol-free ... stay with me, folks) that she doesn't actually eat any dinner. Ask my parents ... her dinner from last weekend is still in their fridge. In its entirety. Maybe we can have it bronzed.

So call me up, call me a schmuck because you had to see it on the blog, Facebook, or Twitter. Some of you already have. And thanks in advance for all the well wishes ... we'll need 'em.

Calling Gramma ... Earth to Gramma

2008-11-08T08:51:00.003-05:00

Hey Gramma ....

A very pushy young man asked me to post this movie. There's an APB on a certain Gramma Schmidt ... do you know where she is? We couldn't find her this morning on the phone or on the computer, so we're going for broke.

Oh yeah, there's a lot of other updates that I've been neglecting, too ... they're coming.

Tic Tac, Henry?

2008-10-20T20:02:00.000-04:00

So, Henry's first encounter with breath mints was not what I would call an enjoyable one. Where did he get a breath mint, you ask? We will not reveal that, for fear of mob-like retaliation.

Anyway, after a wonderful meal at Cap City, Henry asked for a Tic Tac. A wintergreen Tic Tac. The first fell into the booth, and so he was given a second one. I was a bit nervous about it burning his mouth, but after a split second thought ... what the heck? What's the worst he can do ... spit it out?

No worries ... he swallowed it right away. Not necessarily savoring the flavor, but not dangerous. After this transpired, though, he found the first one. I made it very clear that he shouldn't eat this one. It was dirty. So, as he sat on my lap, I starting talking with my "will be unnamed" company at the table. As I'm talking, I see that the first Tic Tac is gone.

"Did you eat that Tic Tac?" I accused. Henry said no, but just as I saw a flash of pale green up his nose, the candy coating started wearing off, and his nose started burning. And he started crying. Loudly.

We busted him out of the restaurant, and went straight home. I tried a straw, a bulb syringe, and gently massaging it out, but Henry must have been studying Kung Fu (in his free time ... maybe at school) and deftly defended his nose against all of these implements of alleviation. He (shockingly) wouldn't listen to reason. And every time I said "blow", he "sniffed". !@#$!

"Is your nose still hurting?"

"Yeah"

"Well, let me in there to get that out"

"No"

After calling Grammie Bob, and by the grace of all that is holy, he sneezed and what appeared to be most of a Tic Tac came flying out. We went to UA Clinic (a.k.a. Grammie and Grandpa Rayo's house) to make sure, and it appeared that all was OK.

And life was back to "normal"

Our first field trip

2008-10-19T14:51:00.001-04:00

Didn't even ask him to do this ...
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Because of my recent career change, I have a whole lot more freedom over my schedule (especially if I don't mind getting paid a bit less on a given week). I took this new-found freedom and accompanied Henry and his class on their first field trip of the year (and Henry's first field trip ever!). We went to Lynd's fruit farm and picked apples.

We had a great time ... I was holding court with a gaggle of 3-5 year olds ... felt right at home! We went to the fruit farm, came back and had lunch in his classroom, and then I .... had to go .... back to .... work.

Work was not as much fun as hanging with the kids ... but the pay was better.

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

2008-10-19T14:47:00.001-04:00

Exhausted kids
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

We had an absolute blast last weekend (ok, the weekend before last) up in Cleveland at Matthew Williams's birthday party. I was a bit nervous because Henry is a lot younger than all the other kids, but I didn't need to be because (1) Henry loves playing with older kids, and tends to roll with the punches, and (2) they rented a gigundous (probably 15' x 15', and 15' high) castle-shaped bouncy thing. We had a great time, none of the adults broke anything (although we did sample the bouncy thing multiple times, and everyone had fun.

Matthew, by the way, is the one showing you his feet. Hopefully you can figure out which one Henry is.

Thanks for a great time, Chris, Kim, Matthew, and Emily!

Where were you 25 years ago today?

2008-10-08T09:48:00.003-04:00

You know, most days, I wouldn't have any idea where I was 25 years ago to the day. Today, however, my Auntie Pammie (yes, I still call her that ... and Henry does too!) informed all of us in the Schmidt family where we were. We were at her wedding! And then she sent me a couple pictures to prove it.

It has been quite a while since my brother and I lived our dual existence, but here we are, co-ring bearers (I think ... my memory is quite fuzzy, actually) in our bow ties ... the MichaelAndBryan show. Hopefully we didn't upstage the bride or groom.

Thanks for sharing, Pammie ... this pictures are really fantastic, and even though it doesn't bring back a rush of memories (sorry ... I don't have many of being a 3rd grader), it's really great to know that I shared in the fun.

Thanks for the Trains, Gramma

2008-10-01T21:59:00.002-04:00

Henry has always loved trains (which has caused many a tearful exit from toy stores), but he has really gotten into them recently, building tracks on his own and fixing track that he inadvertantly trashed (think clumsy but well-meaning Godzilla through a wooden Tokyo). Thought that Gramma, the source of most of this railed goodness, would like to see it in action.

Back in Business

2008-09-25T11:02:00.001-04:00

We have power again (only six days without it!), and everything is back to normal. Henry the Fully Big Boy is doing great at his new school (N. Broadway Methodist) and is as active, curious, talkative and awesome as ever.

Power ... is ... out!

2008-09-15T12:18:00.002-04:00

After a wonderful brunch with family at Northstar yesterday, I started having this terrible headache (still lingers a bit). As if taking a cue from my throbbing temples, the weather outside started getting quite turbulent. Winds from Ike and a cold front came together to produce gusts up to 75 mph. Fun, huh? At 4:00, the power went out.

It was kind of nice. Sure, I was down in the basement in the dark dealing with my headache, listening to Henry bounce through the house with Sarah. It turned out to be a nice quiet break, though.

Unfortunately, the power is still out 20 hours later, and AEP is saying that it could be days before power is restored. 300,000 people without power in Columbus, 1 million across the state. Schools are out, businesses are closed ... bizarre for September.

But there is a silver lining. Sarah is out today, and so is Henry. Hey! There's my phone ... they're coming to pick me up for lunch.

Myrtle Beach redux

2008-09-01T14:36:00.000-04:00

Oh wait, maybe we didn't tell you ... we went to Myrtle Beach! It was really quite fantastic ... our Fully Big Boy is digging on more and more of what the beach has to offer. Sand castles, running, napping, eating ... what more could a growing boy want?

We went with Sarah's parents (Gaga and Papa to Henry), who trucked down there with their camper. We did not go with our camper (I'm having a hard time remembering where I put it) so we made due with what was already there, a single-wide trailer that they called a Villa. Henry called it the camper that didn't move. Same difference.

About three days into the trip, I decided to dust off my bike and go for a ride with Papa. We were trucking along, enjoying the sites, and having a grand time. As we passed by a golf course, I heard a pop and noticed that my handlebars were no longer attached to the bike. At this point, it felt a whole lot like I was riding a unicyle. I don't know how to ride a unicycle. I'm sure that I had a myriad of choices as to how to get myself out of the predicament I found myself in, but in my haste I chose the first thing that came to mind ... JUMP! So I did, and ended up tearing up the palms of my hands. A ton of fun, really, especially when the two major activities for the remainder of the week were to be (1) jumping in the ocean and (2) jumping in the pool. Neither activity proved to be life-threatening, so I did them both. Often.

Good times!

Opa!

2008-08-30T13:51:00.002-04:00

Henry kicked off his Labor day weekend by going to the Greek festival. Here he is shaking his booty. We all dug the music, food, and torrential downpour that made us scurry back to our car.

Sent from my iPhone

Our Fully Big Boy

2008-07-31T23:36:00.001-04:00

Henry and I were talking tonight before he went to bed. After we talked about his friends parents, and his friends' parents' children, I asked him who my little boy was. He said "No Dad, I'm a ..." and I interrupted him and said "Oh, I mean who is my big boy". He again chided me, "No, Dad, I'm a FULLY big boy.

Which he is, now. Let me tell you why.

#1: The boy is three! Henry turned three almost a month ago. He will make sure you know all about it if you ask him how old he is. For his birthday, we went to see Kung Fu Panda. We also had a big family party, for which Mommy baked him a Lightning McQueen cake. That's him licking it. Much like he licked his birthday cupcake the year before.

#2: He digs on fireworks! Long gone is the boy that cowered and cried at the Clintonville fireworks in 2007. That boy has been replaced by a running, wiggling dervish that exclaims "Whoa" every time a firework would go off. We had the entire Thornburg family together (no small feat) to see the Clintonville 'Works this year, after getting the entire Rayo family (even more difficult) together to see the UA parade. It was a minor Family Miracle, as well as being a ton of fun. We also got to see our good friends Josh and Jen, who have been to every one of Henry's fireworks experiences (the streak is alive and well at, well, 2 years in a row).

#3 (and most importantly): Henry goes potty! Yes, you read that right - no more poopy diapers, and all other accidents are very rare. We had taken advice from everyone: some told us to bribe him, so we started amassing a small toy store in the bathroom. Others advised a more visual reward system, so we charted out the progress and amassed a small nation's worth of "potty stickers". We've been doing that for over a year. Do you know what worked? None of that ... we just let him have accidents in big boy pants. And boy did he ... he pooped right on Lightning McQueen underoos ... he peed on Carpet City ... he had accidents at school so bad that we had to take his clothes outside and hose them off ... with the "laser" high pressure setting.

But it worked. Henry is a very proud young man, and we are ecstatic for him (and for us!). Now the mountain of prizes (read: bribes) is whittling away quickly, and soon he'll just be pooping for pooping's sake (or he'll hold out for more prizes ... we'll find out soon!)

Three cheers for Henry! Our Fully Big Boy.

Life after Disney ... Hangin' on the Beach

2008-07-03T16:34:00.001-04:00

After the craziness and wonder that is Disney, we really needed a vacation. The beach obliged. Our hotel and resort had 3 cabillion pools [Editor's Note: 6], a beach out the window of our hotel room, a pirate (and his parrot, Bones), a frickin' mascot (a dude in one of those "character" suits -- think Philly Fanatic or, oh yeah, one of the Disney characters that walk around the park).

Henry's latest trip to the beach was marred with the realization that if salt water gets in your eyes, and then you decide to rub them with your hands that have a briney sand mixture on them, it's a little offputting. That being said, he managed to soldier on.

We also got not one, but TWO chance to see Papa Henry. After our first Papa encounter, a lunch at Fountain Court, it dumped two inches of rain in about 25 minutes. For about 15 of those minutes, I was running to the car, running back to the restaurant, and wearing a garbage bag to stay dry. I think that bag might still be in the rental car ...

We also got some dinner with Papa, and got to pilfer his freezer for some of his Tin Roof Sundae ice cream afterwards. I felt a little bad, because he was "low" on ice cream (he was just opening up the last half-gallon ... down from three).

Henry had a great time, whether it was singing in the rain, running miles at a time on the beach (he literally ran a half mile, straight line, down the beach on the last night -- if you could only see how fast those little legs fly!!!!), and playing in the water.

Say Bye, Bye, Buddy!!!

We're back!

2008-07-01T22:10:00.001-04:00

We had an absolute blast in Florida. Sarah's conference / training went well (or so she says), the weather more-or-less cooperated, and the H-man had a great time. The flight down was kind of rough, as we had to go Columbus to Reagan National to Orlando to Tampa, due to weather. I gutted it out, but I'm told my face went three shades whiter than normal (no small feat) during the duration of the flights. That's Henry being tired on the first flight. We woke him up at 4:30 that morning.

In semi-related news, Henry has found a new friend: Buddy the sock puppet (pictured above). He is the unofficial mascot of Blue Diesel, the company I work for. Henry saw him on my work laptop, and start asking about him non-stop. Fortunately for me, Buddy not only lives in cyberspace, but as a real live sock puppet (thanks, Paul, for this incredible gift for Henry). He took it everywhere on the trip to Florida. And I took some action shots with him ... more on that later.

He also met all of his Disney friends when we went to Disney Hollywood Studios on our first day of vacation. This was his birthday present from Gramma Schmidt (a.k.a. Gramma Marti a.k.a. the Gramma with the guitar). Thank you, Gramma! We all had a great time! He met June and Leo from Little Einsteins (his favorite show) and Jo Jo and Goliath at breakfast. June held his hand and danced him around the entire restaurant. Pretty cool.

After meeting these characters, the encounters got kind of rough. After we waited in line to meet Mater and Lightning (two actual cars that they trot out to meet the kids), Henry decided that he didn't want to meet them. We thought that he might change his mind if we got up close. For all of you that know Henry, you know that changing the little dude's mind is no small feat. Here's what ensued: a lot of crying and burrowing into my shoulder.

He then pulled the same drill with Mike from Monsters, Inc. I don't blame him, the dudes can be scary. But why does he have to wait until we're in the front of the line?

We canvassed the joint, saw all of the shows, rode the Toy Story Arcade ride (fan-freakin-tastic!), and finished it off with a sleepy midnight drive back to Tampa.

Thank you thank you Gramma for everything

P.S. to the purists out there, I didn't mention Henry's dinner with an elephant, his Mickey Mouse ice cream-on-a-stick, his lunch at Pizza Planet, or the smooth moves that he put on some older Guatamalan "women" (and their Mom). Rest assured, though -- all of that happened too.

The Pool Fixes Everything

2008-06-10T11:39:00.002-04:00

This was going to be entitled "The Columbus Arts Festival Ruined My Sunday", but the local pool saved the day.

We've been knee-deep in building our new bathroom, and Sunday was no exception. We wanted to get out, and we had an enormous decision to make. Possibly the biggest of our lives. The Arts Festival ... or the pool. Arts Festival. Pool. Arts ... well, you get the idea. We decided to brave it, and take the bus downtown to regale ourselves with the finest fine art that Columbus can assemble.

As we were getting to our stop, we caught sight of the north end side of a southbound bus. We missed it by about 45 seconds. No fear, right? The next one will be along soon ...

40 minutes later, the next one came. We brought a big thing of water and had the proper gear on, so the sweltery 90+ degree weather wasn't too overpowering. Just boring. The bus ride itself was nice enough - it is quite clear, though, that the only folks in Columbus that ride public transportation are the ones that have to. It's really inconvenient, not overly comfortable, and doesn't drop you all that near where you want to go (unless you're willing to wait even longer for a connection).

As we got off the bus, we realized that, in it's new location away from the river, the Arts Festival is (1) not nearly as close to the bus lines, (2) about 10 degrees hotter with the overabundance of asphalt, and (3) not all that well put together. We were pretty disappointed once we finally hiked all the way there.

So, salty at each other and our situation, we walked and Henry rode his bike back to the bus (sidenote: Henry had a great time with all this ... he had a peanut butter and jelly, some lemonade, and his bike ... pretty much a home run day for him). We decided that we would be going to the pool afterall.

And it was magical. Henry, who to now has only been marginally interested in the pool, jumped in and stayed in the whole time (we were there about two hours). We did alligators and motor boats in the baby pool. We did throws in the big pool (the higher I threw him, the more he liked it). We all had a blast.

And then we went back the next day. And today, I'm sure they're going again, even though I'll be unable to join them. Hopefully my hotel (in Philly) has a pool. I'm sure it won't be nearly the same though without Henry.

Mommy's done with school!

2008-06-06T18:11:00.002-04:00

Today is the day that we get Sarah back. Ever since she started teaching, the running joke between the two of us on the first day of school is that she gives me a big kiss and says, "OK, see you in June!" After Henry's arrival, that joke isn't nearly as applicable -- Sarah has been amazing -- super teacher, super Mommy, and just plain super.

That being said, Summer Sarah is a treat that I excitedly wait for every Spring. As the stress and strain of the school year lets up and the weather warms up, life is splendid. We have our pool passes, zoo passes, COSI passes, and swim lessons set up. Sarah has rehoned her yoga schedule, I'm dusting off my running shoes, and we'll be getting plenty of chances for porch time (front and back).

We may even go to a double-feature drive-in movie tonight -- with Henry! He'll see Kung Fu Panda with us, then we'll see Indiana Jones. For $16 total.

Oh Yeah Summer!

Lots to catch up on

2008-06-01T20:59:00.001-04:00

So, we had our 36 minutes of spring in Columbus, OH, and we're on to summer. OK, that's not true at all ... it was a really great middle of April, a colder-than-usual May (but still nice), and June looks to be it's normal mix of breezes and high humidity. The unfortunate part is that we went from regularly needing our furnace to strongly considering using the air conditioner in the passing of a weekend. So ... the spring cleaning and summer outings have to coincide. Henry's getting in the swing of things, too ...

He realizes that if he's going to be in any condition to cruise in his truck this summer, he's going to have to clean it. Which he did. The irony is that, after cleaned, he was much more interested in checking under the hood (we've relented and agreed with him that he indeed has an engine and that thing under the hood is not a oversized lithium battery).

After cleaning your rig, where are you off to (if you live in the 1950's or are incredibly nostalgic for times of old)? The Drive-in Movies! That's right, Henry has checked this off of his list. We crossed our fingers and hoped that all would be well. We chose a dicey movie for his first experience ... Iron Man. He did, after all, have an Iron Man shirt on all day, so he naturally chose it (PG-13) over Speed Racer (PG). It all worked out well, and no one should have to go through counseling (or endless conversations about uncomfortable topics) any time soon.

Soon after this summer extravaganza, Henry was invited to (and attended) his first all out kids birthday party. They made t-shirts, smacked a pinata, had cupcakes ... your basic 3-yr old free for all.

The one on the left is Henry getting jacked by some candy coming out of the pinata. Great camera work, right (the orange blur on his head is a Starburst). The one on the right is Henry opening Colby's birthday present. We've convinced ourselves that he's helping, not hoarding ("helping, not hoarding ... helping not hoarding ... there, I feel better").

Last weekend we kept the party rolling by hanging out with our dear friends the Willamseseses ... wait, is that the proper plural? Chris, Kim, Matthew and Emily came down over the Memorial Day weekend to hang out. It ... was ... a ... blast! We went to Magic Mountain and rocked the joint ... miniature golf, indoor play gym replete with plastic balls that your encouraged to throw at each other (which Chris and I did ... of course), go karts on a greased track ... we gorged on the fun.

Then we gorged on way too much food. Burgers at Red Robin (they'll substitute any burger with a veggie patty ... they're Sarah's new hero) and ice cream at Sonic afterwards (our other new favorite place ... have you been there? ... go! Seriously .. what are you doing still reading this?).

Fan-fricking-tastic.

This weekend had the dubious distinction of being the weekend following that weekend. We've been humming all this weekend, too. Henry's bike seat came in the mail, so we took it out for a couple of spins. It's really cool, and attaches to the front of the bike. (Note to readers: that's not Henry. Just checking)

Unfortunately, in our last trip, Henry had another first ... he got his pinky finger caught in the bathroom door at the restaurant we were at. It turned six different colors (none of them good) and he wanted nothing but his mommy to make him feel better. We weren't sure how bad it was, but he was not himself at all, so we were worried.

He brightened up on the bike ride home (the quickest family bike ride in history). Amazingly enough, it was the bugs that were smashing on his and Sarah's face that got him giggling, and by the time we got home, he was pretty much back to normal, even if his finger wasn't. We took him for a quick trip to Dr. Grammy (thanks again, Grammy ... you're a life saver!) and we taped it up, checking on it every couple of hours. I'm glad to report that the finger is coming along quite nicely. I'm pretty sure he'll be able to keep it.

One CRAZY weekend!

2008-04-20T15:57:00.005-04:00

Man o man, did we have fun this weekend. We went to COSI, we rode on a tractor at a birthday party, and GRANDMA came for a surprise visit from Florida. Seriously, she surprised us all by bringing us breakfast on Sunday. She was in town for some other stuff, and wanted to make it a surprise. Well, it was. And it was fantastic.

Here is what Henry did at COSI the whole time ... RUN!

We are all pretty tired from all of the running, but a great time was had by all.

And some pics!

Mister Awesome

2008-04-13T22:49:00.002-04:00

Mister Awesome
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Henry is retaining his title of Awesome Little Dude. Some of his latest exploits:

He has a really awful Italian accent. And it's hysterical. It's a lot of accent on the first syllables of all words. i NEED to FIX up ALL the TIRes.
He is learning to sing all of his nursery rhymes (and all other songs) like Bob Dylan. Yeah, you read that right. Jack and Jill is my favorite. And at the end, he always says, "Brown Paper ... EWWWWWWW" (don't know why ... never fails to crack me up)
His favorite unicorn is Tom Cruise, and he knows the theme song for Planet Unicorn (http://www.planetunicorn.tv/)
And the biggest news: this dude is GOING POTTY! I mean sure, we're not talking consistent poop on the potty, but there is some serious momentum building (I'm talking about peeing in the potty if you must know) and maybe, just maybe, there will be a general decline in diaper changing in our near future. We can only hope!
Oh, and he can now open every door in the house. Bedtime, naptime, and even mornings have officially changed forever!

Snow day!

2008-02-24T15:41:00.001-05:00

Looking at the Creek
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Man, this seems like three years ago, but it was last week. After our first (and maybe last) big snow of the season, Henry and his energetic parents took to the slopes (OK, hill) and hunkered down for some serious sledding.

Why no pictures of that, you ask? Because Henry got down the hill once and decided that he was done with that, thank you very much.

So we trekked through the park, checking out the creek and the trees and, of course, the snow.

Since then, we've been to Chicago (it was great, and even though we took a camera we seemed to have forgotten it everywhere we went) and I came down with a monster (monster!) cold. It was nasty. I'm just now getting over it.

But, we're back! And maybe, just maybe, spring will come. Pretty please?

As always, click the picture for more, well, pictures!

Best Political Video Ever

2008-02-04T13:42:00.000-05:00

Alright, alright ... here is my second post (ever!) that has nothing to do with my family. Except, maybe it does ... I started wondering what can each of us do ... how do we move the needle. What can Henry do? That's what we're pondering as a family right now. Anyway, the video was too cool not to share.

And if you're not an Obama fan ... pretend it's someone else. And if you don't dig on Hollywood, pretend like it's someone else. It's a very cool message.

(Click the movie to get it going)

We Had a Merry Christmas

2008-01-27T10:40:00.000-05:00

At least, that's what Henry tells us! Santa was quite good to our Little Prince, getting him some really cool superhero outfits, enough train track to restart Amtrak service to Columbus, and some really cool Cars (with names like Snot Rod and Wingo).

Here are some pics of the Rayo cousins ... click to see them all!

http://gallery.mac.com/hepcatrayo#100008&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=0

Daddy got a new iMac, Mommy got a feature film of Henry Reading the Classics (film to be uploaded soon), and all had a good time and slept often for the next week. Then I had to go back to work, and Christmas was but a dream.

But a really good dream.

"I'm just crazy, just like you [Daddy]"

2007-12-21T13:21:00.000-05:00

That's what Henry told me last night as I was changing his diaper. He had his camera in his hands, and was snapping pictures of me Austin Powers style ("give me angry" ... "Yes ... Yes ... Yes ... No!") swinging the camera around wildly. I asked him "What the heck are you doing?"

His response (and I repeat): "I'm just crazy, just like you".

So, for the record, we are both crazy. And, in case you were wondering, this is a picture of me at work. Yes, I wore this to work today. Yes, I wore it all day. Yes, that is our office Xmas tree (with a pirate flag on top) behind me. Yes, I wore a disco outfit to drop off my son at daycare. And it was ... glorious!

Now it's time to batten down the hatches for Christmas ... the Michigan Rayos are coming down today, and we will be having four days straight of various renditions of Christmas. It will be a grand time. It will also be Annalia's first Christmas. And Henry's first Christmas of Santa awareness.

Air Criminals

2007-12-10T10:10:00.000-05:00

This is how I know that I'm old: I've found a situation where I'm pining for how it was when I was young.

The Family Murano is quite vociferous about telling the driver (and everyone else in the car) when the tire pressure is low. It does this every time that you turn on the car. And it's loud.

We checked the onboard thingamajigger to find out which tires were low (and how low) to find out that three of the four tires were dangerously low. They have a slow leak, and I guess we've been negligent for some time about getting the pressure checked. So I, the responsible pater familias for our tribe, determined to fill up the air after filling up on gas.

Easy, right? Well, it was when I was filling up my bicycle. That, though, was when it was my primary form of transportation.

Not now. We pulled up to the very impressive looking machine (a far cry from the random hose with the half-rusted "Air" sign from my youth) to find out that it cost $.75 for three minutes of air. Yes you heard me .... FOR AIR! Such is life, right ... so we dug for quarters. No dice, because we've been giving them to the Salvation Army bell ringers -- which led to some very un-Christmaslike thoughts.

Instead of breaking my $10 to get quarters, we hit the next gas station. It wanted $.75 for air. And the next one. $.75 for air again. So, at the fourth one, I broked down and trudged to the attendant.

Because it was 7:00 PM on a Sunday in granola / hippie Clintonville, (my neighborhood) all of the doors were locked. I knocked on the window, and got my quarters through the "criminal" window ("put your ten in the hermetically sealed chamber, please") while the cashier-dude stared at me. I wanted $2 of quarters, and the rest in bills. I got $3 in change, including nickels and dimes. Guess my voice didn't go very well through the circa-1970 intercom device that they installed.

I got to the car, put in my quarters, and started to work the machine. It had a spring retraction system, so there was no slack. So I was working in the rain, in the dark, in the cold, with one foot stepping on the hose, one foot keeping my balance, one hand positioning the hose to lessen the impact of the tear that was leaking my precious, precious air and one hand trying to connect the hose nozzle to my tire valve.

It sucked. In fact, that's what I said when I got back in the car. Which Henry repeated. A lot.

There. I feel better. Hope it was as enjoyable to read as was frustrating to live.

O Tannenbaum!

2007-12-03T16:39:00.001-05:00

Sawing away
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

It must be Christmas ... I mean, don't pay attention to the lack of snow, the gale force winds, the thunderstorms (yes, I said thunderstorms) or the spring jacket that I'm wearing.

Instead, focus on the cryptically priced Canaan Fir tree that I'm killing while my son and wife look on. And focus on Henry's winter boots, jacket, and hat (which he can put on himself, thank you very much!)

We jumped in Papa Thornburg's enormous F-350 (with dual-ies ... did I spend that right?) and motored over to the Xenia / Yellow Springs area to Young's tree farm (also known as Young's dairy, Young's petting zoo, and Young's Fake-Amish-Beard-a-go-go). Although we were told by less than reliable meteorological sources (I'm looking at you, Gaga) that the rain would be letting up, it misted on us through the entire tree procurement process.

Thankfully the weather decided to erupt only after we had paid, picked up our hot chocolate and popcorn, and jumped back in the truck.

We also got to see Henry's Great Grandma (Gaga) Ida (which he pronounces "Ider")

Whew! Christmas!

Workin' hard

2007-11-25T22:23:00.001-05:00

What choo lookin' at?
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

It has been a a very fruitful, but very busy November. My brother asked me what I was doing for my birthday, and I told him I was doing exactly what I wanted to be doing ... installing laminate flooring.

We have made sure to enjoy all the great November events (the Bucks victory over that school Up North, both of our birthdays, Thanksgiving, Henry time), but have all been pitching in to FINALLY start living in the basement.

And, for me, get a new job. I'll be working for a Healthcare interactive marketing firm, Blue Diesel, starting on Tuesday. Sayonara Cardinal Health. It's sad to leave, and it's great to start something new. We'll see how it all goes.

As always, click the picture (or the pictures on the right) to see all of our Flickr pictures.

P.S. That board with the nails was whisked away, never to be seen again, immediately after this picture was taken. Henry didn't even see it.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

2007-11-12T11:21:00.001-05:00

Ah, November 11th isn't just Veteran's Day in our household, but is also my birthday. Every year, actually, if memory serves ... and although I don't plan on ever being a veteran, I'm honored to share my birthday with them. I won't get into all the political tangents I'd like to on this topic ...

The Buckeyes must have been a little confused, because all they gave me for my birthday was the egg that they laid at the game against Illinois. Maybe they just really wanted to go to the Rose Bowl instead of the National Championship game. Maybe not. Who knows.

The weather didn't do any favors, either. High 30's and rainy. All frickin' day.

But my family and friends came through. I got well-wishes from Columbus, OH, Tampa, FL, Ypsilanti, MI, Bradenton, FL, and Delhi, India. Pammie even sent me a picture of her in front of the Taj Mahal. My first intercontinental birthday message! Surreal!

And the kicker: we took Henry to see his first movie: Ratatouille. He was a total big boy stud. He burst out a couple times ("Whoa, Mommy, Whoa" was my favorite when some rats got struck by lightning), but watched quietly throughout. This was even more poignant due to a five-year old that had a total meltdown in the seat in front of him. About halfway through the tantrum, Henry whispered to Sarah, "What's wrong with that little boy?"

It was a great time. It was a great birthday.

Can I please have some candy?

2007-11-08T23:03:00.001-05:00

Can I please have some candy?
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

This dude is cute in a puppy suit. I have to admit that, upon first glance, the testosteroney Dad in me surfaced and I longed for a Superman costume or baseball player (or a hobo, even!). Little did I know how with it Henry was in this getup.

He was the center of attention everywhere he wore this thing. He killed at school. He heard a steady stream of ooohs and aaahs as we went around the neighborhood. At the height of the evening, he was in the center of no less than 8 high school girls, showing off and hamming it up. What's a puppy say? "Ruff"

Ruff, indeed.

Halloween is once again magical, by the way. Next year should be off the hook. And for all of you wondering, Henry has found his sweet tooth that has alluded him since birth. Gaga will be so proud.

Greetings from San Diego

2007-11-07T10:03:00.000-05:00

OK, so I've only been in San Diego for 18 hours. And I'm already at the airport, ready to go home. This trip is all business, no pleasure, but I did get some whiffs of ocean air, I didn't see any fire damage (I'm sure that's just dumb luck), and I (think I) got everything accomplished that I wanted to. So, back to Columbus!

Sitting in the Cardinal Health office, I was just finishing up my day when I got a Skype "call" from one Ms. Sarah Thornburg. Back at the Homestead, Sarah and Henry were just finishing his bath. I got to say goodnight to Henry in the middle of what was otherwise a very typical office cube jungle.

It is really spooky and awe inspiring that just being able to see my family while I converse with them really lets me be close as I'm so obviously far away.

Henry was up to all of his tricks. He likes seeing his picture as he knocks over the camera. The picture goes crazy on my side, accompanied by an infectious giggle coming through the computer speakers. Priceless. He also told me how he voted for (with) Mommy. Mommy made all of her decisions in the booth, and Henry got to hit the big "Vote" button at the end. Sarah was absolutely beaming with pride ... she's such a Government/Civics junkie, and to see her 2-year-old vote was a big moment for her. I gave her a hard time about it, but it is really cool to see Henry get excited about voting (or anything else that lets us dream about him being an informed, productive citizen). Hopefully he keeps his enthusiasm in the face of a system that can easily drain all enthusiasm and hope in the voting process and government in general.

OK ... enough grandstanding.

See you all back in Columbus! (and if you're not in Columbus, I guess I won't see you!)

The highlight of the Bucks game

2007-10-17T22:58:00.001-04:00

Henry with Dr. Woods's baton
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

My bestest friend Shannon scored tickets to the Buckeyes game last weekend, so the fam got our bus fare together and trucked down to campus.

Unfortunately, the tickets didn't quite make it with us. Which freaked us out. Especially the Shannon part of us. Shanny and I split up with Henry and Sarah, who went to hear the band play (a really cool tradition before every home game). We jumped a bus to get back home.

We checked the house. No dice. We checked his car. Nada. So we walked to the bench that Shannon was sitting on before he boarded the bus to campus. As we got there, we saw what appeared to be one piece of cardboard amongst some bus stop trash and debris. It was not one, but TWO TICKETS. They were face down, and they had been there for 45 minutes. inSANE.

So we jumped back on the bus, all smiles, and met up with la familia just as the band was finishing. As we were mulling around St. John's afterward, Dr. Woods (OSU's Director of Bands) came up to Henry and gave him his baton to direct with. He decided to twirl it instead. He said "I see ... I guess he'll be a Drum Major, not a conductor."

I think Henry just didn't want to upstage him. We have, after all, raised Henry to be a polite young man.

The game was great (we killed 'em), I had a great time with Shannon, and getting there was indeed half the ??fun??

Alright, I'm in ... Blog Action Day

2007-10-15T23:11:00.000-04:00

Alright James, you got me thinking about this. Blog action day is about a simple concept: what if we all (I mean all the bloggers here) blogged on the same topic on the same day? What would happen. I just found out about this, so I have 47 minutes left to officially be part of the movement.

So I'll need to type fast.

How do I fit in a plea to think about and save the environment into our blog? What grand statement can I make? I am, after all, the owner of two cars with V6 engines (although both sport high-20's MPG on the highway, it's not sayin' much), a house with less-than-efficient windows, a two-year old in disposable diapers, and live in a country (proudly, I might add) that contributes more than it's fair share to global climate change.

Here are my meager contributions to the environment. I am buying local produce and goods whenever I can. I am only buying pocket fluorescent light bulbs to replace the incandescents that burn out. We're reusing food containers instead of buying disposables. And we're paying to recycle, even though it's free to just throw out anything we want (this one burns me ... how will recycling take off it costs more, in effort and $$$, than just pitching it?)

OK, so I'm not doing as much as I can. Duly noted. Maybe this post raised a bit of awareness though.

Annalia came to town!

2007-10-15T12:31:00.001-04:00

Precious cousins
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

This is just one of the ton of pictures that was snapped of Annalia's first visit to Columbus, and the first Columbus meeting of the Rayo Cousins. Annalia, Asia, and Henry all mugged for the camera the whole weekend.

Annalia is changing so fast! People tell me that Henry is, too, but it's really crazy to see Annalia once a month and realize how much I've missed in Bryan's, Sarah's and Annalia's very new life together. And how great it is to see them when we can get together again.

Asia and Henry, as usual, were thick as thieves the whole weekend. They cackled, giggled and ran (and ran and ran) through the house endlessly.

Snoozing after the tailgate

2007-10-14T10:53:00.001-04:00

Snoozing after the tailgate
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

We have been busy ... don't let our total lack of communication fool you! Henry (and Tenzin) have showed us that you're never too young to tailgate. Because of Henry's uncanny ability to always follow an "OH" with an "IO", he was invited to our friends' tailgates (before we were!). Tenzin and Henry piled into the bike trailer, and we trucked down to campus (click the picture to see some of the other pics).

They had so much fun, though, that they didn't quite make it back to the house! This is how we found them upon arriving back at home. OUT!

It was a great time. As Henry says, "Go Buckeyes!"

$220 and a big brown welcome

2007-10-07T20:22:00.001-04:00

I just got back from Baltimore, where I had a great time hanging out with ergonomists, cognitive psychologists, and various other "-ists". I was invited to speak at the annual Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (of which I am a member) conference. I spoke on the topic of Medication Safety technology in the ICU ... sexy stuff.

I found out at the conference that I won the student paper award in the Healthcare subgroup. Since I didn't even know I entered the competition, I was both surprised and pretty excited. The exposure and the $200 check were both quite welcome.

This unexpected windfall (I'm counting it as a windfall!) came on the heels of my first paycheck as a fitness instructor at my gym. Ok, ok ... substitute fitness instructor. And the check was only $20. But it was a very cool $20.

So, I was pretty high on myself as I returned from my three days out of town. We touched down in Columbus, I got in my car, and as I was closing the garage door at home, Sarah and Henry rolled into the driveway. This cemented my transition from conquering hero to mild-mannered father. I made some dinner for the fam, and got Henry in the bath.

This is where Henry made sure that I knew the definition of humility. As the bath was winding down, I saw that he was, well, farting a lot. We started talking about how big boys go poopy in the potty, and we both agreed that the potty was the proper place to do such things. After about two minutes of this conversation, though, Henry must not have been convinced. You probably already know the punchline: more poop in the bathtub! Arrrgh!

I think that there's a parable in there somewhere. Fill in your own moral of the story.

At least it wasn't poop, Bryan ...

2007-08-29T12:39:00.000-04:00

My brother just got inducted into the club: My Baby Went to the Bathroom on Me. Check it out:

All I can say, bro, is at least it wasn't poop. Like it was for me ...

Gramma and her babies

2007-08-29T12:17:00.001-04:00

Three generations
Originally uploaded by bryanrayo.

You use your imagination about who the babies are.

Anyhoo, it was Ann Arbor time again this weekend, and this time Henry got to see Gramma Schmidt, whom his cousin Annalia was meeting for the first time (woo hoo!).

We had a great time, Sarah cooked up some great grub, and we had a life-changing experience at Ikea (have you ever been there? How do they do it?). Oh yeah, and we got back home safely.

Alas, we will not be going to see my lovely niece again this weekend (and she is lovely ... ask all of her grandparents!), so we will be scouring the blog just like everyone else to get tidbits of her loveliness.

Just in the nick of time

2007-08-23T23:47:00.001-04:00

The carpet went in last night, and it is lovely! There was one problem, and that had to do with a really boneheaded mistake I had made the night before on the floor ... instead of having a nice level floor, I ended up with an unsightly mound of concrete right in the middle of my floor!

I had planned to rectify this tonight, but five minutes after I walked in the door, the power went out! There goes my night of productivity!

Luckily, the carpet made the basement a great place to camp out while we waited for the power to come back on. The rest of the house was pretty much unbearable in the near-100 degree heat.

And we got to camp out in our new basement! Which was much more enjoyable than the work I had planned to do.

Annalia Kathleen Rayo!

2007-08-20T22:43:00.000-04:00

She has arrived, she has arrived! In what is indeed Rayo Family News, Bryan and Sarah have had their child, and she is beautiful.

Her name is Annalia Kathleen Rayo, and she was born on August 19th, 2007, at 10:51 in the morning (or somewheres about there). If memory serves, then she was born at 7 lbs. 6 oz and measured 19 1/2 inches (and if I'm wrong, correct me).

Bryan and Sarah are doing quite well, although they're just getting used to The Tired. You know The Tired, right? I'm just getting used to it myself.

I'll let them tell the gory details themselves. Check them out at http://littlerayo.blogspot.com/. It won't be updated for at least a couple of days ... they're not even home yet!

Henry's Pooptacular

2007-08-11T10:22:00.000-04:00

While Mommy has been on her Ohio Historical Society "World" Tour in Athens, Chillicothe, Marietta, and finally Columbus, Ohio, we've been keeping busy getting drywall installed the basement, going to a baseball game, and, unfortunately, working late (Henry got to skip that part and play with Gaga.

When we finally got a chance to catch up with our Rockstar Family Member and stake out our place in the moshpit (Henry likes to be up front and near the action when he's a groupie) at the Ohio Statehouse, Henry made it count. The venue was the Rotunda, seen below. (It's a virtual tour ... click and drag to see the whole thing!)

Henry stepped right up to the middle of the rotunda, looked up, and unleashed his bowels on the place. Pooptacular! The good news for us is that he, indeed, was in his diaper and there was no mess. Just memories...

We weren't so lucky this morning. Henry is trying to decide where big boys go to the bathroom. We'll let you take the quiz, too:

In our diaper
On the floor
In the bathtub
In the potty
A, B, and C

If you said "E", then you and Henry would be in total agreement. Unfortunately, you'd also be wrong. Dead wrong. Anyway, we performed a scarcely-heard-of morning bath when Henry woke up, and he decided that the best thing to do was to start peeing the minute he got undressed (this would be answer B). Mommy moved him over to the potty, but he convinced her that he was now done. Whew! On to the bath! The minute his feet touched the water, the fountain started flowing again (Answer C). This time, he turned his back to us and said "I'm not peeing in the bathtub!" Who's kid is he, anyway?

So Mommy drained the tub, explaining how peeing in the tub made the water "dirty". Henry seemed to understand. With brand new bath water, the bath was ready to resume. I went in the other room to do some very official parenting stuff, and wasn't out of the room 30 seconds before hearing "Daddy ... we have a problem!" Poop in the tub. I repeat, poop in the tub. We hauled him out again, got a a diaper on him, and again started explaining how poop is dirty and how big boys poop in the potty. So we asked him where big boys poop. First answer: "In the bathtub". Second answer: "In the shower". Third answer (after coaching): "In the potty."

We'll take that as a victory.

That's it for now. Thank God.

We got online!

2007-08-08T12:45:00.000-04:00

It is with great pleasure that I inform you of the smashing success of our plans get Sarah, my wife, onto the Ohio University (OU) network, and, subsequently, onto the internet. This enabled us to have a videophone session last night. We enjoyed a very lovely conversation in which Henry told her about the baseball game we went to, showed her his boo boo, and, well, pooped his pants (which Mommy was still present to see the changing ceremony).

For those not up on this latest happening, Sarah's spending the week at OU chatting with history/anthropology/archeology types, and is just about to get her $2500 check to do some research and reporting on the project of her choice in one of those fields. Pretty cool, huh?

Anyhoo, one would think that getting Sarah onto the internet on the campus of an American University would be a snap, but to say that it was difficult is an enormous overstatement. Some of the highlights:

At Sarah's orientation, one of her instructors made it very clear that no one was to venture on to the OU network. No way, no how.
I called a friend of mine, a professor at OU, to hook a brother up. He was more than happy to help, but was stuck in an airport on his way back from Ecuador. Slacker. He advised to go to a coffee shop on campus. Bingo!
Sarah went to the coffee shop. It closed at 9:00 PM. Her scheduled sessions end at 9:00 PM each night. She arrived at the coffee shop at 9:30 PM. Rats!
I enlisted the help of some OU students that I know. She found a double-secret way to hook her up. One offered up the drive-by use of the wireless connection in her apartment! (she was in Columbus, but was pretty sure the wireless was still turned on, functioning, and available from the street).
Sarah tested out the triple-secret method, and SUCCESS!

Luckily for her no one has perfected digital smell yet ... that diaper probably didn't look half as bad as it smelled!

Work hard play hard

2007-08-04T10:11:00.000-04:00

We're going to try a new styley for showing pictures ... give us a shout if you are excited or morosely depressed by this.

Henry has been a real trooper about the basement. He's been pitching in with his Pat (hammer), Turner (flat head screwdriver), Felipe (Philips-head), and Stretch (tape measure).

After we're done working, he hangs out in the pool. What a life!

Add to my blog

All Frickin' Day!

2007-07-25T19:55:00.001-04:00

We've been through 3 and a half days without Mommy, and have witnessed the following:

Daddy commenting to Mommy on the webcam that Simon (the cat) was crying "All Fricking Day" to then hear Henry start cackling "All Fricking Day" over and over and over again
one more crushed finger, this time cracking the nail in two, at the hands of the basement renovation
the last Amoxicillin dose from the accursed Strep Throat Incident of 2007 (that was terrible ... when babies can't sleep, it's just like being a newborn again)
a four-hour stretch in which there was multitasking between framing walls and doing laundry
a lot of really adorable phrases from Henry, including 'mommy airplane a ca-GA-go' and talking about the hospital that Henry and Daddy were born at (how does he remember this stuff?)

Mommy, don't worry ... the animals are still alive and everyone is pooping where they're supposed to.

Where's Mommy?

2007-07-23T09:53:00.000-04:00

... in Chicago (Henry's pronunciation: ca-KAH-go!). Mommy is off saving the planet in Chicago, at a conference for a week. I know, a week! Of course the toilet broke yesterday, I cut myself shaving this morning, we're out of bread, the sink was filled with dirty dishes, Henry has what might be poison ivy, he didn't go to bed until 10:30 last night and we're just getting started on Day 1!

The blogs this week may be a bit more detailed, as I chronicle for Mommy all the comings and goings on the day.

Henry went to Gaga's today to play, and will go again on Wednesday. Then it's Grammy and Grandpa on Friday. This morning, Henry asked me about a zillion times on the trip over where we were going. I turned it back on him: "Where are we going, Henry?" He'd get a big smile and say "Gaga's House!" I think he just liked to hear himself say it. We made sure to bring his "Cars" board book (he's addicted to that movie), and he carried them very matter-of-factly like a briefcase ("... and we're running a special on these wonderful children's books ... would you like to take a look?").

That's about it for now ... more later.

Happy Fourth of July!

2007-07-22T13:36:00.001-04:00

Old Glory
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

OK, OK, it's the 22nd of July, but I'm just trying to catch up! Sheesh!

Henry followed up his gigundous birthday bash with some well-deserved rest on the 3rd. Then we took a big breath and plunged into the Fourth! We got up early to go to Grammy and Grandpa Rayo's for UA's parade, which seemed much longer than it has in the past. It was great except that now mid-80's cars are now technically "vintage" -- but still ugly -- and they were featured more prominently than ever in the parade.

We collected Henry, Mom (Gramma), and Tom to take them back to our house and wish Gramma safe travels back to Florida. Then we were off to the Doo Dah parade! We found a great place on High St. (which we later found out was the end of the parade route) and settled in for what we thought was the 20 minute wait until the parade got to us.

An hour and a half later, still nothing. I need to remember that, of all the wonderful thing that Doo Dah is, it is not punctual.

Or reverential. We saw the dancing Fidels, the Popemobile, the Columbus Gay Color Guard, more fishnet and facepaint (think Rocky Horror) than I care to think about, and other reverie. (EDITOR'S NOTE: why is it always the folks that are "pleasantly plump" that decide to wear their lingerie out in public? Maybe it's the fattening of America that I'm witnessing ...)

We took our second quick breather, nixed our picnic plans because of a torrential downpour, then went to dinner with some friends (I know ... dinner out on the Fourth? No BBQ? Sacrilege!!!). The irony was that it was bright in Sunny as we walked into Hunan House to commemorate the birth of our country.

We booked it back home to stroller over to the Clintonville fireworks. Henry loved the "twinkles", but really didn't like the "loud loud loud." I cupped his ears throughout, and he fell asleep midway through. He didn't even blink through the finale!!!!

Then we went home and slept. And he woke up early the next morning. Drats!!!!

Ah, to be green!

2007-07-18T08:34:00.000-04:00

EDITORS'S NOTE: this has nothing to do with Henry. Read accordingly.

Kermit's right ... it's not easy being green. Whether it's going without Chinese-made goods (even for a year!) or trading in your F350 for a Prius (and I know, I know ... that Prius can't haul your fifth-wheel, which I see as the only excuse to have that big truck), it's a serious sacrifice.

Uncle James (that's Thornburg, not LeBron ... sorry Henry) turned me onto a great book called WorldChanging, which turned me on to an even better blog: http://www.worldchanging.com/. He's since started a very amusing green-tech-humorous-cheesehead blog here:

http://insourceoutsource.blogspot.com/

(alright, disregard the cheesehead part)

I've also subscribed to it on this blog, so you can see his most recent over there on the right ----->

If you've read James's stuff, you know that he has a unique (and quite welcoming) sense of humor. I dig it ... check it out if you want to. And I promise, the next post WILL be about Henry.

Happy Birthday, Henry!

2007-07-04T19:04:00.000-04:00

Birthday boy!
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

COLUMBUS, OH - There has been much hubbub about this anticipated event in Clintonville, OH. And then there was much procrastination in writing about it.

Here is a transcript of an interview on the day of Henry Rayo's second birthday.

Dad: So, how old are you going to be, Henry?
Henry: Two! (holding up all five fingers)

Dad: What day is today? What day do you turn two?
Henry: July second.

Dad: What do you want to do on your birthday?
Henry: Do SummerFarts (somersaults)!

We had every intention of making this birthday a smaller one (we planned for 40 last year) but once we started writing invitations, we knew that the small party was never going to happen. So we made the menu smaller: Ice Cream Social!

So it was still 40 of Henry's closest friends. We still decked out the house. But we didn't overstress our kitchen or our parents with chicken and sides for 40 ... we just bought a chest freezer and pointed everyone to the ice cream bar.

Henry practiced with Mommy all week to blow out the candles, but had a little stage fright when it came to the big moment. Asia helped.

Then Uncle Jimmy crawled in a box and fell over (see earlier post).

Fun!

Poor Boxman!!

2007-07-02T15:11:00.000-04:00

In true cart before horse fashion, here's a video of the end of Henry's birthday party ... we'll tell more about the actual party soon!!!

(That's uncle Jimmy in the box, and I'm the big jerk with the hippity hop ... sorry, Jim!)

Happy Father's Day!!!

2007-06-19T22:26:00.001-04:00

Henry and Daddy
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Whew! We're just recovering from Father's Day weekend. The whole thing started on Friday night. After putting Henry to bed, Sarah got started on Father's Day gifts, and I packed us up for a trip to scenic Ypsilanti, Michigan, to visit the soon-to-be newest father (and mother) in our family, Bryan and Sarah. We both got finished around 1:30 AM.

So, whose bright idea was it, then, that we try to get on the road by 6:00 AM? Crappers, it was mine. I shoveled myself out of bed, threw Sarah in the car, and almost got Henry in before he woke up. We thought that if we left early enough, he'd stay asleep, and keep sleeping through most of the trip. He didn't agree with the plan. He was great, though, and did sleep about 45 minutes of the 3 hour trip.

When we got there, it was baby shower for Sarah (and Sarah and Sarah, by the way), and it was a manly bike ride for the three Rayo dudes. We rode through some of Ann Arbor's finest paved trails, and had a picnic lunch (packed in Columbus, OH, I'll have you know).

We had a cookout that evening, brunch the next morning, a thrilling (and I mean thrilling) trip home, and dinner with Gaga and Papa on Father's Night (that is what the evening of Father's Day is called, right?)

Then I fell asleep. I just woke up.

Loving the Rose Festival!

2007-06-14T08:40:00.001-04:00

Henry blowing a kiss
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Henry has been growing and changing and is still absolutely adorable. This is a picture of him at the Rose Festival in Clintonville. We strollered up with Tenzin and Aunt Rachel, and Uncle James met us there. Henry danced and ran and "smelled" the roses. Actually, he tried to smell them by exhaling through his mouth (which we tried to explain to him was "blowing", not "smelling"). He then found a stick and started "fixing" the trees. And he hiked his first hill. I successfully taught him that it is proper form that, once on top of the tree, it is proper to collapse in a heap of exhaustion, wheezing "Hoo ... hoil ... that was hard!" He was a big fan.

In other news, bedtime has once again changed, and I think we've finally got the hang of this round. We negotiate how many books (default: 2) and how many songs (default: 1) that we'll have before bedtime, then a quick hug and a kiss and Night Night. There was a week of short-lived crying about this new plan, but we're cool now. Weird aside: Henry started talking about his "sister" during bedtime this week. And no, there's nothing to it ... it's actually kind of eerie ... does he know something that WE don't know?

Destroying the crib ... part II

2007-05-22T23:21:00.001-04:00

Destroying the crib ... part II
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

This is Daddy giving explicit instructions on how to reduce Henry's crib to kindling

Never (I mean never) expect to sleep in

2007-05-20T15:23:00.001-04:00

Destroying the crib ... together
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Oh Patron Saint of Insomnia, in what way did we vex you? Was it our hubris in thinking that Henry was ready for a big boy bed? Was it our naive assumption that, since Henry got up early the day before and went to sleep late, we might be able to sleep in? Do you simply have it in for us since we're parents and you obviously don't like parents?

Please consider the destruction of Henry's crib as a peace offering. A token, really, of how much we are willing to do to garner your favor. Destroying a bed is the ultimate symbol of insomnia ... take this crib so that we can live (and by live I obviously mean sleep)!

Please consider last night our penance and let us go on our way. Please consider Henry's 2:30 AM nightmare and his subsequent wailing and inability to get to sleep. Please consider that, after all other techniques were used, we brought him into bed with us, ensuring that sound sleep would not be visiting either of us. Please consider Henry getting up at 6:00 in the morning, when both of us knew that he would not go back to sleep. Please consider all of this as you determine our fate! I know, I know ... we've had it easy the last year as Henry's been sleeping well. The simple fact is that we're not used to it anymore ... and Henry isn't taking naps all day, and if the dude is awake, he's running (and running and running).

If that isn't enough, then there's a fiver in my jeans on the dresser just for you.

Oh our glorious hammock!

2007-05-14T23:21:00.001-04:00

Sarah's hammock
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

So, momma got a hammock for Mother's Day! Which means that Daddy got a hammock for Mother's Day! After poring over which hammock to buy (do I buy a brazilian? nicaraguan? mayan? **gulp** american rope? cotton? polyester? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!), I finally pulled the trigger on this Nicaraguan number.

I got the whole thing online (stand and all). I was a little nervous, but when it came, it all looked good. Then I went to the hardware store to get the lumber for the stand. After realizing how big a 10 foot treated 4 by 4 is, I started wondering again what I was getting into. This stand is 6 foot tall, 10 feet long, and is supported by two 4 foot legs as a base. It is ... gigundous. But it is glorious once you get in.

I left Sarah to take a nap as I went to get Henry from his. When I returned 20 minutes later, she was completely enveloped in it, cocoon style. Henry had absolutely no idea where she was, and she was in Thornburg sleep mode (if you don't know what that is, thank your lucky stars).

So I'm counting this in the "finally got her the right gift" pile.

Happy Mother's Day, mommy!

2007-05-14T23:12:00.001-04:00

What a good lookin' family!
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Mother's Day went off without too much collateral damage. There were reports of two toddlers running laps around Confluence Park in Downtown Columbus, but the authorities came up empty when they got to the scene. There was also some underage bike riding (isn't 22 months too young?) and a growling lion sighted (he's showing his teeth in this picture).

All in all, though ... another weekend successfully tamed!

Henry in his big boy bed!

2007-05-10T23:37:00.001-04:00

Henry in his big boy bed!
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

I know, I know ... he doesn't look too excited about this quite impressive milestone. That's just how he wakes up ... he gets it from his mother.

Over the weekend, we decided to have Henry try out his futon for naps, but keep the crib for night-night. He seemed pretty cool with it. The first day, he slept the normal nap time and we heard from him as soon as he woke up. Sunday, though, he took what I thought was a three hour nap. I'll never know for sure, though, because when I finally went up to wake him up, he was sitting down on the floor happily playing with his shoes. How didn't I hear him, you ask? Funny story, actually ...

I was getting the house ready for a cookout we were having with friends, so I was out doing yardwork. I had not planned on going in to get the monitor because I was just finishing up as Sarah left to do some teacher junk. At least she said it was teacher junk. Anyhoo, I was just putting all the gear away to start fixing the food when I noticed that my ... wedding ... ring ... was ... gone. PANIC! I looked around quickly to survey the scene, only to see a yard bag, filled with yard waste, staring ominously at me. It had to be in there. So I dumped the entire thing out again and starting wading, handful by handful, through ivy guts, plant clipping, myrtle shavings, dead leaves, and the bits of Christmas tree that must have fallen off on the way to the front curb (still there from January!). After searching through the WHOLE F'ING THING, I found my ring! I rejoiced, stapled the thing to my finger, cleaned up, and busted inside.

So anyhoo, Henry did great with the naps. Last night, to up the ante, he asked to sleep in the bed. So we tried it. After crossing our fingers, we awoke the next morning and Henry was good to go (except for the vacant expression and extreme displeasure at having his photo taken this early.

We'll see how it goes!

Henry, mess

2007-05-02T22:52:00.001-04:00

Yogurt closeup
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Henry has been learning so much ... his vocabulary is skyrocketing, his dexterity and balance are crazy-improved ... but, alas, his messiness has not improved. Or you can say his ability to make a mess has also improved mightily. This face is the result of him literally painting himself with yogurt after he decided that he didn't want any more.

He had a great time. And the best part? We threw away all of our bibs two months ago (check out the glop on his shirt) and the blue cartoon pipe-looking things behind his head are part of his placemat, which dad (in)conveniently forgot to put on the table. You can check out the rest of the Flickr gallery (click on the picture) to see how the table fared.

Instead of telling him no, I ran to get the camera! I'm sure that won't bite me in the ass in our very near future.

Great weekend

2007-04-25T08:51:00.000-04:00

What a great weekend ... Henry learned how to plant flowers, turn on the hose, hit Teddy with a stick, and throw all the decorative rocks that are in our garden. Oh yeah, and break the glass spheres that are (were) in the garden.

And the big news: Henry has a play area in the back of the yard that (1) does not have a bunch of piles of yard waste that Daddy had neglected to deal with for three years and (2) is not overrun with ivy that, again, Daddy had neglected to deal with for three years. It is lined with pine bark nugget mulch, is surrounded by evergreens and has a Maple tree smack dab in the middle. We call it his "campgrounds", and his tent has already been set up. His tent has also been hastily taken down minutes before a spring deluge hit and blew over just about everything in the yard, including our patio table and anchored umbrella.

We also tested out the bike trailer ... Henry now has his pick of the buggy (his wagon), the 'troller (his original stroller), and the bike trailer whenever he wants to traipse around the neighborhood. He doesn't much like the trailer.

We'll have some pictures up anytime now. Like, at least before Winter.

Greetings from Florida!

2007-04-16T11:36:00.001-04:00

Henry reaching
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

Henry wanted to make sure you all knew that he went on vacation! Click on the picture to see this and all of the pictures from the vacation.

Henry's new car

2007-03-27T10:03:00.001-04:00

0326070817
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

... with Elmo riding shotgun! Henry was laughing in his seat (which is in the backseat of the car) when we rolled up to day care. The minute I unbuckled him he shot across the console and ended up in the driver's seat. He worked the steering wheel, changed gears, checked out the parking break, mugged for this picture, and made sure that Elmo was sitting up straight. Like a good driver should.

But ... no seat belt! Luckily the car wasn't moving, the keys weren't in the ignition, the parking break was on, the driver's door was open, and Henry was content with all of it.

Next ... flying lessons!

Graduation!

2007-03-26T09:35:00.001-04:00

M MJR MSR
Originally uploaded by hepcatrayo.

It has taken a week, but things have finally cooled down enough to document the fateful day, March 18th, 2007, in which a degree a degree was conferred on me. Here's me with my Mommy and my Daddy. And that is the Horseshoe in the background (O-H!). Archie Griffin spoke at the gathering, and is slowly convincing me to give money to OSU as a proud alumnus.

We had a great breakfast, the ceremony went smoothly (albeit slowly) and then back home to hang with family and, of course, watch the NCAA tournament. Duh!

Unfortunately, Henry didn't have a good week following. He couldn't hold his ... uh ... raisins at the ceremony, and had all manners of gastrointestinal problems the following week. Poor kid! He was, as he always is, a trooper through all of it and barely complained although his tummy was in knots and his backside was in open mutiny against him.

Now I have to figure out what to do with my Degree!

Oh G'Dosh ... I Keezy!

2007-03-11T12:19:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Henry's first phrase! As he was launching himself around his futon, which we've opened up into bed (in addition to his crib ... he calls the futon his "summer bed", much like our place is the Hamptons is our summer house), he overheard me once again saying ... OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE CRAZY! So he started repeating it over and over, but realized that I was talking to him, so he changed the pronouns accordingly.

Therefore .... "Oh g'dosh .... I keezy!"

He also seems to know the difference between crazy and silly. A quick dance or bopping his head side to side or sticking out his tongue ... silly. Trying to jump off the bed, or run through the jungle part of our backyard, or wrestle with Teddy ... crazy.

He is keezy.

Henry found his shadow!

2007-02-28T10:23:00.000-05:00

... and, in an unrelated story, loves Cous Cous! First, the shadow. Henry started waving to ghosts about a week ago. He's just started waving to the air! After seeking paranormal assistance, and finding none, we realized that he was waving at his shadow. He waves like crazy, then says "Hi." There are a couple of really great place for shadow waving, and he has found just about all of them. He has also mastered this new word ... it comes out "Sahdow".

He is also stringing together sentences. As we rolled into the garage, Henry saw the Murano. He said ... "Mommy ... Hi ... that's your car-car". He also is routinely asking for "Ga-ga and Papa" and wants to call them on the phone. Then he plays shy, doesn't talk, hangs up on them, then looks at the phone and says "What happened? Ga-ga bye-bye?"

Crazy galoot ...

Einsteins to the rescue!

2007-02-11T11:35:00.000-05:00

It's no surprise to most that know him that Henry is a devout Little Einsteins fan. He sees his four favorite cartoon characters and starts jumping up and down. When he wakes up on weekends, we tell him that it's time and he starts saying "Einstein, Einstein". So much for our efforts to keep TV away from our infant and toddler son!

We love the show, too, as we are both total academic geeks and get into hearing Beethoven, seeing Leonardo paintings, and teaching our son about Diminuendos, Presto, and Accelerandos. By the way, for all of you that don't know and have children watching this show, it is slowly turning them into music aficionados. Of the classical variety.

Little did we know, though, that the Einsteins could save dinnertime! After trading out the high chair for a booster seat (at Henry's insisting), he lasted about three days until figuring out that he wanted to sit in the big boy chair. We relented for a couple meals, until he came much too close to taking a header off the side, straight to the ground (I think we wanted to reach for a butterfly, or the trash man, or Elmo, or some nitroglyceride ... I can't remember). So, back to the booster. We tried showing him that Elmo dug on the booster ... that worked for about three and a half seconds. Then Daddy had the great (dare I say brilliant?) idea to ask him if his seat belt is buckled (just like the Einsteins do in Rocket). Bingo! No tears, no two-year-old wiggle, just mealtime Henry. I must admit, there's still some food throwing, but Sarah has just about cured me of it.

Whew! Bring on the next (not-quite-so) crisis!

Oh $h!t

2007-01-28T21:09:00.000-05:00

Alright, the bets are over. Money can change hands. The day has come. Henry has said his first swear word, and he did it by repeating me. I could have sworn that Sarah would have been the culprit (pun most certainly intended) but it was me.

As I was making my soon-to-be signature dish, ginger chicken stir fry, for dinner, Henry and I were playing in the kitchen. He is getting to be a great helper in the kitchen, stirring batter, putting ingredients in bowls, and sneaking little tastes of some of the more tasty foods that are destined for the meal (blueberries and other fruits are the usual larcenies). As I'm putting dinner on the table for the three of us, Sarah confirmed that the back gate was open, and Teddy was out running around the neighborhood. I had put the trash out earlier, and forgot to close the back gate.

As all of this was going through my head, two words slipped my lips: Oh Shit. It was quiet. It wasn't punctuated. But it was enough, because Henry has the interest and the vocal vocabulary to repeat anything and everything that is said. So, he started spouting off "Oh sihit, oh sihit" (his pronunciation, not mine). I grabbed my shoes and coat to go corral the black hairy greased lighting bullet that was traversing the neighborhood, Teddy faked me out and had raced around to the front of the house to be let in at the front door, and Henry was in the kitchen swearing.

So technically he didn't utter a swear word. But he was trying to. And he learned it by listening to me. Tragic.