More Cabo Pics





































Wave bye-bye, Henry!!!

Felicidades, Tio Jaime y Tia Raquel!

What a happy couple! Henry wanted to make sure that I told his Uncle James and Aunt Rachel how much we love them and how very unique they are.

They flew across, then out, of the country to find that perfect place that screamed out "us". Or, well, "them". And they found it.

Alright, enough mush. Keep it real, pallies, and just remember that Columbus really is the San Jose del Cabo of the Midwest. Or something like that.

Cabo Baby!

Guess who took his first airplane ride? The dude pictured on the right ... very calmly taking his first bottle at 30,000 ft. This trip was also Henry's first trip outside of the country. Here we are winging away to scenic San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico. What a mouthful! The whole fam went (Sarah, Henry, me) to see Sarah's brother James get married to Rachel Thomas (or is it Snell? and is that how you spell Snell? Pray tell!)

Anyhoo, this dude is a great traveler. On the plane ... no problem. Cruising the towns .. aces. Catching some "rays" (which means shade ... relax) by the pool? Cool, daddy ... cool. This cat is straight up gringo, but he can hang wherever he goes.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful. It was at our hotel, which was more like the coolest tropical resort bed and breakfast that you've ever been to. We got to know the owners (Natalie and Loic) and the evening concierge (Elizabeth) by name. It was a really good time. That's us, by the way, having said really good time. We did lots of cool stuff, which will be the core of the next good many blogs.

He Laughed!

In true Michigan J. Frog tradition, Henry waited until all of our family left to perform. As I was getting him ready for bed last night, we played a bit before I put got his bottle and put him to bed. As I was tickling him, he laughed for the first time. It was awesome! His laugh is kind of a "heh-heh" laugh, and he doesn't do it very often (Sarah is mad because she hasn't seen it yet), but it is incredible to see and hear.

Truly incredible.

Big Weekend!

Gramma Schmidt, Uncle Bryan and Aunt Sarah descended on Columbus to see the Prince this weekend. It was great having them, and it cool having them all stay with us. We went to Lynd's Fruit Farm and took a schload of pictures. We picked our own pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, conquered the maize maze, and bought some apples to take home with us.

Henry got to wear his fall jacket for the first time, and was out in the cold for the first time. We were both probably a bit too protective of him, wondering if his legs were too cold, or his face was too cold, or he would like the wind, etc.

What a great time we had! We are very thankful for our wonderful family.

Babypalooza pics

The computer is back up, and I can post pictures from last weekend. This is Camden, son of Steve and Carrie Parada. That's Carrie that he's peeking up over. He's just a touch over a week old in this picture ... life is hard when you're a newborn!

Nathan and Henry are just about exactly the same age and size, and they both fell asleep during dinner. We ran the stroller brigade through downtown Mariemont, forcing people off the sidewalks, running for their lives and screaming. We also found a police radar trailer, and I tried to figure out how fast I could run the stroller. It didn't work.

Happy Birthday, Henry!

Today was Henry's three-month birthday, and he was in good spirits all day. He and his Dad hung out all morning, doing Supermans and hanging out in the Exersaucer. Well, Henry got in the exersaucer ... I just watched and dreamed of when I would get one for myself.

Then he took a 3-hour nap. Oh yes, you heard that right .... a 3-hour nap. And there was much rejoicing. In fact, the whole family got a nap this afternoon. Maybe you all have kids that slept like that, but this kid doesn't dig on sleep. But now he's a big boy (after all, he is three months old), so he slept great all afternoon.

And he just went down for the night (10:00), with minimal whimpering. Which means that one or both of us will be up with him at 1:00 in the morning, most likely. Such is life!

Babypalooza 2005!
(sorry, no pictures ... computer crashed)

This weekend was crazy! By "this weekend" I mean Saturday, and by "crazy" I mean we, Henry's parents, had to be a little touched in the head to think that we could pull it off without a major Henry meltdown. We started Saturday off by driving to Dayton after Henry's morning meal. An hour and some change later we were in Fairborn, OH (a suburb) to celebrate the birth of Camden Louis Parada, son of Steve and Carrie, who is just starting up his second week of life outside the womb. We choreographed this caper with Chris and Kim, who brought their two kids. Babies abound! We hung out a bit, picked up some Chipotle (mmm ... Chipotle), and played with all the babies. Matthew Williams had his pitching machine, and was spraying singles and doubles around the backyard. The little dude is 4 years old, and he hits better than I do. We said our goodbyes, and headed to stop number two on the tour.

We kicked into high gear and got to Cincinnati in about an hour and a half. We were there to see Nathan George Dershaw (or Nathan Gerald ... inside joke) and his parents Brian and Michelle. Nathan is three weeks younger than Henry, but they are exactly the same size. The two families are going through the same stuff at the same time, which is nice (and a little eerie). We strollered to dinner, commenting to ourselves how quickly life has changed for us. Got some dinner, finished it off with Graeter's ice cream (mmm... Graeter's), and packed it up for home. We got in at around 10.

But, was there a Henry meltdown? Did we bite off too much? Did we rush around the whole time because of milk, poop, burps, and yawns? NO!!! Henry was an angel, and powered through the whole day. He laughed, he chirped, he ate (of course he ate, have you seen him lately?), and he pooped, but everything was cool cool cool. That little guy is a champo.

Baby Parada has arrived!

That's right, another baby is among us! Steve and Carrie Parada, of the Fairborn Paradas, had a baby boy on Thursday, September 22nd! His name is Camden Louis Parada, and he was 8 lbs 11 oz, 22 in. Shock black hair and brown eyes. A Brazilian in disguise, I'm sure. Look at him ... posing already. I wonder who he gets that from ...

When I get the time, I will do a baby roundup of all the babies that are in our small group of friends.

Here is his hospital website:
http://www.kmcnetwork.org/wcs/showbaby.cfm?id=7706

And here are a ton more pictures of Camden (are we allowed to call him Cam?) if this hasn't been enough to get your baby fix:

Big Ten home opener

This is really just a way to test if I can show movies on the blog.

Click here to get the movie of what The Horseshoe looked like from our seats. This was a half hour before the Iowa vs. Ohio State game.

More pics of the boy ...
These pictures were taken at Matt and Sarah's, site of Bryan's birthday party. Henry is hanging out with his main man Pooh and surveying the scene on GLo (Gramma in Training) Pounders.

Sniffles and Puke

Henry is changing before our very eyes. He added two new firsts this week.

The big first this week was his first cold. Really, it was just the sniffles, but he really didn't understand why he couldn't breath well from his nose. And he couldn't sleep on his back ... which took us two very rough nights to figure out. We thought we had the whole "sleep through the night" thing licked, but sniffles throw a wrench in that plan. We trudged the Kroger store to get an authorized nose syringe (Editors note: why oh why do they make baby syringes that aren't nose syringes. Maybe I don't want to know ...) and some saline to coax the tenacious mucus from his nostrils. It will be a great day, indeed, when he learns to blow his nose. This slight bug made him a little fussier, but he seemed to save his crankiness for Mom and Dad -- his "teachers" at "school" noted how happy he was all week!

Henry also had his first major puking experience this week. As I was brushing my teeth, Sarah came into the bathroom with milk all over her. She explained the cause of this milk explosion as "He just opened his mouth and BLAH" all over me. I deflected most of it, though." Deflected milk? I went into the bedroom to survey the damage. Henry succeeded in soaking his Mom and himself, causing a wardrobe change for him (luckily Mom wasn't dressed for work yet). He didn't seem very upset about it, though. He flashed a classic Henry smile letting us know that he was very pleased with himself indeed.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Bryan!

NOTE: Blogger ate my first attempt to post this ... I'll try to piece it back together.

We are all hanging out in Uncle Bryan and Aunt Sarah's apartment in Ann Arbor, MI. This marks a couple firsts for the consumate traveller that is Henry Rayo. This is his first time out of the great state of Ohio, and is also the first night, besides the initial time spent in the hospital, that he has spent away from his home. Lastly, he has attended his first birthday party, thrown in honor of his Uncle Bryan!

We drove up on Friday night, chilled out with Bryan and Sarah, and cashed out. Got up Saturday, goofed off, and I got ready for my golf outing. I know what you're thinking, GOLF? RAYO? WHAT? Bryan's birthday wish was to get in 9 holes, and wanted me to be a part of it. I needed to suck up any prejudices I have against the sport and give it a go. Before I go any further into the play-by-play, I want to thank Bryan for making it difficult for me to back out of the golf outing. I had a really great time: it was a great afternoon. Both Bryan and his friend Matt were good golf buddies, indeed. Although our golf performances were far from stellar, I think a good time was had by all. A couple highlights: Bryan spanked a killer drive on 16, Matt putted PGA-styley on 14 (maybe 15), and I actually won hole 17 (par, I think ... can you believe it?). Oh yeah, and I busted Bryan's driver on 18. I'm not sure exactly how I did it, but the result of my drive was pretty odd. Instead of that small dimpled white ball winging its way to the green, it decided to stay on the tee. Untouched. Instead, the driver head awkwardly bounced its way down the golf course. About 20 yards. Ugh! Bryan took it in stride, though ...

After getting our PGA cards, we made our way to Matt's house where he and his wife Sarah (I know, another Sarah?!?) had concocted a surprise party for Bryan. We walked in, everyone yelled SURPRISE and the party got started. Bryan had no idea it was coming. After dinner and cake, an impromptu game of touch football broke out in the back yard. Team Rayo came out victorious on a last second touchdown by Bryan Rayo. Coach Rayo (Mike this time) drew up the heralded Do-See-Do (think square dancing) play. The stalwart Rayos lined up at the wide receiver spots, crossed in the middle of the field, linked arms, spun, and sprung Bryan free in the end zone. The defense didn't know what hit 'em. Bryan laid out of the pass, thrown by QB Jeff, bounced off the turf, and TOUCHDOWN! The football and backyard dog gods conspired to clear the turf of any "presents" from Bryan's landing, but placed one less than 6 inches from his nose to let him know how lucky he was. Not quite the sweet smell of victory he was hoping for.

More action from Ann Arbor tomorrow!

Big weekend

We are just now recovering from last weekend. On Friday, I went to a work outing, seeing Cirque du Soleil. At the same time, Henry had his first "taste" of Amish food at the Der Dutchman. Well, his taste was indirect. He did not enjoy the experience -something about the Amish scared him. We all got back around midnight, and prepared for the Buckeyes game on Saturday.

On Saturday, Sarah and I had tickets to the game, so Grandma and Grandpa Thornburg stepped up to watch the boy. We spent four hours hollering at Buckeyes from the closed end of the Horseshoe, then it took us two hours to get home (less than a three mile trip). We picked up Mr. Henry at 1:30 AM. His grandparents are saints, by the way.

We bounced up, slowly, the next morring so that Sarah could go to Rachel's bridal shower, and I could kvetch over which camera and camcorder to buy. I then caught up with the fam to celebrate Sarah's Grandma Ida's 89th birthday. After that, we hobbled home to get ready for work on Monday!

Is that a bedtime routine I see? What?

Things are starting to get a little more normal at bedtime. Last night Henry got a bath and pretty much went to sleep right away. Tonight we read some books, walked around a bit, and Henry is peacefully sleeping as we speak. He's been sleeping through the night for about a week, and we're starting to feel out when bedtime should be. It's a wonderful thing to be talking about: "Should we put him down at 10:00? How about 9:30? Yeah, sleep!

In other news, daycare has been a pretty rough morning schedule for us. Sarah wakes up at 4:45 so that she can pump and get herself ready (and do schoolwork ... her addiction). If Henry hasn't woken up by 6:00, she wakes him up. This sometimes slides to 6:30 ... a sleepy baby is a happy baby, after all, and an awoken baby is exactly the opposite. I wake up around 6:00 as well, because Sarah is trying to get out the door by 6:30, which means that I'm in charge. I finish up the loose ends (dressing, feeding, whatever) and whisk him off to day care, usually by 7:00 or so.

The Army says that they do more before 7:00 than you do all day, right? I'm starting to feel like that ... what a loaf I was before! Ah, in 13 years I can do it again! It's a good thing that parents are programmed not to be vindictive, because it would be a ball to start banging pots and pans in the middle of the night when Henry is 13. When he wakes up I'll ask him if remembers the 3:00 feedings, and laugh. Again, good thing that I'm biologically programmed not to act like that.

Another baby, just in case you haven't had your fix yet.

Henry made sure that we told you, our stalwart viewers, that another baby has been blogging and that we should show our support. Ava Elizabeth Crane was born over the weekend to our friends Aaron and Kristie. More info and very cute pictures are at http://allaboutava.blogspot.com.

Don't they look much too happy and well-rested for just having a baby? I'm a bit jealous, I must tell you ... ah, but they won't be sleeping all that well in the near future. Maybe that will make me feel better ... ok no it won't. Congratulations to the Cranes, and welcome, little Ava, to the planet. Hopefully you'll be able to dunk (your Dad sure can't, and it's a waste of his height if you ask me -- the dude is 6'5").

Pictures of the weekend

This is Henry at the UA Arts Festival on Labor Day (today, even). This is him getting his groove on during a reggae set. You see, he's a karate man ... he has to show his groove on the inside.

The other two pictures are at the Thornburg's campsite at Alum creek. Henry's definitely the most photogenic of the three of us.

Go Buckeyes!

Today was Henry's first Buckeye football experience. First, we went to the post office to order his passport. Passport, you say? Yes, our son will be travelling to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for his uncle James's wedding in October. Anyhoo, we hurried home so that we could get him dressed for his first Buckeye football game. Just in case you can't see from the photos, that's number 27. Eddie George was said to be honored that his number would live on into the next generation, and this youngster looked to have a lot of potential. We agree.

We went up the campgrounds at Alum Creek to watch the game in Grandma and Grandpa T's 32-foot trailer. They call it "camping". I call it "awesome". Henry only caught the 4th quarter, as he was more interested in a nap until then. And then he was too hungry to pay attention to the game. So he really didn't see any of it.

The Buckeyes, while sad that they couldn't keep Henry's attention, bravely played on against the Miami Redhawks. The Bucks basically destroyed them. Santonio Holmes had an All-American catch in the first, and Dante Whitner had a great pick for a TD in the 2nd. The 3rd and 4th were pretty uneventful. Final score was 34 -14.

We're off for some hiking now!

I'm going where, with who?

This week Sarah went back to school, and we were blessed to have family watch the Prince. Next week is daycare (ugh ... what a nightmare decision to have to make), and this week was kind of easing slowly into it.

Grandma T(hornburg) watched Henry Monday and Tuesday, which we very much appreciate. Monday was really rough for me ... I got all misty in the car ride to drop him off. And this was only to Grandma's! I'm not even going to think about next week ... again, ugh.

On Tuesday night, Aunt Sarah arrived to save the day. YEAAAAAAAAAAH AUNT SARAH! She stayed with us through Friday, and just left to return home. We will miss her. She hung out with the boy through the day, hung out with all of us at night, and probably didn't get enough sleep during her stay. Ah well, she can catch up now that she's home!

We truly feel blessed to be surrounded by supportive family. Thank you thank you thank you.

Henry's first football game

UPPER ARLINGTON, OH -- As the mighty Jones Middle School Bears took the field for their season opener, a feeling of anticipation filled the air. These Bears were battered and bruised last season mustering only one win, an away win, and they were hungry. At 5:10 PM when they rushed on the field, they only thought about one thing: a victory over the visiting Worthingway Wildcats. From the opening snap, these boys were determined. In the end, they were victorious .... a 12 - 0 thumping of the ill-prepared visitors. The mighty Bears ran forth as one to ring the victory bell for the first time, since their lone victory of the year before came not at storied Jones field, but on the road.

Of course, Henry Rayo didn't pay attention to any of this. We went to see his uncle Jimmy play, but he was content to sit under a makeshift tent formed by Sarah's umbrella. He laid on his blanket, fed a bit, and was generally content. Grandpa and Grammy Rayo were in attendance, as well as Asia, Aunt Sarah, and Henry's dearest Mommy and Daddy.

Jimmy, who plays Offensive Line for the Bears, hit his blocking assignments as he was supposed to, but didn't have any spectacular plays to speak of. That's all in the job description for the O-Line ... work hard and have someone else get the glory.

By they way, the concrete bleacher of Jones Field are quite painful to sit on. Daddy's butt hurt ... a lot.

Anyhoo, after the game a victory dinner at Chipotle was held in Jimmy's honor, and Jimmy asserted his autonomy by sitting with his friends instead of with his family. He's getting to be all growns up, I guess. Again, Henry was oblivious ... he slept in his car carrier through this portion of the evening.