Hot Baby ... Henry's first fever

Henry was not digging life the last two days. He had a mild fever (99 - 100 degrees), but it hung around and made him miserable for two days. He slept off and on all day, didn't eat really well (I know ... very un-Henry-like), and was generally not the smiling boy that we've all grown accustomed to.

Now it's over, and Prince Happy has returned! He has returned talking more than ever, and is routinely giving us the rasberries. He also has a new-found interest in his bugs (here's a picture of the bugs when Henry was just born ... they're on his car seat). He isn't just looking at them anymore ... he's batting at them. And grabbing them. Next they're probably going in his mouth.

Whew! One more thing that Sarah and I didn't totally freak out about or screw up!

He's eating now (and oh, is he eating!)

Henry has been eating rice cereal for about two weeks now. We went to the doctor's office this week, and the Prince has jumped up to the 95th percentile in height and weight. Big Boy! In this corner, measuring 26 1/2" and weighing nearly 17 lbs, Henry Rayo!

He doesn't dig the first bite, because he thinks it's milk, but he's pretty much gotten the hang of the whole eating thing. We mix it with a bit of apple juice to spice it up, so that it doesn't taste like wallpaper paste. I guess there's a reason why adults haven't jumped on the rice cereal bandwagon as the next big trend in breakfast ...

Go Bucks!

For our birthday present to each other this year, we travelled up to Michigan Stadium to see our Ohio State Buckeyes take on the villainous Wolverines of the University of Michigan. Wait, maybe we're the villains ... anyway, we went. Bryan and Sarah (SP) were gracious enough to host this very impromptu trip, and volunteered to watch Henry while we were at the game. That's SP with Henry.

We got to the game, we laughed we cried, we got really nervous, then we went crazy when the Buckeyes squeaked out a 25-21 victory (look up at the scoreboard).

Whew! What a weekend!

Asia and Henry











Here are some great pics of Henry and his cousin Asia at Steve's house when all the Rayos were in town.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

I was in San Diego this week, and was there on my birthday (Friday, November 11th). It was a great trip, but quite an anticlimactic place to spend El Numero 30. Henry, sensing his Dad's angst, decided to send me an email with this picture attached. Isn't he just darling! So, this message danced along the internet across the country, only to be foiled by the airport's wireless hookup. I ended up reading it in my office at home (after returning), but it was very cool nonetheless. Sarah held down the fort when I was gone, and Henry (I hear) was a doll baby the whole time.

When I got back (on the redeye), I went straight (I mean straight) to the Buckeyes game to see them throttle Northwestern. Then I crashed on Sarah's parents' couch. Crazy day! Then I took it easy today.

Tomorrow ... back to work, Rayo!

Parent's Night In

Grandma and Grandpa T very graciously offered to watch Henry tonight. Whereas last week they watched the boy so that we could go to a Branford Marsalis concert (which was awesome), tonight they watched him so that we could both get some work done. How sad is that: they had to watch Henry so that we could work some more. I knew that the Fall would be crazy, but this stinks.

They brought him back over just before bedtime, and we had some good times before we gave him the Zonk bottle and he went to sleep. For all of you new to the lingo, the Zonk bottle has a bit of Rice cereal mixed in. A necessary step because this dude has continued to eat (and grow) like crazy!

Happy Halloween!

Today marked Henry's first Halloween, and he was determined to make it a good one! He also had a really rough night the night before (thank you, Grammy!), so Mom and Dad couldn't carve up the pumpkins. Or could they? I busted home from work, fired up the Dremel, and carved both of the pumpkins in half an hour. Not the most artistic job, but a good one nonetheless. But I bet you don't really care about the pumpkins ... what about Henry? Here are his before and after pictures ...

Whole Lotta Rayos

Rayo family: click on the picture to get the high resolution version!

Grandpa's funeral mass was yesterday, and there were a ton of Rayos on hand to mourn his death, celebrate his life, and enjoy each other's company. Grandpa's sibs and their families from Syracuse and Tampa came back to Columbus, making it two weekends in a row for most of them. It was a sight to behold, and a testament to how tight this family is. There were tears, sure, but there were tons of laughs, lots of people kissing babies, and (of course) mountains of food that the Rayos dutifully devoured.

From the Columbus Rayos (and Warners), it was a pleasure to share our city and Steve's house with you ... I'm allowed to speak for Steve's house, right?

Front row: Bonnie, Peggy, Kim, Jeana, Robyn, Jeannie, Sam.
Second row: Mindy (the dog), Steve, Joe, Daisy, Terri, Avis, Joan, Bobbi Jo, Rosemary, Fran, Mary Beth
Third row: Bob, Sarah and Henry, Tom, Mike (Sr.), Joe, Scott, Mike (Jr.), Erin and Asia, Sarah, John (Jr.), Bryan, John (Sr.), Herbie, Chris, Brenda.

Good news and Bad News

A little birdie told me today that it's my Uncle Hank's birthday today. We have a birthday surprise for him, but sleep deprivation may delay the unveiling of that surprise until we see him at our impromptu reunion in December. Until then, Happy Birthday Uncle Hank! Billed as the first meeting of the fabled Three Henry's, the reunion has been anxiously anticipated by all. At the very least, Mom has anticipated it enough for everyone involved. We'll be sure to get pictures of the Trio Enrique. The Drei Heinrich. The Troix He ... you get the gist.

On the flip side, Grandpa Rayo (mine, not Henry's) passed away yesterday. I haven't been blogging on this because it's just too darned sad seeing him deteriorate over the last week and a half. Henry did get to meet him, but not until he started really getting too sick. The last time I saw him was with Henry. He held Henry's hand and thanked me for allowing him to meet his only great-grandson. He also thanked me for everything. I didn't know what "everything" meant, but he is more than welcome for any and all of it.

All of Grandpa's sibs came to see him last weekend. All 10 of them. No joke ... 10. Mary, Natalie, Pete, John, Joe, Fran, Angela, Frank, Rosemary, and Bobby. I'm sure that I didn't get them in order ... my apologies. It was a Rayo Extravaganza all weekend. We really appreciated all of them coming down to see Grandpa and be with us. Thankfully, Bryan came down last weekend and got to see Grandpa, too.

I have some pictures of Henry and Grandpa. Right now they're just too depressing to post. Let me brighten them up a bit and have another go at it. Oh yeah, and I have one of his bowling shirts ... that might make a good picture.

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.