Christian's Dad

Journey to Atlantis

2009-09-27T23:13:00.001-05:00

Journey to Atlantis
Originally uploaded by JoelGonzales

Sea World, 9/26/2009.

I have to start out by saying that I'm very proud of my little boy.

We went to Sea World with friends/co-worker of Julie, Andrea and her husband Michael and their son (who Christian loves) Adam. We had so much fun. They are in the process of decorating for Halloween so each section had a different theme; skeletons at and around the entrance, werewolves, and evil clowns around the bigger rides.

Well, being that Adam can ride all the rides, except the Great White, I didn't want them to be bored with us at Shamu's Happy Harbor. We stood in line at Shamu's Express for a minute or two, but the line was too long and I figured it wasn't worth it for Michael or Adam, so we left.

Well, we stopped by Journey to Atlantis and were checking it out to see if the boys could ride. Christian is, of course, like 4" too short, but the attendant was half asleep and so we just walked in, me carrying Christian.

We got through all of the attendants (no lines!!) and got front row seats!

Christian was excited and I was pumping him up telling him he's going to go faster than he's ever gone before. The climb up was cool, he liked that. Then it spins you around and sends you backwards down a little dip. He DID NOT like that at all. He didn't cry but his face was stuck like it is in the picture. I was telling Michael that I was a dead man. Julie is going to kill me. As a dad I sometimes push Christian to do things maybe he's not ready for and this could have easily been one of those times right? I mean, they have those height rules up for a reason right?

Well, anyway, back to the story. All that is on my mind now at the top of the ride is how am I going to make sure Christian doesn't cry? There was no way. That little dip scared him half to death and now we're are about to drop off 100' into a pool of water. So I'm talking and talking "This is going to be great!" "You have never been this fast before" "Remember, if you love daddy and want to see him live a long life, you won't cry"

Well it tipped, scooted forward and down we went! He had this face for the first 50' and I swear right after this picture he had the biggest grin on his face. We landed, water splashed up all around us and when it cleared, there was silence....."Dad....I freaked out!!!! Let's do it again!!!" WHEW!

Julie had her eagle eyes on us and was looking in our direction to see if he was ok. I gave her a thumbs up and threw in a little raising the roof action.

Thanks to Andrea who bought the photo to commemorate the event.

We had so much fun. We are going back on October 1 for the Halloween events!

Faces

2009-02-09T00:34:00.002-06:00

Christian.

We have so much fun "fighting". He's Wolverine and I'm the "bad" guy or worse, Aquaman (thanks mom). No matter how I plead my case, I am never the good guy and he's never the bad guy. It's always Christian and December against Daddy. Talk about unfair odds. December gets into it too - growling and mouthing (not biting). Christian loves to tackle, sword fight, jump from sofa to sofa, jump on me, and pillowfight. Mostly he stands in front of me and flails his arms and makes noises as if he's fighting. I guess I need to train him a little better.

Every night we read books. His books of choice are Dinosaur books. Tonight he read a book while I looked at another. But when I was done, he didn't give me another book to look at, he just said "Let's not share anymore".

Tonight he wanted to make mommy laugh, so when we were done reading he ran to her and told her his best pee pee and poo poo joke (which I advised against) and mommy was not impressed. Christian came back to me dejected. "Mommy said that was inappropriate" then asked me to say that it was appropriate so that mommy would laugh. I then gave him a joke to go tell mommy. Two dinosaurs walk into a bar....you'd think one of them would have seen it. He was very excited to go make mommy laugh after the first debacle. He sprinted to her, "mommy I have a very funny joke" and he continued "Two dinosaurs saw a bar which they didn't see". Mommy got the clue and burst out into laughter. Christian ran back to me to tell me the great news. He made mommy laugh.

Flickr

2009-02-09T00:32:00.001-06:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Christian's World of Words

2008-03-18T13:43:00.001-05:00

Playground at Sunset
Originally uploaded by JoelGonzales

I wanted to list some of the sayings Christian has right now that we will always remember. I know most of you won't know what he's talking about because he's singing songs, etc, but I'll try to explain.

"Your BEE yard friends the bee yardigans!" - theme from Backyardigans.

"COVER THE BLANKET!" - this gets to you around the 100th time he says it a night! You cover him, his kicks it off, or turns and some part of his body gets exposed, "cover the blanket" - rinse, lather, repeat.

"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13, ert-teen, 17,18,19,20" - almost

"Dada" - recently switched from Daddy who knows the reason

"It's a GHOST train" - GeoTrax DVD - loves playing with his tunnel

"Sleep in mommy's bed" - every night at bedtime

"No auntie" - totally unprovoked

"Go away Daddy!, I want water, Call mommy" - when I'm trying to get him to go to bed.

Favorite Movies or TV Shows:

"Backyardigans - Mighty Knights"
"Cars - MONSTER TRACTOR"
"Finding Nemo - except the sharks"
"Backyardigans - Volcano Sisters"
"GeoTrax - DVD"

Favorite Toys:
GeoTrax Train set - Grand Central Station, Tunnel
Dinosaur Place Mat - yes, the one he eats on.
A play mat with a picture of a railroad track.
Hot Wheels cars and the yellow race track
Dinosaurs - Stegosaurous
Playdoh

Activities:
Gymboree Music class - dances, instruments, sings songs
Gymboree class - climbing, jumping, sliding,
Swimming pool at Lifetime

I've probably left out a lot. Look for a new blog from mommy soon.

See you next time.

Good News, Gym, Matt & Stu

2008-03-18T13:15:00.001-05:00

Playground Look
Originally uploaded by JoelGonzales

Seems like a given that every one of my blogs starts with "Sorry I haven't updated this in so long", so from now on, consider that statement implied before every post.

Look at Christian, almost 28 months old. Julie just called me today all excited....."OMG, are you sitting down", she said, "Christian just went potty in the toilet." She is such a happy mommy. No one is prouder of Christian than she is and she has a lot to be proud of.

We were going to start the bribe technique after Easter with M&M's and lollipops, but we'll see what happens at home now.

Got a new camera at work and it takes great pictures. We recently discovered a park closer to our house that has a little rock to climb and a play area, plus 1 - 2 mile paths. It's great.

Plus we've also just joined LifeTime Fitness. It's so close to our house and is great (except for their pool hours, but that's another story). So now instead of sitting in front of the computer all day long, I can meet Julie and Christian after work at the swimming pool, rock wall, basketball courts, or weight room. I really enjoy working out with Julie again. Christian loves the pool and is getting to like the Child Center because it has the GeoTrax train set he loves so much. Except mommy hasn't left him in their longer than 15 minutes at a time. They need a Mommy Care Center next to the Child Care Center so that Julie can peek in on Christian.

Matt Sutton called me today from Iraq. It was good to hear his voice and catch up a bit. It's 8 hours ahead over there and they were getting ready to go flying. He seems a little down about the time away from his family and friends. He returns in December and his battalion is moving from Colorado to Kansas (near Manhattan) so hopefully we can go to Colorado to see him and his family before the move.

Stu should be back in a month and a half. Just read a couple posts on Kaycee's blog - she's got great pictures and a interview that Stu did on Fox News. Thanks Kaycee for keeping us updated.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-30T00:23:00.001-06:00

Santa!
Originally uploaded by JoelGonzales

We packed up the SUV and headed north to spend the weekend with the family formerly known as the NC Parkers.
Wii had a lot of fun watching Christian and Libby play together. Addi was very informative of her where-about's "just in case we needed her".
Christian and Libby had their share of "My Daddy" discussions. I think it was resolved as it's Christian's daddy, but Libby's house - they were happy with that resolution.
We went to the Frisco city hall and ran into Santa. Libby and Addi happily went to take a picture with Santa. Meanwhile, watching them, Christian had the death grip around my neck. "I scared, Daddy" - then the miracle on city hall's street, Santa whipped out a candy cane. Christian relaxed his grip and walked right up to him. We weren't planning on a Santa picture, but we got one.

Two Years

2007-11-22T23:58:00.001-06:00

Profile
Originally uploaded by JoelGonzales

Today is Thanksgiving and my little one just turned two years old and I have so much to be thankful for. From hearing his little voice looking for me "Daddy......R U?" and when he did find me, "Daddy...c'mere" as he reaches his tiny hand out for mine to lead me into our bedroom so that we can dance to the music mommy was playing for all of us. So I'm thankful that I get to dance with my son. The little smirk on his face and the moves he was throwing out there are something I hope I never forget.

Tonight was a late night for Christian because he missed his nap even though Julie and I tried a few times to put him down. He closed his eyes for 10 minutes in the truck and was back to full power.....until the third quarter of the Cowboy game when he came to the sofa, climbed up on me and slept on my shoulder for the rest of the game. So when we got home we played, wrestled and read books until 10pm. One book he has is an animal book. He'll point to every animal and ask (even though he knows the answer already) "Isit?" So we played the "isit" game for a good half hour before daddy couldn't take anymore. He is a sponge though and will remember everything you teach him. Right now he's a little voice recorder, repeating everything you say, or at least the last word you say. This comes in handy when we want him to say goodbye to the grandparents or store clerks. They think it's sweet.

He is speaking spanish now! Can I take the credit? Julie? Nope. The credit goes to Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go. Diego is his favorite cartoon at the moment (we've gone from Baby Einstien, to the Backyardigans, to Elmo, to Dora, to Diego). That show does a good job teaching both languages. Out of the blue one day Christian and I were around the breakfast table and he's looking at something on the floor and just starts "Uno, Dos, Tres, Quatro, Cinco......" I was floored. He honestly doesn't watch that much TV (mommy is pretty strict about that). He's just a fast learner.

We had his birthday party on Saturday the 17th at the park where my mom lives. The weather was bad. It was gray and drizzly the whole time, but everyone showed up and it was a lot of fun. Christian loves playing with his cousins and there were a lot of other friends there as well. Julie did awesome job finding games, jumping castles, food, even filling up the pool with water by filling up an ice chest with water, pouring into the pool at the park and then going back to mom's for more water. We had a pinata for the kids and my nephew David only got the chocolate cars wrapped in Nascar foil. Who let the redneck into the family? Opening presents was a serious downnote for Christian. He'd open one present and want to play with it, so that when we gave him another to open, he started crying because we had to take the one he just opened away. He's ok now. Barely.

Quick Catch Up

2007-08-20T23:38:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to update everyone. We are finally in our new home!! I don't have any pictures up yet but will soon.

Christian is growing up so fast, I'll have new pictures up on Flickr soon as well.

Well? What did you expect? I said this was a quick update.

Go Spurs Go!!

Looking forward to FOOTBALL season. Go Cowboys Go?

Spurs In Second Round

2007-05-03T00:22:00.000-05:00

NBA.com Finley’s Hot Hand Carries Spurs Into Second Round

The San Antonio Spurs closed out the series tonight 93-78 against the Denver Nuggets. My sister and I looked all last night for tickets because we wanted to go. After she went to sleep I found some and called her in the morning. Well we finally ended up just going through TicketMaster and found some really great seats. What a view, we had section 120, right above where Finley was shooting all his threes! What a game! He shot the lights out. I thought he was 8 for 8, but at the end of the game listening to it on the radio, he missed one early on and so was 8 for 9, a new Spurs record.

Manu struggled, Parker was Parker and Tim was Tim. The Nuggets looked beat the whole game save for their run at the end of the second.

Looking around the AT&T Center and watching the camera pan the crowd, I saw all the families there, and everyone was really happy and the kids were all laughing (except for one who started crying when the camera panned to her), it made me love this town more. San Antonio has such a family atmosphere and going to the Spurs games brings these families together. I can't wait to bring Christian to the Spurs games were I can teach him the game and we might even bring Mom, though she'd be kicking and screaming until we administered the Cotton Candy.

Peace out - Go Spurs Go.

Future Drummer

2007-04-24T23:50:00.001-05:00

Future Drummer
Originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

Oh yes she did. Julie and I decided to cut Christian's hair. I should restate that JULIE decided to cut Christian's hair and I agreed. She spoke with Silvia, her haircutter and doer person, who assured her that a #4 with the clippers would not be too short. So Julie started cutting Christian's hair and the #4 was way too short to cut all the way around and the top. It was at that point Julie saw the opportunity for the mohawk she'd always wanted to give him. He looks cute (can you say "cute" in regards to a mohawk?).

More pictures on Flickr.

Joel "My brain is fried so I can't tell a decent story" Gonzales

Fish

2007-04-24T22:26:00.000-05:00

Ok, I got a good response on this little video, so I decided to try posting on here (Ginny, your blog helped with some coding issues, thanks!):

Enjoy:

Been Awhile

2007-03-01T00:15:00.000-06:00

Wow, I haven't written here in a long time.

Well, we've sold the house in College Station and are living in San Antonio now. I work for a 3d graphics company doing mainly architectural renderings, illustrations, and will eventually get to do some animations.

Got some new pictures for you on my flickr account. Go check 'em out. If you know the address.

Gig 'em or us?

2006-11-12T00:21:00.001-06:00

Gig 'em
Originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

What is going on with Coach Fran? Losing to Tech, OU, and now Nebraska? What kind of pansy decisions is this guy making during the course of the game? Kicking a field goal from the 2 when we were down 7 points and we have a 300 pound running back? It's funny that Lane declined all interviews this week because he was mad aslo.

But then today playing Nebraska, Lane only had 3 carries in the 3rd quarter and we come out throwing the ball? Since when with Lane, Goodson and even Lewis are we a passing team. You could tell that with all the dropped balls we had.

I'm so frustrated right now. But at least we are going to the Alamo bowl because we scheduled 4 high school teams at the beginning of the year.

So, it's another "Maybe next year" year for the Aggies.

Trick or Treating

2006-11-11T23:59:00.001-06:00

Trick or Treating, originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

It was late in the evening when I figured out why we dressed up our little boy as a Golden Retriever and took him trick or treating around the neighborhood with some friends of ours.

He's 11 months old. He's not going to EAT the candy that he actually did enjoy picking out. So, why were we going through all this trouble? It was all a ploy by MOMMY to get all the loot. I thought she had been way to excited about Halloween. Shame on her for using this cute kid to steal candy from unsuspecting home owners. And Christian? How will this affect him?

Oh well, this year we have to chalk up the win to Julie. Next year is going to be an interesting showdown for all the candy at the end of the night because neither one of them knows how to share yet.

Fall is in the air! And so is my birthday!

2006-10-23T20:24:00.000-05:00

Fall is in the air! And so is my birthday!, originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

They took several photos of Christian this time around when the photography people came to his school. Julie brought him back for several poses!

We were in San Antonio this weekend hanging out with Uncle Freddy and family and Aunt Hilda for a little bit too talking about Christian's birthday party in one month. Time has flown by.

After one year, it's as if I was born a year ago also. Bringing up Christian has filled both Julie's and my life with so much happiness. Julie is going to be sad when he turns a year because momma's never want their babies to grow up. I can understand that, but I look ahead to the next milestone we have to look forward too. The wrestling matches, the races, the one on one games, the teaching and the learning. There's so much to look forward too.

One of the reasons I've kept up with this blog is for myself to sit down and remember the day he was born. The first time he rolled over, when he started to crawl, his first tooth (which was just a few weeks ago).

Christian makes me laugh as much as I try to make him laugh. He laughs at momma when she dances or plays peek-a-boo with him. He laughs while holding on to December's tail and beating her on her belly. He laughs and runs when I'm going to "bull" him over.

I laugh at the games he gets you to play with him whether you like it or not, fun games like pick up his sippy cup for the 82nd time he throws it on the floor. I laugh whenever he starts dancing randomly, sometimes even to music. Today I laughed because he was chewing while resting his chin on the table and his whole head was bouncing up and down.

Till next time. Keep laughing.

I just got ratted out!!!

2006-10-10T20:47:00.000-05:00

Tunnel Vision, originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

So late at night, Julie had already gone in to put Christian to bed a couple times and the next time was my turn. Sure enough, Christian is very unhappy about being in his crib, so I go in to comfort him and it works. I put the pacifier in his mouth and he drifts back off to sleep, but with one eye open, making sure I don't leave the room. OK, I think, I'll just bring my laptop in here, do some work, he'll be happy that I'm in the room and he'll go to sleep. Win-win right? Wrong, apparently the laptop gives off too much light and the neat pictures on the screen are somewhat of a distraction to an infant with no desire to sleep. Christian gets to his feet in the crib and I feel a pacifier hit my leg (I'm sitting on the floor). Not wanting to give him any attention, I hand the pacifier back to him without looking up. 3 seconds later, I hear it hit the floor. I gather it up and hand it to him. He hits my leg with it again. I quickly feel around for it and hand it to him. I get the hint of a chuckle for my efforts. Again, it hits the floor, but I put it in his hands before he knows what happened and I'm rewarded with a little chuckle again. He throws it down again and it bounces onto my laptop. I pretend to frantically look for it. Christian is laughing and laughing. We repeat this several times when all of a sudden the door swings open...busted! Christian, without missing a beat, goes from cracking up to CRYING!!!! He started crying as soon as he saw Julie. His cry seemed to say "I've been trying to go to sleep, but Daddy has been in here keeping me awake". Julie and I both laughed and then I was banned from ever trying to get Christian to bed again.

Little Mexican Baby

2006-09-17T21:18:00.000-05:00

Little Mexican Baby, originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

I know, I know, I'm the world's worst blogger. But maybe I'm here for the world's slowest reader? Bet you hadn't thought of that. There is a reason I don't write in my blog that often, just couldn't tell you what it is. I have an idea though, it probably has something to do with the little mexican baby shown here.

I can't believe Christian is going to be 10 months old on the 21st! He is doing so good, just getting over a family wide cold last week that Julie is still suffering from. And I can definitely feel that first tooth poking through his bottom gums! I'm trying to get pictures of it, but there isn't a whole lot to see yet and it's not like Christian is going to open wide and let me stick a camera in there.

He is crawling at high speeds now and pulling up on whatever he can grab a hold of (unfortunately this means his crib and it's usually at 11pm, 1am, 4am but that is a different story).

His favorite toys are his basketballs! He loves his little orange basketballs that you see on the flickr site. It does not matter what toys you put down or how many, he will part the red sea and grab his basketball. So much so, in fact, that mom and I have decided to use a basketball theme at his first birthday party this November. He'll have a little personal basketball cake. It's not going to be big, just family and friends in San Antonio.

Garner State Park - Crider's Campground

2006-07-16T23:03:00.000-05:00

Shooting some Rapids, originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

This weekend marked the annual Fernandez family reunion. Every year Julie's family gathers at the same campground (they've been doing it for 30+ years - probably more like 50+) in Leakey, Texas for a weekend of family cookouts, water fights, tubing, and practical jokes. Last year they threw us a baby shower and so this year everyone was excited to see the newest addition to the family. Christian had a blast! We took him to the water (after mom put about 8 layers of sunscreen on plus a hat) 2 or 3 times a day. He absolutely enjoyed it. The water was too cold for mom, so daddy and Christian went swimming around the little waterfalls and tubing down some infant rapids towards mom waiting on the other side. See other pictures from this weekend on Flickr!!

Christian's Milestones at 7 months

2006-07-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

Where did I leave off?

Christian can now roll over with no problems (he started this a while back) and this is his sole means of transportation now. He's given up on crawling and will just roll and roll until he ends up where he wants to go. We found him hiding behind the couch the other day (well, mommy was watching the whole thing).

He always has a smile on his face! Such a happy baby that laughs at mommy when she is being silly and dancing to their songs.

He loves to bounce! Auntie Debbie got him a bouncy seat and now he bounces whenever we stand him up. Sad story though, yesterday we were at Stepping Stone and he and I were playing in the office while mommy was working and he was dancing while holding on to a high toy and he slipped and fell, hitting the bookshelf on the way down. Poor baby had a bump on his head and it's all my fault!!! I felt soooo bad.

As for sleeping through the night...we are at a stalemate. It's mommy and Christian against daddy. :)

I have to apologize

2006-07-05T10:30:00.000-05:00

Now we know why I was never good in my High School english classes where we were required to keep a daily journal. I haven't updated this page in almost 4 months!! Sheesh. (But my flickr page gets updated pretty frequently with new pictures of Christian - http://www.flickr.com/photos/joelgonzales)

Lots of happenings!! Where should I begin? Christian is doing very well. He is such a healthy little boy. Last Thursday he was the last in his classroom to catch the stomach bug that was going around. He was sick for a day - though still smiling and playing all the while.

Today he and I (mommy refuses to go) are going to visit Dr. Suarez to get his 6 month shots (we are a little late). His crying is a little much for mommy. For his 4 month shots, he was a champ, so who knows about this time. I think mom babys him too much and that makes him cry more...does that make sense?

I'd like to thank Ginny Parker for reminding me to post in my blog by setting up her own for their family pictures - http://4txnsnnc.blogspot.com. We miss you guys!

I'll have to keep up with this a little better now. I may now have 2 readers!!!!

Happy 4 Month Birthday, Christian

2006-03-21T00:37:00.000-06:00

Ahhhh, my boy is now 4 months old. At the doctor's office yesterday Christian weighed 15 pounds and 1 ounce (with clothes) and was 25 1/2" long. Poor baby also got three immunization shots, one right after the other, in his chubby thigh.

Christian and I have been doing squats and no upper body work. He is hating tummy time right now, but needs it badly. Dr. Suarez told us to hold in his elbows to work out his upper body. From his back, he is rolling onto his side, but no further because of that pesky arm that is getting stuck underneath him as he tries for his belly. From his belly, he is not rolling over at the moment. He gets extremely mad and kicks out both legs at the same time. When you pick him up after making him suffer through tummy time, he'll give you a piece of his mind for a couple minutes until he cools off. He is a strong little fellow and will be crawling in no time.

Let's see, any other milestones? He is definitely laughing and giggling as well as talking "goo" to us. In the doctor's office today Dr. Suarez found some ticklish spots that cracked both of them up. Julie can make him laugh good also. Me? I usually get one good laugh and then have to switch up my technique because he doesn't find it amusing anymore.

Christian attends Texas A&M

2006-03-13T21:44:00.000-06:00

Infant Cognition Lab, originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

This picture is of Christian at the Infant Cognition Lab at Texas A&M University. The test was a controlled study gauging how Christian reacted to the moving cup and the noise made by the toy inside (in the far left you'll see a hand holding the cup). What they did was move the cup behind the yellow piece of wood and then shake it to make a noise. They were tracking Christian's eye movements and interest in the cup.

He did really well. He enjoyed sitting on mama's lap and drooled the whole time, following the cup like a champ.

We enjoyed it and I think we are going back in a few months for part two of the study.

The Hand, originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

Here is the "hand" playing with Christian before the study. There were five people in all helping out with the study, each one watching something different.

Christian on camera, originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

Here is Christian on camera following the cup. It's a split screen, you can see the yellow piece of wood. Look at the focus on Christian's face! :)

We love you Mary Jo

2006-02-27T23:16:00.000-06:00

Mary Jo Moore, our friend, Julie's boss and confidant passed away on Saturday after a long fight with cancer. The viewing is tomorrow night and the funeral is Wednesday at 11am. The girls from Stepping Stone all bought Harley Davidson bandanas and are going to wear them tomorrow. Christian is going to wear the Harley shoes she bought for him and his Harley shirt. Christian may have been the last person to make her smile. Her husband, Tim, said she lit up when she would look at Christian. They were always very happy for our family. We always felt truly loved.

This is an exerpt from Tim's Journal at caringbridge.com:

I felt MaryJo should be buried in her hometown of Chaska, Mn. Most all of her large family live within a hour of where they were born & raised. So, it seems only right that she be buried there. Also, MaryJo had told me she wanted to be cremated. In a couple of months, after it warms up a little, MaryJo & I will take our last bike ride. I will take her back to Minnesota on the bike. For the last 2 years we have wanted to ride to Sturgis, The Badlands, The National Monument & Crazy Horse. We will make those stops on our last ride.
Much love to you all, Tim

I can't image what he is going through right now. To love somebody so much and have them taken away would be more than most of us could bear. I lost my father to cancer in the same way and that was the hardest time in my life. I couldn't bear the thought of losing my one love in this world.

Sometimes I think, which way is harder? To abruptly lose someone and never have the chance to tell them good-bye, or to sit and watch someone you love go through cancer? With Julie and MJ, she had the chance to tell her goodbye, to tell her thank you for believing in her, thank her for being a friend. As hard as it was for Julie, in that room the day before she passed away, it was also good for her. No regrets.

We will miss you MJ.

And I still miss you dad.

Christian is an Aggie

2006-02-27T23:10:00.000-06:00

Christian is officially an Aggie. His class starts on Wednesday, March 8, at 10:30am.

He is going to show all the Aggies in the psychology department how smart he really is. Baby genius? We'll find out.

Take a look at the Infant Lab at Texas A&M.

An update to follow...

Time to start Sanitizing

2006-02-12T00:48:00.000-06:00

Julie and I got home from our "date" tonight to find Christian holding a baby rattle and putting it in his mouth!!!

So cute. Now where did I put my cleaner?

My new TiVo!

2006-02-10T00:27:00.000-06:00

Wow, this thing is cool. Ordered it two days ago and it came today! Very fast. You can connect it to your wireless network and play music, and view pictures on your TV. I'm pretty excited about this feature, but I have to order the Network Adapter, which TiVo is out of stock on right now. I tried a compatible one (well, the old ones were compatible, the new ones apparently are not) but will have to return and try another. OR, just buy one off of Amazon or eBay, but I don't want to wait.

I just programmed it to record every episode of Judge Judy for Julie :) I love her.

Hasta.

The Train is leaving the station

2006-02-09T01:32:00.000-06:00

I finally feel now, that the train (me) is finally leaving the station (ie. getting to work on my thesis).

Why do I have to write a thesis? I paid my education dollars to get just that...an education. I'm really dreading this thing. I've never written anything longer than 10 pages, and now I have to do 10 times that? But as I said earlier, I'm starting to get on it. Can't write a novel without putting that first word down on paper, which is usually the hardest word of the whole book. So, hopefully I can commit to working on this thing everyday now that that first word is down. Once I get to doing what I enjoy (building the 3D model) I won't be complaining as much.

Good news though! I just recieved a scholarship for last semester and this semester!! It's paying for my school completely! I'm pretty happy about that. (Though I haven't told anyone in my family yet, 'cept Julie.)

Speaking of. Julie's latest heartbreak is that Christian is losing his hair. :) Poor little guy has bald patches on his head. Started happening about a week ago. Now, I know that he's losing his baby hair to make room for his big boy hair, but Julie is still sad for him. Also, we think he is developing a little craddle cap. I pray that Christian doesn't have any skin problems.

I have a new software toy

2006-02-02T00:10:00.000-06:00

When I was in school doing my undergrad, I took an independent study course in photography, wanting to do a QuickTime Virtual Reality project. Well, during my research, I discovered that I couldn't do it with out a Mac.

But not today!! I was recently introduced to the software "RealVIZ Stitcher" that does exactly what I wanted it to do back then!

Please, navigate the site: http://jwh.joelgonzales.com/ and let me know how you like it. It's a rough first pass, I'll have to go back and reshoot if my company likes my idea.

How Christian MEASURES UP!

2006-01-12T19:38:00.000-06:00

A quick post. 7 weeks old

11 pounds 7 ounces

24 1/4" long

Compare that to a birth weight of 9 lbs 6.5 ounces and 21 1/4" long. He's growing like a weed.

Also in a crazy turn of events, MAMA is letting HIM sleep. Julie would always wake him up to feed in the middle of the night and during the day. She's finally going to let him wake us up, as it was written many moons ago in the Parenting = No Sleeping manual.

Baby Genius

2006-01-11T16:36:00.000-06:00

Wow, almost 7 weeks have gone by and I've yet to mention that Christian is a genius!!

A week and a half ago I laid him on the bed in our room to change his diaper and he looked at me. So I started talking to him and he smiled, but then I moved to the left and he followed me! I know, I know, no big deal right? Wrong, not only did he follow me with his eyes (still jerky because he's a baby) but he turned his head to follow me. We did this several times, and he never took his eyes off me. See. Genius.

What reminded me that he was a genius was that yesterday Julie was holding him and looking at him like she always does and she stuck her tongue out at him. Christian looked at her and stuck his tongue out at her! Again, you may be saying, hogwash - he was probably going to stick out his tongue anyway. To that I say, they did it 3 times in a row, and Christian never missed a beat.

More news later when Christian figures out pi. :)

The many faces of Christian

2006-01-08T14:55:00.000-06:00

The many faces of Christian, originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

Fun with photoshop. Christian was in a great mood so we decided to get some shots of him smiling. BUT, as soon as we got the camera, he started toning down the smiles. This is what we captured. He's so cute!

I'd like to try it again with maybe less photos, but greater variations in his expressions. I also want one of him crying, but momma says NO! :)

Holiday traveling is OVER!

2005-12-26T22:16:00.000-06:00

We just got back from San Antonio, taking Christian to see 3 grandmas, 4 aunts, 3 uncles, 2 grandpas and 4 cousins. That is a lot of cheek pinching. Poor guy, the trip seemed to stress him out. Either it was something Julie ate, or all the traveling, commotion or whatever but we are very glad to be back home. He was a little fussy last night when we got home and was up every two hours, but today he seems like he's getting back into his routine.

Julie is a little under the weather now also. So where are we going for New Year's? No where!

Everyone was so excited to see Christian. After all, he is the perfect little child. I'll post pictures of him in his Santa suit here soon.

Till next time...

Christian

2005-12-17T23:26:00.000-06:00

Christian, originally uploaded by JoelGonzales.

Isn't he beautiful. I know, I know, I'm probably being biased, but this is the most beautiful baby boy I've ever seen.

Mom and I were trying to get close-ups of his hands and feet, and this is what turned out. Gotta love it. I'm making prints for the Grandparents and all his aunt's and uncle's.

It's hard to get these little guys to pose for you.

He's HERE!

2005-12-08T16:07:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I've posted on here, but I've been pretty busy with school, work, and taking care of my wife while she was pregnant.

She had a really good pregnancy (I know, I know, coming from a man). All she had were really bad backaches.

So we went to the doctor on Thursday, Nov 18th (his due date), and my wife tells the doctor "Please, get him out of me!" in a half joking half serious tone. The doctor tells us "OK! they have an opening tonight to induce you". That hit us kinda hard, we weren't expecting right then and there to have the baby. After almost 10 months, we weren't ready. :) So SUNDAY we go in at 8pm to start the induction process. They gave Julie Cytotec to get her contractions going through the night and at 6am she started on Pitocin. The contractions were pretty frequent and she we uncomfortable. I don't know how much she slept that night, but at around midnight, the nurse gave her a sleeper to help.

Well after going into the hospital dilated to a 1, that next morning....still a 1. Problem was that the baby was stressing out a little bit during that process. Nothing major, but with no change in Julie, it was probably going to be a long labor, and the doctors felt that wasn't good for baby. So then we get the worst news. C-Section. It wasn't an emergency C-section, they talked to us about it, we discussed it, and then they brought me my scrubs and wheeled Julie into the OR. Needless to say, I was a little scared. When I walked into the OR, they had Julie ready so I walked to her face to talk to her. I stayed with her (as opposed to watching the surgery) until they said "we got a head! - get your camera". All fear left me at that instant and I became excited. I took some pictures, and then he started crying, which made Julie cry. They held up Christian and said "Congratulations, you gave birth to a toddler!". 9 pounds 6.8 ounces. He was a big boy. 21" long.

So he's here now! What made me write some more is that his belly button fell off yesterday. Now it's much easier to change his diapers - of which, I'm a total expert now.

Mom is recovering nicely, she was up and walking a day and a half later, and starting weening herself off the pain medicine. She has been a real champion through all this.

I'm a proud papa now! Life is getting good.

Another First!

2005-07-27T23:05:00.000-05:00

Last night, at 3am, for the first time ever, I felt our little romper stomper kick!!

I came to bed, trying to be quiet and not wake Julie up, but she did and then she said the baby just started doing laps in her belly. For the first time, I could actually feel what was going on in there. So amazing. I left my hand on there for a few minutes, spending some good ol' quality time with my boy.

I can't wait to see him face to face.

IT'S A BOY!!

2005-07-09T22:15:00.000-05:00

It's official! We're having a baby boy. Julie and I had an appointment on Wednesday, July 6th for a sonogram when we got the news. Julie bolted to San Antonio to finish up all the baby boy shopping and registering.

I'm thrilled about having a baby boy, but I started thinking...that's a lot of pressure. He's going to be looking up to me. I have to be a role model. That's ok though, I'm definitely up for it.

Now, about naming him...

First. Post. Ever

2005-06-20T09:22:00.000-05:00

I should use this, my first blog post ever, to introduce myself. My name is Joel. I'm married to a wonderful wife (Julie) and we are currently expecting our first child.

I need to thank Fallout75 for suggesting I start my own blog and flickr account. It gives me a way to get my pen and paper out and do something creative. I've been pretty stagnant as of late. Busy with family, work, and school. Now I'll have something to keep me motivated. I'm now constantly thinking of my next post or my next project.

It also feels that I'm talking to a brick wall. Who is really out there reading my babble? I guess it'll just be good for me to get my thoughts out there, even if it is only a really attentive brick wall.