Nico's Walking Odyssey 2009

It's official, Nico is fully mobile.



Here's the hip hop edition. I couldn't resist!

Nico and the ribs

Nico had his first taste of ribs, and we think he liked 'em! We were at Johnny Rebs' in Bellflower, CA.

Nico screams for ice cream

Thanks to some yummy flavors from Molly Moon and Aunt Lanelle, Nico got his first taste of ice cream!

The flavor was Balsamic Strawberry and it was yummy.

Nico got a taste from his aunt, but he got several spoonfuls from his daddy. Nico yelled with delight. That's our boy! He loved it!

Another Nico-Jumperoo slideshow

A lot has happened since we've posted here -- and we'll do a major update soon enough. But for now, here's a slideshow we whipped up.

He's got a tooth!

Today Nico turned 7 months old! As a gift, he got his first tooth! We're not sure if it is just one or two, but they are definitely there along the bottom.

On his 6-month birthday, Nico learned how to sit up on his own... can't wait to see his trick when he turns 8 months old.

He wears his sunglasses at night

Nico was sporting some expensive sunglasses (Thanks to TJ, who unknowingly let me put them on Nico).

Gonzo baby and Puerto Rico

In preparation for our approaching trip to Puerto Rico, we got Baby Nico some swim trunks, some shades and this hat. While mom wasn't around, I tested out the hat on Nico. I think he looks pretty cute... kinda like a mini Hunter S. Thompson!

Nico's laugh

Nico was in a silly, laughing mood so Abue and I decided to document and record his laugh. He did laugh as hard once we started recording, but it was still damn cute!

Playball!

We took Nico to his first baseball game to watch our team, The Oakland A's, take on and defeat the hometown team, Seattle Mariners. It was a good game and even Abue had a blast!

This photo was taken be another A's fan, giving us a nice shot to commemorate this historic game for Nico!

Tip-toe through the tulips with Nico

The family had a blast introducing Nico to the beautiful Tulips this year. Here are some snap shots.

Family portraits

Our good friend Della Chen gave us a gift recently –- having taken some family portraits before Nico was born, she offered to come by and take some of the new addition. In less than an hour, we had an incredible collection.



Della does this for a living and she's damn good! You can see the entire gallery and order prints at her client site:
http://www.dellachen.net/pickpic/gallery/login.php.
The password is: Hernandez

Nico has intense belly laughs - from two angles

Papa Robert found a way to get Baby Nico to have some serious belly laughs. Nico went so crazy, just getting close was making him crack up. We were lucky to get the hilarious laughs on two cameras. Have a look:

Salvador, Salvador, Salvador!

No foolin' but Nico is gonna be a huge soccer futbol fan. We watched El Salvador vs. Costa Rica, thanks to the Web. Sadly, we lost 1-0. Tia Lisa sent Nico his first jersey... and I think she got me my shirt as well.

Nico training!

He's an unstoppable machine! Nico is training hard for the baby Olympic focused on taking goal in the Johnny Jumper competition.

[This is perhaps the best video I've ever shot in my life!]



Click to see an alternative, MTV take.

Nico's big into books

Little Nico is big into books... and he's got some big books too! Even before he was born, we read to baby Nico. Papa Robert really wanted Nico to like books form the start. Robert wasn't a big book fan when we was young.

And, well, it worked! Nico loves it when we read to him and loves looking at the photos. We all recommend Good Night Moon and Skippyjon Jones!

Nico Jumps in

We noticed that Nico had mad kicking skills... so, we got the little dude a 'Johnny Jumper' and he loved it. He was jumping around within moments.



More photos and videos about the jumper and other things to come.

Nico meets Uncle Andrew and Aunt Sarah

Baby Nico holds no grudges even though Uncle Andrew made fun of his middle name: Peter. Andrew, and his soon-to-be-wife Aunt Sarah, had a staring contest.

Nico meets "Abue"

Within moments of meeting, Abuelita Belly had baby Nico cracking up. We're so lucky to have my mom with us. Abue, which is what other grandchildren, has a total of five grandchildren.

Nico, Napping and Pike Place Market

Here are some new videos we've recently recorded using my work's iFlip camera. It's a small little device that makes pretty cool and simple videos. The first is my favorite, recording a moment between Connie and Nico.



We went to Pike Place Market's Lowell's for breakfast this morning. We sat on the second floor, but because it was the bar, we sat toward the back overseeing the Market versus overseeing the Sound.



This one is a quick video of Nico sleeping.



The camera is pretty cool. If someone wants to purchase one for us, we'd gladly accept.

The news and Nico

It's a common tradition for parents to save the newspaper's published when their child is born to remember what happened on that special date. Here is an image and PDF to The Seattle Times' frontpage that special day.

Coordinated for New Year’s

Nico dressed up in a snappy outfit to bring in the new year. The sweater came from his grandparents and the shoes from a friend. He was styling and ready for 2009. Here’s to a great year!

Christmas photos

Happy holidays! We celebrated at home today and took several portraits of little Nico in some of his outfits. (The reindeer suit was a cute gift from a friend.)

To be honest, it took many, many photos to capture his cute smile... but it's worth it. Coby still looks pretty dang cute, too.

Nico starts hitting the bottle

In a big step toward Connie getting some sleep, Nico has begun taking one meal a day from Robert.

He (Nico not Robert) was a little fussy at first, but then took the bottle easily. We’re still learning about the different bottles and their features, but so far the Born Free bottles seem to be working out.

Breaking news baby

Nico made his first newsroom appearance on my second day back to work. Apparently he was a big hit, drawing a crowd of folks. He slept for the bulk of the visit.

A big thanks to Times photographer Dean Rutz for taking these photos during the visit.

Photosynth + Nico

So, there is this new technology Microsoft acquired from a little company developed out of the UW. It's called Photosynth and -- when it works -- it's pretty cool.

I experimented with it the other day and created a virtual tour of Nico's room. I don't think it took all my photos, but check it out.

Sadly, it only works on PCs, you have to install a plug-in and, because it's Microsoft, it's a little buggy at times. It crashes my browsers whenever I launch it. But I do know it works. I saw it on Grandpa Brent's computer.

Check it out: http://photosynth.net/install.aspx?cid=B06DF8C7-B372-
4748-9953-F63DA5B94445

Please tell me if you get it to work!

Six hours of 'sleep'

Nico averages two to three (on a rare occasion four) hours of sleep between feedings. Last night he got six hours of 'sleep' -- meaning I slept uninterrupted -- last night. How did he do it? Well, he joined us in bed.

Nico has been sleeping in his own crib and room since he turned about one week old, but been being a tad fussy. Last night, to get some rest, we brought him into bed with us. Connie had her arm around him protecting him as he slept.

It's good to know this new trick for getting rest.

He's growing

We went to the doctor's for his two-week visit. Nico was born 6 lbs. 8 oz. and 19 inches tall. When they checked him out today, he weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and measured 21.5 inches.

My boy is growin'!

Nico meets Grandpa and Great Grandma

Nico has gotten some visitors to help celebrate his first Thanksgiving feast. Grandpa Brent had meet Nico before through Skype. While Great Grandma Eli had only seen photos.

Pair of Fuzzy Bunnies

Nico is sporting some cute little slippers these days. They were part of an outfit given to him by a parent of one of Connie’s students. It’s a whole bunny outfit that includes a hat.

Currently, they are the only shoes that fit. But they are not the only shoes he owns. We’ve gotten several pairs (thank you everyone), including the first gift he got. A pair of snowman Vans from our three-year-old friend A.C. Haik and her family.

Los Cochinitos and the Internet

Growing up, I have a clear memory of my mom singing a lullaby to my brother, sister and I. I didn’t know the name or the lyrics. I just had the melody and a line about mom putting her three piglets to bed.

I had a flashback to the tune when putting Nico to bed the other day. And, thanks to the Internet, I found the it. There are even videos on YouTube.

Click to play

The song, Los Cochinitos Dormilones, is a Mexican version of the three little pigs, from 1935. Mommy pig puts them to sleep and they start to snore and dream. Once dreams of being king, another a sailor and the third dreams of helping mom.

You can read the lyrics here and hear more music from Cri-Cri, the singing cricket here.

Oh you’ve got blue eyes, oh you’ve got grey eyes

Are they going to be brown? Light brown? Green?! If you look at Nico's eyes, like most newborns, you see them looking blue or grey. We are waiting to see which color they will become.


I have average boring brown eyes, like the rest of my family. Connie has beautiful light brown eyes. But Connie's mom, Marla, has more like hazel eyes. Her family has green eyes.

What color do you think they will be?

Nico is a week old!

Sure, it's not a gigantic milestone, but it is worth mentioning... a week ago at this exact moment, Nico entered the world changing the lives of Connie and I.

Napping babies

I caught my two little ones taking a quick nap while listening to Enya.

Nico Portraits

Grandma Marla asked if we had taken any photos of little Nico in the nude... if you think of it, we all have those photographs in our baby photo albums. So, in the name of tradition and pride, we took some portraits of Nico as we changed him in the morning.

The lighting was beautiful, making the green room so light and bright.

Dang he's cute!

Bear-y cute

Nico got dressed up in one of his many (that's right, many) fuzzy animal outfits. This one, obviously, is a bear suit. He went on errands with mom and grandma.

Nico is healthy

The little guy has been given a clean bill of health, already gaining three ounces since his birth. Newborns lose weigh immediately after birth and begin to gain once breastfeeding kicks in. Well, he’s eating... and pooping. Pooping a lot.

Welcome home Nico!

After heading to the hospital late Monday night, we returned home Wednesday evening with an additional member of the family. Coby greeted us when we made it home. To get on his good side, Nico presented Coby a little gift – a stuffed monkey.



Grandma Marla took some shots as we began to adjust into our new lives – and prepare for our first night at home with Nico.

The first night went pretty well. There were some late night challenges with breastfeeding, but we managed to sneak in some sleep as Connie and I worked as a team. The second night was even easier – but don’t get me wrong, it’s tiring, hard work.

Goodbye Swedish!

A few hours past his 24-hour birthday mark, Nico was ready to go – with a gift for Coby peeking out of his car seat.

We can’t say it enough, but thank you to the *entire* Swedish Medical staff that helped Connie and I during Nico’s birth. From staffers in the huge building that quickly noticed I was lost and pointed me in the right direction to the incredible doctors and nurses in every stage.

Every one of them were so loving and helpful. And a big thanks to out post-labor nurses Eleanor and Jessica.

Exciting! Napping!! Video!!!

Okay, it’s not really exciting, but here is some video of our little baby boy sleeping.

Rockin’ with Nico

During our stay at the hospital, Nico sported some headphones for a hearing test. He passed ... I’m hoping with was the Rockabye Baby and classical music.

Multimedia Nico

Here is a video and photos, including our first family portrait.

World, Meet Nico!

Nico Peter Hernandez was born at 12:26 p.m., weighing 6 pounds 8.4 ounces. Mom did amazing! Her focus was unstoppable. Grandma and I tried our best to match her intensity helping her breathe.

Thank you all for your love and support.