Angelito

Angelito is the nickname that Grandma Judy gave Austin before he was born. On Saturday, he became our Anaheim Angelito when we took Austin to his first Angels game.

Angel Stadium is super close to our house, so it seemed like we really should make it to one game this year. We finally made it for the second to last regular season home game. The tickets were only $3, so we figured we could bail if Austin acted up. I bought him a Rally Monkey onesie for the occasion.

At first, we didn't know if Austin would even see the game. He fell asleep on the way from the parking lot to the stadium.

But he woke up after we took him out of the stroller. He was in awe of all the people and the spectacle of the stadium.

Daddy was excited to take his son to his first professional baseball game.

We made sure to use the noise-reduction headset from Grandma.

I mostly wanted to eat junk food -- we shared frozen lemonade, a pretzel and an ice cream sandwich -- and wear my new Angels T-shirt.

In the end, Austin behaved very well. He easily made it until the seventh-inning stretch so we could sing "Take Me Out To the Ballgame." I'd been practicing with him during the day. We also took a peek at the game from the field level before packing Austin up. Angelito didn't bring any luck to the Angels, who lost 4-8. We'll see if they have better luck in the playoffs this week.

For more recent photos of Austin, see Austin photos: September 2008.

Back in the grind

We survived.

Michael, Austin and I survived our first week of me returning to work. Except for an hourlong crying fit on the first day -- Austin, not me -- everyone did pretty well. Michael survived his first all-day stint with Austin, who was thrilled to have some daddy time.

Michael sent me these photos for my desktop on my first day.

On Friday, Austin turned five months old. Michael and I both had the day off, so we took Austin for his shots. He's growing at 16.7 pounds, but he's still considered average. The nurse said he's the same height, but we think she measured incorrectly. He's getting tall.

At five months, Austin is rolling and scooting more and more. We can't leave him alone for long. Already, he can scoot off of his mat and get into his toys.

Austin is also becoming very interested in our cat, Bicha. Apparently, this is the stage when he starts learning about animate and inanimate objects. Bicha isn't as interested, but she tolerates him.



On Saturday, I mistakenly dressed Austin up in UCLA colors before he watched the UA-UCLA football game with Daddy.

But he peed on his clothes, so I put him in UA colors before the game started.

Later that day, Aunt Pat came over to babysit so Michael and I could go on a much-anticipated date to the Hollywood Bowl, where we saw Beck, Spoon and MGMT.

Pat came prepared with stuffed animals and puppets.

She said he liked the cardinal.

And he kept hugging the mountain lion puppet.

Hopefully, Aunt pat won't mind coming back for more. Thank you, Aunt Pat!

Back to work

I've dreaded this day for months.

It's my last day of maternity leave. And, I finally decided that today is the day to see if my old clothes fit.

Shockingly, I feel fine.

I just scooted into my old pants and skirts. Most of them fit. Even my jeans! They may be a little snugger than before. But I can actually wear them. What an ego boost!

Also, I'm feeling OK about going back to work. I've been off for about six months, so it's going to be a challenge. But the schedule seems like it will work for us. I'll be working 30 hours a week, so I'll have Fridays off. Michael will watch Austin in the mornings and one full weekday. When we aren't around, we have a nice 65-year-old Argentine grandma to watch Austin three afternoons a week. She speaks Spanish, so we're hoping for a bilingual baby.

Now, this could all change tonight and especially tomorrow morning when I'm walking out the door. I'm sure I'll have some major guilt trips and sadness.

Pretty soon, I won't have much time to blog, so I thought I'd give you some cute pictures and videos of Austin to tide you over.

This morning, he watched football with Daddy while lying on a sheet on the floor:

Austin isn't crawling yet, but he's getting close. For now, he loves to roll around and try to get to his toys on the floor:

Austin can't quite sit up on his own yet, but he can stay in this tripod position for a little while:

Aunt Laura requested some videos. Here's one of Austin rolling:

Here, Austin is trying to suck on his toes:

Chicago, Chicago

Austin's first trip was jam packed with new experiences: flying on a plane, meeting family members and friends, seeing where Daddy grew up and sleeping in an unfamiliar setting.

The first three went very well. The last one, uh, not so well.

Still, we think Austin made a pretty good impression, starting at a family gathering.

Michael's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Marty agreed to host a welcome party for us. Well, really, for Austin.

Debbie and Marty are the ones who have Thanksgiving dinner every year. Because we can't make it for Turkey Day this year, they were kind enough to have the family over for Chicago-style pizza in September. Here's Aunt Debbie with Austin:



Austin also got to meet his cousin Taylor, who is six months older than him. We don't know why Austin looks so stunned.



And he met a bunch of other friends, cousins, uncles and aunts, including Uncle Ronnie (Taylor's grandpa) and Michael's cousin, Jonathan (Taylor's dad).

Of course, Austin got to spend quality time with his grandmother, Noni, and Aunt Alison. (Quality except for the night he cried for two and a half hours before going to sleep.)

Noni bought Austin some new books and let him play with her watch.

Alison played some cool music and taught Austin some new dance moves.



We caught up with my friend Charis and her two little boys, Eric and Ryan, at an Indian food restaurant in Evanston.

On Thursday, Michael unfortunately got sick. And it was raining. So, we didn't do much. We ate Thai food with Noni and Aunt Alison that night. I think the spicy Thai made Austin's tummy upset.

By the next day, Austin was back in a good mood for a lunch date with Jenn, Joel and their daughter, Emily, as well as Teddy. Teddy really wanted to make the blog:



After, we got a tour of the Boyds' new house. Here they are in the backyard:

Later, Teddy and Nori had us over for a BBQ. There, we had the long-awaited meeting of Elle. Elle is just two weeks younger than Austin. We snapped a gazillion pictures of those two, who were just too cute together. It was way too hard to pick out the best pictures, so here are a few:

Finally, we had to fly home.

See more photos of the Chicago trip here.