And here is Magglio at roughly that same age:

uncanny, huh?

Ok, so more of cutie-patootie Tiago:

In other news, we recently cut Magglio’s hair. It was long and shiney and gorgeous, but Magglio hated combing it. Then food started to get stuck in it, so we decided it was time for a hair-cut. Before, he looked like this:

So now he looks like this:

Magglio picked out his own Halloween costume. He found “Diego” and immediately got excited. He loves that costume. Tiago’s costume is a train conductor. Arent’ they SO CUTE? I am so in love with my boys.

Here are some pictures of my cutie, Tiago.

Magglio has been obsessed with taking pictures lately. He took these two:

But now here’s the exciting part: PICTURES!

Tigao:

Magglio (being a stinker) and I:

Tiffany, Tiago and Magglio. (Does she look like a nanny? I don’t think so.)

You may have noticed by now that we frequent a certain spot. There is this really cute shopping area right on the water here, with live music and fun activities for children. They have Magglio’s favorite merry-go-round, plus a little train ride, and a jumpy-thingy for kids. Recently, they’ve added a new addition: a few real live horses and a BOOTLEG petting zoo. Why bootleg, you ask? When I surveyed the animals inside, I saw: a small pig, a goose, 5 roosters, a goat with three kids, about 10 chickens and 2 chihuahas. Dogs. BOOTLEG. Next time I promise to post a picture, assuming the City of Miami hasn’t shut down their operation.

Anyway, Magglio LOVED riding on the real horse about as much as the fake ones on the merry-go-round.

Serious Tiago:

And Magglio my hipster boy:

“Mommy, please stop taking photos of me while I’m trying to watch my morning cartoons.”

The kids had a lot of fun with “Aunt Billie”, too.

Aunt Billie took Magglio on the merry-go-round. (Twice)

Tiago and I watched and waved. Well, I watched and Tiago slept in his wrap.

Then we went to dinner. It was Magglio’s first time eating corn on the cobb. He dug right in.

Tiago woke up but he couldn’t eat the corn. Instead he got some of mama’s milk. (No, I’m not going to post a picture of me breastfeeding.) But here is one of Tiago awake and alert and being a good little guy.

It was a little bit cold, so I put Tiago’s hat on him. (he’s staring up at mommy. so cute.)

Here is my favorite picture of Tiago and Billie. Tiago looks so alert and so big!

We had a great evening. My kids are *so* well behaved (mostly). It makes me think I am doing something right!!

“Here, Tiago, please don’t cry.” (I think he actually said that)

“Drink your milk!”

And here he is another day, after he picked out his own outfit: (boots included)

And most recently, I finally bought a kid’s bike seat for my bicycle so we could take rides together. Magglio *loves* it!

Tiago is getting over a bad case of infant acne, so I don’t have a lot of pictures of him to post. Here’s a couple:

Our hospital story began in the wee hours of Wednesday morning at around 3am. Magglio had been sick (fever, cough, runny nose) and he woke up coughing. When he’s sick, we bring him into our bed to sleep. During this bed-shuffling, I happened to touch Tiago and decided he felt hot, real hot. Took his temp – 101.4. Too hot for a five week old? I decided to call my pediatricians office – they have a 24 hour nurse line. I hoped they would tell me if and how much tylenol I could give him.

Instead, they insisted that I take Tiago to the ER.

Edgar stayed home with Magglio while I hopped in the car. By the time they took his temp again, it had dropped down to 100.6. But still higher than normal. They transferred us to Miami Children’s Hospital, which is an excellent hospital for children.

Once we got to the ER at Miami’s Children, the doctor began to discuss all the tests that needed to be done: blood drawn, catheter for urine, suctioning the nose to test for resperatory illness, and a spinal tap for Menengitis. *gulp* My baby was going to have a SPINAL TAP? Oh.My.God.

I’ll admit, there was a part of me that felt like they were overreacting. I explained several times that my 2 year old was sick, and at best Tiago had just caught the same virus. Really, a spinal tap? It all felt surreal – like we were stuck in a real life episode of House. But we hadn’t visited any Brazilian rainforests or swam in rice patties in Vietnam! No exotic illnesses! The answer was simple: a virus. Yet, they had to ‘err on the side of caution’ and poke and prod my poor little baby endlessly.

I cried during every proceedure, probably more than Tiago. After they finished, they had to leave a tube in the back of his hand for his IV. He was to recieve antibiotics every 8 hours for 48 hours until the barriage of tests came back. After a couple of small hiccups and having to get Tiago’s blood re-drawn on day 2, we were out of the hospital 3 days later.

Doing the spinal tap:

His IV tube:

In his crib/prison, sleeping peacefully despite his IV tube:

Those were long and restless days. I felt guilty that I wasn’t at home with Magglio and Edgar, yet I knew that I had to stick close to the more vulnerable sick child. I missed co-sleeping with Tiago. I missed cooking. Hell, I missed sunlight. Tiago could not leave his room nor the wing that he was in. We paced the halls and read all the posters. I made small talk with the nurses. I sat at the window with Tiago in my arms and showed him the sky and the trees and the cars passing by. Longest and dullest 3 days of my life.

But we’re home now and I’m looking forward to my best sleep ever and gourmet coffee in the morning. Ah, the small things…

Tiago is doing great.  He is such a different baby from Magglio – he sleeps more and cries less.  Magglio was a very vocal and demanding baby, and Tiago is so laid back and chill.  I have no idea if Tiago will grow out of that, but I certainly hope not!

My post birth recovery has been fantastic.  The first five days I felt like I had been hit by a truck.  My arms, legs, back, butt and boobs were all sore. But on day 6 I woke up, showered, put on regular clothes, and I’ve been outdoors and hauling around the two kiddos ever since.  It really helps that the sun is out and the weather is warm and beautiful.  That can really motivate you to go outside and play.

Usually I wear Tiago in my Sleepywrap sling and Magglio just trots beside me.  People in Miami are NOT into babywearing (not yet, anyway).  Miami is a city that is very competitive, not crunchy.  The most expensive stroller is what people want to show off here in Miami, not the fact that you can carry your baby.  I’ve had people POINT AT ME while talking to their friends.  People are FLABBERGASTED that I have a baby wrapped on my chest.  Twice within a span of 30 minutes at two differnet locations I’ve had someone exclaim, “Is there a baby in there?!”

When people ask me stuff like this, usually I snicker or smirk.  I can’t help it!  I just find it so humorus that people are shocked by babywearing.  Geez, Miami, welcome to the year 2011.

I know you want pictures…..enjoy!

Here’s the long version:

I woke up the morning of the 29th, and my first thought – before I even opened my eyes – was that I was going to give birth that day.  I just knew.  To this day I’m not exactly sure how I knew, but I knew.  It was almost as if my uterus, brain and baby had a staff meeting over night and subconsciously informed me.

I get up around 8am because I hear Magglio calling for me from his crib.  We play for a bit and I’m having contractions.  This was nothing new, since I had been having contractions for weeks.  Weeks.  My body was just preparing well in advance for the big day.  Usually, I ignored them, and that morning I continued to ignore them.

But once I hit the kitchen to make myself coffee, I couldn’t ignore them any longer.  They were strong.  I sat down and ate a bagel with cream cheese and some protein rich cottage cheese.  I knew that I needed some good food to birth.  I started recording my contractions: 8:36am.  8:41am, 8:47am, 8:50, 8:53, 8:56….

Huh.  Strong and fast.  I was in active labor, the second stage.  I called my midwife.  “Wanna come catch my baby?”  I asked her.  As luck would have it, she was on her way over to another client’s house, who had been having contractions since 3am.  Once she checked her situation, she would come over.  She instructed me to call my doula to have her come over until she could get there.  Perfect.

I run a hot bath for myself.  Contractions still strong.  I’m breathing through them, trying to focus, trying to delegate orders to Edgar and my mom.  My mom comes in the bathroom.  I say: “Can you take Magglio to the zoo?  Have him back by noon for his nap.” She responds, “can I finish unloading the dishwasher first?” I shoot her the look of death.  “No.  Leave.”  I order.  I couldn’t have my focus diverted by thinking about what my son was doing in the other room.

10:30am: my doula arrives.  By this time I’m back on my bed, having strong contractions and trying to be as comfortable as possible.  She explains that my midwife is at the other woman’s home, who is dilated to about 7.  My doula may have to join her once the woman is further along and pushing to help catch her baby, and then they’ll both come back for me.  At this point I just crack up laughing.  What luck – another woman is in labor at the exact same time.  Laughing with the universe instead of letting it laugh at me seemed to help my birth energy.

At this point, things start to mush together.  Here’s what I remember: I get back in the tub.  Bad move.  The tub is too narrow and I feel constricted.  I have a few strong contractions in the tub – very uncomfortable.  I start pushing in the tub.  Am I dilated all the way?  My doula needs to check.  I get out of the tub but every time she touches me I am hit with another contraction.  I start to cry, “I’m scared!” I tell my doula.  “What if I can’t do it?” She responds: “don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”

I calm down and make it back to the bed.  Still pushing.  My doula gets her gloves on.  It was maybe noon at this point?  I’m not really sure.

12:45pm(?) – Miriam, another midwife arrives.  My primary midwife, Mary, couldn’t make it (the other woman had birth her baby about 30 minutes before Tiago arrived).  Miriam greets me softly.  We are strangers, but already so bonded.  I just grin at her and laugh.  What luck I have!

She tells me that the baby is hitting my public bone and I have to change positions.  She suggests squatting on the floor.  Ok.  I squat.  I push.  They cheer.  This happens a couple of times, and the only pain I feel are in my thighs.  I have weak thighs.  She suggests I turn around and let Edgar hold me as I squat to release some of the pressure off my legs.  We try it.  In two pushes, Tiago is crowning.  Then, he’s out.  Life is beautiful.

It is 1:24pm.  I’ve only been in labor for 5 hours.  The most intense was the last two.  Blink of an eye.

And then they took care of me while I crawled back in my cozy, comfy bed, covered up and nursed my baby boy.  It was so beautiful.  Some people have asked me how I birthed an 11 pound baby, and the most simple answer I can give is: by the grace of God.  I never had any doubts and neither did my midwives.  None one ever said, “We might have to induce since this is a big baby.”  (Common ob/gyn phrase)  No one even broke a sweat.  (well, except me)