48 hrs.

buddy cop films have been around for as long as i can remember going to the movies with my mom.  years before we got the Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour franchises, the world was given comedy/action genius known as 48 hrs.  eddie murphy and nick nolte played such great polar opposites in the movie, they paved the road for future good cop/bad cop interracial films.  i still think turner and hooch is the b.o.a.t.

montage at texas children's hospital pavilion for women.

for standard deliveries, it is recommended that mothers and newborns stay in the hospital for at least 48 hrs.  in stella's first 2 days post-birth life, she has had more sleep than HM and i have had in the last two weeks combined - and deservingly so.  if anyone knows how loud we (HM, cal, and i) are, it would be stella.  her 40 week, 5 day 'oven time' in HM's belly was a front row seat to hearing all the chaos that went on in our house.

stella's first 48 through her eyes:

-04:00 hrs -- before-they-knew-i-was-stella.  my mom checking into the hospital (contractions have already started).

00:01 hrs -- directly out of the oven.  i'm done, but don't stick a fork in me!

00:03 hrs --  my mom's heartbeat is so soothing.  hello world! 

02:30 hrs -- my first bath.  i'm not a fan of soap and water but at least i'm clean...unlike some people!

05:00 hrs -- a handmade gift from the delivery nurse; my first bow cap!

07:30 hrs -- getting weighed.  6lbs, 12oz?!  the first of many 'does this diaper make me look fat?' realities. i'ma true girl. 

11:30 hrs -- quality time with mom as we take in the sunset.   i feel loved. 

25:00 hrs -- my big brother cal visits for the first time.... his warm hand felt great even if he doesn't look happy.  i know he'll watch over me.  i love him already. 

30:00 hrs -- the hospital was gracious in giving my PARENTS a celebratory meal.  you don't see me because they shunned me into a crib to the right.  i'm the one who is born and THEY get steak and cake?  how rude! 

33:00 hrs -- my first gifts.  thanks to the many that stopped by.   my shoe collection has started and i'm aiming for mom's closet space.

46:30 hrs -- prepping for a hospital photo shoot.  auntie NT sure knows how to make me pretty with her homemade bows.  notice my chubby cheeks?

48:00 hrs -- daddy had to do this to me.  why?  because he did the same with big brother too!   

52:00 hrs - ok, so i'm late a few hours on being discharged from the hospital.  i'm a girl; get used to it! 

- EZE

The Last Supper

bedtime snack?  

a little known movie in the mid-90's, i believe the last supper was suggested by dark mark back in our movie rental days.  making less than 500k at the box office, this was no blockbuster hit.  the premise, in my opinion however, was quite clever.  5 grad students with different views on everything imaginable were roommates.  they held a dinner every sunday and invited a complete stranger to the house and discussed various topics.  a heated argument occurred in which the guest was killed.  they buried the body in the backyard agreeing that the world was better off without him.  from there on after, the students agreed that if a guest's views were disagreeable to any of them - such as, a priest who says homosexuality is a sign of the devil - they were given poison instead of wine.  cameron diaz is the only recognizable main character along with a few (quite hilarious) guests cameos.  a nice watch for those interested in a good 90's movie laugh.

i bring up the topic of the last supper because it's ALL i've been mentioning to HM for the past week.  i think she's getting tired of me saying, "let's go eat out tonight...it could be our last supper out before the baby!"  and now that it's over 4 days post due, eating at home doesn't seem like a bad idea.  here's a quick rundown of some notable recent meals:

buffalo grille - good stuff!
hong long vietnamese restaurant
lupe tortilla - HM's been a houstonian all her life and she very selective about her tex-mex.
aka sushi -  GREAT happy hour
mia's table - new place for us.  a tad pricey, but tasty.
star pizza - the ONLY place HM will eat deep dish in houston.  a friend told us this was the ultimate "baby inducer".  well, he now owe's me $17.
luby's cafeteria - which we just had earlier this evening. a hit or miss with some people, i'm not sure how anyone can hate this texas classic!

keep in mind, these are just restaurants.  i haven't mentioned that HM has been on this CRAZY cinnabon mochalatta chill kick lately.  and when i mean 'crazy', i mean she's had it at around 5 times over the past week or so.  consider the only locations are in a mall, we (I) have to go to the galleria before closing time to satisfy this craving.  and even though i've gotten back to regular workouts, they quickly become negligible after 11pm trips for mcflurry's and frosty's.  i'm just glad i'm keeping even.

 HM's traveling eats:

greek gyro - NYC food truck

the original salt lick in driftwood, tx.  

famous soup dumpling in NYC

95 stories up in chicago.  tip:  go during lunch.  you get the view, cheaper menu and less crowd!

battle for philly supremacy. 

sushi in hawaii.  

the best tacos we've ever had - isle mujeres cancun, mexico

dr's orders:  eat a hot dog while at Fenway park!

good night folks - it's 2am and HM has 'a feeling' that something could happen in the next few hours.  will update in the delivery room!

-EZE

test post...the return?

apparently in my 1+ year hiatus, blogger changed up their format and made things better. i'm just testing to see how easy it is to upload, format, etc.

yes, again.

just as i thought - uploading pictures is a lot easier which cuts out a lot of time.  and yet it's a weak excuse, but time was the main reason why i stopped blogging.

calvin was never a great sleeper and as he grew closer to one year, things got extremely difficult.  he started child care and unsurprisingly got sick.  what was a surprise to us was how OFTEN he got sick. as well as his reactions to being ill.  cal wasn't the type of baby that slept through fevers - and anyone who is lucky enough to have children who do - well, good for you.  he was quite the opposite.... he cried.  he yelled.  he threw up all over his crib.  and those were the easy parts.

doing laundry twice in the middle of the night is something i don't wish upon anyone.  for those who say i should have just waited to do it in the morning, well, i want to see how you handle waking up to 8 ounces of 6 hour old curdled milk vomit saturating through crib sheets.  yes, nasty sh*t.

i'm not saying this is my attempt to comeback to blogging, but i'm here again for one main reason -- to share the welcoming of our 2nd child.  as i may have mentioned long ago, i don't see myself as a great writer, but i do love to tell a story.

and so....HM and i are supposedly due to have this baby tomorrow.  i should have done this test post last week, but didn't make the effort to do so.  a visit to the OB today revealed HM at 3cm's dilated....so the baby is really coming anytime now.

the goal is to do another live blog through delivery.  HM thought that with me posting through her contractions, it made for a nice distraction from the pain.  i'm such a great husband.

hope to share more exciting news soon!

-EZE

a league of their own

7 months, 3 days PB.

one of my favorite comedies ever - tom hanks played another classic role before he started winning oscars the next two years.  it also produced the memorable quote, "there's no crying in baseball!"  i have to say - it was tom hank's underrated comedic work that made me love his movies.

Answers to prior blog pictures:  1,2,4,6 - me.  3,5,7,8 - HM.  pretty crazy, huh?  i'm jealous of her resemblance to calvin....gummy smile and all.  if only his head looked more like a pill....

todays post revolves around sports; baseball in particular.  cal's first astros game was this past weekend.  uncle H was able to snag some dugout level seats along the first base line.  HM was appreciative to mention that we didn't have to breath lighter air in the nosebleeds -- her way of sarcastically telling me that the first time taking her to the field-formerly-known-as-Enron was not satisfactory.  thanks babe.

"hey, my pacifier is dirty now"

we were only about 5 rows up from this point, but as you can see we were pretty darn close.  good luck bringing you back to this spot buddy!

as a sports fanatic, i like to get into playful debates with HM on how i plan to build an athletic team from my offspring.  obviously, she prefers for them to be intellectuals first.  given our gene pool, i usually concede that our kids will have the greatest chance of success through education (and HM's slave driven study methods).  BUT, i always mention that i will do my very best to ensure that ALL of our kids have decent athleticism.  boy nerds who throw/run like girls typically get bullied (unless they run like serena williams, but then that's just plain scary).

i would like to mention that out of the three professional sporting events that cal has attended - the home team has won all of them.  good luck charm, possibly?  maybe a texans game next year for the little fella.  and even though cal was in a public place, he was NOT a fan of the roller coaster cheers and quietness a baseball game brings:

apparently, there IS crying in baseball!

-EZE

on a side note - 3 yrs ago, HM and i hosted a rehearsal dinner with our family and close friends.  we still talk about our wedding like it was yesterday....happy anniversary, my love!

love and basketball

6 mths, 2 weeks, 6 days PB.

11 years ago i saw this movie about a young boy and girl who grew up together, successfully played basketball into adulthood, and fell in love throughout that time. i became a big fan of sanaa lathan afterward. in the new age of couples meeting online, i guess i'm a sucker for stories about childhood sweethearts that end up together.

as i'm writing this blog, the NCAA division I men's basketball championship is being played about a mile from me. the teams aren't very interesting, so i decided to use the time to catch up on updating.

keeping up with the childhood theme, HM asked me to scan some our baby pictures to compare them to little cal's. we've noticed our friends and families are split in their decisions regarding who calvin looks like. of course, HM and i both WANT to think that he has more genial features of our own, but i've decided to let the audience decide. here are 8 old school pictures for you to debate on. there are 4 of me and 4 of HM. take a guess on who's who? i will post the answers on my next blog:

don't be discouraged, it can get confusing...even for HM and i!

and so i don't skimp out on my promise from last month, here's a long picture update of calvin since the beginning of the 2011:

1/1/11 started off with a bang as cal attended his first wedding reception. the bride and groom are nothing but inspiring, beautiful people who i'm not particularly close to but greatly respect and admire. cal was tired afterward, but still sported his onesie tuxedo in style. (he also liked our 1 ft xmas tree)

cal's 4 month checkup came in the middle of january. the doc says he's healthy and right on track with 'his' growth curve. i'm just glad he's on a curve at all. as you can see: short, fat body with a big head. you go boy!

later in the month, we took calvin on a nice saturday morning stroll to the houston auto show at reliant arena. i used to attend these regularly before i met HM, but there doesn't seem to be much excitement around new cars anymore. what was once a 2 week event has turned into a sad 5 day snoozefest. porsche didn't even represent! in any case, we came, we saw, calvin slept. what car did daddy like the best? james bond's ride, of course.

speaking of (who should own an) aston martin, we spent our tradition gambling chinese new years at uncle H's house. baby cal received his first li xi money! normally, i don't celebrate chinese new year, but i'm happy to take a holiday from HM. cal benefits from free money, but i'm not totally sure if uncle H gave him his 'extra cash' stash. do i see clouds outside?! kidding, people....

calvin's first super bowl was exciting. he boldly predicted the outcome by showing the true colors of the winner! black and yellow, WHO?!

february starts the season of love. and what better way to show my boy how handle his business than to treat the ladies right from the beginning! below, cal shows off what i call, 'the sneaky surprise'. baby hailey might be 6 months older and much taller, but she never saw what was coming. never underestimate the little guy!

the next two pics are for auntie NT. cal's first road trip (post delivery) brought us to the san marcos outlet mall. he quickly displayed his knack for modern furniture. what expensive taste you have, my son! he apparently got it from his momma. can you guess which chair is from pottery barn and which is from restoration hardware? shouldn't be too difficult! i absolute dig this first picture....totally enjoying the moment.

our next stop was into austin to visit auntie G as she completed her vicious half marathon. why run in the hills when you can run on flat ground in houston?! anyways - afterward, we had to stop by good ol' salt lick to celebrate. and since cal already enjoyed eating it while in utero, we let him chew the menu instead!

when people say that baby stuff takes over your home, they weren't kidding. i can bet that most babies would be fine playing with a plastic bottle or remote control. but after about 2 minutes, they need something else. this is why i think the baby business has grown into this booming market. in any case, HM and i went out and got him his bumbo seat for easy feeding. notice his feet don't touch the ground - just like his daddy...

a careful eye will notice a difference in the next two pics. yep - those are two different 'activity centers'. HM was all about craiglisting these massive (and expensive) space wasters. after a complete wash down and disinfection process, baby cal ecstatic with his new toys. the second picture shows his love for bacon (or ham) at an early age....

since it's taken me so long to update, we had cal's 6 month check up a few weeks ago. basically, the same info from his 4 month visit, but i noticed his head circ % is getting larger. in honor of this, i give you a beaming shot of his massive noggin.

although HM is a super advocate for breastfeeding, over the past month HM has started feeding cal some solid foods. basic items mainly, but sometimes it's fun to watch cal try some other stuff. we now know that he likes broccoli cheese soup! thanks mom...i'm trying to watch my sodium!

...and finally back to basketball. calvin got his first TWO rockets games within 4 days of each other. i won the first tickets at a work lunch raffle and the 2nd set were given to me by our communications/relations team to our company's suite! he got to meet our CEO and some friendly RPD's. i guess he's a good luck charm since the rockets won both games in a somewhat of a disappointing season.



reflection moment



cal vs yao's shoe

i hope everyone enjoyed the post! it's fairly difficult to load pictures 5 at a time (and sorting through hundreds of choices!), but that's my fault for lack of updating. HM's schedule has not been forgiving either. unfortunately, april isn't looking too much better. don't forget to make your 8 choices above!

-EZE