A Few Pictures of Fall (SoCal Style)

Trying to keep up!

Well, we are now 13 months old and I figure it is time to do a little update for the few who still keep up with the blog. As you can see he is 13 months going on 13 years! He was doing some work on his Elmo laptop and having a little snack at the same time.

He has gone straight from crawling to running! There is no stopping him now and he is in to everything. Here is a taste of what some mornings are like...I found one of socks in Margie's water bowl, I later found his baseball bat in the garbage, I also found his books in the washing machine, and later found my other sock stuffed into one of our Halloween decorations...mind you this is all in one morning!

He can say Mama and Dada but still not sure if he knows what they really mean. He can say "up" when he sees an airplane though...uh oh...looks like he is on his way to being an aerospace geek like his Dad afterall. They also have something else in common....



And for some past updates his first birthday was a hit. We had a great turn out and he made it through with no meltdowns! He even got his own birthday cake and did some damage!

His one year appointment was good too! He is 75% in height and 25% in weight. The doc says he looks good and is healthy.

Nino had a birthday too...poor guy gets a bit neglected...but we did manage to have a bbq, some poker, and some fun.

Genius!

So much too report and so little time but I could not let this go without making a quick mention...

It is clear to me that my son is a genius! I am sure most parents say this about their children but seriously I am convinced he is. Why you ask? Well...

He has learned how to put the shapes in the corresponding spaces in his toys!!!

There it is folks! No need to congratulate me...I am just basking in the glow of my sons amazing abilities.

Yay Joaquin!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOAQUIN!!!!!!!

September 11th...just a year ago this kid was at the hospital saying hello to the world. Fast forward one year and he is waving hello and raising havoc....we couldn't ask for more. September 11th is also his Lolo's brithday, so Happy Birthday Dad and sorry that Joaquin is a birthday stealer (We know you don't mind).

How Big Is This Kid

So this weekend was fun and subdued. We went down to the OC to wish Auntie Bo a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and Uncle Ben and Auntie Robbin can sure make a great tasting spread. There was mayhem everywhere and guess who the only kid that doesn't walk? or want to? Yep, it's Joaquin, even Mia walks around now.

Yesterday we went down to Hermosa Beach for a walk, lunch and the Old Towne Fair. Joaquin got a very cool surfboard rug for his room and a cool t-shirt. Today, we worked on the kitchen cabinets, finally they are done (but the kitchen isn't though). We then went to lunch and our boy got his first kid's meal from Rubio's. He had a quesadilla, chips and rice. He followed that up with lemonade (we watered that down though). We then went to Spyder Surfboards and I think he'll be hanging with the cool kids. All the kids working in there were talking to him and he was giving them "high 5's". The pictures attached are of his other new t-shirt (from Spyder) and his new zebra ride-along from the Kreuzkamp's (thanks again Doug and Karen)...but the thing is that he is wearing a size 2, so he's really a big kid now (he's growing up so fast)... which did bring a tear to my face....and then Sonja made fun of me.

We are all doing well and we can't wait to see all of you soon. If you haven't RSVP'd to his party, get off your seat and call us.

Goings on...

We have had a very busy few weeks! We finally made a trip to Santa Rosa and Joaquin got to meet the rest of the family. He was quite the celebrity and all the Grandparents spoiled him ROTTEN! He is becoming quite the character...if he seems a bit leary of you give him food and he will be your BFF.

Just ask Grandpa...


and Rita...


By the way that was some good apple pie...YUM!

All the boys and a girl...


He also got to meet his Grantie Cheryl, Grunkle Ray and Maryann (who had a really cool hairdo for Burning Man). He went swimming in Noni's pool and Grandma threw quite a party on his behalf.




Dad and Mom even got a night out with Auntie Kim, Uncle Seth, Uncle Nick and Grandma Neec at Grandpa's bar--which I might add is quite the classy joynt with the new carpet!

We had a great time and want to thank everyone for making Joaquin's first trip special and very fun! Thank you!

Before we went to Santa Rosa we had a visit from Grandma and Noni for the weekend. Noni bought Joaquin a new car seat for an early birthday present--thank you Noni! Grandma, Noni and Uncle Jason all went to watch Joaquin at swimming lessons. That was lots of fun too. Then we went to Uncle Mitch's 40th birthday party. Where we all listened to Lola sing and laughed while the Orquiola siblings danced.

Let's not forget Isabel's 6th Birthday party! 6! Can you believe? We had a slip-n-slide and a pool (good idea Jeff!) where all the kids, even Joaquin, got to hang out. Everyone had a great time! Happy Birthday Isabel!

It was a tough week for Joaquin...

Poor guy ended up with a double ear infection. We just thought he was playing his "OH NO!" game where he puts his hands to his head any time he hears OH NO! (think Home Alone). Since he also had a runny nose and teeth trying to pop through we decided that we'd better be safe than sorry and went to the doc.

As if all that was not enough, while playing ball with mommy he tried to grab for the ball, but it just kept rolling on the hard wood floors and BAM...face plant! He landed right on his 2 front teeth...blood...screams...tears...fat lip and when I say fat lip I mean FAT lip!

A few days have passed and everything is getting back to normal. The fat lip is gone, the ear grabbing really is the "oh no!" game, but we are still waiting on the teeth.

BREAKING NEWS...
Last night, Joaquin Orquiola was standing up holding onto the couch when not realizing it let go and tried to take his first step! It did end up in a belly flop on the floor, but his first solo step was taken! YAY BUDDY!!!! He will be running around with his cousins in no time! Stay tuned....

Our Weekend

So we had a great weekend. On Saturday, Joaquin went to his swim class and he's really getting the hang of this swimming thing. We then had a nice visit from the Olthuis family. Uncle Cameron just got back from Nicaragua and Joaquin finally got to meet Ady, CeCe and Auntie Amy. Needless to say that Joaquin had a big day and was asleep by 630PM. So mom and dad got to watch a movie. YEAH!!!! Sunday was as an interesting day. We went on a bike ride, which was Joaquin's second time in his bike trailer...this turned out 100 times better than the first time. We did something crazy and decided to go to Venice Beach on a Sunday afternoon with Auntie Di and Jeff. Now we remember why we don't go there.

That's it for now. We hope everyone has a great week.

Haircut update...

Well, the haircut turned out looking like Jim Carey in Dumb & Dumber...I mean serious bowl cut folks! So we decided to fix it up ourselves. Let's just say that we ended up shaving the whole thing.

Final Verdict: ADORABLE!

Judge for yourselves....

Thanks Everyone!

It was a busy weekend....

It started with a Dodger Game Friday night with clients of Ninos. Los Dodgers won and a good time was had. Joaquin also had a good time because he had his firt sleep over with Lola and Lolo. He woke up to party and play only twice that night. Thanks Lola and Lolo!!

Much to Auntie Di's dismay we recruited Jeff to help put in a new kitchen cabinet. It all started on accident, but Nino and Jeff took the ball and ran with it. They worked hard all weekend and finally finished Monday night. The cabinet looks amazing as does the tile they did. They really looked like they knew what they were doing. Thanks Jeff and Nino for all your hard work!!!! And a special thanks to Auntie Di for enduring the hardship of it all!

On another note, Joaquin got his first haircut! Some were suggesting he was an embarrassment and referred to his hair as a feather duster and a stress pencil. Well, we took him yesterday and made the cut. He did really good and squirmed only a little. You can always bribe this kid with food!

We also went to the cardiologist yesterday and got the all clear for another 6 months! WHOO HOO!!! The doc said everything was normal and we have nothing to worry about.

Here are Some New Pictures!

Some recent pictures. The swimming one is funny. He actually scooted off the edge when you cam him a countdown....3, 2, ...1.

Jumping off the edge of the pool!

Too cool and too cute with his fauxhawk.

Sometimes Joaquin forgets he's standing up and down he goes.

Everyone's A Little Better Now

Just to let everyone know that Sonja is feeling better as time goes by. However, Joaquin must have a magnet in his foot becuase he keeps kicking his mom in the tummy.

Joaquin, is geting bigger. He now has four teeth and quite a personality. His lolo taught him how to growl the other day, so he crawls around like growling like a tiger. He starts swimming lessons tomorrow, so we'll be putting pics of that on here.

Happy Birthday Uncle Jason (belatedly).....remember, "brick in the face".

Happy Mother's Day to Everyone

So we want to wish everyone a belated Mother's Day. I say belated because we spent Mother's Day at the hospital. Why you say? Because Sonja decided to have her appendix taken out. She was complaining about stomach pain all day Saturday so how do make it go away? You go to the pool and swim 90 laps!!!

On Saturday night, she couldn't even walk so she called her dad and I call Dr. Carlos. So let me retell that conversation with Dr. Car and Sonja:

Dr. Car: With everything you've told me, I think you need to go to the emergency room.
Sonja: So they'll give me an antibiotic and send me on my way, right?
Dr. Car: No, you're going to need surgery.
Sonja: What?!!!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Randy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!! Yeah, grandpa Randy. Hope you had a great birthday. Did you like the shirt I got you in Park City?

Love you,

Joaquin

Hot, Hot Weekend

It was a hot one this weekend. We started it by going to the beach Saturday morning. We had our Starbuck's and took a walk on the Strand. It was nice, but it was packed. We were there early but it was the day for the Pier to Pier run...so we were rockin' out!!!! We then went to visit Cari, Dave, Dylan and Sydney in Encino. We had a fun time and Joaquin hung out with people almost his size, (dat nah nyce) ....oh, and we cut a tree down with a hand saw. You can ask Sonja how that started. On Sunday, we did chores and had a visit with Tracey and Stacy. We had a great time catching up and telling baby stories since Tracy is 7 months along.

Joaquin's First Plane Ride

I'm leavin' on a jet plane....




Not happy in the snow

Park City with a moose

Mom and Joaquin hangin' out



Too Cool!

So Joaquin went on his first plane ride. Nino had a conference in Salt Lake, so we met him on Friday. We met his work friends and went out to dinner that night. The next day, we went to Park City and Joaquin got to see, feel and taste snow. As you can tell be the picture, he wasn't too happy. We got back on Sunday and are we tired.

Happy 31st Jim and Carol

So Sonja, Joaquin and I didn't feel like cooking dinner last night, instead we decided to go to one of our favorite places...Kincaid's on the Pier. We got there, ordered wine except Joaquin of course. We had the scallop lollipop appetizer and I ordered the Mahi and Sonja the Ahi...hey, that rhymes. So during our dinner I caught a couple waving at us and it was Jim and Carol seated on the other side of the restaurant. Jim came over, said hello and took Joaquin to say hi to Carol. We finished our dinner and barged in on their anniversary dinner...thank you, we had a really great time and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Palm Springs

So we spent the weekend in Palm Springs. We left Friday night and got in around 930PM, needless to say we were a little tired so we called it a night. On Saturday, we had breakfast at Peabody's on the main street (Palm Canyon Drive), it was OK but the service sucked!!! We then walked around and then went back to the house for Joaquin's first time in the pool. He had blast. Sonja had bought him this water toy that he sits in and he loved that thing. He then did a little nude sunbathing, you know how they do it in PS! We went to dinner at Fisherman's Market, which was deeelicious. Sonja and I had the seabass and grouper with chowder and the crab cake appetizer.....we finished that off with a little dessert at Lappert's Ice Cream. We had breakfast this morning at Starbuck's, hanging out and people watching. We got home this afternoon and it was nice to get away for a little while...next stop Salt Lake and Park City!

Joaquin and Dad match surf trunks.

Dinner at Fisherman's Market

Joaquin and Mom in the pool.

Joaquin in his water car

Joaquin Got A New Car

So, it is really a sad day when Sonja had to trade-in her car. It was the car she always wanted, beautiful, fast, obnoxious and impractical when you have a 61/2 month old kid. Not to mention the looks we get when we pull him out of the back seat thru the side window (you know those two seaters aren't meant to take kids to Babies R' Us and Target). So now we have a new beautiful, fast, obnoxious four door, but it's practical....now how's that for spoiled, he's only 61/2 months old and he's got himself a brand new Benz. If only we were so lucky!!! Oh, he will appreciate it, since we'll probably drive the car into the ground.

Joaquin's 6 Month Check Up

Joaquin had his 6 month check up Monday and he's doing well. He is 26 1/2" and he weighs 16.3 lbs. and the doctor says he's advanced for his age because he can crawl and he can make consonant sounds! He must take after his mom. He also got his six month shots...that sucked but he took it in stride....what a good boy.

A Little Update

We have had a busy couple of weeks! First, we had a visit from Auntie Kim, Dukotah, & Bailey. Joaquin made his first trip to Disneyland! He went on the train with his mommy and went crazy....arms flailing and lots of yelling and laughing. Nino took Duke to a Kings game and even caught a shirt from one of the gun thingys that they shoot them out of. That same night Isabel and Seanie came over to decorate Easter eggs. Good job guys!

Joaquin and Dad in the Disney Store.

Some big news for Joaquin...while hanging out at Lolo & Lola's house he started crawling! Well, more of a shimmy, but he is definitely getting where he needs to! YAY buddy!!!!!!!!

Next, it was Sonja's birthday--a night of bowling. There was a good group that made it including Mom & Randy. Jeff was the winner who beat Jason by only 1 point-it was a close game for sure! Good times were had by all. Thanks to all who made it we had a great time!

And finally...Easter. The Easter egg hunt went over big. Isabel, Seanie & Ella have enough candy and eggs to last until next year! Joaquin watched as his crazy cousins ran around in a pack looking for the eggs hidden courtesy of Mom, Randy & Jason. We had tons of good food, but the best was yet to come. It was so hot we decided to let the kids run through the sprinkler. We thought too bad we didn't have a slip-n-slide. Well, Mitch found some long plastic sheets and viola instant ghetto fabulous slip-n-slide! Jeff was throwing the kids down the slide when he himself decided to show them how it was really supposed to be done. To everyone's surprise and laughs Jeff flung himself down the slide!!!! A sight to see for sure. Lee Jay not wanting to miss the fun soon joined in and down the slide he went. Then Jeff & LeeJay decided to really send the kids flying, they took a leg and a hand each and down the slide they slid faster than ever ...now that my friends was GOOD TIMES! Happy Easter~

You Can Give Him a Bath and Clean at the Same Time

Lolo's Back in Town

So Lolo (that's grandfather in Filipino) is back. He got back yesterday and Joaquin got to show off his tooth. Lolo says that he's getting big and he getting very handsome (must be the genes). This morning when I dropped off Joaquin, his Lola and Lolo were hanging outside looking at the cars, the birds and the kids playing across the street.

Happy Birthday Seanie and Uncle Lee!!!

We had Seanie's 4th birthday and Lee's 30th party at our house yesterday. We officially have more kids running around than adults. We had lots of great food and Seanie received alot of presents. Not to be forgotten Uncle Lee got his own cupcakes to blow out with a little surprise. I don't think Lee had too much to say about the decorations because he would have sent with a different theme other than the Power Rangers, maybe Dora the Explorer.

Uncle Seth and Charms also visited us last night, they were in town for the boat expo in Long Beach and Joaquin got to show off his new tooth...that's right the kid has his first tooth.



After the kid's festivities, we went to Kilkenny's on the pier to celebrate with Lee. I would bet that he doesn't remember too much from last night...but we had a great time....30, time is flying.

He Wanted It So Auntie Di Gave It to Him

The Weekend's Over?

Where did it go? On Saturday, Joaquin and I gave mom and little break and we went to the SoCal Golf Expo in Long Beach. I had him in the stroller and as we were walking in, this elderly man looked at Joaquin and said, "there's the next Tiger!". The expo was OK, most of the vendors were selling timeshares to their hotels and golf courses. Not what I expected but oh well. Joaquin did have fun because Uncle Carlos was there with Auntie Tin, Ian and Papa Carlos. Joaquin was very fascinated with Papa Carlos' beard, it tickled his hands. We came home and then Sonja went to the pool. We did go to IKEA to check out kitchen cabinets....we're thinking about it. Sunday was breakfast at the Orginal Pancake House by the beach with Auntie Di and Jeff followed by a trip to Costco for diapers and formula, yeah for us!!!!!! I put up a new light for the backyard...getting kinda handy with a screwdriver. Our little boy is sleeping now, he's such a good kid.

Eureka!!!! He found it.

So we were giving Joaquin his bath and guess what he found? His special boy parts!!!!! It was hilarious, we have a picture but not very appropriate for the site. Sonja and I were crying it was so funny. Who knew that grabbing yourself could get such a laugh.

The Weekend

So Sonja and I had a chance to go out to dinner this weekend. Thanks Auntie Di for watching Joaquin. It was nice to have an adults only night out and then we played poker....that's a full night for us.

So Joaquin ate his first "real" food today...bananas. He really enjoyed them so we're hoping he's not a finicky eater. He is growing up quick but it's been quite a ride so far watching him become his own person...strong personality like his mom.

I started my first day of my new role at work. It's was a little busy trying to get up to speed but I think this will be fun. Sonja goes back to work tomorrow with hopefully some news about her potential new role.

A Couple of New Things

Hi Everyone,

So just to keep you abreast on what we have going on, we have some news for you. Well, I received a promotion at work, which is great! It'll be more "work" but I'm excited for it and it looks like Sonja will also have different responsibilities at her job.

We want to thank Grandpa and Grandma Capri for the wonderful visit this past weekend. Sonja and I actually got to go out to a concert and we came home after midnight....I know, we're running wild for sure.

Now on the Joaquin front:

He had quite a visit from his cousin's Isabel and Sean last night. He adores his cousin's and I think the feeling is mutual. He is getting bigger by the day and you need to see him squinch his nose and make his funny sounds. It's hilarious!!!!!

5 Months and Running

Can you believe that it's been 5 months since Joaquin was born? It has been an adventure for sure. Thought everyone would like to see the then and now pics of this kid. He is quickly developing quite a personality.