A few Movies...

Here are a few movies that we made...hopefully many more to follow.



He really likes to stretch!

Check out this video from October 22. As I am posting this, it is one month later and his arms are so much bigger and fatter. It's amazing what a difference a month makes...He is so skinny here!



These videos taken on my camera are HUGE! I am going to post one more here to see how Blogger handles these files in a posting. Here is the last video I am going to put on here for now. I think it's pretty funny to see him sucking while he is sleeping...here is a quick video of him doing that.





Hope you can see the videos. Please comment if they take way too long to download. I take these videos with my camera, but they take very high resolution videos so they are very large files that I cannot change. Maybe if I had a video editor I could reduce the file size. Anyway, please let me know if the size makes them unmanageable to watch. I can tell you that if you don't watch them, they are almost unmanageable to upload - so please tell me if you cannot view them!

October 24, 2007

I am doing my best to keep this blog caught up. I am a month behind, but that pretty much sums up how things go. We spend all of our time trying to get caught up with everything, whether it be housework, cleaning, or grocery shopping. We are finding that it is not easy doing the smallest of things like just running to the store to pick up diapers. It is kinda ironic how when your family grows, you end up doing more and more stuff alone outside of the house. When you come home, there is a crowded house, but when you go to the store, you go alone because it is just such a hassle getting the baby ready to go and you never know if he is going to fuss or not. I think being a parent is going to teach me to be much more disciplined and not allow me to waste time. I think that is a good thing!

The first week and a half has really flown by and we are enjoying every minute of it. I look foward to when he is more interactive, but I realize this time will fly by and I need to enjoy these times as well. Don't get me wrong, I do; but I look forward to being able to talk and play with him. Penny is doing a great job and is making the transition to motherhood very smoothly. I am not the most patient man, so I am very lucky that she has embraced her role as mother so willingly. Her being a good mom is helping me be a better dad and that is pretty awesome.

Here are a few pictures.

October 20, 2007

I had recently adopted a few siamese cats and Penny and I were a little worried about how they would adjust to the new addtion. Here, we see Thor looking at Joaquin. He is a bit jealous and was the center of attention before Joaquin arrived, so we are still dealing with him demanding attention. I am a bit behind on starting and updating this blog, but we now know that Thor has ringworm and we do not allow him near the boy or to lay on anything of Joaquin's. It is sad because Thor is a great cat and does not understand why he is being snubbed. I wash his nose and behind the ears every night because that is where he is having the outbreak. If any of us gets ringworm, we are going to have to get rid of Thor, so I hope it clears up before we have any problems. He is a great cat and I would love to keep him.

Penny adjusted quickly to her role as a mom. Every sound that would come out of his mouth would make Penny jump to action. I felt a little ignored, but I too am adjusting to my role as a father. I still find it hard to believe how small he is. When we left the hospital, Joaquin had lost almost a pound. Between his weight loss and the potential for him to have jaundice, the nurses really had Penny on edge.

We took Joaquin to his first doctor's appointment on Friday, October 19th, 2 days after we took him home from the hospital. We were both excited to go to see how we were doing in our first few days as parents and to see if we could get him to put some of the weight he lost back on. When we left the hospital, Joaquin weighed about 6 lbs 8oz, and when we got to the doctor at 8 AM on Friday he had put all the weight he had lost back on. We were relieved and now there was no worry about jaundice. The nurses really liked to throw these types of words out there and wouldn't educate you about it, so we would get on the laptop and do our own research. It was nice they had wireless internet because they were not very good sources of information, just fear!

In his first few days at home, we saw some really funny faces that Joaquin would make. Here is a series of pictures that we found to be hilarious!


Penny and I have found parenting to be pretty exhausting. We try to catch naps whenever possible and we enjoy taking them with Joaquin.

October 16-17, 2007

Penny was in the hospital for 2 days after she delivered Joaquin. Monday was spent getting to know Joaquin as Penny recuperated. We took a lot of pictures and passed him among everyone that was there. Joaquin was a very good boy and never cried too much. Penny did a great job of learning what he needed and we both progressed along the parenting learning curve relatively quickly. To me, it's a very tough job that does not get the respect it deserves, but if you are engaged in your child's life I think that they really tell you what they need. When I would get frustrated that he was crying, I realized it was his only way to communicate and he was either hungry, wet, tired, or just wanted attention.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of Joaquin's first few hours/days on earth.


We were grateful when we left on Wednesday. I have never heard Joaquin cry very much, but as we left our room and headed to medical records to verify his name to get his social security number he was screaming the whole way. I was relieved when I pulled the car around and we put him in the car seat and we were on our way home. The fun was just beginning and we would no longer be bothered by nurses poking their heads into our room every 10-15 minutes. We were finally on our way home for the first time as a family.

Welcome Joaquin Sun!!

On Sunday, October 14th at about 4 AM Penny woke me up to tell me she thought her water broke. We had a quick discussion about her contractions, how far apart they were and how intense. She told me that they were manageable and between 10-15 minutes apart. I had read that the contractions dictate the urgency of the situation and because they were not intense, long lasting and less than 5 minutes apart, I told her to try to get some rest.

We both got up around 8 and decided to get some breakfast. We headed to Dunkin Donuts, had breakfast, and arrived at the hospital around 10. Penny's contractions still were not very intense and she was about 1.5 cm dialated. They started her IV and pumped her full of pitocin. After a painful 4 hours she was only 3 cm dialated and they told us to take a break from the pitocin and walk around for a bit. We walked around the prenatal floor for about an hour and they started the pitocin again. At this point, we were at the hospital for about 6 hours and we were not making too much progress. I was thinking we were in for a long, long night.

I knew that Penny was hoping for a drug-free childbirth experience, but at the rate we were heading she was in for a long, painful night. At this point, I turned to her and said that if she was ever going to opt for an epidural that she might want to just go for it now. That way, instead of experiencing all the pain for hours on end, she could try to get some rest. From the expectant father's perspective, the epidural was a blessing. I realize that I am not the one going through the physical pain of labor, but it is not easy watching your significant other struggling with pain and not being able to do much about it. Also, that pain was going to get more and more intense and we had been up for a long time. I did not know how much longer Penny could tolerate it. After the epidural, we were both able to get some rest.

I remember that I felt a huge sense of relief when the pain subsided and we were able to relax for a bit. Now, we could just sit back and try to relax as the drugs thinned her cervix. My mind was racing, but I felt drunk from being so tired and the whole situation felt surreal. The nurse pulled out a cot for me and I tried to get some sleep. I was able to sleep and would be awakened by the nurses and they came in and turned Penny. It seemed like I was sleeping for 30 minutes when they told me to wake up because we were going to have a baby. It was tough because I was so groggy and the moment had finally arrived.

The nurse checked Penny and said the baby was right there, ready to be delivered. I took a peek and saw the top of his head...My first glimpse of my son! He was RIGHT THERE - I mean, RIGHT THERE! The doctor came in and 5 pushes later, Joaquin's head came out. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice, but it caused no complications. I cut the cord and snapped Joaquin's first picture.

Penny and I welcomed Joaquin Sun Zambrano Hintz to our family on October 15, 2007!


Joaquin was 7 pounds 5.7 ounces and was 20 inches long. 26 hours after Penny's water broke, our little man was born!