Sarita-Andy.com

We are celebrating today! Sarita is having a birthday today. Won’t say which one but it is a good one.

Maya and I got her an iPod Touch (so awesome, I think I might let her play with it soon) and a new pair of earrings.

Time Warner Cincinnati is hosting a Cutest Baby contest and Maya wants your help to win and she asked me to appeal to you personally.

In January I submitted the five photos below which will be turned into an on Demand video on the local channel 1111. Between February 14 and March 31, the baby with the most views will win a prize (you need at least 100 views to even be considered).

If you’re a TW digital subscriber in Cincinnati, please watch Maya’s video over and over and over!

Andy Zilch,

Thank you for submitting the pictures of your baby for our Local on Demand Cutest Baby Contest!

Viewing of these videos on Local on Demand channel 1111 will be between February 14 and March 31. Remember, you’ll receive one vote each time someone watches your baby’s video during that time. The baby video with the highest number of votes will be awarded. Prizes will also be awarded for second, third, fourth & fifth place vote totals.

Want to give your baby an edge? Talk to your friends, neighbors and relatives - especially relatives! Anyone who has Time Warner Cable digital cable! Beginning February 14, tell them to tune to Local on Demand Channel 1111 and look in the category: Cutest Baby. Vote early! Vote often!

And while you’re on Channel 1111, check out some of the other interesting videos available.

Today as I drove home, the weather was incredibly powerful. I was driving and felt invisible forces tugging my car left and right. They were so powerful that cars in front of me were slowing down and pulling to the side of the road. As an engineer, I can’t help but imagine the kind of energy that is contained within these winds. If you could create an imaginary sphere around these forces and determine the amount of energy that enters vs. the amount that exits I believe it would be incredible to view.

That sense of awe at the energy contained in the wind is similar to what I feel as the power of time. Just two days ago I experienced what has been my best day as a father. Maya and I spent a full 5 minutes (though it seemed like an eternity) staring into each other’s eyes where she seemed like a fully aware human being.

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Recorded a couple more videos, click on the “more” link to check them out.
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Maya tried to fight sleep today. Sleep won.

So alot of my friends are asking me “so how’s it going, dad?” and “what’s fatherhood like?” This is how I often describe it:

Amazing. Totally amazing. Though so totally exhausting. Even on good days a baby is alot of work; on bad days, when she’s fussy and grumpy, she’s alot of work plus it’s like having the most painful noise in the world playing through headphones that are sewn into your ears.

The best way I can describe it is to imagine the most precious thing you’ve ever had in your life (for me before family I would say that was like my car - which I equate to freedom - or my camera - which is kind of how I tell my stories). Now imagine that you can never let that thing leave your site. In fact, you can never take your hand off that thing. At first you don’t care cause it’s novel and you’re still figuring out how it works so there are constantly new challenges. But eventually you want to put it down and eat or shower or go to the movies.
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This is how we do it.  Happy New Year!

Prior to our dance, Maya was listening to a lullaby CD and fussing like crazy.  I noticed when I popped my iPod onto our stereo (which was on some dance track) that she kind of came to attention… so then we started dancing and by the end of the first song it was like her eyelids were made of lead.  We’ll experiment with other songs an see what music works best.

Amber - This is Your Night - YES
Danni Minogue - Put the Needle On It - YES
BodyRockers - I Like the Way - YES
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy - NO

Today we said goodbye to the physical presence of a great woman.  Sarita’s maternal grandmother, Alfreda M. Capobres, entered the afterlife today.  Living to 97 years old, we have little doubt she’s now looking down on her wonderful family from heaven.

I personally had the chance to visit with Grandma C on several occasions, all of them after a stroke that had affected her memory but certainly not her strength.  During one visit Sarita and I told her we would be getting married.  Grandma C squeezed my hand tightly and in the same sentence both invited me into her family with a trip to her home in the Philippines and warned me about what would happen should I ever hurt her grand-daughter.

Sarita and I took solace in the fact that such a strong woman is now looking over us from her new phase of life.  Grandma C will be witness to Maya’s childhood and we will honor Grandma by passing on the strength she instilled in her sons and daughters and they in turn have passed on to their children.

On our most recent trip to California in October, we visited Grandma to show her that Sarita was carrying her fifth great-grandchild.  She guessed that Baby Z was a boy and suggested we name him “Rudy” - also the name of her oldest son.  We laughed and promised to put the name on the list.  Regardless of the gender, she advised us to love that baby with all our hearts.  We certainly do love Maya with all our heart, and we know Grandma will smile upon her for the rest of her life.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

What a whirlwind past couple days. I’ve written as much as I can remember down on a notepad so I can hopefully fill this post in after the fact.  It all started at 6:40A on 13-Dec, when Sarita called me into the bathroom because she thought her water had broke

Maya lays asleep on my chest in the dark as I type out this post on my phone. My arms barely can hold the phone, but I desperately want to record these memories as I already, 36 hours in the making, feel them fading.

In retrospect there is actually a funnier start to the whole thing. First, my mom’s new husband Roy, a pilot, religiously follows the weather reports and mentioned that the moon was full on Friday night. My parents had come to visit Cincinnati to help with some last minute chores and pick up some furniture. We’d heard that full moons tend to start more pregnancies (no idea if anything scientific to that). Second, in the middle of the night I woke up and tried to hand Sarita a full glass of water. I’d sworn she called out to me “water please!… Water please.” She later in the morning told me she was having a dream about her water breaking.

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What a great night and how great that Barack once again called for a new level of service from the country in his acceptance speech. Sarita and I talked afterward - we could barely sleep last night - and we’re both looking forward to that opportunity. It’s inspiring to have elected a president who promises to ask sacrifice of all of us. Lately our country has been a little lopsided there - asking our military and military families to sacrifice while the rest of us are told to go shopping with a $1500 tax rebate. That’s truly shameful, but it’s going to change soon.

I’ve heard only a few ignorant comments at work today (regarding tax policy or speculating about riots had the election gone the other way), and I’m hopeful that after some of the pain wears off from such a long election cycle we’re able to unite in the spirit of service we so desparately have lacked. After all, that united sacrifice is how this country was born; what greater way to be a citizen and patriot is there?