Samuel & Jonathan Antman

Hello friends and family,

We’re happy to announce the arrival of our son Jonathan Brett Antman. He was born at 1:08pm on 3/18/11 weighing in at 7 pounds 2 ounces, and about 20 inches long/tall. Everybody is doing well, the labor was mercifully short, and we couldn’t be happier!

Hope you’re all doing well,
- Reuben, Michelle, Sammy & Jonathan

Sam is 2 1/2! On to the photos – they all have captions.

This was Sam’s Halloween costume. Cute overload. We love this photo so much we ordered a 16×20 canvas print of it to put on the wall.

These next couple bathroom shots were taken at a hotel on a visit to Monterey. Hotel bathroom are usually bright with nice even lighting so I can’t help myself.

I love this photo because I was going for an Austin Powers inspired shot, and it actually worked!

These next couple were taken at “Dennis the Menace” park in Monterey. Sam loved running through the various tunnels, which is a good thing because I love taking photos of him running through tunnels. The park is totally amazing by the way, for anyone who happens to be in Monterey and is looking for a good park to go to.

I was dying to take Sam to the snow (I wanted it more than he did to be sure), so we took a quick overnight trip to Big Trees state park over near Arnold, CA. Michelle indulged me, even though she’s 7 months pregnant and didn’t really need to be schlepping through the snow. We stayed in a little town called Murphys below the snow line and then drove 30 minutes from there to go to the snow. It was beautiful, and Sam loved the snow and sledding. This is a shot of the general area where we ended up sledding.

A rare moment where Sam actually tried to make his own snowball. Most of the time he just asked me to make them for him instead. Who can blame him, it’s much easier to farm out your snowball making to dad.

“Go on the sled again! Go on the sled again” he kept saying.

This is at Dennis the Menace park again, where Sam loved climbing on an old retired full-size train. I assure you he’s not wearing a wig in this photo — his hair was just a little… untamed that day.

Outside at the Monterey Bay Aquarium — he enjoyed this spot more than he did being inside the aquarium.

This was a train exhibit at the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco that we went to. They had working model trains going around and around. Sam was in a trance.

He knows that boots & shoes aren’t allowed on the table, and yet, here they are!

If you look closely, you can see that he’s pressing a little button on the door handle of our Prius. This is a little game we play — he knows when I unlock the car with the remote, and then rushes over to lock the doors again before I can open any of the doors.

This was a pretty rare occasion where I picked sam up from school (usually Mom picks him up) and couldn’t resist taking a shot on my iPhone of him sleeping on the little pads they lay out for the kids during naptime.

Here’s another shot of Sam sleeping, this time in his crib.

Sam had a great time stomping around at the pumpkin patch.

They had a nifty duck race area where you push your duck down the channel by pumping water.

Unsurprisingly, Sam continues to be awesome. Some recent highlights included in this post are a trip to Serene Lakes with Grandma Wendy and Grandpa Stan, Sam riding his Radio Flyer scooter, Sam dousing himself repeatedly with water on a hot summer day, and Sam getting his first haircut. We were dreading the haircut (as he usually doesn’t like his hair to be fussed with), but it ended up going much more smoothly than we expected. Although he really just had some hair trimmed off the back, so most people couldn’t even tell that anything had changed.

Trains! Sam’s really loving Thomas the Train these days. He takes his trains everywhere.

He loves riding his scooter, until of course something shiny distracts him and then dad has to carry the scooter for the rest of the walk.

Sam playing in the sand at Serene Lakes.

This blue storage box with wheels is really meant for, you know, storing things but when Sam saw it he yelled “wagon!” and that was that.

Sam trying on some Halloween costume possibilities.  RAWR!

I envy how the world and everything in it is Sam’s playground.

This whole series took place on a hot day when we pulled out the little portable kiddie pool and let Sam go to town with water and a measuring cup.

I just like how his arms are in the same orientation as the robot’s arms on his shirt.

A rare moment where Sam actually stopped moving long enough for me to catch him smiling.

Haircut time!  He was fixated on watching Thomas the Train on a little TV so “Ms. Karen” was able to work her magic.

Sam is talking up a storm these days. Here’s a small sampling of some of his favorite phrases:

• “Take it off!” – Repeated in tommy-gun fashion when he wants some item of clothing removed (shirt, shoes, pants, etc.)
• “Get out!” – Repeated in tommy-gun fashion when you are sitting or laying down and he does not want you resting on your laurels.
• “Tunnel!” – Repeated in tommy-gun fashion when he wants you to use your hand to simulate a tunnel so he can push his trains through it.
• “Cereal bar!” – Repeated in tommy-gun fashion (seeing a pattern here?) usually in the car when he wants a….. cereal bar!
• “I like it” – Self explanatory, but this one is a little more rare than the others.
• “Jam!” – Sam has developed strong opinions about what kind of sandwiches he’ll eat.  Hummus sandwiches and Jam sandwiches are two favorites.
• “What happened?” – This usually comes after he’s smashed, banged, or thrown something.  Usually with a tone of innocence.
• “Hold you” – When he wants you to hold him.

Aside from these 2 to 3 word phrases that he’s constantly using, he’s actually starting to string together more complicated sentences as well.  For example he’ll look at his Elmo sippy cup and proclaim that “Elmo is holding a two!” (which, in case you’re wondering, is quite accurate.)

He’s also taken a keen interest in what kinds of cars everyone drives.  We’re constantly pretty amazed that every time he sees a car that is the same make/model as one that some member of the family drives, he’ll enthusiastically identify it as “Grandma car!” or “Mama car!” even if it’s a different color than the one he knows.

On to the photos.  We took a short trip to Santa Cruz and while we were walking around on the Boardwalk, we hopped into a photo booth at the video arcade.  After scanning the two strips, here’s what we ended up with. Sam is wearing his shades that we bought him so he would stop demanding (and breaking) ours.

Here are a few other highlights from the Santa Cruz trip.

Sam trying out his new shades:

Sam having his very first ice cream cone!

We took sam to a play-place called Studio Grow:

Sam & mom after swimming:

A few shots of Sam & dad in the playroom:

Sam absolutely loves his cars:

A few miscellaneous shots:

Sam went to a birthday party for a friend of his at a man-made lake in Walnut Creek and had a great time:

And last but not least, here’s Sam showing his patriotic pride on the 4th of July, holding hands with a neighbor of ours.

Here are a few Picasaweb albums with more photos to go along with the events shown above. Just hit the play button on any of them to start viewing.

Santa Cruz:







4th of July parade in our neighborhood:







Nathan’s birthday party at the lake in Walnut Creek, CA: