HO HO HO

J's first photo with Santa was a success!  No tears, just strange looks with a raised eyebrow to the man in the big red suit. I laughed a little, as J sat on Santa's lap, because he started wiggling immediately. Even Santa exclaimed, "He sure is hard to hold on to!" Our lil' man is always on the move, picture with Santa or not! We went to the mall with my friend G and her little boy H, who just happens to be 18 days older than J. G and I were a little nervous about meeting Santa and decided to do it together. Turns out the Moms were more worried than the boys! Should be interesting to see what next year brings our way . . .but in the mean time, enjoy this pic of J. (Thanks for the super cool outfit Auntie Ckim)

On the move

Again, time has managed to slip away from me. J keeps growing so fast and now manages a fairly efficient "army crawl."  Here's a little video I took of my the day before Thanksgiving.

Who knows where he'll be at in a month from now around Xmas time. I sure don't think running is that far away. D even said, "Maybe those kid/leash/back-packs aren't such a horrible idea after all?"

Had a blast at Thanksgiving. We had a low-key dinner with some friends and family and three babies around the same age. Luckily, they all took turns getting fussy, so there was never a chorus of crying. I did giggle when all three of the babies seemed to fall asleep around the same time, each one slumped over a shoulder of a babysitter-for-the-moment. Something about babies/children around the holidays that makes things more fun. Now on to the next holiday adventure . . . J's first picture with Santa! Stay tuned . . .

Happy Halloween!!!

For J's first Halloween, we dressed him up as a penguin. Why a penguin, you ask?  Well, when he was born he made lots of "Meh!!" noises that reminded D and me of a penguin. His costume is a little big for him, but you get the idea. Maybe we can use it again next year?  Although, I did see an adorable little boy's lederhosen outfit . . . might have to do that one instead.  Happy Halloween!!

J in his Halloween jammies ready to start the day!

To new beginnings . . . Minus the bread machine

At the end of September, the three of us moved into a new apartment and we have been slowly getting used to our new home. During the move itself, we tried to plan ahead as much as possible, but we all still ended up being exhausted. I think that's just the way things go with a baby in tow now, or at least that's what I try and tell myself. J did pretty well, he freaked out a little with the movers. You could see in his little scrunched face thinking to himself "Who are these big burly men?! Why are they messing with my stuff? And WHY am I in this weird apartment?!?!" Poor little guy. I think he'll like having his own room, because I know Mom and Dad will!

On the final day of turning our keys in at the old apartment, I felt a little sad about leaving it behind. It was the first "real home" Dan and I had made together. Yes, we had lived in previous apartments together in SF, but this one felt like an actual home. We got rid of our crummy college furniture, well most of it anyway, and bought new furniture that actually matched!  We were lucky enough to do this, as we stayed with a friend during our first couple months in LA, and were able to save our pennies. The apartment is also where I rediscovered my love of running and took to the trails in RPV. I will really miss those crisp ocean breezes, flying pelicans, and blood orange sunsets. D and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner one year AND I made my first turkey. It is also the place where I discovered I was pregnant and the first home that we brought J too. Grant it, he was living in our walk-in closet, but I still have sentimental feelings about that apartment. I'm sad that he won't ever remember that apartment, we'll drive him by it one day and say "That was your first home!" Although it won't mean much to him, it will certainly mean alot to his ole' Mom and Dad. Despite my reminiscing about our old apartment, I'm very excited about our new apartment (yay for air conditioning!) and the other adventures that we'll go through together here. To new beginnings!

Eatin' Real Food

We finally moved into our new place. Several new things since our move . . . J's first solid food, D's first 30th bday, and J's baptism.  Here are a couple videos we took of J eating solid food for the first time. His reactions are pretty priceless . . . So far he thinks the spoon magically gives him food, like a bottle, so after sucking on the spoon for a minute or two and no other food "comes out" he gets pretty frustrated. Learning curve here we come!

Silly Charley

Uncle C visited during our last week in our RPV apartment. He was tickling J and got him to laugh so loud!  Never heard a baby laugh so much. We're blessed to have Uncle C in our lives!

go niners!!

Big day on this last Sunday . . . first Niners game for D and J!! Thank goodness they won against the Detroit Lions too! D is a die-hard 49er fan and I'm a pretty strong supporter as well. One of the first things D did, when he found out we were having a boy, was to go online an order a baby 49er jersey. After reviewing this year's roster, D unofficially assigned a 49er to "represent" me and J. The Niner's Linebacker, Patrick Willis, is J's player and Justin Smith, the Niner's Defensive Tackle, is supposed to be my player. D's player is Frank Gore, the Niner's wrecking ball of a Running Back. This way it gives each of us a player to cheer for during the games. Although on Sunday J didn't quite know what was going on or why D would randomly yelling at the TV, I'm sure J pick it up by the next game and help D heckle the players. Now if only I could get J to like the Cougs more than the Irish . . . I suppose I still have some time on that one.

Trailer for "Half the Sky"

I've talked about my support of the "Half the Sky" movement before and today I just watched a trailer about a movie being released about it in October. Goose bumps! Can't wait for it . . .

US Open of Surfing

In late July, Pops came down for a visit and we decided to spend a day at  US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach. Unfortunately, the waves weren't very good, so it didn't turn out to be that great of a show. We definitely enjoyed walking around and hanging out in the sun. Maybe next year, we'll actually get to watch some good waves!

Sun in San Diego and Solvang - Part Two

After I finished up work in San Diego we headed up north for a weekend in the Santa Ynez Valley. Although  traffic was horrendous, it also happened to be the opening day of the Del Mar fair in San Diego, we eventually made our way to a lovely little cottage that I had rented for the weekend. I found it on VBRO.com, as all of the hotels in the area were sold out or way too expensive. It is a great website that allows access to vacation rentals directly to the owners and cutting out those pesky middlemen. I found an adorable cottage on a working horse ranch, that also happened to be attached to a barn. It included a small kitchen, living room area, a bathroom, and a small bedroom. A perfect size for the three of us and the owners were so sweet!

Our Neighbors for the Weekend

Our first morning there, we were woken by the "neighs" of one of our neighbors. We decided to spend the morning in Solvang and get breakfast at a spot known for their danish pancakes. After a delectable breakfast, we wondered around town and browsed the various storefronts. Even got Baby J a new sun hat! 

Some people may think that the Danish-themed town as kitschy or too touristy, but D and I love it! The town reminds me of Europe and I love the friendly "small-town" feel of the area. As we were sauntering around town, we spotted an older gentleman sitting on a bench that looked oddly familiar. The gentleman looked up at us and asked D if he would take a picture of him and his friend. D took a picture of the pair and we started walking on the street again. D turned to me and said "Do you know who that was?!" I nodded and we both said at the same time "Martin Sheen!!" We considered going back and asking to take a picture with J, but decided to leave him alone. He was very friendly and was kind of cool running in to him at a random street in Solvang.

J and his new hat!

The weather heated up pretty quickly and reached 90 degrees by 11 am, so we decided to take shelter in the air conditioning of our car and to drive to a couple local wineries. We weren't sure what the protocol would be with bringing a baby to a winery, but, to our surprise, everyone just fawned all over him. J was a trooper and dutifully smiled at most of the strangers who came up to him and tried to hold his hand or tickle his foot. 

On our way home to the cottage, we stopped at a local organic grocery store and picked up supplies to make cold sandwiches. Once we had finished our dinner, we decided to walk around the ranch and say hello to our neighbors. J got a little excited during the walk and his dinner had a reappearance, but that didn't stop him from having a ball!  

We left the cottage on Sunday morning and headed back home to LA. We had so much fun and I think our first family vacation was a big success! Hopefully we can turn this trip into an annual tradition!!  We'll be back soon Solvang!

Sun in San Diego and Solvang - Part One

Luckily, my first week back at work, D started his two-week vacation. Although it would have been nice to have had to whole vacation off together, we made good use of the time we had!  I was excited that my first assignment back at work was in San Diego. Since D was off of work and it wasn't too far of a trip from LA, D and J decided to accompany me to San Diego. After that, we planned to spend the weekend in Solvang, so needless to say we had a lot of driving ahead of us.

Off to San Diego we went! Drove down Thursday morning and were greeted by lots of sunshine in Mission Bay. As I worked, D and J wandered around the hotel and were troopers hanging out in the heat. After I finished up work, the three of us headed to Ocean Beach to go to Pizza Port. The food and brews were delicious, but it got pretty crowded especially since several pee wee soccer teams were having their celebration dinner parties there too. We headed back to our hotel and all got into our PJs to watch the sunset from the hotel room patio. It was a gorgeous sunset as the sun sank contently and slowly over ocean. As the darkness of the night crept up, we continued to sit and enjoy the view of the water. I don't think we even turned any of the lights on in the room until about 9pm or so. Lovely end to a busy day.

Coming up next, I finished up work in San Diego and the three of us head to Solvang, for our first family vacation together!

Oppaaaa!!

My last weekend before maternity leave over, D and I decided to go to the Redondo Beach Greek Festival. I heard about it from the community board at a local Starbucks and thought it would be a fun “family friendly” event. The three of us headed out, and upon arrival at the Redondo Beach Greek Orthodox Church, we were a little overwhelmed by how people were there. The festival included a gift shop area, filled with Greek-themed and blue/white trinkets; a large food court; and a spacious dance floor with a loud live band. As we walked past the food court, we couldn’t help but admire the wafting smells of cooking lamb, herbs, and gyro meat, with a hint of honey, sweetly floating from the Baklava tent. D and I agreed to sample a Gyro, Greek sausage, and a vegetarian plate. We also thought it would be appropriate to try a Greek beer paired with a shot of Ouzo, a Greek licorice flavored liqueur. However, we were both a little shocked with how strong the Ouzo tasted. I asked Dan if he wanted the rest of my Ouzo, but he respectfully declined my offer. As we consumed our scrumptious Greek foods, we sat by the dance floor and enjoyed watching the dancers and Greek band. As the sun began to set, the three of us started to head home and picked up a piece of Baklava for the trip home. That buttery honey delight was the best Baklava I’ve ever tasted. I definitely think we’ll be at next year’s festival. Hopefully little J will be ready to jump on the dance floor by then.

Sleepy J

When J sleeps he sleeps hard . . . poor lil' dude.

Now if only we could get him to do this during the nigh time . . .

Thanks Pops

It has been a busy a couple weeks. I officially went back to work and D started his 2-week vacation. We also had our first mini-family vacation and lots of visitors. Before I give a recap of the last couple weeks, I have to show you something that Pops taught J. Although we may regret this newly learned skill in the next couple months/years, I still think it’s pretty cool that J could pick up on it. Hope you find it as cool as I do!

A Walk in the Park

D and I took little J for a walk in our local park. It was aeally sunny day and we tried to get J to wear a sun hat, but I don't think it helped him as much as we would have liked. Plus he looked so darn cute that I couldn't stop giggling. Here's a little video that we took off our adventure:

Big Trip

J, Nana, and I had a big trip this past weekend. We took J on his first airplane trip on last Friday to visit some friends and family in Denver. The flight over went smoothly and J handled traveling like a true champ. Once we got there, we were surprised by Denver's scorching dry heat. Every day we were there was over 100 and, by the end of the trip, we were all happy to return to some cooler weather in CA. We started off visiting my Cousin J and her husband M, who are expecting a little dude of their own in August. The next day we went to J's baby shower and indulged in some delicious food at the Cheesecake Factory. I had this amazing chocolate-peanut butter concoction for dessert that was so delicious that it nearly knocked me off my chair. On Sunday we met up with J's family and went over to the South Pearl Farmer's Market and ate arepas for lunch. Unfortunately, it was sweltering hot again and we couldn't stay as long as I wanted to at the farmer's market . . . poor J got a little over-heated. Once his little pale face started to flush bright pink, Nana and I decided to retreat to an air-conditioned Barnes & Noble for some relief. Later that evening we met up with Nana's sister J and her family. We had a blast catching up and were all sad when we had to leave for the airport Monday afternoon. Baby J handled the flight home again like a champ and I'm convinced that he'll make a wonderful traveling buddy in the future. Fingers crossed that every trip is as smooth and as fun as this one!

Here are some pictures from my Cousin J and her hubby M:

Lastly, here's a video Baby J wanted me to post for his cousins B & J:

Dancin'

This last week, we had a lovely visit from Ckim. She came down on Sunday and left this past Tuesday. J fell in love with his Auntie Ckim and she showed him some of her world-famous dance moves. Luckily, I was able to catch some of it on film. We love you Ckim!!!

Happy Friday!!

Aloha Friday from J and I! Smiles all around!!

Nana and J

Last week, Nana visited us for a couple days and here's a little video I shot during her visit.

Ports o' Call

D has been working nights lately and so J and I have been lucky enough to hang with him during the day. Yesterday, we went to lunch at the Congregation Ale House in Long Beach and today we went to lunch at Ports o' Call restaurant in San Pedro. It is a great restaurant right on the water and we sat on the patio and enjoyed our lunch as we watched tug boats travel past us. Lovely day out and about, enjoying being outside.

This last pic made me laugh, J fell asleep with his binky resting just in the corner of his mouth.

Deadliest Catch

Now announcing Baby J the newest recruit for Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" TV show, a reality series that follows several crab fishing boats in the Bering Sea.

Baby J has his fisherman gear all set, including his lucky whale onesie. He confidently told me that he's not scared of the 40-foot-seas and extensive work required on board the tumultuous fishing boats.  I just know he'll be a great "greenhorn."

"Wait! Mom did you say hard work?! 40-foot-seas?! Hmmm . . . well I don't know . . . "

"Actually, second thought, I don't I want to be a fisherman anymore.  Go ahead and cancel my flight to Alaska Mom.  I'm outta here! I have other places to be."

"Mom!!!!  I said I don't want to be a fisherman anymore!!  Get me out of this lame outfit nowwwww!"

I would like to state that Baby J changed his mind in less than 15 seconds. Silly babies . . . so fickle in committing to plans.

Surf City USA

Last week, our friend K came to visit and to meet Baby J for the first time. We had fun together and we decided to take Baby J to the beach for the first time. We didn't play in the sand, but we'll save that for the next visit. Here's a quick video I took of our trip:

Beach Day

Our trip to the beach inspired D to start giving Baby J some surf lessons. J has a little ways to go, but at least he's got a good grasp of the basics :) Here are two videos of his "lessons":

Surf Lesson #1

Surf Lesson #2

Happy J versus Mad J

Here are two little video I took of J right before bed the other night. Amazing how quickly his attitude changes within 30 second time period.

Happy J



Mad J

J's first Easter

D took this little video of J and his first Easter egg hunt. Since J was only 4 days old at the time, so D gave him a little help.

Welcome Baby J!

Its been almost two whole weeks with our sweet little Baby J. He arrived on Wednesday 4/4 and was 7 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches long.  He gave D and I a bit of scare and we had to have a crash c-section, but we were so relieved to hear his hearty cry. I want to write more about the experience, but am utterly exhausted. Apparently, getting regular intervals of sleep greater than 45 min to an hour at a time does not agree with a new born baby boy. Luckily, D has had the last two of vacation and we have been working together to try and get a "routine" going. We've had some visitors stop by and some help from family members too, but I it still feels surreal that I am responsible for this little human being. It is amazing to see changes in him in the short time that we've had him already and we can not wait for the adventures and years to come. Keep us in your thoughts and send all the "good sleep vibes" you can our way.

Here are some pics from Baby J's birth and the first couple days at home.

San Francisco Baby Shower

While we're playing the waiting game, thought I would recap my lovely girls weekend away in San Francisco. It was so wonderful to spend a weekend in one of my favorite cities among some of my closest friends and family members. I flew up on Friday, my cousin J flew in from Wyoming, and we spent the afternoon walking around and getting ice cream sundaes at Ghirardelli Square. Later that evening, some more of my friends met up with us in North Beach and we had wonderful dinner at Mona Lisa's in North Beach. I made the mistake of sprinting after a taxi cab and boy did my lower body pay the price as I was pretty wobbly for the rest of the weekend. Apparently, when you're 8 months pregnant, you shouldn't be sprinting after anything! Oh well.

On Saturday, we had a quick breakfast and got ready for my baby shower at the Axis Cafe in SOMA. It was a gorgeous today and I felt so blessed and lucky to have our lil' dude be celebrated by a close ground of family and friends. Enough of the sappy stuff!  Here are some pictures from the weekend:

 

 Pic of me in front of North Star Cafe in North Beach