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.