Thanksgiving 2010

Family photo op

Jack with his Uncle Yohan and cousin Rhys

Jack and his new friend Olive

Jack enjoying his first Thanksgiving feast...rice cereal 

Jack and his great-grandparents

Jack with his Great-Grandma Gloria

So happy with Great-Grandma, cousin Rhys and Auntie Melissa

Cousins 7 weeks apart!

Jack with his other Great-Grandma Henriette

Jack with his Grandpa Lee

Grandma Sherry with her boys

Baron!  Yohan and Melissa's oldest boy

It's cold up here in Northern CA!

3 generations

Jack's first road trip was a hit!  We were originally supposed to fly, but we decided to save the tickets for next year and take a road trip all the way up to Danville to visit Surya's brother, wife, and 2 kids.  Jack did tremendously well.  We only stopped once on the way up and once on the way back.  We stayed in Danville from Tuesday to Friday, and then we went to Sacramento to see the rest of the fam.  Everyone loved Jack and Jack loved everyone!  We had a wonderful first Thanksgiving with our baby boy and created many new memories!  Christmas here we come!

I Wanna Be Big!!

When Jack was born, his pediatrician and my OBGYN said that he came out wanting to be a toddler.  I have been in denial (why does my baby want to grow up so quickly?), but after grabbing my fork with red velvet bundt cake and shoving it into his own mouth, I gave some thought to starting him on rice cereal early.  This was not his first incident of grabbing food and salivating while intensely watching the grown folk eat.  Oh no.  Mandi, Anayah's mom, allowed him to take a french fry from her hand to see what he would do with it, and straight into his mouth it went.  Then we thought about how all 4 month olds have an oral fixation, so she handed him a plastic spoon...he wasn't fooled, he held onto it for a few minutes and he kept looking at us as if to say,   "Hey, there's no food on this spoon!"  So, after keeping a log of how much he actually eats in a 24 hour period, I was shocked to see that he is eating about 40 ounces a day!  Yet, at each feeding, he acts as though he hasn't eaten for days!  My mom suggested we try giving him some rice cereal before he goes to bed to see if that satisfies his hunger.  Here is the video (for your amusement) of Jack's first attempt at eating food from a spoon.  We were actually surprised (I don't know why) that he did as well as he did!  We'll see if this helps to satisfy his insatiable appetite!

Daddy's Photo Sesh

Daddy and Jack had a photo session on a rainy Sunday morning.  They work well together, don't ya think?

Rolling Over...or lack thereof

When Jack was born, the nurses at Hoag called him an "Orange County" baby because of his refusal to nurse.  They said Orange County babies like things to come easily and naturally for them, and for Jack, nursing was hard work when he could just have the ease of a bottle flow!  Let's just say I am finding that to be true.  Now a week away from being 4 months old, Jack does not understand my obsession desire for him to roll over ("We've got milestones to reach here, kid!" said his perpetual teacher mom) when being on his back is so comfortable.   I guess you can take the baby out of Orange County, but you can't take the O.C. out of the baby!

Why, you ask, do I torture my son?  That's easy...because I am not working so I have no other students to nag!  Maybe he'll skip rolling and go straight to crawling!

Cookin' Culture Part 2

Jack and I headed back to the kitchen to get our Ecuardorian fix.  Pan de yuca was on the menu tonight.  These warm bread rolls made from yuca flour and queso fresco were a favorite of mine while I was in the mountains of Cuenca, Ecuador.  Jack's new favorite toy?  The yuca flour box.  Why did I spend $$ on all those teething toys again?

Let's get cookin' Mama!

Reading the ingredients

We made a big mess!

Yuca flour and queso fresco

Wait!  I think you forgot some!

Okay Mom, the next thing you add is....

Yummy!!!  Delicious pan de yuca!

Easy to make and yummy to eat!  

Cookin' Culture

My cousin found a website that has all kinds of Ecuadorian recipes.  My mom made locro de papas last night, a delicious potato soup with avocado and cheese.  Tonight Jack and I got to work making some quimbolitos, a steamed, sweet corn cake.  Jack loved being in the kitchen helping his Mama cook!  Doesn't he look a quarter Ecuadorian?! ;)

I got the measuring spoons Mom!

What is THAT giant toy?

Ummm...it's moving by itself!

Just put the food right here when it's finished!

Presentation stinks, in Ecuador they are wrapped and steamed in a taro leaf.  But they tasted delicioso!

Next Project...

Surya's bathroom To-Do List:

1.  Primer walls
2.  Paint top half gray, bottom half white
3.  Add board and batten
4.  Frame mirror
5.  Install new toilet
6.  Install new shower curtain rod
7.  Hang picture and add new switchplates

Whew!  Hopefully this project will be completed by the end of the month!

Bath Time!

Jack loves taking a bubble bath in his duckie and his finished bathroom!  He feels so relaxed in there he usually pees 2-4 times!  He loves it when we pour the water on him.

Whoa!  Is this thing floating?

Chillin' with my bath toys

This water is nice and warm!

Lovin' the duckie!

Jack's Bathroom

We finally finished Jack's bathroom!  Well, almost.  We framed the mirror with molding, thanks to Mandi and Brian, we added bead board, and a double towel bar.  All that's left is adding a few pictures and photos.  Next we are redoing Surya's bathroom.   Yes, you read correctly, Surya has his own bathroom!  I will post pictures soon!

A Change

I decided it was time for a change...what do you think?

Teething

So a few weeks ago I convinced myself that I was not going to be one of those people who go out and buy a bunch of toys for my baby.  Then the sore gums stage hit and hit hard.  It didn't matter what I did, dance, sing, make funny faces, walk and walk around the house holding Jack, I could not make him stop crying.  One thing that did make him stop was sucking, rather violently, on my finger.  Who knew a 3 month old could chomp down so hard!  I do not want to give him Oragel or Baby Tylenol every time he cries in pain (and believe me, this kid can scream), so a trip to Babies-R-Us and 2 online purchases later, I have officially become one of those people.  Maybe even worse.  In this picture Jack is adorning an amber beads necklace (for teething, not style), he is holding Sophie the Giraffe, an all natural rubber teether, and surrounding him are his numerous teething toys his crazy mom bought him.

What was I thinking?

So I bought a scrap book back when I was pregnant that I was sure I was going to fill out for Jack.  That book as you can see still has a photo of another little boy in there, not Jack.  I justified not doing it with not being able to do one for my future children.  So I thought, maybe I will just do a simple pre-made baby book.  I have started that one but have yet to print out any photos for it.  All the while I have been following my good friend Mandi's blog and thinking that is the perfect thing for me to start.  I can type quickly and it is easy to just upload photos.  So Mandi and Anayah came over today to hang out with Jack and I, and so Mandi could help me set up the blog.  What was I thinking?  It took me 45 minutes to come up with something decent enough for our blog name, and that was only the first step!  Oi vey!  Am I too much of a perfectionist for this as well?  We shall see!  I am just going to dive in and see where I get with this.