We made a trip out for P's birthday to Aptos to visit family. We also decided to venture to Monterey Bay Aquarium. I think RT and I were last there for our 2nd anniversary back in 2003!

Of course this was P's first time to any kind of museum. RT's parents joined in the fun.

The main attraction was the seahorse exhibit. They were very fascinating. It was hard to believe that creatures like that exist in nature. They are so unique-looking and come in all shapes and forms! RT's favorites were the seahorses, leafy sea dragon, and the kelp forest. My personal favorite was the tropical fish tank where all the different colors of fish were swimming around. It was amazing to see all those vibrant colors exist in nature! I think P's faves were the penguins.

But, the best part of the day was when P went to the touch tide pools, splashed around, and held some sea stars and kelp. She had a ball!

One thing that struck us as funny was looking at this experience through the eyes of young parents. We saw stroller after stroller, and could relate and sympathize with parents and all the little babies and toddlers milling about.

Afterwards, we had a picnic lunch at Point Lobos State Preserve. Now, the last time RT and I were there was back in 2000 when he proposed to me! That place definitely has a special meaning for us.

It was a perfect ending to a wonderful trip. Miss P did such a great job. She was so good the entire time. I thought she would be too little to enjoy it, but she seemed to have lots of interest in what she was seeing. She was so tuckered out at the end of the day, and she slept the entire way home!

Our evening at the theater.

On our way home on I-5, an amazing rainbow from one end to the other!

This was our first time away from our daughter (with the exception of my short hospital stay last August). RT had a work-related thing in LA last week, and I decided to go along. We decided to fit in a trip to IKEA and a debate in the evening. We took Miss P to my folks the night prior, then drove down to LA.

It was weird to be going somewhere without her. I was actually surprised how many times my husband brought up the baby. (I don't think he was aware of this, and I found it quite cute that he kept bringing her up!). Although we were both looking forward to this "getaway", it was jam-packed with a lot to do that I didn't think we could really relax and feel like we were getting away.

In fact, our evening lasted from 5pm until close to 10pm. We didn't have time to get a bite to eat because we weren't sure how long travel time would be from our hotel to the theater. So, pre-dinner was a Snickers bar!

We got back to the hotel so late that the only places open around us were fast food joints. So, our romantic dinner was Wendy's. Since we never eat fast food, it was actually quite a treat, and we both inhaled our food--we were so hungry. Plus, who can resist a good ol' fashioned Frosty?

We didn't even get to sleep in because RT had to teach the following night so we had to travel back to my folks' house and then back to the coast.

All in all, Miss P had a wonderful time with my parents. She didn't even miss us or cry when we left! Maybe this was a good trial run for when RT and I take a real vacation? We shall see.

We're feeling blue...

I think I celebrated too prematurely thinking that we bypassed the flu season this year. Last week, Miss P had double ear infections, and we thought she was on the mend. Then, this past Tuesday, she came home acting perfectly fine. I fed her, bathed her, and we settled down to go to sleep when all of sudden, she starts vomiting--projectile vomiting! All the colors of the night's dinner came gushing out. Poor, poor baby. We had heard at daycare that some of the parents and even the daycare provider were struck with some strange stomach thing over the weekend.

After we cleaned her up, I was holding her and again the projectile vomiting resumed, but this time it was all over me! Oh well. We were so worried and knew that she just had to get through it, and that there was nothing for us to do. I felt so bad for her and my heart ached for what she was going through. It was a long night, but luckily she was able to finally sleep around midnight or so. To this day, she is still recuperating.

The story doesn't end there. This past Thursday, RT came home from work early. He's not feeling well. All of sudden, he starts vomiting and also has diarrhea every half hour or so for about 4 hours straight. I had no idea he was that sick at first. So, I took care of P while he was miserable.

Then, around 6 in the evening, I start to feel funny, but I think I'm imagining it. Then all of a sudden, I start vomiting. It seemed that it would never end. After 4 hours of this, RT tells me, "You've hit the 4-hour mark. It should subside." But, as always, I'm the lucky one. I vomit for 8 hours straight and my intervals are 20 minutes apart! It was brutal. I know that I was reduced to tears and begging for my mother at one point. I've never been that sick (sans pancreatitis!) like that before!

My poor husband was still sick, but of the two of us, he was in vomiting remission, so he had to take over baby duties. He even managed to take her to the ER (yes, again, a different story and she was fine) at midnight! We went through the RINGER that night. It took us a good 2 days to recover. I shaved off 7 lbs. of body fluid that night.

I really hope that this is the last of the flu season, and I hope that I do not have that kind of flu ever again.

My partner in crime...party planners take a breather!

Finally, the last of my three big projects at work is over! Whew! Hopefully work life can slow down a little and I can focus on other things. So, this annual conservation is a pretty major deal for our organization. It's not a fundraiser. I think we're one of the rare non-profits that do not actively solicit for money during a big event. We host this event to celebrate our accomplishments from the past year and thank our donors for supporting us. We had 200+ folks show up this year along with a few of our county supervisors. Got a lot of great comments and feedback. While I actually love to do this type of event planning, it was stressful this year because I was trying to get things done beforehand and do more, but with the baby I had to forego a lot of my ideas. I'm slowly learning to let things go. This year, I was able to pull in a lot of extra help from volunteers. Our special events committee members also came through, too! And, most of all, my go-to girl, Miss Melissa was my biggest help and sanity keeper!

My parents returned from their trip to visit my sister in Florida. Mom, Dad, and nephew came for an impromptu visit. They hadn't seen the elephant seals since 2006--when my Florida sister was visiting us. What a coincidence! Anyhow, we didn't make it in time to see any live births, but we did see a long stretch of the beach where hundreds of elephant seals lazed about with their harem and newborn pups! We saw one female that had some residual blood on her, so I'm sure she must've birthed a pup not too long ago. Oh well!

I don't really know whether Miss P was looking at the seals or all the people along the boardwalk. It's so amazing to see how big the males can get. It's also quite fascinating to see the bulls establishing their dominance or see them "threaten" the other bulls. Males and their machismo! They're the same no matter the species!

With all those days of rain, we were cooped up in the house for a while, and Jannu was feeling restless. We hadn't walked one of our regular routes for a long time so she was excited when we did yesterday. It was neat to see some of the area where the water table had risen so much that it formed a little lake. As we were walking, RT came to an uprupt stop: our path was blocked by overflowing water from a little stream! Luckily, Jannu is civilized enough to not run through the water and ger herself all muddy! We did an about-face and returned home.

It was also nice to not have water flowing down our side of the street. We need a few days to dry out. All this rain is much-needed, but it is nice to see and feel the warm sun!

Happy New Year! We got a couple invitations to "party" with some friends, and had actually accepted one of them. But, then I started to feel like I was coming down with something and I thought it best not to infect the other babies that would be around. So, we stayed home on New Year's Eve. My cold (or whatever it was) didn't amount to much, thankfully, but I did get another ear infection. This is my third one since last year. Something is definitely going on, but will investigate later.

Lots to do in 2011!

We have lots of plans for 2011, and mostly plans to update the house a little to accomodate our daughter. We plan to move our bedroom downstairs next to her bedroom and forego the master bedroom and use it as a guest bedroom and office. It's a small sacrifice to pay for our piece of mind and to transition her to sleeping by herself in her own room. Normally, it just takes moving furniture, but in our case, we have to scrape the popcorn ceiling off the downstairs bedroom, then prime and paint the ceiling and the entire room. Hopefully, that will get rid of the musty smell downstairs. We figured, since we'll be sleeping downstairs without a bigger bathroom, we may as well update that small bathroom to make it more comfy and give us some incentive for being down there. We'll see what progresses in the next few weeks.

Otherwise, we'll continue having fun with our Little P and enjoy each day that we see her grow and change.

Welcome 2011! Hopefully, economically, 2011 will be a better improvement for many.

We're definitely on the right track with all this rain. The creeks are a-flowin' and the hills are alive with all that green!

Gotta have our rain gear ready!