Our workspace.

Trying to get ready for the perfect pose!



7th Annual Scrapapalooza!



I know that I have posted about my annual scrapbooking retreat with my gal pals. Last year it was supposed to be at our house but trying to coordinate a time after P’s birth and the impending birth of Kristen’s baby, we just ran out of dates!

So, I was looking forward to a weekend filled with laughter, sharing stories, silliness, and of course scrapbooking frenzy!

My gal pals did not disappoint. We had so much fun. As we got ready for our “photo shoot”, we were trying to figure out how many years we have been doing this. Although we started in 2004, we did miss out last year. We are at lucky seven!

In years past, we also used to calculate how many pages we completed for the entire weekend to try to gauge our productivity. We’re over that! But, I did calculate the time we spent actually scrapping. We only took breaks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and stayed up until 2pm each night. Not bad for working gals and moms! We spent about 20 hours scrappin’ the night away (throughout the whole weekend).

I worked on a baby album for my niece’s newborn. My goal was to start and finish it. My mission was accomplished. Here is what I came up with this time around. It seemed to go by really fast this year. I am not sure how or why I was able to finish this album in record time. I think it was because I was much more organized and came prepared with ideas rather than thinking of ideas on the fly. Hmmm…there’s much to be said about being prepared.

Thanks Elaine and Kristen for a wonderful weekend. I can’t wait for the next one!

Layla's album:

 

Welcome to the world!



My niece and her precious baby!



The matriach (my mom) with her younger set of babies (P, Layla, and nephew Maximus)



My older nephew, whom P adores like crazy, with his new niece!



Deja vu? No, that's my nephew a year ago with P.



We welcomed Miss Layla into our household on March 28, 2011. She is my niece and her husband's baby girl. At times when I look at her, she looks a lot like P. I went to my folks this past weekend to meet this sweet little bundle of joy.

As I held her, I couldn't imagine P being so little and squeaky like that! She had that newborn baby smell and was so tiny and light. P was only a little curious and smiled as we introduced her. She didn't even care that I was holding her.

My nephew, who is 2, was also there. So as my sister and I realized, her son is 2, my daughter is 1, and the new baby is obviously newborn at three weeks--this is the same scenario that my mom had. My oldest sister at 2, my middle sis at 1, and me as newborn. We could not imagine having to take care of three kids so close in age simultaneously! Crazy! Kudos to you Mom (although it probably helped that we were such easy and great kids...ha...ha...)!

It will be fun to watch this new wave of babies, on my side of the family, grow up together.

Starting the drinking early!

Hello? Daddy, can you hurry up and get over here?



Bode & Cody doing what guys do...



Lights out. Time for bed, or not!

After spending 4 days straight at home with just Miss P and Jannu, I was ready for some adult interaction! We have been spending time with daycare friends, who thankfully near live us. Seems like most of friends live in SLO, so it's nice to have coastal locals.

I was looking forward to taco night at the Cragheads and also seeing how all the babies would interact outside of daycare.

When P and I got there, the babies all kind of looked at each other, recognizing each other, but wondering why they were all together again. They played so well and just had an all around good time. It was so nice to be able to relax and chat with friends and at the same time, everyone was keeping the other eye on all the babies regardless of whose baby it was!

When it got close to 8:00 pm, we got the pack n' plays out and tried to put everybody to bed in the same room. BIG MISTAKE! All three babies were bawling and not settling down! After about ten minutes of intense crying, one of the moms went in. So, we all had to rescue our own. We ended up putting them in separate rooms and it worked out just fine.

We finally had dinner and more round of drinks around 9pm. We were able to have some grown-up time to chat, tell stories, laugh, and have a great time with new friends.

Peek a zoo! A sneak peek of the zoo the night before.

We have been wanting to hang out with some daycare playmates for a while. After our trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, P had such a great time that we decided to check out our local zoo. So, I initiated an invite to the zoo with two of P's playmates!

We had so much fun. I didn't realize the zoo was so small! It was really just one big loop. No elephants or giraffes! We had a picnic lunch afterwards in the adjacent park and then played on the swings after a while.

The babies were excited to see each other. It was probably weird for them to see each other in a different setting.

P definitely had her own agenda. She was obsessed with the oak leaves--looking, touching, and eating them!

After so many days of rain, it was wonderful to be outside and have the sun shining.

The gang in action.

A wallaby with a little joey peeking out of the pouch!

P's first time on a swing. She was more interested in the other dad next door!

North Coast Mommies rule!

North Coast Dads rock, too!

The oak leaf obsession begins...

...even while her friends surround her.

...getting Lily in on the action.

...hunting for more leaves.

...aha! Found one!

...and another.

...mmm--good enough to eat!

  

...ha! ha! ha! Look at me!

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.