Welcome baby Nathan

Congratulations to Willis' cousin Steve and his wife Na!! Their baby boy, Nathan Shaw, was born on Friday evening. We are so happy for them! Hopefully we'll be able to make a trip up to Washington sometime soon to meet baby Nathan and visit his family. And Austin would also get to meet his Great-grandmother (my Dad's side) and all of my other relatives who live there. :)

Ta-daa!

Over the weekend I noticed Austin putting his hands up as if to say "ta-daa." The first time was when he was drinking from the sippy cup, he sat it on its side, put his hands up and said what I think sounded like "ta-daa!" (I just happened to be filming him when he did this..)

Then he started putting things in his mouth, letting go and putting his hands up. So funny, I wonder where he learned that. (More "ta-daas" from today)












Recent Austin updates:

Crawling: Austin is still mostly doing the army crawl or rolling to get around and lunges forward when he's sitting. He can get up on his knees now but he has a little trouble pushing one foot under so it's behind him. Within the last week or so he's been doing that and he also likes to reach out for us to help him stand up.

Playing: He got to play and roll around on the hard wood floor tonight for the first time. We sat down on the floor by the kitchen while Willis was making Kalua Cabbage. He was rolling all over.

Shopping: This morning we stopped by Cost Plus World Market, their ad for a free reusable canvas shopping bag was the draw. After that we walked over to Whole Foods to check out their baby section and get some lunch.

Skills: He can drink out of a sippy cup pretty well now. He knows how to pick it up, put it to his mouth and tip it up so the milk comes out. It's not the kind with a stopper but he can drink and control the milk without choking.

He claps and smiles when we say "yay" or "good job" or clap for him.

I think he's picking up a little sign language. Today I asked him if he wanted more snack (while doing the "more" sign) and he repeated it and his teacher said he was doing the "more" sign a lot at snacktime on Friday. And the other day I believe he did the "eat" sign when he was hungry. I think I need to learn and incorporate more signs into our day.

Kelly's Baby Shower

Austin and I went to Kelly's baby shower yesterday. Little Baby Barrett is due in a couple of months.. The shower was really nice, it was in a garden patio at her friend's house in Hermosa Beach. I had lots of fun chatting with friends and Austin had fun watching all the people. He even got to meet Jake, Peggy's baby, I think he's about 6 months old. Austin finally fell asleep in the sling as people were leaving. I wanted to hang out a little and I was hesitant to leave since I knew he'd wake up when I put him in his carseat, but I eventually decided to headed home. Little did I know that Willis was arriving at the beach a few streets away as we were packing the car to go home. Too bad I didn't get his text until I was almost home.

Two-way streets

Nash has finally been converted to a two-way street. I finally saw the new northbound lanes open this morning, they've been working on it for a few weeks. Douglas is following closely and it should be converted by next week. There have been a lot of changes lately to accomodate the increase in traffic as a result of all the new residential and business developments near our home and work. New condos on Aviation/Rosecrans and Aviation/El Segundo Blvd, new office building on Douglas/El Segundo Blvd, remodeled Air Force Base on Douglas Rosecrans, and a new Beach Babies daycare building on Nash/Grand. Some of the changes on the roads (besides the one-way streets become two-way): my old building on Nash/El Segundo Blvd. expanded their entrance gate to have two lanes, many of the middle islands have been taken out to increase the number of lanes, there are now two left turn lanes on Aviation south to El Segundo Blvd west instead of one and Douglas goes through to Rosecrans now. I love all the shopping along Rosecrans and the new Plaza El Segundo shopping center so I have to accept the crazy traffic. Our area is really booming, I guess it's a good thing.. I'm just glad I don't work far from home.

Austin is eating a lot more solids and he has much more stinky solid poopy diapers now. No more newborn baby poopy diapers. Sigh, he's growing up...

Practice

Austin has started clapping again. He practices something new for a couple of weeks then moves on to the next new thing, so he hasn't clapped in a while. He was clapping with Willis last night at dinner. I took a video of him clapping with a puff snack in his hand. He even moves the snack to his other hand to clap some more before eating it. I'll have to look for it so I can post it. He had a long two-hour nap and was in a very good mood last night, those long naps have been more regular since last weekend.

On Tuesday he grabbed his cup with both hands as I was holding it to his mouth and he gulped down all of the milk that was in it. He did the same the other night when I was giving him milk from a sippy cup. He must have been really thirsty and I don't think he'll have a problem transitioning to a cup from the bottle.

Learning to stand

This morning when I was playing with Austin at day care he got up on his knees, one step closer to a crawl. Still hasn't straightened his arms though. Austin's classmate, Lucca, came over to say hi to me and I helped her stand up. So, after she moved on I tried to get Austin to stand holding my hands the same way. I was able to get him to put his feet flat on the floor and straighten his legs to stand. I was pulling him up instead of him pulling himself up, but his legs are getting stronger.

Test your TV theme song knowledge:
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/webspecials07/interactives/tv-themes-quiz/
I got 8 out 10, how many can you get?

Business as usual

On Sunday there was no sleeping in, I woke up to "business as usual.." After the usual morning activities, my sister, Austin and I took a trip to Target then we rushed off to Willis' basketball game at their new location at the Boys and Girls club in Harbor City. I tried to catch up on rest with two naps that day and Austin took three. :) I'm still exhausted today and my feet are feeling the effects of being in heels all night on Saturday, which i'm not used to.

Austin has been rolling over at night and when I check on him in the middle of the night he is asleep on his tummy. I guess that's what's comfortable. He doesn't put his fingers in his mouth as much when he's eating anymore. He is getting comfortable with eating his solids and doesn't need to put his fingers in his mouth after every bite. We're starting to feed him more variety of baby foods and with a little more texture. So far he eats anything that we give him.

The Murata-Chan Wedding

The day we've been waiting for finally arrived.. Wedding day!! The wedding ceremony took place in downtown LA at Maguire Gardens and the reception was at Cafe Pinot, both adjacent to the Los Angeles Central Library. It was a beautiful location and I loved the nighttime backdrop of downtown high-rises. I met up with Inez and the other girls about five hours before the ceremony at The Standard, which was a block away from the wedding site. We had our hair and makeup done, had a bite to eat, pumped (well, that one was only me), got dressed then we went down to the street to take some pre-wedding pictures. This is when the bride and groom got to see each other for the first time that day. The two of them are so cute together and it makes me teary-eyed to remember that sweet moment. The bride and groom went to take more pics so the wedding party went back to relax in the air conditioned hotel room until it was time to go to the ceremony. The time flew by and before we knew it we had walked up and down the aisle and the ceremony was over. Brent and Inez were now husband and wife and we were celebrating with champagne (and water for me) in the bridal room. At last Inez could sit and rest..

After a few more pictures we got to mingle and find our seats. The tables had a "famous couple" theme and the wedding party was seated at the "Brad and Angelina" table. The food was delicious, speeches were great, had fun talking with friends, met some new people, danced and the cake was so yummy! I had such a great time and i'm so happy for Brent and Inez!

After the rest of the guests had dispersed and the cleanup crew was breaking down the tables and chairs, we collected their lanterns and the remaining centerpieces and headed back to the hotel for the after party. We traveled back and forth between the two rooms getting ready to head up to the roof-top bar only to find out that we were too late and it was closed. So, the party continued in one of the hotel rooms. It was so nice to spend some quality time with our friends.. good times! Willis and I finally headed home a little after 2am, the latest i've been out since Austin was born. I thoroughly enjoyed myself but spent the whole time missing my Austin; wondering what he was doing, if he was eating, if he was being a good boy, if he was enjoying himself, if he was able to go to sleep. Luckily, my sister stayed over so we could stay out and enjoy the festivities. I know Austin had a great time with her and Uncle Bob.

(Photos to come when I have more time to sit at the computer and pick some to post..)

One of the random blogs I frequent, written by a mother of twin two-year-olds, recently summed up the feeling of being a mom and one who is away from her child(ren). She puts it ever so well. http://jonandlaura.blogspot.com/2008/06/thoughts-on-week-not-being-parent-aka.html

A very busy Friday

Austin went on his first fieldtrip on Friday. The three of us arrived at day care to meet up with the class at 9am for the fieldtrip; a walk to the beach at the end of Rosecrans. Almost all of the parents went along. They probably felt the same as we did, how could we miss out on this fun trip? I certainly didn't want to miss out on Austin's first time at the beach. The babies were then loaded into strollers and we all walked to the beach. It was probably about a mile trek and it was funny sight to see our line of strollers heading down the street. Austin was asleep by the time we got to the beach. When he woke up he played a little while on the towel, had some snacks and milk, got a little sun, dipped his feet in the water (it was cooling off by the time I took him to the water and he didn't like the shock of cold on his feet), felt the sand, and had another nap on the way back. It was a fun morning.

After the beach we took Austin home for lunch then off to Supercuts to get a haircut. Austin's second haircut! His hair was really long, almost to his eyes again. He didn't like the lady combing and touching his hair, he kept shaking his head whenever she got close. She was about ready to give up for someone else to try but I asked her for a comb like hers for him to play with and between that and his squeeky book he calmed down. Willis' turn was next so Austin and I walked over to Ralphs to get started on some grocery shopping. It was his first time sitting in the shopping cart. I used the shopping cart cover my mom got for him and he loved it, he could see everything!

We headed home to get cleaned up and ready to go downtown for Brent and Inez' wedding rehearsal. There was a lot of traffic for a Friday afternoon, possibly Dodger traffic? Who knew their outdoor wedding would fall during an LA heat wave. It was super hot so we breezed through the rehearsal then headed to Ciao Trattoria on 7th for dinner. We were in a private room, which was an old converted hotel lobby adjacent to the main restaurant. The room had very high ceilings, artsy decor and was very cool looking. Austin had a good time eating dinner at the table with the adults and soaking up all the activity. It was hot but he didn't complain because he was having such a good time. We didn't leave there till around 11pm and, of course, Austin snoozed as soon as we got in the car.

9 months old

Austin is 9 months old today! We took him for his 9-month checkup this morning. He is now 14 lbs, 14 oz. (my guess was off by 1 oz.) His weight is still low for his age, way under the curve, but he's still gaining weight so his doctor isn't too worried.

Happy Father's Day and Belated Bday

Yesterday was Willis' first Father's Day. He bought an "I [heart] Dad" t-shirt for Austin from the Lucky store in Las Vegas so, after Austin had breakfast and an early morning nap, I put him in his new shirt and we woke up Willis with our Father's Day cards. Austin went to hang out with Aunty Allison at her place while I took Willis to his "brunch" of choice, Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in Long Beach. After our delicious meal, we picked up Austin then headed home so Willis could go get his Father's Day massage. That evening we went to Willis' basketball game where his team won after a lucky last second basket took them into overtime. The Lakers also won which added to a great day.

On Saturday, we finally celebrated my very belated 30th birthday with our friends. We started with lunch at Langer's Deli in Westlake. They were really nice and patient there as they accomodated our large party. I had the Pastrami with coleslaw and russian dressing, their most popular sandwich. It was DE-licious!! It was really big and stuffed with coleslaw and melt-in-your mouth pastrami! Austin and Tesshin got to sit in the restaurant's kiddie seats at the table and enjoyed eating his lunch with us. For dessert, Willis picked up some cute cupcakes at a nearby cake shop. I loved them, they were very yummy! :) I wouldn't mind making another trip to Langer's sometime soon. Mmmm.

After lunch we headed to the recently restored and renovated Griffith Park Observatory. I've been wanting to go check it out since it reopened a year and a half ago. It was really nice and, from reading the visitor's guide pamphlet, it had doubled in public space with the new underground exhibit area. We got to see the many exhibits about the sun, the planets, solar system, light, the Foucault pendulum, Tesla coil (I didn't get to see the electricity flowing through the coil, but Willis got an impressive picture of it on his phone), the view from the roof, sundial, etc. It was a nice, sunny day and, although the view of the LA basin was a little hazy, we could still easily see the Hollywood sign and downtown LA. Austin was napping as we viewed the main floor and the roof, but after he woke up and ate we toured the lower floor where we learned about the solar system and got to see how much we would weigh on each planet. Maybe in a few years we can take Austin to see the Planetarium show. I had such a great time and i'm so happy that so many friends came out to celebrate with me. :)

Miracle worker

Austin's nose was stuffed up this morning, I could hear him breathing all the way from the bathroom when he was asleep in his crib. He was having a hard time eating so I asked Willis to set up the vaporizer. By the time he was done eating, his nose was all cleared up. I highly recommend a vaporizer, it is a miracle worker for stuffed noses!

Today's gas in El Segundo: $4.79 (Chevron Premium)

The countdown

I've started the countdown till Austin's first birthday. Only three months to go and lots of activities left for his first year! To name a few, a trip to Hawaii, trip to Las Vegas, trip to Disneyland, Austin moving on from baby food to big people food, drinking whole milk, weaning and the end of breastfeeding and pumping! I will admit, though, as hard and demanding as breastfeeding can be, I know I will miss that "special" time that Austin and I spend together and one of the few things that force me to stop and take a break from everything else. I will miss listening carefully for the sound of swallowing, the way his hands and arms never stop moving when he's eating, his sweet face when he falls asleep while eating, pulling off and laughing or talking to me, looking around when he should be eating, playing with my necklace with his free arm, an arm poking out from under the nursing cover, clipping his nails when he falls asleep in my lap... How time has flown since I was on maternity leave at home everyday with a newborn baby and we were just starting to learn about each other...

Today's gas in Manhattan Beach: $4.73 (Chevron Premium)!

Rough night

We had a rough night last night. Austin was hungry kind of early but wasn't sleepy when he finished eating. He had trouble falling asleep on his own then he woke up a couple more times through the night. His gums may have been bothering him because he relaxed after I gave him teething tablets, but he was so upset in his crib he wouldn't suck on his fingers and kept rolling onto his tummy and crying. At one point I gave him a burp cloth which soothed him enough to get through a diaper change without crying. He wouldn't lie in his crib so Willis took over so I could get a little sleep since I was so tired. I think it was even more frustrating for me because Willis said Austin went to bed and fell asleep on his own the night before. Maybe it's cuz he knew I was there and wanted to be held? I thought maybe he was still hungry but Willis didn't think so, just having a hard time falling asleep. Sigh.. Well, today he's back to his regular routine so tonight should be better.

(Austin was playing on the floor yesterday and just rolled over and fell asleep for an afternoon nap. I guess he was exhausted from so much activity.)

Austin still hasn't crawled on his hands and knees. He occasionally does a little bit of the army crawl, propelling himself while on his tummy by pushing off the floor with his feet. He does get around, the other day he was sitting next to me and grabbed my pant leg and scooted himself closer to me to play with the zipper pull on my jacket. He mostly moves around by rolling though, which makes diaper changings quite a work out since now he likes to roll over as soon as I put him down.

Inez' Bachelorette Day

Austin woke up crying at 5am yesterday morning with a big stinky, poopy diaper. Yuck! Willis took care of him so I could start my day by pumping, since I slept through my middle of the night alarm. When it was time for Austin's breakfast I fed him, got him dressed, went to the gym, then Food4Less to look for some baby yogurt. So far i've only found YoBaby yogurt at Ralphs in our area. So, I just picked up some baby food and headed home to get ready for Inez' Bachelorette Day. I put Austin's laundry in the washer, fed him his lunch and got ready and Willis was so great, he spent that time picking up lunch, the YoBaby from Ralphs and took my car to be washed. Phew, what a busy day already, and that was only the morning.

Inez' Bachelorette day was a fun opportunity to hang out with the girls. It was relaxing but it was a long day so a little tiring at the same time. I wasn't feeling so great by the time we were seated at dinner after 8pm since I didn't have much for lunch, but I felt better after filling my stomach. I enjoyed myself and am so happy that I got to participate in all of the bachelorette activities. :)

Meanwhile, Austin and Willis got to hang out together and when it was bedtime Austin went to sleep like a pro. Willis said he fed him his bottle then put him in his crib awake and he was quiet and fell right to sleep.

Only two more weeks till wedding day! (Here we are after dinner at Club Sushi)

"New" Mother's Room

The Mother's Room in my building at work was remodeled at the beginning of the week and it was completed on Wednesday. It looks really nice, the walls have been painted a nice soothing green, carpet has been installed, there is new furniture, decorations and paintings on the walls. I'm very happy with the outcome. It's a much more pleasant place to spend my lunches and breaks than the sterile looking room it was before.

Whistling

Austin whistled this morning. He made his lips into the whistling position and whistled! He constantly amazes me with the new things he does.

I [heart] Teething Tablets

Austin likes teething tablets. They really soothe his aching gums (which makes us like teething tablets too). He doesn't like us sticking our fingers in his mouth to rub the tablet on his gums, but if we show him the tablet he'll open his mouth for it. Once we place it in his mouth he chews it like candy till it's gone.

He tried his first baby biscuit tonight after dinner. It's solid and slightly larger than a Nutter Butter, which is pretty big for him. He enjoyed gnawing on it for a while but kept dropping it in his lap when he got tired of it. By the time I threw the biscuit away it was wet and mushy, he had bits of it all over his fingernails and it was smeared all over his clothes, but it was fun watching him enjoy the new experience.

I have free XM radio in my car for two weeks!...while they try to get me to sign up for the service again. It's fun to have it again but I can't really justify spending money on satellite radio since I don't spend much time in my car on a daily basis. So, i'll just have to enjoy the small selection of stations available for my free preview.

Tidbit: Willis picked up Austin from daycare yesterday and the teacher told him that Austin cried every time someone left to go home in the afternoon. :(

Waving

Austin finally started waving to me over the weekend. He waves at other people but when it came to me he usually just stared or cried to me when he saw me or stared at me when I was leaving. It's so cute to see him raise his arm and wave, opening and closing his little hand. My mom was wondering if it means something different when he does it with his palm facing out versus in.

He recently figured out how to get my attention without crying. Yesterday he tapped me on the shoulder as I was leaning against the changing table with my back to him after I changed his diaper so he wouldn't roll off as I wrapped up his dirty diaper and he just smiled when I turned to him. Then this morning when he was eating I put my head back and closed my eyes to rest and he tapped my face until I paid attention to him, and again he smiled when he was acknowledged. :) This is such a fun age because he's really starting to interact!

Willis returned from Las Vegas early this morning. He unfortunately didn't make it to the final table in the WSOP, but he had fun and we're very glad to have him back home, safe and sound.

Today's Premium gas: $4.55 (Manhattan Beach)

Second tooth

I just noticed this morning that Austin's second tooth is finally breaking through!

We went to dinner at the Lows' house last night. We always enjoy seeing them and Austin had a great time watching Danny and Ally (ages 4 1/2 and 2 1/2) running around. They also have a nice carpeted living room with lots of toys. The kids were watching the Rescuers and Austin was playing on the floor in front of me. He was rolling around picking up toys. Every time I looked up at the movie and then back at him he had something different in his hands. He was having such a great time he didn't even cry or tell me that he was hungry or tired even though we didn't leave until almost 11:00pm, but he fell asleep as soon as we got into the car to go home.

Today's Premium gas: $4.39 (El Segundo), $4.35 (Lawndale), $4.53 (Gardena)