Thursday, December 19, 2013

Weekend Recap: Our Modesto Holiday in Photos

Carrying 15 lbs of dead weight passed out baby through the Oakland Airport.
My bow! Bad Kitty!
Christmas #1 with the great-grandparents.
Christmas #2 with the cousins and great aunts.
Looking angelic with Uncle Avery.
Turning on the charm for Mamu.
Showing Uncle Brett how his new toy works.
Catching up with Aunt Anna.
The cousins.
Gangy claimed there are no photos of Ezzy smiling in her arms.
He proved her wrong.
Ezzy's got a bank account. He's richer than me!
Christmas #3 - 1 hour to unwrap 3 presents.
What's more fun, the present or the paper?
Goodbye, Modesto! On our way back home to see Daddy.
Throwback Thursday: Me and my mom 30 years ago vs. me and Ezzy now.
We had the best time in Modesto. Ezzy hasn't seen his uncles and Aunt Anna since our last visit, five months ago. My how Ezzy has grown since then! Last time we spent an hour watching Ezzy trying to roll over (unsucessfully) and now he's sitting up and grabbing things and laughing and chattering like a big boy. Even though we were only there for four days, we managed to see all of our family plus my bffs and still have some downtime for relaxing at home. I wish I had taken more pictures while I was there. We didn't get any with Great-Grandma Kathy, or with my friends. We always get distracted catching up on the last few months of our lives that we forget to take pictures. 

One of my favorite parts of the trip was watching Ezzy spend an hour unwrapping three presents. We all gathered around to watch and encourage him. He would grab ahold of a piece of wrapping paper and flail wildly until it ripped off of the gift. Then he would scream and growl at the piece of paper until he had sufficiently beat it into submission. Then he would usually try to eat the paper, at which point we would distract him with another piece still attached to the gift and begin the cycle over again. 

Grampa and the uncles got to babysit Ezzy for the first time. It was actually the first time Ezzy has been out of mine and Joe's sight for a substantial amount of time. I was gone about three hours, and Ezzy slept the first 40 minutes, was content for about half an hour, was fussy for an hour and was completely distraught the last thirty minutes. As soon as I walked through the door he was all smiles though, with no signs of being traumatized. Grampa and the uncles, on the other hand, were a different story. I always joked that my brothers were my birth control, so now Ezzy is returning the favor.

Also, in case you were wondering, Ezzy did great on the flight. I thought he would sleep, since we were flying at night, but nope! There was too much to see and he was wide awake making eye contact and smiling at anyone who would look our way. The flight attendant commented that Ezzy was better behaved than he was during the flight. I am one lucky momma!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Ezzy's 7 Month Update

Ezzy from 1 week old to 6.5 months old.
Ezzy - everyone agrees that you are the cutest baby, and I won't argue with that, but what melts my heart the most is how sweet you are. You've got at least five different smiles, depending on your mood. There's the close-lipped angelic smile, the big gummy grin, the bashful smile, the giggling smile, and the playful sticking-out-your-tongue smile. Unless you're tired or hungry (or without Mommy for too long) you're such a sweet and cheerful boy. You're getting stronger by the day, and I can tell you are so close to crawling. You want to be mobile so bad, and you get frustrated when you can't get to where you want to go on your own. You absolutely LOVE food. If whoever is feeding you makes you (gasp!) wait for the next bite, you let them know in a very unpleasant way that you are waiting and HUNGRY! The smallest things make you laugh and giggle, and my favorite times are when you and Daddy and I start giggling over a water bottle or a silly dance or song and we'll giggle for a full minute and then suddenly you stop mid-giggle and stare at me with a stony glare like there's absolutely nothing to be laughing at and I must be insane. It cracks me up every time. You are the last thing Daddy and I think about every night before we go to bed, and sometimes Daddy misses you so much that he wants to wake you up for one more cuddle, but we let you sleep and look at the thousands of pictures we have of you instead. We love you more than you will ever know.

Some 7 month stats: Ezzy weighed 14 lbs, 14 ounces at his doctor's appointment two weeks ago, but when I weighed him right now he was 15 lbs, 14 ounces. He's been eating a ton and he feel's heavier, so hopefully that's accurate because he was still in the bottom 10th percentile for height and weight at his last appointment. I forget how long he is, I think they said 24.5 inches at his last appointment. He was wearing 9 month pajamas over the weekend though, so maybe he sprouted in height as well.

Our 7 month daily routine: It's been such a crazy month, with relatives visiting and us going out of town, that any semblance of a routing has pretty much flown out the window. Ezzy has been waking up about once to twice a night once he finally goes to sleep. That's the tricky part. Sometimes he doesn't go to bed "for real" until midnight. By "for real" - I mean that he'll go to sleep in my arms, but wake up as soon as I put him down. Ezzy's a happy boy in the mornings, and he's still good about playing in his exersaucer while I have some breakfast and coffee. Then I'll feed him his breakfast which is half a banana, applesauce, and some rice cereal or oatmeal. Naptime is anywhere between 11 am to 2 pm and I still nurse Ezzy in our bed and then sneak out once he's asleep. A good nap for him is three hours long, but with all of our running around lately he's been making due with an hour or less. Depending on when his nap is, I'll feed him lunch either right before he goes to sleep or right after he wakes up. Lunch is usually some kind of green puree - either peas or green beans. Around 6 he's hungry again, and I'll feed him another puree. Sometimes I'll make it myself, or sometimes I just do store bought. My favorite store-bought baby foods are the Plum Organics. They have such interesting flavors and all the ones I've tasted have been good. Joe gets home around 6:30 and we usually eat around 7:00. Around 8 pm it's time for Ezzy's bath, jammies, story time and trying to get him to sleep. 

Some notable changes from last month:
  • Ezzy is up to three solid meals a day, plus still eating breast milk about every three hours.
  • He's better than ever at sitting on his own. He still topples over sometimes, which annoys him, but a lot of times he's able to catch himself and push himself back into the sitting position.
  • He's making progress on the crawling. He'll get on his hands and knees and sway backward and forward. A few times he's made a big movement like he's trying to lunge forward, but he falls on his face instead. 
  • Right after his six month update he started doing a different laugh. Now, in addition to his gasping laugh (that sounds like he's taking a big, squeaky gulp of air), he also has a chuckle/giggle laugh, which is pretty much the cutest thing ever.
  • He's been eating his meals in his high chair.
  • He rode in his stroller without the car seat for the first time while at Disneyland. It was really useful for naps. I still use the bjorn carrier when we go grocery shopping, but he's so big that it's started hurting my back, so I prefer carrying him over the strap-on carrier whenever possible.
  • He clasps his hands and twiddles his thumbs like a little Mr. Burns. Uncle Brett pointed out that only evil characters do that, which would make Ezzy the cutest, most angelic looking evil character.

Ezzy likes (in addition to his 6 month favorites):
  • Plastic bags (only with supervision, of course).
  • Wrapping paper.
  • Water bottles (he loves them so much, it was worth repeating again this month).
  • Unwrapping presents.
  • Disneyland's parade.
  • Having "conversations" with people. Aka - yelling "AAAaah!" at each other while making wild hand gestures and pounding on his chest.
  • Morning cartoons - anything with a lot of songs and music.
  • The star on top of the Christmas tree when it's lit up.
  • Sticking out his tongue.
  • Food!
Ezzy dislikes:

  • Not being able to crawl forward when there's a toy in front of him that he wants.
  • Not being fed fast enough when he's hungry. He doesn't understand that we need to refill the spoon before he can take another bite.
  • Being without Mommy for too long. I left him for about three hours while I was in Modesto and I guess he was pretty unhappy about it for the last hour and a half.
  • Missing his naps. Actually, we all dislike this one.
  • Disneyland's rides.


Thursday, December 12, 2013

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Annnd...we're out of lights.
Much better!
Quite possibly the cutest ornament ever!
So cute that it warrants another photo.
The finished product.
Tried to capture Ezzy giggling at the tree, but he stopped every time he noticed the camera.
LOVE my growing hummingbird collection.
Ezra 2013
My favorite photo from our JCP shoot
Holly from Trader Joe's

Our house is completely Christmasified! We splurged on a Douglas Fir and every time I walk through the door I'm hit with that wonderful fresh pine smell. Once we got our tree in the stand (a 2-day feat) we put on all the lights we bought last year on and realized that only took care of the bottom two feet, (last year's tree was tiny!)so we made our third Target run in two days to stock up on more lights and tree trimmings. All my hummingbirds from last year's collection have been brought out of hibernation and introduced to a few new friends. Our stockings are hung (by the hallway entrance because we don't have a chimney) with care. Originally we bought "J" and N" stockings for Joe and myself, but then I realized we are no longer Joe and Nina, we're Dad and Mom now, so I exchanged them. Unfortunately they were out of M's, so for the time being I have a funky pink and red "M" to mark my stocking. My favorite Christmas decorations by far are the portrait of Ezzy in his Santa hat and the ornaments commemorating his first Christmas. I smile every time I look at them. Ezzy's favorite decoration is the star on top of the tree. When it's lit up he just stares and stares. I wonder what he makes of it all.

I hope you're all enjoying the festiveness and merriment of the season!

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

25 Days of Giving, Days 1 - 11


Red Cross Holiday Mail for Heroes
Teens for Jeans, Toys for Tots, One Warm Coat donations
I said I would do weekly posts on my 25 Days of Giving project, but nearly two weeks have already flown by, so here's a  quick update:
  1. Christmas cards for solidiers (through Red Cross Holiday Mail for Heroes) - so far this is the only project I have fully completed. The deadline was December 6th, and I managed to make four cards to mail out on the 4th. Hopefully that wasn't cutting it too close!
  2. Donate change to all Salvation Army buckets (#25 on my list) - I have literally only seen one Salvation Army collection person since I vowed to give them all my change. All year round there's one outside our grocery store, and then come December he's vanished! And on my trips to the post office there have been signs where the bucket is supposed to be, but no bucket and no collector. Even at the mall the weekend after Black Friday we didn't see any Salvation Army Santas! What the heck?? The one time we did give them change was at the mall, and that was after I found three dollars on the ground, so it wasn't even my money. I'm still on the lookout though!
  3. Toys for Tots - I picked up that Elmo doll/book combo, as well as a Sesame Street board book (not pictured). However, they're currently sitting on my dining table, so I can't actually consider this completed until I donate it, either tonight or tomorrow.
  4. Teens for Jeans - Currently only two pairs of jeans fit me, but I'm still hopeful more will in the near future, so it was a little hard to determine which jeans to give up. However, I picked two that are really similar to other pairs that I already have, and I doubt I'll miss them and someone else could use them more. However, this drive doesn't begin until January 13th, so I'll just hold onto my jeans for another month.
  5. One Warm Coat - I've picked out a coat I never wear anymore, now I just need to drop it off at the Container Store, either tonight or tomorrow.
  6. Toy Donations for the Children's Hospital Los Angeles - According the website, space is limited, so I opted to pick up a Toys R Us gift card to mail to the hospital. It's sitting in a pile of Christmas Cards that is definitely getting mailed tonight.
Eleven days into December and I've only completed one and 5 halves of the things on my list. And tomorrow evening Ezzy and I are off to Modesto! So I either need to pick up the pace, or accept that it may take me 100 days to complete my 25 days of giving project. I have a few things in my mind for tomorrow though, so hopefully I can catch up!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Ezzy's First Trip to Disneyland, Part 1

Super impressed by It's a Small world... can't you tell?
Ezzy meets Chip and Dale.
"Get your furry hands off of me!!"
Ezzy the Elf meets Santa
Tuckered out after an eventful week.
We've been MIA for the past week because we spent three of the last five days at... Disneyland!! It's our (nearly) annual family tradition to visit Disneyland in December, and this time Ezzy got to join in on the fun. I think his face in the first picture pretty much sums up how he felt about the rides. We only took him on a few, but he was not a fan. He screamed through the first half of the Little Mermaid ride, which was the first one we took him on and the only one where I wasn't holding him. I actually made the grandparents transfer him (illegally, according to Disneyland rules) from their car to mine halfway through that ride because it breaks my heart to hear him screaming. Then he buried his head in my chest and clutched onto my sweater for dear life. We tried a few more rides, but he pretty much kept his head buried in my chest for all of them, except for It's a Small World, where he was brave enough to peek out every now and then, and even seemed to enjoy parts of it.

Despite not being a fan of the rides, Ezzy did enjoy Disneyland. He loves people watching, and Disneyland is probably one of the top five spots in the world for that. His favorite parts were the parade and the clock at It's a Small World, and hanging out with Gangy and Grampa, of course.

I'll be back soon with some tips on taking a baby to Disneyland (and lots more photos), as well as an update to my 25 Days of Giving, but for now I need to try to get my house in order while my tired little elf is still napping. I hope everyone else had as much fun over the weekend as we did!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Family Photos






As much as I love the outdoor setting in our maternity photos, we weren't able to get together with the same photographer, so we decided to take advantage of the super inexpensive Christmas deals at JC Penney's and get our family photos done there. I'm not a huge fan of most of the traditional JCP photo poses (ie - the awkward shots of the whole family sitting on the floor smiling at the camera), so I did a bunch of research beforehand, and went in with a plan of what I liked, and what I didn't. I actually just showed the photographer my Pinterest inspiration page, and she was really receptive to my ideas and let me pick all of the poses. (If you're interested, you can check out my Pinterest family portrait board here.) The only pose I really liked from JCP's website was of a family wearing white t-shirts and jeans in front of a white background. It's not something I would have thought up on my own, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out, especially in the black and white shots. We went on a weeknight, so we were the only ones there. Our photographer was also really good with Ezzy and really fast, which was great because it was at an hour when Ezzy usually gets fussy and sleepy. All in all, I'm really happy with the experience and our photos and I can't wait to hang some of these on our walls!

PS - we also took Christmas photos, but I'm saving those as a surprise, since they'll make their rounds in our Christmas cards this year.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

25 Days of Giving


It's almost Christmas! I've been putting a lot of thought into what kinds of holiday traditions I want to begin this year for Ezzy. Growing up, my mom went all out to make sure Christmas was special and memorable. She did tons of baking and present giving and tree decorating and there was constantly holiday music playing in the background. I remember going through the toy catalog and circling all the toys I wanted (enough to gift an entire village, I'm sure) and then waking up to a mountain of presents under the tree. Looking back, I remember a few of the toys I got, and how fun it was to compare presents with my friends on Christmas day, but the parts that really stick in my mind are the family traditions: decorating sugar cookies, driving around to look at all the lit up houses, decorating our tree while listening to Christmas music, spending Christmas eve visiting family, and then spending Christmas day visiting with even more family, and finally capping off the day at the movie theater with my mom and brothers. So while I'm in no way saying that Ezzy isn't going to get presents for Christmas (he's the first grandchild, so I doubt he'll ever be lacking in the present department), I really want to put an emphasis on family activities and on giving, rather than receiving.

In addition to wanting to set a good example for Ezzy, I have so much to be thankful for, so I came up with the idea to try 25 Days of Giving this year. I'm not sure that this will be a yearly tradition, but I'm hoping to set a foundation of giving all year long, especially during the holidays. Also, keeping in mind that there are plenty of days that I don't even manage to wash my hair, I'm anticipating that there will be quite a few days when I don't do anything, followed by days where I'm able to cross four or five things off my list. I intend to blog at least once per week on the different giving activities we've done. To get myself started, I've come up with a bunch of ideas for giving back this holiday season:

Christmas Cards:
1. Cards for soldiers (deadline December 6th through Red Cross Holiday Mail for Heroes)
2. Cards for hospitalized children (deadline December 11th at Children's Hospital Los Angeles)
3. Cards to distribute through Meals on Wheels
4. Cards for seniors in assisted living homes

Feeding the Hungry:
5. Buy a few extra non-perishable items every time I'm at the store to donate to a local food pantry.
6. Make a casserole for a local soup kitchen.
7. Make brown bag lunches for local homeless.
8. Donate baby formula/diapers to local church or mom's shelter.
9. Donate dog/cat food to humane society.

Christmas Cookies for:
10. Mailman.
11. Fire department.
12. Police department.
13. Hospital workers.

For Children:
14. Toys for Tots (see website here).
15. Magazine subscriptions/books for CHLA (see guidelines here).
16. Toys for children's hospital (see guidelines here).

Clothing Donations:
17. Teens for Jeans - I happen to have about a dozen pairs of jeans that don't fit... (in partnership with Aeropostale, deadline February 16th, see info here).
18. Warm coat donation (drop off at Container Store, see more info here).
19. Clothing donations to Salvation Army and/or Planet Aid.

Random Acts of Kindness:
20. Good online reviews for our favorite businesses.
21. Leave extra big tips for barristas/servers.
22. Let someone cut in front of me in line.
23. Pay for coffee for the person behind me in line.
24. Bring flowers to the hospital to be distributed to random patients.

Other:
25. Donate change to all Salvation Army buckets.
26. Pick up trash when I see it.
27. Donate books/dvds to the library.
28. Sign change.org petitions.

There's also still room on my list for donations to specific charities. St. Judes tugs at my heart, but I'm open to suggestions if anyone has a specific charity that is near and dear to them, message me or leave a comment to let me know! Also, for anyone who wants to explore this idea a bit further, here are a few blogs I came across that helped me out with charitable ideas and random acts of kindness: