date night

Last night Rob and I got to go out and paint the town red! (Thanks Mimi & Papa!!!) And of course by paint the town red, I mean walk a few blocks from our apartment and try out a new restaurant for a much needed date night. We actually sat down, at a table, face to face, and had an uninterrupted conversation.

We scoured Yelp for ideas of places to go. We wanted to try something new, go somewhere different. At first we thought about tapas, and then Side Street Inn (as featured on one of our favorite show's, Anthony Bourdain's: No Reservations) and ultimately decided on Yakiniku Don-Day, Korean BBQ. Why? Because we love Korean BBQ and it's fun! You cook your meat and veggies and kimchi, lots of kimchi, on the grill on your table. We sat outside on the patio; the temperature outside was perfect.

By the time we got home... at 9:30, we were pretty tired. Yeah, I guess that's what having a 6 month old does to you. We ended the evening cozied up on the couch watching a rerun of Hawaii Five-0... where Rob promptly fell asleep.

Can you spot the beef tongue? 

why the face?!

We've been feeding Christian rice cereal for the past few days and decided to give our Brezza a whirl (no pun intended) last night. That thing is the bee's knees!! (Seriously, thanks again to my favorite Yummy Mummy!!! Oh, and I'm also awaiting the arrival of those spoons. Who knew you be so excited over spoons?) So, Rob chopped up a sweet potato, dropped it in the Brezza, and in twenty-five minutes, we had perfectly pureed organic sweet potato goodness.

We waited until this morning to feed Christian his first ever vegetable. At first, he seemed to love it... and then it was more of a mixed reaction. Who knew that sweet potatoes could illicit such a face?!

And guess what's for breakfast tomorrow? I bet you guessed right!  

baby physical therapy

Every Thursday, Christian gets physical therapy right here in our home. As I've mentioned before he has torticollis, which means the muscles on one side of his neck are tight. Probably from how he was positioned in the womb.

Here's a picture of him when he was nine days old, and you can totally see how his head is cocked to the right. And it's not the way he's laying, it was always like this. So while he was sleeping, we would try to stretch out his neck, doing exactly what the pediatrician told us to. Because you know, I was completely afraid of breaking him somehow. She had always told us that physical therapy would be a possibility.

At his four month doctor's visit she decided to pursue physical therapy because it seemed to be causing some asymmetry on the left side of his face. So here we are. And this is what baby physical therapy looks like! 

We love these ladies! The one working on him is the actual physical therapist; the other gal is a PT student here for three months from Texas. I can assure you that Christian does not mind any of this, at all. He has a good time and I'm glad. They have praised our pediatrician over and over again for getting him started early, before he's completely mobile. I can't even imagine them having to do this on a crawling (or walking!) baby! So far he is making great progress, and even after only four weeks there's a noticeable difference. Yay for baby neck stretches! And kineseo tape. 

six months

Last week our little guy had his first half birthday! How very exciting! And even after only six months, I can hardly remember life without him. Well, I can, but you know what I mean. He is such a blessing to our lives in about a million different ways.

{left: at the doctor's office just days old; right: doctor's office for six month well baby visit}

In just six months, Christian has gone from that tiny little peanut that mainly slept, ate, and pooped to this little boy that smiles, laughs, babbles, sits-up, grabs things, rolls all over the living room, hates to go to bed at night, smiles (did I mention that?), likes the wind in his face, loves to be outside sitting in shade of the palm trees, and LOVES Baxter. He also has two teeth!! The list goes on. He's been on a total of twelve airplanes, visited two states (not including that random layover in Las Vegas) - Virginia and California, and has two stamps on his passport from Japan and Korea. Post on our trip to Seoul coming soon.  

{one of the many friends Christian made in Seoul}

He's weighing in at 17lbs 10oz, and 27 1/4 inches long. Not quite the little chunkster he used to be! And he is a healthy little boy. He's had a random sniffly nose here and there, but nothing major. [Goes to knock on wood with fingers crossed.] We're still going to the chiropractor weekly, and seeing the physical therapist every Thursday. I am seriously so jealous he gets weekly adjustments, and he loves them. 

I have exclusively breastfed Christian for over six months. We're getting ready to start solids - starting with the traditional rice cereal. I did talk with the doctor about skipping this seemingly unnecessary solid, but she explained why we shouldn't. Iron. He does get small amounts of iron through my breastmilk, but by this age the stores of iron he had from birth are now close to depleted. (I do wonder if our decision to delay cutting the cord has made any difference.) The rice cereal is iron fortified and basically "no one is allergic to rice." To make it as nutritional as possible, we are using Whole Grain Rice Cereal which is made from brown rice. Brown rice has a bit more nutritional value than white rice - more fiber, lower on the glycemic index, less processed, etc. And since the AAP doesn't differentiate the type of rice cereal to use, we're going for it. So yeah, starting tomorrow actually. And in the next week we'll add a veggie - probably sweet potato. I'll be making all of Christian's food with the help of this. And please, don't tell me how unnecessary it is to buy this. Please. I'm all about getting things done with as little work as possible (that's not laziness, that's efficiency!! Ok...maybe a little bit of laziness) - it steams and purees all in one. And therefore, worth it. 

For those that saw my Facebook post about baby-led weaning, my doctor was not in favor of it. So for now I'll be pureeing, but offering finger foods is definitely in the not too distant future anyway. 

We have a lot going on in the months to come - another trip to Virginia (and the Outer Banks, North Carolina), Rob will go to training for the A330 and part of that will be in Miami (boo), and moving into a bigger place. All of these will most certainly be more interesting with a baby that is increasingly on the move! 

Happy Half Birthday, Little Grom! 

SOS

I'm just gonna say it. The last few nights have been borderline hell. And I do believe that these little things, specifically the one on the left that's not quite through the skin yet, are the culprits. I wondered why we didn't really notice too much fussiness when the first one came through, but Rob had a good point. We were on an airplane to Korea, Christian only slept a little on the flight, and when we got to the hotel he did sleep restlessly and was fussy. We figured it was because of the time change, and lack of sleep, everything that goes along with traveling. And it probably was, but it was also probably because the one that's already through the skin was just making it's appearance.

And Hyland's Teething Tablets be damned, they were not doing their job last night. Or, if last night was with the tablets actually helping, we're screwed. I do plan to call the pediatrician to see if we can give him something else. I really wanted to avoid traditional OTC medicines, but I really don't want Christian to be in pain. And we really want to know what it feels like to sleep again. 

And this morning, business as usual. Little stinkbug. 

it was a good afternoon

This afternoon Rob went surfing with a friend at a break close to the Hilton Hawaiian Village hotel in Waikiki. It just so happens that the Hilton has this great little lagoon area where you can rent SUPs, kayaks, snorkels, or just swim around. I decided that after Christian woke up from his nap, we'd also head down to the lagoon and find a shady spot under a palm tree. The water was a tad chilly (relatively speaking, of course), so Christian wasn't into getting wet. No worries though! We sat on the blanket, played with toys, practiced sitting up, and listened to Jack Johnson. We weren't there too long before Rob got out of the water and joined us. I'd say it was a pretty good afternoon!

{laughing at the girl next to us}

{oopsie!!}

{"look at the camera!"}

happy valentine's day!

Rob and I aren't really big celebrators of Valentine's Day. Really. We tell each other we love each other everyday. But alright fine, I'll bite. This Valentine's Day I'm feeling a little more enamored than usual. It's just that, I have this overwhelming feeling of...love. I feel so blessed. I look out my window and see absolute beauty. I say to Rob ALL THE TIME, "I can't believe we live here." Our paradise. I mean, I know that Rob is my soulmate. We really were love at first sight. Our shared love of the beach, the ocean, warm weather, tropical climates, the need to travel and see the world, the ability to have wonderful conversations about airplanes... and now living in Hawaii with our SON.

Our son. 

Sometimes I still can't even believe we have a child. And then he wakes me up at 3am to eat. Joking. But seriously, I look at our little guy and he smiles at me, and I melt. I look at Rob playing with our son, and I melt. I love being able to stay at home with him. Seeing him grow and change before my eyes. Don't even get me started on if I hear Iz's version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." I turn into a heap. I will most certainly cry. There's so much love in my life and seriously, I don't need a designated day to remind me of that. But today is still kinda nice.

yeah. these happened.

Ever since I joined Pinterest I have pinned over a thousand things. Like everyone else that joins Pinterest, I'm addicted. Yesterday I came across a recipe for Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies. As my friend said, they're the Turducken of cookies. Seriously, how much more gluttonous can you get? And I was gonna make them. Of the literally hundreds of ideas/recipes that I've pinned, this is my second time actually following through with making something. (The first time was food too.) It was also the perfect opportunity to use our new KitchenAid Mixer we got for Christmas. Which is so completely awesome, by the way.

But yeah. Last night, these happened. I ate HALF of one. Rob ate two...maybe three, promptly stated, "I feel ill," and went to bed.

{new KitchenAid...yay!}

{of course I ate raw cookie dough}

{double stuf Oreo sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies}

{imagine a tennis ball...}

{they're as disgusting as they look...and I do mean that in the best possible way}

Would I make them again? Probably not. Apparently there can be too much of a good thing. 

and the little one said...

ROLL OVER!

So I know we might be a little late in the "rolling over" department, but the doctor said it would be expected since CRM is such a big little guy. Christian first rolled over on the bed in Japan, but that seemed to be a one time occurrence. He has just recently started doing it "regularly." 

I never really realized that it's the little moments that make me so proud, like cheering for my baby as he rolls over. Those little moments are actually the big moments. So yeah, rolling over is a big deal. And this can only be the beginning of a lifetime of cheers.