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Saturday, April 26, 2014

Easter 2014

Well geez!  I must say, I feel like such a dead beat after seeing everyone's Easter loot for their little ones!  My bad, Sebastian, I'm sorry for shafting you this year!  I doubt that you even care so I guess it's okay.  To be fair, your daddy has put me on a spending freeze so let's just blame him!  ;)  I promise next year I'll step up my Easter basket game!  

For Easter Sunday, we started the day off by going to church!  We were very proud of the fact that we actually made it to a service after talking about it for months!  We are happy to report that the little man was a perfect angel throughout the entire service and even fell asleep while in the Ergo towards the end. 

A little later, we headed to my parents house for linner (lunch/dinner due to the strange timing) and we were also joined by my aunt and uncle.  My mom was so sweet and set up a little Easter egg "hunt" for Sebastian in the living room.  Although he participated, he was much more interested in banging his little hand on the TV stand and DVR (our apologies for the scratches).  ;) 

It's hard to believe that come this time next year, Sebastian will be running around on his own gathering eggs!  Wow!


Highchair = Food = Happy kid



Hurry, I'm HANGRY!



This was the best I could do in terms of bunny ears this year... (Thank you, Old Navy!)



Easter candy and eggs from Granny



Passed out after his one-man Easter egg hunt



Still tired...



Take 2... still not the best, but it'll have to do!  At least Pookie is looking!  :)

My 32nd Birthday

This year, my birthday was celebrated with a bunch of meals with family and friends.  On my actual birthday (April 12), we headed to my parents house for a traditional Filipino birthday meal of pancit (noodle dish) and lumpia (brown people version of egg rolls but better, in my biased opinion).  Lunch was delish but I do want to mention that this was the first year we didn't have an ice cream cake (well, minus a year or two ago when my mom got a not-so-good lemon tart - which I try to block out)!  That's okay though... we really should be on our Hawaii diet anyways!  ;) 

That evening, we headed to Red Robin for a mini reunion with the Leers who were visiting from Germany, along with the Nikonovs, the Shim brothers, Becker, Madison, Julie, and her husband, Dave. It has been SO long since we've seen the Leers and its quite rare for us all to be in one place so it was nice to spend the (short) time together.  The make up of the table has definitely changed over the years! Between three of the families, we had four kiddos at the table! :) I wonder how many more will join the next time we're all together again?!

Finally, on Wednesday night, I met up with Jenny, Stephanie, Jen, and Mingie for dinner at Epulo in downtown Edmonds.  It was delicious and always fun to catch up with the girls!  :) 

Thanks everyone for spending time with me on my birthday!  And of course, thanks to the hubs, Sebster, and Pookster for making me feel oh so special! Year 32 is off to a great start!  Per usual, I failed to take pictures during my birthday events with the exception of the ones below...



Me & my lil' buddy (+ cute lil' Arik)



This is how he usually is... always moving and groovin'  :)



Daddy & his mini



Laura & sweet Arik

9-month Photos

On April 6th, the four of us headed to a little field near downtown Snohomish to take Sebastian's 9-month photos.  This time around, we were meeting our new family photographer, Kristin Harris.  I was a little nervous because the hubs and I are so awkward when we get our pictures taken and it only gets worse when we work with someone new.  Luckily, Kristin was so nice and easygoing - she was so great with both Sebastian and Miss Pookie.  :) 

On top of that, the sun graced us with its presence that day!  Our photo shoot was actually scheduled a week earlier but it was raining so hard we had to move it out a week.  Even though we generally hate taking pictures, I'm so happy we've taken family photos each "milestone" month since Sebastian's birth. Its so fun to see how much he's changed each time!  For these photos, he has a full head of hair again (he looked like an old, balding man in month 4), can sit and stand on his own, and you'll notice his shirt was completely drenched with slobber! Also, he was wearing some cute baby TOMS but they kept slipping off his skinny lil' feet. Coupled with the fact that his pants were a tad bit too long, in some pictures, it looks like he doesn't have any feet at all! ;)  Here are some of our favorites…















March iPhone Dump

Here are some pics from the month of March... 


Morning kisses



Happy boy on his way to school



Could she be any sweeter? 




Omg... when did he get so big?!  :(  I remember when we had to use an infant insert so he wouldn't slip through the straps!



Puppy model



Yummy avocado!



Love him!



1st time eating spaghetti... SO messy! :)



Hehe... I get bored when I pump sometimes...


Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Baby Piggy

After work yesterday (4/8/14), we had to run some errands at the mall and decided to catch a quick dinner at the new “What the Pho Express” restaurant (thumbs down, in case you were wondering).  Sebastian had just finished eating when we picked him up from school so we figured he’d be fine while we ate real quick.  We were wrong!  As soon as we sat down, he demanded (yes, demanded) he be fed!  Eating at restaurants with a baby in tow is a totally different experience than without one but this was the first time he really consumed all of our attention!  I barely got to eat – I can definitely see how many moms get so skinny at a certain point in time!

Don't get me wrong, we're so happy he seems to like food and isn't picky! With each passing day, the food section on his school "report card" continues to grow with all the meals and types of food he's eaten! And ALL of it is eaten no matter what is served! I'm also happy to report that he still loves his breast milk (he better)! ;) Yesterday he seemed super excited about my pho and kept banging his little hand on the table for more spoonfuls of soup and pieces of meat (bad habit, I know). He also tried getting up on the table to get closer to the food and would whine if he wasn't fed fast enough! By the time the meal was over, he was super grimy from feeding himself the meat chunks and his whole person smelled like pho broth. David and I were literally sweaty from trying to feed him all while attempting to keep him and the area clean! ;)  Moving forward we will definitely need to come more equipped with extra bibs and wipes. (Darn, I wish I had a picture or video!)

Oh, and by the way, as soon as we got home, he proceeded to chug two bottles of breast milk before bath and bed time!  He chugged another bottle before passing out, as well.  We’ve got a cute lil’ porky on our hands, folks!  :)

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

February iPhone Photo Dump

I swear, if we didn't have our phones with us all the time, we'd NEVER take pictures!  Here are some iPhone favorites from February: 


Waiting for her Kong treat... per usual ;) 



Wow, he looks SO small (and it was just a couple months ago)!  Here he is with one of his favorite "babies" at daycare - great for a teething boy!



Just chillin'



Showing off his kicks from Uncle Hank



Water baby!



Omg, such a pitiful face!  Cracks me up!



Look at those thighs! ;) 



Probably watching as Sebastian army crawls towards her bone...



Such a sweet boy



I love taking pics of him sleeping... he was feverish on this day and spent a good chunk of the day cuddled up next to daddy (who was also feeling yucky)



Twinsies :)



She loves sitting in the driver's seat when daddy pops into the store real quick


Monday, April 7, 2014

Jaxson's Pool Party

On Saturday morning (4/5/14), we headed to the Lynnwood Recreation Center for a birthday brunch and pool party to celebrate Jaxson's 1st birthday!  A couple of thoughts regarding the party... 1) We haven't been to very many kid birthday parties so it is still very overwhelming to have kids and babies every where you look!  2) The Rec Center is actually pretty awesome!  It was nice, clean, and pretty spacious.  We also really appreciated the family changing rooms which had a changing table, bench, toilet, and shower. We will definitely be going back there in the future!  The Hood is definitely stepping up their game!  ;) 

After we had brunch and watched Jax blow out his birthday candles, the boys headed to the pool.  This was Sebastian's first time in a swimming pool and we're proud to report he really enjoyed it!  I can't swim and my foot was bandaged* so I stayed out of the water and took on the role of family photographer.  :)  We were lucky in that this was a special swim time in honor of the birthday boy so the pool wasn't overly crowded - mainly just the party goers!  HBD, lil' Jax, thanks for inviting us!  :) 

*Foot update: I haven't had to wear my boot since December but unfortunately, my foot is still sore/swollen.  I've gone back to my podiatrist a few times to get it checked out and even got a cortisone shot.  At this time, the next step is to either be "okay" with the soreness/pain or get surgery.  I've been wearing a bandage and brace here and there - its really only bad if I'm on my feet all day.  For now, I'm going to opt out of the surgery route.  Such a bummer that it hasn't healed yet!  Ugh!


Cute lil' birthday set-up!



Check out the "deer in headlights" look he's got going on... ;)



Cute, lil' whale shorts!  They were a little too big for him but luckily his diapers helped to keep them in place!



Daddy & baby hanging out in the warmest pool before heading to the big kid area



You can't tell from this picture, but he was practicing his swimming kick!  Can't wait to get him enrolled in swimming lessons (I might have to take the adult version, as well...)



He loved the whale swimmer thing!




Love this facial expression - I promise, he really was having a good time!  The bubbles were just a bit surprising at first!  ;) 






SO tired after swimming!  He passed out as soon as he was strapped into his car seat!