Wednesday, August 31, 2011

August Instagr.am

I bet you didn't know that August was Happiness Happens Month. So every day I found something that made me happy:

Day #1 - Popcorn & Diet Coke
Day #2 - Put Stevie on the swings for the first time
Day #3 - Seeing Stevie watch Elmo so contently
Day #4 - Having NOTHING on my calendar for the day
Day #5 - Having brunch with these dummies :)
Day #6 - Celebrating a birthday
Day #7 - Watching Stevie feed himself his first cracker
Day #8 - Stevie and I slept in until 9am!
Day #9 - Eating a whole bunch of delicious crap at the Ventura County Fair
Day #11 - My traveling buddies
Day #12 - TakingStevie swimming for the first time
Day #13 - Traveling
Day #14 - My crazy family
Day #15 - Adele show with my SIL
Day #16 - Capturing this image (when I thought I screwed up the shoot) Phew!
Day #17 - Some comfy new kicks (for cheap!)
Day #18 - Stevie enjoying his bath SO MUCH. How can this smile not make you happy?
Day #19 - A big spoonful of Cool Whip before bed
Day #20 - Reese's S'mores and a backyard BBQ
Day #21 - Celebrating all my in-laws birthdays at once at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion
Day #22 - Enjoying the last little bits of a beautiful day
Day #23 - Hot cup of tea, in a quiet bed, after a loooong day
Day #24 - Scoring a cute tie-back denim dress with pockets for $15 at the GAP
Day #25 - These 2 goobers competing for my attention
Day #26 - Sharing the best cookie ever with my hubby on his lunch break
Day #27 - Celebrating another August birthday
Day #28 - Finally getting the hang of this dang Crackle nail polish
Day #29 - These Barbie & Ken wedding photos

Day #30 - This little balloon monkey was just hanging out in downtown Burbank.
Day #31 - No more helmet for Stevie!! Good way to end it.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

8 Months Old

Baby: The most notable thing from this month is the amount of babbling he's doing. He's blowing raspberries and saying "beh, bah, byah". He likes to feel new tooth #2 (bottom middle) with his tongue. He is laughing more and thinks its hilarious when I'm surprised at his coughs or loud noises. We are not much closer to sitting up unfortunately, so we are in the process of getting signed up for physical therapy. I'm sure they will help him better than I can. He went swimming with me twice this month and really enjoyed it (as long as the water is warm enough!) His helmet comes off in just another week or so and we are pretty excited about that. He didn't even have to wear it the full 3 months and his head looks so much better. I can't seem to get him interested in toys much, but he sure likes the iPad, much to my dismay. There is a LOT of Elmo's Song playing around here.

STATS:
Head - 17.5" (30th %)
Weight - 21 lbs 12 oz (75th %)


Height - 27.5" (25th %)

Parents: Husband is still working a lot and that is a blessing and curse all in one. We're glad he has the work, but I know it sometimes overwhelms him that there's SO much to do. He's doing a great job though. And man, Stephen is crazy about him! His face lights up when Baba walks in the room. (No fair!) Just when I start to feel like we are settling into being a mom and dad, something else surprises us. And while it's true that Parenthood in general has been exhausting and difficult in its own ways, we just feel very lucky. We have so much to be grateful for! And we will have the celebration of the year if Stevie ever sleeps through the night.

Mommy's Thoughts: I sometimes wish I could take one day, just ONE DAY, off from pumping. OK maybe two. I know I'll be done with this soon but even I'm a little nervous to stop because of all the free calories! Could I BE more vain...?

Friday, August 19, 2011

Hey Shutterbugs!

It's World Photography Day and I'm having a little contest on my photography blog - come check it out! No need to be a pro, I just want to see some fun pictures!

Submit photos to: info@photographybyjaana.com by midnight (Cali time)

Tell your friends!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

ADELE (Take 2)

All I can say is "Holy Crap." My new girl crush for sure.

I saw her back in 2009, and of course she was great. But this time, she was even more polished and just plain ol' fabulous. She canceled her show back in June, so when I saw that she was rescheduled for the day that I got back from vacation, I was worried I'd be too tired to go! But I sucked it up and I'm so glad I did. On point with every note, not to mention a great sense of humor and an infectious laugh. I am a smitten kitten. She's so FIERCE!!! (I shake my finger with an attitude when I say that.)

If you don't have her new album 21, get it immediately.

Not Too Missour-able (Get It?)

Little Steverino and I just took a trip 1,300 miles from home. I would venture to say it was quite a success! Honestly, I was pretty nervous to:

a) take him on the plane for the first time
b) maintain my pumping schedule
c) drive 4 hours in the car with him
d) have him meet his grandpa, great grandpa, second cousins, great aunts & uncles, etc.
e) do all of this without my husband

Thank goodness for sister and mom! They drove from Utah and we all flew out of LAX together. Our flight to St. Louis was delayed 3 hours (!) but to my pleasant surprise the kids were great during that time with all the waiting around. In fact, they were pretty great the whole trip. My nephew occasionally has a hard time listening - keep in mind, he is 3 - and Stevie had a couple meltdowns in the car. But otherwise, everything was exceptional. Like, no joke. We got some good kiddos on our hands.

When we arrived in St. Louis at 2am (!) our hotel room wasn't ready with the roll-away bed and crib we had requested, so they comped us a 2nd room for free. That was a relief because it gave us so much extra space to spread out. A small hotel room with 3 adults, let alone 2 kids, starts to feel small pretty quick. We slept as much as we could that night and after a little lunch at Chic-Fil-A, we headed over to the St. Louis LDS Temple to see my newly married cousin and his bride walk out. It was quite the reunion since pretty much everyone was there and it was splendid to see everyone. My cousin Amy did the wedding photos - check out her website, she is really fantastic. After the official temple pics, we headed over to a big family dinner where they had a slide show and we honored the bride & groom. We caught a swim at the hotel later that night, and I think we officially wore the kids out. Not to mention ourselves. Sleep couldn't come soon enough!

The next day, we tried to leave the hotel at a reasonable hour to do some sight-seeing before we headed southwest to Joplin. We grabbed breakfast at the cutest bakery called My Daddy's Cheesecake and then headed straight for the St. Louis Zoo to ride the train. It's safe to say my nephew is OBSESSED with trains, so we couldn't resist taking him there. One cool thing about the StLZ is that you just pay for parking and the Zoo itself is free. The train cost $5 too, but at least there was no admission fee. More zoos should be like that. After a nice little ride around the area, we traveled over the see the Gateway Arch. My husband and I stopped there when we did our Midwest Roadtrip in 2009, and it was just as cool to see it the second time. Its just an amazing structure. We couldn't ride to the top because the line was extremely long, but we walked around the museum and tried to stay out of the heat whenever possible. I WILL do that one of these days though!

After our quick tour of St. Louis, we started the trek down to Joplin for my cousin's wedding reception. Stevie had a few tragic fits along the way, and my mom was just a huge help tending to him while my sis and I navigated the roads. We were running so late to the reception that a couple people had to change in the car (that in itself was a comedy act) but we made it and enjoyed our evening. I only wish I'd had more time to stop and take some photos of the tornado damage. I got a few shots from the car, but it was sobering to see up close and personal...

The following day was Sunday and we spent it with the family. We all got together for a big dinner to celebrate my Grandpa's 94th Birthday, and it was a blast. Lots of laughs and photo opps. We watched old family videos of us as kids so that was hilarious and embarrassing. It was just a great day overall. My brother and SIL also cashed in on their Christmas gift and had me do a family photo session for them. Besides the heat and humidity, it went perfectly. The scenery by my aunt's house was so pretty! Such a fun, fun day. That night, we had to drive back to St. Louis to make sure we were there plenty early to catch our flight home. All of that went fine - except for the part when we forgot to fill up the rental car with gas!! Who does that?? It cost us a small fortune, but we made it home safe and sound.

I'm so glad we all went. Some great memories were made and it was good practice for traveling with a little one. Time to plan the next trip!

P.S. If you've never pumped breast milk while in the back of a moving car or in the lavatory of a plane? Well, you just haven't lived.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Cath Lab Results

Cath Lab, Cardio Cath, Heart Catheterization, Angioplasty, Angiogram. It has many names, but it's all basically the same from what I can tell.

Anyway, the results came back as expected. The wee one's heart kind of looks like this:

I found a diagram of a heart online and just sort of filled in the blanks. I did my best to show what issues there are. If you had quizzed me on this stuff a year ago, I would have failed miserably. But now it's such a big part of my life, I just sort of know it. Wouldn't even have to peek on test!

The other issue - not pictured - that they learned about during his first surgery (and confirmed in the cath lab) was that the left coronary artery on the outside of the heart crosses over from the right side instead of coming straight down from the left - called Aberrant LAD Coronary Artery. It doesn't affect the heart's function at all, but is just important to know for his future surgeries so that it doesn't accidentally get cut. That would be bad.

Hopefully having a visual will help people have a better understanding of what is going on in there. Explaining it only in words is so complicated and confusing. I know I didn't understand a darn thing until the cardiologist drew me a picture.

So there you go.

Monday, August 1, 2011

National Ice Cream Month

I celebrated with a vengeance - 31 different ice creams in 31 Days!

Day #1 - Drumstick
Day #2 - DQ Chocolate Dipped ConeDay #3 - Chevy's Mini Deep Fried Ice CreamDay #4 - Crunch BarDay #5 - Smushed Twix Ice Cream BarDay #6 - Push Pop
Day #7 - Tempura Fried Ice Cream from Octopus
Day #8 - Vanilla Ice Cream with Peach Pie
Day #9 - Lime Popsicle
Day #10 - Dreyer's Chocolate Mint Chip
Day #11 - Choco Taco
Day #12 - Trader Joe's Chocolate Hold the Cone Mini Treats
Day #13 - Magnum Double Caramel Bar (Holy Crap)Day #14 - Dibs
Day #15 - Thrifty's Chocolate Malted Krunch (my all time favorite)
Day #16 - Snickers Ice Cream Bar
Day #17 - Trader Joe's Strawberry Mochi
Day #18 - Cherry Pie A La Mode
Day #19 - Wendy's Classic Chocolate FrostyDay #20 - Klondike Bar
Day #21 - It's-It
Day #22 - Trader Joe's Vanilla Mini Cone
Day #23 - McDonald's Caramel Sundae

Day #25 - Strawberry Soda Float
Day #26 - Haagen Dazs Chocolate Almond Bar
Day #28 - Vanilla Ice Cream with Crushed Butterfinger and Crushed Sugar Cone
Day #29 - McDonald's Vanilla ConeDay #30 - Dreyer's Slow Churn Vanilla in a Sugar Cone
Day #31 - Ice Cream Social to Celebrate the Last Day
I wanted to take advantage of my calorie-burning milk-makin' machines while they lasted. Couldn't think of a better way than to have a daily ice cream treat! ...and now I need to ween myself off!

It was fun while it lasted though (And I lost 2 pounds, go figure!)
Next up: Happiness Happens Month