I've become an expert

They say that you do it once, you learn, you doing twice and your an expert.  So I officially am calling myself an expert in burning the food...

Now how on earth do I get the black burn off my beautiful stainless steel pot??

Cranio awareness month

Annual Apples and Pumpkins

Definition of Fall: Cooling weather & leave changing colours & Apple picking & hay rides & pumpkin picking!

Apple picking:


The search

the stretch

The prize

Reaping the rewards

 

Just plain fun

 

Me and my cuzzies

 

 

The hayride: 

 

Jaime: whats a hay ride mom

Me: Its a tractor ride with hay in it, and it takes us to the pumpkin patch

 

 

 

The pumpkin picking:

A sea of pumpkins as far as the eye can see



Search party is out looking for the perfect pumpkin

Search party returns

The perfect pumpkin!



practicing for Halloween

Me and my pumpkins

My farm boy

 My next projects: How to bake apple crisp or apple cobbler and How to carve a jack-o-lantern!

Culinary talent

Here are some firsts:

 

My first batch of fresh beetroot (fyi they have magnesium in them which help with leg cramps)

 

Presentation is not great, but they tasted good!

My first (in the US) start from scratch carrot cake:

Plus I had a helper

helper aka helping himself to dough!

Helping with the icing

hard work

Helping with the nuts

Taadaaa!

Soccer: week 2

Week 2 of soccer season. 

 

 

 

This week went off much better.  We arrived early so we had some one on one practice tackling time.  The only issue is that Jaime can control a dribble a little better than me, so I did not seem to be much competition.  But he seemed to enjoy "kicking" my ass at soccer, which helped with finding the "fun" factor in the game.  This week he actually participated in the game and believe it or not scored his first goal.  Yip I said it scored his first goal!  I was so excited watching that I did not get it on video, but man alive his little face shone with pride.  It was truly a brilliant moment!

Helping at home

 

Being a big brother comes with its responsibilities and boy does Mr Jaime want to prove that he can handle it.  Of course he tells me all the time " MOM I can handle this, OK" 

 

So here is proof....

 

Helping Mom: 

 

Helping Dad:

Dad is busy upgrading the design of our bedroom cupboard. Basically the reason why we are still squatting in the baby room. 

Busy week

Its been a very busy week for us, lots of activity in the house, school pics, lots of Dr visits, and a couple of firsts.

The mornings are starting to get really fresh, but still relatively warm during the day.   So getting dressed in the morning is always a little tricky.  The one thing we do stick by is the layer concept, and we hope for the best.

Jaime the morning of his school "fall' photos:

The teachers enjoyed the look especially his skinny jeans ;-)

Next, the Dr visits:

I had my 28 week check up with Dr Pope this week.  He seems very happy with everything.  My blood pressure still good, baby's heart rate is good and lots of movement which is good.  He was pretty concerned about the sudden migraine attack but after letting him know that everything else seemed fine and on par that it was probably a run of the mil migraine.   I really am very happy with my Gynae, he really does go over and above.  I had a migraine on Sunday night, it was still pretty bad on Monday, so I called into the office to get a new script for the strongest tablets I can take while pregnant.  The ladies there said no one was in the office that could give me a script and Dr Pope was on call, depending on the severity I should either wait for tomorrow or page him.  I figured if I had an early night tomorrow would be better.  A mere hour later I missed a call, yip Dr Pope, They must have contacted him and let him know I'd called.  He then followed up even though I'd said I'd wait till the morning.  It just surprised me knowing that even though I may dismiss something he doesn't!

The baby is moving alot lately, giving me huge kicks after most meals.  I have to admit the movement freaks me out a bit on the one hand and am absolutely amazed on the other hand.  Its incredible to think that I have a live human being in my belly!  I never had this with Jaime, so its a huge first for me ;-)

Jaime had his annual physical:
This was a looooonnngg appointment, 2 hours to be exact!  The appointment started with the assistant doing the regular checks weight, height, hearing, vision, and asked several questions.

Weight: 29 pounds (13kg)
Height: 36.25 inches (92cm)

Doing the hearing test

Showing us how he can put his shoes on all by himself

Then we waited a long while for the Paediatrician to come.  This time was spent drawing a picture for the Dr, which eventually turned into a telescope.  Reading books, 3 books a couple of times.

Rolling his pic into a telescope

The Paed was very nice, seemed to connect well with Jaime.  And he of course was just a chatterbox telling the Dr everything, including what he wants for Christmas.  Otherwise, she was pretty happy with everything, mentioned that he was pretty advanced in his speech and appeared to be very clever.  She was concerned about his vaccinations, this got my back up a bit, cause her concern was that he received them in 2009 and that they might have to redo them before he can go to kinder garden.  Reason for my back up is that once you get the vacc you have it, there should be no reason why he should get it again.  My poor kid has been through so much and now has to get poked and prodded "just in case".    Anyway I guess we'll fight this battle later...He did have to have his MMR done and I asked for a flu shot. The other issue that came up was his size and how tiny he is.  Both the assistant and the Dr asked whether we did genetic testing for his small statue.  My only reply was that he was born small, his first 2 years he had major textural sensitivity in the mouth and feeding was an issue.  He is healthy and intelligent so I am not worried.  They questioned me further until I eventually said I was not interested.  This bugged me.

So we wait again, this time for his shots.  Shame this part was bad.  I did not quite know how to prep him for this, besides saying that he is getting an injection like mommy has every day.  This worked for the TB test, which went straight into his lower inner arm.  He watched the whole thing without even switching!  The MMR and Flu shot was a bit of another story.  There were 2 assistants each with an injection.  I stood in the middle holding his arms.  Then they attacked, 2 injection 2 arms, one time!  He freaked out completely, don't blame him! His take on the event "2 ladies injected me on my arms and it really hurt me"

My brave boy

Also this week Jaime had his annual cranio exam:
Now this was a looonnnggg drive for a short visit.  The appointment was at the Boston Children's Hospital in Boston.  2 hours drive in 2 hours drive back!
All in all we meet with a table full of Surgeons, completely overwhelming for Jaime and myself.  The neurosurgeon tried connecting with Jaime and eventually sat next to him.  Did some head feeling around while making some comments.  The Plastic surgeon asked a few more questions like does he have headaches, age at surgery, development over the years.  He noted that Jaime tilts his head to the left and that this could be to compensate for the eye muscle.  So I need to see the opthamologist.  I knew I'd have to see one, as the one we saw in SA said we should have annual check ups.  So no surprise, except the open ended head lilting comment.  Otherwise they were happy and said we should see them again next year.  All this took 20 min.   

Ive decided I'm not going to stress about his size or tilting head.  He is healthy, energetic and intelligent!  What ever has to happen will happen and we'll deal with it! 

So far, I cant get it out my mind....

This I question...?

Why on earth would anyone in their right mind think that this is a good look?

 

 

Soccer season kick off - live action

Soccer season has began!

 

The official start of fall - soccer season begins!

 

Mr Jaime was so excited this morning when I told him it was Saturday, he was literally bouncing off the walls! So getting him focused enough to dress, eat and get out the house on time was a mission, but we did it!



Picture taken to the right of me

So we arrive to parking lot filled with cars "gulp" I seriously did not imagine that soccer was this big.  Anyway we did not panic, we parked the car, and headed toward the fields to look for coach Mat and the sea lions.


Picture taken to the left of me

There were so many people, big people and little people everywhere!  Cant remember how many fields there are ...but trust me its alot!

 

After I'd say about 10 min we finally found Coach Mat! Yippeee!!! And so the extra small kit is put on, and his very own soccer ball is claimed.

 

Practice begins:

Some toe tapping skills

Some dribbling skills

Red robot (stop, toe on ball) and Green robot (dribble)

Goal scoring

 

GGGGOOOOAAAAAAALLLLL
His very first goal, technically

 

standing next to the coach watching everyone else have a go.  Jaime is number 3 on the right hand side of the coach

Running pic for Dad

Now for the game:

Each coach preps their team ie they tell them which goal to aim for ;-)

and they off

looking really professional!

These were all taken during the first 5 minutes of the game.  It took this long for Jaime to realise that there is only one ball and they all have to chase after it if they want a turn to kick it.  The whole team idea was clearly not accepted.  Once the ball was taken from his control he did the "Renaldo" and fell to the ground.  After that, convincing him that chasing the ball was fun and part of the game was a difficult task.  Maybe next week...or the next! 

 

 

Still managed a smile!