JR Laughing

Justin loves the anticipation of being tickled or being teased with a toy. It is so funny! Sometimes all I have to do is count to 3 slowly with a suspenseful voice and he cracks up.

7 Months Old

Dear Justin,

I know I say this every month, but I really can't believe that you are already 7 months old. You have been out in the world for almost as long as you were growing in my tummy. Your biggest accomplishment in the last month has been sleeping through the night. Just a couple days before your 7 month birthday you started sleeping a good 12 hours straight, and we couldn't be happier! We are so proud of you. We don't know if it's because we started giving you your solid foods in the evening or because after waking up 4 times in the period of an hour one night we let you "cry it out" or because you were just ready to start sleeping- but no matter what the reason, we love it! During the day, you still aren't much of a consistent nap taker, especially in the afternoons- but I'll take that if you'll keep sleeping through the night. You are happy as ever and more and more energetic. You smile at absolutely everyone. When we go on errands, you attract a lot of attention, and you love every minute of it. People are constantly commenting on your big baby blues and your infectious smile that fills your whole face. One woman told me, "He is beautiful. You have to say that all babies are, even if they're not, but your baby REALLY IS beautiful!" Another woman decided to serenade you in the grocery store and then continued in the check out line, and you thought that was just perfect....I, on the other hand, wasn't so sure! Recently, when you want to be extra charming, you tilt your head to one side and give a coy little grin. It pretty much melts anyone who is looking your way. While you smile for everyone, no one can get you to laugh quite like Mom and Dad which makes us feel pretty special. You still love to jump only now you can push yourself up and down even when we're holding you on our hips or you're sitting on our laps. Dr. Ho says she won't be surprised if you skip crawling all together since you like to be up on those strong legs of yours so much. You're eating solid foods now and your favorites so far are carrots, spinach & carrots, and apple combinations. You didn't care for rice cereal, but we are having much more success with oatmeal. You are communicating very clearly too. For example, you DO NOT like your face being washed. How do we know? You hold your breath making your face turn bright red, clench your fists, and angrily grunt at us whenever that washcloth comes near you. You roll across the room with ease, and we have spotted you pushing yourself around on your tummy when you really want something. You are also saying more and more consonants and have said your first word..."MommmMommmmMommmm!" (I think it counts!)

Anyway- you keep us very busy and entertained. Love you lots and lots!

JR's Happy Growling

This kid makes me laugh.

There was probably a good 3 weeks or so when JR was doing this all the time. I especially love that fact that his feet never touch the ground. He has some serious ab muscles inside that squishy little tum-tum of his.

How could I?....

I don't know how...but I completely skipped posting about a VERY important day. Not only an important day, but a day I will FOREVER remember and look back on as one of my favorite days of my entire life. In fact, it was the day that started the rest of my life so to speak. What day? September 27th...our anniversary! Just like last year, I forgot the camera the night we went out to celebrate, but it was definitely one for the memory books and here's why...

...weeks before our anniversary, Ryan was asking friends at school about LA restaurants and getting recommendations from various people. (I told Ryan when we first got married that our anniversary was a date that he was in charge of and needed to plan in advance. So far he has followed through with that request amazingly well and has made both of our anniversaries very special.) So anyway, back to the story. He decided on The Tasting Kitchen, a restaurant in Venice on Abbot Kinney which is a very 'hip' street right in the heart of Venice. It was the first time we were leaving Justin with a babysitter at night, so I was anxious to see how he would do getting a bath and going to bed with someone other than Mom or Dad. (as a side note: he did great and didn't even miss us!) Ok- so The Tasting Kitchen. The menu was designed to look super cool and consequently, Ryan and I didn't even know quite how to order from it. We just asked the waiter, whose name happened to be Justin, what he recommended. He said most people come there and get the "Tasting Menu." The Tasting Menu is basically where the chef cooks a menu just for the 2 of you. The chef chooses everything, and you don't even know what you're going to get until it is brought to the table. There are several courses included and no two tasting menus are the same. Well, this sounded like a fun, adventurous way to enjoy our night out, so we decided we would go for it. It was a little pricey, but we justified it since it was our anniversary, and we hadn't gone out on a date in a LONG time.

Fast forward 3 hours...

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening. We talked about things other than Justin, laughed, and completely loved the meal. The food was delicious, and we tried some things we never would have ordered had it been up to us. (like fried sardines!) We had delicious asparagus, pork shoulder that was so tender it was almost like a spread that you put on these toasted pieces of bread, we had an amazing pasta dish (they make their own pasta fresh daily), some other type of fish, yummy salad, another meat dish, and dessert. The whole meal was great and the service was outstanding. About half way through, our waiter told us that if we wanted more of anything to just let him know since the chef has no idea how much of various course we want. So, we happily ordered a second serving of the pasta course that he had made, it really was amazing.

So- we're all done. We get the bill. I look across the table and see that there are 5 digits in the total! That's right. $---.-- We thought we were splurging when the waiter told us the Tasting Menu was $75.00 at the start. Well, you do the math. That's right, it was more than double the $75 we thought we were going to be spending! Turns out the $75 was per person and the extra pasta serving was also extra $. Ryan and I both started sweating and would have done dishes if we were allowed to.

Needless to say, we paid the bill, despite the outrageous total, and decided to think of it like a parking ticket...you just pay it and don't think about that $ again. We appeased ourselves by remembering that it was a special night out, we hadn't spent our budgeted date money in a long time, the food was delicious, our babysitter was free, we had free parking (a rarity in LA), and it would be an anniversary story we will never forget!

The past two years have been a lot like our date night- fun, full of laughter, some difficult moments, some unforgettable moments, great adventures, unexpected surprises, and much more. I feel so blessed to have a man in my life like Ryan who truly puts our family first and tries his best everyday to make my life happier. He is an example to me in more ways than I can count. I love him so much, and I look forward to being with him for eternity.

October Flew By...

Where did the month of October go? Honestly, does anyone else feel that way? I guess it was a pretty eventful month, and that's why it went so fast. Here are a few photos that show what we have been up to....

We went to Sea World

(JR had one of his biggest blowouts EVER and while trying to get the onesie off, he turned his head and smudged it all over his hair. Disgusting, but hilarious at the same time.)

Sat and played with toys. I love this stage!

Went to the Getty Villa in Malibu

Tried lots of new foods. This was JR trying out prunes for the first time. Yummy yum!

And our favorite event of the month...meeting Uncle Max! After 2 years in Korea, Max is back and can officially call himself a returned missionary. I am so proud of him. He served so honorably and has come back with such spiritual maturity while maintaining his fantastic sense of humor. It was great to finally get to hear about his experiences in Korea in person. I loved catching him say wrong English words here and there and just loved being able to say little things like, "Where's Max?" or "Wanna come with us Max?"! JR was an instant fan. Welcome home little brother.

While we were up in Walnut Creek, we also got to go to a high school football game and see Luke play. He is #22. It was supposed to be a really tough game because the other team was ranked really high, but the Northgate Broncos remain undefeated this season!