Baby B's 9 Month Well Check Appointment

I can't believe my little Baby B is 9 months old! We had our 9 month well check today and the numbers are in:

Weight: 18 lbs 12 oz (46%)
Height: 28 inches (62%)
Head Circumference: 17.76 inches (79%)

Compared to the last visit at 6 months (70's% all the way around), her weight and height has tapered off a bit, but her head continues to grow! LOL!

Here's a brief update on Baby B's happenings...she is sitting up pretty sturdy now and started to lunge in different directions to grab things and only toppling over and boinking her head maybe 5% of the time now. She is not crawling yet, but we think it will happen very soon (we are in NO hurry!) When she does get mobile, let the toy tantrums begin! (between Baby B & C)

Baby B is babbling a lot, which is the cutest thing ever! I love non-words...well, except when she is upset/frustrated and I can't figure out what she wants, then everyone is frustrated!

She is STILL not sleeping through the night consistently. We have good days and bad ones. Months 5-8 were rough, pretty much sleeping/waking every 3-4 hours. Now, she sleeps through maybe 50% of the time, and it's totally random, doesn't matter if she took her naps or not, etc. Naps are a struggle too, she only takes two...one 30-ish minute one in the AM, and then if we are lucky, 1 hour in the afternoon. Looks like we have ANOTHER cat napper/light sleeper/will sleep in the car only when moving on the freeway/nursing to sleep baby. I have not had a good night's sleep in a long while! Oh wells. I just have to keep in mind that...this too shall pass.....!!!

Baby B has always and continues to be quite clingy to me, I am sure it is just a developmental stage, but it is quite taxing on my body! Daddy J tries to help out, but if she is cranky, once she sees me or hears my voice, it's OVER. Oh wells, this too shall pass! =)

She is a great eater, she is eating table foods now. Some of her favorites are chicken (just like big sis), green beans, sweet potato fries (roasted), baby carrots (steamed), rice, sea bass (baked) and yogurt. She is pretty open to whatever we give her, and she basically eats whatever we eat unless it is spicy. We also try to let her self-feed as much as possible, except for things like yogurt. =)

Baby C continues to be a great big sister to Baby B. It's also great to have a silly toddler around to entertain the little one!

Impulse Buys

Question of the day: What is it about farmer's markets, street festivals, fairs, carnivals, and other fun outdoor events that make one buy ginorous tubes of kettle corn?

Karate!

Yesterday, we went to our second trial class of karate and Baby C got her white belt! OK, OK, you don't need much to get your white belt except show up, but still kinda cool. LOL!

I want Baby C to not only learn basic martial arts and self defense moves (for preschool of course! LOL), but more importantly, discipline, respect, attention, control, and confidence.

We have a one month trial at Pallen Martial Arts in CV. So far, Baby C really digs it, and the instructors (and us) are pleasantly surprised at how quickly she is picking things up, but I am still unsure if she is still too young. They require a one year commitment and it is NOT cheap. UGH! There are cheaper karate places locally, but this one comes recommended by a few friends.

She obviously still needs to work on her form, but super cute watching her trying to keep up with all the moves! Here are some pictures of Baby C in action:

Master said "horse stance" , not "horse DANCE"! Who's shaking their bootie?

Still need to work on the "horse stance".

Splits and dip - pretty intense, doubt if I can even do it.

Is that the correct arm?

Ah yes, the correct arm!

Funny to see the size difference, Baby C was obviously the youngest in the crowd!

Baby C getting her white belt, the Sifoo did a simple "ceremony", kinda like a cute "knighting" ceremony.

Sifoo tied the belt around her tiny waist (around twice with still much slack)

They bowed, we clapped, it was all very cute!

JAMBA!

I love smoothies, and I know I can easily make them at home, but I am lazy, and Jamba is convenient, so we go there often during the warm months.

Here is a picture of her enjoying her first Jamba at 7 months.

We recently gave Baby B some Jamba at about 8.5 months, and she loves it too!

For comparison, here is Baby C at about 9 months, still enjoying her Jamba!

Sulphur Creek - Siblings

Today, we attended "Toddler Time" at Sulphur Creek again. Today we learned about siblings and got to interact with doves, tadpoles, an opossum, a hen and a rooster. All the animals were siblings, with the exception of the oppossum, who showed us her cool pouch where she could house like 10-12 baby oppossums (siblings), kinda like a kangaroo!

Here are some pictures of Baby C's Sulphur Creek experience:

Baby C petting a dove.

Female opossum, if you look closely, you can see the little pouch on her tummy, it stretches to keep many babies cozy!

Two wild tadpoles caught this AM from their pond. After class, we released them back in the pond, where they will be froggies very soon! (they already sprouted legs)

Here's a friendly rooster that was ok to be petted.

There was also a hen (the rooster's sister), but not so friendly, so the kids just got to see it in the cage and fed both some (live) worms (gross!).

I THOUGHT it would be a good/cute idea to sit Baby B down this time next to her sister so she could be part of the experience...here's how it played out:

"Ooohh! Long hair!"

"Lemme pull it and see what happens!" Big sister was not too happy...

"Ooohh...what's over there?!"

"Lemme climb over my sister's lap to see!"

As you can see, that idea did not work very well, so I had to sit Baby B back on my lap. I have a feeling she will be on my lap for a while...=P

Zing Zang Zoom!

Today we went to the circus at the Oakland Arena. The show was called "Zing Zang Zoom" and believe it or not, was my first time at the circus! I really enjoyed the show with all the clowns, tigers, ponies, zebras, elephants, gravity defying acts, and everything in between. We filled a luxury suite with friends and family and had a great time.

Picture of the "girls" - Me, my half-sister RY, and my Babies B & C! My sister and I did not really grow up together, and I am trying to make an effort to spend more time with her these days...for us, and for my girls to get to know their Auntie RY.

There was an "all access pre-show" where everyone got to go on the circus floor and see some acts up close.

Baby C sitting on Daddy's shoulders watching Asia the elephant.

They began the show with the National Anthem and an elephant walking around the stage in patriotic gear.

Here are some shots from the show:

Um, that's a nice angle, eh?

This was the "upside down" portion of the show...I spent the whole time wondering how they stayed suspended...?!

And of course, some pics of the girls...they were well behaved for the most part, but glad of course that we were in a luxury suite again with some room to stretch:

Baby C eating a bite of an overpriced chicken strip. Considering how many bites she took of her meal, and how much it cost...that bite probably was about $2.50!

Gerry's Grill

My friend EW's boyfriend, CC recently opened up "Gerry's Grill" in Daly City's Westlake area. They serve Filipino food there and we went tonight to celebrate EW's birthday. I am not all that familiar with Filipino food, but everything that was ordered was delish! I didn't capture every dish because i was juggling food and kids, but here are some yums:

Grilled Squid - one of their signature dishes

Noodle dish - forgot the name, maybe Palabok?

And of course - Lumpia!

In addition to the yummy food, we ordered two beer towers - each 100 ounces of frosty goodness! don't worry, we had enough people to ALMOST finish both! =)

Here is a picture of Baby B dispensing some "juice" for the birthday girl!

Downtown San Leandro Farmer's Market

Last week the kids and I went to go check out the Downtown San Leandro Farmer's Market. It's on Wednesdays, from 4-8pm. I like it because I don't have to waste precious weekend time to go. Now if only Daddy J could get off work early enough, we could all hang out and grab dinner there sometime.

When I asked Baby C if she wanted to go to the farmer's market, she said, "YES, and get some popcorn?!" I guess she only associates the farmer's market with kettle corn. I guess I do too, to a certain extent. =)

After wasting a lot of berries last week, I vowed NOT to overbuy this time. It's so hard because some of my fav fruits are in full swing during the summertime. I ended up buying some organic strawberries, white nectarines, white peaches, broccoli, and celery...and of course the obligatory medium bag of kettle corn, and I even found a yummy fruit tart!

I did not take many pictures, but I did catch this one:

No, we did not but it! It could probably feed our whole family! Just thought it was interesting. LOL

A Fun Day With Auntie LW

Last weekend Daddy J played golf with some buddies, including a boyfriend of my good friend LW, so she and I decided to hang out while the boys played golf. She also wanted to see "a day in the life" of Yvonne...little did she know it would be so dang boring....*wink*

She came over early and we decided to hit up Superfranks...that way at least one kid was out of our hair and we could catch up a bit. Baby C was SUPER excited to go Superfranks...she was pratically shaking in anticipation. LOL! Since we were heading that way, we decided to give our friend CE a call to see if he wanted to hang out too, we were pleasantly surprised when he said yes. It was nice to catch up and chit chat in a relatively uninterrupted manner.

Auntie L and Baby C playing Mario Kart. Not sure if she is the best person to be teacher her how to drive! Just kidding L!!! Loves ya!

CE and Baby B.

So after a couple hours and lunch at Superfranks, we decided to go for a short walk near CE's place...bad idea...it was like the mid-90's and 230pm...we only lasted one "lap" around the park and had to go home for naptime cuz Baby B was being a grouch-monster.

When we got home, it was super cute when Baby C wanted Auntie L to brush her teeth and read her a story before her "quiet time". LW is really good with Baby C and they had fun together!

While the kids napped, we got a chance to play some Street Fighter old skool style with Daddy J's new joysticks.

The funny thing is that me and LW ended up playing the most! Her boyfriend CC fell asleep on our lounger and Daddy J just let the girls fight it out...who doesn't like a good girl fight?! LOL!

After naptime, we call headed to Koji's in Danville for some sushi, more specifically, the $7 all-you-can-drink-hot-sake speacial they have there!

LOL! Ok, the sushi is good there too! 30 piece sashimi plate - YUM-O!

Auntie L and her boyfriend CC with the girls.

$300 later, we came out of Koji's with our bellies full, the kids were well behaved, hung out with cool friends...all in all, a wonderfully fun day!