Home-brewed Cafe Au Lait

Mmmmmm. Every day I work from home and every weekend day, I make myself a delicious cup of coffee with steamed/foamed milk. I got the milk frother for Christmas and it makes my day 5x a week.

8 months old!

Time is flying (as it always is).  Not only is Gemma already 8 months old, but she's now almost 9 months old and I'm behind the ball in posting this.  But, let's be honest, I don't think I even posted a 7 month update at all. 

Let's talk about this little lady and what she's doing at 8 months old.....

The day after her "8 month birthday" she started crawling.  There was no progression, ladies and gentlemen.  She wasn't an army crawler, not even really a scooter (maybe some backward action)...she mostly rotated on her belly to move around and she didn't go far.  She did, however, often get up on all fours and rock back and forth.  So, on February 19, she finally put one hand in front of the other and TOOK OFF!  We have an official, properly crawling baby!  Are we ready and baby-proofed?  Not at all...work in progress.  She also loves to sit on her knees and bounce - smiling at us or Riley while she does it - so proud.

She's also VERY vocal - she likes to boss us around and shout all the time (sounds too familiar to me), and lots and lots of laughs and shrieks, too.  She's very much into Riley these days, too.  She likes to smile at him, crawl to him, "pet" him (ie. pull his hair and pound on him), take his toys, share her food..... 

We also have had some major hair growth lately.  I've been looking at older pictures and videos and my baldy is not quite as bald....she's got beautiful golden hair that's coming in.  Brian says she looks like a boy when I swoop it to the side, but I think she looks like Lloyd Christmas when it's combed forward.  Also, we're not out of the "oh, what a cute little boy" woods, yet - we still wear bows in public.

She's also eating lots of new foods and she prefers foods with flavor and texture.  She's begun to spit food back at us that she doesn't like, too....which is lots of fun.  We're lucky, though - Riley has all of the sudden decided he LOVES plain vegetable purees.  She can also pick up foods with her thumb and forefingers (like cheerios or yogurt melts) and put them in her mouth (which also means she can pick up anything she finds on the ground, too).  She's eating a couple of solid meals a day now.

Her favorite toys are these little balls that she has for her rolling hippo toy, any magazines she can get a hold of, my phone, the remote control, Riley's toys (gross), the bathroom scale, Vulli Sophie, and books.

Good Morning, Daddy

Here I am! Pulling myself up to stand on you, bright and early!

Hawaii 2K12

It seems to be my MO lately to not blog about stuff until about a month after they occur.  Ha!  So, in line with that, I wanted to fill you all (and I think my blog followers total a whopping 5 people) on our trip to Hawaii!

First off, I did not want to come home.  In fact, I was like a crazy lady the last day looking at alternative flights and asking the resort if they had vacancy and brainstorming ideas for finding a computer to use for work...

This pics are not in order and I do not have the time or the patience to reorganize them. 

On the first full day in Maui, the boys went on an 8 hour deep-sea fishing trip.  Let me tell you - they himmed and hawed over whether or not to drop $200 on a fishing trip with no guarantee of success for like 2 months.  Then, they both claimed they TRIED to contact the fishing company several times...and we drove by a billboard or a sign on a car or something for the company and I gave them a ring (this was on our drive from the airport to the condo) and someone picked up on the first ring.  Luckily, they had room for them on a shared charter with some Canadian old dudes.  They had the time of their lives and were so stoked that they caught so many fish - including some sort of rare spear fish.  Amongst the catch were Ono (AKA Wahoo), Ahi (AKA Yellow Fin Tuna) and Mahi Mahi (AKA Dorado).  We ate fresh fish like tropical kings for 2 dinners and 1 brunch.  We even had leftovers to feed to wild cats and our cab driver (yes, Gabriel and Brian tried to barter with the cab driver to pay him in fish....we just ended up giving him fish).

 We spent one day in Lahaina because it was overcast and windy as all hell.  We walked around, shopped, had lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise....here's a photo of Gemma and Brian with their shades on.

While shopping, we found a really cute hula outfit for Gemma.  Most of the ones were found were gross plastic grass skirts and fabric bikini tops.  I wanted real-looking grass and a coconut bra.  Low and behold, I found it for a mere $6.  How cute is she?  I think we are going to use this for her 1st birthday invite and theme - Luau! 

 We spent about 2.5 days at the beach.  Gemma started out as a sand hater (see below), but by the end, she was playing in it and digging her tows in.  She did love, however, sitting on the beach towel and playing with her toys.  Luckily, she also didn't mind hats!

 Pale daddy, pale baby (pale mommy is missing form the photo).  The beach was awesome.  As you can see here, Brian's wedding ring is missing - we think he lost it moments prior swimming in the ocean or digging in the sand.  No good.

 Like true tourists, we also went to a Luau.  It was pretty neat - we all got a lei, open bar, buffet of island food, and a show.  Unfortunately for me, Gemma had a meltdown in the middle of dinner so it was kind of a stressful evening.

 Our resort was awesome.  The condos were new and large and the grounds were great.  Lots of pools and great amenities.  Our room was on the ground floor, which is what we requested, but unfortunately our view sucked - it was of a green tarp covering off a construction zone.  Oh well, we didn't splurge the extra $100 a night for view.  The pools could have also been a few degrees warmer.  When the wind got going, it was COLD.

 Gemma LOVED the pool so we spent a lot of time there.

 Good morning, Maui!  We rented some baby gear that was delivered to the condo before we arrived and picked up after we left.  Super cheap to do and a great idea!  Here's Gemma in a rented walker that was too tall for her - no walking possible. 

 Our condo was on the Ka'anapali Beach Walk which was awesome.  Kind of far, though.  Took about 35-45 minutes to walk from our place to the Whaler's Village, but it was a great walk and such beautiful scenery.  Gemma took a fat nap one morning and the other evening we walked it, she was awake the whole time which backfired on us - our plan was to talk to dinner so she'd nap and not be a sour-puss at dinner, but alas she didn't and she was.

 As previously mentioned, initially Gemma hated the snow.  In all capacities.  Here she is proving my point.

All in all, a great trip!  A tropical vacation is a whole different animal with a baby in tow, let me tell you.  However, it was awesome quality time.  No distractions of laundry and cleaning and errands and work - just 1:1 family time.  I'd love to go back to Hawaii - maybe next time we'll try a different island!  Hawaii is so baby and family friendly - I highly recommend!

Mmmmmspaghetti!

A baby after my own heart...PASTA!!