Mahalo Days

There is so much to do this December.  Christmas cards to mail out, presents to wrap, cookies to bake, parties to plan!  But before I get ahead of myself, I must share some memories from November!

The family spent a lovely holiday in Kauai to just get away from it all.

Charlotte and Daddy did some surfing...kindove...

We ate shave ice from JoJo's (seriously the best of the island).

Charlotte hung out at the beach.

Charlotte laughed at all the roosters (Mommy was born in the year of the rooster).  :)

And we went on some pretty long hikes.

Then there was Thanksgiving, with about 22 people total.  Needless to say, there was a lot of food and not many leftovers.  On Friday, after Justin finished some Black Friday shopping, his Uncle Eric and Cousin DJ came down from LA to visit. 

Charlotte's thinking - there are WAY too many men here...

Cousin DJ played with Charlotte the entire time!

We all had a fantastic time sharing stories, catching up and just hanging out.  And I even got Cousin DJ to do some Cricut projects.  Check out the 3D house and robot we made!

But now, I think it's time to trim the tree, warm up some cider, and sing some Christmas carols.  It's now officially the holiday season!!!!!  So excited!

Roseola Infantum

Charlotte got sick this week.  She had a high fever of almost 104 for four days. We took her into the hospital twice.  They looked in her ears, tested her urine, touched her belly.  Everything looked fine.  Probably just a virus, they said.  We were just so scared.  Since leaving the NICU, this was Charlotte's first time getting sick and I had no idea what to do.  I called my sister a dozen times.  What do I do???

My sister, the super doctor pediatrician that she is, predicted roseola, a virus that causes a sudden high fever then, once the fever breaks, causes a rash to appear.  But the only well you can confirm a diagnosis of roseola is after a rash appears.  Well, big sister was right.  Charlotte's fever broke this afternoon and these red spots started spreading all over her body.  It's not contagious, painful or infectious.  Just not pretty.  Anyways, Charlotte's doing well now and we're looking forward to getting some sleep again.  :)

Despite the fevers this week, we were still able to get some laughs out of our baby girl.  Enjoy!

Election Day

I voted today.  Did you??

Please vote for Charlotte in the Gap Casting Call 2010.  Just click on the link below to cast your vote (use as many email addresses as you want and you can vote every day)!!  Her ID number is 760181.

http://www.gapcastingcall.com/GapCastingCall/EntryDetail.html?id=760181

Duckie Duckie Quack Quack

How it is already November?  How do I not have my Thanksgiving menu already planned out?  How have I not posted any photos of Charlotte in her Halloween costume?!?!

So Charlotte actually went through two costumes.  I bought her this cow costume about 2 months too early and one size too small.  However, this photo does hang outside my office door while I'm pumping at work.  (Thanks, Ms. Becky!)

So then I got Charlotte this little duckie costume which she proceeded to wear mutliple times throughout the month of October. 

She wore it at the pumpkin patch at Nates Butt...I mean Bates Nut Farm.  :)

She wore it at home, just hanging out and crawling around.

She wore it to work...well, my work, for office trick-or-treating.

She wore it to a super awesome Halloween birthday party at My Gym (which was amazing, by the way).

She wore it trick-or-treating in Coronado with the Grandparents.

Overall, I think she got some pretty good use out of that duckie costume.  What should she be next year???

 << quack quack >>

Just some photos...

...of my sweet baby Charlotte.

And photos of some birthday projects using my cricut!!!

She's a Girl...

Charlotte does not have much hair. From far away, it actually looks like a mohawk. But I swear..totally not lying...I am telling you the truth...she is a GIRL. I can't even keep track of the number of times people come up to me and coo - what a cute little baby boy! Even when she's wearing pink from head to toe with a large flower bow on her head, she can't escape the assumption that she's a boy. Justin says she just needs long hair. I say people need to keep their mouth shut. I don't have a grudge, I swear... :)

Happy October!!! As soon as those pumpkin patches start sprouting up I get so excited! I stock up on canned pumpkin, start planning the Thanksgiving menu, and think about getting all those Christmas presents early to avoid the late December rush. Yeah...never happens. But it's the thought that counts, right???

Daddy and Charlotte at the pumpkin patch.

Charlotte is getting so big so fast! She has teeth. Two sharp bottom teeth and she's even discovered how to bite her daddy's fingers! Her crawling keeps getting better and better. And just two nights ago, we came into her room to find her standing up in the crib!!! Oh my...I can just see her trying to crawl out in the not too far future. She is JUST like her daddy!!

We had a fun, jam-packed weekend. We hosted a mini high school reunion on Saturday! We had a mini Mexican fiesta and talked about babies!!! So many pregnant people!!!

BVHS c/o '99 (+ Kyle and Charlotte)

And since there are pregnant people, there had to be delicious food.

Steven made some yummy chicken enchiladas...

...and my favorite Mexican rice.

Ryan made some amazing beans (I was told it's just beans and lard...) and some great pico de gallo and guacamole (no pictures sadly enough..)

And of course, I had to make dessert. I attempted to make tres leches cupcakes the night before but they ended up coming out like sugary scrambled eggs. Ugh. What a waste of time. (Ivette, I need to get your recipe!!!) So instead, I made some chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting and homemade mini churros!!!! So fun and easy (but what a mess with all that cinnamon sugar and frying)!

mini churros all ready for the party!

the cupcakes!

And for the crafty ones, out there, check out those cupcake toppers I made with my new Cricut Expression (it's a ridiculously awesome paper cutting machine). I even made this baby banner with it!!

Anyways, so fun! I didn't even get to talk about our trip to the pumpkin patch but this post is starting to get too long. :) But here's a super cute photo of Charlotte laughing at the goat in the pumpkin patch petting zoo. Love my little girl, mohawk and all. :)

Baby Eats

Charlotte is my daughter. She loves to eat. Like mother, like daughter.

She eats peas, haricot verts, avocado, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, her hands, my necklace...she eats it all. Did you know that if you eat too many sweet potatoes, carrots and butternut squash, you can turn orange? My sister told me that. I believe everything she tells me.

Auntie and Neice!

Melly introduced me to Smitten Kitchen Baby this week. It's a food blog about baby food by one of my favorite food bloggers. How did I not know about this before?!? Reading the blog makes me feel guilty for not feeding Charlotte pretty carrots with leafy green tops. I bought the 10 pound bag of carrots from Costco. That makes a lot of baby food. Here's how I did it.

1. Start with some baby food containers. I always have some containers of the Gerber First Foods around the house. But I also think that their plastic containers (which are bpa free) are the perfect portion size when I freeze portions of Charlotte's baby food.

2. Steam your vegetables (i.e. carrots, broccoli, green beans) until it is tender. I actually overcook it a bit to make the pureeing step a bit easier.

3. Place the cooked vegetables in the food processor (use the blender if you want a finer puree), adding some of the cooking liquid or whatever milk baby is drinking. The amount of the liquid depends on the consistency that your baby likes.

4. Divide the food into single-serve portions. Let it cool completely before freezing. Frozen baby food is good for two weeks.

And if you're looking for more recipes, I actually bought Top 100 Baby Purees. It has a lot of pretty photos. :)

By the way, did you notice that I said haricot verts instead of green beans? But don't worry, I'm not pretentious or French. I love spam and vienna sausages a/k/a potted meat.

Oh, and one more thing. Charlotte had her 9 month doctor's appointment today. 27 inches long and over 18 pounds. My little preemie isn't so little anymore. :)

A photo of Charlotte just a few days after she was born in Flagstaff, Arizona. Remind me to tell you that story someday. :)