Babi & Deda: This is for you!

Tajinek vam posila moc pusinek :0)

Kurious Little Kitty-Kat

Ahhh, now that Taj is cruising and crawling all over the house, a whole new world of exploration has opened up to him. He is one curious little kitty cat, finding amusement in everything he gets into......

He helps load up the dishwasher.....

He does laundry....

He tries to organize the things in our cabinets and drawers.....

He inspects our water eveytime we get a new batch.....

He discovered the tiolet a while back, and now pretends its his drum! (good thing our bathrooms are always very clean ;)......

He even tries to make himself a drink over in our Bar area...... Taji- you have 20 more years to go before you can serve yourself a drink! LOL

And lastly, he likes to advise me on which shoes I should wear for the day......

Silly little curious kitty cat, we have to keep our eyes on him and ears open to make sure he doesn't get into anything he's not supposed to. For the most part we have our cabinets secured, electric outlets plugged up, wires and cords hidden, soft bumpers on the corners of our coffeetable, and use the baby gate from time to time but I don't necessarily believe you have to take baby proofing to the extreme...... he can't live in a bubble his whole life so he is starting to learn now what not to touch and what "no" means :)

Mama's Boy

On Sunday, Brad took Taji out for some boy-time...... but on my days off from work, he's all mine! Taj will always be a mama's boy and I feel SO privileged to have my precious time with my little boy. My heart is the happiest when I'm around him, and his little giggle and smiles are heaven-sent. I'm so lucky to have this much time with him, so I truly treasure each day I'm home with him. Usually we will go to our neighborhood park, walk around CDM, lunch with friends, or go to Kindermusik class, but atleast once a week I try to plan a very special mommy-son outing. This past Monday on President's Day, while Brad went in to the office, Taji took me out to Laguna Beach for a lunch date! ;) We went to a charming little bakery- Cest La Vie, for some apple crepes & green tea (for me) and yogurt with toasted o's (for Taji).
The day was absolutely beautiful so we went swinging and played on the jungle gym right on the beach!

We walked around the town, and did a little shopping. Taji helped me pick out new fabulous sunglasses! Here he is smiling big behind his pacifier :)

We must have spent about 4 hours playing around in Laguna Beach, it was so much fun! Days like these is what I live for, and no matter how old Taji gets, how busy our lives get, or how many other children are in the picture, I will always make time for this special mother-son bonding. Come to think of it, I promise my little Taji that we will make Cest La Vie, Laguna Beach our little spot. And Taji, I promise you I will always be your #1 cheerleader, your shoulder to cry on, your rock when life gets difficult, and no matter what you set your mind to and feel passionate about, i will always always support you and hug you tight.

These days Taji is so eager to grow up and all i can really do now is hold him as much as possible before he gets any bigger, squirms out of my arms, and runs away from me! I am already starting to miss my little Taji baby, I can't believe how quickly they go from being newborns to infants to toddlers. And with only 3 months left now before he turns the big ONE, i will seize every minute and opportunity I have to be with my little mama's boy :)

Taj's visit to Pretend City, CA

Its cold and rainy outside, so where do you go? Well, Pretend City of course! Yesterday, my sister and I grabbed the kids and had lunch at La Salsa and then we went to Pretend City Children's Musuem in Irvine- an indoor miniature children's city of pretend play. It was mine and Taj's first time visiting the city, and boy was it crowded! I think everyone had the same idea as us! My sister first gave us a tour and then we went grocery shopping at their pretend mini-Ralphs, we pretend dined at a restaurant where Chloe was the chef and served us food. We also visited a construction site, where Chloe was busy helping the children repair pipes:

Then, we were off to the harbor, where Taj played with the little boats:

Then we stopped off at the pretend beach, where the kids went joy riding in a miniature BMW!

Taji really enjoyed this!

So, after they finished cruising the BMW, Taji wanted to continue checking out the other cars.... they even had a pretend gas station where you could pump gas into the cars!

Towards the end of our 2 hour visit, we checked out the infant section where they had huge bowling pins and balls, parachute, and all different things for the little ones to crawl through.

It was a neat place, especially for the toddlers and bigger kids that love to pretend play. I love the concept of it, but unfortunately I hate how crowded it was. Reminded me of Disneyland, and with any place like that i thought it was a little too overhwhelming and overstimulating for myself and for Taji. Its a place that's fun to visit every once in a while. Taj will love Pretend City, Disneyland, Legoland.... and all those crazy overstimulating theme parks when he is a little older, but in the meantime we are happily sticking to our parks, playgrounds, zoo, and lots of real nature. :)

Taj turns 9 months old!

Happy 9 month birthday to our baby Taji that is acting more and more like a toddler these days! At 18lbs 2 oz, he stands 28 inches tall, and I mean "stand" as really standing with minimal support (holding on with one hand, or leaning against furniture. ) Our "baby elephant" as we like to refer to him because he takes such long and loud strides when he crawls, is cruising from one piece of furniture to another, and is always hanging on to our legs. Besides the word "mama", he spoke his first word: "ball". He will label the ball when you hold one up and when you ask "where's the ball?", he will go look for one. Some of his recent favorite toys are balls, cups, cars, bubbles, likes to flip through books, likes to swing and wrestle, and loves to throw everything just for the reaction and sound. He also loves to get into everything and pull things out of bags (ex. diaper bag.) He also has fun riding his new truck! He will give you a high five, and will shake his head when he doesn't want something. He will also say "mo" (which stands for "more") when he wants something. These last couple of months, I have been teaching Taj some simple sign language, and he can do the sign for "milk" and says "baba" when he wants his bottle. He also attempts the "all done" and "more" signs (says "mo" for "more.") This last month of his development has been AMAZING! The play, the receptive and expressive beginnings of language, his physical strength in wanting to stand and walk SO bad, and his extended & consistent 10 hour/ night sleeping! YEY! Mommy and Daddy are being rewarded after all the nights of teething and waking :)

Our strawberry-blond Taj now has 4 upper teeth (bringing the grand total to 6 teeth) which he uses to chew 17 types of veggies (peas, orange & purple carrots, broccoli, spinach, lentils, green beans, white potato, sweet potato, yams, corn, butternut & winter squash, zuchini, pumpkin, red peppers, and tomatoes); 13 fruits (avocados, apples, apricots, peaches, banana, blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, mango, papaya, pears, plums, and prunes); chicken, turkey, beef, and salmon, and also egg yolks! Everyday, he eats Happy Bellies DHA oatmeal with fruit for breakfast, organic baby yogurt for lunch (excellent source of Vitamin D, Zinc, Calcium, and Probiotics), and mama's homemade veggie-protein dinners. Taj loves the real stuff, as does mommy! Gotta admit that about 1/2 of my diet consists of the pureed food I make for Taji!!!! I'm telling you, I should brand this diet bc it's not only delicious but very slimming for mommies! You would never think lean little Taj is the big eater he is, he never gets a chance to plump up because he's always on the move! He likes to hold his bottle and we've kinda skipped over the sippy cup, because his new thing is drinking water from a little cup (with our help).

I couldn't be more pleased with Montessori. Taji is a happy smiley baby, and he has a new girlfriend (a 3 month old new addition to the classroom!) His teacher Ms. Patty reports that Taj is a busy little boy exploring the classroom and toys, he loves to stand and pull himself up everything. They do so many neat things with the babies, for instance, he brought home this art work for mommy and daddy on V-day: (can you see his handprint on the rose?):

He's STANDING without holding on!

SO AMAZING! Just one day shy of his 9 month bday and Taji's skinny little legs are strong enough to keep his balance standing! I caught Taj standing with his back to the couch, not even holding on! He was so focussed on his Baby Einstein dvd that he probably didn't even notice himself! He has been so determined with his cruising and holding on to our legs. This morning I caught him letting go and standing on his own for a couple of seconds, and then this afternoon i got this on video!:

the BEST viral video out there right now!

ahhhh, Brad and I had to share what we came across on the internet..... the cutest video yet!!! We just love it, reminds us so much of our little jam sessions at home. Our little Taji LOVES the guitar and gets very excited, but this little darling tops the cake with her dancing and singing. WHat an adorable little baby! Who wouldn't be excited about Bon Jovi?!!!

Happy Valentine's from Taji!

This year's V-day is so special because we have this little Romeo to celebrate it with...... he's already such a flirt!

We are blessed with our very own Cupid...... he strengthens our love and marriage each and every day and without him we would be lost.

Am I lucky woman or what? I have 2 valentines to spend my V-day with every year from now on! I love my two handsome men.

Taj & Company

Taj's last eventful month of birthday parties, dates with the girls, and more parties- Superbowl.

Ryan's 1st Birthday:
Ryan celebrated his first birthday at My Gym (same place where Chloe celebrated her 1st!) Taj got to spend time with the birthday boy and his bud Cade. The boys had fun at the kids' gym, lots of exciting songs, play, and equipment to bounce on.

Cousin Chloe's 6th Birthday Party:

Chloe's party was animal print themed so Taj naturally arrived in his tiger outfit ;) he was the only boy but boy oh boy did the girls love him! Chloe loved to hold him and show him off to her friends!

Date with Miss Brooklyn and Miss Summer-

the 1st pic is of beautiful baby Brooklyn (just 2 weeks old in this photo). Laura, Patty, and I took the babies to Kindermusik class and then had lunch afterwards.

Playdate with Miss Dorothy at Pioneer Park:
Taj and Dorothy (Dj) loved to swing together and go down the slide with their mommies. Our friend Shannon even joined us and had fun cuddling with the babes.

Superbowl Party Sunday:

Taj went Superbowl party hopping for the very first time. An annual tradition I'm pretty sure. First, we hopped over to the Brandts' where he "chilled" with Regan, then off to his uncle griffin and auntie jane's adult party where the ladies once again swooned over him. He wasn't top thrilled with all the cheering and loud tv though.... i'm sure being a boy he will quickly adapt to it ;) Look closely at Taj's t-shirt... this is a gift from Uncle Trip.... yup pretty risque but I told Brad he was only allowed to wear it out to our friend's house, not public (for obvious reasons.) Everybody thought it was hilarious..... poor Taji