My post pregnancy weight update – 6 months later

I am finally able to fit into my favorite pair of jeans that I own. Yay! Yes, it took me 6 months to finally be able to fit back into them. I will be devastated if I cannot fit into those jeans, as John calls it, my 7-heaven jeans. ha- ha! 
I still have about 5-6 lbs to lose to be back to my pre pregnancy weight. Not sure if I will ever be able to achieve that but then again, I haven’t really tried hard enough. I have no desire to go work out knowing that I could be spending that time with Gaven instead. I know I need to or else parts will start sagging . The ugly linea nigra  that I developed during pregnancy is still pretty prominent. When is that going to go away?! Also….stretch marks! Boo!!! Yes, I am one of the unlucky ones that developed stretch marks during my pregnancy! They said genetics plays a big role in this. Not sure how true this is because my sister did not develop any during her pregnancy. I thought I could escape this tragedy but it slowly appeared at my 38th week of pregnancy. Then again, my sister gave birth at her 37th week, so she may have avoided it before it happened. I would probably have avoided it too if Gaven was born at 37 weeks. He came at 39th week. Looking back to the day when Gaven was born, it was too funny. I had mistakenly thought that my contractions were upset stomach pain. LOL… running to the bathroom numerous times at each contraction. How many other women out there made mistakes like that?

Passport Photo

We have been wanting to get Gaven’s passport done since months ago but never got around to get his passport photo done. We found out that we can get passport photo done at costco but John wanted to do it himself so we can get a good picture of him. People at the store would most likely not spend lots of time to capture a good picture of him.

So I went to Wal Mart to get a white poster board for the background. We did some trial runs before we started taking the real ones:

Then we dressed him in nice white shirt and took many many many photos:

It was so hard to keep him sitting still for photo and to get his attention so he would look at the camera. Many many photos later, we called it quits. Only one photo made the cut. John picked this one:

He formatted the picture to the passport photo size requirements and printed 2 copies for the application. We went together to the post office to apply for his passport since both parents need to be present. It’s all done now, just waiting for the passport to arrive!

1/2 a year old!

Aww… my little baby is 1/2 a year old last Monday! He had his 6 month doctor visit and got 2 shots on his thighs. One on each side. He didn’t cry for the first one. The nurse warned us that  the second shot would burn. Sure enough, he screamed at the second shot. But it lasted only for a few seconds.
He weighs a little over 17 lbs and 28 inches long at 6 month old. His head circumference is 16 1/2 inch.

We were afraid he would not feel up to taking his monthly photo shoot since he had been a victim of 2 shots less than an hour ago, but he proved us wrong. He let us dress him up in his monthly onesie and sat on his spot ready for photos. Although he did try to get away a few times…

 

Biking at Santa Monica Beach

Last Saturday, we went beach biking to escape the heat in our valley. The weather was nice and perfect by the beach. When we were in Vancouver, we saw people biking everywhere with their kids being towed behind. This gave me an idea that we could do this fun activity together with Gaven.

We had so much fun and will definitely do this again this summer. It was a great work out for the both of us too. We rode from Santa Monica to Venice Beach and then back to Santa Monica. After that, we went to grab some food at my favorite spot, 3rd Street Farmer’s Market. Hung out at The Grove (also one of my favorite spots) for a little bit before we called it a day.

Gaven getting strapped in by daddy in his comfy bike trailer. We put infant sunblock on him to protect his delicate skin from the harsh sun.

Gaven flashed us a smile in his little trailer. I kind of wish there’s a canopy on this trailer so he’d get some shade.

Venice Boardwalk- a must see if you are visiting Southern Cali. Creative and artistic people- vibrant and eclectic.

We took a peek inside the trailer to see Gaven fast asleep in there.

Butternut Squash

Today, we started Gaven with butternut squash. Homemade!!! It was actually pretty fun making our own baby food. Most importantly, Gaven loves it!

I googled how to make baby food… watched some youtube videos and decided I can make my own. I went to the store and got this:

Source here.

I cut the butternut squash in half. Spooned the seed out. Put it in a pan that was filled with about an inch of water, skin side up. Roast it in the preheated oven at 400 degree for about 40 minutes. When the timer went off, I poked the skin with a fork to check for doneness. It is done when it is soft and tender.

Then I spooned the “meat” into the blender, added a little of water and start blending to achieve the consistency I want. Voila! Done…! Simple!

Since this is the first time Gaven is taking this, I mixed about a full spoonful of the squash to his rice cereal. He eats it like a champ! The remaining, we spooned it in little containers for the next few days meals. We are introducing 1 food at a time to make sure he has no allergy problems. So he will be eating this for the next 5-7 days before we start with another food. I am thinking of trying carrots next!

Another ceiling fan in the house

Well, I initially wanted this light here for the family room. Given it a lot of thought and after 1 year, I am still too cheap to fork out that amount of money for this lamp. I bet you it would have looked super awesome in our family room.

Since I am too cheap to get one of this baby's home, yet again, we went to the ceiling fan route. When all was said and done, the ceiling fan cost us about $200. BUT, no regrets. Love the ceiling fan in the family room. It circulates the air in the room and cools the house down especially during this hot summer.

Baby watches as John was hard at work. He woke up from his nap when John was installing the fan. He was a little cranky but managed to flash me a smile when I made funny voices.

John had to add another light switch to the existing 3 light switch since the electrical for the fan wasn’t there before. So he had to add the wiring to the switch box. We couldn’t find anywhere that sells the double 3-way switch. Finally, we bought it online and just today, it arrived. I should have taken the before picture so you can see what I am talking about. He had already gotten it done when I realized I need to take a picture. So anyway, here’s the “after” picture. The wiring was pretty messy before it was done. So glad this ceiling fan/ wiring project is done after 4-5 long weeks of looking and waiting for the double 3-way switch. We had been living with the wires hanging out for weeks before this project was complete.

Okay, so now, off to finishing up another project that has been sitting for weeks now due to some complications.