Posts Tagged ‘birthday’

Last Friday was my 26th birthday. We had just gotten home from our Tokyo trip on Thursday evening, so I was really in the mood for a quiet, relaxing day. There wasn’t really anything excited to speak of! Matt was on “Rhino Duty” all day which means that I didn’t change any diapers or get feed him. If I wanted to knit and he was “bugging” me (he always wants to play with what I’m playing with!) then Matt would make sure he’s distracted and entertained. Of course, I didn’t want a Rhino-free day, so I got to play with him and do all the fun things! I got to read, knit, browse the web, and just veg — it was very nice!

Nicole called me up that afternoon to say that she and Mike were taking us out to dinner, my choice! That was super-nice so we didn’t worry about cooking dinner or anything. One of my favorite places to go in town is The Global Kitchen. It’s a cute little place that has a little bit of everything: some Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Italian, “American”, etc. It’s not all amazing, but it’s a nice selection and we like to go on Sunday afternoons because you order all-you-can-eat of about 20 different little plates. They have a whole big room devoted to families with children, which is really nice for Rhino. They have high chairs and a fenced-in play area with a small slide, lots of books, stuffed animals, blocks, etc. Rhino used to not care so much about all the toys, but now whenever we go it is such a blast for him! Mike and Nicole hadn’t been in a long time, so it was nice to bring them back there too. We had never been for dinner, which isn’t all-you-can-eat but they offer larger portions and a much wider variety. I had cheese rolls (they make the best cheese rolls I’ve found and I crave them pretty much every day now!), a big bowl of corn soup (Nicole and I love finding places with corn soup!), and some spicy pineapple pork curry. Delicious! There’s always something for Rhino, too. He loves the little panko-breaded chicken pieces, cheese rolls, some of Matt’s yakisoba, and some of my Thai coconut curry (he eats my cute little mushrooms and eggplant pieces, but mostly loves the bamboo!) It was very nice to go out with Mike and Nicole and was quite a scrumptious dinner!

On Saturday we had Mike & Nicole and Liz + kids over for dinner. We did a strawberry and kiwi appetizer (which Josh and Aime inhaled!) then meatloaf, potatoes and green beans. I can’t find my favorite meat loaf recipe, so I sort of winged it this time. It was very tasty, but really fell apart. The whole thing was finished off, at least! And Rhino probably ate twice as much as I did — he kept demanding more meat loaf! It may be one of his favorite foods (the only other thing we’ve seen him act like this towards is lasagna.) Matt wanted to bake me a birthday cake on Friday (he says he’s never baked a cake before!) but because we went out, I suggested he wait until Saturday. He made my favorite boxed cake: strawberry with white whip frosting. And he added cute little flower sprinkles! It turned out very well and was so sweet of him! When the Armstrongs and the Kisers come over we usually entertain with a Mystery Science Theater 3000. This time we watched Space Mutiny, one of our favorites! Josh and Aime kept Rhino amused most of the night. It’s so much fun having kids over and seeing how he reacts these days. He likes to chase them around and do whatever they’re doing. It was a nice night hanging out with friends and a very pleasant birthday!

We had Rhino's first birthday party at the Weasels' Den, which is such a great place for the kids! We rented a little barn-kind-of-place for 2 hours and Rhino was so ecstatic the whole time we were there! He had a blast crawling and cruising around the baby area, which is full of padded mats and castle pieces, mirrors, and giant building blocks. The Armstrongs (kids: Josh (5) and Aime (3) ) and the Kisers showed up for the festivities. We had pizza and pasta, chatted a bunch, and did presents and cupcakes.

Rhino received a gift certificate and cute card from the Kisers, a bunch of wonderful books in a pretty bag (Rhino loved the bag, hahah!) and an animal memory game from us. He was a little more interested in tearing the wrapping paper than he was for his little birthday celebration, but he was mostly interested in the ribbons and bag!

I wanted to make cupcakes again because it just seemed to make sense for Rhino to have his own little cupcake rather than a piece of cake or a mini cake just for him. I wanted everything to be colorful for him, so I wanted to make the cupcakes as colorful as possible, too. A few months ago I found a tutorial online for making pretty swirled cupcakes and had been waiting for an occasion to try it out. Thankfully the BX had a great assortment of paste food coloring! The technique is really very easy and turned out wonderfully! Our home just gets so warm that often the frosting would be too runny when it came out of the bag to make pretty, firm stars. Most of them looked pretty good, though! Rhino didn't care either way, he just gobbled his little cake up!

It was a nice, small first birthday party and Rhino seemed to really enjoy himself the whole time. He didn't get crabby at all and really likes being around Josh and Aime. The Armstrongs and Kisers are our best friends here at Misawa right now, so of course it's always nice for us to spend time with them, too!

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!

You’ve made it through the first year — hooray! I have known that “time flies”, but I really can’t believe how fast your first year has zipped by!

You’ve recovered completely from the trip to the States and now you’re your usual self. You’ve gotten to the point where I can say now that you are sleeping through the night. You’d often wake for short, frequent nursings, but you’re pretty much finished with that now. We’ve also set you up with your own little mattress on the floor next to ours, so you won’t be sleeping (crawling, kicking, sprawling…) with us when your new brother or sister arrives. You seem to like the little bed more than the big bed!

You’ve become a bit more of a trouble maker lately! Daddy had brought home a package of napkins the other day and left it on the kitchen floor, which was obviously an invitation for you to partake in the napkin fun! You are getting a bit sneaky, too, and will push the limits to see how much you can get away with. Even though you know “no” and that you aren’t supposed to be playing in the trash or grabbing in Daddy’s bag of chips, you’ll still try to when we aren’t looking and check to see if you’ve been caught yet!

You’ve become so affectionate lately! You understand “hug” and will give us big hugs often. You even hug all of your stuffed animals. You’re learning “kiss” now, too, but haven’t yet mastered it. You don’t quite know how to pucker, so when you kiss us, it’s with a wide open mouth and dangling tongue! You’re so sweet and sometimes harass us with sloppy kiss after sloppy kiss! Most of your stuffed animals also now have crusty mouths and noses where you’ve practiced your affection on them.

We have planned for your birthday party to be next weekend because your birthday weekend falls on Valentine’s Day and lots of your friends mommies and daddies all ready have plans. Daddy and I wanted to do something special on your birthday anyway, so I made you some cupcakes and you got to open gifts from your grandparents! Unfortunately, we didn’t have too much time for festivities because Daddy was at work all day and then we had a church banquet when he got home, so we had your little party over his lunch break. You weren’t so interested in opening presents — maybe because we were hastily tossing them at you! You know how to unwrap gifts pretty well, but this time you just wanted to tear one tiny piece off at a time and inspect each bit. Daddy and I ended up unwrapping everything else for you! You received some really nice outfits, a couple CDs you like to dance to, and some fun toys! Daddy and I gave you a wooden xylophone, which you haven’t quite figured out yet. You like to tink the keys with your finger instead of the mallet, or use the mallet backwards and at a whole arms distance away from the instrument. You’ll get it!

You also had your first taste of chocolate! I made you some yummy cupcakes with chocolate frosting. You were mostly interested in licking all the frosting off the cake and playing with it and made a bit of a mess! You finished the whole thing and seemed pretty pleased with the whole experience! The next morning was Valentine’s Day, so we had a little teddy bear and small box of chocolates for you. You had a piece and liked it, but didn’t beg for any more. I had also given Daddy a bigger box of chocolate truffles, which was left out on the coffee table. You only needed 10 seconds to open the box and shove six truffles into your little mouth and all over your chest! It was definitely time for a bath and you were pretty wound up with sugar the rest of the morning!

It’s been such a wonderful year with you, Rhino, and Daddy and I are looking forward to another fun year with you! Happy birthday!!

Lots of Love,
Mommy

Dearest Rhino,

Today you are now one month old! It has definitely been the most amazing month of my life. Your birth was the most beautiful event I’ve taken part of. Labor was hard, but Daddy and I were well prepared. The very second you were born all the pain drained out of me and I was filled only with love and joy. Daddy and I screamed with excitement and cried tears of happiness as we held you for the first time. It was definitely love at first sight.

The month has flown by so quickly. Daddy had ten days off work when you were born so he could take care of us. And you had a lot of visitors! Aunt Jen, Daddy’s sister, was also here to help out and spend time with you. She decorated our apartment for your arrival, took a lot of pictures of you, and helped Daddy and I out a whole lot. When you were almost two weeks old Grammy, my mommy, came to visit you from Colorado. We took you out to a restaurant for the first time (Chinese food), went to Santa Barbara, had your first bath, and had your two-week pediatrician visit. Grammy also helped Daddy and I out tremendously by cooking some yummy dinners and doing lots of cleaning. While she was here, you went to church for the first time and were dedicated to the Lord. There was a little ceremony in front of the whole congregation where our friend and church elder, Jim, said a very nice prayer for you. Grammy had the video camera to record the whole thing. She did a terrific job and we were very pleased to have a video of the event to share with people who couldn’t make it. But when we got home to look at the video, we found that Grammy never actually was recording! She felt very bad, but it funny now and there will be plenty of videos of you in the future! The day after Grammy left, Grandma and Grandpa (Daddy’s parents) flew in from New York. They brought lots of gifts from family and church members back there. While they were visiting you were held and played with all the time. A bunch of ladies from church also threw you a party where you got so many clothes and nice things! When Grandma and Grandpa left, we got a little break from guests to just spend time with you alone. Then yesterday Pop, my daddy, came in from Texas to meet you. You, Pop and I took another trip to Santa Barbara to pick up your birth certificate and go out for pizza. We also visited the base where Daddy works. Today is my 25th birthday, so Pop took us all out for a nice dinner where you were very good! Pop will be here a few more days before going back to Texas. Other than family members, my friend Denna and her 18-month old son Tyler came to meet you. Tyler loved spending time with you, holding you (with me), patting, and kissing you. You also met people from church who have come over and you have been to our weekly Bible study. You sure have had an exciting month of meeting new people!

You sleep a lot and don’t cry very much. Sometimes you sleep in the bassinet, but usually you sleep with us. I didn’t used to think we’d want you to sleep in the bed with us, but now I wouldn’t want it any other way. I love cuddling up together as you feed, then drift off to sleep. I love even more waking up with you as you stretch and grunt yourself awake. You eat a lot and have grown so much! In the three days you were in the hospital when you were born you lost 10 ounces. By your one-week appointment, you gained it all back and then by your two-week appointment gained 9 more ounces! Everyone thinks you are going to be very tall, just like Daddy. Most people also say you look just like Daddy. I think it’s because you have dark hair like him. We looked at some pictures of me when I was about your age and were very surprised that you look a lot like I did. So now we think you look like both Daddy and I — you have the best of us in you!

Daddy and you are getting along very well! He was worried before that he wouldn’t know what to do, but he is an expert at taking care of you! He is a pro at diaper changes (and asks to do them to give me a break!), holds you in the shower while we clean you (yes, you take showers now!), and talks to you and plays with you all the time. You are very lucky to have such a wonderful, loving Daddy and we are so lucky to have such a sweet baby!

It is a very exciting time for our new family. Daddy was supposed to be transferred to a new job just a couple weeks after you were born! The job is in Japan and that isn’t a good idea to move right away, so we asked to have it bumped back to the end of March. So now we are getting ready to move to Japan for about four years! Your grandparents aren’t quite as excited for us, because they just met you and now they are going to miss you a lot because you’ll be much farther away. We will take lots of pictures and videos of you for them and you have all ready used a video camera over the internet to talk to your grandparents. We will visit when we can and they will even come out to see you! Japan should be a very neat place. Daddy has always wanted to visit there and now we get to live there and see lots of new and exciting things!

We thank the Lord every single day for blessing us with you, such a beautiful, healthy boy. You have made us so happy and we are so excited to get to know you better and grow with you. We will do our very best to take care of everything you need, to love you completely, and to help you grow healthy and strong in body and in faith. We love you, Rhino. Thank you for making us a family!

Love,
Mommy

It’s Rhino’s 1-month birthday! The time has really flown by so quickly. I feel like we just brought him home yesterday. Maybe it’s because we’ve had so many visitors and haven’t really settled into our own routine. I’m looking at his birth photos and he all ready looks so different! We measured him and he’s about 23 inches (but probably someone inaccurate) and don’t have a reliable way to measure him. He’s all ready outgrowing some of his clothes!

It is also my birthday today. Hooray, I’m 25 now! Papa flew in from Dallas last night and will be visiting with us until Monday. Rhino, Papa and I drove down to Santa Barbara this morning to pick up Rhino’s birth certificate (yay, it’s finally in!) Then Papa took me out for pizza in Goleta before driving back up. We picked up Matt from work then enrolled him in the military system and went to get his passport photo taken. At first the photographer told me to have him up against the wall. Considering he still has a floppy neck, that didn’t seem like a good idea. He decided to put some white cardboard on the floor and I put Rhino down. For the photo, he had to have open eyes, looking towards the camera, head straight, couldn’t have any arms or hands in the photo, and I couldn’t be propping him at all. It was pretty tricky and we went through a lot of shots, but we finally got an acceptable one!

We tried out a new restaurant, Lompoc’s Blacksmith Steakhouse, for my birthday dinner. It was a nice place that Robb and Janeece recommended to us and we had never known existed. Rhino was nice and quiet for a little while, but then started to get a little fussy and let out a few shrieks. We had a few women come over to coo over him and tell us all about their babies. Matt held him most of the way through dinner and it was amusing watching him try to cut his steak with one hand! We all had steaks and corn chowder, which was pretty yummy. They serve three desserts: cheesecake, chocolate cake, and tiramisu. We decided to get one of each to take home, then split them over the next couple days. Yum! It was a busy day, but nice to get things done. Definitely a good birthday!

I had to go to the dentist this morning, so Matt and I went out this morning and combined that trip with another one to Solvang. We left Rhino with Mom and Dad, went to the dentist (I had to have a filling repaired), then drove out to Paula’s Pancake House. We had breakfast there about 6 months ago and thought it was fantastic and have been talking about going back ever since. I think we hyped it up in our minds a little bit too much, but it was still a wonderful breakfast! It was nice to have another little break from babycare — and no, we didn’t just talk about Rhino the whole time — and I know Matt’s parents were more than happy to hang out with him for a couple hours. And I left more milk for him this time.

Jen came back up this afternoon to take Mom and Dad back down to LA in the evening. They had planned an early birthday party for me, since my birthday’s in a little over a week and they won’t be out here to celebrate. Mom baked me a cake and they sang to me. Jen got me a wood carving set because one time when she was out and we visited Michael’s craft store, we saw it and thought how neat it would be to learn to whittle! I’ll have to carve something cute for Rhino! Mom and Dad got me Ratatouille (actually, they gave it to me the other day so we could all watch it together!) and Alice in Wonderland.

Andrea‘s daughter was born early on the 21st! Amelia Simone weighed in at 7 lb 12 oz. Mother and daughter are both healthy and doing just fine! Congratulations, Andrea!!

Well, Matt and I had a pretty quiet Christmas to ourselves. We put on some carols, baked some cinnamon rolls, and opened gifts from Mama and just a couple from his family. Mama sent us language books and maps for Japan, some sweaters for each of us, new flatware (because whenever she comes to visit, we’re always running out!!), my favorite chocolates, and a great matching mommy and baby gowns! I’m definitely packing them in my hospital bag! We went over to Jody and Roy‘s in the afternoon to hang out with the babies, play some games, and have a wonderful home-cooked Christmas meal. The babies are growing so much and are absolutely adorable! We brought them a toy and a blanket and to to play with their new toys, too! The boys played Portal (I got Matt The Orange Box for Christmas) and duetted some Guitar Hero II. We brought some munchies and Yahtzee and played that after a great turkey dinner (yup, I stuffed myself!) They gave us some yummy smelly candles (chocolate chip cookies and mint cookies) which make the apartment smell like Christmas baked goods. We visited with them for about 5 hours and had a great time. It was really nice to spend Christmas with our friends.

We saved most of Matt’s family’s gifts for when Jen returned from Mexico. She came up to visit on the 29th to have “Christmas 2″ with us! She was nannying for a family who was on vacation in Cabo over Christmas and really wanted to have the holiday, even a few days late, with some family. She brought us some awesome paintings (I love my green background polar bear painting — I’ll have to get some photos up here soon! And Matt got a Nightmare Before Christmas painting of hers!) She’s very artistic and did a wonderful job! We also got more baby stuff (clothes and toys, yay!), a sandwich grill, cookbooks, Mass Effect (for Matt — he was psyched!), warm clothes (and earmuffs and Matt got this hood thing that he adores), salt and pepper shakers to match our china set from Papa, etc. We were pretty modest with our gifts this year, but our families were very generous and we got tons of useful and fun things. Matt had some money and a gift card that he took to Best Buy to pick up Beautiful Katamari (I love it!), Timeshift, and Assassin’s Creed. So now he received all the cool games that he wanted this year. (Which he better enjoy now, because I don’t foresee that we’ll be buying too many video games for ourselves in our baby-filled future!)

Matt’s birthday was last night, but he works on his birthday, so we decided to celebrate early when Jen was around. So he opened birthday presents after “Christmas 2″ and we had a cake for him and all that. He got the 11th Mystery Science Theater 3000 collection and a hilarious movie, Kung Fu Hustle! For our first anniversary, Mama and Ron took us to the Melting Pot in Colorado Springs for an excellent fondue dinner. Matt often reminisces over that night as the best meal he’s ever had and how great it would be to do that again. I mentioned to Jen that a fondue pot might be a good idea for a birthday gift. So that’s just what she got him! Matt is usually excited by games and DVDs, so I was surprised at how giddy he was over a cooking appliance! We ran out to the store to stock up on ingredients for his birthday dinner. We made a yummy cheddar, spinach, and artichoke fondue for our first course, in which we dipped carrots, tortilla chips, and chunks of french bread. Then we had beef and chicken pieces to cook in a Coq Au Vin fondue, which was also excellent and all very easy. Jen had never had fondue, so it was a neat experience all around. And of course, we had a birthday cake for him. I really just haven’t felt like baking, even though I had planned to bake him a nice cake. But we picked up a pretty one from the bakery and covered the whole thing with a mix of normal birthday candles and trick candles. Of course, we were all too full from the fondue, so we’ll have leftover cake in the fridge for quite some time, I’m sure.

All in all it was a very good holiday for us! We would have loved to spend Christmas with our parents, but it’s just been a hectic time and we’re saving up our leave and money and I’ve been pretty run down, so staying home made the most sense to us. And it’s the last Christmas we’ll have without child(ren) for … well, quite some time! 2007 was a great year of lots of work, studying, and anticipation. And 2008 will bring plenty of excitement! Happy New Year!!

So I’m emailing this post to my blog and hopefully it posts it correctly. Of
course, plenty has happened since last October. The problem is that I’ve
gone back to pen-and-paper journaling, so I’ve had little desire to blog.
We had Thanksgiving at home, Christmas in New York with Matt’s family, new
Year’s in California with my mom and Ron, Matt turned 24, I started school
in January, we started attending a new marriage-related Bible study, I
dropped all my classes in February, Matt’s sister (Jen) moved out to LA and
she and Matt’s dad came up for a few days to visit, Matt started a new
3-on-3-off 12-hour work schedule, my father came to visit at the beginning
of March, I’m doing web design work for a creation science traveling
home school science course, I turned 24, I’ve been doing temp work as a
coupon printer installer/retrofitter technician at grocery stores, and
that’s pretty much the gist of what’s been going on in our lives. More on
some of that a bit later.

Yup, still alive. It's been a pretty hectic month. School is stressful as usual. Had my second math exam, which I know didn't go nearly as well as the first one. It's tough stuff and I just need to study harder. Since my last post a few things have happened. I had my birthday. It wasn't really all that exciting, but it doesn't seem like 23 is supposed to be. It was the weekend my best gal pal Carol left town for Nebraska. It was all sort of bittersweet, as it's an exciting adventure and she'll be back with her love, but sad that we got really close just recently and now she's gone. I should be used to seeing friends come and go by now. We had a really nice going-away / birthday dinner at a cute local cafe. I had to go to school on my actual birthday, so it was fairly uneventful. So Matthew's out in New Jersey now. I'm excited for him because it seems so romantic to just drop everything and set up in a completely new place to be with someone you care about. I know he's struggling some with personal issues right now and I hope she's the influence and encouragement he needs. My only concern is his lack of employment. Hopefully his restaurant prospect will work out. It's just sad that he's now that much farther away. I'm way out here with the Pacific Ocean in my backyard and my two siblings are way out as east as can be. I just miss 'em. So Matt and I have been trying to plan a first anniversary trip for this June. We figured we'd drive out to Colorado and see my mom. We were thinking about IndieFest, which is in beautiful and relaxing Pagosa Springs, but I guess we both just aren't feeling it. A lot of the bands are pretty cool, just no one we're passionate about. Then we were considering Wakarusa, which isn't that much farther of a drive and would be completely cool because there's a bunch of bands there that we would absolutely love to see. It's just that we're driving the whole way there and back and are all ready short on leave, so it seems like too much of a hassle. Last summer we did the High Sierra Music Festival and next summer we hope to do Coachella, which seems like the only reasonable festival to attend, since it's within a 5-hour drive. Next month Dave Gilmour will also be in San Francisco for his On an Island tour … hmm. So we moved into this new apartment. It's only about 5 miles from our old one, but it's "in town", which I suppose is better. We can walk places now, if we were to go anywhere. The place is so much nicer than our old one. It's a lot newer and cleaner and has a second bedroom and a dishwasher, woohoo! We got bedroom furniture (finally) and a new couch yesterday and have completely moved everything, so we're starting to settle in nicely. Pictures to come soon! A driving factor was being able to get a second cat: our old place only allowed one pet. So of course last weekend we went out and adopted a kitten. She's a four-month old gray tabby with three legs (had to be amputated earlier this month after she got caught in a car belt). At first I thought that was kind of creepy, but she's so pathetically cute and I just love her to death. We named her Gabby because she's a Gray tABBY (hah yah, I know, lame), but mainly because we were looking for someone to name her for and we decided to go with Gabby La La (one of our new-found favorite artists … and playing in Santa Monica during my spring break … hmm …) She and Tal were really hesitant and curious about each other at first (a bunch of pictures here). Gabby just sort of sat in her house and Tal would stare at her and slowly approach. He whacked her on the head a few times and I think that ticked her off. For the next two days they'd hiss a lot and swat, but now they snuggle together, hang out, wrestle (and she makes the most horrible quack/groan things when she wrestles), and share everything. I think they've adjusted to each other really well, which makes things a million times easier. I'm glad Tal now has a playmate, since we're at work and school most of the day and he just hangs out alone at home. So we've just been spending a lot of time with the kitties the past few days.
So I'm skipping school today because Jen, Matt's little sister, flew in from New York for her spring break. She spent yesterday in LA and is on a bus on her way to Santa Maria right now. She's staying through Sunday, but I can't get out of school tomorrow (physics lab and I tutor … kind of important) and I have drill all day Saturday and Sunday (and this weekend is mandatory, unfortunately). So today is really the only day I'll get to spend with her, which is a huge bummer because she is one awesome chicky and I'm so glad she's traveled all the way out here to see us! At least Matt will have Friday – Sunday to hang with his sis. We don't have any huge, exciting plans. She just spent a few months at an internship at Martha's Vineyard writing songs and performing, then just had a trip to Nashville to hang out with all sorts of cool bands, then hung out with hot guys in LA, so I kind of feel like our visit is the low-point of her vacation. Ahwell, we'll take her out to a nice dinner and play video games. Matt will be the entertainer really, so he'd better come up with something fun to do, hehe. Well that's about all for me. I need to move some of the cardboard boxes out of the way and make the place a little more presentable for our guest. Ciao! Edit: I snapped some quick apartment photos for your viewing pleasure. The place is still somewhat messy, but we're working on it. Enjoy!