chair covers

i came across these wool felt chair covers. i just love it and it's so cute! i'm gonna try to make in my spare time-Ha!

Happy Moon Festival

Happy Moon Festival!!!

the moon was really bright but small tonight... Luca enjoyed playing with the moon cake. I don't think he knows that it was something he can eat, so he just tossed it around and got bored with it and prefer his sweet potato dinner better. by next year i think he will love his moon cake!

Music Class

marco got this ceramic instrument from our trip to Taiwan and i think Luca finds it pretty funny :-)

First day of Swim Lesson

Red MEAT

this month we started to introduce red meat = protein. here we have beef chopped down in cubes with oregano and just boiled down until it's cooked then we puree and freeze it in ice tray. i have to say the smell of chicken or beef boiled down with no seasoning is pretty grooose... but Luca eats it all every morning!!!

this is Luca's feeding schedule as of 9M and our Dr. tells us that it's time to cut back on milk and more solids. the idea is to have him eating table food by 12M.

Here's a typical meal for the day:

630am - milk

830am - milk 7 oz

nap

1030am - solids (we give him beef with potatoes with a side of kale and carrots = 3/4 cup = 6 oz. of mashed food ~ yum ~)

1pm milk 7 oz

nap

330pm - solids (brown rice with beets and sweet potatoes (3/4 C) + finger food like cut up bananas)

500 - solids (millet with red bean and sweet potatoes (chinese dessert - 1/2 C = 4 oz.) + cut up peaches)

730 - milk (sweet dream... see you tomorrow at 630am!...)

as you can see he eats every 2 hours and every waking moment, non-stop which keeps me really busy in between changing his diapers.

swim class

marco wanted him to take swim class ... at 9M?!!! i think it's too early but.. it's all about playing in the water. this is at Alameda Aquatic center where the water is heated to 85 degrees and the class is 30 min. with signing and few techniques.

here are some images of his first day. he was crying for the first 5 min. but soon he was getting comfortable also hanging on to pa-pa very tight and by the end of the class he was splashing and playing.

graduating from baby tub

after this bath time we knew this was the last time he'll be in this baby tub... way too much splashing all over the kitchen and he won't sit still in the tub. we now bathe him in the adult tub and he bathe it with his pa-pa... and he can splash all he wants!
my little Luca is growing up! didn't think this day will come so fast at 9M.

//... good morning...

...buffing eyes... stylish hair...

good morning!!! these are my favorite guys!!! it's wonderful to wake up with them.

Hawaii BBQ

Here we are at Marco's co-worker, Lou's house for a nice hot summer BBQ and the theme was Hawaiian. Luca has a perfect Hawaii shirt! thanks for my co-worker Lindsay!

have you noticed that both parents were cut off from the each picture..?! it's all about the baby now...!

8M

Luca is now 8 Months!!!
already?!!!
i still remember when i reading about what your baby will be doing at 8M and thought when will that get there - it seems like a fun age.... and here we are. I felt like the last 2 months since 6M has gone by really fast and he progresses so much from rolling to standing while hanging on to things all in 2 months. Yesterday he Clapped his hands!!! finalllllly!!! i've been showing him how to clap his hands since 4M i think and today he did it again :-) we were all very proud of him! and soon i think in a few weeks he will wave bye-bye. Luca is a textbook baby - right on target! so i can pretty much expect what will happen next month by reading the book.
he has been teething really bad and i think we even found some blood on the cloth when we dry his mouth from chewing on his toys. his top 2 teeth are coming in - i can feel it! it's all very exciting to see him grow and sad at the same time... i just want him to stay at his age for a little bit longer so i can enjoy a little bit longer. i'm glad that my work schedule is only 3x a week and i get to catch up with him the rest of 4 days. when we get home around 6pm we have to clean him, change, play, and i have to cook, then marco will get home, then feed him, and he'll goes to sleep at 7:30 or 8pm, then we eat dinner around 8:30pm. we really only get to spend about 2 hours with him and it's his worst time, because he's usually so tired by the end of the day and he usually don't get his 4 hours nap at daycare, some times he'll sleep as soon as we're in the car for a short nap of 30 min. poor little guy...
we can't wait to watch him grow, learn and experience life with us!

daycare

here's Luca sleeping at daycare last week when we picked him up. they even has his name on the wall.

Standing with one hand

yesterday Luca was standing in his rain forest again, but this time we put his rattle ball at the top and he was really focused in getting the ball slowly with one hand while the other hanging on to the bar and standing all on his own. what a big boy now!!!
part of me don't want to grow up so fast and still wants him to be a baby but part of me can't wait for him to walk and talk so we can have a in depth baby conversation.

aaaaeeeeehhhhh

i could be a flirty girl

if Luca was a girl i think he would look like this... (click to see his lashes)

i bought him a sun hat and i was just trying it on his big head. he looked sooo cute and he looks sooo girly only if he was wearing a pink dress... hmm... next time.
daddy didn't like the hat since it's made of polyester... so we had to return it-good thing i took some pictures!

Dia de Portugal

i think we caught a big one here!

We went to SJ to celebrate Day of Portugal at Kelly Park. It was a warm afternoon and we just finished having our grilled sardines with potatoes and bread. Luca had sweet potato with millet for lunch.
I looked up and found a pacifier in his mouth the next scene was him spitting it out and the pacifier went flying.

Angel Dear photo shoot

Luca and I showed up at the photo shoot in SF Glen Park neighborhood, it was actually at the house of the owner. They were all very nice and very friendly and of course when they see Luca they were like 'oh he's a happy baby this will be easy' Luca SMILES at everyone :-)
he took a big poop there, so i had to change him before the shoot, good thing it didn't get on the nice clothes. The photographer also took some pictures of Luca and I - I think it's gonna turn out really nice. We were the last baby there and it all went really fast with only 1 outfit ... it only took about 15 min. at the end they gave us their famous blankie ( i got him a tiger one, since he was born the year of Tiger) and a sweater jacket. They told us that the Spring 2012 catalog should be out in 3 months and that is when we will get our photos and catalog.

to see more photos from the photo shoot click here.

Plastic #1?

i know we all come across on what kind of plastic to avoid and i always kinda knew about #1 which is your plastic bottle. I think now that we have a baby and he puts everything in his mouth, we are more careful at what's out there. There are lots i mean more then 80% of toys out there that is a teething toys but you can not submerge in water to wash it... i'm thinking then it's like chewing on a dirty rag and how can then sell a teething toy!!! it just doesn't make sense. Luca now has teeth at the bottom and i've noticed that all the hard plastic he's been chewing on has scratches from his teeth- Nice! i'm not sure if he's actually consuming some of that plastic from China. Scarrrry out there... then again our parents probably let us chew on anything or nothing i guess.
the bottom is from a website i've found and learned- just a reminder what # to avoid (it's on my fridge door now). Be safe out there!
http://guide.thesoftlanding.com/

Categories to avoid:
PETE or PET (#1): Polyethylene Terephthalate is fine for single
use, but begins to break down very quickly when exposed to heat and
detergents. Commonly found in bottled water, soda bottles, cooking
oil bottles and peanut butter jars.
PVC or Vinyl (#3 or "V"): We are literally surrounded by Polyvinyl
Chloride, making it difficult to avoid. We'll discuss its common
uses, what makes it toxic and how best to avoid in upcoming steps.
PS (#6): Polystyrene is commonly found in packaging pellets or
"Styrofoam peanuts," cups, plastic tableware, meat trays, to-go
"clam shell" containers. Styrofoam cups, meat trays, and
containers break down easily when coming in contact with hot, fatty
foods.
Other (#7): This plastic category serves as a catchall for any
plastic other than the named #1- #6 plastic types. These
miscellaneous plastic containers can be a combination of several
plastic polymers and are often layered with 2 or more of the #1- #6
plastic types. It's important to note that not all #7's are toxic,
so specifically look for #7 (PC or polycarbonate) and avoid it.
We'll discuss its common uses, what makes it toxic and how best to
avoid it in upcoming steps.

Categories generally considered safer:
HDPE (#2): High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is commonly used in
detergent bottles and milk jugs.
LDPE (#4): Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) can be found in dry
cleaning bags, produce bags, trash can liners and some food food
storage containers.
PP (#5): Polypropylene (PP) is the most common plastic used for
sippy cups, reusable dishes and utensils. It can also be found in
baby teethers and toys, large outdoor playhouses, kids riding toys,
bottle caps, reusable water bottle lids and drinking straws.
Additionally, silicone, glass and wood are safer alternative
choices and are not included in recycling categories.

Keep in mind that you are voting with your dollars. You're telling
the manufacturers of plastic products and the chemical industry
what you will accept and what you won't. The more you support the
companies who have gone the extra mile to remove EDC's from their
products (and even label them in some cases), the more they'll
continue doing so.

where's the clock

at 6 month Luca not only knows his name , mama and papa he also know where the clock is. i would ask him 鐘鐘在哪裡? ("where's the clock?") in chinese and he would turn his head and look at the clock. At first i thought he was just turning his head to the right... then i reorient him around the room and ask him again and he looked for the clock and smiled.
he also know the word "No!" and i think he knows hands, grandma, bird (we're still working on that), bell and doggy.

UMMmmm...

here's a video of 2nd week of feeding.
we're serving 1/4 cup of mashed sweet potato.

First Day for everyone

we all got up at 6am this morning to get ready for our big day. I went back to work - 9 hours and Luca went to daycare for 10 hours :-( Marco did the drop off at 7am and i'm doing the pick up at 5pm. My first day back was good, it was really good to see my co-workers and i was surprised how much i still remember where things are. there are moments i was like i rather be with Luca or i wonder what he's doing... then...
... the daycare called us and was like luca is still hungry and he already drank 3 bottles of 5 oz of milk by about 1pm. (this was suppose to last him until 5pm) and he was not happy after each feeding. marco had to make a fresh milk delivery to him in the afternoon back in Oakland, because we didn't have any back up milk or formula.
Luca was really happy to see both of us at 5pm he started to cry. I just held him tight in my arms and gave him lots of xoxoxo. we read his report and found out luca didn't nap at all, only 10-30 min. here and there and he usually naps 1-2 hours for 2 or 3x. so as soon as we got home he was pretty tired and out by 7pm!!! poor little guy... i think it will take some time to adjust to the new change/environment. i'm not sure about feeding him every 2 hours at 5 oz each time... i'm gonna have to call the Dr. and see what he thinks.
i look forward playing with Luca for the next 4 days until next monday where we all return back to work :-(