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First Birthday party preparations

We have been so busy getting ready for Kai's first birthday party!
First here is a picture of me one year ago today, just days before Kai arrived.
I could have lived in the ocean then, it felt so nice to be in the water.

So I am trying to be a little more green with the party supplies, far from perfect but it is a start.
I have been making these paper pom poms instead of balloons. They are so fun and easy to make, addicting for some reason.

My mum ordered this sign from a nice etsy seller (hand-made from cloth and reusable!) I got a roll of that oil cloth fabric, I love it and it has an Hawaiian feel since the party is luau themed.

I wanted to get some cool melamine plates by Thomas Paul or some vintage ones. But it would be too much to get that many plates even if I got them on ebay.
But for dessert plates I got a bunch of these monkey melamine plates because they were 74 cents each

I ordered cloth napkins from another etsy seller (who I also got cloth swiffer sheets from, she had a lot of great things)

Those cups are made from corn, hopefully that is a good thing. It says they are compost able but I know that means you have to actually put them in a compost pile, which we don't have.

I have so many things that felt like I would never get done and it feels good to see most things coming together.
Here is a dresser I got for $50 from salvation army. I stripped it and restained it.
Before

after ( I still need to get knobs)

I also found this great dresser that didn't need to be fixed(except for that bottom handle) I love it
Better go I have a million things to do. I hope to get some more shark cookies baked before Kai wakes up

I finished it!

Here is the little book of lullabies and rhymes I made for that same friend. It was so much fun to do.
Now I just hope she gets it before the baby arrives!

I did it!

My friend Carla is having a baby, her due date is almost exactly a year after I had Kai. She is so crafty and made me all sorts of things before and after Kai was born- like a crocheted turtle, a knit blanket, a knit hat and booties. So I knew when she told me she was pregnant I wanted to make something.
The problem is even though I have done some sewing in my life it's been a long time and I don't have a machine, I learned to knit once but I never finished the scarf and forget how.

But I was determined to make something. So I ordered blank board books to make a book of lullabies and I ordered a sock monkey kit.
The kit was $13, I figured I might as well order it so everything was in one place and I didn't have to go around looking for each thing. You can use any kind of socks and the directions are all over the internet. I wanted to get the vintage kind...
SO I sewed this guy by hand. Sewing a sock isn't easy. I couldn't even see my stitches and I doubted how this guy would turn out..I was so relieved to see him turn out..he is a little wonky, definitely hand made. I am so glad it wasn't a disaster. Kai is really drawn to it, so I may just make another!
The monkey is almost ready to be sent off, along with some other handmade (by others!) objects I found on etsy. I just have to finish that little book of rhymes and lullabies. I am having a lot of fun with it and should finish it today. I will put up some pictures..
I have also been so busy trying to get ready for Kai's party, unpacking, looking for furniture and keeping up with the little teething (molars, yikes!) monkey. After this month I should find more time to post.

Swim lessons

Kai in the big pool

The pain of being a redhead!

Ok so my hair isn't naturally that red, it is more dark auburn.. but

A study reported in NY times shows that redheads are more resistant to Novocaine and experience more pain at the dentist!
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/the-pain-of-being-a-redhead/?em

I wonder if the same is true for labor and epidurals. When I finally got the epidural when I was at 8 centimeters the anesthesiologist was amazed that I could still feel it. Apparently "Researchers believe redheads are more sensitive to pain because of a mutation in a gene that affects hair color." Some brunettes can have this gene also. I think Kai must have it! That is way he is SO sensitive to teething pain!  SO interesting.

having fun

The above pictures are from last weekend at this little kids play space. Kai had fun!

So he has bee standing up without holding on to anything lately. He also continues to say words. Another new word is apple. He gets it confused with owl sometimes. Which might seem weird but the way he says owl, it has two syllables: ow-wool. So you can see how it sounds a little like apple to him!
He's so cute, he loves to help me empty the dishwasher and hands be utensils and tupperware.

We are settling in a little more and feeling a little more comfortable in the 'burbs. It is so nice having more space, and nobody walking around above us!
I keep forgetting to take some pictures of our house. Soon.

Critters, teeth, adjusting to changes

It's true Kai is definitely getting his molars already! We were hoping it wasn't true. Now we have accepted it and hope it doesn't take months for them all to come in. I have a feeling it will. I just want them all to come in and then maybe we can sleep for a few months before the two year molars! For now sleep continues to be hard to come by!

The above picture is Kai on Sasha's bed. He loves to climb on it.
'I should put some pictures up of the house. We love the huge windows like this one, that are through out the house. Lots of light!

It's a harder transition than I thought going from urban beach town, to suburb near the woods. I grew up near the woods but I don't know, I think I may prefer urban beach town better now! I can't believe I am saying that.

I mentioned the spiders before, oh and I should mention there are spiders every where. Most of them mini tarantula looking things, not your friendly daddy long legs that I used to pick up when I was little. There are bugs, lots of bugs. It seems we have a snake and a snake hole in our yard. I haven't seen it so I am just hoping it is not a venomous one. I have never been a fan of snakes. They scare me in the wild. Plus I was hoping to transform the yard into a native plant garden but now I am not sure what to do!
There are skunks living across the street, the other morning one was in our yard.
There is also a mangy coyote roaming the streets all the time. I have to look up mange and see how dogs get that. Speaking of dogs. Sasha is crawling with fleas, normal ones and these really gross sticky fleas. They burrow their heads in her skin in groups (they look like tiny eggs or something) and have to taking out with tweezers. They give me the heebee jebees! We have to take her to get frontline.

Ok so apparently there are also mountain lions (one was seen last year at the school a mile a way) Another kind of big cat was seen also. I forget what kind. Apparently packs of coyotes and these big cats sometimes jump on roofs from the steep yards, according to our neighbors! There are also lizards which don't bother me. So many critters! I am not used to that anymore. I am sure we will get used to it. There are some cool things to witness to, like butterflies, hummingbirds and this guy who was right in our neighbors yard

We miss the ocean a lot ! We had to go back and visit last weekend!
 

Coconut cake and first words!

What do you do when you are impossibly tired because your 10 month old is not sleeping AGAIN and you are having a hard day adjusting to the change of moving?! Bake a 3 layer coconut cream cake from scratch of course!
Oh man. Since we moved or is right before we moved that Kai started waking up 4, 5 or more times a night. It just seems too early for him to be getting his molars but all the signs are there- drooling, biting and now grinding his teeth and of course not sleeping. At first I was thinking it was just the move, and maybe it is that also.

Very sleepy but instead of going to sleep at 7 when I know I could get a few solid hours of sleep when Kai was sleeping, I baked. Who can really go to sleep at 7 anyways?!(Well I used to the first 5 1/2 months of life with Kai but I wanted to start doing other stuff). So this cake I wanted to try out for Kai's birthday party we are planning. We want to make luau themed food. Plus it was a great excuse to bake a cake! Kai won't be eating this cake though. I am going to make him a much lower sugar cake.
This cake was very sweet! but yummy too ( of course gluten free)

There is nothing like a cake baked from scratch. I used Emeril's recipe from the food network (minus the pecans) but substituted a gluten free flour mix I made from fine brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch and xanthum gum. Here is where I found the flour mix recipe.

So big news is Kai said a couple words! So drumroll.. what were his first words?! (besides mama and dada which babies say very early on)..the word was- OWL
I didn't realize he was saying it at first because babies babble a lot and sometimes it sounds like they are saying words. I always read him this beautiful ABC book

for N there is a picture of a nest with eggs and I always say nest. For O there is an illustration of an owl. I thought he said owl but not sure. Then I was wearing a dress with flowers and one of the middles of the flowers looked like a nest with eggs and Kai was pointing to it saying "owl" so then I started thinking he was really saying owl but confused it with the nest picture that is on the page before in the book. Then the same thing happened with another similar picture. Still I was unsure if he could be talking already until Wes' family brought over a wreath with flowers and when Kai saw it he pointed to the flower and said flower. His second word! I still wasn't sure of it so I kept testing both words and sure enough he keeps saying it!
It is not surprising that he said flower because when we walk once or twice a day I always point out the flowers and say flower. I can't believe owl was the first word though because I only say that when we read the book.

He also has stood for a couple seconds a couple times without holding on to anything! They grow so fast!

Today I also made a natural dishwasher detergent.
It's just 2 cups of borax, 2 cups of baking soda and 4 TB of citric acid. Then  1 or 2 tb of vinegar in the jet dry compartment. I haven't tried it yet.
I hope it works well. It is so cheap and natural! Next I am going to make all natural laundry detergent.

Settling in

We have lived in the house for just over a week. I think we are all getting used to it a little bit. It will take a while to really feel comfortable here.
It is so quiet! I'm not complaining but still it takes some getting used to.
There are so many lizards and even more spiders..a nightmare for Wes with his fear of spiders! I never thought of that. I guess because when I grew up near the woods it was on the east coast, here near the woods it is so hot so I think that means lots of spiders, and I don't mean your friendly daddy long legs I mean dark hairy looking creatures.

It is nice to sit out back and see the trees above and the quiet of nature
On the 4th we barbequed, that was fun. I also made brownies and haupia and ate mostly all of them myself..I justify it because for almost the last year I haven't been able to eat any chocolate. Also they were Betty Crocker GLUTEN FREE brownies!Wow! I had to substitute oil for butter and still they tasted great- very rich and not grainy at all. I also have the gluten free yellow cake mix to try, I am interested in how that is.

Here is Kai on the 4th

People keep mistaking him for a girl, I wonder if I should have his hair cut short, or leave it long and flowing like his dad.

He is just all over the place lately. His favorite thing is to pull himself and stand and sit down and  stand stand up and stand more.. crawling over things is a favorite also.Here is him standing

More soon!

Goodbye Santa Monica hello house..

How we loved living here for the past year.. It is a great place to live.
We saw the ocean nearly day, we walked all over town, enjoyed the cool weather, the amazing farmer's market, 3rd street promenade just a walk away and even saw a few celebrities. I didn't even tell anyone about some of these sitings.. Let's see I saw Ron Howard jogging right past us, Elijah Woods several times at Whole Foods and he checked out behind us (just as good looking in person!) I saw Kady Lang at the Farmer's market, also saw CJ from Top Chef there a couple times. Wes saw a couple other celebrity Chef's there but I can't remember their names. Also the old guy (sorry don't know his name) from CSI lives in our building and we rode the elevator with him a few times..That is fun. But the best is seeing the ocean everyday. We will miss it Ahh...
if only we had a several million we could buy a house here.

Things I won't miss:
Having neighbors above us and to every side
the noise!
having no space
everyone having nannies (I am hoping this isn't as prevalent where we are moving.)
sleeping on a mattress on the floor so Kai can have his own bedroom (we only have one)
Having to get the cart in the garage to take the groceries from the garage to the elevator and back again with baby in toe.
Having to get all prepared- baby in stroller or carrier and take the elevator down just to let the down out to pee
Having to go down the hall to do the laundry
Paying rent
never staying in one place or being able to decorate(I wonder what it will feel like to have some roots)
There being no where for guests to park
We are excited!