11 Months

Posted by on July 14, 2013 No comments

Developmentally speaking, this has been a huge month for Theo! On June 23rd, 2012 our little baby crawled for the first time! Well, at least that’s the first time we captured it on camera. He was really shaky at first and could only go short distances – but there was no mistaking that he was mobile! The best part was watching Theo try to get back to a sitting position. He would use his head pressed against the floor to help steady himself – which looked painful, awkward and cute all at the same time. A few weeks have gone by since that first crawl and it’s a world of difference! Now he is super fast and is definitely getting stronger. We find him attempting to stand up at every opportunity – it certainly makes us nervous when he uses completely unstable objects to aid in his efforts (e.g. the moving rocking chair). We also noticed that Theo has an odd fascination with drawers and doors. I guess this is standard, since there are tons of “babyproofing” items that deal with this issue in particular. I foresee a few jammed fingers in our future…I’m hoping we won’t have to deal with anything too serious. Theo also seems to enjoy destroying things. Based on everything I’ve read about about babies (boys in particular), this is also pretty common. Some of his favorite activities include ripping up newspaper and knocking down block towers. If this is the extent of his destructiveness, we’ll be in great shape. Something tells me we won’t be that lucky.

In other big news this month, Theo landed another job! This was for an Eddie Bauer shopping cart cover (to be sold at Target in January 2014). The only bummer was that the location of the shoot was close to San Diego – so getting down there was a bit of a shlep. Jeff and I drove together, which worked out great because we were able to take advantage of the carpool lane. Once we got down there, we had some time to kill, so we spent some time visiting the nearby botanical gardens. Theo was able to sneak in a great nap next to a real waterfall – who needs a sound machine when you have the real thing! The shoot itself was great and Theo did an excellent job. They dressed him in a cute outfit and had him sit in a staged shopping cart. It sounded like the director was happy and got the shots he needed – but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if he actually makes it onto the package! After the shoot, we decided to take our time getting back to LA, and stopped in Hermosa for a bite to eat and to hang at the beach. It felt like being on vacation, even if it was just one day.

Our REAL vacation would come a few weeks later, an absolutely PHENOMENAL trip to Hawaii. We stayed at the Westin Resort in Kaanapali and are counting down the days until we can go back. Theo was an absolute delight on the plane – in all seriousness. He didn’t cry at all during takeoff or landing, and was genuinely happy throughout the flight. He did get a little restless at times (to be expected) and we took turns walking up and down the aisles. Theo was his usual flirty self and by the end of the flight, he had every single flight attendant totally in love with him! They all knew his name and took turns holding him and playing with him. This was basically a sign of what was to come – everyone – from hotel staff to moms and kids by the pool – wanted to play with Theo. He was the star of our trip!

Once we got to Hawaii, we rented a car (which turned out to be a great decision) and made our way to the hotel. This was Jeff’s first time in Hawaii, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. The Westin is a beautiful hotel and we certainly made the most of our Starwood points! In addition to being directly on the beach, the resort featured an awesome pool. That night, we noticed that Theo’s eyes were a little goopy – we attributed it to him being tired and the flight…we spent the next day in the pool and noticed that Theo’s eyes looked worse. We made an appointment with the hotel’s on-call doctor (conveniently located in the hotel just a few minutes away!) The doctor took one look at Theo and told us that our poor baby had a double eye infection and double ear infection! It probably didn’t help that I dunked Theo underwater for the first time in between us landing and going to the doctor’s office! The doctor gave us a prescription for antibiotics, which helped his eyes almost immediately. Since Theo never complained about his ears (or anything), it’s hard to know when the medicine really kicked in. We saw the doctor once more before we flew home, and everything looked good. The pharmacy was just a few minute drive away, so this little episode turned out to be a minor inconvenience in the scheme of our trip. We were so grateful to be have been in the US!

When we booked our trip, we really didn’t know what to expect in terms of traveling with a baby. It was WAY better than either of us imagined. We didn’t get to do as many “adventurous” things (like hiking or water sports) – but we did plenty of eating delicious fish and hanging out at the beach and pool, which was fine by us. We brought two sets of snorkels/fins, but should have known better – as we could only go one at a time. That said, seeing Theo’s enjoyment as he splashed in the ocean made it totally worth it. Any concerns we had leading up to the trip completely disappeared once we arrived. Theo slept perfectly in his crib and while it meant we ended our nights on the early side – it also meant that we wasted no time in the mornings at took full advantage of our days. We were directed to a small beach about 5 minutes away from the hotel that was perfect for Theo – since it had a row of rocks that took the brunt of the waves and made for a shallow area that we were able to relax in with Theo (without having to worry about fighting the current). The ocean water was great (and was definitely warmer than the pool. We also had a great time exploring Front Street and “Whalers Village” which was right next to our hotel.

As expected, the fish in Hawaii is unparallelled. One of the locals told us about a hole in the wall take-out place that made the BEST fish sandwiches Jeff and I had ever tasted. It was here that we discovered that Theo LOVES mahi mahi! We also spent time visiting the local restaurants near the hotel – and of course, Theo was a fan favorite. One afternoon we randomly ran into one of the hostesses from the hotel restaurant at a nearby park, she immediately called out his name and ran over to see him. One of our best/worst food experiences took place at a Sushi restaurant called “Sansei”. This restaurant had been recommended to us by multiple people so we called to make a reservation. They were booked the entire week we were on vacation – however, they told us that they don’t take reservations between 5:15 and 6pm. We were told to arrive early – which worked just fine for us. Since Theo goes to sleep around 7:30, we are fond of these early bird specials. We arrived at 4:45 (30 minutes before the restaurant opened) and were shocked to see a huge line of people – some of whom were sitting in lawn chairs! Turns out, if you get sat at that “early” seating, you get 25% off your bill – 50% if you have a Hawaii license! At 5:15, the hostess started letting people into the restaurant – Jeff, Theo and I were the last ones let in! Great for us, not so great for the very nice people standing in line behind us. Despite having a menu filled with many things that were off limits to us, Jeff and I dined on their prize winning dish – Panko Crusted Ahi Sashimi Sushi Roll – Theo dined on Mac N Cheese…real classy. The dessert was OUT OF THIS WORLD – Tempura Fried Ice Cream wrapped with buttery pound cake, rolled in roasted macadamia nuts, flash-fried and served with chocolate sauce. Unbelievably good. This was the first time that we really tried to eat with Theo at a restaurant, and it was a little bit of a disaster. He just didn’t want to sit still, resulting in Jeff and I eating dinner in shifts and getting sympathetic looks from other parents in the restaurant.

Overall, we couldn’t have asked for a better vacation. We basically fell in love with Hawaii and can’t wait to go back. We ended up agreeing to go on a timeshare presentation (they gave us Starwood points for our time…I mean, we couldn’t say no to that!) Obviously, we fell in love with the concept of coming back year after year and decided that if we ever do decide to go the timeshare route one day, Hawaii is where we want to be.

10 Months

Posted by on June 23, 2013 No comments

Month 10 has been an adventure! We started out with our annual trip to Palm Springs for Shavuot. This was Theo’s first experience in the desert – and we were a little nervous about how he would handle the extreme heat. I don’t know anyone that really enjoys putting on sunscreen, and that goes for babies as well. It was difficult keeping him lathered up at all times – but I think it paid off since we didn’t have to deal with sunburn (which I’m guessing would have been way worse). Last year, there were no babies on the trip – this year, there were 3! Theo made friends with another little boy around his age – Jordan Teller, but he was MOST excited about getting to spend time with his main squeeze Andi (Andrea). Ilana and I tried to get the kiddos together for a mini photo shoot, and the results were…comical. I have a new-found respect for photographers who have to capture good shots of 2 kids at once. Overall, Shavuot was a success. Theo spent a ton of time in the kiddie pool and loved hanging out in the lazy river. He also got to spend lots of quality time with his grandparents, aunt and uncles and great-grandpa. And we somehow managed to sneak in a little relaxing time for ourselves – though it was certainly an adjustment!

Since Theo has been having such a great time in the pool – we decided it was time to venture to the beach! It occurred to us that we spent zero time at the beach last summer, which seemed like kind of a waste given where we live. This year, we made a pact that unless we have somewhere we have to be – Sundays are beach days. Since Theo gets up between 6 and 6:30, by 9am it feels like we’ve been up forever and we are ready to get out of the house. This works out great since the beach is relatively empty at that hour and not too hot. Theo loves his new “sand tent” and had a blast playing with the sand toys. Theo also loves to people (and dog) watch from the comfort of his stroller – we have to hold him back when he sees a dog walk by – his excitement is a little out of control! I think his favorite thing has been experiencing the ocean water and sand on his toes for the first time. We are so excited to bring Theo to Hawaii and actually have a chance to go IN the water with him!! Is it too early to teach him how to surf? I guess he needs to learn to walk first…

We had some additional excitement this month…Theo is finally earning his keep! He received his first check in the mail from his Carter’s gig. We still haven’t seen any of the pictures he took show up anywhere, but we are on the lookout. We had a few auditions this month – one was for a commercial for a mobile company. I showed up with Theo and couldn’t help but laugh – it was an entire room of babies that had blue eyes and light brown hair – basically, an entire room of baby boys that all slightly resembled Theo. He didn’t end up getting that particular role, but it was a fun experience. Theo DID book another job though – packaging for an Eddie Bauer shopping cart cover (to be sold at Target!) – more on that in next months post!

9 Months

Posted by on May 27, 2013 No comments

I have been really behind on posting…Theo is closer to 10 months than he is 9…but alot has happened this month, so….here it goes.

The BIG news from May is that Theo booked and shot his first job – for Carter’s! The audition was a little crazy – babies everywhere! We have been to a handful of auditions at this point, and the drill is pretty much the same at this age. You arrive at the audition, sign in and get placed in a room filled with other babies (and their parents). Once the casting director or assistant calls your name, you take your child to a separate area where they quickly take a snapshot of your baby. That’s it. There have been some auditions where we have literally been in and out in 15 minutes. Others (like the Carter’s audition), took longer. The more kids they are auditioning, the greater the chance they will fall behind. Based on the number of people at this audition, I felt lucky that we got out relatively quickly! I ended up meeting alot of other moms from Theo’s agency – some were really down to earth and easy to talk to – others, as you might suspect, were clearly living vicariously through their children.

About a week after we auditioned, we got notice that Theo booked the job! He was initially booked as “back-up” but once we got to the shoot (May 3), he was upgraded to primary. Basically, this means that he was photographed. The actual Carter’s shoot was MUCH more calm than the audition. We were brought into a room filled with outfits and even a hair and make-up station. They had Theo change into a cute onesie and the make-up lady fixed his hair (so cute!) After about a half-hour, the director had Theo called to the set – which for this particular shoot was a large white bed. Theo was placed on the bed with two other babies…and began to freak out. Luckily they have special people on set whose sole jobs are to entertain the babies and try to get them to smile. At first, I stayed close by and in view – but this made Theo even more clingy. I decided it was best if I was completely out of sight – and that seemed to do the trick. He and the other babies looked absolutely adorable. I have no idea if his picture will get used for anything – but if we see it online (or in-store), I’ll definitely post pictures. We were told that the images from this shoot should be going online sometime in July…so we’ll see! Even if he doesn’t end up getting used, it was still a fun experience. Plus, Theo made a little side cash, which will go right into a college fund.

On a totally unrelated note – Theo is starting to get the hang of eating on his own! On May 12, we had a breakthrough. Theo picked up a piece of cheese from his highchair tray – and ate it by himself! He still prefers to be fed by someone else – he resembles a little baby bird waiting for the mother bird to drop food in his mouth. Right or wrong, we have been indulging him and feeding him instead of forcing him to eat by himself. While I would love for him to eat on his own all the time, at a certain point, we have to be realistic. We just don’t have hours to spend watching him mash the food aimlessly in his hand before he decides to throw it on the ground.

In other news, this May marked my first “Mother’s Day”. Theo stole Jeff’s credit card and bought me flowers – which was extremely thoughtful and very appreciated. We celebrated with the extended family at Grammy and Papa’s pool, which was great. He loves the water – and his cousins…a perfect combination!

8 Months

Posted by on April 15, 2013 No comments

Time is really going by too quickly. I look at Theo and can’t believe how big he is. This month has been full of amazing developments (and some scares). I’ll start on a positive note – Theo is starting to become much more mobile. He’s not crawling – but he does this cute/odd thing where he rolls from his tummy to his back – and then back to his tummy to help maneuver himself. I can tell he wants to get from point A to point B – he certainly gets frustrated when he isn’t able to get where he wants fast enough! He is also starting to move backwards (using his legs) while he is on his back. It doesn’t seem like he’s kicking to move himself – rather, the movement is just a byproduct of kicking his legs. In any case, I have a feeling that true crawling isn’t far too far in the distance.

Theo had one of his biggest “firsts” this month – his first dip in the pool! Theo had a blast swimming with Daddy and using his new floatation device. He loves bath time, so this really wasn’t a huge surprise to us. We are going to have a great time in Palm Springs! In other news, Theo’s new favorite party trick (besides being ridiculously cute) is clapping his hands. He has just started to clap on demand (though he definitely has to be in the right kind of mood!) He will also give you a high five – if he’s feeling particularly cheerful. He has also started to wave good-bye – though he is a little delayed. The wave usually comes about 30 seconds after the person has left his sight! Dr. Araya mentioned that this might happen – I guess it’s not as weird as we thought it was :-)

Speaking of Dr. Araya, we had Theo’s 8 month appointment the other day. She is really happy with his overall development – but is a little concerned about his weight gain. He hasn’t gained much in the past few months – and she not sure why he isn’t keeping up with the “curve”. His height and head circumference have been growing perfectly – all well above the 90%. His weight is another story, he has been dropping percentage points and is now in the 70% for weight. It’s a problem I would love to have! In any case, we have started to explore options to increase his weight gain. In Dr. Araya’s words – feed Theo the way you wish you could eat. This means full-fat dairy (yogurt, cheese, butter) and protein including egg yolks and ground beef. She would like us to keep him away from egg whites until he is a year – so for now, Theo is my perfect hard boiled egg partner. We have stopped pureeing his food (so happy I didn’t cave and buy one of those baby bullets – since it would have been in use for all of 2 1/2 months!) and we are basically feeding him smaller versions of what we are eating. Since he only has two teeth – I am being cautious (probably overly cautious) about the size of the morsels we give him…but choking terrifies me. Speaking of teeth – Theo did what I had been fearing he would do since day 1…he BIT me. There. The first time he clamped down with those razor sharp teeth – I flinched and laughed out of surprise and pain. Then, as if to test me – he bit down again. When he bit me a THIRD time, I got serious. I firmly told him no and pulled him off. I don’t know if it was the shock of being pulled off – or my stern voice – but he certainly got the message. He started to cry and it was a different kind of cry than I had ever heard. He was clearly upset that I had reprimanded him and it took a few minutes for him to calm down. When he started to feed again, he didn’t bite down at all – and hasn’t bitten me since. Is he totally reformed? Who knows? But I’m certainly grateful that he seems to have learned his lesson for now.

Other lessons learned this month include the dangers of overfeeding. It was the last day of Pesach and I fed Theo some sweet potato soup. He was enjoying it so much that he just kept going – and going. I think he probably ate two adult servings. He just loved that soup. Well, he certainly paid a price. After he fell asleep, my mom and I went out for a night walk. When we returned, we found my dad at the front door saying “everything is okay, but the paramedics are on their way for Theo.” Naturally, I flipped out and ran upstairs to find a vomit covered Theo, about to put in the bath. Apparently, about an hour after he fells asleep, he awoke crying. Jeff went to go check on him and felt some wetness in the crip. He picked Theo up to console him, and Theo vomited all over him. Having never experienced vomit like that, Jeff called 911. Had I been there – I would have done the same. The fire department showed up (6 burly-ish men) in our living room and checked Theo out. We definitely felt a little silly at that point – by then Theo seemed totally fine. Still, they recommended that we take him to the emergency room (just to be safe). We decided against going in the ambulance, Theo is too young to appreciate the ride anyway. On our way to the ER, Theo started violently throwing up in his carseat (this was not fun to clean up!) Once at the ER, Theo was in much better spirits. Besides for the vomit stuck to his hair, you would never know anything was wrong with him! The staff at the ER was super friendly and we were in and out within an hour – which was UNBELIEVABLY fast. They examined him thoroughly, and gave us a prescription for some anti-nausea medication. In retrospect, we probably didn’t need to take him to the ER, but I’m happy we did. It’s a right of passage, and I’m just happy that it turned out to be a case of overeating and not something more serious. When we told Dr. Araya about the ordeal, she gave us that look of “oh you guys are SUCH first time parents” but we figure we only get to be this neurotic once, so we might as well take advantage of it.

7 Months

Posted by on March 13, 2013 No comments

Theo is 7 months old! I can’t believe how quickly this month has gone by – we have been having so much fun with him. Some exciting news…this past Friday (3/8/13) we noticed Theo’s very first teeth coming in! The bottom center teeth are peeking through – which is pretty amazing to watch. We have noticed that he is a little more irritable at times, but thankfully the teething doesn’t seem to have impacted his sleeping (at least not yet!) What HAS impacted his sleep is the fact that he has completely mastered rolling from his back to tummy. The past few nights he has been waking up at around 9ish – and sure enough, when we check on him via camera, he is on his stomach. I know eventually he’ll either learn to enjoy sleeping on his tummy, or he’ll just have to figure out how to roll back over.

Tower of Babble

Posted by on February 28, 2013 No comments

Theo is doing this new thing lately – we call it the “silent babble”. He moves his lips like he is trying to talk – but nothing comes out! I’m not sure if he is just mimicking us – or trying to communicate…or a little of both! Needless to say, we think it’s very cute :-)

Stop, Drop, and……. Finally!

Posted by on February 28, 2013 No comments

He finally did it!!!!
(Well, he actually did it on February 20, but I’m just now posting about it.)
Well, ACTUALLY, he did it a few days earlier than February 20, but this was the first time we caught him on camera.
Theo rolled over!
And from his back to his tummy (which I was told usually came AFTER the other way around).
Still no expert at rolling from his tummy to his back, but we hope that will come soon.

He’s SO much more active and happier and more talkative since his bout with RSV.
And his appetite has come back with a vengeance.
The ladies at the daycare are in constant awe of how much this kid packs away.
He’s our hungry little monkey.

Ash should be posting some new pics and video soon with some exctining info, so be on the lookout.

6 Months Old!

Posted by on February 16, 2013 No comments

Our little man is 6 months old! But before we get to the latest…I have to give a HUGE shout out to Jeff – I came to work on Valentines Day to find the most adorable gift waiting for me (see the Teddy Bear below). The roses that he sent were beautiful as well – but that Teddy Bear made me melt!!!!

While I was getting all emotional at the office, Jeff was at home taking care of Theo. It all started a few weeks ago. Theo came down with a rash that started on his stomach and moved up to his cheeks. The rash must have itched, because the next few days the spots on his face got infected (we think Theo must have scratched them). Within a day or so, we noticed that Theo had developed a slight cough. It started out light, but as the weekend went on, the coughing and wheezing got worse. We took him to the pediatrician to get it checked out and it turned out he had a case of RSV. Theo stayed home from daycare all week (Jeff got to play the role of stay-at-home daddy) and is doing MUCH better. There is still a hint of a cough, but he’s definitely on the mend. The inhaler that was prescribed also seemed to help – though he SCREAMED every time we tried to give him a puff. Theo was a real trooper throughout the whole ordeal…his appetite decreased and he was more lethargic…but he still managed to keep sleeping through the night.

In other Theo news, he is REALLY starting to enjoy rice cereal! He gets so excited to eat it and always finishes whatever we prepare for him. We tried to introduce him to carrots…not as successful. We have attempted to hide the carrots in the rice cereal – but Theo is just too smart for that game. We are going to try another food this week – perhaps we’ll have better luck with Sweet Potato.

We also had a HUGE breakthrough – on Feb 16th Theo rolled over for the first time! We have been waiting for this moment…but didn’t expect it to happen the way it did! We put Theo down for a nap in the afternoon, and about an hour in – heard him crying. His cry sounded a little more “desperate” than usual, so I peeked into his room to make sure he was okay. Sure enough, he had managed to roll from him back to his tummy – and didn’t seem to know how to get back onto his back! Maybe he was just as shocked to be in that new position as we were to see him! Even though we weren’t there to witness the actual roll, we were very excited :-)

Theo’s First Bite!

Posted by on January 27, 2013 No comments

Last night (1/26/13) Theo achieved a major milestone – he had his first bites of solid food! Check out the video below – I wouldn’t say he *hated* the rice cereal…but I don’t think it’s his favorite thing either. In any case, we are going to start introducing vegetables next week – hopefully he’ll enjoy those a bit more!

5 Months!

Posted by on January 27, 2013 No comments

Hard to believe…but our little man is 5 months old! Now that he spends most of his day in daycare, it’s really starting to hit me that we may miss some major milestones. We are still waiting for him to officially roll over – he’s getting really good at rolling from side to side, but hasn’t quite figured out how to push himself over the edge without assistance. We keep thinking that “today will be the day” – since it looks like he’s really close – but it just hasn’t happened yet.

One thing he IS doing really well is babbling – he has completely mastered “dada” and says it for just about everything. Its really exciting to hear something recognizable come out of his mouth – but it will be even more exciting when he says it and actually means that he wants his dad’s attention. Another thing he’s doing well is sitting up unassisted – though we definitely are keeping a close watch since he does have the tendency to get to just fall over unannounced when he’s tired. We have started to have him sit up during bath-time, which has increased his love of the bath to a whole new level. This kid lives for bath time – the bath “sign” generates as much as excitement as the sign for milk – another favorite activity!

This month was full of firsts for us (and Theo) – we had our first after-hours phone call to the doctor after seeing a rash break out all over Theo’s body. Turns out, kids just get rashes sometimes – though his doctor suspects this one was caused by a virus he picked up (probably at daycare). He didn’t really have any other symptoms, except for some lethargic behavior so she wasn’t too concerned. It was also our first family trip to the snow! We drove up to Mountain High (about 1 1/2 hours away) with our friends Josh and Amy. Theo was bundled up – and looked great in his new snowpants. While he didn’t actually touch the snow, we think he still had a great time.

In other news, Theo had a great Dr. appointment this month. Dr. Araya is really happy with his development overall. She was a little concerned that he didn’t gain as much weight this month as he had in previous months, but she suspects that the virus had something to do with it. Below are his latest stats:

Weight: 19lb, 11oz (95%)

Height:27 1/2 inches (95%)

Head: 45 cm (97%)