10 mos old!

Jacob is 10 months old (and 1 week)!

I haven't had a chance to go in depth on chuperbaby's growth and development, so here goes:

Physical growth:
- estimated 23 lb butterball
- average height (50th percentile) and above average in weight (75th percentile): he's losing his rolls since he's so active!! =( how sad!
- big head (75th percentile) haha
- finally teething! his 2 bottom teeth are starting to come in and boy does he not enjoy this, especially in the late afternoon/ evening. i might wean the lil guy pretty soon!
- waiting for his hair to come in - thank God he's not a girl! we don't know why jacob still has only "fuzzy fur" on top of his head and not hair. both chuperman and i had way more hair when we were infants. hmph... could be environmental reasons?

Diet:
- mommy's milk. I can't believe i've made it this far - will cut him off soon. =P
- grains: oats, barley, brown rice, plain rice, spaghetti
- proteins: tofu, chicken, beef, fillet mignon, turkey, egg yolk, cheese
- veggies: spinach, carrots, sweet potato, beets, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, green beans, zucchini, other garden veggies
- fruits: banana, apple, pear, mango, kiwi, figs, blueberries, prunes, apricots, honeydew, cantaloupe
- dessert: chuperdaddy of all ppl offered jacob a tiny spoonful of Red Mango original flavored fro-yo... naturally chuperbaby loved it haha

Motor skills:
- Loves crawling everywhere since he was 8 mos old, especially loves crawling on a grassy patch, climbing up a whole flight of stairs, crawling on the cool tile floors and mosaic tiles
- Pulls self up to stand
- Cruises or "walks" while holding onto furniture
- "walks" and "runs" in the walker (this is a good place to put him when mom and dad are trying to eat dinner)
- Play ball. Jacob can palm a toy baseball and kind of throw it and then chase after it, and then try to "catch" it again. We're hoping that he gets mommy and daddy's athletic gene, specifically mommy's swimming skills and daddy's tennis/ping-pong skills haha.
- Pick-up giant flashcards "ABC's" & "123's", then wave it around and look at it before throwing it to the side.
- Occassionally winks at ya;)
- Likes headbutting pillows or anything pillow-like

Musical skills:
- Loves to bang on the piano.
- Love to pluck the strings of chuperdaddy's guitar.
- Loves pounding the tambourine.
- Jumps in the jumperoo to the beat of the music
- Sings/coo's every AM when he wakes up

Hand & Finger skills:
- Uses pincer grasp to feed self (cheerio's & teething biscuits)
- Lets objects go voluntarily (sippie cup, toys, etc)
- Pokes with index finger - Jacob likes poking at mommy and daddy's faces
- Puts objects into container
- Takes objects out of container
- Making good progress with the sippie cup!

Language Milestones:
- Pays increasing attention to speech. Jacob always talks back to me when I'm on the phone with someone else haha
- Crawls to me and pulls on my leg/ tugs on my shirt when he's hungry and says "Mama"
- Says dada, daddy ALL THE TIME haha. Also says baba, mama, nana, and gibberish. Grunts a lot and as one of his auntie said, "sounds like a duck" at times.
- Responds to his name and "no".
- Responds to big smiles and laughter with his own lil smile and giggling

Cognitive Milestones:
-Explores objects in many different ways - shaking, banging, throwing, dropping, lifting
- Finds hidden objects easily
- Beginning to use objects correctly - drinking from cup, trying to grab spoon to feed self, listening to receiver, dialing phone, brushing hair)
- Loves Peekaboo since he was a newborn.

Social/Emotional Milestones:
- Overall pretty laid back with strangers unless you're trying to hold him when he's super tired - good luck haha!
- Yelps when mother leaves
- Shows specific preference for certain ppl and toys
- May be fearful in some situations (like when the vacuum is on)
- Pulls down shirt over head when being dressed, sometimes extends legs to help when being dressed

Halloween in Woodbury! I got Jacob a Goofy costume for 50% off earlier that day haha




Overall, I must say, UNBIASED of course haha, that Jacob is in general a pretty "easy" baby SO FAR. We really appreciate how independent he is. In fact, our nanny gets bored pretty fast since Jacob is so low maitenance - she's always looking for stuff to do. Jacob has no problem playing by himself, sleeps in his own room by himself, does not need to be held that much in comparison to other babies, does not have too bad of stranger anxiety, is a good eater, and most of the time a good sleeper. What can I say, he's definitely inherited the laid-back gene from mommy and daddy haha. (I just know that IF we have #2 MUCH later, that #2 won't be as easy!)

We know A LOT of other baby boys and toddlers. In comparison to these other baby boys, Jacob has definitely proven himself to be pretty mild-tempered for an infant. But as we're rapidly approaching the big milestone of walking and toddlerhood, I fear his temperament will change. Rambunctious, stubborn, strong-willed are adjectives that i do not look fwd to using, especially since he's a boy!

Santa Monica! We just got back from a mini-family vacation in Santa Monica - mixing business with pleasure. More later - I'm super exhausted from the "vacay" even tho it's WAY more work than staying at home!

Jacob Pictures! 9 mos going on 10 mos!!

Baby Jacob is such a good sport. He really has mommy and daddy's laid back temperament. Jacob let Mommy put 4 Halloween costumes on him. Sure, there's the usual struggle of actually putting on the clothes, especially the limbs, but once the costume is on him, he's good to go! So far we had him in a baby chick costume, donald duck, mickey mouse, and baby male peacock costume hahaa.... I'm going to put him in as many costumes as I can. Chuperman thinks it's excessive, but this is the only time in his life when I can dress Jacob up like stuffed animals:P For Thanksgiving, my goal is to get him a turkey costume:P

Another new nanny!

Seriously, I can't believe it's October! This year is flying by and I'm averaging like 1 post every 4-6 wks.... my baaad!!

Good-bye nanny #1 - Okie, so as the title implies, we already had a turnover in nannies. Unfortunately, the first nanny didn't work out. When you live with someone, you see everything and quite frankly, though she was very quick-learner and sharp, there were some fundamental personality issues. For instance, nanny #1 would give my mom and I plenty of attitude.

Plays out like this: On a Friday night (like 3 or 4 wks ago), we told nanny #1 that she didn't have to cook the next day. She pretty much cooked dinner for us every night, as we explained to her upfront. But then after the 1st week of being here she started complaining about how she has to cook dinner everyday AND she had the audacity to tell us that we should all go out to a restaurant for dinner (including taking her out!). We were like - hellloo, i don't think so! we frickin' told you from the beginning that we want home-cooked meals everyday.. it shouldn't be a surprise. Anyway, then she fabricated a story of how C-note's nanny didn't have to cook everyday and that this nanny only had to cook 3x's a week. Nanny #1 even asked me to confirm with C-note. And I did! Not like I ever believed nanny #1 but I did confirm with C-note that her nanny cooks like everyday, NOT 3x's a week. Nanny #1 has a tendency to tell prevarications so after about 2 1/2 wks, we let her go on a Saturday morning. The sad thing is that she seemed pretty seasoned at getting fired. She made us stand there to watch her pack her belongings and to make sure she didn't steal anything. We were like, there's nothing to steal in that room (her room, which was full of my bro and I's junk from high school, if there was something worth stealing, do you think we'd be stupid enough to store in her room?), yet she insisted that we man her and escort her out.

And now I hear rumblings that our nanny #1 has been telling her friends that we offered her job back AND that we were going to give her a raise. Can we say DELUSIONAL.

Hello Nanny #2 - We did, however, hire nanny #2 just 12 days after we fired nanny #1. So far in the 8 days that she's been here, nanny #2 has been working out quite nicely. She seems hard-working, honest, and she always rushes down in the middle of the night to calm Jacob. Nanny #1 gave up on midnight wakings after the first few nights. She claimed that since JAcob is still being nursed that I was the only one capable of soothing him. PShhhh. Anyway, since I don't have to wake-up in the middle of night any more, for the first time this year (and mind you, we're almost at the end of it), I feel somewhat rested! =D These last few days I've actually felt more like myself - carefree and happy =D Thank you C-note for supplying me with nanny leads and nanny agency #'s! It's all good re: nanny #1 - a total learning experience - taught us how to be a good "lao ban" and about keeping some distance. I hope nanny #2 stays!

Tokyo Table @DJ - For lunch, I took some clients to Tokyo Table in Diamond Jamboree. It's so close to my office that we all just walked there! It was my first time in DJ. Only 1/2 the stores are open and yet the traffic is already horrendous. Why do all asian shopping ctrs have the worst parking lots designs?! There's only ONE entrance - a total bottleneck of sorts. Reminds me of how The District at Tustin Legacy bottlenecks at Millikan and Barranca - stupid stupid design. Anyway, let me say that Tokyo Table was definitely NOT my choice. I knew it was going to be faux-japanese food, and it was. Everything was fusion fusion... a very "white" establishment, good for the clients. But surprisingly, the restaurant was filled with asians, probably like 90% chinese haha... I'm guessing cuz Tokyo Table has a pretty good bento lunch special. The interior of Tokyo Table is surprisingly hip - like VERY HIP and modern. I wouldn't go back for the food, maybe more like to hang out at their bar hahaaa... I'd much rather go to Ikko or Kitayama for real Japanese food. I know, I'm such a food snob.

I can't wait to try out Guppy House, BCD Tofu house, BBQ chicken, etc etc... after work today, I'm gonna drop by H-mart really quickly ;) woo hoo!

Some exercise for once? - I feel so good and pretty rested that I think I'm actually gonna go work-out this wkend! Maybe a lil tennis, maybe a lil swimming, definitely some hiking - bring it on!

Donald Duck says TGIF!!!

Donald Duck likes nibbling on Mickey's ears.

New nanny and limited time key lime cupcake!!

New Nanny!
Ya know, sometimes I forget that I have a blog!! Sorry for my negligence! I really should be blogging more these days.. b/c..... *drumroll*.... we finally hired a nanny thanks to C-note!! I actually don't know her mandarin name (it's too hard for me to remember) and so I just call her Ah-Yi or Auntie hahaa. She started on Labor Day and for the most part, we like her. She's really good with the baby and so far she cooks really well, loves to keep clean, do laundry, she irons, vacuums, mops the floor, and makes dumplings and wontons. She even reads Chinese books to Jacob as she is studying Mandarin herself. Since I work part-time, she is able to help out with house chores while I'm with the baby. And when I go to work and run errands, she takes care of Jacob. The only thing that I'm not wild about is the fact that she is super gabby and can be loud. I need to work on laying down the law early so she won't get used to speaking her mind too much.

Having a nanny doesn't necessarily mean getting more sleep for me... just more time to take care of stuff, like for example - finally going in for a consult to get my wisdom teeth pulled!!! *cringe*... I've been putting it off for literally years and now one of the teeth is giving me some pressure. So on Monday, I'm gonna get the top 2 wisdom teeth pulled. I'd like to add that when the assistant was taking x-rays of my mouth, he observed that "you have a small jaw, more room for wisdom teeth" hahahaaa. The bottom 2 teeth are a different story. I need to get an oral surgeon to get those suckas out, cuz they're in quite deep. And of course I'd need general anesthesia. yikes!!

The next step after my wisdom teeth have been yanked out is BRACES or INVISALIGN. *cringing again*.

And the next step after braces/invisalign is to get a MOUTH GUARD, since poor chuperman has had to listen to me grind my teeth occasionally in the middle of the night to the point where they're so flat and putting me at risk at becoming a vegetarian haha.

Having a nanny is also cool to have so that I can freely go out like to Newsong's mom's ministry meetings every Friday AM, then go to work after that, without having to lug jacob around with me. So yesterday was the kick-off mtng for mom's ministry. And boy o boy, didn't realize that the leadership team was that hilarious! I was laughing the whole time! Turn out was great - there weren't enough seats, so mommies had to stand. And the best part was home-made hawaiian style brunch. We're talking hawaiian style eggs and sausages, gigantic blueberry pancakes, coconut pancakes, macadamia pancakes, banana pancakes, and tropical salad.

In response to your comment El Gato regarding celebrating at Javier's or Taco Rosa after hiring a nanny - I say someone flip a coin cuz I really like BOTH javier's and taco rosa!

Sprinkle's Chocolate Marshmellow "Ding Dong" Cupcake and Key Lime Cupcake:

Ok, so sprinkle's is really growing on me. I actually think that they've improved their recipes in the last few years. I really like their choc marshmellow cupcake and theiry key lime cupcake. However, the key lime cupcake won't be around that much longer - only until tomorrow!! So guess who's paying a visit to sprinkle's tomorrow? muahahaaa

And... just for fun... HAPPY EARLY HALLOWEEN says the fat lil chick!!!!

nightmare

the other night i had a nightmare that i was fully pregnant again- my water broke and was about to deliver another baby - what horror! It's just too soon to think of another baby. Especially when Jacob is getting harder to handle! 13 hrs of straight blissful sleep through the night are indeed LONG GONE since like 6 weeks ago... sigh. Lately, a good sleeping stretch on a GOOD night for Chuperbaby is like from 9:30pm - 6:45am. So like from 13 hrs down to 9 hrs straight. We need to work on hitting double digits at night again. I blame teething and yet I haven't seen any signs of em tiny pearly whites. But I do think his gums feel a lil tougher.

Tonight I had to miss women's bible study again b/c I'm beginning to feel sick. blegh.. Whatever Chuperhubby had is what I might be having. Sore throat, fatigue, dry cough...no high fever tho which is good. I'd be okay without the fatigue part. Which brings me to my next point.

We're looking for a nanny and we're serious this time! Jacob ain't getting any lighter and my back ain't getting any stronger. All the in'n'out of the car with Jacob to daycare is a lot of hassle, plus since he started daycare, Jacob has turned PRO at building his immunity. He gets sick like once a month. Frankly, I'm burnt out (hence the need to get trashed on my bday haha).

Some good news tho, Jacob can sit up on his own! For instance, he'll start off on his belly and push himself up into a sitting position. So cute to watch fat lil Chuperbaby move around. He's been wearing 2T and 3T shorts/pants since he was 5 months old, not to mention size 5 diapers as well. And today, he wore 24 month PJs. Fits perfectly except that the sleeper is too lenghty and the waistline is a bit snug. Ok, so not perfectly... haha

A-ma's b-day & Pool-time!

..but first, a recapo of tiramesu's dirty 30 @ javier's haha:

• setting the tone for the evening: pre-partied at home with 1/2 the crew, imbibed whole bottle of champagne, had some strawberries
• walking into javier's: champagne hitting tiramesu HARD... i found it very difficult to walk at this point and for the rest of the night haha. i was heard chanting "marcos room! marcos room!" "dirty 30 dirty 30!" "pretty wall"
  
• vaguely remember greeting anan, el gato, c-note & joey.. sorry! didn't mean to get wasted that fast haha... vaguely remember greeting everyone else... there were prob a lot of sympathetic eyes saying "wow, this is what motherhood has done to tiramesu"
• for the first time in my entire life, i actually skipped dinner!!! i felt sick from all the champagne & strawberries. i remember chuperhubby and yuko we're trying to force feed me but was met with much resistance.
  
• it was super challenging to blow out all 30 candles, especially the last one!
• i not only embarassed myself that night but i managed to embarass my commitment phobic bro-in-law ... "seal the deal!"
  
• i spat on judy bootie a few times while talking about her upcoming wedding next yr haha
• i wanted to go to ocean club afterwards haha.. had extremely difficult time walking there with one arm slumped over yuko's shoulder and other arm slumped over hubby's haha
• ocean club was jam-packed... no worries, i was in no condition to go on.. so that was the end of the night... only 10:30pm... but clearly i was done!
• went home and puked twice... i know, very gross... i won't say i will never drink like that again, but i will say that i won't be drinking LIKE THAT any time soon. haha

I think and hope everyone had a good time. Apparently, I'm quite the happy drunk.
I'm gonna shy away from posting shameful pix of myself hahaa.... a drunk tiramisu is very unattractive altho if you log onto f-book, you might see some incriminating pix haha.

My mom and I have bdays very close to each other. So pretty much the entire month of August is overloaded with various cakes, desserts, and pastries.
On the day of my mom, or A-ma's, bday - we went to Tommy Bahama Cafe on a fluke. Unfortunately, Chuperman was still working and missed dinner, so it was just me, chuperbaby, a-ma, and a-gong. It was only my 2nd time at TB. Everything we ordered was really delicious. My dad got their famous pulled pork sandwich, my mom got a light and healthy seared ahi tuna salad with coleslaw, and i tried their lobster grilled cheese sandwich with a cup of tomato soup as displayed below:


The lobster grilled chz sandwich was pretty good, but not overwhelminglygood. I still think Doughboy's afterschool special - grillled chz sandwich with 4 different kinds of cheeses and tomato soup is my top choice for comfort food.

Below is chuperbaby enjoying a-ma's pina colada hahaaaa..... the alcohol gene is being passed on as we speak!




First time swimming!!! Jacob is now 7 mos old and is still tubby as can be:
Chuperbaby loves his new ride - a swimming sea turtle!


I fear that Chuperbaby will start to crawl soon as he is able to get on his feet now and sorta crawl forwards and backwards, as well as rolling from belly to back and vice versa.

Oh, and Chuperbaby can say "ma"! He can also unintentionally say "hi" "hey" "hello" "a-gong" "a-ma" ... needs to work on saying "da da" or "ba ba". Okie, jacob is calling for me!!

Happy August!!!

I think I had a similar subject title last year hahaa... it went something like this... i love august cuz it's my birth month and i get to eat cake every single day!!! haha.. Oi... i can't believe it's been a year already since I started this post! I am indeed turning the big 3-0 tomorrow. Silence.

Gosh, what an eventful decade. Here's a timeline of Tiramesu's 20's recapo haha:

• 20-21 yrs old: went on loveboat and learned to party even harder than in sorority, gained like 20-30 lbs in college (undergrad)
• 21yrs old: after i graduated from undergrad, my mom forced me to go on a diet - lost 20-30 lbs in about 6 months, simultaneously I worked at crappy puny i-bank in irvine/costa mesa
  
• 22 yrs old: a dark time - continued working in oppressive corporate setting, gained some weight back haha
• 23 yrs old: ceased working at Equicrap, started small business with mom
• 24 yrs old: got bored. took golf clinic with anan and el gato haha. took wine tasting class by myself! husband search began and succeeded! found Chuperman on FRIENDSTER haha... or, we remet in cyberspace. y'all know that chuperman had a crush on me first in junior high right?! apparently he got a big kick outta me cuz he remembers that i sold super lemons to unassuming white kids for $1/piece and that i'd always wear a pink hypercolor shirt haha
• 25 yrs old: long-distance with chuperman... chuperman was up in berkeley finishing up his MPH while i was down in OC slaving away at the family-owned lab. every single night we'd be on the phone until 3am
  
• 26 yrs old: got engaged, then got hitched (weight was coincidentally at all-time low to fit into dress), moved to W-bury, started grad school
  
• 27 yrs old: the passing of my MIL. God bless her soul. we miss her everyday:( definitely the most difficult time in our lives.
  
• 28yrs old: enjoying baby-free lives until oops - got knocked up to make golden piggy deadline, moved back with parentals
• 29 yrs old: preggo's - gained 35 lbs, finished thesis, gave birth to Chuperbaby, lost 35lbs, and trying to get the hang of this whole mommy thing!
  

My 20's were an eventful and hectic time for me with many life and career changes. This decade was also a time for me to try to conquer my life-long battle with weight haha. Recently, like last wk, my mom so very tactfully reminded me that I look huge in short dresses and that I look better covered up in skinny jeans. She also inquired "why do you look so tired all the time? why are you tired?" THANKS mom. Do I really need to explain myself.

I have a feeling I won't be slowing down in my 30's with being a soccer mommy haha.

In the meantime, Chuperbaby got sick again this wk, but this time it only lasted 2 days. However, Chuperman is now sick! He had a fever of almost 104 on wednesday! Let's hope he's all better for my bday tomorrow!!

Looking forward to downing champagne and margaritas....!!!!

TGIF!!!!!!!