Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s Day! Had a photo session in the sunroom before I went to work in the morning. Daddy bought Vincent a Valentine balloon over the weekend because he read in his daddy book that it was a good you for infants around vinnys age to play with (under supervision of course) the book said to tie it around their leg and they can learn depth perception and hand eye coordination. He likes to grab at the foil and crunch it with his hands, just like he does with his leftover wrapping paper from one of his Christmas presents.
Later in the evening grandma watched Vinny after we put him to bed so that Jeff and I could go out on a date! We went to Ikebanam Japanese restaurant in Salinas for dinner. We ate at the bar since it was faster. Then we headed to Myo frozen yogurt for dessert! It was a great night. Vincent stayed sleeping while we were gone.
SIDE NOTE: This will be my last blog post ….indefinitely. I am having some hosting issues — ran out of space on my database and trying to figure out how to get more space.
I am sure all of you readers are devastated (all two of you). You guys stalk me on Flickr an Facebook anyway, so the blog is kind of redundant and not necessary. Laters!
Worthington’s Visit California
The Worthington’s came back to California for a visit and we got to see them for 1 day in San Jose. We went to brunch (on a Sunday, so it was busy!) at Bill’s Cafe then headed to Children’s Discovery Museum.
It was the perfect place to go for kids, especially with 2 infants. Tayor’s baby Violet is only 1 month older than Vincent. This was the first time they met while not in-utero! 😉 We headed upstairs to their “Wonder Cabinet” which was especially made for infants and toddlers. Vincent was really interested in meeting Violet, but as you can see in the video above, Violet was more interested in playing in the area instead.
There where these cute mushrooms that i wanted Vincent to sit on so i could take a photo, but he still can’t sit up yet on his own so he kept slouching over. Violet on the other hand, can sit up, pull herself up to standing while holding something, and inchworm around! Vincent will be there soon i am sure!
Jeff and Vincent, Nathan and Violet. Violet was so funny, he kept staring at Jeff very intently. Once, I got in the way of her view and she quickly moved her head around so she could keep staring at Jeff, it was sooooo funny.
Vincent’s favorite at the museum was this airplane that flew around a pole. You had to wind it up so that it would go around and around. He LOVED staring at it. Kind of like his mobile!
He would just laugh and laugh and move his arms all around in excitement. It was such a fun day! Vincent behaved very well, besides pooping all over himself before we got to the muesum! But he pretty much slept the whole 1-hour drive to San Jose, so that worked out perfectly.
Vincent is 6 months old!
Wow! Vincent is half a year old already! It has been so much fun watching him meet his milestones.
The first social smile, discovering his hands, finding his feet, grabbing his first toys, and now sitting up on his own ( for a few seconds ) and “standing” on his feet. He needs help from daddy to stand, but he likes to put his weight on his feet.
The fun has truly started to begin with the feeding him his first solid foods (see previous post!).
At the doctor he measured in the 50th percentile for both head and weight and 90th percentile for height. His eczema looked really bad and the doctor said it might be infected so we put him on oral antibiotics and started using some prescription creams to help it heal up some. So far it’s cleared up really well. Poor guy inherited my skin problems.
Good news is that his cradle cap has gone away almost completely. Though at this point we still need to put socks on him to go to sleep, and a hat at daycare since he will scratch at his head when he gets tired or bored.
He has started to rollover pretty consistently from tummy to back, though he can only roll in one direction, not the other. But he can also roll from tummy to back, though he doesnt do that as often.
Vincent’s First Foods
We gave Vincent some rice cereal the evening before his 6-month birthday. He seemed to kinda dig it. He opened his mouth when the spoon came up to his face, and he smacked his lips once the food entered his mouth. We only tried maybe 4 spoonfuls as a test run.
The next evening we got his high-chair in the mail! Daddy assembled it, and sent me this photo before i got home from work. I decided to try feeding him again, and this time we could both watch since we had the high-chair. I prepped some rice cereal with breastmilk. When i fed it to him, he didn’t really seem to like it too much,… he didn’t open his mouth like he did yesterday.
We fed him the in living room. Im sure we wont be able to do it on carpet for very much longer!
“What IS this stuff, Mommy?!?!”
“I don’t know if i like it or not!!?!?!”
“I think i’ll spit it out!” But still smile!
So after those two attempts, i figured i’d try to feed him something a little sweeter. Over the weekend I bought a bunch of Fuji apples that were on sale at Savemart (57 cents a pound!) Jeff helped me steam and puree them in the food processor.
Daddy getting ready to feed me applesauce, maybe i’ll like it better!
He was opening his mouth once again with excitement!
The first few spoonfuls he seemed to really like.
But then, once we turned the video on, he seemed to be surprised at the taste. Watch and see for yourself!! It is just too funny!
Saying Goodbye, Visiting Great-Grandma Segawa, Heading Home
Spend our last morning just hanging out with my sister Susan (who went in to work late just to say goodbye to us), my parents, and my Grandpa. Vincent liked hanging out in just his diaper since it was so humid while we were there.
Jill and Glenn came over to hang out for a bit too while the kiddos went to visit Pearl Harbor. Vinny got scared of Glenn after he tried to eat his hand off. Real sad crying! For the first time on our trip!
I love this picture of Vincent with his Aunties!
My Grandpa was staying at our house for the last few nights because my Grandma was in the hospital. Here we are getting ready to leave the house.
Before heading over to the airport we stopped by Grandma Segawa’s care home in Waipahu to visit. She was just getting done with lunch. We sat around her wheelchair and showed her Vincent. Vinny was in a real happy smiley mood (which is not unusual!)
Grandma did make a couple comments about him (can’t remember specifically but i think she said he was big). She was quiet for the most part but did kept repeating that she wanted to go back to her room, and that here eyes were sore because it was too bright. Lol. My Dad said she always says that. Well besides that she looks good for being 101!
The plane ride back had us waiting inside the plane at the terminal for an extra 3 hours waiting for something to get fixed. Ughh. So after that fiasco, we still had a 4 hour flight and a shuttle ride and 1 hour car ride to get home. Such a long day, but Vincent was good overall. He just pooped a lot!! Again!! Thought we were gonna run outta diapers. Jeff and I rented the digi-player on the plane and watched Contagion. Well actually, we missed the ending because we started it too late. But it was a good movie and i read the ending on Wiki.
Vincent fell asleep at his “normal” bedtime while on the airplane, which i was worried if he would do or not. When we landed and de-boarded the plane he woke up, but was in a very happy mood anyway. Back to being bundled in jackets and blankets!
Hiking Diamond Head
Left little Vincent with Grandma Jerrie today and went to hang with the Aussie crew. We decided to hike Diamond Head, which is a touristy thing to do but hey we are tourists and Jeff or Glenn folks have never been.
Weather was a bit “voggy” from the volcanoes on the Big Island so visibility was not as great as it could have been but still decent.
It’s a relatively easy hike. Half paved, lots of stairs. Even saw one Japanese tourist do it in heels. It was overcast so not too blazing hot.
After the hike Uncle Jeff treated the munchkins to some shave ice. (we never got a chance to go to Matsumotos! Booo).
And after that we all headed to Buca di Beppos for dinner. They sat our party in the pope room! We ordered a couple pizzas, couple pastas, salad and calamari.
We found a photo booth and tool some pictures. It was a cool hip booth cuz u could upload your pic instantly to Facebook and even view a video of it.
Shopping with Auntie Susan
Here is a picture of Vinny with his Hawaii “loot” — clothes and toys from me and his hawaiian family!
I wanted to get some shopping in during the trip so I planned for Jeff to hang with Jill and the Aussie crew while Susan and I went to Kahala mall. We dropped Jeff off in Kailua where they were having lunch at the Shack, then Susan and I took off from there, so it was a long drive!
After stopping for some burgers ourselves, we drug Vinny around to several different stores. First we went to a local kids store called Kahala kids. Bought a couple hand made shirts — a yoda shirt and a cars shirt. Then we went to Gymboree and bought some cute stuff there too. Oh and as we were leaving we saw another kids/surf store with bob marley and grateful dead baby clothes which of course we had to buy!
Vincent scored some really cute blue sunglasses!
Yesterday Susan took me to Mililani shopping center where the have another local kids store called Ohana Daze and we bought a “miso happy” onesie and an “ichiban” all stars onesie. I also bought Jeff some tshirts from Hawaiian Island Creations. So this whole trip I didn’t buy anything for me! Well except some snacks!
Tehani’s Beach House
My good friend Tehani has a family beach house on the south shore of Oahu in Ewa beach. She invited us (and the whole Aussie crew) to come over and hang out for the afternoon.
The beach house has a nice view of Waikiki and Diamond Head. Right outside her door is the sand and ocean, mostly reef but just a few yards down a swimming area and best of all a little breaker area for lil babes to go wading. That’s where we took little Vincent for his first dip in the ocean!
Had to buy the little swimmer diapers for him from Longs.
He looks really excited doesn’t he? I think he liked everyone (Mom, Dad, Tehani, Aunty Susan, Aunty Jill, etc) making such a fuss over him. We lathered him up with sunscreen and topped him off with a hat.
So Jeff scooped him up and sat down with him in the ocean.
Initially he didnt seem to like it.”Help Dad i’m drownin’ over hear!”
Then Jeff and I switched out, and I sat with him. He was just kind of was ok with it.
Tried to get him to “splash” around but he just didn’t seem to care that much. No smiles, but no crying either. Kind of indifferent.
We didn’t spend very much time in the water. Maybe 5 minutes. Then he pooped! So out we went.
We went back to the beach house to change him. Tehani found a cool shell that led to this cool photo op. LOL! We hung at the beach house for a while, ate some zippys/Napoleon bakery Napples and other desserts and snacks (check!).
Vincent had fun just laying around and chillin with everyone, including Uncle Glenn!
It was great to have everyone there with us, including my silly sister Susan who thinks wearing long pants to the beach is acceptable (she lives in Hawaii, too).
How true is this lil saying?!? Thanks Tehani for a memorable day!
Jill and Glenn’s Wedding
Jill and Glenn’s wedding was held bright and early at 930a in Nuuanu at Nichiren Mission. My parents got married here over 30 years ago! It’s been remodeled a bit since then. The grounds are really nice.
Susan and I arrived at the church just in time to help Jill with final touch ups and take photographs.
Susan and I were bridesmaids and my sister’s friend Renee was the maid of honor. Kiara (Glenn’s oldest daughter) was also in the wedding party. Talia (Glenn’s youngest daughter) was the flower girl.
Jill looked gorgeous in her dress.
Glenn before the ceremony. Look at how happy he is that the day has finally come!
My dad walking my sister down the aisle.
The ceremony was a pretty traditional one with a little bit of Buddhist prayer mixed in. The reverend from our Wahiawa church did the officiating though technically my sister and Glenn got married in a brief ceremony in Australia back in October since that’s where they both live.
The kiss!
After the ceremony we took some pictures outside with family and the wedding party. The photographer was Malia, a friend of Jill’s. She did an excellent job.
Our new family.
Parents of the bride.
A wonderful lookin’ Aussie clan!
Photographer got a good shot of all the important men in my life!
A lunch reception followed the wedding. It was held at The Willows which has awesome buffet food!! (check!)
This was most everyone’s first time meeting Vincent. He behaved really well and everyone commented on how smiley he was. Everyone also said he looke haole. Lol!
Glenn’s son was his best man. He gave a 5 min speech that included a brief history of Australia!
The favors and invitations were designed by me. Inside the favors were Tim-Tams, a dessert snack available down under. It kinda taste like a kit kat.
The cake was delicious!!! Even though we didnt serve it at the reception (?!?!) We had took it home and ate it up.
It was a great day! I love our new extended Australian family.
Meeting Great-grandma and Great-grandpa Okuda
We visited my grandparents today who live in Wahiawa. (Don’t mind the weird orange light on our faces, its from another person’s camera!) My grandma hasn’t been feeling well ever since she fell off her bed in October and bruised her ribs really bad. My grandpa, despite being in his 90s is in relatively good health. He was the most excited to meet Vincent. He loves babies!
My cousins Sandee and Candace were there as well as my sister Susan, Jeff, and my parents.
We got some great pictures. We had Korean BBQ for lunch and Leonard’s malasadas for dessert. Checking off all my favorite things to eat in the islands!
Earlier in the morning, Vincent hung out with Grandpa Don and Grandma Jerrie who gave him a few old toys from when my sisters and i were young.
Later in the evening we had the wedding rehearsal at the church. Our old piano teacher (and my dads cousin) Aileen played the keyboard and helped direct us all. After rehearsal we went to Pietros for dinner. YUM! (another check!) they have amazing Japanese-Italian fusion food. I ate shoyu pasta with sausage and mushroom. Poor Vinny was so tired and didn’t get to sleep until the car ride home at about 930. His normal bedtime is 700p.