What Landon Wore

Last week we headed over to buybuybaby.. They just opened one in OC.

This place is the bomb!!!!

Landon's outfit is from h&m and his shoes are puma. My cousin Linda gifted us his shoes and they're adorable!!! They light up.

So cute!

Soupy Sunday

It was so gloomy last night.. I decided to make some soup for my loves!

Now landon loves food- but he hates soggy veggies. He will spit out EVERY piece of cut veggie I give him.. he only likes to hold his veggies grilled.. so I pureed his soup.

Ingredients:

1 box of organic Chicken broth
1 can of 8oz tomato sauce
1 can of kidney beans rinsed

1 cup of cooked brown rice
1/4 cup of uncooked lentils
1/2 cup of quinoa

2 pc of uncooked chicken breast

1/2 chopped sweet potato
3 chopped small potatoes
3 chopped small carrots
1 chopped zucchini
1 cup chopped green beans
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn

4 cloves of minced garlic
1 purple onion

2 tbsp of olive oil ( I used coconut oil)


directions:

add olive oil to pot...

cook onions until brown (3-4 min)

add garlic (1 min)

add broth + 2 cups of water

add tomato sauce and chicken (cook for 5 minutes)

add carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, green beans and zuchinni, quinoa, lentils and brown rice cook until tender (10-15 minutes)

add beans, peas, carrots cook until tender (5 minutes)

**notice I didn't use salt or pepper... but feel free to add some for taste**

It's really hearty and yummy! Between Landon and my husband, they finished the whole pot in 1 night.

I did puree enough for 16 oz of baby food too!



Enjoy!

Memory Box: Landon's going home outfit

I'm not sure how many memory boxes one person should have in their life, but I wanted to make this special one for Landon...

I've been Pinning ideas for while and I really liked this Pin.

It's really easy to do..

All you need is:

Shadow Box
Items you want to put in it
mounting tape
scissors

I used his going home outfit
a photo of him in his carseat
hospital bands
his hospital "congratulations" card
mounting tape
scissors
shadow box

Thank you Hillary over at "A gal and her dog" for motivating me to finishing this!

I can't believe how much he's grown.. we're switching him to a convertible car seat this week! so here he is at 10 months!

Such a big boy!

Landon Goes to Gymnastics

Our swimming membership provides free weekly "SweetPea" gymnastics classes for babies 3 months- 18 months!

We did sign him up during nap time... which currently is ok... he's taking a later nap.. which means lunch is later as well... so far, I'm not sure how I feel about changing up nap time, but thats a whole different story!

The class started off a little overwhelming, there were a few 3 year old's running around during the class and 1 girl was coughing up her lungs... it made me very nervous, but Landon had so much fun!

We did lots of singing, tumbling, balancing... they put out an obstacle course for us to walk/ climb/ crawl through!

 Landon took forever to go through the tunnel.. at first he refused to go into the tunnel, so we tossed a rattle in there.. then he sat in the tunnel shaking the rattle and laughing... all the other kids had to wait for him to get out, but after a few minutes, he came crawling out and everyone cheered!

Looks like we'll come back every tuesday!

Swim School

We finally registered AND attended our first swim class. The past few months we've signed up, but once he was napping and you DON'T wake a napping child... its like trying to perform an exorcist on yourself... and the other 2 times, he had a cold.




so we did it. and HE DID GREAT!

We signed him up for CAL ELITE KIDS, located 10 minutes from our house. Its one of the few locations that offered indoor pools. I like it because the ratios are small and they had a shower, changing tables and were very accommodating for young children. It's pretty affordable and Landon gets to attend 1 gym activity class a week for free! (2 classes for the price of 1!!)



First off, lets talk about what to wear. They recommended iplay reusable diapers (SUPER CUTE!) for baby. And for days I stressed about what to wear. My husband thought I was being silly... but I thought about getting a 1 piece swimsuit. He thought it was ridiculous since I haven't worn a 1 piece since 4th grade, but I didn't want to be "THAT" mom that showed up in a bikini... yea. I was that mom. but its ok.



The class was very fast pace...

start in a circle and sing songs

then blow bubbles underwater

swim laps and kick feet

float backwards

"swim" to the wall and climb out

swim to teacher and back to mommy

walk across a floating plank and then swim to mommy

stand on the steps and reach for toys

float under a tunnel

swim in a circle and say good-bye



After class, there are shower centers and changing tables so that worked out well for us! Landon caught on very quickly and he was able to climb out of the pool himself. The instructor kept saying, "now, it's his first time and he's young so obviously he won't be able to do this yet" then Landon would do it and she would say.... "wow, he's strong. Ok he can do this"



We love swim school and can't wait until our next lesson!

My parents 36th Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday, My parents celebrated their 36th wedding anniversary. this is an accomplishment in itself, but I must tell their story.

My parents have been regular normal parents all my life. It wasn't until my late 20's that I realized how far they've come and how many obstacles they had to overcome.. and here is is their love story...

now, before I start- I must first explain that getting information from my parents about how they got married is like taking a child to a dentist.. painfully grueling lol.. but after years of gathering stories here and there, I think I successfully put the puzzle together.


My parents met in Vietnam. My dad was in the military and he rented the back room of my grandparents house... It was there, where he met my mother and fell in love... As most typical asian love stories go, my grandfather was very over protective and would not allow my mom to date my dad... so they went on, admiring one another for years... in 1975, while my dad was serving the war, my grandfather passed away. My Grandmother sent my mother with her siblings on a ship to America. There were 12 living members in my mothers family, 8 successfully made it to america. 4 stayed behind.

how did they get separated you ask? well, the ship that they were on started sinking so 12 members jumped ship... 8 made it, 4 fell, swam ashore and were arrested...

My mother 22 at the time took charge to help raise her family. Her siblings ranged between the ages of 3-25.

When my dad returned from war that year, he went looking for my mom... He did manage to locate my grandmother who informed him that mom had left for America.. He too, fled to find her.

In Guam, at a refugee camp, she literally passed my dad (he was arriving and she was leaving). They briefly talked for (what she explained) less than 5 minutes. He asked her where she was going and she said, "CA. come find me". She ended up in southern CA and he ended up in San Francisco.

I'm unsure of how long it took them to find one another, but I do know that My dad put out several Ad's in papers all around the state looking for my mom and was unsuccessful. After a few years, they began dating other people.

One day, In thousand Oaks, CA, my father started a new job at a local chicken farm collecting eggs. When he arrived that day, he went to introduce himself to other vietnamese workers... there in front of him was my mom's brother. YEP.

AND that is how they found one another...

Met in Vietnam, separated by war... connected in Guam but then placed in different parts of CA.. and fate finally brought them together... fell in love, Got married and had 3 kids of their own!

That is a GREAT love story!!!

it literally gives me goosebumps every time I think about it!!

Matching Monday with my Mini Me...

Looks like we're twinning! LOL!!


On a super gloomy monday- I decided to venture out with my babes.. He was ALL SMILES as we daddy drove us around to run errands! We went to Soup Plantation, Wholefoods



and then we went to visit this little Gem.. Sophie!! My girlfriend is dog sitting for her mom, she is the CUTEST dog.. she weighs 3lbs.. ADORABLE. JUST ADORABLE!



If you're wondering where we got out matching outfit, you can find the items listed on the photo...

XOXO