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Naomi on her 5 mth birthday

Family Time

Austin and I took last week off to spend time with Naomi. I think this is our first time we've ever taken an extended vacation from work, and just stayed home! It was pretty nice and relaxing though. We got a ton of errands done, drove into the city a couple of times, and even got some christmas shopping done. I also got to have some time away from Naomi, over the weekend, my mom and I went to a spa for some facials. It was so relaxing, and kinda cool cause the spa used all organic products (cue austin's eye roll right here). Even though I was only supposed to go in for a facial, I ended up walking out with a couple of organic skincare products...I guess the spa fed into my whole organic kick that I'm on right now. I sort of felt like the character out of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" though, somehow I managed to explain to myself that i NEEDED these new products! hah oh well. Austin and I also got to go on a date night. We went to an Italian cooking class in the city, courtesy of one of my co-workers, and then we met up with Priscilla and some friends visiting from SF for a night of karaoke. I think it was the first time I've stayed out past midnight since several months before Naomi was born!! It was nice to get out and do things that didn't center around Naomi. And the food we learned how to cook was delish!! And yesterday we had another playdate with for Naomi with her "friend" alli. This is their 3rd encounter, and I think they may have actually been aware of each other this time...can't say they actually played together yet.
This week starts phase 2 of my phaseback program. Now I work Tuesdays-Fridays, but thank goodness, this week is Thanksgiving, so I have Thursday off, and only a half day on Friday. I'm definitely loving phaseback!!

Here are a couple of pictures from our cooking class, and from Naomi's playdate


Naomi and Alli getting ready for Domino's

Naomi, Jaime, Alli and Gene

They actually looked at each other!!!

Cooking class at Rustico Cooking

Finished meal - lambchops yumm

Handmade pasta and spicy sausages

Rolling out Biscoti

Kneading the dough for the handmade pasta

5 months, and ready to celebrate

Naomi is 5 months today. In the past month, she's changed so much. She's learned to roll over like a pro, laughs and chuckles a lot, has found her high pitch voice which she likes to use in screams (usually when her head is right by my ear). She's eating up to 6 oz from a bottle now, a huge change from the 2oz she would begrudgingly take when I first started work. She sleeps through the night from 8pm - usually til around 7:30am. She stopped needing to be rocked to go to bed. She grasps her hands, she plays with toys and notices when you take them away. She's good with strangers, although if she's tired, she only wants to be held by familiar faces. She finally outgrew her size 1 diapers and is now onto size 2's. She also notices when we're eating and stares longingly at our food. (soon enough baby soon enough). There are just so many changes that have happened this month, I can't even list or remember them all to tell you honestly! It's been a whirlwind ride, but definitely the best ride of my life. Corny I know.

With the holidays fast approaching, we set up a mini photoshoot to get our holiday cards in order. Yep we decided on just a shot of Naomi, cause lets face it, she's so much cuter than Austin or I. I won't tell you which one we picked, and if you want to make sure you're on our holiday card list, make sure to send me your mailing address! But here are a few shots from the shoot. We even tried to get Lilo and Stitch in there...but once again, Lilo messed it up for Stitch and ran all over the place. stitch I must say is an excellent model though. He just plops right down next to Naomi and patiently waits for his shots to be done. Next time Stitch.

A season to celebrate

Two blogs in one day!! Both while at work...hmmm. Both about Christmas. Needless to say I'm more than excited for this year's christmas. It's Naomi's first Christmas. Our first christmas in our new house. And a Christmas where I can actually eat and not feel like I need to run and hug the toilet every time food comes within an inch of my mouth.
Anyhoooo I've been given strict orders by Austin that we are not to buy a christmas tree until after Thanksgiving. What the....
We're not supposed to celebrate Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving has passed...Fine fine I finally caved in and said we'd wait. But low and behold - what did I hear while speaking to my anti-celebrating-christmas-before-thanksgiving day husband on the phone?....CHRISTMAS MUSIC. He had his ipod speakers on, and was already playing his christmas mix from 2007. Mind you, today is November 14th, BEFORE Thanksgiving. Hypocrite.
And did you know that today the Rockefellar christmas tree went up!? (see image below) Well if Austin can listen to Christmas music, and Rockefeller can have a tree, than I'm getting my tree before Thanksgiving. thank you very much.
(and we'll have presents to put under it already, see post below haha).

Christmas shopping

This morning I went a little overboard with some christmas shopping for Naomi. But thanks to this cool list of safe toys from cool mom picks, I'm pretty much done. So I may have gone way over my budget, but I figure it's her first christmas. Baby needs these toys. hah!!

Still waiting

This morning when I was peeking in on Naomi before heading out to work, she started to wake up a little. She saw me in her room and I think that woke her up even more. Since she was still only half awake I snuck out so she wouldn’t wake up anymore. I ended up being 10 minutes late to meet my car cause I wanted to stick around to make sure she went back to sleep. I heard her talking to herself for a little, but I think she finally fell back asleep. Everyone says it gets easier once you get over the adjustment period of being back at work. Are they robots? How does it get easier to leave your kid in the morning every day? I spend my days about as productive as the lame kid next to me who can’t even answer his own phone. I’ve become one of those obsessive parents that spends her days looking and sharing photos of her kid to anyone that will slow down long enough to be captured into my web.

My office is filled with women who want to work. Women who say when they were on maternity leave they couldn’t wait to get back into the office where they could have intellectual conversations. Maybe there’s something wrong with me, cause I felt no desire to come back. How do millions of moms around the world work? There has to be some secret to making it all work. How do I make my 2 hours with her in the evening feel like enough. What kid of parent can I be on 2 hours a night? A friend/co-worker told me that when she’s old enough to realize, she’ll think it was cool that her mom was a working mom. Either that or she’ll resent me for never being there. Of course that friend/co-worker has a stay at home mom.
Anyway, I’m still chugging away. And I’m still waiting for this to all get easier.

sometimes it's the simple things

Austin and I spent almost $100 on this new exersaucer for Naomi. Well she's finally big enough to sit in it, and she loved playing in it. Of course, it wasn't the bells and whistles, musics or lights on the toy that Naomi liked....it was the fabric care tag that caught her fascination.

One little peanut = lots of laundry

I'm so amazed at how much laundry I have to do these days. Pre-Naomi, I was probably able to stretch out doing laundry to every 2-3 wks, granted I'd have to do a ton of loads all in a row. Now for Naomi alone I'm doing 2 loads a week! Plus the fact that Austin and I go through clothes so much quicker...every time we put a new shirt on, Naomi decides to spit up on us, or occasionally even poop. This weekend while trying to quickly fold a load, I decided to put Naomi to work...

Naomi's Baptism

We had Naomi baptized today at Church by Pastor Peter. It was a special day for us, and it was so nice to have my mom, chris and priscilla here to witness. Naomi did really well while Pastor Peter was holding her. Didn't freak out or cry, not even when he anointed her with water on her head. After Church, we went to lunch at Magiano's. While Naomi didn't even wimper at church, she melted down at lunch and Austin and I had to take turns holding her after awhile. After a long day we're finally home and she's taking her afternoon nap. I have to say all in all it was a great day and Naomi is an amazing child. We're lucky and blessed to have such an amazing child.

WHAT DOES TODAY’S BAPTISM MEAN?


The Sacrament of Christian Baptism is a sacrament in which everyone present should participate. It is one of the means by which Christ conveys to us the benefits of redemption. God’s Spirit works through the visual symbol to convince and convert sinners and to build up believers in holiness and faith.

In Baptism the following spiritual works are represented and/or confirmed by God:
1) Union of believers with Christ (our “ingrafting into him”).
2) Washing away of sins by his blood.
3) New spiritual life created by God’s Spirit.
4) Admission into the visible church.
5) Professed commitment to live openly and wholly for Christ.

When God’s people witness the baptism of another, we should remember our own baptism. We meditate upon the work represented and/or confirmed to us. We are reminded of our sins against the spiritual truths pictured and granted in the sacrament. We confess our sins and renew the commitments and relationships signified. We feed upon the grace of Christ and grow stronger in our faith.

We baptize those who come to faith in Christ who have never been baptized. We also baptize those infants born into homes where at least one parent is a believer. For the infant, the things pictured in Baptism are in the form of an offer or promise. When the child believes, he or she claims the promise that God has made and sealed in their Baptism. We do not presume upon the grace of God in saving this child, but we trust with faith-filled hope that he will work salvation in and through the nuclear family and the extended family of believers within the church. When the child believes Christ, his or her baptism is not only a sign of salvation offered, but of salvation received and applied.

We believe that infants can receive grace from God even before they are born. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from before his birth (Luke 1:14). When the Savior (Mark 10:13-16) took infants “...in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them,” they received grace. Christian parents bring their little ones to him in Baptism to receive grace and blessing from the Risen Christ.

Best for baby

For the past month or so, Naomi has definitely started to notice when we're eating meals. She stares at us as we eat, watching the food go from our plate to our mouth. Sometimes she even starts licking her lips. I guess she's ready for solid foods soon!! Our pediatrician told us to wait until after our 6mth appointment, which isn't til December 15th, but I've started doing research on baby foods. I want to try and feed Naomi the best food possible to keep her healthy and strong. That being said, i'm researching organic products and recipes to make food at home on my own. I'm excited to say that there is definitely a lot of yummy looking organic baby foods out there! Since she'll be starting off on rice cereal, this seems to be the most highly reviewed choice - Earth's Beast Rice Cereal.



Once she starts other solids, I'll definitely blend up some concoctions of my own, but here's a cool line that I want to try as well. I discovered their brand at a children's market in NYC. A woman that works for their company came over and gave Naomi a free onesie with their ad label on the front, so of course I had to check them out. Some of their products look super simple to make, but it's great knowing there is an organic ready made option.



only 1.5 mths left before we try solids!!! We're definitely getting the video camera ready for this messy event.

Things that make Naomi laugh

Ever since Naomi started laughing, I spend my time figuring out new ways to make her giggle. It's totally random every day what can set her off, but here are a couple of the things that our silly girl likes.

- the Simpsons theme song
- Pinky and the brain theme song
- getting tickled in the belly
- when you pretend that you're going to tickle her
- blowing rasberries on her belly
- blowing rasberries on her neck
- bouncing her on our stomachs
- scaring her by saying Boo out of the blue
- just looking at Austin (yea it's a bit unfair, I have to actually work to get her to laugh, meanwhile all Austin has to do is give her a silly look and she laughs like crazy!)

A beautiful fall day

It was absolutely beautiful outside so I decided to take Naomi out in our backyard so she could get some freshair. Mom, Stacey, Lilo and Stitch joined in on the fun as well. I have to say, I absolutely love not having work on a Tuesday! If only this was forever.