Fruit & Flowers

The 25th was our 4 year Anniversary.  Al and I give each other traditional wedding gifts every year.  This year was fruit and flowers which we both thought was boring, but we both ended with pretty creative gifts.  Al got me a Vitamix blender which by the way is amazing, worth every penny.   The blender was loaded with fruit and flowers :)

I got Al a Fondue maker with chocolate and 4 different kinds of fruit.  

Both great gifts, but lets be honest the Vitamix is way better.

Al planned our dinner and I got a babysitter.  Here is to 4 WONDERFUL years with one amazing guy.

We had dinner at the Royce which is in the Langham hotel in Pasadena.

We each picked the sampler menu which ended up being 9 courses.  We started at 7:30 and finished around 10.  Every dish was beautiful.  This was our first course which was on the house.  The only thing I remember was the middle part which was a radish and cream.

 I took a picture of the menu so I would remember the rest :)

2nd course: Steamed king crab let, turmeric-cucumber, sugar snap peas, opal basil, mussel snow

 3rd course: Steamed clams, grilled cuttlefish, summer beans, seaweed broth.  This was one of my favorites.

 4th course: Seared red snapper fillet a la plancha, potato emulsion, canella fish jus, carrot candy, tomatillo

 5th course: Rib eye cut wagyu beef, marrow tempura, spelt berries emulsion, fermented radish truffle

 6th course:  Mustard linzer cheese (aged for 6 months), blueberry compote, toasted almond.

7th course which was not on the menu

8th which was compliments of the chef.

 By the 9th course I was in a food coma and could barely eat anymore.  Cocoa minute cake, cajeta caramel, warm chocolate curd, cafe glace

Anniversaries just get better and better, can't wait for next year.   

It was a wonderful evening and we finished it off by watching our wedding video, so fun.  I Love You Al.  Thank you for being a great husband.  

Sixteen-Eighteen Months Old

You don't realize how fast time goes by until you have kids.  I look at Alex everyday and want to tell him to stop growing and just stay this age forever, but I feel like that with every stage he's at except maybe that first month :)

 Here is my sweet little Alex at 18 months old

18 Month Stats

Weight 25lbs 7 oz 50th percentile

Height 34 inches long 90th percentile

Head  50cm 95th percentile

He had a huge growth spurt with his height and head (Ranes gene), but he's thinned out according to the Doctor.
When he hears the garage open I say dada's home. I open the door for him and he runs to the car so Al will let him sit on his lap and drive.

Whenever Al hugs or kisses me Alex makes the noise eh eh which means pick me up and hug me too.

He likes to sit on our bed with his sippy and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

He wakes up once or twice a night screaming and I haven't figured out what that's about

Is a pro at our stairs in our house

Is obsessed with my phone. I'm seriously considering buying an iTouch or giving him my old one when I get the 5!!

Loves the park, but he gets bored if you always take him to the same one.

Can't walk through the produce section of a grocery store without Alex wanting a piece of fruit.  

He screams if I put him in the part of the shopping cart he should sit in.  Instead he sits in the big part and freaks out if I put any groceries in there with him or usually ends up sitting or standing on them.

His favorite book is I Love You More and Pat The Bunny.

Obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  He would watch it all day long if I let him.

Will randomly walk over to you and kiss your leg or give you a hug.

At night when I say lets go upstairs and get a bath he waves to Al and blows him a kiss.

One of his favorite things to do is when he hears the garage open he runs to the door.  I let him run out and Al lets him drive for a few minutes on his lap.

He learned how to dip french fries while we were in NYC.

I feel like he is trying to say words.  He definitely says no, mama (I'm not sure if he knows what it means).  Most of the time I read his mind and maybe that's why he's a late talker.

Folds his arms to pray right when I give him food.

Likes to stack blocks.

Very particular about things.  He only likes whole pieces of fruit.  If you cut it up he won't eat it.  

I have to give him all his food at once or he gets mad if I give it to him in portions.  For example I have to give him eggs and cereal at the same time in the morning.
Loves anything that has pasta especially lasagna, spaghetti, and pizza.  His new obsession is Dino Nuggets.  He can eat 6.  He likes grapes, apples, pears, cheese, crackers, and anything to snack on.  

He is pretty clean which is nice.  He doesn't like crumbs or wrappers.  He always hands them to me or throws them down.  He likes to use napkins to wipe up stuff.

He won't sit in a high chair anywhere but home.

I clipped his fingernails the other day and then a few days later he found them and was trying to clip them himself...lol

He loves baby powder on his butt.  One night after I put his pajamas on he grabbed the bottle and was trying to put it on himself.

 When he gets his feelings hurt or doesn't like something you tell him he closes his eyes like in the picture below and won't look at you.  Sometimes he's really dramatic and will lay down and do it.  I've had him lay down on the beach, in the garage, in a store, at a park, the list goes on.

The Conga

Doctors appointments are a little tricky with Alex.  Lots of snacks and my phone is the key, but I'm constantly moving around until the Dr comes in.  I could be in trouble in a few weeks when I start having weekly appointments and have to sit there with no pants on and a piece of paper over me.

Grocery shopping is getting tricker by the week with Alex.  We found these at Vons and I might have to do all our shopping there even if it's more expensive than everywhere else.  I felt like a mother of 10 pushing this thing down the aisle.  I had to start turning to right as I walked down an aisle if I wanted to make it out of that aisle.

I've been trying to take Alex to the park a lot, but I've noticed he gets bored if I take him to the same one.  We went to Lacy Park last week and he was loving it.  He went down this big slide at least 20 times.  

We finally made it to the El Paseo fountains and he was in heaven. 

I've never heard him babble so loud.  It was hilarious

On Saturday we had tickets to the UCLA game.  It has been sooooo hot in LA so we decided to wait until Alex was done with his nap to go.  We walked down to the game and I was already about to pass out.  Look at poor Alex's cheeks in this picture.

We were melting in this picture

Learning about football.  I still don't get it.

That night we went out with a bunch of friends.  Our friend Wyatt has ChondroSarcoma in his left foot and was scheduled to get a below the knee amputation a few days later.  His last request was to go dancing so we had a yummy dinner at Petes Cafe in LA and then went dancing at the Conga room.

Dancing was a blast even if I only lasted a few songs.  I felt like I was shaking the baby up in there...lol

We love the Dannels family and give our love, support and prayers to them at this difficult time.  They are an amazing family and we are thankful to have them in our lives.  

Umami

I'm getting behind on the blog again, but it should be safe to say I'm too tired to update it when Alex takes a nap or goes to bed. You forget how pregnancy takes a toll on your body until there is a baby growing inside of you taking all of your energy.   A couple weeks ago my good friend Tonya and her family were in California visiting her family.  We were able to meet up with them to have dinner and catch up.  Before dinner we made a quick stop in Gap to check out the sale racks for Alex and the baby.   Alex thinks he has free reign to run like a wild child around the store.  It scares me because I don't want him to get lost or anyone to take him.  I will be investing in one of those leash backpacks in the next few weeks.

We had a delicious dinner at Umami Burger.  I wish we lived closer to the Bush family especially since Tonya is due a few months after me with her 2nd boy.  How did we get to be so outnumbered :)

Later that week we had dinner with the Dannels and Smith families.  Jenny pulled out her famous pencil and needle trick.  Supposedly it tells you how many kids you are going to have and the sex of them.  Jenny has 3 and it said she is going to have 5.  I have 2 and it says I'm going to have 4 Boy, Boy, Girl, Girl which would be perfect.  I was so happy to just know I would have someone to go shopping with someday.    We also did it on our husbands and it was said the same thing for all of them.  Creepy

Al got a new suit and the best thing about it, is it's extra slim fit so it looks amazing on him.  Thanks for your fashion advice Wyatt :)

Al insists on sitting on our couch to eat which is crazy since the table is sitting directly behind our couch.  I gave Alex some Lucky Charms once and I guess he never forgot.  He couldn't pick the marshmallows out fast enough of Al's cereal.

My Aunt Liz was in Oceanside for the week so that weekend we drove down to see her.  We tried to distract Alex from the Ocean as long as we could, but he always found his way down there.

Inching closer and closer to see if we would follow him.  As soon as he saw us coming to get him he would bolt.   I can't wait for him to learn how to swim.

Al digging holes and trying everything to hold him from running to the water.  

Al and Liz playing an intense game of smash ball.  Alex would chase the ball every time they hit it.

Before we drove home we had dinner.  So much fun to see Liz!!

It's always a successful day when they pass out holding their snacks.

Grandma and Grandpa Cameron

Before we left for the Dominican Al's parents came a day early to hang out with us and let Alex get comfortable with them.  We took them to the Huntington Gardens in 95 degree weather and only lasted about an hour.

Alex is always on the go.  I don't even know why we bring a stroller with us.

The kids garden he thought was pretty cool.

Grandma and Grandpa Cameron.

It was hard to leave Alex for 5 days, but I know he enjoyed hanging out with his Grandma and Grandpa.  They took him to a UCLA game, I'm guessing that was Al 4 idea:)

We got to FaceTime with Alex everyday which was fun.  Al's dad said Alex would try to find his iPad because he knew that's where he saw us.  

Alex letting his Grandma read him a book.

Climbing up the tower in Kidspace.  Thank you so much Shelly and Al for coming all the way to California to watch Alex for us.  I know he had a blast:)