Mommy Jarbs' birthday dinner

Here are some photos taken last Sunday when we went out for my birthday dinner. Hurricane Irene was gone by Sunday afternoon so we went out for a nice dinner at Sequoia in Georgetown. The weather was very nice so we made sure to get outside sitting. For the first time, we were able to order from the kids menu! Elle got mac and cheese which I thought was yummy!

After dinner, we walked along the Georgetown waterfront. Elle enjoyed watching the ducks swim in the Potomac River. She got excited and shrieked when the ducks swam close to us lol.

Teething, rashes, potty!

I thought this week will be better than last week but unfortnately, we are dealing with several issues this week. Since last Sunday, Elle has mild diarrhea. As a result, her bum is irritated again resulting in a bad rash :(. For the past couple of days she has pooped SEVEN freaking times!!  Poor baby's been crying in pain whenever we would change her diapers :(. The acid in her poop irritates her bum so her skin is really red. We blame all of these to teething! We had the exact same issue/symptoms a few months ago right before she cut her first tooth. True enough, yesterday morning, I noticed that she cut TWO more teeth. Both her lateral incisors (beside her two upper front teeth) are now out. So funny, she keeps toucing them with her tongue.  Currently, we have been using the prescription creams that the doctor gave us a few months ago when we had the same rash issues. The rash is slowly getting better but her skin is not completely clear. Good thing we caught it early and now know what to do. We've been doing a lot of naked time for her too and slathering her bum with tons of Butt Paste! Hopefully, the skin will be cleared soon. Teething is such a pain!

On a positive note, Elle pooped in her potty for the first time last night! I put chux pads in her crib and had her do naked time to help her rash heal. She kept pulling up and standing up while in the crib. I noticed there was a drop of pee on the pad. I knew it meant she was going to go soon so I grabbed the little potty that I bought for her. I had her sit on it. It was her first time to use it so she got scared at first lol. I had to entertain and distract her so she would sit still. We read her books and had her kiss her stuffed animals. A few minutes later, there goes the poop and it went straight down in the potty. Yay! She did not even seem bothered and it was mess free :).

Where's Elle's "ulo"? (video)

I try to teach Elle as much Tagalog/Filipino language as I can. I admit I need to do a better job in talking to her in Tagalog. We do have her listen to Filipino children's songs every single day. Hopefully, that helps a little bit with her exposure to the Filipino language (on top of the Spanish language that she is exposed to at day care).

The other day I taught her where her "ulo" (head) is. I repeated it over and over again hoping that it will stick to her head. Today, I asked her where here ulo is and this is what she showed mommy :-). 

I was pleasantly surprised that she remembered! I thought it was a fluke so I asked her again!

Yay! She knows where her ulo is :-). We both watched the video I took from my phone and whenever she'd hear my voice say "ulo", she'd touch her head. Too funny.

Fast crawler! (video)

It's amazing to see how fast Elle can crawl now. She has mastered pulling up and sitting back down. I wonder what new "trick" she will learn in the next few weeks.

Stuck at home and the baby gate is up! (video)

We were stuck at home today because of Hurricane Irene. It is my birthday weekend and Daddy Jarbs originally planned for us to spend my birthday at Kings Dominion. He booked a hotel room near the park for Saturday night. Unfortunately, he had to cancel his surprise birthday plans for me because of Hurricane Irene. Nevertheless, we still made the most out of our weekend. Daddy Jarbs ran errands this morning and came home with flowers and a bag full of Mommy Jarbs' favorite food: seafood pan friend noodles from FulKee (my favorite Chinese restaurant),  calamari (my all-time favorite appetizer) from Carmine's, snow crab legs and ice cream (who doesn't love ice cream?). With all the yummy food, we were ready to be stuck at home :-). 

 

Having Elle is enough to keep us entertained and busy while being stuck at home. Daddy Jarbs finally set up the baby gate that was given by Grandma Jarbs. Elle now has a bigger space to crawl/move around :-). 

Here is a video I took of her this morning. She now knows when I am referring to her baby doll and looks for it when I ask her where her baby is. I was trying to have her kiss her baby but she was not feeling it lol.

Suspicious package outside Elle's day care!

This morning I got a call from the day care's emergency call system letting the parents know that there was a suspicious package found right outside Elle's day care! The police told them that they had to evacuate the whole building while they check the package. All the babies/toddler/pre-schoolers where evacuated to the fire house which is a couple of blocks away. The toddlers where in the buggies and the babies where wheeled while in their cribs. After I got the call, I immediately got in touch with Daddy Jarbs and then I left work to pick up Elle. While I was on my way to day care, I got another call from the director saying they got the all clear from the police and that the babies will now be brought back to the day care. Whew! Thank goodness. When I finally got to the nursery room to check on Elle, this is what I saw :-). Her teacher told me that Elle fell asleep as they were wheeling everybody back from the fire house. All the evacuation tired her out :-). My poor baby had a long day lol.

With the earthquake last Tuesday, hurricane this coming weekend and today's suspicious package scare, can this week be any crazier?

Elle plays with her new stacking blocks!

I was starting to get bored with Elle's toys so I got her the Melissa and Doug stacking blocks to play with :-). At first, she tried to eat them but now, she loves knocking them over and over again!

After a few minutes, she forgot about the blocks and went back to playing with her musical table.

We survived the 2011 DC earthquake!

What a crazy day it has been! This morning, I went to the dentist to have a root canal procedure. Long story short, when half of my face was already numb and the dentist checked on the tooth, he found out that the tooth cannot be saved and therefore need to be extracted :(. There was no need for the root canal so he sent me home. I just walked in the office and stopped at my co-worker's desk to chat about my aborted root canal procedure when suddenly the room started shaking! At first I did not realize it was an earthquake until it got stronger! Both me and my co-worker stood underneath her office's door frame. We waited until the shaking stopped and then we evacuated the office building. I did not realize how huge of a deal it was until I saw people from the other office buildings evacuating as well. Turned out that we just experienced a 5.8 magnitude earthquake! As soon as we got out of the building, I tried to contact Daddy Jarbs. There was no cellphone service so I emailed him through my blackberry. The blackberry signal was also spotty but good thing my message went through. He emailed me back and said that he was safe and they evacuated their office building as well. I tried to contact Elle's day care but the call won't get through :(. Minutes later, Daddy Jarbs emailed again to tell me that he got a call from the day care's (I turned off my cell at this point since it's running low on battery) emergency broadcast system. The director wanted to let all the parents know that their building was safe and that all the babies were fine. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief after hearing that Elle was also safe. An hour later, we were finally let back in our office building. I gathered the rest of my stuff and left to pick up Elle. When I arrived at day care, everything was back to normal. The kids did not seem bothered by the quake. Elle's teacher told me that Elle was napping when the quake happened. She basically just slept through the quake :-). Whew!

It sure was a crazy day. The quake we just experienced was not as strong compared to the quake I had experienced when I lived in the Philippines (7.8 magnitude!) but I am very thankful that there were not a lot of damage done. Thank you Lord for keeping my little family safe from harm.

Elle goes to her 1st Baby Loves Disco

Last night, we took Elle to her 1st Baby Loves Disco event. It is a fun event for babies/kids and their parents where you can dance with your baby to disco music in a baby-friendly environment. As you get in, everybody gets a wrist band (btw, no baby/kid, no entry). The adults get a wrist band (just like going to a bar/club) for their alcohol drinks and the kids also get a wrist band which has a unique number. The number is given to the parents to make sure they bring home the same kid on their way out lol. There were some free drinks/snacks for both kids and adults. Elle loved munching on the free Happy Melts Yogurt Melts.

Dancing shoes on, ankle band on, Elle was ready to dance the night away.
(of course, the beer is not hers :-P)

Hanging out at the bar with Daddy Jarbs who kept a close

eye on her to make sure she does not get hit on lol

Elle was dancing on the floor with Grandma Jarbs when this
boy walked up and talked to her. Daddy Jarbs was not happy :-P.

"Raising the roof" with Mommy :-)


Elle and Grandma got bold and went up on the stage to dance :-P

Elle with her dancing partner ;-)

Here is a video of Elle and Daddy Jarbs

Overall, it was a fun event. We are looking forward to next year's Baby Loves Disco. Elle will be walking by then and will be able to enjoy the disco dancing much more :-).

Elle drinks from a straw cup!

Last Saturday I was at Target and decided to grab a couple of straw cups for Elle. She has gotten really good in drinking from her big girl sippy cups so I thought eventually, I want to teach her how to drink from a cup using straws. Last night, I decided to have her try out her new cup and see how she will take it. I assumed it will take her a few days or weeks to figure out how to use it. Daddy Jarbs thought we should wait until she can talk so we can instruct her what she needs to do to suck the water up through the straw. Of course, I did not listen to Daddy Jarbs and had her try out the cup anyway :-P. I wanted to see what her reaction will be and what she will do with it. The first time I put the straw in her mouth, she just bit it like a teether :=P. I showed her how to suck the straw but of course did not expect her to understand what I was trying to tell her. Well, lo and behold, after a few tries and biting in the straw, she figured out how to suck the water up the straw! Yay! Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised she learned that quick!!! I got so excited and happily shrieked to Daddy Jarbs "oh my gosh, she sucked the water!!" :-P. Everyday, Elle continues to amaze us with all the new things she learns and how fast she learns them :). My next goal is to get her out of the bottle just after her 1st birthday :-). We still have a few months go so I'll worry about that later. For now, I'll let her enjoy her new straw cups :-).

Awkward sleeping positions

The other day, I caught Elle sleeping like this. She fell asleep sitting with her head in between her legs. She used her stuffed doll as her pillow.

Wish I am this flexible lol

A couple of days after, I caught her sleeping with her

butt sticking up in the air :-)

Cute baby for sale :-)

Only $17.49!! What a steal! :-)

Fun with the bubbles! (video)

I almost forgot that I have a pack of Bubbles Oodles which was given to us when I signed up Elle at Gymboree. Now, Elle is old enough to appreciate them so I took it out and we all had fun playing with the bubbles!

Elle eats mac & cheese! (video)

Daddy Jarbs made homemade mac and cheese for Elle the other day. Here's Elle trying to feed herself. Half of the food went to her mouth and the other half on the floor :-). She now insists on feeding herself vs Mommy spoon-feeding her. I thought I could get away without having to use the splash mat that I got as a gift during my baby shower. Now, I am having seconds thoughts and may have to use it soon!

Here she is drinking from her big girl sippy cup. I did not realize until a friend pointed out this week that the 10 oz sippy cup that Elle has been using is for toddlers! :-) Now, I just need to teach her how to drink using straws!

We have a crawler!

Finally! We thought this day would never come :-). For the longest time, Elle showed no interest in wanting to crawl so we thought she'd skip that and go straight to walking. For the last couple of weeks she's been crawling/scooting backwards and even able to sit up, lay back down and vice versa. She has tried to get on all fours but her right leg always gets stuck underneath. I knew it will just be a matter of days before she would be able to figure out how to really crawl and move forward. Well, she surprised Mommy Jarbs yesterday and showed off her new skill :-).

Time to install the baby gates on top and bottom of the stairs, buy an enclosed entertainment center, remove all breakables in the living room, install security locks on all kitchen and bathroom cabinets, etc, etc...Let the fun begin! :-)

Outtakes from the 9-month shoot

Now that Elle is mobile, it is getting harder and harder to take her monthly photos! She does not want to stay still. She just wants to crawl/scoot and grab stuff.

She does not want to sit still

I tried to see if turning on the tv (we do not normally have her watch tv)
would help but major fail! She got hypnotized!

 She found my magazine stash and started grabbing and eating them!

 She also tried to grab the camera

And then she played with her sippy cup and poured water on her dress!

In the middle of the shoot, I caught her pooping (yep, that's her poopy face)! lol.
20 yrs from now, she's gonna kill me for taking this photo :-P

After freshening her up and changing her diaper, I finally got her to look at the camera 

And then off she goes again :-)



Elle loves eating!

Elle had her 9-month well check-up last Friday. Everything went well. There were no issues and Elle is healthy and growing as she should. Well, the good news is, the doctor gave us the green light to give Elle table food. She told us that it is okay to give her the same food that we eat granted that we do not have any history of food allergy in the family. Prior to the doc's visit, I was already giving her food that are a bit chunkier and have a slightly different texture than the purees so she will get used to chewing/eating them. She has tried cottage cheese with fruit, soft tofu with broccoli or beans, watermelon and bananas cut up into little pieces. I have also given her Marie biscuit which my mom brought from the Philippines. My mom said this was the same biscuit that she used to give us when we were little. I broke the biscuit into little pieces and gave them to Elle. Surprisingly, she did not have any problems eating them. I do watch her very closely whenever I introduce new food and make sure she does not choke. Also, I always have her sippy cup with water on hand.

At first, I was kinda hesitant to have her graduate from eating purees for fear of choking. However, since the doc said it's okay as long as we cut the food into tiny little pieces (Cheerio size) and slightly overcook the veggies (so it's soft), then we're good. Well, this past weekend, we gave Elle sweet potato pancakes (with no syrup) and she loved them :-). I cut it up into tiny little pieces and had her pick up each piece from my hand and feed it to herself. Daddy Jarbs made mac and cheese last night which we'll have her try soon :-). We want to expose Elle to a variety of flavors and textures as much as possible. Hopefully, she does not grow up to be a picky eater and *knock on wood* does not develop any food allergies. Right now, that is not a problem though as she eats everything we give her and has not had any allergic reaction. I still want to be on the conservative side though and slowly introduce new food/flavors. I am excited that she can now eat more yummy food. I am looking forward to the time when we can order her a healthy kids meal when we are out in the restaurant. Daddy Jarbs and I both agree that she does not need to know that Mc Donalds exist :-).

Fun time at Great Beginnings (videos)

Elle had a ball playing with the toys at Great Beginnings. The last time we were here was when she was 3 months old and she was not interested in any toys back then. Now, she is all over them! I guess we should just go here every weekend and let her play vs having to buy them? lol.

Here she is having a ball while in the jumperoo. We were very close to buying it after seeing how much fun she had while in it! 

We ended up getting the Go Pod. We originally looked at getting this back when Elle was 3 months old but thought she was still too young for it. Daddy Jarbs like that it is very portable and can take it with us when we travel.

Elle looked so cute playing with the mini-piano. The piano box says it is recommended for ages 4+. Perhaps, a gift a idea ~3 yrs from now?

And the child proofing begins...

It will only take a matter of days before Elle will be full on crawling! Now, we seriously have to start child proofing our home which in the first place is not baby-friendly! We just bought an ottoman last weekend to replace our current glass coffee table. We are also on the hunt for a new entertainment system since the one we currently have (which is open), will not work for a baby who loves to grab everything. We have our eye on the one below but have not bit the bullet yet.

We went to our favorite store, Great Beginnings, this weekend to buy a gate for the stairs. We got this one to put on top of the stairs. It's got good reviews on Amazon. Luckily, we found one in black which would match our staircase.

Here's Daddy Jarbs checking out the different baby gate options

while Elle makes out with the stuffed giraffe from the store :-).



Elle meets Tita Lucy

Daddy Jarbs' former co-worker, Lucy, was in town. She is based in the Bay Area and is in town for a few days for work. We met up with her at Austin Grill so she can see and meet Elle. Lucy held Elle and surprisingly she did not get scared or fuss at all like she does when she's being held by a stranger. Lucy happens to be a Filipino like Mommy Jarbs. Maybe Elle is biased towards Asians and dark-haired people? lol.

Lucy took a few pictures of Elle. By the time we had our group photo taken, Elle was done and did not want to look at the camera :-P.