Monthly Archives: January 2014
Upgraded Juicing!
Hello beautiful new juicer! After 4.5 years with our Jack Lalanne juicer, (even though we only used it for a few months), it’s time we upgraded to a new and improved Omega VRT350HD Low Speed Juicer! It’s definitely a lot more expensive but it’s well worth the purchase! Plus we got this on super sale on QVC with free shipping and it came with a free Juice Boost recipe book! Our old juicer worked ok, but cleanup was such a pain (for Khoa, since he did the cleaning). It was also very loud and would vibrate and it didn’t come with a container for the juice to fall into. So finally, we decided to upgrade and boy this makes juicing so much easier! Our new machine is whisper quiet, compact so it doesn’t take up much space, and has a convenient container with handle for the juice to pour into! The Omega VRT350 is a low speed juicer so it juicers the fruits and veggies slowly to preserve more of the nutrients! One of the best parts is you just plop the fruit/veggie into the juicer and you don’t have to push it down! It’s amazing!! We initially started juicing after we saw the documentary “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead” featuring Joe Cross, and boy did he have an inspiring story! Here’s a LINK to Joe Cross’s 3 day weekend cleanse, with recipes of 5 juices you can do during this cleanse! Juicing is awesome because of how much vitamins and nutrients you’re gaining, and how easy it is to do so. Normally we can eat maybe 1 apple a day and a few veggies here and there, but with juicing, you can consume multiple apples along with several carrots, celery, kale, asparagus, etc., all in 1 drink! The idea of juicing is so inviting but when you actually do it, it takes a lot of work, but not if you have the right machine! It’s also a great bonding activity to do with your spouse/loved ones. Khoa and I have developed a pretty efficient way to juice to make it not so tedious, and it’s fun in my opinion! I’m glad we’re able to get back to our healthy juicing habits! Just after a few days of juicing again, we already feel like we have more energy, our body feels cleansed and lighter, and with all that, we are happier! Best part about this too is we can give Lily some of these healthy juices and have her consume way more fruits and veggies than she normally would, without even know it! If you haven’t tried juicing, you should definitely give it a shot, it’s worth the time and investment! Here’s some images of some juices that we like and tried this week!
Sweet & Spicy Carrot Juice
Mean Green
Blueberry Cucumber Juice
Strawberry Mango Juice
SunnyG (ginger) Juice
Asparagus Detox Juice
Resources – here’s a LINK to a website that has 5 juicing recipes that uses 5 ingredients or less for each juice! Also, HERE’s a very informative website that has lots of juicing recipes to help with weight loss and health, and it even has a 30 day juicing challenge! Also here’s a useful tip, if you use ginger in your recipes, you can easily and safely peel them but using a spoon and carve/scrape the skin off! My juicing book that came with our new juicer is also super awesome with lots of education on what you’re getting out of certain fruits and veggies, you can get the book Juice Boost by Chris Fung HERE on Amazon! Enjoy and happy juicing!
Disney Baby!
I woke up this morning and saw one of the mom’s from Lily’s modeling agency share the Disney Baby facebook cover photo, and tagged me asking if that was Lily in the photo! To my surprise and excitement, it was!!! The photoshoot for that was taking back in April last year (2013) I think, wow look at how young she looked!! This particular part of the photoshoot was to advertise the Minie Mouse nursery set (blankets, plush doll, bedding, etc!). What a cutie pie! I’m so proud of her!! Look at you Lily pad, you’re a Disney Baby!!
Munchkin Lily!
Yay I found Lily on Munchkin’s website for their Cupcake Bath Squirters! Wow this was so long ago, I think last May! Look at that cute little chubby face and yes that’s her cute little hand holding the cupcake!! This was definitely a very different photoshoot from all her other photoshoots because she got to be in a bath tub and play with bath toys and soap bubbles! You can find the link for her toy on the Munchkin website HERE, and you can find it on Amazon HERE (thanks Siv for finding it!). Now I must hunt these down in stores to see if Lily’s on the packaging! =) So proud of you my baby model!!
Hello Juniper!
Last week, on January 20th, Lily started her first official day at the Juniper Toddler class at LePort!! It was very bitter sweet to have her graduate from the infant Willow class to Juniper, but we are so proud of her. We were sad to leave the Willow room because we know how happy she was there, and we liked the comfort of it and how flexible they are with her schedule and everything. You develop this nice relationship with the teachers there that was another tough part about new beginnings. We can’t stay there forever. We are so thankful and grateful for all the amazing teachers here at LePort. Lily surprises us everyday with all the things she’s learning, and she’s growing into such a beautiful person thanks to their teachings! Good thing though is Lily will still be able to see her fellow Willow-mates on the other side of the toddler playground fence! Here’s a picture of Lily saying goodbye and giving with her teacher, Ms. Bianca from the Willow class, a hug on her last day!
Two weeks prior to Lily’s start date at Juniper, she got to do a transition period where she gets to visit the toddler class for a little bit at a time. She got to have snack time there, take naps, and even test out the toddle playground!! Her new teacher Ms. Monica, tells me Lily is adjusting nicely and her daily report always says she’s happy! She tends to eat really well too, and we are now able to order her food from Cater Tots for her lunches! Since the toddler class has a set schedule, she ends class at 3:30pm, and then gets to go across the hall to her After Care and play with her friends until I get off work at 4:30 and pick her up! The exciting thing about the toddler class is that she gets to see some of her old friends who use to be in her infant class but moved up since they’re older. It was a nice reunion and her teacher told me that her and her old friend Sage kept giving each other hugs on her first day, how cute is that?! Can’t wait to see all the amazing new things she learns this year! =) Goodbye Willow, hello Juniper!
Lily painting her 1st masterpiece!
Lily having fun washing her hands at the toddler sink!
Lily playing and learning!
Craft Therapy
So this month has been one of the hardest month of my life, and only time will truly heal my heart, but each day does bring in a little light into the darkness. I feel like I’m doing a lot better, but sometimes I have my moments, especially when I’m by myself and my mind tends to wander. I was feeling a little depressed the other day, so I started to browse the net to distract my mind and I stumbled upon this image of a super cute blazer on this little girl. I got inspired and decided to make on for Lily! My mind was instantly distracted and I went into a crafting high!! haha. So the next day I woke up super excited to go to the fabric store and pick out fabrics with Lily for her new blazer. The blazer I saw online was only 1 solid color, but I decided to make a light beige color lining so that when you roll up the sleeves, the cuffs are a different color. It provided just the pop of charm that I wanted! It was fun to be doing things with a purpose. After Lily went to bed that night, I immediately went to work learning and trying to figure out the pattern and how to take on this task. 3 hours later, I finished my first sewn article of clothing for Lily! It was hard for me to fall asleep that night because I kept imagining how it’ll look on her, and I was too excited to fall asleep. The next day, I was so happy and felt very proud of myself for making something that looked quite decent and actually fits her! She wore it with no complaints, and seemed to like it, or so I think haha. After this project, I felt super happy, and I was proud of myself for channeling my depression into something positive. Crafting is very therapeutic for me, probably because I enjoy the process, and I get something to be proud of at the end, to show for all my hard work! This totally cheered me up!! I have a few more projects I decide to do, so stay tuned for those in the future, it includes more clothes for Lily and a new “room” for Luna! =) Here are some pictures of her and the blazer, in two outfits.
Speaking of positive and cheerful things, I feel like babies are so angelic when they’re sleeping. Lily just looks soooo peaceful and sweet when she’s in dreamland, and I can stare at her ALL day! She makes me soooo happy! I love her to pieces!!
Lily’s crazy hair while sleeping.
She even poses in her sleep! Love it when she falls asleep in my arms!
Happy 19 Months Lily!
Happy 19 months to my sweet little Lily pad! Right now Lily weighs at about 21.25 pounds and stretches about 31.5 inches tall! I realized I forgot to post her 18 months, but her stats hasn’t really changed TOO much in the past month. Her weight was in the 1st percentile, she fell off the charts, so that’s a little bit worrisome, but she seems to be healthy overall. We’re giving her pediasure at night so that she can retain some extra calories, since her weight percentage needs to be higher than her height percentage. We’re trying to give her more red meat and that’s a hit or miss right now, she tends to like chicken more than cows…haha. We had her 19 month follow up today and she gained almost 2 pounds from her 18 month check up, putting her back up at the 5th percentile, placing her right on the line of the growth chart. At least she’s not out of the curve so that’s very good progress! Other than that, she’s growing up to be a very bright and smart little toddler! She’s going to be moving up from the Infant Willow class at LePort to the Toddler class in a couple weeks! She already got a chance to play in the toddler playground and her teachers say she loves it. She’s becoming a pro at drinking from her little glass, and she knows to point out all her facial features when you ask her! She even knows how to say “eyes” and other words very clearly now!
Lily 18 Months
Lily 19 Months
We had her 2nd Christmas celebration and it was even more fun than last year. This year, she knows how to rip open the wrapping paper and is eager to find out what’s inside! She pats on the box once it’s open and wants us to open the toy for her so she can play with it! So smart! She loves her new kitchen set from my parents, and she also really loves her new Trike from us! The video below is of her seeing and riding her Trike for the first time!! Also, Jennifer and Andrew came to stay with us for 5 days for Christmas, and she was super nice enough to take our Christmas pictures! You can view all the beautiful pictures HERE! We’re so lucky to have such a talented sister to capture these yearly photos for us, thanks sissy!!!
Lily also got to go to Vegas for the first time! We managed to sneak in a picture of Lily hitting the slots at the airport, she was very intrigued! Haha, but it was only for 30 seconds and then we wiped her hands right after that to clean all the germies off!! We had a very local experience at Vegas since I didn’t want to take Lily to the casinos where all the second hand smoke were, so we did a lot of local things around Alvina’s community like taking her to park, and then we visited the Container Park, the Children’s Discovery Museum, and we even got a private tour of Zappos where Alvina works!! We also got to see AMAZING Christmas lights at the cactus garden at the Ethel M’s Chocolate Factory as well! I’ve never seen soooo many lights in one place before, it was so cool! Lily loves looking at the lights and pointing at everything and saying “woooo”!
Happy New Year – 2014
Lastly, I leave you with this super cute video of Lily dancing with her teapot in her jammies and a video of her running off with a new toy she wanted at target! Enjoy!
