Rain, rain, go away...

It has been quite rainy in Southern California, much to Joaquin's chagrin. He loves the outdoors and we haven't been getting outside as much because of the rain and cold. How do they do it in Michigan? My mom had him the other day and he was so determined to go outside that he banged his head against the glass a couple of times. So we've been trying to get out as much as possible, which has given us some cute pics...

Cute, huh?...

...until you learn that our little bundle of cuteness has already surpassed us on the computer and managed to turn off the internet on this little adventure. And now we can't get it back on (at all!) and the gateway tech wants us to totally re-load it. I think it was intentional...he totally gets more time on it now that he's not interfering with Daddy's facebook time.

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!

Lovebug visited with Lola for a few hours while we had a very nice Thai dinner.

Joaquin likes chocolate!

8 months old!

Joaquin is 8 months old. This month has been characterized by talking. He's got Mama and Da down pat. Most often he says "My Mamma" and looks for Da in bed and out in the yard working. He also has dog, good, and yeah pretty consistently. He's working on Uncle, boo (for peek a boo--by far, still his favorite game), hello, and he's said "I got it!" twice. "I got it" is so fun...he does it in this sing-songey voice with an exclamation at the end.

He's eating alot of table food and will sit in his highchair and eat with us for the whole dinner as long as he gets some of what we're eating. I'd say his favorite foods are banana and french fries. He is a very big boy...we're already on 18 month old clothing!

Great hand-eye coordination...he doesn't struggle at all to grab anything anymore. He's also started to pull himself up all the time and he likes to practice doing it over and over. We have finally had to put away the bouncy chair as he will now pull himself over to try and follow me out of the room. He has also started to pull over to get a hug and puts his hands up when he wants to be picked up. Our new bouncy chair is a laundry basket...although he tried to get out of that to follow me inside after laundry, so that's going to be short lived too!


























And here's his 7 month pic since we missed it:

Philippines 2009

We took Joaquin on his first trip to the Philippines.  We were initially concerned that he would be a little colicky during the flight since he was still fending off an ear infection and a virus.  But much like our Florida trip, he was very well behaved and even seemed to enjoy the trip.  The flight was 16 hours long with an hour long lay-over in Icheon.  We took the trip so that Joaquin can meet his great-grandmothers (Lola's), lolo's, lola's, tito's and tita's.  Our first stop was in Manila.  We stayed with one of Gideon's relatives - Tito Aryot and Tita Vifel.  He has a wonderful house with a great backyard that Joaquin really enjoyed.  As well as ya-ya's (caretakers) who just adored him.  We even managed to meet up with Gideon's brother Lester who was also in the Philippines for his honeymoon.

(from left: Tita Vifel, middle: Dax, VG, Anjelica, Gideon, Camille, Faye, Joseph and Emerson, right: Yaya's

After a very brief stint in Manila, we headed off to Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.  We stayed with Lola Belen and Lola Nene.  We also spent some time in the family farm with Tito Senen.  Joaquin really liked walking along the river behind the farm.  We opted not to stay too much in the farm due to the rampant amount of mosquitoes and to spend more quality time with the lola's.

(Lola Belen, crossing the ilog, Lola Nene, Rice farm (it's planting season), the cousins at the bukid with Tito Senen, Lolo Carlos, Tita Baby, and Lola Nene)

Then off we went for a quick mini getaway to Boracay.  Boracay is a small resort island that is surrounded by many islands that you can go visit.  They also offer many aquatic activities. We opted to just stay beach side right next to the hotel restaurant and just waste the day away playing in the sand, swimming in the ocean and drinking a lot of freshly made shakes.  Our favorite for the trip was the papaya shake followed by the mango shake.

Joaquin really loved playing (sometimes eating) the sand.  He also really enjoyed splish-splashing in the ocean water.  He truly is a water baby.  We spent 4 days 3 nights in Boracay then it was time to go home.  Overall it was a very special trip for all of us and we look forward to our next trip together as a family.

Words! Heart melting, makes you grin, sweet words...

Right before we left for the Philippines, at about 6.5 months, he started saying "Mum" and "Mama". I wasn't sure if it was sound making or for me, but he kept doing it and now I get reaching with Mum or Mama attached to it. This is even sweeter as two nights ago before bed (he's about 7.5 mos.) he gave Gideon a "Daddy" followed by "Da". He now seems to be working on "Uncle" again. There is nothing better after a long day then hearing those words...next step will be the tooth...we can see the little white cap with the gum stretched over it!