Baby Life - A few of my Favorite Things

Life with a kid goes so fast. I wish I had been better about writing things down with Ryley's milestones but I always forget and by the time I remember I forget when it actually happened. Same thing goes for our favorite baby items and toys. So here is my post of trying to get the list out of my head and down on "paper".

Newborn stage:

• Rock 'N Play - this was one of my FAVORITE things. I didn't use it as a bassinet but would put her in it while Matt and I ate, I needed to go to the bathroom, really anytime. Ryley never liked the vibrating but she loved the rocking. It was a serious lifesaver and it was inexpensive. I highly recommend this one
• Sound machine - there are a billion options but I think anything that has multiple types of sound options will work. Ryley still uses this for naps
• Boogie wipes
• G Diapers - I LOVE these things. We wanted cloth diapers but they were so big on Ryley. These come in 4 sizes and actually fit her well. Plus they hold more than disposables, and of course have far less waste

Infant stage:

• Monkey bouncy seat - once Ryley was too big for the rock 'n play we got this seat. Ryley had so much fun reaching for the monkeys and bouncing. This seat was quite useful when I needed to take a shower :)
• Pacifier clips as toy clips - I happen to think this idea is genius! We use the pacifier clips and put them on toys and clip them to Ryley so she can't toss them. This is great for restaurants, walks, etc. It's also been really useful for teething toys
• Gum brush - speaking of teething toys, this has been Ryley's favorite
• Korean play mat - this thing is mostly for me, it's squishy and comfy for me plus good for Ryley crawling. I like it more than the puzzle type ones because it's thicker, Ryley can't take it a part and it's easy to clean
• Usborne Touch & Feel Books - Ryley loves books and these are some of her favorite!

Toddler stage:

• Little People ride on - Anything that plays music Ryley loves but this one especially
• Bubble Gum Machine - It was amazing watching her learn how to use this toy. How to put the balls in the top and press the leaver to release the balls
• Kid Chair - She loves grabbing a book and climbing into her little Pottery Barn chair, so stinking cute! I also got another from Target. She loves both
• My First Touch & Feel Cards - My dad got her the First Words edition for her birthday and she loved them so much we got her the rest of the set. They have great questions for parents to ask their kids too. She isn't to that point yet but we will get there

Once I publish this I'll probably think of other things that I love but for now these are some of the things I want to make sure my fiends know about :)

What are some of your favorite things?

Married Life - We bought a house!

Wow I can't believe it happened but we've finally purchased our first home! When we first moved to San Jose our plan was to only stay for a couple of years and then move on to Austin. We even spent a weekend down there and checked out open houses. Pretty crazy what you can get for your money there!

Back to our new home...we finally bit the bullet and just went for it! The house is a great starter home. 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom at 1600 sq ft. It's a cute little house with a bit of spanish flare. Before move in we worked on the house, the previous owners had a few interesting things set up in the house.

Before move in we, as in 98% Matt, we worked on -
1) Garage: They had built a laundry room in the garage so you couldn't park in there. We took down that room and then need to put in some extra rafters to support storage in the top of the garage to house all my decorations

2) Family Room: In the 70's they put in a conversation pit around their fireplace. They raised the floor and then dug in a hole for the pit. We had to pull up all the flooring, fill in the hole with dirt and concrete, grind down the concrete that was under to be smooth, patch in dry wall, lay new floor and put in a new sliding glass door. This one is a big project, we aren't done yet but it's been fun and really hard so far!

3) Outside: They had an old rotting wooden deck in the back. I took it out, BY MYSELF!! Woot woot, go me :) So eventually we are going to put down a tile porch and build a pergola. It's going to be very fun and relaxing place once we are done!

Can't believe we did it! But we love our neighborhood and our house, even though it still needs some work. We are so excited to have our own home :)

Foodie Life - Mother's Day

In our family we LOVE food. A favorite activity of Matt and I pre-baby was enjoying amazing food. I miss those days of spending our extra income on food and wine instead of baby ha.

With Ryley we've been doing baby led weaning - basically that means she gets to eat what we eat, most of the time anyways. So for Mother's Day after a day of fun I decided I wanted sushi for dinner. We headed over to Yuki Sushi in Willow Glen, which by the way has an amazing happy hour! The line was literally half way down the block! Luckily we squeezed in to the last available table.

Instead of miso soup this place serves noodles as their "appetizer". And well apparently this is Ryley's favorite food. Check out this video, so cute!

Ryley has been a good eater from the start. Last night we had salmon and she loved that too. Veggies aren't really her fave but everything else she is great with. There has yet to be something that she didn't go back for more. Hopefully Matt and I can turn her into to a foodie just like us!

Park Life - Cahalan in South San Jose

On Monday Ryley and I had our first PLANNED day of just 1 nap. I was a little nervous. How do I keep a 10 month old occupied and enjoying life for a 4 hour stretch and then a 6 hour stretch?!?! But we made it through!!

The morning was mostly taken up by going to the gym. Good excuse to go to the gym - keep Ryley occupied!

After our nap we decided to head over to Cahalan Park. I had read on Silicon Valley Toddler that it was a great option for young toddlers because they had a structure that was really short. Seriously - the structure was PERFECT! Ryley recently learned how to climb the stairs so this was additional practice climbing up the levels. There are 5 levels from the ground and only one has a part where they could fall, but it's very low to the ground.

It took her a good 15 minutes to climb up. She was rather intrigued by the wood chips, one downfall of this playground, and I had to brush them off to keep her from trying to eat them. But she made it and then I helped her slide down the slide. We did it 3 times and then the sun starting hitting that area so we decided it was time to head home. The playground looks like it would be more shaded during other parts of the day but I'm not certain. The swings and the larger toddler structure had no shade. We'll have to check it out at another time of day.

We had a really great time. Ryley got to actually experience a playground instead of just looking at it from the swing. It was a lot more fun for me too! I would absolutely suggest this playground to anyone with younger toddlers!

If you check it out let me know what you think!

Sorority Life - Chapter Advisor

As you know I'm the Recruitment and Marketing Advisor for the ADPi Chapter at Santa Clara. I LOVE being an advisor! It has been amazing to get back involved with ADPi and help these women through their collegiate days.

Recently our Chapter Advisor went back to work full time so she has decided to take a step back and has moved over to Finance Advisor. That left the role of Chapter Advisor open so for a few weeks I've been playing both Recruitment and Chapter Advisor roles.

Chapter Advisor is definitely different. I like it though, I'm excited to help the women in a different way. I think we may have found a new Recruitment & Marketing Advisor too so looks like I'll likely be staying on as Chapter Advisor. YAY. I can't wait to see how this all goes.

Wish me luck!

Been Away

So I've been away for almost 5 months. Not good, I was hoping I'd really get into this blogging thing. I go places and take lots of pictures of things I want to blog about but then just never get around to it.

Quick info on what we've been up to:

Can you believe Ryley is 10 months old! Seriously time has flown, it's literally crazy! I love this little lady, she is just amazing! She loves to eat, pretty much everything, enjoys pulling herself to standing and walking assisted, going to the park and enjoying the swing, and lots more! We've been enjoying the California weather and we get to a park almost every day.

We are also in the process of buying a house! Can you believe it! We've decided to make some roots here in CA. We are super excited! It's a bit smaller than the rental we are in but honestly this place has way more space than we really need and it's not the safest of houses for a little one (with the pool and tons of stairs). So be on the lookout for more pictures and postings about the house!

I'm going to try to get at least one post per week. Ryley has dropped down to 1 nap so we are going to have to fill out time with things to do so I should I have lots to report on.

See ya again soon!

Park Life - I love weekends!

As a stay at home I wasn't sure if I'd really notice weekends versus weekdays but I seriously love the weekends! I over them for a few reasons:

1. Matt is home!
2. We get to do things as a family
3. We often head out to parks and Rylet loves it
4. I have someone to help me
5. I often get to work on other projects, like sewing
6. Matt usually makes delicious 

This weekend was fun! We got to see our friends new house, have lunch at our favorite deli (which is La Villa in Willow Glen, if you haven't bwen there you must go!), had lunch outside and went to a new park. 

This week we went to Chynoweth park. It's the closest park with baby swings, it was just about a mile. We took to doggies and headed out. Ryley did great on the walk too. As usual here is the standard swing picture

Grumpy baby - she was smiling two seconds earlier I swear 

Toddler playground

This park actually only had a toddler (2-5) play area. It was small but totally functional and cute. There were only 2 baby swings but even on a weekend it wasn't very busy. The biggest con was that it is right on a busy strret which can be dangerous with little ones. Edenvale Garden Park isn't much farther but is a bit nicer so I think I'd rather go there. Still overall I'm glad we enjoyed some time there.

I love the weekends :)