Tre Communicating

We've got a little talker on our hands...each day he gets more and more vocal. It is so cute to have little conversations with him when he constantly replies to us. It's definitely entertaining to know that he is responding, I just wish I could understand what he was trying to tell me. I had a thought the other day, I wondered if babies can understand each other and if they can, do you think the older babies that can sign what they want to say would be able to inform us of what the younger babies are trying to say? My neighbors' son can sign and he has gotten better at more words which is really interesting and has inspired us to try and teach Tre how to sign. I had asked Monet (my neighbor) about my ponder and we both thought it was an interesting concept. Has there been studies?

We gave Tre a bath yesterday and decided to try and make his hair lay flat to see how long it would last and so far it has stayed flat in the front, after last night it kind of has a little fluff up in the back from sleeping but for the most part it has stayed. There was a little bit of baby oil in it from earlier so its kind of oiled down in parts. Here are a few pictures of Tre with his new do...


Tre talking to us...


Tre and his new hair do...


Tre and his Daddy chilling watching TV...


Tre's favorite place to nap...the swing!!!

Another cool thing that happened was Tre only woke up once in the middle of the night to eat. He slept from 8:15pm to 1:20am, then ate, then went back to sleep shortly after eating and slept until 7:10am. How amazing to only wake up to feed once in the night. HEHE. However, he did wake up around 4 or 4:30 (can't remember) and cried a bit, but I gave him his pacifier and he fell asleep a few minutes later. YAY for Tre!

And...here is Tre having a conversation with us...love talking to him!

Walking with Grandpa Mike

Jammer's parents just purchased a townhouse near Grandview beach in Leucadia which is really close to our house. Jammer's Dad was at the house doing some work on the place so we decided to meet up with him at the house and take Tre for a walk on Neptune which is the street that is kind of like a boardwalk but it's not right on the beach since Grandview is below a bluff. So it's the main street on the bluff above Grandview beach. It's a great place to walk since it is a one way street and not much traffic travels on it. We walked from their house on Grandview up to Neptune over to Beacon's Beach. It was perfect temperature outside and because of the houses on the bluff Tre was able to have his stroller shade open the entire walk without me worrying that the sun would get him right in his eyes, so he got to enjoy the scenery while we walked. He was such a good boy, only a couple outbursts but it usually happened when we stopped walking to look at something and then we would continue to walk and he would be content. He fell asleep at the very end of the walk and probably took a 5 to 10 minute nap.

When we got to Beacon's Beach Jammer and his Dad stopped to watch the surf and the sun began to set. After they watched the surf for a little bit we decided to head back. Tre was due for a feeding within the hour. Little Noa got to enjoy the beautiful walk as well. He met a few little dogs his size on the walk which was fun for him since he doesn't get to play with other dogs all that often. Usually now just when he visits my parents' house.

It was a great walk and I am really excited to do it again!

Baby Talking Tre

This video was just too cute to not show...Tre was being so dang cute just cooing and baby talking. He was in good spirits. This was shortly after his morning nap so he was well rested and well fed, ready to spend some time with Mommy. Moments like these are just priceless and so special! I feel so lucky to be blessed with an adorable little boy like Tre.

Here are a few other pictures of Tre. First one is Tre from the mirror on the Laugh and Learn.



This is a picture that I took close up in the mirror of Tre...



And Tre and Daddy playing...

Happy 11 Week Birthday Tre!

Tre was born 11 weeks ago today! Each week brings new experiences and changes with our little boy. I can't believe how different each week can be and how much he grows. It was a good day...Tre took his morning nap like a good boy and we enjoyed play time when he was awake. However the afternoon was a bit more difficult, not the worst experience but not easy. :) We played on his "Laugh and Learn" mat which he is enjoying more and more each day. Later in the afternoon Tre, Noa and I took a walk with our neighbor and her son. It was nice to get out and walk through the neighborhood across the street. And I got a good week update picture of Tre, which some weeks is difficult to get him to look at me for the picture or to not cry when I lay him on the boppy so I'm really happy with the way this pic turned out!

Here is a pic of Tre when we were playing this morning on his " Laugh and Learn" mat:

Noa gets intrigued with Tre when he is laying on the floor at Noa's level, he always comes over to check out what Tre is doing. Today Noa was trying to lay next to Tre but Tre kept kicking. It was pretty funny. Here is a pic of Noa and Tre:

Here was a cute little smiley pic of Tre:

Last but not least the video of Tre playing on his "Laugh and Learn" mat:

Hope you've enjoyed! :)

Our 30th Birthday BBQ

Sunday was Jammer and I's 30th birthday bbq with our friends (I turned 30 on September 2nd and Jammer turns 30 on October 5th). It started around 2pm and went for a few hours as people slowly dispersed.

My sister, Ashley came down in Saturday night so she could be here on Sunday to help me get everything set up. Which was much needed! She did an awesome job frosting and decorating my cupcakes that I had baked. As well as help me take care of a fussy little Tre before everyone got here. It's like he knew that we were trying to get ready for an event because he would not sleep and was rather upset and totally fighting taking his nap. Then finally fell asleep right when the party was supposed to begin so he ended up napping for a couple hours at the beginning of the party (which many were anxious to meet or see Tre).

We had planned on BBQ'ing burgers and turkey burgers. Also, Ashley had made her pasta salad that I love and we served some munchies as well. So guests started to arrive around 2pm and slowly started to trickle in. It was kind of nice to have Tre taking his nap at the beginning for me so I could greet everyone that came in and get a chance to talk to them without worrying about the little one. I think it was around 5pm he finally woke up. Since he didn't take a nap in the morning his afternoon nap was twice as long as it normally is. I fed him and got his diaper changed and brought him out to the very anxious guests that wanted to see him. We got some pictures with a few people that took a turn holding him and hanging out with him for a little while. Tre was awake for quite a while so everyone got to see him, play with him and hold him. It was good he was well rested so he didn't get fussy until everyone left, then it was time for him to get a nap in. Which was perfect timing because I was exhausted and needed a break of my own.

It was so much fun seeing everyone that came to our house, it turned out way better than I had originally expected. When I first sent out the evite I was nervous because I had only 2 RSVP's saying they would make it and a bunch of No's. I was like hmm...maybe it wasn't such a great idea to plan a BBQ, thinking maybe I was getting too old to try and throw a birthday party for myself and Jammer and people just didn't have the time to get together anymore. But I was wrong, we had a pretty good turnout and I was so grateful to the people that took the time to come celebrate with us. Tre even got a belated gift which was super cute Hurley (for those who don't know that is a surf company) stuff that I cannot wait to put him in.

Here are some pictures of friends of mine that took a picture with Tre:

Melissa (who I hadn't seen since high school and had been in touch recently with thanks to Facebook & Myspace)

Lisa (who I have been friends with since 4th grade)

Christy (who I have been friends with since elementary school as well)

Candice (who I have been friends with since college and many throughout our years of knowing each other have thought was my sister)

Laugh 'n' Learn

I put together Tre's Laugh 'n' Learn Discovery Gym today. Now that Tre is intrigued with all the things in front of him nowadays, I figured it'd be a good time to put this together and see what he thinks. I think he is really enjoying it so far. He has played on it two times today, once this afternoon and once this evening.

There is a little frog that hangs on the gym, it was the first thing he looked at when I put him down on the mat. He didn't stop looking at it the whole time. Nothing else caught his attention like that did. It was cute, he would smile at it and silent giggle. It was so cute.

Then later on this evening before bedtime while it was dark we turned on the lights and played the music on it, he was smiling and laughing so much. It was too cute! We tried to get some video of him. It is pretty dark. But if you if you want, it's worth checking out...he has such a cute little laugh and reacting to the sounds and lights is too cute! Just listening to him laugh and coo is cute!

Happy 10 Week Birthday Tre!

Today is 10 weeks from the day Tre was born! He is changing so much each day. Last week was a bit of a change in his napping and personality. He was having meltdowns every day at around 5pm. It happened pretty regularly all week. At first I was thinking it might have had something to do with the fact that Jammer went back to work and Tre was missing the male companion in his day, just having Mommy to spend ALL day with might not have been cutting it. But this week has been a bit easier...I've been trying to find things to entertain him while he is awake and then making sure he is getting good naps in so he isn't overtired when 5pm rolls around. Things seem to be working, he hasn't had the major meltdowns that he had last week, THANK GOODNESS!

Tre and I have had some fun afternoons of sitting on the patio and watching the cars and looking at the trees and things outside, he can stay entertained with that for quite a while. Then we come in and listen to music and dance a bit. He is really into Reggae music these days. When he gets fussy I can turn on the Reggae channel on our TV and when he realizes it is on, he'll stop crying and listen. Then we can dance a little to the music, which is fun because it is a bouncy but mellow type of music to dance with him to. It's really cute!

Yesterday I was dancing with him by myself in the house and had this vision of the day he gets married and getting to dance the Mother/Son dance with him. I almost started crying thinking about it! I told Jammer when he got home and he giggled thinking, omigosh, you are already thinking about when he gets married. I couldn't help it and then I thought even further along and thought, when that day comes I am going to think about yesterday and any other day I spend dancing with him and tell him about it when I am dancing with him on his wedding day. What a trip!

Today Jammer had the day off so we had our chiropractor appointment in the morning and then he went surfing and when he got back from surfing we went to Costco and now hanging out at home getting ready to feed Tre and then get dinner ready. I started filling out his baby book today which was fun to put all the memorable things in there that the book asked for.

My little boy is getting so big, I can't wait till my back is stronger and I can carry him easier. It needs to get stronger because he is only getting bigger!

Tre's 1st Pool Day

Today was a full day of entertainment. We started the morning going to our chiropractor appointment (both Jammer and I). My back has been bothering me so much since before Tre was born and now with the nursing and carrying him around and stuff I have developed a strange tingling that goes down the right side of my back that I just couldn't ignore anymore and decided to go to the chiropractor who is going to hopefully fix this pain very soon! Jammer has had some back pain as well but not painful like me, however the chiropractor told him he could help align him and probably even better his surfing by aligning him properly and getting him balanced. Tre came with us to the appointment and was a very good boy while we were getting adjusted. Then we got back home and Jammer went surfing, while Tre and I hung out at the house. Then when he got back from surfing he invited our friends Cameron and his wife Amy and their two daughters Ady & CeCe over to go swimming and hang out for a bit. We also decided that we would try letting Tre dip his feet in the water for the first time. Unfortunately it wasn't as warm out as we had hoped it would be so that the pool would be a bit warmer...it was a little chilly and Tre's first dip of his toes in the water initiated some crying in response. Then Jammer walked him around the pool and occasionally let his toes touch. Eventually just walking around the pool became entertaining to Tre and we got some cute video of him and Daddy in the pool.

After the pool we went back up to our house and decided to give Tre his bath. This time instead of using his little bathtub Jammer decided to get in our bathtub with him since he was already in his board shorts. So I filled up the tub with some warm water and got them all set to get in and take a bath. Tre immediately started kicking, splashing and smiling. He LOVED it! We were happy because normally he is just whatever about his bath in his little bathtub, but this seemed different, he was having fun splashing and playing and looking up at Daddy who was talking to him the whole time, which Tre loved. We took some really cute video of him playing in the tub.

So after some pool time and bath time it was time to feed little Tre and have some dinner ourselves. Jammer BBQ'd some yummy steaks for dinner and Tre took a nap (finally). I finished a book tonight that I have been trying to finish for the past 3 weeks since I borrowed it from the library and it was due today and I was so happy to not have to return it unfinished. YAY! It was "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer, turned out to be pretty good, but took me longer than it usually does to finish a book. On my way back from dropping off the library book I stopped at Baskin Robbins and brought Jammer and I some ice cream home for dessert. Now I am SO tired and ready to relax!

All in all a fun Saturday!

Happy 9 Week Birthday Tre!

Tre is 9 weeks old!!! Unfortunately, nothing really exciting happened today. We had planned on taking a walk in the stroller but Jammer had taken my car which had the stroller in the trunk. He had thought his work meeting was only going to be in the earlier portion of the day and he would be able to bring the car back after the meeting but it turned out to be an all day meeting and he was stuck down in Sorrento Valley till after 6:30pm. So I had to get creative and entertain Tre in the house and on the patio. He did enjoy spending some time on the patio looking at all the trees, plants and stuff. It was sad at first though, when I brought Tre out on the patio minutes after we were out there and he was enjoying himself, a truck drove by and was SUPER loud...it startled him and he started crying. It was so freaking loud...I swear, isn't there a noise ordinance of some kind of loud cars. If not, there should be. What is it with needing to rev your engine so freakin' loud when driving...NO ONE CARES how loud your car can get and it's not a race track. It's definitely not something the people that live near a street where cars drive noisily by enjoy to hear....so frustrating...! I felt so bad, he was smiling and looking around and then flinched at the noise. It even startled me, but at least I expect that sometimes, he doesn't.

Once he calmed down we sat out on the patio and he was looking left and right so quickly, he couldn't get enough of it...he was taking it all in and making tons of little coo sounds. It was really cute! Then it was time to come in, it was getting cooler and he was ready to eat. He did pretty well considering he had his shots the day before. He was a little out of it at times and felt a little warm but nothing major...the night of he was a little fussy, but again, not as bad as I thought it was going to be. However, for most of the day after the shots he was pretty cuddly and wanting to be close (which was nice, but he was also upset). A bit of that carried over, but he did pretty well!

Tre is 2 Months Old

Today is exactly 2 months from Tre's birth date! The morning was nice, Tre and I hung out and entertained each other until it was time to go to his 2 month check up. I was not looking forward to this appointment because I knew that he would have some shots at this appointment. I fed him just before it was time to go and as we were finally ready to head out we had a major diaper alert, which meant changing the outfit!

This was my first time driving with Tre in the car by myself. Very strange...! I arrived at the appointment 5 minutes late. Jammer was waiting for us at the appointment. Conveniently his work is next door to Tre's pediatrician which makes it much easier for him to be able to be at the appointments.

We only waited like 1 or 2 minutes and then they took us back! NICE!! We got his measurements taken. He weighed in at 13 pounds 4 ounces, so he has gained 6 pounds in 2 months. (while he was being weighed I weighed myself...always curious...since my 6 week check up I lost another 2 pounds..Woo-Hoo!) That put him in the 79th percentile on weight. He measured 23 inches long which put him in the 55th percentile in height. And his head measured 41 centimeters long which put him in the 75th percentile there. All in all we have a healthy, growing boy! Then Tre's pediatrician came in and gave us the low down on all the immunizations and we chose which ones to give him. After talking a bit with her it was time for the shots!! I had to ask Jammer to stand close to Tre because I didn't want to watch the shots go in so closely. I was a wuss! They gave him some Tylenol drops to ease the pain and then the shots. Tre cried! I was trying not to cry!! He was inconsolable for a few minutes, then we got him dressed and checked out at the front and left. We put him in his car seat and we dropped Jammer off at his store.

Thankfully Tre fell asleep after that and I was able to pick up food for myself since I was STARVING! Then stopped at the store to get some Tylenol Infant Drops to ease his pain and potential fever for the next 24 hours.

As of now Tre has dealed pretty well. He has eaten a couple times and is currently sleeping on my chest which comforts me to cuddle him after his rough afternoon. I am actually typing this blog one-handed right now! Hehe!

Here is a cute video I took of Tre sitting in his bassinet, a few smiles, kicking and waving his arms. Very active little guy!

My Birthday Dinner with my Family

Today was my birthday dinner with my family. It also included my niece Jadenn who's birthday is on September 12th, so we combine our birthdays since we are the September/Virgo birthday girls in the family! Initially we thought it was going to be a pool day at my parents so we dressed Tre up in his little board shorts so that he could dip his toes in the water a couple times. AND we put his little Vans on his feet...OH SO CUTE!!! Our good friend Tiff bought the cute board shorts and the Vans for Tre...so he was stylin....!!! It was fun to plan out his outfit for the day and then get him all dressed up. The hat only lasted while we were at home, we figured we would use it if he was going to be out in the sun, but since we never got him in the water the hat stayed in his diaper bag. Which is fine, he at least doesn't freak out when we put hats on him currently, hopefully that doesn't change. How cute are these little Vans?

So we left our house and headed up to my parents house, stopping at In & Out on the way up, YUM! We got to my parents house and the only other person there was my sister Jill. The Carrillo's (my sis Jenn's fam) had soccer so they were going to come over after that. After everyone arrived it was a madhouse of fun! We had 5 dogs, 5 children and 8 adults. What a group! It was funny, Jammer and I always bring Noa up with us so he can play with my parents dogs since he doesn't get much dog action at home and my sister Jill brought her dog Tanner and my sister Jennifer brought over her dog Juneau. It took some getting used to between all the dogs but ultimately I think all the dogs were enjoying themselves cruising around in their own little pack. It was funny!


Dinner was so good, the cool thing our family does is the birthday person or persons pick what they want for their birthday dinner and my parents provide it. SO AWESOME! Way better than going to a restaurant because we all get to hang out, socialize and eat yummy food that my parents make. We had so much good stuff, watermelon, steamed clams, asparagus w/ prosciutto wrapped around it, mac 'n' cheese, garlic mashed potatoes, Filet Mignon, salmon & scallops. Can you believe that spread? Amazing! My parents really know how to make a birthday special!


Dinner was over and night was here, we were all hanging out in the backyard talking and stuff (well I was in and out of the convo as I had a fussy baby that needed to be fed). Once he was fed I was able to come out to my birthday cupcakes. I had a major craving for cupcakes and so did Jadenn, she got ice cream cupcakes and I had regular "funfetti" cupcakes. YUM! I wanted cupcakes because I love to be able to take the leftovers home and grab a cupcake whenever I need a little sugar. HEHE.

Before Tre fell asleep we got a cute little family photo...then Grandma took over holding Tre and finally fell asleep...she got to spend some quality time with him shortly after his feeding until we left. It helped me out a bunch because I was able to open my gifts and not worry about where Tre was. Jadenn and I sat at the two chairs by the fireplace where everyone could see us open our gifts. We took turns opening gifts back and forth (however Jadenn reminded me that she had more...oh the joy of being a kid, hehe). I got some great gift cards that I am so excited to use very soon. Gives me an excuse to go somewhere with Tre without spending my own money since I don't have much money to be spending currently. It was a fun day! I can't wait till Tre gets older and can interact more with the kids and all the craziness that goes on. At the end of the night my nephew Masonn insists that Uncle Mike play Power Rangers with him so there is a mass amount of screaming and play fighting and chaos that is hilarious! My sister Jennifer told me that Masonn looks forward to playing Power Rangers with Uncle Mike at each family event. It's pretty awesome to have the kids around as Tre gets older he will have little cousins to play with at family events. Interaction with other kids is so important as kids get older. I can't wait for my cousin to have their baby so a year from then Tre will have a kid super close to his age to play with!!!

Happy 8 Week Birthday Tre!

Today our little Tre turned 8 weeks. Since we count weeks, his 2 month birthday is a little off from his 8 weeks birthday. On September 9th it will be his 2 month birthday, but it was 8 weeks from today that I delivered this little bundle of joy. Since yesterday was my birthday, my parents and I had planned to meet for lunch at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott in Dana Point today (where Jammer and I got married). So we got to spend a few hours with them and enjoy the beautiful weather and location that I am still so thankful that I can call the place I got married at. Things have been changing there over the past year, someone bought the hotel so the signs and things are changing. I was shocked when we got to the hotel to see that the sign at the entrance totally changed...AND...they changed the main color of the signs to orange. I'm not super stoked on the way it looks...it was much better before the change. Especially since their theme colors of the location were blue and yellow and as most of you know, those are my favorite colors (as well as our wedding colors).

We also did our traditional picture at the walkway...and some of you haven't seen them from the past so I'll post them here so you can see...I missed 2006 at the walkway and we missed 2007 at the sign...so hopefully we'll be more diligent about taking pics at each location each year.

Here is the original walkway picture from our wedding day in 2005:

Here is our 2007 picture at the walkway:

Here is our walkway picture from 2008 with our new addition sleeping in his stroller (we didn't want to wake him up since he had just gone to sleep so you see a stroller this year and will see a little boy next year):

Now for sign pictures...

Here is the picture in front of the sign from our wedding day 2005:

Here is us in front of the sign in 2006:

Here is us at the new (not as cute) sign in 2008:

What a difference, huh? Atleast the walkway hasn't changed!

Anyways...we had a very nice and yummy lunch at the Cliffs restaurant, Vue. It was super mellow there today which was a relief because Tre had a few outbursts, so there wasn't really anyone to disturb. But we got to chat with my parents and enjoy the nice, warm weather. Then we walked around to the location that we got married at (Laguna Brick area) and checked things out there and then went and took our above pictures. Fun day!

And last but not least, here is Tre's 8 week picture:

Turning 30!

So it was my 30th birthday today! Can't believe I am now 30...time flies...! I'm grateful for all the things I have accomplished in my 20's. Most importantly, marriage and having a baby! Two very important things in my life. And both so amazing that I feel very lucky to have these boys in my life!

However, anniversaries and birthdays have kind of lost their luster these days as priority lies with Tre. It's hard to make any plans when the world revolves around our new little one! When he wants to eat, when he needs to sleep, when he wants to play and when he wants to cry. Hehe! We did get to head to the beach for a short while so that was nice, I just love being able to be so close to the ocean and just sitting in my beach chair with my little boy wrapped up snuggly on my chest, reading a book, listening to the ocean waves and spending time with my hubby! SO Awesome! Jammer decided that he wasn't going to head out and surf because the waves just weren't what they were the night before and even that morning. He was happy that his brother John came down yesterday and they went out to surf together yesterday evening and then they woke up this morning and headed out for another surf session before John had to head back to LA for work. Tre got to hear his Uncle John play some tunes on the guitar that grabs Tre's attention and soothes him. It's pretty cool!

After the beach, Tre was hungry and Jammer fed him a bottle while I got ready for dinner. When I finished getting ready and was going to take Tre so Jammer could get ready I came into the living room and had to take a picture of these boys and how cute they looked watching TV together. Tre in his "Surfer Boy" onesie and Jammer in his "Surfing" t-shirt.

We ended up getting ready and went to dinner, nothing fancy, just a local restaurant that we can take Tre to and not worry too much if he happens to cry a little bit, had dinner and as Tre started to fuss, we got the check and headed home. I'm sad though, I forgot my leftovers in all the distraction of trying to get Tre out of the restaurant before he got upset. Bummer!!! Now here we are relaxing while Tre gets some much needed sleep (this kid is not a fan of taking naps during the day, he is so alert and wants to see what's going on pretty much all the time, which is cute because he is so interested in his surroundings but after a while he gets a bit overloaded and upset because he isn't napping). He'll be ready for a feeding in probably 40 minutes so I'll finish up this blog, get ready for bed and then get ready to feed and then PASS OUT for a nap...hehe!

One little surprise was when we were finished putting Tre down to sleep in his bassinet I was going to the dryer to get some clothes out and Jammer called me to the living room and surprised me with a brownie and candles and sang happy birthday to me. It was very sweet! It helped to make a pretty standard day special.

I'm very excited for tomorrow, it is Tre's 8 week birthday and we are heading up to the Laguna Cliffs Marriott in Dana Point (where Jammer and I got married 3 years ago) to have brunch with my parents. YUM YUM! Hopefully Tre is on his best behavior while we are there...and I hope to get some cute pics...we need to take our annual picture at the location that I want to try and continue as long as we live! So stay tuned for tomorrow's blog post.

Have a good night!
Donelle