Nona comes to Texas!

One of the main reasons we decided to move to the mainland was to be closer to family and this past weekend we had our first visitor to Texas. Terri decided to book a last minute trip to meet her third grandson and we are so glad that she came! We had a wonderful time showing her some of the sites of Houston. We checked out an art festival at a beautiful park downtown, went to dinner for some great seafood, roamed around an outdoor mall, and spent lots of time just hanging out together! We are looking forward to our next visit with the Ducote family in May, hopefully, and then the big reunion this summer, too!

Nona loves Joseph!

He loved the extra attention in the bath and all weekend long!

Caught it!

He has been rolling like crazy the past two days and I was able to finally get it on camera!

And, yes, he is still rocking the mullet :)

Too Fast!

People have told me to enjoy each stage that your baby goes through because they go by so fast and I totally have to agree! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing Joseph home from the hospital and now he is 15 weeks already!

Since we arrived in Texas he has experienced many new things-not only his first rodeo and real BBQ- but he has also rolled over, is sitting in the bumbo chair and has dropped his night feedings!

On march 18th I was on the phone with Laura finding out that I am going to have a niece (yeah!) and I think my excitement was too much for him as that was when he first rolled over! I caught it mid-roll so of course was bummed I didn't see the whole thing (or get it on camera!) He went from back to tummy and once he realized he was on his tummy he was kind of shell shocked! He has done it 2 more times since then (still not on camera) and has gotten really close a bunch of other times...he really has no interest going from stomach to back yet though.

We received our early shipment of household goods and in it was the bumbo so we've decided to try him out in it. He doesn't seem to mind it (but also doesn't seem to love it)-that head of his is just so big that it kind of overpowers him when he is in it :)

And finally last weekend we decided to try to get him on the path to sleeping through the night-Lord knows he doesn't need any extra feedings! The first night instead of feeding him I held him and let him suck on the pacifier for 20 minutes around 2:00 a.m. when he normally gets up and then when fussed at other times during the night just stuck the pacifier in and he would fall back to sleep. He is still waking up, but I don't pick him up and as long as I stick the pacifier back in, he goes back to sleep so we are on our way!

A few other random sleep changes-he now takes the pacifier to fall asleep-he never took it until this past month but in my hopes to get him to sleep through the night and to nap easier I tried it and it worked...I'll probably pay for it later! He still doesn't like it during the day. Also, he has been falling asleep on his side and then will roll to his back. I think he does this so he can nuzzle his face in the mattress to keep the pacifier in his mouth-so dramatic! And he is moving like crazy in his sleep-I put him down one way and by the time he is awake he has basically been all over the place-being in the pack and play doesn't give him a whole lot of room and we often hear him up against the sides of it! And, finally, he has the funniest self soothing technique of kicking his feet up in the air (like a mermaid) and then smacking them down on the mattress before falling asleep and when he gets up. We have been meaning to take video of it so will try to remember this weekend! The smacks get harder as he gets closer to falling asleep or waking up after his nap/night. He is definitely going to be an active little boy!

Luck o' the Irish

On St. Patrick's Day 2010 we found out that I was pregnant with our little man, and here he is one year later...

This day will always be special for us and I am happy that I can have a green beer this year :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I just love his little spikes!

Home for Now

Rich's company is putting us up in a furnished rental for the next three months to allow us time to search for the right home for us to permanently settle into. The apartment is very nice with a fabulous pool which I am sure we will take advantage of soon (80 degrees and sunny today!) and we have settled in nicely; however, I feel like we are just in the "waiting stage" and am looking forward to finding a home that we love so we can really feel settled. I am anxious to do things like find a church, join some "mommy and me" classes and to get involved in our new community! The apartment is located close to Rich's work which is great for his commute but is in a commercial area (think off of Nimitz for my Hawaii friends and off of the 15 by the stadium for my SD friends) so the area surrounding it isn't somewhere where you would spend a lot of time-we knew this getting into it though. The complex looks like anywhere you would find on the mainland or in Hawaii but I had to laugh at the view from the back parking lot (see picture below)...that is how you know you are in Texas!!! Joseph and I have been taking road trips during the week to check out the different suburbs and I think we have narrowed it down to three different locations. We are meeting with our realtor this weekend so that is exciting...but for now, we are happy to be here!

Our unit is on the third floor in the bottom right picture-notice the smoker grill out in front!

Everything is bigger...

We arrived in Texas right in time for the Houston rodeo-every year during the month of March the rodeo takes place at the stadium. They say everything is bigger in Texas and from the looks of the rodeo it sure is! Every night there is a big concert following the rodeo as well-Rich and I are both country music fans and there are a ton of great groups playing (for example: Zac Brown band on St. Patty's Day) but we'll save that for next year when we can get a babysitter and check that out. This year we had a great time and there were SO many people and SO many things to do, eat and to see. I think in the next few years Joseph will really enjoy it as there was a petting zoo, pony, cow and camel rides (yes, camel!), pig races, lots of carnival rides and games and just so much to see. The coolest part of the livestock show before the rodeo was the "birthing center" where they had animals that were pregnant, giving birth or had just given birth. I actually stood in awe for about 10 minutes watching a cow in the process and the little piglets that were born that morning were pretty cute, too! The rest of the livestock show was basically just smelly but the rodeo itself was very cool! By no means am I ready to go and live on a farm and raise pigs or anything like that, but once a year it will be a fun and cultural event to check out!

The pig had just won a "show" event-we saw its owner brushing it and getting it ready for the competition-too funny!

Who doesn't love piglets?

That is a baby cow being pushed out of its momma!

Rich and Joseph posing with Bevo, the mascot for the University of Texas.

Just a disclaimer about photos below: my son will NOT wear overalls; however, we thought it would be funny to have him wear them to the rodeo. Just a one time thing...promise!

San Diego

Visiting family now has a whole new meaning with Joseph-it is so awesome to see everyone with him and just how blessed we are to be surrounded by family who loves him so much! We spent lots of time together just hanging out but also visited some of our favorites in SD. Can't wait for our next visit! Here are some of our favorite photos from our visit!

We went to Balboa Park with Kristie Remaly (friend from Hawaii) and her daughter, Kailani, and son, Zachary. Kailani was so great with Joseph and it was so fun to see them all!

Love this picture of my mom's face-Casey had just licked Joseph! Rich is not going to like that :)

Joseph loves his Noni!

Breakfast at Kono's, our fave!

The dogs were a little jealous, but were so good with him.

Three Generations

When Joseph and I were in San Diego we were fortunate to have both of his great-grandmas be there as well. It was so neat to see them both love him and get to know him! Every morning the four of us would have breakfast together, while my mom and dad were at work, and Joseph just loved all of the extra attention!

Joseph thinking Gram S is really funny!

Three generations of delaMontaignes

And three generations of Steves

Walking at Lake Miramar with Gram S

3 months!

Joseph turned 3 months on Monday, March 7th when we were in San Diego! I don't have any weight/length stats since his next well baby check-up isn't until 4 months but we are guessing he is about 16 pounds now-big boy!! He is officially in size 3 diapers. He continues to just be such a happy baby-smiling and cooing all of the time! My grandma is convinced he is teething since he is drooling like a champ now and has his fists (sometimes both of them) in his mouth ALL of the time, but I think he is just following after his buddy Dylan :) Here are just a few pictures of our little man on his three month birth day...love him!

Not sure how I feel about turning 3 months! ha ha!

Aloha!

The last week in Hawaii was definitely one to remember! We hit all of our favorites and spent quality time with our wonderful friends and family. We loved staying at Laura and Dave's and it was so nice to have them spend some quality time with their godson! Even though Joseph and I will be back in April, it was the last time that we will be living in Hawaii as a family of 3 and was just so special! Here are some of our favorite photos from the week:

The perfect beach day! I couldn't have asked for a better day with the girls.

A day at the secret lagoon-had to get him in the ocean!

Love this picture of Laura and Dave

A little tummy time at Aunt Laura and Uncle Dave's

On our last day we went to brunch at Dukes...where it all began :)

The Lagoons

Other than family and friends in Hawaii, the lagoons at Ko'Olina are what I am going to miss the most. I am going to miss them for the obvious reason of their beauty but also because they have really been a huge part of my life in Hawaii. We have so many great memories there-from beautiful beach days, to happy hours at Kolohes and the walks home after happy hours, and of course to all of the awesome runs, walks and swims. For the past 8 1/2 years they have been my favorite place to work out-from the path from our condo, to the scenery by the golf course, to the ocean-can't get much better than that!

Here are the views from my workouts for the past 8+ years!

The picture on the upper left corner in the collage below has always been my favorite spot-the view from the corner of the 3rd lagoon!

Good-bye Little House

Since we moved in to our home at Ko'Olina in February of 2007, whenever we have left for an extended period of time I have always said, "Good-bye Little House." Don't ask my how this began...just my quirky personality I guess! Rich has always laughed at me when I say this, but he has grown to love it. When we left for the hospital to have Joseph as we were pulling out of the driveway, he actually said, "Aren't you going to say it?" I love that he supports my crazy antics!
We have LOVED living in Ko'olina for the past 4 years and will miss it terribly. We have so many wonderful memories here and it will always be so special to us. My next post is going to be about the lagoons and my love for them but we just feel so fortunate to have been able to live at Ko'Olina and experience all that it has to offer. We are holding on to the condo with hopes that with Disney coming in that the resale value will increase but we also look forward to down the road possibly turning it into a vacation rental allowing us to take advantage of it again, as well. As we move on to new opportunities and adventures I can really say "Good-bye Little House" at this time, but I will also add, "Thank you for the great memories."

The beginning of the day with the movers

We put blue tape on everything that the movers weren't supposed to pack...had to make sure they didn't pack Joseph!