Prepping for the new arrival

We can't wait until our new baby boy arrives. We still have about 7 more weeks to go and Kalista is already in big sister mode. She has been practicing on her stuffed dogs. We think she has the tucking in and storytelling down pretty well.

Juicy Juice

So we decided to get a juicer since we are trying to make a lifestyle change with our meals and eating. Matt has gone meatless again and almost vegetarian. Thank goodness we invested in the Saladmaster cookware three years ago. Meals have been healthier and faster to cook through its waterless and in some ways pressure cooking method (not trying to sound like commercial).

Back to the juicer...we juice almost every vegetable and fruit to get a good portion of our daily servings.  Kali loves the green juice since we use cucumbers as our base. She drinks it by request..which is unique since she doesn't like any other juice. She tells us that it is "Yummy". Too bad she doesn't say that about food. That is still a work in progress since we are still mostly tube feeding. We will take what we can get.

Happy Halloween!!!

Jumpy Jump Jump

We had a blast today seeing all our birthday party guests for an action packed time at AirTime. Thank you for coming and enjoying Kali's 3rd birthday with her. She loved singing "Happy Birthday" with everyone.

We will add more pictures in our next post of the jumpin' good time....

Surprise Little One

Happy Birthday and Mother's Day!!!

Yes it is that time of year again and our baby is turning 3.  Can you believe it?

This is one of Kalista's favorite videos of the moment:

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY KALISTA !!!

Happy New Year!!!! Welcome 2013

We made our annual trip to the Bay Area after all.  Kali's hospital stay didn't curb us in any way. Although it did teach her how to use the stethoscope pretty well. 

Once we got to the Bay Area, we hopped on BART and ventured to San Francisco for our 2nd annual holiday in the city. We spent a few days of our holiday in downtown San Francisco  to see the big lights and Christmas tree in Union Square. Jen's best friend, Hilarie, and her family made it out in the rain to meet up with us for dim sum in Chinatown.

We trekked up an enormous hill to see the largest gingerbread house at The Fairmount Hotel.  It was definitely large and very edible.

 

Kalista wrote a letter to Santa after seeing the mailbox to the North Pole in the hotel lobby.

 

 

 

 

We set up new traditions and did a "Hot Pot Experience" for Christmas Eve at our Aunt Babara's place in the city.  It was great seeing all the Aunties and Uncles.  The food spread was amazing!!!

 

 

  

 

 

Christmas Day was spent at the Lam-Martinez house in Dublin (not Ireland, but California).  Kali had a blast hanging out with her cousins acting wild and crazy. This was the calmest picture of all three of them.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful holiday gifts and wishes!!!

Hotel Rady

Hello....we are writing to you all from our lovely room at Rady Children's Hospital. Kali has been admitted once again for RSV, similar to our experience in early 2011. The diagnosis was confirmed today and we have been banned from having a roommate since it is viral. We even have a giant green sign on our door that warns everyone about taking extra precautions.  We are not sure how she got it, but 'tis the season for colds and flu..

In our waiting time, Matt created this video for Kali's viewing pleasure. She loved it, so we hope you enjoy it too.

Back From Hiatus

Happy winter everyone!  We are back from a blog hiatus.

Many events have happened since our last post and we have many photos of the family to share, but we have to share that over future posts to keep each post short and sweet.

So what have you been up to you ask???

Kalista is doing well at school and is a super chatty girl. She loves to do the Gangnam dance around the house and even danced with Santa today. We're a little sad that we didn't get that on video. (oops!!)  She has gained a lot of weight and is even taller than many of her classmates.

Matt is working hard at the Marriott and enjoying the benefits of the hospitality business when we jet set on the weekends all over southern California. 

Jen has started her new position as Sharp and is enjoying her new place. She gets off work earlier now and is able to spend more time with Kali.

Bella....oh Bella....she is still the same 'ol lap dog. She still loves snuggling and sitting on everyone's lap, if she gets the chance.  She just got over a bit of a incident last week and is recovering well (we will elaborate more in a future post).

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and stay tuned for more of the Lam adventures!

Just for Kalista...we have posted her favorite song and video:

The Summer Finale

It's September already and the summer has come to an end.

We just returned from a short trip to the Bay Area over the Labor Day weekend.  Matt's mom celebrated her retirement with a big party, Kalista started her first day of school last week and Bella had a blast at the doggie hotel.

Grandma Evelyn's retirement bash at the Cliff House

 Bella enjoying playtime and making new friends at the pet resort

We got this emailed to us from the pet resort on Labor Day...Bella is too cute!

 Kali enjoying her last few days of summer vacation before her first day of school

Kalista also sat on the airplane for the first time over this past holiday weekend.  She did a great job on both flights.  She said "whoa whoa whoa" upon take off and then slept for the remainder of the flight. Whew...we were so glad that we did not end up a victim of those crying kid airplane stories.  She did a great job!

Here are a few pictures from our trip up north visiting friends and family:

 Having dinner with Great-Grandma (Jen's Grandma)

 Hanging out with Great-Grandpa (Matt's Grandpa)

Kali borrowed Auntie Jeanette's Barbie mobile with Grandpa's help

 Kali had to show off her new bathing suit. It hides her belly bump well!

 Enjoying pool time with dada

 Poolside party with the cousins

Because we haven't updated our blog over the past few months, we have plenty to talk about now.  Kalista is growing leaps and bounds.  Her speech and vocabulary has expanded and she talks non-stop.  her new favorite phrase is: "What is.....????"  So she asks us all the time: "What is a bird?  What is Brobee?  What is Muno? What is dada? "  Kali is still a big lover of Yo Gabba Gabba and asks about Brobee and Muno on a daily basis.

Bella has adjusted to life without Joey and is enjoying all the attention she gets from all of us in the house. She loves cuddling with Kali and I think the feeling is mutual from Kalista too. We will sometimes find Kali laying on Bella as if she was a pillow.

 Summer chalk art classes for Bella - Kali is a good teacher!

 Mastered the pursed lips pose for blowing bubbles

Enjoying plenty of time outdoors

We just celebrated our five year anniversary and will celebrate the monumental milestone in the next few weeks while we are on a long vacation.  Matt is working hard at the Marriott still, but Jen has decided to leave private practice after almost 7 years to join the optometry team at Sharp Rees-Stealy, a larger medical practice, as their pediatric specialist mid-October. It has been exciting news and a big change!

Update on Kali's medical status: We have been placed on hold from any surgeries until we wean her 100% off her g-tube.  Which might be a good thing since she is so petite.  We have seen the GI department and our nutrition team quite a bit over the summer because we were not gaining weight as quickly as we should have.  With a little adjustment in the calories and quantity of tube feedings, we are back on the growth chart with good progress. We had to bump back up to Boost 1.5 formula with some extra calories from Duocal, but we broke the 20 pound mark FINALLY sometime in mid-August.  Yay!! 

We have a feeding team evaluation coming up in the next month and a half to assess where we are and figure out our next plan since we are at a standstill with oral feeds again. Kali will get hungry...stuff food in her mouth....but won't swallow it and then gets frustrated and taps her belly for her tube feeding. She is too smart for her own good!  

We are just blessed that she is doing well overall and growing into such a little woman.