Our Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we flew to Virginia and got to spend time with Ama, Michelle Ah-ee, and Ta-ee. Sweetpea also met Ta-ee's husband (uncle P), and my uncle, aunt, and cousins. Unlike many past family Thanksgivings, we had an all-American traditional Thanksgiving feast this year with all the trimings... turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato, etc.

Here's Ama carving the perfectly sized turkey for us.



















Here's everyone partaking in the feast. I never noticed how serious people look when they're busy stuffing themselves. LOL. Seriously, though, it was a much more festive and cheerful scene than this particular picture shows.












Here's Sweetpea's feast.




















Tummy time














An early Christmas in Virginia

Sweetpea with Ama











Sweetpea mesmerized by all the lights and glitter of the Christmas tree and wondering if she can eat them







Ooo. Is that me?
How amusing. This is fun.
Hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season as much as I am.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Today is daddy's birthday. Mommy wanted to go out for dinner to celebrate but since we are having an unusual amount of snow in Bellevue, we all stayed in and enjoyed each other's company instead. Mommy cooked some yummy dinner and then we enjoyed some flan for dessert. Though the day was simple, I hope daddy has a very very happy birthday. Happy Birthday to the best daddy in the world. Thank you for all you do. Love your little Sweetpea.

Hook 'em Horns

Daddy has been following college football closely, and it has been an exciting year for the team he's rooting for, the Texas Longhorns. Their next big televised game will be coming up the end of this month. Here I am with daddy, showing my support. okay, okay... my fingers aren't quite there yet, and this is actually suppose to be one of our holiday pictures but I am practicing :) just as well, hook 'em horns!

Milk and Cookies

Here is one of daddy's favorite pictures from my 5 month old holiday photo shoot...

And here I am... helping myself to some cookies! :)

Safer Baby Items Websites & Latest Cool Deals

Earlier in the year, I posted about various sites that were good resources on finding out about the chemicals and possible harmful substances. Looking back at the post, I thought it would be a good idea to pinpoint the websites exactly, providing a brief description rather than pointing to single articles or info from the sites. One of the sites that have some interesting read about the latest issues for growing healthy or "greener" kids is The Soft Landing. This site not only provides info, reviews, and guides on bpa, phthalates, and other potential toxins, they also sell various safe products, so it is also a great reference guide for some of the items (sippy cups, toys, pacifiers, bottles, etc) they talk about from. For those concerned about BPA, one of their latest articles indicate that "there is no such thing as safe microwaveable plastic." So, there we have it. With the issue of BPA, it's crazy how people work so hard to avoid it by getting rid of bpa containing bottles only to introduce it to baby once again in the form of formula or their food (I just found out that the lining of many of the tin containers for formula as well as baby food jar lids contain bpa). Baby product manufacturers should get rid of bpa altogether in today's concerned consumer market. Oh, for those who have bottle questions or want to know which bottles and nipples and vent system goes with what, here's one article that I think is worth noting from their site. The downloadable cheat sheet site is Safe Mama. Check out the links on the left column for a wealth of info including food resources, cloth diapering, and toy safety sites.

Now for the special deals sites...
* There's a site that I found earlier in the year and bookmarked that is now closing. I thought it might be nice to keep on hand as a possible option for gifts for expectant mom friends and family, but now Beth, the owner, has decided to retire her business and go back to sewing for herself, her friends, and her family. Because of this, everything on her site is Buy One, Get One Free. For your custom sling needs, check out DrewBabyDesigns. For those of you who live local to the area, Beth lives in Bothell and can help measure you for size. If there is a pattern that is not in your size and she has enough of the fabric, you can contact her and she'll likely make one for you. I decided to get a couple ring slings for my expectant sister and for myself (& Sweetpea's daddy :) ).
* Fleurville Seconds sale... fully functional but slightly blemished... at bargain prices, sale ends soon
* $10 off $49 plus free ship Diapers.com Enter code PURI9208 Promo code can only be used once per household. Their shipping is super duper fast. When I placed an order for diapers, it was on my doorstep way before the estimated ship date... I got it a day or two after I ordered.
* Also check out babycheapskate for the latest deals and contests on all things "baby" from diapers to free memberships to freepeats to frugal parents guides.

Fall Costume Party!

Mommy and Daddy had a HF costume party last month. It was a lot of fun. As mentioned before, I got to dress up as a little flower girl! Mommy had wanted to get a pea in a pod costume, but we'll just say I'm her little Sweetpea flower. I saw a lot of celebrities like Semi-Pro movie star, Sara Palin, a couple of people from the commercials, Lego Man, and Ash from Pokemon. I had lots of friends at the costume party also!
Here are a couple of pics from the party. See if you can guess who is who!
Also, here is a link to Previous Costume Party.



Uncle E and Auntie P




Momma and Me and Auntie O and Lil J





Mr. B





Cashew, N & N, Xiaozhuzhu, Lil J, T-Mac





Lia and me!





Our Little Garden
Lia, Me, and Mei-Mei





Me and Daddy!





Mommy and Me!





Our Family.


And, finally, the Happyfish Family (photo by Uncle JL)

Lil Stinker and the Fragrant Blossom

Mommy, daddy, and I had an eventful Halloween weekend. For my first Halloween, mommy and daddy decided to take me to the mall to check out the festivities and have some pictures taken. I was mommy and daddy's little stinker.


There were so many people at the mall. I saw Cinderella and her prince strolling their child, Buzz Lightyear, and we ran into my friends Little Red Riding Hood and astronaut space boy.

Because we were hosting a fall costume party for mommy and daddy's happyfish fellowship group, and daddy didn't want to ruin the surprise of what I'd be wearing, he and mommy got me the comfy skunk outfit from Hanna Anderson outlet. It was our first time checking out the store after hearing about it from mommy's friend. Guess how much of a bargain they got it for? Instead of $38, the thick organic cotton romper was $2, and instead of $10, the matching hat was just $1. Hooray, more play/sleeping clothes for me! Below are a couple of pre-party pictures that daddy took when we first brought home my flower costume. Like my fashionable petals and leaves? I like to pull on them too.



More photos coming soon!