Category: life

mila’s first christmas photos

it’s mila’s first christmas, and if we’re being honest, she’s a little oblivious to the whole thing. but having a little thing crawling around the house has certainly really gotten us in the spirit of the holidays… we have actual christmas decorations this year! i barely recognize myself.

our friend, and incredible photographer kelci came over the other day and shared some of her time and amazing gift… giving us these photos i know we’ll treasure forever: mila’s first christmas in our first house!

here are my favorites.

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dear mila: you’re nine months old!

oh, my mila!

nine months is so silly and wiggly and sometimes temper-tantrumy, but the best i could ever imagine. your dad and i always debate what your best age is: he says whatever age you are right now is the best, while i tend to prefer the newborn days  (i could snuggle you as much as i wanted back then; now i’m lucky if you stay still to nurse for a few minutes). but i finally think he’s right. so far, nothing tops nine months.

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modern baby food and the “flavor window”

man, there are some really inventive baby food companies out there. startups that are marketing things like caviar, bone broth and quinoa to six-month-olds. i was introduced to one of the more innovative baby food services through well rounded, a digital magazine i contribute to. on their menu were things like salmon roe and falafel. cool, i thought — but do babies really need this?

a quick google search showed me a dozen other baby food start ups with similar menus. i wondered: is this just fancy, flavor-forward labeling that’s really designed to tempt the hip parent into buying, or do babies really benefit from these complex flavor blends.

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national bonsai + penjing museum

our new favorite little piece of d.c. may be the national bonsai + penjing museum inside the national arboretum. it’s a hidden gem in the city — an outdoor museum, surrounded by grass and trees. it definitely doesn’t feel like it’s in the middle of our nation’s capital, which is probably why we love it so much.

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dear mila, you’re seven months old!

dear mila,

seven months looks so good on you. you’ve grown and developed so much in the last couple of months — weeks even. it’s hard to believe you’re the same tiny baby who used to sleep non-stop. you’re always awake now, and always so active!

you crawl.
you stand.
we think you’re getting ready to walk.

it’s awesome, and amazing and terrifying all at the same time.

Continue reading dear mila, you’re seven months old!

oahu’s cutest coffee shop

steven and i like to think we are savants when it comes to traveling. we love finding great food, awesome coffee shops and fun shopping. we found all of that at arvo in honolulu.

we crushed their loaded avo toasts, and their salmon toasts.

the matcha chia seed pudding + fresh fruit was amazing.

and then there was the activated charcoal lattes.

we went three times.

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mu ryang sa buddhist temple

steven is always the best at picking out places to eat and things to do on vacation. it’s like his spiritual gift. here’s a perfect example: this korean buddhist temple outside of honolulu.

he said he picked it because he thought i would like taking photos here and he was totally right. it was super colorful, and totally secluded from the rest of the hawaii’s capitol city. walking around the mu ryang sa grounds felt like we were in another country, in another time.

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