Pumpkin Patch

Today we went on a family date to the pumpkin patch/corn maze in Orem. I have been wanting to take 'Ihi for a couple weeks now and today was the perfect day to go! It was a beautiful fall day, perfect for being outside. We headed to Orem because that was where the closest pumpkin patch was. I remember going to the pumpkin patch as a kid and loving it so I thought it would be a good tradition to start in our family. Can you believe Kahili had never been to a pumpkin patch before?! I sure couldn't! We had so much fun walking around looking for a pumpkin and walking around the corn maze. I think 'Ihi liked it too. She was looking around at all the different colors and posing for some pictures. Anyways, we took lots of pictures so here they are:

After the pumpkin patch, we went to one of our favorite places to eat out. Spicy Thai. That's where the last picture came from. Well, next week we will be carving our pumpkins so look for a post coming up about that. Until then,

Happy Fall!

2 Months- Ka'ihilei

I seriously cannot believe I am the mother of a 2 month old! It truly feels like Ka'ihilei has been part of our family forever...I can't imagine life without her. She is the sweetest little girl and she brings so much joy to our home. I feel like she changes everyday and is growing so fast, TOO fast! It's hard to believe you can love someone so much. This morning when Kahili got home from work he just kept kissing her and saying, "Man, I could sit here and kiss her all day!" :)

At her 2 month check up yesterday she weighed 11.5 lbs and was 22 3/4 long. She got 3 shot vaccines and 1 oral vaccine and she was a champ! She took the oral one really well (the nurse said it tastes like kettle corn- lucky 'ihi!) and then I gave her the pacifier for the shots. Well, that didn't last long! She spit that sucker out right when she felt the first shot. She didn't cry too much though because right after I was able to pick her up and then I nursed her right after. Before we even left the office she was asleep like a little angel. When she woke up, she was a little fussy but I fed her and Kahili gave her some Tylenol and then she fell asleep again. She is such a good baby!

Here are a few things I wrote down throughout the month that are "new" (to us at least):

1. She drools a TON...just like Daddy! I Have to put a burp pad under her wherever I put her down to sleep because if I don't, she leaves a big drool stain behind.

2. She pulls my hair all the time and it hurts! When she's feeding she grabs for my hair and even when I'm just holding her. I hope she grows out of this habit or I'm not gonna have any more hair pretty soon.

3. She love, love, LOVES her pacifier! It calms her down almost instantly and it's also nice because if we are out and not able to feed her right away, her pacifier will keep her content until I am able to feed her.

4. She has officially found her voice! In the morning, she is such a happy little girl and I just lay her down on a blanket and we talk about what we are going to do that day. I love that time.

5. On September 27th she slept through the night, 7 hours straight! I was so excited I moved her to her crib in her own room. Unfortunately, she hasn't slept through the night again but, she does really well and still only wakes up once during the night.

6. She loves picture frames and dark/light contrast. We have a wall with picture frame and shadow boxes on it and she stares at that wall all day.

7. She still loves bath time! She is going to be a water baby!

8. Her eyelashes finally came in and they are beautiful, long, and dark!

9. She started smiling back at us around 7 weeks. Before she would smile but not in response to anything. Now she smiles all the time! The best is when I smile at her or give her kisses all over her face and she smiles back at me :)

10. She loves bouncing and the bouncer we have isn't good enough. I have resorted to using my big exercise ball. I hold her and we sit on it and bounce and it puts her right to sleep.

11. Not only does she love her pacifier, she intentionally brings her hand to her mouth to suck. If we don't give her the pacifier right away she definitely finds her hand and starts sucking away.

Well, that's all for now. I can't wait to see what she does next! Now get ready for a plethora of pictures and videos:

Exercise

I have been wanting to write these thoughts down for a while now and I finally found the chance to. This is mostly just for my own motivation and journal keeping but feel free to read.

It is crazy to think back to exactly a year from today. I was in really good shape and devoted at least 3 hours of each day to working out. I would not say that I was in the best shape of my life but I was in pretty good shape. When I got pregnant, I was told that I was 'supposed' to gain 25-35 pounds because my weight was normal. I blew WAYYY past that 35 lbs and gained 55 lbs total. I know, fatty. It was weird though because my stomach was not huge so I must have been putting the pounds on everywhere else. haha. I wasn't eating a ton more but I craved desserts like no other! Chocolate, candy, ice cream, you name it! I would eat a little bit of dinner and then HAVE to have dessert every night to be satisfied.

Fast forward to today. Thanks to exclusively breastfeeding (which I am very proud of btw), I have lost about 40 pounds. I am nowhere near what I want to be but I am getting there. I still have about 20 pounds to lose to get to the weight I want to be at. When 'Ihi was about 5 weeks old, I started playing on my city league volleyball team one night a week. This week, in honor of her two month milestone, I decided it was time to start exercising on a regular day to day basis. I started Insanity on Monday and I have struggled (to say the least)! I did it Monday and Tuesday but today I decided I would take a break because I was super sore and have volleyball games tomorrow and Friday. I am not going to actually follow the Insanity program. More or less, I am just going to try to get a good work out in at least 4 days a week.

Anyways, I just wanted to share that bit of information and hopefully by posting this, I will be able to stay motivated and held accountable. :)

That Just Happened...

Disclaimer: This post is not for the faint-hearted.

Yup, this morning I got squirted with poop.

Cottage cheese mustard poop.

I would have taken a picture but that would not have been appropriate.

Seriously though, when I say "squirt", I mean it.

It was like a water gun shot but WAYYYY more powerful.

In other news, my baby girl is growing way too fast.

This is the cutie on Sunday:

How can I get mad at this face?

My 22nd Birthday!

Turning 22 was special because it was the first year I got to spend my birthday with my daughter. She definitely made it a memorable one. Here is a little how our day went:

'Ihi woke up at 4 am for a feeding and went right back to sleep (good baby!). She woke up again at 7 am, right when Kahili got home from work with beautiful flowers and donuts for breakfast. I fed he while Kahili took a shower and got ready to go to sleep. Then he took her to burp her but instead of burping, she pooped! So Kahili brought her over to me on the bed where I started to change her. The minute the diaper was off, pee sprayed up both my arms and all over the bed! I put my hands over it to block it and when it stopped, I took them away only to get blasted by pee and poop at the same time! Lesson learned: WAIT til she's done going! Anyways, when the mess was all cleaned up and sheets in the washer, we all went back to sleep til around 2 pm with 'ihi waking up every 2 hours to eat. We ate lunch and relaxed til about 5 and then we went to walk around the mall a little bit before dinner. Kahili bought some massage oil for me and then we went to CPK for dinner. It was delicious! 'Ihi was sleeping the whole time. Well, right when we were finishing up dinner, she started fussing so I took her out of her carseat and BAM! DooDoo everywhere! It was all over her carseat, clothes, and now ME! I took her to the bathroom to clean her up while Kahili paid and realized that I had used her back-up outfit a couple days before and forgot to put another one in the diaper bag. Oops. Lesson Learned: Keep 2 back up outfits in the diaper bag and remember to replace them when used! That little incident made the decision of what to do next very easy: Go home. So we went home and got to relax some more before Kahili gave me a massage (You have no idea how killer breastfeeding is on your shoulders and back!) and headed off to work.

Overall it was a great day that I got to spend with my family! 'Ihi was the best present I ever could have received for my birthday and I guess she felt it was necessary to give me a few more (in the form of bodily fluids HA!). Thanks 'Ihi girl! I still love you more than you know! And thanks to my loving husband who did everything he could to make it a special day for me! Love you!

P.S. For those of you who are having little girls and thought, "yay! at least diaper changing will be easier than if I had a boy...." NOT TRUE! As I proved in this post, girls have strong streams too! It was like a volcanic eruption! :)

1 Month Milestones

I cannot believe I am the mother of a 1 month old! It is so crazy how fast time really does fly...and I'm not liking it one bit! 'Ihi continues to amaze us every single day. We can't believe how fast she is growing and changing. One minute she looks like Kahili, the next she looks like me (lets face it... she looks more like her daddy haha). She has accomplished so much in her one month on earth and these are just the few things that I can remember...

*She now weighs 9 lbs as of yesterday (which they say is good for an exclusively breastfed baby)

*She has been on 4 plane rides (SLC to LA, LA to HI, HI to LA, and LA to SLC) and she was so good every time! I was so afraid of being that person with the screaming child but 'ihi slept on every flight except when she would get up to eat. No crying whatsoever! This weekend we are even taking another little trip down to LA so hopefully she does good again even though Daddy is with us this time.

*She has met all of her cousins and all of her aunts and uncles except one...sorry Uncle Wai!

*She LOVES to use her hands. They flail every which way when she is awake and she sleeps with them up by her face. (She also uses them to scratch Mommy when she is eating...grrr)

*She likes being on her tummy. She twists and turns her head and lifts her legs like a scorpion during tummytime and almost daily she takes a nap on my tummy and just loves it.

*I know this sounds crazy, but she can almost turn over! If we lay her on her back, she twists and turns as if she's trying to gain momentum to flip over and she actually comes pretty darn close.

*She can easily hold her neck up on her own for extended periods of time. I'm telling you, this girl is too strong for her own good!

*She loves music. When we were in Hawaii, some of her cousins would sing to her while they held her and she would just gaze up at them.

*She loves bath time! Kahili and I really think she is going to be a waterbaby and Kahili can't wait to take her out into the ocean.

*She holds her pacifier in by herself and it is the most adorable thing.

*She was given a Baby Blessing by her Daddy on September 4th, the same day as her cousin Ku.

*I put her to sleep between 10 and 11 pm and then she wakes up around 3 or 4 and goes right back down until 6 or 7. She is a good sleeper like her Momma! Thank goodness!

Well, that's all I can think of for now. We love our little girl so much and feel so blessed to have her in our lives. Her smile is contagious and I can't help but want to stare at her all day.

Mommy and Daddy love you baby girl!

Baby Pictures

Kahili and I are so lucky to have such talented friends. Our friend Alana is a wonderful photographer and before they moved back to Hawaii, she was kind enough to capture some beautiful pictures of our sweet baby girl! I love them! Thanks Alana!