this little piggy...

...went inside Christian's mouth. And now he won't take them out.

year of the dragon

Tomorrow is the start of the Chinese New Year  - the Year of the Dragon. To celebrate, we walked to Chinatown to check out the festivities yesterday. It happened to be the last day of a month long series of celebrations, so it was a bit scaled down compared to when we went last year. Last year several street blocks were closed and vendors were shoulder to shoulder. There were still a lot of people, food, and vendors, but it was mostly all kept within the Chinatown Cultural Plaza.

Christian was completely enthralled with everything going on around him. Flags in the wind, lion dancing, beating drums, firecrackers. It was total stimulation overload. But it was a fantastic afternoon with friends and family! It really reminds me that this is what life is all about. Surrounding yourself with the people you love and care about. Of course we had to complete the evening with Chinese takeout for dinner from a tiny little place we've walked by a hundred times. It was delicious! Yes, I said delicious. No really, best orange chicken I've ever had. And what evening isn't completely without a game of Hawaiian Rummy?

it's da weekend!

{sunrise over Diamond Head this morning}

To be completely honest, days of the week mean absolutely nothing in this house. The airlines don't operate on a Monday-Friday schedule, and since I started flying back in 2003, the "weekend" could be on Tuesday or Wednesday. Whenever my next group of days off started. And now that I'm a stay-at-home-mama, and Rob is flying, I really have no clue what's going on. 

But, today is Saturday, according to the calendar hanging in our kitchen. (Yes of course it has airplanes on it). And Rob is currently on his way home from a long layover in Seoul. He keeps telling me he wants to take Christian and I there, and believe me, I am totally game for this... just not when he is actually flying the plane. The almost ten hour flight to Japan with Christian on my lap was...challenging. 

I'm not sure what this weekend holds. A long run around Magic Island. A walk to Chinatown to celebrate the Chinese New Year. One Love. Toes in the sand. Play dates with friends and the keikis. No matter what ends up happening this weekend, it's sure to spent surrounded by family and friends, outdoors on these warm Winter days. 

Have a great weekend!!

five months

Five months?!? Ok, I know I act surprised every month, but it's because I am! Time drags by when you're pregnant but totally speeds up once that sweet little baby is here.

This is what we were doing at this time last year:

We were celebrating the Chinese New Year in Chinatown - the Year of the Rabbit. I was a few months pregnant and only a handful of people even knew. And guess what we're (hopefully) doing tomorrow? Going to Chinatown to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, with Christian! 

At five months we're really starting to see Christian's personality and temperament. He's so laid back and happy. He is all smiles, which just makes me the happiest mama. He rarely cries or fusses, except when it's time to sleep (that's another post). But we chalk it up to that we are just so fascinating, he cannot stand to not be in our company. At least that's what "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" tells us. We'll take it! Yes, our once sleep-through-the-night, go down without a peep baby, now cries and fusses in protest. We are in the middle of sleep training (as per "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth, M.D.) and it is actually going well, so maybe I will write a post about it after it's all said and done. 

Honestly, I've stopped reading "the books" about what milestones he's "supposed" to be reaching at this point. My doctor is completely happy with where he is and that makes us happy. He has rolled over a few times from front to back and we are thisclose from back to front. 

He likes his toes, but doesn't try to eat them. Yet. He's constantly trying to do a "sit-up," lifting his head and legs off the ground at the same time. His hand-eye coordination keeps getting better and better, reaching and grabbing for everything. Jewelry is basically off limits. He can actually sit up, but not by himself. Definitely a little wobbly. By the way, the Move N' Crawl Ball is awesome. 

Christian does have partial Torticollis, which we have known about since birth, but we (and the doctor) thought it had been improving. However, at his four month well-baby visit his pediatrician noticed slight asymmetry in his face as a result of his tight neck. We started taking him to a chiropractor that specializes in babies, and he'll be getting weekly physical therapy in hopes to completely correct it. In the meantime we're doing stretches at home. The physical therapist is confident improvement will happen fast, especially since it's mild, and he's not mobile... yet... making it easier to work on him. 

Rob has also given Christian his very first surf lesson! Hard life, right? 

We have decided to wait until Christian is six months old before introducing solids and also decided to make our own food. The cost savings will be huge, it's more environmentally friendly, I have the time, and I love the idea of knowing exactly what is going into his little body. And I'm totally dying to buy one of these, thanks to a certain Yummy Mummy.

The past five months have been a whirlwind! We've done a lot of traveling and are hoping to take it easy until May, when we'll head back to the east coast. Although I would still love to go back to Japan in the Spring to see the cherry blossoms in bloom. At the rate that Christian is growing, I can't even imagine what this next month will bring. Hopefully a little more sleep and lots more laughs!

cousins

This past weekend we took a quick trip to northern California so Christian could meet his cousins (and uncle!) for the first time. The last time my sister-in-law saw Christian, he was only three weeks old. He's grown a tad since then. We had a BLAST! And Christian was loving all of the attention, especially from his two cousins, Lilley and Violet. And Mama was loving the break. Hello two hour nap!! The weekend was relaxing and I may or may not have spent most of Saturday and Sunday in my pajamas. Lilley so graciously gave up her room for us and shared a room with her little sister, Violet. Lilley is six, Violet is almost two, so this was a big deal.

{Christian sampling the Holiday Porter... I kid!}

{cousins}

{Lilley showing Uncle Rob and Christian a thing or two}

{vitamin D}

{this little sweetheart, Violet, does not stop moving!}

{sweet girls}

I wish they lived closer, because how fun would that be?! I absolutely love my sister-in-law and pretty much think she is one of the raddest chicks I know. Christian had so much fun trying to keep up with his cousins. If there was ever a time he wished he could walk run... Luckily, we will be seeing them again this summer, in Hawaii. And I can hardly wrap my head around the fact that Christian will almost be ONE. If he's not walking by the time they're here, he'll definitely be walking by the time they leave! 

yep. it's a post about peanut butter.

I love peanut butter. Love. Specifically, Trader Joe's "Creamy Salted Peanut Butter from Unblanched Peanuts." Unfortunately for us, here in Hawaii there is no Trader Joe's in sight. Which really is unfortunate considering their overly Hawaiian decor. When we lived in Santa Barbara we walked to Trader Joe's almost daily. In LA, we rode our bikes. We exclusively bought our groceries at Trader Joe's. Really. You can't beat the prices or the quality of the food. My least favorite thing about living in Hawaii? No Trader Joe's. Oh boo hoo, I know. I've heard that Trader Joe's will never come to Hawaii. The cost of getting the goods out here would result in way more expensive prices than on the mainland. I get it, a gallon of milk here is $6. Two buck Chuck would be Ten buck Chuck. What is even more unfortunate is that my absolute favorite peanut butter can only be bought at Trader Joe's.

BUT but but... Rob is a pilot. And he flies to the west coast. And has layovers there. And some of his hotels are close to a Trader Joe's!! So this is usually what happens on those layovers:

{just in case you noticed, yes, there is an 8lb weight on our cat's food bowl. that's because our 13lb cat likes to move his food/water bowls across the kitchen floor. the weight helps him not do that.}

We hoard stockpile peanut butter. 

But now that we almost exclusively get our groceries from Costco, Rob's trying to convince me that Kirkland brand natural peanut butter tastes the same. HA...HA...HA! He insisted that TJ's brand could not possibly be that much better or taste that different. Fine, I said. We'll do a blind taste test. And that's exactly what we did this afternoon while Christian napped. 

The Challenge: A blind taste test of these three different peanut butters. Would I be able to pick out my peanut butter? 

The Contenders: Trader Joe's Valencia Creamy Salted Peanut Butter (which he had to buy during his last run because they were OUT of my favorite. See, it's that good); Kirkland Natural Peanut Butter; Creamy Salted Peanut Butter from Unblanched Peanuts (my fave). 

The Terms: If I was unable to differentiate between the peanut butters, I must agree to eat the most easily accessible Kirkland Brand, and Rob would no longer have to bring back a hundred jars every time he went to Trader Joe's.  

The results: First, Rob wanted to know out of the three which was my favorite based on the taste test before telling him which one I thought was my favorite TJ's variety. 

Peanut Butter A actually was my favorite based on the taste test, but I knew it wasn't my "original" favorite. Peanut Butter B was gross. Peanut Butter C was my original favorite. Nailed it. HELLO, I go through a jar of peanut butter a week. 

Peanut Butter A = the other Trader Joe's kind. Peanut Butter B = Kirkland. Peanut Butter C = my original fave. Woo hoo! Now Rob has to look for a completely different kind of peanut butter the next time he has a west coast layover and bring me lots of jars! 

And that's how we spent our free thirty minutes of peace before the munchkin woke up. Next blog series: sleep training a five month old. 

baby's first new years

I had it in my head that I wanted Christian to travel at least once internationally before he turned one. I don't really know why, but I think mostly to symbolize my desire for him to grow up experiencing other cultures and basically, seeing the world. We're very blessed we work in an industry that makes traveling easy and mostly affordable. A lot of people told us that we wouldn't be able to travel, or want to travel once we had a baby, so this is also me proving them wrong. Well, except for fellow airline people and frequent travelers - they said this is the best time to travel with a baby! He's not mobile...yet. 

The perfect opportunity presented itself in Rob's schedule. An unusually long trip to Osaka, Japan over New Years. Excellent! Rob and I visited Japan back in 2008. We stayed in Tokyo for a few days and with friends in Ritto. I love Japan. It's just so different, and the food is to die for. Ramen, taiyaki (fish shaped pancake type thing filled with sweetened azuki beans), the best sushi you'll ever eat. And how cool is it that Christian can one day say he experienced his first New Years in Japan?! (Never mind the fact that none of us were actually awake when the clock struck twelve.)

What we didn't know was that New Years Day is actually a pretty big deal there. I'm pretty sure it's the equivalent to our Christmas. Luckily we figured this out and ventured out to the Sumiyoshi Taisha, one of Japan's oldest shrines, founded in the 3rd century. Old. We were very surprised by 1) the amount of people and 2) all of the vendors that were set-up - there was food, food, food, more food, more delicious food, games where you catch fish, and things you can buy...like calendars and iPads. And being as we were the only white people there, we were celebrities. We were stalked by an old Japanese man and had our picture taken. Christian had his picture taken a few times. 

I'm not sure what kind of experience it was for Christian. Obviously not something he will remember, but he was completely in awe of the lights and the people. Especially the people that cooed over him (lots). Big smiles for them. They thought he was so kawaii... cute. Well, duh. Christian did remarkably well even though we messed with his nap/bedtime schedule. He is so go with the flow. And I'm becoming more confident in my abilities as a mom because just a few short months ago, a trip to the grocery store seemed overwhelming. And now here we are crossing the Pacific. 

Even though we were only there for a few days, we had a BLAST, and I am beyond excited to do it again. I recently saw a photograph of a sign that said, "Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer." Amen. We will always have this experience - our son's first New Years spent in Osaka. What on earth could you buy that could possibly be better than that? Nothing comes to mind. 

{The island in the pictures just above is Ni'ihau, part of the Hawaiian island chain.}

resolutions

I've never been one to make new year's resolutions. It's not that I don't have goals, because I do, I just feel like I'm setting myself up for failure if I make them "for new years." But this year, I do have a few things I'd like to get back to since most of 2011 was spent pregnant.

1. Lose the baby weight! I gained way more than the "recommended" amount of weight while I was pregnant. My official excuse is: before pregnancy, I was so cautious about what I ate, counting calories and working out regularly, and I basically felt like pregnancy gave me a free pass to eat what I wanted. Because I can't deprive the child, right?! And deprived he was not because I topped off at 48lbs gained the day I gave birth. I lost about twenty-five of that the first week after having Christian and have held onto the last fifteen with no promise of it budging. People said, "oooooh since you're breastfeeding the pounds will just melt off." LIARS! But my sister-in-law is a smart woman! She's the one that told me that my body might hold onto pounds while I'm breastfeeding. Ding ding ding! Granted, I'm not really exercising nor am I counting calories like I was AND my eating habits are less than stellar, but feeding my child is the most important thing in the world. My desire to be back in my pre-preggo clothes isn't so great that I'm willing to chance my milk supply. But I'm pretty sure I could be eating healthier... and this leads me to goal number dos.

2. Count my Weight Watchers points! Ok, I know what I just said above. Right now I'm doing Weight Watchers for nursing mothers. My daily allowance of points is WAY higher than your average person doing Weight Watchers, and when I'm actually counting those points, I make sure I'm eating my allowance. Over the holidays I really slacked - I'm sorry, but I cannot be in Virginia and eat at Cracker Barrel guilt-free while tallying up how much a biscuit is going to cost me. (Five points). I've lost almost 10lbs on Weight Watchers. Kellymom.com says I can lose up to 1.5lbs per week without affecting my supply.

3. Run a half-marathon. My favorite race distance! 13.1 miles. Takes training and lots of motivation, but doing the distance doesn't kill you. I ran a marathon once, and I'm glad I did, but never again. I trained for six months to run it and then didn't run for six months after. My friend Jayme and I signed up to run a half together. I am so stoked! My official training plan starts next week. Hold me.

4. Get Christian's first stamp on his passport before he's a year old. CHECK! Had no idea it would happen this soon, but I'm very excited it did. Of course, blog post about our trip to Japan later. But I have a feeling we'll be traveling at least once more internationally before he reaches the ripe ol' age of one. I really would like to go back to Japan in the Spring to see the cherry blossoms in bloom. If you can't tell, or didn't know, I LOVE Japan. LOVE. New Zealand has also been on our radar.

 

5. The Total Money Makeover! Rob and I decided we really needed to rework our budget. Errr, what budget? Exactly. We'd heard a lot of good things about Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover so we thought it was our best bet to helping us get organized with growing our savings, putting away money for Christian (and future children) for college, having cash to put down on a house...or even paying CASH for the house - you read that right. It can be done. (I'm not saying THAT is our goal, just that it can be done). This involves making sacrifices, but it also means not living paycheck to paycheck, and THAT I'm excited about. Every cent of our income is accounted for and we'll know exactly where our money is going. Rob spent a lot of time working this all out and going over it with me and I'm very optimistic. We've already put it into action. Luckily we're ahead of the game and starting out debt free - no student loans, no car payments, no credit card debt. Dave Ramsey says, "Live like no one else, so that later, you can live like no one else." This is our future, after all.

6. Break some of Christian's "bad" sleep habits. I nurse him to sleep. For his naps, for bedtime. It's just so easy for me to do it and get him to sleep. He doesn't need to be nursed to sleep because Mimi and Nanny get him to take naps just fine, but I know it's less than ideal. It doesn't really bother me to do it, so I'm not really that motivated, but it's what "all the books say." Also, he's in the habit of waking up screaming after being put down for bedtime. He'll stay asleep for about 45 minutes and then he's up crying out. I usually run right in there, pop him on the boob, and back to sleep he goes. If we're lucky, this only happens once. Rob desperately wants him to break this habit, but that would most likely involve letting him cry it out. And yes yes, I know. He's training us, but I still feel like he's too young to let him just lay in there and cry (even though I know he's fed, dry, etc) and it breaks my heart. So there might have to be a compromise. But I do wish he could self-soothe somewhat. Oh, and taking naps in his bassinet, not the swing.

I really don't think these goals are unrealistic. It'll take time, motivation, patience, and most importantly, not giving up, but everything is completely attainable. Of course I have other goals and things I would like to do, like become more involved in our church, maybe even be a part of a women's ministry, or a mom's ministry. Make sure the people I love know I love them, always. Organize the hoards of baby clothes we have. Read more (thanks to my Kindle, I already am!). Get a tan. Surf more. Ah, the list goes on. Regardless, I am so excited about what 2012 has to bring! I already feel so blessed that I can't imagine it getting any better than it is now. Aloha and Happy New Year to you and yours!

the people we meet

For most of December, Christian and I were in Virginia visting family and friends. We had a fantastic time and I loved showing Christian off to everyone. We stayed busy busy the entire time!

The one major dilemma I was unsure about was what to do with Christian's sleep schedule. We have him on a pretty flexible, but reliable napping and bedtime routine. Usually around 5pm (Hawaii time) we give him a bath, rub lotion on his legs, put him in his jammies, swaddle, and nurse. He's usually in bed by 6:30pm. I knew if we tried to adjust his schedule to east coast time, he'd be in bed before Mom even got home from work! Since that would be NO FUN whatsoever, we decided to keep him on Hawaii time. Worked like a charm, since he was up "late" every night, everyone got to see him after quitting time. 

We did run into problems when the sun started to come up and he decided he wanted wake up as well. And since seven-ish hours is nowhere close to enough sleep, this was not good. Cue Rob frantically running around the house searching for a hammer and nails and something, anything to cover the skylights with. Crisis averted when he hammered beach towels over them and covered the windows with dark sheets. 

And lucky for us, my Mom had stocked the house with tons of toys and books that kept Christian entertained for hours. He enjoyed (as much as a 3 month old does) decorating the Christmas tree and looking at the lights. And although I was craving the warm weather (and missing my hubby!!) by the end of the trip, I did not want to leave my Mama. This is the one thing that truly breaks my heart. I want my mom to have a close relationship with Christian, but the distance isn't ideal. But, I talk about Nanny constantly and we even Skype every once in a while, although NOT as much as I'd like. I've made it a "goal" to try and get out there at least once every six months, unless Mom makes the trek out to Hawaii... which I'm hoping and praying she will for his 1st birthday. Hint hint. Regardless, we will be back on the east coast in May. 

Ridiculous photo bomb ahead! 

{high school best friend Erin, and her daughter, Brynne}

{Troy and Mads}

{Logan pummeling Christian...btw, Erin + Troy = Brynne, Maddie, and Logan}

{"Mama D"}

{Grandpa George serenading}

{Great-grandma}

{Great-aunt Patricia}

{Stu}

{my original travel buddy, Ashley... she introduced me to Rob, by the way.}

{Lauren, myself, and Christian covered up in the Ergo}

{my favorite cousin, Megan}

{high school best friend, Brandi }

{cousin Hoss-collar, kiss-the-man-on-the-TV}

{Nanny, my Mama}

{Nanny & Grandpa George}

{three generations}

{uncle Kyle in the mix}

{Katy, Amanda, myself, and Lisa with her TWINS!!}

And I'm kinda bummed because there are people Christian got to meet that we somehow did not get pictures with! Ahem Jeskuh, Brian, Dia, Joey, Ami, ladies at Mom's work and the bazillion family members over for the family Christmas celebration. Well, like I mentioned before, we will be back in May, and I know there will be a hundred more opportunities. And one lesson learned, I will never leave  behind my good camera because of lack of space. I am slowly learning to become a more efficient "baby things" packer!