aloha friday!

Aloha Friday!

Guess what we're doing this weekend? MOVING! And hence the lack of posting. I have not sat down since we got the news that out of thirty-something other applicants, we won the ohana house lottery. It's a long story, but even though Rob is still in Miami, we decided it would be cheaper to hire movers than to pay rent another two weeks in our current place.

About six months ago I distinctly remember having this conversation with Rob:
Me: Our lease is ending... should we think about moving?
Rob: I don't know... what do you think?
Me: I don't know. Nah, it might be easier to just wait until Christian is a little bit older than trying to move when he's a newborn. Let's just sign another six month lease.

HA. HA. HA. HA.

I need to go back in time and smack myself.  Let me tell you how hard it is to get stuff packed with an eight month old who doesn't stop crawling, chasing the cat, pulling himself up on everything, and eating shoes. Oh, wait. I can't tell you ...because it's IMPOSSIBLE. So, thank you God for Mimi and Papa and friends! At this point, Mimi has basically moved our entire apartment to the new place - driving out here, loading up the car, driving back to the new place, putting up new shelf and contact paper in all the cabinets and drawers, unpacking, bringing me back empty boxes to fill back up (while Christian sleeps...HA!!), hanging up curtains, and repeat. Seriously.

Rob will come home Monday to a new house! Didn't expect that when he left for Miami! But oh are we ready for him to be home. Christian about jumps through the computer when we FaceTime. Makes me happy and breaks my heart at the same time to see him light up with a huge smile when Dada's face pops up on the screen. Then he starts banging on the screen and the keyboard. I imagine him saying, "Hold on Dada!! I'm gonna get you out of this silver box if it's the last thing I do!!" Ok, probably not because I think babies just like to bang on stuff, but three more days, three more days, three more days. Woooosah!

There's so much I want to say and write. Christian is now eight months! I need to take pictures! And write his "8 months" post. We're headed to Virginia very very soon. Did I mention, we're moving! I'm actually considering running the Honolulu Marathon in December. Rob and I's six year (wedding) anniversary, and I love that man more and more each day. Like, in love, he gives me butterflies, I want to have his babies.

And on that note, I'll leave you with a few pictures from our week! Have a wonderful weekend!

christian takes the zoo

We took Christian to the Honolulu Zoo this past weekend - it was his first time to the zoo ever, and our first time to the one here in Honolulu. To be honest, the zoo is so well hidden. How do you hide elephants and giraffes and tigers? I don't know, but they do. I've walked by it a million times and never knew it was actually a good zoo, and big! And bonus, my wonder flight attendant friend, Pablo, happened to be on a layover and came along with us! (PS - you should see the ah-mazing stuffed bear Pablo crocheted for Christian. Yes, CROCHETED! It is so so cute and Christian loves it! I really do have the best friends!!)

Our favorite part of the zoo was the Keiki Zoo with peacocks running around and the petting zoo. Llama? Check! Sheep that follows the llama around? Check! A pony? Check! And lots of cute little goats that you can pet? Check! A fantastic day with fantastic people? CHECK!

And Christian having a giggle at the llama. 

because, i mean...

who doesn't sleep with their butt in the air?

aloha friday!!

Happy Friday, y'all! 

This week has been busy busy busy! Rob has finished up (for the most part) ground school and had his oral with the FAA yesterday. He passed with flying (pun intended) colors! Duh. On Sunday he leaves for Miami for TWO weeks to fly in the simulator. Thank you God for modern technology... between Skype and FaceTime, we'll at least get to talk "face to face" and Christian will get to see Dada in the silver box. And between WeePlay, the zoo, visiting with Mimi and Papa, the pool, and house hunting we'll stay plenty busy. 

Yesterday I finally got around to dress shopping for my Mama's wedding! Since it's going to be on the beach of the Outer Banks, I knew just the store I wanted to go to. Mu'umu'u Heaven in Kailua makes these beautiful dresses out of vintage Hawaiian fabric. Each dress is truly unique and beautiful. I have my friend Jayme to thank for introducing me to this gem of a store after having a post-church lunch at Kalapawai Market, which is across the street. Since then I've been in there countless times and have bought a few different things, but yesterday was my first dress purchase! Full disclosure here. The dress fits. But let's just say it's given me the motivation I need to shed these last few pregnancy pounds. I also walked out with another pair of my favorite Palazzo pants. But they don't sell just dresses and pants. They make all kinds of wonderful things out of vintage fabric. Like, table runners (got one!), iPad holders, pillows, clutches, and shopping bags! Whenever you buy something, they let you pick out a reusable, one-of-a-kind shopping bag. Beautiful clothes and earth friendly! Definitely my favorite store in Hawaii. 

{reusable shopping bag & clutch}

As previously posted, Tuesday was my birthday. I'm officially in my thirties. (Thirty-one to be exact.) And so far my thirties have been way better than my twenties. When my "sister" Dia told me "thirty is where life begins," she was absolutely right!! Mimi and Papa babysat the little guy while Rob and I walked to Side Street Inn for dinner. Can't recommend it enough. It totally lived up to our expectations, especially since seeing it on our favorite show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. Our dinner consisted of Kal Bi (Char-broiled Korean-style short ribs with Kimchee), Fresh Steamed Manila Clams, and their "Award Winning" Side Style Famous Fried Rice. YUM. It was a perfect way to celebrate my 31st birthday. 

This week Christian has fully grasped the pull-himself-up-on-everything concept. Growing before our eyes, I tell ya! The only peace Baxter gets around here is when Christian sleeps or when we're gone, because Christian loooooooooves Baxter. And I am amazed at how well Baxter tolerates him. Because as much as we say and mold his little hands to "gentle gentle gentle," Christian is all over him. It's like, he just cannot help himself when Baxter is out of hiding. 

Today I'll be buying my tickets to Virginia as I think we've finally settled on dates. I can't wait to see my family and friends and for them to see how much Christian has grown since December. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Aloha!

birthday stuffs

A great friend of mine tweeted this to me in "lieu of a present." (Oh, it's my birthday, by the way!) And honestly, I don't know how any present could top this. It brought the LOLs for sure. 

I can't imagine anything better than spending my birthday with my precious little man. Ok, it could be slightly more awesome if Rob didn't have class today (and it wasn't raining). But he does (and it is), and someone has to pay the bills, right? 

Each year on my birthday, I always think back to what I did the year before. Last year Rob took me out to a wonderful dinner at Roy's in Hawaii Kai. I was just 20 weeks pregnant with Christian! And one year later, here I am with an almost-8-month-old that can't be stopped. Wow, life sure does move fast! And who knows what the next year will bring. 

But instead of looking too much into the past, or the future, I am going to spend this day counting my blessings and celebrating LIFE! I've made it to 31 years old, and life is good. I have joy in my heart that I can't describe, and I don't want to take one second of it for granted. 

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!! I can't remember a time when over 80 people wrote on my Facebook wall in one day!! (Ok, maybe last year...) But seriously... thanks y'all! You couldn't wipe this smile off my face if you tried. 

Good Friday!

Today is Good Friday!! And that means, Easter weekend. I remember dying Easter eggs as a kid. The smell of vinegar even to this day, makes me think of Easter eggs! I also remember taking as much candy as I could to church from my Easter basket and sitting with my cousins eating it the entire service. But Easter is a lot more (to us, at least) than the Easter bunny, dyed eggs, and candy, on Sunday we will be attending an Easter service to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, and having a yummy dinner later with family.

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24

This past week has been pretty busy, hence the lack of posts. Christian started to run a fever last weekend and caught a little cold. The night before my half-marathon as a matter of fact, so I got no sleep. Nothing like a 13.1 mile run to keep you awake! I hope to post more on the race later, but in short, I had a blast running with my friend Jayme! I was totally unprepared and my training was half-ass at best. But I managed to run 10 miles before deciding I needed to use the bathroom, or risk other consequences. It was definitely my slowest half-marathon time, but I didn't even know that until I got home and looked up my previous races. Because I just wanted to have fun, and I did! Mission accomplished. 

So yeah, Christian's cold. First time with a fever. Poor baby. Stuffy nose, sneezing, coughing, the works. But that didn't slow him down one bit. I am happy to say that he's much better, minus the congestion I can still hear in his chest. 

We've officially started looking for another place to rent. It's tough! We looked at two places yesterday, and well... the landlord at one place was a little on the here's-how-you-should-raise-your-kid side, and I don't know any parent who is a fan of unsolicited advice on how to raise their child. And she lived on the property. So, thanks but no thanks. The other place was nice, but eh. Whatever. We'll keep looking. 

I was bummed to find out that the store I was going to buy Christian's cloth diapers from is out of stock of the ones I wanted. With no plans to make another order. Of course they said they could special order it for me, but I'm not sure I want to order from them. They've kind of irked me, to be honest. 

Rob and I finally got to go see The Hunger Games!! Great movie! Not as good as the book, of course, but they did a fantastic job of keeping it really close. Rob said it was a little cheesy. I like cheesy. While we were gone Mimi reported that Christian is now standing up in his crib. And today, I saw it with my own two eyes. Time to lower the mattress I suppose. And teach him how to sit back down. Man, things are happening fast!! 

I hope all four of my readers have a happy Easter and a wonderful weekend and week to come! 

I'll leave you with this little video of Christian laughing at Baxter's shenanigans.