H.I. Update

So many things have happened in the last 3 months that I would love to blog about.....

Mimi and Grandaddy visited

We went on a "cation" to Aulani

My BFF Cathy came to visit.

She's a professional

Girls night out 

The Kwasnowski's and Jessica threw a fabulous 2nd birthday party for Helaina.   We were so appreciative since incapable of doing so with a 2 week old). 

Ballon fest thanks to the Vertollis

The Kwas family has moved back to Florida :o(

All of our girls will miss them dearly

Sara and 2 or her 4 children, John and Grace, are currently visiting from Chicago

1/2 the Quinn Family

Helaina is loving John and Grace! (and Sara too)

This is how she looks at John (shhh, don't tell Chris)

These were all such wonderful or important experiences but a las time is slipping away and I do not for see any opportunities for better time management that will allow me to blog on these.  Right now a shower, teeth brushing, and dinner all in the same day is considered a blessing.  Your going to have to imagine what a good time we had with our visitors along with the sadness of saying see you later and enjoy the pictures that I have managed to post.

I did want to jot some thoughts down about my growing girls.  As my best friend Cathy pointed out, our daughters initials are H and I which also happens to be the abbreviation for the state they were born in.  Random but cool.

HELAINA:
Helaina is amazingly smart (though I think most people think so about their own child).  Either way, she get's any of her smarts from Chris and she continues to amaze us on a daily basis.

She found the letters that coincided
to spell Toms all by herself

It's hard to gauge at the moment as she is receiving quite a bit of attention from our guests but I think we are rounding the corner on the jealousy thing.  She is back to sleeping through the night and eating all of her meals with little hassle.   She likes to help a lot with the baby.  She is always eager to get a diaper or clean out the trash can during changing times and even says "it's ok Indi" when there is crying going on.
She would like to hold her a lot more than I am comfortable with but she is very delicate and sweet when she does.

Helaina has an extensive vocabulary, especially for a two year old.  Her pronunciation is sometimes a bit off but it comes out so adorable that Chris and I find ourselves talking like her after she goes to bed just for a giggle.  One of our favorite quotes is "We read about dis" when she wants to read something.  She pronounces "Ss" as Phs or Fs"  Ex.  Foon for Spoon, Phin for Spin.  It's almost sad when she learns the correct way to say it -- it's a reminder of how fast it goes.  Fortunately she has not picked up on any of Mommies accidental potty mouth words.  However, my husband, who hardly ever swears, has not been as lucky.  Chris' go to expletive is Oh Sh%^.  But instead of saying the word he literally cuts himself off and say's Oh SHhhhhhhhh.  Now this has only happened two times in front of her that I am aware but since daddy hung the moon, she picked right up on it.  We have tried ignoring and sometimes correcting when it became habitual. Lucky for us, I think it's fading and we won't have to worry about getting a call from the school.

We just got through our first legitimate sickness and it was NOT fun.  After a month of on again off again, we broke down and went back to the doctor for antibiotics.  She is doing much better and I am grateful that she has not been sick a lot.

Bless her heart, she has her mommies hair but I am proud to say that after 2 years and 2 months, her hair is finally able to make some sort of pony tail.    We  will probably finish the year before needing a hair cut.  Now she will wear a hat all day if necessary but refuses to wear barrettes or hair ties.  I guess I can't complain about that though.

I snapped a pic in the 4 minutes that these remained in her hair

We are potty training right now.  Yes. I am insane but I was always told that when kids are ready you will know and of course.....Helaina showed signs of ready when we have a 3 month old.   I keep telling myself it's easier now than it would be when Indigo is mobil.  I have resorted to the old school way of letting her walk around at home in her birthday suit.  The first day there were a few messes to clean up but after that, it works beautifully.  The transition to pull ups has not been as smooth but we are working our way up.  Besides, I have to admit that I get a giggle by seeing her cute little tushi walk around.

I hope health department doesn't
stop by the house.

Indigo (Indi)

Maybe she is an 'easier' baby than Helaina was or maybe it's because I feel more confident as a mom, either way, I feel like I am able to enjoy Indigo a little easier than I did Helaina.  It also doesn't hurt that she nurses for an average of 10 min on one side and then she is done for a couple hours.  

Helaina attends 'school' 2 days a week so she can socialize and I get to spend one on one time with Indi.  I think she is going to be sensitive towards others.  From the very beginning, when breast feeding was painful, she would latch on and pause and I swore that she knew it was hurting me and was hesitant to go forward.  When I would relax, so would she.  Her ears both wiggle when she is feeding.  (this could be a good party trick later in life). Speaking of her ears, I think they are so adorable.  They look like they are upside down with the wide part at the bottom.   She smiles a lot and when Chris smiles back at her, she turns her head to the side and almost blushes.  SOOO CUTE.  She loves to watch her big sister and I can hardly wait for them to play together (but I won't wishfully rush it since I know it's likely they will fight also).  She is an AWESOME night sleeper.  We put her down around 7:30 and she will sleep to somewhere between 1:00am - 3:00am, nurse and go back to sleep until 6:30 or so.   She often gets cranky around dinner time but I think this is common for most kids.  (I think I do too!)

Sisterly love

Because she is so new, I don't have a ton to blog on her yet.   I do feel incredibly blessed to watch these girls grow like weeds and get to be part of the process as the Lord develops their personalities.  Hopefully I will have more time to keep you updated! 

Indigo Arrives

Warning:  Some graphic content...not for the weak at heart...and if you haven't had a baby yet, you may not want to read this as some of these things people don't tell you so that the earth's population doesn't become jeopardized.  

I didn't want to have any expectations for an early arrival for our second child because I assumed that would help time not to drag on if I was "late" again.  The problem with this line of thinking is without the thought that the child may be early, we failed to complete preparations for the arrival -- most importantly packing the bags for the hospital.  If our delivery were anything like last time, this would not have been a problem because we had made a list and we would have had plenty of time while we were laboring at home.  However, true to the advice that almost everyone who has multiple children told me......every labor is different. 

New Years Eve in Hawaii is a BIG BIG deal, as is any holiday that boasts fireworks.  This year recreational fireworks were supposedly banned.  The neighborhood around our building, maybe even all of Oahu, did not get the memo.  At one point I got our of bed to see if the fireworks were actually hitting our building.  Fortunately Helaina was able to sleep through them but I only got about 5 hours of sleep.  

I wasn't completely alarmed when I had my first few contractions at 5:30AM on New Years Day so I stayed in bed until 6 or so. I got up and told Chris that we may be having some labor signs and that I was going to relax on the couch as I find it impossible to sleep if I think I am going into labor.  I suggested he rest as he was able to and would need if it were go time.  Around 7AM I called Jim and Rochelle Kwasnowski (our Hawaiian family) and left them a voice mail to let them know they may need to pick Bebe and Helaina up as I might be going into labor.  Chris and Helaina got up and we all started preparing just in case :o)  In the next few minutes my contractions became so overwhelming that I stopped what I was doing and got into the tub which helped immensely.  By the time Rochelle called back just 45 min later, I overheard Chris on the phone and yelled from the bathroom for them to come now and quick!!!  Chris began franticly getting Helaina and Bebe's bags together.  He's got fantastic execution in panic situations.  

After the Kwas' picked up the girls, Chris began getting our things together and I drug myself out of the tub.  I couldn't believe how strong my contractions were already.   I started panicking when I couldn't even get dressed because my contractions were so close and so intense.  My labor was twenty-five hours long with Helaina.  There was NO WAY I was going to be able to stand what I was feeling at the time for even five or ten more hours.  I informed Chris I decided that I wanted an epidural.  We had Helaina natural and had planned to do it again so he agreed to support me but I could tell by his tone he had plans to discuss it later.  All that discussion became moot anyway since he couldn't even get me to get dressed and down to the car.  I was OVERWHELMED to say the least.  He was going to tell my midwife to come to the house, which would have ended in an ambulance and I was NOT going to do that.  He finally got me dressed in pajama bottoms (I was in too much pain to choose anything else) and bargained with me that to get to the car, we could stop when necessary on our way down to the car -- which we did about 7 times.  He ran to get the car from our spot and later I found -- it would not start on the first few turnovers.  Once it finally did he came to get me at the door.  I wanted to ride facing backwards on the seat, as being on upright on my knees was most comfortable.  When I was getting in the car, I thought that I felt the baby pushing down but I dismissed the thought that time - part fear and part disbelief.  When the next contraction came while we were driving I investigated the matter and told Chris that I thought I felt the head.  So adorable with all his birth training, he asked, "Do you have an overwhelming urge to push?"  Again, with fear and confusion, I said I wasn't sure.  He called Linda, our midwife (heaven sent guardian angel) to let he know that I may or may not be further along than we thought.

*** By the way, we were breaking a number of traffic violations at this point including, but not limited to:  speeding, passenger riding backwards, no seat belt, talking on the phone while driving & indecency as my pants were pulled down around my knees (with a towel “covering” so I was not fully mooning all innocent bystanders-- good thing it was a holiday and there was hardly anyone on the road*****

Linda told him that if my water broke on the way to go directly to ER and let her know, if not, she would meet us in the front of the hospital (a nice big round about drive way where everyone enters and exits from the hospital.)  Unbeknownst to us, this had apparently happened already in while I was in the tub at home.  Upon arrival to the fortunately-not-that-busy round about, where our midwife was waiting she opened the passenger door.  I told her I thought I felt the baby’s head and with the next contraction she confirmed that the baby was in fact crowning.  Since we were not sure if I was going to make it to the room or deliver right there in public display, Linda asked if I my PJ bottoms were special or if she could cut them off.  Despite my pain and the possibility that I was having a baby any second, I collected myself long enough to slip out of my PJ bottom’s as I had just gotten these cute little red with white stripe candy cane looking things for Christmas from my mother in law and I wanted to hold on to them.  :o) 

Linda suggested not waiting for a gurney and that we take the wheel chair.  I reluctantly agreed as long as I could again ride facing backwards.  So get a good laugh, as I am partially naked with a towel over me, facing backwards and screaming like a wild banshee on a wheel chair. Chris helped support my grip and Linda along with some wonderful nurses all ran though the hospital and into an elevator.  I feel bad for the sweet unsuspecting family that was waiting on a floor that that the elevator stopped on.  They graciously agreed to wait for the next elevator.  Once in the room I began pushing straight away and at 9:53am Indigo was born.  Just 10 minutes later.  No need for epidurals or any other procedure.  They even only had time to take one fetal monitor reading which was good. This was all just four and half-hours after my first contraction. WOW.  What a ride. 

Chris proudly announced that we had a girl.  This is great considering we weren’t even close to establishing a boys name yet; though I am suspect one of my favorite names would have trumped because I almost birthed our child in the car.  We would have considered “Ru” (we were in our Subaru) as a middle or nickname if she were born in the car. 

 

Despite the chaos of the labor, after she was born, we enjoyed the most peaceful and wonderful time fawning over Indigo.  The hospital was gracious to let us have a lot of time with her before they started their typical procedures.  This was a new experience for Chris and I as Helaina was quickly whisked away and taken to NICU.  Right away we noticed her dark hair that she had quite a bit of.  She has really long fingers and skinny long feet.  She was crying a bit when she came out but calmed down quickly and settled into us.  She had a great latch and I was able to breastfeed right away.  She weighed 7lbs 1.8oz and was 18.5 inches long.

We found out that the nurse’s name that helped deliver was Angie.  For those of you that don’t know, my mom’s name was Angelina and that is where Indigo’s middle name came from.  I can’t tell you that warmth that washed over me at a moment when my cup had already runneth over.

We were only in the hospital for about 30 hours, which was great.  The Kwas’ brought Helaina to come meet her new sister.  She wanted to hold her right away and embraced her with love.  We will hopefully keep you updated with blogs on Indi’s budding personality and Helaina’s new role as a big sister. However, for now it's 9:30 PM and my tired self is going to bed to keep up with our newborn and 2 year old.   

Our midwife, Linda 

Christmas

I"ll start off by saying that I'm well aware that it is 2/8 and I am just getting to my Christmas blog.  Later blogs that I will hopefully post over the next week or so will clearly explain/remind me why I'm behind but I didn't want to miss documenting the first Christmas where Helaina was somewhat aware.

Family Tradition:

One tradition that my family has passed down for many generations is 7 seafoods on Christmas Eve.  After my mom passed, my brother picked up the torch for this tradition and every year out does himself to a level that would easily impress any of my ancestors (if not make them envious).  I've never attempted to pull off all 7 on my own.   Being nine and a half months pregnant with 2 friends coming over, this was not the year to try.  Though the food isn't the same without being with my immediate family, I still had to attempt to represent my heritage.  I decided on clams casino and crab pasta for the seafoods as well as our family recipe for "stuffed" mushrooms.  Jim and Rochelle (our 'Hawaiian' family) brought a delicious salad, bread and some yummy green beans for a complete meal.  No one went hungry and it was a relatively simple meal to pull off (especially since Chris had the hard job of shucking the clams and Jim & Rochelle brought half the food).

You can't go wrong with Butter, Parsley, Garlic

Bacon & Cheese on top of a clam

Last minute coaching from Big brother

helped me to serve this winner up

Rochelle added homemade candied walnuts (yum)

Mushrooms that I don't make regularly

since Chris doesn't prefer mushrooms

Wow mommy is BIG is what Helaina is thinking

"New Traditions" (or Old if you really think about it)

Chris and I have decided to take the road less traveled and actually focus more on the Christian part of Christmas and much less of the "Santa" / presents things.    We made a Advent chain and we read a corresponding scripture each night for the entire month.  We purchased a beautiful hand made nativity scene.  We talked in detail and often about how God gave us the best present of all with baby Jesus.  We purchased 2 main gifts for her and some stocking stuffers knowing she would receive plenty from everyone.  Hopefully  our efforts will yield the results were looking for (focus on Jesus instead of things) but based on our 1st go round, I think were going too have an uphill battle.    

a portion of our advent chain

This was actually made in Bethlehem

Attempting to not overload on gift opening we opened some presents on Christmas Eve and the rest spread out throughout the day on Christmas after church.  We even got to open The Higgs' family presents "with" them via Facetime.  Being far away is hard but a lot harder on holidays and big events.  I love that technology has taken a bit of that sting out.  The Higgs family even got to see Helaina find out she got a bike for Christmas.  Chris and I got to enjoy seeing the look on Helaina's face when she came out to see the table and chairs that we got her.  Despite our not promoting the big guy in the red suit, she seemed to have a fabulous Christmas and hopefully she won't be scarred from our "science experiement."  Then again in my opinion, raising children is all a science experiment that you really don't know the results of until much later.

Merry Christmas to all!

"School" & other updates

Chris and I have taken the plunge to put Helaina into a mommy day program for 2 days a week, 5 hours a day.  The intent is to give her some other structure and socialization with kids her age, that does not include mommy being "Julie the cruise director."  This will also give me a few hours with the new baby upon his/her arrival next month.  (oh yes, in just 3-4 weeks, we will have another bundle of joy) and a bit of time to prepare last minute items before baby is here.

Finding part time schools in Honolulu posed a challenge as most parents use 5 day a week service but we are happy with the place we found.  It's at a Methodist Church and the ratio's are really good.  Her teachers have all been there for 15-20 years.  When you ask her which part she likes best it's sing songs and of course, snack / lunch time.  She's a girl after my own heart.    So far (3 weeks in) she hasn't picked up a sickness or other kids bad habits that we have seen but I am braced for both.

She may be cutting eyes at me already
This was orientation day

1st official day

Froggy Back Pack (or "Pack Back" as she calls it)

On a side note, the school asked for everything we bring to be labeled with her name.  We splurged for a labeler.  I sent Chris the below picture and his reply was to "step away from the labeler."  :o)  

As I should have predicted, she had no qualms at jumping right in and was not even concerned if I left or stayed.  I had to remind her I was leaving and ask for a kiss and hug.  (sigh)  At least this will hopefully toughen mommy up for when she actually starts school.  Maybe her indifference will make welcoming the new baby a little easier and I will feel a little more needed again.

OK, who am I kidding, we about to be plunged back into new born -- stretched too thin, no sleep zone.  -- I'm sure I will feel a lot needed by everyone.  -- Including my toddler who has never had to share attention with anyone but bebe (who often takes a back burner - sometimes even gracefully).  I know that there are those of my multi-children friends who laugh or have laughed at my "stress" of having only one child and my fear of moving into 2, especially since I have been at home.  However, it's a hard thing for me to have a different perspective when this is all I've know.  -- I may speculate that you were once in the same place as well  --- time has just jaded your memory as I hope it does mine as well.

On other news/updates -- I HAVE A HUGE BELLY!  Logically this should come as no surprise but looking down or in the mirror at the extra 6 to 7 lbs of baby + 4 lbs of uterus etc..it's not something I've been able to get over.  I can't complain because outside of a few back issues, I've so far had a relatively easy pregnancy (at least on the 2nd and 3rd trimesters).  Most of our "checklist" items have been complete.  Let's not discuss names because that is a sensitive subject at this late hour in the game.  Actually If I were to go into labor early, I fairly certain that I would cross my legs and refuse to have this baby unless we could finalize our boy names.  It's probably a boy just because we don't have that part fully worked out yet - at least that's my thinking.  Chris is thinking girl still.  Most of my friends are all over the board.  What are your thoughts?????????????? (pictures of belly to follow soon!)

PS.  I know there is an issue for leaving comments on the blog but I'm not sure how to fix it and right now, it's not that big of a priority.  If you've got something to say, email or post on FB.

Much love to you and your families for Christmas.

Cornucopia of VA and NJ

We had a fabulous time visiting with friends and family in VA and NJ.  It's hard to surmise all that we did as it's quite a blur at this point.  We mainly just relaxed and ate (A LOT), and watched everyone be entertained with the Helaina show.  She was a trooper and as usual did much better with the travel than Chris and I did.


We all enjoyed the cold and crisp air of Fall that we haven't felt in so long.  Did I mention we ate?  We noshed on Carl's Ice cream (a local favorite that we are usually too late in the season to visit), all kind of yummy delicacies at my dads house.  When we ate out, Chris and I were amused at the price of all the food.  2 years in Hawaii and we are still not adjusted to the cost of living here.  There is also something about eating home cooked meals or food from local restaurants that just scream "home"

Considering my energy level has sunken to a 3rd trimester predictable low and Helaina's has ramped up to surpass the speed of sound, I will share our visit with pictures to tell the story:

Helaina's favorite game at Mimi &
Grandaddy's was "cook"

The Goldfish and her Fisherman for
the fall festival

Uncle Jerm in his masked outfit made
quite the impression on Helaina

Helaina was not the only one who enjoyed

all the parks we went to

Duck feeding at the Lawrence family's house

Getting the mail was a fun activity that you take
for granted unless you live in a high rise

Painting a pumpkin with Grandaddy 

It's neat when my daughter gets to meet an old
friends daughter.In this case it was Stacy Dumas and Anslee.

Her Highness of Fall

Soccer with Daddy in the yard

2 of the 4 Kohl Girls (yup, I said 4)

Grandaddy's chauffer service to the train station

All Aboard-- Next stop NJ!

We thoroughly enjoyed our train trip and
talked about making another one!

Bike ride with Pop Pop

Improvised Pop Pop swing

Feeding the ducks at the Zoo.  

Cousin love

More cousin love

Hmmm.  More eating.

Frosty photo op

Exploring Pop Pops new toy, um Truck

It wasn't all fun and games. Helaina had to earn her
keep at Pop Pops to off set her food intake.  

Raking leaves

taking out the trash

Mowing the Lawn

This is what Pop would do if she didn't complete her chores ;o)

Cousin Tracy's Wedding - Congrats!