Time flies when you're having fun.

It's amazing how life gets crazy busy so quickly.  I start my mornings with every intention of updating my blog, but, something else always comes up.  Weird how that works...  Princess Cranky Pants is going to be eight tomorrow.  Wow.  It seems like just yesterday she was a wee baby gherkin.  The years have gone by so quickly.  And, so much has happened.  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be where I am today.  Life has a way of derailing and taking you off the tracks for a bit!

The weather has been very warm and humid lately.  My sinuses are not happy.  I'd like for the tradewinds to come back.  At least that would knock down some of the heat.

A couple of weeks ago we went to the swap meet and did "touristy" things: bought souvenirs and had shave ice.  It's fun to do that every now and then.  But, the heat got to be a little bit intense.  After two hours, we were all melting.  Later that afternoon I took the girls to a  friend's house for a playdate.  Annika got to decorate rice krispie bars.  She thought it was awesome.

We also took a day trip to downtown and over to Manoa.  Manoa is a beautiful area.  Lush and green.  It's also where our favorite cloth diaper store on the island is, baby aWEARness.  We bought more fluff for Sweet'n'Lo.  I am happy to say that we are now 100% cloth diapering.  It was a bit of investment, but the cost savings in the long run makes it worth it!  Plus, it's great for the environment.

After shopping, we went to Red Lobster for a yummy lunch.  Then, we went walking around the marina and spotted some jellyfish!  All in all, it was great to spend some time together.

This week has been busy with the planning of Annika's birthday party.  She is very excited to be having an OUTDOOR pool party.  It's pretty rare to have one of those for an April birthday, unless you live somewhere warm.  I've got cupcakes to make and decorations to buy.  I suppose that I should get that done before time gets away from me.

A hui hou!

17 weeks. 4 Months.

That's how old Sweet'n'Lo is.  It's been an amazing four months.  Every week marks another milestone.  I've already surpassed my goal of breastfeeding for at least four months.  I didn't have the discipline to continue with my first baby girl.  I was working full time and I didn't have the resources to be as informed as I would have liked.

Another change is that we're cloth diapering with this one.  That has been quite an experience.  We're still using disposables for overnight.  Eventually I'd like to be completely cloth diapering and sposie free!  I have found that cloth diapering is not as easy as I thought it was going to be.  And, I'm still learning.  But, I'm happy to be doing something that is good for the environment as well as being good for our budget.  The upfront cost is high, but the end result is worth it.

Princess Cranky Pants has gone back to school. She's in the last couple of months of second grade.  And, she's made her reading goal to get up to the third grade level for her advanced reading.  She has been working so hard.  I'm SO proud of her!  They started a new unit in math: fractions.  It's ironic because I've been teaching her, informally of course, fractions at home while we bake.

Last Friday was 324th day at Bellows AFS.  As usual, it was very windy out there.  But, it was fun, as always.  It's always so beautiful out there, even when it's not so sunny.  Both girls were able to model their new swimsuits.  I can't believe how tall and lean my sweet Princess Cranky Pants is.  She is absolutely beautiful.  I'm in for trouble when she hits her teenage years.  Sweet'n'Lo and her little chubby legs tested out the cold saltwater.  I am not sure whether she liked it or not.  All in all, it was and exhausting but FUN day.

Well, there isn't much that is going on, aside from the everyday stuff.  Just biding our time.

A hui hou!

Picture Perfect (pics from the last year or so)

Zander and Bella (furbabies)

Cassi and Domino (July 2010)

Domino (8 weeks) 

Sleepy girl

Domino snuggles with the bebe (in the belleh)

Cassi and Domino

Ultrasound- IT'S A GIRL!

First purchase for baby girl M

First day of school

Cassi (big sister) and Annika (little sister) on the first day of school

In the classroom, first day of school

Baby belly, 23 wks 5 days

Journal, first anniversary gift.  Handmade by my hubby. <3

Bella sits on the crate. It's as if she is mocking Domino.

Baby belly, 25 weeks 5 days

Baby belly, 26 weeks

Well, I think that I'll stop there for now.  I've added captions under the pictures so it's all self-explanatory.  But, to recap:  The summer of 2010 was a busy one for us.  We took a cross-country trip to the mainland.  (I'll add pictures of that in another post).  Cassi and Mikey came out for the summer while Annika was at her dad's for the summer.  Domino is our newest furbaby.  She is a Chihuahua Fox Terrier mix.  She was 8 weeks old when we got her.  I've added some belly pictures starting at 23 weeks.  I wasn't showing very much, so, I guess I just didn't take any pictures for the first half of the pregnancy.  We found out that baby M was a girl on 30 July.  School started on 02 August. 

I think I've covered everything in the pictures above.

I love my crazy wonderful life!

A hui hou!

What?! It's 2011?!

Sadly, it's been six months since my last blog post.  FAIL!  I could give a lot of excuses, but, I won't.  I will just update with what has happened in the last six months.

October 2010.  One of my besties, Jodi, came to Hawai'i for a visit.  We went to the swap meet at Aloha Stadium, Dole Plantation, the USS Arizona Memorial, the Shack in Mililani, Waimea, North Shore and a luau at Paradise Cove.  My baby shower for Baby M was held in October as well.  It was a fun but exhausting month.

November 2010.  I hit 36 weeks in the pregnancy.  Let me tell you, I was so ready to be done!  My SIL was due the same day that I was, 04 Dec 2010, and she delivered my nephew Kannen on 31 October.  I wanted to cry.  I am thankful that he was a healthy baby!  But, I was slightly jealous that she was done and I was not.  And, I tried everything that I could to get that little girl out.  I walked walked walked walked walked everywhere! Loralai McKenna M***** finally made her appearance in the wee small hours of the morning on 30 November.

December 2010.  I learned what life with a newborn and a seven-year-old is like.  I learned that my schedule is no longer my own.  Big sister, A, has been amazing.  So helpful!  My stepchildren came for Christmas.  This is the first family Christmas we've had all of the kids together.  We visited the Pacific Aviation Museum with the kiddos and enjoyed a very rainy Winter Break.

January 2011.  With the other kiddos back to the mainland, the house became very quiet again. Lo hit 6 weeks and I had my PP appointment.  I shed all of my pregnancy weight and then some.  A went back to school and Travis was back to work on eves.  Sheer exhaustion set in.

February 2011.  Lo hit 8 weeks and was weighing in at 9 lbs 8 oz.  Lil peanut!  A had a field trip to Chinatown for the Chinese New Year celebration and another at the end of the month to the recycling and waste management plant for their unit on conservation.

And, now, we've hit March 2011.  Currently A is on Spring Break!  Yay!  And we're still learning how to schedule, but, loving life!  In light of the recent tsunami warning and the tragedy that hit Japan, I understand now more than ever how much life truly is a gift.

Someday soon, I'll post my labor story.  And, I'll post some pictures of the fun things we did/do here on the island.  

A hui hou! (until we meet again)

30 weeks down, 10 to go (and so much in between)

The last thirty weeks have been a whirlwind.  It's sad that I took such a long break from blogging.  In June, we took a family vacation/road trip (cross country).  That was an adventure.  It was good to get off of the island.  I think that we were all getting island fever.

I guess that I should probably start with an update.  But, if you're a FB follower you know what's going on. On March 31, 2010, I had a positive pregnancy test.  Shocked?  Absolutely.  It was not something that we were expecting, though, definitely not avoiding.  We had discussed whether or not to start trying to conceive.  In February, I had a ruptured hemorrhagic ovarian cyst.  And, what do you know?  The next month, we're pregnant!

We are overjoyed.  After the initial shock hit, excitement set in.  The kids are ecstatic too.  The first twelve weeks were uneventful, for the most part.  I had nausea and food aversion.  And exhaustion.  Lots and lots of exhaustion.  Add to that, a trip.  

Our trip to the mainland was full of activities and visiting family and friends (some that I had not seen in over 10 years).  It was a great way to bond with the kids and see the countryside.  I don't know that I want to do another month-long trip like that anytime soon!

Summer was filled with craziness with pool trips, library trips, visits to the aquarium and catching movies.  But, overall it was fun.

On July 30th, we found out that the baby we are expecting is a girl!  So, that makes three girls and one boy for us.  This will be fun!

August 2nd, Princess Cranky Pants started school and now we're in September.  Almost two months of school down and getting ready for the arrival of Miller Lite.  Just ten weeks left.  It's gone so quickly.


And, hopefully I won't wait so long for the next blog post. :)

What we've been up to...

There is no excuse for my lack of posting.  So, I'm just going to move forward.

February and March were busy, as life often gets.  I spent some time in the ER at Tripler Army Medical Center in February for a ruptured ovarian cyst.  Thankfully there has not been any other issue with it.  In March, we moved from Mililani to Honolulu.  We decided to move on base for the remainder of our time here in Hawaii.  It reduces our expenses.  It was a stressful move.  I am thankful that it is over!

The move down to joint base Pearl Harbor-Hickam meant a move in school districts for Annika.  We decided, though, that we would let her choose whether she wanted to complete her school year at the current elementary school or move over to the new one.  She chose to stay at the old school.  She has already built up a rapport with her teacher and she absolutely loves her!  Mrs. K was so excited to have Annika for the rest of the year.  This will be good for Annika as she won't have to change curriculum and build up new relationships.

We are celebrating a few birthdays this month.  Good times, good times!

Not much longer until we're back to the mainland for a visit with family and friends!  Yay!  I know this is a boring update, but, there isn't much going on.  I'm fighting fatigue and nausea, but overall enjoying life!

Mahalo nui loa for reading my blog!

Super Bowl Sunday

It's been almost two months since I blogged last?  Wow.  Where does the time go?  Life has been crazy busy.  But fun-filled!  January was a packed month.  School, fun activities, etc.  The Lt. Dan Band was at Freedom Tower on 30 January, so we went to the free concert in the park.  It was great fun.  We were babysitting for some friends of ours and the girls had a blast!  Yesterday's F3 event was shopping, eating and haircuts.  Nothing new to report on this end.  Just keeping on keeping on.  Had some vog last week.  The temps have been mild and it's been rainy.  Overall, just right for the season.

I'll write more later... off to update Annika's school blog :-)

Mahalo nui loa!