What happens when...

What happens when a hungry 18 month old wakes up, finds cookies (that mommy was eating the day before) ....while mommy and daddy is sleeping and too tired to wake up?

She figures out how to open it and GRINDZ!

(Please pardon the hana-bata. Na'u caught a cold.)

Na'u made a HUGE mess on our freshly washed sheets...right next to her sleeping daddy. WAKE UP DAD!!!

"No. I'm not having twins."

Usually when I go out, I always have some random person comment on my pregnant status. Starting around 4 or 5 months (til the time I give birth) I have conversations that for the most part goes like this.

Stranger: You must be having your baby soon.

Me: No. Still have ______ more months to go.

Stranger: Really?! Are you having twins?

Me: Nope. There's just one in there.

Stranger: Oh WOW! You're really big!

I had this same exact conversation during my first pregnancy, and now with my second. I used to get offended and sometimes even cry to Cameron. Bad enough pregnant women already feel huge and not very pretty, and then you have complete strangers just "kick" you even more. People can be so stupid and rude sometimes. I think I have gotten way better since being pregnant with Na'u. I just smile and don't react to any comments. I've just accepted the fact that I get huge when pregnant and it's okay. Just as long as baby and I are healthy, thats all that matters.

Two weeks ago I went in for my 7th month check up. My regular doctor wasn't in so I had to see one of the other doctors that was available.

Doc: (He measures my stomach) "You're right on target. You are exactly what you should be."

Me: "I love hearing that. Most people just tell me that I'm big." (At every check-up my doctor always tells me that I'm right on.)

Doc: "Well, how much have you gained?"

Me: "Um...around # lbs."

Doc: While looking at my chart, "Actually you're a little under. With how far along you are, you're under."

Me: (Feeling good) "Well, how many weeks am I?" (I know how far along only month wise.)

Doc: "Um...looks like you're 35 weeks."

Me: "Really?....I didn't think I was that far along."

Doc: "You're due in....July right?"

Me: "Yeah. July 10th."

Doc: Thinking. "Wait that doesn't make sense. Hold on just a minute."

He then walks out and comes back in. "Yeah. You're only 31 1/2 weeks. You are big."

He explained to me that since I was measuring the size that I needed to be in 4 weeks, he was concerned for baby's weight. He then proceeds to schedule an ultrasound for the following week.

I got home and explained the whole thing to Cameron. I was worried. Was he really too big? Why? Is something wrong with him? Was I going to have to give birth to a 10 lbs baby? If baby was getting too big too fast, would they induce me early? Tons of questions ran through my head and I had to wait a whole week for my ultrasound. It felt sooo long.

My appointment rolled around and we went to the Queen's Women's Health Center as a family, me, Cam and Na'u. I was excited to see my little man again but not looking forward to find out if anything was wrong.

We got to see his face (I think that he's going to have big lips :), torso, little fingers and toes, his heart beat, and yes, he is still a boy. Since he's alot bigger from the original 5 month ultrasound, we could see eveything loud and clear.

We even caught him yawning.

The doctor said that everything with baby looked fine and that he was measuring at a chubby, but normal, 4 lbs 8 oz. She showed baby's head on my bottom right side with his okole coming around my left, legs stretched back across the top of my belly with his feet ending by his head. She went back to my left side and pointed out a large dark area explaing that it was fluid. From what she could see, it looked like there was alot more fluid than normal. The pictures taken were still going to be analyzed but the extra fluid was probably causing my bigness. She also said that it will be up to my regular doctor on how closely he wants to watch this but that they would be more concerned if there wasn't enough fluid.

I left the appointment happy and content with the results. We are both doing great and just about 7 more weeks to go. I know that Heavenly Father is watching over us and I feel so blessed to be entrusted with another child. I'm so grateful to be a mom and especially for all the blessings that we enjoy.

Oh yeah...now when people tell me I'm big, I can tell them that my belly is mostly fluid :).

Feedin the Ducks and a little BIG Surprise!

Every thursday there is a play group that is organized by different moms from church. It goes for about 2 hours with kids playing and mothers mingling. Most times we meet at church but yesterday we all meet at the Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden in Kaneohe. It was beautiful! I was especially excited to go to this play group because they had ducks. I wanted to show them to Na'u (her first experience with ducks) and let her feed them. We were lucky too since daddy came along.

Her throwing skills weren't very good :). She tried to throw the Cheerios but they just ended up right in front of my legs. So...all the ducks and this one goose came right up to us which was no problem since this girl loves animals!

Na'u thinking, "Feed the duck 1, me 5." She loves Cheerios!

Notice how full Na'u's mouth is? She couldn't even smile for the picture :).

If you live on Oahu and you want to join us moms, just come. Everyone is welcomed...even dads. You can check out the play group's blog at http://honolulumamas.blogspot.com/ for upcoming events. We have alot of fun and know that you will too.

If you haven't heard or noticed from the above pictures, we are expecting baby #2. HE is due in about 2 months on July 10.

We are so EXCITED!!

Family Day @ Hanauma Bay

I think it's about time for a new post :). This past Monday, since Cameron was off, we decided to have a family day at Hanauma Bay. For those of you who have never been, its a little bay where they have pretty good snorkeling. There are tons of big, colorful fish with lots of turtles. This bay is a tourist attraction which means you need to pay $5 get in (sucks for tourists) ...if you're kama'aina, just show them your id and you get in free. But there's a catch, we ALL have to watch this 10-15 minute informational video of "look, but don't touch." It's kind of irritating but there are those not-so-bright people who still walk on the reef after being told not to. Anyways, we had a fun day with our little family and thanks to our friends, Aho, Gabs and Ola, for keeping us company.

Here Na'u is playing in the sand.
This girl LOVES the beach. She's a little fish no matter if the water is cold.

Cameron and Aho got to go out snorkeling first while the mommies stayed on the beach with the babies. When the daddies were done, they came and took over. When the mommies were finished, we came back and found this.

Why is it that when it's time for the daddies to watch the kiddies, the kiddies then decide to take a nap? I don't know.

While Cam was napping (still 1/2 awake), he over heard the following conversation from the lifeguards.

Life guard 1: Ho...that's pretty krypt.

Life guard 2: What?

Life guard 1: Check out those two guys with their kids.

He also heard similar comments from random people passing. We mommies thought that it was a very cute momment.

Here's a short video that Cam made of our day. Enjoy!

Our Halloween

Last week, Na'u and I went to Maui to watch Kayla get baptized. It was such a special day for her. Kayla, you looked so pretty in white and we are so happy we could be apart of it!

Congratulations Kayla!

Since we were on Maui and Halloween was the day after Kayla's big day, I figure we spend it with lots of cousins. It was Na'ulei's first Halloween and we had so much fun. I wanted Na'u to have a really good costume and was totally racking my brain to come up with something. I was inspired at a UH football game by one of the band members. Here she is....

...our little SPAM MUSUBI!

Here's the back view, nori and all.

If you don't get it...

....maybe this view is better :).

I had to dress up too. To go along with the theme, I was the musubi/sushi chef.

I think we made a great pair :)!

First, we went to Lia's brother's house to go trick-or-treating. Here are all the kids that went. We had a Sleeping Beauty (Teija), Selina Gomez (Kayla), a cheerleader (Lynea), army men (Kainalu and Kamalei), cats (some friends), a musubi (Na'u), and a Tinkerbell (Kailea).

We even had a cute Little Red Riding Hood (Miss My) with Red Riding Hood's Grandma (Lia).

We went house to house around 6:00pm and I guess that was a little early because not too many people were handing out candy. Na'u loved her little pumpkin pail, which she held on to super tight. We followed the other kids up to the door to collect the goods. It wasn't 'til a few houses later that things were in her bucket. Then, all she wanted to do was reach in and examine each one :).

After that, we went to the Makawao Halloween party. While waiting in line for the yummy chili and corn bread dinner, this Chinese man started tickling Na'u with his beard. She was cracking up. The Chinese man calls himself the "Hawaiian" Hypnotist...but he looks more Chinese to me.

After dinner, the kiddies were let loose to go trunk-or-treating. The kids went round and round until all the candy was gone. First round, I held onto Na'u while she held on to her pumpkin.

Second time, I let her walk around.

To my surprise, she actually walked up to a few trunks on her own holding out her pumpkin for the parents to put candy in. Too cute!

After walking and getting enough candy, she went to a grassy area to continue examining each candy...making sure it was the real deal :). She was very happy.

This was Na'ulei by the time we got home. I guess I should have told her that collecting free goodies would be exhausting :).

Thank you Maui Tuitele's and Akinaka's for a great vacation and letting us stay at your house. It was a nice change of scenery. Hopefully we can make it another time with Cameron.

ROTTEN!

A few posts ago, we mentioned our pumkin project, which we thought came out pretty good. University of Hawaii was the theme, and we did the new logo.

Here is what it looked like then...

AND HERE IT IS NOW....

(mildew and pumpkin juice was all that was left of our creation...almost like whats left of our football season!! GO BOWS!)

It didn't make it to Halloween. Oh well, I guess next year we'll delay the carving till the week of.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

We Love Cousins!

I just had to post these pictures from when the Maui cousins were over.

Here they are...Na'u, Myla, and Kailea sporting the pigtails. I know, I know...you just have to look very closely to see Na'u's. Myla has TONS of hair that beat both Na'u and sister Kailea...put together!
HELLO??!!!

Wassup, Dude!

I just have to share....
One night, Clarke and Lia went on a date. A date wouldn't be a date if all the kids went along so, I stepped in to watch the keikis. Kayla and Teija were content with watching the Disney station so I pretty much had to keep an eye on Na'u and Kailea (Myla got to go with mommy and daddy). If you know Kailea, she takes a while to warm up to most people. My mission when ever I see her is to break that little shell. I guess now that she's a little older, it's a little easier but I still have to do some work. Well, this particular night, Kailea was fine with mommy and daddy gone and was actually talking my ear off. I loved it. I don't think I've heard her talk so much.

We were playing and talking and then all of a sudden Kailea says, "My mommy and daddy came home." I then tell her, "Quick! Hide!"

She quickly gets up and finds the best hiding spot....under the rocking chair.

Someone (Na'ulei) sees the action going on and wants to join in the fun. She then proceeds to squeeze through the small opening to be with cousin.

Na'u's thoughts, "It's a little tight but, we can fit! Hmmmm, this is actually quite comfy."

Kailea's thoughts..."Well, false alarm. Mommy and Daddy wasn't home yet so we came out. That was fun though!"

I love my cousin!

This was so funny!
We definitely can't wait to see the Maui Tui's again! Never a dull moment!

Clarke, Lia, I hope watching the kids for a little bit was something in your book :). I know it wasn't an over night thing like good Aunty Megan but it has to count for something.

Thoughts on My Mind

Due to some recent events, I (Lohi) have been doing ALOT of thinking.

First off, I am so grateful for EVERYTHING and EVERYONE that is in my life. I have a wonderful husband who takes care of our little family. We are the best of friends and we have fun wherever we are. There is no one else I'd rather be with :). We've been blessed with a beautiful daughter who definitely keeps us on our toes. She is almost 11 months and is already Miss Independant. We live for those hugs and kisses, smiles, laughter, and pretty eyes. We love Na'u soooo much and couldn't see our lives without her. I come from a wonderful family with loving parents. It's so much fun to have 6 siblings because dull moments are rare. We are constantly laughing and having a great time. We have tons of friends that we know we can count on if we ever need anything. I'm grateful to have the true gospel apart of my life. I have been raised in the church and I know that we have a Heavenly Father and Savior. They LOVE us so much and only want whats best for us.

So far, life has been wonderful. We've been married for 3 years now and I am very happy of where we are in life. We aren't perfect but we are trying to improve as a family everyday. Being idle isn't going to make the cut. Our ultimate goal is to live with our Heaveny Father and to inherit all that he has to offer.

I remember a while back, our family had the missionaries over. Their lesson was about fortifying your castle walls. If you do what you're suppose to be doing (reading scriptures, prayer, FHE, attending church etc.), you are building up your defenses for when opposition comes your way. This lesson has always stuck with me. With all the things in this world and choices that we are faced with, it can be difficult to stand strong and steadfast. It can seem so easy to take the easy way out and do what we want but, will it be worth it in the long run?

We are all faced with trials. In the 1995 Conference Report I found a quote. "Trials, disappointments, sadness, and heartache come to us from two basically different sources. Those who transgress the laws of God will always have those challenges. The other reason for adversity is to accomplish the Lord's own purposes in our life that we may receive the refinement that comes from testing. ...[Some trials] are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more." Heavenly Father gives us trials that He knows we can overcome. We will never be left alone. In Alma 36:3 it says, "...I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day." I'm grateful that I have endured the trials that I have faced thus far and hope to endure things that will come our way.

Since being a Temple Prep and Relief Society teacher, I have touched on a certain topic a few times...our Savior. Jesus Christ is ALWAYS constant. He will ALWAYS be there for us. Are we willing to come unto Him? Most of the time, it is our actions/feelings that keep us from reaching out to Him. We are the part of the equation that changes. Sometimes I feel ashamed and unworthy to come to Him. Sometimes I forget that He knows exactly what I'm going through. He paid the ultimate price for me. Tonight I read a scripture in 2 Nephi 9:21, "And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam." I hope that I can always remember His sacrifice for me and always keep my end of the bargin.

This is my favorite picture of Christ.

Sorry for sounding like a sacrament meeting talk (not that anything is wrong with that) but I just wanted to share with you what I'm feeling right now. I hope we can all stand with Heavenly Father and Savior when the time comes.