Hanging around with Dad

It's been nice to have Matt home. Since he is on leave, he doesn't have to rush to work every morning, but he has been getting up and driving both me and Makaela to school every morning. Makaela and Daddy have resumed their pancakes and eggies breakfast dates and once again, the little miss is getting spoiled. She is definitely getting used to having her two parents around all the time and is basically dictating which one she will spend time with (this is a euphemism for "bossiness"). We frequently hear the following:

• "You no drive mommy. My daddy drive instead"
• "My daddy take me to school"
• "No talk daddy, I talking to my mommy"
• "You and mommy share nighttime. You do bubbles and mommy read for me" [referring to our nighttime routines]
• When Matt talks to her about the fact that he will have to leave again, she says, "I go with you Daddy" (augh)

I can tell you what she is not getting used to though: having to watch and listen to football games again and having her daddy leave the toilet seat up.

32 weeks

I had my 32 week appointment today and all is going well. I am only measuring 31 weeks and have only gained 1 pound since my last appointment which is actually nice news for me to hear since people have been telling me that I am enormous. Mia's heart rate is great- in the 140s and she is moving lots. I can already tell her wake/sleep patterns and love feeling her hiccups. I have another ultrasound in two weeks to see how she is growing and I'm looking forward to that appointment, but unfortunately, it is one day too late for Matt. He leaves on Oct 3rd and our ultrasound is on Oct 4th. Oh well.

Makaela-isms

A friend of mine has running blog entries called "Tidbits from ..." and they are all the funny things that her daughter says. Makaela has finally entered that age where some of her comments are downright hysterical and I need to share them or else I may forget. So, here goes:

• Makaela and I were working on her Fisher Price computer she got for her bday from her grandparents. There is a program that teaches habitats, so we were checking out the rainforest habitat and I said, "oh, here is a parrot". She turns to me and says, "Ma, that's no parrot, it's a scarlet macaw." And here I thought watching TV zapped the mind- thanks Diego for making mom look like an idiot.


• She wanted me to drive Leila over to Monica and Brian's house and when I asked why, she said, "Brooke sad. She no have no doggies. I have two. I share her Leila and I keep Bailey." When I told her that I would miss Leila, she said, "But Uncle Brian will drive her back some days". Didn't know there were such things as doggy visitations.


• She has been fascinated with my teeth lately (well ever since my cap fell off and I had to get a silver cap). While looking at them one night, she said, "Your teeth dirty. I go brush mine so mine don't look ugly like yours". Better learn that now kid and save me lots of future dentist bills.


• As we were getting ready for bed, I caught her jumping up in the air and wiggling her butt. When I asked her what she was doing she said, "I'm Mia, wiggling my butt in your belly." So cute!!

Makaela's birthday party at the zoo

We postponed Makaela's birthday party by a week in order to have more time to prep for it and give Matt some time to settle back into homelife. I decided to have it at the zoo because I didn't think Matt was going to be home and wanted to avoid cleaning and decorating the house. Makaela said she wanted a Dora and Diego birthday so the zoo seemed like a great place to host it. I spent most of Friday night prepping breakfast foods and then this morning, got up to bake all of it. Makaela and Matt iced the cake and put together Dora (which I made the night before). I think more frosting went in Makaela's mouth than on the cake though.
As we were driving down to the zoo, it was pouring. I was freaking out. Luckily, the gods smile on the tourists in Waikiki and it was clear down there. As we were walking into the zoo, Matt had a mishap and the beautiful cake he and Makaela just made, ended up upside down on the floor. Matt was so upset, but we tried to get him over it. Makaela started dancing around him singing, "this is the best birthday ever, this is the best birthday ever", which made Matt feel better. Luckily we were able to reconstruct the cake before everyone arrived for the party. Once everyone got there, we started making our "backpacks" and "rescue packs". The kids got all dirty with stamps, markers and stickers. It totally fit into our Dora theme.

Gavin, Brooke and Makaela wore their rescue pack/backpacks the entire day. After the arts and crafts, the kids ran around the banyan tree pretending to be Diego (Gavin), Alicia (Makaela) and Dora (Brooke). There were a few falls, but the kids were so into their game of "pretend", they got right back up and kept playing.

After the game, we ventured out to "rescue" the animals and "explore". The kids were so cute holding hands and having toddler conversations about them. Listen to the way Makaela says "zebra".

We sang to Makaela with her patched up birthday cake minus the candles (I thought the zoo would frown upon open flames) and the kids, pigeons and peacocks feasted on strawberry Dora cake.

Makaela was utterly exhausted and passed out in the car before we even got on the highway to head back home. We had a great time and I will treasure Makaela's mantra from today "this is the best birthday ever". I hope she says this every year.

Happy Birthday Makaela

Wow- we had a full filled day. This morning we woke up and made colored pancakes. As I was flipping the pancakes, I turned around to find Makaela's mouth and face green. She had sucked up all the green food coloring. What a scene, thus we were forced to move on to making purple pancakes. Then we headed to the waterpark to hang out with the Martins. Makaela and Abby had a great time going down the slides, running around and finally cruizing down the lazy river.

From there we headed down to Kapiolani Hospital to meet the newest member of the Buelow family: little Dylan. He looks so much like Gavin did, it's amazing. The hospital room was packed and Makaela got to hang out with Gavin, Zack, Jackson and Dylan. After the hospital visit, we headed down to Chuck's for Makaela's birthday dinner after we opened up some gifts. She loves to see the koi fish there and we love the food, so it was a perfect choice. We finished the evening singing "Happy Birthday" and sharing Chuck's mud pie. Yum! Makaela passed out in the car on the way home from all the excitement.

Welcome Home Matt

Yesterday I got a phone call from Matt telling me to be at the airport at 5pm to...pick him up! His deployment to Iraq has been delayed because he has been experiencing some internal bleeding and acid reflux problems (same issues he has been dealing with for the past 10 years). While the Navy is figuring what to do with him and waiting for his medical issues to clear up, he has been sent to San Diego. Since he has nothing to do in San Diego, they gave him three weeks leave. I didn't tell Makaela at first, but on the way to the airport, I filled her in and she was so excited. She picked out a blue and yellow lei for him and told the lady at the lei stand she was "picking up daddy". When we got him, she made him sit in the back seat with him and then hugged him all through dinner. It is so nice to have him home for the time being.

Labor Day

We headed out to the Ko'olina Luau Lagoon with the Buelows and the Martins to soak up some sun and swim for a bit. The kids enjoyed following the turtles, surfing on the boogie boards and singing at the tops of their lungs.

Triple Blessings

Today we had a girls' day at Lisa's pool and it doubled as a shower for the second time mommies: Monica, Steph and myself. The men took care of the kids (at least the mobile ones) and gave us Mommies a chance to relax and I have to admit, I almost dozed off a few times because it was that relaxing. After a hearty BBQ and a delicious cake (that I could have eaten entirely), we opened up gifts. Although Monica already had little Makenzie, it's easier to buy things for her now that we know she is a little girl instead of just buying yellow clothes :-) Steph is due this week so it was a great way to get Steph those last minute things. I was so touched by my gifts- lots of thought went into them and now I am so excited, I can hardly wait for Mia to make her arrival. Plus, Rich washed my car while we were lounging which was sooooo super nice. I definitely got spoiled this weekend. We did have a fun time doing belly comparisons and just catching up on each other's lives. Lots of 2010 blessings to look forward to.

Lisa (7 months), me (7 1/2 months) and Steph (due in 5 days!!)

This was a picture of me and Steph when I was 7 months pregnant with Makaela and she was 4 months along with Gavin.

This is how rumors get started...

Today in school, one of my male students asked to fill up his water bottle in my office. I agreed because Ewa is super hot. After 2 minutes, he comes out of my office and says, "Miss, your water is broken- it just keeps coming out." I was baffled because it's pretty tough to break a sink, well it turns out that he tried to take water out of my refrigerated water jug, not the sink. The jug, however, doesn't work properly and the buttons get stuck, so by the time I realize what he is talking about, my office has a nice sized flood in it. At this point, his reading partner (a very hyper boy) comes in to help. Rightfully so, I was definitely irritated and told him to go find a mop so he could clean this up. Both boys leave and I continue on with my lesson vowing not to let kids in my office anymore.

About 5 minutes later, I get a phone call from my Vice Principal. He is laughing hysterically asking me if I need EMS on the scene. Not knowing what was up, I told him to stop being dramatic, all we needed was a mop. He then relayed the scene that just unfolded in his office. Instead of going to the custodians, the boys ran to the VP and said in frantic voices, "The water is broken and all over the floor". VP-"What do you mean?" Kids-"The water is all over the floor and we need a mop to clean it up" VP-"Where is this happening?" Kids- "In Ms. Hoffman's room". So, my VP thinks that my water broke and I was in labor. Now he starts getting a bit panicked "Does she need an ambulance?" Kids (totally baffled) "No, just a mop". I was told that this kind of "whose on first" exchange occurred a bit longer before the kids actually articulated that a water fountain broke, not Ms. Hoffman who sprung a leak.

It has now become a joke amongst our team teachers and students that Ms. Hoffman's water broke.
A picture from earlier this week at 7 months pregnant.

An update on Matt

Matt had some unfortunate news this past week. The problems with his esophagus and reflux have started up again and after he had to go to medical for treatment. After yet another scope, doctors have decided not to clear him for Iraq just yet. They have delayed his departure for 5 weeks until they can determine if the problem will clear up or not. On a positive note, they did approve him for 2 weeks of leave so he can come back to Hawaii to see us, but we are unsure of when this will occur.

While most people might think that delaying Iraq is a good thing, it complicates Matt's situation a bit. He will not get to leave with the group of men he has been training with. He also has to work in an office for 5 weeks doing menial paperwork (which if you know Matt, this is torture for him) and finally, this will probably interfere with any plans he had of coming home for Mia's birth. He needs 60 days in Iraq before he qualifies for R & R and if he is delayed by 5 weeks, there is no way Mia's birth will coincide with his R & R window. However, whenever he does get R & R, I'm sure we will make the most of it and do a fun family vacation.

Everything is still up in the air, but things happen for a reason and we will just see what comes about. Right now we are just excited to see him again.

Big Sister in Training

I have been very tired lately and neglecting my blogging, but I need to get some of these stories down before I forget them.

-She has finally learned that her new sister will be called Mia, not Mee-na.

-At bedtime Makaela asks, "Cuddle for me mama", so I lay down in her little toddler bed and cuddle with her the best I can. Of course this is when Mia thinks it's time to wake up, so my belly usually experiences a lot of action. Last night I asked if Makaela if she wanted to feel the baby move. They got all excited when she felt something, but the excitement was short-lived. I guess feeling her mama's belly is not that engaging. About a minute later into our cuddle session, she leans up, looks at my belly, then at me and says with her eyebrows furrowed "Mama, Mia pushed me- (then talking directly to my belly) no push me Mia." I can just feel the sisterly love blossoming!

-When I do her hair in the morning, I sit her between my legs on the chair. This morning, she slide off the chair, so what does this darling child say to me, "Your belly no fit on the chair anymore". Thanks kid!

-We have a very tight routine in the morning, so I can make it to school on time. If she wakes up early, she knows she can watch Dora while I dress her. This morning, after dressing her, I thought I would let her stay upstairs watching TV until I was done prepping and packing the car. At 6:40, Makaela still wasn't downstairs, which is odd because Dora ends at 6:30 so I went upstairs to investigate. Makaela was still sitting on my bed watching Dora. When I asked what was going on, she got all excited and told me that there were two Doras on. Unbeknownst to me Nickelodean changed their morning lineup, so I tell her "We can't watch two Doras- that's too much TV (especially when I need to leave the house in 5 minutes)." Then she retorts, "Ma, it's not five Doras, just two" and tsks me under her breath. Suddenly I'm the overdramatic Mom...when did this happen?