Day with Jackson

I got to watch Jackson today while his parents went to a workshop downtown. Makaela was very excited and we spent the entire day coloring, stamping, making fake food and got to the park for some outdoor play. Both kids were NOT happy when Heidi and Mike came to pick up Jackson.

It's time I get her an Easel

Normally this would look pretty harmless but my quilt (that is covering the futon) is now covered in marker blots from being placed down without having caps on them. Of course, by this face, she never realized what she was doing was "bad"

Hula Lessons??

Yesterday we had a very busy Sunday that ended with a farewell party for the Bennetts. I worked with Cory for five years and he has been a very inspirational colleague. Cory has already finished his doctorate and is headed back to the mainland to be a professor. His wife is also amazing. It seems as though I follow Amanda: every time she gets pregnant, I get pregnant, so we had lots of mommy stories to swap and she was the one to turn me on to the Operation Kid Comfort Quilts that have Matt's pictures on them.

The party was held on the beach which is always nice, but they had a monstrous bouncy house that Makaela was in love with.

The party organizer arranged for a hula dancer to give a farewell dance for the Bennetts.

Mia and I watched it together but just at the tail end of it, I caught Makaela watching the dancer. I didn't realize how intently she had been watching her until I saw this occur:

After seeing this, I think dance lessons are in order.

Girlfriends

It's amazing how Makaela is following in her momma's footsteps. Coming to Hawaii has changed my life irrevocably- I have met girlfriends that have become such an influential and inspirational part of my life, so it is no surprise that my daughter has done the same.

Ilima's Graduation and the dress situation

For Makaela's May Day, she and I both wore the same dresses (from Rachel's Momi Boutique), but I decided to change for the Ilima graduation. It was a bit windy and I wanted to put Mia in the matching dress, so it might have looked too silly for me, Makaela and Mia to all be matching in front of my students. It was hysterical when Tanya showed up in the same exact dress!! I actually thought about this as I was getting dressed too and I was glad I went with my gut instinct not to wear the dress. People were having a hard time determining who was who's kid considering Tanya, Makaela and Mia all had the same dress on.

When we got there, the kids were in enamored with Makaela and Mia. One of my students ran up to Makaela and totally freaked her out to the point that she started whimpering (in her defense, he was a larger boy, but she was being overly dramatic). At first Mia looked frightened at 20+ kids crowding around her stroller, but in a matter of seconds she realized she loved the attention. My student Mark, played pick-a-boo with her until he had to line up for graduation- couldn't tear him away from her...umm, I may be thinking future babysitter material.

May Day 2011

Today was Makaela's first May Day (and sadly, probably her last), but after much deliberating, I decided to take a personal day so I could attend her assembly. The place was packed! Being an intermediate school teacher, I forgot how excited parents get at little ones' assemblies- the irony in this is that I should have realized this considering I took off, but I have learned my lesson that next time, I will show up 30 mins early to get a seat. Anyway, the kids were adorable- each age group/class represented a different island of Hawaii. Makaela's class represented Kaho'olawe and they had two songs to sing. The school was very thoughtful in that they corded off an area for parents to stand when their children got up to sing- once your child was done, you vacated the area for the next group of parents. So anyway, I got to get up nice and close to take some video and you can see from the video that she was more than thrilled to see me. It didn't hurt that I showed up in the same exact dress that she was wearing :-)

Sadly, my camera flashed "memory full" as Makaela's group sang the second song, but her teacher had the kids sing the songs over again for the parents back in the classroom. Here is the second song they sang. I am utterly amazed that Makaela memorized a song in Hawaiian- I'm thinking that I need to get her on some Rosetta Stone CDs. The girl is a sponge!

After the presentation, we had a potluck lunch and wow- there was tons of food. Hawaiian hospitality at its finest. Makaela told me we had to bring pasta salad so we did (and of course she didn't eat any of it), but we had fun eating everyone else's food. Her teacher also put me in charge of a little boy who parents couldn't come and it made me realize how important these things are.

I also got to watch a little girl spill milk on herself and blame Makaela for it- it took quite a bit of will power not to "correct" the situation, especially when she told her dad (all decked out in army fatigues) about it, but he noticed that Makaela hadn't been drinking milk, so I was so glad I didn't say anything. It's crazy how petty you get over your kids.

When it was time to go, Makaela was ...well, she was distraught, but I needed to get grading done. Many of the kids were the same way and the teachers were working overtime to coax and hug the kids. However, three hours later, when I picked her up to head to Ilima's graduation, she was happy as could be.

At bedtime, we copied the Weidas and now talk about the best part of our day and tonight she said the best part of her day was when her mommy came to have lunch with her at school...again, now I see the importance of taking off to make it to these functions.

Polo

The last time I went to a polo match, Makaela was less than 2 years old, so I was thrilled when Monica suggested it We all followed each other up to the North Shore to watch the "horsies".

It was great seeing the older ones play-we had brought up a tent and the kids bounced from the

tent to the back of cars, to the chairs and back again.

The younger ones enjoyed the pack-n-plays. I gave Mia her first apple slice in a chewing sack

and she must have sat in the wagon for a good 45 minutes just chewing away as happy as could be (which also made mommy happy).

I only got to watch a few minutes of the game (and couldn't tell you who won), but I enjoyed every minute of the day. After the game, the kids ran around with Uncle Brian and exhausted themselves to the point that Makaela was asleep by the time we got on the main road.I kept thinking, "When Matt gets back we have to do this again" but then realized that polo wouldn't be in season and the next time it was, we would be long gone- so sad :-(

USO Sesame Street

My Ombudsman forwarded some info on a USO Sesame Street show that was being given on the bases, so I thought it would be a great outing for Makaela. Steph graciously agreed to watch Mia and I took Gavin along with us. They gave out free Elmo light up toys which the kids LOVED and USO bandanas before the show started.

When Elmo and the gang took the stage, Makaela and Gav danced themselves silly.

Then it got a bit serious with a puppet named Katie who had to move again because her family was being transferred and her telling Elmo how "blue" she was because she was going to miss all her friends. While the little ones weren't paying too much attention to the lyrics, this mama was and ended up all teary eyed and emotional in the middle of a Sesame Street performance.

Listening to the lyrics made me realize what Makaela is going to experience in a few months and it's almost impossible to think of weekends without Gavin, Brooke, Abby and Jackson (and of course all the new little additions). And then I started thinking about my own circle of friends and well- I have to stop here before I start crying again. Anyway, I was grateful that Makaela and Gavin were able to lighten up my mood with their silly antics.

Inked

Makaela is obsessed with "tar-toos". She loves to look at mine and tells me how she is going to get a bunch like mine when she gets older (ohhh, please don't let me have another Kat Von D on my hands). She loves fake tattoos and just got a new one yesterday. When I asked her if she liked her Peace sign tattoo, she said, "It's not a peace sign, it the car sign".

Me: "Ugh"

Makaela: "You know mom, the sign on the car outside...on the hood" (at this point she is impatient with my stupidity).

I had no idea she even paid attention to cars and now I find out that she will be a tatted, Mercedes driving Diva...oh what fun I have to look forward to.

Movie Night at Seagull School

Tonight we had a movie night at Makaela's school. They try to do cutesy family activities and I try to do as many of them as I can with Makaela, but sometimes it's difficult to do with a full time job and an infant at home. My friend Laura offered to babysit so I took her up on her offer and had her watch Mia while Makaela and I ran off to do some Mommy and daughter bonding time (thanks Laura!!). Her school did a great job. They gave out free popcorn, sold pizza and drinks and had the whole place set up with themed decorations. They showed "Tangled" and even though Makaela has seen it a few times, she still squealed and laughed at all the right moments which made the night lots of fun. She literally sat in my lap the entire movie but the highlight of the night was her looking up and pointing out all the stars in the sky, telling me how "boo-tiful" they all were.

Raspberry Queen

Mia just loves blowing raspberries and it's so cute (unless of course she is spraying you with pureed peas).

Splish Splash

A few weeks ago, I started singing "Splish Splash" during bathtime and Makaela couldn't get enough of it. It has become a nightly ritual and I finally got it on camera. She still doesn't have it down pat, but the mistakes make this rendition priceless (please ignore my terrible voice though).

Our Twisted Temporary Babysitter

While our babysitter Kristen had family in town, Brian agreed to take off from work to stay home with Brooke, Makenzie and Mia on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. All the girls have a communication book so we can see what they day was like and when they ate. When I picked up Mia this week, my communication log was very colorful and in true Weida style, it had entirely too many references to alcohol, breast milk and fecal matter. Although his notes would deem him totally unfit to watch small children (or even big children for that matter), they had me in hysterics...however, I am left wondering how many brain cells Brian killed trying to come up with some of these lines.

Picnic in the Park

My dad called and asked me what a mom does on a Saturday night when her husband is out of town...well, I told him I had a hot date. Another perk to being back in the townhome is that Ocean Pointe has many parks within walking distance, so Makaela and I made some turkey sandwiches (and then painstakingly used cookie cutters to make the sandwiches into flowers), took my Mother's Day goody bag and a blanket and headed to the park. There is a small park within walking distance (Makaela's walking distance) and she felt like a big girl not being in the stroller. The walk was slow, but it was fun having her point out every gecko and lizard we passed. Makaela is loving all the kids in the area and played with two little boys there who are now her "friends". On the way home, she said that she can't wait to tell her teachers about her "pimp-nick". That should be an interesting one to explain to her teachers.

Playing "hide and go seek" with her new friend.

Off to the pool

Makaela loves her "new tiny home" but I think the real reason is because she now has a pool at her disposal. This morning she was up at 6, dressed in her bathing suit just waiting for the pool to open. She was all ready with her new personalized Ariel towel (a gift from Aunt Donna and Uncle Gerry)

She wasn't too pleased when Mia fell asleep, but she was as patient as a three year old could be and when we finally did leave, she skipped all the way to the pool.

Seeing Mia at the pool was surreal because when we moved out of the townhome, Makaela was Mia's age. Being there again today brought back a lot of memories.

Musical Beds

It seems that whatever magazine I read, there is some article about sleep training and after last night, I now know why. We have all been under the weather, so sleep hasn't come so easily the last few nights. Last night, I decided to go to bed at 9pm, postponing the usual nightime clean-up routine and the blogging I wanted to do. So glad I did. Mia was up by 10:30pm and in my bed for another feeding session and coughing fit. This is extremely odd because she had only gone to bed at 8pm (instead of her usual 6:30) and she is usually a great sleeper. Around midnight, I felt another body trying to enter the bed: Makaela had woken up and then I hopped out of bed to put Mia back in her crib (didn't want Makaela rolling over on her). At 2ish, I heard Mia again, so picked up Makaela, put her back in her bed and decided that I wasn't doing this anymore. I tried to hush Mia back to sleep without picking her up- bad idea. Her crying led to two waking girls. I quieted Makaela back to bed, gave up and took Mia back in mine. I got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep before waking with Mia at 5. Oh the joys. It's difficult living in the townhome though- if I let Mia cry it out, I'm afraid I will disturb the neighbors. I really hope things go back to the way they were before Mia got sick otherwise as soon as summer starts, we are doing sleep training again.

Sick :-(

Last night was curriculum night, so I asked Melissa to babysit while I headed out to meet with my students' parents. When I got home, I was shocked to hear that Mia was crying and was still awake. She usually goes to bed around 6:30 and is adamant about her sleeping (girl throws a fit if she is not in bed on time). I was able to get her down but at 10:30, she was up again and burning up. Her breathing was labored and she was coughing. I grabbed the vapor rub, rubbed her down and laid her in bed with me. The next few hours were a cycle of 15 mins of sleeping, up with coughs, attempts to get her to take Tylenol which resulted in lots of vomiting, crying and then settling down for another 15 minute nap. By 3am, I was considering taking her to the ER because her fever was 102, but realized that I would have had to take Makaela too- no one was here to watch her. I vowed to hang in there until 6am so I could call for a dr's appt. If I couldn't get a dr's appt, I would have dropped Makaela at school and headed to the ER, but luckily I got an appt. Problem was it was at 1pm. I don't have anymore sick days on the books, so I tried to find someone to stay home with Mia, but couldn't. I was glad though because she was so sick. I was finally able to get some tylenol in her and her fever came down to a 100 by the time we went to see the doctor. She was such a trooper. Even feeling as badly as she did, she was still all smiles at the doctor's and even ran some errands with me.

After this ordeal, I have a newfound respect for single moms. As a military wife, at least I can say that in a few months, I will have Matt home to help out, but single moms don't. Agonizing over going to the ER and waking Makaela was a dilemma I hope I never find myself in again, but I imagine single moms find themselves in similar scenarios more often than not. I will be so glad when Matt comes home and I have someone else to lean on. My friends are amazing, but at 3am and with 102 fevers, I really need Daddy around.

My Mother's Day gifts

Makaela was so excited about my Mother's Day gift, she couldn't wait to tell me about it. She tried to show it to me on Tuesday but her teacher pulled her aside and whispered something in her ear. The next day she came home from school and told me that she made me a gift but that it was a secret and that the basket she made me with all the goodies in it was going to be a surprise. Guess a job in intel and security won't be in her future :-)

Mia (thanks to Auntie Kristen) made me a little poem with her handprints on them. I'm such a lucky mama!

Mother's Day 2011

Unfortunately, my mom had to leave on Thursday, so we didn't get to celebrate Mother's Day with her, but I am so grateful she came out. She helped us so much with the move; I don't think I could have gotten through it (and as unpacked as I am) without her help. Love you mom!!

To celebrate, Matt Martin invited me over to a Mother's Day brunch at the Martin household and he cooked everything!! It was sooo nice to have a catered brunch- he did such a great job and it was a delicious spread. The mimosas were a very nice touch and as much as I would have loved to enjoy them a bit more, this nursing mama had to put a cap on two :-) While it was a rainy morning, brunch on the deck with two other of my favorite mommies brightened the day.

The kids had a great time and played by themselves while the adults ate in relative peace.

After brunch, we picked up the pooches from the groomers (a mother's day gift to myself- it's shedding season) and went home to unpack more. The girls were fabulous and I am so amazed that God gave them to me. They have truly defined my purpose in life and I count my blessings everyday.

6 Months of Mia

Difficult to believe that 6 months ago, my Mia was welcomed into the world (by all her fabulous aunties). The fact that she has already been around for 1/2 a year is too much. It feels like just yesterday I was in the hospital giving birth, but then again, I feel like she has been around forever. She is currently 16.8 lbs and 26 inches long. She is perfectly average, marking the 50th percentile for both height and weight. I guess she will be taking after me rather than her daddy. It was a bit shocking to hear thought- I thought she was going to be higher in her weight since her thighs give new meaning to "Michelin baby", but doctor said she is doing great and we aren't overfeeding her. I am still making homemade baby food, which is definitely prefers and we are now eating, green beans, prunes, yams, squash, pears (loves!), applesauce, and most currently, peas. She likes the peas, but is still getting used to the texture. She has also started sitting up on her own!

"Everyone Does It"

My darling daughter has a keen nose and is more than ready to let us know when Mia has a poopy diaper or one of the dogs have farted, so when she farted today, I looked at her and asked, "Did you fart?" In retrospect, this was a stupid question- one of the those questions that I already know the answer for, but I was hoping to teach her a lesson about being polite and saying "excuse me", so when I asked this, I got a fairly appropriate response. She gave me the cocked eyebrow and sighed exasperately, "Yeahhhh, everyone farts".

My mom and I had to hide our laughter.