Also, As I'm sure you can all see, I got VERY behind on these posts this time. I plan to spend the next week here getting things back up to date. Stay tuned :)
Monday, April 21, 2008
December Pics
Since I have been taking obnoxious amounts of pictures, I thought I'd post some of the slightly better ones from each month as well. Most of these are just us at home doing our thing.
Also, As I'm sure you can all see, I got VERY behind on these posts this time. I plan to spend the next week here getting things back up to date. Stay tuned :)
Also, As I'm sure you can all see, I got VERY behind on these posts this time. I plan to spend the next week here getting things back up to date. Stay tuned :)
Maunawili Christmas Party
Last day of class for the kids before Christmas break, the kindergarten classes put on a little show with some songs and such followed by a potluck in the classrooms. Mr. Amine the principal dressed up as Santa. Really cute day.
Santa!
We took the munchkins to Pearl Ridge again this year for the Santa there. No one is as good as Santa Dan in MN but this guy has a pretty good sense of humor. Leila however, was NOT amused.
Buma's Visit
The first grandparent to make it to town after Leila’s birth was, of course, my mom. Pretty low key visit since we were dealing with a newborn. It was nice for her to see a bit more of our day-to-day stuff though. She got to walk Tanner to school and have breakfast with him at the Maunawili Cafeteria. We even managed to fit in a few short shopping excursions. The real focus of the trip, of course, was Leila and getting to know her first granddaughter first hand.
Thanksgiving – Belated
This year’s Thanksgiving feast at Billy & Dawn’s was a bit belated but that was fine with us. We certainly wouldn’t have made it otherwise. As with last year, the imu style turkey was amazing. This year though, the crowd was a bit larger and Buma was in town to join us too!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
The last two weeks
In the days following Thanksgiving, things have been pretty low key. We've just been taking each day one day at a time and trying to be as flexible as possible. Yooper and I realized there was a fair amount of stuff we had forgotten from the first time around or had yet to deal with. Changing a little girls diapers was a bit odd at first. Brushing up on things like newborn swaddling, car seat installation, and burping all took a bit of a learning curve to recall. Also, Leila and I had a bit to figure out with the whole breatfeeding thing. Tanner was bottle fed so this is new territory for both of us. Again, I'll spare the details but let's just say that it took a few days to work out the bugs.
We're now at the point that a routine is finally starting to emerge and I'm physically mostly back to normal. I feel well enough to get back to all my normal activities of shopping and house stuff but Leila doesn't always allow it. We have to plan any activities around the feeding schedule which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Sunday I had to make a run to the parking lot to nurse in the midst of a Lowes excursion. So much for timing on that one.
I think the biggest challenge so far, of course, is sleep. I have such a long list of stuff to do that I try to be as productive as possible with my time, often at the expense of taking naps and sleeping as late as I need to. I realized over the weekend that I have no idea how I am still functioning with the current sleep deficit I'm on. At merely 4-6 hours per night for the last two weeks, I should be unconsious but somehow, I have managed to not only keep going, but stay fairly energetic which is very different that how I usually react to lack of sleep. Ususally on the 3rd or 4th night of that kind of schedule, I will shut down completely. Must be some sort of postpartum energy store I have tapped into. I have made a promise to myself to try and get as much sleep as possible this week and finally catch up. We'll see how that goes.
At first Leila wasn't sleeping well in her crib. Mostly because she's pretty squirmy and really doesn't like her arms in the swaddle. This meant pretty cold nights for her. It's winter time here which means some nights get in the low to mid 60's. Without a furnace to take the chill off, that's a bit too cold for a newborn. Yooper and I decided to bring her in with us and everyone has slept much better since. If she gets a bit of a chill, one of us can cuddle closer and she usually settles right down. We're a bit worried about spoiling her and when is most appropriate to cut off the special treatment but I feel that the risk far outweighs letting the poor thing freeze in her crib. And yes, we're very careful :)
All in all though, Leila has been a perfect baby so far. I say so far because I'm terrified of jinxing myself and I read somewhere that colic usually starts up around two weeks. So far however, she only fusses when hungry or getting changed. She really doesn't like the cold wipes :) She seems to be growing a ton already too. Her last checkup was at eight days old and she was already back to birth weight. Not a chubby baby though, very long and lean. She still doesn't seem to be getting close to fitting into the 0-3 month stuff though. I only had one onesie that fit her when we got home because she was such a peanut. I actually had to brave the mall on the day after Thanksgiving to get a few outfits that would fit her. Some longsleeve stuff too for the cold nights. Unfortunately, they only had longsleeves in blue with a winter theme - see pics below. Snowmen and "Let it Snow" in Hawaii? Oh well.
I think one of the most surprising things about her so far is how much she looks like Tanner. There are a few pictures of the two of them that I swear you could shuffle and have a hard time guessing which pic is which kid. I find the whole thing fairly interesting because I've never seen a strong resemblance to either side of the family with Tanner. At first I thought that maybe the whole similarity was just a baby thing and I was confusing the newborn look with family resemblance but most people who see her in the presence of Tanner comment on it, and these are people who never knew Tanner as an infant. I guess that means she'll be a cutie too :)
I'll try to continue to keep up with this blog an at a minimum, get pictures up every so often. Have to say now though, with the impending holiday as well as upcoming visits for both sets of Grandparents, I'm not too optimistic about timely updates.
Thanks SO MUCH for all the great gifts and emails. I'll hopefully be getting back to you all very soon. Until then, here's a few pictures from the last few weeks...
We're now at the point that a routine is finally starting to emerge and I'm physically mostly back to normal. I feel well enough to get back to all my normal activities of shopping and house stuff but Leila doesn't always allow it. We have to plan any activities around the feeding schedule which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Sunday I had to make a run to the parking lot to nurse in the midst of a Lowes excursion. So much for timing on that one.
I think the biggest challenge so far, of course, is sleep. I have such a long list of stuff to do that I try to be as productive as possible with my time, often at the expense of taking naps and sleeping as late as I need to. I realized over the weekend that I have no idea how I am still functioning with the current sleep deficit I'm on. At merely 4-6 hours per night for the last two weeks, I should be unconsious but somehow, I have managed to not only keep going, but stay fairly energetic which is very different that how I usually react to lack of sleep. Ususally on the 3rd or 4th night of that kind of schedule, I will shut down completely. Must be some sort of postpartum energy store I have tapped into. I have made a promise to myself to try and get as much sleep as possible this week and finally catch up. We'll see how that goes.
At first Leila wasn't sleeping well in her crib. Mostly because she's pretty squirmy and really doesn't like her arms in the swaddle. This meant pretty cold nights for her. It's winter time here which means some nights get in the low to mid 60's. Without a furnace to take the chill off, that's a bit too cold for a newborn. Yooper and I decided to bring her in with us and everyone has slept much better since. If she gets a bit of a chill, one of us can cuddle closer and she usually settles right down. We're a bit worried about spoiling her and when is most appropriate to cut off the special treatment but I feel that the risk far outweighs letting the poor thing freeze in her crib. And yes, we're very careful :)
All in all though, Leila has been a perfect baby so far. I say so far because I'm terrified of jinxing myself and I read somewhere that colic usually starts up around two weeks. So far however, she only fusses when hungry or getting changed. She really doesn't like the cold wipes :) She seems to be growing a ton already too. Her last checkup was at eight days old and she was already back to birth weight. Not a chubby baby though, very long and lean. She still doesn't seem to be getting close to fitting into the 0-3 month stuff though. I only had one onesie that fit her when we got home because she was such a peanut. I actually had to brave the mall on the day after Thanksgiving to get a few outfits that would fit her. Some longsleeve stuff too for the cold nights. Unfortunately, they only had longsleeves in blue with a winter theme - see pics below. Snowmen and "Let it Snow" in Hawaii? Oh well.
I think one of the most surprising things about her so far is how much she looks like Tanner. There are a few pictures of the two of them that I swear you could shuffle and have a hard time guessing which pic is which kid. I find the whole thing fairly interesting because I've never seen a strong resemblance to either side of the family with Tanner. At first I thought that maybe the whole similarity was just a baby thing and I was confusing the newborn look with family resemblance but most people who see her in the presence of Tanner comment on it, and these are people who never knew Tanner as an infant. I guess that means she'll be a cutie too :)
I'll try to continue to keep up with this blog an at a minimum, get pictures up every so often. Have to say now though, with the impending holiday as well as upcoming visits for both sets of Grandparents, I'm not too optimistic about timely updates.
Thanks SO MUCH for all the great gifts and emails. I'll hopefully be getting back to you all very soon. Until then, here's a few pictures from the last few weeks...
Monday, December 03, 2007
Thanksgiving
With so much to be thankful for this year, it was truly one of the best Thanksgivings ever. It was so nice to spend a day with just the four of us at home. Yooper made dinner which he kept telling me was messed up for this reason or that but I have to say that after 6+ months of continuous heartburn and reflux, it was probably the best tasting Thanksgiving dinner EVER. I could not believe how good food tasted without the after taste of Rolaids. I also have to admit, it was nice being spoiled a bit and have dinner cooked for me for once. Fairly low key day otherwise. Football, naps, and getting to know Leila. Perfect day.
Leila Kanoelehua Cleven
By now, most of you know that on Tuesday, November 20th, we welcomed Leila into our family. I have gotten tons of email from all of you and am in the midst of getting back to you all but until then, some details...
Leila's middle name. A question asked by almost everybody so far. Kanoelehua (Ka-no-eh-le-who-ah) is a Hawaiian name that translates to "mist of Lehua". Lehua is the name of the flower of the Ohi'a tree and is native to the Hawaiian Islands. The Lehua is the official flower of the Big Island where they commonly grow on the slopes of the volcanoes there. See the picture below. We felt this was a very appropriate name for our little bundle in that we are fairly certain she took hold of life on our weekend trip to the big island for Tanner's birthday in March. It was a misty rainy weekend the entire time.
The Delivery. I'll spare you all the gory details and just stick to the basics, promise :) This time around we opted for inducment. My doctor gave me the option and since things seemed to be shaping up like last time (strong irregular contractions that had been escalating for about a week) I said YES, PLEASE! We signed up for Tuesday and after dropping Tanner off at school, checked in at the hospital and got the drip started. By lunchtime I opted for the epidural and let me just say - what on earth was I thinking not taking advantage of that the first time through. Early afternoon I actually caught a little nap. About 4ish, the nurse woke me up because Leila was having some issues with a decreasing heartbeat. Turned out I was 9cm and ready to go so the doc hurried over and at 4:47 she finally was born. So much easier that Tanner's birth. Actually, things went so smoothly that Dr Schutte said that we could home Wednesday evening.
Later that evening, David and Angelica stopped in with Tanner and he FINALLY got to meet his little sis. Talk about proud. He asked a million questions and really did not want to let her go but it was getting late. The next day was spent mostly just hanging out in the room waiting for our time to expire so we could get home. By 6pm we were headed for the door to finally bring our little girl home. All in all, a MUCH better experience than last time around.
Leila's middle name. A question asked by almost everybody so far. Kanoelehua (Ka-no-eh-le-who-ah) is a Hawaiian name that translates to "mist of Lehua". Lehua is the name of the flower of the Ohi'a tree and is native to the Hawaiian Islands. The Lehua is the official flower of the Big Island where they commonly grow on the slopes of the volcanoes there. See the picture below. We felt this was a very appropriate name for our little bundle in that we are fairly certain she took hold of life on our weekend trip to the big island for Tanner's birthday in March. It was a misty rainy weekend the entire time.
The Delivery. I'll spare you all the gory details and just stick to the basics, promise :) This time around we opted for inducment. My doctor gave me the option and since things seemed to be shaping up like last time (strong irregular contractions that had been escalating for about a week) I said YES, PLEASE! We signed up for Tuesday and after dropping Tanner off at school, checked in at the hospital and got the drip started. By lunchtime I opted for the epidural and let me just say - what on earth was I thinking not taking advantage of that the first time through. Early afternoon I actually caught a little nap. About 4ish, the nurse woke me up because Leila was having some issues with a decreasing heartbeat. Turned out I was 9cm and ready to go so the doc hurried over and at 4:47 she finally was born. So much easier that Tanner's birth. Actually, things went so smoothly that Dr Schutte said that we could home Wednesday evening.
Later that evening, David and Angelica stopped in with Tanner and he FINALLY got to meet his little sis. Talk about proud. He asked a million questions and really did not want to let her go but it was getting late. The next day was spent mostly just hanging out in the room waiting for our time to expire so we could get home. By 6pm we were headed for the door to finally bring our little girl home. All in all, a MUCH better experience than last time around.
Tanner's a Rock Star!
For several months now Tanner has expressed an interest in guitar lessons. I finally went and did some research to see what was out there and found a guy in Kaneohe who teaches lessons at his own "School of Rock". Much like the movie, he has a bunch of kids starting at around Tanner's age up to adults that he teaches Guitar, Keyboard, Drums, and vocals to. It's hystercial to watch them play together and while most of the songs are just barely recognisable yet, the kids really have a blast. At the end of each session, Brian (the teacher) hosts a rock concert for the kids to show off their progress and ham it up a bit. Since Tanner started late in the last session, he only participated in vocals for one of the song's, Blue Sude Shoes, but he did really well and actually remembered most of the lyrics. Hopefully, for the next concert in February, he'll be on an instrument as well.
Hawaii vs. Fresno State
With no professional sports teams in Hawaii, University of Hawaii sports is everything around here. Always helps to have a winning team too. Yooper decided at the beginning of the season that he had to bring Tanner to a game this year and bought tickets. The game he choose was going to be pretty late in pregnancy for me so he just got two tickets and made it a father-son evening. Tanner had a great time taking in the atmosphere and launching dozens of paper airplanes at the Fresno fans below from the upper deck. Not quite the same atmosphere as Family Night at Lambeau but certainly worth the trip to Aloha Stadium. Final score - Hawaii Warriors - 37, Fresno State - 30.
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