Po'okela 8 Months

You aren't really 8 months until tomorrow, but in preparing of getting to Oklahoma, church tomorrow and dinner with friends to say goodbye I am doing it today.

This week you have a tooth that has popped right out. There is another one on the way and I am sure it will be out in about a week. I have known your tooth has been on the way while you have nursed, but your daddy never believed me.  Now he has no excuses because when you stick his fingers in your mouth to chew on them he gets to feel them.  You may only have one tooth, but you love to eat! There are so many new things you have eaten in the last month.  Here's the list of things I can remember... lasagna, spaghetti, french toast, cinnamon rolls, french fries, sweet potato fries, ice cream (I know many people out there is probably shaking their heads at me, but I want to joy of giving you sweet treats and no others), chocolate chips, chunky banana pieces, yogurt bites, pizza, and anything you can reach when we aren't looking.  Oh yes... I am practicing with you using a cup. So far you have had some watered down pear and apple juice.

At meal times you are really good at signing all done.  There are times you sign more, but it isn't consistent.  We are also, working on... more, please, eat.  You do sign milk, but it happens when you are being held by someone other than me and I see you doing it.  Your nursing times are, 7:00, 11:00, 3:00, 7:00.  3 of those times are followed by solids and 1 of those you get a snack.  Your favorite nursing time is usually in the mornings and since you have become so active sometimes it is a struggle to get a full nursing in, but always make up for the shorter feeding at the next feeding.

You sleep really well and take two naps.  First nap happens around 8:30-11:00 and around 12:30-3:00 give or take.  Also, you have an occasional evening cat nap that last around 45 minutes.  There are days your naps are shorter because of our visit to library time, MOPS, and any other given things that happen.  If one nap is shorten or hasn't happened then the evening cat nap is a must for you.  You like your sleep!! At night you go to bed around 7:00 or so... sometimes 8:00 if we are visiting with friends.  If we are at a friends house, we normally lay you down there and get you up when we leave.  Most times you are ready for your bed, but other times you stay up looking around and talking.  It is always fun for me to wake you up because I find you in so many different ways.

As you can see in the left picture... your leg is sticking out of your sleeper. To the right you are on your belly with your thumb in your   mouth. You have gotten so long!  Bottom left, you are all smilies with your arm completely out of your out fit. HOW in the world did you do that?!?!

 Lastly, I have you tangled up in your blankets.  This is you in your pack-n-play because you and your sister can't sleep together during the day.  I have blankets along the sides of the pack-n-play so you aren't constantly looking around rather than sleeping.  No matter how I find you... you are always smiling!





Since I brought up your sister... the two of you are so much fun to watch interact.  She does occasionally get rough with you, but her favorite thing is to help you get things.  You aren't crawling (yet), but you are on the move and get into things by rolling around and reaching. If you don't want to get it, then you start to fussy and Princess Alohi comes to your rescue to get you whatever you want.  I have had to teach her that if you have a toy she wants then she needs to trade something for it.  Normally you are perfectly happy with the new toy, but occasionally you don't want to have anything to do with the new toy. Which then comes in the 5 minute rule. You get to play with the toy for 5 minutes and then she gets to play for 5 minutes.  Here is a few pictures of you and your sister!!

Playing at a Sara & Isaiah's!

 Taking a stroll with Alohi. Things that happen with dad.

 I am sure you will out grow your sister soon!

 Homemade drum sets... two wooden spoons and plastic containers.

 Easter gift!

 Places I find you after I do the dishes.

 Hoku is your buddy!! He has yet to growl at you for taking a toy, petting him, pulling his tail/ears.  Your sister on the other hand is not his buddy!  You get so excited to see him!!

Your favorite thing to have right now (other than cow who you sleep with) is Hopkins. He is a frog on signing time that you love to chew on!! I am sure it has more to do with your teeth, but you love the frog. However in the picture I think you threw him down to reach the hangers.  

Oh the places you have gone in this last month... You tried to take the car out for a drive, but needed a booster seat.

Taking a stroll at walmart.

 But favorite moment, was having bible class with you for the first time.  

My smiling boy... You are growing too quickly! I love you and I am looking forward to all the new things you try in the next month with your sister, with your taste buds and your exploring! 

Big Boy Carseat & he has something to say about it!

Po'okela is growing up so much! Rylan has been wanting to change Po'okela into his next carseat, but I have delayed and delayed. Well the time has come.  Here is the last picture I took of him riding in the infant carrier.

 This picture below you can really see how much his feet stick out at the bottom, as well as how high his head is... And I love his face. "mom another picture"

Rylan insisted that Po'okela would out grow the infant carrier while we are in Oklahoma and that would leave us with bring back two carseats in an already packed car.  So I gave in tonight, so he has some time to adjust riding on short trips in his new carseat.  Here are a few pictures of Rylan getting things adjusted to the right fit for him.

Sorry the above picture is a little blurry, he was bouncing getting in it.  He looks so grown up.

And here is what he wants to let everyone know about it.... 

OKC long term Preparations

Well we are about a week way from heading to OKC for Rylan's first certification classes for his new job.  I'm in the process of getting things together for 10 weeks.  How you might ask does a person, let alone a family of 4 get ready for a trip like that. Well I have a check list for each person (Rylan, Alohi, Po'okela, Me) then I have a list for Hoku's stuff, bathroom stuff, kitchen things, pantry items, kids toys & a miscellaneous things too.  Yes, that is a whole lot of lists and it takes up 4 pages with some extra empty spaces for things I haven't typed in and will add as things get packed up.  

I am creating a binder of everything I am using to organize us because I am sure there will be more trips to OKC (one more already for the month of August) and I don't want to redo the work.  So here are some of the things we already know about where we are staying.

- FAA furnished apartments (somewhere in between MacArthur & Rockwell maybe 16th street??) not the best part of town, but not the worse. The best thing is we are about 10 minutes away from Mema & Pepa and Mama Jo & Papa Carl! And we were warned by Rylan's co-worker to be prepared to pick things up that you need while staying there because they don't have everything. So we are prepared with a tub of things that are purchased and to be used while on our long term stays in OKC.

- covered parking (since it is "spring" weather season in OKC)

- At the apartment they have wednesday night get to know you cookouts for anyone staying.  

- A Pool!! (which reminds me to bring the floaty thing we can put Po'okela in!)

Other than those things, I am not to worry about finding out anything else about OKC because I know we are going home for a while.  We are looking forward to seeing family and friends!! I know Rylan is hoping to be able to take me out on a couple of kidless dates and let the kids get loved on people who haven't seen them in a long while! Alohi keeps talking about the zoo and water park (she has never been to one so friends in OKC please help me find a few places for a splash at parks.).  Also, she is talking about her princess party.  She didn't get a fun birthday party this year, so we are hoping to have a few of her girlfriends over for a princess birthday party! I'm sure Po'okela has no idea what he is in for, other than tons of hugs and kisses from people who LOVE him but haven't been able to see him grow.  

Back to preparations...

- Rylan has made arrangements for our lawn to be taken care of.

- I am hoping to find someone to come clean the house once a month while we are gone, start the car and make sure things are fine here.

- Our landlord will be making a weekly drive by to make sure things from the outside look good and he has offered if we need anything to call him.  

- Next week.....

    ~ I will be cleaning out the refrigerator & packing up any pantry foods that we can take with us to eat.

    ~ Packing everything by friday night, so we can test pack the car on Saturday.  

    ~ Deep cleaning of the house.

I'm sure this blog is all over the place because that is how my brian is right now.  I'm list making and just getting ready for another adventure.  I will leave you with pictures of Alohi and Po'okela.  You can compare them to each other... See how many likes and differences you can find! Have fun...

Grandma & Grandpa Visit

We were so excited to have Grandma & Grandpa come see us for the Easter Holiday.  They had originally planned a trip to OKC over Thanksgiving, but with Rylan's new job, a move across two states they were able to delay their trip and see us in our new home.  Alohi was so excited to have them come to her new house, Grandma was super super excited to meet her grandson Po'okela and I was happy to have extra hands to help with the kids, cooking and cleaning!

All day Wednesday, Alohi kept asking when Grandma & Grandpa would be getting here.  She would look out the window and ask the time.  She refused to eat dinner until they were there, which was around 6:30ish and her normal dinner time was 5:30/6:00.  When they pulled up, she ran to give them hugs!! After dinner she played legos with both of them and stayed up way past her bed time!

(Sorry the pictures are blurry)

While they were here, we did lots of things with them. A lot of the activities were things related to her Easter Count down, but having grandma & grandpa with use made those activities even better.  

Right: She is frosting and decorating cupcakes with Grandma.  

Left: she offering grandpa the cupcakes she decorated for dessert. 

Below: are pictures of dying eggs!

Here's Alohi and Grandma getting ready for the glowing egg hunt.  Grandma & Grandpa has so much fun watching her hunt her eggs.  I think the funniest thing was dad would steal eggs out of her basket (that she would leave alone while going for more eggs) and hide them again without her knowing.  

We did get to try a few new places around town to eat. We tried the famous Wood Shed that was establish in 1962 (I think). It was good and a local favorite for the old timers.  Also, we took them to the Wonderful House. It is a chinese food restaurant that we enjoy and get a lot of food! Lastly, we visited Rylan at the airport and had lunch with him at the restaurant there. It isn't like our favorite OKC place Wiley Post restaurant (if you are reading this in OKC, then go to the restaurant for breakfast and watch the airplanes), but it was nice to see where Rylan works.  

I think the best part of the trip for them was just to be able to play and interact with the kids! Alohi got to dress up for them and show off her princess dresses.  (to the right: Grandma was a big help with getting kids ready for the day!)  They played games, read books, watched movies and had so much fun together! 

One day we took them to our states number 1 attraction, Scottsbluff Monument.  Grandma & Grandpa got to do the mile hike down the monument while Rylan took Alohi driving in their rental car & I nursed and fed Po'okela his lunch.  Here's a picture of Grandma on the walk down.

Here is our family picture on the monument.  (I don't know how I didn't get a family picture of all of us for Easter.)  

We love you grandma & grandpa!!! Can't wait for our next visit!!

Easter Count Down

This April I filled 8 plastic eggs (eight days to go until Easter Sunday) with a daily activity that we could do to prepare for the Easter Holiday.  I had seen count downs to Christmas, St. Patty’s Day and other holidays celebrated, but nothing that had Easter things.  So I took a bunch of ideas from pinterest and made them into a count down for Easter.  Here are the activity eggs that Alohi got to open every day….

Egg 1~ Water coloring on white crayon eggs.

Egg 2 ~ Cutting different colored eggs and glueing them into a basket.

Egg 3 ~ Went to Mops where she got a good bag with Jelly beans that tell about Christ and shared eggs with friends.

(Sorry no picture of this activity or what she got to do because I was having adult time)

Egg 4 ~ Making Bunny Bait & Easter Egg Match Up.

 (We made this to give to our library teachers and dad's co-workers)

 She was licking the container that had the melted chocolate in it and hiding under the counter so I wouldn't see.

 Once she learned how to do this, we did it at least 3 times everyday after.

Egg 5 ~ Library Day -- Bunny Hop Theme & Jello Eggs with Grandma (more info later AND pictures in another blog)

Egg 6 ~ Making Bunny/Cheep Cupcakes & Dyeing Eggs

 Dying eggs with koolaid!! So nice because Alohi didn't have any stains on her hands!!

I don't recommend grape, it comes out pretty black.

Egg 7 ~ Church Play & Egg Hunt

 .Play about the true meaning of Easter. I am super proud of the kids because it was a longer play but they sat through the whole thing.  

 They made a craft and had a sugar cookie before the egg hunt.

 Po'okela was awake most of the time, but fell asleep for a short time.

 I loved how the church did the egg hunt. Plastic eggs were emptied! Kids would turn in 5 (for little ones) 10 (for big kids) plastic eggs for a good bag filled with candy.  There were golden, sliver and other prize eggs.  Alohi hunted a bunch of eggs and didn't even care if she got a good bag. However, we did end up with 3 bags.

Egg 8 ~ Easter Baskets & Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt

 Alohi going through her stash of stuff!! When she woke up and walked pass the living room... She ran to dad and asked "what is that stuff out there?? of course dad was getting ready for church and it took him a while before he knew what she was talking about. She was so cute and couldn't wait to get to see what all was given to her! I had to tell her NOT to go through brothers stuff because he was nursing. They didn't really get to play with anything until after naps.

 Later that night, we had a special glow in the dark egg hunt just for her. (I can't wait until next year so brother can do this with her.)  Since she was by herself and without any friends dad picked up a glowing wand so she had magic powers to find all the eggs by herself.  She hunted once outside and then 2 times in the basement.  She had so much fun and well as grandma & grandpa watching!!  

Through out the week she also got special Egg snacks to have.

Overall I think the Easter Count Down was great!! I am going to look at getting the meaning of easter Eggs to be able to talk about it with the kids.  At church she had all sorts of questions about Jesus dying on the cross, but it was the first time she asked about how He lives!! I nearly teared up because I am so happy that she is starting to understand more about God's love for us!  Most of all, every sunday when we meet together at church we celebrate what Christ did for us!

Happy Easter Everyone!!