Category Archive: Dorothy & George

Life with Lucia (her first month)

Lucia’s first day of life

When Lucia was placed on my chest I was completely overwhelmed with how much she looked like Sirena! It was as if I had given birth to Sirena a second time, I was blown away. When Sirena was born she was pretty alert but it didn’t compare at all to how alert Lucia was. She just stared at me with her big eyes for those first 5-10 minutes in my arms and I just stared right back at her. Just a few minutes after she was born my sister and Sirena arrived and it was surreal telling S that here was her brand-new sister, after all those months talking about it! She and Jessie left the room and Kevin took L while the midwife and the birth attendants joined forces to help me get out of the tub and onto the bed. After I was settled, Kevin brought L back to me so that we could attempt breastfeeding and she latched on immediately which I was so happy about.

For the next couple of hours the birth team allowed us bonding time and all of the visitors (Nani and Bopa, Grandma and Papa, Auntie Jessie, Brianne and Brian) got their chance to hold L. Kevin and I were finally able to eat the dinner my mom had bought for us at Hole Mole 5 hours prior and boy did it hit the spot! Turns out L was born on “Taco Tuesday” so my mom and Steve had to fight the crowds and wait an incredibly long time to get the food in the first place. Maybe L is destined to be a foodie just like her big sis (and mom)?? After a couple of hours Jessie took Sirena back to her place so that she could get some rest from the crazy evening she just had.

Vickie came back into the room to prep for L’s newborn tests. It was such a difference from the hospital experience–she laid a blanket out on the bed right next to me and performed everything (other than weighing her which was done on the scale just a couple of feet from the bed) right there with all of L’s family surrounding her. All of us were anxious to find out how much L weighed and Libby, one of the birth attendants, commented that she had to be at least 9 pounds. All of us were shocked and said there was no way! Libby was certain that she was at least 9 pounds and I had a hard time believing she knew what she was talking about because L seemed so itty bitty compared to my now big toddler! The moment of truth arrived and L weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds, 9 ounces!! She measured 21.75 inches long and her head circumference was 15 cm. (For comparison’s sake, S weighed 8 pounds and measured 21.5 pounds, not sure about head circumference). Libby commented that L’s head was the biggest she had witnessed yet and was amazed at how well I did (if you think about it, a woman’s cervix dilates to 10 cm). Up until L’s birth she said that the largest head she witnessed was 14.5cm which she says was a “doozy.” It was at this point that she told me that of all of the midwives I could have been paired with for L’s birth, Vickie was the best one for me. She said that Vickie was the best at coaching moms through the pushing stage so as to minimize tearing and I know now that with a baby’s head as large as L’s, if I had birthed in a hospital and not had a coach like Vickie working with me, I would not have had the healing birth that I had set my intentions on and I would have had a much longer and painful recovery. I am so grateful for Vickie, my birthing team, the birth center, and Kevin of course for supporting me in my decision to birth there. It was so nice to hear all of the positive feedback from our visitors, everyone commented about how different the experience was even for them as visitors from a hospital experience and it was so wonderful hearing those comments.

Three hours after she was born I started getting restless and exhaustion was starting to take over so I asked Kevin to ask Vickie if we could start wrapping things up. Our visitors began leaving so that I could get cleaned up and dressed and so that Vickie and the team could talk with me and K about what our next steps would be with a brand-spankin’-new baby at home. It took about an hour for all of that to be taken care of and at just 4 hours old we made our way out of the birth center and on our way home. My mom and Steve caravaned behind us so that they could help us get settled in the house and Steve commented about how amazing it was that I walked out of the birth center, into the car, and walked into my home just 4 hours after giving birth (with Sirena’s hospital birth I used the wheelchair to go anywhere those first 2 days). In every way imaginable, birthing at the birth center was a much more calm, pleasant, empowering experience than my previous hospital birth and I cannot say enough good things about it!

We greeted Lola (who had held down the fort for us since we left at 6pm) and she gave Lucia a good sniff and quickly returned to her bed (she loooves her sleep). Kevin, Lucia and I made our way to the bedroom as well and were able to sleep peacefully, without any interruptions from nurses/doctors or beeping machines or bright fluorescent lights like at the hospital, for a few hours.

The next morning Jessie brought Sirena home to get acquainted with her little sis. It was so emotional seeing the two of them together finally after imagining it for so long!

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Her first Week

Lucia had three doctor appointments within her first two full days of life–it was somewhat overwhelming to get us all out of the house on time for three appointments with a 3 y/o and a 1-2 day old! But somehow (somehow!) we did it. We first saw her pediatrician when she was not yet 24 hours old and she wanted to see her again the following day as well. When the nurse practitioner came out to the lobby to get us and she asked us how old she was she couldn’t believe that she was less than 24 hours old! They don’t get many babies coming in who are born in a birth center so it was a new way of doing business for them, seeing a brand-new baby like that (babies born in the hospital are generally observed around the clock by nurses/doctors for the first 2-3 days of life). She had lost some weight those first 24 hours but it was a very minimal decrease so there was no concern there at all. By her second appointment she had gained the weight back and then some (she was born at 9 lbs, 9 oz and by day 3 she was 9 lbs, 13 oz!) Our pediatrician was super happy about her weight gain and she said she was an overall healthy looking newborn! The third appointment Lucia had was back at the birth center where they conducted the newborn screening. It was surreal being back in the room where she was born just days before.

That first week we stuck around close to home either at our house or at my mom’s and we welcomed a nice group of visitors to the house to meet the little nugget throughout the week. Here are a few photos from L’s first week:

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First time taking the new double stroller out for a ride! We walked the block at our annual neighborhood garage sale when L was 4 days old.

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A very unhappy baby getting her first bath!

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Another attempt at a siblings shot

 

Other Adventures

We were out and about a lot more after her first week which felt really nice.

We took a trip to the Long Beach Main Library (which Kevin and I hadn’t been to in years). Sirena had a blast in their huge children’s section and Lucia, well, she just slept through the whole excursion. 🙂

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Sisters both passed out in the car

We surprised Sirena after preschool one day and took her and L to Rancho Los Alamitos for an afternoon visit.

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Lead the way, big sis!

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We also made a trip to Royal Palms beach in San Pedro–this is a really special place for my family because my mom grew up spending a ton of time at this beach with her family and she took me and my siblings there a bunch growing up as well. It was really special to take my girls there to continue the tradition. My mom, Steve, Jessie, Derek, and Steve’s grandson Christian joined us for a very nice (but super chilly!) afternoon.

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Auntie Jessie holding L

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My First Mother’s Day With Lucia

My one Mother’s Day wish was to go to the Renaissance Faire with my family which I am so happy to report we were able to do!

That morning my mom invited us over for some coffee and pan dulce and it was a really nice, relaxing Mother’s Day morning. Then Kevin, Jessie, the girls, and I were on our way to the Ren Faire. It was Faery Day at the faire so Sirena was happy to dress for the part.

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Sirena was a bit taken aback by the people in character who would approach us but she did agree to wave her magic wand for this lady 🙂

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Jessie trying on some amazing masks!

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Lucia’s first concert!

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The one photo that was taken of me and both my girls–me changing a diaper and helping Sirena with her drink. Typical “mom” moment, right??

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Sirena wanted Mama to ride the giant swing with her. I gotta be honest, it was a spooky ride! Those guys pushed us sooo high, I almost thought I’d slip out at one point but I had to keep my cool in front of Sirena to not freak her out, haha!

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Queen Sirena at your service

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My little munchkins

Lucia’s birth story

Tuesday, April 21st–Lucia’s birthday

1:00 AM – 3:30 AM

I was woken up by some intense contractions and after a few rounds decided to put the Contraction Timer app that I had installed on my phone to use thinking today might be the day. For 2.5 hours the contractions varied in frequency from 8 minutes apart to 12 minutes apart, lasting 30-50 seconds long each. The birth center advised that we call the midwife when they were 8 minutes apart and lasted one minute long for one hour so it was still too early to call. They were intense enough that I had to breathe really deeply to get through each of them but they began tapering off around 3:30. I decided to turn my phone off and try to get some rest which, luckily, I was able to do.

6:45 AM – 9:00 AM

Sirena woke up at 6:45 and came into our room for her morning snuggles. I told Kevin about my evening and he immediately got excited. We tag-teamed getting Sirena ready for preschool and he took her to school by himself because I was too nervous to leave the house in case things started picking up again in intensity while out. Kevin told Sirena when he dropped her off that either Nani or Auntie Jessie might be picking her up from school that day, just to give her a heads-up. We texted our moms and my sister telling them to be on alert that day because things were definitely happening.

9:30 AM – 10:15 AM

Kevin and I took Lola for a nice long 45 minute walk through our neighborhood. It felt really good to get out in the fresh air and be physically active instead of cooped up in the house and stuck with my thoughts (which have the tendency to spiral when I’m stressed out which, as you can imagine, I was starting to become). The weather had changed drastically from the days prior–it was overcast and cooled down quite a bit which was such a nice change especially for a super pregnant woman on a long walk! I started using the Contraction Timer app again while on the walk and they were picking up in intensity but were coming along with the same inconsistency as before. Throughout the walk I had to pause when a contraction began and either breathe it out in place or attempt to walk and breathe it out (walking during the contraction sometimes felt better than just standing in place).

10:30 AM – 12:00 NOON

Kevin thought it’d be wise to pack all of our stuff into the car just to be ready whenever the time came. I continued timing my contractions and it was at this point that I began feeling them more intensely in my lower back so when a contraction would begin I would lean over onto the couch or the counter or the table, breathe deeply, and sway back and forth to get some relief. For about 20 minutes during this time my sister called me to ask some work-related questions (she’s taking over part of my job responsibility while I’m on maternity leave) and 2-3 times I’d have to tell her to hang on, put the phone down, and breathe/sway through a contraction.

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM

Kevin and I made ourselves a significant lunch to help us power through the afternoon. We ate on the patio and it was nice to have some one-on-one time in the outdoors not knowing when the next time we’d have a moment to ourselves would be if Lucia decided to make today her birthday.

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM

My contractions were still feeling intense in my lower abdomen and lower back but were still coming on inconsistently and my thoughts began to spiral. I didn’t know if things were really progressing or if this was false labor (and if so, I didn’t know how long I’d be able to handle it!). I also was so unsure as to when to call the midwife (I didn’t want to raise a false alarm but also didn’t want to progress so quickly that we wouldn’t have enough time to make it to the birth center). I decided that I needed to center myself and get myself in the right head space so sat down to chant (Buddhist prayer) which I did during this time. I texted with my sister and told her I was getting nervous and she called me which I so desperately needed. She helped talk me through my feelings and reminded me that I am a strong woman who can absolutely have this baby naturally and create the healing birth experience that I had set my intentions on. She told me it was more than okay to cry if I felt that was necessary just to get it out. After hanging up with her I did cry and felt a huge release in doing so. From 2-3pm I made a concerted effort to chant and time the contractions and then call the midwife at 3pm to get her opinion on how things were progressing. For that hour the contractions were getting more intense–I’d have to rise up to my knees from my cross-legged position, lean over on a stool, sway back and forth, breathe deeply, and make a low “ahhh” sound relaxing my jaw to get through each one. They were still somewhat inconsistent in how frequent they were coming along (from 8-12 minutes apart, lasting 45-60 seconds each) but their intensity made me think that the time was getting near to meet our little girl.

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

I called and left a message on the birth center’s pager for the midwife on call and within a few minutes was called back by Vickie, the midwife who was on call that day. We had only met with Vickie a couple of times during our prenatal visits so I didn’t know her too well and was feeling a little disheartened that it wasn’t midwife Allison on call that day (the one who we had felt the closest connection with during the pregnancy). Turns out Vickie was probably the best midwife to work with me during Lucia’s birth, more on that later. On the phone Vickie was very matter-of-fact about things–she asked me about Sirena’s labor (so she could get some idea as to how quickly it went for me the first time) and she said that although my contractions were still a bit inconsistent in frequency, as a second time mama things could change in a heartbeat and so she was going to begin getting ready herself and make her way up to the Long Beach birth center (she was located in south Orange County so appreciated the 3pm heads-up so as not to be stuck in terrible traffic). Before hanging up she said she wanted to wait until my next contraction began so that she could hear me talk through it (or not) and get a feel for how intense they were–but of course during our whole 10 minute phone conversation I didn’t have one contraction! She said that regardless, she’d make her way up to Long Beach and call me when she arrived so that we could meet her at the birth center and check on my progress.

From 3-4pm I continued to chant and time my contractions.

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM

I texted my mom and sister asking if one of them could please pick up Sirena from preschool for us. My mom said she’d be happy to and would pick her up at 5pm. I finished chanting and decided to take a shower, have a glass of wine (I had bought a bottle of wine for just this occasion, to help relax me during early labor), and get myself ready to go to the birth center. Vickie called me at 5pm letting us know she had arrived and that we could begin making our way to the birth center.

5:15 PM – 5:45 PM

Kevin and I left for the birth center at 5:15pm and arrived at 5:30pm. Vickie greeted us and had us go back to the examination room. I was so happy to hear that I was 4 centimeters dilated (which was exactly how far along I was when I was admitted to the hospital for Sirena’s birth!) She suggested that we walk around the park next door for 30 minutes and then check in with her again afterwards to see if things were progressing.

5:45 PM – 6:15 PM

Kevin and I made two loops around the neighborhood park next door. It was surreal being out there, walking past the playground where kids were happily playing, walking past people who were out walking their dogs, all while I was hugely pregnant and had to pause every 8-10 minutes to lean on Kevin and breathe through a contraction. We wondered how many of the neighbors whose homes were across the street from the park were looking out their windows and thinking, “There goes another pregnant woman and her partner, walking her baby out!” I continued using the Contraction Timer app so that I could report back to Vickie how they were coming along. Before going into the birth center we went to the car so that I could get a protein bar and coconut water to fuel up.

6:15 PM

We checked back into the birth center and let Vickie know that they maintained their intensity and frequency during the walk. She wanted to watch me through a contraction and, yet again, it seems I got stage fright and a contraction wouldn’t happen while in the lobby! She suggested we go outside again for another half hour of walking and to check in with her afterwards.

6:15 PM – 6:45 PM

As we left the birth center and started our second round of laps around the park I noticed that my mom was getting out of her car in the parking lot. She told us that she left Sirena with Jessie because she wanted to make sure she was there in time and didn’t miss the birth so she joined us for one lap around the park. My contractions were getting more intense and frequent and I was having a hard time focusing with an “audience” so we asked my mom if she wouldn’t mind grabbing us some dinner from Hole Mole (a taco shop two doors down from the birth center) while we walked another lap around the park.

P1100390My mom snapped one photo of us walking around the park 🙂

Each contraction was coming along quicker and were more and more intense especially towards the end of our second lap.

6:45 PM

We checked back in to the birth center and luckily I had a contraction a minute after arriving so Vickie was able to observe me. Afterwards she said that it was very clear things were definitely coming along and that she was going to call in the birth attendants and start getting the room ready for us.

7:00 PM – 7:30 PM

I had tested positive for Group B Strep (a very common bacterial infection found in many pregnant women that can be passed on to babies during birth, I had tested positive for it during Sirena’s pregnancy as well) so she had to give me penicillin via an IV every 4 hours and wanted to get started right away in case Lucia arrived quickly. As Vickie was hooking me up to the IV she asked me about Sirena’s birth. I told her about the labor and the pushing while on my back which led to tearing and a really long recovery. I told her that it was my hope to make this my healing birth and she said that she would do everything in her power to help me minimize tearing and have the healing birth experience I wanted.

While hooked up to the IV for around 30 minutes I used an exercise ball to rock around on between contractions. Once a contraction started I had to get up off of the ball because the low back pain was too intense and I could not stand it sitting down. Towards the end of those 30 minutes I was having a really hard time getting up off of the ball at the start of each contraction so once I was disconnected from the IV I decided to remain standing.

In between contractions I was able to take the whole experience in–it was so refreshing to see Vickie turning on (electric) candles and dimming the overhead lights to set a comfortable mood in the room and it was surreal to see her getting all of the newborn baby things together for when Lucia arrived.

7:30 PM

Libby, one of the birth attendants, arrived and introduced herself. She and Vickie continued to get the room ready while I worked through each contraction every few minutes. Things were getting more intense and I told Kevin to update our family and friends via text. He read me what he was going to send and he had included something about me not yet being in active labor. I was bewildered and had to ask Libby if I was, in fact, in active labor or not and I was grateful to hear that yes I was definitely in active labor! If that wasn’t active labor I didn’t know if I could handle anything more intense than that for a long period of time! Kevin updated his text message to let everyone know my status. 🙂

7:45 PM – 8:30 PM

Kevin put on some classical music which was a nice mental break in between contractions. He went out to the car to get our bags so that I could change into a nursing sports bra and a robe and we’d be ready with Lucia’s things (clothes, diapers, car seat, blankets) once she arrived. From my purse I grabbed out the affirmations that I had brought with me to help me remain focused–the ones that were the most helpful for me were, “I trust that my body knows how to birth this baby,” and, of course, “This is my healing birth.”

During each contraction I had to continue to lean my forearms onto the dresser, hang my head down low, rock my lower body back and forth, and make a low “ahhh” sound while relaxing my jaw. The back labor was getting really hard to manage and as if she could read my mind, Libby arrived with a heating pad that Kevin placed on my low back and it was pure relief. The heating pad was my saving grace during this period!

Vickie and Libby had asked if I wanted to birth in the bathtub and I said yes so they began filling the tub up. The other birth attendant, Raquel, arrived around this time and introduced herself but I could barely focus on anything other than the work my body was doing so she was mostly behind-the-scenes during the birth.

Around 8:30 during another intense contraction I knew that the period of labor called “transition” (which is a relatively short period of labor just before the pushing stage) was upon us because I got nauseous and felt like I had to throw up (the same thing happened during labor with Sirena).

8:30 PM – 8:45 PM

Vickie had told me earlier to continue to drink as much water as possible so that I could relieve myself frequently which would help Lucia continue to descend. At this point it was the second time I felt that I had to use the restroom and so went into the restroom connected to the birthing room and had closed the door most of the way. While sitting down I had an incredibly intense sensation that I needed to push and called out to Kevin and Vickie saying so. Vickie rushed in telling me that the toilet was not a pleasant place to have a baby (I couldn’t have agreed more!) so she and Libby helped me walk back out into the birthing room.

The tub wasn’t quite filled up yet so they encouraged me to get on the bed on all fours because it seemed to Vickie that that’s where I got the most relief during the contractions (leaning forwards). As I lifted my knee to get on the bed I was overwhelmed with the sensation of my water bag breaking! They continued to help me climb on the bed and within a minute of being there my arms were shaking so bad, almost violently, and I was having a really hard time keeping myself up (over the course of the day I had walked for 2 hours and had been standing the last hour and a half through the contractions so it’s no wonder that my body was exhausted). I stayed on the bed during one contraction but after it was over I was able to squeak out the word “bathtub” and luckily Kevin heard me, asked me if I wanted to get in the bathtub, and I was able to enthusiastically nod my head in agreement. The whole team helped me get off of the bed, get out of my robe, and get into the bathtub.

8:45 PM – 9:10 PM

Having my body surrounded by warm water was a huge relief. My body temperature rose pretty quickly and I was sweating and feeling a bit uncomfortable and again, as if she could read my mind, Libby came to the rescue with cold washcloths which she laid over my back and had Kevin rub my forehead with another. Each time they placed a new cold washcloth on me I would nod my head enthusiastically because that was the only way I could communicate to them that that was exactly what I had needed and it was so appreciated.

I was on my knees in the tub, leaning my forearms onto the sides of the tub, for the first part of the pushing phase. As a contraction came on I would relax my knees into the side of the tub, lean my head down, relax my jaw, and let out a low moaning “ahhh” sound. After a few rounds of this Vickie told me that it seemed to her that I was actually stifling the urge to push through my deep breathing and I nodded in agreement. She told me that at this point I needed to listen to my body and if it told me to push, I needed to push. It was so reassuring to hear her tell me that it was okay to push as hard as my body was telling me to–I had been afraid to do so because I was afraid of tearing but hearing her telling me it was okay was so helpful and a huge relief.

During the next few contractions I did as she had advised and pushed when my body told me to. Vickie was helping me minimize tearing with massage and hearing the verbal feedback throughout from Libby saying, “You’re doing an amazing job,” was so extremely helpful and appreciated. The noises that were coming out of me were primal, there’s really no other way to describe it! It’s so incredible how birth taps into the most basic animal instincts within each woman.

After each push I knew that Lucia’s arrival was getting that much closer so at the end of this period and after a contraction I was able to squeak out the word “moms” to Kevin–he asked me if I wanted our moms to come in at that time, I nodded in agreement, and Raquel went out to the lobby to get them.

9:10 PM – 9:23 PM

After our moms arrived Vickie told me that I needed to flip over in order for Lucia to have enough room to come out. They helped me maneuver my body into position which was no easy feat because I could barely be of any help as pregnant as I was and as far along into labor as I was. Kevin continued placing cold washcloths on my forehead which were so appreciated and Vickie continued to massage me.

It was during these final 3-4 sets of pushes that Vickie had to coach me so that I would keep any tearing to a minimum. She told me that at this point I had to prevent myself from pushing as hard as my body wanted to so that I could ease Lucia’s head out and the way to do that was to breathe out like I was blowing out a candle. Vickie was in my ear breathing just like that so that I could mimic her. This was by far the most intense experience of the entire labor and birth. After that final push I felt Lucia’s entire body squirm its way out of me and it was the most incredible relief I have ever felt in my life! Vickie caught her but immediately passed her to Kevin and he’s the one that brought her out of the water and onto my chest. She came right out of the water and into this world squeaky clean and as soon as I laid my eyes on her I was overwhelmed with pure love for this new little creature we had created and brought into our family.

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And in an instant we went from being a family of three to a family of four and our lives haven’t been the same since.

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A Baby Story [Part II]: Weeks 34 + 35

Week 34: Baby’s the size of a Butternut squash

Sirena has really stepped up into the big sister role this week. She bought Lucia her first birth day gift (a cute little stuffed zebra) and she can’t wait to give it to her when she’s born and they meet for the first time. <3

IMG_3917She told me, “I want to meet baby now,” this week and has been a bit impatient not knowing exactly when she gets to meet her. And this week Big Sister transitioned to a big girl bed! We would’ve kept her confined in a crib longer but we decided it’d be better for her to go through this major change now without the additional major life change of having a baby sister around.

Not much else this week in the baby department to be honest. A thought did cross my mind this week that I’m actually ready to not be pregnant anymore. With Sirena’s pregnancy I felt good through to the very end but this time around I just feel so much more physically strained and emotionally drained at times that I think I’m about ready for this chapter to be over (even knowing the craziness of life-with-a-newborn that is on the horizon!)

Belly shot!

No photo this week, oops!

Week 35: Baby’s the size of a coconut

This week was super busy for us, namely because we co-hosted a baby shower at our house and built a playhouse for Sirena (and Lucia) in preparation for the party! So many weeks of planning with my friend Brianne were rewarded with a really fun and enjoyable celebration with our family and friends.

The theme was “Little Miss Sunshine” (going off of the Italian translation of Lucia’s name which is “light”) and we mainly used yellow/pink/orange colors through all of our decorations.

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Bri made Lucia’s name banner which will go over her changing table

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Kevin’s beautiful three-layer ombre cake!

We had a little “photo booth” and some of the party goers took advantage…

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Sophie’s message to Lucia: “I love Disneyland” (Gotta love the mind of an 8 year old!)

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Cousins

We played some fun (and hopefully not too cheesy) shower games: people wrote their “wishes for Lucia” on notecards and I’ll be putting them in her baby book. We froze tiny baby figurines in ice cubes and gave one to each guest to watch in their drinks while we opened gifts and the first three people whose baby floated to the top of the water were supposed to yell out, “My water broke!” And lastly we had people write messages to me and Kevin on diapers to entertain us during those middle-of-the-night diaper changes. Here were the three I chose as winners!

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More photos of the party…

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Our original ray of sunshine

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The play house! We’ve still got to paint it and put all the finishing touches on it but at least the floor, walls and roof were up in time. 🙂

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My partner-in-crime, Bri. I can’t thank her enough and this party honestly would not have happened without her!

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The party favors–citrus hand sanitizers and baggies of chocolate dipped Oreos. We also had a fun sun-themed craft and ribbon wands we made for the kiddos, I just forgot to take pictures of them!

And finally some family-of-three-on-the-brink-of-family-of-four photos…

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Even though this week has been the most stressful with work (preparing for my maternity leave) and preparing our house for the party (and not to mention hottest week in March EVER!) and even though by the time the party was over I was so physically exhausted, this week my thoughts on being pregnant have changed a bit compared to last week. I realized that this may very well be the last time I am ever pregnant and the last time I ever get to experience growing a life and being so physically connected to a baby and with that thought I determined to do my best to enjoy every minute of it. <3

Belly shot!

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IMG_3915Our non-furry daughter wanted to photo bomb this week’s belly shot!

Other pregnancy updates:

  • Total weight gained so far: 15 pounds. I’ve officially passed the total weight gained during Sirena’s entire pregnancy, which was 14 pounds total!
  • Fun baby developments: She measures around 20 inches now and weighs a little over 5 pounds.  At this point she probably won’t grow much longer so all of her attention will be focused on packing on the pounds! Her kidneys and her sense of hearing are fully developed and at this point all she’s got left to do is allow her lungs to mature.  She keeps her eyes open most of the time while she’s awake and only shuts them when she’s sleeping, and she can now determine the difference between sweet and sour tastes in the amniotic fluid surrounding her.
  • Random fact: It was at 35 weeks during Sirena’s pregnancy that I finished student teaching! I can’t even imagine having that crazy schedule working full-time, student teaching half-time, and going to school half-time this far into the pregnancy. I must’ve been on drugs! But I do fondly remember my time with those 6th and 7th grade knuckleheads (who are 9th and 10th graders now, ahhh!) and I remember how much they enjoyed “bonding” with Sirena as she grew in my belly while I was working in their classroom.
  • Number of weeks left at work: 3 (including this week!) Things are crazy right now as I prepare for a couple of people to take over my job duties and tying all of the loose ends up and I am so looking forward to signing off that last time for 3 months of maternity leave.
  • Days until our next prenatal appointment: 2! We may get an ultrasound if the midwife can’t determine by touch if she’s in a head down position or not. After this appointment we’ll be meeting with the midwives once a week. It’s really happening!

Family trip to Maui, Hawaii!

We had been looking forward for months to a last hurrah before baby Lucia makes her arrival–a family vacation to Maui, Hawaii!  Kevin’s mom and our good family friend Judy joined us.  We were finally going to use Kevin’s flight benefits for the airlines he works for and we were anxiously watching the flights to/from Maui to see how booked they were getting as the days passed.  It was our first time flying standby and it’s a tricky business: we had to book our lodging for the week and hope beyond all hope that we’d be able to get a flight there to even use the lodging we paid for (and on the flip side, hope that we’d make it home okay and not have to stay a night in the airport or a cheap motel near the airport!).  We had to pay in full a couple of months in advance (because so many places were getting booked up) and there weren’t many good options for places that would give us an actual refund if we didn’t show so it really was like playing the lottery in a way.  Luckily, it all worked out beautifully and we ended up having 50 extra seats on the way home and over 100 extra seats on the flight there so we were given a row to ourselves!

We enjoyed seven nights and eight days in paradise and it was a wonderful way to kick off the third trimester of Lucia’s pregnancy and to enjoy our little family of three before our newest addition joins us.

Tuesday, Jan 27

We were up and at ’em at 4:30am getting our final things together so we could be at the airport by 7am.  Sirena had been looking forward to getting on the airplane for weeks now so the whole way to the airport we were talking to her about how much fun we were about to embark on (this girl loves her airplanes!)  The flight was just shy of 6 hours long which is the longest flight she’s been on and she was a real trooper, even snoozing on Daddy for about an hour.

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Enjoying her first in-flight movie! “Book of Life”

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So happy to have arrived! On the shuttle to pick up our rental car

We rented a sweet ride for our trip…a Jeep convertible!  I was grateful to be able to sit shotgun for the majority of the time (I could not be squished in the backseat with the car seat the whole trip with my big ol’ belly and Dorothy and Judy agreed) but the times that I did ride in the backseat I could empathize with D & J that the backseat wasn’t nearly as comfy as the front seat.  So next time around we may need to reconsider our car choice!  But the convertible top and the way it handled rough terrain were really great.

After getting to our condo (a nice little 2 bedroom place a 1/2 mile from the beach in the town of Ka’anapali, just north of Lahaina) and unpacking our bags, we decided to have an early dinner at the Maui Brewing Co (which had yummy food and drinks, just crazy steep prices for any little add-ons which at other places would be included at no-cost).  After dinner and on our drive back to the house, we made a quick stop at the tiniest little beach just south of Pohaku Park.  We wanted to watch the sunset and thought this little patch of sand and beach would be a great backdrop.  To our astonishment, after jumping down onto the sand from the lava rocks bordering the beach and the highway, we were greeted by two exhausted sea turtles taking a break just on the shore (we were feet away from jumping on top of one of them, we had no idea it was there!)  It was the most incredible way to spend our first evening in Maui, watching the sunset and enjoying the company of two beautiful creatures.

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Splashing her toes in the warm(ish) Hawaiian waters for the first time!

Wednesday, Jan 28

Hawaii is two hours behind California time (at this time of year, they don’t observe Daylight Savings Time so half of the year they’re three hours behind us) so we were all bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed at the ungodly hour of 4:30am!  After hanging out at the house for a bit we decided to venture out and we were the first customers at Slappycakes, a fun restaurant where you cook your pancakes at your table.  After a yummy breakfast we went to Safeway to buy some groceries so that most of our lunches and about half of our dinners could be eaten at home so we could save some money.  After dropping our groceries off, we turned right around to enjoy the mid-morning at Launiupoko Beach Park–a toddler’s swimming paradise!  It had a tiny little wading beach blocked by rocks that let ocean water come in gradually and didn’t get more than 2-3 feet deep.  Sirena had a blast playing with her bucket and sand toys (thank you, Auntie Judy!) and testing her swimming legs in the warm waters.

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We went back to the house so that Sirena could enjoy a much-needed nap while Dorothy and Judy went down to the beach closest to our house.  We kept the evening pretty low-key with a BBQ dinner at home and then took to the main drag of Lahaina (the only real downtownish area on the island), Front Street, to watch the sunset, window shop, and enjoy the first (of many) Hawaiian gelatos.

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Our only group photo on the trip!

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Incredible sunset, amiright?!

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It’s official: Sirena loves gelato.

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Can’t ask for a better view while eating gelato!

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Thursday, Jan 29

Thursday was set aside for our big travel day…we were going to drive the infamous Road to Hana!  (Kevin was so looking forward to this day…he LOVES driving, especially windy, gravelly roads…and especially in a convertible Jeep). We woke up really early (jet lag was working in our favor that day) and set out mid-morning.

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View from our convertible top

We followed along closely with the “Maui Revealed” guidebook that Kevin bought a year or two ago which talked about both the super popular spots and the not-so-well-known gems along the road, using the mile markers to point them out. The first part of the drive there were a ton of overlooks to stop at and take photos of the breathtaking coastline.

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Looking out onto Honomanu Bay

We took a hidden dirt road (thanks to the guidebook) down to Honomanu Bay and enjoyed stretching our legs on the black sand (rocky) beach.

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Throwing rocks in the ocean, her favorite

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She even got Mama and Grandma in on the action. Kevin took this series of photos as we threw our rocks into the ocean.

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Proof that Kevin was on the trip, haha!

The Road to Hana during the peak tourist season is well known for incredible waterfalls around every turn. The guidebook warned that at certain times of year (come to find out, late January…) there isn’t much water flow to speak of for a lot of the waterfalls they describe and we quickly found that out after trying to get our eyes on a bunch of them. That just means we’ll have to come back, I guess…

At the urging of the guidebook, we took a small road into Ke’anae Peninsula and village for some awesome views and delicious banana bread and shave ice at Aunty Sandy’s roadside stand. Across the street from Aunty Sandy’s was a beautiful spot to take photos of the crashing waves against jagged lava boulders which we spent some time at before indulging ourselves in the sweet stuff.

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Sirena mimicking the crashing waves

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Walking the rock wall to Aunty Sandy’s (and hugging her baby Honey real tight)

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Peekaboo!

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Um…delicious. This was our favorite shave ice on the island that we tried this trip.

We got back on the road and shortly thereafter were met with tons of red brake lights just ahead. We had heard at Aunty Sandy’s that there was a lot of construction going on and that the road might be closing at some point but we didn’t think it’d be so soon! We were stopped for a few minutes before we started seeing some cars up ahead turning around and talking to each car on the way back. The driver told us that they were closing the road and that we should all just head back. We were so bummed!! We thought we’d wait it out a bit and the poor fools who listened to that guy really missed out because not 5 minutes later did they start letting traffic through (no joke!)

IMG_3701So glad we didn’t listen to that haole! 😉

From the Hana Highway section of the guidebook, one of the places I was really keen on visiting was Ching’s Pond. Most drivers don’t even notice the amazing waterfall and swimming hole just below the road but with the help of the guidebook we knew where to pull over and make our way down an extremely steep hill to this real gem. One of my favorite things is to swim in rivers and swimming holes like this (even more so than the ocean to be honest) so I was beyond excited to check it out. Of course the water was freeeeeezing so I hesitated quite a bit before being urged by Judy to get in the water already because she knew I’d end up regretting it later. Kevin jumped in first and Sirena joined the both of us for a 10 minute dip in the super refreshing waters.

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My idea of paradise

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We enjoyed our lunch on the rocks and were pleasantly surprised (or horrified, depends on which of us you’re talking about!) to be entertained by a guy who climbed up to the bridge where cars would pass and proceed to jump 25 feet down into Ching’s Pond below. We had read in the guidebook that if you were lucky you’d get to see some locals do it but it urged extreme caution because there is literally zero margin for error with this jump. The guy we saw did it twice and we all held our breath each time his feet left the platform!

IMG_5027Can you see the crazy man jumping? He’s just to the left of the bridge, in the center of the photo

I have to mention at this point that Sirena had been a bit under the weather a few days leading up to our trip. She was sniffly and congested off and on but we took our chances and she had been doing pretty well up until this point, just a little extra clingy with me. Our Road to Hana trip took a turn for the worst about 20 minutes after Ching’s Pond when we made a pit stop at Hana Bay. Sirena started complaining about her “owie, ear” and Kevin and I immediately freaked out that she had an ear infection that we had previously been clueless about. I picked her up and held her for about 10 minutes and she was crying and complaining about her ear and we couldn’t seem to distract her. Hana Bay is basically at the complete opposite end of the island from our condo so we were feeling really screwed but not totally hopeless at this point because although she was upset, she wasn’t out of sorts (…yet).  We were kicking ourselves for not bringing the Tylenol that I had so thoughtfully packed from home but left at the condo (because why would we need Tylenol on the Road to Hana?!) but we thought that she had been in such good spirits and was such a trooper that things should be manageable. Boy, were we wrong.

This is the part of the trip that we lovingly call “The Road from Hell.” We were in basically the most desolate part of the island on the roughest, bumpiest, most windy part of the Hana Highway. There were no towns, no drug stores, NOTHING for two hours. Sirena was in complete and utter turmoil for the entire 2 hours we were on that part of the drive–she tried so hard to fall asleep but every damn bump and turn would wake her up and she’d be screaming out in pain. Each time she’d wake up she’d cry out, “Hold me, Mommy! Hold me, Mommy!” over and over again and all I could do was hold her hand and try to comfort her as best as I could squished in the backseat next to her (and Judy helped with trying to comfort her as best she could squished on the other side of the car seat). The drive was pure torture, that is no exaggeration at all. We were all so utterly helpless–all we could do was keep driving as fast as we could to just get to the next damn town where they had an Emergency Room we could take her to. As we were approaching the town of Kula, Sirena changed her tune from, “Hold me, Mommy!” to, “Save me, Mommy” and it absolutely broke all of our hearts. We finally made it to Kula and followed the signs to a windy road up the hill a bit to the hospital. As we turned the corner I started to freak out a bit because it was getting dark and the hospital looked like it came straight out of a scary movie (looked like an old insane asylum!) Once we saw the ER it looked a bit more normal but I was starting to question our decision to go to this hospital to be honest! Turns out it was a beautiful hospital with an incredible view and we were in and out of ER in…get this…thirty minutes.

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Squeezing Daddy so tight

The doctor was great and gave Sirena some much-needed Tylenol which worked quickly and eased her incredible pain. We drove about 10 minutes to the closest pharmacy and picked up a prescription for her ear infection. From Kula we had another 45 minutes but luckily at this point the road was smooth and fairly straight so Sirena was able to pass out for the remainder of the drive and stayed asleep until we got to the condo and quickly passed back out for the night.

The grown-ups stayed up a bit to unwind from a crazy stressful day with late night pizza and beer/wine. What…a…day.

Friday, Jan 30

For good reason, we took it easy on Friday to let Sirena recover from such a traumatic experience and heal up as best as she could. We headed out to Kapalua Beach for some snorkeling for the grown-ups and wading in the water/playing in the sand for Sirena.

IMG_3712You’d think she hadn’t just had the worst day of her life the day before…

IMG_5031The only photo we took of Kapalua Beach (Judy’s in the middle on her floatie!)

Only Kevin, Judy and Dorothy went out snorkeling this day and they say it wasn’t the best waters for snorkeling. In fact, there was some gnarly coral that banged ’em up pretty good (I won’t name names 😉 ). Yikes!

Sirena passed out in the car just as we left the beach and so the grown-ups got lunch to go from a mixed plate spot that had great reviews. It did not disappoint! Super yummy, local food. Just what the doctor ordered.

We had a relaxing afternoon at the house and took to Lahaina for dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. My mom’s husband’s daughter (you following?) is the niece of the owners of this chain of restaurants (I lost you, didn’t I?) so we were excited to check it out (and had a super helpful VIP gift card that Steve let us have to help pay for our meal, thank you Steve!) There was a musician playing great music during the meal, we had a great view of the moon over the ocean behind us, and the food was yummy so it was a great choice! And we finished off the (what turned out to be a super late) evening with some window shopping and yummy gelato.

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You can’t really tell but Sirena is actually wearing the souvenir we bought for Lucia…an 18 mos shirt! I couldn’t believe it when I walked in the room and she had it over her head, haha. We proceeded to buy her a matching one, this time a size 3T. 😉

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A giant flip flop is just asking to be climbed on, right? She then proceeded to put it on the ground and pretend it was a surfboard, entertaining the two shopkeepers. Hah!

Saturday, Jan 31

After a fairly laid back day and how well Sirena was doing we decided to do another big trip (this time with her antibiotics and plenty of Tylenol on hand) on Saturday. Our destination? ‘Iao Needle with lots of stops along the way.

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Our first stop on our West Maui excursion was to Nakalele Blowhole–described by the guidebook, “the ocean here has undercut the shoreline, pounding underneath the lava shelf, where it spits through a human-sized hole in the lava. The blowhole varies tremendously with the tide and size of the surf” and we were lucky that we got here on a good day. There was plenty of action from the blowhole even as high up as we were (we weren’t feeling adventurous enough to walk all the way down with Sirena). The sign at the top of the hill said, “Warning: Stay clear of blowhole. You can be sucked in and killed. This is NOT a water park.” You don’t have to tell us twice with a pregnant lady and a toddler!

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Checking out the blowhole down below

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Thar she blows! (You knew that was coming, right?)

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Shortly after the blowhole, the road narrowed dramatically to one lane and began its extremely windy ascent up through the mountains. For this whole part of the drive, we had to keep our eyes peeled for oncoming cars and yield to them as best we could on the side of the highway. You could tell who was a local and who was a tourist by the speed with which people took those turns. Some of those people were insane!

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We came across an overlook a few miles from where we parked to walk to the blowhole and we got a great birds-eye view of it:

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Incredible view of the road ahead!

At the urging of the guidebook, we kept our eyes peeled every turn for a tiny little village called Kahakuloa which claimes to have…get this…the “best banana bread in the world.” Lots of small roadside stands sell banana bread but the guidebook claimed that the banana bread at Julia’s roadside stand was hands-down the best so you know we had to check it out. Turns out not only was the banana bread the bomb, they also sold an amazing coconut candy and a passion fruit butter to spread on (thick!) on the slice of banana bread. Heaven!!

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Sirena enjoying her coconut candy and the view of the taro fields below Julia’s stand

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View of Kahakuloa Village as we made our way up the mountain again

We made another stop a few miles up the mountain at the Kaukini Gallery filled with beautiful art/souvenirs/jewelry…and a much-needed restroom!  After that point the windy, narrow road widens and straightens out into a two car highway and we made our way to Central Maui for the main attraction: the ‘Iao Needle in the town of Wailuku.

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View of the ‘Iao Valley

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Before making our way up the many stairs to the ‘Iao Needle lookout, we had a nice picnic lunch on the grounds and enjoyed the overcast weather for a change with about 5 minutes of sprinkling. Such an incredible spot for lunch and taking in the awe-inspiring sights.

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It was a good hour of driving through the central part of Maui and back up along the West Maui coast back to our house and luckily Sirena napped most of the way. We were itching for some more beach time and pulled over at Mile Marker 14 for what we heard was some incredible snorkeling. Turns out the snorkeling was just meh but the beach and water itself was calm and warm and basically perfect to end our day.

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We had a BBQ dinner at home and could barely keep our eyes open past 9pm so we called it a night!

Sunday, Feb 1

We had another chill day planned for Sunday (aka Super Bowl Sunday for people who actually enjoy football, haha). Kevin, Sirena, Dorothy and I took a drive to a coffee farm and to the now closed Sugar Cane Train to take some fun photos of Sirena on an abandoned train (one of her faves). We did a little souvenir shopping, had a coffee, and went back to the house so Sirena could nap…but she didn’t (it’s like she knew her time in Hawaii was running out so she wanted to enjoy every last minute of it!)

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After a little lunching on our patio we decided to take a dip in the pool to take advantage and to spend some time as a family. I didn’t get any shots at the pool itself but here are some shots of our sun-kissed beauty around the complex after pool time:

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Enjoying the view at lunch

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Sirena’s third most favorite thing: MAPS!

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Her new “silly face.” She does it all the time!

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Showing us the way home

Before we left Maui we all wanted to make another sunset visit to Pohaku Park where we made the unexpected sea turtle discovery our first night on the island so we decided to do that this night. The turtles were out as we had hoped and we enjoyed watching the sunset on the little patch of sand with our new local friends.

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Exploring the rocks

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Auntie Judy showing Sirena something fun

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After the sun set we made our way back out to Lahaina for some dinner. We had no idea that it would take us over an hour to find a place to eat! It was already getting late and we walked up and down Front Street trying to find a place that everyone wanted to eat, had decent reviews and had a nice ambiance, wasn’t ridiculously priced, and would seat us right away. We were starting to go nuts because we weren’t able to find a darn place when we finally stumbled upon Captain Jack’s that turned out to be a great dinner (and it was across the street from where we started our search, go figure!) After dinner we had another yummy gelato which made it allll better.

Monday, Feb 2

We started out fairly early that morning to take a drive down to South Maui on the west coast to check out some of the beaches near the docks where we’d go out on our whale watching/snorkel tour midday. On the way there we stopped at an overlook that was always super crowded because of the great vantage point for whale watching.

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We drove through the towns of Kihei and Wailea and found our way to Makena Beach for about an hour of swimming.

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From the beach you could see Molokini Crater off in the distance where we’d be snorkeling just a few hours later!

After our quick beach trip we packed back into the Jeep and made our way back up the coast to the docks to climb aboard the Four Winds boat. The boat ride was at least an hour long and it covered some extremely choppy waters. I was having a hard time keeping comfortable holding onto Sirena (and trying to keep her from flying off the bench) and keeping my own huge pregnant belly from jumbling around too much. I kept a close eye on the Molokini Crater (our final destination) and hoping that we’d get there sooner rather than later! There were some whales spotted on the way there but I wasn’t able to focus too much on them under the circumstances but Kevin got some good shots of them:

IMG_5317Captain Judy at your service!

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Once we docked at Molokini Crater (which is actually pretty rare for the afternoon snorkel trips, most days the afternoon tours have to go somewhere else because the weather doesn’t cooperate so we were very lucky to get out there!) the waters were extremely calm and incredibly clear and blue. Sirena and I stayed on deck the majority of the time, eating lunch and watching overboard while K, D and J snorkeled. Judy came back aboard when there were around 20 minutes to spare for snorkeling and offered me her wetsuit jacket so that I could take a dip which I appreciated so much! I hadn’t planned on snorkeling but it was so glorious and I’m really glad that I was able to get out there. Sirena even climbed down the steps (wearing a life jacket of course) and sat on the bottom step with me kicking her legs in the water and enjoying some “swim” time herself. It ended up being a really perfect afternoon.

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We spent maybe 3.5 minutes at the glass bottom of the boat but it was cool while it lasted

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The ride back to the docks was much more pleasant and I was able to actually enjoy the view!

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Sirena decided to drive us home…

We finished the busy day out in the sun with a low-key dinner at home. About an hour before Sirena’s bedtime, Kevin and I finally made our way out for a “date night” while Dorothy and Judy helped put Sirena to bed. We didn’t do anything huge because we were both pretty exhausted and we still had some souvenirs to buy so we did some shopping, walked down Front Street holding hands (and not worrying about a toddler running around, what a relief!), and enjoying some gelato (for me) and shave ice (for Kevin). It was nice to have a couple of hours to ourselves before our trip came to an end the next day.

Tuesday, Feb 3

Our final day in Maui arrived and we spent the majority of the morning cleaning and packing. We left with just enough time to grab some lunch before heading to the airport. We could not believe that not 5 minutes from the airport and returning our rental car we got hit by another car! Long story short, there didn’t end up being any damage on our car (the other guy couldn’t claim the same) and we were able to leave with no issues at all (thank goodness!) The timing was unbelievable and I’m just so happy we didn’t end our trip on a bad note.

We got to the airport with about 10 minutes to hang out at the terminal. The flight home was not as easy going as the first (Sirena was exhausted and had a harder time napping but luckily she eventually conked out) and we finally touched down at LAX to make the last leg of the trip home. Home, sweet, home.

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We had an amazing time in Maui but we really were so glad to be home. Can’t wait for our next family vacation…as a family of four!

Halloween 2014

Sirena’s third Halloween was a total blast! She rocked her Mickey Mouse costume and enjoyed all of the fun festivities leading up to the big day including decorating our house, carving pumpkins, pumpkin patches (two!), a train ride, and of course, trick-or-treating with her neighborhood buddies.

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Our first Halloween at our home. Sirena and Kevin helped decorate!

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Tanaka Farms pumpkin patch

We spent a morning at the Tanaka Farms pumpkin patch in Irvine with Sirena’s buddy Amelia and her family.

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My little fox on the hay ride to the pumpkins

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Amelia’s family on the hay ride

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Pumpkin picker in training

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Waving hi to the creepy scarecrow

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I thought this shaved ice might save me from an I’m-hotter-than-hell-and-it’s-way-past-my-naptime meltdown but instead it was probably the worst idea because she had the worst meltdown in the history of Sirena’s existence on the way to the car after eating this with me! At least I enjoyed my share, haha.

Irvine Park pumpkin patch

We spent a fun morning at the Irvine Park pumpkin patch with Alden and his mom Christine.

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We took a ride on the train which was a lot of fun…

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Strongest 2 year old in the world!

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Buddies waiting for the train to pass

Pumpkin carving

Just in the nick of time we bought some pumpkins to carve before the big day. Grandma and Grandpa came over to help!

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Trick-or-treating

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Showing off her costume out front of our house

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Practicing trick-or-treating with Grandpa (Grandma, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Clay, and Daddy were part of her entourage that night)

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Aunt Kathy and Uncle Clay volunteered to hold down the fort to pass out candy while we were out trick-or-treating

We had a drive-by visit with Auntie TT, Nani, and Bopa…

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The Rancho Rascals…

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My graduation

In 2010 I started on a very part-time basis my Masters degree program through the university I work for, taking one class per term.  When I started the program I thought that perhaps one day when I finished and attended my commencement ceremony I might have a child to share the celebration with and lo and behold the day arrived and Sirena was able to be there with me along with the rest of my family. She was a huge inspiration to me in the last year of the program to finish the degree and it meant the world to me that she was there to see her Mama walk across the stage and get handed her diploma.

Photos from the commencement ceremony…

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Words cannot describe how much my mom’s support means to me, especially when it comes to earning this degree. <3

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My favorite photo of the day

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Proud of my Masters’ hood! (Because when else am I ever going to get a chance to wear it?!)

 

Photos from the grad party my mom hosted for me…

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My Aunt Kathy came up with a fun “What Would Lisa Do?” questionnaire that all of the guests tried to answer.

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The winners (tied) for who knows me the best! 🙂

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Part of the gang

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The look on their faces says it all!

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Love my siblings

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My family <3

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Proud of her Mama 🙂

Sirena’s 2nd birthday party!

We hosted Sirena’s second birthday party at our new home and invited her family and friends to celebrate her big day with us. Sirena’s a BIG fan of airplanes and so we thought it would be so much fun to have an airplane-themed birthday party. The party started off with a bang…literally…and Sirena had a major accident that landed us in Urgent Care just an hour into the party. Luckily she didn’t require stitches (but did get sent home with a giant bandage on her forehead!) and we’re so happy that her party guests stuck around so that the party girl could finish celebrating with everyone.

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Paper airplanes galore!

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Daddy made the cake and decorated it

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Mommy made the cupcakes and Daddy, Bri and Brian decorated them. They turned out exactly like I had hoped!!

We did a fun photo booth for the kids at the party. Daddy, Mama, and Brian made this super cool cardboard airplane and Bri helped decorate the backdrop.

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And the biggest kid of them all? Uncle Derek 😉

We played a round of “Pin the Propeller on the Airplane”…

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And the adults got in on the party action as well with a paper airplane flying contest!

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Singing her favorite song (“Happy Birthday”)!

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I think she’s a fan!

Present time!

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She LOVED her Mr. Potato Head doll

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And can you tell she was ecstatic about her airplane book??

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Sooo happy about her Richard Scarry book too!

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Reading from her new Minnie Mouse coloring book

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The party favors for the kids were these aviator caps. Uncle Derek is modeling one for us.

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You know Lola had to get in on the action!

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Captain Sirena at your service

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Love my little family

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Kisses for the birthday girl!

Sarah + Rob’s wedding

We were so happy to share in Kevin’s sister Sarah and our new brother-in-law Rob’s big day! They had an incredible wedding at an ultra-cool, hip spot in LA and we all had an absolute blast.

We hosted their rehearsal dinner at our home a couple of nights before. The theme was Southern-inspired because of their time living in New Orleans and it was so fun coming up with decor for the party.

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I made four table runners with different love-inspired Southern quotes. This one reads: Love and marriage go together like grits and gravy.

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I made those cotton branches! I could not find them anywhere so had to make ’em myself with fake flower stems from Michael’s and hot gluing cotton balls on the branches. I think they turned out great if I do say so myself! 🙂

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Sirena with her new Aunt Ashley

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Pinching Daddy’s cheeks

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The lovely couple giving a toast

 

Photos from the wedding!

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The flower girls

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Katelyn was the flower girls’ escort

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“We did it!”

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Father and daughter

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And then the Converse go on…

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…and then the fluffy dress goes off and is replaced by a light cotton dress and pants…for dancing!

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Get down with your bad self, Sirena!

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Oh the DONUTS!

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I think this photo speaks for how amazing those donuts were!

Sirena’s first visit to Disneyland!

We had an amazing opportunity to be signed in by a Disney cast member friend of ours for a free visit to Disneyland…not only us, but Kevin’s entire family!  Sirena hadn’t watched a ton of tv leading up to this point and only really knew a few of the characters just by seeing them in stories but it was so apparent to her being there within those gates that Disneyland was a special place.  It was really amazing to see!

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Checking out the sights just outside of the park with Grandpa

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Kisses for cousin Katelyn

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Sirena and Sadie checking out each other’s Disney-themed outfits

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Okay now we’re in the…Sirena, lead the way!

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By mid-afternoon (way past her normal nap time) she was WIPED and slept on my shoulder the entire queue of Pirates

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Desperate for some peace and quiet!

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Family photo with the Mouses 🙂

Thomas + Ashley’s wedding

We set aboard the majestic Queen Mary for the royal wedding of Kevin’s brother Thomas and our new sister-in-law Ashley and we had a blast!

The night before, Ashley invited her bridesmaids + me and Katelyn to spend the evening on board the ship and go on a ghost tour…it was AWESOME.

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Katelyn and me getting ready for our haunted tour!

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Amazing details in every corner of the room we stayed in.

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An impromptu dance session between Katelyn and Aunt Sarah

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The creepiest place on the whole tour…the swimming pool!

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Thomas and Katelyn were chosen to hold the dowsing rods which we were told we could use to communicate with the dead. Thomas got a little bit of action but Katelyn got a TON of action. The ghost communicating with Katelyn was a little kid who said she liked Katelyn’s shoes of choice: big, fluffy Minnie Mouse house slippers! It was really neat.

 

The wedding was beautiful, on one of the decks overlooking the Long Beach coastline. The reception was a ton of fun–great food, good company, and Sirena was a dancing/entertaining machine all night. It was the latest she had stayed up ever (I don’t think we got in our car until 11pm!) and she was a real trooper.

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Me, Katelyn and Sirena ready for the party!

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Checking out the ship

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Sirena and Sadie happened to match in hot pink dresses. Cutie pies!

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Girls will be girls–no matter how dressed up they are, they’ll be wrestling around on the floor, lol!

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First dance!

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The tower of a cake…delicious!

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Smiles during co-Best Man Kevin’s speech

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George giving a toast

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Sirena and Nani

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Me and my party animal

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