My Girl!

Not so long ago this was my baby girl, now she scribbles with an intensity and focus that surprises me. She says she's doing homework which makes me smile since it means she's all so grown up. Before she really does grow up completely here's a few things I want to remember of my baby girl.

She loves asking for kisses and is very particular that it's done evenly (one cheek and then the other) Just before going to sleep she'll always ask for one on her "'wips'and nose". Then she needs and Ek-a-mo (Eskimo kiss which consists of rubbing noses) and "Butterfly (eyelashes tickle) this one and then that one" as she pokes out each eye in succession.

Singing is so natural for her. At bedtime her current favorite is 'Child of God' and she will often sing along. In the van I've caught her singing songs I rarely sing, such as Itsy Bitsy Spider, or Old MacDonald. The ones that make me smile are the 'princess'ones. On an off she'll tilt her head and start singing, "I'm wishing .. I'm hoping for the one I love" (from Snow White) It's a little frightening how much she resembles that fair maiden at those moments.

She's a rather tidy child and makes a fuss if she's 'ticky' when eating dinner. This pays off though when it comes to her room. She's quick to clean up and sing the clean up song while she's at it and when it's all done says, "Better, clean is nicer!"

If any of my children have my taste for Asian food, it's this little girl. She loves sashimi, especially salmon and will stuff her face with sushi like there's no tomorrow. The other night we went out for some sushi and she wanted to try the soy sauce with wasabi. She has more tolerance for spice so we dabbed a chopstick in it and put some on her tongue. Within seconds she was grabbing her mouth and yelling, "Pi-see". A gulp of water later she was asking, "More saki?" We laughed and said she'd better not be asking for saki, rather wa-sabi! "Okay, more sabi!" and repeat the whole show. That's how I know she's my girl!


Here she is with her fish lips! So cute!

Isaac Says the Darndest Things!

Sometimes our kids can be so grown up. In the picture above, Isaac realized Keila was a little scared and was helping her climb up with encouraging words as well as helping her reach for the next rung and occasionally giving her rump a push upward. He has a way of expressing himself with all due seriousness from a 4 year old that I wish I could record him, tones, expressions and all every time. Here are the few that have come in just the last few days.

While on a drive back from preschool:
Me: So how was school?
Isaac: Good, I want to marry Tori.
Me: Why is that?
Isaac: Because her is not bossy, but Owen wants to marry her too.
Me: (chuckling at the not bossy part) Well did anyone ask Tori what she wanted?
Isaac: (in total seriousness) Her's not ready to decided yet, so Owen and me will work it out.
Apparently my son is a man who knows what he wants and is willing to take charge for it!

This one was related to me by my neighbor who just adores Isaac. Apparently he makes her laugh all the time and thus has become her favorite kid in the cul-de-sac. With conversations like these, I'm not surprised.
Isaac: Hey, Kara, did you know you have to wear green on Saint Panties day or you'll get pinched!
Kara: Saint Panties Day, huh.
Isaac: Yeah, it's an important day, especially to Leprechans!
I'm not going anywhere near the whole Leprechans and panties thing!

This one was related to me by a friend when he was over playing with her daughter.
Taylor: I want to wear a princess dress!
Isaac: You don't need one, you're already a princess without the dress!
Charmer isn't he? If he keeps this up he'll have mothers and daughters eating out of his hand! During this same playdate he also had this conversation:
Isaac: Taylor, you're my best friend!
Taylor: You're mine too!
Isaac: Mama say we should marry our best friend, so we should marry each other, okay?
Taylor: Okay!
I'm pretty sure this stems from having watched 'Up' recently and his current obsession of finding the one he's going to marry. It seems to be a daily concern with him. I keep telling him he has plenty of time to worry about it later, much later! (like after a mission later!!!)

This last one was said after a swim lesson, it was really disturbing at first until I figured out what he really meant.
Isaac: Swimming is fun, I love being a cannibal!
Me: You love being a what?!!! A cannibal?
Isaac: Yeah, a cannibal, you know, when Miss Tori picks me up and I hold my knees and she throws me in the water.
Me: Oh, you mean Cannon Ball! Good heavens son, a cannibal is totally different thing!
Isaac: Cannibal ... Cannon ball, it's all fun! Mama, what is a cannibal?
Me: (sigh) Don't ask ...
Isaac: Too many questions Mama?


So proud of this little man. He's growing up before my eyes!

35 Weeks

Please bear in mind the following as I relate my appointment results from today. My doctor is a very professional man who's been practicing for over 17 years. We've known him for years, he knows Kent, asks about him, knows of our religious beliefs and family situation. He's been there for all of my miscarriages and pregnancies and I could not want for a more patient, helpful obgyn. So I must say I was rather startled today when he swore out loud upon finding kiddo #3 hang so low. Clearly this was the explanation for how displaced my bones are and the obvious pain that goes with it. I've begun having muscle spasms more frequently as well as swelling increases since nothing is where it ought to be. As of this Friday, I will be officially 36 weeks and he gave me full permission to stop all medication and let the baby come. He wished for my sake that he could induce me, but due to Medicated and Medicare cuts the hospitals are on shoestring staff and nothing is allowable until after 40 weeks. He did offered a number of suggestions as to how to get the ball naturally rolling so he isn't worried in the least. So here is my list of things I'm grateful for for this week:

1. I have an end visibly in sight. While there's not an exact day, with things so in position to go, Kent and I can plan to some degree.

2. Next week is Spring Break for Isaac. There will be no worries about schedules or activities beyond the ones we elect for and that is one less thing to think about.

3. Kent has already enough time off and has even received permission for FMLA is needed. With so many people out of town and no family nearby this truly makes difference, especially since all of our babies were hospitalized a few days after again due to jaundice issues.

4. The kids continue to find ways to entertain themselves. Kent caught this picture of Isaac with a self made kite running his tail off in the backyard to get it to fly. I have such good kids!



If I can have it my way, the next few posts will be all about our newest addition!

Swimming Safety

I love Aqua Tots and how they've taught my children how to swim. The other day they were required to come with clothes and shoes on because they want the children to learn not to panic should they ever fall into the pool with clothes on. Half the time they were fully clothes, and the other half they were just in their swimsuit. Isaac described it as being 'thick and heavy' but he knew just what to do.

Keila is still not fond of it, but she's getting there. I love how in everything she does, she stops to wave at Kent or I to make sure we're watching her.




He's at a point where he can swim on his back and crawl out on his own. The media was there to take some pictures and Isaac loved being the hamming it up for them.



Teacher Toni has been great for them. They love it when she tosses them into the air to land with a 'giant splash'!

Give Me Sanity ... or Give Me Death!!

The last 5 weeks have been rough for me more emotionally than anything else. I'm one who structures the day with getting out at least once, having chores to do, food to cook and playtime with the kids. That was all thrown out the window when Montierth #3 dropped too early and ever since my sanity was put on the line. Just before this weekend I had a few teary blue fits and so we threw caution to the wind and took a chance to get out for the Aloha Festival in Tempe.

Typically I love finding all sorts of festivals on the weekends to spend time together as a family. We work hard to get our chores done before the day and I cook and pack up a nice lunch and we head out. This time we simplified and spent a little more money than we like, but it was SO worth it. A sane Mama does wonders for the whole family.

The kids got a 50 mins ride on the lightrail to Tempe to save us the stress of parking and massive walking. It was crowded and movement was slower than a turtle, but it was perfect for me. The kids played at the park, made crafts, we ate great food, watched some dancing and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine.



Isaac was being a ham for the camera that day.





The lei that they made at the festival. The tables were crowded with children so I had to chuckle when Isaac crawled under them and used whatever had been dropped to the floor. Not only did he have the no competition, he was totally out of the sun. He manage it all by himself and was rather proud of himself.



The kids were so content on the train back with sucking their ring pops and gazing at all sort of interesting people and they happily played with each other the remainder of the day. Aside from an extra dose of Niphedipine, nothing could have been more perfect. How grateful I am that we were able to have some prized 'ohana' time together.

34 Weeks

I'm not too sure how I feel about my cervix being dubbed the Rock of Gibraltar, but that's how the doctor feels. No more dilation but this child could not sit any lower. The doctor has offered certain sleeping pills to help and on and off I take a small dose of acetaminophen when the pain it too much. Unfortunately the niphedipine that is used to stop contractions is causing swelling in my arms and legs - a whole new experience for me. I've decided chubby hands and feet ought to be left to toddlers and babies, it's definitely NOT cute on any adult!

1. I'm grateful this week that my other pregnancies were a piece of cake in comparison. The symptoms so common to other women were absent or minimal in my other pregnancies. I suppose I can look on this as giving me greater empathy. Don't you wish empathy could be learned in a less painful way?! ;0)

2. I'm grateful for computers and the Internet. I don't know how I would keep my children well occupied without it, let alone myself. I feel rather cut off stuck in my home for so many hours of the day. I've never been one to call people often, but the emails, facebook contact, etc help to ease the loneliness. In addition Isaac has really grown to love reading on a whole different level. It's one things to sound out words with mom, but another when it's done in a game. I love PBS kids.org and especially Word World and Super Why. Keila has also jumped leaps and bounds with her knowledge of the ABCs. The school district in our area uses Starfall.com and she loves looking up the different letters and hearing the sounds. Best of all she's begun pointing them out whenever she sees them.



3. I'm grateful for a small house. It's funny, but there is so much less cleaning and no matter where I'm stuck, the kids always hear my voice and I always hear what's going on.

4. I'm grateful for work. There is so very little I can do nowadays without setting off contractions (with our without the niphedipine) that I've come to realize there is much to be said for how work helps an individuals self esteem, no matter how menial. At the end of the day it's nice to be able to say you've accomplished something and now I've learned to make those measurements in other ways. I still have cravings for my Chinese food, so I've learned to be happy when I can cut up veggies one day, cut up and marinate the meat on another and finally cook it all together on another day. My pace is so much slower, but I can do something which is a whole lot better than nothing.

The weeks and days are dreadfully long, but they are passing. Just a few more days and I'll be in the safe zone. I laugh (and cry) at the ironic thought that this kiddo will go to full term. Whatever it be, at least I know he'll be at his best in only a few more days.

Baba Time and Wrestling Camp

Our neighbor's sons are into wrestling and told us of a 3 month long camp held at the high school 2 nights a week. Surprisingly it included a class for those 3-5 years of age. With a high energy boy and no outlets in the evening, it was a perfect fit for us.


I guess they warm up with the older boys as mentors, everything from laps, to doing wheelbarrows or army crawls.


Notice the 'caution' tape on Isaac's shoes? Apparently they play a game where they try and steal the other person's tape to win.


A friendly handshake before competition begins


Tug of war 4 ways.

Kent was never extremely familiar with the sport and enjoys learning more about it. Isaac loves the fact that for 2 nights a week he has special time with Baba. I love it because Isaac comes home exhausted and because he is learning some life lessons I cannot teach him alone, such as how to learn to lose gracefully as well as have fun while competing. Keila, unfortunately is rather unhappy about it. Somehow we'll need to work on a way to have more Baba Daughter date nights. While we get in some really good snuggle time, Mama is not a replacement for Baba. In this household there is no doubt as to the value of a good father figure at home. Thanks Kent for all you do!