Keeping it Real...

My boys

2010-02-25T20:51:00.002-10:00

This was during breakfast in bed. Troy must have smelled the pancakes because he woke up right after we went in her room. He doesn't like missing out on a good breakfast. Lunch or dinner for that matter. Although lately all he wants is a muscle milk shake. He is trying to build muscle. :) I love these pics and had to post some of my boys! By the way the necklace Dan is wearing was given to him by Melia. She got these "birthday necklaces" but she only needed 1 she said. We got to wear the others. Sweet! Aren't they handsome??? I am a lucky girl.

Troy's hair looks so straight in these pics but his hair actually has some volume and curl to it. Not like my kind of curl but big curls. It can get crazy!!! He is 15 months now. CRAZY!!

Speaking of crazy...Troy is crazy busy. Nonstop...all day. Well he takes breaks. At the beach yesterday we were all down by the water. Troy walks up to the beach towel and just lies down on his side then onto his back and just stares up for awhile. I was on a beach towel the other day and he came up and did the same..just next to me cuddling. I love that little boy. He comes up to me and gives me hugs and kisses randomly all the time. He was making some people laugh at the beach, too. He likes to put the top of his head into the sand and do a kind of head stand while looking underneath him. It's hilarious. He got annoyed with me the other day b/c I wouldn't let him run out in the middle of the street and he turned to me, squinted his eyes and pinched my leg. It made me laugh so hard!! I have been working on actually posting this for a few days and every time I sit down it is usually for the first time all day and I just get so super tired..like right now!

Dan left for New Zealand today. He is going over to do IRONMAN with his dad. I am sad I can't be there when he crosses the finish line and we will for sure miss him but I know he will have fun and be in quite some pain. I am proud of all his hard work and commitment just to do something so huge..still bummed I can't go. :( Well this post was dedicated to my boys. I love you, Troy. I love you, Dan. You both exhaust me and bring me happiness. I have to clean up after both of you ;) but I enjoy the random hugs and kisses from you both. You both pout when you don't get my attention and I am smiling as I write this. Alright I am off to bed.

Breakfast in Bed

2010-02-25T20:40:00.000-10:00

Melia had a great birthday yesterday!! We started it off with breakfast in bed. As stated in last post she ate her treats the night before so I made her blueberry pancakes and even had some cupcakes for her. Yes..I let my kids have sugar sometimes. Dan came downstairs right after I made the pancakes and thought all 6 were for him. So thinking she wasnt going to get up for awhile I let him eat them. oop. I rushed to make a few more and we lit the candles before walking upstairs only to have them blown out by the fan..obviously. So we lit them again but it reminded me of when my sis and I tried to make breakfast in bed for my mom once when we were little. We tried I think 4 or 5 times. Once I think the curtains in the kitchen lit on fire. We spilled the cereal and milk walking up the stairs..you name it..it happened. So anyway..my mom had this tradition of breakfast in bed and I LOVED it. Always looked forward to it. I hope my kiddos do, too, someday.

I have a bunch of pics from yesterday and I didnt want to wait a month then post all of them at once so I thought I would every night post a few. Dan stayed home from school to go to the beach with us which was so much fun. Melia is the happiest just hanging at the beach in the sand or water. So that was special for her to have us all together. Dan asked Melia "Melia what is Daddy going to be when he is done with school?" Melia's answer "You will be home." :)

Ok I will write more about her b'day tomorrow. Thank you, Grandma, for the awesome beautiful cards that Melia wouldn't let me read and the kitty lipgloss that mysteriously showed up the mailbox (our little secret :) Granddad, thanks for the birthday song..Melia listened and smiled so big!! "He is singing to me!" ha ha Jeni and Natalie..beautiful..thanks so much. We skyped Nana and Libby and Melia got to talk to them. She was having fun showing Nana where Mommy fell on her knee. Hmm..poor thing. She talked to Grandma over the phone, which was too sweet to hear. Grandma, we don't say oh my gosh!!! Nana, thank you soooo much for the gifts!! Thanks everyone for making my sweet daughter's birthday so special. I will post more pics tomorrow. It is 8:30 and I am wiped. Troy climbs non stop all day long. Everything...climbs. Highchairs? Sure..climb it. 'Fridge shelves when mommy isn't looking? Sure why not? Who cares what may fall. I love how boys don't just place things down, too. They throw them down..as hard as they can. Ok..rambling on. Until tomorrow...

Feb. 24th-HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

2010-02-23T20:57:00.006-10:00

My Melia. I could already write a book all about you. It would be long and it would make the person reading it laugh, cry, smile, gasp..pretty much go through every emotion possible. I have!! I do everyday I think. My baby girl is 3 tomorrow. I cannot believe it. Before I go on about that I must go back to last Friday where my not so lucky fortune started. Troy was down for his nice long nap and Melia and I were enjoying playing together. After playing "sticker book" we decide to sit down for some lunch. I am sitting on one stool and she is on another. She decides to hang from my forearm-naturally, right?-and she tells me to pull her up. Just playing a game of "Hold on to me, Mommy." I tell her to stop hanging on me and right after I say that..somehow she pulls me over and the stool's legs fly out from under me and we crash to the ground. No biggie except something is digging into my right bum cheek. Melia starts screaming bloody murder. Oh that is her knee! CRAP!!! Her leg is somewhat twisted back like a runners' stretch and I am ontop. Nice, Mommy. So I pick her up and she is screaming ouch over and over..tears streaming down her face. The inside of her left knee is HUGE and a purple thick line has formed. Ok...weird. So in the midst of all of this I say "Oh my gosh." My dear sweet Melia through her tears and screams says "We don't say oh my gosh." ever so softly. Now those of you who know Melia..this makes sense and would melt your heart. She is precious. I will go into the whole oh my gosh thing later..there's more. So I call Dan who calls every doctor in his family. ha ha Just kidding. Long story short..we have to go get an xray as her knee was getting pretty swollen and purple. Dan came home and we all went to the doc. I am driving there and lose it and start laughing so hard I spit my wter out everywhere and then laugh so hard I cry then make the kids cry. I just had to let it all go. So the xray tech thought it was pretty funny when he asked what happened and Melia told him"Mommy fell on me off the stool."

Well today we went to Target..the kids and I. Melia somehow loses her shoes. "Mommy I want my shoes." Ok so put them on. "Where'd they go?" Hmm..ok. So just like that they vanish. I ask customer service..nothing. So while trying to find more shoes Troy pulls down a whole rack of flip slops. I am talking like 50 or shoes come all flying down. What do I do? I run! I grab the kids and run. I ended up buying Melia more shoes. How do you just lose your shoes in the store??

Melia started back gymnastics class. LOVES IT! She loves, loves, loves Coach Utah. He still reminds me of her Uncle Mike. They look alike and have the same voice but Utah is actually from Texas so immediately is cool. He even coached near Tyler. Nice. The other coach is Coach Yogi. I love the names. She wanted a rainbow leotard and amazingly enough she found one! She does so well in her class and seriously is so skilled. Troy spends his time in the little play area flashing the little girls. He lifts his shirt up at them. My boy!

Well tonight we went to Safeway. I wanted to get Melia a surpise treat for her b'day breakfast in bed. Should have stayed home. Let me say this...my Jeep is not running well at all and the engine light is on and just feels like it will stop running at any given second. So I take the truck today. Well Mr. Truck decides to have a total FLAT tire when we walk out of store #2. I have tons of groceries and 2 hungry kids and a flat. So I am told by USAA that it will be about 45 minutes or so to get someone out. Anyway..about almost 2 hours later..we get home. Troy started laughing as soon as he saw the house. I was right there with him! Anyway other than all that crazy stuff life is good. My kids are awesome and I adore spending every waking second being with them. We went to the beach twice on Sunday. All morning..come home for naps...go back. Perfect. I dont remember anything I just typed. I am exhausted. While I love being with the kids all day..they kick my butt by the end of the day!! Oh I have so much more going on, too. We were adopted by a pretty young thing..Lulu, the cat. She just gave birth to 4 kittens on our couch last night. Yep. Right there on my couch. My spot , too. Guess what ? They are still there. This is perfect really. Melia has been wanting a cat for her birthday..there you go. You have kittens too!!! So Dan and I were cat midwives last night. All I wanted to do was watch a movie...alright well tomorrow I had planned on taking Melia to Waimea to the waterfall and then lunch and a sno-cone but now that both vehicles SUCK I am not sure but I will make it special b/c she is special. I love you, Melia. You make me proud every single day. You make me laugh every single day and sometimes even cry..no, not really but I may want to? ha ha You're beautiful and thoughtful and I learn from you everyday, too. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! (more pics to come...) Ok this is the 4th time I am trying to post this by the way. Last night I checked it and no pics were there so I went back. This morning..no post was even up. Hmm..I wonder why I do not blog regularly. This always happens to me. So now my days sucks and I am giving up all hope. Really? No not really but I sure wish this stupid computer would WORK!!! Oh I am making Melia breakfast in bed as she ate the treats I got for her yesterday while I was talking to the man whom was fixing my tire. So I had different and more pics all arranged and actually in order but I will post more later..well we'll see. But my point is I LOVE YOU MELIA!!!! Let's go have a fun day!

Back again...

2010-01-19T19:07:00.006-10:00

Alright! So I have made a resolution that I will blog daily. HA! Ok so here's the thing-pretty sure I have said it before but Troy is a smartie. He knows that when I sit down in the study the attention is not on him and all he has to do is push that pretty little blue button and oh..he gets attention as he shut my computer off. Never fails..every single time. So I have to blog at night. Well after a full day of kiddos I am exhausted and end of falling asleep as soon as I sit down. Anyway I need to be better b/c so many fun thigns happen or we have funny little adventures and I want the kids to be able to read about it someday and I dont want to forget the little things. I posted and saved a bunch of xmas pics but that seems so long ago and I actually didn't feel like writing about that right now. But I know most of you have seen xmas pics on facebook but I still am going to post them with some cute xmas stories..just not tonight. :) Melia is obviously into fashion these days..just look at what she is wearing and chose to put on herself. What you cannot see are the 8 other pairs of panties underneath what she has on. Speaking of which..she is potty trained. Took about a day. I had tried the bribery thing a month or so ago and it worked here and there. Well a week or so ago I told her to go in the toilet..and she did and she just kept doing it. It took about a day of reminding her but no accidents and she pees and poops and does it all herself. Doesnt even tell me..just goes by herself and gets it done. I am so proud of her!!!!

She is speaking so much, too. I LOVE talking to her all day..and I mean all day. She can talk my ear off and especially in the car. I try not to talk on the phone while driving anymore b/c I just love talking with Melia. Plus she makes Troy laugh and it is awesome listening to them.

There's my TROY!! He is almost 14 months and he is a strong minded little boy already. He is just as independent as his sister. I mean we are at the park and he will just walk away from us and keep walking down the sidewalk. He would totally keep walking, too, if I didnt chase him down. He likes to figure things out by himself which is great except when Melia is trying to be helpful...he wants none of that and likes to voice his opinion on that. Oh goodness. It can get quite loud around here. Troy yelling at Melia (in toddler "talk") to leave him alone and Melia yelling at him to Stop crying Troy! I love it all, though. I was eating some green beans today and I jumped up and sat ont he counter. Well Melia looked very concerned and a little annoyed at this. She says "Mommy do not sit on the counter please. It is not safe. Get down." Well that is true and while I wanted to sit on the counter and tell her I am mommy so I can I realize I tell her this all the time and she is sucha little me I love it.

Hey where did you go??

Hmm...

Oh well I found a cheerio...

I promise to post more pics frequently. I am promising this to myself. To sum up the holidays they were great. We had fun going to the beach when we could and just hanging at the house with the kiddos. Dan had 3 weeks off or so and we got to spend some good time with him at home. I loved taking the kids around the neighborhood every night to look at xmas lights. This neighborhood goes off at xmas...lights everywhere. I loved it!! I will write more when I do the xmas post..well until tomorrow..I have some cute pics I need to get up here..ok well this took a lot out of me! ha ha I am so beat!! Melia got her first pair of running shoes "just like Mommy" so need I say more of why I am tired? :)

Monkey business

2009-12-15T06:18:00.001-10:00

My little Monkey-wait that isn't Troy! Melia wanted to play dress up the other day and I had been telling her Troy's monkey costume wouldn't fit b/c it is for a baby and she is a big girl. Well Mommy isn't always right obviously b/c I think it fits perfect!

I am a little obsessed with those slender little legs of hers..lucky little girl.

So I may have told her that to be a monkey she must eat a banana...she had fun running around making monkey sounds

Side shot-beautiful tail. After a little bit she says "Ok this is too small. This is for a baby, Mommy. I am a big girl. I take it off." And that was that.

Running behind...

2009-12-08T19:32:00.006-10:00

So where did the last few weeks go?? I always have the intention of blogging but...well Troy knows the button to push to turn the computer off so anytime I sit down..yep it's off. Annoying? Yes! So anyway..we had a nice Thanksgiving and of course Troy's b'day was that day, as well, so after we went to our neighbors' for dinner (no pumpkin pie?? WHAT? we had a little family celebration for Troy..

I honesly am not good with the whole put the pics in order and forget every single time that I need to really put them backwards to have them come out right..ok so not in order. We got that. So we are starting off at the end of the cake craziness...my son loves to eat..anything and everything. Did he eat his cake? Nope!

But he sure loved playing with it..

Mom! This is awesome!!

My little clown..

Ready to start..

Yeah I can hold my balloons up with my foot..

Grandma had these balloons delivered that morning..nice surprise!! Troy also got a cookie bouquet from Nana and Granddad but for some reason I couldn't find that pic but I will...

It was such a fun day and I have so many pics of the last few weeks as the kids and I have been going on "field trips" as Melia likes to call them. That's all I have the energy I have for this post..blogging can be tiring as this is the first time I have sat down all day!

MY BABY IS 1!!!

2009-11-25T18:51:00.004-10:00

My sweet son Troy-I love you more than words can express. I am honored to be your mother and love every moment I spend with you. HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!! I can't believe my baby is 1. A year has really gone by?? Here is Troy doing what he does best-finding food! He loves to eat and I caught him under the chair the other day nibbling on Cheerios. He drops food from his tray just so he can have a snack when he gets down from his highchair. Good thinking, my boy. He is a very smart, handsome little guy who always has a smile on his face. He walks around laughing just to laugh. He is a joy to have and I just absolutely LOVE him!!

So I am wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and wishing my son, Troy, a wonderful Happy Birthday. Thanks for being just perfect.

Peacocks and Breakdancers

2009-11-11T19:40:00.007-10:00

Hmm..ok well I am not good at posting pics in the order I have in mind. Oh well. There are tons of pics on this post. ...yes these are Halloween cookies. Surprisingly enough I do know how to bake. Grandma sent Melia some wicked awesome sprinkles so what did we do with them..we sprinkled..

Melia and I had tons of fun making cookies. This girl doesn't really like sweets but man she loved these sprinkled cookies. Ok seriously-I want her hair.

Don't you love when they are just that tired..

Random order...Nana enjoying Troy. Nana came a few weeks ago for a week. She had a blast with the kiddos. I love Troy's face in this one.

Troy warmed right up to Granddad. I can't believe Troy is a year old in a few weeks..Thanksgiving Day actually.

A peacock is on here why? Well this will start you off on the zoo pics...these are running around everywhere at the zoo..they can be mean, too. You have been warned..

Melia obviously thought it would be more fun to be in with the animals..

Why would she not push her own stroller? It is like the dogs you see walking themselves...leash in mouth...love this girl./

Work that sass!!

So sweet..

Getting annoyed are we?

Kisses!

She is definitely the funny little girl. She loves to make us laugh and she is quite good at being the little comedian. Karyn, remember when Grandma would call me a comedian? I thought it was some kind of monster and i would just nod and smile but really I was terrified. Sweet imagination! Wonder why I didnt just ask what it meant..

Love those pouty lips!

First thing she has anyone do...read books to her. Loves her books. After i read her 4 or 5 books for her nap or bedtime she re reads them to herself. She has such a good memory that she really can read them back. I listen to her on the monitor. Oh so real quick funny story..we were at the park yesterday and this quite plump little boy, Hayden was there. We have met him before. He tells me he is 3 and his dad is 5. Of course. Well this boy really is plump..like wow dude you could play NFL! So anyway he starts what I think having a seizure on the ground..oh what? You are breakdancing? Of course. So we all look on and that beautiful sight. Then Melia is climbing on something and he tells her "Don't do that! Stop! You are going to hurt your weiner!!" He tells her this a few times..I tell him"Oh sweetie she doesn't have a weiner. Melia is a girl." He thinks about this and says Oh well does he have a weiner? (pointing to Troy) I tell him yes. Hayden then grabs himself and says "I have a weiner. it's right here. It is my pee pee." Hmm..thanks Hayden and I don't think we should be having this conversation anymore. ha ha Anyway..kids are hilarious.

Progress

2009-11-11T07:11:00.003-10:00

Umm...ok so I have been taking a sculpting class? As some of you may know I want to try out a figure competition. I am aiming for one this spring so we'll see what happens. I have a trainer named Erik who is now my main man. I love him. :) So I really didn't feel like putting these pics up but just in case I get horribly out of shape someday my kids can look back and say Wow Mom...why don't you look like that anymore? And that will motivate me to get in touch with Erik again!

Anyway...it is a lot of fun doing this kind of training and I am going this Friday to check out a competition to see what they are all about.

Pardon the goofy smiles...I HATE getting my picture taken but Erik wanted to see some pics as he hadn't seen me since we started about 5 months ago.

Halloween

2009-11-08T10:50:00.003-10:00

Halloween was a blast! The kids had so much fun. Nana and Granddad were in town so that was, of course, so good to have them here for the fun evening. Melia was so gracious and at the first few houses was putting candy into the candy bowl of the person handing out the candy. So sweet but when she did get it...bring on the candy! Oh pics are out of order and there are a lot but enjoy!

Happy with her candy! Time to put into piles which she had fun doing. She is all about sorting and color coordinating..

Mommy and her monkey. I must say Troy did awesome. He just took it all in

We met up with Melia's little friend Madyson. They did some trick or treating together but Melia seemed annoyed b/c Madyson was afraid of all the scary decorations.

Troy warmed right up to Granddad.

Setting off on our trick or treating adventure..

Umm..come on I am waiting..

Casting a spell...

Treat

2009-10-18T21:25:00.000-10:00

Nana sent some costumes for the kids and they are so cute. We dressed them up last weekend to see how they would look. Beauty.

I think it is safe to say Troy looks absolutely adorable. He didn't mind it at all. He crawled around as if he wasn't even wearing a monkey suit. Who can honestly say they could do the same?

Melia is all set for Halloween. Every morning she tells me "It's almost Halloween, Mommy!" Our neighborhood goes all out and everyone already has their decorations up. I am talking lights and pumpkins and inflatable things. It's awesome.

I am tired but wanted to get these up before Monday starts. Hope everyone had a good weekend. We did. :)

Obsessed

2009-10-17T10:03:00.000-10:00

Yes I am obsessed with these 2 little ones. I just cannot get enough of them. These 2 pics of Troy are actually a month or so old. But just love them so had to get them up. I just wanted to report that my little man is walking now! 10.5 mos and he finally let go of the table and went for it. I can't believe it. Time sure has flown by b/c he will be a year so soon.

Patiently waiting (yet looking quite annoyed) for his food.

Melia came up to me the other day and handed me my phone and said "Call Daddy ok?" I told her that Daddy was at school so I couldn't. She told me again the same. I just took my phone and said I would later. I guess while I had been putting Troy down for a nap Dan called and Melia answered it and he told her to have me call him. Guess I should listen a little better!

I have some preview pics of the kiddos in their Halloween costumes that I will post later today.

Square Pants

2009-10-12T10:32:00.001-10:00

I had to write this one down. Melia and I were in the store a few weeks ago and she saw a SpnogeBob cake. She really wanted it. I told her she could have one if she threw her binky away. She still only uses it at night so not a biggie but I thought I would try it. Well when we got home she ran upstairs and got her binky and said "I throw my binky away Mommy." And throw it away she did! She was so proud of herself and we even went out to the trash and put it in the can. About 10 minutes later..."Where'd my binky go??" ha ha

I will just make the long story short. The babysitter ended up giving her a binky that day for her nap as Melia was so upset she didn't have it. So she didn't get the cake that day. The next day I told her she would have to throw another one away and sleep w/o her binky to have the cake. Well...

She obviously threw it away...again.

And Mommy is obviously a sucker b/c she is still sleeping with a binky.

My little painter

2009-10-12T10:19:00.000-10:00

I took Melia to an art class a few weeks ago and she loved it. So I bought some finger paints for her and finally got around to letting her go at it.

I love the tongue. Why do kids (and adults) stick out the tongue when concentrating? Must help.

My beautiful little girl.

So serious...

Dancing Queen

2009-09-27T20:08:00.002-10:00

These are the last pics I am posting from Grandma's trip. My recent pics are now piling up and I need to get those up but I am too lazy to upload them right now. I just wanted to write down a funny story about Melia before I go too long and I forget to. By the way Melia loves to dance and this is her twirling around. Obviously she got dizzy-see below. So Melia loves to "call" people on my phone. She pretends to call quite a few people and they always talk back b/c I hear her say"oh yeah, ok. Oh? yeah ok." So the other afternoon I leave Melia watching Dora and go upstairs to get Troy from his nap. I come back down to find Melia moving a stool over to the backdoor which is locked and she can't reach the top lock. She is on my phone saying"yeah, ok. ok. yeah." I just laugh and wonder who she is "talking" to. I then hear the lock click and she is out the door still on my phone. I am changing Troy in the study. I then walk out and see the garage door opening. I know Dan doesn't have an opener so I am like What is going on?? I walk outside and I hear "I got it Daddy!!" Melia was on a chair in the garage underneath the garage opener. To sum it up...Dan had called me and Melia picked up the phone. Dan asked her to get me so I can open the garage door. Why would a 2.5 year old need help?? So she did it herself. I thought that was very cool she found a way to do it but then thought..Nice, now my 2 year old can get out of the house and backyard.

So this week has been a good one so far. I have some newer pics of the kids and another good story from Melia. Oh the other day at the gym well..the gym I go to is nothing but huge and I mean HUGE Hawaiian or Samoan guys. They are huge. Covered in ink. My kinda guys. So anyway they are not just tough looking they really are tough men. So I was doing squats and right next to me is this huge dude and his friends. That Kelly Clarkson song "Since you've been gone" was on. All of a sudden I hear super loud from this huge man Since you've been gone..I can breath for the first time! I'm so moving on yeah yeah!" So he actually got those high notes and I just started laughing. I couldn't help it. It was awesome. I looked over at him and he just gave me the "Yeah that's right" nod. Beauty.

Beach Beauty

2009-09-24T10:05:00.003-10:00

I posted a ton of pics so scroll down to view them. These are still pics from my mom's visit. I said there were a lot! these are just some beach pics of Melia. So I wanted to say that she is quite the little blabber these days. Just talks and talks and talks..I love it.

I also love that the only time she uses her binky is at night time or a nap. When she wakes up she immediately goes to her "binky drawer" and puts it away. Nice.

What I don't love..being called Mom. I am Mommy. Momma even but not Mom. She has this movie The Reef and Pi calls his parents Mom and Dad. Well I don't like being called Mom. :( She knows this and uses it against me I swear! ha ha She sometimes says Momma in a very French fashion which is cool but Mom? She doesn't always say Mom but last night I thought I heard something so I turn her monitor volume up and I hear "Mom! Mom! Read book, Mom!" I go in and say Who are you calling? Mommy she says. That's right!

Ok so I have to wrtie this...tonight Dan was eating standing up next to Melia. Melia pats his belly and says "No more food, Daddy. You're fat." Dan immediately looks at me and asks me what I have been telling her..umm..nothing! So then (bless her sweet little heart) she looks at me and says Mommy's not fat." Oh Melia. So sweet. So then turning to Daddy who is eating pizza says "No more food, Daddy. You're fat" while patting his belly. I had to leave the room as I was laughing quite hard. Poor Dan. Good night for Mommy. ha ha

Daddy and Troy

2009-09-24T10:03:00.002-10:00

Some great pics of Daddy and troy. Troy is 10 mos old today! He took his first steps a few days ago, too! He totally walks around while holding on to my hand or my finger really. He can stand on his own forever and I just can't believe he is almost 1 year!! it's nuts. He is awesome. Always happy and always smiling. Such a laid back little guy. He also loves to eat! We went to the beach this evening and he was quite the social butterfly. He was crawling up to everybody and just smiling at them. It was so cute. I love you, Troy!

Night out

2009-09-24T10:01:00.002-10:00

Mom and I went out one night while staying down in Waikiki. We ended up at Jimmy Buffets and it was so much fun. Our waiter, Steve, was so high or drunk that he really had no idea what was going on. He brought us the wrong appetizer like twice and then brought me the wrong dinner but told me I could try it anyway while he went and got mine. He was hilarious.

There was a live band there and this guy asked Mom to dance. It was awesome! I didn't get any pics of it but she sure looked great out on the dance floor!

Having fun!! We took a cab there which costs so much b/c we thought it was far from our hotel but we walked back and it only took us like 10 minutes. Of course. I loved people watching in Waikiki. Funny-so we stopped in a little ABC Store to get some water and as I am paying I hear Mom saying behind me..Wow look at this guy's tatoo. I think it looks good, don't you? I turn around and she has the Men of Hawaii calendar open to some guy on the beach flexing! ha ha Love it!

Ilikai

2009-09-24T09:58:00.002-10:00

The Ilikai is the one with the turquoise. We stayed there for a few nights while Mom was here. It was so fun! I guess Mom would stay here with us when we were little and even played in this same little lagoon!

Walk a straight line, Melia..

Look at her strut her stuff!!

Ilikai

2009-09-24T09:53:00.001-10:00

We stayed at the Ilakai which is on Honolulu. My mom used to stay there when Karyn and I were Troy's age! It was so cool to be able to go back since it had closed but recently re-opened. We got a 2 bedroom suite on the 22nd floor for only $160 a night! It pays to be a resident here! It was a huge suite and had such awesome views. So these pics are kind of how it went..Troy warming up to Grandma..

Laughing at Melia doing something to be funny..

"Grandma, play with me. Don't play with Troy anymore. I am pretending I hurt myself so you can give me attention." Nice, Hollywood. (her new nickname lately due to awesome dramatic acting skills)

I love you, Grandma.

Here is my Troyboy

2009-09-23T11:52:00.003-10:00

Here are a few of my favs of Grandma with the kiddos. Well I have many favs but will start with these. It actually took Troy a little while to warm up to Grandma. He is just quite the momma's boy at times. Grandma had fun chasing Troy up the stairs...over and over and over...

Being silly...love Melia's hair. I wish I had it! I love Troy's face..."Oh come on girls."

At Ko Olina...we went there a few times in the evening, all of us. Mom took Melia quite a few times, as well. I love this picture! See...I said I would blog more! More pics to come!!

Grandma's visit! Back to blogging!!

2009-09-22T10:05:00.000-10:00

Hello everyone! I am back and back for good! My computer was in the shop which didn't do any good except the computer guys got some money. Anyway all is well and I have vowed to blog daily b/c my kids do so much awesome stuff I want to record it. I do cool stuff, too. hee hee So a lot has happened but let's talk about Grandma's trip out here!! It was 2 weeks ago and she was here for 2 weeks. It was SO much fun! Melia and Grandma travelled the whole island doing fun things. I should have been blogging everyday she was here b/c the 2 of them always had a fun adventure.

This was at the airport on the day Grandma came in. I have tons of pics...thanks to Mom! So get ready! Melia was so happy to see Grandma.

Grandma brought Melia a beautiful "nemo" dress. Melia and I both really love it. Isn't it awesome??

Having fun at the airport still! I will keep blogging pictures. Going to blog 4 more later. I am so excited my computer is working. Just had to move it into the study. Let's see..while Mom was here she took us to The Willows which is an awesome little restaurant down in Honolulu. It is authentic Hawaiian style food...buffet. Oh my goodness they had to find 2 wheel barrows to roll our stuffed selves out!! Dan Mom and I went one Sat night and we had the best time. I guess Mom would go there a lot 30 years ago!! It was so cool to finally see it. And the food? AWESOME!! Does one really need 3 plates of dessert? We thought so that night. ha ha I know 2 months ago I said I was going to blog more but now I really can so I really will. More to come..

Kiddos update starting with Melia!

2009-07-30T20:02:00.004-10:00

Ah my Melia!! She also gets into everything! Troy takes a very long morning nap so we have to find different games to play during those 3 hours. This day she was stacking the paper towels then she would run at full speed and smash them down. She is a stacker or a rower...meaning she loves to line things up in rows. I usually find rolls upon rolls of toilet paper lined up all over the garage. I am happy to report that she only uses her binky at naptime or bedtime. I got so sick of the binky meltdowns. She is doing awesome, too. When she wakes up she walks downstairs and puts it in her binky drawer. I then go and hide it in another drawer as she will go back and try to sneak it out later. But I am loving how much she talks now...ALL DAY! Once that binky was gone she just goes on and on all day. I love talking with her. A few weeks ago she and I were playing outside in the backyard. She came up to me and rubbed my leg and said "Mommy I'm happy." My heart melted. She then said "Mommy I love you." My heart melted again.

She is actually getting interested in food now. After 2 years she realized it is actually pretty good. ha ha Loves her olives but only if she sticks them on all her fingers first. She snacks on green beans and loves egg whites...She has also been practicing her acting. Kiki she takes after you in this department. So the other day we were just chillin' while Troy was napping. She ran down the hall and was all excited then she hung her head down and said Oh Mommy I am so sad. She then came over and put her head down on me. I was all concerned like What's wrong? Well then she ran off excited again only to do the sad face again. She did this over and over and I realized she was just working on her fake state of sadness. Well the other evening Melia ran into my glass top table with her shopping cart smashing the glass on the floor. I was quite upset and she got scolded and she was very upset when her shopping cart was put outside. Well Daddy comes home a little later and I tell him the story of the smashed glass. He asks Melia if that was what happened and she hing her head and said "Yes Daddy and I am so sad it is broken." Dan actually looks at me and says Robyn, ake it easy on her ok. She feels really bad about what she did. Look how sad she is." I start laughing and walk inside. Melia's self acting lessons paid off wouldn't you say?

Melia loves Troy...she thinks. ha ha No she does but she also doesn't like how he likes to also play with toys. Her toys. So she will hide all her toys away. But she likes to sit next to him and likes to give him hugs and kisses. She also likes to block him while he climbs up the stairs. He will do the splits on the stair he is about to climb up. Let me say she is flexible!! If he gets over her she jumps up and does the splits on the next one. Yes she repeats this on each step. She does this to me, too, if she doesn't want me to go up or down the stairs. So funny but I think she will be a gymnast b/c her splits are perfect. Melia loves to have Troy laugh at her so she is constantly dancing, which she loves to do, or just being a clown for him. I love watching the 2 of them interact with each other.

My beautiful girl. This is her spot at the counter. She has her chair she sits and watches her movie. Her fav right now is Shrek. She isn't into t.v. much at all. She just likes to watch her movie while eating. Now that she only gets her binky at sleep times she goes right to sleep at naptime or bedtime. I keep telling her she has to send her binky to the Binky Fairy soon but I am loving the easy sleeping so the Binky Fairy may have to wait. (Ok check out Troy's little post below, too)

Troy!

2009-07-30T19:57:00.006-10:00

Hello everyone. I took a little blog break there. Not really by my choice. I had to wait for my internet to get hooked up then my computer was so slow for awhile I couldn't do anything! Well it is still slow but Dan did some stuff to help move things along with it so now I am able to blog. I hope. So I thought I would do a little Troy update and then a Melia update. Troy is 8 mos old already! I can't believe that but I am sure I will be saying that every month. He is awesome...happiest little guy ever. He has 2 bottom teeth and I think he is getting 2 more bottoms as well. He can stand on his own for short periods of time and walks around while holding onto something like it's nobody's business. I think he might be walking by the time he is 9 months.

Yes he still has beautiful blue eyes. I love them. He is very vocal now, too. He says mama over and over and maybe it really isn't ma ma but that is exactly what it sounds like!! I want to make my blog into books every so often ( I love the ones you did for me Libby) so I am going to post more b/c the kids do something crazy or hilarious everyday and I want to at least write that down so they can read it later down the road.

His faces...He makes so many faces! I love how he has so much expression in that little face of his.

Troy gets into everything and I haven't gotten any locks for anything so out come all my pots and pans or anything he can reach. He loves loud noises, too. If I am using the blender or disposal he gets so excited and crawls over smiling and laughing. He then proceeds to stand up and do his little dance. I have so much fun with this little boy and I am happy to say the boy eats!! He loves his baby food and his all time fav is soft serve frozen yogurt. Eats it up! Loves graham crackers or any crackers really. Loves his bottle. Just loves to eat. And he is so curious about absolutely everything. He always wants to see waht happens if he pulls this or yanks that or what Melia is doing or what was that noise. I love you, Troy!

A few Maui shots..

2009-06-28T14:34:00.004-10:00

Ok so I have a few minutes to blog. It has been a very busy week end. We are moving into the new house..right now. So anyway very busy but after tomorrow we won't have internet for about a week or so. These are the only pics I got in Maui.. read last blog...didn't think I had the camera but when Lynne gets home I will be getting those? I hope!

We took Troy down to the beach the last night we were there. He loves the beach and sand.

Eating some sand. Sis...this reminded me of the pic we have of Nash when he was in Hawaii at 7.5 mos eating sand!

Love those meaty legs!! Ok I have a lot to write about Maui...some funny stories but I really don't have time but I will say I had a blast. It was so awesome to see Natalie. She has been a best friend of mine for 15 years. She was the most beautiful bride...seriously gorgeous. I am so happy I was able to be there on her wedding day. So I am sure it will take a week or 2 to complete my Maui trip blog.

First taste..not so much.

Enjoy the next pics of the beautiful sunsent in Maui!! I just took a 5 hour break from blogging. Troy woke up then it was more moving! I am so tired...hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Quick

2009-06-24T06:07:00.000-10:00

These are a few weeks old but I thought I would do a quick blog entry. These were taken before our Maui trip. So wow maybe almost a month old and Troy is 7 months in a few days. So I need to post of Maui but here's the thing...Lynne has all the pics! I have some from the last night there so will post those. I have been so busy since getting home. How do people post everyday? So when we get to Maui I am all bummed b/c I forgot my camera. Well after being there 5 days Dan and I are driving up to the wedding (we went to see my good friend, Natalie, of 15 years get married) and I mention how bummed I am about not bringing the camera. He says "Oh I brought it. It's in my computer bag under the bed." Really? So Dan isn't the "take pics of the family" type of guy. So needless to say we got a few at the wedding and I got a few the last night being there. But here are some cute pool pics...yes taken awhile ago and I swear Troy is bigger than that now! We are in the process of moving to a new house...same area. So been busy, yeah? Oh so that little get up Troy is wearing I brought to Maui and it was way to small. I had to go out and buy him a new little rashguard top and shorts. He is growing so fast! Ok a few cool beach shots and more Maui trip details later...

My boy...

2009-06-04T20:35:00.000-10:00

These pics were actually taken over 2 weeks ago and let me say Troy has grown since then!! He is just growing like crazy. And yes standing up and crawling and trying to walk. The boy is so curious and very strong. He was pushing that little walker thing and he wasn't even 6 months in that pic! He had his 6 mos check up a week ago and he had grown 1.5 inches in 4 weeks. I love it! He had also gained a pound and a half...loves to eat for sure.

Already has an attitude...ha ha actually he doesn't but looks like it in this pic..

I wish he got those eyes from me!! So he is a very busy little boy these days as I was saying. I love walking in his room and he is just standing there staring at the door smiling. He also just loves to stand. He pulls himself up and he is good at sitting back down now so I am not as worried about him falling over backwards. He also mastered crawling up the stairs so out came the baby gate.

I just wanted to do a quick blog about my sweet boy...he is such a joy to be around and I just love him tons. I will post more recent shots b/c seriously he has grown since these pics were taken a few weeks ago. I am too spent to write anymore...

Going straight?

2009-05-31T20:23:00.000-10:00

No not permanently but I have been enjoying my hair straight the last few days. I decided I was was sick of my hair and tired of going to Supercuts to get it cut since nobody knows how to cut curly hair(it must be done straight!) So I booked an appt at Paul Brown salon and after 5 hours this was the result...yes 5 hours! I personally love it. I think I will wear it straight more but curly most of the time. I love the color and how healthy it is now. Feels good! So I have so many pics of my active little kiddos but I feel like I need energy just to write about them! I will do that tomorrow after 15 caffeine pills...ha only kidding but if you have some send them my way hehe OK hope everyone had a great weekend. I never post pics of myself so I thought I better do it while I remember. Umm...yes one more thing... TEAM FLOATIES ROCKED IT!!! Karyn...you are stronger than you think and you were amazing out there...winning your leg of the race! That's what I am talking about! Mike ok you are fast! I didn't give you enough credit for your running ability. Way to go Nicole for bringing it home for the team and Tim...you must be a stud too. Sorry I just had to give my shout out to them. I am so proud! :)

Go Team Floaties!!

2009-05-30T12:24:00.004-10:00

My sister is doing her first ever race tomorrow...the San Diego Rock n Roll marathon. It's so crazy b/c I trained for this race for about 5 years in a row...got hurt every single time and never could run it. Now my sister, who has never been a runner up until recently, is doing it!! I am so thrilled for her love of running now! Karyn is doing the relay and is starting it off with 6.5 miles. So she has a big job to do to get her team in the lead! I know you can do it sis!! I just wanted to post a few tips and words of encouragement for you...

There will be thousands of people with you waiting to start. Feed off their energy. It's exciting. Just don't let the excitement make you start off too fast. Remember your pacing tomorrow. Remember what you told me earlier...about that run we did as little kids and you pushed yourself to stay with me and you finished even though you wanted to stop. Find me out there in the crowd tomorrow...I will be ahead of you but don't let me out of your sight. Stay with me the whole time!!! It will push your comfort zone but that's what racing is all about. Finding your limits...what you are capable of. Remember that it is just an hour or so of your life and that is nothing! You can run your butt off for an hour!!

Don't start out the run cold...meaning make sure you do a warm-up. Do a light jog when you get there and do a few sprints...like what you did on Thursday's workout. Do some high knees and just make sure your muscles are nice and warmed up. I know you are going to have a blast! The fans cheering you on will be so awesome. You will become addicted to racing after this! I am so proud of all your training and hard work. I wish more than anything I was with you tomorrow running with you and cheering you on the whole way. You are going to kick some butt out there and call me as soon as you can, ok?? I love ya and I am so excited for you!!! Team Floaties is going up against Sushi Lounge and they are going to rock them!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

2009-05-29T10:37:00.002-10:00

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my beautiful mom!! She is 40? today? No but she sure looks like it!! I hope you have an awesome day today and have some birthday cake!! We love you!!!

Surfer Girl

2009-05-15T21:23:00.001-10:00

Yes that is Melia with Daddy on my board. She loves to go out for a paddle. I love how she just chills and rests her head on her hands and takes it all in..

Yeah that's it Melia!!

She is the coolest girl I know! I hope we never leave here. I was thinking about that the other day. In a perfect world Dan would get into med school here and we could stay here for awhile...long time. My kids were both born here on the islands and it's home to them. I feel the ocean is apart of me and it is apart of Melia and I hope she can always stay close to it.

Keep going Daddy...

Perfection

2009-05-15T21:15:00.002-10:00

Waimea Beach...love this place. The water was so calm and crystal clear the last few days. Perfect.

There is a big sign on the beach in front of here that says No Jumping off Cliff...

So awesome...

Melia and I playing in the sand before I paddled out...oh that is my new board. I don't think I ever posted any pics of it. The best part is the other side..beauty.

The Waterfall

2009-05-15T21:10:00.002-10:00

Going in the water..she was so excited!! Ok always out of order...the post after this explains where we are...

I love that I can bring Melia here as often as I want. This is her playground...all these wonderful beautiful magical places on the islands.

There is a lifeguard who sits under a tree and watches everyone and helps people get in and out. I want that job! It's kind of a long hike everyday to work though.

I guess that guy behind Dan was just freaking out about being under a waterfall. Dan said he was saying "I am under a waterfall. Who sits under a waterfall? I do! I have never seen a waterfall and now I am sitting under one. Incredible." That's awesome.

Waimea Falls

2009-05-15T21:05:00.002-10:00

We went hiking up at Waimea Falls the other day. It was awesome. I love it up there. It is across the street from Waimea Beach which is beautiful, as well. We were just starting out on the trail here... what is great is that we were given a map. Well Melia LOVES Dora and Dora uses a map so Melia was so excited to use hers.

It's funny b/c my sis, Mom, Mike and Nash went hiking here when they were here. They told me Mike slipped and fell right on top of Nash. So naturally I thought the trails were dirt and slippery and muddy. So we left the stroller in the truck but as you can see to the left of the picture the path is very paved. I learn from my mom he slipped on the first bridge b/c off the step but I was windering the whole way up to the falls where he could have slipped.

It was such a perfect day...no clouds!

Melia had to wear a lifejacket to go in and I think that was the first time she ever had to wear one. She seemed a little annoyed at the bulkiness of it at first. Ok check out the lady in the hot blue suit getting out. I overheard her telling the lifeguard that the cool water helped her arthritic knees. She was saying how the hike up here was so hard on them and she was hoping going down would be better but she knew the cold soak by the falls would help. I was thinking why not skip the long hike to the cold water and run a cold bath to soak in?? I love people.

And there he goes...

2009-05-15T20:52:00.001-10:00

Melia and Troy...so cute. They love each other so much. It doesn't seem that way, though, when Melia takes every single toy Troy can get his hands on and bops him on the head with toys but she gets more than happy to see him and same with him. Such a contrast these 2 are...

So Troy has officially started crawling. He did last week and now he just goes! He started 2 weeks before his sis did... He is 5 1/2 months! That is crazy! I think Melia is happy about this as she will smile at him and say Yay Baby! Finally he is good for something and doesn't just lie around the house all day...that has to be what she is thinking.

Ok Melia I get it...do the dishes Mommy! I found her rinsing some dishes the other day...

I think she was trying to get a bottle ready...

Can't keep up with blogging!

2009-04-25T13:07:00.003-10:00

Ok wow...long time since posting and these pics are actually a few weeks old I think. Well since the last time I posted I turned 30 (yikes!) and Troy is now 5 months...crazy. I have pics of my birthday but I will post those tomorrow...I really will! My computer has been quite cranky lately so hasn't wanted to cooperate with me. Anyway last weekend or maybe the one before that? I came outside to find Melia helping Daddy clean his bike. She loves to work...loves it. I seriously think she would get a job doing hard labor if she could right now.

Making sure to get the spokes...

Ok i do want to say thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and the new garden of flowers! I got so many flowers delivered it was awesome. But I will post that tomorrow...and sis the pic of my sweet purse is coming.

They look so alike except those eyes of Troy's. I wish he had gotten those from me.

Melia doing some computer work. Let's see...I am still not sure if my race is going on due to the jellyfish but I will know soon. I have about 4 hours to sign up for a half ironman on the Big Island May 30th. I was supposed to do that one last year but I was pregnant so I thought I would go for it this year. But we'll see...I still have 4 hours to decide before the cutoff.

I love this dress!! I had a bit of a scare a few weeks ago. As we all know I have naturally curly hair...very curly hair and I use a relaxer to kinda calm the curls a bit. So I was doing this in my bathroom while Melia was watching me and she even helped me wash my hair...sweet girl. So anyway Troy was asleep and she loves to make noise and wake him but she also loves my bathroom so I thought she would like to be in there which she did. The doorbell rings a few times after I am all done so I rush downstairs to get it. I had thrown all my stuff away in a big trashbag when I was done. Well I come up a few minutes later (I usually lock my bathroom door) and I walk into the bathroom and Melia has the relaxer all over her hair. She looks up and says "Just like Mommy's hair!" witha huge smile on her face. I FREAK out!! That stuff can burn your skin! I throw her in the shower and scrub it all out. I pour pretty much a whole bottle of conditioner on her hair. So I am freaking out b/c her hair is looking stick straight. Ok long story short b/c I am tired...I called a few people bawling my eyes out that Melia's hair was ruined and poor Dan thought her hair was all gone. Her hair is fine and it was the conditioner making it look so straight and weird. She still has her little bouncy curls and thickness. Anyway I wanted to write this down b/c I want to make this past year into a book to keep and I want Melia to read this someday and laugh!!

Random but isn't this cool? 3 roses around the big rose...pretty cool. Ok Troy is just about crawling now. He just needs to put it all together. He rolls around everywhere and he will bring his knees up to his chest put his face down then drag himself forward. He can actually get around pretty fast. He rocks back and forth on his hands and knees a lot too. he is in love with watching his sister run circles around him...literally. She is in love with being the center of his attention. I love watching him laugh at her. Well I am off...this long post exhausted me ha ha

Jumping around

2009-04-13T21:12:00.003-10:00

I thought I would finish off my weekend pictures. Saturday we went to Kailua to a beach party. It was for all the guys who did the race series that Dan did. Dan got his 3rd place overall trophy which was pretty cool. Way to go Dan! We got there pretty late so we couldn't stay that long but it was pretty fun. Kailua is a beautiful area and the beaches are so beautiful. We of course don't have any pics of the beach...sorry.

Melia made friends with Buddy, the dog.

Ok these are out of order but here was Melia's obsession over the weekend. The toothbrush ended up in the toilet paper roll...

After she brushed her teeth...

And after she rinsed and repeated...she did this about 20 times I think. It was kinda rainy out and Dan was on a ride and Troy was sleeping so I was entertained watching Melia do her thing.

Troy loves his toes....he gets very happy to see them. So cute.

Ok so we got Troy a jumper and he loves it! He loves to stand and look arounf obviously while I am holding on to him so I thought he would love a jumper and right I was. I was actually nervous that it would cause some problems in that Melia would always want to be in it like his highchair but she actually just says "Baby's chair" and wants him to play in it all the time. She is such a good big sister. Today she started to carry this basket of Troy's diapers. I was asking her to please not do that and to leave them downstairs. I thought for sure she was going to make a mess with them. So she goes up anyway...of course and I was busy with Troy so I just let her. I go up to Troy's room later to find she had put all of his diapers in his diaper stacker. She was just trying to help..she really is such a sweet little girl.

More jumper fun!

Melia standing guard...

So here are some things I can't believe...I can't believe how big Troy is getting already. I can't believe I will be 30 in a week. I can't believe I will be 30 with 2 kids!! I can't believe Melia was up all last night screaming for no apparent reason at all. I can't believe I am still awake after being up all night. I can't believe how happy my kids make me...even if one does scream all night. :) Oh so speaking of screaming we were all in Whole Foods on Sat and Melia was...screaming. I don't like this phase and want it to end...NOW! Anyway I was with Troy getting something and Melia was with Dan screaming quite loud. I know she was super tired. Anyway this man looks at me rolls his eyes and says "Oh my gosh how incredibly annoying." I said "Oh you think so? That is my daughter so watch it" Before I could go off he just walked away. I felt so bad...no really I did. Yeah um next time you tell me when you will be there and I will make sure I am not there so you can enjoy your shopping experience!! I was not having it that day and I am glad he walked away from me as quickly as he did. He must have seen the rage in my eyes. Yes, it was annoying. But noone else can say that to me!! ha ha I am off to bed now. Hope everyone is having a good week so far...what is today? Only Monday...oh man..

More weekend pics..

2009-04-12T13:18:00.000-10:00

I loved these 2 pics of Melia so wanted to share the love. I always get posts out of order...I am always typing this at the start of them so next time I will assume you all know to keep scrolling down to see the rest of the pics. This was on the monorail...I just want to say that when Dan dressed her I thought it looked a little racy to have the front of a dress be see through like that but then I didnt think about it again. So this morning he puts on her dress again and says to me "This dress is weird. The other day there was no liner and now today there is!" Hmmm...maybe you put it on backwards? Nicely done, Dan.

Melia now has to eat in Troy's highchair. She climbs up and says "My food!" Whatever gets her to eat... This pics is a little blurry but I love her expression. So i just found out that the race I am training for might be made into a duathlon due to box jellyfish swarm that day. I guess they can tell by the lunar cycle when they will be here. A duathlon for those who arent sure is a run bike run instead swim bike run. I am not fond of these at all. But I am wondering why, if they go by the lunar cycle, they didn't make the race another day? Like the day before? Oh well. I will know 10 days before whether it is a tri or what. Just thought I would throw that in there

After i put Troy down the other day I couldn't find Melia. I finally go into my bathroom to find her in my sink brushing her teeth. I could hear the song on her Thomas toothbrush. She is obsessed with clean teeth. Anytime she sees me brushing she immediately gets hers. Usually everytime after she eats she brushes her teeth. Cute thing!

Easter weekend

2009-04-11T23:05:00.001-10:00

Happy Easter everyone! We have had a fun week end. Dan had a long weekend so we got to spend some good time with him. We went to the mall and the kids got to meet the Easter Bunny. Melia didn't mind but she wasn't so sure about him at first. She didn't hesitate at all though. SHe must have known he was going to be handing out candy. We bought some of the pics the guy took which it turned out great. Both were looking right at the camera.

I was pretty bummed to find out there are no Easter egg hunts here on the actual day of Easter. They were all a week ago or 2 weeks ago. There were big hunts that would have been so fun but I missed them. Next year. So we are going to hide some eggs in our yard while she naps. I would just like to add that Troy was put down easily for a nap and Dan is driving around with Melia so she can fall asleep. Kinda backwards I think but whatever works these days I am all for.

We had to ride on the monorail to get to the "downtown" area of the mall. Melia absolutely loves this.

She was pointing at eveyrthing she saw out the window.

Troy's new love

2009-04-07T07:40:00.002-10:00

I just wanted to post some pics of my big boy Troy. He is a little over 4 months now and is growing like a weed. Yesterday I put him in his highchair for the first time and he was so excited! He must have felt like a big boy in his new chair. I can't say he liked the cereal I was trying to feed him but he didn't fuss about it. Of course he didn't...he is such a happy little guy.

He is also a very active little guy. He has started to get up on his knees and then will straighten his legs and propel himself forward. It almost seems as if his mission right now is to get mobile and I must say he is doing a very good job. He is super strong and can get on his hands and knees pretty easily. I think he realizes he better start moving soon so he can either keep up with Melia or get away from her!! ha ha He is "talking" to me in this pic. He is so vocal. He cracks me up at how he will just "talk" all day.

Melia is such a sweetie with Troy. She loves to give him kisses and hugs. So we had a good week end. I have started training for an Olympic distance triathlon so Dan and I went on a ride together which was fun to get out together again. Dan had 2 races kinda back to back so the kids and I spent the day together on Sunday. We walked to this little park near our house and there was this little boy there, Sampson. Well Melia and Sampson became instant buddies and played together for about 2 hours. Melia played with his daddy too. They had a soccer ball and they were throwing back and forth to each other. It was so sweet. Another little girl approached Sampson and Melia took his hand and stepped in front of him as if to block him from the girl. THey ran around holding hands...he was 4 and loved her!! When it was time to go Melia ran up and gave him a kiss and hugs and the same for his dad, Steve. She runs up to me and says "One more time Mommy" and runs back over and gives Steve another hug and kiss. She did this 2 more times. Anyway it was so fun to see Melia and that little boy playing together like that. It reminded me of how much fun she had with Nash when he was here a few months ago. Oh and she slept from 7 p.m until almost 10 the next morning after that!

Yes here is Troy's new love...his bottle. My big man decided to stop nursing and go with the bottle. I must say I cried about this for awhile but now I am ok with it. He loves his bottle and he gets so excited when he sees me preparing it. He is napping better and it is less stressful now that I am not trying to force him to nurse!! Poor guy! So now instead of trying to "nurse" her kitties Melia now gives them a sippy cup...so cute. I am going to try and blog more pics more often. Ha ha..we'll see.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NASH!!

2009-03-31T22:12:00.000-10:00

I wanted to give a birthday shout out to my nephew Nash today! He turned 3 today (march 31st...I know my blog is still set to Italian time so a day ahead) Thispic was taken on his first trip to Hawaii on the Big Island where he dined on sand and played with my cats' toys. That doesn't seem like it was that long ago and now he is 3 and talking up a storm. We love you TONS Nash and think the world of you. Hope you had a great birthday!

Finally...

2009-03-26T15:59:00.003-10:00

What up what up!! We're back! Yes it has been forever and I have been so busy having fun at the beach with my awesome kids. I have really been wanting to blog but I am too tired by the time I am kid free at night. But things have been great here. Troy is 4 months old today!

He is so much fun to be around. Always smiling...always. Such a happy little guy. He is happiest on his tummy and I always find him rolled onto his belly propped up on his elbows looking around when I get him from a nap or in the a.m. He is doing well but getting very hungry I must say. I have had to supplement him with a bottle b/c I am just not filling him up anymore. Today he started screaming an hour after he nursed b/c he was starving!! He has never done that before and I think he is just a hungry little boy. Just a month ago he was only nursing every 4 hours. Last week I wasn't sure if I was going to keep nursing b/c he seemed to not be enjoying but now I am just going with the flow cause he was doing ok...but he sleeps great at night...wakes at about 4 or 5 then goes right back to sleep. Nice Troy!

His eyes are still blue and I am waiting for them to change! When we are outside the color looks ao beautiful. I am intrigued by them...just stare at them. I need to take some shots outside.

Big plane! Big plane! Melia has this game where we hide when we see a big plane just for fun. Also she has a pretend big meow meow that usually hangs out on our garage rooftop and we have to hide when he is near too. The other day he even followed us to the beach! So Melia was going through this phase where anytime she fell or stubbed a toe she would cry and get all dramatic so I started to just say she had a Big Boom so now when she takes a tumble she will look up and say "Big Boom!" even if noone is around..

Melia came to us one night and said she had to poo poo. So we put her on the toilet and she actually went poo poo! We would ask her if she was all done and she would do the sign for "more" and say More poo poo. So cute. So when she was all done it was time to get off and she was so sad!! She started crying "My more poo poo" over and over. So the hard part about potty training which I am not really doing right now is to get her off the toilet...not on!

My happy little man

Yep...you know what came next...off came the diaper. Don't you like all her bowls filled with water?

Troy's fav position to be in. Yeah so we have been going to the beach a lot lately. Troy is great at the beach. When he gets tired he just rolls over on his side on the towel and goes to sleep. I have been going with my friend so we take turns with Melia in the water and Troy on the grass in the shade. Such good beach babies I have.

I lvoe this...looks like Melia has pink lip gloss on.

Another thing Melia is way into is putting on tons of clothes especially pajamas. She even has her swim coverup on in this one. When I was little I had to wear the same tights and leotards every single day under my regular clothes so I know where she gets it from! We have done some fun stuff and I have had some great laughs and I can't remember anything right now ha ha I will post some beach pics soon...I hope!! Oh Happy Birthday to my awesome bro in law Mike who is...older than he was yesterday! Love ya!

Yummy fingers..

2009-03-05T08:57:00.000-10:00

It is Thursday morning and I am home while Dan took Melia to gymnastics. I am kinda bummed I couldn't take her but while I was out on my run Troy wasn't put down for a nap so I had to so couldn't get ready in time. But Melia will have fun with Daddy for sure. So this past week was so fun. I don't have nay pics right now of Nana and Granddad's visit but hopefully they will email me some. Troy had a beautiful blessing and looked so adorable in his little blessing outfit. Melia is still Granddad's little girl! She loves him!! So this post is just pics of my sweet boy. He has started to suck on his fingers and/or thumb. I think it is so adorable.

Playing peek a boo with Mommy! I love this picture!! I had been putting him down for his naps in his swing that was in his room but last week he started rolling over from his back to tummy so after going in there and finding him almost flipped out of his swing I started putting him in his crib. He now sleeps in his crib for naps and at night. He had been in our room in his bassinet. I think he actually sleeps better in his room now since he doesn't have to listen to Dan snoring!

He is so squirmy now...rolling back to front and front to back. Sometimes when I am nursing him he just starts rolling over and I have to flip him back. He is taking after his sister and that is kinda scary! ha ha

Lynne brought a picture of Dan at 4 months and it looks just like Troy!! I will have to post it next to a pic of Troy b/c it is crazy how identical they look except Dan was a little meatier I think. I am pretty behind on blogging so hopefully this week end I can put some more pictures I have up. Oh Melia got a new bed for her birthday from Nana and Granddad...thank you! She LOVES it. She gets on it and says "My big bed!" The first night she had it I think it might have overwhelmed her as she didn't want to be in there alone so Granddad went in and cuddled with her. We were all watching on the video monitor and it was pretty funny. Melia at one point propped her legs up on his stomach and out her hands behind her head. Dan had to finally go in and tell Granddad to leave b/c we could tell she was too excited to fall asleep with him in there! It was cute. Oh how could I forget this?? Target opened here yesterday!! The 1st Target on the island and it is only about 10 minutes from my house!! We were so there yesterday and it was pretty packed but I am so happy it is finally here! Well off to take a shower while Troy is still napping...

Happy Birthday!!

2009-02-27T08:01:00.002-10:00

Love this picture! Ok..once again I posted all out of order. I don't know what my deal is but I posted a bunch of pictures so be sure to scroll and scroll down to see them all...these are all of Melia's 2nd birthday

Having fun with some cake

Blowing out her candles...

She was using her new Thomas fork but then decided her hands would get the cake in hermouth faster!

Presents..

2009-02-27T07:58:00.001-10:00

We got Melia a Cinderella tea set. She loves to pretend to feed me and make drinks for me so I thought it was time for her to have one. She was bringing a cup of tea to me..

Nash and Aunt Kiki sent Melia some cool trains!! She LOVES them! She got a thomas spoon and fork and a few trains and Madagascar 2...which she also loves.

Thanks Nash!!! I LOVE my toothbrush!

She was so happy...she kept saying "Thank you Kiki thank you Na!"

2009-02-27T07:55:00.000-10:00

Melia coming downstairs after her nap seeing all the balloons and her presents..

I think the balloons were the best part for her. She loves to pop them and say "Oh pop!" I hate when balloons pop!! It always makes me jump!

Opening some gifts...

Oh can't forget about the pinata I got!! That's right!

Birthday!!

2009-02-27T07:52:00.002-10:00

This past Tuesday was Melia's 2nd birthday. I still can't believe she is 2. We decided to just do something low key so we decorated the house while she was napping and set all of her presents out. That morning I took her to gymnastics and she had so much fun. Her coaches sang happy birthday to her and she would tell them "I two!" Melia is such an amazing little girl. She is strong in so many ways...strong minded and willed and she is a pretty strong little thing too!! I think the absolute world of her and she is so sweet. I hope your birthday was a special one Melia!! Mommy loves you so much! Thanks for the cookie cake Nana and Granddad!!

Happenings...

2009-02-22T12:01:00.003-10:00

This past week was pretty good. Melia took 2 4 hour naps and I am so happy about that!! I wish she would do that everyday. I walked in her room after her nap and I found her like this. She had started her nap fully dressed and with a diaper. She is always trying to be so helpful. She will say "Pee pee mine" or "poo poo mine" when she goes. It is so cute b/c she dose that with her booboos. "boo boo mine" instead of the other way around. Anyway...there was only one morning I walked in and I heard Poo poo mine and the diaper was off and she had tried wiping herself with her bath towel. Not fun for me.

Melia loves to make Troy smile. She will say "I show Baby!" and then do something funny for him. She was putting on a headband in this pic and wanted to show T, as she calls him, how cool it looked. He obviously was getting a kick out of her!

Getting ready to do a workout...

My sweetness!! He is doing awesome I must say. He slept from 8:30 pm last night to 6:15 this morning. I have been swaddling him at night still but I think that will end as he gets out of it and seems frustrated when the blanket gets up around his face. He loves to roll from his belly to back and is almost rolling the other way. He rolls from his back to his side and then just gets kinda stuck. Oh the bow and dragonfly are there on the swing purely for Troy's entertainment and he loves to talk to them.

I got caught!! One thing she does if she gets caught doing something like pulling all her wipes out she will say I show GaGa (yes Dan is still gaga but sometimes she will call him daddy) and she will run and show him. She thinks she is fooling me so she won't get in trouble or I won't take them away. Silly thing

Loving his dragonfly..

This was last Sunday before church...he needed a little snooze.

My cool double stroller. Luckily Melia loves it. She was not liking being in her stroller for awhile but she loves this one and so does Troy. Troy has his 3 month checkup this Fri and Melia has her 2 year checkup..not sure why I made it at the same time. But I am so excited for Melia's 2nd birthday this Tuesday!!! We went to Toys R Us last night and picked up a few cool things for her. Nana and Granddad come in at the end of the week so we will be excited to see them. Granddad is blessing Troy next Sunday so that will be a special day. Hope everyone has had a good weekend!

LOOK!!

2009-02-17T16:11:00.002-10:00

Ok hi everyone! I want you all to check out my sis's blog...Karyn Mike and Nash. She posted a ton of awesome pics of their trip here. I tried but all the pics turned out like postage stamps so you couldn't even see them! You can leave comments here or better yet leave them on her blog. She LOVES comments! But after you think you have seen them all there is a break with a Valentine's Day post then some more. Seriously there are some cute ones of the kids. I still have a bunch from my mom but not having any luck with saving them as a folder as there are 252 of them so we'll see when I can get those up. Anyway hope all is great with everybody. I will post other pics later this week...I hope!

Little update...

2009-02-08T14:27:00.002-10:00

Ok well I have no pics of my last week with my family but I will post them when Karyn and Mom send me some. But I thought I would post some while I am waiting for those. But I will say that I had the best time with everyone. I loved watching Nash and Melia play together. They were so awesome together!!! I really miss my sweet Nash, too. And Melia misses her Kiki, Mike and Grandma too! So will write all about the trip when I post the pics...but here is my Troy...happiest little baby!! When he isn't sleeping or eating he is smiling and cooing!

Melia had a boo boo on her mouth...no not really but she LOVES band aids. She loves them all over her and all over her stuffed animals, too. We got a lock for the outside of her door and it has done wonders! Seriously the night she first had it on she slept all night and never tried to get out. She naps again and goes right down at night. Thank goodness for that lock.

Getting ready for her first luau...she is saying sentences now, too. She ran in the house and told me "I saw big meow meow." She is saying Thank you and Sorry...she is just saying more words everyday.

I can't believe he is almost 3 months old and Melia is going to be 2 in a few weeks!!

So happy playing with Daddy!!

Smiles and Cereal

2009-01-25T11:19:00.003-10:00

I decided to post a ton of pics since I can't seem to get around to blogging but maybe once a week. This past week was a fun one. I took the kids to the beach almost every evening. I just strapped Troy into the Bjorn and ran around with Melia in the sand. We saw some beautiful sunsets. Troy is 2 months tomorrow and is the happiest little boy!!
I love his face!! He smiles and coos so much. He is still sleeping great. He sleeps roughly 12 hours every night getting up twice to nurse but falling right back to sleep. Melia, on the other hand, is waking everybody up! She has a daybed now and it has been tough with her coming in every few hours at all hours of the night "where'd my dee dee (binky) go, Mommy?" Hmmm...Melia I don't know go back to bed!!!! She has awakened Troy a few times and a few times we have found her downstairs looking for us. Last night was better so hopefully the novelty of leaving her room will wear off soon.
This is what I found after being upstairs for a few minutes to change Troy. Melia equally portioned out Cheerios into about 10 bowls and out the lids on them. Dan was very happy to hear this as he hates pouring his own cereal!
Hanging out watching a movie...
Ok Karyn this looks just like you!!! hahahaha Doesn't it? The ol' side stare!
Melia has finally let us put barrettes in her hair! I am so happy about this as her bangs just hang in her face and it has been bugging me. I think she looks so adorable.
My sweetie!
Troy loves to coo at the animals hanging down from his floor mat. So sweet. I could watch him do this all day!
So serious...
Sleepy boy... Troy has been sleeping in our room in his bassinet. Well the other night our fire alarm starts beeping very loud. So Dan goes down to the garage and gets some batteries. We think the batteries might be low causing this. So we carefully move the dresser over and he climbs up and changes the batteries. Troy remains asleep. So about an hour later we are awakened again by loud beeps. Dan jumps up on the dresser as I am whispering loudly "Rip it down!!" He takes it down and it starts beeping even louder in his hands! So he shoves in under his shirt and leaps off the dresser like a cat then races down the stairs and out the backdoor!! hahaha Anything to keep the baby asleep, right?? Well Troy woke up anyway but nice effort, Dan!!
Grandma Frisby is coming out this Thurs. We can't wait to see you! Then Aunt Kiki, Mike and Nash are coming Fri for a week. We are so excited. We hope this week goes by fast!!

Froggers and Peanut

2009-01-13T14:51:00.005-10:00

Wassup! Just hanging out...he likes his own space at times.

See, Grandma? Mommy does dress me in cute clothes!!
Melia gets a little messy with her cottage cheese. Yesterday was Dan's first day back at school. The kids and I had an alright day. Nothing too exciting.

I got this floor mat out for Troy and of course Melia was instantly "Mine!" But now she says Baby's Night. She thinks it is for sleeping. Anything used for sleeping is a night. So she wanted to hang out with him on the mat. He seemed to really like it until Melia got too pushy.

Melia was trying to show him all the different things hanging from it. I think Troy was just thinking "Watch her, Mommy!" It was cute to see them together like that. Today Melia had gymnastics and it was so fun. She had a blast.

Troy loves tummy time and has rolled over onto his back about 5 times now. He does a push up and then off he goes. He can hold his head up for quite a while and the little guy scoots himself. His little legs started kicking and he starts scooting across the floor. Oh his nickname is Froggers b/c his little legs always go up like little frog legs.

He is growing so much faster than Melia did weight wise. It doesn't really seem like it but he is fitting his clothes nice and snug. Melia had a rough night last night. I think she had a dream she lost her binky or something b/c she woke up crying for her binky even though she had it and it took awhile to calm her down plus she woke Troy up who let me know he wasn't happy about it. So I am pretty tired!!

My sweet boy!!! After he nurses he has his happy time where he coos and smiles at me. I LOVE it!!

Get back in your bed!!!!

2009-01-09T16:10:00.001-10:00

This post is all about my little girl who is growing up too fast. She finally lets us put her hair into little ponytails and likes when we brush it where as just a month ago we couldn't get near her hair. She loves to look at herself in the mirror. It's so cute.

Cute Melia! So here are some new things Melia is saying. Big truck, old milk, new milk, pizza, pease (please) mommy, Kiki, Mike, Brian, Jeni, Tay Tay, Mommy's house, where'd mommy go? big ball, big star, moon, pee pee, poo poo, chee (cheese), my bike, got it, diet coke (Nana can you explain that one??), Mine and no which are not my favs since they are said the most, yeah... She answers me yeah now. I can't htink of the others but she is saying more and more and she tries to repeat what you ask her to.

What a sweet face, right? This sweet face gets into so much mischief. Yesterday evening Dan and I were outside and Troy was also outside in his swing. We are standing in the corner of the yard and I look over to the front door and see someone standing over Troy. Who is that?? I yell "Hey!" and start running over. Yes, of course it is Melia but it doesn't register b/c she was up in her room napping!! So yes she climbed out of her crib and walked downstairs to come find us. I laugh about it at first until bedtime when it is not so funny. I put her down to bed last night and I hear her door creak open. I see her little arm stick out and say "More milk!" I open the door and she runs back inside to her bed. So after I get her more milk that is the last time we hear from her until 2 a.m. when she is walking down the hall and then at 7:30 this a.m. when she is up. So as I have been typing all of this Melia has been down for a nap for the last 1.5 hours and gotten out of her crib at least 10 times. This last time Dan went in she was on her change table wiping her bum with wipes which is covered in poop. Lovely. She is trying to change herself. Time to potty train, I think. Her dirty diaper was on the ground. Should I just change her crib into a daybed 'cause it can or just leave it as a crib? Any advice? Sis, should I get that tent? ha ha Maybe you should!!

What's his is hers....Melia loves to go night night in Troy's bassinet which has been downstairs. She doesn't really go to sleep but she likes ti pretend. Oh when I tell her it is time for a nap she says "No night night Mommy!" Aahh...and then there is Troy. My sweet little boy is such a calm little guy and a great sleeper. He is sound asleep in his room right now...too bad his sister isn't. I didn't realize how great I had it until today when her awesome naps turned into this. Well I hope everyone has had a great week. this was Dan's last week off so he is back to school Monday. Melia started gymnastics class twice a week and she likes it. I love it b/c it is a real studio not like a little playtime place for kids. Her teacher is Coach Utah...that's his first name. Utah. He is nice. Ok gotta go put Melia down for the 80th time. AAAHHH!!

Christmas

2008-12-30T19:26:00.003-10:00

We had an awesome Christmas even though we missed all our family! This was after all the presents were opened and played with and it was time for a rest. I, of course, put these in the wrong order. I always do that. I am in a rush putting these up as we are about to head out to the Sea Life Park but if I don't do it now I never will!! So not a lot of writing but tons of pics!! Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful gifts for the kids and for us. And oh, sis...you are crazy for getting Mike a car for xmas and you rock!!

Melia got an umbrella from Santa who got it from Grandma. She loves it and turns the water on outside full blast so she can use it. She was so cute when she walked downstairs and saw all her Santa gifts out. She looked a little confused at first then she kept looking at us saying Mine like we might take them away or something.

Kisses to her meow meow.

And for the best surprise! Santa left a trampoline! Melia walked outside and said "Oh cool! Where the ball balls go?" Last May she jumped on a friend's trampoline that had a ton of balls on it. Amazing memory as it took me a second to understand what she was talking about.

Thanks for Rosie, the train, Nashie!!

It was such a fun morning and I can't wait until next Christmas!

Melia really got into unwrapping presents and handing them out.

Santa left a mini piano and awesome drum. Why did Santa leave so many noisemakers I am now wondering??

Christmas Eve..leaving the cookies out for Santa.

We got matching pajamas for the kids. So cute!

Christmas Eve Party

2008-12-28T14:49:00.001-10:00

We were invited to a Christmas Eve party and this is Melia getting all hyped up for it.

Santa arrived after a few hours and had a present for each othe kids. Melia got a little kitty that meows so she was so thrilled about that.

Isn't Troy so cute? His first time on Santa's lap!

Troy is like "Who the heck are you?" Melia just wants into her present. It was a lot of fun and I have a ton of xmas eve pics and xmas day pics to post. Hope everyone had a great Christmas! I posted some pics of xmas eve day below...

Christmas Eve Day

2008-12-28T14:39:00.002-10:00

We went to Ko olina xmas eve day. It was a beautiful day and we spent most of it at lagoon 3 which is where many tourists at the resort go but we pretty much had it all to ourselves.

Melia working on her tan...

I love where we live!

Melia loves the water as you can see. We had a perfect day.

Back again...

2008-12-16T15:38:00.000-10:00

I haven't blogged in awhile and both kids are sleeping so I thought I should at least post some pics. Things have been pretty good. It is good to have Dan home even though he has to study most of the day. Melia and I have been going to the beach in the morning in between Troy's feedings. Lucky for me I didn't have to get him on a routine...he just eats every 3 hours or so. So it works out pretty well for getting out of the house.

Troy's fav thing to do besides eat...sleep!

I love this face! I have a lot I want to write about but I am way too tired so I will try to get back on and write later. Dan is hovering over me telling me to take a nap which I need to do.

Looking cool....

Santa Baby

2008-12-05T08:09:00.001-10:00

Upon request I am posting some face shots of my sweet Troy. It has been a really great first week with him!! He is an awesome sleeper. He sleeps for a 5 hour stretch at night going to sleep from about 8 30 p.m. to 10 p.m., wakes up 5 to 5.5 hours later nurses then goes back to sleep! He is already on his own little 3 hour nursing schedule during the day, too. Melia is still being super sweet with him. Anytime she hears him cry when he is waking up from his nap she runs upstairs to get "my baby." Yesterday Nana and I took the kids to Ala Moana Mall downtown to look around and do some Xmas shopping. Melia sat on Santa's lap and it was hilarious. She got so stiff and would not make eye contact with him at all. She was just trying to keep focus on something else. Troy slept in Nana's arms the whole time and was approached by about 20 Japanese ladies who just wanted to stare at him. They love little light haired kids, I think. Anyway it was fun to get out and even though Melia is not a shopper she did great at the mall. Nana leaves today and we will miss her tons!! Thanks for all the help! I thought this last week was pretty easy but now that I will be alone that could all change!!

Troys little face

2008-11-30T22:29:00.001-10:00

I took this picture from my computers little webcam and it turned out pretty good. I am not sure though why all this is underlined, but oh well. Troy was sleeping in bed this morning a little after those last pictures were taken by Robyn and I thought it really highlited his little face and bulging biceps.

Sweetness

2008-11-29T17:34:00.000-10:00

Ok this pic is for you sis! Should I keep these on a month for each one?? You know what I am talking about...so does Mike and Mom! Ha ha!! Love ya!

My sweet baby boy! He is doing awesome in the sleep department. He fills his little belly up then takes a nice long nap or 2 or 3! He has been a good nighttime sleeper too but I know this can and most likely will all change as he is only a few days old but I am enjoying it! Grandma got him this beautiful, awesome swing that he just loves to sleep in.

I have some cute stories about Melia with her baby. She calls him My baby! I am too tired to post much right now but I will soon. She is doing great with her new baby brother, though. She couldn't go to sleep tonight until she gave baby kisses. We had forgotten to let her do that so she was screaming for her baby. After she gave him kisses she went right to sleep! This pic was this morning...she was so excited to jump on the bed and be near baby.

I have only had Troy for a few days but I love having these 2 wonderful beautiful children. I get to experience the beauty of having a newborn and his sweetness and I get to cuddle with my toddler and listen to her say her new words and it is just so amazing to have been blessed with these 2 angels. I love you both so much Melia and Troy!!

The First Photos of Troy Leo Douglas Miller

2008-11-27T13:47:00.003-10:00

Robyn is my hero, she suffered for about 3 hours with no breaks or rest, then at 3.49 am Troy was born. She is absolutely awesome! I really cant put it into words how grand childbirth is. I love you Robyn. Welcome to the world Troy! Congrats on being a big sister Melia!

Born November 26
Weight: 7lbs 9oz
Length: 21"

If the date is right...

2008-11-24T13:14:00.004-10:00

OK so we want everyone to guess when Troy will be here!! And what does that have to do with these pics of the Hilton Village at Waikiki?? Well if you get it right we will put you up there for one night...totally on us! Sorry airfare not included but for some of you who are coming to visit this would be pretty cool! And if you get it right we will send you a sweet t-shirt if you aren't coming to Hawaii anytime in the near future. So Dan is guessing Dec 5th and I am stuck b/t the 2nd and 3rd of Dec so I will say the 3rd! I want that night in the hotel too!! Work with me, Troy! Oh and for those who don't know my actual due date is Dec 1st.

Tribute to Robyn

2008-11-23T12:52:00.002-10:00

I never get to write on this blog anymore and I know you all miss my funny jokes and story's and my bad grammar and spelling misteaks but I thought i would just write a little bit about life (we have another blog by the way you can all visit if you have a second or two). I just wanted to comment on Robyn and how awesome she is. I have been very busy with school this semester due to the huge load I am taking and the long commute in to Manoa everday (1.5 hours each way). My days are spent thinking, driving and sometimes riding my bike. I dont get to see Melia and Robyn much anymore, only about two or three hours a day, and it has been very hard for me. But I love coming home everyday from school because I get to see my two most favorite people in the world and for about an hour or two I get to play with Melia and then when she goes to bed, I get to sit with Robyn and hang out, usually watching TV and eating dinner together, but then she goes to bed and I have to study organic chemistry for another hour or so before I get to bed. It actually really sucks because I love spending 24/7 with her and now its like 12 or 14 hours a week total. I think about my girls all day long at school and while driving/riding. Robyn takes such good care or melia and she is always in such a good mood when I get home, I know they have been having fun. All Robyn talks about is Melia and funny things she does, or cute things she is starting to say. Melia calls her Mommy, which is cool because most of us are called ga-ga, which originally was grandma, now its the name for everyone that isnt mommy! Anyways I just wanted to say that Robyn is an awesome mom. She has been getting up every morning of her pregnancy to run (3-5miles) and then lifts weights for a half hour, then if I have time to watch Melia in the afternoon she swims for 30 or so minutes at the big olympic pool up in Mililani. I have really enjoyed watching her this year and seeing the drive and determination she has to be stronger, faster, better, etc. She really is a role model for me. She is the most disciplined person I know, and she is teaching Melia well.
Melia does everything Robyn does. They shower the same...that is right, Melia prefers to shower than to bath... She dries off the same at the beach, puts lotion on the same, eats all the same stuff (egg whites, oatmeal, turkey burgs, sweet potats) Melia is always active and wakes up at about 6:30-7 every morning ready to go, just like her mommy. She also has her mommy's dark brown skin and blonde hair, very unlike my pink pale skin.
Thanks Robyn for all you do!!!
I can't wait for our son to be born this next month sometime. I have been anticipating this day and looking forward to the trip to the hospital for months now. Melia's birth was so exciting and amazing, that I am really stoked to get that call from Robyn, or the wakeup slap in the middle of the night and here that its time to go to the hospital!!! I want to be a good coach to you Robyn and I promise to try to help as much as I can!
Robyn you are awesome! I am proud that you want to have our son naturally, you will do awesome!!!
Dan

Rainy Day

2008-11-21T13:56:00.002-10:00

These are just some random cute pics of Melia. She loves to put on Daddy's cycling caps. It is so cute. She also loves to look innocent after spilling her milk all over the living room! It has been a good week and now looking forward to the week end. Melia and I went to the beach a few times but it was been kinda cloudy. I know...poor us. Having a cloud in Hawaii is so sad. I just finished the Twilight series...all 4 books in about 2 weeks. I am sorry Dan but I love Edward!! Those who have read it know what I mean. Anyway I am sad that I am done reading them b/c it was such an awesome story to get wrapped up in for a few weeks. It is Saturday afternoon and it has been raining all day and I love it! It is 65 degrees out and it feels so good. I think we are going to go get some Christmas decorations today. I am excited for that. My sweet little girl is injured so I figured this is the time to go to the mall and have her sit in her stroller. She hurt her foot yesterday. I am not sure how. She was limping when we went to the park but I thought she must have stepped on something. Well she ran over to these bars she loves to hang on and when she let go she couldn't put any pressure on her left foot. She sat down and kissed her foot then tried to stand up again...nope..couldn't do it so she sat down and kissed her foot better again. She did this a few more times and then wanted to go home. After her nap she could not even stand on it at all!! It isn't swollen or anything so it doesn't seem serious. So yesterday was spent inside and she actually wanted to just cuddle with me all day so I loved it!! Thanks Melia!! I started writing this blog a day or so ago so if it a little off sorry about that. Hope everyone is having a great week end so far.

Belly

2008-11-19T08:32:00.001-10:00

This is me at around 38 weeks.. well a little before. I have so many pics of me pregnant with Melia but only a few with Troy! Sorry buddy! I just don't have as much time since I am busy cleaning up baby powder and chasing after Melia!! I have less than 2 weeks to my due date so we'll see when this little guy wants to come. Tammy (my doula) came over last night and we sat around and talked for a while. She is really comfortable to be around and has some funny stories too. Nana gets here MOnday and I keep telling Melia "Nana comes to see you soon. " She will nod her head yes and say And Gaga? (for granddad) She is such a Granddad's girl!!

Ok I just wanted to post another pic I like this one of the sunset the other night. I do love the sunsets here and I get to see a beautiful one every night from my backyard. Well I can't really think of anything else to write right now. I think Melia is flushing her blueberries down the toilet so I better go!!

It smells so clean in the house....

2008-11-15T07:30:00.004-10:00

A few days ago I left Melia alone downstairs for a few minutes. I had left her sitting in her chair watching Sesame Street and drinking some milk. I am upstairs gathering all the dirty clothes and was chatting with my sis. I see Melia fly up the stairs and run to her room to get a diaper and then run downstairs. Why didn't I follow her then?? Little did I know that she had grabbed her full big bottle of baby powder. She LOVES baby powder. Pow pow is what she calls it. Has to have it at every diaper change. So I start walking down the stairs and find this....

Obviously her kitty needed a diaper change so that is why she ran and got everything.

It was everywhere!! It was on the stairs as I was walking down...it was in the pots in the kitchen and in some bowls that I didn't find until later.

And, of course, it was on Melia!!! What could I do? I told my sis I have to go and then I started laughing. I also let Dan clean this one up when he got home!! I posted a some more pics below so keep reading people!!

2008-11-15T07:28:00.002-10:00

It's Saturday afternoon and I am just hanging out while Melia sleeps. My friend from church is having a baby shower for me at her house in a little while so that should be fun although I am a little nervous about it. THe last time someone from church threw a shower for me was in Pahoa and I didn't know everyone's name that came. In fast I don't think I remembered anyone's name at all. So when I would open a present and read the card I would look around the room and thank everyone pretty much b/c I didn't know who to make eye contact with. So I finally just told people to raise their hands when I read their name. Nice, Robyn. So maybe today I can just bring the gifts home and open them at my house?? So I had bought these cute little ducky slippers for Melia awhile ago but she refused to try them on until Granddad was here and he asked her to put them on and of course she did. Now she loves them and wears them all the time...even to do yard work.

Chef Melia...

Anyone see a pattern? Well Melia actually let us put something on her head and she kept it there!! I have these cool clips for her hair that she refuses to wear unless she is the one who can put them in but she can't yet so no go on the clips. The chef's hat and reindeer antlers were a big breakthrough for me.

This is how I find her lately. I will come downstairs to find little Melia naked. This happens quite often during the day. She will take her diaper off and clothes if she has them on and just want to be naked. When she pees she will come up to me and say Pee pee Mommy and point to her diaper. But when it is poopy she will just start walking up the stairs to get another diaper and start taking it off. I have to be careful on that one as I was on the phone and I looked out in the living room and saw her naked but her bum was all brown and her blanket was sticking between her cheeks b/c she had sat on it and it was stuck!! Gross!! But I will give her credit. She had brought some wipes downstairs and wiped herself as best as she could. Thanks for trying to help out!

Change me!!

2008-11-10T13:29:00.000-10:00

It is about 1 p.m. and I am going to cry. Melia woke up super early and was so exhausted but she couldn't go back to sleep so I was up. I had been up since 3 a.m. courtesy of Troy's acrobatics being quite uncomfortable. So on our way home from the store Melia falls asleep and i transfer her to her crib where I then hear her playing and jumping up and down. This bums me out b/c I am so tired!! Plus Dan agreed to meet me at the pool so I can swim but if she doesn't nap I know she will have to nap later this afternoon probably around the time we have to leave for the pool. Nice. So enough complaining about being tired and pregnant. Here is Melia's new thing...when her diaper is dirty she marches right up to her room, climbs on the change table, and takes her diaper off. She usually takes a diaper with her and the wipes...so helpful!

Sometimes she doesn't tell me she is going up for a diaper change so when it gets super quiet in the house all of a sudden I know where to look. Yesterday I walked into her room to find her patiently waiting for me on her table. Silly thing.

I am going to start potty training after Troy is born. So Dan and I met with a doula which is a labor coach b/c I decided to have Troy au naturale like I did with Melia. But this time I need help!!! Her name is Tammy and she is super sweet and I think it will be great to have her there. She will help me with my breathing and try to make me as comfortable as possible with different massage techniques and bring me fluids or food or anything I need. Plus she will be helpful in directing Dan what to do. He and I are reading some good books about natural birth...kinda more for Dan on being my coach. I am delivering at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu. It is a super nice hospital...no home births, Libby. :) I don't want to scare Melia! I know I scared my mom with Melia! ha ha So we'll see how it goes. On another note I am so excited about Christmas!!

Randoms

2008-11-09T08:03:00.000-10:00

I can't keep up with blogging these days it seems. This last week was good though. Melia goes with me to all my doctor appointments which is actually really fun to have her there. She loves to listen to Troy's heartbeat with me. I have appt's every week now and all looks well. There is no room left for him to grow in there and it is so uncomfortable!! I ran for the last time last week at 36 weeks. I am cool with that for sure. THis pic was taken a week ago on Sunday. We were getting ready for church. Nana bought this dress for Melia when she was here and I absolutely love it on her! She absolutely LOVES the glow sticks leftover from Halloween as you can see she is holding about 5 of them. She thinks they are very cool.

Melia still loving her chair. Her fav show is Sesame Street and she loves this one I recorded so I now have it totally memorized. I seriously find myself telling Dan at night what Elmo did with Shade on the day's episode...hmmm that can't be good. But I love to watch it with her in the morning so Ic an see her jump up and down and dance around.

Just loungin'...totally chilled. I wish I had a big recliner now!!

Melia loves to help around the house. Here she is about to start dinner. This past week actually hasn't been a great one for naps so she has been lacking some sleep. Well yesterday she only took an hour nap which is too short for her so she ended up falling asleep again at about 4:30 on our way home and didn't wake up until 6:30 this morning! Dan snuck in her room to put her pajamas on late last night when we realized she was out for the night. Dan has been busy at school all week and was there studying all day yesterday so we really haven't seen him much lately. Well I wish I got 14 hours of sleep b/c I am exhausted!! Hope everyone had a good week.

Halloween carnival

2008-10-31T21:44:00.000-10:00

Ok I blogged in the wrong order once again! Can someone tell me how to do the whole album thing?? Anyway I posted a lot of pics of Melia in her costume and trick or treating so make sure to scroll down to see them all! These pics were at a neighbors a few blocks over. They had a costume carnival in their backyard. It was so cool! Melia was fishing for a toy in this shot. They had all kinds of cool games and a table for making jewelry or something.

Cotton candy!!

Melia was about to play the milk bottle game. She threw the bean bags and knocked a few down for some candy. I hope the neighbors go all out for Christmas too b/c the houses were so decked out!

Her first and only bite of cotton candy. She wasn't into it but wouldn't let us hold it for her. She had to hold her extremely heavy pumpkin full of candy, her wand and her cotton candy. Tonight was so much fun and Melia had a blast! Dan, Melia, and I hope everyone had an awesome Halloween and we also wanted to say Happy Birthday to my sis Karyn...Aunt Kiki..which Melia now says. It is so cute!! Hope you had a great day you old thing!! ha ha

Trick or Treat!

2008-10-31T21:38:00.000-10:00

This was Melia's first stop. Her new thing is saying Oh cool. She would walk up to the homes with cool decorations and say Oh cool! It was so adorable. Instead of saying trick or treat she would knock and do the sign for more and some people actually knew what she meant!

She got braver and wanted to go up to the houses on her own of course. She was having so much fun!

She was walking around this lady's yard saying Cool or Oh cool pointing to all her cool decorations.

I LOVE this neighborhood! Everyone had the coolest decorations out and most people just sat outside handing out candy. They really went all out for Halloween.

Melia Cadabby

2008-10-31T21:32:00.002-10:00

Here is Melia getting right after gettting her costume on. She was Abbey Cadabby from Sesame Street. I didn't think she was going to keep it on at first b/c she kept tugging on it saying NO!! She only kept the "hair" on for a few pics!!

Discovering her magical wand...

Daddy dressed up as an African if anyone is wondering what he is wearing. It is some garb he got while in Africa. I think someone called him a leper while we were out and about. Hmmm...anyway Melia looked so adorable! I wish we could go trick or treating every night!

All smiles

2008-10-29T14:47:00.002-10:00

I love all of these pics of Melia. This was when Granddad arrived at the airport. I just love her smile!

Peek a boo!! I hope everyone has a great Halloween. Melia is going to be Abbey Caddabra. She is the fairy on Sesame Street...Elmo's best friend. I think she might also be a UH cheerleader. Dan brought home a little cheerleader outfit for Melia awhile ago so that might get her more candy around here!! We are going to a pumpkin patch tomorrow with our field trip pals so looking forward to that. I am almost done with Troy's room. I need to hang everything and out the glider in there. This rental house is great b/c all the rooms were perfectly painted. Melia's room is a pretty green that matches her new stuff and Troy's is like a sky blue. I can't believe October flew by already. I also can't believe our family will have 4 soon!!

Melia and her Granddad

2008-10-29T14:41:00.000-10:00

I still have quite a few pics I want to post from the last few weeks but I LOVE these of Melia and her Granddad. She took to him immediately..well she was shy for maybe 30 minutes. But she was his little friend for the whole week in Kauai. It was so crazy to watch Melia do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING Granddad asked her to do!! If he asked her to lie down and take a nap she did!! She cuddled with him and sat in his lap...things she is not known to do. Who was this child??? So she calls Grandma Frisby Ga Ga and has now started calling Daddy Ga Ga and Granddad. Hmmm...I know she can say Daddy but Dan is Daddy no longer. She still calls Grandma Ga Ga when she sees her in a picture but I think it is just easier to say? I am still Mommy so I am cool with whatever she calls anybody else!! I am seriously so happy she got to spend a whole week with Granddad as she has never really spent time with him. She asked Where'd Ga Ga go? for a few days after he left. She asked about you too Nana!! Then she did "Ga Gone!" Melia knows some sign language and she loves to say all gone along with the sign for it but it comes out Ga Gone. It really is so cute and she picks up on everything. If someone sitting next to us on the plane finished their drink you would hear "Ga Gone!" with her little hands doing the motion. So she told me for a few days that Nana and Ga Ga were all gone. :( I have been practicing how to go trick or treating with her. Well she knows the sign for more and I realize she will be knocking on people's doors and just signing more so we'll see how that goes!! I want to wish Dan a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Big 29...Melia and I hope you are having a great day in the library!!

Fun with Nana

2008-10-27T22:16:00.000-10:00

Well I have a ton of pictures from our week with Nana here in Oahu and our week in Kauai also so I thought I better get to it finally. Nana came in for a week and it was so much fun! We went to the beach a few times and the aquarium which was pretty cool. We drove up to North Shore on the day it decides to pour all day but it was still cool to see BYU and the Temple. Melia had so much fun with her Nana...she still asks Where Nana go?? I am pretty tired and can't really think right now so I will blog more about our awesome week in Kauai tomorrow morning. All I will say is that Melia is not a Mommy's girl or even Daddy's girl...she is a total Granddad's girl!!

What's been going on...

2008-10-15T09:02:00.001-10:00

Melia got a raincoat the other week and she was trying it on the other day posing for us. Actually it rarely rains by our house but some of the places we go are rainy at times. It is POURING right now. Nana flew in last Sat and I am sad to say it has been odd weather. Cloudy and drizzly. But yeah right now it is pouring and we are going to head up to North Shore in a little bit so hopefully it will be sunny up there. So last Friday we went on field trip #3. We all met down at Ala Moana beach park and went on an antique firetruck ride. I thought I was getting somce great pics but didn't realize Dan had taken my memory card out of my camera so I have no pics!!! I am pretty bummed "cause I got some good ones. Oh well. So that was a fun time then Nana got in the next day. So this past week has been a pretty good one. I have figured a lot of things out that have been on my mind. First...our son's name. Yes it has been Leo Douglas for actually the whole time and even before we had Melia that was our boy's name. But it just wasn't feeling right to me. I just didn't feel it was his name. So I have been praying about it and not looking for another name or anything but one came to me and I knew it was it. Troy! That's his name. So his name will be Troy Leo Douglas Miller. We still wanted Leo in there and Dan really wanted Douglas to be in there too so why not have 2 middle names. Anyway we love it. Sounds strong. It is Irish meaning descendant of a footsoldier or warrior. So the other thing that was on my mind I don't think I will blog about so...let's see. Melia is saying more and more words and it is cute to see her with her Nana. I have no pics so far but I know Nana has some great ones. I am 33 weeks along and still have no belly pics but I think Nana took one so I will get one from her. I am feeling good during the night but not so comfie at night. Boys sit so low and I feel like I should just wear some depends so I don't have to go to the bathroom a million times. Ok before I forget...HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALIE!! We love you!! Can't believe you are 2! Well off to get ready for the beach. Oh better write this down...the otehr day I heard Melia waking up from her nap but I thought I would let her talk to herself for awhile. So I finally went in there to find my little girl naked (she went down fully clothed) saying Uh-Oh over and over. She looked pretty worried too. It stunk so bad like poop and that's when I saw it...her face had poop all over it...her hands...everywhere! I located the disgusting diaper. It was stuff behind her crib on the wall with her white dress so her wall was a big poo smear. I also stepped in some poo corn that had gotten on the floor...yes she had way too much corn the night before! So we threw her in the bath and Nana went to work on cleaning the crib which was covered in some corn smear too. GROSS!! So that was fun. Thanks for the help Nana! Ok gotta run... :)

Field Trip #2

2008-10-07T19:16:00.002-10:00

Last Friday we had field trip 2 in Waimanalo at Circle C Equestrian Center. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains and as you can see a beautiful place to have your ranch. We got to tour the whole rance and see people riding their horses and training. It was super fun and we had a blast.

Cindy, leader, always has cool stuff set out for the kids when they get there. She had cowboy gear to play dress up which Melia wanted nothing to do with and books and some cool toys, too.

This is Libby. She owns the ranch. She led us around on a little tour. Melia just climbed right up on her golf cart and sat right down with her and the dog. It was pretty funny.

So while Melia kept Libby company the other kids got in a group and sang some Hawaiian welcome songs.

Making friends...

2008-10-07T19:09:00.001-10:00

This is Hannah who is squatting next to Melia. She and Melia hit it off last week at the first field trip. They were listening to Libby talk about the horses.

This was an open stall with no horse but there was a horse in the stall behind this one that the girls were staring at.

OK notice how they are holding hands!! Melia was trying to run into the stall and Hannah would tell her "No, Melia, you could get hurt. Stay with me." So cute.

Just another gorgeous view!

More horses

2008-10-07T19:06:00.001-10:00

Melia LOVED the horses. She laughed and clapped at them.

Of course we would find the ol' farm cat there...

Melia and Hannah are so cute together. Hannah always seems to be trying to protect Melia.

2008-10-07T19:01:00.001-10:00

Libby had carrots for all the kids and parents to feed the horses. Melia laughed so hard when i fed a horse. I asked a lady to take a pic with my camera of Melia and me but after she said ok she ran off to get a pic of her kid. Oh well. I really was there with Melia!

Juice break

Once again this place was so beautiful!

My happy little girl!!

Dinner with friends

2008-10-02T19:36:00.000-10:00

Melia had some friends join her for dinner the other night. She LOVES her kitties and she will actually eat more when they are "eating" with her! She gets a little forceful in that last pic with old pink. We have had a great week and tomorrow is our second field trip. We are going to an equestrian center so that should be fun. Also on Sat we are going to a 4D ultrasound place so we can see our little boy! I am super excited for that!! Melia is talking more and more...saying new things. Mine is her fav now unfortunately but she has been saying I got it, I go and I swear I heard her say to Dan let me go! Uh-Oh is a cute one, too. Well I am tired so this is all I have in me to right!! Hope everyone is having a good week.

More Waialae...

2008-09-27T09:10:00.001-10:00

Ok I didn't realize my cover was still halfway on. This pic reminds me of Fiji a little bit. This was from the hotel as we were about to walk back down the beach. Also once again I put all these posts in the wrong order so the very last one explains what all these pics are about! So there are quite a few so read on and keep on scrolling down!

Ok why did I put this pic in? Well I just love that I get to look at this kind of beauty when I am at a stoplight!!

2008-09-27T09:08:00.002-10:00

The walk down the beach ended at a hotel with some cool fish to look at and a stingray.

I dont know if you can see them but Melia is looking at dolphins. There were about 6 and she just laughed at them so hard especially when they did their tricks.

it was a cool hotel that I do not know the name of! But if anyone ever wants to come over and swim with dolphins let me know. I had the opportunity to see a nice couple jump in with them...man wearing a pinkish speedo and the wife wearing matching pink swimsuit. Nice.

I love this field trip idea and that we will see the same group of kids every Friday. Melia and I had so much fun and it is cool to explore this beautiful island.

2008-09-27T09:06:00.003-10:00

The little girl with the hat on is Hannah. She loved going up to Melia and patting her on the head. At one point they were running around each other in the water laughing. It was cute!

This is Cindy telling a story about 2 turtles who fell in love. Ah..so sweet.

Melia was actually sitting next to me on the bench listening to the story..

Until she was done and decided to do her own thing...

2008-09-27T09:04:00.002-10:00

Collecting some sand and shells...

She did great walking down the beach with everyone.

Of course she had to get in the water! I wanted to jump in also.

Waialae Field Trip

2008-09-27T09:02:00.002-10:00

I signed Melia and I up for Field Trip Friends which consists of 8 weeks of field trips! We go somewhere different every Friday and the first one was to Waialae. I had never been over there before and it was pretty cool. The group met at the beach park and it is run by this lady Cindy. She even had a professional photographer there! So we all met under the old shade tree and sang some Hawaiian songs and the kids could play with some shells and look at some books. At first Melia wanted nothing to do with this group and kept trying to pull me away but then she decided it might be fun.

Cindy gave all the kids buckets and shovels and told the kids to collect certain things found on the beach.

Melia was off towards the beach to start collecting her shells!

Pretty view I thought...

A few of Melia's fav things...

2008-09-26T08:56:00.000-10:00

Putting on as many articles of clothing as possible! She has 2 shirts on here, 2 pairs of pants and my slippers. She wanted more on but I couldn't get them on. She LOVES putting clothes on...all of them!!

Stickers! I got her a new coloring book (she loves to scribble) and in this book there are over 600 stickers. I think she has had about 100 on her at one time! She loves to put stickers on herself and anyone within reach!

Brushing her teeth! She has always let me brush her teeth without giving me a struggle and she now loves to do it herself...anytime of day she is ready to brush those teeth!!

It can get tiring standing for awhile so she had to take a rest. We are off for our first field trip. I signed us up for Field Trip Friends Hawaii. We go on 8 different field trips with a group of other kids so I will blog about later today!!

Yea! Pictures!

2008-09-24T20:15:00.000-10:00

Ok I always mess up the order of my posts but read the post below this one ok!! You will understand why I do not have the greatest pics of my mom's trip. These are just a few more random shots...this one of the zoo. Zoos can be kinda lame b/c all the animals are asleep. We seriously only saw 3 butts...a chimp's butt and 2 others I do not remember. Ha! Ha! Sorry no bum shots!

Melia had so much fun with her "Ga Ga"...that is Grandma. She was helping her deflate her bed the day she left. Oh my mom took me to a spot that she had taken me to when I was just a baby down in Waikiki! It was so cool to take Melia there. My mom used to come to this island a lot when Karyn and I were little so she recognized a lot of different things. It was really cool to hear stories about when she would come here.

Melia...so sad Ga Ga is gone. :( Thanks for the awesome trip Mom! I will post more pics of that trip once I get them. But dont forget to read on below and I will be posting more often know. I was being lazy plus I couldn't find my battery charger for my camera. As per requests I will post a belly shot sometime soon! I am 30 weeks and feel pretty great. I still run about 5 days a week, swim 2 to 3 and lift about 3 and do yoga twice. Oh and have an extremely busy day with Melia! But I do feel good but boys sure do carry lower than girls b/c man, he keeps me up at night with all the acrobatics! Melia was so much higher that it never bothered me at night but this little one feels like he is kicking my hip bones! Ouch! Well this is my little update for now...I have had many funny and interesting things happen I want to blog about so I think I will try to blog daily here for a little while!!

Finally!

2008-09-24T20:03:00.000-10:00

Yes I know it has been 3 weeks since I blogged and since then my mom came to visit. We mainly used her camera to take pics and she asked me not to post anything until I got her pics (they are better) but sorry Mom...I have to put something up!! She was here for a week and it was so much fun. Was there anything we didn't do?? These are from the zoo...there are peacocks running around and we made the mistake of feeding one and it got way too close. After these were taken Melia tried to hit it away from her then hid behind me.

Let's see...we went to Ko Olina Resort a few times while Mom was here. We went to Dole Plantation and went on the train ride and then to North Shore. We went to North Shore a few times. We headed up there Labor Day and went to a few beaches. Ok so I have to tell this story. My mom has the pics of this amazing beach so I hope I get them soon. We went over to Kailua where the sand is like a baby's blanket...awesome! Well it reminded me of Fiji...just beautiful. Anyway we see a helicopter coming our way and it is hovering right above us. Melia starts to wave so we all do! it looks like they are waving back. So then some lifeguards on jet skis are zipping around the water kicking everyone out of the water. I thought they might be looking for a missing person. So Dan and I had been not super far out in the water but out to where it got deep. We get out after seeing everyone else get out. Come to find out those nice men in the helicopter were looking for a 10 foot tiger shark that was spotted!! I was wondering after that though...what were they going to do if they found it? Ask it kindly to please swim elsewhere b/c it is bothering tourists??

Aahh yes our night walks...Melia loves to take a morning walk and evening to visit the neighborhood cats. I have no pics of our fav...her name is Precious and I she is actually the most beautiful cat I have ever seen. Sorry, Sasha, I think she might have you beat! So the house in the above pic is where Winston, the Brit, lives along with Sir Albert and their Indian friend Fazzel. Did we make those names up? Yes b/c that is what we do! melia is obsessed with cats and loves to visit them and meow at them. She collects flowers along the way just to give to them as an offering. So sweet!

This pic is for you Mom...a glimpse of the alleys here. My mom couldn't get over how nice our alleys are!! I will have to take more pics so everyone can see the beauty! Actually they are really nice!!

Waimea Bay

2008-08-25T21:20:00.000-10:00

These are a week old from our trip up to North Shore last Monday. It is called Waimea Bay and it is beautiful. The water is so crystal clear. It reminds me of Fiji. It is only 30 minutes from our house..better than the almost 2 hour drive we had to take to get to Hapuna Beach from our house on the Big Island!!

Melia making her way down to the water. She is so used to Ko Olina having no waves that it was hard to keep her from going into the water too far. The waves up here are pretty powerful to a little 18 month old but she didn't care! She loves when we let her "ride" a wave in. They aren't huge or even big but to her I thought they might be. And actually in these pics the water looks completely still, doesn't it? Hmmm...well anyway it was fun.

Melia turned 18 months yesterday! I can't believe she is already 18 mos. Time flies by when you are moving every few months! HA! I am now 26 weeks pregnant and feeling good. Still running and swimming and all that which makes me feel so much better. Oh and I get nightly foot massages from Dan! Thanks, baby!!

Dan started his first day of school today. Over the week end we went back to school shopping and got him some pencils, pens, binders, and erasers. We got him a few new t shirts too. Oh and a cool new backpack! He was all set this morning after I made him a sack lunch! Actually he found a lunchbox with Michael Phelps on it so he brought that instead. Melia and I were so proud of him as we watched him head off to school! Ok seriously though I am very proud of him for going back to school. We went to the Ko Olina yesterday evening and this evening. It was awesome. We watched the sunset and Melia waved bye bye to the sun as the ocean swallowed it up. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!!

Dole

2008-08-23T17:45:00.002-10:00

Last week end we headed up to North Shore and on our way we stopped in at the Dole Plantation. It was pretty cool. We attempted getting through the largest maze in the world but all Melia wanted to do was pick up rocks so we had to ditch the maze early so we could make it to the beach!

There is a little train that goes around the plantation. This was Melia waiting. We actually ended up selling our train tickets to some tourists b/c I didn't bring any diapers and Melia had a really dirty one! I don't have any pictures of North Shore. We were at Shark's Cove and Sunset. We made our way to Pipeline too. Melia had fun playing in the big waves...yes dan was holding on to her. She is not afraid of them which is great but I wish she would respect them. After the water romp we played in the sand and Melia was diving in the sand all over the place. It was a fun day!! Sorry I am so late blogging. I have more pics from last Monday at Waimea Bay up at North Shore. I will post them soon too!

Riding with Melia

2008-08-23T17:39:00.001-10:00

We got this little seat for Melia a few weeks ago and she loved it. But sadly this was her only ride. We returned it the next day b/c it doesn't fit on my mountain bike which is why we got it. Don't you love the helmet that's too big!

More beach

2008-08-13T12:27:00.002-10:00

Enjoy the pics....I posted 2 other entries first so scroll down to see all of them!! I will post some of our house and stuff too!

Ko Olina

2008-08-13T12:24:00.002-10:00

This is Ko Olina. It is a beach resort about 10 or 15 min from our house. There are 4 lagoons and we always go to the 4th b/c there is nobody there in the morning. It is perfect for little kids as it is protected...there is a net in the opening by those rocks so nothing dangerous can swim in and I dont have to worry about a big wave taking Melia out to the open ocean...major plus!

I think Melia is the happiest when she is here at the water. She has her little backpack of toys she likes to carry down and when she is ready to go she packs them all back in. She really is an awesome beach girl. Loves the sand and loves to run down the beach and jump right into the water!

Going down to the water with Daddy...

This was yesterday and we had it all to ourselves pretty much. Our routine has been to go right after breakfast. I love starting my day out here! I posted some cute random shots of Melia down below too!

Random shots...

2008-08-13T11:58:00.000-10:00

Ok I promise I will post beach pics and neighborhood but in the meantime here are some cute shots of Melia. here is she was digging into some lunch. I love that the beach gives her such an appetite!

She knows how to turn the hose on...

...so she can take a sip when she is thirsty!

Melia LOVES to help Daddy do things around the house. She helped him take this padding out of the plastic, throw the plastic away and hold the padding down while he cut it. It is so cute!

Aloha!!

2008-08-12T18:45:00.000-10:00

Aloha everybody! We are in Hawaii...we have been here for a few weeks now and it is so awesome to be back. I am going to post pics of our neighborhood and house and beach and all that tomorrow but thought I would just put these up first. We went to San Diego for a week before heading out to Oahu and it was so much fun! Melia loved being at Grandma's. She was caught picking and eating grapes in the backyard in these pics. We went to the aquarium, awesome parks by the bay, Nash's house (they loved seeing each other!) Souplantation! Anyway...it was a lot of fun to be there.

Looks like she is picking the rose in this one!

Well our neighborhood is beautiful...nothing like our place in Pahoa for those of you who visited us there. I think you would love it way more here! We are right next to some awesome beautiful beaches. Melia and I go to the beach first thing every morning and sometimes back to another one in the afternoon! I will post pics of them tomorrow. Melia loves the water...she runs downt he beach and jumps right in the water!!

This is a sunset pic I got from the backyard the other night. They have been looking like this every night. I love being here. I feel at home now. I think Melia does too! Ok well I will write more tomorrow and post more!

More fun with Poppins

2008-07-16T15:45:00.002-10:00

After her snack she was full of energy and so happy! I meant to post this after the next set of pics! Oh well.

Here she is catching some air! She loves to jump.

Face plant! Jumping back and forth from the chair to ottoman is her latest thing. It's actually pretty funny to watch.

That face totally looks like trouble!!

Mary Poppins

2008-07-16T15:41:00.001-10:00

I had to post this pic of Melia after her eating the pudding the second time. Well she obviously didn't eat any! I think she will love finger painting!!

Melia isn't really interested in tv probably b/c it is never on but she does like Sesame Street and I will leave it on so she can dance to the songs or maybe even sit down and watch a little of it. But I thought I would try Mary Poppins the other evening and she must have been tired! She watched it for awhile. Notice the pile of dvds? They were neatly stacked but she thought they would look better there. She did re stack them for me today but then threw back down. Hmmm...

Still watching! Oh so a cute thing she does...she will hide in the space where those dvds are. She will lie completely flat with her face down and she thinks I can't see her! I love it!

You have to have snacks while watching a movie!

Ocean Pointe

2008-07-14T13:44:00.002-10:00

Here is a pic of our house we will be renting in Hawaii. The town is called Ewa Beach but the community is called Ocean Pointe. We have heard great things about the area. We heard it is very family oriented which sounds good to me. There is a big park across the street which will be great since Melia loves to be outside but it is too hot here to do anything outside but play in the water.

This is just a view of the Ewa Beach. We will be leaving for Hawaii in about 2 weeks. We still haven't heard from UH Manoa but we know they are processing Dan's application so hopefully here soon we will hear back from them. Oh one thing I am loving...Melia brings me a diaper when she needs a new one!! Well most of the time at least. Or if I ask her to get one for me she will run to her room and come back with one and some wipes if she can reach. She also loves to fluch the toilet. She learned how to do that recently. She is getting pretty tired of us changing her diapers, though. She always tries to unfold one and put it on the floor then lie down on it after taking off the one she is wearing. I hope this is a good sign that she will want to use the real potty sooner than later?? Melia is excited to see her Nana in just a few days!!

Pudding Girl

2008-07-12T09:17:00.000-10:00

Melia decided this morning she wanted to make some sugar free chocolate pudding for a snack. So we whipped some up and she LOVED it!! As you can see from the pics not much made it into her mouth! Luckily she didn't use it as massage lotion! She and I went to Payless yesterday and she got some new shoes. She loves shoes. Right when she wakes up in the morning she has to put her shoes on. So yesterday when we got home she wanted one pair on then the other new pair then back and forth with the new shoes. She got her first pair of shoes with a little heel last week. I will have to post some pics of those. Well I leave in a little over a week to head out to Cali to wait for Dan to drive out. He has been paiting the kitchen and fixing up some other things. It is too bad we didn't do all of this earlier so we could enjoy it! Well Melia is up from her nap! Have a good week end everyone!