:(

She's crawling everywhere.

Crawling.

My vibrant two-year-old who loved to...

run

jump

spin in circles

gallop

dance

march

stomp

but especially run...

has been reduced to crawling.

:(

We learned our lesson

Never go down the giant spiral tube slide with a two year old on your lap.

Cause that's what Ron did with Samantha on Monday.

And that's how Samantha fractured her leg.

We didn't know it was fractured until today.

Poor baby.

We decided against taking her to the ER on Monday night because she didn't seem to be in much pain, except when she tried to walk.

On Tuesday, we called the doctor and they said to monitor it until Wednesday and treat any pain with ibuprofen. Again, not much pain unless she tried to walk. She got two doses of ibuprofen.

On Wednesday, we went to the doctor and she ordered an x-ray.

We left the doctor's office and headed to Children's Hospital.

Got an x-ray.

Got a call from the doctor.

"It's fractured. Head over to the Orthopedic Department. They're expecting you."

Got to Orthopedics.

"We need to get authorization from your insurance in 15 minutes or we can't see you today."

What?! Call the insurance company.

Got the authorization.

Samantha chose purple for her full-leg cast.

She will be in it for 4 weeks.

No gymnastics. And i just signed her up for dance class. Ooops.

Like I said, lesson learned.

William Keoni's Doctor Appointment

5 weeks, 5 days.

13 pounds, 7 ounces!

22.5 inches

Doing really well.

And as cute as ever!

11 days old!

We went to the doctor for a check-up today.

Weight: 9 pounds, 12 ounces
Length: 21.75 inches
Head circumference: 38 cm

He is a "very healthy boy."

Yay!

2!

Samantha, you are two years old!
You are growing up to be such a smart, independent young person.
You know all the letters.
You know all the numbers up to 13.
You have a huge vocabulary and can clearly communicate using complete sentences.
You are silly! You like to make us laugh by joking around.
You like for us to pretend to cry so you can give us kisses to help us feel better.
You love sweets! Since you discovered chocolate on Halloween, you've been asking for "treats" almost everyday.
You love to run around the house.
You love to stay home in your pajamas all day.
You can put together 24-piece puzzles with minimal help.
You peed in the toilet yesterday!
You love your brother.

We love you!!!

William Keoni

He's here! He arrived on November 11 at 7:35 am. A healthy 10 pounds, 7 ounces and 21.5 inches long. He looks just like Samantha did at birth. The same black hair. The same button nose, and the same set of lungs that can wake the neighbors when he is upset. He hasn't been upset much, though. He is so mellow. When he isn't eating or sleeping, he's just looking at the world around him. He is breastfeeding like a champ. He latched on less than an hour after birth, and my milk has already come in.
Samantha met him yesterday (Nov. 12). I was a little nervous about how she would react and how that first meeting would go, but I needn't have. She was excited to see her little brother and wanted to hold him. She kept petting him and giving him kisses. So cute!
Pictures to come soon!

Pumpkin Patch!

Not good with the blog updates...sorry!Last weekend, we took Samantha to the pumpkin patch! We missed it last year, so this was actually her first time.

There were lots of pumpkins, of course...
And (fake) animals to ride...
And some real animals too...but my camera died and I didn't get any pictures of her riding a pony or feeding the billy goats.

We had a lot of fun!

Samantha is a lot better

We ended up spending a night in the hospital for pneumonia. She coughed for an hour and seemed like she was having a hard time breathing. I told Ron I wanted to take her to the ER. He felt that it could wait until morning. I felt that it couldn't. We took her. I'm so glad we did. She was wheezing and wasn't getting enough oxygen in her blood. She got a one-hour albuterol breathing treatment and didn't improve. They admitted her for the night. She got a four-hour breathing treatment, then a treatment every four hours after that. By 5pm the next day, she had stopped wheezing and her oxygen saturation was up to 98% (compared to 91% when she was admitted.) They discharged us with antibiotics to treat the pneumonia. They told us that her lungs were inflamed and to expect the cough to stick around for 2 to 4 weeks, but she should be able to return to her regular activities in a few days.

It's been a week and she has completely stopped coughing. She's doing great!

Sick

Poor Samantha is sick :(

I got a call from daycare on Tuesday, saying that she threw up. Went to pick her up and took her to the doctor...

she has an ear infection,
a throat infection,
and her lungs sound "junky"

She's on Amoxicillin for 10 days,
prednisolone for 5 days,
and an inhaler as needed

She threw up about 8 times on Tuesday...she didn't even eat anything, she was just throwing up stomach juices. On Wednesday, she seemed to be getting better. On Thursday, she was just very clingy. Today, she has a horrible cough! Hope she gets better soon. I feel so helpless. :(

Better

Well, everything looks better!

The placenta is out of the way, so no placenta accreta.

I passed the 3 hour test, so no gestational diabetes.

The baby is healthy! Measuring about 2 weeks ahead, so it's gonna be a big one, just like Samantha.

We have a c-section date: November 11, 2011. Sounds good to me!

Wait, is that really only 57 days away??? EEEEE

Failed!

Failed my 1 hour glucose tolerance test. The cut-off is 130 and my result was 134. Argggh! I have to go in for a 3 hour test. I hope I don't have gestational diabetes. :(

Sad

So sad to have to leave Samantha at daycare again. We haven't even left the house yet and I miss her already. :(

Back to reality

We are back home from our 6 week vacation to Hawaii and LA.
I go back to work on Monday.
Samantha goes back to daycare on Monday.
One thing to look forward to:
13 weeks until baby #2!
We still haven't thought of a name yet. Eeeps!

And we're back!

In Los Angeles, that is.

We are on Kauai!

We got off the plane at 7:30 last night. Samantha was immediately surrounded by the attention of 2 uncles, 1 aunt, 1 great-grandma and 1 great-grandpa. When we got to her great-grandparents' house (where we will be staying for the next 3 weeks), she was loved on by 2 cousins and 1 more aunt. She is so lucky to be loved by so many!

Gorgeous

Samantha has been walking around saying, "I gorgeous!"

Thanks to Aunty Rebecca who would say "Hi Gorgeous!" every time Samantha walked into the room.

More Hilo

Rainbow Falls: The best time to see it is during sunrise. We went during sunset. It was very backlit and I couldn't get a good picture.
Volcano: Lots of steam! Samantha wouldn't pose for a picture.But she loved playing with this pile of rocks out in the parking lot.
Zoo: A great little zoo with lots of rainforest plants and animals. See?

Emotional

Stupid pregnancy hormones make me cry about the silliest things!

While we are in Hilo, we are renting a vacation home with our friends, who have a 2.5 year old daughter. Samantha and Ana get along very well and have played together nicely. Yesterday, Samantha offered Ana her stuffed Ernie (from Sesame Street) doll and Ana pushed it away, saying, "I don't want that." Now, Ernie is one of Samantha's prized possessions, and she couldn't understand why Ana didn't want it. She looked at me with tears in her eyes, and asked, "Why?" "Ana didn't want it." And all I could say was, "I don't know, maybe she doesn't like Ernie," as tears streamed down my face.

Silly.

Hilo, Hawaii

On Thursday, we flew out to Hilo, Hawaii to meet up with some friends who were also vacationing here. We didn't time our flight very well, and didn't have time for Samantha to take her afternoon nap before we had to leave for the airport. By the time we got to the airport, she was out like a light, but only slept for 40 minutes because we had to start boarding. Once on the plane, she was in a pretty good mood, but just wanted to walk around...which is pretty hard to do on a crowded plane. We tried to entertain her with books, drawing, new toys, and movies, but she didn't want to settle down to do any of that stuff. Three hours into the flight, she finally fell asleep, but only for an hour. We still had an hour to go when she woke up, but she was content sitting on my lap for that time.

Hilo has been nice. The weather is beautiful during the day and rainy at night. Ron bought a new ukulele. We found a nice playground downtown. Samantha tried her first Loco Moco...loved the eggs and rice and gravy, but not the meat. We went to the farmer's market today and got some fresh fruits and veggies. Yum!

Los Angeles

We were just in LA for 6 days, visiting Samantha's grandparents. She was in HEAVEN being spoiled by her grandma and grandpa. We went to the zoo, library for storytime, and parks. She got to stay up late, eat ice cream almost every night, and was carried everywhere she wanted. Lucky girl!

A Little Brother!

Samantha's having a little brother! We haven't told her yet...I think it's too abstract for her to understand right now, since he won't be arriving until November. That's not very long to us, but for her it is. Of course, I think our family is changing for the better, but I'm a little scared for her. She has been the center of our universe since she joined our family, and now she will have to share the attention with her brother. I hope she will always feel special because she is. She is the most amazing thing that has happened to us.

On to the bad news...there's always that, isn't there? I have placenta previa again. That in itself isn't bad, I had one with Samantha too. It was partial and resolved itself by 28 weeks. But with a previous c-section scar on the uterus, there is a chance that the placenta will grow into the scar tissue and get stuck. If that happens and it cannot disconnect during birth, the uterus will have to be removed! Yikes! Right now I just have to be careful and watch for bleeding. Any bleeding will be a bad, bad thing and I will have to take myself to the ER right away. We are leaving on a six-week vacation to Los Angeles and Hawaii on Saturday. The doctor didn't seem worried about LA at all, he said that there were plenty of hospitals there, but if I happen to bleed in Hawaii, I would not be allowed to fly back and I would have to stay there until the baby is born. Oh well, at least it's Hawaii! And we have family there that can help care for Samantha if anything happens. Which it won't. Gotta think positive!

So yay! A boy! Blues, yellows, and greens, here we come!

Stalling...

Samantha has become quite the expert at stalling when it is time for bed.
Me: Samantha, it's time for bed.
Samantha: (running to the refrigerator) Eat!
Me: No, all done eating. It's time for bed.
Samantha: (grabbing her bubbles) I blowing bubbles!
Me: Say good night to the bubbles. It's time for bed.
Samantha: (taking books off her bookshelf) book!
Me: Okay, one book. (I read to her, then put the book back on the shelf.) All done! Time for bed.
Samantha: (starts to cry) More book!

She is so cute. Love her.

Too much fun!

Hanging with this little 19-month old is just too much fun!
She is so funny! She says "hi" to everything she sees, followed by a "what are you doing?"
She "feeds" her stuffed animals and gives them hugs and kisses.
She likes her stuffed animals to "read" to her.
She sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "The Alphabet Song," "Frere Jacques," "Row, Row, Row your boat," and many others I can't think of right now.
She can count to 10.
She wakes up every morning with a smile and keeps us laughing until she goes to bed at night.
We love you, little one.

Riding the carousel (hanging on for dear life, but also wanted to wave to Mama):
Splashing at the splash park:

Parachute fun at a local children's play space.

We are loving summer!

We have already gone to the zoo,

the amusement park,

and explored a new playground.

And there's so much more to do!

Merry Go Around!

Her favorite part of the park...she stayed here for an hour and a half! She rode on each character several times, but her favorite was the "turtle chair" (5th picture). I'm planning to take her to some real merry-go-arounds this summer. I think she'll love them!

Trip to the ER

We were at the ER last night. Samantha was running around in music class and tripped on her own feet. For the next two hours, she couldn't put weight down on her left foot and cried so much from the pain that she threw up. Poor girl! We took her to the ER where the doctor said that nothing was broken and to just give her Motrin for pain. They gave her a dose at the hospital. She loved it! Kept sucking on the dropper and saying, "mmmm!" And it helped her feel better. We didn't get to bed until midnight. She's doing better today. Still has a funny walk...hopefully she will be back to normal by Saturday.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

18 months!

Wow, I can't believe that my little baby is one and a half! She is such an amazing, funny little girl that keeps us laughing all day long.

She loves to hide. When she hears dada coming (home from work, out of the bathroom, in from outside, etc) she excitedly whispers, "hide!" and runs to me. We usually hide under a blanket with her giggling the whole time. She doesn't understand that she's supposed to be quiet when she hides! Dada pretends not to see her and will ask, "Is Samantha in the. . . closet?" And she'll innocently answer, "Noooo." Haha.

She has a little rocking chair that she loves to ride in. She climbs in all by herself and rocks back and forth singing "Row, row, row your boat." She just got a hand-me-down little dog rocker from her friend and she thinks it's the best thing! She goes wild in it! She even stands up and rides it like a surf board!

She's very good at puzzles. She knows the correct places for all the pieces, but sometimes she has a hard time getting the pieces to go exactly in the cut-out space.

Her Cookie Monster Play-doh is one of her favorite toys. She plays with it every single day. She'll either ask for "Cookie" or "play-doh." Sometimes she doesn't even ask, she'll get it off the shelf by herself and start playing with it! So independent!

First she presses the Play-doh into the mold.

Then she looks at it.

Then she feeds her creation to Cookie Monster.

Our favorite activity is to go to the park.

She rides in the swing and sings, "Row, row, row your boat."

Going through the tunnel.

Guess what she sings when she rides on this?

She LOVES these musical instruments.

Wheeee! Going down the slide.

Fingerpainting!

She loves it. She loves it so much that she almost went through the whole tube of fingerpaint in one sitting. She loves it so much that she'll ask for it everyday. As soon as we walk in the door she'll grab her paints and say, "painting!" I love that she loves it so much. She's not afraid to get her hands dirty. She relishes in the feel and the sight of the fingerpaints (thankfully not the taste!). I just ordered her some more paints and paper. I even got some brushes and sponge stampers. I can't wait to see her get creative with it!

Daddy's Little Girl!

(No, she's not really listening to music on the headphones. Just looking cute.)

Our Spring Break

Oh how I love hanging out with my girl all day!

On Monday, I took my mom to the outlet mall that is about 45 minutes away. We got there at around 11:30 and shopped until 2:00. Samantha slept the whole time in her stroller. She's just like me! I HATE shopping. I only go to the store when I need something - and I'm in and out in a matter of minutes. After she woke up, we decided to get some lunch and I got directions to the local playground on my iPhone.

Going through the tunnel:
At first she was not sure about going across this bridge. After a few tries, she was a pro!
She figured out how to get on and off this frog all by herself!
Aren't these the neatest swings? Samantha thought so.

Cow, POOP!

There is a little farm near us built by a local high school 60 years ago, and it still houses cows, pigs, sheep, bunnies, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and goats. It's free to the public and you can bring lettuce or celery to feed the animals. On Monday, we took some celery to feed the cows. The cows are Samantha's favorite animals on the Little Farm (that's the name of it). She was so excited on the way to the Little Farm. She kept saying, "Cow crunch!" and "Cow mooooooo!"
When we got there, we unwrapped the celery, pulled off a stalk and walked toward the cows. The cows sensed us approaching and got up and walked toward us. Samantha stopped in here tracks, shook her head and said, "Noooooo." So I ended up feeding the cows with her in my arms. She was very interested. She said, "Crunch!" every time the cows took a bite.
When the cows were done eating, one of them turned around and pooped! Samantha loved this! She said, "Cow, Poop! Biiiiiiiig!" all the way home!

She's Doing Well in Preschool

Samantha transitioned fabulously to preschool. She was ready. She was ready for art projects. She was ready for more social interaction. Her preschool teacher is impressed with how much Spanish she knows (this is a Spanish immersion preschool), and how much she is talking in general. Her attention span is also impressive. The teacher did a story and puppet show and Samantha sat down and watched the whole thing. That's great for a 16.5 month old!

The other day a went in to pick her up. She ran away from me and said, "NO!" Grabbed a toy train and rolled it on the ground saying, "Choo-choo!" She didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay and play. I was not upset by that at all. In fact, I was delighted about it, because it meant that she was happy there, and we made the right choice moving her from the babysitter to preschool.

"Uh-oh, shoe!"

We took Samantha to Target yesterday. She was sitting in the cart, happily playing for about 10 minutes. Then she wanted "uppies". She says this when she wants me to carry her. I took her out and carried her, leaving the cart behind because it was empty. She kept saying "uh-oh, shoe. uh-oh, shoe," except she doesn't make the "sh" sound quite clearly yet. It's more like a "dzh" sound. I didn't quite get what she was saying, so I kept walking, showing her things in the store. She kept repeating herself. Suddenly it dawned on me what she was saying. I looked down, and sure enough, one shoe was off. We ran back to the cart and found it.

I am just AMAZED at her communication skills!

Transitions...

We had a great babysitter for the last 11 months. I had known her for 6 years, and asked her if she could babysit when I was still pregnant with Samantha. She only lives 2 minutes from my work and I could nurse Samantha (back when she was exclusively nursing) and visit her at lunch. She was great with Samantha - gentle, loving, patient - totally worth the $1,000/month that I was paying her. In the last few months, things started to change.
More than once, I would go to her house after lunch or after work and Samantha would be in her high chair. Not eating in her high chair, just in her high chair, hanging out. I was not okay with that. I'm paying you $1,000/month to care for Samantha, not put her in her high chair so you can clean your house. Clean your house on your own time.
The other day, I asked her if she took Samantha to her library for story time. Her response? "No, I was too busy." WTF? I'm paying you $1,000/month to be busy WITH Samantha, not whatever else you're doing.
We already had the feeling that Samantha had outgrown her care. Samantha is ready for more. But we weren't ready to move on yet because Samantha is so comfortable with her and we didn't want to disrupt her routine. Until Tuesday. That's when M asked me for more money, because Samantha demanded a lot of her attention. Samantha wants to follow her around and see what she's doing all the time. HELLO!!! Welcome to life with a toddler. She had two kids of her own...she knows what it's like. She just didn't want to treat Samantha as her own. Still, I wanted to try to make it work. I offered her $10/hr. That would end up being $1200/month. That wasn't enough. She had to "think about it."
Whatever. I can't afford to pay her any more.
Sooooo...tomorrow, Samantha starts preschool! It's a Spanish immersion preschool where she will have movement and music, art, literacy, outdoor time. I think it will be great for her...but I'm so nervous about the change. Wish us luck!

A Great Day at the Bay Area Discovery Museum!

I'd totally get a membership to this museum if it was closer to where we live. Samantha really enjoyed all the activities. Well, all the ones that were appropriate for her age. They have some activities for bigger kids too!

Splashing

Little frog instruments. You take the stick and rub it on the frog's back and it makes a cool "croaking" sound! There were different frogs with different textures (and sounds).

A HUGE tree for the kids to walk through.

Making music

Drawing. This girl loves to draw.

15 months!

Samantha, you are an amazing girl! Your daddy and I are so proud of the person that you are becoming.

Things I don't want to forget:
You shake your head and wag your index finger when you say, "Nooooo."
You love YOUR books, but you also love to get the "grown-up" books off the shelf and "read" them aloud to me or your dada.
You love to draw. It is often the first thing you ask for when we get home. You run to the paper and crayons in your room saying, "Daw." Then you hand a crayon to me and point to the paper and say, "Mama?"
You give great hugs and kisses. When we hug, you rest your head on my shoulder and your whole body melts into mine. When I ask for a kiss, I get a nice wet one on my lips, snot and all.
You know all the body parts. You especially like the nose, eyes, and mouth. Oh yeah, and hair.
You bring us our shoes and try to get them on our feet. Usually when we're cooking or doing laundry, or something else that does not require us to wear shoes.
You love the outdoors. You will point to the door and say, "Outside. Go go go!"
You still love to dance. You like to press the "Demo" button on our electric keyboard and dance to "Livin La Vida Loca" which subsequently plays.
You are starting to become interested in the potty. You say "pee pee!" when you pee, but we've never made it to the potty in time. Soon, though.

There's so much more I could write about. You are just a sweet, loving, smart, wonderful person and we love you so much!!!

We also went to the doctor today for a 15 month check up.
Samantha is 23 pounds and 4 ounces. She hasn't gained any weight since her 12 month check! Must be all the running around she does.
She is 30.5 inches tall.
She has 2 teeth that are about to erupt.
And the bad news...she has bronchiolitis, a respiratory tract infection. She has been coughing for the last 3 weeks or so and Dr. B heard wheezing when he listened to her lungs through the stethoscope. There's nothing we can do but wait for this to pass, and hope that it doesn't get any worse. Poor baby!

She Loves the Beach

Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii
December 2010
We stayed at the edge of the water, playing with the sand and making sand sculptures. There were a few waves that day, and we wanted her to get used to the water before heading in. We took her into the water. She was laughing and kicking her legs. After about 10 minutes we headed out and plopped her down on the sand, hoping to make some more sand sculptures. Nope - she got up and started running into the ocean! (I caught her before she got too far.) She loves the beach!

Tennessee Valley Beach, California
January 2011Yesterday was a beautiful day here so we met up with some friends for breakfast and then went on a hike to the beach. The Northern California beaches are nothing like the soft sandy beaches of Hawaii. The sand was more "gravelly" and the water was a LOT colder. We didn't think Samantha would like venturing into the water. We were wrong! Once she saw the water, there was no holding her back. Each time the wave crashed and made its way back into the ocean, Samantha pointed at the water and said, "MORE!" She loves the beach.

Samantha's Birthday Luau

Bad blogger again! I always intend to put up a new post, I have things "written out" in my head...but I just don't have the time to sit down a do it!

Anyway, Samantha's birthday was on November 16, and we had a small birthday party here with just family and close friends. We kept the celebration small, because we had a huge birthday celebration planned for December with all the family from Hawaii.

What a great party it was! Thank you to all her aunts, uncles, and grandparents who made it all possible. Samantha is so lucky to be so loved by so many.

Her beautiful birthday sign made by a talented friend.
The decorations. The tables were decorated with beautiful flowers and pictures of Samantha inside hand-painted frames. Each guest got to take a picture home with them.

The pinata. See that turtle? It's a handmade pinata. Amazing

The pig. Delicious. Sorry vegetarian readers.

The Birthday Girl! How did she get so big ?

The birthday girl chasing chickens.