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.