Sadie and Callie

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Happy 1/2 year birthday to Callie! She's still a big chubalub who loves to be carried and talked to. At her 6 month visit, she still was on the opposite side of the curve from Sadie as far as weight and she's neck and neck in the height department.

19 lb 3 oz (85%) [Sadie was 16 lbs!]
26.5 inches (75%) [Sadie exactly the same!]

Callie just started rice cereal, peas, and squash and so far she's not really a fan of the solids...I'm pretty sure she's more of a fruit person :) She's been pretty consistent for the last week or two about waking up only ONE time at night, so it's been a nice change for us. Callie is still a big fan of teething toys, blankets, and her fingers, but is not a fan of the jumper like Sadie was. She's always furrowing her eyebrows, so she tends to have a very serious, "concerned" look as her doctor called it. She is also sporting mostly 18 month-sized clothes already since she's such a big baby! All Sadie's old jeggings and cute slim-cut clothes are completely unusable for Cal-cal, who likes mostly the loose-fitting clothes made for pear-shaped bodies! :)

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Easter 2013

Easter was a big hit this year for the kids and throughout the week leading up to Easter Sunday, Sadie enjoyed many "practice" egg hunts at home and also one at school. The three amigos also really enjoyed dying their eggs and the grand finale egg hunt on the lawn. Next year, with Callie in action, we'll need about 4 dozen eggs to dye....6 eggs per person just wasn't enough!

Saturday, March 30, 2013

March pics

March came and went so fast....and I'm starting to feel like time is moving at the speed of light. The first few months after Callie was born, it seemed like days were just soooo long and the nights were even longer, but ever since her reflux has been under control, it seems like she's just growing up waaaay too fast! Every weekend is a great adventure....whether it's a trip to the zoo, to the mall, or for a playdate at a friend's house. Sadie is now exactly 2 & 1/2 years old now, and she's full of energy and is such a joy to be with. Her vocabulary is expanding exponentially, and it's been amazing to see her start to comprehend different things. Besides knowing the basics like colors, fruits, and Disney characters :) she now understands emotions like being happy, sad, or scared. Currently, her favorite things are: shave ice, Kung Fu Panda, natto, "coloring", dancing, strawberries, swings, nori, garbage trucks, Ritz crackers, purple and pink, Cars, noodles, and "being bossy to me" (dad added this one)

Callie's favorite things right now are: teething toys, watching her cousins run around (she giggles at them), eating, riding in the stroller, AC!, bocha, and nursery rhymes. It's just like they say --- "the second one is always opposite" --- so far, this is true for many things: Sadie good sleeper / Callie not a good sleeper, Sadie bad eater / Callie good eater, Sadie super active / Callie not very active, Sadie not very cuddly / Callie loves to be cuddled, Sadie rough and tough / Callie super sensitive, the list goes on and on!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Swimming Lessons

Today Sadie had her first of nine swimming lessons with the Leahi Swim School. The class from 5-5:30 pm in a heated pool at St. Francis School in Manoa. We got there about 45 minutes early and she enjoyed watching the class before hers, but did get a little impatient towards the end of the wait. When I asked her "is Sadie going swimming?" she said "yah!" with enthusiasm, and when I asked her "is Callie going swimming too?" she said "NO! only Sadie swim-swim!, only ME!" LOL.

From start to finish, she had a permanent smile on her face. Her class consisted of five kids, each with a parent to assist and one instructor. First the instructor sprinkled water on their heads for them to get used to the feeling. Then they each choose a toy and practiced "fetching" it with their parents gliding them through the water...Sadie choose Tigger, which is currently her favorite character along with Minnie Mouse. They then practiced floating on their back with parents holding, getting in and out of the pool, and dunking her head underwater. She is still fearless, as she will stand at the edge of the pool and jump right in feet first.....all I was thinking when I saw her doing that is good thing we don't have a pool!! I was especially proud of Sadie because the instructor kept using her as the "demo" before each new exercise, and with her Sadie was extremely relaxed and cooperative. Little sister Callie was also very relaxed and cooperative the entire time. She seemed highly entertained and really enjoyed the new environment.

It was 30 minutes of pure joy...until she had to come out of the water. Not sure if it was because it was so cold, or if she was just mad that it ended, but she was not happy to end the lesson. Hopefully next week she will be better about drying off quickly and going home. Luckily, daddy is off for the next few tuesdays, but hopefully once she has the routine down she will let Grandpa take her in the water instead (Lord knows mommy really does not like going in the water!) Thank you, Grandpa Minn, for sponsoring these fun swimming lessons!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Girl's Day with TWO Girls!

Callie is so blessed to have received a beautiful Japanese doll from Aunty Diane and Aunty Joy for her first Girl's Day. We will make it a tradition to take a picture of the two girls and their two dolls each year. Apparently, Sadie's doll from 2011 is now very valuable since the tsunami has greatly slowed the production of these precious dolls.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

STAYcation!

Although I had quite a bit of anxiety/stress while prepping for our 3 day / 2 night staycation at the Hale Koa it ended up being a ton of fun for us and the kids! The packing was a huge chore since Callie is still being breastfed via bottle and also supplementing with formula.....that means.....packing bottles, formula, purified water, a bottle brush, dish soap, a load of diapers, and all my pumping equipment! Gotta say though, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined since she eats only every 4/5 or sometimes 6 hours (except at night where she still wakes at 12am and 3am for some reason).

The staycation began on friday, when we picked up the kids after a half day of school. We headed straight for the beach for a few hours, then checked in at 3pm and all the kids took a nap in Grammie's room. After nap, we got dolled up and headed down for Gramps' surprise retirement party! Needless to say, he had NO CLUE, which made it awesome! Everyone was all dressed up, and even though Gramps noticed that everyone was dressed nicely, he still wore his Jordan dry-fit shirt and cargo shorts! When we walked into the Kalia ballroom, there were 50+ people were there to greet him :) The night was fun, with lots of good food, funny speeches, and lots of chasing kids around (especially Sadie!). We stayed till nearly 10pm, and everyone crashed once we got back to the room.

After being up so late, we planned to just sleep in a bit and go to a late breakfast.....NOT! Both girls were up at the crack of dawn, just before 6am! We spent most of the early morning getting ready and walked over to Eggs N Things later, where we waited nearly an hour to be seated! Breakfast was good (but not worth the wait), and after we took a stroll to Teddy Bear World. The kids really enjoyed the different showcases of animated bears, including a "Psy" bear (guy who sings Gangnum Style). Grammie treated each of the kids to a stuffed teddy bear of their choice, and we then returned to our rooms for a nap.

By the time Sadie awoke from her nap, it was nearly 3pm, so we quickly headed for the pool and BBQ area, where Gramps was having a BBQ with his friends from Korea. The three munchkins really enjoyed the kiddie pool, where the water is 1 & 1/2 feet deep! LOL After the swim, we chilled at the park/playground area until it got a bit too cold, then we went back inside to take a bath. Once we were all ready, we went to eat ice cream and headed out to "cruise Waiks."

In Waiks, the kids got to see a couple of acrobats, a balloon artist, the "gold man", and the "silver man." We also took a brief walk through the International Market Place. It was a great time, although we walked pretty far and our feet were sore by the time we got back. Once we came back we called it a night, crashed....and the second morning slept in till about 7am. We decided to go eat a casual breakfast buffet then hit the beach again, but Sadie was acting a little out of sorts, so after breakfast we loaded up and drove home to recuperate.

Overall, it was a great trip....we managed to pack a lot of fun into 48 short hours! The only negative thing was that Sadie did not eat much the entire time. She somehow survived on a few crackers, some rice, a bread roll, a little bit of cereal, a few slices of apple, and soy milk. I think when she's having fun, eating is just not on her list of priorities, so I was happy that she ate a big bowl of rice and miso soup as soon as we got home. Callie was hands down awesome on the trip....she barely cried the entire time!