3 Months

So my last blog was all words, so this one will be all pictures.

Happy 3 months my baby! These photos were done by Megumi Maris. She did an awesome job! Thank you so much.

Mixed Feelings

No pictures on this blog... Sorry all of you visual people.
So the countdown has hit 11 days. WOW I can't believe it.
I am so excited to see all of our friends and family, but as our time here comes to a close I can't help but think about how much I am going to miss our humble little life here. Everyone says that they look back to the poor days in the beginning of their marriage and realize that they were some of the best of their life.
I don't need to look back; I know it now.
Chris and I have had to learn to live with 0 space. If we want some "alone" time, we have to go in the bathroom, which is so small that you get claustrophobic in about five minutes. Because of this, we do everything together. We play a ridiculous amount of games (including hide and go seek... ya in a studio it's pretty challenging). We make Christmas cookies. We watch Modern Family. We eat taco madness. We leave the shower nozzle up so that the other person gets sprayed when they try to take a bath. And most importantly, we love each other like crazy. So much so, that we don't mind living in a place barely bigger than a cardboard box, because we're together.
Our friends and neighbors have made this place home for us. Whether it's deep frying turkey, playing the acting game, dressing up to play cards, going all out for the super bowl, or camping out at the beach, they have made this place the best. They have been our family away from home and I will forever be grateful for all that they have given to me. They will be in my memory forever.
As you can see, I'm a bit mixed about the upcoming move. Change is always hard... Well I guess not hard, just different. We are so excited about the new phase of our life, but saying goodbye to this place that we've made home will be difficult.

Happy Birthday to Me

This year was my golden birthay. 23 on the 23rd... And it was golden! Here are some of the reasons why:

I got to wake up to this cute boy! He's wearing a swim suit that used to be Chris's. I love it!

I went surfing while Chris watched Milo on the beach. Then later in the day, Chris and I went paddle surfing. We went up this canal that was loaded with turtles. Most people are all excited to see them, but Chris and I are scared of them. They are pretty scary up close. Every time that Chris and I fell off the board, we'd scrammble to get back on as quickly as possible and Chris would yell, "ah, my pecker. They are going to get my pecker." It was pretty hilarious.

We went to an awesome dinner. We saw this place on the Travel Channel, and decided to splurge and try it out. They make ceasar salad dressing at your table, and serve it up. It was fun and yummy.

Chris made a rule that I was not allowed to drink water on my Birthday. Instead I drank luxary juices all day, and had Sherly Temples with dinner. I felt very high society.

Other great things not photographed:

-Going shopping for non pregnant clothes. Also I made Chris look on-line at boots for several hours. He was such a good sport.

-Getting fun birthday cards from friends and family. I'm looking forward to using everything that I received.

-Chris made me cinnamon rolls, french toast, scrambled eggs, and fresh strawberries for breakfast.

-Chris made a playlist of all of the number 1 hits from 1987. There were some fun ones, and it was a cute idea.

-Also Chris informed me of all of the celebrities that share my birthday. Hannah Montana, Billy the kid, some famouse sumo wrestler, an a chess master....

Golden birthday was awesome!!! I wish it was my birthday again tomorrow!

2 Month and Packing on Pounds

Here is a quick update on our little guy.

He weighs 10 lbs.!!!!!!!!!!

He had his first play date. She was cute too!

His head is big enough to wear these beenies that make him look like a gangster. Chris is thrilled.

Chris is hoping that someone wants him to play the baby Jesus.

He's graduated from floating, to sitting in the tub.

I feel like every stage of life is filled with "I can't wait for" and "I'm really going to miss."

18 months ago I felt like we were going to be here for an eternity.
Now there is only 6 weeks until the big move from Hawaii to Utah and I'm wondering where the time went.

I Can't Wait For
- Time with our family!
- Seeing old friends. (Especially the ones who are going for the otter pop dream:))
- Being able to play volleyball.
- An apartment or a house where my bed, fridge, and t.v. aren't all in the same room.
- Clean buildings. Ant free. Roach free. Mold free. It's been so long, I wonder if such places really exist?!
- Boots, boots, boots. It's too freaking hot here to even think about boots, but I can't wait to dig into the box that holds my pointy black leather, soft furry swade, and chocolate delightfulness.
- Spring. I miss the seasons... Not really winter. Call me corny, but I miss the first green on the trees, warm summer nights, and the crisp air in the fall.
- oh, did I mention I'm excited to be with our family?
- and yep, one more shout out to the fam!

I'm sure going to miss (in no particular order)
- Hukilau cafe. I heart rice for breakfast.
- Hearing the palm trees rustle.
- All of our wonderful friends, neighbors, and ward members. We have been so very very blessed to be with so many wonderful people. But it's not goodbye forever.
-Living so close to the temple.
- Of course, the beach. It's free, it's fun, and it's wonderful!

Who Knew; I love Halloween!

This Halloween was SO much fun. It officially bumped Halloween from 7th to 3rd on my holiday favorite list. Here are some reasons why:


It's fun to dress up a baby! Also I'd like to note that Chris made his hat. It took him several hours, and a few hundred staples, but I think that it was well worth it.

They were out of pumpkins, so we settled for watermelons. Chris and I carved a shark... Well, moreso Chris carved a shark. I was just there for moral support:) Oh, and also I provided the bobbie pin for the scuba diver.

We went to two Halloween parties. At the first we bobbed for apples, played the doughnut on a string game, heard scary stories, and had pumpkin bread and root beer. It was all of the things that I love about the holiday.

The second Halloween party was with our ward. The food was awesome, there was lots of it, and everyone was so fun to be around.

Halloween was awesome! Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and then it will be graduation and Christmas! Yay. This is such a good time of year.

Sleeping on the Job

I went out with a couple of friends and left Chris on babysitting duty.
It was fun to go out, but I missed my boys.
Look how lucky I am!
These two goofballs are what I have to come home to!!!!

Venturing Out!

Milo is five weeks old! To celebrate this, we took him to the beach for the first time. He and I just hung out under a tree and watched Chris surf. It was so much fun to be out as a family!

Other things that Milo has been doing. . .
This is the position we sit him in after eating... Sitting up helps him to not spit up. The remote was just for kicks.

Also we have become addicted to "Glee".
I promised myself that I wouldn't like that show, but somewhere between flashy showtunes and grilled cheesus I got hooked.
Poor Milo has to suffer through it with me.
We always watch it when Chris isn't home, because he makes fun of the show.

Milo still loves bath time with dad.

oh and Milo is still doing a whole lot of this!

Look at that cute fat face!

More and More Milo

I can't believe that we are already coming up on 1 month!

Milo technically isn't supposed to be born for three more weeks, so the doctor's say that we have to stay away from people. . . . Which means we're trapped in our tiny apartment, but even so, some very fun things have been happening.

1. Milo got to take his first real bath.

Chris was so excited to get him in the water. I think that he believes it's the first step toward taking Milo in the ocean... which is Chris's dream.

Milo liked the bath after he calmed down a little bit.

2. Milo and I went on a walk.

This was his first time trying out the stroller. It was awesome to take him out. But I realized how out of shape I am. I seriously can't walk more than a mile or so, and I can't even do 10 push-ups on my knees. Kinda sad, but I guess that's what being on bed rest does to you.

3. Milo and Chris had their first boys night.

Some girls took me out to ice cream on Thursday, just so I could get out for a bit. I left Milo and Chris for about 2 hours. When I left Chris was sitting on the floor holding Milo. Our TV broke so it was silent in the house. When I got home Chris was sitting on the couch holding Milo. It was still silent in the house. When I asked Chris what he had been doing, he said, "just hanging out with my little guy." It was cute.

4. Milo and I both got a clean bill of health from the doctors.

We are excited because Milo is gaining weight quick. He gained a whole pound since our last visit. He weighed in at 5 lbs. 13 oz. Chris and I both agree that he's doomed with our weight gain pattern. . . It has gone all to his face. Poor guy has three chins, and chicken legs:) Yet Chris and I both agree that he can definately pull of the face chubs better than we can.

Milo's Debut

Warning! This post is going to be long with lots of pictures and details.

A lot happened, and I don’t want to forget. So take what you want from it. If nothing else just enjoy the cute pictures of my new baby boy.

Pregnancy was great for me for the first 30 weeks. Sure I felt a little queasy at times, and smells sent me over the top, but all in all it was an exciting and enjoyable experience. However, the last 3 ½ weeks and delivery were a different story.

I was hospitalized on the 10th of September because I had high blood pressure, and the doctors were worried that the baby was being harmed. After 3 days of tests and pokes they decided that me and baby were okay. They sent me home and advised me to continue lying around and doing nothing. My blood pressure was still high, but everything else looked okay.

We were home for the 13th… Our anniversary.

I went in for a stress test on the 14th of September and I told the tech that was working that I was having a lot of upper stomach/chest pain. She told me that it was probably just heartburn or reflux and not to worry. Then after hooking me up to the machine we found out that I was contracting every 2-3 minutes. The weird thing is I did not feel a single contraction. She decided that even though it was probably just heartburn, that she would admit me to the hospital for further observation… I’m so glad that she did. She probably saved my life.

Chris and I sat in the same room that we were in 4 days earlier, both thinking, “ah man, here we go again.” All of the nurses agreed that I was probably just having heartburn, so they gave me some pepto and ran some blood work just to be on the safe side.

A few minutes later my doctor came in and said, “well, you’re not leaving here without a baby.” Everything started moving so fast. I was so scared because I knew that our son was only in the 4 lb. range and I so badly wanted him to be healthy. The doctors only told us the information that we needed to know at that moment, and that was that we needed to get that baby out of me… and fast. Later we would find out that I had developed a condition called HELP disorder. My high blood pressure was just the first sign. In one day since being released from the hospital, I had gone into liver failure, stopped making red blood cells, contracted pancreatitis, and stopped making platelets. All of this happened for some unknown reason, but they knew that the only cure would be delivery.

Within an hour I was in so much pain that I couldn’t even talk to Chris. Poor guy was sweating bullets.

Within three hours I was dilated to a 5. . . Without ever feeling a single contraction. . . weird! All of the pain that I was experiencing was in my chest because my liver and pancreas were swelling so much.

I kept asking the nurses about an epidural. We had originally planned to go natural on the birth, but I wanted the epidural to ease my chest pain. I knew that if I started actually feeling the labor pains I wouldn’t be able to handle them and my other pain at the same time.
That’s when the nurse told me that they ran more blood work and that my platelets had dropped so low that it was too risky to do an epidural because my blood wouldn’t clot.

In my stupidity I asked, “so you’re going to do a C-section?”

Of course the answer was no, that would have been even more dangerous. They just needed to get that baby out, and all natural was the only option.

Wow! With that news I thought that I was going to die.

7 hours later I was dilated to a 7 and a miracle happened.

Seriously it was a miracle.

My chest pain just stopped. I was able to sit up and actually breathe. I was able to gain my strength and take on the labor pains. The contractions started stacking up, but I was SO relieved that my chest pain was gone that I really didn’t mind. The birthing pain was manageable. I dilated from a 7 to 10 in about half an hour, and pushed him out in about 20 minutes.

He came out screeching like a bird. I was so happy. Big cries meant healthy lungs.

He weighed in at 4 lbs. 6 ounces. 17 ¾ inches long. Chris named him Milo Kalai. A name that very much suits him. I was so happy! It was also very weird to think that he had been living in me all that time!

Chris went down to the NICU with him while I went upstairs to the adult ICU. I felt 100 times better. Everyone kept acting like I was something super fragile, and I guess my stats said that I was, but I was so relieved and felt my body turning the corner. I wasn’t able to see Milo for the first day and a half because I was “too sick”. It was really hard not being able to be with my boy, but I felt so grateful that I had Chris. He was a wonderful dad and husband and went back and forth between my bed and our baby’s. I honestly can’t put into words how great Chris was through everything. I didn’t know that I could ever feel any closer to him than I already did, but this experience made me love him in a whole new way. It’s indescribable.

It’s weird because I know that this sounds like a traumatic story. I guess it was. . . especially for Chris, but the entire time I felt so incredibly blessed. It was like I could feel all of the prayers from our family and friends. I knew that I was never alone. I knew that this sweet baby boy was going to be so worth it, and I was actually grateful that we had this trial to strengthen our family. I know that all of this happened for a reason, and I can’t believe the tremendous blessing that it brought to us.

I was released from the hospital five days later.

It was crazy difficult to leave the hospital without Milo.

He finally got to come home with us 12 days after birth.

I love him with all of my heart, and I cannot believe that we get to be his parents forever. We need forever together. Anything less would be too little.

Yes, he has his days and nights confused and keeps us up and we’re insanely tired.

Yes, it’s a little bit scary bringing home such a tiny baby.
No, I wouldn’t trade this time for anything!

bed rest... hum...

Have you ever noticed that you always want what you can't have?

For example, everyone is always wishing that they were finished with school and complain that graduation is never going to come. I was guilty of whining about this trap for all three years before I graduated. On the flip side... I really miss trudging across frozen Weber State to listen to my poetry teacher lecture on how the 80's were the best becasue men could pull off wearing hooker boots. . . Still not sure what he was getting at, but the point is I miss being a student.

Girls are also natorious for this type of behavior.
Stick thin size 0 girls always complain about their flat chests and look at J-Lo's butt in envy.
Whereas nicely curvy girls always wish they could see the knobs of their hips.

Someone tells you to be quiet and suddenly you want to burst out with loud irritating noises.

Try it right now, tell yourself that you can't scratch an itch for the next five minutes. Garaunteed your lip starts to tickle or you notice that your hair is irritating your neck.

Why is it that we always want what we can't have?

The doctor told me I had to stop working and lay down more.
Every tired persons dream come true right?
Now all I want to do is go on walks, scrub the house, and plan parties.
She also said I had to stop eating salt.... ..... ..... .....
Ya, now I feel like a deer standing at a salt lick all the time.
Chips, cheese, soup... all loaded with salt. All ridiculously delicious!

Someone figure out this whole contentment thing quick and let me in on the secret!
P.S. Also any good suggestions of low salt foods are welcome. I feel like I'm starving to death... which let me assure you isn't the case, my maternity clothes are starting to get tight:)

I have decided, once again, that I am totally and completely in love with this guy!

I could write a long sappy post about how he does a million and one sweet things for me, and how proud I am of him for all of his hard work, but at the end of the day it's the corky little things that make me fall in love with him over and over again. So here is my list of weird reasons I love you.

1. Your weird fasination with margarita glasses, saki cups, and giant beer mugs. I swear you don't even mind that we're drinking O.J. and milk, it's all about holding a "cool" cup.

2. All of your cheap cons to get me to rub your neck or tickle your back.

3. Your obsession with dinosaurs, sharks, and dragons. You and our little boy are going to have so much fun because you'll finally have an excuse to bring toy reptiles to church:)

4. The countless times I've heard you sing Whitney Houston songs.

5. The face that you pull when you think that food is too hot, which is almost always, but it makes me laugh every time.

6. Your pink Hawaiian shirt, yellow old man boating shorts, and tight "european" spandex shorts that you think are swim trunks. Some how you pull it all off, but if someone was to look at your closet they would be a bit confused.

7. When you prepare for an extra strenuous day by putting deoderant on your chest as well as your armpits. Because as you say, "you never know, things just might get crazy."

8. The fact that you took three pages of notes in our first birthing class. Also that you asked lots of questions and then turned to me and said, "that was a good question huh?" And when I smiled back you said, "well everyone was wondering."

9. That you have named all of your ties, eukaleles, and favorite pillows saucy girl names. You know I can't compete with Genora.

10. Ever noticed that you are always the loudest spectator? I love it, but when you yell out "Desmond have my baby," people wonder who in the world is the girl standing next to you :)

Like I said before, there are millions of real and sincere reasons why I am so content with spending my forever with you, but these are the ones that have made me smile especially big lately.