another tired mom moment

I took the kids to see "How to Train Your Dragon" today at Dole Theaters. My first outing on my own with the two of them! Well, we met up with some friends, so almost on my own. I realized I needed to silence my phone before the movie began, but instead I took out my car keys and pointed them at the movie screen and pushed the lock button, several times. I just hope no one really saw what I was doing!

one local boy

We bought these slippers for Tristan a while ago because they were the smallest we'd seen and so cute. Recently he's grown big enough to start wearing them. They're a little big still, but that's ok. What a huge thing in his life, Tristan has his own pair of Locals... a rite of passage. Our big boy.

happy one month, betsy!

Our little Betsy is already a month old, it's going by so fast. She is a sweet baby and so easy compared to Tristan, compared to her at that age and now.
Some highlights:

• First day at the beach- gas chambers on May 21st, 3 & 1/2 weeks old.
• She's a great sleeper and often sleeps through most of the night, usually only waking up once or twice. She's also a cuddler like her brother.
• She is a LOUD sleeper, not sure if it's when it's a light sleep or when she's dreaming or uncomfortable, but it happens often. She is a mean grunter and sounds like a whole family of wild boars. Kind of difficult to sleep through sometimes. But then she does do an adorable squeak a lot, like a mouse snoring, that is our favorite thing ever.
• She makes the weirdest noises, lots of bodily functions happening and we often can't tell which end the sound came from.
• Her favorite thing to do is poop poop in freshly changed diapers. Over and over again.
• It looks as though she has inherited Mama's hands and feet. Lucky girl! :)
• She likes a good bath in the sink. Gets real calm and you can tell she's enjoying herself.
• She could be bigger than Tristan in the near future. Last appointment she was 95th percentile in weight, gaining a whole pound in a week. Height was 75th percentile and head size was 50th. She's our healthy lil' moose. Tristan better be nice.

(sleepy eyes?)

We're working on getting her to smile, but usually just having her look at us is a challenge. She has her eyes closed most of the day, but when they're open they really are pretty. Maybe blue?

the joys of parenting

While changing another poopy diaper at 4 am on our bed, Betsy decided to push really hard and squirt her poop all over me and the sheets around me. I'm not kidding, it was like a water gun! Sheets and mattress pad were stripped. At 6:30, same morning, we woke up lying in a puddle of Tristan's urine, soaked through the newly changed sheets and mattress, (Since the pad was gone).

It's a good thing we think those kids are cute, otherwise...

up close and personal: betsy

Betsy's birth story

Some may not be interested in reading this, but since this is our family journal, I'm writing this mostly for me. I loved going back and reading Tristan's birth story, and I personally love hearing other people's birth stories. Miss Betsy's story is pretty simple. Round two was definitely a lot easier because I knew what to expect and I hear that the second time is easier for most people anyways.

Week 38 of pregnancy, I went into Dr. Dao (a Tuesday) and had my membranes stripped. I did the same thing with Tristan on the same week, and he was born the following day, so I was ready for this little girl to come soon! Bags were packed. Christian's mom came into town to help with Tristan (thank you thank you!!!). We thought this would be a safe week to come because baby was going to be here. A whole week went by, Christian's mom had come and gone, and no baby. I was getting so frustrated! And doctors should never tell their very pregnant patients that their baby might come 'tonight'. It only makes it harder as you wait and wait and wait for them to come. Anyways, the following Tuesday I told him to strip those dang membranes again. I'd pretty much given up and went into 'whatever' mode. I thought that she set up camp inside to live forever. It's funny because it was only a week and I was dying. The longest week of my life. But Dr. Dao said that baby had dropped and was in position ready to go, so as soon as I felt stronger contractions, even 7-10 minutes apart we should come in. He kept saying, "When it happens, it's going to happen fast..." So we were anxious.

At 12:30 in the morning on Wednesday, the 27th, (one day after the second stripping) I began to feel heavy cramping as I laid in bed. Now these were a lot stronger than the braxtons. I recognized these labor cramps, and I knew that I needed to get to the hospital. I woke up Christian and said that these pains were real and that we should head over there now. Contractions became more consistent. We called our friend Zach to come over quick and stay with Tristan while he sleeps. We checked in at the hospital, contractions were getting stronger and faster. As soon as I was in the delivery room, the pain was unbearable. I was at 5 cm and I requested my epidural. Anesthesiologist arrived quickly and did a great job with the epidural. The only problem was, my contractions were happening so fast and they were so strong, that the epidural wasn't keeping up with them. He didn't realize how fast I was progressing so he had to give me a stronger dose a few times. My contractions were back to back now, with maybe a minute in between to rest, and I could feel it all! Christian's fingers almost broke off as I squeezed his hand. This all happened within an hour and half of being there. They checked me and I was already at 10 cm and fully effaced. Finally the epidural kicked in and I was able to relax. They told me to rest a little while the baby made her way down so that pushing would be easier. Was nice to rest for a little with Christian.

Forty five minutes later, the nurse did a test push on me, and then told me to stop immediately because the baby's head was right there. She called Dr. Dao to come and we were ready to start pushing. Ten minutes later, baby girl was here! Piece of cake compared to pushing for two hours with Tristan! Baby's little cry was so sweet. They took her and weighed her and cleaned her. She was whining the whole time. When they brought her over to me, she immediately stopped crying. I loved that the sound of my voice comforted her.

Hospital stay was nice. Nurses were great. The pediatrician wanted her to stay in the hospital two more additional nights because he was concerned about her red, swollen eye lid. They put her on antibiotics and wanted to monitor her in the nursery for the next couple of nights. Turned out that the red eye was just from birth trauma and it should be just fine. We ended up naming her Betsy Talei (pronounced Tah-lay) on our last day at the hospital. It suits her well. She definitely looks like a little Betsy. We are so excited for our new addition to the family and look forward to watching her grow. She is such a sweetheart and we have already fallen in love with this girl.

friday the 13th, good day

everyone knows i am all about scary movies and being in the water, so naturally friday the 13th is my special day (friday the 13th the movie takes place at Crystal Lake with water being a key part of Jason's dominion of the area). there are a few other things i like as well, today i was able to enjoy many of them. i don't have work right now on fridays, so today was a good day:

- got up about 7:30 and slowly got packed up to head out
- dropped Shandra and the kids at the hotel in Waikiki to hang out with her visiting parents and sister
- went for a surf by myself
- went back to the hotel to meet everyone at their cabana by the pool
- jumped in pool with Tristan and went down the little slide a few times and into the hot tub
- ordered a lunch at pool and ate it in the shade of the cabana
- went up to their room after lunch with Shandra and kids while everyone else stayed down at pool so we could let Tristan nap- which was all of us napping- in a nice A/C'd, peaceful, dark room
- woke up and took Tristan to a friend's b-day party while Shandra and the others stayed at hotel. T got to see friends, eat cupcake and run around with balloons while I hung out with friends
- went back to hotel to pick up Shandra and Betsy and we all went to Teddy's burger to get dinner take out
- drove to look out above Honolulu just in time to watch fireworks, then shared a burger and chocolate shake from the best burger place
- came home and got Tristan quickly into bed, ready to fall asleep after his long day

good day. surf, swim, some friends, chocolate shake.

now Shandra's asleep with Betsy and it wouldn't be right without watching something appropriate. maybe it's time for a scary movie.

meet Betsy Talei

Our little Betsy was born on April 27th, at 5:09 in the morning. Weight: 8 lb 4.4 oz. (most of her weight being in her cheeks!) Height: 19 1/2 in. We are so happy that she is finally here! She is as sweet as can be.

My two little babies. Tristan loved the present he got from his little sister.

Instant buddies. Betsy was thrilled to have finally met her brother. (Please note that the mullet will be gone soon. We've been too busy to worry about haircuts right now).

She may outgrow him in no time!

Daddy's little girl.

More brotherly love. He couldn't get enough.

Betsy was the star of the bath class demonstration. She was so great!

This is our attempt at a family photo. Can you guess who didn't want to cooperate?

Her birth story and more pictures to come!