Blessings of being a Mommy

The laundry is done, the house is clean, the baby is asleep (a rare combination) and I'm laying on my bed thinking how did I get here? How all the sudden am I this stay at home mom to this amazing daughter? How am I so lucky to have a husband that works hard everyday while I get to play with my baby? It's like all my life I dreamed of finding the man that I couldn't live without (marrying him) then having babies and getting to raise them. You invision it so vividly and then when it's finally here it zooms by and all the sudden you've been married for 3 years and your baby is a walking talking toddler. Where is the pause button?! I feel like I've cherished every moment but at the same time I know I've taken so many things for granted. Being a mother is the greatest life calling I could have ever asked for. I still can't believe that Heavenly Father intrusted me with his precious Elsie. I'm sure everyone feels the way I do about their kids but it's just so special and sacred to be a parent. I'm so fortunate to be able to stay at home with her and play and tend to her the way my mom did for me. I hope that we become best friends...like I consider my mom😊.

Elsie blows me away everyday. Lately she's been jabbering away, takes the phone away from me so that she can say hi to her grandma and aunties. She dances to anything with a beat and is totally a girl in the way she twirls around in a circle. She has also started to sing ....mostly frozen songs. She loves making us laugh as we do to her. Her vocabulary is increasing everyday and can sign the words more, please and thank you. She also knows how old she is! She is obsessed with animals, especially dogs.

We celebrated her first birthday a little while back with both my and ka'i's family!

                      

That time we lived in Hawaii...

I never thought the day would come when it was time for my little family and I to pack up and move away from the place where it all began. As many of you know, my husband and I met playing soccer at BYU-Hawaii, fell in love, had a baby and got our degrees (my associates, his bachelors). This was the only place WE'VE ever been able to call "home". The beauty, the people, the ocean air, the small town living. Everything was simple and easy and we loved it.

Why would we ever CHOOSE to move away from Hawaii you ask? Because I am a girl...and girls miss their moms...and dads...and brothers and sisters. I missed them and living across the ocean wasn't very helpful. So our plan was that as soon as Ka'i graduated, we would move to Utah for the summer while Ka'i jobbed searched and while we coached youth soccer camps...and at the end of the summer we would move to Colorado (where my parents live). Utah was our fall back plan.

Ka'i ended up finding a job which I'll admit I have mixed emotions about. I'm thrilled that he found work! Especially because its a job he's always wanted, to work for Apple (cause if you know Ka'i, you'd know he is an Apple guy) but I am bummed that his job is not in CO. At least I don't have to cross an ocean to visit them but I would have LOVED to have my parents be apart of Elsie's childhood..not that it's never gonna happen, I'm still determined to live by them someday soon! Ka'i swears that he doesn't care where he lives as long as he has a job and that his family is happy! What an awesome guy!!

We lived with my Aunt Lisa during the summer which was a ton fun but we were ready to get our own place where Elsie had her own room so that we could really get her sleep trained! It was also really fun to decorate her room a bit...and I'm happy to say that she sleeps 10-12 hours through the night now! We are in heaven.

It amazes me how much babies grow and develop in their first year of life. Elsie surprises us every day with the little things she picks up on! Her personality is really starting to show too. She can be super sassy and will tell me "no no no" or "dop" (stop)! But she is also the sweetest little girl ever and gives me kisses 50 times a day whether I ask for them or not. She has started to walk and babbles when theirs not too many people around, always ending whatever she's saying in question form. She is the silliest girl and is constantly cracking ka'i and I up. She also got her first tooth a few weeks ago and looks like more are on the way.

Summer has been a LOT of fun with her because she loves water.

 

 

Family Pics by Aaria Photography

Our awesome friend, Jana Ale offered to take our family pictures a few weeks ago and they turned out amazing! Her photography business is called Aaria Photography and I highly recommend her, she makes you feel comfortable and is really good at taking still pictures but also somehow captured a ton of sweet candid moments! I love them and I'm glad that we were able to take some before we left Hawaii. Thanks Jana, we love you! Here are a few of my favs..

Ok...I know that was a lot!

6 Months

Our Elsie girl is now 6 months young ;)

Stats:

Weight: 12 lbs

Height: 25 inches

Percentile: ?

Diaper: Size 1-2

Clothes: 3-6 months fit best

Foods: Breast milk, baby oatmeal, poi, fruits, veggies (she loves all foods)

New Tricks: rolls and scoots everywhere, shows signs of crawling, laughing (finally!)

Hair: about shoulder length, able to do some dang cute pigtails..if I can get here to sit still!

*She is a total mama's girl but daddy is the only one who can really make her giggle :)

*She loves sticking everything and anything in her mouth so teething has definitely begun

*She acts like she wants to help with whatever I'm doing and is very observant

*She acts shy in front of others but at home its another story hah

We love our little baby doll and are continuing to make memories while we are still living here in paradise! 

 Photos by Jana Ale

Where Did the Time Go?

Our baby girl is 4 months already!!! 

STATS

Weight: 10lbs 13oz

Height: 24.5 inches

Percentile: 5th

Diaper: Size 1

Clothes: Newborn/0-3months

Foods: Breast milk, rice cereal

Tricks: rolls over, scoots, blows bubbles, babbles, sucks toes

Hair: Out of control

Christmas Break

Honestly, I started writing our whole story about how we had to fly standby from Honolulu to Salt Lake and I got so frustrated writing out that I had to quit! It was like I was re-living it again! No thank you. So the abbreviated version goes like this: We were trapped in the Honolulu airport for about 5 days (sleeping nights at Ka'i's Aunty's house) and my brother Zack bought us a ticket to Kauai just so we could get to the mainland were we figured it would be easier to get on a plane. Nope. Still no luck and ended up renting a car and drove from LA to Vegas where we missed our plane by literally 1 minute. SO FRUSTRATING. We were planning on staying the night there and trying the flight in the morning which also looked promising but they decided to implement this new rule where standbys could no longer fly out on weekends. Really? So then we rented another car and drove the rest of the way to Orem. Making the whole trip about a week long--We started trying to get out the evening of Friday the 14th and arriving the morning of Friday the 21st. Needless to say Elsie was quite the little trooper. We also celebrated our 2nd Anniversary in the Honolulu airport! Wahoo!

Pics in the airport

Exhausted after the long trip

Sampson(:....Ka'i & Lexie dance off

 Aunty Amber reading Elsie a book & Ka'i and Baby Gabriel 

Santa Pictures

4 Generations!

The cousins finally got to meet her

Merry Christmas!

It was nice to see friends again(:

 ^^Ka'i and his pal Jesse
<<The Drewerys on New Years Eve

Snow!!!

The flight home. She did so good!