Where has the Summer Gone?

I just realized that my summer is pretty much over! The last month and a half has gone by so quickly that I don't even know really where to start.  I did go back to work back in the beginning of August. I had worked about 2 weeks and then I had to go back to Hawaii for my grandmother's funeral.  I literally feel like most of the end of my summer has been flying back and forth from Hawaii.  I guess that's not something I should be complaining about, but it is when part of that is flying all by myself with all 3 of my kids (I'll never do that again lol).  Well in all that has been happening and all the trips we've taken in the last month, I haven't had a chance to really update you on anything.

First off, my Baby Hinckley is now 2 and a half months old.  A few weeks ago he had his 2 month appointment with his Pediatrician Dr. Vierra at Hillcrest Pediatrics.  He also received his first set of shots, which he handled like a champ! At his appointment he weighed in at 14 pounds, and measuring ... hmm I forget but I'll get that piece of info for you when I can. ;) But he's a pretty big boy, I don't remember either of his brother (Moe) or sister (Kesaia) weighing that much at their 2 month appointment.  Breastmilk must be working for him this time! ;)

Asleep and waiting to see Dr Vierra

Right before getting his shots

Extra cuddles and hugs the rest of the day after getting his shots

My little trooper!

In other news, I'm glad to saw that our son Moe is FINALLY potty trained! Woo-hoo! It was such a struggle at first, but I'm glad we pushed through and got him trained.  I first started training him as soon as we got back from Hawaii (the first time). It was frustrating because he only had accidents for the first 3 days.  On the fourth day, when we weren't harassing him as much, he woke up and said "Mom, I go mimi ok?" (mimi is tongan for "pee") And so when he said that I said "Ok Moe.. go" not thinking he'd actually go in the toilet, then I heard him going so I jumped up looked in the toilet and I swear, I never thought I'd be so happy to see pee in the toilet. lol.  I just started jumping up and down, and cheering for him and telling him how happy and how proud I was of him.  Then we call his Aunty Mele (he calls her "Lele") and let her know, then called Nana (my mom) and let her know also.  His treat for doing that was getting him some spider man underwear's and he LOVED IT! It took a little bit longer for him to get going #2 in the toilet, but now a month later he's doing awesome.  I've only had to deal with him wetting the bed once at night, but I'll take it all over diapers any day!

Happy to be a big boy and wear underwear! No more diapers! :)

When I first started potty training Moe, I was also trying to potty train Kesaia at the same time.   I quickly stopped that and decided to them one at a time.  So today I've officially started potty training with her.  I hope that she picks up quick on it because she's gotten to see her brother go through it, so let's hope it's a lot smoother than the last time.  I've already prepared myself to deal with accidents for the first couple days, but we'll see where she is at the end of the week.

 So as far as our kids are doing, they are growing up, they are full of energy, and we definitely love them!

Postpartum Recovery

Like I mentioned in my previous blog, I feel like I've been on the go since last monday... only 4 days after giving birth to my baby.  I keep thinking about how great I feel, and how I've recovered really well, and how energized I feel.  But then last night I had a rude awakening.  On Saturday I attended a baby shower for my husbands cousin and a friend there was asking me about when I gave birth and what not, and when I told her I gave birth a week ago, she just looked at me in awe and told me I'm crazy for being out already.  Then she brought up something that my sister-in-laws had once explained to me.. something called "kita" (I think that's how you spell it).  Well in the Tongan culture that's believed to be something that happens to you after you give birth if you don't get enough rest, etc.  I think it basically means getting sick (or something that effect) after giving birth.  Well after she kept bringing this up, I just said "no, I'm not afraid of getting that... I'm ok."  So since then I've still been on the go.  

The next day (Sunday) we went to church with all my kids and no hubby (he has to work every sunday at the same time we have church so I usually go by myself with the kids) and a lot of the ward members were surprised that I was already coming back to church.  I only missed one sunday since I gave birth (the sunday after I gave birth) but I felt that if I could get out for all the other festivities that happened earlier in the week then I could definitely get up and go to church...so I did.  Yesterday I had laid in bed all day until we got up and went to run some errands and take the kids to the park. It wasn't until we got home and I laid down that I started to get some stomach pains. I just took it as a reaction to the McDonalds I ate, because it's been a while since I've eaten McDonalds.  But now it's the following morning and I'm still having those stomach pains/cramps and I've noticed that though my bleeding relatively stopped a couple days ago, I've started to bleed every now and then especially when I'm up and doing things.

So now I'm in bed telling myself to sit and relax.  I think maybe I did get up and out of bed a little too early after I gave birth.  It hasn't even been 2 weeks since I've given birth to my baby Hinckley, so I know I need to relax and let my body fully recover.  Sometimes I forget because I have so much on my plate, so much worry about, and I always feel like I have to get those things done but I think for now I need to retire my superwoman cape and let my body recover.  So my house will be messy for a few days, and there probably won't be any cooked meals either.. but it's ok just as long as my body rests and recovers. It's times like this that I wish my mom or grandma were here to help me out. But it's ok cause I have my hubby and little sister and they help me out a lot! Here's to recovering (for real!).

Me & Baby Hinckley at Church (in the Mother's Room of course lol)

Smile for me! :)

Took the kids out to the park/splash pad...
Me & Baby sat in the car because it was too hot outside!

1 Week Old Hinckley & Upgrading to something Bigger

So I'm super behind on blogging... so instead of writing the longest blog post ever to update you, I'll be writing a couple posts to catch ya up on what's been going on since I gave birth!

Well it's been a little over a week since the arrival of our Baby Boy Hinckley, and I'm loving every second with him! Now I know that its only been a week, but I can confidently say that he's such a good baby! Or maybe it's that he's #3 and I'm use to taking care of babies? Well whatever the reason may be I still say he's such a good baby... he sleeps well both throughout the day and night, which works well for me because I'm only breastfeeding him, so I'm usually feeding him every 2-3 hours during the day, and about the same at night or a little bit longer, other than that he's fast asleep.  A big plus is that he hardly ever cries, the only time he does cry is basically when I'm changing his diaper (he doesn't like the wet wipes).  Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself and he decides to change his good behaviors, but like I said, so far I'm loving every second of it!

When the kids first met him in the hospital they really didn't know what to think.  They were excited to see a baby, but I had to show them that that was their little brother.  I would show them that I didn't have a big tummy anymore, and that "mama's baby" was now here.  Of course they quickly became attached to him, especially my little princess Kesaia.   She wanted to hold him, hug him, kiss him, and all the above. She is actually quite the harasser, you have to be careful with having her in the same room with the baby.  She will climb on the bed and then you'll find her trying to hold the baby in her lap. lol.  At least I know she'll be a good babysitter in the future. :)

Here's a few pictures from our stay at the Hospital:

The kids first time meeting their baby brother

Moe holding his baby brother Hinckley, Aunty Ila (Left), and big sister Kesaia

Kesaia's turn to hold baby! And she was so excited too!

"Pa"- Fehi's Dad: Baby Hinckley's Namesake (Maile)
Baby's full name is Maile Hinckley Latu

A tricycle diaper cake made by my friend-coworker Ena

Kesaia thinking she's cool cause her dad told her it's her bike lol

Baby and I were discharged from the hospital a week ago on Saturday (June 30th), and I have to say things have been going pretty well thanks to my husband and my little sister Ila.  I was a little worried with how the transitioning would be with bringing baby home but all has been good.  Luckily Costco let Fehi have time off (from last Thursday when I gave birth, and he returns to work today- Saturday, July 7th) so he's only been working his grave job, but it's been nice having him home during the day to help take care of the two older kids, while I take care of the baby and rest up.  However, my time of "resting" was short-lived because I feel like I've been on the go since Monday. lol. I guess things never change right? 

When we left the hospital last Saturday we had to make 2 trips because we all couldn't fit in our car (legally) so Fehi had to drop Ila and Moe off at home first, and then picked me, baby Hinckley and Kesaia up.  We had talked about wanting to trade in our car, but thought that we would be okay for now and so we planned on just waiting to trade in later on.  Well now that we had to make 2 trips from the hospital, and we realized that we really couldn't go anywhere together as a family, the reality of needing to get a bigger ride was hitting us.

So on Monday we decided to take our 2009 Toyota Camry and trade it in for a bigger ride.  So as soon as Fehi got off from his grave job, we went with Baby Hinckley, leaving Ila with the two kids, and went off to the dealership.  What was only suppose to take a couple hours turned into like 7 hours of looking at cars, numbers, and then filling out paperwork and then leaving behind our camry and driving away in our new Honda Pilot! I love love love our Pilot. Not only can we fit all 3 kids (with all 3 carseats), but Ila has an actual spot to sit and we still have room for 2 more people.  My husband loves it too because though it's an SUV he doesn't feel like he's driving a big car.

After we got our Pilot we picked the kids and Ila up and went cruising! lol. It was so nice to fit all of us in the car, and still have room to spare! This is definitely something we plan on keeping... we're still deciding on how many more kids we decide to have, but at least (for now) we don't have to worry about how we're gonna fit in the car together. 

- - - - -

 Baby Hinckley's First Week of Life:

- On Monday (7/2/12) he had his first check-up appointment with Dr. Vierra (our favorite Pediatrician at Hillcrest Pediatrics), he weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz! Yayy for mommy's milk because when he got discharged from the hospital on Saturday he weighed 6 lbs 11 oz... so Dr. Vierra was very happy with his weight gain.

Taken at his appointment, waiting for Dr. Vierra to see him.

- Billirubin (Jaundice) check showed that his billirubin levels were low, so nothing to worry about there.  Because he's breastfed the Jaundice takes a little bit longer to go away, so he's still looking a little yellow in his face.

You can kind of see the yellow in his face in this Pic

 - Currently he's only breastfed (because quite honestly I don't know how to do anything else. I've only breastfed my kids, so that's what I know, and what I'm comfortable with, and of course there's so many benefits for both mom and the baby). He nurses every 2-3 hours during the day, and about 3-4 at night.
- He has LOTS of wet and dirty diapers.  I've gone through 2 packs of newborn diapers since he's been here, and now I'm onto size 1 diapers because they seem to hold up better with all the peeing and pooping this little guy does.
- His siblings ADORE him, and he doesn't mind that they bother him 24-7! He's such a trooper! :)

Kesaia the harasser! lol

 So far life is grand, and I feel pretty well considering all that has changed.  It's such a blessing to be able to bring children into this world, and I thank Heavenly Father for those sacred blessings each day. :)