37 Weeks & Nesting

This week marks 37 weeks of this pregnancy... which means I'm officially full-term and all is good to go with this little guy if he decides to come. *hint hint* Please come soon! lol. Here's a few things going on with my pregnancy:

-Belly is getting bigger and heavier, or at least it feels that way.

-Good sleep is harder to get these days, especially with a 3 year old and 2 year old always wanting to sleep right up against me. So I'm constantly moving through out the night trying to find a comfortable spot for my belly and back. 

-Weight gain has picked up dramatically. As in I gained 4 pounds within a week (wth!) lol.  My midwife says she thinks it's all water weight especially with it being summer time and what not, and also that this baby is gaining 1/2 a pound a week. I hope she's right, though I haven't gained nearly as much weight as I did with the last two, I still wanted to keep the weight gain at a max of like 15 pounds this pregnancy. 

- Appetite hasn't changed much either, I still don't have a lot of cravings or have the desire to eat a lot.  I probably eat one real meal a day and then some snacks.  However, I drink A LOT and have picked up on another habit again... chewing ice! Throughout the day I think I probably get up to a total of at least 4 big full cups of ice and a drink (my fave right now is strawberry lemonade)... and I'll sit and drink and chew on ice.  Sometimes I'd rather do that then eat an actual meal. 

- Last but not least... I'm in full on NESTING mode!!!

- - - - -

I've definitely been (and probably have been for a while) in the nesting stage.  I'm constantly cleaning and organizing my house trying to get everything ready before this baby comes.  It's probably been a week since I've taken my kids to the park (sad I know) but it's only because I keep wanting to clean and organize rather than go out. Today I pulled out the baskets with all of Baby Moe's old baby clothes to pull out all the newborn clothing for the baby.  And boy do we have a lot of clothing for him, so I'm pretty sure we won't need to buy anything more for him.  I've sorted everything out and am now washing all of the clothing, now where to put it, I have no idea, but I'm glad that's one thing I'm getting out of the way.

On Saturday I finally organized the kids room... It had been in such a mess for months (yes months) and I wanted to organize and clean it so that they would want to go in there more often, and hopefully sleep in there soon.  So I was only suppose to clean and organize it, and ended up painting the room too. lol.  Here's pics of the kids room:

The BEFORE

This is seriously how the room would look like for months... whenever I'd clean up their
clothes and toys they'd pull everything out of the drawers and throw it everywhere. 

After cleaning up everything off the floors (so we could actually see the floor) I then
moved all the drywall and stuff out of the room.  Yes, we used this room as storage too lol.

The AFTER

Here the room is painted and I was waiting for it to dry. 

Bed is back in place.. and we can see the floor! LOL!

Still organizing their closet...  

Miss Kesaia messing with the light switch...

Toys are in one area versus being everywhere.  The kids know that at
the end of the day they have to put their toys back in this spot.

I think I finished the kids room in like 4 hours from start to finish. I really don't advise painting a room while 37 weeks pregnant, because I paid for it later (body was in pain from all the getting up and down) but I'm glad that I was able to finish it for my kids.  They actually go in there more often and play with their toys, and they don't mess it up like how they use to before.  Now my next goal is to get them to sleep in there.  I want to find some toddler beds for them (because obviously that day bed is too big for them right now) and then get their favorite cartoon/characters in a bedding set for them. My little sister should be here this weekend also, so I'm gonna have her sleep in there with them as well to get them use to sleeping away from me. 

I've also (for the millionth time) reorganized our bedroom as well.  I've been trying to de-clutter everything and make room for the baby.  So I went through everything in our room, taking out all of the kids stuff and putting it in their room, and then moving things around to make it more spacious in our room.  Now that I'm content with our room, and the kids room I moved to the living room. lol. I told my husband that we needed to move the couches that are upstairs to the downstairs living room, and vice versa.  Obviously I won't be doing it, but it'll need to get done before this baby comes. 

I still have a TON of laundry to do, because I swear every piece of clothing we own needs to be washed lol, and so that's my goal for this week. I've already started washing all the baby's clothes, but I still have lots more to do. My poor kids are probably dying to go out and have some fun, but for now I have a lot to do... we'll probably go swimming on Friday when the hubs is off. :) 

Now back to nesting mode... :)

Just some pics of my little princess from this week ... She's always ready for the camera... lol

Here she is with me at my midwife appointment yesterday (6/19/12).
I always plan on going by myself but somehow always end up taking her with me. lol.

36 Weeks & Braxton Hicks

35 Weeks Pregnant.. Belly Bump

So tomorrow I'm officially 36 weeks pregnant! I still can't believe that I'm ALMOST there, but I'm very very excited. At my last appointment (last Tuesday) my midwife measured my belly, and confirmed that baby's head down and feels about 6 lbs right now to her. I also gained 2 pounds, making it a total of 9 pounds this pregnancy. I had talked with my midwife about my weight gain not really sure if it was something to be concerned about or not. I mean I know technically (according to US/palagni standards) I'm obese lol but I've never gained such little weight. My last two pregnancies I would gain somewhere between 20-30 pounds, but she assured me that I was ok and because I actually am "obese" (no she didnt say that to me lol) I'm not suppose to gain as much and am on track for my pregnancy as far as weight gain. So yay for that, I guess (except the obese part lol).

This pregnancy has treated me very well, and I'm glad I've still been able to have the energy and stamina to keep up with my kids and work. Last week Friday I finally went over to seven peaks (salt lake city) to take my kids. The waterpark is across the street from my in-laws house, yet I've never been there. So Friday I met up with my sister in law and her little family and we had a blast. My kids LOVED it! This was their first time going to an actual waterpark so I was glad to be able to take them. Fehi had to work (boo) but he made sure to stress the importance of keeping his kids safe lol. He was so worried about them, about us, and the fact that Im pregnant and taking our kids to the waterpark. He asked me to buy them floaties for their arms and other stuff as well. I thought it was so cute how he was concerned, and it's understandable lol so I did what he asked and got them floaties for their arms and swim shoes so they wouldn't slip or fall on anything, and then when we got there I put life jackets on them as well, so I was pretty confident that they would be ok. We had TONS of fun and my belly and back was loving the water as well. :)

We stayed there for like 5 hours and afterwards we picked up Fehi from work. I was so tired and had to sleep for work the next morning and so I tried to sleep but couldn't. Around 1 in the morning I started getting those bloody Braxton hicks contractions (lol) and they lasted until 6 in the morning! They weren't super painful or anything, but more so irritating because I knew I had to get some kind of rest before getting up at 330am to get ready for work at 430am. By 230am I was even more irritated and even more tired because they didn't go away. Those Braxton hicks contractions were coming what seemed like every 4-5 minutes and they were starting to hurt my back. So around 230am Fehi told me I should call in sick to work and so I decided to do that. And I'm glad I did because I didnt get any kind of sleep and I would'nt have been able to function at work.

So finally at 6am I knocked out and I didn't feel anything else the rest of the day. Then at night (last night) they started to come back again. I was hoping they'd die down, and they did (thank goodness) and I was able to get a good maybe 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep (thanks to my hubby). So this morning at work I was ok, but I'm still 36 weeks pregnant and right now with summer travel it's getting pretty busy. For the last 2 weeks they have been putting me at Kiosk Assist, which works out for me because I'm not lifting as much bags, but since numbers have been big and they need more help at baggage drop, they've been sticking me there this week. And baggage drop is a killer (pregnant or not) because your tagging and lifting bags nonstop. I've been debating on leaving on my maternity leave early and I would always say that I'd just work until I give birth, but I decided to just talk to my midwife and ask for a note to excuse me from work. I talked to my Redcoat about it as well and she was cool about it and said I needed to take care of myself and baby first and that Delta will always be there. She said its gonna be busy with summer travel picking up and that they have to have more people at baggage drop because of it. And though they probably would rather I not be a baggage drop, they can't help it because they need the people there... And I totally understand that, and don't mind it. But it does take a toll on my body, especially when I don't get good rest. And last night was actually considered good rest lol.

So I'm pretty happy with the decision to go on my leave early. I just hope that my midwife agrees. I think it'll be good as well to be able to have one on one time with two little ones before the baby comes and takes most of my attention away from them. And it'll be nice to NOT have to wake up at 3 in the morning, and also not get weird looks when the passenger sees a pregnant women lifting their 50 pound bags lol. So wish me luck! :)

Pictures from this week:

Kids keeping me busy while getting an oil change

Little miss cheesy smile! lol

Moe showing me his toy and kesaia pretending to eat with her spoon lol

Playing with the water beach ball again

Love it when daddy is off from work = Family time!

Knocked out after having fun with daddy

She was out too! lol

33 Weeks!

I'm 33 weeks! And so READY to pop. Seriously lol.

Sorry lighting is bad in the pic, but at least u see the baby bump :)

 At 33 weeks:

- I've gained 2 pounds since my last appointment (4 weeks ago), which means only a total of 7 pounds this pregnancy.
- Tummy is measuring correctly, it's where it should be.
- I'm still a CLEAN freak, I always feel the need to clean my house and keep it clean (not a bad thing right?)
- Baby boy still moves A LOT! I swear, he dances in my belly!
- Appetite has definitely decreased, I seem to snack rather than eat a full meal... I guess I just don't like to eat as much, it may be the lack of space for my stomach to expand lol, but on top of that I rather not deal with the heartburn and running to the bathroom all the time (cause I seriously have to use the bathroom once I start eating... I know totally weird lol).
- Soda cravings have gone dramatically down... and my wanting to chew ice has gone up (go figure! lol).

Overall, this pregnancy has been going pretty well, but I'm just ready to give birth. lol. I don't want to jinx myself (so no baby you're not allowed to come before 37 weeks), but I keep telling my self that maybe I only have 3 to 4 more weeks rather than 7 weeks left. lol. With my last two I gave birth early, Moe was 2 weeks early, and Kesaia was a week early... so I'm hoping that this pregnancy will follow in the same fashion.  I still have a lot to do before baby comes though, I have to go through all baby moe's old baby clothes, wash them and leave em out for baby. I go back to work tomorrow morning (boo!) but just a few more weeks and I'll be off from work as well.  I just hope I'm able to handle working with these last few weeks of my pregnancy. Just 4-5 more weeks (I hope! lol).

30 Weeks Down, 10 to Go! & School Stuff...

What a BIG belly! lol

So I've hit my 30 week mark! Ah! I can't believe it. I swear I just got pregnant!! It's exciting though to be counting down in single digit weeks! Last week I did my glucose test (orange drink) and it was fine.  I downed it in like 10 seconds, lol. I actually liked the drink better when it was carbonated (of course I would lol).  When it was carbonated it tasted like orange soda, so I had no problem drinking it, now it just tastes like a melted otter pop.

At my appointment I was a little nervous about getting weighed.  Because I've been consistently loosing weight, rather than gaining, I knew at some point in my pregnancy I'd have to gain some weight.  So at my appointment I hopped on the scale and as I suspected, I gained 5 pounds! Ugh! lol.  But then again that means I've only gained 5 pounds this pregnancy. I'm hoping that for the remainder of my pregnancy, I gain only a max of 5 more pounds. LOL. I know such wishful thinking, but I think it can be done.  My theory is I was already overweight to begin with, so let's try to stay as close to my pre-pregnancy weight as possible to when it comes to finally loose it all I won't be starting that far off from my pre-pregnancy weight.

That's another thing I'm excited about... exercising! Ok, well shame on me, I should have already been exercising throughout my pregnancy, but I count work, school, house chores, and especially my kids as my forms of exercise. I was looking through old pictures of myself, from after I had Kesaia and I had lost my 20+ pounds and I started to get a little depressed lol.  I hope to go back to that. From looking like that (picture above) to this lol:

 So these pics I've never posted before.  These were taken almost 2 years ago. I remember we went to the mall and I seen a dress in macy's that was of course like $120 or something like that, but I wanted to try it on.  Before this I never tried on anything to see what size I was.  Before Fehi I was a size 14, then with all the weight gain I was at my biggest: an 18, then I got down to a 16, and so after working all summer long to loose the weight, I decided to try this dress on in a size 12. And it fit! And I was so excited! lol.  Well now I can barely fit a thigh into a size 12 lol.  I'm hoping to get back to this again, and maybe even see a size 10.  I can't even remember when I was ever that size, and I don't know if it's possible because I've always been a size 12-14, so we'll see. So anyhow, I'm def. starting my prep work for motivation to get moving once this baby comes out.

Anyhow, and as an update to my last depressing post about school... I have my last final tomorrow then it's break time for us. :) This semester has been stressful for us, I'm not exactly sure why, maybe it's all the changes that's been going on, but it's def. been stressful.  My husband just started working part-time at Costco a few weeks ago, and so it's been especially difficult for him to handle everything between working a full-time grave job, part-time at Costco, being a full-time student and then his duties at home.  It's been helpful having my brother here to help us when we have school, and also as a back-up for when we both can't be home, but I've been contemplating my roles of motherhood and my role as a student.  Both are very important to me, but we've been thinking that it's probably best that next semester I stay home with the kids.

This semester we were lucky to have my brother come stay with us to help out with the kids while we were at school.  So now that time is almost up, and he's going to be leaving back to Hawaii soon.  I'm actually kind of ready to send him back. lol. Not to be mean, because I'm very grateful for his being here to help us out, but I'm ready to have my house back, and just be our little family.  And more importantly get my bills back to normal (utilities, etc. but especially my FOOD bill lol).  I just found out that he might be coming back afterwards, and yeah I don't know about that lol. I told my husband, Uh NO! lol. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones, but I explained it wouldn't be necessary for him to come back.  I'm going to stay home with the kids next semester, and so we wouldn't necessarily need him to stay.  On top of that, since he's been here we haven't asked him to get a job or anything, and we've given him money almost every check.  And my husband is a generous giver, he'd give 100's at a time if he could (or if I let him), whereas I would give maybe 40/50. lol.

So yeah, I don't know how I'm gonna break it to him.. but it has to be done. lol.  I rather he stayed home in Hawaii and helped my mom out, then coming here and eating up all my food and not doing anything here lol. Ok, enough of that cause I feel like I'm being a witchy sister right now. LOL. However, I am happy to be sending him home, and bringing my little sister up to stay with me for the summer.  I guess I'm more excited for her to come, cause 1. she's my SISTER and I'm tired of living with all these mens, and 2. I'm def. more closer to my sisters than my brothers and now I realize I can't live with my brothers (sorry bro's lol). Oh and 3. she listens and doesn't talk back (ahem... something a certain 21 y.o. could learn lol).

Anyhow, I'm just glad to have figured out what I'm gonna do next semester.  I keep telling Fehi that though school is important to me, our kids is my first priority.  My husband works hard to provide for our family, and I need to be there to take care of them.  So though it was hard to come to that realization that I would probably have to stay home with them next semester, that option is settling right with me each day.  I want to be able to enjoy my time with them, and watch them grow up, as well as them knowing that their mom was there for them as they grew up.

Anyhow, I can't believe it's May already! Next week Thursday is our Anniversary! and I have a nice gift in store for my love.  He deserves it so I hope to pull it off. I'll keep you posted! :)

Baby's First Day

So I've been watching a show on TLC called "Baby's First Day" and the episode I watched had a mother on there who was going through labor and birth unmedicated, a.k.a. all natural.  While watching this, I started to reminisce by own experiences going all natural with both of my kids.  When she would scream, I would remember those times I screamed. When she talked about the pain, I would remember that same exact pain.  But as soon as she pushed and welcomed her little one to this world, she cried, and of course I cried. lol.  I started to feel a little anxiety as I was thinking about how I'm going to be going through all of that again. But then I remembered how joyous it was to welcome a new one into this world.  So my anxiety has turned into excitement, I only hope that this birth will be like the others, and I'll be able to handle going unmedicated again. :)

I should name this blog "Diary of a Pregnant Woman" lol...

20 weeks 4 days

So earlier this week we had our ultrasound with Maternal Fetal Medicine to find out if everything was okay with baby and also find out the gender.  It's crazy though cause everyone I know that's pregnant is having a girl! I'm the only one I know that's having a boy, but I'm happy about it. There's quite a few of us pregnant right now.  I know some due in June, I'm due July, August and September.  Talk about a great time to have babies. lol. Yesterday I went in to see my midwife for my routine every 4 week check-up.  Because I'm seeing a midwife now, you actually don't get assigned to a specific midwife in the clinic.  The way it works is the day you have your appointment, whoever the midwife is that's on at that time is the midwife who will see you.  You can ask to have appointments with one specific midwife, but I decided that I would be open to meeting all of them so when it's time for me to give birth I'll be comfortable with any of the midwives.  Yesterday I met Marykay, and we had a quick short appointment.   We listened to his heartbeat and it sounded fine.  I got results from my labs that I did the last time, and all were good and normal. I weighed in and was PLEASANTLY surprised to see that I lost about 4 pounds since my last appointment. So I'm basically still at the same weight I was pre-pregnancy and I refuse to gain any unnecessary pounds.  So as long as baby is growing I'm fine with loosing weight off my own body. lol.  Now I say I'm pleasantly surprised cause we just had baby moe's birthday on Saturday and we had tons of food! We had pupu chicken, beef broccoli, lusipi, mussels, ota, ufi, potato salad, cake and ice cream. And yes I ate them all! So all weekend long I was eating heavy tongan food, so I'm still glad to have lost. :)

To my baby boy a.k.a. "mama's baby" ... Keep growing strong and healthy.  I still feel every moment you make (and you make a lot now!).  We love you so much and can't wait to meet you in a few months. We're half way there :) Keep going strong my little man! :)

We're Having A....

BOY!!!!

excuse the bad picture.. it was a picture of a picture...

So Moe and Kesaia will have a little brother.  :) It's funny because I've always had a feeling we were having a boy.  I've only told Fehi a probably my sister about that feeling, but never sat too much on it, because like I said, I didn't care what the gender was.  But as soon as she started my ultrasound, baby was not cooperating.  She couldn't get good pictures of him, and though we didn't know at the time it was a "him", I unknowingly said "Is he facing his back towards us?" lol.  I caught myself and was like, Ok I'm already saying "he" like I know it's a boy.  But 10 minutes later, we would find out that indeed I was right, we are having a boy! :)

He was being a stubborn little one through the entire ultrasound though... he didn't want to face us so we never saw his face at all.  He was making it a little harder to even make out his arms, hands, legs, etc.  It was hard to even get to see his "manly parts", this picture of the ultrasound is probably the only time we got a peak and then he moved.  The doc had come in and tried to get better pics of his heart, but baby was being stubborn and wouldn't move. lol.  The doc would push on my belly trying to get him to move, and as soon as he would stop I would feel baby kick a few times. lol.  He did the same with the Ultrasound Tech., when she would push hard on my belly, as soon as she'd move he'd kick in that very spot she was at. lol. This guy, he swears. lol. :)

I should've known he'd be somewhat of headache during the ultrasound, because I've been having headaches all day! and it won't go away! lol. Ok maybe he isn't the DIRECT reason for my headaches, but they are definitely there. We are both still very happy and excited.  Fehi asked me what should name him, and there's really only two names I want, Fehi (after my hubby of course) and Enele (after my grandpa).  Fehi likes Siua (after his stake president who fehi really admires, he helped him go on his mission and what not), and I don't mind that name either, but now he's thinking of names from the scriptures.  Either way, I don't really care.  As long as it's something we can agree on.

I'm about half way there, and excited for the future.  I'm gonna go rummaging through all of Moe's old baby clothes to start preparing for this one to come.  And I also have a few months to get Moe potty trained and out of my bed, and in his own. lol. In any case, we're feeling very blessed, and excited! I know the kids will love him, they love babies! :)

Todays the BIG day!!! :)

In about 6 hours we find out what this little angel of ours is...

a boy or  girl! :)

I can't wait to first of all just to see my little baby...

This will be the first ultrasound (period) that I've had all pregnancy

...which is probably the longest I've ever had to wait for one... 

But I guess that's why I'm so excited...

My mother in law says my belly is apple shaped (?) so I must be having a girl.. 

Hmmm...

I don't know about that theory, cause my belly was probably apple shaped pre-pregnancy.. lol

And all the "belly" I have now, I see it as 75% pre-pregnancy belly and 25% actually baby belly lol

Everyone asks me what I hope for...

I tell them... "that my baby is ok and healthy and growing"...

and as far as gender... I don't really care.. :)

My hubby says he thinks he wants a girl (lol)

Because Kesaia is soooo much more easier, calmer, etc. than Moe.

He has a valid point, but in the end I still don't care.. I'm just glad to be pregnant. :)

So go ahead and leave your guesses if you'd like.. I'll be back with news and ultrasound pics! :)

My Kids are Growing too Quick! :(

Jan. 2012

Can you believe that these two monkeys lol (picture above) were once this small:

Baby Moe at a few months old (2009)...

Kesaia at 2/3 months (2010)

:(

They have grown so fast! Baby Moe (well I guess we should just call him "Moe" now since he's not a baby anymore...) turns 3 in two weeks, and Kesaia will be 2 in April.   Yesterday in class my teacher and I had a quick conversation about how pregnancy and having kids make your brain go crazy. lol.  Then she jokingly said "that's why women with 10 kids, keep having kids cause they've gone crazy". LOL.  It is true, and I think I've already hit the crazy stage with having another child.  Or maybe I'm crazy cause I plan to have all my kids out and in the world by the time I'm 30, which gives me another 5 years.  And with this pregnancy I think we're about half way there (do the math of how many kids I think we'll have lol).  However, I know I do miss having little ones around, and when I look at Baby Moe and Kesaia I just reminisce on how small they use to be... :( they are growing too fast, so good thing #3 is on the way.

The other day I told my husband, "oh my gosh babe, I'm gonna be like 7 months and huge by the time the semester is finished." lol. He just agreed and laughed too, but it's true.  I've never been pregnant at all while I've been going to school or working so it's definitely something new for me.  My pregnancy has been going well since last week (when I was sick, nauseous, and headaches...) I have noticed though that I started to get a little heartburn. Boo. I had LOTS of heartburn with Moe (and they say it's cause they have a lot of hair, and he did have a TON of hair, and still does lol) but with Kesaia I didn't have as much (hence the reason why I'm STILL waiting for her hair to grow lol), so I'm not sure what to make out of this.

I've noticed a theme in the foods I eat, right now I'm in a mexican and fruity stage.  Weird, definitely, especially for me. lol. But I find myself wanting burritos, and juicy/island fruits.  Yesterday I basically ate burritos with sour cream with salsa all day, and this morning I cut up my huge papaya I got from costco, and I'm salivating over it right now because I have it in the fridge chilling as my snack for work tonight. Mmmmm :) lol. Other than that, I've been way more active than I have in weeks.  Now it's not the active, get up and start running/exercising (though I wish I could) type of thing, but more so that I'm cleaning and doing things around the house a lot more.

The other day, I was cleaning up our bedroom, and felt the need to rearrange the room a bit, and of course what do I do? I choose to move the HEAVIEST thing in our bedroom.. the bed. lol. Seriously, Our mattress is huge and heavy.. Here's a picture of it:

So obviously I found this online, and that's not us dancing in the background, and our bedroom isn't this nice either, but there it is... our bed. It's the most comfortable thing ever, and I love it.  It was actually my mother's day gift from my hubby a few years ago.  Just the mattress itself is or at least feels like 100+ lbs, maybe I'm exaggerating, but nevertheless it's heavy.  And if there's one thing Fehi doesn't like is me moving things around (when I'm pregnant), especially the bed, but me and my stubborn pregnant self felt it REALLY REALLY necessary to move the bed right there and then at 1am in the morning lol.

So I muscled my way to lifting up the mattress, leaned it up against the wall, pushed the box springs to the corner, and then let the mattress fall/flop back on top. All the while I was trying extra hard not to break a nail lol (no really  I just got it done a few weeks ago lol).  I called my hubby while he was at work and confessed to him what I did, he didn't say much, only "oh ok" but as soon as he came home in the morning, he laid next to me, I thought he wanted to hug or something, but then he was like "what did I tell you about moving heavy things?" lol and I just laughed and he chuckled too and was like "you never listen" lol.  I did pay for it a little bit, because my back was hurting just a tad bit, but I guess I'll just go back on what my teacher said... when your pregnant and have kids you go crazy and probably do crazy things! LOL.

(side note: I totally went on different topics in this post, but that's just me, my husband laughs at how I can jump from one thing to another, he doesn't' get the connection at the time, but when I explain it to him he gets it but is like "you're weird" lol.  So yes this is all connected somehow! hahahaha... Have a good day!)

3rd Pregnancy Cravings

It's funny because I'm so not a "fruity" person.  I love to drown my food in vegetables.  When I eat burritos I have to cut up lettuce, tomatoes, maybe avocado if I have them, add some sour cream and salsa and eat it like that. When I make anything with vegetables I can easily put in a ton, and you'll see me eating most of them rather than the meat.  However, the funny thing with this pregnancy is I'm eating more fruit than I normally ever would.  I bought a tray of Mangoes from Costco, a Papaya and some Banana. It hasn't even been 24 hours since I bought the Mangoes, yet I've eaten 3 of them and they are pretty large mangoes lol.

This pregnancy I've noticed definite differences in my appetite.  I've gained about 5 pounds (boo) since I've gotten pregnant and I'm 17 weeks right now.  It's probably due to my time in Hawaii, I've eaten more there than I do here in Utah.  But even with my vacay in Hawaii there were just days that I didn't really want to eat any of the food there.  One day I even parked in front of Papa Ole's looked at them, then drove off because I didn't find anything appealing to eat there (I'm sure I'll regret that later lol).  Since I've been back in SLC, my appetite has definitely changed.  I don't eat as much, I snack through out the day on what I can, then I usually have Dinner as my biggest meal, whatever it may be.  My husband bought me a plate from L&L (chicken katsu) and usually I'd eat most of it,  but this time I couldn't even finish half of it.  Even last night before I went to work, I was starving and put in a pizza in the oven, while it was baking I threw a burrito (you know the yummy steak ones from costco) in the microwave, threw some salsa on it and ate it.  By the time the pizza was ready I wasn't hungry for it anymore.  I went to work with 2 cookies, a mango, water and a coke.  I ate one of the cookies, the mango, and drank the water and coke.

Now I know you wanted my whole food diary right? lol, but I just think it's funny what pregnancy does to you.  I'm sure a few weeks or months from now I'll be eating nonstop and then I'll wish I didn't eat so much lol.  I hope to only gain a few more pounds this pregnancy.  I was already overweight before I got pregnant, so I really REALLY really don't want to gain any unnecessary weight.  Now that my brother is here, maybe I can get some exercise time in or maybe even start going to Zumba gain hmm. Ah we'll see Glendale is still too far a drive for me (and my gas) so we'll see.

Anyhow, hope all is well and everyone has a great day! :)

CHRISTmas Weekend

Christmas has come and gone, and I'm a bit relieved.  Usually christmas is my favorite time of the year, but for some reason this year was alright.  It's probably because we've been busily working, and going to school, but it just hasn't felt like I thought it would this year. However, it has been a good year, and we have had such wonderful blessings.

This year,  I really really wanted to keep christmas about Christ, and not concentrate on the "material" things like most people do. To keep things simple, I'm just grateful and happy for my family, that we're alive, that we're breathing, that we're eternal.  This weekend was actually really nice, and relaxing for us.  On Christmas Eve we watched a few movies on netflix.  I tried staying up to make sure the kids slept before I wrapped their presents, but they didn't sleep and it was already 2 a.m. so I just wrapped their presents in front of them. lol.  My sister had sent some candy for them, so I wrapped each one up for them.  We had also went to D.I. the day before, and I got them some clothes from there and a few new clothes (pajamas, shirts..) from walmart so I wrapped those also. We also got them coloring books with markers that only can be used on that paper, which is my favorite thing cause now I don't have to worry about Moe drawing all over our walls. LOL.

This year we didn't have much for the kids, actually we never have much, but I think it's totally fine. Sometimes I think parents get caught up in how much of the material things they get, that their kids (as well as them) lose the real meaning of christmas. So I was glad with what we had, and I was glad that we got to spend time as a family, and I hope that as my kids get older, we continue to show them that christmas is about the birth of Christ, and to have presents is a bonus.  It's not about having lots of presents under the tree, that's not what defines a "good christmas."  Here are pictures from our Christmas morning:

The kids presents under the tree, looks like a lot, but we literally wrapped up
each things in one box lol.  We figured they didn't actually care about what was inside
rather they wanted to "rip" the paper hahaha

Kids ready to open their first present.  Before we opened presents we said a prayer as a family,
grateful for our family and the blessing we receive, those daily presents from Heavenly Father
are priceless :)

Firs present they opened was new pajamas!
Moe had Toy Story Pajamas, and Kesaia got Minnie Mouse ones.

Daddy and the kids in their new pajamas :)

Mommy's turn :)

Now onto the next present.. 

Bubbles from Aunty Mele (Moe's favorite, he always plays bubbles with Mele)

Kesaia with her candy from Aunty Mele

Moe's new coloring set, yayy no more marking the walls anymore LOL

Kesaia with her coloring book :)

On Friday, we had a Ugly Christmas Sweater Party with a few of our friends at my house.  It was so much fun, and I went to bed tired and full. lol.  We had lots of yummy food, and we played games as well. At the end of the party we had our gift exchange, and it was hilarious.  Whitney had a real white elephant gift (whereas the rest of us bought something under $5) and it was a head with nice pretty hair lol. Here are some pictures from our night.

The first game we played was to dress someone up like Santa..
and as you can tell this group won
The only material they had was tape, white tissue paper, a gold garland and a red plastic tablecloth 

Here's all 3 "santa's" lol

We also played the face the cookie game or whatever you call it
where you have a cookie on your forehead and you only use your facial
muscles to move the cookie down to your mouth
trick with it though was the cookie was chocolate covered so if you took long
you had a melted chocolate trail on your face lol

Did I mention all the yummy food?!?!?
This is a sausage dip and it was DELICIOUS! (thanks whit!)

We also honey walnut shrimp, chowmein, lasagna, cheesy garlic bread, salad, rolls,
and what's not pictured is rice, sweet 'n sour meatballs, shoyu chicken, and banana cream pie
:)

Mone loved his white elephant gift lol... He named it "Dave"

Hoku had a little thing that made all kinds of noises lol
farts, claps, etc... hahaha

It was a spongebob shaving kit thing, and whitney showed me and told me
maybe I should take it for my legs lol, I told them I hadn't shaved since like
summertime so that's why she's laughing lol

And then I braided Dave's hair and mustache lol

It was so much fun with our friends, and we even did some karaoke-ing. We will definitely have another party next year, and hopefully have much more games and what not. Overall everything from the food to the gifts, but especially their presence was wonderful.

And that's how our Christmas weekend was spent. :)

P.S. All is going well so far with my pregnancy.  I'm about 12 weeks along (3 months) and nausea has subsided (thank goodness).  I'm in the "fat stage" so I'm feeling pretty hefty right now. LOL. I show really quick, or maybe it's that I can't suck it in anymore (lol) so I'm sporting a gut, not a pregnancy belly right now. lol. I still haven't found a new doctor, well midwife, so I haven't even had an ultrasound yet.  I haven't quite made the FB announcement, maybe I'll do that when we find out what we're having... :)

Blessings, Beautiful Blessings...

Today as I got up the first thing that popped up in my mind was to get up and take the trash out.  I thought Fehi had forgotten (like he did last week lol) and so I went out and saw the trash cans already out on the curb thanks to my husband.  He would've been upset with himself and me if he had forgotten and I took the trash out because that's one thing I'm not allowed to touch.  Neither am I allowed to carry any of the shopping in the house, and sometimes, I'm not even allowed to carry baby moe. And it's because of one special reason.  I must say that I have kept this to myself (and family and friends) for about 4-5 weeks now, and I'm almost feeling like I'm over the first hurdle so I can share my news, but on my blog only for now.  A little over a month ago I wrote this post (BTW, I just actually "published" it... so it hasn't been up until now). And you'll probably have to read it first to get what I'm going to continue talking about...

My heart is still so full of gratitude to Heavenly Father and his blessings he pours over our family.  Having a miscarriage, and wanting to get pregnant again was a hard trial for us.  I remember the day I found out I was pregnant again and I cried to my husband, I told him about how I just felt at peace.  I also told him that I thought having a miscarriage actually hurt me more than I thought, and he agreed.  I wasn't horrible, or mean, I just wasn't 100% if you know what I mean.  I questioned at times about my choice of putting in birth control in the first place, and started to regret that.  I frequently wondered why I even did it, why I thought it was my place to decide when to not have kids, and when to have them, when in fact it's a great blessing to be able to bring a life to this world.  I know a lot of people who wish they could have kids, and can't, or aren't able to yet, and there I was able to, but I chose to put it on halt for selfish reasons.  And I that's what occupied my mind ever since the miscarriage, and that's why I found peace when I got pregnant again.  I'm 10 weeks along, and have a due date of July 9, 2012 and as mentioned before I'm announcing this in my blog because I feel like I'm getting over my first hurdle.  In a few weeks I'll be in my second trimester, and will go to my first appointment to see this little angle of ours.

I can't express enough gratitude I have for our Father in Heaven, and all that he has blessed our family with.  He continues to help guide us, and protect us and our little one growing inside of me, each day. He's given me such beautiful beautiful blessings. :)

Baby News :)

This post I'm writing on 11/11/11, I probably won't publish it until later.  But I wanted to get down in writing, the excitement and gratitude our little family has been feeling.  Since my last post about getting pregnant (here) my husband and I decided that we would continue to do what we needed to do, but also put forth the effort in conceiving. All we could hope for was that my "friend" would not come around this month.  November 3 (exactly a month from the first day of my LMP) was the day that I was expecting my friend, well not expecting it really (cause I didn't want it) rather I was waiting to see if it would appear.  Let me rewind a little bit, a little before halloween we went to the Dollar Tree and I had grabbed a couple of pregnancy tests.  I decided to take a test, knowing that whatever the result may be (negative, false negative) that it didn't mean that I wasn't pregnant because I knew it was too early since I hadn't actually missed my period.  So after taking the test I seen that it said "negative" but I didn't pay much attention to it cause I knew it was too early, but I was just curious to see if it would turn out positive.

Well November 3rd came and gone.  So that was a good thing for me, because I'm never late on my period.  So I decided that I would wait at least 5 days before taking a pregnancy test.  Well that didn't last long because I woke up the next morning (on November 4th) and decided I wanted to take the test.  I went to grab the box under the sink and when I went to grab the test, I noticed it was the test I had already taken.  The crazy thing is, when I looked at the test again, it was now positive. I guess I didn't wait long enough for it to show up, but there it was 2 lines. :) I took the second test anyways just as a confirmation, and it did come back positive as well.  I was so excited, yet so relieved because we had waited so long and wondered when we were going to get pregnant again.  I started crying, and called my husband, who was at work, and when he answered he could hear the different tone in my voice so he asked me what was wrong.  And I told him "Babe, I'm pregnant" and you could just feel his smile through the phone.

He told me how excited he was, and how happy he was.  I told him not to tell anyone, and that I wouldn't tell anyone, just because of what happened the last time (you can read about it here and here).  This time I'm keeping this in our little family, because I want to be able to cherish it.  I feel myself more at peace, and not needing to put my pregnancy out there for the world to be part of just yet.  This pregnancy is special because it's one we've been waiting since April for, so for about 7 months.  I know other women go through much longer times of waiting, but 7 months was long and hard especially with having miscarried.  I'm especially grateful for Heavenly Father and his blessings.  This trial has really humbled me, it has changed me, and has made me that much more grateful and appreciative of the womanly gifts that I have. Everyday we pray for the safety our family, and especially for the safety and growth of our little one.

The day I decide to announce my pregnancy will probably be after the 1st trimester, maybe when we find out what we're having, unless I start to show before that (I show really quick in the beginning) and people question me lol. I'm just really humbled and want to enjoy this pregnancy, it's amazing that Heavenly Father gives us this gift, to be able to bring another soul into this world. I feel privileged and loved that he would trust me to be a mother to two angels, and now another on the way. :)

Spoke Too Soon... :(

About a week ago I announced that we were expecting baby #3.  Now a week later, I'm sad to say that we lost the baby, I had a miscarriage.

The day after my "blog announcement" I had started to spot.  With every pregnancy I start spotting, and it's usually because of my Fibroid.  So again, I thought it's probably just my fibroid.  Then I noticed it wasn't letting up and it was becoming a little heavier.  I called my Dr's office on Friday morning, and they had me come in and do a blood draw to make sure there was enough HCG in my blood to do an ultrasound.  She later called and left a few messages stating that she set an ultrasound appointment for me on Monday (June 27, 2011) but to watch if the bleeding gets heavier, or if I start to soak more than one pad in an hour.  So I did just that, I watched.  

Friday night I got off work at about 11:30pm, slept at about 12am, woke up at 4am and headed to work at 430am.  I worked from 5am-130pm on Saturday, and the whole day was just so uncomfortable, I was cramping, but to me it wasn't anything new because I had cramped even more when I was pregnant with my first child. My mom had flown in that day from Hawaii, and we headed over to the Taylorsville Dayzz festivities.  It was such a good day, but for some reason the cramps only intensified, and I really didn't think anything of it.  I had invited some friends over and at around 930pm I started to cook dinner, and then we talked and hung out till about after midnight.  At one point I had to use the bathroom, and it felt like (excuse me if this it too much info for you... ) but it felt like I was constipated.  I was cramping and having a hard time, then all of a sudden I just felt something  slip out, and then my cramps went away.  At that time I didn't know that was the baby.  

Yesterday when we had gone to my ultrasound appointment, I knew something was wrong as soon as they started the ultrasound and she started asking me whether I've had positive pregnancy tests, and when my last menstrual period was.  The ultrasound took about 30-40 minutes, and as time passed I just noticed the girl kept pressing harder into my abdomen, as if she desperately wanted to find that baby for me.  They had us sit in the hall as they "discussed" with my Dr's office on what to do next, and then she told me that Jill (the nurse from my Dr's office) was on the phone.  Then Jill said, "I'm sorry Lani, this was an unsuccessful pregnancy."  I just about started to cry, and then I told her my incident in the bathroom on Saturday night, and she said that was probably it, that was the baby.  I did another blood test to confirm that the HCG levels in my blood were dropping, and it did. 

I'm still (kind of) in shock, I guess I'd never thought I'd go through a miscarriage.  But don't get me wrong, I understand miscarriages.  When something doesn't go right in the development of the baby, or something doesn't fit right, the body will reject it- because ultimately it wasn't forming or everything wasn't coming correctly together.  It's still hard for me to swallow, but I know we'll have many more opportunities for children in the future.  I'm grateful for my husband and his support for me, and especially for my two little ones that are here and alive and breathing.  I'm also thankful for such great friends and family who have given me words of encouragement, I love you all for that. Though I'm sad this happened, I'm continuing on, it's not the end of the world, but rather, you grow and you trust in the Lord that all will be ok.  

News...

So a few days after we had moved into our home here in Taylorsville, I had gone to the dollar tree to grab a few things, and one of those "few things" was a Pregnancy Test.  After having my daughter I had told my husband that I wanted to put in birth control, and 6 weeks later I did (I put in the IUD- Mirena).  Earlier this year me and Fehi started thinking about whether we wanted to try for another one.  At this time I was working at WIC, so every time a newborn baby would come I'd get "baby hungry", and then I'd want to to slap myself, because really who gets baby hungry with a 2 year-old and 1 year-old at home??? lol, (I do!) hahaha. Anyhow, there were reasons why I wanted to have another baby, and reasons why I didn't want to, and my main reason for not wanting to (as selfish as it sounds) is because I really didn't want to have to loose all that "baby fat" again (though, I feel like I've gained it all back since March anyways! :( boo! ) Long story, short, after I gave birth to my daughter (she was ONLY a month old) someone had asked me when I was due, and I about broke down, and the next day for a month my husband and I would walk 5 miles on the trail everyday.. and yeah, now I feel like I'm back at square one.. ugh.

Anywayz, got off track there, so back to the pregnancy thing.  I had decided that if we were going to have another child, I wanted to wait to take my IUD out when my daughter turns one.  Her birthday was April 2nd, and my appointment to take my IUD out was on the 9th (talk about great timing right) lol.  After taking it out, it was like I was playing the waiting game.  A few of my friends call me a "fertile beast", but I always was worried wondering if the IUD had messed me up or not.

When I took the pregnancy test the box clearly says "wait 3 minutes to read test, do not read after 10 minutes"... But my impatient self starred at it from the start thinking I'd get an immediate answer.  At first when it showed only one line, I was kind of bummed out (but this was only within 1 minute of starting the test lol)... So I sat there for like 30 seconds wondering why if the test was "negative" why I hadn't got my monthly "gift", and then all these possibilities started to run through my mind, ultimately I was blaming the IUD.  Then I basically was going to walk away (kind of dissapointed), until I read the box again and it said to wait 3 minutes.  So I sat there, and waited, and slowly but surely another line popped up....

So... I'm pregnant. I've told a few people (outside of my family).. I went and took a "confirmation" test at Pioneer Hospital (where they give free pregnancy tests) and it did come out positive it's settled more that we are having baby #3... I wasn't too sure about the first day of my lmp, but I gave them a good guess of what I think.. so we're looking at being about 6-7 weeks pregs right now, and due sometime in February of next year.  We're excited, but I know I definitely need to stay active this pregnancy.  It's funny though cause though I'm trying to exercise more (thanks EMZ) and I'm trying to eat better, it's not showing any difference in my weight. lol. Oh well, I'll still continue to go to EMZ as long as I can (I may have to relax on my dance moves haha), and hopefully this will be a good pregnancy! :)