Upcoming Changes!

Where do I even start?? There are some changes for our family and I like most of them, but I'm definitely dreading some of them that will eventually come. First of all, as you know my little sister has been here from Hawaii for a little over 3 weeks now.  Since she's been here my mom told us that she wanted her to stay here and go to school here for a year, and she wondered if that was ok with us.  I told her Yeah, that we don't mind but she had to talk to my little sister about it.  After asking and confirming with her, I guess it's official and she'll be living with us and going to school here for her 5th grade year.  So now my mom is in the process of making me a legal guardian and now I have to go find out what I need to do to enroll her into school here.  I'm excited, and I hope she is too.  She'll get to experience a lot out here, but I think she'll mostly be excited to see snow for the first time. ;) And now I'm reminded of all the winter clothes I'm going to have to buy her... awesome. lol.

Some other changes in our family is Fehi has put in his 2 weeks to go from full-time to PRN, where he'll only be working 1 or 2 days a week at the treatment center.  I'm SUPER excited about this because that means he'll be home 5/6 nights a week (he's worked graves since before baby moe was born, so that's a lot of nights away from home!) and most of all he'll get to rest and not work so hard.  For the past few months he's worked 2 jobs full-time and though he never complains, I just don't want my husband to tire himself out. So when he told me on Monday morning that he put in his 2 weeks to go to PRN I was happy.  I'm mostly happy for him because the treatment center he works at has had some major changes as well, and it has affected a lot of people there.  My husband has worked there for almost 4 years and a lot of people recognize his hard work, and how well he works with the kids, and they have even rewarded him with gift cards and recognitions for his work, but yet they don't want to give him a higher position.  He's applied for the supervisor position 3 times just this year (and all 3 times he was urged by management to apply) and each time the position is given to someone who everyone knows is less qualified for the job.  There have also been occasions where they've tried to get him to go for a different position by giving him for a far lesser pay (only a 50 cent raise from the $9.90 he makes now.. yeah their pay sucks).  It's really just insulting when they do stuff like that to him, so it was time to just give it a break.

Now with him working less hours there, he can pick up more hours at Costco.  Which brings up more changes.  He's officially off his 90-day probation from Costco, and he has moved to part-time.  Fehi loves working at Costco, and can really see himself growing with them.  He's been talking to management about the possibility of moving up, and they all tell him that they really see him moving up fast, to even being a manager.  The head-honcho of the Costco that Fehi works at pulled him aside one day and told him that he's heard nothing but great things about him, and he wants to try to make him full-time by the end of the year.  Which is a really GREAT thing because there are people who have been waiting at least 5 years to go full-time.  One of the managers even mentioned to Fehi about moving to the mid-west because that's where Costco is thriving, and he could possibly be a manager within two years.  Which brings up the change that I'm dreading.  This manager told Fehi that mid-west is where it's at and if he wants to move up fast he should try going there.  So when my hubby approached me about the possibility of moving I just cried (mind you, he told me this just a few days after giving birth to our son).  I would cry and get so upset that I wouldn't even talk to him. lol.  Then after a day or so I was ok, and never talked about it again.  But then he would bring it up again and I would cry and get upset at him again. lol.  But after the 3rd or 4th time of bringing it up, I was finally ready to talk about it.

I know my husband wouldn't want to move for the heck of it, but rather he's thinking about our family and providing well for our family.  I told him that if he decides to move to the mid-west, that it would just be him going.  I don't want to loose my job at Delta, and I really don't want to move anywhere else so he would move and we would stay here.  I know that if this does happen it'll be the hardest thing we'll have to go through because I don't like to be apart from my husband, and I know my husband doesn't want to be apart from our family.  It's all still up in the air, and if it does happen it may not happen for a few more months or so, but I told him that we first and foremost definitely need to pray and fast about this, and then second I need to know where in the mid-west he thinks he'll go, and then from there we'll move on.  I just hate the thought of our family being separated and my kids not get to see their daddy, especially Baby Hinckley not having his dad around for all his "firsts" and vice versa, but since all is not set in stone just yet, I'm not going to stress out too much over it.

These are basically the changes that are in the works right now for our family.  Though some of them are exciting, and the thought of my husband being away from us isn't so exciting, I know that it's all for a greater purpose.  I couldn't ask for a greater husband because I know everything he does is for us, his family.  He's the best husband ever, and I love him to eternity and back!

Summer Fun!!!

So if you read my last blog post (about resting) yeah... well obviously I don't even listen to myself (hahaha) cause I'm still out and about.  I will say though that I did rest up on Tuesday, but on Wednesday we went out and had some family fun.  Because my love works 2 jobs and his schedule is hectic, we always try to do something as a family on his days off.  So on Wednesday we decided to take the kids out to go swimming.  It's been a little over 2 weeks since we last went swimming (before I gave birth to baby), so it was about that time to go again.  I had heard about this place called the "Herriman Beach", and so I thought we'd go and check it out.  It's (of course) a man-made "beach", well in reality it's a reservoir with sand. So we all got in our swim attire, packed up the kids, filled up the cooler with drinks and then headed over to the "beach."

Surprisingly this Herriman Beach (it's real name is Black Ridge Resevoir) is right up the road from where my uncle and aunt live. When we got there Fehi was surprised, I guess he's never seen a reservoir like this before.  We unpacked and got the kids down by the water, and sat there for 5 minutes then decided to leave lol.  I guess we all didn't like it as much as I thought we would, so we decided to go to none other than Seven Peaks! I just wish we changed our minds before we made the 30 minute drive up to this "beach"... oh well, you live and learn right? ;)

Seven Peaks was a blast (as always) and it was nice because it wasn't as packed as it usually is.  My son is getting a little too brave in the wave pool though.  I noticed that he would walk in more, and then the water would be up at his neck (he's a crazy little 3 year old lol), but you would think that when the waves started going he'd run away.. nope.. he was right up there jumping with every wave.  It didn't matter if he got water in his face, or up his nose, he would just wipe his face and go for more... hahaha.. It must be the island boy in him. ;)  I didn't do much swimming because I sat out with Baby Hinckley, but I still had a blast watching the kids.  We did walk around a little bit, and I didn't even know that they had a splash pad for the kids, and a snake river.  The snake river isn't as big as the one in Provo, but it's nice to know that they do have one. 

After swimming we basically all went home and knocked out.  I was feeling a little bit of the cramps again when we got home, and I have noticed that I'm still bleeding a little bit, so I keep telling myself to just RELAX but of course I NEVER listen.  Because what did I do the next day... go to Wheeler Farm! lol. (I'm laughing now, but it's not funny really... I'm relaxing for real this weekend!) Our friends invited us to go with them to feed the ducks at Wheeler Farm.  I've only been there once before for Fehi's work christmas party, but that was during the winter so it was nice to go back this summer.  The ducks were not no small ducks.. they were huge geese! We were all freaked out because as soon as we started throwing pieces of bread the whole swarm of geese started coming towards us. The kids however loved it and weren't even afraid of them.  

After feeding the ducks/geese we had a little picnic there. And after that we headed home.  It was a fun day for us, and I'm glad that we are finding these little activities for the kids to do this summer.  Here's some photo's from our time at Wheeler Farm:

Though I am having fun taking the kids out and going on little new adventures with them, I am going to force  myself to stay home this weekend.  I'll be finding more activities to do at home with the kids so that they aren't bored, but more importantly so I can recover properly.  Here's to trying to recover again. ;) Wish me luck (for real!)

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!

4th of July Week & Mom's Visit

For the past few years I don't even remember really going out and celebrating the 4th of July.  Sadly,  I think the last time we went anywhere for the 4th was when I was pregnant with Baby Moe.  Last year I was working full-time, so I wasn't able to do anything with the kids.  So this year I wanted to make sure we did SOMETHING because I finally had it off (since I'm on maternity leave).  Luckily for us my mom flew in the morning of the 4th.  It's funny because I never told her about us trading in our car, and getting the Pilot.  So when we picked her up from the curb, of course she's looking for the black camry, and instead I pull up and stare at her, and she just looked and turned away then realized that it was me driving.  So then she had the biggest smile, and she said "I was wondering how we were all going to fit in the car!" lol.

After that we headed over to Herriman to pick up my little sister.  We stayed about an hour or so chit-chatting with my Aunt Nela, and then we left, picked up a couple rotisserie chickens from walmart (my fav!) and then headed home.  Of course my mom came with goodies for us (thanks to my sister Mele and BFF Neva for getting them for us!)... she came with teri-burgers, redondo hot dogs, portugese sausage, and hawaiian chocolates.  You have no idea how long I've been waiting for all of these! lol.  My mom also brought fish, and as soon as my husband saw it he got so excited because the fish she brought is used to make Ota (tongan raw fish) and my husband loves my mom's ota.  So as soon as we got home, my mom made a big ole bowl of ota for my husband (he's so spoiled by her and he knows it too! lol) and he fully enjoyed every bite of it.

After getting our bellies full of yummy goodies from Hawaii we got ready and headed out to Fehi's family's BBQ. They had been there all day, so by the time we got there they were done eating, but the music was playing and everyone was chilling and some were up dancing.  There was a dog there, and Kesaia got so excited! So far she loves dogs and babies! lol.

After spending a few hours there we decided to go and buy some fireworks for the kids to pop, and then grabbed some pizza and drinks to snack on. We then headed over to Jordan Park to find a spot to watch the fireworks show.  Like I mentioned earlier the last time I remember celebrating the 4th was when I was pregnant with Baby Moe, and that time we did the same thing... go to Jordan Park for the festivities during the day and then the fireworks show at night.   The fireworks show started at about 10pm and it was pretty cool.  Everyone was loving it except Moe.  He hates fireworks.  Everytime he would hear or see it pop he would yell No! and then ask us to go to the car or go home. lol.  Eventually Fehi got him calmed down, and he enjoyed the last couple minutes of the fireworks show.

Moe scared of the fireworks wanting to leave LOL

And that was basically how we spent our 4th.  My mom went out with her friend and they watched the fireworks show up at Sugarhouse park. The next day was a rainy day so we all decided to just stay home.  Yesterday (Friday)  because it was a nice, sunny day we decided to head out and we took my mom to the new City Creek mall in Downtown SLC.  I absolutely love that mall, though I do wish they had more stores that I liked (cause it's all about me right lol)... like an Old Navy would be nice if it was there.  Anyhow, my mom really liked the mall.  It's just cool how the built it, in parts of the mall it has a roof (which I heard is motorized and can open up) and so there's air conditioning in parts of the mall, but it still feels like it's an outdoor mall.  It's something I've never seen before.  It reminded me of Ala Moana but with a glass roof and A.C.

We spent a couple hours there just walking around and looking at everything, then shopping at Macy's (they have some really good clearance racks!), and of course I had to get my favorite Pink Pina Colada Smoothie from Kneaders bakery, and then right before we left we let the kids play by the water fountain area (they also have a small splash pad there that the kids play in).

After we left the mall we grabbed some ice cream from Coldstones, and then dropped my mom and the kids (except Hinckley) off at home.  My mom wanted to catch up on some sleep (since she was up with Moe the whole night lol) and so we let all of them sleep while I made Fehi take me to Old Navy. :) I had a gift card that I got from Delta that I wanted to use up, and now that I'm not pregnant anymore I thought it'd be a perfect time to go shopping.

side note: with this pregnancy I gained only about 9 pounds the first 36 weeks of my pregnancy, then the last 2 weeks before I gave birth I had gained like 8 pounds (oops! lol) so this pregnancy went well as far as weight gain.  When I finally was able to weigh myself (on Monday the 2nd) I had lost almost all of the weight gain.  I'm about 3 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight.. and probably 20 more pounds to be at my goal weight. But right now I'm pretty happy with my weight and how I look post-pregnancy.. I don't feel like I have as big of a belly as I did with the other two.


So after finding two dresses and two cardigans that I loved I called Fehi to tell him my dilemma (because I didn't want to spend that much on clothes) but he told me to just buy it all. Thanks hubby, I love you! ;) So I did, and ended up spending ahem $85 on everything after I used the rest of my gift card. We headed home after that and then just chilled in bed, until about 9pm when we decided to go out and take the kids to a move at the drive-inn theaters. This is our first time going with our kids, and we decided to watch Brave and The Avengers. Moe hates the movie theaters, and so we thought he'd like this because we could just sit in the car, but nope he was hating it at first.  Finally after probably 30 minutes of him complaining, he let up and starting running around on the road.  We watched Brave and part of The Avengers and decided to go home because we were all falling asleep lol.

This week has been a good one! and I'm glad my mom was able to spend a few days with us.  She left this morning to San Francisco, but before she left she made another big bowl of ota for my husband. Talk about spoiled.  lol. I told my husband that I wished his mom would make me something that I liked all the time. BAHAHAHA. jk. I'm just glad that they have a great relationship, and that my husband loves having my mom in town. :)

More pictures from our outing at City Creek Mall:

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. :)