Monday Funny

A friend of mine shared this video and I cracked up! Maybe because I knew some girls like this growing up in L.A....but seriously, watch it and please someone else find this as amusing as I did. :)

Bon Qui Qui at King Burger...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZkdcYlOn5M

Why Do They Have To Grow Up?

How cute is this picture? Seriously? I wish I could just freeze this moment in time when my kids genuinely like each other and aren't old enough to fight yet. I really, really, really love these guys.

Frosted Window Panes...

I know, I know...my posts are becoming few and far between, but my excuse is that its the holidays and I barely have time to do my laundry let alone blog. :) I'm trying.

So the frosted window panes are NOT here in Hawaii, but they are in Las Vegas! How crazy is that? My parents had flown out this past Sunday to go to my sister's graduation (she just completed her Master's in Health Promotion at UNLV...congrats Kelli!) and on Monday my mom calls me and says, guess what? Um...what? Its snowing! Now I know that its quite uncommon for snow to fall in Vegas, but I do know that it HAS happened once before since Kelli's been there. Still, fairly exciting...didn't have the heart to tell Kaytin since she's been talking about playing in the snow for who knows how long!! A few days pass and then Kelli texts me on Wednesday (my parents were scheduled to fly back early early Thursday) that its snowing again! Apparently it was the start of Blizzard 2008 in Vegas. I kid. Seriously, though, people who live in the desert are pretty much NOT prepared to drive or survive in snow! The airport started talking about shutting down, school was cancelled, people were advised to stay off the roads. Ca-ray-zay. For real. Not to worry, my parents made it back to Hawaii in one piece after only a 30 minute delay. phew.

On the home front, we actually got our Christmas card out on time this year! Woo hoo! As opposed to last year when, sick as a dog, I didn't even want to think about them. I ordered cards that said "Merry Christmas" on them on Dec. 27th..no joke. hahaha...at least we sent them out, right? I'm sure all of you with kids and/or animals know that it was no easy feat to get a good picture with everyone looking in the right place and smiling...all I can say is thank God for dog treats and candy! :)

We're well on our way to Christmas insanity here. Kaytin is asking...daily...if she can open her presents. Um, no, not yet. Kelli & Eric arrive on Sunday and I've been telling Kaytin that she can't open her gifts until after Aunty Kelli & Uncle Eric get here. I'm sure she'll be mighty bummed when she finds out that it will still be a few more days after they arrive and then she can open them. I guess all that calendar work that I attempted to do with her hasn't really taken yet.

If I don't get around to posting again before Christmas, wishing you and yours a very merry one!

No Turkey For You

We've returned from our annual Thanksgiving trip to Oahu unscathed! It was a fun filled week and although a bit crowded, it was just what my in-laws wanted...pure, unadulterated family togetherness. heheh...

Wes (the lucky dog) left a day early with his dad to go watch the UH football game, so my adventure started on Sunday when I had the privilege of flying with TWO children. (OK, so I wasn't totally alone...my mother-in-law flew with me) Kaytin is quite the seasoned traveller and has never had a difficult flight...no ear problems or anything of that sort...and I had been hoping for more of the same from Caleb. Unfortunately, no deal. He fussed a bit and was pretty uncomfortable for the whole flight. Good thing it was only 20 minutes! ;) Thankfully, on the way home he fell asleep nursing and we arrived back home unscathed.

Kaytin absolutely loved waking up to built in playmates via her cousins. They watched HSM and danced and sang their little hearts out. I'd say her favorite part of the weekend was probably when Grandma Ruthie took her and cousin Anna to Claire's and let them spend $5.00 each. All of you who are familiar with Claire's Boutique (the ultimate girly girl store of trinkets that I really don't need around my house) know that five bucks is like a million bucks with their dollar bins and what not. OMG. I think they spent like a half-hour in that teeny tiny store only to emerge with *gasp!* pink purses and wallets and all things girl. Katy was SO sad on Sunday when the Burkman's flew back to Kauai early in the morning while we didn't leave until later in the afternoon. We think she even fabricated a story about her neck being sore so that she could cover up the crying that ensued. Crazy.

We, of course, hit the Honolulu Zoo again this year! Luckily there was no animal porn going on like our experience last year. phew. Apparently the tiger had some cubs which were pretty cute to look at. They weren't out and about yet, but if you strained your neck and stared through the bars of the enclosure, you could see them. hahah...there was one particularly loud one that made sure everyone knew that there were cubs in there even if you couldn't see them.

My father-in-law, tradition bucker/not a turkey lover extraordinaire, decided that our family should go against the grain for Thanksgiving dinner this year, so instead of following suit with most likely every other family in America and having turkey, we had steak and crab legs. No complaints there! Tyler, Wes's brother, who has friends in all places, made a delicious marinade for the steak and a yummy "broth" to cook the crab legs in. To keep with some tradition, we had mashed potatoes and a sweet potato dish to accompany the dinner...then bucking tradition again, I made cherry pie for dessert. :) We also got to meet the newest Ishimura cousin, Carly Mei, that was recently adopted from China that evening.

My shopping adventures with sis-in-law Shannon were curbed this year (tear) since I had to have a baby boy in tow wherever I went. (oh the woes of a nursing mama) We attempted to go Black Friday shopping...as a family...and I'll give you one guess as to how much I actually got done. It sort of just isn't the same with a husband following you around, a daughter complaining about sore feet and a son strapped to your body. Not to mention the fact that it was irritating me that there were so many people at Ala Moana breathing on me and cracking poor Katy in the head with their bags. Ugh.

The UH game was fun...Caleb's first...and he did great sitting up in the nosebleed section of Aloha Stadium. The first time I tried to sit up there I was pregnant with Katy and promptly got dizzy and nauseous. This time around it went well...not to mention protected us from the consistent drizzle that fell the entire night. It might not have been the prettiest played game against Washington State, but a win is a win is a win, right? Here's what Caleb thinks...

All in all, it was a fun weekend. We have much to be thankful for this year...hope you all enjoyed the same.

Entertainment Taba Style

We regularly have dinner on Monday nights at Wes's sister folks house. This past Monday she had a friend from college visiting that knew Wes's cousin, Matt, as well, so they joined us at our dinner. Its always a riot to see the kids playing out in the yard together and the games they can create using swings, a slide and a trampoline, but what was even funnier are the things that can happen when there is a box of dress up clothes lying around...

So Kaytin and Aliyah are the only two girls that live on the compound full of boys. Somehow their inner girl has emerged and princess dresses are high fashion. They were too cute.And we have the flapper, princesses x two, batman, and a pirate. (aka anna, aliyah, kaytin, hans, and cole) It was quite a show. I think Cole tried the Batman costume first, but found it to be a tad snug. :)

Just so Caleb doesn't feel left out, here he is...

I swear he was smiling two seconds before the shutter snapped. He's now four months old and weighs 16 pounds. Holy smokes!

Distractions

Oops...looks like I have been neglecting this for awhile. I blame facebook. I know I mentioned before that I'm completely addicted to social networking sites and now that I've reconnected with a bunch of friends, I seem to be constantly on and catching up and laughing and everything else. So here's a sorry to all two of my readers. hahaha. You know I read somewhere that to really be a blogger you're supposed to write something everyday. Yeah, like that's ever going to happen.

Anyway, we participated in our first craft fair last Saturday selling Wes's gyotaku artwork. The fair was at the local elementary school and we sold two prints! Yahoo. Gave out a bunch of business cards, as well, which has also proved fruitful seeing as Wes did a print last night for someone who called after picking up his card on Saturday. We're planning to do another fair before the end of the year that will hopefully provide us a little extra Christmas money.

Faithful blog stalkers will remember that last year we spent Thanksgiving on Oahu which we'll be doing again this year. :) Here's hoping that I'll be back with another entertaining monkey story...and pictures to go with it!

Halloween's Done...On To Thanksgiving!

So I wouldn't be an official mommy blogger unless I posted Halloween pictures and here they are....

Careful followers of this here blog will remember that a few posts back I mentioned that Kaytin was going to be Tinkerbell for Halloween. Well, for some reason, in my sleep-deprived haze, I never tried the costume on her once we got it in the mail. Around rolls Halloween morning and I think to myself, hmm...maybe we should open that costume up and see how it looks. Much to my chagrin, it was SUPER small!! It fit, but barely covered up her booty and she kept saying, "mommy, its hurting my tummy, its soo itchy!" Woops! While my mind raced with panic thinking I'd have to run to Lihue and scavenge through whatever was left to find my poor baby girl a costume for that very same evening, a light bulb flashed and I remebered that she had recently come into a huge bag of dress up dresses from her cousin, Anna, who just so loves to be a princess. Found the above which worked like a charm and she still got to wear her Tink wings. (which is the only thing she wanted in the first place.) Phew...crisis averted.

Wes, the master costume creator himself...who has dressed as a kissing booth and Vili the Warrior in the past...created this:

All of the younger kids kept saying, "Cool, Uncle Wes, you're Bumblebee from the Transformers, right?" And he'd be like, "Um NO." For those not in the know, he's that thing from Aliens that Sigourney Weaver used to fight the aliens. (Does that mean he's dressed as Sigourney?) I believe its called a power loader or something to that effect. It was quite the contraption and all made out of the styrofoam stuff that protects your computer while its being shipped to you. Pretty crazy. After Halloween I'm always left in awe of my husband, who can make costumes himself spending less than $10. What a guy.

It took me forever to decide what I wanted to be and finally came up with this:

Ugly Betty. :) And I'm holding the cutest little ninja in the world, Caleb. So fun. So fun. We had a great evening. Kaytin was super excited to go trick or treating and then was over it after just like 6 houses. (haha) Now I'm off to dream up costumes for next year....

Yo Gabba Gabba!

As promised, I have to take a moment and send up a shout to the TV show Yo Gabba Gabba. Fellow parents out there, if you haven't taken a moment to check out this amazing creation that airs on Nick Jr. and Noggin...dude, you're missing out. Especially if you're in my age range! So the basis of this show is that there's this guy:

DJ Lance Rock. (Trust me, it gets even better) He carries around his sweet boom box in which live an imaginary world of these creatures:

Muno, Foofa, Plex, Brobee, and Toodee. (Yes, I realize what Muno looks like, but that's not the point) At the beginning of each show, he brings this little munchkins to life by yelling out, "yo gabba gabba, yo gabba gabba..." (which explains why you hear Kaytin yelling this all the time now) Anyway, the show is basically the Seinfeld of the children's television world. There is absolutely no point to this show, but it is HILARIOUS! There's a bunch of regular segments including "Biz's Beat of the Day" featuring none other than:
Mr. You Got What I Need Clown Prince of Hip-Hop himself, Biz Markie. I kid you not, he teaches kids a beatbox technique of the day and tells them to go home and practice. I just about died laughing the first time I saw this. There's also "Dancey Dance Time" where celebs appear to teach kids a few little dance moves. (during which Kaytin looks at me and says, come on mom! its dancey dance time) The other day it was:
Seriously, I think this show is waaaayyyy too funny. So if you have a pre-preschooler at your house (and even if you don't) go set your DVR's now and start beatboxing and dancey dancing along with me! Yo Gabba Gabba....yo!

I've Been Tagged!!

I'm usually not one for surveys, but a great friend (and apparent blog reader of mine! hi margo!) tagged me, so here it is...

Four Random Things I Like About My Husband:
1) He makes me laugh...even when I don't want to.
2) He is a great husband and loves me even when I irritate the bejesus out of him.
3) He is a wonderful daddy.
4) He works hard so that I can stay home and raise our children.

Four Jobs I've Had:
1) Salesperson at JC Penney
2) Alumni Affairs Assistant in college
3) High School Teacher
4) Mom

Four Movies I've Watched More Than Once:
1) High School Musical
2) High School Musical 2
3) The Little Mermaid
4) Dumbo (these are all of Kaytin's choosing)

Four TV Shows I Watch:
1) Grey's Anatomy
2) One Tree Hill
3) Top Chef (when its on)
4) Yo Gabba Gabba (this one is for Kaytin...and deserves a whole other blog in itself!)

Four Places I've Been:
1) camping on the beach
2) camping in the mountains
3) swimming in the ocean in the winter
4) all here on Kauai!

Four of My Favorite Foods:
1) Pasta
2) Sushi
3) Chocolate
4) Tacos

Four Places I'd Like to Visit:
1) Okinawa
2) Thailand
3) the Alaskan cruise thing
4) New Zealand

Four Things I am Looking Forward to in the Coming Year:
1) Kelli & Eric moving home!
2) Watching Caleb turn one
3) Kaytin preparing for preschool
4) A possible girls trip somewhere?!

Four People I Tag:
1) Holly
2) Elki
3) Kirstin
4) Kelli

Costume Craze

Hard to believe its been nearly a year since I started my life as a blogger. I think the first picture I ever posted was of my family last Halloween. And now, speaking of Halloween, here I sit trying to figure out what I'm going to dress up as this year. Gone are the days of family themes for awhile with a headstrong 3 year old in our midst. She has insisted that she wants to be a butterfly this year. Well, unfortunately, she was a butterfly a couple of years ago, so that's not happening. Since I'm a smarty-pants I have convinced her that this:

is a butterfly. I'm sure I've thoroughly confused her since everyone else will be referring to her as Tinkerbell all night long, but I'm sure she will correct them. Maybe I'll make her a nametag that says, "I'm a butterfly, okay?"

Since there's no way I'd convince Wes to dress up as Peter Pan (just take a moment and picture it) the rest of us are just going as whatever we want. Here's Caleb's costume:

He's going to be a ninja. Awesome. Now there's the question of me and Wes. And at this moment, just weeks away from Halloween, I still have no idea what we're going to be. I wanted us to be the Spartan Cheerleaders from SNL, but that got a no. He wanted to be the GEICO cavemen which I rejected. Who knows? Granted, a couple years back Wes made his costume the night before Halloween and it was pretty much the funniest one of the night.
He is the kissing booth. Check it out. It was pretty hilarious.

Exercise Entry Take Two

Remember my post about starting up an exercise routine again? Well, last night Wes and I pretty much committed ourselves to really trying to get back in shape and feeling healthy again by ordering...

the P90X exercise and nutrition program. Hot bodies, here we come!

If you haven't already heard of P90X, its an exercise routine that was created around the concept of muscle confusion. You pop in a differnt DVD each day and work on certain muscle groups. Apparently specific targeting and switching it up every so often makes a difference. All I know is that we know someone who did the workout and followed the nutrition guide and it worked. We saw the results. I looked it up online and have seen some posts by some nursing mothers and according to them, I'd need to tack on an additional 500 calories per day to account for breastfeeding, and I should be good. I guess we'll see. In 3 months I'm hoping to feel like a whole new me.

Because Its Friday, You Ain't Got No Job....

In honor of the most wonderful day of the week for most, and just another day for me, the woman of leisure (hahahaha!!!), I thought I'd post a few pics of the kiddos.

So the other morning Kaytin says, "take a picture of me and caleb, mom." Good idea, I thought to myself. Lucky I have a daughter who is a camera junkie and asks me to take pictures of her quite often. No forgetting about the pictures of the second child for me, thank you very much.

Anyway, here is attempt number one:

Oh shucks, we both said, Caleb's eyes are closed. Kaytin tells me to try again. (I told you she loved the camera!) And we got this:

Hmm...at least both of them have their eyes open. Caleb looks like he's thinking about pooping or something of that sort. One more time, Kaytin says! (seriously?!) OK, try number three yielded:

So now Kaytin's not even looking at the camera and Caleb is smiling, but with his eyes closed. That could, of course, be due too how chubby his face has become and it takes a bit of effort to actually open his eyes a little wider. At this point Kaytin was getting tired of smiling for the camera, so she tells me, let's do one more, mom, and I'm going to make a funny face. Curious about what this could mean, I agreed and got this:

If that is not Wesley Taba's child, then I don't know what is. I love my babies. They crack me up. I'm going to have the time of my life when Kaytin gets married someday and wants pictures to do a slideshow of some sort for her reception. Love it.

I Just Heard...

So if you know me, you know that I am a child of the 80's. I've read that email that goes around and can admit to knowing and identifying with the entire list. My ipod reflects the generation I am proud to be a part of with the old school music that I make my kids jam to in the car. (and you know you all promised yourselves never to do that when you were a kid and your parents did the same thing to you!) Well, in the recent past I heard that these guys were making a comeback...

What?! NKOTB? The news startled me into thinking that I might actually have to admit that I was once one of those girls who had the posters up on my wall and owned a t-shirt with their faces plastered on it. I wanted to be loving them forever because they had the right stuff. Unfortunately for me, my parents never let me go to one of their concerts. Granted I was only like 13 at the time and they weren't about to go with me and I couldn't go by myself since we were still living in the land of stolen children (aka Southern California). You know I wanted to be part of that silly little audience screaming my silly little head off. But now...a comeback...and 20 years later...heck, I can go by myself now. Secretly I'm wanting them to come to Hawaii so I can actually consider going to a concert. :) Can you imagine what the crowds must look like? A bunch of 30-something women, married, with kids, etc. Hilarious.

Word on the streets is that

Boyz II Men is also staging concerts again!! Their Motownphilly is back again, doing a little East Coast swing! Woot! This one I wouldn't be too ashamed to attend...gotta go check their website for concert dates and venues.

Re-Entry To Exercise

OK, here's the situation...I absolutely love being pregnant. (Well, with the exception of being pregnant during the summer months.) I love to eat, therefore, pregnancy suits me well. With Kaytin, I was sick sick sick for the first four months of pregnancy, so I had to find things that I could eat and not throw up. I was still teaching at KHS back then and one thing I could eat was school lunch. Oh, and I did more than just eat school lunch, I MOPPED it.

Everyday I'd head on in to the cafeteria and inhale whatever was being served that day. And our cafeteria manager would always leave special little treats out for the teachers...leftovers from breakfast, cinnamon rolls, cornbread, etc...which I would pile high on my plate, as well. Another thing I could keep down was McDonald's cheeseburger happy meals. On my way home from school, I'd go through the drive thru at least twice a week to enjoy a happy meal. (I'm convinced that this is why Kaytin is now a cheeseburger fan) So even though I threw up my dinner on a nightly basis, I still managed to gain close to 50 lbs. during my pregnancy. I was HUGE when I gave birth. It took me a good two years to get back down to a weight that I was satisfied with and wouldn't you know it...as soon as I started fitting in clothes that I actually liked, I found out I was pregnant with Caleb.

I thought I was smart and would try to be better about my weight gain with my second pregnancy. I craved different things, healthy things like fruits and salads and such. Of course, I'd occasionally indulge in ice cream and cookies, but nowhere near as much as with Kaytin. Gain the weight slowly, I told myself, gain "good" weight. And I did! I had a very steady weight gain with Caleb. Nothing out of the ordinary until the last 8 weeks. I have no idea what the heck happened. As soon as I started in on my every two week appointments, I continued to gain as if I was weighing in once a month! What was happening?! I freaked out a bit and tried to eat even better to no avail. I was weighed on the day I gave birth and the grand total was 40 lbs. Ugh.

Now let me explain...I was quite active while pregnant with both of my children. With Kaytin I walked almost everyday until my shoes no longer fit due to the lovely swelling I endured. With Caleb I didn't walk as much, but had an active 3 year old to keep up with. Still, my body apparently loves to be pregnant and gain gain gain!

Breastfeeding is quite the workout in itself and did you know that you burn like 500 calories just making milk? Awesome. Apparently those 500 calories are not enough to make a 31 year old woman lose all of her pregnancy weight. Darn. So here I am, 10 weeks later, recovered enough to start being active again, trying to lose those last 15 lbs. I have figured out that the weight no longer just "drops off" (is it something about turing 30?) and I actually have to work at losing it. So today I went to my first exercise class post baby. Oh. My. Goodness. I thought I was going to pass out. It was a fun class...kickboxing/cardio/weights...and free! Halfway through the class I thought to myself, I hope Wes can call in sick tomorrow because I don't know if I'll be able to lift Caleb! hahaha!! I'm typing this now since I probably won't be able to lift my arms enough to reach the keyboard in the next couple of days. :)

But all in all, I felt great after that workout. It felt nice to actually be out and active again. It must be that adrenaline high or something. ;) Wes keeps trying to get me to try out this P90X workout, as well. He's got the DVD's or something. We'll see. Let me recover first. Really, though, wish me luck in trying to get this extra weight off by Christmas!

Caught On Camera

So do you remember how we had been trying to capture Caleb's smile on camer for quite some time now? Well, it may have taken me a good hour, but look what we finally have captured for posterity's sake!!

Pretty funny...its more of a "smirk" instead of a smile, but I'm pleased to have finally caught it! He's quite an amusing child with all of his antics, but we are enjoying him nonetheless.

And just because, here's a fun pic of my two monkeys. Kaytin wanted to get in on the action when she saw all the paparazzi flashing for Caleb.

Where Did The Trades Go?

Holy crazy heat, batman. Oh my goodness. So for the past couple of days the trade winds here in lovely Hawaii have all but disappeared and it is hot hot hot and muggy muggy muggy. I was complaining to Wes yesterday that I was sweating like I was still pregnant. I do feel for all of the soon to be mamas out there that I know. I thought July was hot...apparently September is no better. I feel like I'm melting. And the poor kiddos...just sweat sweat sweating like there is no tomorrow.

So what else is going on in our neck of the woods? A big hallelujah shout out that it looks as if the Mastitis drama has passed. I am hoping and praying with all my might that I won't have to deal with it again! And check this out...I recently bought one of these:

Its called a Sleepy Wrap. I know! I am such a freaking hippy! A friend of mine had one and let me borrow hers to try it out with Caleb and I love it! Its pretty hilarious the looks you get while wearing it out in public. I assume its just Kauai but people get all weirded out when they see you with something like this. Its almost as good as the looks I get while breastfeeding in public. Don't even get me started on that one. Its not like I'm out there flashing people my boob. Besides that, why are they even looking? Are they trying to catch a peek? WTH. I try to be discreet. I'm not sitting out in the middle of the mall all half naked. I should stop now. Just know this...Hawaii had to PASS A LAW saying it was legal for women to nurse in public. WHAT?! Are you kidding me? I've heard horror stories from other ladies who've had people ask them if they could NOT do that. Seriously? One person was even asked if they could go and do that in the bathroom instead. Her reply: I don't ask you to go eat your dinner on the toilet, so why should my baby have to? You go, sister. Lucky no one has actually said anything to me...just the looks. On my behalf, I give the best stink eye back.

New Pictures!!

And now for your viewing pleasure....

I walked back into the bedroom the other day after doing some dishes and found what appears below...

I asked little miss Kaytin, what are you doing? To which she replied, I'm in my house, Mommy. Notice she has surrounded herself in a semi-circle of toys. Apparently this is all you need to make a "house."

Look who's trying to hold his head up high! This buggah is growing up way too fast in my opinion. I still think he resembles Kaytin in many ways, but as you can see he has quite his own look. I'm loving this kid and as you can see below...

his sister is loving on him as well. ;) Oh lovely day. We're still chasing that ever elusive smile of Caleb's. This was an after effect of one of his smiles, but it looks more like he wants to eat. Oh well. Sooner or later we'll catch it on camera.

OMG...

The Mastitis saga continues. Just when the affected boob starts feeling better and I'm thinking that all is well in the land of the Taba's, the other boob starts killing me last night. Aches, pains, and fever once again. What the heck? I've been laid up in bed again all day feeling like I have the flu. Gross. Everyone that I've talked to who had this problem in the past are quite sympathetic as will I be when I ever talk to anyone else who gets it. It is definitely not fun. Apparently you are more succeptible to getting it again, too, for as long as I'm breastfeeding and with any subsequent pregnancies. Great. What a lovely thing to look forward to. I'm hoping and praying that once this resolves itself that its gone for good. I am so exhausted which is not a good thing with two kids competing for my attention.

I Have A Confession To Make...

You know how everyone has one of those secret vices that they hope no one else knows about? Like eating chocolate at 11pm after the rest of the house is asleep or eating ice cream for breakfast? Reading trashy novels or listening to music you don't want your kids to hear on your ipod? Yeah, you know you have one. So here's mine...I absolutely LOVE the show One Tree Hill.

I know, right? Isn't that the show that all the high school kids watch? Yeah, it is, but I am soooo addicted to it. Anyone else out there watch it? You should. Its like a 90210 of the 2000s and just fun stuff. Doesn't hurt that Chad Michael Murray is super hot either. Speaking of 90210, did you know that they're coming out with a new one? Weird. Anyway, please tell me that I'm not the only one who watches this stuff. You can catch the new season on The CW on Monday nights. I'm not lying, its good. Wes likes to make fun of me and pretend like he doesn't watch, too, but I know that he's secretly watching while pretending to be on the computer. hahaha...

Seriously?

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse. Remember how I had been hoping and praying not to catch the cold that was running rampant throughout my household? Well, the good news is that I didn't catch it! The bad news is that yesterday evening I started feeling a little "off." While breastfeeding Kaytin I had plugged milk ducts a couple of times, but they were easily resolved. I noticed last night that I was starting to get the some of the same kind of symptoms as those previous plugged ducts and naturally I tried to relieve the issue on my own. It didn't seem to work. Then all of the sudden I started feeling really achy and tired, but told myself that it was because I hadn't slept well with Caleb the night before. Time was dragging on and a little voice in my head told me to take my temperature to be sure that it wasn't an infection not just a plugged duct. Lo and behold, 101. Called the doctor who had me go in the ER at 10pm and I was given the lovely diagnosis of Mastitis. Ugh. Seriously? Seriously. (I heart Grey's Anatomy) Luckily we caught it very early on and I'm taking antibiotics for the infection and Ibuprofen and Tylenol for my fever. I'm telling ya...

Anyway, speaking of Grey's Anatomy...its less than a month away from the new season! Yahoo. Its nice that the summer went by quickly being pregnant and giving birth and all. Now we finally get to find out all the goods on Meredith and Derek (does anyone else thing something is going to happen to Derek on his way to go talk to Rose? it can't be THAT easy for him and Meredith to be together, right?) and what the deal was with the kiss between Callie and Erica or between George and Lexie or between Alex and Izzie?! (lots of kissing going on, eh?) September 25th, you know where I'll be!

I Knew It.

I knew I was jinxing myself with my last post. What I didn't mention was that Kaytin was beginning to come down with a little cold that day. Nothing big, just a bit of a runny nose, cough, your everyday run of the mill cold. Well, she progressively got a bit worse...and thankfully, today looks as if the worst has passed and is well on her way to feeling better. Wes comes home from work on yesterday and says, I think I'm catching Kaytin's cold. Uh oh. Bad sign. Well, luckily Wes is an adult and can fight off minor colds with his lovely immunities to them, so he's left with nothing more than a bit of a sore throat. Through all of this my only hope was that poor little Caleb would come out of it healthy and happy. No such luck. I should have known when he woke up last night at 1am (which I don't think he's ever done before). I fed him, put him back down and at 3am he started fussing again and lo and behold had a bit of a cough and sounded like he kept choking on his saliva. He wouldn't let me put him back down until around 6 (when Wes was getting up to get ready for work). Took him to the doctor this morning and sure enough my little man has his first cold. He's been taking it pretty well...sleeping most of the time and allowing me to suction his excess mucous. I've been feeding him in smaller amount on a more frequent basis and that seems to be sitting well with him. Poor little guy. Here's hoping it passes quickly.

Do You Hear That?

Shh....do you hear that? That's right, my friends, its the sound of my quiet house. My quiet house in which both (you heard me, BOTH) of my children are sound asleep. *sigh* Many of you are saying that I should be asleep, as well, but here I am blogging to my heart's content.

Ok, so Kaytin is not sleeping in the picture of her, but thought I'd share her latest thing. Where did she get this uber girliness from? I have no idea! Those of you that know me know that its NOT from me!!

Anyhow, things are going well in the Taba household. I'm actually getting some sleep, which is lovely. Caleb has been a fairly good sleeper...eating at 10pm and sleeping to around 3am if not longer. Of course, now that I've put that down in writing, he will become a monster, I'm sure. =) As you can see from his picture, he has definitely started to fill out. My little chunker was a hefty 11 lbs. at his one month checkup. Where or where did my little 6 pounder go? I'm feeling loads better...those first few weeks of recovery were a bit rough, but by week 4 or so I was feeling back to my old self. I have a checkup with my doc on Friday so here's hoping that they say I'm good to start exercising again. It will be nice to be able to go for walks as a family. =)

Maybe I will go catch some z's while I have the chance. Oh wait...is that Caleb I hear? I'll just keep wishing and hoping...

Now what?

Ok, everyone knows by now that I am officially addicted to the Olympics, right? But last night marked the end of the summer games for FOUR YEARS! What am I going to do with myself with no swimming/diving/track/basketball/volleyball

etc. to watch? I loved being able to turn on the TV and find something to watch regardless of what time it was. (God bless digital TV in HD) I sat and watched some ping pong, excuse me, table tennis. By the way, did you know that "officials" are trying to "sexy up" ping pong in the Olympics? No joke. They want the ladies to wear "sexier" outfits while playing. Um, okay... I think they're trying to make ping pong the new Curling of the summer games. (Don't lie, I know I wasn't the only one who got sucked in the last winter Olympics) Anyway, my original point was what am I going to do now? I suppose I'll just have to fall back on my Food Network. Too bad for Wes. What am I talking about too bad for Wes? If you didn't know the UH football season starts bright and early this Saturday morning...6:30 am Hawaii time kick off. Therefore, the lodge is already cleaned up and the menu has been planned. I'm afraid that this group of fans will be tailgating in my yard at 5:30. Yikes! I'll try to get pictures of it if I can. hahaha...

On another note, did you all watch the Little League World Series yesterday? Go Hawaii!! It was a bit of an anti-climactic win with their hugely exciting win coming the day before in the US finals, but nevertheless, they did great! I'm convinced that its because the team dedicated their season to the younger brother of the kid holding the flag in this picture. He couldn't make the trip to Pennsylvania with the rest of the fans because he's going through chemotherapy to treat his cancer. Breaks your heart, huh? Apparently it was only recently diagnosed. So sad! The boys on the team (and coaches, too, I think) all shaved their heads in support of him when he started losing his hair from the chemo. Go check out the story about Paliku Winchester here: http://starbulletin.com/2008/08/23/news/story03.html

Hilarious...

Check out this article...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26306410/?GT1=43001

I opened my MSN homepage and saw the title "Rogue monkey runs amok in Tokyo train station." hahahaha...just thought it was too funny not to share!

Back To Work

Just when I thought I was getting good at keeping our blog updated, Caleb went and started getting crazy at night and fussing for no apparent reason thus making me crazy. Thankfully, he seems to have settled back into a routine. Phew.

So back to work...no, not for me, sillys, for Wes. (I couldn't find a "HE works hard for the money" image, so Donna Summer will have to do) Yes, yesterday marked the day that I tried my hand at being a stay-at-home mom of two children. Wo. Started the day a bit nervous, but as you can see, I'm still here today, so I must have survivied! It actually went pretty well. Luckily, Kaytin likes to play outside and help her Papa Sonny in the pineapple patch and in the yard in general, so she spent a few hours outside playing with him while I did my thing inside being a milk machine. (Ever wonder how those cows feel when they're being milked to provide you with your lovely 2%? Go breastfeed.) My point is that we survived...at the end of the day we were still a family of four. Yahoo.

I am still on my Olympics overload. I can't believe this is the last week of it all! How will I wait four more years to relive the magic? Good thing the Winter Olympics will roll around again in two years and I can go on Curling overload! If you haven't checked out Curling yet, you're missing out my friends.

Was it just me?

Ok, call it postpartum hormonal craziness, but was it just me that teared up when Nastia Liukin won the gold medal tonight in the Women's All-Around Gymnastics competition? Oh my goodness, the whole hug with her gold medal winning dad/coach then putting in the call to her gold medal winning mom. Stick a fork in me, cuz I was done! Being the Olympics enthusiast that I am I've seen my fair share of medal ceremonies with Americans on the podium, but I still get a little choked up each time I hear the National Anthem being played and seeing the flag drop down from the ceiling. Girl kicked some Chinese ass tonight. fo sho.

Phelps Phan

I know everyone has seen the commercial I'm referring to and I think its hilarious! Really, though, I like this guy. I have been thoroughly engrossed with watching him swim and am truly amazed at his athleticism. (It doesn't hurt that he actually looks good wearing the horrid laser swim suit deal) I mean, sure, his teeth are a little weird and he's got a bit of a lisp, but damn! This fool is breaking records like there is no tomorrow. Its crazy. Naturally I cheat and check the internet on the days I know he's swimming for a medal, therefore, when I watch the event on TV its no surprise, but I was cheering like a mad woman on Sunday night when the US team won the 4x100 relay. Hoo boy. I blame the postpartum hormones, but I was getting a tad choked up watching them get their medals. I am such a sucker for stuff like this. I get all sucked in...poor Kaytin has been forced to watch the Olympics along with us. Not that she's complaining, though, she looooves the gymnastics and is totally into copying the floor exercises. Uh oh, time to go find her a class!

The Olympics!

I don't have a real reason for posting today other than to put out there for all the world to see my love of anything at all sports related AND just so I could have a post on 8/8/08. hahahaha...I am sittinf watching the Opening Ceremonies right now and am getting super excited about watching nothing but swimming to basketball to freaking high jumping for two weeks! Have I mentioned how much I love the Olympics? You should have seen me during the last Winter Olympics. I've never really been a real Winter Olympics fan until I discovered the art of Curling. Holy smokes...I am convinced that I can be an Olympian now. I was seriously up watching this mess at like midnight! Curling! What?! Watch for me in 2014!

Hiccups and Spitups

Apparently three years is long enough for one to forget how often little babies get the hiccups and how often they like to spit up what they just finished eating all over your clean shirt. Damn those evil pregnancy/newborn forgetfulness gnomes. Steal those memories right out of your head! I'm convinced that's the only way anyone would decide to have more than one child! hahaha...

We are still surviving here in our little neck of the woods. Kaytin came down with some sort of 24 hour virus that spiked her a fever which led to her (of course) barfing all over the place. Luckily it seems to have gone and the rest of us are all fine. We were especially worried about Caleb picking it up since he's so young, but God bless the breasfeeding immunities! Speaking of Caleb, he's been doing great. Just when you think you have him all figured out, though, he throws a curveball at ya. Last night (for the first time EVER) he decided that after his last feeding (11:30 pm) he was NOT ready to go to sleep. Nope, he was bright eyed and bushy tailed until at least 1 am. What the heck? Good thing Wes is still on leave! Lucky Daddy held him and finally got him to sleep. Hmm...no more late evening naps for this kid!

Fatty in the House

Caleb went in for his two week check up with his pediatrician today. OK, so here's the rundown, he was 6lbs. 13oz. when he was born. Most babies lose a percentage of their body weight before you take them home, right? Well, I'm not too sure exactly how much he weighed when we left the hospital on Sunday, but by Monday (remember he was born on a Thursday) he was back up to 6lbs. 13oz. Lovely weight gain. We had to take him back to see the doctor that Saturday (just 5 days later) and he was already 7lbs. 6oz. Okay...guess how much he weighed today? (again, 5 days later) 8lbs. 4oz.!!! Let's just say he's gaining weight at great rate. His doc was teasing me after Kaytin was born (and she gained just as quickly) saying that it wasn't breast milk that I was producing, it was breast cream! hahaha...apparently its true. Its definitely obvious in Caleb's features...he is starting to fill out all those little skin folds. Very cute. =) Pictures will be up soon, I promise.

Holy Mother of Two!

Now that I have a little time, I suppose I can ramble on a bit more about our newest addition. This post is probably more for my sake than anyone else's, but I have to put my thoughts down before they escape from my head into the never-neverland of sleeplessness. :)

We first found out I was pregnant with baby number two back in November of 2007. I had a gut feeling that something was a-brewing down below and taking a hpt proved me right. We'd had two miscarriages since Kaytin's birth so we were cautiously happy with the news, but still kept it to ourselves until seeing the doctor and confirming it by ultrasound. Man was that the longest two weeks waiting! You should have seen the look on the faces of the grandparents, though, when Kaytin showed them the ultrasound pics of her new baby.

The months quickly passed, althought not quick enough at times, and July rolled around. My doctors had scheduled me in for my c-section on July 17th. The night before I received a call from the hospital saying that they wanted me to come in an hour earlier than originally planned since we were being bumped up in line! So we arrived at the hospital bright and early at 6 am Thursday morning. The nurses sheepishly looked at me and said, um, we don't quite have a room for you yet since 4 people went into labor last night! I had to be prepped in the nursery and was to be taken back there after the surgery until a room freed up.

Now let's think about this. I was having a scheduled c-section this time around. No labor pains, no induction, just straight operating room bound. Most people would probably be freaked out by the fact that their insides are going to be cut open for all the world to see. Me? I was afraid of the IV. For real. Then I found out that I needed TWO! Oh my goodness. Luckily, I survived. After all the prep work, we were finally wheeled on over to the operating room a little after 8 am. More questions, more prep, then came the only other thing I feared. The intrathecal shot in my back. Ooh nelly...it didn't "hurt," it was just a really weird feeling. The shot is supposed to numb you from the tummy down. Imagine my surprise when I could move my right foot the entire surgery!! Crazy. The mood in the OR was light and airy, we talked about all kinds of things from football to Kaytin. All of the sudden the docs tell me, OK, lots of pressure now, and the next thing I knew, I could breathe again!! In the next instant, I heard Caleb crying and that set off the waterworks for me. The rest of the surgery was a blur as was my time in the recovery room. I was finally brought back to the L&D unit and got to meet my new little man! Caleb had to be monitored for awhile since his breathing was a little too fast, but in the end, he was perfect.

Its hard to describe the feeling of holding your new baby for the first time. Or seeing your firstborn interacting with your newborn. I feel like I can't soak up enough of these memories. I worry that one day I won't be able to remember them anymore. All I can do now is be there for all of those little moments. Enjoy the time I have with my two babies in the house. Fall in love with them again each morning and love them even more when I put them to bed at night. What a blessing it is to have a child...I feel even more blessed to now have two.

Caleb Yasuichi Kaulukupono was born on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 8:40 am. He weighed 6lbs. 13.8 oz. and was 19 1/4 inches long.

Guess who's here!!

On July 17th Caleb Yasuichi Kaulukupono joined our family at 8:40 am. Oh happy day!