tsunami warning

[quickly updating]: tsunami did not arrive. Instead, we were glued to the TV watching the tide go back & forth . . . great. Just to give you an idea of how big the hype was surrounding the tsunami: sirens went off island-wide at 5 or 6 am? (Maybe earlier than that) Stores opened until 10am, gas stations had looooong lines of people frantically trying to fill up their tank, Longs sold out of water completely... & then at 10am, everything closed. Literally. Every store closed. Actually, I don't even think that Starbucks opened today (tragic for me). The freeways were shut down.

& thankfully, nothing happened. Will write a new post soon :) Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers to my dear friends in the virtual world.
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Looks like we're just waiting until 11pm to see what "mother nature has in store for us" (quoted from the news anchor this morning)

Read story here:

We're about 40 minutes away from finding out what will happen. Luckily, we live in central Oahu, so we're not being evacuated or anything ... but it does make you realize that we live on a teeny tiny little island and if any type of natural disaster were to happen, there's really nowhere to go ... just wait and see what happens.

All stores & roads were shut down at about 10am. I sent Vance to the store to buy emergency food/water/etc... he came back with Cheerios, Doritos, chocolate covered pretzels... and a few cans of vienna sausage. HA! Pretty awesome.

You can also follow what's happening here.

9 month check-up

Since Brooke was sick for her 9 month check-up, we rescheduled for today.

Here are her stats:

birth: 8lbs 6 oz / 19.75 inches
1.5 months: 12 lbs / 22.5 inches
4 months: 17.10 lbs / 25.5 inches
6 months: 20.14 lbs / same height (I think... can't remember)
7 months: 21.10 lbs
8 months: 22.2 lbs
9 months: 23.5 lbs / 29 inches

She is in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. Definitely a healthy baby :)

I am blessed

WOW. I just read my last post and realized how much of an ungrateful biatch I sounded like. Instead of parading on about Brooke's sickness and snaggle tooth and whatnot, I really should have been blogging about how lucky we were that we went 9.5 (almost 10!) months of no sickness, no teeth (which ensured for a very healthy breastfed baby) and minimal fussiness.

Sometimes I scare myself about how quick I am to point out all of the wrong things there are in my life instead of counting all of the blessings.

I am sitting here watching Brooke nap (she is feeling much better today, by the way) and I can't help but feel lucky just to know her, let alone raise her and be her mother. Vance & I will never be as cool as this spunky little one.


Aaaaaaanyways. Get out your tissues when you read this blog. Amazing.

I have decided to start a new year's resolution (albeit a bit late) and do a momma-makeover. Vance will attest to this when I say that I am way low-maintenance-- rarely ever do I wear makeup and my daily wadrobe consists of shorts and a t-shirt. I plan to revamp my wadrobe and change up my hair (ideas, anyone? Maybe highlights or something) ... will keep you posted :)

Also changed up my background. I got it from here. I'm really into giraffe prints right now... we just bought some giraffe printed body pillow covers from Target. *Swoon*

& even though we don't know if we'll have bebeh#2, I lurve thinking of baby names. Is it just me? Vance thinks I'm absolutely ridiculous b/c I'm constantly asking him, "what do you think of _____?"

Brooke might be an only child. . .

... because the past week has been rough on me. Like I previously mentioned, Brooke is normally VERY happy-go-lucky and easy going. My FIL and my mom always comment on what a good baby she is.

Then she got sick and all hell broke loose. Seriously. I have cleaned up WAY too much vomit in the past week than I have in my entire lifetime (this includes cleaning up drunken friends' vomit!) Last night she was sleeping while nursing ... woke up and started making noises. I ran to get Vance up, and as soon as he took her, she vomitted buckets & buckets. All over. Right before bed.

It appears now that she is cutting her first tooth as well. So on top of the fever, vomitting, diarrhea (the antibiotics led to diarrhea), which then led to her first diaper rash ... she is now incredibly fussy because of her snaggle tooth.

It seems the "the talk" of having one more or not having another at all is coming up more and more frequently. We would either like them to be close in age (2 years, 3 years max), or we may not have another one. Even though we talk about it a lot, we haven't seriously decided on what we want (or don't want). I guess time will tell.

Ugh... Anyway, here are some pictures of the snaggle tooth monster.

"You! Yeah you!" -->taken off of Vance's iphone


Brooke absolutely loves Ellen



Zoe, Brooke & Buddy guarding the door

It was crazy hot and humid today... she's a little sweatball!

Top 2 Tuesday

Top 2 TV Shows:
1. The Today Show (I watch this as soon as I get up in the morning. It keeps me up to date with things I may have missed throughout the day while watching Brooke! Plus they have random gossip and style news)

2. The Ellen DeGeneres show (Brooke and I watch this every day when she eats lunch. She loves Ellen and will stop doing whatever she is doing to watch the show!)

Some others that I watch:
E! News (would have been on there but there was only room for two)
Gilmore Girls
Teen Mom
Kardashians
Giuliana & Bill
Grey's Anatomy
& now America's Best Dance Crew (there's a 'crew' from Hawaii and Vance actually knows one of the guys on that crew!)
... oh, I also started watching Real Housewives as well, but I'm not fully immersed yet. :)

My first award!!!!!!

So ... I'm pretty much the biggest nerd ever. I follow this blog and was reading the 7 interesting facts...got to the 3rd one & had to change Brooke's diaper... came back and realized I was nominated! [Happy dance]

I just realized I have to come up with seven interesting things to tell you people in cyberland about myself.... [scratches head]

1. Um... I lived in LA for a year when I went to Loyola Marymount for my freshman year of college

2. I have my MA in counseling but currently 'work' as a stay at home mom. (Hey, it's a job...)

3. Just realized how NOT interesting I am as the first two things that come to mind are school related. Um... Vance & I were both born and raised in Hawaii (our parents live about 2 minutes apart) and we have never been surfing before.

4. In college, I minored in Spanish even though I am 100% asian, HA. [Just realized that was yet another school-related fact. Boo.]

5. I love walking around Wal-mart & Target (and at malls) aimlessly and could probably do so everyday.

6. I dream of moving to the mainland. I would love to live in NYC, SoCal (again), NorCal & somewhere like Washington or Oregon. Of course, now that we have Brooke and all of our family lives here, it will most likely not happen.

7. I can't imagine going on vacation to someplace like Hawaii where you sit around on beaches all day and do NOTHING. I like to sight-see and shop and eat eat eat when I'm on vacay! (Oh, did I mention I love to shop?)

Whew, that's over. Now I can tag 7 other people... which will be hard b/c I'm new to this blog business and don't follow 7 blogs yet.

Oh well, here we go!
1. Cai at Adventures of Cai & Cullen
2. Taylor at Jimmy Choos And A Baby Too
3. Lisa at Surviving Oz (she is helping me make a blog header, yipeee!)
4. Renee at Renee And Adam Plus Baby

Crap. I'm going to have to end it at 4 because I don't know many other bloggers yet. :(

My baby is sick

Yep... Brooke has her first bout of sickness. On tuesday night she threw up buckets & buckets right before we went to bed... this she has done before, so we thought nothing of it-- just cleaned her up, fed her a bit so she wouldn't go to bed hungry and put her to bed. The next day she woke up with a runny nose and we realized in the afternoon she was running a fever. We gave her a little infant tylenol and she threw it right up. At around dinner time her fever was up to 101 ... later that night it reached 102. We had called the doctor earlier that day & as luck would have it, she wasn't in. The receptionist told us to bring her to the ER if she continued throwing up 8-10 times in 24 hours.

Once her temp. reached 102 and showed no signs of going down, Vance and I decided to be those parents and took her into the ER. You know, just in case. At the ER they tried to give her motrin, which she threw up all over the nurse and registration table and became inconsolable. They took a chest X-ray, which showed a little haziness on her chest. The attending resident diagnosed it as "mild pneumonia," but said pneumonia was unlikely-- they were just being cautious. They sent us home with prescriptions for antibiotics for the pneumonia, anti-nausea medicine and tylenol suppositories.

We took her to the pedi the following day, and the pedi. said it wasn't pneumonia which is great (sarcasm) because it means we're giving her antibiotics for nothing. We also gave her the anti-nausea medicine which ironically made her throw up right away.

Needless to say, it's been rough for all three of us. Brooke refuses to be put down to sleep, period. She can be passed out and the moment she touches her crib, the floor, the bed... she wakes up screaming. She has been crying inconsolably and EXTREMELY fussy, which is to be expected.

It's just hard because she is normally such a happy go lucky baby, rarely cries unless something is wrong. I feel so helpless and would love to take this away from her... poor little baby.

Here is my little sick one:

Eating puffs and watching Ellen

Clapping :)

Us in baby jail

My bubby

9 months

2 days ago my baby turned 9 months. NINE MONTHS! Or as I told Vance, she's been an outside baby for as long as she was an inside baby. . . funny how the time flew by when she was outside and draaaaagged on when she was 'inside.'

On friday we go to the doctor's office for her well-baby checkup.

So far here is her breakdown of weight:
birth: 8lbs 6 oz / 19.75 inches
6 weeks: 12 lbs / 22.5 inches
4 months: 17.10 lbs / 25.5 inches
6 months: 20.14 lbs / same height (I think... can't remember)
7 months: 21.10 lbs
8 months: 22.2 lbs

& here are some things that we can "do"

- crawl!!
-pull up on tables, chairs, people .. basically she'll try to stand up on anything she gets her clammy little hands on
- clap
- wave hi and bye
- fake cough & laugh (which is hilarious, by the way)
- kiss
- constantly babbling/yelling/screaming (happily)... sometimes we think she's trying to say "mama" and "dada" but who really knows
- grasp small objects with her pointer finger and thumb (pincer grasp) and bring it into her mouth
- raise both hands over her head
- dance, well she bounces to the music from her toys while sitting and standing

We are currently eating stage 2 purees (all organic), puffs, yogurt melts...

Top 2 Dream Vacations:

Ahhh, there are so many I have to choose from. :(

1) Can I clump all Europe into one dream vacation? Since this is my blog, I will. Muahaha. I'm dying to visit Spain, Italy, London and Paris

2) Disney World: I've never been. I've been to Disneyland various times, but I heard that Disneyworld is like Disneyland but ten times better. Vance & I have a "5 year plan" where when we hit the big 3-0 we will take our family to Disneyworld (Brooke plus whatever munchkins we have with us... most likely only ONE more!)

happy valentine's day

Tonight the hubs & I are most likely staying in. I'm not a big Valentine's girl -- though don't get me wrong, I love receiving presents -- so I'm thinking it will be an order pizza & a movie stay at home date night. :)

Anyway, happy valentine's day from our family to yours!

Top 2 Tuesday

Top 2 Tuesday:
My Dream Job
1. Samantha Brown-esque job-- I have big dreams of starting a Travel Channel show about travelling with my family... around the world, or country even... eating good food and checking out the hotspots & attractions... ahh, what a good life

2. Open up my own business. I'm just not sure what type of business. I first wanted to open up a bridal bar where brides/couples could come and have a cocktail while wedding planning and reviewing wedding resources and what not. Now I'm not too sure.. I'll have to think about it.

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY

Vance is a HUGE Colts fan . . . even since before they made it to the Super bowl. We even almost named Brooke Peyton because of Peyton Manning-- then Vance decided he didn't want to be one of "those" people. Anyway, needless to say, he was stoked they made it to the Super bowl... so stoked that he offered to host the Super bowl party at our house. I wasn't too thrilled about this, but whatever. I digress. Poor Vance. I ended up being really glad that Brooke's name wasn't in fact, Peyton b/c I'm pretty sure she would have got a lot of flack yesterday. & truthfully, if Vance wasn't such a huge Colts fan, I would have cheered on the Saints! Team Kim all the way!

By the way, when is Reggie going to propose?!

Here are some pics...

Inside the house set-up


Sign I made + betting charts (we may have lost the game, but we won $25 at least!)


Garage set-up

We had high hopes... (notice Brooke's bib)

Halfway through the game (still smiling)

Checking on the dogs outside (Harlee, Kaiah and Zoe... Buddy is off somewhere playing by himself)

Grandpa, Daddy and Great-grandpa


Brooke took a nap sometime during the 3rd and 4th quarter... she kept waking up because her father was a drunken monkey and kept yelling at his team!


Poor Vance. :( Next season?

Carnival

We did it. Took Brooke out at night to her first carnival! We were a little worried, knowing that we'd probably get home past her bedtime (and forgo her "routine"), but we did it anyhow! It was a blast, but wayyyyy to crowded. Vance and I were able to enjoy malasadas and carnival food. .. Vance even won Brooke a stuffed animal :) She fell asleep on the car ride home and woke up once we got home. . . then didn't fall asleep till 11pm! I'm excited for next year when she will be able to indulge in malasadas with us and possibly ride a few rides...

Iolani family fair in a few months? We all know Iolani beats Punahou -- maybe not in the ride department, but hello, why are the drinks sold separately from the food stands and why must the malasadas have a hole in the middle?! :)

Us & the stuffed animal daddy won

Knocked out on the ride home!

Secret Garden

Vance and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the house we live in. It's tiny--- more like a little cottage-- but is perfect for our family. What many people don't realize about our house is that it has a huge backyard, which is great for the pups. . . & for the bubs now that we have a little tyke. We haven't taken advantage of our backyard until recently. . . here are some pictures of us exploring and playing in the backyard.

Close up

Brooke watching Vance blow bubbles with Buddy & Zoe

:)

New stroller

In my previous post, I mentioned that we bought a new stroller. To many people, this is a crazy thing to do since we already own the Bugaboo Bee, which is a great stroller. I LOVE that it acts as a snap-n-go with the Graco Snugride, and how light and compact it is (it fit easily in my Toyota Corolla). However, my dear, darling daughter HATES, HATES, HATES being strapped into things, and her stroller is no exception. with the Bee, there is no option to leave them unstrapped, and this = an unhappy camper.

Therefore, our hunt began for a new stroller in which Brooke can cruise around unstrapped. The other "must have" on my stroller list was that the seat had to be reversible. After I read this article, I was sold. (Call me gulliable, but I'll give Brooke whatever chance she has at being smarter and happier)

Well, there are very few options with my must-have list. The 2 we narrowed it down to was:

The Peg Perego Pliko Switch:
-Freedom of movement harness (She is harnessed in, but can move around)
-The seat is reversible

&

Mia Moda Atmosferra
-No freedom of movement harness, but it does have a "baby catcher" net, that wraps around the tray encasing my little bundle of joy

We ended up going with the Atmosferra, mainly because Vance liked it better. He wasn't a fan of the Peg ... I think because of the way it looks and how bulky and heavy it was.

Here is an article on the Mia Moda from Celebrity Babies Blog.

So far, so good. Taking Brooke out in the stroller is so.much.easier now. However, the fold up isn't that easy and opening the stroller is a little iffy... hmm.. hopefully this will get better with some practice.