4 month photo shoot and stats

I forgot to post Malia's stats. She had a great check up at Dr. Drucker's office on Friday. She LOVES Dr. Drucker, was giggling, smiling, and just so happy to see him. She was not so happy to get her shots though. Her poor chubby legs have big red bumps, one on each one. Friday night though she did a 7 hour stretch before she had to nurse again! That was SO nice!

Malia's stats:
Weight: 14.12 pounds( 77th percentile)
Height: 24.5 inches (91st percentile)
Head Circ.: 42.2 cm (82nd percentile)

Kekoa's 4 month stats:
Weight: 15 pounds (60th percentile)
Height: 25 inches (60th percentile)

Kekoa gets very excited when it is photo shoot time. He likes to help me make Malia laugh. When he saw her sign, he asked me, "mommy, where is mine?" So I made him a sign too, "3 years and 1 month", he chose orange and black as his colors.
Mmmm, tasty.

Kekoa trying to make Malia laugh. :)

Whatcha doin' over there baby sister?

Put your foot here baby sister.

baked chocolate donuts

Kekoa asks me almost every day if we can make chocolate donuts. We made some of these puppies when I was in labor with Malia! Wow, that was a long time ago.
Either it is too hot to bake or we just don't have the time.

Well, today was the day. We got busy baking while Scott was at work. It was the perfect thing to do on a Sunday afternoon. Kekoa helped me every step of the way, which was so much fun. I always dreamed, when we had kids, that they would be helping me in the kitchen.

He was so excited to eat his baked chocolate donuts but not so excited to have his picture taken! :)

a new park

I have been wanting to take Kekoa to Bramhall park for months now, it just never happened. Do you ever feel like you get stuck in a rut, doing the same things over and over again? Sometimes it is easier to go with what you know and we tend to do that when we go to our local parks. There is something safe and familiar with it.

Then I get an itch, like I need something new to rejuvenate my soul. I am pretty sure Kekoa was feeling the same way. Since we have been back from Hawaii, he has been such a homebody, in a post vacation slump. He hasn't wanted to go anywhere in the afternoons. I've been so tired and it is easier to just stay home with two kiddos that I haven't really pushed us to get out either. I think today we have kissed the post vacation blues away.

Kekoa was super excited to go to a new park. We were discussing which park we should go to over snack, listing all of our favorites, when I asked him if he wanted to try a new park. His eyes lit up and he immediately said "yes mommy!"

We are so used to driving to Los Gatos that I forget about all the parks in San Jose, that are super close to us. Bramhall park was so much fun. It had two playgrounds, one for toddlers and one for big kids. There were so many huge redwood trees and oak trees that kept the playground nice and shady. Kekoa had the best time, running back and forth on this ramp that went up to the play structure. He was pretty much running the entire time we were there...it was so funny to watch him. He had the hugest smile on his face, so carefree. It was one of those moments I wish I could have bottled up to revisit again later.

Kekoa couldn't stop talking about the new park on the drive home and all through dinner and then during bath time too. It was wonderful to see him in such a great mood. He can't wait to go again, but this time he wants to bring Baba too. :)

A wibbly wobbly rocking zebra horse thing.

Kekoa was fascinated with these bells. "Whas is that sound mommy?" is what he asked when he first heard them. He had to go investigate and found theses bells.

rock climbing by himself.

The ramp Kekoa couldn't get enough of. He would get to the end and say "hi" before turning around and running back to the other side. It was fantastic.

Hi mommy!

The beautiful redwoods.

Hogue park with my boy

It has been a long time since Kekoa and I have come to this park. We used to come all the time and meet our good friends, Kasper and Milan. Life has changed just a little since Malia :)

We had a great time together.

We put out a lot of fires!

Climbing up the rocket ship chute!

driving

Kekoa loves helping Scott drive his truck. Whenever Scott has to move his truck out of the driveway, Kekoa is right there to assist.
I remember driving like this with my dad around town...way before car seats were the law! :)

Kekoa practices his "shaka"

Fremont crew

On Wednesday the Fremont crew came for a visit.
Kaiwei and Jiawei just love baby Malia.

Malia is 4 months

Dearest Malia Belle,

I am so lucky to have such a sweet and beautiful baby girl. You are such a good baby, I can't even believe it. Your smile lights up the room and makes all of us laugh. You love it when I sing to you and this just makes you laugh and smile. Your laugh is the best sound, music to my ears. Since you are super ticklish, I can usually get you to giggle quite a bit. Your ge ge is so excited to say good morning to you and to show you all of his toys. He absolutely adores you and you just laugh and laugh at him. Of course, when he gets a little too in your face, you have started to express your annoyance with a grunt or cry.

You have truly "come alive"...no more newborn baby. You are grabbing everything, including your feet. I love it when you grab your chunky little feet. You have become even more attached to your binky and blankey...if that is even possible. You love putting your blankey over your face when you are sleeping, then you scream because you can't see. You love to grab my hand when I am reaching into the moses basket at night, to put the binky back in your mouth..you don't want to let go. You are really coordinated with your hands and can hold onto the handle of your binky and get it back in your mouth.

I love watching you play on your jungle mat and you love your jungle mat. It is so cute to watch your chubby little legs kick as you reach out and grab the toys. The bee is your favorite but you are also now playing with the toucan and anything else we have dangling.

You are a little chatterbox. There have been a few nights, when you wake up at 3:00 am and just want to chat with mama! I've even had to put you in your swing in the middle of the night once because you couldn't settle yourself down. We love listening to your baby babbles, just not when we are so tired! You have even said, "ma ma ma" as your baby babble...which of course melted my heart, even if you didn't know what you were saying. I love it when you are nursing and you will look up at me, with complete awe, give me a huge smile, and then go back to nursing. It is like you are checking, making sure I'm still there.

You have become a drool monster. I think I'm going to have to bust out the bibs. You are also putting everything into your mouth and gnawing on it...your hands, your burp clothes, toys, your binky, your blankey...

Overall, you are a great sleeper so far and I really can't complain. You are able to put yourself to sleep completely awake, we just have to get you in that sleepy window. You are still unpredictable as far as when you will wake up at night. It is usually around midnight, then 3:00 am, then around 5:30. You do go back to sleep after each feeding which is very nice. You are up for the day between 7:00 and 8:00. Some nights you want to nurse more often (I think those are growth spurt times) and then some nights you stretch it. I always try the binky first, before I wake up to feed you. There are many times that is enough and you'll fall back to sleep for an hour or more.

For naps, there still really isn't a schedule. You are usually awake, anywhere between 1-2 hours before you get sleep again. You take 3 to 4 naps a day. The last nap is if you wake up before 3:00 pm, you'll get a little cat nap in before bed.

During the day you are nursing about every 3 hours. You are champion nurser and will grab my tank top to bring yourself in closer. Right before bedtime you really like to load up and will cluster feed, nursing around 5:00ish and then at 6:00ish and then again at 7:00ish.

Your big accomplishment, besides finding your feet, is rolling over! You've rolled from you stomach to your back. You are almost there with rolling from your back to your stomach. It's pretty funny to watch because you are completely on your side, back arched and I just keep waiting for you to flop over onto your belly, but it hasn't happened. You are still a scooter and I often find you in a completely different spot then the one I put you in.

My favorite thing we have done this past month is gone to mom and baby yoga. You absolutely loved all the one on one attention and couldn't get enough of all the other babies. You are so observant and loved checking out what they were doing. It is really nice to have that little bit of special time with just you.

We all love you so much Malia Belle. You are such a cutie pie and I am looking forward to all your new milestones in this up coming month!!

love,
your mama

tearing it apart

It is amazing how fast babies learn and change. Each day, Malia amazes us with how she will play with her toys. Today she was going crazy in her pod chair with her new toy...as Kekoa said, "she's tearing it apart." I don't remember Kekoa being so destructive!

Mama's back working

Well, I am working a little.
I am teaching a Prenatal Pilates class once a week, Tuesday evenings.
Tonight was my first class. The class went well, I was a little nervous, but it was still fun. What wasn't the best was coming home to two kiddos not asleep!!

The first question I ask myself is, am I doing the right thing? Is evening time the best time to be gone? Malia was a screaming demon the whole time I was gone and wouldn't take a bottle. Kekoa couldn't sleep because she was screaming. After coming home from teaching Pilates, I don't want to spend another hour putting over tired kiddos to sleep! But, it is nice to be working again too...such a dilemma!

First time in the green pod chair

Malia is finally ready for the green pod chair. She had her first experience in it today and did really well. She liked being able to look at everything.

Kekoa was so proud of Malia today.