Joyful Moments

Here's a pic with the girls and their good, good friends who are moving to Italy. What's up with kids and noses?!?

Some really enjoyable moments this summer:

-- Going to the zoo as a family. Anytime we can do something as a family, it is so great. So many times Nate has to work, so when he can be with us, it is so fun and relaxing (especially because I'm not the only adult!) Last time we were there the gibbons were making a lot of raucous. Here is a video I took because I thought kids would enjoy it.






--Going to Sunset Beach last weekend. While Nate was meeting with someone for business, the girls and I played in the water and had so much fun. We were giggling and chasing each other and getting pushed and pulled by the shore break. I felt pure joy playing with my daughters.

--The last two nights. For the first time since who knows when, I went to sleep in the evening and didn't wake up til the morning. And for those who have been tracking Elysse, that means she didn't either.

--Making bread with a biga. I have always loved baking bread. Lately I have been experimenting making bread with a sponge starter. The loaves have tasted really good -- kind of like French bread.

--Watching my seedlings grow. I planted tons of seeds in our garden: broccoli, tomato, pepper, spices, onion, lettuce, beets, and peas. I love watching them grow, and at the same time I wonder when I will actually replant them so they can survive, and I hope they will actually produce for us.

--Slowing down. I have been working on living life a lot slower since Elysse was born and I have loved the results. I enjoy life more, enjoy my children and my husband more, and don't worry (too much) about certain things anymore.

--Teaching swim lessons. I LOVE teaching swimming. I think it's the same reason I love to teach people to surf. I am teaching people to love the medium I love most in life: Water. So I have been teaching Kezia and Ivy's age group to swim. We have been having swim lessons at our friend's building, which has a much nicer pool than ours, complete with bathrooms and shade (yeah, ours doesn't have those "luxuries") and a HOT TUB! Lovin' it.

I love watching the kids learn and gain confidence. Yesterday the kids were so anxious to show me the cool things they learned to do in the water since the last class. And they say and do such funny things, like when I asked a girl to make big arm circles, and she put her pointer fingers and thumbs together to make the biggest circle she could. I have been impressed with the kids' willpower to make goals and reach them. I thought making goals would help them with learning to swim and I bribe them with their choice of treats from a treasure box that they can pick from after they reach their goal. They all choose lofty goals, and reach them!

Surfing magazine

Nate has been putting a lot of work into www.supsurfmag.com lately. It is exciting to watch this brain baby of his (really, a better term is heart-baby because he loves it so much) grow and expand in the direction we want it to go.

Nate amazes me. He has always had a gift for learning skills super quickly. Beginning with no experience with web design (ok, I take that back: very, very little), and just a deep love for stand up paddle surfing, he has built this magazine single-handedly. There have been so many times when he doesn't know how to get something to work the way he wants. He'd be all frustrated and out of ideas. Then the next day he has it all figured out and working smooth as butter. The trend has become so common now that when he tells me of a problem he's having, I tell him it'll be solved by lunchtime the next day, and usually I am right.


A week ago a surfboard company asked Nate to sell their boards through his site. Thus began a week with little sleep and countless hours and tons of brainwork poured into putting together a shopping cart on his website. He finished just yesterday. Big breath. Ahhhhhhh. They now have asked him to help with the R&D of their boards, which means they will send him a few boards to ride and test out. So now he'll have to surf for work.

The other day Nate met with Kahuna Creations during a demo day when they were demonstrating their skateboards with a paddle. We had our doubts; it sounded hokey. But we LOVED it! If anyone is into board sports, we highly recommend it. To us, it was just like stand up paddle surfing on land. Kezia took to it right away. I rode it with her, and she kept saying, "I want to do it by myself!" So I let her and she did really well!! After going back and forth on the sidewalk, she said, "Mommy, I am getting better because I am practicing a lot!" Nate and I think she will be a great surfer some day. She wants to surf and has been asking for months to enter a keiki surf contest in the fall. (I remind her she has to learn to swim first). When she was young, she spent a lot of time standing on her rocking chair and ever since she has had amazing balance.

Sesame Street ROCKS da HOUSE!!

Today was so much fun. We got to go to Sesame Street Live. If it ever comes to your town and you have little ones, it's a must see.

We were so fortunate to go. I saw the ad in the paper and really wanted to go. I entered the contest the ad was promoting, and like everyone but one person, I lost. Still, I really wanted to take our girls. They love playing the Sesame Street games and watching their videos on www.sesameworkshop.org. So I put an ad on Craigslist. Since our budget is really tight right now, I stated in my ad that we can't pay a lot for tickets right now, and guess what, someone responded!! It was a magazine, Island Life, and they had vouchers for $15 each. I thanked them, but said that would still be too much. I thought that would be the end. But she emailed me back and asked what we would pay and they would consider it. I told her $5/ticket. She gave them to us for that much!! I was so grateful to her and for her generosity.

Days were counted down with much anticipation, especially by Ivy, who, upon hearing how many more days until the Sesame Street show, would clench her fists near her cheeks, pop open her eyes, and through a teethy grin would exclaim, "I'm so excited!"


Kezia and Ivy had so much fun (it put Elysse to sleep). It was so worth it to see their eyes light up when their favorite characters danced across the stage. Here are some pics and video.

Update on all of us

Kezia “just can’t wait” to begin swim lessons again. She looooooves the water. On the way to the beach or pool, she asks that I get the sunscreen on right away so she can get in the water. She likes to see how far can “swim” out. She can swim all the way to the deep end in our pool and continues to stretch how far she can go out in the ocean, with me being her distance marker. A few days ago Nate was watching her from the shore and she began to swim further than we liked. I went in with her and she pointed to some sailboats out in the horizon. “I think I can swim all the way to that boat”, she said. We had a good serious talk about currents and the importance of only swimming to Mommy or Daddy. I call it swimming, but really it’s a modified swim with a swimming noodle between her legs. But yesterday she went out without it, so that was progress.



On Wednesdays we meet up with a women stand up paddle surf group. Kezia loves to lie on the nose of the board while I paddle. It’s a good bonding activity for she and I. She has tried out the sport herself.

Here's a video of her trying out the board for herself:


Her next big excitement is our procurement of a bugie board. She had so much fun riding it in the shore break.

Kezia still loves hula and is getting better and better. I am impressed with the hula halau she is in. Great people and plenty of no-pressure performances. She has another this upcoming Sunday.





Kezia performing in front of hundreds of people at a military event:



This week was the last week of Joy School and Great Beginnings. She has been with a great group of kids and I am grateful to have made new friends with the moms. She is excited about reading and writing and is always writing words and asking how to spell and showing us words she can read and coming up with words that rhyme. About 3-4 times a day she comes to me and says, “Mom, 3 and 2 make 5”, or some other addition equation.

Ivy surprised us yesterday by going out in the water by herself and putting her face and whole body in the water. She has been so timid about the water so we are proud of her.



She has been going to Great Beginnings since April so we let her “graduate” as well. Ivy loves to imagine. She is a great girl who finds beauty everywhere. Any flower on her path better be aware; they will most likely be plucked from off its stem and held and played with until it is nothing but a pile of ripped petals. She gets down and dirty with her feelings. When she’s happy, she’s happy. When she’s mad, she’s mad. When she’s sad, she’s sad. When she’s shy, she’s shy. And when she’s social, she’s social. And that’s something great about Ivy.
She is excited she can spell her name and knows most of the names and sounds of the letters in the alphabet. Today as I was changing her diaper, she was sounding out the letters to read the title of a book. I used to look at children this young who knew their alphabet and numbers and colors and such and think, wow, how do they know so much? And now I understand the influence an older sibling can have. And yes, you read that right -- Ivy is still in diapers!! We have not found anything to persuade her otherwise. ;( She is excited when she gets a treat for being dry but doesn't care if she wets or messes her diaper. I think this is happening because I used to see those big diapers and think, any mom who slips her kid into one of those has weaning issues. And now I know.
The other day we grabbed a like-new bike that was being thrown away with a seat attached to the back for a friend to ride in. The girls had been having so much fun riding it around until we find someone to give it to. Once we took it on a bike ride and there was a hill. The girls went screaming down the hill with their eyes popping out. They had so much fun.

I guess the biggest news for me is the ending of Great Beginnings. It has been a wonderful experience to be a part of these kids’ lives and watch them learn and grow. There were two other kids in the class who have moved away prior to the ending of school. They are all terrific kids. I have loved watching them discover learning on their own. And at the same time, I am grateful to have a break.



Next week I begin teaching swim lessons again, the ones that Kezia is so excited about. I love teaching swimming. I am excited about it.
I am grateful for the job I have tutoring my friend’s daughter. Although I warned her I am no good at math, she wants me to help her out. For some time I have been saying I want to improve my math skills and this is helping me do so. And I am grateful for the transcribing job with the federal news agency as well. I get to listen to intelligent people make intelligent conversation and learn about what is going on in the government without media bias. It’s totally great.
In general, I am doing great. I am happy and I love my family and my life. I love living here in Hawaii and everything that comes with it. Inside, I sometimes feel like I am going crazy. I am trying to take life one step at a time. The pressures of being a mom of 3, not getting half the things done I would like to, and trying to earn a bit more money sometimes weighs down heavily. Sometimes it takes effort just to breathe.

When I was little, my sisters and I used to say we hope some elves would come and clean up the mess we made. Then we would close our eyes and our little sisters would clean up the mess and enjoy the "surprise" we had on our faces when the mess was cleaned up. Sometimes I close my eyes now hoping elves would come, but it's the same scene when I open them back up. I would love some words of encouragement for the times that the pressure seems too much. Something that has been helping is writing down each day something during the day where I see God’s hand in our lives and noticing how much He is blessing us. That and the continuous “Mommy, I love you”’s from the girls is keeping me afloat. And, of course, my totally awesome husband.
Speaking of which, the 16th of this month marked our 8th anniversary. I am so so so grateful for Nate. He is my best friend and I love him so much. His mom watched the girls while we took off for some much missed rock climbing. After hiking straight up a mountain for a half hour in thick vog (volcano-caused fog, we arrived exhausted and out of breath at a cliff lined with climbs. It was so nice to be climbing again, and the view was fabulous. Afterward we jumped into the turquoise waters of the near-empty beach bordering the mountain.

See the cliffline? That's the climbing spot. The hike up to it was straight up -- no zigzagging or anything....obviously the trail was made with the end in mind.



Happy Climbers



The refreshing ocean that awaited our descent from the mountain:




Nate is working on bringing to life his many business ideas. He gets so excited about them. However, I think he may have worked himself sick. Right now he is in bed trying to kick a sore throat. His SUP surf magazine continues to attract the attention of some of the industry's greats. Many times he'll tell me a pro surfer called or another publication called. This morning USA TODAY called to ask him questions about the stand-up paddle surfing industry. So if you subscribe to USA TODAY, look for Nate's name in an upcoming issue! And we are realizing some of the perks of owning an outlet for advertisers: they love to send you free stuff.

Elysse - 4 months

There seems to be more than one person interested in seeing what Elysse looks like now. Apparently, pictures of just 1 month ago are way outdated, so here are some new ones. Kay, my mother-in-law, says she looks like me. Others say she looks like Nate. Others, including me, say she looks like her own persona. What is your take?






(Once the screen shows a lonely pacifier, there's nothing else to watch...apparently the camera was still on!)



She is still not sleeping through the night (PLEASE be soon!!), and in an attempt to stuff her full 'til morning, we began to feed her solids. It seemed to help a little, but not as we had hoped. We moved out of the room to see if that would help. It helped a little too. And after a breakdown on my part ("I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!"), Nate has been doing most of the night duty for the last couple of nights. I must say that the last couple of days with a bit more sleep have made such a difference. I haven't had to concentrate on thinking ("Ok, Heidi, think!". But I think we have to go back to our old routine, since Nate usually gets 5 hours of sleep per night without waking up with the baby and today he looks like a zombie. He needs to think a bit more during the day than I do. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted. And hopefully soon I can know what it is like once again to go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning without interruptions.

Elysse is way beyond her age. In fact, she is already learning the alphabet. One day I picked her up because she was crying. Kezia's eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Mom! Elysse knows the sound of the letter A!"




She has learned to roll over to her back, which she much prefers to her stomach. She has also learned to drool, and as long as it's not as much as Ivy (soaking wet by 9am), we are doing alright. Elysse has begun to learn to laugh, which makes us always try to get a giggle out of her. She's at a fun age where she can interact a bit more. She likes to look intently into our eyes and garble, as though she is sharing some serious thoughts with us. She has also gotten the hang of putting her hands where she wants them to go, which has come in quite handy with observing nearby toys. We are so grateful for her and her ability to make us smile.

Taken

The clanging of chains disturbed our otherwise peaceful breakfast.

Curious, I looked off our lanai to find a men with a large tree-cutting truck unchaining their machinery. They were preparing to cut down the beautiful orange flower tree right outside our window that gives us privacy and shade, and treats us with songs of birds and occasional bird visitors, both on our lanai and occasionally in the house. The morning was then scarred by the cacophony of power saws cutting down that beautiful tree. I didn't want to look outside and I almost got teary eyed thinking about it. The morning before they locked the gate to the grassy area. The only one around unless we took a walk to the army base across the street. There are plans to close the pool, too. I feel like our little apartment building is slowly turning into a mini concrete project.

Mr. T Tribute for Mother's Day

Here's a classic Mr. T. video for "mothers all over the world" . Enjoy!



Mother,

"There is no other" like you. Happy Mother's Day!!! I love you!!

Here's another great one -- I think we all heard these:



Ok, so on a more serious note:

I am trying to think of a way to say how awesome mothers are and how they, more than anyone, are able to dabble in the fate of the future by helping form tomorrow's future mothers, fathers, leaders, citizens, neighbors, and friends. I can't think of a way to say it, but I do think it is an amazing gift, and I am grateful to have been given it and to know it's more important than any job I could have. Here is a quote I found recently that says more eloquently what I mean:

“When God wants a great work done in the world
or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way.
He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts.
Instead, he has a helpless baby born,
perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother.
And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart,
and she puts it into the baby’s mind.
And then God waits.
The greatest forces in the world are not
the earthquakes and the thunderbolts.
The greatest forces in the world are babies.”

- E.T. Sullivan

Merry Christmas!!

For the past couple of weeks the girls have been asking how many days until Christmas. One day Kezia carefully lined up all her small toys in rows and called me into her room to look at the display. "Is this how many days until Christmas?" She asked. "No, Kezia," I said, "there are a LOT more days than that." "But Mom," she said, "There are like 20 toys here!!" (and what could be longer than 20 days!!) So we decided to have Christmas a bit earlier this year...like the next week. So yesterday we put up the small Christmas tree, sang Christmas songs, and passed out homemade gifts to each other.


It was fun. Nate made clay pendants for everyone, I made paper flowers, Kezia made a dog puppet for Ivy, and Ivy made a can and string telephone for Kezia.

Elysse with a necklace from Daddy

I love the kids' imaginations, and Kezia's absolute LOVE for the canine species. No matter what you give her, it turns into a dog somehow. Like her princess dresses. They are the outfits for her imaginary character Dancy the Dog. And although playing telephones with the cans was entertaining for a while, a half hour later, they were both doggies on a leash.

Kezia found an empty diaper box, drew a steering wheel on its flap and called it a car. After a week of playing with it, she wrapped it up for Ivy for "Christmas". Ivy tore off the wrapping, revealing the diaper box. She announced in a not-so-sure voice, "It's... a.....booooxxx." Kezia said, "No, it's a car, Ivy." Ivy's face lit up like a sixteen year old with a new lisence: "Oh! It's a car!! It's a car!!!"

I guess it's all in the name.

Three's a company

I'm tired.

Taking care of three kids is like treading water above a hungry swarm of sharks. I know at some point one of those sharks will want to bite, but if I can just maintain and get a few good breaths in, then maybe I can tackle a shark when it comes in for the attack. But sometimes the sharks get impatient and want to bite at the same time. At the end of the exhausting ordeal, I somehow find myself on top of the water and breathing again (and maybe a little bit scathed).

I am so grateful for that higher power that supplies me with the ability to grasp a few breaths and have the energy to keep on treading even when I feel too tired to do so. And a lot of that comes from the handfuls of "Mommy, I love you" 's that I keep hearing from Kezia and Ivy. I don't know why they say it, because they say it out of the blue, but I think God knows it's what I need right now. It's like a power boost that makes it all worth it.

I am excited for Elysse to sleep through the night. I'm to the point where I am having dreams she awakes only in the morning and I am so well rested and happy, and that pleasant dream is interrupted with her crying at 2 in the morning.

Having three kids, though has been really helpful in helping me sloooowwww waaaayyyy doooowwwnnnn and just enjoy the moment. It's really been helping the mood of everyone, and that's good. I've also learned to prioritize better and be ok if we are late or if our house is a mess or we have mac and cheese every so often.

Mommy, I love you.

Could any other words strung together sound so sweet? And for some reason, both of my daughters have been telling me that the last couple of days. While we play together, do our own thing, or even after having a time out, they have said to me, "Mommy, I love you." And sometimes those words are followed by a smile and a hug. And I'm lovin' it every time.