A New Day

Yesterday was definitely rough, Kala went to bed the night before with a bit of a fever, I gave him tylenol and thought "No big deal right"... WRONG. He woke up at 5 in the morning yesterday with a fever of 103, I called the on-call nurse from his pediatricians, she said just give him tylenol/ibuprofen and call the doctors office first thing, you don't need to worry until his temp hits 105. So he went to bed and woke up at 7:45 with... guess.. A TEMP OF 105. So we hurried, got him dressed again after he started coughing and threw up the milk he had previously (talk about yuck, curdled milk, poor guy). By the time we were leaving the house his temp went down to 103 so we called the Doctors office and headed over for an appointment. Sure enough poor kid has both Influenza A as well as strep. The doctor said it was only a little strep compared to the beaming red line he got with the influenza A. Oh goodness poor kid was not a happy camper, between lots of throw up, lots of laundry, and holding my sweet kiddo all day, I was just... can you say not the brightest ray of sunshine you could encounter... haha. So i decided to head right off to bed last night and that tomorrow would be a new day. Well today is that day and it has been A MILLION times better. Kala woke up a few times last night but I still managed to wake up before he did today, watch a conference talk on how to raise my children, started folding the many loads of laundry and then made WAFFLES for breakfast. While Kala and Kaulana had a little daddy son time I continued to try to clean and organize our mess of a house then decided to make these (without the Kale since I didn't have any) wonderful baked beans for lunch, along with Sylvia's gluten free cornbread, and fresh cut watermelon. I have to say, I am sooo thankful that each day we can start anew and that I can still eat yummy food without all the gluten! As my old assistant principal used to say "Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours". Yesterday may not have been one of my shiney days, but I am bound and determined to make today brighter than yesterday! Happy day everyone!

Conquering His Fears, one slide at a time...

Excuse the poor picture quality I only had my phone to capture this momentous occasion, but oh man I am so proud of my little man. So back in either september or october, we were at play group and kala went down the slide, popped off and knocked his head right back on the slide. Needless to say, he has HATED the slide since then. Talk about terrified, he would just freak out any time I tried to get him to go on the slide, even if I was with him. The other day I was at the park with my good friend Melissa and her daughter, while we were sitting talking the kids were playing and ALL OF A SUDDEN i see Kala turn his little booty around and go down the slide! Now it was the small slide but, HE DID IT! I was just in complete amazement. Sure enough I was that mom just cheering away for him, so he did at least five more times. Yet, he still did not have the courage to go on the big slide, I figured don't push it he'll get there. That same day he kept climbing half way up the big slide (pictures below) and then sliding down but was too hesitant to start from the top. Yesterday it was actually nice in the afternoon so we went on a little walk and went to the park. This little man out of no where asked me to come to the top of the big slide with him to help him sit down (I'm sure just to calm his fears) and HE DID IT! Man I'm such a proud momma. This little man has been scared for months of slides and HE DID IT! I am just so proud that he is learning to conquer his fears. Good job buddy!

23 week update

Don't judge the hair, I slept on it wet... but here's the much asked for prego pic.

How far along: 23 weeks

Total weight gain: last time I checked 7 pounds

maternity clothes: I just love skirts. stretchy skirts. so comfy 

best moment of the week: watching my stomach "bounce" I have gotten to the point where I can watch my stomach move

food cravings: this jello that the Shirley's made.. my goodness it is sooo good

labor signs: none really, my stomach just gets very tight time I go walking

belly button in or out: halfsies

what I am looking forward to: my dr appt next friday, getting to hear little man's heart beat

milestones: watching my stomach "bounce" like I said, makes me so excited see his extremities stick out of my stomach

realization of the week: there will be no sleep when there is two, holy cow there is going to be a baby here, I just can't wait to hold him, but holy cow, another whole baby! Needless to say, I'm overwhelmed, excited, but overwhelmed. THERE'S SO MUCH TO DO!

one of those days..

... Where I cannot get over how HOTT my husband is. Ok so I couldn't find a normal picture of just him by himself but man I am one lucky girl.

It's not just because he is extremely good looking if I do say so myself, but man I am one lucky girl. He is such a hard worker, my goodness he does everything he possibly can just to provide for our little family. He reads his scriptures and gets on his knees to pray each morning and night. He is the best dad, EVER. I couldn't have found a man that could have been a better father to my children. Today, I just can't get over just how lucky I am. 

Easters

We had such a fun Easter this year. We woke up, went to church (I have to admit I did end up crying while giving my lesson to my 5 year old primary class, needless to say, they were too hopped up on candy to notice), came home and got lunch ready while kala took an hour nap (yay no meetings for Kaulana since it was Easter), then headed to the Shirley's. We had a delicious ham, I mean DELICIOUS! Kala even sat and ate, and I tell you this kid will never sit and eat at other peoples houses. And a KILLER jello salad, and I am not one of those Jello mormons. Sorry I HATE things in my jello, but my goodness this was heaven in a bowl... I had three :) . Then we decorated easter eggs, Kala got bored and decided he wanted to eat an apple in the middle since he just ate a few bites of ham (which like I said I was impressed that he even did that), hence the eating pictures, he was quite content. Mom Shirley was definitely the winner with the coolest egg, she is a master rainbow egg maker, my goodness it was sooo cool! I never thought egg dying could be made into such an art! We sure had fun! Then we had an Easter egg hunt. Kala had SOOO much fun. He finally caught on to not stopping with each egg since he would see more and he and Tyson were the only two that were really running around finding eggs so I think it was a little less distracting than the other two egg hunts we participated in. He will be a skilled professoinal for next years hunts that for sure, three egg hunts in one weekend, i think that is some kind of record. We had so much fun with the Shirley's and are so grateful for their love. Beware picture overload. We also took a could family ones, but those are on a different camera so I'll have to include those on a different occasion!

daddy helping Kala color his very first Easter egg

Brianne and Tyson making a green egg masterpiece

Kirsten shading her pretty turqoise egg

Heather being beautiful... and coloring her egg

Kala endulging in an apple

so content

Kaulana getting in on a little egg dying himself

let the hunt begin

daddy helping out

Well we sure had a fun Easter weekend. But besides all the festivities I have been overcome with gratitude (as seen in my lesson) for my savior. I know that he died for each and every one of us, this perfect man, but even if it was just for me, he still would have done it. I honestly don't know where I would be in my life without my savior. I don't know how I would get up each day and raise a family without knowing my savior is always there for me. I am just so grateful for the atonement and that my Savior understands me individually. Some days when I feel as if I'm alone or I have no one to talk to, I KNOW that I'm not alone, because my Savior is always there beside me, carrying me when need be. I KNOW that he has felt everything I feel, even though sometimes i want to be stubborn and pretend I'm alone and say poor me, i know that isn't the case. I am just so grateful for his sacrifice and the light he brings to my life.

A little bit of Easter

We had a fun day before Easter today. Kaulana was out of town today but Kala and I made our rounds! First we stopped at our ward Easter Egg hunt, which Kala quickly caught on that you needed to run, just wasn't sure where to. Then when he realized the eggs had candy in them he wanted to stop and open each one individually and just east the candy, forget finding more eggs! Then we made our way over to brunch and easter with the Wood family. Grandma Wood always makes a fun easter egg hunt for all the grandkids and boy did they have fun today, my nephew Connor was the lucky one who got thrown in the pool to get the easter egg at the bottom. (As well as a killer easter brunch, a special thanks to my mom who keeps going out of her way to make sure I still feel special even when I can't eat some of the yummy treats by going and getting me some gluten free ones! she is so wonderful!) We are so blessed to have so much loving family. 

Kala thinks his cousin Connor is so cool, and Connor is such a good big cousin watching over Kala all the time

getting ready to release the monsters

"mom THERE'S MORE CANDY!"

some of our fun Wood cousins

Kala

Kala is just... Kala. Oh my goodness he thinks he is sooo big, and he is... he's almost 2! He found some paint in one of my craft drawers one day and decided to... I have no idea paint himself. I don't think he even knew what he was doing. This kid is non-stop but he is so happy the entire time, I just can't help but smile. While Kaulana was at priesthood session the other day, Kala and I were eating dinner and watching a movie on my lap top. All of a sudden in the middle of our meal he decided we needed to pray... again. and again. and again. Needless to say we prayed at least 10 times ( I am not exaggerating in the least). He kept telling me to pause the movie then he would bow his head mumble in his Kala language then all of a sudden say MEN. Which is his, amen. It was hilarious. Kaulana came home and i told him the story, turns out at that exact same time, he received lots of inspiration. Little man was just praying for his daddy to be able to understand and hear the things he needed to hear at priesthood. Well Kala likes to pray quite randomly now and we just have to stop whatever we are doing and let him pray before we can move on. I sure love my sweet Kalamaku and the beautiful spirit that he brings to our home. He teaches me more each and every day, I just pray that I can be to mother he needs me to be and more.

OOOOklahoma

So as I said in my previous post My sister and I got to go spend time with family in Oklahoma. I haven't been out there since my brother got home from his mission in August of 2009 so it was so wonderful to be there. Kala had so much fun playing with all the kids, getting barely any sleep (not fun for mom haha) and ...well I guess he didn't have fun on our ever so long drive. We had Kala, my sister's 6 month old and her 3 and a half year old with us. Talk about a three ring circus, it was quite the drive, but well worth it to see so much family and great friends. Between juggling all the kids, we both failed to take many pictures so this is all I got! Kala just love thinking he was one of the big kids, but didn't show any of my family the happy, loving boy he was since he was always so tired, he was 100% mama's boy! I sure love Oklahoma, particularly in the spring. The song "Wide Open Spaces" comes to mind every time I go. It has my kind of space, too bad there are no mountain because that really freaks Kaulana out haha. To say the least we had so much fun and were soooo grateful for the opportunity to even be able to go thanks to all the support we recieved from family.

playing with his cousins Taryn and Eloise... he thought he was so cool.

First time on a John Deer lawnmower, a must for an okie

On my return I got the most beautiful flowers and card from my amazing husband... I am so lucky! I sure missed him!

A temporary loss

My sweet Grandma Shumway passed away a few weeks ago. My sister Melissa and I along with two of her kids and my sweet Kala drove out to be with our Okie family. She was one of the most beautiful caring, service oriented, shopaholic, kind hearted women I have ever known. She truly taught me some of the most valuable characteristics of the kind of person that I aim to be. I know most of you don't know her but, I felt I needed to say something for a while, but I just couldn't put into words how I was feeling. I tend to distance myself from everyone else, and kind of "lock myself in a corner" if that makes sense when I am feeling this way. And I think I finally figured out why I was feeling so distraught over her passing, because I KNOW I will see her again, but as I watched them put her veil over her face and close her casket, I felt part of my just completely shut down. Her services were just so beautiful, she was SO beautiful. I just couldn't seem to get her face out of my head every time I closed my eyes all I saw was her. As I have tried to figure out what the heck I'm feeling and how to move forward, I think I just came to realize how much I was like my grandma and how much I have aimed to transform my life into the person she was. My whole life I have been told just how much I am like my mom. Which if you have ever seen us, we are just twins it seems like. But having not really lived by the Shumway side, I never came to realize, how much more there was to me, a whole other side of me, that I truly am. Between the Shumway celiacs that I've discovered I have and the characteristics that I find in myself that I so cherished in my grandma... I am a Shumway too. I will miss my sweet grandma but I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of eternal families and being able to be together again. 

it's a boy

So I know this is way behind but I decided I still wanted to document our fun announcement of our second little boy! I made some lemon meringue pie and colored it blue since gluten free cake... well i haven't found a super delicious friend worthy recipe! The blue leaked out from behind the meringue so we went to the back up plan and put blue confetti in black balloons for our sweet Shirley family. We had so much fun making our little announcement and were thrilled to be able to enjoy their excitement for us!

coops face is the best!!