He's Here!

Feels just as weird to type as it does to say out loud. I have a son. I have a son. I have a son! You know what's even crazier than that? I HAVE TWO KIDS! Wow. Sometimes hubby and I will look at each other, laugh and say, "Oh my God, we have two kids." Seriously, we do that. I can't even begin to explain how awesome and rewarding and deeply satisfying and weird and tiring it is to go from one to two kids. I do have to admit (though I'm sure as soon as I type this and send it out to the universe, my luck will change and I'll wish I never wrote this) that it hasn't been as hard as I was mentally preparing myself for. Baby is a pretty mellow little guy. He cries when he's hungry and when he needs some snugglin', but that's about it. And little honey has been THE BEST big sister so far. She has been such a good little helper. She's constantly kissing and hugging him (and she always washes her hands, so how can I complain?). They seem to really love each other already. He stares at her so intently when she's hovering over him, talking to him and singing him lullabies.

I'm sure things will seem 100 times harder when hubby goes back to work (he has a month off for family/paternity leave). It has been so great to have him home. He's been such a huge help and it's also just really nice to see him (by the way, the baby looks EXACTLY like him). His job has been kind of crazy lately with lots of double shifts and not many days home, so this month off is really kind of therapeutic for us. We've been having lots of family cuddles. 

So a lot of people have been asking how the labor was. Um, it was hard ("labor"). Quite the adventure. It's long and drawn-out but basically, I went into labor on Molokai, but had to fly (yep, flew on a 9-seater airplane for 35 minutes WHILE having contractions every 5 minutes, FUN!) to Oahu to deliver in the hospital because I had a couple of rogue high blood pressure readings. So my labor was over 30 hours long, after 20 of which I got my first epidural. The contractions in the front were tolerable, but it felt like my back was breaking during every contraction! Turned out he was transverse (sunny-side-up) and didn't flip over until it was time to push... little bugger. So I was lucky enough to experience the dreaded "back labor." 3 hours after the first epidural got put in, I started feeling the contractions again. It had failed (gotten dislodged from the epidural space, this happened with our daughter as well). Some hours later(it became kind of a blur at this point), I got a second epidural at 8cm and not long later, it was time to push. At 9:31am on Saturday, September 15th, after 9 minutes of pushing, he was here. A little tiny peanut at 6 lbs. 8.6 oz. and 19 inches long. (2 lbs. and 2 inches smaller than our first). They put him on my chest, and the first thing he did was pee all over me. A perfectly healthy baby boy. 

He is 2 and a half weeks old now, has gained over 2 lbs. and eats like a champ. He also hasn't stopped peeing on me since those first seconds of his life on the outside. I probably get peed on every day. Oh well, at least he only poops on me every OTHER day. 

Ahhh.... life is good. 

His 2 week old toesies. 

Stay In There, Baby!

This week has been a long one for me. Little honey came home with a slight sniffle on Monday. Luckily, I was able to nip it in the bud before it turned into a full-on cold. I was so busy loading her up with Vitamin C and soup, that I pretty much completely neglected my pregnant, lowered-immune system self. I started to sneeze and get a runny nose that night. It got a little worse, but seemed to be clearing by Wednesday. I was feeling pretty good so I decided to take my friend up on her offer to snap some last shots of our little family of three before baby is born. I wasn't sure hubby would be up for this since he basically HATES taking pictures. I offered to do it for her when she was pregnant and she told me that even now, 2 years later, she still regrets not taking me up on that offer. So, yeah, I'm happy he agreed.
We brought our Nikon up the mountain and she took a few (hundred) frames for us to choose from. There were a ton that came out perfect, but this is one of my favorites. A framer for sure.

We had such a good time. We were frolicking around in the trees, laying in the grass, laughing together, I probably talked too much, as usual and we went and had mocha frappuccinos (decaf for me) afterwards. Anyway, my point is... I overdid it. I lost my voice that night and it went downhill from there. My cold went from almost gone to me waking up in the middle of the night gagging and answering my phone sounding like an old tranny with emphysema (sexxxxxxxyyy). I saw the midwife the next morning and she instructed me to attack the cold with mucinex and take it easy for a few days to try and get well before my "labor day." It's been about a week now and I'm still sick, but at least I can breathe through my nose and sort of speak again (too bad for my hubby & daughter, they probably enjoyed my silence). I am VERY close to my due date and have been contracting more than usual these past few days, but I keep asking the baby nicely to stay in there just a little while longer so that I can be well when he arrives. Fingers crossed!!!

As far as bentos for the week, I slacked. I only made three and only remembered to take pictures of two of them. Daddy made her lunch the other two days of the week when I was just too tired to even get out of bed ("Mommy, did you know that Daddy FORGOT MY GOGURT?!" Ha, can you imagine the sheer terror?? Tattle-tell).

• Turkey/cheese/olive skewers, wheat thins, cucumbers, chobani & grapes.
• "Ms. Pingu Bento": Penguin musubi, chicken katsu, grape tomatoes & edamame.

September is Here

Today is officially the first day of the month. What month? SEPTEMBER! September has never really been a particularly special month for us, but this year is different. This year, September isn't just about back-to-school, or the beginning of fall. This year, September is about the start of a new life for our family. September means Labor Day. I'm not talking the first Monday of the month Labor Day. I'm talking the REAL, could be pushing another baby out any day now, Labor Day. Soon enough, our family of three will be growing by one. Of course, there are still things to accomplish on the mama-do list and on the honey-do list. But, for the most part, we are READY!

Little honey keeps asking me if it's time for me to push "her baby" out yet. Hubby has started talking to the belly saying things like "Okay son, ready when you are." Even papa is sleeping with his phone right next to his head, waiting for the call to come babysit honey bunny when hubby and I need to go to the hospital. Everyone is getting pretty excited. Including me.

I can't wait to meet this little guy! I can't wait to see my little honey as a big sister and to see my husband with his son. Bring it on, September!

Bentos for 8/27-8/31

Here are the bento boxes I made for Little Honey this week. I'm trying really hard to stay on it for now since I know that as soon as Baby B is born, my bento making may suffer! Hubby did volunteer to be the substitute bento-maker on days when I'm too tired, but I really do hope I can keep this up even after baby gets here. As a friend of mine put it, these bentos are like my edible love notes to her. I love seeing that smile when I show them to her every morning before school. I cherish the little laughs we share when she talks about how funny or cute they are. She really is a special little girl and if an animal shaped musubi will make her feel that way, then pass me the nori and rice!

• Scrambled egg, chick-shaped musubi, chicken katsu, green beans&corn & baby carrots.
• Green beans, bean sprouts, chop chae (Korean long-rice), panda-shaped musubi & Korean bbq chicken.
• Pretzels, chicken nuggets&ketchup, baby carrots, olives & pickles.
• "Mrs. Yummy Bento"(she came up with this name): clementine, cucumber, baby carrots, face-shaped musubi with a side-bun and hair picks & teriyaki beef katsu.
• Clementine, unsweetened dried cranberries, spam roll & green beans&corn.

Sick Day

Our daughter woke me up in the wee hours of the morning with all her fidgeting (yes, we're co-sleepers... so sue me). I went to touch her forehead and she felt pretty warm. We took her temperature and sure enough, she had a fever. Every time this has happened before, no big deal. Wake up, make her a glass of ice-cold water. Maybe a couple tablets of baby tylenol, back to bed. Now that she's in preschool, however, it became way more of an ordeal.

Is she fighting off a bug? Did someone at school have the flu? Is this going to turn into something else? Should we keep her home from school tomorrow? I found myself googling things I'd never googled before: "Should I keep my preschooler home due to fever?", "How to deal with more exposure to germs in preschool.", "Am I the only moron who needs to google these things?", etc.Turns out, the answers were basically: yes, get over it, and no.

I'd never spent so much time fussing over a low-grade fever before. For the past three years, I've only had to think about her and how to make her feel better. Now I have to think about the well-being of her classmates, too! That's new. I decided it'd be best to keep her home. She woke up with a pretty low-grade fever, but I wasn't sure if all the excitement at school would cause it to flare up again (and I definitely didn't want to be responsible for getting any other children sick). I told her a little fib because I know how much she looks forward to preschool. I said that there was no school instead of saying she needed to stay home(terrible, I know!). Her papa almost blew my cover when he came to visit... "Hi honey bunny! Are you feeling okay? I heard you had to stay home from school today." (I was sitting behind her, shaking my head and feverishly mouthing NO NO NO!) "Ummmmm... because it's a vacation day!!!! Right??" Good save, dad.

We made art, relaxed in bed, and got some things ready for the baby (she's an excellent helper). She ate lots of cold, fresh fruit and drank lots of water and some watered down juice. She also had a popsicle free for all, really milking her supposed illness. "Mommy, I feel like I'm getting warm again. I think I need another popsicle because that will make my fever go away." This kid. It's not like I haven't had her at home with me pretty much EVERY DAY since she was born, but keeping her home and spending time with her when she was supposed to be at school felt like such a little treat! Her first sick day. Wow, my kid stayed home sick from school. I can't believe how fast she's growing up. I'm sure that some day, in the not too distant future, she will be lying to me about being sick and needing to stay home as opposed to me needing to lie to her about there being vacation in order to get her to stay home with me. Maybe not, but if she's anything like I was (and she is proving to be a little mini of this sassy mama), then it'll happen.

Side-note: Here are some featured bentos from the school week of 8/20-8/24.

 

•  Mini bear & flower-shaped cream cheese&strawberry preserves sandwiches, string cheese, craisins, baby carrots, bear-shaped cucumbers & strawberry chobani greek yogurt
• imitation crab&furikake sushi rolls, peach chobani greek yogurt, edamame & baby carrots.
• heart-shaped boiled egg, teriyaki meatballs, bear & flower-shaped musubi, edamame & craisins.

Bento Mento

So, as mentioned briefly in my previous post... I have been doing a lot of bento'ing (that's a word, right?). My big girl started preschool this month and in anticipation of her being extremely clingy and not wanting to separate (as I've heard many only children can be when they first go to school), I decided I wanted to do something cute and fun for her to get her hyped up about it. Game plan: bento box lunches. I bought all these cute little accessories (check out amazon, I swear you can buy ANYTHING on that site) and bento boxes to make her food look girly and exciting. I practiced the week before school started and she LOVED them. She usually eats like a bird, but with the bento boxes, she'd actually sit there and eat almost all of her food! Any of you who have toddlers may know what a big deal that is! She said to me, "Cute food tastes better." HA!

Here are the sample bento boxes we made at home in the days before school started.

1. bear&flower-shaped rice balls, chicken nuggets, soybeans, tofu & strawberries

2. heart-shaped spam musubi, deviled egg, baby carrots, pears & blueberries

3. ham&cheese rolls, baby carrots, clementine & flower-shaped cucumbers

4. flower-shaped cheese quesadillas, chicken nuggets, soybeans & ranch dip

5. teriyaki meatballs, string cheese, heart&butterfly-shaped cucumbers & fuji apple

So then school starts. I'm totally geared up for a complete display of devastation. I'm all ready to be emotionally damaged and see my baby girl scream bloody murder because she's just not ready to be away from home. WRONG! Turns out, she LOVES school! She has only cried one time, and that was because she didn't want to LEAVE school. She wakes up ready for her day and so excited to go "see her friends" and "talk to her aunties(teachers)." I think it was seriously harder on me than it was on her! Seeing how independent she is becoming just after two short weeks of school makes me so PROUD (a little bit sad, empty & dead inside, but mostly so PROUD). I do miss her throughout the day, but I always look forward to seeing her light up when she tells me how much fun she's had. 

Anyway, so far, she's had three home-lunches. Next week starts every day home-lunch. Here's what we made so far. I need to start waking up early, because bentos made at 7am in 5 minutes or less just don't look as cute! I'll work on that. :)

August 10th: grapes, clementine, ham&cheese rolls, flower-shaped cucumber, 

string cheese, taro bread &milk

August 14th: rice w/furikake & teriyaki meatballs in her HK thermos, grapes, blueberries 

& edamame in her bento box

August 16th: hear-shaped crab/cream cheese sushi w/extra crab, watermelon jello w/peaches, 

blueberries, baby carrots & flower-shaped cucumbers

If you're thinking about making bentos for your kids, my VIP bento aid would definitely have to be cookie cutters. Oh, and re-useable silicone baking cups. Those two things and some tupperware, you're good to go!

In other non-bento related news: I'm in my 9th month of pregnancy. WHAAAAAAT????

What's New

It's been a REALLY long time since my last post. You know, that one about the love buckets and "almost" being ready for another kid. Well, it turns out I was already pregnant when I made that post. So that's what's been going on with me!

I'm about 8 months pregnant right now and extremely boring to be around. I like to stay home a lot and spend time with my husband and kid. I kind of get like this when I'm pregnant. All hermit like. I don't swear as much (I should lay off of that sh*t anyway, oops) and like to keep my thinking in the realm of positivity. I'm not meditating or chanting with my legs crossed or anything like that, but I definitely have mellowed out quite a bit. 

This pregnancy has been pretty awesome to me so far. I feel great, my body doesn't hurt as much as it did with my first and I've been able to carry on without too much changes in my routine. This could just be something that happens when you're too busy wrangling a crazy toddler to think about how uncomfortable you are, but I'm not really sure. In any case, I like it. 

Being home this often has given me lots of time to work on my domestication and house-wifeyness. I'm learning all kinds of new skills like how to put the clothes away after you fold them instead of letting them get all messy again and then just rewashing because you can't remember what's clean or not. Speaking of LAUNDRY... we have decided to cloth diaper this next baby (seriously, not sitting cross-legged, chanting). Some people are like "That's awesome!" Other people are like "What the hell are you thinking? That's gross. Why?" I guess what I'm thinking is, it's our kid and we can handle his pee & poop however we see fit? Really though, it's not as gross as people think. We switched our first over to cloth in her last days of being diapered (just nap-time & bed-time). It wasn't too hard. Modern cloth diapers really are so easy. Seriously, try googling it. And, as anyone who's had a baby knows, with a newborn, you're up to your elbows in poop, pee, spit up and laundry anyway. There's also the matter of it saving money in the long-run and reducing your carbon footprint (ommmmm). Also, lets get real... those things are stinkin' cute! 

Anyway, that's what's new with me. Oh. Well, that and bentos. But more about that later. 

See, cute and soon to be filled with poop :)