settling in

We are finally getting a few more things done to make our house a home.  Getting things on the wall is something we don't get around to doing right away.  But having people over for Ka'imi's blessing was some good motivation.  Here's a display in our living room.  The picture of the temple is one that I personally took.  A couple of my friends encouraged me to set up an etsy account and sell it.  I have mixed feelings about it.  Anyone care to comment?  Anyway, I am getting use to the 20 minute commute to Orem/Provo and love living in our new home.  We hope to have a real open house sometime this summer :  )

Happy Birthday Aunty Celeste

Tonight we finally had a chance to help Celeste celebrate her birthday.  We went to dinner with her, her roommate, Keisha, and our family friend, Brother Lybbert.  We ate at California Pizza Kitchen (can I just say, Oh my yumminess! It was so good).  It was a fun time.  Here is a pic we got on Celeste's iphone.  Ka'imi is looking down, but I liked the picture because it shows the cute pants I made for her last night (hmmm. . . the picture isn't the clearest).  But, aren't they just the cutest thing?  Kekoa laughs at them and says they look funny.  I guess they do make me giggle.

Okay, but back to Celeste now. We (the boys and I) love Aunty Celeste.  She seriously is a life saver to me and the boys adore her.  You should see them run to her whenever she comes to visit.  She is such a beautiful, thoughtful and talented gal.  I just love my sister and hope we always live near each other : )
Happy Birthday Celeste!

Preschool

For the last 8 months I have been driving down to Provo twice a week for my boys to attend preschool. Many times I thought I was crazy for making such a frequent trek. But I was motivated by my boys. They loved preschool and Miss Janette (my old neighbor) is one of their favorites. They were always excited for Thursdays because it was their show-and-tell day.
This week they finished up their year. Now we have the summer to be together before Kekoa begins kindergarten and life is never the same again . .

A'wee Chi'deedloh ("The Baby Laughed") Celebration

We had Ka'imi's First Laugh Party today. It was small, but very enjoyable. The creative addict in me inspired me throw together this little Navajo dress for her to wear. It turned out to be a bigger challenge than I thought it was going to be, but it worked out in the end. She looks so cute in it. The turquoise necklace was a gift from Grandma : )
We kept tradition with Ka'imi giving the guests some rock salt and a bag of sweets (see links in previous post for explanation). The boys thought it was so fun to get candy from Ka'imi.
I love this tradition. The laughter of a child is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world.

Kaimi - 2 months

Ka'imi at 2 months:

• starting to interact more with us. I love our little sessions of smiling and talking to each other.
• continues to be a princess with her dislike of being moved to roughly. She protests any large bumps when we are driving.
• does not care at all for her carseat. Though she did pretty good on the drive to AZ (I spent a lot of time in the back soothing her).
• still a little fussy with her tummy troubles, though she seems to be burping a little easier.
• beginning to tolerate the swing
• starting to work on eye-hand-coordination with her little carseat toy.
• sleeps a fair amount of the day, but also awake a lot more often.
• enjoys her cradle board
• loves to watch the boys play
• has probably reached a million kisses on her cheek by now : )

Here are more pics to remember her at this age : )

giggle, giggle . . .

The first laugh is a celebrated milestone in the Navajo culture. It is anticipated and then celebrated with a party. The tradition is that whoever makes the baby laugh is to throw a party for the baby within 4 days. It is also tradition that same person give a small gift to those who attend the party. This is done so that the baby will always be a giving person as they continue through life. Here's a couple links I found with articles I like. I guess our family has modified it just a little.
So, today I made Ka'imi laugh. Anyone want to come to a party? : )

(I had taken a picture of her, but my settings were off and we didn't get any pictures, so I had to just take one of her asleep. Obviously, it isn't the best picture to represent a first laugh, I just wanted any picture of her today).

It is always a little unsure of when that first laugh really happens. Sometimes you wonder if it was just a baby noise or a real laugh. I just leave it up to the person to decide and declare it.

Tonight, I was interacting with Ka'imi - she is focusing so well and loving our new communications. I was smiling at her and talking to her. Then made a face (had my lips in the shape of a circle and then stuck my tongue out). She looked at my mouth and giggled. I did it again and she giggled again. So, I "declared" the milestone to Kyle. It was so cute, soft and girly.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that in her baby blessing, Kyle blessed her to smile. I look forward to this little sunshine bringing lots of smiles and laughter into our family.

For no reason . . .

. . . other than I think she is so stinkin' cute, I'll post this picture : )

Happy Mother's Day

I wanted a picture with my kiddos today. As you can tell, Sepa was not willing to cooperate. We gave up on trying to get them all sitting nicely. At least Ka'imi couldn't get away from me : )




We decided to do our FHE lesson tonight since tomorrow we are attending Family Night at UVU. Kyle gave a lesson on mothers. When asked what they know about mommy, here is what the two older boys said:

• You like Ka'imi
• You are pretty
• You cook for us
• You love Daddy
• You like flowers
• You like us

I love being a mother. It was a great day. I had a crepe breakfast, my husband and kids with me all day, two naps, a yummy dinner and a sweet thai dessert with coconut milk and pineapple.
But beyond that I want to write more about being a mom. I will find time this week to do just that. For now Happy Mother's day to all the wonderful women I know : )


Ikaika is right, I do like flowers. But I am sad they die relatively quickly. So, I always take a picture to remember : )

Angel

Sepa is in full blown Terrible Twos. Whenever people ask me how I am doing with the 4 kids, I usually tell them the hardest part of it is trying to work with Sepa's tantrums and fighting with his brothers. He has a high-pitched scream he lets out whenever he doesn't get his way. He is pretty stubborn and fights with both his brothers daily. It is hard to mediate when I am busy feeding or taking care of Ka'imi.
Well, no matter how terrible Sepa has been, when he finally falls asleep (I always have to be by him for him to settle down enough to sleep), he always looks like an angel to me and I quickly regret any harsh scolding I did that day.
He is such a handsome boy. I think it is interesting that his features remind me of doll I had as a little girl. It was my favorite doll. Now I have my Sepa.

Cradle Board

We've had our share of newborn struggles with Ka'imi's tummy troubles. She had a hard time sleeping for a couple weeks. After some promptings from a friend, I thought to put her in the cradle board we had. Kyle and I actually bought it when we were only engaged as a decorative piece for our reception. I have only used it for pictures with the boys. Well, Ka'imi seems to love it. So she sleeps in it quite often. Here she is, as comfy as can be : )

Blessing Ka'imi

When I was still carrying Ka'imi we planned for when we would bless her. We choose May 2nd and our families made travel plans. We later found out it was Stake Conference. So we decided to keep the date and bless her at home.
It was a wonderful day. Our home was filled with family and friends that we love.
It was a beautiful blessing. I loved watching Kyle bless his daughter. She was blessed with many good things of health and righteousness. One of the things that sticks out to me the most was Kyle blessing her to always smile. She is just starting to really smile when she she's us. She has a beautiful smile. I look forward to continuing to getting to know this little princess and having her as a part of our family.

It was a goal of mine to get some pictures. This is our first family picture as a family of 6 : ) My mom was wonderful enough to help me throw together these pink ties as a last minute request. Isn't it so cute?



I also wanted to make sure to get pictures with the grandparents.



And then the treasure was her with her great grandma Rose.


Kyle also wanted a picture of the 4 generations. In this picture Ka'imi looks a lot like I did as a baby.