Kai's before bed talk

I carried Kai into his room tonight and said, "Did you have a good day?"
- "Yeah" he said.
"We'll have fun tomorrow. See you tomorrow" I said.
- "And Daddy?"
"Yes, and daddy too"
- "And YyYy?"
"Yes and Ryenne too"
- "And Baby?"
"Yes, your baby too"
- "And Mama?"
"Yes, I'll see you tomorrow, good night baby boy I love you."
- "Ny-Ny Mama"

He's so adorable.

Where to measure from?

My life changing eating habit quest is going so well. I haven't felt this full of energy and empowerment in a long time. I learned something very valuable over the past week - I learned about how my body processes calories, how many it needs, how many it burns, ect. Thank you to my friend Nikki for telling me about calorieking.com - it is tedious - but showed me the things that I was doing wrong. I wasn't eating as many calories as my body needed and I didn't even know it!

I went on the scale this morning to check out progress and was very pleasantly surprised! But I'm not sure where I should measure from.... my pre-pregnancy weight? my weight from the day I gave birth? the weight that I started this new journey when Cruz was 3 weeks old?

I have lost:
26 pounds from pre-pregnancy weight
38 pounds from the day I gave birth
17 pounds from when Cruz was 3 weeks old (when I started this change)

I am feeling good!!!

FLOORS!!!!!

The floors went in yesterday. Literally ALL DAY from 9:30am to almost 10pm. There were some small issues that I noticed but they were taken care of and I LOOOOOOOVE my floors. Still some things to do... paint the drywall and the baseboards are going in on Monday. But right now I'm floating I'm so happy.

Cruz loves the floors too. He's modeling for me so that I can promote the "at home studio" for other babies.





He was all smiley and giggly, but the moment I'd block my face with the camera he'd get a very confused look on his face. "Where'd my mama go?" So I was laying on my tummy and had Ry come sit on my back to make him smile. Worked like a charm. She was my little helper.

Here they are playing while Kai is napping.



On another note, today I did something I always love to do in the summertime. I shaved my legs outside. I don't know what it is about sitting on the back porch with Peter's shaving cream, a razor, and the garden hose (sounds ghetto I know), but it's just so awesome! haha

I even got a little getaway with Gams today. Of course I had Cruz, but it was nice to stroll the aisles of the grocery store in peace and chat and linger where I wanted to linger.

Out with the old

What a wirlwind of a day it's been. Our drywall in the living room was patched up yesterday, Koa and I moved out all the furniture in the living room, and the carpet was yanked out today. It is AMAZING to see the transformation in the living room already.

A thin layer of new concrete was laid on the slab to give it a perfectly smooth surface. The flooring goes in tomorrow. I am so excited. But also nervous about entertaining the kids. Today was quite a challenge since it was rainy and we were stuck in one part of the house for the whole day. In fact, it was so tiring that I fell asleep with all of them at 7:30pm and just woke up at 10:30 for a snack and am about ready to go back to sleep. I know I'll need the energy tomorrow!

We are waiting for Peter's MCC transcripts to arrive. Once they do he can go register for classes at Austin CC. RN nursing program... here he comes! Well hopefully he can get in for the Fall 2011 RN program. He has a few prerequisites he needs to take. But goodness this will be so good for our family. It's the start of new... new floor, new career. YESSSS!!!!

4th

Our 4th of July was really low-key. The morning light was gorgeous...



We headed off to Gams & Pops for breakfast. Oh how I love Country Breakfast! When I tell the kids where we're going to eat they get really excited. They love being outside at their house.



I love this of Meesie and Kai!



Then we came home and played outside and gardened the day away...

Kai loves gardening like his Papa Eugene!


Cruz & Ry were swinging backlit by the setting sun... magic.


My big girl


Cruzito loves his swing! He turned 4 months old on July 4th :)


I adore the way he tucks in his lower lip!

I'm just not used to it

Today is 4th of July and I keep thinking, "Oh... I should have gotten the kids some flags or planned some kind of themed activity" - but I'm just not used to the whole holiday thing. It seems like there is a holiday just about every month, and I come from a background of never having a holiday off. It's just another day as usual. I keep trying to be a good mom and remember to do holiday things, but I think I'll just stick to the big ones for kids - Valentines Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Those I can handle. But all these little ones... eek. I am just not used to it. We don't have a normal schedule of holidays off or money to spend on silly things. I suppose I should be more into it so I can do "themed" images for my photography blog... but again - It just doesn't even cross my mind. Must not be in my DNA.

Chocolate & Zucchini Muffins

Chocolate and Zucchini??? Yes I know. It sounds weird. But these come out really awesome and are a great project for cooking with the kiddos.

We've had a rainy three days and me and Ry whipped out some of these muffins yesterday. I got a standard zucchini bread recipe and I have tweaked it to be a bit healthier.

Preheat oven to 325

3 C Flour (I prefer unbleached)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C apple sauce or apple butter
2 1/4 C sugar
3 tsp vanilla
2 C zucchini (about one large zucchini, grated. leave wet!)
1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips
3 eggs

Sift flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, apple sauce/butter, and sugar together. Add wet grated zucchini and chocolate chips and mix. Once all combined, slowly add dry mixture and combine completely.

Spoon into standard muffin pan and bake for 35 minutes (you'll need to bake longer for large muffin pan).

Now for the hard part...

I'm on day 3 of Cruz not sleeping at night. It's like he thinks he's a newborn again. But he's not getting up just to be fed... he's getting up to coo and laugh, to be cranky, to have a diaper change, or because he's hungry. And it's literally every 2 hours at night. Since he's sleeping in my bed, I feel like I'm awake all night long. And the naps during the day are horrible - 20 minutes long. When does this kid sleep???

So here's the hard part... I am going to have to put him in his room and let him cry it out a bit. This is so extremely hard for me. I am just really, really TIRED and it doesn't make me a good mom during the day to be this tired. If I can train Cruz to sleep as well as Kai, it will be SO GOOD.

And speaking of Kai, I am taking away his pluggies and giving them to him only at sleep times. I hope this helps his speech develop more and is one step closer to taking it away completely.

10 years

If you had asked me five years ago what I'd be doing on my 10th wedding anniversary, I would have told you that I would spend it in the Tuscan Countryside or the Amalfi Coast preparing for a lavish 10 year Italian vow renewal... but alas... it was not meant to be.

Peter and I said "I do" 10 years ago today. Amazing that a decade has passed by already. Even more wonderful that instead of being a couple we now have a complete family.

Since we're pretty much broke and can't go out, we instead invited over our very dear friends, let the kids run amock, and dined on Stouffer's Lasagna, Strawberry Salad, Garlic Bread, and a home made chocolate pudding pie. It was fabulous.

On another note, Cruz rolled all the way over yesterday! He's only done it once so far, but I'm sure once he gets the hang of it, he'll be doing it all the time!

Ryenne Logic

Last night I finished editing a wedding reception for a friend and then got to bed around 11:30. I quickly fell asleep but it didn't last for long.

At midnight I opened my eyes and Ryenne was standing up in her bed. Kinda freaky. She saw me and came over and said, "Mom, bees can't eat too much honey because it will give them a tummy ache." I agreed with her and told her to go back to bed. But she was awake like it was a brand new day.

I then got more and more bits of Ryenne logic. My favorite one was, "Two + some = more" After a few various viewpoints, Cruz decided to wake up too. He was smily and happy and cooing at his sister.

So there we all were... at 1am. In my bed. They both didn't go bac down until 2am, but I did go to bed with a smile. It was definitely full of sweet moments.

Scrambled Egg Spaghetti

Tonight was an experimental dinner. I had this mean hankering for pasta AND eggs. What to do, what to do.... so I decided on both.

Here's what I did:

Cooked whole grain spag noodles, drained, and set aside

Mixed 4 eggs with some whole milk, added garlic powder, salt, and pepper

Threw the noodles into a hot pan with olive oil and then poured the beaten eggs throughout the pasta until cooked (the noodles really soak up the egg)

Served with shaved parm cheese, fresh chopped basil, and an additional sprinkle of olive oil, salt, and pepper.

It came out pretty darn tasty! Ryenne loved it, I loved it... Kai was more interested in his strawberries (as usual).

Asleep

... sweet ...

2 Years

Ryenne and I just made two years in Texas. It's wild that she has now spent half of her life living on Maui and the other half here in Austin.

I keep daydreaming about taking all three of the kids to the beach back on Maui. I am praying for a day when I can take them back every summer to be lazy with their grandparents and spend time at the beach everyday. Doesn't that sound just perfect? If I could work it to be in Austin for 10 months and Maui for two months that would just be the most perfect scenario (note to mom & dad Dagupion... that means we'd take over your house for 2 months.. hehehe).

Today I had quite a moment though... I was driving to a photo shoot in Buda - a little town just south of Austin that I adore - it was hot (very hot), I had the windows down, the music turned up - it was just me - And I looked around and thought to myself... My gosh this place is beautiful. It really is... it has a beauty to it that is lovely. The countryside is quite stunning and reminds me so much of Upcountry Maui (less the view and mountains) that I just feel HOME.

Looking back on these last two years, I find it incredibly amazing that I stepped off that plane with a little girl who was 2 years old and was pregnant. In that two years I've had two children!!! Can you believe that??? 2 sweet little boys in less than 2 years. CRAZY! But then I often feel that way... like a crazy person who's bitten off more than they can chew and wouldn't trade it for anything. Well some parts I could trade. :)

After the photo shoot we threw the kids into the pool (I got in with Cruz) and enjoyed the heat of the day, the sounds of the crazy cicadas in the trees, splashed. It was a complete summertime moment.

A few days ago I was on a blog I frequent that has a question of the day and you answer it. The question that I had answered was "What makes you think of summertime?" and my answer that day was "the smell of salt water embedded on my skin as a kid running around Kuau Cove." But today changed everything. Today my answer would have been, "throwing the kids in a pool with baby soap, splashing, soaking up the last of the day's sun, and going to bed clean and happy. " ... perfection, don't you think?

Reading material

While Ryenne can't officially read yet, she does love her books. It's so nice to know that all her books came from somewhere... from my childhood, from Uncle Koa's younger days, from friends, from garage sales, ect. Every book has some kind of character to it - it makes them special. This is how I found her last night...

She's completely passed out with most of her books, My Peek-A-Boo dog, and her Chicken. The funny thing about Chicken is that he was a gift for Kai from Grandmama. Ry promptly stole Chicken and now can't sleep without him. So Kai stole Ryenne's Glow Worm and now everyone is happy.

Cruz was also quite giggly yesterday!

Father's Day

All my little loves on the couch.

He is adorable.

The road to being healthy

I think I've mentioned before that I am on a quest to lose weight, right? Not just to lose weight, but to change my entire lifestyle and eating habits and be HEALTHY and show my kids how to eat healthy.

I feel like I've come such a long way. In my former Concierge life pre-kids, this is what I looked like.

I found this picture, and a myriad of others like it, while I was looking for baby pictures of Ryenne on the computer. I was pretty much in shock because I hadn't realized that I had looked like that!

The past couple of weeks (before I had seen my old pictures) I was starting to feel sorry for myself because I have been working so hard to fix my body and wasn't seeing huge results. Really I was just being quite impatient about the whole process. But after seeing the pictures, I can see HUGE changes that are being made. It put me back into a good place emotionally.

So pre-kids, I didn't know how to cook. Spaghetti and salad, sure. But I made no effort to cook and we got take out A LOT plus all those fabulous concierge dinners I got to go to. Plus a nasty habit of soda everyday.

Now, I LOVE to cook. I love exploring cooking, flavors, texture, ingredients. I love making something from scratch and having my family eat it and like it - or in some cases not liking it and tossing that recipe. It's been an important step to evolve and grow and play with raw, real ingredients and get yucky preservatives out of my life. Maybe I should start adding some of the things I'm cooking to the blog? Leave me a comment if you'd like recipes added every now and then.

So today is Friday. Fridays are my weigh in days. I won't divulge my weight cause I'm still embarrassed by it - but I will tell you the scale is moving downward. I will tell you that I'm at a weight that I haven't been since I was at MCC. I'm feeling strong and good. And my kids love to eat broccoli and pesto.

Dreamy

Auntie Nikki told me about a ballet class that she enrolled Makena into and ever since Ryenne tried on 'Kena's ballet slippers, she's been asking about it. So I called them up and they said to come on down to the class Wednesday. So we went and bought Ry some ballet slippers and she put on her pink dress and twirled around the house all day just waiting for it to be time for her class.

While Kai was napping, she decided she needed to love on Cruz. I adore the dreamy light that was coming through her window in her big girl room.

My round little chubber boy...

After Kai woke up we hopped in the car and drove out to Bee Caves. I hadn't told Nikki we were coming so it was a surprise and all the girls were squealing with delight. And they all looked SO DANG CUTE!

We couldn't stay to watch the class because we'd be a distraction, and Kai would have wanted to stay. Unfortunately, nothing for his age group at the same time. So I snapped these pictures really fast so we could take Kai to the train set at Barnes & Noble.

Stretching with Makena

A little pre-class twirl

So she was SERIOUSLY excited about this. Here she is jumping for joy.

And she was the only tattoo'd ballerina. That's soooo Austin. A tatted up ballerina. (she got hold of the entire pack of Diego tattoos and did up her legs)

Anniversary

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's our 13th anniversary today. Not of our wedding, but of the day that we first met. It started out like most days with just me and the kiddos.

Ryenne decided to lay down next to Cruz and luckily the camera was nearby. Because if it hadn't been near, I doubt I would ever catch these again... so rare to have all the kids in the same spot!

Ryenne and Cruz

And then a little bit of magic happened. Kai saw Ryenne snuggling with Cruz and decided he wanted in on the action too. And here's what happened before my very eyes...

*gasp*... magic right? That moment couldn't ever be recreated in the same way.

Auntie Nikki, Kaeli, and Makena came over and we got to hang out - it was awesome. The girls and Kai all had such a great time while me and Nikki just chatted.

When Peter woke up we headed to North Austin to meet with one of my clients who happens to have a flooring showroom and we looked at tons of flooring for the living room. Really there were SO MANY options that it made it quite a task to decide. Of course we both loved a flooring that was WAAAY out of budget, but we also loved one that did fall into our budget and it's pretty distressed looking and random width and is actually in our budget INCLUDING installation. So I am completely and totally stoked about it.

So after the flooring appointment we decided we'd take the whole family to Korea House for dinner. Korea House is a total hole in the wall type place. You go there for the food not the service. So picture this...

The food comes out, Kai has his hands in the iced tea. Ryenne is reaching for food on the opposite side of the table, Peter and I are shoveling food into our mouths as quickly as we can hoping to eat fast enough before someone has a meltdown.

Cruz starts fussing, Ryenne is cold, and Kai is eating ice. The waiter comes and asks us not to make a mess. Kai drops his cup, ice flings everywhere, and he starts screaming at the top of his lungs. I am flushed red in embarassment as everyone in the restaurant turns to gawk at us.

We pay the check and get out as fast as we possibly can. Good food? Yes! Enjoyable... not-so-much. I think no more going out to eat for us again for quite some time.

Tee Hee

So today is June 11th - Kamehameha Day - and more importantly, the marker of the date I met Peter... THIRTEEN YEARS AGO! Wow... time sure has flown.

I'll post more about that later... but for now, I just had to jot down this little tidbit from Ryenne this morning:

"Mom, did you know that Crocodiles look like giant pickles?"

Love it.