Merry Christmas!

The smile says it all. I love this picture of Nadia. We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Very quiet, but very nice. Nadia was thrilled to get a baby doll, until we opened the package and tried to hand her her new little dolly. She pushed it away and jumped back in a panic. It was quite entertaining to see her reaction. If I was holding her new doll she would come up and give her kisses and pat her on the head, but try to give that doll to her to hold and she didn't want anything to do with it. A couple days later and she is warming up to her new dolly. The highlight of the year was her baby's stroller and diaper bag. Nadia LOVES her new little stroller. She has been walking around the house from room to room picking up odds and ends to place in the stroller and push around. This morning she had one of my socks, a lip gloss, and some hair spray... Other than an enjoyable four day weekend and lovely holiday; Nadia is also getting EIGHT molar teeth all at once. She has been a trooper the last few days. It breaks my heart to see her sit on my lap with her finger pushing her gums crying... poor thing. Lots of baby Tylenol and Orajel and all the mango smoothies she wants is helping, but she is just not quite herself. Hopefully they will come in soon and she will be back to her smiles.

Happy Holidays

I had the best of intentions to send out a fabulous Christmas card this year to everyone. But, lets face it we are already on December 15th and it isn't going to happen this year. For starters I have family pictures already scheduled for January because the photographer that I want to do the pictures is on maternity leave and I want to wait for her; she is totally worth the wait her pictures are amazing (Can you tell I am super excited about taking family pictures?) So I had my friend Adrian take a few shots of us at the annual church Christmas Party in our matching aloha wear... (Inoke totally complained about the matching thing, but I think it looks cute). Then I played around in publisher and made the card, but that is as far as she goes; it isn't printed or mailed. So to all the half dozen people who read this blog... Happy Holidays from our house to yours. Next year will be more organized...

A little smile for Friday...

This is what happens when Daddy spends the day with Nadia. Can you tell she LOVES Peek-a-boo?

Sorry, I can't figure how to make it flip horizontally so just tilt your head when you watch. :)

Tantrums anyone?

Thanksgiving weekend was absolutely beautiful over here. Nadia and I had a great time just hanging out and playing outside in the nice sunshine while Inoke worked. Lucky thing Inoke and the guys at work made a lovo and I was able to send the turkey over to be cooked to perfection without a single baste. Why haven't I baked the turkey in the lovo every year? Seriously it was perfect, fall off the bone, tender and all I had to do was rub a little ginger on the skin and slice some onions for the cavity. Next year I will definately be cooking the turkey in the lovo again. Only problem is that for some odd reason Inoke refuses to eat turkey. How odd, I know; so that leaves me with 17lbs of meat to eat. Uh, I like turkey but c'mon not that much. Needless to say I have lots of turkey in the freezer to bring out over the next while. If anyone has any killer turkey recipies, I am open for suggestions.

Nadia is non stop action. She goes and goes and it is entertaining just to watch her. One thing of late is tantrums. Uh, I thought that only happened during the terrible twos? Nope. Nadia will go from sweet picture of an angel to a screaming her head off little girl in two seconds flat. I am open to suggestions on that as well. I read up that signing can help reduce frustrated little girls because it increases her ability to communicate since she isn't speaking yet. So I am working very hard on learning some basic signs and hope they will alleviate the tantrums. We will see. Here are a couple adorable pictures I took on Friday...

My little helper.

Nadia is growing, growing, and growing some more. She never ceases to amaze me with how fast she picks up new skills and how well she comprehends what you say to her. I love to hear her little babble voice in response to questions. She loves to bring things to you and she is ever closing doors. She practically slams the fridge door shut the second I open it. One new helpful thing that she does is turning out to not be so helpful after all. Nadia loves to put her dirty diapers in the trash after you change her. At first I was so thrilled and excited that she jumps right up and throws away the diaper; then I realized it isn't only the diapers she likes to put in the trash. Her brand new church shoes, a couple toys, a stuffed animal and other items were "recovered" yesterday. So it shouldn't really surprise me that this morning when we searched high and low for Inoke's iPhone and could only hear a distant vibration coming from the kitchen area that we would find it in the trash bin as well. I really need to buy a new type of trash can that doesn't have a tempting swinging lid.

I know I should be mad or stern and find some way to discipline her, but how can you stay mad at a little face like this???

And she looked so cute this morning I had to take a couple shots of my mad skills at hair dos... can't wait for those curls to grow!

New Mooon...ahhhh.

Last night was a "ladies night out" whoohoo. Inoke went to work, Nadia went to sleep, I found a babysitter to come make sure she stayed asleep, and Fetu and I went to the midnight release of New Moon. Yep I am one of those crazy ladies who have read the Twilight Saga multiple times and so what? Don't knock me... :) I just have to say that I LOVE that there is a movie theater just across the street from home. At first I thought it would be better to go to town and watch the movie in a "big" theater, but I am so glad we just stayed out her in the country. The theater owner was so great, he had raffles for movie posters, bookmarks, soundtracks, etc. and free Godiva chocolates to keep the ladies waiting in line from going Twilight Crazy... while we waited patiently for 11 o'clock to roll around so we could enter the theater. We even had a star appearance from Robert Pattinson himself... see below. I loved the movie. It was a zillion times better than the first movie and I am sooo excited to see Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Until then I guess I will just have to settle for preordering the dvd and reading the books a couple more times...

BYUH vs. Team Fiji

Hmm. Well I am trying to figure out this whole shutterfly thing. In the past I have been a loyal photobucket-er, so the new apps are taking a bit to get used to. We will see... So obviously this past weekend was one of basketball. The annual BYUH South Pacific and Asia Invitational was here, so we went to show our support to Team Fiji and both our Alma Matter BYUH. Inoke and I sported the Red & Gold while little Nadia dressed for Fiji. It was the first basketball game for Nadia and she L-O-V-E-D it. It was really cute watching her clap, cheer and dance around. She was so completely mesmerized by the cheerleaders dance moves and the action on the court. It was pretty entertaining for about a whole half hour, then she took to exploring the gym and working on her skills climbing up the bleachers. So I spent the next hour chasing after her while Inoke watched the game. By the fourth quarter she was plum wore out and crashed; I am constantly amazed at how much noise she can tune out when she is tired. All in all we had a nice little family outing and I think Nadia is going to be a very big sports fan when she gets a little older.

My Yaca...

One last exciting happening from our trip to Fiji. While we were there Inoke's sister Wati had a beautiful baby girl. The totally exciting part about it is they gave the honor to me of being her "Yaca." Often times in Fijian culture children are named after important family members like grandparents or special uncles or aunts. The baby is then called their "Yaca" or "Name." So Wati's baby girl is now named Karla Ann after me. She is a beauty! I love her dark curls and her big eyes and she waited for me to get there before she made her entrance into the world. (Seriously, we pulled into the driveway and Wati was waiting at the dinner table bags packed ready to go to the hospital, already in labor). She was 4.4 kg or about 9lbs 7oz., and another cool tidbit her birthday is 10/21 and my birthday is 01/12. How cool is that? So here are a couple pictures of my beautiful little Yaca.

Baby Karla Ann, 10/21/2009, 9lbs. 7oz.

Yaca's sister Juju (who is a Yaca to Inoke's Grandma Sulueti), Yaca, and Nolani.

Nolani, Me, and my Yaca or as Juju always says Baby Aunty Karla. :)

Nadia giving kisses to Yaca. She loved to give her kisses... but got a little jealous if I tried to hold Yaca too much. So I waited for Nadia's naps to spend time with Yaca. :)

Fiji 2009

So as I briefly mentioned in the post before, this trip to Fiji was a lesson on flexibility and going with the flow. Things just didn't exactly fall into place as planned. Like for example the intital plan was to land in Nadi and stay one week at the Sheraton Denarau... well never put too much faith in Fijian "hook-ups" (unless they are from Wes, because Wes is the bomb with Marriott hook-ups). When we got to Nadi the hotel didn't have any record of us and we ended up staying at at the Sandalwood Lodge for one night slightly less posh than the expected resort. So since the resort for a week fell through we extended our rental car agreement and headed off to Suva to meet Inoke's family. Lucky thing his sister Balavu was able to call a friend and get us a good rate for three nights at the Warwick Resort and Spa. Finally after eight years of marriage I got to experience the "tourist" version of Fiji for a few heavenly days. It was awesome. We had a wonderful time and I told Inoke next trip I am staying a full week at the Warwick again. The rest of our trip we stayed up at Balavu's home in Tamavua. I love that place, just hate the misquotes... but that is Fiji for you. It was so fun hanging out with the nieces and nephew, fixing Nolani and Yaca's hair for school each morning, and getting plenty of laughs from little Juju's attempts to communicate with her broken English (She goes is five and lives in the village on Gau so she is still learning English). Even with all the bumps in the road, the trip was a success and Nadia loved playing with her cousins and being carried around by her Ta Levu. In the end Inoke and I were able to look back at all the little Plans that fell through and laugh about it.

Nadia's First Birthday

So we are home from our little trip to Fiji. (I am going to break this down to two posts, one on the birthday and the other on the trip in general). Nadia's birthday was great. She looked so adorable in her Fijian Masi Costume, and she really enjoyed all the attention. It was quite comical watching her walk around and squeal with delight as the kids gathered around to sing happy birthday. Of course being an American Mommy my main concern was making and decorating the cake; Inoke's main concern was the REAL FOOD. In the end both of us worked it out so I ( I mean we) were happy. I got to bake my billion cupcakes and make home made butter cream frosting and decorate the princess cake... and Inoke got his chops, drumsticks, chop suey, curry, taro, cassava, and potato salad. It was a good deal in the end.

Fijian tradition is to take the mother and baby and dress them in the masi , present the tabua (whales tooth) then bring them back and present them to the family. I just have to say that I have never seen such a beautiful costume in my life. I absolutely adore Nadia's little salusalu and masi. They were perfect.

Here are some shots of the little festivity:

And here is the invitation that I designed but didn't get to the print shop before going to Fiji... Let me just say that while I was totally bummed that I hadn't gotten them printed up before our trip; in the end it was better. The time changed, the place changed, the everything changed. This trip was one of those trips where you need a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D... because things just don't ever go according to Plan A.

Hello, England

Last week was a bit of a whirl wind. We received news on Tuesday evening that Inoke's youngest sister Talei had given birth to twins and one of the babies had passed away after only 42 hours on Earth. It was very emotional and devastating to learn of Baby Nicole's passing. Since we are able to travel so freely abroad as US Citizens, (Something that I definitely take for granted) Nadia and I hopped on a plane Wednesday and headed for London to offer our support and love to Talei and Jona as they prepared for Nicole's funeral. This was my first time to England. While we were there for a sad reason, I couldn't help but be in awe by the beauty that surrounded us. Talei lives about 3 hours north of London in New Castle, it was such a scenic drive I barely noticed the length. It was a quick trip as we are already scheduled to fly out to Fiji for Nadia's first birthday this Sunday morning, but I was so grateful to be able to be there physically and to say good bye to Baby Nicole until we meet again in the next life. Nadia absolutely adored Baby Katie. She kept kissing her and resting her cheek on her head; Katie just looked up and half smiled. It was like they were old friends reunited again. We will defiantly be going back to England again, next time we will stay longer and see the sights. For now here are a few pictures of our little trip.

Happy Birthday Princess Nadia!

I love you, I love you, I love you! You are my little angel sent straight from heaven and I am so happy to be your mommy. You bring a smile to my face every day my little princess.

Eleven and 3/4...

I have a hard time fathoming the concept that my little girl is going to be one next week! Holy smokes how is it possible? She gets sweeter by the day and has the cutest kindest little personality; she is always sharing her toys and food with you. I adore each and every moment we spend together...(even when she is screaming her head off while I am in the shower because she is going through the "you can't be out of my sight" phase). Lately we have been experimenting on new hair styles for her curly locks. I can't wait for her sides to grow into those beautiful ringlets that she is bound to have. Here are a couple pictures from this morning:

Nadia's New Trick...

Want some water with that sand?

Nadia and I took advantage of the beautiful late afternoon today and headed down to the beach. It was a little windy and the blue bubbles were all over the shore close to the water so we stayed up further inland and had some fun playing with the sand. I managed to get some cute pictures of the little princess. Still being the overly clean freak mom that I am, it was freaking me out that she kept on sucking on her sand covered fingers... uhhh, but that aside we had a great afternoon.

Favorite of late...

Most little girls like dolls and girly stuffed animals; my little girl likes cell phones. Nadia has become obsessed with cell phones of late. My cell phone doubles as the alarm clock in the morning so it is the first thing she reaches for each day. I tried to "trick" her with a cute little pink toy one, but she wouldn't have it. She knows the real deal, and is determined to get the real thing every time. I have to admit she looks so cute sitting there with the phone held up to her ear babbling on and on. It isn't quite as cute when you are trying to have a conversation on the phone and she is climbing and crawling and reaching for the phone making loud squawking noises until she gets to say "Hi" too. I'm going to have to find an old real phone for her... until then; here are a couple pictures of our little jabber box.

Ten Months

I am a little late on this post. Nadia is going to be one in 6 weeks! WOW! Where has this past year gone? That means we have six weeks until our next trip to Fiji... ahh! We are so excited to go down and celebrate her 1st birthday with lots of family. New and exciting things of late? We can stand up without holding anything for a good 15-20 seconds before sitting back down, walk along holding furniture, talk up a storm and return conversation with you in her own babble language, and my personal favorite every time she hears the song "If Your Happy and You Know It" she instantly smiles and claps her hands. It is pretty funny. Her babysitter told me the other day when Nadia was taking her nap that song came on and even in her sleep she was clapping her hands.

Here are a couple pictures from the other morning...

Mango Time

Yesterday at work someone was so generous to give me a box of sweet juicy mangos. I love, love, love, mangos. So when I got home from work I thought I would let Nadia try my favorite treat. I had to put away my OCD tendencies and just let her get the sticky juice everywhere. She loved it. Here are a couple pictures.