I'm such a sucker...

Just this week I was commenting on how envious I was that Monica's twins can now hold their own bottle, it seems like a small thing; but at 3am it would be nice to have Nadia hold her own bottle... So when I came home from work on Wednesday Inoke told me to check his pictures out on the camera. I wasn't too excited figuring they were more bubble blowing spit drooling videos (that is his and Nadia's favorite past time together of late). So when I got around to checking I was a little shocked to see pictures of Nadia holding her own bottle! What?!? "She can hold her bottle!" I shouted to Inoke. He just looked at me with a, duh where have you been look. Yesterday was Prince Kuhio Day, which translates to a day off work for me... and I tried all day to get Nadia to hold her own bottle. Nothing worked. She is totally playing me. I know she can do it but I am such a sucker where she is concerned. So technically she can hold her bottle; but her mommy can't get thick skin to make her do it and apparently she only likes to show her new "tricks" to daddy. What can I say?

I did get a couple shots of her "sitting up" she looks more like she is stretching for gymnastics... but we are getting there.

And this is my favorite shot of us from last week. Inoke took a couple pictures of us after church on Sunday.

Kana Mada

Prologue-

It has become oh so apparent to me that I probably should change the name of our blog from "The Biutanaseva Family" to something like "The Chronicles of Nadia." I do realize that every entry of late is centered around my amazing magnificent wonder baby. I have been pondering fervently the last few days about an entry that is not focused on my five month old wonder girl, but I come up blank. I guess I am supposed to blog about our life, and quite frankly Nadia is our life right now. She is the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about in the evening. Our world revolves around her; and I love every single moment of it. I do realize that every parent pretty much thinks the same thing about their own baby, and everyone that isn't a parent pretty much doesn't get what is so dang exciting about rolling over or sitting up or other baby moments, but too bad. So don't worry, I am not going to be offended if you are tired of seeing Nadia this and Nadia that... and who knows maybe soon I will have other exciting things happening in life to talk about... (like the email I got saying my Special Limited 2 Disc Edition of Twilight is currently in the mail to me... :)) but until then Nadia it is.

I know all the super experienced moms out there think I am a dork for not knowing the obvious but this whole mommy thing is still new to me. SO we fed Nadia rice cereal last night for the first time. She has been making these puckering faces at us every time we eat in front of her for a couple weeks; but I had heard so many conflicting opinions on when to start feeding your baby so I was just kinda holding off. Nadia loved it, I couldn't get the spoon in her mouth fast enough and it was pretty funny. Normally I am a total neat freak when it comes to her, I don't like it when her hair is messed up or her face is dirty, she gets a bath twice a day everyday, etc. So it was a little challenging for me to just relax and hold off on wiping the messy face between every bite. Here are a couple shots of the first rice cereal wonder.

5 months old...

Seriously it seems like just yesterday that I couldn't believe Nadia was already three months... and now she is FIVE months. She is quite the little joker in our home. Now she is really starting to laugh and play back with you it cracks me up every time. Yesterday Inoke and I were talking and I laughed and then Nadia started laughing too. She loves to be in the middle of everything and loves to be the center of attention. I am interested to see how she is when she gets a little older. I was always so shy growing up and Inoke isn't exactly Mr. Social Butterfly; so it should be interesting to see Nadia.

Here are a few shots from yesterday.

She is starting to sit up, not quite there yet, but working on it.

And she loves to "stand."

Earring Time

Earrings-

I can still remember when I got my ears pierced. My sister and I had gotten into trouble for putting walnuts in our ears, because we wanted earrings so bad. I was three Kirsten was five. So finally in order to prevent permanent damage to our ear canals my mom consented to letting us get our ears pierced. We got to the mall and my older sister wavered a little bit at the sight of the piercing gun. She had me go first. So I was the brave little three year old sitting there waiting for my gold heart stud earrings. Only after Kirsten was convinced from my reaction that it didn't hurt all that much she consented to getting hers pierced too. Good thing she had a gullible little sister to go first.

That was not the end of our earring experience. When we got older my sister was 16 and she was allowed to get TWO holes in one ear. You remember back then in the early 90's when that was cool to have two in one ear and one in the other... so I was so jealous. I wanted two earrings too. My parents refused. They said I had to wait until I was 16... three years was just too long. So the little mischievous 13 year old that I was concocted a plan. I figured if I pierced my own ear they surely would let me keep it. I got some ice and a "stud" and headed to my bedroom. About half hour later I came out with a little bit crooked but definitely pierced right ear. I was right my parents consented that if I was so stubborn to subject myself to pain and self piercing then I could go get my ear pierced just like my sister.

Which brings me to present time; I have been sitting on the fence going back and forth about piercing Nadia's ears. On one hand I can see that it would be easier to take care of now when she is a baby and then it is done and I don't have to worry about it later. But then on the other hand, I worried that maybe it is mean to pierce a little babies ear. After all it does sting just a little going in... well we did it. Yesterday we were in town at the mall with Inoke's cousing Alena and Inoke asked about piercing Nadia's ears. So we headed to Claire's. Inoke started to chicken out when the lady was wiping down Nadia's ears with the alcohol swab. So he walked away after the first earring. He just couldn't handle watching Nadia cry. I personally think she was crying more because some strange woman was touching her ears; than the actual pain. After it was done Inoke scooped her up and she instantly stopped crying. Fifteen minutes later she was knocked out and happy as a clam. Even this morning she didn't fuss when I was cleaning her ears. I think they look darling and well its done. (Now if I can get Inoke to buy me matching diamond earrings... :))

Happy Day

Yesterday we had our adoption hearing down in Honolulu. Inoke and I were a little nervous on the way down not knowing what exactly to expect and if the judge was going to ask us a million questions; but it went fabulous. The longest part was waiting to get in to see the judge then the actual hearing only took about ten minutes. Nadia was great, she just sat there on Inoke's lap and looked around smiling. It was really cute. So now all the paperwork is officially done and we are a little family. Not that we needed the paperwork to make us a family; but it is easier not to have to carry around documents giving me permission to take her to the doctor or other things biological parents take for granted. We took a couple pictures on our way out (one day soon I will get a picture with all three of us together...) and then headed to Waikele and bought her a cute new outfit and got some dinner before heading home.

At the end of the day we had one tuckered out little girl...

Hair Dos and Bartering Skills...

I just had to post a little update on Nadia and our exciting adventures. She is growing more and more every day and giggling all the time. I love to watch Inoke tickle her and see her whole body light up with laughter; really you can't help but smile and laugh with her. She had her 4 month check up last week. Well more like 4 month 3 week check up because I was not on the ball with calling to schedule the appointment on time. Who would have thought that little Kahuku Health Clinic would have a 3 week waiting period to get in to see the pediatrician? (I learned my lesson and already booked her 6 month appt). But I digress, so Nadia weighed in at 17lbs 12 oz; and was 27" long! WOW! She is in the 97th percentile for both height and weight and I am now in the market for a bigger car seat this infant carrier isn't going to last much longer. She is not only growing in height and weight... her hair is growing too! I am having so much fun playing around with her little curls. She has the patience of a saint, good thing because I am always fooling around with her hair, clothes, or accessories. So I thought I would show you her "bedhead" look. I love how bushy her hair is in the mornings...

Then there is the day I tried out "pig tails" well she kinda looks like a little Shrek baby... but cute nonetheless...

And then Nadia and I went for an adventure to the Swap Meet to buy her a jade bracelet. I had been wanting to get her one for a while now and so since we were in town... Those of you who have been to the Swap Meet know it is all about local price vs. tourist price. I am so not good at bartering, but I have been working on my skills. When I tried the bracelet on Nadia she started smiling and was all excited and happy. So the Chinese lady at the booth liked Nadia. She was like "oh I like this baby. This baby happy. I give good deal this baby" so there you have it Nadia at 4 months without speaking wrangled a free pink jade bracelet to go with her green jade bracelet. I was so proud. :)

And lastly, here is a shot of us. I just love taking pictures with her... :)

Just Talanoa...

Since many of you reading this aren't able to see Nadia on a regular basis, I thought I would share her favorite past time. She LOVES to talk, or as we say talanoa mada. So until we make it up to see everyone or everyone makes it down to Hawaii to see us... here is baby girl talking story with me from this afternoon.

Shout Outs...

So I have to give a big shout out to my new favorite baby item. I found the coolest Mei Tai Carrier at http://www.babyhawk.com/. I have tried lots of different carriers for Nadia and she is really rather particular so I am so excited to find one that she and I both like. If anyone is looking for a way cute, functional, and comfortable carrier check out Baby Hawk. I even got to pick my own fabric/color choice and do a custom carrier for no extra charge. As my sister so eloquently put it "After carrying a baby for nine months, the last thing I want to do is strap him/her to my body and carry them nine more months." And I totally get her point of view... but I am one of the weird moms that likes to carry my baby around all snuggled close to me. I am also a mom that likes to sit there on the couch and hold Nadia while she takes her two hour morning naps on Saturday... (yes I know it is so bad now she likes to be held when she takes her naps). So if anyone is looking for a new over the shoulder baby holder... check them out.