I wanna be, wanna be, like MOM

Does anyone remember that jingle that used to play all the time about Michael Jordan? Don't ask me why it popped in my head, you know the one "I wanna be, wanna be, like Mike?" The last few weeks it has finally clicked in my head that I have my very own little "Mini Me." Nadia watches and imitates EVERY move I make lately. If I am painting my toes, she wants her toes painted. If I am curling my hair, she wants a curler (see below). If I am eating fruit then she wants to eat some too, etc. This is all fine and dandy, but what about those rare occasions when I am not eating the "good healthy" food? Or setting the pristine example for her? Ding dong, I now realize just how much influence (good or bad) I have on this sweet little girl. Yes, I know it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure these things out; but it just kinda hit me the concept that I have a tremendous job of setting and example that will have a large impact on who Nadia grows to be. Huh. I always valued the importance of Motherhood; but now experiencing it has given me such a deeper understanding of the all encompassing privilege it truly is to raise a child.So now that the deep thought is out there... what has been going on with us the last couple weeks? Fun exciting stuff! Nadia continues to amaze me with her super talents like feeding herself. She loves to eat now. Seriously, the girl is definitely Fijian. Some of her favorites are: bread, sweet potatoes, breadfruit, yogurt, watermelon, and bananas.

She also loves WATER! Yeah another water drinker. At least I am doing good with that one. Nadia will drink from her straw sippy cup all day as long as the water is ICE COLD. Yes, another win for me. Inoke has finally given up on convincing me that cold foods are bad for babies... (For the most part Fijians only give babies warm/hot drinks).Since she has two bottom teeth and a top one just breaking through, we are working on brushing teeth. She loves to chew on her Tinkerbell toothbrush, but I think to actually "brush" her teeth must tickle because every time she starts to giggle and pull away. She also loves singing and clapping and is constantly giggling and laughing. We adore her and continue to be mesmerized with her sweet smiley personality.

So ther is a quick update on our sweet little sugar plum Nadia.

Via Via Qase

We have survived the first week of Nadia's new found mobility. She gets more adventurous by the day and is quickly discovering every nook and cranny of our home. I can't believe how fast she has gotten. Within a few seconds she is out the living room and on her way down the hall or into the kitchen, it is keeping us on our toes. (I am now searching for a baby gate). Her mobility has not only given her more independence; it has also given her a boost in attitude. She thinks that she needs to be involved in everything now. Inoke's nickname for her is "Via Via Qase" translated it means "Want to be Old/Wise" and it does suit her at the moment. The other night Inoke was chatting on SKYPE with some friends eating hot chocolate and biscuits... sure enough as soon as Inoke started to butter the first biscuit Nadia was on her way over to have biscuits for herself. She smiled and climbed and reached until Inoke gave her a biscuit for each hand, then she was happy as a clam sitting there next to daddy. I have to laugh, for months Inoke was so worried that she wasn't rolling, or crawling, or moving; now after a week he is ready for her to just sit still again. Here are a couple pictures of her and her first taste of "Lees Breakfast Crackers" (these are imported from Fiji, Inoke grew up on them and they have become a staple in our kitchen). And then here are a couple shots of my darling from this morning... she decided to pose and smile for me...

I'm Crawling Now!

Big exciting news of the weekend, (besides a fabulous 3 days off work) Nadia is now officially a crawler. I was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to actually crawl. She has been sitting on all fours for weeks and pulling herself up for a while, but until this weekend she never actually crawled. I just thought maybe she was going to skip crawling and go straight to walking... It was a beautiful weekend and I wanted to get a little photo shoot in Nadia's cute blue outfit, but she had other ideas. She is definitely showing Inoke's stubbornness as she gets older; I got lots of profile shots, eating grass shots, crawling all over the place shots, but NO smiles (until I gave up and took her back in the house then she wouldn't stop smiling). So here are the top two no smile shots, I will have to try again another time.

And here is a slide show of the rest of the shoot, and weekend.

Pearl Harbor & Waikiki

No trip to Oahu is complete without seeing Pearl Harbor... so again we ventured down to the Arizona Memorial. It was a beautiful sunny day jam packed with Pearl Harbor, shopping at Waikele, and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Waikiki. We were all exhausted by the time we got back to the North Shore. Nadia entertained us all at dinner with her drinking from straws and "talking" to everyone and anyone that would look her way. She is such a little miss personality; truly a social butterfly. I have to laugh because both Inoke and I are more introverted and she is just a spotlight lover. I love it.

Playing Tourist, again.

Inoke's brother in law, Sami came to visit us for a few days. He is only here in Hawaii for three days so we have been trying jam in all the sights in a few days. Next trip he will have to stay longer, but we are trying to hit the main attractions. Here are some pictures of North Shore... we went up to the Heiau at Pupukea and walked around checking out the sights. I love that place you can see FOREVER up there. Sadly it hasn't been preserved as well as I would like. But, it is still a good stop. After the Heiau we headed for Shave Ice at Matsumoto's in Haleiwa... I was totally bummed that my shave ice DROPPED on the floor, uhhh! But Inoke was nice enough to share with me and Nadia too.

Cruisin' the sights of da Big Island

As I said below Inoke was thrilled to get a Hummer to drive around for the weekend. I am glad he enjoyed it. Here are some pictures of the sights and the Captain James Cook Memorial. I think Captain Cook interests me because he is pretty famous back in Alaska for his discoveries, so I feel connected in a sense. We drove just over an hour down crazy windy roads and through the back country to get to this monument. Then when we were parking, Inoke was convinced that we took a wrong turn since there wasn't really any big signs... nope that is is a small heiau and a plaque dedicated to Captain James Cook. Hey it was an adventure, and I am glad we got to see it. Notice the picture with Inoke and his favorite sign... "No Park Dis Space" yep only in Hawaii. After we found a little mom and pop shop and got some Shave Ice... it was fun.

Marriot Beach Resort Waikoloa

WOW, that is what I would say about our resort. I loved it. Especially the pools. I was surprised at how empty the pools seemed to be, then I looked down on the beach an saw the mass of people there. I guess if people come to Hawaii they would like to sit on the sandy beach... me I was loving the swimming pool sans sand. The hotel was beautiful especially at sunset. We had a great time swimming and relaxing and playing tourist. I even got to go to the gym! I was so excited to have a treadmill to run on in an air conditioned room... it was great for about ten minutes... then I started to get bored watching that little red dot move along the imaginary track and now I have a renewed love for running outside where the scenery changes.