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.

Our little Menehune...

Where oh where could Nadia be? Hmm... lets look in the pantry! Yes, if you are looking for Nadia look in the kitchen. It is her new favorite place. Every time you put her in the living room she makes a b-line for the kitchen. I know, I know just get some kid latches for the cabinets and be done with it already. I will eventually, but for now I don't mind her exploring around while I do dishes and cook. (Top of the to-do list this weekend is rearrange the pantry so the heavy cans are out of reach). She loves to pull everything out and bang things around. It is pretty entertaining to watch her stretch up on her toes to reach things and listen to her babble around about her "finds." We might just have a little baker on our hands.

The First Shiner & Some Ono Kine Grindz

Our little princess has seriously sensitive skin. We only can use Aveeno baby wash on her once or twice a week and have to lotion and oil her up morning and night. She also is allergic to ant bites. A couple months ago she kept getting big swollen bites on her legs and I couldn't figure out what was causing the marks so we took her into the doctor and they said she was allergic to ant bites. Huh, never knew you could be allergic to ant bites, never knew ants bite (well except for the crazy jungle kind). So last Thursday evening when she was getting ready for her bath I noticed a SMALL little bite just under her eye. By Friday morning it was a little puffy, but not too bad, by lunch time Friday it had almost swollen her eye shut. Freak out mom that I am called the doctor, but they said nothing can be done just relax and she will be fine in a few days. By Saturday morning the swelling had subsided and she was nearly back to normal by Sunday. Here is her first little shiner:Other than that excitement, we are continuing to work on taking the time to enjoy all the little local spots that North Shore has to offer. Saturday on our way home from the weekly shopping trip to town we decided to stop in and have some lunch at Kua Aina... Kua Aina is one of the best little hamburger joints on Oahu (next to Teddy's Burgers). It was a nice little family outing and Nadia enjoyed sitting in the high chair immensely.

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.