Meeting Baby

The pictures are in the wrong order, but I don't want
to reload them...

Here are some of our friends, meeting Baby for
the first time...


Here's Kendee, and she brought us some pretty yummy food too. Two kinds of Salsa (which Keenan happily ate), and some very good HUGE cinnamon rolls!

Meeting the Chamberlains!
(sorry Natalie and Hannah, I really need to
figure out how to rotate pictures!)

Meeting the Real Rachel Ray! And she brought us a REALLY YUMM-O dinner!

Here is Aunt Jesica who came for our annual
trick-or-treating! And bonus for her she
got to meet her new little bear!


On our way home from the hospital we stopped by
my friend's house. She had just had her little boy
the week before, and I had not had a chance to see
them yet. So, our little's got together for their
very first play date!!

Dr. Andy gave little bear the ok to come home!

Sarah came, and took LOT'S of pictures!
and our friend Lindsay, (but i can't figure how to rotate her
picture to put it on here sorry!)

Aunt Corlyn came to see the new little one too!

Khania came for a visit (after watching our little bug over night!)

Carrie was our very first visitor!

Proud Sister!

Little Bug was so excited to meet her sister.
Here she is looking at her for the first time.
It's all about the LOVE! She is such a great big sister!
Always asking how she is, making sure
she has her pacifier, she also likes to feed her a bottle, for a few minutes at least. Little Bear loves her big sister. In fact, I can put this screaming little baby
next to Little Bug at night and Little Bear will stop crying. It's just amazing!

Hospital Pictures

I Love you Mommy, see you when Ava comes out!

Marlee came to the hospital in the morning, to get me settled in. Here she is saying "see you when you come out baby Ava!" Marlee loved talking to my belly.
She would even tell her sister stories and sing to her.
Towards the end (thanks to Khania) she would say
"COME OUT AVA! AVA COME OUT, COME OUT" very cute!
(it was cute when Khania would do it too!)

Starting to feel the contractions...time to push

When Dr. Miller came back into the room and started to set
the room up, he asked me if I wanted to push for 20 minutes (that's how long it took with Marlee), or 5 minutes.
Of course I said 5!!
I started pushing at 7:42 pm and at 7:45 pm Ava was born.
After my first push, Dr. Miller gave me a pep talk about riding a bike, you may have not done it for a while, but once you get on the bike, you remember. (so in a nice way he was telling me my pushing was weak ; ) - so, I pushed again, he said "ok Rebekeh, that was good, but I want a great one, so I gave three more REALLY good pushes, and out she came!)
I want to say, what a difference a GOOD doctor makes. I won't go into all the fun details, but let me say he took much better care of me then the last time I gave birth. (neither one of my OB's were available the day I went into labor with Marlee, so I got the on call doctor...not a nice experience...again, I won't share all the details)

(not a great picture of me, but i wanted one with Dr. Miller and Baby Ava)

Happy Mommy!

Proud Daddy!

Our new little one

Ava LOVES bath time already. Keenan said she especially loved getting her hair washed - and what girl doesn't enjoy being pampered!

Introducing...

Ava Sanoe Lokelani Kamae
born 7:45pm (pushed for 3 minutes yea me!!!)
7lbs 3 oz
19 inches long
or as we already call her
Little Bear
(Marlee is Little Bug..)

quick update...

We have a new boiler! Hoo-ray. And when it gets cold again, we will be able to turn on our heat, with out having a HUGE Gas leak!
Still no sign of baby making her debut. But it allows me to get a few more things done. My sister is coming over tomorrow to help with the last minute details and organization of things. She is a master at that! Plus she is bringing my new overstuffed rocking chair. I can not wait for that! Along with all the other wonderful things she and her hubby have done, they wanted me to have a nice new rocker for the baby.
K is off flying, hoping that baby does not appear before he comes home Friday night. He gave her a long talking to before he left. Also, he called me about 50 (OK not that many) times from the airplane before taking off to make sure I had no signs of labor yet. At least he is in the states and not Japan or Germany like he sometimes flies too.
In the mean time, Pineapple Princess and I are enjoying our last days of alone time together.

Duck Duck Here

One of Pineapple Princess favorite things to do when we go to Lovelace park,
is to feed the ducks. We have been doing this since she was itty bitty! We had play group there last week and I actually remembered to bring food for the ducks.
Even though it was VERY cold, we still had fun.

Hidden Blessings

So even though we had the disappointing news that I would not be induced early, and K had taken the week off in preparation for our new arrival. His time off was not wasted. (You see with United, once the time is off, it's off, he can not get it back...) But we were blessed anyway. Wednesday when we came home from play group
(also the same day that K's mom arrived from Hawaii)
we were walking into the front door and K could smell gas. Lot's of gas.
He turned around and told Pineapple Princess and I to go back to the car.
K went into the house to get his mom out of the house and to
get the gas company's phone number.
Nicor came out, discovered several gas leaks in our basement and turned the gas off. It was a pretty bad leak that could have had severe damages. YIKES! The biggest leak was coming from our 30 year old boiler. Which, had just been checked out 2 weeks earlier for it's routine fall check up. Nicor went into the the boiler cage and came out with this HUGE orange warning tag that the heating company had put on the boiler LAST FALL, with the things that were bad and needed to be fixed on the boiler. And no one bothered to tell the owner of the building??? So, the heating company that just had checked out the boiler had to come back, as it turns out the whole boiler needs to be replaced. (At this point we are very glad to be renting, and not owners! -at least a $6000 repair!) Our heat has been turned off. And as we have been reflecting on this past week. We are so thankful that we did not have a baby yet, that K was home to take care of the gas leak, and that we are not bringing home a brand new baby to this freezing house. That she is tucked away safe and sound.
The other good reason we didn't have baby A yet, Thursday I went to my weekly check up, I mentioned to my doctor that I was having a harder time than normal breathing, and that my upper back felt like it had knifes in it. He listened to my lungs and said, yes they are wheezing and whistling and singing away, and not in a good way. (lung infection also, I have a sinus infection.)
Had I tried to labor this week, I would not have been able to breathe (especially with my asthma history).
We have learned this week, that even with disappointments,
there are hidden blessings everywhere.
We are thankful for the many hidden blessings we have received this week.

Baby Girl Names

HELP HELP HELP!
WE need help with ideas for our baby girl. When we named our Pineapple Princess, we just knew what her name was going to be. And now here we are, days away from having our second and we can not seem to agree on names. Pineapple Princess and I have been calling her baby Ava for months, but K, doesn't seem to keen on the idea of it...so, I am asking you, if you have any favorite girl names, that you would not mind sharing.
HELP us OUT!
and even if we do use Ava (which I am about 98% sure we will)
we still need a middle name
and then of course the Hawaiian name she will be given.

Here are some names we have thought of
Ava (Life or Serpent) hmmmm??
Kate Lyn (Pure)
Hadassah (Myrtle Tree)
Abigail (source of Joy)
Julia (youthful)
Corlyn (family name)
Faith (Devotion)
Paige (attendant)
Amy (Beloved)
Lauren (laurel tree)
Anna (favored)
Charlotte (little and womanly)

The Day You Were Born May 19, 2004

(just before we have her)

This is a video Log of Pineapple Princess on our very first days together. As we are preparing for number 2 to come on Wednesday, I have been reflecting on the birth of our first daughter.

So, we want to share her (Pineapple Princess) video with you.
It's a little long,
so watch it when you have time.
Enjoy!

Watching her take her first breath took ours away!

Chloe the Cat

In the spirit of Halloween, I thought I would post our family cat CHLOE.
She is not a nice cat, (well she can be when SHE WANTS to be).
(and in the pic above, she is "smiling" at me)
Chloe is the best attack Cat EVER - She enjoys attacking us when ever she can.
Especially
when we are coming out of the shower.
She waits, she runs, she pounces
then ATTACK!
Much to the enjoyment of those watching it happen.
Unfortunately if your leg is the scratching, biting post, NOT so pleasant!
But we still LOVE our black cat. WE love it when she sleeps on our feet at night
(whom ever she deems worthy that evening) WE love it when she sits
on our wrapping paper, tissue paper, hops in a box or suitcase we are packing
as if to say, mail me away, or take me with you...WE Love it when she wants
to play games with us, as in sits in the middle of the Monopoly game. She also
is GREAT at catching mice, she just doesn't know what to do with them once
she has caught them.
I should ask my mom if I could borrow her again for our little mouse...
We love our black cat Chloe!!!

Showered with Love

On September 22, my friends had a baby shower for me. It was wonderful - to put it in one word. I was truly spoiled - or should we say Baby A was spoiled. This is our 2nd baby so I wasn't planning on another shower. But, when you have such great friends who want to do this for you - who can say no. And I am glad we didn't. There are so many things that you do need, 2nd, 3rd, 4th (etc.) time around. Things I wasn't even thinking of, or thought of. And here I thought I was so prepared. ; ) (are we ever???) I have added all of the pictures onto our family website, to visit that click HERE. And I haven't forgotten all the fun things that Pineapple Princess got too as big sister gifts! There was such yummy food, and the fall decorations were wonderful.

Thank you to all of you who planned, brought food, donated time, money etc.
MAHALO!

I know that everyone keeps asking what I received - so here is a list of all the great things...(thanks to RH who wrote it all out for me)

*cute (hand made) booties and an overall outfit -
*Books - on the day you were born and bear hunt -
*Cupcake outfit -
*home made flannel blanket
*white boots with fur
*black velvet jump suit (to match mine!!) (book for Pineapple Princess)
*pink corduroy dress and sweater
*Winnie-the-Pooh dresses, onesies, jammies
*pink sweats, white shirt and a plaid bubble skirt
*floral onesie and cute socks
*apple jammies and fuzzy blanket to match
*pineapple swimsuit, and great books (magna doodle for Pineapple Princess)
*homemade thank you cards, onesie, hello baby book, (cute hat for Pineapple Princess)
*onesies, pink boots, octopus stroller toy
*diapers, wipes, Tylenol, gas drops, Triple Paste, onesies (dress up for Pineapple Princess)
*white crotchet blanket (homemade)
*Mama Loves Me book, swaddle blanket, and surf board tummy time mat
*pink sweatshirt and onesies (princess cup and brush for Pineapple Princess)
*yellow jammies, bibs, yellow fuzzy outfit with socks, (book for Pineapple Princess)
*jump rope (for pineapple princess)
*photo album and frame, lap pads and burp cloths
*highchair
*Sunshine stroller attachment
*diaper bag wallet (to put wipes and diapers in)
*Einstein Turtle crib soother
GROUP GIFT
*How to be a Baby by the Big Sister - (for Pineapple Princess)
*Gift Cards, Playtex bottles and drop ins , nursing pads, triple paste, loofah, baby wash, Lotion (for mommy), health care kit, crib sheets, hooter hider, burp cloths, sheet saver, baby care timer, noise machine, case of diapers and wipes, car seat base...

see what I mean, showered with LOVE, we are so blessed!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Autumn, By Stephen Brayfield

How blessed are we to have a good friend who is a wonderful artist. As I'm sure you have seen my art work of Pineapple Princess on our side bar, I want to make sure that you also see Steve Brayfield's website. GO HERE (http://www.brayart.com/) he is more than happy to do art work for you, and I know it's worth it!

Here is his latest work - of our Pineapple Princess of course! ; )

ENJOY and Happy Autumn!

She has Bangs

Last Monday, K went to get his haircut.
The women there just LOVE Pineapple Princess . They are always wanting to restyle her hair. Last time they wanted to buzz her head so she would get rid of the "baby hair"
WHAT!?!? and NO WAY!
is all I could say!
This time, they gave her bangs.
K and I were not so sure at first. Maybe because she looks so grown up now. But, I do think it is pretty cute!
What do you think?

Our New Pineapple is Upside Down ; )

I just wanted to quickly add, that Baby A has turned UPSIDE DOWN. She is now in the RIGHT position!
HOORAY!
I am not sure who was more excited, K or Dr. M! Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.
And a very SPECIAL thanks to our friends the Stowells who let me use their pool to help turn this pineapple upside down!

mahalo!!!

Spiders and Skunks and Mice - OH MY!

It must be fall! Not only is the weather changing, brisk, to hot, hot to brisk, and the leaves starting to turn, and not because I am hungry for apples all the time, nice crisp juicy apples, but I also have new house-mates. Not this cute little baby that is still brewing inside,

but the unwanted guest.

Spiders of all shapes and sizes, and the yucky sticky webs that come with them, we also have/had a mouse

(which K named Seemore, because I don't want to see anymore of you!) and the smell of a skunk that lingers in our home 2-3 times a week because it hates the
dog next door and keeps spraying it.
So what do we do with all of our unwanted guests???
I have had the pest control out to spray for the spiders, I think all that accomplished is that they moved inside. We have traps all over the house for the mouse (mice) and well, I guess I need to call the city about the skunk problem. UGH!
I wish for ONCE I could live in a nice place that was ANT FREE, MOUSE FREE, SPIDER FREE and now SKUNK FREE!
On the other side, with all the spiders and the mouse, I guess I am
that much closer to being decorated for HALLOWEEN -
And Pineapple Princess has pets???
(I'll say it again UGH!)

Which Jane Austen Heroine are you?

Take the Quiz here!

I am Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! I am practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though I am tremendously sensible and allow my head to rule, I have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

Sibling Tour

Pineapple Princess and I were able to book a tour, a sibling tour of the Women's labor and delivery wing at the Evanston Hospital. It is a great little tour that they have for the siblings to be. Pineapple Princess and
I arrived at 11 am and met our tour guide Nurse Sherri. She took us to the labor area and showed Pineapple Princess a neat little flip book of the delivery process - oh if it would only be that easy!

We then headed up to the recovery rooms. They showed us the room where Mommy stays and the phone where Daddy gets to call the Big Sister. Pineapple Princess enjoyed looking in the nursery window at the new baby's in there.

My favorite part was when Pineapple Princess helped Nurse Sherri dress her little "sister". (this doll not only had the right parts, it also sported an umbilical cord!) I was AMAZED as I watched my 3 year old put a diaper on this baby doll, then a tee-shirt. She was so gentle and careful, she even knew to hold the baby's head/neck. After Sherri helped Pineapple Princess swaddle the baby doll, Pineapple Princess immediately started to rock her and sing to her. After she kissed the baby on the forehead she said, "Ms. Sheri, I think my baby sister is hungry." Luckily, nurse Sheri had a bottle all ready. Pineapple Princess fed her doll and then burped her. I was in awe of how much of a "mommy" Pineapple Princess already is.
There were a few other tips that I thought cute to help Pineapple Princess be a big sister. They told her that she should have a picture of herself that the nurses can put in her sisters cradle, so that the new baby can see what her big sister looks like. And that Pineapple Princess should also draw some pictures for Mommy's room,
so that mommy is not so lonesome for home.
I can not wait to see Pineapple Princess with her new little sister!
(and thanks to my Big sister for suggesting this tour for Pineapple Princess !)

Pregnancy

So why is it when you are pregnant, all these things, horrible things happen to your body??? (OK OK and there IS some GOOD)
Why is it that your feet swell up to the size of WATERMELLON'S? That the ONLY shoes that fit my huge ELEPHANT feet our my husbands size 10 flip flops...
My older sister and I were even noticing that my NOSE is about 2-3 sizes bigger than normal! And, when I talk it sounds like I have a cold.

(and let's not forget these kidney stones my body mass produces...)

But in spite of all of that, I do feel pretty when I am pregnant. I love my belly! I love knowing I have a wee little one growing inside me. I love that she kicks, stretches, hits, and jabs me almost all day long, oh and I love her hiccups.
Now, if she would only somersault back, so she was no
longer a full breech baby, things would be good. I'll add a picture of me and Pineapple Princess at Dr.M's office so you can see my nose, I am serious, it's huge!!!
But I can't wait to meet my new little girl!

I'll Put a Spell On You

After much debating, and changing of the mind, Pineapple Princess has finally picked a costume for Halloween!

We started with Cinderella, then Belle, I think there was even a Princess Jasmine and Sleeping Beauty in there somewhere. Then, we watched Mickey's Treat, and it was
settled, Pineapple Princess wanted to be a witch - like Minnie Mouse. SO,
(after three weeks, of not driving and hardly leaving the house)
I finally felt good enough to go somewhere, and where do we go???
TARGET - of course.
Just our luck, they were busy putting out all of the Halloween stuff. (my favorite holiday -well next to Christmas) So we cruised all around the store, taking it all in.
I adding to my wish list of decorations. But, I held off
(gotta keep to my new budget! -
although I think K would debate whether
I held off or not - but that is a whole other story!)
Anyway, we got to the costumes, and Pineapple Princess saw lots of cute ones, changing her mind all over again. Then she saw it, the perfect one, the one she ALWAYS wanted.
Princess Witch


(And some cute accessories to go with it!) OH, just so we are clear, Marlee is a GOOD witch, not a BAD witch. Pineapple Princess also wants me to add that baby A, will be a baby Jaguar
(thanks to Miss E!)
Daddy will be a knight, and Mommy will be Minnie Mouse...
(we'll see if we can pull that off)

I just LOVE - LOVE Halloween!
Happy Haunting Everyone!


also, one of my MUST watch Halloween Movies is
Hocus Pocus,
I can't wait to watch it with Pineapple Princess this season...

Good Times Are Ahead

Today was a big day for our family. K has been called and sustained as the 2nd counsel in the bishopric in our ward. I can't even describe the spiritual high we are on right now. It is just awesome. I had to make my self not cry today with all the wonderful thoughts, words and spirit that was felt today. I just knew that if I started, there would be NO stopping.
K's setting apart blessing was just amazing. Not just his, but the other men in the bishopric as well. We are so grateful for this opportunity to serve and grow together. I know that I won't be as involved as he will, but I do know, that we will have challenges and blessings together as a family. Right now, I look forward to them, blessings of course, but even the challenges. I know we will grow and develop with our testimonies so much more. I am also very grateful that in each blessing that was given today, specific things were mentioned for the wives. It is amazing how much our Heavenly Father loves us, his daughters, and the blessings that he wants to bestow upon us.
I am truly grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. I am also so blessed to have the calling in primary that I have, to work with those wonderful children to grow and to learn from them and also the wonderful women that I get to serve with, they have really become some of my best friends, or eternal friends as K likes to say.
I am so grateful to be a mother, to be able to teach my child the principles of this gospel. She is such a blessing to me in my life. I am so grateful for the many wonderful friends that I have, because of this gospel, even friends that are not members of the church, I know them because of friends I do have in the church. My friends are truly wonderful to me and a blessing in my life as well. Thank you for all the support you are to me in my life, my dear friends!

Sugardoodle.net

One of my most favorite sites on the internet is sugardoodle.net. I seem to be on there several times a day. It has such wonderful ideas for primary, nursery, singing time, relief society, young women, it even has a page with family home evening ideas. It's just great, I draw so much creativity from there. I have been encouraged by many a friend who works with me in primary to post, "publish" my ideas that I use in primary, mostly the games I come up with. Last year K and I came up with Musical Jeopardy for singing time focusing on the primary program songs. As I was redoing it for this years program songs, I thought, I should send this to sugardoodle and see if it is an idea she would like to post for others to use, get ideas from. I sent it to her this morning, and when I got home from church, I checked my e-mail and there was a letter from Ms. Sugardoodle herself, saying that she had added my -quote "wonderful idea" to her site. I was so so happy! This must be how people feel when they are published. Anyway, I wanted to share with you my game on sugardoodle. Go HERE.

You'd think...

That I would have enough to do in my own life, that I would have enough to write about in my life, but I don't, or maybe I just am bored...what ever the reason, I helped my baby sister with her blog, and now enjoy adding stories and pictures to her site. Guess I don't have enough to do while passing kidney stones... : ( So here is Miss Jorge's site, or Miss Keokilani, or Miss Jes's is site.
I Heart My Life