Klaja Musings

9 months old...

2012-01-03T21:35:00.000-08:00

and a busy busy boy! he just started trying to walk 2 weeks ago, and can now make it across the room or down the hall! definitely wants to keep up with big brother ;)

it's november already?

2011-11-01T15:44:00.000-07:00

yup. i guess so. better get this blog updated! starting with the youngest of our family...

kanoa is 7 months today and super mobile! he's been crawling for a month, and is now cruising around pretty well on his feet. he can make his way from one end of the couch to the other, from bookcase to the speaker to his jumper, etc. no teeth yet, but expecting them any week here. he LOVES following around his big brother! who we think he calls "na-na". he's also saying "da-da" and "ma-ma".

kanoa jeffrey: 7 months old

kaimana is pretty well potty-trained! still using diapers at night, but that's it! of course, there's the occasional accident, but i'd say he's doing great :) he is also very very 3 years old. he's definitely testing boundaries. we've also entered the era of "why?". about EVERYTHING. he also LOVES getting his baby brother to follow him around. of course, he also loves testing boundaries with his brother. like, hmmmmm, what will happen if i walk over and bump my knee into my brother's head?

kaimana henry: 3 years old

as for me, i'm hanging in there. sometimes it feels like just barely. two kids is more than twice the work i think. we're still hunting for a boat... might be getting pretty close on one!

that's a general update for now. i'll try not to let 3 months pass by again without posting. but i'm not making any promises!! :)

4 months.

2011-08-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

the boys both had check-ups last week.... kaimana for his 3 year and kanoa for his 4 month. they both did great (kanoa got 2 shots), and we're happy to have two healthy boys! we've also made the big step this week and moved kanoa into his brother's room.... now dubbed the 'brothers room'. hoping to encourage better night sleeping for the baby without ruining the big brother's. :)

kanoa (4 months)... 16lb 14oz (90th pecentile), 25" (75th percentile)

kaimana (3 years)... 31lb (45th percentile), 36" (30th percentile)

florida slideshow.

2011-08-06T14:20:00.000-07:00

mister chatty.

2011-06-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

as promised...

12 weeks.

2011-06-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

12 weeks old! at his 2 month check-up, kanoa measured in at 14 lbs and 24 inches. just this week, he's enjoying tummy-time a little more... though not for too long :) he's super vocal! i'll try to get a video soon to post. he's still getting up once or twice to eat at night, so mommy is pretty tired most of the time! but, he's a big boy and hungry! which has also led me to start trying to get him interested in baby cereal. he doesn't love it yet, but it's only been a few days. crossing my fingers that he'll take to it soon and that it may help us get through the night. but, we'll see!

brother photo shoot 2.

2011-06-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

kaimana henry: 34 months

kanoa jeffrey: 3 months

what a week.

2011-06-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

sunday at beach in seattle, kaimana falls backward and knocks his head on a rock. tiny cut, but a healthy amount of blood. tuesday, kaimana gets the first of two cavities filled. thursday, he gets the second filled. friday, kaimana trips while running full speed down the hall and crashes his face into the leg of our bedframe two hours before kanoa gets 3 shots during his 2 month check-up. whew.

wednesday evening, while zach was at work, i was picking up the dishes from dinner when kanoa started crying while on his playmat. i heard kaimana say to him, 'hold on. hold on. i'm comin'. i'm comin'.' i peeked around the corner to see big brother give baby brother his binky while saying, 'here's your binky... mmmmmm... yummy....' and then turn on one of kanoa's musical toys and continue to sit with him (without being asked to) until i finished doing the dishes. what a great big brother he's turning out to be.

kanoa weighed in at 13 lb 15 oz and measured 24 inches. at home this morning, before the doctor's visit, we discovered he's ticklish! pretty fun to hear some laughter :) since the last video i posted, his chatty times are even 'chattier'. i'll try to get another video soon. he's still eating every 2-3 hours (3-4 hours at night)... he's a growin' boy! he sleeps waaaaaaaaayyyyy better than kaimana did at this age. so that's a blessing!

brother photo shoot.

2011-05-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

8 weeks.

2011-05-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

dinosaurs!

2011-05-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

dinosaurs at the zoo!! kaimana was fascinated... for all of about 15 minutes :) he was much more interested in all the toys for sale in the shop at the end of the exhibit.

kanoa on video.

2011-05-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

7 weeks.

2011-05-19T17:23:00.001-07:00

6 weeks.

2011-05-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

13 going on 30.

2011-05-09T18:30:00.000-07:00

the scale i ordered from amazon arrived today, and it seemed much more fun to weigh my boys than to just weigh myself. kanoa weighs 13 lbs today... meaning he's added about 3 lbs in 5 weeks. kaimana is still 30 lbs, which has been his weight for several months. i swear he's bigger though, at least he's wearing bigger clothes than he was! here is a picture zach snapped of him while at a rest stop outside of vantage...

5 weeks.

2011-05-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

4 weeks.

2011-04-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

number two.

2011-04-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

my boys are having an interesting time with their number two's. kanoa has only been going once a week, causing my doc to suggest i give up dairy to see if that helps clear his system. bummer. i love me some dairy :)

on the other hand, as of this morning, kaimana has now twice run down the hallway shouting 'i need to go poop!' in the last 24 hours. and, he has! i'm not going to get ahead of myself and say that he's ready for potty training, but an exciting development nonetheless.

for those of you reading this who aren't parents, sorry. for those of you who are, well, you know how exciting number two's can be...

3 weeks.

2011-04-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

big brother

2011-04-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

we've been concerned about how kaimana would be as a big brother. our 2.5 year-old is quite rambunctious and energetic. favorite pastime? using everything in the house as a jungle-gym. he climbs over and jumps off the couch, runs up and down the hall leaping over obstacles he has purposely put in his way, etc, etc. our concern was that it would be difficult to reign him in once there was a baby around to be careful of. but, it actually hasn't been to bad. we definitely need to remind him often to be careful around the baby, and are setting rules like: no climbing and jumping on the couch when kanoa is on it. i've managed to be able to make it through a couple of kanoa feedings (which are close to an hour long at this point) by myself with kaimana... he sits next to me to read books, or watches thomas the train, or gets himself set-up with play-doh at the table. kaimana is starting to be a little more curious about kanoa as well. his questions are pretty fun. our second day home, he came out of his bedroom with his soccer ball and announced "i am going to play catch with my brother." earlier today he asked me "can my brother drink orange juice?" yes, i think that being the mommy of two little boys is going to be equally nerve-racking and wonderful :)

jinxed?

2011-04-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

after bragging to several folks about how much easier everything has seemed this time around, including the fact that wednesday night after an 11 o'clock feeding, kanoa only woke up once to be fed in the middle of the night... last night he only allowed me to sleep a grand total of 4 hours. and though today i'm exhausted, i can't seem to settle down and nap :(

i have to remind myself that he's only a week old and that things should only become more and more routine as more weeks pass.

welcome kanoa jeffrey klaja

2011-04-07T12:38:00.001-07:00

april 1, 2011, 3:31 pm, zach and i welcomed the newest member of our family into the world. weighing in at 9 lb 15 oz, and measuring 22 inches, let's just say i was glad i decided to induce labor and not wait for him to get any bigger :) we checked into northwest hospital at 7 am on the 1st, at 8:30 my doctor broke my bag of waters, around 12:30 contractions began, and at 3:31 baby cries filled the room. shortly after that, kaimana met his baby brother... he wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation in the room. he was more interested in looking out the window than looking at the baby... that is, until we allowed the other waiting visitors into the room. then he wanted to sit on the bed with kanoa an i and gave kanoa a few gentle pats. a little over 24 hours later, we headed home to get 'settled in' as a family of 4.

kanoa (hawaiian meaning 'the free one')

kaimana henry and kanoa jeffrey

the last two posts didn't have pictures so....

2011-01-05T15:29:00.001-08:00

kaimana (27 months) posing with elizabeth (25 months) for a picture. too cute!

2011, part two.

2011-01-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

2011 finds kaimana:

very "2". the past couple weeks, defiance has been growing. at this point, he's keeping it simple. "no" when i ask him to do various things (like, "kaimana, please come here so we can get dressed."). i'm trying to nip this in the bud before the calm "no" turns into anything resembling a fit.

it's fun and frustrating to see him developing his own likes and dislikes. a year ago he would pretty much eat anything at anytime. now he has requests. very often he requests m&m's. (which i'm starting to think could be useful when potty training comes around. zach's mom kept a dish of m&m's in the bathroom, and apparently it worked like a charm. like father like son?) he also is starting to turn food away that i know that he likes simply because he'd rather have something else. don't worry... this doesn't really work on me, hopefully he'll cue into that soon.

wow is he a little boy. pretty much constantly on the go.... running, jumping, climbing, you name it. he more often dumps out containers and toy boxes to use them for climbing than he plays with any of his toys.

on the other hand, he could sit and read books ALL DAY. i should say, he could sit and have books read to him. he's rarely interested in looking at books by himself, he wants to be read the story. i'm hoping he'll be an early reader. if only he'd look at his flash cards rather than playing 137-card pick-up.

he's knows all his letters, and their sounds, and is getting better at numbers. he counts to 12 just fine, then skips to 16, 19, whatever. actually, he's known his letters for a long time, and can now spell "stop" and "go". i didn't really teach him this on purpose, but i figure since he picked it up, we should start adding to the list.

not sure what kind of learner it means that he is, but with all his reading in spelling, he is NOT very interested in writing/coloring/drawing. again, he likes to sit and have me draw for him, but he doesn't really want to sit and do it himself.

and since i'm a dance teacher... he knows plie, passe, arabesque, shuffle. he figured out on his own how to walk around on his heels, and we love to do the hokey pokey together :)

2011

2011-01-05T14:56:00.000-08:00

what a year.

and now 2011 finds us:

getting ready to return to apartment life... we moved out in july expecting to move into a boat when zach returned from alaska. but, unfortunately, the banks were not on our side. we visited several, and some wouldn't finance the particular boat we were interested in and others wouldn't finance us (though our credit's great and we have ample savings, we have no history with this type or size of loan). though we're disappointed that we feel like we're not moving forward, we're also excited to return to seattle and begin preparing for baby to arrive. which brings us to...

getting ready for baby to arrive. it's weird this time around for us, because being the parents of a two year-old definitely takes most of our attention. so i now find myself at almost 7 months wondering how i got here so soon. and i now only have 2 months left to get used to the idea of an infant... and to try to start pre-adjusting kaimana to the idea. like trying to really get him on a scheduled naptime. like attempting potty-training. like getting him to not wake up and come climb into bed with us in the middle of the night (which will be easier when he's in his own room again). to name a few.

still thinking about boats. though it's not our next move, it IS still on the radar. zach of course is always on the hunt, and in 6-9 months or so, who knows? what we are now trying to decide, based on our difficulties with banks, is do we compromise on the boat in order to be able to get into something at all (one bank has approved us, but has somewhat strict guidelines on what boats they will give financing for), or do we hold out? more on that to come i suppose.

haircut!

2010-11-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

well, we tried letting kaimana's hair grow out, but finally decided to give it a trim. at least until he's old enough to know to brush his bangs out of his eyes... then we can try again for some longish surfer-boy hair :)

due march 22!

2010-11-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

jeffrey leroy lappier 1957-2010

2010-11-01T17:18:00.001-07:00

columbia river gorge hike.

2010-08-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

yesterday, i packed up kaimana and my brother ethan and lunch and hit the road from my parents' house towards the columbia river gorge scenic area. we stopped at latourell falls, which is just a short walk from it's parking lot, then drove on to wahkeena falls. this gorgeous (pun intended) hike took us past wahkeena falls then followed the waters that feed it up and up and up, past fairy falls, and finally up to wahkeena springs where we stopped for a bit to hang out. rather than making the loop to multnomah (which i deemed a little to far for me), we headed back down the way we came. beautiful day for a hike!

2 days down, 24 to go.

2010-08-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

until zach comes home :(

zach is off in alaska for 26 days for work, and kaimana and i are homeless and spending time with family till he returns. when he does, we will be continuing to stay with family while he works and we look for a boat to purchase and live on!! exciting times, but i'm ready for him to be home already! i'm told the time will fly by, and i hope so.

fourth of july, 2010

2010-07-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

what an adventurous weekend we had!

we left seattle thursday afternoon, and took the scenic (hwy 2) route to wenatchee. we arrived at la casa de hendrickson early enough for the boys to run around and wear themselves out before bedtime! friday morning brought us an orchard tour where kaimana learned the ropes... how to eat cherries straight off the tree and make a big mess! after nap-time, we loaded up the car and headed up to entiat. lots of playing outside, a great dinner, and playing in tents ensued. even some fireworks! we slept out under the stars (luckily it was warm enough to leave off the rain-fly) and awoke to a beautiful morning. we ate some delicious breakfast casserole while watching the world cup, then headed outdoors! it was so fun to watch the boys play, and of course to catch up with the hendoos!

that evening, we decided to again try the scenic route, this time to spokane. unfortunately, we took a very scenic route... that is, we missed our turn and ended up in chelan. thankfully, wal-mart had an atlas, and we made our way to our destination. sunday, the fourth, we got to see papa's new sailboat, and though we missed the big firework show, stopped and did some of our own. monday we visited riverfront park, and kaimana got his first taste of RIDES!!! he started on the batmobile and mini-carousel (the kind you drop a quarter into), and then moved on to the ferris wheel, a kiddie roller coaster, and the big carousel. what fun!

end of my rope.

2010-06-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

sometimes i reach it.

don't get me wrong, i love my little boy... how could i not? but lately bedtime has been causing mommy much frustration. i put the blame on myself: i definitely took the crib apart too early. but no going back now. with summer time we've also been more social and bedtime has been much less routine. i suppose i need to take some action (besides slamming the door after 30 minutes of 'sleeping' next to kaimana only to have him repeatedly sit up and say 'awake'), but what i'd really like is to return to the days when he'd just trot down the hallway with his bear and binky and get into bed and go to sleep.

argh.

thankfully, i have an understanding and helpful husband who has taken over this evening bedtime with much more patience than i could muster.

now the question remains: to 'retrain' kaimana into a bedtime routine at a reasonable hour, or to let his bedtime shift around depending on when he is tired. which lately has been pushing ten o'clock.

i guess we'll figure that out tomorrow.

smarty pants.

2010-06-04T15:31:00.000-07:00

munch munch.

2010-05-20T22:32:00.001-07:00

the hugest strawberry ever!

kaimana's first corn on the cob was a great success!

kaimana's new trumpet.

2010-05-20T22:14:00.001-07:00

day eight: time to go home.

2010-05-12T22:23:00.000-07:00

this morning i couldn't really sleep... thinking about packing and how much i didn't want to. finally i just got up and went to it. after kaimana woke up, we munched down some breakfast and headed out for our last beach visit. then it was time to get cleaned up and get ready to head to the airport. by the time we turned in the car, checked our bags, and let kaimana walk to the gate, it was time to board. as the plane with taking off, kaimana and i watched maui shrink beneath us and said "bye-bye maui". kaimana could see the beaches of the north shore, "a-bee". "bye-bye bee". he then requested that we go back down. smart little boy.

day seven: crazy cool playground.

2010-05-11T22:19:00.000-07:00

i was unfortunately too distracted this day to pull out my camera at our morning trip to the beach. we met up with a friend and her son, and the little boys were too cute! but, as i didn't take any pictures i have no tangible proof :( however, later in the day, we headed upcountry for a visit and got to hang out for a bit at this amazing playground. even better, a friend brought bubbles and over in one of the picnic areas someone was playing a ukulele and singing. playground time was followed by crepes in paia and back to kihei for bed. no movies or ice cream this night... just right to sleep.

day six: mother's day.

2010-05-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

when kaimana woke up this morning, he joined daddy in a trip to the grocery store for mother's day breakfast supplies: bagels! we then walked down to the beach for a couple hours of playtime before hitting the road to la perouse. with kaimana in the ergo, we hiked around for a while, then let him down to do some hiking of his own. every stick and rock and root was pretty interesting. so beautiful down there. hungry for lunch, we hit up fred's, then went across the street to play at the beach well into the afternoon. we showered and hung out on the lawn to watch the sunset. a little girl and her mommy from the blanket next door shared their ball with kaimana. pretty cute!

day five.

2010-05-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

day five, saturday, started out with a trip to the beach of course! after playing for a while, we loaded into the car to head upcountry. first we went to kula to grab some french pastries, then headed into olinda for the seabury arts & crafts fair. we met with some friends there, listened to music, ate some food, and generally enjoyed the celebrations. man, there were a lot of people there! afterwards, we hit up the grocery store and came back to make some homemade hamburgers before hitting the sack. oh yes, and ice cream and a movie for us.

day four: chillin'.

2010-05-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

the title really sums it up. kaimana slept another half-hour later today (what will this mean when we come home?), we went out for breakfast, then hit the beach. when kaimana started getting cranky, we got in the car to get him to sleep, then headed indoors for nap-time ourselves. obviously we brought kaimana inside too. got up, ate lunch, and headed back out to the beach. this time we took a walk down sugar beach. then.... shave ice!!!

after shave ice, we headed over to kam one. this time we just hung in the grassy area, and enjoyed some shade :) the afternoon wind kept us cool, and we sat there recalling so many wonderful afternoons spent doing just that. kaimana did some serious running around (like an airplane), watched some cardinals, and generally burned off some energy. probably from shave ice.

we drove into wailuku for a delicious dinner, they liked kaimana so much he got a tour of the kitchen! drove back, bath/shower time, kaimana to bed, movie and ice cream for the parents. i only made it through half the movie before falling asleep.

it's going to be really hard to come home.

day three and the road to hana.

2010-05-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

kaimana slept a little bit longer this morning. well, till around 5:30. we munched down some more swedish pancake breakfast, and got packed up to hit the road. to hana.

kaimana fell asleep a little bit past paia. when he woke up about 45 minutes from our destination, he looked a little pale. then again, so did zach. the road is super winding, and once you get to a certain point, the jungle blocks out most of the skyline. we made it to waianapapa none to soon, luckily no one got sick. we only hung out there for a half-hour or so, ate some bananas, watched the blowhole (which wasn't super entertaining this day), used the bathroom, enjoyed the view. then we jumped back into the car to head to oheo gulch.

we were really excited about this hike, but weren't sure how kaimana would do. since he'd already been stuck in the car all morning, we decided to let him walk for a while first. he did great! he probably hiked close to 75% of the way up to the falls and had a blast while doing so. he saw lots of rocks ("ocks"), roots ("oots"), bamboo ("ba-boo"), and got to get his feet wet in the stream we had to cross. after taking their picture at the falls, we loaded him into the ergo and he was asleep within 10 minutes.

we decided to drive around kaupo to come home, much less winding, and grabbed some pizza when we got back into kihei. dinner, showers, bedtime for kaimana, movie (the blind side) and ice cream for us, made for the end of day three.

the big surprise: day two.

2010-05-06T08:52:00.001-07:00

day two started early. kaimana doesn't seem too interested in switching over to hawaii-time. he woke up around 4:30, snuggled in bed with us for another 20 minutes, and then really wanted some juice. so, we all got up at that point. kaimana drank juice and played with toys, daddy went for an early morning maui run, and mommy started making breakfast. swedish pancakes with pineapple syrup, eggs, sausage, fresh papaya, coffee, and oj. yum!

then we packed up and headed for..... the beach of course!

kaimana only lasted a couple hours before starting to get tired. we though maybe we'd head to lunch, but then realized it was only 10am. so we headed for breakfast and fred's instead. of course, as soon as we were back in the car after second breakfast, kaimana crashed. we decided to use his napping time to drive upcountry towards a hike we like in olinda. we got there, rested in the car for a little while ourselves, then packed kaimana up in the ergo. he was still kinda sleepy, and not sure what he wanted. he wanted to get down and walk, but after a few feet wanted back up again. we did the up, down, up, down routine a few times before just leaving him in the pack. he fell asleep again!

we stopped a ho'okipa to watch the windsurfers and surfers for a little while before heading back to kihei. before dinner we again took a walk on the beach. what a great way to spend an evening. well, late afternoon :) we even saw a little lizard on our way back. there's isn't a stopper for the tub here, and i really wanted to make sure we got all the sand and sunscreen off of kaimana's skin, so into the sink he went for a bath. he went to sleep a little more easily this time, and zach and i ate ice cream, watched a movie, and fell asleep. so happy.

the big surprise: day one.

2010-05-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

zach's first reaction when i woke him up tuesday morning: scowl. then i told him i thought we should go to fred's for cinco de mayo and to la provence for mother's day: confusion. he slowly figured it out: joy.

we headed to the airport about 20 minutes later...

when we arrived on maui, we grabbed our car (an impala! ha!), and headed to the beach. zach reminded me of a happy schoolboy as he frolicked in the waves. kaimana would have eagerly joined him, but we kept him in the shallows. he laughed every time the water crashed into his shins. after playing for a while, we hit the grocery store and went to check into our ohana. we unpacked, and headed to the beach again!!! this time we just took a walk down the beach while kaimana discovered every piece of coral, urchin, crab hole, rock, stick, that he could. after a dinner of tacos, showers were in order, quickly followed by trying to get the over-tired kaimana to sleep in the twin-sized rollaway bed. he finally passed out around 7:30 hawaii-time, and zach and i got to watch some x-files before turning in ourselves.

what a day!

easter slideshow.

2010-04-30T07:36:00.001-07:00

i realize it's almost a month since easter, but here's the slideshow anyway!

little mynah.

2010-04-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

kaimana has come to a great realization. the realization that he can attempt to say anything and everything anyone else says. which creates fairly constant toddler chatter. a few of his words are clear, many more i can understand because i hear him say them all the time, and still many more need much development. everyday a few words move up a category, and i can't believe what that means. what will he sound like in another week, month, season?

his new favorite thing to talk about is "people". he sees and hears them almost everywhere. today there were "pee-po" in the "tore". "a-my-mur" to be exact. that is, there were people in the store, fred meyer. also "pee-po" are "nunny". people are funny. this is what he says whenever he hears someone laughing.

his love for letters is now extending beyond his toys and he's starting to point out letters on signs and buildings. as well as shapes and colors. when we visit the zoo, i try to point out the animals but he's more interested in looking at the "ine", the signs, and standing on the "kir-kle", the circles. also known to adults as storm drains.

what a day.

2010-04-03T21:26:00.000-07:00

we had a late night last night. kaimana didn't get to bed until around 10:30. then, possibly due to teething, he was up from 2:30-4. i was hoping this would mean he might sleep in a bit, but sadly, no. we were up at 7. who was i kidding?

later in the morning, he took a black crayon to the kitchen floor, and decided to try to climb over the back of his folding chair. luckily, i caught him at the attempt, but he continued to run around like a crazy boy until we took a walk to the grocery store.

after his nap, he decided it was best to disassemble and demolish his sandwich i had made for his lunch. all he wanted were grapes and strawberries. after lunch, while i was repairing a toy he had stepped on, he found the paperback i've been reading and ripped off the cover.

a little later, he got a time-out in his crib for kicking mama after being asked repeatedly not to. when he was allowed to get back out of his crib, he did some crazy move in his doorway and hit his head on the doorjamb. as i was consoling him, he decided to show me what had just happened by pointing to the doorjamb and hitting his head on it again, a little more gently this time.

wow.

he was however extremely cute dancing his arms around while we watched a few minutes of michael jackson dancing in 'this is it'.

and there were several moments when he threw his arms around my neck and puckered up to give me a kiss.

he held a little daisy in his hand the entire walk to the grocery store, through the aisles of the grocery store, and only let go when he fell asleep in the stroller on the way home.

he sat relatively still in his highchair while i gave him a haircut. trying his best to say 'haircut' through the whole process.

he picked out his own jammies from his drawer, and helped me put them on him.

guess i better get to bed in case tomorrow is another day like this one.

march madness

2010-03-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

what? it's already midway through march? unbelievable.

our most recent out-of-town excursion was a camping trip to whidbey island. we had wanted to camp at south whidbey island state park, but as it wasn't open yet, we stopped there for some beach time and lunch then headed north to fort ebey state park. the weather was slightly chilly, but gorgeous, and kaimana slept great! we took along zach's cousin adam (or rather, mum-mum, according to kaimana) and had ourselves a fantastic time!

the artiste.

2010-02-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

why i can't use the flash on my new camera. yet.

2010-02-10T20:58:00.000-08:00

these pictures remind me of many pictures i have taken of zach over the years. so maybe it's just a genetic thing?

kaimana on wire.

2010-02-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

we rode our bicycles down to golden gardens with kimmy this weekend, and after playing in the sand for a while, we noticed tight-rope walkers that had set up some equipment. they invited kaimana to give it a try!

kaimana at home.

2010-02-02T14:44:00.000-08:00

tackle the octopus!

hanging out in the fort. (note: card from his birthday still plays music when opened. 'if you're happy and you know it'.

tackle the chair!

helping mom with quilting. often this means trying to eat the thimble. though usually he just puts the thimble on his thumb and runs his hand back and forth over the quilt.

helping at chores. he's very handy.

let's go surfin' now.

2010-02-02T14:32:00.000-08:00

with zach's crazy work schedule, it's hard to get away. but we've decided to make it priority to do our best to get out-of-town once a week. last week we headed out to dungeness spit near sequim and spent some time hiking around on the beach. this week we headed out to westport to catch some waves. the forecast was for partly sunny. the real-time weather was rainy. but i came prepared with a raincoat and puddle-stomping boots for kaimana, along with a picnic and a change of clothes. we had a great time! where will we go next week? i'll let you know.

january 25, 2010

2010-01-25T22:00:00.001-08:00

mark it on the baby calendar!!!

kaimana peed in his toilet for the first time tonight! i'm not pretending that it wasn't pure luck, but before bathtime tonight i had him sit on his baby bjorn potty chair... and voila. i think he was pretty proud of himself. zach and i certainly made quite a show of how proud we were :)

related?

2010-01-13T23:18:00.001-08:00

ya think?

rain rain go away.

2010-01-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

i decided i could wish the rain away or deal with it and go outside anyway. this morning, with kaimana in tow, that's just what i did. after many days of deliberating, i decided that today would be the day that i would purchase a zoo membership. excellent! zach had to take the car to work this morning, but i was determined. i checked the bus schedule, threw rain jackets on kaimana and myself and hit the pavement. we arrived soggy but excited at the zoo and hung out there for 4 hours. despite the weather, a lot of the animals were active. they also have an indoor play/interactive learning area where we played for a while to dry out a bit. unfortunately, kaimana fell asleep on my shoulder on the way to the giraffes. fortunately, we'll go again soon!

just enough.

2010-01-06T20:49:00.000-08:00

there's something to be said for having just enough.

in this case i'm referring to having just enough space. it impels you to dispose of clutter, get organized, and only hold on to the things you truly treasure. goodbye junk. goodbye clothes i haven't worn in more than two years. goodbye books from college that have been held on to 'just in case'. it's hard enough with a one-year-old to feel uncluttered without clutter from the past hanging around.

one of things i now truly treasure is the freedom from working a job that was making me miserable. yes, we've given up apartment managing. thank goodness! which also means we've moved out of the old and into a new apartment. it's a great little space, but is a little less space than we had. but i don't notice it (well, maybe i notice it a little in the kitchen). it fits us perfectly.

i'm also starting to treasure my 'me' time for the first time in a long time! (that sounds like a lot of time.) now that the move is complete and the holidays are over, i'm finding that i'm actually able to do things like, for instance, blog. and work on the quilt i started 3 years ago. and prepare lasagna in the middle of the day so that when dinner time rolls around it's ready to go! it feels so good to have time. not too much, so that i'm sitting around wondering what to do next. just enough.

january to january.

2010-01-06T16:31:00.001-08:00

january 2009

january 2010

spinning.

2009-11-17T14:33:00.001-08:00

favorite new kaimana trait.

2009-10-27T23:14:00.001-07:00

bedtime. sometimes happy, sometimes sad. kaimana has had his ups and downs when it comes to going to sleep for the night. since january, once he's asleep he usually stays asleep. it has been getting him to go to sleep that has been the issue. so, around 10 or 11 months, we started our serious bedtime routine. pick up our toys, take a bath, brush our teeth, get jammies on, read some books, rock for a bit and then hopefully lay down while still awake so that he'll fall asleep 'on his own'. this worked well until around his 1st birthday. it became a 50-50 chance that mommy or daddy would have to go back into his room a few times in order for him to calm down, lay down, and go to sleep. until.....

we scratched the routine.

last week, we had my brother darren over for turkey dinner, and knowing that it would be a struggle to get kaimana to go to sleep when he knows there someone new to play with, we let him stay up a bit later than usual. after darren left, we skipped bathtime and went straight into our jammies. i was picking him up from the changing table and getting ready to read books when i realized kaimana was pointing at his crib. huh, i thought, is he saying he wants to go to bed? so we turned off the lights and i set him in his crib. he sat there until i said "lay down and go to sleep", then he fell over and, well, went to sleep. so our new bedtime routine is much less grand, we simply put on jammies after picking up the toys and trot off to bed. kaimana actually follows me from the living room to his bedroom when i say "time for bed".

he also slept until 8:30 this morning. which i'm not about to expect everyday, but it sure was nice.

long long time.

2009-10-27T22:46:00.001-07:00

wow. haven't posted anything in soooooooo long! sorry about that. what have we been up to you ask? well, kaimana had his first birthday, we visited to zoo, we went sailing with him for the first time, we visited friends in wenatchee, and have been doing our best to enjoy as much outside-time as possible as the weather is a-changin'. here are some slideshows to catch you up on our fun times!

playing with cousins.

2009-07-24T22:29:00.000-07:00

only tiana can remind me how to correctly use the terms "second-cousins" and "cousins-once-removed". in either case, kaimana had a great time today playing with the nelson girls up at their nana's house in mill creek. there was playground time, lunch time, trampoline time, even pool time! thanks for playing with us eva and maia!

eva (2.9 yrs) gets ready to slide.

kaimana (11 mo) and maia (1.5 yr) take a moment to chill.

my little boy.

2009-07-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

i've been thinking about it for a couple days. ever since i noticed a hair in kaimana's mouth while he was eating one meal or another and found that it was a hair still stuck to his head. i'm forever brushing it out of his eyeballs, and today he starting pulling on it. hair-cut time. we did it this evening before bathtime and kaimana, while doing his best to grab the scissors and comb out of my hands, was a champ. not one tear. (not from mommy or daddy either.) and now he really looks like our little boy. 11 months old. wowza.

beach house fun!

2009-07-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

this past weekend, we had a great time visiting with our hendrickson friends out in west seattle. it's fun to see kaimana starting to interact with other kids!

daniel (1 yr) and kaimana (11 mo) show the daddies how to REALLY play in the sand!

daniel does some digging...

coolin' off inside and watching some baby einstein.

mamas and sons!

playin' on the playground.

2009-07-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

fun on the fourth!

2009-07-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

we spent a nice long weekend in spokane over the 4th of july weekend. caught up with family, went sailing, went swimming, spent lots of time outdoors! oh, and worked on a jigsaw puzzle, tie-dyed some shirts, and found the perfect playground for kaimana. here's a slideshow of our trip (note: though i managed to take many pictures, they only revolve around a few events. somehow i didn't take any pictures of kaimana swimming : ( other family members did, however, and i'll try to post some copies soon!)

somersaults!

2009-06-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

i haven't seen it myself, though i have seen him practicing his downward dog yoga pose, but zach reports that kaimana has been practicing somersaults on our bed. it is my belief that this gymnastic endeavor is rooted in his new hobby of tossing himself about on our bed or on the couch (with supervision, of course.). he likes to fall backward, roll and roll and roll around... basically act as though we have rented a bouncy-house. this afternoon, he brought it to the next level. hopefully he won't try it on the hard ground just yet.

a video or at least pictures will hopefully be coming soon. of course, whenever we pull out the camera he stops whatever it is that he is doing in order to attack the camera. but we'll do our best.

super snuggle.

2009-06-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

i'll be the first to admit i get frustrated. especially from 2:00-3:00 am when kaimana is having trouble sleeping and i pop out of bed every 10-15 minutes to replace his binky, rock him for a few moments and lay him back down. this was my night last night.

typically, if he wakes up at all, it is only once and all he needs is a few minutes in the rocking chair to settle back down. not last night. was it due to teething? gas? bad dreams? bad dreams of teething and gas? we'll never know.

what i can tell you is that after getting up about 3 times i was done. on these rare occasions, kaimana gets to come and sleep in the big bed. that is, he sleeps on my chest for a minute, and then i roll him off into the middle of the bed. ahhhhhhh... then he slept.

he started stirring around 6:00 am, and i thought to myself, "oh man. i really don't want to get up yet." half-asleep, he sat up, flung himself onto his back (as he likes to do whenever he is on a soft surface. sometimes even when he's on a hard surface.), and laid upside-down for a minute. then, still half-asleep, he sat up, crawled up toward me, laid his head down on my shoulder and fell back asleep.

until 7:15.

that's what i call a super snuggle.

may slideshow...

2009-06-18T22:32:00.001-07:00

some great kaimana pics from may:

10 months and counting...

2009-06-18T22:02:00.000-07:00

kaimana hits 10 months this weekend... we can't believe it! well, honestly, we don't really have time to believe it, he keeps us on the go, go, go : ) what's new in his world you ask? let me tell you:

•two bottom teeth have been showing for a while, and are now being joined by 4 top teeth.

•our expert crawler has gone from pulling up, to pulling up and letting go, to (just a couple days ago) getting to his feet without assistance. in other words, crouch and stand :)

•our crouch and stander has TODAY started to try to take a couple steps. yikes!

•he eats pretty much everything. in fact, i thought that his menu might be becoming mundane, so i wrote out a list of everything he can eat. it was extensive, and absolutely not mundane. tonights dinner: meatloaf, yams, green beans and noodles... all finger food.

•he's figured out how to flush the toilet.

•he enjoys unrolling the toilet paper. we keep the bathrooms doors closed now.

i'm sure there's more. but you get the gist.

mommy's helper.

2009-05-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

after i'm done helping empty this drawer, i will help you eat all that delicious cantaloupe.

book of faces.

2009-05-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

that's right. we've given in to forces bigger than ourselves. we've joined facebook.

home again, home again, jiggidy jig

2009-04-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

we did go to the farmers' market, but we actually saw the pig at a farm.

what an awesome time we had in california. wednesday morning we flew to san francisco, took the BART to downtown and walked to hotel, checked in and proceeded to walk some more. we checked out the marina district and ate some crepes, walked down to the waterfront and watched some sailboats, walked to swensen's on russian hill for ice cream, and called it a night.

the next morning zach grabbed our rental car and after a quick breakfast, we headed across the golden gate bridge into the marin headlands. we hiked down to the black sand beach and hung out for a bit so kaimana could play in the sand. we drove through sausalito, then headed to stanford to visit our friends kyle, ann, and their son daniel.

friday we hop, skip, and jumped down to capitola for more beach time! we drove north through santa cruz and then stopped off at a few more beaches to hang out, watch some kiteboarders do their thing, and eat some food.

saturday and sunday we had a blast hanging out with the hendricksons... we visited a farm where kaimana got to see his first sheep, pigs, and chickens. we think he liked it. thanks to the hendoos for accommodating us and showing us such a great time!

here's a little slideshow of our san fran adventure:

ready, set...

2009-04-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

almost time to go! being the procrastinator that i am, i'm certain to be up all hours tonight finishing packing and whatnot. but in the morning we're off to cali to visit our friends kyle, ann, and baby daniel at stanford. this will be kaimana's second time flying, we're hoping it goes as smoothly as his first! here he is getting ready for some sunshine...

check out them shades...

mom, i think i'd like to eat them...

spokane fun...

2009-04-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

kaimana and mommy have taken their first road trip.... alone. with success! thursday the little man and i boarded a plane to spokane for a quick visit with grammy and papa. i was prepared with snacks, books, toys, you name it. all for nothing. as soon as we reached cruising altitude, kaimana fell asleep on my shoulder, slept the entire flight, waking up only as the engines turned off in spokane. friday was a beautiful spring day and we spent it out and about. saturday we drove home in the truck zach's parents have generously given us (we're a 2 car family now!). it was a long drive for both of us, but we were soooooo happy to see daddy when we pulled into our parking lot.

in the gondola looking out at the water... no kaimana, that's not you're bath!

first carousel ride! the tiger was our choice as it doesn't go up and down ; )

a lovely day at the park...

venturing off the blankie. the binky ensures nothing unwanted goes into the mouth!

seattle sun?

2009-04-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

april fool's day we had snow. the past few days we've had gorgeous weather with temps in the 60's. no fooling ; ) sunday we had a great day hiking through discovery park with uncle darren and chelsea as well as auntie sara. sara brought her camera and took some AWESOME pictures of our day. check them out!

wanna be a gangsta

2009-03-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

kaimana is getting around... he's starting to go in circles in fact. from the living room to the dining room to the kitchen to the hall to the living room, etc. and he does so with his signature crawl, which i have dubbed the "gangsta crawl". on one side he crawls on his knee, on the other his foot... so very gangsta. see for yourself : )

time to play!

2009-03-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

yesterday we enjoyed a quick visit with our cousins tiana and jon and their daughters eva and maia. kaimana and the girls had a great time playing together while the grown-ups played catch-up ; )

eva (2.5 yrs) helps the babies find their binkies...

thanks eva!

maia (1 yr) snuggles down to rest.

blast from the past.

2009-03-27T22:04:00.001-07:00

okay, i just posted 3 in a row with no pictures. so before going to bed here's a little something. only 7 months ago was he really that little?

(referring to kaimana.)

thanks to ann for the picture!

and can i just say.

2009-03-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

what a great feeling it is to have put kaimana to bed, to be sitting in the rocking chair that is a hand-me-down from my grandparents (the glider kind with a gliding ottoman in country blue) with the laptop on my lap, listening to the random car drive by and the hum of the refrigerator, waiting for zach to come home, and being happy. it's just one of those moments where nothing special has happened, nothing special is expected to happen, and any second those discontented feelings could arise, but it doesn't matter. i feel good. i have great friends, a great family, and slowly but surely i WILL pay off the great balance on my credit card ; )

what rock have we been hiding under?

2009-03-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

baby rock. it's crazy how a baby turns your world inside-out... as in, the inside of my brain hardly knows what is happening outside in the world. yesterday, due to a posting by a friend, i just realized the next harry potter film is coming out in july. anyone interested in babysitting? not a big deal, but the rest of the world has probably known this for some time. today, due to some long-overdue myspacing, i realized that some friends may have moved to the mainland from our much-missed island home. anything else that i've missed?

gotta move part 3!

2009-03-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

in this case it is the adults who are doing the moving. next week, april 1st, zach and i are becoming the managers of our apartment building. which also means we are going to be moving to yet another unit in our building. luckily, my parents are going to come and give us a hand. luckily, i'm not 8.5 months pregnant this time ; ) luckily, the apartment we're moving into should be in much better shape than the one we're in now. or maybe that one's unlucky, since we'll be in charge of fixing this one up and renting it out! hmmmmmm...

gotta move part 2!

2009-03-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

he's determined to figure it out. he's also determined to make his way to anything besides his toys. tv cords, computer cords, coffee cups, etc.

i like to eat eat eat...

2009-03-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

eeples and baneeneez.

we tried to find a cracker for kaimana that didn't include sugar in its ingredients. we were unsuccessful. these, though, only have 4 ingredients: rice flour, sugar, salt, and milk powder. and he loves them!

say cheese!

gotta move!

2009-03-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

kaimana REALLY wants to crawl. he gets up on his hands and knees, but can't quite figure out what to do after that. yet. we don't think it will take him much longer though!

what do i do now?

take a break!

mommy wow!

2009-03-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

he is a big boy now ; )

kaimana had a visit with his doctor today... normal 6 month check-up and vaccinations. 3 shots this time! he was quite a trooper. he now weighs 17lb 5oz and is about 28inches long. that's about the 40th percentile in weight and the 90th in height.

6 in one, half a dozen in the other

2009-02-21T09:06:00.001-08:00

months, that is.

yesterday kaimana reached 6 months! we can't believe how quickly those months have passed and how much our lives have changed. we now have little one who:

*rolls all over the place, including belly, back, and side spins. he really wants to be a b-boy.

*eats baby oatmeal with bananas every night with a side of avocado, yams, carrots, peas, or sweet potatoes. gobbles up every bite.

*gobbles it up with his 2 little teeth! and along with the teeth come niagra amounts of drool.

*sleeps through the night. we still can't believe our luck with this fact.

*sits up on his own. most of the time. with a boppy around him just in case : )

*he really wants to move! on his tummy he pushes up on his hands, way up, then lays down and pulls his knees under him and pushes his legs. just can't quite do both at the same time. after a few goes at this he gets pretty frustrated that it isn't working.

we go to the dr. on wednesday for his 6 month well-baby check-up and we'll find out then how much he has grown!

let's go!

2009-02-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

monday marked kaimana's first trip to the ocean, and we all had a blast! we headed out to westport and found the weather to be gorgeous, the wind a bit chilly and the surf so-so. we enjoyed every moment... kaimana and mommy even napped a bit in the sun while daddy surfed and practiced his kite. we realized that we need to make this kind of day happen much more often! here's a slideshow of our day at the beach : )

i heart valentine's.

2009-02-17T07:59:00.000-08:00

our new little valentine got a special valentine from his grammy. see how much he loved it!

in case you're wondering.

2009-02-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

just in case anyone out there is reading this and wondering...

so far, zach has only posted once on this blog. right after we started it. since then it has been all me, cristen, possibly because i have nothing else i'm interested in doing on the computer but play spider and share pictures of our son. or, possibly because when zach is on the computer he is usually investigating some boat or another. if only there existed the perfect boat for a reasonable price. well, let's face it, a better-than-reasonable price : ) we're doing our best to put together a plan of business for a family-run sailing charter to get an idea of whether or not it is something that we can make work here in seattle/puget sound area. (this would help with the price aspect, but then you need coast guard passenger certifications, blah, blah, blah...) what i'm trying to say is, until a lot of this gets going, i'm not sure when z will write here again, but i shall encourage him to do so!!

snuggles.

2009-02-12T22:08:00.000-08:00

tonight, kaimana slept on my chest for a while before i put him to bed. he hasn't done this very often in the past few months, and reminded me of how we would nap together after we came home from the hospital. so snuggly! not that i want to rush through the stage that he is in now, but i can't help but be excited for the time when he'll know what it means to snuggle. but for now, i'll enjoy it for the both of us.

hooray for books!

2009-02-11T13:17:00.000-08:00

as part of his bedtime routine, kaimana loves to read books. one of his new favorites: Hooray for Fish! here he is reading with daddy...

skillz!

2009-02-11T13:13:00.000-08:00

kaimana is "this close" to getting his toes to the place where everything else he grabs goes... into his mouth : )

happy and sad.

2009-01-31T20:20:00.000-08:00

we've been having fun with imovie again. here he is in a couple different moods.

if this next one doesn't make you smile, then, well, i don't know what.

yum in the tum!

2009-01-30T10:22:00.000-08:00

just so everyone can see we are NOT kidding about how vocally kaimana eats... here's a "taste" of how dinner goes every night : )

let's play catch up!

2009-01-28T08:46:00.000-08:00

in the last month:

*kaimana has been sleeping through the night! we're talking going to bed between 9 and 10 and waking up between 7 and 8. mommy loves 2009 : ) of course there's the off night here and there, last night for example, but overall sleep sleep sleep!

*rolling has commenced. he's rolling both from tummy to back and back to tummy, as well as slow-motion breakdancing where he rolls to his side and spins in a circle (his head remaining in the middle of the circle). is there a name for this? yesterday morning, we found him upside down in his crib. happy as a clam.

*food! we've added to our repertoire carrots, peas, and now sweet potatoes. he gobbles up every bite happily. next up: avocados!

*kaimana had his first official visit to the beach. last weekend we made the trek up to san juan island on a beautiful, but chilly, sunday. kaimana was a trooper during the 1.5 hour car ride to anacortes and the 1.5 hour ferry ride to san juan. he didn't get fussy all day until we were about 20 minutes from home. UNfortunately, we made it out of the house with everything BUT the camera, so this event is visually documented only in our memories. but, that's okay, there will definitely be a next time!

cereal. dinner of champions.

2008-12-28T09:33:00.000-08:00

thanksgiving brought us the beginning of baby rice cereal. at the time, kaimana did not love it. now, however, he gobbles it up happily (and vocally.... many "yummy" sounds issuing from his mouth). the trick, i find, is to make the cereal nice and thick. at first, we made it pretty runny, thinking this will be more like what he is used to. but, no, he wanted something to munch on! it also makes less of a mess as less of it runs out of his mouth. the mess now comes when he decides to blow raspberries WITH a mouthful of his delicious cereal. mommy got a faceful the other night : ) we are now trying to decide what next to add to his diet... we're thinking either carrots or sweet potatoes...

gobble gobble!

2008-12-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

kaimana's first thanksgiving... and we're pretty sure he had a blast. he didn't get to eat any turkey, but as long as he was hanging out with grammy, papa, and aunt sarah, he didn't seem to mind. we made the drive east at night, during which he slept soundly, and arrived around 2 am, set up camp in the guest room, had a nighttime snack, and went back to sleep. we had a great thanksgiving at great-grandpa's house, and a few more days to hang out with the family before heading west over the mountains towards home... during which he did NOT sleep soundly. here are some photos from the trip...

snuggling with grammy

taking naps by the fire... with daddy!

playing piano with papa

just for fun!

2008-12-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

peek

boo!

2008-11-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

our first use of imovie... couldn't have a better subject!

we managed to cut out all of the spit-ups! you may also notice he gets distracted by the flashing red light on the camera at times. and of course, his most chatty moments were always right before hitting 'record'. oh well, at least this gives you an idea of his conversations...

embarking

2008-11-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

was reading the online thoughts of one well-traveled adam reid and thought a blog might be just the ticket to encourage more frequent zklaja wordsmithery. it's the discipline right, the consistency of folding together all the times it feels good and all the times it doesn't. the thread that holds that shag rug together is the real shag. the little man is stirring when he should be still but i guess nobody's yet told him the way of things... we've plenty of time to hash that out in aquamarine setting and liquid massage. projectile spit-up ensues.... it's the day of cristen's birth, revisited these 28 times. home-made cinnamon bread molded into the french toast she loves so much. the key for these days is doing what can be done. not getting lost in the forecast, which could become sunshine when rain was predicted. getting 100 ton time for license, studying my sun-sights and meteo-madness, downsizing the four digit credit card number to three and then... training kite, which although land-based and not as glamorous as it's watery progression, can be done now and it's the thread remember... i'm making a shag here. aloha