Plane Ride 2

Let me just start by asking... How many of you remember when your baby had horrible gas pains and nothing you could do could make it better? Like the gas bubble was DEEP in her belly and stuck? Well, that was the story of my life for nearly an hour on our plane ride back :( For the first 3 hrs, Violet was just a doll :) Smiling, giggling, cooing... Just a delight! Then the crazy started with a blowout through her onesie and pants and onto her Aunty Mel! I think laying her down started a bit of reflux which then escalated. Poor thing :( Everyone on the plane seemed really kind and understanding. Four people behind us kept smiling and waving at her which distracted her for a bit, but the intermittent gas shrieks would still come and go. Mel finally got her to sleep, but then on the car ride home she got really hungry and screamed and cried the entire 25-30 min home (she cluster feeds before bed time and she'd eaten an hr before). I just about cried the entire way home, too. Aunty Mel was fanning her in the back seat because V sweats like crazy when she cries. When we got home and I took her out she immediately stopped... Poor baby girl :( As soon as she ate she was smiling up a storm again!!! It's amazing how babies can go from zero to 90 and then back down again! It took me a while to calm back down after hearing her so sad for so long. Mel was a champion though and I don't know what I would have done without her. She's so good with Violet and V just loves her :)

It's now morning and Violet is still asleep (we got her down at 1:25 am L.A. time). I'm exhausted. I'm so happy to be home, but miss Hawaii and my family so much. Hopefully we'll make it back there sooner than later :)

Things I'll Miss...

Being here with family has been so wonderful and amazing. Every time we visit it reminds me of how much I love my family and how much I miss them. It's really hard when I think of all the years spent away from them while growing up... Being from Hawaii, our sense of family isn't just mom/dad/brother/sister, but extends to auntys, uncles, and cousins... Moving away sort of unravelled that sweater when we were growing up and shrunk our family down to 5. The amazing thing is how even though years have gone by, our family is still family and treats us (Violet included) as if we've been here all along :) Mel and I leave tomorrow and I'm already thinking of all the things I'll miss....

* Hearing gramma sing to Violet in Japanese
* Hearing grandpa sing to Violet in his deep bass voice
* How ALL my auntys want to hold Violet and love on her
* Watching my cousins talk together like they're siblings
* Gramma's food
* Beach trips with family
* Family dinners
* Seeing Violet be held by my cousins (even 12 yr olds bouncing her away)
* Watching V smile at everyone

I'll miss hugs everyday and always having someone around to talk to... Auntys and uncles to reassure me that everything is great while Violet is screaming away (and of course offering to hold her).

I'll just miss my family...

Gramma Ruthie

My gramma was an amazing woman. She was beautiful, intelligent, strong, organized, loving, generous, and an amazing cook & baker with a great sense of humor :) If little Violet gets even a smidgen of her great gramma in her, I'll be the happiest mama on earth :)

As some of you know, gramma passed away the month before Violet was born... At first, I felt really cheated... For all of us really... Gramma would never get to meet her first great grandchild... And my baby girl would never get to smile at her gramma Ruthie, be cuddled in her arms, or have gramma read her books like 'A Wrinkle In Time' or 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe'. It was really hard to stomach ALL of the things V would miss (it STILL is)... But I came to feel and believe that Violets birth came at the perfect time. With the ending of gramma's perfect story starts the beginning of my baby's beautiful story.

Violet has experienced SO many 'firsts' on this trip. Today we hit another first: V's first hike :) She traveled with 18 other family members up the base of the Ko'olau mountains to spread gramma Ruthie's ashes (the main reason we made this trip). Gramma wanted to be scattered there because you can see the entire Ko'olau mountains from their house and she wanted gramps to be able to look up and see her every day. It was a wonderful and memorable experience. I can't wait to tell her about it and show her pictures when she gets older.

It's been so nice to talk story and remember all the wonderful things about gramma... But I can't help feeling sad and every story makes me miss her. Being here without her is strange and really hard to get used to, but I know she's in an amazing place... Dancing and smiling down at us (& probably organizing God's records - she was sooooo good at that) :)

Lutheran Church of Honolulu

On the morning if the 10th we went with grandpa to LCH. This is the church he used to be a pastor at before he retired nearly 12 years ago. He and my gramma started going to another church when he retired, but returned when gramma was diagnosed with breast cancer (their church family was so supportive and wonderful). Being there was great! I remember the church being really awesome from the speckled marble floors to the 'secret' passage to the sanctuary. I even remember that it was one of the only places outside of the mall that was freezing cold air conditioned! I loved this place :)

Violet had her first church experience here on Sunday :) Matt brought her up for the children's sermon and great grandpa held her during communion :) She was such a good girl :)

After church we went to Kalama beach in the afternoon where Violet had her first real beach experience with sand and dipping in the water to her tummy :) We finished off the day with a spectacular dinner at grandpa's house with the whole family :)

It's so wonderful to be here to celebrate family and gramma's amazing life :)

Parker's First

We has so much fun today at Parker's birthday party in Kailua! We loooove Stacie and Steve and they're such wonderful parents :) The beach house they rented was beautiful and they did such a great job!

After the party we went to my gramma's house on the other side of the island for a BBQ with my mom's family :) As always, the food was amazing and there was plenty of it! There was also plenty of family which means lots of stories and laughter :) As we drove back to grandpa's I told Matt that every time we visit and every time we leave I feel just a bit sad in my heart that we don't get to see everyone more often... and I miss them so much... Family is always important, but I feel like as I get older it becomes even MORE important and something we crave. We're blessed with an amazing and spectacular family :)

Fun Day

Today was such a fun day (check out the pics)! We attempted to go to the beach for the first time (Kahala beach)... It was SOOO windy and a bit chilly so we scrapped that idea after 15 minutes and went straight for the shave ice :) We got some super cute pictures first though! Aunty Rae gave Violet some cute hand me down vest shirts that are PERFECT for the warm humid weather here and she's been sportin them since yesterday :) They used to be my cousin Cameron's :) V LOVES them because she stays so cool :)

Mangoes + Cameron + Tub

Gramma has soooo many mangoes! Mel and I ate 5 when we got to her house then later in the afternoon helped her pick some more. Gramma says that they ripen by the minute! We also had 2 different mango breads and mango delight... Delicious!!! My Aunty Rae makes the best treats I've ever had :)

My cousin Cam graduated from high school a few weeks ago and is getting to be such a handsome and spectacular person :) Watching him hold Violet was magical and I took some great video and pictures... It took me back to the first time I held a little baby and how scared and uncomfortable I was :) Cam was a champ and a natural :)

Last night we wanted to give V her tub at grammas and went on a hunt for something since the sinks were too small... We found a perfect OLD pot :) She was so cute! A Violet in a pot :)