Thanksgiving 2013 Part 1

Our Thanksgiving in Hawaii this year was uneventful, small, but nice.  Our ward's tradition for Thanskgiving is to do a imu, or underground pit cooking, to slow roast the turkey.  When they said they were doing a imu we were so lost and felt pretty lost throughout most of the process but it was a fun thing to participate in and I am glad the chances of them doing it again next year are extremely high.

They usually start the imu on Thanksgiving eve but to prevent all the men from showing up to Thanksgiving exhausted, they did it the weekend before. And in the end it worked out great for us because we were going to celebrated Thanksgiving early anyways.

Friday night some of the men dug a hole in the ground and built a huge bonfire.  People dropped off their turkeys and chickens and used the time to socialize and enjoy a meal together.  I left before it occurred, but later that evening, they cleared the bonfire and put the turkeys in the pit with hot stones and covered the whole thing to trap the heat in.  Some of the men in the ward then stayed all night to watch the pit and early the next morning the meat was ready for us to take home.

They say the meat takes on a smoky flavor but I didn't notice it that much.  What was very apparent was how juicy and tender the meat was.  No carving needed.  It was awesome.  

Though lets be honest here, it was not as awesome as having someone else cook your turkey for you, especially when it was your first time cooking a holiday meal.   Now that was AWESOME!!!  Later that day we just whipped up the sides, heated the turkey, and were good to go.  Our two friends came over with their daughter and we ate a nice holiday meal outside on our balcony.  Simple but sweet.

 The pit and the bonfire. 

All the turkeys.  (Blogger keeps flipping this picture.  Sorry!)

 The next morning before the turkeys were removed. 

Jack still in his pjs. 

 Getting the turkeys out.  It was a really bright morning. 

Even Jack agrees that it was super bright. 

The pit smoking when uncovered. 

Word of advice:  don't try this at home unless you are experienced in this method of cooking.  Explosions could result.  You have been warned. 

Family Pictures

We had family pictures done back in October but I did not want to reveal them because a handful of Christmas presents included one or more of the pictures.  Now that Christmas is over, here are some of my favorites:

Photo Credit: A Little Love Photography by Alicia 

5 & 6 Month Update

Stats: 

Height: 28.5 inches (100.00 percentile)

Weight: 18 lbs 2 oz (59.61 percentile) 

Head circumference: 17.32 inches (67.20 percentile) 

General Updates: 

-He has had two front teeth for over a month now.  Luckily this teething thing hasn't been too difficult yet, minus the biting and constant need to chew on something.

-He had his first cold at roughly five and a half months.  He didn't sleep as well and had a few days where he just wanted to cuddle, but he was such a champ. 

-He has been sitting up with help for a while now but within the last few weeks he got to the point where he could sit up by himself, even if just for a few moments.  Now he can sit up all alone for an extended period of time and I swear it happened overnight.  One minute he couldn't and the next minute he could!  

-He still eats a lot at night and doesn't nap well.  Nor does he like his crib.  Despite the fact that I want to avoid it, some form of sleep training may need to happen. 

-Favorite toys include: paper, napkins, cups, spoons, water bottles, boxes...anything but toys.

-His screeches of happiness are so loud now.  It is hilarious but a bit awkward at church. 

-He loves cars/trucks/buses.  Letting him watch them out the window is a sure-fire way to calm him down.  Too bad traffic by our house isn't a bit heavier. 

-I have been letting him try out adult food here and there.  For now we just let him lick and gnaw on it but when we get some sweet potatoes later this week, he will have free reign.  He pretty much will stick anything in his mouth, except for that darn yellow pepper we gave him a few nights ago.  He just wouldn't put it in his mouth.  He made his daddy proud.  Second time was a charm though.  

-More than once he has managed to squirm himself into a horizontal position in the middle of the night,  taking up the whole bed.  How do these little ones take up so much room?  My favorite is when he wants to sleep cuddled up right next to me.  I think moving him to his crib is going to be just as hard on me as it will be for him. 

-He is in 6 month clothing and we are now diapering full time. 

-He loves his seat at the dinner table and it has made dinner time much easier.  

-He outgrew his first car seat in November and had to be moved to a convertible seat.   

-He had his first Thanksgiving and Christmas, which he could have totally cared less about.  Though he sure did enjoy the wrapping paper. 

-Last but not least, he traveled for the first time.  Everybody kept commenting on how quiet he was which made me happy and relieved some of the stress of traveling without the hubby. 

Ah!!!  This ended up being longer than I expected.  So much more happened than I initially realized.  Pictures to follow soon!

Four Month Update

Someone is now four months old so it was time for another doctors appointment and thus time for another update.

Stats: 

Height: 26.5 inches (93.14 percentile) 

Weight: 15 lbs 15.5 oz (59.36 percentile)
Head circumference: 16.73 inches (73.73 percentile) 

General Updates: 

-Strangers always comment about alert he is and they have recently begun commenting about how big he is.  Boy is he growing fast now. 

-He loves people watching.  It makes grocery shopping with him much easier.  I was in the habit of leaving him behind with daddy until I realized that all he needs is the ability to people watch. 

-He is great with strangers.  I love that about him.  It makes my momma heart happy to see how much joy he can bring other people.  He sat with another family almost all of sacrament meeting, only coming back for a diaper change, without so much as a whimper.  I'll admit I almost felt a bit unloved at that point.  

-He is starting to enjoy toys.  If you consider trying to eat them enjoying them. 

-Still loves his swing and now enjoys his ExerSaucer. 

-Finally outgrew 0-3 month clothing.  I think he will be in 3-6 month very very soon (cloth diapers being part of the reason). 

-Loves music, standing up, a good game of picaboo with mommy, and airplane with daddy. 

-Despite our best efforts not to let him watch it, he already acts like a tv addict.  I think it's due to the people watching interest.
-Was rolling over and then stopped for the most part.  I think he realized that he gets stuck on his stomach when he does it and he hates being stuck on his tummy.
-Amazing head control.
-Stopped taking the pacifier.  He doesn't show signs of getting addicted to his fingers so I am not too worried yet.
-It's interesting to see what scares him.  He will be completely fine after many loud noises and then get completely historically after daddy coughs loudly, or I yelp in shock, or there is a scream on the television (this one actually woke him up out of his slumber). 

Aquarium Visit

We visited the aquarium in Waikiki as part of our ongoing 4 year anniversary celebration.  I am sure people were wondering why we thought a 4 month old would find the aquarium interesting, but no the visit was for us, not him.  Out of a 5, I would rate the aquarium a 3.  I enjoyed it but, as hard as I tried not to, I couldn't stop myself from comparing it to the awesome aquariums we have been to on the East Coast.  It is so much smaller.  If we had paid full price it would not have been worth it.  But at the discounted price, I thought it was worth it and would do it all over again, and probably will sometime in the future.  Despite not completing all of it, I did enjoy how they offered a free hand held audio tour of the aquarium.  I haven't been to an aquarium yet that offers that and it gets so tedious reading all of the signs.

Three Month Update

Stats will come next month as we have our next check up then.  For now here are some general updates on my little man:

-Still eats often at night and still adjusting to his crib.  He has a problem with sticking his limbs out of the crib.
-Enjoys the hot tub.
-Stood in the sand at the beach without crying.  Hopefully he continues to adjust.
-Survived 5-6 hours worth of hiking in two days without much of a problem.
-Has begun rolling over onto his stomach and of course he can't roll back over so he gets upset.
-Loves to talk.
-Enjoys it when we sing to him.
-Doesn't yet care about toys but I think that will change shortly.
-Still loves to sleep on me.
-He does fine with other people and seems to actually enjoy them.
-He was blessed this past Sunday and did perfect during it.
-Sporting a major double chin.

Here are a few more pictures:

Made friends with some Japanese girls. 

Blessing day!

Double chin!

Hot tub!

Grandpa N's Visit

We did....

lots of hiking

visited the beach

ate delicious food

and blessed the little one

Fruit Spray

I swear by the following fruit spray:

1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1 tbsp baking soda
20 drops of lemon juice

I use a Rubbermaid 32 oz spray bottle.  They are slightly more expensive than other spray bottles but much better quality.  You can find them at target in the cleaning supply aisle.

Church Family Fun Day

A day filled with food, fun, and fellowship.  Hopefully this will be held again when the little one is old enough to actually enjoy it.  

What I Have Been Up To Lately

Reading Unbroken.  My sister-in-law recommended this book and so far I am really enjoying it.

Listening to my baby boy babbling on about whatever babies babble on about.

Dealing with learning how to balance life with a child.  As someone who likes her personal time, this hasn't really been that easy for me.

Watching shows I am too embarrassed to admit watching.

Thinking about the holidays coming up.  Thank goodness my sister is coming out to visit for Christmas.   It will make the holiday season a little less lonely for us.

Eating:

Playing Hay Day.  I never thought I would get into a game like this, but times have changed and it's a great game to play while breastfeeding.  Too bad I am not that good at it, if it's possible to be not that good at it.  But I have never been much of a gamer so I have a lot of catching up to do.