gourmet dogs & smiles

I know, saying "gourmet" and "hot dogs" in the same sentence just sounds like an oxymoron...but recently, we discovered a little place called, Hank's Haute Dogs. For those local readers, it's on Coral Avenue near Ward, and their "dogs" are seriously GOOD EATS! We've already eaten there 3 times & although Mitch has tried a different dog each time, I can't seem to get past the Chicken Haute Dog with fresh mango relish (see pic below). It is sooo good...I try to come up with an excuse to go to town just so I can eat there, it's THAT good!

For those not on Hawaii--sorry you're missin' out! When you come to visit, I'll take 'ya!

And one morning, we got lucky with a couple shots of our newly smiling baby girl. With no flash, most of the shots were pretty blurry...but we managed to salvage a couple.

finally! we've moved!

It was inevitable...we we were getting the "boot" (just kidding, Airi) so we had to find a new place to lay our heads. WIth the deadline looming over our heads, and few prospects in the area we wanted, I was beginning to fear we'd be forced to move into my sister Airi's guest bedroom!! However, what luck (or Divine blessing--which ever way you'd prefer to look at it), our WONDERFUL friends had a rental unit that just so happened to open up. The timing of it all was absolutely beyond perfect! And since we have so little posessions, it took all of 2 days to transfer all of our "stuff" from our old place into our brand new 3 bedroom townhome!

I must admit-going from a 500+ sq. ft. "cottage" to a 1200 sq. ft. townhome is quite a change! As much as I am enjoying the "wiggle room", I'm beginning to dread the undaunting task of its upkeep! Plus, it's a 2-story townhome so needless to say...I'm getting quite the work-out! (a positive, I suppose!)

We are truly counting our blessings. Thanks Mari and Lad for being EVER SO gracious to entrust your rental property to our little family! :) We are SO grateful!! And feel so blessed that everything worked out the way it did! We'll try our darndest to be good tennants! :)

And, as tempted as I was to post a couple of pictures of our new abode...it's really not much to look at right now. We still have random piles of "stuff" here and there, some scattered around, others in boxes, and some even in big contractor bags! Plus the walls are bare, and we have yet to properly furnish the large space so, it's really not blog-worthy.

Therefore, rather than shock you with a few boring pictures of our awesome, yet bland looking home, I thought I'd simply post a couple pictures I took of the girls recently. I lke the one with Anna picking her nose...but I love the one where she's staring at Jolee even more.

ezra's 6th!

Ezzy turned 6 years old this past week! For his birthday, Atau & Kiyomi threw him a fun picnic party outside! The kids had fun cardboard sledding down the hill, whacking the pinata (that took forever to bust open that Atau cheated and tore it open half way through!), and of course simply kicking back and talking story with family. A GREAT party, if you ask me!

Happy Birthday Ezra!

Oh,and is this not the cutest little puppy EVER? "Haru" is Atau and Kiyomi's newest family member. He's part chihuahua and Akita-ken (and surprisingly, NOT yappy at all! He hardly ever barks!). Supposedly, he won't be getting too much bigger than this--I'm not one for dogs, but he is just about the cutest little thing I've ever seen!
Apparently, however, Kashus isn't a fan of dogs...and was quite scared of little Haru-even though all Haru wanted to do was get inside that pizza box!!

a conversation with anna

I have been inconsistently potty training Anna for the past 4 or 5 months. Of course, it's so sporadic that it probably can't even be considered potty training...oh well. Chalk it up to the fact that I nearly lost my mind while potty training Kela, I have been in no real rush to get Anna on the toilet. However, since Jolee goes through 10+ diapers a day...having 2 kids in diapers is starting to be a pain in the wallet! Therefore, I've decided to make more of an effort to eliminate the second box of diapers from our Sam's Club tab. Also, to give in to the disapproving glares of my sister, Elika, when I tell Anna to just go in her diaper because I'm too lazy to wait for Anna to "do her business" in the bathroom...even though in my own defense, do you realize how stressful it is potty training a toddler with a newborn?!?

Anyhoo, this is my conversation with Anna tonight while she was on the toilet. I apologize in advance if you're offended...but if you are squeamish in the "potty" department feel free to not watch.

Otherwise, sit back, turn off the music at the bottom of this page and enjoy the very random conversation I had with Anna regarding--of all things--animals, while she "did her business." And yes, she did go #2. Hooray! :)

jo-jo's 1 month old!

Can you believe how fast time flies by? I know I just posted pictures of a 4 week old Jolee...but really, July must have been a short month! :)

So, yesterday was August 19th and therefore, JoJo's 1 month birthday. Mitch and I kept saying how fast this first month flew by! And yet, it feels like little Jolee has been with us for so much longer!

Here's some pics I took of her on her 1 month birthday.

And, technically, the pictures below were taken on the 20th...but close enough, right?

She's changing so much already! She's even cracked a couple smiles here and there...but I never seem to have my camera ready when she does. Besides, at 1 month-it's probably only "gas" but as a parent, we think it's darn cute anyway. :) In another couple weeks or so, we may get some genuine grins and giggles, so stay tuned!

*I realize I'm overloading with posts and pictures now. It's because the next few days will most likely be too busy for me to post anything...I promise I won't be away too long, though!

Some BIG changes are about to take place for the Seavey family!! :)

See you soon!

an expensive trip to the zoo

Today, after dropping Kela off at preschool, we took Anna to the zoo. Again. She loves the zoo & asks to go practically every single day. Since we have annual passes, it's a cheap way to spend the afternoon...although with the high price of gas these days, that may not necessarily be the case-regardless, it was something to do.

We parked & I pulled out 35 cents to put into the parking meter-cheap for an hour & a half of parking. We loaded up and headed inside. About 45 minutes in, just about when we were thinking of heading home, I realized that I had forgotten to put the money into the meter!! Knowing the meter maids are constantly circling the zoo parking lot with nothing better to do than to ticket expired meters, I knew we'd have a ticket on our window...and sure enough, there it was! Arrrgh! The "cheap" afternoon activity turned out to be the most expensive trip to the zoo we've ever had! Grrr~

random tidbits

• For Kela's birthday last month, Mitch's mother gave Kela a HUGE pad of stickers. I'm talking 300+ dime-sized stickers! (picture me rolling my eyes) I don't know what it is about stickers that kids love so much...but for my girls, I see them everywhere. If not on random pieces of paper that Kela calls "letters" (which she insists on giving to everybody!), it's on the desks, doors, their toys and...as you can see below in the pictures, even on themselves (and at times, us).

• A couple of weeks ago, Mitch decided to "get back into shape" and headed out to the gym. I say, it's about time since we've continued to pay his membership fees for the many months he's been inactive!! Anyhoo, since he takes Kela to preschool in the mornings, he's decided to use those mornings to hit the gym. It's been great because not only do I get a quiet break from the girls, but Mitch gets to exercise and Anna gets to enjoy the kid's play area at the gym! A win-win for ALL of us! Hooray!

But...the first day Mitch went to the gym, he over-exerted himself and blacked out. Literally! After working the StairMaster, he picked up Anna & started feeling dizzy. He could hear everything around him, including Anna playing next to him...but couldn't see anything for a solid couple of minutes! Talk about scary! It seems Mitch was quite out of shape...he probably wouldn't appreciate me telling this to the world. ;)

• Finally...I read this the other day on the web, and don't know if it's true or not-Mitch hates it when I read the gossip columns on the internet, but how else does he expect me to stay "in the know?" Hee hee. Well, maybe you've heard or read this as well, but supposedly Jennifer Lopez isn't too impressed with Michael Phelps. The attention he's getting for winning 8 Gold Medals in one Olympics seems to be irking her because everyone is too preoccupied to take notice of her triathalon training! ...Seriously?!? If this is true...I have no comment.
  

go u.s.a!

I've never really gotten "into" the Olympic Games before. I used to dread them, actually. I always considered it a nuisance when my beloved regular shows got shafted for sports I cared little about. Until this year, that is! Holy cow, is it exciting this year! From the opening ceremony to nearly all the sporting events...we have been GLUED to the tube, watching and rooting for our incredible athletes. Mostly gymnastics and swimming...who knew swimming could be such an exciting sport to watch?! Anyway, even my girls are enjoying watching the Olympics...Kela especially likes to watch the women's gymnastics--but when we ask her if she wants to be able to tumble like that, she of course, says "no." Somebody please help me instill some motivation into my daughter!

Here's my girls watching the Olympics with Obachan last week.

Definitely, these are the faces of their Mother's daughters...T.V. bugs in the making.

And...riding on the adrenaline of watching the Olympics, I decided to try and get a bit more "active." Walking home from my sister Airi's house, I thought I'd break into a "semi-trot" to get my exercise-starved legs some action & got this very nasty scar on my knee. An athlete I am not...and this proves that I am, and will forever be, a klutz. Thank goodness it was on her driveway & nobody saw. How embarrassing!

I promise, though...give me a couple more weeks and I'm hitting the trails again. I may not run a marathon again any time soon, but I've already committed to the Aloha Run in Feb 2009. If I can stay on my feet, that is!

aloha oe, obachan!

It was so great having my Mom stay here with us for a couple of weeks. The girls absolutely love their "Obachan" and had fun spending time with her. Kela and Anna were so lucky this summer, they got to spend time with both their grandmothers!

All good things must come to an end, however, and we had to bid sayonara to Obachan yesterday. The girls miss her already, and keep asking when we can "fly on Daddy's airplane to go to Seattle". We're hoping sometime soon--seeing as we now have some pretty lucrative flying benefits! :)

And, since JoJo turns 4 weeks old tomorrow...here's some pictures of our growing "chubby" baby. Still sleeping a lot during the day, and usually pretty well at night. She has been going to sleep much later these days, but I attribute it to the fact that all of us are going to bed late these days. The carseat, however, is becoming quite a trial. On some days, she will sleep like an angel for hours in the car...while other times, she'll cry like someone's poking her with a needle. You just never know what kind of day she'll have in the car until we hit the road. All in all, she's doing great and sleeping well. As you can tell by the pictures, she's also gaining weight like a champ! Those rolls and folds on her arms and legs...and those cheeks! Believe me, she's a good eater!

giddy-up!

Lately, Anna and Aya have been playing very well together. They've always played pretty good, but being so close in age...they tend to go at it now and again. Here's just a couple of shots of the two of them. They found their cousin Kumen's plastic horses and proceeded to "ride" them. I thought it was just too funny...

oodles of noodles...

This is Anna at dinner the other night. Lately, she refuses to use utensils. She'll toss it aside and dig in with her fingers. It's lovely when she dunks her whole hand in the bowl, swishes it around, and then proceeds to wash her face with the soup.

It's a good thing we're moving and I no longer care about the carpet...

to do: buy new baby monitor. asap!

We used to have a GREAT baby monitor. But during the year+ it was stored away, something happened and it no longer works. I've been meaning to get a new one, but figured our house is so small! I'll just wait until we move into our new place to get one. After today, I think I just may go get one tomorrow! ASAP!

This afternoon, I put little JoJo down for a nap in her bassinet since Kela and Anna tend to get a bit loud when they play around. The doors were wide open, so I assumed that I'd be able to hear her cries when she woke up. Anyway, I lay down for a short nap on the couch in the living room...thinking that if JoJo woke up, Mitch and the girls would wake me up. Without me knowing, Mitch decided to take the girls to the park...and didn't think to wake me up! Well, I was deep asleep when Mitch came home with the girls...and Jolee was crying. I have no idea how long she was crying for--all I know was she was crying her little heart out, red-faced and sweating, and I was knocked out. I felt terrible! Terrible, terrible, terrible for neglecting my little baby...bad Mommy!

(I would have taken a picture of my poor little girl, but I was feeling too guilty...)

I'm hoping there wasn't any permanent damage. Just kidding. She's fine. I doubt she was crying for longer than a few minutes...but just the fact that I was unaware, makes me feel so sad! :(

*********************************************************************

And just for the sake of posting some picture, here's a shot of my mom (Obachan) feeding little Jolee after dinner. She slept for 4 hours in her car seat while we drove to town, ate dinner & dessert, and drove home. Such a good little girl!

the waiting game...

I hate waiting. Who doesn't? That's one of the reasons why I hate hospitals.

When Jolee was born, she failed her hearing test...it's common for babies to fail their initial test, and JoJo probably failed because she was wailing during the test. They rescheduled for the next day while I was still in the hospital, but they were a no-show. So, I got discharged with a follow-up appointment. Last week, we packed up all 3 kids and headed out to Kaiser for JoJo's audiology test. The techs were a no-show again. I was annoyed and vowed to simply forget about the hearing test. Well, the Audiologist called on Monday to reschedule, and against my better judgement, I rescheduled for today. We, once again, packed up the kiddies and headed out. This time, Mitch dropped me off & ran errands with Kela & Anna while I went solo with JoJo. Wouldn't you know it, they no-showed again! I swear, the person doing the scheduling and the tech doing the testing should really communicate better! If they call back, I've decided to not go. I mean, if she's deaf, what can they do, right? Besides, when the girls make noise, JoJo gets startled and responds! At the very least, she can hear out of one ear! I say, good enough! :)

Here's me & a tired little JoJo after 45 minutes of waiting.

jolee: the night-owl

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a night-owl. I used to stay up past 3 am and scrapbook into the wee-hours of the morning, without skipping a beat! Well, it seems our little JoJo has taken on this little trait of mine. Or, I'm hoping it was a one-time thing...but last night she woke up at around 3 am and I gave her the usual nursing. But when I went to put her back down, her little eyes were wide open! Not fussy, but completely wide awake!

I changed her diaper ('cause this little one goes #2 EVERY TIME I feed--seriously, the diaper bills are stacking up already!), nursed her some more, and...she's still wide awake! She stayed awake until around 6:00 am.

At least she wasn't fussy, but I was hoping for a little more rest than the 2 hours I got (yes, that means I was up until past 1 am...my fault, I know!). So, when I finally put her down at 6:00 am, she woke back up & I then passed her off to Mitch. I don't know how long she was awake with him...but knowing his patience level, he probably slept with her on his chest instead of trying to put her back down in her bassinet. I got to sleep in until 10 am this morning... *ahh, I love that our little girl takes a bottle...and that Mitch had the day off of work!

I know, this picture says "Midnight Chronicles" but it really was around 4 am.

daddy's turn!

For those of you who have bottle-fed your babies, you're probably thinking...what's the big deal? Well, take it from a Mommy who's had to exclusively nurse (because the babies absolutely refused the bottle!), this is ONE BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT! Yippeeeeee for me!

snip-snip!

Mitch has been buggin me for...oh I don't know, FOREVER! to cut the girls' hair. Every time they take a shower, or when he does their hair (yes, Mitch can even style a pony tail!), or whenever he sees Anna brushing her long bangs out of her face just so she can see...he mentions it. Or, should I say NAGS me to hurry up and do something about it! So, after dragging my feet for over a year, I finally relented.

I would have taken them to a professional salon to get it cut, but since they charge a rediculous amount, I decided to snip it myself. I'm not, by any means, good with the scissors. Ask Mitch...he won't even let me cut his hair! (Although he used to let me...until he had his friend "fix" it without telling me...from then on, I simply REFUSED!)

Anyhoo-I cut Kela's hair pretty short 'cause she's always asking me to cut it short like mine. Then, for Anna, I only cut her bangs. Mitch wanted me to cut the length as well...but the back of her hair is so cute and curly...I just couldn't get myself to chop it off! Since she hates me to pull it up in rubber bands (and almost always pulls them out if I do)...I figure the bangs are good enough. And, yes, I saved Anna's hair clippings. For scrapbooking, of course! :)

jolee's 2 week check-up

Yesterday was Jolee's 2 week check-up at the dr.'s office. She's doing great, and growing, growing, growing! Here's her stats...in case you want to know. :)

Weight: 8 lbs. 10 oz. (57%)

Height: 20.5 inches (54%)

Head: 35 cm (23%)

The Seavey trait of a small head seems to live on...

Well, she's gained all of her weight back, and then some (yeah!) And even managed to grow a whole 1/2 inch!

She still (for the most part) sleeps great during the day...unless we're driving around. She doesn't seem to enjoy her carseat that much...and lasts for only about 30 minutes when awake. If she's sleeping, then I'm home free!! She also takes a bottle so well, I've managed to escape sans-kids on a couple occasions (hooray!) At night time, she wakes about 2 or 3 times, but usually goes right back down after nursing. The other day, I made the mistake of drinking some Dr. Pepper & paid for it dearly at night time. She was up for 3 hours straight-and not happy. Now I know...no Dr. Pepper until I'm done nursing. Shucks.

Jolee was born with a little birthmark on her head. They call it a Nevus Sebaceous. Basically, it's a bald spot on her scalp. Thank goodness it's on her head & she's got a lot of hair, because some babies are born with them on their faces or neck or even arms. Little Jolee's is on her scalp & for the most part, her hair covers it up. It's about 1cm in diameter. The Doc simply says to monitor it so that it doesn't grow or change color, etc. We have to make sure to keep it out of the sun since it can get sensitive & even become cancerous. Which may be the most difficult part since we are a beach-lovin' family. Oh well. I did shed a few tears when I first saw it. I've gotten used to seeing it now. We may have to remove it later on, and probably will if not for cosmetic reasons, just as a precautionary measure to avoid her getting skin cancer later on. So sad! For now, though...it's there, and only seems to be a bother to me.

On a side note, today was Kela's second day at preschool & she did great! She got a bit teary-eyed when I dropped her off, but with the help of one of the teachers, she let go of my hand and went off! When I picked her up, she was all smiles. The room was dark for nap time and she was the only one sitting in the chairs, waiting to be picked up. (I pick her up before nap time...). I felt bad. Next time, I'll know to go a little earlier so she doesn't feel so alone and left out at nap time. However, she made a new friend (named Olivia, it seems) and had fun & is eager to go back on Friday. Momma's so proud! They sure do grow up too fast...

kela's new school!

Yesterday was Kela's first day at her new preschool. This one will be 3 times a week for only half day. I pick her up at 12:30pm. She was so excited to go, since she loves preschool. All the preschool's she's been to thus far have been great fun for her. So, we go and as soon as we get into the classroom, her demeanor changes.

For those who don't know, Kela is pretty shy. She's very outgoing and playful around those she knows well, but around strangers and in new surroundings, she's usually very quiet and pretty introvert. I think she was intimidated by all the new faces, and so when it came time to drop her off, she wouldn't let go of my hand! Finally after a few minutes of walking around and checking the place out, one of the teachers took her to the bathroom & I made my exit (I told her, of course, that I was leaving so as not to shock her when I wasn't there upon her return from the restroom...)

Here we are before walking into school...all smiles!

When I went to pick her up, the teacher mentioned that she did fairly well. She cried only a little bit when they were playing outside in the playground, but for the most part had fun swinging with a new friend and such. I was relieved!

I came in just as they were finishing up their lunch, and when she saw me, she completely broke down in tears. I guess, the first day of school was a bit rough for her. Meeting new kids and being surrounded by all new things was a bit much, it seems. Seeing her sitting there, eating all by herself, not talking to anybody in particular...I couldn't help but feel so sad for her! That's when I sort of lost it, too. A little embarrassing...but couldn't help it! Kela probably gets her emotional fickleness from me. Anyway, I sat next to her while she finished her lunch. We cleaned up and left. Even though she cried, she said she's looking forward to going back on Wednesday. We'll just have to see how well she does on day 2!

All in all, it was a bit of a rough day for me. I think emotionally, I was a little depressed from seeing Kela have such a hard time at her new school. Although I do realize it's something she has to get used to eventually-and will continue to experience it at the beginning of each new school year. Maybe I'm just not ready to see my little girl grow up so quickly. *sigh* The part of parenthood I didn't quite expect to have such a difficult time with!

jolee's blessing day

Today was Jolee's blessing day. It's actually her official "Due Date." I know, my repetition of this fact is getting redundant...but I can't help it! I'm just so thrilled that she came out 2 weeks ago, and not today! Anyway, today was Jolee and her little cousin, Luke's (Atau's little boy) blessing day. It was so nice that they got to share this special day together!

Us Sakuma's.

It's such a big crowd of people! And this isn't even all of us!

Congratulations Jolee and Luke on a great day!

Here's some pictures we took from the day.

This is with Mitch's parents who just happened to be here for the occasion. They leave tomorrow, so we were so thrilled that they were able to be here today!

And, here's us. My mom made the beautiful dress that Jolee (and little Luke, too!) wore for this day. It was such a cute dress...and I tried to take a picture of it, but don't think it came out quite as good as I would have liked.. She slept wonderfully before, during and after the blessing. Yeah! Although the microphone wasn't working too well so I missed most of the things Mitch said...it was still a very peaceful, happy and fulfilling day at church. :)

Then, after church, we all got together for dinner. Since Grandma and Grandpa leave for Arizona tomorow, we made sure to let Jolee spend some quality time together with her grandma & "papa."

jolee's 2 weeks old!

Technically, she's not even supposed to be born yet! Her due date is this Sunday the 3rd...but here she is, in all her 2 week old glory! I am SO THRILLED that she is no longer inside me! I can't say that enough! Don't get me wrong, I'm one of those weirdo women who actually enjoys being preggo...but towards the end, around the 8th month or so, it just gets so uncomfortable and tiring...
Anyway, she will be 2 weeks old tomorrow and so I thought I'd post just a couple of pictures of our growing little girl. She sleeps wonderfully during the day and pretty well at night in her bassinet. She's getting to the point where she doesn't have to be nursing every minute she's awake...which is lovely for me. I don't feel like a "binky" as much as I did last week! Also, she takes a bottle quite well (unlike my other 2 which absolutely refused!) so yesterday I was able to get out of the house for a few hours to run errands and pick up my Mom from the airport sans baby! Woohoo! I forgot what that FREEDOM feels like!

obachan!

Obachan's here! (for those non-Japanese speakers, Obachan means Grandma)

The kids are all so thrilled to have their beloved Obachan here visiting for a couple of weeks. We initially got her tickets so that she would arrive just before Jolee was to be born, so she could help with the girls while Mitch and I were in the hospital...so much for that! Like I said before, we were completely blindsided by her 2 week early arrival. BUT, it's wonderful to have my Mom here to help us out either way. A big relief as Mitch has actually been pretty busy with work and such lately. :)

Here's little Jolee with her cousin Luke. They are exactly 2 weeks apart in age. Hmmm...in the pictures, Jolee kinda looks bigger even though Luke is the older one! Who knew they'd be so close?! We're so thrilled to have them so close in age, and so close in proximity, as well! They just recently moved nearby-Atau, Airi and my family are all in the same ward at church...! Too fun!

And, here's Obachan with some of the grandkids today. We all hung out at Airi's and jumped on the trampoline, watched movies, and ate pizza...good times, good times! The kiddos all LOVE Obachan! She's the BEST!