2 Years Old, like a month ago

Yeah, so I'm a little late.  There has been a lot going on in the past, how long...almost 6 months since I last blogged?  The highlights of which were Kaylana turned 2, we bought a house, and I turned 27.  Not in that order though.  I also got injured at work and have been doing modified (light duty) work in pediatrics for almost 3 months now.  The people I work with are awesome...so nice and like a big family.  I would love to work there when the schedule fits better for my family.  Since late June it has been sometimes difficult to find a babysitter for Kaylana all day, but thankfully it has worked out.  Also in late June I turned 27, not a big deal just another day really, and we went into contract for the house that we are now living in.  We moved in last month and feel that the Lord has truly blessed us to be able to still live in Castro Valley as we love this area.  It is a nice area and the schools are good, and hopefully will stay that way as our kid(s) grow older through their school years. 
Kaylana has hit the terrible 2's, and as much as I love this age and her interactive, imaginary, playful, affectionate ways, she also has this attitude at times and can throw lovely tantrums.  She talks all the time now and I love it.  She asks to watch TV, loves Mickey and all kinds of animals, can point to and name every body part that I've taught her, and is very polite.  She is constantly saying "Please," Thank You," "Sorry," and "Excuse Me."  Oh and also "Bless you."  I am enjoying every moment with her and I can't believe how big she is getting!  At her check-up last month she weighed 27 1/2 lbs and was 33 1/2 inches tall.  I think that's 60 something percentile for weight and 48 percentile for height.  Not too bad.  I finally took the bottle away after her 2 year old appt because my pediatrician (and I say my because she's not only Kaylana's but she was really my pediatrician as a child) said it would be difficult to potty train her on a bottle since she'd be peeing all the time cuz Kaylana LOVES milk in a bottle, she'd drink it all day if I let her.  So now I give her milk in sippy cups and she hardly drinks any.  Maybe like 1 cup every other day.  But I give her lots of yogurt and cheese so she gets enough calcium.  I need to get some ice cream.  Haha.
Oh yeah, Rigo and I had our 5 year anniversary last week also.  We were thinking of going out for dinner but instead I made dinner and we went out for a movie.  We watched Planet of the Apes, not too bad considering I'm not a big fan it was a cool movie.  It's funny how we enjoy the simple things so much now because those are the things that are so difficult to do when you have children!  We also went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and watched every show.  Kaylana loved all the kiddie rides and roller coasters, she is such an adrenaline junkie.  She screamed "Wee!" on every ride and threw her hands in the air too.  It was lots of fun.
So we are pretty much settled in our new home.  I think I have 2 boxes left in the office to unpack but we are waiting to build a storage in the backyard.  Kaylana loves running around out there and we put her slide, bikes, and cars out there to play with a long with a foam mat.  We have a few fruit trees too...apple pear, plum, pomegranate, and citrus.  It's cool and at the same time quite time-consuming.  I really make an effort to remember to water the plants and trees every other day and turn on the sprinklers as ours go off twice a night instead of once like I programmed it to, so I just put it on manual.  I also got Rigo a nice cordless electric lawn mower, which he unfortunately has lost the cord for...so we cannot charge it but fortunately it's still working.  He's becoming more of a handy man and I've actually become pretty handy myself, especially with a power drill!  Home ownership definitely has its ups and downs, the joy of your own home and the headache of improvement and maintenance.  Lol.  It is definitely a huge blessing and we are so happy to have achieved a goal that we didn't think we'd be able to for a long time.  Kaylana loves having more room to roam and actually gets excited when we leave somewhere to go home.  She says "go home!"  Oh my funny cutie girl.  So here are some pics to show how she's grown and other fun family moments:

 at her BFF Lacey's b-day party

 eating snacks with cousin Ashilene at the temple

 Easter fun!

 Six Flags

 Cozying up with Lacey

 Watching Sprout with cousin Ysella

 Hi-five Ashilene!!!

 Showing off her new kicks...Nike Frees and Jordans, all with a pretty dress =)

 She looks so big here, it trips me out.  If you look closely you can see the scar above her left eye cuz she fell being the daredevil she is and hit the sliding door runner.  Poor baby, that was not a fun trip to the ED.

 Mommy and Kaylana on Mommy's 27th Birthday

 Kaylana and Ysella all ready to go to the water park

 Kaylana's 1st Bowling experience with Grandpa at work, she carried that ball all by herself!

 Ashilene and Kaylana snacking (again?!?) in our new backyard.

 Kaylana enjoying her birthday cupcakes made by Shawna, they were delish!

 Kaylana's hearty birthday breakfast!

 Knocked out in her high chair after eating...I love how she always crosses her feet.

 Kaylana put on my sandals...and she put them on right!  and came to show me, it was a fun surprise

 Fun day at Six Flags seeing all the animals

 Showing off her pretty skirt

The latest and greatest from 2 days ago...Posing with an umbrella at Toys R Us!  My cutie is growing up so fast!

20 Months Old...and Modeling??

Kaylana just turned 20 months old last week!  My friend Ashley who diligently serves with me in Young Women is an amazing photographer and happened to need another baby girl to model headbands.  Since I had a day off, I jumped at it.  I warned her firsthand that Kaylana doesn't like headbands and doesn't usually smile for a camera.  But since we were going to enjoy a walk at Lake Chabot, we figured we would give it a shot.  I'm so glad we did, because the pictures came out so well!  Her son, Kyle, definitely was a big help and played peek-a-boo behind the camera to help bring out Kaylana's smile.  Thanks to Ashley for her talented photography skills in capturing my baby girl.  Here is Kaylana...she is such a cutie!

Playing on the stairs with her cousin Ashilene.  Kaylana probably started it.  Lol.

This is how I found the two after we attempted to barricade the stairs.  Cuties!  Enjoying the barricade chair.

Here is Kaylana enjoying the little car and tricycle I got for her!  She actually fell in love with the push buggy in Hawaii visiting her cousins.  So I was so excited when I stumbled across this one!

Kaylana is such a daredevil.  She jumps off the sofa and runs, sometimes straight into another piece of furniture.  She loves to bolt outdoors any chance she gets!  She also loves playing with other kids, especially her cousins, who are now all within 30 minutes away.  Kaylana's vocabulary has definitely grown and she tries to say more words every day.  They may all sound the same, but I am happy that she is trying.  I think it is hilarious that she pronounces "Barney" and "Elmo" the same, they both sound like "Mama!"  Fortunately I can always tell because she is either pointing at Barney on the TV or pointing at Elmo in a book or holding Elmo.  Haha.  She is too much fun.  She loves to copy me when I exercise and always tries to tickle me during any floor exercises.  It is an interruption that I enjoy.

 Yum...pretzels and other snacks are always a great distraction for Kaylana.  She loves food, just like her Mommy and Daddy!

Walking in her Daddy's footsteps.  Literally.  She loves shoes!  I guess we better watch out.

 I love this one with her finger in her mouth.  She almost looks like she's contemplating what sneaky thing to do next.  Haha.  I always miss this girl when I am at work.  Of course, who would rather take care of patients and their families instead of your own children!  Especially when the poops are so much easier to handle on a 1 year old than a 70 year old.  Hahaha.  Oh how excited I get when I have a young patient who can clean up after themselves.  Is that lame or what?  Well...in TCU that is a one in a thousand thing.  Anyhow...how did I start talking about work?  Here is the last picture of my little angel modeling.  She brings so much joy into our home and I could not thank my Heavenly Father enough for the blessing she is in our family.  I can't believe she will be 2 in just a few months!  I am definitely enjoying every single day with her.  I think this is such a fun age, she is so playful and laughs at everything.  I just keep praying that I will be more mindful of my words and actions because I know that she is watching and copying everything!  We are grateful to have Kaylana in our lives and are amazed at how much she grows every single day.  I want my little girl to stay little!!!  She is getting so big!  Sometimes I look at her and think that I am looking at a little me, that is until she darts off and I remember that she is so quick just like her Daddy.  We love our Kaylana!!!

Hawaii Trip Continued...

So I got through half the trip with no pictures...but I did manage to get a short video of Kaylana and my Grandma.

On Monday we went to Lanikai Beach.  The water was perfectly warm and the white sand was nice and soft.  It was a beautiful day on a beautiful beach.  It was funny because Kaylana not only refused to get in the water, but she refused to touch the sand too!  I found a couple sticks and emptied my McDonald's cup (who brings a bucket and beach toys when flying to Hawaii?) to show Kaylana that it was fun to play with sand.  She sat at the edge of the blanket and played with the sticks and cup with the sand, but every time her hand accidentally touched the sand, she immediately would drop everythings and brush the sand off.  Even with her beach shoes!  It was too cute...wish I had the pictures to show.  SIGH...anyhow.  After 2 hours of watching other people run around in the sand, she finally got up and started walking in the sand towards these little kids in front of us, then she chased the birds! (Don't mind the background conversation haha)

It was an awesome day.  My cousin Jenn was so kind as to let us clean up at her house and we enjoyed dinner with a gorgeous view of Kaneohe Bay.  I tell you, it is a beautiful place to live and love, but I just don't think I could do it.  Maybe if my family and Rigo's family moved out there too.  Haha.

Tuesday we went to the Honolulu Children's Discovery Center (where I lost my camera *sniff*) and Kaylana had a blast!  She loved running around all the different exhibits and being able to touch EVERYTHING!  The only time I worried was when there were lots of bigger kids that would scramble around the same exhibit and knock Kaylana around.  Then Mama Bear had to do some enforcement. J/K.  Kaylana lasted a good 2 hours and then was tired so we left right at closing.  They close early like at 1pm.  We went to Costco so I could get a replacement camera and then went to spend the rest of the day with Grandma.  We put pictures on her wall and reminded her of who each person was, to read the scriptures, and how much we loved and cared for her.  She was so happy and even walked with us out to our car in the evening.  We had dinner at this lil restaurant called Ono's and enjoyed some really good authentic Hawaiian food.  Even picked up some malasadas at Leonard's bakery on the way to the hotel.  We did laundry and hit the hay for our last day.  Doing the laundry was smart cuz then I didn't have to do it at home!  Instead I was able to rest haha.

My cousin Janelle has a friend, Rose, who dances at the PCC night show so we were able to go the night before our flight.  Since we were going to be out there in the evening we decided to go to North Shore and get some delicious shrimp at the Famous Kuhuku shrimp truck...mmmm coconut and garlic butter shrimp.  We went to the temple again and took more pictures and then we went to Laie Point.  I wished I had my old camera so I could do a panorama picture because it was beautiful 360 degrees around.  The PCC's night show Ha was amazing...I liked it better than the one we saw 3 years ago.  The story and dances were just beautiful.  We packed up our stuff that night (our last meal in Hawaii was Jack in the Box lol) and in the morning we checked our, returned our rental car, and waited a whole hour to check our luggage.  Ridiculous.  The flight home was fine, but we felt it would be our last for a long time because Kaylana was restless.  Thankfully I had Barney and Sesame Street DVDs and coloring books to keep her occupied.  Oh and snacks of course.  So yeah...that was our trip!  Here are some of the only pictures I have...

We'll miss you Hawaii!

So, So Behind...

Oh man a million things have happened since my last post like what, 6 months ago?

The latest and greates of these was our recent family trip to Hawaii to visit Grandma Selfaison as our annual vacation.  It was an awesome trip, and unfortunately, I lost my camera 2 days before coming home.  I spent those last 1 1/2 days running around the island trying to capture some more precious memories.  I know people say that at least no one can steal my memories, but my memory sucks since pregnancy.  Haha.  I had some super cute pictures of Kaylana, especially at the beach.  Even sadder, the only decent family picture with Grandma.  We tried to take more, but Kaylana just would not cooperate.  Fortunately, I snapped a picture of the one on my camera to text to my family back in Cali, and so I have a grainy version of it on my phone.  Anyhow, so I will attempt to make written memories instead of photographed ones since I have no choice.  So this may be long...

We arrived Thursday, March 10 and went straight to the Ilima hotel.  It was great, away from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki strip but close enough to walk to the beach.  Plus full kitchen and free parking.  I highly recommend it!  Kaylana was amazing during the flight, probably because she spent the majority of the time sleeping since it was an early morning flight LoL.  We went straight to visit Grandma and spent the whole afternoon with her.  We went through all the photos I brought, naming everyone and reminiscing about when I was growing up with Grandma and Grandpa taking care of me.  I cherish the sleepovers, the BART trips to San Francisco, and the frequent Arby's stops for oreo polar swirls!  Also Grandpa letting me pull up the emergency brake at every traffic stop so that he could rest his feet.  Hehe.  Even though we spent a good 4 hours with Grandma, she still couldn't remember my name, but she was able to name all my siblings so that was good.  She loved watching Kaylana and kept saying how pretty she was.  I thoroughly enjoyed our reunion.  Before going home we hit up Wal-Mart and Don Quixote for some groceries to get us through the week so we could take advantage of having a kitchen.  We were quite surprised when we got to Walmart and found the shelves more than half empty.  I told Rigo "Gosh, this Walmart SUCKS at restocking their shelves."  So after this awesome store called Don Quixote (kinda like a Japanese Walmart-y type grocery spot) we headed home to settle.  When we got to our hotel room, we got a bunch of texts and calls from family members back home...is everything okay, what's the news there?  Rigo and I were like, huh?  We turned on the news to see the horrific events in Japan and the tsunami warning for Hawaii.  WELL, that explained the lack of food items in Walmart.  Silly us, huh?  I laugh, but it is something to be admired that the people of Hawaii strive to be prepared for the possibility of danger.  We were advised by the hotel staff to remain in our rooms, and since we were on the 9th floor, we were told not to worry.  When we looked up the map we saw that we were just past the border of evacuation, for which we were grateful.  That night we didn't sleep well, as the tsunami warning alarms were going off every hour in addition to our anxiety about what might be going on.  Fortunately, all we saw on the news was the tide rise in Waikiki, but no ginormous waves or flooding.  The tsunami warning/advisory was cancelled at 8am, but Rigo and I decided to stay away from the beach that day.  Since Friday was supposed to be beach day, we instead hit up the local Costco and got to know the area.  It was just a chill and relax day, the kind that we love to have (but rarely do with wanting to sightsee, play, and all) during vacation.

On Saturday we went to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet, where I got a couple super cute signs for removing your shoes and one that said I am a child of God.  Also a license plate frame, some hair flowers, earrings, and kukui nut necklaces.  Oh yea, and what I was looking really forward to getting in Hawaii: SCRUBS!  I love the beautiful patterns of Hawaii and even when the regular scrub stores here try to do a Hawaiian style print, it's just not the same.  Especially for $9 a top!  That's a steal!  Comparable ones are around $20 here, so I was excited.  We managed to spend less than 3 hours going around the whole flea market (my sister who came to Hawaii the week before spent only 2 hours and said she only got through 1/4 of the whole stadium!  I think she was looking at every single thing...haha).  Since we were walking in the sun, we went home to shower before going to my cousin, Sonya's house in Mililani.  It was nice cuz she lives in an area that's less hustle and bustle with real community neighborhoods.  Made me wanna live there.  Haha...if I could survive living on an island smaller than the Bay Area 2,000 miles away from my family, and Rigo's.  I only say that because you know if you only stay in Honolulu, it seems so cramped cuz you know, it's not a huge island and hello, it's Hawaii!  Anyhow...it was fun cuz in addition to Sonya's family, my cousin James and his family were there, along with Jenn and Paul and my cousins who are attending BYU-Hawaii, Janelle and Jessica (yeah I have a lot of cousins - I think 64-and that's just first cousins).  I finally met James' wife, Melissa, whose blog I often read...it was nice to put a real voice and face to the stories!  Hehe.  The kiddies were so darn cute.  After having some yummy food we played a couple games that were super fun.  We were laughing having such a good time...they will definitely be played again during our family and friend get togethers here.  The kids kept occupied with all the fun toys, and honestly just with each other.  It was nice.  The following day we all got together again, this time at my Auntie Tessie's house.  More hecka good food and fun times reminiscing and catching up.  Gotta love family.  I think it is great that even though we don't see each other for years, when we do get together again it is like we just pick up where we left off and just enjoy each other's company.  I was thinking of how when I was younger we had these huge family reunions (Grandma Selfaison had 8 kids) and all us grandkids would run around and have a blast.  I was in the middle age group so I remember watching little ones run around and the older ones wanting to go out.  Haha.  When I look at our family reunion pics I just laugh cuz we were so young and things were different.  Now we all have our own families and it is a trip to watch our kids run around and play with each other.  I love it!  I wish we had more family get together with everyone.  Unfortunately my family is spread out all over the country so it makes things difficult when you have your own young ones to take care of.  But when the opportunity arises, I am grateful we are able to take advantage.

So I got through half the week we were in Hawaii but I have to put Kaylana to bed so I will continue this later...

September was a busy month!

and August…and October is getting busy too.  Lol.  I kept saying to myself that I wanted to update last month, but never got around to it.  So Kaylana walks now, and has progressively gotten better every week.  She started walking about the 23rd of August, a little over one week after her birthday!  First it was the Frankenstein walk, then only on carpet, then she was okay with floors, and now she is comfortable walking anywhere!  She also knows to walk around things instead of try to walk through them.  Haha.  When she first started walking she would trip on toys and whatever else happened to be on the carpet.

 

On August 28th, T.J. entered the the temple for the first time to receive his endowment.  It was an awesome experience as all of us were able to be there with him since Jubie flew up for that weekend…actually for about 24 hours.  I picked her up from the airport Saturday morning and dropped her off at the airport Sunday morning.  It was so great to be with my sister again even though I had just seen her a couple weeks before in San Diego!

   

WELL…on September 2nd Rigo and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary! We had dinner and a movie…Inception was a cool movie…one of those that make you think.  I am so grateful for my hard-working husband.  He is so considerate and is always helping out in our home.  Even though I know he is tired from working all day, he will pick up after Kaylana and take care of her so that I can have a break.

 

4 years really flew by, especially with Kaylana now.  I can’t believe she’s already 13 months old.  She went from having 2 teeth last month, to now having 7 teeth!  I was wondering why this past week was really tough, she kept waking up and crying at night because of the pain.  And then her 4 top teeth came through and one more on the bottom!

We celebrated my Dad’s birthday on September 18th.  He is 62 years old and cancer free!  Every day we are grateful that he is with us…and Kaylana loves her Lolo (Grandpa in Tagalog).  He is the only one that she won’t leave to come to me!  I guess I was a Grandpa’s girl as well when I was younger.

On September 26th was T.J.’s farewell.  He gave such a great talk.  I can’t believe my baby brother is all grown up!  He left with my parents to attend General Conference and entered the MTC on October 6th, just a couple days ago!  It was not hitting me that my little brother was already leaving for 2 years to serve a mission, until he called me right before entering the MTC…I started crying like a baby!  But I am truly happy and excited for him and i know he will be a great missionary.  I dreamed of the day that he would enter the temple prior to go on a mission…and now it has come and gone!  We are so proud of T.J. for having the desire and being worthy to be a full time missionary for the Lord.

It was my mom’s birthday on Oct. 7th, but since they had just returned from their trip to Utah, we will be celebrating today…so I’m off to pick her up and take her for her birthday present! (I got her a gift card to Sephora and a makeover…even though she doesn’t need it, I want her to feel really great!)  So it is back to being busy!