babies...

Little Peanut

So this awkward Ultra sound is of our little squirt on her/his hands and knees like a little animal. But it's really in there! I went in to my first prenatal visit last friday thinking I was about 10 weeks (2 1/2 months) pregnant and the doctor goes "no, your about 4 months along" I was shocked (first, because this means I conceived sometime in November and I took 4 preggo tests -including a blood test at school - the beginning of Dec and they were all negative), I am about a month and a week further than I thought I was. So according to the Doctor I'm due around August 12 (according to the ultrasound pic I'm due the 10th). Our baby had an irregular heartbeat though so we're going to do a more advanced ultrasound next week to see if there are any problems. I'm a little concerned but I also know that it's a new heart and the kinks are getting all worked out still (also, I read caffeine can affect it as well and I had drank a coke before the appointment so....) we'll see. We might even be able to find out the sex, which is pretty darn exciting!

In other news - we got into TVA (married couple housing) for Spring term so we are incredibly excited that our rent will be dropping $400 a month (phew!). Bannock is about to turn the big 2 - and he's preparing us for it everyday. Last Sunday he made the worst mess he's ever made - we woke up to find an entire carton of raspberries smeared into our carpet, couches, kitchen table and not to mention Bannocks hands and feet! We were pretty pissed - but how do you discipline a two year old who doesn't think he's done anything wrong (or won't react to consequences like time-outs, etc.)??? Anyway - life is getting exciting and with that comes lots and lots of stress. Sean and I are due for a much needed vacation, or at least a date night!

A new addition...

I'm Preggo!
It's official now. We found out while we were in California ( I was sick pretty much the entire two weeks) but we've been waiting to share the news until I was farther along. I'm now almost 8 weeks and my due date is around September 10th. I've been wanting (and trying) to get pregnant for a couple months and now it's perfect timing. Bannock and the baby will be exactly 2 1/2 years apart, which is what we wanted. I've been feeling pretty crummy most days, not too much vomiting but just nausea a lot of the time. Smells make me gag and I have extreme cravings. This is totally opposite my pregnancy with Bannock, where I had no symptoms whatsoever. I'm just happy to be joining the masses of all my other pregnant friends! I'm so excited to be a mommy again :)

Sean's Birthday and the Zoo

So Sean turned 26 on friday! He's now closer to 30 than he is to 20 - weird. We celebrated with a delicious breakfast of french toast, some time at the beach and then a little date courtesy of our friends Natalie and Mark who offered to watch Bannock. We went shopping for his birthday then out to dinner (the Cheesecake Factory in Waikiki is crazy on a friday night! So we had to settle for Old Spaghetti Factory, which was good. I forgot my camera that night but we did have fun!
We continued his birthday into saturday with a trip to the Zoo (and some more shopping). Bannock had a ball at the Zoo - he was able to practice his animal names which so far consist of "Peacock", "Giraffe", "Monkey", "Zeeba", "Hippo", "Gecko", "Fish", "Phent (elephant)" and we're working on some more. There was a bold peacock walking around the playground with about 30 kids and it couldn't have cared less. Bannock also learned how to say "cheese!" for the camera and was eating it up, the two pictures up there are the best I could capture with my crappy camera, but, suffice it to say, his faces and hand gestures were hilarious. It was so fun to watch Bannock absorb everything - yesterday he was telling me all about it, the "two phents" he saw along with the "beeg Hippo!" and "hippo beeg mouf!" I love seeing him grow and learn every day. Its so rewarding. I love being a mom!

Home for Christmas!

We surprised our parents and flew home for Christmas : ) They had no idea. Sean's dad was so in shock when he opened his door at 11 o'clock at night and Bannock was standing there. He was speechless even when Bannock walked right in and said "Pop pop!". It had been almost 4 months since they'd seen him. We surprised my parents the next night and even though they had just seen Bannock it didn't register that he could be in California. It was a fun surprise and a fun visit. We went to Folsom Zoo's first annual Christmas night at the zoo thing - they had lights everywhere and all the nocturnal animals were still awake (did anyone know the Folsom zoo had tigers?) At the end of the walk Santa and Mrs. Clause were there to take pictures. It was Bannock's first time and even though he would get excited and say "Santa!" any time he saw one, being up close and personal with him did not go over well! What is it with kids and Santa? We also got to go shooting with Sean's family, which was fun. It had been awhile since I had gone shooting. I'm pretty proud of the picture of Sean I took - you can actually see the bullet! Anyway, we had a great Christmas, it was so nice to be back and almost impossible to leave. As great as Hawaii is there is no place like home!

A visit from the folks

My parents came to visit the beginning of December and it was a lot of fun. They rented this cute little bungalow on the beach that we practically lived at with them. We went to the Billabong Pipemasters surf competition which was so fun (got a ton of free stuff!), went to Pearl Harbor and saw the Arizona memorial, ate delicious Thai food at Haleiwa Eats and then caught a cute Christmas parade through the town. We also got to pay our respects to Ron Artis' family - he's a great local artist who had passed away just two days before we went to Haleiwa where his home/studio is. We spent a lot of time on the beach, of course, and Bannock was thrilled that his Nahna and Pop pop were there to spoil him rotten! It was a great week : )

in parenthesis

I have news and updates and pictures galore but for now...

I stumbled upon this dreamy little website in cahoots with Anthropologie.

The Anthropologist

It has articles on wonderful people, places and things. A long with beautiful photographs. Look. Dream. Imagine.

Kethup

Here's a little catch up. We've been loving it out here. It's so nice to be back in school. I'm just soaking it up, so glad to be getting a good education! I love campus life and I'm trying to participate as much as my work/wifely/motherly duties will allow! Each weekend they have a free moving showing in the theatre on campus and this past weekend we watched "the karate kid" (yes the new one) with our friends Jason and Amber, Zach and Julie and Jozie (minus her other half Tommy, who was in Arizona for a wedding). Bannock didn't do to well during but after we went and nabbed free food (sushi and fruit and a chocolate fountain anyone?) from the Fashion Show while Bannock took his first ride(s) on a skateboard. We've made the best friends here and I'm going to be so sad when we they have to move in January, but the campus is small (shoot, the entire town is small!) so I'm sure we won't lose touch! It's just been fun to have potlucks and impromptu game nights and venting about landlord issues!

But moving on! These pictures are from two or three weekends ago (i forget to bring my camera everywhere!) when we went on a little drive in our beautiful 1988 toyota camry. I WILL post more pictures and more often!

This is the view from the Valley of the Temples

Our dashboard friend/sunglass holder KeAloha, she's legit


A mausoleum in Valley of the Temples

Chinaman's Hat off of Kualoa + random tourists

Another view from Kualoa