Cherry Blossom Birthday

Birthday Girl,

This month you turned 2! And believe me, the bad temper and attitude set in long before...

Since we did your huge luau last year, I planned on just having a small family party this time. Well, you know how I am when it comes to birthdays and parties. I tend to go overboard.

I found a cute, Japanese inspired, theme birthday idea online and thought I'd give it a try. So this year, we had a cherry blossom birthday.

The night before, I spent hours over at Tutu's house baking and rolling fondant.

The next day, Auntie Whitty helped me put the finishing touches on your cake while Tutu and Daddy pieced together our candy sushi. It took a lot of time and effort, but the end result was darling! Auntie made you a beautiful cake that impressed everyone! And the sushis were darling and delicious! The real California rolls and edamame we had were yummy, too!

But my favorite were the cupcakes. Strawberry, mmm! But the best part about the cupcakes were the pink icing pooplets made out of iceing. I tried so hard to be creative and a real baker so I iced the cuppies using a pastry bag thingy and fancy tips. In my head, they were gonna turn out really cutesy and professional looking. Instead, they looked like pink poop scotches. Oh well. They were still delicious and I still ate like 3 of them!

All your cousins, aunties, uncles, and best friends came to your party and spoiled you with lots of fun presents! You got so many coloring books and sidewalk chalk that you're now set for life! Though, I'm sure those books will only last you a couple months.

You absolutely LOVE to color and will do so for hours on end. Luckily, it's getting warm out so we can take a break from the books and draw cute pictures on the sidewalk, instead, with your chalk. Being outside and coloring???? OMG, 2 of your most favorite things in the whole world!!

I hope you enjoyed this last year as much as we have. There were a few rough spots, like when you were hospitalized with RSV and then continued to have wheezing episodes due to childhood asthma. Sometimes, it's all I can do to make it to the end of the day. Being a parent is HARD!!! But it's so worth it to be YOUR mommy!

I love you to pieces and I can't wait to celebrate more and more years to come! You're a beautiful baby girl. You're my baby girl. I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living my baby you'll be.

xoxo

Mama

Labor of Love

Naughty Lolli-

These last few months you have been SOOOO naughty! But, only because you've been learning so much. Still, you seem to be permanently seated in your time-out chair.

Because you've grown more independent and have learned to communicated more effectively, you've started telling me and Daddy "no" a lot more. Umm, please stop doing that! We're you're parents. We love you and know what's best for you...like nursery.

I don't get it. The first couple times you went to nursery, you absolutely loved it. Now, it's a constant battle to even get you in the door. I promise I'm not leaving you there forever! I always come back to get you, right? Though, I will admit, the last few Sunday's you have done surprisingly well in nursery. Instead of having to sit with you for the entire two hours, I've managed to slip away after only about 15 minutes! That's a real improvement! Still, the second you realize I'm gone, I can hear you start wailing through the door. Why are you so sad? All your friends are there to play with you and your teachers sing you songs and give you snacks. I'd LOVE to be back in nursery again! I love gold fish and juice! Hopefully, over the next few weeks, though, you'll continue to get acclimated to nursery. I'm hoping by February, you'll actually start looking forward to going to nursery each week. That will be our goal!

Another frustrating habit you've picked up is spitting out your food. No. Not spitting, rather, letting it fall out of your mouth. The second a food that you don't like hits your tongue, you sit there with your mouth wide open until the "yucky" morsel slides out and on to the floor. Most of the time you don't even chew it. How do you know you don't like it if you don't at least give it a try? And who doesn't like cinnamon rolls and mangoes?!?! I swear. Sometimes you are NOT my child.

And another thing: why do you insist on coloring on everything but in the pages of your coloring book? The walls, couch, Daddy’s church pants, plates, and tortillas are NOT for you to draw on. Good thing we bought you washables.

Lastly, aren’t you tired yet of Baby Einstein? You’ve seen every single episode about a zillion times. The same goes for Ice Age. It’s super frustrating when I’m trying to work on the computer and you sit there whining and crying for “Sid! Watch Sid!” And if I don’t surrender the computer and turn on Ice Age? You start screaming! We need to pull the plug on this TV habit, pronto. I ain’t raisin’ no couch potato!

Little Lolli, you are just getting too smart for your own good. Between repeating everything you hear and attempting to use the computer mouse to surf the web, you have been quite a handful lately. But, with all your mischievous endeavors, you’ve actually developed into a very bright and clever girl. Daily, I’m impressed and surprised by the things you’ve learned. I hope that I will be more patient with you and take more time in the future to work with you and help develop your skills. You truly are intellectually advanced for your age and I will always encourage your cognitive development and education.

You have so much potential, Lālea, and I hope you always make the right decisions so that you may live up to your full stature as a smart, beautiful, and loving daughter of our Heavenly Father. And if you happen to stumble along the way and make some silly choices, just know that Daddy and I will always love you. I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.

Mahal kita, my Lollipop.

xoxo
Mama

You'll never outgrow my heart

Lolli Polli Puddin' Pie-

You're 18 months old, which means you're FINALLY in nursery! Tell you what, this day couldn't have come sooner! We love, love, LOVERS you but you've been getting progressively harder to sedate during church. You're just to eager to play, laugh, and run around. Before nursery, I couldn't recall the last time Daddy and I had stayed for all 3 hours of church. By the time Sacrament was over, you had filled your quota of quiet time, as far as you were concerned. There was no way you were going to willingly sit reverently through 2 more hours of church! So, thank goodness for nursery! And, thank goodness you love it so much!

You've only been attending nursery for 3 weeks, but you already get excited to play the second we walk into the church building. Since you love music and dancing so much, your favorite part of nursery is sitting in your mini-chair and banging the drum sticks together while you sing primary songs. You've also taken to coloring. Though you often eat the crayons, you've already colored me wonderful pictures of Moses and the 10 Commandments and even pictures of puppies and sunshine.

Aside from honing in on your artistic skills, you've continued to expand your vocabulary this month. You've learned two new animal sounds, a horse and a piggy. You also can say "I love you" in both English and Tagalog. And every time you get hungry now, you'll either make the sign for food or say "bite" or "apple." You can even point to pictures of your friends and family and say their names. Your favorite picture to point to is of Darren. "Dee Dee!" you'll say and then beg to go over to his house to play.

Because you can talk so well now, Daddy and I have to be even more careful of what TV shows you watch and the language we use around you. You're so smart that you pick up and copy everything you see or hear. So, we've attempted to cut back on the amount of TV you watch, but we still can't break you from Sponge Bob of Baby Einstein. You love Sponge Bob so much that Mommy bought you a pair of Sponge Bobby jammies and Daddy even bought you your very own stuffed Sponge Bob. You LOVE wearing those jammies and pointing to the big Sponge Bob on your tummy. And, you love to cuddle with your plush Spongy. He's just about replaced your pink giraffe that you sleep with at night.

Still, your favorite things to cuddle are Mommy, Daddy, and Moku Bear. And you're such a good cuddler, too! I hate that you'll grow up and will stop wanting to snuggle. So, for the time being, I'll get as much snuggling time in with you as I can! But, you're such a sweet and affectionate girl that I don't think you'll ever truly stop giving loves.

I love you very much and I'm so happy to have such a sweet and smiley little girl like you. Thank you for your kisses and for the laughter and light you bring to our family. I only hope you get as much joy out of spending time with me as I do with you. I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be!

xoxo

Mommy

Sweeter Than Cherry Pie

My Baby Lollipop,
This month has been so much fun! Thanks to our awesome friends Kyle and Brit, we were able to go on a road trip to San Diego again. Last year we took you to Sea World so this time we decided to visit the zoo instead. Since you're so good at animal sounds now, you had so much fun hiking around the zoo and seeing the animals in person.

But the most fun we had together was at the beach. Just like your Mommy, you're going to grow up to love water. The second we stepped foot onto the sand, you were already making a B-line for the ocean. You would have walked right into the crashing waves if I'd have let you! So instead, you spent most of your time at the water's edge, covering yourself in sand. Your favorite thing to do was dig holes in the and and wait 'til a big wave brought water crashing into into. After the sun warmed the trapped water, you climbed in the hole and relaxed in your very own hot tub! 

Another fun activity in San Diego was eating lots of yummy foods! You and I went to Heavenly Cupcakes just about every day and bought ourselves a tasty treat! We also lost ourselves in the massive meatball and mashed potato pizza from BASIC. MMMM!!!!!! A not so gourmet meal that you enjoyed was a bowl of chocolatey coco pebbles cereal. When we got home from San Diego, I bought you your very own bag of coco pebbles and Daddy got mad. "Too much sugar!" Well, he didn't seem to mind when I brought you home your very own chocolate dip cone from Dairy Queen the other day!

Little Lolli, you are growing up so quickly. Next month, you'll be in nursery...and we can't wait! Since church is right during your nap time, it's hard to sit through all three of our meetings with you wanting to run all over the place and laugh out loud. But nursery will be so fun for you. Your such a happy little girl and you love playing with toys and with other children. We're so blessed to have such a high-spirited and smiley girl like you! 

Though you're getting older, you still haven't grown out of cuddling. Out of nowhere, you'll come up to me, put your face in mine and give me a kiss. Or, you'll crawl up next to me on the couch, throw your arms around my neck, and give me a good squeeze. I hope you never grow out of cuddling, Lolli. I love your warm hugs and I love your sweet kisses! But most of all, I just love my girl. 

Your Daddy and I are so proud of the things your learning and the big girl that you're becoming. I hope that as you to grow, you will keep that smile on your face and continue to find happiness in all you do. I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be. 

xoxo

Mommy

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

My Sweet Lolli,

Over these past few months, you have grown into both a terror and a delight. Since learning how to walk, you have discovered an array of mischief to get yourself in to. There’s no toilet paper roll or pile of folded clothes that’s safe from your demolition! And poor Moku Bear…he takes a beating from you on a daily basis! You love your brother, but you also love torturing him! He’s so nice and sweet to let you tug on his tail, whack him with slippers, and dump out all his food and water. But no matter how much abuse you render, Moku still wants to be your best friend. The two of you have so much fun together in the laundry room. It’ll be silent in there for a minute and I’ll wonder what trouble the two of you are getting into. But, when I come in to check on you, you’re just sitting there staring at Moku, laughing hysterically as he’s wagging his tail. I don’t know what you two find so funny in one another, I’m just glad you get along so well.

Aside from playing with Moku, you still love to read. Your favorite book is Baby Einstein’s What’s Bigger Than Me? You’ll sit forever and read that book, or you’ll chase me and Daddy around the house, begging us to read it to you. Your favorite thing to do is go through the book and point out all the animals and make their noises. So far, you can do a snake, chicken, kitty, and duck. My favorite animal to see you do is a puppy. You stick your tongue out just like Moku and pant. It’s so silly!!

In addition to animal noises, you have also started learning your body parts. When you watch Baby Davinci, you love singing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes and you’ve actually almost got all of those body parts down. So far you know head, eyes, toes, piko, and bum bum. And since you’re so smart, it’s only a matter of time before you learn everything else.

I can’t believe how quickly you’re picking things up. You’ve become such a smart and independent little girl that I’m already beginning to miss my little baby. These days, you’re just too busy and curious to sit still for one moment and let Mommy snuggle you. Though, every now and then, you’ll crawl up my legs, onto my tummy, and wrap your arms around my neck and cuddle. When you get sleepy, you still like me to rock you in my arms and sing songs. Of course, our favorites to sing are “Truly Scrumptious” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and as you grow, I hope you’ll continue to foster your love for music.

Daddy and I both know that you are full of potential and will grow to be a very bright and talented young lady. Just know how much we love you and that we will support you in anything you choose to do. You’ve been a blessing in our lives and we only hope to be great examples in yours.

I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.

xoxo
Mommy

1 Year in the Making

Birthday Girl-
About a month ago, you turned 1 year old. To celebrate, we had a big luau at the church. All of our friends and family came to play with you that day! Even your Hawaiian auntie and cousins flew in for the big event!

There was so much yummy food to eat like kalua pig and chicken long rice. There were also some fun activities like a bouncy house and a piñata. We even had a little program in which cousins and auntie danced and sang. Cousin Seyna was amazing!!!


Less amazing was Mommy's attempt at hula. The best part, though, was when Daddy had to get on stage and "dance" Tahitian. He was REALLY embarrassed but was such a good sport about it all!

As a special treat, Chris B. made you a birthday cake. It was a tiny, Lolli sized carrot cake complete with fondant flowers. You sat in your birthday throne, digging into the cake with two hands! Surprisingly, you didn't get that messy! You're so dainty!


When it was finally time to bring the party to an end and go home, it took about 5 trips to the car just to load up all the presents you got. You had TONS and TONS of gifts! You sure are one loved little girl!!!

In your first year alone, you've already brought great joy to those around you. Your beautiful, bright eyes and silly Sponge Bob smile make it impossible not to delight in your company.

I look forward to all the years ahead of us and an eternity full of joy, delight, and laughter.
I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

xoxo
Mommy

Tenderness for what you are and respect for what you may become

Little Lolli-
I can't believe how quickly you've grown! Already, I'm planning your birthday luau. You're almost 1 year old! You're so big!! I miss how small and tiny you used to be. And how you would just sleep and cuddle in my arms. Now, you're such a wiggly worm! I can barely get you to sit still long enough to change your panties! But regardless of how mobile you've become, you still let me cuddle you and like me to rock you while we sing together. But you've definitely begun to choose favorites. Every time you have a crying fit and Daddy tries rocking you, you flail around, searching for my arms. While you'll probably grow up to become a Daddy's girl, I'm loving the Mommy preference right now!

Since last month, you've learned how to clap and have sprouted two more teeth. Now, you have a buck tooth smile that always makes me laugh every time I see it! You're also beginning to wave. The other day, Keizya Baby was over and was crawling around behind the couch. You were being a little birdie, standing at my leg in the kitchen, hoping I'd drop some food in your hungry little mouth. But between bites, you'd turn around, smile at Keizya, and wave to her frantically! You've also begun waving to your reflection in the mirror every time you catch her smiling back at you. You're still doing the two-handed "Autsitc" wave, but I bet you'll get the one-hander down soon enough. In the meantime, continue to pull yourself up on the couch, and cruise around on the furniture. Soon, you'll be walking. I dread that day. You destroy the house enough as it is just with crawling. Once you start walking, no book, telephone line, or laptop will be safe from your terror!

Though I love you as a little baby girl, I'm so excited for you to grow older. I anticipate the beautiful, independent, and probably divalicious woman I know you will become. And as you get older, I hope your testimony of the gospel will grow with you. I look forward to that special day, years from now, when I can sit in the sealing room and watch you promise yourself to your own eternal companion. But until then, I'm perfectly content with rocking you in my arms and singing. I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

xoxo
Mommy

The best part of me is you

Darling Lālea,
It's Christmas time and Daddy and I can't stop buying you presents! You're about to be one spoiled little girl!! But it's just so fun buying you toys and sparkly things that I know you'll love! I'm so excited for Christmas day and to watch you tear open your gifts. And knowing you, you'll probably be content with just the paper and ribbons! You love love LOVE getting your hands on paper and anything you can rip apart!

Other things you love to do right now are chasing after Moku and grabbing his wagging tail. You get so excited when you see Moku Bear running down the hall. You'll sit there and giggle away while he sniffs your face and licks your hands. You also think it's hilarious to watch him wag his tail. You often try to catch it, mid wag, and stick the end of it in your mouth. Since Moku is usually so grimy, Mommy and Daddy don't usually let you chomp on his tail. But, we have succumbed to letting you chew on his newspaper toy. It's so funny to watch you with that thing. You shove it as far into your mouth as you can and just sit there, gumming it. But actually, you're not gumming things anymore. This past month you got a tooth in!

You now have one sharp tooth peeking out of your mouth. And with that one tooth, you've begun eating new foods. Right now, you're favorites are bananas and noodles. However, just yesterday, you finished off the entire half of a pare! You were so hungry! It's been fun giving you new foods and juices to try, but scary, too. You have a tendancy to choke on things.

Recently, Auntie Juliann had her birthday at Sakura. Somehow you had gotten hold of a chunk of chicken. I looked over to give you some rice and you had red watery eyes and were gagging. Mommy and Daddy tried everything we could to get whatever it was out of your mouth, but there was nothing there! Daddy finally picked you up and was about to turn you upside down when you threw up all over him! It was yucky and messy and all over Daddy, but at least you got that piece of chicken out! We were all so worried about you! It was very traumatic! Even Tutu spilled her hot tea all over herslef in the midst of the episode!! But you're safe now, and we are much more careful about the things we give you and let you play with.

Along with trying to keep you safe, we've also been trying to teach you how to clap your hands, give kisses, and wave. Another trick we're trying to learn is how to get you to sit down on your own once you've pulled yourself up into a standing position. You're so funny! You'll pull yourself up, but then get stuck because you can't figure out how to sit back down! Instead, you'll stand there and whine until Mommy or Daddy scoops you up or helps you sit down.

Actually, you've become so dependent on Mommy and Daddy lately. If you're not chasing Moku around the house, you're crawling at my feet and following me from room to room. You've also started recognizing strangers. Mainly, you know when you're being held by someone you don't recognize. You'll generally be all right for a moment, but soon enough, the tears start pouring down your cheeks and you're looking straight at me, begging me to rescue you from the unfamiliar person. It's sad to see you cry like that, especially since so many of these new faces already love you so much! And who wouldn't?!?

You are the sweetest thing in the world and the most dear to my heart. Of course, I love Daddy and Tutu and all of our family just as much. But, the love I have for you is so different from the way I feel about anyone else. You're the giggle on the tip of my tongue, the smile at the corner of my mouth, the apple of my eye. And no one will ever love you the way I do. I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

xoxo
Mommy

I love you not only because of who you are, but because of who you've made me

My Sweet Lālea,
As I sit typing, you lie in your crib fast asleep. You've finally exhausted yourself after a 35-minute fit of hysteria. You hate being in your play pen all by yourself! And you can't seem to understand why I, only a few feet away in the kitchen, won't come to your rescue. To tell you the truth, it's just as hard for Mommy to leave you in there by your onesies. While I do the dishes or cook dinner, I hear your sobs and my heart breaks. Even worse, I turn around and see you peering out through the netting on the play pen, red cheeked and eyes overflowing with crocodile tears. But we both have to be big girls. Now that your crawling, Daddy and I have no choice but to put you in your play pen. If we let you roam around the house, you'd surely pull out every cord from every electrical socket and tear up every magazine and book. And I have to learn that it's okay to let you cry every now and then. If I came to your rescue every time I heard you whimper, you'd never learn how to do things for yourself.

But already you have learned to do so many things on your own. One of your favorite things to do is pull yourself up to stand. You love grabbing hold of Moku's cage and hoisting yourself up. Between all the crawling, standing, and other activity your chubby little legs have actually slimmed down quite a bit! Sad! I will miss your rollie pollie legs!! Still, you're as pretty as ever! Not a day goes by without me being stopped by someone to tell me how gorgeous you are. We already knew that!!! Daddy and I both know that we have the most beautiful little girl in the world! I only hope that you will grow up realizing just how beautiful and speacial you truly are.

This past month has been difficult for us, with you terrorizing the house, choking on all the new foods you've been trying, and even with Moku lifting his leg on you!!! Numerous times, I've sat and wondered "When is someone gonna cut me a little slack?!" But then you'll sit and cuddle with me in bed, or start la-dee-da'ing pretty songs, or just look at me wih your sparkly eyes and give me a huge gummy smile. Right then I realize that through all the dirty diapers, all the spilt milk, and all the torn up magazines, lies the most wonderful gift I will ever be blessed with: having you as my daughter.

As you continue to grow, I will continue to watch and care for you. I will always be here for you when you need me. Although, there will be times when you will think you need me, but I will be busy washing dishes and cooking dinner. But, I know that you will grow to become a strong and virtuous woman. One who can make good and righteous decisions for herself. So when the time does come that I won't be there to rescue you, you'll know to get down on your knees and prayerfully ask the Lord for guidance. Your Heavenly Father loves you. Mommy loves you. Daddy loves you. I hope you will always remember that, above all else. I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

xoxo
Mommy

All the dreams I prayed you'd be are all the things you are

I was thinking about how quickly Lālea is growing up, and I realized that I have yet to document any of her milestones. So, I've decided to steal a cute idea from my friend Katherine...who apparently stole the idea from someone else. Each month on her blog raisons d'etre , she publishes a post in the form of a letter to her daughter. Thank you, Kate. I am now adopting your idea!

My Dearest Lālea,
Since the day you were born, your father and I have done nothing but smile. While it has been difficult at times to adjust to parenthood, the joy that you bring to our lives has been insurmountable. I can proudly say that you are the best thing to have ever happened to me and Daddy.

These past 7 months have been some of the hardest, sweetest, most trying, rewarding, and funniest moments I've experienced. And I'm so happy that they have all been because of you! I love how each morning, you wake up singing in your crib. You will lie there patiently, playing with your blanket, and simply coo until Mommy or Daddy comes to get you. What joy I find in peering into your crib only to be greeted by a warm smile and sparkling eyes. Daddy and I joke that you can't possibly be our child since you are such a morning person! But it's true. You're so pleasant and eager to play once you've awoken. It makes it difficult to leave you and go to work.

I also love that you've found your tongue and constantly twirl and fold it. You make some of the funniest faces! Combined with your deedle-deeing and hearty belly laughs when Moku comes around, you make me and Daddy giggle for hours! Even better is when you grab both of your feet and bring them to your mouth. Daddy will then toss you up into the air and you look just like a rugby ball! Hopefully that's a sign that you will one day grow to love the sport as much as we do!

Lately, we've been teaching you how to give kisses. Sometimes, when you're really paying attention, Mommy will say "kiss," and you'll open your mouth. But most of the time you're too distracted by all the other things going on around. So, we just smother you with kisses anyways! We're also still working on clapping. If Mommy claps her hands in front of you and says "yaaaay!" you'll grab my hands and clap along with me. But, you can't quite do it by yourself, yet. You also almost have the crawling thing down...that is, if you wanna go backwards. You get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth, back and forth. When you finally do get around to moving, you use your arms to push yourself backwards. When you do attempt to crawl forward, you often face plant and cry for us to rescue you. It's okay that you can't crawl yet. Mommy's not ready to baby-proof the house.

As I sit here typing, you are scooting around the bedroom floor, searching for new toys and messes to make. You're so very curious and intuitive. I hope you always remain that way and grow up loving to learn and to discover new things. You are the apple of my eye, Lollipop. I already know that you have so much great potential. I only hope that you live up to your full stature as a beautiful daughter of God. I pray that you will always feel the love that Mommy, Daddy, and our Heavenly Father share for you. I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be.

xoxo
Mommy