Im THAT girl.

So I have come to the conclusion that I absolutely, positively stink at keeping up with this thing! I suppose I have a fairly good excuse these days but one would think I could manage to get at least a little something down more than twice a month...oh well. The other conclusion I have come to is that I am dangerously close to becoming a soccer mom...we are talking like one minivan away from it. In the past 2 months I have a)cut my hair short to save time and save myself the trouble of sweating my face off every time I have the time to and desire to blow dry it b)become and member of the zoo (who does that?) c)joined a mom's walking group d)been to mom and baby yoga class...the list goes on and on. Needless to say I am fully embracing the life of a stay at home mom and enjoying every second of it and eating it up for as long as it can possibly last. I am thankful for such a blessed life and to be able to spend all the time I can with our (quickly) growing baby girl!
Raelyn is hilarious, I laugh at her (mostly) all day. She looks just like her Dad. She rolled over once and obviously I missed the moment on camera but got the before and after on video...still waiting for it to happen again. She is also ridiculously close to laughing, I mean...I would laugh at me, right? Its going to happen...soon. I am also scared to mention that she is an amazing sleeper! 12 hours is how much she slept last night (I can't even remember the last time I slept 12 hours)...I was up way before her and got so much done, I didn't even know what to do with myself. I am sure it was just a fluke, but I'll take it.
A week from today we take off to Montana. We can't wait to introduce little Rae to our Montana family. Slightly scared of the cold but Mama and Sissy have sent so many winter clothes for Raelyn, at least one of us will be warm!! Wish me luck on sorting through my winter clothes if I can find them and finding some that fit (eek).
Little lady is sleeping soundly and I have a glass of wine and dinner waiting for me. (love).

xoxox

T is for time

Thinking a lot about time today! I just read through all my blog posts from the past year and a half when our journey to Hawaii began. Its amazing how fast time has flown and how time has changed our little family. Last year this time we were just getting settled here in Hawaii and preparing for the arrival of our first visitors (my parents). Now we have a permanent visitor who is currently snuggled up to me while I write. We are having one of those days where the little miss cannot be put down. Also interesting is the way the days are flying by...time is something I cherish and lately I have been reflecting on how priorities have changed. I used to have all the time in the world, now with the little time I have to myself during the day I jump at the chance to get out for a run by myself or even (gasp) cleaning our home. Strange, I know!

Time has also changed our little Raelyn, she is getting bigger and changing every day. My new favorite - smiles!

Also while on the subject of time lately is SLEEP! The little girlfriend has slept 4 nights in a row now straight through...we are talking 8-10 hours here people...amazing! Im scared to publish this as I am sure it will jinx me and it will be back to me sitting on the floor of her nursery trying for hours to get her back to sleep again after a feeding...please if you have any sympathy on this sleepy mama say a little prayer that she keeps up her sleeping streak, I am a big fan!

I am going to attempt to put the teeny girl down (eeek) and get some things done around here, today has flown by and I have gotten zero things done.

wish me luck! xoxox

Cherry Cream Soda

mmmmmmmmm Cherry Cream Soda...had to change the font to this, well because it just sounds DELICIOUS! A lot has happened since my last post! We welcomed Raelyn Lanikai into our family. Basically she is the most perfect little thing I have ever laid my eyes on (and its obvious that her Dad feels the same way).
The little lady made her appearance slightly early but she was perfectly perfect in every way! Life as we knew it has changed forever and I can't imagine life without her. She is such a delight!

Raelyn has had 4 visitors already in her short little 2 months of life! Uncle Coco arrived on the scene a few days after we got home and shortly after her Grandpa Kissell came for a visit, following that her Auntie Mel and Grandma Big Al came for a visit.
Today is my first day alone with the little girl, so far we are surviving but its only noon so only time will tell.

We are approaching month 2 and she is changing and growing everyday! She is now proudly sporting big chunky cheeks and even some thighs! She has come a long way from her 4 pound 11 ounce birthweight.

This is Raelyn at month 1 - prior to her acquisition of cheeks and thighs obviously!!

Little gal is stirring and will any second be awake and demanding to be fed, changed and loved so off I go!

xoxox

ITS A GIRL??

Morning everyone!! So for weeks I have been counting down to Friday, the day we got to find out what the newest little Morgan would be, boy or girl? Would Zade be severely outnumbered in the Morgan house or would it be even? Turns out the appointment was not scheduled right so I begged her to take a look anyway and she was 80 percent sure its a girl!! We go back on Tuesday for the official word. At least if it is a girl she is a lady and hanging around with those legs crossed like ladies should!
So for now I have to refrain from buying excessive amounts of headbands with BIG BIG flowers on them, until Tuesday ;) After that, its shopping time friends!
Good news is I get to go home and I get there Thursday so Friday = shopping with my mama!! I could not be more excited! I get to stay home for 2.5 weeks and am going to love every second of it! I cannot wait!!
Will post again on Tuesday with the official word! :)

Have a great little Sunday everyone!

I am back!!

I didn't forget!! I really don't even have a good excuse!! But here I am! I'm sure all of you have caught our latest and greatest...we've got a teeny Morgan on the way. I hope the world is ready for another Morgan!!
We have had an exciting and busy couple of months! More visitors of course and we escaped to Maui for a week which was beautiful and spectacular...everyone needs to visit Maui at some point in their life - its peaceful and serene and just picture perfect every where you go.

My newest hobby is trying to get rid of everything and make room for baby! We have too much stuff for our tiny Hawaii home, I am not sure what I am going to do with all the space once we leave Hawaii, it will be like Christmas morning every day. For now I have become rather inventive at getting things to fit places and have learned to get rid of what we don't need for the next few years.

So being preggy in paradise is pretty great, until you get an awful sunburn - eek! Remind me never to do that again. We both got the worst sunburns of our lives I think, which has now somewhat subsided, thank goodness! I desperately need to be one of those preggys that is tan and looks cute in a bikini for my entire pregnancy...yeah, we will see how that goes!!

I have been blessed with two preggy friends to help get me through what hasn't been the easiest thing I've ever done thus far in life. Rough first couple of months but I am feeling like myself again and I don't have to nap everyday which is awesome because you really do get a lot more done when you aren't sleeping for the majority of the day!! So now I am excited to be feeling great and back to my old routine for the most part.

I promise to be a better blogger!! And even some pics next time! Its good to be back :)

Beautiful Morning

Good Morning! Its a BEAUTIFUL Hawaiian morning, I hope it is beautiful wherever you are, and if not then find the beauty in it!!

Today Zade's cousin Emily and her BF Joe are coming to HAWAII! Awesomeness! AND!!!!! Zade comes home tomorrow! Thank goodness, it gets pretty quiet around here without him! Ruby keeps me busy though :) Been enjoying the quiet time to myself a little bit but am SO very glad for him to be home with me!!
Its been rather hot in Hawaii lately, its only 8am and I am sure it is high 70s or 80s already - good thing I got that run in early this morning (and it was still hot!).

Mostly I have been occupying my time with exercise and homework - lots of papers this weekend! I am so excited for the day I have no papers to write (it seems like it will never be here!) I somehow always manage to wait until the last minute to write them (some things never change!).
Short post today...got lots to do to get ready for visitors!! :)

Aloha!

Fell for it!

I CAN'T believe it...I fell for another one of his April Fool's jokes AGAIN...and this time from many many miles away! So I woke up in the middle of the night and read my email on my phone...had an email from Dad (not unusual - he wakes up way before the sun)...BUT he informed the entire family in the email that his mother would be getting MARRIED - whaaaaat? I couldn't even sleep, just wondering about it...since he said he couldn't get any details out of her about who he was/the wedding...OMG I didn't realize it until the moment I was getting out of bed at 7:30 - DUH!!!! April Fools...I mean, he got everyone good! Sheesh!

So I just spent a few hours running around town to various Asian grocery stores (NOT my favorite) looking for Tamarind, trying to make Pad Thai tonight...not able to find the Tamarind but good news is, I think I can whip up something similar that might just work for the Thai food. I have made coconut curry chicken before but this seems quite a bit more challenging...will have to let you know how it turned out!

Nothing too much of interest other than that today...better get started on the recipe though, I am the SLOWEST cook ever (I read and re read the ingredients and the measurements like 400 times before I mix them), at this rate...we should be sitting down to eat around nine or so...NO FOOLIN!

<3