Baby Jeggings and Peanut Butter Blackouts

I'm a proud mama who loves to show off my baby! I'm soooo happy the weather has cooled off but mostly because Roxi can fit her baby jeggings now and I'm obsessed with them! One thing I always said I wanted for my baby was clothes I would wear, but baby size. Baby clothes tend to go too far with the bows and ruffles and STUFF. But these pants are the one!  Baby jeggings are genius. Practical and fashionable. I think every baby should have them. Macy's has some, the children's place has them, even walmart has them! My favorite ones are from the children's place. 

 Another thing I'm proud of is a beautiful concoction I cooked up this weekend... We used to eat these amazing peanut butter bars topped with melted chocolate chips growing up... Since WIC has fully stocked my cupboards with peanut butter to last us through the millennium, I thought re creating this childhood dessert would put that butter to good use! Of course I can never just follow a recipe , I always manage to convince myself that adding my own pinch of this or dash of that will somehow improve a perfectly good recipe. And if you pull up my recent google searches, "substitution for..." will come up all too often because I always want to make what I don't have all the ingredients for! I fail alot, but today I did good! The outcome, what I like to call peanut butter blackout bars.  caution: may cause sugar coma.  I made these for a bbq we threw together on saturday with some friends and neighbors. Someone said that this dessert was the highlight of their week. And the 9x13 pan was scraped clean...safe to say, I did good. Here's what ended up in it: 

1 cup butter 

2 cups peanut butter 

1 2/3 confectioners (powdered) sugar 

3 1/2 cups of Oreo cookies crushed 

Topping: 

1/3 cup milk 

1 cup chocolate chips 

1cup heath toffee bits 

 Melt butter and peanut butter, remove from heat. Add confectioners sugar and cookie crumbs. Mix well. Pour into 9x13 pan and chill. In separate pan heat chocolate chips, toffee(save some to sprinkle on top) and milk. Pour over set crust sprinkle with the toffee that was set aside and chill again until firm. partake and proceed to sugar coma. The original recipe called for gram crackers...and no toffee. But I work with what I got, and this time it worked well!

And I thought I'd throw in a classic bath flick that we can show her dates when they come to pick her up in the FAR future. 

Oh and I can finally post this picture now because one of my best friends who I made these for finally got them in the mail. 

She's having a boy in the beginning of November and they've been calling him Baby Bronco. So these are my 3 interpretations of broncos for her little boy. 

It's hard to name my blog posts lately because they are so all over the place! 

Dream Girl, Blind Boy

I'd like to think she's dreaming about her mommy when she moves her lips like that... 

Among today's other events... a bath!

Roxi is happy IN the water, but not OUT. Even with the variety of cute hooded towels we now own! (This one we just got in the mail from Dez's brother, Nigel and his family who live in Australia)  I'm discovering new spots the stank and dirt like to hide on this girl.  When your mom told you to clean behind your ear, it was for a good reason!! 

Another note on Australia. We are addicted to these, Australian Licorice. Nigel also sent us a bunch of these! They're so amazing we've ordered them before on amazon...in bulk. =)

Yesterday we got to drive to town and sit in the dr's office while Dez got his retina repaired. What started as tired bloodshot looking eye, turned into what we thought was pink eye, then was downgraded to a popped blood vessel in his eye. Just to be sure Dez went to the health center on campus. There the Dr told him it was something more serious and he was sent to an optomitrist. There the hole in his retina was discovered! So off to another specialist we went. After a series of tests, laser surgery and a whole lot of blurriness, he's can see! It  all happened so fast, but we're glad we acted when we did or else it could have been real bad. It seems like there's always something going on with us.

Look how we've grown!

I know all these are on Facebook, 

People are always trying to figure out who this child looks like... when she was born there was no doubt she belonged to Dez! Now I think she's evened out and looks like the both of us...

Baby Roxi, Splitting image of her dad!

Baby Dez, NOT Roxi

All that growing requires lots of sleep! Roxi's a real pro! (after some convincing from my older wiser sister Lisa, we are firm believers of swaddling although not featured in the photos below) 

Sleeping on Daddy

Fashionable Sleeping

Sore Tummy Sleeping

Beach Sleeping

The other night Dez and I put Roxi in her crib to try and settle her down for bed. We were looking at her all wide eyed and wiggling saying how she probably wouldn't go down easily. In the split second that we turned around to grab her pacifier, SHE FELL FAST ASLEEP! I'm surprised our laughing didn't wake her up, we just couldn't believe it. She's just so unpredictable, and we love every moment of it.

Rose Tinted glasses

9-25-11 Baby Blessing (7 Weeks old)

Just a few of those who could make it to her blessing. This girl's back is WELL COVERED 

The 3 of us

9 weeks old

Flawless, our RoxStar!

Today Roxi is 10 Weeks old! She is a little over 12 lbs and 24 inches long! 90 something(I forgot exactly) percentile for her age according to her Dr.. After a rough month, we finally figured out she had heartburn! Poor thing! We finally got her on some antiacid medicine and she's feeling better than ever! She even learned to roll over this week.

belated birthday flicks!

I know I'm 9 weeks and now 12 lbs late on these, but we're kinda caught up in other things now! I wont put ALL the details, but if anyone wants to know them, I have no shame; ask and I will share! My water broke around 7:45 Sunday August 7th after eating dinner at Dez's parent's house. And it's true, YOU'LL KNOW if/when your water breaks...(i was at the hospital 3 days earlier because i thought my water was leaking.) I was so anxious and excited to go into labor because I wanted to know what it felt like... I wanted to trust my body and push my limits. After 15 hours of drug free back labor, Roxi Peone Enesa was born!

I delivered at Castle Medical center in Kailua, Hawaii and would highly recommend it to anyone giving birth on the island. I labored, delivered and recovered in one room equiped with everything including a jacoozi bathtub and bed for Dez to stay the night on. The staff was awesome and never once made me feel like the dumb first timer.  My Dr arrived after I had already started pushing and told me I was acting like I had 2 or 3 epidurals... I don't know if that was a compliment to my pain management skills or she just thought I was acting OUUUUUT of it.  Pushing felt surprisingly awesome. After 14 hours of breathing to cope with pain, it was nice to do something a little more productive to birthing a child, like PUSH. And PUSHING I did, for an hour and a half.  At one point the Dr and nurses had their backs turned and I saw on the monitor I was starting a contraction. I yelled to them "HEY IM PUSHING WHETHER YOURE GONNA HELP ME OR NOT SO YOU MIGHT WANNA COME BACK!" Dez then took charge and held both my legs open while coaching me to PUUUSH!  (He loves telling that part to everyone, he thought the laboring part was booooring...haha) Everyone (Dez, my sister in law Jamie, the dr, and the nurses) were telling me I was doing great... but I wasn't sure what that meant exactly, all I hoped was that it equated that I was almost done.

Dez's family was amazing support because none of my family could be there for the messy stuff. =) They've all since met Roxi via webcam except my younger sister Megan who sacrificed a week to spend cooped up in our apartment helping me without complaining that she didn't get to get her tan on at the beach.

For the first few days after delivery when I would nurse Roxi I would get shell shock cramps as my uterus contracted and I would think I was starting labor contractions! I would have to remind myself, that the pain is over (for now) and you have your baby, she's in your arms!lol I've since healed and forgot enough that I've told Dez that I think I could do it again...I don't know if Dez could. haha!

what just happened

swollen after her trip through the canal!

samoan feet! At least she won't be able to steal my shoes!

proud but pooped pops

Roxi's great grandma, great aunt and second cousin Telau

bundle of...BLISS

classic snoooozers

Thank you for all the support and prayers.  I feel truly blessed to have this BIG spirit yet tiny body in OUR home, in OUR family.  LOVE and LIFE have a whole new meaning. incredible

Introducing...

Details soon to come.

Truly Inspired

Yes I'm at the birth center and no I didn't have the baby....yet. I forsure wouldn't have been there Sunday night if it weren't for my amazing mom. Moms really do know best and I can't wait to be one. So this is how I ended up at the birth center at 9pm Sunday night.

My mom called me from my dad's cell at 9:30 pm saturday night (which is 9:30 am sunday morning in germany) This is rare because they live in Germany and it costs a butt load to call the states on a cell, plus they were at church at the time. I missed the call but got her voicemail. It went a little something like this, " hi cari it's mom, I had a feeling I should call you, I dont know why, just want to see if you ok. Love you call me back." To be honest it kinda freaked me out... but sometimes that's what it takes.  I called dezy to see if he was ok and then looked down again and again at myself to make sure I was ok.

I called my mom back and told her everything was fine that I know of but I will let her know if something comes up. All my senses heightened but I tried to get some sleep. The baby must have been on her toes as well cause she was up all night tossing and turning. Morning came and I'll spare you on these details but basically I thought I might be leaking some amniotic fluid... But what do I know, I've never done this before, so I tried to let it go. By 2 pm we're at church. During relief society we had a lesson on family responsibilities and were discussing the importance of a mother sharing her promptings with her children. I shared my incident with my mom's phone call from the night before. I'd been prayin that I would have a more obvious sign of what my mom meant and what might need to be addressed.

Not even 30 minutes later I had a contraction, not like the other practice ones I usually have. It was strong enough to get my attention. I texted dez to tell him what happened. In the mean time dez riled up and enlisted the help of his fellow brethren to google symptoms of going into labor...during his class. After class I was the first girl to exit. All the men were waiting for thier wives in the hallway and looked at me like I had some sort of disease. (I had no idea that dez told anyone, but I should have known better) I had another contraction about 45 min later and we went home from church to figure out what to do.

Google can be dangerous in two ways... (well more than that, but that's a blog of its own) It can freak you out and make you think more of what's going on, or it can comfort you enough to let something go. If it weren't for my mom's inspired call, I would have been a victim of the later google danger and DONE NOTHinG. Luckily I have plently women in my life who's opinions I trust and who finally convinced me to call the birth center. Why did it was to be on a weekend, past office hours and so far away!! I really didn't want to be that freaked out clueless first time caller... But my mom told me we make sacrifices for our children. I swallowed my pride and called. They were super nice and told me to come in. I grabbed my hospital bag and we left. That one hour drive gave me a lot of time to think, and I wanted to talk about what could happen but dez was coping another way and turned up the music.

They gave me a gown, put me in a room, hooked me up to the machines to monitor the baby's heart rate and my contractions then ran some tests. Turns out my leaking had stopped by the time we got there (I knew that would happen!) but what was tested was negative for amniotic fluid. While that was all good, the nurse told me I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes and more intense ones every 5 or so. Enough to be affecting the baby. NEWS TO ME! I thought it was just gas or the baby still assaulting me from the inside. They called my dr and then gave me a shot to stop them. The shot made me feel like I drank  a Redbull... And then they made me drink a supersized cup of water which gave the baby some mean hiccups. I was in the room alone at one point with my own heart racing from the shot, then listening to the quick heartbeat of baby intertwined with her hiccups... with a more than full bladder that was being pushed on.  Feeling a bit cracked out I thought I was going to go crazy or just pee everywhere, or both.  Anywho I wasn't dilating (but had thinned out some) so we got to go home. The nurse told me to try and keep her in a bit longer so she's at least 37 weeks.

I don't want to think about what would have happened if my mom never called me and I never went to the dr... It stresses me out too much. But I'm so grateful to have such inspired loving people in my life to help me along the way.

I went to the dr again on Wednesday and she told me that because I'm almost 36 weeks and the baby is at least 6lbs that if I start having contractions again... That's it! Let's just hope I recognize them this time! Haha

Not working, Yet Working Hard

One of my biggest fears of ending work was that I would go crazy at home all day. This is far from the truth so far. I've been off work for 2 weeks now and busier and happier than ever. We've moved into a 1 bedroom finally and life is glorious! Our place has more space, privacy, is conveniently located close to the laundry and mail facilities, and best of all, it is a welcoming abode to our neighbors, family and friends! No more awkward visits from people who sit and look at our bed, dirty clothes, and bathroom without leaving the couch!

During my time home I've been able to ride my bike to the beach to cool off, get burned and relieve the physical strains of the baby by swimming. I'm a big fan of sunscreen now because the sunburned beach ball look wasn't workin for me.  Lesson learned.

Bumble Bump

I've discovered that my love for fashion and custom alterations is not limited to clothing for myself anymore. Altering baby clothes is amazingly fulfilling! I've gotten a lot of handy downs and have had great fun makin them something special for our baby girl. Speaking of her... I am 35 weeks now and still going strong! I have a dr appointment this week but so far she's over 5 lbs and still in position to make her move! I think we've decided on the name Dresden (a city in my parent's mission that we visited on ou trip to Germany) but we'll call her Dre for short.

Hapa according to Wikipedia " is a Hawaiian language term used to describe a person of mixed Pacific Islander racial or ethnic heritage." aka our beautiful baby!

Erykah Badu Stenciled Newborn T

Amidst my journey of altering baby clothes I decided to try a pillow for our couch with the leftover fabric from the lamp I made. But for some reason I wanted ruffles on it, and that required me to learn how to make ruffles first. I really like how they turned out and can't wait to use my new technique on more baby stuff! Ruffles are really trendy right now but I hope I can explore ways to give them a different kinda of twist.

After

Before

Nothing a little spray paint and fabric can't fix

Leftovers!

Last Day Surprise

Friday the 24th was my last day at the Operating Engineers JAC as a temp.  It's been an awesome experience working there with amazing people and plenty of learning opportunities. The staff there is my glimmer of hope that GOOD PEOPLE STILL VERY MUCH EXIST IN THIS WORLD. Never was I left out because of my lowly status of "just a temp," and Friday was a PRIME example.

Iwa, who had a baby back in February and I was temping for, asked me if I wanted to run office errands with her. I almost said no that's ok, because I knew how much stuff I had to do that day, but decided sure WHY NOT!

When we got back sometime later Coleen the office manager and Mitchell the boss were waiting for me with looks on their faces like something bad happened, REAL BAD. They told me to come to the back office and that one of the other instructors was really upset (someone that I do a lot of projects for) and all I'm thinking is OMG what did I DO!?! We got to his back office, I said, "Ummmm do I need a pen and paper or something?" They said no no, but lets go into the conference room in case someone comes in. Like it was all serious and private! (coming from a boss who's door is always open, this was a bit concerning) At this point I'm freaking out a little bit.

Coleen wrestles with the lock for a second then busts through the door.....SURPRISE!!!!! I turn bright red and freeze. They had set up a full blown baby shower for me!  Dez and his friend  were there, all the mechanics from the shop and the rest of the office staff. I pretty much went into shock, and it didn't help that after everyone said surprise, they all just sat and stared at me. I'm not very good at reacting in these situations.

I put all the pieces together of how they made this happen. I even spend the whole night before with my Co-worker Jerica at Walmart as she bought everything for the cupcakes and display! They got me good though.

The crew

Never ending clothes line decorations

steak and chicken, rice and mac salad, what else are you suppose to eat at baby shower?

CUPCAKES!! 

delish! 

Favors

not so baby sized, baby clothesline!

trying to figure out what the heck all this stuff is that I needed!

Me and Coleen

Mitchell and Baby Hayley

Mama to be!

I'm so grateful for the family and friends in my life. We are truly blessed! Thank you EVERYONE! Now lets meet the baby!

Beachin at 31 Weeks

We have different expectations of where sand belongs

SO grateful for the holiday to spend together at the beach! 

Besides the shortness of breath and MEAN leg cramps we're doing swell! We attended a basic child birth class at the hospital where I will be delivering. It was a one time class (usually they last 6 weeks or so) but we did it all in 5 hours. Dez was not thrilled that I divulged that detail when we were already half way there, but I knew that was the only way I could get him there. =) The teacher was an interesting character but I did enjoy her attitude about birth.... IT'S A NATURAL PROCESS.  I've come to the point where I'm excited to trust my body and see what we can do! As of now I want to go all natural (but I've never felt a contraction before...)  Each room at the hospital where I will deliver has a big tub, so I plan to spend a lot of time in there. I'm working on my birthing plan now before I go see my Dr on Wednesday for my week 31 check up.  Knowledge is power, the more I'm learning, the better I feel about labor and delivery. 

I have been having weird dreams about the baby.  Last night I had I dream that I woke up and I was in the hospital and then a nurse brought me a baby. Supposedly it was mine, but I had no recollection of even going in to labor let alone giving birth. The baby didn't really connect and recognize with me because we never had our skin to skin contact after birth! I was so upset and thought I was drugged by the hospital! Then all of a sudden the baby was looked 2... but was still a newborn and I was sad she grew so fast.

Can you tell what my subconscious is focused on?

In other news, I will be working until the 24th and we learned we get to move into our 1 bedroom on the 27th! 

May DAY- MAY DAY

25 weeks

Happy May Day!

I'd been wanting this for the longest time and finally saw it at Ross! It's a silicone cake mold to make a giant cupcake. Now all I need is for a cake mix to go on sale to try it out! 

Not a whole lot to say right now but I know once I post everything will come to mind that I wanted to say. Until then....