New adventures

I've noticed that I've been really slow and lax about posting things about Ola's development. Normally, our posts are just about what we did or where we went, or just pictures that I think are too cute to keep to myself. But in the past two weeks, Ola has been growing so much and trying so many new things, I figure I better get it down before I forget.


Probably the most noticeable difference is his new found mobility. Before he fully learned how to crawl (the correct way), he fell in love with standing. He can pull himself up on almost anything, from the couch, to the laundry basket, to our dinning chairs. Things used to be safe on the couch, but not anymore.


He has also discovered that there are other areas of the house than the living room. He has become pretty quick at joining me in the kitchen, even if the floor is a little colder than the carpet.


And, he has found out that stairs are for climbing. The first two days that he tried, it seemed like he was just a bit too short to get his leg up to that first stair. But the third try was the charm, and now we can't stop him. Guess it's time we invest in baby gates.


Aside from mobile adventures, Ola is also exploring the new and exciting world of finger foods. We started off with the puff stars, but have begun branching out. He's tried grapes, watermelon, kiwi, and teething cookies (which were the messiest by far). He loves feeding himself, although he's not quite fond of the cold squishy texture when he tries to pick up his fruits. And I think the kiwi was a little tangy for him. But tomorrow we're trying blueberries, so we'll see how that goes.

He's also started sleeping a little better (on and off), which is fabulous for me. Some nights he's done great, with stretches up to 5 hours long. In fact, he set a record this past tuesday of only waking up ONCE throughout the whole night. I, on the other hand, woke up two additional times, freaking out and thinking something was wrong. I guess I need to get used to sleeping longer too. He's begun saying BABABABA really loudly, while mommy tries to encourage DADADADA and daddy tries to encourage MAMAMAMA.

I just can't believe how fast this kid is growing. It's so neat to see all the things that he can do, or is trying to do, by himself. Some things he just picks up so fast others are a little more trial and error. But it's amazing to see how fast and how hard his little brain works when he really wants to figure something out. I guess you could say he's not as DOPEY as he looks. =)

He did it!!

So, for a while now, Ola has been doing his own special "crawl." We call it the inch worm. He goes up on hands and knees, rocks, then lunges forward till flat on his tummy, then gets up and does it again. It's terribly adorable, and has made for some great laughs. Aho and I joked that our poor son would be participating in a preschool activity and there would be instructions to crawl...and he wouldn't know how. I'd hate for him to get laughed at for doing the inch worm. And, with his recent attempts to stand and walk and climb (he climbed the two bottom steps the other day when I wasn't looking), we thought he'd just pass by crawling. And then today...he did it! Hands and knees, no lunges, perfect movement...it was beautiful. I am so proud of that little guy. He figured it out all on his own.

Temple Visitor Center

I was lucky enough to get to spend the day with the Horita clan and take a trip out to Laie to the LDS Temple Visitor Center. If you haven't been out there lately, you need to go. They have a display of pictures focused on key stories from the life of Christ and they are gorgeous. One picture really caught my eye. A picture portraying the ten virgins, five with their lamps lit, and five with their lamps not burning. The picture is incredible! Last week at a ward ministering night, our bishop asked us to share the story of the ten virgins, with the message that the good choices we make and our acts of faith and obedience help to add drops of oil to our lamps. I wish I could have that picture in my home. Thanks Laurie for the invite. I really needed that!

Cali Trip

Last Thursday, Ola and I, along with my parents and grandpa, flew out to Cali for a short trip to visit family and celebrate my cousin Jan's wedding. These are my favorite pics from the trip.

Ola was great on the plane, both coming and going. He kept himself busy playing with tutu and papa, flirting with anyone who would look at him, and eating stars.

My cousin Jan (left), Me, and my cousin Cheryl (right) at Jan's party. Since I was little, we've always taken pictures like this...with me in the middle. (btw, Cheryl is 7 1/2 months pregnant. Can anyone tell??)

Ola and Jan's son Tyler, playing in the living room. Ola kept crawling after Ty trying to bite him.

Believe it or not, this was actually Ola's first bath in a sink. He didn't like the big bathtub at the hotel, so he took a bath in Jan's kitchen sink. (Thanks for everything Jan!)

We got to drive down to my Uncle Paul's ranch and hang out. This is Ola on the front lawn. He was smiling in this picture, but when I put him on his hands and knees, he wasn't too thrilled with the feel of the grass.

My uncle's ranch was beautiful! The almond trees were covered in blossoms.

Ola got to pose on my uncle's new Harley. A little big, but he was totally loving it.

All bundled up the morning we came home. It sure was cold, but Ola was so cute all bundled up.

My favorite picture from the whole trip. Ola on the bed in the hotel, leaning all the way off to watch me as I went into the bathroom. How can you not love that face!!


We had so much fun seeing everyone and checking out new places, but we were glad to get home and back to Aho. We can't wait to see everyone again. Jan, Sebastian, Ty, Cheryl, Uncle Paul, Aunt Susan, Kelli, Todd, Aunty Ronna, Grandma Donna and Vince. Thanks mom and dad for everything, especially for all of your help! We love you!!

Day trip

Yesterday, Ola and I flew home to Kauai for a very short visit, just so I could get some things taken care of before our trip to Cali this Thursday. I got some good pics of Ola and had to share.

Ola's first time on a stand up paddle board. Ok, so it was propped up in Papa's shed while he was putting the padding on, but I think it still counts.

Tutu showed Ola how much fun it is to slap a medicine ball. Yeah, talk about cheap entertainment.

And Papa taking Ola to look at the new water feature in the fishpond outside. This kid loves water in all forms.

Pay it forward...

I saw this posted on a friends blog and thought it was awesome. It just sounded so exciting and fun. Hopefully someone else will think so and I'll be able to pass along something.

So, here's how this game works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or be lazy and copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! P.S. Can you email me (gdeltro@yahoo.com) your address so I don't have to ask you for it when I'm ready to send out your present, completely ruining the element of surprise?!

busy week

We have sure had a busy week. We ended last week by having Ola start putting himself to sleep. That first night was awesome. He slept 5 1/2 hours in his first stretch, which is amazing compared to the last 4 months of 1 - 2 hours. We were so excited to get him used to putting himself to sleep...and then he caught a cold. Nothing big, just a cough and runny nose, but that meant no crying to sleep for fear of an ear infection. So we had to stay all bundled up and warm, especially on Tuesday when we had breakfast at Aunty Lani's house. Breakfast was great and Ola was a peach just crawling around and exploring a different living room. He wasn't playing very nicely though. After Ola grabbed his face a few times, poor Ender had to pretend to read a book so Ola would leave him alone.

Since he'd lost his appetite the week before, Ola hadn't been eating very much and I was trying to find something that would interest him. So, Tuesday night, I thought we should try something new, and I got Ola some star puffs. That first night, he was kind of just squishing them with his sweaty hands (yes, he got that from me), but by day 2, he had it down. He picks up one at a time, chomps it a couple times with his two tiny teeth, then smashes it around in his mouth till it's gone. It is so impressive to watch how fast children can learn new skills. And he definately LOVES to eat his stars.

Thursday, Aho suggested we take an adventure and we went to Target with Cam and Lohi. I was SOOOOO excited! I got Ola a couple of outfits and Aho got a record player, which he's been dying to get for a long time.

Then we went over to Cam and Lohi's. Ola was in heaven, with more toys than he knew what to do with. I've been told that my house doesn't have enough toys since the video of Ola crawling shows a clean living room floor and him playing with the door. I promise...he is so not deprived.

We've also been working on having Ola pull himself up. We were practicing at Cam and Lohi's, but giving him a lot of help. Apparently, he was paying attention. Tonight, Aho went up to check on him while he was supposed to be going to sleep, and there he was, standing at the side rail of his crib. We had to lower his mattress and start over again, but 5 minutes later, there he was, standing at the side rail again. I just had to laugh. It's a good thing he's so cute, cause you just can't get mad at this kid.

To finish off a busy week, Ola and I are off to Kauai tomorrow for a day visit, and then Sunday we get to spend the day at church. Should be a good end to a busy busy week.

soundproofing

This past week has been...exhausting. My happy, silly baby has disappeared. Yes, my Ola has turned into a screaming opihi. It got so bad this past Saturday that I took him to see the doctor, sure that something had to be wrong. They checked him all out...nothing. He is terribly fussy all day long, unless I'm holding him. And at night, there is almost no sleeping being done. Last night, he woke up five times between 8pm and 2am, each time fighting me as I tried to put him back to sleep. Then, when he woke up at 2, he didn't go back to sleep until 4:20. And, he was up again at 6. So, we are trying out our last resort. Yes, we're attempting the dreaded "cry yourself to sleep" technique. I am so not happy about doing this, but I have tried everything and lost hold of the end of my rope a while ago. However, I do want to be considerate of my neighbors, who mentioned today that they hear him cry all the time now. So, Aho and I sealed our windows with Ola's thick baby comforters and good old duct tape. And then,
we cut a piece of an old rug to fit over his window and used a staple gun to make sure it stuck. I had to post the pictures, because as frustrated and delirious as I am, I thought it was so funny. Hopefully, our soundproofing technique will keep the neighbors from calling cps. And hopefully, it will only take a few painful nights until Ola can sleep longer than 1 hour. I told Aho that if he keeps this up, there's a good chance Ola will be an only child.