children

Ikaika is such a blessing to me. His full name means "the extraordinary strength of heaven" and it definatly suites him. I love watching him learn and grow every day, a new word, a new idea and a new place to check out. He reminds everyday, there is so much love in the world. Children are incredible, they don't care about society, gossip, material riches,politics, their genuinely happy and full of love. I just love it! what would it be like if we were more like children?

joy of parenting!

Today is one of our family days. aka Justin's day off! ha ha...i definitely appreciate days when Justin can spend the day with ikaika and i. I get a much needed break from constant watching over my son and we all get to reconnect with Justin. It's fantastic to me to see how much my son looks forward to daddy getting home. I find it harder to put ikaika down to sleep at night when Justin comes home late because ikaika does everything possible to stay awake, all he wants to do is follow his daddy. As for Justin, even if he is tired, he makes the time to spend some one on one time with our son. It amazes me how much something like spending some time together really makes a difference.

Being a parent today, i have to be grateful to my own parents. Now that i understand what it's like to be on the other side, keeping your child safe, loving and caring for them constantly, teaching, feeding....etc

so much goes into the role of a mother and father. I'm thankful that my parents set such a great example to me growing up and their parents, my grandparents were there for them and of course for us, their grandkids and even great grandkids.

I better get started on our day together, ikaika definitely wont sit still long. He's growing so fast every day. He's started saying full sentences, maybe not always coherent but it's so much fun to see him learn. He's getting taller, and getting more independent. the other day i took him to the mall with my auntie. He ran for the hills. First he was a little hesitant but quickly forgot about that. Just enjoying himself and exploring the mall like it was a whole new world.

Our Ohana

Ohana, if you don't know what it means, it's "family" in hawaiian. I moved a lot as a kid, traveling the world, though it didn't phase me a bit. I loved it and i was used to it. I was closest to my parents and my brothers because thats all we had moving around. We are the first to give each other the hardest time and also the first to be there for one another. It has always been a major blessing for me. So when i married and had my own child, i knew that family strength was exactly what i wanted to share with my very own family.
Justin and i had no idea some of the adventures we'd face, when we started our life together both difficult and enriching. A lot of it, finding our place for our own family. Today we have so much family, some we didn't know exsisted till last august. Family ties that we didn't expect, that are some of our strongest today.
My auntie told me once" if you have family out there anywhere, your loved by somebody."
It meant a lot to me, because i know i have felt that love always. I think being Hawaiian to me, always meant having great love and being a family. It didn't matter if your blood or not.
I'm grateful everyday for my wonderful ohana.