I know, how dare I not post an update about this adorable little human?! We've been having a ton of fun and life is crazy. Her favorite foods are oatmeal, Cheerios (multigrain or honey nut), string cheese, fruit snacks, nectarines, grapes, strawberry Greek yogurt, and probably anything with a ton of processed sugars but we try to limit her intake there. 😂 She finally decided she not only likes cows milk, she LOVES it and drinks a ton of it every day. She particularly loves drinking the milk from her cereal bowl. We're teaching her great manners. 😜
She'll eat bananas, green beans, peanut butter, and other yogurts, but she eats them much less vigorously as the foods she loves and gets distracted a lot easier haha. She seems to hate cooked carrots (spits them out every time) but liked to chew on raw carrots when she was teething... Though she still spit those out. She also doesn't seem to like apples, even if I slice and peel them.
She has two molars on top and two molars on bottom! No canines yet so there's a gap between her four front teeth (four on top and four on bottom) and the molars. It's pretty cute and has been really great for all those foods she loves. Haha.
She's completely mobile and walks around everywhere, but when she's angry or if I leave her for too long then she wants to be carried/held. She's still my little mama's girl. :) She has a hard time walking in slippers (aka sandals for my mainland friends) but has done pretty well in tennis shoes. Both are incredibly adorable!
She is the most stubborn and opinionated kid I've ever met. She's already picking out her clothes sometimes and will not let me dress her in anything else. She also decides when she's done wearing clothes and when she's ready to take a bath (which is great because it's so stinking hot in Ewa Beach, where we live, so we play in cold ish water almost every day, whether that's in the bathtub or at the beach). She doesn't like to be buckled in her car seat and will scream for hours if she's already taken a nap or something. If she's even a little bit tired then she'll usually fall asleep pretty quickly, which has been a real life saver since we started weaning her. I still breastfeed her at night and I feel bad when she wants to nurse in the day time, but with another baby coming we need to hurry up and be done!
I have days where I wish she were less clingy but I love love love her snuggles and hugs and kisses. Whenever I need to do something without her I say, "Go give Daddy a kiss!" And she almost always does. It's SO ADORABLE! She's also quite the daddy's girl, which is so fun to watch. ❤️
She is completely obsessed with dogs. Ho'oulu and I are very allergic so we've compromised by showing her a million dog videos a day. Whenever we're in Oregon she loves to be outside and play with Bogie, my parents' dog, but she's also kind of afraid of him because he's so much bigger than she is (he's an old chocolate lab). The same goes for Ho'oulu's brother's dog, but he's teensy but very energetic and sometimes a bit too in-her-face. She never wants him out of her sight though! And she loves to bark at dogs and at dog videos. 😂 it's so cute!
She also talks and signs quite a bit. She says mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, help, up, cheese, hi, goodbye, go, peek-a-boo (sounds more like pita-baaah), piko (Hawaiian for belly button), dog, yeah, Bear Bear (what she calls her teddy bear), button, cupcake, and she repeats after us really well (when she's in a good mood and wants to cooperate haha). She can sign eat, drink, please, more, all pau (all done)... And I think that's all but I always seem to forget some when listing them haha. She's also really good about nodding yes or shaking her head no. She still gets them confused or does both sometimes, but for the most part she seems to have it figured out.
She is outgoing and friendly and says "haaiiiiiii" and waves to every person we see when we're out. People stop us constantly to tell us how cute she is and ask questions about her, and some people (weirdos) even ask to hold her. I freaking hate strangers who ask to hold my kid. Don't be that guy, no matter how cute the kid. 😂
I think she's going to be right handed and have curly hair, but I can't be sure of either.
She is so funny and makes me laugh every day. We also get frustrated with each other sometimes, but those days are few and far between and usually come about because I'm being lame and am tired and she wants to play and be crazy. I always feel bad for that, especially since I was such a crazy kid and I had the most energetic and fun (not to mention patient) mother on the planet! Lainey deserves that so I try to be more like my mom every day.
I'm so in love with this little girl and I thank Heavenly Father constantly for letting me be her mama. Ho'oulu is the best dad and I just feel like we are the most blessed little family! Living in Hawaii has been really hard for me since I was pregnant the last time (being so far from my mama when I was about to be a mama) but I try to stay grateful for the beautiful paradise I've gotten to call home for almost 6 years now. There is truly nowhere like it and sometimes I'm sad I won't be raising my kids here (we're moving to the Utah soon and if we never win the lottery, we probably won't be coming back). I want Lainey to be our little hula girl, and it seems she wants that too! She dances whenever music plays (like most kids) but she seems particularly drawn to hula and always tries to copy their moves. It's so adorable. So hopefully wherever we end up we can find a super stellar halau for her to learn.
She's also our fearless little ocean girl so I'll be sooooo sad to be away from the ocean. If we're ever rich enough to move back (and Ho'oulu is pretty set on that happening), I hope it's when all our kids are young enough to be as fearless as Lainey is and I hope they love the ocean.
Welp, that's a little glimpse into our lives! Special sneak peak into the family life and not just Lainey's progress haha.
