Peeps + Surgery

I had these photos of Lucy all ready to post on Monday morning. It was going to be titled, Like Mother, Like Daughter, but then something scary happened on Monday, and I didn't get around to it. On Monday morning I found out that my dad was going in for emergency heart bypass surgery the following morning.

That's a lot to take in.

Not just your run of the mill bypass surgery, but 5 bypasses. If you think sitting in a hospital room hearing your dad has a 30% chance of having a lethal heart attack in the next year isn't scary, then I'm not sure what scares you. Hospital rooms, hospital gowns, nurses, tubes and machines, change your  indestructible dad into someone a little more fragile. He didn't look or sound like himself, and all I could do was feed him ice chips and rub his hand and try not to cry when he told me he thought he was going to die.

But today I decided to post these photos anyway, because they remind me so much of him. Mainly, because he loves Peeps, and would put them in our basket every year. And every year I wouldn't eat them. I don't think any of us would, and dad would eat them all. Maybe that was his plan all along. So, for tradition sake, and because I didn't want to be tempted by any of Lucy's candy, we got her some Peeps. I was strangely anxious to see if she would love or hate them. I think you can tell what her reaction was.

These photos have been sitting on my desktop the last couple of days, primed and ready to post. Looking at them today made think of all the traditions my parents have passed onto me. Scott and I even fight over what traditions to share with Lucy. Our Easter baskets were hidden, Scott's weren't. My Christmas presents were set by our socks, Scott's were under the tree. It's a funny thing growing up, and realizing there are other traditions than the ones you love and you might have to change what you have always known.

So, yesterday was scary. But today is good. The sun is shining (finally, sheesh!), and my dad sounds like himself again. Strong and indestructible.

6:00 AM

Jet lag has a funny way of getting you up early in the morning. Since Lucy's wake-up call was 5:30 AM, we took lots of morning walks. While we never saw the sunrise on the Eastern Shore, it was still pretty on the Western/North Shore, and so peaceful.

Sugar and Spicy

I'm pretty sure Lucy hit her terrible twos right before we went to Hawaii (and she is only 18 months!) She might look sweetness and light, but she has a fiery, stubborn side. Some examples of her cuteness and stinkerness over the last week are,

-She says awesome. "Awessssooommme!" She loves it to say it and it is usually followed by, "happy."
-She doesn't like it if Scott and I touch each other. If we hold hands, or I give him a hug, she pushes my hand away and says, "no, no, no." I think it is a mixture of being jealous, and that she expects to be the center of both our worlds.
-When I say, "give me five," she says, "up high."
-She wont sit down in the grocery cart
-She wont eat ANYTHING, and throws her food
-She wont stay in her stroller
-She gives rock explosions (our secret hand shake)
-Other new words, "Ollie nice, stop it, all done, peas (please in command form), tank you, and some is still her favorite word. "Some, Some, Some, Some!"
-She senses when I'm about to correct her, turns to me in a flash, and tells me,
"no, no, no!"
-She is starting to pinch, which means we are starting time-outs. She only pinches me, on the neck, and then says, "Ouch!"
-We roar like dragons in her special dragon bath towel.
-Lucy is still shy and snuggly, and likes to watch morning cartoons on my lap, big kisses, and laughs like crazy when we are silly.

She is sugar and spice, with an extra side of spicy.

Exhibit A

Here's the first round of photos from the trip. I brought my Polaroid, I brought my film camera and a I brought my digital. Why did I ever bring my digital? It was used all of 20 minutes, and the whole time I wished I wasn't. So, my point is, all I have for now is my Polaroids. And maybe everyone, or anyone, seriously does anyone even read this? are tired of Polaroids. But oh well, here they are. Proof that we went and had some serious fun. These represent about 80% of the trip. The other 20% was filled with Lucy tantrums. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating. It might have been more like a 70/30 split. Notice the photo of Lucy and me (Lucy and I? Me and Lucy?) all wet. I would like you to know that Scott did not want to take that photo. In fact Scott, took exactly 4 photos the whole trip, so this represents 

25% of his effort. 

He did not want to take this photo because it was pouring rain, and Lucy was soaking wet, and was happy sitting in the car, in a towel, eating cookies. I pushed though, because I know how important it is to take photos. Scott doesn't always. And look at Lucy. She is as happy as can be. I, on the other hand have crazy eyes. I actually quite liked hiking in the rain. A warm rain is really fun, it's like being a kid again, and not worrying about messes and ruined hair. Lucy wasn't as much of a fan (was she worried about her hair?), but I don't think she was seriously traumatized. As soon as we got to the car she started laughing like crazy. What a silly girl. I already said this, but her footprints on the sand were my favorite. 

Seriously, they are the best.

So I Don't Forget

Please forgive the itemized list of our vacation. I need to write it down so I remember.

Saturday:

-Travel, travel, travel. Lucy 2 mini melt-downs. Flight considered success.

-Luggage, shuttle, rental car. Exhausting, tired of traveling.

-Drive, pretty.

-Turtle Bay Cottages: Wheelchair room, switch to occupied room, finally get the right room 

-12 hours of traveling finally ends

-Explore, dinner at the Italian place, complimentary Champagne (nice touch)

-Sunset on the overlook

Sunday:

-Cloudy and windy (a little cold)

-Breakfast brunch

-Swim in the pools, fancy

-Lunch by the bay

-Swim in the bay. Sunny!

-Hang out and explore

-Sunset on the overlook

Monday

-Sunny and windy

-Morning walk

-Morning swim and check out

-Ted's Bakery

-Check in to the house

-Dole Plantation

-Pali Lookout

-Drive on the Eastern Shore

-Sunset on our perfect beach

-Haleiwea and Pizza Bobs (so lost!)

Tuesday

-Leave at 6:00AM to drive to Hanauma Bay. traffic....

-Hanauma Bay closed, head to Pearl Harbor (mini meltdowns)

-Haleiwea, Kua 'Aina, Matsumoto's, shopping

-Sunset beach swim time and sunset

Wednesday

-Bike ride from Sunset Beach to Waimea (gorgeous!)

-Hukilau Cafe

-PCC (epic melt downs, Lucy pukes all over me, we do it all, but don't have a lot of fun)

-Lindsey likes the show, Scott likes the Luau, Lucy doesn't like any of it

Thursday

-Sleep in!

-Waimae Bay

-Haleiwea, Waialua Bakery (one of our favorites!), Lucy fascinated by Gecko, Matsumoto's

-Birthing stones, perfect moment with the sun coming through the clouds, over the mountains. Very sacred place, we could feel it. Lucy in diaper, running around crying. The sacredness was greater than that :)

-Shark Cove Sunset

Friday

-5:30 AM wake-up call for Hanauma Bay

-Hanauma Bay is awesome! Lucy loves the ocean for the first time

-Wailana Coffee House

-Manoa Falls Hike, TORRENTIAL downpour. I loved it. Lucy is a trooper

-Valley of the Temples

-East coast drive

-Take out from Shark Cove Grill (sooo good!)

-Eating, watching the sunset, see Whales!

-Chocolate Pie from Ted's Bakery

(our favorite day)

Saturday

-Haleiwea, Walialua Bakery

-Laie Temple

-Sunset beach
-Sharks Cove Grill and one last sunset at Shark's Cove Beach

-Head home :(
-Lucy sleeps 6.5 of our 8 hours of flying. Success!!

Do I regret bringing Lucy? No! Was it hard at times. Yes! We might leave her home for our next romantic anniversary vacation :) But we loved having a family vacation, melt downs and all. And man, did we drag her everywhere. Poor thing was exhausted every night. She loved running, playing in the sand and exploring. Home is going to seem a little dull after all this. One of my absolute favorite parts of the trip was seeing her little footprints in the sand.

Post note: We must have really worn her out, because she is still asleep after 14 hours.

Saturday

Friday

Thursday

Wednesday

Tuesday

Monday

Sunday

Polaroid Week!

We are going to Hawaii! It's going to be so awesome! I'm not taking my computer! But leaving it at a safe place somewhere else! I still need to pack! And return those shoes! And remember the sunblock! And go to bed! And I'm hiding my cell phone! I'm going to be barefoot on the beach for the whole week!

Since I'm unplugging for an entire week, and sticking to it. I thought I would try this whole pre-blog thing and leave everyone with a week's worth of Polaroids. So exciting! Unplugging....now!

The Entrance

Half naked, jelly shoes (with one toe out, mind you), a shark bath towel, and face that means business. Miss Lucy aint messin' around.

BATH!

I know I have said this before, but Lucy is obsessed with the bath. If she had her way, she would take 4 or 5 a day. We try to never say B.A.T.H in front of her, because she immediately starts to tug on her clothes. I think this bodes well for Hawaii and the ocean. In the meantime, how awesome is that belly? It sticks waaay out. I love it. And those teeth and that smile. Bath time fun! Except when it becomes poop in the bath time. Have I already mentioned how Lucy FREAKS OUT! if she poops in the tub. To her it's like a wild animal, coming out of nowhere, to join her for a swim.

45,500 Calories and a Dress

I recently weighed myself, which is something I try not to do too often. I like to check in every 3 weeks. Too often is depressing, but not enough, and you never see your progress; which can be depressing too.

And the scale said I had lost 13 pounds, from when I started last November. I prefer to call it 45,500 calories, though. I felt every single one of those pounds, or 3,500 calories. And I'm okay with that because I have come to the enlightening conclusion that being healthy and toned with minimal body fat is a lot of work. I'm not sure why this was such a breakthrough for me. I used to just think there were skinny people and bigger people, and that was determined by genetics. Skinny people were lucky and had good metabolisms. And since I had always considered myself a fairly skinny person, I was completely shocked that my baby weight stuck around...and around...and around. I thought nature would take care of it for me, and when it didn't that was hard. All of sudden my genetics failed me. And so I started working out, a lot. And I didn't see results for the longest time, but something happened in that process. I embraced hard, sweating, almost want to puke, work. I realized that all those lucky, lucky, skinny people, were at the gym, every day when I was, and they were running faster and harder than I ever had. They weren't lucky, they had to pound it out, just like me. It was a big moment for me. Being healthy = hard work. And now that I have fully accepted that, I'm seeing slow and steady results. But I have to say, I still feel all of it; every single calorie I run, or lift, or dance off and every single calorie I don't eat. It's amazing to me that I can eat 400 calories in a blink of an eye (hello cookies!), but exercising it off takes much, much longer, and it involves more pain (don't worry, the good kind). I just keep chanting to myself, I'm strong, I'm strong, I'm strong. Or sometimes, bikini! bikini! bikini!

And this long story is to get to my good point. I finally used the gift Scott gave me over a year ago. I thought I would be back to my size, 2 months after Lucy was born, and part of that year's Christmas present was a gift card to Anthropologie. And I held onto that thing for a long time. Scott is sweet, and knew I always wanted to buy myself a fun dress. I never do. I buy skirts. And I never shop at Anthropologie. And so spending that card was special. I felt really pretty when I tried on the dress (the pictures don't do it justice). And it fit, didn't show my undies (why is it so hard to find clothes that don't), and was a size smaller than what I was wearing 5 months ago. And I have to thank Kim for coming with me, and encouraging me. I know this seems silly, but it was kind of a big deal.  So here is a picture of the dress, and I guess you probably want to see one of me in it. I'm taking it to Hawaii, so I will post some when I get back.

Did anyone stick around for this whole post? It's 12:30 and I'm rambling. Anyway, the moral of the story is if you work hard you can buy an Anthropologie dress. Ok, not really. Um, the moral of the story is, hard work at something you want = self acceptance.

**correction, I wasn't a size 2, I meant a size two months or 60 days after Lucy was born. If I'm complaining about being a size 2, then I should really be tripped or something!**