Words

I always had this idea that Sara would be an early talker and talk a lot (you wonder why I thought that?!). But she's proven to be on her own time table, which is completely fine by us. She's technically on track according to all of the charts but some of her little friends (they're all a few months older than her too) are talking machines. It's crazy how each child has their own way of doing things and is on their own schedule. I would have to say that Sara is "advanced" as far as physical feats go. She started jumping off the side of the pool to Ryan and goes all the way under until Ryan picks her up. Crazy girl. Anyways, sorry off track a little.

I hadn't really been keeping track of her words because she was only using a few. I decided to write a few down just for curiousity and she has a lot more than I realized. Sorry for the bore but since I'm horrible at keeping a baby book I'm going to record them here. Mama, Dada, (sometimes it's just DAAAA!), Whoa, Uh oh, (I know those two aren't really words but they count to me :-), Up, down, out, hat (this is her favorite, besides "up", I'll post a picture of the hat that she loves to wear), fish, duck, milk (she still does the sign for those too), Tyla, cracker, hi, bye bye, movie (it's more like an exagerated moooo with her lips puckered. She loves doing the fish face and making the noise too), help, beach (kind of sounds like bitch, better work on the pronunciation of that one) bread, hop (like a easter bunny), top, six, eight (those are her favorite when we count), shoes. So I guess she's saying a lot more than I realized. I think it's all the whining and pointing that goes on that makes me think she doesn't say anything. So needless to say, she's saying a lot more than I realized :-)

I'm floored every day by something that she comprehends that I say or something I tell her to do. I think we have to start being careful now or else we may end up some "proud parenting" moments. She thought it was hysterical tonight when Ryan was throwing gold fish crackers into the air and catching them in his mouth. Guess who likes to throw her crackers now? Doh.

Here's her new favorite hat. The backpack is from my sister and she likes to carry her baby around in it.

Gotta love the belly flash to the chimpanzee!

Here they are sizing each other up. I think he was afraid she was going to come steal the Cherrios he was eating.


Climbing in the trees with Daddy

I can do it myself!

She decided to make her own concoction with a salsa container at dinner the other night.

Whales!

Last week we decided to take a quick trip over to Maui for the long weekend. It did not disappoint. I love Maui, especially this time of year because the Humpback whales are EVERYWHERE. They are such an amazing mammal. The coolest thing about them (besides watching them breech, and slap their tails, and blow water out of their spout) is when they're in close to the shore you can dive down and hear them singing their songs. The first time we heard it we thought they sounded like aliens. It's a very distinctive sound and it's amazing. While we were at dinner the first evening there were about five of them giving us a show right off shore. It was almost like they were acting like dolphins, all in a row diving up and down. I didn't get any of them breaching on video but you can see them blowing their spouts. The Pirates of the Caribbean boat (I guess they're filming it right now) was also driving by at the same time.




The trip started off a little rough. We timed the flight in order to get Sara down for a nap. Unfortunately a flat tire on the plane kind of ruined that plan. We were 2.5 hours late and Sara was so tired that by the time we got her to the condo she just wouldn't take a nap. I think she was a little scared in a new place, especially now that she knows what's going on. She adapted and we had a good time the rest of the trip.


The last morning we went exploring and found a new beach. I can't believe we had never been here before after all the years we've been going to Maui. It was absolutely perfect for Sara and the conditions couldn't have been better. It's was about waste deep all the way out to the outer reef and the water was crystal clear. There were little coral heads with beautiful reef fish so I got to swim around for a while and Sara motored behind me with her floaties.

Ryan turned me into a mermaid and Sara thought it was pretty cool :-)

That's Lanai in the background.

She insisted on wearing her bright orange Crocs while we were at the beach. She's also really into putting her face in the water but she hasn't quite figured out that you're not supposed to drink the water.

Valentine's Day

Wearing mommy's running shoes

Pay it Forward

The craziest thing happened to me today. During the Super Bowl, which I only care about watching the commercials anyways, I decided to run to the grocery store. Ryan wanted some beer and I wanted some ice cream (nice and healthy of us), so I figured that during the Super Bowl it would be empty. I was wrong. I raced through and grabbed our junk and went to the checkout line. The checker rang up everything and I reached in my purse...doh! I forgot my wallet which I had put in my swim bag earlier in the day. No checks, no cash, and no credit cards. Dang! The gal who was in line behind me said I've got it. The checker and I both said no I don't need your Safeway card I forgot my wallet. I told the checker that I was sorry but I'd have to come back later...I was so embarrased and pissed at myself at this point. The lady behind me was pushing into me and saying I've got it, I've got it. Don't worry about it. No, I said adamently, I'm not letting you pay for this, it was $38 (I got a few other odds and ends)! She got stern and said, "Pay it forward" and all I could think of was that movie which was out a few years back. It felt like I was in my own movie. It was kind of surreal, that some stranger wanted to pay for my groceries. She said she wanted to do this and seriously pushed me out of the store! Tears were starting to well up in my eyes because I was so stressed for not having my wallet and then having a stranger pay for all of my groceries for me. I left the store and stood outside waiting for her. She came out and I ran up to her and tried to get her number or address so I could send her some money. She laughed and smiled and said Pay It Forward again and ran off to her car. Wow, it was such a neat experience to have someone do this for me and makes me want to run out and do it for someone else! It still feels kind of like I was in the movie myself. It definitely made my day! So the next time someone is needing some help, I'll be there and Pay It Forward!

Back in the Saddle

Wow, I feel like an athlete again, for the time being. I've actually gotten in good workouts for FIVE days in a row! It's a miracle. My new philosophy is to workout hard during the days that I'm actually healthy to make up for the weeks I'm sick. This morning Ryan and I got to go for our first "real" ride together since having Sara. We road while in Washington last summer but on borrowed bikes and it wasn't a really hard ride (although I'm sure Ryan would say today wasn't hard either :-). Today our awesome neighbor watched Sara for us so we could ride together. We road the route that used to be an "easy" recovery ride, the Hanauma Bay, Hawaii Kai loop. When we were in the throws of training we would do this ride as a short easy ride. Let's just say that today did not feel like an easy ride for me. I'm so out of shape it's ridiculous but it felt so wonderful to be at that threshold of pain where your legs feel like they're going to fly off your body. All of the rides I've been doing lately have been by myself, they're shorter but they just seem like they take forever. Today flew by and it was great. The winds were barely there and it was sunny and HOT. My heart rate reached levels I haven't seen in a long time and my legs felt great, in a sick sort of way. I tried to talk Ryan into stopping at a few spots to take a picture but he didn't seem to hear me (aka: he didn't want to stop!) so we finally got a shot on the way back at Makapu'u. It was such a gorgeous morning. We missed our fellow training buddies, the Fennell's, and thought of our many training rides with them!

This afternoon we did something we haven't done in many years, since before we moved to Hawaii in fact. We went to the driving range and hit golf balls. Ryan went during his lunch last week with a few of his co-workers so he suggested the idea today. I used to be a decent golfer back in the day, when I had free time in college. I gave it up when we moved here because it was so expensive and it takes WAY TOO LONG to play. I would much rather be doing something more active than playing a round of golf, but it was actually quite fun laughing at ourselves while trying to hit balls. Sara got a kick out of it too.

Then we went to the beach on base and let Sara get pounded by the waves. I swear the harder the waves hit her the more she likes it. She's crazy! Tomorrow I have a run/swim on tap with my friend and fellow training partner Heather!

I bought Sara a pair of rain boots at Old Navy the other day because they were too cute to pass up. Not that we've had much rain this winter, in fact we got some of the only rain of the winter this past week and it was fabulous! I love that fresh rain smell. She found the infamous Halloween hat again and insisted on wearing it. She hasn't quite figured out the boots yet. She keeps saying "on" and then I put them on and she stands up and then says "off Mama". Her new favorite words are "up", as in I want up on the couch. "Down" if I'm holding her or she wants help going down the stairs. And "out" when she wants out of her carseat or any other device that's restraining her or if she wants to go outside, which is ALL the time.

And this is a random picture from the other day. She was really into putting her carrots on her head. And you'll notice that she's trying to dye her hair purple with the blueberries and beets she was eating. Priceless.

I love this picture!

Sorry for the randomness but I like to post pictures for the future especially since I've been so bad about keeping a baby book or printing pictures for that matter. Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!