This was our first pumpkin patch experience. Here in small townville, the pumpkin patch isn't anything special, but still we had tons of fun. We went as a family and brought my two nephews ages 6 and 4 along. The boys had sooooo much fun. The pumpkin in Kaua's hand is the pumpkin we picked out to take home. My nephew picked out a small white pumpkin that looks like someone dropped it because half of it is squished in. But that's the one my nephew wanted so that's the one he got. It definitely has character.
In other news, Kaua is going to be ELEVEN months old tomorrow and Gosh, where does the time go? We are in full blast party planning mode here because, in Hawaii, the first year celebration is a big deal. We're having a typical baby lu'au. My family is making the food, kalua pig, lomi salmon, my favorite - luau stew, chicken long rice and possibly poi. My brother is doing the pupus (appetizers) and since I'm a beer drinker, I'm ordering a keg. I've hired a really good (so I've heard) children's magician and am in the midst of hiring a spray on tattoo artist. I gotta get started on the slideshow which will document Kaua's life. I'm also possibly going to dance a hula. The theme is Hawaiian rainforest because Kaua is named after the rain in our old home town. It's going to be fun, but man, party planning is soo not my favorite.
Also new on our radar is house hunting. We have found a great fixer upper in a great neighborhood here and it's a FSBO (for sale by owner) which means the price is great too. It's our first time working without realtors so it is a little unnerving, but I'm confident that we can do it. The seller seems just as wary and both of us our educated so together we'll make it happen. The great thing is he's motivated to sell and he's not into making tons of money, so he's been pretty easy to negotiate with. We may be in escrow by the end of the week and hopefully in our own home in a couple months, but I dont want to jinx it, so enough on that.
And we come to the NIGHTS! Like I've posted before, I'm trying to wean Kaua off the boobie so that he's completely boobie free by 1. I've pretty much got it down to no breastfeeding during the day and only at night. This past week, we've been trying to cutdown at night too and man-oh-man is he soooo not having any of that. He has really come to rely on breastfeeding himself back to sleep when he wakes up at night, and when he isn't able to, he throws a fit. Like full on top of your lung screaming. And he wakes up, A LOT. It's really sucky. Really. I've given him bottles and after the 3rd night of screaming or so, he'll finally take it, and wow, can he drink. The night before last he drank 12 oz at night! last night, I couldn't deal with it. It had been 7 nights in a row of THE HORROR and I gave in and let him nurse. Let me tell you, a whole heck of a lot less screaming and crying, but still, he got up a ton. Ugh, ugh, ugh. i have never been so sleep deprived before. This is way more difficult than when he was a newborn.
Anyways, yup, being a mommy is hard. Hard, hard, hard. But it's all worth it, because that little rugrat. He's priceless.
