Hayden is a weaner!

Last night we celebrated a big shift for Hayden and I. We celebrated his weaning from nursing. And how does one celebrate such an event? With a weaning party of course! The idea came from my friends Renee and Nora and seemed like the perfect end to our breastfeeding relationship. 

Memories...

When Hayden was born, the doctor placed him on my chest and within minutes he was latched on to my breast. I didn't know it at the time, but Hayden would be an avid nursling. I nursed Hayden during my pregnancy with Clara and every day we would read the book Breastmilk Makes My Tummy Yummy. In the book there is a picture of a mommy nursing a baby and a toddler in a park and the caption reads " Two can breastfeed without fuss. There is room for both of us". This became Hayden's favorite page to read as we patiently waited for baby to arrive so that he could try out "sharing the milk". He would point to the baby and say" this is our baby" and point to the toddler and say "this is me" and then to the dog " there is Momo watching us in the park".  30 minutes after Clara was born Hayden knelt beside me to tandem nurse with his newborn baby sister. I am so blessed to have such beautiful memories of my nursing time with Hayden. 

         Two can breastfeed without fuss there is room for both of us. 

And there was! 

We wanted to mark the occasion with a significant event so that we could reference the festivities in case Hayden "forgot" that he was weaned post-party.  We invited friends for pizza, cupcakes, and ice cream. The cupcakes were decorated to look like breasts and the ice cream was homemade cookies and cream made by our friend Carrie. It was the best ice cream I have ever eaten! So delicious and not the least bit fat free!

Friends brought Hayden gifts of shoes, a train set, hand drawn pictures, homemade play-doh, fresh eggs and an apricot tree! So pure and thoughtful. I just love the thought, time, and care that our friends put into their unexpected gifts. I felt very blessed to have such wonderful support and understanding for such a bittersweet event. 

We gave Hayden a Skuut bike for his weaning present from our family. He is so excited to have his very own bike that he can ride with his friends! 

                                                               Hayden on his new Skuut.

                                                       All the kiddos in the hammock.
                                                                      Breast cupcakes! 

                                                    Our first nurse on our last day.

                                                        Our last nurse on our last day.

It's a tough life...

Catch up!

Yes, I know, no blogging equals no reading. But I have excuses of course! We had our annual trip to Maui and this year was the best yet! Not only did we get to visit with Kainoa's family and friends but my parents and some very good friends from Alaska joined us as well! We had tons of relaxing quality time together and even had dinner sin ninos care of the grandparent daycare center. My girlfriend Christina from Alaska helped turn my relationship with the sun from plain hate to a love/hate and I returned to NM with a very nice tan ;) 

Clara and Stella are womb buddies and were reunited and got to interact together! The girls were only weeks old when we moved from Kodiak so seeing them together was very special. Hayden and Gavin were old enough to understand that they were going to see each other in Hawaii and were both stoked when they finally were together after months of us talking about it! 

 Clara was baptized at Waiola Church with family and friends looking on, we celebrated Gramps and Tutu's birthdays, and caught the Super Bowl and Chinese New Year! We dominated the pool and the outdoor cabana beds and smuggled pounds and pounds of beach sand home in our suits. We spent much needed time with Kainoa's good friends and got a chance to see Kirk and Momi who are expecting the newest "Baby Yap" due to arrive in March! Here are some pics from the trip:

Ride and Run.

As requested, here are some videos of Hayden riding his Trikke! 

Christmas morning pics and videos

Hayden breaks in his blocks.

A Big Boy Scooter! 

"Guys, Santa came to our house! He came"!

The stockings putting in some overtime!

Hayden opens his Buzz Lightyear costume and big boy helmet.

Hayden, uhm, I mean Buzz, sees just what his super suit can do! 

Make a Smilebox postcard

Our Christmas card photo

Some things are just better when there is more than one. Like cookies, friends, presents, and socks. And some things are just easier when there is more than one. Like options, adult supervision, toilet paper sheets, and pot holders. So this year's Christmas picture is no exception. How much better it is to have a two subjects this year and how easy it WOULD be if we could get both of them on the same page right as we push down the shutter button! We might not have snapped the perfect shot right away, but we sure had some laughs. Here are a few of our out takes: 

After asking the kids to cooperate for just one more minute, Hayden and Clara give us the toddler/baby version of the finger.

Well, what do you say about this photo. I think what Hayden was trying to say here was...Mom, Dad, I love you, but seriously, how can you expect me to sit behind Clara for a picture when I could be wrapping these lights around my butt?

Once the butt wrapping began, so did the light eating. 

"Hey honey, why don't we take a sweet picture of the kids sleeping and above the picture we can write While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads". Great idea! Except for the part where I accidentally snap off a photo while setting up the camera menu and wake up the baby ten minutes after we got her to sleep. Nice.

 LOL, no explanation needed here!! 

So did we finally get our shot? Yes, we did. Patience paid off and a picture with two clean and smiling children was snapped! This year however, we have decided it's time to make our holidays just a bit more green. So we are going paperless! From here on out we are going to send our Christmas cards via email! Less waste, less work, less money, and always on time! Coming soon to an inbox near you!