Merry Christmas, Frisky style

The stockings are hung, the kids are asleep... we've just returned from the Coelho annual Christmas Eve Extravaganza. As you can see, Iwalani didn't even make it home (which is practically across the street from Grandma's house) with her consciousness. I still had to take a picture of their shirts before they were all stripped down and put in their jammies.I just wanted to post to say Merry Christmas from the Frisky Five. In the paraphrased words of Clark W. Griswold, we wish you the "hap-hap-happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny friggin' Kaye... hallelujah, holy crap. Where's the Tylenol?"

Thanks, Iwa.

Overheard tonight during family wrastlin' time on the Love Sac:

"Hold on, hold on, guys... my butt crack is eatin' my panties."

Diversions

If you have some free time, I think you should check this out. Loads of fun.

3 thoughts

#1 Ahhh..... so I finished book 4, the last, last night. I can breathe again, but I really think I'll have to read them again, knowing what I know, ya know? I just wonder- and this is the last I'll post about the Twilight books again- but I wonder how hard it is for a boy in her target audience to get a date these days. She sure did write some big shoes to fill for any guy who wants to go out with a girl who has read those books. I wonder how many guys have heard, "Sorry, but you're just not my Edward (or Jacob, for that matter)."

#2 I love Secret Santa. I am in charge of it at my school and I look forward to it every year. One of the reasons I like being in charge of it is because I can pick who I get to have. I really get into it, running my ideas past John to make sure they're not to creepy or weird. I know, right? Me? Creepy and weird? I guess I have tendencies.

Anyway, this year I had a vice principal steal my target's class mascot (a paper bumble bee) and I've been sending her demands all week in classic ransom note form with the mismatched cut-out letters and all.

Friday, while I had a 1st grade class working quietly on their projects, I took the moment to work on my, uh, project. I was cutting out little letters and a child had a question so I called him over to where I was working. He saw what I was doing and said, "Oh!! I want you to teach me that project next!"

Sadly, if there ever was a class for that type of thing, I sure would be qualified to teach it.

#3 Another class later, I was sitting with a table of 3 kids and while they were coloring, I was coloring a project I had done as a class example for another grade. These were first graders, too. One girl said she wanted to be a baby doctor when she grew up. I told her those were called pediatricians. She said, no, she wanted to be a doctor that takes the babies out of mommy's tummies. I told her those doctors were called obstetricians.

I should have changed the conversation there.

The little boy at the table said, "Yesterday, I saw a lady on t.v. who had so many babies in her tummy, they had to cut them out!" They all stopped to ponder that for a bit. Just as I thought we were going to move on to something else, they all asked me how babies normally come out, like when there's just one.

I'm the art teacher, not the science teacher. Go ask her.

Almost normal again

Last time I posted, I had just finished book 1 of the Twilight Saga. I am now in the middle of book 4. It's good, people. I'm sure I'll post about something else when I'm done... or maybe I'll just start over again....

My confession

Well, ladies and gentlemen... I have become a statistic.

Over the past three days I have completely neglected my children, my husband, meals, chores, and sleep to talk about, think about, (now post about) and read the book Twilight. I'm beginning to wonder if this Stephanie person knows some kind of linguistic voodoo to produce this kind of effect on her readers.

Admittedly, the book is a bit predictable, but the addiction wasn't. On the surface, it's kinda like Sweet Valley High books with vampires.... but sooooo much better. The thoughts of this girl from whose perspective the story comes are engrossing, producing feelings and reactions I haven't felt since high school. I giggled, I blushed, I said, "Oh, girl.. I know he didn't!"

....at least that's how it was for me... and millions of middle school girls the world over.

I did it!

I have finally captured the ever elusive baby smile. She'll just smile and smile and laugh but when I pull the camera out, it's gone. Last night I laid her in her crib to change her clothes and started up the mobile. Apparently she's a John Lennon fan. It plays the tune to "Imagine".

You can see she has a hard time keeping her eyes open when she really smiles. It's my favorite.

Today, one of my classes asked if they could see pictures of my baby. Always eager to share, I showed them some pics from the blog. One of the girls asked about John, "Is dat cho' baby daddy?"

It reminds me of a time when I was pregnant with Iwalani. It was my first year teaching. I was telling the kids I was leaving to have a baby. Some of the kids- mostly boys- didn't realize I was even pregnant (I was DEFINITELY showing at this time). There was this little boy in the back of the room who was so sweet. When I told them my news his face just lit up and his hand shot in the air. "Do you know who the father is?" This child meant nothing by that question than exactly what he said. He was genuinely excited when I told him that I was sure it was my husband, John. The other kids in the room knew better and COULD NOT BELIEVE he asked that but he was just so excited.

Two posts in one day?!

Here's just a cute little picture from before church one Sunday. Leilea is wearing a dress from her 2nd cousin (??) Maria. Someday I'll get a picture of her smiling.

About a month ago, I scheduled appointments for all three of the kids: Iwalani for a flu shot, Kawika for a flu shot and his 18 month well-child check (with other shots), and Leilea for her 2 month well-child and first round of shots. What was I thinking?

Kawika has been extra sleepy and extra whiny these past few days. The night before the appointment day, he woke up whining and running a fever. He kinda had a rash on his feet the night before and it had spread by this time. How convenient! Since he already had an appointment I turned his well-child into a sick child appointment. Turns out he has two pretty badly infected ears. She also tested him for strep throat. When John and I were waiting for those test results, it was the longest wait ever. We were so thankful when it came back negative. This is the second time this has happened, though. When he went in to get his 12 month shots they got put off because he also had an ear infection. hmmmm.....

Iwalani did a great job with her shot. She was so brave. The nurse was kinda hiding the needle behind her back but I told Iwa she was getting a shot and she just started taking her shirt off. She whimpered for a bit but once she saw that colorful, shiny band-aid, it felt all better and she started telling Kawika and Leilea how it wasn't that bad.

Leilea's stats are 12lbs and 22 inches long. Her weight is 75th percentile and her height is 25th. Head size is 50th. I thought the other two were way bigger by this point but I looked back and at two months Iwalani was 11lbs and Kawika was 14lbs. The doc says she looks perfect (of course we all knew that, right?). She did a little more than whimper with her three shots with the biggest needles I've seen since they had to get out the "big guns" with Kawika's fat thighs but she slept a lot and is doing fine today.

FYI- taking three kids to the doctor at the same time is insanity but at least it's over for a while. It would have been better if we actually had 3 well children, or done it earlier in the morning, or dosed everyone with Valium before we left.

Whiplash

We had a great Thanksgiving with my family in town and I'll be posting photos of that as soon as I get some from Jere. This is what I do have photos of now. ...

Iwalani has had this Barbie Jeep since last Christmas. The last time she drove it, we saw her zipping across the yard into the fence, screaming with her arms in the air the whole way. Since then she's just been sitting in it listening to the radio and occasionally getting out to look under the hood to "fix" it. We decided that it was time for her to really give it a good try where she can't hit anything.

At first, she was scared to push the gas because she would run into something. We were in an empty parking lot, so we assured her that wouldn't happen. She still wouldn't keep it pressed down so I showed Kawika how to reach over and push the gas pedal and that was the end of that! Once she figured out it was fun and good and slow, she took over controls and even wanted to go faster. She finally learned how to steer and also learned how to spin out. John was trying to get her to do it in this clip, but it didn't work out.

She was pretty pleased with herself.

I'm pretty sure that hat will come up in Kawika's future therapy sessions.

Stop and smell the family

The other night, I had a late night at work and was feeling way behind. I was in my own little world, wandering around the house thinking about all of the things that needed to get done when I noticed it was way too quiet. This is what I saw:My first reaction was actually to be a little annoyed but what's the point of having kids if you can't be one yourself? And besides, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? Wait. That explains why my house looks the way it does. hmm......

Here's a good picture of Leilea awake from that night:She smiles all the time but if any of you knew her big sister as an infant, you'll recognize the patented Friskillo "go to hell" look. It's all part of the charm.

Wow my genes are strong!

Back in the saddle again.

Today was my first day back to work. I went back Monday, but that didn't count because there were no kids.

I was afraid they would have forgotten me. How silly, right? The interim did a WONDERFUL job and they did many, many ambitious projects that turned out looking great. What if they didn't like me anymore? I kinda like being a "special" teacher (library, art, music, p.e.) if not for the fact that most of the kids like us unconditionally. Today that proved to be true. I love, love, LOVE my job and I really missed those kids. Okay, really about 90% of them, but that's still pretty good.

I also missed my kids at home, but to be honest, going to work is like a break. Everyone kept asking how much I wish I was at home right now, but I think they have this mental picture of me sitting in a rocking chair eating bon-bons in a peaceful room with a newborn. YEAH RIGHT! From 7:40 to 3:00 I didn't have to clean up poop or suck snot out of anyone's nose.

Funny how that's all I wanted to do by the time I got home. I love my jobs

Bless this mess

Great weekend! Saturday we went to the mall with the kids, Grandma Coelho, Jennifer, Brock, Tim and P. Grandma Lorna and Keoki were even there for a bit. It's always fun to enjoy commerce with the ones we love. It was really good to have Jennifer and Brock in town. I think Kawika has found his match. Baby gladiator fights coming soon. Time and location TBA.

After the mall, we went to Sam's and Kawika was getting sleepy. I had held Leilea in the Moby Wrap at the mall but since Kawika was tired and I knew he would want to be held anyway, I decided to experiment and wrap him for the Sam's trip. It's rated to 35lbs. He's 32. It wasn't too bad at first, but gravity is real, my friends.

Everyone who walked by had something to say, as they usually do when I wear the wrap but then the comments are usually about a cute little baby. These comments were more like, "Holy crap! What's that thing made out of?!" I assumed they were talking about the wrap.

He loved it so much he laid his head on my back and fell asleep. There's nothing quite like walking around Sam's with drool running down your back. Yum. Anyhow, here's some photos of that magical experience which I'm afraid he's going to want to repeat. Life is full of disappointments, big guy.

Sunday we had Leilea blessed at church. The whole fam-damily was there and fun was had by all. We even took the obligatory family picture afterwards. I think if I ever want to get a real family portrait done, we'll have to bring the tranquilizer darts.

Never were truer words screen printed

Candy nite 2008

Here's a bunch of photos from Halloween. I wanted to get one photo of everyone dressed in their Halloween shirts where no one was screaming, blinking, or looking like they have a really fat neck due to unfortunate camera angles. That was the best I could do.

Grandma Ann and I went to Farm Day at Iwa's school to help out. It was like trying to herd ants. I was in charge of making sure no one freaked out the donkey. Martha brought Iwa's Pygmy goat for the kids to pet on Farm Day. She got this goat for her 2nd birthday and it follows her around the compound like a dog. She named him Sheep. She was very proud of Sheep. The orange balls are placed there to make sure Sheep doesn't accidentally impale a kid.

Here are the kids' costumes. Iwa was a ballerina (WITH high heels- as she had to point out every time we talked about it) and Kawika was a train engineer. Drivin' that train, high on refined sugar.

My name is Kawika and I approve this message.

Lately Kawika has been upset about the lazy light with which he is portrayed in these posts.

He is not, in fact, lazy.

He would like me to point out the hours he has put into figuring out how everything works, as evidenced by the fact that he can unbuckle himself from his car seat. He also puts great effort into collecting baby paraphernalia and bringing it to Leilea wherever she may be, whatever she may be doing.

Kawika is a dedicated, active citizen in this household and he promises to never, ever raise your taxes.

Rockabilly Fest

This Saturday Millington hosted a Rockabilly car show and festival. It was free and there were really really cool cars plus a children's area to entertain the kids.

Here's Leliea and me. I want to say for the record that I didn't know that my picture was being taken. I would have smiled or something.
Here are Iwa and Kawika riding the ride. The rusty, squeaky ride. Let's watch Kawika's excitement escalate over the next few pictures, shall we?...and this was just the first three passes of the ride. By the way, is anyone getting a load of the sweet mullet in the red bucket? Oh yeah, pure Millington, baby. Anyway, contrary to how it would appear, Iwa is not pushing him down in that last picture. He gets his enthusiasm for roller coasters from his father, apparently. Here's how the rest of the afternoon went for him:

A ball...


...and unconsciousness.

I was tagged.

...for real this time. I have another more entertaining post in mind, but until I get some photos from my parents computer, here is my post for now.

Five years ago
1. I measured giant boobs for work
2. I was a lot smaller
3. We lived in a tiny apartment
4. I had a lot less stuff
5. I was about to graduate

Things on my to do list today
1. Keep the kids alive
2. Shower
3. Laundry
4. Trim the pots I made yesterday
5. Cook something

Snacks I enjoy
1. Kawika's ears
2. Fruit
3. Popcorn
4. Halloween candy
5. Swiss Cake Rolls

Things I would do if I were a millionaire
1. Pay everything away
2. Move
3. Save
4. Hire a personal trainer
5. More art

Places I've lived
1. Houston, TX
2. Martin, TN
3. Memphis, TN
4. Ohio (??)
5. Illinois (??)

Jobs I've had
1. bra fitter
2. art teacher
3. hostess
4. honors english teacher (what?!)
5. mom

Tag you're it
1. Jennifer R.
2. Valorie W.
3. I don't know anyone else who reads my blog and has one...
4.
5.

Photo dump

I just dumped a bunch of pictures on my computer so I wanted to post a few.

First, we have pictures of Iwalani's new haircut. This is actually the second haircut she got in one weekend because of a completely incompetent stylist (the second stylist actually asked if her little brother got a hold of scissors and did it himself). Anyway, this is Iwa and her daddy on the carousel at the mall right after her second haircut in two days. Also, there is a photo of her holding her little sister- her new favorite past time.

Here are some photos of what Princess Leia did today. The Force is strong with this one. She is always trying to hold he head up so I thought I would try some tummy time. As it turns out, she's quite a reader. She'll start on the Tolkien books next week.

Meanwhile, this is what Kawika did today:

Forrest Gump, your momma was right.

Someone recently got me thinking about all of the pictures I DON'T have on my computer. You remember when you had to take a little metal cylinder out of your camera when it was full? You couldn't see the pictures until they printed them out for you. Well, I have a bunch of those in a box and much like the way they were taken and processed, my life is very different now. Thank goodness- in most ways- but there is this one guy who keeps showing up in my photos.




Here is a particularly unflattering photo of me (and yes, that's a guy in a cape) and a bunch of my friends waiting for school to start. See the guy in the Hawaiian shirt? This was 1996. My sophomore year of high school. I was always with the guy in the white shirt.

Here's another one, taken a year later. Same guy in the white shirt (maybe even same white shirt) and there's my future husband the Hawaiian shirt guy.

If you had told me then that John was going to be the guy on my couch- the love of my life- with our (3rd!) newborn curled up on his chest, watching the newest episode of Mythbusters, I wouldn't have believed you. At all. I would have thought that throwing in the Mythbusters bit was a good try for believability, but no way.

I'm thankful that I didn't know then what I know now because it has made the trip much more interesting. You never know what you're going to get.

Taking the monkeys to the zoo.

Today Grandma Lorna, Auntie Kaylani and I took the kids to the zoo. It was Leilea's first big trip out. You can see for yourself how she spent the day. You can also tell by the accessories on the other kids who went with us. Thanks Grandma Kiko and Aunt Kaannie.

Tagging myself.

So as I'm reading my friend's blogs, I see that occasionally people get "tagged". This usually involves answering some questions about yourself or telling stories about the first time your kissed your husband, etc... and then listing three people who read your blog and have blogs themselves to do the same.

Well, I've never been tagged before but I found one that was interesting. The tag was to post the fourth picture in the fourth photo file on your computer. I got curious, so although no one has tagged me on this, there it is.

Dinnertime at the Frisky house.

Here's a little video of dinnertime at our house. It's complete with Iwalani being a ham, Kawika trying to make a deadly escape out of his high chair and Leilea wondering how the hell she ended up with these crazies.

The ol' morning routine.

My mom loved this story, so I thought I'd share it with you all.

About a year ago, Iwa realized that since she was in a big girl bed, she could get out at all hours of the night and spend who knows how long watching mommy and daddy sleep. As sweet as this was, it was the creepiest thing I'd ever experienced, so we made it a little more difficult for her to leave her room on her own. Besides, who knows what shenanigans she could get into in the house, unsupervised at 3a.m.

Anyway, one of the first nights John and I had been home from the hospital after I had Leilea, Iwalani woke up in the night and he went to check on her. He also left her door cracked and I didn't know. The next morning, I woke up to the sound of someone letting General out- one of the first things we always do when John or I wake up... but John was still in bed with me. I waited to see if I had been dreaming and then heard his food bowl being filled.

I knew it must have been Iwa so I thought her next stop would be our room to wake us up or stare at us (you know- for old time's sake) but I waited and waited and nothing. Curious, and a little nervous, I looked out in the living room to see her in her Ariel jammies sitting on the couch by the coffee table with everything but the Sunday paper and a cuppa joe. She was so grown up I wanted to turn the news on for her or something.

Now if we can just get her to fill out those job applications I've been gathering for her...

She's a keeper.

Leilea Alice

So she's finally here! We waited and waited (okay, some people wait longer, but still... ) and for all those who said "she'll come when she's ready"- you were so right! Friday morning John and I were wondering whether or not to go to the hospital and whether or not John should go ahead and go to work, and by lunchtime she was here. Amazing. This was by far the easiest of my three birth experiences. I am still in awe.

She weighs 8lbs 4ozs, is 21 inches long and has a head full of brown (yes, brown) hair. I guess one of my children will take after their father after all. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.

I'll have to get better pictures up here but in the meantime, here's a picture taken just a few minutes after she was born.

If you don't have anything nice to say...

I haven't posted in a while because of the lack of news. I was hoping that my next post on here would be about Leilea and how cute she is and how she just walked out and got a job, but alas, we still wait.

I thought in the meantime, I could post pictures of Kawika's new haircut but the camera is packed and maybe it's best to let it grow a little before too many people see it.

See- the Friskillo men don't go to the barber. I have been cutting their hair and so far I've done a pretty good job. (don't mean to toot my own horn but- beep! beep!) I have two haircuts in my repertoire- full buzz and faux hawk. Kawika has usually gotten the faux hawk but today mommy was not on her game and had to resort to a #2 guard full buzz.

I regret to inform you that he now looks like he is training for Hitler's Youth. John always gets the full buzz but it doesn't look so severe on a grown man, you know? Anyway, his hair grows fast and I think he likes the feel of it.

A really cool thing I did today was spent the afternoon with my two best childhood friends EVER. It was really cool to spend time with them and sit back and think about how far we have each come in our lives.... and also how we're still those little girls who rode our bikes to each other's houses and gossiped about that girl who made out with that guy with the lazy eye. I love it.

The last hUrrah

This Labor Day weekend, my folks organized a road trip. It was so much fun! We ate, and swam, and ate some more. We also did some educational/historical sight seeing- because no Steinbrink road trip would be complete without it. Fun was had by all.

That said, I don't foresee any more of these trips for the Frisky's any time soon. I don't know how we could have done it without the four extra adults that were there. Leilea was pretty easy to take care of, being unborn and all, but I just can't imagine me and John out of town with three kids (especially when one of them is Kawika- whew!).

Like I said, we had a blast. I'll post pictures later. Hopefully they will include the most adorable traveler ever, Miss Hannah.

A Little Serious Today.

If you know our little Iwa, you know how she loves animals with a love so great, one might even use the word "obsession". She has always been this way. She would cuddle a stuffed pig before she would even notice a baby doll was in the room.

Both my favorite and least favorite Iwa stories deal with this love.

First, one of my favorites. Sometime last spring, I was taking a shower, getting ready for school when John came in and in a hushed voice told me that something had happened and wanted to consult on how we should deal with it. When Iwa was letting General, our dog, outside for his morning constitution, there was a dead squirrel in the grass. She came and got him and told him that General was stepping on a squirrel. John, trying to be discrete, came back to talk to me before he had made an official statement to her. I was giving this a lot of thought. How do you explain the nature of nature to a 3-year-old? It was just about then that she burst into the bathroom saying, rather mater-of-factly, "Mom, there's a dead squirrel in the back yard and General's stepping on it. I'm gonna hold the tail while daddy holds the body to throw it over the fence." That took care of that.

Now, one of my least favorites, happened today while we were visiting John's dad's house. They live out in the country with horses, mules, goats (one of which was Iwa's second birthday present- a pygmy goat she named Sheep), a pony, and, of course hunting dogs and barn kitties.

She went out to the barn with Martha to visit the baby kitties infesting the barn and one of the more socialized hunting dogs came along. She had made fast friends with this dog, whose name is "Broke Tail Buck" as soon as she arrived. These animals follow her around like she's friggin' Dr. Doolittle.

Anyway, when they came back, she was hysterical. "Buck the Dog" who I thought might have even been semi-retarded attacked one of the kitties right in front of them. Now, this really sucks but I really don't want to lie to her about these things. They weren't playing. The kitty wasn't sleeping. If she's going to be spending time around a farm and loving animals, she needs to know that wild animals do these things. That's why they're wild. Sometimes our inside animals can do these things. It's life. Not everything wants to cuddle and be petted.

I took her outside to a rocking chair, and after lots of tears and cuddling and talking, she was fine. Maybe she's a little more grown up, maybe scarred for life. I know I certainly am. As for her, only time will tell. Bless her heart.

Oh, Yeaahh.. I'm venting.

Okay. I'm glad people think my kids are cute because when they're with me people are usually too distracted by them to comment on how friggin' huge their pregnant mother's belly is.

Sometimes even they are no match for the rudeness of strangers.

I can't tell you how many times a day I am asked by complete strangers (and sometimes not strangers) how many babies I am carrying.

While the resemblance to a certain sugary drink icon is undeniable on Rivercrest "spirit days" (go Redbirds), it's also an undeniable fact that you just don't approach a woman who's 9 months pregnant and tell her she's huge. I get it. I carry this thing around all day. When I turn to answer kids questions, I knock another kid in the head with my stomach. (much to their horror because most of the time they have no idea what it's all about) It's an issue.

If you've been there, you know that any woman at this point in pregnancy already feels huge. That's why it always surprises me when women do the asking. Last night, we went to IHOP and a woman and her daughter approached me to ask "how many" because they were taking bets on it. And she was a nurse!

I know they don't mean to be rude but for the record, IT'S JUST ONE... and she's still got a month to go.