joe & trav’s birthday bash

 

We had a few friends and family over for Joe & Trav’s birthday party. This is Papa Doxey reading to the boys before everyone arrived.

 

 

 

Opening gifts, Travis was actually into it.

Dads

And the other boys were into opening the gifts too, haha!

 

More gifts.

 

A gift for Joe! And he approves!

 

There is nothing more heart warming than a ceramic, sassy Santa filled with gumballs and tinkerbell lip gloss. :D

Hayley reading to the kiddos.

 

Ok, some people don’t like it when you catch them off guard…oops.

 

 

Our friends from church, Becky, Justin & Miles – Whats UP!

 

 

Miranda & Tyson – So happy they could come

 

Travis was a little stressed with all the people who came. Uncle Josh is REALLY good with kids, they just seem to break down with him sometimes. Thought it was a funny moment to capture.

 

We had a fun night and thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us. Once everyone left, Travis was himself again. :D

Happy Birthday Joe & Travis!

random stuff

These were taken on the plane when we were flying home from Utah in February. Enoch watched Open Season on his PSP and Travis had a blast with the tray table. He just loved the thing. And no, we did not buy our 3 year old a PSP, my Dad found it on a job site they were demolishing. Thanks Dad! :D

  

 

Here’s Enoch in his snowsuit, pretty cool right? I love the suit, I think its awesome. I’m sure 15 years down the road it won’t look so cool but for now, it works.

He did NOT want to give me a good picture but, I finally caught one. He’s my goof ball.

  

This was just one morning and we all were chillin’ in our jammies and Enoch wanted a photo of his cool Elephants smashing the fruit loops.

Yes, he gets his faces from me. :D

camping in the living room

Every now and then, Enoch finds his Lightning McQueen tent in the closet and drags it out for me to set up. Well, this was the first time he had done that since Travis was born.

I set the tent up, threw in a few pillows with a blanket and they were set. They watched a movie for a little while and then Enoch got bored.

Travis, however, stayed in the same spot for a very long time. I’m not sure what he thought was going on…he wasn’t too sure he was allowed to move though.

Fun night!

 

 

swim lessons here we come!

Enoch began swim lessons on Travis’s birthday, March 16, 2010. I’ve been wanting to get Enoch into swim for a year now and just never got around to it. February rolled around and I finally pulled the trigger and signed him up. He was SO excited. The day I went to Utah rec center, he about died because I was only picking up the information on classes and not taking him to a lesson THAT day. I then explained to him that we would be going to his first lesson in a few weeks and that seemed to help a little, but not much.

The day finally came and we had his back pack all packed up and ready to go. He was so excited that he didn’t even want to go pee before his lesson. I was so worried that he would have any accident but, it never came. He was bouncing around and wiggling and nervous, it was so cute. Once he got into the pool, he told me he needed to go potty and I told him he couldn’t really leave his lesson so I figured he just let loose in the pool….and he didn’t. For his class, they have whats called a “tot dock”, its like this big plastic dock in the pool that allows the shorter kids to stand up in the water but its only about 4 feet by 3 feet. Well, Enoch was bouncing all over that dock because he was holding his pee and he didn’t realize the dock ended. A couple of bounces into his lesson, he bounced right off of that dock. :D Luckily, the water is only 3 feet deep and Enoch is about 3’6. You will notice in the photos that, in one photo he’s dry and the next he’s sopping wet. That’s my boy!!!

He absolutely adores his swim lessons and his teacher. This is our fourth and final week this week and I’m bummed that it will be ending. Who knows, maybe we’ll sign up for the next session!

 

     

 

 

 

 

its been a while

So its been a while since my last post – Travis’s birthday to be exact, so almost a month. I’m sorry, its been a busy month. I got a new calling at church: Primary President. YIKES. Its a scary thought, I know. Its been scaring me since I got the call. Luckily, the week after I accepted the calling was General Conference – thank goodness. So I had a week break and time to prepare. The prompting for my counselors and my secretary came pretty darn quick and I’m glad I listened, they are some great ladies and I’m excited to work with them. It should be a lot of fun. I am going to miss the old presidency tremendously though. We did so well together!

So, this new calling is definitely helping me deal with some public speaking issues and confrontational issues that I deal with on a regular basis. I really hope it helps me get OVER them. That would be nice. It has also been a blessing, I’ve noticed some negative things in our life have taken a turn for the better and that has been a great help. I look forward to what the future holds.

Now, without further ado, I will begin posting pictures of the events since Travis’s birthday. Begin the posting!

my baby turns 1

A year ago today, at 9:54 AM – Travis Lawrence Huapala came into our lives and joined our little family.

He has been a blessing, a good laugh and a very sweet spirit.

Happy Birthday Travis!

We Love You!

The Week Before - 36 Weeks

The Birth Story

The Birth Photos

A Few Things About Trav

Food - He LOVES food. He will eat anything that is edible and he will try to eat anything that is not. He's not afraid to try new foods at all and most of the time, loves whatever it is. His favorite is avocado. He just eats them up. He lets you know that he wants to eat by pointing to the food and saying, "Uh uh, hmmm.".

Favorites - Travis loves time with his Dad. He gets so excited when Joe comes home from work. He wiggles, giggles and crawls as quickly as he can and yells, "Da!" and points his little finger at Joe. Its the cutest thing ever. He loves to wrestle with Joe and Enoch. Joe does take it a little easier on Travis but he loves it when it gets rough. He feels like a big boy.

Sports - He loves basketball. Whenever its on tv, even if we're channel surfing, he starts screaming, "Ba! Hmm!", then bounces up and down to make Joe stop surfing. Now, this is not a bad thing for Joe, he needed someone else to watch basketball with because Enoch and I just don't care for it. Trav will clap when they score, its really cute. His favorite toy is a ball of course. He will toss that thing around the house and chase after it all day.

Big Brother - He loves his big brother. He wants to do anything that Enoch is doing and play with whatever Enoch thinks is cool. This goes over well most of the time - unless Enoch is tired of course and just isn't in a sharing mood. For the most part, they enjoy play time with each other.

Sweet Loves - Travis is a lover. Whenever you pick him up, he will squeeze and hug you, then pat you on the back. He adores giving kisses; he leans in and pushes his little mouth out to get you. So cute. He is also very kind and caring. If he's eating something and you're near him, he will almost always share it with you.

He is our Trav and we adore him.

i gotta feelin'...

Most of the time when you a hear a story from a Mom about a grocery store trip, its pretty traumatizing. Your kids are driving you crazy as they drive each other nuts; other people in the store find that its their right to tell you you're a crappy mother because you're children are having a bad day.Well, I have had those days and they are not fun. I mostly just want to punch whomever it is that sticks their nose into my business and then excuse myself from their "perfect" existence.

Well, today didn't go like that at all. Actually, it was pretty positive and uplifting.
I went to Sprouts to check the prices on some meat and then on the way out, decided to get the kids their own bag of candy. If you've been to Sprouts, you'd know that they have a bulk section so you can buy as much or as little as you want. Enoch got gummy worms and bears, Travis got a very small bag of mini peanut butter cups.

Well, there is ALWAYS a line at Sprouts check out, ALWAYS. So I quickly hopped into the first line in front of me and realized, after I got in line, that I might have cut this older gentleman off to get into that line. I thought about it for a minute and then tried to brush it off. I did, however, feel his eyes on me and sometimes the boys and I just thought to myself, "Oh please, don't say anything. I'm tired and I don't want to deal with an emotional upset today. Please." Well, the line was still pretty long and he was watching Enoch & Travis, he finally asked,
"Do your boys fight very much?"
Me: Well, not as often as you'd think. I think its the age gap. 3 years is a good gap.

Gentleman: That's great. My grandsons are two years apart and fight constantly.

Me: Its still considered love though. Just a little rough around the edges.

GM: I had an older brother with a very short temper but it would end quickly. Once he was over it, he would give me a hug and that always surprised me. Never got used to it.

Me: At least he felt bad. My boys are huggers and kissers, when they do fight, it is brief and they end on a hug.

GM: That is wonderful. Are they both healthy?

Me: We had a rough patch with the oldest but he is healthy now. The younger is healthy as a horse. We've definitely been blessed.

GM: Fantastic, my daughter was born with asthma so we were always told that she wouldn't do much in life. She turned out to be a fantastic athlete and brilliant. She has done wonderfully in school.

Me: Oh thats great. You're always told that if they have a condition, you should keep them from doing certain things but that will only hinder their strength and development.

GM: So true. Are you a church going lady?

Me: Why yes I am.

GM: Ah, thats wonderful. It shows. How wonderful it is to be able to tell a fellow Christian.

Later on in the conversation, yes the line was THAT long, I found out he was a pastor for a Christian church. He told me my boys were beautiful and very well behaved. He was a very nice gentleman and seems to have a great little family. They were blessed with just one child, a daughter. She had a rough start, she was born only 3 lbs and was said to have suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen and they were told that she would not be able to do a lot of the things that most people grow up to do. Now she's married, has two children, has graduated college with a bachelor's. Life truly is amazing and the Lord blesses us everyday.
What a great afternoon at the store. It just left me with a good feeling.

=D

On a funnier note, Enoch and I were watching Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs this afternoon. When Sid brought the eggs out of the ground, Enoch turned to me and said,

"Mom, do those edds *eggs* have NUSSTACHES?"

When he says it, it sounds like "Nut Sash". I'm sorry, that's funny. HAHA!

sick, sick, sick

So Travis has been sick lately. It started a few months ago with a cold. That cold went away. Then he had another cold. That cold went away. And now, he's got, yes, you guessed it, ANOTHER cold. I feel so bad for this guy. I've heard that the second child gets more ickiness and sickiness than the first but, I thought it was only a rumor. Well, it is now fact for me. The odd thing is, I go out SO much less now that I have two than I did with one. I guess that is the problem, not enough exposure.
I did read an article in the Parent magazine stating that you can be TOO clean. Kids NEED germs to build stronger immune systems. (did you know that the average 1 -2 year old puts their hands to their mouths 80 times in ONE hour?) This makes sense to me. I will now promise to make every effort to get out more so my child is exposed to more GERMS. I'm an AWESOME Mom. :D

I did however discover that a Mother's love really is true love last night. When you are more than willing to stay up with your whaling, screaming, inconsolable child ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Just so he can feel better in the morning, that is true love.
So, to anyone out there who thinks that Motherhood is the easiest job ever and anyone who chooses being a full time Mom over a full time job has the easy road, think again. I challenge you to spend one night with a sick child and come out on the other side smiling and only loving that child more. Be my guest.
Motherhood is hard work my friends and I cherish it. I would choose my children, sickness & health, over the stress of a paying job anyday. My life as a Mother is 110% more rewarding than any job could ever be.

I Love Being a Mom. :D

who is who?

they look pretty similar, eh?

sort of an update on us...

I haven't posted in a while. Sorry. Life is life and it just takes off at times and you don't know what really happened or where the time went.

We were out in Utah again this month, it was a fun trip. Joe's Uncle Soulee turned 60 and his kids threw him a huge birthday bash. It was a lot of fun and it was so good to see so much of the family at one time. Joe's cousin also had his eagle scout court of honor so it was nice to be able to celebrate that with him as well. It was easier to recover from this trip so I'm not complaining.
We stayed with Joe's cousin Olivia and her husband Todd along with their 5 beautiful children. We really do enjoy our time with them and wish we could do it more often.

Things are going well here at home. We will be getting our tax returns here shortly and we're very excited to be able to pay off a large chunk of debt and really get a handle on the rest of it. It was our hope to get into a new home before this April so we could take part in that wonderful tax credit for new home buyers but it just isn't going to happen that soon. Oh well.

Enoch is just amazing and he's growing up so quickly. We began potty training again at the beginning of the year because HE was interested. I had no hand in it at all. He has done very well. The pee is completely under control, he does it on his own and has for a few weeks now. We don't even have the need for pull -ups at night. He LOVES to pee like his Daddy ( standing up ). I just get a huge smile every time I hear the toilet seat drop and the flush because he's just gone by himself. Its a huge accomplishment for him and I'm extremely proud of my little boy. This last week he has begun telling me that he needs to poop which is a GINORMOUS relief. Since this occurrence, he has only had a few accidents with the poop and it has cut down on throwing away disgusting underwear accidents DRASTICALLY.

I have started implementing a little bit of school work with Enoch as well. To my surprise, he really enjoys it. We just have some books for colors, letters and numbers, nothing fancy, but it does the trick and he loves it. We do 2 pages in each book everyday and he always complains that we can't do more.

Travis is growing like a weed. He has begun the process of weening himself just like Enoch did. Kids amaze me. He nurses once in the morning and once at night now. He started using a sippy cup with a straw when he was 8 and 1/2 months old which Enoch did as well. They just get the straw thing. Neither of them have ever taken to bottles, thank goodness! Travis also began crawling last Monday. I know, he's a little late but I'm not complaining. Keep them grounded as long as you can. He is now into everything and goes everywhere. He's mastered the one step in the living room already. He would definitely prefer to walk but he's pretty content with crawling...for now. He won't eat baby food anymore so he eats whatever we eat now. He has 8 teeth. He says Dad, Mom, he screams "Eek" for Enoch, he has his own word for Spongebob Squarepants who he just adores and giggles when he sees either of his Grandparents. He LOVES going into his Tutu-Nui's (great grandmother) room and talking to her. He has a wonderful bond with her that I don't think Enoch had with her. Its always interesting to see who they connect with as they get older. He loves to give kisses, high fives, clap his hands, play peek-a-boo and sing. I will try and post some videos of his singing and dancing soon.

As brothers, I couldn't have asked for a better pair. Yes, they have moments where they want to do their own thing and play by themselves but, they are small moments. Enoch and Travis have a love and understanding for each other that I have not experienced between siblings before. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending me such wonderful boys for sons. They amaze me on a daily basis and make my life so full and happy.
Enoch now calls Travis "Baby Long Neck". I'm assuming coming from a dinosaur fanatic, this is a good thing. :D

Joe and I had a nice, quiet Valentine's Day. My parents watched the kids and ate treats, had pizza and watched movies while we went out. We ate @ Tokyo Joe's (my favorite), sat and chatted at a park nearby and then did a little shopping at Target. Nothing extravagant, but when you're with the one you love, its always perfect. Joe made me earrings and a bracelet out of pearls and ribbons. They are beautiful and I love them. Photos to follow soon...
I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful husband. I couldn't have found a more wonderful, accepting, loving, kind, gentle, intelligent, spiritual man if I had searched for another 100 years. I love him dearly.

I hope this year brings us many happy moments and memories. I also hope this year we can take huge steps into our future to further our happiness and build a strong family together.

(sadie days photography)