Tai's First Day of School (New School)

Tai is lucky to have been selected in the lottery our school system runs for preschool. Now he gets to go to Maia's school!! But he's in the preschool section, so he does not get to see her very often. He was really excited to go on his first day. No separation anxiety from my big boy!

Maia's First Day of 2nd Grade (2012)

This is not a good picture, but the only one I have of Maia and Tai together.

Maia has become more aware of her look and pays a lot of attention to clothes.  This outifit is from a store called Justice.  Since she has been picky about clothes since she could express herself, I am not surprised that she has opinions about what she wants to wear.

She is getting ready to go into the building.  No walking her in this year.  Second graders go all by themselves!

Siblings

Meeting for the first time

Although spacing the children four years apart means we spend a prolonged amount of time in the baby stage, it's so wonderful in many ways.  It's so sweet to watch them fall in love and bond with their little sister.  Soon, she will be running around with them causing trouble.  For now, we are all enjoying having her be little.

I

Emili's Birth

Emili's birth was very different than Maia and Tai's. I wanted to have her at Family Beginnings, but like Tai, she was late. An ultrasound showed that my amniotic fluid was low, so I had to be induced. I was a little disappointed that my body wasn't doing what is was supposed to do, but quickly got used to the idea that having a "hospital birth" was not the end of the world. All that matters in the end is having a healthy baby.

Although I wanted to avoid an epidural, I found it was very difficult in this more traditional setting. With the previous births, I had no IV, no monitors, and nobody taking my blood pressure every 15 minutes. This time, all of that proved to be too much for me to handle. There was no nice big tub to go into for pain management. I couldn't even turn in bed without messing up the monitor and having the nurse come in to make sure everything was okay.

I tried to get Yoshi to talk me out of it, but I think the intensity of my pain was overwhelming him, too. I had an amazing nurse, and as I made the decision, I asked for her opinion. Will it stall labor? Will it increase my risk of a c-section? She looked at me matter of factly and assured me it would be fine. So I took the plunge. In the end, the epidural ended up being heavenly, especially since I had experienced two natural births before. It was like a party in the delivery room with everyone, including me, laughing and telling jokes. Don't get me wrong, I kind of regretted it in the end, but for the delivery it was amazing. Then I felt like I paid the price.

I couldn't feel my legs for a very long time. Usually patients stay in the delivery room for two hours before being transferred to the recovery area, but I could not move at all. It took over three hours for me to finally attempt to stand up. During that time, I was trying to nurse Emi, but it was really difficult to pull myself up to the correct position. Even with help, I struggled. Luckily, she is the third child, so I knew not to panic and that she would eventually nurse. Also, the site of the epidural got very tender and sore the next day. It really hurt, but the discomfort went away within a couple of days. Another reason is because my labor only lasted a couple of hours after I got the epidural. "What if I had toughed it out," I asked myself. But I cannot lie, having pain relief was really amazing.

 The last reason, I had been warned about but quickly forgot when I was in the delivery room. When you feel the baby being born, you are naturally careful not to push too forcefully because you can tell what is going on. With Maia and Tai both, I remember being conservative about my pushing. With Emili, I pushed like a rock star. I only had to push twice, then her body came out with no effort. At the time, it was terrific, but I ended up tearing a little worse than with the other kids. I recovered more quickly with the other births. Even Tai, who if you remember was a giant, did not damage me much. This time, it's taking a little longer to heal. Of course, it could be my older age, but I think it is because I couldn't feel anything and pushed too hard.

Enough with my birth story.  I know you are really here for pictures. Enjoy!

S

Hi this is  Maia writing.  I just  got a baby sister.  She is very cute and I love her very much.  But  are family is still missing something a puppy!  Here are 5 reasons why I need one or two.

1.    I need someone to play with me that is not my brother.

2.  I need some one to play with that is not annoying like my brother for  me and my sister to play with.

3.  Dogs are C U T E !

4.  If I got a puppy we could live better lives.

5.  Some  puppy who never had a family would get a family to live with a new family!

Emili is here!

We are so blessed to welcome another little person into the world.  Baby Emili was born on January 24, 2013.  She was 7lbs. 13oz. and 20.5 inches long. 

Here is a link to a photo gallery of her hospital pictures that will be up for 2 weeks.  After that, it will be removed, so please view soon.

I will update as soon as things quiet down a bit with some of our own pictures.

1)  Go to bellababyphotography.com

2)  Click on "View Photos"

3) Enter passord:  mbea0124hohlakisyokoi