Easter Weekend 2010

Easter weekend we always head to St. George to stay with my Aunt Karen. This year, Saturday afternoon was target shooting. I haven't gone with them because it's just easier to stay at the house with the baby. I've been told Kuso is a very good shot.

Leila participated in her first Easter Egg Hunt. She obviously didn't undestand what was going on, but my Aunt Debbie made enough eggs for all the little kids to be involved. I tried to let her pick up her own eggs, but she wasn't very interested in it.

I put her on the grass to take a picture with her eggs, and she freaked out! She did NOT like the grass, plus, she was tired. But I also had to include this picture to show of her stunning rolls on her arms! I can't wait for summer to show those puppies off all the time!

Leila made her first dollar! I need to find a bank to keep in her room to putall this little stuff in. At some point, she can get into her bank. I'm sure it will add up over time!

She loved to play with her Easter basket(s). Yes, she had two. Mostly, she just loved to tip them over and play with the eggs. I had a cute picture of her playing with her toys with the basket on her head but I just deleted it! Dang It!

So, if you read my blog, you have heard about Rusti. She is my cousin Ashley's daughter who is 10 days older than Leila. Don't worry, Leila has her by about 3 pounds too! Anyway, we put them on the floor together to see what they would do. THIS was the result! SO funny! They just wrestled for a bit, then I think Rusti realized how heavy Leila is and so we separated them!

Both of these girls love to hand upside down!

Sorry Leila, but I had to throw this picture in to show off your new Easter outfit (but really her arms and legs. Those things are massive!)

Kuso with Leila and Rusti

This is my adorable cousin Ashley with the two girls.

I don't know why all the pictures and words are placed whereever they want to be. You get the picture.

First Meeting with Great Uncle Fa'aFo'i

Kuso's ucle Fo'i lives in St. George. Last Easter was the first chance Kuso had to meet him in his whole life. Since then, we have seen him at the family reunion. It seems like we have always known him. This year, we made sure to schedule in some time to go visit him again. Fo'i's son, Billy was there with his daughter who is 2 days older than Leila...don't worry...Leila has her by about 3 pounds! And this is a fair match up because Billy is also full blooded Samoan married to a full blooded Palagi!













Leila and Great Uncle Fo'i













Billy with Leila and Kuso with Billy's Daugher (can't remember her name!)













Billy with both the girls. Leila is always reaching out to others...so friendly.

The funny thing about these pictures is each dad started out holding their own daughter to take pictures. After a few pictures, Kuso said they should trade. Billy held Leila and was like "whoa!" because she is so heavy compared to his daughter! I don't think the little girl appreciated Leila playing with her daddy's facial hair!

We love to visit with Uncle Fo'i because he tells us stories about Kuso's dad that we would never otherwise hear about. And because he has lived in the states for so long, his entire family speaks English and so I get included in most of the conversation. It's so nice to know what they are talking about!

Leila's First Haircut

Leila's hair has been needing to be cut for a while now. Her bangs would hang into her eyes, well below her eyebrow, and the back was cute because it was so long, but it was nappy. That fine baby hair would just get rubbed around while she slept and played and would turn into a big 'fro in the back. Nothing would calm it down except for MAYBE water...otherwise, it was a wild mess. So we had my cousin Ashley cut her hair (she has at least been to professional beautician school!) We just trimmed a little of the front and brought the back up to her natural hairline. It looks and feels SO much better. The back still 'fro's up some, but it still has some fine baby hair. Her "real" hair is growing in nicely. Hopefully it's not too long before we can cut all the baby hair off and let her have nice hair!













She wasn't quite sure about it at first, but with Grandma's help, she did ok.











See how her hair was down by her shoulders?
Now it's cut up to where you can see her neck-line. It looks so cute!














Because Leila is Leila, it didn't take long for her to get wiggly.
Ashley did a great job keeping up with her.
Her hair looks and feels SO much better now. Thanks for the cut cuz!

Leila at Six Months

Leila loves to play in her "exersaucer." When she was six months old, it was the best way for her to be upright and see what was going on around her.













What you lookin' at?













OH! ME?!?! CHEEEEEEZE!!!














Baby Haka Warrior Face!













Back to business













Spoiled hold by grandpa.

Side note: See that redness around her mouth? That is just dry skin. We have tried vaseline, hydro-cortisone cream, lotion, nothing, etc. It comes and goes and seems to be very itchy. She scratches at it most when she is tired. We recently started using Eucerine face cream. It seems to be helping some, but it is so sad to see this stuff all over her face. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to comment!

It's About Time

I'm FINALLY updating the past two months of stuff. I'll start with Leila. She is now 7 months old! I'll copy the entries that I'm putting into her baby book.

**Monday, March 15, 2010 was your six month check up.
You had more shots.
You cried until you saw the sad baby in the mirror,
then you became happy. You love to look at yourself in the mirror.
At that time, your measurements were as follows:
-Head – 43.5 cm
-Height – 27 ¾ in
-Weight – 18 lbs 12 oz
**You roll all over the place. You are starting to army crawl/scoot
around by pushing yourself forward with your toes.
**You have started to push yourself back up to sitting position.
** You are stable enough to play with toys in the bathtub.
**You had RSV just a few days after your five month check up.
**You have started to pat everything, usually with your right hand.
You like to hear the sounds that it makes and have started to notice
that different materials make different sounds.
**You started eating “baby food.”
You started with all the vegetables first.
At first you didn’t like carrots or peas, but it was mostly
because the texture was new. Fruits will come next.
**You took the most darling pictures in your Samoan dress.
And naked. Sorry, but it was too cute.
**You have started to talk with bahbahbabababa…

**At seven months, you are becoming extremely mobile.
You push yourself up onto your feet with your hands still on the floor.
You take a few steps this way, then roll back onto your butt.
You are getting closer to an actual crawl. You do crawl a few paces, but
then go back up to your toes, or sit back down.
**You are starting to try and pull yourself up to stand.
**You are extremely silly. You flirt with your dad.
When he plays with you and makes you laugh,
you taunt him to keep doing it.
**You have the cutest little giggle.
**You are eating more baby food. Fruits included.
**You STILL don’t sleep well through the night. You are usually up at
least once, thinking you need to eat.
**You have graduated to a “stay-in-the-car seat.”
Because you aren’t confined to your car seat anymore,
You love to go shopping because you can see so much.
**You are VERY observant.
Everywhere you go, you take in all the sights.
**You tend to stare at people.
**You have learned that if you pat with an object,
it makes a different sound.
**Your babble now includes a “papapa” and “mamama” sound.
**You were extremely sick just a week after your six month check up.
Saturday March 20th, you went to Insta Care. You had 101.9 fever,
blisters on your throat, an ear infection in your left ear, and goopy
eyes. You were so sick, you WANTED to cuddle.
**You had your first Easter in St. George with Grandma Neener’s side of
the family. You discovered that you don’t like the feel of grass.

International 7's in Las Vegas

That guy is the Samoan Avatar (above)






























Kuso and Joe (friend from Cali and from the same Village back home.) (Above)















Kuso and Afa Aiono (plays on Manu Samoa...I'm sure they are related somehow.) (above)




The Manu doing the Samoan Haka at the after party Sunday night after beating the New Zealand All Blacks for the Championship! Oh Yeah Baby! (above)
















Kuso and Threton Palamo waiting in the Vegas Airport for their flight back to SLC. It was delayed more than an hour. He plays for the American team. He attends school at the U of U.

First Trip Out of Utah

Over Valentine's weekend, Kuso was going to Las Vegas to watch the The Rugby 7's World Cup. SAMOA WON! He was SO excited that he was able to be there for that. He already said I get to go with him next year....I'll have to get more info and pictures from him if he wants me to post more about it....anyway, back to my original post.

Because Kuso was going to be gone, and my parents were already headed to California to see my brothers and Michelle and Kiley, Leila and I tagged along. I was really nervous about how Leila would do in the car for that long. She was a rock star! The first night we just went to Cedar City. About half way there, she was getting restless. I turned on The Jungle Book and she loved the bright colors. The next day, she slept so much. She would wake up, look at me, see that I wasn't making any moves to get her out, then just go back to sleep. It could not have been better.

My niece Kiley is SO funny. She has her 2-year-old moments, but she said some funny stuff while we were there. When she met Leila at Christmas, she wasn't very fond of her. It took a long time for her to warm up. This trip, she loved Leila. She wanted to help grandma put lotion on her after the bath. She always wanted to give her toys, especially her binky. This is a picture of her reading the book to Leila. In one of the books was a picture of a lady bug. I told her it was a Leila bug. Now she calls it a baby bug. Valentine's day we went to the Wild Animal Park near San Diego. To be honest, I think our Hogel Zoo here in Utah is more fun and much cheaper, but it was still really cool to see some of their large animals roaming the hill side. Again, Leila rocked it just hanging out in her car seat. The zoo had a baby elephant born just 13 hours before we saw him. He was 220 pounds at birth! You can see his little bumb to the left side of mommy. That was worth the trip.

Valentine's Day also happened to be Leila's 5 month mark! She is so silly. That's all I can say about her. She spits and laughs all day long. On the left is a picture of her chillin while she watches the Olympics. The right, uncle Troy is playing with her. She LOVES to hang upside down. I'll post more about what she is doing at 5 months in a later blog.

Because I was so nervous about how she would travel, we booked a flight home to make the trip shorter. Again, she was a trooper. She is usually so wiggly and wanting to play. She just sat on my lap and entertained everyone around her. She didn't do anything. She just sat there being cute and everyone just stared at her!

It was a quick trip, but I'm glad we went. We got home early enough on Monday to spend a late Valentine's Day with Kuso.