Trip to Cali week 1

On the 15th of December Micah and I flew out to California to spend sometime with my family. It was Micah's first plane ride and he was an absolute angel. My mom picked us up from the airport and boy was she excited to see us. Both of my daughters were already in Santa Ana spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Rogers so I went to pick them up. When I arrived Jared's family was decorating their Christmas tree. It was great to be apart of it. I think my daughter's were taking off more ornaments than were being put on.
We finished with a yummy dinner, hung out for a while and then we were off to spend the week with my parents.
My brother and sisters tired them out by chasing them around the house. They love to beat up my baby brother Jeffrey. He is quite the teaser. I had to tell him a couple of times to stop frustrating my daughter Sela...lol.
On Wednesday I hung out with my family all day long. We did some Christmas shopping and later that night my sister's and I went out to dinner and watched Blindside. I loved the movie and think Sandra Bullock had an outstanding performance. I love how my sisters are getting older and we can do so many more things together. They are a blast.
Thursday was GNO with Kellie and Deb's. We went out for Sushi and it was delicious. I ordered way too much food. I think I ordered a crunchy roll, california roll, sea urchin and kalbi bbq short ribs. It was ridiculous! I enjoyed my food, but enjoyed talking with Kellie and Deb even more. We were reminiscing about old times and talking about how we couldn't believe we were all moms or moms-to-be. It was great catching up with these girls. I love them!

I also got to meet this adorable little red head, Kellie's daughter Gwen. The camera does not do her justice! Debs is holding her, it's covering her cute little preggers tummy. Pregnancy suits her, she is just glowing.
Oh yeah I also took my daughter's to see Princess and the Frog. My sister Audrey came along as well. I absolutely LOVE this movie. It's my daughter Sela's new fav movie. I loved all of the music. I think I may take her to see it again with my hubby...HE secretly wants to see it BADLY haha.. love it.
Saturday, my SIL, Anuanu got married. She looked beautiful. I don't have any pics, but it was a small wedding with just family. The Roger's family is just expanding like crazy. I love it. Welcome to the family Vaea.Sunday, was a relaxing day spent with my family. It was nice to see people from my old family ward. I cannot believe how much all the little kids have grown...time sure has flown by.
Well that's week one...week two is even busier...I LOVE FAMILY

Free time

In my free time I absolutely love to make blankets. I've made 11 in the past 3-4 months. I guess it is a new hobby of mine. In a way, I find it very relaxing. It's my break from my 3 children...well mainly the girls, Micah doesn't really take up much of my time...YET. Here are a couple of my blankets. I've parted with 3 of them. I made them as gifts. If you've received one...know how hard it was for me to part with them..lol. But seriously...it takes so much time/patience and love to make them so if you've received one know you are very special and you're probably family. There are a couple of people I still need to make a blanket for, but I've been a little busy and I'm working on Micah Vakautapunga's blessing blanket. I started it, cut it all out and then realized I did it all wrong so now I have to get new material and start all over again. I'm going to use the material I messed up on and make something later.

Princess Blanket

Birdie

Trains
My favorite, but the pattern wasted too much fabric

Flowers

Nursery rhymes

animal fun

I need to find patterns that don't waste fabric. If you have any let me know! I'm also trying to make a dress. It's not going to well! It is soooo much harder than I thought. The dress is on hold until I watch someone do it.

My big boy

I cannot believe my baby boy is already a month. Time sure is flying and I don't like it one bit. It always makes me so sad when I have to pack away some of his clothes because it reminds me of how fast they grow up. At Micah's 2 week appt he weighed 9lbs 10 oz and was 21 inches. I'm curious what his stats are now. We don't go back to the doctor until Jan 6th because of the holiday season.
Micah still is a blob. He doesn't smile or coo yet but he's a pretty laid back baby..as long as he is fed, clean and wrapped like a football. My girls didn't care too much to be swaddled, but he absolutely loves it.
If I let this kid drink as much as he wants he can drink up to 6 ounces in one feeding, but i try to limit him to 4 ounces, only because he spits up a lot. I have these awesome bibs that I got off of babysteals. It keeps the milk from dripping in the creases of the neck. Micah has such a huge double chin that it can be hard to clean and I hate it when babies smell like sour milk. I totally recommend this bib.
Breastfeeding...you would think after having three children I would have it down, but I think I'm a sucker for a very hungry baby. My milk didn't really come all the way in till day 5 so I was bottle feeding him in the hospital...plus I was so tired/lazy and he would sleep through the night on formula. He was a good at latching in the hospital, but when we got home he was too lazy. He would eat for maybe a minute and fall asleep. So now I am pumping and bottle feeding. My lactation consultant from the hospital calls me once a week to see how I am doing and she tells me that I can still breastfeed if I have the patience, but I don't. I've already worked in pumping into my schedule so its not too bad. I go to sleep at 11 or 12 so I pump before I sleep. Micah wakes up at 4 0r 5 so I feed him and pump. The girls wake up at 7:30 they watch backyardigans. I wake up Micah feed him put him back down. Make the girls breakfast...its usually around 8 now. I pump again. Let the girl watch a little more TV...then I sew or read. I am currently reading the Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan. Jared surprised me with it a couple of weeks ago. At 9 I bathe the girls and let them draw or read their books in their undies. I like to get them ready for the day after lunch because they get so messy. Next it's Vakautapunga's turn. He takes me probably 30-45 minutes to get ready for the day. He loves his bath time. So I bathe him, powder him down, oil his eyebrows..he tends to get cradle cap there, dress him, feed him and he goes back to sleep. Now it's the girls turn. Sometimes I let them pick out what they want to wear. Once I have their outfits it's time for lunch. I feed them then get them ready. By this time it's around 11 or 12. They get to watch a movie or show of their choice (while I pump)..right now it's either Lilo and Stitch or Dora the explorer. Sinalei always wants "Palo" which is Backyardigans, but I am so SICK of watching them that I only let them watch maybe 2 episode...one in the morning and one before bedtime. I swear I use to watch it maybe 5-10 times a day. We work on colors, numbers and animals. Sela can count to 5 by herself and sometimes 10. She's not too good with her colors, but she is excellent with her animals. She is the number one animal lover. I think that is why she loves Diego and Dora. During this time Sinalei will find a random place and fall asleep or they will both go down around 1 or 2. I pump during their nap time. I usually sew or watch netflix. I love having netflix. Micah will wake up to eat and go back to sleep. I try to keep him up but he'll just fall sleep. So I cuddle with him around this time because I don't get much of a chance with the girls being up. They wake up around 3-4. We wait for Dad to get home around 4:30. He takes over while I pump again. I feed them dinner and we watch a movie or read their books. Micah is usally up from 5 till 8. My girls will got down at 9:30, but my husband is such a softy for his girls and lets them stay up with him. I pump at 9 Micah will get up around 10-12 I feed him and it starts all over again. So that is pretty much my life everyday. With a couple of Walmart trips when daddy comes home or Thanksgiving Point if they're really lucky. We just like to take the girls somewhere every other day. I wish it wasn't so cold. I am not looking forward to the snow. I love to look at it, but not be in it.
Micah is so lucky to have such loving sisters. Sela loves and adores him and Sinalei cannot give him enough hugs and kisses. I was thinking I was going to have a lot of jealousy issues, but I really haven't. The girls fight more, but for the most part they love to play together.
I love my kids so much. I cant wait for Christmas this year. Thanksgiving was quiet in our household. I didn't make a Thanksgiving feast because my FIL is down and he'll be making our feast on Sunday. I am sooo looking forward to it!
Here are my current quilts I'm working on. The princess one has sparkles on it and the other one is a choo choo train themed one. I cannot get enough of making blankets. It's so much fun. I'll usually do one or 2 blocks a day. I have a new pattern I'm going to work on once I save up some money to get fabric.

Halloween Weekend

Halloween weekend was so much fun. The girls had such awesome costumes. My MIL made their costumes this year and they were definitely better than any store bought costumes I could of gotten. Sela was little miss bo peep and Sinalei was little red riding hood. The were so adorable. Sela always asks to wear her costume.
We were also able to carve pumpkins. All the kids got one, but the only one really into it was Sela. Sinalei could care less, but that's pretty much her attitude about everything! We were able to go to my SIL's trunk or treat. The girls had fun, but I had more fun eating all their candy. We were suppose to take the kids around the neighborhood and to another trunk or treat, but we were too tired.
The next day we attended my neice's baby blessing. Her dress was beautiful and my nephew looked adorable in his outfit too. Manase gave his daughter a beautiful blessing and the family gathering afterward had delicious food provided by my FIL and Manase's family. My favorite was the turkey and stuffing...I CANT WAIT FOR THANKSGIVING!!! All in all it was a great weekend. The only downer was seeing my MIL go. She was a huge help after I had Micah. The girls miss her dearly. Every now and then Sela will ask "where's papa??" She calls Sela and Mike both papa or Sela mom. So I'm looking forward to next Halloween and to my son's blessing. The plan is we're still coming to California...wohooo I cant wait to eat SUSHI.

Welcome to the World Micah Vakautapunga

Micah Vakautapunga I Hakautapu Rogers

On October 22nd, I gave birth to our son at 9:19pm, after being induced at 7:30am. My whole laboring experience was a challenge. My labor with Sinalei was easy so I figured it would be the same with our son. It was NOT. I should of followed my instincts and waited until he wanted to come on his own. I went to the doctor the day before and I hadn't made any progression except for "softening up" whatever that means...I'm guessing my cervix was ripening. My doctor said I could wait another week or he'll induce me tomorrow. I talked to Jared and he wanted to meet his son already. He was the impatient one through all of this. So we went to the hospital the next day hoping for the best. I was going to be pissed if they sent me home. My nurse told me that I had to pass a bishop's test to be electively induced. Which means I had to be dilated at a 2. I got to the hospital and I was still 1.5, but luckily my doctor let me stay. They put me on oxytocin, which creates horrible contractions. I went without an epideral for 5 hours thinking it would speed things up. I got to a 3 and finally I couldn't take the pain anymore. I think if I had dilated faster I would of tried natural birth, BUT that was not the case and after receiving my epideral I was in HEAVEN. Epiderals never work well for me, but this time it worked like a charm. I spelt all day. Jared was so bored I sent him home to be with our girls. Oh yeah the hospitals banned children under 14 so I wasn't able to see my girls. At 8pm they checked me and I was a 4! I broke down because I was so frustrated. I had been in labor LONGER than I was with my first child. They turned down the oxytocin because the contractions were causing my son's heartrate to drop. Once they did that I was at a 10 at 8:45. I think the drugs were causing my body to stress and not allowing my cervix to open up. Anyway the doctor got their at 9:10 and he was born at 9:19. He was absolutely beautiful. He reminds me so much of our first child Sela. After holding him he had to be taken to the nursery right away. He was having trouble breathing and was a little pale. The poor guy had to have an IV put in. I felt so sorry for his little hand because I HATED having an IV in. Anyway, we look forward to watching him grow and seeing his personality develop. So far he eats a lot and sleeps all day. He wakes up once maybe 2 times a night...I don't mind too much as long as I can get 3 hours of sleep at a time. We've been blessed with a good/calm baby. I think we deserve it after having a Sinalei...who cried nonstop the first 9 months of her life..:) Anyway we're so inlove with our little guy. We're planning to bless his California so all my Cali friends you're all invited. Hope you guys can make it.

Thankful

I'm not sleeping well these days so I have time to blog stalk. I came across Kellie's cousin Sarah's blog and it reminded me of when I watched this episode of Oprah last week. It was so touching in so many ways. It reminded me that someone always has it worse than you and we should always be thankful for all our blessings no matter how small.

I cried so much at the part where she told her children she couldn't hold them. She is such a great example of a strong woman. I loved how supportive her family was and her loving husband. What a great man. I'm going to steal a quote from Sarah's page...it was my favorite too.

Stephanie says she had a vision while she was unconscious, and she was given a choice. "[I was] with somebody who told me that I could choose to live and have a hard life, you know, embarrassing at times and painful. Or, I could just stay there, and there's lots of work I could do there too," she says. "But I thought of my children and my husband, and it was easy. An easy choice."

Viva Las Vegas

So this past weekend we took a trip to Vegas for the BYU game. I did not want to go because I am 9 months pregnant, but my husband kept insisting that I go along. So I gave in because I knew I'd regret missing out on all the fun. It took us about 5 hours to get there. We met up with all of Jared's family. The boys went to the game and the girls just hung out at the hotel. It was a nice relaxing weekend. I was so happy to see my daughter Sela. It's amazing how much they grow intellectually in a matter of weeks. She seemed to have matured so much. It was so cute to see Sinalei and Sela play together. You could tell how much they missed each other. They were obsessed with playing with these plastic bowls. They'd walk around with them on their heads and then occasionally set them down, sit and have a full on conversation. It's so fun to watch how animated their faces would get and then to see them pointing their fingers at each other. I wish I would of brought my video camera for that moment, but it always seems to work out that way...when you really wish you had your camera, it's no where to be found.
We managed to go to a great restaurant as a family. It's called Blueberry Hill...I think. Well anyway it was DELICIOUS. Best pancakes I've ever had.

Here's a picture of the girls with their new baby cousin Leila. I think she's 3 weeks here. Tons and tons of hair. They love her!
I can only hope Sela and Sinalei are as good with their baby brother as they are with their baby cousin :)

Anyway it's always nice to spend time with family. I am so thankful to have Sela back with us, but am so thankful for my MIL for taking my daughter for those couple of weeks. Since she's been back I've been running around the house and cleaning 24/7. But it is so nice to have her spunky little personality back in our home. It was sooo quiet without her in our home. Sinalei is having some trouble adjusting. She needs to relearn how to share. So less sewing going on since these girls have my hands full, but nights when I have insomnia it's great to have something productive to do.
Pregnancy is going well. My stomach is ginormous....I don't think that's a word but that's how I feel. Had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and I haven't progressed at all. I'm still a 1.5 anterior. I'm scheduled to be induced on the 22nd which is next Thursday. I made an appointment on Wednesday to be checked by the doctor one more time. If I haven't made a change then I don't think I will go through with the inducement...I know CRAZY...anyone coming to the end would be begging to be put out of their misery, but I feel the longer he cooks the better he'll be. Well I'll keep ya posted on what will happen. Till then I'm going to enjoy having my girls and being a family of 4. It's going to be scary making the jump to 5!

Sela Ilaisaane Manu Rogers

Born March 23, 2007

The Princess of the familyHer very first day with usabout 1 week oldOne month2 months
3 months4 months
5 months
6 months7 months
8 months
9 months (Sela's first Christmas)
10 months11 months1 year old

19 months second halloween
21 months Sela's second ChristmasSela's 2nd birthday25 months (last time she'll see Uncle Greg till he comes home from his mission)26 months (first trip to Hawaii)29 months

We love this spunky little girl so much. We cant believe how fast she's growing up!