I’m sure you’ve noticed a lack of updates lately and unfortunately this is because the server mamasurfs is hosted on has been hacked. To be totally honest I don’t really know what that means other than a bunch of broken links, images that won’t load and the risk that the pages of mamasurfs have been loaded with a virus!

I hope this is not the case and that none of you have experienced these issues! Hubby is working hard to switch mamasurfs over to a more secure web server and we should be up and running within a few days. I’m so anxious to fill you in on the details of Harper’s 1st birthday party and all the fun we have been having with our big 1 year old!

Thanks for hanging in there while we deal with all this tech garbage!

Unfortunately the call went completely the opposite direction. Low fluids. High blood pressure. Low platelet count. High liver enzymes. Emergency induction. Come NOW!

Being the over planner that I am there was no need to scramble and pack our bags, that had been done WEEKS ago and was already in the car. Instead hubby and I made a few phone calls to reassure us we were doing the right thing, took a nice long shower, some final belly pics and headed out.

Hawaii was anything but sunny and gorgeous this day. We battled high winds as we wound ourselves up the Pali Hwy, dodging fallen tree branches and turning the wipers on full blast. I listened to my ipod, a mix of Kalai (hawaiian acoustic that you must check out) and some instrumental that I’ve loved and always relied on to keep me calm.

Driving to the hospital, knowing that we would soon meet our baby was a surreal feeling. This drive was completely different from how I imagined it, no gripping the arm rests during contractions, no deep breathing or worries of “will we make it”. Instead there was a mix bag of anticipation, excitement, worry and even a little doubt…am I doing the right thing?

In my mind an induction was a straight ticket to epidural. I was determined to keep this pregnancy and delivery as natural as possible and starting things off with an IV hook up was not what I had in mind. What I didn’t realize then was that this was just the start of my parenting journey and things not going as I had expected.

What I learned then and have continued to learn over the past year is that although things might not go as I had planned, if open to it, there is the chance for things to be even better than what I may have expected. There is a kind of freedom in the unexpected and the opportunity to really see what we’re made of. When things dip into unchartered waters we are challenged to dig deep, muster up all that is within us and look to the love and support of those around us to help us the rest of the way.

January 12th, 2011 went down just like that.

What happened in that delivery room was pure magic. Never have I felt more connected, confident, proud, capable or full of love. I saw myself in an entirely new light, realized how perfectly matched and lucky hubby and I are, responding to one another (more like him responding to me) with such ease and intuition knowing exactly what I needed and how I needed it.

My thoughts were filled with imagery artists can only dream of creating. I saw the beauty of nature, the kind that makes you realize there is undoubtedly some kind of God out there, gifting us with sweet breathes of fresh air, the kind you get when standing on a mountain top overlooking a field of wildflowers after a light and refreshing rain. The good kind. The pure kind. That natural high on life kind of imagery that takes your breathe away and your mind to secret places full of wonder.

I birthed naturally in this peace for a timeless 15 hours…but whose counting? I experienced a kind of time warp and honestly couldn’t have told you if 5 minutes or 5 hours had passed. In the end a beautiful, healthy 7lb 11 ounce little boy was born and tomorrow he turns 1!!!!

Please help a sista’ out by “liking” Keiki and Me on facebook and check out the website.

Also, if you’re in the Honolulu area I’d love to meet you and have you join me for our very first Zoo Walk (details on website)!

Life is rough.

I’ve been slacking on the blog front MAJORLY but promise to do better!

We have lots of excitement coming up starting with Harper’s 1st birthday, both sets of grandparents coming into town in addition to uncles and aunties, a circus themed birthday party and to top it all off mommy is in the process of launching her very own business!

Keiki and Me (website in the works) will be coming to families on Oahu very very soon offering Baby Sign Language classes, zoo field trips and eventually expanding into teaching Infant CPR/First Aid and eventually eventually offering hypnobirthing support. I’m very excited, a lot nervous and mostly anxious to get things underway. Stay tuned….

And in other news, I came across this article today and thought it was so very accurate and important to pass along to other first time mamas out there AND speaking of first time mamas, CONGRATULATIONS to mamasurfs reader Heather Collins over at www.heatherlcollins.com on the birth of her baby Mr. Lucas George Collins!

Thank you to everyone near and far for making our Christmas season so magical. Your e-mails, letters, cards, skype chats, gifts and love filled our hearts and our home with the love of the season and we are so grateful for you all!

Let the photo dumping begin!

This is what Christmas is about. Children and parents, grandparents, friends, uncles, aunties, friends and all alike gathering at the shore just as sunset bids its final farewell and dusk takes over the night. Across the bay we could see the beginnings of what was to be a spectacular display that would make Old Saint Nick proud. Unfortunately our photos didn’t turn out all that great but thank God for Youtube….

And in case you didn’t watch that video all the way though here was our absolute favorite performance…water jet packs! Seriously!! Who knew these existed?

So yeah…the installation sucked:

But just look at this beauty!

And look at the 200 (yes you read that correct!) 200 gorgeous cookies she pumped out (those would be oatmeal/pumpkin/chocolate chip and 5 dozen sugar cookies):

Don’t worry thought I’m not completely insane. This mass amount of baking only happens once a year and for good cause…our annual Christmas Cookie/Pajama Party. It’s pretty much my favorite night of the entire year, where friends gather in the most comfy of clothes, drink great cocktails (like this years Ho-Ho-Ho punch and Snowball shots), decorate sugar cookies, swap homemade treats and end the night falling asleep to traditional holiday movies….go ahead and trample me with 9 reindeer and Santa’s sleigh…I couldn’t be any happier!

Oh, the holidays!

Nothing screams 1st time parents like the over the top Christmas indulgence we’ve been tossing around the past few weeks. Our friends have literally started staying away for fear of being sprayed with “Elf” glitter, being handed a tambourine and expected to perform Little Drummer Boy while stuffing their faces with Christmas cookies because “God Damn-it I stayed up until 10:00 at night” now eat them and be merry!

So yeah we might have gone a little overboard but by golly this is the best Christmas we have had in years!

For starters we got ourselves a real life Christmas tree. It was a pretty special day. Unlike the Christmas tree outings as a child where we would bundle up in overstuffed jackets, mittens, scarves, hats and hike into the forest with saw in hand to pick out the perfect tree and lug it back to the car- – we did things Hawaiian style.

Hawaiian style means there is 1…yes ONE actual Christmas tree farm on the island. The lines are presumably absolutely horrendous and the prices astronomical so we decided to load ourselves up in the car (slippers, short sleeve shirts and sand between our toes) and pick out a tree from Home Depot. Unlike the days where we spent the afternoon inspecting each and every tree searching for the “perfect” one, I pointed at an already wrapped Douglas Fir and said, “load her up”.

*To my credit though they didn’t just “load her up” I had to lug her down the narrow parking garage and stuff her into my own car…that’s got to count for something!

We barely all fit into the car but we managed and we remarkably all fit into the elevator too! (in my book this means we can call the outing a success)

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