Christmas!

Siri wants to Snorkel

Kaylani's Birthday Fun

Hangin around the house

Thanksgiving

We spent thanksgiving at our neighbors house. We had a wonder feast with ham, turkey and all of the fixings. There were at least a dozen of us. Helen loves to be held in the crook of Erick's arm. We'll see how long this lasts as she just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Fun times at Coconut Point

Siriana loves to look at shells and hermit crabs on the beach. She'll also spend lots of time picking up rocks and throwing them into the ocean. Erick and Siri spend hours at the beach which gives Melissa and Helen time to rest.
Since Helen has arrived Siri has become a lot more cuddly. She wants to be held more often then before. She has a very independent nature in general, but seeing us hold Helen all of the time has resulted in a lot more requests for us to pick her up as well. Clearly she loves cuddling with her daddy.
These are our neighbors Kelani and Denali. Siri loves playing with them. Denali is just a few months older than Siriana. The girls just went to the library and got a ton of books. They spent some fun time reading them together.
What you can't see is Siri is naked- her favorite state of being- and covered in sidewalk chalk. She loves to color on our front porch and her new favorite part is to also color her legs with the chalk.
Siriana loves to be next to Helen. As soon as we go to change her diaper she jumps right up on the bed or couch and lays next to her. It's pretty cute.

Helen just reached her four week birthday and is getting very chunky. She is a great eater and my milk has been coming in only when she needs it which makes my life more comfortable. She has also been doing a great job at night of letting me sleep for at least three hours at a time.

Helen's fast asleep

Helen loves to sleep. She just had a bath this morning so you can see that her hair is much darker than Siri's but it has a light reddish tint in some lights. It also has a ton of curl to it.

Siri turns 2

On November 9th Siriana turned two. We had a wonderful birthday. The weather was great and we had many of our neighbors come to celebrate. The morning started off a bit rough though. She had the beginnings of an infection on her leg. Basically, she gets bit by mosquitoes, scratches till it bleeds, then plays out in the ocean. It was inevitable that she would end up with an infection at some point despite how hard we try to keep her legs in good shape. We spent the morning in the ER so that we could get her on antibiotics right away and you can see the bandage. It is all healed up now and she did a fantastic job taking her medicine for the week. Daddy made her a chocolate birthday cake. Siriana helps Dad make birthday pancakes.

She got to open one present early. Grandma Julie sent her a picture of Elmo and our puppy Artimus. She loved it! The picture is currently hanging in her bedroom.

She has grown up so much over the last two years. She is talking a lot. Her favorite word is "No" and she even says it in Samoan: "Owa." She can say her alphabet and count to 10 and sometimes she'll go to 20 if we help. She understands basically everything that we say. She is also great at brushing her teeth and going poddy in the bathroom, although we still put a diaper on her because she still forgets sometimes. She loves the ocean and will spend hours with us down there now. She is learning the names of shells- her favorite is a Cowry. She still loves to read, but now she will grab our books off the shelf. She loves Ericks textbooks with birds and fish in them and wants us to tell us what each and every bird and fish is, even if they look alike. She loves to climb and is very tough. She falls and gets right back up and does the same thing again. Siri does not like to swing but loves to go down the slide and stand on the top of the slide and hang from the side of the slide.

A present for Siri and Helen

Our friends Sam and Karen Gordon sent a package full of goodies for us. Unfortunately it was sent to Siapan first (see the red stamp). We thought it was hilarious. How do you get American Samoa and Siapan confused? Is this enough postage to send to Siapan? At least it finally made it to us. Siri is wearing a shirt that they sent. It says "Big Sister." She loves it. She is doing so great as a big sister. She is a great helper. She is also very good at saying Helen and she is getting better at being patient when we have to attend to Helen first and her second. But- when Helen is sleeping we give Siri tons of attention so she is certainly not starved for that.

Halloween

Our neighbors Clif and Julia had a Halloween party that was lots of fun. A bunch of families with kids were there and Siri had a blast running around with glo-sticks and candy.  It was a pirate theme party, so we just put on bandannas and called it a costume!

Day two at home

As you can see she has a lot of hair and its a rich golden brown.  It looks lighter in some lights, but it is surely not the blond hair that Siriana had.  Although, when I look back at the postings from Siriana's first week, the resemblance is stronger than I remembered.  This little one has a lot more weight on her though considering her shorter length.  

Siriana and Dad go to the beach while Mom and Helen relax

This is the beach just in front of our house.  The sun is setting behind us.

Siriana is getting more comfortable in the water and when it is very calm like this she'll wade out with us close by.  

Siri found a shell and is bringing it to show Daddy.

The mountain in the background is called the Rainmaker.  Pago harbor is just below it.

Siri showing Helen her new toys

Helen got lots of great new toys and clothes at her baby shower a few weeks ago.  Siri is teaching her about her play-mat that she got from our friend Emily.  

The Hospital

I wanted to give everyone an idea of what the hospital is like- but first- isn't it amazing how big Siri is getting!  We didn't realize it until we brought the new one home and see them together.  Siriana looks like a giant!  She has been so good with her little sister.  Very gentle and cautious around her.  She gets very concerned when she starts to cry and she is constantly bringing us diapers to change her- even if we just changed her.  She has been such a good helper too.  She'll get anything we ask for the baby and when we finish changing a diaper she'll take it and put it in the trash.  Also, as you can see she is naked.  She is steadily getting

 better at going poddy in the toilet, and if we keep her naked she is about 90% on target.  

This is one of the buses waiting in front of the hospital.  This is what I took from work to my appointments during the week.  The ride is $1.00 whether you ride for 30 seconds or half way around the island.  Each bus is individually owned and the drivers love playing loud crazy music.  It's an adventure.
Here is the sign in my room.  The maternity ward is not air conditioned and it is very steamy.  There are 3 women in each room and the whole ward shares 3 bathrooms that are in the central hallway.  I luckily got a bed right next to the window.  I also brought a fan because it was just so steamy during the day.  Although the location was not wonderful, the nurses were amazing and my neighbors in my room were great.  
This is the view from my (dirty) window.  Also, there are mosquito's everywhere.  Not too much fun considering there is Dengue on the island and people currently at the hospital for treatment.  

Helen Elizabeth has arrived

Weighing in at 7lbs 6oz and 19.5 inches long, Helen arrived at 7:23pm Sunday, October 26th- Samoa time. Baby and Mom are happy and healthy! The labor and deliver was amazing. I was accompanied by my always supportive hubby Erick and my great midwife Elizabeth Ballering. I began having light and easy contractions Sunday morning spaced about 20-30 min. apart. I took a nap, took Siri swimming after the nap, Erick made lunch, and by the time 3 o'clock rolls around the contracts get a lot more aggressive very quickly. I called my midwife and while she headed over from the other side of the island I took a dip in the ocean. The water soothed my back pains and the contractions got more aggressive very quickly. When she got here at about 4:30 my contractions were very tough. I was dilated to 6 centimeters already and 90% effaced. The baby had already fallen very far down. She was certain I'd have the baby that night. Because it was so nice being it the water she encouraged me to go back in before we headed to the hospital for the birth. About a minute after she said that I had some very aggressive contractions and she quickly advised Erick to get the bags in the car and we would be heading to the hospital now. On the 10 minute drive there I had 2 tough contractions in the car, then one in the parking lot, 1 in the hallway, and one when we reached the labor and delivery ward. She was born within 2 hours of arriving! A beautiful baby girl.

Another Birthday Party

Siriana was invited to another birthday party. This is Noa and her mom Nadia. Siri and Noa go to daycare together. We all met at "$2.00 beach" and ate yummy cake and swam in the shallow bay area. It was a great day and actually a bit cool. The water was cold which felt great to the new baby girl Simonsen.

Loungin by the Ocean

Yes, Siri still likes her bottle and no we haven't been too diligent in making her give it up. If we were celebrities the press would have seriously chewed us out by now. She still has them when taking her nap or going to bed but otherwise uses a cup. She will not use a sippy cup though- its a big girl cup or nothing. She can be very determined about this issue too.

Driving the Jeep

Our neighbors have a motorized jeep that's out of batteries so we just push it around. Siri loves to pretend to drive. You can kinda see the new baby girl Simonsen getting big.