Aloha to Hawaii

This past week, David, Drake, and I (and the whole Men's Basketball Team) spent time in Honolulu. We went for the Diamond Head Classic Basketball Tournament, which is played at the University of Hawaii. Because school is not currently in session, my duties on this trip were very limited. I was asked to keep the official score book for our team, so I had about six hours of work to do in the five days that we were there. The rest of the time, David, Drake, and I had time to explore.

We arrived in Honolulu in the late afternoon of December 20th and stayed at the Sheraton at Waikiki Beach. Waikiki is very commercialized with a lot of tourists. I was actually surprised how many people were on vacation during the Christmas holiday. This was Drake's first plane trip and he really did great. He slept much of the way and when not sleeping, was pretty content. We did learn what fun plastic cups can be for a ten month old as they provided almost an hour of entertainment.

Wednesday, the first full day were were in Hawaii, we just hung out by the pool and walked along the beach. Our family friend, Jill, and two of her children, are living on that island right now, so they came to the hotel pool to meet Drake and hang out. Leslie and Oliver loved the pool and were able to play on the slide and in the hot tub. It was great meeting Leslie and Oliver and catching up with Jill. Wednesday evening was the welcome reception for the teams, which was a luau dinner and show. The show was pretty cool, demonstrating the history of Hawaii through dance. One of the last dances was a fire dance, which was really quite amazing.

Thursday was our first basketball game against UTEP, at the bright hour of 9:30am local time. The team did not play well at all, and lost the game. After the game, David, Drake, and I walked down to the Honolulu Zoo for Drake's first zoo experience. Drake was more interested in the other kids walking around the zoo than the animals, but we had a great time.



Friday was our second game, which was a late start, 10:00am local time, against Southern Illinois. The outcome of this game was much better, with an overtime win. After the game, David, Drake, and I decided to hike Diamond Head Crater. I think it was about .8 of a mile to the top and we made it easily with Drake in the Ergo Carrier. I was amazed at the shoes some people were wearing on the walk...it is not a fashion show people! The views from the top really were amazing. After the hike, we headed out to dinner with the team.

Saturday, Christmas Eve, was an off day for basketball so David and I decided to do a tour to see other parts of the island. We went to the Dole Plantation (total tourist trap), North Shore, the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), a coffee and nut plantation, a temple, and a few scenic overlooks. I am so glad we did this because that side of the island was more of what I thought Hawaii was going to look like. The beaches were beautiful and empty, the mountains were beautiful, and the landscape was rich. I wish the team had the opportunity to see Hawaii outside of Waikiki Beach. The PCC was a pretty cool place also, with each Polynesian island having a little "village" with shows and activities of that island. We only had three hour there, and it was not quite enough time to see everything.

Sunday was our last day in Hawaii and started with a late morning game against the University of Hawaii, which we lost. After the game, David, Drake, and I went to lunch and then spent some time of the beach. Around 8:00, we left the hotel for our red eye flight back to the mainland.

Mele Kalikimaka

On Christmas day, we were in Honolulu with the basketball team. Here are a few pictures of out Hawaiian Christmas.


Polynesian Santa



Drake on the beach in his elf hat. Everyone loved him on the beach, strangers even took pictures!

 

This is a sand sculpture that was in the lobby of our hotel

**More to come on our Hawaii trip tomorrow

Christmas #1

This year's Christmas is very unique for us because we will be in Hawaii with the basketball team, returning on the 26th. Because of this, David and I decided to exchange gifts this weekend rather than traveling with gifts or waiting until we got home.

As we thought about Drake's first Christmas, we discussed what, if anything we should get him. In the end, we decided that we would just put money in his bank account and not give him a gift to open. Our thinking is that 1) he is not going to remember if he got a gift or not, and 2) he will get plenty of other gifts from family. As people have asked me what we got Drake and I have told them our plan, some have totally agreed with me while other have criticized me for this decision. After opening gifts on Saturday and seeing his excitement over paper, a box, and the id card that came in David's wallet, I think, for us, this was the right decision. He helped us open presents and loved it, would then crawl away and play for a few minutes, and then come back.

Trying to open the outdoor table and chairs from David's parents. No more camping chairs on the front porch!

Tiger Wonderland

Each year, the Clemson Men's Basketball Team hosts a community service event called Tiger Wonderland. This is an evening with children from disadvantaged homes have the opportunity to hang out with the basketball players, eat dinner, and then Santa arrives with gifts for all of the kids. It is a great event and this year was expanded so the Women's Team participated as well. Rather than the normal 20 kids that have participated, this year, 35 were able to come and share in the festivities.

All of the basketball staff are invited to attend the event as well with their families. We just stand to the side as the kids are doing their crafts with the players and eating dinner. When the kids start to open their gifts, I usually walk around and share in their pure joy! This year, one of the girls asked me if their parents had to pay for all of the gifts? I told her, no, Santa brought them and pointed him out to her. She was just amazed!

Some pictures of Drake that evening. I knew Santa would be there, so I just planned to take his picture there and avoid lines and paying for a picture.

Not a fan of the Tiger Cub that evening

Did ok with Santa

10 Months!

Drake, you turned 10 months old yesterday, December 11th. I know I say this every month, but I can't believe that you are already 10 months old! Just two more months and you will be a year; how is that possible?

New Tiger hat from Ritamay. It just came in the mail but you wore it yesterday and everyone we saw commented on it!

You have a great appetite and I have not once seen you turn down food. I really think you could keep eating at every meal if I continued to offer you more. You are a pretty good self-feeder, although I still have to help you some. I have realized that when you feed yourself, the meal can last a good hour and you might still not be finished, so I help you along some. We are going to work on you using a spoon and sippy cup more this month. Yogurt is one of your favorite foods (not the Trader Joe's version) and lately you have really been enjoying blueberries. You still nurse in the morning and at night and then get one milk bottle a day and one formula bottle a day (although today, we had enough for 2 milk bottles!).

You really love to dance. Currently, your favorite dancing music is to the "bumpy bumpy" song on your Einstein's Learning Playground and any commercial jingle. Almost all commericals jingles get your attention and you start dancing. When you hear the "bumpy bumpy" song, you stop what you are doing, smile, and start dancing.

This was my rocking chair was I was little (looks like it needs to be dusted!)

Lately you have been twurling your hair a little when you are sleepy. I have also noticed that when you are trying to go to sleep, you either wiggle your feet or rub them together, somthing that I do as well.

You love to be on the move. If you are awake, you want to be on the floor playing or crawling somewhere. You are starting to get really fast with your crawl and have learned to open cabinets...time for you to put the locks on those!

You are a pretty good sleeper, although I think you could still improve in that area. You have been taking pretty good naps for us in the morning and after lunch. You go to bed around 8:00, but I have to rock you to sleep most nights. Some nights you sleep all the way through, others, you wake up sometime between 12:00 and 5:00. You go right back to sleep when we come yo get you, but let's try and start making it all the way through the night, ok?

You now are working on your third tooth. The top right tooth started to come in on Friday, December 9th. I'm sure the other top tooth is close behind, although it has not started to come through yet.  

The rest of the month is going to be very busy! This week you'll attend your first community service event with the basketball team. We leave on Monday night to go to Hawaii for basketball and Christmas and then we go staraight to New Orleans. I just can't wait to see what this travel will do your your schedule!

We love you so much little buddy!

Aunt Genevieve Came to Town!

This past weekend my sister, Genevieve, came to visit and get a Drake fix. She had not seen him since the beginning of September and I think she was a little surprised at how much he had grown! Drake had fun playing with her and showing off with everything that he can now do. He especially liked to show her how he can dance.

Genevieve got in late Friday, so Saturday morning we ventured to Belton, SC to eat breakfast at Grits and Groceries. For my New Orleans readers, this is a restaurant that is owned and operated by Elizabeth, of Elizabeth's Restaurant in Bywater. She and her husband (and former pastry chef for Emeril) decided that they wanted to raise their son in the country, so they moved back to South Carolina and opened a little breakfast and lunch restaurant in the middle of no where. It was pretty tasty food and worth an occasional 45 minute drive for a Saturday brunch.

After breakfast, we dropped David off and then Genevieve, Drake and I headed to Commerce, GA to do a little outlet shopping. After finding a few deals, we drove home and Genevieve and I went to see Hugo. It was a pretty cute and entertaining movie. One the way home, I noticed that a traffic light was out and sure enough, the electricity in the whole city was out. We walked in and David had just started a fire, I opened a bottle of wine, and we made s'mores while listening to the ACC Championship game on an app on my phone.


Emergency Supplies

Sunday we went to the little cafe in Pendleton where something is always spilled on David (he escaped this trip) for their Sunday buffet. This was out first experience with the buffet and I am sure it will not be our last. After brunch, we hung out at the house and then Drake and I took Genevieve back to the airport for her flight home. It was a great visit and I think that Drake really enjoyed seeing his Aunt Genevieve. We are looking forward to seeing her and the rest of the family soon when we join them the day after Christmas in New Orleans!

I think this picture is so cute and funny...Drake laughing and Aunt Genevieve checking him out!

The Time Has Come...

Well, at 9 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days, I no longer have enough milk to exclusively breastfeed Drake. Today he will have his first bottle of formula. This is very hard for me because I was so good at producing milk. Initially I had trouble and Drake lost a little over a pound in the first few days after birth. Then we found our groove and at the ultimate high, had 63 six-ounce bags of milk in the freezer. In the last couple of months, my production has drastically dropped and in order to keep up with his needs, we have depleted the freezer supply.

I am still going to nurse Drake in the morning and at night and then pump three times a day as I have been. This should produce enough for one milk bottle a day and one formula bottle a day. Some days he may just get formula; I doubt there will be any days when he just gets milk.

I did not realize how upsetting this would be for me. I have already made it past my goal of stopping in November. I know that only about 8% of babies are exclusively breastfeed at 6 months and we made it well past that. I just feel like I have somehow let him down; I feel like I have failed. I know he needs to eat and this is the only way that he is going to get the nutrients that he needs. Just like when I was told that I was going to have to have a c-section due to placenta previa, it was not what I wanted, but in the end I realized that it was what was what had to happen.

Actually, just writing about this makes me feel a little better; I know that I am doing all I can. Just as a side, formula smells really bad! I do thank our friends Jermile, Haley, and Caleb who had a canister of formula left from Caleb's baby days that was still good which they gave us. We can make it two months of formula eating...

The Lost Art (for me) of Exercise

Since Drake was born, I have wanted to try and find the time to start exercising again. When I moved to Clemson 10+ years ago, I was in the best shape of my life. Prior to moving, I was coaching field hockey and would pretty much do all conditioning and lifting with the team. When I got here, it was a little more difficult because I had to be self-motivated and find time to fit a workout in. I would go through cycles where I would workout and then be lazy, train for a marathon (which I never ran but got up to 17 miles) and then be lazy. Prior to getting pregnant, I was at an all-time high for weight and laziness.

I have learned that breastfeeding is one of the best weight loss plans that one can be on (sorry it cannot work for everyone!). I am now 15 pounds lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight and this is without watching what I am eating or exercising. I really would like to get back on an exercise routine, but I am finding it very difficult to fit it into my day. When I travel, it is no problem to fit a workout in; we usually do not eat breakfast until 10:00 and there is no way I can sleep that late! 

Where it is hard to find time is during my everyday life. As it is, we only get to spend about 4 waking hours a day with Drake during the work week. If I try and fit-in a workout, that would be even less time that I would get to spend with him. I know I need to do this for myself, but I really haven't figured out how to fit this in. I keep telling myself that when I stop nursing, I will get up earlier and go to the gym in the morning a few days a week.

I just need to get into a routine and stick with it. The time has come for me to stop talking about the need to start working out again and start doing it.