Happy "Hapa" Birthday Malia Girl!

If we lived in Hawaii, most people would know what "hapa" meant. I'll break it down for you: I am half Caucasian and half Japanese which makes me 'Hapa Haole.' It's not a derogatory phrase, that's just what I am. I've been called it my whole life and actually take a little pride in my mixed background.
Hapa means half, and is usually associated with Asian decent. We say that Malia is 'hapa hapa' meaning she's half of a half Japanese (a quarter for all your math whizzes out there). Well whatever she is, we just think she's the cutest thing ever.
Last week Malia turned 6 months old!!! Can you believe it?!!! So in keeping with the 'hapa-ness' around here, we celebrated her 'hapa birthday' in style.

Shhh! Don't tell her pediatrician, but Malia may have had a sneak peek of what cake tastes like. (Well, more like what frosting tastes like;) Don't worry, she barely had a lick and surprisingly, was not too impressed with it. She'd rather have her oatmeal or squash I guess.

Her Nana Freda is so good to her! She made her the most ADORABLE cake for her hapa birthday. And because it was only her half birthday, of course she only received half of her cake. Complete with singing and a candle, Malia had the chance to stick her fingers in the cake and make a mess.

Can you tell how excited she was for her cake?? Her newest thing is sticking out her tongue when she obviously wants something. She'll kick and wave and stick out that fat tongue of hers as if saying, "that needs to be in my mouth!" I let her drink some of my water and take sips from straws (only water!) and her tongue is always out. It's fun for her to experience new things.

A better shot of the Hapa cake before Malia got her paws on it!

This spoiled little princess was even blessed to receive some gifts from great friends! She didn't need anything, but was thrilled at the toys and dolls she received. Thank you so much everyone! Really, you are too sweet!

Here is a shot of some of the party goers- unfortunately, I didn't get a group shot of everyone. Bummer. Malia loves all of her friends and can't wait to get her lips all over cute Curran that will be here in May!

Malia unwrapping her gifts, and yes, more interested in the bows and wrapping paper than the toys. Sheesh!

"It's my party I can cry if I want to! Cry if I want to! Cry if I want to!"
So Malia had a little bit of a break down toward the end of her party. Blame it on a missed nap and a case of some diaper rash. But all in all we had a wonderful time and were so excited to celebrate this milestone with our little baby girl.
Being Malia's mommy is the closest thing to drugs as I will get! I am addicted to her! I can't believe how much I love her! We're so lucky to be parents!

Some pictures from my mom's camera

It's weird how it seems like the time has flown by since Malia was born but at the same time it feels like an eternity ago that I was pregnant with her!
Well, one thing is for sure. Life is a lot better with her here with us now:)

6 months old!!!

Guess who is now a half of a year old? I'll give you a hint: She has light brown hair, green eyes, really long limbs and a big round head. Give up? It's Malia! This little joy turned 6 months old on January 16th which means Kirk and I have also been parents now for a full half of a year. Crazy!

My mom took these pictures of her sitting in a mini papasan chair. She is such a big girl! I marvel at this little princess every day and am secretly sad to be celebrating some of these milestones.

Yes, that's right. Malia is sprouting a tooth as we speak! In fact, it has risen to the surface and you can now see it! She had a couple of rough nights with the tooth coming through but has been a champ and in good spirits lately.

I love her hilarious personality and she makes me laugh all day long. We took her to the doc today and here are the stats:
Weight: 16 1/2 lbs (75% percentile)
Length: 27 inches (75% percentile)
Head circumference: 90th percentile!!
I don't know where that sheet is with the dimensions for her head, all I know is that we have one big headed baby!
Other things worth noting about this last month:

• She sits up by herself! I sometimes have to catch her if she falls over, but for the most part is sitting solo now.
• She has a tooth (we already went over that I guess)
• Her hair is long enough now for me to put little clips in (yay for me, boo for dad;)
• She loves to stand up and can bear weight for long periods of time.
• She is mostly sleeping through the night (that means for 7-8 hour stretches, 10-11 hours total sleep at night)
• She doesn't cry much. Only when she's tired. I find her playing in her crib in the morning so who knows when she really does wake up!
  
• She spontaneously laughs and squeals and "talks" all day long.
• She LOVES to read books
• She loves playing peek-a-boo
• She loves her bathtime
  
• She loves going on walks and outings either in her stroller or Baby Bjorn.
  
• She cracks up at Hobbs who has really started to love hanging out with her.
• She LOVES to eat food! She "mm's" and kicks her feet the whole time we are feeding her. She took to eating like fish take to swimming. We've included rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, peas, carrots, pears, bananas and new today- avocados. She likes them all but isn't a huge fan of pears. weird. you would think she would love them. Maybe too sweet? Guess she does not have her mom's sweet tooth.
• She'll roll and roll some more and when I nurse her (which I love to do laying down) she'll roll away when she's done and then look back and smile at me. She's so funny!
• Her favorite toys? Napkins and paper towels. It's awful! She'd rather play with "non-toy" items like paper plates, water bottles, weird containers, you name it. One day I couldn't get her to let go of my lipgloss all day! (don't worry, it was a twist cap impossible to get off)
• She likes to have her face snuggled or even covered with her swaddle when she falls asleep.
  
• She loves everyone
• She LOVES babies and kids
• She has eczema on her arms but it seems like it is getting better every day
• They once tried to draw blood from her little arms for an allergy test and failed. Worst experience of my life with her to date.
  
• And I wore UGGS to stake conference because we're from San Clemente
  

Let's face it, I could go on and on, but I'll leave it when that. We just love her and think she's pretty much the greatest thing in the world:)

Did you hear?? Did you hear??!!

The little bubbas is sitting up by herself! Yay Malia! Each day she can sit up for longer periods of time by herself. This morning she was up for almost a minute before I think she just got too tired.
Oh, and did you know that she is getting her first tooth? You can see it poking through her gums and can definitely feel it when you put your finger in her mouth. Luckily, (knock on wood) I haven't felt them while nursing her.

Yeah, it's pretty exciting over here at the Schilling house!

New Year's Resolutions

This year, I had to really think about the resolutions I was going to make and how practical it would be to keep them. Ideas of working out every day or cooking dinner every night or having a home that was spotless just are not realistic. Instead, I will work on these resolutions:

• Getting more organized and keeping a schedule: I have never been one that is rigid with schedules but now that we have a baby it's become apparent that I need to develop a schedule that works for Malia, Kirk and myself. We have our schedule posted and I review the next day prior to going to sleep so I know what to expect. Also, I SUCK at organizing! I don't know what it is, but I hate organizing things and my office, closets, and junk drawers have been poorly managed. Not this year. I am getting organized!
• Realize that I am not perfect and life is not perfect: I can only try as hard as I can, right? And life is going to get hectic and stressful and throw you a few lemons from time to time but I just need to learn to relax.
• Focus on spending quality time with my family: I want to have date nights with my husband, and engage Malia in quality playtime and activities. We are reading every night and going on walks everyday and teaching her important lessons even early on.
  
• Other goals: I want to train for a half marathon that I want to run before the year is up. I want to play the piano more now that we have been gifted a piano from Kirk's family. I will cook dinner at least twice a week (that number will go up as I become more dedicated). I will finish Malia's quilt that I started before she was born. I will get back in shape so that my clothes fit and don't fall off of me (nursing and lack of exercise is just too much). I will do my visiting teaching each month. And I will work on focusing on the positive!
  

Malia's 1st Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
We had a wonderful holiday season this year with all of our family! We were able to go up north to Morgan Hill and visit with all of Kirk's family. What a blast we had! Malia got to see all of her cousins and we enjoyed hanging out with everyone. Kirk and his dad spent a lot of time in their workshop building a new coffee table and bench for our house (pictures to come later) and they turned out awesome!
Part of the Schillings' Christmas tradition is that they do a Nativity program every year. This year I was in charge of playing the piano (which I am super rusty at!), Kirk was the narrator, and Malia was the baby Jesus. She was so excited for her first time performing that she actually fell asleep for most of it.

Here is the beautiful Mother Mary with baby Jesus

The shepherds presiding in the fields

The angels we have heard on high

Joseph with another little shepherd

We three kings of orient times

The program was a hit and the piano playing was luckily drowned out with all the other instruments that the kids were playing. We had a full on band going, it was great!

Kennedie made this gingerbread man for Malia. Since she is not able to eat gingerbread just yet, she settled for some sweet potatoes and gave the gingerbread to her cousins

Daddy and daughter

We are almost sitting up on our own!

Malia's first Christmas

Our Christmas photo in front of the tree

When we got home from Morgan Hill, we did a 2nd Christmas with my super tiny family. Because my brother is on his mission in Australia, and my sister is on her mission in Rochester New York, my poor parents were orphans this year! Luckily they were taken in by some great friends:)
We opened presents and did the big Christmas breakfast with them when we got home so they wouldn't feel like they missed out on anything. Of course my parents spoiled us rotten this year. We got a new gate for the bonus room so that Malia can have free reign as she learns to move around more. We got apple t.v. which is super cool. We got some clothes and games and cooking apparatuses. It was awesome!

Even Mr. Hobbs got a little Christmas chew toy

I'm convinced Malia was more thrilled about the wrapping paper than she was about her actual gifts. At least she is super easy to please this year!

The Weber family for Christmas

Excuse how awful I look. Baby's first Christmas!

And Santa brought Malia a new car! Yay! High roller! ;)
She is already looking forward to the walks we are going to take in her new car this spring.
Hope everyone's holiday was merry and bright!
Love, the Schillings

The San Diego Zoo!

We are now season pass holders of the San Diego Zoo. Turns out that it is just as cheap to get day passes as it is to get annual passes!
So while Malia is still trying to figure out that these things are called "animals" at the zoo, we are having a good getting outside, looking at the animals and hanging out with our friends.
Thanks so much to Nick and Kirstie (and adorable Roman of course) and sweet Trixie for coming with us. We love hanging out with you guys and can't wait to do it again soon!