Hawaii Baby!

I can seriously say our son went to hawaii before the age of 2 months! I AM SO GLAD I GOT TO EXPERIENCE OUR FIRST FAMILY VACATION IN SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE! We left for Oahu (north shore) to the Turtle Bay Resport Condos on a saturday and stayed overnight in Portland with my brother and sister in law! The plane ride to Portland was Carter's first time flying! HE DID SO WELL!!!! i was seriously anxious over the flights there but i was shocked they went SO well!

We spent valentines day on the beach and watching a surfing contest! My husband and my dad planned a special dinner at OPA the place in Forgetting Sarah Marshall where they ate outside with both couples.. it was so fancy and incredible!! There is a cove that this place is located in and we went to dinner early to take pictures!!!

We actually snorkeled in this cove a day before this picture was taken! i freaked.. i hate being in water where you cant see to the bottom! I SWORE A SHARK WAS GOING TO EAT ME! lol

Carter absolutely LOVED the weather in Hawaii... he was such a good boy! he relaxed all day and napped when we ate and woke up every morning and layed in the sun on his sheepy!!! My parents hadnt seen his morning smiles so they enjoyed getting to wake up to those big blue eyes and a baby full of smiles!

This was while we were watching surfers from the beach! This time of year the waves and currents are super dangerous and the beaches all had red flags on them warning tourists not to get into the water if they didnt know how to handle the waves! THOSE FLAGS WERE THERE FOR TOURISTS LIKE ME! haha

The reason we actually went to Hawaii was to go to a beautiful wedding! my girlfriend ashley who ive known since we were 14 tied the knot with Mike Iupati.. who plays for the sanfransico 49ers! lets just say my dad was in heaven going around at the reception talking to the other players as well as using carter as a way to get a picture with most of them! haha ohhhh man.. this picture is of carter bug on the way to the wedding! we dressed him in traditional relaxed hawaiian flower shirt and khaki shorts! HE WAS A HIT LET ME TELL YOU! he was loved on so much he was exhuasted by the time we got in the car to head home!!!

This is my handsome husband who (recently i suggested he cut his hair and he did!!!!! THANK GOD!!!) i mean hes handsome no matter what but i love the clean look! OMG LOOK AT THE PALM TREES I WANT TO GO BACK SO BAD!!!


We did so many fun things while in Hawaii i would absolutely love to visit again! We ate at Dukes in Honolulu.. Snorkeled in shark cove.. (WHICH I WAS FREAKED OUT ABOUT BUT IT WAS SO AMAZING) a hike through this beautiful valley to a huge waterfall justin and my dad swam in, and ate world famous food!!! If you havent been to hawaii you HAVE to go and have a shave ice!!!

On our way home i was seriously worried about Carter adjusting back to Boise time and how horrible it was going to be for me and jus!! AGAIN HE DIDNT EVEN HAVE TO ADJUST!!! i was so happy with the way carter loved his time in hawaii and how happy it made me to see him enjoy the time we had as a family and the memories we made!

Month One.. COMPLETE!!!

Carter Owen Mace is officially a month old.. HOW FAST DID THAT MONTH GO!!! I find myself waking up on pacifiers and milk stains on our comforter but WOW i am blessed.. motherhood is such an amazing feeling and im so grateful i was given the chance to have something bigger and more important than myself and what i have going on! The lack of sleep issue is another story though!! Jus and I are people who really rely on sleep and large quantities of it, but were learning each week that right now were going to have to sleep when he does and make the most of it!!

Another thing ive also learned is little boys will pee any random time, and you must always be alert! haha.. i swear, carter will be so stealth when it comes to peeing on me and jus! The person he really loves to pee on though is grandma debbie! She is always coming out after changing carter and saying, "He peed again!" Our friends the pinkleys actually gave us these little tee pee looking wash clothes and they are called "pee pee tee pees"... PRICELESS NAME.. but they dont soak up the pee AT all! what a nice thought though! The only thing ive found that really soaks up the large amount of pee our son has is wash clothes.. FULL wash clothes :)

This last weekend my brother and sister in law got to come to Boise and meet carter for the first time! I was so glad they finally met him because he is changing and growing every day! They are so smitten with him.. to say the least! We had such a fun weekend too!! we ate out way too much which sucks when youre on a baby weight losing diet but we enjoyed the time we got to spend with them and started our diets again after they left! We actually went out to dinner with them on saturday night at the reef and i had my first adult beverage in almost a year and holy moley was it strong! needless to say jus and i were home by 9:45 because we missed our baby so much! We were sad to see them go because we wont see them again until this summer but we really enjoyed the time they got to spend on the long holiday weekend!!

Carter boo is very cautious when it comes to bath time! As long as hes being held by Jus or I in the tub he LOVES the bath.. if we dont get in with him he absolutely HATES it! this picture is obviously when jus got in the tub with him by the look of the hair legs behind him but this face is priceless.. We have a really good routine though on bath days and Carter loves cuddling with dad after the bath!

Grandpa and Carter have a bond, something i love because i see the bond me and my father share in their relationship! Grandpa is soooooooo in love with his little man that he could do no wrong! Since im at my parents almost everyday while jus is at work they get to spend a lot of time together! Grandpa always comes and steals baby and i wont see them for hours! When i do go check on them carter is always on grandpa's chest fast asleep! HE IS THE BABY WHISPER when mama is busy!

In the past week Carter has become the ultimate mama's boy! I absolutely love it.. when hes fussy, mama can calm him.. when hes wanting to be rocked, mama knows just which way he wants to be held.. it makes every pain, sleepless night, and bathroom trip to pee while prego all worth it! He is my life... OUR LIFE!


It seems like im already forgetting the pain of delivery and recovery! I dont know exactly who told me this, but someone wise once told me that Mother Nature has a way of making us women forget the pain of pregnancy and delivery so we continue to reproduce! I think this has to be true because as the first month passed i would try to recall how it felt to get an epidural or the urge to push but i couldnt remember the exact feelings.. I know though, that right after carter was born i was telling Jus and my family that delivery was so easy i would be having many many more children, but the recovery and infection changed that answer within hours.. As time goes on i seem to be leaning towards many children again... I AM THE NEXT DUGGAR MOM! haha joking!

Ive learned so much in the small amount of time our son has been on this earth! He teaches us something new everyday.. like patience and how to relax when things dont go exact the way we hope (diaper changes where he pees all over himself and we have to change his entire outfit).. There is so much more he is going to teach us BUT I WANT HIM TO SLOW DOWN!!!! he is getting so huge! At his last doctors appointment he was over 11 pounds and over 23 inches long... this means he has grown over 2 full inches in a month! HE IS GONNA BE JUST LIKE DADDY! the issue though is that he is so long the three month clothes look like high waters on him!! I guess justin's mom had the same problem with jus at this age so we will have to just deal with it and make fun of him when hes 16 and he brings his gf home! hahaha!

All in all this month has flown by faster than any of the months i was pregnant! The saying is true time flies when youre having fun!! We are so looking forward to my friend Gina coming into town to take some pictures of him and then hawaii on the 10th of february!! OH YEA! this next month is going to be crazy traveling with a two month old, but thank heavens he gets his first round of shots before we leave the main land!!! Im so thankful for all the support and love you all have given my family and myself during the time i was in the hospital! it made a terrible situation bareable and im so glad i have you in my life!!!!