Conversations with my mom.

This is my mom, Mikaela. I love her to death, but she's an interesting woman.

Growing up, my mom always corrected my grammar, and I always thought her English was impeccable...until now. She also told me not to let anyone call me Pasi, it had to be Pasimata. All of you who know her now, know what I'm talking about. Her voice echoes through everyone's heads PASIMATA, PASIMATA, PASIMATA.

On our wedding day while I was getting ready, she came to my hotel room and looked at my dress and said, "You're wearing that? It's not white, you're a weird girl. Pasimata, you're a weird girl." When I got out the temple she kept making comments that my dress was too form fitting and not white.

When Leone was born, he came 2 1/2 weeks early on a Monday and my baby shower put on by my cousins was scheduled to be that Saturday. I walked in with my newborn and my mom kept telling me I needed to lose weight. Yes, FIVE days after giving birth she said I needed to lose weight. Never mind that I just gave birth and all my swelling hadn't gone down yet, but that's Mela for you :)

Today with my mom didn't bring on any criticism, instead it brought on Fob-ism. She came over after work and was looking through all our pictures. She came across a picture of Aaron's great grandmother, Fono Salave'a. She kept saying, wooooow, she died at 39, I wonder what happened. She showed me the picture and said, "She doesn't look 39." I told her that I was pretty sure she wasn't 39 when she died. I read the back of the picture and I said, "Mom, she was born in 1900 and died in 1961, so she was 61." Looking confused, she said, "No, she's 39." For 5 minutes I kept trying to explain to her that she's not doing her math correctly. Then she finally caught on. I was pretty amazed!

While we were taking her home she saw the sign for the Lindon exit and proceeded to tell us that she went to Lindon to get a couple horses...for those of you who know Tongans or are Tongan, know where I'm going with this. She said that while they were getting the horse, the family asked if they'd take good care of the horse and my mom said, yes, of course. She turned to her husband and said in Tongan, take care of them in my stomach. OH DEAR!

Best of friends.

Ever since we were little, Ma'afu & I have always been the best of friends. Even though he was 5 years older than me and even though in the Tongan culture brothers aren't allowed to hang out with their sisters, we were still close. I remember everytime we'd visit my grandparents in Laie, as a child, I'd always want to be around Ma'afu 'cause I thought he was the most hilarious person ever. Those of you who know him, know what I'm talking about.

Moving to California was an easy decision at first. I wanted to be someplace new, away from private schools that my mom was forcing me to attend. I didn't realize though how much I'd miss my cousins. When we moved to Fallbrook, I threw the biggest tantrum (I was 12, don't judge). I was overly dramatic and thought I wouldn't survive. Then, I received the most exciting news! My cousins/brothers from Laie would be moving in with us! Hallelujah! The funny thing is, even though it was against the culture to be around my brothers, my dad would always let me tag along with Ma'afu wherever.

Now that we're older, we still are close. We've had our ups & downs, but I still love my brother. We've started a tradition a few years ago to celebrate our bdays by doing lunch/dinner since we're only 2 days apart. Let me rephrase that: We're 5 years & two days apart for those of you who think we're the same age 'cause I know we've been mistaken for being the same age, eh! haha! jk ma'afu, you just look really young. I pray that we'll have many more bday lunches/dinners together! CHEERS!

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Our little man is 3 1/2 months old. It's so much fun watching him grow & develop. I actually saw a video on FB of some friends (Sharlene & Tonga Tukumoeatu) playing with their cute son. Tonga would make a sound and his son would mimic what he was doing. I thought it was so adorable that I tried to do the same with Leone. For weeks I kept trying to get him to copy me and for weeks I could see his little mind going to work trying to figure out how to do it. Finally, two days ago, he did it! Now that's all he ever does when he talks and plays with us.

Leone Bruce Larsen's debut

Read at own risk!

I started having mild contractions Saturday 9/24 at 1:45am and I kept thinking it would pass, especially since I wasn't due til October 13th, but it kept happening throughout the day just not enough to alarm my midwife.

Come Sunday morning, I passed my mucous plug & called my midwife and she wanted me to come in to the hospital to check the movement of the baby & make sure he was ok. I went in at 11am and she checked my cervix, which I had been worrying about 'cause I heard it was painful, but it wasn't at all. It probably didn't hurt 'cause the contractions were painful enough. I was dilated at 3cm and totally effaced. My contractions were coming on stronger, but not close enough to be active labor. She wanted me to stay in the hospital a little bit longer 'cause I was 100% effaced but I chose to just go home & wait it out & shower ('cause I knew it would be a long night) til my contractions were closer together. So we went home & Aaron had to work so I told him to go in but to make sure his phone was on him. I got home & my contractions were still not close enough, but they were getting suuuuper strong and when they finally got 5 minutes apart I texted Aaron to hurry and come home & take me to the hospital. I know, who sends a text when you can call? I didn't want him to hear the pain in my voice i guess. I told him not to talk to me when I would get a contraction, I know, so mean, but if he did talk to me I would've just bit his head off.

I had been going back & forth on how I would go about with the delivery, if I'd go unmedicated or have an epidural. After taking our childbirth classes, I decided that I would DEFINITELY have the epidural. Lucky for Aaron that I got the epidural or I would've spent these past two weeks apologizing for my demonic behavior had I not gotten it.

We went back to the American Fork hospital at 5pm and I was 5cm and I originally told them I would wait til I was close to a 10 in pain to get my epidural, but right when I got there, they asked if I wanted them to call the anesthesiologist then and I was like, ok. hahaha! I LOVED the epidural! I felt soooo good & so calm and I was so grateful I got it! My midwife kept saying maybe i'll have the baby before midnight, but he was still high and my water had not broken yet. So at 9 1/2cm she broke my water and when it came time to push it only took 15 minutes and out he came just after midnight. It was so surreal! I think out of the whole experience, I hated pushing, only because the nurse that was counting kept getting distracted. She would talk to the other nurses then come back counting where she left off. I felt like I was holding my breath forever! Thank goodness I didn't have to push long. There is no kind of modesty once you go into labor. It's crazy how you don't even care that your legs are wide open & there are a bunch of people in the room, all that's on your mind is that your baby comes out ok and is healthy.

When he came he had the softest cry. He sounded like a mouse, it was so cute. The midwife said he sounded like a girl, haha! I'm so grateful for the midwife I had. She was amazing! I'm grateful for the nurses that helped as well. Loved my experience but not loving the recovery process, that's another story to tell.

born: 9/26/11 at midnight. 7 LBS 1 OZ 20 INCHES

Took us forever to figure out his name, but when we finally came up with his name, it felt so right...our mothers told us so so we know it's his heavenly name :)
Leone is my dad's middle name and Bruce is Aaron's dad's name. He is named after strong, compassionate, loving, God fearing men.

After being scrubbed clean.

Here he is at 1 week with his yellow jaundice eyes, that have gone away yay!

here he is at 2 weeks getting tummy time. When we left the hospital, he lost weight and was at 6 lbs 9 oz but at his 2 week appt he got back up to 7 lbs 11 oz. Our baby boy is growing :) WE LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!

Cutting Down on Costs

I love the Nate Berkus Show, especially when he gives great tips. Here are some via learnbest.com:

1. Wash laundry loads in cold water.
You can save up to $60 every few loads and it extends life of your clothing.

2. Put a regulator on your thermostat.
Regulates heat and a/c and is only a few dollars to buy. It takes 20% off your electricity bill.

3. Make one trip to the grocery store a month.
Throw everything in the freezer.

4. Comparison shop.

Now I just gotta do!

NEGATIVE FREE ZONE

It's been a while since I've been on here. I'm now 32 weeks and 32 lbs heavier. hahaha! So sad 'cause I'm kind of not exaggerating. I didn't want to post up any pictures of myself because I felt like a big whale, but it'll be a memory...a memory to not get so fat with the next child.

I've been extremely anxious and somewhat fearful of what lay ahead with my labor/delivery. I've heard a few people's stories and they were not very comforting. I went in to my midwife and expressed my anxieties and she said to tell everyone to shove it. Kidding! But she did say to only think positively and read positive experiences. Sooooo, if anyone has any positive labor stories, please feel free to share :)

oh boy

When we had our 13 week appointment, we were told we could find out the gender in our next appointment which was 6 weeks away. Of course we were super excited, but did I really want to wait that long? Heeeeck no! Aaron was content to wait, but I kept begging and begging and begging and finally he gave in :)

So we went to Fetal Fotos last Thursday to find out what we'd be having. Aaron and I both were hoping for a boy, but I honestly thought we'd have a girl, 'cause when do we ever get what we want? I always wanted to name our baby girl Sereima after my great grandmother on my Fijian side, and on our way to our appt, what song was on but Sereima! I told Aaron it was a sign. I was so excited but so nervous 'cause I felt like the baby would play games and not show itself.

We finally got into the room, we saw the baby (of course hiding), and after a few minutes and a little nudge from the lady doing the ultrasound, HE showed HIMSELF! hahaha! My first thought though was, it's not a girl :( I think I was more disappointed that I wasn't right than anything. Pride is a B! heeheehee. We saw our baby boy moving and stretching and I couldn't help but cry. There really was a baby inside of me! I did get a little freaked out by the alien face though, I'm not gonna lie. I so can't wait to see our baby boy again in 3 weeks!

As for names...we already decided his middle name would be after Aaron's dad. So thus far, we got a little Bruce :)