Texting with Aaron

My SIL Leisa lent us her jumper for Leone to use, so I put him in it and this was the picture I took and sent to Aaron



P: Nevermind using his legs

A: Haha it takes more work to hold his legs up.

P: It's hilarious

A: He's tryin to be a rebel

P: Gets it from his dad

A: There's a difference between rebel and gangsta

P: You're neither. Anyhoots my mom's patient went to the ER so I'm gonna have to pick her up when she gets back

A: Pick up ur mom or the patient?

P: blah blah blah

Texting this morning:

P: I smell ur scent on ur pillow and I'm missing you like crazy

A: What scent? Like poop?

P: Way to kill the mood.

Tithing brings blessings.

Why are Mormons asked to donate 10% of their income to their Church? (Mormon.org)

Gordon B. Hinckley, prior President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said: “Our major source of revenue is the ancient law of the tithe. Our people are expected to pay 10 percent of their income to move forward the work of the Church. The remarkable and wonderful thing is that they do it. Tithing is not so much a matter of dollars as it is a matter of faith. It becomes a privilege and an opportunity, not a burden. Our people believe in the word of God as set forth in the book of Malachi, that the Lord will open the windows of heaven and pour down blessings that there will not be room enough to receive them (Malachi 3:8-10). Moving and touching is the testimony of Latter-day Saints throughout the world concerning this the Lord’s law for the financing of His work.”

We were running pretty low with our funds and still trying to help out family yet Aaron and I both decided that even though we didn't have much, we still  needed to pay our tithing. Best decision ever! Like they say in the church, the Lord doesn't need our money, He needs our faith. My faith was definitely tested and the Lord came through. I don't know how it makes sense, (looking at our bank acct), but it does!

Unusually Proportional

According to the growth chart, Leone is 59% for weight

54% for head circumference

51% for length.

Yeaaaaah, not as big as other poly babies, but that's ok :)

Can't wait for him to start eating solids but kinda nervous 'cause I know they can get constipated the first few days. We've dealt with him having constipation before & it makes me sooooo sad :( He's being a champ right now after having his shots, but I fear he'll be sore and crying the next few days. Other than that, our baby's growing well! We love our chubby boy!

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!!!