seen and heard

Warrior 1 teaching Warrior 4 to say "Hi diarrhea Lakey!" as he entered their room. "Hi diarrhea Lakey."

Warrior 3: what is this for? (pointing to the tub of shortening on the counter)

Me: for cooking.

Warrior 3: Oh, you can make corn shorter?

Me and Princess looking at each other: bwaha ha hahaha softly

Me: it's for making cookies.

Warrior 3. oh!

Warrior 4 when asked to clap will clap.

When he hears us laughing he'll laugh or make some noise. =)

WARRIOR 4 grunts and tenses his whole body as if he was going to transform into the HULK.

He now weighs 23 pounds.

Many Faces

Check out Warrior 4's facial expressions!

Gotta love his hair. =)'

Agdigus!

Agdigus ni Warrior 4! As soon as we enter the bathroom he starts kicking his legs. He loves taking baths. Let's get the batcha, tabo and the bola! Turn the water on and then take the squishy diaper off! Into the water he goes.

Yes, he totally enjoys his baths. Every minute of it. He splashes and kicks the water. Check out his fuzzy hair when it is wet! It still sticks out! Hey, is he losing his rolls? He doesn't look so "tabachoy" and roly-poly here. He is starting to thin out! It is all that crawling and trying to pull himself up on something. Anyway, he is still cute! Wouldn't you agree?

*taken 12/10/2009

Christmas--The Orange Box

December 24, 2009! The King cooked, while Princess and I made cookies and bread. We went to Mililani for dinner and spent our NOCHE BUENA with Aunty Wanda and Uncle Alvin. AUnty PUa and Uncle Sam were also there along with other friends.

After the party we got home around 11:20 pm and Warrior 1 and 2 were anxious to open a gift at midnight. Warrior 3 was so tired he went straight to bed. Not long after that the King and Warrior 4 followed. Well, 20 minutes to midnight and Warrior 2 was growing impatient. He told me that this is the longest 20 minutes ever. So, to kill time I told him to play board games with Warrior 1.

Okay...10 minutes to 12 am I was falling asleep on the couch. I must be getting old. I have no energy to stay up! It's a couple minutes past midnight and I could hear Warrior 2 waking me up. "It's 12 o'clock! Merry Christmas! Mom!" Anyway, he and Warrior 1 opened a present. Princess didn't open one. When that was done...I went straight to bed.

Well, Warrior 4 woke up 2x to eat and so I was tired. At 6 am I heard him crying and I continued to sleep. The King took care of him. Warrior 3 came in the room @ 7 something to ask me if he could open a present since he didn't get to open one at midnight. So, half asleep ...I told him to go ahead. I finally got out of bed at 11:30. I was that tired! Anyway...short story gone long. So, get to the heart of the story already. ok. ok. ok.

SO, Christmas 2009! After 12 noon, the kids are so ready to open their presents.

Warrior 4's 1st Christmas! Yey! Humble Christmas for us. Christmas without Gramma and Grampa but we will see them to welcome the New Year.

The King asked what day is today. SOmeone answered, "we are celebrating the birth of Jesus." "It is the day to open presents." Why do we have presents? Princess answered, "because the 3 Kings gave Jesus 3 presents when he was born." Blah blah blah. The King read the Christmas story in Luke. He was subbing for Dad. =)

After reading it, he reminded the kids that we have a lot to be grateful for. Friends and family have blessed us so we can have a wonderful Christmas. He then gives WArrior 3 a hug and just held him. (for a long time). His heart was full of gratitude. (He got emotional. Yes, the King.) The older kids saw that so, they too started getting teary eyed. Okay, most of us got emotional. We have so much to be grateful for. Words can't express it.

Well, he composed himself and then got up to get an orange box. He sat back down and then opened the box. I knew what was in it. He took the contents out of the box and showed the kids. They were surprised. The King told them that there was over an XXXX amount of money in there from family, friends and from an anonymous giver.

Money has been hard especially this month. We had to help my parents pay for some of Papa's hospital bills. It was hard for me to tell the King that they are in need of our help. I've never felt so helpless. I knew we didn't have the money but the King without hesitation gave anyways. Because of that, something had to give. LIke rent...

I can't imagine what the King had/has to go through. The stress of thinking where to get the money to pay this bill and that. But you know what? Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways.

Who would have thought? On Monday, someone (whose name I will not disclose) drops off a big folded bag. Inside the bag there is a pocket, in that pocket they put a generous amount of money. Later that evening, after returning from PCC (the King had to play for the Hawaiian Choir) someone left a card on the screen door. I thought it was from our Secret Elves (another blessing-someone was doing the 12 days of Christmas to us) so I just put it on the King's desk. Later that evening in the room, I was dressing Warrior 4 whom I had just given a bath. The king asked me who the card was from ...it was blank on the inside as well. In my head, i was thinking that our secret elves were funny to leave us a blank card on this day. I said, "I don't know who it is from." He then showed me what was in the card. Started counting and again ...wow! Who could this person or people be?

Two days later, we get a package from the mail and in that package 2 more envelopes which contained ....yes more green leaves with faces. We have been really blessed. Heavenly Father knows us and our needs.

The King reminded us to be grateful. And before we opened the presents the King suggested that we say prayer. I gave the prayer and was reminded of how full my heart was.

This Christmas has been a humbling experience. The presents under the tree were mainly from friends and family. Not to mention all the goodies we were given to eat and enjoy.

To all the Clauses who made Christmas memorable.... from the bottom of our hearts...THANK YOU. Mahalo. Maraming Salamat. Agyaman kami. Un Dangkulu Na Si Yu'us Ma'ase. Domo Arigato. Malo 'aupito.

Love,

the GOOey Goos

THAT'S "THE" ORANGE BOX.

H1N1 Photos

My Warriors as we wait at the doctor's office to get their H1N1 shots. Check out Warrior 2 "awan ti tsinelas na" (no more slippers).

Princess is so detail oriented and noticed the blood mark on her band-aid. Can you guess what continent this is? Did you say Africa?

Enjoy the JOurney!

Warrior 4 enjoys his walks. This particular day, he fell asleep and rested his head on the tray. As soon as I called Warrior 1 to bring brother in so I can take a picture... he woke up and smiled for the camera. Palpak! Warrior 1 does a very good job taking his brother out to appreciate the fresh air, plants, birds, cats, chicken and trees! It's a win-win! Warrior 1 gets to sweat while Warrior 4 enjoys the journey. On foot or on wheels. Skateboard or ripstik. The job gets done! Everyone is happy!

TVA Swings

Just got back from our jog/walk to BYU-Hawaii and on the way back home we stopped at TVA to check the freebie bins but it was closed. So, we decided to just swing instead. It was too funny. It seemed not so long ago, when I was pushing Warrior 1 and Princess in these very same swings 14 years ago.

I'll post pictures later. Gotta go take a shower! Laters.

Aww, they remember swinging in these swings. =)

Piano Recital

Here are some of Princess' pictures of the recital. Thanks Aunty NIsi for taking the pictures.

Princess played "All I Asked of You" from the Phantom Of the Opera. Arranged by Andrew Lloyd Webber. This evening, she was chosen to received an award for Outstanding Performance. We are still trying to get a video of her playing from another mom since I didn't play photo/videographer that day.

H1N1

Okay, 1st day of Christmas break and the Gooeygoo's got their dose of the H1N1 vaccine through their doctor. They didn't get it at school because they were either on a wait list or was never given the form. Everyone did great. Warrior 3 on the other hand was so dramatic. Yup! He cried as soon as the needle made contact. He didn't stop either when the needle came out. It didn't help when all of us were laughing. I tried not to laugh but the other Goobabes kept cracking up. Too bad we didn't have a video camera. He looked so funny. Warrior 4 didn't even cry like that when he got his shot.

Anyway, gotta go clean for now.

click here for pictures of this day at the doctor's office

I'm back! Well, here are the Gooeybabes' stats. They have grown a whole lot. They are taller than me with the exception of Warrior 3 and 4. Man, they grow up fast. Next school year, we'll have two GooeyBabes attending High School.

Warrior 1: 165 lbs. HT: 5'5"

Princess: 114 lbs HT: 5'2"

Warrior 2: 111 lbs HT: 4'10"

Warrior 3: 55 lbs HT: 4'

Recently...

Here are some pictures of Warrior 4 with me and one with the King. It's so hard to take pictures with the King. He is one goof ball. Taking pictures is not his thing. But, here is my favorite one with him tonight after coming home from the Musical Fireside at the Visitor's Center with Ron Miyashiro and Bishop Harry Brown.

The King is so busy...our ward had the Christmas program and the King played piano in the choir. ( I love it when the King plays. It is a good reminder that...it's one of the reasons why I married him. =) sounds corny but that's true. Haaaaaaaaaay, I'm floating in the air like when I first heard him play.)

Princess sang a duet with Ayanna Schlag. Princess sang the alto.

During the 3rd hour, we went to listen to the King speak at another ward. He is one busy Councilman.

Came home...ate whatever. King made fried rice. I took a nap after lunch.

Goshness, I'm going backwards here. Anyway..at the Fireside. The King trained Princess really fast on how to do the sounds at the visitor's center. Enjoyed the message and music that were shared. Warrior 2 and 3 were out again! Sleeping that is.

The KIng had to go to play/practice with the Hawaiian Choir which will be performing at PCC on MOnday evening. Tomorrow!

Anyway, this is all for now.

* Warrior 4 is now 7 months and 13 days old. Can you believe it? He loves to play and bang on the piano. He loves to eat. Every time he sees anyone of us eating..."umambil". He wants to have what we are eating. His mouth mimics our mouth as if he was really chewing on something. He is one funny warrior.

Me

This is me. I'm going to stick a picture of myself so my kids, grandkids, great grandkids can remember what I look like at 37 years old. It seems corny to be posting a picture I took of myself but hey, i don't want my posterity to wonder what I looked like when I was younger. That is all. How's my photo taking skills? First shot and here we have most of my face in the picture. Not bad for pointing and shooting, eh.

GOOeyGoos Gone Goofy

Notice one warrior is missing. He made this goofy video for us.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Be a Nine Cow Woman!

Back in November. November 12th to be exact. We had our STake Young Women in Excellence! The theme was Johnny Lingo. Each ward in the Stake was assigned a theme and we the Laie 4th were in charge of Faith. Princess was asked and volunteered or accepted the assignment for her (Aunty NIsi=YW President asked me if Princess would like to do it and pass it of as her Value Project for Personal Progress. So, I said yes for her. =) to come up with ideas and how to display the value FAITH.

Well, the evening went well. All the leaders were so supportive of Princess. They were all there to help set up and gave a lot of input as the big day got closer. Thank you leaders! Even the King got involved in helping set up the video that Aunty Nisi made of the YW's many different activities in our ward.

To make the story shorter..I will link you to the Laie 4th YW blog to see the displays. Aunty Nisi took the pictures.

Okay maybe not. It's a private blog so you can't see the pictures. Ha! Thanks for the reminder Aunty Carol.

Blessings

Stood in line ...for 2 hours in the morning and 2 more hours in the afternoon.

Free can goods, drinks, fresh produce and then some cream cheese and bread!

It was KRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAZY but worth it.

Warrior 4 was good through it all. What a good baby.

Free bananas from Junior and Almira Ah You!

WIC Coupons rock. MIlk, baby food and more.

More Blessings! Family and friends. Helping hands. Understanding Landlord. Health. Babysitting opportunities. Listening ears. Trials. Gospel.

Papa Fell

Well, Papa is doing better. He sounds a lot better too. He is speaking better. Mama was telling me that Papa is super sensitive. When the "boys" are helping him. he gets easily offended when he hears them giggling. He thinks that they are being rude and are making fun of him.

Mama also shared that one day or evening...Balas was out. Mama told Papa to sleep on the floor because she doesn't want him to fall over again like a couple nights before. First he said okay. but then when he was lying down on the floor...he noticed that that is not where he usually sleeps.

So, he whined like a little kid insisting that he lay next to Mama.

Growing Warrior 4

Warrior 4 is learning how to walk? He just barely started crawling! He has tried pulling himself up many times. He even tried to get out of his little tub. I can't believe he is 7 months old already? How time flies! Too fast.

And check out his "fuzzy" hair. It looks like a mohawk.

Answer to Mama's Prayer

Mama's prayers have been answered.

They didn't go through the operation in Manila.

Medical records were taking too long to get from the mainland so they couldn't proceed ASAP. In that case, Papa repeatedly plead and cried for his release from the hospital. "iyawid nakon! patayen dak ditoy" (take me home! they are killing me here)

Well, Mama felt good about it. Not proceeding with the biopsy.

what good came about this?

Glet was able to go home. Pat was able to go home and process his kids' (petition)papers. Papa is still with us.

Our faith and trust in the Lord is being tested right now. We just need to recognize that he has a plan for us. All we can do is to pray for strength and understanding, to be able to accept His will. It may be sad but we have to go through it.

Piano Recital

I am so glad piano recital is over. I always get nervous for Princess. I give them all credit for memorizing their songs! May Villanueva Shumway has 24 students that participated in the recital this afternoon. It was sad when May announced that she will not be able to play. She has tendonitis (i think that's what she said) It's been her tradition since she started teaching piano 15 years ago. She can no longer play but she has students to play for her.

Well, the Warriors stayed up really late last night playing their games and unfortunately they all went to sleep. Warrior 3 went down first...followed by Warrior 4, then Warrior 2 with his gaping mouth and last Warrior 1 couldn't fight his eyelids no longer.

short clip of Warriors sleeping @ the recital

Princess did well. She received an award for Outstanding Performance that afternoon. Yey, Princess!

I don't have any pictures of Princess that afternoon. I need to ask Aunty Nisi for it. I asked her if she could take a couple of shots of our Princess.

Update on Papa

Okay, Papa is now at a hospital in Manila. The doctors are studying his case. They don't just want to proceed with the draining and biopsy if it is a tumor. They are trying to get a hold of his medical records from a hospital in San Francisco before proceeding.

Here is Papa's history. Growing up as a little girl I remember the times when he would have his seizures...the whole family would be involved. Mama or Inang Baket would start hollering in panic that he is seizing and everyone would surround him. Someone was in charge of holding his legs down, his arms, someone was in charge of sticking a comb or something in this mouth. The sight of his mouth foaming and his eyes rolling to the back of his head and the sound of him gasping for breath was not a pleasant experience at all. It always made my heart race. But when it was all done and over...feeling of relief.

Of course we didn't know any better then. A lot has changed in dealing with someone who is having a seizure...we are supposed to just let them to their thing and just make sure that they will be safe in their surroundings.

Anyway, in 1979, he had a major seizure which paralyzed the left side of his body. I remember that vividly. He had a blind guy as a physical therapist.

In 1993, he had undergone a procedure where they clipped a vein in his brain. They used a catheter through his femoral artery to get in his head.

SO, right now the doctors are treating his condition of HYPONATREMIA. (As I had mentioned from the previous post...this developed because they had given him diuretic drugs to stabilize his blood pressure.) They are trying to bring his sodium level back to normal.

Hyponatremia is a metabolic condition in which there is not enough sodium in the body fluids outside the cells.

Symptoms

Common symptoms include:

• Abnormal mental status
  • Confusion
  • Decreased consciousness
  • Hallucinations
  • Possible coma
• Convulsions
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Irritability
• Loss of appetite
• Muscle spasms or cramps
• Muscle weakness
• Nausea
• Restlessness
• Vomiting
• Anorexia nervosa

Papa is out of the HOspital

Papa was discharged (for the 3rd time) from Sacred Hearts Hospital and will be admitted at another hospital in Manila. The CT scan showed that the abscess got bigger and they are going to try to drain it...but if it is not drainable then they'll take a biopsy. This procedure they are going to do is risky so we (siblings) thought that it would be better if they went to a better hospital in Manila just in case something goes wrong with the procedure.

Doctors (neurologist and organ doctors) study his case. They didn't want to just jump right in and do a biopsy. Their main concern was his sodium level being very low. They think that it is what actually made him or still making him really weak (not the abscess or tumor in his brain.)


His first admittance at Sacred Hearts Hospital was for HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE. His blood pressure would not stabilize. So they gave him diuretic drugs. Well, the drug did its thing and stabilized his blood pressure but that same medicine created another problem: HYPONATREMIA.

Diuretic drugs used to treat high blood pressure. These drugs make the kidneys produce more urine, which can wash away too much sodium, especially when the patient is following a low sodium diet. Diuretics enhance the excretion of sodium into the urine, with the goal of correcting high blood pressure. However, too much sodium excretion can result in hyponatremia. Usually only mild hyponatremia occurs in patients taking diuretics, but when combined with a low sodium diet or with the excessive drinking of water, severe hyponatremia can develop.

With Cousin Alexa

December 5, 2009 Saturday

We attended a party for McKenzie Rayne Naumu's 1st Birthday. She had a Candyland Theme. There were lots of candies and lollipops

Lots of good eats and it was nice to see family who we rarely see.

Here with the cute ponytail is Alexa Paige Naumu. She is McKenzie's sister. Their parents are Kiyoshi and Vanessa Naumu. Kiyoshi is the King's first cousin. They live in Vegas.

Abscess in the Brain

I decided to read up on Papa's condition and this article simply explains his condition.

"The swelling inside the brain can put pressure on delicate brain tissue and the mass of pus itself can block blood vessels that are supplying essential blood to parts of the brain. If prolonged, this can cause brain damage, because the oxygen supply to these tissues has been disrupted. It is therefore important to treat abscesses as early as possible."

"The effects of a brain abscess depend on its position and whether the brain has been squashed and damaged. Symptoms may be rapid or develop slowly over a period of weeks.

A headache is usually the first symptom of brain abscess. This results from raised pressure inside the skull, as the abscess presses on the brain.

Abscesses in the lower rear brain (the cerebellum) tend to cause loss of balance, a staggering walk, and neck stiffness.

If the abscess is in the frontal lobes of the brain, it may cause loss of memory and reduced attention span, and dysphasia (speech disorders).

Abscesses in the temporal lobes at the sides of the brain usually cause partial loss of vision."

Other symptoms of brain abscess can include:

• drowsiness;
• confusion;
• seizures (fits);
• paralysis;
• loss of sensation;
• loss of coordination;
• weakness;
• fever and chills;
• vomiting;
• irritability; and eventually
• coma.

The doctors have mentioned doing a BIOPSY. I hope that they choose the least invasive procedure to get to the brain.

Got Bread?

Came home from church... King wanted to have sandwiches but let me see..."Hmmmm. No bread!" I thought I had another loaf of bread in the freezer. Guess not. Oh, well. Sorry.

Long story short...made bread. Ate it while warm with homemade blueberry jam, peanut butter or margarine. Your choice. And we have 2 more baking in the oven which will be done in 8 minutes. yum.

HOme made WHITE BREAD (stick like GOOEY glue to your intestines kind of bread). Whole wheat and whole grain is healthier but...white bread fresh out of the oven tastes so good. mmmmmmmmm. DELISH.

Don't you just love the smell of bread baking in the oven?

What a Day!

Woke up early to go to a birthday party.

Transferred money via Western Union

King drove to the party.

North Shore had big SWELLS. Rough and eerie.

Traffic, crazy drivers.

lots of photographers, gigantic lenses along the road at Waimea Bay

Beaches closed

Reached our destination.. Schofield Barracks

Nice to see King's side of the family.

Cute oriental babies.

Great funny magicians, awesome food and company.

Said goodbyes.

Got gas at Costco. $51

King used his $65 coupon for a game + stuff @ BEST BUY

bathroom break...in one stall Princess, Warrior 4 and 3, plus me

Cellphone rings as I sit in the toilet..Princess picks up...it's uncle Pat. oh, hello! just put the phone by my ear as I finish my business.

Wash hands, dry hands out of the BANYO.

Got to talk to Papa... he speaks like a little kid. mimics what u say. then answers with one or two words. Makes me cry to hear him like that.

Bought a $35 fresh tree at a warehouse next to best buy .

Used money from collecting cans.

came home.

fed fussy Warrior 4, bathe him, took him out for a short walk, back inside.

played, nursed and bottle..then SLEEP.

dishes put away. laundry taken down from the line, ate leftovers

FACEBOOK

BLOGGING.

prepare Young Women lesson.

Kiss Kiss

Here is the King and Warrior 4. Every time the King says "Kiss Kiss" . Warrior 4 will give the King a kiss.

p.s.

Warrior 4 loves to feel, pull and suckle on hair.

Seen

Warrior 4 is crawling! Yey! From swimming on his belly, to scooting in multiple angles up to 360 degrees, doing the down dog, child pose to plank pose, and pigeon pose. He is turning 7 months on the 8th and he is coming a long way.

We put a big blanket on the floor over the area rug ...Warrior 4 discovered something under the blanket. The rug's fringes! For some reason he loves sucking the fringes. eeww grossness! Warrior 4 is funny. The King would tell him "NO!" and he would stop.

He loves to eat his rice cereal and his jarred baby food. Loves his peas, carrots, squash, gagged on the green beans, loves pears, blueberries, sweet potatoes and bananas.

He is slowly weaning himself off the bottle and from nursing. I try to give him half a cup of his cereal + Jarred baby food at each feeding and loves it. He'll then only take about 4 oz. of formula instead of 6-8 oz.

I like it! He is such a good baby. The King is very good at putting him to sleep. He holds him over his shoulder and they bounce at the edge of the bed as he chants, sings..."I love my baby.

He's getting sleepy." Or they just exchange stories.

Seen:

Warrior 4 sees me and he'll start crying.

Warrior 4 sees his brothers and sister...he gets all excited.

Carrying Warrior 4 on my hips...I open the door...he'll get all excited ..starts bicycling his legs, bright smile on his face and we go for a walk.

Prefers playing with tupperware lids, rice spoons and anything aside from "his" toys. I'll post pictures later so, you know what I mean.

Oh, he got his first dose of H1N1 SHOT on Saturday. Need to call in 3 weeks for the 2nd dose ...if they have it. He didn't even cry! Only after realizing that he got poked...then he made a peep. One short peep. Tough boy eh?

Our Bodies

We only get one body in this life and that's it. WE are responsible for it. We need to take care of it. Heavenly Father gave us guidelines to follow so we can have "health in the navel and marrow in the bones... "

I haven't been very good at keeping the W.O.W. I eat way too much sweets. I don't eat enough fruits and vegetables. I eat a lot of white rice and white bread. What happened to eating whole grain? Why is the brown rice just sitting in its container instead of it being cooked and eaten? The Warriors and Princess don't mind eating brown rice so why not cook it. Besides they've learned to just eat what is in front of them. I need to make better choices when I eat, cook and shop for food. I need to be a better example for my family.

EXERCISE! EXERCISE! EXERCISE!

Here is another one of those things that I've put behind the back burner. I am 15 pounds heavier. I need to burn these extra padding off. I need to find time that is best for me. I try to go walking with my friends in the morning around 8am but I haven't been consistent because..I am just plain tired (and lazy) in the morning.

Something needs to be done. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!

Papa's CT Scan

Papa's scheduled CT scan yesterday .. found the abscess got bigger. The medication didn't help shrink it. NOw, they are going to drain it. If it is not possible for it to drain ..they are going to do a biopsy of that tumor found in his brain. Then we are looking at radiation. Man, I'm speaking broken English but I'm just jotting these things down for myself.