Life Lately through iPhone Photos, 10/2/19

Hi friends!  Things have been a bit crazy around here lately and I haven’t shared a life update post in ages!  My parents have been in town for a few weeks, I recently spent a few days prepping my home for a photo-shoot (so excited to share the details once the home tour comes out!), and other random appointments and things have been going on too.

I’ll be officially be 29 weeks pregnant tomorrow and I’m so glad to finally be in my 3rd trimester!  Not gonna lie, I’m kind of ready for this baby to be out of me so I can start working out again.  I really enjoy pregnancy and I’ve been blessed to have no complications, but the end of pregnancy can really seem to drag on and on, as I’m sure many of you understand!

Caroline turned 2 at the beginning of September and she started going to preschool 2 days a week for a couple hours at a time.  She absolutely loves it and is eager to learn and try new things.  We’re trying to settle into a good routine and I’ve been trying to be smart with my 3 hours of free time that I get twice a week.  I typically do a small workout at the Y immediately after dropping her off.  I normally will do a Glowbody PT prenatal workout (a free plan I’m obsessed with but use code WHIMSY10 if you want $10 off of the 12 Week Postpartum Plan or the 6 Week Lean Fast Strong Capable Plan), walk fast and at an incline on the treadmill or I’ll swim laps.  That’s pretty much the extent of my workouts these days.  After a short workout I’ll often head to Starbucks where I can work on my computer because the internet is better than the hotspot on my phone (which is what I have to use at the Y).

Here are some (mostly) unedited iPhone photos from the month of September to catch you up on what we’ve been doing!

Caroline and I met up with my friend Kait (of Communikait) one day at Dog Beach on Hickam AFB.  I always have such a fun time with her even if we do nothing at all.  Whenever I get questions about what to do in Hawaii I always refer people to her blog because she seriously has the best content around!  Caroline’s bows are from Nashville Bow Co. and I absolutely LOVE the bows from this military spouse owned shop!

I found these cute water hyacinth pumpkins at Target and bought the medium sized one (this is a photo of the small one).  They’re the perfect neutral fall decor that add texture without crazy color!  Here is a link to the larger one.

Caroline turned 2 on September 4th and we celebrated with donuts in the morning!  (She’s wearing her favorite nightgown she basically lives in these days.)

She got her own tricycle for her birthday but she still hasn’t figured out how to make it go, so she enjoyed sitting on the back of Jack’s while he took a break.

And then chocolate cupcakes for dinner.

She started school the next day and has been really enjoying it!  No tears at all and the teachers are relieved she’s way easier than Jack was haha.  She’s become very opinionated though and must wear her glitter Natives every time we leave the house.

We went on some evening walks down to the water.  This island is so beautiful and I’m so excited for whale season to start again because we can often see them from here!  (And here is Caroline in the nightgown again lol)

My parents flew Space Available (on military aircraft when there happens to be extra room on flights…my dad is retired Army) to Hawaii on September 8th and have spent some great quality time with us!  (They left us for a few days and decided to explore Guam because a flight was heading that way.  I’m going to have my dad write a blog post because they’ve learned such valuable information while traveling this way and I know it could be helpful to those of you who are military and are thinking about traveling this way!  This photo below is of Caroline between some seats when we were waiting for them to get off the plane.  These are the glasses she’s wearing and she loves them.

Caroline had a bad reaction to some “sport” sunscreen and looked like this for a few days.  I finally took her in because it wasn’t getting any better.  The doctor gave us some hydrocortisone and it cleared it right up.

The kids did a lot of “work” with my dad.  They love all the random office supplies he travels with.

Mom and I finally tackled the plate wall I’ve been meaning to put up for a year.  It’s around the mirror in our dining area and some better pictures will be in my upcoming home tour!

I’ve hated my full length mirror for years and I finally decided it was time to replace it.  I got this one that has pretty natural wood and little carved dots in it.

My parents watched the kids and Tom and I went on a one night staycation in Waikiki!  We stayed at the Embassy Suites (Tom is a Hilton guy) and we mostly just spent time at the pool reading (I just finished Where’d you Go, Bernadette and really enjoyed it).  We went to dinner at Hy’s Steakhouse, which is a must visit if you like fine dining and truly remarkable food.  (Think Ruth’s Chris but a nicer local version of it.)  Tom and I ate here about 7 years ago and we’ve talked about going back ever since.  We got the table-side caesar salad and I had a filet mignon and Tom had scallops.  Everything was excellent!

I bought some random cheap costumes from the Target Dollar Spot (if you’re on Oahu make sure you go to the one by the NEX because they actually have a real Dollar Spot section, unlike the Kapolei location).

Every time we drive Jack to school Caroline knows we pass Dunkin Donuts…and she always says “no-nuts.”  Sometimes my pregnancy cravings get the best of me and we end up stopping and she eats a donut as slow as you can possibly imagine.  We’re talking like a whole hour to eat a donut haha.

I took the kids to the pool by myself one day after school.  Jack has gotten so good at diving down and picking stuff up off the bottom!

I met up with my friend Karen (we deployed to Afghanistan together in 2011 and they just moved back to Hawaii) and we took our girls to the Children’s Discovery Center.  If you’re looking for kid friendly activities in Hawaii be sure to read this blog post of mine from a few weeks ago!

We went to Paradise Cove lagoon with my parents and Jack swam with goggles on and was able to see 4 different turtles up close.  He thought it was the coolest thing!  (He swims without a float when we go to the pool but we always bring a puddle jumper to the ocean to give him a little more freedom.)  Here is the link to my sun hat.

Tom did a sprint triathlon…and I couldn’t get us out the door in time and we completely missed seeing him race and finish.  I really dropped the ball on this one and felt terrible.  (Thankfully he was just doing this for fun and his half ironman a few months back was the one that was a big deal and I was there for all of it.)  We met up with him once he was finished though!

This giant waterslide was set up at the race and Jack wanted to do it.  But he got scared half way up so mom had to climb up and help him.  He went down all by himself!  And then my 60 year old mom did too haha.  I’m proud of both of them for facing their fears!

I needed to update the coffee table in our living room before taking home photos because we’ve been using a nasty stained ottoman just because it was practical.  I found this vintage wicker one on facebook marketplace and it was really cute!  Unfortunately once I got it home I realized it’s just too boxy for the space…but then the next day I found the perfect round one at Marshall’s!  So now if you’re on island and would like to buy the wicker one for what I paid ($80) just let me know!

This summer was a tough one with Jack so I scheduled some doctor’s appointments to see if there was something we could/should address.  But in the past 2 months almost everything we’ve been struggling with happened to resolve itself on it’s own (I think it’s because Jack will turn 4 next month and things just aren’t a fight like they once were).  We tried out food therapy (with an occupational therapist) but realized it’s probably not needed because he doesn’t have texture/sensory issues and will try things when he feels like it.  He’s just a bit hard headed and he comes by it honestly 🙂  So proud of the big boy our Jack is growing up to be!

One day Tom and I went on a day date and we decided to go to the Bishop Museum because it was a rainy day and we’d never been before.  It’s well worth a visit if you want to learn about the Hawaiian monarch and the culture in general.  The boots and jacket I’m wearing in the photo are from Joules USA and you can use code WHIMSY20 to get 20% off full priced items plus free shipping!

Jack had Math Night at school and we went and ate hot dogs and then played math games (each grade had their own booth with age-appropriate games).  Jack loved showing us some of the math games he plays at school!

We made it to church this past Sunday!  I wore a dress from Amazon that I’ve really been loving.  It’s non-maternity but works with a bump and will be great for nursing too because of the buttons!  Be sure to size up (even if you aren’t pregnant) because the shoulders are tight.  (I’m wearing a medium.)

After church and naps we headed out to Waimanalo and went to a polo match!  The kids have never seen horses before so they thought it was cool, and the games are free for military, so it was a great free event to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Caroline was brave enough to pet a horse but Jack got nervous and wouldn’t do it.  Here is the hat I’m wearing and here are my sunglasses (only $9.99).

After the match we decided to go to the beach at Bellow’s for about an hour.  Jack loves the rough waves but they’re too intense for Caroline.  It’s always such a beautiful place to visit though, whether you swim or not!  I think I need to frame this picture.

So that’s what we’ve been up to lately!  Hope your October is off to a great start and thanks for reading if you happened to make it to the end 🙂