...So, this is AMAYA...

Heeeey!! So we had our 3rd babe.... here's her story.... =)

At my 35 week check up everything looked great baby was head down and preparing for her debut which was soon to come. When I went in for my 37 week appointment baby was completely breeched. Right then my doctor gave me all the options that we had as far as getting an ECV, where he would do some numbing and relaxing of the uterus so he could flip the baby from the outside. Well, in that process, a few things could happen.



1.) chords could get tangled up in there while hes trying to turn baby and that could cause her heart rate to drop cutting off oxygen to our sweet babe =( and



2.) in the process of turning baby, that could cause excessive bleeding so in both cases he'd have to perform an emergency C section. I probably jinxed myself because I had just told him and the nurse before the ultrasound that I wanted to do this unmedicated and that I did NOT want to have a C section....well just my luck, I basically sat there with no option but to be medicated and to have a C section. =/


As I let it sink in I found myself fighting back tears. I'm not normally emotional about things but this was a lot to take in especially since my doc wanted to perform the ECV that same day. It happened to be my cousins wedding and I had to work the next day, and you know me, I'm all about responsibilities lol... which was kind of my excuse to not do it that day. Dr approved me waiting through the weekend and then performing it first thing Monday morning (in 2 days). Once I got into the car where Shawn and the kids were patiently waiting  I pretty much lost it. Dramatic much? Like I said, it was seriously so much for me to take in. I went from such easy labors with my last 2 and then this was my option for my 3rd child? The pregnancy that was pretty much cake and happened so fast?....yeah I was dramatic and cried for a good 5 minutes, like the ugly hyperventilating kinda cry LOL... eww my poor family had to see that. =/  After I told him our options, he assured we'd be fine, that alone made my heart feel so comforted. He's so much stronger than me.

I felt prompted to call my dad right away and ask for a fathers blessing. With both kids I got a fathers blessing and I truly believe that's why both were such wonderful experiences. He told me he'd be home soon so we could do it. Luckily my uncle Dan was in town for my cousins wedding so he helped dad with the blessing. It truly was the most amazing and comforting blessing I've ever received. I knew that from there on with enough faith all would go well regardless of what we'd have to do. I spent the next 2 days googling everything about ECV's and how to turn a breeched baby. I did all the different home remedies and exercises and then I just gave up and figured whatever the Lord had planned for me, I'd be blessed either way.
Monday came and we headed straight into the ultrasound room and BAM! Baby was flipped head down.... We were ecstatic and seriously full of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for hookin it up. We were on our 38th week and ready.... and when I say ready, I mean ready to have this baby because my last 2 were born at 38 weeks so I knew it was coming soon. Dr. Kaelberer (my doc) advised us to come back on Wednesday just to make sure baby was still head down. Made our appointment and was back in the office 2 days later with the same results, a nice head down into the pelvic bone baby. (***insert WINNIN emoji face***)  Still very grateful.

 We then were advised to go and check back Monday, Dec 19th to see if things had progressed. I was dilated to a 3 and if anyone knows about dilation you know you can sit on a 3 for a while so we weren't to stoked but grateful I had been dilated. After leaving the doctors I felt I could go another week of being pregnant. It just felt that this baby was not ready to come out...and that was fine with me. I had to work the next day, so i went to work and I kid you not, I felt I started contracting from the time I got into work until I left that night at 130AM. I felt a little different but nothing as far as giving birth. The next morning I still had cramps, again thinking they could just be Braxton Hicks... no big deal, however, I was bleeding now. =( Like not spotting bleeding but more like menstrual cycle bleeding. I was scared but didn't want to freak out to much. This never happened before so I called my nurse and she had me come in.






Now back to the beginning of this bedtime story lol.............

We got into Labor and Delivery where we were asked a few questions and then put in a room to take an ultrasound. The nurse came in and did her thing and then walked out....came back in rubbed my tummy again with the little tool pressing buttons trying to find something...  left the room again... came back in and by then I was like Okay...she hasn't even said anything but keeps leaving and coming back to look at baby.... WTF IS GOING ON?? I ask her and she says, you're doctors coming down because baby is breeched again. OMFG... are you kidding me?? So Dr. Kaelberer comes in gives me the options....again. I still wanted to do it all unmedicated but when he told me IF anything was to happen that he would have to cut me open with no medication. YEEEEAH... I didn't want to take that chance so I ended up getting some meds. I honestly don't even remember the doctor giving me the meds or telling me he was giving them to me, I just remember feeling really good at one point and then asking the doctor if we were going to start. Uh hello... we were done already. hah.. good meds huh? ;) Shawn was amazed by the whole process. He literally watched the doctor grab babys head and body and literally turn it upside down. Immediately after that we got sent to prep for labor. Dr. said he didn't trust this baby to sit still another day lol... As we sat there prepped for baby we got news that my cousin and his wife just gave birth to their sweet baby boy a few rooms down. With them being there my dad was able to give me another blessing of comfort with my Uncle Joe. It was so sweet. I knew from then on that this birth was going to be easy peasy. That was around 3p... well time went by and I wasn't dilating lol... my water broke but I was still sitting at like a 5. (BOOOO!) My doctor came in and apologized saying his wife throws one party a year and its a Christmas party so he had to go show face but his partner would be there if anything happened and I had to go into labor. He was pretty confident that I wouldn't give birth though until about midnight. I was fine with that...I mean it was only like 7p what was another 5 hours (***insert rolling eyes***).

We then had a shift change for nurses...as they were exchanging I suddenly felt so much pressure down below...like very heavy pressure. I told my new nurse I felt like I had to take a huge dump lol... she asked me to hold on as long as I could because they now needed to find my new doctor. What felt like the looooongest 7 minutes of my life finally ended. I forgot the dr name but she was so sweet. I remember I didn't push very long before we had our sweet babe. We also didn't know the gender of the baby so when we came out I was secretly screaming inside because she was a girl. I told Shawn I didn't really care but I was so happy to have another girl.


As I mentioned earlier, anything could've happened in the process of UN-breeching our baby. We find ourselves completely blessed that everything went smooth. We named our beautiful baby girl

****** AMAYA SALAVAOALEMASINA KA'ATI ASIATA***********

No doubt she has been such a blessing in our lives and we are all obsessed with her to this day. Just as the doctor told us, she is probably going to be our child that gives Shawn and I alllll the white hairs. Shes such a  little teaser but is so much fun. She can be really chill like her dad but also have a temper like him too. haha.. Nonetheless she's probably every ones favorite in our family. =)

...weird but blessed...

I've always heard that every pregnancy is different. I've had my share of both good and bad. My first pregnancy was so bomb from finding out I was expecting at about 6 months, no sicknesses or to much weight gain, delivery was cake (she popped out during my practice push lol), I lucked out on beautiful long healthy locks, and even to her first two years of life, she was wonderful (because now it's more like the "terrible 4's")... She made being a parent/mother so easy to grasp and get use to. #Winnin I seriously lucked out having it good with her that Shawn and I for sure thought the next child would be the child pregnancy from hell... well, almost 2 years later came the morning sickness, the body aches, the shedding of hair, the toothaches, the sensitive nose, and the level of annoyance that was out of this world.... everything everyone did annoyed the heck out of me. haha... Surprisingly the third trimester was the best for us. Although I had gained like 50 lbs and was uncomfortable it felt wonderful to not be sick in that third trimester. From then on it was easy peezy... Lauina, like Alilia came right as I hit 38 weeks. I was in labor for about 11 hours and he kept giving the nurses a scare because his heart rate kept dropping. All I remember was them telling me this guy was gonna be a little teaser because every time they'd rush into our room all of a sudden his heart rate was fine haha... After about 11 hours Lauina decided "okay I'm ready to be nice and come out!" By the 4th push our baby boy was out. The epidural had faded away just in time and I felt everything, it was awesome. I actually loved Lauinas birth. To this day, as he is in his terrible twos he is exactly the same. He's such a teaser and he does everything on his own timing... He decides when he wants to be our sweet little cuddler and also decides when he wants to be a punk kid lol..
Although both were completely different I am so blessed they both came out with the best health...and that, I will forever be grateful to our Heavenly Father for. After having these two kiddos it is no doubt that they are our world, however Shawn and I decided that we should be done with having kids. Just for our own personal reasons, we didn't feel the need to have more...................................................

Well............ after Lauina of course having more kids came up again. We found ourselves discussing "what if" convos about a growing family. I told Shawn if....KEYWORD IF... we did have another child or two or three lol we would need to have one ASAP and while we were already in the routine of things like changing diapers and staying up late, etc...etc... Shortly after Lauina turned 2 we found out we were expecting with our third baby. If you know me you know I absolutely hate pregnancies... especially after Lauinas. Don't get me wrong, I am obsessed with expecting mothers but I just don't like being pregnant. I think the human body is amazing little oven as it bakes our babies but I just don't like it.. I didn't really know what to expect from this pregnancy but was ready for whatever.....or so I thought.
I was wrong of course... We knew we were excited about having a new addition but this pregnancy has been so weird. I can't even find another word for it. It's just been weird. From the beginning (2 months when we found out) it was odd. The morning sickness was baaaaad. Like worse than with Lauina. I swear every strong smell made me sick. Food that sat out and wasn't covered or put away made me sick. Shawns scent made me sick. If the kids played outside and would come back in their "little kid" scent made me sick lol... My own perfume made me sick. My thrive shakes made me sick. Meat made me sick. Fast food and greasy food made me sick so I was basically living a vegetarian life- salad and subway every. single. day. And believe it or not when I would get irritated I would seriously feel sick lol... no joke it was horrible and believe me I felt like an A hole. One thing though, I am thankful for is I kept on thriving even through out the whole morning sickness thing and I never felt tired or sleepy...sick...but not tired. Make sense?- Yeah didn't think so hahaha
 Although I hated food and would go to sleep grumpy because I was starving and didn't want to eat because I knew I'd just throw up, I was still waking up refreshed and feeling energized just to get sick and throw up hahaha. nah but really.... I feel like if I wasn't thriving I'd be a complete HANGRY mean grump.
As I am well into my second trimester things have gotten a lot better. In my first trimester drama I had lost 11 lbs.... (YAY?? lol) but not to worry at my last appointment I had gained back 9 (insert Rolling Eyes). I am now open to most food. I am back to enjoying my meat and not going to sleep as grumpy lol... The sensitive nose has turned down about 5 notches (that's the scent level...not the size ;p just to clear that up lol) and am grateful for that because I swear that's what triggered the puking too.
Needless to say, I am feeling much better but it's just been so weird to me that in the first trimester all the things I absolutely couldn't stand I actually love now in the second trimester. I am back to loving my husbys scent. I can change Lauinas stink diapers, and my annoyance level...well that's still there (#MyPoorFamily) it's just not as bad. I am still thriving and truly wish I had thrived with my last two pregnancies...I LOVE IT and thoroughly enjoy being able to be energized and waiting on my kids to wake up from naps just to play with them and enjoy them before this child is born and becomes the favorite child. ;) haha

I do find myself extremely blessed that my family has been so patient with me and so caring. Alilia has been the best help around. The entire time I was sick and throwing up she'd wait by the door and make sure I was okay. She makes me want more daughters. Tongans say to have girls is a true blessing because as you age the girls are the ones that will take care of you...while your sons go and take care of their wives and inlaws lol... I already see the truth in that with Alilia. She is my bff!! She is always caring for me and always so quick to forgive me after I discipline her lol... And Shawn....well he's always good to me. He teaches me patience like no other...not so much because I need it with him but because he's so patient with me and deals with all my complaints and eeeeverything else. =/ People say they can see my "glow" but I don't know what glow they're talking about haha but hey if you see a glow it's definitely because my family has been so good to me. It is because of them that even on the rough days they are the ones that bring the truest happiness. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for constantly blessing me with amazing people in my life.
Praying the rest of this pregnancy is chill and I don't get to fat lol...but if I do whatev- it sucks but I don't even care anymore haha.. I'm so anxious and excited to meet our new babe in December....

....and if you're still reading this....thanks haha. This post was really meant to be a pregnancy update...and only about this pregnancy but of course I blabbered on and on about everything else. Anyway, HURRY UP DECEMBER!!

...he put a ring on it...

Frankie is my baby sister, and the most incredible one there is. She is the most giving person and forever doing things for others, especially me. She makes being an older sister the best and easiest thing. I can always count on her for anything...even if she's mad at me she'll come thru for me. haha best thing about having sisters right?

Frankie has been such an amazing influence in my life. With her life decisions and choices you'd think she had a wonderful example as a sister to follow lol.. well she did, Lusi is a perfect example of that hahaha... She has been my best friend from the day she was born and to this day still remains one of my favorite people on this planet. She is so fun and wonderful with my kids and treats them like her own from the spoiling to the disciplining ;) Frankie is 'THAT' sister/daughter that just does EVERYTHING RIGHT and I've always admired that about her. We were never envious of each other and I'm always grateful to have had such a warm and loving relationship with her. Frankie is someone I'd definitely want my Alilia to be like and that's why this post is bittersweet to me. (**insert crybaby face...a cute one, not an ugly one**)

She recently got engaged to her sweetheart Timani and although I know now that she won't just be right there to pu'i on anymore, saying I'm excited for her is pretty much an understatement. My heart is so full and I love the fact that she will be partaking of sacred covenants to seal the deal for eternity. Remaining worthy of those covenants is a rare thing to find now days...so did I say I was happy for her? hah I love that she will be joining the married club. I've been telling her how being married is soooo the business! She will be the most amazing wife because she has the biggest heart and strongest mind. Her love for the gospel will definitely reflect on their life together and I KNOW she will rock motherhood.
Not very many people knew about Timani or know him but we love him so much and so grateful he has had the patience and was so persistent with Frankie these past couple of years. Super grateful he has kept all his priesthood promises and is pretty much obsessed with my little sister. I love the way he treats her. He is the sweetest to her even if she's annoying and being a punk lol. I'm so grateful Heavenly Father has preserved him for her. And I hope he always knows how much we love him and are grateful to have him in our family. Now I just hope he teaches Frankie how to cook, 'cause rice ain't gonna fill them up every night. ;p LOL Here are a few photos from their engagement pictures. So glad I got to share this day with them. Seeing them in love is the cutest thing.

photo credit: Sodapop Photography

November 18th is just around the corner and then Frankie will be able to be in mine and Lusis "married" convos ;p LOL... Can't wait. 

...summer sixteen...

Our summers are normally busy with 'summer things' such as parties, reunions, work, festivals, shows, and lots of play dates that it's pretty much impossible to travel. But this summer, things changed a little. With us expecting baby number 3 we've been trying to do the most with our 2 littles before baby comes. That includes more traveling and whatever we think fun things are for toddlers... We haven't done anything major but a fair amount of traveling this summer. During the summer we also get our normal summer visits from our firstiez in Minnesota, but this summer they decided they'd stay in Minnesota, so of course we took a trip there to visit, and it was definitely one of the highlights of this summer. =)
Alilia has seriously been begging to go to Minnesota for the longest time and we figured we'd go out for Matts birthday since he hadn't started camp yet. Long story short...probably one of our favorite trips to Minnesota thus far. We spent a lot of time with the kids which we absolutely loved. Normally we are having to share the kids with others who visit there but they were all ours and WE LOVED IT and were super sad to leave... Shawnee and Alilias picture says it all lol..

...oh and did I mention we went to Drakes concert? yeah...that too. ;) lets just say I almost loved Drake more than Beyonces. It was awesome, and I'd definitely see him in concert again. Here are a few pics from our trip.

...love you always Minnesota Asiatas...

XOXO

...and then there were 3....

So much has happened and changed since my last visit here, here's a few things that have done so:

* We moved

* We are traveling more

* Lauina turned 2

* Alilia turned 4

* .....and now we have baby #3 on the way.... due December 29th. 

We are so excited to be adding to our family. Of course we are still very blessed that nothing major has effected our family. We are all very very healthy, maybe to healthy? haha and mostly we are all completely obsessed with one another. Our two littles are ecstatic to welcome a new baby. They ask every day when the baby is coming so Christmas this year will be extra special for us. 

Once again, I will TRY to keep up with this. XOXO

...time for your check up...

Can I just say THANK YOU DOC MCSTUFFINS?! =) my poor Alilia has always had issues with low iron. It'd be great one week or month and low the next so she'd have to go to the dr.'s and get poked for blood to check her levels, get blood taken, get a catheter, and at one point she was put on an iron supplement that smelt and tasted like cement. =( It was always scary for me and Shawn, Shawn especially, if I wasn't home and she'd have a fever he would take her straight to the ER. lol... seriously? After I think the 3rd visit I was about to strangle him because he had no clue how much ER bills were. However, I must say I am glad he always played safe than sorry. As an effect of Alilia being in and out of the hospital for those reasons saying she hated the doctors office was probably an understatement. She'd cry when she knew we were going to the doctors and would NOT be cooperative with the nurses AT ALL.....then she started watching Doc McStuffins and realized that the doctor was not the bad guy after all.

Lauina has always been such a healthy baby, so when he'd get sick, he wasn't to fond of the doctors office and would react the same way. I'm sure it's normal for babies. On the other hand this last time we went to the doctors for their wellness checks, my babies totally blew me away. They were so awesome and well behaved...I felt like we tricked the doctors and nurses in making them believe we were actually good parents LOL. They were both very cooperative in a mannerly way and very polite to their pediatrician and nurses. It was such a breeze and we are thankful for that.
My babies are growing so fast. Alilia is 26 lbs and Lauina is right behind her at 25.6 lbs but seems he's waaaaay heavier than her. He is all solid. =) Alilias iron levels have improved immensely and we are just in heaven after hearing that. I believe the big reason they were so cooperative is because they had each other. I know it made it easier for Lauina to take vitals and actually sit still and open his mouth because Alilia was totally into it as well......(thanks to Doc McStuffins). The entire time we kept reminding them they were like Docs toys and just getting fixed and checked on to make sure their bodies were working properly.
I'm so glad and so blessed that they have each other. At one point we thought our one baby would be fine and we'd be okay with just one kid because then we could spoil her and provide much better for her if it was only her, but Heavenly Father truly knows us and knows what's best for us and what we need and, Oh man.....I don't know how us 3 even lived life before Lauina. He is such a sweet soul and such a blessing to our family. His sister is a blessing not only to us but to him as well....he just adores the heck out of her and like always (or at least for now) thinks she's the most rad thing around.
I absolutely love watching them grow, it is pure bliss to me. So glad they chose me to be their mommy. Because of them, I am one happy mommy who's heart just melts when I see them, think of them, and/or are even with them....

...not so friendly island folks...

The Friendly Island Festival is a festival hosted by the National Tongan American Society (NTAS) celebrating exactly that, the 'friendly island' of the South Pacific, better known as the only remaining monarch in the south pacific......Tonga. =) If you truly know a Tongan person or the culture itself you know how kind, generous, respectful, and loving they are...we are. I am a proud Tongan girl who is always willing to share with anyone our fascinating culture. Which is why I thoroughly enjoy attending our annual Friendly Island Festival.

A little background of how I am even involved with the festival. For as long as I can remember my parents have been involved within the Polynesian Community, whether it was performing for it, participating as a vendor, or sitting on the committee hosting whatever the event may be. Most of the time the events were festivals celebrating our Polynesian culture (Samoan flag week, Polynesian Festival, E Center event, just to name a few) and because my siblings and I have become to accustomed to having my parents involved in those activities we never realized how much work actually went into it all these years. As I've gotten older I've realized how much they've invested into these festivals. I realized that they devoted so much time away from their families, work, church, and their own personal lives to help put forth this celebration for everyone with out getting paid a dime for it. My parents have never complained, in fact, they love it. They love sharing their talents with others and enjoy seeing the joy it brings to those in attendance. As my parents have been involved with these festivals, as their children we became summoned to "make it our hobby" as well lol. Seriously, growing up we knew our summers would be busy traveling for shows and performing and helping out with festivals. Doesn't sound like much but it seriously kept us busy the entire summer. Now that I look back on it, I have am so appreciative of it all. Festivals were always something to look forward to. The long practices in preparation for it were exhausting, but fun, and I actually had fun meeting new people and learning new things about my culture. And then at the end of the night I was reminded of why I didn't like these festivals, because along with my siblings were the children of committee members picking up the trash at the end of the night. haha... Oh man, I hated that. Anyway, on to the point of me just ranting on...lol as crazy as our summers were and all the work and time my parents, as well as those involved in these festivals were we all enjoyed it, and to this day still enjoy it. I've realized that it takes so much work to put these things together and so many people forget that....or honestly don't know, so they sit back and criticize in a "hater-type-uh-way" lol...

I had shared it on my facebook but thought I'd share it here, since it's my blog and no one reads it so I can eeeexplain my life and rant all I want lol.

Of course we attended the Friendly Island Festival every day. It started Thursday, August 6th. Normally opens with the opening ceremony which is opened of course in a tongan traditional way with the kava ceremony, and is something I wish everyone could be there to watch...but they're not....sooooo....everyone will just keep abusing kava lol. ;) It carries on through out the night with entertainment, workshops, and all the normal things that take place at festivals. There's always a variety of yummy food booths and a ton of craft vendors that always have Polynesian goodies.
By the looks of the first night we could tell it'd be a smooth weekend. Friday approached and of course we were there again. Now, let me share something else. For as long as I can remember (again hah) for the Tongan festival our show normally is the 'Standby' show.....meaning, we standby to perform in case a group pulls out last minute or someone doesn't show. Because believe it or not, with it being 2015, some people just aren't reliable and it's hard for them to keep their word. (insert emoji with a gun pointed to my head haha). So we are the standby show, which we are pretty use to already. Well this year, everyone was busy at work, but me...hard to believe, I know. lol... At about 2p my aunt inboxes me and tells me 2 groups just pulled out so we need to go on. My response? Ummm...Okay. Because, really that's all I can say knowing we are the standby performers. hahaha The great thing about these festivals that I forgot to mention is that there are a ton of really great performers that are there as well, so lucky me I had my Aunty Dofi and Aunty Mia there to keep my company and play and sing for me to dance to, because of course I was the only dancer there, so it was pretty much my time to shine and have all the solos I wanted. HAHAHA (insert THUMBS DOWN emoji) Improv at it's best that day. hah. Later on through out the night the crowds began to move in and fill the entertainment area.....well, so did the clouds and the rain. We got completely rained out. It was horrible, the raindrops were bigger than gum drops, I kid you not. We were drenched by the time we got to the car. =/ Kinda sucked because we were all looking forward to some great entertainment that night from Tausala, TeHamata, Makisi, Sione Toki, and Ulise, but when Mother nature is mad that leaves us no choice but to SHUT. IT. DOWN. hahaha however through it all....it was kinda fun. Haven't played in the rain for years...

Saturday.....I had to work and by the time I got off it was time to head to South Jordan for my cute little nieces baptism. We sang there and as soon as it was done we took off to the festival. It was packed by the time we got there. As we were unloading the kids we passed by this little group of older Tongan ladies, one of them I actually knew, we are good facebook friends haha, that means we like and comment on each others posts. haha I had passed behind them and I had no idea what they were even talking about but I figured, I'm not going to disrupt them to say hi to her because they seemed to have been in a very intense conversation plus we were already running late. As we approached the park area, my husband catches up to me and the kids and is laughing and says, "dang they're talking hecka smack about the festival and why they don't come to things like this....and what was wrong with it...." We both laughed and made our way down to the show. As the night went on and I sat back watching everyone enjoying themselves I thought about those ladies and how silly they were to sit there and have all these things to say about it. I'm sure the little bit that Shawn did over hear them saying was probably the nice part of their convo. lol... I thought I would be super offended by it because I knew the committee, I knew them all personally, I grew up with them and we are all pretty much apart of each others lives, so to hear these ladies say negative things, I thought would really piss me off.....but it didn't. In fact I was enjoying myself, my kids were, my family and many friends were too. I realized at that moment that you really can NOT please anyone. I've never been a people pleaser but I like to make things right with people. That night I realized, I don't need to 'make nice' with anyone, unless of course I did something horrible to them then of course I would make nice haha... But I realized that no matter what you do you can never please everyone. Someone will always have something bad to say, and that's just the way life is.

It's so easy to just sit there and critique and 'talk smack' about the way things are ran but until you make a difference or attempt to, I feel like you should just shut up........and that's just how I feel. lol Above all things this past weekend, I am still a proud Tongan girl who loves her culture and appreciates those who put time and effort into raising awareness of how beautiful our culture is, what we stand for and what we believe in. That we are more than the different stereotypes the media puts us out there to be. I believe if we had more people that were so giving and generous like those who care and give back to our community like those who sacrifice time into celebrating our heritage than as a Polynesian community we will be more unified. And with all the craziness going around, I strongly believe UNITY is what we need more of.

Love more and be happy......Ofa Atu....