One Year Later...

Our little snuggle bug a year ago.

At his one year old doctor's appointment. (Trying to open cabinets, of course.)

Happy baby in the bath!

Daniel's most recent stats from his one year old doctor's appointment:
Weight- 17 pounds 10 ounces
Height- 28 inches
Teeth- Two on the top and two on the bottom
Stats at birth:
Weight- 6 pounds 10 ounces
Height- 18 3/4 inches
One Year Old- What He Loves:
Daniel loves playing with cars, balls, opening and closing cabinets/drawers, his dog Charley and exploring. He also loves looking at books and has his "favorite" books he wants us to read to him. His favorite time of day is when Brian gets home from work. As soon as he hears Brian, Daniel books it to the door as fast as he can. He hates staying still for diaper changes and will throw food off his highchair when he is finished. Daniel started walking on his birthday and he looks so cute toddling around. And, finally... (drumroll please) we can put him to sleep at night awake!

Happy Birthday Daniel Kai!

What an adventure this year has been! Looking back, the year has gone by so quickly (with the exception of some really LONG, challenging days/nights!)
My parents had originally planned a traditional baby luau for Daniel at Goleta Beach to celebrate his first birthday. The plans were to have a roast pig, but then swine flu hit and although it doesn't pass through food, we thought we should skip the pig this year. We had lots of friends and family from out-of-town coming to Daniel's party which was supposed to be the Saturday before his birthday. But come Friday, the Jesusita Fire was a major threat and my parents were in an evacuation warning zone (and two blocks away from a mandatory evac zone). So with smoke and ashes filling the air and nearly 30,000 people evacuated from their homes we decided to cancel the party. All the other weekends were already filled with prior committments so we ended up celebrating three days later on Daniel's actual birthday (May 12th). Since it was a Tuesday night, not as many people could make it but there was a good turn out and we still had a great time. Daniel still got to celebrate with both sets of grandparents and all of his great-grandparents. My parents and family cooked up tri-tip, chicken and we served "long-life" noodles. While everyone else had cake, Daniel got to dig into a mini angel food cake with fresh whipped cream and strawberries.
Daniel was so exhausted and fell asleep in his carseat on the way home. He didn't even wake up when we took him out and just crashed on his changing pad. (See last photo!) Happy Birthday to our sweet little boy!

Pack me up Auntie Val!

Daniel absolutely loves when his Auntie Val comes into town from San Francisco to visit and spoil him. On a recent visit, he decided to climb into her suitcase- I think he wanted her to take him home with her!

Hapa Baby Reunion

You may remember the above photo from our trip to Pasadena in July when Daniel got to meet Nephele (my good friend Erika's daughter) who is exactly one month older than he is. Daniel also met Phoebe (Erika's sister Jessica's daughter). In April, Nephele and family came from Vermont to visit again and we went to Phoebe's house in Pasadena to hang out for the afternoon. It was so fun watching the babies play and interact with each other. Needless to say, they had all changed so much since the summer!
Above is a sweet photo of all the mommies and babies. Every mommy is 1/2 Chinese and 1/2 Caucasian (Hapa) and all the babies are 1/4 Chinese!

We switched babies for this photo and I think that Nephele looks way more like me than Daniel does! Whoever thought I would give birth to a blue-eyed baby? I miss Erika so much and wish she still lived in town so our little cutie-pies could grow up together.

Daniel and his future wife Nephele! ;)

Driving Cars

Cars have been Daniel's favorite toys ever since we went to Hawaii and Daniel found matchbox cars to play with. He loves to push them around and make car noises too!

Spring is in the air!

Daniel really enjoys eating teething biscuits- especially after finally getting his first two teeth in.

The happiest boy on the block with a new swing Brian set up in our backyard.

Daniel stylin' in his Easter clothes.

Easter eggs filled with Cheerios are delicious!

Discovering his Easter basket.

At dinner for my 30th Birthday.

Hiding in an egg at the zoo.

The first time that Daniel realized toilet paper is also a toy. (He was only allowed to do this once!)

Hawaiian Bliss

Somebody picked the right house

The turtle man (a.k.a. my dad). My dad went in search of the turtles every day. Oh, and for you astute breastfeeding moms out there, yes, my dad is wearing my "hooter hider" on his head! Apparently they are also functional to shade you from the sun.

Jeff and Val with their nephew!
(Won't they have cute kids?)

"Can I ride him?"

More of the LOST set.
(Although at first Jeff thought we were taking photos of a homeless camp.)

The LOST set (notice the fuselage from the plane).
I tried to find the DARMA Initiative's VW Van, but all I spotted was the security guard's SUV!

Daniel with my mom.

Here are some shots from our first afternoon of exploring. The house was just about 100 yards away from where they shoot the beach camp scenes for LOST. Better yet, the house was on a beach inhabited by huge sea turtles!

More Aloha

Our little ohana.

The mischief makers.

The Dachenhaus Duo at Haleiwa Joe's enjoying a petite drink.

The amazing view from our room!
(For full effect, add the sound of pounding waves and tropical birds.)

"Sheesh, how many uncles do I have on this island?"
Daniel meeting Uncle Mark for the first time.

My sweet boys!

"I love this sand, Mommy!"

Aloha!

Helping Daddy remove the old wax.
Don't worry, Daniel, you'll be out there with him soon enough!

Daniel helping his daddy get his board ready.

The house we stayed in even had toys for Daniel to play with. Here he is with his cousins Taylor and Dani- too bad they don't live on the mainland, Daniel had so much fun playing with them!

The boys ready to catch some surf.

Matt, Linda, Bri, Me, Hilary, Estevan

My parents rented a beautiful beach house on the North Shore which was conveniently located just down the beach from Brian's favorite surf spot. Our first stop from the airport was to Costco where we loaded up on delicious puupuus. The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with friends and family- We were excited to get to see our friends Matt and Linda, who are living on Oahu for work through spring, and Hilary and Estevan who flew in for the weekend from Guam (where Estevan is stationed with the Coast Guard) to meet us. The next day we got to introduce Daniel to over 15 of his aunties, uncles and cousins!