Gwyneth Noel

I'm so excited to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Gwyneth Noel Snow!  She's perfect; I keep calling her my angel baby (and really hope I don't jinx myself every time I say it...)  We're all pretty obsessed with her around these parts.  She's very popular with her sisters.

Gwen was due on December 16, 2015 (her aunt Melanie's birthday).  I had convinced myself that she would come on December 19, because that is our wedding anniversary, our alma mater was playing against their biggest rivals in a bowl game that afternoon, and that evening was our church Christmas party.  I figured she wanted to make an entrance.  I wasn't too far off, I started having contractions at the party. ;) 

Nothing really got cooking until the wee hours of the morning.  I woke up around midnight (?) from some big girl contractions, and started timing them.  About two, I woke Dan up and said, "It's go time!!"  We started gathering our things and getting the girls ready to go stay with our friends.  I called the hospital to let them know we were on our way...and they told me, "We're all full, you need to go to this other civilian hospital."

I'd been warned at my hospital tour that this was a possibility, so I put my brave face on, and called the other hospital to tell them I was coming...and they told me, "We're all full, you'll have to find somewhere else."  At this point I was FREAKING OUT!!  My contractions were coming hard and fast, this was my third child and they tend to come a little quicker.  It was going to be at least a thirty minute drive to any hospital, and for a moment I was feeling what Mary must have felt as she was told time and again that there was "no room at the inn." Help a mother out here people!!'

Fortunately, Dan walked in at this point to see me sobbing in frustration, grabbed the phone, called Tripler (our military hospital), and said, "This is Captain Dan Snow..."  Suddenly, a room was available!! (I don't know if it really was because Dan threw his rank in there, it could have totally been because a room did open up. ;))

We dropped our kids off at a friends and began our drive through the rain to the hospital.  We started joking that when we told Gwen about the day she came into the world we could start the story with, "It was a dark and stormy night..." Ha!  We're funny, you don't have to tell us...

Once we arrived at the hospital, we checked in and got sent to triage to check if I was REALLY in labor.  I was kind of like, this is my body's third time doing this, I think I recognize the signs by now, but I was an impatient pregnant lady who was ready to not be pregnant.  And...turns out I was dilated enough and had strong enough contractions to be admitted.  Then it was off to my labor and delivery room, where they hooked me up to more machines and then I got to wait patiently for my epidural.  Is it just me, or does time seem to slow down when you are in labor?  I felt like everyone was moving in slow motion and I just wanted to scream, "Can I have this baby already??"  The contractions kept getting stronger and then I got "the shakes," which I always get when I am having a baby.  Just what I want when someone is about to stick a giant needle in my spine...  Oh, but that sweet epidural!  I know there are lots of moms out there (many of my friends) who are all about having a natural birth, and they are awesome people who I have some serious respect for, but I don't think I will ever be one of them.  That sweet relief as the epidural starts to take the edge off gives me warm fuzzies and makes me a much more pleasant person to be around.

Except this time, I think the epidural was wee bit too strong.  I finally started getting the urge to push, and so I told my nurse, she checked me and said yup, we were getting close.  Then it was time for the shift change (naturally...), so she introduced me to the new nurse and reviewed everything with her.  She decided to close with, "Lauren has been really in tune with her body and contractions."  About when she said that was about when I stopped feeling my contractions.  Like, at all.  They would show up on the monitor, the nurse could feel them on my belly, but I felt nothing from the waist down.  I seriously could have taken a nap, I was so comfortable! It is crazy to me because this has never happened to me with an epidural. Normally they start to wear off, and I have to have boosters, so to be so completely numbed that I can't even help push the baby out was really frustrating. 

Tripler is a learning hospital, so there were two resident OB's delivering my baby.  Plus like three nurses, a pediatrician, and possibly someone else??? All I know is there were a whole lotta people that came in, introduced themselves and then situated themselves in front of my hoo haa.  Fortunately after going through labor, I kind of lose all sense of modesty and just go with it.  And we probably needed everyone in there to help me through the pushes, because I couldn't feel when to push, I couldn't feel where I was pushing when I did, and heck, I couldn't even feel IF I was pushing.  Both the residents were very patient coaching me through the pushes, and eventually, they started to see her head.  She was sunny-side up (like London!), which makes pushing her out a little harder.  Fortunately, she did not take as long as London, nor was a vacuum required for her exit from my uterus. She did get stuck for a bit though.  Everyone enjoyed describing to me how they could see the top of her head turning back and forth, like she was saying, "No thanks, I think I'll just stay in here."  Lucky for me, my body was not so cool with that idea, and eventually little Gwen made her debut. 

Gwyneth (Gwen) Noel Snow

7 lbs 11 oz, 20 inches 

December 20, 2016 in Honolulu, Hawaii

And Hawaii welcomed her into the world with her own personal rainbow.  We're so happy you're part of our family, Gwinnie the Pooh.  We love ya big time.

How to Survive Hotel Life

...in one room with two small kids for two months...

"Mom, does this match?"

London snapped this one of Juliet having a snack.

"Do you like the baby in my tummy?"

Alright, really, I can't complain too much because even though the quarters DEFINITELY felt cramped at times, we also had all this goodness mere steps away...

But you can't spend all day every day at the beach...so here are some tips for keeping it together when you're stuck inside.

1. Be organized about it.  I have a rule that if I am staying somewhere for more than a few days, then I unpack my suitcase and put my clothes away.  We put all our clothes in the closet and dresser.  Since it was two months worth of clothes for four people, it was a tight fit, but we made it work! And it allowed me to stow away the suitcases and not worry about people tripping all over them.

2. Without a kitchen, you are going to be eating out A LOT, so I would recommend stocking up on breakfast and lunch items (and snacks too, if you are a pregnant lady or a toddler. ;)).  We had our little mini fridge stuffed to the gills and then stowed our non-perishables wherever we could.  Behind the TV or in the nightstand, etc. We also made sure to have plenty of paper plates, napkins, and plastic silverware.

We kept all our plates and things in this bag.

3. Go ahead and skip the travel size toiletry items.  Bring your normal-size shampoo and whatever else you use.  This is real life, not vacation.  It also allowed me to save the hotel's complimentary toiletry items, and now I can use them for guests that come to visit us, or take them with me on a trip.  Or you can just let the hotel keep them, if you feel weird about it. 

4. Laundry is an inevitable part of life, so to make it easier on yourself, bring a collapsible laundry basket and invest in some detergent and whatever else you like to wash your laundry wish.  I also had a mesh laundry bag to help with sorting/lugging everything to the laundry room down the hall.  And don't forget the quarters!


5. If you have small children who still use bottles or sippy cups, make sure you have the means to wash them.  We brought a bottle brush and bought a small container of dish soap to keep things clean. 

6. Make sure to get out at least once a day if you can.  It was so hard to do that sometimes with two kids and no car, but even if we just went for a walk around the resort in the stroller, it made life so much better.

These stairs were one of London's favorite things about the hotel.  And one of Juliet's biggest struggles.

They had to go through this tree at least once a day.

I am so jealous of her curls.

London calls this her "house."

And, here is a quick tour of the set up we had going.

I tried to keep everyone's bathroom stuff organized in their bags.  We also bought our own liquid hand soap. Those bars get gross fast! 

 

Please note the large amount of stuff hiding behind the TV.

Our room would remain like this for all of two minutes (tops) after the cleaning lady came.

Closet full of clothes/ bags/my shoes.  We kept the diapers and wipes up out of reach because our girls love to play with them.

All our clothes were in that dresser.  Shoes are under the desk, paper and books on top of the desk.  The chair full of stuff has all the girls books and toys concealed under that blanket.  Normally they were strewn threw the room.  But I spared you that chaos.

We kept our gargantuan stroller and all the beach gear out on our balcony, out of the way.

Rainbow view from our room.

The best view from our room.

Especially at this time of day.

Hopefully that wasn't too terribly boring for you! I'm so glad that we are out of the hotel and in our very own home.  We moved in two weeks ago and finally finished all the unpacking.  Still getting settled and organized, but there are no more boxes in my house, so that's a step in the right direction! 

When we were still in the hotel Dan turned to me one night and said, "You know, I'm going to miss this place, it's starting to feel like home."  I don't know that I share those sentiments exactly, but I do really miss having someone coming in and cleaning for me every day!! ;)

Playing the Tourist

Honestly, I can't really say that we're "playing" tourists, since we're basically still tourists ourselves.  But here are some of our favorite things we've gone to see and do while we've been staying in Waikiki.

The US Army Museum is located right here on Fort DeRussy, so the girls and I have stopped in a couple times while we're out on walks.  It's not very big; it's housed in an old battery (Battery Randolph), but it's free and air conditioned, and the girls love pointing out different things in the exhibits.  Here are some of London's favorite things:

London loooved the "red feather face"...it was a symbol of the Hawaiian War God.

Can't miss the helicopter on the roof!

Chillin'

We've also enjoyed visiting a few different beaches.  One of our favorites has been Lanikai Beach, located on the windward side of the island.  It's been rated as one of the top beaches in the world, and it did not disappoint.  Unfortunately, London decided to be in one of the worst moods of her life on our trip down there, so despite the perfection of the beach, we weren't able to stay long.  No biggie, we'll just go back another time. ;)

On our way over, we stopped at a lookout point.

 

We also went to Bellows Beach, which was nice, but the day we went was windy and the waves were CRRRRAAAAZZZZYYYY, so we couldn't really take our little girls in.  But they still had fun playing in the sand.

 One of my personal favorite things is stopping at Pali Lookout.  The views are pretty fantastic.  Fun story, when I took the girls up here one afternoon, there was another family that had brought their own conch shell and they were all taking turns blowing it.  After everyone in the family had a turn, the father looked around proudly and proclaimed, "Now we are true Hawaiians."  I had to stop myself from laughing out loud.  The day we went was cloudy and there were some pretty forceful winds up there.  The girls were not too enthusiastic about being buffeted by the winds at first, but after a few minutes they decided they loved it. I have to resist pulling off to the Pali Lookout every time we drive by it, so I'm sure we'll be back.

Another favorite was the Honolulu Zoo!  It's not very big, and part of it was closed when we went, but it is super affordable (military discount, holla!).  You do have to pay for parking; it's right across the street from Waikiki Beach, so that's not too surprising.  The girls had a lot of fun running around and finding all their favorite animals.  It was an awesome way to kill a few hours (and burn off some excess energy).

Do your children insist on taking a picture with every statue they see?  Because mine do. ;)

We are in love with Banyan trees!

 No tourist experience is complete without food! Since we don't currently have a kitchen, we have been eating out basically every meal (we do have cereal, snacks, and sandwich supplies.)  We have sampled many of Waikiki's restaurants...but since we have two small children, it's mostly been fast food and take out.  However, two of my favorite places we have tried are local.  The Wailana Coffeehouse and Steak Shack.  If you find yourself in the area, I cannot recommend them enough! 

Macadamia Nut Pancakes with Coconut Syrup.  I have literally dreamed about these since eating them.

We have this for lunch or dinner at least once a week.  SO. GOOD.

Finally, our most recent adventure was to hike to the top of Diamond Head.  Although I wasn't sure if we would finish it (I thought either the girls or I would poop out before we got too far), our whole family finished the round trip in just over two hours.  We took lots of breaks for snacks and water, or just to catch our breath.  Diamond Head isn't a very long hike, and one of the easier ones on the island.  It begins in the crater and climbs up the interior slope until you reach the summit.  It is very steep--mostly switchbacks, and the very end of the hike is a seemingly never-ending series stairs.  I thought I might go into labor towards the end, but thankfully that didn't happen.  Maybe I will try again closer to my due date! ;)  London was honestly inspirational.  She was so excited to reach the top, and except at the very beginning and the very end, she did the whole thing herself.  She already wants to "climb another mountain."  I'm so glad she enjoys the outdoors. Now we just have to get Juliet on board. She was not the biggest fan of this activity and rode Daddy's shoulders to the top...and all the way back down.

 

The Stairs of Death

Looking out through an old bunker.

Made it to the top!

Back in the crater.

Superdad!

And that's all I got folks.  Moving into our house on FRIDAY!!!  Woot woot!!  Next blog will be typed from the comfort of my own home.  Hallelujah!