An adventure indeed!

As we passed months seven and eight, we also transitioned from kind of crawling, to quickly crawling to pulling up standing to standing on his own do a few seconds.

Deep breath... Whew! Never before have I been forced to be so alert, constantly aware of where someone is and what they're into. It's exhausting. And amazing to see this adorable, tiny person learn so many new things in a short amount of time.

And I get to watch him, guide him, cheer for him, hug and kiss his owies away... Truly, we're the blessed ones as parents. :)

Much love,
The Dolfos.

Brad turns 23!

All Brad has ever wanted was a brand new surfboard of his own. And this year, he got it! He found the 9ft Ed Wright surfboard at a new, little surf shop up in Encinitas called Surfy Surfy. This board is bound to become an heirloom for sure... We even had Mak pose on it for some pictures. :)



A surfer in the making, maybe? :)



He already knows how to check out the waves... and express disappointment.



Much love (and good waves),
The Dolfos

Little fish.

Just as I knew I was pregnant before the test turned positive, and just as I knew it was a boy before the 5-month ultrasound, I knew (I KNEW) that this kid was a water baby. I don't know what it is about being pregnant, but if you really listen to the baby inside, you get such wonderful insights into their developing personality, their preferences and such.

I knew Makani had Brad's active side but he also had a very quiet, observant curiosity, just like his mom. His personality is a mellow, go-with-the-flow type, but he doesn't like to be surprised or rushed. Strange combination? It's exactly what Brad and I are like together, so it makes perfect sense to us.

While in my belly, I would feel Mak coast serenely back and forth, back and forth from side to side in my belly, sometimes doing flips, sometimes kicking off on one side and bumping into another. Then he'd have a little fit as if to say, Why isn't there more room in here?! I'd often tell people, Ah, Mak's doing his laps now.

So it was really no question to us whether we wanted to put him in baby swim (plus, my mom has a pool, two aunts have a pool AND we live near the beach... it's just good sense wherever you are). It was no surprise, though it still brought a bit smile to my face, when Mak took so easily to swimming!



It's been a month now and he happily dives underwater, knows to hold his breath, comes up making funny faces and smiling. His teacher, Erin, says he's a natural, and most babies don't take to it so quickly. Proud parents, we are!



During bathtime, he practices his kicking and has recently learned to make BIG splashes by slamming his hands down on the water. I'm pretty sure most of the bath water ends up on one (or both) of us, but water dries and we never pass up a moment to laugh along with Makani.



How can you NOT smile upon seeing THAT smile??

Much love,
The Dolfos

Six Months!

*SO* much has happened this past month that I haven't even had time to sit down and write it all! I'm going to try, this week, to dedicate an entire post to all these new and exciting milestones and events that have been added to our lives. Starting with, of course:

Makani has turned six months old!



All day, I kept looking at this boy, watching him sit up, watching him balance on all fours, watching him play, laugh, smile, learn, cry, grab and I couldn't believe he was here. I couldn't believe that just a year ago he was barely a few inches long and now he's 15 pounds and 27 inches long and he's HERE. And he's mine. Well, ours, of course. Everyday I look at him and sometimes I see Brad, sometimes I see myself, always, I see Makani. A perfect blend of the two of us. He has a personality now, he's developing preferences (LOVES his monkey, not crazy about peas), he exudes charm and has a quiet playfulness about him that I just love LOVE love.



He loves to smile, which is wonderful because everyone he meets loves to make him smile. He's developed a sense of independence, which I thought would be hard for me, as his mom, to encourage, but I see his eyes light up and his smile get so wide that I can't help but cheer him on. I have years (that I plan to cherish and cherish) until he really starts to let go, so I take these little moments as practice and I hold onto those brilliant facial expressions when he achieves his goal.



Makani, I can't tell you what a joy it is to be your mom and I know Dad feels the exact same way. We love you so much!

Love,
The Dolfos

1, 2, 3, GO!

It's amazing to me how quickly we develop. As I watch Makani grow, I share with my parents that "it goes by so fast!" And they always respond with a knowing, sometimes bittersweet look and reply, "Oh, I know." And I realize they *still* think the same thing when they look at me, their daughter, then a wife, now a mom.

Makani has been doing such a great job hitting all those milestones. He's now sitting up for minutes at a time (he gets bored, or sees something more interesting a few feet away, then just falls to his tummy), he's learning that he can get on his knees and balance there, he's definitely mastered backwards motion, sideways motion, and even turning in circles and now he's using all his might to get forward motion going.

The house *HAS* been baby-proofed.

Now all that's left is to watch Makani's face light up as he realizes he's MOVING FORWARD! Good thing we started running again, gotta keep those muscles in top shape as we gear up for chasing after this little one.

Much love,
The Dolfos :)

Ariel turns 25!

We always go wine tasting for my birthday. It's an unspoken tradition by now. So the Saturday before, a few good friends and the two of us piled into the big silver van and drove up to Temecula. It was such good fun! We stopped at three wineries, including Leonesse (where we are members) and we had a picnic, tasted wine, enjoyed good company and beautiful weather. It was a wonderful celebration and I felt blessed the whole time for everything I have. :)

Of course, going wine tasting takes a good part of the day (the whole day, really), which means it was our first test being away from Makani for a WHOLE DAY. We did much better than we thought we would! Of course, I would text my mom just about every hour asking how Mak was doing down there and she was wonderfully patient with us and would always text us back (even a few pictures of him being content). That did help a lot. The original plan was to let him stay all day at my mom's (Abue's) house and also spend the night there, but when we got home, Brad and I looked at each other and decided being away from our baby all day was enough for us for now, so we drove the five minutes to Abue's and picked him up. Makani was SO HAPPY to see us! Oh, the smiles! That made us feel so much better about our decision. We don't want to be wimpy parents who can't enjoy time as a couple without the kid, and it's nice to know we're not. It's also nice to know that we're bonded as a family and that Makani misses us as much as we miss him.

I must say that birthdays are so much sweeter when you have a little one of your own. Sure, they don't know there's something significant about that day, but when they smile at you all day, it's just heartwarming.



I had a wonderful birthday where I was able to see all my parents (that's rare)! Thank you to everyone who made the day so much special. Here's to a great start into my mid-twenties! :)

Much love,
The Dolfos

Pee happens.

So Saturday night, Brad, Mak and I went out to the Old Spaghetti Factory with my mom and John. Delicious dinner, wonderful company and even some yummy vanilla ice cream. We were all pretty tired when we got home, so I immediately fed Makani and put him to bed. This was around 9pm.

Because his schedule's so thrown off by the time change and the busy weekends, Mak ended up waking up around midnight to eat again. No problem. We just lay him down right next to me so he can nurse, then put him back in his bassinet when he falls asleep. Except he felt WET and needed a diaper change. So Brad got a diaper and decided to change it while Mak was nursing. Weeellllll....

Brad took the diaper off, realized it was dry, but before he could get it back on.... Makani peed. ALL over our bed. Okay, all over Brad's side of the bed. If only we'd waited just a few more minutes! Mak was still nursing, our bed was wet and we both were struggling to wake up enough to figure out what our next course of action was going to be. Luckily, Makani stayed asleep, I changed his wet diaper (and he STAYED asleep!) and put him back to his bed. Brad took the sheets off and we shared a very hearty laugh. Pee happens when you have kids. Whatcha gonna do.

Much love (and laughter!),
The Dolfos