A letter for sienna.mahina

Dear sienna mahina,

Hello my love. My sweet. My darling baby. Happy 2 ½ months!

I am so happy and grateful you are finally here. You bring balance to our ohana. And simply complete us. Akua made you especially for me. Delicate beautiful features. Pretty curly long eyelashes. Lush brown wavy hair. Reddish-brown skin. Absolutely peaceful.

And you love your sleep just like mommy. When brother zen spends the night at gmas house and it’s just u+me, we can roll out of bed slowly around noon. ; )

Every morning you are greeted with gentle kisses on your cute chubby wubby cheeks. And mommy singing you the “aloha kakahiaka” song softly in your ears. You smile big with dimples beaming and happy eyes filled with so much joy and contentment.

You bring me so much peace. And happiest you are right in my arms. Or in my opu. Our journey together has been so beautiful and magical thus far. And we are very in tune with one another.

In 2004, I channeled a poetic monologue from spirit entitled, “Mahina,” for my Miss Hawaii pageant. That same year, Aunty Malia Craver, a respected Hawaiian Kupuna who taught mommy the art of ho’oponopono (a Hawaiian peace making process) blessed us with your Hawaiian name: kananiokamahinamalamalama, which translates to “the beauty and wisdom that radiates from the moon.”

Intuitively, I knew your soul was ready to make the voyage to the earth plane after the super moon in march 2011. 3 months later you were conceived. We used the Chinese gender predictor chart to plan for a girl – and it totally worked!

You were so easy on mommy while in my tummy. No morning sickness. No pimples. No weird cravings. Just a little nausea and lots of good food. And you especially loved being the first Laniwai spa baby. Everyone just adored you and sent us so much love, light and positive mana. We were blessed with lots of hugs + massages too! Our fave!

You embraced all of brother zen’s loud noises he makes while playing, singing, talking, whining and crying. He loves you so much. And brother Chase simply adores you as well. You love them both dearly.

You've already started to drool and coo + ahh. You have extremely strong legs – mastering the art of standing and kicking. And you seem to enjoy your woodland creatures tummy time play mat for at least 5 minutes at a time. ; ) Daddy even gave you a taste of banana – yummy!

We love to go holoholo! Places you’ve gone so far: both grandmas + great grandma houses, the mall, the beach, the park, starbucks, Waikiki park hotel, the aquarium and zoo, target, ross, aulani + laniwai, cheesecake factory and royal Hawaiian center.

Some ailments you’ve had to overcome: slight cold, baby acne, and constipation. And around 6 weeks old, a strawberry mark appeared on the right side of your head. Western doctors refer to it as a hemangioma. It is said to be caused by a collection of red blood cells protruding out of the skin. It grows in size during the first year. And then eventually turns white and disappear by age five or so.

Although, I will admit, I am human, and tend to be a little sensitive and thin-skinned sometimes, especially because kids can be so honest and blunt at times and blurt out, “what’s that on her head?”

Instead of trying to explain over and over the western definition, Mommy will simply say its “A special kiss from Akua.” And I’ve grown to love it! It wouldn’t be you without it. I find myself kissing you in that exact same spot all the time. ; )

And I feel overwhelmed with love and gratitude to have you as my baby. My earth angel. My sweet darling baby girl. You radiate so much joy and peace and love and innate beauty. And I just love you so so so much!

Mahalo Ke Akua for the gift of baby sienna mahina. She is perfect, whole and complete exactly as she is. And she is perfect for me + our ohana. Mahalo mahalo mahalo nui loa. Amene.