Two posts in one day?!

Here's just a cute little picture from before church one Sunday. Leilea is wearing a dress from her 2nd cousin (??) Maria. Someday I'll get a picture of her smiling.

About a month ago, I scheduled appointments for all three of the kids: Iwalani for a flu shot, Kawika for a flu shot and his 18 month well-child check (with other shots), and Leilea for her 2 month well-child and first round of shots. What was I thinking?

Kawika has been extra sleepy and extra whiny these past few days. The night before the appointment day, he woke up whining and running a fever. He kinda had a rash on his feet the night before and it had spread by this time. How convenient! Since he already had an appointment I turned his well-child into a sick child appointment. Turns out he has two pretty badly infected ears. She also tested him for strep throat. When John and I were waiting for those test results, it was the longest wait ever. We were so thankful when it came back negative. This is the second time this has happened, though. When he went in to get his 12 month shots they got put off because he also had an ear infection. hmmmm.....

Iwalani did a great job with her shot. She was so brave. The nurse was kinda hiding the needle behind her back but I told Iwa she was getting a shot and she just started taking her shirt off. She whimpered for a bit but once she saw that colorful, shiny band-aid, it felt all better and she started telling Kawika and Leilea how it wasn't that bad.

Leilea's stats are 12lbs and 22 inches long. Her weight is 75th percentile and her height is 25th. Head size is 50th. I thought the other two were way bigger by this point but I looked back and at two months Iwalani was 11lbs and Kawika was 14lbs. The doc says she looks perfect (of course we all knew that, right?). She did a little more than whimper with her three shots with the biggest needles I've seen since they had to get out the "big guns" with Kawika's fat thighs but she slept a lot and is doing fine today.

FYI- taking three kids to the doctor at the same time is insanity but at least it's over for a while. It would have been better if we actually had 3 well children, or done it earlier in the morning, or dosed everyone with Valium before we left.

Whiplash

We had a great Thanksgiving with my family in town and I'll be posting photos of that as soon as I get some from Jere. This is what I do have photos of now. ...

Iwalani has had this Barbie Jeep since last Christmas. The last time she drove it, we saw her zipping across the yard into the fence, screaming with her arms in the air the whole way. Since then she's just been sitting in it listening to the radio and occasionally getting out to look under the hood to "fix" it. We decided that it was time for her to really give it a good try where she can't hit anything.

At first, she was scared to push the gas because she would run into something. We were in an empty parking lot, so we assured her that wouldn't happen. She still wouldn't keep it pressed down so I showed Kawika how to reach over and push the gas pedal and that was the end of that! Once she figured out it was fun and good and slow, she took over controls and even wanted to go faster. She finally learned how to steer and also learned how to spin out. John was trying to get her to do it in this clip, but it didn't work out.

She was pretty pleased with herself.

I'm pretty sure that hat will come up in Kawika's future therapy sessions.

Stop and smell the family

The other night, I had a late night at work and was feeling way behind. I was in my own little world, wandering around the house thinking about all of the things that needed to get done when I noticed it was way too quiet. This is what I saw:My first reaction was actually to be a little annoyed but what's the point of having kids if you can't be one yourself? And besides, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? Wait. That explains why my house looks the way it does. hmm......

Here's a good picture of Leilea awake from that night:She smiles all the time but if any of you knew her big sister as an infant, you'll recognize the patented Friskillo "go to hell" look. It's all part of the charm.

Wow my genes are strong!

Back in the saddle again.

Today was my first day back to work. I went back Monday, but that didn't count because there were no kids.

I was afraid they would have forgotten me. How silly, right? The interim did a WONDERFUL job and they did many, many ambitious projects that turned out looking great. What if they didn't like me anymore? I kinda like being a "special" teacher (library, art, music, p.e.) if not for the fact that most of the kids like us unconditionally. Today that proved to be true. I love, love, LOVE my job and I really missed those kids. Okay, really about 90% of them, but that's still pretty good.

I also missed my kids at home, but to be honest, going to work is like a break. Everyone kept asking how much I wish I was at home right now, but I think they have this mental picture of me sitting in a rocking chair eating bon-bons in a peaceful room with a newborn. YEAH RIGHT! From 7:40 to 3:00 I didn't have to clean up poop or suck snot out of anyone's nose.

Funny how that's all I wanted to do by the time I got home. I love my jobs

Bless this mess

Great weekend! Saturday we went to the mall with the kids, Grandma Coelho, Jennifer, Brock, Tim and P. Grandma Lorna and Keoki were even there for a bit. It's always fun to enjoy commerce with the ones we love. It was really good to have Jennifer and Brock in town. I think Kawika has found his match. Baby gladiator fights coming soon. Time and location TBA.

After the mall, we went to Sam's and Kawika was getting sleepy. I had held Leilea in the Moby Wrap at the mall but since Kawika was tired and I knew he would want to be held anyway, I decided to experiment and wrap him for the Sam's trip. It's rated to 35lbs. He's 32. It wasn't too bad at first, but gravity is real, my friends.

Everyone who walked by had something to say, as they usually do when I wear the wrap but then the comments are usually about a cute little baby. These comments were more like, "Holy crap! What's that thing made out of?!" I assumed they were talking about the wrap.

He loved it so much he laid his head on my back and fell asleep. There's nothing quite like walking around Sam's with drool running down your back. Yum. Anyhow, here's some photos of that magical experience which I'm afraid he's going to want to repeat. Life is full of disappointments, big guy.

Sunday we had Leilea blessed at church. The whole fam-damily was there and fun was had by all. We even took the obligatory family picture afterwards. I think if I ever want to get a real family portrait done, we'll have to bring the tranquilizer darts.

Never were truer words screen printed

Candy nite 2008

Here's a bunch of photos from Halloween. I wanted to get one photo of everyone dressed in their Halloween shirts where no one was screaming, blinking, or looking like they have a really fat neck due to unfortunate camera angles. That was the best I could do.

Grandma Ann and I went to Farm Day at Iwa's school to help out. It was like trying to herd ants. I was in charge of making sure no one freaked out the donkey. Martha brought Iwa's Pygmy goat for the kids to pet on Farm Day. She got this goat for her 2nd birthday and it follows her around the compound like a dog. She named him Sheep. She was very proud of Sheep. The orange balls are placed there to make sure Sheep doesn't accidentally impale a kid.

Here are the kids' costumes. Iwa was a ballerina (WITH high heels- as she had to point out every time we talked about it) and Kawika was a train engineer. Drivin' that train, high on refined sugar.