Back from Taiwan

Hi All,

This is Allen reporting.  Esme and I have just come back from a week long trip.  Thank you to Uncle Billy and Aunt Cynthia for letting us stay for the week.  We were able to visit Pandas, ride the gondola, meet Great Grandma and other family members, go to the Little Mermaid's Grotto (different than the Disney one), go up one of the world's tallest buildings and end with a week riding the teacups at the Children's Play Park.  Esme got a chance to practice her Chinese as she played with new family members.  Here are some of the pictures:

Esme is ready to go!

First stop out of the USA, Tokyo! For about an hour

I guess it's true that tigers like to swim

Only ride the happy Pandas!

Esme's first subway ride.  After the trip, she was a pro at getting through the subways

Our dinner on the second night. Just guess how much Esme ate!

Ah ma and her sisters, still looking good!

Building 101 is visible from Great Grandma's house

Grandma, Great grandma, Grandpa, Dad and Esme

Esme with her favorite drink.  We always bought two at the 7 eleven

We almost lost Esme in the ball pit

Manapuas on the street, what a delicious treat

Old school Taipei with mopeds and all and Grandma

Playing on the rooftop at Great Grandma's with second cousin Amber

Esme is half as tall as building 101

The view from the top

A tall building like 101 needs a huge Christmas tree

The Mushroom heads at the Children's Play Park

First ride, the carousel

You know you're on vacation when your cotton candy is bigger than your head

Shaka on the monorail

Our last lunch at the famous Grand Hotel.  Dad ate the whole sushi bar

Merry Christmas Eve!

Oops, for some reason this didn't originally post on 12/24/15...

Christmas Eve is extra special for us this year because daddy and Mimi are coming home from Taiwan tonight!!!  They've been gone for the past week visiting daddy's side of the family and so it's just been Chan and mommy at home.  We actually had a great time and I enjoyed the one on one with Chan that I don't always get.  He's actually a super helpful kid and will go along with things much easier than Esme will most of the time.  We prepped for the holidays and cleaned the house to get ready for Christmas morning with all of the family.  We also had some adventures at the park and even went to get Chan's first haircut!

I originally thought Chan would be fine with a haircut but I think the word cut and seeing scissors got him scared.  He sat in the chair with no problem but as soon as the lady came at him he started to squirm.  We tried a few times with a few different distractions but in the end the buzzers were the best bet.  He let her get to him that way with just a little squirming and tickling.  So all of his baby curls are gone and he's got a big boy haircut not.  It's still as fine as ever like a newborn baby but maybe this will help to stimulate his hair growth.

Mommy also had an ultrasound with the specialist this past week.  The twins are confirmed as two girls and it was a much more confident answer this time.  They're growing great and each weighing in at one pound which is normal for just one baby at this exact time - 22 weeks.  Yikes, this means I'm really gonna be huge if they keep up their growth rate.  I go back in 6 weeks for the next scan and apparently that's when they start to get a little crowded and growth slows down.  The goal is to aim for at least 5.5 pounds at birth and they'll be good to go.  It's a lot of work growing humans!  I'm still feeling fine though and can't even tell there's 2 in there yet.  I'm sure there's still time for that though ;)

I've been trying not to lift the kids because of my growing belly but it was hard this week since I was the only adult at home.  One day when we were walking Chan asked me to pick him up and I told him no cause there were babies in my belly.  He whined "when those babies come out, then are you gonna pick me up?"  Funny guy, he's already thinking ahead.  He's been really into role playing lately where we even have different names.  For the past 2 days he's stopped calling me mom and only calls me red ninja.  And he only wants me to call him blue ninja.  All day we have "missions" to save something or do something and that's pretty much how we get through our day.  He's already named Esme sparkly ninja and daddy is green ninja.  I'm just surprised it's lasting this long.

Not sure if I mentioned Doodle.  Anyways he's the kids elf this year and it's the first time he's appeared.  Esme was set on naming him that.  Ha ha!

Afternoon ride around the neighborhood. 

Liliuokalani Park and Hilo bay after school one day.

Esme and friends before their Christmas performance.  

Chan was convinced that these were real lollipops at the county building Christmas Village.

 Esme finally decided she wanted earrings and so we did it.  She even chose pearl earrings!

Belly pic at Nana's house.

These are the only shoes Chan wants to wear nowadays.  The eyes light up and he shows everyone!

Watching Uncle Judd work on Uncle Sterling's driveway.

Chan even got to ride!

This was right before he saw the scissors in her hand.

The lady ended up getting the buzzers out and this is the end result.

Ultrasound of Baby B.

And baby A.  Esme's hoping it's a thumb sucker like she was.  

A Christmas Filled Weekend

We had a Christmas filled weekend to kick off the holiday spirit.  From Downtown Hilo's Red & White Night, making Christmas crafts at Home Depot, getting our trees (the kids got a free mini one!), going to the Waimea Lighted Christmas parade, the Yacht Club Christmas Party and decorating our tree - we did it all!  Phew, it was definitely a busy weekend!

It was a fleeting moment but for about 3 seconds they were smiling and this is the shot we got.  I'll take it!

Chan watching the winter surf on a beautiful sunny day.

Our Christmas tree decorators.  We realized our living room needs a 8-10 foot tree next year but for now this was perfect for the kids to decorate.

Chan's first time participating in the Kids Workshop.  He was so happy to have his own hammer, and he didn't even hit a finger (mines or his!)

My little elf next to the kids little tree :)

Happy Holidays!!!

Can you believe it, today is December 1st already???  Time is flying but I keep hearing that's the story of my life from here on out :)  Christmas cards are sent so I guess it's time for a year end review.  And what a year it's been!

Hopefully everyone has gotten our new address by now - 1299 Launa St, Hilo, HI 96720.  We bought a house this past summer and it finally makes our move back home to Hawaii feel permanent.  We'd been looking since we moved home but just weren't finding what we wanted so we thought we were going to end up building a house and then this one popped up.  It worked out perfectly!  It's a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom home with a nice fenced in yard.  The neighborhood is well established and it's a great area for the kids to ride bikes and play outside.  We did some renovations to update the kitchen, bathrooms, and flooring as we moved in and have some more small projects to do when we can find the time.  Next big project though is to install solar panels, hopefully in the new year.  We're still going through boxes (some that we never even unpacked from WA) and the best part is knowing that we won't have to move again!

The next big piece of news is the twins!  We've been planning to have a 3rd child for awhile and found out we were pregnant late this summer.  Visits to the OB were normal until I had a follow up and the doc found another baby on the ultrasound.  Talk about the shocker of a lifetime!  Since then there's been more scans and tests but thankfully all is well and the babies are healthy.  We're still adjusting to the news and have about 4 more months to prepare ourselves the best we can.  Due date is end of March if all goes well.  Oh and it's 2 baby girls but no idea if they're fraternal or identical.

Allen just made a year at the University of Hawaii-Hilo College of Pharmacy and is enjoying the new job.  It poses some new challenges with having to develop his own lectures and start from scratch but he also loves taking his students on their clinical rotation at the Hilo Medical Center on a daily basis.  All those years of being a clinical pharmacist in WA are a valued asset here in Hilo!

I'm still working for a program called Hawaii Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn.  I'm placed in the Department of Education and trying to start up a school based health center in a very rural school - Mt View Elementary, which was actually my elementary school.  So far it has been interesting and VERY different from my previous job.  The nice part though is that I follow a teachers schedule and have all the school breaks off from work.  I can't complain since that gives me more time at home with the kids :)

Esme is 4 1/2(5 in February) and is in her last year at Keikiland preschool.  She's doing well and will start kindergarten next fall.  She also does gymnastics twice a week and just finished swimming lessons that she'd been doing through the middle of the year.  She's comfortable in the water now and can swim on her own so we decided to take a break from her private lessons.  We may consider an advanced group lesson next summer though just to keep up.  Esme had her one year Kawasaki's follow up on Oahu last month and all looks well there too.  Her heart is in great shape and so far the studies show that she should continue to lead a normal life without cardiac effects.  Our next follow up is 4 years out and after that she's officially cleared.  Thank goodness!  Esme is a real girl and loves pink and purple, fancy/shiny things, doing art projects, dressing herself, going to the library, and spending time with her cousins.

Chan on the other hand is a total boy!  He loves trucks, and noises, and "fighting" which is just being jostled around.  He's 2 1/2 (3 in May) and loves loves to chase the roosters out of the front yard or the geckos off the covered lanai.  Esme could care less.  Chan is also super loving though and loves to cuddle and get kisses and hugs from Allen, mommy, or Nana.  He's a great talker and can pretty much keep up with all of us.  He even has a sense of humor :)  Chan has been potty trained since this fall and was soooooooooooo much easier than Esme.  He just took to it right away.  Sleep has been another issue though.  He goes back and forth but has never been a great sleeper.  He's an early riser and occasionally wakes at night and comes to our bed.  Allen is great at redirecting him and taking him back to his room though.  I'm passed out!

Both kids are great eaters and try most things.  They get along normally for siblings.  Chan is working on his "gentle touch" and "inside voice" and Esme is working on her attitude and not yelling "NO!" at Chan all the time.  That just sets him off.  They both seem excited at the upcoming arrivals and have so much fun checking out my belly everyday and laughing at how my belly button is disappearing.  Chan's sitter, Aunty Monica, is helping to prep him for the babies by including him in the care of the other baby that's there with him.  Hopefully he'll be a big helper just like Esme.

I think that pretty much sums it up!

Drum Roll Please...........

Well it's finally time we annouce the big news on the blog - we're having twins!  We've known since the summer but were waiting till the end of the first trimester to announce it, like we've done in the past.  I had my first appointment around 9 weeks and all looked good including an ultrasound with just ONE baby present.  Then when I went back a month later the doctor almost dropped the ultrasound wand when she saw the two babies which was news to her and I.  All of a sudden life was changing right before our eyes!  We'd planned on 3 kiddos but 4 was a whole new story.  Needless to say after the twins were discovered there were more tests and scans to be scheduled.  I had an ultrasound with a doctor who specializes in multiples last week and it was very reassuring.  He said they look great and healthy, no abnormalities noticed so far.  Each kiddo is in it's own sac and has it's own placenta which is also really good.  Still doesn't tell us if they're identical or fraternal though.  I didn't realize this was possible before but Allen and I have done a lot of reading lately on the biology of twins.  Since I declined an amniocentesis we won't be able to tell if they're identical until they're born and we test their blood.  Oh and here's the other big part - we actually found out the genders this time!  We weren't going to find out with just one baby but we felt we had to with two coming now.  It was sort of anticlimatic since it took the technician and the doctor awhile to confirm the sexes but they proclaimed they're both girls :)  I honestly feel like they were 95% positive and at this rate even if it changed next time I wouldn't be surprised.  My first US was wrong so it could happen again right?  Regardless we're happy to have 2 sweet little girls join our family in the spring of next year.  We'll keep you posted as time goes by.  I'll have to have an ultrasound every 3-4 weeks to check on the twins progress.

This is the first US.  It's hard to see since it already started to fade when I took a picture of it but there's just one baby there.  You can sort of see the round head and body.  This was at 9 weeks. 

Then just 4 weeks later this is the shot we got.  You can see one baby lying there on bottom portion of the pic and then the membrane between them and the other head in the other sac.  I still need to take pics of the newest US shots. 

Meanwhile Esme has also had a big visit to the doctors office.  We had her one year follow up for her Kawasaki's last week.  We went to Kapiolani Hospital on Oahu to see Dr Melish but first she had to get a echocardiogram and an EKG.  Both of which took longer than my ultrasound on the same day!  Thankfully though both test were completely normal along with her exam with Dr Melish.  She told us that at a recent international symposium for KD they came out with some new studies that show that kids who had no cardiac involvement originally (like Esme) go on to lead healthy lifestyles into their 40s (that's as old as the studies are since KD has only been diagnosed here in the US since the mid 70s).  Kids with cardiac involvement had heart attacks, the need for stents, and other cardiac issues before their 40s which is so sad.  Our next/last follow up will be in 4 years and then Esme will be cleared.  Phew!

During her echocardiogram.  She was watching a TV high up on the wall.

Time for the EKG.

Then check up with Dr Melish who almost had the disease named after her since she was the first one to classify and diagnose it in the United States.  Turns out she and Dr Kawasaki had been doing the same research in different places and he was about 5 years ahead of her in Japan and she was in Hawaii.  Those are the top two places, in that order, where KD appears.  Next is San Diego, CA. 

Ever since Halloween Chan has wanted to wear his Spiderman costume almost everyday if we'd let him.  He even wanted to wear it for our family photos the other day.  The kid is obsessed!  He also loves pictures of the Avengers.  He calls them "da Bengers."  He got some Spiderman shoes the other day and the box has all the Avenger characters on it.  Well he ended up carrying the box with him for almost 3 days straight.  He's so funny!  Oh and the things that come out of his mouth lately!  He loves the word "actually" and uses it all the time.  He talks like he's 3 or 4 sometimes.  No one ever believes me that he's 2 when they hear him talk.  

Flashback: I showed this picture to Esme the other day and she says "Cute!  Did Chan get a haircut today?"  Ha ha!  I told her to look closer cause he's like 6 months in this pic.  Our little bald guy that he was!

Look at his hair now - still soft as a newborn baby though with curls in the back.

Driving cousin Makena crazy!

The underwear gang playing in the yard.

These moments are fleeting but it's cute to catch them doing stuff like this.

Picnic in the backyard with cousin Tosh.

Nature lesson with dad - checking out the green gecko.