Thanksgiving Weekend

We've been so healthy since we moved here (besides Esme's bout with Kawasaki's :) and we finally seem to have caught the bug that's going around.  Allen had a cold last week or so and Chan got it this weekend.  He's not so happy about his stuffy nose and cough because that makes it hard for him to sleep with his pacifier.  Might be a good time to get rid of it.  Hmmmm...

Chan enjoying a phone conference with mommy last week.  He was fascinated with the voices coming out of the ear pieces.  Thank goodness for the mute button!

Up close and personal with Chan

Cousin time after Malia's volleyball game

Too cool Esme

Esme getting her exercise at the park

We enjoyed a nice long Thanksgiving weekend with family otherwise.  We ate at Aunty B & Uncle Josh's house and even took some informal family pictures.  Here's the gang - all 20 of us!  Well actually Allen is trying to set up the tripod and SLR camera so the pic only includes 19 of us.  We couldn't get the timer to work on our camera so this is as good as it gets.  Aunty B ended up using her camera so I don't have those pics to upload yet :)

Our Lindsey-Pratt-Lyman-Honsberger Family

This was Esme's original choice of outfit on Thanksgiving morning.  She decided to change afterwards.  

Allen and Esme at her Keikiland Thanksgiving lunch. Esme and her class even made some of the food!

Esme Is A-Okay!

Esme's in the clear!  She had her follow up appointment at Kapiolani Hospital on Oahu this week for her Kawasaki's Syndrome.  She had a repeat echocardiogram and EKG that showed a normal heart still and a good check-up with Dr Melish, the infectious disease specialist.  She also had a repeat blood draw but we're still waiting on those results.  Dr Melish wants us to stay on the aspirin just a little longer and then we'll stop.  I talked Esme through the entire blood draw and she did amazing.  She even requested a purple needle.  Ha ha!  She watched the guy do the whole thing and didn't even flinch or cry.  I was very impressed.  Now we just have to go back in 1 and 5 years to check her heart again.  Dr Melish told us that she's got a 2% chance of getting Kawasaki's again and Chan also has a 2% chance of getting it.  Yikes!

Sucking her thumb as she gets ready for her echo

During her non-sedating echo

Watching Sofia The First during the whole procedure

EKG after the echo

Showing off her blood draw site

Chan Turns 18 Months

Chan finally had another canine pop through this weekend.  Now he has both the upper and lower ones on the left and we're waiting on the right.  They'll probably take so long that it'll be time for his 2 year molars next!  Sheesh!  Chan turned 18 months this past week.  He also started pointing to his diaper when he pees or poops.  It's not all the time but he apparently does it at the sitter too and we hadn't even mentioned it to Aunty Monica.  So we've been putting him on the potty before bath and when he mentions it and he thinks it's the funniest thing.  He doesn't do anything of course but he has fun just sitting there and then he tells us "all pau."

Esme has her follow up at Kapiolani Hospital this week for her bout with Kawasaki's last month.  They'll do another echo and make sure her heart is still normal and then hopefully she'll be in the clear.  She's been really good about taking her mini aspirin every morning and the only thing we've noticed lately is her hands and feet are finally starting to peel.

This past weekend Esme's pre-school had a 4 hour free babysitting night for students and their siblings.  Allen and I decided to try and take both kids but we were unsure about Chan.  We were totally prepared for him to scream but he was so excited to play on the big kid playground and with all the toys at the preschool.  It was cute to see him with all the big kids and they just loved playing with our silly little guy!

Field trip to OK farm, playing with coffee beans

Kids table at family dinner

Our cool guys!

Esme under the sea at a birthday party

Update By Pictures

Esme was the super reader in Ms Wendi's class these past 2 months.  We tallied 189 books read in that period even though we're sure we missed some.  This girl loves her books!  She got an award below and then a Berenstein's Bears book and a gift card to Yogurtland.  

 Chan still loves to eat!  This kid will try anything at least once and he always wants what other people are eating.  He loves to chew on bones too as you can see below.  

I couldn't resist when I saw this shirt at a consignment shop last week.  Now I just need to get a "Thing 1" shirt for Esme and a "Mother Of All Things" shirt for myself :)

Cousin number 1 and cousin number 6 holding hands while watching the ukulele band and hula dancers at the Waiakea Uka craft fair.

Allen's been working a lot of evening shifts and so this is what the kids like to do while mommy makes dinner.  Amazingly they can play with these things for quite a while without fighting!

More Teeth For Chan

Chan's first canine came in without a problem but the second one is causing some trouble.  This weekend Chan walked around with his hand in his mouth most of the time and would occasionally say owww.  Poor guy!  One of his new words for the week was peacock which was sort of random.  He's getting to the age where he gets frustrated easily if he can't get his words out or his point across to us.  He'll get a little physical or right in our face while he continues to grunt.  For the most part Esme and him get along but he's also getting more and more into her things which can cause a problem.  Esme's also learning how to deal with that.

This weekend we went to the Volcano Village farmer's market and this was the first time the kids had to "dress warm" since we got here.  Chan didn't even know what to do when I was trying to put his jacket on him.  It was the first time both kids wore a jacket since we moved here!  How much our lives have changed!

Chan in his warm clothes.

Playing at the park near the market.

A couple weeks ago I asked Esme to write her name on this index card.  I didn't give her any help and this is what she came back with.  I asked her tell me about it and starting from the right side she said, "This is an E, this is an S, ummmmmmmmmm...lets pretend that's an M, and this is an E."  

Happy Birthday Nana!!!

Chan got one of his canine's this week and we didn't even know it!  He's been sleeping thru the night just fine and waking only a little early but nothing unbearable.  He continues to eat just about everything that we eat.  He recently stopped liking string cheese (one of his old favorites) and now likes to nosh on apples, grapes, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, chicken, rice, noodles, avocado and crackers.  He still goes nuts in the morning for his banana-papaya-kale-lilikoi-greek yogurt smoothies.  He gets pretty upset if we don't have it and he even likes it when I make it more on the tart side with the lilikoi.

Happy boy!

Chan's checking out that handsome guy in the mirror at Nana's sewing class

Look how excited Chan is to sew with Nana!

The kids got to celebrate their first Halloween party of the season at the Yacht Club this weekend.  Chan got a Yoda costume from Nana but he wasn't too happy about wearing it so he went half naked most of the night.  And Esme was a cowgirl because mommy found that costume on sale at Target after Halloween last year.  She was a good sport about wearing it so maybe next year she can pick her own costume :)

Makena and Capri were disco kitties

Charlie the astronaut and Esme the cowgirl

Chan as Yoda

Aunty B the butterfly

Uncle Sterling was Bumblebee

Dancing after all that candy!

We also celebrated Nana's birthday this past weekend.  The first birthday with all the family home together.  We went to dinner on the eve of her birthday - a reservation for 20!  We ate at Kaleo's in the town of Pahoa which is just about a mile from where the active lava flow is right now.  It will most likely not be there in the next few weeks which is so strange to think about.  Then on Nana's actual birthday we had a nice brunch and family day at her house.  The kids loved helping her open all her presents.

Dinner at Kaleo's

My new favorite color on Esme

Thanks for the dress Kenny!

Goodbye Hurricane Ana

As if life hasn't been exciting enough, we had a hurricane to deal with this weekend too.  Luckily Hurricane Ana passed us by without much trouble.  We've just had some rain and lots of humidity to remind us that she's out there somewhere south of the island chain.  The kids didn't seem to notice anything different.

Esme is doing well on her road to recovery.  She returned to school last week and that helped to get her back into routine and out of the hospital mode.  She was used to having two parents hovering over her and getting all kinds of cool things.  She took a little time to transition to having Chan around once we returned to the Big Island.  It didn't help that I then had to take off for a conference in San Diego so it was just her, daddy, and Chan-Man.  They all did fine though and made it through the following 5 days.  Esme's rash is fading and now her palms and fingers are starting to peel.  Her voice is also still a little sweeter souding than normal and we just call this her "sick" voice.  She's still saying the funniest things too.  The other morning she woke up in a great mood and I told her that I love it when she wakes up on the right side of the bed.  She told me "well the left side is where the blinds are."  And then later she told me "Mommy, I'm hungry" so I told her "nice to meet you, I'm Zoë."  She then said "hey I'm not new, I'm your kid."  Too cute!

Chan is happy to have everyone back home again.  When I got back from the conference he kept coming into the room and asking "Momma, momma???" and then once he'd see me or I'd answer him he'd smile and say "Mamma, mamma!!!" :)   He's such a lovey little guy.  He has this habit of coming over to people he's comfortable with and putting his head down on their chest.  It's one of my favorite things!  His last molar finally popped through yesterday!  That thing has been sitting right below the surface for the past few months.  Now he just has all his canines left.  Sheesh!

Cousin Charlie feeding Chan

Wagon ride with popsickles on a hot day

Esme Goes Home

Esme got discharged from Kapiolani Hospital yesterday in good health!  She had been fever free for 24 hours after her Remicaid infusion and passed her second echocardiogram.  No cardiac changes noted so all is well.  She's to remain on a dose of baby aspirin once daily for the next month until our next follow up at Kapiolani on November 13th.  If all's well at that visit then we shouldn't have to check up with them anymore.  In the next month we need to monitor her closely for any fevers and if she has one then we need to go back to Kapiolani too.  Esme had tons of energy on her last day in the hospital which was a nice change from when we admitted.  However by the time we flew home she seemed overwhelmed and tired.  It's been a lot to take in for a little girl like her.

Her rash is still slightly present but the pains seem to have subsided.  Her lips are going through a molting process and she refuses to put anything on them.  I tried to smear Vaseline at night and that seemed to help slough off the dry layer that developed.  Her hands and feet might also peel in the next few weeks too which is part of the healing process.

Since there's a genetic component to this disease the doc advised us that Chan and all Esme's cousins are now candidates for it too.  Yikes!  She also told us there's a 12% chance of getting it if you're Japanese or Korean, and an 8% chance if you're Chinese.  We participated in some research study to look at the genetic component and hopefully isolate the gene that predisposes a child to this disease.  Now we're all well educated on Kawasaki's Disease but hopefully no one else gets it!  

Mimi's Better!!!

So I can't remember exactly where I left off but Esme was admitted to the hospital on Monday and given a 12 hour dose of IVIG.  That kept her fever away for just 12 hours and then it returned for a full 12 hours despite a high dose aspirin regimen (that's normal protocol for Kawasaki's and there's minimal concern for Reye's syndrome).  So yesterday, Wednesday, she received a new medication called Remicaid and that seemed to do the trick.  She hasn't had a fever since then and it's almost been 24 hours.  Last night she slept well and this morning she actually ate breakfast!!!  She had 2 pieces of bacon and a banana.  Her rash is subsiding and she can finally tolerate being on her feet.  The pain and swelling has kept her from walking since she got admitted.  This morning they got rid of her IV so she's no longer hooked up to IV fluids or the pole.  She's a happy camper!  Esme's gotten her fill of Frozen, the only on-demand movie that she's wanted to watch this whole admission.  And she keeps talking about going home to see her Nana and Chan-Man.

Chan's been a trooper through all of this too.  He's been at either Aunty Amy's, Aunty B's, or Nana's house while we've been gone.  He's gotten a lot of papi (pacifier) time for comfort and his beela (special blanket) but at least he's had those things.  We've been able to Face Time with him and surprisingly didn't cry at all.  Seems like he's having a lot of fun without us!

Esme Goes To The Hospital

I almost updated the blog the other night but wasn't sure what I had to write so I skipped it.  And that's what I get I guess!  The next day Esme was diagnosed with Kawasaki's Disease and admitted to Kapiolani Women and Children's Hospital on Oahu so now there's no lack of stuff to write about.  She'd had fevers for 2 days prior and slowly started developing symptoms that could have been caused from a virus but as time progressed started to look more and more like Kawasaki's - injected eyes with swollen lids, dry cracked lips, rash on her palms and body, irritability.  She was missing some of the other hallmark symptoms but the ones she had were enough even though we were hoping otherwise.  Kawasaki's is an immune disease where the blood vessels in the body become inflamed.  It's common in Asian children under the age of 5.  It's usually a diagnosis of exclusion after fever of at least 5 days so we were lucky to catch it early.  She'd had fevers for 3 days by the time we got to Oahu and started treatment.  One of the more serious complications is how it affects the heart so she's had multiple tests and we're still waiting to hear back.  Today she's seeming more like herself and wanting to play, Face Time, smile for pictures, etc.  Her eyes are less swollen and lips a little less red.

This is Esme when we checked in.  She was pretty tired at this point.

This is the next morning after treatment.  She even tried to smile!

Watching her Kindle.  I have no idea how we're gonna wean her of all the tv and juice she's had since we've been here.  Eeekkk!  She's barely eaten anything in the past 3 days but she'll sip something every once in awhile.  They've also got her on IV fluids. 

The activity coordinators brought her all kinds of new toys to play with.