Hawai'i: Day 8

Drew finally returns with G in the wee hours of the morning – after they've performed an X-ray, abdominal sonogram and given her an enema. I believe the X-ray was done to rule out the possibility of any foreign object obstruction in the intestines, and to check for a condition in which the large intestine "swallows" the small intestine. The latter case was probably unlikely though since that condition would be accompanied by bloody stools and severe vomiting. And I forget what the abdominal sonogram was for. But in both cases, Drew said that G was very upset because for one thing she wasn't allowed to move around (via Drew holding her), and evidently she kept asking for me. (Though I would have liked very much to be there, I would have been useless during the X-ray.) After everything was said and done, they diagnosed her with constipation, and therefore, the enema. But since the ER doc on call was neither very experienced with pediatric medicine nor very knowledgeable regarding X-ray results, he referred us to a local pediatrician for a follow up appt.

After some well deserved rest, we get breakfast at the Food Pantry (grocery store) and spend the rest of the morning hanging out at the Hawaiian King pool, talking with the other guests, mostly retirees from Canada. (They tell us that chocolate milk works wonders for them.) When the girls have a midday siesta, I hit the streets for some souvenirs.

In the morning, G actually seems back to her old self, but by the afternoon, she's complaining again about her stomach. (At this age, you can't exactly ask them to rate their pain either.) So while I'm making lunch, I call the referred pediatrician Dr Ching for an appt. Turns out he's in Utah for some reason, so he refers me to his associate, Dr Franklin Young. Thankfully they have an open afternoon appt so I book it.

Dr Y is located in the medical offices above the Kapi'olani Medical Center so we have to catch yet another taxi to get over there. (There's also a bus, but that could have easily taken an hour to get there.) As we're waiting on the curb for an available taxi, I finally spot one trying to pass a bus that's making a stop. I've already stuck my arm out to flag it down when we realize it's a limo taxi! Before I can wave him off, the driver's got the window down and yelling to us that he's the same price as a regular taxi. Can you imagine? So I will forever have this absurdly funny image in my mind of the four of us sitting together in the back of a limo going to see the doctor. Probably the only time any of us will ever ride in a limo, this one was decked out with decanters of water(?) and glasses with tufts of colored tissue paper sticking out of them and ribbon everywhere, like we were a rolling party just waiting to happen.

Dr Y, the man, could very well be anyone's grandfather with his little bow-tie and demeanor: just something about him. And it seems his habit is to pull out this notebook of diagrams of the body so he can show you exactly what he's talking about. (Later in the week, the Rs end up seeing him as well for their daughter's double ear infection. They mention seeing a notebook diagram of the inner ear.) In our case, he explains that the X-ray and abdominal sonogram that the ER did doesn't really show him what he wants to know, and he'd rather that they had taken a blood and urine sample which would have given him more helpful information. Also, since enemas only clear out the lower portion of the intestine and colon, it might only give her temporary relief. He tentatively confirms that its probably constipation – apparently children can be quite susceptible to little environment changes, and certainly G's diet while on vacation is different from what she normally eats at home – and barring any infection (or high white blood cell count, such as in an appendicitis), he tells us to give her a good dose of Milk of Magnesia in the evening.

We easily (and painfully) get a blood sample in the lab downstairs from Dr Y's office, but since G's not potty trained, we wait nearly an hour for a urine sample. But I tell you, it was pure grace when I finally decided to sit her on the potty and, making a "shhh" sound, she gave us the sample that we needed.

We're chatted up by a lovely Jewish woman in the taxi on the way home. G has ice cream for dinner and the rest of us eat Thai take-out. That night we rent Live Free or Die Hard again and give G her Milk of Magnesia – the blood and urine results both came back normal.

Hawai'i: Day 7

For the last three or four days, G's been complaining of a tummy ache. At first it seems she might be confusing hunger with pain, but it soon becomes evident that she means the latter. We're baffled at first since it seems that her bodily functions are working normally; her appetite has never been big so her eating less doesn't seem much out of the ordinary either.

We attend one of the earlier masses at the nearby Catholic church, St Augustine's, which is practically on the beach. We run into the Rs there and they invite us over to their hotel in the evening for a BBQ, if G's feeling alright. (They get us to thinking that G might have an appendicitis.) On the way home, we stop to get her some breakfast, but all she wants is to drink the Sprite. There's a strong wind out, and later it rains off and on, but we're indoors for most of the day trying to figure out what's wrong with G. We call the health insurance nurse and she recommends clear liquids, little to eat, esp nothing acidic (e.g. citrus), doesn't think it's an emergency, i.e. not an appendicitis or anything life threatening.

The Rs are staying at the Waikiki Banyan just down the street from us. Even though G's still complaining virtually nonstop about her tummy hurting, she wants to go see the R boys. Before and after dinner, she plays with them for a little bit, but it's clear after awhile that she just wants to go home. When we get there, both girls fall asleep almost immediately so Drew and I settled down to some ice cream and Live Free or Die Hard. But before the movie's even half started, G wakes up in what seems to be excruciating pain, a sign that the nurse said we should be on the lookout for. The front desk calls a cab for us and Drew bundles her off to Kapi'olani Medical Center, which has the nearest ER. With nothing better to do, I finish watching the movie and wait up as long as I can, praying that they're not in surgery and that I get a call soon.

Hawai'i: Day 6

This being our only Saturday in Oahu, I planned for us to go to the Kapi'olani Community College farmers' market. From the map, it looks like an easy jaunt of 2+ miles. In hindsight, it feels like forever and a day! Maybe it's just my heavy pregnant butt complaining, but there's something about going uphill both ways (only half kidding) and the hot sun that really take its toll. That's why we didn't take any pictures there: I was literally melted by the time we got there.

The market itself was pretty interesting, I have to say. It's well established from the looks of it, and there are truly a variety of vendors, which not all farmers' markets can boast. Maybe because of its proximity to Waikiki, it gets a lot of tourists. We dined on sweet corn from the North Shore, one slathered with shoyu and garlic herb butter, the other with lilikoi and garlic herb butter (do you need a vocab refresher?); fried green tomatoes; fried taro mochi; and a glass each of hibiscus ginger lemon mint tea and pineapple ginger lime mint tea. The corn wasn't the sweetest I've ever had, but the seasonings and garlic herb butter gave it that little something extra. And I love taro mochi so those little balls of grease really hit the spot. Before heading back (by bus), we got some papaya, bananas, oranges, Christmasberry honey, green banana juice and ginger juice. In the case of the honey, just like clover honey, because of the pollen harvested by the bees, it imparts different flavors to the honey. I don't know what a Christmasberry is but it certainly doesn't taste like any honey I've had before. And this was only one of almost a dozen flavors!

We had to wait nearly half an hour for the bus, and when it got there, it was packed! But it was well worth the money and the wait, even if it was downhill all the way home. I'm always surprised how easily distances are covered by motorized vehicle. You could be walking and staring at the same tree for hours, while passing that same tree in a car could be as fast as a blink of an eye. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing laundry and taking turns at the internet cafe around the corner. In general, we wanted to avoid the weekend crowds of tourists *and* locals. And in the evening, we went to the tide pool at Kuhio Beach before dinner.

Drew building his volcano fortress.

The girls splitting a box of McDonald's chicken nuggets.

The completed volcano fortress. Can you tell Drew's very proud of it? :)

There's an interesting thing happens when you go on vacation and you have daily access to the beach (or any large body of water): your toddlers are exhausted by, at the latest, 7:30 every night. (It could also partially be the time difference.) But because they're sleeping, as the parents, you can't exactly go anywhere after they're in bed so we start renting movies. Tonight's selection: Night at the Museum.

One Bathroom

Even though G is only 3, sometimes I wonder if she isn't already prepping to become a teenager. We're currently in the throes of potty training. To put it more accurately, because she's so strong-willed, we're kind of just waiting around for her to train herself. It's a strange concept, I know, but there's screaming and violent crying involved if we go the other route. (Maybe as parents we're just too nonchalant about it. Maybe we just have one of "those" kids.) Anyway this week, her passion is using the "big potty". We've got one of those little potties where the top can be placed on the big potty to make a training seat (so she doesn't fall in). From the very start, she's been very keen on doing it all herself. If she feels she needs to use the potty, she runs into the bathroom, closes the door and does her thing. Afterwards, she knows to empty the potty, flush the toilet, etc. You'd be amazed what she's learned just from having one of those potty books read to her a million times. (The hump we're having trouble getting over is consistency.) So today, as Drew's making his way to the bathroom, G speeds passed him, saying, "Daddy, I have to use the potty", while slamming the door in his face. I don't think she really had to go, but it was a priceless moment nonetheless.

Hawai'i: Day 5

We had a few sick days in a row, starting with BB and ending with G, so we limited our time at the beach and stuck close to the condo. In times like these, it makes one appreciate all the conveniences of a big touristy city. In the wee hours, BB woke me with her tossing and turning, and a slight fever. So we slept in as late as she would let us and took it easy, taking a long while to decide what we wanted to do for the day.

Before coming here, someone told me that Waikiki is continually in the process of putting in glitzy new shopping centers, The Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center being one of them. Drew happened by this one a couple evenings ago on a run and saw that they had a traditional Hawaiian music show in their courtyard. Since BB wasn't feeling well, I thought it might be fun to window shop their complex and see the high-end goods I can't afford. (Sometimes a girl just likes to oggle, you know.) As it turns out, the RHSC is so new that it's not even 100% completed and less than 25% occupied.

After a roundabout detour through the International Market and home (for BB's nap), I ended up across the street from the RHSC at the Waikiki Shopping Plaza. Walking in through the main entrance of the WSP, there was this guy sitting on a stage demonstrating his ukulele skills. And towards the back, there's a ukulele music store with a full line of non-touristy ukulele's for sale. The entire place looks like it's geared towards Japanese tourists: half the store owners are Japanese and even more have signs only in Japanese. I found a store that was going out of business and bought flower dresses (non-matching) for the girls. On the way home a second time, we ran into Camille shopping at some street-side vendors.

Since this is Friday, we decide to walk over to see the Hilton Hawaiian Village's hula show. We got there a little late because of dinner so the place was already packed. By the time we found a decent place to stand, the fire baton twirler was doing his thing and they ended with some high-paced hula-ing, immediately followed by the fireworks. And then the grand exodus of people who aren't staying at the HHV.

On the stroll home, we stop off to see the hula show at the WSP, which is mostly a skin show and too loud music, and then to the RHSC to listen to the Hawaiian music, which is really good even if the dancers are so-so. That night, BB's low-grade fever starts up again. A few days later, despite the continuing runny nose, she busts two new teeth: she's got her full baby complement now.

Clever Like a Spider

Yesterday when Drew came home from work, G lured him in like...a moth to a flame; a sucker to a lollipop; a fish to a lure...you get the idea. As usual, he came through the door, put his stuff down, and went straight to the bathroom to wash his hands. On the way from the bathroom to the kitchen (for dinner), he was intercepted with, "Hey, Daddy, let me show you something." And he followed her! In the back bedroom was our portable DVD player, which G picked up and asked, "Hey Daddy, what do you think this is?" :) Thankfully he didn't take the bait, but I'm thinking this girl might have a career in selling illegal stuff in a dark alley somewhere. LOL!

'Tis the Season for a Tupperware Party?

Someone tell me if it's just me, but in the last three weeks I've been hit up four times (!) for, i.e. invited to attend, those hosted parties that used to be exclusive to Tupperware. Is it something in the air? Does spring cause people to want to buy expensive housewares? I remember in high school those candle parties were all the rage – and totally out our price range, esp for something that's just going to burn to a puddle of goo.

Three of the four aforementioned parties were for the same line of goods by Southern Living at Home. Different homes, same consultant doing the song and dance. I begin to wonder if it's a conspiracy. Thankfully I had the excuse of being out of town for the first two, but I might not be able to escape the third, which is being held this Saturday. And today this came in the ol' email from someone I know: Longaberger. I've never heard of them, but they have cute little baskets in case you're interested.

Hawai'i: Day 4

We spent the forenoon on the west side of Waikiki Beach on a little stretch called Fort DeRussy Beach, right in front of the Hale Koa Hotel. I believe it's probably the widest (vs longest) stretch of beach in Waikiki. Because it is so wide, there's less shade to be had so it seems to get hotter sooner. Also, interestingly, I noted that the water here seemed colder than down at Kuhio Beach, and as it turns out, FDRB is exposed to cold water currents that pass by there.

In the distance, you can see a boat and what I think is one of the buildings belonging to the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which is the west-side neighbor of the Hale Koa. That place is a little resort unto itself, and if you ever get the chance, they have a pretty decent (free) hula show every Friday night which concludes with their very own fireworks display.

That's Diamond Head in the background. There's supposedly some breathtaking views from up there, but 1) it costs money to do the trail and 2) we weren't exactly equipped for a hiking excursion.

This day we had lunch at the Hale Koa, and walked the grounds of the Hilton for a bit. Even though the former is a hotel for military personnel, the cafeteria, which serves stuff like hamburgers, hotdogs, salads, and ice cream, is open to the public, a fact which is not lost on locals (i.e. the food here is comparatively cheap compared to other places in Waikiki).



The HHV, like I said, is a resort unto itself. There are shops and restaurants and fountains and koi ponds and even a penguins and turtle exhibit. And despite the fact that there's a beach not 100 feet from their back stoop, the pool area is packed with sunbathers and swimmers. Go figure.

In the afternoon we got some drinks at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf – there are a prolific number of Starbucks in Waikiki, but we wanted to try someone local* – and have some delectable cream puffs from Beard Papa's. They're touted as being "fresh 'n natural" and they recommend that you eat their cream puffs within 24 hours of purchase (for fear of having the pastry part get soggy?). I can tell you, I ate four of them all by myself (not at once), they were that good.

In the evening, we attempt the mile-long walk to find Waiola's, the place with the finely shaved ice, but end up having dinner at a local drive-in that I'd read about called the Rainbow Drive-In. I can't remember what I had, but the plate special that Drew ordered was delicious: battered mahi-mahi. Unfortunately, by the time we resumed our search for Waiola's, it was already closed for the day.


*Addendum: Ha! I was looking at the CB&TL website and they're international! Forget that "local" bit. But they certainly fit our criterion of never having been there before.

First-Timer

This quote comes to me from a girl who's expecting her first child in July. We were at a girls' night get together with some other moms that I know from here in town, i.e. not from my own parish moms' group. There were the four of us, and the one lady J had just had her third. We were talking about J's labor and delivery: how getting ready to leave the house for the hospital she had felt the baby's head come out, and ended up having her husband deliver their child on the living room floor. The baby came that fast. And it's not unheard of esp with subsequent children.

So then the talk shifted to how I almost had BB in the car on the way to the hospital. (Stop me if you've heard this one before.) I recounted how I labored comfortably at home until the contractions were steadily five minutes apart for two hours as the doc ordered and then made my way over to the hospital. Because of the icy conditions, about three blocks from the hospital, there had been a car accident and traffic was just starting to back up. As we were passing through the intersection, I started to feel what I would later find out/remember was the need to push. I was in the delivery room less than 30 minutes before BB was delivered. I laugh (now) to remember how the nurses were yelling at each other down the hallway when they realized that I was ready to deliver – and with no doctor on hand. (Mine was stuck in the traffic behind the accident coming from his house.)

As I finished up my story and we talked about other peoples' "unplanned" labor and delivery stories that we'd heard (like the emergency C-sections I was told about at our birthing class), the first-timer gives a little laugh and says, with utmost seriousness,

"I don't plan for any of that to happen."

Hawai'i: Day 3

Before we knew we were pregnant with #3, I had tentative plans to take the family to Taiwan this autumn ('08), mostly to eat. Maybe it's something about the longer nights that make one think more of food; maybe it was the thought of another winter subsisting on apples, oranges and bananas that made me think of Taiwan's exotic fruits; or maybe it was just early pregnancy cravings... So my main agenda for going to Hawai'i was to eat whatever I couldn't get in AK, hoping that they would have some things similar to what I could get in Taiwan. One of our planned adventures was to ride the city bus to Chinatown (in downtown-ish Honolulu?) and see what there was to see.

In the Hawaiian King courtyard, there's a plumeria plant/tree that drops blooms constantly. I think it's a characteristic of the plant/tree since it's easy enough to find the dropped flowers wherever there's one of these plants. It got so that we had to get G a flower every time we left the condo so this will be the first of several pictures of her holding one. And it's so popular as tropical flowers go (besides maybe the hibiscus, HI's state flower) that they sell these pretty realistic looking plumeria hair clips made of foam. (We bought G one of those as well.)

First off, the guidebook warned us that HNL's Chinatown is not exactly what you might call tourist-pretty. And by that I mean, there weren't all the vibrant clean colors of the tourist-geared Chinatown of some cities, and certainly, without using too much imagination, a street in HNL's Chinatown could very well have been in one of the grittier neighborhoods in Asia that I've seen. Maybe for that reason, we don't have any pictures of the place. The main draw for going there was the market, where produce could be got for better prices than in the stores, and for a well-known (and well-rated by the guidebook) dim sum restaurant there.

We got up and into Chinatown early per the guidebook's suggestion and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the market. Despite the prevalence of Cantonese, I might have been shopping in the market near my grandma's house in downtown Taipei. We saw the v. fresh fish (see poke) and freshly slaughtered meats; and a plethora of vegetables, but maybe not as many fruits as I had hoped. Most of the vendors seemed typically off-putting, but after wandering from stall to stall, we finally found a fruit-only stall that seemed interesting, and the woman manning the till seemed to have a friendly command of English. (The guidebook also warned that English is not exactly the language of choice in Chinatown.) We ended up going away with a guava (not sweet at all: wrong season?); some smaller mangoes (even sweeter than the bigger ones); longan, or Dragon eyes; a Chinese grapefruit; and this purple thing. The vendor tried to tell us what it was (in broken English) so I had to use the internet (just now) to find out for sure. One site called it a Cambodian milk fruit; and Wikipedia listed it as a star apple. Let me tell you that that was an adventure in eating. Ours wasn't as ripe as the one in the former, but it was probably just as good. We also saw durians; and these, but weren't sure what they were. Now I'm kicking myself for not getting some. And before we got back on the bus, we bought some "fragrant" pears. Grown in China, it turns out they're a small, fairly tasteless version of the Asian pear.

After wandering around for a bit, trying to get directions to the dim sum restaurant called Legend Seafood Restaurant (I forgot to bring the guidebook/address), we found we still had about 45 minutes before it opened. So we made our way over to this park that looked nice from a distance, but ended up being a major disappointment up close. Let's just say, it's one of those parks that make you feel dirty in the daytime and where a person would be afraid to be by themselves at night.

Legend Seafood totally lived up to its reputation in my mind. I've had dim sum and this was pretty good. We were one of the first people to arrive, but the place filled up quickly and, if you've ever been to a good dim sum place, you'll never fear for your kids making too much noise. We were able to get most of our favorites, but BB fell asleep midway through the meal and I decided to forgo a taste of my favorite: turnip cakes.

When we got back to Waikiki, we had ourselves a bit of a laugh getting off the bus. Right next door to the International Market is a shopping complex with, yup, a Legend Seafood Restaurant. Same owners, different location – and so disgustingly close. Even though we had plans of going there for lunch, we never made it. That afternoon, after G has a nap, we have a puka dog (not bad, too much mayonnaise) and their shave ice (terrible).

And we finally broke down and bought a stroller, which BB had her second nap in on the way to Kuhio Beach for our evening beach time. Note to other would-be stroller-forgetters: we paid $30 for an otherwise "cheap" umbrella stroller. That's the going price on an island where things are about twice what they are on the mainland.

We stayed down there until both the girls were shivering.

Incidentally, this is the night that we finally get around to calling our landlord back about the drip-drip-dripping. He says he'll check it out. And so as not to keep you in suspense, he called back the next day (and left a message) saying that he had had a look, but couldn't find any leak. I don't know if it's the language barrier, but from the sounds of it, I think he was expecting to find it actively leaking, God forbid, as he was standing in our kitchen. (Recall the leak is between the outside roof and the "top" side of our ceiling.) And I don't know how thorough he was in checking things out. For one thing, he would have had to crawl into the ceiling to see any damage, which I think would have been obvious from up there. Anyway we've been back how many days now and he hasn't bothered to follow up on the matter. You'd think he'd be a little more aggressive in fixing a problem like this. And it might just be my (and Drew's) imagination, but we seem to have lost some water pressure on the kitchen faucet. Coincidence?