Category: Uncategorized

Leilani has a babysitter! Chloe is 15 years old, had 3 younger siblings and has been a babysitter since she was 13. She comes by 2-3 times a week, while we are home for about 6h total. Leilani likes her a lot, and Mommy gets some time off! Once they know each other better Andy and I will take one evening a week of and go on a date together, and I’ll get one afternoon to blog (or clean the house). We expose Leilani to a lot of people especially kids now and hope that the fear of strangers does not set in, or at least not as strongly as in some babies.

Dear Friends and Family,

You gave Leilani so many great gifts and beautiful clothes, Thank You so much. Natalie and Markus just dropped off a bag with adorable summer clothes, and Rosemary sent us a beautiful dress, and our neighbor Malia gave us another one, so right now we have enough clothes in sizes up to 18 months. Leilani is very tall for her age, she wears 6-9 months and 12 months clothes now. We are very grateful, but ask that you please do not spend any more money on clothes for her for at least the next 1/2 year . If you come across them cheap, or find them at a yardsale, please buy 18 months to 2 years. We feel bad if you spend the time and money to send clothes that we give away because Leilani can’t wear them.

If you’d really like to buy Leilani gifts we do have a few ideas and suggestions on what to avoid and what to buy.

• Surface wash only (Oberflaechen waschbar) is a problem. I toss every cloth toy she gets in the washer, because we don’t like the chemicals and flame retardants that are often on them. Also, she throws her toys in the dirt, and shares them with Jackson the dog. Some things come out of the washer OK, and some in rags.
• PVC is another problem, this is not sold in Austria and most of the European Union anymore since the study done in 1997(!!!) in Danemark. She does have a lot of PVC toys already, and it makes us feel bad to take them from her, but we really would like to limit new ones.
• We also don’t like things that have batteries: they do too much with the push of a button, make a lot of noise, and children get either bored easily with them, or fixated on them.
• Absolutely no videos or DVDs (no Baby Einstein, Baby Sesame) until she is 4 or 5, and absolutely no toy weapons, especially guns. We know that this _ABSOLUTE_NO_ to TV, videos, computergames, toyweapons… will not last forever, but we’ll try to make it last as long as possible.

What we would like Leilani to play with are soft, washable and cuddly cotton dolls and stuffed animals – though she has enough of these now – and wooden toys that are painted with nontoxic paint. Made in Austria, Germany, Danemark or Sweden (Ikea) is a plus. She also has silicone teethers, which are supposed to be less toxic, and likes to chew cloth and cottondolls. Nova Natural Toys has a nice selection of natural wooden toys, Fair Trade and environmentally friendly, long lasting and as non-toxic as possible. We already got a few toys from “Spielzeugschachtel” und Purpur Shop I think they have a similar selection.

Below is a list of links to individual toys that we would like Leilani to play with in the next 1-2 years. We will start buying things from the top of this list, if you’d also like to buy things from this list please ask us for an updated version, so she does not get the things twice. We also read a lot to her, we have enough books in German and English, but French books, especially rhymed ones would be nice.

Thank you so much, Aloha

Leilani

And for her 2nd birthday or so:

• A wooden toy farm
• doll house

Andy is now doing family hikes for the Sierra Club. We hope to meet other families who hike with their kids.

This is what the Garden Island Newspaper printed:

Sierra Club family hike tomorrow

By The Garden Island
Posted: Thursday, May 11, 2006 – 11:08:19 pm HST

The Sierra Club’s monthly family hike is tomorrow. The group will start at the Keahua Arboretum and hike the Kuilau Ridge trail. It is an easy, slow-paced hike with plenty of breaks for children of all ages. The distance is 3.5 miles roundtrip to the bridge and back, but hikers can turn back at any time. If weather and time permits, the hike will be followed by a picnic at the arboretum.

Keikis can learn to appreciate nature and physical activity by getting outdoors together with family. A guided Sierra Club family hike provides the a safe environment for physically active kids to learn about nature and get used to long walks and hikes. If you go, remember to bring snacks and water, sturdy footwear with good soles (no slippahs), sunscreen, and a small umbrella. Call Andy Kass at 822-1794 for details.

Afterwards we tried to go swimming. Was too cold even for me…

Our friends Chris and Joseph

Mothers Day we went to the Allerton Gardens near Poipu with our friend Gabriela – it was a beautiful day, and Leilani was cherful and happy. In the afternoon we went for a quick swim to Poipu beach park, Leilani got dipped in the water up to her belly, and didn’t even cry. She did let us know that it was too cold though, otherwise I would have put her in all the way (well not the head…)

OK, this one is about the Mommy. I don’t intend to do a soal striptease here, but I am a lifetime member of the Weight Watchers, and I think their main success is that the weight (and loss thereof) is made public. Soooooo: 2 days before Leilani was born I hit 190lbs (87kg), 1 week later I was 20lbs lighter (77kg). That’s a lot of weight. The next 10lbs, down to 160lbs (72) took maybe 6 weeks, and the next 10lbs came off in the 10 weeks that followed. Unfortunately that was that. I am still hovering around 150lbs (68kg), and I felt pretty fat at 144 before I started the pregnancy. Anyway. I intend to loose 10 more pounds and if I don’t fit into my old clothes then (my bodyshape changed drastically too) some more than that.
I went and bought:

A jogging stroller. New at REI $340 + shipping, at the Salvation Army $30 and some cleaning

A book. used like new $2 and a dent in my ego (see title)

Top of the line Asics (cheaper than the new stroller would have been – slightly)

I tested it all a few times, and that’s what I did today (I think about 6-7km, but more walking than running):

And one more because she is so cute….

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Addition May 20th:

Now a little over a week later I am happy to report that my weight dropped – the lowest weight on the unreliable bathroom scale was 146 – which is 2 pounds under the previous lowest weight. I am able to run longer stretches now, up to 10 minutes at a time, and only need 2-3 minute walking breaks in between. Still a lot of panting though, especially uphill.

Running with a baby is different to say the least – sometimes Leilani just does not want to stay in the stroller, no matter if I am nicely running, or drenched in sweat, if she is about to fall asleep, or uncomfortable she needs to be carried for a few minutes. No way to run with other joggers, and when I meet parents with strollers or babies in carriers or slings I usually stop (my running motivation is not that strong yet…) or walk and chat. Sun in her face makes her fuss and I have to turn around, and hope for a cloud before I reach the end of the road, and rain might be worse than without the baby. Rain has never bothered her so far, but we always kept her relatively dry, or got her insider and changed her clothes right away.