Year: 2006

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.

Recently Leilani fell in love with her toes.

Oh no, it’s the paparazzi again….

Taking a bubble bath

Playing in her “gym”

More please…(original prints 5×7, needs cutting, downloads slow)

A while ago I reported that Leilani had slept through the night. Unfortunately she did never repeat that, but she often sleeps for 5 hour stretches and sometimes slightly longer. Recently she started taking longer naps during the daytime, 1-2 hours, sometimes twice a day, and also started going to bed earlier around 9pm.

Since she never poops during the night, and pees very little, I never put her on the potty or change a diaper, from the time she goes to bed, until she gets up, so usually she never really wakes up. She eats in a half awake state, her eyes are closed, and even when the nightlight is on, if she looses contact she roots like a newborn to find the nipple again. Twice so far though, today at 5:30am and 2 weeks ago around 3 am she woke up, and wanted to get up. In order to wake us up now, she mostly touches our faces, and when we open our eyes she gives us a big toothless grin (note: in order to see that it must be light).

Anyway, she woke me up last night, and it was pitchblack outside. I tried to feed her, but she wasn’t not hungry. She started babbling, and playing with the pillow. I told her – whispering – that the night is for sleeping, and that she must not make sounds, and did not switch on the light. Both times I went back to sleep before she did, while she was playing quietly. The first time she must have fallen back asleep, and slept until morning, but today she played quietly until it got light and woke me up again.

Click here to read the first story on sleep (and look at the cute photos)

now that I posted a really bad photo of each of the parents, here a funny Leilani photo too…