I need some sleep!

Ikaikas sleep schedule sucks.

In fact, it doesnt even really exist, which is probably what sucks about it.

He consistently wakes up at least once during the night. This is usually around 330 and he doesnt even go down for good until around 11 or 12 so thats only 3-4 hours of straight sleeping! Ive tried feeding him full bottles and solid foods to "fill him up" right before bed, but that doesnt seem to make any difference. He naps great during the day. He takes a nap every two hours or so and stays down for a decent amount of time. He will even put himself down (we just plop him in the playpen and cover it with a blanket and he babbles to himself quietly and then drifts off to sleep...unlike the night where we have to pat his back and be silent for him to even consider sleeping)

His inability to sleep through the night never really bothered me until the other day I started noticing that he was sleeping through the early morning hours and (more importantly) not interested in eating during the late morning/early afternoon. So my thoughts are something along the lines of hey dude, if you are going to cut out a meal why not make it the one at 330 in the morning and save your mother some grief!

Which leads to my new plan. I still feed him around 11pm if he wakes up, mostly because Im awake anyway and its no biggie for me. Then I put him down and thats it. No food until at the VERY earliest 6am, preferably 7. Weve been trying this out for the past few nights (teething is not the ideal time for this kind of an experiment but whatever) and its gone okay. The first night he kept waking up and screaming crying and would not go back to bed and ugg...horrible. Last night he still woke up several times but it was easier to get him back to sleep. I caved at 6 and fed him just a little so he went back to sleep, woke up at 9 and was STARVING (which is what I was hoping for).

So Im optimistic that with just a little tweaking here and there, this plan will lead to a child that finally sleeps through the night (or at least a child that only eats during the day).

TOOTH! He has a tooth!

Yesterday (actually it was the day before yesterday but whatever) we spotted a tooth. A real tooth that is breaking through the gums. I can scratch it with my nail and it feels hard like a regular ole tooth. Its the front bottom left.

Today, while watching March Madness (grr...what was that all about Huskies? Why are you forcing it down the middle?) there was another tooth sighting. The tooth directly next to the one thats already sprouted, front bottom right, is visible - although it hasnt broken through yet.

Although Ikaika is technically teething, I havent noticed much reaction from him. No runny nose or fever or anything of that nature. He slept like crap last night, but he sleeps like crap almost every night. He likes to suck on his teething rings (thanks Uncle Danny) but I havent noticed him preferring "teething" things over "non teething" things.

Any teething tips or tricks I should know about?

On my hands & knees!

Ikaika has made another breakthrough in mobility. These last few days he has been getting up and supporting the weight of his body on his hands and knees. You can tell that he wants to move that way (crawl) but he usually just falls forward on his face. But he will get up there and rock back and forth, etc.

We finally had to move the stuff around and create a kind of play area that is closed in by boxes and stuff. He doesnt necessarily like it but he was getting into all the electrical cords (his favorite chew toy) and the dumbells.

Ikaika also has begun sucking on his lip. I cant remember if I already said this - but the other day I was standing in line at Starbucks with Heidi and when I looked down he was sucking on his lip. And he hasnt stopped since.

He ate brown rice cereal the other day. He seems to like it mixed with the poi but he will eat it alone. He pushes it out of his mouth a lot, maybe he thinks it has a weird texture.

I would show you a picture of all this but Mr A accidently melted my battery charger (the smell was horrific to say the least) so no more pictures until I find some batteries.

Catch of the Day

My dear husband left at 5am this morning to go holo-holo (fishing) and I didnt see him again for TWELVE hours! Lucky for him, he came home with a bucket-load of tasty fish!

It was a hot one today, bright sun and little wind, and our apartment is sweltering! So Ikaika is sitting outside with Mr A, Jason (neighbor), and Jason’s son Kamau (hes about 10?) cleaning the fish. I was watching but I made the mistake of eating at the same time…the inside of a fish, not such a yummy site.

Pololu Valley

We went hiking in Pololu Valley today. Its about a ten minute drive from Hawi (where we live). Its easy to find because you keep going on the main road until the road ends and youre there!

Here a view from the parking lot at the trail head. You can see there are several other valleys and Im fairly certain that you could hike to all of them from this point. Someday we might just do that but it wasnt today! If Im not mistaken, this is called the Hamakua Coast (its the northern coast of the island for all you map readers).

This is Pololu Beach. It a black sand beach and I swear there was sand under those black rocks! The waves were mean! Look at those sets! Locals dont swim at this beach though because the current is too strong and there are undertows, etc. I guess tourists drown here every once in awhile (I would imagine they have to helicopter someone out if they got injured or died) But its a nice beach to explore or picnic on and the smell...the freshest of the fresh!

We decided to picnic inside the valley on this log. It was a meager picnic of trail mix and water because I didnt feel like hiking down with a three course meal.


Heres some more exploring of the Valley. This water was rather stagnant but added to the natural ambiance of the whole excursion.

And heres a view looking into the valley from half way up the trail. Beautiful.

Ikaika slept through all of this part, upholding an honored tradition in my family of kids snoozing through majestic landscape views of the US.

I did much better hiking up that trail than I did when Mr A and I were hiking up that temple in Cambodia, which means one of two things. Either I am in better shape than I was a few years ago or the hot hot heat of SE Asia seriously inhibits my climbing abilities.

It was really nice but we both agreed that it would have been easier with a backpack for the baby rather than a front pack. Ikaika is getting to the upper limits of what the Baby Bjorn can take weight-wise. Im just glad Mr A was packing him and not me!

Afterwards we got ice cream and Ikaika was VERY interested in eating it. But tough luck - no dairy or sugar for you, dude!

Although I did give him a couple teaspoons of poi when we got home, so Im not a complete tyrant.

Ring of Fire

Yesterday we drove to Hilo and the weather was wet. Its been raining on that side of the island for almost four days straight now so there were a lot of flood warnings and landslide precautions being taken. On the way home we encountered one rockslide that, if it had been just a little more plentiful, would have blocked the entire road and we would have been stuck! But we got home safe & sound so no worries! From what I gather, this is a normal thing for this time of year (flood warnings on the major highways).



Aloha kakahiaka! Good morning! Arent you a cute sight for tired eyes?


This morning we had an exciting EARTHQUAKE! I wasnt even out of bed yet! It wasnt anything major, just a little rumble to remind us that we are residing on a live volcanic island. I had to laugh because when I was younger I was so worried about natural disasters, especially earthquakes, and I used to watch all those Ring of Fire documentaries, etc. I swore that I would never live anywhere that was in the RoF. And here I am with my newborn son and my little family, living at the epicenter of volcanic and techtonic activity!

PS Send more Sleepers!

Holy Moses! It has been so cold here lately I could have sworn I was back in Portland this morning! Waimea is likely the chilliest place in the whole state. The rain there falls up (it just swoops up and hit you under the chin!) and the weather so far has been comparable to most average days in the northwest. Today even the Kohala Coast, which is normally the one place on the island that is for-sure sunny & 80 degrees, was raining! It was still warm (75) but that just meant wet & muggy which is grosser than gross. We had Ikaika rollin down there in his footie sleeper and a beanie. Where we live, Hawi, its been raining for a couple days now! Although Kohala is known for the wind (ka makani o kohala) even the locals say the weather has been wacky!

In other news, I was reading with a flashlight the other night and I saw something crawling on my hand so I jumped up and shook all the sheets out - A FREAKING CENTIPEDE! Right there on my arm! They are getting brave...