Nuts, our evil nemesis, strike again!

So after having no "nut incidents" for a few years, BOTH girls ended up in the ER last Wednesday night after accidental exposure to peanut butter M&M's.  We were given a few small bags of trail mix that I looked and decided was nut free so I gave the girls each a bag, unfortunately, unlike my bag that I had looked over and eaten, their bags had peanut butter M&M's in it!  Hana told us her throat hurt and so I ran over to look at her trail mix and discovered what had happened.  We immediately gave both girls a dose of Allertech (Costco brand liquid Zertech for kids) and gave Hana an epi shot (Aya had no symptoms yet so we didn't give her one) got in the car to go to the ER on the way I decided we better give Aya an epi shot as well, just to be safe so we pulled over and gave her one too.  The medical complex we went to didn't have an ER so we called 911.  The ambulance came quickly and the 2 lady EMT's were awesome with the girls!  We so appreciated them.  They checked all the vitals and said everything looked stable for now but that we needed to get them to the ER (the effects of an epi pen only last 15 minutes or so.) They recommended we take the girls ourselves because the hospital they were assigned to was further than one we could drive to (pretty crazy, but I guess if an ER is too full they will turn ambulances away here, but they can't turn away walk-ins!)  So we drove to Pali Momi hospital in Pearl Ridge, about 20 minutes away and checked into the very packed ER.  To their credit they were very organized and took care of all the patients as quickly as they could, though we still had to wait about an hour.  When we got checked in the girls vitals were still fine and they were both a little hyper from the epi pens (I hear they give you quite the buzz!)  

Waiting in the ER waiting room

Hana threw up all over everything though as her body was trying to get rid of every little trace of the deadly nut allergens in her body-poor girl! Aya seemed fine.   The doctor gave each girl a big dose of liquid steroids (to keep the airways open) and had us stay for another hour or so while they observed their girls to make sure they were ok.  They seemed a little hyper but doing fine, which was such a relief!  When the doctor came to check one last time he told us we saved their lives by giving them the Allertech and Epi-pens so quickly!  

All riled up from the Epi Pens and steroids but doing well

Being snuggled and entertained by Daddy

I feel so blessed that we knew what to do.  The doctor wrote us a prescription for new Epi Pens and liquid steroids and we headed home.  It was about midnight at this point and both girls were exhausted and fell asleep immediately in the car.  Although this wasn't a fun family activity we know Heavenly Father was watching out for us and things could've been a lot scarier!  Last time we had an incident, Hana was 4 and we were in the hospital 3 days trying to get her body to calm down!  Some things I learned from this:

1- You always have to be dilligent about checking all labels and looking over all homemade foods and when in doubt it's better to not chance it!  I hate being THAT mom but it's the only way to keep my girls safe.  I feel SO bad that I didn't check their bags of trail mix and not just mine!

2-Epi Pens seems scary but they aren't that bad.  The pen it's self is pretty big but the needle is really small.  Hana said she didn't even feel it!  And

3-If you think your child is reacting to a life threatening allergen don't wait for it to get worse to confirm your fears, just give them the epi shot!  It won't hurt them (just give them that buzz) and it will save their life and make the recovery faster the earlier you give it.  Just do it!

4-Pray for help and to be calm and the Lord will let you know what to do.

5- Make sure that anyone who watches your child with allergies knows what the epi pens are for, how to use them and not be afraid to use it when in doubt!  The instructions & pictures on the side of the epi pen are really easy to understand to show you exactly what to do.

Our funny little ladies...

Yesterday we took a lovely family trip to North Shore.  It's only a little over an hour away but it sure seems far away!  Maybe because we were stuck in traffic for a LONG time, (that happens often when there is only a 1 lane highway in and out), maybe because the terrain, vegetation and weather all change drastically several times during the drive (makes for amazing views!) or maybe because we're getting used to living on a little island where people say things like "Wow, you came all the way out to the flea market from Kapolei?!" when it's only a 17 minute drive!  Whatever it is, it makes for a fun adventure when we "make the trip" up to Laie to go to the temple or for whatever reason.  It really is a different world from our side of the island.  When we do go we always like to stop at the delicious Kahuku Grill.  After our yummy burgers and fries the girls decided we needed to take some pictures of them where they posed themselves.  They are so funny!...

Magical July-Island Style

Beautiful full moon

tiny lizard friends on our back lanai

Geoff enjoying his Father's Day gift-a new camera since is old one broke on the flight over here.

Fourth of July parade at Aya's preschool

Cute kiddos after the parade enjoying cake

Our own little Fourth of July parade with several neighborhood families in Ko Olina

It seems the 4th isn't a big deal here.  People were bewildered but happy as we rode around the beach with our little parade throwing candy at them!

Fun at the beach later on the Fourth waiting for the fireworks to start

Aya and I enjoying the ocean-we just can't get enough of it!

Enjoying the pre-fireworks show

And some of the amazing fireworks!  Ko Olina put on a great show.  It was so amazing to watch them lying on the beach with my little family & good friends here!

 The only thing missing was you!  Love and miss you all!

Long lost update!

Wow, time for a new post!  I'm sorry that I've missed so many weeks!  We've been having a very busy but fun summer (though it's hard to remember that it's summer here since it's always summer here and we find we get the months all mixed up!)  Hana has been on a 2 month break from school (they only have June & July off here, for some reason.) and it's been fun to have her home during the day.  She and Aya love to play together and get along really well for the most part.  We are also lucky because they have lots of wonderful friends close by that come to play often.  Lots of good families here!

Aya started preschool mid June with a lady in our ward (church group) here in Kapolei and LOVES it! She looks forward to it every Monday and Wednesday mornings.  She is also thrilled that her best friend is in the class with her and that they get to carpool together.  Aya still like to pretend she's a baby kitten often, eats applesauce and Greek yogurt like crazy and loves to draw and color.  Looks like we'll need to get some more applesauce from Costco in Utah (they don't sell it at our Costco here so my mom so kindly brought 4 jars out when she and Dad came out) and paper in bulk!

Aya all ready for her first day of preschool. She decided a pink, fluffy dress was in order for the occasion with a little prompting from sister.

Stopping to smell the hibiscus on the way...

So happy to have her best friend in preschool with her!

And one more...Aya loves to dress up (thanks for bring those out, Aunt Lisa!) Here she told us she was a "Wood packer Princess"  Not sure what that is but looks pretty great!

Hana is really learning to swim well and swims under water better than I do!  I'm learning a better technique from her ;)  I've never been a very good swimmer so I'm taking advantage of living across from our pool and a short walk from the beach to practice real swimming and hopefully get better.  She's really been enjoying going to the city library to pick out books and reading them at home.  She's into The Magic Treehouse series right now and really likes when I read her "Little House in the Big Woods" (though I have to skip the parts when Pa goes hunting because she doesn't like animals being killed! ;)

Our beautiful Hana

Lots of fun playing outside (notice Aya's wild dress up outfit & Hana's tutut-that's how we roll.)

I've been very diligent about my exercise and work out 6 days a week.  Sometimes I'll do the zumba, hot hula, yoga on the beach or other classes offered to the residents here at Ko Olina or sometimes I'll just run, swim or lift weights on my own.  This has really helped with my Dysautonomia and has been such a blessing!  I'm also working really hard to lose the weight I gained when I was forced to lie in bed/on the couch all the time from being so ill.  I'm happy to report that I'm down 2 sizes with 1 more to go!  (Sorry, just had to share that because it's been such a struggle!)  I have the happy but awkward problem of having all of my clothes be too big now but not wanting to buy new ones until I reach my goal.  One thing that has really helped me with this is myfitnesspal.com (thanks, Diana!) It really helped me to see what MY body needed and didn't need in order to start losing weight.  So for any of you out there struggling with your health goals, you should check it out!  And really if I, the girl who could barely walk to the mail box she was so sick for so long/screwed up blood sugar/metabolism/major fatigue and weakness conditions can do this, you can too!  Just remember that you have to take things one step at a time and not burn yourself out emotionally or physically!

Going to church at the historic tabernacle in Honolulu with one of Geoff's classmates.  Thanks, Keiko!  Hope you're having a great time in Japan.

OK, enough about me!  Geoff finished his first semester at UH and did awesome with all A's!  Constantly amazed by my boy.  (I have to brag for him because you know he'll never do it!)  He is off for the summer and we've been really busy doing work for Dragonsteel online and, drum roll please...working out starting our new business!  I'll write a whole blog post about that soon but things are looking like a go!  We've  been researching for months, have investors (that came to us-such a miracle and blessing!)lined up, business plan completed and have turned it in to Ko Olina to get the stamp of approval.  We hope to hear back soon and get things rolling!  Yay!  We'll keep you posted.

Anyway, I hope all of you are doing well!  Can't believe we've been in Hawaii for 6 months now!  Fun, amazing adventure for sure.  Love you all!