I will try and keep up with what's going on around Oahu for pregnant moms, babies, and kids. e-mail me if you have anything you'd like to add. I love dragging my kids around to try new places! Start with this:

STUFF TO BUY AND PLACES TO GO SHOP

First, check out Kathryn Drury Wagner's new book The Ultimate Guide to Shopping on Oahu. Kathryn is the fabulous new mom of gorgeous baby Zoe and the managing editor of Honolulu Magazine, and her book has great stores listed in it with excellent reviews.

Next head over to Shop Toast which just opened http://www.toast-ed.com/shoptoast/ They are the awesome designers who created my 7 year-old daughter Aviva's birthday favors last year and now have a retail store and the stuff is FABULOUS and I 'm not just saying that because they called me an 'uber cool mommy guru' in their blog http://www.toast-ed.com/wordpress/?p=15

Then swing by The Blue Buddha on Kapiolani. They will satisfy all of your style cravings. Owner Budi Staven is a smart buyer and wildly entertaining to talk to about the fashion industry. Not only is he a 14 year veteran of working as a designer in NYC for Cynthia Rowley and DKNY but he was my Fashion 101 teacher at UH and knows everything about clothing the human brain could ever know. He's basically a local version of Christian Siriano from Project Runway but with much much cooler hair.

PLACES TO EAT, PLACES NOT TO EAT

Here is the part of the blog where I review restaurants for you and here's the reason why. Other local food writers are either absurdly pretentious considering it's Hawaii we are talking about or they are disturbingly lenient about what qualifies as food (example: anything with mayo in it is not worth reviewing). I'm also sick of people proclaiming restaurants are kid friendly just because they have french fries and grilled cheese on the menu. I'm not even the type of mom to condone school lunches so don't get me started on 'kid's menus'. Nasty stuff. Ok, so the winners are:

MOST PRETENTIOUS SUSHI ON THE ISLAND AND OBVIOUSLY NOT KID FRIENDLY:Nobu is just about the dumbest place I've ever eaten (which says a lot since once my husband and I and I went to a place while traveling in post war Bosnia that seated us and brought us a menu, waited around while we decided on what to order only to then inform us that no food was available as they had not had electricity for several days). First of all, it is really dark in there. Romantic is one thing, needing a mini flashlight to read the menu is another story (hint: if the waitress has one in her pocket to lend to customers, they need to improve the lighting). Also, the font on the menu was like negative 12. If I squinted it looked like it was written in binary code. Then the waitress informed us 'the portions are small, you might want to order more'. Um, excuse me, did you just basically proclaim the portions are skimpy? (she did score points for being honest though BTW). I was sorely dissapointed that the $7 asparagus tempura tasted like, well, asparagus tempura. I'm not sure why I thought it would be better than the Hanaki tempura at Ranch 99 mall that is 3 for $1 but it wasn't. The food also looked NOTHING like it did in the photo shoot from when it was reviewed in Honolulu Magazine. BOOOOoooo.

Instead try good ole Genki Sushi. Since the food is on conveyor belts (FYI I wish all restaurants had this feature), your kids get to eat IMMEDIATLY upon sitting down so there is no time to make potions out of the salt, pepper, or condiments, poke each other with utensils, or cry over dumb broken or dropped crayons while trying to color on the (already) wet and ripped kids menu most places give. Also, there is no candle on the table for ambience (translation they won't be melting straws and pieces of hair they pull out of their head for fun). There is something for everyone there from the most basic (avocado maki, edamame and mochi ice cream for kids) to the best spicy tuna on the planet.
TIPS- try to sit where you can watch them prepping the sushi; kids love watching the rectangles of rice pop up from the nigiri machine and the chef using the blow torch to sear things
QUIRKY THINGS- (1) count how many times the staff refills your drink or asks if you want a drink refill, it's some serious beverage overkill (2) the entire staff's constant shouting to welcome people in Japanese (Irashamase!) each time a new customer comes in is aggravating-especially when they do it in the middle of you ordering (3) I don't get if you are supposed to tip 15-20% like in a usual restaurant or less since it is conveyor belt style

DECIEVINGLY NOT CHILD FRIENDLY AT ALL: California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) is where all of my friends who claim to 'not really eat out' go when they do go out. Why? First of all, the tables are so close to each other, there is absolutely no room for error in terms of toddlers tossing things (case in point, all of my toddler's crusts came dangerously close to landing in our neighbor's drink and a Matchbox car actually hit some guy's foot). Second of all, the macaroni and cheese everyone feeds their kids there is 90% buttermilk, 5% butter, 4% cheese and 1% pasta. You practically have to put your kids on Lipitor if you're gonna let them eat it. I'm not saying you should be all alfalfa sprouts and wheat germ but it seems like you'd be better off giving them a Snickers bar as a meal since... THAT is only $1. I mean, what's the deal with spending $70 at a pizza place? Also, I'm sorry, putting BBQ chicken on a pizza is not a good idea no matter what anyone says. There's fusion food and then there's just mixing too many types of leftovers into one dish. I think many of their pizzas fall under the latter category.

If I want to spend $70 on food, I'll go to Whole Foods and buy a gallon of milk. Better yet, I'll buy some wood burning oven pizza there because it is better than CPK, you can buy a slice any size you want (you pay by weight), and you don't have to deal with the absolutely IRRITATING catch phrase that all the CPK servers have to cheerily chirp at you each time they come to the table, 'How is everything tasting?' It just drives me nuts.
TIPS- sign your kids up for the keiki club at Whole Foods. If you show your card each time you come to shop there, they get to pick either an apple, a string cheese, or a fruit leather for free.
QUIRKY THINGS- (1)the checkout setup is weird. You have to awkwardly reach over the counter to get your bags if you go to the first register in each row; just a design flaw I always notice when I go there (2) As noted by my friend from Stroller Strides, they reheat the Chinese food by microwaving it in disposable plastic containers which is just toxic and wrong (3) if you use the biodegradable utensils on any of the hot food, they melt

STUFF TO DO WITH KIDS :

- join Baby Hui (www.thebabyhui.org) or at least come to one of the free play days they sponsor

- hang out at Island Monkeez a fun, clean, super friendly play space inside Vim n Vigor Health
Food store in Pearl City, they even watch your kids while you shop or meet with friends at the
cafe. Flo, the owner is so sweet and patient with children it almost borders insanity. They also
have art and cooking classes for kids.

- bring big pieces of cardboard and a kite to Kaka'ako Park and slide down the hills then run
around on the windy hills with the kite. There are also several covered picnic areas and it is
right next to the Children's Discovery Center