sunday

May 31st, 2009 | By Kyoko

We are at Jammin Java in Vienna to meet up with Auntie Junko. We haven’t seen her in a loooong time. Immi was very happy to see her (though somehow we don’t have any pictures of that…)

Here’s immi sitting at the cafe and playing with contents in her purse. These days, her purse goes through inspection (by me!) before we leave home to make sure it doesn’t have too many things in it. (The other day during the inspection, many tiny ponies spilled out when I unzippered the her purse because immi had about a million of them stuffed in there…).

And here’s immi being acrobatic with the comfy chair.

ikea

May 30th, 2009 | By Kyoko

We are shopping at ikea. We came to get immi her bed. Immi seems to like this little display room a whole lot. She doesn’t seem to want to leave it.

Unfortunately, the one of the two we had in mind to get was discontinued and the other one was sold out! …so no new bed for immi

Lately, immi has been extra cuddly. She wants “hugs” (…as she calls it) all the time. I ended up having to carry her around most of the walk through ikea (which is unusual for immi who loves to walk on her own). We are suspecting that she knows that her competition is on her way!

nesting blocks

May 29th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Here’s immi playing with nesting blocks. She repeated the process many times and got progressively faster at it. …That is until the last time she tried, in which she got tired and threw a tantrum when one of the box didn’t just fit to her liking.

I got a video of her first attempt.

stickers and no.2

May 28th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Immi is sitting on the office/studio floor stickering.

…and stickering…

We had a check-up appointment with the OB yesterday. We did go over the sonogram result from the week before and one thing I didn’t catch from that is that the baby’s bowel seems to be working just fine (sounds like a good news to me! ….even if it doesn’t help otherwise with diagnosis). Everything else is great. The doctor even complimented us on how well immi truned out (she has been coming with us to every appointment)! Let me just add here that we totally LOVE our OB! If all the doctors we ever had to see were just like him, I’d be 100% pro-western-medicine:) Apparently, there’s nothing we need to do to prepare for the chance that baby might need some sort of medical intervention (other than getting bi-weekly sonogram). That all gets sorted out when he is born, if he needs it.

Aside from mental preparation, we really haven’t done much for the No.2. We are so relaxed about it that I suddenly remembered yesterday that we were supposed to get a bed for immi before he is born (she has been sleeping on crib mattress which has been move out of the crib on to the floor in her room)! …we really should do that.

When we found out that we were having another baby, I imagined that we would have another girl. And that they’d probably look alike, at least until they are a bit older. And that the no.2 will be wearing at least some of the same clothes as immi (…admittedly many of them were thrown out because they got too shabby to keep!). And that it would be difficult to tell them apart in photos years and years from now. It’s odd to think that it won’t be like that at all. I sorted out immi’s shoes the otherday and I have a bag full of her  shoes that are now too small for her. I haven’t decided what we are going to do with that. We even kept kangaroo outfit from halloween, but he won’t want to be dressed up as a mommy kangaroo (with baby roo in the front pocket…)?

things she does

May 26th, 2009 | By Kyoko

When I went into the living room in the mid-morning, I found that immi had opened a bag of grits and made herself a little beach!

And then around noon-ish, I peeked inside her microwave and found four eggs — each in a mug, and two other miscellaneous food items also in a cup.

And then in the afternoon I found immi’s little purse stuffed to the brim with her tiny toys.

In the evening we went out just for a short while (immi’s dad needed his glasses fixed). I happened to dress immi earlier in a matching color outfit as her Hello Kitty which she wanted to bring along. The strange thing was that immi insisted on taking her purple lunch bag (which she has never asked to bring along!). It wasn’t until immi sat her Hello Kitty on the bench, her purse next to it, and I sat immi next to her purse that I realized that the Hello Kitty also has a purple purse!!! …I didn’t have a camera then, so this photo is when we came back (you can sort of see that they both have purple purse…).

Around 10:30pm, Immi’s dad discovered that immi had plugged the mini-jack of the portable speaker into the cat-shaped (it poops candy when the tail is pushed, it’s currently empty) toy candy dispencer’s #%!.

….and this is just one day’s worth of quirky things immi does all the time. She really is a very strange little person.

home

May 26th, 2009 | By Kyoko

We are back home! We got in around 3am this morning. I miss being on vacation already, but it’s always nice to be back home. We are all a bit tired today. And I caught a cold which todd had at the beginning of the trip, but luckly immi seems fine.

It was a nice little vacation —  we grilled a lot, watched a few movies, played nintendo, had coffee and tea, and spent time on the beach. Immi seems to have had good time and she was very happy the entire time until the very end: she was too tired and grumpy for dinner.

Immi seems to have missed her kitties and she has been chasing after them today meowing and showering them with hugs and kisses. It seems that they missed getting her attention too.

sunday

May 24th, 2009 | By Kyoko

We are spending a bit more time on the beach before heading home later today. It’s another perfectly beautiful day.

Immi seems determined to keep watering the entire beach until the ocean runs out of water…

Todd found many sand crabs. Immi is putting them back on the beach and watching them burrow back into sand.

We are on our way to dinner with immi’s grandparents for some seafood. During the very short drive, immi fell asleep.

We are getting ready to leave the beachhouse and packing and cleaning. Immi is helping out by emptying out contents of her purse in the bathroom.

afternoon at the beach

May 23rd, 2009 | By Kyoko

Immi’s grandparents drove down this afternoon and we are all enjoying the beach. It’s a perfect weather (sunny but not too hot and the ocean is warm) for spending the afternoon outside.

Immi isn’t scared of the waves at all today!

Immi and her dad are busy building sand castle.

Todd says about the castle “not the prettiest castle” (…those are NOT his exact words) but as you can see, it’s big for the amount of time they had working against the tide coming in, and it’s quite functional as a fort:)

Here’s immi and I. Immi really loves this yellow watering can. She kept demanding it be refilled with water.

boardwalk

May 23rd, 2009 | By Kyoko

We can’t come to this beach and not get  Britt’s Donuts, so we are at the boardwalk this morning…getting the famous donuts. I like them, but immi won’t even try it.

There is various festivities going on at the beach due to Memorial Day weekend. Here’s a mini carnival set up at the boardwalk which was filled with much much more people then we’ve ever seen at this quiet beach last night (we just drove past by yesterday). It’s quiet and a bit deserted now,I’m guessing people are sleeping-in!

friday

May 22nd, 2009 | By Kyoko

We are taking the ferry to Southport NC. It’s sunny and almost too hot outside.

We are having lunch at a little cafe called Baked With Love. Everyone who works here is so nice and they brought for immi a toy tea set to play with!

We are back at the beach house. There’s fireworks at the boardwalk near by and we can see it from our balcony!

beach

May 21st, 2009 | By Kyoko

It’s really nice out today (slightly cloudy, which is exactly how I like it on the beach!) and we are taking a walk on the beach. Immi is a bit unsure about the ocean and seems to feel more comfortable on her dad’s shoulder.

Enjoying the ocean breeze.

After a short while Immi seems to have gotten used to the ocean and now confidently walking along the beach on her own. She is grabbing and scattering sand into the wind.

A big wave came in and I lifted her up so that immi won’t get too wet!

…walking back home.

We drove down to Wilmington for tea in the afternoon. Immi is fascinated by the sand timer!

wednesday

May 20th, 2009 | By Kyoko

We are all a bit tired and it’s really windy out today so we are enjoying the beach from indoors mostly. We are getting grocery and immi loves the cart with car attachment. She buckled up her monkey next to her too!

…and I wasn’t joking about immi putting her monkey on her head with Katy Perry song. Here she is doing it again. And, yes, she does have her purse on her lap all the time when we drive!

We are grilling outside! It’s smelling yummy here:)

going…

May 20th, 2009 | By Kyoko

We are on our way to the beach. We haven’t gotten very far yet when we hit traffic. Instead of sitting idly in the car we decided to get sushi and wait for traffic to clear.

Immi is having a good time traveling! She gets really happy and puts her monkey (she often has him in the car) on her head and dances every time we put on Katy Perry.

After the half way break in the drive (it’s about 400 miles total), immi fell a sleep and we arrived our destination smoothly (though quite late at night!). Immi seems to be having fun with the big bed with million pillows on it.

She is sleeping-in this morning. Todd’s playing Nintendo and I’m making breakfast.

monday

May 18th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Well, we are supposed to be relaxing at the beach as of 2 days ago, but we decided to hang around Reston for extra few days before heading out since we have HUGE amount of things to do and we were supposed to make sonogram appointment with a specialist regarding our little Mr. No.2 this week anyhow.

So…we did see the specialist this morning and now we know (…with better certainty…) that it is the bowel that scans dilated. The doctor said that it’s the lower portion of it, and it’s not a very large portion at that. He told me that he still can’t tell why it’s dilated and basically all we can do is to have it looked at every 2 weeks (to make sure there’s no sudden development) until delivery, at which point the baby will be examined. Apparently, it could be any number of things ranging from a problem that can hopefully be fixed by surgery, to the baby making a poop and that would be that

One fun information I got out the appointment is that the baby No.2 weighs (…approximately anyhow) 3lb 8oz! I’d say that’s quite heavy for me to be carrying around all the time and no wonder my back hurts a bit and my belly feels heavy.

We aren’t at the beach yet, but immi is having a fun Monday. She is enjoying her juice-box while we have coffee…

…and hanging out with her dad.

paper dolls

May 14th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Immi found the booklet of paperdolls and she wanted to play with them. I wasn’t sure if she would be ready for them (the paper they are made of is really thin and fragile) but she is having good fun with them! She loves to peel out the punch-out clothes and accessories.

She dressed up Mia doll with cheerleading outfit and flipflops!

This one was my favorite of all the variations she did (blond hair up-do wig, fancy dress and hiking boots!):

wednesday

May 13th, 2009 | By Kyoko

We braved the pollen and are outside for just a bit. This is immi’s favorite spot on the playground.

Immi has been really into pickles lately. I have no idea why she likes them. She eats the squishy whiter bits first, and then the rest.

Uhmm, this is totally not very important, but I seem to have caused some confusion about my weight gain and microwave statement in the previous post so I thought I’d clarify. The month before, 6lb was a tad too much and the 4lb I gained this month is actually perfect (1lb a week!). As inconvenient as it is, not having microwwave does promote healthier eating for me since it cuts out mac&cheese out of my diet:) Incidentally, 4lb a month is TWICE as much as one should be gaining if you are seeing OB in Japan! Isn’t that weird?

garden

May 12th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Immi and her dad are working on the little garden. This year we have lots of herbs and tomatoes and peppers. I like mostly edible things (I think that they are pretty, and besides, you can eat it!) but this year we have some very cute little flowering plants in varoius shades of purple.

We had monthly check-up (its going to be bi-weekly from now on) for our No.2 yesterday. We discussed about the sonogram result and we are making appointment with specialist for next monday. Otherwise, everything looks good. I passed the glucose tolerance test, and I’m not even anemic this time. I only gained 4lb (as oppsed to 6lb last month!), I’d say this is due to having no microwave (we have electricity but we still need new circuit to run microwave on):D We got the hospital registration packet from the OB, which somehow makes everything more real.

Immi’s notable new word is “giraffe”! And her current favorite food is pickles and oilves. Quite often she wants them for breakfast along with fruits, ceral, and soy milk…

We went baby shopping for the little boy this past weekend. We would have waited a bit longer but we had lots of useful coupons (I don’t regulary clip coupons but I love the ones from babiesrus and those 40% off ones from Michaels!). We really don’t need much because we have stuff from when immi was a baby but we did get crib bedding set (immi’s was pink), baby bath tub (oskar scratched up immi’s so we didn’t save it) and few other little things. …now all I have to do is get motivated at some point and get my Hello Kitty sewing machine out to sew up bunch of burp cloths, bassinet sheets, boppy pillow covers and probably a sling.

Happy Mother’s Day

May 10th, 2009 | By Kyoko

I just wanted wish Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are a mom, a mom-to-be, or thinking-about-becoming-a-mom.

It’s a strange thing that having immi made me *entitled* to an extra holiday:D

Immi got me a “happy mother’s day” balloon a few days ago when she went grocery shopping with her dad. Todd insists she wanted it for me, but I have a suspicion that she just wanted a balloon.

Today, immi gave me lots of hugs, kisses, and giggles, and shared with me her animal crackers (except for the cat shaped one, she took that one back when I said that it was a ‘meow’). Of course she does these things all the time. …And makes me feel special every day regardless of the holiday.

sunshine

May 8th, 2009 | By Kyoko

It’s been mostly drizzling this past week but we managed to catch 2 hours worth of sunshine that we got today! We ended up playing outside for a while because our neighbor Shelly and her 4 year-old twin boys were at the playground and they had so much fun playing together.

Immi’s fun new words are ‘stickers!’ and “It’s probably a dad!” (she said that when she heard the phone ring).

I had a suspicion that Immi has been color coordinating her clothes and accessories for a long long time now, but now I know for sure that she does. Immi has 4 regular size My Little Ponies and the white pony gets white clothes and white shoes, the pink pony gets pink outfit and pink shoes, the orange pony gets yellow clothes (we don’t have orange clothes or shoes…) and the purple pony gets blue clothes with a purple trim. And she does this ALWAYS, no matter how many times she dresses and undresses them. Also, when I try to give her sippy bottle with mismatched color for top and bottom (they are supposed to be mismatched like that!!) she gets upset until I get the matching colored top:|

tea

May 7th, 2009 | By Kyoko

Todd got me a little fruit tart when he stopped by the store for few things after work. Treats shouldn’t be had without tea, and immi has been trying to sneak sips of my milk tea every time I make it, so I thought I’d make rooibos (it’s technically not tea, and has no caffeine) version of it and give immi her own cup of tea!

Here’s the video of immi enjoying her own cup of tea for the first time!