Winter has begun

Ok, so not officially, but it has been mighty cool here the last few days.  I am going stir crazy with all the rain and no drivers license.  We have had a lot of fun though.  This morning we had breakfast in bed while reading stories.




 Then we babysat one of our friends, D, while his mom did an hour of postage delivery work.  He's about 9 months younger, but because of the way the school year is here, they'll be in the same grade.  They seemed to have a good time together once we got D settled about his mom leaving.

Now lets see when Edamame wakes up and if I can get to either the fabric store or home store.

Angels!

We HAD to go to the post office today, and it was raining.  That meant our only mode of transport available was our own two legs, and most of you know a 2 year old walks as fast as bootstrap molasses on a cold day.  There are so many things to explore and play with, but frustrating when we NEED to do something.  Today our angels came!  One of our friends drove by as we were about 10 minutes into the walk(and just 4 houses down from our own still), and asked if we needed a ride.  She took us to the post office with her two boys, then she went to the dry cleaner and we all ran around the grocery store.  What a life saver and answer to unspoken prayers!

p.s. as per Pam's request, a baby ticker, good thing I'm far enough along that it doesn't look like an alien anymore!

Another Oh crap moment

Edamame learned how to open the child proof cap on my pre-natal vitamins today.  It only took him 2 years and 2 months.

He even did it while we had our first non-grandparent visitor from the States over.  It was fun, catching up with an old high school buddy, never thought it would happen at my house over here.   Everyone got a kick out of the lid being taken off repeatedly with a giant smile by the little one.

Sorry no pictures, forgot

Anyone else want to stop in so Edamame can learn another new trick?

Pregnancy Cravings

So really no pregnancy food cravings, well maybe the daily dose of oreos, but I am having activity cravings.  My current one is to make stockings for Edamame and 007, and if we can decide upon Adzuki's name soon enough, one for him too.  This past week I've had a craving to send letters in the mail, and building a kitchen for Edamame out of wood for Christmas(cardboard isn't cutting it).  The week before that was to make shopping bags.  I finished the bags this week, but now our missionaries each get an 'eco-bag', as they call it in Japan, to use for grocery shopping.  I got the pattern here. 





I've also had cravings to vacuum the house or clean the shower on certain days.  It is taking all my will power to not throw out half the house in an effort to de-clutter.  Oh and I had to get rid of all of Clark's melamine plates, and I'm working on getting rid of the big person melamine plates too.  I almost feel a desire to make a Halloween costume coming on too.  Hmm what should Edamame be this year?  He'll only wear it to the primary Halloween party, and if we are lucky someone will take us on base for Halloween too.

 

Of course I'm also craving a nice pair of calf length flat heeled boots, but hey that will need some shopping time.

Empathetic and Inquisitive

We, as always, have had a fun week.  Ok, so I was actually really tired, but that has been my fault for staying up too late and starting to enforce a wake up time for me and Edamame, but still we've been productive.  We made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins/cupcakes yesterday.  It's kinda my own recipe...hmm I should post it...anyway, we had a pumpkin and needed to use it, so we had fun making these.  We had 2 birthdays in September and 1 in October in nursery, so we'll bring these tomorrow for a birthdayish party.  Edamame LOVES baking, he stirs, pours in, and even can dish out into muffin cups.  Ok, so it gets REALLY messy, but he is getting better.  The one important cooking lesson he hasn't learned yet is cleaning up after oneself.  

What am I supposed to do with this rag????

In other Edamame news, we've watched a movie and a few shorts recently and they've really upset him.  We were watching Lilo & Stitch and he was getting really upset that Stitch was sad and had no mommy.  Same thing when we were watching the Fantasia 2000 bit about Noah's ark and Donald and Daisy can't find each other.  Some mornings he'll climb into bed with me after the alarm has gone off and say 'I missed you!'  Melts my heart.

On the inquisitive side of thing, he is now pointing at everything and saying 'this?' asking me to name it.  I've had to label all the parts of various toy cars(how many 2 year olds know what a spoiler is?), airplanes, and pictures in books.  It is a lot of fun, but when he keeps pointing at Peter Pan's hand and asking what it is I wonder what I'm missing.

Oh and he used the word violence.  He's getting a bit picked on in the neighborhood, so we were trying to teach him how to say stop.  I'd pretend to hit 007 and 007 would say 'yamete!', but 007 was trying to teach him how to block and punch back too.  Edamame would ask for more and I said 'great we're teaching our kid violence' then Edamame busts out with 'more violence!!!!'

Ohh dear!

guessing game

Ok, so I know this is way too early, but just thought I'd let everyone know, I will be doing the guess the birthday thing again for Adzuki, it'll look a lot cooler though than the one for Edamame. I think I'll open it up at the beginning of November. Have an awesome weekend!

Homesick

I was reading this article about the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate park, and I started getting homesick. Right before I moved to Japan for "just a year", I would go up there, and other parts of the City with my friend Tobias. 007 really misses SF too(he spent a quarter there studying English and just running around and playing). While I'm very glad for the way things have turned out for me and for the rest of my immediate family, I'm bummed that we don't have any reason/place to go back to near there. We've already decided that once we move back to the US, San Francisco is one of the first places we are going on vacation.

Ok, back to cooking and cleaning. Weirdest weather, horribly humid and overcast, the clouds are supposed to burst any minute now.

Eat eyes please!

I love fish, it is tasty, and the Japanese sure know how to do fish.

Today we ate hoshita sakana, basically fish cut open and gutted so that it looks like a butterfly and has been lightly rubbed in salt and put in the sun for a few days to dry out a bit, and then you cook it in your fish oven.  I'm sure they do this in really tightly environmentally controlled way now, but the sun thing was how they used to do it.  It is DELICIOUS!  Edamame loves it, but it turns out his favorite part to eat is the eyes.

As soon as he sees the fish he asks to eat the eyes, and asks repeatedly, and has to look at the fish head over and over and over again until he is sure he has eaten all of the eyes.

Gross.

I'm glad morning sickness stopped and I can cook fish again though.

Oh, and awesome potty training moment.  After lunch I took his very wet diaper off, and just let him run around in his pants for a few minutes.  I had plans to re-diaper him in a few, but before I could he said 'pee pee mommy', and viola, potty time.  Why is this cool?  Well up until recently unless he was 'naked boy' from the waist down, he couldn't tell.  Thomas underwear is going to be awesome incentive now!  Also this means we can go out in public without going commando.

Nemo arrives

Nemo came to our house in the form of an apron.

We love Nemo and are very very very very very thankful to La Yen for providing the sweat and toil to bring him to us.  Unfortunately today was a Dr. day for mommy, which meant mommy was TIRED, so no cooking today.  There was lots of playing in our Nemo apron, and I(mommy) promise lots of action shots in the future.

Thank you La Yen, thank you Jooj!  From all of us, we're sending you lots of love and happy vibes!

Yeah for winning something!  Woot!  Plus this means if Edamame ever becomes a famous sushi chef(hey, the kid loves cooking, cutting and fish, it's the next logical step) I'll make sure he gives you freebies.

Oh, and Obaachan came over to babysit, Edamame had fun practicing his cutlery skills with her.

Our Busy Boy

We've had a lot of fun this last week just living life, and we documented it!

We did lots of exercising, starting with splits and then onto stretches!

We practiced baking for when we get our awesome apron in the mail!

wait a second! Is someone stealing cookie dough!


We like to talk and play

...and try one neat outfits, like a loincloth!

Here is a picture of our new family.  Edamame, mommy, baby/Thomas/Edamame, daddy, Obaachan, baby puppy and mommy puppy(puppies are gifts for buying iPhones)

This is the face Edamame made when I asked him to smile
...more smiling!

That was our week in a nutshell.

On the mommy front, I'm trying to figure out how to get Edamame to fall asleep faster.  I think we're going to shake up his bedtime routine a lot.  Adzuki is still kicking away, and got the hiccups for like the 4th time.  Edamame used to get the hiccups a few times a day, Adzuki is active and stronger but relatively hiccup free.  Already showing differences!  Have an awesome weekend folks!

Aaaargh, it be over matey!

Yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

To celebrate, since one of us wouldn't understand and both the menfolk would have a hard time talking like a pirate, I decided we'd celebrate with food instead.

Our dinner was

Hawaiian Pizza(ok, not the Caribbean, but hey it has pineapple in it)

and 

Pineapple Upside Down cake...remember brown sugar in the cake could have been used to make Rum me hearties!

It is a very silly holiday, especially since we already have so many to celebrate between the US and Japanese holidays, but sometimes we just need a reason to do something fun and eat cake!

to 007

I know I just wrote one of these, but I really like my husband, so here goes again.

Dear 007,

Thank you for letting me sleep in!  I hear you leave in the morning and I'm so proud of your wonderful work ethic.

You worked VERY hard to get to where you are today.

You worked hard in college,

and graduated from a foreign University, wow!

You are so sweet, thanks for telling me to get that shirt the other day, and taking us out of the house!

Also, you take awesome photos of our posterity!

yum cookies from Daddy's work are fun to steal!

Edamame has so much fun with you, and even told me this morning that he wanted to go to work with you.

'Edamame, Daddy gotah work!'

You are such a good inspiration for me to keep exercising, and thank you for all your running.

You are super sexy, and I can't believe you are 35!

I love you, and I'm excited to share another weekend with you.

Monday morning when I wake up at 4:30(I'm pregnant, you know what I'm doing) is always the saddest time, because I realize that you'll be gone for another week.

Friday is the best day, I look forward to you being home all day long!  Then I get to keep you!

See you soon my love

-soybeanlover

p.s. thanks for introducing me to Dr. Horrible and encouraging me to get an iPhone, you're the raddest nerd husband a girl could have!

Hakkeijima Sea Paradise

Monday was a holiday here(Respect for the Aged Day), so we decided to use our aquarium passes that 007's aunt sent us for my birthday before they expired this month. It was a lot of fun, and Edamame was running from one fish tank to another the whole time. He also kept waving his hands back and forth kind of like fins or water or something, it was pretty funny.

Here is a short picture synopsis of our day.

checking out the dolphin tanks, first thing of the day that we ran to!

yes, this is the dolphin tank too, they are above us.

Edamame feeding the fish, me making sure he doesn't fall in(and showing off for 007)

Edamame touching the sea stars, didn't care about that, he prefered to splash in the water!

After lunch, but before we headed to Costco for a nap and food we HAD to ride Thomas.  Considering that his Thomas toy is now Edamame's new alternate identity, it isn't surprising.

The end!  We had a lot of fun, slept surprisingly well in the car, and all of us enjoyed the day.  Edamame and I both dropped like logs that night, but it helped him start sleeping through the night by himself again.  Wow, having a bed to yourself instead of sharing it with a 2 year old is REALLY nice.  Maybe we will have to give him his own room soon.

Moving

We just found out that one of our neighborhood friends is moving...TOMORROW!  She is one of two other kids that is about the same age as Edamame(give or take a month or two).  We're very sad to see her go.  They even brought us a gift of snacks to say goodbye!  Good luck in your new apartment Ao-chan!  Hope it is better apartment neighbors than the ones here.

Sooooooo Excited

There are a few things I am super excited about, like the apron we're getting for Edamame(I was giggling and jumping around the house for like 3 days after I found out I was the top bidder, felt kind of guilty because of the whole reason the auction was needed in the first place, but it's the first I EVER won), and yesterday's pictures from our trip to the aquarium.  Those deserve their own posts.

Today's brief post is one the catalog I JUST got in the mail!  A maternity clothing catalog!  WOOT!  Say hello to cute clothes!  Oh and even better the models are ACTUALLY pregnant, unlike other maternity clothing pamphlets I've seen here.  I'm getting more clothes baby!

Oh and instead of being productive, I'm going to research strollers....TAKE THAT dishes!

Update: I know what stroller I want.. a Phil and Ted's Sport w/ doubles kit, I think I'd go for the Dash if it wasn't on a voluntary recall right now.  I still have a few more months though....any comments?

Today's animals

Edamame was a snake, a mosquito, a puppy, a dolphin and a horse today.

My favorite is mosquito.

Dear Edamame

Dear Edamame,

Thank you for sleeping over three hours today!

It was great, and I got a much needed nap in

Thank you for letting me do my exercise video in exchange for

your condensed version of Finding Nemo(only Nemo, no finding).

As I was doing our dishes from breakfast

(Oh and thanks for loving the peach crisp oatmeal experiment this morning

it was good, wasn't it!)

I was thinking of all the reasons I love you.

You give me hugs when you see me crying,

despite the fact that I know you don't like our new bed time method,

you go along with it anyway,

and sleep through the night without coming to our bed.

When I cried about it, and going to the hospital in 3.5 months last night,

you didn't wake up,

but you knew that today for nap time

the best place to fall sleep was

on the couch with me.

Trust me, it was what I needed.

You are so domestic,

your future wife will love you!

You want to help mommy vacuum, cook,

clean, and you throw you banana peels in the trash with a smile.

Oh, and you like to turn the sewing machine on for me too.

You of course had to model the shopping bag that we made together!

I love your energy and imagination.

This last week as we've played with Daddy after he got home you've been

Mr. Ray(repeatedly saying 'open sea!'), a snake, a cat, a mosquito,

and a few other animals.

Most of them needed a band-aid today too.

You also wanted to hold your baby brother tonight,

and tried to take him out.

I know you'll be waiting for me to make the same sound as the microwave so you can see him.

I love you, you needed a letter.

Sleep well.

love,

mommy

Baby Wrapping

...'cause you want your kid to be a burrito on your belly.

Actually, this is for Sarah, and well anyone else who wants to wear their baby with 4 or 5 yards of fabric, and wants their back to not hurt with little or no sewing. It's useful, and Edamame still likes to be worn like this, but I don't use stretchy fabric for him anymore, but I will for Adzuki. I'll try to post it on YouTube soon, but they are performing maintenance right now.





Oh and the baking soda trick(if I understood it right, correct me if I'm wrong Pam). You mop/sop up the pee as best you can and then put the baking soda on the carpet and let it dry out, usually a day or so, and then brush it up and then vacuum it up. I tried straight vacuuming and it didn't work as well as sweeping it up first and then vacuuming did.

...another hint, DON'T make ice pops out of mashed sweet potatoes with honey and a little cream...it doesn't work well.

Ok, gotta wash the dishes and see if I can make myself a grocery bag in the next 45 min before Edamame wakes up!

Belly dancing

My whispies are getting very long and thick and starting to look like bangs.  It is an interesting look.


Grandma called on Saturday, someone else wanted to talk on the phone too.


Oh, and someone was absolutely in LOVE with these Thomas squirty toys for over a week, he still digs them, but they aren't attached to him anymore. He was sharing his meals with them for a few days. He renamed them Thomas, Mommy and Daddy. I got to be the green one!

Crafty family

Despite being tired, I still did a lot of crafting during the 'jet lag recovery' phase.  I like it, it is cathartic, and helps me feel more organized in a weird way.

Here's a almost short list of what I did, I'll take a picture of the second dress this weekend when 007 is home more.

One regency era dress.  This will only fit a bit longer, but should tide me over until it starts to cool down.
One rad tablecloth and some peach yogurt pops(today's ice cream flavour is sweet potato and carrots).  As 007 put it 'wow it looks like a real kitchen table now!'

An impromptu cape (Edamame calls it a princess costume, but whatever) out of fabric scraps.


Crepe's for breakfast.  I figured out how to make them for Edamame too.  Grandma got us some AWESOME egg replacer, and I use that instead of the vegan recipe...turns out much better.

Re-potty training, it must be working, he's pretending to go to the potty in some funny places.  I convinced him to go poop in the potty this morning by telling him it'd be easier and he could play with his music books.  It worked 'easier poop, mommy', and I was right, it was easier!

We painted the bag we put our kiddie bowling pins in.

Daddy did some work on the shower.  I love how good he looks in the picture, rowr!
Of course, someone else had to do some shower improvements too.



One more regency dress, but modified to fit a pregnant me, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, but I have a few questions that I'll pose when I post the picture.

And last but not least...a baby.  Ok, so the pictures aren't that great, but I'll try to get a real belly shot soon.  When we went to the Dr. on Monday after getting back the kid was measuring almost 2 weeks large, and was supposedly('cause it isn't THAT accurate) over 1 lb.  He's kicking hard, now if we can just compromise on a name for him...oh and he's still a boy.

by the way, we are being bunnies here.  We sometimes watch Yoga Kids, Silly to Calm, and he likes the part about being a bunny.

Vacation Synopsis

We had a blast visiting Grandma & Grandpa, going to their newlywed party, seeing our Great Grandparents, playing with Tenna and Andi(so much fun that just yesterday Edamame asked to hug the girls, and when I told him they were too far away he said 'Tenna and Anni ride airplane' so that they could come here and play.), and eating lots of good fruit and veggies.  I'm a horrible person at remembering to take pictures, but fortunately my sister and 007 are.

Oh and Edamame also has us drive to the Dinosaur park and airplane museum when we are playing too.  He had a lot of fun in Utahaha it seems.

Let the running dialogue begin!

We started at Grandma's house, hit up the aquarium, and got over jet lag.

we were also fortunate enough to be introduced to the VERY exciting Aunt Jen while we were there.  Edamame even brought her up last night.

Eventually we made it to Aunt Pam's house,  and had fun playing and goofing around.

We also made it to church a few times, but of course, we needed snacks afterwards.



Aunt Pam is awesome and took us to fun places like the Dinosaur Park!

...and the airplane museum!

this was how he was the WHOLE time we were there...ohhh AIRPLANE, ohhh AIRPLANE! Helicopter!

We even managed to convince everyone to go camping.  It was insane, but the kids had fun, the daddies got to be manly, and we even got a kiddie respite while they went fishing in the morning.  If only the outhouses smelled a little less disgusting.

Of course we had to celebrate Andi's birthday while we were there!




...Finally the very very sad day arrived and we were on our way home....goodbye!  We'll miss you tons, and hopefully see you soon, though not soon enough.

Oh and we made it home safe, sound, and tired

p.s.

I'm thinking of changing the background...any ideas?

Almost there

The house is almost clean, except for some baking soda that needs to be vacuumed up(thanks for that pee removing tip Pam!), I'm reducing clutter i.e. sewing projects that are almost finished, the dishes in the sink are done, and hopefully in the next few days I'll be able to stay awake past 8:30 pm.  When that happens, I'll give a nice good post of our vacation, one of our new bathroom and kitchen and the moth infestation, a Japan cool! post about fish, and even a pregnancy pic for anyone who wants to see it.

In the mean time, to tide you over, and because I told La Yen I'd post these, pictures of Edamame enjoying princess time with his cousin 'Cinderella'.  Hey at least he asked for the green dress.  Oh, but the pink shoes were all him.

our princesses playing with a princess ball


our princesses helping the daddies with the lawn mower


our princesses serenading us with music

have an Enchanting Day!