Mommy and Me!

Missing post...

This post ended up on Mommy's blog but was supposed to be here, so here it is...

This little girl has fallen in love with animals, and especially Bam's horse... Gizmo!


Riding with Bam..


Watching TV with Granny... (Great Grandmother)


Playing with Aunt Kay... (Great Aunt)


Saying Bye-bye to Uncle Bud and Aunt Shortie... (Great Uncle and Aunt)



One thing is for sure... this little girl is LOVED!!!!!!!

My sweet little family!

Mommy and Daddy and Hana had our pics made today! The individual ones of Hana will not be in till next week, but I just had to share our family photo...

A whole month in the US already!

It's hard to believe we've been here a whole month. It's been great. Hana has been making so many friends, and getting so good at it. The other day we went to (yet ANOTHER) church and she saw a small group of children playing outside. She came to me and said, "Mommy, can I play with the kids outside?" I said, "Sure you can!" and off she went. I followed along behind her just to see if she did okay. It was amazing to watch. She slowly inched her way across the yard towards the group of kids. She took a few steps closer and closer into their little circle, until one little girl spoke to her. Then she just joined right in with them! She looked back and me a time or two and smiled and waved. It was so sweet to watch. She was fearless about getting into that group of total strangers. She is really cut out for all this travel that we do!

Today, she was looking at a globe with her cousins. They asked her where she lives and she pointed right to Japan, and right at the island of Kyushu! I was amazed!!!

She is really loving being in America. I am amazed at how much her English has improved. She is speaking in some LONG sentences now. Playing in English with all the kids has been so good for her. When playing, she used to always switch into Japanese, now she plays along in English and even plays by herself in English.

The other thing I have noticed is that she is learning to tease people. Certainly, she has picked this up since we got to the states. She will call someone a silly name, and just loves to watch them be a little embarrased by it. It is hillarious! I didn't know that a 3 year old could pick on someone.

Here are some picks to enjoy of all we've done over the last month...

A HUGE cactus!


The "big hole in the ground" (as Hana called it)



This is what she thinks of American food! LOL, it's been hard to get her to eat. The first night we were at my Mom's house I made veggie soup and she ate THREE bowls full. The two days after that she ate a LOT of cucumbers and fruit!


In Denver we went to the Children's Museum. She LOVED the children's grocery store with kid sized carts, a play cash register and a huge play kitchen. She could have played there for hours!


She also liked the "forest" where she wore a possum suite and crawled through tunnels and caves in a "tree"!

She's here!!!

Hana is in America!!!!!!!!! It has been an awesome trip for her. What an Angel! She traveled like a pro. Never fussed, not even once. And she slept for about NINE hours on the long flight between Tokyo and D/FW! She did amazing. She has slept through the night both nights since we got home also. I knew she would do well, but she is far surpassing even my greatest expectations.

She is love love loving being spoiled by Mim and Grandad. Mim took her to the toy aisle and let her pick out a toy when we got here. I believe that is the first time in her life she has ever had the priviledge of picking out a toy for herself! We have never wanted her to get the idea that every time she sees toys, we’ll buy her one, so we’ve never bought a toy for her in her presence. She was SO excited to get that toy. It was a Dora picnic basket set, and she loves it, hasn’t put it down since she got it. It is so adorable too, it has toy tortillas in it! They are the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!!!

Tonight, at an area wide youth event, she charmed the entire room of people! She had them all wrapped around her little finger within minutes. It has been so fun to watch her relate to everyone. She is certainly different in her personality when she is surrounded by Americans/English speakers, and when she is surrounded by Japanese. It is fascinating to watch.

Some new pics and an update...

Hana caught something at preschool this week. She'd been coughing for about two days when she woke up Saturday morning with a pretty high temp. I think around 102F (38.8 C), our thermometer is C so I'm not sure and am too tired to go find a converter online and convert it! LOL We got her some meds, and the fever just climbed higher and higher throughout the day. I prayed over her every time I layed hands on her. By night time her fever hit 40.2 once. We kept up fever reducing suppositories as often as allowed, ice packs around her neck and cold compress on her forhead, etc. She did not sleep well and when she finally did fall asleep at 2am after another fever reducer brought the temp down a little bit, I couldn't sleep! I think I was awake until 4am and then when I did sleep it was a very light sleep because I was so "aware" and every tiny noise woke me up. I am so exhausted today. I'm missing Sunday morning worship for the first time in I don't know how many years!!!

This morning she still had about 40 temp but it finally began to break after breakfast! Praise the Lord! I enlisted some of my online friends to pray and that did the trick! She is upstairs taking a nap right now, and I should lay down for a while too. I think in all I got maybe 2 hours sleep last night.

She's so funny. We went to the doctor and the grocery store with her in her pajamas yesterday and she kept saying, "Mommy, I forgot to change my clothes!" Made me chuckle every time. And this sweet little thing, why is it that she is the one who is sick, but she is telling Mommy, "It's ok Mommy. Fever's all gone, cough all better!" I think she sees the worry in my eyes and wants to make me feel better. Little darling.

Well, hope you enjoyed this little update. I'm gonna go lay down for a bit. **yawn**

Game night...

Oh I have been looking forward to this for so long. Hana is finally old enough to have game night!!!!!!!! It is so fun.

Last night after dinner I just decided to break out a game board that she was given. It's Dora Candy Land. The box says 3 years and up. We've tried games before, particularly "Memory" and it didn't go so well, she didn't want to play by the rules. So I didn't know if this would go over well or not.

It wasn't too bad though. The little game pieces were so cute and fascinating it was hard for her to leave them ON the board. But she got the gist of how to move the pieces pretty quickly. She loses interest if the game starts taking too long, but otherwise I think it was a great success.

Here are some pics of us playing for you to enjoy...

"Is it my turn yet?"


"No Hana, you're piece is the backpack, over here! Don't move Daddy's piece!"


It's almost bed time, but "just ONE more game Daddy, PLEEEEEASE!!!"


Boots, Dora, Backpack and Diego all made it to the Fiesta at the finish line several times this evening! Thanks you guys!!!

Hide 'n Go Seek, Hana style!!!

Yesterday we some how ended up playing a game of hide 'n go seek in our house, just the three of us. Hana has yet to really get the point of this game, not sure why. But here is how it goes with Hana...

Hana says, "Mommy count!"

So I start counting and she and Daddy take off to hide. As soon as I finish counting Hana happily bursts out of her hiding place and comes running for me! She loves it! The point for her is to hide! She's had her fun, why wait for someone to come and find her? Then she joins me in going to find Daddy.

We tried explaining to her that she needs to stay where she is until we find her.

Then she declares it is Daddy's turn to count. So we try again. As soon as Daddy finsihes counting out she comes, happy as a lark to have hidden! AND in the exact same place as the time before. Then they set off together to find me.

We went through this several times. The only time she would stay in her hiding place until she was found was if I stayed with her. But even then, it was still the exact same hiding place as before!

You just gotta love it! It totally cracks me up, and some day she'll play like normal and it won't be this cute! I love this age!!!

"day-morrow"

Hana is currently working on getting her past, present and future tense words in order. It is hilarious to have a conversations with her. They go like this...

(Hana's lines in bold)

At 9 pm on the way home from an event...
"Mommy, where going today?"
"We are going home to go to bed, it's late!"
"but, where going today?"
"We are going home, I said."
"Where going day-morrow?"
"We are going home today. Do you mean tomorrow?"
"yes, where going day-morrow?"
"You need to say, 'Where are we going tomorrow.' Hana."
"Yea, "where going day-morrow?"
"You mean tomorrow?"
"yea, day-morrow!"

I have no idea where she got the words today and tomorrow blended but this is so stuck in her vocabulary, after a couple weeks of daily coaching her to just say "tomorrow" she still can't do it! So funny!

Another conversation on almost a daily basis. The word "yesterday" applies to ANYTHING in the past.

"Bible story time!"
"I read this one yesterday."
"No, yesterday we read this one (pointing to the previous story in her Bible), you haven't heard this story in a long time."
"No mommy, I read this one (today's story) yesterday."
"No, we did THIS ONE (yesterday's story) yesterday."
"Yea, and I read THIS ONE (today's story) yesterday."
"Do you mean, you've read this story BEFORE?"
"Yea, I read this one (today's story) yesterday!"

And a conversation I had about our whole week's schedule with her...

"Mommy, where going today?"
"Today you are going to preschool and Mommy is going to speak at chapel."
"Where going day-morrow?"
"Tomorrow, you are going to preschool, and Mommy has a meeting and Daddy has Gos-Kita recording."
"Hana go too?"
"No, Hana has to go to preschool."
"Mommy, where going day-morrow next day?" (I thought it was amazing how she came up with a way to convey day after tomorrow!)
"We are going to go to our church's cafe."
"Hana go too?"
"Yes, Hana go too!"

I didn't realize that kids had such a concept of future events this early in their life. So fun to watch her grow up and learn these concepts, and to see how her language develops!

Mic please...

Follow up to the post about "mic please"! She does almost the same thing every night now, so we caught it on tape. She changes the way she's acting when she notices the camera, but you get the picture!

I'm a horse!

Conversation in the car on the way to eat dinner...

Daddy: I don't know why but suddenly I'm so hungry!
Hana: Hana hungry too!
Daddy: I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!
Hana: Me too!
Daddy: Wow, you can eat a horse?
Hana: Yea, Hana eat a horse too!

Conversation in the car after dinner...

Daddy: Wow Hana you're tummy is so full, look at that!
Hana: YEA Daddy, I'm a horse!!!

Microphone Please!

Little miss priss! Oh my goodness she cracked Mommy and Daddy up last night, I would give anything for video of this moment. Every evening after her bath, I plop her down on the counter in the bathroom to blow dry her hair. She always like to open the medicine cabinet door where the mirror is facing her, and sing and play while I'm drying.

Last night, I sat her up there and as I was plugging in the drying she was grinning at her reflection, tilting her head and raising her shoulder, flirting with herself. When she was quite satisfied that she looked good, she threw her hand up over her shoulder in my direction and announced, "Microphone, please." in such a matter of fact, sassy voice I couldn't believe that was coming from a 3 year old! Daddy and I just died laughing. I handed her a brush, and she proceeded to give us a concert while I dried her hair. She never did figure out what was so funny.

Is she the child of a couple of performers, or what!? What a riot!

That's ok Mommy!

I mentioned in my recent post that Hana is such an encourager. Well she just amazes me with this. Yesterday at lunch I made one of Hana's (and my) favorite things. It's called koyadofu, it's a kind of tofu. The broth you cook it in is sooooo yummy, and Hana and I both really really love this food. During lunch Hana had two pieces of the tofu, and then she got up to go to the restroom at one point. She sometimes takes her sweet time actually getting to the bathroom and getting BACK to the table. She had eaten quite a lot of rice and salad, so I thought she was probably almost finished with her lunch. I proceeded to eat all of the tofu that was left. Hana eventually returned to her seat, and I was already at the sink washing dishes. At one point she realized all the tofu was gone and she yelled, "HEY, where tofu go?!!! I want more!" I sheepishly confessed that I had eaten it all and I was very sorry (it had sort of occured to me that she might want more, but I thought to myself "nahhhh" and at the last piece). I appologized to her several times and promised to make it again soon. Then a few minutes later I said, "Oh Hana I feel really bad that I ate all the tofu, I'm really sorry!" And she just grinned at me, patted me on the arm and said, "It's okay Mommy! It's okay!" sooooo sweet and if you could just hear her little voice and the way she pronounces "okay", it'll just melt your heart.

Then this morning, at breakfast, she again decided she needed to get up and go to the restroom during the meal. Before she left the table, she pointed to her oatmeal and said, "Don't anybody eat this I'm gone... 'kay?" I just chuckled and promised her oatmeal was safe. I then asked Rocky where he thinks she got that from, we never tell people not to eat our food when we get up from the table? I don't even know where she learned to put together that sentence. It just occured to me while I was writing this post, maybe she was afraid mommy would eat all her oatmeal, since I had eaten all her tofu the day before!

LOL!

Growing girl...

This morning Hana asked to see video of herself from when she was a baby. I decided to sit beside and watch some too. It seems unreal to me that she was that little. We watched from 3-6 months and also from 12-15 months. It seems like just yesterday that she came, and yet at the same time I can't imagine that there was ever a time she couldn't talk and run around and feed herself and so forth. That time passed OH SO quickly. Especially since we waited so many years for this precious gift to come along. I really want to slow down the clock.

This afternoon she was getting cranky. We are in an in between stage where she doesn't really need a nap some days but other days she does. Today I was thinking she didn't need a nap because last night she had a hard time falling asleep in the evening after having a two hour nap yesterday afternoon. I left for the gym at 8:30 and when I came home a little after 10:00 she was still singing and talking to herself in bed. I went up to re-tuck her in as Daddy had already done his duties, and even after that she was awake and talking and singing for a while. SOOOO, I'm trying to figure out what to do about naps. Most days at preschool she doesn't sleep at all, those days she goes down very well but she can get cranky on those evenings, and will often fall asleep in the car around 5 or 6 if we go somewhere (which messes up bedtime). So should I limit naps and wake her after 30 minutes or so (but waking her up makes her a bear)! When she was getting cranky this afternoon I let her crawl up in my lap for some cuddling and eventually she fell asleep there. It was so sweet to hold her while she slept, I rarely get to do that anymore. With my movements and talking to Rocky she woke up about 30 minutes later. Tonight we are running late for bedtime also, so I am hoping she will have no problem falling asleep.

Speaking of, gotta go get her out of the bath and put her to bed... brb

Anyways, she is just such a sweetheart. She loves to love people. And her babies are really REALLY her babies. I didn't realize how much so until yesterday. We were at our church and one little boy who was there came up and whacked her baby on the head. You would have though he hit Hana for how she screamed. She came running to me crying and I realized her cry was a heart-broken cry, not one of pain. She was REALLY really heart-broken that her baby had been treated so badly. It was funny but at the same time I could see how very tender hearted she really is about the thing she loves.

She is such an encourager too. She often uses the line, "It's ok Mommy!" If she sees I am disappointed or worked up about something. This comes with a pat or a kiss.

Night before last when I came home from being gone somewhere for a little bit, she came running to me and said, "Mommy, I spill juice. I'm sorry!" I thought that was so honest and sweet. I asked her if she told Daddy about it and she said, "yes" and I asked if Daddy cleaned it up and she said "yes". So I asked if she thanked Daddy? She ran to him and said "thank you Daddy!"

When she is in good spirits and not overtired or hungry she is very thoughtful like this. She is not always this way, especially if she is tired.

We are still struggling with picking up toys. I do NOT know what is going to be the breakthrough on that. Tonight she lost her sticker, and I still had to tell her many many times to pick up the remaining toys. Finally I told her whatever is left on the floor I am throwing it away. THAT didn't work, she could care less that I really threw away the toys that were left on the floor (some paper money, a small watering can, and some plastic kitchen veggies). So, that didn't work. Maybe toy time out? If throwing them away didn't work I don't think time out will though, cause she clearly understand that things going in the trash don't come back.

It is fun and exciting but not without it's challenges, that is something to say about parenting!

Not a peep from her bed tonight, I think she is already out. Ok, a 30 minute nap and late bedtime works... noted! LOL

Pics and fun stuff...

Just thought I'd share some more about our sweet little girl (whose growing like a weed)!!!

Here are some pics to start off with...

Every morning while waiting for Mommy to fix breakfast and the heaters to warm up the room, Hana and Daddy enjoy a little "hold-you cuddle cuddle" time!



This is one of Hana's best buddies Corkey, we do English time together on Saturday mornings twice a month. They LOVE to play together!



Hana REALLY enjoys books these days. She loves to "read" them herself AND have someone read for her.


This is Hana's other best buddy, Mia! She gets soooooooo excited when she's going to get to spend time with Mia. Yesterday on the way home from church we were making plans to go to Mia's house for dinner, and Hana wanted to go IMMEDIATELY. I told her she had to nap or she couldn't go to Mia's house. Then she wanted to take a nap IMMEDIATELY! The minute her eyes popped open from her nap the first thing she said was "Mommy, I take a nap! Let's go to Mia's house!" It was so hard to get her to wait until Mommy and Daddy were ready to go too.



One time recently when she fell asleep in the car with her hat on. I just threw this one in as a cute bonus!


She's growing so fast. She's almost 3 feet tall (35.5 inches to be exact) and weighs almost 30 pounds! I can not believe my baby is that big.

She'll talk your ear off in either language. It is so cute to watch her when she is in a room with Japanese AND Enlgish speakers. She has her designated language for each person and she'll flip back and forth between the two like it's a piece of cake. She even translates for her Grandma these days. If Mommy and Daddy are having a conversation in front of Baba in English, Hana will tell Baba in Japanese what we are talking about! We are to that stage that we have to be careful what we say in front of her cause she is understanding it ALL!

It is a joy to be her Mommy. She's full of hugs and kisses all day long, and loves to help me wash veggies and prepare for dinner! She REALLY loves to take care of her babies which reminds me of one more picture I have to share. I was cleaning up the kitchen the other day and turned around to see this scene in the living room...



I guess she thought her babies needed a little TV time too, they were all enjoying VeggieTales I think!!! Too cute, I just love the way she has her legs crossed and is slumped down in her chair. Looks like a teenager already, OH PLEASE time SLOW DOWN!!!

Some new video...

REading a story book to us...



Looking at fish at the aquarium...

Before I forget...

I have to write this one down before I forget about it. Then I have to come back later and post a real update, I didn't realize it had been so long.

Anyways, on the way to preschool this morning Hana was asking what I am going to do today. I told her that Daddy and I have to go to a meeting and I was explaining to her who would be there. Lately she doesn't want to go to preschool, but would rather stay with us. She knows the things we do and even has to go with us sometimes and I think she is beginning to wonder why on some days she has to go to preschool and other days she can stay with us (we take her with us one days that our ministry will make it impossible to pick her up ontime from school, on weekends, and on holidays when the school is closed). Most days she protests about going to school. So, then the conversation went like this...

Hana: "Hana go meeting too?"
Mommy: "No, you have to go to preschool today."
Hana: "Hana no sleep?" (do I have to take a nap today)
Mommy: "Yes, today you will take a nap at school today."
Hana: "Hana no take a nap!"
Mommy: "oh, sweety, you have to be at preschool today and you'll need to lay down at nap time"
Hana: "Preschool, no thank you. Hana, Mommy, Daddy meeting together."
Mommy: "Oh Hana, you'll have so much fun at preschool today!"
Hana: "No thank you"
Mommy: "oh sweety, you should decide at the start of your day to have a fun day, and then it will be fun."

At this point she kind of furrowed her brow and I could tell she was deep in thought. We pulled into preschool and made our way to her room. She was silent and seemed to still be deep in thought. Usually once we arrive at preschool she clings to me and often cries when I leave. Today she didn't follow me around the room clinging to my leg as I was putting her things away, and she bounced into the room after putting her shoes away and smiled at me and said, "Mommy, I have fun today!" She hugged and kissed me and ran off to her place at the table where they were they were taking their break for morning milk.

It just made me so proud. She pondered what I said about deciding to have fun, and she took my advice!!! I was just so amazed at her little three year old mind being able to comprehend that and THEN deciding to have a positive attitude! Kids are amazing, or should I say, MY daughter is amazing!

Hair wash...

When I (Mommy) was a little girl, my mother had a hair salon. I LOVED for her to wash my hair in the sinks at the salon with the shower head in that big sink with the little place for your neck to lay. When I got a bit older Mom closed her shop and started a different business. She still gave me perms and so forth at home, and those times she would lay me up on the kitchen counter, hold my head over the sink and wash my hair. She'd also do this when I was really sick (which was often with my asthma) if I couldn't take a bath but needed a hair washing. I LOVED having my mom wash my hair and it was always so special to me.

On our recent trip to Aomori it was REALLY cold. In Japan there is no central heating, and so bathrooms are pretty cold places in the house here. Plus they had only a shower stall, and it wasn't the biggest thing so it was pretty cold and cramped to try to give Hana a shower. So since she didn't really need one everyday, I would just wash her hair in the sink. She LOVED it just as much as I did when I was a little girl.

There is something so special and intimate about someone washing your hair. I remember it being especially sweet to have my Mommy hovering over me holding my head and washing my hair. And the water running down my head tickled sometimes so it was often an experience that caused me to laugh too.

Hana love it too! She just loved looking up at me and would grab my face and say "Mommy, yubs you!" She would also giggle when it tickled! She jumps at the chance to have me wash her hair in the sink now.

These moments are the things I dreamed of doing for my babies and never knew if I would get these opportunities when we were deep in the despair of infertility! HOW VERY EXTRA PRECIOUS it is when I finally get to experience all of these things!

Here are some pictures of our little make-shift hair salon in the kitchen where we stayed in Aomori!!! Enjoy...

Hana 3 yrs with Maggie

First of all, Daddy was shooting pics with the camera side ways and he forgot to put it back to normal for video. Anyways, this was just cute cause she was pretending to have Maggie be the baby Jesus! So sweet!!!

Cowboy Hana

This is one is specially for Bam, cause Hana has decided she is a cowboy! I don't know why she is whispering in this video, but she sure did LOVE this little rocking horse. Makes me want to make one for her!!! She's so precious, isn't she!?