Happy Birthday, Emi-chan!

Today is Emi-chan's birthday! She turned one years old. I can't believe this past year has flown by so quickly. It seems like yesterday (well, maybe not yesterday...more like a couple of months ago) that she was just a wee little one just laying in our arms, bleating in a little voice. Now she's a little powerhouse who's always on the go, go, go.

This past Saturday, we had a birthday party for her at a local park. Grandma and Grandpa came up from Watsonville, Uncle Ted and Auntie Yumiko flew in from the South. We picked up Gran-Gran and Unca Jeff from San Carlos. Rick and I were a little stressed. Of all days, it rained! We were a little mad, but it was fine. We had reserved a rec room, at the park just in case this happened. There was a lot of rushing around trying to get there on time to set up. Fortunately, a few friends came a early to help out.

Although a few people couldn't come because of illnesses, about 35 people in total came to celebrate, most of them kids. Because of a miscalculation and paranoia that we didn't have enough food, we had way, way, WAY too much meat, but it was good meat. We had Takahashi Market cater most of the food, along with ribs from Armadillo Willy's, pizza from Little Caesar's...


and yummy food brought by some good friends.


Lily made a cute Jello plate for Emi-chan and some awesome cookies. I ordered a cake from Sugar Butter Flour, not really knowing what kind of cake I ordered.


It turned out to be one beautiful cake. A mighty beautiful, rich and yummy cake.

Emi-chan wore herself out trying to watch everybody, crawling around exploring, and trying new foods, like yakisoba and Jello (she liked the yakisoba, but not the Jello).
She also tried chocolate cake. She really liked that. It was a busy and tiring, but joyful day.

Emi-chan and some friends

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everybody has a wonderful V-day full of hearts...


...and chocolates (these aren't turds. They're homemade chocolate truffles. They look awful, but taste so good).

Sick Days

We haven't posted lately because we've all been sick, sick, sick. It started off with the stomach flu for Emi-chan and Rick. Just as they got over the flu, the three of us came down with colds we can't seem to shake. It's getting pretty old. There's a lot of runny noses and coughing here at the Yoshida Shire. Hopefully, we'll get back to normal soon.

A Cousin Weekend

I hope everyone had a good MLK weekend, relaxing with family and friends, celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., or doing both. For Rick and myself, it was a weekend full of cousins.

The first cousin we ran into was at Little Girl M's birthday party on Sunday. Her party was held at a My Gym, where little kids go to burn off some energy by jumping on and off gym equipment, and mommy and daddy pay money for them to do so. It was a cute party led by some high energy college-aged girls. When we went in, there was a guy who looked really familiar and he kept looking at us. It turned out to be Stuart. His little girl was invited to Little Girl M's party. He and his family attend the same church that Little Girl M's family attends. It was a nice surprise. We spent some time catching up while we ran after Emi-chan.

The second cousin was Masatoshi M. He is Rick's mom's cousin...I guess technically he's a second cousin. He called us to let us know he received the Christmas card we sent him and he really appreciated it. I had a really nice chat with him. He's such a nice man.

The third cousin was my cousin Keigo, a.k.a. Cornelius. He's a musician in Japan and he was in San Francisco for a concert. He had a couple of days off before he had to fly to Chicago so he called my mom to see if we could get together. Rick and I took Emi-chan, Gran Gran and Unca Jeff on Monday night up to J-Town in San Francisco to see him. I hadn't seen him in about 20 years, so I was a little nervous. After we met him at a hotel, we went to a Korean restaurant and had a nice dinner, and caught up with him. Emi-chan was not having a good time, though, and Rick and I spent a lot of time trying to calm her down. Hopefully we can keep in touch more often in the future.


On a not so fun note, Rick and Emi-chan are finally over the stomach flu. They got better right before the cousin rush. Just in time. Otherwise, they all might have been very uncomfortable and messy affairs. I never imagined babies held so much vomit.

1/25: I forgot to add this story earlier. Over dinner with my cousin, Keigo, we reminisced about when we first met. It was my first trip to Japan with my family. I was 4 years old, Keigo was 3 years old. I have a lot of memories of that trip, but Keigo said he didn't remember much about that visit. What he remembered was that I taught him his first English phrases. He remembers I was standing at the top of the stairs of his home, and I was yelling at him to, "Come here!!! Come up here!!!" Rick thought this was funny. He said, "Even way back then, you were so bossy!" I said, "Who you calling bossy? Huh? Who? Answer me!!!"

A New Style

Happy New Year! We're finally blogging again. It's been a busy month and a half. It feels good now that our schedules are calming down again.

Since most people like to start off the new year with a fresh start, Emi-chan has been trying out some new looks. Here are a few:

We call this "The Unicorn"

This one is "The Triceratops"

This one is "Drunk Sorority Girl"

Which one should she choose?

Happy New Year!

Shinnen akemashite omedetou gozaimasu. Have a wonderful year!

Christmas Stuff #2

We didn't have any room in the house,
so we had to use a rosemary bush instead of a tree.

Christmas Day was busy but a lot of fun. The grandparents from both sides of the family wanted to spend the day with us, so we planned to have a big lunch for them. Grandma and Grandpa Y came up Christmas Eve and stayed overnight. I drove up, picked up Gran-Gran and Unca Jeff, and drove them down to our place. Rick was busy cooking up the meats. He broiled a couple of tri-tip roasts, broiled some great sausages Grandma brought up, and the night before, cooked and shredded tons of chicken for Chinese Chicken Salad. Grandma helped make a yummy sauce for the salad. I chopped and chopped, and dried the lettuce, made mashed potatoes, and white rice. Gran-Gran made gyoza and bara zushi. Grandma and Grandpa also brought up 2 awesome Gizdich apple pies.

Emi-chan had fun on her first Christmas. She especially loved watching Mama opening presents for her to play with. She especially liked the the Hug Me Elmo. She was so excited to see Elmo, and her face lit up when he spoke to her. I thought it was creepy how his eyes glowed when he spoke (I didn't get any really good pictures of Elmo. I'll have to post on him later). She also liked her music It was a great day for Emi-chan. She was all dressed up, in a cute little red jumper. She loved all the attention she got from the grandmas, grandpa, and Unca Jeff. Rick and I were busy getting food out, washing dishes, passing out presents, basically being hosts. Emi-chan also liked her instrument set and a little bike.

Emi-chan on her bike

We had a good time playing with and watching Emi-chan experience her first Christmas, and catching up with each other. We did miss having Ted and Yumiko at the lunch. We hope they can make it next year.

Later that afternoon I took Gran-Gran and Unca Jeff home, loaded up with presents and food, and Grandma and Grandpa stayed one more night. It was a nice day.

Here's Rick doing the time honored tradition
of daddy putting the toys together for the child

Chirstmas Stuff #1

I'm w-a-y behind on blogging, and my mind is still in a jumble. The next few entries will be on the past couple of weeks leading up to Christmas, but everything will be out of order. Please bear with me. A lot happened this year, especially since it was Emi-chan's first Christmas.

We got Emi-chan a cute little Nativity set from Fisher Price's Little People line (I checked to make sure it wasn't on the toy recall list before ordering it). Emi-chan seemed really fascinated by it. She looked at it, she touched all of the figures, picked each one up, tossed the stable and figures around the living room, and then chewed on the heads of every figure. Since then, every time she saw the set, she tosses everyone then chews on each one. She was partial to Joseph.

Look, it's Baby Jesus!

Nooo! It's Emi-zilla!

Poor Joseph. No respect.

Merry Christmas

We wish you a very blessed and loving Christmas.

A Walk in the Neighborhood

On a cool, crisp, non-rainy day, Emi-chan and I went for a little walk. We even ventured to the local park. There were no scary mommies, but there was a very nice lady with a beautiful greyhound. We chatted for a little bit until someone came with a pit bull. Then, we left. Emi-chan and I walked for about 20 minutes, enjoying the day, and I marvelled that even the office parks can look very pretty this time of the year.

Christmas in November

I'm way behind in posting. Sorry. I've been a little tired and frantically trying to make ornaments for a Christmas tea and ornament exchange party in a couple of weeks. Let's just say, I'm doomed.

Anyways, last week (a couple of weeks ago? I don't know anymore when it comes to time and dates) when Uncle Ted and Auntie Yumiko were up for Thanksgiving, some friends got together and we had an early Christmas party because Uncle Ted and Auntie Yumiko aren't able to come up next month. The party was at Lauren and Grant's new place (thank you!). There was a lot of food, a lot of people, and a lot of fun. The eating, as always, was good, and there was a Secret Santa gift exchange, and a white elephant gift exchange.

There were a few "aunties" and "uncles" Emi-chan had not met yet, so she had fun getting to know people.



Here's Emi-chan flirting with Uncle Vince.



Here she is flirting with Mr. Todd while still hanging with Uncle Vince.


She wasn't the only baby there. Christine and Joe, new parents, brought their newborn baby girl to the party. Little Ayumi was so cute! I forgot how little a newborn babies are.


Nice to meet you!

Emi-chan was getting fussy and tired, but we stayed until late (10:30 PM). I know, just a year ago, 10:30 PM was an early night. Now, 9 PM is late. It would have been nice to stay a little longer, but we were bushed, plus Uncle Ted and Auntie Yumiko had a long drive home the next day.

Happy Thanksgiving

We went down go Grandma and Grandpa's place. Uncle Ted and Auntie Yumiko drove up from So. Cal. We had a good time catching up and eating tons of good food.

Dedication Sunday

Today, we Dedicated Emi-chan at church today. Dedications are similar to Baptisms, except there is no water involved. Another family Dedicated their son today, also (the same little boy from the entry Party). We tried scheduling the Dedication during the summer, but couldn't do it because of my mom's health. Now that she was better, and before the holidays hit, we wanted to dedicate Emi-chan before we lost focus.

Grandma and Grandpa, and Gran-Gran came, and so did a lot of friends. We were really touched and so happy to see the crowd that came to support us and to lift Emi-chan up to the LORD.

We were called up to the stage soon after the service started. (Sorry the pictures are so dark and grainy). Pastor G asked us a few question, like "Do we believe in Jesus Christ as our LORD and Savior," then we answered, "We do." Then Wendy prayed for her son, and then I prayed for Emi-chan. I was getting a little teary eyed while Wendy was praying, but forgot when Rick poked me and asked if I had any tissue. I didn't. He was a little panicky because Emi-chan's nose started running. Not just a little wetness, but a constant flow from her nose. I tried to dab her nose with the edge of her sweater. It didn't help. It started gushing. Then, it was my turn to pray, so I (silently) prayed that her nose would stop running. It slowed down. Of course, she had to wipe it on Rick's shirt.

After the mother's prayers, Pastor G blessed each child, first Baby M, then Emi-chan. The little boy was pretty quiet. He just stared at the pastor during the blessing. Emi-chan, on the other hand, was a little squirmy and was cooing a lot. She kept trying to bat the pastor's hand off her head. As he blessed her, he moved his hand away from the spot that was bothering her and she calmed down. Then, she reached up and placed her hand on his cheek, as if to bless him. She kept her hand on his cheek and stared at him until he was done. It was really sweet and funny.


After the service, we took our friends and family to a Japanese restaurant in San Mateo called Chika. They did a nice job taking care of our group, all 34 of us. Despite my mix up on 2 orders, they were really quick in accommodating us. And the food was really good. We had a good time eating and hanging out for a couple of hours. We felt so blessed and loved by everyone.

Some very cute kids


Some very good friends


With all the busyness, that evening, I realized, I didn't get any pictures of Emi-chan, or of Rick and I with her. Oops. Oh well, it was a wonderful day.

At The Park

Today, after getting a little claustrophobic cooped up in the house, Emi-chan and I went out for a quick walk. It was cloudy and a bit dreary, but not too cold. Usually, when I take Emi-chan out for a walk, I avoid stopping off at the local park. Partially because I'm so shy I have a hard time meeting the mommies, grandmamas, and the nannies who congregate there. Mostly, I avoid the park because I can't stand the prying questions and unwanted advice I receive, for example, "Your baby is so cute. Why is she so big? Why do you feed her so much?" or "It's so cold today. Put a sweater on your baby. She's going to catch cold. See, feel her feet..." and so on. Fortunately, the park was empty so we took a little detour.


I put Emi-chan on the swing today. She seemed to like her little ride. Emi-chan was laughing out loud. She especially liked the metal links and tried to lick one.


I also put her on the play structure. She looked a little lost on it. I think she's a little young for it. She did succeed in licking one of the steps. Gross!

Maybe I'll try to take her to the park more often. It's nice to get out and get some fresh air and exercise. I'll try to gather up some courage and face the mommy gangs.

Happy Punkin Day

Or Halloween, All Saint's Day, or whatever.

We were going to put her in a chicken costume, but it was too small :( So, we dressed her up in a jimbei and my mom put her in Unca Jeff's chan chan ko. So, instead of being a little chick, Emi-chan went as a little Japanese boy.


We got 5 trick-or-treaters tonight. An all time record high.

Pumpkin Patch

Recently, Rick and I took Emi-chan to a little pumpkin patch that opened up close by. I thought it would be a great way to start a family tradition and a great photo op. Things didn't go quite as I planned.


The pumpkin patch was tiny and crowded. I'm not sure how, but they got 3 HUGE jump houses onto the lot. It was a bit of a mad house, older kids running around, screaming. Annoyed parents running around, screaming. Only kidding. The kids weren't that bad.

It was extremely hot and sunny when we went. It was like late summer rather than early fall. The sun, heat, and the crowd seemed to bother all the babies and toddlers. They were really cranky and ruined quite a few photos the mommies and daddies were trying to take. Emi-chan didn't seem like she enjoyed her trip. She seemed really out of sorts with the sun in her eyes, and when she could see, the pumpkins seemed to confuse her. The look she had on her face was, "Holy cow! What are these weird orange things? Bring me home!" But in the end, she did pick her own little pumpkin.


Maybe Emi-chan was too young to take to a pumpkin patch. Maybe we should have taken her to a real pumpkin patch, like the ones in Half Moon Bay, rather than one in the middle of town. Maybe it was too sunny and hot. Maybe it was too crowded. Maybe mama had too high of an expectation. Who knows. Maybe next year will be better.


By the way, are these pumpkins alright, or are they sick? They kinda scare me.

Busy, busy, busy

We haven't blogged in awhile because, well, Emi-chan's kept us so busy, and Rick and I are so tired. Here are a few highlights of what she's been doing:

Emi-chan has started furniture cruising...

...began learning how to eat out of a bowl...

...helped Mama sort clothes...

...caught up on old episodes of "What Not To Wear"...


...and started training to become a geisha.

What a busy little girl.

Party!

Emi-chan was invited to her first birthday party. Of course, we let her go. Mama was the chaperon, and papa was the chauffeur. The party was for a little boy named Matthew. He just turned one. He's a happy little boy and so cute! We had a lot of fun. There was a lot of food, a lot of kids running around, a lot of socializing (Rick and I are still learning how to become social), and Emi-chan taking it all in and drooling on everything. She rode on her first Ride-Along (I think that what it's called). She liked it until she fell off.


Rick also hurt his back. He's doing better now. Thank God for good chiropractors and Salonpas.

After the party, we all went home and took a nice long nap.

Favorite Things Part 1

I've been browsing through Oprah Winfrey's Favorite Things shows. I'm impressed and inspired. Although I can't afford to give all of my readers (all 5 of you :D) an iPod Nano or a Burberry coat, but I can blog about my favorite things.


The first of my favorite things are chocolate bars from an organic food company. Recently, I bought Dagoba (yes, like in the planet Yoda lived on) milk chocolate and dark chocolate bars at Whole Foods. Usually I wouldn't buy these because they're so expensive, but they were on sale. I ate the milk chocolate one a couple of days ago and I was knocked out. It was so rich and dense. It was like eating dark chocolate. Rick is now eating the Eclipse bar. It has a real bite to it. He's loving it.

Stay tuned for more updates...

Milestones

Emi-chan recently reached a few important milestones! First is she started eating solids. She's still not quite sure if she likes rice cereal, but she likes sitting at the big table and "using" a utensil like mama and papa. We're also trying to get her to drink from a sippy cup, but she doesn't like the cup.



Emi-chan also had her first haircut. Her bangs kept getting in her eyes, so we asked Grandma to trim them for her. Emi-chan didn't like that. She kept fussing and wriggling. Grandma did her best with a wriggly baby. I'm happy with the results. Emi-chan's hair doesn't bother her, and she looks like Spock.


Emi-chan is now strong enough to sit up and her balance is relatively stable enough, so on a recent shopping trip, I put her in the shopping cart instead of hauling the car seat out and setting on the cart. She did pretty well, except she kept trying to lick the cart. Bleah!