Our Chloe Bear

Chloe had her 18 month check up last week (a month late) so I decided I would share how much she's grown and changed. She is our constant talker and busy body. She gets into EVERYTHING and has become my little escape artist. It's so hard to go anywhere with her right now, because she just runs off as soon as I turn my attention to something else and she really likes playing hide and seek. She recently learned how to escape her crib and open doors, so bedtime has become more of a challenge. She loves talking too. She can speak in full sentences and even hold a short conversation. Although, she's going through a shy phase right now when it comes to talking, so she has to really warm up to you to really start talking. But I'm really impressed with how much she talks. She is a really fast learner too. She's super quick on picking up new things. She's also really independent. She tries to do everything on her own that she can. She even tries to get undressed and dressed again, along with changing her own diaper. She keeps me really busy!

She is also my little daredevil! She really keeps me on my toes and I have to try to watch her all the time. She just has the sort of attitude that she wants to do everything and anything and it doesn't matter what happens. She just dives into things (sometimes literally). She just loves to have fun!

One of her favorite things right now is to growl. I don't know why, but she loves it! She growls at everything and is so happy doing it. She also loves fighting. She'll get down in a horse stance and just start punching and she'll kick too. We're trying to make sure she only "fights" with her uncles who can take the punch, but she has a blast doing it. She still loves to dance too. Any time a song or some music is playing (that's including me singing) she'll start dancing and sometimes even tries to sing along. It is so cute to watch her bust her moves.

She's also my big helper. She tries so hard to be like a big kid. It's funny to watch her even with kids slightly older than her, because she'll take them by the hand and start leading them somewhere or just try to take care of them. She also loves babies and is very nurturing. While I was watching a friend's baby Chloe tried so hard to help out. She tried to pick him up and hold him, feed him food along with his bottle, she would bounce him in his rocker, she got down on the ground with him to help him with his tummy time, she even tried to entertain him with her dancing and singing. She tried so hard to help out with him, although it was a little less than actually helping but it was really cute to watch her try.

One of her few obsessions right now is her shoes. She loves them! She always has to have her shoes on her, even when she goes to sleep. She even taught herself to put them on and even to thread in the velcro buckle on them. She was really distraught when we were out and her sandal broke. She started to cry and kept repeating "Oh no, my shoe! Mommy, my shoe! Please, my shoe!" as she tried her best to fix it herself. It was so funny and heartbreaking at the same time.

She has grown so much and is doing so many new things even in the short time Jed's been away. We just love her and she keeps us on our toes but also keeps us very entertained.

Saying Goodbye

Sorry, this is going to be kind of a more personal post for me. A few people, but probably not most, know that my grandpa in Japan is dying. We found out last month that he has gall bladder cancer and they only gave him a few months to live. Last Friday he contracted Pneumonia and was given only 2-3 days. He's still hanging on though but barely. My mom flew back to Japan yesterday to be there and say goodbye. Today she called me to tell me that he's really struggling and is unconscious. Even though he's unconscious, he still tightened his grip on her hands as she talked with him. We're supposed to call him later to say our last goodbyes and I that's what I'm having trouble with. How do I say goodbye?

There are so many things going through my mind right now. He's my only Grandpa that I've known. He is someone that I look up to and deeply respect and love. He is such an accepting and loving man. After my my mom married my dad (an American!) my grandma was furious and my mom was almost ostracized from the family, it was my grandpa that spoke up and said he wasn't going to send away his only daughter. My mom said that before he lost consciousness, he told my grandma that he has lived a wonderful life with her and that he is so grateful for it. (That's huge since in Japan they don't really show any sentiments) He has always been a gentle and loving grandpa. He is someone that we all look up to. He is someone that I want to name a son (our next one, if we ever have another boy) after because he is a great man and I want him to be remembered.

Not only was he such a loving person, he was also so generous. Him and my grandma have always helped us. They always encouraged us to go for the very best and showed us how through their example. They help those around them and he influenced all that came in his path. It's like my what my brother, Robert, says "he is such a wonderful example of love and charity."

My grandpa is someone that has been a survivor and a constant throughout my life. He fought in WW2 as a pilot and was even shot down and killed, but yet he decided not to cross the bridge to join his ancestors and instead decided to live. He built his company from the ground up to have the third largest construction/architect company in all of Japan. He has fought and survived two other cancers before this third and final one. Some of my earliest memories of Japan are of a hospital where we would visit him everyday while he went through treatments for throat cancer. He is a hard worker and a very studious man. Even after he retired he would continue to wake up everyday and go to work for a half day instead of a full day. He continued to read every morning and learn and expand his knowledge.  With all of his amazing life accomplishments he is still a humble man. I guess part of my problem that I'm having is that after him surviving so many things I figured he'd always be here.

I am really happy that we were able to go to Japan to visit my family last year so they could meet the kids. My mom says that while she was visiting this July my grandpa always talked about the kids and Jed and how much he enjoyed having us there. One regret I do have is that I wasn't able to really get to know my Grandpa. Since his English is limited and my Japanese is even more limited I have never been able to have a heart to heart conversation with him. I know this is too late, but I decided in honor of my grandpa I'm going to learn Japanese again. (I'm also tired that when people ask me if I speak Japanese, my response is "my husband can") But if nothing else, my hope is that I can help to pass on a little of my heritage onto them and they can feel closer to that part of them. People need to help me with this too! I need someone to keep me on this goal.

 I know it's not a sad thing for him to pass on. He won't be in pain anymore. He'll be with his family. I will get to see him again. He will be greatly missed though. I love you, Grandpa, and thank you for your wonderful example and life!

J Pop and Tahoe

I know that I've been doing an awful job with updating this, so I'm going to try to do better instead of trying to cram an entire month into one post.

A couple of Saturdays ago, we went down to San Francisco with my mom and brother, Robert, his wife, Kayla, and our friend Paul. We headed down to Japantown since I don't think the kids have ever been, I know it's so shameful. We had a lot of fun especially since there was a J Pop Festival going on that we didn't even realize was that weekend. There were lots of people dressed up almost like anime characters. Apparently there was a costume contest for best circus themed costume. I, of course, had to ask to get a pic in with some of them. We listened to a couple of bands playing. The girl bands are so cute! We also stopped by this cupcake shop that I had read about in blogs so really wanted to stop by to try them out. So Good! And we had an amazing lunch that made me miss Japan even more. Their spicy tuna roll was the most amazing thing I've probably had in a long time in terms of sushi, even though it's such a simple roll. Super yums!

Cako! I love their display window

In Japan, they always display their food out front, along with the menu

Paul trying to steal a kiss

After Japantown, we headed down to the beach. We stopped by the Exploratorium and were able to take some pictures next to the pond there. We also wanted to try to take pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge, especially Kayla who's never seen it. Unfortunately, a thick fog canvased over everything so we could barely see anything more than 40 feet ahead of us, but we did drive over it so she was able to see it in parts. It was a fun day to spend together, especially since it was Robert and Kayla's last weekend at my mom's house. They just moved to Davis to be near Robert's school. Elijah and Chloe already miss them and it's only been a couple of days without them here.

I don't know what it is about trees that make the kids think they're like slides, but both tried to slide down the tree.

 Again, another attempt at a group photo

Both kids have great moves, here's Elijah busting out one of his

Robert and Kayla are such a cute couple

On the other side of the bridge, the fog lifted but in the distance it looked like a waterfall. It was really pretty.

During the week, we laid low, mainly because we took turns not feeling well. I did find time to come up with a new cookie recipe though (you can find the recipe on my new project site here). I had to try to find something fun for the kids being locked up for days.

Yesterday, which was Labor Day, we finally were able to break out of our confinement and drove up to South Lake Tahoe with my mom and brother, Christian. Its such a pretty drive and place. I was expecting it to be a lot cooler than what it was. We headed down to the beach and enjoyed a picnic together. Afterwards, Christian took the kids down into the water to chase some ducks. The kids had so much fun playing in the water. Chloe kept trying to dive into the water. Sometimes, I'm amazed at how she's my little daredevil when other times she can be really sensible and cautious. They loved the beach though. We went for a walk through the woods to dry off. It was such a fun and relaxing day. That is until our drive back home. It took us 4 hours to get home, because people apparently forget how to drive in two separate lanes after being in one lane for so long.  The day knocked out the kids though and we were all able to sleep in a bit this morning.

 The kids are trying to bury Christian in the sand

It was SO pretty! Too bad we didn't bring swim suits

This is where she kept trying to dive

Proof I was there too

remember, I like the look of bark, yes it might be weird but whatever :)

 Christian's a poser! haha

Elijah getting a drink

Chloe getting her turn

And now Chloe's comfy while Christian's getting his drink

Elijah loved all of the giant pinecones

This is a really thin canoe... those Native's musta been small people (I think it might be my tribe around this part haha)

The canoe was Chloe's favorite thing to play on

I like Chloe's face in this pic because it's almost like "what's Christian doing now?" lol

Would you be surprised that this was the hardest to pry Elijah away from

Hugs for my Bugs!

He wanted to be King Kong

This fascinated Chloe but at the same time freaked her out if you got closer than two feet to it

Grandma treated to icecream

Cheers!

The closest Christian will come to ever having his own mustache lol

Almost every other person was driving down the middle of both lanes, I finally passed them by getting into the left lane since there was the most room and was herding them into the right lane.

Okay, so this post might not have been much shorter, but still pictures help, right :)