Thanksgiving Visitors

Romeni and Granddaddy arrived safely last Thursday night.  We've already been to the BX so that Reina could pick out her Xmas present - a brand new bike.  And which one do you think she picked? The pink, barbie one.  I could not sway her to even consider a different one!  Unfortunately, it was a rainy day on Saturday, but we did manage to get soccer practice in.  It went about the same as the first week, but I cut her some slack with the surgery and all.  She was kicking the ball a bit better, but it will definitely be something we will work on.  She loved her new bike. I knew she was ready, and when Dad offered (as he had earlier this year) I thought it would be sweet for him and Romeni to buy one for her and see her enjoy it - the best part of present giving!

A barbie bike with a bike for barbie

Kaiya took to Graddad and Romeni pretty quick.  That first evening she was a bit shy, not wanting to be too far from my side, but she has since warmed up. She is much more agreeable than Reina was with meeting new people - although I have to admit, Reina was always great with relatives.  Kaiya has transitioned to daycare food, which Chris and I love, since we don't have to prepare food for her each night.  They always tell me how great of an eater she is, which is something Chris and I see at home too. However, she is different than Reina in that she throws her food. I've heard of babies doing this, but I guess I was lucky with Reina, as she never did that.  Kaiya will throw the food down if she doesn't like it.  It is not pleasant!  Kaiya loves watching her big sister, and playing with all of the soccer balls lately has been something she definitely enjoys.  Maybe Reina will be our little dancer, and Kaiya will be our little soccer girl....who knows!

We've only spent 4 days with our visitors, so there's not much more to report than the new bike!  I will have to work on getting more pictures with Kaiya.  Somehow, she escaped the camera today.  Probably because she was sleeping, each time I went out with Reina, Granddad, and Romeni.  Chris went and visited Kuniko this morning, while we went to the zoo.  Reina seems to be completely recovered from her surgery. Well, except we did try gymnastics on Saturday and that didn't go well. I think the stretching, jumping, and bending gymnastics requires was too much.  Maybe next week.  We have ballet on Wednesday, so we'll see how she does with that.  She has requested a ballerina cake for her 4th birthday party, so I know she loves ballet!

Dressing up for Granddaddy

The Appendectomy

1st soccer practice on Saturday

Monday at home with Dad.  Flu?

I never thought that the first one in our family to "go under" would be one of our daughters, but that is unfortunately what happened.  It started Monday morning with an un-finished bowl of cereal and a slightly cranky, upset tummy Reina.  All else was normal.  Sunday evening we had dinner with Kuniko and ended the evening dancing and singing songs with a toy Oba-chan brought.  Saturday Reina went to her very first soccer practice.  When I received a phone call after getting to work early Monday morning, but before school started, I knew instantly it had to do with Reina's upset stomach.  The teacher said Reina was crying about her stomach, which is not normal, so I phoned up Chris and he arranged to go and pick her up for the day.  When I spoke with Chris at lunch about how Reina was doing, he said she had thrown up three times (twice at daycare before he got to her) and that she was doing ok.  When I got home, things weren't much better. She had stopped throwing up, but she was literally lying on the futon in front of the tv moaning.  Not watching tv, not happy to see me, not even sucking her thumb.  She was like that the rest of the evening, literally moaning ever so often.  She skipped dinner and bath.  For bedtime, I was worried enough to insist she sleep at the foot of our bed on the futon. She cried the whole way upstairs (the transition) and continued to do poorly on the futon.  We discussed the ER earlier but figured it was just the flu.  I did some research and appendicitis did sound like a likely candidate to me...Reina hadn't had a fever until around 5pm, so we gave her some tylenol to help with that.  Around 11pm, when the tylenol had done nothing for her  Chris said we had to take her.  I had to stay home with Kaiya (that may have been one of the most difficult decisions I've ever made) while he drove her to the ER.

In the ER (Tuesday

They admitted her to the ER fairly quickly (30 minutes).  I was awake at home, anxious about what was happening.  I recieved two text messages from Chris. The first said Reina had an X-ray.  I of course wanted more details, but I think at this point the doctors suspected an appendicitis  but weren't positive.  After the X-ray results were in-conclusive they ordered a cat-scan.  Now, I've had a cat-scan. Its not something I would imagine a three-year old tolerating very well.  But, Chris said Reina was so tired at this point, that she wasn't resisting much.  With a bit of dozing, I finally perked up again at 5am and texted Chris to see if the doctors had some type of diagnosis: appendicitis.  He told me I needed to find a way to get Kaiya to daycare, call work and take off because Reina was having an appendectomy soon. This was very scary.  I pulled it together and called a friend to come pick me up (I couldn't drive with Kaiya since Chris took the car with the carseats with him).

Tuesday - post surgery in the ICU (with morphine)

I dropped off Kaiya right at 6:30am and then I got to the hospital JUST in time to see Reina before heading to the operating room.  She looked pretty pathetic, drugged and hooked up to everything.  The doctor told us the surgery would take 45minutes.  Chris and I waited.  It was longer than 45minutes, maybe an hour.  When the doctor finally came in, he said Reina was fine (yes, this is what I needed to hear first).  Then he explained that her appendix was gangrene and burst while he was in there.  He said he had to do quite a bit of cleaning up and that her appendix was a little hard to get to behind her colon.  He said that we had to worry about infection so they would keep her in the hospital 5 - 7 days to ensure all was ok.  Whoa.  5 days.  That seemed like a long time.  We only stayed in the hospital for 2 days when Reina and Kaiya were born.  After hanging out with Reina in the operating room while she came to, they moved us to the ICU.  Reina was in and out after the surgery, slowly opening her eyes and then crying. It was heart-breaking.  She was clearly disorientated and in pain.  Man I wish I could have traded her places.

We spent Tuesday in the ICU with Reina.  Chris and I had already arranged to take the rest of the week off and fortunately Kaiya could stay in daycare for most of the day.  Chris spent the night in bed with Reina in the ICU while I went home and took care of Kaiya.  Tuesday was hard because Reina was just so drugged.  She would get infusions of antibiotic maybe every 4 hours (and did throughout her whole stay at the hospital) and they went right into an IV and lasted about 30 minutes.  She was much better after they un-hooked a lot of the things from her  so that she could move around.  When I came back for dinner around 5 - 6pm Tuesday, Reina was able to walk around with me and play "I spy."  That really helped me leave her, since I knew she was in good spirits.

Wednesday, visiting with Kaiya.  Still in a lot of pain.

On Wednesday, I came back after dropping off Kaiya early in the morning and spent the day with Reina again.  We left the ICU in a very large wheelchair, headed for 3 East, which was just another recovery wing, but with less care than the ICU.  Reina did not like moving in the wheelchair; she cried the whole way.  By Wednesday, we were trying to keep her off the morphine, and had gone to oral tylenol.  The tylenol the hospital gave her was clearly not sugared like our home version, and she spit quite a bit of it out.  I contribute this to the extra pain she was probably feeling.

Wednesday was the hardest day for me.  I think its because my expectation was that Reina would clearly be doing better 24hours after the surgery.  But, this was not the case.  She was still in enough pain that moving hurt, so she lied in bed and watched movies/cartoons all day.  I had to leave to go get Kaiya at 3.  When I went up to get Kaiya, it was very difficult seeing all of her classmates smiling.  They asked me how Reina was (or where she was) and then the teachers showed up with a balloon and card for her.  This undid me.  I thanked them before leaving in tears (I had more or less kept it together by this point, but this put me over the top).  Watching your child in pain has to be one of the hardest things to witness.  I called up a friend to keep me company and help me with Kaiya as I did some chores at home before heading to the hospital for dinner.  That night I didn't sleep very well.  Again, I just thought she was going to be better Wednesday, so I was worried that night.

Thursday, feeling much better.  

Thursday she was leaps and bounds better. I brought Cinderella, a movie I coincidently ordered for Xmas or B/day and thought it may lift her spirits. I lied in bed with her Thursday morning watching Cinderella together and felt much better.  The rest of the day Reina was clearly feeling better, laughing, talking, eating.  The doctor ensured me she was doing great (despite how I felt on Wednesday) and thought we may get to go home Friday.  Thursday, Reina also had Auntie Karen and Jackie visit with flowers and balloons and books, which Reina enjoyed (as we did too). Karen brought the balloons and books from Grandma and Halil, who helped me tremendously in getting through the night, since I was able to email with her when I was at home with Kaiya by myself.

Friday, Reina continued to look and feel better.  After waiting for the doctor to show up (with a lot of apprehension on Reina's part), he finally came around 3, interrupting Reina's nap (she did great napping, despite Chris and I right in the room with her).  The good part about the doc interrupting the nap was that he was able to cut out the first (of two) staples before Reina even realized what was going on.  The second one came out pretty easily too (and it looked pretty painless) with Reina only crying.  Chris had mentioned this to me earlier, but despite Reina's clear whining/crying throughout her whole hospital stay, she was very good at putting up with whatever the doctors or nurses were doing to her.  So, despite crying and clearly not liking the staples being removed, she kept her arms out of the way of the cut and stayed still so that the staples could be removed.  She was very excited to get out of the hospital and was able to walk all the way down to the car (carrying her wasn't really an option anyhow, with her sensitive cut, now covered with glue and tape, rather than staples).

At home, Friday starting on some stickers.

After leaving the hospital, we drove right to pick up Kaiya.  Reina's sensei came down to see her, and Reina was all smiles.  They gave us a bottle of apple juice (not sure if there was any significance to the type of present, but Reina was excited to try it when we got home).  We arranged to have Kaiya go to school for a little on Monday, so that Chris and I can get into work (we are way behind after missing all of last week).  Reina's first request when she got home was to go play with the girls outside.  We decided that she wasn't ready, so she settled for stickers on her table instead.  Now we are home and trying to resume regular life.  Saturday morning we did a bit too much, so that Saturday afternoon Reina felt a bit sore (I imagine). So we are trying to take it easy now, with not too much movement (although I think she is a bit tired of watching tv)

Obviously the appendectomy was all consuming this past week.  Chris and I were relieved to be home Friday night together with both girls home and safe.  A very stressful week.

Kaiya, soon approaching one, is getting better and better at standing by herself and even took a little step on Friday.  We are excited for more help later this week, when Romeni and Granddaddy come to visit.  And for Thanksgiving.  Thank goodness this all now, during November, the month with little work.  I am thankful to have two safe, healthy little girls...and for Chris.  Phew.  This just makes me appreciate life and the health of everyone that much more.  

Tired, Thirsty, Itchy, and Cold

What is this thing?

Trick-or-treating with Ako, Rana (and Skyla)

Skyla and Kazuki

The much anticipated Halloween festivities are over.  After our long Saturday morning at undo-kai (sports day) and our Halloween party at the McKinney's, we looked forward to staying at home on Sunday.  But, that afternoon, the neighborhood girls came over and we had our pumpkin carving party, with caramel apples (Reina and I made them Sunday morning and they were a big hit).  Reina choose the smallest pumpkin with the happiest face.  Reina is not much into scary things.  I didn't know how many of the girls would want to carve pumpkins, so I got 5.  Skyla and Kazuki came too, so with them and us, we had 3 left-over, one for Ako, one for Rana, and then one for the Goya sisters to share (Manaka, Miri, and Ichika).  Kaiya was great, sitting next to me and Reina in the yard, taking everything in.  All of the girls had a great time, not just carving pumpkins, but running around in the yard.

Reina with her pumpkin (Kaiya's is the little pink-haired one)

All of the girls (plus a few I don't even know!)

On Halloween, the girls' daycare went to Depot Island (Chatan Jusco area) to trick or treat.  There was some kind of festival going on so Reina went as a Greek princess (the costume we got for her two years ago in Greece - so we got some extra wear out of that!).  Kaiya and the littlest ones stayed for at school.  Unfortunately, Reina and her classmates missed her nap, on such a crucial day too, as we were going to have a late night. Reina took a little cat-nap in the car home only to turn around and head out to meet Skyla, Ako, and Rana (and their mamas) at gate one.  We headed to the food court for a quick bite to eat and then went off to trick-or-treat.  We drove over to a housing area after dinner, and went trick-or-treating.  They all loved it; Reina was the quickest I've ever seen her!  Ako and Rana would run back to their mom every time they got candy only to tell her how they got more, and Rana even kept a running tab until adding them up got too complicated!  Towards the end, Rana was getting tired.  Megumi told me Rana said she was "tired, thirsty, itchy and cold." We decided that meant it was time to go.

All in all, it was a great Halloween.  The holidays are so much more fun now with little ones to experience it with.  

Mamiru Hoikuen

I LOVE this new school Reina and Kaiya are going to. What's so great about it, is they treat everything like a school, rather than a daycare.  Is there some down, unstructured time, sure.  And this is what characterized Reina's old daycare and every other daycare I've been too.  Mamiru is more like a preschool, where I know they are reading books in Japanese, rehearsing for performances, and learning how to swim.  Speaking of Japanese, Reina has officially surpassed Chris and I in comprehension and speaking.  She will say things to us and neither of us know what she is saying!  So, after summer, where we were nervous she had forgotten everything, 9 weeks later, she's past her previous spot.

I bring up the daycare again, because they put together another event: their very own undo-kai (sports day). I spoke about the elementary school in our neighborhood doing their sports day a few weeks back. We went and watched the neighborhood girls participate in many of the same events that our daycare put together for yesterday.  We showed up around 8:30 with our tent;  30 minutes prior to start time and we still struggled to get a good spot...these people take their sports day seriously. Just about every family had a tent, bentos ready for lunch, and extended family show up.  And this is for the preschoolers!  It was very clear how many classes there are, since each different age group got a different hat color.  In blue, with a class size of 2 is the 0 - 1 group: Kaiya and Alisu (Alice, who I have decided is 1/4 white, 3/4 Japanese).  They got to participate in their very own event: a walking race, with assistance  Poor Kaiya, who has not started walking yet, got beat pretty badly.  We forgive her though, since she tolerated her blue hat so well and all of the commotion without one tear. The next class was 1 - 2 years (Tanpopo Gumi - the dandelion class).  They wore pink hats.  They were the most pitiful, as 50% of the class cried the whole time they were without their parents. Then it was the yellow hatted class 2 - 3 year olds(Sakura gumi).  Reina's class (3 - 4: Churipu - tulip) wore green hats and the oldest group (himawari gumi - sunflower class)wore orange.  This April, everyone will move up, with the orange hatted class off to kindergarten.

Getting ready to march out.

Undo-kai started with all of the classes marching out to the center of the field then doing a collective dance.  After, each class did races, usually in groups of 5 at a time by gender.  Then there were individual dance performances by each class.  There was also a part where I had to "dance" with Kaiya and run with Reina in a relay race. Reina was not the fastest nor the strongest. But she was one of the better dancers, who knew most of the moves by heart.  As a matter of fact, her tug of wore performance was pretty pitiful.  We'll have to practice that.  Despite a rocky start (Reina complained of a tummy ache), both girls did amazing and we were very proud. Oh, and check out the quick stitching on their shirts - their names in their coordinating color. Yep, I did that the night before.

Chris is working on posting all of the video footage we took.  I have to admit, I admire the amount of work the daycares must have put in organizing and practicing this event.  The kids did a great job, and were clearly practiced. However, many of the dances and events would have been better had they been about 1/2 as long.  But, I'm not going to complain.

We were at Undo-kai (Araha beach) from 8:30 till 1pm.  When we got home, all four of us took the best aligned nap in the history of our family.  It was amazing.  Then we woke up a 3:30 and got dressed for a Halloween party. Reina easily made the decision to skip gymnastics (we havent' been in weeks) and go to this party instead - she kept asking me what present we were bringing, since I think she thinks all parties are birthday parties.  The party was a blast.  Ms. Sarah McKinney really out-does herself with the treat bags, games and decorations.  Everyone had a great time.  Reina is very excited about carving pumpkins with the neighbors this afternoon.  We bought 5 pumpkins, one for just about everyone.  We also made caramel apples, my first ever. We'll see if they turn out.  Reina is also very excited for Halloween.  Ako, Rana, and Skyla will go to Kadena with us on Wednesday to officially trick-or-treat. Reina will be Cinderella and Kaiya will go as sushi.

Kaiya's "race"

Line leader.

Kaiya is 11 months old!  She turns one in November. Dang it went fast.  She is teething a lot lately, which I am hoping is why she is sleeping so terribly. I even found a small amount of blood on her blankie (she stuffs the satin part in her mouth when she is sucking her thumb).  Poor girl.  I also think she is sensitive to everything, which has made making dinners and feeding everyone a bit challenging.  Right now I think she is sensitive to all dairy and eggs.  I've also eliminated chocolate (since it has milk in it), pancakes, and caffeine   You all know those are some of my favorite things.  Oh the sacrifices of a mother.   I think I could mangage without everything minus the cheese and chocolate.   Kaiya also stood in our little tent at sports day yesterday.  I know this means walking will be coming up.  I'm so excited for dresses.

Dad and Romeni are coming for Thanksgiving and Kaiya's first birthday.  I am debating on whether we should just put some candles in a apple pie for her cake or if that is cheating her out!  We'll see.

This might have been Reina's best event.

30 minutes for obento-lunch

Getting ready for Eisa dancing and Taiko drumming

Can you spot Reina?  

Out little fairy

And our cute sushi!

The Routine Stuff

1st position!

Not really much new going on here, nor anything terribly exciting.  We have been pretty good about making ballet/tap each week (I cannot say the same about gymnastics, but its on Saturdays...at 3!).  Here are a few pictures of Reina Ballerina (like Angelina Ballerina).  She LOVES ballet, and I know it is in part to her amazing teacher.  They have a ballet word each week and all these cute songs reminding them how to sit nice and tall.  As Reina approaches 4, she has gotten much more independent.  On some occasions, she goes next door to play all by herself (or out in the street, or Rana comes over to play).  If Rana comes over, they always go STRAIGHT for the sylvania family animals.  I took a video of them talking; Reina's Japanese has definitely passed mine. I often don't know what she is saying!  Course I can't figure out how to shrink the video and upload it. Sorry.

Playing with Rana

The annual Mango tree picture.

Watching Reina play soccer in the yard.

Kaiya has 5 teeth now.  The top two came in along with another top one.  I wonder if that's the reason she hasn't been nursing as much....although it hasn't stopped her solid intake!  We had to start sending one bottle of formula last week. I was pretty depressed about it.  I made it to one year with Reina, and she never had formula.  But, its only one a day, so it can't be that bad! I need to relax.  Kaiya is pretty happy the rest of the day.  She take one very good nap at daycare, but still does better with us at home on the weekends.  She is back to waking up 2x a night, which is actually better than the  4 - 5x I experienced last week.  I have decided a lot of her sleeping issues come down to her sensitive stomach and skin.  No dairy, no chemical products, nada!  I miss cheese dearly!

I took our annual mango tree picture.  The mango tree was planted when we first moved in, October 2010.  Chris pointed out that after three really bad typhoons, he had to trim it back, as the upper branches were pulling it down.  I took some with Reina standing, but Kaiya was pulling her down, as she was trying to hold her at the same time.

Today we're all excited about going to the beach.  We had a typhoon scare mid-week, which brought some nasty weather, but fortunately it has cleared up and turned into a beautiful day. Not sure if we'll make it in the water, but we will try.  We've got hot-dogs, drinks, and smores too, so it should be a fun time.

Next week Reina has undo-kai (sports day). I'm excited to see what all will happen.  Reina is also starting soccer soon, so we've made an effort to get her excited about it.  I've purchased pink shin guards and socks to help the transition (apparently these are required even at this young age - I suppose we need to start good habits)!   

A welcome three-day weekend

Manaka's Dance with the rest of the 2nd graders.

Manaka - 2nd grade

After what seems like several busy, typhoon-ruined weekends, this three-day weekend was much anticipated and enjoyed. Saturday morning, our Japanese neighbors (the ones I talk about less frequently) invited us to undo-kai (sports day). This was no elementary school field day. This was the type of event where you went the night before to tape off your section for where your family would sit.    I was amazed at how serious the Japanese took this holiday.  Saturday morning, Manaka (the oldest of the girls' next, next door, came by in her uniform to make sure we were in fact, coming to watch her at undo-kai (see picture).  Her red hat is because she is on the red team, competed in points with the white hatted team.  Ako and Miri, the other two girl neighbors in kindergarten had pink and blue hats, but that was special since they were in Kindergarden.  Manaka, as you can see from her shirt, is in the 2nd grade (which is the same as ours).  They ran races, did dances, and shot balls in hoops.  What was really crazy is the whole thing was more or less run by the kids. They set it up, the counted points, they brought equipment out, then cleaned it up.  They were quite self-sufficient. 

Reina enjoyed watching all of the events and spending time with the other little ones, Rana and Ichika (Manaka and Miri's youngest sister), who are both 4, but technically in her grade, if we decide to send Reina to school with them.  Reina will have her own undo-kai, held by her daycare on the 27th of this month. They've been practicing.  I've been told to send sneakers each day with her and to also dress for running when we come, as we will be participating as well.  Kaiya is to practice crawling on command (we've not had much success with this), but apparently its a whole-school event. After the last one, I"m sure it will be great.  

Reina and Ichika, enjoying a lolly-pop under a tent.

Not much other news. I included a picture of what has become a pretty common weekend routine.  Chris wakes up with Kaiya around 5:30 (thank you Chris) and lets Reina and I sleep in till about 6:30 - 7.  Since Chris doesn't want to wake up Reina, Kaiya falls asleep on the floor downstairs with him.  Kaiya will crawl around, blanket in tote, until she finally gets sleepy enough to just stay where she is.  The other picture is of Kaiya and Reina "helping" me make pancakes.  Kaiya loves pancakes, and to be doing whatever we're doing, and this particular morning, we decided it would be fun to wear our new flower headbands. I fear that I'll never get another picture (or moment) with Kaiya in the headband, as she pretty much immediately tries to remove it.