Why Not?

Ever since Reina started speaking, my Dad has teased us about when Reina will start asking "why?" Apparently when I was little, I tormented my parents with this question, asking "why" to everything.  Well. It has happened.  Reina will ask "why" or more recently "why not" to everything.  For example, we were driving to another restaurant because the one we were going to go to didn't open until 6pm and it was like 5:15.  So, on our way to the other restaurant Reina asked "why is it closed?"  I explained that there was no one there to cook for us and then she asked again, "why not?"  This held her over for about 2 minutes, when she then proceeded to start the exact same conversation over again. Its like this for EVERYTHING.  I guess we want her questioning things!

Being the "big" kid with Joe (1), Taro (10mo), and Skyla (7mo)

Reina has finished swim lessons, but will continue to do gym on Tuesdays. However she did ask to do gymnastics today and of course, when I told her we only went on Tuesdays, she answered with..."why not?"  We've been busy shopping for plants, gardening, playing at the park, and hopefully going to the beach, although we haven't made it yet.  We had Kaori and Kazumi over (as well as another friend with a little one) and Reina enjoyed being the "big" kid, as when we play with the neighbors she is the littlest.

On the sea-wall.

Tonight we ate dinner in our old stomping grounds; the sunabe sea wall.  It was nice to be back there, eating dinner viewing the sunset.   Of course we're home now, starting the bedtime routine, which isn't nearly as nice as it used to be.  We used to put Reina in her crib after her bath and 3 books, turn out the lights, and not hear from her till 6ish.  Wow were we spoiled!  With her new bed, she has this new freedom, and she has to continually get up and find new reasons to get out of bed...."I need water," "milk," "to go potty...."  It goes on for sometimes an hour.  Then she is out till 7 at least.  Naptime isn't any better!  But, this seems to be how child-rearing goes.  One phase to another.  Some better than others.



We go back to work next week, which is sad as usual.  Chris and I love spending so much time with Reina, and we get to do so many fun things these days.  We plan on stopping by daycare this week, to let them know Reina will be returning and to remind Reina where school is.  I'm sure she'll be excited the first day, and then realize how great summer was!

Baby Sister

I fear that if baby #2 is not a girl, Reina is going to be disappointed, because she has big plans for her! Since we've been back, we put Reina's new bunk bed together.  Before we left, we had all the parts, but just figured there was no point putting it together (nor much time for that matter) since we were just going to leave and be in a pack-n-play/bed and 5 different houses anyhow.  So, one of the things Reina was looking forward to coming home to was her new bunk bed.  We put it together and she loves it.  This meant that "Reina's brown crib," as she calls it, got moved to our room for new baby girl.  Reina kept saying how baby sister was going to sleep on the top bunk, and we have told her numerous times that baby sister will sleep in her old crib in our room.  She seems to be ok with this.  When I took out some of baby sister's new blankets, Reina immediately took one away.  I asked her what she was doing, and she walked to our room, said, "this is for baby sister, she needs to be able to reach it" and put it in the crib for her.  Man, she is so sweet. I fear she is going to be in for a rude awakening once baby sister starts eating up all of our time (it make me a little sad, to tell you the truth).  She also put a book in the crib for baby sister, so that "she can read it."  So sweet.  The transition to the bunk bed has gone pretty smoothly.  Reina hasn't had much trouble getting to sleep at night, since that is when the jet lag tends to be the worse, and aside from one bad nap, she's done pretty good.

Going to our first gym class! She was so excited.

Speaking of baby sister, I had my 24 week appointment on Wednesday.  I am as normal as a pregnant person can get!  My blood pressure was good, my weight gain was good, I was measuring (my uterus that is) right at 24 weeks, and baby's heart beat was perfect.  16 more weeks to go!  Crazy how soon it will come, especially once we go back to work.  As I mentioned, I think Reina is by far the most excited of all three of us.  She talks about baby sister a lot, and how she is going to share with her, etc.  We'll see if she sticks to her word!  I have doubts.

We've been stuck inside all day today as Typhoon Muifa (who names these guys!) has been very s-l-o-w-l-y passing by us.  Its brought lots of rain and wind so far, but no damage as we can tell from inside our house.  We have continued to use this time before work starts back to organize closets, put some more finishing touches on the house, and relax. We plan to work on the garden after the typhoon passes.  We've already planted our coffee and avocado tree in big pots and have drawn out a plan for the garden.  Hopefully the typhoon will be long gone by tomorrow...maybe it will even be sunny on Sunday and we can go to the beach!  Or not.  Looks like thunderstorms and 80s for the rest of the summer.

In Oregon

Reina learned how to do "two" with her fingers at Granddaddy's house.

The last week of our vacation was spent with Granddaddy and Romeni in (west) central Oregon.  It was a very relaxing week after a busy week in Florida.  Most of our time was spent hanging out, with a little bit of gardening, riding the golf cart, and going to parks.  I spent a lot of my time finishing up the quilt - although I somehow managed to not get a picture yet.  Romeni helped me get the back ready and the boarders around the front so that all that needs to be done is the quilting part (which I find a bit ironic...as if that's not what I've been doing this whole time).

Helping in the garden.

I can honestly say that Reina loved every bit of her summer. She really, really enjoyed seeing all of our friends and her relatives.  Often times Reina would request for Grandma or Grandpa to do something, rather than Mom or Dad.  Right after we got off the plane, first thing in Portland, Reina only wanted Granddaddy to carry her.  Aside from that first bit of battling jet-lag, she overall did pretty well in sleeping department, considering we were in a new house about every 5 days.  It did mean that Reina learned some new requests, like "Mommy read her book," which was Reina's way of perhaps stalling being left alone to go to sleep, or just that she was a little scared and wanted Mom or Dad around a little (or a lot longer).

At the park - such a monkey!

Our trip back home went very smoothly.  I think it helps that on the airline tickets, I've found they almost always overestimate flying time (which probably is just including taxing, etc.) and when they get on the intercom and tell me that flight is going to be X mins less, I can celebrate!  Reina was able to get a good 3 hours in on the long flight and another 3 on the flight from Tokyo to Okinawa.  I think its the best she's done so far....she's really starting to get this traveling thing. Hopefully, she can pass it on to her little sister.

Now that we're back, we're taking a two week swimming class and we're starting gymnastics (after a 5 month waiting list!).  We've done the swimming class each summer, and this year it really shows that we've had her in the water a lot.  She loves being in the pool, and has carried her independent, "I want to do it by myself" to the pool.  Of course I can't let go of her quite yet, but she is definitly very comfortable in the water.  I really feel like the mommy and me class is too little for her, as she is really ready to just learn how to swim - how do you teach that!?

Upon arrival in hot, humid Okinawa, we were surprised to here that there is a rather large typhoon headed directly for us - Typhoon Muifa.  I included a picture from typhoon2000.com that shows its direct path to Okinawa, and its Category status (looks like it will be a Cat 3 when it gets here Thursday or Friday).  Typhoons aren't nearly exciting when there is no work to be missed!  Plus, we were excited to start our garden again, which we are thinking we'll put off until next week.  That's ok though, since the weeds are chest high in there anyhow.

Thanks to everyone who hosted us this summer. We were well taken care of and loved the company. Remember, our door is always open, if you up for the 24 our trip and the $1200 ticket! :)  We really would love to have more visitors.