Uncle Mike Came and Went (and Kaiya's 9 month check up)

Uncle Mike visited for about two weeks. We were so busy that I didn't have time to blog.  That, or during nap time, I wanted a nap instead.  We continued to visit lots of water venues: pools, water parks, beaches mainly because we had to stay out of the heat.  I've discovered that Kaiya loves the water.  She can be pretty cranky at times, but there has not been one time where she has cried while in the water (be it beach or pool).  She is very happy to twirl in her floaty or sit in shallow water for as long as we'll let her.  She even managed to get her first sunburn (I forgot to get her arms; I have since bought a long sleeve rash guard for her).

Eating at a Japanese restaurant 

A photo courtesy of Reina

Shopping with Oba-chan

Prior to zip-linning.

Chris - zipline

Trying her new pink swim-cap.

Zip line

A beautiful Okinawan beach (see Wes, it IS sunny here!)

With all the water time, Reina has gotten very comfortable in the water.  If the water is shallow enough she will dive underwater and "swim" a little distance. She will even go down the water slides.  She loves the water and I hope she will get better and better at swimming.  We even went paddle-boarding thanks to the Stevens', and she loved that.  We had her go with Jason, who just put her on his back and paddled on his stomach; when she was done she wanted to go again. I think paddle boards are in our near future; that is if we can figure out how to get them here!

The boys - Aka-jima.

Aside from all of the water playing, we mainly just went out to lots of different japanese restaurants with Mike.  The boys (Mike, Chris and another friend) ventured out to Aka-jima, one of the kerama islands for the day. I decided to forgo the experience, as Kaiya can't take too much sun (nor can Reina for that matter) and a whole day beach experience plus a ferry and drive just seemed a bit daunting. We stayed home and met some friends at the water park.  Chris and I also got some time away from the girls.  We all decided we should try "Adventure Park" while Mike was visiting, so we got a babysitter during nap time and went zip-lining.  It was pretty cool...(HA) and really HOT.  ;)  We also went out for dinner twice with the Steven's (and Mike) and then the Deakin's.
Its always nice to get away, even though I still find it hard to leave Kaiya.  Reina's a big girl now, and is usually pretty happy to be left with someone else to say "look at me," too.  Oh, or to play her new favorite game: "pretend."


As a sidenote, this new pretend game drives me nuts.  Chris or I (or Mike more recently) have to be the baby girl/boy and Reina is the Mommy, or sometimes the doctor.  Then she gets to boss us around (guess it goes both ways, eh?).  I like having more tangible things to play with her with. I guess I just need to work on my imagination.

Dinner out.

On Mike's last day her, Kaiya had her nine-month check up.  Fortunately, she didn't need any shots and she still does pretty well with strangers, so there was no crying.  She weighed 18lbs 2oz (about a pound lighter than Reina at the same age) and was 26.5" long (about 0.5 inches shorter than Reina).  Still cracks me up that she was so much bigger than Reina at birth...guess that doesn't indicate too much.  Kaiya seems to be fairly sensitive to dyes, perfumes, and foods.  I can't always figure out what (except she definitely doesn't do well with dairy), but things that I or she consume cause her to have eczema.  This seems to be a bit uncomfortable (itchy, red,  dry patches of skin on her back) and I have recently decided that it is the cause of her frequent wake-ups at night.  While Kaiya does very well at putting herself to sleep in her crib, she is horrible at staying asleep.  She probably averages three wake-ups (anywhere between 2 - 4 hours in between sleeps) in which I go in and nurse her (and then 95% of the time she goes back to sleep).  Needless to say, my patience is wearing thin and I am ready for some real sleep.  I remind myself that it will not last forever....

Reina attacking

Reina...attacking.

Reina and Kaiya still get along quite well. Although I often have to ask Reina to get off of Kaiya. Sometimes she smoothers her a bit (all in love of course). It surprised me, as I thought I would have to worry about the younger sister annoying the big one (maybe that is still to come).  There are many times during the day when Kaiya is whining because Reina has her arms wrapped around her neck or on top of Reina's belly rolling around.

Playing dress up and posing for Uncle Mike

We are off to work tomorrow.  It is sad to say goodbye to all of the quality time with the girls and the semi-relaxing state summer allows.  Both girls will be going to Reina's Japanese school now, so I'm excited to hear how Kaiya does.  Unfortunately, they will still have to spend an hour at Kaiya's old school, since the Japanese one doesn't open early enough. Originally the owner thought she would make an exception, but she is uncomfortable with the idea of not having insurance during the time frame they will be there.  The owner is going to pick up both girls at 7:30 at Kaiya's old school.  This is better because they will get to the Japanese school earlier (they'll be at Kaiya's school from about 6:40 - 7:30) and it is going to be cheaper.  Hopefully it all works out.

Oh.  We found out this weekend that Aunt Liz is engaged!  Congratulations Aunt Liz and Wes. We can't wait to attend your wedding - we'll be there where ever it may be.   

Everyday is a Pool Day

Not so sure about those waves.

Swimming lessons started this past Monday.  We've only gotten to go twice.  On Monday, Chris and Reina went at the wrong time, which may have been my fault.  Fortunately, they were able to squeeze Reina in to a level 2 class. She did great. Tuesday we made it at the right time, but found out Reina was the only one in her level 1 class.  Nevertheless, she did great (I thought she might not be as brave without a little peer pressure). Wednesday, we had already decided to go to the aquarium one last time before our annual pass ran out, and then Thursday and Friday the pool is closed for fecal contamination (yuck).  So.  The week didn't go great for swim lessons, but we've had the backyard pool out just about every day and then...and then...we discovered the most fabulous kid's pool area EVER.  And, it gets better, its only 100yen per kid, we don't have to pay for adults AND I can ride my bike there its so close!  It has three little water slides for kids and lots of knee-deep water that Reina can stand in.  It will be great for Kaiya too (but after the fecal contamination, we were a bit hesitant to put her in the water and risk contamination of an off-base pool...that would be embarrassing). 

With the hot weather, we've managed to get Kaiya to the beach for her first in-ocean experience in addition to "swimming' in our little backyard pool.  She loves all of it, as long as she's in the cool water.  She doesn't last too long hanging out in the sand, even if we keep her in the shade.  I started giving her a wet cold towel to suck on while Chris and Reina were playing and she loved it.  I would dip it in my water bottle and she would literally get excited to suck on the new water. 

Skyla, enjoying the backyard pool.

We are getting all geared up for Uncle Mike's visit.  He comes in this Sunday. This means we're avoiding a lot of places that we like to eat out, since he likes to do a lot of that, and doing a lot of cleaning (although that may just be my mood).  I guess we won't have much time after he leaves to get work around the house done, so we've been trying to get all of those little chores out of the way.

The girls have done great sleeping in the room together.  Aside from an occasional cry, waking the other up, its been pretty good.  Usually we have to worry about Kaiya waking up Reina.  It was even more difficult with the jet lag, since one night we had to play with Kaiya in the play room a little longer before she would go to sleep, and since then, Reina thinks maybe she might be able to go play in the play room for "just a little bit" before she goes to bed.  We've held strong and it looks like tonight she's going to go to sleep without getting out of bed with some stall! 

I mentioned to my Mom how much Reina has enjoyed playing dress up (ever since Cousin Lucie's house).  She sent a cute little chef and fairy costume that Reina couldn't wait to try on.  Thanks Mom. 

The Last of LA and Home Sweet Home

A Reina-insisted photo: "Mommy, take our picture"

Enjoying the VERY cold LA water.

After a night's recovery from Disney, we spent the next few days with Paul, Jannie, and Grandpa Jeff.  Most notably, we walked around Hermosa Pier, saw some seals and played at a little arcade.  It was probably the first time Reina had done any type of circus type rides.  Chris also got in a few video games that he swears he used to be good at!  On our last day with Uncle Paul and Grandpa Jeff, we went swimming in Uncle Paul's pool.  Reina must have spent at least an hour in the water, if not longer, and got confident enough to swim in the pool with just a noodle.  Kaiya also got in, but didn't enjoy it quite like Reina. 

With Uncle Paul in the pool

The flight home was long.  Reina did amazing.  We were on a very new plane (maybe 2011) and it had touch screen monitors in front of each seat, which meant Reina could watch quite a few different kids' shows and movies.  Kaiya did ok.  She was a little bit fussy before "bedtime," but after she fell asleep for a few hours, she was fine.  The turbulance on the long leg was very bad about an hour and a half out.  The worst I've ever had.  I was happy once we landed.  But, like on the way to the States, we had very little time to get to our next flight.  With customs, immigration, and re-checking our bags we didn't have any time to eat anything before getting on our Tokyo-Naha leg.  Once we were home we all crashed until about four am.

"Swimming" all by herself

Since being home I've been obsessed with organizing all of our closets.  This is mainly because we were making the big move: Reina and Kaiya in one room.  Uncle Mike is coming in a bout a week, so we needed to get Kaiya into Reina's room for that, but this had always been the plan.  Eventually the spare room will be a play room.  Well, night one with both girls in the same room has been the best night of sleep for both of them in months!  I'm sure its mostly coincidence...that coupled with the fact that we played hard at the beach yesterday afternoon to ensure both girls were nice and tired. 

Kaiya also FINALLY has two bottom teeth. I've been saying since we landed in Portland that those two teeth were due any day.  Yesterday they broke through.  Hopefully THIS will help her sleep better.  Maybe that's why she's been such a bad sleeper.  I hope so.  Kaiya has also mastered pulling up (I've found her standing in her crib) and more recently sitting up on her own (from lying down).  Time sure does fly. 

Reina wanted to drive, Chris wouldn't let her.

We're still working on buying another house in Bellingham.  The house we're buying is bank owned, which I think has made the process a bit more cumbersome.  We got some news yesterday that I think will help move things along (but things could also go bad too with the news).  Hopefully we close by the end of August. 

At the arcade.

Home sweet home