KAWAII!

Mamma tries hard to get some cute little socks and feety PJ's to keep Momochi's little toes warm as winter on the East Coast draws to a close. Here's Momochi's piggy socks . . . .

可愛いソックスに目が無いんです。
これは赤ちゃん本舗で購入しました。



Bunny feety PJ's

こちらはお友達からのプレゼント。
イースター用のお洋服です。



Bunny slippers - YEAH!

このウサちゃんはメーシーズだったかな？



Duckies!

ももちぃをお迎えに行く前に用意したものです。
どうして動物ものってこんなに可愛いんでしょうね？

Hangin' with my Homie

This is a picture of Momoka with the little girl of one of Mommy's friends. The other little girl is one day older than Momoka. Momma's comment when she looked at this photo was "look how big Momochi is". She sure has grown like a weed since January. Momochan started off on the small side but has caught up quickly on the growth chart (especially her cheeks). What a big girl!

ももちぃの隣に写るベビちゃんは、ももちぃと誕生日が数時間しか違わないんですよ。生まれたときはこのベビちゃんの方が大きかったのに、あっという間にももちぃ抜いちゃったようです。

それにしてもダブルのベビちゃんって、こんなに目鼻立ちがはっきりしているんですね！　もちろんこのベビちゃんのパパとママが美男美女のカップルだからというのも理由の一つだと思うのですが。ももちぃの大福ちゃん顔が際立っちゃいますね。でも良いの！　それでもママにとってはももちぃが一番可愛いんだもん！

My first BBQ

BBQ - oh goody! Well, you can tell by the look on her face she is none to thrilled. If you're thinking "hey Bonehead, she's too close to the grill" never fear - the charcoal was on the other side and had almost burned itself out by the time the photo was snapped.

グリルに近づきすぎて燻されちゃってますね～。笑
煙いね、ゴメン、ももちぃ。



Can you figure out how to make a baby stop crying with a potato chip bag? No, it's not feed the kid chips. Misao heard on a Japanese TV show that is you crinkle a plastic bag next to the baby's ear the noise will distract her and she will stop fussing. Does it work - you better believe it does. We found out that of all the different plastic bags available, Momochi likes chip bags the best. A girl after my own heart!

ビニール袋って、思った以上に効果があるものですね～！　ももちぃをこちらに連れて帰って来る飛行機の中でも大活躍でした。ただ通路を挟んだ隣の人が怪訝な顔をしていました。日本でも知らない人は意外と多いと聞きますが、アメリカではもっと定着していないのかな？

Our pad in Nippon

When we went to Japan we stayed in a furnished apartment in the Roppongi district in Tokyo. The apartment was centrally located near the Embassy and also several shopping areas and a subway station. For those of you who don't know about Roppongi it is also one of the busier nightclub areas in Tokyo. I was a little worried about the unsavory characters that sometimes hang around on the street corners but all in all the place was pretty good. It was on a side street that was actually quite quiet and as I said it was very convenient to a number of important baby logistical hubs.

ももちぃをお迎えに行った時滞在したホテルです。値段の割には施設が整っていてとても良かったです。徒歩圏内にたくさんのお店があるのも便利でした。大使館へもタクシーですぐです。難を言えばベッドルームとリビングルームのドアが可動式だったので、音が漏れやすかったくらいでしょうか？　でもそれを差し引いてもお値打ち感のあるホテルでした。

From the bedroom looking in. A nice sized kitchen, living area with flat screen TV and a bazillion cable channels.



We rented this crib for the baby. Upon our arrival in the room, a couple of Japanese delivery guys showed up at the room and assembled the bed. Nice.



Here's the bathtub we used for the baby. It's right next to the Japanese style ofuro (tub). One thing about the United States - we have some pretty sorry bathtubs. They are long and shallow and the water gets cold much too quickly. A Japanese ofuro is compact and deep. You sit in the tub upright and when you get in the water comes up to your chest. The newer tubs have a re-heater that circulates the water and keeps it at the perfect temperature. Usually the whole family will use the same tub of water so keeping the water hot is a plus. Japanese take a shower before they take a bath so no, its not icky. Does it seem wasteful? Not really because they take "Navy showers" then hop in the tub. When we lived in Japan, Misao had a little electrical pump and hose and used to pump the water from the ofuro into the clothes washer and used it to wash clothes. Green, very green. Take that hippies.



Another feature of Japanese shower / ofuro rooms is the heater / fan built into the ceiling. After you're done bathing you can turn this bad boy on to help dry out the shower room to cut down on mold. You can also use it to dry clothes although it does suck the power. We usually hung our clothes outside on our balcony and this little device came in handy during the winter or when it rained.



Always space conscious the Japanese look to combine things to save space. This is a combo washer / dryer. It does it all. I will say though that it does it all very poorly. As sorry as our bath tubs are there are three US appliances that rule - dishwashers and our huge washers and dryers. Take that Toyota (actually that machine is an LG so technically I should have picked a Korean company).



We caught Momoka trying to order a pizza from Dominos. Can you believe that? Of course, as punishment, we took her cell phone away immediately.



Our Japanese stroller. This one stunk but there are some real nice ones available made by a Japanese company called Combi.



This is a picture of the front door at New Sanno Hotel in Minato Ku Ward in Tokyo. The hotel is run by the military and is available to military personnel and DoD civilians. The good thing about the hotel is its very clean, has a decent place to enjoy adult beverages, is located in one of the swankier spots in Tokyo and is very reasonable. The bad thing - located next to the French Embassy.

Doctor's Visit

Had a great visit with the Doc today. Momoka's Doc is super nice and I was very impressed with her skill, caring and gentleness. She just had a little one herself and was quite cheerful and seemed to be very interested in little Momoka. Momoka, according to the Doc, is doing well and has really grown quite a bit. Momochi started off small but has caught up quite a bit. The Doc was very pleased with how things were going and gave little Momoka a clean bill of health.

We decided during the visit today to wait a bit on the shots. Mommy is not feeling well and the last thing Daddy needs is a sick Mommy and a grumpy baby. The Doc said that was fine and sounded like a good idea to her. Now, if we could just get Momoka to sleep a bit longer at night!

今日はももちぃの担当医（家庭医）と初対面！　丁寧な診察でとても好感の持てる女医さんでした。転勤までの数ヶ月彼女がももちぃを担当してくれるようです。色々と相談しやすそうな人で良かった！

March 16, 2009

THE DANCING QUEEN

Here's a couple of shots we took right before we left Japan to come home. I like to call the first few the "Momoka Dancing Queen" group. The close up of the cheeks was to demonstrate just how chubby those little cheeks are. Those little cheeks have filled out even more in the week plus since we've returned to the US. Momoka started out a little small, she was born about a month premature, but she has been catching up quickly.

この写真はももちぃが生後６週間くらいのものです。小さく生まれて心配していたけれど、ミルクもたくさん飲んで随分大きくなったようです。ベッドの上で踊る姿がまた可愛い♪

Check out these dance moves . . . . . .







Look at these little chubby cheeks. These things are just begging for a little pinch!

March 08, 2009

A FUSSY LITTLE BEAR

Here's our gal enjoying a little nap. She has been a fussy little bear the last few days. We think it's just her age - she turned two months old today! It doesn't matter to us if she is fussy, she's still our little doll. My wife got her to stick out her tongue during a facial mimic session. That was fun but we're both waiting for that first big smile! Don't be stingy Momochi!

パパの腕の中で眠るももちぃ。安らかな寝顔で幸せそう。でもパパの方がもっと幸せそうな顔をしていました。笑

March 07, 2009

Happy Belated Hina Matsura!

Hina Matsura is a holiday in Japan known as "girl's day" and is celebrated on 03 March. Boys have a day that is called "tango no sekku" and is celebrated May 5th with kites shaped like carp. Japanese families place very ornate dolls (called hina ningyo) out in February for their little girls and leave them out until Hina Matsura. The dolls were thought in older times to have the power to keep bad spirits away from the little girl thereby ensuring her safety and happiness. There are many different types of dolls today that range from those straight out of popular culture (Disney, Anpanman and Hello Kitty) to more traditional Japanese dolls made from white ceramic. The dolls are based on the imperial court from fuedal times with an Emperor and Empress taking center stage. The more expensive sets also have other dolls respresenting those who might have served the imperial court as well as pieces of furniture, flowers representing peach blossoms and other decorations. The prices range from around forty dollars to thousands of dollars. We bought the Mickey and Minnie hina ningyo for Momoka when we were recently in Japan because they were easy to bring aboard the plane as a carry on item (even the Disney dolls are breakable). We had wanted to buy Momoka a set of more traditional ceramic dolls but kind of ran out of time to get the dolls mailed to our hotel in Japan and then shipped back to the US. Carrying a large set of these dolls onto the plane would have been a no-no because the box would have been much to large. Checking these dolls as baggage would not have been a good idea as they probably would have gotten smooshed. Maybe we'll get a more ornate set for next year's Hina Matsura. At the bottom of this post are some links to pictures of doll sets and also some sites that have more information on this holiday.

One last point - hina ningyo (especially the expensive ones) are not for play. Little girls can't take the dolls down from their perches and have a "tea party" with them. I think that will be the most difficult thing - keeping Momoka's little fingers off those dolls!

桐箱に入った素敵な雛人形は帰国に間に合わず、今回はディズニーの雛人形を買って帰りました。これはこれで可愛いですよね。パパが最後まで推したアンパンマンにしないで良かった。。。パパはどうしてアンパンマンが好きなのかしらん？



BABIESRUS NO.1
BABIESRUS NO.2
BABIESRUS NO.3
BABIESRUS NO.4
WIKIPEDIA
GINKOYA

March 03, 2009

MOMOKA

This page is for our daughter, Momoka. She was born on 07 January, 2009. Following these words are some pictures we've posted that chronicles her rather short life. We sure do love her a lot. She is a little angel sent to us from heaven. We will be posting more pictures and words as time permits. She is quite a handful right now. What used to be easy is now much more complicated but boy is it great to have the complication.

私達の元にコウノトリが可愛い天使を運んで来てくれました。この時をどれだけ待ったことでしょう！　実母さん、マミーさん、涼子さん、スタッフの方々、言葉では言い表せないくらい感謝しています。私達に人生最高の幸せをありがとう！

Here is our first picture of little Momoka

We have named this the "nani suru no" face. In English - "what do you want?"



Here's a picture of me and Uncle Josh putting together baby furniture. We got the stuff for Momoka's room from Ikea. They had a crib recommended by Consumer Reports and it was very reasonable compared to the baby stores. So reasonable we bought the rest of the matching furniture. I was glad Josh came to help. In the end we had no screws or doo-dads left over - a major accomplishment!



The finished product.



Here are some cute little jackets Mommy bought. Mommy's theme is little ears - she thinks they are motto kawaii!



For some reason we see this face quite a bit. This child has healthy lungs, that's for sure.



A nightime "waiting for chow" picture. If the bottle isn't inserted into the pie hole in 30 seconds you'll see the face above.

March 02, 2009