So She Says

There are so many fun and interesting things my little Emma says to me throughout each day. Here are a few of her latest sayings:

"Mom, if you had a million babies in your tummy you would be really fat. You are flat now because you don't have any more babies in your tummy."

"Mom, I just love you so much. Can I give you lots of kisses? Wait, now I need to blow you kisses. Don't forget to catch them."

"My favorite color is pink...and purple...and well, all of the colors."

One day Emma decided to play house with Abby. She decorated her closet to be a bedroom and set up a blanket on one of the bins for a bed. As I peaked in the room this is what I heard Emma say to Abby, "Time to eat lunch sweetie-pie. Now it's time to take a nap sweetie-pie. You can get up and have play time sweetie-pie." Everything Emma says now includes the phrase, "sweetie-pie."

Emma really is entertaining. Between her funny faces and funny sayings she keeps us all smiling!

What a Day

He Said...

There are days when you get up at 5:00 AM, (having dreamt about the finale of LOST all night), and think, this is gonna be one of those days. The rain was just heavy enough to need a jacket, and the line to get on base was just long enough to confirm the diagnosis of a great day in the making. Fortunately, I knew that we had an appointment at 9:00 AM to get our military passports, that should be nice and easy. Of course, an hour and a half into the ordeal of getting our passports (and by ordeal I mean a rude, unhelpful clerk coupled with kids screaming, crying, and running haywire), I thought that things could only get better from here. As I settled down into the conference room at the hospital, my pager rang. No big deal, right? Sara was bringing Abby into the hospital. I didn't think much of it at first, but when the Orthopedic Surgeon sat us down and gave us the news that Abby would be in a full leg cast for 4-6 weeks, I started to think about it a little more. So off we went with Abby's new pink leg, and it wasn't even noon yet! At least nine more hours to turn this day around into something better. Of course, it's really raining now, Abby got popsicle on her cast, and there's a rumor that one of the toilets is broken. Someone tell me when it's safe to go back to bed.

She Said...

I didn't think that today was going to be that bad. After trying so hard to get Abby to sleep last night after her little injury on the trampoline, I knew that today just had to be better. All the kids woke up on time, got dressed, and ate breakfast in time for our appointment to get our military passports. As soon as I saw Mike rush in 10 minutes late to our appointment I knew by the look on his face that things were going downhill. Apparently our paperwork was not correct AGAIN. After Mike had a nice little chat with the lady at the counter about our frustration in their lack of communication we finally got everything done. An hour and a half later I finally drove the boys to school, stopped at Starbucks to get breakfast, and drove to the hospital to take Abby in to get an x-ray of her leg. I thought it would just be a small sprain but sure enough a fracture showed up on the x-ray. I was surprised at how calm Abby was as they were putting on her pink cast. She fell asleep on the way home and as I laid her down in her bed for a nap all she could say to me was, "Abby sad. Abby cry. Boo Boo Off." I imagine there will be more talk of taking that darn cast off. Hopefully we will be able to manage this next month with the move, trying to attend to Abby's needs, and trying to sell this house. It was just one of those days and I am physically and emotionally exhausted. I have to believe there is always something to be grateful for! Today I am grateful for a husband who takes care of us. We were in and out of the hospital in 35 minutes and he even got to help with the cast. Sometimes it pays to be the big dog on campus!

Quote of the Week

Another great quote given to me by my sweet friend:

"Do not always resort to the thought of coincidence, there were many angels working diligently for it."

Author Unknown

Blurry No More

The question really wasn't about if I would ever get LASIK done but when I would finally be ready to muster up the courage to do it. For the last 25 years of my life I have been plagued with bad vision. I got my first pair of glasses when I was just 7 years old and my first pair of contacts when I was 14 years old. I remember being terrified to put my contacts in by myself so I somehow convinced my mom to do it for me. She willingly did it for a month until one day at school my contact fell out in the bathroom sink at school and I was forced to put it back in by myself. From then on I learned to live with contacts and I managed well for many years. There was always the annoyance of having to take them out before bed, waking up with blurry vision, and the constant effort to keep my eyes moist. Over the years my eyes have adjusted to contact life but I have noticed how dry my eyes have gotten over the years from wearing contacts. After Mike decided to get LASIK done on his eyes about a month ago he has been trying to convince me to do it for myself. I was a little freaked out by the procedure but went in for a consult anyways. I was told that I had some irritation on my cornea caused from my contacts that needed to be cleared up before I would qualify for the LASIK procedure. I was shocked because I take really good care of my eyes and my contacts. After being a little disappointed and frustrated I soon felt blessed that I did go in to get a consult if for nothing else than to clear up whatever was irritating my eyes. After two weeks of drops and four weeks in glasses I finally went in yesterday for my LASIK procedure. It was the freakiest procedure I have encountered but 24 hours later I can actually see. I went to bed last night without having to take out my contacts, I woke up without having to fiddle with finding my glasses, and now I can see without any aid. I feel so blessed. I know this is only the beginning of my new life without contacts and glasses and I am so EXCITED!!

Mother's Day

My view on motherhood has really changed over the course of this last year. It seems strange that my appreciation for being a mother continues to grow as I get older and things get harder. With ever increasing challenges as everyone faces new struggles I have somehow been able to find more joy in my role as a mother. There is not a day that goes by that I don't thank the Lord for my family and for a wonderful mother who continues to be such a great example to me. More than ever I appreciate my own mother and everything she stands for. She is the most wonderful woman that I know. I am honored to be her daughter.

I was asked to speak in church on Mother's Day this year. Although I don't enjoy speaking in public I knew that it would provide an opportunity to sit down and think about motherhood. Here is an excerpt from my talk:

"It’s amazing that it has taken me almost 32 years to finally begin to understand what it truly means to be a mother. And even now after much reflection on motherhood, I am still humbled to know that there is so much more that I need to learn. Being a mother is so much more than cleaning the house and washing the clothes, being the family chauffer, cook, counselor, and even nurse. Amongst other things, being a mother affords us the opportunity to learn more deeply about the LOVE our Savior has for us. In learning to care for our Father’s precious children we learn more about ourselves than we probably wanted to know, we recognize more strongly our strengths and our weaknesses, and we see through our children’s eyes what life is truly all about. Through motherhood we find our greatest joys, our biggest ah ha’s, and our true potential as women of God. It was no accident that our Heavenly Father made women sensitive beings with the capacity to love and care for each other.

As a mother of four wonderful children I can honestly say that being a mother is hard work. But as with anything that requires work, diligence and patience, there are usually wonderful outcomes awaiting us. I am not a perfect mother and I don’t have all the answers but I am trying hard to do what I can to be a good mother and wife.

Over the last couple of years I have really come to understand how much my children need my full attention during those moments of the day where am I usually the most exhausted. True love is putting our family first especially when it is hard and maybe a little inconvenient.

Love is giving of our time.
Love is being patient.
Love is not quick to anger but calm and steady.
Love is kind.
Love is being able to forgive.
Love is putting others’ needs ahead of our own.
Love is positive.
Love is gentle.
Love is being there for each other.

As mother’s we can be great examples of showing love within our families. Where there is love there is peace and happiness."

In the Spotlight...

...was this month's theme for Cub Scouts. Since this was my last time teaching the cub scouts before moving I thought it would be fun to take some headshots of each of the boys that attended our den meeting. It seemed to tie in well with our theme. The boys were good sports and although they probably won't appreciate the pictures now I know that their parents will. Most of the boys are just finishing up their requirements for Wolf or Bear and will be moving up. Only 2 wolf and 2 bear scouts showed up today but it was still great. It has been so much fun being able to be the Wolf Den Leader and to learn so much about cub scouting. More than anything it was fun to be a part of Andrew's wolf year and to help him complete being a Wolf Scout. I just found out that the scouting program in Japan is done through the base and not through our church. That will be exciting to experience cub scouting through a different medium. Go Scouting!!

The Wolf Scouts

The Bear Scouts

Best Friends

Monkeys and Tricks

Sometimes I feel like I am running a house full of monkeys. Whether the kids are cracking jokes, making silly faces and noises, or climbing all over the furniture I sometimes feel like I am at the zoo. They keep me smiling, they make me laugh, and sometimes they make me a little crazy. Today I took the girls to the park and it was all about being little monkeys and showing me their new tricks. I realized how strong my girls were as they hung off the bars for minutes at a time. Abby made me so nervous as she swung on the bar above the slide. It was hard to tell her no because she loved it so much. Not that saying no would have made her stop anyways. Since we were the only ones at the park I let the girls have free reign and climb up the slides and anything else that might pose a danger with other children around.

Abby was able to climb up onto the big step all by herself for the very first time and tried climbing up the slide which she managed to do without any problems. Her rubber crocs were a big help I'm sure. The saggy diaper was a bit unattractive and could have been avoided had I remembered to put a bloomer on her today. It was hard to keep up with Abby because she was always on the move. I was lucky that I was able to get a few shots of her while she was still. Emma, on the other hand, seemed to stay in one place for longer periods of time enjoying what she was doing before moving onto the next fun thing. Emma was proud of her ability to swing from any bar on the playground and her quickness in climbing up the ladder with the rope. Dressed in pants, skirts, or dresses my girls will always get down and dirty just to have fun. I can't say I blame them. It's not that much fun to stay clean and proper all the time. There is just nothing that beats playing outside on a gorgeous day. We definitely need more of these days so that I don't go completely crazy being cooped up in the house with my little monkeys!

A Sweet Reunion

For the last couple of years I have been anxiously waiting for my sweet friend Beth to have a baby. Beth is one of the sweetest people I know and I was so excited for her to finally be a mom. After a rough start she finally told me last year that she was going to have a baby! We started planning and getting excited for my visit after the baby was born. The last time Beth and I had seen each other was the night before her wedding 3 1/2 years ago. We spent that night staying up late talking and eating cookies in our pajamas. It reminded me of our high school days in Tokyo. We first met when we were 14 years old. It was no coincidence that her family moved literally right around the corner from mine in a small suburb of Tokyo. That may not seem like a big deal to live close to someone but it was a rare occurence to live right next door to another American, let alone a really good friend. Most of our friends lived all over Tokyo. Some lived a 15 minute train ride and others lived almost 45 minutes away. We all took the hour long bus ride to school each day. On Beth's first day we sat next to each other on the way home and headed over to her house after school. My mom finally had to call around 10pm to tell me to come home. We just clicked from day one. We have been the best of friends ever since we first met almost 18 years ago.

Even though our lives are very different we have remained close and connected. I was so happy that we would now have one special thing in common--MOTHERHOOD! My trip to meet little Sophie and reconnect with Beth exceeded all of my expectations. It was like going home somehow. For me Beth is more like the sister I never had. It was so exciting to finally hold Sophie and enjoy her just as I enjoyed my own babies. I loved being able to witness the special connection that Beth and Sophie had already made in such a short time. Beth sure is a natural and she is going to make the best mom. We vowed to not let time pass us by too quickly before another reunion together. I am so anxious to watch this little girl grow.

Here is a sneak peek of some of the photos I took during my visit.
Enjoy.