Thursday, June 30, 2011

June in Pictures

After the excitement (and tremendous helpfulness) of my mom's visit during May, June had fewer outings and more stress, especially related to Philip's work and our future plans.  The month flew by, but the main things I will remember are watching my little guy get bigger, more adorable, and more mobile.  I can't believe he is eight months old.  I love him so much my heart could burst!

He tried lots of new foods this month, including sauteed spinach, shredded apple, and mashed potatoes to name a few:






He played with his best buddies, S and E at our small group BBQ (sorry the photo is out of focus - I still think it's cute!)

Three adorable babies and one handsome man!

He lets us chew a bit more when we go to restaurants now that he is eating some solids:

Yes, he is strapped in with his Ergo carrier.  We have to be creative because highchairs here rarely have straps.  


He even let Mommy slip away to the salon to get a long overdue haircut.  That was an adventure including pictures, lots of hand gestures, and drawings.  In the end, I think my stylist, Kumiko, did a great job giving me a new look.  

No more ponytail for this mommy!  I even blowdry it most days!


 He went from reaching, to lunging, to almost crawling...








This week's favorite pastime is "helping" Mommy with laundry:

Now, if he could just learn how to put the insert in the diaper... :c)

He usually looks like this:

Peekaboo!
But every now and then, he looks like this:

Fuss Face!

That's June, folks!  Less than a month until we return home for a visit.  We are so excited!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Saturday Morning Scene: Raspberries with Daddy

Linking up with Katie for Saturday Morning Scene!




We had a crazy, exhausting week with Philip working extra late and Matthias teething (I can see 8 teeth just below the surface and Matthias decided that my collarbone is his favorite teether), and we needed a relaxing day at home. Time to drink coffee and eat oatmeal pancakes, time to talk and listen to music, time to blow raspberries and watch our little guy laugh.  The simple, wonderful things of our life right now.

I love these guys!

Friday, June 24, 2011

May Highlights


I realize that I didn't post for the entire month of May and I'm not doing so well with June so far... let's try and resuscitate this blog!  Philip had four days off for the Golden Week holidays in Japan, and decided to take two vacation days, giving him 10 days off in a row from April 29th to May 8th.  Bliss!  We rested as much as possible the first few days and did little outings.  Then my Mom came halfway through the first week of May and we started being a bit more adventurous.  Mom was in town for the majority of the month, and I decided to focus on spending time with her rather than hanging out on the interwebs in my free time.  We got out of the apartment and around Tokyo as much as possible, which was infinitely easier with her help.  I considered doing several posts to chronicle the month, but I decided that I'd just get more behind on blogging the here and now.  So here is a photo recap of May:

Just an old VW Bus?  Nope.
An adorable coffee shop on wheels.  Awesome cafe lattes!



My favorite boys at our favorite Mexican place in Tokyo.  Killer fish tacos!


Mom, Matthias, and I at Meiji Jingu, a Shinto shrine in a beautiful park-like setting.


Yoyogi Park, one of Tokyo's largest parks.
Extreme hacky sack in the park.  Check out the muscle definition!

One of the many arts/hobbies being practiced at the park.

My loves!

Park bench diaper change.  No changing tables that we could find!

Strolling in Shibuya.

Waterfront at Odaiba, a manmade island on Tokyo Bay.

Waterfront shot with the ferris wheel.

Matthias started with solids on Mother's Day.

Avocado slices were a big hit!

Matthias loved learning to drink water from his straw cup.
He got more confident with sitting up each day!

Baby at work!

Engakuji temple in Kamakura, a quaint seaside town.

My pretty Mom and I.

Incredible carvings on the temple doors.

"Ringing" the temple bell.

M's first ocean experience.

My guys in their natural habitat.