11 Months :)

Dear Mia,

You are one month away from being a whole year old! I am so excited to celebrate such a special day. This post has been delayed because girly you have been keeping us busy. I'm actually typing this right now while you are napping next to me....about the only time that I'm not chasing you around.

Let's see...this past month you are picking up more new skills. You are now trying to snap...which is the cutest thing! You have also discovered that your finger fits perfectly up your nose. Daddy encourages this behavior, and you two will sit there copying each other with your fingers up your noses. Cute, but I'm sure you'll want to give that trick up in the near future.

Your best friend is officially your daddy. All he has to do is say hello, and it sends you into the biggest giggle fits. The first thing that you do when you wake up (if it happens to be after he leaves for work) is peak your little head around every corner you can find looking for him. It is seriously so adorable and makes my heart melt.

One of the funniest things that you have started doing is fake crying. We know it's fake because you make a crying noise while smiling...hahaha....so we aren't too convinced that you are miserable in those situations.

Some things that you don't like that much: men (you kind of get really nervous when strange guys are around you...not that strange guys are around you at home of course...I mean in public places), getting out of the bathtub, and actually that is about it.

You love: your Yo Gabba Gabba! bath toys, books of all kinds, being tickled, strawberries, and going outside.

You make each day full of JOY. Your laughs, smiles, fake baby cries, fits, fistfuls of food that you throw across the room...all give us so much JOY.

Love, 

Your Mommy and Daddy

Staycation...Part 2

Wow, I feel like this post is a bit overdue...but you know how things can get sometimes. Well, here are some of our pictures from last week when Ten was off of work. In a nutshell, we spent our time hanging out at The American Museum of Natural History (and became members), visiting the butterfly conservatory, catching a show at the planetarium, doing some lessons at Gymboree (yep...became members there too), doing lots of swim lessons (had a makeup to do from the snow storm), going to Japanese, and just a lot of hanging out. Perfect with an almost one year old.

So, here are some photos of our week.

Mia checking out the elephants at the AMNH.

Checking out some of the animals...she loved it! We all did.

At the butterfly conservatory...where Mia caught a poor little butterfly. Luckily, it escaped in one piece.

Mr. Roosevelt with Big and Little Ten

A trip to Big Daddy's for some diner fare and baby friendly atmosphere.

Mia loved playing with the straws and butter containers.

Trying to grab all of the cool light fixtures on the ceiling.

Playing at Gymboree

They didn't know I took this pic...haha.

Trying to get all of the pool toys.

Not quite interested in floating yet. :)

We had a really great one week off...but were pretty exhausted by the time it was finished!

Staycation....Part 1

Ten had some time off of work that he needed to use this month, and we had decided to go to Washington D.C. We were going to go to the zoo, try some new restaurants, and check out the museums. However....the more we got to thinking about it, the more realized that we could really do all of those things here in New York....and not have to waste time on a train...or bus...or plane...or whatever...So, staycation was born.

Friday started off as any Friday. Me and Mia went to her Japanese class. She had such a great time....so much so she screamed in another little girl's face...and made her cry...I won't lie...it was kind of funny.

When the teacher asked if I wanted to take pictures of Mia as the princess for Hina Matsuri, I was like of course!! Unfortunately  I only had my phone with me...which doesn't take the greatest of pics.

Princess Mia

She loved it, but of course...would not smile for the camera.

On Saturday, we woke up and had breakfast before swim class...I so wanted to take pictures, but I got to chatting with nice Brazilian mom again....have to try harder next time. Anyway, I wanted to mention our breakfast because I was lucky enough to capture this picture.

Mia was dropping strawberries on the floor, and Ten was picking them up. Well, she had decided to chew up part of a strawberry and then shove it in Ten's mouth....hahaha....He seriously looks so disturbed in this picture, and she looks like what she just did was hilarious...which it was....haha

Finally, no true vacation (or staycation) would be complete without some shopping thrown in. After we rested from swim class, we went and bought Mia some new clothes. I even picked up a pair of jeans for myself.

The prices for everything were cheaper than what we usually buy at Target, so I was in heaven.

All ready for her first baseball game this summer!

Had to get Jeter since it is Ten's all time favorite player.

We also ran over to Michael's (LOVE this store), and bought a few things for Easter and even St. Paddy's Day. Here are a few things that we chose.

Pretty Easter wreath and bouquet of flowers for the dining table.

Lots of Easter eggs since they were on sale. Now, we will have plenty for next year. After all, you never know what country we may end up in.

For the front door...not a great pic...but really pretty...can't wait to hang it next year.

On Sunday, Ten went grocery shopping, and we just kind of hung out as usual. It was a pretty great weekend! Stay tuned for the rest of our staycation... :)

My First (kind of) Meeting with Missionaries

So...a few weeks ago I had some Mormon missionaries show up at my door. It's really strange how they arrived considering I live in a building with a doorman....but I won't go into the details of that shock as I have already told that story...to my mom...so that's enough.

However, I told them that I was busy and couldn't chat. So, as any good missionary would do, they asked if they could come back. Our second meeting was also ill fated. Mia took a tumble, and we took a trip to the emergency room. All was fine though.

Anyway, so lo and behold they came to my apartment for a second time (not surprising)...and let me tell you...it wasn't what I was expecting.

I thought that they would come and give me their "testimony," drop off a copy of the Book of Mormon and tell me to pray about, and then be on their way.

This is not what happened my friends. First of all, three girls came to visit this time. Two missionaries and a church member. We chatted a bit about our various backgrounds. They asked me if I believed in God. They asked me if I was familiar with Christianity. I told them that my mom thought they might be murderers trying to steal my baby, that their idea of heaven was kind of terrible sounding for women, and that I agreed with their concept of the Trinity. 

There was a little bit of awkwardness, and they have asked me to write down the questions that I have for them...and let me tell you...I do have quite a few! As they were getting ready to leave, they actually didn't give me a Book of Mormon (not going to lie...I was disappointed). Instead, they gave me a pamphlet about The Restoration of the Gospel which you can read here.

They also explained the proper way to pray to Heavenly Father and asked me again about my main reservations about the church. I kindly stated that I am especially concerned about raising a child in a religion that may scar her for life.

Seriously...you do not want to make her mad!

So, they asked me to please read the information and asked if they could please come back again. I said sure. I seriously was feeling pretty uninspired by the whole meeting, so I was willing to give them another shot.

Little did I know (until thanks to Mr. Google), that I am actually taking part in the missionary lessons now!! How did that happen?! You are good Mormons...very good.

Before I end this post, let me sum up the highlights:

• I told them I admire their respect for families.
• I also let them know about all of the great Mormons that we know (we are not Mormon hostiles).
• I said that I couldn't understand why God would separate a family if one was Mormon and one wasn't. Their reply was something like....well Heavenly Father wants us to be happy...so we will have a chance to become followers even in the after life.
• I asked about their prophet and just how much they believe what he says...is he infallible like our dear Pope? Their response was that he is just a man. He makes mistakes.
• They asked if I would like to go to church...which I politely declined for the moment.

That is the rundown....nothing ground breaking or exciting...like I said...pretty uninspiring....just a lot of polite conversation between strangers...hopefully the next round will make me see the light.

Do we look like a Mormon family to you?

Randomness

I haven't posted a list of randomness in a while, so I thought it was about time.

• We have a new Pope! Now, I'm not Catholic, but I do get really excited when a new Pope is elected...I'm not talking a little excited...I mean...I'm practically giddy when a new Pope is chosen. I have no clue why, but it makes me happy...haha.
• The weather has been hit and miss recently, but today I decided that winter is over. Yes, that is right, I just decided that on my own. I hung up my spring decorations and busted out a flowery table cloth...I have officially moved on from winter.
• When I opened the box of balls for Mia's ball pit, I saw that the company also included a free felt board. It is a whole town with cars, people, etc....seriously made my day....almost as much as seeing we have a new Pope.
• Here are some of my favorite blogs recently: tiny buddha, Life of an American mommy living in Japan, and Tales of the Trees. The blogs I like to read rotate pretty regularly, but these ones always keep me interested.
• I'm on a reading break. I haven't had the time to really get into a book recently, so I've returned them all to the library. I'm hoping something will get me interested soon.
• One of my favorite things to do is to add things to my Instant Queue on Netflix. I rarely get to watch anything...like almost never...but seeing all of my options makes me happy.
• I recently saw a list online of what your child should know before entering kindergarten, and my how things have changed. I mean they should basically know how to read, count, and everything else. I think it is kind of much, but good to know.
• Pinterest is started to pique my interest again. I was into it for like a whole month, and I haven't really touched it since...but slowly I'm finding it useful again. May have to take some time to go through my boards and pin things that are truly good ideas and things I will try.
• Mia's birthday is in the middle of April which means that we won't have another gift giving holiday for the next five months!! Actually, there aren't any big holidays in the summer months. I'm looking forward to a break!

Our Weekend

This is seriously a blog post that is overloaded with pictures, but I'm sure both my mom and grandma will love it, so here we go.

Saturday morning started out as any other Saturday. We woke up and had pancakes for breakfast before heading out to Mia's swim lesson. She had a great time as usual, and I had planned on taking some pics. However, I got to chatting with a nice lady from Brazil about the horrors of having a baby in the U.S....I won't even go into that topic...but needless to say I couldn't get any pictures.

After coming home and having leftovers for lunch, we headed down to Time Square. We first popped in to Kinokuniya to look around. We actually ended up buying a hiragana poster for her Easter basket (I know...someone stop me!!) and this book about brushing your teeth. She loves this series, and we were hoping that it would make brushing seem like more fun since she has been fighting us on it recently...and you know what...it worked!! She thought the sounds were funny and liked to play along...thank you genius creator of this book!

Our next stop was the library. We wanted to take a quick peak since this place is quite famous. We ended up hitting the jackpot of English AND Japanese picture books. Yay!

We then popped over to Sunrise Mart and bought our necessities...you know...rice, soy sauce, curry, kimuchi, miso, etc. By this time, we were completely starving. So, we grabbed two bento and sat there and at them....They were really good as usual.

One BBQ Chicken and one Fried Chicken with Milk Coffee and Mugicha 

Ten reading a book to Mia at the cafe, so I could eat my food in peace.

 On our way back to the station, we took a little stroll through Bryant Park. I love this place...I feel like I say I love everything, but I really do love Bryant Park. It is such a nice place to relax right in the middle of it all.

This also the home of Le Carrousel, so we thought we would have some fun and let Mia take her first carrousel ride.

Ten said she had a lot of fun and especially liked the mirrors...she even let out a little scream...of joy I hope...haha

By this time, it was getting pretty late...but we decided to head over to Toys R Us to check out the ferris wheel. We also let Mia test out some little bikes....haha. She looked so cute on them, but those pics are on my phone.

Sunday, we did a quick clean of the apartment and then Ten went grocery shopping...and he brought home a Little People Disney Princess set of 7 princesses...they are so cute, and she loves them. My picture turned out really bad, but this one from the Target website is exactly the same....we are seriously hopeless....haha

 Once he got back, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go to the park. Wow, Mia had a great time.

She went down the slide COUNTLESS times. Ten said it was making him dizzy...haha.

 They also played on the swings, and seriously...I have never seen a baby laugh so hard while swinging...OMG....she had so much fun.

Laughing so hard she couldn't even sit up straight

We had a ton of fun this weekend, and actually I am pretty wiped out from it. We may have to plan a lazy day indoors soon!