10 Months and...

Maika is 10 months old and growing well. We are growing too. God is using this precious little creation to teach us a lot and help us grow. Since we don't know what lies ahead, as Maika must depend on us, so we must depend on the Lord. He is faithful, and we look forward to what He has ahead for us.
With our daily lives consisting of taking care of Maika, work, and the numerous other daily activities, we keep busy. Sometimes, it seems our week was a repeat of the previous one, but it never gets boring. We enjoy the time we have together, and thank the Lord for each day.
Maika's is now fully crawling properly, eating a variety of solid foods, and resisting confinement. She used to be okay with her car seat and stroller, but lately, when she doesn't want to be in them, she lets us know in a very clear way. It's always especially nice when we are in public.
Here's a collage of pictures we took on Saturday.

We have a favorite bread shop we go to, and this week when Yoko was there, she asked the owner about when he thought it was okay to start giving bread to kids. He said that in France, parents give infants pieces of a baguette as a pacifier. So if tiny French kids can chew on bread, why not Maika. So, this weekend, Maika got her first taste of bread and finished the whole slice.

Lets talk about sleeping, or the lack there of. Maika has recently decided that she doesn't want to seep more than 3 hours at a time. This wouldn't be that big of a deal if she was in a sound proof room as her waking up is accompanied by very unhappy crying. This of course is a great burden on all those who live with her. She is also a very active sleeper; she moves around enough during the day that you would think she doesn't need to do it while she sleeps. Last night we found her in this position.

Looking out the window is fun, but do you know what else is fun? Putting my mouth on it.

Maika snores. It's not like her Grandpapa, but she is sawing logs. Have your volume up.

Enough Hair to...

The rainy season has started. Fortunately, we had some nice days that coincided with a few national holidays. On the 3rd (Constitution Day) we visited an herb garden and had a good time getting out. On the 5th (Children's Day) we celebrated our wedding anniversary with a tasty lunch at a nice restaurant. Maika stayed home with Grandma (Baba), so we were able to relax and take our time. Yoko's first Mother's Day was a little busy with church, but she did have time to open her presents in the morning. Maika felt bad that she had ruined so many of Mommy's shirts, so she gave Yoko some new shirts for Mother's Day.
Maika's eating solid foods is improving day by day. She really enjoys bananas and strawberries. She will soon have four teeth to bite with as her two top teeth are coming in. She likes to stand up and has recently learned how to get herself down. This is very good because she used to holler every time she stood up. She is getting better at crawling properly. She often crawls a yard or so and them plops onto her belly and scoots around. Her hair is getting longer resulting in... bed hair and

Daddy's great styling.

M&M at the herb garden.

I found a rock, and I will try to eat it.

You'd think my parents could put some socks on me, but they let me go barefoot all the time.

Why sleep on a nice soft pad when you can sleep on the floor.

9 Months Old and Already Making Boys Cry

It's been nine months since we were blessed with the arrival of Maika, and each day we have with her is a gift from God.
The aftershocks continue but will less frequency. We had a good sized one last Saturday, but it has thankfully been pretty quiet since then.
Yoko keeps plenty busy taking care of Maika and making sure Erik is well fed. She continues to work her way through the cook books we mentioned on Feb 15th.
Erik started a new school year (it begins in April in Japan) and has been busy with his new class schedule.
Maika made a boy cry for the first time. The other day Yoko and Maika met a lady who has a boy that is 10 months old. He is very mellow and is content to just sit in one place and play with whatever is in front of him. Maika scooted quickly over to him and in her boisterous voice said "Aaaah". All of that was just too much for the little fellow, and he started to cry. Needless to say, Erik is one proud daddy.
Winter is on its way out, but I need to keep warm when I go out in the evening.

Do I want to be a ballerina? I don't know yet.

Sporting some of the latest Spring fashion.

A day in the park.

I miss Aunt Sarah (she returned to the States on April 8th).

Mommy's the best! I love her!

Doing exercise in the park. 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2

Daddy says I am pretty like these cherry blossoms.

I can put anything in my mouth.

Several New Milestones

It's been a little while since our last post, and as a result, we have several things to share. Concerning life here after the March 11th earthquake, we are still having occasional aftershocks; the 7.1 the night of the 7th gave us a good jolt. We are able to get pretty much everything in terms of food that we used to buy, and we have not been affected by the rolling blackouts. Our building is being fixed as the pictures show.
Actually, we don't know when they are planning of repairing the damage.
We had Sarah with us for little over a week before she returned to the States on the 8th. Her contract had ended, and we are glad we were able to have her visit. We will miss having her close by.
Maika has been one busy little girl lately. She experienced grass and dirt for the first time and enjoyed the dirt much more than the grass. The morning of the 8th, she pulled herself up into a standing position in her crib for the first time. The same day, her first tooth showed itself. Today, the 9th, she is getting herself up on her hands and knees into the proper crawling position. We are continually amazed by her and that the Lord would bless us with a child such as her.
One other thing that seems to have happened, although we cannot officially verify it, is that Maika got into a fight. The event was captured below, although a punch actually being thrown could not be verified.
We don't know what set it off, but something was going on between Maika and Annie.

With her hand in a fist and her arm cocked, it looks as if Maika is ready to give Annie a knuckle sandwich.

Annie on her back, and Maika acting like nothing happened.

Maika upon being confronted about this, exclaimed that Annie fell over all by herself.

Recent Events and Thoughts

March 11th's earthquake reminded us how fragile life is on this earth and all we have can be gone in an instant. It gives us all the more reason to have a light touch on our possessions and to have the right perspective concerning everything, "don't sweat the small stuff". Jesus said to store up treasures in heaven, not here on earth, and we see that even more clearly now. Our church is taking an active role in helping with the relief effort. If you would like to give financially to them or just follow what they are doing, here is the link to their site Japan Earthquake 2011.
The aftershocks have subsided quite a bit. We do have a few a day, but they aren't as big or as often as they were. The power outages we were told to prepare for never happened. A current challenge is deciphering the news concerning the nuclear power plant. There is a lot of fear that has been created by the media. Gas is still somewhat limited, but we have been able to get back to our daily activities with quite a bit of normalcy.
Sunday, Maika reached 8 months. She gets more and more mobile everyday. It is entertaining to watch her scoot/crawl around, exploring her ever expanding world. The weekend before the earthquake, we took a road trip to see Sarah. The drive over was an all day event as we detoured off the main route to drive the scenic Mt. Fuji route. It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day. We were in the car about 6 hours, but Maika did great. Staying at Sarah's was also the first time for Maika to sleep in a new place, and she had no problem with that either. The day we were to drive back, we awoke to find 8.5 in/ 22 cm of snow on the ground. Thankfully the roads were cleared by the time we left mid afternoon.
Mt. Fuji and Maika's stuffed Mt. Fuji


Getting stuck at Aunt Sarah's

Enjoying the fresh snow in Suwa

March 11th's Earthquake and Subsequent Events

As of 2:46 pm on March 11th, things here have been a little uneasy to say the least. We are thankful for all your prayers and our Lord's hand on us and our entire family. We are all safe and doing well. An amazing story from all of this comes from our church. There is a lady who is from one of the coastal towns that was entirely wiped out by the tsunami. She had no word on the status of her family until this morning (Tuesday 3/15) when her uncle was able to get through to her and let her know that all of her family is safe including her grandparents whose house was a short walk from the ocean. Needless to say, all of us in our church family are rejoicing over this news.
On the 11th, Yoko and Maika were at home, and Erik was at a hotel on the other side of town for his school's graduation. After the earthquake, our cell phones did not work so we were not able to make contact with each other until we met at our designated evacuation site around 5:00 pm (Literally, the day before the earthquake we decided on where to meet if their was an evacuation; God's timing is great.).
We are about 200 miles or 320 kilometers from the epicenter. Yoko and Maika were in the apartment which is on the 9th floor. It is reported that the quake was around a 6 here, so for them, it probably felt more like a 7. As you can imagine the whole building was really moving, so Yoko grabbed Maika and ran down the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, Yoko realized that she had nothing with her, so with Maika under her arm she raced up the stairs and grabbed essential items. Yoko's mom was having lunch at a nearby restaurant, so Yoko and Maika found her there. They then went to the evacuation site to wait for Erik.
Erik was on the second floor at the Narita Hilton for his school's graduation which was to end at 3:00pm. The hotel was evacuated with limited panic. The bus which was to take the students and staff back to school wasn't able to leave until around 4:00 pm, so they all just waited outside. Some students are from the hardest hit areas, so there was quite a bit of anxiousness. The bus made it back to school around 4:45, and there was a joyous family reunion soon after that.
Our building has sustained exterior damage, but we are assured that there is no structural damage. The picture below is from the ground floor. There are a number of places on the building that have similar damage. Because of the frequent aftershocks, we spent the first night in an evacuation shelter. There are so many aftershocks that we feel like we are moving even when we aren't. It's as if our equilibrium has been affected.
At this time, rolling blackouts are happening, but we have not been affected yet. All of the classes at Erik's school have been canceled this week. There is no gasoline available, the supermarkets are bought out of many Japanese staples (rice & instant noodles). We have stocked up a bit on diapers and dry food that we do not need to cook. The nuclear power plants that are a cause of concern are about 120 miles or 200 kilometers away. The public is being encouraged to stay inside as much as possible. Life here is a little uncertain, but we know God is in control and this is just one more sign pointing to His soon return. Please continue to pray for us and Japan.

Scoot, Swim, Scoot, Swim

It's not crawling that gets Maika around these days; it's scooting. She gets on her belly, holds her legs up, and pumps them to move herself around. Yesterday she discovered our portable stereo which is nice; now she can put on her own music instead of telling us to do it for her.
To provide a positive outlet for all of Maika's energy, we signed her up for swimming classes at the sports gym we go to. They have a class for babies as young as 4 months. The class is held 3 times a week, 45 minutes each session. Monday was Maika's first class, and she did great. There was no crying even when the teacher dunked Maika under the water. Her second class, Wednesday, was a little different. There was a point in the class where the kids were passed from parent to parent. The farther Maika got from Yoko, the more she cried. Oh how she loves to be in Mommy's arms. Once she get used to the pool a little more, Erik will be the parent in the pool when he can.



The music that is on this video was not added by us. It was what was playing at the sports club.

Waking up from a good nap takes a little time as we all know.