Quinn is 5 months!

Boy oh boy is time flying by.  This girl is changing so quickly and growing up in a blink of an eye!  We have had so much fun with her lately.  Don't get me wrong, I love the newborn stage, but it's so fun to be able to handle her the way we do.  She has recently gone in the jogger without the car seat attached, which she is loving.  Her favorite activities include being in the exersaucer, standing up against the couch (our couch is low), playing with toys that she can grab and chew on, hearing mom sing "The wheels on the bus" over and over and over and over when cranky in the car, and eating sweet potatoes!

We are still not on a sleeping schedule, but hopefully in the next couple months things start to fall into place a little bit.  Her bedtime is between 6:30-7:15 depending on and wakes anywhere between 5:15am-7am, which is why the nap times are difficult to plan on right now!  She goes down easily and wakes up happy, just can't seem to get much more than 30-90mns.  I'm very happy when her naps are 1 hour plus!  As long as she's happy, I'm happy ;)

Quinn loves playing with her dad during the days and much prefers her mom before naps and bedtime.  I absolutely love getting her from the crib after a nap and going downstairs to see dad.  Her smile is huge when she sees him and looks like she just can't wait to start playing!  Quinn is in size 2 diapers still, although she could/should be in a 3.  I just need to get rid of the 2's first ;).  She is a drool queen, loves her 5:00pm dinner of solid food, and sucks on her forearm for comfort.  Her hands are yet constantly in her mouth and likes to rub it all over mom and dad's face.  Her hair is starting to come in ever so slowly, but definitely have been seeing more of it!  Bath time is finally fun here in this household.  We went through a bad 2-3 week spell, but after bringing in some toys and holding her in a position so she could sit up for awhile...has really helped.  She kicks and waves her hands so much in excitement we are having a hard time keeping the water/soap out of her eyes!!!

Her latest nickname I have been calling her is Quincy Jones.  Not sure...haha.

Anyways, Quinn brings a million smiles to our faces every single day.  Life is sure great with her around.

Can you blame her for the drool?

1st family pic since Quinn has left the hospital.  Guess I should probably start goin' on that...

From Yomitan to Chibana

Finally getting after this post.  A couple weeks ago we made the big move from our place in Yomitan to our new house that we absolutely love!  Not only are we closer to the commissary, exchange, gym, and the tennis courts, but we are closer to our friends!  It was getting to be a lot traveling at least 25 minutes to do anything.  We would have to make a morning or afternoon of whatever it was we were going to do that day.  Not to mention my commissary runs were stressful because I never knew when I would be back again, so I stocked up on everything imaginable!  Tony was in mainland the day we officially moved.  People back home thought I was nuts for tackling it alone with Quinn (we hired movers)...but she did awesome and it turned out as well as it possibly could.  On Saturday, November 16th when the movers came to our place in Yomitan, they had strict orders to a) do all loud things outside and b) move her crib at "this time" and back into the new house at "this time".  The movers were not happy with me asking them to do all the taping outside.  The money we paid them that day, I didn't feel TOO bad about it.   So as the guys packed the downstairs, Quinn was sleeping soundly upstairs.  It was perfect.  Anyways, overall the move went great.  Tony surprised us and even came home that Sunday night so I only had to stay in the new house 1 night by myself!  It was 4 days sooner than we were expecting.  It was a great surprise as you can imagine :)  Here are a few pics of our weekend.  I had a little help from a few local girls that I knew from Santa Monica on Sunday.  They entertained Quinn and helped me unload all the boxes.  They were a huge help!!! We are completely moved in now :)

Yomitan House

 Quinn's last nap in her room.  She was a happy girl that day :)  So was mom actually!

Quinn helped me sign the papers at the housing office 

Chibana house.  This was a shortcut in moving all our things upstairs.  They even did this with the treadmill.  They're crazy.

Mid Month Update

This month is cruising by!  Quinn and I have been without dad since Oct. 28th, so I welcome a month that goes as fast as this one is going!  We have been pretty busy here with packing boxes, going for walks, and running errands.  We have movers coming tomorrow (blog on that soon) so thought I would get a blog out there before all the chaos begins.  I'm hoping the new house is in order before Tony arrives on Wednesday :)  Here are a few pics of what we've been up to.

Santa Monica (where I taught last year) was having a Sports Day for all the kids.  Quinn and I drove down to see them perform :)  It was great to see them and all their parents again

We were fortunate enough to be able to FaceTime with Tony while he's been away in the field.  Quinn was very impressed with Mt. Fuji and told Dad she wants to go there someday soon....

Where's Waldo?

Quinn watching me as I clean up the yard before we move!

This one is for Ali.  I know you're reading this blog and I hope you're not mad that I gave your bike away for free.  The typhoons have done a number on it and the kickstand is so rusted over it won't lift.  I don't think you'll be too upset.  It's been an awesome bike to have here in Yomitan :)

I googled translation for "free"..  hope I got it right!

One of the few things I'll miss about Yomitan is the great restaurants around.  I would say Yomitan is the "hippie" part of Okinawa, which I can appreciate very much.  This is one of my favorite places - the Thai Place down the road.  It's called "Thai Food".  clever, huh.

On one of our walks, we came across a couple of awesome boys playing street hockey and tennis.  I joined in and played a couple games with them.  Of course, I placed a bet.  If they got 1 ball past me (I was goalie) I would give them $1.  I owe them $2...

Of all the weeks I needed some quiet nap times, this was the week.  Of course it never happens that way.  The neighbors decided to add on to their house so all day for 2 weeks I have been hearing drills, hammers, and every other tool I've never heard of going NONSTOP.  One day I was so desperate for a nap I laid on the floor in Quinn's room right by her sound machine.  It was a good 20 minute nap.. Best I could do at that point.

This is how determined I have been packing when Quinn is napping.  I set out the exact amount of things I need for the next 2 days before we leave. 

Always need to exit a blog with a picture of our sweet girl!

Quinn is 4 months old

Yesterday this sweet little girl turned 4 months old.  Gosh, where do I begin writing all the fun things she is doing!  I took her for her check up on Thursday and she was 15.5lbs (86th percentile) and was 26 inches long (97th percentile).

Her favorite thing to do: be outside!  I swear this girl could be outside all day long and happy.  When I get the Baby Bjorn out or the stroller she kicks her legs and her eyes get super wide.  It's pretty cute :).   She "insists" on standing almost every chance she gets. Yesterday we celebrated by going to the bx and buying her an exersaucer.  There wasn't much to choose from (go figure) but glad they at least had one!  I was going to order from Amazon like we usually do, but I knew she would love it so why wait..besides the play gym we have down on the floor isn't as fun anymore if she's not standing up and playing with the toys :).  She also enjoys (that's an understatement) sucking on her hands, fingers, arms, blankets, whatever she can get in that mouth of hers.  It will be interesting to see when those teeth come in.   On my "notes" for 4 month blog I wrote a reminder to myself that she is batting at toys.  This has developed into full on grasping of toys and holding on to whatever she can for a short amount of time.  This has helped a ton when I've needed those 5 minutes to get something done!  Or when she's in the car!

Things she doesn't like:  Sleeping on her stomach for too long, the bottle, a pacifier (i've given up on this one), and when she's tired, she doesn't want anyone holding her other than Tony and I.  And of course staying put in one place for too long.  Other than that we have one happy girl on our hands.

Her naps are going OK.  I have to admit, I'm a bit of a control freak on her sleeping "schedule".  She is still taking 30-45 mn naps most of the time, although the last week she has been taking 1-2.5 hour naps at a time.  Crossing my fingers this continues!  My sister-in-law, Amanda, is helping me with different tactics to sleep train her.  It's working so far and I couldn't be happier!  Now for it to continue.  At night she is still up 3 times, but I'm getting a longer stretch than before.  Typically 4 hours at a time, which is very nice.  Of course, we have our nights where it's less than that, but I'll take what I can get!

For my own sake when looking back on this blog - my nicknames for her are sugar bugsies (Tony doesn't prefer this one) or peanut butter.  There are a million names I have for her as you can probably imagine.

We sure love this little peanut....peanut butter that is.

Our routine when I eat breakfast and when I cook dinner.  We just bought a tray for the seat so now she can play with some more toys while she sits and watches me in the kitchen.  

Quinn & I

Groggy after her nap - like father like daughter.  Notice the drool.

Quinn is famous here in Japan.  Apparently fair skin and blue eyed babies bring good luck.  

Our friends here in Okinawa.  Paxton was just born mid September.  Isn't he a cutie? And his brother and sister, Gabriel and Ella.  

 

Iphone Update

Last week I went to develop some pictures from my iPhone and realized I had about 1,100 pictures on there!  I think it's time I start documenting some of the favorites and start deleting :)

This is one of my favorite spots in Yomitan - It's about a 10minute walk from our house and it's just so peaceful at sunset.  When the tide is low we are able to walk out on the rock... I've listened to some great music and had some pretty amazing times out there throughout the days living here.

Speaking of Yomitan, we are moving out of Yomitan to a place called Chibana in a couple weeks!  We are very excited about it.  We decided we wanted to pay a little less per month, live in a newer house, and be closer to base.  Right now the grocery store and my friends are a 30mn drive away.  It's getting old making that drive. Oh - and the golf courses (3 of them) are within a 10mn drive now from our new place for Tony.  He is very happy about that ;)  Here are a few pictures of Yomitan just so we can always remember ;)

If you look closely, that's Tony taking Quinn for a walk around the 'hood.  

Just a few different places in our Yomitan neighborhood.  They are all so different...

Some are very new, very old - and some are just simply ugly. (just being honest)

This will be our new place come November 15th!  There is no yard, but all that blacktop is basically ours.  We share it with our neighbor (just to the right of the picture).. The house is almost exactly like ours (bigger) and they haven't moved in yet.  I'm crossing my fingers they are either people we like and can hang out with OR they have a 16 year child who loves to babysit ;)

We will be about 5 minutes from Kadena, which means we are 5 minutes from the grocery store, the gym, golf course, etc.  YES.

Our neighbor here in Yomitan has an absolute beautiful garden.  On our nightly strolls I always go past it and stop and look.  Wish this picture did it more justice, but you can see why it's so beautiful.  Well, look what the typhoon did to it :(

I'm guessing this shows the direction of the winds during Vongfong.  Crazy, huh.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not sure what else it could be.

Last night we went to one of our favorite places to eat here in Yomitan.  Of course we have no idea what it is called, so we just call it the "pig place" because of the pig statue in the front of the restaurant.  We sat on the floor, true japanese style and had a great dinner with a delicious ice cold beer.  So once again, I have to admit, I still don't know how to use chopsticks very well.  I think I can blame it on my "half finger nub" - although that's just an excuse.  Anyways, when we got to the restaurant the waiter brought out a plastic bowl, spoon, and fork for Quinn.  (funny).  It was perfect because guess who got to use the plastic fork and not be frustrated throughout the entire dinner???? Yup, ME!

Last, but not least, I gotta throw in some favorites of this girl!  You might be wondering why I put a picture of that cute diaper.  My favorite diaper company (who delivers a months supply of diapers and wipes to your door back in the states) now delivers to FPO addresses.  It takes forever, but I'm happy about it :)

This girl LOVES to stand :)

One of our favorite times of the day: When dad comes home!

told you they are cute!!!!!

Hope you all had a wonderful month of October.  Time is flying!!!

Typhoon Vongfong

*blue dot is Okinawa

Since living in Japan (July 2013), Tony and I have experienced 6 typhoons.  Quinn has been through 2 already....

Of all the typhoons we've been through, Typhoon Vongfong was probably the worst one yet.  As you  may have heard on the news back home, Vongfong was considered the strongest typhoon of the year.. and the looks of it on satellite you could have seen why!  The typhoon was moving SO slow (around 8mph) that we had the strong, loud, obnoxious winds for nearly 3 days.  Here's the breakdown

Friday night:
The winds really started to pick up Friday night which caused a few lost "zzzzz's" on my part.  Tony and Quinn slept great - not sure how!!  We knew Saturday was going to be the worst day as Vongfong was predicted to hit Okinawa directly around 11:00pm.  I remember wondering Friday night how the heck it was going to get any worse!  It did.

PREPARATION

Satellite came off the roof

Margaritas poured (notice how small my drink is - had I not been nursing, I can assure you more margaritas and more wine would have been consumed)

Bringing the flowers/plants in.  The salt water ruins them in a matter of minutes.  I saved them all!

Filling up the bathtub, just in case we run out of water

Saturday:  Little did we know that today we would lose power for 28 hours straight.  The morning was fine.  Quinn took her normal naps (somehow) and Tony and I did our normal chores inside.  I made some food and did all the laundry in case I wouldn't be able to.  Around 2:00 the power kept going in and out. I crossed my fingers, but it didn't work!!!  We lost it at 3:00pm  The night was actually pretty fun.  We lit a lot of candles and cozied in for the night.  Quinn was amused and I'm sure was wondering what the heck was going on with her weirdo parents!

Through the window to our backyard.  Wish I would have recorded the sound of it that day!

Starting to burn the candles...

What else to do when you're bored????

Our Japanese neighbor brought over some GREAT curry!  

Tony made me some coffee from his Jetboil.  Thank god.

Saturday night:  I was over it.  The cozy night in, constantly checking the weather, the TV not working, worried all our food was going to spoil, blocking out the wind as much as I could, etc.  It was finally time for bed and there was no way I was going to sleep a wink.  I managed to get a couple hours of sleep, but I couldn't get much knowing that the eye of the storm was going to hit us.  My phone was about to die, but thankfully my mom bought be a pocket juice charger before I left the states.  That gave me another hour or 2 of weather updates.  Quinn ended up sleeping with us that night.  She also decided to spread her arms out as wide as they possibly could go, too.  BED HOG! ;) We put the sound machine on right above her head, in-between ours and turned it to the "rain" option - thought that made sense considering...

This is what comes up on our phones when there is an emergency.  Now if only I could read it!

Sunday:  Lets just say that being inside with no power for a day can really put your marriage to the test :)  Tony and I were going a little stir crazy...ok, A LOT.  We decided to get out and take a drive and look at all the damage.  The crops looked awful - so did all the trees, bushes, flowers, etc.  It was all brown and dead...so sad, especially for the farmers.  As I was putting Quinn to sleep that night the power finally came back on. I've never been so thankful for power in my life.  I felt human again.  After Quinn went to sleep, I ran a quick mile on the treadmill (training for the Thanksgiving mile run) and made some dinner.  Phew.  It was over.  Here are some pictures that I took from people who posted on Facebook.

Cape Zanpa.  This is about a mile from our house.... 

The typhoon didn't cause as much damage to the island as some were predicting.  I am thankful that the houses here can withstand all of the craziness that rips through.  There will be more of them in the next 18 months we are here, but for now I am happy that the typhoon season is about to come to an end.  Free until June now!!!  Or so we should be :)