Team Juloa

24 July 2012

Firsts in the Bay Area

This past weekend, Ruby and I flew down to the Bay Area of California to visit Traci and Emilia (Herman was out of town) and attend our yearly shopping adventure at this year's Renegade Craft Fair. Yes, we've been doing a lot of flying lately and no, I'm not an expert at flying with a baby. In fact on the way down to California, Ruby refused to sleep on the plane, insisting instead to play with everything in sight. Oh, and did I mention we were sitting in a middle seat? Let's just say that I'm learning how to travel with her through trial by fire.

Anyway, back to my post....sorry for the tangent.

This particular visit to the Bay Area had a lot of firsts for Ruby.

It was her first time meeting Emilia.

The girls did great together.

It was her first time meeting her Aunt Traci. Excuse the blurry iPhone photo. Ruby had so much fun laughing at Traci's games and tricks. Traci admitted to me that they were the same tricks she used for her cat.

Hey, whatever works, right?

It was her first time meeting Madisyn, who was born about a week after Ruby. Jen, Madisyn's mom, is Traci's sister-in-law and my friend. I met Jen several years ago on our trip to China. Jen and I both shared the same due date, similar birthing experiences, and both had baby girls. We've kept in touch throughout the journey of becoming moms and it was great to finally be able to get the girls (and us) in the same place.

We think both girls look like their dads.

Trying to get a photo of the three girls looking at the camera was pretty much impossible. Ruby was suddenly obsessed with that blue cube when we decided to take a photo of them.

It was the first time Ruby got to dress up in costume. We attended a friend's Star Wars-themed birthday party (it was an awesome party by the way). All the kids got Jedi robes, even the babies. Ruby's robe was a little big on her.

Ruby and Madisyn all dressed up!

Emilia, Jedi warrior!

It was Ruby's first time attending the Renegade Craft Fair. Traci and I have made it a tradition to attend the San Francisco Renegade each year. We now have a standing date every July. Ruby did great, especially considering she was way off her usual nap and eating schedule. Overall, she was a pleasant shopping buddy.

Here are some of the goods from this year's fair:

The girls were all smiles for the photo op!

It was her (and my) first time going up and then down Lombard Street. The picture isn't great because I was tucked in the back seat with the kiddos, but you get the idea.

Finally, it was her first time meeting her grandpa. Prior to this trip, we've only been able to Skype or FaceTime with Noa's dad, but I had a small window for us to meet up with him.

I think they were enamored by each other.

It was such a fun, but much too short, trip. We can't wait to go back. We're not sure when that will be, but I know for sure that we'll be back next year for Renegade 2013!

*Special thanks to Traci for being so generous about sharing her stellar photos. They put my iPhone pics to shame.

16 July 2012

8 Months!

Today Ruby is officially 8 months old! Each month I take her picture in a 12-month onesie laying on the quilt given to her by Oma. Here she is this month and wow - that onesie is going to fit her soon!

Age: 8 months

Weight: almost 15 pounds (weighed at home)

Length: 26 3/4 inches

Sleep: sleeps in her crib, wakes 1 - 2 times a night; typically takes 2 - 3 naps each day, will soothe herself by sucking her thumb

Eating: breastfed with supplemental formula, 4 - 6 oz of solids a day, still eating infant cereal mixed with solids, likes the mum-mum crackers still, but isn't fond of any other baby cracker, tasted a lemon slice (wasn't a fan)

Appearance: blue eyes, light blond hair, wearing 3 - 6 month clothes, 2 bottom teeth

Ruby is on the go! Although she's not officially crawling yet (although I think it will be very soon), she still gets around. She scoots, rolls, and will even try climbing. She can get into the crawling position, but then gets stuck on what to do next, so she either rocks back and forth or cries in frustration.

I think she's close to getting more teeth, since she drools a lot and is biting everything, including me. She puts all her toys in her mouth and will hold her own bottle when eating. The one thing I haven't been able to get her to put in her mouth are the small baby crackers. She'll play with them, but not put them in her mouth yet. Once she shows an interest in those, I'll most likely begin feeding her small pieces of food. For now, she is eating the purees and becoming a champion eater! She used to be so messy and get food all over her face, hair, hands, tray, and even us, but now she'll open up her mouth like a little baby bird and keep most of the food in there.

Her hair has lightened up a lot and seems to get blonder by the day. I refer to the hair on her head as a puff because it doesn't seem to lay flat. It's extremely fine - I still can't keep a barrette in it, so I'm sticking with headbands for now. Most days she goes without one though, since it makes an indent in her puffy hair and it looks kinda strange when she decides she's had it with the headband.

Some of the new, cute things Ruby has developed over this month:

- making "tiger" noises: we have no clue where she got this, but Ruby will now "roar." We refer to her as our little tiger.

- the laugh/cough: no, she's not sick, but she'll throw in a little cough with her laugh. It's weird and funny all at the same time.

- turned up the volume: Ruby can be loud, especially in public, by making loud laughs, coos, or shouts. She's especially adept at this skill when we are in a restaurant. It's always easy to find our table.

- army crawl: She's all arms down, scooting forward, and on a mission.

- helping get up: Ruby likes to help us get her out of her car seat, high chair, crib, or whatever, by leaning forward with her arms out. It's pretty cute.

- grabbing the dog's ear: Gunnar does not appreciate it at all. Thankfully, he runs away afterwards and has never shown any aggression towards her. Love my submissive little boy.

We've been doing a fair amount of traveling lately, especially the Rubester and myself. I have to admit that she's not the easiest baby on an airplane, but I don't blame her. Oftentimes, she's simply tired and has no way to lie down like she is used to at home. So, she'll fight sleep by arching her back and fussing. I'm learning how to deal with this behavior on the plane and so far I've had very understanding travelers seated next to me, thank God.

Even with traveling issues, Ruby becomes more and more fun every day. I am still in shock that she's already 8 months old. I was warned that time flies by with a baby, so I should have known that this would happen, but it's still hard to see her grow so fast. It's hard to hold on to all the infant moments while still being excited to see what she'll do next. For now, I'm trying to catch as much as I can on camera so that I can remember all this special little moments.

Oh, and of course, I have the blog. :)

Happy 8 months, Ruby!

14 July 2012

Seattle Oki Reunion 2012

It's not often you find friends who can just pick up where they left off. Even with the span of days, months, even years, these friends can still laugh, cry, and go along the journey of life with you. We often think of our Okinawa friends as family and this weekend, some of our "family" came together to spend time together in beautiful Seattle. There were four families total: the Scherdens, Grubbs, Andrews, and us. For some, it had been years since seeing each other. Children have grown, new children have been born, and we've all gotten a little older, but being back together again was like bringing the gang back together as if we hadn't even left Okinawa.

Thanks to Emily, who found this gem, we stayed in a rental house in the University District of Seattle. It was perfect for our group of four families. It was at the end of a dead end street and next to a walking trail that connected to a local park. Driving to downtown was easy and we all seemed to have plenty of space. It was ideal and look at how cute the house was (this picture was from the rental listing since I forgot to take a photo of it when I was there - whoops!):

Our family was the last to arrive late Tuesday night. All the kids were already running around the property and we introduced everyone to Ruby. She wasn't the only baby there. The Andrews welcomed a little girl, Lily, to their family on Valentine's day, so Ruby had a baby buddy throughout the trip. The two babies were really cute together and Lily kept reminding me of Ruby at that age.

Me holding Lily (just turned 5 months) and MaryAnn holding Ruby (just about 8 months) on our first night. The two girls are almost the same size!

For our first full day, we decided to do some sightseeing in Seattle. The gang headed to the Space Needle first. We arrived a little later, since Ruby was still taking her morning nap, and didn't make it up to the top but scouted out the area instead.

Once we all met up at the bottom, we grabbed lunch and then walked to Pike Place Market. The ladies had to get the obligatory market group shot. Don't we look like a happy bunch?

The girls, from left to right: Emily, MaryAnn, me, and Tritia

Although crowded, the market proved to be a great stop. We did stop at watch the fish throwers, which is always entertaining. At one point, one of the fish stand workers asked the crowd if there were any questions and Jackson, Emily's son piped in with, "how do you catch the fish?" The worker was super nice and pulled Jackson out of the crowd to give him a lesson on fish catching. It was pretty cute and Jackson was able to catch one of the famous Seattle fish. Yay, Jackson!

Jackson talking to the fish stand worker.

Practice makes perfect!

And catch!

The kids put money in the bronze pig (Rachel the Pig) at the entrance to Pike Place Market, which funds various social services.

We sampled various food items from the food stands and purchased a bouquet to bring back to our house. Sophia helped pick it out.

And we just HAD to go get some coffee from the very first Starbucks.

We were just a little excited....can you tell?

Then, we hit the park.

The kids: Jackson, Sophia, Grace, Jayce, and Kai

Me and Ruby (love those teeth on her little smile!)

Lily and Ruby sharing toys

After that, we trekked back to the cars by riding the Seattle monorail, which is pretty small (only two stops). We had to take a couple of trips in order to get everyone to the house with only three cars, so Emily, Tritia, and I stayed behind and sampled some local beer before heading back home. Ruby was there too, but she decided to take a little snooze.

That evening, we hung out at the house, eating grilled food, applying temporary tattoos and playing games.

The next day was our "local" day. There was a park pretty close to the house, so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and hang out there for the day. There was a playground for the little kids...

And lots of open space for the "big kids" to throw around the disc (back in Oki they all played Ultimate Frisbee on Sunday afternoons and played a few tournaments on the island). We brought the disc that was sent to Noa, for his birthday, from his Oki buddies while he was deployed to Kuwait years ago.

Tritia had picked up matching outfits for the kids so that we could get some nice photos of all the kids together. Although the outfits looked great, it was quite an ordeal trying to round up a bunch of kids all under the age of 9. We were able to wrangle them together, although not everyone was happy about it. Poor Jayce didn't want anything to do with the kids photo.

We were, however, able to get a great group photo. This is my favorite photo of the entire trip.

You may have spotted a new family in the bunch. Angie, who used to teach and live in Okinawa, knew everyone in the group (except us; we met her for the first time this trip, even though she now lives in WA!) and joined us for the day. She had her two beautiful children with her and she has one on the way!

After photos, we pulled out the bubbles. The kids competed on making the biggest bubble, the most bubbles, and popping the most (Jayce, who is two, won this category hands down. He is now dubbed, "the bubble slayer").

This was Ruby's first time with bubbles and I think she is still not sure what they are.

That night, we had a Mexican feast and an impromptu dance party in the living room.

After the kids went to bed, the adults stayed up to play card games and visit. It was the perfect way to end the night.

Yesterday was our last day at the house and it mostly involved packing things up and getting out on time. The Andrews had to leave on an early morning flight and the rest of us were headed back over to the other side of Puget Sound. We stopped at Red Mill Burgers for lunch (yum!) and then rode the ferry home.

The Scherdens spent a night at our place. Grace just adored the dogs and wanted to be with them 24/7. She was finally able to get them to stay still when she coaxed them onto the chair with her.