Monday, June 29, 2015

Baby boy, beautiful sunsets and awesome women!


 Cheers to adding babies to your family!


This weekend my AMAZING friends Laura and Nicole decided to throw me a surprise shower with all of my awesome friends from work. I couldn't believe every single person there was a medical provider in some way, nurses, dentists, surgeon etc. It was so funny, because you could just tell the conversations that were going on were medically based. I love it! ( Not that I don't love all my non-medical friends you're all special too :) )

We enjoyed a beautiful dinner on the patio of Sea Garden overlooking the ocean. It was high tide and although the heat is pretty brutal right now the breeze off the ocean was a perfect addition and made Sunday night such a treat.




I just LOVED this adorable cake!! It's hilarious because if anyone knows my family, they have an elephant obsession so this surprise touched home.


Thank you to all of my amazing friends, I wouldn't be able to get through most work days without your support, friendship and snacks. Thank you to Nicole (^^ Hottie surgeon above)  and Laura for throwing this, and Haruna for taking these wonderful pictures. It was such a fun girls night!


Monday, June 22, 2015

2015 States Vacations: Not for the weak [1]

If you have ever contemplated taking a Vacation with your 5 year old and your 21 month old, while being 31 weeks pregnant across the Pacific ocean, into 3 states and 5 cities.... DON'T DO IT, I repeat, think about your sanity and wait, or just don't jump houses every 4 days... it's rough... I mean sleepless, tireless, mental exhaustion.. 

But, if you are feeling a little daring and crazy and don't mind constant temper-tantrums and battling jet-lag while dragging kids to baseball games and families homes, by all means more power to you!


So, since we border on the lines of mentally insane we did it, and survived. We had to however in the middle of the trip say goodbye to our best friends on the island! These amazing people Annie and Victor have showed us how important and amazing it is to travel, even when it doesn't seem worth it. Without their friendship I'm not sure I would have been so happy over the last year and a half so it was terribly bittersweet riding our flight from Oki to Tokyo together….  They went off to go to Utah and we went on to LAX.



After the plane ride from hell, ( We were put in a row that was not immediately following another row, therefore the footspace was a little better, but you cannot lay a child across you because your tray/monitor are in the arm rests, bad news). Ian slept a good 3 hours (maybe) on the floor while the flight attendants told us it wasn't safe and we can't do that, we just covered him with a blanket. Stella couldn't get comfy, and Alvie and I didn't sleep at all. So when we landed in LA the jet-lag set in HARD.


We ventured to Ian's very first BASEBALL game, and Stella's first time at Dodger Stadium. It was a BLAST, and soo nice to have us all together with our family cheering for our favorite sport. Ian was hilarious cheering and Stella got put on the JumboTron screen with her awesome Dodger support! It was perfect. Just what we needed to battle the exhaustion.


Flashback almost exactly 2 years ago to the day! ( Ian in my belly, now #3!)






Next up was Las Vegas. It was nice to see family, especially my mom. She really misses the kids and Stella talks about Grammie all the time so just playing in the backyard with bubbles, water balloons and running through sprinklers was all they needed. It's amazing what simple things keep kids happy, makes me really wish we had a yard because they were SOOO happy just running around together playing.



Of coarse, with the luck I have no trip can be un-eventful!!! SO, Poor Stella tripped walking up my mom's stairs (tile stairs) and smacked her face on the top step. After one look I knew we needed stitches, which is surprising because usually I just tell her to suck it up and she'll be fine. Oh, AND Ian got bit by a dog, in his face.






Stella was SO brave! She did amazing and the nurse/NP were so impressed with how calm and collected she was. She couldn't wait to tell the nurse that I have had stitches and forced me to show them all my scars. Then after the stitches were put in she was so proud that, " I didn't even get strapped down like my mom did with her stitches, I just laid there and kept my eyes closed."  ( Always has to show me up :) )




Seeing my friends is always on my list of things to do when I visit, however this trip was such a time crunch in each city that it made it really hard. I was sad when I didn't get to see some other good friends but at least we got to see Tracy! Her kids and my kids are all the same age ( each 3 months apart) and now we are both expecting #3, and still keeping our normal schedules haha.   We went to the Orchards and picked some fresh apricots! The kids loved playing and it was nice to be out in the fresh air. Next we went to the Children's museum which was awesome!








With that Alvie and I got our FIRST AND ONLY date night of the entire trip, we went to Lola's which is my Dad's FAVORITE restaurant ( and mine too) it's SOO delicious and I am never left unsatisfied with the amazing Louisiana style ettouffe, blackened catfish, gumbo and jambalaya we get there... Pregnancy craving check!

Next up would be TEXAS!

Sunday, June 21, 2015

2015 States Vacation: The downhill slope home [3]



 The trip coming to a close was.... nice. I love being on Vacation, hanging out with family but boy let me tell you, after all of the flights, car rides and battling toddler tantrums I was getting a little homesick. (Mostly of daycare)

We decided that Disneyland was just going to be too much for one day (with me being all huge and the kids being crank butts) so we decided to hit a closer spot with LEGOLAND! My mom wasn't as thrilled because she's a true Disney lover, but I have to admit the prices and the pre-school friendliness ( AND NO LINES) of LEGOLAND did the amusement park trick. Ian loved it and was smiling and giggling on the rides and Stella was just in heaven! She was able to ride EVERY ride and boy did she get her money's worth.

The best part was Stella's first Rollercoaster equipped with butterfly sustaining drops. Her facial expression in the pictures was priceless and the " Mom I am going to throw up, I really think I am going to throw up," comments throughout the ride kept me laughing the rest of the day. But, all in all it was a great time.

Alvie got to actually have some man time with his buddies and get another round of golf in. That makes golfing in EACH of the States we visited, although the Dimmit course was questionable. It was nice having my mom to myself so she could really get time with the kids and Ian even seemed to warm up to her, a little. Overall this was a great trip!








 
After cleaning up in LEGOLAND we grabbed a quick bite of dinner with Henry, Chelsea and the kids and then after one more sleep headed back to LA the final DESTINATION.
 
LA was HOT, the first time we had been hot in the entire trip, but luckily it warmed us up for the Humidity in Okinawa that was waiting for us. We got some quality time with the family and then some delicious dinner.
 
 
Sadly however my eventful trip was not over yet. 2 hours before we were to leave LAX for Japan Ian broke out in a rash ALL over his body with some mild swelling in his hands and feet. We made the decision to just keep on with the trip and load him with some Benadryl to make the flight bearable.
 
We ended up having a MUCH better flight than the one to the states which was SUCH a blessing because that first one was a nightmare. However Ian's rash had not gone down, but instead got worse. So, another ER trip for us in the books, which makes 2 in 3 weeks. Some Steroids, a histamine blocker and more Benadryl and we were set to go. I had to delay going back to work 1 day but all in all Wednesday morning we all woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed and sooo thankful for a full nights sleep and being in our own beds.
 
There is something about vacation that really makes you thankful for your own home. Ian has been running around yelling YAYYYYY grabbing toys and playing with our kitty cat Taiyo.
 
This trip was a blessing and something we all really needed, to see our family and fill up on some delicious American foods we have been missing, but now.... BABY TIME!