The Third

A few more from a week or 2 ago. I couldn't even get him squashed into newborn poses, because he's so long and chubby already! Oh well. 

Beach Cuties

We went out to Araha the other evening to try and hit the sunset hour. Daddy didn't want to lay J.J. in the sand, so that's why there are manly arms in half the pictures. :) 
We should really go the beach more often than we do, with such warm water. 
I've been feeling more and more comfortable here in Okinawa. I have been for awhile, but it really feels like home now, so much that I want to stay for longer than we will. I think one of the biggest draws for me is how safe I feel here. Japan in general has a very low crime rate, and on top of that, we never hear about crime out in town on the news because we couldn't understand it if they were talking about it. Ha. I'm just thankful to live in a place that gives me so little fear in my heart. I didn't feel so peaceful in CA lots of the time. 
Anyway, enjoy the pics! I think the girls get more gorgeous by the day. D. is the most talkative and spunky 2 year old EVER. She even uses proper English a lot of the time, thanks to her big sister. 

Some more of J.J.

Here are a few more of him at 12 days new. We just went to the Dr. today at 20 days new and he already weighs 11 lbs. 15 oz! Just checked D's calendar, and she was only at 10 lbs. 12 oz. at her 2 week. I almost feel like he's not a newborn already. Part of me laments them growing so fast, but I know from experience now that watching them grow is so very fun and satisfying, so I'll pray that he keeps growing and stays as healthy as he's been so far. 

4th of July

We had a great first fourth of July here, although it was a little sad to celebrate D's first birthday without fireworks. The air base did have their big show a couple nights before, but the girls missed it. (J. and I got to see it in passing as we drove to his birthday dinner.) We let D. enjoy her morning with some presents, pixelated Grandparents on Skype, and a try at the cake. She just ran her fingers through the frosting and refused to take more than a bite of it, which was probably because of the random fever she was running. Bummer. (Turned out she had the fever stage of roseola.) After her nap, we were ready to go set up for her party at the beach. I think there were about 25 of us there, and we were definitely over-prepared on the food end, so we ate burgers, dogs, chicken kabobs, and pasta salad for awhile. I guess we've never tried to reserve a picnic table at the beach before, but it seems that here they all have kind of steep reservation fees. We had gone the week or so before to reserve a picnic table and a tarp tent to go over it, and managed to get it all figured out with the language barrier. I was ready with my "July 4th - Monday - 1:00" phrase and we got the idea of a grill across, too. We had wanted to bring our own grill, so she pointed to a price that was cheaper than the one to rent theirs. So they charge you here to bring your own stuff. At every big beach we've been to they rent out grills, and people grill up their yakisoba noodles and veggies while we Americans cook meat! We were lucky to have picked a beach where they let you even bring your own food to grill, because we heard that lots of the beaches here make you buy from their own little restaurants to cook-out. It'd be like planning a small wedding every time you wanted to go to the beach! Next time we might just have to rent one of their grills, as it was hard labor for Jose getting our huge grill (that I'd found on the sidewalk) down from our place to laying flat in the back of the van with all the seats folded down. God gave us a beautiful 4th of July here - no rain, only heat. I'm already eyeing spots for next year's party. :)

She didn't feel like getting her hands messy. Poor girl. 

I had to try some new cupcake "styles" from a book my sis gave me for Christmas. So the ones above are supposed to be coals on a grill. Does it look like that? I made the frosting too black. And that's the raw hamburger sitting next to them, made from rice cakes. :)

These cherry and berry pies were a little prettier than the coals. We still have about 2 big bags of M&Ms left of all the other colors, haha. 

Saw the idea for a round flag/fruit pizza. After I had made the crust, I realized I could've just put it in a rectangular pan and had a real flag shape. Our fruit from the commissary is not very good most of the time, but at least the flag looked alright. :)

Everyone else had gone home, but we ended the day watching the warm sun fall below the horizon. We were happy to celebrate this day together as a family. Looking back on the year past is always bittersweet. Happy 1st birthday, D! 

Newborn Pics

I've been waiting for months to take this little guy's pictures! I have a few more I want to take before he leaves the newborn phase, all too quickly. :( Our family is so incredibly blessed to have him in our lives. God has been so good to us. 

Testing out his bobblehead

He looks just like D. in this one

"Hello. I'm only 9 days old and I have a roly-poly chin already." 

My friend, Tracy, makes adorable crocheted hats, and she made him this one. Isn't it awesome?!

"Strike! Strike! Strike! Pulitzer and Hearst!"
The youngest Newsie - might even be cuter than Christian Bale. :)

Our New Baby Boy!

After what was starting to feel like a very long wait, we finally welcomed A. and D.'s little sibling this week! God blessed us with a very healthy baby boy, who will share Daddy's name. His birthday means we get to celebrate his, Daddy's and D's in the span of a week, and hopefully he'll never have to go to school on his birthday, either. :)

The short version of the birth story - I had taken the girls swimming in the afternoon, and Daddy actually made it home early to start dinner. We walked in from swimming at 5:10 p.m. and were eating by about 5:30. I'd felt a couple contractions in that time, and by the time we were ready to leave the table at about 6:30 I knew it was for real as they were about 7 minutes apart. While Daddy bathed the girls, I hopped in the shower and within the next hour, they were down to about 3 minutes apart and pretty strong. So I told him to start hurrying up with the bedtime routine so we could leave for the hospital. Got our kid-watcher here at 8:15, left at 8:20. Pulled into the hospital parking lot at 8:45. Made it up the elevator by 8:50. Water broke before going into the triage room. Went from the triage room into a L&D room on a quiet night, and little J. made his appearance at 9:13 p.m. I know lots of women have labors that are shorter than 4 hours, but I don't know how it could have gone much faster than that. I'm glad it was at night so we didn't have to fight traffic, or else we really might not have made it! It was awesome to go through the whole thing with a husband, and we were blessed with a couple great nurses and a nice doctor who were really accommodating to our wishes for the few minutes they had with us. Our first (maybe last) Japan baby! We couldn't have asked for a more wonderful way for him to come. 

The girls are absolutely in love with him. They both came into the hospital room with their arms up, D. saying, "Baby! Baby! I hold baby!", then fighting over who got to hold him first. They've been kissing and touching him every chance they get. I can't wait to see them with him over the coming years. They really are going to be great big sisters. 

D. went for the baby hat right away. 

I think he has A's newborn face here. 

His eyes are kind of grayish right now. 

He hasn't held his own newborn in 4 1/2 years. It'll be so nice to get to do these first few months together again. 

All ready to head home and start life together.