Poses

As previously mentioned in my last blog post, Elodie has two new poses...

"The Cheeser"

"Muscle Girl" or as Joe says, "Stiff as a board!"

We love this funny little happy girl! :)

8 Months

Happy 8 Months to our little princess! This month she's developed quite the cute little personality. From being shy in Michigan, to making a complete fake"cheeser" smile and "muscle pose" where she straightens out her entire body while laying down and holding her breath. She's so funny! She even started making fake coughing noises to get the attention of Grandma & Grandpa and have little coughing conversations.

Elodie had her 7-month checkup where she received her next round of immunizations. She's still holding steady in the 75th percentile for height, and about the 65th percentile for weight.

It was really fun to be in Michigan for 2-weeks during this time in her development and watch her interact with family and friends. She certainly loves her Grandmas and Grandpas, as well as Aunts and Uncles!! She was spoiled and had her first taste of vanilla ice cream with Grandpa-A, as well as a tiny sample of cookie dough with Grandpa-S.

This past month she learned how to wave and do hi-5's, which is super cute. :)  She also learned how to drink from a straw, and has mastered the sippy cup - yippee! Right now her favorite things are books - she loves being read to, singing silly songs, jumping, walking around in her walker, skyping, being naked, eating/sucking tags and stringy objects such as hoody drawstrings, and swimming. Things she dislikes: green beans, noisy high-pitched Japanese school girls in her face, her walking/grunting panda toy, and the sun in her eyes.

I know I say this every month, but I really can't believe she's 8 months already. Time goes by so fast! I added a few photos from our 8-month photo shoot to the Shutterfly album Watch Me Grow.

Kakuozan Nittai-ji Temple

Kakuozan Nittai-ji Temple is only a few subway stops away from downtown. Nittai-ji means "Japan Thailand Temple," which stands for 'auspicious king' in honor of Buddha and Japan-Thai for the friendly relations between the two nations.

It was constructed in 1904, and then Nagoya was chosen as the location to bestow a Buddha relic and 1000 year old Buddha statue. I read that the temple was built as a repository for the true thumb bone of Buddha Sakyamuni, which was a gift from King Chulalongkorn, who was then a King of Siam (present Thailand). It was rebuilt in 1984. Thai royalty continue to visit here on trips to Japan.

5-storey pagoda next to the temple.

The entrance gate to the temple.

The main temple.

Inside the temple. Daily Buddhist worship is held at 12:30.

Priests chant sutras every day during the daily worship time.

Pretty neat that we live downtown, but yet can experience something like this only 15 minutes away.

Michigan Trip

Elodie and I had a great two week vacation in Michigan. Although, we had a really rough start to our trip! She was great on the plane and slept about 6-7 hours of the journey... most of you think, "Wow! That's great!" And yes, even though it was really great, you have to remember that there was still about 6-7 hours of her being awake!... sitting on my lap, on a very full plane. There's only so much you can do to entertain a 7-month old while confined to a tiny seat on an airplane. Luckily I had a very nice man sitting next to me, so he was constantly picking up her dropped toys. And what about eating!? Very difficult to spoon feed a baby while they are sitting on your lap. And impossible for me to eat any meal whatsoever. Luckily I anticipated this and packed several snacks and sandwiches that I could eat one-handed as she's grabbing at it. I had one flight attendant give me a hard time for turning down a meal... I mean, really... where did he think that I was going to put the tray of food? And even if I did put the food on the tray table in front of me - Elodie would have grabbed EVERYTHING.

Anyway, after we arrived, it was a brutal first couple of days. We both caught colds, so were dealing with being sick on top of the usual jet-lag and adjusting to the drastic time difference. There were several nights that I didn't sleep... at all. So needless to say, I didn't get much accomplished on my to-do list during the first week. But by the end of the week, we were both feeling better and sleeping better at night. So we had a hectic second week trying to squeeze everything in that we didn't get to do in the first.

Mainly on my to-do list was food: deep-dish Chicago style pizza, Qdoba, Taco Bobs, Panera, Sherman's ice cream, Clementines, Olgas, Olive Garden, Sweetwaters, movie theater popcorn, DQ, Bells, a huge American style breakfast, and Biggby Coffee... which I think I had just about every single day (my new favorite drink: Caramel + Marshmallow Latte!). And that was just eating out! I was also lucky enough to have my mom make lasagna, my Dad & Cory make a turkey dinner, and Mom & Dad S make steak, fajitas, and monster cookies!!! No wonder I gained 5lbs while home.

I was also able to have some ME time, which was definitely needed. My mom watched Elodie so that I could have coffee dates, lunch, and dinners with my girlfriends, go shopping, run errands, and I even went to see a movie! It was such a great feeling to get out and about by myself and hang out with friends. I love Elodie more than anything in this world, but sometimes I just need a break... which is something that I never get living in Japan.

Here are some pictures from our trip. You can see the entire album on shutterfly site: Emily and Joe's Pictures.

Happy Birthday, Grandma A!

"de-da-lie" song and ride with Great Grandpa Allers.

Play time with Grandma S!!

Roomie reunion - dinner at Old Peninsula followed by a night at Bells.

Helping Grandpa S make cookies, and sampling the dough!

Hanging out with Grandpa A!

Play time with Uncle Brian and Aunt Danielle. She loves her Auntie and Uncle!!

Our trip back to Nagoya went much smoother. It wasn't a full flight, so the nice lady at the Delta counter blocked the seats next to me and gave us an entire row to ourselves! Elodie had 2 seats to sprawl out on to play with her toys and sleep... and I was actually able to eat an entire meal on the way home. :)

But sadly, Elodie never fully recovered from her cold while in Michigan, so the transition back here is again very difficult. Not only is she jet-lagged and super confused with the time change again, but she's also battling a bad cold and not feeling well. Let's hope she feels better soon!

Thank you to everyone who made our trip so wonderful! I really appreciated all of the meals and babysitting. It was really fun to watch Elodie interact with family and friends. She started out really shy, but quickly warmed up to everyone and had a great time playing with people other than me, haha. And a big thank you to Kristin for flying in from NY and Jenny who made the drive from Detroit so that we could have some girl time. Love you all and am looking forward to seeing everyone again this summer. :)

Good Friends ~ Tea Shop

Some of the nicest people I've ever met!! We meet for lunch a couple of times a month at a little local tea shop which serves some of the best Japanese food I've ever had. Who would have thought that I'd move to Japan and become good friends with people almost twice my age that don't exactly speak fluent English!? I feel so fortunate to have met these wonderful women. Not only do they invite Elodie and me out for lunch, but they also help me with all of the little details that constantly make life living abroad difficult, such as: translating whenever I need help with both people and documents, teaching me how to cook Japanese food, showing me what things are at the grocery store (and buying me the correct products!), making phone calls/appointments/reservations for us, inviting our visitors over for a Japanese meal, karaoke, and tea ceremonies.... the list goes on and on.

I don't know how I'd get through the day to day complications of being a foreigner if it wasn't for their help. :)

E and her boyfriends ;)

Elodie and I had Shaun, Ethan, and their moms over for an afternoon of fun. We went out to lunch at our favorite Turkish restaurant right around the corner from our apartment, then came back to our place to go through used baby items given to us from a friend. We were all able to take home a few jars of U.S. baby food, toys, and clothes. :)

Tummy time ~ not exactly Elodie or Ethan's favorite thing to do. But Shaun is a pro and crawls all over the place now. It won't be too much longer before Elodie is scooting around too, that is if she ever decides to give being on her tummy a chance!

Ethan: "ooh let's get that toy over there." Elodie: "ummm, whatever."

"What?... you want us to smile? I don't think so, Mom!"

It's fun to watch these 3 babies grow up together. It's always exciting to see what new things Shaun is doing since he is 3 months older than Elodie & Ethan - we get a good idea of what things to expect and look forward to.

Vietnamese - Annam Blue

Two words to describe Vietnamese cuisine: fresh and healthy. Every time I visit the Annam Blue Vietnamese Restaurant in Nagoya, I love it more and more.

Vietnamese spring rolls - a much healthier version than the traditional fried spring rolls. All ingredients are fresh and healthy. The typical ingredients usually include shrimp, fresh herbs, lettuce, cucumbers, and rice vermicelli, which are then all wrapped in moistened rice paper. The spring rolls are served at room temperature with a variety of dipping sauces (my favorite of which is a mix of peanut butter, miso, and sugar). I read that you can find similar spring rolls in the U.S. at Trader Joe's... has anyone ever seen them there? I'll have to check it out the next time I'm in Seattle.

Pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup, essentially the Vietnamese version of ramen. Some of the ingredients include a variety of vegetables, noodles made from rice, and shrimp. Each time I've had this dish, the broth has been different. I've had it spicy, coconut flavored, and one time it even had a citrus taste... and all are good!

I'm sure this soup varies from region to region and restaurant to restaurant. I love this dish and get it every single time I go to the Annam Blue Vietnamese restaurant in Nagoya.

The best thing on the menu: Vietnamese coffee!! It's served with sweetened condensed milk - so you can add as much as you want to your drink. WOW is it good... and super sweet! My kind of coffee drink. I love the Phin filters, too. Vietnamese coffee is brewed and served using single-cup filters. It's served while it's still brewing, so it's very fresh. It's a simple and fantastic way to brew coffee... I am going to be on the lookout for one of these little devices! It only takes about 4-6 minutes from start to finish and serves very fresh, strong, and delicious coffee.

My two loves hanging out while I enjoy every sip of my coffee. To bad Joe doesn't drink coffee, he really missed out on this one! ;)

Okonomiyaki

I'm sure I've already posted about okonomiyaki, because it's one of our favorite things to eat here. Okonomiyaki is a popular pan fried food that consists of batter and cabbage. Ingredients and toppings are added and vary greatly depending on your preferences. Joe prefers the mixed seafood variety with shrimp, squid, and octopus; while I prefer the pork and cheese kind. I read that "okonomi" literally means "to one's liking," so you can pretty much order it however you want it. It's usually topped with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, green onion, dried seaweed powder, tempura crumbs and occasionally ginger. It's widely available at all festivals throughout Japan, too.

Okonomiyaki is known as a Japanese pancake. But even though it's cooked on a griddle and consists of batter, it is nothing like the fluffy sweet pancakes that we know so well in the U.S. Okonomiyaki is available all throughout Japan, but each region has their own specialty version. We've even had it cooked with noodles, which is more of a Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki dish.

The restaurant in the picture above is right across the street from our apartment. Very convenient! My friends Miyoko and Akemi have also taught me how to make this dish at home. With all the right ingredients, it's actually pretty simple. I've made it several times, but am still working on perfecting and making it the right consistency throughout.

Hanami ~ Cherry Blossoms

Hanami means 'cherry blossom viewing.' It's one of the most popular events of Spring, and the most beautiful time to be in Japan! Crowds of people gather together and sit under the fully open cherry blossoms, usually on blue plastic tarps and have a picnic celebration. There is usually competition for the prime picnic spots, and people claim their spots by arriving early in the morning and sitting all day long until the celebrations begin.

Hanami celebrations always remind me of the 4th of July in the U.S. Families and friends get together to eat, drink, and just hang out during the day and then go to the best spots to see the fireworks at night. Hanami celebrations in Japan are similar to that and involve eating, drinking, hanging out, and getting the best spot possible to see the blooms, especially when they are lit up in the evening.

We went down to the Yamazaki-gawa River to see the blossoms lit up in the evening, and it was spectacular! Truly an amazing sight. There are approximately 720 cherry trees here!

When the cherry blossoms are fully bloomed it almost looks like snow. The walk down the river here was absolute gorgeous - both during the day and at night. The weather forecast was predicting the cherry trees to bloom late this year because it's been a fairly cold winter here... but lucky for us it warmed up quite a bit recently and the trees were in full bloom this past weekend. I would have been really disappointed if we would have missed them (because we are going to the U.S. this next weekend!).

Beautiful day, beautiful blooms, beautiful Japan! This is one of those moments where I look around and feel extremely fortunate to be living abroad and experiencing another culture. :) I ♥ Hanami!! I posted an album of Hanami cherry blossoms on our shutterfly site, enjoy!

7 Months

Happy 7-month birthday to our little squeaker! She has been working on developing her voice, and now makes high-pitched "squeaking" noises, so her new nickname is Squeaker. :)

This past month she's mastered sitting up independently, but I often still put the Boppy around her because she enjoys throwing herself backwards and lounging on the pillow. She also loves using the walker and can now travel all around the house in it. She loves putting anything cloth in her mouth, so I've found her in the kitchen eating the dish towels, as well in the bathroom playing with our bath towels... such a funny little girl. But really she enjoys walking around the house... or more like jumping around the house in the walker - it makes her very independent! She's quite the jumping girl these days, so she loves her Johnny Jump Up that we have hanging in the doorway. She also jumps on our laps, jumps in the walker, even tries to jump when we have her in the Bjorn.

Elodie is also becoming quite a good little eater. She's had a variety of foods now, her favorite of which is currently bananas. We recently tried tofu too, and that was a hit! We've also started taking baby swimming classes - very fun, and she loves the water!

It was a beautiful spring day on her 7-month birthday, so we took her to the park for the first time. She tried out the swings, which she probably would have enjoyed more if the sun wasn't in her little eyes (rookie mistake... next time we need to put a hat on her!). Here are a few pictures from her day.

7-month photo session.

Swinging at the park for the first time.

Spinning with Dad.

Checking out the octopus at the grocery store.

Looking at cherry blossoms with Mom.