We Have Arrived

After a long flight from Chicago via Kansas City, we arrived in Tokyo three days ago. Since then, its been a whirlwind. We attended conferences, speeches and welcoming ceremonies, and skipped conferences, speeches and ceremonies to catch up on some much-needed sleep. We've met many of the people who will also be working in our prefecture (like a state in the States), a list that includes people from Australia, Ireland, South Africa and Canada. Many of them are very young, though not all, and seem to be operating on a kind of euphoric high that you feel having recently graduated from college, started a new job and being in a new country. To a point, its been good to be around. But I think we're both ready to leave the party-atmosphere of Tokyo and head to what will be our new home, Akita City. There are actually many people in our area who are our age. And we've already have multiple babysitting offers. Now all we need to do is get that baby over here.

A large group of us went out for eating and (some) drinking the first night for a get-to-know you event. Highlights for me included being able to successfully ask for the restroom in Japanese, and being told by an extremely inebriated young JET, "That facial hair on you is really sexy." I'm not sure that was a highlight for Tricia, who was sitting right next to me.

The next day we got up a four a.m. and managed to negotiate the subway system through Tokyo (with much assistance from a couple of new Japanese-savvy friends) to the the wholesale fish market, the largest of its kind on the world, which was definitely a highlight for all us.

There is more, but that is all for now. In a few hours, we are off to Akita City, where we'll be living and working. Some photos are posted below. Talk to everyone soon.





Early on in the flight ...



... 12 hours in.




Jason checking himself out in a Japanese robe.

The welcoming ceremony at the JET orientation in Tokyo.






On the way to fish market via the subway around 5 AM.

Jonas is one and has a new haircut!

We regretfully have not been updating this site often enough! Jonas is now walking/running all over the place and is leaving baby-hood right before our eyes. He turned one on June 5th. We had a birthday BBQ with a 'baseball cake' made out of cupcakes.

On Tuesday Jonas went to the barbershop in Brookside for his first haircut. He did a great job and sat fairly still with Jason's help. I think he liked the buzz of the razor.

Updates on what Jonas is doing these days--His first word was dog. He loves our dog Lou and all other dogs. When he sees a dog, he points and says, "do." He also says "ba ba" for bottle and 'talks' using all kinds of noises. His cousin Holden can really get Jonas 'talking.' Jonas also says bye, bye and waves bye. He is demonstrating his independence more by getting upset when redirected and is often on the go. He will stop and take a break to listen to and look at books, which is fun to watch. He is trying to use his spoon to eat sometimes, but more succesfully uses his hands. He likes to explore anything new and is keeping us busy chasing him wherever we go.

Right now, we are trying to get ready for our move to Japan. We leave in four weeks! Time is going by fast...We will update this more often while in Japan to help us keep in touch with family and friends. We are going to miss everyone!

Almost walking and eating like a champ

Jonas is trying to walk on some days, but for now, I think he feels that crawling is more efficient. He has been pulling up and standing since February I think, but is only taking a few steps at a time before either toppling over or bending down to crawl. In this picture his cousin Andrew is feeding him popcorn on Easter. He is eating everything and gaining weight now that he is eating solids well. He loves to eat almost anything we give him. Some of the things he ate this week: spaghetti, grapes, frozen berries, peas, yogurt, strawberries, egg yolks and cheerios.

Jonas has become quite expressive. When we take things away from him that he should not have (computers, cords, etc), his face turns bright red and he howls for about 30 seconds.
He is finally sleeping through most nights (YEAH!). He did wake up at 3 last night for a bottle, but that was the first night in a few.

He is enjoying books a lot lately. He sits and listens to a book and then he spends a lot of time turning the pages, looking them over and trying to eat the book. Today we read him a book with a picture of a dog on a couple of the pages and Jonas squealed and giggled at the dog. We thought this was amusing since this was not an actual picture...just a drawing of a dog. He does love dogs and all kinds of animals. He always notices dogs on our walks.

Jen, his daycare provider, told us that his favorite song is the Wheels on the Bus, so we played it at home and he bounced up and down and clapped. He does enjoy music and tries to play Jason's guitar.

We have been busy with family and friends. Loki had his first birthday party mid-April and Amari had her first birthday party this past weekend. Both parties were fun. We enjoyed family time on Easter and this past weekend. Jason and I left Jonas overnight for the first time a couple of weeks ago for a trip to St. Louis. It was my 10 year college reunion. I felt old. I also felt like a mom. Jonas had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Strait and we had fun spending time with friends. I did miss Jonas and enjoyed the Jonas/Mom reunion as much as the college reunion.

I have to post more often...I like the quick posts better, but had to write down what Jonas is up to before this stage passes us by and I forget...
This is a fun stage...it so fascinating to watch Jonas as he takes in the world. I will add some pictures from the past month or so.

from top to bottom: Jonas with Uncle Jason and Uncle Mike on Easter; Jonas with Cousin Andrew; Liv, Loki and Kevin on his 1st birthday; Loki protecting his birthday cake from Jonas; Lincoln and Amari at Amari's 1st birthday party (the other 2 babies from our Bradley birthing class)

The Little Tornado

Since Jason and I have not been posting lately, there is so much to say about this little guy right now. He is moving fast and has caused us to rearrange our living room yet again. He stands on his own occasionally and actually took 3 steps at Grandma's and Grandpa Strait's house on Sunday. We have not witnessed any steps alone since then. He has become a great eater after a slow start. We have decided that he just was not a fan of baby food. He loves to eat cheerios, frozen peas, tortillas and pita bread. At daycare he is eating all kinds of new foods with gusto.

I took these pictures the day he discovered the rubbermaid containers in the kitchen. He has been playing around that cabinet for awhile (we have to take dog food away from him quite often, because this is were Lou's food is). Anyway, I was wondering when he would find the food containers and on this morning, he opened the cabinet, peeked inside and proceeded to open it wider and within seconds he had pulled everything out. He loves to explore around the house and open drawers, doors and cabinets. So...we are having fun chasing him around the house and trying to figure out how to effectively baby proof our house. He also loves to go outside. If the door is open, he crawls as fast as he can to try to crawl outside.
This picture below was taken on a recent walk.

Food and Fun

Jonas tends to be a messy eater. Lately he has been eating yogurt, vegetables and cheerios. Today I gave him a cooked green bean and ten minutes later it was still in his mouth. I think he liked it.

On Saturday we went to Linda, Scott and Lincoln’s house for a Bradley reunion (our birthing class). Lincoln, Jonas and Amari (daughter of Tanya and Mario) had fun playing with Lincoln’s toys. To see more go to http://akingslife.blogspot.com (Feb. 12 post) We had fun catching up with everyone.

After a morning of playing at Lincoln’s house and a nap, Loki and Liv visited us. I am not sure why Jonas is upset in this picture; this is his mad face.

The top picture is from today. Jonas thought it was fun to spin the pedal on the stationary bike. I had my fifth snow day of the year and Jonas and I had fun together while Jason was at a job fair at UMKC. We missed Jason and he was disappointed that he missed out on the snow day. But we both have tomorrow off too because of the snow. The bottom picture was taken on Sunday while Jonas napped.

Jonas and Loki

Loki and Jonas had a nice visit the other day. Can you believe these two? They both have teeth, are moving and crawling all over the place and Loki is even standing on his own now! They usually try to grab and 'bite' each other, but not this time. Jonas liked playing with Loki's toys. Jonas will be 8 months old on Monday and Loki is getting close to 10 months.

So much has happened since that last post....
Jonas now has three teeth, he is crawling all over the place, he started going to daycare, he travelled to Mexico with us, he got sick for the first time (that was super tough for us all), he is eating cheerios on his own...
I just spotted the third tooth this morning when I was playing with him and held him upside down. I will post more later with pictures. I hope to try to start posting more regularly again.