Inconclusive Evidence

We are always asking Marie if the "baby is a  boy or a girl." She has yet to allude to an answer. So I asked her little friend what it would be. He smiled and said "A Boy!" I said, "really? It's not a girl?"  He paused, shrugged and replied, "Could be girl."

That is pretty much how our ultrasound went today. At first the technician seemed to think it was a boy, but she couldn't get a good still picture, so she started thinking it was a girl. Our little pumpkin sat curled up, legs tight together, sucking it's thumb for the entire hour. It seems we were intruding on nap time.

When I got Marie's ultrasound it was super fast. She faced the camera for a picture. She rolled around and they took a picture of her spine. Flipped around so we could watch her dance. Flailed her legs to show off her very obvious feminine side. Did a yawn for a picture and we were out of there in 20 minutes.

This baby has been so different from Marie. Quiet. Little nausea. No acne. Minimal mood swings. Who is this kid inside me? So far we are getting along great, but I would really like to name him/her. Maybe I shall call it Ponyo.

After the ultrasound I went to Popeyes to get a chicken sand and a coke. I've been planning this trip all week. They were out of the regular chicken, tomatoes, mayo, and regular buns. Instead they gave me a chicken strip on a hoagie with two pickles. Today was just not my day.

 Brett made me post the crazy seventh-inning stretch.

A Dietitician, Baseball, And Gender Curiosities

A long time ago I stopped posting Marie's height and weight stats. It's pretty obvious that she is small. Weight-wise she has been off the charts since 9 months old. And technically even at 27 months she is not legally allowed to ride "front facing" in a car seat, bordering a meager 20.4 lbs. But until recently it never bothered me. However over the summer she lost almost 1lb. That bothered me. So we took her to a dietitian. Here is us waiting for our dinner table to come.



Not to be rude, but I wasn't impressed with her advice. At one point she suggested I feed her "Go-gurts." Really, lady? You think I haven't tried that. And I'm no sugar fearing, healthy person, but I try to limit her "crap per day intake." I went into the appointment feeling guilty that Marie likes 2 tablespoons of brown sugar with her 1 cup cooked oatmeal every morning. I was ready to take my lashings. Twas not the case. But I suppose it's the oatmeal that keeps her alive. She isn't really isn't into any other foods on a regular basis. Here's how the dinners usually go, Elmo and Marie fighting tooth and nail over the food.

But it seems now that the weather has cooled down she is eating more and I'm not worried. I don't care what she weighs as long as she is healthy enough to keep up with the other kids.

So to finish our stats she is 50% in height, 0% in weight... and 90% in head size.

However, just because Marie is all brains, doesn't mean she can't enjoy herself a baseball game.

We took a 4 hour... yes 4 hour bus ride to Sendai City to watch the Tohoku Ratugen Golden Eagles (whew, and I thought Energy Solutions Area was a mouthful). They are officially the worst team Japan has seen since the 1950's. However they only lost by 1 run to the Siebu Lions, one of the best in the league.

The ride was fun, but very tiring.

The stadium was smaller than most US major leagues, but the spirit was pretty awesome.

The Japanese love their chants. Everyone gets these mini baseball bats and hits them together while they chant for their favorite players. We had fun mumbling along and whacking the bats together.

You'll see in the above picture the 7th inning tradition. They blow up these balloons and wave them around and at the end of the last pitch they let the balloons go. The kids who collect the most get a prize (or so we are told). We refrained from picking up other people's spitty balloons. Call me crazy. 

Marie, again, did really well. She ate a hot dog and we got her some KFC nuggets. You can't go anywhere in Japan without seeing the Colonel. My brother once told me the Colonel was Asian. Thought he was joking, surely he is from the South.... but after seeing all these KFC's I think he is on to something.

Lastly we find out the gender of the baby on Thursday. I can honestly say I do not care which gender the baby is. It just means I either put Marie's old clothes in long term storage if it's a boy, or I get to keep them out and paint Marie's room lavender if it's a girl.
However, if it's a girl we are not doing so well on the name suggestions.  We've been brainstorming as of late (here comes the part where we list some top choices and then feel a little insecure about whether people like them or not.... oh boy, take a deep breath and here we go)

For a boy it is pretty simple. I've liked the name Ezra since we got married. We can tell him he is named after a Prophet. And if he doesn't turn out so well we will tell him he was named after a 90's grunge band and everybody's better than him.
If there's a second boy I'm thinkin Rockwell. Porter Rockwell ? He's awesome. Norman Rockwell? Classic. Rocky? Awesome, again.

But for the girls in our life...... we are having disagreements.
I love Ariel, and Brett likes Bell. Each finds the other "too Disney" to use. However for the record, Ariel means "Lion of God" and "Victory under God." It also makes me think she could be an awesome gymnast.
"Olive" is still in the running (to some people's dismay). However it's a super cute name and if we used it it would be like, as Brett puts it, "giving everybody the [hand] because we like the name and know that nobody else does." So true.

We will see. Weigh in now. Gender ultrasound comes in 4 days!!!

because it's Friday in Japan

5 Seconds in Korea

This blog post will be longer than our trip to Korea.

Brett had a conference in Korea so we tagged along for 1 night.

We got these two pictures.

Korean Facts:
The meat is awesome, sorry vegetarians.
They have a COLDSTONE!
The Coldstone's size's are smaller in Korea.
Don't complain about the sizes. Your husband will be embarrassed.
Not everyone is as handsome as Jin from Lost. (... kind of made me sad)
Koreans are not as quiet as the Japanese.
Sometimes they touch your baby.
Sometimes they touch you.
Walk fast on unlit streets.
Get a good deal on a Coach Bag.

Ok, ok, Korea is not really that sketchy.
The people are are pretty outgoing, but diverse, not unlike Americans. Seoul made me a little homesick.
Also, we're setting up an American number soon so maybe you'll get a call from us... in the middle of the night.

Lake Tazawa

You totally thought I forgot to blog about last weekend. Well, my friend, maybe another day. Until then here is another installment of the Millburn's crazy family adventures!

Get in the car- We're going to Lake Tazawa!

3 hours and 1700 yen in tolls south of us is the beautiful Lake Tazawa. Don't worry, Marie made her stuffed dog pay the tolls.

We took our good friend Sara, (her husband just deployed and Marie is nuts for her)

Here is Sara in front of a stormy lake Friday night. The wind and rain was a wonderful change from the stale, hot humidity we've been dealing with.

The camp ground was really cool, and for extra you could stay in this tree house. I think I prefer to sleep on ground level, thank you.

 

Here are Sara and Marie. Sara helped us get settled when we first arrived in Misawa. She came to our hotel room (as we didn't have a phone), offered us rides, and took us everywhere we needed to get into a house, buy a car, and meet new people. We've been smitten by her ever since!

Picture of a disgustingly large moth for your personal enjoyment.

The smartest idea I've ever had was not to marry this man, but to rent the kayak behind him. It was sooooo much fun. Random story: Brett and I kayaked out deep into the lake to a floating dock to do some diving. The water, seeing as the lake is the deepest in Japan, was turquoise and tasted fresh like it was poured from the tap. We were met at the dock by a local who asked where we were from. We replied the usual, "America." (I'm sure he was like "duh" but he wanted to know exactly- so we said Utah/Idaho. And he was still like, "where in Idaho." I just laughed because like he would know where Emmett is. And then he said "I was just in Meridian last week." (This is all in perfect English of course). If your familiar with SE Idaho I hope you're as blown away as I was.

The weekend was great, we went with 3 other families from our ward. Our friends rock, they always suggest awesome places.

Ok, so we didn't take this picture. Did the snow give it away? I just felt we didn't get any pictures of how incredibly beautiful this place was. At least in the top 3 of the MOST beautiful places I've ever been.

Also, for you dragon lovers, this statue represents the myth behind the lake. Legend has it this gal prayed to be beautiful for 100 days. She then drank the water from the lake and was turned to a dragon and sunk to the bottom of the lake. However, there was also a man who did something (foolish or wise, depending on if you think being a dragon is cool) to make him into a dragon also and joined her at the bottom of the lake. Now their PG13 escapades ensure that this lake never freezes over.

And we'll end on that high note.

Kenji World & Daiichi Preschool

Have you ever been to Kenji World? Probably not, because it's in Japan. However we will take you if you come to see us. Here are the pros and cons:
Pros: It's Awesome
Cons: The flight to Japan is long.

Pros: Your children will worship you forever, even into their teenage years.
Cons: Everyone speaks Japanese.

Pros: You will look better than me in a swim suit.

Cons: Marie will look better than you in a swim suit.

Final Verdict: It's awesome so make the trek! And I have to say it's a pretty rockin place for toddlers. Mostly because there is a whole floor where you can go (once you are dry) and TAKE A NAP. That's right, take a sweet nap in the middle of the day. There are floor mats and everything. Just me, Marie, Brett (reading a book) and a bunch of old people. Doesn't even cost anything. And the Raamen there is pretty great (also Raamen has two "a's" so Brett don't re-write that when you do your edit of this post- that's right, he edits these ).

In other news Marie likes the beach here on base.  She hopes for a beautiful sunset.  This is Lake Ogawara which is about a mile from our house.  

She also likes to have her picture taken. She specifically posed for each picture... even the one above.

"Are you convinced I am happy?"

Note: she's not actually making any noise, she just thought it would make a good picture.

Getting better with the fake smile.

And this would be my favorite. 

Lastly, Marie started PRESCHOOL today!

Marie and Keaton carpooling to school.

I can't believe it myself. I never thought I would put my kid in preschool at two years... but she is in NEED of more stimulation. And what's better than learning a new language. Did I mention it's a Japanese Preschool? I am starting a Joy-School with friends, but I thought this would be fun and it seems to be affordable. I pick the days she goes ( I think no more than once a week is fine ) and she stays 3 hours for 1200 yen. Not bad. Wish the dollar would pick up (currently 82 yen to the dollar... and sinking- Yikes America!). But so far she loves it....

Well... except that she is scared of this sweet Sensei. The lady is SO NICE. I don't know why Marie freaks out when she reaches for her. Also Marie is wearing a play smock and white shoes for her indoor play. These people are clean! We bought them at what Americans call "The Bunny Store"- because there is a bunny on the sign and no one knows the name of the store. I brought Marie's dress list to the store and with a little sign language got the worker to help me pick up her smock, shoes and other necessities for preschool. I wish I could say there is a chance that I will learn to read Kanji.... but if I can verbally ask for directions in a year I will be doing great. So while she goes to preschool I intend to study some Japanese. Validating the use of daycare... I mean preschool. Right?
Hai. (Yes)
Soredewa mata! (See you later!)