4.27.2016

18 months of Lucy Joy

Lucy turned 18 months old on the 25th. It feels like a big milestone to me, so I wanted to be sure to do an update. I would say that so far she just keeps getting better and better! These posts are really for me to look back and remember bc i haven't been very good at writing in my journal. Overall she is in my favorite stage yet. When she's happy I just look at her and am overcome with how cute she is to me and all the little things she does. I could just squeeze and kiss her all day!
 In recent months she's discovered baby dolls and loves to carry them around, give them kisses and push them around in the stroller. It is one of my favorite things to watch her do. SO CUTE!
She is still a very picky eater.
Still my strong-willed child with what I can only describe as anger management problems lol.
She likes Winston but is scared of almost any other animal.
Still not saying a lot, but knows about 8 signs-more, all done, water, dad, mom, thank you, please, water, food.
She hates to have her hands "dirty" which is real fun when we're at the beach and she gets sand on them.
She's currently teething (i think/hope) and she's been pretty hard to deal with. I just asked Duke-"what else should I say about Lucy?" and he (jokingly) said "she's a monster, a terror." Ha, sometimes though that seems about right. Today I brought her to someone's house and for about 30 mins she threw a full on tantrum screaming till her face was red and sobbing till there was snot all over her face. It all started with a chair she was getting so frustrated with that we finally hid it and then it was all downhill from there. I have to say...if our next baby is as challenging as Lucy was/is...then I might need to go to therapy. ha. No she's actually not bad most of the time these days. But I did have a hard first trimester being pregnant, a long and painful labor, a very long recovery (like 10/11 weeks till I was normal), Lucy refused to breastfeed for a week, she had colic and just cried ALL THE TIME till 9 months, has always hated the car, hates to eat, and now she is just extremely strong-willed. She gives us a run for our money a lot of the time. At the end of the day though I'm grateful that she is perfectly healthy. That is a huge blessing in itself. I love her so much it's crazy. Just hoping that her teenage years are a smooth ride;). 
ready to go to the beach!
Always has her mouth open when she's thinking
Lately she likes to take things she's found and then lay on the ground to look at them. Ha.
That smile is my favorite!
Obsessed with these jellies on her feet!
crossed legs. I'm gonna miss these baby days.

4.24.2016

Sakura

Way back in February the cherry blossom trees bloomed. It is one my favorite things to see here. The sakura blooms here are a beautiful pink color compared to the white ones you see in mainland or DC. I have to say I'm a big fan of the pink blossoms! This year I went to a couple different places to see them. I went to Nago Castle and Yogi park in Naha. It was also Duke's first year to see them since they bloomed a little later than normal he was actually here for once. I took approximately 1 billion pictures and really tried to narrow them down. When things are so pretty it's hard to stop clicking the shutter button!!! I want to capture the beauty forever. So I present you below with about 1 million flower photos ;).
 Had to climb the tree
Love this picture with the two little Japanese boys walking home from school.