Before you were conceived, I wanted you.
Before you were born, I loved you.
Before you were here an hour, I would die for you.
This is the miracle of love.
– Maureen Hawkins
photo © Dreambox Photography
baby
Mio’s Newborn Photos
Earlier this month — on Mother’s Day, actually — we had the pleasure of having the lovely, uber-talented photographer Tea Ho of Dreambox Photography over for a newborn photo session for Mio. I absolutely love how the photographs turned out, and am so grateful to Tea for capturing baby Mio and our first moments as a family so beautifully.
Here are some of my personal favorites!
With Tea’s gorgeous photographs, I was able to design Mio’s birth announcement. I used my favorite blush tones and layered floral elements on top of a textured background to complement the photographs. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out! 🙂
We got them printed on pearlescent paper for a subtle shimmer that turned out to be a lovely touch. (My only gripe was that white text ended up disappearing a little against the background….)
We also got some Moo Cards printed to go with the announcements. The great thing about Moo Cards is that you can have a variety of photos/images printed on one side! We had four variations for the front…
…and the back sides all had a little plug for our blog here. 🙂
Thank you to everyone who let us know they received the birth announcements in the mail, as well as those who told us how much they liked them! I had a lot of fun creating these birth announcements, especially because I had such lovely photos to work with. A huge thanks to Tea for her amazing photographs! We will treasure them in our family for years to come.
Sweet Surprises in the Mail
We got a couple surprise packages in the mail this past week! The first was from my friend Aya (from Hiroshima, now living in Saitama). We met back in 2003 when we were both in Chicago, and although we haven’t had many chances to see each other again, we still try to keep in touch. She sent us these super sweet gifts for Mio!
Green tea flavored with cherries from Lupicia. The tin was personalized with Mio’s name and birthdate — adorable!
How cute is this jinbei for Mio? It’s still a little big for her, but it may be perfect come late summer… 🙂 I can’t wait for her to wear it!
The pattern is cherry blossoms… perfect for my little Mio. ♥
We also got a package from my cousin Yuko in Arizona! We opened the little package to find these sweet contents…
A personalized bib for Mio! Super cute!!!
I put the bib on Mio to take a picture, and ended up catching her first smile on camera! She’s started showing us some smiles since a couple days ago but they’re still few and far between. So excited that she has finally started smiling for Mommy! 😀
Reading with Mio
We had started receiving and collecting children’s books in both English and Japanese before Mio was born, so that we could make sure we had ample reading material for her when she arrived. We got a lot of books at our baby showers and also after Mio was born as well!
One of the clients I work with at our company sent us this awesome Dr. Seuss book collection!
It includes all the classics: The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Fox in Socks, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and Hop on Pop. We love Dr. Seuss, and this collection will be a family treasure for years to come! 🙂
Our friend Ali also sent us these neat books! Another Dr. Seuss book — Thidwick The Big-Hearted Moose. I wasn’t familiar with this one, and it was a great addition to Mio’s Dr. Seuss collection. 🙂
The other book, What will I be from A to Z, is a very cool vintage book from the ’70s! It’s in great condition, and is interesting to read because there are some occupations that are no longer around, or have since become very rare.
The illustrations inside are a lot of fun to look at!
Ali and her husband Tim have an Etsy shop where they rescue vintage books and put them up for sale to find new loving owners for them. Take a look at their Oldies & Goodies store and accompanying blog for some beautiful vintage literary finds!
Our friend Estella (who also happens to be one of my amazing coworkers!) brought over this Baby’s Book of Animals for Mio last week when they brought over a delicious sushi dinner for us. (Did I mention how much I’ve missed sushi?) It has some really cute photos of baby animals, along with all the sounds that they make.
Mio now has quite an impressive assortment of books in her little library. She is all set on the road to becoming a bookworm like Mommy!
Here is a sweet photo I took of Daddy reading one of the books to Mio. (She seems a little disengaged from all the creepy crawlies on the page… I don’t blame her!)
“If a brother steps on your Pumas…”
“…let it slide.”
Mio was a little fashionista today as she went with Mommy to the office to meet her boss and coworkers. A certain auntie would be proud! 😉