Here are some photos from Fourth of July weekend! We spent it quietly at home, but Dan’s sister came down to visit from New York, and Ted & Elisa also came over so we had a lot of great family time together.
The girls in their red, white, and blue!
Here is Mirei on all fours, bouncing and rocking back and forth. She’s definitely getting ready to crawl!
Mio with a sparkler for the first time (with some help and supervision from Daddy, of course).
Holding a big firework with Mama Mirei making more attempts to crawl. She can sit up pretty well unassisted too, although we still spot her from behind…
I made sidewalk ice chalk for the first time.
It was great for showing how colors mix to make new colors, and I mixed baking soda into the ice and sprayed them with vinegar on the sidewalk to cause a reaction. Art + Science lesson in one!
Dan’s sister Hyo took some great photos of the girls too, so I’ll go ahead and share them here as well.
Painting with Mama on the porch.
Mirei hanging out with Auntie Miwa on the porch. Twinkly-eyed… while grabbing Auntie’s face.
Hope everyone had a great Independence Day and holiday weekend! 😀
We spent Memorial Day at home, BBQ-ing and relaxing with the family. Of course, we can’t celebrate this day without remembering the ultimate sacrifice that those in the military have made for the rest of us. Thanks to those who make those sacrifices to defend and protect, we can live in peace and we honor them on this day. We are forever grateful for their service.
Chicken satay, kalbi, and shrimp skewers on the grill.
Mio on Memorial Day
Under the sun umbrella
Mirei under the umbrella, getting shieled from the sun.
Sucking on her bib.
You can see the umbrella’s colors reflected in Mirei’s eyes.
The day after our routine ultrasound, we gathered a bunch of the family members and had a mini gender reveal party on Saturday afternoon, so that everyone could find out whether our second baby is a boy or a girl. (Some of my siblings had ongoing bets since the beginning of the pregnancy on what gender this baby would be, and they were eager to cash in!) We had some delicious cupcakes ordered from Georgetown Cupcake, filled with either blue or pink buttercream to show what the gender of the baby was! Mio was tasked with revealing the inside filling by biting into a cupcake.
Here’s a video of the gender reveal fun!
Delicious cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake!
Topped with fondant ducks, they were filled with butterecream colored either blue or pink to reveal the gender of the baby.
Pink filling, which means… It’s a girl! ♥
So there it is! We’re thrilled to announce that we’re having a girl! Mio will have a little sister, who she will grow up to (hopefully) be best friends with. I cherish my own relationship with my younger sister, and so I’ve always hoped that Mio would get to experience the same joys of sisterhood. I’m sure they won’t be without their moments of competition and occasional jealousy, but it will be so beautiful to watch them grow up together. As for me, I’m elated to be a mother of two sweet daughters — I’ve always imagined myself a mother of daughters, and I look forward to the bond we’ll share as the ladies in the family. 🙂 Dan is very happy, too; Mio has been more attached to Dan lately and is growing into a total Daddy’s girl, which melts his heart! He’s very doting and protective over his little girl, and I know he’ll be like that with our second baby girl, too. ♥