Mirei’s friend Lily turns one on Christmas Day, but her parents celebrated her birthday early this month with a Frozen-themed first birthday party in Alexandria. I’ve known Lily’s mom since we were kids ourselves as we went to Japanese Saturday school together growing up, and we reconnected this year after finding out that we have baby girls born only a month apart (to the day!). We were so happy to get to be a part of Lily’s very special birthday celebration!
Dan & Mirei at Lily’s Frozen-themed birthday party. So appropriate for the season!
The birthday girl! Loved her outfit!
She’s such a sweetheart.
The kids got to romp around in the soft playroom for an hour.
Mio, being the wild and active girl that she is, thoroughly enjoyed the playroom.
Mirei joining in the fun
Lily and her mama Moe-chan
Mirei & Lily together
Mio being interesting…
M&M in the ball pit together
Mirei being rocked by Daddy
Video clips that Dan captured of the kids playing in the playroom. They had a blast!
Afterwards, we went back to the party room to have some birthday cake!
Look at this gorgeous birthday cake!
Frozen-themed treats!
Cupcakes looked amazing, too!
Lily smashing her birthday cupcake.
…and of course, Mio was happy to enjoy one, too!
Happy early birthday, Lily! Thank you for inviting us and letting us be a part of all the birthday fun. ♥ Let’s play again soon!
Mirei tried corn for the first time the other day, and we decided to just give her a whole corncob to see if she’d be able to successfully eat the corn off of it now that she has five teeth. She actually ate the corn pretty thoroughly, but we couldn’t help but laugh at some of the faces she made while she was gnawing on it!
Thanksgiving is much anticipated in our household, and this year Dan took the reigns and handled most of the cooking, while I helped out here and there as sous chef. My mom didn’t have to lift a finger, and we got a delicious Thanksgiving dinner on the table for all to enjoy!
Our Thanksgiving dinner! And this doesn’t even include dessert…
The amazing spread
Mirei’s first Thanksgiving
Mio with Auntie Miwa on Thanksgiving
Mio with Daddy on Thanksgiving
post-Thanksgiving dinner selfies with Mio
I’m so thankful that these girls are healthy. That as a family, we laugh often. That despite all the ways I stumble along, they make me feel like I matter. That my husband is gentle, loving, and patient. That we have friends to love, who also care about us. That we have food on the table and a safe place to fall asleep each night. It makes me wonder how I’m worthy of so much. I still don’t have the answer, but oh, my heart could burst with gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
We spent a Saturday afternoon at the playground at Cunningham Park with the girls in late November — it was really brisk that day! Now that Mirei is walking, she can enjoy the playground a lot more alongside Mio.
The cold doesn’t stop these girls!
Bundled up and having fun!
Our purple Michelin baby coming towards me:
Going down the slide together.
Why so serious?
It’s so sweet to watch them begin to play together… 🙂
Stats: At your doctor’s appointment a few weeks ago, you weighed 22 lbs 9 oz, so we’re pretty sure that you must weigh around 23 lbs by now! You measured 29.5 inches tall, and have a head circumference of 18 inches… all three of the growth measurements are above the 90th percentile! A lot of strangers that see you are surprised to hear that you are still under one year old because you’re so big and active for your age. It seems like your weight gain is tapering off, and you may even be losing a little bit of your chunkiness between all the moving you’ve been doing and the fact that you got sick a couple weeks ago and didn’t have as much of an appetite. Your top two teeth have completely grown in now, and a third one is emerging… making it a total of five teeth you have now!
Things You’re Doing Now: You took your first steps the day after you turned nine months old, and you’ve been perfecting your walk this past month! You rarely stumble now (and when you do, you know how to expertly land on your tooshie), and you’ve gotten really fast at walking! You’ll walk a few laps around the dining table, and can power walk across the room in a matter of seconds if you see someone you desperately want a hug from! You love getting held, and it feels like you’ve gotten clingier than usual in the past few weeks — you get very upset if we put you down for even a few seconds, and are showing signs of major separation anxiety! You also don’t smile as readily to strangers anymore, so maybe that shyness/”stranger danger” sense is kicking in. We are impressed with some of the cognitive ability that you’ve been exhibiting, like remembering exactly where to find certain things that are stowed away in drawers, and opening them to access them. You react to certain words with upset cries or excitement, showing that you understand some of the words that we use often. You like having “conversations” with us, repeating certain simple syllables with very expressive tones — sometimes softspoken and affectionate, other times bossy and demanding. You have quite an appetite, and want to try everything we’re eating! You’re really strong and are always trying to wriggle away during your diaper changes, and have started pushing against us with all your weight in protest at times. Your smiles are the best — big and wide, and can light up the room! Everyone that meets you seems enamored with you as you are quite the charmer. We are so thankful that we get to enjoy these precious smiles every day!
