We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this announcement: Mirei has officially started walking! While she’s been doing some little mini-steps for the past week or so, she took her first “real” steps on Sunday evening to walk to Daddy, and I was able to pull my phone out in time to capture some of it!
I love her beaming smiles of accomplishment! Reminds me of when Mio took her first steps, because she was cheesing so much then, too. Hooray, Mirei!!! We are so proud of you, sweetheart!
(Excuse the awful mess in the room. You can blame it all on the little toddling one that you see there in the video, as she loves to pull out her diapers and clothes and scatter them everywhere. 😛 )
Last Saturday, we were invited to a pumpkin carving party with the Lee family! There were lots of Halloween-themed treats and games for the little kids, and our whole family had a great time taking part in the festivities with friends. Stephanie and Chwan were wonderful hosts and really threw an awesome Halloween party full of fun for all ages!
A decorate-your-own-cupcake station! Such a great idea.
Delicious Halloween treats!
Mio checking out the cupcake spider.
Mimi holding Mirei 🙂
Mio sharing a pizza with Daddy
Mirei loved exploring in the new environment!
Mio’s decorated cupcake
Mio with her cupcake that she decorated!
There were lots of cool Halloween games that Stephanie set up for the kids.
Dan with our nigiri girls
Our girls dressed as sushi! We’ll have to post better photos of the costumes later.
Mio loved playing with Danny’s hammer toy
Mio decorated her pumpkin with these cat face foam stickers.
The carved pumpkins! Everyone did such a great job carving!
Dan carved the raven one (in the very back). Good job, hubby!
Mirei is now nine months old! Which means she’s now spent just as much time out here as she did in the womb. (I can attest that the months outside have flown by much faster than those on the inside.) We’re continually stunned by how fast she’s grown and is continuing to grow, both physically and in her capabilities — I feel like she’s not really a baby anymore! We cherish this stage, as she’s becoming and more independent with each passing day.
(I’ll be taking photos of Mirei sitting in my white desk chair and wearing her monthly onesie every month until she’s one year old.)
Stats: Your 9 month appointment is not scheduled until a little over a week from now, so we don’t have exact measurements but you must weigh over 22, possibly 23 lbs! You just get heavier and heavier and neither Daddy nor I can hold you for more than a couple minutes at a time! While you only had your two bottom teeth for a few months, a couple of your top teeth are finally starting to emerge from the gums. Your hair seems a little longer and thicker now, growing off of the scalp now, and it looks like you may have the same curly textured baby hair as your sister! You are so bottom-heavy (for the lack of a better word) and have such a chubby butt and thighs that you’re already in size 5 diapers! (Unbelievable!) You’re now wearing mostly 18-month and some 24-month size clothing — while the sleeves and pantlegs are a little long on you, we’ve needed to size up to accommodate your girth. 😛 We suspect that you’ll start slimming down soon with all the walking you’ll do in the coming months!
Things You’re Doing Now: You stand for long periods of time without support now, and have been taking two or three little micro-steps here and there, shifting your feet along the floor without holding onto anything, signaling that you are oh-so-close to walking! Your separation anxiety is really starting to kick in, as you start whimpering and crying as soon as you see me exiting the room for even a moment. You love to crawl or cruise right up to me, stand up, and hang onto/pull at my legs. You’re starting to be very vocal, and you started saying “Dadadadada” and “Mamamamama” around the same time (on the same day, I believe!). It seems like you know what they mean, as you use them respectively to Daddy and I. You like to hit your fists together at times to show excitement or joy, and nothing makes you happier than when big sister graces you with some attention. At the same time, you seem to be developing a tough skin and can stand up for yourself — when Mio pushes you away, you’ll push back, or if she takes away a toy, you’ll try to pull it back away from her.
Now that Mirei is getting more and more active, she and Mio are also interacting more. While Mio still often seems to regards Mirei as a little bit of a nuisance, it’s sweet when we find that she is not just tolerating/ignoring her and letting her join in activities alongside her and even playing together.
Mio and Mirei playing in Mio’s room.
Backyard fun together back on first day of fall
This is from over a month ago, but Mio tickling Mirei with me:
Shopping at Home Depot with Daddy
Sisters napping together
Mio playing with Mirei… and Mirei deciding she’s not going to take it anymore.
Bathtime together. They both love taking baths! (And it’s so much easier now that we can bathe them together.)
Watching a Japanese children’s show (Shimajiro) together
Mio likes to crawl into Mirei’s crib and put a blanket over it, creating a little tent within it. Mirei usually hates being put in the crib, but she’s totally fine with staying in it as long as big sister’s in there with her! 🙂
We went to the first annual Tysons Harvest Festival earlier this month, and got to enjoy some fall family fun! There were lots of activities, great food, and cool vendors to check out.
Mio with her unicorn face paint
She is very into unicorns lately!
We met up with Pat’s family at the festival! Here’s Pat and her adorable mini-Pat! 🙂
Mio checking out the petting zoo at the festival.
Sleepy Mirei watching from her stroller.
At the craft table.
Mio coloring a Halloween crown.
Making our way around the festival, checking out various vendors.
We had some delicious banh mi and pho from this What the Pho? food truck!
Dan carrying Mio while in line for the bounce house.
Unstoppable Mio:
Mio came alive in the bounce house! She loves inflatable houses and was in her element climbing, sliding, and bouncing around in them.
Climbing up!
Sliding down! She was supposed to only go up and down three turns and then exit for other kids, but she refused to leave and went for about 5 turns instead…
Mio at the Yelp booth, making a lollipop spider out of tissue paper, pipecleaners, and googly eyes.
With her completed lollipop spider! She immediately wanted to disassemble it and eat it.
Mio and I. If my face looks strained, it’s because I’m lifting her up and trying to fit my face in at the same time…
Mio is a beer girl here.
With an Olaf pumpkin carving! According to Mio, she is Princess Anna (occasionally switching to Elsa) and Mirei is Olaf. lol… I suppose Mirei’s lack of hair does make her resemble the snowman!
