Video clips of August

Just a mish-mosh of randomness from the month with our very, very active little boy...

Oreo Cookie Dumbness

We were watching "Minute to Win it" on TV.  We saw a clip of some of the silly challenges they have.  Ryuta kept criticizing all the contestants on the show about how bad they were and how he couldn't understand why they couldn't get it.  I told him I'd like to see him do it! So... hehehe

Gilroy Garden pics

My lil sis, Judy, e-mailed me some pics of our day at Gilroy Gardens...
Kai looked so cute in between Natalie and Kylie in their car seats!!
This is what it would look like if we had 3 kids...oh boy.

Kai and I on the carousel. Weeeee!!!!!!!!

DANG! Thanks, Dangs, for our day at Gilroy Gardens!!!

Kai at 11 months

Kai is 11 months now, but even so, there are still new things that keep popping up in his (our) life!  The 2 little things that POPPED up this month were his first 2 teeth!!  He had a low-grade fever and waking up in the middle of the night and woke up the next morning with 2 little wide tooth buds on his lower gums.
Can you see my first two teeth? :)

This one is a little more close-up..

 My kid cousin, Ashley, got married to her long-time boyfriend and baby daddy, Ryan Lundgaard, on August 14.  I had the honor of being a bridesmaid.  It was Kai's first time attending a wedding.  Thank God for all the family there to help with Kai, like Ryuta, mom, dad, auntie.. It was quite a time and a completely different experience with a breastfeeding baby in tow while wearing a strapless bridesmaid gown.  Kai and I missed the speeches, but we were able to enjoy the food and dancing.  It was a beautiful wedding and Ashley and Ryan appeared to have a great time.  They hired Ashley's old halau to kick-off the reception with hula and tahitian performances with some crowd participation.  We especially loved this little chubby kid named Kainoa (!!!!) who had the most hilarious facial expressions!  The wedding/reception site was so quaint and lovely in the gardens of the historic Ainsley house in downtown Campbell.  The end of the evening was really picturesque with Ashley and Ryan and the Lundgaards dancing up a storm with their norwegian viking helmets on with a backdrop of white christmas lights.  Good job, mom, on another thoughtful and well-planned event!
Me & Ash after dinner for her bachelorette

Evan said that his mom looked like a princess! :)

Long time no see! We got to see Nicole and her adorable Mara...

Ryan and Ashley met through a scuba diving class and share a love for the ocean and nature. Cool cake, huh?

The night was winding down...Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Lundgaard!!!!

This month, we experimented having a dog in the house with Kai.  My friend, Amy, is due to have a baby in October and was giving up their dog, Milo.  We had dog sat in the past for them and it had gone well.  Milo is a really good dog and very well-trained.  Kai really, really loves dogs and gets so excited when he sees them.  We only had Milo with us for 24 hours, but it didn't work out.  Kai is still a baby and has zero self-control.  When we'd put him on the ground next to Milo, Kai would get so excited and crawl as fast as he could towards Milo and try to grab him.  Milo felt really nervous and scared.  I hope Milo will find the right home with grown-ups because he really is a great dog.  Maybe in a few years when Kai is a little older we can try again.
Mom taking Kai and Milo for a walk.

Some other things that happened this month were a trip to Gilroy Gardens with Judy and girls.  Kai got to ride on some of the little baby rides and enjoyed it while I learned that my body is changing and that I actually can't really handle spinning like I used to.  Ryuta and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary.  Kai came with me for some of expo and got to spend some time with Ryuta and also Melisha and Ryan Gifford. 
We got to celebrate River's (Kai's big brother twin) 1st birthday.

Ryuta's tennis buddy and fellow magician, Alan, invited us over for a bbq with pickle-ball and mini-magic show (although we questioned whether he just wanted us to make sure his expired beer was still good!)  We got to spend some time with the Pons family.  Little Max spent most of the time sleeping!

On Kai's 11 month birthday, we celebrated GG (or G's) birthday.  

Kai with his teenage girl twin/cousin Monica (they are both 3/4 japanese)

Our little baby is growing up.  We look at him some days and he looks so tall!  He's not our teeny tiny skinny newborn anymore.  It is continually interesting to see how he changes.  I think he has my eyes and ears and Ryuta's cheeks, eye brows and hair line.  Kai is eating more real people food and he's learning how to put food in his mouth and NOT on the floor (or hiding under his high chair tray..) He still doesn't show too much interest in walking, but I don't want to push him to grow up too fast.  But man, can he crawl fast!  He has recently started standing on his own a little more and also clapping his hands.  He can do the sign language for dog and milk and more, but I'm not completely sure he understands what he is doing.  We have him gated in and blocked in to the family room which is where we spend most of our time playing with toys or reading the same books over and over again.  He REALLY loves the book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar."  He could listen to it again and again.  When someone comes home and frees him from his prison, he is ecstatic to explore the house.  Sometimes I put on the "Play with Me Sesame" which is a 20 minute version of Sesame Street.  Kai loves Elmo and laughs at his antics.  Kai's personality is still a little on the shy side.  Some of my friends have been doing the baby modeling thing, but as adorable as I think my son is, I think he'd give the advertising modeling camera people a headache.  He is so camera shy and avoids the camera.  Unless the modeling people want some great profile shots or pictures of the back of a baby's head, my boy is not their boy unfortunately.  Next month, I'm hoping to get him out of the house more to gymboree or to visit some of my friend's daycares to get more stimulation and interaction with other babies.  He still meets with some of his friends, like Keila and Jacob, and sees Regina's boys or Judy's girls occasionally.  I can't believe he'll turn one soon!

June July Videos II

Here's a compilation of recent video clips of Kai...laughing, crying, talking, eating, crawling, climbing, etc.

videos! at last!

I FINALLY figured out how to post videos! YAY!
Here are some flip videos of Kai...
Ryuta's birthday: We went into San Francisco and had a picnic at Crissy Fields near the Golden Gate bridge. Then, korean dinner with Yohei, Katie, and Keila.  After, we stopped by NOVA at Suju's and I surprised Ryuta the open mic with a surprise birthday rap.

Kai at 10 months

It is strange that in 2 more months Kai will be trying cake for the first time.  We have been trying to be so careful about giving him healthy, all-natural foods.. and soon, he will try CAKE! For now, he is trying more "real" solids like chunks of banana, peaches and plums, stews, cheese, egg, yogurt.
At the beginning of the month (actually 4th of July) Kai got his first fever.  It was quite an adventure for the 2 of us.  Poor little guy woke up burning hot and lethargic.  He just wasn't himself and wanted to just eat, sleep, and be held all day.  It was a Sunday, so Kai had his mama and his papa to give him some love.  The rest of the week was recovering and then getting a cold.  By the next week, he was all better, but boy was I ready to get out of the house...
Movin' and Shakin'
Kai has been crawling around more and more and FAST.  He is able to climb the stairs now... FAST.  He is pulling up and standing in his crib and with all the furniture.  If given the chance, he just loves to explore.  He especially likes to dig through the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen.  If it looks like it is not made for babies, Kai loves it. Good lord-- HELP!
"Look at me stand!"

"Whatcha doin, daddy?"

Summertime of Swimming
This month of July has been another busy month.  Kai has gone swimming a few times.  He loves to splash around in the pool.  Some girls from our high school babies group took their babies to a baby swim class at Clubsport.  They said that they dunked their little ones, so I tried it, too.  Kai did NOT like it one bit, but I think it is good for him to get his face wet.
Hanging with Tutu at the pool...

Keila came over to our house for her first dip in the pool.  It was a hot day, so we let them crawl around in their diapers.  The two of them looked so sweet and cute.
Babies and Mamas

Oooh, cell phone....

"Friends"

 
Kai's First Trip to the Zoo
We took Kai to the Oakland zoo for the first time and met up with the Price family, Bryan, Manal, and Zavin.  For the most part, I'm not so sure he really noticed any of the animals.  We would be looking at the tiger or bear and Kai would be looking in the opposite direction at a bush or a tree.  Oh well... we had a nice time anyways.
The Oakland Zoo

Our little monkey hanging out on daddy's shoulders

Family picture at the zoo

Price family picture at the zoo

"Wake up and see the giraffes, Kai kai!"

 
Kai's First Obon Matsuri
Ryuta's family sent Kai some yukatas (summer kimono.)  The only really fun thing during the summer in Japan are the matsuri (festivals.)  Everyone will dress up in yukata, eat festival food from the vendors, dance the obon dance, maybe hear some taiko drums, see some fireworks, play some silly kids' games.  We went with the Fukudas to San Jose Japantown for Kai and Keila's first obon matsuri.  They looked so cute in their little baby yukatas!  We ate some food and played some bingo.  We only spent $2 and we WON! It was my first time ever winning at bingo.  It was pretty exciting.  We got Kai a bowling set from the prize table.

Kai with papi

Kai and Keila in their yukata

Babies and papas

 WE WON!!!!!!!!!!!

 Family day trip to SF

Mom and dad have museum membership.  The Musee D'Orsay in Paris is currently shut down for renovations and have lent some of their exhibits to the DeYoung museum.  I had gone once to the D'Orsay in Paris and was blown away by all the familiar impressionist art collections like Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Toulousse Lautrec, Renoir, etc.  We went up to San Francisco to see the art exhibit.  After, we went to a nearby park and had a picnic in the grass under the trees.  It was a beautiful day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the museum

"Bye bye!"