Annie Writes.: March 2015

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Everyday Baby Lifesavers: 6-ish Months

I did a post before for the early infant stage, and I have realized that they all have changed now! When I say baby lifesavers I mostly mean lifesaving for me. Baby J probably couldn't care less (except for his bouncy swing)

1. We bought one of these chairs and keep it in the car. We kind of go out to eat a lot, so this makes things easy since it works with most tables. It's definitely more comfortable for him than the usual restaurant high chairs.

2. Large plastic bibs from the hundred yen store: great for a baby who tends to spit and slobber his food everywhere. Intentionally of course: he loves being a tease.

3. Again for eating out, we always try to sit in a booth--lots of restaurants here have couches. It was the best before he could sit up. We just lay him down and let him play.

4. Random Objects: You don't need toys for babies this age. Just give them any random thing (baby safe, of course) and enjoy the time it buys. This picture depicts Baby J enjoying a package of elastic for a good chunk of time while I got dressed in the morning.

5. Bouncy swing. The best! The first one I had was one a friend was letting me borrow. Then she told me her movers were coming and I immediately bought one on amazon. Totally worth it. He has the best time in this thing and spends lots of time in it. He really wasn't into it until about 6 months.

So if you have a baby approaching this age, I hope you find joy in these things as well, ha. Until next time!

Friday, March 20, 2015

After Okinawa: The Future is Bright

All these beautiful photos taken by my friend Amanda Marshall who we seem to be following around--first Okinawa and now this beautiful place.

Now that we know what we are actually doing I can announce it, assuming nothing will change. We found out this week that in just a few months we will be heading back to the good ole' U.S.A. More specifically: Monterey California!

Victor will be getting a masters degree there from the Naval Postgraduate School and we are so excited. We are also feeling really grateful that Victor is able to get a masters degree while still being in the Marine Corps. It means that besides our own personal travel, we will not be moving abroad again anytime soon, which is kind of bittersweet. It also means that we are leaving Okinawa more than six months earlier than we planned, which is straight up heartbreaking to me. And we are leaving before I have the chance to climb Mt. Fuji, which was the last thing on my most important bucket list. We had the hotel booked and everything.

But onward and upward! We are counting our blessings. Having babies makes you so much more aware of the distance of being so far from family, so we are so grateful to be going back to the same country and see them more, and so they can see our baby (and future babies) since babies change so quickly. And we are so grateful to be able to continue our educations while staying debt free. When I read back on this paragraph it makes me realize how grateful to God I am for such an outpouring of blessings.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Mama-San Beach. Heaven.

Beach days are back and they are glorious!

My sister Camille has been visiting these past few weeks, and it has been too cold to do beach stuff. We went snorkeling this weekend but had to wear wet suits. But these last two days have been so amazing. We spent yesterday afternoon at the beach closer to my house and today I took her to my special place. My favorite beach of all the beaches. Mama-San Beach. We all had such a wonderful afternoon. We even snorkeled without wetsuits. So glad the cold spell is hopefully over. (I've blogged about Mama-San beach before here and here.)

Soooo, going to the beach with J now is pure delight. He is a beach baby through and through. Splashing in the water, playing in the sand. It is so much fun, and just looking at these pictures is making me swoon over him again.