Monday, April 27, 2009

A busy week (recap)

Seems like life goes by so fast sometimes! We had another busy week - but I think now things will get somewhat normal now.

Always stop and smell the flowers....Peyton taking time to stop and smell the flowers with Grandma

I think that Peyton liked the colors she watched and starred at the flowers (at my Mom's)


My Mom left here Tuesday, and we took my brother back to Phoenix (to my Mom's)Friday night - we stayed there for the weekend and had our first Post-Placement visit with Ralph on Sunday! Here we are - we sure like Ralph and look forward to our next visit sometime this summer.



While we were in Phoenix we were able to meet up with another family that adopted from Japan through our agency - they were the very first family we met that had adopted from Japan (we met them back in October before our first visit with Lesley and Taz) - we could not believe how much Sinclair had grown (she turned 14 months on Saturday) and how incredibly SMART she is! OMG! We got a few pointers from Amy and Cory about teaching Peyton sign language, and we will definitely be doing that in the next few months. Below are a few pictures from our lunch date.


Our families

Cutie Pie Sinclair - she kept saying "Baaaaby" to Peyton


Sinclair and Peyton


We also got to introduce Peyton to Yaya - Yaya is a good friend of my Mom's - they have been friends since High School, we couldn't wait for Karen (aka: Yaya) to meet our little Princess!


The same evening my stepdad's secretary Dawn came by to meet Peyton - and brought her daughters. The girls were SO good with Peyton, I commented that Jordan reminded me so much of myself at her age, always loved the babies and didn't want to share them....Jordan fed Peyton, and held her a lot, while Maddy was able to make Peyton CRACK UP! It was SOOOOO cute, she laughed and laughed and laughed at Maddy - her Mom Dawn told Maddy it was because Maddy is "funny looking" - not so, I think Maddy is adorable! I said that I think Peyton was so comfortable with the girls because she had a good foundation with Manami and I'm sure she missed Manami!


We also got in a little time with Uncle Mykyl - Mykyl has been our Uncle gosh since I was about 8 years old I think....it was very special introducing our bundle of joy to him and seeing how happy he was for us and for her - we look forward to seeing him again in a couple of weeks!


Wednesday, April 22, 2009

One Month ago today....

Our little Princess



One month ago today our lives were forever changed. Our little Princess - Peyton Sakura-chan joined our family. Our lives will never be the same. She is the very BEST baby - we are so blessed and so fortunate to have her in our lives. Words cannot begin to express the pure joy and bliss that she has brought to us this past month.


We have SO many to thank for making all of this possible - first of all God - we know that there is a reason for everything in life and without God we would not have our Sakura-chan, we believe with our whole being that God has a plan for us and this is what was meant to be. Secondly our family, there is no way that we could begin to say how much it means to have the support and encouragement from our family and the same goes for our friends.




Equally important - we have Taz, Okada-san, and Lesley to thank - if it weren't for them, there would be no Japan program, and without a Japan program, we wouldn't have Peyton Sakura. They were all invaluable during this process, there wasn't ever a time that we couldn't pick up the phone or shoot off an e-mail that it wasn't answered in an extremely timely fashion...all of this despite having many families that they are helping, they were there every step of the way and made us feel like we were the only family - we will forever be grateful to all of them for our daughter. Along with those three, there were all of the ATWA families - just like Taz and Lesley, if there was something we wondered about, I could always get a timely accurate response from one of the previous families - we have formed SO MANY great friendships with the ATWA group.

This post would not be possible or it would be meaningless without mentioning one very special (very important) person - someone we have never met - but is extremely important in our lives - Airi (Sakura's Bio Mom) - not one single minute goes by that I'm not thinking of her, she gave us a beautiful precious gift - a gift that I have wanted all my life that no other person could give me - Thank You so much to Airi, our lives and hearts are full.


Each day Peyton does something pleasantly new. She is now cooing a lot, every morning when she wakes up she is full of smiles when she hears one of our voices, she likes to be held when she is tired, and voices her displeasure when her meals are delivered later than her 4 hour intervals (during the day), she sleeps extremely well for a 2 1/2 month old - goes to bed around 9 p.m. and wakes up around 5 a.m. most days. She loves to watch Yancha Bozu and Wrigley and lets them know when they have delivered TOO many kisses. She loves to watch her mobile (either in her crib or in her swing) and tracks each moving piece. She still enjoys being bundled up tight for bed and has restless sleep if she isn't that way.


Thank you ALL for your love, support, and encouragement.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

More Visitors and Just Hanging Out at Home

Uncle Matty Moo comes to visit Princess P! My brother Matt came to see his new niece, he could hardly stand waiting as long as he did - but knew that we would be heading to Yuba City to see Dean's parents, so he waited as long as he could....he arrived just 3 days after we got home, and he will be here for another week. He has enjoyed holding and feeding his niece, I know that he loves Miss Peyton Sakura-chan very much and will be the very best Uncle! Thanks for coming to visit Uncle Matty Moo!

Uncle Matty Moo and Princess P



Peyton Sakura-chan heads to Mommy and Daddy's work (again) - Last week we visited work. Mommy needed to see what was wrong with her laptop so we headed out for a visit (sort of), Princess Peyton didn't behave herself (Mommy left her to tend to business and apparently she had a little crying fit while Mommy was away) so our visit was cut short - but she will come again and try to make it around to see everyone that we missed. Here she is visiting (and talking) with Miss Phyllis in Mommy's office.

Back-tracking a bit - here is our Easter dinner at Chevy's in Sacramento meeting Dean's cousin and his son - Greg and Freddie, Freddie was SO sweet - he told me and Dean that he had seen Sakura-chan's pictures on the computer while he was playing his Wii and his Dad (Greg) was reading e-mail...and he said that Sakura was a pretty baby - I asked if Greg had "instructed" Freddie before meeting us for dinner, and Greg said "No", then Freddie said - "I've never seen a beautiful baby like Sakura" - it was SO sweet...and Greg insisted that he hadn't instructed Freddie on the topic, we believe him, we were just giving them a hard time - so sweet of Freddie to say how pretty Sakura-chan is - we sure think she is beautiful - and cannot believe how incredibly G-O-O-D she is and how lucky and Blessed we are to be her parents!!!
Here is our beautiful baby girl!

Just random pictures of our beautiful baby girl that I took today (Saturday 17 April) - see her adorable little clip in her hair, it's from Auntie Nancy, Auntie Nancy even crocheted the cute pink flower herself....Mommy finally found a headband to put it on - it's actually a little hair clip.

Sweet baby girl

Enjoying a little sunshine
Hanging out in the backyard for a little sun

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Back to Normal

Life is great! Peyton and Wrigley


What's with the tongue???

All is well with the Princess....she is back to her normal happy go with the flow self! We sure don't like shots, Peyton is going to be just like her Mommy when it comes to shots I'm afraid.

Looking so intent!

We are going to start transitioning from Japanese formula to American formula this weekend...sniff, sniff...we sure love the convenience of the Japan formula, unfortunately you cannot get it here, even mail order :( According to Taz, the U.S. is afraid of "mad cow" - go figure!


Fresh from her bath - in her beautiful new towel from Auntie Nancy!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

2 month old shots - stink!

We love Dr. Amon....but we don't like shots!
My big girl waiting for her shots :o(


Today was our first appointment here in the U.S. at the Doctor.....I had no idea that today's visit would entail shots :o( Taz would attest to what a baby I am when it comes to shots! Peyton did pretty well for the shots themselves (well she settled down pretty quickly after her initial screaming), but this afternoon she must have felt like crap and cried, and cried, and cried....MUCH more than I have ever heard from her in the time since we have had her. It broke my heart not to be able to console her and just hold her and listen to her cry.


Her stats from today's visit -

The Princess now weighs in at 12 lbs and is 22 1/4 inches long!

Here is my little Princess (finally) sleeping after a whole lot of crying, yes on her tummy...Dr. Amon told us that we need more tummy time as our little head is showing some signs of flatness on one side :o( So I sat right beside her as she slept this afternoon, making sure that she was breathing :)


One tiny little leg with two yucky old shots! I opted (as Taz had suggested) to have her shots given at two separate times, so we go back in two weeks for the other shot (and oral *I think Polio?). Poor Princess P!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Peyton's 1st Easter

Chicks Rule!

Happy Easter

Peyton celebrated her first Easter in California with Bachan and Jichan. The weather was perfect so we went outside for a few pictures, and then we joined Dean's cousin Greg and his son Freddie for dinner at Chevy's (I know, not traditional Easter dinner - but YUMMY!) *I will update this post when the batteries from that camera charge*.



Here is our little Princess all dressed up for Easter (and looking cute I think!), with her Easter bucket - I could not find a basket that I loved...so she got a bucket - I'm still looking for next year though! Her adorable little green bunny came all the way home from Japan - we found it and I loved it and knew she needed it for her first Easter :)

Happy Easter everyone!


Sunday, April 12, 2009

Ready for my 1st Easter!


Peyton is dressed and ready for the Easter Bunny to arrive - Auntie Carla gave her this very cute "Easter Egg" sleeper (I couldn't wait to put it on her for Easter), Auntie Linda, Uncle Mark, Jessamine and Stephanie gave her a cute Easter basket with this cute little lamb for Easter.

Auntie, Uncle and Cousins visit

First visit from cousins Jessamine (R) and Stephanie (L)



We had a really nice baby shower yesterday, unfortunately I didn't have my memory stick with me, I remembered my camera, but forgot the memory stick - and it was definitely a memorable day :( My sister inlaw had her camera with her, and I hope to get a copy of her pictures then I will post some.

On the way over to Sharon's house, my darling daughter decided it was time for her "big job" - so when we got there and I got her out of her car seat....well let's just say that Daddy had to come and bring new clothes. (Note: I had extra clothes in the diaper bag (as I always do) but when Dean packed the diaper bag for yesterday, he removed them)....so little Peyton Sakura-chan arrived at the shower as if delivered from the stork (plus a diaper)...Daddy arrived soon and then she was re-dressed and presentable again.

We had a lovely shower, all of Dean's Mom's friends were there, as well as Dean's cousins - Sharon, Sharman, and Shirley, plus Dean's sister Linda, and our nieces Jessamine and Stephanie. We received so many nice gifts, but the nicest part was just sharing our baby with them. Everyone remarked how cute she is :), what a good baby she is, how happy they are for us, and that we have to call them when we come to town so they can watch her grow up.

Bachan takes a turn feeding Peyton


Jichan and Peyton's hands


We were fortunate that cousin Joe was able to come over and take a few pictures of Peyton too - Joe does remarkable photography and I had mentioned to Sharman at the shower that we really wanted to Joe to take some pictures of Peyton sometime when he is available and when she got home from the shower, Joe said that he could come right then - so we got a few very cute pictures of Peyton (unfortunately it was time to eat, so we didn't get very many, that is one thing that she does voice herself about, FOOD - when it is time to eat we do hear about it!), Dean and I (under protest) were included in a couple of the pictures, then Joe took a couple of pictures with "the gang" - Dean's Mom was gone to the store, so they weren't home, but the rest were included - for being here all of 30 or so minutes, he captured some really cute pictures! Sure wish I knew his secrets!





Auntie Linda, Uncle Mark, Cousins Jessamine and Stephanie and Us (notice someone is getting a bottle)

Friday, April 10, 2009

More visiting with family and friends

We are enjoying our time in California, spending time with Dean's family and today we were able to spend a few hours with some special friends. Below are some pictures taken over the last day or so. Dean's Dad (aka: Jichan) really loves Peyton, he wants to hold her ALL of the time, if she is sleeping, he waves his hand so that we know that he doesn't want us to take her away basically saying "She is fine here", it is very sweet! We know when we go home in a couple of days, that our sweet little Princess will be dearly missed and we will have to come back as soon as possible.


Jichan with Peyton

Jichan feeding Peyton

Peyton's first night in her pack-n-play, Yancha woke up and sat right beside it until I got Peyton up


Bachan's turn to feed Peyton



Today we went grocery shopping at Otos, we finished before Dean's parents and went to sit and wait in the car....this is just a pretty baby waiting :)


When we were finished at Otos we went to visit Dean's Aunt and Uncle - here Peyton meets Auntie Fumiyo and Uncle Fred - who were instrumental in our adoption process - they both helped translate all of the paperwork that Dean's cousins (and Uncle) sent from Japan just last July - Dean's cousin Joyce (Uncle Fred and Auntie Fumiyo's daughter) got married last year late in June, thus our trip to CA when the papers from Japan were translated - Joyce got pregnant on her honeymoon.....she just delivered her daughter on March 26th, so right about the time we were starting our adoption - Airi found out that she was pregnant with our daughter.
"Ironic" or "fate"....

Auntie Fumiyo with Peyton

Uncle Fred meeting Peyton

Enjoying dinner at Taro's

All of us at dinner

Jichan and Bachan with Peyton


Jichan, Daddy and Peyton


Tummy's are full, now it's time for shopping at Arden Mall, Peyton hanging out in her stroller

Dang, I have to feed myself around here???

Meeting Auntie Nancy and Uncle Tim

Meeting Auntie Eryn

Here is Eryn's daughter - Emi - she was Queen of the chairs!

Uncle Gregor and Miya-chan having fun at lunch

Miya and Tripp blowing bubbles in their water - they are both SO cute!

Daddy's favorite store in Marysville - The Candy Box (unfortunately they were out of our favorite candy!) - I can only see the future with Peyton asking Daddy to take her to The Candy Box!

Back home this afternoon - Jichan asked Bachan all afternoon when we were going to come home! He missed Princess Peyton!

Content with Jichan