In the News

We were quite pleased to get a phone interview from The Sun asking about Sakura's recent Tiny Prints win. What I was most happy about is that the photographer, Maranda Urban Chic Portraits, was finally able to feel the excitement we felt when we were notified of being finalists back in November and then again when we saw that she was the Grand Prize winner.

Here is a scanned copy of the article - I managed to crop off the horrible photo the newspaper photographer took, Sakura had NO nap that day, and wanted NO part of having pictures taken, which is her normal reaction to photos - but the whole spread in the paper took about 1/2 of the front of the Desert Life section - it was pretty impressive! There were SO many things that were misquoted I won't even go into that.





It was quite funny - the newspaper article was on Thursday, on Friday my Mom came down for the day to visit, we went to lunch at The Garden (our favorite) and there were no less than 5 people who came up to us asking if she was THE baby in the newspaper, later that night Dean got to experience the same thing when we went to Kneaders for dessert, where the cashier asked the same thing - only in a small town - but that's what I love about living in a small town! They were all calling my little Sakura a celebrity - to us she's "just" our daughter and we couldn't be any prouder of her! We feel that Sakura's Grand Prize win goes to lots of different things, first of all our family and friends who voted, Maranda's amazing photo, and of course a bit of credit has to go to Sakura too.

The day we had these photos taken for our Christmas card, Sakura called all of the shots, that's how Maranda works - she says that children at this age aren't negotiable so we went with Sakura, Sakura stood on the railing at this location, she smiled for some photos, she was serious for some, she "yelled" for Yancha at one point, calling him like she does outside, etc...so the pose is all her. She is the "new face of Tiny Prints" and our cutest baby :)

A few photos of Sakura

One of our favorite photographer's Kim Garcia did her annual Year in Review - it's fun to watch these, Sakura had her photos taken by Kim a couple times last year so she's buried in the very short video. I thought it was cool - Kim said she did this type of video because this year seemed to flash by in the blink of an eye. She's amazingly talented and such a wonderful person too!

Check it out - it's only 40 seconds long.

Bathtime Fun and End of Christmas

Sakura really enjoys tub time! She got lots of Yo Gabba Gabba toys from Santa and loves pointing at each one asking who it is, so every night we go through the drill.....this night after Sakura had spent probably an hour (easily) in the tub, all washed and clean the fun began. It started out innocent enough - giving Wrigley a drink of water, then turned into "Splash Fest 2011". It was quite funny and Sakura was CRACKING up at Wrigley as she jumped to bite the water. Since the blog is set back to Private - I figure I can share these pictures now.

Giving Wrigley a drink

Wrigley biting the water makes Sakura laugh hard!

As you can see here!

Splashing

Wrigley attempting to drink all of the water that is now covering the tile

The other night we had the last of our Christmas. We went to dinner with Johnny and celebrated with him. Sakura was all ready to go to dinner (which happened to be on the night we found out Sakura was the Tiny Prints Grand Prize winner - so we were celebrating as well!), and decided maybe her bumble bee could get her there....J/K - she wanted to ride Bobee - which she calls it for bumble bee.

Riding Bobee

Home from dinner with her awesome new chair from Johnny. We call him Tata - and Sakura kept saying "Thank You Tata, Thank You Tata" all night -

because we told her to tell him Thank You when he gave it to her.

All ready for bed, and still staying close to her chair. She loves those leggings too and carried them back out once she got dressed. She likes the "dolls" :)

The next morning Sakura woke up and went to the chair and said Thank You Daddy...I said that's not from Daddy and she said "Thank You Tata"! Little smarty pants!

Wee Wee Wee ....

While we were eating dinner the Geico commercial came on with the little pig saying "wee wee wee" - and it caught Sakura's attention - she turned to watch it. When it was over I said to her "That little piggy said Wee Wee Wee all the way home" - I was QUITE surprised when she repeated that back to me, and she kept saying it - probably because her Dad and I kept laughing. Sakura is a toddler of few words (she says MANY things, but not in sentences) - not that she can't say them, but because she has been a baby that basically masters things before you even figure out that she has been paying attention, this is no different. Soon after she was repeating the Wee Wee Wee .... the way home, she was pointing at her cup which had elephants. She asked me what it was by pointing and saying 'that' - I said elephant...she'd point to the next and repeat 'that' and I would repeat elephant...then I said "one" and she said "two".....

Tiny Prints Grand Prize winner = Sakura!

As I type this my eyes are filled with tears - tears of joy. Not only because Tiny Prints announced the winner of their contest (see video below), but because Sakura has the very best family and friends and soooo much support!

Thank You all that voted for Sakura, she was a winner no matter what - this is extra special!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyLKIU8Jjwc

Sakura starts 'school' --- Day 1

Well the day has finally come for Sakura to start "school" - meaning moving from the comfort of our good friend Katie (Sakura's other Mommy's house) to a daycare facility with instruction. We chose to have Sakura start at the CDC (aka: Child Development Center) on base where we both work because it is nearby, comes with high recommendations from many co-workers, and because since there is Gov't regulations on everything they do there (it is basically set-up for military families). I knew this day would come, and had already even started considering having Sakura attend just one day a week for awhile, then Katie told me that it was time that she start looking for a job, so we basically just pushed things forward. We were so fortunate to have Katie watch Sakura for so long - we will miss Katie SOOOOOO much! We couldn't have asked or wished for anyone better to take care of Sakura, she took care of her like she was her own - as did her kiddos. They love Sakura and Sakura will miss them very much!

So today went a little worse than I had hoped. I really thought I would be okay --- and I was, just up until the time we walked out of the classroom and Sakura saw us leave through the door and cried "M-O-M-M-Y", then I lost it. We were putting her extra clothes in her cubby and had said our goodbye's, she saw us leave then that's when she cried...and cried...and cried, and I cried, and cried, and cried - almost the whole way to physical therapy.

Sakura is doing a 'transition' week this week, then will go full-time starting next Monday when I go back to work (post-surgery). I had everything ready, my dark sunglasses (thanks Auntie Candi for suggesting that!), Kleenex, everything - and walked out the door without them this morning! Geez! I was crying and crying and the agency director walked out and introduced herself telling me that Sakura would be okay and to call as many times as I wanted. I did call when I got to physical therapy and got the report that Sakura was doing fine, she was happy and talking to Miss Myra and painting! That was great to hear, I was SO happy! I called later (around 1:00 or so) to check on how she had done, and got a full report from Miss Myra - Sakura did great, she ate well, she is now SLEEPING! I was shocked, Sakura took a nap on the cot - they have these little cots that they put out for the kids - and you can bring a special blanket, or whatever - I also forgot a blanket - even though I intended to take one with us and even started using one special blanket here at home knowing it would go with her and she would recognize that blanket as being from home and be okay....well luckily Sakura did well and napped. Her Daddy picked her up at 2:15 and she was just waking up - still on her cot but her eyes were open. He said that when she saw him, she started crying - Miss Myra said that she hadn't cried all day (until she saw Daddy!).

So Day 1 is done, and hopefully the rest is easier ? LOL ! I'm sure it will be tough for a few days/weeks, then Sakura will love going and having kiddos to play with - which is another reason I wanted her at a facility instead of another friend's house - which was my second option. I think Sakura needs socialization and she will get it here. The nice part is the classroom is small - right now there are only 6 in Sakura's class. Today there were 3 total (including Sakura).

Many thanks to all of our family and friends for their well wishes today! It means a lot to have such a great support group of Auntie's that love Sakura!

Here are a few pictures I took with my phone this morning.

Daddy and Sakura headed to school

Hanging out in the lobby while the information was put into the computer, Sakura couldn't even go to her class until everything was input and they could assign her.

"It will be OK as long as I have Daddy!" Yes, Sakura IS a Daddy's girl!

Snuggles for Daddy

Hanging out playing in the lobby

Daddy checking out the daily schedules

Sakura's first few minutes in the classroom....she seemed VERY unsure!

It's not so bad...there are toys here :) NEW toys!

Sakura was playing and having fun right up until we kissed her and said Bye.

I was quite surprised, the other little girl that was there is just a few days younger than Sakura and she was actually quite a bit smaller -

Sakura is usually a shortie (I think) but this little one was shorter than Sakura.

More Christmas

Christmas with Bachan and Jichan was on New Years Eve this year. Since I had surgery on Dec 19th in Phoenix and it was our year to be with my Mom - post op appointment was on Dec 28th, it only made sense to stay in Phoenix the whole time so we did. That just pushed back Christmas with Bachan and Jichan - we felt bad that this would mean they'd be all alone, but we are quite lucky they are the most accomodating people ever and they never said a word about it. We're SO lucky to have the close by.

Bachan and Jichan thought Sakura needed a trampoline so that's what she got! Not one of the tiny ones, but a larger one that she will love once Daddy assembles it!

Sakura really enjoyed opening gifts, so there was another few things Bachan had me pick up for her - clothes :) Gotta love clothes, but first there was a ride on the pony.....

Sakura ripping into her present!

Inai Inai Baa....with wrapping paper

And then with Jichan :)

She actually LOOKED at me for a picture...that's rare these days, she will deliberately turn around normally!

This is ALWAYS the way Sakura puts on sunglasses....upside down, and when she puts them on me, same thing - upside down.

They don't quite sit right upside down, so you have to hold them on!

Time for some cake - Sakura is not a big cake eater, but she did enjoy the frosting!

Daddy noticed how Sakura was sitting - Japanese style of course!

Happy New Year to all of our family and friends -

we hope that 2011 is a great year for all!