carrots,standing & of course more smiles

are you seriously taking another picture of me?

up close with Lola and mommy

standing in her crib!

don't you wish you could do that?!
she gets both her big toes in her mouth-but of course I can never get a picture of it.

carrots-which she also loves but not as much as bananas

take note at how clean her face is-this is b/c she ate bananas,which she loves!

this standing stuff is tiring!

am I not supposed to be doing this?

she loves the camera!!as you can tell!!
shes sitting on her changing table, which I don't even put the sheet on anymore bc too many accidents happen on it!

So much is happening with Lola I don't even know where to begin!! She is obviously hitting the "5 month growth spurt!!" As you can see from the pictures, she can stand up while leaning on something now, and in fact does that better than sitting by herself. When she is sitting, she is so interested in her feet, that she wont sit up straight. She would rather have her feet in her mouth, so she will fold herself over flat and "eat" her feet.
It was I guess three days ago that I discovered she could stand by herself. She has a little play table (as you can see in the pictures), and I am always standing her up against it and trying to let go, well I let go and she stood there leaning against it for almost 5 minutes. I was in such shock the first time she did it, that it didn't even register to get the camera! Not only can she lean against the table while standing up, but she can hold a toy in her hands and stand up(of course still leaning on the table.)
Well then last night we were at a party and of course everyone was playing with Lola and we knew she was teething, but one of them felt her teeth!! Then I felt like a bad Mom, b/c I didn't feel her teeth first. But Dawn, my friend who watched her this week while I took my exams didn't feel them either this week, so that made me feel better. We cant see her teeth yet, but we can feel them through her gums!! I cant believe how fast that happened!
So since she is teething, all the girls gave her crackers last night-which she loved too! I'm going today to get her some of the teething crackers, and more food for her of course, since she eats so much. Don't worry though Grandmas-we hold the crackers and she gnaws on them,so she doesn't choke on them.
She has been "baby talking"for awhile now, but over the past few days she has really found her voice. She starts almost screaming now. She isnt mad or upset, she just really found her voice. Her yells are sooo loud and she does it for so long! I think she might be a singer;-)
I held her in the bath with me the other night and she loved it. She was kicking her feet like she was wading in the water. She is almost too big for her bathtub so I'm going to have to get her another one! But she loves loves loves bath time and the water. She kicks and waves her arms around in it, and when I hold the water hose from the shower over her she grabs at it and laughs so hard!
I feel like I'm forgetting something she has done new, but I cant figure out what it is. If I think of it though I will update the blog again.
I am finally finished with school for this semester and I cant explain how excited I am!! Lola is on a great schedule now and we have been going on jogs every afternoon when she wakes up from her nap. It has been soo nice here lately, I just hope it stays this nice. The weather has been perfect-minus the tremor we had this week!
She has started sleeping great for me again and puts herself to sleep, as long as I don't wait until she is really tired to put her down.

sweet peas and smiles

talking to grandmother fay!

this is what i do sometimes while moms folds laundry, not really i just thought it was cute!

~kisses for abby~

there are no words to describe this picture

im supposed to eat this?!

but my feet taste soo much better mommy

In case you couldnt tell, Lola started eating food-organic of course! So far she has eaten sweet potatoes, applesauce and sweet peas; applesauce being her favorite and as you can tell sweet peas she doesnt like so much! She is getting really good at eating, but as you can also tell has discovered her feet and likes eating those as well. Anytime I put her on her back she grabs both her feet and puts her big toes in her mouth.Its so cute! I havent gotten a good picture of it, but when I do I will certainly post it. She is almost rolling onto her belly from her back, but can't quiet get there. Everytime she almost does it she either gets distracted or her foot gets in her way.
I take my last exam on Thursday and I can not express how excited I am that this semester is over. I am soo excited to just hangout with Lola, go on jogs and do things around the house. I plan on getting Lola on a good schedule so the time change wont be so hard when we come home. She was doing pretty well during the day, except for the past week with my studying and Chris leaving. As for nighttime, that is a different story. I think she is teething!! She has started to wake up anywhere from every hour to every three hours, and I think what makes it more frustrating is that when she turned two months old she started sleeping through the night.But thats part of being a baby!!
She has been sitting in my lap while I have been typing and I just looked down and she fell asleep holding onto my arm-its soo cute!
Anyways a month a we will be home! cant wait to see everyone!

chris is off

Just wanted to let everyone know that Chris made it off safely this morning. Of course it was hard saying "see you soon", we dont say goodbyes,but it was comforting knowing we will see him in two months....and its only a little over a month until we make the long trek home! I'm getting soo excited about seeing everyone, and not to mention Lindsay's wedding!!
Im finishing up this semester with school, have my finals next week then all my attention goes to Lola and doing some things Ive been wanting to work on around the house. Hope everyone is well and will post some pics this weekend.love and miss you all!

4 months old

the engraving on our bar

our new dining room-new table&chairs and new bar that we bought at the bazaar

I think every person stopped in Miya Jima to say Kawaii which means cute!! There was a point in the day where I had about 15 Japanese people around me oohing and ahhing over her!

as you can tell everyone was having fun!-note ken in the back with the funny wig on!

Lola and I underneath the cherry blossom trees

Lola had her 4month checkup this morning, accompanied by her shots!!! She weighs 16pounds-can you believe it? and is 26inches long. The doctor said she is developing wonderfully and is a happy baby-which we already knew!!
Tucker and Liz(his girlfriend) came to visit this weekend, which also happened to be the weekend of the Cherry Blossom festival, so we had a wonderful time. Friday we took a trip to Miya Jim, where we ate wonderful oysters, and then that night went out to the festival. Noriko and Megumi(the girls I teach English to) had a tarp layed out underneath the trees, with some wonderful Japenese food fixed for us. Megumi's grandmother fixed us some wonderful homemade sushi, and they bought a tray from a local Japanese restaurant that was wonderful. As we sat underneath the trees and just enjoyed friends and food, I felt like I was in a movie. Strung from tree to tree were Japanese lights, people were playing music, and we had the wonderful view of the Kintai bridge(a wooden bridge that Iwakuni is famous for). Once we get the pictures I will post them, of course they do not to the scene justice though. I can not describe how gorgeous the Cherry Blossom trees are, I just wish they bloomed longer.
On Sunday we took them to Hiroshima to see the Peace Park, Hiroshima castle and to just enjoy the city. In Hiroshima, they had Cherry Blossom festivities too, so the city was extra busy, but we enjoyed seeing various Japanese celebrations.
They have moved Chris' leave date until next Friday so we have a few more days to enjoy with him!! other than that things have been pretty quiet.