Jason and I are such bad examples as parents.  I swear, we are like the poster child of how NOT to be parents.

Case in point:

About 2 weeks ago, we went to Ikea to pick up some stuff and to have meatballs for dinner.  E has been getting around a lot of the barriers we set up and her toys are just scattered everywhere (they still are) in the living room.  We thought we could kill 2 birds with one stone if we found something that can hold her toys and at the same time be used as a blockade.

That’s where the Ikea tub came in.  We found the Trofast box that was perfect for our needs.

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I know I don’t have many people read my blog other than my family (hi, mom, dad, meems, Nicole and auntie Mary) and a few friends (hi Jen and Angel!) but I figure there’s no harm in sharing this with you.

Growing up, my dad has always taught us to be generous and to help those less fortunate than us.  It’s one of those lessons that’s stuck with me all my life and probably why I have no problem with donating to charity even when I’m tight on cash myself.

No, I’m not going to talk about helping Haiti by donating to all the relief agencies out there (though if you haven’t, it doesn’t hurt to go check it out and help out a little bit.  I know I did.)  This time, I’m talking about March of Dimes.  It’s a non profit organization that focuses on and brings awareness to the prevention of premature births and preventing birth defects and baby mortality.  You can read more about them at their website: www.marchofdimes.com.

Of course, ever since E was born, my heart grew very soft for charities and organizations that work on improving the lives of children and the March of Dimes is no exception.

They are an important organization for me because I referenced it a lot during my 3rd trimester when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and anemia, both rather scary things to have when pregnant since it is potentially life threatening if not monitored.  Without the information that was provided on their website, I wouldn’t have been as informed about my own condition and about the risks I was putting us in by not having an induced labor.

So why am I bringing it up now?

It’s because Lori and her husband, Aaron, over at I Can Grow People, will be participating in the walk that is being held by their local chapter of March of Dimes.  Also because they went through a lot when their son, Porter, was born prematurely and she has been a strong advocate for bringing awareness to premature births through her blog.  Plus, her blog has helped me deal with E and my own experience as a first time mother.  Mostly it’s because I admire the courage and strength that they have with raising their son despite some of the bumps they’ve encountered after he was born.

I donated a little bit to their cause and if you are interested, you can also help them meet their goal also by donating at their team site.  They are doing this for Porter and I donated for E and for my nephew, Z’s sake.  If you’d rather donate directly to March of Dimes, you can do so by going to their website and look for the donate button.

Even if you don’t feel like donating (and since I probably just have 2 people who read this blog, this probably will be the case), please go check out Lori’s blog and read about her life as a mom to Porter.

Oh and speaking of blogs, another one of my favorite blogs that I read on a regular basis, Confessions of a Young Married Couple, is up for blog of the year award at the Bloggies 2010 awards.  Now, I don’t normally care for these types of things much but I really do love their blog and their take on parenthood so even if you don’t want to go and vote, you should really go read their blog.  I know I turned meems into a fan and I’m sure you’ll love reading about their son, the Bean.

Actually, you should just go check out who’s nominated for the Bloggies because I did and I found several new blogs that I absolutely fell in love with and will be following on Google reader from now on.

J.

2010…

Another decade has passed us by once more.  So far, January has been quite busy for all of us.

Jason’s working on middle shift which means he sleeps in an hour or two and gets to come home for dinner and quality time with me and E. With E being so mobile these days, it’s more fun for Jason to interact with her.

Ellie’s been quite active this month.  She’s heading towards toddler-hood and at quite a fast pace too.  Over the holiday season, she went from a baby that did a slow, jerky crawling movement to one that constantly needs to be chased.  She cruises a lot now and she is fast!  (and I don’t mean cruising as in the boats but as the walking-with-assistance thing)  She’s even managed to free stand a lot now and can take a step or two on her own.

On the eating end, she’s taking in more solids and less breastmilk these days.  We’re still giving her 50/50 boobie/formula so she still gets that but she’s definitely eating a lot more solid food.  (and her diapers definitely holds proof of that!)

She’s also sleeping through the nights on her own in her crib now.  No more co-sleeping for us.  She still wakes up once in the middle of the night but is easy to put back down.

Yes, my baby hamster is growing up fast.

Me, well I’ve been preoccupied with several projects I’ve started to keep my mind sharp in terms of designing things, etc.  I also cook a lot more now since eating out isn’t good in the long run for me, Jason and now E.  We have groceries delivered to us every week so I have no excuse about not cooking because we don’t have food.  In fact, a lot of the food I cook also has a side note on how to prepare an infant friendly portion.  So these days, E pretty much eats what we eats.   I’m hoping I can put some of these recipes up on this blog under the food section soon.

I’m also in the process of figuring out what to do once I go back to school and possibly work.  The daycare situation gives me a headache because there just isn’t enough daycare spaces available and sending E to an international preschool seems too expensive an option.  I still have some time to try to figure out what to do…but time is also running out.

Anyway, back to January events…

Jason celebrated his 30th birthday on the 4th (same day as his mom coincidentally).  We didn’t really do anything big since he worked that day.  The 3 of us headed out to Akiba for some kaiten sushi and just to visit the hamsters at the amusement centers and stores.  E ate a plate of tamago-yaki.  I helped her out by eating some of the rice but she pretty much polished off the plate on her own.

On the 15th, E and I met up with several other mom friends and their babies and just hung out with them.  It’s really amazing seeing how much everyone has grown since we last saw them.  I really enjoy their company and I’m pretty sure E will one day appreciate her little friends.

On the 20th, a good friend of mines from high school gave birth to their first daughter, Lily (short for Lilian).  I recently got to see a picture of her online and she is one cute baby!  I hope that one day she and E can become friends too.

And that pretty much brings us up to speed as to the January happenings in our lives.  Not too exciting maybe but for me and Jason, watching E grow from an immobile infant to a lively little toddler has been amazing.  Of course, there are still days where we wish we can just hold her and not have her grow up so fast….

J.

Sigh…

This year, my resolution was to update more often. A month later, I only have 1 post up and it’s the end of January already. Can we all say slacker?

Truthfully, I think I just have too much on my plate. I stupidly picked up several personal projects that require more time than I was ready for.

I’ve also been trying to figure out how to turn this blog into a multi-blog since I feel like some things don’t quite fit into the main blog.

Brain…too…tired…

For now, I will just say that I’m busy with stuff. I’ll put up a summary of January either tomorrow or the day after…

Let’s hope I can do a restart and start blogging more often soon.

As most of you know by now (and if you didn’t, well now you do), the Wendy’s franchise in Japan has closed up all their shops and pretty much left Japan.  This all happened during the New Year’s with the last day being the 31st of December.

Wendy’s has become sort of a staple for us since it’s the closest thing to an American style burger in Japan.  In fact, when we first moved to our new apartment, we were so happy to find out that we had one down the block from where we lived.

But alas, it is no more….

Being the crazy family that we are, Jason and I had Wendy’s several time during the last week of their operation.  E didn’t get to eat any since it’s not good for her but she was there to watch us consume our burgers.

We had our last burger there on the 30th since we had a feeling that it would be rather crowded on the 31st.  Wendy’s had gotten progressively more crowded as the end drew nearer so it was a safe assumption for us.

Here is our last Wendy’s meal

Ah, just look at that nice juicy burger…

E was feeling a little sad too since she will never know the taste of Wendy’s in Japan :(

On the 31st, although we didn’t eat there, we did stop by to say our goodbyes to Wendy.  It was pretty crowded as we had predicted.  This is the line at a half hour before they officially closed forever.

The lady in this picture was the very last customer.  You can see all the employees standing in the back, not know what to do now that the last order has been made.

Such a sad, sad day…

If you were wondering what happened, this is what Wendy’s looked like the day after.  The employees are all standing at the door watching the delivery man pack up what is left over.  I’m assuming it is probably going back to the US…

I wonder what they plan to do with that space now that it’s vacant.  It’s not only this Wendy’s but several other ones that we go by often that looks sad and forlorn now that Wendy’s no longer occupy the spaces.  Let’s hope that something good will take it’s place….

Hopefully…