Category Archives: Life

Life

A New Year – January 1st 2009

It’s 2009. Really.

2008 was a big year for The Ishidas. A major house renovation (that is still not completely painted), a brand new addition to the family (welcome Samuel), a trip to Australia and a bunch of other events that have quickly become a blur amongst the business of the year.

So into 2009 we go.

Why not start it with a party? A low key event with friends from the neighbourhood (trans. daycare) and a number of blurry photos thanks to low light and insufficient Christmas lights. I’ll only subject you to a couple.

I think I counted 7 kids and about 16 adults.

It was fun, and a great way to see in the new year.

And when everyone left I took a photo of myself to make sure I have a place in the photo albums this year. It’s an unofficial new year’s resolution. I don’t really believe in New Years Resolutions. I mean you forget them after a month and then feel guilty for the remaining 11 months of the year. I would rather spare myself the trauma and instead eat all the leftover Christmas chocolate guilt-free.

Happy New Year.

Christmas. The Gifts Are Done.

How did Christmas sneak up on me so fast? It’s not fair to have Thanksgiving as a floating holiday. If it was on a set date I would be prepared, but having it just four weeks before Christmas this year, totally threw me.

So…I am a little late with printing my scrapbook. It’s supposed to arrive late next week and then I have to ship one copy to Australia and one to Japan. Mail was fast last year, but not sure if it was that fast.

Nevertheless, here are the final products. The scrapbook is going to my mother and mother-in-law and the baby book is a gift for Samuel (and myself).

Stories of 2008

Samuel Baby Book

I used the Paislee Press Happy as a Lark album for the baby book. It was such a quick and easy solution as I love the results. Such a modern, simple design.

I am also avoiding the scrapbook page guilt this year – you know, the feeling you get when you don’t scrap every great photo you have? In addition to my scrapbook, I am printing a photo book with the results of my photo-a-day project. Of course that won’t be printed until next year so I can get through December. So far I’ve uploaded and organized photos through the end of October but I still ahve to go back and add text to some of the pages. That’s where my blog posts are going to come in handy. 🙂

I have one additional treat for my family (also photo related) but that one’s going to have to wait until after christmas on the off chance one of my brothers drops by this blog.

Off to wait patiently for the mailman.

Nicole

 

Renewed faith in humanity

The end of a very long week. Kei is out of town so I was on my own getting the kids up and ready for daycare. I dropped them off and was already running late for work but HAD to stop at Starbucks for coffee. This was definitely a strong coffee morning.

Standing in line to order and a man comes in, taps me on the shoulder and says “do you know you have a flat tire?”. I look out at my poor little car and, sure enough, the front tire is looking sad – totally deflated. I ordered my coffee and started contemplating my options before deciding I would drive the short distance to work, call AAA and wait for them to arrive.

I headed out to the car and the same man who told me about the flat tire walked by and said “I can change that tire for you”. Really? I told him I was happy to call AAA but he said “no, that will take too long and I can change it for you much more quickly”.

And so this stranger who seemingly had nowhere he had to rush to on this Friday morning, decided to drop everything and help me – just to make my morning a little easier.

THEN Les Schwab replaced my tire for free because they couldn’t fix it. It was a used tire with the same amount of tread, but it wasn’t a broken down flat tire.

AND I can be grateful that I made it to work at all. Apparently I had been driving on the tire for some time – probably the 20 or so miles of freeway that I travel down to work every day.

So the day turned out to be one filled with happiness and gratitude – for my untouched bank balance, for my safety (and my kids’ safety) and especially for the good Samaritan who help out this damsel in distress.

P.S. I know my feminist side is letting me down here – I cannot change a tire and have no intention of ever learning. That’s why I pay $50 a year for AAA membership.

I can see the other side

No, not dead people. The other side of this crazy crazy time at work. I have been busy before but I have never had this many projects all come to fruition at the same time.

A couple of days ago Thomas was looking at Samuel and said “His eyes are black”. I replied “well, they’re actually a very dark brown and they’re the same colour as your eyes. What colour are Mummy’s eyes?” He takes a long look at me and says “your eyes are red.”

Here’s one of the projects that is finally (nearly) done. This is only a small portion of the 15 minute final product and we’ll be posting more on You Tube next week – well the parts that we can show outside the company anyway. I am so happy with the way it turned out… and so happy that it’s just about done.

For some reason it (the internet) won’t let me embed the video. Here’s the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFUZqfnZ0l8

Relief, Joy, Pride

I moved to America seven years ago and this is the first time I have felt comfortable about the person who will be running the country. It is truly a wonderful night and I feel privileged that I was here to witness it – despite the fact that I couldn’t vote in the election.

To quote my friend Tara on Facebook tonight – “I want my change now. When is it going to start?”

Congratulations Americans – you really shook things up. I am proud to have chosen this country as my home.

P.S. My new addiction to Facebook is a whole other post.

At Three

You are three
You are funny
You are musical
You are obsessed with The Wiggles
You are in love with your baby brother
You will only wear soft pants
You have a favourite Wiggles shirt
You are half way to potty trained
Your best friend is Evan
You play guitar
You love eating nuts – especially cashews
You love the colour yellow
You are clever
You change your clothes five times a day
You have an incredible vocabulary
You love to sing – especially Wiggles tunes
You love to climb
You would live in your pajamas if I’d let you

Sleep Deprived

5 month olds are supposed to sleep more than two hours at a time. It’s a rule! My little bundle of joy is clearly not adhearing to the rules. Take last night for example – bed by 7:30 (good), awake at 8:30 (bad), straight back to sleep thanks to a binky and a little pat on the back (good), awake at 10:00 (bad), fed and back to sleep (good), awake at 11, 12, 1 (bad, bad, bad), awake at 3 and still awake at 4:30 (VERY Bad!). Everyone’s awake at 6:30am and I have had about 4 hours of interrupted sleep all night followed b a full day at work.

I just don’t know what to do. I was begging Samuel to go to sleep at 4:30 this morning. Begging. With a five month old. Clearly my mind is not functioning properly.

So this is my call out to the universe – please send some good sleep vibes my way. We all need it, and deserve it.

Thanks for listening.

I know he looks innocent, but don’t be fooled by the binky.

Life is good

Everything’s falling into place. I don;t want to jinx things but I do want to say how grateful I am that it seems like the family is finally getting back to normal after our trip to Australia. Don’t get me wrong, we had a great time, but it takes a few weeks for little bodies to get back on schedule.

This one is close to being potty trained. After a few false starts he finally seems to be getting it. Tonight we were just about to start eating dinner when he said “Excuse me. I need to go to the loo.” I don’t know if I was more excited about that fact that he used the potty or that he used the word “Loo”. 🙂 He also used the real toilet instead of his potty chair which means I didn’t even have to clean up after him. Nice!

After two weeks this one is finally settling into a routine at daycare. It was a rocky start. He wanted to be held all the time, cried most of the day and wouldn’t nap. Thankfully eating was never a problem but I was worried that Michelle would decide that looking after a baby in addition to a bunch of toddlers is just too difficult and that we would have to look for alternative childcare. I am excited to report though that he has been great all week. He is now on a fairly regular napping schedule and happily sits and watches the kids or will lie outside on the grass and coo for a good hour without needing to be held. And he is eating more than ever (5 bottles today!).

Oh, and he can now officially roll over. He rolled from his back to his front while going after a toy and I’m pretty sure he can roll the other way as well. I left him on the floor lying on his stomach and when I came back he was staring at the ceiling. I knew he was close to rolling but it doesn’t make it any less exciting when it actually happens.

And one more positive – I seem to have found some of my scrapping mojo. Here are a few of my recent pages.

Life is good. At least until I go back to work full time next week. I’ll be sure to provide an update…

Back to earth

After one month, 1000 photos, lots of catching up with family and friends and a whole lot of relaxation, I am finally reading to join the land of the living again. Well, virtually anyway. Not ready to go back to work next week but that’s another story.

I’ll be back to post some P365 photos and share some stories as soon as I make some room on my hard drive. Can’t wait to share some tales from Australia. Yes, one full month in Australia. What a lucky girl I am.

Playing Dress Up

Today I asked Thomas a question – “If you could dress up like another person, who would it be?”. His answer, without hesitation, was Buzz Lightyear.

Good thing I ordered this yesterday.

I don’t who is going to be more excited – the little boy who is going to open the package or the parents who get to see his excited face. It was on sale for just $10. What a bargain!

I’m also happy to report that Halloween is well and truly taken care of. I bought this costume for Samuel for just $5.

I don’t really play into the whole Halloween thing but it does give me a chance to dress my kids up in cute costumes. And of course there’s also the obvious photo opportunities it will present.