Happy Birthday Daddy

Marc & Luke Nov 19 2011

In November we celebrated Marc's 4?th birthday! We took a last minute over night vacation to Encinitas which is a few minutes away from San Diego. We spent the day strolling their main street and did some light shopping. Luke really enjoys hotel stays as he gets to sleep with mommy and daddy in a large bed and gets to freely crawl around a big room. It was nice to get away, even if it was just for one night.

Dia De Los Muertos

Celebrating Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Día de los Muertos is on November 2nd, with celebrations beginning on November 1, Día de Muertos Chiquitos--The Day of the Little Dead also All Saints Day, and continuing on November 2, All Souls Day. It is a joyous occasion when the memory of ancestors and the continuity of life is celebrated. It is believed that at this time the souls of the departed return to visit the living. It is not a time of mourning since "the path back to the living world must not be made slippery by tears". Its roots are in ancient Mexico but it is celebrated in many North, Central, and South American countries. It is a mixture of indigenous and Catholic traditions and includes gathering at cemeteries for the cleaning and decoration of the grave sites and socializing. The manner of celebration varies regionally with folkloric traditions being particularly strong in Oaxaca where there is a substantial indigenous population.

This is our Day of the Dead alter. We didn't display any photos of the departed but instead wrote their names down on a scroll.

Happy Halloween 2011

We celebrated Halloween at our usual spot...10th street in Manhattan Beach at Casa de McDermott  (aka our friend kari's house).  As usual Kari had a delicious spread of cheeses and wine. Although this is technically Luke's 2nd Halloween, last year he was just over a month old and wasn't really into the festivities. This year he really enjoyed people watching. We also took him to a few houses and scored some good candy for mommy and daddy!

Pumpkin Patch

Luke with his friend Lucy



swarm of Bees!



4th of July

Happy 4th of July! We decided to stay home this year and kept the 4th of July intimate. Since Luke is still so small we didnt know how he would react to the loud sound of fireworks so we bbq'd and enjoyed family time.

Luke has attended a couple of play dates with his friends Sophia, Tyler and Lucy.

Boys Day 2011

Boys Day Kodomo no hi or Japanese Children's Day is a festival originally for boys ("tango no sekku") but which has been renamed for both sexes and is held on the 5th day of the 5th month.

Boys Day with dad and the flying fish

On this day families with newborn sons fly koinobori, beautiful multi-colored carp windsocks outside of homes to wish their sons a good future. Otoko means "boy" and sekku means "festival". The festival originated in China and later became associated with May rice planting in Japan. A set of streamers usually has three or more fish. The large black one (magoi) represents father. According to a Japanese children's song, the red one (higoi) represents the first born son.

Happy Cinco De Mayo

hanging with dad

first time in the ocean

fun in the sand

grandparents visit in May

visiting great, great (that's right) uncle Kiyoshi

Overwhelmed with Easter gifts and cards from friends and family

Easter Family Pic - Can never get the kid to look at the camera when we want him to!

7 Months

Luke is now 7 months old. He weighs 18 pounds and is 26 inches long. He still does not sleep through the night. Since I am back at work the sleep deprivation makes life a bit frustrating. We think we might need to implement some tough love soon for the sake of our sanity. We'll see how that goes...

Luke is a very active and happy baby. He likes to babble, roll onto his stomach, jump in his exersaucer  and pull mommy's hair.

Luke has been eating stage 1 solids for a few months now. So far he has had peas, carrots, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes and prunes. The prunes are to help his digestive troubles. He really enjoys eating and gets very excited at lunch and dinner time. His favorites so far are the squash and sweet potatoes. I am sure it is because of the sweetness. In a week or so we will start him on the purred fruit. I'm positive he'll enjoy the fruit as well.

Life is returning to normal for us. We are back to being busy and out and about on weekends. Marc and I have even been able to go to a few concerts. We are lucky to have a few babysitters we can count on. This past weekend Luke attended his first park party for his friend Kegan who turned 2 years old. Although he isn't quite ready to mingle with other kids he enjoyed getting a lot of attention from the ladies.

We are looking forward to our next big event which will be Easter and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Uchida in May.

Enjoying his ExerSaucer

My Sweet Valentine

I know I'm extremely behind updating our family blog but I'm still trying to figure out how to balance all the changes in my life. a quick recap - Lukie had his 4 month doctor appointment last month. He weighed a whopping 16 pounds! He is in the 70 percentile for infants his age so he's right where he should be. He just seems very big to us since my family is used to having tiny girls! We will be having Luke's 6 month doctor visit within the next couple of weeks. He'll once again have to indure those painful vaccines. Poor little guy! In the mean time, Luke wishes you all a Happy Valentine's day!