they even match!
*thanks to the Lookabills for this cute hoodie (the cute one on Martha, not Eric 
Can you believe it?!?! I can’t. Our littlest girl is growing growing growing – both growing in stature and growing on us We really like her and are glad she’s ours and here to stay! I worried so much about Noa’s adjustment to having her but it was so unnecessary. I don’t think Noa even remembers the time before she knew her little sister. She LOVES her! 
Martha seems to be adjusting well to life outside the belly, even though she was reluctant to come out. She is a great eater, which is a huge help having Noa to deal with too. Having my hands and body tied up for more than 20 minutes or so would be tough. She’s eating about every 3 hours during the day and doing one long 6-8 hour stretch from 9 at night (which is great for all of us, especially me…What a blessing!) From the beginning, she has done very well sleeping her longer stretches in the nighttime hours. We are struggling to get into a routine with daytime naps, though, but I am hoping that will come soon.
Although I don’t think she’s added any inches to her height since birth, she has definitely packed the pounds. When I weighed her last Friday on the baby scale she was 11 lbs 10 oz.! (you can see it in her cheeks and chin, can’t you?) and Japanese people are always telling me how heavy she is to hold (you don’t normally think that of a little baby, but i guess she’s like a giant here…)
To our great delight, she’s been smiling for a few weeks now, and those grins are getting more and more frequent and easy to get. It’s so fun to watch her face light up when she hears a voice after it’s been quiet for a while, or when a face comes into her vision after she’s been looking at a wall or something. Even though we are seeing more of them, I still feel like her smiles are like gold.
Thanks for checking up on us and for all of you who pray for our children. We feel so abundantly blessed through the life of this little one. Not only is she such a joy in our lives, but God is also already using her to teach and grow each of us, even Noa. I hope you enjoyed this little update on her!
Anyone who is around Noa much knows she is a Mama’s girl through and through. It’s probably mostly her stage of life and that she hasn’t had to share me much until now. Something that I was really looking forward to about Martha’s birth was the extra time she and Eric would have just the two of them. And it has been better than I expected. The two have become quite companionable, and it’s fun to see their own little routines unfold as Eric has taken over a lot in caring for her. For instance, she has starting calling mostly for “dada” from her crib when she wakes up or is sad. She wants to call him on the phone when he’s gone and has also had some meltdowns when he leaves for work. Last night, Martha was quite fussy around supper time and I felt like I just needed to be alone with her to comfort and give her attention. So Eric went out to get us sushi for dinner and take Noa on her first Daddy date. He said he wishes he had a camera because they had a blast going to McDonalds (with an indoor playground) and then he let her explore the 100-yen store (like a dollar store, only better and bigger). He said she had a ton of fun and I could tell it when they got home by her excitement and talkativeness. She really is becoming more of a Daddy’s girl, and I couldn’t be happier.
All of a sudden, starting last week, Noa has gotten really into holding Marth on her “bap” (lap). She’ll take a blanket or burp clothe, spread it out nicely on her lap and point to Martha and say “bap… bap”. Its so funny. Then she’ll hold her for a few seconds, push her away, straighten the balnket or cloth, and then do the whole thing over and over again. Although some things repeated over and over agian can get old (i know because everything in Noa’s world seems to need to be done a millioin times) this is one thing I don’t mind doing over and over again.
Another cute thing – the other day Eric loaded the girls into their carseats and came back into the house to help me get the rest of our things. When we went back to the car, Martha was crying (as she had been when Eric put her in) and Noa had reached over to hold her hand. She was completely un-affected by Martha’s crying but just seemed to think she could help in a little way by trying to comfort her. SO CUTE!
It is precious to watch Noa love on her little sister and makes my heart swell with joy to see their sweet relationship developing.
This time of year is GORGEOUS here in Japan. The Cherry Blossoms are in full bloom and is seems every street your go down, you’re sure to see the sprinkling of these beautiful flowers among the green of other trees. Some parks and pathways have only cherry blossoms – these are incredible to see.
So yesterday, our family, along with my sister Hannah and our friend Naomi went “Hanami”. Literally, this means to “watch the flowers”, and it particularly means to enjoy the cherry blossoms while they are in full bloom. So thats what we did, along with hundreds of other people yesterday. We went to a big park in the next town over and had a picnic lunch and enjoyed God’s beautiful handiwork displayed in the gorgeous blooms. Here are some photos from our day:
The park was packed – its spring break for Japanese schools – but it was fun to watch other families, and Noa loved seeing all the different dogs that were there.
beautiful flowers!
Noa wasn’t all that interested in the flowers, but she did want to touch and smell them briefly.
What a fun to day to play with the “big girls” Hannah and Naomi. They were sweet to play with Noa and follow her around as she explored the park.
The playground was tons of fun. I love this picture capturing Noa’s sheer joy as went down the slide.
