Welcoming Homes and Walking!

It was a long 7 months but Dennis is finally back home! Our family is whole again and it is the most wonderful feeling in the world. Heidi has taken to him like he never was gone. I am sure it's just the start to her being a little daddy's girl. We love having him back home and are so proud of his service to our country.

Re-united! 

Another great thing that happened this month is that Heidi is officially a walker. I guess she wanted to wait until her Daddy came home to really get on it. Everyday she keeps on getting better and better and of course, faster. I am sure soon we will be running after her. She also got her second front tooth this month and was not very happy about it. Now I think her canine's are wanting to break through. Her favorite activity lately has been dancing especially to Taylor Swift's Shake it off.  Her and I have a dance party in the living room and Dennis just looks at us like we are crazy. She loves reading books but is becoming more opinionated on the ones she wants you to read. She started to imitate me when I tell her nicely "No, no, no" and shake my head when she is touching something she shouldn't. She looks back up at me shakes her head and says "No, no, no." It's adorable...for now. Her little personality is shining through more and more each day and we are just falling even more in love with our little lady.

Heidi and her Daddy reading. 

Thanksgiving 2014

We had a wonderful Turkey day and are so thankful for our Misawa family. We would of loved to be at both of our families Thanksgivings but it was just too much with Dennis just getting back from his deployment. So we had a nice evening with some of our closet friends here in Misawa and it was wonderful. We feel so blessed and are just so thankful that we are a family again.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. We can't wait until next year when we can hopefully go back to our homes to celebrate the holidays.

One year!

Heidi is one! This little lady has grown up so fast right in front of my eyes. We celebrated her first birthday on September 26th in style. Cupcakes and Champagne with some of our close Misawa friends. We did miss having Dennis here to celebrate but thank goodness for skype. He got to sing his little lady a Happy Birthday song. We just can't wait to celebrate his safe return in the coming month.

Don't let this picture fool you...she had a great time at her birthday! 

At one Heidi is in the 99 percentile for height and the 94 percentile for weight. This girl continues to get bigger and bigger. I swear she looks like she could fit in with the 2 year olds. She has still yet to walk, only one step, but I feel she is SO close. She can go into a standing position from the floor and squat down to get things and go back into a standing position and hold it for over a minute at a time. So the balance aspect is there now she just needs to work up the courage. I know she will figure it out in her own time and then be running before I know it.

Heidi has started swim lessons this month and loves them. She is my little fishy and we are working on blowing bubbles so we can start practicing going under water. She still only has her two bottom teeth but it seems like she might be getting some of her top ones soon. Her favorite foods are cheese, blueberries, peas, peaches, and boiled eggs. She loves to go on runs with mommy, play in the park, feed Kendall, and be chased around. She loves other children and is always wanting to talk to them when we are out and about. Her first word is Dog and I think she might actually be calling me Mama now. Not 100 percent sure on that one but I know it seems to happen most when she is upset about something. She began stacking blocks last month and can give me a high five...when she wants to, of course. This little lady is my pride and joy.

Thank you to everyone who attended her party, that has sent us gifts, and wished Heidi a Happy Birthday on facebook. We really appreciate all the love especially since her Daddy is away.

Below are some pictures where you can watch her transition from birth to present day. My has she grown....

I'm one! 

Little Lady and Half Birthdays!

I forgot to publish a blog for Heidi for 5 months so I am combining both months into this one. There have been so many neat changes for our little lady over the past months and she continues to amaze us with how much she learns and grows. We just love her to pieces.

Heidi at 5 months old weighed 18.5 pounds and was 26.5 inches long. A very solid little girl. She loves to smile, stick out her tongue, and is really started to giggle a lot lately.  Especially at Kendall when he comes to sniff or lick her and it is just adorable. She can sit up leaning forward on her hands for a good amount of time. She is great from going from her back to her tummy but for some reason hasn't seem to roll over the other way...which should probably be easier. She is still grabbing onto everything and wants to put everything in her mouth. She has found her toes a lot more this month and even is putting them in her mouth. Her eyes have really started to turn more brown this month...kind of a hazel color which is really pretty. She will probably end up being a brown eyed girl like her mamma. Speaking of that, everyone seems to think she looks like my little twin.






















Heidi at 6 months weighs 19.3 pounds and is 27 inches long. She loves to talk. She has really started to use some consonants like ga, ba, and da.  Her sitting up has gotten even better and she can sit by herself for long periods of time. She has been rolling over like crazy on her tummy and wants to scoot herself forward. She has got the leg and butt part down but can't seem to figure out the arms. We have started some real foods this month after she was pretty much staring us down as we ate ours. She has tried carrots and butternut squash so far. She didn't like carrots too much but loved the butternut squash. We plan to add some other variety as the month goes on. She has started to sleep in her crib this month and it's definitely been a struggle. We have finally found out that she likes to sleep on her tummy best and that has helped a bit. We are hoping about after two weeks she will go back to her usual of sleeping through the night again....hopefully ;)




Heidi also got baptized this month. It was a very special occasion for her and as usual, she looked her best and behaved like a lady. We are so happy for Heidi to be welcomed into the community of Christ.

Halfway through our tour!

We have been in Japan for a year and a half now and that means we are about halfway through our assignment here. It's exciting to look back and think about everything we have done and places we have gone in the past year and a half. And the great part is we still have a year in a half to fit in all the things we still would like to do. We have a trip to Kyoto coming up and we plan to visit New Zealand and/or Austraila too. Plus, I think some of the wives are going to take a trip to Bali this summer. We have so much more to look forward to here in the land of the rising sun. We can't wait!

On other news....Heidi is 4 months old! She weighs 16.8 lbs and is 26 inches long.  At 4 months we have looked up her growth stats and it looks like she is above the 95 percentile in height and weight. She is a big girl but I like to joke that she hides her weight well since she is tall and it's mostly in those enormous cheeks. At four months she loves to talk and smile especially to me and Den and even her fur friend Kendall. She will follow us with her eyes around a room now and turn when she hears our voices. She is so close to rolling over....her little arm just gets in the way. Tummy time is going great and she is starting to scoot herself forward on the floor a little bit. We have been practicing sitting up and I am sure she will be up on her own by 5 months. Heidi is loving to put everything in her mouth and drool all over it especially her hands and toys. She likes to try and dive head first at things that she wants in her mouth. She has started to laugh a little bit this past month which is the sweetest sound in the world. As for sleeping she is amazing. She has been sleeping 10-11 hours every night since she was about 3 months old. She is overall such an easy going happy baby and we feel so blessed to have this amazing little girl in our lives.

We are going to start rice cereal this month which should be a fun adventure and than at 6 months we will try some solid foods. I plan to mostly make her foods and start her off with the veggies first and than eat the fruit. I feel like, as in most parenting adventures, I have no idea what I am doing but I am sure Den and I can figure it out together. We have been able to keep her alive for four months so I think we got this :)

I hope everyone is doing well back in the states. We love and miss you all!