It isn't easy to find the time to blog...

While Ivy is truly a perfect child in every possible way, a small portion of her time is spent being fussy-- and that makes me tired at the end of a day....

I truly intend to update once a week going forward! So these pictures are not as exciting as the ones in Tokyo- but give you a glimpse into what we have been up to! Saturday we went for a bike ride with Ivy in the carrier-- it worked out great for her size- she is way too little to ride in the bike trailer we bought on craigs list last week. It was fun to be out getting some exercise! The picture of her in the chair features her wearing one of her Japanese Kimono outfits that had a laundry mishap the first time we washed it in Tokyo. I can't even remember what color it was to begin with- but now its kind of plum colored.

Chillin' in the stroller with her shades on... she is definitely a California girl. She will have to grow into the shades too- they kept falling off her face!

Sleeping in her bed with her squirrel pajamas on... she works her feet out of the bottom of those every time she wears them- I had to take a picture!

Asleep in her new high chair- it has owls on it! She will sit in it for a while... but still would prefer to be in my arms. I gotta cook dinner though... and she appears to like to watch re runs of Friends on tv like I do!

The last picutre is of a fantastic gift basket we got from our friend Sue in Georgia. I've never seen anything like it in my life! So girly and feminine! We enjoyed looking at every single thing- and immediately put her in the dress and went out to dinner. Thanks again Sue!!!! She could be on her way to being spoiled!

I just added one more picture in the stripes- out to dinner with Mom and Dad last week- super cute outfit- and we needed to balance the sleeping and awake pictures.

So... we all went back to work last week at the office. Ivy and I stick to an 8-11:30 schedule- but she gets to take naps! It's working out pretty well. Hold her in my lap, dad's lap, Brian's lap- feed her- change her, nap her, let her play with her play mat... hold her again... and then its time to go home! I've discovered that I really can do graphic design with Ivy on my lap-- who knew!

Sunday Brian left for his first business trip after getting Ivy. It's been interesting.... and not very easy. I'm up to the challenge, but I definitely miss him- and I think Ivy does already too! Doubly sad that Brian's gone this week, because he's turning 40 tomorow and we won't be with him to celebrate! We'll make up for it when he comes home on Thursday.

We've had lots of visitors this week... old friends, new friends and family- Ivy's a big draw in our house! I guess that's all that we've been up to...

Think it's bed time for this mama!

Reader's Digest Version...

Ok, so obviously we are home! Though I miss Tokyo for many reasons, I'm deligted to be at home with Ivy! The flight was largley a positive experience. Ivy cried her head off for about 20 minutes or so soon after we got on the plane, but settled down after a bottle and changing into her night attire. She proceeded to sleep for 7 hours straight in the bassinet on the plane. It didn't stop me from glancing fearfully at the bassinet like it was a ticking time bomb... but she just slept and slept! Customs and immigration went smoothly.... got all of our luggage! My parents picked us up at the airport in San Francisco and we drove home to Roseville last Saturday. Our lovely neighbors surprised us with special Ivy themed decoration (pictured here). It seems impossible that we've been at home for a week already! We've already had lots of visits with friends, family and neighbors. Everyone has been so excited to see Ivy!

Brian was looking at the video that we took in Japan a couple of nights ago, and was astounded to already see changes in how she looks and what she can do. It's amazing!

She makes great eye contact, is super social with everyone she meets and also can grasp and play with a toy now.

She continues to delight us. Not to say that each moment has been picture perfect... We all suffered from some serious jet lag, and the perfect sleeping schedule that we had enjoyed in Tokyo was disturbed when we got home. New noises, new smells, curious pets... all combined for a perfect storm of sleep deprivation for a few days. Yesterday she suffered from a very stuffed up nose... which seemed to make her miserable. As new parents, I guess I can tell you that what makes Ivy miserable, really makes us miserable too. Its so hard to watch her uncomfortable for some reason that you can't quite figure out...

Today was a grand day- so a grand day to blog!

We promise to continue to take more pictures-- just needed to get settled in.

Last day!

We really made the most of this last full day in Japan! We took the bus to Narita (where the airport is) and are staying at a hotel near the airport. Narita is a charming town with a really beautiful main shopping street -- lots of tiny shops selling interesting things! At the bottom of the hill is the Naritasan Temple- a very beautiful place that spoke to my heart. I took a zillion pictures of it! Ivy seemed peaceful on the grounds- it was very special. We bought a few final souvenirs and enjoyed a Japanese meal here at the hotel.

Would you believe I left my camera in the cab today? I got back to the hotel and discovered it was missing! Thankfully, we were able to track down the cab company and the kind driver brought it all the way back here to the hotel for me. I'm blown away by his kindness to take the time to return it to us! Well, the posts will become less frequent from home-- Roseville doesn't carry the same exotic flair that Japan does...

Tokyo a gogo

Well, this is the last post from Tokyo! It was hotter than hell here today- and very steamy! We will be leaving tomorow to stay overnight in Norita- to be closer to the airport for Saturday. As much as we've enjoyed every minute of our stay here, we are both (all three, but Ivy doesn't know if yet) ready to be home now. We love to travel, but there's no place like home either-- and I can't wait to settle Ivy into her room for the first time.

Today was a whirlwind of parts of Tokyo we hadn't visited yet-- Omotesando, Harajuku and Shibuya. We tested out Ivy on the subways-- she was fine- and actually seemed to enjoy it. She really was a trooper all day long- not a peep out of her except for one time just before lunch. Ivy really seems comfortable on the go-- it's almost like when we're at home (in the apartment) she gets bored and would rather be out and about!

Her outfit today sort of coordinated with mine- which was nice. I really mean to tell you- it's like she's got a fashion gene from someone (me I guess :) I can change her outfit 3 times in a row without complaint! And thought I brought a ton of onesies with me, I haven't actually put one on her yet.

We got all of our stuff packed up for travel... somehow we are bringing home more than we brought with me. One of my neighbors told me that we should put all of our clothes that we wanted to pack on the bed, and all of the money we wanted to take with us. She said pack only 1/2 of the clothes and double the money! So true! I did officially wear everything I brought with me- but Ivy only wore a fraction of what I brought for her. I'd have traded 2 or 3 of my outfits for a hoodie to wear at night in the room!!! We haven't really bought that much in the way of souvenirs- but they are taking up a lot of space!

Might have time for one more post tomorow from Norita, otherwise we will be back in California on Saturday! We miss everyone!

Mission complete!

Ok, so the embassy went great! We got to skip the line and we were in and out of there in less than an hour! No camer allowd inside... so not a lot of interesting Tokyo pictures from yesterday, though we did enjoy another part of town we hadn't visited before!

We are relieved to have Ivy's visa in our hands!

We all enjoyed a lovely lunch with Taz after the Embassy and a bit of shopping for Ivy. Got her a new dress to wear home on the plane. Also tasted and purchased some delicious rice crackers that we had seen on other family's blogs!! So good!!

Had a quiet afternoon together and a very pleasant evening. Brian and I finally wrapped up the James Bond Film Festival... 2009... with the Quantum of Solace. I never would have guessed we'd still be finishing them up in July, but I guess you can overdo the Bond!

Today we will venture out to Harajuku for some sight seeing and then start getting the packing organized. We acutally will be heading to the Hilton at the airport tomorow- Taz got a great deal on rooms there, and that will shave off a sizeable portion of the travel on Saturday.... which sounds very appealing. It will give us a chance to test out our travel ability with the enormous pile of crap we now have with us!

We sure are enjoying her company... she coos, moves her limbs around a lot... is very social! Ivy is going to fit in with our family just fine! Well... off to wash some bottles!

The hosptial hurldle...

We successfully navigated the hospital visit today (necessary for Ivy's VISA), despite some language barriers along the way. Our cab driver dropped us off at the wrong part of the huge hospital complex... and that stumped us for a bit, until a very kind (and thank God, English speaking) man came to our rescue. The hospital visit consisted of a few examinations and some shots. I had read on another family's blog that the shots were harder on Mama than they were on the kid... totally true. I had to pass her off to Brian because I didn't want my energy to upset her. She was a trooper, as usual and went to sleep soon after it was over. We enjoyed a beautiful taxi ride through the city on the way back to our lodging and plotted a walk to a nearby cafe for lunch.

After lunch, though, poor little Ivy seemed to wake up to the fact that she'd had some shots, and started to fret. It was a long afternoon of us taking turns comforting her, until she finally conked out about 45 minutes ago. It made us so sad to see her sad little face, and hear her sad little (sometimes big !!!) whimper. We're hoping that the memory of the shots fade into her dreams and that tomorow is more enjoyable for her.

At the same time, though, I enjoyed comforting her, rocking her fragile body until I felt her grow heavy with sleep. It was a nice afternoon of reading, and listening to the Ivy playlist on the Ipod speakers.

Tomorow is the interview with the officer at the embassy, and hopefully we will pick up the visa later in the afternoon. It will be another long day for Ivy, but an important one. It seems like our process with her has been a series of goals to attain, submitting our paperwork, our album arriving in Japan, getting news of our match, waiting for travel, waiting for placement, waiting for embassy approval... etc. the next goal after we get home will be to wait for our court date and for the adoption to become final. I guess life is full of those goals, though, for all of us. They won't stop when she becomes ours officially in the eyes of the law... we are dreaming up all kinds of goals for her every day now, as we make plans for her future. Will she play soccer? Where will she go to school?(Brian says Stanford...) What kind of a musical instrument will she learn, the piano with those graceful fingers?

So the only pictures I have for today are us in our outfits for the hospital visit, one rare quiet moment this afternoon when she wore herself out.... and an attempt of night photography with my unsophisticated camera with the aid of a tripod.

Sleep well, friends in the other time zones...

First Embassy Day!

Today was our first appointment with the U.S. Embassy, to apply for Ivy's visa in order to travel home on Saturday. Armed with a cache of paperwork, we made our way to the embassy this morning to make our case. We knew it would probably take 2-3 hours for the whole process... and we brought along supplies to keep Ivy content. Brian tried out his carrier for the first time... the one with the owls on it that everyone seemed to like in the earlier blog post :) She really seems to like riding in the carrier- and ended up falling asleep on the way there in the cab... and litterally stayed asleep for almost 2 hours until our number was called. By that time, she was hungry again... and Taz kindly put a bottle together while we spoke with the Embassy officer. Everything went smoothly, and we head back on Wednesday for our "interview", which the officer told us would be "anti-climactic". He said he was approving our case, and that we'd be scheduled to pick up the visa. It was a very interesting experience... and went very smoothly, thanks to all of the behind the scenes work that Taz had done, and Brian's uber-organizedness.

We celebrated with an amazing barbecue lunch in Tokyo Midtown with Taz. Words cannot express the delight that this meal brought to us! It was delicious, and as I mentioned to Taz, perhaps the most delicious meal I've ever eaten. In addition to being so tasty- it was only the second meal we'd had out with Ivy (the first was yesterday in a Japanese fast food restaurant...). Ivy was a trooper all day long- and after sleeping through half of lunch, was delightfully accomodating after she woke up. It was such a fun lunch, and a great way to celebrate our great fortune!

We ran a couple of errands and then walked back to our lodging in a sprinkly rain- all of us very ready to take some rest! So that's about all the news that's fit to print. Ivy is such a joy to be around, and I'm sure she can't wait to meet all of her fans!

We did have our very first spit up incident... and it was considerable in volume... enough said about that.

Tomorow is the health clinic visit!

Since we couldn't take our camera to the Embassy, we didn't take many pictures today... we did a little fashion show when we got home- to amuse ourselves- so there are a couple of pictures from that. The picture of Ivy on Brian's lap= certain members of the audience wanted to know what she wore for the embassy day-- this was her outfit- it being hotter than hell outside. I wore a coordinating avacado green dress, and Brian was dapper in khaki's and a long sleeved striped shirt.

The picture of Ivy in her pink kimono outfit- she's striking a pose that is becoming familiar to us- I like to call it "power to the people" as she raises a strong fist in the air. Brian's hoping it doesn't carry with it some particular political leanings.... :)

Thanks again, everyone for your interest and comments- we eat them up!