It’s been awhile since I last updated due to my inability to remember to click the “Publish” button after composing a post. I had a feeling it was my fault, and not that of the system. It’s so frustrating when you know there’s a reason why something isn’t working, but can’t figure out why. Anyway, I finally sat down and went through everything, step-by-step, and caught the mistake. So, I decided to put my posts together into one big “megapost” that tells what’s been going on.
It seems strange that it’s only been four months since Hannah was born. At the same time, however, it also seems like an eternity (especially at 3:00 a.m., when she wakes up crying). She interacts a lot more with us now, and is developing her own personality. She’s starting to laugh more. Yesterday, she got into a laughing fit that lasted about ten minutes. Of course, that was the manic stage before the intense crying that precedes her falling asleep. She “talks” a lot now, and likes to play with her toys and her play gym. She received her first set of shots with no problems, and celebrated her 100 day mark (something that is very important in Japan). We have submitted her documents to become an American citizen and are waiting for her passport and Social Security card. She will be a dual-citizen until she is twenty, at which time she has to choose which nationality she wants to use (although I have a friend who is 40, and still has dual nationality).
In Japan, many families celebrate the baby’s 100th day by going to have pictures taken at a photo studio. In the evening they eat a special Japanese dinner (see pictures). Our trip to the photo studio lasted about three hours. By the last few shots, Hannah had given up entirely and just fell asleep on the set. There are two styles of photos offered for this occasion: traditional Japanese and western. The traditional Japanese style involves slapping an oversized kimono on the baby and taking pictures with various Japanese-style backgrounds. My personal favorite is the one with Hannah and tray of food containing, among other things, octopus and a whole fish. The western style photos basically dress the babies up in a wedding/baptism gown and put them on a fluffy pink (or blue) cushion.
She starts out pretty good, enjoying the whole situation
This is the shot of her with the traditional dinner that families eat to celebrate. Note the octopus and fish (the octopus is a bit hard to see, just to the left of the fish)
By the time they switched her to the western garb, she was getting a little tired
She finally gives up and goes to sleep, despite the prodding of the photographers
Our dinner that night, minus the octopus
As I said before, we’re waiting for her passport. I also needed to replace my passport, which I lost somewhere. It was quite an ordeal trying to get the right photo taken. Either the shadowing wasn’t right, her hands were in front of her face, she wasn’t looking at the camera or she looked just plain freaked out. Finally, we gave up and went to a photo shop to have them done professionally. Here are just a few of the pictures that led to our having them done for us. You decide for yourselves why we didn’t use these:
Here are some other random pictures:
Her new favorite toy (the ball, that is)
This picture was taken just as she rolled over for the first time. She hasn’t done it since.
