The Lewis Family in Japan: September 2011

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Monday, September 12, 2011

Thanks to my dear friend, Tiffanie Player, we have a more lively, more entertaining, and all round happier birthday song and dance in our family. And it's a lot funnier when the lady doing it is nine months pregnant (Clara was born not even a week after this was shot). I've sung it at the MTC with Tiffanie, on my mission in Alaska, at a Macaroni Grill for Tiffanie's birthday (I was pregnant then too. And it was the first time that Ben joined in), and various nieces' and nephews' birthdays, and even at a restaurant in Disneyland for my mom's 50th birthday (again, pregnant, and all of the waiters were jealous of my mad skills).

So my Grandma Sunny's 70th birthday is coming up and since we can't be there, I figured the least we could do is post this highly entertaining rendition of "The Birthday Dance."

Just FYI, we were at the Shobuen Garden that is near our house here in Japan. It's famous for its "shobu"-irises. And the little old Japanese people there that morning must be thoroughly convinced that we Americans are nuts. And I don't know how to fix the fact that it's all stretched out.

Smiles

Clara is a very smiley baby. Give her a little grin and she'll give back a thousand-watt smile. Neither Ben or I remember Ellie smiling so freely. Today she even laughed at me as we were playing this smile-tag game of hers.

Notice that even her bellybutton is smiling at you.

Sleepy Heads

Sleeping babies are my favorite.


I was upstairs nursing Clara when I realized it was very quiet downstairs. Clearly Eleanor was very tired.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Two Months

I can't believe it's already been two months since sweet Clara joined our family. She's pretty easy going and even if she gets upset and calms down almost instantly if we hold her. She's sleeping 5-6 hours at night pretty regularly, which makes me unbelievably happy. She's got a big grin and loves to share smiles back and forth. And she tolerates Eleanor's love quite well, since Ellie gets really excited and sometimes not to soft with her. But she loves to give Clara hugs and kisses and tell her she loves her. It's sweet.

Why Pie?

I once was told by a wise fellow drama teacher that there is always more pie in the kitchen. Sometimes life feels like we've sat down for some of our favorite pie with everyone we know. Everybody gets the pie they want, except you. You didn't get any. And it's at these times that we may feel like demanding from God, "Hey, where is my pie!?" But just be patient, there is always more pie in the kitchen. And if you don't get your preferred flavor, look at it as an opportunity to try out something new and become a wiser person for the challenge. That being said, I also happen to love pie.