At One With...My Dining Room?

So I'm supposed to be going to bed early, I promise I'll get right on that when I'm done here, but first I was sucked into the vortex of this color quiz, as recommended by Jess. Once I got my results I was so puzzled that I thought it necessary to report them here:

GREEN

You are a very calm and contemplative person. Others are drawn to your peaceful, nurturing nature.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!

Huh? Calm and contemplative? I've actually been thinking a lot lately about how strange it is that I'm enjoying working out so much (I know I said "enjoying" and "working out," in the same sentence, who'd have thought it possible?!) and that perhaps I'm much more physical than I've recognized to this point. This, of course, is a train of thought that doesn't support the "calm" etc. category that I somehow fell into here. So I suppose these results are rubbish, but they are worth noting because I do have some green going on in the house, if not within myself, and it's ALL THANKS TO MOM!! My dining room looks smashing now; do come and see it if you haven't already.

P.S. If you detect some faint British phrasing in this post, I can't help it, I've been sucked into Harry Potter-land, and I don't see any way of escape until
July 21st, though I suppose I may feel a bit of temporary relief on July 11th?

P.P.S. It's ever so rude of me to make reference to my mom being here without making full tribute to the splendid time we had with her, Dad, Laurs, Ollie and Eli when they so kindly came for a visit earlier this month, the 12th to the 21st. Alas, I'll have to hope this mention will suffice as a tribute for now, as I really have to get to bed!

American I-dull

In spite of everything I read in the newspaper about how boring this season of American Idol is (was), I managed to retain enough interest to watch all 49 hours of it this spring.

Too bad it was actually 49 hours and 3 minutes . I don't know about your DVR, but mine wasn't able to follow all that stringing along that Ryan and co. excel at...so as for me, the last bit of the grand finale that I saw was the moment where Blake and Jordin were hand-in-hand as Ryan said, "After a record 74 million votes..."

That's it. I totally missed the part I wanted to see, THE RESULTS, which was especially bitter considering that I had suffered through the previous two hours plus for the purpose of arriving at that moment. Argh.

OK, there were a couple of tolerable moments. Blake's beatboxing with Doug E. Fresh seemed really good to me, although I'm not likely qualified to comment since I've never even heard of Mr. Fresh. And I really liked seeing Melinda sing with BeBe and CeCe Winans. She looked like she was truly enjoying the moment.

It's kind of a good thing that the next season doesn't start for many months. Maybe that'll be long enough for me to forget this indignity...maybe, as long as I don't get too much Sanjaya in the face!

Last thought: Congratulations, Jordin! I wanted you to win!

We're Six Now!

For the first time since Izumi was born and in honor of our sixth anniversary, Aogu and I went away on a 36 hour holiday. Our destination was Galena (behind our heads in this not great photo; I'm putting it up anyway since it's somehow the only one we got together), which I admit may not seem like a natural choice. If you think we seem more like "city folk," you're mostly right. I'm very up for a hike, which calls for separation from the city, but other than my need for some elevation, I quite enjoy the amenities that come with a metropolis. The point is, we chose Galena hoping we could stay in my parents' timeshare; unfortunately, that didn't work out for this time but then we just couldn't be bothered trying to find a different destination.
So I went to a bed and breakfast site and found Bernadine's Stillman Inn. Official check-in time wasn't until four but our gracious host, Dave, let us check in before one. He showed us around, gave us some tips for looking around downtown and dinner, and even shared the story of how God led him and his wife to plant a church in Galena (I didn't know he was a Christian when I booked the place, but that certainly explained his extra hospitable spirit!).
I can't remember exactly how old this building is, at least 150 years? I do remember that when Dave & co. bought it seven years ago they paid $350K and now the place is worth a million and a half?! Talk about appreciation! Still, I don't think I would be willing to work as hard as Dave has. Owning a B&B sounds romantic, but when you really think about it, you have to be on duty all the time. In fact, Dave has to hire someone to come and serve breakfast to his guests on Sundays so that he can be at church!
Anyway, after we checked in, we went for a look at downtown Galena. The atmosphere reminded me, just a bit, of Redmond, though now that I've visited both, I think Redmond has the better quilt shop and Galena the better salsa. That's right, the highlight of downtown Galena for us was the Galena Canning Company. We went in for some free samples of salsa and jam, and we came out with our wallet $50 lighter! It was a great investment though: Aogu's been searching for a hot sauce that he actually finds to be hot, and Galena'mite Blasting Sauce fills the ticket. The Baja Salsa, Cranberry Mustard, and Chile Mustard are delicious as well, and I ought to know since I didn't need to eat lunch after I left that place...
Late that afternoon, we went to The Irish Cottage for dinner at the pub, as Dave had recommended the Irish dancing. Well, we had a nice nap in the lobby while we waited for the dinner hour. Though that chair was pretty comfortable, to the point that I was apparently snoring?, with hindsight I have to say that I'm not sure the pub experience was worth waiting for. Aogu did quite enjoy his pint of Guinness, but the steak salad I ate and the stew he ordered were not great. Then, the Irish dancers turned out to be dancer, as three of the four were somehow waylaid and couldn't make it to the show. Furthermore, this one dancer--who, to her credit, soldiered on with the performance on her own!--looked to be about 12 years old. I can't criticize her dancing as it seemed to be quite good (what do I know about Irish dancing?) but I couldn't help feeling it all wasn't up to my hopes for an anniversary dinner.
The trip as a whole was a great success though: we enjoyed meeting Dave and realizing that the whole B & B thing is not for us (not that we minded the free DVDs, chocolate chip cookies and ice cream bars!). Aogu's feet won't ever be the same, in a good way, after the "Gentleman's Foot Detail" that he had at the nearby spa. And, Spiderman 3 turned out to be a suitably suspenseful and entertaining movie.
Last but not least, I'd like to give all the credit for our special weekend to my mom and my sister, who faithfully and patiently took care of Koji and Izumi in our absence (and Ollie and Eli too!). We are so grateful!

Here's to the next six years of our marriage: I wonder what it will bring?!

Izumi Marie is One Year Old Today...

...not only that, but we also had her dedicated at church and it's Mother's Day to boot! Talk about a three for the price of one package. Add to that the presence of my sister, parents, and nephews and you've got a very special day!

To imply, or even allow you to infer, that it was a day without incident would be misleading. There was the point where I pulled Koji and Ollie out of Sunday School, thinking it would be so special to have them in the sanctuary with us for Izumi's dedication. Except that as I was rushing them back Koji kept tripping over his rarely-worn "dress shoes"...and I swept us in there only to find that everyone else was already in place. That was close!

Speaking of close, you may know that I am a procrastinator, but this takes the cake (ha!): the night before the dedication/lunch party, which I had been planning for weeks, I went out to buy all the food for the party. I arrived at Costco at 6:05 pm. Too bad Costco closes at 6 on Saturdays. Therefore, we had to sprint out of church without chatting, which felt very rude on a day when we wanted to show gratitude to the church body for their support of our family, and make a run to Costco. Izumi doesn't look like she minds, right?

Second Celebration

Koji's second birthday party was also a joint celebration, this time with Ashleigh (Real Birthday: April 14th) and Calli (RBday: April 20th, same as Koji but a year later). Our location was Lovelace Park in Evanston. You'll see below that we had some footraces in honor of Koji, a pin-the-accesory-on-Ariel game for Ashleigh, and some dance lessons to show Calli's grooviness, followed by some serious pinatas and cake galore (for pictures of Kristen's cake and Jenny's cupcakes, please click here and scroll down to May 10th. Though it felt a little overwhelming in the planning stage, the actual party was lots of fun and a great success. Thanks to those who came and celebrated with us!

Koji is FOUR

A very happy day to our birthday boy, Koji! Our first celebration was a joint cozmic bowling party with Takeru and Naoki, two friends from school. Bumpers were in place, so things went pretty well. Come to think of it, we never had to call a bowling boy to rescue a stopped ball from mid-lane so Koji must be bigger and stronger than the last time we went bowling.

A couple of incidents from the party: sadly, one little friend fell and cut his chin open on the hole of his bowling ball. He was bleeding pretty profusely. Thankfully, Aogu was there with us and able to go off to the hospital to facilitate communication between his mom and the hospital staff. Maybe we should start praying now for no bleeding at next year's party so Aogu can stick around!

Also, I've been trying to teach Koji to do his own wiping up when he finishes with a poo session. Not wanting to deal with the aftermath lest he does a poor job, I've also instituted "checks," where he shows me his handiwork and I declare it good or not so. Alas, I've apparently failed to explain that "checks" should only be performed at home...while at the bowling alley, he decided he had to go. The men's room was right there and the ladies' was far away, plus, his slightly older friend had to go too. So I sent him into the restroom with his friend and then stood next to the door, feeling a bit of pride for my little son, so grown up that he can go and poo without my help.

My special moment was thoroughly quashed when he came waddling out of the restroom with his pants + underwear around his ankles shouting, "Mama! Check me! Check!"

Happy Birthday, dear son.

California Adventures

An Open Letter of Apology to Friends Who Live in the Los Angeles Area and are Not Pictured Below:

I'm very sorry that we weren't able to see you when we were recently in LA. Worse yet, you didn't even know we were there. We had no malicious intent; rather, we had very little time and two small children to work with. So we did our best, and we are still regretful that we were not able to see you. We hope you will forgive us, and even think fondly of us and give us another chance if we tell you that we will be back soon, at which time we certainly hope to make up for lost time. Thank you.

Without further ado, here's a pictorial synopsis of the rest of our visit to Southern California:

On Sunday the 15th (a VERY belated but HAPPY 10th anniversary to Laurie and John!), we drove up just north of Ventura to visit Uncle Ken (mom's younger brother) and Aunt Cher. What great hosts! What a wonderful day! Cher, you were so thoughtful to borrow and prepare toys for the kids to play with, and Ken, Koji is still asking to go back to your house to play with you. Being with you at your house was so restful and lovely, and I loved catching up with you after not seeing you for so long. Your copies of this and some other pictures we took that day will be in the mail to you.

Monday the 16th: Koji and Mikayla got along pretty well, maybe even a little better than I thought they would. I was a little embarrassed that Koji couldn't finish having a picnic with Mikayla in the backyard for fear of the gnat that landed on his knee. And I also felt bad to discover that the fever he started at Disneyland had returned... in spite of these little glitches, we had a great day and hope to spend time with you all again soon!

Here's Will with Riva and Tyler: he came home from work early to visit with us, which made our already fun day with the Lees complete. If you check Riva's blog, you'll see that she was prompt to post a picture of our visit weeks ago...no, I'm not beating myself up about not being caught up on my blog, no way...

Koji and Izumi with Maryn, Kirra, Anna and Maya...yes, I know this isn't the best picture of my children, but it might be one of the funniest! I'm so glad that Kara and Mark were able to squeeze us in, it was great to spend a couple of hours with them and meet Kirra for the first time. She was SO smiley and sweet, I hope to see her again soon so I can sqeeze her!

Tuesday the 17th: I have two motives for putting this photo up: one, I want you all to know what a FABULOUS day we had visiting with Grandma (my mom's mom, aka "GG" = Great Grandma). Two, I want Grant to know that Izumi does still do "the eyes" once in awhile. Back to GG: thanks for having us. Our day went by much too quickly. One of the highlights was definitely watching you play hide and go seek with Koji. And I think we should make cookies again; those oatmeal raisin weren't bad for your first attempt in 20(?) years, but I bet we could do better. Also, next time I'm going to take my double stroller so that you and I can walk as long we want without having to cater to Koji! I love you!

Wednesday the 18th: It's been three years since we last saw Alex and KJ, and in that time, God has added Olivia to their family. She's eight months old now, and very cute. Cat thinks so too!

These little chocolates, which we used to hold some 'two days before your birthday' candles for Koji, are the only evidence I have that I actually spent most of the day with Cindi. Seriously, I had such a good time getting caught up that I didn't even think to take a single picture! Let's make up for that next time. Anyway, as I was leaving Cindi's house I realized that I had failed to prepare a cake, so she grabbed these chocolates and candles and set me all up. Phew! Cindi, not only are you fun to hang out with, you're a lifesaver too.

You can tell Aunt Cat has learned well at the "School of Dyson (nephew)". These presents are a hit. In fact, we've been carrying this plane around with us for several days now!

Though I'm posting this chronologically, I guess my comments don't have to be; I now know that Koji loves this game, and well he should. Thanks, Alex & KJ!

Look closely and you'll see that Izumi is modeling a barrette that KJ hand made for her. KJ, you should sell those on Etsy.

Thursday the 18th, er, "today": Flying home, Izumi was tired enough to take a little snooze on Aogu's lap, which is saying something. Oh yes, that is Aogu behind the mask. He's so hygenic.

Murphy Went to Disneyland With Us

It's been two years and nine months since Cat and Darren got married, which means it's been that long since we were last in LA. Now that Aogu has a client out there, I decided to invite the rest of the family along for his current trip. And I thought that since Koji is not yet four, we would take this last chance to get him into Disneyland for free. You idiot, you're saying, Disneyland is not free once you're THREE, not four. Well, I know that now, but by the time I figured it out I had convinced myself that we HAD to go anyway.

Keep in mind that we had arrived in LA late on the previous afternoon, checked into our hotel and then heard that we wouldn't be able to meet the friend we had planned to see. To compensate, I took the kids out and stayed that way for a little too long. Finally, I got them back to our room and in bed and asleep, which was a miracle since we were all in the same room. Then I couldn't sleep because it was still not late by Chicago standards. At last, we all were asleep and then the fire alarm went off! No joke!!

When we heard it and noted that it was 2 a.m., we were so dazed that we thought the goofy kids who were in town for the tennis tournament were playing joke with their alarm clocks or something. Aogu eventually figured out that it was for real, so we woke the kids up and carried them down five flights of stairs to stand around in the parking lot in our pajamas. Thankfully we had the key to our rental car, so I got in with the kids and blasted some heat.

As for the fire, it wasn't that at all. Rather, a sprinkler had gone haywire in the fitness room and flooded it, which somehow set off a fire alarm. Water was dripping heavily from the ceiling of the lobby, and some of the tiles were even falling out. At long last, we were allowed to go back to our room and back to bed, but we did not get much sleep!

Nevertheless, we trooped off to Dland, arriving at a little past 10. We had a Mickey cookie--pictured above--for a mid-morning snack, then we walked through the castle and rode the carousel. Next up was the Dumbo ride, which Aogu and Koji waited for at least an hour to get on.

Next on the agenda was cotton candy, note that all so-called dietary caution was thrown to the wind for the sake of a fun day at Disney! Koji was acting pretty sluggish and I thought it was weird, but I chalked it up to the sleep deprivation of the night before.
So we motored off to Toontown, where Koji experienced his first roller coaster. It was while the two of us were waiting in line next a giant comb that he said it. "Mama? I want to go home." EXCUSE ME?! This is the same child that never ever wants to go home from anywhere and lets me know it loudly and clearly when I say that we are leaving (exception: food markets).

This declaration was so out of character for him that I knew there was something seriously wrong, so I started poking around at him and sure enough! He had a fever!

Can you stand the irony of it? Of course, though I wanted to just have him take a nap in the stroller and then press on, Aogu (wisely) insisted that we should leave. So we did, five hours after we arrived. Try to resist calculating our per-hour rate for all that fun...

Thankfully, two good things came out of this craziness: first, though I was sure the whole thing was a fiasco, Koji later declared that we had a lot of fun at Disneyland and that he wants to go there again. Phew. I didn't want him to be scarred by the incident; "Disneyland makes me sick" or something of the sort. Second, we were hungry, so we just had to stop at In-N-Out Burger.

Murphy, I don't actually believe in you, but just in case: next time, stay back at the hotel and clean up the fitness room. No Mickey cookies or double-doubles animal-style for you.
P.S. A very happy FOURTH birthday to Ashleigh Michelle!

"Cultured" Has a New Meaning

A couple months ago, I got my second annual 'we're coming to Chicago!' call from long time and dear uni (that's what Australians call university, "uni," and I think it's a good idea) friend Cat. We made plans to get together and she said that they wanted to see Wicked, as a friend's daughter is one of the stars. I suppose this story would be a tad more interesting if I knew the friend's name or at least which character she plays, but I don't and that's not the point.

The point is, we planned to go today. I left the tickets up to Cat because I haven't exactly been a hugely cultured theatre-goer in the years I've been here (as if I was before...?!). We arranged for a babysitter, which for some reason is a HUGE deal for me. But then last night, Cat calls and says that because her father-in-law nearly died over the weekend, she wasn't able to get the tickets after all.

Whoa! Of course I didn't mind, I mean, it would have been great to go to Wicked but we live here, so theoretically we can go anytime. The thing that's funny is what we did instead; I was darn well going to go out since my babysitter was all arranged. Half of our evening was somewhat refined: we went for dessert at The Stained Glass. Very nice. I've never had dinner there and I'm not such a wine drinker, but their desserts are great. I like to try more than one thing, so if you check out the menu, you'll understand why I was so pleased.

Any bit of "culture" that was with for dessert was lost after that. We went to the movies and watched Blades of Glory.

Let's Memorize!

A little while ago when we were studying Exodus at CBS, someone gave me the following version of the Ten Commandments. It seems a little easier to remember than just memorizing the commandments straight up. I would love to give credit to the writer, but I don't have that information. Here goes:

Above all else love God alone;
Bow down to neither wood nor stone.
God's name refuse to take in vain;
The Sabbath rest with care maintain.
Respect your parents all your days;
Hold sacred human life always.
Be loyal to your chosen mate;
Steal nothing neither small nor great.
Report, with truth, your neighbor's deed;
And rid your mind of selfish greed.

Amen.

Baby's First Easter

As a reward to myself for NOT buying Izumi a bib that says, "Baby's First Easter," I'm allowing that to be the title of this post. It was, after all. Accordingly, a couple days before, I went to the Burlington Coat Factory to get the kids some Easter outfits. The fact that I accidentally bought a spring coat for myself is not the point. The point is, the little Easter dresses were so cute, it took way too long to choose one. I probably could have chosen more easily if I wouldn't have had a bridesmaid dress philosophy about it. You know, "she has to be able to wear it again". Let me stop yakking and get to the photos.

After all the deliberating, I finally went with purple and polka dots, two of my favorite things (Izumi as a favorite thing being in a separate, higher category and a foregone conclusion). Ultimately, I was almost more enamored with Koji's tie. You'll never get what I mean, but it's a zip tie! The knot is pre-formed and adjustable with a zipper. I could go on but what I'm saying won't be any clearer. It was convenient and clever.



We were blessed to be invited to spend Easter afternoon with Grant and Cheryl Lynn and fam at Grant's parents house. Thanks, Tom and Andrea! It would have been fun just to be at their house, but Andrea was above and beyond. She planned fun games.

And the fanciest, most poetic, most rewarding Easter egg hunt I've ever witnessed. Izumi even got some new toys though she didn't find any eggs (she may have if only three boys weren't desperately racing for them; she's spunky but in this case she didn't have a chance)!

Dinner was delicious!

As were Cheryl Lynn's egg cakes.

My carrot cake was another story, which I should probably be telling on my long neglected so-called food blog. I'm almost embarrassed to post there because I've left it untouched for so long. Anyway, I was all excited that I ordered some vanilla beans online for the frosting. But then, in a moment of reckless foolishness, I went too far with my recent flaxseed meal obsession and I threw some into the cake. Fool, I repeat. Maybe it's just as well that it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. The next day when I had half of it sitting around the kitchen, I normally would have been tempted, but in this case it was a cinch for me to toss the whole thing into the rubbish bin!!

First Hair Clip

That was weird, somewhere between Aogu being gone, then coming back from Tokyo with a horrific cold, then us sort of catching that cold but not wanting to admit it, and Koji having spring break and me frantic about how to keep him busy and wear him out enough to go to bed at the proper time, somewhere in there I totally dropped the ball on posting here for the last three weeks or so! Yikes!

But I did learn that swimming is the way to go as far as wearing the kids out.

And I also had time to observe and envy my fashionable friend's three-month-old Lily with a little clip in her hair (it's proper to give the fashion credit to my friend and not to Lily, right? it's not like she's dressing herself just yet). This was such an impactful sight, Aogu even noticed and requested that Izumi have a similar hairdo. Believe me, this makes it a huge deal! This is the guy who seemingly never notices appearances, good or bad. I mean, I guess he notices sometimes, but he rarely has an opinion that he feels like sharing.

Which is super long-winded intro to the picture above: 10 months and 20ish days old Izumi with her first hair clip!

Birthday Song Writer Royalties Go Cha-ching!

You know that story about the Happy Birthday song and how the guy (lady?) who wrote is a mega-quadrillionaire because they rake in royalties every time someone somewhere in the world sings their song? How can that possibly be true?

If it is though, then we are certainly making a sizeable contribution to the Birthday Song Pot.

Yesterday we went to a birthday party at Pump It Up. This is a warehouse-looking building that contains two enormous rooms full of "inflatables". Apparently, that is the new name for those rubbery castles full of air that kids can jump on. And now, they aren't just castles, but also slides, obstacle courses and so forth.

When we were invited to the party, I was a little skeptical, but foolishly so, because it was awesome! I thought I would be sitting there twiddling my thumbs while Koji bounced, but it turns out that moms could participate too. YES! Many of the other moms couldn't believe the sight of me enthusiastically taking advantage of the inflatables, but as for me, all that crazed jumping was downright therapeutic.

Interesting cultural sidenote: this party was for a Japanese friend from Koji's preschool. While we were there, one of the workers asked me where the presents were. It took me a minute to realize that it's not normal in these parts for guests to pay to get in to a birthday party, but that's exactly what we did. Rather than buying a gift for the birthday boys (this party was actually in honor of two children), we all paid to join the party. When I first heard of this system, I thought it was bizarre, but now that I'm used to it, I really like it. The parents of the birthday child don't have to break the bank to put on a really fun party, nor are they saddled with a ton of random toys that they have to write thank you notes for. Let's all think about this system, and possibly even adopt it?! What do you say?

Today we went to another birthday party. The location was a church gymnasium, and I wasn't sure how it would stack up to all those inflatables. But actually, I think Koji had as much fun or more at this second party. The birthday boy's parents planned some fun activities (like sand art!) and put out some really nice food; it's cliche but true to say "a good time was had by all".

Another truth: my social life would be sadly lacking if my son's friends didn't get steadily older and invite us to celebrate accordingly!

10 Months Later

Here's the only tiger I saw at the zoo today!

Though both Koji and Izumi are still recovering from the mysterious virus that plagued us all weekend, there was no way I was going to have us sit at home through a 73 degree March day! The zoo isn't that close to us, and last time we went it was a family outing, so I felt the strain of packing everyone up and getting us over there by myself. However, just being outside for the first time in months was certainly reward enough. I also enjoyed feeling that we were getting some value out of our membership and "meeting" Arnieta the baby giraffe.

What better way to celebrate Izumi's 10-month-old birthday?

Pretty in Poo

Following is a true story: those easily offended by graphic details regarding bodily waste are warned to read no further.

Koji was feverish over the weekend and complained of pain in his throat and mouth. Complained is probably too mild a word, actually. He's been literally screaming from the agony that waking up and swallowing or trying to eat produces. So this morning we were off to the doctor's office to see what walk-in hours were like.

Before we left, I changed Izumi's diaper. Therein were a couple of chunks of poo that I wanted to flush down the toilet. So I put the package of diaper and poo on top of the Diaper Genie and hauled Izumi off to her car seat. I then proceeded to forget about disposing of the diaper properly in my rush to get us off to the doctor.

When we arrived at the doctor, we found chaos and mayhem. Rather than wait to see how long it would take for the doctor to work her way through an entire page of names to get to us, I signed us up for an afternoon appointment and we left (much to Koji's dismay! I'm not sure why he was so bent on seeing the doctor right then? Maybe he still doesn't understand the difference between "later" and "tomorrow").

We got home just in time for Izumi's morning nap. I put her down and then got Koji settled with some Caillou. The moments of peace and quiet that ensued were so rare and precious, I should have known they were too good to be true. Instead, I ignorantly proceeded with cleaning the kitchen, working on the laundry and even making progress on some Bible Study.

At some point, I thought I heard a noise through Izumi's monitor, but I ignored it, hoping she would go back to sleep. Finally, two hours after I put her down, I went upstairs to check on her.

To my complete horror, I found that she had apparently woken up much earlier. She looked around for something to play with and found the formerly mentioned loosely wrapped diaper and poo package sitting easily within her reach. I'll never know exactly what happened next. But I do know that there was poo all over her sheets, the bars of her crib, her clothes, and most horrifyingly, her face. That's right, she ate her poo. Or at least sampled it.

Are you laughing or crying? I was crying, I felt so horrible for leaving her poo within reach. She doesn't know that poo isn't for eating! I shouldn't have given her a chance to sample it. Bad mama! Bad! Or so I said to myself, and the more so when I realized that she was feverish to boot.

I wondered if I would ever tell this story to anyone. I went to great lengths to hide the clean-up process from Koji so he wouldn't be inclined to repeat the incriminating story at a moment I least expected. How would Aogu react when he found out I poisoned our daughter with her own feces?

God is good, even in disgusting moments like these. He had my sister call. Of course I couldn't not tell her what had just happened, though I tried to keep it to myself. She just laughed and said that she's heard plenty of stories of babies learning to get their diapers off and then smearing poo all around and yes, even sampling it.

So that made me feel slightly less like Irresponsible Mama of the Year. Then I took the kids off to the doctor, and when I sheepishly told the doctor what had happened, she hardly let me me finish the story for insisting that possible poo ingestion and fevers were most definitely not related.

Finally, I told Aogu, and he cracked up and said, "You better put that on the blog". I'm almost ready to accept that this is a pretty funny story, but I think I'm still glad that I didn't take a picture. Please don't think less of my sweet little daughter...or me...this has been a true story, LIVE from Skokie...

Compare and Contrast

Aogu at Work

This is to remind us of what Aogu looks like at work. We need a visual aid, since he left today for two weeks in Tokyo. One week away has become somewhat acceptable, but I always thought two would be justification for the family to go along. And we almost did, but since he'll be kicking off a new project (in other words, super busy and out late every night) and since Koji would have to miss two weeks of school, even I had to admit that it just didn't make sense.
Pray for us, please! The next two weeks should be interesting...

America Voted?

Are we sure that just America is voting? Aogu and I have a non-PC theory, but it's the only somewhat plausible explanation for Sanjaya's continued presence on American Idol.... Perhaps Indian IT specialists are hacking in and messing with the votes? Think about it!

Fitness in my Future

Though I'm not a prophet, I'd like to boldly claim that I see fitness in my future. If I don't see it, then I really had no business joining Lifetime Fitness today. On the other hand, I'd be lying if I didn't admit the decision wasn't entirely based on my desire to get rid of the last 10 post-baby pounds. Financially speaking, the option to leave the kids in the Child Center while I drink coffee in the cafe, I mean, work out, is much more reasonable than hiring a babysitter. Furthermore, we can make memories at the pool during family swim time. And what I'm most (cautiously) optimistic about is the option to play squash. Ken and Aya taught me to play years ago at Liv, but I had to give it up when I moved here. Until now, I needed a court and someone to play with. Wouldn't it be great if fitness AND a squash partner were in my future?