2024: Year of Transitions

Posted on December 31, 2024 by kc

On the surface, 2024 may not have seemed like a hard year, but with a 3 year+ on-going renovation, a toddler going through terrible twos, and one painful loss, 2024 was one of our more difficult years to date. But through it all, we still managed to have fun. And seeing the world through the eyes of your child makes everything worth it.

January

We started off the year with a trip to Disneyland (A‘s first time) and are actually planning to make this an annual tradition. We got to do character dining at Plaza Inn, but A wasn’t too into it yet, especially since she didn’t start getting any screen time until a few months after this. Now she loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse/Fun house/Mixed-up Adventures and is obsessed with all things Frozen.

February

Reno progress! Windows and doors were installed!

March

We reluctantly started allowing A screen time in preparation of our planned trip to Japan in May. As much as we hate that we started this, it really has made eating out a lot easier…

April

A finally trying out the scooter she got for Christmas! It really has amazed me how fast she picks things up.

May

CT and I had planned a trip to Japan in 2020 that never happened because of COVID. Now with A in tow, I knew this trip would be very, very, very different than the one we had planned before. I pared down the itinerary to basically one major activity per day and accounted for downtime to nap/jet lag recovery. Considering that we did not really have to deviate from our itinerary much, if at all, I think I did a good job planning an international trip with a 2 yo. We started off with 7 days in Tokyo, 4 days in Osaka, 3 days in Kyoto before heading back to Tokyo DisneySea for our last full day. Here are some of my fave pictures as well as our fave eats!

VideoCapture_20250102-085102 — *believe! sea of dreams show – i cried watching this. SO GOOD!*

InCollage_20241228_180654569 — (1) tokyo aburagumi (abura soba), (2) rokurinsha (tsukemen), (3) hitsumabushi bincho, (4) sushi no midori, (5) butagumi, (6) nabezo (sukiyaki/shabu), (7) royal mouriya (kobe), (8) maguroya kurogin at kuromon (tuna), (9) ajinoya honten (okonomiyaki), (10) gyukatsu motomura, (11) tsujiya (yakitori), (12) katsukura

June

To celebrate CT‘s big birthday, I booked Chef Don for a dinner with CT‘s closest friends.

July

We took a trip with CT‘s family to Vegas. I always love seeing all the kids interact together. Bonus for having family around to watch A so that we could have a date night at a delicious omakase spot.

20240719_112735 — *at the Discovery Children’s Museum in Las Vegas – A going through her left-handed phase*

August

We moved out of our rental and into a hotel for about a month. It has been rough living out of suitcases and limited boxes while everything else is in one of our 2 big storage units.

A‘s daycare is closed for part of a week in August for teacher planning and we have taken short trips during this time. This year, we went to Seattle.

20240822_131810 — *Shila (RIP) at the Woodland Park Zoo*

September

We moved from the hotel to an Airbnb, which we have been staying at since. Through all of the changes this year, we’ve been doing our best to keep our routines. A has transitioned really well, although I do fear that she doesn’t really have a concept of “home”.

20240927_205150 — *A “reading” aka memorizing her favorite books*

We had found out we were pregnant in August and went in for our 9 week appointment at the end of September. Unfortunately, there was no heartbeat. We were beyond devastated since we had been trying to give A a sibling. This was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through, both physically and emotionally. Physically, it was like going through labor all over again and the pain definitely exceeded the point in which I had asked for an epidural with A. Emotionally, I carried a lot of guilt for not wanting to start trying for our 2nd child earlier. But I wasn’t ready before. I would think about A and cry over her potentially having to share my love. I know that sounds silly, but I could not imagine giving my baby girl any less love or time. I found myself grieving moments of just the 3 of us together. Then as A started to grow into the smart, curious, funny, sassy person that she is, I became less anxious and realized that she would be fine, and I would be fine, even if we did grow our family.

October

Life events and milestones this month: my big birthday and A riding a bike!

20241004_153036 — *celebrating my birthday at Park Hyatt Aviara Resort*

20241010_181603 — *first business trip since A was born*

November

We take a trip to Hawaii every year and this year we went back to Maui and stayed at the Andaz. We are a Hyatt family and I honestly don’t know which property I love more, Andaz or Grand Hyatt in Kauai. I do know that I will miss the breakfast buffet at the Andaz – the BEST white chocolate pancakes *chef’s kiss*.

20241107_071720 — *view of rainbow from our room*

December

The last month of the year started with a bang. Like literally. I got rear ended.

Aside from that, we decorated our (felt) christmas tree, watched Disney on Ice, and we ended the year with a trip to Washington DC.

And with that, on to the new year! I can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store for us!

2022

Posted on January 1, 2023 by kc

A lot has happened this year and I’ve done a terrible job at documenting so here are the highlights by month to help me remember 2022.

January

5 months pregnant.

February

6 months pregnant.

We went to Oahu for our babymoon. I initially intended for this trip to be just about eating and relaxing, but I couldn’t help myself and ended up adding in some physical activity last minute. We rented a kayak and headed to Kaneohe Sandbar. Unfortunately, we were not aware of the tide at the time and the water was about knee deep. Still, it was a cool experience and I felt a sense of accomplishment for not only being able to kayak there, because let’s be honest, I did most of the paddling in our tandem kayak (as usual), but also that I still had the strength to help lift said kayak on top of the car for transport.

2022-12-30_04-27-41 — *view from our room at hyatt regency*

2022-12-30_04-30-14 — *maguro bros xl chirashi combo + uni + scallops vs sushi sho bara chirashi*

2022-12-30_04-25-40 — *ginza bairin: kurobuta pork loin curry rice*

2022-12-30_04-25-57 — *ginza bairin: “specialty” kurobuta pork loin katsu. amazing.*

March

7 months pregnant.

My friends threw me a hatchlorette in Santa Barbara. It was the most perfect weekend full of laughs, late night conversations, and great food, including a very special cooking class with Pascale Beale from Pascale’s Kitchen.

2022-12-31_11-30-13 — *table setting for our cooking class dinner*

2022-12-31_11-31-41 — *fruits of our labor: main course + side*

2022-12-31_11-31-54 — *fruits of our labor: dessert*

April

8 months pregnant.

We had our “a baby is brewing” themed baby shower at Smog City Brewery. We are so very grateful for all the love and support from our family and friends. It was nice seeing everyone before baby girl arrived.

May

GAME TIME!

A was born on 5/21/22 at 11:24PM. She measured 20.9 inches and weighed 7 lbs.

Cheddar’s birthday was on 5/18 and we had bought a cake for him, intending to celebrate that weekend, but he had to wait since baby girl came early!

2022-12-31_01-55-11 — *meeting for the first time*

2022-12-31_01-55-39 — *happy 2nd birthday to my handsome fluffy boy!*

June

Not living close to our parents meant that we didn’t have much help so I was very grateful that CT took a month off. We got into our groove and settled into our respective roles, so much so that when CT went back to work and I was with A all by myself, I kind of freaked out because I hadn’t changed a single diaper at all at that point… I was like, um, how do I do this???

We did manage to get ba noi to babysit a few hours so that we could go on a date night to celebrate CT’s birthday.

2022-12-31_01-57-01 — *izakaya osen: ankimo uni caviar*

2022-12-31_01-57-16 — *izakaya osen: chicken skin and liver*

2022-12-31_01-57-28 — *izakaya osen: sushi omakase*

July

Continuing my maternity leave and experiencing something new with my baby girl every day. We were super lucky that she was sleeping through the night by 6 weeks.

2022-12-31_01-58-17 — *loved watching her wake-up stretch*

2022-12-31_01-59-24 — *baby girl getting comfy while breastfeeding*

August

Continuing my maternity leave and working on more tummy time with A.

We also were able to have a day date at Kogane. Thanks again, ba noi!

2022-12-31_02-01-55 — *best friends (not really)*

September

Before I went back to work, we took A on her first trip to Maui. Man, traveling with a child is no joke, but we survived!

2022-12-31_02-05-18 — *sunset at haleakala. parenting fail: i did not pack her the appropriate clothes for this activity*

2023-01-01_10-48-33 — *baby girl at baby beach*

October

I went back to work at the beginning of the month and A started daycare. Grateful that CT does drop off and pick up, saving me from being an emotional wreck.