Jeff and Mariko's blog: Busy season, cousins' visit and exams

April 15 came and went. Now I am back to 3 times a week. At the end I was putting 55 hours a week, which was getting too much. I kept the Mondays off just until the final week (although I worked at home for a few hours). And I saw Ethan every day!

Even though the busy season is over, I still had two exams to take this week so I couldn't really relax yet. And I had to go into work on Monday this week as I had a lot of things I needed to finish at work before we leave to Japan. So I took one exam Tuesday morning and another one this morning. Now I can relax and enjoy the time with Ethan! I highly doubt that I passed those exams (it's kind of hard to work 55 hrs a week and study enough for exams...) but at least they are done for now!

Now it's time to pack for Japan. I really wonder if we can fit everything we need for two weeks in four luggages plus carry ons. We are hoping to buy some food and diaper there, which would help, but we have to take more than a can of formula since he still is allergic to milk (and also under 1 year old). And how many set of clothes to pack in our carry on? Too much to think about. On top of that I'm starting to worry about him transitioning to Japan time (and back at the Eastern Standard Time). And he is working on his top tooth now, so I really hope that he doesn't get another ear infection! But he has been wearing the bibs again, which we were so happy to get rid of for the past few months :-( Now that he army crawls everywhere, the bibs get in his way so he takes them off very quickly. And amazing thing is that the bibs usually get super soaked within 10 minutes that it's time to change to a new one anyways!

Last weekend Jeff's cousins, Rachel and Beth, and Uncle Ron came from Buffalo. They have two 1-week spring breaks, and it happened to be their second spring break. They got in early Sunday morning and left Monday mid day to go upto Michigan, so it was a short visit but was a lot of fun. Ethan loved the girls and Ron, too! He could not smiling and giggling at them. They had last seen Ethan at Thanksgiving, so it was good to show how cool of a baby we have again :-)

Tonight we are meeting a few of our Sunday School friends at Mad Anthony's. I love their salads! I'm sure their beers are great too but I really can't like the taste of them. So I'm sure I'll stick to their food. Since it's walking distance from my office, I've gone there for lunches many times but it's my first time for dinner. It is an adult's night out, so Ethan will be at Grandpa and Grandma Yoder's. I'm sure he'll have fun too :-)