what scar?!

So, it's been about one month--to the day--that Jolee had her accident.

The accident that nearly took her little finger tip off.

After taking off her band aid for her bath today...this is what we found.

Can you believe it?

Can you even SEE where the stitches were?!
So, the top of her finger *where the nail is supposed to be* still looks a bit weird. But all it is is a little scab. I can even see a tiny nail budding through at the bottom!

Right here is the edge where the doctors were most unsure about.
The part of her finger that was most damaged in the accident.
I'm so amazed at how fast her finger has healed!
And in awe of the power of the human body in healing itself!
Truly, a miracle!

She may never be a hand model...(shucks! And I was SO counting on that!) but I seriously doubt there will be any visible scars!
Hooray for a modern medicine!!
And double hooray for a perfect little hand with five perfect little fingers!

our 2 year-old!

Can you believe it?

Jolee is TWO years old!

This was Jolee...just days old.

But no matter how old she gets, she'll probably always be our little baby.

Well...maybe only until the next one comes. Hee hee.

Anyway, here's Jolee today.

We call her "JoJo," "Stinky Face," or simply, "Stinky."

Because she's a rascal.

And she's extremely strong minded.

But that only makes us love her more~

Not to mention the fact that she's my only "mama's girl."

(as opposed to my other two...who are definitely partial to their daddy)

Since we already celebrated her birthday earlier in the month, tonight we just had a quiet dinner with just us and grandma.

Here dining at a local Japanese restaurant...where she could enjoy her favorite foods (miso soup, chawanmushi and shrimp).

I could dote on her redeeming qualities for pages and pages...but I'll just keep it short by saying that despite being the youngest, she's definitely the STRONGEST personality in our family. We love her so much! She makes us laugh, she makes us cry, and her spirit has definitely brought more joy into our lives than we ever could have imagined.

Happy Birthday, JoJo!

To read about our adventures welcoming her into the world that fateful day two years ago, click here!

from this...

A full arm brace

To this....

A full hand wrap



To this...

A partial wrap. Notice the two fingers peeking through...


To this...
In less than 4 weeks, Jolee has gone from a full arm brace, to a simple bandaid on her pinky finger.

She's come such a long way! And I'm amazed at how quickly she's managed to recover. Not to mention how fast her finger has healed!

Take a look!

It still looks a bit mangled...but if you notice the coloring, it's incredible!
During the last appointment the doctor picked off the nail, so it looks kinda weird...but she doesn't seem to be in any pain, so that's good!

That piece on the tip is only a layer of dead skin. It's really loose, but still stuck at the end, so I don't try and pick it off. Jolee won't let me. I just wrap it up and little by little, it's slowly starting to slough off.

If you want to compare it to what it looked like 3 weeks ago, click here.
Can you believe it?!

It's going to be a normal little finger!
(and to think they were thisclose to amputating the tip off!!)

*...And I just noticed the position of her fingers. Sorry. Maybe I should put an "explicit content" warning at the beginning of the post...

Jolee.

Very happy with her Hello Kitty bandaid.

six years ago...

Our calm and peaceful life was interrupted by this.

No, but seriously...Kela was born on July 9th 2004 and truly, our lives haven't been the same since!

Six years and 3 (and a half!) kids later...
Here's the birthday girl!
I can't believe I have a 1st grader!

We got together with the cousins, per usual.
I thought about doing a big birthday party for her...but in the end, all she really wanted was a party with her cousins.
Which, if you look at how many she has, is no small party, really.
And, since her cousin Luke and sister Jolee have birthdays so close (the 6th and 19th of July, respectively) we threw all them together in the mix and had a big bash.



The cupcakes.
Can you even read the letters underneath all those sprinkles?

Jolee...apparently likes to be called "Princess Jolee" from now on.
(She already acts the part!)

The candles...that I think everyone BUT the birthday kids blew out.

Luke.

Who turned 2 on July 6th.

He kept trying to sneak in front of the camera and pose like this.

He LOVES the camera.

(like father, like son?)

And here's Jolee.

Give her ice cream, and she'll be your best friend for life!

Anna.

This one would be happy with frosting only.

We force her to eat the cake if she wants more frosting.

And, strangely, she'd rather have this than ice cream.

Once again, I'm convinced she must be a Seavey, and not a Sakuma.

And the birthday girl herself.

I'm probably the hardest on her...and maybe expect too much from such a young thing. But, she's surprisingly mature for her age, and loves to read-by herself and to her sisters. She can be a bit bossy, but is great at cleaning up her rooms and doing what we ask. She has the memory of an elephant, and is quick with compliments.

We love her to pieces and have been blessed from the moment she came into our lives!

Happy birthday, Kela!

jolee: 2 weeks later

If you didn't see Jolee's hand...you probably wouldn't even know she was so injured 2 weeks ago! That's how well she's been doing.

She holds things, climbs things, and tries to do nearly everything she did prior to her injury. Maybe not as skillfully...but she does manage pretty well!

Don't ask me why...but whenever she gets a hold of a sticker, she puts them on her face. Even though it's pretty owie when she tries to remove them...

*~*~*~*~*~

So...here's the update on her pinky finger.

It's looking so good!

No longer oozing. And not nearly as bruised as before.

I'm amazed at how well her finger looks after just 2 weeks!

The black scabs along the stitch line will eventually come off-just like any other scab.

The front of the finger looks so clean!
The nail is actually just sticking there...it was totally detached right above the nail bed. As soon as a new nail starts growing, this one will simply fall off.


She even lets me wash it with soap and water...gently, of course.
Just a couple more days until her next post-op visit with the orthopedic surgeon. I'm a bit nervous, but with my "layman's point of view" it looks so good! It's truly amazing how well the human body can heal!

(and for the record...this is ME doing all the cleaning and re-bandaging. By myself. Without Mitch's help. Honestly...I think I do a better job by myself than when Mitch tries to help. :P )

And here's Kela putting Jolee to sleep for me.
What a great big sister!

happy 4th!

This year, with the Fourth of July landing on a Sunday...we had 2 celebrations. Okay, that's not really true.

With so much family in town visiting and returning from various vacations and whatnot...we thought it a good excuse to get together twice!

SO, here goes.

Saturday, the 3rd, we all got together at Airi's house for a BBQ dinner.

Here's my mom with waaaaaay too many kids on the trampoline.

And NO. This isn't even all the grand kids.

While trying to take pictures of the kids jumping on the trampoline...this kid kept jumping in front of the camera.

I figure, he's cute enough! So I indulged him and snapped a few head shots.

=)

My mom with Kela and Seina.
Awww...everyone loves Obachan!

Somehow...amidst all the BBQ-ing and trampoline jumping, Jolee wandered into the girls' room.

And proceeded to play Goldilocks.


I think she found the Baby Bear's bed.


And here's my parents with Mitch's parents.
I can't even remember the last time all four of them got together...maybe our wedding?! Either way, it was a nice reunion. And one of the reasons why we planned the BBQ for this night.
I mean, who knows when this will happen again?!

~*~*~*~*~

Then...fast forward to Sunday night.

We had a simple potluck dinner with family.

Surprise of all surprises...Jolee actually let my dad hold her!
Those of you who don't know Jolee probably don't realize, but this is quite a momentous moment.

Hence the picture.

Then, after dinner it was time for the fireworks!

And wouldn't you know it...being a family of non-smokers, we realized that NONE of us had a lighter or matches.

Luckily for us, however...we are a family of SCOUTERS!

Who's brilliant idea, I can't quite recall (okay, that's a lie. It was totally MY idea!), Jonas busted out his magnesium flint stick and channeled Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild!!

Who says T.V isn't educational?

Here's a proud looking Jonas. Just after getting the fire lit.

A few short moments later...it was a nice big blaze!

That stump you see in the left side of the picture?

All that's left is a pile of charcoal!

So ... please support your local Boy Scouts of America chapter!

You never know when those survival skills will come in handy!

While the fireworks were popping outside...the little ones were less than amused. They were much more interested in the fishies in Airi's fish tank.
And with all the smoke billowing around, I was glad to have an excuse to stay indoors with the kiddos!

And then...the Grand Finale of the evening was getting to see the Waikiki fireworks from Airi's living room window! While some of the "older" kids and adults nearly gave me a heart attack by climbing onto the roof to check out the 'works...I enjoyed them from the comforts of the living room couch.

How cool is that?!

Fireworks without having to deal with the crowds, or the parking, or even the hard ground to sit on?

PRICELESS!



Hope everyone had a fun and safe Fourth of July!!!

safety hazard no more!

This is the children's chair that caused all the ruckus of last week.

I know. It's so cute, right?

We bought it in Seattle, carried it back with us, and even painted it with the girls! We loved it!

And then when Jolee hurt her finger....Mitch wanted to throw it away!

Granted...I sort of did, too. Who wants a constant reminder of a horrible accident?!

BUT, after mulling it over, I decided there must be a way to keep it.

I mean...it's such a cute little chair!!

The decision?

I upholstered it.

So, this is the pre-transformation chair.

Very cute.

And apparently, very dangerous.

(them edges were pretty darn sharp!)

My workstation.
Notice my snack. Gotta have my snack while I work.

After some cutting...and re-cutting...and adjusting...and stretching...and then finally some stapling...

This is the finished chair.

No longer so dangerous!

So, it's not perfect. There wasn't much of a lip to stretch the top layer over...so I had to improvise.

BUT, with the foam and the vinyl fabric, the chair is not only safe, but waterproof, as well!

(And pretty darn cute, in my humble opinion...)

And look! Even Jolee approves!