What the baby does...

...she sits up! One day (last Sunday) she figured out to hold out her hand to the side to balance, and then she was off! All in one day, she sat upright instead of slumping forward, suddenly having gained the confidence to do so, now she knew how to regain her balance.

And TOYS! She is so into her toys. She gets excited with old favorites and new ones. Of course it's chewing on them that she loves the most.

Tigger and Tigger

Erica wearing her winter overcoat Tigger suit.


That tongue poking out means, pretty obviously, 'I wanna suck that!'


Tigger is my friend.

Black Tuesday and White Wednesday

It snowed today! It only just stopped actually, at 11am. It's a good thick covering, great for making snowmen or snow queens, only Amy can't go to school today. She and Lena have the 'flu. Hence the Black Tuesday, I hated yesterday, I was so stressed out! Wooried about Erica's breathing again, irrational but unstoppable. Kanji took the girls to the hospital. I was relieved that I didn't have to take Erica to that den of germs but anxious because I like to be the one in control when it comes to medical affairs. Kanji is too much of a Yes man. I didn't really want Tamiflu - but he got it, and I got so upset! Then he arrived home with them with a slew of other meds as well, in case the 'flu brings on Amy's asthma or Lena's Perhaps-asthma. I just don't get giving them a bunch of cough medicines and mucus minimizer and what-not. If it's asthma, just give them asthma drugs! A preventer and/or a reliever. A cough is a symptom of asthma, not the illness itself, surely just relieving the cough is not enough? I know things like excessive mucus can bring on asthma, but still, why not give them an asthmas preventer then????

It's this kind of thing that makes living in a foreign country so frustrating and stressful at times. You just feel like no-one has any common sense.

....oh, well, it was just all too much! A black day. I was clock-watching at 11:58 thinking, "the sooner this day is over the better" even though nothing was going to change from that time until morning!

Now the kids have gone to Baachan's for the day to help try to keep Erica 'flu-free. I haven't touched the girls since they came home from the hospital, and they haven't touched her since Sunday night when they first started feeling ill. That's been really hard, because I'm a huggy mummy, especially when my kids are sick. I told Amy yesterday that I wanted to hug them both so bad, but I couldn't, because we have to do everything we can to try to keep Erica from getting ill. She understood, but got a bit teary-eyed as well. At least they have each other, and now their father, who is coming down with something too. And Baachan to fuss over them. I sent them away all bundled up against the cold, with a pot of vegetable soup, which Amy had asked me to make yesterday, and a DVD player and a bunch of DVDs. They think the guys working at the Stand might like Grease, so they brought that.

I'll probably pick them up after dinner, in the meanwhile, me and Erica have a big long day to ourselves to fill! Easier, cleaner, but she misses playing with them! She can't figure out why no-one will play with her, and not even Daddy will cuddle her. At least she's used to it being just her and me most of the time.

Catch-up

I just called mother, but she's out. Later then. We will go shopping in a moment, the girls don't want to come, they want to babysit themeselves, but it's still too soon, I think. So I shall drag them with me and do two days' worth of shopping. Amy is sewing, and I promised to wait until she is done. Erica is on her tummy, happy to be with her sisters. Lena is wriggling around managing to do absolutely nothing as usual.

I went to the AFWJ convention last weekend, more about that later too. Erica's had enough, or rather, the girls have left her and she's annoyed. I just set her up with one of their dolls, that's keeping her happy. She all hands! She's always grabbing whatever I have in my hands, usually I can see it coming a mile off as she's rather slow to get coordinated, but sometimes she sneaks up on me! I hold her in my left arm, so I can use my right, which leaves her stronger left hand out front. She always grabs my wallet when I am paying for my groceries. She actually really likes riding in the supermarket strollers, but she's always had enough by the time we come to pay! I put her back in the stroller yesterday while I paid and packed, and she managed to reach for a rubbish bin and started to eat the bin liner while I was busy packing. And when I hold her on my knee to eat (cos Mums aren't allowed to eat in peace, you know) I have to clear an arc in front of her. She is no longer happy gazing outward, staring in fascination at the curtains or the fridge. She MUST be facing us, she twists her body round to see what I am doing, what I am EATING - she is fascinated with food. I have tried a few things in her mouth, but she is still poking out her tongue in response, so she's not ready yet.

She's moving toward a saner night schedule, not that I was bothered much by the midnight to midday schedule, it had its uses! Now she is going down about 8pm, wanting to stay hooked onto her boobie for ages, which is neat, cos then I sit up in bed and read to the other girls. So that's come together nicely. Then she sleeps until a little earlier in the morning, more like 8 or 9am. So I can do less in the morning, but eventually we must move towards SLEEPING at night and being AWAKE during the day, so it's all for the best. We are getting into a routine of having dinner first, then bath, then straight to bed.

Lena has been having dramas this week. She finally lost her first tooth!

.... much later on, after Princess Diaries II, shopping, lunch and Harry Potter 5...

Lena also had a major drama this week nearly killing her finger. On Thursday I picked them up after But Biting Bug class (which is a whole other story!) she complained of a sore finger. I looked at her finger and its tip was wrapped in selotape. I quickly cut it off - it was white and cold to the touch. I got the selotape all off, it was pretty tightly wound, amidst her complaints of pain. Once the tape was off, it hurt even more as the blood began to recirculate, and it swelled up to twice its size. I thought she had put it on a few hours earlier, but as I talked to her, I realized she'd had it on for over a day. I remember her getting the tape out of the cupboard - I'd told her to make sure she put it back, and was happy when, a little while later, I saw it returned to its rightful place, but it never occured to me to ask what she was using it for, I just assumed it was for paper. Turns out she was concerned about her nail. She bites her nails really badly - down to the quick almost, and until it starts to hurt. She herself is getting worried about it, and she thought that if she covered it, it would stop her biting it and hurting. I think she got the idea of using the tape from all their games with their dolls, when they 'get injured' and Amy doctors them with tissues and selotape.

Well, after a night of worry, with Lena the most worried, all was well in the morning, it was just a little swollen and sore. She'll never do that again!

cold!

I think winter finally found us. We had a few fluffs of snow yesterday, nothing on the ground, just a reminder in the air that it really is cold out there!

Here's bubs all rugged up. Isn't she getting big?

Stuff

Erica is definitely teething! Her cheeks are bright red. That little white spot on her gum is getting bigger and whiter. Mum, I was right! Remember when she was just a few days old and she was crying with a big open mouth like they do and I said, Hey isn't that a tooth? Well I think I was right, her teeth are not far under her gums, showing up as white spots. And here she is, teething much too early - she can't even hold on to her teether properly, I have to sit there and hold it for her while she frantically gnaws on it.

She is also sitting up, leaning forward. And she laughed out loud again yesterday, with indefatigable Amy playing peek-a-boo. She was aniticipating Amy's reappearance, and looking around for her over my shoulder, then Amy would pop up and she'd get just enough of a fright to make a noise, mostly a 'gnnnhhaa' or a nose-blowing noise she's taken to making lately, but then just that once, a real laugh. And then she giggled in her sleep not long after which the girls found so endearing - clearly dreaming about her fun time with her big sisters before bedtime (not that she went to bed, oh no, she took a short nap, then stared up at me with her big eyes until I looked at her, whereupon she grinned from ear to ear and cooed. She stayed awake until her Daddy got home, then some...finally nodding off at around 11:30 again)

Both girls had a parent observation day yesterday.

Lena's was all morning, from 9:15 and scheduled to run until 12:00, but it didn't finish until 12:45 due to some last minute prep and practice for the mothers' performance at the kindy concert. I like going to see what she does at kindy, but really, do they think we have nothing better to do for THREE HOURS? Especially when they didn't do anything that they do on normal days. We played a game together in the hall, a human board game which was fun and really well done.

The kids, acting as board squares, sitting in a circle as the teachers explain the rules

Lena was the 'Take 3 Steps Forward' square

Then they had a bunch of traditional and New Year toys set up in the other rooms and the kids took their parents to play with spinning tops, cat's cradle, cards, and 'kendama', and kind of cup and ball.

Then we had a class meeting with the teacher, in which she spoke in vague terms about the behaviour of the kids, what they have gotten good at (taking turns, sharing, chores etc) and what still needed work, including how some of the girls (Lena and her crew) fussed too much about whether their hair and clothes were labelled 'kawaii' (cute) by their friends or not. Then each mother in turn (and Kanji, the only Daddy) spoke about her concerns or things she thought were working. Japanese people often won't speak up unless everyone has a go in turn! Kanji talked about our worries that Lena wasn't adjusting to kindy the easy way Amy had, and that we were worried that she couldn't speak as well as Amy. The other mothers thought it was great that she could speak English as well, as that it would be to her benefit later. That was nice to hear. And also enlightening to hear the other mothers of Lena's best friend/nemeses that it was much the same for them - their girls also come home complaining that so-and-so said she liked/didn't like me today. So it looks like it really is just silly little girls with no social skills. It hurts her so much though.

Amy's was next, after we went home for a quick lunch. Erica was wonderful through all this, didn't cry once. I fed her once in the hall, and walked her to sleep during the meeting. First, she looked at the pictures on the wall and cooed at them, which was super-cute, if a bit noisy, but at least she wasn't crying. She dropped off to sleep again during Amy's class. I wanted to as well, or at least to sit down, it's a hard slog carrying that heavy baby! In her class, we watched as they first read aloud, then examined a story. Lots of independent thinking going on, but I kind of lost track, as I couldn't hear what the kids were saying very well. It was a mystery story about Who Broke the Vase?

Amy's classroom. Her art work - plasticine turtles

Babies and laundry baskets

Say no more!

In other baby news, Erica appears to be getting a tooth. Dribbling, gnawing, an extra feed added overnight, fussy feeding. A small white bud visible on her bottom gum on the rare occasions I can see into her mouth, and I can feel it too. It's not red or swollen so I don't think she can feel it. Aapart from her increased need to suck and gnaw, she's pretty contented.

She definitely left-handed. The first of six children and eleven grandchildren of two left-handers! She is learning to grasp deliberately, and consistently chooses her left hand to practice. She holds up her hand, looks at it with her cross-eyed baby look, and deliberately aims it towards...usually my nose.

Amy has finished Little Red Riding Hood and now her and her friends are making up dances to songs. It puts a spring in her step on the way to school. Lena declared her day at kindy yesterday to be 'perfect', so it looks like the efforts the teachers are making are paying off. Kanji's friend suggested we change schools, but I'm not ready to go that far yet. Only two more months and she starts school. There will be new kids, and new classroom lists so the dynamics will change. I don't think the bullying children are being deliberately mean at this point, just stupid.

Little Horrors

The ones at school I mean, for insisting to Amy that Santa is your mother. She demanded I tell her the truth yesterday. I evaded the question - "What do you think? What do you want to belive?" and "Maybe they don't know because they are Japanese, and Santa is a European, a NZ, a Christian thing and they don't know anything about it". Hopefully the whole question will just fade away and they will be talking of other things today. She has her second influnza shot today, I would take the opportunity to talk to her about not letting her younger sister hear nasty rumours about Santa's reality, but I think I'll get her Daddy to take her, since I don't want Erica in a germy public hospital pediatric clinic if I can help it.

Erica is having fun kissing everyone! She left a mark on Amy's cheek! On the downside, she is not sleeping well at night. You know when you are tired when you blink and your eyes don't open again. Mums and night workers know the feeling, and we have plenty of both in our family so they are many of you who know what I mean.

She naps in the evening at the right time to enable me to spend some valuable time with her big sisters at bedtime, reading. This is so important right now, as Amy has just caught on, and is reading Roald Dahl's "Magic Finger" and a Little Red Riding Hood Ladybird Book. We discovered we have seven Little Red Riding Hood stories at home, eight if you cound Lena's dance for her ballet concert - as well as the Ladybird book, I have a book of original Grimm's stories, a beautifully illustrated fairytales book I had bought previously, a small travel-size compendium of nursery rhymes, songs, poems and stories with it, a Japanese translation of the Grimm story, the Mell doll book that came with the clothes set that Lena got for Chrismtas, and a tiny mention of the story in another book, which I claim as my favorite because it distilled the story down to two images and two lines: Before the Wolf, (grandma in bed) and After the Wolf (grandma tied up under the bed, Wolf waiting in the bed).

(She just came home from school absolutely full of a grand scheme she has devised - she has promised to make her friend a hood for a play of Little Red Riding Hood she is producing with her buddies. Clearly there has been no more talk of Santa today, phew!)

Meanwhile Lena is continuing to get bullied at kindy. We wrote a note to the teacher, and they said they taught the whole class what kind of things they should and shouldn't say and do to other kids, which seems to have worked, as she reported a 'wonderful' day today, and she played with Maya, who is otherwise the ringleader. Maya seems to be a fair weather friend only. (This is not the Maia who Lena went to English kindy with)

Meanwhile little Erica wakes again just as her sisters go to sleep, all bouncing and smiling and ready to play! She doesn't go to sleep until between 11-12, then wakes again for a snack at 2 or 3, and my alarm goes off at 6am. It's starting to catch up to me! But I always have the option of napping with Erica in the morning after the older girls go to school. I slept from 8am til 11:20am on Tuesday!

Catching Up After the Holidays

Two more days of winter holidays left. Amy is back to school, Lena to kindy on Tuesday. Amy still hasn't finished her winter holiday homework, I still haven't got over the fact that they gave her so much homework! Lena is a ninja. A REAL ninja, and don't you try to tell her she's not! Erica is a little, round, soft, cuddly, sweet-smelling ball of a baby. She laughed out loud for the first time - watching her sister, who shall remain nameless, on the toilet. She likes hand plays (Clap hands for Daddy to come, Inky pinky ponky,) dancing, raspberries on her tummy, sliding down my knees in the bath and as always, that activity gym! Her hands have come into play, and just in the last few days, her mouth! For a few happy days I could give her interesting things to touch, knowing she would just crunch them in her fist, but now everything is straight to the mouth! She makes the most darling 'sucky mouth' as she brings her hands together to gather up the doll, or chocolate bag (the mini-Crunchie bag is a hot favorite) or Lena's clothes (she LOVES Lena's clothes. Lena loves her clothes, so she always agonizes over her choices, and ends up with something pretty, whereas Amy just puts on the first thing she reaches for, something comfortable) or occasionally an actual baby toy.

Today I'm making golden soup for my lunches this week and meusli for my breakfasts. Amy is supposed to be doing her homework, and Lena helping me with getting the books upstairs. I'm putting all the books up into the upstairs tatami room, to be known henceforward as The Library, or perhaps The Dressing Room, since the clothes are in there too. It will retain a bed, just in case. Then I can shift the two desks downstairs into the Study, where my computer and the piano are.

Firsts

It's all about firsts, isn't it.

Today for the first time, she grabbed something dangerous, an electrical cord while she had tummy time on her nappy mat. Oops, gotta find a new home for that new multi-region DVD player now!

Her First Christmas, which was also the first day she sat on my hip, watching me make the turkey gravy. The first time she rolled over, although Kanji tells me he saw her do it earlier, so this is officially 'his' first! I found her later on, crashed into the leg of the activity gym that's over her nappy mat, rolled off the mat and consequently in quite a state! Took her a while to get over that first!

Update, later on - another first! First laugh out loud - while watching her big sister on the toilet!

Christmas presents 2007

ME

Mum - tea towels and earrings
JO - wrinkle cream and hair serum
BECK - Bath set
CHRIS - lindt truffles
Kanji - freezer
kawanos - scarf

KANJI

Mum - Key holder, mint chocolate
Jo - ferrero rocher
becky - Kahlua chocolate
me - luminarc bowls

ERICA

Santa - doll, snake, rattle, clothes
mum and dad - playmobil, bib set,
grandma - first christmas book, Marylou
P * A - name plate
mcleods - big rattle
beck - fuzzy buzzy bee
Amy and Lena - blocks

AMY and LENA

peter and amanda - name plates
mcleods - sand art
mitchells - black t-shirts
becky - Amy, funky girls drawing book, Lena, how to be a princess; dog tags
Grandma - Amy, Girls' book, Mr Men Mr christmas, Lena, classic nursery rhymes and Mr Men Christmas Carol
Mum and Dad - playmobil
Santa - clothes, Mell clothes and book, tutu, book - Amy, squids will be squids and ;Lena, dragons and petit marionette
Rachel - xmas earrings
amy from Lena - bag and clip; Lena from Amy, Mel shower

Christmas Day

Santa came! Great! Though there was the usual non-chimney family's worries about access. Luckily we have a convenient upstairs balcony where we put out the chocolate milk (Amy found out from somewhere that Father Christmas prefers chocolate milk. Good on him) and cookies the kids had baked themselves, and painted with egg yolk and food coloring. Great - that meant I could eat ALL the Christmas cake! Gosh, it took me half a lifetime to acquire the taste, so I'm kind of happy it'll take the rest of them another 10-20 years to acquire it, because in the mean time, I have to make up for the last 20 years that I missed out on.

As usual in our house, Daddy was up first, and we tried to wake the children so he could see what Santa brought, but they were having none of it - we keep them up too late on Christmas Eve. I thought seven was old enough to be up at the crack of dawn toeing the presents at the end of the bed and hearing the wrapping paper crackle...

Father Christmas brought them some very dearly wished-for gifts. The favorite gift has to be the ballet tutus. Amy has been waiting two years for one. They got clothes for themselves, and clothes for their favorite doll, Mell. The clothes were from fairy tales and came with a book. Lena got Little Red Riding Hood, to match her ballet performance, and Amy got Cinderella. Finally they also got two books each, one in English and one in Japanese, since Santa knows they are bilingual. Erica got her very first doll, which is HUGE, and a big green stuffed snake, which she loves, also a tiny rattle that's just perfect for her little hand and a new dress.

Then we had our traditional ham and eggs Christmas breakfast. Or rather, I did, and the kids opted out in favor of cereal. Then we went to church! Yep, we actually went to church. Recently a lady from the Phillipines has been wokring at Youme Town, and she asked if we were going. I had been half-heartedly meaning to go past the church to check the times, but kept forgetting. So I asked her the times, then I had no excuse! There are a lot of catholics in the Phillipines, from the Spanish colonization that preceeded the Japanese WWII take-over that was followed by the American occupation that preceeded independence. Phew! There are some natives in there too I expect!

Anyway, I started my turkey cooking before we left, just like Mum, so it would be smelling delicious when we got back. Then I got to work on my roast dinner. I called Keio just before I started peeling potatoes, to see how many of the staff were coming - I had invited several of the foreign staff over for Christmas lunch. I received the shocking news that Manager had scheduled a meeting! It's bad enough that the poor buggers have to front up to work on Christmas Day, but to add insult to injury by calling pop meetings is just heinous! Not to mention it rather thinned out my planned lunch. So I talked to Manager and asked her if I could have a few staff members, please, as I had already cooked the turkey. Upshot was, Manager came over too, plus two American staff members, one with his Japanese wife who is pregnant. And Rachel, who used to work there and used to teach Lena. Lena loved that!

By this time the kids had been allowed to open up some of their other presents, including the one from Mum and Dad. We got them playmobil. My siblings will remember how many hours of fun we got out of ours. Mum will recall how expensive it is! I got an enormous amount of it second hand, it was being sold in sets, and I got several - I paid $100, but got my money's worth, since each $10 set would have been 40-60 brand new. I got a helicopter, a car, a waterfall, two buffalo, three horses, cowboys and Indians, an enormous pile of hospital gear, a Victorian toilet, a wedding party and a playground. The girls played with it for three days solid until I insisted it be cleaned up so I could vacuum! Lena has coined a new verb, she keeps saying, "Amy, let's play-mobil!".

Manager popped out for a few minutes to get something and I took the chance to open the champagne and slip my co-workers a much-needed drink! Then we put the gingerale bottle on the table. We had roast turkey with stuffing and gravy, roast potato, sweet potato and pumpkin, and peas. For dessert there was pavlova (more like a giant marshmallow than an giant meringue, the pav is still a work-in-progress) and a trifle. There was birthday cake and Christmas cake, which only I ate. And mountains of chocolate.

The guests left, and we opened up the last of our presents, made some phone calls, and spent the rest of day quietly, eating leftovers. The kids preferred left-over curry, which meant all the more turkey for me!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is considered Christmas in Japan. Some people don't even know that Christmas is on the 25th, they think it's all over by midnight on the 24th! In Japan, it's a romantic date night.

Christmas is also Kanji's birthday. So we have developed our own little Christmas Eve celebration. Kanji's favorite meal is curry, sashimi and beer, so we make that for him, and also make a birthday cake. This year Amy and Lena decided on a heart-shaped pink cake decorated with marbles (which are Japanese smarties/pebbles/M&Ms). Only the red food colouring mixed with the yellow butter to make orange. I bought the cake too, so it wasn't the nicest cake ever, but it was good enough for a happy birthday song and a little party with beer and kid's champagne. Then we settled down to watch Polar Express, a magical little movie that has become an instant Christmas classic.

Finally, bedtime...making sure the stockings and sacks are well-placed, the cookies and chocolate milk are out on the balcony for Santa and his reindeer...and finally, in the wee small hours, Santa comes!

Update

I've been told to update my blog, so here I am. There wasn't really anything going on during the last week, except for Christmas preparations. I have made the hazelnut truffles and Christmas caramels from the small Edmonds Christmas book. The hazelnut truffles have been great fun. First I could find no hazelnut powder or hazelnuts, so they became almond truffles. Then my choc bits for the coating wouldn't melt properly, so I added loads of cream. It still wasn't dipping consistency so I gave up and added walnuts and apricots, and rolled it into a log, which didn't work because it was too runny. It turned into a chocolate splat.



Then I tried a different kind of chocolate to dip the truffles, which worked, but I had a ton leftover. So I cut the chocloate splat into squares, topped each with a now half-set glob of chocolate dip, and decorated it with a piece of apricot and walnut. Still I had chocolate dip/gloop leftover, so I rolled in the extra apricots and walnuts and wrapped it in tin foil to make a chocolate lump. Which I then ate.



By contrast, the caramels were much more successful, except I made the fudge in a non-stick pot, which stuck, leaving bits of non-stick-pot-muck through my caramels. Which I ate.



Now all I have to do is once again try a pavlova, and some lamingtons to bring to a pot-luck party on Sunday. Trifles for Christmas and curry for Kanji's birthday on Monday and roast something on Tuesday. By the time I get to the bottom of the pile and tuck into that second packet of crunchies (the first packet is all eaten already) I will have put on all the pregnancy weight I lost. It's obvious what my New Year's resolution will be.

Festival

Kanji was invited to participate in a festival this year. He's president of his Business Club this year, and was invited by the branch in the town where this festival is held. I don't even know what the festival is called, only that it involved carrying a Mikoshi, or portable shrine, across the river to it's home shrine on the other side.

The men carrying the shrine have to actually go into the water, and it's early winter so it's VERY cold! They are wearing fundoshi, the loincloth that sumo wrestlers wear, along with a cotton coat that I thought would just make them colder once it got wet through

Things kids say

I was taking a little rest, a wee nap, while feeding the baby. Amy walked past and said to me "What are you not looking at?" Apparently she thought I was shutting from my vision the knowledge of whatever mess or mischeif she was getting into!

In the bath, I was rubbing some cream on my tummy that Kanji had brought back as a souvenir for me from Tokyo. Recommended by some of the women in his club (they were all there for a conference) it's supposed to firm your tummy. It's an orange gel and it warms up when you put it on. I'm not inclined to believe that things like this work, it's probably just a coincidence as the tummy firms up naturally in the months after birth. But I was willing to give it a try, his heart's in the right place anyway!

Anyway, there I was rubbing it on, and Lena was questioning me about it. I explained that it was supposed to make my tummy hard, and I wasn't really sure that it would work. So she said, "But tummies aren't supposed to be hard anyway!". You know Lena, you're right! Tummies aren't supposed to be hard! Sometimes it takes a kid to state the obvious.

phew!

That's the bath - she loved her bath again last night, conveniently forgot the sneezing episode. Nothing seems to fluster this baby, she's one calm kid.

But I have other children, you know, and maybe you'd like to know what going on in their lives. Amy is a proud big sister, and is the best at getting Erica to talk or laugh. She has no shame! And it's funny to hear the kinds of things she says, which are copied off me, you know that dorky stuff you say to babies for lack of anything else to say 'You're a pretty baby, yes you are! what are you doing? Are you talking to Mummy, yes you are you clever little darling!' all said in that high-pitched baby-talk voice. It's the same in Japanese!

She has a big school run tomorrow - can't call it a cross-country, as it's around the city streets! They have been practicing in the grounds at school every day, and so far her asthma seems to be handling it okay. There is so much dust though! The school yard, for those who don't know, has no grass, it's just dirt, turning to a mud-bath on rainy days. She also has a toe-nail coming off, so between the two little problems, I'm a little concerned about the run. I'll go stake out a spot at the half-way point to see her come past, and check that she's okay!

School is going okay. She hates getting so much homework every day and is dying to get back to school in NZ, where there is much less. Not to mention grass! Everyday she has to practice sums, write a page of sums, do some reading and practice writing characters. In addition she has piano practice, and she wants time to play, so we are not getting any time to practice English, except for reading before bedtime. Due to all the classes, long winter baths and baby care, bedtime is getting later and later, which she doesn't like - she's made the connection between how good she feels in the morning and how late she went to bed, and is keen to get to bed earlier! "Let's go to bed at 5 o'clock tonight Mama" she says!

She's keen to start ballet and art again, although I am afraid that she'll just quit again. She's too independent! She likes doing her own thing - the downside to having a creative kid who very happily amuses herself without ever wanting to watch TV. Meanwhile, she's doing swimming and piano. Piano upsets her - she can't do it, and doesn't like to do something she can't excel at straight off. But I want her to persist, because I don't think it's good to only do things that come easily. You have to learn to put some effort in, and it's a much greater reward when you worked hard at something. It's been better though since I stopped interfering and left her and the teacher alone!

Lena is not enjoying Kindy as much as Amy did. She has 'friends', if you can call them that, as they seem to tease her as often as be kind to her. Lately her mood seems to hinge on whether one of them calls her hair-tie or her clothes cute or not. So every day is a battle to get her wearing something she feels will be acceptable to her 'friends'. We all want our kids to be stronge against peer pressue, but I lean towards giving in, as it just seems SOO important to her!

Often they reject her totally, and even tell other girls not to play with her, or you can't be our friend. So Lena plays with the boys. It got bad enough that the teacher called us to kindy to talk about it. Lena got so upset - they told her she had weird, 'different' eyes - she has the most beautiful eyes you can imagine, and she's made to feel ashamed of them! She wanted to change her name, seeming to feel that her name was wrong, or weird too. (It's actually a very common Japanese name). She wanted to change it to 'Ayumi', which is the name of Japan's No.1 pop star, because then everyone would like her. So I'm playing music to her by some pop stars whose Mums are foreigners. There are a few in my Foreign Wives' Club whose daughters have made it in Japan's music industry.

It seems to have settled down for the time being, but then again, she doesn't report to me what happens every day.

She had her ballet concert a few weeks ago. She was Little Red Riding Hood. Once again, they went all out, with professional costumes, lighting, sets, everything but the symphony orchestra! She has started piano, but she is very naughty, and prefers to do silly things like fall off her chair. She loves swimming, but I want her to take a rest for the rest of this month, as it makes her cough worse. I think she has asthma. Two weeks ago after swimming, I could swear I could hear wheezing in her lungs, as she coughed and coughed after her lesson. I have heard that although swimming is good generally for lungs, pool water can aggravate asthma. Also the hot air in there, then the cold air outside wreaks havoc on weak lungs. It seems her cough from a cold way back may have developed into asthma.

I gave her ventolin, and the effect was almost immediate reliefe. I took her to the hospital the next day, and the doctor said she couldn't hear asthma in her lungs, but her lungs still sounded better after the nebulizer. She gave me a short course of antibiotics, plus mucus and cough medicine, as, she said, they don't pass out asthma medication at the first showing. It may just be a bad cough. We are going again on Dec 26, when we will also get their second flu shots. With all this threatened asthma, and a baby in the house, I don't want any flu this season if I can avoid it!

Grab

Erica's amusing all of us with her new grabbing skills, though she still seems blissfully unaware of what she is doing! She's pulled a toy off her activity gym, her sister's hair, my necklace, my glasses off, and her bib off.

She's added 'uuAAuu' to her vocabulary, along with gaa, goo and 'algula'. She was quite proud and excited when she added 'uuAAuu', that 'AA' is the biggest sound she's made so far - I'm sure she felt like she was singing. She loves it when I sing to her. I like 'Hush Little Baby' because it's complicated enough to keep my attention - if you think about it you can go on and on forever. And it's amusing to hear Amy and Lena try to sing it and get all confused!

She's 6.2kg and a little round ball of a baby. I thought she was round when she was born, but looking back at a photo of her held by her Daddy, wearing just a singlet, she was a skinny lean litle bub then compared to now! Round head, round belly, round thighs, even round shoulders. She especially looks like a ball when we are in the bath and I hold her under her shoulders, letting her swim.

She LOVES her bath. Yesterday when I was getting her undressed on the mat outside the bath, she was nearly laughing out loud, and waving her arms around, eyes all big. I hope she still enjoys it today, because she got a tremendous fright last night - when her Daddy sneezed, of all things. He was holding her, and just about to pass her to me, so she was feeling a little uneasy already probably, as he had started to hold her away from his body. Also, I had just overflowed the bath (the joys of Japanese bathing!) with a big whoosh sound. Neither of these things make her cry usually, but the combination plus that sneeze were all too much and she screamed, and we couldn't console her and had to get out of the bath. She was still sobbing and shaking as she fed quarter of an hour later. So we'll see tonight which memory sticks the harder - a big scare or the two weeks of joy that preceded it!

Wedding Anniversary

It was our 8th wedding anniversay today!

Kanji got me flowers and sweets. The flowers are still alive and beautiful (as of the following Monday), the lilies having opened up in the intervening days. They have joined Lena's three bouquets from her ballet concert, and the two little ones Jiichan got for Amy and Lena. After a few days having them in various glasses, I finally caved and went and bought some vases. That didn't stop us spilling them though, most recently yesterday when I managed to knock down three bouquets with the laundry. At least it forces me to change the water.

The sweets were chocolate cakes, which I made into sundaes with banana, vanilla ice cream, walnuts and chocolate sauce on Friday night. Also chestnut whip puddings, which are just lovely and come in little ceramic ramekins, which we get to keep! I have five now, gulp, which means I just HAVE to get one more sweet little chestnut pudding, yum yum.

We took the kids out for dinner. We went to the Grand Hotel, which is the hotel we were married in, when it was called the Sunroute. I had no idea the Grand had such a good western food menu! We chose a set menu for us, and curry for the girls. Entrees were persimmon wrapped in ham, then pates. There was a fish course with salmon and sea bream, and a soup, maybe pumpkin and potato, steak with vegetables and a delicious chocolate self-saucing pudding with vanilla ice cream and chocolate and custard sauces. The pudding turned out to be an under-cooked cupcake! Interesting, easy and delicious - you know how yummy uncooked cake batter is!

Erica came too and was reasonable. It would have been a shambles if I wasn't such a consummate breastfeeder, if I may be allowed to blow my own trumpet. I took her from the restaurant when she first cried, but the lobby was large and decorated with hard materials that just echoed her cry. I had to go all the way to the toilet, which I am usually opposed to, as babies shouldn't be made to eat in there. But hotel toilets in Japan are scrupulously clean, and, like in malls, usually have a second separate room for handbasins, and even a third room with mirrors and chairs. This one had no chairs, so I got her latched on standing up. I was wearing a low-cut sweater over a higher-necked t-shirt, so I was able to do so with very little clothing moved, and when Amy came into the toilet to find me, she had no idea Erica was feeding, so I felt confident enough to walk thus across the foyer and back into the restaurant, where I sat down and resumed my meal, with my left hand, but otherwise in comfort. Kanji didn't even know until later on that she was latched on all that time! Everyone just thought she was asleep in a cradle-hold. She stayed that way through five course, which is why it would have been a shambles if I wasn't able to feed her so comfortably, or, for that matter, if I had chosen different clothes. Ladies - high-cut under-top up, and low-cut over-top down. Got it?

Well, I think I can almost say it without reservation...tempting fate here but...it'll all go to pack next week, or next time she has a growth spurt...but I think I can say she's nearly sleeping through the night! She's taken to having a LOOONG overnight stint, from bedtime at around 9-10, to anytime between 3-5 in the morning. Then she wakes, feeds a bit, wakes again around dawn, when I feed her and she sleeps through the breakfast/school thing.

And she just woke from her nap NOW, so off I go, I know she's really awake cos she farted

edited Wednesday: nope, she woke up at 2am and 4am last night. And I really needed the sleep too! I think I'm coming down with something. Or am I just tired?

Above and below left, at the rehearsal the day before, with her much prettier un-made-up face, and plain shoes.
Below, Amy came too, and amused Erica!
Below, in full stage make-up, very bizarre close-up, like a drag queen, but it helps their features stand out on stage

L

Far eft, with a couple of other, equally gorgeously costumed little dancers. Left, the bouquets she received for her performance!

Fun Things About Baby

1) Her smiles. Talking to her. That adorable succession of coos and gurgles as she tries with all her might to communicate with me. It's so exciting to watch her get closer and closer to an out-loud laugh! We are also teaching her to be tickled - squeeze her slightly on the sides of her ribs by her armpits while giggling madly at her. She's slowly catching on! And we're teaching her peek-a-boo (or Japanese inai-inai-ba!).

2) Breastfeeding. I just really enjoy it! I like the chance to sit down and just rest and forget everything and reconnect with the baby. It must be the relaxing hormones, because while when I am walking up and down the room to soothe her crying or get her to sleep, I am constantly noticing the things that need to be done, and disturbing her by picking up laundry or rubbish, plucking things up with my toes, but when I breastfeeding, I just kind of review it all with a resigned, "Ah, well, do that later". I love watching her feed, from the shark-like clamp-on when she's really hungry, the little noises she makes, her hands clutching at the boob or holding onto my finger. Her perfectly peaceful face when she drifts off to sleep with a nipple in her mouth - baby heaven! Eating, sleeping, and getting a cuddle from the person you love the most - All at the same time! And my favorite baby face is the one when she just pops off, clamps her mouth shut, lips all pushed up, a dribble of milk down her chin!

3) Bathtime. I've always enjoyed bathing the baby, it's a highlight of your baby day, getting to see the baby naked! You love ALL your baby, and you miss seeing those adorable little rolls and round tummy when they're hiding in clothes all day. But bathtime has taken on a whole new dimension since I started to go in with her. She's happier, because she feels more secure being held firmly in my arms instead of that awkward balance on two fingers behind the ears. The bath can be longer, because the deep tub doesn't cool as quickly as the small baby bath, a vital factor in an unheated Japanese bathroom in wintertime. And I get to cuddle up to her soft warm body! We're both loving it!



4) Watching her sleep

More of the sweet

I should know not to make any generalizations yet! Her next day after the last post was fussy and she cried quite a bit. The 8pm bedtime was a fluke, it seems, and her real habit is to cry and fuss from 8 to 10 or 11! Last night was another wondeful exception, at least I think it is wise of me to view it as an exception - she slept from around 9pm, to 3am, giving me such a refreshing six-hour sleep that I felt quite awake at 3am and read for a bit before sleeping again. She woke again at 6am, and I felt very energetic and got up, leaving her to sleep in until 8:30 while I cleaned up and got the laundry done.

So life with a little one is slowly getting more sane and predicable. She is pretty easy-going, she loves that activity gym, and will sit quietly in her carseat or daybed. She even goes to sleep by herself sometimes at night, and just with a little rocking during the day. Sometimes she needs to be held, but she knows the score so well now that she drops off after just a few trips up and down the room.

She smiles and coos, even in the bath - I've gotten in the bath with her every night since last Friday's wonderful experience. Now there are no more tears at all at bathtime, unless I put her in the baby bath to soap her up (no suds in the Japanese bath, remember!). And it lasts until well after her bath, so no more tears getting into her towel or getting dressed either. And we love it.

Amy and Lena have gotten in with us too, which they loved. They love her! They rock her to sleep, or shake the rattles on the activity gym. She stares at them, smiles at them and coos and gurgles to them, which melts their hearts of course.

Another photo

Six Weeks

I'm sure there's an identical photo of Amy somewhere, and Lena too! That activity gym, which she loves to observe, that cushion, Mum's crocheted woolies, which it is finally cold enough to use!

If she looks a little puffy, that's because she has a bit of a cold, but she's getting her 'mama's milk medicine' so she's doing okay.

She is such a treat! She's settling into a very calm and happy baby. She's at her best first thing in the morning, when she grins from ear to ear. She opened her mouth wide in joy this morning, so I don't think it'll be long before she's laughing out loud. She talks and talks! Just coos and gurgles, but it's so purposeful, and she seems so excited to be having a conversation with me!

Last night she skipped the usual unsettled period, and slept soundly from about 8pm (not counting feeding breaks at 10, 2 and 5, but they were short and she went quickly back to sleep). And she chose the perfect night to do that - Amy and Lena were at Baachan's, and Kanji and I cooked ourselves dinner and leisurely ate it with some wine.

I also had my first bath with my precious baby - it was wonderful, it feels just SO good to hold their soft little body in your arms, skin to skin. She stayed in for ages, even let go of her towels, and really relaxed. Kanji managed to squeeze in too! She's in the day bed in the kitchen right now, talking to the ceiling. I might go feed her and see what comes next.

Yuk! Yuk! Yuk!

A centipede crawled across the baby's bed last night. I had just fed her and was ready to put her back in her bed when I saw it. It ran right across where her head had been. Mum will recall the little one I saw from my feeding chair, when we were still sleeping downstairs. I said then that they were coming up through the tatami from the garden, and I would move upstairs when she left to avoid them. So it's rather a blow to encouter one upstairs! And this was after I abandoned the tatami room upstairs, as the crumbly walls were exacerbating my allergies, which are playing up since I have a cold. I have spent the last few nights on the floor in the girls' room! So, I am left with no-where to sleep.

So I gave the room a thorough clean, and sprayed bug spray in every corner. Kanji, who managed to find and kill the creature last night, looked it up on Wikipedia this morning, where it said that the centipede-killing sprays are not very effective, and hazardous to human health. It's best to eliminate its prey - cockroaches and other small insects. I've never seen one before upstairs, so I'm hoping it was a one-off! And luckily I am tired enough to sleep anyway, even though I had to banish horrible images of the room being overrun with centipedes a few times before I slept!

See photo here

Erica comes to life

My squishy newborn is turning into a bouncing cuddly wee baby! I was just holding her here as I read the online news, and I looked down at her to find she was intently studying me, and grinned as soon as I looked at her. She was just waiting for me to talk to her.

She talks - she goes 'goo'. It's so cute! Kanji will be home this afternoon, so I'll try to video it, it's one of those precious things that go so soon, that you forget so quickly!

She turns those big steel-grey eyes and fixes her gaze on me with a look that says, 'You're my Mother' and nothing more. But oh how much that means!

Erica is growing fast! She holds her head up really well, even improving in the few days since Mum left. She likes to lie across my arm or leg on her tummy, gnawing away at whatever her mouth can find, and lifiting her head up to look around the room. She is starting to watch her sisters, and enjoyed watching them dance yesterday. She also likes to look at a painting Lena did, that has sat stuck to the side of the bookshelf for months, neglected and forgotten until Erica found it!

Amy and Lena have become expert cradle rockers. Amy can nearly pick her up, but I'm still a bit unsure about that! Their lives go on of course. Amy had her first field trip last week and Lena had a sports day where she aced the relay -the girl can fly! She is also doing very well with ballet - she is Little Red Riding Hood in the concert, and it sounds like she's getting her steps down very well.

I am managing to get the laundry done! I will go hang some now, but it looks like rain today so it will have to hang on the kitchen window. Typical, Erica wet her bed today! The typhoon passed over, and, alas, didn't ground Grandma and force her to stay in Japan for another week. Now it looks like we have a cold snap coming over, and I need to go bundle up. On the bright side, it is finally cool enough for me to take out some of the beautiful woollens Mum brought for Erica. She will wear a cardigan today!

The bad news is that I have a blocked duct. I think a combination of lying on it to read, then Erica falling alseep after feeding off the other side and it getting engorged caused it. So that's two reasons why Mum's post won't be going today - the other being the fact that our scales died, so I can't be sure of the weight, and the weight is important because there are special discounts avaialble for up-to-1kg and up-to-2kg packages, so I have to be careful to get them exactly one or two kgs!

Erica is sleeping right now, so I'm going to get a cup of tea and have a rest and a sleep and nurse this breast, and hope it doesn't develop into mastitis.

Halloween and no Grandma

Well Grandma left yesterday morning, a very sad day and we all miss her terribly! Poor Amy had a dream that she was gone - then woke up and it was true! Erica did not smile at anyone, and Lena was very sad. I was sad too of course, and we're all counting down until we return to NZ in August next year.

Erica slept most of the day yesterday, although she had a hard time settling in the evening, leaving me walking up and down for about 2 hours until she finally settled at about 10pm. Today she had her unsettled period over lunchtime, while I was hosting a party!

Yes, mad though it may seem, I decided to have a Halloween party! I made a pumpkin pie on Friday, so Mum could try it. I roasted pumpkin (or more acurately, butternut squash) yesterday for the pasta, and started tidying yesterday morning. The girls took care of the decorations. I even got a load of laundry out this morning!

Maia and Emily and Masaki and their Mums came, bringing muffins and drinks and bread rolls to add to our feast. We played 'trick or treat' with Maia's Mum taking care of the front door, Joanne being house No.2 at the living room door and me being house No.3 in the kitchen. Then they just played outside while we talked, I didn't have time to arrange any elaborate games or activities.

Tonight I think we'll have take-aways, and then get to bed early. Erica slept for six hours at night on Thursday and Friday nights, but woke twice again last night. On Friday we took her for her one-month check-up. She's now 5kg, well above average for her age! Big in every direction!

Smile! Smile! Smile!

Yes, our baby is smiling at us! A few days ago, that big-mouth type, the day before yesterday, a wide one, and today, after an unmistakeable grin when I picked her up and talked to her after changing her clothes, she smiled at us several times. Of course, now the challenge is to either video or photograph the little miracle, and what's the bet she thwarts us!

We had her weighed the other day, she's around 4.4kg, and seems to have grown 2cm since birth. She'll be in kindy in no time! Here are some photos

Baby Erica

For obvious reasons I've been rather too busy to keep this updated!

She will wake up any moment so if this post is unexpectedly cut short, you'll know why. In the meantime I'll try to provide a brief update.

She was born, as expected, on September 27. I went from the blog to resting on the sofa with Kanji, and we left for the clinic around 1am. She was born at 2:35am, after a fairly mild labour and a very quick delivery - in fact the nurses held her in so the doctor could get there on time. I didn't like that and fought it, though I tried to hold off pushing a bit when the doctor came. I held myself off the reclined birth chair-bed to push in a more upright position, and I avoided an episiotomy and tearing too!

She was bathed with he Daddy and Grandma watching, and after that she was with me pretty much 24/7 except for her morning baths on the first two days, and a temperature check in the afternoon. I cuddled up with her in bed for hours after the birth, dozing and letting her suckle. She was cold after the bath and they gave me a warm mat to put her on, like a mini electric mattress, which I had in bed beside me, so I could keep her close for body warmth, the most effective way to warm up a wee baby.

The clinic stay was rather long, and fairly relaxing, although the amount of mother and baby health checks all day long prevented me and her from getting any sleep! The meals were superb, and the best thing was my friend Maki gave birth the same day, so I had someone to chat to and ask questions! We came home on the following Tuesday.

I developed a cracked nipple, and decided to use a nipple shield, which did me further damage. After trying to go bare again and suffering excruciating pain, I tried a pump to give it a rest. That worked, although I wish I'd just persisted with the nipple and not tried the shield in the first place! As of yesterday we are back to nature, no extras, which is such a relief, as I seem to have so many more hours in the day when I am not pumping, washing, disinfecting and warming bottles! Time to blog, for example!

She's now two weeks old, and a treasure. She is quiet and contented, and only really lets rip while I am getting her dressed after her bath. She sleeps well at night, wakes around 1 or 2 and again around 3-4, and then sleeps until about 7. She fed all day yesterday, but that doesn't bother me as much as it did with Amy! I know better than to have any expectations of a newborn. And I know that in about five minutes she'll be walking, and tomorrow she'll be starting kindy....so I get as many cuddles of my newborn as I can while she'll still this tiny, floppy, velvetly soft, milky-smelling and endlessly cuddle-able creature!

Birthing Time Has Begun

It's 10:40, Mum's asleep, and I think I'll leave her like that for now! Kanji finished work at 10 but is not home yet, so I am alone right now, being very quiet and relaxed, waiting for things to pick up. I've been having hard BH contractions all day, although that didn't stop me going shopping! We thought it was better I should keep moving.

I started to feel hormonal late in the afternoon, a bit moody. But it wasn't really until I put the girls to bed that I really felt it had started, because the hard tummy finally coincided with the back pains! I came back downstairs and had a nice long bath, and I have just finished doing a couple of puzzles. To those in the know, I had a bit of 'show' and the easiest visit to the toilet in months, if you know what I mean....that's a sign, they say!

I thought since I had a few moments I could do a little update, let you know how things are going. I might sit on my birth ball in a minute and listen to a relaxation recording on my iPod. Or lie down and sleep until Kanji gets home. And he's home! I'll let him eat dinner and we'll probably be off to the clinic soon! Wish me luck!

So it looks like she's going to be born on Corbyn's birthday!

Mum in Japan

Mum got here finally, after a long tiring flight and a major drama at Auckland airport when she lost her passport! It slipped out of its cover when she was shopping, and she nearly missed her flight. Luckily it was found in time!
Kanji went alone to the airport to pick her up, and they arrived back here by 11am. We had her favorite champon noodles for lunch, went to the park and then came home so she could put her feet up for a few hours, since she'd blown up like a balloon after all that flying and stress! We went out again in the evening with Kanji's mum to a barbecue restaurant, followed by green tea and ice cream at Baachan's.

Yesterday the kids were off from school for a public holiday, so we decided to go on a picnic. We spent the morning shopping - the most unproductive shopping trip I think I've been on, since we didn't get even one of the half dozen or so items we needed. We did, however, get tons of other stuff we don't need.

We came home and cooked a bacon and egg pie and made some sandwiches, then went up the mountain for the picnic. It was much cooler up there, with a nice breeze which made it much more like a NZ summer. It was very hot on Sunday, over 30 degrees, so Mum was really feeling it. Luckily just after our picnic finished, a thunder storm came over, so last night and this morning are much cooler.

Mum cooked a delicious chicken salad - a little different from the NZ version, I gather, since we could not get red wine vinegar or smoked chicken, but delicoius all the same. Today we are going to try to do the shopping again, and I hope we can make it to the onsen this afternoon!

Nearly Here!

Speaking of baby and mother, that is.

I had a bit of a worry last night when I got a sore tummy. But it wasn't a pain in my back, which is where my other labours were. I got a tummy rub (at one stage all three of them were rubbing me!) and lay down and then had a bath and felt all better again. No more painful contractions, but lots of painless ones.

I called Mum last night to see how the packing was going, and convinced her to swap a cardy for a sarong and a couple more t-shirts! I know how hard it is to imagine how hot/cold you are going to be when the real temperature around you keeps interfering, and I could tell the cold winter was making Mum worry about being too cold here!

But it really is still stiflingly hot here, though I had thought it would have cooled down a bit by the time she got here. But I spent yesterday morning outside at the 'Mini Sports Day' (regular school day full dress rehearsal for the real deal School Sports Day next Sunday) and that got me thinking about how hot it still is, and what a shock poor Mum is going to get, because it's still hotter than a NZ summer. I informed her that is has cooled down just enough that I now need - sometimes - to put a sheet on at night. And I don't need to put the air conditioner on until nearly lunchtime, as opposed to around 9-10am. I usually change my clothes at least once a day (making three changes counting pyjamas) just because I get so sweaty.

Kanji is all set to go pick up Mum. Mum was a little worried about what would happen if I went into labour while he is gone, and it is a concern. I asked Kanji and the only answer he had was to pray! Okay, so I'm not allowed to start until lunchtime tomorrow. I think I can hold on that long. The contractions continue, but my dilation hasn't changed at all. I think it's rather silly checking actually, since it means absolutely nothing.

I wasn't too pleased with the clinic visit this morning. I got a very sore back lying flat on my back for the non-stress test, a situation that was not helped by my believing such tests to be mostly unecessary and pretty useless. After all, it only tells me how she's going for that particular half and hour, and I don't usually lie on my back, so it's all wrong anyway. It's not so easy to endure discomfort and pain if you don't believe it's necessary. I hope they are lenient with the goddam monitor during labour! I know from experience just how much less it hurts to simply sit upright or lie on your side.

The other thing was, the doctor started to tell Kanji about how long they'd let me wait to go into labour naturally - while I was in the next room getting ready for the (useless) dialtion check, no less. Lucky I heard through the door. Medical personnel ALWAYS do this to us, and I have come to prefer not to have Kanji there, so that they will make an effort to communicate with me. Usually the doctors, although shy of using English, do know the technical terms, and are much better than Kanji at explaining things to me - he not only just nods and agrees whether he understood or not, he then forgets half of what they said. This is not a good way for me to get information about my health! Not to mention he is unlikely to - god forbid - ask questions or disagree.

So I had him promise that 'on the day' he would ask them to direct their questions, explanations etc, to me. He's quite happy to do that! He knows he can't relay it all to me in either language, and I think it makes him extremely nervous when they do start telling him stuff, as he knows he's going to get questioned intensively by me later on!

Still here

I'm feeling very relaxed and not too tired today, enough energy to do a few light jobs, sort through some papers, get some last minute baby things organized. Maybe because the kids stayed with their grandparents last night, making for a very quiet and gentle morning here! Today is a public holiday in Japan, so no school. No school means no getting up to make lunch and rally the children to get ready on time - but also means a constant battle to keep the place relatively tidy!

The baby has no bed yet! We'll probably just sleep downstairs on the floor, and I have a daybed, but I just set it up, and it doesn't look too secure. I have one I can borrow off a friend if need be, or get a Moses basket. And I've just embarked on getting the carseat organized. Last night when we dropped the kids off I remembered about the baby carseat - it's been waiting upstairs at Kanji's parents' house since we came back from New Zealand when Lena was one! So it needs a bit of a clean. The cover is now soaking in the very last bit of Napisan and the shell is waiting in the kitchen for me to get around to scrubbing it.

I also finally got around to buying some nappies yesterday, and some baby soap. And I finished packing my hospital bag. So I guess I'm all set. Hurry up Mum!

But for now, I'm probably going to search for a nice photo of me for facebook and send off a few more emails.

Any Day Now...

The race is on to see if my Mother or my daughter get here sooner!

I'm a few cm dilated, and having strong braxton hicks contractions constantly. I'm suddenly ravenously hungry, while at the same time unable to produce more than a tablespoon in the lavatory, which means the baby's head is engaging. I'm exhausted and all the last-minute 'I wanna just do this' things have all been sidelined. NOW, if I suddently start cleaning things, you have my permission to call it nesting.

sick, sick, sick

Amy's turn. She over there on the sofa today, moaning away. She is having trouble breathing and has a sore throat, so I will probably take her back to the hospital. I have to decide soon, as I have to be there before 11am to get an appointment.

I finally figured out the system. I have to go to get an appointment before 11am. That means bringing the kid then and seeing the doctor then, NOT making a booking for later on. So I decided yesterday that I just had to see the doctor we had been seeing before, so I went at 10:30 to make an appointment, after doing several other jobs, but realized finally that I should have brought Amy with me to see him now. So I rushed back to school, parked by the entrance nearest her classroom - only to find that they were in the hall at the other end of the school! Raced down there, fetched her, then back to the hospital where I had to park miles from where I wanted to go, of course, raced back in and got to see the doctor.

And completely exhausted myself. I spent the time in the waiting room wondering if my waters were going to break, because I kept on having Braxton Hicks contractions. I took Amy back to school, did one more important job and was almost in tears as I drove home because I was SO exhausted! I rushed inside, drank half a litre of water (I realized as I ran around doing my errands that I had had nothing to drink all day, and only about 1/4 of a cup of cereal, since we had run out of milk) and scoffed about 8 pieces of chocolate for quick energy replenishment!

Kanji was busy getting his licence renewed, and couldn't pick up Lena so I had to do that too! But once she was home, it was over for me - I had a TWO HOUR nap, waking briefly only when Amy came home.

I feel a bit more normal today, and a more determined to take it easy. We may have to go back to the hospital - she's still heaving and moaning over there - but I won't be rushing anywhere. I have to go to the clinic this afternoon anyway, so we'll see if those braxton hicks contractions are doing anything!

Gotta go, her breathing just gets worse!

Above: Baby's face. I know people find it a bit hard to see at first, but once you can see it, it really pops out at you! The whitest part is her forehead above her left eye. The eyes are closed, the dark curve beneath the whitest part is her closed left eye. You can see the nose to the left of that, and just a hint of a mouth at the bottom, approximately in a line with the red dateline. This one is self-explanatory! See how nice that new nursing bra set is! Only I forgot to clean the mirror first...might have another try nearer the time with the red set.
Another face shot, this time in profile. She is facing the left. The tip of her nose is approximately parallel to the '20' of 2007, a rounded cheek to the right of that, and the black line above is her closed eye.

......


Lena's off kindy sick today, she's finished watching Harry Potter and is just starting to get bored, she's taken the box of cards out of the toy closet, and is sitting there humming a song and sorting through the Charades cards. She's still in her pyjamas, because she thinks they look cute. She's wearing long-sleeve pyjamas again after a long hot summer.

It's finally cooled off a bit, enough to require some covering at night anyway. It's 11:25am at the moment and the air conditioner is on. I've totally finished work. It's strange but relaxing to have no set schedule. I'm giving myself lists of things to do...I have to finish marking some tests today, clean the bathroom (hands and knees is actually quite a comfortable position!), visit the 100yen shop, clean up at least one of the shelves in here and repair some broken things.

Two weeks to go! I can get tons of things done in two weeks, I suppose, but I'm still not calling it nesting, because I'm not restless, I'm feeling quite lazy, and I might just go have a wee nap after lunch!

Amy is not too well either, although she went to school. I should have taken her back to the city hospital where she was being seen, but I didn't want to brave the red tape and fight staff who seem to make it their goal in life to make things as difficult as possible. But we took her to the pediatrician, but he was away and we got the spare, who is a bit of a doofus, and just gave us ten days of cough meds. Well, if all this practice for the school sports day gets her asthma really bad again, I guess I'll just have to brave the city hospital's wacky way of organizing things!

baby news

Well, I'm onto weekly clinic visits, so I guess I'm on the home stretch! Born this month! Luckily I'm getting so huge and heavy that I'm looking more and more forward to getting it out of me! I'm doing okay still so far, but I can see myself getting to the end of my tether very soon.

So I'm having a weekly ultrasound and here are the latest pictures, which are very good. She looks like her sisters. She doesn't look quite real to me though, the wriggling thing in my tummy is the real thing. I can make out a bony bottom, I tickle her feet, her head squishes my bladder, I think I felt hands fluttering in there the other day. I am also having non-stress tests, which I think are rather a waste of time, but they don't hurt so I go along and practice hypnosis. Next visit is Saturday, and I will be getting my information for check-in then. Which means I have to bring up my birth plan again. With the size of this baby I am getting worried about the episiotomy again, and I started worrying about them putting the baby in the incubator for this or that flimsy reason, and can I veto that, and will Kanji side with them or with me?

The doc is estimating 3.6kg, which sounds very big to him but not so big to me. I have to keep reassuring him that a big girl like me can fit out a big baby like that! I don't have a Japanese lady's bottom! Ultrasound assessments can be out half a kilo either way though. But it feels big to me too - my guess was 3.7. Kanji is going for 3.6, born Sep 23. Hurry up Mum!

I'm still sleeping, but less well. My sink-in-the-middle bed is quite convenient because when I lie on a flat surface the heavy tummy sinks to the ground, and pulls on the muscles on the other side. So when I am on the bed, the slight angle gives my tummy somewhere to rest. I remember laughing at Becky for stealing airline pillows - who on earth would want an airline pillow! But guess what, that airline pillow has come in very handy for propping up my tummy when I lie down on the futon.

So on my bed, I have five pillows and only one for my head, the others are piled up on either side of me so when my hips start to hurt on one side, I can just roll over and throw my leg over the other pile of pillows and not have to move them. There's no room for Kanji of course, although I supposed I could throw a leg over him.

During the day I am getting more tired. This morning the girls started school/kindy again after the summer holiday, and I tried doing what I normally do and spend the time between waking up and them leaving cleaning, but I had to take a break when I got a painful braxton hicks contraction! I had to have a wee rest on the sofa. Almost every place to sit in the house is less than ideal, including my computer chair, the kitchen table, even the sofa! The best place to sit is actually my car seat!

But I am getting things done, bit by bit. I have about half the shed finished. I piled up Kanji's books today for him to go through. And next on my agenda is cleaning up the pool. I might call Erin to come over and help me. The girls are finishing school/kindy early today, then Lena's friend comes to play, then swimming lessons, and finally a lesson at 8pm! I have four more lessons this week then it's all over. I'll be keeping busy tidying the kitchen. Don't tell me I'm nesting, because I've been nesting since January.