In need of something to celebrate

So it seems I am finally out of my maternity jeans
Ok so instead I am wearing my "fat" jeans but surely that is better than nothing??
Couldn't have come at better time

sickly start to december

I had decided that December was going to be my month to "get over it all" and get back on track, you know, being the last month for the year and all, it's kinda my last chance ;)

but of course life gets in the way. As does the secret stash of chocolate, biscuits and even senbei!! Wow, talk about binge!

Monday K was a bit under the weather - sniffly, runny nose, start of a cough, lacking appetite. Then at about 7pm, her fever started going up and by 8pm it was over 38. At about 9pm it was at least 41.4degrees (she was resisting temperature taking at this stage, so hard to get an exact, but nevertheless it was HIGH!). Lucky we had a bum bullet in the fridge, but even that only brought her temp down to about 39degrees. I think she was hallucinating, as she was saying strange stuff (in Japanese) It was soooooo hard to watch her in pain like that too. But I give myself a little pat on the back for not suggesting an emergency trip to night time ER, but rather riding out the worst of it for about an hour until her temp was a bit lower and she was able to sleep. J slept in with her while L and I retreated to the other room, hoping to avoid any cross-contamination ;)

Tues woke up and K was pretty genki, but still stuffy and chesty cough,and J reckons he was had come down with a headache and sore throat so took a sicky. Worked out well, as it meant that I could go down to the docs with L to get his still black poop and my achy-breaky boobs looked at (even tho I had spent the night pumping, I was still in a bit of pain when he latches on) Nothing really they could do for me, and it turns out his poop was GREEN, so nothing to worry about there.

By Wed morning L was starting to get a bit coughy and congested, and running a mild fever, but we had to go to PILs house to pick up R and a box of mandarins (how random, I know!!). Actually, I only really went because I had to pick up one more photo or K and L I ordered for my parents for Xmas - i thought if I dont get it soon it wont make it there!

Last night L was pretty congested and rosey-cheeked, but luckily no sporting a high fever, so while it was a bit of an unsettled night, it wasn't too bad in the scheme of things. He is very clingy tho, so I am yet to get much of anything done, again. I guess luckily in one way as J has clients tonight he is going for dinner with, and tomorrow is the end of year work party so no real cooking needs to be done for the rest of the week ;)

drowning, not waving

Am having trouble getting things done.

The days just don't seem to be long enough, my concentration span seems to rival that of a gnat, and I feel as energetic as a sloth......

November has been somewhat draining. L is going through a clingy stage, K is regressing into baby-hood at the same time as going throug a very defiant stage!!! L's clinginess, I can deal with, I know it is just a phase, but it does make getting up and doing things around the house harder.... As for K, I feel sorry for her as she always gets the short straw, being the older kid, every stage she is going through, I am going through for the first time, and more often than not I don't know how to deal with it effectively so end up ballsing it up (my reaction to her behaviour). Recently bought the Dr Sears discipline book but only got half a dozen pages into it...must start reading that again.

And now I am battling through another cracked nipple (nearly made a trip to ER this morning when saw L's black poopy nappy, only to realise that it all came from me and my bleeding nipple! ouch!!) that comes after a few weeks of on-again-off-again blocked ducts (I blame Reese and his peanut butter cups, which I got as omiyage from a friend, - too good to stop at one!! lol)

Some other stuff going on....

But the main problem seems to be I can't get myself out of a "funk" that I have fallen into....I think I just need to re-energise and stop procrastinating (HA! I have a PhD in procrastination)

Of course it is not all gloom and doom... K's 7-5-3 was great, I was so proud of her and she looked so damn cute in the kimono at the shrine, and in the party dress at the photo studio. Had a nice weekend away for our 5th Wedding Anniversary up to Nagano, got to soak in some onsen, visit a farm, even do a spot of shopping at Karuizwa on the way home. Had my first Thanksgiving at a friend's house, and a lovely birthday weekend with K helping to make and decorate a cake for me!

Maybe I am waving and not drowning after all...

In a car park at a home centre again while kids sleep as J buys food for R and nail clippers as we forgot to cut kids nails and L is ripping me to bits at the moment ouch!!!
We are away this weekend on an "onsen ryoko" to celebrate (& co
commiserate?) our fifth wedding anniversary. Currently in Suwa heading for our hotel in Kurumayama. Is hotter than I expected (in the car at least)
Right off we go another 25kms - hope the kidsstay asleep a bit longer!!

Born Free winners are grinners

Thanks for the comments/messages and entries into the draw.

With my trusty assistant, K, we drew the winner out of the hat and the winners are:

Gaijin Wife for the twist n'pop straw (do you want to go pink or green?)

Nik in the guch for the training cup (in pink)

and Nooh for the bpa-free baby bottle! (sorry, no pic hehe)

Congratulations and hope you enjoy your Born Free products.

pulling up

about 2 days ago, L spent the entire day pulling up on me, my clothes, my hair trying to stand up.

today he spent the entire day pulling himself up to stand on everything else in his sight:
* the kotatsu table (not turned on yet, just used as a coffee table)
* R's cage
* a box (the he actually ended up on top of, tottering back and forth AND gnawed an edge off....hahah)

already つかまりだっち？ this kid will be mountain hiking by the time he is 1 (he really is his father's son, lol)!

so I guess it really is time to do a serious baby-proof of the house!!

gaining one

no, not me gaining a kilo a day (although it sure seems like it) this is about L and sleep!

I find it kind of odd that L has gone from 3 naps a day to.....4! He is GAINING A NAP!

He has started sleeping better at night, of course he still wakes up a couple of times to nurse, and I am ok with that...I learnt the hard way with K that stressing over sleep only made it worse for me. I logged her awake and sleep times, and put so much pressure of myself to have her sleeping that I am sure it rubbed off on her, haha!! Anyway, L goes down to bed about 8pm, and until even a week or two ago, was waking up several times from 8pm until about midnight when I went to sleep. i would pat and rub his back etc to get him back to sleep easily, but now it seems that he can do this himself (not pat his own back, but get back to sleep easily ;) The only problem is, that he does it by rolling over onto his tummy and sleeping there. Ok, so obviously it is the most comfortable position for him, as once he is on his tummy he doesn't wake again until 1 or 2am for a bit of a nurse, but I am in a dilema as to whether I should be turning him back onto his back or not. At 6months old, he can obviously hold his head up and roll over himself, but should I still be worried about SIDS? hmmm. And of course every time I roll him back onto his back, he wakes up (albeit briefly) but it disturbs his sleep.

Unfortunately, probably because of his better and continuous sleep at night, the other thing is he has taken to waking up at 6:20am. Like an alarm clock every morning (>.<) I HATE alarm clocks (lol) Lucky for him he is a happy person in the morning, all chatty and smiley and cute.

Then because of this early wake up, he is all tired again by 8am, and goes back for a nap then, on top of his regular three naps a day.

Have you ever heard of a baby that gains a nap??????? lol

wow!!! and Born Free giveaway

I know I have been AWOL for a fair bit, so I am not even sure if anyone is still out there, but if the words "giveaway!" don't get you back, then I am in trouble (lol).

I have lots of half written posts saved as drafts, and lots of things to write about, it is just that I can't seem to find the time/motivation to sit down with a cuppa and actually get a full post uploaded at the moment.....so rather than try to catch up, I am gonna jump right into my "wow" and "BORN FREE giveaway" stories.

WOW!!!!

All I can say is Baby Lead Weaning is pretty amazing!
We "started" the day before yesterday (Nov 9th), at dinner time with sweet potato.

I admit I was quite nervous about giving L such a big piece of food, and watched him like a hawk as he oh-so-happily munched away, but it was AMAZING to see that even when he got a big bit (or a small bit for that matter) that he couldn't swallow, he just managed to spit it back out. I took my lead from baby teething rusks and made the sweet potato into a similar shape so he could hold it.

It really looks like it might be easier than the whole pureed foods and trying to spoon feed ;)

Since we got back from Aus, we have been slowly introducing L to the world of food outside of mummy :D He has been so intently watching us eat and trying to grab things since before we even went to Aus, so I knew he was totally ready for it, just had to get MYSELF ready, lol.

He has already tried the teething rusks (commercial) a couple of times and manages to get a bit of food out of them, as well as all over his clothes of course.

Before we left for Aus, I was given the chance to sample some products from the Born Free range, to celebrate their foray into the Japanese market.I got a sample training cup for L, which I took to Aus with me, but actually held off using we got back and he was over the 6 month mark.

Since last week, I have been sitting him in the high chair while I am getting dinner ready or we are eating, and given him his yellow BORN FREE Training cup with some boiled water in it.

It didn't take him long (def. no longer than 10mins!!) to workout that there was something in there, and he has enjoyed chewing on the tip and getting a bit of a drink at the same time!! I really like the way the BORN FREE training cup doesn't leak when tipped upside down, yet it only takes a little squeeze or chew on the tip to get the contents out.

I also got to try out the BORN FREE Twist N'Pop Straw Cup for K, which has been so easy to use - on the plane, for outings, at bedtime. It is easy enough for her to open and close as she needs it, and when closed it really doesn't leak!! Also, the straw attachment at the top is strong enough that her chewing on it hasn't caused a problem ;)

Of course, it being pink and all, K just loves it too!! (I haven't got the heart to tell her that the writing on the cup doesn't say "Cool Big Sister" , like her favourite pink t-shirt she got after L was born......lol)



Both the training cup and the twist n'pop straw cup are really easy for the kids to hold, dishwasher safe and made of BPA-free plastic. While we didn't try out the bottles this time, I really like how the baby bottles are especially designed to allow for a steady flow of liquid only when your baby suckles to mimic breastfeeding.

Check out the entire range, which is now available in Japan too (Japanese language site here)!

soooooo, for the GIVEAWAY

Born Free have kindly offered products from their BPA-free range for a giveaway to readers within Japan:

BPA-free Plastic Bottle

Training Cup (Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink)

Twist N' Pop Straw Cup (Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink)


To be in the running, all you have to do is leave a comment or send me an email(to let me know you really are still out there, lol). Please include which of the products and what colour you would like to win. Competition closes Tues Nov 16th.

Hope to hear from you :D

Pink Ribbon Day

Monday Oct 25th is internationally known as Pink Ribbon Day.

Show your support here, and help click to fund free mamograms. It only takes a couple of seconds and is free. Please spread the word about breast cancer awareness and tell your friends to "click daily" too.




My grandmother had a double masectomy.

My brother's partner found a lump (early detection) a few years ago and had radiation treatment for several months.

J's good friend from high school found a lump while breastfeeding her now 6year old son as an infant.

I had a scare last year - turned out only to be a pregnancy related lump.

And not a week goes by that I don't remember blogger Kathy Sugio, who passed away earlier this year after fighting cancer for several years.

Tomorrow (as with every day this month) I will be thinking PINK.

what to do?

hmmmm,

vacuum and clean the living room now in the few spare minutes before I have to get dinner ready


OR

leave it and faff around on the computer instead (after all, the living room will just have be done again tomorrow night anyway as PIL coming over early Fri morning, as I go out gathering preschool applications,)
...
....
.....
.......
........

and here I am on the computer ;)

half-here

I am here (as in - back in Japan, and back in the land of faffing off all day in front of the computer, as opposed to shopping, long coffee dates with friends, sunday roasrs with the family and simply enjoying the great Aussie lifestyle) BUT I am not really here (as in - am in the middle of youchien hunting. Application forms come out on the 15th, and I need to visit schools before then to see what they are like. Case in point - went to one yesterday which was high on my list, only to "see for myself" and realise that it is not what we are looking for. sigh. So back to square one, and researching schools further afield, making times to visit and getting the sproglets out and about to actually visit the schools. Going to one this morning.)

Still not even sure if we will be putting K into 3-year or 2-year program.....

I feel a bit like the John Marsden novel we read at high school ("So much to tell you") but cant see myself blogging for a bit longer yet.

Attempting to blog from my iPhone

At 1:44am.
New suitcase has been purchased but is already 3/4full and am yet to put any clothes in......aaaaargh. And I have to fit 3 peoples clothes in there (albeit 2 small people and 1 flummy mummy who still can't fit in half her clothes which, on the bright side, does put a limit on what I can take,at least )

Guess I am too excited to sleep. But I am betting that this time tomorrow night I will have wished I did go to sleep earlier.

Ok Nuff of the babble. Is actually quite easy to type with one finger on an iPhone - I may get used to this

Sooooooo ittekimasu, for our return to ozd(^_^o)

summer of 2010

This summer has been super fun, despite being the hottest in 131 years or something like that. I think I may even be looking forward to next year's summer, if it can live up to all the fun we had in the summer of 2010!

Lots of fun playdates with friends at the pool, beach, (even a man-made tourist attraction "beach" that was made from real Aussie super fine white sand, yay!), birthday parties, family camping trips, day out at amusement park ..... it has been one of the busiest months I think we have ever had, and bloody hot, but just heaps of fun!

And to top it all off, I can now also sing *that* song (have been singing it for days, actually) after our extended-family (adjoining rooms with the PILs - wasn't as bad as it sounds, lol!) holiday in Bali (26-31Aug). I may be the last Aussie on the planet to get there, but now I can happily say that "I've been to Bali too"



Now have a quick turn-around before the kids and I head back to Aus for the rest of Sept. Am looking forward to it all - seeing friends and family, eating meatpies, shopping.....can't wait!!!

done

WELL DONE

K finished her summer swimming classes on Wednesday, and graduated from the turtle class, to the "medaka" (I was thinking it is like a minnow, but a google check came up with "Japanese rice-fish" or "Japanese killifish", but kinda the same idea tho, right?. AND it seems that the medaka have "gone into space aboard the space shuttle. It carries the distinction of having been the first vertebrate to mate in orbit. The result of the mating was a brood of healthy fry, hatched on the space shuttle Columbia in 1994." Wow!! thanks mr. wikipedia.

So anyway, I think K did really well with her swimming lessons, after crying it out big time the first lesson, she really latched on to one of the sensei and lapped up their words and praise. By the last lesson, she was happily being thrown up into the air and splashing down under the water.

Her favourite parts of the swimming lessons were the ばたばた (leg kicking)　and かにかに (holding on to the edge of the pool with your hands and moving around the edge) as well as the slide. ;)

Am thinking of putting her in for regular weekly lessons, once we get back from Oz, so it wont be until October. I think it is good for her to get used to the water AND learn how to interact in Japanese, AND to learn how to wait for her turn etc, AND to listen to instructions - yep, all good!!


UN-DONE

Well, the morning scales are showing X8.5kg. I think I might have moved from the teetering line of X9~Y0kg. Must have sweated it all off with the recent heat, but that is ok! Slowly but surely the baby flum is coming off, yay!


OVER DONE

We have had a very busy week - from our weekend away camping, to a trip to the amusement park on Monday (J had taken the Monday off planning to go for a long weekend camp trip, but I think he got OVER the whole 4 people sleeping in an 2-man hiking tent in the middle of summer after the first night. I was ok to stay another night, but he wussed out on us,) So we decided to fulfil K's wish to ride on a merry-go-round, and even threw in a family Ferris wheel ride while we were at it. Couldn't have picked a hotter day (37deg) to do it, but it was fun! Then Tues we had friends over, Wed we had swimming and then had to go pick up R from the PIL, which is never a simple task - we meet them for lunch at sushi-ro, then went back to their house for some play, then went to see J's uncle to say hello....finally got released around 4pm, then had to hot-tail it back home (with screaming baby in a Tokyo afternoon traffic jam ;( not fun! altho, to his credit, after a few verses of the name song he did go to sleep, little angel boy!!)) to get something worked to for dinner, then I had a quick trip to the pool before coming home and crashing with K at 8:30pm!! Yesterday was a trip out to Tokyo, which is always gonna tire me out, and well, just being on the go the whole time I feel over-done. Today was supposed to meet friends, but got cancelled, so a day at home to fold up the 27 loads of washing that have been dried and thrown onto the bed waiting to be folded and put away. happy happy, joy, joy.


TO BE DONE

The list is endless - days out of the house means a pile of housework, not to mention getting ready for our upcoming holidays.....
I don't hold out much hope of getting a lot done today tho.....


DONE SOMETHING

To my back. In the usual morning tizz b4 leaving the house yesterday, I was coming down the stairs in a hurry and felt something happen to my lower back, right side. Have been in some serious pain ever since. It makes difficult for baby carrying/toddler carrying/doing anything really except lying on the sofa (oh well, so be it, I guess, a Friday of laziness to look forward to perhaps - as if I could get away with THAT, lol) Feel very ぼろぼろ

camp

the orange bedroom, taken from inside the spacious(at least twice as big as the sleep tent) living room.

am guessing Illahee and GW are used to decifining 3y old talk =D

L is being a champ sleeping thru most of his first camping trip (and happily sitting in his bumbo the rest of the time- yep brought all the modcons with us!)
and K actually prefered to do a "のぐそ" than use the drop loos... cant really say I blame her.
freezing cold river to swim in; watermelon; chicken, iberico pork, yakiniku, fresh corn on cob on the barbie; a couple of beers (happy with my kirin free); a frisbee (thrown by J that almost knocked K out)......

gotta love camping!!!

can you guess what we are doing this weekend?

mummy to K: "let get everything cleaned up and packed so we can go ****** when Daddy comes home"

K to mummy: "oh, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU"

mummy to K: "are you excited"

K to mummy:"Yes"

Mummy to K:"Why"

K to mummy: "because you and daddy are going to get the candy, and I am going to school"

mummy to self: wtf? lol

So can you guess where we are going this weekend (hint: it has NOTHING WHAT SO EVER to do with candy or school ;)

motivational self-talk

I thought I was on top of it this time, with L.

I FEEL a lot less stressed than when K was a baby, I have actually been making meals (albeit boring ones, but that also may be related to it being too hot to care) which is more than I ever did the first few months with K (thank you "sukiya" for your support") and the night time wakenings don't faze me. Or so I thought.

The last few weeks, really I have just felt down-right worn out. Sore muscles (possibly also related to the minimal amount of excercise?), serious lack in concentration, not wanting to go out (actually dreading the thought of leaving the house and getting everyone ready), total disregard for budget planning/reporting for the last 3 months, recent addiction to iced coffee....and trouble waking up in the morning.

Last night L woke up every 2 hours to nurse, all night. When things like this happen, I have FLASHBACKS to what it was like with K for her first year. I get scared it is starting again with L. Last night I think it stemmed from the fact that J was loud and woke L up when HE went to bed at about 11:30pm, just 2 hours after L went down for the night. He *has* been sleeping from about 9pm through to 2am, so I thought we had reached our nirvana...obviously not!!

So anyway, this morning I was "up" with L from about 6am. We came downstairs, I put him in his crib in the playroom, and I lay on the floor beside him for some more zzzzs (so much for my "get up at 5am and have a whole day of work done before the rest of the family gets up" stint several weeks ago, lol). I was still there when J went to work, and until K called out to me at 8:15am to say she was awake. L had been awake the whole time too.

Somehow managed to get us out of the house and to the Post Office by 9:30am, where we repayed a loan with money that had been sitting around the house for the last 3 months as I forgot about it. Now have an extra couple of "man" in interest we have to pull out from somewhere coz it was overdue. Doh. Luckily L fell asleep just as we arrived at the PO, so I thought I might try to get myself a pair of togs, in the hope that they might be on sale by now, and of course as soon as we got in the elevator at the shop, little L's eyes pop open and he stayed that way until just a few minutes ago when I put him down for his afternoon nap......lets just say it was fun, fun, fun trying on togs with a pre-schooler and a baby, lol. Did get an average pair though, which I might be able to use this weekend if we go away near the water somewhere.

I also think I have beeen kinda down for the last few weeks too - what with the sore body and severe lack of motivation...... I sort of feel like I got a kick start this week (something just clicked and I decided to do some stuff that I had been procrastinating for far too long and trying to stay focussed, positive and calm - not to much to ask for is it, lol) and even now I feel semi-motivated to get the housework and small tasks done. I hope this motivation sticks with me. Also gotta get the budget planning back on track before I send the household broke ;((

I think my new motto for the rest of the week should be: I think I can, I think I can, I think I can

boring rant

Got to the pool tonight, but it was a letdown.

J specifically told me in the afternoon that he had a late meeting, so would be home lateish and I should eat early and get ready so we could do the baton touch and I could get to the pool when he got home. I know I should be greateful that he thinks of me and tries to make it easier for me to get to the pool, but it had the opposite effect, and made me try to think of ways to get out having to go lol. Anyway, had the kids bathed, fed, J's dinner ready and even the house a bit clean by the time he got home, so off to the pool it was

realised I shouldn't have eaten salmon on a night I was going to the pool. Not as offensive as mackeral in a bento at lunch time, but driving to the pool I started to imagine the salmon repeating on myself as I swam laps....getting less motivated....

signed in and found out that they are closing a day early for obon. A day earlier than they originally advertised. Actually, not a whole day earlier, just a few hours earlier which means no evening session, so I can't go to the pool this Sat evening. Feeling a bit ripped off....

started swimming laps and the pool instructor (teaching aqua-aerobics in the lane beside me) stopped me at the end of a lap, and told me that I need to take my earings out bcoz, quote : "if they come off in the pool you wont be able to find them" end quote.

I have NEVER lost a pair of earings in the pool b4. And as it turned out, I had no where safe to put them in my bag anyway and probably had more chance of losing them after taking them off..

I know this is gonna seem really petty and pathetic, but this just really pissed me off, and got me upset. I had to get out of the pool,and back to the locker room to put my earings away.

THEN I got told off (not to my face) from the old bitties in the locker room bcoz I had dripped on the floor. I turned around and said something pathetic like "she told me while I was swimming to take them off" but thinking about it now they wouldnt have had ANY idea what I was on about (><)

came back to the pool and the lady apologies to me (again in front of her whole aqua aerobics class) while I say "yeh, well, I just got told off in the locker room too now"

jump back in the pool but now totally lost any motivation to swim

swallow some water half way down a lap and get the sneezes

regain a bit of motivation, enough to swim 40laps, then I call it a day. sneeze all the way home, and now got a headache.

I know that the stupid little things that happened as soooooooooooo pathetic, and can't even understand why I am still whining about it.

I just wish I HAD stopped off at the conbini on the way home to buy some oreos or something to take my mind off it =)

Oh, and that sneaky kg that came off last week - managed to firmly plant itself back almost within the blink of an eye. dammit.

the magic three month mark?

I have FINALLY shifted another kg. Seriously, since the day I left the hospital, until last week I hadn't lost a single gram. But finally something has clicked and I weighted in at

PRE PREG WEIGHT: X5kg
FINAL PREG WEIGHT: Y8kg
POST BIRTH WEIGHT: Y1kg
WEEK AFTER BIRTH: Y0kg
3 MONTH REPORT: X9kg

They say that the weight starts to come off after 3months, don't they (sure I heard that somewhere)

J reckons he has lost 2kg since the summer started, due to sleeping in a NON Airconditioned room, haha. But I have budged a kilo even sleeping with the dehumidifier on. I also think that our increase in salads has helped. But obviously the biggest difference has come thanks to there being NO COOKIES in the house for me to devour! My sweet tooth has definately settled down. Perhaps the couple of swims have also had an effect too (need to get re-motivated to run too so that that does not end up as a one-off event)

And the most exciting news - I actually fit into a pair of (non-maternity) linen pants that wouldn't even go over my thighs a few weeks ago. YAY!!!!! Still got a looooooooooooooong way to go, but I am feeling good that change is in the air ;)

mermaid T here

Wasn't planning on a back-to-back pool session, but when J got home at 6:30pm, I just had to take the bull by the horns and take my chance while I had it! So I headed off after dinner for

* 45 freestyle
* 20 breastroke
* some random walking and kickboarding
* and a pair of pants included in my bag this time ;)

yay for J

Must give J a big thumbs up. He rang on his way home from work, asking if I was going to the pool tonight (he remembered!!!) and that I should get ready to go once he gets home. Very nice!

So despite my not really being that excited(really feeling the natsu-bate and lack of motivation , etc etc), I did head off to the pool and swam:

45* freestyle (900m)
20* breastroke (400m)
5* kickboard for some kick-a*se leg workout

Met a lovely lady in the change room afterwards who spoke very good english- had lived in the US for 5 years, and visited Aus 5+times. The people are the y are really so friendly! Wonder if she would have been so friendly if she realised I was going commando, thanks to forgetting to take a pair of undies with me (yikes!!) I put my togs on before I go, bcoz seriously, I have quite enough trouble jumping my way into them, and I really dont want to do that before an audience.

also K had her 2nd swim lesson today - she did crack the sh*ts a bit in the morning, saying she didnt want to go (*sigh*) but she was perfectly fine once we got there. I was very proud of her!

time for karma to bite me on the bum

I know I shouldnt gloat, BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT:

I managed to get to the pool again tonight - went at 6:30pm and got home at 8:15pm (had quick stop at uniclo on way home too).

I had thought the pool was only 15m long (which made my 20laps breastroke & 20laps freestyle on Wed seem a bit pathetic) but tonight I actually asked how long the pool was: 20m!! what an idiotic length!! Anyway, tonight I ganbarued and did 6*breastroke to warm up, 40*freestyle and 14* breastroke to cool down, plus a couple of laps in the walking lane.
i.e.
freestyle 800m
breastroke 400m

time: 35mins

Now, the goal is to extend the length in about the same time. I have never been fast, but when I was doing triathlons and the like (oh, the glory days!!!) I did swim 1.5km in the ocean in about 33mins I think. Hope to get to be able to swim at least 1.5km (wonder how long it will take me....hmmm?)

And the gloating - well, when I got home after my swim, the house looked like a BOMB had hit it, L was screaming (he stopped the instant I held him) and no one had eaten dinner at 8:15pm! (altho we did have hotdogs and icecream at IKEA at 4:30pm, but still.....) Hope J got a bit of a taste of why the house and I am always frazzled when he comes home at night :=)

on an bender

An exercise bender, that is (well, kinda).

Anyway, today I just went down to sign up for summer session at the ymca pool - I can go along weeknights and Saturday night from 6:15pm-9pm. Even bought myself one of those baba swim suits (the ones that mean you dont have to bother about shaving anywhere as you are basically covered head to toe - at least there is one less excuse not to go to the pool...) Hoping to make it at least once a week, but if possible, try to go 2 times a week from now until end of Aug. Wish me luck!!

I just realised that my big run last night was a maximum of 2 (two, duos, 二）km. Yikes. How embarrasing. Well. gotta start somewhere, right?

I dont know what it is about the hot weather, but it kinds spurs me on to exercise. lets see if I can keep it up for more than 3 days tho, THAT is the challenge.

a bit pathetic, but at least a start....,

I RAN tonight.
Ok, it was only down the hill to the lights by the local "mine mart", but going down the hill also meant I had to come back up it, right?!!

I took R, but *she* was actually dragging behind (she wanted to do her business, peeing and pooping and smelling the flowers and shit everywhere, while I just wanted to get there and back, lol)

I don't know why, but for some reason today I just felt like I could do it, run, I mean. In all this heat too.....

But I did realise that trying to go for a run on a night when J goes to the gym is just NOT going to work - got home and had to do the shower/bath routine with K, then L started balling just as J was about to head off for the gym, so I ended up hotter after my shower than before it. And everyone was so out of sorts (due to me skipping out for half an hour hence putting back the pre-bed-time routine) that both K and L have really only just got to sleep, affter 10pm! So now I have had 10mins to myself, before J gets home (can hear the car now) and I just realised I still have to iron his freakin' shirts for work. yikes.

Anyway, - bring on tomorrow and Thurs, when J doesnt go to the gym. If my body hasn't "broken" by then, I might try jog again ;-)

a novel way to cool down

Just as we were about to get off the train today after a big day out (playgroup and shopping ;D) I felt what could only be described as a feeling like my waters broke! (yes, I *do* realise I am no longer pregnant...). I looked down and there was a puddle on the floor on the train beneath me. And a big wet streak down my left leg.

I don't know HOW he did it, but L had managed to piddle all over me WHILE IN THE BABY BJORN!! Talk about crazy stuff. And it is not even the first time - about a month ago, while in the baby bjorn again, I had a similar sensation while hanging out the washing. Bloody boys and their projectile piddling (both times he was in disposables, too, so it wasn't even a cloth nappy problem).

But how funny..... and embarrasing.

And he actually was doing me a favour, evening out the stains on my right side after his morning projectile perk, all down my leg, lol!

warming up for Hawaii

The hotel we stayed at on the weekend was quite good - it was very family orientated (kid seats in restaurant, baby bath chairs, kids yukata, rice for the kids at dinner, even tho we didn't pay a CENT for either K or L), and of course the kids pool and regular pool were great fun! It was kinda cool in the water (ok, the kids pool was pretty darn cold, but the regular pool was ok). But K had an absolute ball, so it was worth it.

We arrived at the hotel around 2pm, they let us check in an hour early, and we hit the pool (good timing as the rain had just stopped) for about an hour. Then back inside for a bath (onsen water, too, which is a plus) before dinner.

Dinner was ok, nothing to really write home about. A bit lacking in volume (I ended up eating L's rice too!!)

Breakfast was all-you-can-eat and I did! Another quick swim from 9am (too cold for me in the morning, so J had the honours) before another quick bath before 11am checkout. Had a quick look at the waves around the surf-spot at Chikura, but flat, so we just had a bit of a play at the 道の駅　before making our way slowly home.

For less than 15,000yen for all 4 of us to stay (thanks Japan's version of lastminute.com) it was a cheapie but fun weekend away.*


So yeh, it was a kinda prelude for the possible hawaii trip (GW - totally sponsered by MIL, of course!! as if we can afford a week long vacay in the land of the rising sun, long cloud......umm, what is Hawaii the land of? Loco Moco perhaps?




* except for the altercation that occured after dinner, back in the room when I asked J to brush K's teeth before bed. He was almost passed out after 1 (yes, ONE) beer with dinner, and wouldn't get up to brush her teeth. I asked about 10times, but he refused (seriously) so I lost it, brushed her teeth,, turned the lights off and we all went to bed at something like 8pm!!(well, except for me of course, coz little L had other plans), but man I was pissed - for goodness sakes man, pull your weight!! end rant.

another impromptu

weekend away. off to chiba@白浜 for a swim:D (if the weather cooperates)
and there are whispers of a summer vacay in Hawaii!!!!!(with pil)

at least i have until the end of august to attempt to de-flum b4 then. unfortunately there is nothing i can do abt this weekend :( so def. NO bikini shots! lol

dotty

* recently when I look at the clock it seems to be spooky times, like "11:11" this morning.

* L turned 2m.o. yesterday - TOO fast!! Am loving every minute of him, and so now trully understand when other mummy friends say things like "I want another BABY". Me too...already, lol! I can't believe he is growing so fast.

* am feeling very blessed having found such great friends here in japan - this week I managed to catch up with several mummies from playgroup I used to go to. It has been ages since I had seen them, since we moved, and I now realise how much I miss them, but it is great to be able to meet again after 6months or so, and still have a great time.

* niku-jaga for dinner. With lots of hoku-hoku potatoes in there. YUMMO

* 2months after giving birth. I really need to stop on the excuses and start getting myself BACK. Unfortunately, not only do I have flummy to deal with, I have some serious flighs, and flarms that need blasting! I know you should never say "I will start tomorrow" but I am going to. Actually, am gonna say I am starting from July 1 - that means NO MORE COOKIES (well, not as many as I am eating now at least ;D and being serious about drinking water.) In general, we are eating ok, I think, trying to keep the vege intake up. It is really just the sweets and snacking that need to be dealt with. And I also need to start to get serious about some excercise.

* did several loads of washing today. Lots of early morning starts this week has meant that I couldn't get the washing hang out (the balcony is off the room where K and J are sleeping, so I wait until they are up to hang it out.) But with rainy days and then yesterday we left the same time as J, the laundry has been building up.

* now I just gotta fold up several loads of washing (ok, I dont mind doing this)

* then I gotta put it all away.AAAARRRRGGGGH. not my favourite at all.

* been looking at pre-schools, scouring for information. Am going to the closest pre-school for I guess what equates to a trial day/open day. Also signing up for lots of classes for K, like "リトミック”and a swimming class next week. I am not sure if we will be putting K into pre-school from next year or not. 3years of pre-school kinda sounds like a lot to me, and I am keen to keep her English language ability up as much as possible, so would prefer her to stay out of the all-Japanese schooling environment at this stage...... Anyone gone down the non-3 years pre-schooling route? Any comments?? I know she needs some kind of stimulation other that just playing with me, so I would like to find something that we could do instead of regular Japanese pre-school (maybe not every day, but 1-2 times a week). Although sometimes when she is giving me the shits with some temper tantrum or disobedience, I feel like I wanna put her into boarding school, let alone pre-school every day.

* K watching Dora, L asleep on my lap. Thurs afternoons are great!

no car, no tv and no husband

Well, the no-car and no-husband thing go hand in hand - J has gone surfing for the weekend in Chiba, staying at a friend's house, with several mates. I couldnt be arsed going, dragging the kids there only to sit in someone else's house. As it turns out, I wasn't even invited (by J that is, the other friends were asking where I am...)

AND as it turns out, I am stuck at home without a car - obvious, but it only hit me on Fri evening before J was leaving that he would be driving, so I would be carless. And I had planned a big weekend of hitting the shops (trying to get presents for some parties this week). Had also waited until Sat to do the grocery shop, as the supermarket has 5times the points on Sat, until 3pm. We needed rice, so a big buy like that is worth waiting to get the extra points (which you get cash-back vouchers for). Unfortunately, I ended up having to lug a 5kg bag of rice home in the stroller...together with a 14kg kid in it, while carrying a 5 kg kid on self, as well as the 8L of milk and juices I ついにbought, since am so used to always shopping by car, and kinda forgot that I still had to get them home. We walked down to the shops this morning, but with all that load, I caught the train back - even that was hard enough in itself trying to manouver the overloaded stroller on and off the train. Kinda shows me how much I have become used to the big weekly shop (as opposed to daily or every other day "picking" like I used to do when we lived less than 5mins from the supermarket....)

And the no-tv...well, of course everything happens at once, and when J is away. With the wind and rain last night, I got woken to a big thud about 3am - the bloody antenna had come clean off the roof!!! It was only supported with a single pole screwed in with 4 measly screws into the side of the wall near the roof, actually, and it all came crashing down last night. I was out there in PORING RAIN at 3am trying to somehow tie it up to the clothes line on the balcony to stop it from bashing into the wall with the wind (the antenna cord was still attached, so the antenna was seriously just dangling there). What fun. Rang the co that installed it for us last year, but they wont come out before Monday, so we are tv-less over the weekend. Not such a biggie as dont really watch J-TV that much any more, but it does mean that I will miss the Japan-Holland game tonight, boo-hoo.

But it also means that we have had 3 big walks today - r got a walk this morning, before we headed out to the next station to do some shopping (and window shopping, more miles) then we even took R out for an afternoon walk, after K woke up from her nap to take advantage of the non-rainy day while we can.

And I am keeping myself entertained with tv-shows online (current show in favour is "Being Erica"), although I really should just go to bed and try to do some catch^up sleeping while I can...but I have always been more of a night person, and find it hard to get to bed much before midnight most nights. Unfortunately L usually wakes for another feed about 1am, (then 3am, then 5am, then up for the day at 6:48am, or so he has been the last few days, seriously, can almost set my clock to the morning wake up) so not much catch up can happen unless I go down when he does after his 9pm-ish feed....

And tomorrow is (self-appointed) clean-up day, so an early night would be a good idea. Maybe after just another episode....

day 2 of the 5am challege

and I totally flaked it.

Just went straight back to sleep (sitting up in bed with L in my arms!! lol)
Looks like I am with you, Nay and Lulu and the "not before 7am biz" haha.

I don't feel bad though - I must have been on some spring cleaning high yesterday, and actually got more cleaning and househould stuff done in the afternoon too, so today I kinda feel ok to just vege. This is always my problem but - try to do it all one day, then crash and burn and then spend the next week veging, then have to do a mammoth clean the next week. Oh well. Baby steps.

Today we are heading to the local ymca for a free kids concert ("with all your favourites from Okasan-to-issho", or so they say on the flier), which starts at 10:30am. It is a bit overcast though, so not sure if we should ditch the idea of walking and drive instead. Hmmm. Anyway, gonna make some onigiri to take with us.

early morning wake up call

For the last few nights the little fella has decided that the hours between 3am and 6am are to be his "fun time". Lets just say not so much fun for mummy... But he is back to "normal"(??!!??) today with sleeping through until about 5am, then wanting to be awake. Sooooooo, I have had a bit of a revelation: instead of just sitting around in the bedroom trying (in vain) to get him back to sleep, that I should actually GET UP!

yep

start MY day at 5am too!!!!

crazy way of thinkin', ain' it! lol.

I am NOT by any stretch of the imagination a morning person, but I have realised that if I put my mind to it, I can get up and actually GET SOMETHING DONE while the kids (or at least one of them) is still asleep. I have even done it once or twice before today, too ;-). And obviously now that it is nearing summer, it is light outside from about 4am or something rediculous anyway!!

So this morning, it was a 5am wake up call. And a very productive one at that: I got a load of washing hang out, and another put in the machine; took the dog for a walk - there is my morning exercise too:-),managed to get a blog post in, and even got a cuppa, all before 7am!

And on my walk, I saw several houses with their washing already hanging out too - so obviously this revelation of getting up early to do things has hit others too (insert cheeky grin) coz of course no on in Japan would hang out their washing the night before or worse still not bring it in overnight (insert cheeky grin times two).

But one thing that has me baffled: why is it that 99.9% of the time, babies will wake up anytime you try to put them down quietly after being in the sling or held when you DONT want them to wake up, but if you put them down somewhere innapropriate (like on the sofa, where they can possibly roll or fall off) for just a second so you can get the baby bjorn ready, then why is it that the STAY in a DEEP sleep only then? When you can't even really leave them there for fear of them falling off the sofa??)

Anyway, still got a bit of time before the fam wakes up (although I assume that all my "tiptoeing" around has probably woken J up at least) and we head out to playgroup today. What fun thing can I do for the next 45mins or so of my new-found FREE TIME? haha.

maggies and crows (and bears).....oh, and turtles

I remember when I was at primary school, we had to walk through a park along the waterfront on the way to school that has these huge trees in it, and there were nesting magpies there. They used to swoop down on you if you walked under them during nesting season. Magpies are notorious for it!

There is even a list of magpie HOTSPOTS to be avoided! (fwiw, I just love "Dave's" comment there about how he "was intending to go for a walk to loose weight but I gained a PHOBIA !!!",
and also the response from Matty D who writes: Next time he swoops you, bash that little once with your sunday mail! It will be the last time he bothers you! No need to use excessive force. Just a reminder of who’s boss! )

anyway, when we were growing up, a friend's younger brother always seemed to be picked on all the time by the maggies. We used to wear special "hats" (ice-cream buckets on our heads with little eyes drawn on them) to try scare the maggies off. Dont know if it really worked or not, but cool hats, and a great excuse to eat more ice cream!!

(But as Geoff writes: a friend told me that placing an ice cream container on your head is good protection, but be sure you have all the ice-cream out first ! Otherwise you will look like the Magpie got ya ! ) Of course there is always the suggestion from a commenter on this site who writes: i prefer to wear a fashionable tin pot on my head whilst out and about. that way they see the shiny metal, go for you, but you chuckle to yourself cause you know you have adequate protection and once they swoop it'll be 'THWACK' on the beak for them fuckos.


But I digress....



Anyway, over the weekend, we were walking out from PIL house to the train station, going past a big uni with lots of trees in the grounds, and all of a sudden a young lass coming towards us was swooped on my a crow! At the same time, another kid on a bike was yelling out to his mate that "someone else has got attacked by the crow". I so didn't know that crows swooped like this during nesting season. But now that I do, I was shit-scared walking down to the park yesterday morning as there was one m-f*ker of a crow watching us the whole time.... I was swinging my arms around mine and L(in the baby bjorn)'s head as well as K's head too, freakin out that the crow was gonna get us. Luckily we escaped unharmed!

So of course in my twisted logic, this all made me think of the mighty brisbane bears (follow the logic: AFL teams Adelaide Crows and Collingwood Magpies), who seem to be not so mighty this year, and are actually no longer bears, but in fact lions. My brother sent over a super cute Lions supporter onesie and bib for L! Now if only we can get back to Aus during footy season one year to go to a game (sigh). And now both my niece and nephew are playing AFL too. To think when I was growing up, if you even hinted at any ball sport other than rugby (=league in primary school. Union in high school was acceptable, lol) you were laughed at. Now AFL has such big support even in Qld.

As for the turtles? Well, we visited friends over the weekend, and there was a small matsuri going on at their local shrine, in Kamata, Ota-ku. We went to have a peek, and I was stunned by the number of food and game stalls that were set up for this tiny shrine. I swear there was at least 500 stalls! But the most interesting one was the turtle scooping/fishing (亀すくい）stall. Catching goldfish has always been associated with matsuri (and even with the Ekka back home in Bris when I was a child) but TURTLES! I SO wanted to have a go, but J wouldn't let me - he said they were "green turtles" and they grow up to be quite big in size. Bummer, they looked so cute, and I reckon I could have scooped up a few ;-)

beating the flummy with Mr Donuts

After a restless night, where SOMEONE (no names being mentioned, but it was a very small SOMEONE) decided that the hours of 3am-6am were going to be playtime, I woke up feeling suprisingly ok and almost energetic. It was looking overcast, so thought should rush out for R's walk - we only got as far as the bottom of the stairs (although there are something like 108 of them) to the park, when the rain started. We turned back once, but I had to post a letter, and K had her umbrella with her, so decided just to keep going to the letterbox. It started getting heavier on the way back though - well, bigger blobs of rain more than lots of it. Still, not that wet.

OMG - just as i sat down, DD has woken up from her nap. Lets see if this post ever gets finished. for now, it's play time.

========
5 hours later
========

Kidlets 1 and 2 are asleep (well, in bed at least for K, and out for the moment for L anyway), J is at the gym and I have 5 seconds to myself (to either clean the living room of all the paper that K has simply "cut" - she is INTO scissors at the moment, or finish clearing the dishes in the sink, or put in that load of washing to be washed overnight....or just sit here.) I actually just filled in my calendar for this month...there seems to be a lot going on! I love summer, with all the meet ups with friends etc. Am hoping to have several bbqs here over coming weekends too (now that we have GRASS in the backyard, whoo-hoo) - just gotta get ourselves organized.

Um, so cant remember what this post is supposed to be about. I think the main thing I wanted to say was that I well and trully deserved my donuts from MR DONUT today. After our morning walk in the semi-rain, we dropped R off at home then basically headed straight out again (by this time the rain had stopped) and walked all the way to the next train station,about 25mins away, to go to the bank and just have a general looksie around. I got some french bread to bring home for dinner, and some onigiri for lunch (as the bread shop didnt have anything much to my fancy for lunch) and sat down at the shopping mall to eat it before dropping in to MR Donuts for a special treat of a donut each, and 4 to bring home for dessert (yes, they are well and trully eaten up by now). And just to make sure I really deserved hte donuts, we walked home! UP the continuous slope. Dont know how long it took, but pushing a 14kg kid in a stroller with a near 5kg kid strapped to your flummy body has to be doing some good, right?!?

And now that I seem to still have a few seconds (fingers crossed) I am gonna tidy the monthly budget and finances. Tomorrow is supposedly rainy, so we are gonna CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN (well, that is the PLAN anyways....). Feeling kinda motivated for a bit of spring cleaning, actually!

very clean

thats what i am after 2 baths (貸し切り露天風呂 and 大浴場) tonight. k had 3!(she went in with J too). prob have 1 tomorrow morn too.
reminds me a bit of my time in oita.
J even commented that we should do this at least once every 3months. Gee imagine how clean we would be then. haha!

5 mins later

I am waiting in car as J makes has a brief interlude at cainz home centre to buy weed killer for out front of house. dont know what possesed me to blog abt it tho.... haha.

impromptu road trip

and onsen 旅行.
j found a last minute deal on the net last night. we havent been to an onsen 4 ages.
just had lunch@ ringer hut (gotta scrimp somewhere) and now at a 道の駅 called 伊豆のへそ! nothing here but the name made me laugh.
right another hour or so until we reach the hotel. at least both kidlets asleep(gotta luv the car sometimes)

can hardly believe it

at 8:15am on a Monday morning and I actually have a few minutes to myself.

L is sleeping after a morning boobie session

K is still asleep in the bed, despite J leaving for work already (she normally wakes up when he gets up)

and my parents are gone (left Sat, boo-hoo)

So I am sitting with a cuppa and a Hato-sabure (the pigeon butter biscuits from Kamakura) to start my day in peace.

And now I can't think of anything to write, lol!!

Well, I will be trying to spend at least some of the day cleaning up our finances/paperwork which has gone to the shitpile since my parents got here/baby was born etc. Had a few overdue bills etc in there too. Oops. My mummy brain means that I can't remember much, or concentrate on much either so things tend to get put in the pile and left there. Our budgeting for the last 2 months has also gone to shit. This was kinda to be expected with more people in the house and doing lots of non-regular other things. And we were kinda off to a good start with the budget thing too, even getting close to the 6000yen a week for food.

Doh, K has just woekn up and is coming down the stairs - right, mummy T is being called into action. Might be calling on higher powers (a.k.a. DORA) today to get me through and to get anything done while I am at it ;-)

At least I got a sip of my sable and a bite of my tea (ykwim, haha)

more bullets

I reckon I've got a good, oh, 2 mins to update before L decides to let me know that it is "all about him", haha. For now, at least, he sleeps, so I will try:

L had his first trip to a shrine today, at 3 weeks old. We went sightseeing in Kamakura. He also had his first BF at a shrine, lol. I remember we took K out sightseeing with my parents to Asakusa when she was about 2 or 3 weeks old, and I was BFing her outside the main shrine there too. Too funny.

J rang up 4:30pm on Friday afternoon - on the home phone (bcoz I have a habit of leaving my mobile on manner mode so never hear it ring, oops). Was a bit worried why he was ringing at that time of day, thought something might have happened.....turned out he had just got a phone call from his boss (who himself was o/s on a bus. trip) with a decree to go to Indonesia for a trade fair. From Monday. So he leaves tomorrow morning, for a week. Gets back the day my folks leave, next Saturday. (sigh)

Made the trek out to playgroup during the week - was great to catch up with everyone, and show off L ☺
After playgroup, we walked around the shops for a bit too, so it was a long day in the end, but worth it! Although I passed out that night, and had trouble waking up Fri morning too (was actually woken by FIL's 100 or so phone calls - he was ringing to ask if it was convenient for him to come over and do some plumbing work here, (he is fixing up the outdoor garden hose connections etc).Granted, it was 9am or so, so any normal person would be awake, but I wonder why he thought after me not answering the first 5 calls to my mobile OR the call to the home phone that it might be convenient?? He just kept calling until he got me anyway, and came over anyway, so we were stuck in the house Fri while he did all the work. DOn't want to sound ungrateful as he has done a fab job of insalling hoses on the balcony, and in the backyard, but it is never at our convenience.....(see below)

RANT starts here:
On Sat the PIL both came over - was supposed to be the last time to see my parents, so we were gonna have lunch. Also a kind of late mother's day, since they were away last weekend. When I spoke face to face to FIL on Fri, I said that it would be better to do lunch, as L gets a bit fussy in the evenings, and also he wants to be nursed more often. I suggested a bbq at home, as going out for lunch is a bit 面倒くさい too, but he said that I should discuss with J when he gets home from work and get back to him (Why can things never be decided, always takes 4 or 5 times to get anything decided argh!)

Ater J's phone call that he was going on a sudden business trip, I knew that he would be late home Fri night, so rang FIL after dinner to say that we would just do lunch on Sat, prob go out somewhere as not enough time to prepare anything now, and that they should come by around 10:30am or so.

So come Sat morning, and they don't turn up until nearly 11:30am, with 2 boxes of donuts...Give them about 10mins here, and then FIL "suggests" that we go out for DINNER instead and just have something light (perhaps donuts?) for lunch.

I lost it. What is the fricken point of me sitting there the day before telling him that evenings are not so good, so lets do lunch, when they arrive and want to change the whole thing to suit themselves anyway????? If we go out for dinner, it means getting home late too, so K doesnt get to bed until too late, L being fussy, and someone having to prob hold him the whole time at the restaurant, and the biggest fear I had was that it would mean that PIL would stay o/night too. I am just not ready to have them stay over here, with my parents too, and me up half the night with L, and then have PIL up at 4am (coz they dont sleep) fart-arsing around the house, AND I would have had to get the futons out for them, and there is nowhere for them to sleep as I am in the spare room with L at the moment anyway. Just everything that prob doesnt seem like much now I have written it down, but man it pissed me off. They are nice people, and the do a lot for us, but it is often unwanted help. Take the backyard for example. They NEVER listen to how J wants it done. FIL just does it the way he wants to. Then they get upset and say we don't like the way they have done it - but they won't listen to our requests or opinions anyway.

I worked out the problem with them is that they don't OFFER to help/do things, they TELL US that they are doing the things for us. You can't politely turn them down, as they just won't listen. It is the same thing with going to their house and being GIVEN a cup of green tea/tea/coffee...as opposed to going to someone's house and being offered a cuppa "would you like a tea or coffee?". With PIL we just don't get a choice.

Anyway, the whole "lets go out for dinner instead" pissed me off, I got the shits, had a blow-out with J, yaddi-yaddah, you know the score. In the end we went out for lunch anyway (I guess I got my way, right?) and they left early evening to go home. I felt bad after having lost my stack with them, but man they get to me sometimes.

Oh and the best thing - as they were leaving yesterday afternoon, they turn around to TELL me that they will come back Sat morning (the day J gets back at 11am from Indonesia, and my parents leave around 4pm to go to Narita) to say good bye to my folks and bring presents for them. Oh, and that we should "DO LUNCH" then too. ARRRRGGHHH.

END RANT

L has woken up while I am writing this and is now asleep again on my chest. Cuddly little koala that he is ♥] but now I am getting tired and want to lie down....might try it in case I can get a whole 10mins in before it is boobie time again. The fun!!

talking about boobies, after nearly a whole week of pumping and resting, managed to get back to BF from Tues this week, and have been nursing at all but one feed a day (still get Nanna to give him a bottle of ebm around dinner time so I can get the prep done). Phew it has all settled down and we are back on track with that.

Dont even know if this post is gonna make any sense. Have some serious mumy brain going on at the mo. J asked me to get the bath ready for him and K while he went to the shop to buy some milk (which we had fully run out of) and onions for the curry he was making for dinner (thanks j, yum!), I nodded and said "sure" then promptly forgot about it, so he came home expecting a bath drawn, but instead had to clean out the tub himself, oops. Not to mention my lack of focus/concentration for anything/everything.

baby's got a name (and other tidbits)

♥ the baby formally known as tj-baby now has a proper name!! Managed to get his name finalised on the last day of GW, so I could register it at city hall on Thursday morning (SO far ahead of the 4pm deadline, lol!!) It was a really hard decision - lots of names thrown around, but many of them either names of other kids we know, or names that I liked J would veto, and names that he suggested I would baulk at. And the one name I had thought of before he was born (and really liked) just didn't seem to suit him, so I couldn't use that one. In the end, we came up with 3 names to choose from. Actually, J, K and I went so far as to pull them out of a hat on Wed morning trying to make the decision, but the ol' "best of 3" routine still didn't resolve our dilemma and we had to nut it out amongst the three names anyway. So we went with "L" in the hopes that it will be an international name, and as the kanji for it was better than any kanji we could come up for with one of the other names, and the third name J decided he didn't like it so much in the end anyway.

♥ despite the fact that baby now has a name, he still gets called "the baby" a lot, haha.

♥ and we didn't intentionally try to use letters in alphabetical order when naming baby, but my blog title is now "T JKL R" which kinda made me laugh.

♥ L's umbilical cord came off on Wed evening. Had to take him to the docs for a quick check up (don't remember doing that with K) and all is ok.

♥ L has been a trouper all weekend - we went to the beach looking for clams on Sat morning, but unfortunately there was none there (well, there was only shells left), so we headed out to IKEA for the afternoon. L basically slept the whole time! And today we went out shopping in the morning to "Donkey" (my folks love this shop, lol!) and lunch at local ramen joint and again L was quiet as a mouse the whole time.

♥ I am still having bf issues - having split nipples is not fun! It makes for difficulties, as am pumping for each feed at the moment, trying to let the splits heal. Was quite upset over the whole thing Thurs last week, but a trip to the clinic for advice later and a few days of"ganbaruing" and things seem to be improving. Still not fully healed yet but hoping we can get through this in the next few days with no more issues and get back to bf-ing. It sucks because I had (different) bf-ing issues with K, and it took 3 months or so before I was comfortable feeding her. This time I thought it would be easy, and BAM! along comes a totally different curve ball that I wasn't expecting.

♥ hoping to head out tomorrow morning to Babies 'r'us for a looksies. Also think I need to buy a pair of pants to tide me over as seriously nothing fits, and after weighing myself today I found that I have now put on a kilo - yikes!! Wanna get this flab moving, but until that happens, I need something to wear.

♥ speaking of flab moving, I still have the dark line down my tummy (had to move the flab there to check it was all the way down, haha) Don't remember it sticking around after K.....wonder if it will fade/disappear eventually?

random mum & baby stats

Day 12 and things are going great.

K is a fantastic big sister- she helps get nappies, always wants to cuddle or pat the baby, tells me whenever he is crying (in case I didn't know, lol)

managed our first "3-way" today...me, K and baby all went down for a nap at the same time, haha! Not sure how often this will happen, but it was good.

I gained about 14kg overall, and only dropped 4kg after birth. Currently weighing in at minus 7kg. Only another 7kg to go to pre-birth weight. I lost a lot more to start with when K was born so am finding that I am really struggling for clothes to fit as I am in between sizes now - maternity clothes a bit big, but regular clothes still far to "pitchi-pitchi". Hope this weight comes off soon (but figure that with recent aquisition of more costco cookies and muffins that it won't come off THAT quick! oh well!)

so far we have done 1 and a half days of cloth nappies (Cloth Diapering = CD). Am hoping to do CD during the day at home, and disposables for night and when we are out and about. I realised on day 1 of CD-ing that some kind of nappy liner would be useful, so yesterday we bought some Pigeon brand disposable liners. They seem to work well and make cleaning poopy nappies easier for sure. May consider washable liners down the track, but for now they will do fine.

Merries new born nappies are the best fit at the moment. I also bought Moonie and Goon, but they are too wide and short, whereas the merries are longer and leaner fit on bubs.

Bubs is a lot more alert the last 2-3 days, more awake time, lots of looking around, and kicking (kicked his blankets off already!) Very good baby so far (TOUCH WOOD) doesn't cry or fuss that much and def. more settled than K ever was, even at this age. Sleeps well during the night, waking up around 3am and 6am or 7am for feeds. The 7am feed is the one that gets to me the most - so not a morning person!

I wrongly assumed that having bf-ed K until she was 14months, I would have nipples of steel and have no issues this time....but baby boy is such a good sucker, that he gave them a real work out, and I had to let the puppies have a few days rest when we got home from hospital and espress milk instead to try to save them before they got TOO cracked and sore. We seem to be back on track now, but I am still pumping for about one feed a day, just to give me a break, and Nanna some bottle time with bubs!

he is not so good at burping, so if he has a bottle, he often ends up with a little tummy pain that wakes him an hour or more after he has finished the bottle. Is much more settled when bf-ed.

had our first trip away from home on Sunday night to visit PIL - stayed overnight and came back yesterday afternoon. It did take it out of me though, and I slept until 10am this morning, then had an afternoon nap too. What a weak effort I am!! Then again, the paraphernalia from the hospital did say I was only supposed to lie on the futon and get up for feedings and nappy changes only for the first weeks....and I ended up helping with dinner and vacuuming at PILs! (While I make my mum do it for me here at home, lol).Will have to make up for all my efforts with another 2 days of lounging on the sofa at home here now :-)

and, yes, bubs still remains nameless!!! It may well be the case that we are running down to city hall at 4pm Thurs afternoon (a.k.a. d-day, day 14 after birth) to register his name. But we are making progress - there are at least 2 names that we both like, plus 1 or 2 others each that we can put a case forward for. So I am sure tomorrow we will make the decision - well, we have to, right? haha!!!!!

All about baby!

I posted these from my mobile while in hospital(accidently to my food blog - oops obviously forgot to change post to settings, haha!) so here is the story so far:

Posted Sat April 24th
Welcoming our own little volcano.......that waited and waited then couldn't wait no more!(a little story of major ironic proportions)

Wed afternoon:Had my 39w1d check up in the morning
Skyped with J in paris who was abt to visit the eifel tower- about 10mins after hanging up he rang bak to say he just had a phone call from ana and would get on a flight that night!!u beauty!

Thurs am(just after midnight): j rings to confirm he is getting on the plane and coming home : yay!(he missed out on sightseeing tho, zannen!)
I spend whole day on couch to avoid jinxing myself or baby in any way. J gets home around 6pm and we head out for celebratory kura sushi(where i have a major pigout)! ge home and J has a bath with kyla and then i have relaxing bath, and put on 2 loads of washing (nothing left in laundry basket). head to bed round 11:30pm but cant sleep so play space invaders type game on keitai.

Fri April 23 (39w3d)
12:25ish - finally fall asleep only to wake up minutes later feeling odd, followed by a small popping sound and the slightest feeling that i had wet myself. freak out that it might be my waters breaking so wake J, call hospital(1250), then begin to doubt self as no running brooke, not even a trickle, but in for check anyway.

130am: check shows faint positive of broken waters, so I am hospitalised. J sent home as no contractions, and still only 3cm so it could take days!

145am:shown to bed in labouring room, put on baby moniter.a bit of tightening tummy but nothing out of norm.

215am: bumped from labouring room as 2 new cases coming in (with real contractions!)get put on drip for gbs.

245am:drip finished, go to loo

300am: start to feel dif, like a wave of period pain. easy to breath lightly thru it. seems to come again in 15mins so start to time it.

400am: tell nurse abt 15min contractions that seem to have mini-contractions at half-way point. go to loo a few more times.

457am: painful contractions(can still breath thru alone tho) start coming what seems every 3mins, wtf? figure must be timing wrong. go to loo again.

515am: back from loo and gripping on to side of bed for dear life during contraction: no more doing this alone!. manage to do a nurse call. she gets narky at me when I have a contraction and tell her I wanna do poo half way thru. she tries to tell me it is a sign baby is coming .

520am: midwife comes to ask how I am - measures me at 5cm and decides to call J to come bak. I wonder how am gonna get thru another 5cm as already the pain is killing- start wishing for drugs.
525am: try to get a quick sms to J to remember camera but can hardly even write 5letters「忘れないで」 in so much pain.

532am: nurse has returned to check me as am writhing like a possesed mad woman but decides we go straight to birthing room (turns out it is the operating room as nowhere else free!)manage to walk the 4m to or before another contraction hits.get up on bed (aka operating table)

5:42am: i am now 8cm dialated but it is decided that the baby is coming so lets push

push thru 3 maybe 4 contractions(this was the easiest part)

548am: baby slipped out.measures 3286g and 49cm.
552am: j arrives at hospital only to be told that his son was born just minutes ago!

so ironic!!!


So in the end our little baby boy was born in quite a rush. We are both doing well & feeling fine, and now trying to come up with a boys name!! I have to keep fending off J's suggestions, like "Ice". Hope we come up with something more suitable soon.

In the meantime I am getting bored in hospital - talk about 暇! and that is even with baby boy rooming in!

I cant believe it is a boy!!!!! wonder what the final score on my poll was? congrats to everyone who voted correct- u get to share in my sleep deprived blog dribble here for, oh the next year or two haha!

Posted Sun April 25th
Baby day 3: and gratuitous baby photo!


Had busy day with visitors yesterday and unsettled baby boy (maybe i have to make up a nickname to refer to him -"vanilla ice" maybe?) from abt 11pm for a few hours- just as my tiredness was peaking!) but after a midnight snack (for him) he slept thru past his 4am feed until 5:30 so I got a bit of rest and am feeling good again (^-^)

Talking abt food....just waiting 4 lunch now- food is average. VERY small portions (or maybe I just still have my piggy appetite. Rice 4 every meal getting boring but I guess at least i dont have to cook it. and i have smuggled in heaps of treats to keep me going .

And here is that gratuitous cute sleeping baby shot to end with:


Coming home
Wed April 28th

Made our escape this morning around 11:15am, (after paying through the nose for a 54minute delivery (they count from when contractions are less than 10mins apart) and 6day stay at the clinic, pure daylight robbery I say!) and got home in time for lunch (toasted cheese and ham s/w, thanks mum!) then a nap with K (thanks mum!!) and a bit of organising the baby stuff that I hadn't yet got ready (cause forgot about it or couldn't find it!) Had a few issues ith b/f and cracked nipples, so have been supplementing with either espressed milk or formula, but didn't have any bottles cleaned or santised, and had to find them first!! Then I couldn't find the teats, so had to make a rush trip to the chemist to buy some, only to remember a couple of hours later where I had put the teats. So now I am over run with teats, lol! Oh well, hoping this time to espress a bit of milk anyway, so that others can feed the boy and give me a break. Am lucky that my milk has come in with no problems this time (volume wise). Now if only I could toughen up these nipples a bit.

Just finished an evening cuppa tea (thanks mum!!!!) and baby sleeping peacefully now. I give him another hour until the "fun" starts! It seems he has issues with the hours around 11am-about3am, which mean no sleep for mummy! So for a while I am gonna sleep in the downstairs room with him to give K and J a break. Also have all his nappies and other stuff set up there so it will be easier until we get into a routine downstairs.

39d1w

10am apt today, had to be there 20mins before hand to have the monitor on to check baby's hearbeat. It was dropping a few times when I had braxton-hicks so they kept me on for another 20mins or so....not very good, but not super-worrying it seems as I am home again and don't have any particular warnings from the docs or anything.

Doc again surprised to see me - when I got up on the chair for the internal, he said "let's shake this baby up a bit" (じゃちょっと刺激しようっか？but I promptly told him to keep his shakin' to himself - as J is still in Paris and we don't need baby to be coming anytime yet....

Doc said I am 3cm, and effacing (not sure what %, they are not so good on telling numerical values, and I always forget to ask again when I get out of THE CHAIR.)
He reckons I will go in the next few days (but, I remind myself that he has told me this AT EVERY SINGLE APT SINCE WEEK 36!!!). Nurse reckons that I will go tomorrow or so, since there is a low pressure system coming (!! I had heard about the full moon bringing all the babies out, but this was the first time to hear about a low pressure system having the same effect, lol). Nothing else to report, really, just had it drummed in to me again to get to the hosp as soon as I get contractions 15mins apart, as it will all move along quickly this time.

So flights have resumed out of Paris, YAY. But now of course we have the secondary (although probably bigger) problem that unless ANA puts on special flights for those stranded, J will have to wait his turn, along with thousands of others, until there is a spare seat on a plane (i.e. they won't bump passengers who are supposed to fly today for e.g. to put waiting passengers on instead) so it may still be several days before he gets home. SIGH. Pissing me off a bit now - I think I have been pretty calm about it until now, all things considered, and yes I know it is not like it is anyone's fault, but I just get pissed off when I see people on tv news who have been waiting for a whole 2 days get on a flight....NOT FAIR! I just want him home!!!!! And it doesn't help either hearing about other people who went via Spain or Portugal or Moscow or Sydney or the fricken moon or whatever to get home. And still J and his bosses sit in their little hotel room in Paris waiting for ANA to contact them and tell them they have a seat on a plane...... It would just be nice for it all to be over.

Otherwise, not much else going on - lovely day today that feels like spring is here, but it is supposed to be raining and 10deg tomorrow so we can't even enjoy it for long. K has just woken from her nap, so might send her and my folks off for a walk now while it is fine - tomorrow looks like another day inside....might be right for doing some baking then.

Oh, and I see it is totally split down the middle for the baby poll: 50-50 boy/girl! LOL.

soooooo.....

I am still here

TJ-baby is still in France

and J is not in labour yet

or is that the other way round?

Obviously, planes still grounded/flights cancelled indefinitely. J mentioned something about possibly taking the Siberian Railway home. I don't think he was 100% joking.....
He had to change hotels (to a cheaper one, work is a bit stingy) but at least the new hotel has a good internet connection and skype actually works this time, so we had a decent conversation tonight, first time since he got to Paris. K misses him and keeps on asking if that is him coming home whenever she hears a noise in the house (like my dad come home from a walk or something and closing the door).

Am taking bets on the sex of TJ-baby: voting on the sidebar.
I figure with all the drama surrounding it (ok, nothing super major, I guess, but it just seems to be something new everytime I freakin' turn around) that it's gotta be a boy, lol. But at the same time I am kinda thinking girl....but that is just me hedging my bets ;-)

No bets on date of arrival, as don't want to jinx myself :-) still hoping J will be here for it....

All I can say is thank goodness for comfort eating, and costcos cookies. And for everyone's comments and cyber-support! THANKS!!

hmph

T - 38 and a half weeks pregnant in Tokyo
J - in Paris on a work trip

and a freakin' volcano erupts in Iceland, grounding all planes in and out of Europe.

J was set to fly out tomorrow evening (France time). Is waiting to see what happens, but currently all flights are grounded or cancelled. I don't hold out much hope for seeing J home over the weekend.

I am starting to wonder just how long TJ-baby is gonna hold out for us....I kinda "felt" that TJ-baby was gonna wait until J got home, but I guess there is only so much TJ-baby can take too.......more leg crossing, I guess.

Oh, and I am now sporting one dooser of a haircut - why I insisted upon going to a new hairdressers at 38weeks pregnant I will never know.... I basically have a boy-cut (something I have never had) - and a bad one at that, as she went a bit rambo on me and cut off a LOT more than I thought I asked for (and than the photo of me in the haircut I wanted seemed to show....) If only TJ-baby holds out in there until my hair grows back now.....

38 weeks

The doctor was, ah, suprised to say the least that I made it for my 38week check up. When I walked in the consultation room he was like "eh?"

Did a quick internal check and I am a bit more dilated, and baby is moving down slightly (no figures given, and I never got around to ask after what happened next)

Then I get up on the bed as always for the tummy ultrasound..... get a look at TJ-baby's face, yaddih, yaddah, then doc moves across my tummy, and his face gets that screwed up "oh-oh" type look to it. He starts pushing the side of my belly like it is jelly on a plate to get it moving. More "hmmmms". He calls the 院長 in, and they get me to turn over. I can tell they are looking for the heartbeat. And they are having trouble. "Perhaps the baby is asleep, let's try to wake it up"....I get told to sit up, then lie down again on my side. They finally get a good signal on the heartbeat, and it sounds ok now. But they *think* that while I was in there, the baby started to squeeze either its own neck, or the umbilical cord. And that was interupting the heartbeat. I get put on the baby monitor for 30mins, but all seems well, so they assume it was just a freak of timing that it happened at that particular time.

Talk about scary.

The last few days I have been giving myself the old jelly-on-a-plate belly push every couple of hours if i can't feel any action. As it is, at this stage of pregnancy, I am NOT feeling much movement, which I put down to big baby in small space, and also being lower down. But now I am paranoid about it, so whenver I lie or sit down, and I don't get any baby kicks after a bit, I give TJ-baby the prod.

Apart from that drama, nothing else to report. No action, per say, except feeling a but crampy at times since last Friday. Several times I thought it might be the start of something, but no notable contractions at regular intervals to record. I have toned everything down though now, since I am half way through the week of J away, I figure if I can do nothing for the next few days and get through it will be worth it. So lots of lying down, napping, TV and not much else. Even sent K out on a big walk this morning with my parents and while I had niggling thoughts to do stuff while they were gone, I gave into my laziness and did NOTHING. While on one hand I feel like a lazy old cow, on the other I figure that if by doing nothing I even have a chance of holding off labour starting until J gets back, then it is my DUTY to do this! So I am going to wait until Sunday and then I will be running around doing all the things I have been thinking about doing for the last few days, lol.

Hanging on for 4 more days, at least......

37weeks

Tues back to the doctors for 37week check up:

2cm dialated

TJ-baby now weighing in at the same as last week, i.e. not the huge bugger they all though it was, but still at about 1week "older" than average sizes.

doctor took lots of ultrasound shots - got to one point where he asked me if I knew the sex, I said "no" he said do you want to know I said "no" lol so he skipped over that part fast. Got a cool foot "photo" as well as some face shots, and one of TJ-baby doing the "peace sign" haha.

overall very quick check up, was told he would see me next week if not before...

I have spent the whole week thinking/praying "this is the day" only to get to Saturday morning at 6:40am where I am dropping my husband off at the bus stop for his week-long business trip to France. Just got the phonecal to say he is boarding the plane now.....am now hoping that everyday until he gets back (next Sunday) is NOT going to be "the day".

Although, I have been feeling a bit "funky" since yesterday morning - feel like baby has dropped (again?) and is putting pressure on my pelvic bone so it hurts when I walk/move...

So I guess the question now is, what can I now do to keep TJ-baby in??

My parents have now taken k off for a walk so I can have a break - what a godsend them being here. Gonna lie on the sofa until they get back - no unecessary movement this week - don't want TJ-baby to be dislodged out, haha (brackets: SIGH!!)

feeling better

It has been a rough week. Although less stressed (both TJ-baby and me) after Tues docs appt, the headcold-allergies really did me over on Wed and Thurs. I thought my head would split in half on Thurs. At one stage I almost felt like I had the flu.... my face was red and swollen and I just felt awful. Also think the meds might have played a part - esp with side effects like shaking, and the headache.

All I can say is THANK GOODNESS my parents arrived early and managed to be here for Thurs - I seriously stayed either horizontal on the sofa, or in bed. I think they may have even thought I was putting it on just to get out of housework (lol) but when I woke up on Fri I was 90% back to normal, and felt like a different person. Which is nice because it was K's 3rd birthday, and we had J, PIL and my parents all here for a full day of celebrations: lunch out at local restaurant, then Dora the explorer birthday cake

and piles and piles of presents from family in Aus that my parents had brought with them, then 手巻きsushi for dinner. K was in her element and really enjoyed being with both sets of grandparents, so it was nice to see. And J was super helpful, well, he basically prepared all the dinner and stuff. I managed to get the cake baked and iced thurs night with mum's help, think it turned out ok. K was happy at least so that is all that matters.

Has been another longish day tho, both K and I missed out on a nap, so i might head to bed early. Since my meds have finished, I am rock^hard belly again.

Also, an interesting thing; I don't know if this happens or not, but I reckon TJ^baby had dropped lower Tues, but is somehow "back" up , riding high again from about yesterday. And more active again. On Thurs there was a stage where I was seriously worried because I hadn't felt any movements for hours. TJ-baby is making up for it today it seems, which is nice.

and now...

I have a stuffy and runny nose, headache (going on all week), sore throat.....grrrrrrrreat. Can't work out if it is a cold, or allergies, or both.

J is out picking up my parents - they are going to be put to good use tomorrow, I think I will be sleeping all day...

at least TJ-baby is still on the inside at this stage ;-)

no stress today

I was waiting an hr again for the 1(wtf?) moniter in the clinic for my turn at the non stress test..... This surely only adds to my stress levels aargh.
Actually, it turned out there are more moniters up in LDR etc, but this morning was another rush of women with contractions so all the monitors (and places to put them) they had were being used up. Fair enough- I can understand being bumped for a women about to pop, but come on - why only keep one monitor down in the clinic part??

(If you haven't guessed, my clinic is starting to piss me off. Lots of little things. Am already regretting my decision to choose this place, but of course nothing I can do now. And I remember being shitted off with the hosp. I gave birth to K at in the lead up for various reasons, but of course after the birth, I was all love-love for the hosp, as they nurses esp. who take care of you after birth were just so lovely and helpful. Am hoping this clinic can redeem itself in the same way. Although I am tempted to write a report in benesse womens' park about some of the things I haven't been so impressed with, lol)

So I finally got hooked up - sat in a massage chair in the nurses lounge, no less, as they seriously had no where else for me, so it was nice that they went to the trouble to set the machine up for me I guess - at about 9:40, and was on for 20-odd mins. Nurse hooking me up commented "gee, your baby is down low, isn't it" as she put the monitor clips basically on my v-doobies, lol. The monitor clips were in a dfferent place yesterday - and I have to say that since yesterday afternoon, I have felt "lighter" and more mobile all of a sudden - yikes!

So pretty much I am the same - hardened tummy 99% of the time on the machine, but this time TJ-baby is strong and doesn't react to the stress, so am told all is ok, and make an apt for next Tues, when I am officially 37w.

Feeling a bit better and a bit less stressed myself with the results from today too.

BRIEF stop at shop to buy bread for lunch (after 11am as we leave docs) and some futon covers for my parent's make-shift bedroom, collect money from bank and go directly to jail, uh, I mean back home to skype mum to say I am ok, then into bed with K for a marathon nap of about 3hours!!! I am still half asleep. Lucky have enough leftovers for side dishes to go with our pork chops for dinner, but haven't put rice on as J has been coming home a bit early, and he gets pooey if the rice hasn't been sitting for long enough before cooking it, so figure he can have microwave rice for dinner tonight ;-)

Finally tomorrow we have a day at home to hopefully catch up a bit (nothing over the top) with some cleaning and organising, with lots of breaks in between. Would be great if I had a go-go-gadget arm so I could do dust/vacuum/cook all without having to get my lard arse off the sofa haha.

35w6d

Check up yesterday morning. (my ticker up the top is a bit out of whack)

Was told I had a 9:30-10am apt, but to be there by 9:10am to be strapped up for non-stress test. I was THE FIRST person there at 8:44am.

10:10am and still haven't been called. Have seen at least 3 others go in for the nst, not to mention several dozen being called in for checks.

I think they forgot me as I was miraculously called about 5mins after I asked what was going on (they were all apologies, someone started having contractions while on the monitor, so they were backed up yaddi-yaddah.)

Weight gain in last 2 weeks: MINUS 200g (not really sure how that happened, esp as we made a costco run in the mean time and I have maybe, possibly snuck a few cookies and muffins in :-)

Ultrasound (external) shows TJ-baby has:

the head of a 39w old

the bone length (femur length I think)of a 37w5d old

the weight of a 37w old at 2907g

Overall, Tj-baby is a big one (I take this with a bit of a grain of salt, as K was told this whole time too, but anyways...) Doc seems a bit apprehensive over TJ-baby's size, and once again states that he thinks we will probably go into labour early.....

Get some meds for the GBS, and once again am told about having to have the antibiotics once labour starts.

More important is the results from non-stress-test. Apparently we are stressed. Well, obviously I am, but more specifically, lots of braxton hicks (nurse: "your stomach is like, constantly hard") are putting real stress on TJ-baby.

Given meds to try to calm down the 張る-ing, told to at least keep TJ-baby on the inside until I reach "full term" at 37w, a.k.a next Tuesday, and told to come back for more monitoring on Wed morning....but while waiting in lobby to pay bills, nurse runs up and says, "actually, doc wants you to come back tomorrow morning".

So have been awake since 4am this morning, stressing, can't sleep as it felt like my tummy was preparing to be thrown down a bowling alley (am sure I would have got a strike with a tummy this hard) and then spending an hour counting baby movements (they do seem to have slowed down the last few days, but thankfully despite the first 20mins or so of nothing but hardened abs, I started feeling hiccups, then kicks, so yay for that at least). At nearly 6am I decided I wouldn't be getting back to sleep, so came down for a cuppa and some breakfast so I can take my tablets, and so we can get out of the house at 8am to be there for an even earlier apt (8:40am) this morning with the nst monitor.

Decided I would spend the next week on the sofa, esp until my parents get here Wed (tomorrow) night - anything to keep baby in!! But first had to stop by toys'r'us to check if they had any Dora party goods as it is K's 3rd birthday on Fri, and want to make her a dolly-bardon type cake. (got a fab dora figurine - just hope I get to make the cake :-)

Came home with the intention of doing nothing (but remembered I have no baby clothes washed, no hospital bag packed, no dosh prepared to pay for hospital bills upfront etc etc so after a nap with K, I started trying to slowly get stuff prepared. Still have more to do today (SLOWLY) so hope I get to come home from docs to do it.

And I haven't even started on the R-situation last week that had me so super stressed out..... briefly, last Wed (March 24th), she jumped out of her cage/house/circle (it has a mesh roof that is attached around the edges with push-stud type buttons, which she managed to undo) and got into the esky by the fridge which still had a few of those freezer gel packs in it. She ate 4 of them. Vets visit in afternoon, hours of googling and ringing gel-pack makers to confirm that gel-packs DO NOT contain anti-freeze (ethyle glycol, while slightly toxic in humans is basically deadly for cats and dogs, causing kidney failure - I seriously spent all day/several days last week thinking R would die), R throws up during my night-time vigil so I take her to doggy ER, where they treat her like a poisons victim, getting all the foreign matter out. Careful watching of her for next 3 days, more trips to vet - turns out the toxins have caused some damage to her liver, so she is now on liver-treatment pills. Still not 100%, but thankfully getting there.

No wonder my head has been throbbing since last week with all these things to stress over....