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.