David Bowie And Nike

"ch-ch-ch-changes♪"
The months of April and May have brought us many!
* k turned 5. No longer a baby at five years old;( you can see the difference in her too -- my little baby girl all grown up(;;)
* k started pre-school. She is nen-chu. She LOVES it, wants to leave the house before 8:30 most mornings to get there early;)
* L turned 2! My, how those two years have flown. And he has FINALLY started sleeping through the night - by which I mean 7:30pm until 4:30am! We stopped nursing overnight, but still had a sesh at 4:30am, then 5am, then 5:30am ...(You get the picture:) until I got sick of it and either gave him the iPhone or got out of bed myself!!
* and then come May, and we finally stopped that morning nursing session too, after we came back from GW holidays. Weird (bittersweet) to think my boobies are done, packed away for good now.
* L started day-care. He cried for the first 5 days when dropped off (had to come home the first day before lunch he was inconsolable) but by day 6 he goes off without any tears, and seems to enjoy playing with the other kids, and even gave his teacher a big kiss when leaving yesterday.
* and me? Well, I got a job. Yep, a real job. In-house translating. Is it weird that I love hearing the click click of my high heels as I walk? Lol.

Yep, lots of changes and still trying to work out our daily rhythm, but to tell you the truth, it was easier to make the change than I thought - For all the worry about is it the right decision to go back to work, put L into daycare etc etc, it all seems to be working out. I guess Nike does give right advice - "just do it!"

82

I get a mention on gaijin wife's blog (http://gaijinwife.wordpress.com/) And I get 82 hits here today!! That's enough to get anyone back blogging:) lol.

Some days I should just stay out of the kitchen

today I

* made my favorite almond cookies, was hoping to shape them into hina-sama shapes. K and L helped cut out pig shapes, hearts and flowers and I made just two (prince and princess) Hina samas. So glad I didn't waste my time shaping them -- all the biscuits Mergd together to form one big flat mess on the trays in the oven ;( not sure what went wrong, as it was kinda my fail-safe recipe....not anymore,right??,

* made mini quiche (since had the oven going anyway making failed biscuits) with broccoli and tuna, in wanton wrappers for cases. shouldn't have strayed from my normal quiche fillings.....K didn't like it, as I expected;( And the quiches all stuck in the muffin tray and came out looking like a big mess.

So it was a kinda epic fail day in the kitchen.

In other random news:

**Cleaned the kids room, living room, kitchen only to have them messed up even more than when we started about 5 mins later:( sigh. But I guess that is a daily thing, right? )

**Got halfway through the mountain of clothes waiting to be folded and put away. was gonnna do the rest once the kids were asleep, but after an EPIC three hour nap from BOTH kids, bedtime was pushed back til close to 9pm... So I am now sitting under the kotatsu watching dead boring Japanese tv instead of folding.

**I've gone caffeine free! Decided last week to try it - was drinking cups of tea all day long, and the cookies that go with the drink of tea got out of hand, so that my clothes are now all too tight - a problem in winter, unless I can find some potato sacks;(
am actually feeling a bit better without the caffeine/all-day-long drinking, and enjoying my camomile, rosehip and decaf teas. I have drunk coke, and eaten chocolate though, so not fully de-caffeinated yet, but it is a process, right?!
actually, it IS a process, as I am hoping to go sugar-free -- starting March, I am gonna attempt my no junk food/chocolate diet, and try to cut out sugars from my diet. I think this will be challenging. But hoping that I can do it!

**and I haven't forgotten my 101 things....although I think I still have about, uh, 101 things to complete. (sigh) if only the kotatsu wasn't so cozy...........

Honey, honey

As if a full day of headaches, cramps and listlessness was not enough...I am now having an allergic reaction to porridge!
Ok, it was actually the manuka honey (bloody kiwis!!) that I mixed in with it.
Am having a cup of tea trying to calm down and breath through it.
I have had this once before, after drinking an energy drink that had royal jelly in it. While in Korea, on holidays with my parents. I couldn't stand up, and it took a couple of hours to get over it. It was really bad.
This time seems mild- my heart is not racing as fast as a horse in the Melbourne cup anymore, so it looks like I'll get through it ;)
And i wont be touching the $15-a-jar manuka honey again - all the more for J, I guess.

Where in the world?

* possibly the coldest day yet this winter, and we walked 30 mins from house, through a shopping arcade to go to an indoor kids play area (L has never been let loose in such a place so he wanted to look at everything but we were rushed so that they could go to a paying play area-- he was happy outside where it was free, haha)
* oh and DH (D= dumbass) said not to worry bout taking the stroller so I got to carry 14kg boy on my shoulders most of the way there AND back! (D(umbass)H put him down after, oh, 2 seconds?!!) So glad I wore a dress and boots;(
* the kids learned about road safety - after they were dragged across the road two times on a red light :(
* DH was given an extra blanket (ie, total of 2 blankets and a futon) bcoz he looked cold, meanwhile me and two kids had one blanket between us, and two futons apparently made of lead- couldn't move under the f*ckers!)
* two over tired kids that didn't get to sleep til after 10pm;(
* one sleepless mummy
*snacks, snacks and snacks galore - followed by comments anout the kids not eating meals properly.
* snacks offered NOT LESS than 2 mins after brushed kids teeth
*DH chose a restaurant for dinner - only to be given a sermon the morning after about choosing a place on B1 level, where we were sat at the back of the restaurant -- we should have chosen a place that has better emergency escape routes!!
* I was graciously offered an old cardigan circa 1994 - the sleeves were droopy enough to look like bloody furi-sode on a kimono!!) And D(umbass)H told me it looked nice!!!!! Wtf! For once I refused and was listened to so I didn't have to bring it home to sit with the other hand-me-downs and XLs I get bought (when will realization that I am actually a size smaller than MIL hit home??)

Where in the world? At PILs for the weekend, of course!!
(Why does it all sound petty when I write it?? haha.)

What we are all about at the moment

A quick catch-up in no particular order:

Am loving L and his quirky way of repeating everything we say at the moment. since being in Aus over Xmas his language skills have really taken off! He now "counts" to ten (before jumping off the sofa), says "ohayo" in the morning when he wakes up, asks "why" (this is a new one' he likes to say why why why),

Am, on the other hand, wanting to wean him. We no longer nurse during the day most days ( although if home, we might have a pre-nap session) and he doesn't nurse TO SLEEP at night, but when he wakes up during the night, I nurse him back to sleep. SO OVER IT. I wonder if his last teeth are coming through though, as he has been a bit grumpy/ clingy again lately? Hmmm.

K starts Pre-school in April, going into nenchu. Just realised I have shitloads of stuff to get ready. And it will be bento everyday, so have started doing trial runs- to see how she will eat a cold packed lunch, and just what size bento box she needs.

I want to do a 101 things update took although it seems that all I manage to cross off is a pedicure or three!

I am wondering how long I can continue eating a choc muffin a day before I need a whole new wardrobe (pants are getting a bit きつ~い)

And that is all I have to blog about right now....

Just noticed...

Day three of a head cold - runny nose, snffles, sneezes, headache and, I admit, an all-round grumpy mummy.

J just rings at lunch time today and asks me how I am feeling!!??

Apparently he just noticed this morning that I might have a cold.
*Apparently* he thought that my grumpiness last night, was just normal me!!

Don't know whether to laugh, feel embarrassed or just pull out the fry-pan...hmmmm,
Watch your head, J!!

Frogs and trees...

I felt like something sweet after dinner.

j remembered the "Country ma'am" biscuit stash in his bag from when we went camping months ago and kindly offered them up for us to eat, as long as I hadn't already gotten in to them. Lucky for me I am good at keeping my hands off what I perceive to be other people's chocolates/sweets so I hadnt touched them:)

He brought them downstairs and we dished out one each. K, L and I ate ours in a flash. J's was still sitting on the table, the rest of us eying it off....when he finally went to eat it, the three of us were just like pavlov's mutt. J just laughed and said "蛙の子は蛙ね"

I nodded, yep, "the leaves never fall far from the tree" ??

I rephrased....." the acorn never falls far from the tree" ?????

So I googled "The APPLE never falls far from the tree"

Hahaha, at least I knew it was something to do with trees;-)

Insomnia?

Fell asleep with kids tonight(and last night) at 8:30pm.
Woke up when J came to bed at midnight.
Am still awake at 1:49am.

Same thing happened last night.

Why is sleep so messed up for us all?

So it's been a month since my last post about L's sleep lack-of-schedule.
I think we have pretty much transitioned to one nap a day, but still it varies each day....
Lately a nap after lunch ha been working but we still get a couple of days a week where he'll pass out sometime in the morning. Being out in the car tends to put him down. Example from this week:

Sat - asleep at 12:30 in the car seat, slept until i woke him at 2pm
Sun - lovely 1-3pm afternoon nap that I might have indulged in too:-)
Mon -asleep at 11:15 am, in car seat, eta 5mins from home! Slept until 1pm, in car seat which I brought into the genkan with him asleep in it!
Tues- out to it from 12:20pm after morning playdate. Asleep in stroller until
Wed- asleep at 9:30am, while in ergo doing shopping. Awake at 10 after unsuccessful attempt to move from back to car seat:(. Afternoon nap 2pm-3pm
Thurs- asleep 1-3pm, in stroller

Kinda random, right??I know the movement of vehicles sets him to sleep but still!!! At least Mon was the only day he fell asleep before I could get him lunch.

Wonder what tomorrow will bring? Am guessing that I will be needing an afternoon nap the way this is going-- wonder if I can get K on board??(altho napping her means super late bedtime at night ***so*** not worth it! Better off catnapping on lounge while she cuts/draws/watches tv ;-)

'ni-night zzzzzzz

What time today?

L seems to be playing a little game. It is called - screw the schedule!

the last few weeks he has been dropping his morning nap and going down just once a day. Then we went on a road trip holiday and for 5 days he took a morning nap at 10:40am until noon ( or when we work him up for lunch) then an afternoon nap around 3:30ish. Then we came home, and he still wanted to sleep in the morning, but not so keen on going down in the afternoon. He even had a three hour nap sleeping right through lunchtime the other day!
THEN yesterday, he woke up at 6ish, and fell asleep in the car at 9am, sleeping until 10:45 ( which was kinda handy as we were driving across town, and the roads were a bit heavy). Then we had a huge day out with friends and he was playing all day, and crashed in the car in the way home at 6pm, and slept through the night from then....until stirring early this morning, eventually up at 5:30am.

now I thought he would sleep by 9am again this morning, and even threw him in the stroller as opposed to the winne the pooh trike for a walk with R, but wouldn't you know it, he is STILL going strong right now, at 10am!

so do we try for a 10:45am type morning nap today? What to do? What to do?
I just wish he got the memo about the new nap times,and that whatever they are, he would STICK to them! Lol