Mama....move. I can't see the T.V.

Not this weekend bean...please.

After all my wishing for the bean's arrival last week, by Friday night I was singing another tune. Nina got Aimee's stomach bug. This meant that she started throwing up about 10pm. She was very obliging and managed to make it to the bucket but there's a lot of sitting around waiting to see if it's over. Then I was worried about her getting sick in her sleep so stuck her in my bed (Masa got the floor, electrically heated hot carpet and a free pass to Xbox his heart out). Didn't sleep well because the bean wasn't cooperating and I kept waking up every time Nina grunted (which she does A LOT in her sleep).

Saturday and Sunday, stayed home and stayed quiet but not a thing wrong with her. Until last night. 10pm and off she goes again. I'm not complaining, rather be cleaning then vomiting but it was Friday night all over again. Masa took Nina's bunk bed this time, to keep an eye on Aimee (on the bottom) who has a cough.

Had a wee word with the bean to stay put because if she decided to arrive last night I'd have been taking a taxi by myself to the hospital. Nina and Aimee both got their moves on in the middle of the night. 3am for Nina and 4am for Aimee. Nina didn't make an entrance until 2pm but we barely made it to the hospital with Aimee. Can't be bringing sick children to a maternity hospital so I just hope the pair start to get better soon.

Not feeling too great from lack of sleep and I can't blame Nina completely either. It was 100yen rental at the DVD shop (100 yen, about a euro now) so I ran in on Saturday with the pair and grabbed a ton of dvds. Masa picked Skyline to watch last night and I've always been a bit squeamish but pregnancy has made me worse and brain sucking aliens haunted me well into the early morning. Got The Hangover too, will make him watch that tonight. Also got Thor, Little red Riding Hood (not the children's version) and Ratatouille, Little Mermaid and Up for the pair. Think my brain is probably only able for Ratatouille to be honest.

Nina is off school today and I've got the usual ton of washing, shopping and clearing up after the weekend to do.

The bean, well the bean is obviously not going to listen to any of my pleas etc.. so I guess she'll come when she's ready.

I gotta say, I'm starting to look forward to five days in hospital (maternity stays in Japan) and my hospital is more like a hotel if you just ignore the wailing of tiny babies and doughnut cushions left out for all the new Mums.

Will send lots of pictures when I'm there.

Just to remind myself. Aimee one day old.

 

Aimee at nearly two months (I think).

Aimee at six month. Can't believe we're going down this road again.

Just after a 1st birthday.

 

Will have to go and scan some pictures of Nina at the same age. Had a big old film camera at the time and have no shortage of shots, just none on the computer.

 

A first in our house..........

A rather historic moment this evening, Nina lost her first tooth. It had been wobbling away for ages but Nina has her father's patience and decided to let it fall out on it's own accord. I never managed that as a child.

So out it popped with no pain and a very thrilled eldest daughter. She can't keep away from the mirror.

Having a dentist in the family means we have a huge supply of tooeth ornaments etc. and thankfully a lovely little box to put the tooth in.

The Japanese have never heard fo the tooth fairy but thanks to Peppa Pig, Nina is fully aware of the financial benefits.

Now Mum just has to have a discussion with the tooth fairy about how much a baby tooth is worth these days. It was 50p in my day but then there was the euro, now I'm dealing in yen and to be honest 50p wouldn't get you far these days.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it turns out.

Aimee in motion...

Aimee has never been one to sit still for any length of time. Unless Binkie is in need of a cuddle.

Even when she looks like she is sitting quietly she isn't, just the camera isn't fast enough for her.

"How about a nice picture with your Mama, Aimee?"

I was wrong, Binkie and books make Aimee sit still. She LOVES her books, has no intention of learning to read but will always have a few books in her bag for someone else to read to her.

She also loves puzzles, of any kind.

And if she sat still I wouldn't have to shovel food in her mouth while she does laps of the room.

She's also pretty funny, in a Japanese sense. I blame that particular trait on her partner in crime, her Dad. They have the same sense of humour and I don't get it.

As for buttons........don't get me started on buttons. She always has to do them herself.....slowly.

Lovely pics by Nami chan of course, taken before I became a shuffling lump on legs.

Sayonara holidays

Nina wasn't a happy camper this morning.

Her holidays were over.

She tried to figure out the next bunch of holidays but May is a long time away and her 5 year old head wasn't able to to handle the concept of almost 4 months with no major breaks.

This resulted in a lot of crying and rolling around on the floor while I tried to get her and Aimee ready for school.

Aimee was the complete opposite.

By the time we got in the car Aimee was all...

"I love Chiemi Sensei (her teacher) because she is so cute.

I love Takuma (her classmate, male) because he is so funny. (I'd be more inclined to describe him as delinquent but then he's only 4).

I love Mona (her friend and classmate) because she sent me a card.

I love the school 'cos they have a swing.

I love the tables because they are so small......"

The list was endless and she took up most of the 15 minute ride to school with it.

Nina sat in silence.

Which I much preferred to her morning performance.

Personally I was glad to drive them back to school.

We had a ball this holiday and Masa was brilliant but holidays are hard work for Mums.

Even harder work for Mum's with beans, bad backs and anemia.

I'm also officially on maternity leave, which is no great wahoo here in Japan but it is preferable to working, in an office.

Now all I have to do is pack my hospital bag and wait for the bean to arrive.

I'll be in hospital for a week. That's the way they do it here. 'Tis great.

Before that I have to put stickers on the girls clothes drawers (socks, tights, t-shirts, Aimee, Nina's stuff etc..) so their father doesn't send them to school in pyjamas or clothes that don't fit them.

He once came to pick me up at the airport (I was coming back from an Irish Wives "Convention") and he was all dressed in a sharp suit ready to drop the pair with me and head off to Nagoya with work. Aimee was wearing Nina's pyjamas and Nina was wearing a real mix of clothes but she'd also peed her pants in the car and they were both covered in chocolate from head to toe.....Masa's idea to keep them quiet. I realised then that things I thought were obvious (checking the sizes on clothes, taking small girls to the toilet before long drives and NOT feeding them chocolate for peace ) were not so obvious to my husband. He's come a long way since then, but he's a long way to go yet. He asked for the stickers on the drawers.

I also have to prepare some stuff for Ba-chan (Japanese Grandma) so that she has spare clothes and toys for the few hours she'll have to mind them after preschool.

I'll also have to dig out the baby cot, baby car seat, baby bath etc..

My two older children girls made early entrances too, so I might not have as long as I like.

Still things are getting very exciting.

Will keep you posted.

 

 

 

Dodgy fingernails

Sounds like a band name.

Anyway I was at the docs today with the pair and a dodgy fingernail. The pair were there because they're still on holiday. I was there because my husband convinced me I had some sort of fungal infection on my right hand's index finger nail. I was also at another hospital yesterday being told for the 5th time that this baby is bigger then the last two. My doc is great but obviously has the memory capacity of a goldfish ("Congratulations, this time it's a girl, you've got two boys already don't you??"). So every two weeks I pop in for a check up and every time he says....."hmm this one's a big baby". Which makes me panic. I actually told him I was getting worried the way he kept saying it yesterday and he said that there was no problems, just the bean was big but I had "big hips, so no worries". Thanks for that doc.

Anyway today I was at the local dermatologist. You can go to a city hospital in Japan and find all the different departments together but most doctors specialise in one area and open their own clinic. It means a lot of running a round but you're always sure the doc will have some idea what's going on and not need to refer you. My skin doc is great. He never raises an raises an eyebrow or gives me own of those "think you've too much free time on your hands looks" and believe me, I'm sure he gets a lot of time wasters. Japan has a great health care system. Medical care for children is free until they are twelve years of age and the rest of us only pay 30% of the cost (we do however pay monthly health care, compulsory). The result is that parents rush to the docs at the sight of a runny nose. It also means the elderly like to hang out at their favourite clinics and the rest of us go for small complaints because it's actually cheaper to go to the docs then just pop into the chemists.

My doc, well he just listens, writes everything down on his computer and then does a few tests. He then calmly told me that I didn't have a fungal infection. He also reminded me that I'd been there just over two years ago with the same complaint and it hadn't been a fungal infection at that time either (thanks again Masa). He didn't brush me off though, gave me some cream for the nail, told me not to bandage it and use gloves when washing etc.. He does all of this using pictures from his books and diagrams. A lot of doctors get complacent here with the medical system so you get a lot of third generation (granddad built the place and just passed it down) doctors with no interest in you or your business. Same anywhere really so when you find a doc who's nice expect to wait. I waited 90 minutes to see this guy. You can't really make appointments here. You just go in and wait.

So I don't have mushrooms growing on my finger (trying to explain stuff to Nina is hard work) and I felt a bit silly but at least no more looking at the bloody nail and worrying. I'm going to kill Masa too. He's the hypochondriac in the house not me but even hypochondria can be infectious. I also have a cold which is adding to my misery, think I just needed to attempt to sort out one of the problems. Nothing I can do about a big baby and no doctor in Japan will give a pregnant woman cold medicine so it had to be the nail.

After the adventure at the clinic I took the pair to Laguna (Marine resort) down the road for lunch and finally forced Aimee into a pair of Ugg type boots. These ones are Vans and very nice and cheap too. This is my fourth trip to buy these boots and every time Aimee freaked out and refused to try anything on. Nina already has a pair and lives in them for Winter as it's very dry and cold here so perfect conditions for the boots. Aimee told me she wanted them but as soon as we got into the shops she froze up and refused to co-operate. The only way I got them on her today was because I did it. Apparently Aimee hates Sales assistants and the sight on one will send her fleeing. Going to have to really rack my and Masa's brains to find the cause behind that one. Very odd indeed.  

We then had lunch and did this for an hour. Well they went nuts for an hour in the play area while I squeezed into a bench to watch them.

I'm a very patient mother these days as we also spent an hour doing pretty much the same thing yesterday at our local supermarket. They don't need me to join in they just need someone to show off too.

Today was funny though because Nina was in full "big sister" mode and told off two small boys for fighting (ripping chunks out of each other to be precise, brothers of course) and had all the girls of a similar age doing things her way for pretty much the whole time. Anytime someone looked like they were about to complain about Nina's rules they'd get told off by Nina and if they looked to Nina's mother for support all they saw was a big foreigner squeezed into a small chair looking harassed......they never feel like tackling that either. She's great though really, very responsible, makes me feel guilty as I never intended her to carry such burdens and Aimee doesn't have the same inclinations at all.

The only problem with Aimee is that I always feel like she's just tagging along. She copies her sister in most things but it sometimes feels half-hearted and I wish she's break out and do her own thing. Don't get me wrong, she WILL NOT do anything she doesn't want to and even Nina can't force her when the interest isn't there but I'd like to encourage her to find her own interests separate to Nina. Think I might have to go out and rent some Ultraman or Pokemon dvds for Aimee. See if that's what she's into.

Nina is on a ballet binge at the moment. Santa brought her some "Angelina Ballerina" dvds. I get "Mama, look at my grand jete (whatever that is)." fifty times a day. Her Granny Brewer would be much better at this. Will try and record some of her moves for you someday. It can be very interesting.

oh la la.............

The bold pair got berets from Simon and Camille in France.

They even start to sound French when they put them on.

They can now say "Bonjour", "Merci" and "Simon, le petit camion".

I think they are even starting to look French.

Apart from the poses that is.

I'm in love with these hats and if I could stretch them, I would wear them.

I'm also going to get ambushed at the preschool if these hats make an appearance.

I want to be ambushed.

I can't wait to say they really did come from France.