Sunny Day, Sweeping the Clouds Away...

Gaku likes Sesame Street and when the weather is sunny, we almost always have to sing the Sesame Street song. The weather here today was absolutely gorgeous: 28C (82F) and sunny with a nice breeze. All the next week it's supposed to be up to about 24C (75F) and partly sunny/cloudy. I think Mom and Dad may have picked the perfect week to be here!

My parents arrived yesterday. Hana and I went to meet them at the airport. They're a bit tired and jetlagged today, but overall pretty good. Since Hana has been sick, Mom is waiting until tomorrow to hold her. (Although, she has been touching her a bit and talking to her/making her smile.)

Today a couple of my friends came over for lunch and we had a really nice afternoon. After lunch, Mom and Dad disappeared to take naps, and my friends and I talked about baby stuff (since they're both expecting their first and I have Hana).

Tomorrow, we're planning to go to Asukayama Park. It's a huge park and not far from our place. Gaku loves to go there. There's lots of play equipment, but Gaku's favorite part is easily the fountain. Tomorrow, he's going to be naked in the fountain for sure!! Lots of kids "swim" in it in the summer. But Gaku was the only kid naked in the fountain on New Year's Eve. I'm not joking. My husband and mother-in-law took him to the park, he saw the water and wanted to get in. So, he stripped off his clothes and went in the fountain. I wasn't with them since Hana was still just a few weeks old. I just shook my head and laughed when I heard.

Here's Gaku earlier this month. Tak took this with his mobile so the quality is not so good. I censored this one... Tak didn't even ask him to pose. He's such a ham for the camera. He often asks me to take his picture and then will start making funny faces and/or poses.

For good pictures of Asukayama Park:

http://www.tokyowithkids.com/entertainment/municipalparks/asukayamapark.html

Getting Better... Just in Time for Mom & Dad

Well, Gaku's finally getting better. He was home today, but feeling much better. He was bored from being home and basically in the house for a whole week. The only places he's gone in the past week are the doctor's office, the hospital, and the grocery store once. In order to demonstrate his boredom and displeasure with being confined to the house for yet another day, he emptied most of his toy boxes. The room was a complete disaster area, not even possible to sit anywhere in the room. He was also eating/asking for food all day. In the last week, he lost almost a whole kilogram (a little over 2 pounds). Luckily, he can go to daycare tomorrow or I might have to string him up by his toes. He was feeling so much better today that he fought off and refused to take a nap. The result is he crashed by about 8:30 while Tak was reading stories to him. I think Tak was actually reading in his sleep...

Now, Hana has the same thing Gaku had. But she's not nearly so bad as he was. She only had a fever one day and her symptoms are much milder. The doctor said she will be safe (not contagious) by Sunday. Yay!

My parents arrive tomorrow (Friday). So I was a bit worried about the kids being sick, since my mom can't be exposed to any kind of illness or it could be trouble for her. (For those of you who are reading this and don't know, my mom has a type of cancer called myeloma. It's in early stages, so isn't curtailing her lifestyle too much right now. The doctors are hoping for a cure by the time it gets serious in a few years time. But the big thing is that her body cannot create antibodies to fight stuff off.) So, I was very glad to have the doctor tell me that Gaku is safe now and Hana will be by Sunday. My parents are staying for almost 2 weeks. It should be lots of fun!!

Sick Kid and Firsts

Gaku has not been having a fun few days! I was called on Thursday to pick him up at daycare. He had a fever of 38.8 (101.8), and was pretty lethargic. I took him to the doctor and he got some medicine. Friday, he spent a lot of the day watching tv, didn't eat much, but didn't seem too bad. Saturday, he was a bit more tired and down. But the medicine he got that is supposed to help his cold is a bit bitter tasting, and he didn't want to take it. I tried to make him drink it by using the syringe-type doser. I got it in his mouth, but he wouldn't swallow and instead we ended up wearing most of it. Saturday night his fever went up to 39.5 (103.1) so we gave him some fever medicine. He hadn't eaten much for a few days and hadn't pooped either. Saturday evening and night he was complaining his stomach hurt. Sunday morning at about 6:30, he was pretty hot feeling, breathing kind of funny and complaining his stomach hurt, so we took him to emergency. The biggest problem was the poor kid was constipated, so he got an enema prescribed. On the way home, he saw a McDonald's and said he wanted "potatoes" (meaning french fries). I didn't think it was the best idea, but if he really wanted it, well okay. So we had McDonald's breakfast. He didn't eat tons, but more than he'd eaten at one time for a couple of days. We got home and gave him the enema (far easier than getting him to swallow his cold medicine!). About 10 minutes later he seemed a lot better. But the McDonald's would come back to haunt us. About an hour and a half after his enema, he threw up all over the place! I wasn't home for that; Tak got to clean that up. Poor Gaku. I think it's the first time he's ever really thrown up. He wasn't feeling so well after that. He seemed a bit better this evening, though - ate a bit. But then was saying his stomach hurt again. But he didn't throw up again, so that's a good thing. He's definitely home again tomorrow, and probably Tuesday as well. The fun of sick kids!!

This evening, I took Hana down to the bath. I love giving her a bath. She is so good. She NEVER cries in the bath AT ALL. She is always smiling and happy in the bath. She starts smiling and making excited movements when being undressed for the bath. After the bath, we came upstairs. I laid her on the futon and went in the kitchen to get some tea. When I came back, she had rolled over on to her stomach! Her first time rolling over and no one even saw it. So then I took some video, but she didn't oblige with a repeat. As soon as I turned off the camera, she did it again for me. The cool thing is she went from back to stomach, and then stomach to back, so she can do both. But I think she can only turn in one direction so far, which means if she'd tried to roll over one more time, she would have been stuck in a really funny position up against the one shelf. A few days ago I started feeding her some rice porridge - almost the consistency of a thick soup. She really likes it!! She'll suck the spoon and move her head towards the spoon for more. I was a bit concerned about how she would take to food, since she has so adamantly refused to touch formula on the few occasions it's been given to her. (It's not a bottle issue because she'll drink expressed breast milk from a bottle. It's the taste; she makes a face like she's being poisoned - about like Gaku with his medicine.) It's fun to start feeding her a bit. I think (hope) she's going to be a good eater.

Kids are so much fun. All of their ups and downs are such experiences.

Business as Usual

A few weeks in Izumo sure did get me out of the habit of updating my blog. I haven't opened it since we got back and that was a few weeks ago now.

Here's a picture of my workspace. The window faces west so there's some really nice sunshine in the afternoon. The baby bed used to be here. I used the baby bed with Gaku. Before Hana was born I cleaned it all up again and got it ready for her, but didn't use it once. It just became a storage area. I figured I could make better use of the space as a work space.

Hana and I spend most of our day in this room. While I'm working, she's either sleeping or playing by herself. She'll play pretty contentedly on her own if I just smile at her every so often, and take a few longer breaks to play with her a bit more. She is the best, easiest baby!

I do notice though, that I don't have a problem letting her cry just a bit if I'm in the middle of something. With Gaku, I would stop and drop whatever I was doing instantly to calm him. With Hana, I figure about 5 minutes or so of crying while I finish (outlining the fonts / proofing the unit I'm working on / hanging up laundry) isn't going to hurt her.

Next week, Mom and Dad are going to come and stay for almost 2 weeks. The last time they came when Gaku was a baby we went all over Tokyo. They told me they don't want to go out and see stuff this time. They'd rather have more quiet, relaxing time playing with their grandkids. I figure Gaku will still go to daycare most of the time. He gets bored if he has too many days at home. But a few days we can go to a park or a jidokan (baby/kids play center). I'll keep working most days. It should be lots of fun!