Joey trying to hurry me along this morning. He is getting really tall and growing out of clothes left right and centre!
3/27/2007
3/21/2007
Joey and his cow bag!
This bag was sent to me by a wonderful friend and Joey was very taken with the "moo moo cow bag" when I got it out this morning to take to the zoo!
African Safari with a difference!
Spot the volcano in the distance! We went to Hirakawa Zoo today. When I say "we" I mean Joey, my MIL and I.. my husband was "busy".
3/20/2007
Time to re-connect with real life...
I got an e-mail today that made me realise that I have been horrribly negligent as far as maintaining contact with my friends from home/ university and although I can plead the "I have been busy" or "I have very little to say" thing, the reality is that I have become increasingly lazy with e-mailing people over the past year or so. As a result I have decided to implement a new rule. I am not going to check blogs/ write my own blog in the mornings until I have replied to all the e-mails in my inbox that day. There aren`t many so the least I can do is reply to the people who take time out of their days to write to me. When I originally started this blog, I was planning on passing the link to family and IRL friends at home but in the end, I never got around to it and have been indulging in blog therapy that I don`t necessarily want people back home to read. I am not giving up blogging but I will probably be writing less as I strive to re-gain contact with people who have probably written me off and taken me off their christmas card list as I have been so rubbish at keeping in touch. This also includes my friends in Japan as I have become very lazy with personal contact as I sometimes feel that people can keep track of me through my blog so it isn`t necessaty. That isn`t real friendship though and I am sorry for being crap! Maybe in the future I will be able to do it all but with big changes on the horizon in our household, it is time for me to take a step back from blogging and concentrate on some other stuff.
3/19/2007
Joey moves in for the kill!!!
My son the ladies` man!! From the look on her face though, his skills are somewhat lacking! LOL!
Sara and Joey and their Daddies!
Our friends came to stay this weekend so Joey had a fabulous time playing with his "future wife." (There is four days between them)
3/14/2007
More baby stuff..
I wrote this post at the beginning of February but refrained from posting it as I didn`t want to stress out my friend who was about to give birth. Lots of random ramblings!!
Yesterday I went to visit my neighbour in the hospital. It was a different hospital to the one I had been to see her in when she was hospitalised early in her pregnancy because the hospital that she had planned to give birth at was full so she had to go somewhere else. Her doctor went with her apparently though. The hospital is one of those big Japanese general hospitals, the ones that strike fear into the heart of most foreigners because they have a bad reputation for being dirty and to have archaic practices. This place smelt clean enough but what really struck me is how different my own birth experience would have been if I had decided to give birth somewhere like that. When I was pregnant I didn`t give the whole thing very much thought. I had been to a gynocologist in Aira before and decided that that was where I wanted to give birth. Alot of people thought I was crazy because there was a gyno within walking distance of our old apartment but as I have an in-built hatred of hospitals having been in and out of them as a child for various reasons, I like the place in Aira because it didn`t feel like a hospital, it felt safe and clean.
I didn`t think too much about what kind of birth I wanted as I just wanted the baby to get here safely and I trusted my doctor to do that. I never thought about whether I wanted to room-in with my baby or not because at Takeuchi (where I gave birth) rooming-in is a given. Later on in my pregnancy I decided that I wanted to breast-feed if possible and they respected my desire for the baby not to be given anything other than breast-milk. Maybe subconsciously I wanted to give birth there because their approach matched the one that I didn`t even know I had yet. Yesterday I thanked my lucky stars that I found Takeuchi (Thanks Jenn!) because the hospital my neighbour gave birth in went strongly against all the things I came to believe in while pregnant/ in the early weeks of being a Mum. They feed the babies to a schedule and I happened to be there at feeding time. The baby was fast asleep and wasn`t interested in boob so after trying for a couple of minutes to wake her/ make her nurse, they stuck a bottle in her mouth and she sucked that down in her sleep. I wanted to cry because it was so obvious that the reason she wasn`t interested in boob was because she had already found an easier way to feed. I wanted to tell my neighbour that it was ok to tell them that she didn`t want the baby to have any bottles yet but at the same time I didn`t want to stress her out as she clearly hadn`t wanted to give birth at that hospital and not being allowed to room-in with her baby was stressing her out enough. Oh, I forgot to mention that, not only is she not allowed to room-in with the baby, she isn`t even allowed to take the baby to her room during the day. I was like WTF?!?! What kind of barbaric practise is that?? How are they going to bond? How is my poor neighbour going to get any rest when she spends all day sitting on a bench in the baby room because she doesn`t want to be away from her baby. (A feeling that I completely understand because I didn`t want Joey to be away from my for more than a few minutes at a time in that first week) I was telling my Mum all this on the phone last night and even she was shocked because that kind of thing is so outdated. I now understand why people are so opposed to giving birth at those big hospitals and why they will do anything to avoid it. I had a perfect birth experience so I always thought that in the big scheme of things, where you give birth doesn`t matter so much as long as the baby gets here but yesterday I realise how wrong I was and was very grateful that my husband didn`t try and make me give birth somewhere closer to our old apartment.
Updated to add: My friend went to stay at a midwife clinic after her initial hospital stay and they helped her establish breast-feeding successfully. She says it was a very good job that she opted to stay at the clinic as they criticised everything the hospital had done and were quite shocked by their practise of shoving a bottle in the sleeping baby`s mouth. My friend said she hadn`t known any better so if she hadn`t have stayed at the midwife clinic, she would have continued with how the hospital had done things. I said that I probably would have been up there every day trying to help her if that had been the case! LOL! I was happy to know that even professionals agreed with me about their practises being bad as far as establishing BF-ing is concerned!
My brain has turned to mush....
I have a very important decision to make and make official in the next couple of weeks and as my personal deadline grows closer, I am finding it harder and harder to make said decision. In fact, in the past few weeks, I am finding it ridiculously hard to be decisive from one minute to the next. A classic example is dinner. Every morning I usually decide what we are going to have for dinner that day and pick up any ingredients I need in the course of the day. Over the past couple of weeks I somehow manage to change my end an average of THREE times as to what we are having for dinner. Some people recommend menu planning to solve this problem but I usually have a vague menu plan in my head at the beginning of every week and end up changing things around/ changing the dish completely at various points depending on what I feel like eating. The past fortnight has been ridiculous though. Yesterday was a good example, my MIL came yesterday so in the morning I was planning to have yakisoba for dinner, very simple. At lunchtime I changed my mind to doing a chinese style dinner and we had mabo dofu, asparagus and bacon and some beef thing that I picked up at the supermarket. I also made egg drop soup. It was alot more work than yakisoba but everything turned out well in the end. Yesterday was a good day as I only changed my mind once!!!
We had a lazy weekend and I ended up having a super long nap on saturday afternoon (instead of going to the gym like I had originally planned, bad Midori..) I haven`t been sleeping very well latey, largely because Joey has been really restless so disturbs my sleep constantly. I am not really sure what to do about our current sleep issues but if things don`t work themselves out, I think direct action will be in order! I also have a really bad crick in my neck this morning from sleeping badly thanks to Joey`s new propensity to sleep rammed under my armpit/ on my arm!!
I had a bit of a fit yesterday because my MIL gave Joey candy without asking me if it was ok. I tend to find that rather than the actual act of giving him something forbidden without checking with me first, the thing that bugs me most is that I don`t think she would dream of giving my niece something to eat without asking my SIL`s permission first. I hate that she doesn`t have the same boundaries with me that she has with my SIL and thinks she can do whatever she wants to with my son but wouldn`t behave the same way with my niece. That said, I was pissed off that she gave him hard candy. Funny how you react to things when your MIL is involved though isn`t it? A couple of weeks ago a kind friend was looking after Joey while I had my hair done. Her son just turned 4 and while the boys were playing together, he asked for a lollipop. My friend was pretty sure that J had never had one and that I didn`t give him stuff like that but as a Mum of three, she also knew that if her son was having one, Joey would want one too. She gave him one and sat with him while he ate it and told me about it afterwards. When she told me afterwards I was like "fair enough, I bet he LOVED that." If my MIL had done the same thing and I had caught her, I would have gone ballistic!! I guess it is more a question of respect. I knew my friend gave Joey the lollipop while considering my feelings as a mother, I know my MIL gives Joey candy without a second thought for what I might think. It was the same thing when she gave him mikan before he was even eating solids. BUT like I said, I could probably handle the lack of boundaries/respect if she behaved the same with my SIL but as she seems to "ki wo tsukau" (worry about what my SIL thinks) where she is concerned, it leaves me feeling like I don`t have as much respect as SIL does. When I talk to D about how I feel, his comment is that SIL is Japanese and her family are nearby and it wouldn`t be good for my SIL to go complaining to her parents about my MIL so MIL is on her best behaviour where SIL is concerned however, with me, my parents are far away so it doesn`t matter as much. IF this is really what my MIL is thinking, I would be even more pissed off about it all than I already am. As it is, I think it is just that I am more easygoing than SIL and so MIL feels more comfortable around me. I don`t want her to be but she is!!
Joey will be 2 in just over a month and he is growing and changing every day. I am starting to make plans for his birthday party so I might be seeking inspiration in the near future!!!
3/08/2007
You know you have been in Japan too long when....
You make lunch for your son to take to daycare and it looks like this:
I always swore I would never bother with making obentos "the japanese way" but then I saw these rice ball moulds in the 100 yen shop and I couldn`t resist! I made some the day before this as well but the animal faces looked like something out of "the omen" so I decided not to take pictures! LOL! This whole obento thing can be quite addictive.. but that could be a sign that there is something seriously lacking in my life! I am not very artistic so as you can see, my presentation is not so good but apparently Joey was really chuffed and that is the purpose of these things after all!!
I have had a really busy work week this week so Joey has been in daycare every day but he seems to be enjoying it alot. If we end up staying in Kagoshima, I think I will look for more work and seriously think about putting him in daycare full-time. He is a very sociable little boy and he doesn`t get enough interaction with other kids outside of daycare. (Although for an only child, he probably gets quite alot!) I think part of it would be a selfish thing as I am really not able to be with my little man all day every day without getting really cranky. I guess I am just not cut out to be a SAHM, I don`t have the temperament/patience and am quite envious of those of you who do. I do think that is the point of feminism though, that women get to choose which road they take, without being judged by those around them.
We have another quiet weekend ahead of us. D is going out drinking on Friday night so Joey and I are going to take things easy here and I am hoping the weather is nice so we can go for a picnic or something over the weekend. I am slowly starting to think about Joey`s birthday. It falls on a saturday this year so I am thinking of having a party on the actual day. I would like to have a proper kids party so am starting to think of a theme. I suspect it will be anpanman or Thomas the Tank Engine though as those are his current obsessions. He is totally into trains at the moment, which is cute! It has been interesting to see how much gender stuff is defined from a very early age. I have always bought Joey cuddly toys etc.. and have never specifically encouraged him to play with boys toys but he is totally into trains, cars and all that kind of stuff. Maybe I should get him a barbie for his birthday to re-address the balance!!!
3/05/2007
Daisuke feeding a calf
I like animals but they make me wheeze so I was the cameraman for our trip!! Daisuke was in charge of feeding the animals wherever we went!
Joey not sure what to do when faced with a real-life cow!
It was really cute because Joey had been talking about "moo moo cows" all the way there but once we got there, he didn`t really know what to do with himself!
3/03/2007
"moo moo cows"
3/02/2007
View from Sakurajima
I had to go to Tarumizu for class yesterday and I took the ferry from Sakurajima. The view as I was driving back was breathtaking and I just happened to have my camera with me. It was hard to capture the true beauty of the day but I like this picture. This is where a big eruption created a road between Sakurajima and the Osumi peninsula.
Peace at last...
This week has been really nice weather-wise and it has reminded me of the one of the reasons I originally extended my stay in Kagoshima. (Although it was only supposed to be one year, and that was five years ago!!) I have been on the go constantly all week and it has been very fulfilling and I feel like my life has alot of purpose right now but I am a little knackered today. I was a total cranky pants this morning because Joey woke up at 6.30am and I was soooo not ready to be awake yet. In the end, I decided to take the opportunity to get up and make a bento for Daisuke. I don`t often make everything from scratch first thing in the morning but we didn`t have any ready-made frozen food or leftovers in the fridge as we had saba mirin for dinner last night so I ended up rustling up some cha-han, tamago-yaki and some random vegetable stuff. I also had a tofu hamburger in the freezer so microwaved that and stuck it in. He is totally going to complain about the lack of meat but that is his own fault for eating the last of the beef I had kept for his bento last night! LOL! ;-) I was kind of proud of myself for getting everything done before he had to be out the door at 7am.
Joey has been really clingy this week. I think it is a phase but it is probably also because I have been very busy with work etc.. so he hasn`t had as much "mummy" time this week as he usually has. It is interesting to see his reactions as it is kind of an indicator of how he would react if we decided to have a second baby. Helping Jenn this week has made me realise that I am sooo not ready to take that step and I have alot of admiration for people who have kids in quick succession. I have no idea how they manage to keep all their balls in the air. I was really cranky this morning because Joey`s constant cries of "mummy, mummy" were driving me up the wall but then I felt kind of bad because he just wanted my attention!! We had a good morning once I snapped out of my crankiness though and then we took a long walk to my class, he played with my students, then we walked back and he was totally worn out so it only took 3/4 minutes for him to pass out once we walked back into our apartment. I am guessing he will sleep for a couple of hours which should give me some time to myself!!! I have alot of stuff to do but I am going to take it easy for a little while first!!!
I went to the gym for the first time in a week yesterday and was disappointed by a complete lack of change in my stats. I have been feeling better and my clothes seem to be less tight but I don`t seem to have lost any weight whatsoever which was a little disheartening but I guess it has only been a couple of months and I should give it a bit more time (and eat less chocolate!!) before I give up completely.
I had a cool idea for a blog post while I was driving around this week but I have totally forgotten what it was. I really need to buy myself a dictaphone for times like this!
We don`t have any plans this weekend but having read Gina`s post about her fun visit to the aquarium, I am thinking I might try and talk Daisuke into taking a trip up to Takachiho bokujo (farm) as we have never been up there and I think Joey would enjoy it. Of course, that depends on the weather over the weekend but I am hoping it will stay nice. Tuesday is our wedding anniversary so I think it might be kind of nice to celebrate early by doing something fun over the weekend.
2/25/2007
Snoozy sunday...
Yesterday was another busy day. I woke up early and set to work cleaning up my apartment. My place is often messy but rarely dirty because although I am prone to clutter, I do keep things clean. However, as I usually clean on tuesday or wednesday and this week my tuesday and wednesday were taken up with Jenn`s baby, our apartment hadn`t even seen a hoover in more than a week and my kitchen was looking really disgusting and there were sticky spots on the floor that were driving me batty!!! I set about cleaning the kitchen as that was what was bothering me most and hoovered the whole apartment (our place is small so that doesn`t take long!!!) Tidied up Joey`s toyroom (but was fighting a losing battle with that because every time I cleaned something up,he got something else out!!!) By 11am, the place looked more acceptable although I came back from class to find chaos had been restored! LOL!
I had a make-up class for tuesday and then I picked up some food for dinner as I was craving Chilli and knew D would be chuffed as I hadn`t made it in a while. I was planning on going to see Jenn with another Canadian friend of mine so I figured getting dinner ready before I went would make things easier for me!!! Sue and I headed to see Jenn at about 5pm and because we didn`t want to stay too long and wear her out (especially as Joey was with us, although he was a very good boy, even if it took some oreos to make him quiet!!) we left just before 6pm. On my way back I went to a couple of shops looking for french bread but everywhere had sold out. I was a bit disappointed because I LOVE crusty french stick with my Chilli. I will have to buy some this morning and have the leftovers for lunch! I was clearly worn out from the excitement of this week because I passed out on the carpet at about 9pm last night. Joey was playing with Daisuke and I eventually woke up again about 10.30 when I realised that he hadn`t gone to bed yet! I also noticed that he had a bit of a stinky nappy so I changed that and put him to bed but then I couldn`t go back to sleep so I watched TV for a little while and then felt sleepy.
This morning both Joey and I slept until around 9am and he is now playing while I type this. Need to make him breakfast! I have a busy day today as well as we have a JALT meeting, then a dinner afterwards and then I am going out for a couple of beers with my friends! I am looking forward to a fun night out but it obviously won`t be a late one as Monday is my busy day workwise so I don`t want to get over-tired!
2/23/2007
Baby whirlwind and something nice to say about my husband for once!!!
I have been so caught up with Jenn and her baby and work and other stuff that I haven`t had time to post. (apart from to put up pictures!!!) My husband is actually reminding me of the man I married in that he has been total accepting of the fact that Jenn and her son are the centre of my universe at the moment (except for Joey obviously!!) and hasn`t complained about the state of our apartment or the serious lack of a home-cooked meal all week! I am taking him out to dinner tonight to his favourite yakiniku restaurant to say thank you for being such a star. I went and had my hair done this morning (not because of going out for dinner but because it just really needed cutting!) and I didn`t tell him so I wonder if he will notice! If he does, it means that the aliens have put back my original husband and taken away the horrible wanker who has been staying with us for the past 6 months or so, I will let you know either way!!! LOL!
I have a busy weekend ahead but it should be fun for the most part! Will post more when it is over!! Hope you all have a great weekend!
2/22/2007
2/21/2007
It`s a BOY!!!!
Jenn gave birth this morning and I was blessed enough to be there for the delivery. I will write more another time but I just wanted to let everyone know that both mother and baby are happy and healthy. He is the spitting image of his mother but he has his father`s nose. Will post stats another time but for now I need a nap and a shower as it has been a long day!!!
2/19/2007
The waiting game...
I have mentioned a couple of times that I am very excited about my friend Jenn and her pregnancy. Well she was given two due dates and the first one has already passed and tomorrow is her original due date. I am SO excited about meeting this little man that I think I am driving the woman herself a bit batty with my constant calls/mails to check she is ok! I never got to experience the "why hasn`t my baby come yet?" feeling because I was totally expecting Joey to be a couple of weeks late and the little bugger turned up on the evening of his due date so i never got to make the scrapbooks I had planned to make in the two weeks I was expecting to be waiting. (In fact, those scrapbooks remain unfinished to this day! LOL!)
This morning I went up to visit my neighbour who had a baby girl a couple of weeks ago. I had forgotten how tiny and precious newborn babies are and in the end I had the drag myself away from my cuddles with her daughter!! She is going to get sick of me pestering her so Jenn needs to hurry up and have her baby so that I have two newborns to spoil!!
This weekend was a quiet one. D`s colleague and her family came over for dinner and I did all the preparation while J and D sprawled out on the hot carpet and spent the afternoon asleep. D did all the clean up though so I am not complaining too much as I got to go to bed and wake up to a sparkling kitchen! On sunday we had lunch at our favourite tonkatsu restaurant and then today it was back to work. Not a very exciting weekend!!
2/15/2007
Other sources of frustration...
This weekend I was struck by how little regard my MIL has for my opinion where child-rearing is concerned. Initially we only butted heads when Joey got sick but recently I have noticed that no matter what I say, she ignores me and does things her way anyway. One example is that Joey gets hot very easily. He takes after Daisuke and I in that he is a total "atsugari" and over-heats quickly, even when he is asleep. My MIL is the opposite and gets cold easily so she is always convinced that Joey is freezing. It started when he was a newborn and she would cover him with quilts, which he would kick off, start crying and wake up. (Leaving me to deal with the wailing over-heated baby..) He still does the same thing even now and she still doesn`t get the hint.
That mini-battle I can handle to a certain extent but on Sunday I got really pissed off because she was changing Joey and I told her that two layers was enough because we were only going to be in the car and I had a coat for outside and the sweater I had laid out for him was on the thick side. She totally ignored what i had just said and put three layers on him AND his coat.. just to be in the car. As we drove, I could see J getting hotter and hotter so at one point I stopped and took the coat off him. Then while we were waiting at the ferry port I noticed his cheeks were really red so I took his temperature and he had a fever of 39.5 degrees. I was really shocked at that and immediately took his sweater off, only to have my MIL say "but he will get cold..." I wanted to punch her because the reason he was so uncomfortable in the first place was the extra layer of clothing that she had put on him despite what I had said. Within half an hour of taking his sweater, I checked his temperature again and lo and behold, his fever had dropped to 38.5. Whenever she ignores what I say, I want to scream "he is MY son, I look after him every day, I KNOW whether he is hot or not, I am not stupid or irresponsible so please stop ignoring my wishes." My Mum`s solution to the problem is to train Joey to tell her when he is too hot but I suspect she will ignore him as well because she seems to think she knows best about everything.
I know she isn`t a bad MIL and probably means well but lately it has been really bugging me that she seems to disregard everything I say. I want to yell at her that someone who couldn`t even bring up her son to have manners and say thank you when someone takes time and makes an effort to lovingly make a heart-shaped bento on Valentine`s Day, really should not be allowed to have any say in how I raise MY son. (Who will be trained that such things are not acceptable!!!) Am I bitter? Probably. Am I justified or just a bit of a control-freak? Well.. I will let you guys make up your mind about that!!! LOL!
Very cute...
Today Joey and I were at the supermarket picking up some juice and milk (I swear half our food budget goes to drinks..) and as we were leaving he spotted some plates with Cinderella (from the Disney movie) on them. He stood there, pointed and said "Mummy, Mummy". He seems to think I look like the character and I know it is geeky but it totally made my day!!
2/14/2007
And the husband of the year award...
does NOT go to my husband. Response to the lovingly prepared bento. (When asked "how was your obento") " The tamagoyaki was too salty." Response to the chocolates I made. "They`re alright." (Although he scoffed down six of them so I figure they were probably good) Response to our son throwing up on the carpet. "I am sleepy, I want to go to bed." (The same response was also applied when I said I was going to the gym because it my night to do so) Next year he is going to get arsenic onigiri, not heart-shaped ones...Some days I just don`t know why I bother making an effort at all.
I forgot to add that I took Joey to the doctor again today and it seems that the "blood disease" he was talking about was something called Epstein-Barr virus. I freaked out when I first heard that but it turns out to not be such a terrible disease and is a member of the herpes family so while I am still worried that Joey might have it (there is still no definite diagnosis one way or another) it isn`t fatal or life-threatening so I am a teeny bit calmer. Hopefully it will be something else though!!!
Valentine`s Obento 2007
Wasn`t feeling very romantic but thought I would make a token effort. I stuck a couple of chocolates in with the onigiri after I took this picture!
Valentine`s obento close-up
I don`t usually post pictures of my cooking because I suck but I was kind of proud of this bento!
Bathing..
In Japan people usually bathe at night. I have always been a shower in the morning person and no matter how hard I try, I find it impossible to do things the Japanese way because by lunchtime the following day, I am feeling horrible and greasy and like I need to wash my hair. Yesterday I was thinking what a curious phenomenon this is. If you think about it, if I bathe every evening 24 hours passes between showers. When I shower in the morning, it is the same but when I wake up to shower in the morning, I don`t feel nearly as disgusting and desperate for a shower as I do if I shower at night and wait until the following night to shower again. Why is this? Am I just a total weirdo?? Either way, I have discovered another part of Japanese culture that I will never be able to get used to, joining the ranks of natto and squat toilets!!! What about everyone else? Are you a bathing at night or in the morning kind of person??
2/13/2007
Random stuff...
As predicted Joey`s routine went to pot during our visit to see my in-laws but I am hoping he will be back on track after my MIL leaves tomorrow. He is still sick though and had a high fever yesterday and has a low one now so I am not going to worry too much about his schedule and will instead worry about what is causing the fever!! Fingers crossed it is nothing serious but at the doctor`s this morning he said he was concerned about a rash that Joey has on his chest and back that is made up of lots of little burst blood vessels from the sounds of things. When I asked him about possible causes he was like "well, there are many possibilities, some less serious than others, one possibility is a blood disorder but just keep an eye on him and then if the spots increase, let me know and we will refer him to get some tests done." I was totally freaking out because the words "blood disorder" are enough to stress any mother out I think!!! So far he hasn`t developed any further spots and is pretty genki despite a croaky voice (too much talking I think), cough and runny nose so hopefully it will be one of the less serious causes that is the culprit.
On sunday I took Joey to stay with my in-laws because Daisuke had another wedding to go to and my FIL just happened to be home for the weekend. As soon as we arrived I totally felt like a third wheel as they blatantly weren`t interested in my existence and were all over Joey so I decided to leave them to it. While I was out and about I e-mailed a friend of mine whose daughter is a few days younger than Joey and asked her if she fancied going out for beer that evening as the idea of sitting and twiddling my thumbs at the PIL`s place sooo did not appeal and I also figured it would be a great chance to get out!!! She happened to be free so she left her daughter with her hubby, I left Joey with my PILs and we hit the town!!! (Well, Kanoya doesn`t have much but it does have alot of bars!!) We went to a place that had all-you can drink for 2000yen for 2 hours and ended up getting a little bit wasted but more than that, we talked and talked for hours! The time flew by as we had alot of catching up to do but it was also clear that we both had alot of stress built up for one reason or another. It was good to touch base with someone who has a child the same age as me as I was beginning to think that the frustrations I have been feeling lately were just me! I finally got home at about 1.30 in the morning and I am not sure if my in-laws were bothered by that but I am not sure I care either way as I had such a great night!!! ;-)
The weather was really beautiful yesterday so despite my hungover/sleep-deprived state, I took Joey to the park. I will post some pictures later once I have uploaded them!! Today was back to work as usual and I am knackered because J was grizzling last night because he obviously wasn`t feeling his best. I am hoping the meds the doctor gave him this morning will help him sleep better!!
2/09/2007
New routine...
I wasn`t consciously trying to get Joey into more of a routine but over the past couple of months I have realised that whatever it was we were doing wasn`t working because I was permanently exhuasted and had zero time for myself and while Joey seemed happy enough, I figured it was time to do something about it all. However, being rubbish at taking affirmative action, I didn`t actually get around to putting my thoughts into action. This week has been really good. We have been getting up at the same time (I think this was a big root of the problem, I would lie in in the mornings until Joey woke me up and that meant we were waking up at different and random times every day) and eating breakfast and lunch at the same time and J has been having a nap at pretty much the same time every day (compared to at random times when he got sleepy) Every night this week he has been in bed between 8-9pm and it has been blissful!!! I know that everything will probably go to pot over the weekend as we are going to stay with my MIL on sunday night but I am hoping that we can try and maintain this routine as it seems to have made life so much easier and I feel like I have created an extra couple of hours in the day and although I think I am technically getting the same amount of sleep, getting up at the same time every day is probably helping my body clock as well.
On a very cute note, Joey`s favourite thing to do at the moment is colour/draw/ scribble. Nothing makes him happier than sitting down with a book and his colouring pencils and he has started taking them everywhere with him. Last night I put him to bed and rather than stay with him until he fell asleep, I left him there to fall asleep by himself. He babbled to himself for a while and then there was complete silence so I went in to check on him and he was fast asleep but he was clutching his colouring book in one hand and about five pencils in the other!!! It was very cute and I wish I had taken a picture but I didn`t want to wake him up as it was bad enough having to take the stuff away from him as he seemed every attached!!! My MIL has been going on for a while about how my husband had a big tanuki that he was very attached to and had to take everywhere. It would seem that my son`s new "snuggly" is not remotely snuggly at all!!! At least it is light and compact though!!!
Starting the morning with some colouring
After breakfast this morning, the first thing he did was get out his colouring books and pencils!
Happy Joey!
This chair is next to the computer and he loves sitting in it while I do my stuff on the PC!
2/08/2007
Snow on Sakurajima
Last week there was a slight dusting of snow. Alot of it had melted off the top of the volcano by the time I took this picture.
2/06/2007
Babies!!!
Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from the woman upstairs to say that she had given birth to a healthy baby girl at around 7am in the morning. Her labour was only about 6 hours long by the sounds of thing and she sounded pretty well on the phone. I am so excited because I love ickle babies so I am going to take Joey to daycare and then go and see her this afternoon. I think a trip to baby GAP might be in order this morning though so that I can get her something cute as they didn`t know the sex beforehand so I think the baby is in need of something pink/purple and girly because I know she only bought neutral stuff until now!!! I know that it should go against all my feminist principles to do so but I am going to plead the fact that pink and purple are my favourite colours and if they had boys clothes in those colours, J would SOO wear them all the time!!!
The fact that the woman upstairs has had her baby has now made me even more excited as it means that my friend Jenn really is going to have her long-awaited baby any day now! I know that all these babies are going to make me very broody but I will comfort myself by being the best aunty I can be!!! They are going to be soo spoilt!!!
2/05/2007
Rainy days and mondays...
The weekend is finally over!!! YAY!!! I was about ready to kill my whiney husband by last night but then a miracle happened and Joey went to bed at 7.30pm and stayed there so I got to relax for the evening and didn`t feel so frantic! I did go to bed at around 10pm just in case he woke up in the middle of the night but he slept until I got up at 7am so I am feeling quite relaxed today!!! I also have an easy morning because my student cancelled class at lunchtime so I am going to keep Joey home with me which means no obento and no having to take him to daycare. I think we are going to spend the morning cleaning though because my floors are really dirty and the clutter is driving me insane so it is time to do something about it!!!
Yesterday morning I went to renew my license, along with a couple of hundred other people!! The lines were long and I had to wait for ages but it wasn`t so bad once I got through to the desk. I even got them to change my name and address on it without too many problems. (In Japan anything involving bureaucracy is normally an enormous pain in the butt for anyone and is 100 times worse for a foreigner, i was pleasantly surprised by how easy everything was yesterday!!!) I filled in all the forms, had my eyes checked, had a picture taken and then had to go and listen to a 2 hour lecture on road safety. The lecture was actually more interesting than I was expecting, even though alot of it was about drink-driving, something I would never do anyway.
One part of the lecture really showed me how different things are here in Japan. Apparently last year they introduced a law whereby the people who are drinking with someone who then goes on to drink-drive are also liable in the event that that person causes an accident. I was really shocked at this because although I can understand someone who is in the car with a drunk-driver having some responsibility, I am not sure how people at a drinking party are supposed to take responsibility for the actions of every other person at that party IYKWIM. We are all adults and it seems bizarre to me that next time I go out for beer, I have to check how everyone who is with me is getting home in case they decide to drink-drive because if they cause an accident, it would be partly my responsibility. I am not sure I am explaining myself very well but the thing that struck me is that it is typical of Japanese society. By introducing this law, they are taking the responsibility away from the individual and placing it firmly with the group. As I said, I am not sure how the laws work in the US or the UK but I am pretty sure that an adult would be expected to take responsibility for causing an accident through their own stupidity, they wouldn`t be able to say "well, it is also the fault of all the people I was drinking with, they should have stopped me from drink-driving." It is true that people shouldn`t knowingly allow someone to get in a car while drunk but this law also applies to people who leave the party early. Totally bizarre.
The other part of the lecture that stuck with me was a discussion about the drunk-driving accident in Fukuoka last year that killed 3 small children (the parents survived) I was absolutely furious to hear that the guy who caused the accident (a 22 year old who had been out drinking, the family were on their way back from collecting beetles when he hit their car and sent it spinning through the barrier and into the river) called his friends straight after the accident to try and get someone to come and pretend to be the driver so that he wouldn`t get caught with alcohol in his system. He also asked them to bring lots of water so that he could try and reduce the amount in his system. The thing that makes me most angry about this is that I bet at this point while he was phoning around to save his own butt, he could have been helping the parents in their desperate attempt to save their kids who eventually drowned when their parents were unable to free them from the sinking car. The news of the accident made me really sad at the time but hearing stuff like that and knowing that if he had maybe tried to help them, the tragedy might have been less, makes me really angry. So much for group consciousness, all he was interested in was saving his own skin.
Alot of food for thought so early on a monday morning! The first thing I did when I got home was give Joey a big cuddle as you really never know what is going to happen in life.
2/03/2007
"Man colds"...
Last week my brother`s fiancee and I were e-mailing and she commented that my brother had been sick with a "man cold" all week and it was driving her insane. I know I don`t need to explain this turn of phrase but just in case, a "man cold" is where the cold that the man is suffering from is 10 times worse than any cold than anybody else has ever experienced and the whole world must stop to tend to his needs. Women don`t get "man colds" because we either don`t have the time (in the case of most mothers) or we just don`t have the inclination to whine about small aches and pains because we have been through much worse (be it childbirth, period pains, morning sickness etc...) I am sure every woman reading my blog is nodding their heads right now as "man colds" have affected us all at some point or another!!!
My husband came down with a "man cold" today. He has no discernible symptoms, (in fact, of the two of us, you would think that I was the sick one because I have a cough, stuffed up nose and my voice is very husky thanks to a sore throat) but you would think he was dying to hear him complain and feel sorry for himself. He was supposed to be looking after Joey today while I went to work but this morning he was lolling around on his futon complaining about how terrible he felt (again, I repeat that he looks fine, sounds fine but is terribly sick apparently) so rather than submit Joey to several hours with Mr whiney cranky pants, I called J`s daycare and asked them if he could go today as well and they were more than happy to have him while I went to work. I hasten to add that Joey is still not over his cold but seems to be soldiering on without too many problems, the cold seems to have gone from his eyes to his chest now though and I am hoping he doesn`t get the same wheezy thing that he had last year! But, I digress, I have basically spent all day running around after my husband and I guess I am feeling cranky and unsympathetic as a result. I guess I am still pissed at him for going on about how tired he was after his trip over the weekend when all he had done was go ski-ing and go to Disneyland whereas I had been home with a sick child and was very sick myself so when he came back, I wanted to take a break but didn`t get to do so because "he" needed a break. I am pandering to his needs very begrudgingly today as I need him to be "healthy" enough to look after J when I go and renew my license tomorrow. Fingers crossed the "man cold" will be banished from our house by tomorrow morning...
(PS, I should add that I am sure that there are men who don`t get "man colds" and only complain when they are really sick but I have yet to come across one. I am trying to train Joey to be one though!!)
2/02/2007
Belated birthday presents rock!!!
This afternoon I came back from class to find two packages from my brother and his fiancee! I was really chuffed because I knew it was going to contain my birthday presents from them!! I opened them up to discover a lovely white top, a very funky pair of jeans and a very funky pair of black corduroy-type trousers. There were also a couple of bars of Cadbury`s chocolate and a shirt for Joey so I had a great time opening up all the treasures!!! I was especially chuffed because it is so hard for me to get clothes here in Japan. The jeans and cords fit quite well and when I shift a couple of pounds, they will fit even better!! I will have to post pictures of me wearing them in the future!!!
This week has been busy but good. Joey recovered from the stomach thing and caught a cold. He had a lot of gunk coming out of his eyes so I was worried it might be conjunctivitis or something but the peadiatrician said it was just a cold. He is taking cold meds and although I was worried about him, I let D take him to Kanoya on wednesday for the night. I felt like a bad Mummy letting him go when he wasn`t feeling 100% healthy but in the end I decided to do it because after the weekend, I was desperate for a break and some time to myself. I had planned to go to bed early but in the end I headed into town and had a couple of beers at our usual bar. I always feel like a bit of a saddo going out for beer on my own and it was something I never did when I was younger but these days I have learnt that if I don`t take my opportunities to go out when I have them (even if I have to go alone) I will never get to go out!!! I always end up in interesting conversations with random people and/or the bar staff and Wednesday night was no exception!!! I think that I have started to feel a bit suffocated lately as most people see me as Joey`s Mum/ Daisuke`s wife/ their English teacher and not many people take time to get to know "the real me" as it were. (Does that sound weird?) So it is really refreshing to get out and about and just talk about random stuff with people.
Yesterday afternoon I went to the gym in between classes and I had a really good work-out. I finished the "basic" programme so asked one of the trainer guys (who just happened to be tall and very sexy.. pure coincidence that I picked him to help me... honest!!!) to design a programme for me that concentrated on my stomach and bum area as those are my wobbly bits!!! The basic programme focuses too much on my arms and as Joey weighs 14.6 kilos (at his weigh-in on wednesday) and I carry him quite alot, I don`t really need so much exercise for my arms, it is my other parts that need work!!! LOL! We did a few things that really hurt but I felt alot better afterwards (although my muscles hurt today). I am hoping to try and make it to the gym more often as it seems a bit of a waste of money to only go 2-3 times a week. My class schedule changes slightly this month and I have decided to change J`s daycare around so that I get a couple of extra "me" hours on a day when the gym is open. (He always went on monday before and the gym is closed on Mondays) We will see how it works out!
We have a quiet weekend planned but i also have to go and renew my driver`s license on Sunday. The whole process sounds pretty boring so wish me luck!!!
1/29/2007
Update...
Joey and I just woke up from a 3 hour nap after lunch. He has a runny nose and a cold but the stomach problem has gone as he munched down a big lunch and kept it down. I still don`t have much of an appetite but I feel MUCH better after the nap. I am pretty sure it was food poisoning which means that it must have been the McD`s we had because we only had yoghurt and bread and fruit for breakfast. We both have a case of cabin fever though so I might take him to the supermarket later just to get out of the house...
Ugh...
Yesterday Joey and I had a lovely morning at the park, then we went to McD`s as a special treat for lunch and I baked some cookies in the afternoon and that is when all the "fun" started! From about 5pm-ish both Joey and I seemed to suddenly come down with a stomach bug. He threw up first and I started to feel very nauseous and then I talked to my Mum and as soon as I put the phone down I couldn`t keep it in any longer and threw up in the bin. Yuck yuck yuck as I had the clean it up/ throw out the rubbish. Last night was basically the night from hell as both Joey and I took it in turns to feel crappy/ throw up. I think I have done four loads of washing since last night and I still have two more to go. Mr J seems pretty recovered this morning, he drank some milk and ate some yoghurt and has yet to bring it back up again and is happily playing with his ride-on car but I am still feeling a bit icky and very weak. I have cancelled my classes today and I think J and I will be taking it easy at home! It is sod`s law that we both get struck down while D is away. Part of me was wishing I had asked my MIL to come after all but she would have spent the whole time going on about how I needed to go to hospital to get a drip so it is kind of good she wasn`t here as although I had to deal with it all by myself, I didn`t have to deal with daft advice and comments from her!
I am not sure if we had food poisoning or a stomach bug or "Noro virus" but I don`t think it is the latter as our symptoms weren`t serious enough/ didn`t last long enough and neither of us had fevers. Fingers crossed that we are over the worst now.
Ok, time for me to lie down and put some anpanman on the TV so that Joey lets me rest!!! I hope you all had a better weekend than I did!!!
1/27/2007
Peace and quiet....
This morning I got up at 5am to take Daisuke to the station so that he didn`t have to get a taxi/ public transport. Then J and I came back and went back to bed. Thankfully Joey went back to sleep as well because I was somewhat concerned that he wouldn`t! I dragged my ever-expanding butt out of bed at about 8.30 to have a shower and make J`s lunch for daycare today. Daisuke usually looks after him on saturdays but that wasn`t possible today so I decided to put him in daycare for the morning instead. I could have picked him up straight after his class but I kind of figured that as I am going to be a "single Mum" until tuesday, I would take a little bit of me time. I was thinking of going to the gym but decided to read lots of blogs instead! I will no doubt regret it when I weigh myself next week!!!
On Wednesday they weighed me at the gym and measured my height/ internal body fat ratio and according to their charts I am hideously and obscenely obese. I was somewhat distressed but as i don`t put too much stock in that kind of thing, I was actually more bothered by the fact that I weigh more now than I ever have done, even more than when I packed on the pounds in my final year at university so I really need to do something about it. The gym is a good start but I really need to eat less crap and be a bit more sensible about my food intake. I am a bad compulsive/ comfort eater and I need to work on that. There is a chance that I will suffer a big drop in income next month and that might be a good thing for my diet as there will be less money for snacks!!
Hope you all have a good weekend!
1/25/2007
Woo hoo! Veronica Mars is back!!!
After a long hiatus, Season 3 of VM has returned so I am a happy bunny! I just wish I didn`t have to wait a whole week in between episodes!!
I had a good day today and I went and treated myself to that new wallet I have had my eye on for a while now. The vouchers my student gave me weren`t quite enough but I treated myself to the rest as a belated birthday present! LOL! I also bought myself a new diary yesterday as Joey has been drawing all over mine and it is getting hard to see what my plans are through the scribbles!!! I now have two almost identical ones and am hoping to keep the new one clean by giving J the old one to scribble on!!! It has been a long time since I bought stuff purely for myself as I usually end up buying things for Joey or DH rather than myself so I was on a big high from the retail therapy!
DH is going away on sunday morning for 4 days with his school. I had originally asked my MIL to come for one night to help out but now I am thinking I would rather just have four chilled days with Joey as I feel like I have been running around constantly over the past couple of weeks. She seems to want to come though so we shall see!
1/21/2007
Rainy sunday...
Yesterday was a bit of a crazy day but it was fun! I had two classes in the morning, then I had to go shopping for the dinner party, clean the apartment, pick up Joey and then start cooking!!! Joey obliged my preparations by falling asleep when he got back from daycare and staying that way until 5 minutes before the guests arrived. D had work and then he went to the chiropractor as he is having back problems too so he was no help at all but having him out from under my feet was probably the biggest help of all!!! LOL! The only problem was that he came home AFTER the guests had arrived which made them a little uncomfortable at first, they kept saying they would come back when he came home and I kept saying that if they did that, everything would get cold and icky!!! We ended up starting without D!
The menu was my standard "first time dinner chez Midori" menu.. We had mozarella and tomato salad, garlic and herb cheese with crackers, and some "kari kari cheezu" (cheese wrapped in spring roll covers and deep-fried), tortilla chips and salsa as appetisers. Then we had shephard`s pie with vegetables as a main and for dessert we had trifle and I had also made oatmeal and raisin cookies so we had those with tea afterwards. (Turns out the guy who lives downstairs LOVES oatmeal and raisin cookies) It was a nice evening and they seemed to enjoy the food. We had beer, yummy white wine (which they brought) and shochu. Joey had a fab time playing with their 11 year old daughter and we talked until nearly midnight. It was a really nice chilled out evening and I am kicking myself for not taking pictures!!!
We went to our favourite tonkatsu place for lunch today and now Daisuke has gone off to run some errands/ go to the gym, Joey is asleep so I am going to curl up on the hot carpet and watch all the satellite programmes I can before our free trial runs out! (Which I thought would be yesterday but we still have channels today so who knows...)
1/19/2007
Oh my word, is it friday again already!?!?!?
I have no idea where this week went!!! I was out of commission on tuesday/wednesday with bad back pain and it was hard to try and make Joey understand that although Mummy was lying on the floor, it didn`t mean she wanted him to climb all over her. On wednesday evening I went swimming and although I only managed a few laps, doing some exercise seemed to help because the next morning my back pain had improved alot. Yesterday was a crazy busy day. I had to go to Tarumizu and then I had a class in the afternoon. My student is having a baby in March so yesterday was her last class for a while which makes me kind of sad, because I really like talking to her. She gave me some Yamakataya vouchers as a thank you so I think i am going to treat myself to a new wallet as my old favourite is starting to look a bit worn out! I have had my eye on a Anna Sui one for a while because it has sparkly purple butterflies on it and I just couldn`t justify the expense out of my own pocket but it will be a good momento of my time teaching her!!! ;-)
Tomorrow evening the people who live downstairs are coming over for dinner so I have to start cleaning this place up and work out what I am going to cook! I had a surprise day off today and my friend came over with her son and it was so much fun to hang out and watch the boys play together!! So all in all I am a bit worn out and feeling good today, thanks to all of you for worrying about me! I have a busy weekend ahead but I should be able to catch up properly next week!
1/16/2007
From my head to my back...
My migraine finally cleared on saturday morning and now I have a bad back instead!!! I think my body is trying to tell me something!!! (That Joey is WAY too heavy to be carried as much as I have to carry him- time to put him on a diet perhaps!?!!!)
Last night I spent a long time talking to D about where I want us to be this time next year and we finally seem to be on the same page. We still have alot of things we need to work on as a couple but I am hoping that last night made him see that he can`t take me for granted anymore because I won`t always put up with it.
Today I have a whole day with Joey and I was planning to take him to the Zoo or something but as my back hurts, it might end up being a quiet day at home, we shall see! I haven`t had a 100% free day during the week for so long, I don`t know what to do with myself!! LOL!
ETA- One of my students in Aira has the Mumps and I would like Joey to catch it as it is definitely one of those childhood illnesses that he should get sooner rather than later, but I am not sure if I have had it or if I was vaccinated for it so I am in a dilemma because if we both catch it at the same time I am screwed because I have next to zero family support around here. (Although I am sure my friends/neighbours would be a big help if it came to that so it isn`t the end of the world but not ideal..)
1/12/2007
Feeling like crap.. migraine...
I woke up in the middle of the night with a really bad headache. As i am still BF-ing I am limited to paracetomol (tylenol) so I took that, drank some water and hoped it would work. I managed to get back to sleep but I woke up this morning with my head feeling even worse than it did earlier. I wasnt sure what time I had originally woken up and taken the meds so I didn`t want to take anything in case it was too soon. The killer headache just got worse and worse though and I was sprawled on the living room floor all morning because moving hurt too much. Poor Joey didn`t know what to do but he played beside me/ watched anpanman for most of the morning. At noon I took some meds and had some lunch and felt well enough to go to Aira to do my class, even though my head was still hurting. I could have cancelled but I figured it would give Joey a break from being with sick Mummy and I was hoping a drive/ fresh air would clear my head. Amazingly I feel alot better. I think it might be the meds talking but my head doesn`t hurt as I type this, although I do feel a little bit woozy (sp?).
On the drive to Aira I started reflecting on life, the universe and everything. I know it wasn`t anything that serious but I was thinking that if I had a brain tumour (I have been known to worry excessively when I am sick..comes of being the daughter of a nurse, the worst case scenario always comes to mind!!) and died tomorrow, would I be happy with how I have spent the past 29 years of my life?! My conclusion was somewhat mixed; I am very happy to have been able to spend time in Japan, meet the people I have met and of course to give birth to Joey and have him in my life but there were so many things that I decided I would like to have done differently/ wish were different now. I hadn`t realised quite how many things I feel need to change in my life until I sat down and thought about it in terms of my life ending tomorrow. How depressing is that??! Suffice to say, there will be some changes this year, both personally and professionally as I really need to be able to look at my life and think "Yes, I did mess some things up but I am happy with where I am now."
On that depressing note, I had better go and do some cleaning/ take the cot apart as Sue and I are going to take it to Jenn`s tomorrow- I can`t believe it is only 6 weeks until her EDD, I am so looking forward to meeting Jenn-jnr!! (although she is having a boy, so technically he will be Ryu-chan jnr but you know what I mean!!! LOL!)
1/11/2007
The prince and his subjects
This picture made me laugh because Joey was sitting there "reading" the book to them while they listened intently!!
My birthday weekend continued....
It really did turn into a whole weekend of being out and about and celebrating! I love it when that happens!! On sunday we went to see my SIL and her family. It was a really nice relaxed day and I got to take it completely easy because her two sisters and her sister`s boyfriend played babysitter so Joey and Aoi were completely entertained while my SIL and I sat and talked about various things and took it eay. Joey had a fabulous time running around with Aoi-chan and her aunts . He seemed to realise that they were at his beck and call because he would get up and run off, stopping only to look back as if to summon them to play!! It was very cute!!
I was going to write more but my crazy son is suffering from cabin fever I think so I am going to take him out for a walk!! Will write more later but for now, here are HEAPS of pictures of sunday!
1/06/2007
Best birthday in a LONG time...
Last year I had a truly crappy birthday so this year I wasn`t holding out any hope and tried not to expect too much. I LOVE birthdays and have always made a big thing out of them. This year I knew D was going to be away so figured I would be in for a lonely/ boring day but in fact the opposite was true, I have had a lovely lovely day. I had class this morning but my students were, as ever, adorable and easy to teach. Then I came home, planning to do some tidying up while J was at daycare but in the end I just played on the internet/ tried to decide what to wear!!
I had a yummy lunch at Steak Ann with Jenn and Sue and I mentioned to one of the staff that is was my birthday so they did a whole big "happy birthday thing" and I got cake and a little wine glass as a present. It was lovely to be spoilt and to have yummy food and great company. They even took a photo to preserve the event for posterity!!!
After lunch, Jenn and I came back here and I got a phone call from a florist asking if they could deliver some flowers to me and the family downstairs turned up with a big bouquet for me as well. I was so touched that everyone remembered my birthday and bothered to do something for me as it made me feel a little bit special! The woman downstairs also invited me over for dinner because she didn`t want me to be alone on my birthday but I had already made plans to go to Sue`s for dinner so I had to turn her down. I now have two beautiful bunches of flowers decorating the living room, I love flowers and it has been so long since anyone sent me any. 
This evening I went to Sue`s for dinner and she had also made me a gorgeous cake.
It was a fun evening and Joey is finally at the age where he can enjoy playing with her kids so the four children had so much fun messing around together.
After lunch, Jenn and I came back here and I got a phone call from a florist asking if they could deliver some flowers to me and the family downstairs turned up with a big bouquet for me as well. I was so touched that everyone remembered my birthday and bothered to do something for me as it made me feel a little bit special! The woman downstairs also invited me over for dinner because she didn`t want me to be alone on my birthday but I had already made plans to go to Sue`s for dinner so I had to turn her down. I now have two beautiful bunches of flowers decorating the living room, I love flowers and it has been so long since anyone sent me any.
This evening I went to Sue`s for dinner and she had also made me a gorgeous cake.
It was a fun evening and Joey is finally at the age where he can enjoy playing with her kids so the four children had so much fun messing around together.
It was nice to be able to sit back and relax and enjoy an evening without having to worry too much about what Joey was doing!
I am feeling very spoilt and special, which is how I think you should feel on your birthday so it is perfect!! LOL!! Thanks to Sue and Jenn for making today special!
I am off to see my SIL and her family tomorrow so what I thought would be a quiet weekend after I cancelled my Okinawa trip has turned into a busy one with lots to do! I really need to clean the apartment at some point though because it is a HUGE mess!
1/05/2007
My husband doesn`t know how old I am!!!
Yesterday I got a phone call from D while he was on his way home saying "you turn 28 on saturday don`t you?!" and I was like "WTF? I turned 28 LAST year you idiot!!!!" Turns out he had been to buy me a birthday cake and candles and bought number candles so I am going to be 28 again this year, which is fine with me!!! LOL! I was really chuffed that he had made the effort to do something though so no complaints about him not remembering my age!! He had apparently been looking for somewhere to buy me some flowers but nowhere was open so he picked up a cake instead. We have actually yet to eat the cake because when we came home from dinner last night we were both feeling a bit iffy/ very full so didn`t feel like cake. He is coming home around lunchtime today to get ready to leave for the wedding so I guess we will eat it then!!!
Dinner last night was really nice. We went to Capriciosa which is where D proposed to me and we even sat at the same table as that night!!! Joey was an angel and sat and ate and only got bored when they brought a piece of cake over to celebrate my birthday. (This is actually why I wanted to go to Capriciosa in the first place- free cake!!!) We were planning to go and take print club pics but as they took a picture of us in the restaurant, we didn`t bother. There are very few pictures of the 3 of us in existence and I think this is a really nice one:
They display birthday pictures in the restaurant but as there are so few of the three of us together, I opted to take mine home!!!
In other news, I signed up for a free trial of satellite TV. I have a feeling that after 16 days of all I can watch Western TV, I am going to be hooked and will be paying out to sign up!! If I am not around much this weekend, you will know it is because I am glued to the TV!!! (Although I should also make a trip to the gym this weekend...)
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