blatant random silliness

Baby Tag

In lieu of catching up on all things Dylan, I'm going to do this meme instead (passed on from Bethany):

Baby tag sounds dangerous, doesn't it?
I have told Dylan's delivery story here...but I can't resist a tag (or an excuse for a fairly easy blog post *grin*).

1. Were you married at the time? Yes!  We'd been married for 6 years.

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? Even though we'd been trying for about six months (but not obsessively trying), my reaction was still "oh s**t!"

4. How did you find out? I missed a period and did a home pregnancy test.  Didn't have to wait for the prescribed amount of time, it turned almost immediately.

5. Who did you tell first? Denny

6. Did you want to find out the sex? YES!  I'm a planner and just needed to know.

7. Due date? October 26, 2006....one day before my dad's birthday.

8. Did you deliver late or on time? On time.  Mainly because I was induced the night before my due date.

9. Did you have morning sickness? During the first trimester I just had a funky feeling tummy and was way tired.  

10. What did you crave? Peanut butter toast.  And brownies.

11. Who/what irritated you the most? I think I've lost too many brain cells from lack of sleep to remember.

12. What was your first child's sex? Boy

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout pregnancy? 33

14. Did you have any complications during pregnancy? Nope, not during.  However, after the birth is another story. (click the link to the whole story above if you are curious)

15. Where did you give birth? Yokota Air Force Base Hospital in Japan.

16. How many hours were you in labor? I was in induced light labor for about 2 hours, then they gave me Pitocin and I went into the "oh my god give me some drugs labor" for 6 (I did get the drugs thank goodness).

17. Who drove you to the hospital? Denny

18. Who watched? One doctor, one or two nurses, and Denny.

19. Was it natural or c-section? It was not a c-section, but if by natural you mean drug-free, um, no.

20. Did you take medication to ease the pain? Yes!  An epidural.

21. How much did your child weigh? 7 pounds, 3 oz  (I should mention he weighed 22 pounds by four months).

22. Did your child have any complications? Jaundice

23. What did you name him? Dylan Charles Pack (Dylan cause we liked the name, and Charles for my Dad.  We've realized since that Dylan is an anagram of my mom's name Lynda.)

24. How old is your first born today? 2 years and 3 months.  Crazy isn't it?

If you want to play along, consider yourself tagged!  Leave a comment with the link if you get a chance so I can be sure to read it.  

mother's day

I had a lovely Mother's Day.  Denny brought home some beautiful flowers on Saturday.  And made sure I didn't have to do too much on Sunday.  We went out for breakfast, did a little shopping, and then went home.  Our little guy wasn't in the best of moods and the weather was rainy rainy. 

Dylan helped decorate the Mother's Day cookie (above) by sticking his fingers in it when I opened the box.  The funny part is, he didn't know what to do then.  He's gotten to where he doesn't like sticky fingers (just like his dad) and wants me to wipe them with a towel. 

Denny and Dylan gave me some very nice gifts.  The theme was "ice cream".  I can't believe I haven't taken photos of my new KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker attachment in action.  I've made frozen yogurt and mango sorbet so far.  Both turned out quite yummy.  I also have the Ben and Jerry's ice cream cookbook and some cool little ice cream sandwich molds.  The ice cream sandwich molds work great on normal sandwiches for Dylan.  I can make a boot, a hat, and a sheriff's star badge.  I also got one non-ice cream related gift..."The Handy Book for Girls".  It was originally published in 1889 by two of Girl Scouts founders and is a really cool read.

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One of Dylan's favorite games is to bring his stuffed friends over and put them in my lap.  Then he'll sit in my lap too!

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SNOW

We've had more snow the past few weeks than we've had in the entire 4 years we've been in Japan.  And there are still little patches of snow in shady areas (the last snow was Saturday night).  On Saturday, I had the chance to really watch it accumulate on the ground.  Snow is so fascinating.  It is soft and fluffy, and yet cold and wet.  I'm looking forward to the days when Dylan will be excited about the snow and we can build snowmen and throw snowballs. 

The first time it snowed was overnight.  There was just a bit of snow on the cars, nowhere else.  I took Dylan out and he stuck his fingers in it on the car.  The second time it snowed was on our first pack-out day.  It snowed all day long.  I took a walk to get lunch in it, but by the time we were through with the moving stuff, we just didn't have the energy to take Dylan out to see it.  The third time it snowed, Denny was gone to Okinawa for the weekend.  The snow came during the night, and it was still snowing when Dylan and I walked over to the E-Club for breakfast.  He wasn't quite sure what to make of the snow, especially when his foot sank down in it.  After breakfast (he ate really well), we went back out and I put him down again.  He leaned over to put his hands in and felt how cold it was.  Then he slipped and fell, and decided he didn't like the snow so much after all.  I had to carry him home crying...poor little guy.  We took a drive in the snow later in the morning so that I could pick up our stroller (I had left it in Yuko's car the day before after strawberry picking) and get my glasses fixed (Dylan broke my glasses the day before after yanking them off of me and "popping" the earpiece completely off). 

The next time it snowed, it was all overnight.  The next day was bright and sunny with a big blue sky.  Once again we went to eat breakfast, but Dylan was not interested in walking in the snow. 

And the last time it snowed was last Saturday.  It started in the afternoon and began accumulating (which I had never really seen before).  Snow does a good powdered sugar imitation as it dusts itself onto everything.  And then it begins to look like frosting.  Saturday night was our culture group sayonara dinner, so we drove in the snow to Ome.  As we were eating, the snow was really coming down outside and by the time we left, the roads were really covered.  Denny drove us very carefully back home.  Dylan fell asleep on the way home, so after putting him in bed, I headed out with my camera to get some shots of the snow at night. 

That's our tower in the distance.

For all of the snow photos, click here.

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Merry Christmas!

Just a quick note to say Merry Christmas!  We had this shot taken of Dylan and Santa in early December.  This year, instead of eating Santa's beard, Dylan just cried a lot.  He has really gotten more Mommy-centric these days and didn't know about sitting on this strange guy's knee.  However, when I gave him the magic keys, he calmed down and we actually got a couple of half smiles from him.  When we got home, I took the shot below with the bear.  He was fascinated by the bear's nose.  Cute boy.

Merry Christmas!

japanese toilet training video

This is too funny:

Click here to view.

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happy anniversary to us

Today, Denny and I have been married for 7 years.  And what a great 7 years we've had.  Travelling, exploring, laughing, cuddling, being homebodies, being adventurers, becoming parents.  It's been so much fun. 

Yesterday, we had an afternoon off (thanks to our friend Debbie who babysat for us).  We headed out for sushi and a walk.  I haven't had sushi in over year...well..since I got pregnant, and it was sooooo good.   We went to our favorite little sushi place–Santa Sushi and ate too much.  Then we headed out for a walk with no real destination.  Those are always the best.  We ended up going to a bakery and visiting a flower shop before heading home. 

I have more photos that I haven't had a chance to upload yet.  Will post a link to those soon.

how your computer mouse works in japan

I meant to blog this a while ago when Denny first emailed it to me. Click on the image above to visit the site that shows you how a mouse works in Japan. Make sure to move your mouse around a lot, then stop and see what happens.

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our friend Shan

Our friend Shantell Martin has recently been making a name for herself on the Tokyo art scene.  We met Shantell a couple of years ago when she was living in Fussa and working at the local Junior High School teaching English.  Since then, she moved closer to the center of Tokyo and started working on her illustrations.  And at the beginning of the year, she vowed to do something with them.  And do something she did.  She's been "live-drawing" along to music in clubs.  She draws as the music plays and her work is projected on a screen behind the band so you can watch her art unfold.  It's really quite amazing.  You can check it out on YouTube. This clip shows Shan drawing along with a circuit-bending group.  I personally had to watch with my computer muted just because I don't quite "get" the whole circuit-bending thing.....not for me personally. The photo above is from a pingmag article about a collaboration between Shantell and a fashion designer.  The results are stunning.  So, congrats to Shantell.  Keep up the good work! 

Here's her new website: www.shantellmartin.com

Air Force Ball Photo

Here's our photo from the Air Force Ball...it finally came in. This was week 33...and I dare say I've gotten bigger since then. I had a baby shower today, and will post all about it when I get the photos.

weekend of fun and tiredness

So, wow, what a weekend. It really all started Saturday morning with a childbirth class at the hospital. They used to do a 4 part series, but now they just do a one time 4 hour class. Which was very informative, but I could of used some more on "comfort" techniques...like lamaze. Denny came with me and we learned all about the birth process....which included watching videos of an actual birth. I really think they could show these videos in high schools to lower teen pregnancy. Holy cow. I think I've been in denial my whole pregnancy about the actual giving birth process. So watching the videos was frightening. But, I guess it worked...I was in shock for the afternoon, but by Sunday I was coming to terms with it and know it's going to happen. If millions of women can do it, so can I.

Saturday night was the Air Force Ball, and Denny's band was playing. I went with my friends Jen and Raul and a group of people. Luckily, Denny's band alternated with a DJ so he and I got to dance together and look cute dressed up. I did dance, just a lot more carefully than I would normally. The twist was out, but as long as I kept my belly over my legs I was just fine. We had a picture taken by the pro photographer there, but we won't have it for three weeks. I'll make sure to post it when we get it. The photos taken with my camera just aren't all that great. It's hard to get a good shot with a small camera when it's mostly dark. We did have a great time though. Denny came down to the dance area during a slow song or two and played his guitar to me. He's such a sweetie. I also had fun hanging out with Jen and Raul and Calley and Chad and Debbie and Richard and the other people in the entourage. They were Denny's fan club and acted as if he's a huge rock star whenever he played a solo. Twas quite amusing.

Sunday, we had planned to drive to Ikea. Denny didn't get in until really late Saturday night, so we had a slow starting morning. However, we knew if we didn't go, we may not make it before the baby comes...and I may not want to go the closer it gets to my due date (we are now about 6 weeks away). So, we got ourselves in gear and hopped in the car. Traffic was pretty decent for most of the trip and we were making good time......until we actually got close to Ikea. As you can see from the photo above, crossing Rainbow Bridge was beautiful...such a nice clear sky day..kind of a rarity this time of year. Anyway, as we got off the Shuto Expressway, traffic slowed way down. And we soon discovered that everyone was turning onto the road we wanted to turn onto. Basically, it took us about an hour and a half to get there after getting off the interstate. It should have taken 20 minutes. I was a very cranky, frustrated, pregnant lady by the time we got there. However, once we got inside, things got better. I had fun showing Denny around and we picked out our new table, along with some other things to make our trip worthwhile (a shoe bin for our entryway, some new office chairs, and other fun accessories for the nursery....I'll take some photos soon).

The way back was a lot easier, traffic was still very congested leaving Ikea (the urban planners should really do something about the traffic flow in the area.....the lights just don't line up logically), but once we got out of the vicinity we made it home in 2 hours. Yay us.

I had my first swollen feet on Sunday night after getting home. Probably because of all the sitting and standing and no time with my feet up. After water aerobics on Monday, the swelling went down, which is good. I also took my wedding rings off over the weekend. The OB nurse recommended that in case your hands swell or you go into the labor and they can't get them off. So, I've been wearing them on a chain around my neck. It's funny though, it's been 4 days and I still have the ring indentation on my finger. It's like i'm wearing an invisible ring.

Monday was my recovery day, I was so tired after doing too much over the weekend. We did manage to put our new table together though.

We're at the beginning of week 34....6 weeks left and counting. It's getting harder and harder to bend over to pick up stuff. Have to bend at the knees and spread my legs to make room for the belly. And if I do too much bending over, my sciatic nerve acts up (this causes pain through the left side of my lower back through my butt and thigh). The baby's movements are getting bigger and more breathtaking (literally). He really makes me jump sometimes. The right side is his favorite place to be...when I'm sitting and he wants more space he pushes upward with a good amount of force to make me stretch. Funny boy.

Well, that's about all for now. More to come.