blatant random silliness

January (and 30 weeks and counting)

Dylan playing in a field of snow near the all purpose trail near our house.

January here in Alaska has been pretty uneventful.  The holidays are over and we finally got Christmas stuff taken down inside the house (the outside can wait til spring).  We've had our first Chinook (a warm front that swept through and gave us lovely above 36º temps, which was nice, but melted the snow and made it slushy and hard.  Yuck.  Then, it got really, really cold.  Like below 10º most days and below 0º for the low on some days.  Too cold to do much of anything outside.  Which is too bad since we have a little guy who likes the snow.   The really cold broke a couple of days ago and we finally have fresh snow.  Today we went on our first snow walk in awhile and Dylan had a great time playing in the snow.  He also really likes eating it.

A perfectly formed snowflake in my hair.

I'm currently 30 1/2 weeks into my pregnancy.  Baby girl is kick kick kicking away.  I've reached what I have dubbed the "sumo-squat" phase...bending over has gotten harder.  And when I sit for too long (like in the car) it gets really uncomfortable because baby girl likes to stretch out.... a lot.  Just like Dylan, she seems to favor the upper right side of my uterus and sometimes I think she has a hold of a rib (like right now for instance).  Denny  has taken to talking to her and trying to detour her somewhere else.  The other night he leaned over to my belly and said "You are parked in a no parking zone. Please return to the main uterus waiting area".  And last night he got out his guitar and sang a little song with the same theme.  I do love my funny, sweet husband!

It's still hard to believe that our lives will change again in an amazing (and exhausting way) in 2 1/2 months (or sooner...who knows?).  There still is so much to be done.  Our house is arranged in such a way that we are planning on sharing our room with baby girl for a while.  We only have 2 bedrooms upstairs and I really don't want to move us or Dylan downstairs if I can help it.  The though of having to traipse up (or down) stairs in the middle of the night just doesn't sound appealing to me.  So, the crib will be in our room as will the mini-cosleeper for the first few months.  There are no real plans to do much in the way of decorating, although Denny's mom is making a baby quilt that we will hang on the wall.  If we decide to give the kids separate rooms in the future we will definitely decorate.  :)

Me at 30 1/2 weeks.

I have managed to get through all of Dylan's baby clothes that we saved and pulled out the unisex stuff and given the rest to a friend with a baby boy and one who is going to have a baby boy really soon.  I have a friend here who gave me a box of her baby girl clothes and I have sorted everything by size and got it organized.  And, of course, I have bought a few adorable baby girl things....how could I not?  Luckily, we kept a lot of the necessities from when Dylan was born–the wipe warmer, crib mobile, baby carriers, and other things of that nature.  However, we do need a new stroller (I'm eyeing the Joovy that has a place for Dylan to stand or sit on), and I'm in real need of a new diaper bag (and/or backpack).  I've been looking at the Ju-Ju-Be backpacks but have yet to find one in a store so that I can see how big it really is.  If anyone has any recommendations for me, let me know.

I'm off now to see if Dylan wants to do some baking :)

 

 

 

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.