Auntie!

Other than a rather unflattering, yet truthful, description of my sister's feet, she hasn't had much of a presence on the Hirano family blog.

That is all about to change!

First off, a short introduction is in order. Erin is my younger sister by a year and eight months. She is the mother of four (yes FOUR) children between the ages of 8 and 18. Not only does this make her Wonder Woman but it makes her a good person to have around when you've just had a baby. Also, there are very few things that she loves more than newborns. Again, making her the perfect person to have around postpartum.

Ten days after Kio and I arrived home from the hospital, Auntie Erin arrived in Japan.

And seriously, it was about time! I honestly don't know which was more difficult for me, being a new mom or trying not to go stir crazy from staying at home. Either way, Auntie to the rescue!

Within days of her arrival she had Kio on a feeding schedule, convinced me that soothers aren't the devil (significantly reducing Kio's crying time) and restored my sanity by cleaning the apartment and suggesting some much needed outings. Like I said, Wonder Woman!

Although Erin had been to Japan once before for our wedding, there were still a couple of touristy type things that she was hoping to do during this stay. As Shin, the ever protective daddy, wasn't keen on us using the trains because Kio hasn't had any of his vaccines yet, we borrowed his parents' car and hit the road.

In Kyoto checking out the flea market scene.

In Hiroshima at the Atomic Bomb Dome.

At Osaka Castle.

Checking out the plum blossoms.

Kio is one well traveled little dude!

As far as sisters go, Erin and I don't look much alike. We live very different lives (in very different countries) and have very different interests - I like shopping, she likes hunting. Yin and Yang, you might say. But just like Yin and Yang we are complimentary opposites and thus have a few similarities. Namely, our laugh and sense of humor.

Over the two weeks she was here we had many occasions to unleash our laugh on society. Believe it or not, hers is louder than mine! Right from the beginning we had the placenta jokes to keep us in stitches.

What the hell is a placenta joke you ask?

Well...

It is safe to say every second or third commercial on TV in Japan is for pig placenta supplements claiming to make you look and feel years younger.

As you can see for yourself, even the woman's back looks youthful. And all she has to do is eat placenta twice a day.

Gross.

Due to the sheer overdose of placenta advertisements I had become oblivious to them. But Erin was sufficiently disgusted for the both of us.

Disgust quickly turned into hilarity with the onset of the placenta jokes.

Basically a placenta joke consists of replacing the noun in a sentence with the word placenta.

Disgusting? Certainly.

Crude? Of course.

Funny? Hells yes!

Have you hugged your placenta today?

But perhaps only funny for the two of us.

It was a great two weeks full of nonsense, long chats, useful advice and most importantly Kio and Auntie cuddle time.

Thank you Erin, we miss you! xo xo

One month, one onsie.

Kio is one month old!

It's hard to believe that one short month ago I had just given birth to our precious baby boy. Right around this time he was sound asleep and I was thinking how lucky I am that my little guy sleeps through the night.

Skip ahead four weeks.

After just finishing a 4:30am feeding, I scoff at my own naivety.

One of the exciting parts of Kio's 'first birthday' was that he got to wear his one month onsie!

At my baby shower each guest decorated a onsie and wrote a letter for Kio - one for each month of the year.

The lovely Anna (aka The Sugar Fairy) designed the first month.

Kio was born in the year of the snake, hence the serpent inspired number 1.

As I unfolded the sweet little shirt it hit me how much our little munchkin had grown in just one month. It's a good thing that onsies are stretchy.

But not stretchy enough.

After some coaxing I managed to get it over his head and one arm into the shirt, but that was it.
So here is Kio. Chillin' under, rather than in, his one month onsie.

F.Y.I. At our last trip to Babies R Us (with the sole purpose of weighing our son - yes we know, it's time to buy some scales) he weighed in at 5220 grams!

The First Week at Home.

The first week...or rather a week full of firsts.

Kio and I spent the standard five days in hospital before they gave us a clean bill of health and released us to run riot on society.

From the moment we left the hospital it hit me that it's all up to Shin and I now. No nurses to kindly give advice and show you how it's done. Or more importantly, be there for you during exploding diapers and fussy nights.

This became painfully evident as we were trying to figure out how to operate the car seat.

But, we got it done.

And 'getting it done' is pretty much how we spent our week full of firsts.

There was the first bath, courtesy of daddy.

There was also the first poop in the bath, courtesy of Kio.

Kio and I had our first sleepless night during which there were a few tears shed - by both of us. Luckily we were rescued by Shin when he returned home from work the next morning.

There was the long awaited first meeting between Mikan and Kio in which they both ignored each other, and have pretty much continued to do so ever since.

Whew.

There was the first projectile pee, and it certainly wasn't the last. I've learned that little boys are sneaky like that.

We had our first outing with the stroller which ended up being a bit of a trial. Who knew that unfolding one of those buggers could be so complicated.

And during that first outing (to Babies R Us) we discovered Kio had gained his first kilogram! As a scale is something that I feel does not add anything ascetically or mentally pleasing to a household, we don't own one. Also, my idea of putting Kio in a mixing bowl and weighing him on the cooking scale was thwarted by the fact that it only goes up to two kilograms. So when we came across a scale at the baby changing station we plunked him down and were surprised to see the numbers shoot up over 4500 grams. Friends had warned me that they grow so fast but I didn't think that it would be in only two weeks!

Kio got his first overseas package when his new best friend the octopus arrived from England. Thanks to Becca, Ed and Henry for putting a smile on his face!

Finally, there was the highlight (for me at least) of Kio's first week at home, and that was the debut of his Yoda costume. To celebrate turning one week old, the Sugar Fairy completed the Yoda outfit that she had started when she gave me this adorable hat for my birthday.

The outfit includes matching mittens, boots and even a hand-dyed tunic to add to the overall authenticity. And as you can see for yourself, it's just too damn cute!

 

When my age you were look as good you didn't!

- Master Yoda                  


Although we had our ups and downs I can honestly say that our little family came out on the other side of our first week together with smiles on our faces.

Mostly.