A Wee Story.

Once upon a time there was a handsome tavern owner and a beautiful schoolmarm. They courted, fell in love, got married and were blessed with an adorable baby boy.

Life was clean and orderly, just as the beautiful schoolmarm preferred, until one day the unthinkable happened.

On that fateful day, the handsome tavern owner, beautiful schoolmarm, their adorable baby boy and (all the way from the wilds of Canadia) elegant Auntie set off in their carriage to take in the sights.

The tavern owner, exhausted from entertaining his unruly patrons, passed the reins of their carriage to his beautiful wife. He quickly drifted off to sleep alongside his adorable baby boy.

The elegant Auntie and beautiful schoolmarm passed the time taking in the landscape and trading stories from their busy lives.

Some time had passed and the travelers realized that they were in need of some nourishment - especially the adorable baby boy.

The elegant Auntie not speaking the language of that foreign land did her best in ordering the latest trend in caffeinated beverages, while the beautiful schoolmarm satisfied her adorable son's need for milk. The elegant Auntie returned with her beverage, unfortunately void of caffeine, and the beautiful schoolmarm laughed at her rather INelegant efforts to communicate.

The elegant Auntie settled herself back into the carriage and tried to enjoy her drink. The beautiful schoolmarm had just one more task to complete before they returned to their journey.

Perhaps it was karma lashing out at the beautiful schoolmarm for laughing at the elegant Auntie. Or perhaps it could be blamed on the nature of little boys. Whatever the reason, as the beautiful schoolmarm attempted to change her adorable baby boy's soiled nappy she was met with a fountain of, for lack of a better word, wee.

Caught by surprise, the beautiful schoolmarm did not react in time. Her luscious locks, powder white skin, plump lips and proud nose were drenched in the foul yellow water.

The elegant Auntie howled most inelegantly with laughter (for hours upon end).

The adorable baby boy squealed with delight.

The handsome tavern owner feigned sleep - a small grin fixed upon his lips.

And the beautiful schoolmarm...well she totally lost her shit and may never again be the same.

The preceding story was based on actual events. The characters and situation have been romanticized in order to avoid subjecting the schoolmarm to any further trauma.

Two months, two onsies.

Kio is two months old!

And he celebrated by getting his first round of vaccinations. Woo hoo!

Luckily, there is a pediatric clinic in our building so it was a quick trip back up to our apartment to console Kio post-jabs.

When I say lucky, I suppose I mean for us, not Kio. I'm sure he'd rather not have the shots at all. Anyway, he handled the whole thing like a trooper; cried for a few minutes and then seemed to forget about the whole ordeal. I have to admit that he probably did better with it than I did. I definitely had to fight back the tears as I held my screaming son down for the doctor to swoop in and stick him for the second time.

Aside from being vaccinated, it has been a busy second month for our little guy. Everyday brings a new discovery (for all of us). Thus far the best thing has been his smile.

Generally Kio sits back and takes in life with a serious little expression on his face.

But during the last week or so he has been responding to our antics with a sweet grin.

And I love it!

On top of working out his smile, Kio has been working on his waistline. The little porker is now weighing in at 6.4 kilos (14.1 pounds)! He has almost doubled in size in just two months. My biceps are getting a good workout from toting him around.

Of course being a chunky monkey means that once again Kio didn't fit into his birthday onsie. For his second month wee Kio will sport an original Sim design.

OK. He's not quite sporting it, more like displaying it on his belly but the sentiment is still there. From the picture it looks like the onsie should fit but I was only able to get it over his head. Perhaps if he wasn't as squirmy it would've gone on but my baby likes to disco and that's that.

Thanks Donna for your 2 onsie and letter. And to answer your question, he is still keeping me up at night - but things are certainly getting better!

Baby's First Hanami.

With the temperature in the low 20s and not a cloud in the sky, Kio and I headed over to the little river beside our apartment to take in the cherry blossoms. As rain had been forecasted for the weekend, I figured it would be our last chance before all of the petals were washed away.

I strapped Kio to myself in his carrier and headed over to the convenience store to get some iced tea and chocolate - perfect for a little picnic.

Kio was asleep within minutes so I just strolled around munching my treats.

After 45 minutes or so my back was about to give out from carting Kio around; I sat down, unstrapped him and began thinking of how I might be able to take some pictures of baby's first Hanami.

Kio had other plans.

Disappointed, I headed back home to feed Kio and to clean the petals out of my hair and cleavage.

Not long after we returned Shin woke up and I showed him my pictures. He had a good laugh at my attempt to photograph a hungry baby while holding him - fair enough I suppose.

As the river is literally right beside our apartment, Shin plunked a much happier Kio into his stroller and off we went to try and get the photo I so desired.

Kio had other plans.

The little stinker fell fast asleep and remained so for the entire time we were out. No amount of tickling, bouncing or pleading could wake him. EXACTLY the same way his father sleeps.

Anyway, we did the best that we could under the circumstances and I look forward to baby's second Hanami next year!