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!

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.

The Bean has Sprouted.

Although we have already made our big announcement by phone, email and on facebook, it is only fitting that the Hirano family blog be updated with the news...

The Bean has sprouted!

On February 11th at 5:21 pm, after 18 hours of labour, Shin and I welcomed our son Kio Aaron Hirano / 平野 希於 アーロン into the world. 3530 grams and 52 centimeters of beautiful!

Of course I am rather biased.



3 hours old 

 

Every birth has its story and Kio's started with a hair cut...

 

I mentioned in my last post that there were a three things that we needed to sort out before the Bean made his grand entrance (we didn't end up doing any of them). In fact, there were four. The final one was to get my hair cut.

 

I made an appointment for the afternoon of February 10th, a week before the Bean's due date, thinking that there wasn't much chance I was going to give birth early. I'd read somewhere that labour patterns are passed down through the family - if your grandmother's children arrived early then it was likely that it would be the same for her daughters and so on.

 

My sister and I were both late, and all of my sister's children arrived after their due dates. So I figured that our baby would also be late.

 

That bit about labour patterns is all lies.

 

On with the story.

 

I got my hair cut and was feeling rather frisky afterwards so I decided to walk from the hairdresser's into Umeda and treat myself to some lunch. I poked along, wandering in and out of shops and an hour later was seated in a cafe enjoying my lunch.

 

Wish I'd saved my energy.

 

After lunch I did some grocery shopping and headed home. I was feeling pretty exhausted after my long day out (being nine months pregnant and all) and had a long nap once I got in.

 

The evening was pretty normal. I made dinner, chatted on Skype with a friend in England and watched some TV. Shin had been out for the afternoon working on his bike and came home to grab a quick shower before heading to work. It was then that I started to feel 'strange'. I shared this feeling with Shin but as I wasn't in any pain we decided that he should head to work.

 

He was home again two and a half hours later.

 

At around 10:30 I started having contractions. From what I've read and experienced as an official contraction time keeper for my sister's first two babies, is that contractions start far apart and get closer together as they increase in intensity. Mine started at three to five minutes apart.

 

And stayed that way for the next eighteen hours.

 

At around 1:30 I decided that I was in labour and that we should head to the hospital before things got going too far - after all, nobody wants to have their water break in a taxi. Not to worry, mine didn't. We grabbed our bags (which I had packed while waiting for Shin to come home), emailed my family in Canada and were off!

 

We were home again an hour later.

 

The midwife on duty checked me out and informed us that I wasn't really in labour, that my contractions would stop, that I wouldn't give birth for another couple of days AND that I would be in much more pain if I was really in labour.

 

She was right about the last part!

 

So home we went. Emails were sent to my family and we tried to go to bed. The midwife had also told me that I should try to do things as I normally would - clean the house, make breakfast etc. She said that staying in bed wouldn't help my labour to progress.

 

In fact, that wouldn't be a problem.

 

As Shin slept my contractions stayed three to fine minutes apart and got continually stronger. By about 8:00am I was pretty sure that the midwife had been mistaken and I would in fact be giving birth that day.

 

I held out at home until 11:30 and then we called a taxi - the same driver we'd had before! This time things weren't so calm in the taxi. I was in a lot of pain and not doing a very good job of hiding it.

 

And man, did that taxi driver drive.

 

This time we weren't sent home. I was five centimeters dilated and definitely in labour.

 

The rest of the afternoon is somewhat of a blur. My lovely English speaking midwife was on duty and she and Shin put up with my incoherent ramblings peppered with the occasional expletive.

 

At 2:30pm I was told that I could start pushing and that I would be able to meet my baby by about 5:00 - to which I replied "two and a half hours! I can't do it."

 

But I did.

 

And our wonderful baby boy was born.

 

Amazing.

 

 

1 hour old

 

Nesting.

Of all the 'symptoms' that accompany a pregnancy, nesting is the one that I've looked forward to the most. According to Pregnancy Weekly, nesting is "an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world."

Other than the 'new baby' bit, it sounds like a regular day off in the Hirano household.

As many of my friends and family know, I am a bit of a neat freak. Some (like my mother, for example) might go as far as to call me anal. I don't do clutter. I don't do dust. And I don't do 'nothing'.

Obviously, the concept of nesting totally appeals to me.

In mid-January I cut back my hours at work and at the beginning of February I officially started maternity leave. To be honest, I was rather worried about spending so much time around the house; I thought that boredom would set in rather quickly. As such, I made sure to have lots of things planned to keep me occupied: lunches with friends, weekly doctor's appointments, even a few trips back into work to tidy up some loose ends. But between outings I've been doing some 'light cleaning'.

As the saying goes, "idle hands are the Devil's workshop."

I'm not sure if I am truly experiencing the nesting phenomenon, or if my cleaning is the bi-product of being a neat freak with too much time on her hands. Either way it's starting to become annoying.

Since the beginning of February I've scrubbed every surface that I can safely reach. While doing so I have been careful not to do any heavy lifting, stand on chairs, or use overly stinky cleaning products. But that means that SOMEONE has to pick up the slack.

And by someone, I of course mean Shin.

Of all the 'symptoms' that accompany a pregnancy, nesting is the one that Shin has feared the most.

Where I lean more to the OCD side of the personality scale, Shin is definitely on the laid back end of things. He doesn't really do cleaning and he certainly doesn't do it to the point of obsession.

Bless him for being such a good sport.

He's assembled baby furniture. Cleaned all of the air conditioners inside and out. Reorganized our storage shelves. Moved the fridge so that I can clean behind it. And even gone as far as to vacuum the balcony at my request.

Generally when I blog, I like to include some pictures to go along with my ramblings. You may have noticed that this entry is somewhat lacking in that department. After crib building session I decided that it was best that I leave the camera alone.

A good start.

 

 

A rather irritated ending.

 

 

Perhaps Mikan and I were being overly 'helpful'.

 

 

After vacuuming the house for what feels like the hundredth time this week (being home all the time sure makes things dusty). I realized that not only am I annoying Shin, but I'm annoying myself. So I stepped away from the vacuum and made an Important Things To Do list:

 

1. Finalize a name for our son.

 

2. Pack my bag for the hospital.

 

3. De-cat proof the baby stuff.

 

Now that seems like a productive use of my / our time.

 

 





The Final Countdown.

It's February! I'm no longer counting the months. I've even given up counting the weeks. Yes ladies and gents, the final countdown has begun. Before I get started, a little something for your listening pleasure...

Seventeen. The number of days until the Bean is due to make his grand entrance.

Ten. The number of things on Shin's "To Do Before The Bean Arrives" list. Most of them are typical 'fix the leaky facuet' type jobs, but there are also more pregnancy related tasks. Painting my toenails is one such example.

Nine. The number of times I've had to reattach the wall decals around the Bean's crib. "Attaches to Any Surface Except Walls" should be how the packaging reads.

Eight. The number of baby essentials I have left in their original packaging / wrapped in garbage bags / covered in tin foil so that the cat doesn't sleep in them: stroller, car seat, Moses basket, crib mattress, diaper bag, nursing pillow, babysitter seat and crib bedding. Of course this is a losing battle - eventually we will need to use these things. Might give it a week or so and throw in the towel.

Seven. The number of pounds the Bean weighed as of his last growth scan.

Six. The number of stretch marks on my belly - three on either side of my belly button.

Five. The number of times I woke up to pee last night.

Four. The number of pairs of shoes that our son already owns. This makes me proud.

Three. The number of attempts it took to successfully put on both of my socks this morning.

Two. The number of items packed in my hospital bag. In case you were wondering, the two items are both towels. I suppose I should think about gathering up some clothes, maybe a toothbrush one of these days.

One. That would be tired mama to be. Don't seem to be able to do anything without taking a nap afterwards. Clean the bathroom, nap. Eat lunch, nap. Vacuum, nap. This is actually what I did today.

Zero. The number of centimeters I have dilated as of my OB visit on Wednesday. Boo.

I realize that this countdown went from seventeen to ten and then down to one. Cut a girl some slack - I had to nap twice just to get this much out. Plus there was all that time I spent rockin' out to Europe.