Twelve months, twelve onesies!

With the debut of the twelfth onesie, the lead-up is over and it can (finally) be said that The Bean is one year old!

Of course there was a party, but that deserves a post all of its own. Today I'm here to wrap up a year of onesies.

For those of you who weren't around for the inception of the monthly onesies, or have forgotten because you have lives of your own and don't actually live, breath, sleep The Hirano Family Blog, I shall start with a little history.

On January 14th 2013, a little under a month before I was due to give birth to The Bean, my dear friend Anna threw me a baby shower. It was there that our good friends and family designed the onesies that I have been debuting once a month since Kio was born. Along with their onesie, each person wrote a letter. I have to say that I practiced a great deal of self-restraint by not opening them all at once when I got home from the baby shower. Instead I have been doing my best to read them to Kio one at a time on (or around) the 11th of each month.

The letters are funny, sweet, sentimental and most of them include a small plea for Kio to let his mommy and daddy get some sleep.

Thanks all!

The onesie and letter for Kio's twelfth month was done by yours truly. I couldn't remember what I had written, so I was looking forward to reading it to Kio.  Honestly, it was pretty lackluster. I had forgotten that while I was writing I got really emotional. Of course there were some hormones involved, I was in my ninth month of pregnancy after all. But the thought that I would actually be holding my one year old baby while I was reading my letter got the better of me, and I cut my letter short in order to avoid showering my shower with tears. I didn't even sign it. Perhaps I had planned to go back and finish it up once I got home, I don't actually remember. It was lovely to read, but obviously not finished, however that didn't stop me from shedding a tear or two this time around as well. 

In honour of all the sentiment, creativity and love that people put into their letters and onesies I think that a bit of a fashion show is in order!

One Month Old

Letter and year of the snake 1 onesie by Anna (aka The Sugar Fairy).

Kio had already outgrown the newborn size onesies while he was still a newborn! So for the first few months he went with the 'draped-look'.

Two Months Old

Letter and transportation inspired 2 onesie by Donna.

Love those squishy thighs!

Three Months Old

Letter by daddy and classic stitched 3 onesie by Anna.

Look at that pudgy baby, love it!

Four Months Old

Letter and yacht party (cocktails and all) 4 onesie by Jane.

 I think that Kio looks more like the little boy that he is today in this picture.
 AND he's finally able to model his onesie...barely.

Five Months Old
Letter and star burst 5 onesie by auntie Miki.

 As you may notice, this is not a onesie photo. We were in Canada when Kio turned five months old and I had totally planned to bring it with us but, in the whirlwind of last minute packing, I forgot. This picture was taken the first time Kio went swimming in the week of his five month birthday and is too funny not to show one more time.

Six Months Old
Letter by Mel (in Australia) and sweet 6 cupcake onesie by Anna.

Look at that hair!


Seven Months Old
Letter and panda with hand-drawn accents 7 onesie by cousin Sara.

The first onesie shot with Kio sitting on his own.

Eight Months Old
Letter and groovy 8 onesie by Midori.

Mugging for the camera and showing off his first haircut courtesy of mommy.
Note that the onesie is not fastened at the bottom - he grew out of them again.

Nine Months Old
Letter and lightening bolt robot onesie by Autumn.

 Unfortunately, Autumn had a job interview on the day of my shower but that didn't stop her from sending along this fabulous little number!

Ten Months Old
Letter and onesie from the panda collection by grandma Hirano.

By this point Kio had become a wiggly little worm, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to get a photo of him that did the onesie justice.

Eleven Months Old
Letter and glam bike 11 onesie inspiration from Becca (in England), onesie design carried out by Anna.

 Kio was instantly enthralled by the sequins on this onesie and did his best to pick them off.

Twelve Months Old!
Letter and crayon coloured 12 onseie by Mommy.

Wowza! Look at that belly (and boobs)!

Wait for it...

Any moment now...

Obviously someone was far more interested in stealing my phone than having his picture taken.

With a tickle and a kiss!

Here he is!

And yes, he needs another haircut.

At twelve months Kio is a going concern. He is into everything! He is cruising around the furniture and climbing as high as he can go, earning the moniker Danger Baby. He has dropped his crazy high leg march and I believe that any day now he'll be off and running - well walking anyway.

Onesie number twelve brings us to the end of an era. Each month as I dressed Kio in his one-of-a-kind creation, I stopped to write about the new things that he had been doing and how much he had grown. It is so cool to have a record of it that I can look back on when he is older, and if he chooses, he can check it out too. The thing is, I'd like to continue the updates but, without something motivating me, I think that they may fall by the wayside. As such, I've decided to begin Project Quilt.

At the end of my shower, Anna offered to make me a quilt featuring Kio's onesies. The idea has stuck with me, but rather than pawn the work off on Anna (who is frantically packing up her family for a move to the US), I've decided to take on the task myself.

Of course I could take the easy way out and use my sewing machine. But my grandmother - a prize winning quilter, would turn over in her grave. With no quilting experience to fall back on, I figure that a year to complete the project is realistic...? Hopefully making it a present for Kio's second birthday. So there's my motivation to check-in monthly with an update on both the progress of my quilt and how The Bean is continuing to sprout!

 

The Demise of 虫さん (Mushi-san)

So Kio's first birthday is quickly approaching.

Anyone tired of hearing me say that yet?

He was born on 建国記念の日 (National Foundation Day - the day celebrating the foundation of Japan and the accession of its first Emperor) which is a public holiday. Nice planning on Kio's part, arriving a week early - he'll always have a day off on his birthday!

We have decided to take advantage of friends and family being off for the day, and throw Kio a little birthday party. Around the time that Shin and I were talking about invites and decorations, we lost a very important member of our family.

Literally we lost him.

Poor, poor Mushi-san.

Mushi-san joined us last May and was one of the presents we bought Kio for Children's Day. On that occasion Shin picked out some new duds for Kio and I bought him a copy of one of my all time favourite children's books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Mushi-san.

Mushi-san is the Swiss Army Knife of stroller toys. He comes equipped with everything a baby on the go needs: a teether, crinkle material, a handle for when the urge to wildly shake things takes over, and of course a mirror. The mirror is especially important to Kio as he just can't get enough of himself - a wee narcissist in the making. And to make it even better, Mushi-san is all of those fabulous features wrapped together with the cuteness of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Aww, so cute. And he was Kio's bestest friend.

I'm not sure at what point we stopped calling him The Hungry Caterpillar, and started calling him Mushi-san (Japanese for Mr. Bug) but the affectionate nickname obviously denotes his importance to the family. 

He went everywhere with Kio and kept him happily occupied on afternoons out at the shops, dreaded car rides (that was before Kio decided that being in the car isn't a form of torture), and he even made it all the way to Canada - and back! 

Although Kio has other stroller toys, he faithfully went for Mushi-san every time. So much so, that he sucked off all of the silver from the material on the antennae, and no matter how many times I cleaned him, Mushi-san had become pretty nasty looking.

After all of Mushi-san's adventures out and about with Kio, one day he didn't make it home. We don't know if he was knocked off while we were loading the stroller into the car. Or maybe he got hooked on something as we were cruising around town. Either way, Mushi-san is no longer with us. 

So in memory of good ole' Mushi-san, we've decided on a Hungry Caterpillar theme for Kio's birthday party. 

Only six days to go! 

Mushi-san and Kio, keeping cool in the summer heat.

Mushi-san and Kio, on the flight to Korea.

Mushi-san and Kio, hat modeling.

We wish you all the best Mushi-san, wherever you may be - you are missed.

Eleven months, eleven onesies.

A while ago I wrote about Kio's attempts at crawling; he was spending a great deal of time primed for action but going nowhere. I suppose that that's not entirely true, he did make some progress in reverse, but mostly he just rocked back and forth on all fours.

Since that posting, Kio has gotten his crawl on but it's not what I would call traditional. In fact, where locomotion is concerned, my son marches (or rather crawls) to the beat of his own drum. 

Here he comes...

 And there he goes...

Perhaps someday he'll be a mighty swimmer.

When he started his squeaky frog crawl, Shin and I figured that it was just a stage; something to get by on until he mastered the more traditional hands and knees version. 

Nope.

A month and a half later and he's still doing the squeaky frog thing, just faster. Seriously, the kid can fly (swim?) across the floor. 

By the way, I'd like to be able to say that the squeakiness is a testament to the cleanliness of my floor - trust me this is not the case. The squeak is all Kio.

On top of crawling, in the last month Kio has also 'mastered' the art of sitting on his own. On Christmas day I put him on the floor on his tummy, turned away for five seconds, and when I looked back he was sitting. 

TA DA!

The mystery sitting happened a few more times. I would put him in his crib for a nap, and peek in a few minutes later only to find him sitting up, looking as pleased as punch. A few more 'sits' went by before I managed to catch him in the act.

Again, traditional is not what I would call wee Kio's movement from tummy to bum.

It starts with a near perfect Downward Facing Dog, feet planted firmly on the ground, barely a hint of a bend at the knee. Once his bum is as high in the air as it can get, he lets his knees give out and down he goes into a sit.

Unfortunately, the pictures that I have don't really do the whole process justice because I've been laughing too hard to focus properly. 

That's probably why he did it in secret for so long.

With his very special crawl, and his one of a kind sit occupying his time, Kio has yet to start walking. He loves to stand while holding on to my hands for support but isn't really interested in pulling up on the furniture. He also likes to walk around while holding on to our hands and when I say walk...

Yes, his little walk is also rather unique.

He picks his foot up at high as he can and then takes the biggest step possible. It is truly ridiculous. When his grandfather witnessed this for the first time he commented that Kio is never going to be able to walk on his own if he doesn't take smaller steps. I would be inclined to agree except that his crazy crawl and silly sit seem to serve him just fine, and I'm sure his wonky walk will as well.

Perhaps as a member of a marching band...?

And that brings us to the piece de resistance, onesie number eleven. And what a onesie it is!

Just around the time that The Bean was conceived, our very good mates The Prices were packing up their life in Japan and heading back the UK. 

If the truth be told, and perhaps it shouldn't be but I'm feeling rather honest this evening, the great cell division that was to become our darling son more than likely began on the day of their leaving party. 

Anyway, having just vacated the Land of the Rising Sun, it was obvious that Lady Price would not be attending my baby shower - at least in person. 

She was certainly there in spirit! 

Being contenents apart didn't stop her from helping out with the games, sending a letter and labour bead, and inspiring a onesie with two simple words:

"sparkly motorbike".  

Genius!

Of course, once the idea was out in the open it was up to the Sugar Fairy to work her magic with the pattern.

Pure magic!

Before I could even pull the shirt over his head, Kio started in on the sparkles. He loves anything with beads, buttons or small pieces that he can twirl between his fingers; the sparkles on this shirt were no exception. It was quite difficult to get a picture that does the design justice while he was picking at it.

With onesie number eleven debuted that means that we are very close to the end of Kio's first year...eek!

First Blood

As Kio's first birthday quickly approaches, the list of 'firsts' is getting longer and longer. I'm excited by each milestone and enthusiastically share even the smallest development with anyone that will listen / read / look at photos of said 'happening'.

Ya, I'm one of those moms. 

But obviously dear reader you haven't had enough. Or perhaps you thought that this was a post about a Rambo movie. If such is the case, you might want to stop reading now.

As the title suggests, Kio has survived his first injury. In fact, of the two of us, I'm the one who is probably more worse for wear after the whole event. But now that it has been a few days, and I have pulled myself together, there is some humor to be found in the debacle.

When looking back on a not-so-fun mommy moment, I find that a little prose is the sugar that helps the medicine go down.

And thus our story begins...

The night was moist.

he he he

Sorry, any chance to reference the film, "Throw Mama from the Train" must be taken advantage of when at all possible. 

On with the story (for real this time).

It was a bitterly cold night in the dead of winter. Mama H, Baby H and Feline H were all nestled snugly in their beds. As dawn was slowly approaching Mama H was trying desperately to prolong her dream of warmer climes, before facing the frigid state of her abode.

A pristine beach, not a soul to be found for miles. Turquoise water, white sand, a tall Mojito nestled in the cup holder of a comfy beach lounge chair. 

Literally the stuff that dreams are made of.

Mama H languidly reaches for her drink when a piercing scream rips through the scene.

Unable to wrench herself out of such a tranquil moment, she begins to settle back into her lounge chair but the scream is getting louder and strangely closer...

Mama H bolts out of bed and leaps across the room in a single bound. She finds Baby H is sitting in his crib looking like something out of a horror movie; blood bubbling from his mouth, staining his sheets and pajamas.

She scoops up the distraught bundle and turns on the light in order to better survey the macabre scene.

First Baby H. 

He is inconsolable. There is blood pouring from his mouth. His top lip is swollen and he has what appears to be the beginning of a black eye.

Next the crib.

There is blood on the sheet and railing. Mama H has seen enough to put together the events that lead to the grizzly mess before her. Baby H woke to find that Mama H was still in a deep slumber. Being the sweet boy that he is, he decided to let her finish that Mojito on the beach, and put in some time practicing his 'stand'. And some point into said 'stand', he found himself hurtling towards the railing of his crib.

Although it felt like an eternity had passed for Mama H, it was in fact mere seconds from the time that she had scooped up her injured boy to coming to the realization of what had happened. Her next thought? 

To the hospital!

With the hysterical babe in tow, Mama H ran to her closet to grab a pair of socks and a bra - the two things that she deemed necessary to complete her outfit of yoga pants and a now blood stained sweatshirt. But when the poor screaming boy refused to be put down, she settled for the socks and decided that her winter coat would be have to be enough cover for the unsightly situation that was once her glorious rack.

"Car keys, insurance, money, phone..." Mama H rattled off the items as she haphazardly tossed them into her diaper bag. Upon seeing her phone she suddenly thought to call Papa H to tell him that they were headed to the hospital.

As a phone call from home at 5:30 in the morning could only mean trouble, Papa H hurried out of his crowded bar on to the street in order to focus on the situation at hand.

As Mama H began retelling the story she was met with an unusual response, "Calm down."

"I am calm!" came her shaken reply. And then, for the first time in her 37 years, Mama H realized that she was not on top of the situation. She was not calm.

Driving her mother to the emergency room with two broken wrists - on top of the situation.

Seeing her sister through the labour and delivery of her first two children - on top of the situation.

Being jostled by a group of men trying to rob her blind on the streets of New Delhi - stomped all over the situation. Literally.

But there, at that time and place, with her wounded wee boy, Mama H had lost her cool and was shaking into the phone.

Papa H's next question brought her back to reality, "Where is Baby H?"

"He's right here in my arms, can't you hear him screaming..." But as the words came out, Mama H realized that Baby H had stopped crying at about the time that she had finished pulling on her socks with one hand. Upon further inspection she also noticed that he had stopped bleeding. 

With Papa H talking her calmly through, Mama H did a good inspection of Baby H's face. His teeth were fine and there were no bumps on his head. Although his top lip was quite swollen, there was only a tiny cut on the inside. And yes, his left eye was looking a little purple but not puffy. And finally there was Baby H himself. He was smiling and yawning as his mom poked and prodded his sore but certainly not permanently damaged face.

As the sun began to creep up over the horizon, Mama H and Baby H snuggled back into bed where Feline H had remained soundly asleep throughout. As they drifted off, Mama H began forming a list of contact sports that her son would never be given the opportunity to play.

~ Fin ~ 

Merry Christmas(es) and a Happy New Year!

The turkey has been digested, and the presents put away.

The tree is back in storage awaiting a future Christmas day.

Resolutions have been made for two thousand and fourteen; 

we return to work tomorrow and it's back to the old routine.

 

Santa made the rounds, that guy knew what to do,

leaving loads of presents and the sadly the stomach flu.

We made our way to a shrine and rang the new year in,

and started the year of the horse with a prayer and a grin.

 

Kio's first Christmas was full of family and love.

Mommy ate too much chocolate, a food she is now sick of.

Daddy worked hard, having to wait for his rest,

but for the Hirano clan this Christmas certainly was the best!

 

Kio's first Christmas(es) are done and dusted and I am happy to report that he loved each and every one of them.

Yep, the kid celebrated Christmas three times. Such a lucky (and spoiled) little boy!

Christmas number one went down at Casa de Sugar Fairy. And man did she put on a spread! Shin and I put away our fair share of turkey with all the trimmings and Kio ate his weight in mashed potatoes - his first experience with butter and cream. I'd like to say that the bourbon laced chocolate pecan pie was a personal highlight of the evening, but there was something that outshone even that!

In true Sugar Fairy style, she handmade a gift for Kio (her boys each got one as well). Bearded baby beanies will go down in history as one of the most hilariously fantastic Christmas presents ever! 

Unfortunately, Kio wasn't too keen on the beard. I keep trying to slip it on him at home (because it is seriously funny) and he just rolls his eyes at me and pulls it off.

Christmas number two happened at our place. Due to work and schedule conflicts, Christmas was officially changed to the 27th in the Hirano household. 

As was the custom when I was growing up, Kio got to open one present on 'Christmas eve' (the night of the 26th in our house). 
 

Not quite your traditional present opening style, but it got the job done.

Have you ever seen a kid so happy to get a pair of pajamas?

The next morning Santa had come and Kio dove into his presents. However, as soon as he had opened his little xylophone, the rest fell by the wayside. 

Kio loves to make noise. I think that Santa was under the impression that mommy and daddy might be able to handle it a little better if it was somewhat musical in nature.

Hmmm...

We didn't push Kio and let him go through everything at his own pace. Of course he didn't have a clue as to the reason why the living room was suddenly filled with colorful paper and ribbons, but that didn't stop him from being super excited by it. By the time his morning siesta came around, he was wound up to the point of no return.

Later that day Shin's mom, dad, sister and her three kids arrived for their first ever Christmas dinner. I have to say that I was a little concerned when approaching the spread that took me two days to cook, our youngest nephew asked, "where's the rice?" But in the end everyone enjoyed the food and helped themselves to seconds and thirds.

As I mentioned before, we celebrated family Christmas on the 27th. This worked out well for a few reasons and one of them was that on the 25th, Kio came down with the stomach flu. For twenty-four hours he covered our apartment in vomit. It got so bad that he spent most of the day dressed in only his diaper, hanging out on a plastic sheet covered in a towel. 

And then he was 100% a-okay.

I only mention Kio's stomach flu because just as I finished serving up Christmas dessert, I came down with it as well. Within the next three days everyone that joined us for Christmas got a little something more than they bargained for.

Just as it was Shin's turn for the tummy bug, Christmas arrived again!

Two giant boxes from Canada made an appearance after Kio had gone to bed and Shin to work. So I had to sit there with all those presents and not touch them. This took a great deal of self control and it lasted up until I spied a box of chocolate Turtles.

When Shin got home the next day we tied into the presents once again.

This time Kio seemed to have the knack of it and opened a lot of them himself although the proceedings were waylaid when he came upon his Hickory Dickory Dock book - he is in love with that little mouse.

And after a week of presents and turkey dinners, Christmas came to an end...just in time for new year celebrations!

I have to say that new year's eve was a pretty tame event, which was fine as we all needed some Christmas recovery time. I stayed home with Kio and did the countdown with a glass of wine, and Shin worked. He called to wish me a happy new year, but couldn't talk for long as the celebration at his bar was in full swing.

The next day, following the Japanese tradition, we went to a nearby shrine. Even though it was a local place, not one of the big ones where thousands of people wait for hours to enter starting at midnight on January first, we still had to stand in line for about thirty minutes. Luckily, the old fellows from around the neighbourhood were keeping the fire going so we could stay warm.

Usually we spend time with Shin's family at new year, but as everyone was still recovering from the stomach flu, we spent a quiet evening at home.

With a few days of relaxation behind me (Shin was still working), I started the Christmas clean-up. The apartment feels a little less jolly now that it has been returned to its former state. I'm still trying to work out where to put all of Kio's new toys; he prefers them strung from one end of the apartment to the other and for the time being that's where they lay.

Shin is finally getting some much needed rest and taking a couple of days off this week. When I asked him what he'd like to do on his 'holiday' he rubbed the bags under his eyes and said "relax". Fair enough mon cheri.

January is my last month of 'maternity leave' (although I have been working part-time) and then it's back to work full-time for this mama, and Kio will head to nursery school in February.

*sniff, sniff*