Preparation and Imitation

This week, I have entered into the wonderful realm of "full term" pregnancy. Technically, my due date isn't for another three weeks, but if the baby came today, the doctors would be cool with that. All the little and big things we've been doing to get ready for baby have taken on a new importance now that we're in the "any day now" bit. I started packing my hospital bag, which is a slow and bothersome job for me since I need most of the stuff I'm supposed to be packing (any clothes that still fits is essential when you start growing out of maternity shirts), and I even bought infant diapers and washed some baby stuff in the detergent (most of it was washed before we packed it up).

Over the weekend, we visited the labor and delivery area in the hospital where I'm supposed to go when the time comes. It's in the same place as my usual appointments, but I had never seen the part where we'll actually go when the baby comes. This was important to me because last time I was in Japan, and I wanted to get the scoop on what to expect from an American hospital. I came out of the experience feeling very reassured. The labor and delivery rooms look quite comfortable, and the doctors and nurses are very accomodating of whatever the Moms want to do as far as pain management, from the sounds of it. The only down is I can't eat during labor this time, but that's really not that big of a deal. After the baby is born, I'll have to spend two days in a semi-private room (it looks like 2 to a room), but visitors are welcome (they have a lounge for larger groups), Zack can stay with me if he likes, and we can order whatever I want to eat from the time baby comes on, so it should be relatively comfortable. So that all looks good. The visit also reminded me to pack a bag for Ela, in case she needs to hang out at a friend's house for the first bit of my labor until family arrive. That bag is a bit easier to put together.

Speaking of Ela, she's really into the imagination play lately, and I've been enjoying the occasional surprise of hearing myself in her play. Her favorite game is putting her toys to bed, which kind of makes sense, given our efforts on that front with her. She covers them with blankets, says "night night" then tosses the blankets off and pulls the toy out, after which she says "go back to bed." very firmly or "Sleepy time!". Cracks me up. (She is actually sleeping much better, by the way. I usually don't have to get up with her any more.) She's cooking more in her kitchen, too. She likes to make me tea and cupcakes. Yum yum!

The other day while I was getting dressed, Ela sat in the rocking chair and "read" her books to herself. This, in itself, is not unusual, but I rarely get to hear what she says when she reads. I was really amazed at some of what she remembers from when I read to her. One of the books she chose she had only heard twice (once at the library and once at home), and she was imitating the librarian who had read it, counting things on the pages, and using the right words. I hadn't realized she'd even been paying attention when we were that library, so it was pretty amazing to me. The other book I heard was about pregnancy and baby in the belly. We read it a lot because Ela likes to lift the little flaps that show the baby in Mommy's belly. I didn't think she was getting the point of the book, just looking at the pictures, but she remembered all the rhyming words and was saying the right things on each page. It was quite impressive.

As a result of all this imitation play, I'm constantly trying to watch what I say and do in front of her. It's bad enough when I hear her yelling at Dory in my exact tone of voice, but I don't want her to pick up any worse behaviors from me if at all possible. So my kiddos are keeping me on my toes!

A Parade

Last Saturday, we braved the slightly cold weather and the enormous crowds of tourists to take Ela to the National Cherry Blossom Parade. We took the metro down to the center of town, because my walking range has been reduced of late, and managed to find ourselves a pretty good spot near the beginning of the route. When the parade started, we were in the front row. There were lots of the usual parade participants: bands, dance groups, and what not, but there were also a few groups that made the whole thing feel more Japanese. Ela liked the baloons a lot.

Personally, I really liked the Taiko Drummers, who were from Japan.

Of course there was a queen of the parade.

And there was an American drumming group as well.

Ela's very favorite was the horsies that occasionally came through. She lit up whenever they passed by.

By about halfway through the parade, the front row had become the back, as the police caved to the inevitable and let people sit in front of the ropes. Ela was soon not going to be able to see anything, my feet were hurting from standing, and Zack was hungry, so we decided that on hour of parade was enough for us. We got back on the metro to go get a nice lunch out, beating the crowds out of the center of town. I had kind of forgotten how much busier everything is in the spring and summer when the tourists start coming back to town. It's a little exhausting being around so many people who are just passing through. I'm glad we live here full time and can enjoy some of the attractions when no one else is there. Despite the crowds, though, the parade was a lot of fun, and it's always good to get out of the house and see something new.

Ela's New Friend

The hardest part about making this monkey was putting all the pieces together. Ela got ahold of her head before I finished assembling her and fell in love, and every time I'd get her out to stitch on an arm, I'd have to keep her hidden lest she go play. Ela christened her "Big Girl" for awhile (she doesn't really name things), but I don't think she calls her that anymore, just Monkey. I also finished the scarf I was knitting, and started another knitting project that I really do expect to take forever. I've decided that currently crochet is the better craft for me because 1) doing anything other than flat work requires so much stuff for knitting (extra needles, markers, whatever), and I don't really want to invest in all that stuff just now and 2) Ela takes such an interest in my projects. If she takes my hook out of my crocheting, no problem. If she takes my work off a knitting needle, it's a big problem. At any rate, I doubt I'll be doing much in the way of crafty stuff in another month. I'll have my hands full. I'm glad I got the monkey finished before then!

Hanami 2011

One of my favorite things about Japan was the cherry blossom viewing, and we're lucky to have moved to a place where we can continue to go and enjoy the trees in the spring. The National Cherry Blossom Festival opened this week, and we went to check it out, despite the very cold weather, on Saturday. Here's what we saw:

Did I mention it was cold?

Of course, we've been following the news about Japan since the earthquake. I joke that I've been keeping track of the news via facebook instead of a major provider. At first, this was true because I was out of town when the earthquake occurred and I also was a little afraid of what I'd see. I was able to use the articles posted by NPR and friends to find out generally what was happening, and also to confirm that the people I know there, who thankfully are mostly in the south of Japan, away from the really scary stuff, are completely fine. I pray for those who are not so lucky.

So the Hanami this year has a kind of bittersweet feel to it, wondering how much anyone in Japan can celebrate the beautiful season. The flowers are lovely, but they do make me a little homesick for the country where we had such wonderful adventures. The people there are what made the trip so delightful for us, and I grieve for them in this time of crisis. It does my heart good to hear of all the ways that the world is helping out now, offering support in a variety of forms. We, too, have done our part as best we could, and I enjoyed the trip down memory lane that seeing the cherry blossoms allows. There is something soothing about all those pink and white blossoms. Also, it wasn't nearly as crowded as last year, when Hanami coincided with Easter. There were lots of people, but it wasn't just a mob, so that was nice. We might try to head back again next weekend.

The next day, it snowed, so spring is not quite here yet, but at least we know it'll be here soon.

Spring Fever Meets Third Trimester

As the weather has gradually gotten warmer around here, Ela and I have been enjoying more and more chances to get outside and do, well, anything. We play in her sandbox, take her for rides on her tricycle (which she just sits on and I push), and we've even made it to the park once. Last weekend, I got really enthusiastic about the nice weather we'd been having and reorganized my clothes, winter out, summer in, which was quite a process since I keep it sorted by maternity (what I can wear now) and regular (what I hope to be wearing by mid-summer). I wanted to do Ela's drawers, too, but I didn't get that far. I'm glad about that now, though, since it's a bit colder again this week. She can keep on wearing her long sleeved stuff, and I just pull sweaters from my closet, where they live year round.
Not getting as far as I expect is kind of a common trend for me just now. Baby is getting quite bulky, and I wear out much faster than I used to. Since the last week or so was pretty busy, I'm purposefully taking it slow this week, mostly hanging out at home, but the weather was begging me to get out and do things, and the contrast between what I want to do and what I really can do gets frustrating at times. I've gone back to my habit of napping with Ela when I can, and I'm always amazed by just how deeply I sleep in the middle of the day.
Thankfully, Ela's night sleep is getting better and better. I still usually have to go in and comfort her about once a night, but there are occasional times when just calling when she cries is enough to convince her to go back to bed. This is especially good since it's getting harder and harder to sleep comfortably with the bulky belly. I don't take very kindly to being forced out of bed when I've finally gotten comfortable.
So we're adjusting to a slightly slower pace for the next few months. I'm learning what I can do without over extending myself, and Ela's getting used to doing a little more for herself. I'm enjoying watching her gain a little indepence. She's going to be a good little helper before we know it!

Girl's Weekend

Last weekend, Ela and I went to the annual Girl's Weekend hosted by my Mom for the ladies of our family. We leave our poor men at home (and often the kids, too) and hang out for a weekend. It's nice to reconnect with our family like that. There's lots of talking, eating and laughing.
This year, Mom's celebrating a big birthday (I won't say which one, just that she looks a lot younger), so we rented a beach house in Holden Beach, NC, for girl's weekend and took our show on the road. It wasn't exactly sunbathing weather, but it was nice enough to go out and get a little sun and enjoy the feeling of being at the beach, which everyone associates with vacation and relaxation. Ela wanted to "see the water" all the time.

She also learned the value of sunglasses.


It was a really nice break for me, too, because she spent a lot of time playing with her family.

Ela and her second cousin Sammy (who she called "Sandy" by the end of the weekend) were good friends all weekend long, too. I loved having the time to visit with family who I don't see nearly often enough. Also, this was my last trip out of town before the baby arrives in May, so I enjoyed the chance to get away and just relax. It was a delightful time for all of us.

Ela's Birthday Party

For Ela's birthday this year, we decided to go to the zoo. She's really into animals right now. We were lucky, and the weather held out for us. It was cloudy, but fairly warm. Also, Ela had slept well and eaten a good breakfast, so she was in a really good mood. We dressed her in her birthday finest, armed ourselves with gift bags and cupcakes, and set out.

All the way there in the car, Ela said "We see lions! We see elephants! We see monkeys!" and proceded to make all the animal noises. As soon as we got there, we met up with a few friends, and the animal viewing began. It's early in the season, so the zoo was not very crowded at all. We were able to get up close to each of the exhibits and take our time watching without feeling like we were in the way.


Ela was delighted to get to see all the animals. She ran along between exhibits saying "Running! Weeee!" as we all trailed after her, just trying to keep up. She only slowed down to look at her favorites. The pandas got a long view, and I think she would have been happy to stare at the elephants all day. She watched a monkey who was hanging out right at the edge of his enclosure for a long time before announcing, "Bye Bye, monkey! I'll miss you!"
Finally, we all got hungry, so we took a lunch break. We stopped into the Mane Restaurant and got hamburgers, nuggets, and fries for everyone. Also, we had cupcakes. Here's what they looked like before I packed them up and they got hauled along in the stroller for several hours.


I forgot to bring the number 2 candle (which we had used on her cupcake the night before), but I suspect the zoo would have frowned on it anyway. So we just sang, and Ela was happy with that.

With renewed energy from all the sugar, we set off to the petting portion of the zoo. The kids were very excited about the chance to touch the cow. The also enjoyed having a look at the donkeys and goats.

Our final stop was to see the lions. They have cubs at the zoo right now, and they were out when we arrived. Ela watched them, as well as the grown ups, with a very serious look on her face for quite some time before announcing, "Simba!" They really were quite fun to watch as they capered around.

By the time we finished looking at the lions, all that walking and the fact that it was well past nap time was catching up with the kids, so we decided to call it a day. Everyone agreed that it had been a very pleasant visit. I love having a free zoo so close by, and it worked out really well for the party. Ela was finally ready to get back into the stroller for the hike back up the hill to the car.

I think she had a good time!