40w1d

So as expected I am past my due date for the second time :-) I am glad to have got through Liam's birthday and now don't mind that there are going to be at least a few days between their birthdays. Waiting 2 weeks doesn't sound too fun though so I hope miss decides to make her appearance before GW or at least the end of it. I don't really have any signs of labour though and baby still seems to be quite high up. I tried lots of stuff out to try and start labour when I was late with Liam and nothing worked so this time I am just trying to get out and walk most days. Unfortunately the weather has been rather dodgy but we did have a fairly decent walk this afternoon when the rain had cleared up.

Today we spent an unusual day at home. I have been spending way too much time on the computer but also had a long phone chat with a friend in Osaka which broke the day up a bit. We have lots on tomorrow which is good. Liam has a dentist appointment in the morning, then we are meeting up with a friend for lunch and after that will do some shopping.

Liam's birthday party on Sunday went well. The food was yummy, all the kids seemed to enjoy playing together and the mums got to have a good chat. We went out to have sushi with the inlaws that night. Then on Monday, his actual birthday, mum and I took him to a nearby safari park. We took a picnic lunch and he enjoyed checking out the animals and having a play at the little amusement park there. He then had swimming that afternoon and loved telling anyone who would listen that he was now 5.

Am sure I will be updating again before Miss K makes her appearance but any bring on labour vibes would definitely be appreciated :-)

39 weeks!

I was 39 weeks on Wednesday so hopefully will have a baby in my arms before the end of the month. I'm pretty sure my doctor waits for two weeks after the due date to induce but I really hope that doesn't happen to me. Especially as that would be May 5th, the last day of Golden Week. I really don't want to be induced either. Anyway, I am happy that it looks like I will be around for both Liam's birthday party on Sunday and his actual birthday on Monday. My mum arrived on Monday and we have been getting stuff organised for his birthday. We are just doing an afternoon tea but want to have lots of yummy things. We have decided on gingerbread (we have leftover dough from Xmas), a mango cheesecake, Costco muffins, cheese, crackers, vegie stickers, salsa, guacamole, chips and a big fruit platter. Plus cake of course! We are making a chocolate cake with a Spiderman topper. Very dangerous that this will be all consumed before my doctor's appointment on Tuesday but I am a bit beyond caring. I have been craving so much sweet stuff lately and have just polished off a small bag of mini eggs courtesy of my friend's trip back to Canada.

We have been doing lots of weeding the last couple of days and my butt and legs are killing me. The whole crouching down thing is a bit hard at the moment so I sat on the ground and did it but ouch every time I get up or sit down at the moment. I have also had heaps of those sudden pains in the upper thigh that only seem to happen when you're pregnant. I'm sure I had them from quite early on with Liam but this time had been lucky up until now.

I have two classes tomorrow which probably should be my last before baby is born. Mum and Liam are coming with me just in case. I guess if my waters suddenly broke or something it mightn't be very good being out alone. Ryuji will stay home with a list of chores to do in preparation for Sunday :-)

Have a fab weekend all!

Nothing to blog about......

But will do so anyway as I'm bored :-) Ryuji and Liam are happily watching the Shin chan movie as I type. I don't think Liam as ever seen the show before but he is giggling away watching it. Him and Ryuji are usually playing all sorts of crazy fighting games at this time of night so they are at least a bit quieter this way.

I had three classes today so was quite a busy beaver. Two were in the city but about half an hours drive away from each other and the last one was here at home. I am glad that I am managing to keep busy as otherwise I would be going insane just sitting around. I have quite a few classes planned for next week too so it will be interesting to see if I am able to do them all or Miss K will suddenly make her appearance. I don't think she will appear before her due date which is the 21st but one never knows I guess. My mum is arriving on Monday so it looks like she will definitely be here when I give birth which is a relief. I will know that Liam is being properly taken care of. I have threatened Ryuji if he doesn't behave I will leave him at home and have mum with me for the birth. I had both of them with me when Liam was born and I'm sure she was probably more supportive but I think I had probably better let Ryuji be there.

I took myself out for a stroll this afternoon as I have been slacking off a bit in the exercise department. I walked at quite a leisurely pace but at one stage managed to roll my ankle and almost fall over. Luckily I didn't but I must have looked quite a sight. It probably didn't help that I was mailing on my phone at the time haha.

Tomorrow will be spent getting the house in order for mum's arrival. I know she won't mind if it's a bit of a mess but she always has her house in a pristine state when we visit so I should put in an effort. I have already written Ryuji a list of chores to do. Unfortunately it looks like the weather is going to be dodgy. We have lots of weeding to but that might have to be put off until after mum arrives. We are having a birthday party for Liam next Saturday and if the weather permits it will be outside so we will have to tidy things up a bit. We usually do our vegie garden around this time of year too but as we will be in Australia for most of July and August have decided not to bother as all the lovely produce would be wasted on Ryuji.

Okay, hopefully will have something more exciting to blog about next time :-)

The terrible almost 5s

My darling son Liam is proving to be a bit of monster lately. I don't know if it's the age or has something to do with the baby coming but it's a very trying time. Probably me being 9 months pregnant and constantly irritable doesn't help dealing with things either. Anyway, today has been especially bad. We went out for hanami with a couple of other international families and he was generally very badly behaved. He is always worse when Ryuji is around as he knows he can get away with more but today was just bad. He was whingey, defiant and plain rude. I gave him a big lecture in the car on the way home and he said how sorry he was but of course that's only until next time. Ryuji and him spend a lot of time at the inlaw's house on the weekend and I decided that he wouldn't be going there this afternoon after his bad behaviour. That of course resulted in another melt down and for the first time ever he has just put himself to sleep on the couch (with lots of tears of course) Ryuji didn't help matters by going out anyway but it's probably preferable that way as Liam is much calmer when he is not around.

So now we have some quiet but I don't know how I am going to stay sane the next week until my mum arrives. I know it will be easier when she does as she won't take any of his crap either and will help me deal with him. I have almost finished my private lessons so we have lots of free time this week and I would usual try to do some social stuff but I think it will be better to stay at home and avoid anymore stressful situations with Liam. He is generally quite well behaved when he is just with me and even though I hear at lot of NO lately I can usually bribe or threaten him into behaving. So yeah I guess I take advantage of the time before the baby comes and give him so quality mummy time. The weather is supposed to be nice so lots of walking might be on the menu too.

In other annoying news, we are hancho for a year from this month. As all of you living in Japan probably know this involves the fun filled task of organising the kairanban and all the other notices that the 15 or so houses in our group need to have delivered. It's a seriously stupid system and I think we are going to be worst hancho in history as I am not very keen about doing it as obviously I will be busy with other stuff. Ryuji is computer illiterate so I guess I will get roped into doing a few things but I have no idea what is going to happen when we are in Australia for almost 2 months over the summer. Anyway, he has a meeting about it all tonight and then next Sunday night another one. I guess they think none of us have lives and are willing to give up our Sunday nights. Crazy!

I am now on weekly appointments so off to the doctor tomorrow. Ryuji's mother is going to come over and look after Liam which is good. As I think I said before I have to have blood taken and he would freak out about that. We made a massive picnic lunch today and I pigged out so I'm sure my weight isn't going to be pretty but as there is only about 2 weeks until my due date I am really beyond caring.

Alright off to enjoy this unusual peace and quiet and read my book for a while.

36 weeks!

Liam and I got up bright and early today to head to the clinic. I like to get there by opening time (9 o'clock) as it means you get out a hell of lot quicker. There were a few people in front of us but we were out before 10 which was good. Everything is looking good with baby! She is around 2600g and the doctor said it was okay to go into labour anytime now as I was past 36 weeks. I thought 37 weeks was considered full term in the western world but as I am 37 weeks on Wednesday all should be okay. Baby isn't engaged or anything so I can't see her making her appearance anytime too soon. My weight was less than at my appointment 2 weeks ago which I was very happy about. I haven't been doing anything too different but I guess pregnancy just makes your weight do crazy things. I have just had my usual after doctor pig out which was as enjoyable as usual :-)

So now I am on weekly appointments. It will be good when my mum gets here as she can look after Liam. He is not too badly behaved but wants to know about everything that is going and is also constantly asking me if I am going to have a needle as he is so scared of them. I have to get a blood test next week apparently so I will have to think about distracting him or seeing if baachan can look after him.

The weather is doing very strange things today. It was nice and sunny when I got up so I hung out all the washing but then it started going very dark so I brought everything in which was fortunate as it started raining torrentially. It's been sunny and rainy again since so I don't think the heavens can make up their mind what they want to do. A friend who lives about 30 minutes from here said it was snowing too. Crazy! Where on earth is spring? All the rain is going to make the cherry blossoms disappear too which isn't good as we have hanami planned for the weekend.

My crazy father rang up last night as he had heard from one of his friends (whose daughter I am friends with) that Liam had had his daycare graduation. My friend saw the photos I posted on Facebook and must have either showed or told her dad about them. So my dad was all keen about getting on FB which I can't say I was too excited about so I told him I would just send him the link for the photos instead. I know some people are happy to have their parents on FB but I think I can live without it for now :-)

Liam has swimming this arvo but not for a few hours so I should get motivated and do some chores. Maybe pack my hospital bag? Have a great Monday everyone!

So sleepy!

I made the mistake of having real coffee late yesterday afternoon and it kept me awake most of the night. I have been limiting the amount of coffee I drink during pregnancy and it now seems to have a crazy effect on me. Oh well! I tried to go to sleep around 11PM as I actually felt tired but still felt like I hadn't slept at 3AM. Ryuji then woke up and couldn't go back to sleep either so we had random chats until 5AM. Then Liam came into our bed and we all managed to go back to sleep. Ryuji had to work today so got up at 6:50 muttering about how sleepy he was and then I unfortunately had to get up at 7:30 as we had to leave the house early. Liam was still sleeping at 8:15 so I then had to drag him out of bed too.

Liam had his daycare graduation this morning and we had to be there by 9:30. The daycare he has been going to for the last 4 years only accepts kids up until the year they turn 4. Well kids older than 4 can go part time but not full time so it would be really expensive if you wanted your kids there all the time. Being born in April, Liam is the oldest in his class so had to do everything first. He did well considering he hasn't been going much this month and hadn't been there to "practice". After the ceremony we all had to say a few words and of course I was first. I never know what to say but managed to mumble something. Everyone then had snacks and played bingo. Liam went mad eating all the chocolate he could find as he doesn't get much in our household. We could leave a bit before 12 so Liam and I went to have sushi for lunch. It was very nice and I didn't make a pig of myself which was good for both my weight and our finances. I am back to the doctor in a couple of days so trying to be very good. I just had an early dinner of vegies in white sauce as I figure the earlier I eat the more time I have to burn it off before I go to bed and also I have less chance of getting heartburn. I did have plans to do the exercise bike but I am too sleepy. I have done it three times this week though and will make sure I get on there tomorrow.

Umm what else? I booked our trip home from Australia a couple of days ago. I had booked the trip over a while ago when Jetstar was having a sale but hadn't done the return as it was quite expensive. Jetstar is currently having a 2 for 1 sale though so I really should have waited to book both flights. Oh well! We are still paying less than 7man yen for Liam and my return flights so it's very reasonable. I will have to ring up the airline and add baby girl on after she is born. Even though we have already decided on her name I am a bit worried about how the spelling will be on her passport. I have decided just to get her Japanese one for this trip as it will take too long to organise her citizenship and Aussie passport. I have heard that the Japanese passport office's are good about allowing the English spelling of names but I think I would rather get the okay first and then organise her ticket. Apparently Jetstar doesn't charge anything for kids under 2 which is rather nice. I remember having to pay 20% or something for Liam when we traveled on other airlines.

Okay, this is a very unexciting post so I will be off. As I have more free time lately I am trying to blog more though!

Recent happenings

It has been a while since I last blogged. I often think about it but then get caught up in the general craziness of life. I finished teaching at the school last year so shouldn't be as busy as usual but we still seem to have something going on everyday. I prefer being busy to just sitting around though and if it means the time passes quicker until my due date that is always good too.

I am 36 weeks tomorrow so excited to be in the last month. I wish I could stop putting on weight though. With Liam, I didn't put on any weight for the last two months so I was hoping that would happen this time too but that is certainly not the case! I am eating quite well and trying to do low carb at night but the scales are being very nasty. At my appointment last week, my doctor told me I could put on another two kilograms but that's it! I don't really care about what he says but I would prefer not to put on much more myself as it will be harder to get it off. Baby girl is looking to be average Japanese size. Dr predicts she will be around 3kg but we will have to wait and see. We have changed our mind about her name too! I was referring to her as Miss M but she is now Miss K :-) It is actually a shortened version of the name we were first thinking of. The M name was a bit long so we decided simpler was probably better.

It is less than three weeks until my mum arrives which we are all looking forward too. I am hoping baby stays put until then as I would worry about Liam being looked after by the inlaws. I'm sure he would be okay but I would be constantly worried about what he was being fed and whether his teeth were being brushed. I shouldn't be too rude though as Ryuji came home with 100,000 yen today from his father as a present for the baby. Very nice of him! We will just put in our savings as they will become very depleted over the next year. April is a big month for bills so it will definitely come in handy.

We have had a couple of fun international family get togethers over the last couple of weeks. The last two Sundays, the three of us, a British woman and her hubby and baby as well as a German woman, her hubby and three boys have hung out. Last Sunday, we had a picnic in the park which was really nice. It was a bit windy but nice and sunny so after the picnic we had a good walk around the park. There is also a mini zoo so the kids checked out the very sad looking animals. It's fun to hang out with similar families. Unfortunately, the other two women don't have driver's licences and live in very isolated areas so we can only really meet up on the weekend or if I visit them. I'm sure we'll work something out though. I have already invited them to Liam's birthday party next month. We usually give him a big party but as his birthday is two days before my due date we weren't sure what we going to do for him. After chatting with my mum, we decided to just do an afternoon tea which if need be can be cancelled if the baby comes early and I am in hospital. He is turning 5 which he is very excited about so it will be nice to do something for him.

I did my interpreting job last week and it went well. There were only 6 foreign doctors that I had to interpret for and they were all very nice. Unfortunately the tour guide was a little annoying and I cringed while interpreting some of her not so funny jokes but it was all quite doable. We made a sudden trip to some caves though and I had trouble pulling out stalagmites and stalactites. Luckily the doctors were happy to help me out haha.

I have a Japanese friend and her two kids coming over for a play and then dinner tomorrow night. I never know what to feed my Japanese friends as feel funny cooking Japanese stuff but am also not sure what Western stuff they would eat. I have decided to keep things easy though and will make ribs as Ryuji loves them, a vegie gratin and a salad. Hopefully it will be enough to feed everyone. I wouldn't mind adding another dish but don't know what would go with the other stuff. Then on Friday I am babysitting my Aussie friend's 4 year old and 2 year old while she goes off to the hairdresser for a straight perm. Liam is going to love having so many play dates. He and my friend's 4 year old have been friends since birth but as they have very different personalities sometimes clash. Hopefully Friday will be peaceful though. It will be good if the weather's nice and we can get out for a walk to the park.

Alright getting sleepy so chat again soon :-)