pretty smile

San Frecche

Hiroshima has a professional soccer team, San Frecche, and we got some free tickets to last night's game. The game didn't start till 7:00, but we arrived by bus about 6:15 with a packed supper (to avoid the artery-clogging hot dogs and fried octopus pancakes). This being their first soccer (um...football) game, the boys had no idea what was going on, but they loved the fans, the band, the songs and chants, and especially the bear mascot. We managed to stay for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half but at 8:15, Jan and I decided better to have the inevitable meltdowns closer to home rather than at the stadium. They did great in fact, but were so tired by the time they got into bed that Jolon told Jan he didn't need to tell a story. Now that's a first.

hint of a smile

Back to the villa

We just got back from a 5 night stay at the villa we went to last year on the little island, Shiraishi. Jolon came down with a fever the night before we were to leave so we postponed the trip for 2 days until we were sure he was well. Set off mid-morning on Wednesday and one taxi, 2 trains, another taxi and a ferry trip later we arrived. Jan took the boys straight to the beach and I came down a bit later with Esme in a sling. Jan and I managed to juggle Esme a bit and both of us cooled off in the water and then we all headed back for showers before dinner. Jolon suddenly looked hot again and sure enough was running a high fever. Wondering what we'd do with a baby and a sick kid in one room for the next 5 days, we sat down to a rather sad makeshift meal of homemade bread we'd luckily packed, processed cheese, peanut butter and honey. But by the next morning, the fever was gone and Jolon was fine. We got told off several times for having a 6 week old baby out and about---enough to make us take walks on isolated paths in the village rather than along the beach during the day. But really Esme did great. She got great naps on the walks and once I got her to sleep at night, she slept well and never woke the boys or Jan up when she whimpered for milk a few times at night. Juggling 3 kids was definitely more work but the weather was great and it was lovely being at the beach during the hottest part of the summer here. We managed a couple of breakfast hikes, took some evening strolls under the stars, saw some fireworks, went to the traditional dance festival on the beach the last night, and I took the boys on a sailboat one morning with Joy and her two kids. It was a good trip, and Jan and I both arrived back simultaneously refreshed and exhausted. Sitting down to lunch today with the boys at school, we realized that we hadn't had a proper conversation in days.

Oh and Esme smiled for the first time! Right at 6 weeks, earlier than both Jolon and Kellan. The funny thing was that I was holding her but a Japanese woman had come over and was talking to her. All of a sudden Esme's eyes lit up and she gave the most beautiful, big smile to this perfect stranger. But later that day she gave me a couple and she's been smiling a few times every day ever since.

the latest

Baby Esme is just on the verge of giving us some real smiles. Jan may have gotten the first one last night when he was holding her while listening to an Elvis song on the radio. The boys are out of school for a week and we were planning to go the villa on Sunday but Jolon came down with a fever late Sat. night. If everyone stays well, we're now planning to go on Wednesday and stay through the weekend. Boys are running us ragged. We keep forgetting to take Kellan to the toilet and he keeps peeing his pants. He can go on his own, and does occasionally, but really he's not quite to the point where he will stop a fun activity on his own and go. So we have no one to blame but ourselves when he pees on the bike seat or all over his chair during lunch . Jolon woke up with no fever this morning which most likely means he just had a summer cold and not the flu which is also going around.

Celebrated my birthday on Friday night with Jan's homemade pizza and a big chocolate zucchini cake. Jan and Jolon offered to buy me one from the bakery down the street but I had the time and 2 beautiful zucchinis, so I decided to make my own, along with some caramel ice cream. I'll have to make the ice cream for my Dad sometime when I get home. He will love it.

one month check-up

Good appointment. Esme has gained about 2 lbs and grown an inch and a half. She now weighs 9.6 lbs and is 21 inches long.

Her sleep pattern has changed some in the last week or so. We've been reminded of what happens to tiny babies during "the witching hour." Really fussy from 8 or 9 until 11. Which isn't so bad really because we can get through dinner and one of us can hold her while the other one gets the boys into bed. It's strange though how almost nothing will break the mood. She'll be fine for 5 minutes and then start whining again. Jan usually dances with her and I'll try the sling, nursing lots, carrying her upright, etc. When I'm ready for bed, I take her back to the dark bedroom, nurse her again and then swaddle her. Takes awhile, but when she does finally give in and go to sleep, she sleeps well. 5 hours in row last night (from 11:30 till 4:30). She's pretty good during the day and will either sleep late, till 9:00ish or take a long morning nap and then another long one in the afternoon.

Realizing that no one except myself will really care about this, (Jan couldn't be bothered to listen to it, much less read it) but I did find it fun to compare the weight and length stats at birth at again at one month. They're actually all very similar. Will probably be more interesting to compare again at one year.

Jolon:
weight at birth: 7.32 pounds one month: 8.54 pounds
length at birth: 19.8 inches 21.6 inches

Kellan:
7.28 pounds 9.35 pounds
19.6 inches 20.6 inches

Esme:
7.48 pounds 9.58 pounds
19.6 inches 21.2 inches

new blog

Throughout the pregnancy people would often ask Jolon if he thought the baby was going to be a girl or a boy. His answer constantly changed, but we all kept asking because sometimes he would give funny replies, like when he said he hoped it was a girl because he wanted to name her Ribbon-chan. Towards the end of the pregnancy I started trying to get him excited about either possibility because it was looking like Kellan might have some issues with a new baby, regardless of the sex, and we at least needed Jolon to be excited about the baby, be it girl or boy. So on our short walks to school in the mornings I began saying, “Well if it’s a boy we’re going to have 3 ninjas and if it’s a girl, we’re going to have 2 ninjas and a princess.” He seemed happy with that. Some days we’d discuss how he and Kellan would save the baby princess from the bad men, and other mornings how he and Kellan would train the baby ninja…teach him how to climb the castle walls, use bows and arrows, fight the dragons.

Well we ended up with a princess, and of course we’re all thrilled. And although she looks more beautiful then any princess I’ve ever seen (minus the baby acne) and she seems to be as demanding as any princess I could imagine (milk every two and a half hours please), in the spirit of not labelling her too early, we’re trying not to refer to her as “princess.” However, I couldn’t resist it as the name of the blog. We may have to change it when she’s two.