亀さん Procrastinating Turtle

ベビのあだ名をLittle Dragonからカメさんに改名しなくてはならない様子。出産の際にもたついていた姉よりも（でも予定日より２日早い）、さらにのんびりの様です。今日が予定日なのに全然出て来る様子がなく、相変わらずヌクヌク中！？急に寒くなったから、木枯らしが吹いている外よりも私のお腹の中の方が居心地が良いのも分かるけど、長くて残り１週間も待たなければ行けないかと思うと、ちょっと気が重いなぁ…　妊婦飽きたよ〜！お姉ちゃんが、これ以上甘ちゃんになる前に出て来て…

It looks like I need to rename Little Dragon to Procrastinating Turtle instead... His older sister was called turtle during her birth because she took her time to come out to say hi to the world, but she still showed up two days earlier than the due date. Well, this one seems like going to stay a little longer than 40 weeks (today is the due date). Is it because it got really cold outside and he'd rather want to be cozy in where it's warmer? Understandable, but everyone is getting inpatient here and I don't know if I can wait one more week at the longest. Hurry up, kid!!! Please come out before your sister gets spoiled more and gets worse and bratty... 
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Baby Shower ベビーシャワー

 (photo of the table is via my friend N)

お友達が嬉しいことに、ベビーシャワーを開いてくれました。とても嬉しかった〜！Georgetown Cupcake（テレビ番組のため、ちまたではかなり有名のカップケーキのお店）のカップケーキまであり、オムツケーキはなんと手作り！（Nちゃん器用！）楽しいく美味しいひと時を過ごしてきました。

チビのことで初回と違って満喫どころじゃない、今回のマタニティーライフ。健診で問題がなく、順調に育っているからこそだけれども、緊張もﾄﾞｷﾄﾞｷもなく、大きなお腹が邪魔で疲れるなぁ〜と思うくらい程度なのが本音。でも、こうやってお祝いしてもらうと、実感が湧いて来るものなんだね…　苦笑

My kind friends throw me a baby shower earlier this week. I was so touched by their kindness. One of them actually made this awesome looking diaper cake, and the cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake were for dessert! ...yum yum...

With the second pregnancy, especially being preoccupied with Akari, I hardly have had time to sort of "enjoy" being pregnant, but thinking that my big tummy is in my way when I have to pick up Akari. In other words, I don't think the reality of being pregnant has sunk in all the way... But this shower made me realize that I'm about to have another baby (duh!) and we are crazy to have another one again (DUH!!)... 

公園通い parks

デイケアが終了してから早くも３週間。公園やプレイデート通いの毎日で、最近は「おんも」と言うようにまでなった。さすが元気一杯の１歳児。日によっては午前と午後に１回「おんも」に行きたがるので、現在妊娠３５週目の身重＆運動不足の私もアカリと一緒に昼寝をするようになってしまったよ… 基本、１人で歩かせる様にはしているけれど、時と場合によっては抱っこが必要なので、鞄や荷物を足すと私は合計とてつもない重りを抱えて歩いていることになる。計算すると、多くて６０ﾎﾟﾝﾄﾞ（２７㌔）!!　ひぇ〜

Since the daycare ended, it's been three weeks already. I have never been this busy before. Almost everyday, we have been at a park, sometimes twice a day! She just loves being outside, and now she says "Onmo (outside)" and tries to run out of the door all the time! All these times going to parks also make me pretty tired to the point I need to take a nap also... Well, after all, sometimes I have to pick up Akari and at most, I would be carrying about 60lb. of the extra weight in total... Geez!!!

アップアップな日々 busy days

相変わらず、仕事、育児、家事、妊娠と自分でも欲張りすぎたなと思いながらアップアップしながらこの記録的な猛暑に耐えてます。（ってエアコンガンガンつけて、アイスを頻繁に食べていたり…）今年は４０度を超える日が多くて、妊婦には辛い〜　日本程湿気がないのが唯一の救いだけど、暑がりの我々親子は果たして日本の夏大丈夫なのかな、まだまだ先の心配をしてみたり…　

As always, juggling work, parenthood, house-chores, and pregnancy hasn't been easy for me, and i am taking one day at a time while enduring this crazy heatwave... with A/C and ice cream. This hot summer is a little too much for this prego, although I cannot imagine how things are in very-humid Japan. As much as I want to go back, I am not looking forward staying there one summer in the near future! Akari gets sweaty too easily too... poor thing.

まだかなぁ anxious

昨夜の夢は怖かった…　やっと出てきたと思ったら、ウサちゃんの眉毛がマーカーで書いたのごとく濃くって、オッサンみたいな顔してたよ〜 （誰かさんの眉毛に似ていませんように！）

相変わらずウサギさんが出て来る気配がゼロ…　気がつけば18日と同じ23日に出産予定だった２組のカップルは揃って先週の火曜日に無事出産。なんとなく、取り残された気分…　コレばっかりは焦っても仕方ないんだけどね〜　41週目に入っても生まれない場合は促進剤を使用するらしいので、出来ればそればかりだけは避けたいかも。

ウサギさん、誰かに似てのんびり系なのかもね。それもとおばあちゃんが遊びに来るのをまっているのかも。…もしかして卯年でイースターの日に生まれたりして（苦笑）

I had a scary dream last night. After I finally got to see Rabbit, she had these really thick eyebrow as if someone drew with Sharpie! (I wonder where I got that idea from... haha)

Even though this is not a race, 2 couples who were expecting on 18th and 23rd (same as ours) of this month supposedly had their babies on 5th! For no reasons, I feel a little left out. Maybe I am anxious to see how she looks like.

So far, no signs of Rabbit. I was told that they will induce the labor if nothing happens by 41th week. ugh. That's definitely I want to avoid.

Maybe Rabbit has similar personality to Beejay who doesn't rush things. Or she is waiting for the grandma's arrival. Or maybe she will pop out on Easter, living up to her nickname!

最近ビージェイがハマっている(？)のが、人を出しに妊婦用のスーペースに駐車すること。物好き…

Recently Beejay has been taking advantage of these signs... Glad to see he gets some kind of enjoyment from this pregnancy.

baby shower

:: お持ち帰りのお土産として作ったマカロン。コレって本当に難しい！３度目のトライ… ::

:: I made macaroon as a party favor. They are so difficult to make and this was my 3rd time trying and finally got a decent result... ::

いろいろあって更新が３週間遅れですが、母親と義姉がRabbitのためにベビーシャワー（出産前のお祝い）を３月６日に実家のある地元で開いてくれました。久しぶりに逢う友人や親戚もいたよ。

It's about 3 weeks late update, my mom and sister-in-law throw us a baby shower on March 6 back in Hampton Roads. It was very nice to see family and old friends we haven't seen in awhile.

Beecher ordered us a Rabbit cake! Cute, but everyone thought of a mouse at first!! 義姉がオーダーしてくれたウサギケーキ。箱を空けた瞬間みんなが、「えっ！？ネズミ？」（苦笑）

impulse buy 衝動買い

週末にTargetによったらこんな可愛いものを発見！思わず衝動買いしてしまう。…いや、自分用じゃなってば。気が早いけれど、もちろんラビット（卯年なので現在のニックネーム）用。

予定日まで８週間切った〜。やっとワシントンDCも暖かくなってきたし、胎動も頻繁になってきたので最近ルンルン気分。楽しみになってきました。チョコチョコと必要な物も揃ってきたよ〜　友達や親戚から頂いたりとすでに甘やかされているウサギさん。みんなに感謝♫感謝♪

This was our impulse buy from Target this past weekend! We had to get it since it was so cute!! ...No, it's not for me. I know it's a little early but it's for Rabbit (her nickname for now since 2011 is the year of Rabbit).

Now I have less than 8 more weeks to go!! Since finally it's getting warmer in Washington DC, and he movement has been more frequent and stronger, it's getting exciting! Also we have been getting ready for Rabbit's arrival, and our thoughtful and kind family and friends are sending us presents for Rabbit. Thank you so much everyone!! Surely she will love them. :)

可愛いイラストのCDと絵本はK＆Jから。さすがデザイナー友達。センスがいい♪
These CD and books with lovely illustrations are from K&J. Being a designer, she has good eyes for great illustration work!!

アメリカでの名字が Elefante（スペイン語で象さん）になるので、D&Jが象さんのぬいぐるみをプレゼントしてくたよ。手作りなんで世界で一個のウサちゃんの大切な物になるね〜★

Since Rabbit's last name will be Elefante (Elephant in Spanish), D&J got this elephant plush that is probably only one in this whole world since it looks like handmade! She will love it!!

ビージェイ側の叔母から。いろいろ考えて選んでくれたっぽい。象さんがビージェイでサルが私。結婚式とゾウとサルのテーマだったからしっかり覚えていてくれたみたい! しかも、ピンクが苦手な私たちの事を配慮してくれているし〜　お尻のフリフリとか女の子っぽいけど、全体的に甘すぎず気に入ってます。

Auntie Linda got these awesome outfits for Rabbit. She must put a lot of thoughts selecting them since they are not pink and overly girly, but very cute with Elephant (Beejay) and Monkey (me) on them! (We used the Elephant and Monkey theme for the wedding three years ago as well. )

義姉と甥っ子が私にくれたヨッシーのコインケース。Targetで見かけて衝動買いしたらしい（笑）アメリカではYoshiと呼ばれているヨッシーは私のこっちでのニックネームと一緒なのです〜 きっとウサちゃんに取られてしまうんだろうなぁ…

My sister-in-law and nephew got me this coin purse from Target. It was cute to learn that Brandon thought about me when he saw this at the store! ... I have feeling that Rabbit eventually will take this away from me... hehe

今年のクリスマス Christmas

今年はかなり張り切ったクリスマスカード。プリントゴッコ初心者なのに、インクを混ぜたりと無茶をしてしまった… スケッチは夏頃に出来上がっていたのに、実際に印刷し始めたのはクリスマス１週間前。

相変わらずです…

This was my second time using Gocco to print the card. Despite the fact I'm still getting hang of it, I ended up going all out by creating the registration device and mixing two inks. Pretty happy with the result though.

Although I had rough sketch done for the illustration around summer, I ended up putting off until a week before Christmas to finish the cards... Oh boy...

気がついたら… Oops!

前回の更新から２ヶ月以上も経っていた…　苦笑　
Opps! It's been more than two months since the last update!!!!↑　引越し屋にも呆れられる程、荷物が多かったらしい　苦笑
Even the mover made a comment that we got so many boxes... what a mess!!

いろいろイベントが重なりかなり忙しかったんだよね〜　８月末に急に引越しが決まり、９月はツワリと戦いながら荷造りに追われ、９月末に何だかんだで結局７年も住んでいたケンタッキーを後に、バージニアに戻ってきたよ。妊娠初期に独りで車１２時間も運転はさすがに辛かった〜!!!　休み休み来たのと、途中ウエスト・バージニアはずーっと雨だったので、１２時間もかかった…　１０月上旬からワシントンDC郊外のアレキザンドリアに住んでます〜　１４日に届いてから山積みになっていた段ボールもほぼ片付き、のんびり出来るかなと思ったのもつかの間、２週間程体調崩してて何も出来てない…　涙　

Well, there were so many things happened in the past two months and I was super busy, at least to say. Now we are in near Washington, DC, and back in Virginia after living in Kentucky for 7 years (initially we thought we will be there only up to 3 years! ha!). At the end of August, we found out that we are moving, and most of September, we were too busy packing everything despite of my morning sickness... We said good-bye to KY at the end of Sept, and moved to Alexandria, VA in the beginning of Oct. Unfortunately, our belonging did not get delivered until 14th.... ugh.

For most part, the place is organized but I have been not feeling all that great for the past 2 weeks, and haven't been productive or functioning at all... Hopefully this sinus infection will go away soon before it gets worse.

気がついたらもう既に１１月だし、お腹は出てきて入る洋服がないわで…　写真は先週妊娠14週目のとき…　そのうち自分の足が見えなくなるんだろうなぁ　苦笑

While I have been busy and sick, my tummy has been growing and I cannot fit into most of my clothes... The photo from the last week @14 weeks pregnant. It will be matter of time that I won't be able to see my feet!!!!