18 weeks and 1 more week

I had my first prenatal appointment with Dr. Shoji this week. Sanae (the Japanese nurse at the clinic who coordinates prenatal care for all the OB patients on the base) came with us. She calls me "Sabrina-chan." We work together a lot at the clinic because the provider I work with downstairs in MilMed is the only one who is credentialed to do OB.  Anyway, we got to the clinic, they had me fill out paperwork, give a urine sample in the overwhelmingly pink bathroom, check my blood pressure in their automated machine, then we went back for the ultrasound. It was nice to see the baby whole and kicking.  We payed ¥ 100 for a copy of the ultrasound (≈100 pennies).  Your guess is as good as Dr. Shoji's as to what the baby's gender is.  He said, "I did not see penis.  Maybe girl."  I was having trouble getting the video to load on blogger so I had to take a video of it with my iPhone.  I hope you enjoy the kids' commentary and the industrious sound of my washing machine in the background.

Then we went for a short tour of the birthing facilities.  Here is labor and delivery room option #1.  I am not sure what is in the silver cans in the window sill.  As soon as the baby is born, they take it into the next room over to do their checks, then they bring it back to you once it's stable.  You have to stay in this room for 2 hours after delivery before you transfer to your recovery room.  

And here is labor and delivery room option #2.  I have heard they put plastic down on the tatami mats.  I have also heard you are only allowed to labor in here and then when you're ready to push you have to transfer to the room above.  In both rooms the dads have a tiny, rickety stool to sit on in the corner.  

After delivery you either pay ¥ 5,000 for a private room ($50) or you stay in this room for 3-5 days, depending on how you delivered.  Once again, dad's get a really comfortable chair.

Should be fun, eh?

It's starting to be light in the mornings when I have to wake the kids up to go, so now I get to take pictures of them sleeping.  Rafe likes to go to sleep with Baby.  He tucks her in gently next to him and reads her a story.  Obviously, he would not be a safe co-sleeper; he's all over the place.

Vivien has finally decided to pee in the potty (again)!  The conversation preceding this momentous change of mind went something like this:

"Vivi, when will you be ready to learn to pee in the potty?"

"When I am 3?"

"Oh, you have been 3 for quite some time."

Holds up 2 fingers

"In two weeks?  You want to potty train at Nana's house?"

"No, I want to do it at home.  Pause.  I am ready to go pee on the potty now."

Hallelujah dance.

She's a bladder control champ.  Now, if we could only master #2 . . . There's a definite mental block there.  But in the meantime, she is enjoying wearing her panties to bed, whether she decides to sleep beneath her fairy tree or in her nest.  

 I decided to enroll Rafe in Kawashimo Youchien with Vivien for next year.  He is doing so well with his Japanese I didn't want to halt his progress, and if he goes with Vivi I'll be able to send him on the bus instead of taking him back and forth every day.  And I'm sure I will be very happy to have that time when the baby is here!  He meets the cut-off by 7 days, so he'll be the youngest in his class.  Vivien is ecstatic to be able to share her school with him and has been filling him in on all the ins and outs of life at Kawashimo.  I drove over there to fill out his paperwork on Friday, and I had to take a picture (while stopped at a stoplight) of this funny building we always pass.  How could anyone resist?

As a side, while I was there filling out paperwork, Vivien's teacher Erika-sensei told me that of all the American kids in the class, Vivien is the best at speaking Japanese.  I was pleased as punch to hear it!
The youchien is on a little side street.  Actually, it's quite a ways off the street--you can't drive to it at all.  The parking lot is right off the street, then it's a 3 minute walk between houses and gardens in a Japanese neighborhood to the actual school.  But on the little side street you take to get to the parking lot there are always a lot of people walking and riding bikes.  I happened to pull out right as 2 fleets of school-aged bikers going in opposite directions passed each other.  It was quite crowded on the one-lane-road-sized two-lane street, so I stopped till the bikes cleared a bit.

 We went out for some ramen with friends on Friday night.  The kids love to practice using their chopsticks.  We, however, do not love picking up 10 pairs of chopsticks off the floor when we leave.

 We have been enjoying a nice Saturday morning swim for the last two weeks.  There is an awesome wading pool at the gym that the kids love.  Vivien likes to pretend to be a "moor-maid."  She will float on her back while holding onto the edge with both hands and she will put her ears underwater, but she still practically has a seizure any time her nose goes under.  Rafe scared everyone yesterday when he made a dash for the big pool, turned around, plopped down on his stomach at the edge, and slid right in.  He just wanted to hang onto the wall for a bit, and then he climbed back out no problem.  The Japanese lifeguards who had started hurrying over to save him stopped and gave him a round of applause.

Saturday night we had a branch talent show.  Drew played "Wipeout" on a borrowed drum set with Bro. White.  It was mutually agreed that it was very good, but also very loud!  Drew and I also performed a special dance number we have been working on for the last few weeks.  It included light sabers . . . 

 A few months ago on Facebook someone had posted a disco version of the Star Wars theme, and I had thought to myself at the time, "Self, I bet if we used that song, we could get Drew to do a silly dance with us for the branch talent show."  And it turns out we were right!  I watched a bunch of So You Think You Can Dance routines and Saturday Night Fever tutorials on youtube and pulled out some moves I thought we could manage, then we worked on the dance during the evenings for about 2 weeks.  In my pre-performance jitters I forgot to have someone film the whole thing from the beginning, but one of our friends caught the last half of it for us.  

Another woman in the ward also said she recorded it, so if she got more of it I will switch out the videos when she sends it.  I was very proud of Drew for doing it with me.  And just for the record, he said he had fun!

Today was Sunday and we had a surprise birthday party/going away party for the senior missionary couple that's been serving in our branch for the last 2 years.  Rafe missed his nap today and fell asleep in the car on the way over, so he spent the majority of the party curled up on a snuggly blanket in the corner.  He is getting so big!  Just look at his boyishness!

And now, 2 random pictures.  I found this painting in the craft room today.  Vivien told me it's a self portrait of she and Rafe.  I love the way she draws faces!

 And, one more picture of Vivien being Princess Aurora on a very precarious and uncomfortable bed of laundry baskets she made and got onto all by herself.  

Hopefully, I will be in Utah next week!  Space-A Travel, here we come!

A Smattering

The other day we got home from school/work and the weather was nice, so we took the balance bikes for a whirl on the sea wall.  

 They're actually getting pretty good.  Vivi can coast for a few feet on a downhill ramp.  Rafe says "I help you" when he gets tired and he wants me to push him.  

I had a short fit of homemaking while Drew was on duty last week.  I wanted something tall to sit in a vase with a lovey-dovey inscription we got for our wedding, so I tried my hand at an origami rose.  I think it took me an hour and a half, and it is much too white for what I wanted, but it IS quite pretty.  And it was the first time I'd ever done crease paper origami, so that was educational.

 I also ripped open a package of picture frames that's been sitting accusingly on the floor in my living room for 3 months, put some pictures I had lying around inside of them (they are all of Vivien . . .), and stuck them haphazardly on the wall with industrial glue.  

 Sadly, they didn't stick too well.  They looked rather drunken by the next day.  I'll have to figure something else out, and maybe print out some pictures of Rafe in the mean time so he doesn't develop a complex.  

Drew managed to get Vivi on the slopes three times this season.  The 2nd time she had stuffed a Lalaloopsie doll in the toe of her boot and didn't tell Drew about it, so that trip wasn't much fun, but she seemed to genuinely enjoy the other times!  

 Riding the ski lift.  

 This is Shingo and his family.  He is an ambulance driver for our clinic on base and is super nice.  He works at the ski resort on the weekends.  

 Ski lift selfies, Vivi trying her hardest not to smile. 

 Drew unashamedly bribes Vivi with ice cream so she'll do more runs.

 And if there's room after the ice cream they have some lunch.  Rice? Of course, rice.  

 I think she's had a surprisingly good attitude about it, and I think she's enjoyed the one-on-one time with her daddy.  Maybe next season she'll learn how to stop without crashing.  

Vivi's youchien backpack lost a strap this week, so we hit up a second hand store out in town and found these little beauties for about $8 total.  Vivi went with Anpanman and Rafe was (thankfully) pleased with Snoopy ("noopy").  

 He wore his backpack around all Saturday.  We went to the pool together while Drew and Vivi skiied. 

And now some random cuteness.

 And random sadness.  Oh, he's sad because I wouldn't let him wear Vivi's sunglasses in the bathtub.  ALL the secretions . . .

And here's the littlest peanut.  We find out the gender on Thursday.  Vivien would prefer a sister named Vivien.  She said if we have a boy we should not keep it.  I kind of hope it's a girl so we don't have to deal with that . . .

 Also, I knitted this squishy ball for a baby shower last weekend.  I want to make one for everyone I know!  

 And one more of the kids and their beloved Daddy sailor.  

ONE AND A HALF MORE WEEKS OF WORK!