Oji Zoo

Yesterday Rin and I went to Oji zoo with the other Moms (Hachi, Yukari and Sayoko) and their babies (Yuuto, Fuuka and Yuito). Of course they all fell asleep the moment we got to the zoo's front gate! They all woke up a little later though and we had a good time looking at the animals. Here is a koala and I'll try to post some more pics on facebook once the camera battery finishes charging!

Happy Year of the Tiger!

It's a little early, but Happy New Year to everyone from the whole Kanou family! I hope you all have a grrrrreat new year!

Merry Christmas 2009

Have you been good? Here is Santa-Rin to bring you some Christmas cheer!

Rice for Rin

I fed Rin his first solid food today: rice gruel. He really seemed to like it, eating it up with a big smile and getting it all over himself. (Of course I stripped him down to his diapy before I gave it to him. ) Unfortunately I forgot to take a pic, so you'll have to wait until the next feeding to see him covered in gloopy rice.

Happy Halloween!

Unfortunately we were too busy to do a Halloween party this year, but we did get Rin dressed up in his little pumpkin suit and here he is!

BCG : ASAP

I took Rintarou to the Sanda city health and welfare center today to get his BCG vaccination. He was supposed to have gotten it in September, but we were away in the States so we had to put it off. He was a very good boy and only cried a tiny bit, although it looked like it really hurt a lot.

This is us waiting to get checked. We were number 31 in line, and there were plenty of babies after us.

This is Rin with his sleeve off; doesn't he look tough?

Here is Rin getting checked by the doctor.

And here is the final shot.

You did great Rin!

Fly Like a Baby

On September 8th we'll be taking off from Kankuu and going to the U.S. for a one month stay with my family. I'm so excited!

Also please check out my latest post on Bibilomania

Book List Year 4

お宮参り (O-Miya Mairi: Baby's First Temple Visit)

Two weeks ago Sunday we took Rin to Nakayama Temple for his first temple visit ceremony, and accompanying photo-shoot. It was brutally hot and he had to wait a long time on the train and at the temple and again at the photo-studio, but he was a little trooper and didn't cry at all.

Here he is with Shoichi and me and his obaa-chan after the ceremony. We had quite a time getting the kimono on him. No one in our group had any idea how it was supposed to go on, and we just kind of tied it in place. The other families seemed to know what they were doing and tied it on quite elegantly, but we got there late and just had to tie it any which way.

The ceremony itself was quite lovely. A monk chanted some blessings over the babies (Rin and two little girls) and his voice was really rich and deep and sonorous almost vibrated. The room where the ceremony was held was beautiful too. We weren't allowed to take photos but everything was done in gorgeous wood, covered in shiny red and black lacquer with golden tasseled ornaments hanging from the ceiling.

After the ceremony we went to the photo-studio at the mall for the official portrait. The photos all came out great, but darn were they expensive. Here is Dad and Julie in their Sunday best. (Dad had to buy a new tie at the mall because his original tie clashed horribly with his suit.)

Finally here is me and Sho-chan in our Sunday best.

Pump up the Jam

We tried the pump for the first time this morning and now Sho-chan is giving Rin his first bottle. It seems to be going pretty well and they look so cute together!

Pee-pee Attack, Shiso!?! and a New Blog!

1. I've been gradually getting into the swing of being a mom, the feeding, the bathing, the sleepless nights and the pee-pee and poopy diapers. I guess I was a little bit too cavalier about the diapers though because a few days ago when I was changing Rin, he let fly with a little yellow stream right all over me, the mat and the futon. Now I make sure to put a wipe down over his little equipment before initiating the diaper-change.


2. It's that time of year again; time for Pepsi to come out with a new weird limited edition summer beverage, and this year is a topper. They've made shiso soda. Shiso is a green leaf with a bit of a pungent flavor that's apparently called perilla in English, though I've never heard of it (and neither has the spell-checker, apparently). I'm a big fan of shiso in all kinds of dishes, (especially cold shiso and pickled plum spaghetti), but I never would have thought to make a soda out of it. Give it a try if you get the chance, I guarantee you're in for quite an experience!

3. Since all my relatives are clamoring for pictures of Rin, I've decided to make a new blog just with pictures of him which will hopefully be updated daily.

Chillaxin'

Sorry for the lack of updates. We've been pretty busy with Rin. He's just getting cuter and cuter every day, and is (fingers crossed) pretty good about sleeping for fairly long stretches. For now, here's a picture of him cuddling with Daddy, and I'll try to get more pics up later!

A Star is Born!

加納麟太朗 (Rinatarou Karl Kanou) was born this morning June 16th at 7:16 am! He weighed 3175 g and was 49 cm long. He is also the handsomest baby you have ever seen, (although I may be slightly biased.)


Beautiful eyes...


Cute little toesies...


and a great big yawn.


Posing with Mom!

The Face!

We finally got a good ultrasound pic of Rintarou facing outwards! Enjoy!


Can you see the face? Here, look again:

It's (really) a boy!

We went to the ob/gyn again today and we got 100% kintama confirmation. I actually saw the balls my self today so it's official.
Also; last time we went we were told that the baby was upside-down and I'd have to sleep on my right side to encourage him to turn over. Well so I did for 3 weeks, and he turned over! Yeah! I was worried I might have to have a C-section, but the doctor said that most babies will right themselves before 30 weeks and it's only after that you have to begin worrying.

A bit of bad news is that we'll have to change docs again. I'm sure the next doc will be great too, but I've really come to like Dr. Fujioka as she has a really good sense of humor and really makes the visits enjoyable. I think bedside manner is really important in an ob/gyn. (To tell the truth I also felt very comfortable with her because she was also a jolly, chubby lady like me)

More later... I have a bunch of pics I've been meaning to upload, maybe I'll get to them on my day off tomorrow!

It's (probably) a boy!

So by this time most readers of this blog (all 3 or 4 of you) have probably heard that we have a tentative gender identification.

We went for the 6 month checkup on Sunday and Dr. Fujioka told us that "the probability is very high" that the baby is a boy, but it's still not 100%. We saw the ultrasound and Dr. Fujioka pointed out what may or may not have been the elusive baby balls, but she said because the baby is facing away it's very difficult to tell. Hopefully we'll get a clearer picture on the 7 month checkup.

For now though we're going with the doctor's judgement and calling him Rintarou. I think he may very well be a boy though, 'cause little Rintarou can kick like a mini karate-master.