I love you, you love me

So C has been under the weather with another cold courtesy of preschool I am sure. She was really poorly today as she kept asking for cuddles "cuddle cuddle" and even fell asleep in the buggy at 5pm on our way back from midtown with Rieko. Her singing is great though adn she particularly likes to dance randomly in the street and break into the Barney song, I love you, you love me. She knows when she is being cute mind!!!

Cliff was being a bit annoying today as yesterday night I went out with Rieko for 1 drink ( first in over 1 month) but think he felt a bit left out. Didn't stay long as it was Rugby playing at the Hobgoblin, just pooped into Donkey and bought some fabric softner at 11:30pm and then was home by 12 midnight but anyway. C made him a lovely Fathers Day card at school and I gave him from C and I a lovely blue polo top from Next that I bought with Emma in the 45% off sale. He was happy but was being a right moaner all day even Rieko told him he was being unreasonable and to zip it!!!! Anyway Rieko kindly cooked 1000 gyoza for dinner tonight with miso and tonkatsu and ebisu biru so happy stomach equals happy husband for time being at least!!

The weather has been terrible though. Cliffs mum and aunt/uncle somehow missed the rain but today it bucketed down and was 29 degrees with horrible humidity. I am hoping C is feeling better tommorw though or else may have to do trip to docs.

We went to Maxs mums massive house on Friday as she got all the caterpillar ttogether. It was nice to meet them. Yukis mum was really sweet but they are all seriously loaded, Yukis family own a mineral water company!!! Would have to in order to afford the school fees that are frankly stupid!!! They have now asked me to take up the position of leadership for Caterpillar mummies ( why me????) I am the most unreliable one there is, so think I am going to pass this duty onto super organised Emma.

C really is setting into school life well now she is smiling more in the pictures and has struck up a nice friendship with Sophia the older caterpillar who can talk and Hadar tells me they have really been having nice chats!!!

Charlize has become a bit too addicted to DVDs lately though and drives me crazy for either Barney or Elmo. I bought her the Elmo DVD where Elmo looses his blankie and she really relates of course because she still has her much needed BLANKIE BOO!!! I said I would never use TV as a baby sitter but I think I am guily as charges on the odd occasion that we are not outside.

Saturday we ventured over to Tokyo Dome and the amusement park. Not well layed out and not much for toddlers except carousel and teacups, but they do have the fantastic Toy Kingdom with every toy under the sun, She was in heaven. They have a girls corner with a shop with all teh plastc foods and play hoovers houses etc so they go nuts. They also have just wooden toy section another room just for boys with all train sets etc. We also found a really cool Swedish cafe called moomin ( with the white moomin as the mascot, great set lunch and very kid friendly) highly recommend. They do 300JPY bread nomihodai and its all really oiiishi just cooked kind.

Sunday I did dermatologist after goofing around on the grass outside Roppongi Hills with C and Cliff rolling down the hill which she could have done for hours if we let her and Cliff has the energy! We ended up having dinner at the cafe but C ate nothing as she was not feeling well. I legged it to hifuka who looked at all my dodgy moles and some are over 6 mm and may need to come out but nothing looking cancerous so relived.

Sent in my application form Japanes and English for the city hall position and will find out next week I think. Its 8000yen an hour with free babysitting so hoping I can get it!!!! Lets see.

Need to go and book Dads flight to Italy this evening. After his stroke he really seems to have beenmaking lifestyle changes. I bought him a 1 year gynm pass and they made him a program and he has been going 3 times a week, walking everywhere and eating better.

Also great news my cousin George had a baby boy ( all boys from my cousins!) Freddie Stanley Harper. Cool name. Both doing well and looking forward to the pics.

Bitte??

So have been struggling with the old German as Tante Heike and Uncle Klaus speak zero English. They seem very nice though and Charlize likes jolly old uncle Klaus alot she can already say his name and laughs whenever she sees him. They are only here for 7 days but went to Kyoto and weekend we did Omotesando/Heian Jingu and then Hamarikyu and Asakusa. Today they took themselves of on a free day, (they went without me!) to ginza to the Imperial Palace and then department stores in Ginza. Tomorrow its going to rain all day so maybe Kabuki theatre and a museum or 2. They leave already on Wednesday.

Charlize her speaking has taken off so much these days she is so so funny. Actually funny is one of her new words she uses it lots and is counting all the time but prefers 2, 4, 6 to 1, 2 3. she loves singing the Kokomo song, I love you you love me, Old Mcdonald, baby shark, whats the weather, days of the week,If your happy and you know it, twinkle twinkle and of coure her all time fav Alli Gulugulu from music together. She knows all the words to these little songs and now comands me "sing mummy sing" and says alot "cuddle mummy" or cuddle teddy etc and gives big cuddles and kisses.

School is going really well they did a trip to the park on friday in the super buggies and she seemed to like that judging from the pictures.

Today we did Nissen shop with C legging it around the store ( it was early so luckily not too many customers to annoy) and then went to music together friends and family class stayed only 30 mins as we had to pick up mobile phone which I left in Natalie's car after the baby shower on saturday at Louises ( yummy food and nice gifts!!) and then we met Anna and the kids at La Boheem for 500 yen lunch. It was a real explosion in there I know they must HATE HATE us.
Annas husband is the news correspondent that you see all the time on TV reporting on Japan and Asia so at least we know someone famous!!! This afternoon we went to Shiroganedai Park with Naomis and Emi as and C immediately discovered the water play area and got straight in. I had no clean clothes for her so had to take her home naked wrapped in my sweater. Got a few weird looks on the train. Also bumped into Saya and Millie. Saya looked like a skeleton so thin from no sleep but Millie looked nice and chubby!. They just moved to Shiroiganedai but of course Massod being Masood failed to tell us this!!!

So its late and I want a before 11pm night so signing over and out.

Pool Playdate

So Emma my dear dear friends sent out a mail and invited all the Tuesday mums to my place for a playdate!!! No worries except 1. Cliffs mum/aunt/uncle arrive next day and 2. We have white carpet throughout!!! Despite that fact we pulled it off with the stain remover making a guest appearance only twice!!! 23 adults and 15 kids!!! I had used a watering can to fill the paddling pool up with some semi warm water (took forever) as last time Cliff just did cold and Cs lips turned blue!!! The terrace is a sun trap and even though a cloudy day it was warm out there. I did ask everyone to bring shoes for the pool as last time it was oops lets try and avoid kids from smashing their heads open!!! Everyone turned up pretty much and C spent about 2 hours in the water playing lovely with Ashling, Zoe and of course Ellie. Melanie turned up with Jason and Carter fresh from the delivery suite with baby Emerson who was very cute. Despite the madness of the afternoon it was nice to see the group of friends I have made since arriving here under one roof having a lovely time. When Cliff got home he took C off on her trike for half an hour as pre bed routine now involves picking as many flowers from the apartments across the roads bushes as she can get away with and then throwing them down in the genkan for mommy on her return.

Wednesday Cliff was really ick so as a family we went over to Yuto clinic where C had her 18 month check ( screamed her head off even about just taking her clothes off for height and weight!) and cliff got 50,000 types of pills for asthma, cold, ear infection etc. We then had a quick lunch at La Boheme but C was very tired and grumpy after the doctors so relief to get he into bed. Cecelia turned up THANK GOD after the mess of the day before, and Cliff offered to take C to music together so i could go pick up tickets for Kyoto from Tennozu isle JTB for his mum, aunt and uncle. They arrived around 5 knackered and Cliff kindly failed to tell me his aunt and uncle speak NO ENGLISH and my German is really really bad so it was a bit of a struggle thru Thai Curry but they feel into bed as they had 5am start for Kyoto the next morning. Cliff was doing a Darthvadar special so I made him sleep on the sofa!!! C and I stayed home as she had school and traipsing her around Kyoto tourist attractions at top speed not my idea of relaxing!!!

Today Emma and I did nice Starbar and then a quick nose around Muji and Uniqlo!!! Looking out for a funky pair of wellies and nice rain mac!!! Haven't found THE ONES yet!!!

NEXT 45% OFF!!!

So today we went to Juban park early and there were not so many kids when we arrived but by 11am all the kindergartens were there and C was loving it. Her new fav thing is to go as high as possible with me on the big girl swings but she makes me go really high for around 30 mins and wont let me stop swinging or else throws herself down having a paddy fit. She got hungry though so we headed to La Boheme for the 500JPY pasta special ( yes 500JPY!) for spaghetti with salad bar and free drinks bar. We had to wait while they did their little gambatte routine before opening so we popped over to the square where there was a man wearing a sherlocks homes get up and a dog dressed to match. C wanted to pet the dog who was very friendly as was what turned out to be the actor shooting the weekly drama called potchan? I think. The Director started getting shots of us petting the dog and then asked us to go to the nearby cafe as charlize was looking exceptionally cute in her new GAP bargain 1200JOY dress! We sat outside in Eat More Greens Cafe, C was a star looking off into the distance or smiling as the camera centred on her sitting on her chair!!! Once they got their footage we headed for our lunch and met Anna and the kids who want to come with us next monday to try it so we made a date. At the resturant they asked me to translate the weekly special into english so they could attract more foreigners so I did it in 2 mins and will get a free lunch next week. Also found out that Anna has gone ahead and ordered an electric bike based on the go she had on mine on sunday!

After lunch and Cs lunch time nap, Emma called and we arranged to meet on the train and go to Jiyogaoka to do another NEXT 45% off run as she is an elite member and gets this special discount once a year. They had a nice terrace on the shop roof so we took it in turns entertaining them up there while we tag teamed shopped. We were in and out in 35 mins as the girls decided to run around and wreck the necklace display and play peekaboo in the dressing rooms!!! Ellie did a poo and Emma changed her in the dressing room!!! I think they were SOOOOOO glad to see the back of us!!! We were definitely a couple of "those" mothers!!"

Tomorrow we are hosting a playdate... Better think of ways I can cover the WHITE CARPET!!! and get the paddling pool up quick sharp!

Piggy or Man Flu?

So Cliff just got back from 1 week away in Chicago but he is dying in the spare room with flu. Apparently the heat seekers came aboard the plane at Narita but only for economy and business but the lucky bugger was in First and of course FIRST CLASS PASENGERS ARE IMMUNE TO SICKNESS!!! so they just had a token nurse walk thru the cabin!!! I am hoping its just the nasty throat lurgie C had last week and not anything of the piggy kind. Will see how he is in morning and may send him for a test.

Its been a long old week with C being sick and out of sorts and now I have husband to add to the wounded sparrow list and his mum, aunt and uncle arrive on wednesday so need to get organised.

Hoping to go to Jiyogaoka in the morning with Emma to get more mileage out of her 3 day only 45% off NEXT voucher for elite members. Did manage to bag some nice second hand stuff at the church sale next the house on Saturday with C strapped to me in a baby Bjorn complaining heavily until I gave her some smelly dog keyring that they were selling for 10yen to play with!!! She wont let me wash it though. They were queuing around the block but I actually had the foresight to ask where the kids stuff was as soon as we went in and it was upstairs so by the time the old grandmas and Phillipinos had worked it out, I had bagged all the good stuff ( there wasn't that much this time mind you).

Wenji and Jenny made a surprise appearance along with Rieko so we had a good catch up ( Wenjie doing outpouring over shipping Jenny off to fathers in US) with R and I trying to offer help/advice. The good thing is Kazue san and Miwa still have not found a place to move into and they are getting kicked out of Initial house but Wenjie needs someone for the summer period to take care of Jenny while she works so they will move in with Wenji into Sun Palace, its 4 bedrooms so should be good situation for them all. Phew that is one less thing to worry about. Rieko, C and I went to mid town park and then hit the kids cafe for dinner in Roppongi Hills as they had a lovely washoku set dinner for 1400JPY which was yum and C had a really nice sunflower presentation kids plate which she scoffed while playimg peakaboo with a little boy who looked alot like Yuki her mate at school.

Speaking of school it was flower week this week and lucky it ws closed on thursday for teacher training as C was still sick. Friday though she had a good day and is still in loive with little Yuki as you can see from the pics!

Spoke to Melanie at lunchtime. She had Emerson yesterday apparently 2 pushes and she was out! She is doing good and looking forward to catching up and meeting the little princess soon.

Cliff has really scored big with C bringing her 3 new Barney videos. I think I want to kill myself now. I have already hidden them as she knows how to work the DVD player and will be grunting for her Barney fix in the morning.

Rieko and her mum and Dad also arrived the same time as Cliff got back around 5ish tonight, just popped by to see C who almost wet herself with excitement to see so many loved ones all at once. Rieko offloaded another ton of Japanese shoki on us, running out of cupboard space now.

There is an Instyle mag waiting for me in the bedroom so I am off for a hot date with my mag.

Icky Grumpy Pants

So Cliff is away for a week in Chicago for work and I am left with a grumpy icky Charlize. She picked up a throat infection ( which Ellie had last week) and both probably caught from School. She is on the last day of antibiotics today but been generally ratty and tired. Yesterday Cecelia came and all Charlize wanted to do was lay on the sofa and watch Barny CD on repeat. Being the bad mother than I am I willingly let her anything for a an hour of peace!!! Managed to get the curtains up, Ionahs designer sofa and plants got delivered while C was napping, but great timing as the elevator repair men came just as they rocked up in the truck!!! The poor buggers had to schlep everything up 5 flights of stairs. Cliff is going to have a eppi fit when he comes home on sunday to a living room with not 1 but 4 sofas! Ionahs one is pale grey the covers come off for washing( which I did) but the back is filthy from where Raffs, the cat and 3 kids have mangled it up. We need to get the whole thing recovered really, will have a look into the cost and decide depending on how extortionate it is!

We did do music together class just to get out the house but even Natalie Kai's mum remarked how listless she was. Putting her to bed last night was a nightmare she was hitting biting throwing herself down and would not have a bath she was too tired and ill.

Today she has a bit of a cough and again was a bit tired but I couldn't manage another whole day inside with Barney and mizhog Charlize, so we took the bus to the Tokyo American Club and met Emma and Ellie, Natalie, Lize with the girls, Melanie and Carter and Jamie and Jenny there for a brunch. Second prob was she wanted to go in the swimming pool which she could clearly see from the restaurant window. So much for a peaceful chat and cafe latte!!!

This afternoon Emma invited us over even though I was supposed to host mums at my house, but with Charlize being in an up down mood we decided to stay in as C didnt want to move from the sofa with her blankie so I did bad mommy thing and let her watch the Barney DVD 4 times!!! She is a baby possesed, but we had a real melt down when I tried to switch it off. I put the DVD up and away but she tried to climb onto the kitchen top to get it. She knows how to open the DVD player and switch it on!!!! Luckily Naomi and Emi came over around 5pm after Naomis Daycare and they had some dinner together and then got in the bath!!! They both looked so cute with the Naomi wearing teh duck hoodie towel and Charlize with her Little princess one! It was a good distraction and made life easier after the night before when she threw tantrums and would not go in the tub. Also Naomi gave me the number to apply for the International Relations job at the Minatoku ward office. Its only max 4 times a month 2 hours and they offer day care and the pay is good!! Have to write a Japanese essay to apply for it though which might be a bit tricky as my written Japanese is a bit rusty.

Other good news is Jolie wrote to say that she got to finally hold her little angels Gabriele and Vivienne after one week in the incubator. They are still having IV breast milk but seems they are pulling through well. I say another little prayer for them all tonight I know they are going to be fine and cant wait to see the pictures.

Tommorow is Emma's birthday and depending on how she is I may may not take her to school. Here's hoping for a better bedtime wind down this evening!!!

Also Fuyuko sent a really nice mail about Charlize today how she is settling in. I post it below as I think its nice to keep to show her when she get older!!

Dear Julia,

Hello. This is Fuyuko from Kspace.
How are you? We hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather!

Hadar and I would like to send a big “thank you” for coming out to the Parent-Teacher Night Out last Friday. It was really nice chatting with you about how Charlize is settling down at school and lots of things in general!! We really enjoyed the time together. It was nice meeting your friend as well!

As we said at the dinner, and also you can tell from the photos, Charlize is settling down fantastically! She has already made some friends and they are playing very nicely together!
Charlize and Youki were playing together last Friday. They bonded particularly well and I saw Charlize giving lots of cuddles to him and they make a very cute pair. How sweet!!
I must also mention that both Hadar and I were impressed by how good Charlize was at cleaning up toys!!!
You mentioned that you were a bit worried about Charlize in the absence of her good friend, Ellie and that this might have made Charlize a bit sad. Well, it’s been quite the opposite and Charlize has not been anxious at all! Charlize has been stepping out and doing so well. This shows promise for great things ahead. Although she is so tiny Charlize is obviously ripe for more sophisticated mental stimulation and I am confident she will progress in huge steps, each class. Please don't worry!

Thank you so much for putting your trust in us and allowing us to take care of Charlize. We are so happy to have Charlize in our group and we are ALL so pleased she is enjoying the programme.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact us any time. Please don't forget that we are always here for you!

The school will be closed this Thursday due to 'team training day' so we're looking forward to seeing Charlize on Friday!!!
Have a lovely afternoon.

Fuyuko and Hadar

Finding Nemo

Last week what a wash out. The rainy season is not supposed to be with us yet but it rained pretty much solidly for 7 days. Lucky we have the jidokan right next to the house however C was upset and unsettled at school on thursdays Ellie was down with a throat infection and she had to brave it alone. They also had a parent observation which always unsettles the kids so I am told, and C did cry a bit and was generally unhappy when I picked her up. Hadar said it was not a good day but thought the observation was the underlying reason. Happily the next day of school she was back to her bouncing self and Hadar was raving about how happy she was and how her vibes were so totally different and he had such big love for her. That morning I did feel worried and let her drag massive blankie with her to school ( which after talking to GG found out they managed to surreptitiously remove from her grip once she was safely playing making ice cream cones) I also learnt that in the absence of her little mate Ellie she had taken another little Japanese boy under her wing little Yuki. Fuyuko informed that she was busy hugging him, feeding him etc and at snack time when it came to eating onigri Yuki copied and peeled all the nori off just like C. I also met Yukis mum on pick up and she was going to the charity dinner teacher/parents dinner at Tableaux that evening in Daikanyama so thought to chat a bit more later.

Emma called 40 mins before leaving to say Ellies temperature was really high and she just wanted to breastfeed so she couldn't make it. I had arranged to meet Rieko there however so I wouldn't be norma no mates thank goodness. Tanuki was late as usual but it was a nice night got to find out more about Hadars kibbutz upbringing and his organic farming and met jolly hockey sticks nice perhaps slightly older mum and dad recently moved from Hongkong over to Nippon with twins Pippa and Oliver. I failed miserably should have snagged the kokomo visit to the house for Charlize in the end that went for a measly 26,000 JPY!!! I scoffed my monies Worth of fruit platter and petite pastries though and met a very trendy and perfect Sharon Stone look alike mum and had a nice chat. Was home and in bed by 11:30 with cliff moaning about me waking him up!!! The cheek when he has been going to be past midnight and waking at 4am every day..

Saturday we jumped in a cab (lush I know!) and headed to Ikebukuros sunshine building to the Aquarium which C went NUTS at. She was beside herself FISH FISH FISH MOMMY!!!! It was better than I expected with some really impressive seals but a bit of a sad show where they were balancing balls on their noses etc. C was really tired so we grabbed some pasta and then jumped back in the taxi home.

Sunday was my birthday and I was in a bad bad mood just because the best gift Cliff could have given me was TIME OUT!!!! But I did not get any!!!! Would have loved to take a couple of hours shopping or getting a massage but NO that was not to be hence I was in a strop!!! Cheered up just in time for a very drunk Rieko to rock up supposedly to babysit!!! Instead I had to minister hangover tablets and elicit promises that she was up to sitting on the couch and listening out for C. Cliff and I popped out really quick to a very nice local Japanese restaurant in azabu called Sakura. It was a lovely place, the Japanese owner and his Mongolian wife did the omakase course for just 3500JPY each and we were stuffed!!! We had course after course and the sashimi was so fresh they even included the heart of some fish and the sake great quality. Did note before falling into bed that C had been sneezing a lot before she went down.

Today she woke up with yellow snot and miserable. Decided to take her to the doctors who was shocked when he looked in her mouth it was so sore and red he needed to swab it with some antiseptic. She cried but Kitty chan soon distracted her with the nice nurses fussing around her. 100 dollars later and we were out with medicine. Popped round to see Ionah who had 3 Allied Pickfords trucks parked outside it was moving day and she was bouncing off the walls!

Today had calls from both Wenji and Ionah and Kazue san from Initial House ( the drama continues) all wanting to "pop over" and unload no doubt. Then Ionah called as Kazue san and her junior high school daugter Miwa have been popping up recently (not sure how they communicate as neither speak each others language!) and I had to translate to Kazue that she needed to take Miwa to get a tetenaus shot as Raffs had bitten her. Its seems Kazue san wants to come over and off load tommorow.. I may decide to do something as not keen on taking onboard everyones emotional probs right now. I need to learn how t say NO or lie quickly!

Anyway more about that another day. Cliff is off to Chicago for a week so had better get early night or else wont be able to deal with miserable C for rest of week.

One last thought- big positive vibes sending out to Joilie (Marlena was C's bestest friend here until they upped and left us for a better gig in the UK!) . Well Jolie just gave birth to her twins Vivienne and Gabriel (boy and girl) born on Marlenas birthday ( how cool is that!) Just a little worrying that they came at 26 weeks but told that they are really fighting strong and know they will pull through ok. Thinking of them though and sending as many genki vibes as can muster from Japan.

Also must remeber to get Cliff to pick up a baby shower gift for then and Louise and Melanie in the US.