Japanese Junk Food

McDonald's and Coca-Cola are about as American as you can get. But Japan does both WAY better we do!

Ever since we got here, people kept telling us to go to McDonald's and we just couldn't figure out why. But we finally did a few weeks ago and now we get it. It tastes SO much better here! Normally I would never eat Mickey D's, but here, it's a whole different story. Their oil is cleaner which means no nasty after taste or belly ache from your fries. The sandwiches actually look like the pictures -- every time! And the serving sizes are normal instead of gargantuan. Tim, Bennet, and I have been going on saturday mornings to get breakfast there because it's so yummy. I'm slightly addicted to egg McMuffins right now (which are actually fairly balanced and nutritious if you don't mind the cheese and white flour). They have a few interesting items on their menu here as well. Like for breakfast, you can get a biscuit muffin, or if you're feeling healthy you can go with the salad McMuffin (literally salad on an english muffin with a slice of bacon and cheese). They also serve german-style hot dogs and fish filets for breakfast. Later in the day, if you're not up for a Big Mac, you can always get an Ebi burger (a shrimp patty with all the typical fixins of a burger). I've not actually tasted the Ebi burger myself, but everyone tells me it's pretty awesome!

I'm not a big soda drinker, although I've missed diet coke since I became pregnant. And once in awhile I will indulge in soda, usually some coke. And when i do indulge, it's almost always out in town. Japanese coke tastes different - it's less sweet and it doesn't coat your throat with sticky sweetness because Japan uses sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. It's actually really refreshing and delicious!

I know this post is taking a turn from my norm (Bennet and preggo updates), but I figured you could all use a break from that. This is SUPPOSED to be a blog about our Japanese adventures after all.

OH...I almost forgot to tell you! Tim and I had octopus the other day! It was surprisingly good! Similar to squid, but a bit less chewy with a mild flavor. I figure, if I can eat calamari, I can surely eat octopus - even if the tentacles and suction cups are a little freaky!

Relax! Relax! Relax!

That's the doctor's order I got this morning. I've been having some Braxton-Hicks contractions lately. Probably due to the full social agenda that Bennet has been keeping me busy with. The doctor isn't too concerned as long as the contractions don't become more intense or too frequent. So for now, the official order is to let the house go and relax. Should be fine today, but tomorrow B has gym playgroup in the morning and then school in the afternoon. So I'll just do my best to get some rest in between, and of course, plenty of hydration.

Baby Boy's heartrate was 150 today, which is just perfect and my belly is measuring right on target too! So, it seems that other than the contractions, we're doing pretty well.

Bennet is going to school now!

And he loves it! He only goes for about 2 hours 3 days a week, but it's perfect! He really enjoys it a lot and it's nice for me to have a little quiet time to myself once in awhile. In fact, Bennet had so much fun on his first day, he didn't want to leave!! His teacher reports that he's doing well. But it seems he is testing them!! He pretends to not understand simple directions when he doesn't want to do something!! Don't worry, I made sure to let her know that this is only Bennet's OLDEST trick! hehe Poor kid is gonna be bummed out when he figures out they know what he's up to!!

We also joined the co-op at the gym! Bennet and I go there three times a week now. I work out for an hour while he plays with the other kids and then I watch the kids for an hour. It's really nice to get out of the house and Bennet loves socializing! Factor in his weekly playgroup and our bimonthly MOPs meeting (Moms of Preschoolers), and we've got one full social agenda!!

Baby Boy ____ (it wouldn't be fun if I didn't tease you all about his name!!) is quite active these days! He is laying outrageously low and I often have to contort myself into funny yogic positions to try and shimmy him up! Tim thinks it's hilarious and seems to be under the illusion that my birthing should be quick and easy since he's "hanging out near the exit". His words, not mine!!

I have an appointment for a prenatal massage in a week and I can't wait! They're offered here on base at the gym for a reasonable price and lord knows my aching body could use it!! I'll let you all know how it goes!

Oh yea...I'm 21 weeks now!! Past the halfway mark! WOOHOO!!

Snips & Snails or Sugar & Spice???

Isn't that the sweetest little foot you ever saw?

Well, we just got home from our (long) trip to Yokosuka for the BIG day! And Squiddy was ready for us! We got to the hospital and checked in for our appointment around 9 am. The sonographer took us back to the room and we all got ready to see how much Squiddy had changed in 5 weeks! We found out that the Squid is now a whopping 12 ounces and we even got to see our little one yawning and squirming around. It would seem that the softer kicks I've been feeling aren't actually kicks at all!! They were punches! It was really fun to see AND feel the movement. We also found out that my placenta is on the front of the uterus which means that it should be much harder for me to feel movement. Of course that has certainly not been the case. Although, it would explain why I never felt the flutters everyone talks about! I just started getting kicked from the get go.

That's a hand covering the face, in case you can't tell!

I suppose you're all waiting for me to get to the REALLY exciting part, huh? Well, it turns out that my fear of a modest baby was completely unfounded! We didn't have to search around at all, because Squids flashed us as soon as the ultrasound wand hit my belly!! Tim and I didn't even need the sonographer to tell us that we're expecting a sweet little BOY!! It was obvious!

How cool is that?

We are both so thrilled to welcome a second son! And Bennet is very excited that he is getting a little brother this summer! After the appointment, we headed upstairs to the maternity floor for a tour. It was nice to see where our son is going to be born and we got to talk to one of the midwives there. She is one of the two midwives on staff, so there is a very good chance that she could be the one attending our birth! We actually didn't know that the hospital had any midwives and were thrilled to find out! We're planning a natural birth and we'd had some anxiety about delivering with doctors who might not be as gung ho about it as we are. So that was a VERY pleasant surprise for us!

And there's our sweet boy's face! Look at those chunky little cheeks!!

After that, we all trekked over the department store on base for a little (a.k.a. a LOT) of retail therapy!! We bought a play yard, some babyproofing stuff, socks, bibs, and about 10 outfits. Bennet even picked out a toy for his new baby brother! We all had a really good time oohing and ahhing over all the sweet baby things!

47 hours!!

**I have no excuse for my bad blogging habits. And I'm not making anymore promises about when I'm going to start writing more regularly. So, think of it as a surprise when you get a new entry!! That will make it fun!**

On to the blog!!!!

Only 47 hours until we find out what "kind" of baby is in my belly!!! Tim is still holding firmly to his guess of "boy" and I still have a strong mother's intuition that it is definitely NOT a puppy or alien! As far as boy or girl, I really have no clue though.

Unfortunately for all you, you're going to have to wait a few days longer to find out! Since we're here in Japan and I'm high risk, I have to birth in Yokosuka (near Tokyo) and so that is where I have to go for this ultrasound. Which means that we won't be getting home until Saturday night (Saturday EARLY morning for those of you US dwellers). Good news (for Tim and I) is that the weekend we are in Yokosuka, their NEX (Navy department store) is having a big baby sale!! Ok, so really that is good news for me moreso than Tim, but that's really just semantics! I've been eyeing up all the cute, frilly dresses, and the adorable little boy rompers. Now we just need to find out which I should be buying!!!

In other news, Squiddy is becoming quite active!! He/she sleeps all morning, and then comes alive after dinner! Kicking, rolling, stretching, and even tap dancing at times! We've even had a few times that the Squid kid has stretched so hard that Tim and I could feel both ends of the baby!! Tim still has not felt any kicks yet, but that's only because EVERY time he puts his hand on my belly, Squiddy instantly calms down! Should be a GREAT trick after he/she is born, but for now, is annoying mommy who just wants Tim to feel a swift kick!!

We've also determined that Squids has his/her father's taste in breakfast foods! I've been craving cereal and cheese omelets. But not even the good omelets with cheddar, tomato, onion, and green peppers. No no no. Squiddy wants omelets a la Daddy (i.e. american cheese)!!! The natural, eco-friendly, organic-loving girl in me is outraged! But the belly has spoken! Tim has been known to make me an omelet at 11:00 at night so I don't have to go to bed hungry! How's that for romance?

Bennet is starting to get excited. He says hi to the baby now and is stil enraptured by all the babies we meet around base! He's also starting preschool and therapy next week. He's VERY excited!! I had wanted to try homeschooling with him for a few years, but he gets SO excited everytime we walk past the school, say the word school, or pull his backpack out of the closet. I think he's REALLY going to like it!!

And just for fun, here are some of Bennet's shining moments from the last few weeks!!

16 week belly

I've been slack on the belly shots. So here's a quick one from over the weekend. We were in Hiroshima for the day. I'll post about that one later. It was a really amazing city and great trip!

More baby news!

I'm 17 weeks today and have been feeling some movement for about a week now. It was only here and there, but now I'm feeling it daily. Just little pokes and jabs once in awhile, but it's so cool!! I also had my first braxton-hicks contractions. Not painful at all, but it was cool to feel exactly how my uterus is lying now. It's all the way up to my belly button now!

We also made our appointment for THE ultrasound! January 9th at 9am! Let the countdown begin! Tim and I are, of course, VERY excited to find out if Squiddy is a boy or girl. But we have gotten even more anxious to find out as we have FINALLY settled on names!! So, instead of finding out if it's a boy or girl, we'll be finding out exactly who is in there! Of course, we are going to be mean and not tell any of you what those names are. But take comfort in knowing that Baby Nelis WILL have a name when it's born!

We had an ultrasound and found out....

...that we're expecting the cutest, smartest, wittiest baby ever!!



I mean, look at that nose and the little fingers curled into a teeny tiny fist!! Ugh...so cute it hurts!!



And already sucking it's thumb! How flipping precious is that? We even saw Squiddy get the hiccups! And he/she graced us with a beauty pageant wave and showed us all five little fingers! Feel free to ooh and ahh all you want! We certainly are!

We're moving Friday!

Well, we got on a list to get into a bigger house about a week ago, and today we were offered a three bedroom apartment in the building that we were hoping for, no less! It's one of the two newly renovated buildings on base and it's right next door to the school that Bennet will be attending. It's closer to the middle of base too and there is an adorable park right out the front door! We're very lucky to have gotten in so quickly, but that means that we are moving very soon now!!

Unfortunately, Tim is going to be on a business trip from Sunday until the 18th of this month. So we have to have everything moved into the new place by Saturday night and I'll have to take care of having our current place white-glove clean for the final inspection next week. We'll get the keys to the house Thursday and will start slowly taking over boxes then. Saturday will be the big move day when we get a few friends to help us with the furniture. And then I'm on my own for unpacking and settling in. I hope to have the house up and running by the time Tim gets back from his trip.

So what does this mean for all of our family members? Well, since I had planned to wrap and mail all of your gifts this week, it means that I will be sending them a full week later than I had planned. So you may or may not have your packages in time for Christmas Day....I'm sorry!!! I will have them sent out by the 13th though, so it will be a REALLY close call!!!

This was very unexpected for us!! We were initially told that we would not get into a 3 bedroom until February, so it was a shock to hear today that we're moving THIS WEEK! We're very excited though since the new place is significantly larger and Bennet will have his own dedicated playroom! I'll take some pictures for you all as soon as we're moved in and settled. Until then, posts will (again) be scarce!

Are you sick of hearing about my pregnancy yet?

Hope not!! Because we haven't been doing too much exploring around Japan lately and the pregnancy is really all that's going on with us right now!!

We've got our next appointment on Thursday. It's my 15 week appointment, but I'll technically be only 14 1/2 weeks. But Tim is going to be gone on a business trip for a week and half so I scheduled it early because he really likes to be there for all the doctor appointments. We don't have an ultrasound scheduled this time though. Our next isn't until mid-January. I'll be 20 weeks then and we should be able to find out the gender then!

In the last few days, I've started feeling quite a bit better and my appetite has finally returned!! And it had returned in a big way!!!! Which is great because a woman of average weight pre-pregnancy is recommended to gain 25-35 pounds throughout the pregnancy. And since I lost 15 pounds in the first trimester, I need to regain those 15 PLUS the recommended 25-35 which will be quite a feat in a mere 6 months! Luckily the morning sickness seems to have flown the coop and I am back to cooking healthy, filling meals. My goal in the first tri was just to eat, now my new goal is to eat HEALTHY! I'm also getting back into my walking routine and prenatal yoga. I'm really beginning to enjoy this pregnancy so much more now that the mind numbing fatigue is edging off and the nausea is finally dissipating!

Oh, by the way, now that I am 14 weeks (in 4 hours), Squiddy is about the size of a lemon and is covered in fine hair. The Squid is moving a lot too now, though I can't feel it yet.

Oh, and I'm officially in maternity clothes only now...and my high heels are shivering in their storage bin in the storage shed. *sigh*