Fly, My Baby, Fly!!

Cardinal

我が家の庭はとっても日本サイズ。小さいお庭に、大きな木が立っててウッドデッキに日中暑い時は木陰を作ってくれます。　そんな小さなお庭に、よく一羽のカーディナルが来ます。　オスのカーディナルは真っ赤な体をしてて、目の周りが黒いのでサングラスをかけてるように見えます。
We have a tiny back yard (we call it Japanese size yard). We have a big tree there and it makes nice shade on our deck during the day. We see a male cardinal almost everyday comes around and play in our yard. Since most of the birds I used to see in Japan are just ordinary sparrows, being able to see many kinds of colorful birds made me happy. Cardinals are my favorite. Male cardinals have bright red body and around eyes are black, so looks like they wear sunglasses. 　

動物の種類によっては、オスの方がメスより鮮やかで美しい体をしてたりするよね。　カーディナルもオスのほうがとってもきれい。　メスははっきりしないオレンジ色っぽいくちばしに、茶色っぽい体なんです。 さて、我が家にやってくるこのカーディナル君。　いっつも一羽でいるので、シングルだと思ってました。　でも昨日は違った。なんと彼はパパでした。　ママカーディナルが木から下りてきたと思ったら、なんと赤ちゃんも落ちるように、木から下りてきてパパとママでこの子に飛ぶことを教えてたの。

Well, this cardinal always comes alone. We thought he was single but the other day, we found out that he was a dad. He came down from the tree and then, a girl cardinal came down, and then a baby cardinal came down like it was falling:) They were trying to teach baby cardinal to fly in our small yard.

この子の練習には、うちの狭い庭がもってこいだったらしく、ウッドデッキの手すりから庭の柵まで飛んだり、行ったり来たりしてました。　赤ちゃんも一生懸命飛ぶんだけど、まだ上手にできず柵の上にたどり着けず、地面にボタッと落ちちゃったりして…。　その様子を、ロビン(お腹がオレンジ色の鳥)やリスがじっと見てました。

I think our yard was the perfect place for them to teach baby cardinal to fly. There is a big tree to have nest, and nice distance between the deck and the fence to fly back and forth. The baby cardinal tried so hard to fly with his mom and dad, but he got tired and sometimes just fell on the ground. It was just sweet for the mom and dad cardinal to fly around the baby to cheer him up. A robin and a squirrel were watching them practice on the fence.

今までパパしか見た事なかったのは、きっとママと赤ちゃんは木の上の巣にいて、パパがエサを取りに行ってたからなのかなって思いました。　 早く親子で自由に飛び回る姿が見たいです。　 小さなことからなんだか心が温かくなった日曜日でした.

I guess the reason we saw only dad cardinal was because he was out finding food for the baby while mom cardinal took care of the baby. I’m looking forward to seeing them fly all together.

Walking, Yoga, and Belly dance.

もともと体格のいい私、祖母が糖尿病持ちであったために、隔世遺伝で絶対おまえにもくる！と父に宣言され、妊娠したと報告すれば「おめでとう」の後に「妊娠中の体重管理」を父から厳しく要求されるしまつ。糖尿予備軍の筆頭とまで言われているので、せめて好きな運動はちゃんと続けようと日課にしてきた。ウォーキングはアーロンとし、ヨガは日本にいた時、教会に友達のヨガの先生を招き、ラッキーなことに無料で丸1年教えてもらったので、今では1人黙々と家でやっている。　そしてアメリカに来てから始めたのがベリーダンス。　いろいろ種類があるけど、私の先生はアメリカントライバルスタイル、トライバルフュージョンスタイルを教えている。　

Since I was in elementary age, I have been pretty chunky. Because my grandma had type2 diabetes, my dad had always told me that I would get it someday like her because he thought that I act and eat just like her, and I inherited most of her DNA or something. (Well, she pretty much raised me so it is kind of natural to be like her, I guess…) When I told my parents that we were having baby, he strictly told me to be careful about what to eat so that I don’t have trouble during my pregnancy. It is annoying to be told about your weights or how I should lose weights to look better, because it’s not really encouraging me to do anything. He just makes me self-conscious.

Anyway, I’m still chubby so you know that I never listened to my dad about his ideas of being healthyJ He just tells me to be healthy and lose weight but never gives me useful advises. To stay healthier during pregnancy, I have been keeping my exercise routine. I needed to modify some not to hurt my baby or overdo, but other than the time I was dead during the morning sickness, I have been pretty faithful being active. I walk with Aaron, I do prenatal Yoga or belly dance in the morning, and I finally went back to my belly dance lesson!

つわりがあった時期は運動ほとんどできなかったけど、終わってからは出産に備えて筋力をつけるべく再開。外で軽いウォーキング、妊婦用のヨガ、ベリーダンスのDVDをかけて家でやるようにしている。

妊娠がわかってすぐ通っていたベリーのレッスンを止めた。安定期に入るまでは静かにしていたかったからだ。　20週目の検診で母子共に健康の太鼓判を押されたので、またベリーのレッスンに通い始めた。やっぱりベリーは楽しい。　ダンスなんて習う気もなかったけど、これは楽しい。　先生がおもしろいし、まずアメリカでは人目を気にしなくてすむ。日本って形から入ったりするから、いろいろウェアとか揃えたり、あと入会金とか月謝とか高すぎる。細い人が多かったりして、気が引けて行きづらい雰囲気もあったりするので、やっぱりアメリカは私に合っていると思ってしまう…笑。私の先生でっかいしね。　お腹に肉がついてないと、ベリーはセクシーじゃないそうなんで、それも私に合ってるんだわ。

I stopped going to the lessons as soon as I found out that I was pregnant even though Belly dance is one of the wonderful exercises that you can do during pregnancy. I was just scared that I might overdo and lose baby… At 20 weeks check up, my doctor told me that my baby and I are both healthy and doing great, so I decided to go back to the lesson. It is just so much fun to dance. I don’t do the moves that require too much stomach muscle and try to add other moves. I love my instructor, too. She is very funny and her lessons are always filled with laughter, and the lesson fee is very reasonable. Learning dancing never crossed my mind before and it was probably because I never had time for it and the fee in Japan was much more expensive. I’m glad I gave it a try here and found something fun to do and meet people. I also liked when my instructor, Zivah told us that we gotta have something to jiggle to look great in this form of dance. I think I got plenty of that in the right place, hahaha.

久しぶりに行ったレッスンなのに、2月にやったことをほとんど覚えていたのでとてもほめられた。　リズム感は悪くない方だし、持久力はないが運動神経はあるので、踊っても様になるらしい。　ほめられて私も上機嫌だった。　

娘が生まれることだし、一緒にベリーをやるのもいいかもねぇ。　
ウィキペディア：ベリーダンス　

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%99%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%80%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9

Zivah told me that I was naturally good in dancing since I remembered most of the things that I learned up until February and danced smoothly without being jerky. That made me feel good and motivated me even more. I can't wait to take my daughter to the class:-)

Wikipedia about Bellydance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belly_dance

2nd Bedroom Closet Before and After

Ok, now I can put more stuff for baby:)

Gifts already...?

赤ちゃんが女の子だとわかったのが、月曜日です。 水曜日にはすでに、我が子は衣装持ちになってしまいました。 服が９着ほど、そして靴が４足に、小さなスーツケースが１つ。

私が苦手な、あの人はなぜか「アクセサリー部門は私が担当するわ！」と張り切り、靴とスーツケースを持ってきたのでした。 その後、うわさによるとクロックス１足にハンドバッグを２つさらにゲットしたそうです。

バッグなんて１，２歳の子にいるのか？　 そんなのは物心つく頃にして、オムツとか必需品くれればいいのに…と旦那はぼやいております。　 でも女の子ってやっぱりいいかも～と思っちゃったのは事実です。 ほんとにほんとに、女の子よね？？？　男の子でも着せられそうな服は一着しかなかったわよ！

今月の週末予定は、我が子のクローゼットをリフォームすること。家の前の花壇をどうにかすること、です。　来月にはピアノをどうにか入れたいです。　クローゼットはまだまだ…と思ってたけど、このペースで彼女の服が増えたら…と思うとやっぱり先にやらなくちゃ、と決めたパパとママであります。

We found out that we are having a girl on Monday. By Wednesday, our daughter had 9 outfits, 4 pairs of shoes and a little suitcase. Aaron’s mom’s friend somehow decided she wanted to be in charge of her accessories, so she brought those shoes and the suitcase to the office. She also told me not to get her crocks because she already got one and two more purses…

Aaron and I didn’t understand the necessity of little bags for baby since she won’t carry. I guess these are for much later in her life… It is just fun to imagine our little girl carrying this suitcase to go see grandma, though…

I really hope that the ultrasound technician didn’t make mistake about the baby’s sex. Our mind is set for a girl and I only saw one outfit that would work for a baby boy. We are just thrilled to meet our baby girl now.

We made monthly plan to prepare the house for baby by October. This month, we are going to redo the closet in the second bedroom. You know how old closet here is. It’s got a shelf in upper part and has a pole below the shelf to hang clothes. We are going to add more shelves and a few more poles. Hopefully we have enough time to do our garden. I need to replant shiso (Japanese herb), too. We also want to move my piano by next month so that I can play for my baby whenever I want to. We were going to work on the closet later but just incase her grandma keeps buying stuff, we decided to be prepared for the storage earlier than we thought.

I can already tell that Aaron's parents will spoil our baby… I just hope she won’t rot.

It's a GIRL!!

まったくもって私はわかりませんでしたが、超音波のスペシャリストが言うには、私の赤ちゃんは女の子だそうです。　体重も平均、問題もなくよく育っている様子だそうです。　

We had no idea where the ultrasound tech person was looking at but I guess she is a girl. She is growing well with no problem:)

What I don't like about living in the States... アメリカのここが嫌～！

トイレに入ったとき、トイレットペーパーホルダーの位置がユーザーフレンドリーでないところ 手がゆう届いて、ペーパーを使いやすいように丸められればベストなのに、あまりにも便器に近いとこでしかも低位置に取り付けられていたり、さては体をひねって半ば後ろ向きのようにしてペーパーを取らなくちゃいけないとなると、ペーパーも無駄使いしがち。 ドアの取り付けもいまいち適当で、用を足してる時に外の人と目が合っちゃったりしたらも～気まずい トイレはねぇ、やっぱり日本のが一番。 ウォシュレットが懐かしい今日この頃。　 家を建てたら、ウォシュレット絶対付けたいです。あと日本式のお風呂ね。　家族風呂は夢…

I just think people here place the toilet paper holder in the wrong places! I went to Walmart and used their restroom. The toilet paper holder is too close to me and hard to get paper without wasting. I had to bend down in strange way and it's hard for my tummy now, you know.

I have also been to the restroom where you have to twist your body and get paper behind you. I just don't understand why they had to put the paper holder in such place... You will never see that in Japan. Also, the way the door is attached is not good either. You can see people walk by while I am in bathroom... very strange.

I just think Japanese toilet is the best. I love the toilet with little shower and dryer( you can look at the product in TOTO website if you don't know what I'm talking about).