pinku

Head over heels in love (aka nearly seven months of Jake)

I know everyone loves their kids, but I seriously had no idea how much I'd love being your mama, Jakey. You may question my love considering I skipped your five month blog update, but that's only because I'm a slacker and is totally not indicative of my love for you.

Jake in Fukuoka - five months and three days old (photo taken by the talented Martine Cotton)

So you will be turning seven months old next week. Seriously where did the time go? The theme for the last three months has been MOBILITY. We have a gamut of nicknames for you that have ranged from daddy's little fatty (that's when you were in the womb), attack dog (this was a game that dad played with you when you were a newborn - he would pretend you were an attack dog and then he would hold you and attack whoever was nearby....it was funny), j-dawg, roll dawg, crawl dawg, six dawg, jake scissorhands (I still use this one), SLOBBERdan milosevic (we don't think you are an evil dictator...it's just that you slobber a lot sometimes). Anyway I'm getting off track here, you are now officially mobile. What began with you rolling over at 12 weeks snowballed into you somehow moving to a different position than where we left you, to superman flying, to combat crawling, to rocking on your hands and knees....to crawling. You still sometimes fall down, but you get stronger everyday. We recently bought you a jumper and you LOVE it. You can see us from a standing level and you love staring at the pigs - sometimes you even laugh at them. You really give that jumper a run for its money - jumping up and down as hard as you can. It's hilarious and I've never seen you happier actually (although you are not smiling in the photo below).

Another big milestone has been the introduction of solid foods. We officially gave you your first meal just after your six month birthday - it was banana I think - but I did actually let you suck on some apple and carrot before then. We won't mention the time I let you suck on a piece of watermelon and you managed to gum a piece off, which you then seemed to choke on. Um, not my proudest parenting moment but I'm sure there will be many more of those but hopefully with no choking. You really love food by the way. So far you've tried banana, avocado, sweet potato, carrot, winter squash, pear etc.

Also during the last couple of months I've gone back to work and I miss you terribly. Luckily we still get to spend A LOT of time together and your dad is doing a fantastic job of your daytime parenting. Every Friday we meet up with our buddies (aka the ladies in your harem and their equally wonderful mothers). Last week we went to Yoyogi Park and you LOVED it. You loved looking at the strange little dog club gathering nearby, rubbing your hands in the dirt and just sitting up and laughing to entertain all of the ladies. It was fantastic!

Unfortunately another young lady in your harem will be leaving Japan in less than two months - sweet blue eyed Sienna and her fabbo mama, Kirsten. We'll miss you guys! Kirsten was able to capture a great moment between those two at the park.

Jake you light up both my life and your father's life and we adore you so much. We are so blessed to be able to watch you grow up although we wish you could stay this small a little longer. Thank you for choosing us as your parents.

Big hugs and kisses from mama and papa dawg OOXX

He's at it again

You guys remember this photo, right?!

Well unfortunately Jake's girlfriend (well one of them), Julia (pictured above) left Japan permanently to go and live in England. We'll really miss Julia and her mama, Marta. Before they left, we all met up and tried to take a group baby shot....but Jake had other ideas.

Julia doesn't look very impressed.

We finally did get a group shot with Jake's other girlfriend, Sienna (who's unfortunately leaving in July). The harem is dwindling.

FO alert!

It's so nice to be knitting again. It may only be a small baby hat but we have to start somewhere. And who doesn't love a cute project that can be completed in a night. To find a project I, of course, went to my Ravelry page and checked my queue and found the Kiddie Cadet pattern. I immediately bought it and went to Yuzawaya on the way home from work and purchased some yarn.

Here is the result:

I made a few changes to the decreases on the top of the hat so it fit Jake's head better so it doesn't actually sit flat like in the pattern photos but it fits J's head perfectly. It's definitely a keeper. I've nearly finished my second one to give to a girlfriend who is due in July. Hope she likes it.

We also added one of Darin's Heroin Skateboard pins

view from top

view from the side

Oh and Jake is wearing one of my favourite purchases of late - a stylized freddie krueger tshirt. I am loving Japanese baby clothes!!

Boys

Jake turned six months old on Monday. We keep telling him to stop growing up but he just won't listen. I promise his six month birthday post is coming - when I have time to edit our latest photos. In the meantime, enjoy some great photography from our talented friend, Martine, who caught some great Jake moments at Hanami 2008 and in Nagasaki at Tyler's wedding.

Boys will be boys. Sandi and Jeff's boys wanted to hold Jake at Hanami and it wasn't long before they were using him to punch each other up. It was kind of hilarious and Jake didn't seem to mind one bit. It was a glimpse of what is to come. Oh my.

Let me indulge

It's Monday morning here in Tokyo and I just left my baby boy napping on his futon while I struggled through the nasty crowds of Tokyo rush hour to get to work. Monday mornings are hard - no way around it. I know I only post baby-related stuff now, but I never really labelled myself as a craft blog and that's just my life right now. I do feel a knit coming on though because I just downloaded a cute baby pattern from Ravelry. I may even splurge and buy new yarn for the project. I would like to knit for myself but my body is um...not what it used to be, so I'm gonna hold off for a while. It's getting warm anyway.

So let me indulge in the cuteness of my baby boy....

We love it when Jake wears hats. He has quite a few.

This one was NOT knit by me, but it's cute all the same.

Handknit by me!!

Recently we went into Yuzawaya a while back and they were selling a large variety of crazy animal hats for babies. I couldn't resist trying them on. Sorry Jake.

End of hanami - beginning of spring!!!

It's the end of hanami season in Tokyo. Parties have been going on at parks all over Tokyo the past two weeks. Our very own park was once again this year very spectacular. This was Jake's first hanami and we took him on the boats!!

I love how Japan really celebrates the cherry blossoms. It's kind of crazy. There are sakura-themed everything - including disposable nappies....of course we use that brand!!

With all this sunny weather, Jake has now been able to get some use out of his baby banz. Darin reckons he looks like a member of Duran Duran.

And in other exciting news, Jake is obsessed with dogs and our guinea pigs. They could keep him entertained for hours. He had his first close up dog experience yesterday. It went very well and luckily Jake didn't pull on his fur like he pulls on mama's hair.

Four months of Jake

My boy is four months old today!

I can't believe I didn't do his 3-month update because so much has changed and it all changes so quickly. That's probably why I haven't had time to update. The biggest change occurred at 12 weeks and 3 days (our last day in Australia) when Jake rolled from his back to his tummy for the first time. Poppy (my dad) had been showing him the ropes and then finally he did it all by himself. After this the changes came thick and fast - he started smiling even more, he started giggling (we LOVE this) and he started not sleeping as well at night (we DON'T LOVE this). It's been a roller coaster ride for sure, but one look into the eyes above and all is well.

In Australia Jake became acquainted with lots of native fauna at Australia Zoo.

A koala.

A dingo.....luckily didn't get my baby!

And a really big crocodile....dad looks way more scared in this one!

At three months Jake started taking an interest in and grabbing at his toys for real.

I can't believe I only have about six weeks left of maternity leave - it just seems so wrong. I'll just have to make the most of 24 hours a day family time while it lasts.

P.S. I think I'm gonna do a post about how much I have hated looking for stroller next. I like researching but the whole stroller thing is way too overwhelming and stressful and I've seriously lost sleep over such a dumb issue especially when sleep is not as easy to come by as before. Anyway that's for later!!