pinku

It's weird when someone inside you is telling you your clothes are too tight!

Guess what?! I have been knitting for reals. I even have an FO for you, but not today as I haven't taken photos yet. Baby knitting rules. So quick. So cute. I really had absolutely NO desire to knit until a couple of weeks ago but now I feel like my knitting mojo is back. Thank goodness.

So I'm 23.5 weeks pregnant, and Dudley kicked me almost constantly yesterday. I thought it was weird until I realized that the band on my maternity jeans was too tight for him. I moved the band and the kicking slowed down. It really is kind of weird when a little person inside of you is telling you your clothes are too tight. As a result I'm wearing very loose fitting clothing. Thanks for the heads up Dudley!

Here is a pic of me at 22 weeks.

It's getting a little heavier and it's harder to do my shoes up bending forward. I used to wake up and my belly would be pretty much flat and then get bigger at night, but now it's big all the time. We can even see Dudley kicking my stomach now - cute! Apart from feeling heavier and slower though, I feel great! It's hot in Tokyo right now and a lot of people have comisserated with me about how tough it is to be pregnant through a Japanese summer, but to tell you the truth I prefer it. Like I need a big coat and heavy shoes on top of this belly/body!!! It's flip flops and summer dresses all the way for me. While I was back in Australia I thought I'd pick up some maternity clothes, but there were NONE. I couldn't believe it. I mean there are maternity shops but the clothes are outrageously overpriced and ugly!!!! And there are a couple of cute stores but they are just EXPENSIVE. So I ended up buying lots of tunic tops to wear with leggings and I also bought men's Rugger shorts from Target in the size 2XL!!!! These are my favourite. They are pefect for pregnant women because they are made for men with skinny legs but gigantic beer bellies.

So hopefully I'll have some FO photos for you tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Strong kicker!

Wow Dudley just kicked me so hard that I jumped out of my seat at work. It didn't really hurt, but it was surprising and startling. He was really quiet this morning and I got a little worried, so I started poking my belly and he moved around a little, but a couple of this afternoon's kicks are BIG! Clearly making his presence felt. It could also be a reaction to the Snickers bar that I shoved down my throat 30 minutes ago.

I can't wait for tonight - our very last night of T and the rest of his gang......

It was also my baby daddy's birthday last week. Our celebration was low-key on the day (I baked oatmeal, cranberry and walnut cookies - his favourite), but we turned it up a notch yesterday by drinking ourselves silly with a bunch of friends at our favourite drinking hole in Kichijoji. Of course my selection of drinks was limited to orange juice, soda water and because I felt a little risque - coke!! I even felt a little drunk afterwards...sort of. The power of the mind is amazing.

Photos to follow.

Whoppers are back!!!

It doesn't take much to excite me these days.

Burger King is back in Japan after pulling out of the Japanese market in 2001 and their first store in Tokyo opened in Shinjuku this morning. The store can be found at the Shinjuku I-land building which is directly connected to Nishi-Shinjuku station on the Marunouchi subway line. Mmmmm.....whoppers.

Meeting Barry

Thanks everyone for your baby congratulations! We are both really excited and anxious at the same time. While I was in Australia I had my 19 week ultrasound and I found out the sex of the baby. We really didn't mind either way as ALL we want is a healthy baby to bring home in October. Seriously that's all we want. BTW, Dudley really is a boy!! I totally thought it would be a boy and the Chinese Gender Calendar told me it is a boy too. I've felt our little thrasher kicking since about 18 weeks and that is truly an amazing feeling.

I have plenty to say about being pregnant in general, being pregnant in Japan, planning to give birth in Japan as a western woman, and the too cute Japanese baby clothes that I so far have been able to resist. So there'll be lots of those kinds of posts coming up.

In the meantime, I'll share a really fun experience we had last weekend. Darin and I went to see graffiti artist, Barry 'Twist' McGee talk at the Watarium as a part of the opening of his new exhibition.

The talk was entertaining and educational. Barry talked while doing a slide show containing pics of graffiti from the 80s and 90s located in SF, NY and Brazil. There was a Japanese interpreter there but there were a number of times when I wanted to get up and help him out. Especially when Barry was trying to convey his feelings of distaste for corporate advertising.

After Barry's talk, the Japanese boss manager type guy told everyone not to bother Barry after the show and ask for autographs as he had been working for 48 hours straight. So we stuck around when most people just left and as we thought about leaving I saw a bunch of people gathering around Barry so I told Darin he should give him some of his new stickers. So we went up and Darin gave him some stickers which he really seemed to like and then I asked to take a photo with him and he was more than happy to oblige. Did you know Barry is half Chinese like me!!

And I only had my ticket stub on me so I asked him to sign that too!! Sweet! Darin has already framed it.

The rest of our photos are up on the Juxtapoz blog so check them out!!!!