pinku: June 2008

My dear boy, this month was a big one for you.

Your crawling speed has doubled and we spend our time corraling you into baby safe rooms, following you around when not in baby safe rooms, taking you to fully padded baby play areas so you can practice your new moves.

You also pull yourself up to standing and can now reach the top shelf where the tv is. Thankfully you are still too short to make too much damage. Here is a photo of you mesmerized by Baby Einstein - it was on when we visited your friend, Aisha's house. Don't you think you are a little close to the tv?

We have a new nickname for you. The torture chamber. Who knew having a baby could be so painful?!! The other day you gave me a bloody nose. You accidentally shoved one of your baby fingers (perfectly sized to penetrate the entire length of the adult nostril) up my nose and then it bled. It was painful. We know you don't mean to cause us pain but we have battle scars. We understand that daddy's chest and arm hair makes the perfect handle to pull yourself up on, but um it kinda hurts. Baby hands seem to be the perfect size to grip and twist small amounts of flesh - I have the bruises to prove that point. You are strong.

Ooh and your first two teeth are sprouting out of your lower gum - it's so cute and doesn't seem to be causing you too much pain so that's good. Just for the record we first noticed it on the 14th of June 2008.

In medical-related news, you had your third cold. This one was mild and didn't cause you too much discomfort. Just a runny nose which made it hard for you to breathe when nursing. Your BCG scar is FINALLY beginning to heal - man, that was horrible and makes me wonder whether we should have had you vaccinated. Oh and you have eczema on the inside of your arms, on your belly and other small batches on your body. We hate those patches of dry skin and have been using lots of different creams, but this one seems to be the best so far.

You also started working this month! What we have you working??!! I know it's cruel but you'll thank us when you can afford to buy your own car when you are 18. This month you debuted as a model here in Tokyo. You've had two jobs so far and you aced both of them. One was a magazine ad for a baby highchair and the other is a clothing catalog. I took some photos of you at your second job.

We also celebrated your dad's birthday (his first as a dad) earlier this month. We had a picnic in the park and although everyone seemed to naturally separate into a ladies with babies section and the men playing hackysack section, you couldn't take your eyes off your dad playing hackysack, so we took you into the middle of the action. You loved it!

We have also been trying to ramp up your solid foods by including some protein. You have very exotic breakfasts by the way like oatmeal with mango and tofu with papaya. You love both of those. Here is the oatmeal and mango before defrosting.

Jake you are such a character. I love that you adore watching the bigger kids play and I love that you approach nearly everyone with excitement in your eyes and a smile. I hope you never lose that. Your dad and I are not so fond of the early mornings or having our hair ripped out on a daily basis, but one grin from you and all is right with the world. A lot of people say that they can't remember life before they had a baby, but I can. Your dad and I had a lot of fun, BUT since you came along are hearts are filled with constant joy and more love that I could ever imagine possible. I was never a baby person, but you have converted me. I am now officially a baby person thanks to you my beautiful boy.

So I had my first pumped milk disaster. Well it's not really a disaster but anyone that pumps for their baby knows the heartache of having to throw away pumped milk especially when you don't have a large stash....um or virtually no stash in the freezer. In the excitement of daz's bday on thursday I forgot to put my pumped milk into the fridge when I got home and only discovered it yesterday....of course I had to throw it away.

Some of my mama tomos who breastfeed had a big supply of milk and others not so big when their babes were born, but mine has been average from the beginning - which means I've never really had to pump a lot (before going back to work). I was kinda slack about the whole building a milk stash thing before going back to work and only had about 10 X 100 ml bags in the freezer when I did go back, so we mainly use fresh milk from the day before....therefore we have to be careful. It's not such a big deal now since Jake is on solids and can eat other stuff if necessary and daz can always bring him to me at lunchtime for a feed, but it still SUCKS to throw milk away.

When I pump at work this is my view

It's a pretty nice view (you can see the big buildings of shinjuku in the background) but I usually close the blinds so no-one gets an eyeful of....well yeah anyway. I'd much rather this be my view all day long.