|
::Andrea's Rambling Notes - once from Japan, now from Canada::
::Author::  Name::Andrea From::Small city/town, B.C., Canada I am a short girl from the west cost of BC, Canada and I am a proud Canadian. I went to Japan in 2000 because my Dad told me I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't. He was right. I lived a good life found my husband from the other side of the world and have a beautiful daughter. Basically we lead a pretty normal life filled with normal ups and downs. We both come from different cultures: me Canadian, him Chinese. Living in Japan was a real eye opener about who I am and about the people I associate myself with. I lived and loved in Japan but the time to move on came upon us and in May of 2006 we left and moved to Canada: a huge move for us all. We are now trying to start up again, remodel our lives and create our future for our family. I now feel like a tourist in the country of my birth, my eyes see different and my life will be forever changed. This blog is my notes and observations of our life, our changes, our adventures and new beginnings. Welcome. View my complete 
::Recent Entries::
::Personal Links::
::My Family's Sites::
::Index::
::Archives::
::Image Event Album::
::My FlickR Photos::
::Tech Sites::
::Extra Internet Info::
Canadian Atlas
World TimesZones - please check this BEFORE calling me! eigoNavi - a pretty good language converter The Samurai Appliance Repair Man - a funny repair site for N
::World News::
::RSS Feed::
|
Thursday, March 31, 2005 Benefits to Breast feeding 1. the 1001 good things it gives my daughter 2. I am teaching less because I need time to pump 3. it is a good excuse to refuse giving her to Li's mom 4. I haven't gained any weight 5. it is a constant subject of conversation amongst the woman here 6. JiXiang loves it when I come home 7. already made 8. the peace of mind that there is one thing I am doing right for my child as there are so many ways I will probably screw up in the future 9. I have an excuse to eat chocolate - the books say I can! Negative aspects of breast feeding 1. cant drink 2. cant go for my afternoon walk in the company park because I need the time to pump 3. my tits are lopsided - one is bigger than the other!! 4. I AM SOOOOOO HUN}GRY!!! I have never been so hungry, even when I was pregnant. I cant stop eating. Thank god for benefit number 4! 5. I can not stop peeing!!! - in order to make the maximum amount of milk I am drinking so many liquids that I feel (I know) like I am peeing at least once an hour. - but a benefit number 10 would be no bladder infections. 6. I spend lots of my free time counting mls trying to make sure I have enough milk in the freezer for her to eat. It can be stressful 7. waking up at 5 in the morning to feed. 8. it is a constant subject of conversation amongst the woman here I am sure that as time goes on these lists will continue to grow. Has anyone seen Rosie O'Donnell's blog??? I am going to add a celebrity section on the side of my blog once my computer is working. Rosie will be on there. www.onceadored.blogspot.com Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/31/2005 :: 0 Comments: Li has a very weird bald spot on the back of his head. This morning JiXiang woke up at 6 (after sleeping ALL night) and as I was breast feeding I glanced over at Li who was still sleeping. Grr... I could not help noticing this odd bald area on the back of his head. I reached over to touch it and it is baby skin smooth. I went - ummmm LI you have a bald spot on your head. He woke up pretty quickly, reaches behind and goes -where? I directed his hand there and he mumbles to himself - ghost again. I rolled my eyes. You see Li believes that many years ago when he was a little kid he was visited by a ghost who tore a big chunk of hair out the top of his head. I told this story to Myrna once and she went, ahh must have been his sister. Only problem is Li is an only child. I think he got in a fight at school. Either way the spot remained bald for quite a long time. The hair would not grow back. They went to a doctor for some cream and that didn't work. Finally his mom took him to a Chinese yinyang doctor and he made some odd cream, spoke some words and the hair started to grow back. Well he has a bald spot again. And he OF COURSE could not stop rubbing the area after I showed him where it is. - STOP! It is only going to get bigger!! The way his hair is cut you can not see it. I only noticed because he had terrible bed head this morning. .... So grandma had me in a worried mother state for no reason last night. I got home from work just as N phoned. Thanks tons dude!! Dealt with the computer for a while. By the time we were finished Li had come home and asked me to set the washing machine to wash JiXiang's clothes. His mom couldn't find where I put the detergent for her stuff. His words were - JiXiang shit a lot today. Well this comment made my eye brows curl slightly. She looked all active and normal. If she made her clothes dirty did she have diarrhea. Well my mind was doing the whole worried about the baby thing. JiXiang ate just before dinner started and everything seemed ok. I had all these dehydrated visions going through my head. Had to change the diaper and it was a little more yellow than I would have been happy with. I started flipping through the baby books and nothing was matching. Decided not to panic yet. Li and his mom were totally oblivious to my freaking out at the other end of the sofa, of course. I asked Li to ask his mom to keep an eye on her diaper the next day for signs of dehydration and told her what the signs were. It is then that I get from her that she hadn't shit a lot just the one time and she had not put the diaper on properly so it ended up all over the place. AUGH! I had over two hours of worry stress for nothing!!! Li's comment - you think to much. Shit head. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/30/2005 :: 0 Comments: Mr. K (different from the one I have mentioned before) is probably the most boring individual that I teach. He is also one of the laziest people in this building, probably, the entire Sumitomo corporation. He would have been fired a hell of a long time ago if he lived in Canada. He used to sneak into the far corner of the library for afternoon naps. His manager went ballistic on him (a rare happening in this company) and he was transferred to another section at the end of the building. This manager has been a little more successful but he still sneaks away for naps but now into the men's washroom down stairs. Dont get me wrong, the guy is very smart. You wouldn't know to look at him. He has a dopey look and talks with an 'ummm' after almost every word. I think that he is just sooo damn lazy that he puts on this dumb act so he doesn't have to work as hard and is given all the easy jobs. It has been working for the past 4 years as no one wants to deal with him. He comes to English class because his manager wants him to. He used to have a really high English score but he dropped immediately after his first company English test. He goes for the easiest text book and it is like trying to pull teeth to get him to speak a full sentence or answer a simple question. Basically I start every class with - How is work? What are you working on today? I then make them explain their work so they get used to describing their product and technical stuff. Gives me a headache most of the time but it really helps me when I have to proof read their reports. The next question is always - How was your weekend? What did you do? Well Mr. K always answers - sleeping. Gets frustrating always asking ridiculously stupid question to keep him talking. Things like - How many hours did you sleep? What time did you wake up? What did you have for dinner? Well today he actually shocked me. -What did you do last weekend? -Went skydiving. -WHAT!! Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/29/2005 :: 0 Comments: So the question I asked of you all last week was.. What does - Was your dad made up? - mean???? Answer.. Was he excited? Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/29/2005 :: 0 Comments: I actually have work to do but I thought I would write a tad first. Basically a JiXiang update. Grandma and I weighed her last night. Now my scale if from the ice ages and is as non-digital as you can get, but our best calculation attempt said that she is now 5000 grams. I think she is actually a little more. That puts her at just over 11 pounds. That means she has gained just over 1000grams in a month. According to my weight chart that makes my baby a totally normal healthy little girl. I am happy with that. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/28/2005 :: 0 Comments: HAPPY EASTER First a HUGE HAPPY EASTER!!! To those family member that I know are checking me out. Miss you all, and love you all even more. Enjoy the food as I am jealous as heck! Hehe So I am writing this from work again and I may be doing this for a while. My computer at home has died completely for real this time. Nils, if you are reading this, if you have time to call THANK YOU, if not I will call you on your Friday evening if that is ok for your schedule. Email me at work. That goes for everyone else as well. If you want me to answer your emails you have to email me at work for a while. I can not access hotmail for work. Also MIKE and ANDREA dont worry if you send me pictures to my hotmail, I paid for the extra huge account a long time ago so your pictures will be ok and I will get them up as soon as I can. Grr. COMPUTERS!!!! We love them and hate them all at the same time. GRRRR!!! .... I BROKE A NAIL!!!! ... Ok so last weekend we actually did things. It was Easter but we dont celebrate it here, I admit that I would have forgotten if it wasn't for BBC. We didn't do anything Easter dinner wise as they dont celebrate it in China either. But we did have eggs!! Why the exclamation mark you ask? Because they are damn good eggs. You can buy them on the street in China town but they are not as good as the home made kind. First you boil a whole bunch of eggs. Then when they are well done you let them cool and you then roll them so the shell crackles. Then you create this sauce of god knows what. I do know that there is a lot of tea leaves in there and licorice root. What else, I have no idea. You then put the crackled eggs back in and simmer them for hours. They are soooooo goooood. I am going to get Li and his mom to try making some in the crock pot as the gas bill is a tad expensive after cooking them. We also went to the cherry blossom festival except that there are no blossoms yet and when we arrived the festival was already finished. Piss me off!! So instead we went for a stroll down the old shopping street of Fujieda. While Li and his mom were in this nice antique store that a stroller could not go in, I zipped into this lovely Buddhist temple and found the most amazing tree. I took a picture but I can not put it up with this computer. Later. There was also this alter with a Buddha figure that looked more like a panda bear in robes. I took a picture but I can not put it up with this computer. Later. The four of us then headed into the local recycle shop. Li's mom loves these shops and spends hours in them. She bought a diamond ring and a bag. Li bought this salt, pepper, vinegar and sauce table set. I bought some coooooooollll stuff. First, my first real jewelry box. I still have the jewelry box from my little kid days. It was the kind that had the dancing ballerina that popped up when you opened the lid. Well this one is made of wood, has glass doors, a turny thing to hold necklaces, drawers, a mirror and proper brass handles. It also has a music box drawer. All for only 8bucks!! It is fancy nice! The other overly cool thing I bought was a doll. Not any old doll but a traditional boy's day doll. This one is a general. It is about a foot and a half high and its cloths are all hand made using kimono cloth. It has on a generals helmet and is holding a spear. It is encased in its own glass box. I walked around the corner and yelled - LI!! I want this doll!!!! If they deliver I am buying this doll!!! They delivered, and for free. This old lady came into the store while I was sitting there waiting for Li's mom and she saw the doll. She mentioned to her husband that there was no price tag on it but that it must be about 500 dollars. NOPE! I paid 15!!! It is in perfect condition. The face is perfectly clean and the clothes have no dust on it. It is beautiful. I took a picture but I can not put it up with this computer. Later. I dont know how I am going to get it home to Canada but I am going to find a way. You can not buy those things in Canada. Brand new ones here start at around 2000 dollars. I am very giddy about my doll. JiXiang helped me clean up the glass box and I put it all wrapped into the closet. I open the door every once and a while to admire my find. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/27/2005 :: 1 Comments: Well I was just on the Canada immigration web page and Li's application is finally on there and in the 'in progree' mode. Has been for almost 2 months now. Lets hope that everything continues smoothly. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/24/2005 :: 0 Comments: Nobody has made a guess as to what -Was your dad made up? means!!! Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/24/2005 :: 0 Comments: This whole Bobby Fisher thing is so ridiculous it is funny. It was a chess game for Christ sakes!! He is not a murder, thief or a terrorist, he is a chess player and the greatest one alive at that!! The only thing that he has ever done wrong is speak his views. By that reasoning I should be on the most wanted list along with most of the Canadian population!!! Bloody pathetic!!! ... I measured the length of JiXiang last night and by my unofficial not exact calculations she has grown another 3 cm in not quite two weeks. This does not surprise me as she is eating TONS and her bottle consumption each time is 30ml over the books recommended dose for an 8week old and she is only 7 weeks! It is stressing me out in the pumping area. I am doing better though. The seven hour sleep she gave me really helped. I needed the sleep to catch up. Unfortunately last night she slept only 4 hours straight. .... Recycling has become a really big thing here at work. This is not a bad thing at all!! The problem is that there are tons of different garbage cans all labeled for different things and I can only understand half of the labels. Sometimes I ask, the rest of the time I guess. The city is starting a new recycle campaign in April. Basically they are adding another garbage day. Now it will be: -Twice a week burnable garbage -Once a week plastic garbage that contains this special label on it. -Once a week wood garbage. -Once every two weeks paper and cardboard garbage. -But STILL only once a month for major recycling - cans, glass, tin and pop bottles This once a month one is a real hassle! Li was bitching the other day about it.- Dont these city people realize that Japanese houses are pathetically small!!! I now have 4 different garbage cans on the balcony (one is for diapers), four different garbage cans in the kitchen, cardboard stuffed behind the book case and a bag hanging off the kitchen door for other paper garbage. Bloody hell!! AND to make things really confusing, the water bottle and the cooking oil have to be recycled on totally different days even though they are made from the same type of damn plastic!!! I am going to take silly pictures this weekend for you if the computer is working. The mouse died and Li screwed things up completely thinking he could fix it. ... OHHHHH!! It snowed this morning!! Due to my shitty sleep last night I had to confirm this with one of the guys at work this morning and yes IT SNOWED for all of about 10 minutes and melted before it got below my balcony, but the point is that it snowed! The strangest part was that there was not a single cloud in the sky when it did. It was air snow as it was sooooo DAMN cold this morning! Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/24/2005 :: 0 Comments: JiXiang slept for 7 hours straight last night!!!!!! Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/23/2005 :: 0 Comments: I tried!! But I have failed. Sniff sniff.... Mr. E is a nice boy but very gullible and prone to peer pressure. He is one of these poor guys that is always trying to fit in but never seems to belong anywhere. This might be why he is a big horse racing gambler - it is something he can do by himself. Anyway, he belongs to Mr. H's project group and there are only three people in the group who dont smoke. One is a girl, the other can not smoke for health reasons and the third is Mr. E. Well I have caught him with a cigarette in his mouth a few times and spared not even a milli second to rip it out of his mouth. 'YOU ARE NOT A SMOKER!!!' And then chastised the idiot in his group who gave him the cigarette. He has always laughed it off and gotten quite red in the face. The older man Mr. S has patted me on the back a couple of times and given me the thumbs up in approval afterwards. A Japanese person would never be as forward as to rip a cigarette out of someone's mouth. Well this morning my tactics have failed. I have been away for three months to have a baby and peer pressure has taken hold. This morning I walked into the coffee area and Mr. E was standing there BY HIMSELF with his own pack of cigs and one hanging out of his mouth. I stared in horror and then shook my head in sadness. He smiled all embarrassed and reached over to put a freshly lit cig out. I told him that we needed to move him to another group. Then his group leaded made the mistake and came around the corner. Mr. H got a wringing out and then Mr. K came with a cig in hand and he got chastised as well. I tried but failed. Maybe I can counter it. hmmm. I hate Li's smoking and constantly bitch about it. I refuse to clean his ashtrays and he has to smoke outside. Dont even try to smoke in wind direction of JiXiang when we are outside. His mother actually brings him cigs from China and that just disgusts me, although, she has been with me on the no smoke anywhere near Ji thing. She brought Li two boxes of cigs from China and they smell different from cigs here and are also stronger. It is a Chinese thing to immediately offer a cig to a person you meet, man or woman, as a sign of politeness. Well Li does that here. At the St. Patrick's Day party he was doing that again. Most of the people there actually dont smoke as they are from England and Canada. Those that do know that Li is always handing out his cigs, so always ask. Well at one point our friend Q comes around the corner and goes, 'LI! Stop handing out your Chinese cigarettes to people!! You are going to kill someone. I just ran into this poor guy in the hall hacking up a lung. When I asked him why he went, I smoked one of Li's cigarette's!' Li giggled away. Then California Jeff comes around the corner still a little red in the face from coughing. 'Thanks Li. That damn thing actually made me see stars. Stuff is better than pot. It has been a long time since something I smoked made me feel like that.' Now I know why I can not get Li to stop bloody smoking. On a positive note, JiXiang went 'ello' to me when I got home last night. Ahhh... I think I am more happy that her first word is probably going to be an English word and not Chinese. Oh, and Ji is fascinated by the TV. If she is being all grumpy and figity, just turn on the TV and she stares. It is her equivalent of a mobile. If any grandparent people out there want to buy JiXiang those 'Baby Einstein' videos she would love every minute of them. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/22/2005 :: 0 Comments: Li was funny last night. I have trained the guy fairly well. He went from being a guy who didn't know the difference between a cloth and a towel, or have any clue how to even push a vacuum, to a guy who automatically cleans the table after dinner. With his mom in the house he is not allowed to do this and it is frustrating him. Yes not allowed. Me too. At times this is nice but it is mostly annoying. You would think that I would love that there is someone that is cleaning my floor every morning and washing the dishes, but actually it is driving me crazy. Li's mom has never been a very good cleaner. When I was in China I stayed quiet but I didn't think the house was very clean. It was presentable on the surface but a good look spoke other wise. Dont get me wrong! I am not an anal clean freak, I actually hate cleaning. The only problem is that I hate a dirty house more than I hate cleaning. I have also become an organization freak and have been quietly putting my kitchen back in order every day. As for grandma's cleaning, well, she wipes things down and does a basic clean every day, but there is starting to be a build up of everything she ignores. She only cleans what can be seen. AUGH! She doesn't vacuum under the sofa and only SOMETIMES uses soap when she cleans the dishes. I keep putting dirty glasses back into the sink. Every time Li and I try to clear the table, or wash a dish, grandma appears from NOWHERE going 'no, no ,no ,no!' and then proceeds to clean. Last night after dinner his mother started cleaning and Li started stacking dishes on the table. I whispered to him, ooooooo, is she going to let you? Nope, here she comes, hurry up. Hehehe. He gives me this totally frustrated look as his mother is going , no no no no, and goes SEE! Now you know why my mother never knew I could cook or do anything. She never lets me do ANTHING. He sits down with a humpf and watches TV. I quietly whispered back, ahhh I am glad I am not the only one who is getting annoyed. ... I just remembered something about Sunday. Odd little tidbit really. This English blok named Will stumped me up. He asked me... 'Was your dad made up?' I will give you all a few days to try to figure out what he meant, then I will let you know. I had to ask him as I didn't know what he was asking! Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/21/2005 :: 0 Comments: One of the first things I noticed when I first met Li was that Chinese people count differently. With their fingers I mean. I don’t know about you but I count using both hands and my toes are sometimes required. To indicate ten to someone without speaking I hold up both hands. Well not Chinese people. They are able to count to ten using only one hand. I have never taken the time to learn their counting method as Li can speak English, but with his mom in the house understanding this has been important. To learn I asked Li to demonstrate and I took pictures of his hands. Here we go… Now number one and two are done the same as us BUT This is THREE  Number four and number five are the same as us but this is number SIX  The number SEVEN  Then number EIGHT  Now number NINE  And last is number TEN  Now you all have something to study and watch for the next time you visit China Town. Have fun! Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/21/2005 :: 0 Comments: Today is Monday but Li and I both had a work holiday, so we brought his mom to the bird park. This place is fast becoming on of the main spots that I bring visitors. This is ok as it is always fun. I think his mother enjoyed herself and I think Li did as well. I have a funny feeling that Li is starting to suffer from allergies as he has a red eyed look and he slept well. Kim noticed that allergies are affecting her for the first time this year as well. She is not in a very good mood about it. Anyway, we went to the bird park and took many pictures. JiXiang was excellent of course. As you will notice Li’s mom loves to pose for pictures. The natural look is not her style. It is both irritating and humorous at the same time. You can really tell that she is not a nature lover when you bring her to places like this and is more into the city and shopping. This place has the most amazing flowers and I don’t think she stopped to look at a single one. Sad. Even Li commented on them. I pointed the ceiling out to her she looked up nodded and went back to trying to get the birds attention. She is not really into temples and cool old things either, so I am not sure what we are going to do for fun stuff later. Next weekend is the cherry blossom festival. They sting lights in the cherry trees and the entire city goes for an evening stroll under the trees all lit up. I have never done it before and am determined to go this year. It is supposed to be very beautiful.  Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/20/2005 :: 0 Comments: We went to a St. Patrick’s Day party today.  Anyway, Oewen is our resident Irish man and he loves his party. He holds one in style every year. He commandeers a pub and decorates it in tons of Irish flags and Paddy’s day paraphernalia. He makes sure there is plenty of Guinness being served and always tries to find a band. Well this year our friends Abby, Kelly, Dan and Will formed their own band and have been practicing for months for this very day. Then Dan and Oewen did a stint where Oewen sang some great traditional songs. Dan found an AMAZING group that is from Shimada. They were spectacular!!! The girl played an EXCELLENT accordion and ukulele, The one guy would switch between guitar, banjo, bazooka and piccolo!! They were great!! It was like being back home and listening to some of those great concerts at the We took a bunch of pictures using grandma’s camera and even took a video that I hope everyone can view. Couldn’t stay too long as we had to get back to JiXiang and grandma but it was really nice getting away for a while. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/20/2005 :: 0 Comments: Li snuck into the bedroom this morning with his mom's digital camera. JiXiang and I sleeping I havent figured out how to shrink pictures so you have to check it out on the picture page. There are a bunch new pictures that Li took after that one. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/19/2005 :: 1 Comments: Li and I are talking no problem and grandma is being pretty good about letting us. Have some new pictures of JiXiang including her feet which I took this morning. They are 9.5 cm and I have to buy her much bigger socks!!!  New pictures link. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/18/2005 :: 0 Comments: I am totally on Japan's side in this one!!! First read this Border reopening? Now read this Japan sanctions grows in U.S. Two faced shit heads!! Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/18/2005 :: 0 Comments: Oh my god!! I have one class spot left open and three people that want the spot! Decisions!! Ok can not write right now. I have just been handed a long poorly written presentation that will be given on Monday. I'll be back. ... Finished.... It was raining soooooo hard yesterday and JiXiang and I had to head out to the immigration office to do her Japanese visa. I had a rain proof type blanket draped over her and my umbrella, as well as the paperwork in a bag, her diaper bags and my purse. I was a little over loaded. Worked out though. Ji was an excellent girl and kept making this one girl on the other end of the room giggle because of the way Ji likes to sit and observe everything. She gets this hilarious deep thinking look on her face. She is an observer. The office was PACKED and we waited for over three hours for our paper work to be done. I was a tad annoyed by it all. I have no idea how it works in other countries but you would think that common sense would prevail. JiXiang is a baby!!! She is bairly 2 months old and is just a tad dependent on my and Li. Now one would assume, well I did, that her Japanese visa would be an automatic stamp based on my visa. No questions asked just hand in the passports and get them back stamped no paper work really needed. OH NO!!!! There were two pieces of paper to fill out, I had to bring all our passports and foreigner cards, birth certificates and I brought my hospital book (which they used) just in case. Does Ji have a visa? NO! She has a visa pending and I have to go back when they mail me a postcard telling me what other paperwork I need and how much it will cost. PENDING!! What is there to pend?!?! She has no police record for Christ sakes!! What are they going to do- kick her out of the country if she doesn't meet the requirements!!! And I have to take another day off work to bloody do it!!! Grrr... Grandma stayed at home as Li warned her it would be boring as hell if she went. She had a relaxing afternoon and when I got back I got my hair cut. WAY overdue for a cut. Feels tons better. Looks tons better as well. So Li is still not talking to me. Fine. I am talking to him. I am just talking as if he is answering. Grandma is letting me and doesn't interrupt. The amusing and heart warming part is that grandma looks at Li a tad pissed and annoyed when he doesn't answer me when I talk to him. At one point she even smacked him on his arm. YA!! I have an ally!! That feels damn good. He can not keep it up for much longer. His mom wont let him and life wont either. Once he starts talking I am going to mention your idea, Cori. On an amusing note, I could not find socks that fit JiXiang this morning. She usually wears these two wonderful PJs that Aunt Anne gave (thanks they have been put to good use) but they were being washed. After her bath last night I had to move on to other clothes but these have no legs as they are for the upcoming HEAT!, so Ji needed socks. Problem is that her feet are sooooo damn big she can not fit into anything. Grandma is looking at them all and trying to stretch them but the books really warn against small socks as they can cause foot problems if left on for too long. I finally found a pair that are too big and now have to put 4 pairs into the recycle or present pile. None of them were ever even used! I need to take a picture of Ji's feet as they really are big. I call them monkey feet as she has long toes just like she has long fingers. OHH and on a very proud mommy note... JiXiang was desperately trying to say 'hello' this morning. I always say hello and hi. Li says hello to her and so does grandma, so it is a common word that she hears often. Well this morning I was saying it slowly with my mouth over exaggerating its movements as she was really focusing on my mouth and trying to copy. Well this morning JiXiang said 'ello', no 'h'. True!! No joke!! She got one hell of a big kiss after she tried that a few times. JiXiang has caught on very quickly that I leave in the morning and is not making any attempt to fall asleep again after her morning feed. She wants to play and as I near leaving time she wants more milk. I think she thinks if she is latched on I aint going anywhere. She glares at me when I give her to grandma and give her a kiss good bye. Girl aint stupid that is for sure. .... I just had a class with my one student. Canada you should feel proud!! He had a 7 day whirlwind business trip on the East cost in January - Montreal, New Jersey and Houston. The 7 days included flying time. He was very tired. Anyway, he complemented the customs people in Montreal. He thought Canada was very friendly and was very impressed. The customs man spoke in very slow easy to understand English and even spoke a few words of Japanese in the end. He said Canada felt very comfortable. The New York airport on the other hand gave him a headache. The customs people spoke sooooo fast and the security checks were exhausting. He said the Houston airport was much friendlier but they still all spoke too fast. Now his English is pretty good so if he says they spoke to fast they must have been speed talking. He enjoyed Canada so much he and his fiancee are considering going to BC for their honey moon. I just found out they are getting married in June and was all excited as we might be in Canada when they go and he has already told his fiancee all about me. Good things I hope. Hehe. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/17/2005 :: 0 Comments: AUGH!! I just deleted a page and a half of writing!! I am going to attempt to write it again as I need to mentally. …. First I forgot my breast pump this morning. Very stupid. Thank GOD I am only working a half day today, as I have to go with JiXiang to Shizuoka to do her Japanese visa. UGH! …. Second! Thanks for the offer this morning mom. I really appreciate the thought I really do. You know my thinking on the subject but I really appreciate that you are trying and thinking of us. Email me ok! ….. Got home last night to an awake and passive baby. Judging from her puffy red eyes and red cheeks Grandma had had a long day. She didn’t admit that though. She later told Li that Ji had slept very little during the day. To my bonus Ji went to sleep at 11 last night and slept a whole 5 hours. I was very happy about this. Grandma slept longer then usual this morning. Hehe. Two full days with Ji and she was a little tired. … This is the major part where I need to blow off steam. Li and I had a fight last night and we still were not talking this morning. Basically it is Li I am pissed at, not his mother. She is involved but I just expect more from him. Li’s mom talks NON STOP! And she doesn’t let me talk at all. I have not had a decent conversation with Li since she came. Every time I start to talk to Li she jumps in and Li turns to her to continue her conversation. I don’t mean after five sentences, but after 5 words. It is extremely frustrating. I will wait for a break in their conversation to talk to Li but, wammy, grandma jumps in. When she first came Li would ask her to wait and he would continue talking to me. Now nothing. I realize that having to translate all the time is tiring but I have been totally excluded from any conversation at home. I am a Leo and we don’t like being ignored. It is more frustrating when Li translates everything I say to his mom but translates almost nothing for me. AND to top it off I am constantly hearing the word Canada and JiXiang and have no clue what they are talking about. Well last night started normal and fine. I have basically shrunk into my little shell and haven’t bothered trying to talk to Li much anymore. He came home and did his normal kiss on the cheek and hello to me then went off to talk to his mom. During dinner he actually included me in the one conversation as it is something we have both been bitching about together. (Involving our Chinese friends being lazy when we are trying to help them find a better job.) Not a huge involvement but I was able to say a bit and Li was able to talk back a bit. When he first started the conversation I didn’t even know he was talking to me that is how rare it has gotten. Well he and his mom were off talking non-stop again and I disappeared into my world, a little. I will admit that I was starting to get pissy again as I was feeling left out. I enjoyed out short conversation earlier and felt a tad abandoned. Li called my name to clarify something for his conversation with his mom and I replied with a snarky what. This raised Li’s hackles and our little fight started. I pointed out that it was only the second time he had spoken to me that evening. He said NOT. I said ok, the third. I then proceeded to point out that he never talks to me. I never mentioned that his mother cuts me off all the time. I never complained about her, just him. He got all pissy and says that he has to talk to his mom. I said fine, I understand but why is it that you translate everything to your mom but nothing to me. You two are sitting there laughing away and I have no clue what is going on. He yells, why don’t you learn Chinese? BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO! (too damn hard. If I could take a magic learning pill I would but I have no desire to study it.) He then goes, I told you not to complain. I am not complaining Li! I have been damn good and have not complained once to you yet. Your mother on the other hand has complained non-stop about me. She has called me fat almost every day (will get to this later) and is constantly complaining about my food! Of all the things why would you translate this shit? He says to help you. HELP ME!! How does that shit help me? It doesn’t help me! It is F*****G rude!!!! Conversation stopped there and we have not spoken to each other since. Surprisingly grandma said not a single peep the whole time and didn’t speak again until I went into the shower. So yes. I am fat! Or so my mother-in-law says almost every day. She had not even been in our house for an hour when she first arrived when she said that I had lots of meat on me. Yes, ‘meat’ was the word Li used for his translation. I bit my cheek and smiled sweetly. Since then she has been telling Li almost every day that I am too heavy. I guess that fact that I gave birth to a 7-pound baby not even two bloody months ago hasn’t entered her brain. She also is complaining non-stop about the little bit of chocolate that I eat. I say little, as that is what it is. I am not snarfing down a chocolate bar every day. Hell they don’t sell chocolate bars here like they do at home and if I did I would be puking all the time as I cannot handle that much chocolate. I eat a couple of bit sized ones. She also complains about my drinking. I drink mostly water and CC Lemon ( a lovely vitamin c drink that has almost no carbonate.). She seems to think I should be drinking a hell of a lot more tea. I don’t drink that much tea as it makes me pee like a racehorse. Li actually defended me a tiny bit on the liquids. Then there is the popcorn. I have some popcorn for a snack sometimes. Now I might add that I am breastfeeding and any one who has ever breast-fed knows that it makes you sooooooo hungry and a bit tired. My friend Jean thinks that the price of breast feeding and the price of formula is probably the same due to the amount of food she consumes when she breastfeeds. Now grandma wouldn’t know this, as she never breastfed. When Li translated this shit I told him to tell his mother that the peanuts she scarfs down every day contains more fat and oils then my barely buttered non salt popcorn. I think he told her as she has stopped eating peanuts. Hehe. I even read out a section in the baby book that says - dieting and excess exercise causes low milk production if you are breast-feeding. I know he translated it to her. I personally don’t think I am fat and am very thrilled with the weight I am now. I could tone a bit but that will come in time. The muscles still feel weak and the books say they will be for many more months. Hell! I can fit into all my clothes and my work uniform so piss off I say. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/16/2005 :: 0 Comments: It is allergy season in Japan. For an amazingly HUGE percentage of the population it is HELL!! Allergy season is usually hell for anyone with allergies. I thankfully, knock on wood, do not suffer from pollen allergies or so called hay fever. I have a very mild allergy to rice flowers when they open but I only experience this if I am beside a rice field. Not as problem once we move to Canada. This year is especially bad for pollen as the weather sucked last year. The scientists have estimated that the pollen levels are 30 times worse this year. There was a small blerb in the paper the other day on how there was a forest fire scare due to a huge cloud of pollen. Now that is bad. JiXiang goes out for a walk every day. The way I see it, if this girl can survive this season and become sensitized to pollen now she will never have an allergy problem. So far she looks good. It almost feels like every single Japanese person I meet has allergies. No exaggeration. You can divide the population into 4 parts. Part one is the lucky bunch with no allergies. Now my local observations tend to see this group as the elderly people. I think this is due to the way they were raised. I am sure that when they were little babies their parents didn't overly protect them by not allowing them to breath fresh air for the first 6 months of their lives the way Japanese parents do now. Life way back then had you outside at a day old and slinging an ax to keep the hearth going before you were one. Part two is the group of people what walk around imitating the Michael Jackson look. They wear masks of all kinds. The creepiest one is the one that strangely resembles a jock strap. These people claim that the masks really do work. I am just going to take their word for it as I have no desire to wear one my self. As an English teacher these masks make work very difficult. You can barely hear your student behind the mask and almost everyone who wears them mumbles terribly. Then there are the smokers who unhook only one side so that the mask is hanging off one ear while there is a cigarette hanging out of their mouth. I guess no one ever explained to them that smoking makes allergies worse. Then there is part three. These amusing people have NO qualms about walking around in public or shaking your hand with a straight face while giant wads of tissue paper are stuck up their noses. I personally find these people very amusing. Now I do admit that it is totally disgusting but I will accept the people belonging in groups one, two or three into my home any day of the week. Now part four group people all need to be shot! They are the snorkers. BLOW YOUR DAMN NOSE!!! Like I said, tissue paper up the nose is WAY better then a snorker any day of the week. In this office we have all four parts. Even a jock strap mask. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/15/2005 :: 0 Comments: I just read the CBCs exerts of China and Taiwan: anti-secession law http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/china/antisecession_law.html And I found it kind of interesting that the law actually says foreign nationals in it --the state shall exert its utmost to protect the lives, property and other legitimate rights and interests of Taiwan civilians and foreign nationals in Taiwan, and to minimize losses.- Japan only ever says the word citizen when they write laws and are under constant discussion as to who a citizen really is. Some people say anyone who pays taxes. This would include all foreigners who also pay taxes. Others say that a citizen is only a Japanese national and have trouble accepting the idea of a person who has permanent residence status as a citizen. Hmmmm.... It is little quirks like this that make me wonder which country in this world is really more advanced. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/15/2005 :: 0 Comments: I am bored! I also am trying to play with my blog. I want to put one of those revolving news flash headline thingys on my site. Hey I like the news ok! Anyway I have no idea how to do this or where to get one. Can anyone help me with this? Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/15/2005 :: 0 Comments: JiXiang has a blue bum. It is not BLUE, but there is a strange blue circle on her ass. Hmm When I first saw it in the hospital I had assumed it was a birthing bruise, but it never went away. It doesn't bother her and is totally not aware that she has a blue spot on her ass. When we went to her one month check I am positive the doctor saw it but he didn't say anything so I have not been worried about it. Well the other day my friend Kim asked me if JiXiang had a blue butt. I said ummmm ya. Now Kim is American but she is of Japanese decent. She goes, thought so. All Asian babies have a blue butt. Dont know why, they just do. There have been many cases of parents being accused of abuse by doctors in the States who are not aware of this odd spot. Kim says that it does disappear eventually. Odd. ........ So I got home yesterday to a surprisingly quiet and asleep baby. She woke up within seconds of me walking into the living room. This made me feel very happy. Grandma changed her while I got out of my work clothes. I then fed her and, odd, I cried. I never cried when I left for work but I did when I got home. I have a feeling it will happen again today. Grandma said that Ji had been a perfect baby all day. Slept properly and ate properly. Today I am positive that things will be VERY different. I fed JiXiang this morning and attempted to get her to fall back to sleep but she was not going to go for it. I have a feeling I am going to get home to a pissy and overly tired baby. After I fed her this morning she was all cooy and squealy and generally overly damn cute. I pushed my time as far as I could but when I had to finally leave I gave her a kiss and grandma stepped in. Ji immediately stopped talking and put on her no expression face. Not a good sign. Makes me more achy for my baby. BUT OH SO LOVED! Every night I demand that JiXiang has some Daddy time. For the past month this has not been a problem for Li. He enjoys his time. Usually when he leaves for work in the morning she is asleep and I have been trying to get her to go to bed much earlier in the evening, so daddy time is Li's only time. Before Li had no hesitations about reaching over and grabbing her when I call out Daddy Time! Lately I have had to get bitchy. Last night I went 'daddy time' and Li didn't respond. I got a little bitchy and reminded him that he hadn't spent any time with her all day. Now Grandma was holding her as I had had to go pee a few minutes before. I then was on my exercise machine and Grandma was still holding her. Li went, but my mother has her. I went, WHO BLOODY CARES! Your mother has had her all f*****g day it is your turn! While I was getting bitchy grandma asked for a translation and Li told her. GET THIS! She rolled her eyes and SMIRKED! I now know why Li seems to have no relationship with his father. Li finally got his daughter and had a wonderful conversation with her. He even started making up little Chinese songs. Ji really likes talking to her daddy and seems to mimic his mouth actions more than mine or grandma's. It was bath night for Ji last night and as I was getting it ready my student phoned. Grandma finished getting the bath ready and tried to take Ji out of Li's arms while they were playing. I leaned over, while still on the phone, and reminded Li that I AM GIVING HER A BATH! Well after the phone call Li and Ji were still having a good time so as far as I was concerned the bath could wait. His mother kept nagging at him to give her to me for her bath. I kept going it is OK! I get the impression, and so does Dad, that she doesn't like me very much because I am just as strong minded as she is and not a helpless twit like she would wish. No means no to me and I am willing to say it to her. She dont like that! Hehehehe. Sometimes being a bitch is a good thing. Babe In Total Control of Herself! Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/15/2005 :: 0 Comments: Here are even more Mike and Andrea pictures. I am loving their sunset pictures. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/15/2005 :: 0 Comments: Got some new pictures from Mike and Andrea MasFotos The sunset one is beautiful. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/15/2005 :: 0 Comments: I added some new posts to my Japanese culture page. I added info about: Kabuki Sumo The Sumo Topknot Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/14/2005 :: 0 Comments: At work that is. Ugh! But to my GREAT joy the first thing I noticed was that we got a NEW PRINTER!!! YAAAA!!!! I despised the old one. Damn thing kept breaking down. Totally not worth the scrap metal in it. grrr... But no more problems as we have a new QUIET one. You can email me here now. Leaving home today was very hard. JiXiang was sleeping so peacefully. Snifff. I had nursed her and she was asleep all pretty, so I bent over and kissed her on the forehead. STUPID! She woke up immediately just like sleeping beauty and proceeded to have a long conversation with me about the spots on the ceiling before I could get her settled again. I have tons to tell, some of it bitching and some good. I may write this in sections and I may not even get to tons of info. Hmmmm, where to start. Well Friday was a piss ass rainy day and grandma got so bored that she actually started crying when Li got home from work and proceeded to whine like a baby. She whined about me (mostly about how non Chinese I am in my mannerisms, I kept my mouth shut and didn't mention the ear picking with the cloth underneath to catch the wax. A tummy churning sight I must say), and how bored she was. Poor Li was so damn tired from work that he was very snappy at her as she is quite close minded about the fact that we come from very different countries with different thinking. At one point he started mimicking her pouty mouth and tone of voice. That shut her up. I sat quietly on the couch nursing and attempting to keep my face as passive as possible. I have not complained once to Li about his mother and I am going to try damn hard to keep my mouth shut the whole time she is here. Li looks terribly stressed. His mother does not give him a second of peace once he walks in the door. I think Li is remembering why he had his own apartment when he lived in China. Hehehe Last night he actually snapped a bit and told her to shut up. Worked for all of 5 seconds before she started again but he just blocked her out and didn't answer or acknowledge her talking. He was watching the news. It was actually humorous as it was Chinese news and the number 2 guy of China was giving this speech about how China has a ton to improve even though the economy is doing so well. But he was giving the speech with a ton of flowers in front of him. Li is like - why so many damn flowers? One I can understand but hundreds I cant. I never see other country politicians do this why always China. Stupid. So after Friday nights fiasco Li took his mother shopping at the big Electronics store on Saturday morning. That left me and JiXiang alone to play and talk to each other while grandma bought an MD walkman and a digital camera. Nice walkman, basically like mine, and her camera is actually smaller then my cell phone. Not bad. I want a slightly different one but it is almost the same size. Then I went to get my nails done leaving JiXiang asleep with Li and Grandma. When I came back she was still asleep and I had to start making some MDs for grandma to play with. Saturday evening JiXiang and I headed out to my Japanese class which was followed by a dinner gathering held by my teacher. (Li and his mom went out for dinner.) There were five girls there, plus my teachers family, some of their friends and JiXiang. She was such a good girl! We spent the evening talking non stop and eating tons. We all had a wonderful time. JiXiang thought it was sooooo cool that she refused to sleep and would have put toothpicks under her eye lids if she could. She was struggling near the end to stay awake. She fell asleep in Kim's arms and slept the whole way home in the car, but woke up instantly when she got home as she had to play with her daddy. Bloody girl didn't settle down until almost 2 in the morning. I was very tired. On Sunday, after I stumbled out of bed, we headed out to Shizuoka so that grandma could go shopping. Mostly she went looky looing but seemed to enjoy herself. I had JiXiang in her carrier and she was very good. We went out for lunch and everything. Thankfully most of the major toilets these days are fitted with a baby bed for changing. In the big mall there was even a quiet area for breast feeding. I just discreetly fed her in the restaurant when we had lunch. No problems. Mostly it was Li and I following his mother into stores that we would NEVER go into. Mostly old lady clothing stores and fabric stores. I never go into fabric stores unless it is to follow someone. This `following` day turned out to be very good though. I found the most beautiful black wool knee length cardigan for only 30 bucks in one of the stores. I was so happy. It is PERFECT. Now I have a short one and a long one. I have been looking for one basically my whole life and I have never been able to find a nice one that I could afford. Well now I have. YAA!! We also lucked out as there was the flee market going on at the shrine in front of the station. Janet I found your birthday present! Ohh almost lunch time! I am hungry and then I have to pump again. My tits feel like they would pop with a pin prick. I pumped this morning at 10:30 ish and I was soooo happy as there is a plug right next to the toilet. I can sit and pump. Not sure why there is a plug in there but who cares! There is one and I dont have to use batteries. So I am going to be mostly bored at work this week. I just seconds ago scheduled a class for this week so that is good. They are starting to roll in for next week. I have lost one student as he was transferred to the States. The guys English is so good already he is going to come back a fluent speaker. I also have a request to add two more students to my list. So things look good. I have enough room for all my students and tit pumping time as well. Oooohh lunch!! Back. This is a little crazy but I just discovered that I kind of missed company lunches. I actually really like most of the food that they make. (Culture note- a 'HOUJI' is the name given to the Buddhist ceremony for a dead loved one.) One of my student's mother died. Sad note. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/14/2005 :: 0 Comments: FOUND IT!!! I am the one who put it in a screwy spot - the scanner. hehehe I had to scan pages the other day to create really clear copies of his passport for faxing to his mom. Forgot about that. oops. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/10/2005 :: 0 Comments: I have a major headache right now. I can not find Li's passprt. I am praying that he put it in some stupid spot and that I can start to breath again. I am now going to be worrying all day until he gets home! Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/10/2005 :: 0 Comments: Got it!!!!! Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/10/2005 :: 0 Comments: As my dear friend Janet pointed out, yes there is a mistake in my profile, I came here in 2000, not 2004, the problem is I have no idea how to change it. I have been clicking all the blogger buttons but I can not find the area where I change that peice of info. Grrr... If anyone can help I would love ya for it. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/10/2005 :: 0 Comments: I have created a new folder on my pictures blog for my cousin Mike and his girlfriend Andrea. You might want to check it out as they have some amazing pictures. They are backpacking and having a wonderful time in Also I have been linked on this very interesting photo blog. The guy lives in His blog today is good. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/10/2005 :: 0 Comments: This morning grandma opened the toilet door to talk to me JUST AS I WAS ABOUT TO WIPE MY ASS!! How do you react calmly to a situation like that? Why you ask? To ask me if she drape her stupid pink SEAQUINED scarf over JiXiang’s face to protect her from the sun when we go for our walk. UH? NOT! I bought baby sunscreen specifically for that purpose. And why could you not wait 2 bloody seconds?!?!?! So we went for our walk and I mailed the special paper to the embassy so JiXiang can have the name Meister on her papers. We also stopped at the bank and I am TOTALLY livid right now as my maternity leave money was not put in! I was first told it would be the 24th of last month, then told it would be the 10th of this month. NOTHING! I phoned Sumitomo and went YO!! What’s up?! They said it would be in today. Well I checked three times and as of 3:30 today there was no money and the banks SHUT DOWN at 3:00. Grrrrrrrr………. On a humorous note…. Grandma annoyingly, and borderline pisses me off, doesn’t let me push Ji in her stroller. Today I detoured our walk near a store I knew she would want to go into so that I could get my hands on the stroller. Then she comes out and tries to take the stroller back. I went, NO! She jabbered on in Chinese and it is probably good that I can not understand. She got to push from the supermarket home so uhhh… But the actual funny part is the walking. Remember how I mentioned that grandma’s steering abilities are much to be desired? Well it is really weird. First she brought only two pairs of shoes and both stupid heels, so she walks sllloooowwww. I like to use our walks for exercise so I find this very frustrating. I tend to walk ahead as it is very difficult to walk comfortably at her pace. She seems to always have the stroller so she walks behind pushing – and I mean DIRECTLY behind. If I veer one step to the left so does she. If I walk over a grate or over a hole so does she, even if there is perfect pavement on either side. I actually have to slow right down and then do a sneaky dash to the side so that I can walk beside her. IT is the damndest thing, and a little nerve wracking. I keep feeling like she is going to run over my heels. Early, before I saw my bank account and turned angry, I did this little serpentine in the middle of the road to see if she would follow. She did. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/09/2005 :: 2 Comments: Things have gotten much better. Grandma has accepted the fact that I am the mom. She has started to figure out JiXiang’s schedule. Today we attempted Grandma’s first bottle feed. UGH! It was almost a disaster. JiXiang finally gave in the end but was not going to go for a second bottle of top up when she knew I was in the room. Going to have to continue trying, so that it goes much smoother. Hmm… Tomorrow I REALLY want to get a hair cut. Got a phone call from the Will send that off first thing tomorrow morning. That and Ji will not have her afternoon nap so she will HOPEFULLY sleep well tonight. She did almost 5 hours last night. FELT GREAT!!! On a note of humor.. Li has been coming home at a pretty decent time every night and has been cooking dinner every night. NOT HIS MOM!! This is very strange. Li’s mom has never had his cooking before and really enjoys it. This afternoon he phoned and actually gave his mother instructions on how to start dinner for him because it needed to cook for a bit longer. She actually wrote down instructions!! (Huge happy face here if I could) Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/09/2005 :: 0 Comments: SAD!! Yesterday was international womans day in Japan and being in Japan I didnt know! There were no reports and no notice in the papers. NOTHING! Typical. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/08/2005 :: 1 Comments: I am totally out of touch! I didnt know Melissa Etheridge had breast cancer! Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/06/2005 :: 0 Comments: JiXiang is sleeping and Grandma Li is actually leaving her alone <>She arrived on Saturday evening and was obviously excited to see her only grandchild so I sat back let her gloat and hold. No problems. JiXiang slept no problems that night. I was basically ok about the whole ordeal. Then Sunday came along and I started to notice little things like: <> Grandma brought no clothes with her! Literally one pair of pants, one skirt, one shirt set and a jacket. Two pairs of shoes but they are both ridiculous heels and NOT for walking in. (Remember we don’t have a car) She brought more jewelry and candy than clothes. She, you wont believe this, brought apples. YES CHINESE APPLES! Grandma has never traveled anywhere before and didn’t know about the no fruits and veggies traveling into other countries rule. She brought about 20 bloody apples in her suitcase. I think my eyes popped out of my head in shock and horror. Thank GOD her suitcases were not opened at the airport. She can’t change a diaper. I am in awe watching her attempt to change Ji. That awe turned to horror and slight controlled freaking out today when she allowed Ji to pee all over the blanket sent to me by my mother. Don’t worry mom it turned out to be machine washable but I was a little worried for a bit. She watches me all the time changing Ji and has on a few occasions had the gaullity to actually push me out of the way and start to wipe her down but she still screws up! She has obviously never driven any type of motorized vehicle or anything that requires steering because her pushing of the stroller is a little scary. Her questions and queries about JiXiang’s little skin things and other baby oddities have made my eyebrows raise a bit. That is until I remember that Li was actually raised by his grandparents until they died when he was only 3 months old and then by one of his aunts. His mother never actually looked after him when he was a baby. This makes me a little nervous. Hmmmm Yesterday Li had to explain to her that Chinese thinking, Japanese thinking, and Canadian thinking is all different so please no comments Jixiang is totally fine! Also, due to the fact that she is a first time grandma (I really hope this will pass sooooooooonnnn!!) she will not leave JiXiang alone! She also doesn’t know how to play with a baby. She wants to hold her allllll the time but when she does all she does is walk in circles and sing, or talk non stop, until JiXiang falls asleep. (This is a wonderful attribute for a colicky baby but she is not colicky) She never talks to her face, bounces her or just plays. Last night Li had her in his arms for all of 3 minutes. He was playing with her doing what I call ‘daddy time’ as Li’s time is limited, and grandma pulled Ji out of his arms and started rocking her to sleep. AUGH! My face contorted instantly into what Li calls my ‘bitch face’ and he quickly sat beside me and started to hold my hand. Last night Ji would not sleep!!! She had had almost no stimulation during the day because grandma would only rock her to sleep. I finally got Ji into bed and sleeping at 2 in the morning but only after I plopped her down on the bed and started playing with her. She giggled, cooed and squirmed like a monkey for almost an hour, then she fell asleep. I think I might have made some headway with grandma today. I wouldn’t let her pick up Ji out of her rocking chair. I made her leave Ji in there and let Ji fall asleep on her own. I was able to get it through her head that this morning was not a sleeping time for Ji but a playing time. I was also able to get some tummy time and ‘bare bottom in the sun time’ today. Today Ji’s sleeping pattern is a bit more on the normal side. I am totally off my sleeping pattern so I pray that Ji sleeps her normal self tonight. <>I have also noticed that my arms feel empty all the time. I am so used to having Ji in my arms when she is crying or awake that I have this odd empty feeling now as grandma jumps in there now. I have been a little bit of a bitch today and not let her hold her as much. I also wouldn’t let her give my baby a bath. I like giving Ji a bath. Hell it is MY baby! I don’t feel in the way guilty. I have to go back to work. The books said it would be hard and all my family members said it would be hard. Now I am saying – Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/06/2005 :: 0 Comments: Grandma Li comes today. She should be landing around 2ish. Li has headed out to the airport to pick her up. He decided to take the bullet train this time as there is snow in the weather report for Tokyo. Makes the bus ride unpredictable. She will be bringing Li's police papers so I will IMMEDIATLY send them to the Canadian government and hopefully all is well with Li's visa. ahhhh... I need to continue cleaning the house. JiXiang is actually cooperating and sleeping. I took advantage of this to EAT! Oh dad you will be proud! The CD that totally calmed her and put her in a state of relax and then sleep (she ate beautifully while listening to this CD) was 'Penguin Cafe Orchestra'. FRENCH JAZZ! My daughter loves Jazz. Knew I was raising her right. AHHHH...... Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/04/2005 :: 0 Comments: MOM!! DAD!! Can you two remember which thumb I sucked as a kid? I think it was my left. Hmm.. The reason why I ask is that JiXiang has started sticking her hands in her mouth already and a few days ago she started sucking her thumb sometimes. Yesterday I noticed that it was always her left thumb that she was sucking. Now I am wondering if she is going to be left handed. At first I was a little upset about that. Yes I know that I am left handed but have you ever tried to write kanji (Chinese writing) with your left hand? IT IS BLOODY HARD! Kanji was designed to be written right handed. There is a stroke rule and not the chickens scratch that so many think. My kanji looks like a two year old did it. But Li has decided that left handed is good as the most famous calligraphy painter in Right now I just wish she would sleep more. I don’t know if it is a growth spurt or a clingy faze but for this entire week she has not slept ALL DAY!! Al she does is 5 to 20 minute power naps and then demands full attention or she cries. It is exhausting. Last night she didn’t sleep for real until 1:00. Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/03/2005 :: 2 Comments: JiXiang sleeping..... finally!  Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/02/2005 :: 0 Comments: The March pictures are starting to come up on my picture page.  Posted by (Top)Andrea::3/01/2005 :: 0 Comments: |
::Food Sites::
::Photo Diaries::
::Sites for Parents::
Blogging Baby - written by parents
DadCentric - written only by Dads The Blogfathers - Dads you can't refuse
(Random Site) 
::World Reads - Japan::
::World Reads - Canada::
CaliGirl and her hubby - USA to PEI, Canada
Stuff in General - Edmonton, Alberta Life isn't fair - Ontario, Canada We move to Canada - USA to Canada Building the Bigger Family - Canada Expat Traveler - Switzerland to Canada Mother Woman and P-Man - Canada
::World Reads - USA::
Suburban Bliss - Michigan, USA
Roc Rebel Granny - California - USA The Home Sick Home - USA to Japan to USA WaiterRant - somewhere in the USA Rosie O’Donnell - Florida, USA Artistic Bytes From the 3rd Eye
::World Reads - Europe::
Connaissances - UK to France
Petite anglaise - Lost in France - Paris, France My Boyfriend Is A Twat - UK to Belgium Tuckova - USA to Japan to USA to Czech Republic Dongurigal - Canada to Kuwait to France The Other Tina - USA to Czech Republic By The Way - South Africa to US to Japan to US to Sweden
::World Reads - UK::
::World Reads - Australia::
::World Reads - New Zealand::
::World Reads - South Pacific::
::World Reads - Middle East::
::World Reads - SouthEast Asia::
::World Reads - Tropical Islands::
::Banners:: 
::Credits::
::Recent Visitors:: |
