Not Much To Say (And I Lost My Voice)

When we were in Idaho, Justin got into the routine of cuddling up with his Papa and watching "Green Anaconda" and some other favorites on YouTube. He would watch with other people too, but Papa was his YouTube buddy. When we returned to Japan, we went for quite some time without watching what Justin refers to as his shows. He kept talking about them, singing songs from them, and asking for them. Now he often gets to watch them after his bath. He sits on the couch and some combination of the family watches Justin's shows. It will be fun for him to get to watch them with his Papa when we are back in Idaho this September. Even Tiny is enthralled by the Green Anaconda song. I thought it was cute to have him watch it while holding his green stuffed snake toy.
For those of you who don't know the video, here it is.

Justin's cough still lingers. Tiny is sounding less and less like Darth Vader each day. Now I have a cough and have lost my voice. No voice since Thursday night. I think I just need to not talk at all for awhile. That isn't happening when I have to keep after Justin. I have developed the yell-whisper voice. I look forward to him returning to school on Monday. At least three hours right there when I can rest my voice.

Don't really have much to say about this week. Here are some pictures and rather rambling captions for them though.
Is he truly interested in the nutritional content of the formula? Nope. The can is a favorite toy of his AND Justin's. I think Justin likes it because Ryan does. Why spend money on expensive toys when empty formula cans are so entertaining? Since Ryan is primarily breast fed, he doesn't go through much formula. Guess that's why we have to bother with the toys.

Aren't my boys cute? I hadn't realized how much fairer Justin is than Tiny until they started bathing together. Justin is one pale dude. Maybe Justin will look like Rob and Ryan will look like me.

Doesn't show up very well in the picture, but mosquitoes were eating me alive! Ryan got a couple of bites. Justin is free and clear. He's the one outside the most too. I guess he moves too fast for the little suckers. I bought some little stickers that are supposed to repel mosquitoes. They seem to make a difference.

Teeth, Toy Story, Toilets, and More

Last night I got to spend a few hours with my two boys. Justin woke up a little before midnight. Rob got him settled again, but it didn't last. I went back in a little while later (while nursing Tiny) and attempted to get him settled again. Justin coughed, Tiny woke up, and and the two boys started laughing at each other. I walked Tiny to get him back to sleep and sat with Justin for two rounds of his music. Wide awake still. Well, HE was wide awake. I sure was not. My arms were getting tired too as I was holding Tiny and wiping his runny nose so he could breathe. I decided to ask Justin if he wanted to go downstairs and rest on the couch with me and watch a show. He was more than willing. I put in Finding Nemo, something Justin has never watched more than about five minutes of. I figured it would last longer than an episode of Dora and maybe lull him to sleep. Nope. He was only semi-interested, but his cough kept him from falling asleep. I put in Toy Story, a show he has not seen before, and put Tiny down in his pack and play beside us. Poor baby got Justin's cold and is coughing too. He would settle himself though, so finally Justin got to rest on me. Maybe NOW he would fall asleep. Shortly into the movie, Justin exclaimed, "It's Buzz! I play with Buzz at school!" I guess instead of liking the toy because of the movie, Justin likes the movie because of the toy. He was hooked! Kind of funny since earlier this week I was talking to Kai's mom (Kai LOVES Buzz) and said Justin hadn't even wanted to watch Toy Story yet. Justin's coughing started again and disturbed Tiny. It was about 4 AM. I got Rob to deal with Justin while I tried to get Tiny back to sleep. I only got about two hours before Tiny decided he needed to poop and be up for the morning. Now it is 10:30. Tiny is taking a nap and I am sitting with a cranky Justin on the couch watching Toy Story again. He loves it. I opted NOT to try church with the boys today. When Rob gets back I hope that Justin will be ready for a nap and I can also sleep , leaving Rob with just Tiny to deal with. We shall see.



Justin got a new hat this week. Actually, he got two new hats, but I only have pictures of him with one of his new hats. I am happy that he wears them outside. It isn't a battle like it seems to be with so many kids. I think a lot of that has to do with Grandma being consistent last summer. Hat came off, Justin went inside. Some days here he doesn't need a hat, but in Namibia it will be critical! He has been really good about sunscreen too. That kind of surprises me because he hates lotion. Sunscreen is very similar as far as I'm concerned. I told him that we need sunscreen to keep his body safe in the hot sun and he doesn't complain. In fact, he would probably protest if I didn't put it on him.



Tiny still isn't crawling, but he manages to get around somehow. He raises himself on his arms, throws his rear in the air, and lunges forward. If there is something available, he will push with his feet to get some movement. He doesn't like to stay put. If interesting things are going on around him, he wants to be a part. In this picture, Daddy and Justin were having fun without him and he wanted to join in. After I took the pic, we let him loose. He has four teeth in, but four more are following. They make him miserable, and the rest of us suffer too.

This past week Justin has peed in the toilet four times. He has ASKED to sit on the toilet, and then peed. Good sign, right? I should be toilet training him. Great if we weren't moving in first week in September. We won't be in our new house until the end of October. That means lots of flying and lots of hotels. Sure, I want to be on a 20 plus hour trip to Namibia and working on toilet training--NOT! Maybe if he is interested he can have pullups at Grandma and Papa's house.

I think I will put up more of Justin's summer camp pictures on facebook. Enjoy!

Guess what Tiny has been enjoying lately? That's right, he loves the swing. Justin likes to make sure I know that Tiny is just a baby and can't go fast like he can. Justin constantly reminds me that even though Ryan is getting bigger, he is still just a tiny baby. Justin, on the other hand, is medium. When he can't do something by himself, he is "too medium" and not too small or too little or any of the more common things children tend to say. Luckily, Justin agrees that Ryan is big enough to swing so everyone is happy.

Justin and Ryan seem to like each other. They can already crack each other up and seem to like to be on top of each other, hitting at each other, squealing at each other... Justin gets so mad when Tiny kicks him or pulls his hair. He doesn't seem to find it fair that Ryan doesn't get punished for actions that are off limits to Justin. To protest, he will often go into baby mode. He will lie on his back and say, "Goo Goo! Ga Ga! I'm a baby!" That lasts until it is no longer convenient to be a baby. Lucky me.

Since we are moving early in September, we are not bothering to work on the whole toilet training thing with Justin yet. What's the point? Leaving here and then traveling to various homes and hotels across the US before a hellish day (as in about 24 hours) of flying to our new home in Namibia. We will worry about it there. Well, Justin has started showing interest in poopies. He wants to see his, the baby's, anyone's. He will rate them in terms of color and size. He will tell me he is having one and that he doesn't want to sit on the toilet. Once he is finished he does want to sit on the toilet so I don't have to put on a clean diaper. Doesn't work that way though. Sometimes he requests to sit on the toilet. Yesterday he said he needed to sit on the toilet and he actually had to pee. He was so excited. Great. We will probably be missing our toilet training window of opportunity and our child will be a freak and need therapy. Just one of many ways I will screw him up for life. Good thing I have a second child to try to get it right--or at least better. :)

Justin came home from school on Friday looking just exhausted. He fell asleep almost immediately, and when he woke up he asked for water. He had a temp of just over 103. He drank and drank and continued to run a fever unless he was on motrin. He didn't have much of an appetite and was extremely needy, but nothing else seemed to be wrong. It just made for a long weekend. Sunday afternoon he seemed better, but since he didn't sleep well, I am keeping him home from school today. I am very disappointed. He had a slight fever again this morning, but is acting pretty normal. He is tired of being cooped up and is quite obnoxious.

Meanwhile, Tiny's two top teeth finally broke through last week. I swear they were the slowest teeth in the history of baby teeth. He had a HORRIBLE night last night and I had no idea why. Surprise! This morning I looked in his mouth and it looks like he is getting FOUR more. Two more on top and two more on bottom. It is going to be a very, very long week I fear. He hasn't been nursing well and I end up smelling like sour milk as my clothes get soaked with milk he is crying for and then rejecting. Ah, motherhood.

Guess I better tend to the whiners. Not that I can do anything to soothe them right now, but at least I won't feel as guilty if I am trying.

Tourist Pics?

Rob and I went to Asakusa and I took some less tradiional tourist pics. I thought my sister might enjoy them. I think she could get a job making these kinds of signs for the Japanese public. The first was taken on the metro. Thank goodness for THIS sign. How often do you see this on a crowded Japanese subway? I certainly never have. Guess the sign works!

I also enjoyed the pooping pigeon signs. Don't feed them or they will poop on you. They shoild only be eating worms. Check out the poor victim on the sign. It just isn't worth the risk.

Gargles and Dogs

Tiny makes the funniest little gargling noise. I think he sounds like some cute Star Wars type creature. Not an ewok, but something cute. I was so excited to get this on video, but unfortunately it didn't work out so well. He likes to throw his big head around and it got him a bit off balance. You can hear his heartless parents laughing in the background when he accidentally rolls over and it scares him. It was just kind of amusing because he does lose his balance so often because of his head. Whether he is sitting, being held, or on his stomach, Tiny likes to get that head back as far as it can be thrown.


FINALLY I was able to get a little of the gargle noise. It is much cuter when he is doing it happily than when he is doing it while crying.

Justin loves to read books to himself. Go, Dog, Go! is one of his current favorites. Here is the part where he has to stop and explain that the dogs do not match the trees that they are in. Guess I have him doing a little too much sorting and matching. I am turning him into an obsessive little monster.



This is one of Justin's favorite parts. He likes the "Do you like my hat?" dialogue between the two dogs. He even acts it out. Beware! It is hard to know if you are supposed to like his hat or not. Heaven forbid you like it when you shouldn't or vice versa. I like when he acts out this part of the book with his toys and changes the voices for the two different dogs.

Here he is with a segment from the dog party part of the book.

Too bad the lighting wasn't very good, but Justin is not one to let me move him to a better place to get things on video. You would think he would cooperate so he could watch himself later. He loves watching himself.