Do you think he looks any different with glasses? I think they make him look older and more distinguished. He has a lot of fun with them. It also took away from how desprately he needed a haircut.

Today we got that haircut. He screamed the ENTIRE time. I had to use my legs to keep him seated on my lap and my hands held his head in place. Grandma was in charge of his arms and upper body. Truly a horrible experience. I don't know what his problem was.

I also bought a stroller than I can use with him and Spare. Of course Justin insisted on helping me. He loves tools. Thanks to Papa he knows hammer, screwdriver, wrench, and a few others. It took a lot longer to get it together with his special help. At least it kept him occupied.

Pumpkins!

This is the first year we have carved pumpkins with Justin. At first he did not want anything to do with the pumpkin guts. He slowly started exploring the inside of the pumpkins with his little scoops. Eventually, he really got into the spirit of it all. In fact, some might say he got a little too involved towards the end. We had expected a mess and Justin did not disappoint.

Check out the video for a one sided food fight.

I haven't updated the blog for awhile. Nothing too exciting going on. I continue to feel miserable. Justin continues to grow and change everyday. As he is able to say and do more and more, he seems to get more demanding.



Justin gets upset when we don't understand what he is saying. A lot of times it would be easier if he would just say one or two words clearly instead of 'hiding' them in a bunch of garbled nonsense. Sometimes even when I understand all the words I still don't understand what he wants. The other day he told me, "I want Cho pumpkin." Cho is my brother's nickname, so basically he was telling me he wanted my brother's pumpkin? That doesn't make much sense. Haven't seen my brother since July. He lives in Portland and I have no idea if he has a pumpkin yet or not. I tried getting our pumpkins and that was NOT right. My screaming monster child took me into the bedroom, climbed on the bed, went over to the shelf, and pulled down a photo album. Guess what pictures were in the album? Pictures of my brother and his family at the pumpkin patch. Poor Justin! Why doesn't his silly mommy understand what he means?



Here are some fairly recent pictures of Justin.

I don't know where he thinks he is going. Seems like he is missing something. He loves that backpack.


The little artist. He likes crayons better than markers because he hates getting the marker ink on his hands.


Rough night. Better just watch some cartoons and chill with the morning milk.


Chocolate pudding is yummy! I wonder why Mommy and Grandma insist that I wear a bib?


Crossword puzzles and Sudoku help keep your mind sharp!


Justin loves to sing. He often will sing the alphabet song, just not when I want him too. He is a stubborn little guy.





Justin loves to sort things. Here he is sorting some of his Dora playing cards.

Oops! Looks like I forgot to post some pictures of Justin's trip to the beach. He LOVES Lake Coeur d'Alene. Since we had a stretch of weather in the upper 80s and lower 90s in mid September, we took advantage of the beach. It was great with school already in session. It wasn't crowded and Justin had a blast in the water and out. I feel a little guilty that we didn't go again this week. The weather has been in the 80s, but by this weekend it is supposed to be in the mid 50s. Even though poor Grandma ends up doing most of the work and we stay for just under an hour, trips to the lake wear me out. It is nice how much lighter I feel in the water though.

Hopefully Justin will enjoy Fall. Today he was lecturing one of the trees out front. He had some leaves in his hand and was waving them up at the tree. I couldn't make out most of the words, but I did get leaf, down, grass, mess, and tree. He sure let that tree know his feelings!

It's True! Seven "Eight" Nine!

Justin is only 21 months old, but he seems to think he has a sense of humor. Lately when he counts, he skips the number nine. If I don't comment, he will go back a bit and repeat, "8, 10, 11, teen..." over and over. He seems to like the teens, but doesn't know them. After 10 comes 11 and then either 13, 17, or just a mumble with teen after it. I don't know why this drives me crazy, but it just does. Probably because he repeats it over and over and I feel he must know it bugs me. I don't care when he is counting cars or other objects and double counts some of them, but this skipping nine gets to me. I suppose part of me is wondering if it will become a habit and he will eventually lose nine completely. I know, who cares. I can worry about that later.

He is also continuing his "Mommy poopies" commentary. Thank you extra iron pills that make Pregnant Mommy even gassier. He points out my gas and his, why not focus on someone else for a change? Give a poor puking woman a break.

I haven't ever taken a Lamaze class or anything. With Justin I figured that women have been giving birth for a long time and the baby would come out whether I had a class or not. Plus being away from Rob means I would need a coach. Maybe for this kid I could have Justin be my coach. He really likes the word PULL better than PUSH, but I am sure he would be more than happy to yell PULL MOMMY over and over while trying to lead me by the hand to play matchbox cars or something. If Rob doesn't make it for the birth of #2 maybe Justin could even cut his brother's cord. Wouldn't he feel so special and included?

#2 hasn't even been born yet and already my two boys are at odds with each other. Justin loves to push on my ever-growing belly. That ticks off Spare and he will push back. Justin doesn't like having his back support move, so he retaliates. I hate being in the middle of fighting siblings. I can't even tell them to knock it off. Right now Justin would be the only one I could send away. Spare goes where I go. Is it December yet? At least once I pop this puppy out my bladder won't be used as a punching bag anymore.

Justin promoted me to "Mommy" this month. I have always been his mother, and he used to call me "Mama" until we got to Idaho. Then he realized that it was hard to say "Grandma" and when he would call for her it sounded quite a bit like "Mama" and was a bit confusing. I lost my status as "Mama" and became "MeMe" instead. As best we can tell, "MeMe" developed from him always being told to come to ME or give it to ME or look at ME... Well, you get the idea. That did cause some confusion when someone other than MeMe would use the word 'me' and he would assume that 'me' was "MeMe" and not the person speaking. He has been able to say 'Mommy' for some time, so why it took until now to promote me (at least I think it is a promotion!) to "Mommy" I don't know. I suppose he figures that I will love him no matter what and it doesn't matter what he calls me.

Does This Make Me Look Fat?


I thought that it was horizontal stripes that were supposed to make a person look heavier. I don't know. These PJs sure don't seem to be very flattering. Maybe if I did my hair and make up it would help. What about a large hat? Would that pull the eye up to my head and away from my HUGE middle section?


Justin loves my belly. He calls is BIG belly and his little belly. Hopefully at some point mine will stop being a big belly. I think it is kind of cute for him to notice it at this point, but after the baby is born I might get annoyed if I am constantly reminded that I need to lose the baby weight!

T is for Duck

Evidently the wild turkeys who congregate by the mailboxes are not turkey-like. Justin does not seem to realize that these creatures are the same as the ones he sees gracing the letter T page in his ABC book. They aren't as plump and they certainly don't have their feathers up and proudly displayed. In his wisdom he has decided that they are ducks, though I don't see a lot of resemblance to ducks.

While Justin was sleeping I ran out and got a couple of pictures of these rather homely looking birds. No sooner did I come inside and put the camera memory card in the computer, than the stupid turkeys came right up to where I had been. One of them was even showing off and looked like the turkeys on the T page. Should I snatch up the memory card and try for another shot? Nope. The stupid deer chased the turkeys away.

Guess the closest shot I will be able to get of a turkey will be the one on the table at Thanksgiving. With my luck I will be in the hospital giving birth and will miss that shot as well. Here's to ducks, whatever kind of bird they may actually be.

I realize that I am more than a little biased, but I think that 90% of the time Justin is absolutely adorable! He is just like a little sponge and doesn't miss a thing that he sees or hears. He is very much into counting, ABCs, and nursery rhymes. It is fun to have him try to say or sing nursery rhymes. He doesn't have many of the words yet, but you can tell which one it is supposed to be. His little tongue and mouth work so hard to try to spit out what his brain is trying to say. Maybe that is why he is actually taking decent naps during the day. It has got to be exhausting to learn so many new words everyday.

Here he is doing "Hey Diddle, Diddle" with the emphasis on the OVER THE MOON part. He thinks that is the best for some reason. Guess there isn't a lot to act out in the rhyme.



Here he is counting dinosaurs. He has trouble saying the number one so it is always helpful to get him started. Lately he wants everything to end up being ten so he sometimes has to double count certain items to make it work out to the number HE thinks it should be.



There are a few more videos available at youtube.com under the name noodlesandrob if anyone is interested. We mostly post for family, but every once in awhile people are actually bored enough to want to watch Justin (or other random kids).

Rob and I still haven't settled on a name for Baby #2, so if you haven't already posted your suggestion there is still time. No, there is NO prize for the winner. I guess you can feel special that we liked your name best.

You gotta love kids. Today I was walking down the hallway with 20 month old Justin running all around me like an Energizer Bunny on speed. Sometimes he was in front of me, sometimes beside or behind me, always jabbering without using many real words. Then gassy pregnant mommy let out a faint toot and Justin runs behind me. He points to my rear, laughs, and starts saying poopie. I can hardly wait to hear that sometime in public. I wish I could get him to say words like please, but I suppose that right now he will continue to focus on the "fun" words like poopie. He is learning to say more and more each day. I wonder what will be next?

Hmm... I wonder why I never posted this. Guess I was going to add some text to the pictures and forgot. Oh well. Here I am with Justin on Sept 2nd. The bump on my belly is Spare (we don't have a name for him yet).

Today my mom bought a bassinet for Baby #2. We had seen it in the store the other day and I had checked online for reviews, prices, etc. before deciding to purchase it. We only need the thing for 6 weeks or so after Baby is born because after that we will return to Japan and have a crib waiting.

I like to think that I am a reasonably intelligent person. I did manage to get a college degree, as did my mother. So WHY was it so impossible to assemble this thing? There were no written instructions, just lovely little diagrams that were cryptic enough for me to almost think they were for a different product. I could make better diagrams and those of you who have seen me draw anything know that I am artistically challenged. (Even my kindergarten students have pointed out my lack of drawing ability.)

Finally I decided not to look at the directions, but to focus on the picture shown on the box. Knowing what the finished product was supposed to look like was much more helpful. I managed to get the thing put together. Now Baby isn't due for three more months, but if you think I am going to take it apart and try again... All that effort was overwhelming and led to me puking. What else is new?

Maybe if I wasn't feeling so tired and lazy I could go downstairs and take a picture of my accomplishment for the day. That might cause more vomiting. How about some pictures of Justin instead? I think he is a cute little guy, though I admit I am biased.

My sister, Meredith, visited earlier this month. She hadn't seen Justin in almost a year. Obviously he has changed a lot! She was only here for a few days, so soon she will be forgotten (by Justin, not by me) again.

Olympic Baby!

We have been watching the Olympics, even Justin. Does he truly enjoy them, or does he just like staying up late? Does a child under two years old have the logic to figure out that if he seems to be enjoying them he can stay up late?

During the Women's floor exercises, Justin started doing some routines of his own. They were so cute, but of course as soon as I went upstairs to get the camera he decided that he was done. All that hard work tired him out and he needed to cuddle up with Grandma and Grandpa and enjoy some snacks. I wish I had gotten some footage of him. Gymnastics for him, a child who can't even get both feet off the ground when he jumps, consists primarily of running around in circles while waving his arms and then falling down on the floor and rolling about before the grand finish of standing up and stretching out his arms. It looks more like a hyper child having a brief grand mal seizure, but he enjoys it. He will even clap for himself. Low marks for difficulty, but good execution of what he does. Definitely under 16 years old and he's not a girl. Guess that's why he didn't qualify this time around. Maybe next time.

Being the good sport that he is, he does clap for other athletes and he is not critical of their mistakes. Of course he will also clap for commercials...

Justin is growing and changing everyday. Whether it is using the word "ow" (and not quite understanding it) or pretending to be a dinosaur, he is on the go constantly!



Poor child is growing so fast that I never know from one day to the next if his clothes will fit. Sometimes I think he eats more than I do at meals. I wonder if he will be like this as a teenager?

Spare (still no good nickname for the new baby and I am over halfway to my due date) and Justin are already at each other. I swear Justin tries to get me right in the belly whenever possible. That gets Spare moving around like some sort of acrobat. Once he gets a little bigger he will probably start kicking back at Justin. I wonder if Justin will say "ow" then?

We spent some time in Portland visiting my brother and his family.

Justin loves playing Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii. His older cousins are good about giving him and their little brother a turn. They don't always stay on the mat (in fact sometimes the "babies" get a Twister mat to dance on and don't know the difference), but they have a blast dancing just like the big kids.





He also enjoys Ring Around The Rosey. Somehow with his cousins it is more entertaining than when Mom and Dad try to play it with him. Cousins don't tire as quickly either.





We went to the OMSI and he loved the dinosaurs. I swear he could have stayed there for hours. Mom isn't up to very long trips though. Luckily my brother and his family have a pass so it is free :) That means we don't have to stay long and try to get our money's worth. They have a zoo pass too. They went to the zoo, but I stayed home and rested that day. It was nice to have Justin out of the house for awhile.

It can be so hard to get decent pictures or video clips of the Muzz. As soon as he sees the camera, that is all that he wants. Of course if you haven't had time to get a picture or a video clip of him there is nothing for him to see yet.



Sometimes you can sneak up on him a little, like when he is busy helping his dinosaurs drive around in cars. They can be bad drivers sometimes. I have learned to stay clear of them.

Grandma and Grandpa's House


Justin is enjoying himself at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandma takes such good care of him and they have a lot of fun together. He enjoys playing with his water table on the back deck.


He also enjoys playing in the sprinklers. He ends up looking like a drowned rat, but I think he is still cute, especially when he decides to pick something special for Mommy.





He likes to see exactly what he can and can't get away with. He loves standing on his little car toy. Probably because he can sense that I don't like it, but I don't stop him from doing it. There can only be so many rules for a little boy when he is 18 months old. Yes, he will probably fall sometime. He trips over his own feet now and again. Falling and getting hurt seem to be part of his daily (hourly?) life. He is an active one!




He does sleep sometimes, and boy are those moments priceless! Isn't he cute?

Remember Me?

As you can see, Justin still enjoys his food. Eating is a full contact sport for him!

It has been a long time since I have written. As most of you probably know, I am pregnant and feel awful. Now at 13 weeks I am finally starting to feel a bit better. Mind you "better" means still quite nauseous but throwing up only 4-6 times a day. I even showered twice this week which is quite a record. Not so coincidentally I have also gotten dressed twice this week.

Poor Justin has not enjoyed me going from active Mom to hardly get off the couch Mom. I haven't taken as many pictures or videos either. I will put a few up now. My baby is growing up so fast! He will be a big boy (almost 2!) when his brother or sister is born in December.

Obviously once Justin gets to an animal he doesn't know it all goes downhill. I think he is still pretty cute though. We have increased his repetoire of animal sounds and he is now also able to identify several body parts. His favorite is his belly be-bo. I will have to try to get that on camera.

Zoo!

Today was Rob's birthday. We went to the Ueno Zoo. Justin was excited to see the animals. There were the basic lions, tigers, elephants, and bears. One of the tigers and one of the gorillas came right up by the window and Justin got to look them in the eyes.

Justin was impressed by just about anything. We spent awhile looking at the peacocks. One of them was quite the showoff. It was neat to get to see it with its feathers spread up close and for such a long time.

Justin also enjoyed the petting zoo. He showed no fear. Rob and I had to keep right on top of him to keep him from hurting the animals. He wanted to touch them all.

Justin also enjoyed trees and statues. He had a lot to say to them. Here he is with a gorilla. It took awhile for him to go up to the big one. For some reason it of all things intimidated him.

Mommy's Little Helper

Justin likes to do everything I do. Sometimes it is cute, sometimes it can get annoying. Things can take SO much longer with his help. Today he assisted me with sweeping, vaccuming and with the laundry. Sweeping involves finding the things I have swept into a pile and scattering them across the room. Vaccuming is much the same. Laundry involves Justin's highly evolved sorting system. I sure can't figure it out.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Last Thursday Monster Baby and I went with my friend, Lisa, to see some cherry blossoms. All in all I was not very impressed. Perhaps it was a bit early still, though reports I saw online said that it was the time to go. I like the cherry blossoms in Washington DC better. I love to walk around the Tidal Basin. Seeing cherry blossoms in Japan is something you have to do though. We ended up at a park that is near a shopping street and a major shrine. If I wasn't so tired I could get up and go look up the name, but chances are you are reading this because you are a friend or relative and not looking for a guide of what to do in Tokyo. Hopefully you will enjoy the pictures. I took them while pushing Monster Baby in the stroller. Oh, take note of the Denny's you can see in the background of one of the pictures. Not as interesting as the Starbucks in the Forbidden City in Beijing, but probably a good place for familiar, mediocre fried food. :)

Busy Boy!

Poor Justin. His work is never done. Whether he is carrying (dragging) groceries and handing them to me to put away or hard a work on the keyboard, Justin is always on the move.

He has learned full body typing so he can be more efficient with his precious time. Every now and again he takes a break to go somewhere. Last week when we (Rob, Justin, and I) went out shopping in Shinjuku, Justin discovered pigeons.

He had so much fun chasing them around. At first he was squealing with delight and attracting a small gathering of passersby. He was so cute. Unfortunately I didn't remember I had my camera with me right away, so I didn't get the best pigeon chasing footage. At least I got a little bit before he became frustrated that he never caught them.