千九百九十五： Here and There

BB starts eating bread!

Feb is always such a short short month! I guess it's because of the London trip in Jan which took up half the month, and after that, my parents came over to Japan which took up the first half of Feb.

Some thoughts on London. It was a good trip, much better than the first trip, because I got to see both my sisters, Henrietta, XQ, Chris, and also Julius, which was less lonely than the trip in 2010 for sure! It feels like I've just returned from the first trip; it's still quite fresh in our minds (all of us can still remember some of the small memorable stuff from 2010 like watching the man change the paper ads in the tube station). Bad weather for week 1 unfortunately, so much snow and it was almost freezing cold. Week 2 was actually sunny, and sunny for most of the week! Yes, in gloomy London, where sunlight is so rare. This trip we were slightly richer than 3 years ago, so we ate better food, went on more side trips, visited Liverpool, Manchester United stadium, Brighton, Cadbury World, went on the Jack the Ripper tour, watched an Arsenal soccer premier league game, had a proper English Tea at Bea's, and ate at a few Jamie Olivers' restaurants. (ok, i only noticed there are his restaurants all over the place this trip) My sis also introduced the wonderful flavourtown cupcakes to me. Actually living in London might suit me better if not for the weather. and British men are very sharp, very good looking! My only regret is that I still didn't get to visit Stonehenge yet, argh.

This time there was the baby too, which made travelling alot more difficult, but I'm glad we all survived it. Everyone around sorta grew to understand how difficult baby-watching is, but without all their help, I don't think I would have been able to travel properly, kudos to especially the men for helping to carry the baby. Imagine carrying a sack of rice for >8 hours a day, for 5 days! I almost broke my back the first week, but at least my sister carried the bag and camera. The best thing about visiting my sis in London is the nua-ness of the trip. Besides the days we planned to travel out, I managed to read quite a bit (it was hard to knit with the baby around, usually I had no 2 free hands at the same time) and had finally a proper rest from work which I really really needed, thanks to colleagues who didn't assign me anything after I went to London. So I revisited some of the places I had wandered to on my own 3 years ago with my sis / Julius and the baby, and was able to take better pictures with a better camera now as well :p

After I got back to Japan, it was a few days of rest (and lots of unpacking and cleaning up) before my parents visited for the CNY holidays. Their main aim was to see the baby, since they haven't seen her for 4 months. I'm actually quite glad they came, because even though we quarrel alot, my mum is probably the only person I absolutely trust who can handle the baby even if I'm not around since she is the only person who literally watched the bb grow up when she was born. Meaning, I can take long showers, sleep in late, enjoy meals my mum cook and basically relax and rest when my mum is around since my dad & her wants to play with the baby. Took them around Osaka, Kobe, ate quite abit of nice food, since this is Dad's first proper trip to Japan. We also managed to go to Hiroshima via the shinkansen, and ate lots and lots of oysters :D I think the baby was quite sad when they left because no one was around to play with her anymore.. I think she has finally reverted back to the lonely baby mode now though.

It's back to work now, after all the trips and visitors have left. Ryo is still away for work quite often, currently, so I'm trying to survive alot by myself with the baby. I don't know if it's getting easier or harder, but the baby sleeps less nowadays, and she needs food. I am only thankful that I'm still breastfeeding her, which has saved me almost 8 months of formula $$ and all the having to bring out the milk powder etc when going out. Nowadays, just 2 pieces of diapers, wet wipes and a change of clothes for the baby, are all I need for the baby. Although I'm quite lazy to bring the baby out by myself (because the baby is quite heavy, and I prefer using carrier because the baby stroller is very very hard to carry up and down the steps of the train station), I try to bring the baby out for a walk or to run errands once a week during the weekdays. I guess it's better for her than sitting around at home all week with me. Also, the discovery of baby led weaning is wonderful for lazy parents like myself as well. Just give the baby some food from your own plate that wasn't overly spiced and watch her chomp the food up happily instead of cooking yucky porridge for her. I really dislike porridge so I can't imagine having to eat porridge everyday just because I have to cook a small bowl for my baby. YUCK!

Next up, to train up for the half marathon in May!