Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

Ok, countdown is now suddenly at one day. How did that happen?!?! Here's me thinking I had loads of time, and suddenly, it's 1:30p.m. and half of the last day is gone! Ok, must think positive. I packed 17 boxes during the week. Turns out that that is really the maximum I could do, what with time, two children, cooking (blow the cleaning other than essentials, I'm moving), and trying to avoid packing "necessary" items that I would only have had to go back into packed boxes to retrieve. Ah, that's better..breathing is calmer now.

The moving company man came at 10:30 today to uninstall the upstairs air conditioners. They will bring them to our new house on Thursday. This might seem a bit strange, but here is what happened. The man from the housing company agreed to us moving in on October 26th. We met with the moving company, set the date (which of course is a "lucky day" in Japan), and agreed a price. I have a potential new student who I am meeting on the Tuesday, day after we move. We have H's drawers arriving on the Wednesday, and a t.v. arriving on the Monday. The housing company guy, who I shall now name as I (for idiot), called us to say that maybe it would be better if we moved a little later on in the week, because he wasn't sure if the ownership papers (or some such other boring matter) would go through as being in our name by the 26th. I asked (told) Y to tell him no..after all, we had arranged so much stuff, and this is technically I's fault for not considering this possibility sooner, and suddenly wanting to change the date at such short notice. So "I" relucantly agreed that we could move in on 26th, and that he would have to keep it a secret from his company. For some reason, this makes me feel slightly edgy to be moving in, even though it's not our fault and we are not the ones who would get into trouble. But "I", despite being an "I" is quite nice, and I wouldn't want to see him lose his job over it.

Anyway, when I thought the last minute packing was the easiest part, seems I have forgotten what moving house is like. Last minute things suck. They are all so random. Why is there no home for the last minute items? What happened in my organising the house plan with these odd little things?! But then they are all independently used things, that's all I can think of. Clocks, calendars (what? These are last minute things for me :P), dishes, cutlery, clingfilm, saucepans, loo roll, shampoos, etc. etc. So I am currently sitting in a living room filled with boxes, duplo (in the steamer pan), a bored daughter, who sick of playing with bricks in pots, is playing with potatoes and a shopping bag in the kitchen, a husband asleep on the sofa, and a son who has crashed out on the floor after having had a 40 minute tantrum because I wouldn't let him eat his rice with his fingers. To say that moving is stressful would be an understatement. But I am trying to remain calm and to be excited that tomorrow is moving day! And even more excited that it's hopefully our LAST moving day.

Organising independence

Well it is almost just 5 days until M-day. I had thought that I could get lots of packing done, but then I remembered how hard it is to pack when you are still needing stuff to live. I always end up packing the wrong things, and then having to rip into boxes to find whatever useless item I think I desperately need. Today I sat down and wrote a logical list of things that I could pack. I had been holding off on clothes because I didn't want them to be sitting in a box/case for days and get all scrunched up. For those of you who don't know, I am an ironophobe. But today I realised that most of the clothes I have hanging up would pack no problem, coats, dresses (all except the fanciest ones), shirts, etc. So I packed them all in one of those big plastic boxes that I used to keep my maternity clothes in (all sold, so now hubby knows I am serious about stopping here) and sat down on it to fasten the lid :P Hmm, that's better. Is starting to look a lot less lived in so motivates me to keep at it.

Next H's clothes and paraphenalia (swimming bag, beach towel, baby playmat that she refuses to get rid of, etc.). I have told her that on Friday, she can help me to pack the rest of her stuff. Last time, it took her a long time to realise that all of her things had been brought with us, and there was nothing left at "home", so this time I decided that packing together might make her feel a little less stressed about the whole moving thing. I think she will be much better this time, because we have talked about all the space that she will have to play in, and that we will try to have her and L together in her bedroom, not to mention the huge bath that we can splash around in! So it looks as if she is excited about it, but still a little bit apprehensive-looking whenever she sees there are more boxes packed up. She came to me tonight when we were getting ready for stories in bed, carrying her Winnie the Pooh light music wind-up toy and said, "Mummy, I think I can leave this here for the next little boy who lives here to play with." Sweet.

So this morning, MIL was off work and said that she could help me to change my gaikokujin card address and take a photocopy of it to the hoikuen because we had forgotten to include it in our application. I appreciate the offer, I really do, but I thought, hang on a minute, these are things that I can do myself. I am a slight control freak (heh heh), and don't really like to depend on people, or to HAVE to depend on people, so the more I can do, the better. I let people help me too much when I was first here, but I know enough Japanese to get by and should try on my own. After all, I am not a child, although I often feel like one! So after handing the copy to the hoikuen (daycare) I went off to the town office and the woman let me change my address even though I stupidly forgot to take my passport - gah! Then picked up a form from the post office for them to forward mail to the new address. This was also written in English and Japanese, but decided to let Y fill that out just for ease of understanding for the postie. Then spent way too much in the supermarket because there was a huge delivery of veggies from the farmers. Saw them all putting their produce on the shelves. Got a HUGE head of broccoli for 170 yen (almost, but not quite the size of my own head). Absolutely delicious.

After picking H up from kindy, we went to Toys R Us to get H's costume for a Hallowe'en party that S is hosting for us and her little girl. It's usually quite a battle to get round there, what with all of the toys and toys and TOYS around, but H was really good, so I bought her and L (he was not so good, so I buckled him in the trolley) a little "shake and go" car from the clearance section. L is scared of it though. Just the revving noises that it makes. He has suddenly become afraid of that kind of thing. Even the animal sound book that he used to love. Not really sure why. Any ideas?

Anyway, I digress..at the till, there was a mother and her (about 5 year old) son buying a rubber dinosaur. I stood at the cash desk and this boy, otherwise known as naughty little s**t, came up to L shouting and saying stuff like, "No, NO, it's not yours, get away, GET AWAY!" and then proceeded to vigourously shake the trolley that L was sitting in. I almost whacked him one. And his mother meekly pulled him away and said nothing to me. After this, he continued to verbally attack H and I just told her that he was naughty and just to ignore him. Times like this, I wish I could have said it more loudly and in Japanese. I think the boy was just high on sugar like most sweety filled hyperactive children around here. I saw another mother with a toddler probably the same age as L throwing a tantrum because he couldn't get a bag of crisps from the vending machine. And so his mother BOUGHT HIM ONE. The mind boggles...

Ok, I have to rant about this now, because I feel a bit like Michael Douglas in Falling Down. Every day when I pick H up/drop her off, I see parents in the car park, mostly mothers but some fathers/grandparents too. They drive in with their cars all equipped with child seats, as the law dictates. But hang on, a lot of these seats are in the front. I saw this and thought, "ooh, that would be quite nice for Hannah to be able to sit in the front", as I knew the rear-facing seats have to go in the back, so I checked to see if this was legal/safe, and found that airbag or not, the safest place for children to be is in the back. Now as a mother, I'm sure other mothers will agree that safety is at the forefront of other mothers' minds, right? WRONG! But that is not the worst of it...I very rarely see the children actually IN their car seats. Now surely this is just laziness?!? Or is it the children saying, "I don't want to sit in my seat", and the mothers saying, "oh, ok then." Am I unusual in being strict about seatbelts? I would like to think not, but there is too much evidence to the contrary, at least from what I have seen here in Gunma. And horror of horrors, today, I saw a mother with her kindergarten child floating around in the backseat, and her SEVEN month old baby in a rear-facing car seat, in the passenger seat, and the baby was actually lying on her tummy peering out of the windscreen. I mean, I'm all for freedom of choice, but this is simply bad parenting, surely?!?! I thought afterwards, as I followed her car out of the car park, I should have beeped the horn furiously and told her that she had forgotten to strap her tiny baby in.

Seems that a lot of parents do things not only because other people do them (the sheep mentality), but because children want to do them. It's nice that children have choices, but when it comes to safety, and erm, that thing called the law, surely it's kinder to choose for them.

Phew, ok, well today was a pretty good day all in all, apart from that niggle, that seems to get worse every day...Am very excited about moving, especially as our downstairs curtains are now ordered and lights and furniture too :)

Back to slump

I have been so busy/tired that I haven't been to the gym for over a week :( And although I am still gradually losing weight, it's pretty much down to running around all over the place and not eating properly. This is something I didn't want to do. I wanted to get fit and have more energy. And I DID have more energy. So, it's official, gym really did help me to feel better. Damn it! Now I have to find time and inclination to go. Well, really I think I will start feeling better soon. The sports day and H's ensuing FIVE day weekend, really wore me out. She was bored, I was fed up, and ended up falling asleep at 8p.m. on more than two occasions. You would think that this would be beneficial, but actually, I felt annoyed that I had lost my evenings, where I like to do what I want to do and to keep on top of paperwork/housework.

So last night was the first night in a while that I came back downstairs after putting the children to bed. I looked at curtains and t.v. stands, ha ha ha! Tres exciting! No, really it was. I could look at interior stuff forever. I think that's why I'm refusing to get stressed about packing. I am so excited to be able to do our house how WE want it..oh, correction, how I want it..I am not trusting Y at all after he showed me a picture of a fan/light fitting that I would expect to find in some old biddy's house. But to be fair, he has been really busy sorting out bank and administration stuff. I feel so useless, but these are things that I just can't do, language-wise, so I am concentrating on managing the organising moving-wise, and feeding the masses.

L went for his MR yesterday and he has been like a bear with a sore head for what seems like forever. He was awake at 1:30 this morning screaming. Usually I would put it down to tiredness and being annoyed that I won't give him a night feed and just sit with him. But there was the added worry that he was poorly from the vaccine, so it was quite stressful. He is always having tantrums. I mean like full-blown throwing things, kicking and smacking ones. It's a whole new experience for me, and although I ignore him, it is so stressful. I just want to yell at him, "shut up!" :( I am hoping that tonight will be better for everyone, as even H woke up with the noise last night. Made me wonder about my plan to put them in the same room in the new house. He fell over outside yesterday. We were playing with the tennis ball and were just going back into the house, hence me not holding his hand, and he tripped over the little kerb on the flower bed, slapped his hands on the floor, and then his head toppled over them and he scraped all up his nose :( It is a real battle wound today. Of course couldn't get him to stand still enough for the photos :P

We got a piece of paper in the letterbox yesterday to say that the bathroom wall cabinet "might fall down", so they want in at some point to sort it out. Wow, that thing is pretty big! Could have already fallen down and hurt mine and Y's heads badly enough, let alone the children! Y has already told them to do it after we have moved out, but I think that's not really the best idea. There aren't really all that many precautions we can take to stop it falling down. I have taken everything out of it, but the actual cupboard is heavy enough to be able to do enough damage. I think I will ask Y to contact them again and ask them to sort it out. After all, we have basically refused maintenance, so if anything were to happen, that might be classed as our fault :(

Bought a pizza for dinner, inspired by April Marie's 600 calorie pizza, found one in my supermarket that's about 700cals, although I loaded it with more cheese, peppers, corn and ham, so I'm sure I can't rely on that calorie count anymore! Better go and check on it!

Preparation

The man from the moving company came yesterday morning. We chose 'Duck' again, as we have moved with them the last two times, and thought they did a good service. First time we got them to bring everything for us, but this was before we had children and all the "stuff" that comes with! Second time, we just got them to take the big items, and we took the rest. I say we, but actually, I packed about half of it, but didn't really have the energy/motivation to pack the rest. It was a bit of a nightmare, because we didn't have time to de-clutter, so ended up taking all of our junk with us. Well this is the last time we will move, so no junk is going to hang around this time. This time, because of all the downsizing, I'm feeling much more motivated about getting it all packed up by myself. Maybe also due to the fact that we are moving to a lovely house that is OURS! Yay!!!

So they will take four bookcases, the fridge, oven, washing machine, kitchen shelf (to see if we can use it in the bathroom for a while), beds (including cot) and a chair. We are getting rid of...the computer desk, sofa (to Sophie), t.v. stand, t.v. and matching chest of drawers, and the dining table (to Kyoko). In fact, it's just as much of a pain and costly to throw things away, so great that we have a home for at least two of our things. After all, the sofa just needs a new cover, and we only bought the table last year. So all that is left to do is to start packing the rest of the stuff! H is off nursery for the next two days as compensation for the two sports days (even though she only went to one of them), so I am going to wait to do the serious packing when she is back at school. It's hard enough writing this during the day time!

As for the rest of the sorting out, we have already told KDDI we are moving, so hopefully we won't be without internet for a month and a half again like last time. I was so lost without being able to contact my family and friends, and it's amazing how useful it is! I often found myself thinking, 'ooh, I'll just check that on the net..' We have arranged a quote for the t.v. aerial, bought an air conditioner/heater for the living area, and are pricing ginormous t.v.s... The a/c was a bit of a shock to both of us, because we had thought it would be about 150,000 yen for such a large area. Even THAT I thought was pricey, but neither of us were prepared for 340,000yen :O Oh.My.God. Thankfully, there was a big sale on, so it was reduced to 248,000, but still expensive. So Y shamelessly bartered the man down to 220,000 and a free outside pipe cover thrown in. Still expensive, but a necessary purchase, and a good one at that. Let's hope it lasts. Y has persuaded me that a big t.v. will not fill the room with screen, and we have decided on a 42 inch one... People are going for 50" ones here at the moment, so the prices have gone down quite a bit. We are hoping that Y's uncle's family is going to give it to us as a housewarming present :P Even better!

The children and I went out to B-Kids today, a second-hand toy/children's shop to try to get a safety gate. We already have one for upstairs, but now that L has figured out how to open doors and zip up the stairs as fast as lightning, we need one for the bottom too. There were quite a few in there, but the condition was a bit crap and they were asking a minimum of 3000 yen, which I thought was a bit crap, so am going to see if I can't get a new one for the same price or a little more. Otherwise, I could just wait and see if they get any better ones in. But ended up coming out with a cute little two-piece outfit for L for 1,200 yen (bargain, still had the labels on) and a huge box of Duplo. My children ADORE Duplo. It's one of the only toys that makes a regular daily appearance. And so versatile. They were using the green bases as "painting boards" today...The Duplo was 3000 yen for a huge bus box. Only thing that we have to work out is what all the pieces are for. Can't believe we are buying more toys ready for the new house already. But that was a big downer for me living in such a small place. That the children hardly had any toys or space to play with them.

The co-ordinator from the furniture shop called today to say that the 3D plan is ready for us to look at, so we will go and do that this weekend. Can't wait to see how it all looks so that we can make a final decision on the furniture! Unfortunately or fortunately, furniture is custom made, so it's going to take THREE months until we get our new sofa...but have decided that we can cope with our easy chair and floor cushions with kotatsu in the tatami room until then :) It will definitely be something to look forward to getting in the new year!

We are moving on 26th October, so really really soon! So excited! Am a bit nervous that we will not only not get our deposit back, but have to pay extra. Y is worried because of all the dents on the floor, but I am being positive and thinking that we might even get some of it back! And I am definitely definitely looking forward to not having to move again after this too :)

Our home

It's been a while since my last real post. I've been a little busy. Mostly because,

we bought a house!

I didn't think I was going to say that for at least another 3 years! We had been looking at old properties, see previous blogs, because buying land, and then building a bespoke house is a pricey business. We had first thought of going this route because we had the land, but with that looking as if it is never going to happen, we went out to look at a house about a ten minute drive from here. We had driven past the houses before, but as we weren't looking at pre-built houses, had just dismissed them. The house was actually built in May last year. They have been trying to sell the last four on the cul-de-sac ever since. Now I'm not sure what the prices were like when they were new, but they are right down now. We looked at three houses. First (the one we bought), was really bright and airy, which is very hard to find around here. Most houses tend to be smaller, but this is 35 tsubos, which is the size that we had decided was "just right" for us, co-incidence? Ok, so the boxes it ticked:

• lots of natural light



• good size



• open plan LDK (living, dining, kitchen)



• sociable kitchen, i.e. not facing the wall/window, but into the house



• four bedrooms, one downstairs that can be used as a playroom/guestroom/classroom



• all south facing rooms



• parking space



• garden



• big bath



• balcony with a roof



• lots of storage space (including a storage room)

Now these are the boxes it DIDN'T tick, but that we decided were outweighed by everything else:

• BIG garden at the rear



• underfloor storage



• balcony running the length of the house



• living room with at least 3 solid walls (no doors)



• car port

Hmm, thought there were more than that! Nice surprise :) Another GREAT plus is that it is only a five minute walk to the primary school. This had been a big worry to me, as children often walk to and from school alone here, but from the land we were going to build on, it was a 1.5km walk, including a really busy big road :( I tell Y that I am going to take the children to school until they are ten anyway, but we will see. I definitely won't let them go alone at 6 years old, no matter how "safe" it is here. This is also a big plus if I eventually decide to teach primary school children.

So we looked at the house, considered the great location, quiet, and yet not isolated, other children around for ours to play with, and the price, and realised that we could buy it ourselves. MIL was reluctant to help out if we bought a used house. But Y called MIL to come and look at it herself. It was all a bit of a scramble, so we had little time to decide if we really wanted it, and to weigh up the pros and cons. There was another family interested, which didn't help, pressure wise. ARghhhh, so there I was trying to convince myself that if we didn't get it, it wouldn't be the end of the world, ha ha! MIL came, looked around, but the children were getting grizzly for their dinner, and it was getting late. So I decided to leave it in their hands and told Y that if he was sure, then I was sure.

Hours later, they managed to get a further discount of 800,000 yen (down to the MIL ;) ) and as they were desperate to sell, there was also 1,000,000 yen to spend on furniture at a designer store. So exciting! But so nervewracking too! They were sorting it all out all night and Y didn't get back until midnight, by which time, I'd gone to bed! Before this, I was sitting all alone at home excited, arghhhh! So frustrating!

One of their conditions was for a quick move, so we are moving in at the end of this month, and we have this apartment until 8th November. Plenty of time to move, but I want to get as much packed as possible. I'm soooooo glad that I de-cluttered. Must have been fate :)

Books for sale + chakubarai

Want to sell the following books. Individual prices listed o.b.o.:

Underworld - Don DeLillo - never read - 700 yen

The Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 - never read - 700 yen

The Fabulous Mum’s Handbook – Grace Saunders (hardback) – 300yen

What to Expect When You’re Expecting – Murkoff, Eisenberg & Hathaway (paperback2002 edition) – 300 yen

The Dorling Kindersley Pregnancy Question and Answer Book – Lees, Reynolds & McCartan (paperback) – 500 yen

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera - 200 yen

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami - 200 yen

Manga:

Crayon Shinchan -1, 2, 3 - 400 yen for three

Yuyu Hakusho - 1 - 100 yen

Monster - Naoki Urasawa - 1, 2, 3 - 600 yen for three

Flowers & Bees - Moyoko Anno - 1, 2 - 400 yen for two

And a Pilates for Pregnancy (during and post) DVD Region 2 PAL - 700 yen

Please contact me here first. Thanks :)

Out and About

Ah, last night's sleep was a little more interrupted..ah well. I went to the gym from 9p.m. for just over an hour. My motivation was really high yesterday. So much so, that for my first cardio on the, hmmm...not sure what it's called, but the thing that you stand on where you move your arms and legs backwards and forwards?!?!? Anyway, I felt a little sick after it. It's still my fave cardio machine though, because I can burn off about 80kcals in 10 minutes. Of course it would be good if I could actually DO more than 10 minutes, but little by little...I LOVE the abs. stuff that they have there too. Loads of machines and benches. Got 150 crunches in. I am getting to that stage where I am waiting to feel the muscles working, and loving it. And did my usual circuit of the weights machines, then 20 minutes on the bike (treadmills were all full, grr..), which is so boring, so perfect for phone mailing ;)

This morning, Y called and told me he'd forgotten his sticks and folder for his drum lesson tonight. He asked me to drop them off, and I had nothing else planned, so off L and I went after dropping off H. The weather today is awful. I skipped laundry because yesterday's was still damp so not even anywhere to hang it. It's weeks like this one where I really miss having a dryer. L and I hung around kencho for a while after we'd dropped the stuff off and went up in the glass lift to the 32nd floor. Not much to see today though because of the clouds. L had fun running around though.

While we were in Maebashi, I decided to nip off to Keyaki Walk (shopping centre) to get some vanilla macadamia coffee cream. I am addicted to that stuff. Sucks that it's so expensive for such a small amount though, but never mind. Had a little play in the soft play area and bumped into one of the other mothers from H's kindergarten. ARghhh, what are the odds?!? In the next city from Takasaki too. We exchanged a few pleasantries, but they really were a few thanks to a. my limited Japanese and b. my not really caring all that much :P L enjoyed playing, but I rather suspect that he enjoyed posing for photos a lot more. Coffee and a sausage roll later, returned home, ate lunch and watched some Masterchef. Mmmmmmmm, more yummy food...not good for my diet :( Despite that, cooked some pasta with brocolli, courgette and mini-tomatoes in tomato and cheese sauce - SOOOOOO yummy! But of course I made way too much, so lots more in the freezer for one of those days when I can't be bothered.

Am going to look at a couple of houses tomorrow. One about a 10 minute drive from here. Newly built with a nice decent sized back garden, and not all that expensive. Then another 15 year old one a 5 minute drive away with decent land and pretty big, so we'll have to see how that goes. It's quite exciting looking at houses that are actually already there. I have realised, much to my chagrin, that I am rubbish at imagining layouts in reality. So designing our house is quite tough. Nice to be able to look at lots of different places, then I can just say, "right, build me one like that!!"

Have a cleaning blitz planned for tomorrow too. Am going to ask Y to take the children out for a couple of hours (he doesn't know this yet), which I'm sure will mean him going to MIL's as the thought of looking after both children at the same time fills him with absolute dread. Then on Sunday I have promised H that we will make some biscuits with her new little baking set :) Fun fun!

Energy Fest!

I wish I could attach some kind of fanfare to this post, but I can't, so you will have to make do with a written one. Last night, I slept from 12a.m. until 6:30a.m. (insert fanfare here)! That's right, no night waking - woohoo! I even managed to get in another 40 minutes from 6:30 while I gave L his morning feed. So today is a good day. I almost feel like my normal self, not that I can remember what that feels like :P

So after breakfast, we go to take H to nursery and just before we get there, I remember that it's October 1st, and that H's hat changes from the straw version to the warmer winter version from October, hmm, start of October, mid-October? Sure enough, as I drive up, all the children are wearing their winter hats, some of them are wearing the long-sleeved blouses, jackets, and their own thick heavyweight trousers. Not sure it's that cold just yet, but you know what it's like when it's decided that the season has changed...no going back! So I keep on driving, which is slightly embarassing, as I have to stop at the zebra crossing to let the mummies cross and they look at me as if I am stupid enough to have forgotten to drop off my child...

Ten minutes later, seasonally attired, I drop H off and set the navigation system for the docs. for L's jab. I realise that I am going to be a little late, which I really don't like to be :( I arrive at the docs., or I arrive where Betty (my satnav...don't ask) tells me the docs is, only to find there is no surgery there, just a car park - oops, wrong entry. Frantically try to find the real one, and then breathe a sigh of relief when I find out it's only another 8 minutes drive. When we get there, L is asleep - of COURSE!! and we are only 10 minutes late, so that's not really bad. I take L's temperature, and then we wait in the inside waiting room. This is quite fun because there are lots of toys, books and a sofa. L is quite happy being somewhere new. Obviously completely oblivious to the fact that a man is about to stick a dirty great needle in his arm.

Once in with the doc., he asks me something which I think is, "how heavy is he?" so I answer, "9kg", only to find that he was asking about his mood today..ah well, easy mistake to make (please tell me it is!). I like this doctor and I dislike him all at the same time. The reason being, is he is on the Takasaki English-speaking doctor list. I have been to several doctors on this list, and whether they know how to or not, NONE of them speak English! Maybe it's down to the fact that I speak to them in Japanese, but there are times when we have communication difficulties and not once to they resort to English. Today I look at him blankly when he jabbers away in medical Japanese and he tries to make me understand, again all in Japanese. Maybe I should just start talking in English, but I always feel a bit arrogant doing that. Anyway, the good thing about him is that he is vaccination crazy. That's good for me. Y tried to schedule all the vaccinations with all the rules about how long you are supposed to leave in between certain ones, and which ones you have at the docs and which at the hoken centre, etc. So today the doc. writes down in L's health book when to have the rest of the jabs. Next in just one week, MR (just measles and rubella, no mumps included here), then another in November and one more in December. There is a meningitis one as well, but forgot to ask about that one. I have a feeling it's 8000 yen for that one, but relatively speaking, well worth it.

I try to distract L by showing him the pretty pictures on his healthbook, but he is no fool. He swivels his head round to watch the needle being plunged into his arm and immediately cries, but it is very short-lived. Nurse then tells us to wait in the car for 30 minutes to see that he is ok. I find this a bit odd, so instead, we "wait" in the little play area outside while L makes friends with a big gorilla.

Then off to the post office to return some underwear and p.j.s that I ordered from Figleaves. Am a bit annoyed with myself, because although the delivery from the U.K. was only 5 pounds, the return delivery for me is 3,250 yen :( Let's hope that the exchange rate suddenly shoots back up and gives me lots of yen for my refund instead! While out I spot a bakery that I have not been to. Will definitely have to give that one a try. I realise that these days I rarely just go out exploring like I used to do with H. I think the children get a bit bored in the house all the time, even H after she has been at nursery all day. Put it down to tiredness and vow to make time for it instead of being a cleaning demon.

So today ends up being a pretty good day. And Y is home and I am wearing my gym gear waiting for 9 o'clock so I can go and burn off some more calories (make room for all that bread ;)).