"Quiet time"

Overall, I'd say we've been lucky.  Some parents talk about having a rough time getting their kid to sleep through the night and their kid is NOT a baby anymore.  Kai started to sleep in his own room for longer stretches during the night around 2 months and with the exception of teething or travel, he's been awesome at night.  Of course, we've had our share of hiccups with the transition out of the crib and working it out between mommy & daddy how to handle the "situation."
However, Kai has NEVER been an awesome napper.  I could never, ever predict when he'd go down and just had to give myself a designated time and whether he slept or not was upto him.  Over time, we have called this time "quiet time."  After lunch, Kai and I head upstairs and I will read him a story and close his curtains.  I tell him, "Now is your quiet time.  You can read your books, but try to relax and lie down.  You can't leave your room until I come back and say 'All done.'  You call for me if you have poo-poo."  About 70% of the time, he doesn't sleep.  He will read his books.  He will play with whatever toys are available.  He will turn on his radio.  He will go into his closet and start messing things up.  I never expect him to sleep and when he does it turns into a late, long nap and then our bedtime gets tricky.
Since brother Lukas has been here, Kai has started to run into our room at night and wanting to play on our bed.  For "quiet time" he has been running out of his room and it has been a challenge when Lukas has been using that time to feed like crazy.  Lately, Kai has taken to either building his "walls" with blankets and pillows or his latest has been climbing up into Lukas's crib and jumping out.  This past week, I took a few pictures when I'd open the door.  It was always a big surprise what I'd see...


The door was blocked off with a blanket and he is sleeping soundly within the safe confines of his "wall."



The door was blocked by his laundry basket.  He was in the process of rolling up his rug and blankets.



I was SHOCKED to open the door to THIS!  Last night, Ryuta told Kai, "So, I heard you've been climbing into your brother's crib.  Can you show me how you do it?"  Kai demonstrated how he climbs into it and then jumps out.  I'm glad he considered his jump and put a landing pad at the bottom to break his fall. Man. 



Kai or Lukas?

Lukas will be 4 weeks old tomorrow night.  The first couple weeks I kept having to remind myself that he is NOT baby Kai.  He is LUKAS.  Everytime I'd look at Lukas sleeping, I'd think that I was starting all over again with Kai because they both share that sweet sleepy Sanui look.  Kai and Lukas both look A LOT like their dad when they all sleep.  Although I guess I wouldn't really know what I look like asleep, right?!
I thought I'd take some pictures of Lukas at the same age in the same clothes and in the same pose as some old photos of Kai.  Can you tell who this is?


Photo A: Kai or Lukas?



Photo B: Kai or Lukas?

 Place your vote! :)

From the mouths of babes

Every night since Kai was a little baby and we started bedtime routines, we would say bedtime prayers together before saying good night.  Now that Kai is talking more and is more verbal, I have been teaching him how to pray on his own.
Kai is only 2 so we try to keep it simple.
Kai needs a little help and prompting (although it was cute once when he did it on his own!)  Basically, his prayers are like this:
"Dear God, Thank you for _____________. Please bless our family and ____________. Please help me sleep and have good dreams.  I love you.  In Jesus name. Amen."
I wanted to record some of the things he thanks God for because it is so cute how his mind works and what he is grateful for.  These are some recent things he said thank you to God for--
ABCs
LMNOP
XY AND Z
popsicles
the backyard
the park
colors
puzzles
books
tutu
all of the uncles
うさぎ (rabbits)
はなび (fireworks)
bubbles
happy hallow
I wonder if God sees my prayers as so innocent and cute the way I see Kai's prayers.  I'm curious to see how his prayers and list of gratitude will change over the years.  I'm grateful to hear what is on his heart and in his mind right now. :)

Funny

A friend emailed me a packet of "quiet time" studies for moms.  (A "quiet time" is time spent usually alone with God, praying and reading scriptures.)
Yesterday's study was this--
Philippians 4:12-13
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Part of reflecting on this was to remember at least 3 funny things that have happened since the baby was born.
I keep remembering funny things or new funny things keep popping up, such as..
(1) Lukas grunting all night and it doesn't sound human!
(2) I had a dream one night that I was breastfeeding Lukas in bed and I tapped Ryuta to ask him to burp him.  Ryuta turned to get the baby and he wasn't there!  We were both like, "Where's the baby?!" I told him, "oh sorry. I was just dreaming!"
(3) Kai came home from school and I changed his diaper during his "quiet time."  I was very surprised to see a BABY diaper on my 2 year-old.
(4) Lukas actually latching onto Ryuta's nipple.  Satisfied now, sweetie?!
Oh, good times.

Pinterest

An addictive way to waste a few hours, but also get some great ideas for parties, recipes, fashion, & design.  Pinterest. 
I found some really cute ideas for photos of our new family, pregnancy pics & newborn pics.
We got some good results, but also a few Pinterest FAILS!!!
For example...

the PINTEREST INTENT

PINTEREST FAIL!! (Kai: "Ahhhh!! Noooo kissssesss!!!")

the PINTEREST INTENT

PINTEREST FAIL!!! (Kai is like, "Dude.  I am surrounded by weirdos.")

Our kids are weird. So, you KNOW they are OURS!

Weirdness runs in our bloodline.  Sometimes it is quirky and cute or endearing and funny and other times, just plain annoying.  But, I wanted to record some of these current little quirks of our boys at the moment.  I thought it would be a good laugh 20 years later when we look back at this and remember (I'm hoping these will be passing memories!)

Kai-kai



Big Brother Kai お兄ちゃん

   Kai has inherited the OCD gene from my mom (and me.)  I hear though that sometimes it is just a developmental thing in toddlers (please God!)  Kai's obsession of the moment is making walls.  When I peak my head into his room during his "quiet time," there is a blockade of random objects in front of the door like pillows, blankets, toys, his plush chair, his push train.  He has strewn some of his clothes about the room and rolled up and piled up his rug and blankets.  Usually, I'll catch him in the middle of some sort of song and dance which involves waving about a pretend "parachute."  I can only laugh when he freezes like he got caught.  I have this image in my mind of opening the door to him standing on his blue chair holding a pretend parachute and freezing mid-song as I stare at him.  On long, tiring days, the impending clean up looms at the end of the hour.  Kai likes to build walls wherever he is using whatever objects are available.  For example, he will pile pillows or toys around him when he plays on the ground.  I sometimes wonder if I need to be alarmed by this.  Does the wall make him feel safe?  Is he trying to keep us out?  Or is he just being a kid with an imagination?  Although if you destroy his wall or clean it up, he gets REALLY mad.  It is cute though when he lets you "in" and opens a "gate."  During storytime at night, he will make a wall from the wall to the sofa and will even use our legs as part of the "wall."  If our body moves and creates an opening, he will come and check and move our leg or arm back to close up the gap in the wall.  Another interest of Kai is CIRCLES or まる。In the family room, he enjoys throwing his ABC or number or hiragana or tako cards around the room and then making circle designs with them on the rug.  It is oh-so-cute and oh-so-maddening at the same time.



"Look at my wall and my parachute house!"

 Kai's long-term love is the parachute.  He had been going to Gymboree classes since he was 10 months-old and we just stopped his classes this month.  I wonder how long this will last, but almost daily he wants to play parachute and sing songs.  Again, this is oh-so-cute and oh-so-maddening.  If there is no real parachute around, he will take ANYTHING and make a parachute out of it, such as a napkin, a book, a blanket, a piece of paper, ANYTHING flat and can be waved about.  I love thinking about Halloween costumes and told myself that if Kai still had parachute love by October, I'd make him into "Parachute Man" for Halloween.  Lukas could be Gymbo the clown.  I could be Teacher Beth.  With this parachute love, it has expanded into the "parachute house" obsession.  Kai has been building forts and tents using the parachute and parachute-like objects.  A few nights, this was our conversation before bed:
Mommy: Kai, you have two choices.  One, read a book.  Two, go to bed.
Kai: Three, go in my parachute house.



the "parachute house"

 Ryuta went to IKEA and got Kai a circus tent for his room, very "parachute house-ish."  Kai loves it, but still prefers to sleep on the floor with his blankets.  Other parachute activities has been marching about the house with Tutu with the parachute or Auntie Nadia came over the other day and they were a parachute "dragon" scaring people.

Lukas

Lukas, aka "Animal"/"Little Animal", "Machine"/"Eating Machine"

So, Lukas is still just a newborn baby, but for the sake of not feeling left out, he's weird, too.  I have vague memories of Kai grunting alot, but Lukas grunts and growls EXCESSIVELY at all hours of the day.  The kid spends every other hour wanting to eat, wanting to be held, burping, farting REALLY LOUD (he is one gassy little guy), pooing, peeing, and GRUNTING LOUDLY.  But, I have to say.  Our kids make up for some of their bothersome quirks with their extreme cuteness.  We know they are ours and we love 'em!

Brothers



Romans 12:10

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

 When I first told Kai that he was going to be a big brother, his response wasn't the one I was hoping for.  I read to him one of his Shimajiro the tiger books.  In the story, Shimajiro's mom was pregnant and Shimajiro was talking to her belly and was so excited for his baby sister to come out and play with him.  After the story was done, I pointed to my belly and told Kai, "Look at mommy's tummy.  There is a baby in there, too."  Kai looked quickly away and screamed, "NO!"
Since then, we have included Lukas in our bedtime prayers that Kai and Lukas would love each other a lot and be the best of friends.  I have continued to pray for the brothers that they would have an affection for each other, that they would LIKE each other, be interested in one another, take care of each other, be positive influences on one another, be great friends.  I fear them being envious or competitive and hope that they will have a great relationship.  We have read different stories with Kai like Berenstein Bears' New Baby, Little Critter Just Me & My Little Brother, and Best Ever Big Brother.  Kai has really enjoyed the books and when I talked to him about life with his little brother, we'd talk about how Kai can teach his brother all sorts of things like ABCs and hiragana, how he can sing to his brother and teach him about the parachute, how when brother gets older they can sleep in a bunk bed.
When Lukas was born and Kai first met him in the hospital, I had listened to different sensible advice.  We bought a gift for Kai from his brother (Cars 2, Kai's latest obsession.)  When Kai first came into the room, we wanted Kai to come to us first and then we'd bring him to his brother rather than him walking in on us holding Lukas and Kai feeling replaced.  Kai had fallen asleep on the way to the hospital.  When he woke up he was grumpy and didn't care about his gift.  He didn't want to see his brother.  When we got home, he only loved the attention of visitors because they were extra playmates.  As long as Kai has someone who will play with him, he is happy.  I think he is waiting for Lukas to get bigger.  It has been very helpful to me to have Ryuta home and Ryuta has been keeping Kai entertained and taken care of.  I'm a little nervous about how things will go when he returns to work.
We took some family pictures yesterday.  Kai briefly kissed Lukas's head and we were able to get him to lie/sit down with the help of Mickey Mouse on my i-touch.

A new addition to the clan

Wow. So, I haven't updated this blog since announcing that I was pregnant. Well, NOW the news is that he is HERE! 
Lukas Kei Sanui was born at 7:11 PM on Saturday, June 2nd, 2012 weighing 6 lbs 9 oz and measuring 19 1/2 inches.


our newest cutie pie in the house

 I guess I should backtrack since I have not updated at all during my whole pregnancy..I'll try to summarize the best I can.  This pregnancy, like with Kai, was not difficult at all.  I had cravings for chinese dim sum, frozen grapes, McDonald's ice cream cones, donuts, boba, chocolate, cookies.  I was gaseous for about half the time and would have gas attacks where I'd belch and burp every few seconds for an hour.  It was just slightly annoying and gross, too.  I tried my best to enjoy being pregnant and took lots of prego pics, did as much as I could with Kai for the memories of "just us", rested, talked and prayed a lot with friends about my fears about labor and having more kids.  Everything ran very smoothly until the last month.  I had an ultrasound that said that I had low fluid levels.  From there, I was coming into the doctor's 3 times a week for an appointment, an ultrasounds, and 2 NST tests.  It seems like my placenta has issues at the end of pregnancy.  Kai did not grow at the end and was induced at 38 weeks.  Lukas was a trooper and grew and was very healthy all the way through, but the doctor felt it was best to induce anyways at 39 weeks.  My fluid levels remained on the low side and she said it was better not to wait.  I had some time to be prepared for induction and to anticipate it this time.  I tried to induce myself for 2 weeks by going for long walks, eating spicy food and pineapple, getting massages at the chiropractor.  (Although I only wanted to do the "fun" stuff!)  But, none of it worked.  So, at about 39 weeks, I went into the hospital late Friday night for induction. 



10 weeks.  I love how silly and cute Kai looks!



28 weeks.  Popping!



32 weeks.  Kai is giving his little brother a high-5. :)



36 weeks. Mother's Day. Feeling awesome.  Daddy is already pooped & the day has just begun. LOL 



Week 1 of our new life with 2 boys!



Overall, it was a super positive experience going through labor and being in the hospital.  Ryuta's chances just went way up to have more kids!  It was a night and day difference from my memories of Kai being born.  This time, the cervadil did not work at all, but I didn't care.  I was so grateful to SLEEP that night in the hospital.  In the morning, I was still only 1 cm dilated and they gave me another drug that took 4 hours to dilate me.  The contractions started to pick up and my mom helped me with my breathing.  My mom is such an awesome labor coach.  She relaxed me with massages and focused me on my breathing.  Thanks so much, mom!  After that, it was pitocin time!  I started to get a little scared at this point because I didn't want to feel any intense, sudden, sharp pains.   I was scared of feeling them break my water.  I was scared of how much more it would hurt everytime they would check my cervix.  But thank God.  The lovely anesthesiologist came to my rescue with my epidural.  That part was actually really scary, too.  I get really queesy and I'm a big weeny when it comes to needles.  The nurses were so wonderful and hugged me and held me and gave me lots of encouragement as the epidural went in.  I had to curl into a ball for 15 minutes which is a little difficult when you have a big pregnant belly and are trying to breathe through contractions.  I had to tell myself that it would be over soon and I'd feel so much better.  When they said to curve my back more, I visualized protecting the baby when I wrapped my arms around my tummy.  Once the epidural did its thing (which was quick!) I felt nothing!  It was awesome! I looked at my contractions on the computer screen and was like, "Oh yaaaa, I am NOT feeling that! Sweeet!"  After the epidural, it was cake to get my cervix checked and have them break my water.  Lukas reacted well to the pitocin and it was a smooth wait until pushing time. 



At a recent visit to the hospital to see my dear friend Sarah's new baby, I saw a focus poster that she made to keep her going during labor. I loved it and made a similar one for myself.  It really did help to look at words of encouragement, pics of our family, to stay focused on the "goal", & scrips..



When it was nearing pushing time, the doctor checked my cervix and said that I was already at 9-10 cm.  She asked if I wanted to push for a long time or just like 10-15 minutes?  I said 10 minutes, please.  I felt like I was ordering something at a restaurant.  She said to let them know when I started to feel any pressure down below and that meant the baby's head was pushing out already.  I felt pressure, but wasn't sure because it didn't feel like what they described.  Dr. Sarda checked and said that the baby's head was already on its way out!!! The pushing this time was so different.  The epidural was still in full force and I felt NOTHING.  They had to bring out a mirror so I could see if what my body was doing was pushing him out.  It was kinda nasty to see, but it did help.  Ryuta did an excellent job this time holding my hand and counting all the way to ten (last time, he'd trail off at 7 and I'd lose my breath.)  Dr. Sarda was amazing.  I really loved having her because she was very professional and informative, but she was also HILARIOUS.  We don't think she even intended to, but during the pushing, she was cracking me up.  She told Ryuta that he is not the mom's best friend, but the doctor's best friend because he counted soooo slow.  She was a cheerleader during pushing, "C'mon yes yes yes yes! right there!" It was very motivating and funny at the same time.  I remember telling her, "I feel like I'm in a sitcom right now.  This is NOT reality TV."  Seriously, who laughs while pushing out a baby?! 



Dr. Sarda-Maduro, the comedian/cheerleader/OB-- LOVE HER!!! <3

 It was so God and just lots and lots of prayers.  I am still so thankful and joyful about this experience.  I am not traumatized.  I still love my husband.  He is allowed to kiss me.  God has heard my cries and my pleas and answered my prayers.  My prayers for a healthy labor and recovery, prayers for a smoother time with breastfeeding and a baby who knew how to latch, prayers that Ryuta and I could be more of a team this time.  I am very lucky and very blessed to have been able to have a great pregnancy, labor, AND recovery (It seemed before that I had to pick and choose which one--good pregnancy/terrible labor?!)  I am so lucky and blessed for all of the friends praying for me and my health, for my mom's help, for Ryuta and our beautiful boys.


Goodbye, Washington Hospital. We're going home!!