Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to our dedicated fan base.

As you know, we were in North America from August 26 to September 24. It was an awesome trip, but quite exhausting, so we have taken quite some time to get back into the swing of things. To top it off, we had a ton of pictures to sort through from the trip, and have not even made a dent in them yet. However, the good thing about so many pictures is that we'll have no problem featuring new pictures on the blog for quite some time. We put some copies of many of the photos from our trip on Picasa, so follow the link to our album, and check them out.

In other news, we've been busy settling back in. Since we got back from our trip, I had a birthday, Naomi turned nine-months-old, and Eriko from Tokyo and Estuardo from Guatemala came to visit.

We are planning a few events for this fall and winter, and will post pictures of those activities later. We're planning to do something with friends for Halloween and for Thanksgiving. Doug will have a birthday next Monday, and we'll probably go out to dinner to celebrate on that day.

So that's our news so far. Until next time, we wish you all the best.

Time flies!

To our dedicated fan base!
I have a mountain of Japanese homework, so I figured now was as good time as any to update our blog.

Life has been crazy! Doug went to Colorado for Will and Jen's wedding from June 22 to July 1. While he was there, Naomi and I stayed in Kobe. Naomi went to day care most of the time, and I took care of her in the evenings and on the weekends. Friends of ours also took care of her on Tuesday and Thursday (Thanks Saki and Trish!). All told, it was a difficult time for us all, and we are happy to be together again.

In other news, Naomi continues to get bigger and stronger. She can almost hold her bottle, and she is really close to crawling. The semester is just about over for me, and I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with Naomi and Doug.

Weather-wise, it is HOT! Doug and Naomi were nearly baked alive today on their way to the Ward Office to get one of a series of immunizations for Naomi. It was so hot that Naomi's body temperature was too high when they arrived, and they had to wait 40 minutes before she could get her shot. It was a nasty one too (the scars look like someone pressed two thimbles on her skin) Doug said she was a trooper though. She's a tough one our little Naomi. Anyway, to beat the heat, we stay in doors where there is air-conditioning if we can help it.

Well, that's our news and we will try to post messages more often, but don't hold your breath. Until next time. Stay cool!

L'Shawn

Sorry its been a while since we posted anything to the blog, but we'll try to catch it up a bit for our dedicated fan base!
We had a great visit with Cameron, even though we mostly stayed home with Naomi - sorry Cam! After that, we had Bill and Jen over, and went to Arima Onsen, SanNoMia, ArashiYama, and Kyoto twice. Then they went to Tokyo and we all got really sick. Now that we're starting to feel better, hello to all you lovely people out there in internet land!
That doesn't sound like much, but we're wiped out anyway. (In fairness, there have been lots of exciting hospital visits and laser treatments and that sort of fun stuff to keep us from getting bored.) Doug's going to Bill and Jen's wedding soon, and dreading being away from L'Shawn and Naomi as much as L'Shawn's dreading trying to hold it all together by herself. We'll probably update again after that whole fiasco.
We'll post more when we get around to it. BFN -> Doug and L'Shawn

Recent Pictures of Naomi!

Hey all! Check out the recent pictures of Naomi. She is now a little over three months old, and she's growing by leaps and bounds. We'll post more pictures when we have time. Wishing you all the best.

L'Shawn

New Pictures!

Hey all! Check out the new pictures of Naomi in the album! I couldn't fit them all on the blog, so there are some pictures in the album not pictured here. Enjoy!

L'Shawn

Hitting the proverbial wall!

Hello all! Well, as those of you who follow our blog know, we have not posted anything for a while. We both hit the proverbial wall (i.e. we were just too tired to do anything). Although we continue to suffer from sleep deprivation, we are starting to join the land of the living. Actually, life has forced us into it.

Our new neighbor and my new colleague Trish arrived with her 13 year old son Nolan Tuesday evening from Colorado. So, we have just begun the wonderful and fun (seriously, we love showing people around) process of helping them get settled and sharing our little world with them. She is a good friend of ours, so we are excited to have her here. It's really nice to live next to someone as helpful and warm as they are.

Soon I will go back to work, so I'll try to post messages and new pix once a week. When I figure out the best day on which to do that, I'll let you know. We'll do our best to keep you all posted on our many adventures with Naomi. Expect new pix as often as possible.
L'Shawn

Girl meets world

Every day Naomi becomes more and more aware of the world around her. These pictures show her looking around and taking in her surroundings. We'll post more when we can. If you are interested in any of the pictures you have seen on this blog, click on Naomi's album to get copies. We'll keep adding pictures, so check the album each time you visit the blog.

New Pictures

We hope you enjoy the new pictures of Naomi. This time we wanted to show pictures of Naomi with some friends who came to visit her recently. We'll post more pictures soon.
L'Shawn

Out and About with Naomi

Since the last post, we have been on two outings with Naomi. The first was to the hospital to get Naomi a vaccination for a strain of the cold virus that causes pneumonia. The second outing was to Harbor Land, a beautiful tourist spot with shops and restaurants on the harbor. We went to our favorite restaurant "Humming Bird" with Doug's mom (aka Grammy) for dinner. While we were there, the owner gave us complementary sparkling rose water with mini roses floating in the middle to celebrate the birth of Naomi. The owner also gave Naomi a little gift, a pair of tiny moccasins that are supposed to bring good fortune. During both outings, we learned quite a bit about the amount of time and effort it takes to travel with a baby. If it hadn't been for Grammy getting Naomi ready while we showered and dressed on the day of our first outing, we would have been at least an hour late for Naomi's appointment. On our way to the hospital and back, we learned quickly to be on the look out for elevators and to avoid stairs. On our second outing, we discovered how difficult it is to get out of the house with a baby. Once we fed her, we had to burp her. Then she spit up, and when I lifted her up to put her in her bassinet to change her dirty diaper, I discovered that it had leaked onto my sweater and pants. While I changed out of my clothes, Grammy dressed Naomi, during which time Naomi fussed and eventually cried herself to sleep. While all that was going on, Doug prepared everything for the stroller. It was quite an adventure and we hadn't even left the house. Now that Naomi is bigger, she is now about 6 pounds, we plan to go for walks every day. It is our aim to get lots of practice getting ourselves and Naomi ready, and to get some much needed fresh air and exercise, and of course, it also gives us a chance to show off our sweet little angel! In that spirit, enjoy the new pictures. We'll post more when we get them. Until next time, have a beautiful day!
L'Shawn

Life with Naomi

I'm sure most of you are aware of the fact that Naomi has been with us for more than a month now. As of last Friday, Naomi is technically a month old. However, considering that she wasn't even due until Wednesday, she is not developmentally a month old. Nonetheless, the month she has been on this earth has been brighter than any other month in my life. Every day I fall deeper and deeper in love with our beautiful baby girl. So, life with Naomi is sweeter, brighter, and more meaningful than I could have ever imagined, and despite the endless nights, life with Naomi is the life! We'll post more later. Keep checking out the blog for more pictures of our little darling.

XO L'Shawn

Naomi-Chan is doing wonderfully! She's gotten really good at squalling and eating and pooping and stuff! (Usually in that order.) So we're seriously busy (and sleep deprived) trying to keep up with her, but she's this miraculous, magical creature at the center of our universe, and she's beautiful to us whatever she's doing.

In other news, you're probably wondering why we decided to change our blog address.

To make a really long story really short, we made a combined email account, and Doug rebuilt our blog on this account. Unfortunately, we also had to change the blog name, but hopefully the new one won't be hard to remember, and once you've bookmarked it, it won't matter what the name is anyway. Oh, and now L'Shawn can make posts without messing about trying to get Doug to do it for her!

From now on, please use our combined email address for emails to us both so we don't have to forward everything to each other all the time. We still have our old email accounts, so you can still email us separately whenever you want.
Posting an email address on a blog is a great way to get on some horrible mailing list, so please email either one of us to get our spiffy new combined email address. Thanx for your help! -> Doug (^^)v

Naomi-Chan is Home!

On Wednesday, we spent 8 hours with Naomi in a little room at the hospital to practice taking care of her. The hospital staff was available the whole time in case we had any questions or problems, and someone came by to check on us every once in a while. So we finally got to bring her home yesterday. (YEAH!)
She's doing really well, and doesn't have to go see the doctor for a month now. She's still sleeping a lot, but stirs every couple of hours to fuss a bit or eat or have a new diaper. Chihiro (our cat) is terrified of her, and won't go anywhere near her yet. But this is for the better, since we don't want either one of them getting over-excited about anything until they both have a chance to adjust to the new situation. Chi-Chan is "de-tweaking" little by little, and Naomi-Chan hasn't even noticed the cat.
Anyway, we're thrilled to finally have our daughter home! It's also nice to not have to go to the hospital every day - that was getting really exhausting, not to mention expensive. And so it begins...
(^^)v -> Doug

Naomi continues to change and is more alert than ever. Today was the longest we have seen her awake and looking around. Today we didn't bathe her, but she drank quite a bit of milk! She stayed awake mostly, but nursing makes her sleepy, so she fell asleep towards the end. After a ten minute nap, she woke up and was awake for about forty-five minutes looking around and fussing a bit. It was a great visit. We can't wait to get her home. We'll post more when anything new comes up. Thanks for the comments. Please keep them coming so we know who visits the blog.
Newsflash! As promised, we asked about the umbilical cord thing. It represents the bond between the mother and baby, and we're meant to dry it out and keep it to give to her when she grows up and gets married. It is also supposed to be able to cure anything. Cool, ne? (^^)v

Naomi-Chan's changing every day - it's amazing! The midwives are teaching us basic parenting skills, so we're practicing stuff like bathing her and changing her diapers under the watchful eyes of the nursing staff. She's more alert every time we see her, but she's still tiny, and gets tired easily. So after all the excitement of having a bath, she has a hard time staying awake to nurse. The midwives presented us with the last bit of her umbilical cord, which fell off today, and we promptly forgot it at the hospital. Hopefully someone will eventually explain the significance of keeping it, 'cause we haven't got a clue... More on that story as it breaks! Anyway, it got late unexpectedly, so I'm out of here - I'll post pix tomorrow or the next day. L'Shawn got some great ones today! -> Doug

I'm back from the hospital and feeling great! How could I not be - considering the fact that I am the mother of Naomi-Chan (for those of you who don't know Japanese, the suffix "chan" is a diminutive meaning "Little Naomi." It is pronounced with a soft ah sound like "hot").
Have you noticed anything different about our little shining star? That's right! There are no more tubes obstructing her beautiful face. Her nose-tube and her IV were removed today! We were so happy to see her tube free. And that is not all that happened today! We also got to watch the nurse bathe her and clothe her, and the biggest highlight of my day, I got to nurse her for the first time! It was an unforgettable experience. Naomi was much more alert this time, as well. She looked around for a few minutes before the nurse put her in the bath, and after the nurse bathed her, she looked around the room while we put a clean diaper on her and the nurse and Doug clothed her. It was a big day for Naomi-Chan and for her two biggest fans, Doug and me!
Tomorrow, we will do more of the same--practice, practice, practice. We anticipate Naomi's coming home some time next week or the week after that. She is still not quite 2 kilos (4 pounds), and she needs to be at least that before they can release her. We can't wait to bring her home. Keep visiting the blog if you want to see pix of Naomi-Chan, and if you want to know when she is coming home. Doug posted 3 new pix, and we'll post more soon! -> L'Shawn

L'Shawn's finally coming home tomorrow! The downside is it's a long commute to the hospital and now she'll have to do it every day too. Fortunately it's almost door to door, so there's not a lot of walking involved - mostly sitting around a lot in stations and trains. But Naomi's drinking like a bandit, and getting stronger every day, so we're hoping she'll be able to come home soon. The doctor said 2 to 3 weeks when she was born, which still leaves 9 to 16 days, but who's counting?
(^^)v

Thanx to everyone for your responses! Not much to report today. L'Shawn is still recovering, and Naomi-Chan is still growing. I'll post again if anything new happens. Cheers! -> Doug (^^)v

Naomi-Chan started drinking milk today, and had her first visitors! She can't leave the NICU yet, but we can go in, and other people can see her through a window. She's gaining weight, sleeping peacefully, and looks healthier almost by the hour.

L'Shawn is getting around more easily today, and is off her I.V. now. She also changed Naomi's diaper a couple of times (what a milestone!). Of course we both think she's the most beautiful thing we ever saw. I can't wait to see her again tomorrow! (^^)v

L'Shawn is doing better today. She's still in a lot of pain, but she's able to walk around a bit. Naomi-Chan is already gaining some weight, and she was sleeping a lot more peacefully today when we went to see her. We also got to hold her for the first time, which was a very special experience. She's got a lot of tubes and wires, but the doctor thinks she'll be able to start drinking milk tomorrow. If so, she'll be off her IV in a few days. That's about all for now.
Thanx for your emails and comments! -> Doug (^^)v

Big Surprise!

Naomi Mae was born today (12 January, 2010) at 11:45am. She's about 5 weeks early, so she's staying in the hospital nursery. Naomi and L'Shawn are both doing very well.

L'Shawn recently developed pregnancy induced hypertension (preeclampsia), so her doctor decided to deliver Naomi early via a c-section to preempt any complications. We expect L'Shawn to be able to come home in about a week, and Naomi should be ready to come home in 2 or 3 weeks.

It's been a very long and stressful day, and now that L'Shawn and Naomi are recovering I'm going to try to get some sleep. I will post again soon. -> Doug