One of my bucket list items was to see a concert in Japan, and that has been realized! We went up to Sapporo, the largest city in the northern island Hokkaido, where the Snow Festival was. During this trip, we also went to see Queen, one of Leanne’s favorite bands.
This fetus is super active and kicking all the time. He punches/kicks so hard you can almost see the feet, elbow, or fist outline on Leanne’s tummy! I used to think he was tap dancing, but as he’s getting bigger, he’s getting a lot more force behind his movement. Now, I think he’s practicing karate.
I have made a new haiku for him (he’s now at 29 weeks and the size of brocolli).
Practicing your kicks
Kicking mom in her tummy
Don’t break uterus!
We are officially into the third trimester! Per Leanne, the fatigue of the first trimester is coming back with the added bonus of back pain. We do know officially that the baby is a BOY!
We feel emotionally ready but also… not. For example, I feel like I’ll be great dad and will have so much fun playing with the baby. Yet, I still am not 100% sure how to change a diaper. Thank goodness Mom will be coming to help, and we are so grateful for her!
While in Japan, I’ve picked up a new hobby: fishing! My friend Ryota is an expert amateur fisherman and has taught me the ropes. I’ve done what’s called “area trout fishing” here in Japan, which is where there is a fishery that grows the fish and then releases them into a pond in which we can fish in. You would think it might be easier than catching trout from a river, but these trout are used to fisherman and, as such, become little geniuses. They know to avoid most lures since they have fisherman trying to catch them every day. There are also strict rules: you cannot have bait on the lure, certain lures are not allowed, and the hooks on the lures cannot be barbed.
This was my catch, which I later gutted and made into a great Sole Muniere.
Fishing is my new hobby!
We just know this kiddo is going to be so fashionable, because we know Aliya and Zahra will make sure of it (mostly Aliya though, no offense Zahra!).
I have fallen off track on writing haikus for each week of pregnancy, but I’m determined to get back on track! This haiku is in commemoration of week 18 of pregnancy when babies get their fingerprints.
Tiny fingerprints
Exclusive to only you
Special baby boy/girl
The end is boy/girl because we still don’t know the gender! Hopefully we’ll know soon though!
We spent two days at Disney Sea, Japan’s unique Disney theme park that’s kind of a cross between Magic Kingdom and Epcot, yet neither of those at the same time. The park was really fun with great food everywhere! Churros here are big (kind of surprising to be honest) as well.. popcorn. The flavors of popcorn we ate were: curry, garlic shrimp, matcha white chocolate, and soy sauce & butter. Interesting flavors and *most* of them were pretty good!
Here was something that took me completely by surprise. The whole park was decorated completely for Christmas! I mean, Thanksgiving hasn’t even happened yet! But it’s not just here; all the stores in Japan are all playing Christmas music and have Christmas trees. Christmas is really really big here.
That was our Disney Sea vacation! We took two days to do it so really took our time and enjoyed it. Next theme park on the list is Universal Studios Japan!
For Leanne’s 33rd birthday I threw her a surprise party!
A journey of a thousand km begins with a single step.. on the Michinoku Shiokaze trail!
This 1000 km trail (over 600 miles!) starts at Hachinohe (about 45 min drive from us). Leanne and I went to the trailhead and walked the whole thing!
Just kidding of course. But we did walk a lot, maybe about 5 miles of it. Six miles if you include Miles the puppy!
