Catch up

It's been a non-eventful summer for us, which was pretty much the plan as we watched Kyles early weeks of life (3 months old today!). He is now getting really big, a lot chubbier than Joshua was, and is showing many facial expressions including a gorgeous smile!

Joshua has also done a lot of growing up lately and has been a great big brother. He is talking more everyday and now has a 50-50 mix of English and Japanese. He can say most of his words and phrases in both languages and can learn new words so fast. Joshua is really obsessed with cars still (& firetrucks, ambulances..... He plays with his toy cars every day, he watches car DVD's and loves watching me playing Forza on xbox. When we go for a ride in the car it is really fun as he gets all excited to see big vehicles on the roads. Josh has also started going to sleep by himself at nights - a huge accomplishment that did not take long for him to get used to!! With the World Cup coming, I want to go out and watch games, but it would've been hard for Aki to get Josh to bed (because he liked someone to lie with him for 1 hour plus until he slept) and take care of Kyle. I told Aki I would sort Josh out and sort him out I did! Every night I took him to bed and stayed with him for just 20 minutes or so then made an excuse, like "I have to go to the toilet" or "I have to help mummy". This was sometimes met with resistance but he would eventually let me go without crying. Occassionally he would go to the door and call out for me, so I would go and lie down for a minute and leave again. Now I'm able to read a book, turn the light off and say goodnight. 9 times out of 10, he is totally fine, while sometimes he gets up and turns the light on and starts reading, which is really cute because when I go up, he jumps up, says "light", turns it off and goes to sleep! So now I can go watch the rugby and know that Josh won't give Aki any trouble at bedtime!

The summer has been pretty hot, but not as hot as other years, even having some cool days in August! Most weekends have been at home as Kyle has been too young to take out, but he's big enough to go out now so we went to a restaurant last week for the first time, and yesterday we went to my bosses house for a BBQ. We'll be going away next weekend to Yamanashi as well, so life is starting to get back to normal without baby enforced restrictions. The other big thing happening is our contest on Facebook. It looks like I can win a free trip home - will know for sure this week - so we are getting Kyle's passport and starting to think about dates. It's still going to be bloody expensive with Joshua now paying 75% fare, but hopefully we can be home this summer!!

The Heat is on!

Once again, summer has arrived without knocking at the door, with temperatures racing past 30 degrees in the last couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to the new outdoor swimming pool opening in a couple of weeks. It's only 5 mins walk so I hope to take Joshua there a few times in the summer.
The last month has gone very fast with Kyle at home. He is getting bigger (looks a lot chubbier than Josh did), sleeps well and drinks well. In other words - no problems!
Joshua is getting used to having Kyle around. He still gives him the occassional whack but not often. Recently he includes Kyle in his conversations and has been sharing his cars by putting them into Kyle's crib. Josh keeps using new words every day, in Japanese and English, and is growing tall - he is getting taller than other kids in his class who are 6-9 months older than him.
No plans for this summer (although we would love a trip to a nice beach!), so just taking it easy and watching the boys grow up :)

Ninja

"That's my brother", "Thats's my sister"

New cuzzies

Josh loves I-Spy books. He has about 6 of them and knows where everything is!

The Tower

Butterfly!

Josh in jail after hitting Kyle

The boys

Naptime

Giving Kyle some cars to play with

Awesome brothers!

Kyle wants to read, too!

Homecoming

After a 5 night stay at the clinic, Aki & Kyle are back home! The clinic was fantastic (the doctor and nurse are parents of a child I've taught for the last 4 years), so Aki was feeling very good during her stay.
Joshua enjoys Kyle, often saying "Kawaii ne" (He's so cute), but he has also hit him a few times! He has no bad intentions, it's more like he has a new toy to play with. We now have Kyle in a cot so he is protected from his big brother. Kyle is sleeping about 18 hours a day so it has been easy going so far, but I can see that we will have our hands a bit full with both of the boys to look after in the near future.

Checking out the new addition

Home sweet home

And safe from Joshua!

First bath with dad

Kyle & Josh look very different  at the same age, but we think Kyle looks more like Joshua is now - very cute!



Being a big brother can bugger you out!

We were wondering which would come first.....

....Kyle beat them by a few days! This nest is just outside our lounge. The birds are called Japanese White Eye, or Mejiro. Very cute birds when they grow up!



Kyle Kensei Trotter

Welcome to the world Kyle!
After a long and difficult pregnancy - Aki has endured a broken elbow, suffered terrible hayfever,  scratched herself silly with PUPPP, and learned the news that our baby had a Multicystic Kidney - the big day finally came!

Saturday, 2:00am
After sleeping early with Joshua, I woke up to go to the toilet and then found NBA on TV. After watching the Heat finish the Bulls I was wide awake and started playing Tomb Raider Legend. Not long after, Aki came down to the toilet then said she was starting to feel some pain. We went back to bed where her pain came again after about 10-15 minutes.

4:00am
Joshua woke up (by himself) and came downstairs where we were starting to get ready, eating some early breakfast and changing clothes.

4:30am
We dropped Joshua off at Aki's mums house and went to the clinic. The pain was still about every 10 minutes. Aki was 4cm dilated.

Leaving home at 4:30 in the morning. "See you soon, Baby Kyle"

5:00am-8:00am
Tried our best to sleep, but it wasn't happening...

8:00am-12:00pm
The pain was getting a bit stronger for Aki, but not too bad. Still about 10 minutes between contractions. She was now 6cm dilated. Glad I had the iPod to play solitaire!

Breakfast time!

12:00pm-4:00pm
The contractions started getting a lot stronger and closer together. Aki had real pain in her back which I kept massaging. Her waters broke at about 3:30pm, but still was not fully dilated.

4:00pm-4:30pm
Things were starting to really happen now. The contractions were just a few minutes apart and Aki was in terrible pain. Now fully dilated, she was ready to go to the delivery room.

4:30pm-5:00pm
It was all happening! I got my scrubs on and made sure Aki was comfortable with massages, fanning her and giving her water. The contractions were really big now and needed a huge effort by Aki to push. The room was full of nurses and the doctor doing their jobs and encouraging Aki!

5:05pm
After the last big push, our baby, Kyle, came out. It was an amazing sight I will never forget! After that, Aki held Kyle and I cut the umbolical cord. He was weighed in at 3502 grams. Joshua and Aki's family came in to see him. Joshua looked very happy, but confused at the same time. After a long day we could finally relax and enjoy our new son and brother!

The first photo of Kyle. Still looking a bit purpleish and having a good cry!

The weigh in. Minus 2 grams for the umbolicol tie

The boys

Big bro is happy!

His eyes have a hint of blue, but mostly black

Super mum!

"Hello!"

So cute.