Friday, August 31, 2012

Bread, Breakfast And A Baby

Was totally hooked on freshly-baked bread that I had every morning for breakfast while I was at parents'. Mom baked a loaf every morning with a bread baking machine, and even T, not a big bread eater, tried it when he was staying over, loved it, and thought it was nice to wake up to that warm softness.

So, we were at an electronics shop for printer ink the other day, ended up in the kitchen appliances corner, checked out the baking machines and decided to use a piece of T's summer bonus to buy one.

I ran the first trial last Sunday for breakfast, and here's the aftermath.



The bread could use more "moisture AND fluffiness". T's words. Moist and fluffy? Two adjectives that normally don't go together. But I saw his point. Will work on it, buddy.


Bye the way, it was the first time since A was born that T and I were able to have breakfast together. She has grown less needy of our attention when she is awake. She is able to lay on her back by herself happily enough not to cry her guts out when we leave out of her sight. Mommy's proud.

Until next time,

Sak

Thursday, August 30, 2012

15 Mins of Hillary A Day

During pregnancy going to the city library became my religious. Walking between shelves of books and skimming through pages of whatever that would catch my eye was a great pastime. And coming home with a bunch of books to read felt pretty great, too. And to think that it's all free of money! Libraries are so underrated these days, I tell you.

Since A's arrival, however, it's virtually impossible to find the time to sit and read a book to finish. Either she starts crying for attention or to be fed, or I have unfinished work - and I always do! - around the house that I must attend to while my hands are free of a baby. Or, if I do have, say, a half hour to spare, I'd rather do something that's brainless like browsing Internet or writing a new post for my blog as I am doing right now.

Yet, it's been a while since the last time I actually finished a book. I walk A in a stroller every day now, so I decided to start going to the library with her like I used to before. She likes the outside better (floor's too smooth and the atmosphere's too dim-lit and quiet in the public building) so I had to hurry through the shelves to find what to bring home, but got something that I had been meaning to read for a long time... and a magazine that I can skim through while holding A.


I think I can manage to spare 15 minutes a day for it. The presidential election might have been done by the time I finish reading this. We'll see.

Until next time,

Sak

Friday, August 24, 2012

Summer Remains

Haven't put any flowers around the apartment but wanted to for the longest time. Saw the sunflowers at the store that made me think "hey, it's still viable to have a sense of summer," though it's near the end. I haven't done anything summer-y this year except for sweating like a pig as I nursed A, so it was liberating to find the bright yellow petals.


Surrounded in accumulating baby diapers and clothes in this never-ending feeding and changing life, I found it easy to get caught up in what goes on inside the house and to sort of isolate myself from the rest of the world, if I don't make a point in going out whether I like it or not. So, since we made A's stroller debut last Sunday, I go out every day running small errands, like buying a carton of milk or going to the post office, in hope of not becoming a maroon. And it's pretty gratifying when strangers seem nicer to interact with when  you are with a baby.

I have had rather harsh opinions in the past about the way Japanese people interact with each other, especially with strangers, but now that I am a mother of an infant, they don't seem as bad. It seems people look at me, a nursing mother of a two-month-old, in a way that's more readily welcoming and forgiving than, say, when I was single and striding the outside world in pin-heels. Like, another stoller-pushing mother would smile at me. An old ladies would approach me and tell me how cute my baby is. And I have met a disgruntled-faced old man open and hold an ATM booth door for me, and a cashier at a market carry my basket. Both in the same day. These people know kindness goes a long way for a mother with a baby out on the street. And this very idea makes it easier for me to go out again the next day, knowing that there are people out there that "understand".

Until next time,

Sak

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Back Home

Came back to Aichi on Sunday. The heat is not so bad as I got myself preprared for, as long as I stay in.


The whole being-a-mom thing has been not so bad as I got myself prepared for, either. Little A is growing. Changing every day. Becoming more and more precious. But sometimes, I see her sleeping, I find myself screaming in my head, "Holy crap, I'm a mother of that child!" The whole notion hasn't quite sunken in yet. I go with the motion of feeding and changing and putting her to bed and all, but I still don't know how my being has changed from what I used to be to a mother, if at all. Me?! A mother!?


For the first couple of weeks, she was  virtually immobile. So it's quite entertaining to see how she has started kicking air for no apparent reason when she is happy enough. Possibly inspired by the swimmers on TV in the Olympics? 

Until next time,

Sak