Dear Amazon, can you please be more earth-friendly?

We usually order my pre-natal vitamins online as we find it cheaper. One bottle only costs us less than 50% of how it costs in Akachan Honpo or Babys R Us. (A bottle costs around 2500yen in the mall whereas online, we just had it at 1001yen.)

The thing is though, like all of the other Amazon deliveries we’ve had, the size of the box doesn’t seem to be proportional in size to that of the delivered item. Look!

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Even though I’m only the recipient, it makes me feel guilty to receive such a big box for a purchase that’s quite small. Comparing with the deliveries we’ve had with Rakuten, Rakuten packaging seems more proportional.

And mind you, the disproportional size is consistent whether we order from Amazon US or Japan.

This is a simple call to Amazon to be please more responsible with their carbon footprint and be a bit more earth-friendly.
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This by the way is the prenatal vitamins I’m taking; two tablets a day which gives me 400mcg of folic acid, 155mg calcium, B vitamins, iron and vitamin D. Am taking separate calcium supplement though since it’s not everyday that I take my milk and even when I have one, it’s still below the RDA for pregnant women.

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down with colds

Had to take half day leave today because my colds has started getting bad again, with tears streaming down my left eye. Thankfully we’ve already finished the re-HAZOP yesterday so there wasn’t anything urgent that I had to attend to today. Perfect timing, ze colds.

Spent the whole afternoon sleeping so I’m hoping I’d get to sleep early this evening still. I don’t want to take the day off again tomorrow since I only have pretty much a month before I take my maternity leave.

Hubs came home bringing a whole melon (the yellow variety, cantaloupe?) which I’ve been crazy for for the past weeks (honeydew and cantaloupe alike; no watermelon please), plums and cherries. We ate everything. So I’m hoping I had a good dose of vitamins there to help me recuperate. Thanks Hubs!

One thing I’m thankful as well. As I lie in bed, I can feel baby kicking left and right; sometimes even left and right AT THE SAME TIME. I don’t have twins so I don’t know how she does that haha. But I ain’t complaining. She can keep on kicking to her heart’s content. 🙂

work, charms, baby bed

The scope of our department in the current project i’m involved in right now was initially set to be finished around September. The schedule could have been in perfect timing for my pregnancy leave. But we’re still swamped with work so our team’s involvement would probably stretch to December. Ergo I have to handover the handling of my unit to another colleague for him to take care of the remaining deliverables.

This same colleague was very thoughtful in that when he went back to his hometown over the long weekend last week, he bought me a charm from the most famous Shinto Shrine in his hometown in Fukuoka – Kushida Jinja 櫛田神社.

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This is an omamori, specifically an anzan kigan no omamori 安産祈願のお守り. In English, a charm for safe delivery (anzan = safe delivery, kigan = wish, omamori = charm and no in this case means of. The sentence structure is very different, yes).

I’m a Catholic and Hubs a Christian. We don’t lean on Shintoism at all. But if one wishes you the best in his/her religion, isn’t it heart-warming? 🙂

So now I’m carrying the charm around in my bag.

He gave it yesterday by the way. I had to confirm with Hubs the name of the jinja haha.

Then last night, one of our purchases from last weekend’s shopping was delivered.

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Thank you Otosan! 🙂

This will be how it’ll look, sans the futon and beddings.

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I hope I can make baby’s bed prettier than the one above. 🙂

Brasserie La Classe

This restaurant is the most recently opened one in Landmark Tower.

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Wanting some variety, I tried this resto several weeks ago, not having any idea what kind of resto it is. Upon sitting down however, I realised that it’s a fine dining restaurant. With a set dinner price that’s fit only for special occasions. Since I was already seated, I decided to just give it a try. Problem at that time was that I wasn’t really hungry. And looking at the set course already made me feel full and feeling some heartburn.

Thankfully, they have a selection of omelettes and soups as well so I ordered those ala carte. The amount was just perfect for my appetite at that time.

The following week, I was back at the resto. In the same exact table that I sat at the week before. During the second visit, I tried their Quiche de la saison (spinach and salmon quiche) and their soup for the day which usually is a healthy thick soup of something nutritious (my favourite so far is broccoli soup).

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The soup above is red bean soup.

With the salmon, spinach, fresh greens and healthy soup, it’s definitely a great meal for preggers. And it’s so filling at that!

And so since then I’ve been to the restaurant every week, once a week; always at the same table, ordering the same set. Everyone from the crew gives me a smile already and greets me warmly whenever I enter. The maitre d’ also always makes it a point to drop by my table and thank me profusely, with elegant bows and a big smile, for coming again. And even when I just order water (I gag now just thinking about orange juice and apple juice – I think I’ve had too much already) together with my set, they still set my table and treat me as if I’ve ordered the most expensive course they have along with the finest champagne in the house.

Truly exemplary Japanese customer service through and through.

Baby diaries: a family visit and our 4d experience

Hi Baby! We had our checkup again yesterday, a bit more thorough than the last couple of visits had been and longer time with the ultrasound machine since your measurements had to be taken, after a month when it was taken last. Yes, we have more photos of you this time and also quite a number with you captured on 4d! There’s no doubt this time, after the 4d; you’re definitely a girl. 🙂

But it was pretty interesting because the moment the nurse changed from 2d to 4d, it was at that time that you started crying. Haha. So your face was all contorted and such. But thankfully after a while, you settled down and went back to a peaceful slumber so you got quite a lot of decent photos as well. Your Ojichan and Aunt Mayumi (yes they’re here to visit dad and mom and you!) saw your photo already and I can’t wait to show it to your Obachan and Mama and Papa and Uncles.

Ob said your measurements are fine (thankful!), and not big at all like what everyone has been expecting. But Mommy has put on so much weight and fat than is necessary (the nurse had to push on my tummy at some point during the ultrasound because my “layers” we’re too thick. Ouch) hence Ob strictly told me to lower my calorie intake. And I guess I have to follow him and learn to curb my cravings because last Thursday and Friday, the terrible pain that strikes me whenever I stand up from sitting down/lying in bed was really too much. So, no more ice cream (your dad seem to be also craving for this quite a lot recently) and cake for us for the next two months.

And as I said, your Ojichan and Aunt are here! We’ll pick them up in their hotel later this morning for a bit of sightseeing. Ojichan advised though that it’s best to buy your stuff now while it’s still not so hot and I’m smaller and your Aunt also want to go see baby stuff in malls so we’d probably go shopping around for your goods.

Ja, have to prepare now baby lest we’ll be late for the meet up. 🙂

pregnancy photography

I’m not really comfortable enough to flaunt my big belly now and have a maternity photography session with a professional photographer. It goes to say as well that all the “progress photos” of my belly that I’ve been asking Hubs to take will remain private.

I would love to have one though, if only…

My favorite so far was a series of photos done by a photography enthusiast herself. Too bad I wasn’t able to get a copy of it when I saw it in Facebook. This one which I saw in Facebook as well came in a veeeery close second favorite.

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Hmmm…maybe I can have one same as this….