Tag Archives: hello kitty

daycare preps

Posted on by

20130428-113336.jpg

Towels, gauzes, drawstring bags for Yui’s shoes and pajama set. And other stuff besides. I’ll be putting Yui’s name on these before handing it over to Yui’s nurse sensei.

It’s almost unbelievable that it’s actually already almost three decades when my own mother also put my name on my stuff for my first day in kindergarten. I remember being very proud seeing my name on my place mat and sleeping mat; could still remember the proud sense of ownership seeing my name on my stuff and that my classmates could see it too.

And now it’s my baby girl’s turn. She’s still very young though to feel the excitement for herself. But soon baby, you’ll get to understand and get excited too. For now, Mommy will try to document as much as she can.

today’s cute finds at Babies R Us

Posted on by

Met with a colleague friend earlier who also have a baby who’s just days younger than Yui. The afternoon’s agenda: show her Babies R Us location in our area. Told her when we met last week that the store has lots of super cute yet affordable bibs that I haven’t found yet in other stores (my bestfriend in US who has twins said cover-all bibs aren’t available in the US; at least she hasn’t found any in her area). Me mentioning the bibs was just right on time because my colleague friend also needs to buy quite a number of new bibs for her daughter who is soon to start daycare on April 1st.

Of course, I took the opportunity to look around for Yui’s stuff. Bought her very cute pink, frilly ruffle skirt and shirt as well but these are my favourites in today’s purchases:

Minny Mouse Joint mat. I initially wanted a cute Hello Kitty joint mat but decided against it because the colours and design of the mat was too loud. This is just nice.

20130315-014952.jpg

Bought this Hello Kitty hand sanitizer though.

20130315-015231.jpg

This oversized bib with towel that has wonderfully balanced both fashion and function.

20130315-015445.jpg

Where’s the towel? Here!

20130315-015619.jpg

So if your baby’s burp spit up turned to full blown vomiting, you have a handy towel to wipe the vomit up.

20130315-015843.jpg

I also bought Yui a lullaby CD by Jewel. It turned out however that Yui preferred my version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. Hehe! But I bought the CD for both Yui and the Dad. Turned out my hunch was right. Hubs loved the songs in that the one hour or so playlist got played for four solid hours. @_@

20130315-020322.jpg

Cover-all bibs for sending to US.

20130315-020557.jpg

Didn’t buy yet the stuff needed for Yui’s daycare as we still await for instructions from the ward office and meeting with the daycare nurses. From what my friend has been telling me earlier, I’m excited for Yui. 🙂

Hina ningyo!

Posted on by

A year ago, we wondered if we’d be celebrating Hinamatsuri (for girls) this year or hanging a drawn carp during Kodomi no Hi (for boys). Well, we will be celebrating my favourite Hinamatsuri after all! 😀

I know that from tradition, parents give these doll sets to their little girls, every year. But I have only speculated on how much they cost. I didn’t even know where to buy them. I thought they are bought in museums and the like. I realised that when I was still single, I haven’t been really to any baby/children’s floor in the malls otherwise I would have known that these dolls are usually sold in malls and how MUCH they cost.

Since the first week of January, these dolls have already been on display.

20130213-190108.jpg

20130213-190144.jpg

20130213-190233.jpg

20130213-190412.jpg

See the details of the dolls? Amazing isn’t it? See also the price though.

20130213-190515.jpg

20130213-190600.jpg

If you only have a few thousand to spare, here’s the cheaper version.

20130213-190710.jpg

There’s also cute Hello Kitty versions. And cheaper too.

20130213-190850.jpg

Tradition says that these dolls should only be on display at your house up to March 4. Otherwise, the daughter/s of the house will marry late. Since the dolls would have to be stored for most of the year, a good storage place and good manner of storing the dolls must be in effect to preserve the dolls.

This being Yui’s first Hinamatsuri, we want to buy her her set. A cheaper one at least hehe. But it’s already crowded as it is in our library – the only place I can think of where we can store the doll. Or in the tatami room. Hmm let’s see.

the health clinic check and colouring book wall posts

Posted on by

Early yesterday morning (the earliest appointment Yui and I had together so far at 8:45), the whole family went to the children’s health clinic floor in the Ward office (Japan equivalent of the city hall) for the required 4~5 months checkup.

We actually also have the required (and free!) regular well baby checkups – first week, one month, 3 to 4 months, 6 to 7 months, 9 to 10 months, 1 year old, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 years old – which can be done in private hospitals and clinics. These, on top of course of the vaccination schedules which of course doesn’t necessarily coincide with the scheduled checkups.

But the government’s health department also required regular checkups on top of the ones above that will be done by the government health personnel. Guess this is the government’s way of ensuring that their baby citizens are taken cared of well. Quite impressive isn’t it?

We actually thought we’d be the only ones there, similar to the personal visit we had from the ward office midwife when Yui was just five weeks old. Hence we were surprised to see a lot of babies with their families. Turned out they’ve called all the 4~5 month old babies in the area for the required checkup and organised a checkup system that’s quite reminiscent of company checkups.

The group is only supposed to be for 4~5 month old babies and only in our area at that. And yet there was quite a number of babies. Far cry from my first assignment here in Japan some ten years ago when I haven’t seen a single pregnant woman.

When we came to the room to have Yui’s statistics measured, I hesitated a bit when I put down Yui on one of the cots. She was still sleeping and I was wary that she’d cry a lot (like most of the babies there!) when I had to strip off her clothes since I’d be waking her up and the room is a bit cold (I was wearing a coat yet I was just comfortable with the temperature). But when she woke up, the first thing she saw were the drawings of Pooh Bear and Doraemon and Hello Kitty and a smile spread and stayed on her face even when I was taking off her clothes. After the body measurements, we had to wait a bit for our turn for one of the doctors to check on Yui and so to keep Yui warm (yes she still has no clothes on!) I put her again in her oversized bunting.

Her oversized bunting (oversized so that she can hopefully wear it again next winter. But since she’s already 65cm at barely 5 months when supposedly 60cm clothes are up to 6month old babies, I’m not sure if this will still fit her next winter).

20130213-164423.jpg

Anyway I digress. While we waited, Yui just calmly looked at all the screaming and wailing babies and looked curiously at the wall drawings as well; making me decide that it’s high time to put up drawings by yui’s crib as well. Meanwhile, we are thankful the check with the doctor went smoothly and Atsushi and I were again very proud to see Yui propping up herself strongly when the doctor had her on her tummy.

We also had lectures on how to take care of our older baby, first solids (recommended at five months) and teething basics & care.

After the checkup we went to a mall to look for posters that I can stick on the wall by Yui’s crib. But we had difficulty looking for hello kitty posters nor pooh bear posters. So we decided to buy this one instead and have the colouring time as bonding time as well, yet another opportunity to tell Yui a story.

20130213-165533.jpg

I would have to delegate the drawing from scratch to Atsushi. 😀 😀