Having my mom around this past week has been amazing. She not only allowed me to get some extra sleep in the morning, but she helped by making meals and watching Koji while I ran Noby to school. Then to top it off she watched Koji while Ichiro and I took Noby out. Last weekend we were able to see Rachel from Signing Time perform at the MA Buddy Walk and this week we headed to the circus with Brenda.
Noby had such a great time at the circus! His face lit up when he saw the elephants, and again when he saw the horses, and yet again when he saw the lions and zebras! He LOVED watching the animals! He got a little restless during the other acts but snapped to it when the animals came out! lol Overall we all had a great time!! Thanks again Brenda!
So excited to see the first elephant as the the circus starts…
You can only imagine how excited he was to see this…
We have been working hard on finishing Noby’s big boy room! Today, while I gave mom the important job of Koji duty, I worked upstairs adding little white speckles to the ceiling. After much debate we decided the best way to o this would be with a tooth brush. So there I was, on top of the ladder, splashing white paint all the dark ceiling. It took me forever to finish, however I think the tooth brush was the right call. It made perfect stars!
Before…
Hard at work…
Finshed!!!
I picked the right guy to add the planets, Ichiro made sure they were in the right order, the right distance and that the shadows were in the right direction!!!
Today was Koji’s first doctors appointment and it couldn’t have gone any better. Dr Jill was very happy with his stats and said he was perfect! Something we already knew! 😉
Koji was born at 8lb 9oz, when we left the hospital he weighed 8lb even, and at 5 days old he was almost back to his birth weight. He weighed in at 8lb 8.8oz, I guess I make some good milk!!! Dr Jill was very happy, and said we didn’t need to make any appointments for weight checks, something that was MUCH different with Noby!!
As most of you know we have been doing sign language with Noby for a while now. I think we started back when he was only 9 months. It’s been amazing to us that he has been able to communicate with us even when his speech was delayed. One of the best resources we have found for sign language was a series of tapes called Signing Time. If have you vacationed with us, gone out to eat with us, or even just hung out at our house you will know the series and probably some of the songs. Noby just LOVES them and can watch the videos we have over and over AND OVER again! He asks to watch “Rachel” all the time. So when I heard that she would be preforming at the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Buddy Walk I knew we needed to go out and show some support.
The date for the Buddy walk was close to the arrive date of Koji but I figured it could be our first outing at a family. But as the due date came and left I was nervous that Noby wouldn’t be able to see Rachel. As each day went by I made Ichiro promise that he would take Noby no matter where Koji and I were. As it worked out Koji was born on the 7th, we were released from the hospital on the 9th and the buddy walk was on the 10th! We are so lucky that my parents were here and offered to watch Koji so both Ichiro and I could go with Noby. Seeing that both of us wanted to see him experience this!
When we got there and the show started Noby was starstruck! It was so funny. He was watching her but wasn’t sure what to make of it! He wouldn’t get off my lap but would smile. As the show went on he got more and more comfortable and was laughing, signing and dancing. It was so much fun.
After the show a dance instructor came up on stage to get everyone stretched out for the walk. By this time Noby was so excited and followed her instructions to a T! It was so cute, video to come!
Then we walked around and visited the Signing Time table. Here Noby was able to meet Rachel!! And although you can’t really tell by the picture, he really loved seeing her! For days now he hasn’t stopped talking about it!
This was at the beginning of the show, Noby wouldn’t get off my lap. He just stared and stared at Rachel. Here I am signing “Thank You!”
As the show went on Noby got more and more comfortable, here he is signing silly…
By the end of the show he was right up at the stage!
After Rachel’s performance they did some stretches to get ready for the walk….
Thursday afternoon Koji got to meet his Memere, Grandpa, Auntie and most importantly his big brother, Noby!
I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous about how Noby was going to handle this but I honestly don’t think it could have gone any better! He was excited to come to the hospital and meet his new baby brother. I was holding Koji when he got there and he came up, gave me a huge hug, said hello to Koji and gave him a little kiss on the head! Then he asked for his iPod like it was no big deal. It was the cutest thing ever.
Here are a few picture of Koji meeting everyone for the first time…
At 6:39 this am, Koji John Ashihara entered our world!! He actually entered it with the greatest of ease! Let’s take a step back, a few steps, I guess. At about 10 or 11 last night I decided to text Brenda and see if she was planning on sleeping over tonight or just show up at 6am so that Ichiro and I could leave for the hospital. Our appointment for inducing was at 7am this morning. We had had a few false alarms this week and I couldn’t blame her for just wanting to sleep in her own bed, Brenda’s plan was to be at the house at 6am! Now fast forward through the night, I had a few contractions but nothing more then the other nights, well that was until about midnight. I went into the kitchen for something and just knew. Ichiro had me call Brenda and then the doctor. We all decided that this baby didn’t want to wait to be induced so we headed to the hospital.
By the time we got there, were admitted, and set up in a delivery room it was about 1 (or maybe 2) in the morning. The nurse checked my cervix and I was already 5 centimeters!!! I was VERY excited! They set up my epidural, which wasn’t kicking in so then gave me an extra shot of something. Something magical and worked within minutes! After checking my water they decided they couldn’t pop it because Koji wasn’t low enough and they were afraid that the cord would come out first. I was told to just wait and see if it would pop on its own. Ichiro and I hung out, we played some games on our iPods, watched a little tv and just pretty much sat there until the nurse came in to check again. She lifted the blanket to check my water again and said “OMG!! DON”T MOVE!!” I was like nervous for a minute till she was like started to say this was the coolest thing ever. Apparently my water came out, like just slid out, right on the bed!! Ichiro said it kind of looked like a water balloon. The nurse said she had only saw this twice before and called her fellow nurse/doctor buddies to check it out. HAHA The doctor finally (after everyone saw how “COOL” I was) broke my water. She said it was time and that they were going to set up for the delivery. As the nurse finished up setting up the doctors asked if I wanted to try to push. So I could remember how it was going to feel. After only one push they said “STOP PUSHING!!! We need to put our gowns on!” After they were dressed, I pushed two more times and Koji was here!! It was so fast and so easy!
