He Who Has Now Been Named

The Baby is Here:

Born: January 21, 2012 at 3:20 a.m.

3878 grams, 51.5 centimeters (oh hey there, metric system!)

In U.S. terms, 8 1/2 lbs. and 20 1/4 inches

AND NAMED:

Quincy Parker Makoto Ellis

 

Quincy: French, meaning the Fifth, as he is the fifth member of our little family.

Also, Fox was reading Dracula while I was pregnant. Quincey Morris is a character in it-- the only American in a foreign country.

Parker: Fox's paternal grandmother's maiden name

Makoto: Japanese, meaning strong and peace-loving.

We have loved Quincy Parker as a name for a long time, but it just didn't seem right for this boy at first. Finally, as we were filling out the hospital paperwork, we knew it was because he needed a special Japanese name in there, so Fox chose his favorite and used a very old kanji for it.

Everyone is having a ton of fun getting their kisses and cuddles on with this cutie.

Who does he look like?  He blended in really well in the nursery

with all that black hair!

Yes, that is Cash forcing Quincy's fingers into a peace sign. Oy.

We are all doing great!  I had a great birth experience, and the hospital was amazing!

Birth story to follow...

Catching Up!

Okay--I am finally dragging myself away from the kotatsu (where there is no internet reception) to blog about this past month!
  Starting with Cosette's birthday in November, we have a family birthday/holiday or anniversary every few weeks until Cash's birthday at the end of February. The new baby fits right in there with his birthday (hopefully) being in a few weeks. So, winter is a crazy season for us!

First, Cosette's birthday! Cosette's likes and dislikes change from day-to-day, so I didn't plan a cake for her, since she insisted on doughnuts. After she got her doughnuts, she wondered where her cake was, so I got her one slice of cake. Now I know that she always wants a big cake. Maybe in the shape of a doughnut?

And her presents this year were a stuffed snake from the zoo and a Little Pony from her grandparents:

Fox's birthday is in mid-December. He had a migraine for his birthday and had gotten his presents a few weeks earlier during a black Friday sale, so he had a very sad birthday...but there was cake!

The next week, there was a school Christmas party. Here is Cosette as Santa--she was the only one to keep her beard on!

A visit from Santa-san!

Showing the spoils that Santa brought her--socks, fax paper-?, snacks, and some origami paper.

Fox and I celebrated our 9th anniversary on New Year's Eve. We got a babysitter and went to see Mission Impossible 4.  Good times! And then on New Year's, Cash got a haircut. The kids have learned that in Japan, it's not a true picture unless there is the peace sign being shown.

Next up: The littlest guy's birthday! Here I am at 37 weeks and obviously exhausted. No more winter birthdays, I say! On the plus side, my extra body weight is keeping me really warm :)

Thank you to everyone who has sent cards, presents, and boxes with goodies and baby things to us recently. It means more to us than you know. This time of year is the hardest time to be away from family. We miss you and love you all!

Home Life--Japan style

This blog post is alternately titled, "Life without Central Heating", since that seems to determine how life at home is lived in Japan. Life in Japan is a life of opposites--the toilets have remote controls and more buttons than a microwave, but most homes do not have central heating or insulation. In other words, your bottom is going to be warm and toasty but beware when you leave the bathroom! I used to teach in the home of a doctor who had 3 brand-new BMWs but would lug his kerosene heater from room to room, depending on where his girls were doing their homework.
      We have adjusted to life without central heating pretty well. I credit this all to my Dad, who doesn't believe in central heating anyways. Growing up, I can only remember a few times when the heat was turned on--was it on Christmas? So, I learned to enjoy flannel, layering, and sleeping bags. Here's how we do it in Japan:

Kotatsus:

Cash and Coco after bathtime under the kotatsu. Yes, Coco has fake tattoos and is throwing her signs.

Or as I like to call them "dry hot tubs". Basically the best invention ever--a table with a heater underneath that you cover with a blanket to keep the heat in. Most people have either a kotatsu or a hot-carpet, a rug with a heater underneath that you can sit on.  The Ellises are on the kotatsu team all the way!


Family Bath Time: I think this relates to central heating, because we all want to limit the exposure of wet skin to a non-heated, paper-walled home in the winter. We've adopted the Japanese way of bathing: scrubbing up in the shower and then soaking your scrubbed-clean body in the deep, deep tub full of super-hot water, which is shared by the family. Yep, we all pile in the shower together as a family (our shower is in the school, and it's kind of creepy down there at night!) but Fox and I don't usually bathe with the kids, since we're too big.  We would if we all fit, though.  Sorry, no pictures!

Family Bedroom: Someone once told us that being in Japan is good for your family, since you have to learn to stay in one room at a time, winter or summer.  Very true!  The first time we lived here, Fox and I were crazy sleep-training-obsessed parents and let baby Cash have the bedroom with the heater in it while we slept on unpadded futons in the next room, in front of a bright halogen lamp. For 3 months. Wow.  This time, we all get much better sleep and stay way warmer in the same room.  The kids are on the floor on futons with extra blankets.  We're in our bed. Everyone gets much more sleep and stays warm.  Sounds crazy even to me, but it totally works.

Layering: Japan is the land of layering!  They are all about wool socks on top of leggings on top of "warm-heat underclothes".  All the kids put on their fleece-lined "inside shoes" in the colder months. Japanese layering clothes are big business, and everyone layers!

So that's a slice of home life in Japan--a lot of closeness!


P.S. If you've read this far, here is my 7 month pregnancy pic.  7 more weeks!

Some stuff

I wrote a little (okay, a lot) about being LDS in Japan here for my friend Heather's awesome blog Women in the Scriptures.

Fox is taking his Japanese driver's test tomorrow (our Wednesday).  The test is notoriously hard, and he failed the first time he took it a few weeks ago.  Please pray for him!  I take mine in a few weeks--yikes!

Our branch had a Thanksgiving potluck on Sunday. There was turkey and cranberry sauce! I made Larissa's chocolate truffle pie (amaaazing) and pumpkin cheesecake bars from a very rare find of canned pumpkin in the import store! The lunch was awesome.

And I did take Halloween pictures but not many. Here is one from our school's Halloween party (Fox and I were working the cameras). The man on the right is our boss and our friend Janelle on the left is the other teacher.  The other ladies are the sweet school nurses.  Hiroko, the one in the back, also teaches Cash's hiragana class and can often be found jump roping across the playground, even though she is almost 60. She is awesome.

So there is some recent stuff. My mind is all over the place lately, but I'll try to put up more recent pictures soon!

Happy Birthday, Cosette!

Today is Cosette's 3rd Birthday!!! Happy Birthday, Coco!

On her "birth" birthday:

Age 1:

Age 2:

And now 3 years old!

Cosette, we love you! You are so much fun and bring so much joy to our family!
At 3 years old, you:
--asked for a live elephant for your birthday and also a toy dinosaur.
--love the songs "This is Halloween" and "Superbass"(the clean version!) and sing random pieces from them constantly
--love being around people, playing jokes on them, and messing with them in some way, especially touching hair and faces. Hmmm...
--love to run super fast and yell super loud
--love the movie "Tangled" and anything scary. You constantly reassure us by saying, "I'm not afraid of scary fings"
--can still hold your bladder for like 13 hours overnight, longer than anyone in this family! --constantly compliment people --sleep surrounded by your stuffed animal.
--have favorites that change everyday. Some days you love rice, other than days you hate it. Some days you love your toys, other days you only love Cash's toys. You always have a favorite "cuddly" of the day. This keeps us on our toes!
--love boys, specifically Riku, Sento, Dime, and Holden. I actually don't think I've ever seen you play nicely with any girls.
--love to tell stories. "Remember that one time I saw a snake and then it ate my foot and then I brushed my teeth? The end."

We love you, Coco girl! I think this is the year that you might actually grow hair on the top of your head!

A Day in Kobe

We have lived here for almost a year, and I still hadn't gotten off the island (Shikoku). I was definitely having island fever, so on our last day off, we woke up early, drove 5 minutes to the port, and hopped on the 4-hour Jumbo Ferry to Kobe, city famous for its beef. Apparently, massages every day and a diet including beer makes for really tasty cows :) I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of the huge 4-story ferry that includes an arcade, ice cream shop, huge tatami room for sleeping, ladies' room (to keep creepy men away), and a TV room with massage chairs (that was playing the Panthers football game, to Fox's extreme joy!).

Here are the kids on the ferry:

Once we got to Kobe, the Kobe Oji Zoo is just 2 train stops away--and kids are free!  Cosette had never been to a big zoo--and it was about time!

These pics are a bit out of order--sorry! Here is Cosette eating curry (Fox was sneaking a picture of her--if she knows her picture is being taken, she does a crazy face).  Both of our kids can eat their weight in Japanese curry, so it is always a safe bet for lunch!

Cash in the petting area, loving on a huge rabbit:

The main attraction at this zoo is the giant panda. China has been loaning some pandas to Japan in an effort to build friendship between the two countries.

In the koala house:

Cosette loving on a guinea pig:

Fox and the kiddos in Amusement Land:

After the zoo, we walked around in the huge outdoor mall, where I found a water bottle that I had been searching for forever. Hmmm...it looks like it is $6.50 in the U.S., and I paid almost $18 here, which was a screaming deal.  Whaaa...oh well, it is helping me get my required 80 ounces of water a day!

We hopped back on the ferry at 8 pm and got back at midnight.  The funny part is that the lights stay on in the ferry's "sleeping room" the entire time, but everyone still managed to sleep (except me--pregnant women on flat tatami floors just doesn't work).
But--it was so good to get off our tiny island for a day, and the kids had so much fun!

We finally went to the movies in Japan!

Last night, we finally saw a movie in Japan! We watched this:

while drinking these:

How was this magnificent feat possible?!
1.) We live 7 minutes away from a movie theater now, instead of 1 1/2 hours!
2.) We live 7 minutes away from a babysitter now, instead of 1 1/2 hours--thanks, Heather!
3.) Yesterday was November 1st, which means 1st-day-of-the-month movie prices: 1000 yen instead of 1800 yen per ticket! Wednesdays here are Ladies' Days, which means all ladies pay only 1000 yen!
4.) There were some movies playing in English with Japanese subtitles! Movies here are on a different release date, so our options were Cowboys vs. Aliens or Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  I love James Franco (he is awesome--check this article out), so the choice was easy :)

We liked the movie and had such a great time, partly due to the younger guy sitting next to us.  He was smiling and on the edge of his seat the whole time, whispering "Sugoi!" (cool!) excitedly. It was funny.  A random thing is that every single person stayed in the theater until the end of the credits, which were all in English.  I wonder if this is another sign-of-respect part of the culture here?

Tomorrow is a national holiday and we just *might* get off this tiny island and take the ferry to Kobe. If we do, this will be a super exciting week for us!